Fall of Harmony

Aurora’s eyes open to the blurry image of a color in front of her. She blinks gently as she attempts to discern the image in front of her. Glasses slide onto her face and the image clears. A nurse pony leans in front of Aurora. The nurse smiles, “Good morning, Aurora. How’re you feeling?”

Aurora looks around slowly, “Wh-Where am I?”

“Canterlot Hospital; you were admitted here several days ago,” The nurse says.

Aurora turns to the window, partially covered by the translucent curtains which allow a mild amount of light into the room. Not enough to completely light up the room, but enough that somepony could navigate if it wasn’t for the artificial lights in the ceiling. Aurora gasps as she quickly turns to the Nurse, “What happened to Prince Terrenus? And where are my friends? Are they okay?”

“Your friends are fine,” Princess Celestia says, walking into the room.

Aurora quickly darts her attention to the Princess, “Princess Celestia…”

“Don’t worry, Aurora. All will be revealed. For now, there are some ponies who want to see you,” Celestia says, smiling gently as she turns to the door, moving to the side as to get out of the way of the doorway.

Aurora’s attention lands on the door, where her friends and Twilight stand there, looking at her in shock, relief, and happiness. The 6 ponies rush into the room, flocking around her bed. Their voices are mixed as they express cries of relief and ask her how she feels. Twilight quickly embraces Aurora with a hug, “Oh! I’m so glad you’re okay!”

Aurora lets out a pained yelp.

Twilight quickly pulls out of the hug and the nurse walks forward, “Careful, she’s still hurt.”

“Sorry,” Twilight says with a guilty face.

Aurora curves a small smile, “It’s alright. The pain just took me by surprise. It wasn’t bad.”

“What’s her condition?” Celestia asks, turning to the nurse.

“She has 3 broken ribs, her right scapula has been fractured, and the same with her right humerus. She’ll be unable to walk for a few days. At least not without help,” The nurse says, pausing for a moment of hesitation before revealing the next bit of news, “And of course, there’s her horn.”

Aurora looks at the nurse in shock and confusion. Heat rushes through her face in fear as she expects the worst, “What about my horn? What happened?”

The nurse looks to the ground, hesitant to tell her fully, “Your horn has been completely shattered.”

Aurora’s irises shrink as she hears this news. It’s almost impossible for her to process, “...what…?”

“The top 4 inches of your horn has broken off. We were…unable to fix it,” The nurse says.

Aurora looks up, noticing the large bandage wrapped on her head. She quickly lifts her front legs up, attempting to grasp at the bandage in order to pull it off, ignoring the pain from her fractured bones. The nurse quickly steps forward, “No, leave the bandage on. It isn’t ready to be taken off!”

Aurora ignores the nurse, quickly ripping the bandage off and feeling the severed horn. Her eyes widen in worry as she feels a spiky, moist, and barren horn. Aurora’s breathing quickens, “S-Somepony get me a mirror!”

The ponies in the room look at each other, unsure if they should allow Aurora to see it.

“GIVE ME A MIRROR!” Aurora shouts, desperate to see the damage.

The nurse, who is a unicorn herself, uses her magic to grab a mirror from a nearby table and gently float it to Aurora.

Aurora quickly grasps onto the mirror desperately with her hooves. She lets out an audible gasp as she sees the damage. Her horn, just as she was told, has been shattered. Leaving a protrusion of spiked shards pointing out. The horn, which was not to be unbandaged, begins leaking out a small stream of blood. Everypony ignores this, instead keeping their attention on the now devastated mare. Aurora gently leans her head, getting a better view at the crater within the horn. “I’m sorry, there was nothing we could do,”

Aurora slowly puts the mirror down. She looks down to her hooves, blank in her expression. Tears slowly begin forming in Aurora’s eyes. More and more tears flow out before Aurora finally collapses her face into her hooves, beginning to bawl.

Twilight attempts to step forward in order to comfort her special somepony, however, the nurse gets in the way, “I’m sorry. I’m gonna have to ask you all to step out for a while. We need to assess her.”

Everyone in the room nods as they all walk towards the exit. Twilight is the last to leave, giving a final look at Aurora, seeing that she’s still crying. Worry sets in Twilight as she leaves, the door closing behind her.

“Are you okay? Do you still need a minute?” The nurse asks.

Aurora shakes her head, “No, I’m fine.”

“Alright then. I’m gonna have you do a few tests for me, okay?” The nurse says, keeping a mellow and comforting voice.

Aurora nods in silence, keeping a disinterested expression.

The nurse brings up a small wooden cube and places it at the foot of the bed, “Try to use your magic to lift this cube.”

Aurora looks at the cube with hesitation. She turns to the nurse, who has a clipboard and pen. She turns back to the cube and with a determined expression, scrunches her face as she musters up the effort to conjure the magic to lift the small wooden cube. Small magical sparks burst from the shattered horn. Aurora stops, gasping in exhaustion. Her attention focuses on the wooden block, which hasn’t moved an inch. She turns to the nurse, who looks down and writes on the clipboard. Aurora turns back to the cube and scowls. Her face scrunches up even more than before as she musters all her energy to try and pick up the small cube that would before have been no problem.

A magical aura forms around the cube. A glimmer of hope shines through Aurora’s eyes as she smiles. The block slowly begins levitating. Aurora’s smile fades as she looks up to see sparks bursting from the horn. The cube starts shaking rapidly before it shoots to the other side of the room, hitting the wall. Aurora lets out an audible grunt as she collapses. “Take a deep breath,” The nurse says.

Aurora sits back up, slowly steadying her breathing.

The nurse sighs, “Unfortunately, you appear to have lost nearly all filtered control of your magic.”

“Wh-What does that mean?” Aurora asks, worried.

“The horn of a Unicorn allows the pony to channel and control magic unlike a Pegasi or Earth Pony. With the horn shattered, your magic is unable to be filtered into what you want it to do, causing bursts of pure magic.” The nurse says as she walks closer to Aurora, “I’m sorry, but you can no longer use magic. At least not in a safe way you were able to before.”

Aurora looks down in sorrow, “Right…”

“With your horn shattered in this way, you can expect to experience a few health issues,” The nurse says.

“Like what?” Aurora asks, looking back up at the nurse.

“Well, for starters, magic will slowly leak out of your horn. So you’ll most likely feel fatigued for many mornings. You may experience acute migraines and minor bleeding,” The nurse says.

Aurora sighs, looking down.

“You should get some rest. Your other bones do still need to heal,” The nurse says as she walks towards the door, “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call for me using the button on your left,”

Aurora turns to her left, looking at the button that the nurse is referring to. She nods slowly with a deadpan expression.

The nurse, with a sad expression herself, leaves the room.

Aurora is left to ponder what she will do next. Without being able to conjure magic like before, she will be unable to do what she has always been passionate about, Magic. Aurora curses under her breath, frustrated that this could happen. Yet, no resentment or hatred is felt towards Terrenus. Aurora carefully, trying to avoid the pain, shifts to lay on her side. Tears escape her eyes as she begins to cry.

A few days later, Aurora was finally admitted out of the hospital. The group traveled back to Ponyville, finally returning to their homes for the first time in days. “I haven’t been home since we left. Oh, it’s so good to be back. I left Spike in charge, but knowing how he cleans. We’ll have to do a little extra dusting,” Twilight says with a smile as she and Aurora walk up to the Golden Oak Library. Twilight turns around to see Aurora, who’s following behind, “Are you up for cleaning-” Twilight’s smile fades as she sees Aurora.

Aurora looks at the ground with a blank expression, “Um…sorry, I just wanna rest if that’s okay.”

Twilight gives a worried look before she gives a nervous smile, “Of course, that’s fine.” Twilight opens the door, entering with Aurora. Twilight takes a deep breath, soaking in the feeling of home. She turns to Aurora and her expression of worry comes back as Aurora walks towards the door leading to the bedroom. She has a melancholy look on her as she slowly walks into the room. Twilight follows behind, entering the room to see Aurora slowly climbing up the stairs. Aurora walks up to the bed and collapses on it with a sigh. Twilight looks up at Aurora with sympathy.

Spike walks up behind Twilight with a concerned look, “What’s wrong with Aurora?”

Twilight shakes her head, “Nothing, Spike. I think she just needs some alone time,” Twilight walks out of the room, closing the door.

Tears fall down Aurora’s eyes as she cries. She feels like she’s going to go into another crying fit, but instead, a scowl washes over her face. She raises her hoof and smashes it down into the bed. She shouts in anger as she repeats this many times. She quickly gets up and huffs in frustration. She begins pacing rapidly, “It’s not fair. IT’S NOT FAIR!!!” Aurora quickly kicks Spike’s bed across the room with her hind leg. She walks over to the stairs and kicks the potted plant sitting near the top in anger. The pot goes flying down the stairs, shattering at the bottom. Aurora proceeds to go into a raging fit. She kicks down the books from the shelves, rips down the curtain with her teeth, she throws papers out of the cupboards, and kicks down the telescope, breaking it. Aurora stomps her hoof down on the ground multiple times before she collapses onto the floor in tears.

Twilight looks up at the ceiling, having heard all the commotion. She sighs and looks at the ground, “I wish I could do something, Spike.”

“I mean…you are her girlfriend. Maybe you should talk to her,” Spike suggests.

“I don’t know if she’s in the mood to talk. I could barely get a word out of her on our trip back to Ponyville,” Twilight says as she sits at her desk, laying her head on the table with a sigh.

Spike approaches Twilight in concern, “Cheer up, Twilight. I’m sure she’ll feel better in a few days. You’ll see.”

“I hope you’re right, Spike. I hope you’re right,” Twilight says, keeping her head on the table.

As the days went by, Aurora only got worse. Constant Migraines and Fatigue kept her from leaving the house. What moments she wasn’t fatigued or in pain, she was angry. She constantly would break things or knock them over in fits of rage. Twilight would attempt to comfort Aurora, only to be met with yelling from Aurora. Unable to help Aurora, Twilight sought help from Aurora’s friends.

“It’s hard to stay at the library for very long. She’s at it every day. I wish I was there for her, but she won’t let me help her. Not that I’d even know what to do. What do you think?” Twilight says as she walks towards the Golden Oak Library with Star Dream.

“Well for starters, don’t give up on her. You gotta be patient. I know I was quite like her whenever my mother passed away,” Star Dream says as she walks alongside Twilight.

The two arrive at the Golden Oak Library. Twilight opens the door, “Maybe you can relate to her and help her,” Twilight looks into the library and gasps.

Books are scattered across the floor, having been taken from the shelves. Aurora sits on the floor, quickly flipping through one with her hoof, “Come on, come on! There’s gotta be a spell or some sort of herb or something.”

Twilight walks in with a state of shock, she looks at the books, many of which are torn. Twilight scowls angrily, “THAT’S IT! I’VE HAD IT!”

Aurora turns to Twilight in shock.

“You keep damaging my stuff. You won’t even allow me to help you. I’ve tried being patient with you, Aurora. But I can’t do this! Get out!” Twilight yells, pointing to the door.

“What?” Aurora says as she stands up.

“It’s just a stupid horn, Aurora!” Twilight yells as she uses magic to grab Aurora and throw her out of the Library.

Aurora lands on her hooves and looks at Twilight in shock. She slowly scowls, “JUST A HORN? MAGIC WAS MY LIFE, TWILIGHT! YOU OF ALL PONIES SHOULD KNOW THIS!”

“THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN JUST DESTROY MY STUFF LIKE THIS!” Twilight yells.

Aurora rolls her eyes and turns away, walking south.

Twilight catches her breath and sighs in relief.

Star Dream facehooves, “And you gave up on her.”

Twilight’s eyes widen, “Oh, what have I done?”

“Come on, Zecora! You’re my last chance. Surely you could mix up a brew or potion to help me get my horn back,” Aurora says desperately as she stands at the doorstep of Zecora’s hut.

Zecora stands in the doorway, “For your situation, I do mourn. However, I will be unable to get you back your horn.”

“Please, Zecora! There has to be something you can do,” Aurora says.

“I see that you are quite dissonant. Therefore, I believe I can show you something that may help with your predicament,” Zecora says as she walks into the hut.

“Oh, thank you, Zecora! You don’t know how much this would mean to me,” Aurora says, walking into the hut.

Zecora picks out a few bottles and begins pouring them in her cauldron, “Your gratitude you can hold, for the answer I have for you has yet to be told.”

“Um…come again? Sorry, I don’t speak rhymes,” Aurora says as she approaches Zecora.

Zecora tears a thread of Aurora’s mane off her head.

“Ow! Hey, what was that for?” Aurora asks.

Zecora throws the hair in the cauldron, “For the brew. I will need it for the spell to know that it is you.”

“Okay…so what are you making exactly?” Aurora asks, approaching the cauldron.

“The brew you lay your eyes on is a special recipe. Lay your eyes on it and tell me what you see,” Zecora says.

Aurora leans forward, seeing the bubbling brew create a layer of mist. Her eyes widen as she sees 6 Pony figures in the mist. “To get back your horn that you so wish to fix, you must first unite the six,” Zecora says.

“Unite the six? What does that mean?” Aurora asks.

“The brew’s mist you must not miss, or else the answer will seem amiss,” Zecora says.

Aurora quickly looks back down at the brew, “Right.”

“Seven ponies divided by hate, will come together to seal your fate,” Zecoora says as above the 6 pony figures, a singular unicorn rises above them. The mist disperses.

Aurora looks up in confusion, “Um…what did that have to do with my horn?”

“Did you not listen to the words I uttered? Within the brew, your problem was answered,” Zecora says.

“But I didn’t need anything answered! I wanted to get my horn back! But you just wasted my time with some obscure nonsense!” Aurora says, agitated.

Zecora shakes her head, “This is the problem with you pony folk. You ignore what I say and treat me like a joke.”

“WELL MAYBE IF YOU SPOKE NORMALLY FOR ONCE, WE COULD UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’RE SAYING!!!” Aurora yells, getting up in Zecora’s face. She turns and exits the hut, “Ugh! This has been a waste of time!”

Zecora approaches the exit and watches Aurora leave with a headshake.

Aurora leans against the counter in Galabella Apples. She sighs deeply as she chugs the apple cider within her mug. She slams the mug down, “Another.”

Ruby Frost sighs, “I get that our apple cider is really good. But that’s your fourth servin’. I think you’ve had enough.”

“Ruby, I just need to have some relief,” Aurora says looking up.

Ruby sighs and takes a bottle out from under the counter and pours it into Aurora’s mug.

“I thought Granny Smith didn’t allow apple cider to be bottled,” Aurora says.

“She doesn’t,” Ruby Frost says as she places the bottle back under the counter.

“Then how come you’re serving it from bottles?” Aurora asks.

“This is Galabella Apple cider. Our orchard is run independently of Sweet Apple Acres. My ma thought the idea of making apple cider exclusive to one time of the year was silly. Sure, it loses a bit of its flavor, but it’s not too much to make it undrinkable,” Ruby says.

Aurora nods and takes a drink of her cider.

“Talk to me, Aurora. I hate that you’re like this,” Ruby says, leaning onto the counter.

Aurora sighs, “Ruby, you know what’s wrong.”

“Yeah, but I want you to talk about it. Applejack told me what happened between you and Twilight. I think you just need to talk to somepony who’s…not Twilight,” Ruby says.

Aurora looks down, “Without my horn, I’ve lost something so integral to my life. Magic is my entire life. Ever since I was a filly, it’s all I ever focused on. Without it, I have nothing.”

Ruby Frost nods, “I understand how you feel, Aurora.”

Aurora scowls, “How could you understand how I feel?”

“Aurora, I wasn’t always blind,” Ruby Frost says.

Aurora’s scowl fades as she goes wide-eyed.

Ruby Frost smiles, “When I was a little filly, several weeks after my pa passed away, I was out bucking for apples. Just a typical day’s work, when suddenly, I encountered a beautiful Gala Apple Tree. Perfect apples all throughout. It was fairly large, so when I bucked it, nothing budged. So I kept at it. Bucking and bucking until finally, I heard rattling. I looked up to see a weakened branch snap off the tree. It was on the brink of falling and was huge. My bucking caused it to fall. I was unable to jump out of the way and it collapsed right on my face.”

“Oh…” Aurora utters.

“I was rushed to Ponyville Hospital as soon as my ma and brother found me. But…the damage left me permanently blind. So more than anypony you know, I understand what you’re going through. As hard as it is to accept, you’re just gonna have to move on,” Ruby says.

“That’s easy for you to say, Ruby. You still have apples. You didn’t lose a central part of yourself. Sure, it became harder. But at least you were still able to do it,” Aurora says.

“Actually, you’re wrong, Aurora. I did lose a central part of myself,” Ruby says.

Aurora raises an eyebrow.

“My life wasn’t just about apples. I also painted beautiful portraits. Things that I saw, I painted or drew them. Without my vision, I was unable to do that,” Ruby says.

Aurora looks down in sorrow.

“The fact is, Aurora. You just have to accept it and move on. It’ll be better for you and everypony else. It sucks, I know. But there’s nothing’ you can do about it,” Ruby Frost says.

Aurora sighs and nods, “You’re right, Ruby,” Aurora gets up and walks towards the door. Before she exits, she smiles and looks back, “Thanks, Ruby. You’re a great friend.”

Ruby smiles and tips her hat.

Twilight picks up the final book and places it on the shelf where it belongs. Twilight sighs deeply, thinking of Aurora and the things she said to her. Her ears spring up as she hears the front door open. She turns to see Aurora, who’s looking at the ground in guilt. Twilight puts on a neutral expression as she is unsure how to feel about seeing Aurora. Aurora slowly approaches Twilight, “Twilight, I’m sorry for what I did and how I acted over the past few days. It was wrong of me to damage your stuff. And I should have allowed you to help me. I realize now that my horn is gone and I just have to accept that and move on.”

Twilight gives a small smile, “Oh, Aurora, I should apologize too.”

Aurora is taken by surprise, “What? What for?”

“For what I said to you. It was wrong of me to say that it was just a stupid horn. I understand that magic was a huge part of your life. And I disrespected that all because I was angry,” Twilight says as she walks up to Aurora.

Aurora smiles, “I guess we can call ourselves even?”

Twilight smiles too, “Yeah.”

Aurora leans in and kisses Twilight on the lips.

The two end the kiss and Twilight gives a cheeky smile, “I have a feeling that the two of us learned a lesson that we should write to the Princess about.”

Aurora nods, “Good idea.”

Aurora sits on the bed and uses her hoof to open the bedside drawer. There, she takes out the book with her cutie mark on it. Twilight raises an eyebrow, “What’s that?”

Aurora looks up at Twilight, who sits next to her, “Huh? Princess Celestia never gave you one of these?”

“Not that I know of. What is it?” Twilight asks.

Aurora opens the book and flips to the next blank page, “If I write something in this book, it’ll appear on a book that the Princess has. It’s how I write letters to her.”

“Oh, guess that explains why I didn’t get one. I always had Spike to send letters for me,” Twilight says with a smile.

Aurora smiles before turning to the bedside table. She grabs a quill with her mouth and begins writing on the book.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned an important lesson in not just Love…but life. Sometimes in life, you’re dealt a bad hand. And though it is unfortunate, you should never take it out on those who love you.

When something bad happens in life, sometimes, the best thing you can do for yourself and everyone around you is accept it and move on.

Signed,

Your Faithful Students, Aurora Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle