Even Harmony has an Opposite

The Temple of Balance

Not only was it dark in the temple, but it was eerily quiet. No pony spoke. The sound of their hoof steps echoed throughout the entire temple. The only reason they could see was because of a small torch that Twilight had lit up earlier. “Um...T-Twilight, d-do y-you think m-maybe we should y-you know, g-get out?” Fluttershy was drenched in her own sweat, and her eye were shrunken in fear. “You’re probably not the only one scared here, Fluttershy...” There was good reason, too. The corridor was extremely small, fitting only one pony from wall to wall.

“Oh look, unlit torches! Thank goodness!” They had suddenly enter a larger room. As Twilight went around the room lighting the torches, the group could see more and more of the room, and the more and more they were filled with fear and wonder. There were six pillars spaced evenly throughout the room. There was a statue of an alicorn with spread wings sitting on the pedestal facing the entrance. The stone had turned a brilliant mossy green, with carvings of large dragons and ponies. On the ceiling there was a carving of twelve ponies and twelve stones, six on one of two sides. “I’ve never seen anything like this before...” Twilight looked at the carvings. Then she looked to the ceiling. “...that carving probably explains the temple name.” Applejack looked at Twilight. “How’s that Twilight?” Pinkie Pie looked up. “There are six ponies on each side. One side has diamonds while the other has balls. It’s not that hard Applejack.” Pinkie Pie was smiling at Applejack. “One side obviously represents the Elements of Harmony and the other the Chaos thingamabobbers.” Twilight gaped. “I was about to say that.”

Rainbow Dash was hovering around the room. She ran her hoof against the wall. She flew up to the ceiling, then back down. “It’s a dead end. Now what?” All the ponies were lined up in a row right in front of the statue. “...There’s something strange about this statue...” Twilight started to inspect it. She examined it from head to toe. She rubbed her chin, then began to cast a few spells.

“Um, excuse me Twilight, but whatever are you doing?” Rarity was looking at Twilight, who was staring directly into the statues eyes. “...There’s nothing really special about the statue, there is no magical residue, and there are no joints or levers on it either.” She stepped back into line with the other girls. Then they all felt themselves fall a centimeter. “What was that?” Applejack looked down and at the hoofs of the others. They had made a small indent in the floor, like they had hit a switch.
“Aw, shoot.”

The alicorn’s eyes lit up. The group backed up a little bit. Then a voice emanated throughout the temple. “WHO GOES THERE.” Twilight felt a little bump from behind her. She yelped and looked back to find Fluttershy quaking in fear. She understood what it felt like to be scared too. Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to speak, but Twilight raised her hoof to stop her. “We, um, are the Elements of Harmony.” You could hear Twilight's voice shaking violently. The eyes flared again. Then a distant clanking could be heard.

A strange clear liquid poured onto the six. But instead of splashing and spreading out, it began to build itself up into a sphere, encasing each of them. They were shrieking, but eventually drowned out by the mysterious fluid. Twilight was screaming her lungs out, but suddenly realized she could breath with absolutely no problem or obstructions. She looked over to her friends, who looked like they were hollering for their lives. She signaled to them to breath normally and quit trying to shout. They then realized that they could breath normally and promptly calmed down.

The eyes of the alicorn statue flashed again. The liquid started turning a variety of colors, an array of the visible spectrum. “YOU SEEM IDEAL AS WIELDERS OF THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY. PREPARE YOURSELVES.” Rainbow Dash looked over at Twilight with a questioning expression on her face. They suddenly began to slide down. Expressions of surprise and fear pasted itself onto their faces as they slid down into the darkness in silent fear.