Contrast

As the day grew ever darker, Twilight took one last look at the pages of the book on her desk, just to make sure there wasn't anything else there concerning the seventh element. Realizing that she had no more time left to waste, she started heading for the door to rush to the aid of the last of her friends that still wasn't plagued by the presence of the element of corruption, but as her door opened itself, right before her eyes, she realized that she had already taken too much time to prepare.

"Twiiiilight!" Fluttershy moaned out her name.

She was up in the air, and yet it somehow seemed like she wasn't flying, but more like just levitating. Even though her wings were open and moving, they seemed too stiff to look like they were being used to keep her in the air. Fluttershy was constantly struggling.

"Help me..." she whimpered.

"Fluttershy! What's wrong!?" Twilight nervously asked and ran closer to her. Just as she did, Fluttershy simply levitated past her.

Fluttershy kept struggling as her body seemed to be moving by itself. "He's not letting me do anything by myself! Not even fly!" she cried out as she levitated over to the middle of the room and took a seat in a comfy chair. She tried to get up from it, but it looked as though something pushed her back into it. "No, thank you..." she suddenly said while looking at the air in front of her, after which a cup of tea on a small plate appeared in front of her and placed itself on the desk near her.

"Leave her alone!" Twilight shouted and ran closer to her struggling friend.

"Please, no! It's fine, really!" Fluttershy kept talking to the air as several objects started appearing all around her.

First, a large fan that started waving itself in front of her. Then, a small table that somehow drew Fluttershy's hindlegs towards it. After that, two cubes of sugar appeared over her tea and dropped themselves in as a spoon started stirring it all up. After that, a plate with sandwiches appeared near the plate with the tea cup. For a moment, Fluttershy stopped struggling. Instead, she started constantly turning her head left and right, as if listening to someone talking.

"Don't listen to him!" Twilight shouted to no avail.

All of a sudden, Fluttershy started vigorously crying and jumped out of the chair, dropping down on her stomach near Twilight and grabbing her forelegs.

"I'm so sorry, Twilight! I've been an awful friend!" She desperately begged for forgiveness as tears continued to pour from her eyes. "I've never been kind enough to you! You've always been so good to me, and I've never returned the favor! I've only ever cared for my animals without thinking about my friends! Please forgive me!" She lifted her head up and stared into Twilight's eyes. "I can change! I promise! I'll be much nicer to you from now on! Please, just let me-"

"Fluttershy!" Twilight interrupted her. "Listen to me! You-"

Poof!

At the blink of an eye, Fluttershy simply vanished into thin air.

Twilight stood there for some time with both her eyes and mouth wide agape.

"Flutter...shy?" Twilight slowly whispered in an utterly bemused tone.

The voice soon returned and let its presence be known with a quiet but wicked laugh.

"Oh, come now, Twilight. You didn't actually think I would do such a thing to little ol' Fluttershy, did you?"

"What have you done with her!?" Twilight demanded an answer.

"I haven't done anything to her," he confessed. "Fluttershy has been home this whole time. Sitting warmly and peacefully in her tidy, little cottage and is absolutely oblivious about the events transpiring with the rest of her friends...Such a gentle, kind-hearted creature. Even if she wasn't the element of kindness, she would most certainly be the element of innocence...and I cannot drive myself to punish the innocent."

Twilight was speechless. She never expected such an honorable act from such a despicable creature...Perhaps there really was more to him than just a delusional, element of harmony wannabe.

"So you honestly consider the rest of us to be guilty?" Twilight asked with a touch of sadness in her tone. "Are we really nothing more than just criminals in your eyes?"

The voice let out another quiet laugh of victory before continuing, "One more lesson, Miss Sparkle...One more lesson." After those words, his voice faded away, again, but Twilight knew better than to believe that he had gone far. As her hour neared, she could only hope that all the questions she had would soon be answered.

Twilight went over to a comfy, leather chair and took a seat, placing her forelegs on its edges. She made herself comfortable as she awaited the final confrontation.

"I am ready."