Ethereal Chaos

   Steelmind had left Frostburn with her sister, looking around the small town as ponies started looking at him with some curiosity. Nopony really seemed to know how to react to his presence, but he barely noticed. The Thought Trossel's mind was elsewhere, as it always was. He finally stopped and sat down under a tree to try and steady his thoughts a bit more. He thought about his family somewhere else, something that he hadn’t taken into consideration for a long time. He kept a decent enough relationship with his parents, but barely spent enough time with his little brother; the latter, however, was more or less conflicting interests and the fact the two never had anything in common and no reason to hang out together. When he finally snapped out of it, he noticed all the ponies staring at him.

   “Hello,” he said cautiously. “It's nice to meet all of you...here...in the same place. My name's Steelmind.” Nopony reacted, but there was much muttering in the crowd. “I'm not that much different from any of you; just a normal, average pony. Just go about your business.” The ponies all slowly departed, and went into their homes. Steelmind slowly backed away, before bumping into somepony going the other way. “Oh, sorry; didn't see you there.” he readjusted his glasses to see who he'd bumped into. She was a very regal white horned pony with a long curly purple mane and bright sapphire blue eyes.

   “That’s perfectly alright, darling,” she said in a very articulated and sophisticated voice. Steelmind was never the kind of pony to have such an attractive mare talking to him, or even acknowledging his existence; in fact, the most attractive mare to ever actually talk to him was Zephyroak and that was only because they had been friends for so long. If it wasn’t for her, he probably never would’ve had the courage to even be in the same room as somepony like Frostburn. She looked around at the empty streets. “Well, you certainly seem to know how to disperse a crowd, I can certainly see that.” Steelmind chuckled sheepishly, before stopping immediately to avoid digging himself deeper and trying to keep from seeming to nervous around the beautiful unicorn. “Would you like to come by my boutique?” He nodded subconsciously and blindly followed the unicorn; at this stage, he would’ve agreed to do anything or go anywhere without much question. Once they got to the boutique, it was littered with all sorts of fabrics and ponnequins, and a large stack of sketches for dresses and clothes. A good number of very lovely designs were displayed on a few of the models, most of them accentuated with a lot of rare and valuable-looking gemstones. “Don't mind the clutter. It isn't always like this, I can assure you. I don't believe I caught your name.” Steelmind shook his head clear.

   “Hm. Oh, yeah,” he said, extending a hoof to her. “I'm Steelmind.” Noticing she didn't take it, he slowly retracted it.

   “Rarity,” the unicorn said. “It's a pleasure to meet you.” Steelmind looked down at his feet to see a large fluffy white cat, purring at his hooves and rubbing against him. “It seems Opalescence likes you. I've never seen her act this way around anypony before. Care for a cup of tea?”

“I guess,” Steelmind said. He sat down at a small table, Rarity’s cat still purring near his hooves. “This is a very lovely boutique, Rarity, and you seem to have a quite an eye for design.

“Thank you, Steelmind. I don’t believe I’ve ever met somepony with your level of finesse before; sugar?”

“Sure.” Opal jumped down from his lap and wandered off elsewhere as the unicorn set the two cups down. “Rarity, you are actually one of the first ponies that I’ve met here that isn’t the least bit disturbed about the fact that I’m a Trossel. Everypony else just seems to hide from me and my friends, except a unicorn that a friend of mine, Infernalo, has told me about. She works at the town library; sounds very nice.”

“Twilight,” Rarity inquired. “Oh yes, she really is. She’s one of my closest and dearest friends, and very bright; I think that you might like her.” She took a sip of tea, Steelmind doing the same to be polite.

“This is very good tea, Rarity.”

“Thank you, dear. So, tell me a little about yourself. How are you enjoying Ponyville?”

   Back in Seldreinia, in the tallest tower of a very large castle just outside of the city, a young light-colored young freckled mare looked out at the empty town, not even the tumbleweeds were left in the city. She turned back to her mirror and brushed her short pink and orange mane, tying it into two pigtails on either side to keep it out of her eyes. Her spotted tail had a large dark blue bow at the base and was covered in ribbons of several different colors with a big white ribbon at the end. Her deep plum eyes looked very bright, but also cast shadows of the very bleak and dark emotions beneath as she tied on her bright green bandanna, and placed the golden crown on her head. The young queen glanced down at her cutie mark: a large crystal shooting beams of different-colored energy, a symbol that had been passed down since their race began and finally fell to her; Queen Paragontal of Seldreinia, daughter of King Universal Reign, the latest Omni Trossel and gifted with the power and knowledge to use every elemental power. She remembered how excited she was, not only to finally have her cutie mark, but to be the Omni Trossel.

However, as her status became more well known, her ‘friends’ started becoming less and less subtle that it was only because she was powerful and ruled over the land that they gave her so much as a second glance and not because she was a kind, smart pony. Every day, Paragontal wished more and more that she could go back to being a nopony with friends than a Trossel who was unto a god without a single she could want and all the subjects she could never need. There was a knock on her door, as she opened it with magic. A handsome grey-teal pony with a black and dark pink mane and white puffy tail covered in small lilac spots stood in the doorframe, giving a gentle smile. Unlike his little sister, his teal eyes were proud and dominant with the utmost of confidence; Paragontal wished that Yartomere, the Omni Trossel from Djinn before her, was reincarnated into her big brother Xanatos, simply because he had all the qualms of a true leader: confident, wise, fully aware of the extent of his power, and he didn’t actually have the craving more social interaction that she did, making him the ideal ruler. Her father did most of the royal tasks and duties around Golirath for her.

“Sister,” he asked. “Shall we depart to Equestria? Father has tasked us to inform the alicorn Princess Celestia of the recent migrations of several of our ponies into their society.”

“Xanatos, you don’t have to talk like that,” Paragontal said. “It’s only for the subjects.” Xanatos may not have been a social pony, but he could tell when something was troubling his queen; Xanatos may have been her lord, but he was always her big brother first.

“Does something trouble you, my queen?” she shot him a look, and he cleared his throat. “I mean, is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing, Xan. I just wish Daddy would come home.” Xanatos sat down on her griffin feather bed, and motioned for her to sit as well. She sighed and sat next to him.

“Father must attend to other matters in the kingdom to ensure that the Cursed Trossels’ influence doesn't corrupt our ponies or they migrate to other lands,” Xanatos explained, clearing his throat again. “Sorry, old habit. He would go himself, but Father told us to go to Canterlot and inform the alicorn princesses of this. Those Kwincols may not be able to stop it, but they can at least prepare.” Paragontal nodded.

“Alright, let’s just go.” She teleported them to the large door of a white castle, the Equestrian flag flapping in the calm breeze; despite the castle being nothing more than a shed when compared to the Seldreinian or especially the Deosprian castles, Paragontal did feel a sense of majesty in its shadow. Muscularly-built ponies with large white wings in gold armor traversed the grounds, saluting the strange ponies as they walked by. They were stopped at the door by a pair of guards holding pole axes before they could enter the castle.

“Halt,” one guard said. “What is your business here?”

“We come to inform the princess of a threat of the utmost importance to her kingdom,” Xanatos explained. “King Universal Reign of Golirath has personally chosen and sent us to deliver her a message face to face.” The guards lifted their pole axes and opened the door, allowing the Trossels to enter as the guards escorted the two to a massive throne room full of stained glass windows of the alicorn princesses, and a group of Kwincols defeating a black alicorn and a draconequus. A tall white alicorn with a long horn and large wings and a long flowing mane and tail radiating magical energy sat in a large golden throne, causing the sun to slowly lower in the sky with her magic, something that even Paragontal wasn’t capable of. She turned to see the two Trossels in her throne room.

“I was hoping to expect King Universal Reign,” the Princess said. “I can’t say that I’ve ever met either of you.”

“Well,” Xanatos said. “In all fairness, neither of us has ever met you.”

“Universal Reign is our father,” Paragontal explained. “I’m Queen Paragontal of Seldreinia, and this is my brother Lord Xanatos. Our father sent us in his place while he deals with something within our land. We’re simply here to inform you that some of our own will be residing within your land for an undefined period of time.”

“I’m aware,” the princess said. “If there are any problems in your kingdom…”

“All things aside, we are more than capable of defending our own,” Xanatos said firmly. “We may step in with it spreads too far; our motives, or at least my own, are entirely selfish, however.” They teleported away shortly after, Paragontal glaring at him; Xanatos shrugged at her. “What is it?”

“Xanatos,” she started but finally just gave up.

“What do we owe them? Nothing, that’s what; there’s no reason for—“

“It’s the principle of it. Look, can I just have a few minutes with my thoughts. Please?”

“But…” he saw that she was needed some time to herself and nodded. “Very well, little sister; I shall depart.” Before he left a scroll teleported into the room; it unraveled itself and hovered in front of them, Paragontal lighting up at the insignia at the top.

“It’s from Daddy,” she said excitedly. “Dear Paragontal, though I am not currently present, continuing my work elsewhere in the kingdom, I do wish to inform you that we may prevent the prophecy from coming to pass by tracking to find who the Sixth Elements have become in this lifetime. I know that if anypony can find them, it’s my little girl. Hope things are going well with your brother, and I should be returning to home on the morrow; with deepest regards, King Universal Reign I.”

“I suppose that we must,” Xanatos said, trying to reassure his sister.

“I never wanted any of this responsibility, Xan. I just wish that you could’ve been the Omni Trossel instead of me.” She buried her face in her pillows.

“I know, sister,” he started. “I’ll just leave you with your thoughts, unless you want me to stay.” She shook her head.

“I’d prefer to just be left alone for now,” she said, her voice muffled. Xanatos nodded and left, slowly closing the door behind him.