The Passing of Harmony

Chapter Four – Convergence, Part One – The Stars

Monoceros’ horn lit up and a chunk of Twilight’s tree house simply vanished from sight and in walked Red Giant, Nebulae and Solar Flare who immediately looked over the six friends standing side by side.

“What a sorry looking bunch, you guys don’t look half as competent as the last ones.”Solar Flare said as he landed and folded his wings.

“Did you find anything?” Nebulae asked Monoceros, in her uninterested tone.

“Nothing... not a single piece of remotely relevant information.” Monoceros said as she chucked the book she was reading to ground

“YOU!” Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all shouted in unison.

“Ah, Rainbow Dash... How was the bottom of the ocean?” Solar Flare said, invading Rainbow’s personal space. Dash was able to see directly into Sol’s eyes, she was unsettled by his ecstatic nature.

“Actually, it was a lake.” Nebulae interrupted, seeming to be annoyed more with the mistake than the unnecessary taunting.

“Whatever, that’s not the point.” Said Solar Flare, glancing back for a second to make eye contact with Nebulae.

“What is your stupid point then?” asked Rainbow Dash shoving Solar Flare away.

“I’ll bet you wish that you could fly as fast me don’t you, hmm? Speed that makes your beloved Wonderbolts look like snails in comparison but I don’t need to prove that again, do I?” Solar Flare said stifling his usual mad laughter.

“... and what in tarnation are yall doin’ here should you be off smashin’ up somepony else’s barn or have ya had enough?” Said Applejack while she trotted towards Red Giant.

“No, my part of the plan was simply to smash a tree into your barn so you wouldn’t be able to finish your applebucking in time.” Said Red Giant in his deep booming voice.

“But why would yall do that? What do you stand to gain from me losin’?” Said Applejack, surprised by Red Giant's direct answer

Solar Flare quickly chimed in “Because it’s fun, it’s really just reality, Red wanted to do it, you couldn’t stop him and therefore he did it!” Twilight was used to her home being destroyed and overrun by crazy ponies by now so it didn’t take her too long to recover from the fact that she was now missing a wall. Twilight began to speak, trying to deal with the situation logically

“Listen, I don’t know who you are or why you’re he-.” But that was as far as Twilight got because before she could finish her sentence Solar Flare’s hoof was in her mouth.

“I’m not surprised, there’s a lot you don’t know, but Twilight... Don’t you get it? You must be able to see it by now. Imagine what you could come to know if you simply cut off all this dead weight.” Solar Flare went on as he gestured to Twilight’s friends.

“Hey, leave her alone!” Pinkie yelled Solar Flare then turned his attention to the pink Pony, before she could blink Solar Flare was right beside her.

“... and what about you Pinkie? All those smiles that you work so hard to see, gone just like that, it’s enough to drive somepony insane. I know the feeling; I used to be just like that...” Solar Flare said drifting off for a second “Sorry, not time for the origin yet.” Said Solar Flare as he remembered what he was doing “But seriously Monoceros, couldn’t you keep it in your horn for just a few more days? We still had Wallflower and Charity to deal with.” Said Solar Flare now getting in Monoceros’ face, much like he had done to Rainbow Dash earlier.

“Actually my name is Fluttershy...” Said the timid yellow Pegasus, while trying not to draw attention to herself.

“And you can address me as Miss Rarity.” Said Rarity piping up but the four mysterious ponies just continued to ignore them.

“Yeah, sorry but I just got so excited imagining her face when it happened. But the rainbow one ruined it; you should’ve done a better job with her.”Responded Monoceros, in a very snide tone.

“Are we going to let this degrade into a petty debacle or are we going to do what we came here to do?” Said Nebulae, getting sick of her friends quarrelling.

“Hey I’m not arguing, I’m just trying to stall until the perfect moment.” Said Solar Flare peering outside at the setting sun.

“And what moment would that be?” Asked Twilight Sparkle. still confused.

Solar Flare just grinned his grin and said “Twilight, of course.”

Chapter Four – Convergence, Part Two – The Truth

“Though I suppose dusk is more accurate.” Solar Flare said panting as all ten ponies lie aching on the ground after the crash landing, it had all happened so suddenly, one moment they were all standing in Twilight’s tree house the next all six friends had crashed into the floor of the Canterlot throne room. The sonic blast caused by this sudden movement had caused all the stained glass windows to shatter into millions of pieces, two Pegasus guards charged into the room followed by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna the latter of whom had just gotten back from raising the moon.

“Twilight Sparkle, what is the meaning of this?” said Princess Celestia who helped her pupil stand up in her daze.

“Sorry Celly, that ones on me, hypersonic flight you know, it can get pretty hectic going back and forth with passengers a dozen times in just a few seconds.” Said Solar Flare dusting small shards of glass off of himself.

“Don’t worry ‘your highness’ I’ll get these windows fixed right away.” Said Monoceros dramatically emphasising the ’your highness’.

“But that’s impossible, you four can’t possibly be here.” Said Luna, eyes open wide and staring at the scene.

“Now Nightmare, seeing that you’re here it lends itself to reason that we can be here as well. ” Said Nebulae as Monoceros magically pulled the glass out of her mane.

“But you were trapped in the stars, you took my place in the moon!” Said Luna, Twilight and company couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation.

“Princess Celestia, do you know these crazy ponies?” asked Twilight, flicking a piece of glass out of her mane.

“Know us? We’re her best friends in the world!” Said Red Giant as he cracked his neck after the rough landing.

“WHAT!?” Shouted the six friends in unison.

“These varmints are lyin’ right Princess? Apart from being downright impossible, yall wouldn’t even give the time of day to ponies like this right?” Said Applejack putting her trademark hat back on.

“I’m afraid that what Red Giant is saying is completely true and I would expect nothing less from him. Along with Luna and myself, these ponies were the first wielders of the Elements of Harmony.” Said Princess Celestia, bowing her head.

“But Princess, you sa-.” Said Twilight struggling to comprehend how such jerks could represent Harmony but Solar Flare butted in.

“What? Did you think that Celly and Nightmare each represented three elements or something? Let me spell it out for you. Red Giant, never able to tell a lie, was the Element of Honesty, Nebulae with her charm and immeasurable hospitality was the Element of Kindness, Monoceros who always put everyponies needs before her own was the Element of Generosity, Princess Nightmare, who was content to spend eternity in her sister’s shadow was the Element of Loyalty, Celly who had brought us all together and taught us about friendship was the Element of Magic and lastly, drum roll please, I, Solar Flare, who always tried to lighten the mood whatever the situation was the Element of Laughter. Together the six of us rose up against Discord and sealed him in stone, we give Nightmare desire for more in life and how do we get than-...”

Celestia stepped forward “You need to listen.”  Interrupting Sol mid sentence

Solar Flare dropped his grin for what must have been the first time because even Nebulae, Red Giant and Monoceros looked shocked “NO! WE’VE DONE NOTHING BUT LISTEN FOR THE LAST ONE THOUSAND AND TWO YEARS, THIRTY EIGHT WEEKS, TWENTY ONE DAYS, EIGHTEEN HOURS, FORTY SEVEN MINUTES AND TEN SECONDS! NOW IT’S OUR TURN TO SPEAK AND WE ARE GOING TO SHOUT!” Solar Flare let out a sigh and regained his composure.

Celestia was wounded by Solar Flares words but she had to stay confident “What did Discord do to you four?” Celestia asked trying to remember how her friends use to be.

“Face it Celestia, it wasn’t Discord. It was you. With your ‘I am the sole protector of Equestria’ attitude, once you banished us you even took over changing the time of day yourself.” Red Giant said, glaring at the royal sisters.

“You used the spell I taught you to purge all memory of us from Equestria and even rid the text books of any mention of the four of us even going as far as to give you and Nightmare sole credit for getting rid of Discord by yourselves.” Monoceros said, spitefully making sure the words hurt both Luna and Celestia.

“It was my only choice, I had to make sure that what happened to the six of us would never happen again.” Celestia defended herself but Nebulae became aggressive as well.

“But it did happen, it kept happening, in some it was more subtle and in others it was obvious and it’ll happen to these six as well, we’ve made sure of that.” Nebulae said, sound in the knowledge that Celestia knew she was right.

Fluttershy found her voice first “What will happen to us?” She said trembling slightly.

Solar Flare flew over to the six friends “I’m glad you asked Wallflower, we became twisted, we became evil and worst of all we became real.” Solar Flare said, his trademark grin had returned to his face but this time there was more of a sense of malice behind it.

Red Giant spoke first “My Honesty became a harsh perception of Reality.”

Nebulae was next “My Kindness begets good deed after another but to no end and I eventually degraded into a sense of Nihilism.”

Monoceros took her turn “My Generosity was taken advantage of one too many and I realised that it was great for everypony else but for me it was just Sacrifice.”

Solar Flare once again had the floor “And I realised that Laughter was no consolation when you’re laughing alone but I got too used to the sound of my empty cackling and I simply called it Madness.  You already know that Loyalty wasn’t enough to keep Nightmare Moon company during those cold nights all alone and she turned to pure Envy and lastly our beloved Princess Celly who drove her friends and family away with the Magic she held so dearly, but you can’t hug magic and she was left all alone in complete Solitude. And so the Elements of Hatred were created. That’s the name I came up with, what do you think? ” Solar Flare finished.

Nebulae decided to pick up were Sol left off “I, Red, Sol, Monoceros and Nightmare Moon joined forces one last time, to banish Celestia to the moon so that she could watch Equestria live under eternal night for the rest of her days but she deflected the spell at us transforming Nightmare into the Mare in the Moon and sending the four of us to the centres of surrounding stars unable to escape, unable to die. But I had planned for this and I had Monoceros perform a spell that would allow a normal Pony to move a star in manner similar to how an Alicorn raises the moon and stars each night, in much the same way that there are spells that allow Earth Ponies to walk on clouds, it was difficult and took many years but we managed to move the stars to the moon and free Nightmare Moon. ” She finished her speech and took a deep breath.

Luna had heard enough and shouted at the top of her lungs “MY NAME IS LUNA!” She charged at Nebulae with her horn bared, Monoceros acted quickly teleporting Red Giant into Luna’s path and he immediately prepared to kick with all of his force, Twilight Sparkle had seen the damage this red stallion could do and she quickly tackled Luna and teleported the both of them a few metres to the left and the giants mighty kick connected with nothing but thin air.

“Enough of this madness!” Princess Celestia yelled horrified at how close to death Twilight and Luna had both just come “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for what’s happened to you four but I had no choice, it was the five of you or the entirety of Equestria. I had to do what was right for Ponies everywhere and I couldn’t allow myself to be absorbed by the same madness that claimed all of you and I had to cut all five of you off.” Celestia explained.

“One thing that I’ve always wanted to ask you Celly.”Solar flare hadn’t even seemed to listen to her apology. “What was it like banishing five of the strongest and smartest Ponies to have ever been born, including your own sister, a fellow Alicorn?” He asked ,trying to hurt Celestia in the simplest way.

“Stop it!” Said Celestia, reliving her darkest moments.

“To essentially have harnessed the powers of the Elements of Harmony all by yourself, it must have nearly burned you from the inside out, hmm? How did you not go mad with the power? ...Just imagining it is almost too much for me.” Solar Flare said while he continued ignoring her.

“I’m begging you please, just stop!” Celestia screamed at the Pegasus, she recalled what had led to this horrible chain of events.

Monoceros speaking louder, picked up the conversation “What’s the matter Celestia? Does it hurt? Are you having trouble remembering? Well, friend...”she said adding a sarcastic emphasis to the word ‘friend’ while her horn began to glow “LET’S SHOW EVERYPONY HOW IT WENT!” As she said this a grey orb floated into the centre of the room. “What do you think, Sol? First day of school?”

Sol began cackling “Great idea, Minnie.” He said through the laughter. The grey orb expanded and before anypony could do anything, they found themselves looking in on a happy scene. A brightly decorated room with a banner that said ‘Welcome to the Alicorn Princesses, Celestia and Luna.’

Chapter Four – Convergence, Part Three – Destiny

Over one thousand years ago...

“Sol, the Princesses are going to be here soon and all you’ve done is fill the balloons I gave you with water.” Said a serious looking brown filly no older than eight.

“Lighten up Nibbles. I’m just tryin to have a little fun, no reason for me to stop just because some fancy Ponies are stopping by our school” said a young Solar Flare as he chucked another water balloon at a young Red Giant who had come out from hiding to see what Nebulae wanted.

“I told you not to call me that! Why can’t you see that this is a big deal? This is the first Pony School in Canterlot and the Child Princess Sisters, Celestia and Luna are coming to commemorate the event themselves.” said Nebulae who was sick of Sol’s stupid nicknames and goofing around when suddenly a young grey unicorn burst into the room just as Sol dropped a balloon on Nebulae, the unicorn quickly caught the balloon with her magic and Sol let out an exasperated sigh.

“Minnie, why do you feel the need to ruin everything.” Said Sol, bored with his job. Monoceros looked shocked. “Me? Ruining? I’m not the ruiner, I’m the ruinee... er, ruiness? That’s not the point the Princesses are here!” she said, startled by the trumpet fanfare. She chucked the water balloon behind her which landed squarely on Princess Celestia’s horn, soaking her wet.

Everypony was deathly silent, the other student’s were out in the court not aware that the Princesses had gone inside to inspect the classrooms personally. At this time Celestia’s mane was only a soft shade of pink and Luna’s mane was short kept and light blue, even at her young age Celestia stood slightly taller than your average Pony. The silence was eventually broken when Celestia started laughing and Luna joined in after a few seconds as well, within a few moments all six ponies were in uproarious laughter.

“Now do you see Luna? This is why I do these visits personally; I get to meet so many brilliant ponies. Tell me, what are your names?” asked Celestia, Solar Flare jumped on this opportunity.

“I’m Sol, future fastest flyer in Equestria! This tall colt is Red Shrimp, the straight haired monochrome Unicorn is Minnie and the chestnut filly shooting daggers with her eyes is Nibbles. I guess you can be Celly and Lulu then.” Sol said sitting on Celestia’s back. Monoceros teleported Sol back over to them and Red Giant held him down while Nebulae tried to fix the situation.

“I’m so sorry Princess, our friend is, for lack a better word... an idiot. I’m Nebulae, this is Red Giant, Monoceros and you already met Solar Flare, for all his debauchery he really is a talented flier and can see the lighter side of any situation. Hehehe.” Nebulae laughed nervously.

“Actually, I’ve always found that laughter is a necessity.” Said Celestia as she shook out her mane in an attempt to get it dry.

“YES! Finally somepony who gets it! Laughter is as important as breathing to me.” Said Solar Flare excited that somepony shared his view .

“What do each of you find important, my little Ponies?” Celestia asked the other three friends.

“Always telling the truth.” Said Red Giant.

“Always treating others nicely.” Said Nebulae.

“It’s more important to share than to have.” Said Monoceros, lastly.

“I think you’ve found your Ponies.” Said Luna smiling.

“Found your Ponies? For what?” asked Nebulae.

“I’ve been asked to be the headmaster of this school and I’ve been looking for a group of gifted Ponies to be my apprentices, so what do you say?” Celestia asked with a reassuring tone.

“You want us? Quite possibly the four most socially inept Ponies to be your personal protégés?” asked Solar Flare.

“Yes, I’ve met a lot of wonderful Ponies that I’m glad to call my friends but I’ve never met anypony able to throw a water balloon at me and laugh it off like it was nothing. I’d be proud to call you Ponies my friends.” Said Celestia.

“We’re in!” They all said in unison...

Ten years later

It’s graduation day and Princess Celestia is addressing her students “... and I’m proud that I could oversee the growth of every single one of you. But enough from me let’s hear from your class valedictorian, Nebulae Castor!” said Princess Celestia as she stepped away from the podium and Nebulae stepped up to speak.

“My fellow students, I feel blessed to have spent all these years learning alongside you and it isn’t my intention to bore you all to death with a longwinded speech so I’ll simply say, as the first graduating class of the Canterlot Academy it is up to us to set the standard for matur-...” She was cut off by loud noises from the crowd.

“YEAH! YOU TELL ‘EM NIBBLES!” Shouted Solar Flare from the audience.

“WOOO!” Cheered Monoceros, Red Giant quickly sit them both down and covered their mouths and nodded to Nebulae to continue

“Ahem, to set the standard for maturity and excellence.” She concluded her sentenced.There was a thunderous applause and the crowd soon dispersed to meet with their loved ones.

“The four of you have grown so much.” Said Luna who flew over to them.

“And you haven’t aged a day since we met, that is so rude of you!” Said Monoceros, the four ponies were now about half a foot taller than Luna (except Red Giant who was almost twice her size) and were roughly the same height as Celestia.

“So what now, Celly?” Solar Flare asked putting his hoof around Celestia.

“I’ve had your positions in my castle planned out since the moment I saw you four in action. Solar Flare, you are the new Captain of the Royal Guard, Red Giant you will be Luna and my own personal Bodyguard, Monoceros you will be my Court Wizard, here’s the key to Magic Archive and lastly Nebulae you will be my Royal Advisor. You’ll each be the youngest Ponies to hold these roles so remember, all eyes are on you.” Celestia said preparing herself for the shocked responses, Red Giant then pushed Solar Flare away from Celestia.

“Nopony gets that close to the Princess.” He said in his low voice and all six friends started laughing together.

Chapter Four - Convergence, End