Grab Bag of Harmony

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.