Spiritus Malum

Spiritus Malum strained against the powers of the Elements of Harmony, digging its hooves into the ground in an effort to stop its backwards progress. The five Essences of Evil pitted in a battle against the six Elements of Harmony, but it was a losing battle.

While not all battles were fought to be won, this one was. Should it lose, Malum would be imprisoned for as long as the Princesses saw fit, which meant forever. Malum imagined being turned to stone or encased in a sealing stone, probably doomed to rest the rest of its days on display in the Canterlot gardens.

‘If we must lose,’ the spirit strained to think, ‘We shalt not suffer the fate of being a display item!’

The spirit could feel the presence of the well behind and to the right of it. If it jumped at the right speed and with proper trajectory, Malum could possibly end up in the well. The fact that the rainbow light of the Elements was sure to blind Celestia meant that Malum had a good chance of never being found. One last way to spit in the face of the Princesses, deny them its body as a trophy of conquest.

Malum wasted no time, leaping towards the well and ending the dark blast of the Essences. The rainbow hues of the Elements latched onto its body, encasing the spirit in a binding stone of marble. With a few clunks, the stone bounced down the well and under the power of momentum, rolled down the dark tunnel.

Celestia opened her eyes to see the Spirit of Evil completely gone, no binding stone or statue left behind. Perhaps it was not as powerful as it had imagined itself to be and had been completely eliminated from the world.

Whatever the case it didn’t matter, Celestia knew that the spirit was gone and that meant that there were more pressing matters to attend to.
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Metal Stirrup’s eyes snapped open and he was instantly wide awake. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon and it lit the world with a dim light.

Stirrup’s stomach growled, reminding him that even immortal spirit-ponies got hungry.

‘We must find sustenance,’ Malum said, ‘A few apples shouldn’t be missed from that farm that we saw.’

Stirrups nodded his head and made his way towards the town.

The spirit/pony had rested in an empty field outside of the small village. Sleeping under the stars had always been enjoyable to Stirrups, even before he accepted the deal with Malum.
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Pinkie Pie awoke as sunlight poured in through her second floor window.

After going through a morning exercise, which included making faces at a mirror, Pinkie went to her window and looked outside. She saw a few of the early bird ponies and shouted greetings accompanied by waves.

On her greeting quest, she spied one particular pony that she hadn’t been able to find the other day.

“Metal Stirrups!” She called out, waving frantically, “Hey! It’s me! Pinkie Pie!”

The darkly colored unicorn didn’t appear to hear Pinkie as he continued onwards, oblivious to her oral outbursts.

“Hmm,” Pinkie pondered, “Maybe he can’t hear me.”

With that, Pinkie stepped from her window and hurried down the stairs and out the door.

“Metal Stirrups! Metal Stirrups! Wait!” Pinkie called as she chased down her quarry.

Metal Stirrups grumbled to himself as the pink menace chased him down, Malum and him had things to do.

‘Do not be foalish! Ask her if she is an Element of Harmony!’ Malum reprimanded.

‘Is that so wise, what if she suspects something?’

‘Do not be a foal! This ‘Pinkie Pie’ is obviously one who lacks intelligence, she shan't suspect a thing if we ask her that.’

‘Fine, but will you stop calling us ‘we?’ It is quite obvious that no matter what it may have been, you and I are no longer we. You may reside in my body, but we are separated.’

‘Fine, now ask Pinkie if she is an Elemental bearer.’

Metal Stirrups waited for the pink pony to catch up to him.

“Hi!” Pinkie greeted gleefully once she was trotting beside Stirrups.

Stirrups spared her a glance in return, “Oh, hi,” he replied flatly, “Say, do you happen to know—”

“I got you something as a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ present!” Pinkie cut in, producing a purple box with a blue ribbon and a bowtie of the same color.

Stirrups gave the box a quick once over before taking it with his magic and setting it on the ground next to him, “I see, now do you happen to know about a set of artifacts—”

“Ar-aren’t you gonna open it?” Pinkie asked, confused.

“What?”

“Aren’t you gonna open your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ present?” Pinkie inquired, indicating the gift with a hoof.

“Some time, but as I was asking, do you—”

“Some time? But—” Pinkie cut off before getting the same treatment from Stirrups.

“Pinkie, be quiet. I need to ask you something,” Stirrups said in a flat, cold voice that would have scared a lesser pony.

As it was, Pinkie was oblivious to the sudden change in tone, “Okay, what do you want to ask? Oh, but it can’t be what’s inside your present because that’s a surprise and I wouldn’t want to ruin your surprise for you.”

‘How do the ponies around here put up with this excessive banter?’ Stirrups wondered.

“Of course. Do you know anything about the Elements of Harmony?” He asked, thankful that finally his question was uninterrupted.

Of all the thing that he expected to get as a response, Pinkie hopping off the ground and gasping was not one of them.

“Omigosh! Yes I do know about the Elements of Harmony! There’s Magic and Loyalty and Honesty and Generosity and Kindness and Laughter!” Pinkie stifled a giggle of glee, “But that’s not all I know because I actually represent one! You see, it all started about a year ago when there was this new pony in town, just like you but different because she was Twilight Sparkle and you’re Metal Stirrups but you were the same since the two of you were new to here. But anyways, it was that day...or was it night?” Pinkie shrugged and continued, “So Night-Mare Moon came back from the moon and wanted to make it eternal night forever and ever and ever and ever, but Twilight had a plan to get the Elements of Harmony from this place in the Everfree forest and we all went along with her to get them because we couldn’t just let her go alone. So after a long and perilous journey we finally made it and Twilight discovered that the six of us were each a Representative of Harmony and then the Elements went whoosh!” Pinkie made a waving motion, “And zoom!” A mirror of the first motion was employed this time, “And zing!” A new waving motion was used this time, “And we all got these nice necklaces with our Cutie Marks on them. Except for Twilight, she got a tiara, and wham!” Pinkie thrust out her front hooves at an invisible attacker, “We defeated Night-Mare Moon! You wanna hear about the time we had to fight Discord?”

“No, Pinkie, can you tell me the names of the six ‘Representatives of Harmony’ and their Elements?” Stirrups asked in that cold and flat voice again.

“Ooh! I can to better than that!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Stirrups felt that half-mouthed smile creep across his face again. She could do better? Perhaps some details on their colors and perhaps even where they lived?

“Come on! I’ll introduce you to them, then you’ll have five more new friends!”

Stirrup’s smile fell, “What?”

“Come on!” Pinkie said, starting on her quest and dragging Metal Stirrups along behind her.
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Applejack threw a hard buck at the tree behind her and the apples rained down into the buckets below. The hard-working farmer enjoyed the feeling of the crisp morning air, it kept her cooled off and kept her from sweating too much from her work.

Just then a pink pony popped out of a tree in front of Applejack, dragging a unicorn with a tragedy mark with her. The unicorn looked confused as to what the hell had just happened, not knowing that the answer was: Pinkie Pie.

“Oh, hey Pinkie,” Applejack greeted, “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Metal Stirrups, he’s new to Ponyville!” Pinkie replied, before turning to Stirrups, “This is Applejack, she’s the Element of Honesty.”

“Well nice to meet you Mister Stirrups,” Applejack said, latching onto one of his forehooves to give a good shake. The unicorn tried to pull away, but his struggles were in vain against his stronger opponent, “So what brings ya to Ponyville?”

Stirrups and Malum were both annoyed that they were being forced to make conversation, they had more important things to do.

“A change of scenery,” Stirrups replied, looking around flatly, “Though I can’t say it was for the better.”

Applejack frowned, did Stirrups just insult Ponyville? Before she could make any further remarks, however, Pinkie was dragging her new friend off back towards the town.
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Rarity was completely focused on the task at hand, normally she didn’t get up to work this early but she had had an idea and couldn’t wait. The small needle, encased in a blue glow, dipped in and out of the fabric, bringing it together in the designer’s newest masterpiece.

Unlike the rest of her other friends, Pinkie Pie lacked a quiet voice or entrance.

“Hey, Rarity!” Pinkie Pie called as the door to Carousel Boutique was blasted open by the power of Pinkie.

Rarity hopped in the air at the sudden noise, though managed not to ruin her work in doing so.

After she landed and got her heart rate back to healthy levels, Rarity turned to her pink friend.

“Is there something I can help you with, Pinkie?” She poked the needle she was using back into its pincushion.

“I just wanted to introduce you to Metal Stirrups, he’s new here!” Pinkie replied, pushing forth the pony in question, “Metal Stirrups, this is Rarity. She’s the Element of Generosity.”

‘I would have thought Pinkie to be that one, but perhaps Laughter fits her better,’ Malum commented in silence.

“Ah,” Rarity replied, after giving him a quick once over, she continued, “Who does your mane, Mister Stirrups, those black spots really clash with the grey in quite a pleasant way.”

“It’s natural,” Stirrups said with a hint of annoyance.

“Oh,” Rarity replied with a hint of interest, “Well that’s quite interesting, I can’t say I’ve seen a spotted mane before. But where are my manners, welcome to Ponyville, stop by anytime if you need anything.”

Before he could offer insult and take in more of an essence, Pinkie had pulled Stirrups along again; leaving Rarity to her work.
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Stirrup’s struggles were unnoticed by a mostly oblivious Pinkie Pie. Malum and him had tried to attack her with the Essences of Evil, but they did nothing to the pink party pony. Stirrups decided to use magic, latching onto Pinkie with telekinesis and finally halting her quest.

“Stop pushing me around,” He grumbled in his dark, cold voice.

“Oh, sorry,” Pinkie giggled and released her quarry.

‘All I had to do was tell her to stop?’ Stirrups wondered, annoyed at himself for not trying sooner. Stirrups wanted to tighten his grip on the pink menace, but decided that crushing her could not end well for Malum and him...at least not yet.

“C’mon, Rainbow Dash might be clearing the skies around now. Maybe we can meet her!”

Stirrups was about to tell Pinkie that he was done and that he didn’t need these idiotic introductions, but Malum still had a feeling of his thoughts and stopped him.

‘No, there is no harm in meeting the Elements of Harmony. We must know what we are up against and the best way of approach,’ she chastised.

‘Fine,’ Stirrups grumbled back.
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“Rainbowdash!”

The mare in question opened her eyes, waking from whatever dreams she had been having.

“Huh?” Dash asked, looking around the cloud she was laying on, “Coulda sworn that I...”

It was just then that Pinkie Pie’s head shot up through the cloud, right in front of Rainbow Dash, “Wakeup!” Pinkie jabbered before disappearing again.

“Gah!” Dash cried, hopping to her hooves and taking a step back, “What the...”

She leaned to the right and looked around the cloud to see Pinkie bounce off a trampoline and shoot upwards again.

Dash cracked a smile at her ridiculous friend’s antics, “Pinkie Pie, you are so random,” she said to herself with a short laugh.

Pinkie’s head popped through the cloud again, “TheressomeponyIwantyoutomeet!” Pinkie spat out before her airborne trip ended and she plunged back towards the ground.

Without further ado, Dash shrugged and swooped down from her cloud.

Pinkie Pie spat in physic’s face as she came to a midair screeching halt and landed softly upon the trampoline.

Stirrups half-mouthed smile faded as his ideas of pushing said trampoline out of the way were ended.

Pinkie hopped off the trampoline and threw her right forehoof over Stirrup’s shoulders. Dash alighted the ground in front of them.

“Hey, Pinkie,” Dash greeted, she looked over Stirrups, “Who’s this? Did you get a coltfriend?”

Pinkie giggled to herself, “No, this is Metal Stirrups. He’s new here to Ponyville and so I’m showing him around,” she turned to the uncomfortable unicorn in her one-legged hug, “Metal Stirrups, this is Rainbow Dash, she’s the Element of Loyalty.”

“And awesomeness!” Dash added, striking a proud pose, she then remembered something and set back down, “I just remembered, I have a bunch of new pranking ideas that we should totally try out.”

Stirrup’s ears perked up, “Pranking, you say?” He asked, that half smile resurfacing.

“Yeah, why? You into pranking too?” Dash asked, looking over at the darkly colored unicorn.

‘Causing pain to others? Deceiving them? Making them feel uncomfortable? Creating spots of fear and doing so in the name of cruelty?’ Stirrups thought to himself, “Yes, I very much enjoy a well placed prank or few.”

This set off a gasp from Pinkie, “Oh my gosh! We could be pranking buddies!”

“I’m starting to like this guy already,” Dash said, “You’re alright, Metal Stirrups. The three of us should pull a prank some time.”

Stirrups gave a quiet chuckle, “Yes,” he said simply.

“We’ll see you later, Dash!” Pinkie called as she trotted off with Stirrups.

Dash gave a wave as she headed back up to her cloud. Metal Stirrups seemed alright, but...that smile. There was just something...Dash pondered for a good way to put it...something off about it. But three pranksters were better than two, and maybe Stirrups just had a weird smile. Whatever the case, Dash had some Zs to catch and she did just that.
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“All done,” Fluttershy said, stepping away from the bald eagle who poked curiously at the splint on his wing, “Just remember to keep flying to a minimum and get plenty of rest so you can heal those bones, okay?”

The majestic bird looked up to Fluttershy and gave a thankful caw.

A knock sounded off the door, proving that Pinkie Pie could be subtle...around Fluttershy.

“Who could that be?” Fluttershy wondered aloud, trotting daintily over to the door.

“Hi, Fluttershy!” Pinkie proclaimed.

“Hello, Pinkie,” Fluttershy replied, quiet yet pleasant.

“This is Metal Stirrups!” Pinkie pushed the door open more to reveal the unicorn/spirit in question, “He’s new to Ponyville!” Pinkie turned to Stirrups, “This is Fluttershy, she’s the Element of Kindness.”

Before Fluttershy could respond in any way, Stirrups looked past her, “Are those animals living in your house?” He asked, voice flat as usual.

That got Fluttershy exited, somepony wanted to ask about her animals!

“Oh yes,” she started, forgetting her shy nature, “I have all sorts of animals that I take care of! Like...”

Stirrups shivered, “Your house must be filthy with all those creatures around.”

“Well, not really,” Fluttershy replied, losing some of her conviction, “I train them well and make sure that...”

Stirrups interrupted again, “No wonder this house is so far out here, all those filthy creatures must make this place smell real bad,” Stirrups turned and trotted off.

The words of the immortal Spirit of Evil had the effect of completely silencing Fluttershy, who appeared to be on the verge of tears. She tried very hard to make sure that her cottage was clean. She knew that it was so far from town because the animals and ponies didn’t always get along so well, not because it smelled bad.

For once Pinkie did not smile, Stirrups had said some mean things to Fluttershy. She turned and chased him down, a task that was easy concerning her disregard for most things logical.

“Stirrups, that’s no way to treat a friend,” She said from the other pony’s side, “You should go apologize.”

“I will later, Pinkie,” Stirrups blatantly lied, “But don’t you have one more friend to show me?”

Under normal conditions, Pinkie Pie would have, for lack of a better term, pulled a Pinkie Pie at the thought of finishing her friendship quest. As it were, she was much less enthusiastic. She looked back at Fluttershy’s cottage, the door was now closed and there was no sign of her yellow and pink friend.

“Well...I guess, but you’d better apologize to Fluttershy afterwards. Pinkie Promise that you will?”

“What?” Stirrups stopped and looked over at Pinkie with a confused expression.

“Pinkie Promise that you’ll go say sorry to Fluttershy afterwards.”

“Okay,” Stirrups replied.

“You gotta do the motions and say it, like this,” Pinkie stopped and did the motions as she said them, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

After mirroring a Pinkie Promise, Pinkie was satisfied that Stirrups would uphold his end of the bargain.
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Twilight finished and flipped a page of the mystery novel she was reading, The Big Sheep by Raymane Chandelier. She had read the famous novel a few times before, but was doing so again in light of recent events. She was tartarus-bent on finding the culprit of the missing marble bowling ball, as Spike had put it rather jokingly.

She was interrupted from the story by a knock on her door, if a door being thrust open could be considered a knock.

“Hi, Twilight! Whatcha reading?” Pinkie asked as she and Stirrups came trotting in.

“Hey, Pinkie,” Twilight said tiredly, with a frown she looked up from the book, “Why are you up so late?”

Pinkie laughed innocently, “Silly Twilight, it’s nine in the morning.”

“What?” Twilight looked out one of the library’s windows, realizing that she had stayed up all night reading. Now that she was aware of this fact, she panicked, “Oh no! This is going to throw my schedule way out of whack!” Twilight, having forgot her book on the floor, rushed to and fro as she got a few supplies and a long list of dates.

The purple pony poured over the list, mumbling to herself as she tried to figure out a way to reschedule her schedule.

“So, Twilight! This is Metal Stirrups, he’s new here in town. Metal Stirrups,” Pinkie turned to the unicorn/spirit in question, “This is Twilight Sparkle, she’s the Element of Magic!”

“Mm-hm, that’s great Pinkie,” Twilight said absentmindedly, “If I move this here then...no, that would never work.”

Pinkie shrugged, “See you later, Twilight,” with that, she turned and began bouncing out of the library, Stirrups right behind her.
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“So you’re gonna go say sorry to Fluttershy now, right?” Pinkie asked.

Stirrups was pulled away from his and Malum’s scheming, “Oh yes, of course. I just realized something, didn’t you make me a present of some sorts?”

“Yep,” Pinkie proclaimed before realizing that the gift was gone.

“How about you go find that present and I go say sorry to Fluttershy,” Stirrups suggested.

Pinkie agreed by rushing off to find the gift.

“Take your time!” Stirrups called after her, trotting off to think.

‘So we know the Bearers of the Elements,’ Stirrups thought, ‘I think that removing Pinkie from the picture first would be ideal. Perhaps a drop of poison in...’

‘No,’ Malum cut in, ‘We are not yet ready, and we shall use far more...interesting methods of disposal than mere killing by poison.’

‘I hope that you aren’t trying to get us in over our heads,’ Stirrups said, ‘Why not simple disposal?’

‘All in good time, my vessel, all in good time.’