Flawed Harmony

Celestia sat out on her balcony, looking up at the beautiful night sky like every night. Something was different about this night though, exactly one thousand years ago she had banished someone that had endangered the harmony of this land, The Shadow King. She still visited the hidden castle that once commanded his great empire that could have brought down the Solar Empire if they and come to blows.

She knew he'd be returning, all of her enemies did eventually. She couldn't afford to have a mass panic on her hooves, as during that time there was a treaty being created between the Solar Empire and the Chaos Capital, led by a race know as 'Draconequus' and their leader Discord, the most powerful of his kind.

When The Shadow King was banished a Draconequus named Eris had been one of the kings generals. All of the five generals were frozen in stone, sealed away by The Shadow King because he knew that his banishment was coming so he planned ahead and made it look like the works of the Elements of Harmony.

Celestia sighed and looked to a certain star, it was different from the others that lit up the night sky. This one was blue and shone brighter than any other star in the sky. Soon it twinkled and disappeared. Celestia watched the now empty spot in the sky and sighed. "So it begins."

Deep in the Badlands sat an old castle made of blue and black. Deep inside the castle sat the throne room, a bright light emerged from the gem atop the thrown and the alight gathered together to create a humanoid figure. As the light died, the human stood there. He looked to his gloved hands and clenched his fists. As he walked through the throne room his cloak blew freely as a draft made its way into the room. The soft sound on boots walking on polished marble was echoed throughout the hallway as the huge door leading to the throne room was pushed open.

The human pulled his hood down and examined his body again. The soft pants brushing against his skin on his lower half while the long sleeved black shirt wore a small breastplate of black armour with a blue emblem of the moon engraved on the right breast. A rapier  sword rested on the leather belt on his waist. His short black hair blew softly in the draft and his sapphire blue eyes scanned his surroundings.

"I would have thought Celestia would have prepared for my return," he looked around and shook his head, "It would appear I overestimated her." He walked around the empty castle until he came to a door with a magic seal protecting it. He held his hand up to it and it glowed dark blue. The locks on the door clicked and it slowly opened up. Walking in he found the statue of a large shield. Placing his hand of the statue it too glowed dark blue. "Rise again my friends, and come to me."

In the four corners of Equestria and in the Canterlot Gardens five statues started to crack until bursting with a wave of light, freeing the beings within. Walking over to a chest at the far side of the room, the human opened it up and pulled out a bandana and black fedora. Placing the bandana over his mouth and dusting off the hat he sighed.

"I need to find my old allied empires, then I can resume my mission. I won't let Celestia continue with this false order." With a flick of his cloak he walked out of the room and the door slammed behind him.

The next day, Ponyville

The sound of a sword swiping through the air and scrapping test dummies could be heard near Sweet Apple Acres. A human girl was practicing with a silver rapier sword while the Apple family and her relatives prepared food for a get together. The girl had blonde hair which she wore in a ponytail, a green tracksuit top and light blue jeans. Her emerald green eyes watched her target as she thrust forwards and swiped with her weapon.

"Abigail! Food's ready!" Yelled a woman from the farm.

"Ok auntie Nichola, I'll be there in a second!" Abigail sheathed her sword and began walking towards the orchard. While she was walking she looked over to see two young boys playing with three fillies. She smiled at her little cousins and continued walking.

Once she  reached the farm house she saw two women setting a large table with and elderly mare and a buff stallion. One of the women looked in her thirties with red hair while the other looked in her fifties with curly brown hair. Abigail sat down at the table and watched Astro other teenage girls sat down. The two of them were identical, having brown hair, which one wore in a ponytail while the other kept it down. They both wore blue jackets and skinny jeans.

"Hey Megan and Becky. How's things at the boutique?" Abilities asked her cousins.

"Oh well everything is going fine, business is booming ever since Fancy Pants started advertising for us and miss Rarity." Said Becky, who wore her hair down.

"Although that does mean we have less free time but what can you do?" Finished Megan.

"So, are Joanne and William going to be here?" Asked Abigail as she looked around.

"No, they've got urgent business in Casino Park in Las Pegasus, they couldn't make it." Both replied in unison. Soon the rest of the family gathered at the table. Abigail looked around at the ponies and humans that had gathered, she always felt like one person was missing from the gatherings, the only one of the family to yet arrive in Equestria.

"You're thinking about Carmine, aren't you?" Asked the elderly woman.

"Yeah, I am Grandma Mary."

"He'll turn up eventually, we just need to keep an eye out for him." Abigail smiled at her grandmothers comment and started eating an apple fritter.

As she finished her meal she noticed a tall alabaster mare walking towards them. "Princess Celestia!" Abigail ran up to Celestia and hugged her.

"Hello again Abigail, I hope you have been doing well." Abigail nodded and let Celestia go.

"So, what are you doing on Ponyville?" As soon as Abigail asked that question, Celestias smile flattered.

"I need to talk to you and your family about something of dire importance." The family gathered around the sun princess. "Centuries ago, there was a human that had arrived in Equestria with no memories, no knowledge of his people other than the name of his race. My sisters and I found him outside of our castle lost and confused. He could not remember his name, so we named him Anonymous, or Anon for short. We took him in and we quickly became friends."

"There was a human in Equestria before us?" Abigail asked in shock.

"Yes, and what a human he was. He knew what to say and was incredibly skilled, in knowledge and in combat. Like you, his weapon of choice was a rapier sword." The group all looked to each other in shock.

"You don't think it was him, do you?" Megan asked Abigail.

"It could be..."

Celestia noticed their shock. "Does this person sound familiar?"

"Yes, it sounds a lot like my brother Carmine. He's the only members of the family besides my deceased parents that haven't shown up in Equestria." Celestia just looked to the ground. "What?"

"If you have history with him then this is going to be hard to hear." The family just stared in confusion. "Over time, this human started to notice what he called 'flaws in my version of harmony.' He began building an empire to try and overthrow me and force his version of harmony on the populace of Equestria. I was left no choice but to banish him to the stars, like I did with my sister Nightmare Moon. This also turned his generals to stone and his empire fell apart."

The group all looked heartbroken. "Carmine turned evil?" Asked one of the small boys.

"In a way yes, but when I told him he was evil he replied with, 'Evil is subjective in a situation like this. You see this as evil because it's against what you think is good, with me it is reverse. I see what you are doing as evil, you get the point.' That was the last thing I heard him say before I used the Elements of Harmony on him."

"Why are you telling us this now?" Abigail asked.

"Because he has returned, and he plans to rebuild his empire."

Anon sat on his throne, waiting for his five generals to arrive. Soon the door to the room opened and five figures walked forward. "Ah, my friends. So lovely to see you again." The figures stopped and bowed. "Rise my generals. I wish to see your faces again."

One of the figures disappeared and reappeared beside him. "It's great to see you up and about again Nonny, I did miss you ever so much." The female Draconequus said as she brushed her eagle claw on his cheek.

"Ah, Eris. I see you are well, I trust you've been paying close attention to Celestia in the Canterlot Gardens?"

"You know it, nothing has changed with her." Eris flew up and landed by her fellow generals. Then a white Minotaur walked forward.

"Solid Will, how are you feeling my friend?"

The Minotaur smirked. "I'm feeling in the mood to kick some flank!" He said as he slammed his fist into his palm.

"Good to hear it." Next a purple Thestral in black full body armour walked forward. "Sonar Whisp, how are you my dear?"

"I'm feeling the same as always, I'm feeling honoured to serve you King Anon." Smirking Anon brushed her mane and she stepped back. The next general was a blue half-dragon.

"Thanos my friend, looking calm today, that is a sign of improvement."

"Yes, a thousand years in stone is a long time, I leaned how to control my anger after the first century." The last general was a shadow pony with a blue horn and was wearing a black breastplate.

"It is good to see you free at last my liege." The shadow pony bowed.

"Rise Mist Hunter, no need to be so formal." The generals all looked to Anon with soft smiles. "Alright, now that formalities are out of the way here are your orders. You are to go back to the areas where you were imprisoned  and recruit as many soldiers and find as many wiling inhabitants as possible to join the empire. Except for you Eris, you will be coming with me to Las Pegasus, we need to find the temple that was buried there." The group saluted their King and made their way out of the castle. "Teleport us there Eris."

"Yes sir." Eris snapped her fingers and they vanished from the area. Meanwhile a certain queen was watching these events and came out of her hiding place.

"So, the stories are true. This could be a great opportunity for revenge against Celestia and her ponies, as a bonus, my children will be given a chance to be treated equally." The changeling queen rubbed her hooves together and laughed.