Purgatorio, or This Hollow Valley
My machinations are subtle, I will admit. That said, I am confident in saying that I underestimated these little ponies. Even their worst traits, brought fully to bear, are not enough to break the ties that bind them together.
You may have entirely forgotten that there was a guiding hand behind these actions. They almost seemed natural, didn't they? A twitch here, an awkward pause there, and that's all there really is to it. I pride myself on this subtlety, this ability to make a pony completely lose their own character without breaking the mold of who they are. Where Discord would use an axe, I use a scalpel.
As you may have forgotten, but were clearly told at an earlier point, I am a draconequus, much like that sellout Discord. As I have said, he and I are opposite and equal: bitter rivals, partners in crime, and brothers-in-spirit. His domain is the nonsensical and the paradoxical. In a manner which straddles irony and paradox, his domain is actually fairly well-defined and clear-cut.
I am blessed with a mastery over the nebulous and ill-defined realm of precision and accord. You may think that this belies information on my name, which, again, is not important. It does not. Discord chose his own name (as we draconequi are permitted to do at our births) out of an applaudable sense of mischievous irony, seeing how predictable it would that he be named after that which he rules. I, on the other hand (or hoof or talon or claw or whatever appendage I fancy—currently, it is, indeed, the hand) chose my name because it sounds nice.
There is a downside to this masterful subtlety, however; for whenever Discord plays out a scheme, that scheme is so distinctly Discordant in style that there is no question as to who masterminded it. Whenever something goes according to my plans, nobody ever even knows that it was planned. Thus, I must step forward and take credit where credit is due.
Emotion, personality, and all those strange ephemeral aspects that make any individual truly individual are all give-and-take features. Much like a sound engineer, given the right tools, one can learn to produce any desired result by subtly tweaking the levels: a couple ticks lower there, a couple higher here, and, tah-dah! that pony is now singing to a completely new tune.
So, to take the credit that I so much deserve: it was I who made the Element of Loyalty to become so irate over her loss to seek vengeance. It was I who drove the Element of Generosity to become so obsessive over cheap rocks. I drove the Element of Laughter to mischief.
Now, I must confess, I did not expect the bonds of Friendship to be so strong. I expected these ponies to be crippled by their folly at this point, but they keep regathering and recuperating. Simply put, I underestimated them.
So, I suppose this is the Rubicon. The discarded gloves of subtlety lay on this bank, and, beyond the other, my lost kingdom.
Superbia denouement: Redshift
"Again?" said Mercury.
"Of course." said Rainbow Dash. The pair had flown up to, and now perched side-by-side on, a small cloud overlooking a large, open plain.
The two exchanged glances, nodded, and then leapt simultaneously, diving straight downwards. No more than a hundred feet from the ground, they both snapped their wings open and began racing along, parallel to the ground, at breakneck speed. They were about fifteen feet apart, traveling just shy of the speed of sound.
"Okay... go!" shouted Rainbow Dash, and the pair began maneuvering, Dash moving under and Mercury moving over, their trails making a helical shape in the air behind them. They made several full revolutions like this, and then leveled out and turned around sharply, then began spiraling in the opposite direction, using their colorful contrails to create a complex double-helix figure in the air. They pulled away from the figure, now traveling in opposite directions, and began gently descending and touching down, both about ten feet from the helix.
They regrouped beneath it.
"Nice." they both said at the same time, bumping hooves.
"Anyway, I should go to work on the weather." said Dash. "We should hang out more often." She began walking off towards the fairly-distant treeline.
"Yeah." said Mercury, following her. "What's it take to get into weather, anyway? I haven't really started school yet, and I—"
"Oh, I'm not really the best pony to ask about that." said Dash, cutting her off. "I just kinda bluffed my way through all the classes. My coltfriend at the time was the principal's cousin."
"Coltfriend?" echoed Mercury. She was audibly disappointed.
"Yeah." replied Dash with a smirk, having caught onto Mercury's sapphic train of thought right away. "I'm super-popular with the boys, with my lithe, athletic frame..." She punctuated this with a stretch of her legs and a shake of her hips. She had grown accustomed to her friend's flirtatious nature, and generally brushed it off. But today... she didn't know. It didn't seem like a bad idea anymore.
They had just reached the edge of the woods. Rainbow Dash stopped walking and turned to face Mercury, who was visibly upset, biting her lip and glancing about, and flashed a devilish grin at her. Mercury's sadness gave way to confusion, but before she could voice this, Dash was on top of her, their lips locked together.
"I'm also very flexible." Dash said as she withdrew. Mercury looked up at her, eyes wide and mouth agape, her face turning as red as her mane.
"I...I..." she stammered. "Don't... don't you have work?"
"I can miss work." said Dash as she leaned in again. Mercury threw her arms around Dash's back, and leaned up to meet her.