Pinkie Pie pondered and pondered till her ponderer was sore.

Metal Stirrup’s case was similar to that of Cranky Doodle’s when he first arrived in Ponyville. Pinkie thought about what to do on her way to Sugarcube Corner. With Cranky, things had ended well but had taken a sour turn before doing so. Perhaps she should be a little less forcive? Was that even possible for her?

She finally arrived at her destination and when she stepped into the bakery an idea popped into her head. With a gasp, Pinkie Pie got to work. The next time they met, Pinkie was sure to make a new friend!
______________________________________________________________________________

‘If we wish to blend in, perhaps we should study this era and find how long we have slumbered.’

Stirrups gave a nod as he trotted through the market, ‘So back to that library?’

‘Correct. It is a surprise that a backwater earth pony village even has a place of knowledge,’ Malum confirmed in thought.

‘Indeed,’ Stirrups agreed.

Stirrups eventually got to the library, pushing through the door as if he owned the place. Inside, the purple unicorn was levitating books around the room while a small purple dragon was holding a list and checking off items as the unicorn named them.

The spirit could feel feel traces of fear and annoyance wafting off the unicorn, and felt tiny bolsters to their fear and hatred essences. The dragon output a more substantial amount of annoyance, furthering the increase in hatred essence. The feeling was pleasing after all the happy emotions bouncing around in the marketplace.

The pony looked up from her sorting while the dragon spared Stirrups but a glance.

“Can I help you?” Twilight asked.

“This is a library, is it not?” Stirrups replied, trotting to a shelf to look for a book.

His response seemed to catch Twilight off guard and she was silent for a moment, “Uh, well yes it is. It’s just that we had a break-in last night and now isn’t the best...” She trailed off as her words were ignored, Stirrup’s attention focused on a book. She gave an annoyed sigh, further fueling the Spirit’s hatred essence reserves, and decided that so long as Stirrups wasn’t getting in the way that there was no harm in letting him stay.
______________________________________________________________________________

(Many hours later)

Quite a bit had changed in the time that Spiritus Malum had been imprisoned in the marble stone, but at the same time plenty was still the same. For example: the Griffins and Dragons were no longer as hostile towards the ponies, and had seemed to settle down instead of trying to take more land. On the other hand, it appeared that the Changelings were still trying to find ways to take the equinian country and had even come so close as capturing Canterlot for a few minutes in more recent times.

A half-mouthed smile split Stirrup’s features as he read the rise of ‘Night-Mare Moon.’ He had very little doubt that the seed of evil the spirit had planted inside of her was at least partially the cause of that.

The smile turned to a disgusted grimace upon reading about Discord’s short return. While Stirrups may have never known the Spirit of Chaos, memories from Malum were enough to fill him with distaste for the Draconequus.

‘Discord may have great power, but his use of it betrays a childish mind. It is his downfall,’ Malum thought, mostly to herself, ‘Perhaps we will cut his heart out once this land is ours.’

‘Could he not make a servant if his powers were nullified?’ Stirrups suggested.

Malum thought for a moment, ‘No, the fool is better gone from this world than serving as our slave.’

“Excuse me?” Twilight asked, causing Stirrups to flinch slightly. Stirrups looked over his shoulder at the purple unicorn, “Sorry to bother you, but you’ve been here quite a while and um...”

‘Is she kicking us out?’ Stirrups wondered.

“...could I interest you in some tea?” She asked.

Stirrups searched Twilight’s eyes for a moment, “If it’s free,” he responded before turning back to the book.

“Of course,” Twilight said, feeling slightly insulted that somepony would expect her to charge them for an offered cup of tea.

Stirrups let that half-mouthed smile cross his face as a minor flare of pain and an even smaller taste of hatred essence were received from the librarian.

Stirrups got back to reading as Twilight went to make some tea for her and her visitor. The unicorn-spirit was coming to the end of a very recently published book on Discord. The final parts detailed the Spirit’s restoning by the Elements of Harmony.

Stirrups and Malum both shivered at the mention of the Elements, but a surprised look crossed the former’s face as he turned the page to look upon a drawing of six different ponies seemingly using the Elements, not Celestia or Luna.

‘This is an...’ Malum searched for a word, ‘...interesting development.’

“Indeed,” Stirrups muttered in agreement.

As far as the duet of evil knew, the goddesses were immortal. Aside from a few specialized weapons, such as blades forged in magic or other similarly enchanted items, nothing could kill them making the Elements just as immortal as they were.

However, were the Elements bound to ponies of mortal flesh...

Stirrups blessed the world with another half-mouthed smile whilst Malum gave a similar mental response.

“They would be just as mortal as those wielding them,” Stirrups muttered quietly.

‘We must find the identities of these six ponies. If we destroy them, we will be unstoppable!’ Malum declared.

“Here you are,” Twilight said from Stirrup’s side, causing him to flinch. It seemed that ponies trotted around with much less noise than five thousand years ago.

Stirrups looked over at her to see her offering a teacup with a few traces of steam wafting up off from the dark liquid inside.

Stirrups took the offered beverage and turned back to examine the picture. He brought the teacup to his mouth to take a small sip and shuddered after doing so.

“On second thought, perhaps I’ll pass on the tea,” he stated, placing the teacup on the floor and pushing it away with a hoof. He noticed a purple aurora take hold of it.

“Oh, is it too hot?” Twilight asked with a frown.

“It is simply not to my taste,” He replied, glancing over her. He felt a wisp more of hatred and pain essence as the unicorn took offense, however she did not take as much as he had expected, ‘Perhaps the ponies of this time are more happy and carefree than those of five millennia past,’ he reasoned.

‘Hold!’ Malum cried, startling Stirrups only slightly, ‘look to the unicorn!’

Stirrups snapped his head around, expecting an attack of some sorts. But all he was met with was Twilight’s receding backside.

‘What was that about?’ he asked, Malum’s mental tone had been on edge, as if the unicorn were attacking.

‘That pony has a similar color scheme to that pony in the picture,’ Malum pointed out, indicating the purple pony in the picture of the book, ‘and her Cutie Mark holds the ancient symbol of magic!’

Stirrups looked back to Twilight again before looking back at the picture, ‘By the gods! Could it be that we have stumbled upon one of the Elements?’

‘Two, possibly. Note that that pink earth pony resembles the one we saw in the marketplace.’

‘Hmm,’ Stirrups thought for a moment, ‘We are alone with the pony and her dragon?’ he inquired, searching the room for a heavy blunt object. Perhaps if she were looking the other way, he could...

‘No, remember that we shall not act hastily, this must be thought through. No matter if we must take a long time so long as the end result is complete domination! We shall lay in the shadows and formulate our approach so that it has no flaws. When the time is right, we shall cripple the Elements and take Equestria as our own!’
______________________________________________________________________________

(One hour later)

Twilight looked to the spot where the unicorn with the tragedy mark had sat for a series of hours. He had at some point in the past ten minutes simply got up and left without so much as a word.

‘Probably since it’s nighttime now,’ She thought before looking back to Spike. The baby dragon’s eyes were scanning over a list that he held.

“That’s everything?” Twilight asked.

“Yep, everything’s where it should be. Well besides that marble bowling ball,” Spike replied, massaging his cramping claw.

While Twilight was happy that nothing had been stolen, she had a feeling that something was just...off, for lack of a better word. What was that marble sphere and who would want it enough to break into her house and steal it?

Crime was virtually unknown in a small friendly town like Ponyville. They didn’t even have a jail for pony’s sake, much less a legitimate police force. Nothing bad or big enough ever happened to warrant the need for civil defenders or a place to put the dregs of society.

“So long as nothing else gets stolen in the coming days, we shouldn’t need any anyways,” Twilight said as she trotted up the stairs to hit the hay and call it a night.

Author's Note

20150714 Update: I know it's st, still gonna finish it.