Chapters The hour was late, although the night was still young. Everything seemed still and quiet, and many of the residents of Ponyville had already tucked themselves in for the night. Nevertheless, not everyone was as elusive of princess Luna's night as most of the ponies in the town.
Somewhere within the town, a large, tree-shaped library still stood enlightened, and within it, a purple, recently appointed princess stood near a desk with a book on it and kept constantly telling herself: "Just one last chapter."
Alas, even the relentless bookworm requires some rest, from time to time. With a rather deep yawn, Twilight decided to really make the current chapter the last one for the day.
As she drove her hoof across the final line of the page, she already began to slowly close the book, but then, all of a sudden, she heard a wicked laugh echoing through her library.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Huh?" Twilight turned around, only to find herself utterly confused by the common, ordinary sight she was so used to seeing.
The laugh repeated itself.
"Who's there?" Twilight turned her head towards the last location she heard the laugh coming from. She turned her head again after hearing the laugh coming from a different corner. "This isn't funny!" she yelled at the air.
"Oh, but it is!" an anonymous voice replied.
"What is?" Twilight asked with her eyebrow raised.
"Everything!" the voice answered her and continued laughing. "After all, I am the element of laughter, am I not? Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
None of this made any sense to Twilight. After spending a few seconds in a baffled state, she shook her head and continued interrogating the seemingly ominous presence.
"What do you want from me?"
"I want to laugh!" the voice cheerfully answered and laughed again.
"Oookay..." Twilight slowly replied and waited for the current laughing session to end. "Then why are you here?"
"To laugh, silly! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Uggh!" Twilight facehoofed herself. "What I mean, Is - why do you have to do that here?" she corrected herself.
"Oh, but my dear Twilight, whom better to share my laughter with than with one of my best friends!" the voice replied and let out another friendly laugh.
"And just who do you think you are to be calling me your friend?" Twilight said in a demanding tone.
"Ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, Twilight! How can one so obsessed with books be so bad at paying attention? Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" the voice replied without changing its friendly tone, infuriating Twilight even more than before. "I'm the element of laughter!"
"Hah! Nice try, buster! That title already belongs to a pony named Pinkie Pie!" Twilight explained in a rather overconfident tone.
"Pinkie Pie?" The voice laughed, this time in a tone more derisive than friendly. "Please, that pony doesn't laugh nearly as much as me! I'm a much more worthy candidate of such a tittle. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" As the voice kept on laughing, Twilight could only roll her eyes. "She was never really the element of laughter...Just like you're not really the element of magic."
"What!?" Twilight's eyes shot open and her ears perked up.
"Did you really think that walking into some old castle and successfully claiming an ancient power entitles you to become the rightful bearers of the elements of harmony?" the voice asked without so much as a shred of friendliness left in its tone. "You and your friends are nothing but a bunch of impostors and liars! I am even tempted to call you usurpers!"
"Usurpers?" Twilight repeated. "How can you say that? The elements chose us themselves! And even after they did so, we did not take the power for granted! We only ever used the elements to help maintain harmony in Equestria!" Twilight defended herself with conviction. "Eternal night would have only been the beginning of our worries had we not used the elements!"
"Ahh, eternal night..." the voice said in a relaxed state, as if fantasizing about the thought. "If only you knew how much I would have loved to see such a sight...Tell me - why did you have to go and deprive Equestria of such a wondrous blessing, hmm?"
"I don't know who you are or how you know so much about me and my friends, but clearly, you know very little of how things work in Equestria."
"Ooh, but that's where you're wrong, my dear Twilight. Hmm hmm hmm..." the owner of the voice laughed through a closed mouth. "I have existed longer than even your precious ruler...I've been around since the moment the elements of harmony chose their first six bearers." the manly voice explained in a relaxed tone.
"What!?" Twilight exclaimed. "But I thought that the elements came from the tree of harmony! And that we were the first six ponies to ever be chosen as vessels to carry them."
"Wrong again, Princess Twilight." The mysterious presence laughed quietly. "But enough about that." He changed the subject. "I believe we were discussing Pinkie Pie and her right to bear the tittle of the element of laughter."
"There's nothing to discuss!" Twilight insisted and stomped her hoof on the ground. "I don't know anyone more worthy of such a tittle than Pinkie Pie! You can laugh day and night, but your laughter will never come even close to being as authentic as hers!" Twilight spoke with much confidence in her eyes.
The voice burst into laughter. "Ooh! This is just rich! You actually believe that, don't you?" He kept laughing hysterically. "Why, that almost sounds like a challenge! A challenge that I most certainly have to accept!"
"You're seriously going to go through with this, aren't you?" Twilight asked snidely.
"I already have!" The voice quickly replied and kept laughing. "Why don't you see for yourself - how easily is your authentic laughter broken into tears!"
All of a sudden, Twilight's door shot wide open, and from it came the laughter of someone she recognized.
"Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked and rubbed her bleary eyes.
"Aha ha ha ha ha! Hey Twilight!" Pinkie Pie greeted her friend and kept laughing. "Whatcha doing? Ha ha ha ha ha..." Her laughing sounded nothing like what it usually did. It sounded fake, and she herself seemed exhausted. She laughed whenever she wasn't talking, as though she was being forced to do so.
"Pinkie Pie! What's wrong?" Twilight asked in a rather concerned voice.
"Oh, nothing. Ha ha ha ha ha...You know...Ha ha ha..." With each passing laugh, she seemed more and more exhausted. "Just thought I'd visit my best friend and have some good laughs together. Ha...ha...haa..." All of a sudden, she collapsed to the ground in a sprawl. "I can't laugh anymore, Twilight!" she cried out, her laugh instantly turning into a sob. "He's just too good."
Twilight immediately rushed over to her friend and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "I don't understand...Who's too good?"
Pinkie Pie slowly lifted up her head and stared at Twilight with a depressed look. "I'm not really the element of laughter, Twilight."
At that instant, Twilight realized that she wasn't the only one hearing voices that evening.
"Ooh, Pinkie Pie," Twilight said in a compassionate tone and helped her friend get up. "Of course you are! And don't you let that voice in your head tell you otherwise."
"Voice in my head?" Pinkie asked with a raised eyebrow. "I haven't heard those since last week!" she explained, making Twilight giggle. "I'm talking about him !" Pinkie Pie said out and pointed behind herself. "Huh?" As both of them looked behind her, they didn't see anyone there. "He was just here!"
"Wait...you could see him!?" Twilight asked incredulously.
"Duh!" Pinkie Pie instantly replied. "How could I be talking to someone that I can't see? That would mean that I'd be talking to myself! Why would I say him if I was talking to myself?" she asked and gasped loudly. "Hey! You don't secretly think I'm actually a stallion, do you?"
"Oh, Pinkie." Twilight laughed. "Being the element of laughter means being able to make others laugh, not just yourself, and there's no one better at it than you," Twilight gladly admitted.
"Heeey! You're right!" Pinkie enthusiastically exclaimed and bounced up in the air. "If I can make all of you laugh, then it means that I've created six times as many laughs as him! And if I can manage to make the entire town laugh, then that's...umm..." She held her hooves up and stared at them as if trying to count. "How many ponies are there in Ponyville?"
Twilight giggled. "A lot."
"A lot more laughs than him!" She bounced up and then pointed over yonder. "Whaddaya think of that, huh?" she told the invisible presence in a cocky tone.
"Pinkie..." Twilight got her attention. "He's gone."
Pinkie Pie leaned closer to Twilight and whispered in her ear, "That's what he wants us to think!" She suddenly bounced off into the night. "I have to make the entire town laugh! Right now!"
"Pinkie, Wait!" Twilight shouted. "It's too late! Everpony is asleep already!"
"It's never to late for laughter!" Pinkie Pie shouted back and kept bouncing forward.
"Celestia, what have I done!?"
"My, my..." The anonymous voice returned to Twilight's head, right as she closed the door. "You handled that better than I expected...I'm impressed."
"Still here?" Twilight asked in a tone that was as annoyed as it was mocking. "I was expecting you to simply sneak off after being proven wrong."
"Proven wrong? Me ?" The voice sounded shocked. "My dear Twilight, haven't you understood yet?"
"Understood what? That you're a deluded lunatic, as well as a sore loser?"
"Tsk tsk tsk..." He seemed disappointed. "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear enough the first time...Please, allow me to clarify !"
Just as the voice finished its sentence, Twilight got startled by a knock on her door.
"Twilight?" a familiar voice addressed her from behind the door. "Umm...do you have a minute?"
"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked, completely dazed by the sudden event.
"Can I come in?" Rainbow Dash asked after slowly opening the door.
"Umm...sure," Twilight replied, still maintaining a state of utter confusion. "What are you doing here at this hour?" she asked after Rainbow Dash got closer to her.
"Oh, you know..." she spoke with little confidence in her tone. "Just doing my job as a loyal friend and making sure you're all right...He he...he..." she laughed sheepishly and started rubbing the back of her head.
"Uh-huh..." Twilight didn't seem convinced.
Rainbow Dash kept rubbing the back of her head and staring at her friend with a sheepish grin for some time, until she finally took an action. "Please don't tell the others about this," she said and threw her hooves around Twilight's back.
Twilight gasped from the sudden hug that left her even more confused than before. "Rainbow...Dash?..." Something was definitely not right, and Twilight even began to suspect who might be behind all of this. Oddly enough, the hug actually felt authentic, in contrast to Pinkie's compelled laughing.
After disengaging from the hug, Rainbow Dash stared at Twilight with a cordial look and a slight shade of red on her cheeks. "You know I'd never leave you hanging when you need me, right?"
"O-Of course!" Twilight replied with the exact same kind of look on her face. "Rainbow...what's this all about?" she asked as she placed her hoof on her friend's shoulder.
The rainbow-maned pegasus immediately broke eye-contact and started staring at the ground. "I know I might not show it every day, usually because I'm too busy trying out some new tricks and just plain being awesome..." she reestablished eye-contact. "But I'm glad you're my friend, Twilight," she said with a warm smile on her face.
Twilight smiled back at her before asking, "He's making you do this, isn't he?"
"What!?" Rainbow Dash shouted as both her eyes and wings shot wide open. "I-I...uhh, don't know what you're talking about!" She started rubbing the back of her neck, her eyes constantly darting from left to right.
"It's okay, Rainbow Dash. He's been bothering me too," Twilight calmly explained.
"Oh..." Rainbow Dash lowered her wings. "You know I still meant what I said, right?"
"Of course, Rainbow," Twilight replied in a sincere tone. "I know I can always count on you when I need help, you don't have to remind me of that."
Hearing those words from her friend seemed to mean a lot to Rainbow Dash. "Thanks, Twi."
The two ponies spent some time just staring at one another with warm smiles on their faces.
"Sooo..." Rainbow Dash broke the silence. "Any idea what's this guy's deal?"
"No idea," Twilight admitted. "But he's beginning to get on my nerves."
"Tell me about it!" her conversation partner agreed. "I mean, he just appeared out of thin air and started following me around as though he was in love with me! Hugging me on every stop and not letting me take more than five steps without him, claiming that he's only being loyal," Rainbow Dash retold her story. "Then, just like that, he stops being friendly and starts accusing me of not being the real element of loyalty!...By the way, what's a usurper?"
"He did the exact same thing with Pinkie Pie!" Twilight added. "Only with laughter instead of loyalty."
"Pinkie Pie!?" Rainbow Dash shouted in disbelief. "How could he possibly accuse her of not being the element of laughter!? This guy's delusional!"
"I said the same thing, but he just wouldn't back down, for some reason."
"Do you think he's gonna go bother the others, as well?" Rainbow Dash asked in a slightly nervous tone. "Twilight?" she said after getting no reply for a good while.
"I don't know," Twilight sadly admitted. "He should have realized that he was wrong, by now, and yet..."
"Maybe he really is just a deluded maniac..."
"That's what I'm afraid of..." Twilight said in a concerned voice. "What if he just doesn't stop, even after he's been proved wrong on all six accounts?"
The two ponies spent some time discussing the recent events and looking at each other with concerned looks. However, the late hour eventually got to them.
Rainbow Dash yawned out loud. "I'm too tired to think straight, Twilight..." she admitted with a small touch of regret in her tone. "Lets hope this thing also needs to sleep at night."
Twilight nodded in approval, mostly because she was also tired, but also partially because she simply didn't want to admit that she had no idea how to put an end to this madness.
"I'll see ya tomorrow, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said through another yawn as she started heading for the door. "You know where to find me if you need me."
Twilight escorted her to the door and saw her out. She waved at her as she saw her take off, after which she walked back inside and closed the door behind her.
"Touching," the anonymous voice whispered to Twilight. "Aren't you going see your loyal companion safely home?"
"Please..." Twilight said dismissively. "As if Rainbow Dash ever needed help finding her way."
"You never know," he slyly added. "For the night is dark and full of terrors..." He laughed quietly.
After hearing such an ominous remark and laughter, Twilight couldn't help but open the door to see if Rainbow Dash was all right. Unsurprisingly, she was already long since out of eyeshot.
"Gotcha."
"Ha, ha, very funny." The annoyed alicorn closed the door and went back inside.
"Anything sinking into that thick, little head of yours?" the voice asked mockingly.
"Funny...I was about to ask you the same thing," Twilight snidely replied.
Twilight heard a loud sigh of despair from the owner of the voice afterwards.
"Mayhap you really are just too tired to think straight," he calmly added. "Lets try again, tomorrow, shall we?" With a sinister laugh, the voice faded away.
Twilight shook her head and slowly walked upstairs with an irritated frown on her face.
"Even Discord makes more sense than him..."
The sun had just risen, and the roosters had just sung their song. Morning in Ponyville shimmered, and Twilight had begun to slowly open her eyes.
"Aagh!" Twilight jumped in shock from the sudden sight. The face of her friend so close to her was about the last thing she expected to see upon waking up. "Applejack?"
"Twilight, I'm afraid I haven't been completely honest with ya," Applejack immediately began speaking in a rather serious tone. "As the element of honesty, it is my duty to tell you everything I know." After taking a deep, long breath, she continued. "Yesterday I bucked less apples than I usually do. I had apple fritters for breakfast this morning. I've always envied pegasi for being able to fly. Granny Smith is much older than she looks..."
"Applejack?" Twilight tried to interrupt.
"I've always wanted Sweet Apple Acres to be called Red Apple Orchards , instead. I never really was too good at math. Monday is my favorite day of the week..."
"Applejack..." Twilight spoke louder than last time.
"Sometimes I wish my cutie mark had been a single apple, rather than three. I still don't very much like the idea of Discord being our friend now. I feel like purple hair would suit me much better..."
"Applejack!"
"I don't know where babies come from. I wish I had a bigger sister. Sometimes I eat so many apples before bed that I can't fall asleep for two hours. I really hate Angel Bunny. I think Celestia is overrated-"
"Aaapplejaaack! " Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs, finally making her friend stop talking.
"Yes, Twilight?" Applejack asked in a casual tone.
Twilight continued only after a series of long panting. "I know *pant* why you're really here."
"Then how come ya ain't lettin' me do it?" she asked in disappointment.
"Because..." Twilight panted and then took a deep, long breath, forcing herself back into a more tranquil state. "That's not what being the element of honesty is really about."
"It isn't?" Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, Applejack," she confirmed her words. "Being honest means never telling a lie in a conversation. It has nothing to do with being compelled to tell everyone about every single detail of your life," Twilight explained in an academic manner.
"Uhm...mind telling that to this weirdo?" Applejack said as she pointed behind herself.
Both ponies stared and saw no one other than themselves and a sleeping baby dragon in the room.
"Shoot!" Applejack exclaimed. "Ah coulda sworn he came in here with me..."
"It's okay, Applejack." Twilight placed her hoof on her frustrated friend's shoulder. "He's gone, now."
"Wait...so you believe me?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Twilight counter-questioned. "You are the element of honesty, after all."
"But I haven't even told you who was it that I thought came in here with me!"
"I'm guessing you're referring to the same guy that wouldn't stop bothering me, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash last night."
Applejack's eyes shot wide open after such a response. "Did he also try to convince all of you that you're not really the element of harmony you represent?" she asked and continued after seeing Twilight nod. "Why, of all the!" She stomped her hoof in frustration. "Who does he think he is, anyways?"
"I have no idea," Twilight instantly admitted. "But I sure would love to find out."
"Maybe one of your book has something about him?"
"Maybe so, but where would I even begin? The only thing I know about him is that he comes and goes as he pleases, and that he can talk to you without even being present in the room."
"Uhh...come again?" Applejack asked, confused by the last part of Twilight's sentence.
"That's how he talks to me, it's like a voice in my head. I haven't even seen what he looks like!" Twilight explained. "Speaking of which..." Twilight jumped out of her bed and started heading downstairs. "Could you describe him for me? Maybe that would give me at least some idea of what to look for."
"Uhm..." Applejack followed her downstairs while trying to figure out how to best describe the creature. "Well, darn. I don't even know what he was! All I can say is that he wore black clothing on every part of his body and that he walked on two legs like he was born to do it...Not to mention - way too tall to be a pony."
"All in black, huh?" Twilight began rubbing her chin.
"Black shoes, black hat over his face, black coat, even black gloves on his...erm...paws."
"Paws?" Twilight repeated.
"Not really paws," Applejack corrected herself while rubbing the back of her neck. "More like claws, but not sharp...If that makes any sense to you," she added sheepishly.
"Well, it's not much to go on, but I'll do what I can to find out more about him."
"Please do, Twilight." Applejack started heading towards the exit. "I don't wanna see Fluttershy going around apologizing to everypony for not being apologetic enough."
Twilight nodded and saw Applejack out.
"And be sure to call us if you find out how to stop him!" Applejack shouted from a distance. "Even without the elements, I reckon the six of us should have no problem making him leave us alone!"
As Twilight closed the door, she already suspected what was about to follow.
"That wasn't very friendly of you..." the seemingly ubiquitous voice whispered to Twilight. "There she was, just being honest with you, and you just went and started yelling at her for that...Do you always treat your friends like this?" he asked with a mocking attitude.
"Talk all you want," Twilight impassively replied. "You're going to have to take a hike, sooner or later."
"What a shame...and we were just getting to know each other better."
His words seemed to leave no impact on Twilight. The purple pony simply started sorting through her books as though she was alone in the room.
The voice yawned. "Wake me up once it gets a bit darker, would you? I've never really had much love for the sun."
With those words, the anonymous presence left Twilight's head, leaving her alone with her books.
Hours had passed since Twilight's last encounter with the peculiar foe, and no less than half a hundred books had piled up behind her, and yet, none of them seemed to contain any information that could help her.
"Uugh!" Twilight let out an annoyed sigh.
As though hearing his name being called, the voice instantly returned after hearing Twilight losing her temper.
"Still searching, hmm? Oh, you poor, poor thing," he said with fake compassion.
Twilight pretended to not care, but her infuriated expression said otherwise.
"Mayhap you should give that Elements of harmony reference guide a more thorough look...You might just stumble across something that had previously slipped your sights." After letting out a quiet laugh, the voice disappeared, again.
Had he mentioned this a few hours earlier, Twilight would have paid no heed to his words, but at this point, she was ready to take the advice of just about anyone. Just as the voice suggested, she left the current shelf and proceeded to find the mentioned book. She didn't want to admit it, but the presence may have actually been right on this. Seeings how he wouldn't stop going on about the elements of harmony, perhaps the book in question really could contain a hint about his true origins...but if that were true, then why in the world would he point her to it?
As she placed the book on her desk and started scrolling through it, she said some of the page tittles out loud.
"The tree of harmony...no...Combining the six elements...no...Similarities...no..." after a few more tittles, she stopped on a page that seemed to catch her interest. "The seventh element?" she said out loud and proceeded to read the contents of the page.
Little is known of the first six bearers of the elements of harmony, 'cept that they were six ponies that were as different from one another as ice is from fire, and that they managed to look past their differences and work together to ensure the safety of their land. Rumor has it, that there were originally seven ponies sent out to find a hidden source of power and bring it back to their village to help them defeat a foe that it was currently threatened by.
As the elements of harmony chose their owners, the seventh pony was left without an element. Refusing to accept the outcome of the journey, the pony insisted that he was more loyal, honest, generous, and kinder than any of his companions, not to mention - that he could spend days laughing without stop.
The other ponies tried to reason with him, saying that there was no shame in not being chosen as one of the six, but the dissatisfied stallion paid no heed to their words. He refused to acknowledge the six ponies as the rightful bearers of the elements, instead, he chose to abandon his tribe and seek out his own hidden power. With his final words before running off, he swore that if the other ponies did not renounce their claim of the six elements, then he would find a way to turn them against them...
Henceforth, the renegade pony was claimed to have secretly inherited the hidden, seventh element on that day - The element of corruption.
"Corruption..." the voice whispered so wickedly that it sent shivers up Twilight's spine. "Such an uncommon way of spelling the word righteousness , wouldn't you agree?"
"There's nothing righteous about betrayal of those that looked to you for help!" Twilight shouted and pointed her hoof in the direction of the voice.
"Betrayal? Me?" He laughed. "I didn't betray anypony on that day...My six brothers and sisters happily skipped back to their village and saved the day, while I was busy freezing out in the cold, on my own," he explained with little emotion in his tone. "Rest assured, I was the only one who was betrayed that day."
"How could you possibly claim to have been betrayed, when it was you yourself who chose to run?"
"As much as I would love to turn your words against you, I'm afraid we're going to have to continue this conversation later," he avoided the question. "You have guests coming."
"Wha-"
Before Twilight could utter another sound, her door got slammed open, revealing another one of her friends standing behind it.
"Twilight!" the distraught pony yelled and started coughing gemstones. "You have to help me!" Rarity cried out and ran closer to her friend, dropping near her and grabbing her foreleg. "They're everywhere, Twilight! I literally have gems coming out of my ears!" The panicking fashionista started crying after a single ruby rolled out of her right ear.
"Isn't that...a good thing?" Twilight nervously added, unable to think of anything else to say.
Rarity suddenly grabbed Twilight's cheeks and directed her towards the trail of gems that she had left behind her while coming here. A pack of ponies had already gathered around and started picking out the prettiest-looking ones.
"I see..." Twilight quietly added.
"And you haven't even seen Carousel Boutique yet!" Rarity shouted in hysteria. "I don't even know if poor Opal made it out of there alive!" Rarity fainted.
Before Twilight could even begin to comfort her, Rarity suddenly jumped back up.
"Oh my goodness...Opal!" she shouted and ran out of the door. "Opal! Darling, are you all right? Opal!" she kept shouting as she ran back the same way she arrived.
Twilight could only stare at the sight with her eyes wide open and her mind completely numb.
"Some element of generosity, eh?" the voice slyly added.
"Yeah, well, I'd like to see you trying to be generous while someone you love is buried under a hoard of shiny rocks." Twilight closed the door and walked back inside.
"Excuses, excuses. Tsk tsk tsk," he mocked her in a playful tone. "Why don't just admit that you were wrong from the very beginning? That way you would save us both some time," he calmly replied and watched the furious pony's reaction in amusement.
Despite the fact that, for a moment, Twilight's face turned tomato-red while her ears started shooting out steam, she managed to calm herself quickly enough. She let her remaining anger out with a loud exhale.
"Who's the sore loser now, hmm?" The voice kept mocking her.
"Still you," Twilight replied without much thinking. "You're not just a sore loser...you're a delusional loser...You've been one since the moment you ditched your tribe."
"Hmm hm hm..." he laughed quietly. "Oh, that was good. I salute you on a marvelous attempt to insult me, Miss Sparkle."
"You know, you're lucky the word nuisance doesn't have an adjective form, otherwise that would be your element," Twilight added with a cocky smile on her face.
"Ooh! Ha ha!" he laughed quite loudly. "That was even better than the last one! You really are something else, Twilight Sparkle, you know that?" He kept laughing as his voice floated from one corner of the room to the other. "I'll give you some time to relax a bit and think of what you've learned so far, before I present you with your next lesson."
As the voice faded away, a single word flew through Twilight's mind.
"Fluttershy..."
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."
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..."
Within her royal palace in Canterlot, princess Celestia was still awake at this late hour. She had just received a letter from her most prized student that had recently finished her studies as her pupil. Nevertheless, she still enjoyed sending her reports, and princess Celestia certainly enjoyed reading them.
Dear Princess Celestia
I recently had a run-in with the most peculiar creature I have ever known. It was a villain that didn't try to physically hurt me, or my friends. To be honest, he seemed more like a teacher than a villain! Not to judge a book by its cover wasn't even close to being the most important lesson he taught me!
In the end, he indirectly reminded me of just how much I value my friends. He also taught me that no living being is impervious to corruption, That being born with corruption inside of you is not a choice we get to make, But whether to let that corruption grow or not is solely up to us.
I cannot even begin to recite all the things I learned from him! He also urged me to learn from everything I do, And that I would surely not succeed in my future endeavors, should I fail to learn the lesson in every experience I go through.
Your faithful ex-student
Twilight Sparkle
PS: I thought you might want to know his name. He calls himself...
"Contrast..." Celestia whispered to herself with her eyes wide open from shock.
"Hello, Celly," a voice came up from behind her, seeping fear into her eyes. "Did you miss me?"
Author's Note
Meet Contrast, the long-lost brother of Discord.
