Contrast

As Twilight pondered on everything she had experienced over the last twenty four hours, the hours passed like minutes, but no matter how much she thought about it, she simply couldn't figure out what exactly was it that this wicked presence was trying to tell her.

She had no time left to think. As the skies turned dark, a living silhouette appeared before her with a loud, thunder-like sound. Oddly enough, Twilight didn't even flinch. After the dark figure had bowed to Twilight, he simply went closer to her and took a seat opposite of her, making a chair appear under him just before he reached the ground.

Indeed, he looked just like Applejack had described - dressed in black, from legs to head, without a single part of his body being uncloaked.

"What are you?" Twilight asked, unable to compare him to any creature she knew of.

His first response was his signature quiet laugh. "I am what you don't understand," he calmly replied as he threw his hands sideways, leaving his elbows still on the sides of the chair. "I am the veil that covers the night. I am the shadow that walks in the light. I am the unknown assailant that chases you in your dreams. I am the everlasting silence that fills the loudest of screams," he spoke in riddles. "I am the element of corruption...but I suppose you can just call me contrast."

"Contrast..." Twilight repeated his name. "I suppose this is the part where you try to prove that I'm not really the element of magic, isn't it?"

"Oh, my dear Twilight." He shook his head. "Haven't I already proved that?" He snapped his fingers, making a loud, sinister laugh echo through the library. He then snapped the fingers on his other hand, making several objects appear and begin levitating near him...including Fluttershy. "Didn't you ever stop to wonder how I managed to keep you occupied while I was busy pestering your friends?" He leaned closer to her and quietly told her, "I literally have more magic in my fingertips than you do in your entire body."

As he leaned back into his chair, Twilight only sat and stared at him for some time as she let her thoughts course through her head...She couldn't help but wonder just how dangerous her conversation partner really was...More importantly - how hostile was he? Deep inside her mind, Twilight even began to fear that this might just be the last conversation of her life.

"Fine..." she whispered and hung her head. "You win...You're a more worthy candidate of the element of magic than I ever was."

"I win?" he asked with curiosity. "Oh, no, no, no, my darling! I'm afraid it simply doesn't work that way." He stood up from his chair. "I'm afraid your tittle isn't the only thing that you posses without any rightful claim on it, oh no..." He leaned towards her and whispered with a wicked grin that could be seen even through his mask. "I only win after I own everything that you do now...including your friends."

Twilight gulped loudly and asked in a nervous voice, "Where does that leave us?"

"Where it should have left you from the start," he replied without a shred of compassion in his tone. "Alone, under the veil of the eternal night," he said as he walked over to a window and gazed at the night sky.

Twilight shuddered at the thought of an everlasting night. "But...my friends...They all proved themselves, didn't they?" Twilight spoke without much confidence. "Laughter, loyalty, honesty, generosity and kindness...they all posses those qualities. The elements of harmony chose them for a reason!" she insisted.

"Please..." Contrast dismissed her. "Your friends only showed their element after being compelled to do so, and the elements of harmony just latched on to the very first sign of the corresponding element...You know nothing about what it means to be a true element," he said in a rather disgusted tone. "If you are an element that represents something, then you have to be that, and only that, at all times!" he clarified.

Contrast turned around to face Twilight. "If you're the element of laughter, then all you should do is laugh! If you're the element of loyalty, then all you can do is be loyal to the ones closest to you! And if you're magic..." He paused for a moment. After turning back towards the window, he finished his sentence in a much quieter voice, "Well, lets just say you never should have left magic kindergarten."

As much as it saddened Twilight, she couldn't deny the truth in the man's words. She hung her head and began recalling all of the fun times she spent together with her friends, as though preparing herself for the end.

Just then, as all hope seemed lost, Twilight remembered a single moment from her past that could make a change.

"You're wrong!" Twilight said with conviction as she got up from her chair. "I can't deny your magical prowess. For all I know, you might just be the most powerful, magical being in Equestria." Her words drew Contrast's attention towards her. "But that's not the kind of magic that my element represents...No. This is an entirely different form of magic!"

"Oh, really?" Contrast asked, slightly amused by the pony's confidence.

Twilight answered with a firm nod. "It wasn't my magical capabilities that helped me unite the six elements. It was the fire of friendship! It was the spark that I felt inside myself as I realized just how much my friends mean to me!" A single tear slid down Twilight's cheek and hit the ground as she pressed on. "It was a much more powerful form of magic that made the real elements appear...The magic of friendship!" she cried out and looked upon Contrast with a piercing gaze as tears kept flowing from her eyes.

"And that is something that you will never understand! That is something that you will never be able to wield! And as long as you can't master this element, you will never be able to take my friends away from me!"

After finishing her monologue, Twilight lowered her wings and hung her head, but her tears didn't stop flowing. She kept breathing very heavily and refused to look at Contrast again...She knew she had just made a point, and she knew she was right, but she still feared for her friends...Even if the truth was on her side, her adversary was still a force to be reckoned with, so she cried...She cried because her friends meant the world to her, and because someone was threatening to take her world away from her.

Twilight cried for some time, until the moment she heard a slow clap coming from Contrast's side of the room. She then lifted her head back up and gazed at the man with her still tear-soaked eyes.

"Well done, Miss Sparkle," Contrast said in a respectful manner. He walked closer to the pony and kept slowly applauding all the way. "It appears your will is stronger than I had anticipated." He knelt down on one knee before her. "I was hoping to break you, but apparently you are made of tougher mettle than I can bend," he admitted his defeat. He then got back up and walked back to the window. "Enjoy your victory, while you can, Twilight...For I shall one day return, even stronger than I am now."

Twilight wiped her tears away. "So...you're just going to leave me and my friends alone?"

"For now..." he immediately replied.

"But...if you were truly intent on causing us harm, then how come you just didn't use force?" Twilight curiously inquired.

Contrast laughed. "Come now, Twilight. What challenge would there be in that?"

As he waved his hands around, wicked events followed. First, the lights in the library vanished and the room became pitch dark. Twilight tried to use her magic to make a light, but something was preventing her from doing so. After the lights were turned back on, Contrast waved his arm again and the day instantly got brighter as snow started falling from the sky. After that, he returned the night and waved his arm again, making Twilight's tree house library transform into a regal castle.

"Where are we?" Twilight asked incredulously.

"In your future, Twilight," Contrast answered with a warm smile. Afterwards clapping his hands together and returning the scene to its previous state. "I am the element of corruption, Twilight. I draw power from every single creature in the entire multiverse, even the ones currently reading this story...for no one is ever truly pure...apart from Fluttershy, mayhap..." he quietly added. "If I had used my power to conquer every place I visit, then I would only be hurting myself, as I would be slowly eradicating the very corruption that empowers me," he kept explaining without pause.

"Instead, I chose to travel around and break the will of those who can't stay true to themselves...And I must say, the feeling I get after breaking someone's spirit is simply divine!" He gripped his fists in satisfaction as he recalled the feeling.

Twilight was completely astonished by the creature in front of her...She couldn't even figure out whether to fear him, praise him or simply be disgusted by him...Only one thing was certain - she was very glad that he had chosen to restrain himself.

"Take care, princess Twilight. Always remember - everyone is born with corruption inside their hearts, that is not up to us to decide, but what we can decide is whether to let that corruption grow or not." He prepared himself for departure. "Oh, and don't forget to learn from everything you experience! I know I will, and one day I shall return, and if by then you won't have gotten stronger..."

Contrast didn't finish his sentence. He simply smiled at Twilight and dispersed into thin air as a loud, sinister laughter echoed through the streets of Ponyville.

Minutes had passed after his departure, but Twilight was still standing there and staring at his last, known location, still completely dazed by the recent events. After another short moment, she used her magic to pick up a quill and a clean letter.

"Dear princess Celestia." She began writing. "I know it's late, but boy, do I have a lesson I want to report..."