Compassion

-Be careful. There are ponies out there who will look at your love only as a place to put their pain.

Within 10 minutes, the military and police had gotten all the ponies roaming the streets of Fillydelphia back into their homes where they’d be safe, and armed guards patrolled the towns. Stout colts with rifles stood guard at the Fillydelphia General Hospital.

At the Working Girls’ Home, where orphaned fillies were housed, clothed, and fed in exchange for being contracted out to work in Fillydelphia’s mills and factories or in the homes of wealthy ponies, matrons were taking stock of their flocks. All of the fillies had washed, brushed, and dressed in their finest outfits to meet the Queen before all the nastiness had occurred downtown.

The final tally showed that only one was missing, who coincidentally was a troublesome pegasus filly and a recent addition to the Home.

Attempts were being made to get ponies out of the park, which sported new growth cultivated by the black magic of the Tower, turning it into a miniature version of the Everfree Forest: enraged monsters and all. In the city, one could hear chattering gunfire as the forces of Queen Chromia battled the soldiers of the Dark Queens.

Pinkie was fretting, hurriedly flipping through a book she’d pulled from a saddlebag. Twilight suddenly slapped the book out of her hooves and shoved her nose right up against the pink snout. Pinkie shrank back as the unicorn shouted at her.

“You knew! You knew and you didn’t even warn anyone! You tryin’ to find a Guangzhou angle on all this?”

Pinkie blinked at the accusation and brushed dirt off her bomber jacket. “Well, technically, I did know. However, I heard you speak up. You knew about them, too. You’re a police officer; why didn’t you say anything?”

A blue levitation field quickly lifted and separated them. Rarity butted her head in between the pair with a scowl, Twilight struggling against the magic.

“Now, listen here. None of us really know each other, or at this point even like one another very much, but, excuse my language, the darn world is ending around us, and this filly seems like she might know a way to stop it. Hope’s gone, and it ain’t gonna be helped by being ugly to each other. Now, we gonna be friends if I put you down?”

Twilight grumbled when she was set down, dusting off her uniform shirt. Pinkie seemed to have gotten an epiphany.

“That’s it! We can win! I know what we need to do-- we need to become friends!”

The other five ponies gathered around blinked at each other slowly after Pinkie’s outburst.

“No, really! The old story is obviously true. I was one of the ones that pulled the Sisters here. We had the Elements at the same exhibit in the museum; there were four of them in the Tomb and the Crown loaned us the one that they have.”

She cleared her throat and laced her fingers together behind her head, a stance she’d learned from a minotaur friend from university.

“I don’t know about you guys, but if we’re all going down, I’d rather go down swingin’.”

Twilight scoffed and rolled her eye. Those of the group who smoked were standing a couple yards from those who didn’t to avoid cloying the others. She jabbed the cherry of a cigarette in Pinkie’s direction.

“It still sounds to me like you’re a spy. I mean, not only did you know they were returning, you brought them here. How do we know you’re not a plant to make ponies panic, then gather up whoever’s left in the park and turn them over with some bullshit, made-up prophecy?”

Pinkie folded her forelegs in front of her and made a face, another minotaur affectation.

“It was only a little spying. All I did was lean out of my plane and take a few pictures. Second off, why? I’m an inventor, a mare of science. I doubt these prehistoric mares are in the ‘better living through chemistry and engineering’ crowd.”

She let out a breath and held up the book she’d been reading so the others could examine it.

“This one is ‘Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.’ It’s my personal copy. This has been passed down and periodically translated as the language has changed over the years. It says…

“‘There are six Elements of Harmony, although only five are known. These are: Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Honesty, and Loyalty. When these elements combine with the Spark, they come together to create the enigmatic sixth Element.’”

Fluttershy chewed pensively on the stem of her parliament, the others too stunned to speak. She cleared her throat as she collected herself with a deep pull of her fragrant clove cigarette.

“Since nopony seems to want to speak up, I’ll say it. What’s that got to do with the price of tea in Ghangzhou?”

It would soon be clear, as Pinkie snapped her fingers and pointed out that, although she was born to invent, she was a natural teacher as well.

“I’m glad you asked. Now, bear with me; these books were originally written by an ancestor of mine and are some of the only artifacts left from the First Century, containing original eyewitness accounts. These objects, the Elements, were used first by the Sisters to defeat the Chaos Lord Discord and later during the rebellion to condemn the Sisters to stone a thousand years ago. Pretty much exactly to the day.

“What I’m saying is this: we storm the tower and make our way to the top-”

“Why the top? That’s awful far for some old pony’s tale, bunny.”

Pinkie rubbed the blush that came to her muzzle at Rarity’s comment and tried to ignore the fact that she could meet her eyes even standing on her hindlegs.

“We’re talking about evil authoritarian megalomaniacs. Every story agrees that they can only be at the very top. The better to look down upon their new Empire.”

Seeing as this seemed to make sense to the others, she decisively slammed her gauntlets together.

“Hokay, so it’s up to us. My Granny told me how to interpret the book, and how to make the Elements work for us. We can re-petrify the Sisters and fix all this.”

She tucked her books into her saddlebags, clearing her throat and looking at the others.

“If we’re going to be friends, we should introduce ourselves, learn a bit about one another. My name is Pinkamina Dianne Pie, Pinkie to my friends. I’m prone to headaches and hot flashes, and a recent magna-cum-laude graduate of the FIllydelphia University of Science and Technology, majoring in aeronautical engineering and minoring in history.”

Fluttershy cleared her throat, slipping the stub of her cigarette into a little pouch to properly dispose of later and stowing her slimline holder and cigarette case into her hoofbag.

“My name is Fluttershy Whisperwing, I have an Amaerican Bombay named Maisie, and I work for the Fillydelphia Gazette by taking photographs and chasing down leads for the major syndicated columnists and article-writers.”

The atmosphere around them was starting to soften, the tension easing as they got more comfortable with one another. Fluttershy was staring at Rainbow Dash strangely, but her old friend was a pegasus, wasn’t she? Not this blue earth pony with her stage wings.

Rarity started to go next, before a violet telekinetic haze closed her mouth. As Twilight opened her mouth to speak, Rarity tackled her, sending them both into the mud of the new forest. Twilight used magic to bolster her strength against Rarity’s as they wrestled. The others watched for a second to make sure they wouldn’t hurt one another, Applejack stepping forward to break the pair up as Rainbow Dash shook her head and sighed at the sight.

“I guess I’ll go. In case you didn’t know, my name is Rainbow Dash, and I’m one of the star acrobats with the Wandering Moons.”

With a grunt, Applejack managed to shove Twilight and Rarity apart, watching each of them with an impassive expression.

Rarity coughed and dusted off her coat and hide, gingerly setting her hoof back down. She’d shaken herself thumping the metal plate in the left side of Twilight’s skull.

“Well, I’m Rarity, and I own RB Contracting. We did all the setup for the Faire and a bunch of other work here in town.”

Fluttershy smiled and tapped her hooves together with dull claps. “I’ve read Uptown Eclairé’s articles about your business. You’re called the “Shining Knight of the working pony” with your union support and the way you treat your own employees. I’ve heard around the office that she’d like to interview you personally.”

Twilight made a fake gagging sound, rolling her eye.

“Twilight Sparkle, Corporal, Equestrian Aerial Marines. Full tour in Ghangzhou. Now I’m a Federal Investigator attached to the Fillydelphia Police Department’s Special Crimes Division.” She scuffed her hoof like she wanted to continue. She cast a glance Fluttershy’s way before clearing her throat.

“Off the record, I’m currently spearheading the investigation of a train-job, and a recent string of torch jobs.”

Applejack opened her mouth, only to be interrupted by the ground shaking badly enough to knock Pinkie flat and stagger the others. Trees shook and were toppled by the passage of something big, sending birds to wing. Twilight’s head throbbed, and she felt the deep lines slashed down the left side of her face burn and itch. She managed to turn first, coming nose to nose with one of the big, brown, and ugly visages of a hydra.

Panic and chaos broke out almost immediately. However,Twilight stood her ground when it roared, her mane starting to curl and smolder as her pelt started to bleach to white. Her horn lit up bright purple, and pebbles and hoof-sized rocks wormed out of the soil, lifting to withers-height.

The other stared, each of them hiding behind Rarity. The bulky mare focused, trees beside her shaking and twisting as they uprooted themselves in a sapphire haze, stacking into a wall for the others to hide behind.

Twilight, meanwhile, was harassing and distracting the hydra, circling it and snapping pebbles off its foreheads.

Suddenly, it was knocked aside as Rarity found room to swing the root ball of a tree into its ribs. Fluttershy ducked down behind the wall, unable to watch as Twilight drew an object she recognized from her brief stint in the compulsory pegasus military schooling: a .45 caliber automatic Ironshod Firearms service pistol 1911.

And then she heard something heavy thump against the treewall. She poked her head back up to see a crumpled and dazed Twilight, her uniform stained with two perfect muddy hoofprints.

Applejack had sat idly until the pistol had been brandished. Hooves glowing faintly, she’d cleared the treewall in a single jump, sailing the thirty feet or so to where Twilight had stood over one of the heads of the hydra. She landed directly in front of her, distracting Twilight just long enough to plant both back hooves into Twilight’s chest, sending the unicorn flying back to slam into the treewall.

The others watched in horror as she closed the remaining distance to the monster, until it whined softly and lifted itself up to show the haft of a spear lodged in its chest.

She tugged it free with a hoof while carefully stroking it and speaking in a language none of them recognized. Soon enough, the spear lay on the ground, and the wound was sealing itself up. All four heads dipped down low and got a gentle nuzzle in exchange for a lick.

Feeling eyes on her, Applejack turned to face the others, reaching out to pet the hydra’s tummy to calm it, the beast rolling over onto its back with a thump. It wriggled contentedly, toppling trees as it dug itself into the dirt.

“M’name’s Applejack. This’s Custard.”

The others stared, Twilight picking herself up off the ground as the others slowly started forward. Rarity pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, watching the two. Custard seemed about as well-behaved as Dozer, and just as excitable.

“You have a hydra. For a pet.”

Applejack nodded as she leaned against one of the beast’s necks, running the edge of a forehoof between the scales of its belly. “M’yep.”

Pinkie chewed the knuckle of one of her gauntlets, her other foreleg drawn across her barrel. “Isn’t that, you know, dangerous?”

Applejack shook her head. “Little care, little compassion, any beast can be tamed. Even ponies.”

A few minutes later, all six ponies rested on Custard’s back as the beast trundled its way through the forest, knocking aside the thick trees like straw as it wandered towards the Tower itself. The six hopped down as it slammed itself headlong into the crystal, shattering the front wall and doors entirely.

Five made to enter the new gaping hole in the side of the Tower, but Applejack climbed back up onto the beast’s back after it rolled onto its wide claws and shook itself.

“There’s injured ponies and animals in these woods still.”

She smiled awkwardly, like she was unused to it and it hurt her face. She waved them off as Custard carefully pointed himself back in the direction of the path he’d created. Pinkie shook off the mental image of the orange mare’s cutie mark and eyes glowing faintly, a golden necklace around her neck bearing a gemstone image of the wide-limbed apple tree.

While one of the observers watched intently, the other was driving golf balls off their cloud perch.

The coin fell straight down to the plate. Unseen by both of them beforehand, it rolled around the rim before coming to rest still on its edge directly in the center.

The pair stared accusingly at one another.

The batpony spoke first. “Something changed.”

“What did you do?” Replied the pegasus.

“I can’t see what’s different.”

“I don’t, either.”

The two stared at each other for a minute longer, before looking back down at the impossible coin.

“Interesting.”

If one could have watched their disappearance in microsecond frames, they would seem to move away at a constant rate from any vantage point.