Parallel

Chapter 18: The Elements of Harmony (Part 1)

My head was ringing.

As my eyes slowly opened and the world returned to me, I could hear voices. The voices weren't speaking English, but it was a familiar language; a language that I heard all too often in the few months since I had been deployed. My sight started to clear up, and blurs became discernible. In front of me were two men armed with AKs, dressed in ragged clothing.

Their complexion was tan.

The situation wasn't exactly a desirable one.

The room itself was blank, dimly lit, and appeared to be made of concrete, I could barely make out a wooden door in the corner to my right. I tried to move, but my hands and legs were bound to a metal chair, and it felt like the chair was bolted to the ground.

One of them turned to me as he screamed something in his language, pointing furiously at me. He pressed the barrel of his AK against my head and glared at me, "Was it just the two of you pigs?!"

How lucky... the interrogator knew English.

That made things simpler, but more painful.

I gritted my teeth, "Corporal William Jenkins. September twentieth, nineteen eighty-six. Five seven... two four six seven three eight..."

My vision blurred and pain rocketed against my skull as the butt stock of the AK collided with my forehead.

The interrogator turned back to his friend and screamed something else.

I tried to remember. Clark and I were walking through the barren desert. We were trying to get back to the FOB, there was an explosion.

Then I woke up in the interrogation room.

It appeared the two men were arguing, so I took the opportunity to look at my surroundings a bit further. I turned my head to the right and gritted my teeth when I saw Clark, tied to a chair just like me. As far as I could tell he was out cold. The interrogator finished arguing with his 'friend', then he walked to Clark and put the AK to his head. He turned to me, still holding the gun steady, "You talk now! Or I will blow his brains out, yes?"

I blinked, trying to get rid of the dizzy feeling invading my head, "No... no... I'll fuckin' kill you..."

The interrogator glared, "No my friend, I will kill you!"

He dug the muzzle into Clark's head, twisting it until Clark's eyes snapped open.

And then he pulled the trigger.

"NO!"

I thrashed out and stumbled from bed head first, hitting the wooden floor of the library with a dull thud.

I heard the ringing in my ears start as the world was spinning around me.

My wings flared in some pathetic attempt to help me regain balance as I tried to get a grip on myself.

"William!" I heard the sound of hooves approaching, and felt Twilight's magic wrap around me and help me up from the floor.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know Spike!"

Everything started to clear up as I was placed laying down on the bed. I saw Twilight with a frown of worry etched onto her features, and Spike with a slightly panicked look. "I'm fine," I mumbled, "It happens from time to time, really."

Twilight didn't look convinced, "Are you sure? You took a pretty bad fall."

"Yeah, there's uh... before we keep researching the Veil there's something we need to do. Can you gather the group together?"

"Why?"

"Just... I'd rather tell you guys when we're all there."

Not but an hour later the entire group had gathered in Twilight's library. All of them looked confused, and I couldn't blame them one bit. Even Twilight wasn't sure what I was doing, she stepped to my side and gave me a pointed glance.

Dash flew above the group, looking down to me, "Alright, so why did you guys call us out here?"

I sighed, "Listen, Pinkie and Applejack probably already know about this." I gave the two I mentioned pointed glances, Pinkie's smile vanished and Applejack gave a small nod of confirmation, "I've gotten a bit in over my head on the other side of the Veil."

-The Day Before-

The date had gone pretty well, and on the way back to the hospital, the subject went from what movies we liked to what we should be doing about Discord. On the second intersection Tammy turned her head to look at me as I pushed her, "So what do you wanna do about the Discord situation?"

I let out a low whistle, "That's a tough question."

She smiled, "You know what I was writing down in the book store, right?"

"No, what was it?"

"A couple of spells I'm working on to be able to fight Discord when the time comes, and now that I know Robin is a mage I can probably get into contact with her about it."

I laughed under my breath, "I thought Celestine said that regular magic wouldn't affect him."

Tammy grinned, "Yes, REGULAR magic. I was thinking... look, whatever you get back in Equestria is probably gonna pack enough of a punch to take him down, which means it's extremely powerful magic. I need a spell to hold off Discord long enough so we can utilize that magic, but I'll also need a spell to make sure whatever you're using doesn't tear a hole in the tectonic plates under the entire city."

"So, simply put, we need to not destroy everything."

"That would be best. I was researching the artifacts the Circle recovered from Atlantis. I've never really been interested in them until today, and they've never been relevant to my studies."

"And?"

"I found that the walls were literally built so they could practice magic inside the city that would be impossible to maintain otherwise without tearing reality around them. If I could somehow craft a barrier with magic nullifying properties, I could create a space to use whatever we need to use safely. Not only that, but I would be able to literally unleash hell on him without fearing the consequences."

She had this mad grin on her face, like she was looking forward to the things that were about to happen. "Wait," I said, "If that city was literally built so they could practice powerful magic in it, what would be powerful enough to destroy it?"

"That's an extremely good question, but one we're not worried about right now, I took a note of it and I'll make an appointment with the Circle when this mess is all taken care of."

"Yeah, but... why would no other mage think about making a barrier to use more powerful magic in?"

"We have, but..."

"But?"

"No one's ever done what I'm doing here. A magic barrier to stop a magic spell would be pointless, it MULTIPLIES the magic."

"But a physical barrier..."

Tammy giggled and reached back, grabbing my hand, "I knew there was a reason I liked you. Robin is picking me up from the hospital to get a sample of the wall that I can utilize, I probably won't be getting any sleep tonight."

Applejack stepped towards me and Twilight, raising an eyebrow, "You mean to tell us that Discord's been chasin' ya'll around this entire time?"

I shook my head and sat on my haunches, "No, not exactly chasing us around, but we can tell he's up to something. From my conversations with Pinkie and Applejack it seems like you guys have dealt with him before, so I kind of brought you all here to get some input."

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes, "Come on Billy! You should have told us in the first place, we TOTALLY would have helped you out, I mean, we're over there too, and now that Discord is over there we need to beat him again!"

Rarity smiled softly, "William, what reason could you possibly have for keeping this from us? We're all friends."

I took a deep breath, "I figured... you wouldn't be able to do much."

Dash glared at me, "Really?"

"Alright," I said softly, "I get it I get it."

Twilight nudged my side gently with her muzzle, and I blushed and turned away, trying to push out of my mind how soft she was. "So you need the Elements of Harmony then?"

"Wh... what are those?" I asked, clearing my throat and trying not to look at Twilight.

Twilight looked at her friends and let out a sigh, "They're... artifacts that enhance our power. The six of us are special. We all represent the harmony in Equestria, and that harmony is split into six elements." Twilight raised a hoof and pointed to herself, "Magic."

Then she pointed to Rarity, "Generosity."

Pinkie Pie, "Laughter."

Applejack, "Honesty."

Rainbow Dash, "Loyalty."

Fluttershy, "Kindness."

I raised an eyebrow, "And this is... supposed to help against Discord?"

"It's how we sealed him away last time," said Twilight, "And on that subject, does your world have a Discord?"

"As far as I can tell this guy is from your side."

Twilight tilted her head, "Strange, when we sealed him he was turned to stone and placed outside the castle in Canterlot; that statue is still there."

"Wait," I said, "Is it possible that he made it to my world without really moving over here? I mean, whenever I go between worlds my body is still asleep in the other world."

"Hey yeah!" shouted Dash, "Maybe that snake found a way to get to the other side without moving!"

"Spike!" shouted Twilight, "Get down here!"

The baby dragon was downstairs and by Twilight's side in a split second, "What is it?"

"Send a letter to the Princess telling her that we're letting William borrow the Elements of Harmony."

"Wha..."

"Spike, listen." Twilight leaned down a bit and smiled softly, "Let her know that Discord has escaped to William's world, and we sent him back with the Elements to prevent disaster, can you do that?"

"Yeah! Right away!"

Twilight nodded firmly and her horn started to glow. A moment later I saw a case float down from Twilight's area upstairs. It was a large wooden box with a latch on it and Celestia's crown painted on the lid. The faint glow around it faded as it was planted in front of us. Another glow wrapped itself around the lock and the lid flew open. Inside the box was what appeared to be a set of jewelery: A tiara and five necklaces, each with decorations corresponding to the cutie marks of the six ponies in the room.

"These are..."

"The catalysts," said Twilight softly, "They allow us to harness the power of the Elements safely. You should get them to us when you make your way through the Veil. If these worlds run parallel like we think, then we're the Elements of Harmony over there as well."

I turned to Twilight and frowned, "Are you sure about that? Things might not work the same over there. I mean, as far as I can tell you're the same people... ponies... whatever, it's just... I'm not too sure the Elements would work."

"It wouldn't hurt to try," said Twilight, smiling at me, "Not only that, but if I know myself, which I do, then I'm already working on a contingency plan."

I smirked, "You mentioned staying up all night."

Twilight giggled, "We'll bag these up so you can get going."

Dash landed next to me and nudged me with her hoof, "Hey, I know you were doing good, but can you fly all the way over the forest?"

I laughed under my breath, "Only one way to find out."

The girls guided me to the edge of the forest, and without a word I took off. I heard Dash yell, "Push it out!" as I went over the tops of the trees and made my way towards the clouds.

It reminded me of when I was in the army, and I would run for long distances.

Only this wasn't my legs, it was a completely different muscle.

A muscle I wasn't used to having.

I would make it though...

I had to.