Weeks rolled by, with the sun setting and rising constantly as days flashed infront of everypony’s eyes. It’d been quite some time to say the least. Infact, it had been so long since their last Spring that Sour, Sweet and Acidic had been almost forgetting that they existed at all. Everytime they wanted to go out, they didn’t and elected to stay inside. It was clear that something else troubled the three of them.
However, this particular day wasn’t about them, at least not yet. Instead, it started when Soundwave and Duskfall woke up. Their minds clear from anything that may have happened before. They’d heard that the trip to the Spring of Mind was an interesting experience to say the least. But, instead of prying about it, the pair resumed on their own. Getting out of bed with a yawn, Soundwave took one look outside. The weather pummeled the ground with gargantuan amounts of rain. In his mind, it fit the day given it was a special one. They’d been anticipating this day. Both Soundwave and Duskfall. “As if the rain could be any heavier…” Duskfall glumly remarked whilst getting out of bed and standing beside Soundwave. “Yeah… Although a nice trip out in the rain wouldn’t be bad” Soundwave then replied, thinking to himself.
The pair stood together as the rain piled on more and more. The sight of it almost relaxing to them. It reminded them of something, but they couldn’t pin what it was. Nevertheless, neither dawdled on the thought as they got themselves ready. They were taking a very special trip today. A trip that they had always done on this day. The day of remembrance.
It took them both about ten minutes to get their rainwear on. Their coats and boots as well as one large umbrella that Soundwave held with his wing over the pair. Together, they departed from their house and onto their street. Trotting together as the streets felt more like a river than land. The umbrella keeping the pair of them relatively dry; alongside their coats and boots. The blue of Soundwave’s attire perfectly collaborating with Duskfall’s orange attire as they splashed through the city. Their goal being a very particular place in the city. One of which would be empty given the rain today. “At least we wrapped up for this” Duskfall remarked, almost slipping thanks to the sheer amount of rain that had been piling down.
“Yeah, can you imagine getting a cold from all this?” Soundwave asked in a slight joking manner. Duskfall chuckled to himself as the pair advanced. But not before turning the corner and spotting a familiar face. One of which they didn’t really expect. Cluttered. In his own green boots and raincoat. Wearing up his hood, he said “Fancy meeting the pair of you out in this downpour” as he looked at the pair with some genuine surprise. “Oh please” Soundwave began with some sarcasm. “We’re heading to the cemetery. You know, Day of Remembrance duties” he then added with a more somber tone. Not a tone of distaste toward the day, but a tone of distaste to the unchanging flow of fate and time that had taken whoever they were visiting in the cemetery.
“Well, I’ll hop along. We’re like family after all, aren’t we?” Cluttered then said, asking the pair afterwards and looking at them. Whilst Cluttered looked at them, Soundwave and Duskfall looked at eachother, and then back to him before Duskfall responded with a slightly happier “Sure, we’re meeting Dawn there anyway” as he proceeded to slowly trot onward. The Pegasus and Earthpony following suit and trotting alongside the Unicorn as they all headed in the direction of the cemetery.
For about twenty more minutes, silence permeated the trio. Only accompanied by the subtle touching sound of the rain plummeting and crashing onto the ground. By this point, the sky had turned a darker shade of grey. Indicating more to come in terms of the weather. However, the closer they got to the cemetery, the rarer rain became. Until there was only one droplet every five minutes or so. Turning the last corner, the trio saw Dawn. In her own raincoat, boots, and umbrella. All of which were rose coloured as they stood on the street. A building loomed over her as the three approached. The architecture of the building being older than the rest of the buildings in the city. The stonework being odd and almost misaligned. Each big stone used to create the walls being unique in their own right. A large, dark oak door and several stained-glass windows radiating blue from the weather that the windows seemed to adjust their colours to. “There you are! Oh, hi Cluttered, you joined them too then?” Dawn said aloud, her voice in some surprise that Cluttered decided to tag along in the rain.
“Well, I figured it would be better to tag along. At least then I’d get away from Sour, Sweet and Acidic. The three of them have been way too depressing lately” Cluttered responded, seeming to harbor some disdain toward the three. Duskfall and Soundwave looked at eachother in some confusion, before Dawn piped up. “Depressing?” she then asked Cluttered. He looked down, before nodding and then responding with “Look, I’ll tell you later. We don’t need to talk about them here. Let’s just take some time for ourselves, yeah?”. The other three nodded as Dawn opened the gate to the cemetery. With a rather loud creaking from the rust it had obtained over the many years, the four of them all entered. First Soundwave, then Duskfall, then Cluttered and finally Dawn, with another creaking sound, she closed the gate as the four headed to a particular gravestone.
It took a few minutes for them to find the gravestone, but once Soundwave found the path he needed to trot on, he quickly adjusted and recalled where it was. Trotting to the end of one particular path atop a small hill, next to a tree, was one lone gravestone. Although, the wording could’ve been switched for a small boulder fixed into the ground. “Here it is” Soundwave then said to the other three, the three behind him catching up quickly and standing next to him as they looked down. The tree gave enough dry space for the four to sit down, and so they did. Their faces all looking at the so-called gravestone. On it, a strange marking on the top appeared. One that almost looked like a lower-case l, but with a horizontal dash sprouting from the center and onto the right. With another small dash near the end of the horizontal dash growing vertically to match the opposite side. Underneath, words, and numbers existed, reading:
HERE LIES HARMONY HEARTSTRINGS
YEAR 963 – YEAR 999
Selfless until the end
Looking down still, Soundwave sighed. He thought back to his earliest years when she was still alive. His mind seeing her kind smile and feeling her holding him in her hooves as a foal. “Your mother had a beautiful name” Cluttered said, looking over at Soundwave as he looked back. “Yeah, she did…” he then responded as Duskfall comforted him. Dawn moved in to also comfort them, before asking “If I’m not too rude here… And please forgive me if I am being too rude… How did she… You know… Fly on up to the cosmos?” as Soundwave looked at her. “Well, mine and my sister’s deadbeat father kicked the three of us out. I was born in the year nine hundred and ninety-six, my sister was born in the year nine hundred and ninety-one. I don’t know what happened to make them fall out, my sister does though. Anyways, once we were kicked out, she and I-“ he began. Pausing, he took a moment before continuing. “We were dropped off at the orphanage here in Buckgrove. From what I was told, she gave up any food she had to me and my sister and passed on the orphanage’s doorstep. I suppose that’s why the orphanage treated you and I better Cluttered now that I think about it” he then finished off. Looking away slightly, Cluttered simply responded with “Yeah, you and your sister as well as myself seemed to be treated a little better than the rest. At least, after you two came into the orphanage. Before was… Well, you know” as he looked back at Soundwave.
Soundwave nodded as he understood. Duskfall simply saying “Well I’m sure she would be very proud of the stallion you’ve become Wavey” as the four of them looked down at her gravestone. It was about a moment later however, that Dawn then asked “So, where’s your sister now?” as Soundwave tensed up. Simply saying “Don’t know, but she’s out there” as he looked down ever still at the gravestone. Longing for the loved one he could never see again. “Her name was Bass Hertz if I recall” Cluttered then added on, trying to remember her as he recalled the three of them sitting on a bench. “Yeah, well again, I don’t know where she is. We may have fallen out and she may have left for Western Ceyonait last I heard” Soundwave then said, trying to reiterate his stance on the matter. Thankfully for him, Dawn said “I understand” and Cluttered added “Yeah, sorry if we got a bit too personal there…” before Soundwave responded with “Don’t worry, it’s fine in all honesty… I just kind of regret how things devolved between my sister and I”.
This prompted Dusk to suggest something. With a hesitant breath, he said “Well, maybe, if you find her, we could talk to her and solve the problem you two have had” as he looked toward his husband, hopeful. Soundwave looked down at his partner, before going “Yeah… That might be a good idea… But first we might want to make sure the wondering depression gets their alicorn body back” and making the other three chuckle somewhat. “Yeah, it might be better to help them first. The three of them seem to need us. They did help myself, Soundwave and Duskfall at least. We need to repay the favor” Cluttered then added on a moment later. “Don’t forget about them getting me back in touch with my old friend in Trotquay!” Dawn then added on. “Oh, Elixir right?” Dusk asked her after hearing the word Trotquay. “Yeah, she helped them on their journey to the Spring of Mind. She also let us stay at hers for the night. It was great” Dawn responded, adding on the last thing rather cheerfully.
The four of them, after the conversation, sat still. Unmoving for hours as the rain picked up and worsened from the morning as they passed into the afternoon. By the time they all decided to get back up and head out, the streetlights had turned on. The darkness being like a thick fog as the four trotted out of the cemetery. Feeling an otherworldly presence almost watching over them. Whether it was just their nerves reacting to the night, or actual spirits, the four didn’t stick around long enough to find out. From the distance as the four trotted off down the street and to their respective abodes, a single figure stood watching them. A mare of sorts. Hollow and almost completely transparent. Smiling, she simply faded. A spirit bound to the tree of the cemetery. Watching her child from the great beyond as she fell into the spirit realm once more. Her presence visible to nopony and unnoticed by all.
In a different part of the city, back inside Cluttered’s house, the three resided. Sour, Sweet and Acidic had other things on their mind. Instead of remembering anyone from Ceyonait, they obviously started reminiscing about Stardew and Crimson. Sat in the living room of the house, the three stayed silent. The calming effect of the rain keeping them all company as they seemed to remember times with Crimson and Stardew. The Alifests for example. Their eight, two-day long events that they hosted for the continent that they mentioned to Dawn on the train down to Trotquay. Sweet started off the recalling by finally speaking. “Hey, remember the first Alifest we did? The Apples versus Oranges one?”. “Of course!” Acidic instantly responded. “It was great we won the first two” Sour then began. “But then Stardew proceeded to absolutely demolish us three times over. Along with the Sea versus Sky one… And then” Sour paused.
“Oh yeah, we got pummeled in the finalfest” Sweet then interjected.
“Yep” Sour said, with a glum expression.
“Well, it wasn’t always about the points right? It was about spending time with our brother” Sweet then asserted. “Was it? I always thought it was about exploration and getting out of the castle” Acidic then chuckled. However, upon seeing the looks on Sour and Sweet’s faces, he quickly stayed silent. “Right… Well, I just hope Stardew’s okay” Sour then said, thinking about the coronation, as he did often. “Yeah, we didn’t really end off on anything good back in Manestralia, huh” Acidic then piped up again. “Yeah, you’re right on that. I wish now that we didn’t take that time for granted. I mean, we’ve been so far away from Manestralia now that we’ve probably been forgotten in all honesty” Sweet then said, his expression changing from concerned, to saddened and then to dismissive. With Sour nodding as he agreed. Although, he had a differing opinion.
“Well, we have a new life now. We don’t have to return to that… We’ve gotten a new start here. It’s… It’s nice” Sour then said, with Sweet looking at him, slightly confused. “Yeah but, why would we sit here and not at least try and get back to Manestralia?” Sweet then asked. It was something that made Sour think for a moment. That was, until he responded with a simply “No” to which Acidic and Sweet looked at eachother. Confused and unsure of what to say next. In their minds, they thought that going back to Manestralia wouldn’t be so bad. But Sour seemed to think that going back would’ve been a bad thing. Neither knew why exactly either. “You know, we could at least… Try to stay positive about the possibility?” Sweet suggested. Sour however, scoffed at the idea. Not even bothering to hide his disdain about the idea. To which Sweet simply shrugged and got up, saying “Let me know when you decide to stop this whole doomer attitude” before trotting off down the hall. Presumably into the guest bedroom where they’d been sleeping. Refurbishments not complete, but refurbishments still being obvious to the eye. The place was much cleaner than before indeed.
Acidic however, stayed in the room. Saying something interesting. “I do miss our mother… She’d help us through this” he said, seeming saddened at the idea. Sour looked at him, confused as he responded with “Our mother’s been long dead for around fifteen years now. Why bring her up?”. Acidic looked at Sour, before finally saying “Well, I guess I just miss her. Just like you and I miss Stardew. We never really knew how she kicked the bucket and it was all so… Sudden” Acidic then said, with a disturbed tone about his speech. Then, he brought up something interesting. “Sour… Did you ever notice how, when we look back at the time before she passed and then the time after… That dad seemed much more, oh what’s the word, overbearing? I think that’s the word” he said, putting his wing to his chin; trying to remember.
Sour nodded as he responded with “Yep. I remember. I think that’s why he never bothered to discipline us unless we did something really nasty. Instead, he always seemed to overlook it. Heck, the only times he started trying to discipline us was recently. You know, around the same time as the coronation being planned. Guess we were always the favourite child in the family. Sucks for Stardew” as he chuckled slightly. Then, Acidic brought up something very interesting. “Did you also notice then, how there were never any pictures of us as newborn foals?”. Sour stopped chuckling as he got to thinking. It was true. In the family album he seldom saw, he was never shown any pictures of him under the age of, as he recalled, one. Stardew had pictures in the album before he was one. But he always thought he missed them. But then he remembered that Crimson would always show Stardew. Surely they would’ve interacted… Right?
“I guess your silence means you’re connecting the dots…” Acidic began. “Huh?” Sour then said, snapping out of his thinking. “My guess is that they’re in a different album!” Acidic then said, making Sour frown. “But we’d surely have seen them” Sour then said quite bluntly. Acidic seemed to think about it a little bit, but still ended up believing his theory about why they’d never seen any pictures of them as newborns. Sour however, pondered on it for a bit. Only snapping out of his thoughts as Acidic got up and said “I’m gonna head to bed. All this talk has me sleepy” before trotting off to join Sweet in the guest room; presumably. Sour remaining in the room for a little bit before Cluttered came back to the house. Looking at Sour, he instantly rolled his eyes. The same expression he had seen for weeks still on his face. That was, before Cluttered spoke. “Still moping about are we?” he asked in an almost stern voice. “Yeah, and? What about it?” Sour then responded, firing back a question with a lot of defiance to it. Cluttered backed down, simply muttering “It was a joke” before heading up the stairs. Sour staying downstairs for the rest of the night, awake. Only falling asleep at the crack of dawn. Alone with his thoughts and memories. Not aware that in the far-off mountains, familiar faces were watching and observing.
Specifically, Harmonous was watching. He’d been watching. Anticipating the three of them to immediately head out to what he deemed to then be the easiest of the Springs. The fact they had taken so long to even think about their quest immensely aggravated him. So much so that poor Dallasite and Arcane ended up being the recipients of many outbursts of anger from Harmonous. Arcane having recovered from a particularly bad outburst where his wing was torn. Almost to an irreparable state. Thankfully, Dallasite was able to use a healing spell to start a healing process for Arcane. Although this didn’t stop Harmonous from taking his anger out on Dallasite whilst this was happening. Dallasite specifically looking marginally hurt physically. With several lacerations on his own body. All of which were healing well enough. He knew that it wouldn’t show the next time that he had to go near Bounded. But it was still an annoyance nonetheless. With Arcane being asleep, Harmonous spoke to himself; thinking Dallasite was also asleep.
“Why do I expect anything these days from three absolute failures” Harmonous muttered to himself. The cave echoing his words and Dallasite assuming it was about himself and Arcane. “We’re failures… For doing what you wanted?” Dallasite then asked Harmonous. Being on the floor, he obviously had to look up whilst he watched Harmonous turn around and barely acknowledge him. “Close. But you two aren’t Bounded. Although you certainly remind me of him with your innate stupidity” Harmonous then fired back. Every word in his last sentence aiming to cut like broken glass against flesh. “If he takes any longer I will personally see to it that he’s no longer of this world” Harmonous then added on. Dallasite, hearing this, seemed worried. He did care about Bounded. As angry as he may have been in the past. Getting to know him slightly from the Spring of Mind, he felt a connection there. One he’d longed for, for years. So, he spoke up again.
“Well maybe he forgot. It can happen, you know” he said. Harmonous mocking him by repeating the world “forgot” in a belittling tone before actually responding. “If you think that, then why don’t you help him? You clearly know more than I do about his situation. You’re clearly the oldest here” Harmonous then said to Dallasite. Dallasite almost rolling his eyes as he said “I know I’m the youngest here. But it might benefit you to actually listen to my idea. Why don’t you let me and Arcane confront him? You’re not one to negotiate after all. You know that”. Harmonous staying silent for a moment. Processing the specific last part of his sentence. “I suppose raising you actually paid off” Harmonous then responded. His tone shifting to a slightly amused one. To the point of then saying “Humor me then” before turning back to his window of magic. This time focusing on something else. It wasn’t clear what he was looking at, but it was a completely different world from the immediate look at it. One underwater and almost completely pitch black. Like the water itself was tainted. Like some toxic pollution or virus had seeped in.
“What’re you looking at, by the way?” Dallasite then asked Harmonous. “Oh, nothing much to concern your own self with. The mention of that aquatic animal had me… Curious about someplace is all. When Arcane brought it up I thought that maybe…” Harmonous then paused. Being careful with his next move until he simply finished his sentence off with “It’s nothing to concern yourself with” as he closed the window of magic quickly. He’d check in on his own curiosity when he was alone. But for the time being, he didn’t need Dallasite, Arcane or for Ellestros sake Bounded knowing of what he was looking at. “Why don’t you just go back to sleep. I’m sure you have some other things to dream about. Like how you’re going to try and prove yourself to me for the tenth time this month” Harmonous then said in a snide tone. He was actively taunting Dallasite. But Dallasite couldn’t fight back. He’d get absolutely pummeled. Instead, he simply said “Alright” before laying his head down. Making Harmonous focus his attention back to the window of magic as he observed the lands he wished to claim for his own. Infuriated, but patiently waiting for the right time to act. Once Bounded was back together again, he’d have him back…
And then nothing would stop him from conquering everything in his path.