The Elements of Discord

It was three full days before any word came in about the Elements of Discord.  Princess Luna had been scouring the land for a sign, any sign at all, while the bearers of the Elements of Harmony waiting with Princess Celestia in Canterlot castle ready to leave at a moment's notice.  The seven of them had just sit down for breakfast when a letter was delivered to Celestia by a bat (much to Rarity's distress).

She read it over several times before saying in an uncharacteristic sarcasm, "Well that is not obvious or anything."

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but seeing the look on her face, the Princess began to explain before Twilight could get a word out.  "I had always been under the impression that the Elements of Discord acted in secret, slowly corrupting from the inside; at least that is what I have always heard..."  She paused, obviously very agitated, before continuing.  "They are either more powerful or more reckless then I anticipated, for it seems that this particular one has chosen to attack Equestria directly."  She floated the letter over to Twilight who began reading it out-loud.

Tia, a plague has broken out in several towns to the west.  From what I've seen, it can only be the ancient Forsworn Corruption that we had eradicated a few months before...  Well, its definitely that particular plague.  Considering that I spent two straight weeks exterminating every last remnant of it, it would be impossible for it to arise once again on its own.  I can only conclude that the Element of Avarice is at work here.

I'll remain here to provide comfort and aid where I can and to contain the plague as best I can with a quarantine and my magic, but its far more virulent than it was previously.  If help doesn't arrive soon, I doubt even you will be able to keep it from spreading.

Love you sis,

Luna

"But... There hasn't been a plague in Equestria in a thousand years," Twilight muttered.

"Exactly, Twilight, this cannot be a natural occurrence.  After all the horror that the first outbreak of the Corruption caused, Luna worked tirelessly night and day to make sure that nothing like that would happen again.  I think the exhaustion of such a feat was one of the things that pushed her over the edge," the Princess said nervously.  "Please, girls, after all you've done for her I know that she would never return to being Nightmare Moon, but I can't imagine how frustrated and afraid she is right now.  You have to stop this!"

"Oh, Princess, you know you can always count on us," Rarity said softly, "but what exactly does this plague do?  It wouldn't do us much good to rush out there to help only to catch it ourselves."

"Well, I can use the power of the Elements of Harmony to protect you from it.  As long as you wear your jewels you will be unable to be infected by it," The Princess said, lost in thought.  "Not that it would matter much, the Corruption does little more to a pony than a cold would do; you would simply get weak, tired and feel ill.  The problem is that it affects everything it comes into contact with.  Trees die, food rots and entire harvests are wiped out in the blink of an eye.  That is why it was called the Forsaken Corruption, it reduces wherever it appears to a barren wasteland.  After a week or so, there will be nothing left in the infected areas."

"Then we have no time to lose!" Twilight exclaimed, giving her mentor an encouraging smile.  She collected the elements and the group immediately set off.  As much as she wanted to make a plan during the journey, she knew that she just didn't know enough about the situation to make one.  Instead, she just enjoyed the train ride with her friends, knowing very well that it might be the last chance they get to simply act like fillies for a while, though she didn't mention this to any of them.

Once the train reached the chosen station, Twilight made sure each of them was wearing their respective Element and they got off.  To their great surprise, they were met by Princess Luna herself.

"Thank the stars you're here!" she said giving Twilight a hug.

"Pardon me for saying, but you look terrible!" Rarity said tenderly.  Twilight looked the Princess over and agreed.  She looked like she had been up for days and an expression of worry was almost glued on to her face.

"I know...  You'll have to forgive my appearance, Rarity.  Its worse then I imagined it would be, our supplies are being used up or destroyed quicker than we can acquire them."

"Princess, if you don't mind me askin', Ah don't understand how a plague can represent greed.  Even one that affects everything."

"Applejack, how many times as she told us to just call her Luna?" Rarity interjected, "And as for your question, everypony will be so worried about their own survival that they won't bother to help everyone else."  She looked around.  "What?  I hold the Element of Generosity, yes?  This is my area of expertise."  When the obviously confused Applejack opened her mouth to ask again, Rarity decided to explain further.  "It's simple really, if there is not enough food to go around, anypony who has food will be worried they they might not have enough, or that they won't have any food for tomorrow.  Nopony will want to share with any others, because they'll all be too afraid that they'll run out."

"And Avarice will manifest...  Just like the book!"  Pinkie said out loud with the realization.  "Everypony will hoard what they have and refuse to share, they'll all be acting greedy!"

"Exactly," Rarity said with a nod.

"I'm really glad you all see the big picture," Luna said softly, "and you're right.  There's no food, no medicine and most of the water sources have been contaminated by dead plants and animals, so there's little of that now as well."

"Well, I've thought about what we're going to do a little," Twilight said with an air of command.  "I think our best bet is to just stick our best hooves forward, march right into the middle of this and see what we can find.  Luna, do you think you can keep distributing aid while we handle it?  At least that way the suffering won't be as bad," she said sadly.

Luna gave a tired nod.  "Good luck."  As the group walked away toward the quarantined areas, Twilight heard the Princess' last plea, little more than a whisper, "Please hurry..."

There was no living thing in the contaminated village.  No trees, no ponies, no animals; even the grass had died and disappeared.  The smell was overwhelming.  Every corner of the once bustling village square reeked of death and rot, coming from pools of brownish-green muck strewn throughout the town.  It took very little examination for Twilight to identify the substance.  "This... This is the plague itself!"

"How can that be possible?" Fluttershy asked.  "I've seen all kinds of sicknesses, but they've never seen them make a puddle before."

Twilight leaned as close to the nearest pool as the smell would let her, analyzing it with her magic.  "Well, it looks like whatever plants it infects quickly rot into this stuff, that's how it spreads so fast.  Whatever you do, don't touch it!"

"That's just... horrible!" Raindow shouted loudly.  "We have to find that Element now and kick that coward's flank!"

All six of them squeaked as a voice rose from the pool of muck.  "Well if you wanted to see me, why didn't you just say so?"

The sludge rose up as if some creature was climbing out of it, forming the torso and head of a dragon.  While not even a quarter of the size of a real dragon, it still dwarfed the ponies.  It propped itself up on its elbows and looked at them with an obnoxious smirk, like some kind of slime-covered abomination sitting in a hot tub.

"A dragon?  You're a dragon?"  Pinkie said quizzically.

"No, Pinkie, he's just choosing to look like one to intimidate us," Twilight replied angrily.

"Very good," it said with a toothless grin.

""Yes, and now we're going to send you back where you came from!"  Her tiara began to glow as she spoke the words.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that..."  the sludge monster said unconcernedly.  Snickering to itself at their outraged faces it continued to taunt, "Yes, I may have summoned this wonderful plague, but that's all I've really done.  You send me away and you still have to deal with it, and I've made a few improvements as you know.  Plus I've thrown in a few surprises you haven't seen yet."

Twilight groaned and stopped the spell, giving the creature her most venomous glare.  "Fine.  What do you want?"

"You know the answer to that, little pony.  I am avarice, I am desire.  I want everything!"  it said with a dramatic flair.  "But for now, I just want to play a game with you, is all." it cooed arrogantly.

"A game.  You want to play a game."  Twilight was beside herself with fury, but didn't see any other choice.  "Fine, what are the rules of this 'game?'"

The being conjured up six glowing crystals, each hanging on a loop of string.  "You take these lovely necklaces, and bring them to the top of that mountain." it said, pointing at a very short peak nearly six miles away.  "If you make it, not only will I go away forever, but I'll take this nasty little bug," it spoke with a blatantly deriding tone.

"That seems too easy, what's yer angle?"  Applejack growled.

The element gave a sadistic cackle.  "Am I that obvious?  Very well.  Each of these crystals has the power to make your wildest dream come true.  The rules are this: each of you must carry one.  If you make it to the top of the mountain, I go away and you each receive a little prize from me.  Something not as nice as your greatest desire, but nice nonetheless."  It eyed the cowpony deviously.  "However, if one of you smashes it, they get one wish to be granted right then and there, any wish at all, while the rest get their prize.  After that, however, the others will then be punished by their worst fear.  Nothing long lasting or harmful, but enough to amuse me for a short while.  As for me, if one of you smashes your crystals, I'll remove this blight and promise not to cause more trouble, but I stay.  You can even discuss it among yourselves and decide who's wish is most worthy if you like.  Deal?"

"You say this as if we have a choice, you monster," Rarity said, dripping with disgust.  "When the truth it that we have to do this, isn't it?"

"Indeed.  You do this, or I'll unleash this plague on all of Equestria, instead of this pathetic piece of land I've kept it contained to.  Now do have fun, I'll be seeing you."  With its threat delivered, it sunk back into the puddle it had formed in with a splash.

The six of them glanced around at each other nervously.

"Don't even start discussing your wishes, girls.  He's trying to pull us apart.  Let's just get this over with so we can go home, okay?"  Twilight said, doing her best to hide her worry.  Each one placed a crystal around their neck and they began the long walk.

They had barely made it a quarter-mile when Pinkie did what came naturally and began to talk.  "I can't believe that he thinks he can get between us like that!  I mean Discord did it, but he used magic and all!"

"I agree with you there, Pinkie," Rarity laughed.  "Though his offer is certainly tempting."

"Just what they hay is that supposed to mean?  You planning on smashing yours?"

"No, Dash," Rarity said, taken aback.  "I was just saying that Avarice must be smarter than he seems."

"Yeah, well-"

"Girls!"  Twilight shouted to silence them.  "Stop this, we can't be fighting already.  Just, nobody talk until we get there."  She knew that they were all stressed, but the fact that they were already showing it was just plain bad.  She lead on, wanting to finish this stupid game as soon as possible.

She spent the next few hours silently begging that her friends would listen to her and remain quiet, but she could hear whispers coming from behind her every now and then.  She didn't need to hear them to know what they were saying.  After all they've been through, after all the things they'd learned from each other, was it really this easy for them to stop trusting each other?

They had barely started to climb the appointed mountain when Rainbow Dash stopped them all.  "Girls! Where the hay is Fluttershy?"

"Oh!  I'm so sorry, Dash!"  the yellow pegasus said, climbing into view.  "I saw a baby mountain goat and wanted to make sure he wasn't lost.  Its okay though, his mommy was close by."

"Oh.  Well good, I thought... Nevermind, let's move on."

"Dash! I can't believe you!" Rarity scolded.  "Fluttershy is the least likely to betray us!  Why would you think she'd do such a thing?"

"Just what do you mean by that? I'm the Element of Loyalty around here.  Its the rest of you who I should be worried about."

"Sure, Dash, whutever you say."  Applejack said with more than a hint of sarcasm.

"AJ?  Now you're agreeing with her?" Rainbow Dash groaned.

"Well, you are the one who said she'd do anything to join the Wonderbolts."  Applejack snapped back.

"Who are you to talk?"  Pinkie Pie chimed in.  "You're the one who's always worrying about making sure your family has enough money, nevermind that you run the biggest business in Ponyville!"

"Girls, please don't fight..." Twilight whined, though she knew it was in vain.  A clamor of noise echoed across the mountain as her friends began to shout at each other.  It was as bad as when Discord had turned them on each other.  No, it was worse, because this time they were doing it all on their own.  She was on the verge of crying when it all suddenly stopped as the familiar sound of breaking glass rang out.

"Rarity..." Twilight said, unable to hold back her tears, "how could you?"

The white unicorn stood apart from the rest of the group, glaring defiantly at them as a smokey dragon rose out of the broken crystal.

"Well, well... So the game ends," the Element of Avarice cackled.  It turned toward the group who had lost the game, saying, "Your gifts are already back at each of your houses and even the wish of your so-called 'friend' can't change that.  As for my fun, we'll get to that in a bit.  First..."  He turned to Rarity, "My lovely unicorn, I have you to thank for allowing me to remain free.  So, what is your wish?  What is it that you most desire?"

She stood as tall as she could looked directly into the monster's face.  She spoke with words dripping with hatred, "I want you to take your plague and your punishments and go back to whatever filth-lined hole you came from.  I want you to go there and stay there for the rest of time."

A look of bewilderment overcame the villain.  Then a look of startled realization.  And finally, blind fury.  "No...  No! That's not how this is supposed to go!  You... You! I"LL KILL YOU!"

Rarity flinched as it lashed out, but she hardly had to.  The smoke that currently made up its body had begun to whirlpool and fade, being sucked into some unseen hole in the air.  "I won't forget this, I'll be back for you!"  It's last threat echoed across the mountainside as it disappeared, the victim of its own rules.

"Rarity...  You gave up your wish?"  Rainbow said, just louder than a whisper.  "Why?"

"You're my friends, I love you girls.  I couldn't bear to see us being torn apart like that,"  she said, giving a small smile as tears ran down her cheeks.  "When I saw you all fighting, I realized that right then I wanted you to stop more than anything!  So yes, I gave up my wish and my prize and I'd do it again, a thousand times if it keeps us from fighting ever again."

She had barely finished speaking and she found herself in the middle of a suffocating hug from Twilight.  "Thank you, Rarity, thank you so much..." Twilight whispered into her ear.

The six ponies made up on the spot, giving hugs all around.  After Pinkie promising never to fight like that again, they made their way back to the train station to let Luna know of their results.  Upon reaching the station, they found out that no pony quite knew where she was, she had been moving non-stop since the plague disappeared to get the rebuilding done as quickly as possible.  They left a message for her and boarded the train back to Canterlot.  Rather than talking on the train, they got some much-needed sleep and immediately went to Canterlot castle when they got off.  They were met by a grinning Celestia.

"You did it!  I cannot tell you how proud of you I am.  Not only did you stop the full power of an Element of Discord, but you stopped the worst plague Equestria has ever seen right in its tracks!"  She was cut off from further praising her six favorite fillies by one of the Royal Guard.

"Your Highness, you told me to come get you immediately if that book showed any changes.  Well, it has."

"Never a dull moment," the Princess sighed, beckoning for the group to follow her.  When they reached the tower, she took the book and read out-loud.

The greed of one always spreads to the greed of many,

but all will seek to protect their ill-gotten hoard.

To keep their false treasures they will learn vile new skills

and *Deception** will be most valuable.*

"Yee-Ha!  Mah time to shine!"  Applejack said proudly.  She trotted out of the room, calling back, "Let's get ready to move girls!  There's a liar about and Ah intend to show him the truth about what happens when you cross the Elements of Harmony!"