Chapter 10: The Birth Of True Disharmony
And so… I attempted to help my friends the normal way for a start. I took Rainbow to a few Cloudsdale races, trying to get her to root and encourage talented flyers to keep flying and aspire to be the best flyers in the world… She didn't like having to call others some of the best flyers around. And she ended up racing all the other ponies to try and retain her reputation. We had to leave Cloudsdale before they decided to kick us out.
Twilight continued her great story that told of her and her friends before darkness came to Equestria. A twist of events that started with the harmless adventure with her friends. After she had promised to help her friends work hard on the flaws that made them somewhat irritable to handle.
Next I worked with Applejack on accepting new things, but she was so stubborn. She wanted everything traditional and old fashion, it was almost impossible to help her embrace new ideas. The closest thing she had to a break through was liking green apple paintings on the fences instead of red ones. Don't even get me started on how she hated the idea of not fencing in her apple trees. We just finally gave up on working with her feelings on the farm.
Fluttershy, I couldn't deal… I couldn't even help her stop being afraid of her own shadow. She screamed and climbed on me every time she saw it, so the dragon test was out of the question. It was just…! Ugh… Needless to say, the last few days we tried to work on their flaws. Nothing worked and we were all tired and angry with ourselves, nothing was working. Then one day when we met at the map of Equestria, I made the biggest mistake of my life.
And so Twilight and her friends reentered the meeting room once again. Weary faces were all around, it was kind of creeping Spike out as he sat in his chair patiently. The mares quietly sat all around him and let out a group of sighs to exhaust all the stress from the pass few days. Twilight didn't even brush her mane and appeared half asleep as she was last to take her seat next to Spike. Finally after a few minutes of aimlessly staring at the Equestria map, he broke the silence.
"So…I take it today's personality readjustment didn't go well again?"Spike asked as the mares all groaned with exhaustion and stress from the reminder.
"Well that would be an understatement…! My family now thinks I'm more mule than pony!"Applejack exclaimed with a bit of anger and guilt.
"And I'm pretty sure me and Twilight got banished for three months from Cloudsdale…!"Rainbow ranted about almost getting ran out of town by a swarm of Pegasus ponies.
"I scared a nervous filly that was hoping for a low key party… I turned it into a blow out disaster…!"Pinkie explained one of her most humiliating party failures.
"My shadow still scares me… I'm horrible at being braved…"Fluttershy admitted shamefully of her fear that continued to cause trouble in her line of work with animals.
"You don't even want to know about the blow out that occurred when a mare brought her dust covered son into the boutique…!"Rarity scoffed and lowered her ears after remembering how rude she was to the dirty colt.
"We ain't doing so hot on this whole changing our ways a bit here, Twilight."Applejack stated the obvious, causing more stress to wrap around Twilight's weakened mind.
"Believe me I know…! I just don't know what else we could do to help make changing easier for all of you,"Twilight exclaimed to release the stress that had been building up for days,"Nothing we've done has been working. Everything I tried out from a psychology book hasn't worked at all!"
"Maybe we just weren't meant to be any better than what we are now…"Fluttershy incited a thought that both worried her and gave some sort of comfort to the shy mare.
"No…! I made a promise to help every pony change for the better, and that's what I'm going to do,"Twilight announced her promise that she herself made to her friends,"We just need a new approach to finding a way to reach into every one of your personalities and working on the flaws within them."
"Uh… Couldn't we just use magic to take away all the negative personality traits?"Spike decided to ask an controversial question that was always brought up as a shortcut to solving problems.
"Oh come now, Spike…! Magic can do many things, but it's not something you can just use to change other ponies!"Rarity showed a bit of skepticism at the idea of using magic on their personalities.
"Wait a minute…! That could actually work! There was a spell in the book I was reading up on back when we were trying to reform Discord,"Twilight recalled a book that was remade after the original was eaten up by their friend the god of chaos,"Give me just a minute to retrieve the book!"
Twilight was quick to vanish into thin air with a bright purple flash of her magic. Leaving her friends at the meeting room for a solid minute to search for the book. They all looked to each other with confusion and more skepticism, magic was actually going to be an option. In another flash of bright purple magic, Twilight reappeared with a book floating all around her upon landing. She slammed the book down on the table and quickly opened it up to skim through the pages to find it.
"Here it is! The personality purge spell. Select certain traits from an individual and purge them from the owner,"Twilight read the descriptions of the spell that she would never forget,"This will leave the other personality traits to compensate and build upon the missing traits in a harmless matter!"
Her friends were a bit taken by the cut and clean description of the spell in question. It sounded harmless and helpful to them, something that was rare with almost any magic spell they had encountered. If this spell could really change them for the better, then it may have actually been worth trying.
"That…actually…sounds pretty safe and helpful their, Twilight! Any catches?"Applejack asked with honest worry for any back lash effects.
"It doesn't say anything about the dangers of using it. Other than just standing clear for the traits to dissipate rather than get picked up by another,"Twilight explained what she could see as the biggest trouble of using the spell,"Other than that… This spell is perfect! We can just purge all the negative personality traits you all have!"
"Well… I suppose if there's no catch to the spell… Oh why not…! What other choice do we have?"Rarity was a bit hesitate, but finally opened up to the idea of a simple purging spell.
"Yeah. This might be our only real chance at being better ponies!"Rainbow decided to agree to the idea of using magic to solve this problem.
"If it means I can be brave and protect my little friends. I'm all in for it…!"Fluttershy also agreed, thinking of the safety and security of her animal friends.
"Me too! I'll do it for all the children and the parties!"Pinkie was more than ready to agree to the idea.
"Welp… Looks like my mind is made up…! Let's give it a world, Twilight."Applejack was still hesitate to agree, but she felt it was her irritable stubbornness trying to make her disagree.
"Excellent! Every pony line up over here. I'll need you all in a line for an even flow of magic."Twilight hopped off her chair and pointed out a place against the wall for them to stand.
The mares did just that, casually getting out of their seats to walk to the designated spot. Spike stayed in his chair and peaked over the mass of his chair to watch this event unfold. He swallowed, nervous about the possibilities that could happen from this use of magic. The ladies lined up, while Twilight thoroughly read up on how to perform the spell, it appeared somewhat advanced. But she was an Alicorn, and Alicorns were all about advanced and even expert grade magic.
After a moment of reading, Twilight was confident enough to close up the book and perform the spell. She made the book disappear, giving her a chance to look at her eager friends. They were as ready as they were willing to be for this life changing moment they would under go. Twilight saw the bit of confidence her friends had in her, and lit up her horn with a flaring glow of purple. The magic then suddenly turned dark blue, before shooting out of her horn like a serpent.
The mares felt their nerves rattling and weakening the moment it struck. The serpent like magic went clean through Applejack's head, it made her head feel like a balloon full of pressure. Only for the magic to exit out the back of her head, causing a great feeling of relief for the farm pony. IT the curved and went right through Rainbow's head, causing the same event of feelings. It exited out of her forehead and curved once more before going into Rarity's head.
The spell repeated the actions through Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy before finishing. Leaving the mares feeling a bit light headed, but their emotions felt soft and gentle like their bodies. New found feelings were arousing their personalities, humility, willingness, calmness, tolerance, bravery. These new found feelings felt like absolute miracles throughout their bodies. They were slow to investigate themselves, Fluttershy couldn't believe how cute her shadow was, rather than scary.
"Oh… It's just like me…! Only it's darker and flat. Nothing to be scared of…!"Fluttershy came to terms with her shadow, no longer feeling an ounce of fear within herself.
"Neat! I don't know about y'all. But I feel like having a family meeting about doing some changes to the farm!"Applejack felt the need to speak to her family about what they ALL could do for the farm, rather than just her.
"And… I feel like I owe a lot of Pegasi ponies an apology. And a lot of flying lessons for Scootaloo,"Rainbow Dash admitted as her humility and guilt for her self righteousness began to hit her,"I feel like that kid deserves to fly high and strong. Maybe even better than me one day…!"
"And I feel so calm! Now I feel like I won't scare new comers and children!"Pinkie Pie exclaimed in a tone way less crazed and loud than normal.
"And I have an apology and an outfit to make for that poor colt I degraded…!"Rarity exclaimed with happiness and new found lack of judgment for others.
"It WORKED! I can't believe it worked! This is one of the greatest moments in the history of magic,"Twilight exclaimed with excitement as she truly felt her friends were still there, but no longer had their intolerant flaws,"How do you all feel? Does everything feel different, maybe just a little different?"
"Well… We don't feel too different. We just… Feel like a little bit of a weight is off our shoulders."Applejack looked to the others before assuming how they all felt.
"You know it! This humility deal feels awesome! I don't feel my pride weighing down on me!"Rainbow Dash celebrated with a loop de loop through the air.
"Same here! I don't feel the least bit disgusted about anything dirty or vile. Except for anything absolutely evil!"Rarity added as she giggled with these brighter and more loving feelings.
"And I feel like I could stare king Sombra right in the eyes and tell him to leave…!"Fluttershy chirped and flew around with Rainbow Dash.
"And I feel like I can be a friendly and not terrifying face any more. Now I can be a friend to any pony!"Pinkie expressed her excitement calmly and with pride.
"Excellent! I promised I'd help you all change, and now it is finished!"Twilight felt new found pride in herself while not noticing the black and blue magic suddenly fusing together rather than deteriorating.
"Uh…Twilight…?!"Spike tried to alarm her as he shivered behind his chair at the sight of the scary magic.
"So, what's say we all go out and see how you all adjust to your brand new selves?"Twilight suggested a little test drive to see how her friends would adjust to their tweaked personalities.
"Twilight…! Serious big problem going on with that spell…!"Spike tried harder to alarm the others to what was happening above their heads.
"That sounds like a mighty fine idea, Twilight! How about a trip to my place for supper? If that sounds ok with the rest of y'all?"Applejack showed politeness when offering to bring them to her place for dinner.
"TWILIGHT!"Spike finally got their attention and pointed to the smokey blue and black mass of magic.
They all turned to the ceiling above their heads, gasping at the magical anomaly. Twilight swallowed the moment blue electricity stabbed and shot from the energy like magic ball within the smoke. The mares widen their eyes and felt their ears twitching from the sharp deep ringing the magic was making. The light began to grow from within the orb, only to turn splinter like and dark before their eyes. It pulsed as the lightning began to shoot down to the floor before them.
This came before the smoke spiraled like a tiny twister, touching down on the floor. Creating the perfect path for the orb to slowly descend down through the spiral of smoke and static. It continued to pulse and bulge, a very close inspection showed something forming from within. Like a creature forming from within the magic as if it were an egg of such. Their eyes sparkled as the orb came in for a landing, it nearly cracked the floor upon landing with much static.
It then quaked and trembled, the magic became unstable as the smoke cleared. Allowing them all a clear view of the orb cracking apart, while something began to move around from within. A scream then echoed from within, a female like scream that sounded almost like a pony. Their ears flatten to block out the noise before the orb finally exploded into many pieces of magic. The pieces were quick to fade away as a bright blue light engulfed the entire room.
They all covered their eyes, waiting for the light to finally fade away. They were all afraid, wondering what horrors could befallen them for not standing clear of the magic. Thankfully, they felt the warmth of light dying down, cooling off their bodies before a dimly lit room was left. Twilight was the first to uncover her eyes before her friends were quick to follow. They were quick to look around, Twilight gulped with fear from what could have happened.
"What just happened?! Is every pony ok?! Any pony hurt?"Twilight assessed her friends and Spike for any discomforts or injuries.
"Well, my eyes hurt a bit from all that bright light…! What in tarnation was that?!"Applejack wondered as Twilight began to light up the room again.
"I don't know! Let's look around and see what might have changed from the magic!"Twilight suggested to her friends, only for Spike to spot the result of the magic laying right where the orb was.
"I found it! Look what's laying on the floor…! Right where the orb touched down…!"Spike was nervous to jump off his seat and point out what laid on the floor.
The mares gasped as they bare witnessed to a pitch black mare laying on the floor. She appeared to be an earth pony of some sorts, no wings or horn of any kind to be seen. She laid on her side, trembling and shuddering with a great chill making her soft black fur stand up. Twilight and her friends were lost for words, a mare created from pure magic seemed unheard of and abominable. Yet this one showed no signs of evil or bad intentions, it almost felt like they were in the presence of a foal.
They all remained silent, as Twilight swallowed and decided to be the bold one. She slowly approached the mare from the side, slowly reaching out to the mare to comfort her. She manage to slowly roll their mare onto her back, feeling her neck that gave a sign of life, but she was cold. Suddenly the mare snapped her eyes open to greatly blurry vision, they both gasped with fear. The dark mare looked in both directions, panting and feeling the very first rush of fear and life.
It was only when Twilight instinctively sprouted her wings and covered the mare that she felt her first rush of warmth. Her panting became smooth, Twilight broke into a sweat from the craziness that was happening. Finally once she was staring the mare of black right in the eyes. That was the moment the mare felt her vision turning crystal clear, witnessing the very first sight of the one who made her. Her breathing began to slow down, as she continued gazing into the first pair of friendly eyes she would ever know.
"Girls…! Get a blanket and clear out a room…! I think we've just…MADE….a new friend,"Twilight whispered as if the mare was her child and she needed to protect her,"It's ok…! Don't worry…! I'm here…! No pony is going to hurt you now… You're safe…!"
The black mare let out a long breath that shuddered with lingering coldness. She slowly started to lift her hooves for the first time, only to look at them and see what she was. Before she then slowly reached out and wrapped her hooves around Twilight, huddling against her for warmth. Twilight blushed a bit, but felt flattery at a higher level as she returned the hug she was given. She kept the mare warm while her friends rushed to get blankets and a room ready for the new pony.
"Momma…"Came the whispering echoes of a voice that sounded in Twilight's head.
And so she was born… Maul came to be the pony I thought of as my child and… And… I… I can't…! I don't feel like I can say any more…!
Twilight sudden felt herself shocked out of the memories by fear and the pain of what followed. She no longer felt the strength to tell every pony the story of what happened so long ago. She was in a sweat before every pony, panting as she tried to relax from the memories that flooded into her head.
"Easy Twilight…! Just keep breathing, and try some tea…!"Celestia worried as she stirred up a new cup of hot tea and gave it to Twilight to drink and calm her nerves.
The princess of friendship took up the tea with shaky hooves that threaten to spill it everywhere. She brought it to her lips and began to sip it while receiving a sudden shoulder massage from Blank. She sipped her tea slowly and began to breath a little bit more easily.
"Thank you… And I'm sorry…! I just can't say any more…! The memories are coming in too fast…! It's all hitting me as if it just… happened…!"Twilight apologized with fragile sanity as Celestia lifted her chin before both royal sisters gave her a hug.
"It's alright, Twilight…! We can only imagine the chaos that followed…"Luna admitted their understanding of Twilight's struggle while feeling the tears of the friendship princess touching their shoulders.
The birth of Maul, the ultimate destroyer of Equestria's harmony and innocence. There will be more to the story much later on, but you all deserved a broad chunk of it to start out with. So be ready for more friendship's spirit and stay pony every one.
