Haywire: Origins

[Skai]

I pull a sewing needle through navy blue cloth using my magic, finishing up the final seam on the banner. I set down the thread and needle, lifting up the twin banners and making sure there aren’t any mistakes or errors.

I tap my chin, “Hm… Hey Rosegarden, do you think these look-” I look over and see her struggling with a spell, kneeling slightly and groaning heavily as her horn glows even brighter than ever before.

I look around her at all the various floating instruments, still not sure how she even has the magic strength to lift all of them at once, much less play all of them at once. “Uh… Are you okay?”

She sighs deeply as she lays down all the instruments, standing up straight and brushing off her coat. “Yeah, I’m fine, I just am having an oddly tough time with this spell. I’ve never done a musical spell like this before, and I’m kind of struggling.”

I set down the banners, trotting up to her and patting her side, “To be fair, do you really need all of these instruments? I doubt Princess Twilight is going to mind something less than a Bridleway orchestra.”

Rosegarden scoffs as she pats my head, “Skai, dear brother of mine, of course I have to have all these instruments. This is not only the first official Festival since Celestia and Luna left, but it’s also the first one in Ponyville. It absolutely has to be completely perfect for the Princess!”

She trots over to the shop counter, “Speaking of… Oh wow!” She says as she lifts up the two banners I just finished, both modeled after the visage of the Royal Sisters and their Cutie Marks.

“These are fantastic! And- Wait, is this even more?!” She looks behind the counter and sees the many banners I’ve made.

“Maybe I went a bit overboard too.” I say with a chuckle and a blush as I tug on my neckerchief, “But since I’m done, maybe I can help you with your spell?”

She sighs as she stands in the center of the room again, digging her hoof at the carpet, “You can try but I really have no clue what I’m getting wrong. I’m recounting the spell in my head, sending out my magic to the instruments, but nothing happens.” She says with an angry little stamp of her hoof.

I tap my chin, “Hmm… Maybe it’s like a transfiguration spell? Like imaging the object, just with music instead?” I think aloud, tapping my hoof against the counter a bit.

She turns around raising an eyebrow, “Wait- How do you know how transfiguration spells work?”

I scoff and roll my eyes, “Well you leave your magic books everywhere and spout magic nonsense 24/7, so I pick up a thing or two. Now just focus.”

I trot up and pat her side with my hoof, “I think how it works is you gotta imagine the music. The tempo, the beat, the melody, which instruments play when, when do some stop, when they start again, et cetera.”

Rosegarden blinks a few times, staring at me in awe. “I- Wow. That’s- actually amazing. You know if you had a better control of your horn, you probably could-” She quickly quiets herself and covers her mouth with a hoof.

I turn around and look down at my hooves, “Rose, you… You know I can’t. And you know why I don’t wanna practice using my horn, either.” I say dejectedly, going back behind the counter and stacking up the banners and boxes of decorating supplies with my magic.

Rosegarden sighs and walks up to me, patting the back of my head, “Skai you’ve gotta try sooner or later. If you don’t try-”

She’s cut off by a spark of magic behind us, and we both turn to see several creatures, all of whom I mostly recognize.

“Discord! Can you stop doing that!?” The purple mare cries out.

The one giving me the most worry was the draconequus in the center: Discord, the self proclaimed Lord of Chaos. He’s not only turned Ponyville upside down in recent years, but he’s also infamously ambiguous between good and evil, usually leaning on the chaotic good side.

Then there’s Trixie, a seasonal customer of mine when she’s in Ponyville and a master of stage magic, as well as her best friend Starlight Glimmer, an overall kind and empathetic pony as well as the Headmare of the nearby School of Friendship.

Starlight gallops up to me, “Uh yeah sorry for the intrusion. I’m assuming one of you is Skai Shine?” She says with a meek smile.

I raise my eyebrow, “Uh… Why?” I say while nervously eyeing up the unnerving draconequus.

Starlight steps in front of my view of Discord, “Well I’m Starlight Glimmer and I’m sent by Princess Twilight to oversee the decor of the Festival! How are they coming along?”

I gasp with a grin, using my magic to lift up all the many banners and twirl them around her, “Fantastic! I was just about to head over to the Castle of Friendship and hand them over to the decorator, Crimson.”

Trixie trots up, “And what's with all the instruments? There’s quite a lot of ‘em.”

Rosegarden nervously laughs, “That’s for me! I’m handling the music which is coming along- er… Decently.” She says with a nervous smile, causing Starlight to grow a bit visibly unnerved.

Trixie rushes in front of her, “We’ll uh get to that later! You said something about a decorator?!” She cries out with a nervous smile, her minty blue hair fraying a bit.

I cleared my throat, “Uh, yeah, Crimson. She’s a newcomer here to Ponyville, but she has a surprisingly fantastic eye for decorating and interior design.”

Trixie laughs nervously while patting Starlight’s head, who still looks a bit unnerved. “Great! Discord, get with the snapping!”

She cries out as she turns her head back at the draconequus. He groans, “I thought I was explicitly told not to-”

“DO IT!” Trixie angrily screams out at him while still softly patting Starlight’s head.

He groans, visibly irritated, “Indecisive equines.”

I yelp, “Wait you can’t forget all the banners and decorations and-!” It was too late, as a snap of his fingers and a burst of magic engulfed all of us in a flash of white.

[Starlight]

We popped in just outside Twilight’s old castle, and either by sheer luck or Discord just being nice, all the instruments as well as Skai’s custom made decorations popped in around us. I sigh in relief that presumably nothing got lost or forgotten, swinging my horn and tossing open the castle doors. Inside an earth pony mare is trotting around, seemingly planning things.

I guess this ‘Crimson’ must’ve shown up while we were at Sweet Apple Acres…

She turns around in surprise at us, and her coat pattern reminds me a bit of Ash, with the grey hooves and snout line, but her main coat is a deep red with an amber mane and bright orange eyes.

She runs up to us, “Oh hi! Can I-” She then gasps deeply, her eyes practically twinkling, “Oh. My. STARS! Are you THE Starlight Glimmer?!” She says, her muzzle practically right against mine.

I step back nervously, “Uh… Y-yes? Do I… Know you?” I ask, confused and somewhat nervous.

She gives a loud laugh and then snorts, “As if! I mean, I WISH but it makes sense you don’t, most of my kind hasn’t ever met you personally.”

I raise an eyebrow, “Your… kind? Aren’t you a pony?”

She snorts again, “About that….” In a swirl of bright orange light a little amber and red Changeling appears. She gives me a massive, semi-fanged, grin.

My eyes widen, “Oh! Sorry, duh, that makes so much sense.”

She giggles with yet another snort, “Once again, makes sense. Most of us have never met you personally, but you’re like a Changeling celebrity. Thanks to you, King Thorax, and your friends, you freed us all from the ways of Queen Chrysalis! As you can guess, things are much better for us nowadays.”

Discord scoffs as he teleports between us, “Just her friends?! Not the all-powerful Lord of Chaos? The One and Only Draconequus in Equestria?”

Both of us just stare at Discord and he sighs, “Fine. You may resume.” He says as he teleports back to the front with Trixie and the others while Skai and Rosegarden sort out their various supplies.

I tap my chin, “Hm, I don’t really remember about any Changelings living away from the Hive, other than Ocellus at the School of Friendship of course.”

She nods, “It’s something very new! With such positive input from Ocellus, Princess Twilight and King Thorax have recently established ‘The Equestrian-Changeling Exchange’ where a volunteer Changeling, me, moves to Equestria and a volunteer Pony moves to the Hive.” She says with a smile, and I tap my chin again.

“I think I might’ve seen a letter like that on my desk… I'm sorry, running a School is a bit new so I’m still working on organizing myself. Anyway, I’m glad you're here and that things are working out!”

She nods with a smile, “And the planning for the decor is coming along great, just waiting on- Oh nevermind, he’s here!”

Skai trots up with a nervous smile, “Yep! Got them all right here!” He levitates all the boxes and banners around her as she smiles with a light sigh.

“Ah, these are all so lovely! Yes, yes, these will all do perfectly!” She says with a big grin, twirling many different banners and streamers around her with a thin orange glow around her Changeling horn.

I nervously laugh, “Er, so, the decorations will be done by tonight? With not only all of Ponyville but also ponies from all over Equestria and Princess Twilight-”

Crimson shakes her hoof at me, “Don’t worry a hair on your curly mane, it’ll all be done by tonight!” She turns around lifting up the boxes and banners with Skai and leading him onward to the main event hall.

I sigh and hear Trixie huff behind me as she walks up, “Discord is finally gone. Thank Celestia for that.”

She sighs as she trots up to me, using magic to pull numerous banana peels off herself. She then eyes me up, “What’s wrong, Starlight? Those ponies have everything handled and you don’t gotta worry about anything. Yay?”

I sigh with a light smile, “Well yeah, but… I’ve still got a bad feeling something is gonna go terribly wrong…”

Trixie sighs, patting my back, “Hey, it’s all gonna be fine. Twilight should be here anytime, so why don’t-”

In a burst of purple magic, Twilight pops in front of us. “Alright just gotta take care of this, and-” She then darts her eyes over to us, “Oh! Hey girls! Did you guys get everything taken care of?” She asks before looking at the other ponies and Changeling carrying a myriad of instruments and decorations.

“I guess so!” She says, grinning and turning back to us, “Sorry for such short notice changes, but there was an emergency in Canterlot to take care of.”

Trixie looks around, “Where are the other ones? Don’t you usually bring your ‘besties’ everywhere with you?”

Twilight shakes her head, “No, they’re still in Canterlot. I’m actually heading right back once I’m done with the moonset and sunrise. Now everypony, follow me and let's get to the Event Hall!” She calls out as the others trot behind her as they head down the halls.