Harmony: Heroes of Gimlé - Arc I: Rainstorm

Whether called the Aether, the Weave, Strings, or whatever else, the foundation of the multiverse holds great knowledge and power for those who can tap into it. Using a fusion of their own energy, emotion, and willpower certain individuals can access information about their world or others, alter the frequency of strings - dictating the form and function of reality itself and so, enable the individual to affect themselves and their environment or even travel through time, space and even other universes. This is what is often called "magic". Be warned though, just as a virus can alter a living creature's DNA, or can infect a computer's programming, so too can the Aether be negatively affected. Should this vast extradimensional framework become corrupted by some sort of malignant force, existence itself as we know it could be destroyed forever…

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Canterlot, July 8th, Year: 980, Solaris Era, 12:04 AM, (Twenty-two years earlier)

The night was almost eerily calm throughout the sleeping metropolis as a strange four-legged, thin creature with wings pulled a small but beautifully constructed white and gold chariot across the sky. On this chariot rode three winged humanoid beings, two of them - male - stood approximately five feet tall and wore golden colored armor which largely resembled what was worn by ancient Greek warriors long ago on Earth. At first glance, the pale white beings seemed almost like normal humans, but upon closer inspection appeared to have equine ears almost on top of their heads, their hands had four fingers instead of five, each of which ended in a sturdy nub instead of fingernails, and short tails, with medium-length hair covering those of the males.

The third being, sitting behind the first two, looked much like her companions, but had much larger wings and stood more than seven feet tall, with a single six-inch horn protruding upward at a slight angle at the top of her forehead just before her hairline, while her entire body, as well as her breathtakingly deep-violet eyes, emitted a very dim glow. The long flowing hair on both her tail and her head seemed ethereal, resembling an aurora which contrasted vividly against her beautiful long white dress which had a golden belt around her waist with a violet stone as the centerpiece, and an ornate, golden sword hanging off her left hip. She also wore twin golden armbands, each with a small stone of their own, and a matching bertha, also bearing a small violet stone with a gap beneath it big enough to show what looked like a runic sun tattoo on her chest. This was her crest, a special seal which manifested itself upon the arm or torso of a 'pony' when she or he discovered that key part of them which in some way tied to their destiny.

This particular crest was embroidered on numerous flags, buildings, and signs throughout the city as a testament to the ruler of the land. Her name was Celestia Solstice, crown princess of the nation of Equestria and despite being referred to as a princess, she was the high ruler of this great empire and its sworn protector. Long ago in the name of that oath, she had banished her only remaining family, her beloved little sister Princess Luna, who had been consumed by an evil force, turning her into Nightmare Moon and threatening the entire world with an everlasting night. Unable to free her sister from the sinister presence, even with the awesome might of the Elements of Harmony, she only had two options at the time - trap both the entity and Luna on the moon for a thousand years or kill them both. She chose the former hoping an ancient prophecy would come to pass and the true wielders of the Elements would finally emerge to unleash the full potential held within the artifacts, allowing them to safely free Luna from the evil which had corrupted her. Just twenty more years... she thought as she gazed up at her sister's moon. Every time she saw the pattern of craters forming the shape of an alicorn's face - her sister's face - it was all she could do to keep from bursting into tears.

She was the big sister, she was supposed to be there for her, she was supposed to protect her!... But she had failed in every sense of the word. Now she had to hope the prophecy was true, otherwise, she and Nightmare Moon would be forced to finish what they had started nearly one-thousand years ago...one way or the other. The thought made Celestia's blood run cold and her stomach turn. Would she be able to do what was necessary if it came down to it? Did she even have the power to do so if she had to?

"Your Highness!?"

"Geahh!" Celestia yelped in surprise as the words of one of her royal guards finally broke through to her, snapping her back to reality. "Yes, what is it?" Celestia said sweetly, regaining her composure.

"I merely asked if you were alright. You seemed to be lost in thought and I figured you were worried about our visit to Saddle Arabia." said the guard with obvious concern in his voice.

Yet another troubling issue that will one day need to be resolved... she thought to herself as she let out a sigh. They had just returned from a seemingly fruitless diplomatic trip to Saddle Arabia, the powerful rival nation far to the south of Equestria, past the Dead Lands, where pony kind had gotten their start. There, their ancestors had been "created" by the then acting Sultan of the time's sorcerer-priests to serve as a slave race for the royal hierarchy before rebelling centuries later and fleeing north. Though most past and present Saddle Arabians were - and still are - kind, honest, hard-working, and selfless "m'hern" in accordance with their religious beliefs; their leadership had always been largely problematic. Although one of the colt princes she had met during her visit - Prince Haakim - was different. Despite the fact he was only eight, Haakim showed both kindness and wisdom well beyond his years, which gave Celestia some hope, though not much, due to the constant and bloody power struggle between the current Sultan's one-hundred and seventy-five potential heirs to the throne, but if he could somehow survive and rise to power...

Once again, Celestia was jolted out of her thoughts, as were her guards, this time by the sudden and severe shift in atmospheric pressure and electrical charge in the air signaling a terrible storm had arrived. Being an alicorn she had the same ability to sense such disturbances as the two pegasi with her. Though natural storms not created by pegasi did still occur, this was far too immense and far too quick to be natural or pony-made. Suddenly, completely out of thin-air, thick dark thunderclouds appeared, lightning began flashing constantly in all directions, and it started raining heavily. As the first few drops hit Celestia's face, she was taken aback when she felt an uncomfortable amount of heat from the rain. Celestia and the naturally and decoratively armored thestral pulling her chariot were more than capable of withstanding far greater amounts of heat, and so had no fear of any kind of pain or injury from the scalding rain.

However, that didn't mean it couldn't, at least, cause quite a bit of pain for normal creatures as evidenced by the pained, high-pitched yelping of her once proud guards as the rain stung what little skin of theirs that was not protected by armor. Being safe from any harm the hot rain might cause, Celestia looked up and to her shock saw through the clouds a massive aurora. What could be causing this!?, the alicorn thought to herself, knowing the deceptively beautiful display was, in fact, an alarming sign. Before Celestia could ponder the cause of this unsettling phenomenon any further, she spotted something falling out of one of the clouds high above the city. As she made use of the hawk-like vision also shared between alicorns and pegasi, she focused on the small object. "What in Equest-!?" She stopped mid-sentence as she realized what was falling toward the ground. Without a second to spare she bolted from the chariot at the object before either of her guards could even utter a single word.

Flying at amazing speed the princess of the sun soared in the direction of the plummeting object. "Got to make it! Got to make it!" she said out loud to herself as she raced forward and just a few stories above the ground she caught it. "It" turned out to be a small, pale, naked, male child with light brown hair who was covered in large red patches of skin. She could sense familiar and extremely dangerous energy throughout the boy's body. The energy was much like what the sun itself produced and if it remained within the child for much longer, he would suffer lasting injury, or worse. Using her solar magic, she quickly absorbed and negated the degradative force threatening to kill the young boy, but then noticed his eyes were starting to cloud over. Try as she might with her powerful magic, however, she was unable to heal the damage.

With the storm having disappeared moments ago as quickly and mysteriously as it had appeared, Celestia's royal guard finally caught up to her, "What the Hell is going on Princess!?" asked one of the guards. Celestia took a second to quickly look around and noticed the boy wasn't the only thing that had fallen from the sky. Scattered around the streets were copious amounts of debris. From piles of twisted metal, chunks of what might have been at one-point buildings serving some unknown purpose, what appeared to be the remnants of mysterious vehicles, what seemed to be once dangerous and strange weapons, now shattered and hopelessly defunct littered the streets. Even hideously disfigured corpses now warped and charred beyond all recognition could be seen among the carnage, all of which gave off the same sun-esque energy she had just pulled from the figure lying unconscious in her arms. She gave her head a quick shake.

"I don't know," said the princess. "But there's no time to waste! You - send for a crew to collect...this!" she ordered one of the pegasi while gesturing toward the wreckage with her head. "And I want full hazard protocols in place! No telling how dangerous any of this stuff is!" she shouted as the first guard took off. "And you!" she turned her attention to the other pegasus. "I need you to send word ahead to Meadowbrook's Mercy and tell them to prep for the Heycart procedure at once!"

"B-but your highness." the guard stammered, "Even with all the resources and talent available at the hospital, the odds of that procedure being successful are -"

"I know full well what the odds are." Celestia interrupted the guard. "But he'll go blind anyway if we don't try, besides I don't think we'd be able to find a compatible donor - let alone a willing one - so this is our best shot and that's all there is to it!" Celestia exclaimed.

The guard looked down at...whatever this "colt" was. From its head down to its feet, though he shared many pony features, he was clearly not a pony. "What is he?" the guard asked.

"Somepony who needs our help," Celestia stated, the compassion audible in her voice.

The guard relented realizing the truth in his princesses' words, he then bowed and took off for the hospital shouting "As you command!" as he sped off into the night, Celestia followed right behind him. She was fairly certain "what" the boy was and doubted that even if they found somepony who would be willing to give their eyes to him, a transplant with a creature so alien to them would have much chance of success. As she headed toward their destination she looked down at the small child, who judging by his size and youthful appearance, likely couldn't be very old at all.

Celestia gave him a worried smile, "Just what is your story?" she wondered aloud. "Where did you come from? And what happened to you to cause you to fall out of the sky? Eh, little raindrop?"

Unbeknownst to all, a mysterious figure sat on one of the many rooftops, having been quietly observing the whole event from the beginning. "So this is your play, Aetherealite?" asked the figure out loud in a raspy voice as if addressing some unseen individual. The figure was completely covered in a large, black, and shredded looking cloak which seemed to flow around him like thick clouds of smoke. He let out a long and unsettling laugh, "My, aren't we desperate if out of all the beings in all the universes, that's who you go with!?" He shouted gleefully. Surely "she" must know that with "that one" in particular that her plan could backfire on her horribly? He thought to himself. What's more, he knew he could have easily murdered Celestia and the boy, along with anyone who might get in the way, however... where would be either the fun or the sense in wasting two possible unwitting pawns so needlessly? After a few moments of silent contemplation, he spoke again. "Very well, I'll let this sad little farce of yours playout," he said. "Besides, I might be able to use him as my replacement model, the current one doesn't have much mileage left on it anyway."

Then with one last wicked laugh, he spun around, vanishing in a flash of greenish-yellowish and black flames.

Story: Begins