War of Harmony IV, a Novelization.

I let out a soft sigh of gratitude upon seeing the trees, and a smile graced my face. We were safe for the moment, and I reveled in it. The magic emitting from the trees with our elements inside repelled beasts and monsters of ill intent. However, because of its safe haven nature, it often had beasts surrounding it. No regular ponies could have made their way here, let alone two, but we were anything but ordinary.

'We were lucky to have timber wolves being our only problems getting here,' I thought grimly as I looked to the sky. The rainclouds had yet to part, and now a light breeze was passing through. It blew leaves and other stray things through the air. I kept a careful eye to make sure none of the stray foliage blew into my mane. However, that was merely a passing thought as I drifted my eyes from the scenery to look straight ahead.

The six trees of harmony stood in front of us as we left our previous path behind. A tree for each bearer stood in the clearing ahead of us, matching our coat colors. The largest being the purple elemental tree of magic, as it displayed every trait surrounding it along with its own.

My thoughts turned grim at Twilight's tree as we passed, I wondered how the fool was enjoying herself right then. Part of me couldn't blame her, but I had every right to be mad at her. I don’t care why or how I just-

"Rarity? Are you okay?" I felt Pinkie Pie's hoof on my shoulder and I realized I had stopped, and that I was shaking. I took a deep breath and exhaled shakily. I smiled appreciatively at Pinkie before shrugging her hoof off.

"Just fine, darling. Let's just stay focused," I said politely, walking past the trees to the alter's straight ahead. Pinkie wasn't bouncing anymore, just walking behind me with a concerned look. That didn't matter to me though, for the good of the mission I had to stay focused. It was hard though, so many memories, so many failures were made here... I was grateful when we came to the turn, but a frown appeared on my features.

"Of course, the way would have to be blocked," I said grimly, staring at the vines obstructing our path forwards. I was not the most magically capable unicorn, but even a foal could feel the magic radiating off the vines.
‘Time to look for clues for what we need to do…’ I idly thought to myself. I turned to my left. A stoney statue of Princess Luna stood there. Trotting into the small clearing it stood in, my thoughts drifted to her.

'Luna, the true savior and defender of the people.’ A small smile graced my lips. The inscription on the pedestal the statue was on top of simply stated this.

PRINCESS LUNA

-LEADER OF THE REBELLION-

I wiped away a bit of the dust gathering on the pedestal before turning around. Pinkie gave me a curious glance as I walked past her, my eyes focused in a glare. On the opposite side of the Luna statue was a Celestia statue, also on a pedestal.

‘I suppose you’d be Queen Celestia now, wouldn’t you?’ I mused. Celestia, a name once spoke in reverence, but now seen as the one and only queen of Equestria. A queen she is, but history will speak of her as a tyrant..

QUEEN CELESTIA

-Ruler of Equestria-

Is what the inscription read, a similar looking offering plate with nothing on it is also nearby. Suddenly fog rolled in, blinding me before vanishing just as quick. I turned to ask Pinkie something when I saw her standing there.

Trixie, a frown came onto my face and what Pinkie described to me later as, “A superduper crazy look!“ in her usual bubbly voice.

“Trixie,” I said, not hiding any of the anger and venom in my voice.

“Rarity?” she responded, a questioning tone in her voice as she seemed slightly confused at me. As if she had the gall to e- no, no, I must calm down.

“ Why are you here?” I said, cutting straight to the point, Pinkie bouncing up next to me to examine the new arrival.

“ I’m here because Spike has given me strict instructions to help any of the six that came looking,” Trixie recited from her memory, a smile on her face, apparently pleased at her, “duty” of hers. I was surprised, Spike was here?

“ You’ve seen Spike? Where is he? What is he doing?” I asked did Spike beat me here or… how long had Trixie been here?

“ Why would I ask you? I cannot trust you,” I said, frowning at her once again. A hurt expression spread across her face at this, and she spoke.

“ Wait… please.” An expression of regret glimpsed her face, I could only offer an expression of impatience.

“ I know that I messed up, and there is probably nothing I could ever do to make it up…” Damn right there isn’t, so you’d better watch it.

“ But please give me a chance?” she asked. I snorted at this, her expression of hope quickly vanishing before Pinkie chimed in.

“Rarity… give her a chance, what harm would it cause?” Always the optimist Pinkie, but you don’t know her like I do.

“ I do not want this whore of a mare’s help,” I spat vehemently, Trixie looking quite hurt.

“Rarity!” She looked to apologize for my words, but Trixie teleported away before anymore could be said.

“Why did you do that, Rarity?” Pinkie asked, strangely calm which greatly clashed with the angry look she was giving me.

“ She knew what we were supposed to do.” A tick mark appearing on her forehead as she looked at me angrily. Getting rid of Trixie was necessary, so I waved off her concerns.

“We can figure it out, I’m sure,” I said with a smile.

“Well, we can’t go east yet, so let’s head west!” I remembered what lay to the west, but I trusted Pinkie to lead me right since whatever Trixie had to offer was not available. We trotted back to the trees of harmony, taking the westernmost path available to us. We walked for a while, the woods going on and on… I looked up, but I couldn’t see the sky anymore, and the forest had taken on an almost red hue. Droplets of something red dripped down onto the two of us.

“Rarity, this place is kind of scary… and not in the way I normally can just laugh off,” Pinkie admitted, rubbing up to me. Truthfully, I didn’t like the look of these woods either; magic was definitely at work here.

“ I didn’t ask you to come with me, Pinkie. You can still go back home,” I replied with an ultimatum. She seemed surprised at me saying this, quickly and stubbornly replying.

“ No way, Rarity. I’m here to help you all the way!” she told me. Pinkie wasn’t known for her honesty, but I could believe her just this once. It wasn’t in her to lie… much.

“ Good, now let’s get through these woods as fast as we can,” I said, hurrying my pace. I really didn’t want to wait to see this wood’s version of monsters.

“ This is the way to Sister Palace,” Pinkie idly thought, vocalizing it. I guessed that she recognized the route, but best to avoid making her curious.

“ I wasn’t here for that. Neither were you,” I stated, not wanting to play therapist time with Pinkie.

“Wanna go home?“ Pinkie asked, not even expecting a positive answer but simply asking. She already knew my response to that, so I simply scoffed and kept on trotting. I didn’t even catch the worried look that Pinkie gave me as she followed me.

“I’m here for your sake, Rarity. You need your friends right now.” Dear Luna, she wasn’t kidding. At the same time, I hated what she said and what it represented to me. Where were- no, she’s trying to get this reaction out of you. Just keep trotting and don’t even think about arguing with her right now. It was a quiet trot for a while, until something took notice of our presence. More specifically me, they recognized me, which could be bad.

“Ghosts, Rarity. Those are ghosts!” and she wasn’t lying. I didn’t know what magic brought these souls from their rest. Ghastly white earth pony ghosts in bright gold armor, their manes a blood red approached us.

“We’re putting them back in the ground Pinkie, get ready for a fight!” I stopped trotting and spread my legs out, putting myself lower to the ground. I made the first move, springing towards the ghost my attack gem glowing brightly as I struck it. To my surprise, it actually recoiled when I struck it. If it was even slight pain, I felt more confident about this. Its eyes glowed purple, and it smirked at me, then a rush of memories washed over me. Failure after failure, tragedy after tragedy kept hitting me as hard. It was only when Pinkie shook me that I was knocked out of my trance. I collapsed, all my energy gone as Pinkie galloped out to protect me.

‘ I’m bleeding,’ I idly thought to myself, wiping the blood that was coming out of my muzzle away. I looked up to see how Pinkie was doing. Unfortunately, it had come to relying on her. Her spastic motions and reality defying movements puzzled the ghosts. It was, however, to no avail. Pinkie landed at my side bloody and bruised.

“Pinkie… Pinkie run!” I shouted, getting to my hooves, trying to pull her up.

“ Can’t brain today I have the dumb…” Pinkie muttered incoherently, her eyes closing.

“ PINKIE!!!” I screamed, the ghosts were nearly upon us. I shook Pinkie again and stood up, options going through my head. What could I do now?

“ Don’t let anypony else die, Rarity… “