Author's Note

The Harmony Arc begins, with Onyx having an adverse reaction to all the dark magic she absorbed. Part 2 comes out tomorrow!

Arc 1, Chapter 1 - Darkness Reigns, Part 1

NOTE: Recommended to read Haywire: Origins for context. Enjoy!

RECAP!

Starlight, left in charge of the Festival of the Two Sisters in Ponyville, has a lot on her plate. But with a couple old friends and several new ones, Starlight was sure she could handle it all. However, when a Unicorn empowered with dark magic, Onyx Moonshade, turns the Princess, her friends, and even Discord himself to stone, they all have to flee. With nowhere else to turn, they retreat to the safest place Starlight can think of: The Treehouse of Harmony. There, a mysterious being calls out to them, revealing itself to be the Spirit of Harmony... Or rather some incarnation of it. After giving Starlight and her friends several mysterious grey pearls and a cryptic message, it's gone. No one is sure how to move forward, but to get a good idea of what to do, they cast a spell that allows Starlight to walk in Onyx's mind. There she discovers that when she went back in time to get revenge on Twilight had more repercussions than she expected... Accidentally leading to the separation and subsequent loss of Onyx's parents. When Starlight is forced out by Onyx herself, Starlight has a seemingly random idea... One that requires the trust of all her new friends. Her plan isn't to condemn Onyx... But to save her. She pulls Onyx back into her own mind, revealing her inner light, her truth, that doesn't want anything to do with all this evil but instead just wants to finally be done with the loss of her parents. After some convincing, she gives in, and the Elements begin to light up around Starlight and her friends... and Onyx. Once the darkness is cleansed from her, the Spirit of Harmony returns and congratulates them. It tells them to discover their inner elements and what their Element is, to which Starlight realizes her own: Empathy. She never could've saved Onyx without the empathy of having been a villain before, and what to say to help convince her to accept the light inside, like Starlight did....

[Starlight]

“...And you're positive we can’t reach them?” I ask as I trot behind Twilight down the castle stairs.

She giggles, patting my head lightly with her wing, “Don’t worry, Starlight. Celestia sent a scroll right back, and they’ll be back to Silver Shoals soon. Luckily, the Elements of Harmony should still have plenty of power to move the Sun and the Moon in the meantime without the Pendant they gave me, and should keep the stars in the sky lit up. I wouldn't worry, Starlight.”

I exhale deeply, “Okay, if you’re calm, then I am too. I guess ever since we got these Elements I’ve been a bit… Jumpy. Not to mention keeping an eye on what all my friends' Elements might be.” I say, continuing to trot in place as I tap my hoof to my chin.

I hear Twilight giggle again, and I turn around in confusion, “I’m sorry, don’t mind me,” She says, “I just think it’s a bit cute how preemptive you are about all this. It reminds me a lot of myself back when me and my friends first got the Elements. Er- Our Elements.” She gives me a hug with her wing, “And coming from many years and all sorts of challenges of experience, I can say that you just need to let things happen as they come.”

I sigh, remembering everything that happened with Onyx. “Yeah… You have a point. Don’t worry Twilight, it’s taken me a lot of time, but I think I finally have a handle on this whole friendship stuff.” I trot back over to the stairs, looking back up at the group portrait of Twilight’s friends, Spike and I. I take a moment to think of all the years with Twilight and her friends, and how much has changed since I first came here.

I take a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “I think you’re right, Twilight. I should take things easier… Everything is gonna be okay.”

“I’m not okay!” We hear Onyx scream from above.

We stare at each other for a moment before we turn back around to the stairs, watching as Onyx is slowly half-walking and half-tumbling. She’s gasping heavily, before finally losing her bearings and falling down the stairs, tumbling to the floor in front of us as we help her up. She looks into my eyes with tired fear, the whites of her eyes filled with an empty black darkness.

“O-Onyx! What happened?” I yelp out, as she coughs hoarsely.

“I’m… Not really sure…” She says coughing again, falling right into a coughing fit. I look up to Twilight, the fear in her eyes no doubt as strong as mine.

What in Equestria is happening…?

[Skai]

Rosegarden and I push past the groups of ponies, apologizing as we run past. Down the streets from cobble to dirt to stone paths, all throughout Ponyville as we continue heading our way down to Ponyville Castle. I feel bad not giving enough apology to them all, but we have to keep running. Don’t worry about it, you can just apologize better later! I think to myself, huffing as I slowly catch up with Rosegarden. A blur of red and black zooms past us, but then slows back down revealing Ash stopping as he waits for us, flying alongside us as we finally catch up.

“Do either of y’all know what’s going on?” He asks, seeing as he took Starlight’s note to heart, having replaced his usual necklace with his Element of Harmony necklace, the red pearl dancing around his neck as he flies. I look down at my own Element sewn into my neckerchief, still unsure how we’re supposed to use them.

“No… All Starlight said was to bring the Elements and get to the castle as soon as possible.” Rosegarden says, her usual bow replaced by the one with her Element embedded into the center. I think, wondering what in Equestria could be so important for Starlight to need us to bring the Elements this soon after the whole Onyx situation.

As we finally get close to Ponyville Castle, Ash groans, “Why is the Castle so far from town? It’s gotta be at least a couple miles!”

Rosegarden sighs and rolls her eyes, “Calm down, drama queen.”

I groan, “Can the both of you just get quiet? We’re finally here.” I say as we start to run up the stairs. Ash groans and zooms past us, bursting the massive front door open. We run in, seeing Crimson hop up in surprise as we all come in.

“Oh! Hey guys!” She says, rubbing her front leg with her left hoof. I look down seeing her Element tied around her hoof. Huh. So all of us were told to bring our Elements…

“So… What exactly are we all doing here? You were here before us, do you know Crimson?” I ask, and she shakes her head.

“I don’t… I haven’t actually seen anypony in here yet so I’m just waiting for someone to come out.” She says and the rest of us get a moment to catch our breath.

I huff, tapping my hoof on the floor in impatience, “I don’t want to say Starlight called us for no reason, but I really hope she hurries up. I have a lot of orders to take care of before the Hearts and Hooves day rush. Ponies order tons of plushies and repairs around this time of year.”

And after about a minute of silence, Rosegarden gasps heavily. We all look over confused and she slaps her face with her hooves, “Please tell me one of us checked to make sure it was Ponyville Castle and not Canterlot Castle or maybe even the Crystal Castle all the way in the Crystal Empire.”

Everyone remains silent as a collective panic attack spreads throughout the room. I was about to reply until we started hearing a worried conversation from Twilight and Starlight as they walk down the stairs. Twilight looks over to us and sighs happily, “Thank you all for coming.” She says, as we all bow to her for a moment.

I clear my throat, “So Princess Twilight, Starlight, why exactly did you call us all here? You said it was some kind of emergency?” I ask as I rub my neck with my hoof.

Twilight sighs as her and Starlight trot down the stairs, “It’s Onyx. She’s okay for now, but Starlight and I had to watch something… Awful.” Twilight lights up her horn, a mystical glowing shape of Onyx appears, as a black energy swirls around her chest. “It looks like when you all used the Elements to free her from the darkness, it didn’t exactly pull every bit of the darkness out. The darkest, most evil part of the magic that tainted her remains, and it’s starting to eat away at her.” Twilight says as the glowing Onyx vision starts having the darkness spread across her, and then just fizzling away. Twilight sighs sadly as her horn stops glowing.

We all gasp, and Crimson yelps, “Chrysalis be cursed, that’s terrifying! But what can we do if the Elements didn’t work the first time?”

Ash holds up his Element with his hoof, “Wait, wait, wait… Aren’t these Elements s’posed to be super powerful, or somethin’? How did they not work?”

Starlight taps her Element on her neck, “I think it’s because we used them for so many different things at once, and they didn’t have the strength to pull every last drop of darkness out of her.” She sighs, looking up the stairs sadly, “She isn’t doing well, but hopefully it’s just the darkness' effects on her, and not any permanent damage.”

Twilight nods as she summons a book with magic, flipping through it, “According to this spell we found, she should recover fast as long as don’t waste any time. Everypony brought their Elements, right?” We all nod and agree, holding up our Elements individually.

Ash clears his throat, “But uh… How exactly is it gonna go any different from last time? Also aren’t these kinda being used to move the Sun and the Moon right now?”

Starlight chuckles nervously, “They are. But we aren’t going to be using the magic inside the Elements, we’re just going to use them as conduits. Twilight is going to help me power the spell, you all are going to conduct the magic to me, and I’m going to cast the spell. If we’re lucky, it won’t interfere with the spell moving the Sun and the Moon.” She says with a nervous chuckle as she bites her lip.

Rosegarden takes a deep breath, adjusting her Element bow in her curls with her magic, “Well, we don’t have any better ideas, so I say let’s do it.” Starlight turns over to Twilight and nods, who teleports away in a flash of violet.

With yet another flash, Twilight is back with a wobbly Onyx, who’s definitely looking worse for wear. Starlight nods with a furrowed brow, “Which is why we should get started now.” Twilight lights up her horn, as we all stand in a circle with Onyx in the center. Twilight flies up, blasting Crimson’s Element, which spreads to Ash’s Element, and Rosegarden’s and all of us each adding our own color to a rainbow, including Onyx who’s Element surges violently at Starlight’s. She lights up her horn, the rainbow swirling out of her Element and twirling around her horn, the tip glowing a bright vibrant white.

She takes a deep breath before zapping Onyx, who lifts up into the air, coughing as the darkness seeps out of her. Starlight groans as she lights her horn up again, blasting the cloud of darkness, as the rainbow joins her and zaps away at it. It makes a hissing sound, almost as if it’s whining in pain. Suddenly, a rainbow shockwave bursts outward. We all rub our eyes and look up in horror at three different shadow clouds.

They all swirl together before they bust out, two heading out the front door and another heading deeper into the castle. Without anyone saying a word, Twilight and Starlight run after the one heading into the castle as everyone else runs out. I look down at Onyx who’s groaning and rubbing her eyes, looking much better than before as she starts standing up. I run over and help her up.

“Sk...Skai? What happened?” She asks as she stands up.

I brush the back of my neck with my hoof again, “Well… That’s a bit of a long story. Follow me, I’ll tell you on the way!” I say as she nods as we run out the castle as fast as she can.

[Rosegarden]

We watch in horror as the darkness splits apart, and bursts outward. Most of us chase past them out of the castle, Ash and Crimson flying as I run along the path. The darkness I’m chasing veers to the right while the other one heads towards Ponyville. “You two follow it and try to stop it from doing any harm!” I yell out as Crimson looks over and nods to me, flying faster to catch up with very speedy Ash.

I continue chasing my shadow as it continues turning until I gasp and stop, watching as it enters the Everfree forest. A few years ago, it wouldn’t be too dangerous to enter the woods. But after that whole King Sombra situation, the forest has become even more dangerous, and it already was the most dangerous place within central Equestria. We may have been in there once, but it was a short time before we got teleported to the safest place inside it.

I take a final deep breath, and prepare to head in until I hear a “Wait up!” Behind me. I turn around to see Skai, who for a moment turns around and waves at Onyx who’s chasing behind Ash and Crimson. He trots up to me, “I’m not sure where Twilight and Starlight went, but I heard them yell something about a mirror as Onyx and I were heading out of the castle.

Skai looks past me and his eyes grow narrow with fear, “Oh no… Please don’t tell me we’re going to go back in there…? That place is crazy dangerous!” He says nervously trotting in place as he bites his lip.

I roll my eyes, leaning over and pulling Skai into a half hug as I wave my hoof out, “Don’t worry about it, just watch: With my magic and you’re keen eyes, we’ll no doubt be perfectly fine in there.” I hop towards the forest, turning around with a grin, “Right?” He just frowns at me.

I groan, grabbing him with magic and trotting in as he yelps and cries out, “Hey wait! Don’t just- Hey! Let me go!” He then just whimpers as we enter the Everfree.

[Ash]

We burst out of the castle, and I zoom past Rosegarden and Crimson, zooming onward closing up on the shadow. In the corner of my eye Rosegarden and the other shadow splits off and I narrow my eyes back onto this shadow. On one hoof, being an Element of Harmony and doing all this hero stuff like AJ is pretty epic. On the other hoof, having to crash into all the ponies and buildings chasing past unspeakable evil isn’t exactly my favorite kind of Thursday.

I keep flying, dodging buildings and trees and ponies, straining myself to go even faster. I kept going, zooming faster and faster until, out of nowhere, the shadow zoomed upward. I look forward and realize far too late that I’m flying right into a bridge.

When I finally groan and slowly open my eyes, I see Onyx and Crimson standing over me, the bright and clear blue Equestrian sky above. I gasp, hopping and shaking the water off of myself, groaning as I rub my head. Crimson clears her throat, “I’m guessing you, er, lost the shadow?” I huff, “Maybe… Didn’t expect the darn thing to be so clever.” Onyx whimpers as she digs at the ground slightly, “Well.. It is dark energy born from combining unknown power with an already powerful magic-amplifying soul-sucking amulet that turned me into a mare of pure evil who almost took over Equestria, so…”

I roll my eyes and groan, “You can’t still be worried about that? You’re fine. You couldn’t control yourself! Besides, we’ve got more important problems: Like how the shadow is gone, and I have no idea how to find the dang thing. Besides, even when we find it we gotta figure somethin’ out. I wasn’t fast enough to catch it before I slammed my head into a bridge.” I say looking around, seeing no trail except the ponies angrily glaring at me, who were all probably ones I pushed out of the way chasing the shadow.

Onyx hums in thought for a moment, tapping her chin with her hoof, “Well… Now that I think about it, while I was wearing the Empowered Alicorn Amulet, the darkness inside me did want something: More power. Is there maybe some kind of unspoken well of magic-imbued artifacts in Ponyville?” She says as she holds up her hoof.

After all of us thinking for a moment, Crimson gasps, “Oh no. The School of Friendship! Being the only two Changelings living outside the Hive, Ocellus and I talk often. She told me that Princess Twilight sent some ancient artifacts from the Pillars Protection Era to the school, which means….”

Onyx gasps and her silver eyes wide with fear, “Oh no…”

I tug on my face with my hooves with a groan, “Well what’re we all waiting for? Let’s go!” I say as I zoom back towards the Castle, veering slightly to the right, towards the School of Friendship.

It takes a few minutes, but I finally see the waterfalls glistening against the light violet walls. I land down on the stone bridge, running up to the main doors, bursting inside and running headfirst into a pony. I rub my head, Sweet Celestia, am I gonna keep hitting my head? I look up at the pony I ran into, seeing an orange stallion with white coat markings very similar to mine. His messy orange mane and matching beard, along with the spectacles and navy blue cloak patterned with cyan stars, all seem familiar. Some pony Starlight is great friends with, but I really can’t remember the name.

I clear my throat, “Are you uh….” I think for a moment, cursing myself, my memory, and my possible concussion, “Sun…” I study him for a moment, trying to guess the last half, “...Shine?”

His spectacles slide down his muzzle as he narrows his eyes at me. He adjusts the spectacles back into place with magic, “Uh. Close? I’m Sunburst. Can I, er, help you?” I was about to reply when the doors burst open behind us, and I turn around to see Crimson and Onyx running inside. Sunburst scratches his chin with his hoof, “Wait… Those unique jewelry… I can’t help but ask, are you all Starlight’s new friends?”

Crimson nods, “Uh… Yes?” She says cautiously.

Sunburst squeals slightly, summoning a magnifying glass and holding it up with magic as he tugs on my necklace, examining my Element, “I truly hope you’ll let me get a good peek at these. Newly crafted powerful artifacts like these are a once in a lifetime thing, and-”

I clear my throat, tugging my Element away as he whimpers slightly, “We’re actually here for something a bit more serious. Have you seen-” In the distance a sudden crash grabs everyone's attention.

Sunburst groans, “Let me guess. Magical emergency or dangerous villain?”

Crimson shoves past him, “Both!” She cries out as we all follow suit. We continue running, until finally we open the door to some sort of large storage suite, boxes knocked over as the shadow cloud holds up several relics I couldn’t begin to recognize. One points right at us, blasting some sort of magic energy that Crimson and Sunburst block with some kind of mix of Changeling magic and Unicorn magic creating a glowing white barrier.

I groan as I duck behind the doorway, “I guess we should’ve asked Starlight what to do before it got a hold of magic.”

[To Be Continued…]

[End of Chapter 1]