A few dozen strikes against the wall, and an ice bag later, Tom was lead by Captain Armor to a training field with the Element Bearers following behind. After his headache had eased up enough for him to talk without his head throbbing, Tom began explaining the properties of the Chaos Emeralds.

“Using the Chaos Emeralds is easy, but difficult at the same time,” he began with.

“That doesn’t really make sense,” Twilight interrupted politely.

“Okay, rephrasing,” Tom muttered. “Have you ever done something so easy that you end up being proud of it?”

“A few times,” Twilight answered.

“Well, the Chaos Emeralds can be used easily, but the difficult part is to keep focus on not losing yourself to pride,” Tom continued.

“What’s wrong with pride?” Applejack asked. “I’m proud of my family, and my apples, and that hasn’t cause problems.”

“Pride is only a problem if you let it be,” Tom said. “A good example of pride is when a person believes that they can do no wrong, but they are doing a lot of it, and ignore other’s advice, or attempts to help.” Those words got Applejack to cringe, remembering her two weeks of apple-bucking with no help.

“So, you’re saying that these emeralds can corrupt us?” Fluttershy asked with a fearful shiver.

“Not necessarily,” Tom answered. “The corruption itself by choice. Only you can prevent yourself from going over the edge, as it were.”

“So, if I could make all sorts of treats with a Chaos Emerald, it would be up to me to keep myself from turning the world into one giant jawbreaker?” Pinkie asked.

“An extreme example, but correct,” Tom answered as they were led into the training yard. “Now, to give you some examples of what you can do with the Chaos Emeralds, I’m gonna need to borrow one of them.” Fluttershy stepped forward and offered her pink emerald.

Tom nodded in thanks and took the Emerald. “When using a Chaos Emerald for the first time, it is best to think of your desired effect before saying or shouting, ‘Chaos Control’!” The pink Emerald glowed brightly as time and space briefly warped, and Tom was suddenly standing a few meters from where he was originally standing. “And it will cause time and space to warp to accomplish your goal in the most logical way.” Tom then beckoned Fluttershy to retrieve her emerald.

“Bending of time and space,” Twilight said as she wrote down notes on some parchment she summoned along with a pen and ink. “Sounds like Chaos Magic, but following some rules rather than just breaking or completely throwing them out the proverbial window.”

“Exactly,” Tom said. “Now, before we get into practicing using the emeralds, I am kinda curious about the Elements of Harmony, and I’m partially thinking that these new Chaos Emeralds will be linked to what they mean in some fashion.”

“The Elements of Harmony are six, probably more if Discord is right, magic gems that represent Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty, with Magic being the Element that represents all of the Elements working together as one.”

Tom hummed in thought before speaking, “If what I’m thinking is correct, the Emeralds should give a type of power boost to provide its user in Chaos Control, based on the Element it is based around.” Tom then looked to Shining as he continued, “Like Kindness being more for healing and repairing.”

Shining, understanding Tom’s intent, drew a dagger and cut open the palm of his hand. Immediately, Fluttershy flew to Shining’s side and was muttering something while the Pink Emerald glowed. Shining’s hand began to seal itself until there was no hint to what happened in the spot.

Tom nodded and spoke to Shining, “See about having them practice teleporting, pausing time, and shooting energy projectiles while I think on how to further test my theory on a potential link between the Emeralds and the Elements.” Shining nodded and started to drill the Element Bearers.

Tom left the training yard and began wandering the castle halls. As he walked, he admired the architecture and artwork and gave acknowledging nods to the various guards and servants that he passed.

When he was passing a pair of dark blue doors, they opened and he nearly ran headfirst into a dark and night themed alicorn. He was able to avoid a collision, but that didn’t stop him from stopping and beginning to apologize for not looking.

Almost as immediate as the apologizing began, the alicorn covered the cat’s ‘mouth’. “No need to apologize,” She said. “If anything, I should apologize for not being careful when opening the door.” Tom nodded and began to walk again, with the alicorn following behind in curiosity. “What is thy name?”

“I’m Tomcat, but Tom is okay for most purposes,” Tom responded to the alicorn. “And you?”

“I am Princess Luna, Guardian of Dreams, and Steward of the Moon. Is my sister aware of you wandering the castle, unsupervised?” She asked. Tom looked at her with a look of confusion. “Celestia is my sister.”

With that understanding, Tom shrugged. “She’s aware that I’m in the castle and part of something important, but not my wandering. My wandering is to help me think concerning some training I was requested to give the Element Bearers.” He then explained what happened a few hours earlier and his hypothesis of how the Emeralds and the Elements might have a bit of a link.

“To think that Discord would care about others is odd,” Luna commented. “But, considering that his chaos is generally harmless, it is understandable that he would oppose chaos that would harm others.”

“Without anyone to see his wacky side, his chaos is mundane,” Tom added. “Anyway…”

“Yes?”

“Just still thinking on my hypothesis,” Tom said. “The Emeralds being hidden by the illusion he showed when he was told to hand over the Elements...I just can’t stop thinking that was symbolic of how the Emeralds are linked to the Elements.”

“Have you tested this link?” Luna asked, looking as curious as he was.

“Only with Kindness, but even then, not enough data,” Tom answered. “Had a recently promoted captain cut open his hand and Fluttershy healed it with the Emerald.”

“Perhaps I can provide a few suggestions on how the Emeralds can be tested for this link,” Luna said. “It can be possible that I can even help in the testing itself.”

“Then let’s head to the training yard and start testing,” Tom said, leading the way to the yard.

Upon arrival, the duo found the Element Bearers practicing their general Emerald use. Twilight and Rarity were firing spear-like projectiles at some targets. Fluttershy and Pinkie were teleporting from one end of the yard to the other and in-between. Rainbow and Applejack were engaged in a sparring match that constantly jumped between slow-motion and super sped up.

Tom ‘clapped’ his hands together, causing a clanging that stopped the current practice. “Its good to see that you are getting a hang of the basic powers the Emeralds offer,” he said. “However, I still feel that we need to see if the Emeralds have a type of link to the Elements.”

The ponies lined up in front of Tom and Princess Luna as Shining joined the two. “Now, let’s start with Honesty, just to follow Twilight’s order she gave when she told me about the Elements. Who has Honesty?” Applejack stepped forward. “The rest of you, go back to practicing. I’ll call you by Element when I’m ready to test you.”

Tom, Luna, and Shining led Applejack to a secluded corner of the training yard. Luna then spoke, “This test will work in a reactionary fashion.”

“What?”

Tom sighed and translated for Applejack. “Meaning she will attack you with no warning and what you first think when shouting ‘Chaos Control,’ should provide an idea of your Emerald’s power.”

As soon as he finished his words, Luna teleported in front of Applejack and went to punch her. Applejack shouted, “Chaos Control!” and when Luna’s punch landed on the mare’s nose, it was Luna’s nose that broke. Luna ended up cringing and almost crying in pain, but not for long, as she worked a simple healing spell and was back up. The rest of the tests went similarly, each with a form of reaction and Luna in some form of pain or embarrassment.

Fluttershy’s test caused Luna to experience emotional pain for every punch attempted. Pinkie caused Luna to be teleported to the nearest tower and she fell off from the momentum of her punch. Rarity had some of Luna’s nerves sent into some sort of shock, paralyzing her. Rainbow had her and Luna switch places, making Rainbow the puncher, and Luna the punched.

Twilight’s test...well, let’s just say that the door to the training yard is now bigger, Luna was unharmed, and Twilight would need therapy.

As everyone, except Twilight, examined the expanded doorway, said unicorn was shivering on the ground, muttering about magic kindergarten and poor grades. At the fourth or fifth repeat of her muttering, Tom gave Shining a questioning look. Understanding the look, Shining explained, “She’s not one to slack when it comes to learning, and has a bit of a fear of getting poor grades and said poor grades getting her sent back a grade or two.”

“What’s her definition of a bad grade?” Tom asked.

“A-minus or below,” Shining answered, slumping in shame.

Before they could continue the conversation, a guard ran through the doorway and stopped in front of the captain. With a salute, he spoke, “Captain Armor, Princess Celestia has called for you, the Element Bearers, and our cat friend to the throne room.” His words roused Twilight from her broken state and teleported everyone there to the throne room.

As everyone was recovering from the surprise teleport, Celestia giggled and approached the group. Tom then spoke up, “So, what’s going on?”

Instantly, Celestia’s smile went into a serious stare. “The guards have found the pony who is using the last Emerald and may provide us a lead to the seventh Element.”

“Who?” Luna asked.

“Blueblood.”

Author's Note

I think I had a headache after finishing this.