Out of Your Elements

Chapters

Prologue: Prophecy
Gathering of the Storm: Part 1
Gathering of the Storm: Part 2
Battle Plans
Of Betrayal and Lies
First Blood
Massacre on the Frontier
Magik Babble
Discordian Interlude

Prologue: Prophecy

Out of Your Elements
By: Kagemoon

Prologue

Flames. Flames and Screams. There was nothing else. No. Something on the horizon. A group of somethings. What are they? Who are they? Ponies? Yes. Stallions. Two of every race. What’s that around their necks? Elements? No, can’t be. Yes. They’re Elements. But how? They don’t look familiar.

They’re not pretty or shiny like the normal ones. They’re duller, darker. The red is blood not roses. The purple is like a bruise not an amethyst. The green is sickly not like the vibrate forest. The pink looks like and infection not candy. The blue is of a sky before a storm not a cloudless day. The orange like a dying sun not the promise of a new morning.

Why does it feel so wrong? The air is heavy. The stallions. They’re eyes are glowing red, angry red. A few are smiling. Not happy smiles. The smiles of a bully, of a sadist.

Alone. So alone. Where are the others? No friends. No family. No allies. Alone. Useless. Always need a pony to lean on. A parasite.

YES

Stop please

Nothing. So pathetic. So weak. The weakest of them all. The faulty part of the chain. The one that will break.

The flames burn brighter. The fires grow. The dark stallions grow too. What’s that behind them. Their shadows? Why do they look like that? Long snout. Mismatched horns. Claws and a hoof. Body of a serpent. Draconequus.

No. Can’t be. Not again. Please not again.

The shadow is bigger than the stallions. Bigger than the flames. It’s laughing. It’s laughing at the screams. At the destruction. At the chaos.

Its hands. What’s in its hands? Bodies. Wings and horns. One looks down.

Help

CRACK

Limp

“NO!” Twilight Sparkle shrieked as she leapt from her bed.

“Whoa Twilight. What’s wrong?” the frightened voice of Spike the baby dragon asked from the foot of the bed.

Twilight’s breathing was erratic. It took her a few seconds to calm down before she could answer her assistant. “Spike, take a letter. It’s really, really important Princess Celestia knows about the nightmare I just had,” the purple unicorn ordered.

“Are you sure Twilight? I mean, it’s four in the morning?”

“You’re right. Spend the letter to Princess Luna too. Since you just learned who to copy and send things with your fire this will be a great chance to use it.”

The dragon crawled on the bed and put a small clawed hand on his segregate sister’s shoulder. He had seen her panic. He had seen her flip out. But in her eyes all he saw was real fear and desperation. Producing a quill and parchment seemingly out of nowhere he sat down on the bed. “Ready you when you are.”

Twilight recounted the vision she had as Spike kept up with her dictation with practiced ease. Once finished Spike reread what he had written and shivered at the images the words conjured in his own mid. He rolled the parchment into a scroll and sealed it with Twilight's personal sigil. The hard part came next. Normally Spike would have simply chosen his magical flame gland and teleported the letter straight to Princess Celestia as he had been taught since he was a hatchling. In the past few days he had learned how to both copy and send the same letter to multiple targets.

Beads of sweat ran down his scales and he concentrated to both his inner magic and the magical flame he was born with. With a deep breath he spewed a dark green flame over the paper. A wisp of fire split into two parts and flew out the window. They would arrive in at the Canterlot palace in seconds.

Spike looked over at Twilight who was looking out the window as if hoping to see the lettered being returned. “How about I make you some tea Twilight. It’ll calm you down.”

The unicorn sighed and gave a tired smile. “Thanks Spike. I’m really sorry to keep you up this late at night.”

“Well technically its early morning,” he said as he placed a kettle on the stove. “Besides I’m a growing dragon. If I can’t keep up with you and all your weird study times I’m not doing my job as your number one assistant right.”

“A growing dragon needs his sleep Spike. I feel bad about waking you.”

A serious look crossed Spike’s face. “Twilight, if you think it’s important, I think it’s important. If this involves our friends then you were right to ask the princesses for advice. Please, don’t be afraid to ask me to help for anything.”

Twilight stepped away from the window and wrapped the little dragon in her hooves in a deep hug. “My little guy’s grown up without me realizing it. Thanks Spike, you’re the best baby brother a mare could ever ask for.”

Before Spike could respond in with a witty retort about not being a baby his stomach rumbled signaling the incoming of a returned letter. Twilight backed away just as Spike belched out a green flame which quickly formed into a scroll. It tasted like soft baked bread, Celestia’s familiar sending. Not a second later the dragon’s stomach grumbled again and another flame-turned-scroll flew out of his mouth. This sending tasted like dark chocolate, the acquired taste of Luna’s power.

Twilight levitated Celestia’s scroll to her and broke the royal seal:

Dearest Twilight Sparkle

The letter you sent was both startling and horrifying. It was much too vivid to be a mere nightmare. Maybe the Element of Magic is giving us a warning or a prophesy, I’m afraid this may be a new development of its powers as neither myself nor the other Bearers of your element have ever experienced such things as far as I can remember.

As for the images of Discord and elements not your own I will scour the ancient tomes to see if anything turns up. I would ask you to do the same on your end. Mayhap Ponyville library holds a book that has escaped shelving her in Canterlot. Also, be sure to ask your friends if they have had a similar experience. If all elements are synced as such this could mean a very dark future for Equestria.

Your Teacher and Princess
Celestia

Twilight nodded and set the letter aside. “Spike, I’m going to need you to use your split fire again. Send a letter to all my friends and ask if the can meet me here at their earliest convenience. Make sure to tell them it’s real important and maybe ask if they’ve had any vivid nightmares lately.”

The dragon nodded. “Five Element Emergency letters coming up Twi,” he saluted and produced another quill and parchment from thin air. As he wrote the missive, Twilight unrolled the scroll sent by Luna:

To Our Dearest Friend Twilight

Prophetic dreams are rarely from within. They are normally given by an outside source. If what you dreamt was truly a vision of the future then there are only a few possibilities.

One is it was only a night terror. We are most sorry, but even Our power cannot prevent them from happing from time to time to the best and bravest of ponies. They are a remnant of Nightmare Moon’s corruption of the Dreamscape We have been unable to fix. However if you thought this was merely a bad dream We highly doubt you would have sent Us a letter by dragon fire.

One outside source of the dream could be the elements as I’m sure you and Our sister surmised. While We held the elements We experienced no such thing, however that means little as Our own dream abilities could have prevent such a feat.

Another possibly is Discord’s power may still affect you and he has somehow invaded your dreams in an attempt to sap your strength and weaken your bonds. If this is the case We may have a solution. If you will allow, We could be in Ponyville on the morrow to magically scan you for his corruption. We can assure it is painless and a simple spell.

A last possibly is an unknown or hidden force gave you this dream, again Our spell can confirm this as well and the solution is the same with Discord’s corruption or outside tampering.

Please let US know of your decision, if anything We will be sure to guard your dreams from this night forth until your sleep goes undisturbed.

Your friend
Luna

“I sent the letters Twilight,” Spike told her as soon as she finished the letter. His declaration was punctuated by a loud yawn.

“Thank you Spike, I know you’re tired but I have one last letter for you to send to Luna. Please just tell her tomorrow, well I guess later this evening will be fine for her visit and I thank her from the bottom of my heart.”

Spike finished the quick confirmation letter and sent if off in a final breath of magical fire. As his eyes drooped the kettle on the stove whistled. “Tea’s done,” he mumbled and fell forward cute snores periodically escaping in mouth.

“You did great my little dragon,” Twilight whispered as she levitated the kettle off the stove and used her magic to carry the sleeping assistant upstairs to his bed basket. She looked out the bedroom window, seeing Luna’s moon dip below the horizon as Celestia’s sun was ushering away the last bits of the night.

“The sky looks like it’s on fire,” she thought with a shiver.

Gathering of the Storm: Part 1

It was well into the afternoon when all the Elements of Harmony were able to meet in the library. Normally there would have been friendly banter between the orange earth pony Applejack and the rainbow maned pegasus Rainbow Dash. The white unicorn Rarity and her butter colored friend Fluttershy would be softly speaking about the latest fashion trends or how the latter’s animal friends were doing. All the while Pinkie Pie, the cotton candy colored earth pony would be hopping around the room spouting something nonsensical. That would have been a normal day. That day each mare had bags under her eyes as they stared intently at Twilight Sparkle.

“Are you sure you didn’t mess up a spell or something egghead?” Rainbow asked breaking the silence.

Rarity shot her friend a sharp look. “Rainbow Dash, I don’t think this is a time to be accusing Twilight of another magical accident. She would have come out and said something in her letter if that was the case, no? Now tell us Twilight darling, what was that horrid dream I had last night?”

“Did everyone else have a nightmare last night?” Twilight asked first. Each mare nodded an affirmative, with Fluttershy hiding behind her pink mane as she did. Twilight went on to share her dream. The fire, the other elements, Discord, and the princesses dying. When she had finished Applejack cut in.

“Sounds an awful lot like my dream, cept it wasn’t Celestia and Luna Discord hurt, it was ma brother and sister.”

“My sister was in peril as well. Could this mean those we feel are closest to us were replaced in each dream? “Rarity ventured.

“Well, it was Scootaloo in my dream,” Rainbow answered.

“Angel and Luna were in mine,” Fluttershy announced, embarrassed that the Princess of the Night was a shared figure between her and Twilight.

They all looked at Pinkie who was sobbing as her hair slowly straightened from its normal perm. “Everypony I know was there,” she whispered. “Except for you girls. The Cakes, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, even my family back home. They were all crying and asking me to help them,” the pink pony burst into tears, a waterfall flowing from the corners of her eyes. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew to her side to comfort her.

Twilight nodded sagely, her heart going out to the Element of Laughter. “Then it’s pretty much official, this is either a spell, or a prophecy. When Luna gets here tonight we’ll be able to find out which. Until then we can only hope that whatever we’re being warned of is far off.”

Rarity stared intently at the table top. “I hope you’re right darling.”

.....

The Everfree Forest was only the second most dangerous place Nightshade had ever been. The northern Dragon Tooth Mountains were a very close first. Living trees, dangerous animals, and Luna knew what kinds of poisonous plants made the Everfree the opposite of a tourist destination. For the umpteenth time that day the blood red unicorn used his magic to clear a bushel of vines from his path as he followed the animal trail toward his destination.

“Yes let’s just follow the voice in your head, Shade. That’s always a good idea. You know, not only crazy people hear voices. I’m sure you’re still completely sane,” he joked with himself. The last few days had been a whirlwind of absurdity. He had slept little since the strange creature that had invaded his dream promising riches and power.

Into the Everfree my little pony. You skills are needed to build a beautiful world. A world free of prissiness and ego. Of status and structure. Your paradise.

Nightshade chalked the first dream up to too much hard cider. But the same voice spoke the same words a second night, and a third. On the forth night Nightshade relented and made plans to head for the famous forest. Still the voice
never stopped. Always promising things, but it seemed to get giddier the closer he got to the forest.

A day into the Everfree the voice had finally ceased leaving Nightshade to find his way to whatever he was being led to by only a vague feeling he was going the right way. His magical reserves were dangerously low. Despite is knowledge of battle spells the waves of timber wolves and two manitcores had drained him. The sound of running water ahead was as beautiful as any melody. The sound of two ponies arguing up ahead much less so.

“I’m telling you Flim, this bridge is way too old for us to cross.”

“Now listen here Flam, if the bridge has lasted all this time it’ll surly hold us. We simply need to cross one at a time.”

With practiced stealth, Nightshade hunkered into a nearby bush and peeked into the clearing. The voices belonged to two similar looking yellow unicorns wearing what looked like carnival vests and ties. Peering past them he saw the bridge in question. It looked like a century old rope bridge with several rotting planks and a fraying suspension rope. The unicorns continued arguing.

“What if only one of us is able to get across, dear brother of mine?” the mustached one asked the other.

“That’s what this other rope we brought is for. One crosses, we throw the rope over the gap, then the other crosses,” the clean shaven one retorted as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Neither of us have the power to levitate a rope that far, Flim,” Flam reminded the younger of the twins.

“But we have to cross Flam. I need sleep. The voice. It won’t stop.”

“You’re better than them, my little pony,” the now all too familiar voice whispered in Nightshade’s head.

“Shut up,” Night thought back at the voice. Its laugh faded as if walking deeper into a cave.

“Look Flim. Once we cross this bridge we’ll get that power the voice is talking about, then we’ll get pay back those hick farmers and their friends for running us out of town.”

“And making us lose all our bits,” the other growled. “Stupid little filly,” he cursed the off yellow filly with the big red bow.

“Right. The things I plan on doing to that orange little cowgirl are illegal even in Griffhalla, but before we can get back at them we need to cross this ravine.”

Nightshade chose this time to exit his hiding place. “Then I believe we can help each other. I overheard you two talking about a voice in your dreams, then I believe we share a condition and a goal.”

“You’ve heard it too?” the twins asked in unison.

Nightshade’s nod was grim. “Yep. Just like you I’m interested in this power. So I believe this plan will work, one of you cross the bridge, without the spare rope. If the bridge holds I’ll cross with it with the rope, I have enough power to toss it across the canyon. Then the other one crosses. Simple, easy, safe.

The twins huddled together and started whispering, looking over their shoulders at Nightshade every few seconds. Nightshade conjured a simple listening spell.

“…if he wants the power for himself?”

“Look at him Flam, he’s cut up, tired, and more importantly outnumbered.”

“I get what you’re saying Flim, together, even in our state we can’t fail. Besides, this rube might be useful later after all.” They turned around with false smiles gracing their faces. “Very well my friend. We accept your proposal. Flim will cross the bridge first since his levitation magic is lightly stronger than mine.”

Nightshade nodded and watched the moustache twin tentatively stepped on the first plank of the old bridge. His crossing was agonizingly slow, but with only a few stumbles and a single broken board he was able to make it across. Nightshade followed suit, his steps lighter and less shaky than the previous stallion, but he was careful to stress test every board. Even being careful he was able to cross in a third of the time.

“Hey the bridge is a lot sturdier than we thought, go ahead and cross. Just watch out for every third plank,” Nightshade called back to Flam.

“Are you sure? My brother seemed to have some trouble.”

“He just broke a one, the rest will hold.”

Flim looked to his brother who nodded, if a bit slowly with some trepidation on his face. Flim mimicked his brother’s slow movements. Some boards creaked and groaned but every one held until the clean shaven twin was three boards away. With a smile he stepped on the final board just before the cliff’s edge. A loud dry crack split the air and Flim vanished from sight with a mareish shriek.

Flam ran to the edge just in time to see his brother’s body smash against the ground into nothing but a red stain. “FLIM!” he cried.

Nightshade stepped behind the grieving Flam. “Guess I should have warned him about that one,” he said stoically. With a gentle push on Flam’s hindquarters the elder pony tumbled over the brink. Flam’s screams mirrored his brother’s, as did his splat. Nightshade didn’t bother looking to see the display, he simply continued toward his goal, the gravelly voice laughing in his mind.

.....

“What do you mean I cannot pass,” a storm cloud grey earth pony demanded of the royal purple sea serpent in front of him.

“As I said, this river is my territory and no one can cross it without some sort of tribute,” the effeminate serpent announced.

The pony ground his teeth. “Listen lizard, I’m crossing your little creek and there’s nothing you can do about it. Now slither away”

The serpent laughed and leaned down to meet the pony face to face, his orange and purple mismatched mustache tickling the pony’s side. “Or what?” he sneered.

A frightening smirk crossed the pony’s lips. “Or this,” he said as he bit down on the orange side of the lizard’s facial hairs and pulled. His smirk deepened when he heard a satisfying rip and saw blood pour from the plucked hairs. The sea serpent howled and tried to rear up to his full height, but the pony had stepped on the other side of the mustache, pinning the creature closer to the ground.

“Why?” the serpent pleaded.

“Because,” the pony sneered and ripped the purple whiskers free of the serpent’s scales. Blood flowed from the wound, and over the pony who licked it up greedily.

The sea serpent rose out of the water, towering over his abuser. As blood dripped from under his nose he roared angrily and dove straight for the pony, bearing his foot long teeth. The smile never left the equines lips as he dodged the attack. The lizard slammed into the ground, not a second later the earth pony’s hoof slammed into his eye, rupturing it. The lizard tried to scream but found his tongue under heavy pressure. With his remaining eye he saw the pony hugging his tongue with a sadistic smile and glazed over eyes. The last thing the serpent felt was the musculature of his tongue separating from the bottom of his mouth as he passed out from shock.

The pony saw so much more. She saw the tongue come free of its fleshy threads. He watched as the stump sailed over his shoulder as he suplexed it to the ground. He laughed as the beast fell forward unconscious.

“Aw, done already,” he stepped onto his opponents neck and with a maniacal laugh stomped down as hard as he could revealing in the snapping of the spine. “There, now we’re through.”

A laugh not his own filled the space between his ears. “Well done Arthus. You are a credit to your element.”

“Whatever. How much farther do I have to walk?” he asked the voice.

“Oh, not much farther. Better hurry it much more fun when everypony shows up at the same time. So do me a favor a trot a bit.”

Arthus huffed, but for some reason quickened his pace.

.....

Three blue streaks colored the skies toward Everfree Forest. Wonderbolts, Equestria’s premiere stunt teams, athletes, and military unit. Surprise, Silver Lining, and Masquerade patrolled the edges of the chaotic woods before landing just shy of its border.

“Why can’t we just fly to the Castle of the Two Sisters?” the blond maned Surprise asked her superior.

The older officer pointed at the free flowing clouds above the treetops. “No pony knows what happens if we hit one of those clouds. They aren’t made in Cloudsdale and don’t have any signs of what types they are. We could accidentally fly through a stratus packed with lightning.”

“I kinda agree with Surprise, sir. If we’re careful we could avoid a lot of the forest’s dangers and make much better time to the ruins,” Masquerade countered.

“Look rookies. I say it’s safer going through the forest so we’re going through the forest. If three Wonderbolts can’t conquer a few animals, then we don’t deserve these uniforms,” Silver Lining bellowed tapping on his flight goggles, which he had yet to raise like his subordinates. He started down the trail, grumbling about youngsters.

“Wow, he’s really grumpy today,” Masquerade whispered to his friend.

“Yeah. I think he just wants to go through the forest to just show up Rainbow Dash,” Surprise whispered back as they began to follow the officer.

“Wait, the mare who won the Best Young Fliers completion. The one who’s done the Sonic Rainboom like a bazillion times. Why are we going through the forest if he want to show her up?” the mint green stallion gawked.

The white mare shushed him. “Quiet he’ll hear you. Look only three pegasai have broken the Lt’s speed records: Captain Spitfire, Captain Soarin, and Rainbow Dash who isn’t even a Wonderbolt. Since he saw her do the Sonic Rainboom he’s done everything he can to outdo her, and if he couldn’t do that he’s tried to hamper her career. He’s the main reason she hasn’t gotten an invite yet. I bet we’re going through the forest because she has. And it’s just the three of us and not the six elements.”

“That’s a bit shallow.”

“Catch up Rookies,” Silver Lining called from around a bend in the trail.

“Lieutenant, we’re not rookies. Surprise and I have been on the main squad for three years.”

“Yeah, well when I was your age I was ten times faster and more agile than you two slugs. If it were up to me, you’d have been sent back to flight school.”

“If it were up to him he’d be the only Wonderbolt,” Surprise whispered to Masquerade who stifled a laugh. “It’s true. He never has anything good to say about anyone, even the captains. He says Soarin is only on the squad because of his dad and Spitfire is only there because she’s pretty.”

“That she is,” Masquerade said with a sly smirk. Surprise elbowed him in the chest. After selling the injury he nuzzled her neck. “But you’re beautiful.”

“Not on a mission flyboy,” she giggled.

A guttural growl snapped the lovers back to reality. Blocking their path was a pack of timber wolves, lupines made of living wood. “LT,” Masquerade shouted. Wondering where the officer had gone.

“Up, you fools. Fly,” a voice shouted from above them. On instinct the two pegusai bolted into the air just as the creatures pounced, barely missing Masquerade’s hooves and slicing a gash in Surprise’s suit just centimeters from her skin.

From their vantage point in the air the pegasai watched as the timber wolves snapped and growled at their missed prey. “Still wanna stay grounded Lieutenant?” Surprise joked as she examined the cut in her uniform.

Silver Lining cursed under his breath. “We’ll fly just below the tree tops. Triforce formation, maybe if you two are at wings length you’ll pay a-bucking-ttention to what’s in front of you.”

The two younger ponies blushed and followed their leader through the air. They were only minutes into the flight when the clouds above them thickened into a canopy of blackish-grey. Seconds later they were drenched in a torrent of ice cold rain.

Surprise scanned the ground desperately searching for shelter. A hole in the side of a sinkhole caught her eye. “There,” she pointed a hoof.

Silver Lining nodded and led them toward the cave. Their suits had kept their coats dry, but their manes dripped into puddles beneath them as one by one they shook themselves off.

“Now what LT?” Masquerade asked.

“We bunker down and hope this storm passes as quickly as it formed.”

A loud grumble made Surprise shiver. “Great thunder too.”

“Um… Prize, I didn’t see any lightning,” Masquerade pointed out. Another grumble, this time noticeably behind them. The three Wonderbolts peered around the corner of the cave wall. Each stifling a gasp at what they saw. A cavern, large as any of their stadiums they had performed at, filled with only three things. Two Ursa Minors and a single gigantic Ursa major.

“We need to get out of here. Buck the storm,” Surprise hissed as quietly as she was able to manage. She was about to turn back when suddenly Silver Lining tumbled down the rocky slope, bumping into one of the Ursa minors when he reached the bottom. The star furred bear stood, and roared at the intrusion. It swiped at the disoriented Wonderbolt sending him flying into the back wall, blood spewing from his mouth.

“Lieutenant!” Surprise screamed. “We have to save him Mask,” she turned to her lover who was not where she thought he’d be. Instead of standing by her shoulder he was zipping toward the exit, cutting stalactites from the caves ceiling as he flew. The falling spikes planted themselves into the stone floor sealing the exit. With tears in her eyes the white mare turned just time to be enveloped in the purple paw of the Ursa major.

Soaring above the trees Masquerade allowed the rain to wash against his face. He knew he should be crying, but he felt nothing but relief to be out of the cave and in the sky. A whisper behind him spun him around where he saw the spires of the old palace through the rain. Pushing his goggles back over his eyes he sped toward where the voice was directing him.

Gathering of the Storm: Part 2

Wonderlust pulled his cloak over his head, making sure his wings weren’t too hindered by the heavy fabric. A storm was passing through the Everfree drenching everything causing the trees and shrubs to bow to the weight of another power. Though he could have chosen to fly above the storm clouds he hated flying despite being a pegasus, not because he was afraid of heights but because the higher one went the more insignificant things looked. While grounded buildings were large and imposing, they housed families and business, from the sky they were dots, toys, nothing worth even considering.

“Just like life,” the fall-leaf orange pegasus mumbled as the water tumbled down his hood. His life as an artist had started like a flight. The lower his was in popularity the more he loved hit, but as the nobles and rich ponies in Canterlot took a liking to his work the commissions can in and his vision had to change to suit other’s needs.

No I want more green, there’s too much blue.

I’m much more muscular than that, change it.

Could you make her flank bigger, I like em like that.

This gallery is much too sad, you should paint more flowers and pretty things.

His foot landed heavily in a puddle. The voice had promised to cease the critics. He could create anything he wanted, in any medium. Sad, angry, dark, jagged. No one would complain. He smiled as the rain increased in tempo, Wanderlust loved rain because it was the one type of weather that forced Equestria to feel down.

A rustle in some nearby bushes turned his head. A warm red glow illumined a thick shrub just off the mucky trail. He stepped closer and separated the leaves with a wing and gasped at the sighted. Two full grown phoenixes huddled together from the rain. Beautiful, sad. They regarded him his weary eyes, he noticed the way their wings hung at their sides showed they had flown quiet a distance and were most likely exhausted.

“Problems?” he asked slowly, wondering if rumors of the birds being just as sentient as ponies were true. One with longer pink pompoms on its head marked it as a female reached under her wing and pulled out what appeared to be an eggshell fragment. Wonderlust took it in hoof and regarded it closely. “What? Are you looking for a chick?” he asked

The male stepped to a closer branch and started to pantomime their journey. From what Wanderlust could gather from the birds frantic movements some sort of creatures had attacked their nest, while most of their hatchling had survived one had been left behind. The female started bawling when the male started the next part. As the new family had initially escaped they ran into a rainstorm, the newborn chicks had been so frightened by the thunder and lightning they had combusted themselves on instinct, but with the rain and winds their ashes had be despoiled preventing them from ever being reformed. The male, pointed at the egg shell and put its wings together in a prayer-like motion. They hoped their orphaned chick was still safe.

Wanderlust bent down and nuzzled the still crying female. “You left a defenseless hatchling in the same woods you fled from. Do you really think it still lives? Even if it survived the day if it’s anywhere around here then it most likely died the same way the rest of your clutch did?”

The females eyes went wide. She hugged the eggshell too her cheek. Suddenly the glow around her increased. It brightened so much Wanderlust had to shield his eyes with his free wing. In a brilliant white and orange flash the bush they had been hiding in was burnt to cinders even in the stiff downpour. The male hung it head as it watched as the ashes that had been its mate mixed with the mud of Everfree Forest’s floor. He mimicked the female’s glow and with possibly an even brighter display, burst into flames and melted into the muck.

“Beautiful,” Wonderlust thought.

.....

“Come on Garble, a white winged dragon begged. “The hunters are almost here, if they catch us we’ll be taken to the dragon council or worse, turned into leather.

The target of his pleading was a house sized red dragon with a scrunched up nose. He sat on top of a pile of gold and gems about his size as he looked down on the teenaged dragons below him. Garble was the only one who had the foresight to start his own horde at such a young age, while the others ate away their power. He was the only won who benefited from his greed growth.

“Shut up, I’m the alpha here. If you whelps can’t even fight off a few little ponies then maybe I shouldn’t even consider you dragons.”

A fat green dragon with a humongous tail stepped forward. “But they have spears, Garble, and unicorns. You’re the only one who can do anything to stop them from arresting us.”

Garble munched on a ruby, lamenting even the smallest drain in his power. “Pathetic, you’re all pathetic. Fine lets go to the funnel shaped chamber and I’ll fry them all.” He slid down the treasure mountain landing in the group of four other dragons. “Then we’ll raid the village outside these woods. Think about it, an army of dragons torching a town. That’ll show those stupid horse we’re better than them.”

As the voices to the group faded a pair of pink eyes peeked from an ignored chest wedged in the side of the treasure horde. Making sure there were no stragglers a bright yellow colored earth pony jumped out of his hiding place. Gold Saucer admired his latest score. He had heard of the dragon raiders days before and with careful planning had been able to secrete himself among an impossible to resist target for the dragons.

He giggled as wondered if is old friend Daring would have been able to come up with such a plan. He started shifting through the poor lizards spoils of war. Ignoring the simple coins, he started piling the biggest gems, gold statues, expensive fabrics, and strange artifacts in the very chest he had arrived in.

“Do hurry Gold Saucer, All that will weigh you down and you have a schedule to keep. You know what, buck that, I hate schedules. So… ordered. Anyway, if you hurry up I promise you’ll have more treasure than any dragon. The Vaults of Canterlot palace won’t be able to hold your wealth. Then you’ll be respected."

The voice was right. This dragon tiny horde was pitiful compared to what he was being offered. Gold Saucer started to close the lid if the chest when a glint among the glitter caught his eye. He dug around the middle of the treasure pile and uncovered a string on hoof sized gems each different than the one before it. Smiling he pulled, the ten gem string became a twenty gem string. He kept pulling and the rope of precious stones seemed endless. He pulled on the jewelry for a full minute before seeing the end, adorned with an amethyst the size of his head.

A frantic search around the pile located another treasure chest. Gold Saucer fed the gem rope into the new chest and with great effort was able to get it closed. With one chest fastened to his back and the other being dragged by his tail the earth pony headed down the cavern in the opposite direction he had heard the dragons go.

As Garble and his gang fought with the group of spear wielding ponies he was an engine of destruction. His tail sent them flying, his fire had roasted a couple of the annoying unicorns. The remnants were cowering against the cave wall when Garble felt an empty feeling fill his soul. It was as if he had lost all that mattered to him. He grabbed his chest as he started to shrink, from the size of a house, to that of a carriage, to hardly bigger than his pony opponents. His friends, seeing their advantage lost fled from the battlefield leaving the much weaken red dragon alone with the sadistically smiling dragon hunters advancing on him.

.....

Sangre Mavros knew he was nearing the end of his quest. He could see scatterings of millennia old cobble stones sticking out of the dirt along the trail. He swore he could almost see the ruined spire of his aunt’s old palace. As he stopped to appreciate the view the hoof steps that had dogged him since he had left his self-imposed exile from his families white stone in Canterlot.

“Brother,” he called without turning around.

“How dare you disobey me Sangre,” an annoying pompous voice whinnied. “You know you are not allowed to leave the house much less the city. I am the eldest and the head of the family. You will do as I say. Now get back to the city and prepare to be locked in your room for this impertinence.”

The light blue unicorn finally turned to gaze upon his elder brother, Blue Blood, and all his noble glory, along with his regiment of guards. “I told you before. I’m being called here, brother. Somepony finally recognizes my talents.”

“Your abominable power you mean. I am the only thing between you a pedestal in the Canterlot gardens. Now, allow these nice stallions to truss you up and we can get out of the Celestia cursed forest.”

“I thought curses weren’t real,” Sangre countered with a wry smile.

Blue Blood huffed. With a nod to his guards they lit up their horns with magic. “Are you going to obey me or not?”

“He wants to keep you from your reward, student. Show him the power no pony in all of Equestia is worthy of.”

Sangre nodded to the unseen supporter. His own horn lit with a black nebulous aura. With his special power he found the remains of the Nightmare War victims from one-thousand years before. Just as the lead guard prepared to fire a simple knockout spell a skeletal hoof wrapped around his legs. The scene repeated itself with the rest of the contingent as their magic was disrupted as bony animated skeletons erupted from the ground.

A single guard was able to remain calm enough to fire a concussive blast, blowing two of the skeletons to pieces. He turned to help his fellows only to hear a rattling behind where his foes had fallen. The bones of the two undead constructions and fused into one monstrosity as it advanced on the fear stricken guard.

While the soldiers fought, Sangre Mavros advanced on the petrified Blue Blood. “I’m sorry, but need to do this. I will show everpony my abilities are worthy of being called magic, not abominations,” the last word tasted like venom in his mouth. His horn flared up again as he aimed at Blue Blood.

Had the spell landed it would have simple melted the Prince into a puddle of flesh, but if Blue Blood had any skills in magic he could be proud of it was his shield spells were second only to his brother-in-law Shining Armor. The sickly green glob of sorcery splattered against his white dome barrier. The impact of magic on magic snapped Blue Blood out of his fear induced paralysis. He had one more spell that he had trained to nigh perfection. With a bright flash that blinded those left alive in the area he teleported to the safety outside of the Everfree.

“Always the coward. Aunt Celestia would be ashamed,” Sangre sighed and turned to the survey the remnants of the battle. No guards were left breathing, their bodies pierced by the sharp bones of the risen skeletons. “I suppose I should test to see if rigamortis will affect a newly risen corpse,” he mused. “Later, though,” he thought of the voice and continued down the path.

.....

He was power. Nothing could truly contain him if he didn’t want it. Many years before he had allowed it, he had been convinced of it. Recently they had tried to imprison him a second time, without his consent. His body was encased in stone, a majority of his power imprisoned along with is flesh. But he was a force of nature. An essential part of the world. Within the Everfree he was able to solidify a portion of his will due to the chaos caused by the breaking of harmony a millennia ago.

From his vantage point over the old ruins courtyard he watched as five stallions entered from different directions. He watched as one by one they spotted each other and “smiled” as he saw anger in some eyes, fear in others, neutrality in a couple. As they met by the crumbling remains of what had once been a glorious fountain he decided to start the show.

“Welcome my little stallions,” He boomed in his disembodied voice. “I’m so proud of you all for proving you are worthy of the power you are about to receive.” He manifested himself as best as he could which was a few wisps of mist. He flowed around the bodies of each of the stallions.

“Maaquerade the Wonderbolt. Nightshade the traveling con, Wonderlust the artist, Arthus the killer, Gold Saucer the tomb raider, and Sangre Movros the forgotten prince. Each of you has been shaped by your lives to embody one of the fundamental elements of life. The Elements of Harmony are the shining example of ponydom. Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Magic. What all ponies work so hard to be in their everyday lives. You six though, you all know what ponies are really like. You have seen what ponies are when they’re away from prying eyes and abandon those Elements.”

With some effort he found a hidden mechanism under the fountain and activated it causing the ancient machinery to grind and whirl, moving the stone foundation aside, revealing a dusty stair case. The wisps of fog shaped itself into a clawed hand and motioned for the stallions to follow it down. With Sangre in the lead, his horn glowing an unsettling black light they entered the darkness without a word.

Down, down, down. The light from the entrance disappeared as they descended. It was a full hour before the stairs stopped, giving way to a large chamber the bore a since of heavy foreboding. Nightshade and Gold Saucer’s fight or flight responses were being suppressed as both ponies knew when the getting was good, and the heavy atmosphere was flipping all the wrong switches. The stayed though, curiosity and wonder being a shared attribute between the two. The other stallions either didn’t notice the strange aura the chamber gave off or ignored it completely.

The sentient fog stopped. Sangre set the light to the ceiling illumination the entire room. It was bear, sparton, expect to a gigantic stone block sitting in the very center.”

“Tia, Tia, Tia, What is with you stand stone. Probably because it so bucking boring,” the voice tisked. He manipulated the mist, filling it with whatever power he could manage and wrapped it around the block. Cracks started to appear instantly. He strained, feeling the pull of his own stone prison far away, but he would not be stopped by another of Tia’s rocks. The hairline fractures turned into deep breaks. With a final push he separated the giant pieces from each other.

The stone slab crumbled revealing six podiums. On each of was a simple dark colored gems. He was almost too tired to manipulate the mist, but not quite. Again he motioned for the ponies to step forward. With each hoof step the blackened gems started to glow. By the time they were at the four of the columns Sangre’s light had been drowned out by the shining of the jewels. The stones started to rise and float in the air, descending toward their new Bearers.

The voice laughed harder than he had in many millennia.

In Ponyville six mares screamed in fear and pain. In Canterlot two princesses wavered in nausea. In the palace gardens a mismatched statue exploded.

Battle Plans

Once again the Elements of Harmony gathered in Ponyville’s library, each mare anxiously waited with Twilight for Princess Luna to arrive and hopefully solve their vivid vision problem.

“So any idea what the heck it was that freaked us all out egghead?” Rainbow asked with a glimmer of hope in her eye.

Twilight shook her head. “No clue Rainbow, but whatever we all felt it had to be connected to our shared nightmare. I don’t know what it means, but hopefully Luna can tell us.”

As if on cue a white light filled the library, blinding the mares. When they could see again they gasped at the sight of not just the dark-blue form of Princess Luna, but the taller white alicorn Princess Celestia as well.

“Tia?” Twilight asked in a nervous voice. Her friends took little note of Twilight’s familiarity with the country's ruler.

“My apologies for not telling you I was coming Twilight, but this situation is no longer up for speculation. Luna,” she nodded for her younger sister to continue.

The blue alicorn stepped into the middle of the group. “Hear me My little ponies. I'll tell you what We found during Our research into your aliments, We came across a journal written my none other than Discord’s personal student many years ago. His Twilight Sparkle if you will,” she shot a sympathetic look to the unicorn in question before continuing. “In it Straight Jacket wrote about the Elements of Chaos, something my sister promised Us she had disposed of.”

“I told you Luna I tried.” Celestia nearly had tears in her eyes. “They resisted every spell, every attempt at destruction. The one thing I found that might work nearly tore our own elements apart. Both you and I would have died.”

“So what are these Elements of Chaos?” Rarity asked unconsciously putting her hoof into Spike’s claws for comfort.

“They’re everything your elements are not,” Luna answered. “The Elements of Harmony represent the feelings and actions that bring ponies together. With them peace can be spread and shared. When weaponized by your bonds of friendship, the can vanquish creatures of Chaos. Nightmare Moon, as such is…was the Spirit of Jealousy, Discord is the very embodiment of Chaos, and they also would have worked against the changeling Queen as she and her brood are spawns of Gluttony.

The Elements of Chaos, as I said are the opposite of yours. The actions that split bonds and destroys friendships.”

“So we use our Elements and crush theirs. Problem solved,” Rainbow announced with a triumphant smile.

Celestia shook she mane. “I’m afraid that won’t work Rainbow Dash. The two sets are bound to each other. If one breaks the opposite element will as well.”

The groups gasped. “What do ya mean they’re connected? How can evil be connected with good?” Applejack asked

“The Elements aren’t split into good and evil Applejack,” Twilight corrected.

“My student is right. Both powers are fundamental parts of existence Applejack. One cannot exist without the other. I could have saved myself a century of grueling work if I had remembered that,” Celestia mumbled.

Fluttershy raised a hoof as if she was back in flight school. “Um… does that mean the bad… I mean… the other elements have been found by someponies?”

Luna nodded. “Not just found. We believe said someponies were led to their location by Discord himself.”

Another round of gasps by the group. “But he’s all stony right now right?” Pinkie asked with a worried look. “I don’t want to be a meany-crying pants again.”

Celestia and Luna shared nervous glance wondering if piling on more problems would be a good idea at that point in time. “Unfortunately Pinkie, just before we came here Discord’s statue prison was destroyed. I’m afraid he wasn’t in it.”

“This has to be the Worst Possible Thing,” Rarity shouted. For once her friends agreed.

“So what do we do?” ask a dejected Rainbow Dash.

“I sealed the Elements of Chaos in our old castle so our foes must still be there, but going now would be unwise. I sent three Wonderbolts to scout the area, but haven’t received a report from them yet,” said Celestia.

“In my opinion waiting would be our best strategy,” Luna said.

All the ponies, the dragon, and her sister stared at her wide eyed.

“Hear me out,” she pleaded. “The Elements of Harmony only work when the bonds of friendship of the Bearer’s she is strong. In contrast the Elements of Chaos cannot work together because it would mean forming some sort of order. They must fight amongst themselves and hate each other for them to utilize their elements.”

“But that reasoning follows common sense, they might not work like. If the other elements are indeed Chaos’s attributes then there are no rules they need to follow, magical or otherwise,” Twilight interjected.

The two princesses balked. If her student’s theory didn’t have such dire consequences Celestia would have hugged the unicorn for being so perceptive. Luna on the other hoof felt defeated. She had thought her plan would have given them time, but with Twilight's theory making perfect sense meant they needed a new strategy quickly.

Fluttershy raised her hoof again. “Um… do you think they’ll come after us? You know since we’re they’re enemies and everything?”

Celestia nodded. “I believe that may be the case. Or they could go straight for Luna and I. Then again, because they’re being led Discord they could just cause random problems all around Equstria.”

“We can’t come up with a plan if we don’t even know what their main goal is,” Twilight pleaded.

“That’s not really true Twilight,” Spike piped up for the first time that night. “If Discord’s involved then the main goal is always no goal,” The mares stared at the dragon, not comprehending. “All he wants to do is spread Chaos, he’s got six ponies to do his dirty work now, just like you girls do for the Princesses.” He blushed realizing how that sounded. “What I mean is I bet Discord won’t do too much. He’s got to be a bit scared after your last fight, so I he’ll probably hide and let his elements cause enough chaos to make him strong enough to face Luna and Celestia.”

The mare’s gazes never left the little dragon until Rarity wrapped her forelegs around his neck. “My little Spikey-Wikey is so smart. Right Twilight? It makes sense." Her eyes almost pleaded.

The lavender unicorn nodded. “He’s right. Even if Discord’s free, all it’ll take is another blast from the Elemental Rainbow to put him out of commission, at least long enough to deal with his cronies. He could be weak from not having centuries to absorb negative feelings.”

The alicorn Princesses nodded. “I agree with Spike, Discord will wait behind the scenes, at least for a while. We should focus on finding and stopping the new Elements of Chaos,” Celestia said.

“That reminds me,” Pinkie exclaimed “What makes up Chaos,” she asked somewhat ironically.

.....

The now corporeal draconequus flew around the domed chamber, his mismatched wings never flapping once.

“Cruelty, Sorrow, Deceit, Treachery, Greed, and Curses. Each of you are the embodiments of those virtues. Oh sure I hedged my bets and invited a few more ponies to the party, but you six are the ones that made it,” Discord trumpeted as he lightly bopped each stallion on the head.

The ponies weren’t sure whether to look at the jigsaw of a creature above them or at the glowing necklaces they each wore with a representation of their cutie marks.

“Arthus,” Discord smiled as he landed next to the storm cloud colored stallion with the spear and sword crossed cutie mark. “Your disregard of the care and safety of others makes you the best pony to represent cruelty.”

Arthus laughed. “If they it can’t protect itself it’s not worth living,” he said recalling the personal motto beaten into him in life.

Discord nodded and slithered up to the next stallion. “Nightshade, you’ve spent your life tricking creatures out of their bits, their food, and even their lives. Rarely does a truthful phrase leave those lips of yours. Deceit at its finest.”

The red pony, whose cutie mark was a double-headed bit coin flanked by feathery and leathery wings, made no reaction. He was beginning to think, more than ever, that following a voice in his head rarely had good outcomes.

“Gold Saucer,” Discord continued down the line to the yellow stallion with the chained up treasure chest cutie mark. “Never satisfied with what you have. Always going out of your way to get what you want, whether It’s somepony's property or an artifact in a long forgotten crypt. Some may call you greedy, and well they would be right.”

Gold Saucer didn’t even hear the draconequus. Instead he had a jewelry magnifying glass in his eye checking the karat of his element crystal.

“Masqurade, you’ve always lived by the code, get them before they get you. Since your days as in the Stallongrad orphanage, to flight school, to your position on the Wonderbolts you’ve destroyed any completion in your way to get what you want, be they friend or foe, or innocent bystander. Treachery at its worst.”

Masquerade simply nodded. He knew what he was like. There was no point in dwelling on it, even if some ponies thought of it as a negative trait. He held the sickly green gem in his hooves which looked like a copy of his two faced opera mask cutie mark.

Discord flew over to the still cloaked Wonderlust who was furiously sketching the final moments of the phoenix couple head had watched die earlier, trying to recapture their last moments. Signing it with a crudely drawn picture of his twisted tear cutie mark. “Wonderlust, artist extraordinaire, who can make even Tia cry at the sight of one of his works, but ponies are so bloody peppy aren’t they. They don’t want to cry, so they try to change you, try to warp what you feel. But you my dear Sorrow, have the power to change them,” Discord caught a glimpse of the drawing and felt his eyes begin to water. He quickly moved to the last pony in the room.

“And finally we have Prince Sangre Movros. Great, great, great, great… fifty times great grandnephew of Celestia. Locked away by your family for having powers no other pony in this age possesses. You, who have dared, dared I say, to look past all the touchy feely magic the libraries hold and seek out the spells time forgot. Execution magic, necromancy, and even the now mythical curses. Tia’s personal student may be strong, but she’s a cookie cutter mage compared to you.”

Sanger nodded, unsure of whether he liked wearing a crown with a pony skull representation of his cutie mark. He was sure however that Discord would be able to show more of the spells his aunt had either destroyed or buried and that made the curious unicorn very happy.

“Right, right. So you gathered me and all these weaklings here to do what?” Arthus grumbled. He was itching for some sort of action.

Discord laughed at the Element of Cruelty’s gusto. “Well I actually thought more ponies would make it here and I haven’t seen a gladiatorial event in much too long. Hmmm, you might be able to help me with that Arthus, but now that everyone’s here and empowered, well I really didn’t think that far ahead,” he admitted, albeit with a sly smirk.

“Then why don’t we just storm the castle and kick out the Princesses,” Masquerade asked in a slightly annoyed tone. He didn’t really care what they did, just that they did something. He recalled Discord being some sort of god. How could he not have some sort of plan?

Discord tisked at the pegasus. “Maskie, Maskie, Maskie. For someone with practically a given stage name you have no flair for the dramatic. Just storm Canterlot, without introducing yourselves to the world. That’s just so… so bland. I mean sure a battle for the city would be fun at first, but what about after we win. That’s why we need something flashy . something that says ‘Hey Equestria, we’re the Elements of Chaos and we’re here to make your lives less boring, and less safe, and less livable in general, but hey here we are.”

Masquerade frowned as Arthus and Gold Saucer smiled.

“So just teleport us to random locations in the world and let us do what you say we do best,” Nightshade piped in. Discord stared at the stallion questioningly. Nightshade sighed and explained. “If we’re sent out together then not only are we a target for Luna and Celestia’s army, but also their Elements. If you spread us around, they’ll scramble to stop those of who are, as you say flashy, and ignore those of us who are a bit more subtle. Besides, I work better alone.”

Arthus regarded the unicorn. “You sayin’ you’re better than me, magic boy?” he sneered.

Nightshade met the earth pony’s stare. “I’m saying you’re a war hammer and I’m a dagger. Two tools with the same use,” he answered. “And you’re as dumb as a hammer is blunt,” he thought to himself.

Arthus thought about Nightshade's response and found it a passable answer. Discord was clapping his eagle claw and lion paw together giddily.

“Oh that is just devious, Shady, my new nickname for you by the way not shady as in well shady. Yes, yes, yes. I’ll spread you like a rash on Equestria,” the stallions gagged at the image, all except Sangre who seemed to enjoy the metaphor. “Okay, one random teleportation coming up. When you land, do whatever you want, just be sure to have fun doing it.” A gong sounded in the room, instead of a bright flash the stallions simply faded away. All except Sangre who looked at his new master puzzled.

“Don’t worry Sangre, while your brothers are out there giving me some of my strength back you and I will be here, preparing for war.” Discord snapped his eagle talon causing a stack of books to pop into existence. “So how’s your ancient Equestrian? Doesn’t matter let’s start with Curses for Derpies and work our way from there.”

Of Betrayal and Lies

Nightshade groaned. He hated teleportation of any kind. The things transporting ones matter and soul across time and space did to his stomach was not pleasant to describe. He started to stand on wobbly legs when he heard the all too familiar sound of somepony losing their lunch beside him. Slowing turning his head he saw the Wonderbolt, Element of Treachery throwing up all over the ground.

“Are you bucking kidding me? What part of I work better alone didn’t you understand,” Nightshade shouted into the air. For the first time in weeks the voice now known as Discord didn’t answer.

“No so loud. I feel like I tried to out drink Spitfire again,” Masqurade whimpered as his cheeks puffed out, barely catching more of his upcoming lunch in his mouth. He doubled over and vomited again.

“Teleportation sickness,” Nightshade told the pegasus in a scholarly tone. “If you think you have if bad you should see what it does to an earth pony. At least pegasai are used to quick motions.”

Masquerade wiped his mouth with a hoof. “Whatever. Where did Discord send us?”

The two ponies surveyed their surroundings. In the distance they could make out Cloudsdale and in the opposite direction they spotted the spires of Canterlot. Without a word they crested a nearby hill and saw a simple town greeting sign. “Welcome to Ponyville.”

“Oh Come On!” the two stallions shouted together.

“I thought you were supposed to be the backstabber. Discord sent us straight to the Elemental of Harmony. Two of us versus the six of them. Nu uh, not happening. I’m getting while the getting’s good,” Nightshade huffed and turned to put as much distance between him and the small burg. He was stopped by the pegasus chomping down on his black tail.

“Look, I bet he sent us here to scout the enemy,” Masquerade said hopefully through a mouthful of hair.

“Do the words random teleportation not mean anything to you? We lost the lottery fly boy. Unless he was lying, which given what he is, is a distinct possibility.”

Masquerade spat out the unicorn’s tail. “So he sent us here. It’s not like the other Elements know who we are. It’s simple, we go into town, scope things out, and make a plan. If we can take out two or three of the mares all the better for Discord, right?”

Nightshade disliked the way the Wonderbolt thought so nonchalantly about killing. As a con artist, Nightshade had caused deaths to be sure, but never against someone innocent. Always against partners who wanted to go farther than just bits, or marks who hurt others to get into positions of power. In his youth he considered himself a new aged Robin Hoof, but as he grew older and wiser he knew he was more of a Thomas Triplecrown. Still the Wonderbolt was right. Scouting a town was a normal event for him to find the best targets for whatever trick he was planning to pull.

“Fine,” Nightshade said with a nod. “Scope and slink. No actions yet. By the way, you may want to ditch the flight suit. You kinda stand out.”

Masquerade was about to protest about being famous, but realized only Soarin and Spitfire were the only Wonderbolts immediately recognizable out of their uniforms. With practiced ease he stripped off the costume and stuffed it into his saddle bags.

“Let’s go, we’ll grab something to eat first. Outdoor cafés are some of the best places to pony watch from.” Leading the way Nightshade felt somewhat uncomfortable letting the one pony in Equestria mostly likely to stab in him the back stay behind him.

Ponyville was as colorful as many of Equestria’s towns, sans the frontier settlements. Pastels and off spectrum paints marked nearly every building from the town hall to the apartments. No conformity. Nightshade wondered why Discord felt the need to change things. Shade spotted a grouping of outdoor tables and led his new companion to the café.

As he had thousands of times in his life, he acted as if he had been to the restaurant before and ordered a water and rose petal sandwich without looking at the menu. All of Equestria’s cafés had the item in stock, no exceptions. Masquerade on the other hoof spent and agonizingly long time scanning the menu, Nightshade guessed he was looking for something expensive or rare, something from Canterlot.

“Do you have flax seed soup,” the pegasus asked the when the waiter came back with Nightshade’s water. Nightshade nearly face hoofed. The blasted Wonderbolt seemed determined to bring as much attention to them as possible.

“He’ll have a water and asparagus salad,” Shade told the waiter as he snatched the menu from Masquerade with his magic. He ignored the death stare from his partner as he went back to pony watching.

Many different races and colors of ponies crossed the streets. Food venders, most likely farmer from nearby fields hawked their wares. Strangely an orange earth pony selling apples caused his skin to tingle, not in a good way. Their meals arrived and Masquerade attempted to refill his empty stomach as quickly as possible. Nightshade in contrast slowly munched on his sandwich, mentally he put it in his top five he had tasted.

“Are the princesses still at Twilight’s?” a passing butter colored pegasus asked the pink earth pony bouncing beside her as they passed the café.

Nightshade’s and Masquerade’s ears perked up.

“Yep, they’re all working really, really hard to find some magic to find the meany Elements,” the pink pony answered.

Masquerade leaned in close to Nightshade, again Nightshade almost face hoofed as the pegasus’s conspicuous actions. “The princesses are in town? We need to get the buck out of here then.”

“Oh, now you want to leave. Well guess what, no. I’m staying now that I’ve staked a claim. You, you can go. Run back to daddy Discord and tell him what he already knows, Celestia and Luna are looking for us.”

Masquerade scowled. He hated being talked down to more than anything. No pony got away with it for long. Without another word he flapped his wings and flew away from the table. Leaving Nightshade smiling despite having to pay for both their meals.

“Too easy,” Nightshade said as he finished his sandwich and pulled the remainder of Masquerade’s salad toward him. The Wonderbolt wasn’t the first partner he had purposefully chased off. After finishing the meal he paid the bill and set out to see the rest of the town. As he passed through the market street the tingling under his skin increased neared the apple stall, but weakened when he put some distance between himself and the orange cowpony now scratching the back of her neck unconsciously.

The urge to break out his old card table was strong. The ponies of this little town seemed to be blissfully cheerful and would likely be unaware they were being tricked out of their bits until he was long gone. As he trotted through town he began to wonder how many of the thoughts he was having were his. He wondered if he always thought about scamming
ponies at every turn, or if the invisible piece of jewelry was affecting his mind somehow.

“Hold it right there partner,” a thick country drawl called from behind him.

Nightshade turned. In front of him were six mares two of each race glaring daggers at him. Amongst the mares were two much larger alicorns, one white one night blue. Behind the group was a seemingly beat up mint green pegasus in a Wonderbolt uniform with a smirk of crossing his bruised lips.

“Oh come on,” Nighshade cursed under his breath. “Can I help you ladies?” he said plastering on smile.

“Is this the one Masquerade?” Celestia asked the wounded Wonderbolt.

“Yes Princess. He’s the Element of Deceit. Equestria’s biggest liar. I heard everything before Discord found my squad,” Masquerade answered, his smirk disappearing as a fake pained grimace replaced it.

The mare’s glares hardened. Nightshade sighed. “I don’t suppose you would believe me I told you he’s an Element too. Treachery. He killed that squad he’s pretending to pine over.” No gasps. No confused looks among the Elements of Harmony. Just ice cold eyes focused on Nightshade. “Yeah didn’t think so. Let’s see nine versus one. Okay I give up.” He put his fore hooves in there air in surrender.

The mare’s jaws dropped. “Wait, wait wait,” the rainbow maned pegasus shouted. “You give up. No epic battle. No tricks. You just give up.”

“Don’t believe him,” Masuqerade begged the princesses. “He’s trying to trick us.”

Nightshade shook his head. “Nope, no tricks. Go ahead, tie me up. I’m done with all this working for a creepy god and associating myself with sociopaths.”

Twilight looked at her mentor who gave a nod, her eyes never leaving the red unicorn. Twilight levitated Applejack’s ever present lasso and bound Nightshade tightly. Never taking a step closer to him.

“Um, now what?” Pinkie asked.

“We must interrogate the traitor. We will need a darkened room, a chair, and a very bright light,” Luna told the group. Secretly she was excited to play out the role of a hard lined detective from the books she had recently read.

“Hey, I’m the liar, he’s the traitor,” Nightshade said in another desperate attempt to get the group to at least entertain the fact.”

“Yeah right. He’s a Wonderbolt, there’s no way somepony would throw that away to work for Discord,” Rainbow Dash retorted.

“Or, because he’s a traitorous little shite, that’s what made him perfect for an Element of Cha-" He was cut off by a globulus blue-black glow clamping his mouth shut.

“We will hear no more of thine lies,” Luna growled. “Fluttershy, Pinkie, please take Masquerade to the hospital. Applejack, you and Rainbow will come with me to interrogate the stallion. Sister, take Twilight and Rarity back to the library to work on that locator spell.” Luna’s orders sounded absolute. Even after a thousand years on the moon her military mind had not dulled, even her sister obeyed without question, following Twilight and Rarity. “Now then, to the cellar,” she called happily to the two remaining Elements who shared a worried look between them.

…..

“Who are you working for,” the blue alicorn yelled. A sharp smack split the room as her hoof struck Nightshade’s face.

“Ow, ow. You crazy bucking mare. You know who I work for, Discord. For Lu… for your sakes, not even Stalliongrad cops start hitting until I’ve insulted them at least twice,” the red unicorn yelled back.

Luna looked at Rainbow Dash and Applejack confused. “Truly? But Jack Plower does it in the books all the time.”

As the two mares looked lost Nightshade laughed. “Really, I love those books. Jack, saving Equestria from all the terrorists, changelings, and subversive elements, pun intended by the way.”

Luna looked back to him. “I know, wonderful reads aren’t they.”

“Um… weren’t we, you know, asking him about Discord’s plans?” Rainbow asked.

Luna stiffed and blushed. “Oh, right.” Her voice went deep again. “What are Discord’s plans?” she yelled.

“No clue,” Nightshade answered quickly.

“He’s lyin’,” Applejack said as she stepped forward. “Ah can feel it.”

“Really?” Luna looked at the orange earth pony. “That my make sense. You two are opposing Elements, you might be able to sense when the other is obeying their nature.” She shot a glare at Nightshade. “Say something truthful,” she demanded.

“I like pizza,” Nightshade answered with a wry smile.

“Now lie,” Applejack ordered.

“You seem like a learned and cultured mare,” he said his smile growing wider.

Rainbow Dash burst out laughing and even Luna sniffed a giggle. Applejack was not as amused as her friends. “Every time he lies all the hairs on the back of ma neck stand up. Ya can’t trick us now, so answer everything.”

“That was kinda the point of surrendering,” he told her.

“Yer lyin again.”

“Damn, sensitive aren’t we. Fine, I figured it was safer to get captured than try to fight you. Besides at least while I’m here I’m safe from your Wonderbolt buddy.”

Rainbow flew forward, her hoofs slamming the wall on either side of his face. “Are you still going on about Masquerade being one of you? He’s a Wonderbolt, Equestria’s best fliers and Special Forces. He’d never join you.”

Nightshade shot a glare at Applejack. “Yes he is.” He waited for her to react. The Element of Honesty’s eyes went wide.

“Rainbow, he aint’ lyin.”

“What!” the cyan mare screamed. “Come on AJ. He’s got to be, there’s no way…”

Luna put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder to calm her down. “Are you sure Applejack?”

Applejack glared at Nightshade. “Say it again,” she demanded.

“Masquerade is the Element of Treachery. He plans of killing as many of you girls as he can,” the unicorn told her, the serious look never leaving his face.

Applejack continued to glare at him. “We’ve got to warn Pinkie and Fluttershy,” she said finally.

There was a gust of wind and the cellar down was obliterated in an instant letting Celestia’s sun fill the once darkened room. Applejack and Luna stood frozen, never had they seen the Element of Loyalty move so fast. In the distance a loud explosion could be heard, from their view in the cellar they watched as waves of rainbows filled the sky.

First Blood

“How are you feeling Mr. Wonderbolt?” Fluttershy asked the bandaged Masquerade.

Mask for his part was annoyed at the simpering pegasus’s care and even more annoyed at the hyper pink earth pony hopping around the room.

“I can’t believe that mean unicorn was able to beat you up. He must be really tricky. If we wasn’t evil I bet he’d be great at pulling pranks,” Pinkie said as she poked Masquerade’s cast.”

“He’s not the only tricky one,” the green pegasus thought remembering back to just after he had left Nightshade at the café. Instead of leaving for Canterlot he had had an epiphany on how to separate and dispose of some of the Elements. Simply by outing Nightshade as the Element of Deceit he covered his own back for any of the unicorns allegations, but first he needed to make a believable story. Purposefully he had crashed into a nearby tree causing a majority of his injuries. He punctuated the wounds by flying above the same tree and falling through the branches causing the various cuts. Once presentable he flew toward the library and reported to Princess Celestia.

“Hello, Equestria to Masky. Did he hit you in the head to? Are you in a waking coma? Don’t go into the light,” Pinkie shouted.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Masquerade grunted. “She goes first.” He thought darkly. “Just hoping Princess Luna can break that stallion. I wish she had taken him to Canterlot though.”

“She probably wanted to stay close by encase any more of his friends show up,” Fluttershy mused as she looked over Masquerade’s medical chart. She noticed him staring at her and blushed. “At least that’s what I think. I could be wrong.”

“I’m sure that’s it. Excuse me could I get a glass of water?” he asked the yellow pegasus.

“Of course, on moment.”

When she had gone into the bathroom and out of sight he slipped the scalpel he had been able to hide in his cast into his hoof. “Miss. Pie, I think I dropped my flight goggles under the bed. I feel wired without them.”

The pink pony’s smile beamed. “No porblemo. I’ll get them.” With that she jumped across the room sliding almost completely under the bed, much to Masquerade’s chagrin. He simply decide to wait for her to come out and he’d stab her. “Um… I can’t see them.”

“I must have left them with my uniform then. Sorry. Come on out from under there,” he told he readying the blade.

Instead of backing out the way she had gone under, like a normal pony, Pinkie slithered all the way beneath the bed and started to come out the other side. Masquerade pulled the scalpel back and as a millisecond away from striking. Suddenly there was a loud Boom from outside and the sky filled with arcs of multicolored waves.

“Dashie?” Pinkie asked quizzically. As soon as the word left her lips the blue pegasus in question burst through the window and slammed into a shocked Wonderbolt.

“Pinkie, get Fluttershy and get out of- Argg!” Rainbow was cut off by the knife kissing her chest.

Pinkie was shocked to see her best friend wrestling with someone she thought Dash idolized. Her mind blanked at the confusing sight. Fluttershy however moved with speed that would have made Rainbow proud as she grabbed the pink party pony and flew out the window. Setting her catatonic friend on the ground she spoke sternly but softly. “Pinkie, I’m going back for Rainbow. You have to warn Celestia. I know it’s scary and everything feels wrong, but I need to you do this. Please, Pinkie,” the butter colored pegasus cooed as she stroked the pink pony’s mysteriously straightened hair. Without a word Pinky nodded and broke off in a run toward Ponyville’s library. Fluttershy nodded and flew back to help her oldest friend.

Rainbow for her part had done a fair job standing hoof to hoof with the military trained green pegasus, but she had suffered a few cuts despite her mobility.

“You lied to us,” she snarled at the sneering Wonderbolt.

“I betrayed you. There’s a difference. Lying is just a small part of breaking off allegiances Dash. Somepony’s got to have a bond, a connection worth breaking.” He swiped at her chest only to have her dance out of the way and kick his cast to the second time since they started fighting, causing pain to shot through his arm.

“You’ll pay for trying to hurt my friends,” she swore.

“Not before I make you pay for getting in my way.” He swiped at her again, this time feinting at her chest while truly aiming for the tendons in her wing. Dash misread his attack, and watched in horror as the blade closed in on her precious wing. Suddenly the scalpel’s direction changed and it missed her entirely. Dash looked up to see Masquerade encased in the wall and Fluttershy breathing heavily over the Wonderbolt.

“You won’t lay another hoof on her,” Fluttershy warned.

Masquerade groaned. “I will make you wish you had stayed with your annoying friend.”

“Shy, get back. He’s…” Rainbow wavered. The various cuts and blood loss were catching up to her now that she wasn’t in combat.

“Listen to your fillyfriend, just walk away and hide.”

Fluttershy stood her ground, never moving from in front of her friend. A familiar buzz filled her temples and flowed toward her eyes. “Put the knife down,” she demanded.

Masquerade was about to laugh when he looked into the mare’s eye. They were forceful, broking no insubordination, he felt compelled to drop his weapon. He felt his hoof disobey his brain as the scalpel fell to the ground. He wanted to run, to fly out the decimated window, but the pegasus’s stare held him in place.

A bright flash unexpectedly filled the room, momentarily blinding Fluttershy and breaking Masquerade from whatever she had used to hold him. He didn’t wait to see what the flash was, instead he bolted of the window and into the sky, his wings carrying him as far from Ponyville as he could manage.

When the light subsided Luna, Celestia, and Twilight surveyed the chaotic scene in front of them. Fluttershy cradled a bleeding Rainbow Dash in her arms, the bed and walls had deep gashes in them, and part of the wall where a window once was was nothing more than a hole. Twilight rushed over to the fallen Dash.

“Princess, is there anything you can do?” the lilac unicorn begged her teacher. Celestia nodded and lowered her horn and pressed it against Rainbow’s chest, a golden glow spread over the pegasus’s body, closing the wounds and leaning the blood from her coat.

“She’ll still be weak, but she’s out of danger for now,” Celestia told them. She saw Luna gazing out the hole in the wall. “What now, sister?”

Luna felt both a sense of pride and a pang of guilt that her sister was looking to her for advice. “Send a letter to the Wonderbolts, all of them, and warn them of their teammates betrayal. Also sending one to Shining Armor and the other guard captains would be wise. Tell them to make a wanted poster and littler the city with them. Did you finish the locater spell?”

Celestia shook her head. “We’re close. Another day or so. Your prisoner will be a useful test subject. I still can’t believe he betrayed his own friend.”

“Which one betrayed which, sister. Nightshade was given to us by Masquerade and he in turn told us of Masquerade’s true intentions. I think my first theory has more merit than we gave it credit for. The Elements of Chaos do not work together. They work for the same goal, but not in tandem.”

“Can the Element of Deceit be trusted?” Celestia asked.

Luna chuckled. “My apologies Tia, you just asked is a pony who is the embodiment of lies is trustworthy. No, and yes at the same time. We cannot trust him to tell us the truth, or tell us everything, but I don’t think he wishes to work for Discord.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Just a feeling, I think he’ll work with us, or at the very least not against us.”

Celestia’s gaze wondered over to the other Elements who had managed to get Rainbow Dash into the bed. Fluttershy held onto one of the pegasus’s hoofs while Twilight held the other. “An ally is an ally, despite their motives.”

“Perhaps,” Luna nodded. She noticed Celestia's worried look directed at Twilight and her friends. “We should let them rest. I’ll head back to Canterlot after I raise the moon to rally our troops. We must be ready.”

Celestia hugged her sister. “I couldn’t do this without you Luna. I would be so lost right now. Too much is happening at one time, Discord, chaotic elements, losing three of my Wonderbolts. It’s all so, so…”

“Heavy,” Luna ventured. “I’m here for you Celly.” She motioned to the other mares. “So are they. You aren’t alone, you never were. I may be been secluded on the more, but you imprisoned yourself here to far too long. You’ve put up so many walls between you and your subjects. I know this may be a bad time to say this, given the circumstances, but you must start trusting ponies again.”

A tear slid down the white alicorn’s cheek and she hugged her sister tighter. “Thank you Lulu.” She released he grip. “By the way, if you’re here, and you left Applejack with Rarity and Pinkie Pie then who is watching your prisoner?”

Luna’s eyes went wide. “Um… I’ll be right back.” With that she flew out the window/hole back toward Sweet Apple Acres.

.....

“Who knew that the princess could tie such good knots,” Nightshade mused to himself as he failed in his latest attempt to free himself. “Make’s ya wonder where she learned.”

He cursed the magic nullifier Luna had placed on his horn. As he struggled a shadow fileted over the floor. Nightshade looked up and saw a the outline of a pony against the sun. “Whatcha doing down there?” a thick country accent asked, though different from the orange pony from earlier.

“Playing a game with you sister, she won by the way,” he hoped his guess to the newcomer’s relation to his former interrogator was correct.

The filly slowly made her way down the stairs. The sun still made it hard for Nightshade to make of any of her features. “But why are ya’all tied up?”

Nightshade attempted to shrug. “Like I said, I lost the game. She thought a proper punishment would be to keep me here until she got, back. It’s been a while though. I’m getting a bit hungry.” He hoped the filly lacked the common sense her sister seemed to possess.

The little filly laughed. “That silly pony. Here let me help ya.” She walked to the other side of the chair and was able to quickly loosen Nightshade’s bindings.

The unicorn stood and stretched. “Thanks um…”

“Applebloom,” the filly said with a bright smile.

“Applebloom. Please tell your sister it was a fun game but I really should be leaving.”

“Ah, can’t wait to tell ma brother and Granny Smith Applejack left somepony tied up in the basement for a game.”

Nightshade imagined the looks on anyponies face if a filly said that over dinner and laughed at the image. “You do that. Thanks again Applebloom, I’ll see myself out.”

“You are not going anywhere,” a familiar royal voice warned.

“Princess Luna,” Applebloom cheered as the Night Princess entered the basement. “Are you playing the tying up game with my sister and this stallion too?”

“Wha… No. I mean, yes, yes we are. We won last time,” she shot a glare at Nightshade. “And plan to win again.”

“That sounds like fun, can ah play?” the filly asked.

“We’re afraid not. It’s a game only for adults.”

Nightshade doubled over laughing despite Luna’s stare.

“Aw, okay. Maybe the Crusaders can come up with a fun game we can play. Bye Princess, bye weird stallion.” He waved as she ran toward the nearby woods.

“Lying to a filly, how cruel,” Luna said as she levitated the rope.

“It’s what I do.” He shrugged. It worked, kinda. I don’t suppose we could skip the tying up part and go straight to the ‘we’re all friends’ part can we?”

“No.” Luna’s smile caused Nightshade to back up against the wall.

Massacre on the Frontier

Arthus had just finished emptying his stomach as the wind kicked a cloud of dust into his eyes. Uttering a string of curses, he attempted to rub the grit away at the same time trying to keep his lunch down. Never in his entire life of fights, hard drinking, and traveling had something made him as sick as Discord’s teleportation.

“Howdy friend, welcome to Aaaaappleooossa,” A too loud voice yelled in Arthus’s ears. If he wasn’t blinded he would have shattered the offending pony’s jaw.

“Where in Tartarus is Appleoosa?” Arthus growled.

“Southern most town in all of Equestria partner,” the country pony said. Arthus was finally able to clear his vision and looked the annoyance. A blond maned yellow pony in a brown vest and cowboy hat stood there smiling.

“Whatever. Ya got a bar here?” the Element of Cruelty asked. Bars always led to some sort of action or another.

The pony never stopped smiling. “We got a saloon, the Salt Block. It’s got everything from cider to pies.”

“Close enough. Where…” Arthus took his first look of the town. In all there were maybe twenty buildings. On the main street any business was clearly marked with old wooden signs. “Never mind, I’ll find it.”

‘It’ just happened to be ten steps from where he had landed. Using a bit of unnecessary force, he threw the swinging doors open and grinned at the frightened looks the patrons gave him. Arthus gave the room a once over, a smattering of earth ponies mixed in with a hoofful a buffalo. He had never seen a buffalo outside of card dealing in a Los Pegasus casino. Here they wore head dresses of feathers and painted their faces with colored stripes, very native looking.

He stepped up to the bar. “Applejack Daniel’s, leave the bottle,” he ordered the barkeeper.

The pony gave him a worried look, but grabbed a bottle from the lower shelf. Arthus filled the glass and quickly downed the first double shot.

“Why would the boss send me here? No wait, he said where we wound up was was random so I’m just here to cause some trouble. No problems there. I do that on a daily basis. But I’m an Element now, working of the god of Chaos. It can’t be my normal trouble. Gotta think big Arthus. You’re the best at being the worst. Come on, think,” he saw the bar pony looking at him. “Hey buddy, how may ponies live here?”

“Welp, bout forty ponies, and twice as many buffalo out thar on the range.”

“So, about a hundred and twenty give or take. Any pegasai or unicorns out here.”

“Maybe a few visitors, but no sir, only earth ponies are strong nuff ta tame this here desert.”

Arthus laughed at the subtle racism. He loved when ponies didn’t hide what they thought, one of the reasons he stayed as far away from Canterlot as possible. The city of double speak and innuendo. “Hmmm. Hundred and twenty ponies, so to speak, no magic no flying, yeah I think I can do this,” the grey earth pony mused out loud.

“Sir?’ the barkeep asked with a worried gaze.

Arthus chugged the a few mouthfuls of the whiskey then gave the server a wicked smile. “Grats bub, you get to be my first victim as an Element. Good news is I’ll probably remember you, probably.” With that he smashed the blunt end of the bottle three times into the barkeeps face, caving in the pony’s skull. The Element of Cruelty laughed as he heard every chair and stool in the salon scoot back or fall over. “Come and get it,” he whispered and turned to face a room full of scared and angry customers.

He didn’t have to wait long for a very large buffalo to charge toward him. Instead of moving or dodging Arthus caught his attacker by the horns and started to twist his head to the right, when the body attempted to follow Arthus jerked the horns the opposite way, reveling in the snap of the buffalo’s neck.

“We doing this one at a time or are you fillies gonna make this interesting for me,” he yelled as he smashed a bottle on a stool and wielded the neck as a makeshift shank.

.....

Braeburn Apple and Sheriff Silverstar stood outside the Salt Block Saloon with a hastily assembled possy. The screams from inside the building had stopped not long ago, but the sheriff decide against charging inside. The possy was made of some of Appleoosa’s biggest and strongest ponies and bison, no pony was getting away from them. Suddenly one of the salons windows shattered as a hail of alcoholic bottles sailed through the air, some smashing on to nearby buildings, others hitting members of the sheriff’s deputized citizens.

No pony had a chance to wonder what the strange action was all about as just as many flaming cloths followed the bottles, igniting the spilled spirits sending everything that had been soaked in alcohol up in flames. Ponies and buffalo screamed and ran from the quickly spreading inferno. In the blink of an eye half of Mane Street was burning and Appleloosa’s citizens were trying desperately to save their town.

“No point foals. No ponies going to be around to live here in a few minutes,” a gruff voice called from the salon. Braeburn watched as the same dark gray pony he had directed to the saloon earlier strolled through the doors with an apathetic swagger and an eerie red glow surrounding him.

“Round em up boys,” Sheriff Silverstar yelled. A group of stallions charged the arsonist who simply grinned. Braeburn watched as, in what seemed if one motion, Arthus bucked the front two attackers in the throats causing them to choke on their pooling blood. He somersaulted forward and jabbed the remaining assailants in the eyes, sending them writhing in pain to the dusty ground.

Silverstar turned toward Braeburn. “Trains still here son, ya gotta get ta Canterlot and warn the Princess. We’re gonna need ‘er guards. This guy’s inpony, an we might not be able ta stop em.”

“Whatta bout Chief Thunderhooves. Ah bet this varmint can’t stand up ta a full bison stampede,” Braeburn protested.

The two watched as Arthus dispatched another hooffull of buffalo who had gathered up the courage to attack him. So far no one had been able to so much as touch the crazed pony. “Might not have too much faith in us son. Get. We’ll buy ya some time.”

With a weak nod Braeburn ran toward the train station, flanked by two of the remaining stagecoach ponies, whose job it was to pull the locomotive. On the way to the station he passed a large group of charging buffalo led by one in a full headdress.

“We saw the fires, what’s going on?” Chief Thunderhooves asked.

“There’s a crazy pony back there killin’ and burin’ everything in sight,” the pony answered his friend.

A little doe stood up next to the much larger bison. “Father, this sounds like the medicine bucks dream. Pain and fire. We must…”

“We will do what is necessary to save the land little Strongheart. You will go with Braeburn Apple and leave here.”

Tears filled the doe’s eyes. “No father, I will not leave our tribe, our land.”

“You must. If the medicine buck’s visions are true then you will be needed to revitalize it.” He looked around the apple orchard they were standing in and nodded at a prominent tree at its center. Without a word a nearby brave kicked the tree causing an avalanche of apples to rain on to the ground. Chief Thunderhooves scooped up two of the fruits and passed them to his crying daughter.

“The ponies of this town tamed the wilds as easily as we ran through them. Together we brought peace to the two races and in the future you will lead the process to bring them back together. Today though, you must run.” He turned to his anxious tribe. “Braves, before us a single pony with the strength of a full herd is destroying Appleloosa, the ponies need our help. Today we show them the power of the buffalo.”

The tribe stomped and shouted. Leading the charge Chief Thunderhooves looked back at the still crying Strongheart leaning against Braeburn for support. The old chief smiled, then focused ahead on the limits of the town. Braeburn gently pulled Strongheart toward the train station, she resisted at first as the dust of her tribe’s stampede faded, but allowed herself to be led away as their screams echoed in the air.

.....

Two hours. That’s how long it took for Arthus to murder or maim an entire town. He sat on a pile of buffalo corpses, wearing the deceased chief’s headdress in a case of after death mockery. There were still some moans and cries coming from the burned remains of the buildings, he decided he’d shut them up after a quick breather. He watched as the smoke of the train faded in the sunset the sick smile never leaving his face.

He had let the train escape on purpose, somepony needed to hear of his fun little afternoon and survivors were the best messengers. He looked over at the body of the sheriff which was draped over a hitch post. The earth pony was the first to lay a hoof on him the entire day and for that Arthus tortured him, breaking all his legs and forcing the lawman to watch as his town was destroyed. The Element of Cruelty didn’t know whether it was shock or blood loss that finally got the old pony, but it did slightly irk him that he wasn’t the one to end his life.

“Hope that was good enough boss. That’s just a start though. I’m not nearly satisfied with some hicks and savages. Maybe a quick trip to Los Pegasus is in order. Bouncers there used give me a bit of a workout.”

.....

The train from Appleloosa arrived in Ponyville as Luna’s moon reached its apex. Braeburn and Little Strongheart stepped out of the car. The doe was still carrying the two apples from Breaburn’s cousin’s prize tree.

“Applejack’s farm ain’t far from here hun. She’ll get us in touch with the Princess.”

Strongheart nodded but said nothing. She followed Braeburn off the platform and into the town proper. They had barely left the station when they heard their names being called. Whirling around they saw a familiar orange earth pony running toward them.

“What the heck are ya’all doin’ here? Ya didn’t send a letter or nothin’.”

“Jackie, there’s… well somethin’ happened.”

They recounted their stories and watched as her eyes widened. “That’s… terrible cuz. Come on, yer in luck, Princess Celestia is staying at the library, we’ll get ya somethin’ ta eat and ya’all are can stay at the farm fer as long as ya want.”

“Applejack,” Little Strongheart spoke for the first time since leaving Appleloosa. “You seem to know something about these events.”

Applejack nodded. “Maybe, if that feller’s who I think it is ya’all are lucky to be alive. Let’s go talk ta Celestia. She’ll be able ta tell ya the yarn a bit better than me.”

They entered the library tree to see the alicorn princess, her student, and the fasionista lying in various positions around the common room.

“What if we use the prisoner’s magical matrix as the spells secondary base?” Rarity ventured from as she stretched over the couches backrest.

“Then it’ll find him just fine, but it’ll be useless for the other Elements,” Celestia told her, the princesses uncrowned head rested in the library’s beanbag chair.

“We could copy our Elements then reverse the aura with polarity change spell,” Twilight mused.

Celestia though for a moment then shook her head. “Too much of a chance of that affecting your Elements of Harmony. Then we’d have two sets of Chaos Elements on our hooves. What if we—“

Applejack cleared her throat to get the magic users attention. “Sorry ta interrupt but we’ve got a problem.”

“Braeburn, Little Strongheart, what are you doing here,” Twilight shouted in surprise.

“Ah think they had a run in with one of the other Elements,” AJ explained.

Celestia stepped forward, her horn glowing. She waved it a few times in front of the frontier pony and the bison doe. “She’s right. There’s a trace of chaotic energy surrounding them. It’s much too strong to be normal bad run of luck. It feels like Discord, but twisted and weaker at the same time.” She let her magical aura scoop at theirs, taking a small sample of the chaos she found with it. She moved the blackened sample to a small magic vial. “Now we have another sample.”

“So what’s it all mean Princess?” Applejack asked.

“It means our prisoner wasn’t lying, strangely enough. Discord randomly teleported his Elements around Equestria as a means to spread his chaotic influence.”

“You know, if you second guess everything I tell you then we’ll just end up having the same conversation over and over again when I end up being right,” a new voice said from the basement. Nightshade crested the staircase rubbing his wrists.

“How did you get out?” Twilight demanded to know as Spike jumped in front of Rarity in a protective manner.

“You left me alone for a few hours with so much as a check-up and of course I’ll find a way out.” He turned toward Braeburn and Strongheart. “So they ran into Arthus huh? I met the stallion for less than a minute and I knew he was nuts. Sorry to hear about your town.”

“He ain’t lyin’” Applejack announced.

“Is this going to be our thing? I say something, you announce whether or not I’m telling the truth. You just wanna ruin all my fun cowgirl.”

“Hey now, that’s ma cousin,” Braeburn growled. “Who’s he anyway?”

“He’s like the guy that ya’all met. A bad Element,” Applejack told them. Braeburn and Little Strongheart scowled. The two displaced Appleoosans started to advance on the red unicorn.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Your cousin and I seem to have a different idea of what bad is. I don’t work with Discord or Arthus, not really, I mean I guess I can’t just quit lying, it’s my nature after all but I was kinda drafted into the Chaos Army, if you know what I mean. I’m a good pony, okay not a good pony, but not evil, not really.” His arguments didn’t stop the angery doe or frontier pony.

“CEASE THESE ACTIONS NOW,” Celestia demanded in a quieter version of her sister’s royal Canterlot voice. All the beings in the room froze in place. “Braeburn and Little Strongheart, I will make sure Luna sends a contingent of guards and medics to Appleloosa, until you two are ready to return I’m sure Applejack will allow you to stay on her farm.” Applejack nodded. “Nightshade, you say you no longer wish to work for Discord, then help us now. How’s your magic theory knowledge?’

“Less and a Doctorate more than a Bachelors.” He looked at Applejack expectantly, who frowned and nodded to Celestia. “I’ll do what I can on one condition.”

“Condition,” Rarity screamed. “The world’s in danger of ending and you’re asking for something in return for saving it?”

Nightshade shot her his most winning smile. “Yep.”

“What do you want?” Celestia asked before anyone else in the room could start and argument.

“Full pardon for any of my past crimes, no matter what they are and amnesty for being an Element of Chaos.”

“Deal, but only if you don’t betray us, and do you best to stop lying.”

The rest of the room stood slack jawed. They had just watched their ruler make a Faustian deal without blinking an eye. Nightshade rubbed his hooves together. “Excellent. So what are we doing are how are we doing it?”

Magik Babble

“Did I mention I hate magic theory? I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m okay at it, better than the seamstress at least, but I’ve always been a more try and see if it works rather than talk about it kinda stallion,” Nightshade told the group. Celestia had stepped outside to raise the sun leaving the unicorns to bounce futile ideas off of each other.

“Well excuse me for attempting to help us find a way to relocate your friends,” Rarity growled at the red lounging unicorn.

“Please stop arguing you two. Nightshade, we can’t just try every hypothesis we come up with. It would just waste time and resources. We’re using this brainstorming session to whittle down to the best ideas.”

Nightshade shrugged. “I know, I know. I’m just tired of it all. In the past twenty four hours I’ve joined a god’s army, left said army, been tied up twice, and spent the entire evening arguing hypothetical magic theory with a princess, her student, and a dress maker. This easily takes my strangest day award and that’s a very selective list.”

“As much as I hate to agree with an evil Element.” Rarity shot a smirk at the Element of Deceit seeing her barb had struck a chord. “We have been at this all night. The closest we got is the possibility of a close range detection spell. Not really that useful.”

“Except that if we had that earlier Rainbow wouldn’t be in the hospital,” Twilight countered.

“Or you could have listened to me when I first told you what Masquerade was,” Nightshade called from the kitchen. Before the two mares could argue with him he entered the common room with a trail of cups, condiments and a large pot of coffee trailing behind him in a maroon aura. “Didn’t know what you like in it so I brought everything with me,” he said placing everything on the table in the center of the room.

Twilight thanked him while Rarity mumbled her gratitude under her breath, loath to give the Element of Deceit even a hint of appreciation. Princess Celestia trotted down the stairs, having used Twilights balcony as her dais to raise the sun. She smiled at the sight of the coffee.

“Thank the Sun, I needed this,” she sighed in pleasure after downing a full cup. “Any new ideas come up?”

Twilight shook her head. “We almost had something along the lines of using a combination of Nightshade’s aura and the stuff you plucked off Braeburn and Little Strongheart but figured since they’re different types of power sources would make the spell unstable.”

Rarity took another sip off coffee. “Then we thought about simply using the chaos sample as a catalyst for a scrying spell, but the sample might just seek out anything with a chaotic nature, much too vague.”

“They of course didn’t entertain any of my ideas though. The one where you muster up an army and just attack Discord while he doesn’t have the other Elements with him,” Nightshade told her.

“Wait you were serious about that?” Twilight asked with a worried look.

“Maybe we should bring Applejack back. It’s impossible to tell whether you’re kidding or just being foolish,” Rarity joked.

Before Nightshade could make his own venomous comeback, he was interrupted by Twilight “eeping”. Everyone in the room stared at the lilac unicorn as see started speaking a mile a minute.

“Raritythatsthebestideayou’vehadallnightallweneedtodoisgatherthe—“

“Twilight, dear,”Celestia laid a hoof of her student’s shoulder ceasing the unicorn’s rambling. “Slowly, so we can all understand.”

“Okay. Okay. The reason Applejack can sense Nightshade’s lies are because they’re opposing Elements. There must be a magical resonance when one commits an action against the other’s elemental virtue. That’s the feeling she get when he fibs. If we can measure and detect the resonance, then gather all the girls together we can copy their base status and use a retuning spell in conjunction a scrying spell. With that we should be able to find all the other Elements of Chaos. I bet with some tweaking we can even use the spell to track them in real time.”

Nightshade leaned over to Rarity. “She lost me at virtue, did you get any of that,” he whispered.

“Not much I’m afraid. I only made it to magic resonance. Theory I’m fine with, magik babble not so much.”

“Twilight that’s brilliant. The only real difficult part will be measuring the static between the two test subjects. I think I saw a spell somewhere in our research that could be just what we need. Everything after that should be a piece of cake.” Celestia hugged her student, who in turn wrapped her own forelegs around her mentor’s neck.

“That’s some congratulatory hug. Can I get one?” Nightshade joke to Rarity. The white unicorn was too stunned at the blatant public display of affection between her ruler and best friend to answer. Nightshade decided against forcing the issue.

“We need somepony to go get Applejack while Tia and I work out the details of the spell’s different phases.”

Nightshade started for the door. “I know the way, besides I’m sure the cowgirl will be thrilled to see me.” Just as he reached the exit a solid purple wall materialized, block his path.

“What part of prisoner don’t you understand?” Twilight said with an annoyed expression. “Rarity can go get AJ, you can make another pot of coffee. We’re going to need it.”

“How in Luna’s Moon do I go from being a feared enemy of Equestria to a butler in less than a day?” the red unicorn grumbled as he sulked into the kitchen. “How do you know I’m not crushing up some glass to put in your drinks or something,” he called back into the common room. It was a joke. Sort of.

“You’re a liar, not a traitor or cruel, as you told us over and over and over last evening,” Celestia called back with a hint of mirth.

“The things I do for a get out of jail free card. Oh well, free food, free drinks, free eye candy, I normally have to work a long scam to get two of the three,” he told himself as he magically heated the water.

“Night, are all the other Elements of Chaos about your age and weight?” Twilight asked from the main library.

“Aroundabouts. I think I’m a bit older than four of them at least. Weight-wise is hard to guess. Arthus is bucking…”

“Language,” Celestia warned.

“Arthus is huge compared to the rest of us… them I mean. But there’s two pegasai so average out that and an extra-large earth pony with the normal weight of others. Why all the questions?”

Twilight stepped into the kitchen, tired of shouting. “The srying spell needs some basic measurements to quicken the magical scouting. So the more we know the faster it can hone in on them, add in the resonance you and Applejack will provide us, the spell should be almost instantaneous.”

“Gotcha, know what they look like spell works better. You could have just said that.”

The purple tilted her head quizzically. “I just did, didn’t I?”

Nightshade sighed. “Sure why not.” He was just about to float the pot of coffee into the living room when a purple clawed hand snatched it from his magic field. Nightshade looked down at the claw’s owner, Twilight’s assistant dragon Spike, who had fallen asleep early in the evening despite trying valiantly to stay up, for Rarity’s safety he said.

“Where’s Rarity?” Spiked asked still groggy.

Nightshade was about to make a joke, but Twilight answered. “She went to get AJ, she should be back soon.”

“Oh,” the dragon finally noticed Nightshade standing next to him. “Still not tied up? Aren’t you lucky.”

“Hey, you aren't mounted on some pony’s wall? Aren’t you lucky,” Nightshade shot back.

“Would you two please stop arguing and bring me my coffee,” an aggravated Celestia called from common room.

Spike and Nightshade shared a worried look. “Truce until her majesty is pacified with caffeine?” the pony asked the dragon.

A scared Spike simply nodded and rushed the coffee pot out to his princess. The small group drank in peace until Rarity entered with a grumbling Applejack.

“She’s a bit put off by some of the awkward questions Apple Bloom has been asking her. Apparently she blames our guest on them,” the white unicorn told them.

Nightshade for his part simply smiled innocently.

“We can reprimand him later Applejack, for now I need you two to stand next to each other and see if you can’t get feel a resonance like before,” Princess Celestia said.

The farm pony’s confused look prompted Twilight to simplify things. “We need him to lie to you then we’ll measure the magic feedback, um that weird feeling you get when he lies, and that will help us find his companions.”

“Again, they’re not my companions,” the red unicorn corrected. “And why do I have lie to her, why can she I don’t know, tell the truth and see if it doesn’t raise the hackles on the back of my neck.”

“Cause I always tell the truth, it’s mah nature. Lying is hard,” Applejack said.

“Says you. Trust me love, lying is just as easy if not easier than telling the truth. Besides, no pony goes through life without a fib or a hundred,” he said back to her.

“I don’t lie,” Applejack growled, lowering herself into a fighting position as if she was going to spring at Nightshade at any second.

The unicorn twitched. “Hey, I felt that. Guess little miss truthful does have a deceitful bone in her body after all.”

“Wait you felt her lie?” Twilight asked. “I wonder why that is. Shouldn’t he feel if Applejack tells the truth?”

“I always feel weird when she’s around,” Nightshade told them. “Like the tingling after a backfired spell.”

“Or like when ya feel lightin’ is bout ta strike real close, cept when he lies its get s stronger an’ weaker when he tells the truth.”

Nightshade nodded. “It’s annoying as hell.” Despite herself Applejack agreed.

Celestia walked over to the two opposing ponies, her horn glowed a brilliant gold as she scanned them on a magical level. “I thought the Elements would provide a buffer or some resistance, but they’re almost eager to respond to me, and each other. Strange. Nightshade, please tell a lie.”

“I’m friends with the other Elements of Chaos,” the unicorn announced to prove a point.

Celestia flinched slightly. “My, my Applejack the Element of Honesty really doesn’t like that does it?”

“No it doesn’t Princess,” the earth pony smiled weakly, embarrassed at the personal attention.

“Hmmm. Why doesn’t the Element of Deceit react just as violently when its opposite nature told?” the princess mused.

“Maybe, because the natural state of the world is order and reacting to every bit would be uncomfortable to the wielder,” Twilight ventured a guess.

Nightshade laughed. “Please Twilight, order has to be forced. I think it’s because honesty is a subtle thing while lying is a creation. It takes work.”

“I thought you said it was easier than telling the truth,” Applejack sneered.

“Lying is easy, lying well is an art,” he told her.

“Both of Twilight and Nightshade are right. While the world needs to be manipulated into order, it needs to be maintained as well or it will fall back into chaos, both are just as natural with one major difference,” Celestia told them hoping to stop any further argument.

“Change,” Twilight announced happily.

Celestia smiled at her charge proudly. “Right. Change has a bigger effect on the world than order does. We see change, experience it. I bet that’s why the Elements of Harmony are affected more by the invoking of the Elements of Chaos.”

“Um… I’m a might bit confused,” Applejack said rubbing her aching head.

“My lies change things and your truths keep the status quo, so your Element gets uppity when things change,” Nightshade told her.

“Why didn’t she just say that in the first place?”

“Welcome to my night,” he said. The library door suddenly opened admitting Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie supporting a bandaged up Rainbow Dash.

“We got Spike’s letter,” Fluttershy whispered. “Um… Rainbow insisted on coming too.”

“There’s no way I’m staying in the hospital if there’s a chance I can help find that jerk,” the cyan pegasus said with a hateful glare at the thought of Masquerade.

“That’s fine girls. We need Rainbow Dash here to complete the spell. How are you feeling my little pony?” Celestia asked.

Dash flexed her legs and wings in a strongpony pose. “He barely nicked me Princess. Doc says I’ll be flying again by tomorrow.”

“I’m glad. By the way Rainbow, we know Applejack can sense when Nightshade doesn’t tell the truth, but did you feel anything around Masquerade? A tingling or the like?” the Princess asked.

“Well now that you mention it yeah. As soon as we all met up with him I felt… I don’t know static. I thought it was him though,” she said pointing at Nightshade. “I mean AJ, said she felt the same thing when we caught him so I thought we all we’re feeling it. Sorry Princess, if I had known what it was I would have stopped him.”

Twilight put a hoof on the pegasus’s undamaged shoulder. “None of us knew Rainbow, I mean how can you not trust a Wonderbolt over a drifter.”

“Hey now,” Nightshade complained.

“You are a drifter though,” Rarity reminded him.

“Yeah, but she made it sound like a negative thing.” He pretended to pout

“Enough everypony,” Celestia told them. “I’ve finished my gathering all the magic readings between Applejack and Nightshade. Now I need to scan the rest of you girls to get a baseline. Twilight, please prepare the rest of the ingredients for the scrying spell.”

As the Princess waved her horn in front of the other ponies Twilight and Spike laid out a large map of Equestria and a handful of crystals, which Spike fought the urge to eat. When they had finished they waited on the Princess.

“I must say you girls have beautiful auras, I’m almost jealous,” Celestia announced when she was finshed. “Now then, I’ll need all the unicorns to help me combine the spells parts together.”

The three unicorns nodded. With a scholarly tone, Celestia led the others in a magic ritual that hadn’t been seen in the Equestria since even before she and her sister officially were crowned. She was proud of Twilight, knowing her student would easily be able to keep up the spell, but she was pleasantly surprised Rarity and Nightshade were doing just as well. Rarity’s magic was just as intricate and beautiful as her dress designs, sparkly and smooth. Nightshade’s aura was something different, at first she wanted to shy away from it as it was dark and snakelike, but with more prodding it felt like chocolate not oil.

With surprising ease they completed the first part of the ritual, combining the resonances of Applejack and Nightshade with the other Elements. Now the harder part, flipping the resonances and mixing them with the scrying crystals. Celestia used her special ether sight in order to see the spell weaves and manipulate them better. Within the orb of magic she saw avatars of her fellow spellcatsers merging the energies together.

Twilight Sparkle was a glorious purple alicorn wearing her Element crown, she was as beautiful as the sun. The princess’s own avatar laughed as she saw Rarity’s literal weaving the magic on a representation of a loom. The white unicorn’s proxy wore a dress of light purple and green trim, to Celestia it looked almost like it was armored and made of scales, she could tell the unicorn felt like she was being protected by something. Nightshade was a glowing representation of his cutie mark, a light red, nearly pink on one side and a darker blood colored on the other. He, like Twilight had wings, but only one was feathered, the other was leathery and ribbed like a bat’s or a dragon’s. His manipulation was like that of a fast handed card dealer showboating his skills in front of a crowd

Together the four magic users combined the power of the ether and forced the complex mix of different energies onto the scrying crystals. Once it was done, the crystals glowed and pulsated with the same colors as the Elements of Chaos.

“Good job everyone,” Celestia congratulated the group. She frowned upon seeing Nightshade and Rarity breathing heavily, collapsed on the floor.

“I feel like I outran the Cloudsdale mob again,” Nightshade groaned.

“I was going to say it feels like I tried making an entire fall line in a night,” Rarity agreed. She allowed Spike to help her wearily to her feet.

Twilight looked tired, but not nearly was worn out as the others. “Well the hard part’s over. Give me a minute and we can start the scrying.” She leaned heavily against Celestia.

The other girls stared at the unicorns and the alicorn. Without the ability to see magic they had only seen the storm of colors that made up the auras swirling and mixing. Even without magical sight it was one of the most spectacular things any had ever witnessed.

“My Sonic Rainboom was cooler,” Rainbow mumbled under her breath. “Just barely.”

“So now we can find the baddies, right?” Pinkie asked.

Twilight nodded. She hadn’t taken her eyes off her fellow magic users. “Princess, what we saw, in the ether, what were those?”

Celestia’s eyes widened. She hadn’t realized Twilight could see into the magical realm as well. Again she was almost overcome with the need to hug her student. “Those were our auras manifested. While to others we simple let our horns glow and the magic flows, in reality an avatar moves and manipulates the weaves of magic power. It was, in a way, our real selves. With some metaphors made by our experiences thrown in.”

Twilight nodded being the only one in the room to truly understanding. “So why didn’t you change?”

“She’s a goddess. She’s technically already the physical representation of magic,” Nightshade growled when no one bothered to help him up. He saw the others looking at him. “What? I paid attention in magic school, when I wasn’t in detention or suspended.”

“He’s right Twilight. I’m a force of nature, of magic rather. I was created not born. What you see is what you get.”

“Which also explains Nightmare Noon,” the red unicorn said. “Since both princess are stable magic constructs emotions, especially strong ones, will affect their outer appearance.”

“How do you know all that?” Twilight asked feeling a bit put off for not realizing what he was saying was theoretically correct.

“Crowley studied my sister and my nature centuries ago. He was a genius in magic, like Starswirl the Bearded and you Twilight, he was the best of his time.”

“So why haven’t I ever read any of his works?” the purple unicorn asked in a near panicked voice.

Celestia blushed but it was Nightshade who answered. “He also studied the tantric magics. Sex spells, his works were half theory and half a diary of his nighttime exploits. I’m guessing the princess was protecting that pure little mind of yours from discovering how an orgy of griffons, ponies, and a tamed manticore work.”

Twilight’s blushing face matched Nightshade’s coat. They rest of the mane six followed suit.

“Anyway,” Celestia shouted, breaking the group from their embarrassed stupor. “I think we’re ready to try the scrying spell.” The other ponies agreed following their ruler to the prepared table, a laughing Nightshade trailing. Celestia allowed Twilight to control the spell. Eyes full of concentration, the unicorn wove the simple scrying energies around the crystals.

“Find your targets,” she whispered. The glowing stones vibrated for a moment, then rocketed toward the map. All except the bruise colored one representing the Element of Curses. It continued vibrating and shaking above the picture of the Castle of the Two Sisters. Suddenly the crystal exploded and the resulting shards impaled the map, covering the palace’s symbol. “What does that mean Tia?

“Nothing good Twilight.”

Discordian Interlude

Sangre looked over his newest creations. An army of reanimated ponies, a hoofull of griffons, and a couple abominations stitched together from leftover remains gathered in the former throne room of the ruined palace. In a single day under Discord’s tutelage Sangre had gone from straining to raise skeletons to giving his constructs flesh and muscles. Only on close inspection could would one discover their blank white eyes, when they had two that is.

“They smell a bit don’t they Master,” Sangre Mavos commented.

“Well that is millennia old skin you’re working with. Of course they won’t smell like roses. Great job on the
abominations, by the way. Work with what ya got, I always say.”

“Thank you. So I have reanimation down, now what?”

“Well let’s see, we could go over Soul Shatter, or maybe deconstruction that’s a messy one, or perhaps—“ Discord stiffened as a loud PING sounded in his head. “Well, well, well I do believe Celly’s found us. Only a matter of time now.” The God of Chaos flexed his talon/paws. “Your brethren are slacking. I’m barely above mortal, and my cruelty’s a bit high,” he said felling his head as if checking for a fever.

Sangre nodded. “Should we call them back? If the Princess are coming they could be of some help.”

Discord shook his head vigorously. “No, no they’re better off out there doing what they do best. Besides, I can’t wait to see the look on Lulu’s face when she sees some of her old pals fighting and biting again. Too bad they aren’t up for some light conversation,” he said poking a grey pegasus who simply groaned pitifully.

Sangre flipped through a flesh wrapped grimoire, not looking for any particular spell. “Anything I can do to speed up for recovery?”

Discord smiled as the stoic unicorn. It had been quite a long time since anyone had even bothered to care about his wellbeing. If it wasn’t completely against his nature her might even have some empathy for the pony. “Just keep learning some new curses my boy, every new or in this case old magic conjured back to this world helps me.”

The prince nodded and randomly chose a new curse to start practicing.

Discord wished he was still semi-omnipresent. At least then he could check on his Elements, he was his chaos energy fluctuated almost painfully. “Too much cruelty and deceit. Those two are working overtime. Greed and curse and fine, but what was that burst of treachery that faded. Like a lollipop ripped right out of my mouth before I could get a good taste. Sorrows been quiet, nonexistent even. Hope I didn’t drop him in the middle of the ocean by mistake, really should think things through sometimes."

“Shut your mouth. Thinking means plans, plans mean order, order hurts you, it helps them, and Him.” A dark almost forgotten voice said from the back of Discord’s memories.

“I know,” he thought back at himself angrily. “Still it can’t hurt to, I don’t know, have some sort of contingency, right?”

“NO,” the voice thought/shouted. “If the power of Chaos wanes anymore then everything we’ve… I’ve worked for will be destroyed. Order has reigned too long. It’s my time… our time again. Anything to set Him back.”

“I thought I wasn’t supposed to make sense. Besides, isn’t a goal part of a plan even if there’s not plan?” The other voice was silent. “Oh sure now you’re quiet. Not like it wasn’t a legitimate question or anything. Whatever. I’ll check on my little workers and see how things are going."