Flawed Harmony

Anon stood face to face with the one pony he didn't want to see, the one who had set Equestria onto a path of certain destruction, the very being he had once called sister, this pony, was Celestia.

The five generals stated daggers at her while she stared down Anon. "It's been a long time Anonymous, I would have hoped you would have learned your lesson since before the great peace."

"What you call peace I call madness, what I call peace you call insanity. There was no lesson to learn, I am not your student, I am not Twilight Sparkle or Clover the Clever. You were the one that needed to be taught something Princess Celestia, but you're too stubborn to admit it." Anon didn't even bother looking her in the eye as he walked past her.

"I need to learn nothing, you're the one that was corrupted." Anon burst out laughing. "What's so funny?!"

"You are! You and your sheer stupidity. I wasn't corrupted, I wasn't possed, there is no dark magic inside of my body and there never was. Go ahead... check." Scowling Celestias horn lit up and she scanned Anons body, finding nothing. Celestia just looked to her stepbrother in shock. "It shouldn't be surprising, you should have figured this out long ago before you pulled out your little 'fix everything' gems and blasted me to the stars! Where I only grew stronger, smarter and most importantly," he came face to face with Celestia, "I was able to watch as you hid all of my old runes and spell tomes, even where you put 'him.' So in a way I should be thanking you sister, you've aided my cause greatly."

Anon just looked to Celestia from the corner of his eye with a victorious smile, Celestia just looking at him in disbelief.

"I will give you one chance to leave this place peacefully and unharmed Celestia, because unlike you," he turned to her with a stone cold glare and ice in his voice, "I don't blast my problems away!" The generals all smirked as their King had just rendered Celestia unable to speak with just his words, crushing a part of her mind by pointing out one of many flaws in her 'harmony' that Anon had found over the years. "You have three minutes, after that I send one of my generals after you." Celestia remained still, the same broken expression plastered on her face as her horn lit up and she vanished.

Anon sat down in his throne and looked to his generals.

"So, did I put on a good show for you all?" He asked with a smirk.

"Only the best thing I've seen in my life, I've never seen Tia so confused and conflicted in my life!" Exclaimed Eris as she floated over to Anon. "When you do stuff like this it's no wonder I chose to work with you." Solid Will walked up to the throne.

"Yeah, you gave it to her good! I bet she won't even be able to concentrate on her duties thanks to that little speech!" Anon smiled at the Minotaur.

"Well, when I have friends like you five on my side I have to do something to keep the ball rolling. I haven't broken her completely though, I only gave us enough time to begin phase one of the plan." The generals all stepped forward. "Sonar, you are to set up a garrison and begin training the new recruits, as well as pick you own personal guard." With a salute Sonar walked out of the room. "Thanos and Solid, you two are to head to the Crystal Empire and find the horn of King Sombra in the tundra, once you do teleport back to the castle using this crystal." Eris snapped her fingers and a crystal appeared in Solids hand. The half-dragon and Minotaur nodded and went to complete their mission. "Now, Eris and Mist Hunter, I have a mission for you and it is critical that you complete it."

"What do you need us to do?" Asked Eris.

Anon reached behind the throne and pulled out a jewelled chest. He opened it to reveal the Elements of Harmony. "While I was in Ponyville scoping out that human girl I stopped by the local library to make sure these do not get in our way again." Anon then took the magic element and the kindness element out if the chest and handed it to Mist Hunter. "You are to take this to the frozen north and bury it, but remember the location as we may need them at a later date if I can manage to sway the bearers to join us." Mist Hunter nodded and vanished into the darkness. "Eris, you're to take the kindness element and hide it in a random stone pillar in Canterlot Castle, make sure it is in the centre and that there is no trace of magic or tampering." She nodded and took the butterfly shaped gem.

"What about the magic element?" She asked while pointing to the last gem.

"I will keep it on my person at all times, Celestia will have expected me to hide it somewhere in this castle." Smirking Eris disappeared.

As Anon sat alone in the throne room he looked upwards.

"I know you're watching, I know what you've done with this world. That's why you brought me here right? To fix what you can't?" As he stared at the ceiling six lights appeared on the roof in response. Sighing Anon got out of his throne and held the crystal in his hand. "Now, I will meet that other human."

Ponyville

Abigail walked through Ponyville, looking around at the ponies that greeted her as she walked towards the library to meet SweetieBot. Screwball had returned to the Chaos Capital as her father, Discord, had wanted to talk to her about something important.

As Abigail walked furniture and further into town she noticed that the sky seemed to be getting darker, so also saw a few ponies running from the centre of town. Taking a detour to see what had caused the ponies to run in fear, Abigail turned a corner and crossed the small bridge that led to Town Hall.

Upon arriving at the large open area she felt the wind pick up. Looking around she found that part of town deserted, all the stalls were abandoned, shops had closed and the sound of distant wind chimes filled Abigail's ears. As she walked towards the Town Hall building she stopped once she reached the steps and turned around. There, sitting on a wooden box with his bandana over his mouth and fedora titled slightly, sat Anon. His cape blew to the side with the wind as he stared down Abigail.

"You... what is your name?" Anon asked, Abigail just looked to him conflicted. "If I am going to be facing off against you I need to know the name of my opponent, and the name of someone else of the same species as I. So tell me, what is your name?" He stood up and kicked the box away.

Abigail just looked at him, confused of what to do. "My name is Abigail."

Anon flinched as he heard the name. 'Why does that sound so familiar?' Shaking his head Anon unsheathed his sword. "Very well then, Abigail. My name is King Anonymous, but you may just call me Anon." Abigail shook herself and unsheathed her own sword. "Let's see just how skilled you are." Anon took a fighting stance as did Abigail.

After an intense stared down they both charged towards each other and their soars collided. Pushing against each other they never broke eye contact.

'Why? Why is she so familiar?' They broke apart and began trading blows, Anon swiped at her stomach but she jumped and tried to swiped his head but he ducked. He then grabbed her wrist and flipped her over his shoulder. She took a second to get back up, all the while Anon watching her, analysing her, trying to piece together the puzzle that he was presented with.

After she got up she charged her sword with magic and thrust forward. Anon sidestepped and his her with the side of his sword.

'He's not fighting me, he's testing me.' Growling Abigail began furiously swinging her sword, each now being mirrored by Anon with a little more swiftness and composure to his movements, thousands of years of practice made him the superior in this fight and they both knew it.

As Abigail swung her sword with a great deal of force Anon stuck his sword into the ground. When the blades met Abigail's shattered like glass.

"What the?" She staggered and looked to her broken blade.

"The blade was old and unreliable, a poor choice in the materials used to craft it." She looked to Anon who effortlessly pulled his blade out of the ground. "Take a good look at my rapier, notice the difference in colour and shape." Abigail looked to the sword, it was made of a dark blue material and the guard of the blade was not smooth, rather carved to become more streamlined. The grip also was made of a black leather, providing friction for a more steady grip. The blade itself was thicker than a normal rapier, adding more strength to the blades overall structure. "You must choose your weapons carefully. Otherwise you will be met with the same issue time and time again, a broken sword."

Abigail just looked to him in shock.

"I know that you planned to confront me, so be it. I will be awaiting your arrival in my castle in the centre of the badlands. Make sure you bring a better sword and some friends, and choose your companions carefully." Ponies began to surround the pair, murmuring and whispering. "I bid you good day Abigail, I look forward to the day we shall meet again as I will have several questions for you. Do not disappoint me." With a flash of light he was gone, leaving a very confused and shaken Abigail behind.

Badlands, Empire Castle

Anon appeared back in his throne room, tired from the day's events. "She put up a better fight than I thought, she has strength and skill, she just needs to learn how to apply it." As he slumped into his throne he pulled out the element of magic. "Harmony, nothing more than an ideal, a vision, a means of telling yourself that what you are doing is worth the sacrifice. You call yourself a hero to deny the fact you kill many creatures to make it to the final showdown. Tell me, how many have you slain to get where you are miss Mare Do Well?"

Mare Do Well stepped out of the shadows and walked in front of Anon. "Too many to count, I take it you're the same?"

Anon frowned and tucked the element away. "The misconception that is made the most about heroes is that they do not kill, injure yes but never kill. The public sees this as they do not want to see their 'heroes' become a soldier, so they block reality to protect the innocence they have that needs to be set free, no one can live with innocence forever."

"Your take on reality is... unique to say the least." Mare Do Well walked slightly to the left.

"I look at things from a realistic point of view. Many creatures be it pony or griffin, struggle to find this viewpoint as they're raised in a society that is run by a pony that treats her subjects like they're her children, while this isn't a bad idea it isn't necessarily good for the people of this land. It's one thing to make them feel secure and cared for but when you literally treat them like children then that is going too far, they need to learn to fend for themselves and not rely on their supposed heroes to safe them every time." Anons expression became cold.

"I see your point, I've been questioning what it means to be called a hero, and I find it to be merely a title ponies give to people that make them feel safe." Anon just stared daggers at her and held out his hand. He grabbed her in his magic and brought her face to face.

"Tell Celestia, nice try, but not good enough!" With a snap of his finger the disguised guard was sent back to Canterlot. "Seriously Celestia, you're just coming off as cute."