Grab Bag of Harmony

Chapters

First Contact (Old)
Apologies (Old)
Aetherial Practices (Old)
I - Harmony
II - Memory
III - Apology
IV - Poetry

First Contact (Old)

I stood still, completely frozen, my hand hovering over my nose. I felt an intense tingling feeling, one that I was sure was going to drive me mad. I took in a shuddering breath, and screwed my eyes shut, trying to force the feeling to go away. I felt something begin to build up, and smiled. It was time!

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaah…” I leaned my head back, a giddy smile on my face. After all this time, the moment was finally here! “CHOOOOOO!” My head jerked forward as I let out the worlds greatest sneeze, one that felt like sweet ambrosia on my mind. Finally that stupid pressure was gone!

I slowly opened my eyes, a look of ecstasy on my face. I probably had that sneeze on the verge for a whole minute. I blinked, then rubbed my eyes. I don’t think I was seeing things properly. I looked again, and frowned.

When did I start standing on the balcony of a castle? And since when were there ponies in armor that stared at you like you just popped out of nowhere? I nodded, and said the sensible thing. “Well, shoot. I’m just as surprised as you two are. I’d like to get off, now.”

They blinked, and floated two spears towards me. Right. Unicorn guards, magic, and a large castle. Where else could I be, but Canterlot? One of the guards stepped towards me. “Halt, intruder! You will have to accompany us to a cell, while we work out how you teleported here. We have a strong shield set up exactly to prevent this kind of thing from happening, and passing without permission is a large offense.”

I gave two thumbs up. “Sounds good. I’m gonna try and wake up now, if you’ll excuse me.” I turned around, and started walking towards the balcony. I was surely dreaming, that much was certain. Maybe I hit my head when I sneezed, and fell unconscious?

Either way, I would wake up just before I hit the ground, of course. I stood up on the balcony, saluted the guards that were wearing shocked expressions, and leaned off the tower. Falling from a large height is extremely uncomfortable. All your guts like to go up, while you go down, and it makes you feel funny. I smiled, and embraced the darkness as the ground came rushing towards me. My last view of dream-Canterlot was some very surprised ponies.

My eyes snapped open as I let out a long yawn. I was back in bed? Maybe that nightmare sneeze was just… well, a nightmare. I sat up, and swung my feet out of the covers, which felt odd, and onto the floor. Which was smooth, freezing, and definitely not my nice carpet.

“The heck?” I reached down, and felt the floor. Going from the bumps, and occasional lines, it was definitely some sort of stone. Okay. Still dreaming, maybe. Or I got kidnapped, and drugged. Nah, definitely dreaming. I cupped my hands to my mouth, and gave a shout. “Oi! Anybody there? I’d like some light here.”

I heard some grumbling, and a pair of heavy steps. Two people were coming, I decided. The lights burst on, causing me to cover my eyes as they adjusted. “Hey, a little warning next time, please? Lights hurt, even in dreams.”

I uncovered my eyes, and looked up.”Well shoot! I’m even more surprised than before!” The same guard pony that had spoken to me before was standing, just past some metal cell bars. Alright, either this was a very strange dream, or I had transported to Equestria via sneeze, jumped off of Canterlot, and survived.

Strange dream was the more logical choice, of course. The guard frowned. “Who are you, how did you get past the shield?”

“Blake Dunn, nice to meet you. Last thing I remember before being in Canterlot was sneezing. It was a very nice sneeze, the kind that builds up for a long time, then releases itself really abruptly. I know as much as you, I think.” The guard frowned, and shook his head.

“So that’s how it’s going to be. We’re kind a expecting an attack of some kind, so when some… creature teleports into one of the most restricted areas of the castle, without warning, we kind of have to arrest said creature. And, once you jumped off, we got to add resisting arrest to your list of crimes.”

I nodded, and scratched my chin. “Speaking of jumping, how did I survive that? I kinda fell a long way.”

He blinked, and gave me a confused look. “You don’t know? I just figured– never mind. When you hit the ground, you turned into a giant puddle of ink. We had to go and collect you, which had already begun to reform into… whatever you are.”

I frowned. “I usually can’t turn into ink. And, it’s human. I’m a human.” With a small breath, I looked at my hand, and punched it with my other hand. Both turned black, and intersected. Ink dripped off of them, onto the floor. “But I guess this is just one of those days.”

The guard fidgeted, then nodded. “Well, I’m going to leave now. I don’t have the authorization to press to hard for answers, so I’m going to send a note to the Princesses, and Shining Armor once they’re free.” I made a small noise, and nodded as he walked off.

I was distracted by my new body. I poked, prodded, and punched practically every patch of skin I could see. It all turned into a black, slightly viscous ink as I did so. “Well, this has got to be either the strangest dream ever, or I’ve become the protagonist of an HiE fic.”

I groaned, and stuck my hands in my pockets. I felt something metal in there with me, and pulled it out. It was a metal rectangular business card of sorts. I read over one side, and slowly put it back into my pocket. “Yup. HiE fic.”

The card had said something to the lines of ‘you have superpowers, have fun now in Equestria!’ I laid back, and took a deep, calming breath. “Don’t worry, Blake. You’ve just introduced yourself to the ponies by breaking the law, jumping off a Canterlot tower, and turning into ink. But things are going to work out in the end, because this is friggin’ Equestria.”

I head shouts from out of the room, and what sounded like explosions. “And in the middle of the Canterlot Wedding arc, no less. I think.” I stood up, and walked over to the cell bars, and looked to the doorway. “Okay superpowers, impress me.”

I walked forwards, and through the bars. My body turned to ink where I passed through the bars, leaving a little bit of me-residue on the metal. I was out of the cell, at least. I looked back to the bars, and willed the extra ink to come back to me. It hopped, for lack of a better word, back on to me. The more the merrier, am I right?

I started walking up the dungeon stairs, and found myself in some sort of barracks room. The poor guard fellow from a moment ago was on the floor, with a changeling hovering over him, magic flared. I was guessing it was doing some sort of emotion-stealing magic.

“Hello there, Mr. Changeling.” It turned to me. “Can you tell your hive to stop destroying stuff? I’d appreciate it.”

The changeling hissed, and dived at me. I raised my arm, and the love bug slammed into a blob of ink, that I grabbed him with. “Y’know, this ink power is nice. Very intuitive. And if I read my card right, I can do this now!” I pointed my other arm at him, and a stream of ink flowed out, and into the poor changeling’s mouth.

He struggled for a moment while I flowed myself into him, but stopped once I lowered the last of myself into him. “Well, that was gross.” I said with the changeling’s mouth. Possession was going to be handy, a nice application of two of my powers. Gross, but handy.

I smiled when I realized that moving around was alright. Probably worked like the ink did, I knew how I wanted to move, and I moved that way. I stretched my new, ink-filled body, and pushed the slightly-ajar door of the barracks open with my head.

It was absolute chaos. Green streaks of fire fell from the sky, ponies ran to and from cover, and changeling chased after them. I looked around for a certain castle, and smiled. Time to go meet royalty! I took to the sky with my pirated wings, and made my way to the castle.

Flying as a changeling is boring. Theres no rushing wind, or feeling of freedom. You kinda just slowly float to your destination. After a minute or so of floating, I finally found myself outside the main doors of the castle. I figured they were the main ones, at least. They were very shiny looking.

I looked at the large keyhole on the door, and frowned. A tentacle of ink flowed out of my mouth, and towards the door. I wedged myself in-between the door, and pulled myself through. I could always find another changeling to force myself into.

I looked down, and frowned. My clothes, a t-shirt and jeans, were too boring. I shifted them into a comfortable pajama onesie, black of course, and started walking through the halls of the castle. I followed the sounds of ponies, and shouting until I found a pair of doors with a large amount of changelings guarding it.

I flattened into a puddle, and slid under the carpet, and under the doors. I reformed on the other side, to the surprise of the changelings in the room. I saw Chryssie herself staring at me with a look of confusion. “Who in Tartarus are you?”

“Uh, hi. I’d just like to ask you if you could stop attacking the city. It’s hard to mingle when everything’s covered in love bugs.” She scoffed, and looked me over. I smiled, and rocked on my feet.

After a small moment, she facehoofed. “You can’t be serious. You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“No, actually. I’m Blake, a human! Nice to meetcha.” She gave me a flat stare, and some changelings groaned.

“Will somebuggy put this imbecile in a cocoon? I don’t want to hear another word out of him.” She pulled her hoof from her face, and stared. Next to me sat a nice collection of changeling guards, wrapped up nicely in ink. I was noticeably smaller.

I heard the doors behind me begin to open as Chrysalis ordered the rest of the guards to attack me. I looked back, and almost squealed at the sight of the Mane 6. Sure, they were looking rather down, and somewhat surprised to see me, but still awesome.

“Oh hi, you six! Blake Dunn, huge fan.” I tossed the changelings I was attached to back through the air, and grabbed the ones guarding the Mane 6. From the shouts I heard from behind, I might have hit a few changelings with the ones I had incapacitated.

Talk about good luck, eh?

The Mane 6 were understandably confused, and surprised. I shrugged, and turned back around. “Yo, Chryssie, now can you stop? I don’t think that these fellows are going to let you keep blowing the city up.” I pointed a thumb back at the Mane 6.

Chrysalis scowled, and took a combative stance. “If you seriously think that something as simple as a group friends will ruin this day, then you are sorely conf– mphurk!?” She stopped speaking as a stream of ink flowed up her legs, and into her mouth. I started walking towards her as I took her body over.

Once I was all into Chryssie, I shivered. “Wow. Changeling queens feel really weird. Their organs are all wonky. So, I don’t actually know how to call the invasion off now. Twilight, can you go free your foal sitter? They need to put the shield back up.”

The room was quiet, except for the sounds filtering in from the outside. “Oi! Twilight! Saving first, gawking later.” I frowned at the sound of Chryssie’s weird echoey voice. I was gonna have to figure out how to change voices later.

Twilight blinked, then began to run to Cadence, making a noticeably wide arc around me. The rest of the M6 followed behind, and I focused on making a certain something solid again. I held out a hoof, and spit a glob of ink onto it. It began to harden, and reshape itself until my little power card was sitting in my hoof.

“Alrighty. How to get rid of Chryssie, without future repercussions. I could steal her life essence, make a bug-sicle, throw her into the horizon…” I looked up from my card, and towards the Mane 6. “Do you fellows have any idea on how to get rid of a bug queen?”

The glanced at me, but turned back towards Cadence and Armor. Rude. I ate my card, and decided to keep Chryssie for now. Twilight fired a laser at Cadence’s hooves, allowing the alicorn to embrace her fiancee. I tuned out of the conversation, and began to head towards the door with all the intent of exploring the castle.

I heard a shout from behind as my vision glowed purple, and I began to float backwards. I kicked in the air, trying to break free of Twilight’s magical grasp. “You aren’t going anywhere, Blake Duff, not until you explain how exactly you are controlling the Changeling Queen, and how you know us.”

“Okay. I poured my actual self into Chryssie, thats short for Chrysalis, by the way, which allowed me to move her muscles, bones, and body! And I’m from another world, where a group of people gathers weekly to watch you six ponies do pony things!”

Twilight’s eyes widened, but she sighed. “Alright. But you still aren’t going anywhere. I have more questions for you.”

Cadence touched her horn to Shining’s, causing a large wave of energy to begin to build up. I clicked my tongue. “You know, I don’t actually know if this is gonna harm me while I’m possessing Chryssie.” The six glanced at me with slight worry and confusion as the love/shield spell fired.

As soon as I felt the spell push Chrysalis’ body, I ejected by way of projectile ink vomit. It was an unpleasant experience for everybody. The bug queen was pushed back, and down a long hall in Canterlot Castle, letting a stream of curses fly as she did so.

We watched her sail back, then hit the far wall with an echoing thunk. “Huh. That was oddly satisfying to watch.” I nodded, and headed towards the hallway to fetch her body. Being ink was cool, but it felt nice to have something physical.

“Nnno! You still aren’t allowed to leave, Blake Duff!” Twilight grabbed my ink form, which naturally caused things to go wrong. I felt something really fantastic press against me, like a warm fuzzy blanket or something I pulled on it, which caused the violet glow around me to intensify, and Twilight to let out sounds of strain and effort.

I continued pulling on the warmth, smiling as I took it in. I only stopped when I heard Twilight hit the floor, and her company shout in panic. I let go of the warmth, and blinked as the violet glow of Twilight’s magic disappears. Was I stealing her magic? Did magic count as life energy?

The Mane 6 sans Twilight, Cadence and Shining all took up a defensive position towards me, sheltering the unconscious Twilight. Rarity, surprisingly enough, was the first to speak against me. “We should have known you were trouble, especially after you took over that queen in such an… unpleasant manner!”

Rainbow, of course, was next. “What have you done to Twilight!? Speak up you icky blob, or I’ll buck you into the next Winter!” I held up my hands in the standard ‘I surrender’ position, and began to back away.

“I’m not entirely sure what I did. I think that magic counts a form of life energy, which allowed me to use my Wraith powers to absorb said magic once it made contact with my actual form. Not my fault magic feels like a cozy blanket!”

Rainbow growled, and dived towards me with a battle cry, to everypony else’s dismay. I ran my mind over what was on the card, and tried to use one of my powers. My vision of the world folded and inverted as I pushed myself through the world’s energies, to someplace I sorta knew.

I took a gasp of breath as I became physical again, and looked around me. Yep, I had gotten it right. This was definitely the Everfree Forest.

I really hope that Twilight is okay.

Apologies (Old)

“Alright, first order of business. Releasing all the pent-up emotions I have on behalf of literally everything about my life changing in an instant.” I collapsed against the dirt, lied back, and took in a deep breath.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHMMY GOSH WHAT IS HAPPENING WHY AM I IN EQUESTRIA WHY DO I HAVE SUPERPOWERS WHAT IF I NEVER GET HOME WHAT ARE MY PARENTS GOING TO THINK THE MANE 6 PROBABLY HATE ME BY NOW I AM A WANTED CRIMINAL AND I DIDN’T EVEN MEAN TO HURT ANYBODY–“ I took a moment to breathe.

“WHY IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY AND KIND IN THE WORLD DID I TELEPORT TO EQUESTRIA AT THE WORST POSSIBLE MOMENT AND WHY DOES MAGIC FEEL LIKE A FLUFFY BLANKET THAT I JUST REALLY WANT TO HUG!?”

I took plenty of deep breaths, and sat up. “Alright. Calm time. Everything has gone wrong, but this can still be salvaged. I can probably change into pony-mode and blend into the world. Or, I could try and apologize to Twilight and the others. Or… I could do whatever the crap I want because gosh dangit if life is going to spit me out in a situation like this, then I will spit right back at life.”

I stood up, and looked to the sky dramatically. “From now on, Blake Dunn answers to no-one!” I clapped my hands together, thinking.

“Second order of business, or is this the third? Either way, I need a plan. Since the wedding just happened, Sombra is next. Keeping a watch on the north is a must-do. Next, Discord is going to be reformed, and possibly used against me if I get too crazy. Then Twili-corn, then plunderseeds, then Tirek, then Starlight. Hmm. Magic stealer against magic stealer, that could be interesting.”

I pulled my power card from my pocket, and started to think of possible power combos. “Okay, so using Wraith Physiology, I can essentially become a ghost, which can let me spy on the Mane 6, and whoever else. I’ve already figured out how to teleport using Aether Manipulation, and how to shape shift with Ink Mimicry.

“But what about Tactile TK, and Mode Switching?” I walked over to a tree, and grabbed it. I pulled it from the ground quite easily, and spun it on my palm. “T TK is good, now for Mode Switching. I figure that I’m currently in a normal state. Lets pull a Deoxys, and go with attack, speed, and defense.”

I willed myself to take on an agility form, and smiled when my whole body became ink, in the form of a quadruped, sleek creature. I had a long, thin tail, and legs that closely resembled spikes instead of hooves or paws. I felt a set of inky antlers, like some kind of cervine. I tried running, and was happy to find that I was, in fact, very fast.

I switched to defense, and my body became a thick bipedal form, not unlike a gorilla. My arms were trunk-like, and reached the ground with a collection of thick fingers. My feet were also hand-like, adding to that gorilla look. As I moved around, I realized that this form was a massive amount slower than my normal, and agility forms, of course.

I finally switched to an attack form, and shivered when my ink was done reshaping. I was a large quadruped again, but this time I was similar to a large wolf. I had a long, fluffy tail that ended with twin spikes, legs with inky barbs on them, and sharp claws. I had spiraling horns on my head that faced forward. The attack form was slower than the agility form, but still faster than my normal form.

I shifted back to normal, and nodded. “Alright, all of my powers are working. Not sure about all my sub powers though, and I probably don’t want to exhaust myself.” I then realized that I could feel a small section of power in me. It felt unfamiliar, so I figured that it was Twilight’s magic. “And I probably don’t want to exhaust that either.”

I focused on my powers, and felt myself lift of the ground. I raised myself higher, over the treeline. To one direction was Canterlot, which I should probably avoid, and the other direction was Ponyville, which I should probably avoid. Probably.

——————

“So, no sign of that creature?” The Elements of Harmony, a dragon, and the Princesses were all in the castle medical ward, standing next to the hospital beds of Twilight Sparkle, Cadence, and Shining Armor. Twilight was still unconscious from her encounter with that strange creature, Cadence was malnourished from her time in the crystal caves, and Shining was recovering mentally from being controlled.

Princess Celestia looked over at Rainbow Dash, who was staring at Twilight solemnly. “No, I’m afraid not. All we’ve heard about it since the invasion was a note from a pair of guards that first encountered, and arrested it. The creature claimed to not know how it got here. If that is the case, then we should look into a way to send it back to it’s own world.”

Rainbow looked at her, and scoffed. “First, we get it to give Twilight her magic back. Once she wakes up, and realized that she’s lost that part of her, she’ll be devastated. She loves magic as much as I love flying.”

Rarity shook her head. “I can’t imagine what I would do without my magic. I don’t have the hoof dexterity required to work a needle like my magic can. I would have to change my entire way of life, it’d be the worst possible thing.”

Celestia nodded. “I will, of course, try to get it to restore her magic. Once that is done, though, I will search for something that can send it away from here. In the meantime, try and get some rest. After everything that has happened, I am sure that you need it.”

The Elements nodded, and made their way out of the room. Spike paused for a moment, staring at Twilight, then followed the others. Celestia and Luna watched them go, then turned back to the beds. Luna bowed her head, and spoke with a shaky voice. “I’m sorry. Tia, I’m so sorry. I could have done something, I could have helped you fight Chrysalis, I could have stopped the ink creature from doing this!”

“Luna, it wasn’t you–“

“Are you serious? It wasn’t my fault? Countless ponies were risking their lives to stop the changelings, and I was sleeping! I slept, and because of that I couldn’t save my sister from getting hurt, I couldn’t save my friend from getting hurt, I couldn’t…” She took a shaky breath, and shook her head. “Ponies died yesterday, Tia. And just like before, I didn’t lift a single hoof to prevent that.”

The room was silent. Celestia wrapped a wing around her sister. “I don’t blame you, Lulu. Nopony does. Everypony makes mistakes, even immortal beings like us. I have a firm belief that every mistake can eventually be fixed, even something as large as attempting to create eternal night, or ignoring your pupil, to something as small as hitting your horn on a doorway.”

Celestia frowned. “She probably is furious at me. I should have listened to her, or at least checked Cadence to make sure she was the real one. Instead, I pushed her away when she most needed help. Everypony makes mistakes, sister. There will come a time when those mistakes can be fixed, I promise you that.”

Luna smiled, and leaned into her sister. “Thanks, Tia, for being here for me.”

“Always, Lulu.”

——————

“I probably shouldn’t be here.” I floated by a guard. “I probably shouldn’t be here.” I dodged a pony passing by. “I really shouldn’t be here.” I saw five ponies and a dragon walk out of the castle. They all looked overcast, and I knew exactly why. I touched Twilight’s magic inside of me, and sighed.

Now I just needed to find Twilight. I floated into the castle, and let some of Twilight’s magic loose. A small strand of purple energy floated from me, and began to drift down the hallways. I followed it around corners, through doors, and into a very white part of the castle. Medical ward, most likely.

The magic strand made it’s way through a closed door, marked for royalty. I floated through, and gasped. In front of me were Celestia, and Luna, in all their intimidating glory. The small strand passed them, and floated into Twilight’s horn. I saw the two princesses tense up.

Luna looked to Celestia. “Sister, was that what I think it was? A strand of Twilight’s magic?”

Celestia nodded. “I believe so. But where did it come from, if that ink creature took it? Did he release a small amount on accident?”

Luna’s expression darkened. “What if he released it on purpose? He could have followed the strand as it traveled, in order to find Twilight, and take the rest of her magic.”

I scoffed from my position in the air, dropping my invisibility. “That’s only half correct. And offensive. I already said, in front of the Elements, no less, that it was an accident.”

Celestia glared at me.“You nearly killed her by stealing her magic, which is a highly advanced spell known only by my sister and I. You can’t just ‘accidentally’ steal magic. What you can do, is give it back. It is not yours to keep, or consume.”

“Pfht, obviously! It’s stolen magic, of course it’s not mine. And I’ve made special care not to use any of her magic reserves. And that’s why I’m here, to give it back.” I let my grip on Twilight’s magic dissipate slowly, and watched as a large river of magic flowed from me into Twilight’s horn. She stirred slightly.

“Boom. No harm done, I hope. And my name is Blake, not ‘ink creature’. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go explore. Ciao!” I went invisible again, and floated out the window. I rushed faster as Celestia lit up her horn, and began sweeping the area with a magical light, likely looking for me.

I floated back down to the ground, and began looking for the rest of the Elements, to apologize to them, too. I eventually spotted Rainbow’s mane, and Pinkie’s… everything. They both stood out like reflective tape on Halloween night. I floated down to the group.

Once they got somewhere that was free of the crowd, I let my invisibility drop. “Hello there!”

They all shouted, and threw the situation into chaos. Rainbow dived through me, since I was still intangible. Applejack tried the same with a lasso, who knows where she got it, Rarity screeched like the devil, Fluttershy hid, and Spike coughed out a burst of fire.

When the dust cleared, Pinkie Pie set a cupcake on my head, to everybody’s confusion. Rainbow Dash flew over to the baker. “Pinkie, why did you put a cupcake on the head of the thing that attacked Twilight?”

“Because he’s good, and he gave Twilight’s magic back to her!” They stared at her with varying levels of confusion. “It’s obvious! He has an apologizey look on his face, I heard him sigh while we were leaving the castle, which means that he probably visited Twilight there, and he started with a ‘hello there’! No evil monster starts with ‘hello there’!”

We all stared at Pinkie. “Yep. Pretty much spot on. I just got done restoring Twilight’s magic, and apologizing to the princesses. I saw you guys, and decided to do the same. Hold on, I’m still intangible, how did you put a cupcake on my head!?” I took it off, and stared at the offending pastry.

Pinkie giggled. I nodded. “Right, don’t question it. Well, sorry about Twilight, and I hope you six have a nice day. I’m gonna go now, so see ya later!” I waved, and turned around. I flipped invisibility on as I walked, and smiled.

Alright. Now I didn’t have any guilt weighing me down for things I didn’t mean to do, which was good. Now, I could really start having fun. Time for me to get familiar with Aether Manipulation. I bit into my cupcake, and blinked. That thing was really good!

Aetherial Practices (Old)

I took a deep breath, and concentrated. A soft, almost white, purple glow surrounded my outstretched palm. I focused on the apple laid out in front of me, and it was surrounded by the same glow.

I moved my hand up, sweat starting to form on my forehead as I strained to keep my focus. This was so much easier when I was pressed for time! The apple floated into the air, and began to shimmer. I closed my eyes, and tried to focus just on the feeling of the Aether. I imagined a clearing in the trees that I had seen, and inserted that memory into my focus.

I heard a pop, and a saw a flash of light beyond my eyelids. The feeling of the Aether was gone. I opened my eyes, and was happy to see that the apple was indeed gone. I repeated the process, but with my self. I felt the world reshape around me as I teleported.

I was in the clearing, as I intended. The apple was sitting on the ground, unscathed. I bit into it, and smiled. Reliable teleportation? Check.

I set the apple back on the ground, and focused the Aether yet again. The apple burst into flames, and I smiled with a nod. I waved my hand again, and the flaming apple became an frozen apple. Elemental manipulation? Check.

Now for something that should be more difficult. Breaking physics by creating matter. I imagined another, whole apple, and focused the Aether. Another, unharmed apple appeared next to the frozen one. Wonderful! I had power over the laws of physics themselves! Or maybe Equestria just worked differently.

I scratched my chin, which turned into ink at my touch. Or maybe manipulating the Aether is doing Equestrian magic? I mean, by definition, Aether is a name for the fictional and/or theoretical force that flows through all reality. Would magic be a form of Aether?

I lit up my hand with Aether, and studied the glow. I thought about it, and realized that I hadn’t actually seen a unicorn use magic. Maybe it didn’t look like how it did in the show? I went into my ghost form, and imagined Rarity as I had seen her.

With another strange feeling, I found myself in… Donut Joe’s, of all places. The Mane 6, sans Twilight, plus Spike, were sitting at a table, and talking. I ignored them, and floated outside. I willed myself to take on a unicorn form, and I shifted.

I had an… ink black mane and coat, with grey eyes. My cutiemark was an inkwell. I pondered my pony name, and settled on Ink Blot, for convenience and relevance. I floated into an empty alleyway, and became physical.

Time to figure out what Aether actually was. I walked into Donut Joe’s while taking in Canterlot around me. Various ponies glanced at me, but otherwise ignored me. I pushed the door open, and headed for the Elements.

I hopped onto an empty stool, and attached myself using ink. I wasn’t quite ready to sit on small stools with a new body. “Hello there!” They all looked at me with confusion, while Pinkie smiled.

She threw her hooves up, and shouted, “Inkie!”

Rarity looked between her and I, and said, “Pinkie?” I blinked a few times.

Pinkie giggled. “Clyde!”

I shook my head, and refused to question it. “Anyways, Pinkie’s right. It’s Blake, usually. But Ink Blot right now, because I’m trying to blend in. I just wanted to ask if Rarity could pick something up with magic. I have a form of magic, but I don’t know if it’s the same as Equestrian magic, so I wanted to see your magic in action. Celestia and Luna are kinda on a manhunt for me, I think, and Twilight’s probably still asleep.” I put a hoof to my chin. “Also, I don’t think I should see Twilight any time soon.”

They all were still for a moment, except for Pinkie, of course. Rarity squinted at me. “Of course, that’s no problem at all. But I must ask, can you answer some questions for us? Forgive me if this is rude, but when a mysterious creature appears during an invasion, becomes that dreadful Changeling Queen, then steals the magic of one of the Elements of Harmony, it makes us a bit apprehensive.”

I nodded, and watched as Rarity picked up her cup of… hot chocolate or something, I don’t know. Sure enough, it was the blob-like glow seen in the show. So Aether Manipulation is something different than unicorn magic, at least.

“Cool, thanks. Yeah, my magic is different.” I picked up the napkin holder, which was enveloped in my purplish light alongside my horn. “Anyways, what questions did you have?”

Rainbow put her hooves on the table, and leaned towards my face. “How do you know so much about us? Why did you show up during the invasion? How can you change shape?” She paused, and got even closer. “Are you a changeling spy!?”

I took a breath, and gently nudged her away. “You six, and Twilight are celebrities of a sort from where I’m from, don’t know, I’m made out of ink, definitely not. Anything else?”

Applejack raised a hoof. “What’re you plannin’ on doing now? From what you’ve said, you ain’t from around here. If this is a vacation, what’s on your schedule?”

I shrugged. “I dunno. I just got superpowers in the last twelve hours, so I plan to use them. I want to visit Sombra, and find Tirek. Essentially, I’m abusing what I know about this world and it’s future in order to make it a better place.”

Pinkie snorted, and then laughed. “That’s what I do every day, Inkie! We need to get together, play some pranks. GASP! Do you know about the black-eye telescope prank? You could be the black eye!”

I chuckled nervously. “As entertaining being a bodily injury sounds, Pinkie, I think I’ll pass on that one. Well, I’m gonna head now, because I have some stuff to do. I hope you six can be joined by Twilight soon enough, and I hope he isn’t too much of a bother.”

I smiled, and pulled myself back to the castle while in ghost form. I had work to do now, and no pony was going to stop me!

——————

The Elements and Spike watched as Blake winked out of existence. Applejack took a breath, and folded her forelegs. “I don’t care what he says about makin’ things better. He gives me the willies all over. And who was he talking about not bein’ a bother?”

Spike scratched his head, and set down his donut. “I dunno, but I’m with you. Accident or not, I don’t like ponies that hurt Twilight. Or anypony, don’t get me wrong. But especially Twilight.” The rest of the Elements mumbled their agreements.

They sat there in silence for a moment, sipping their drinks and eating their donuts. Rarity was the first to set her food down, and clear her throat. “Blake mentioned some ponies named Sombra and Tirek. Now, I have no idea who Tirek is, but I have heard the name Sombra.”

The others turned to her, and motioned to continue. “Well, while we were getting ready for the wedding, I was researching the history of gem cuts, don’t look at me like that, Twilight isn’t the only one who reads! Anyways, I came across a mention of a place called the Crystal Empire. An old mares tale, unfortunately. But the book did mention that it was ruled by a tyrannical King Sombra.”

She let that bit of info hang in the air. Rainbow waved a hoof. “So what, our friend Inkie is going on a search for an old mares tale? Ha, I hope he has fun with that.”

Spike shrugged. “I thought that Nightmare Moon was an old mares tale before, y’know, she tried to send the entire world into an eternal night. What if this ‘Crystal Empire’ isn’t an old mare’s tale?” They all stared at Spike. “Hey, there’s a lot of mare’s tales that aren’t true, too! Like the bogeymare!”

Rarity ran a hoof through her mane. “Still, I believe we should remain vigilant. Pinkie Pie, dear, you’ve been unnaturally quiet so far… Pinkie?” They looked at the empty spot on the bench, then around the room. Pinkie was nowhere to be seen. Rarity threw her hooves up. “Of course she’s gone, she’s Pinkie.”

Spike shifted a donut towards a table. “I bet a donut she’s planning a ‘welcome to Equestria’ party for our inky friend.” The others nodded in agreement.

——————

Princess Celestia was very frustrated. First, that fool Chrysalis had tried to usurp her, then the bug had managed to defeat her in a one-on-one magic duel, then that human had appeared, and hurt Twilight, and now said human was virtually non-existent.

Celestia had attempted to trace any teleport when he had disappeared, but no luck. She could see past invisibility spells, so those were out of question, and he hadn’t been an illusion. That much was evident by his transferal of Twilight’s magic.

She remembered something from a few years back, and focused her magic into a teleport. The room she was in was dark, so she lit her horn light a light. Various picture frames adorned the wall, but they were all empty. A dais sat in the center of the room, and an ornate mirror rose from it.

She walked towards it, and pressed a hoof to it’s surface. It was still solid, which meant that the human couldn’t have passed through it. Unless he had somehow found a way to open the mirror whenever he wished…

A flicker of crimson and gold crossed her mind, but she banished the sour thought. At that moment, she felt something in Canterlot fade away, and cursed. What was that self-damned human doing now!? As a snap resonated through the air, she sighed, and answered the question for herself.

"Hello, Discord."

——————

I stared up at the panicked stone eyes of one Spirit of Chaos. With a flick of my wrist, I attached myself to Discord’s frozen torso, and felt around for anything out of the ordinary. There were two small lights underneath my ink.

One was like a kaleidoscope, constantly shifting, and twisting the colors surrounding it. The other was grey, and cold, like stepping on marble with your bare feet. That was the one I wanted. I touched the grey light, but immediately pulled back.

Stone had begun to creep into my ink, and Discords horns had begun to thaw. I thought of a possible solution to this problem, and stretched my ink to the statue again, as well as the ground below it. With a small effort, the grey began to drain from Discord, and into the ground below.

A circle of grey began to spread in a circle from the statue, petrifying the various plants and grass surrounding the Spirit of Chaos. When the last bit of stone drained from Discord’s body, he blinked, and stretched.

“Ooo-o-o-oh, that was an even worse position than last time. My neck is all wound-“ He looked down at me, and frowned. “Well, what do we have here? I thought humans were long gone!” He began poking me, and smiled when my surface turned into ink, and rippled.

He threw his head back, and laughed his iconic laugh. “Oh, my mistake. You aren’t human, not anymore, at least. Not after that stunt you pulled!”

“Sorry, I’m not in the mood for mind games. I came to offer a deal with you.” Discord paused, and stared blankly at me. “Yeah, I know. This is probably a bad idea. But here it is: I am willing to become friends with you, so long as you don’t hurt anypony, mentally or physically.”

I grinned at him. His eyebrow began to raise, but he caught it before it got too far. “That has got to be the worst deal I have ever heard, and I’ve made some pretty awful deals. What do I gain from you being my friend?”

“Insurance, simply put. I don’t hurt my friends! And besides, if you don’t become friends with me, you’re just going to have to befriend those Elements of Harmony, and they’ll keep you on a tight leash. I won’t stop you from making a few clouds into cotton candy, and I won’t betray you.”

“Or, I could teleport away right now, and do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted! I really do not see any point in accepting your offer.”

I shook my head, and bit my lip. “Unfortunate. Well, if you change your mind, feel free to seek me out.” I closed my eyes, then shot my arm out, covering Discords chest in ink. I found the shifting light, and grabbed a hold of it.

With a mental and physical yank, my ink came free of Discord, who stumbled backwards on his stone pedestal. He felt his chest, looked at the light, and snapped his fingers. “What.” He snapped some more, then clapped, stomped, and popped his tongue. Nothing happened.

“Alright, if you want to be my friend, I’ll be hanging around in Canterlot, and Ponyville. Have fun wreaking havoc without me, Dissy!” I waved, and snapped my fingers. In reality, I didn’t know how to use chaos magic, so I just turned myself into a ghost.

Discord frowned, and growled. “Alright, fine! I’ll accept your offer, just give me my magic back!” I reappeared, and smiled at him. With another flick of my wrist, the shifting light flung itself from my body, and into Discord's. I tapped into the Aether, and began to destroy the petrification enchantment without touching it.

“Thank you! This is going to be so fun! I’ve always wanted a friend like you! Somebody powerful, you know? Hold here for a moment, I need to grab something.” I focused on the Aether, and was glad to see that two other glows were there alongside my pale-lavender light.

One was a collection of various purples, all shifting and swirling together in random movements. Chaos magic. The other was a blobby glow, the same color as my normal light. My theory was correct, after all. I had figured that my contact with unicorn magic was what had allowed me to use unicorn magic. Now I had chaos magic as well.

I snapped my fingers while tapping into the Aether, and smiled when the sound resonated through the air as I teleported to a certain Princess.

I - Harmony

I stood there, completely still, my hand hovering over my nose. It was almost gone, I could feel it. I fought against the tingling feeling, sure that I was going to go mad in the process. I took in a shuddering breath, and waved my hand annoyedly. Of all the demons of the nine hells that could possess me, it had to be this one!? I felt something give way as I gained foothold in this great battle of ages, so I took a deep breath.

“Ahhhhhhh…” I had a giddy smile on my face. After all this time! I could finally banish this horrid demon from my head! “CHOOOOO!” I threw my head forward, and expelled the horrible demon called an unreleased sneeze from my body.

I closed my eyes, and smiled. I probably had that sneeze built up for a whole minute before it came out. I leaned my head back, and rested it on the… wait a moment. I opened my eyes, and raised an eyebrow. The sky was a lovely blue today, and completely clear. That, while nice, was bad. Sorta because I liked cloudy weather, and mostly because I had just been inside not ten seconds ago.

I popped my head up from the… stone(?) it had been resting on, and looked down at myself. “Oh boy.” I was transparent, a light purply, almost white color, and I was glowing. I looked up, and saw an all-too familiar castle on the side of a mountain. “Oooooh boy.” I stood up in my ghost/dream form/soul, and turned around. “OH BOY.” It was somewhat of a shock, turning around to see yourself completely encased in stone.

“Right. Either I’m dreaming, heaven is ponies, or HiE stories were correct. Or some mixture of the three. For the sake of sanity, let’s go with numero uno of those options.” I clapped my hands together, but was disappointed at the lack of clap. Ghost meant intangible, meant no touching air, meant no clapping. I whistled. I had to give my subconscious credit, that was a small, but nice detail.

I touched the statue, and was surprised to know that I could still touch it perfectly fine. Maybe ghosts were tangible, but just deaf? I heard some birdsong, and decided that I could only touch me since I was me. Hmm. “So, if I am in Equestria, dream style, does that mean that I got statued by the Elements? Because that would explain a good deal of stuff. I mean, how did Discord know so much about the Mane Six? He was stoned for 1000 years, and it’s not like anybody would come and talk about the current Elements to him.

“Answer: Stoned people have astral projections.” I nodded, proud of my detective work. Good job, me! However, I was not going to explore Equestria as a ghost-dream-thing. I walked over to my statue, and grabbed onto it’s- my arm. It was held up in front of me, like I was blocking the sun with my hand. The clothing on the statue was the same as what I was wearing. My face looked distressed, and a little bit angry. Maybe the sun had been really bright that day?

I continued pulling on my arm, but stopped when I heard a familiar voice. “…few foes I have faced have had to suffer such a fate. The Gorgon sisters, were one of the times I did not mean for them to become petrified. That was their own fault.” Huh. Subconcious me got Celly’s voice down to a ’T’! I looked over at a wall of orangey trees, where I figured they would come from. Sure enough, Sunbutt and her prized protege came walking around the corner. I had to bite my tongue to keep from squealing throughout my dream-world. Twilight was bite-sized! Filly form! Small and squee-worthy!

They were so adorable! On another hand, I noticed that there was a strange glow from within them. Twilight had a bright lavender glow inside her horn, and some of her head. Celly’s glow was in her wings, hooves, and horn. Huh. Peculiar, but unimportant. They walked towards my statue, and Celly frowned. That wasn’t a good sign. She wrapped her wing around Twilight, and leaned towards her.

“Listen well, my student. This creature here was perhaps one of the most dangerous of all the foes I have faced. He rose to power shortly after Discord fell, and spoke of wondrous goals that he never fulfilled.” Oi. “He said to be the Spirit of Harmony, as Discord was the Spirit of Chaos. But he was not harmonious in a good way.” Oi! “He forced his dark powers upon everypony. He fed off of magic, and could worm his way into your mind, taking it over for his evil purposes.” OI! I folded my arms, and leaned against statue me as Twilight let out a little ‘whoa’.

What the heck, subconscious? Was this some metaphor for me feeling to pushy when it come to getting others into the fandom? Celestia calling me evil and mind-controlling? I humphed, and sat down. “As he grew more powerful, he began calling himself Accord, the Harmony to Discord’s Chaos.” Silly fools, my name was Blake! Blake Dunn! Accord sounds like a bad draconequus oc, and I am neither a draconequus, or an oc!

Twilight nodded, and wrote something down in a little book that she pulled from her saddlebags. The two ponies walked off, towards other statues. I sighed, and shifted against my statue. Something clicked in my head, and I stood up and followed after them in a run. We continued to walk around the gardens, occasionally pausing for them to talk about a petrified villain, or a memorialized hero. As they talked, I grew more confused.

Most of these hadn’t been mentioned in the show, or in what little I knew of the comics, which meant my head made them. One problem though. I wasn’t good at all when it came to creating new things, like these dozens of pieces of Equestrian history. Which meant that my head didn’t create this world. I looked at the two ponies again, and swallowed.

This wasn’t a dream of some kind, which meant those were the actual Celestia and Twilight. It meant that I was some kinda Discord-level villain in their history books, and I was really old. But then, what about Blake Dunn, the simple student from Earth? I scratched my chin. I think that they’ve got the wrong Blake in that statue, because I was not a villain. This was gonna be heck of a mix-up to explain once I wasn’t stoned.

Uh-oh. Celly said that I showed up a bit after Discord… but since she’s as old as she is, that could have been weeks after, or years. And if this prison was going to pop a thousand years later, like Luna and Discord’s, then I could be in trouble. I could miss the show! The events of the show, I mean.

Hmm. Might as well make myself busy. Forget what I thought about not exploring Equestria like this, time for some research! I turned around, and looked towards Canterlot. Time to figure out everything I can learn without being able to touch things! I began running to my goal, knowledge of anything and everything in my sights.

——————

“…knowledge of anything and everything in my sights.” I looked down at the ponies below me. “But, you don’t care because I am a ghost, and you can’t hear me.” I sighed, and continued looking at the pink and black sky from my perch on a Canterlot tower. I heard some distant thumps from the shield, as well as screaming from below. At this point, I had given up on ever being released from stone by a timer. So, I was taking matters into my own hands.

Cracking sounds rang through the air as the changeling army finally succeeded in breaking through the shield. That meant that Twilight and the others should be… there! I dropped off of my tower, and drifted to the ground. The Elements of Harmony ran past me, so I followed them. I caught up to Twilight, and held my hand out. I had been studying a good amount over the past six years, and if the books were correct…

I stuck my ghostly hand into Twilights horn, and focused. The glow inside Twilight flared up, and exited her horn in the tell-tale blobby light of unicorn magic. I saw her quickly glance up, understandably confused. I imagined a room that I had passed into many times, and focused further on Twilight’s horn. There was a flash of light, and the Elements and I teleported.

We found ourselves in the physical Elements of Harmony’s chamber, past the giant swarm of changelings. Rainbow Dash patted Twilight on the withers. “Good going Twilight! I’m sure we could have taken those changeling things, but it’s nice to have things go easily every so often.”

Twilight reached up, and touched her horn gently. “That wasn’t me. Or, at least, I didn’t mean to do that. Maybe the Elements did it? Maybe they knew something was wrong, and used me to teleport us.” Phht, as if. The Elements were glorified rocks that drew specific types of magic in from the surrounding area, and filtered it into spells. Not some sentient force. Like I said, I spent a lot of time studying over the years, I knew lots of things. Including things from places ponies couldn’t go.

Rarity stepped towards the box of Elements, and grabbed it. “In any case, we are here now. Let’s take these lovely things, and get rid of those horrible bugs!” She opened the box, and I was relieved to see six pieces of jewelry float from it, and onto the bearers. They all fastened their individual Elements, and stood together in a circle. About time! I had been trying to get hit with the Elements for a long while, but something had always come up.

When Discord had broken free, Celestia had come to me and ‘tapped’ my petrification spell, which dispersed my ghost-like form for a short while, long enough for me to miss the blast. I was indoors when Nightmare Moon happened, so I missed the whole ‘eternal night’ thing. I watch with giddy anticipation as a circle of magic flowed from Loyalty, and connected to the other Elements. The circle began to spin, even as more circles were made by the other Elements.

At last it came down to Magic, the last Element, which fired a light into the center of the spinning circles, filling them with a bright light. This spinning bundle of Harmony grew brighter, even as the doors flew open to reveal some very surprised and panicked changelings, who stepped away from the Elements. The sphere reached it’s full brightness, shrunk into a tiny point, then exploded outwards, sending a massive wave of Harmonic magic flowing over the horde of changelings, and pushing them away in similar fashion to Shining and Cadence’s love shield.

I saw the wave of Harmony continue out, and out, and out past the Castle Gardens. With a massive smile, I looked down at my ghost, which was burning away in small patches of multicolored light. I began to laugh, with a rising volume until I was cackling like some sort of super villain madman. Which, according to the history books, I was. The Elements’ hall disappeared as I felt myself grow rigid, which meant that I was becoming one with my stone body again.

After reading some books that all confirmed that I was the Harmony to Discord’s Chaos, I realized how I could release myself. The CMC made enough Chaos around Discord, while his prison was old and dimming, that it strengthened his spirit enough to break his stone prison. I needed the same thing to happen, but with Harmony instead. And guess who happened to know the most powerful users of Harmonic magic?

I was completely inside my prison, so I began to try and move. I struggled, and tapped into the large well of Harmony still clinging to my stone. I felt a part of my waist crack, which sent a great cloud of inky mist spewing forth. I smiled, and felt the statue crack at my cheeks. Ink burst from the damages, even as I continued to crack open my prison. Eventually, the ink began to die down, and I felt free again. I willed the ink to move, and it did so. Wonderful.

I exerted my will even more, creating a shape in the ink. It was me, but I was covered in a business suit formed of pure ink, and my once-brown hair was now solid black. I pulled the rest of the ink in my stone form into the ink-me, and felt my consciousness possess the construct. I gave a massive stretch, and a yawn, causing ink to fly from my shaking limbs. I hadn’t been able to stretch properly in six years, so that felt so freaking good to do. I lowered my arms, and stared at them. It had worked! My plan had actually worked!

Only thing to do now was to do what I wanted to do when I first came here. Make Equestria a better place, a more peaceful place. And I knew just where to start with. I began another massive laugh, and began making my way towards Whitetail Woods to begin my search.

——————

Queen Chrysalis took in air with a loud gasp of breath, and groaned from the pain burning through her body. She knew what had happened, but still couldn’t believe it. That damned Celestia and her ponies had defeated her! Snuck past her defenses, and taken their Elements! She looked at her hind legs, and winced. One was missing completely, and the other was cracked. One of her wings was torn off as well.

She looked around the forest, and gave deep sigh. Dipping her consciousness into her hive’s egregore, she spoke. ”This is your Queen speaking on all egregore channels. I need two drones to come to my location, I am injured and I need love to heal.” She rested her head back on the ground, and sighed.

It wasn’t long before she heard someling approaching her location. “Finally, I was getting impatient. First, that failure in Canterlot, now this? I need to—“ The steps weren’t that of a changeling’s. She looked up, and felt a jagged spike of fear pierce her body. It was him, the All-Hive, the Mind Flayer, the Umbra Incarnate, the Spirit of Harmony.

He was wearing a suit that matched the pitch black of his hair, and eyes. She held a shaky hoof at Accord. “You! You were supposed to be gone! Imprisoned! How did you break free!?” He gave her a chilling smile, and crouched down.

He squinted, and muttered, “You knew me?” He shrugged, and spoke to Chrysalis. “Simple. I needed a large amount of Harmony to hit my prison, so it could give me enough power to break free. That meant that I needed the Element’s Spirits to fire a blast that would hit the gardens.

“When I heard you were visiting Canterlot, I was ecstatic. I knew that the Elements could blast you, and your bugs, away with a spherical blast, one that would easily reach the gardens. I used Twilight’s magic to teleport them past your guards.”

She lowered her head into a glare. “Just as clever as I remember, Accord. What now, are you going to start your ‘hive’ again? Go around, stealing the minds of anything that moves, just to show off your power?”

“Heh. No, nothing like that. I’m headed to my old crib right now, to do some light reading. Afterwards, I’m gonna make this place better. Harmony doesn’t work on it’s own, as past events have shown. You need an equal amount of chaos for things to work smoothly.”

He stood back up, and began walking through the woods. When he disappeared through the trees, Chrysalis heard the buzzing of two changelings behind her. They stood at attention, and closed their eyes as she began to drain their love from them.

Despite the warm feeling the love gave her, Chrysalis shivered.

II - Memory

I frowned, and stuck my hands in my pockets. So the old, villain me knew Chryssi, and was evil enough to spook her a good amount. That also meant that Chryssi was very old, maybe as old as the Sisters. I shook my head, and continued down the path.

While I was imprisoned, I had found a deep archive of dangerous knowledge and artifacts in the Canterhorn, accessible only by one of the Sisters’ magic, or being an astral projection. I had found books on myself there, which had mentioned the things I could do, and had done.

They also mentioned where I lived. I stopped, and looked at the large stone tower in the clearing in front of me. A set of stairs spiraled up the side of it, up to the top, which was probably 60 feet up. I began climbing the stairs, and eventually reached the top. What was with villains and large staircases?

I got to the top, and smiled. A large stone archway stood before me, ingrained with grooves that spiraled around it, forming a multitude of magical runes. There were two flat spots on either side in the shape of hands. I reached forward, and rested my hands onto the carved hands. They fit perfectly.

I pushed forward, and ink began to ooze from my skin, and flow through the grooves. Once the arch was full of ink, the grooves began to glow a lavender light. A line formed inside of the arch, and on the floor. It stretched, and closed in until it med, and closed a flat surface of a rippling lavender liquid. It reminded me of a Stargate.

I stepped forward, and through the slimy, and chilly ‘Stargate’, and into my old home. There was a large atrium on the other side, with a massive stained glass window showing myself reaching upwards, wreathed in lavender light and shadows. I shivered, and looked away from it.

Behind me, it was like looking through a normal doorway, though a little warped. I could see the stone tower, and the woods below. The archway around it was still glowing, so I pressed my hands into the slots, and the ink stopped glowing, and flowed back into me.

I had to admit, even if he was a bit evil, old me had style when it came to doors.

There was a grand staircase that forked to the left and right, to a balcony that wrapped in a ‘U’ shape around the room. I looked down, and saw my reflection in the dark, glassy floor. There were small specks of white and indigo in the stone, and I recognized it as the same granite that made up my kitchen counter back on Earth.

I realized with a small chuckle, that there didn’t seem to be any source of light in the room. It just was bright, end of story. There were doorways on the ground level, left and right as well, so I decided to start my exploration for a library or office room of some sort.

After a good amount of searching, and trying not to get distracted inspecting every little item in the halls, I found the library. I looked through the granite bookshelves, trying to find the book I was looking for. I ran my eyes and fingers over the spines, and paused. A set of five books, all leather-bound, were next to each other with roman numerals on them in order.

I pulled the first out, and opened it up. Just as I had hoped, it was a journal. I looked at the first entry, and whistled. The year on it was 229, 1st Era. The date right now was 1000, 3rd Era. I was really old, if this date meant what it did now.

——————

“Come on, Finn! The hall doors open in five minutes, and I don’t want to lose out on time!” I grabbed his hand, and started pulling him through the halls of the Raddison, where CMPCon was being held, as per usual.

He just rolled his eyes, and started walking a little faster. “Blake, don’t worry. There’s going to be a line anyways, so we aren’t going to get in there immediately anyways.”

“But that’s why we need to hurry! If we can get in the line sooner, we’ll be closer to the entrance when it opens!” A Derpy Hooves costly walked by, and I let out a little squee. “I can’t believe it! After seven freaking years of the fandom, I’m finally at an MLP convention!”

Finn chuckled, and pinched his brow. “I still can’t believe you managed to get me into the show. It was Discord that did it, really. He’s essentially Q, but less reserved. MLP will be my second favorite show if Will Shatner’s character this season meets with Discord in some way.”

Finn was a big Star Trek buff. Watched every episode of every show, twice at least, and all of the movies. Once I had figured out that Discord was Q in personality, and voice, I showed Return of Harmony to him, then Lesson Zero, and those three episodes pretty much sealed the brony deal with him.

We lived kinda far away from Salt Lake, so the ride from our home in Provo to the city was too long for my parents to allow. I was only a year into driving, and they were a little over protective. So when I brought up the idea to head to CMPC to Finn, and he offered to drive, I was overjoyed!

We got to the line, and I was happy to see that it wasn’t terribly long. As we waited for the staff to let us into the hall, the young man in front of us turned around, and looked between us. His hair reminded me of sand on the beach, with streaks of blue reminding me of the ocean. His eyes were dark blue with white specks, like the night sky.

He smiled. “So have you two been here before? Or is it your first time? This is my second time to CMPC, and I’m exited to see what they have in terms of booths this year. Gotta have the pony merch, amirite?”

I nodded vigorously. “First time to a pony convention, actually! My brother and I decided to come here, since it was the closest! I’m also exited to see the stuff the vendors are selling.”

The man nodded, and held out a hand. “My name is Weathered Field, nice to meet you two. CMPC might be a tad smaller than the other cons, but thats part of the charm. It feels more personal, in a way.”

We shook his hand. Weathered, which I figured was an OC name, scratched his nose. “So, mind if I ask you a question about the show?” We shook our heads. “Cool. If you had to choose between the two, would you go with Harmony, or Chaos?”

Finn scoffed. “Easy. Chaos, because Discord is my favorite character on the show.”

“No, Harmony because the Elements of Harmony includes Fluttershy, and she is best pony.” I shrugged. “Flawless logic. How about you?”

“Hard to say. Discord can get a little annoying over time, and it’s nice to see somepony in the spotlight other than the Elements. Well, in any case, can I get your names?”

I nodded. “Sure! I’m Blake, and this is Finn.”

“Hmm. Well, Blake and Finn, I hope you enjoy the ponies. Have fun, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” The doors opened, and we began walking through the doors at a brisk pace.

Finn squinted. “What does that mean? We hardly know you.”

He smiled, and looked back. “I wouldn’t sit around and mope for things lost. I would make the best of my time here, even if I miss something.”

I blinked. “Oh, well thanks then? By the way, I like your contacts! They remind me of a starry sky!”

“And I like your hair dye. Reminds me of the beach.”

I looked up, and laughed. “Oh, this isn’t dye. This is just natural blonde hair!” Starry smiled slyly.

“I know. Have a good day, you two.” He turned around, and walked into the small crowd between the booths.

Finn shivered. “That was strange. Was it just me, or was that guy giving off creepy vibes? Something in the way he spoke was off. I mean, what was with that ‘don’t do anything I wouldn’t’ thing?”

“Dunno. But he seemed nice enough. But he has the right idea! Let’s go check out the… the booths!” I rubbed my temple, I had a strange little twinge of a headache there. It was slick, like I had been sweating. I wiped my hand on my shirt, and continued towards the booths.

Fin stopped me, and looked at me with concern. “Hold up, little bro. You have something coming out of your nose.” I blinked, and put my hand to my nose, and touched something warm. I pulled back, and saw… something black on my fingers.

“What? What is that, ish…” My eyelids got droopy, and I hung my head. My vision unfocused, and I held a hand to my nose.

“Shoot, hold on. Let’s find someone medical. I think you hurt your head somewhere.” I nodded, but began to cough violently. Drops of the same black liquid splattered my hand, and I stumbled to the side. Finn grabbed my shoulders to steady me, and I saw worry in his eyes.

My senses began to fade out as I fell to my knees. I faintly heard Finn call for help, and my whole body felt wet as I closed my eyes and fell unconscious.

Dreams of being engulfed in tar filled my head as I slept.

I awoke to the feeling of something pushing on my chest, and a soft ground beneath me. I opened my eyes slowly, and saw Finn hunched over me, pushing on my chest repeatedly. There were tears in his eyes. I coughed, and looked away from him as more of the black liquid exited my lungs. Finn yelped, and pulled back.

“Oh my god. Oh my god, Blake I thought you were dead.” He pulled me up, and into an embrace. “Don’t scare me like that, don’t you dare.” He held me as I tried to sort my thoughts.

“What happened? The con?”

“I don’t know. You started leaking black stuff, and getting woozy, then you collapsed. Then you started to break down into the black stuff, and melting. I started to glow and crack, then I fell unconscious too. I woke up first here, and saw you. Your heart wasn’t beating.” He froze. “Your heart isn’t beating!”

I shot my hand up to my heart, and sure enough, there was nothing. I moved my hand around, but couldn’t find any beat. I moved two fingers to my neck, and checked for a pulse. Nothing. “Are we dead?”

“I’ve got no pulse either. If the afterlife is a grass plain, then yes. We died, and went to grass heaven.” I looked around, and let out a breath. There was grass everywhere, surrounded by mountains, and a forest in the distance.

“What? But— how? We were just in Salt Lake City, how did we end up in the middle of… nowhere? This… this doesn’t make sense, it can’t make sense!”

“I don’t know. But we shouldn’t worry about that. This is the USA, theres cities everywhere. This looks like somewhere that could be in Utah, so we’ll probably find some sign of people easily enough.”

——————

I was seated against one of the book shelves, and my hands were shaking. I read a little further. “We searched for hours, but didn’t find anything. It wasn’t until the sun set that we decided to give up on our search.

“The next day, we woke up to the sounds of voices outside of a cave we had bunked in. When we investigated, we were surprised to see two very young royal sisters. But they weren’t alicorns yet. Celestia still had her pink mane, and was a pegasus. Luna’s mane was blue and short, and she was a unicorn.” So I had been alive since before the alicorn Sisters were alicorns?

“Luna had felt something in the magical field change, so she came to us to investigate. We shared stories, and became friends. Over the next couple days, we traveled back to their home. It was a small collection of cabins, constructed just outside of what I recognized as the Everfree.”

There was a page break, then another entry. “Celestia gave this book to me. Told me to write in it, it helps deal with loss. None of the ponies in Canter have heard of anything like Starry Field, whomever he was.”

Another entry. “Celly’s father was, as far as I could press, an evil alicorn. Used his powers to control the ponies through fear and pain. Also, Celly and Luna are only half sisters. It was their father’s mother that was the Fausticorn, funnily enough. She was named Sol, though. Strange, to think that I know the ponies two generations down from the being that created Equus.”

Another entry. “We have magic. Finn and I, I mean. I glow with a lavender light when I use it, but Finn snaps and make a bright flash when he uses his. He’s thrilled that it’s like Discord’s magic. I’m thrilled that I have magic, as well, but I think I’m beginning to realize what Starry meant when we chose between Chaos and Harmony.”

Another break, weeks later. “The sisters’ father came back, and tried his whole ‘taking over’ thing, again. We helped, and managed to imprison him in the sun. I didn’t notice before, but the sun was completely smooth before we did so. I can feel it with my magic, and it is now tumultuous like the sun back home. The sisters are alicorns now, also. Ascended as they defeated Selese, their father.”

I set the book down, and focused. My hand lit up in a lavender glow, and the book moved slightly into the air. I shook my head. “Just how many years have I lost? And why did I lose them?” I began to read faster through the book.

Tension began to grow between the tribes, so they split apart. War broke out, and thousands of ponies died. Wendigos came, and froze the land. Founders got together, banished wendigos. I— I read the entry over again, and jumped up.

“The Hearths Warming story has finished, and Equestria has been founded. As we speak, the ponies are making a castle for the Sisters in the Everfree. As I watched the Founders, and ex-leaders of the tribes, I realized something. They have the qualities of the Elements of Harmony, which, as far as I know, don’t exist yet.

“I’ve collected six gems, each different colors. I’ve poured my magic into them, and made it so that they draw strength from the Harmony produced by six certain qualities. Since the beam they fire is composed of pure Harmony, it reacts violently to anything Chaotic. The more Chaos in the being, the bigger the effect.

“But I’m not going to give them to the sisters. I’ve created a carving of a tree in the Whitetail Woods that serves as a placeholder for the Elements. So long as they stay there, hidden, I can deal with Finn on my own. He is showing signs of insanity. We’ve been here for almost two centuries now, and I don’t think he’s handling it well. I fear that Discord is going to attack soon.”

“I’ve created a home for Finn and I, hidden by a gate in Whitetail Woods. I’ve named the structure inside of the gate the Aetheraenum, after the ‘technical’ name for all types of magic, aether and the word athenaeum.. Maybe if I spend more time with Finn, he can calm down.”

I was at the end of the first journal. I had been here since before Equestria existed, I had helped the Sisters ascend, and I had created the Elements, and Tree, of Harmony. Finn had gone insane, my brother, my first friend in this world.

I didn’t remember ever going to Crystal Mountain Pony Con, meeting Starry, or being transported to Equestria. I had lost over 2000 years of my life, for some unknown reason. I reached for the second journal.

“398, 2nd Era. Those bastards. They snuck to Whitetail, uprooted the Tree of Harmony, and took it, and the Elements back to their Castle while I was busy trying to calm Finn down. He isn’t Finn anymore, though. He changed himself to look like Discord, or he is Discord now?

“Either way, the Sisters cannot be allowed to use them. They’ve shielded me from the Tree, somehow, so I can’t take the Elements directly from them. Finn has taken up residence in Canter, and is busy laughing his head off. It looks like insanity over there. I should have been able to help him better, help him to avoid this future.

“He’s gone. The sisters tricked me, distracted me, and they froze Finn. I won’t see him for another 1000 years. I think I know how I could have helped Finn. The ponies here are unpredictable, wild, savage. The Sisters are too full of themselves to see anything but their own royalty. Their ponies. Of course they didn’t help us, we aren’t their subjects.

“I can fix this, though. The Sisters rely on the support of their subjects. I could break those two backstabbers, easily. Tear their Diarchy to pieces, by taking their subjects from them. They can know how he felt. Alone. Pressured. I can help him, I can fix this. All it takes is the world working in one accord.”

I closed the book. The rest was empty. Whatever had been used on me to imprison me had likely taken me then. I set the book beside me, by the first journal, and buried my head in my hands. Finn and I had both lost our minds, and we shared the same sentence because of that fact.

The song Viva La Vida came into my mind at that moment. Not sure why, but it did. I found my bedroom in the Aetheraenum, and fell asleep, and dreamed of family.

III - Apology

The halls of the Aetheraenum were too cold, too quiet. Only when you learn that your heart doesn’t beat, do you miss the repetitive, comforting feeling of your own life. My life. It had been over 2000 years since I had been on Earth, since I had been home, with my family.

If time passed the same between worlds, then Earth had changed, my parents died thinking their sons were dead, and the world had no explanation for the two kids that disappeared into thin air. Or ink and magic, as it were.

I held my hand in front of my face. It turned dark, and split apart like the branches of a tree, and began to glow with lavender light, my light. I had a mystery on my hands. Some entity came to me and Finn, transported us to Equus, and gave us the powers of Harmony and Chaos.

Why? How? What purpose did sending me here, and possibly taking my memories of my time here serve? A tendril of ink shot towards the ceiling, and broke through it. I pulled it back, and used my magic to repair the damage. It made no sense.

I made my way to the atrium of my old, and new home, and opened the gate. I needed to visit some old friends of mine, to have chat with them about recent events. I worked on the magic within the gate, and the image of the stone tower shifted to that of the throne room of Canterlot.

The Sisters sat on their thrones, working. Luna’s horn was lit, and her eyes were closed. It was almost sunrise, so Luna was likely finishing up her duty of tending to the dreams of her citizens. Celestia was looking over some paperwork. She didn’t look to be 100% in it, though. Perhaps she had already seen the remains of my prison?

I stepped through the gate, and stood still. The guards behind me yelped, surprised by my sudden appearance. I heard them ready their weapons, and move towards me. Celestia looked up from her paperwork, and tensed.

“Accord. I should have known you would break free, it was only a matter of time after Discord. Why have you come here? Don’t you know that I could easily detain you, and bring the Elements of Harmony here, and imprison you again?”

Luna woke from her slumber, but jumped to her hooves at the sight of me. “Celly. The Elements wouldn’t work, trust me. Their power is based on the target. The more Chaos in their sights, the more Harmony they fire. Discord, a being of Chaos, was frozen.” I locked eyes with Luna. “Nightmare Moon was driven from her host, and the changelings were all pushed away.

“I am Harmony incarnate. I created the Elements. Do you really think that they could fire on me? I know that you found another way to imprison me the last time. Using the Elements on me would be like forcing a spear to strike itself, or a cloud to clear itself. It wouldn’t work.”

I turned around to the guards, and held up my hand, which began to glow. The earth pony dropped to the floor, and the unicorn dropped his spear. I heard Celestia get up off her throne, and take a step towards me. “What did you do to them, Accord? Cease these actions, stand down. I’ve changed, I’m sure we can work something out.”

I felt a tear roll down my face, and I chuckled. “You’ve changed? You mean, you are no longer the pony that stole from, lied to, beat, betrayed, mocked, and broke the spirit of two of her oldest friends? My brother is imprisoned in his own mind, my family is dead, my world changed, my humanity stolen, and two of my oldest friends betrayed me.”

I shook my head solemnly. “When I was imprisoned, I forgot everything that I had done here. The last thing I remember was being at home, with my parents in the next room, and my brother upstairs. I read my own accounts of my life, and I begin to remember.”

Luna gave me a shaky smile. “Please, Accord, we can work something out. We can try to make up for what you’ve lost, in any way we can.”

“I know you can try. But… whatever you give will not compare to my family. From my perspective, I last saw them six years ago. Only small pockets of memory from the time before come to mind, so I still mourn their loss. They probably think me dead, Sisters. Your father is still there, within the sun. I can feel him, reaching out in great bouts of fire, and plasma.”

“Our father was a mad pony. He would have destroyed the world, had we not stopped him. I am truly sorry for your losses, Accord. I know that pain, of knowing the ones you love have passed on, and you will never see them. I can help you overcome it, just please, do not harm my ponies.”

I stared at Celestia, tears in my eyes. I waved my hand, and the two guard’s magic returned to them. “I would never harm your ponies. There are countless foes on the horizon, however, that will want nothing more than to do just that. Surely you’ve seen them, Celly? The Shadow King, the Lord of Destruction, and many others?

“If, and only if, you promise to try to find a way to return me and my brother to our home, in the time we left will I be willing to leave this room as a friend.”

“I promise, Accord, I will do what I can to restore what was taken from you.”

I snorted. “You really have changed, Celly. The Celestia I knew never would have promised with that much passion. Now, I’m afraid I must go. I need to return what is mine, and speak to the bearers of my Elements. I need to thank them for freeing me.”

I turned back around, and walked through where the gate was, and into the Aetheraenum. I closed the gate behind me, and sat down on the floor. I remembered some small things from the old days. Sitting around a fire, making jokes with my brother and the Sisters. Chaos and Harmony, with the Sun and the Moon.

I stood back up, turning to ink as I did so. The liquid expanded out, then came back together in the form of a unicorn, with a black coat and mane, with lavender eyes, and an ink well cutie mark. An old disguise from an old memory.

I turned around, and pressed my hooves to the gate, opening it to the tower in Whitetail Woods. I walked through, and closed the gate behind me, and began to make my way towards Ponyville.

——————

Twilight Sparkle was looking over every book in her collection franticly. Despite her large collection of knowledge, mental and physical, she barely knew anything about the Accord figure that Celestia mentioned in her letter.

She remembered her trip with the Princess through the Castle Gardens six years ago, and her brief mention of Accord, but nothing else. Twilight threw her books to the floor in frustration, but caught them and re-shelved them before they landed. She didn’t want to damage them.

“Spike, can you go get Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity to come here? I’ll get Applejack and Rainbow Dash here as well. I need to talk to them about the letter the Princess sent me. From what she wrote, it sounds like this Accord figure could be more potentially dangerous than Discord.”

Spike saluted. “Your number one assistant is on it! See you back here in a bit, with the rest of our friends!” He walked to the door, but was sent flying back as the door slammed open, revealing a mass of pink.

“Twilight, Spike! It’s happening again!” She gave a full body shudder. “My Pinkie Sense is telling me that there’s gonna be one heck of a doozy, although its not as big as when Twilight accepted Pinkie Sense.” She scratched her chin. “Have you discovered how Pinkie Sense works?”

“No, and I don’t plan to. Pinkie, you came at a great time! Can you help Spike and I gather the rest of the Elements? The Princess sent me a letter, and I want to talk about it with all of you.” Pinkie saluted, and turned to leave.

She stopped as a black unicorn approached the library. “Uh, excuse me, this is the Golden Oaks, right? I was looking on some history books, and I was told that this library could have what I was looking for.” Pinkie smiled, and slowly looked back at Twilight.

“Elements first, Pinkie. And yes, this is the Golden Oaks Library, where knowledge really does come from a tree! My name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m the librarian. Do you know exactly what book you’re looking for?”

“Not really, I was just going to browse. And whats with that motto?”

“Oh, uh. It’s a work in progress. History books are on the fourth column clockwise. Just out of curiosity, what’s your name?”

“Ink Blot. And thank you for pointing me in the right direction.” He walked over to the pointed section, and began looking over the books. “So, Twilight Sparkle, eh? Element of Magic, student of Princess Celestia?”

“Oh, yeah. That’s me.” He glanced over at her, then chuckled.

“Humble, eh? I’ve had a few dealing with the Princesses, but nothing like becoming either of their personal students. I just helped them with a few occasional problems, nothing major. I’m currently studying magical theory, I’m trying to find out what exactly magic is. It bothers me that we know so little about something so integral to our society.”

Twilight scoffed. “I know! I mean, the last great wizard to delve deep into the Aether Theory was Starswirl, of course, and before that it was Clover the Clever! Why have only two unicorns investigated it? I’ve been trying to figure out a way to start research on the topic, but my life’s a little busy.”

He picked up a book with a lavender glow, and began to flip through it. “I’d imagine. I have to wonder, what kind of glow would aether produce? Unicorn magic makes a field, like an amorphous formation of magic, and changeling magic is like fire. What do you think?”

“I believe that, based on the manifestation of all horn-based magics, including the shimmering, sparkling glow of the deer to the west and north, produces a light of some sort, that aether would produce a solid, unwavering light. Kinda like your light.” Twilight looked towards her shelves of magical theory books, then did a double take.

Ink Blot was holding a book in a solid lavender glow, one that didn’t waver or move at all. “Yes, you were saying? What about my light?” He looked at Twilight, and she felt a chill on her neck she only felt when looking into the Princess’ eyes, and Discord’s.

At this moment, Spike and Pinkie came through the door with the rest of the Elements. They all looked at the frozen Twilight, and the mysterious unicorn in the room. Twilight shook her head. “That’s impossible. Aether can only be manipulated by deity-level beings, like Discord and… Accord.”

Rainbow blinked. “Yo, Twilight, what’d you call us in here for? And is it safe to talk about in front of that guy?”

“Princess Celestia sent me a letter informing me that a being more powerful, and possibly dangerous than Discord had broken loose from his prison during the invasion. She told us that she would be sending the Elements to us, and for us to be on our guard.”

Ink Blot flipped a page. “Fascinating. Did you know that Accord managed to conquer over 40% of pony kind before he was imprisoned? What power that must have taken. So, Elements, how’s your week been? Aside from being attacked by an army of changelings, anyways. My life’s been rather free as of recently.

Ink set the book on the shelf, and pulled another one out. The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide. He flipped it open to the middle, and stared closely at it. Then, he pulled his head back, and the Element of Magic floated out with it. The bearers immediately tensed, and glared at him.

“Honestly, this Element was named wrong. It never needed a large amount of magic to run, since the Elements don’t use magic. They draw off of the Harmony produced by the qualities their bearers hold. ‘Magic’ isn’t a quality of heart, unlike the others. Should have named it Friendship instead.” He shook his head, and pulled the rest of the Elements from the book.

“Do you want to do this now, or later? Harmony knows that Rainbow is just itching to use the Elements again. The feeling of pure, unfiltered Harmony flowing through you truly is a unique feeling. We can go outside, even, to prevent any harm to the books.” He tossed the Elements to their bearers, who caught them.

Applejack fastened her Element to her neck. “So, lemme guess. You’re the creature that the Princess warned Twi’ of?” The other bearers copied her movements.

“The one and only Accord, Spirit of Harmony. Nice to meet you seven, I’m a huge fan. I mean, the bearers of the Elements, as well as the third Loyalty?” He laughed. “I came here to thank you six for freeing me. Being a statue was getting awfully boring.”

Twilight shook her head. “We didn’t free you, we would never do something like that. The Princess—“

“Yes, the Princess told you about me, I remember. And yes, you did. You fired the Elements, and they washed over the entire city of Canterlot. Including the Gardens.” His horn lit up, and the eight of them all teleported outside, into the town square. “Go ahead, fire when ready, Elements. Might as well get this over with.”

Applejack leaned over to Rainbow. “Does this all feel a little fishy to you? Or is that just me? Last time somepony was this willing to get hit by the Elements, we were all under Discord’s control.”

Rainbow nodded. “There’s something up, alright. But this time, we’re still ourselves, and we have the Elements. This Accord guy doesn’t stand a chance.”

The Elements took a stance while some ponies ran, and others stayed to watch the spectacle. The Elements all lit up, and began to fire long strands of colored light that arced up, and onto Accord, one by one. Each poured onto Accord, wrapping around him, becoming a bright white light.

Eventually, the light stopped, and everypony blinked the spots from their eyes. In front of them wasn’t a statue, or even a purified pony, it was something seen only in the Castle Gardens. Accord, in his strange, ape-like body, was crouched on the ground on all fours. He slowly stood, and smiled to the air.

“Finally. Last time the Elements hit me, they only affected my prison. This time, they hit me, and me only. Something powerful had tampered with my mind using a form of Chaos magic, and had sealed my memories away. You just solved that problem.”

He raised a claw, and the Elements flew from the bearers in a lavender light. “Hmm. They’re still damaged, even after all this time. When Celly used the Elements to banish Nightmare Moon, she didn’t represent all the qualities of the Elements.

“She tried to rewrite the magic in them, so they drew from ambient magic instead. It drained them almost completely of their magic, leaving nothing but stone shells of what they were supposed to be. You six restored them to what they once were.”

Rainbow flew up close to Accord, and growled. “Give those back, those belong to us, not you, you weirdo!”

“Right. And your flying skills belong to me, right?”

Rainbow flew back, and gave an indignant look. “No, of course not, they’re mine! I worked hard to be where I’m at, which is a evil-beating, plot-kicking super mare!”

“I worked hard on those Elements, and they are very much mine. Just like the Tree they came from, and just like my own skills.”

Rarity turned her head. “So is that it? You just wanted us to hit you with your Elements, nothing else? Because something tells me that the Princess wouldn’t send Twilight a letter warning of you, if that’s all you wanted. You said it yourself, you conquered over 40% of pony kind. Do you plan on raising that number, this time around?”

“No, I made a promise. I told Celly that I won’t harm anypony, so long as she tries to find me a way back to my original home. I’m reformed now, believe it or not. Still annoyed that she stole from me and stoned my brother, but I think it’s about time I forgave her.”

The Elements froze. All at once, they shouted, “You have a brother!?”

“Well, yes. I thought that would have been fairly obvious. We act similarly, we both messed with ponies a long time ago, we both spent 1000-ish years encased in stone. If I’m the Spirit of Harmony, who do you think my brother would be?”

Spike chuckled nervously. “Discord is your brother? Oh man, those family dinners must have been a whole new level of crazy. ‘Hey Discord, could you pass the plaid sauce?’” He broke down into laughter, and Accord smiled with him.

“That actually did happen. He changed the honey so it looked like plaid, and it was actually very delicious on sandwiches, ask the Sisters if you don’t believe me.”

Twilight gasped. “The Princesses? Does that mean that—“

“No, they aren’t our sisters or anything. We were just good friends. Immortality is lonely, so we sought comfort in each other. Annnd then she stole the Elements, imprisoned my brother, and tricked me into getting slammed by that petrification spell. Speaking of which, I’ve got to go. I have family I need to visit, so see you later. Ciao!”

His hand lit up in a lavender glow, then he vanished into thin air. Fluttershy gulped. “Well, he certainly was much nicer than Discord, wasn’t he?”

Twilight sat down, and rubbed her forehead. “This isn’t going to end well, I’m sure of it.”

Pinkie shuddered, and nodded. "Yep! That was definitely one heck of a doozy, alright!"

IV - Poetry

“Oi, you big lug, nap time’s over. I know you can hear me, I was a statue too.” I lit my hand up, and knocked on the statue. The spot that I struck it began to crack, and break apart. The other various limbs of Discord began to crack as well, until finally the prison broke apart, and crumbled away revealing the trickster chimera himself.

“Oh, it’s you Blake. How’s it been, stuck in stone? Boring, isn’t it? So, what? You gonna enslave the world again, and you want my help to do just that?” He leaned down, and stared me in the eyes with a smile on his face.

“No. First, before I discuss anything with you, I want to see Finn, not Discord.” He glared at me, but returned to his normal form in a flash of light. “Thank you. I got something like a memory reboot while I was imprisoned. Made me reevaluate my life choices. I’m gonna be clearing Equestria of all the villains that the show has, one way or another. Then Celly is going to find us a way back to Earth, in our time.”

“Good for you. I happen to be enjoying my time here, and would rather stay. Besides, who knows if we’ll stay as Chaos and Harmony on Earth? Imagine the havoc that would cause. Actually now that I think about this, going home sounds so much more enjoy—OOF!”

His jaw was turned to the side, and he was staring at my outstretched fist in surprise. He blinked. “You punched me. Celestia never punched me!”

“Oh hush, we both know that a punch could never hurt either of us. You’re made of light, I’m made of ink. And good to know you still remember Star Trek. But seriously, Finn, you need to fix yourself. If Celly finds a way home, and you’re still hell-bent on being ‘Discord’, then I’m not going to take you. I’m sick of this, and I know you’re sick of this.”

Finn frowned at me. “Who says I need to be fixed? I am happy just the way I am, fictional deity or not. Not even Fluttershy and her tea parties will change that. I mean, how did that work in the show!? So what if Discord lost a friend, he could have just found the least friendly pony on the planet, and reverse their personality!”

I sighed, and charged magic into my hand. “Then, I do apologize for this, Finn. Maybe you can reorganize your head after I screw with it.” I pulled Finn close to me, and pressed my palm to his forehead. He struggled in my grasp, making various gasping sounds.

I pulled my hand back, and looked at the swirling ball of ghostly strands hovering there. Memory. I waited a few moments while Finn gagged, and blinked, then pressed the ball of light back into his head. He choked one last time, then his eyes rolled back, and he fell still.

I swung him over my shoulder without any effort, and opened a gate to the Aetheraenum, then to the bedroom. I rested him on the same white bed that he stayed in all those years ago, and cast a small spell. When he woke up, it would make a little sound in my head to indicate as such.

I had gone through this same sleep six years ago, though I didn’t know the cause still. One day I was angrily stewing in my prison, then I was 2000+ years younger. I walked back into the atrium, and made my way towards the library.

After spending a few hours planning, and reading old favorites, I found a book and pulled it from the shelf. ‘A Through Research of the Aether and It’s Power, by Blake Dunn.’ I tucked it under my arm, and looked for another book. ‘The Elements of Harmony; The Full Guide, by Blake Dunn.’ I nodded, and walked back to the atrium.

I made a gate to Ponyville, and shifted into Ink Blot. The two books hovered in my magical grasp, and I walked through the gate, depositing me in an alley between two buildings. I stepped out of it, and began my way towards the library.

Stopping at the door, I knocked on it with a hoof. Twilight opened it with a smile, but quickly frowned when she saw me. “Accord. What are you doing here? I thought you were going to hang with your ‘brother’?”

“I was, and I did. But the names Ink Blot when I’m like this. Anyways, I just wanted to donate a few books to your library. I recalled our discussion on aether from earlier, so I pulled out a book from a friend that might clear some things up. And since you’re an Element of Harmony, I also got you a book on the Elements from the same friend.”

I levitated the books to her, and saw her eyes slowly light up. “But— what? You would really give me these books? Aren’t you worried about what I’d do with them?”

“Not really. So long as you don’t go and force an entire town to fall in love with a toy doll with this knowledge, I trust you. Oh, and, theres a passage in the aether book, page 187, I think, that you may want to show Rainbow Dash. It’s on the subject of a Blake-Finn Explosion. You’ll see what I mean. You might also want to look at page 43 in detail. It’s about heartsongs, and how they function.”

She flipped through the books, and shook her head. “This… this is amazing! Just a few pages of either of these books could revolutionize magical science as we know it! If Equestria could create other sets of Elements, we could have an even deeper defense for the inevitable event of an evil pony attacking Equestria!”

“Yep! Just, let me make this clear to you. If I see you start to use these books in anyway other than the pursuit of knowledge, such as monetary gain, or creating instruments of destruction against any group, I can and will make your life an utter, absolute, complete Tartarus. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

I made the appropriate motions, and Twilight swallowed. “Don’t worry, I would never do anything of the sort. For any of the things I’ve learned.”

“Good. Oh, and tell the Elements that I’ve rebooted Discords memory so that he’ll become nice and cooperative like me! Ciao!” I became invisible, and walked back to my gate, whistling a merry tune as I shifted into my normal self.

I counted down on my fingers, smiling as my last finger closed, and a loud “WHAAAAAT” shook the streets. It sure was fun to mess with Twily like that.

——————

Celestia frowned from within her personal dimension. The magical screen in front of her showed a very surprised, and annoyed Twilight staring out her door. She didn’t expect Accord to do what he did, but she supposed it made sense. When she first met the brothers, Blake and Finn, they were much more… manageable than they were nowadays.

Though, his promise to Twilight was… disturbing. She doubted that her student would break that promise, but it still worried her. Celestia had seen what lengths Pinkie would go to make sure a broken Pinkie Promise was fixed.

“She really is a fun pony, isn’t she?” Celestia screamed, and sent out an involuntary pulse of magic that pushed Accord away from her. He floated there in literally her own space and let out a long laugh. “Hello, Celly. Good to see you too!”

“Ac— Accord how did you get here!? This realm is closed to all but myself, and those I allow! How did you enter it?” She charged up a spell, and grit her teeth.

“Easy, Celly. This place was constructed using unicorn magic, a subset of Harmony magic, which happens to be my area of expertise. I simply looked for your magical glow, and created a gate to it.” He reached his hand to the side, and it disappeared into thin air.

“So you’ve taken residence in the Aetheraenum again. For a while, I could never figure out how you created that space. Then I had a breakthrough, and here we are. A thanks should be given, I suppose.”

“Any day, Celly. So you never entered the Aetheraenum? Shame, really. It’s a beautiful place: lavender light fills the halls, causing the blue flakes in the black granite floor to shine. The whole ground shimmers. But, again, knowing you, you’d just sneak off to the Archive and grab what you could.”

Celestia nodded, then focused back to the screen, which showed Twilight reading my books. “Sounds like a lovely place. What’s in the Archive?”

“Enough dark magic to destroy the world several times over. Things from the old days, like the Rainbows of Light and Dark, a broken mirror that Starswirl made, Sombra’s amulet. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a small project of mine I desperately need to work on. See you later, Celly!” I turned around, and walked into the gate. Celestia looked around her, then teleported out of her realm.

I stepped through the gate, and almost immediately fell to the floor, turning to ink. I slowly stood back up, gasping, and pressed two blobs of ink hardly resembling hands to the gate, and shifted it’s exit location. I tumbled through, feeling extremely sluggish.

I was in an alleyway, in some dark corner of Manehatten. I got up, and heard hooves approaching. Something primal was burning inside of me, and I surged forwards. The earth pony hardly time to blink before I poured onto him, coating him, filling him. The glow in his hooves slowly pulled away onto my own self, and disappeared.

The pony gagged, and collapsed to the ground, shuddering. I pushed myself out of him, and reformed with a sigh. I had almost forgotten about my limits. I needed to feed off of magical energy in order to stay anything more than a puddle of ink. Same went for Finn.

I adjusted the cuff on my suit, and reached a tendril of ink behind me. It flowed into the open mouth of the pony, and his eyes became a solid black, before clearing up. I couldn’t have anypony complaining about a loss of magic, Celly would most likely link it to me. They could borrow some aether for now,

The tip of my tendril broke off, and the rest flowed back into me. I took a breath, and flexed my fingers. It felt good to do that, it was like measuring yourself, and discovering that you’d grown an inch. But, it was wrong. I promised Celly that I wouldn’t harm her ponies, yet…

But what harm was done? They can still use their magic, my little bit of ink can’t hurt them, and I didn’t assault them, no harm done! I nodded, and walked back through my gate, and back through. I was behind a certain blue alicorn that was staring over her city.

Turning to ink, I silently slid across the floor until I was right behind her. “Sure is a beautiful city.”

In a reaction not unlike her sister’s, she screamed, and let out a magical blast that through me a few feet backwards. “Accord! How did you get up here? This tower is locked to all but my sister and I!” Whew, deja vu much?

“Good to see you too, Luna. Same way I got into your sisters realm: I opened a gate to your location, and walked through.”

She glared at me with an open mouth, and facehoofed. “Of course. You got into your Aetheraenum again, didn’t you?” I nodded. “Of course. Just— do my sister and I a favor, and never do that again.”

I shifted into an ink-black raven, and held my head up high. “Quoth the raven, nevermore.” I shifted back, and smiled.

She raised a brow. “Really? Poetry, now?”

I shrugged. “Always was a fan of Poe. Have I ever told you what my favorite work of his was? The Cask of Amontillado. In the story, a man named Fortunado has done something to wrong the narrator, Montresor, but he doesn’t know what. Mont becomes blind with rage, and devises a plan to get rid of this man that dared to embarrass him. He tricks Fortunado, and takes him down to a series of catacombs below the city.

“Fortunado, the whole time, has no idea that his friend could be mad at him! He trusts him, follows him, even when Montresor chains him to a wall in a deep, dark corner of the catacombs. Even when Montresor begins to build a wall, trapping Fortunado, he still believes that Montresor is just having a joke with him! It isn’t until the light starts to leave his face that he realizes his foolishness, and cries out, hoping that some god will hear him.

“You know what Montresor did? He screamed back, like a wild animal. He was completely consumed with rage, and didn’t stop enjoying it until he called out for Fortunado, and nobody responded. He still refused to believe that he was remorseful of what he had done, and blamed his nausea on the niter hanging from the ceiling.” I gave a cold look to Luna, who was tense, and frowning at me.

“Every time I remember that story I ask: Who am I? Montresor, the man that traps his friend in stone, and leaves him for dead? Or Fortunado, the poor, innocent fool that just wanted to have a good time with his friends? Think about it.” I patted Luna between the withers, causing her to flinch. I stepped back, and slowly became invisible as I smiled at her.

Being friends with somepony does not necessarily mean you have to forgive them, if what they did was bad enough.