Queen Harmony went mad with power. She cursed everypony with a rune on their flanks, forcing them to live out their duties as prescribed on the rune. "There will be no more lost ponies now." Everypony would know exactly what they were made to do. If you had the right rune, ponies would hire you on the spot no experience needed! Finally, the world would live in peace and harmony.
Well, that was her goal anyway, but ponies began to dislike their runes, or at least they disliked being forced to do the same thing every day. Some ponies had such powerful symbols that they couldn't stop to eat or sleep.
"So please, your majesty, please come back and stop the Queen. She even got Blue Blood!"
Discord looked at the frightened filly. Normally he wouldn't pay much heed to such an outrageous story, but if this young filly made it all the way through his wonderland...and not to mention Cadence was practically family by now. Still, this news was quite shocking. His wife had never been one to mess around with new spellsthat had been more of his thing.
"How long have I been gone, Cadence?"
The pegasus thought for a moment. "It's been at least 6 months, your majesty, at least since I've seen you."
Discord frowned. The one bad thing about working on a new dimension was that time never really flowed the same. He honestly thought it hadn't been more than a few weeks. "Cadence," Discord started. "How long has she been like this?"
"She gave most ponies new runes about a month ago. I've been trying to find you for a few days, and I only came after I heard ponies complaining for a week."
Sighing, Discord snapped his fingers and summoned a mirror. "Cadenza, have I ever told you about the Elements of Harmony?"
"Are they the Queen's Jewels?"
That got Discord to chuckle. "No, I simply named them after her."
Discord walked into their shared bedroom. Had it really been six months that he had been gone? Oh. There sat his lovely wife, with flowing hair like the dawn. She was drawing at her desk, humming a happy little tune. He calmly approached her. "Hello, sweetie, what have you been up to?"
Harmony turned around, a large smile on her face. "You're back!" She stood up and pecked her husband on his cheek. "Honeybear, I've created something wonderful for our subjects. And I just finished making my own!" She sounded so happy, her harmonic voice just radiating sunshine. Did she really have no idea what it was doing to their subjects?
"Look sweetie!" She floated over her work. On it was a symbol of a sun, moon, and star, all brought together into a single celestial object. "It represents unity and harmony, like me!" That sweet smile melted Discord's heart.
His smile softened, he gave her a kiss on her forehead, and then he placed his paw on her shoulder. She was happier than he had seen her in a long time. Unfortunately, he had a duty to is subjects. Sometimes he wished he could just pick up and leave, or even do whatever his whims desired. Maybe after he sorted this mess out he could get Blueblood to take over for a while, while Harmony and Discord himself could go on a vacation, perhaps to his wonderland.
"Honey," He started, trying to convey how much he didn't want to do his to her. "Ponies are not very happy with these...marks." As Harmony's face fell, he added quickly, "Is there a way we could ch-update the marks? Perhaps decrease the magical output? It's not necessarily the ma--"
Harmony backed away, tears begin to well up and fall down her face. "Is my work not good enough?" She exclaimed, cutting of Discord. "Does no one appreciate all the hard work I put into running a Kingdom?" She magicked a stack of papers in front of her husband. "Look at these! The number one complaint in our kingdom is how hard it is to get a job. Ponies can't find their purpose in life!" Each paper that flashed before Discord had highlighted sections, which did indeed cover what his wife had said. "I gave them an answer, a solution, and what do they do?"
Her normally pink magic began flickering green. Discord could see greenish-pink flames rising around her hooves. Her normally ethereal mane grew static. Her eyes narrowed and turned to slits. The flames crept up her frame, turning her white coat to black.
"They call my husband back from his hard work to keep me from going crazy. Me! The one who listens to all their problems days on end. Well, guess what?!" Fully transformed now, Harmony's coat was all black; her wings were transparent, but tinted green; her mane was greenish-blue, static, and void of the usual sunrise hues or twinkling stars. Her eyes were still emerald, giving Discord a small ray of hopewhich was squashed with her ext words, spoken without the usual harmony and in complete unison.
"I don't care what they think." She grabbed the piece of paper with the unified celestial bodies, levitated it into the air, and blasted it with magic. "I'm sealing the deal." As her now-green magic made contact with the paper, sparks flew around the room, darkening all the lights. Harmony fell to her knees in pain, the magical energy required for the spell was taking its toll.
"Harmony!" Discord cried, dashing to help her up.
"No!" Harmony hissed. "I am the ultimate Unison. You will not stop me!"
Discord backed away, a solemn expression on his face. Harmony sneered, believing she had coerced him into accepting defeat, but her face fell flat as he spoke.
"I'm sorry Harmony, I tried."
"What are you talking about?" She demanded, her voice threatening to break under the magical and physical stress. She full well knew, however, what he was doing.
Discord summed the Elements with a snap of his digits. They floated in his magical grasp, and arranged themselves in a pentagon with the sixth element in the center.
"Nooo!" Ultimate Unison screamed as the Elements were activated. The Rainbow or Light erupted, searing into Unison, and, for a brief moment, Discord saw a glimpse of Harmony as she normally was, with a look of disbelief on her face.
"Harmony..." He choked, reaching for her. Before his paw reached her, there was a bright flash of light, and she was gone.
Each Elementsubsequently fell to the floor, now completely void of their usual glow. Blinking away the oncoming tears, Discord turned his focus to the gems. He reached out with his magic, and found that the Elements were dead, or at the very least, would no longer respond to him. He looked over at the drawing, which had fluttered to the floor. He picked it up and rubbed the parchment between his fingers. It really had been a beautiful piece of art, but not only was it half gone, it was a weapon of destruction and conformity.
Wait.
Half gone?
Discord examined the paper magically to find that he had indeed failed to dissipate the spell. He had only managed to pause it, which in turn meant that he would not be able to remove these marks from his ponies. His only hope was that it had not infected many of his subjects, whether pony, dragon, or griffin.
Author's Note
I'll come up with a cover soon enough.
