Charity

Chapters

New element
Filly Foal
The Nature of Harmony
Gala Snaps
The strength to move forward

New element

There she was playing honoured guest to the most insane creature of all of Equestria. Through a fog of buzzing black flies, Charity struggled to fathom what she had gotten herself into. Staring hard enough she could make out a few details. On a long table with seats accommodating a meagre eight or so, Charity sat at the head of the table. Opposite of where she supposed the host would be. The flies flew just slightly above the level of the table's height and slowly thickened as the cloud of insects buzzed closer and closer to the ceiling. As a result the room was dimly lit as the burning lamps above were obscured.

Charity looked up towards a set of chandeliers above her and narrowed her eyes to see struggling silhouettes within the gaps of the black cloud, forming solid black shadows that obscured the light. Her friends were there struggling against the ropes tied on each pair of their legs. They were held up above by thick metal chains that rattled with each little movement. The pair were swinging pointlessly amongst the chandeliers in the pink room and for some reason her concern for the two felt so alien.

Streamers and balloons lined the windowless, doorless walls with red stains seeping through the fabric of the wallpaper. Despite the lack of memory of seeing the room in it's unobscured entirety, she just knew these details. Blood. The room stank of it. The whole room buzzed as petulant flies swarmed the place in droves as five mares lined the seats to the sides of her, attracted by their dead, decomposing flesh. She stared at them in turn, their faces hidden in a cloud of flies, but their hooves and torsos visible just below the cloudline. From their posture, they all sat up straight with their forehooves neatly on the chair arms.

Charity tried to move herself from that very position but found her hooves binded to the chair arms herself. Her stomach and chest tied to the back of the chair as well, to maintain her posture. A normal person would panic, but she felt a resolve of surrender. She knew it was pointless somehow, she knew her fate was inevitable. Whatever fate that may be.

The chains above rattled a little more vigorously now, as the muffled voices of her two friends cried out to her in vain. She knew in her heart of hearts that she should do what she could to save those poor souls. It was, after all, in her element to do so. But in this reality, she felt nothing for them. To her they were perfect strangers, no one of her business or acquaintance to care for. This isn't right! I should help them! They were of no consequence, what mattered was what will soon befall her, in this dark, bloody room.

The two struggled against their bindings, dispelling the flies around them a little to make them a little clearer to see. Charity reacted to the increase of light that caused and forced her eyes to struggle against the glare. They spoke muffled warnings and cries of panic over the loud buzzing, yet she could hear their muffled words clearly, as if they shouted into her own ear. She did not heed their words, they matter little to her, they weren't important in the slightest. There was no fear in her to understand the direness they feared. Charity stared at the pair with interest, intrigued as any would be by the alien and strange. She didn't know those two but for some reason she was certain they were her friends. She searched her memories and couldn't fathom such things. Her? With friends? What, indeed, is a friend? What could possibly make her so sad, as to want those?

Intrigued by the prospect she noted them. Taking in their details and committing them to memory. It could mayhaps be her clue into an ever implausible mystery that was harmony. That word. Her eyes furrowed in thought at the word. Harmony, peace, tranquilly, what nonsense is that? She stared, enquiring inwarding, staring unheeded by the buzzing insects that dare perch themselves in her eyes.

The two ponies above were two colts. One was blue coloured colt, who wore big rounded black rimmed goggles. The glass over his eyes were a deep coloured magenta. His silver mane was cut in a simple straight cut, protruding from which was a blue horn that swung as his head did to and fro in a vain attempt to cut the ropes that bind him. Ropes that rattled like chains. The other colt was orange and wore a stetson hat on his head in defiance to gravity. His body was lined with vines that caressed him. His green eyes looked at her speaking with them, as if to say-

Nope, never met the likes of you in my life.

"Tea time every pony!" With a loud clanking slam a pink mare had placed a silver tray filled with pink tableware, complete with a tea set for eight. Upon the voice of the cheery looking mare the flies had dropped. Dead.

Looking across the falling veil of flies, she saw the pink mare meet her eyes with her own big rounded ones and grinned widely. Her mane was as bubbly as her personality as they curled and puffed to look almost as if it were made of cotton candy. Each tiny movement funnily made it bob up and down, the spectacle of which drew Charity's attention to that. Now her eyesight no longer obscured, she made a point to look at the other guests. Chiming in at her attentions, the pink mare began her horrific little party piece.

"Can ah have some tea Pinkie pah?" The pink mare moved to the Stetson wearing corpse's mouth like a puppet and spoke in a bad southern drawl. The stetson wearing colt above could be heard screaming a muffled shout of rage at the display.

"Why certainly Miss Turnip." The pink mare replied, making a point to raise her chin to seem dignified and poised. Dashing off to the side of the dead mare, she delicately placed a saucer and cup before it and poured out a red gooey liquid out of the pot. She had held it high so that each lumpy part noisily splashed out of the cup. Grinning at the on looking Charity she continued to throw lumps of sugar into the cup whilst she stood on two legs on top of the table. Clearly she was taking great pleasure on how uncomfortable she was making the little filly feel. Diving off of the table she vanished behind the dead cow-mare and appeared beside a rainbow maned pegasus.

Stop it.

"This is one great party. You really outdone yourself!" She held out a hoof over the shoulder of the corpse and began to jostle the head in time with the mimed speech. Her impression gave her a gruff masculine voice to her character.

You monster, stop it.

"Why thank you Rocky." She said in a quick reply until she dashed off to another.

Stop hurting my friends.

"I'm having a delightful time as well." An elegant and poised white unicorn, said. No the pink mare mimed. This was getting out of hoof. I want out of this. Charity made her attempt to move but had found her hoofs still tied to the arms of the chair. Suddenly her neck looped through a rope, forcing her head back to her seat. Her head looked up now as her neck craned against the top of the chair.

Don't touch her!

"I'm so glad Sir Lintsalot" The pink mare projected over the table from besides the little white filly. Charity had to look down to her chin to see what was happening.

A demon has no business violating a saint!

"Might I trouble you with another slice of cake?" The pink monstrosity flapped the child's gums in a high pitched voice.

"Why, of course!" The rope around her neck had grown taut as she felt an intense burst of pressure on her windpipe. "Take your cake and eat it."

Gasping for air Charity had found herself reaching out to the dead white mare. Her curly purple mane, those elegant eye lashes. Rarity... Save me... I... I need you... That's right she knew that mare. The element bearer of generosity. Saint Rarity save me. Her vision was blurring now and her vision had begun to fade into black. Her lungs on fire and just about to burst.

Charity awoke with a start and instinctively reached for her neck. She could feel nothing was amiss and looking at her hoof she had realised she was merely drenched in hot sticky sweat. By the soreness of her eyes, there were tears as well.

It had been all a horrible dream She took a deep breath to calm herself. Almost immediately her heart slowed to a canter. I am with the order, in my chambers, safe and sound. She attempted to sigh with relief but was instead welcomed with a fit of coughing. A hacking, irritable kind as she gathered whatever was building in her throat with a great hawking and spat out what was threatening to choke her.

There in the middle of her room, a small spatter of congealed blood lay there. And by the tang slowly building on her tongue, more was coming.

"Saint Rarity save me. The demon nearly had me." Her voice was hoarse but she was definitely alive and breathing.

Charity scanned through her memories despite how much it scared her to. You need to be brave Charity. You have a job to do. She knew that all of her dreams had meaning, prophetic dreams of which the spirit of generosity guided her to her next goal or to her dismay often times warnings from the demon mare.

Pinkie Pie had not grown wise to it yet but she had been using these nightmares the pink mare gave her as a guide. Pinkie Pie was not an intelligent beast, acting on impulse and emotion she tended to do rash things, Charity had found. Leaving behind a clue here, an indication there, she followed the horrid visions to their conclusions. Often times saving many lives as a result. Today was a warning for her, the demon of laughs wanted to her to beware the six mares and the two colts she knew. Charity had been on the right track all along.

She had no doubt now that the saint had made her, her prophet. Rarity wanted her to go on this pilgrimage she had been dreaming of since foalhood. And by Pinkie's apparent fear, it was clear to her that she was ready to make a start on it.

"I'm not afraid anymore Pinkie. I'm not your foal anymore. I'm not."

I'm not a child anymore. I am a prophet. The successor to saint Rarity.

Author's Note

Author note: this is a post NLR vs SE war era story for my group War for Equestria, about the battle the church of harmony has against the cult of Discord. For background info or question join/visit the group. For those curious about Pinkie Pie. Please read Demon of laughs

Filly Foal

The library like all things within the churches of the order were underground and made of white marble. They glowed with supposed holy power, illuminating the dark passages with light. Even the shelves of the library were made of the stuff, sticking out the floor and sculpted out in the single piece of marble that made the whole building.

Charity sat at the order's library perusing through atlases and maps of Equestria. Guide books piled on high beside her and a still uneaten daffodil sandwich. Once again to the local librarian's ire Charity has raided the archives and most certainly be leaving a mess when she's done. The pony can't complain outrightly however, organising books were better suited to him than facing the horrors of war, despite the tedium it could present. But it just never ends! Passing Charity's table every so often a nagging feeling built up inside. Clopping his hoofs noisily as he crossed the white marble floor the temptation to peek grew beyond control, as clearly little Charity was up to something the church didn't like.

The city of Celestia is the gem of the Solar empire. It is the centre of government, military, commerce, education and culture. As such, it is often said that all roads lead to Celestia. The Librarian read in his head, distancing himself from the table he read from afar as to not seem obvious about his nosing about.

"Everypony who's anypony lives there. Somewhere in this city, Twilight Sparkle is out there. As the only living element bearer, only she knows what happened to the others." Charity mumbled absent-mindedly as she took a bite of her sandwich letting crumbs fall on ancient parchment over thousands of years old.

One morning like many mornings before, Charity had awoke to terrible dreams. Visions of the demon mare making threats, tempting promises and seductive lies. But within these were messages, the truth was there to be found. Ironically the demon mare's efforts to deter were only horrifying encouragement for the filly.

The church was wrong. Prophecy does not merely happen, Pinkie showed her that. Waiting for the miracle of harmony would not save the world. It needed to be searched out and found. If she stayed any longer spending these idle nightmare filled days, the demon of laughs would eventually succeed in breaking her. Three years of nothing was the proof she needed.

She needed to go to Celestia, her doubts of that were banished with that vision of that pink room. The church's good intentions be damned, she would not suffer years of house arrest any longer. She was grateful for their education and generosity in raising her, a dirty half breed orphan. But ignoring the call to action has come to its limit. It was time she followed, the saint's beckoning to quest for her friends.

If the church wanted to follow her, then she would have them do so if she wished. But no longer would she let them make her follow their overprotective decree of imprisoning her for her protection.

The Cathedral of Saint Rarity was relatively close to the capital of the Solar empire. With only a day's walk away Charity had finally found herself before the majestic city in all it's glory. Over the surrounding city walls, crystal spires rose to twinkle in the sunlight. From her viewpoint on the outside, she dared to suspect the whole city was just one big giant pincushion of buildings rising up to meet the sky. But before she could to find out...

...she had to deal with these two.

"Hello there Charity." A pair of unicorns chimed in unison. One orange mare held a chipper expression on her face and said her piece with an enthused fiery, sickeningly happy, charge. While the white one beside spoke with indifference and monotone interest.

THAT SON OF A MARE! He spoke, that stupid librarian spoke. There she was out in the wilds taking the long trek to Celestia and right at the gates, who else should welcome her but Sugar and Spice! Two of the agents charged to foal sit everything she attempts. She could never make any progress with these two around. She had hoped she would escape fairly far from them before she was caught because they were on a mission.

"He talked didn't he." That cursed librarian. That nosey colt of a son of a mare!

"Oh no, true to his word he kept quiet about your little trip." said Sugar. The monotone of her voice broke into something vaguely like amusement.

"But we were eavesdropping the whole time and you leaving a pile of books and maps pointing to the city of Celestia... kind of made it obvious." Spice chimed in after Sugar.

"Just stay out of my way." Charity through gritted teeth spoke out. Trying for the life of her to salvage some form of dignity.

"For now... we will do as you say little madam" The two unicorns spoke in unison and parted way in unison so she had free passage to the city gates.

Purposely Charity walked towards it. It was still a long walk towards it as it loomed with it's enormity in the distance. Indeed they were right, She had been a foal. She had made herself easy to track and left herself too exposed, but they didn't have to rub it in. She was perfectly capable of doing things on her own. And she was gonna prove it!

Just as she was about to reach for the knocker on the gates she was barred by two overlapping halberds.

"Halt! State your business, mongrel!" Charity looked back to the two unicorns giggling in the distance and she grimaced. After they were done with their laughs they cantered over to the guards and winked at one.

"You didn't think they'd just let you into the city, right?" Spice smirked as the gate guard blushed at her gesture.

"I wager she also thought she could just waltz right into the palace to talk to Twilight Sparkle." Sugar took a hoof to Charity's mane and nuggied it.

Exasperated Charity gave in.

"You win... I admit I will need your help."

"Well, it doesn't seem like we'll be able to convince you to go back." Started Sugar.

"And we can't leave you alone so easily." Chirped Spice.

"So we'll just have to help you until you're satisfied." Both said in unison.

Charity wasn't listening however. Once the guards knew who she was associated with they didn't dare stop her entering into the city.

High in the greatest tower of the school of magic, Twilight Sparkle sat in her chambers looking out onto the city. Everypony buzzed with activity as they went about their business. It was market day, so the city square held a plethora of stands of which merchants from across the land shouted across the city to advertise their wares. Pegusii flew across the skies, darting in and out of her vision, kicking up a light breeze that could be felt from the highest tower to the lowest common. Battle was coming and word from the city of Flare, had confirmed enemy forces were campaigning across the empire. Pretty soon the army of the capital would be marching and depending on the severity of the threat, she might have to join them.

And so the cycle continues

"I hear there is a new mare in the city." A voice in the room said giggling as if the mare were a school filly just begging to blurt out a secret she was meant to keep.

"What of it? There are always new ponies in the city." Twilight spoke with as much disinterest she could muster. But she knew better than to doubt just how much her friend knew her.

"But no pony of white coat and purple manes I wager." The voice said, but there was no one in the room, Twilight knew that. No one had any ability to be in the room unless they knew the enchantments. Those who didn't tended to stop being so... meddlesome.

It can't be... Rarity? Twilight thought.

"Nay." said Pinkie pie in response

"This is one of your sick jokes." It always was, she only ever came to put a damper on her days.

"Nay" This was a lie, surely.

"Just another way for you to torture me of my sin." It had to be. White coat and purple mane is a rarely heard of breeding. Even amongst the mongrels of Equestria.

"Nay" Pinkie said in a very horse-like manner and giggled. This did nothing but make a vein pulse with hate at the sound.

"I was angry. I... she was a traitor. She was helping the enemy." Twilight couldn't help but have the memory play in her mind. She had found the medical tent Rarity had worked. Filled to the brim with the injured and dying of the republic.

"You killed a saint Twilight Sparkle. A pony who had thrown her life away so that she could help ponies in need." The voice conjured that image in her mind. Each tiny moment in sickening detail as the life of that mare vanished from her eyes. The pain that mare felt too gruesome for her mind to handle, until finally her body had gone limp. Dying from the shock of such horrid sadistic torture.

"WHY DO YOU TORMENT ME LIKE THIS!? Why do you make me so miserable? You use to work so hard to bring a smile to everypony's faces" Twilight was striking out at the whatever she could. Crushing whatever she could underhoof in some vague hope that somewhere Pinkie would be crushed where she hid.

"But no one was there to make Pinkie smile. You left me, all of you, all alone. While you had the time of your lives. partying without me." Pinkie's tone was uncharacteristically sombre. It left Twilight a cold feeling in her heart. A certain dread that just wouldn't leave.

"I know you all call it a war. But with that smile on your face as you kill pony after pony... Pinkie thinks you protest too much." In her mind Twilight could feel Pinkie's smile than see it, conjuring those memories of the battlefield, that euphoric orgasmic feeling as she fought armies upon armies of ponies.

"You have fun out there. You are having a ball in this... eternal party." Pinkie giggled but there was an edge to it that could easily be mistaken for distraught sobbing.

"Pinkie knows. Pinkie sees." Pinkie whispered seemingly into Twilight's ear.

"I am great and powerful. I am Twilight Sparkle the greatest unicorn that ever lived." Pinkie said in a high pitched impression of her closest of friends.

"Stop talking like that mare." Twilight spoke as calmly as she could. There was a gravelly tone to her voice, growling with hate.

"Stop pretending like you're still a pony. You evil monster!" She shouted out at the walls around her.

"No matter what you might think. Pinkie will always be there."

"For you... For everypony Pinkie will be there to be your friend."

"And then... I will bring a smile your face."

"We are still friends. Right Twilight?"

Twilight's lip quivered, scared to speak. Pinkie was a monster and yet, she had to admit Pinkie Pie was indeed Pinkie Pie. They were friends. Nothing would change that.

"You have to decide soon Twilight. Your people or your friends." With those words Twilight felt a shadow escape her and as if a great burden had lifted she fell kneeling to the floor. Holding back the need to sob.

Then a knock came to the door.

"Lady Twilight. We have brought you a visitor."

Author's Note

Charity is clueless, lucky she's surrounded by competent supporting cast. If you call a naive little girl, a mary sue. I'm calling bollocks on you.

The Nature of Harmony

Twilight sparkle had long since established that her chambers were her fortress of solitude. With so many forces at work after her head, it would not be foolish to take such a basic measure. Alone with books stacked sometimes high and sometimes low she would immerse herself for days on end developing magic and strategies for the empire. She would then go to the university to teach worthy unicorns and pony generals or find hapless fools or prisoners of war to experiment them on. As such her chambers not only acted as her place of respite, it also acted as the greatest vault of knowledge in all of Equestria. Naturally,Twilight has enchanted the room with so much protective magic that no pony besides her and Shining armour or the empress herself would ever enter that room, under punishment of a multitude of possible horrible deaths.

And yet there she was, a mongrel bred filly of night purple mane and sun bleached white coat. Charity just had no idea of the honour she was given to stand within such a hallowed chamber. Especially how fortunate she was to be alive within the room.

"Can I please take off the blindfold?" Charity shook her head to loosen the piece of silk across her eyes but it refused her will. Her horn sparked with pain with every attempt of magic she tried as well.

Twilight stared at the filly for a long time, leaving her to grope about blindly while Twilight contemplated what exactly was before her. Who was this child that would be of so much importance that her two students would so hastily send the child to me directly to my chambers? More importantly why did I trust her so easily as to let her in?

"What is your name, filly?" If she claims to be Rarity or Sweetie belle, I'll be certain that demon's trickery is at play. Pinkie pie, just what are you up to sending me this thing? Is this you sending me a chance to redeem myself? Or is this just another of your false hopes you sent to torture me some more?

"My name is Charity... ummm highness... I come from the Church of Saint Rarity to ask you about the elements of harmony." Charity opted for a cautious approach, pretending to only be a member of the church was good enough. She didn't need to know her role in it. Especially if Twilight was everything the young girl had feared, or rather the church has always feared. A bearer of harmony that fell to chaos.

There was a reason Twilight has not been trying to reunite the elements. Whether it is cruel circumstance or a turning of sides, there was simply no way of knowing whether she was friend or foe at this point. However, Twilight Sparkle is Charity's only hope in progressing in her quest, no book can tell her beyond what many ponies had already known. Only Twilight Sparkle would know what became of the other five elements.

Well it was either Twilight Sparkle or impossibly get an audience with the Empress, who to common knowledge kills half breeds on sight. Rarity wasn't exactly a talkative type and the demon of laughs, would just laugh at me while horrifying me with torture and madness.

"I... see... For you to be able to convince my students in bringing you here to ask that, you must be a very special filly." Charity's poker face was so obvious that even the two mares outside the room felt it's sudden snap to existence.

Am I so easy to read? Charity did not like that smile on Twilight's face.

"Relax filly, I'm a big supporter of the church. Why do you think I took in Sugar and Spice as my students? They think they infiltrated my circle with their "charm", but in actuality I brought them in because of two reasons. One reason was that they were two very gifted unicorns and secondly they were not nobles that fall into the trappings of imperial politics." Charity still couldn't see her, but by the tone of her voice she seemed nice. She could feel her smile, like a warm ray of sunshine.

"Yes... It is true that I'm very important to the church. Despite their refusal to let me. I'm on a pilgrimage to find the elements of harmony."

"I... see..." The sound in Twilight's voice was not missed by Charity. Her confident jovial tone had taken a melancholy turn and it had taken a dangerous edge to her words, though that could have been her imagination. "You must be this 'new element' Sugar and Spice talk about. Honestly, those two are very bad at keeping secrets." The princess giggled to herself, but the lack of mirth was not lost to the small filly.

"The Church still thinks they can reunite the elements of harmony. My friends are dead, girl. You can't just replace friends with 'new elements!'" Twilight was shouting that last line, appalled and wholly insulted by what she was perceiving before her. Like something she thought to be a joke had suddenly been revealed to be a serious matter.

"And they send out a filly to quest for them no less. You must be quite an important little one." Twilight's tone was most definitely intended to intimidate and condescend, but Charity had had her shares of sticks and stones. Charity was not the kind of filly to be fazed by mere jeers, the smug little smirk certainly gave that away. But behind that small measure of bravado was doubt. She had only been on her quest for a full day and already, she was discovered, found incompetent and helpless and even incapable of being tactful. Clearly Charity was nothing more than a naive child to the old and wise Twilight Sparkle, and somewhere in her, Charity was beginning to believe she wasn't up to the task as well.

A child going out into this large and loveless world, searching out vainly for hope. The Church is a joke. Her friends are either dead or insane. No pony among them alive wants the other to live, vulnerable immortals fearful of death. And this filly wants them to undo eons of hatred and rivalry? This child is fate's foal. This one is most certainly another of the demon mare's cruel little jokes.

None of us can be saved. But I can at least save this filly.

Charity had been patiently listening, determined to try for any kind of reply but she had only met her opposition's rant with silence. Twilight sparkle didn't speak for what seemed a very long time after she realised the filly was on the brink of breaking. Charity couldn't help but imagine what expression was on that old mare's face. A mixture of emotion welled inside the child, fear and hope and impatience and anger all churned inside. Literally anything could happen with Twilight now.

Charity heard the old mare sigh. A gentle hoof touched her flank and wheeled her to a gentle breeze.

Was her journey going to end here? Was she going to fold into the pressure and continue to hide and slowly go mad with nightmares just as what everyone wanted?

Charity was staking everything on the conclusion Twilight would give. It was unfair of the filly but from the beginning she had staked her journey on Twilight Sparkle. It seemed she was too weak to decide on her own, just yet.

"Look out into the city, Charity and tell me what you see." With Twilight's telekinesis, the silk fabric untied and was let go to be caught by the wind, forgotten. A guiding hoof led her to somewhere windy, pointing outwards signalling her to the grand metropolis below. Charity stood precariously to the edge of a long drop while Twilight stood behind her pushing her out, just barely keeping her on solid ground as the filly's forehooves leaned out and over the windowsill. At any given moment she could fall by the slightest nudge from the old mare, but her warm touch and the smell of her lavender coat seemed strangely calming. Nostalgic even, perhaps even motherly. Or at least this was what Charity could guess as motherly. Memories of her mother a distant memory, if even that in her mind. She looked out at the busy city and opted to speak frankly, sensing that Twilight intended to make some sort of point.

"Just ponies going about their daily lives." Charity said simply, after her moment of thought.

"Is this not harmony?" Charity was taken aback by this statement, her desire to react with bewilderment died as she remembered her precarious situation and instead decided to remain calm. One careless misstep would end with her demise. Twilight, to Charity's realisation, was trying to pressure her with fear. She was being held up to her only choice, being to comply and obey her ideals with Twilight nonchalantly threatening her to do so. But to what end?

To what end indeed?

"Yes. But what about places outside this city. The battles being fought, the people getting killed, robbed or... even worse." Charity closed her eyes to feel the embrace of gravity and the inevitable slam against the hard cobblestones below, but it didn't come.

"Usually I don't trust people with these things, but I know you're a good girl." These were the words Charity heard before she felt her stomach lurch. Instantly she was in the rooftops of the royal palace to some sort of empty war council room. On the long table Twilight unfurled a long parchment. It was a map of Equestria marking the borders of the night and day by differing the shading of two sides of the map.Twilight then floated over pieces of stones on the corner to keep the parchment in place. She then placed black and white play pieces on the map that Charity could safely assume to be military forces.

"As you can see Canterlot is currently in our control." Twilight said indicated by the dot captioned Canterlot and the many white pieces around it.

"The night has retreated westward and are preparing a counter offensive." The old mare used her magic to move a few black pieces to the left of the map and began adding more pieces from other parts of the night side to join with the ones from the dot named Canterlot.

"My forces cannot afford to pursue them and finish them off. And so, I alone have returned to Celestia to bolster the defenses with reinforcements." Currently the black pieces close to Canterlot had numbered vastly compared to the white pieces in Canterlot, even a child could tell that the white pieces would lose.

"However by the time they get there, the already exhausted forces of my army will be overwhelmed. like so" Insulting Charity's intelligence, Twilight demonstrates what she had already surmised. She moves the mass of black pieces and removes the white pieces from the table. Meanwhile white pieces gather at the middle of the Solar Empire around a dot named Celestia.

"I intend to retake the city once more... and the cycle will repeat." The white mass from Celestia moves to Canterlot and retakes Canterlot, forcing a few black pieces to retreat westward while many are removed from the table. And as she says, everything repeats from the beginning.

"This has been going on for eons, much like the day and night itself we ponies live in harmony of each other waxing and waning as the situation sees fit. But never winning over the other." Charity marvelled at this new perspective. It was amazing how this war had gone on for so long that it could be put down into cycle of power. A waxing and waning of forces. However.

"War is not harmonious. Far from it" Charity said simply. She didn't know how she was so certain but she knew she was.

"There is a huge difference between harmony and tranquillity. Ponies live and die even in times of peace, but never in the days before the war have we truly lived with any true purpose." Twilight retorted anticipating such a response. But she was certain that this theory was sound. Tranquillity is the achievement of peace but harmony is the equilibrium of good and evil.

"You've gone mad. There is nothing good coming out of this war. Only death and destruction. I want an end to this destruction so that everypony can live without fear." She use to think that once. How naive she was, the world was so simple then. A world of black and white. She would be out there in the world with her best friends, smiting evil with powerful magic all in the name of peace. But that peace was not harmony. Harmony was how evil rose and fell while we both struggled for supremacy. Such a simple insight that I had been so blind for so many years.

"War is an engine of innovation. Fear and the threat of destruction will always exist child, even after war is gone. At least this way the march of progress continues." Yes, the more I research and experiment, the more lives I save. The more lives I save the more soldiers there will be and the more this harmony will continue. Who needs demons and spirits that want to kill you for friends? I have an empire that loves me.

"This is not you Twilight Sparkle. You use to write so many letters about such times when you put an end to the conflicts big and small, and wrote it down and sent it all to Celestia, telling her about your lessons on the magic of friendship." Both ponies present were surprised by this revelation.

"How do you know about that?" said Twilight, demanding an answer than asking for one.

"I dunno... it seems whenever I'm near you I get these vague memories in my head... just now I had a flashback." Charity massaged her temples with her hooves, trying to dig deeper into her mind. Trying once more to grasp something, maybe the information she needed. If she reached deep enough, maybe she could tell what happened to the element bearers.

"Rarity...?" Twilight held Charity close, looking the filly deep in the eyes as if looking for another soul inside that body.

"She is my guardian, long before I lived in the order. Rarity visited upon me memories and dreams of happier times. A mad war orphan wandering the wilds with visions of... friends. It made life... bearable to live. This hope in my heart, will never leave. Because Rarity gave it to me." Charity spoke with no hesitation, with a persevering tone, a tenacity that was all too familiar to Twilight. The two ponies looking deep into each other's eyes, they exchanged the truth in each other and touched their hearts for the briefest moment.

"I am not her, Twilight sparkle. She is gone. I am her successor, I am the new element of generosity and I want you to have my hope." Tears were running Twilight's face as the filly embraced her, she was warm to the touch. A soft flame that was warm to the touch, impossibly warmer and yet gentler than the fiery hate in her heart.

And then she pushed it away.

"Keep it. If what you say is true, then Rarity entrusted it to you for a reason. I will opt to wait and see, and if you truly are what you claim to be then someday you will succeed. As of yet I don't see that 'spark' I saw so many ages ago."

Charity knew that she was being told to leave but she refused the silent command. Staying motionless as if waiting for something she stares at Twilight for the answer she seeks.

I am not here for a heartwarming exchange and a debate on philosophy.

"Pinkie Pie has lead me to you." Twilight froze at the mention of that name, as Charity expected. This next statement would either have her killed or be her saving grace.

"She wanted to scare me away from my task with relentless nightmares as I sleep. To stop this meeting, this day." Those words seemed to have saved her life as the dangerous look in Twilight's eyes vanished.

"I value your opinion on my quest but I have come here with an objective in mind." It took all of Charity's courage to remain steadfast. It took everything she had to hold and stop herself from fleeing with her tail between her legs.

"You want to know what became of the six element bearers." Twilight shuddered at the thought. That would mean she'd have to talk about Rarity.

"Yes, it doesn't have to be much. Just a direction to follow. It seems I have the ability to sense the other bearers if they're near." At least that's what these memories seem to mean.

"The Everfree Forest." These were the last words she heard Twilight say before her stomach churned in an instant.

Gala Snaps

"Did you see that Pinkie Pie!" Twilight shouted out in her now empty chambers with no ears but her own to hear her.

"You can't make me do it again if I can't reach her! I won't play your game."

Silence was her response.

Twilight couldn't help but feel a chill along her spine as a sudden feeling of dread came over her.

It was almost as if the silence was a sign of how satisfied the demon mare was with the situation. Maybe, just maybe Twilight had played directly into her hooves.

In a tiny little village on a beautiful sunny day, a timid yellow pegasus is walking tenderly backwards away from the asparagus stall of the town market square as ponies one after the other cut in front of the queue. Her limited amounts of courage was draining with each moment.

"Oh... okay. There's no rush." She mumbled, her head downcast.

"Fluttershy! You mustn't let them treat you that way." A white unicorn spoke. Her distinctively curly purple mane distinguished her as Rarity. And beside her was a puffy maned Pinkie Pie, looking on with concern.

This is impossible

"Oh... It's really no big deal..." Fluttershy replied, transforming Pinkie pie's expression from mild concern to irritated indignation.

"It's bigger than big! It's double big!" Pinkie pie exclaimed with accompanied pantomime expressions. "You are a pony with a problem." The pink mare now staring down at the yellow coated mare hiding behind her calmly pink mane, shrinking from the judgement of her friends.

"What problem?" Fluttershy's eyes shifted nervously.

Rarity and Pinkie pie exchanged a look and nodded to each other in understanding before looking to Fluttershy once more. Rarity stepped out of the way of what Pinkie intended while the demon mare put a hoof to Fluttershy's flank, causing a mild bewilderment from the shy mare. And with a dash Pinkie pushed past her so quickly that you could hear the wind rush, the force of which was so intense that it made the shy mare spin on the spot and fall into a shamble on the grassy floor.

"Oh! Go right ahead Pinkie pie. You first!"

"Right there!" The pink mare shouted down to the shy pegasus! "That's the problem!" As if to say, get it through your thick skull, Pinkie homed in the point by prodding Fluttershy's head with her hoof. Fluttershy merely looked up at it, like a pet that doesn't know what it did wrong.

"You've got to stop being such a doormat." Rarity concisely explained. Instantly Fluttershy's face went from bewildered and confused to utterly astonished.

"A doormat?" said the yellow mare almost not believing.

"A pushover darling..." Misunderstanding Fluttershy's response as astonishment than more confusion, Rarity found it best to use an alternate expression to explain.

"You've got to stand up for yourself. Promise us!" Rarity said her tone admonishing and ironically weakening the will of the yellow pegasus to decide otherwise.

"Okay..." The shy mare said weakly.

With a great gasp Charity awoke. The act of gasping however had her throat begin to feel tickled and irritated, forcing her to cough a wheezy cough. Her mind raced as she involuntary gasped between coughs, creating a light headedness and a desire to rip her throat out from the irritation. Soon enough her coughing built up to a crescendo and with a final mighty hack, a spatter of blood escaped her mucus filled throat and out into the floor below her. She couldn't see that it was blood but she could certainly taste it.

I guess this is why very few ponies use teleportation. The body simply isn't built for it.

Before it felt merely uncomfortable, but that was because Twilight was phasing from place to place around the city. If this pain is any indication, she was a long way away from the city of Celestia and if this darkness is any indication, the empire as well.

"The Everfree forest." That was what Twilight said. Was she really halfway across the world?

There was no point in denying the magical feat, Twilight isn't titled great and powerful for no reason. Besides, with that vision before, Charity knew that she was close to her goal. Unravelling the marvels of geography aside, she had a job to do.

But the demon mare and Saint Rarity as intimate friends.

The impossible depth of understanding they both had as they silently exchanged ideas with a single look burned in Charity's mind. It just seemed so impossible. A saint and a demon as close friends as that.

Gala Snaps was a pony who prided himself to doing the right thing. He didn't trust outsiders very much as to teeter at times into contempt or hate. But he would never bring harm onto a pony unprovoked, without justification and especially if they meant the forest no harm. The forest was his home, a land of all kinds of spirits and fauna and flora that he was proud to call his friends. And so far, he has not summoned their help in the matter he has included himself in.

"Mah lady, the outsider has finally awoken." His hoof touched upon a nearby tree trunk and it crackled with power. He channelled energy through the tree making it pulse and glow with illuminated bluish white veins, spreading out into the leaves and through the roots and into the earth.

"As you wish. No harm will come of this one. Ah will lead her outside of the forest." He said as if to no one in particular, for no pony was around but he and that white filly.

No sooner had he said his words however, the filly had begun to walk and she was going the wrong way.

When Charity had woken up she had woken to darkness and noise. Animal roars, squeals and barks flooded her ears in the darkness. Her nose flooded with a plethora of smells both fragrant and pungent, and as she groped about blindly she often bumped into something at every turn. She tried to work her horn for light but the best she could muster was a few pathetic sparks and a massive migraine.

And then there was light.

It seemed as if the trees themselves began to glow a calming bluish white at her wish. At her approach trees lit up with life, and as she left, darkness was left in her wake. But most strangely of all, something about the whole forest seemed to have changed. When before she swore she was surrounded by smells and noises, she was now feeling surrounded by silence in both senses. Plus it seemed that the trees, in the darkness, were so seemingly densely packed together. However they were in apparent actuality sparsely apart, forming a long lined path of trees that mimicked that of a tunnel road of wood and leaves.

This had to be some sort of magic at work. The forest had definitely changed at somepony's whim. It was hard to believe, but magic did a lot of things like that.

Experimentally she moved towards one side of the road and tried to pass through the fence of trees. The trees were so densely packed that it was impossible to move past them without brushing against one. And suffice to say, to attempt to do so was a death hazard. She had only touched the tree with the slightest of touches, but it was enough to have a jolt of electricity twitch her hoof away from the edge of the road. With that her suspicions were certain. Someone was leading her along and with no other means to move but the given path she had to follow the silent command. For all she knew she walked a path of ensnarement, but there was simply no other means available. Charity had no choice but to trust in the sentience of the forest to lead where she hoped would be pony civilisation. Yes, if she could find a pony to talk to, she could hopefully ask about this yellow pegasus whom was clearly a major player in her vision.

"Fluttershy was her name." If memory served correctly, there was no such thing as the element of cowardice.

Using the glow of fireflies and will o' wisps as a guide Gala Snaps lead the outsider out of the forest. Once she out of the lady's domain she would be somepony else's problem. The filly seemed to comply very well, moving at a rapid pace that forced Gala to extend himself a little more than usual. There was purpose in this pony, a determination to succeed. None of the usual fear and paranoia was apparent in her like other ponies, just a lingering cautiousness as she efficiently traversed the forest, minding every noise in the distance, every object she passed and every time his silhouette was forced to move in her line of vision so that he could position himself.

For a pony so young, this pony knew how to survive. For that Gala was glad, outsiders were a menace who's aspect of war and destruction corrupts the forest's purity and innocence. He hated that about them so much as their mere presence invites death into his home. But knowing that this filly would not merely starve and die outside in that cruel war-torn world, he could banish the filly with a clear enough conscience to know that she was not left out there to just die. This filly, if the fates were kind, would live to do some sort of good in the world.

"What?" Charity padded forwards, her pace slowed to what she saw.

Step by step she could see it. The open fields, the night sky, the stars and the moon and the end of the forest.

I'd been led outside into the forest... And far away from my goal. Curse that damned forest! A full blown Rarity knows how long trek and all she had to show for it was an empty field in the middle of the Lunar Republic. At any moment she swore Lunarian military would be patrolling this area and likely going to attempt to capture her for questioning.

"By Rarity, this place is cold." Charity shivered. Having been use to the empire's glow of the warm sun and the warmth of the forest. She now found herself freezing her flank off in this land that was just barely warm enough to not warrant a snowy tundra.

I need to go back in. It was a foolish idea to trust the spirit that guided her. She could feel with each step she took under that guide, the feeling she got when near an element like Twilight Sparkle or about to get a vision began to wane and weaken. She needed no forest spirits' help to find her goal. All she needed was to trust in Saint Rarity to guide her and follow this feeling she gave her.

Turning back into the forest and running back she had found herself expelled once more, flung out into the cold once more by a mysterious force. It was electrifying as a hard impact smacked her across the face.

"Return home right now. Or Ah'll be forced to give you more than a good bucking." The forest seemed to say.

"Show yourself. I just want to talk to somepony. Her name is Fluttershy, have you heard of her?" Charity felt ridiculous shouting at a bunch of trees, but somewhere in the darkness of that wood the forest spirit was listening.

Answering her summons the spirit walked out into the night, the ground he walked on sparking with power as his hoofs touched upon the earth.

"Ah don't know how you've come to know that name but Ah will not let outsiders trespass upon mah home. Leave now before Ah'm forced to really show you what you're dealing with." Gala snaps was a young earth pony. He wore an old ragged stetson on his head, his gaze downcast as to hide his face. His body was covered in vines delicately caressing his coat as if it were really a part of him. On his flank he revealed his cutie mark to be some strange rainbow coloured fruit contrasting his simple orange coat. His yellow mane flared and crackled with sparks whenever it swayed to some non-existent wind.

"I... I know you..." Charity's heart was racing.

"Pardon?"

The strength to move forward

Charity limped back into the forest for the umpteenth time and once more she was met by an overwhelming force that repelled her. It was one thing to resist the whole forest to find her goal. That in and of itself was pathetically impossible. But to just walk past this single guardian that blocked her, was proving just as pitiful. She was out of her element, if she had any to begin with. She had no talent for magic, no strength or agility. Were in not for the church, the land would have killed her as just another casualty of the war. What had this all been for? What was the point of journeying across a war torn land if she couldn't even move forward without help. She was a prophet of saint Rarity. A scion of harmony. An ember of hope. But what did any of that even mean if she had no strength to move forward?

"I really don't want to keep doing this to ya. Ya ain't going back into the forest. It's too dangerous." Gala Snaps stood stalwartly in the way of Charity's path. No sign of remorse was in his voice and action. He held nothing back as he shoved and bucked into the edge of the woods, letting the bite of the cold night air welcome the little filly. And with each touch his power manifested and jolted Charity's small frame with an electric charge.

"I have to go back. If I don't find Fluttershy it would be meaningless." Charity tried to rise up once more but every fibre of her being was either frozen or fried.and aching.

"There's nothing to find here. Go home." Gala Snaps slammed his moves into the ground an a strange pulse of light cascade along the ground and carried Charity even further away from the forest edge. The filly downtrodden reached out towards the forest but her strength waned to its very limit. Giving herself up to bitter laughter Charity let herself be taken by the worlds cruelty.

There was nothing that could be done. She was faced with a foe she could not defeat, all alone with no one to help her she was simply going to die having achieved nothing.

The demon mare laughed at her fate.

You could never get use to this feeling. It was one thing to fight armies and ponies at arms in combat. It was a simple fact of the world. You either killed them or you and everyone you loved was dead. But when it came to lost souls like this, repelling them with his own hooves even as they reach out for help, you never get use to it. It's easy to say they chose their fate, they kept coming and you kept them back. You gave your warnings you staved off their advances. You left them alive enough to leave.

When it gets to the point when innocents have to die like this. Being the guardian of the forest was never as noble as it seems. You tell yourself it was a necessity. If the forest was known to welcome strangers, who knew what kind of strangers would come to corrupt this forest? Better to not invite trouble. Better for the whole of Equestria to know that the Everfree forest cannot be conquered, cannot be bargained with and can never be sabotaged.

Your carelessness cannot let anything happen to the last fragment of the old world. The last apple cannot shame his whole family.

The temptation to leave was strong as ever. But for atonement for everything possible innocent soul left to die out in the edge of these woods. You don't abandon them for dead. You wait at the edge and watch them die with your own eyes. It's the honest thing to do, not only to make sure the pony will never return but to also let it be known to yourself, that it was by your hooves that you killed that pony.

With no more strength to stand, the cold of the night will eventually take that filly and then she can begin to merely be a memory in your mind.

"Come to play with me again?" The pink mare poured Charity a cup of blood, flies and tea. Each chunk of congealed blood or fly carcass plopping into the pool within her cup. Pinkie Pie hummed a happy tune to herself as she continued to pour, overflowing Charity's cup.

"This might actually be the last time." Pinkie Pie stopped at that and gave Charity a venomous look.

There no fear in Charity, Pinkie could only see that look of resignation. That willingness to die for nothing.

"I told you a long time ago. The world is cruel and you could never survive alone in it." Pinkie held Charity in a cruel, bittersweet embrace. The touch Charity abhorred, but when it all came down to it. The only pony who's embrace would feel so real and sincere.

"Only I can protect you from this cruel world. Only I can give you the power you need to reach your goals." Her mind flashed back to the first days of her freedom. When that power coursed through her. That feeling of invincibility and joy. She was right as well. Our goals did align to together. We both had invested interest in the elements. Finding them was both of our goals.

"I don't think you listen that often, but I've told you time and time and again. I love you Charity. You are a precious friend to me." Like a loving mother Pinkie kissed the little filly. Pinkie smelled like cotton candy. Charity never saw such a thing before, but the words and knowledge formed in her mind. This sweet scent, the warmth, somehow Charity knew that this was what Pinkie could be described as.

"I only want to help you. All I want is for us to be together."

Charity's eyes wondered to the others present. Absent-mindedly she looked up and saw no one.

"All I want is for us to be together." A tear had formed in Charity's eye and she sobbed. No one was there for her by Pinkie.

"I want us to be together." Suddenly her vision showed her of a stetson wearing colt. The words echoed in her mind. There was fear and sadness in his eyes as he said. He never wanted to hurt anyone, but all he could do was do just that.

He was a pony born to fight and protect. But like this embrace, he could never feel this kind of embrace. Because his touch would hurt everyone that got too close.

"Gala Snaps" Gala turned to meet the voice only to be met by a flying filly careening in his direction. He wanted to scream. No! Don't touch me! But it was too late. Charity slammed into the colt and was racked with pain all over her body. She fought through it and focused on the feeling she felt with him so close. The feeling of a colt that never felt an embrace in his whole life.

Both slammed into a nearby tree and everything went white.