//------------------------------// // 2: Disharmonic Chords // Story: The Elements of Disharmony: Necessary Corruption // by Night_Shine //------------------------------// For the umpteenth time today, Spike felt incurably bored. This whole trip to Canterlot had interested him slightly more than his everyday routine of chores, but still, all of this talk about Elements and complex magic made his head hurt. It didn’t help that instead of having all of her friends accompany her to Canterlot to meet the Princess, Twilight insisted on going alone. Apparently Princess Celestia had specifically asked for her to come alone in the letter she sent, but why would she do that? It did not make sense for the Princess to act so secretive, since all these ponies seemed to talk about was the Elements of Harmony—from what he heard before zoning out completely. Why would they even need a Twilight to help a group of fancy Canterlot ponies talk about Elements of Harmony stuff? Then some random stallion wanted to talk to Twilight. What? He wanted to talk about some ‘confidential matter’? What the heck was that supposed to mean?! And why did Twilight act almost like she recognized him? Spike sighed and turned his head upwards. Princess Luna had trotted outside, onto the balcony outside the window, to raise the moon. Finally, he thought, somepony does something interesting… He watched as she rose into the air, her wings outstretched, an aura of blue magic shimmering hazily around her horn. Luna opened her eyes, which shone a brilliant white against the blackening atmosphere of dusk as magic flowed through her. A flash of brilliant light shone from behind the horizon, for only a blink of an eye. For that fleeting moment the brilliant moon rose once again, shining in all of its glory over Equestria, gazing down upon the ignorant thousands as they slept on. Suddenly a fleet of storm clouds approached, floating over the surface of the moon, drowning its light with a wall of darkness, corrupting its pure white with their spectrum of gray and black. Another bolt of lightning flashed from within the convergent body of darkness, followed moments later by the inevitable BOOM of thunder. Princess Luna floated back down onto the balcony, returning to her normal state as the magic receded within her. Carrying herself quite regally, she walked back inside towards the table and returned to her work, grabbing a quill in her magic and staring back at the crusty rolls of parchment at her spot on the table. Well, that burned two minutes. Spike glared at the door impatiently, straining to hear the incomprehensible mutterings of the ponies behind it. Twilight, what is taking you so long? What could that stallion possibly have to talk about that is so interesting?! Spike turned around, pouting with frustration, when something unexpected caught his eye. On the very far side of the table, away from all of the ponies and the furious scratching of their quills, something glinted in the flickering candlelight. He squinted and tried to make out what it was, but its form lay beyond the reach of his vision. For some reason, the ponies had decided to make the lighting in the room intentionally dim. Way to go, guys. He sighed and hopped up, walking slowly towards the other side of the table. None of the ponies noticed him, with their noses still firmly planted in their scrolls. Spike walked over to the far end of the table and he nearly tripped over a scroll sitting haphazardly on the ground. But he did not care, determined to see what had so captured his attention. Sitting right near the edge of the table sat a large glass container. Shadows cast by the dim candlelight danced across its foggy surface. He peered up into the box, and frowned as he noticed some kind of black necklaces inside, staring out at him from the other side of the glass. Spike jumped onto a chair to take a closer look. The necklaces shared the same form as the Elements of Harmony, but had a deep black color instead of one of shining gold. He took a look at the one closest to him. It looked much like the rest…except…a green-yellow diamond-shaped crystal hung lazily beneath the black necklace. Within that case, right in front of his eyes, lay the most beautiful jewel that he had ever seen. The flickering light slid down its smooth surface with indisputable perfection, drawing him closer to the pure crystal. No flaw dared to mar its shape, carved in purity. It looked like nopony had ever even touched it. Yet for some reason this incredible piece of art sat locked away inside a glass box. Spike suddenly felt a sense of annoyance pinch his mind, and his eyebrows furrowed over his unblinking gaze. Why would anypony want to put such beauty away, where nopony could see it? The necklace sat on top of a pile of similar ones, kept away from the world by the cruel walls of glass, kept away where nopony could have it. His arms slowly reached out toward the box, his eyes glazed over, completely mesmerized. Maybe if I could just- “Oh, I wouldn’t do that.” A clipped voice from behind Spike snapped him back into reality. He shook his head and blinked once, then twice. A wash of hot shame washed over him as he found himself half-leaning, balanced over the table in a pose that seemed completely desperate to reach the box in front of him. He recognized the pony as one of the researchers studying over on the other end of the table—Spike must have interrupted him. Stepping off of the chair, Spike suddenly took interest in the dark wood floor, refusing to meet the stallion's eyes. “Don’t worry, the Elements of Disharmony have that effect on everypony. Let them suck you in long enough, and who knows what could happen—that’s why keep them locked them in that box. Strangely though, no matter how many spells that Luna or I throw at it, those Elements still have this creepy, drawing aura around them. I’d stay away from them if I were you.” Spike nodded, taking one last glance at the beautiful diamond crystal before walking over to the door where he started. He would wait out the rest of the time for Twilight in silence. But for some reason, whenever he closed his eyes, the reflected candlelight on the diamond's smooth face still gleamed hungrily in his mind... Raising the moon had become very repetitive for Luna, after performing the task every evening since her return from the moon. Sometimes she forgot to appreciate the true beauty in the night that she summoned, hidden in the glimmering lights she wove into night's black curtain. Nopony could see it tonight, though, as the storm clouds had blanketed the sky and covered the beauty in the stars she had worked so hard to conjure for the ponies of Equestria…only to lull them to sleep. She walked through the balcony door, shutting it behind her and locking it without a second thought. One image pushed all others from her mind, an image drawn by her hoof on one sheet of parchment sitting at her spot on the table. “These theoretical ‘Elements of Disharmony’ would possess an equal and opposite potential for power as the Elements of Harmony…” Quotes from the various ancient books on magic swam through her head as she trotted to her seat and sat down, picking up her quill unconsciously. It automatically moved over the lightly shaded sketch on the paper in front of her, sweeping back and forth, back and forth, spreading miniscule droplets of ink over the drawing, fixing an improperly drawn line here, filling in a small gap in color there. “… and would be triggered by the opposite traits as the Elements of Harmony…” For so many hours over the past few days she had drawn this one shape, as research blossomed into curiosity in the depths of her mind. Somehow, Luna knew the shape as a lightning bolt cut into a bright, pale teal-blue crystal, although she did not know how she knew it. The crystal hung in the back of her mind, swinging across her vision with unnerving consistency. “…Loyalty would become Betrayal…” For the past several days since she drew the initial sketch of how it would look, she could not force the image from her mind, an image of the pale lightning bolt glowing faintly in her moonlight, rested comfortably against her neck… Princess Luna forced herself to look away, and her gaze rested on the glass box at the end of the table. Spike had climbed up on the table and stared directly into it, his eyes glazed over, completely mesmerized. Luna rolled her eyes. Has Twilight never told her assistant to stay away from dangerous magical objects? She sighed, and whispered to Spell Scholar, “We believe that our guest needs to keep his curiosity contained,” pointing at Spike. Spell Scholar nodded, and walked over to deal with the situation. Spike’s eyes had looked so blank, so...empty when he had looked into the box of the Elements. Was that how she looked whenever she stared at her drawings? Frowning, Luna slipped the sketch under a pile of papers, and tried to occupy her mind with one more book of ancient magic to read. Twilight Sparkle turned around to see Puzzle Master carefully shut the door behind him, slowly sliding its closed so that no curious ears would hear any sound from their conversation. Puzzle Master gently shut the door, making sure not to leave it open even a crack. Nopony must hear the dangerous exchanges in the soon-to-come verbal spar, the war of words, the game of chess between this young mare and himself. Will she be up to the challenge? Twilight decided that she had better cut to the chase before this Canterlot pony, a stallion who by looks and manners alone established himself as skilled with manipulation of words, could beat her to the point. She must take the offensive: “Princess Celestia knows who you are, Puzzle Master.” And the game begins. “Does she now? Then why did she send you here, if not to find out which identity of the research team I am using to conceal myself?” Already, with one sentence, he had crushed Twilight’s first offensive. She took a deep breath, letting the cool air calm her nerves. Check. Puzzle Master waited patiently for Twilight to make her next move, a sickening grin resting smugly upon his face. How will she attempt to defend this disastrous move, this early in the game? This may be easier than I thought… “Yeah, but once I do tell her, whatever you’re planning is ruined.” Twilight attempted to scrounge her last attack into another, remaining on the offensive. She is a very aggressive player. Confident, quick…yet audacious. “So you will actually tell her then? Last time you attempted to break somepony’s disguise in front of the Princess, did it work so well? I seem to recall that you were immediately locked in a cave, where nopony could hear you scream…” Play on the underlying self-doubt behind the façade of confidence. Twilight gulped. How could he have known what Chrysalis did to her? She had only told her closest friends…but Twilight could not dwell on such thoughts. Her refute must keep up the offense before Puzzle Master could make another such devastating blow. “That was different. There was an important wedding, and…” Twilight faltered for a moment. “Like you said, if the Princess had sent me here to find you, then why wouldn’t she trust me now?” Hopefully, twisting his own words against him could keep him at bay long enough for Twilight to reclaim the upper hand. What a perfect setup…does the foal even realize she left her most valuable piece wide open? “Ah, my dear, we have arrived at the central question—why DOESN’T she trust you? Why, indeed.” Check. “Of course the Princess trusts me...!” Twilight spoke without thinking, and then mentally cursed herself for setting up Puzzle Master to once again deal another devastating blow to her argument. Her offensive is ruined. I shall crush her with this checkmate and prepare for the second round. “I seem to recall you saying the opposite not five seconds ago…but let us digress from the obvious, as we both know that your claim to tattle on me to Celestia is nothing but a clever bluff—otherwise you would have already done so. Your dragon can send letters, no? Why did you not insist I wait to have this discussion, so you could send a letter to Celestia about my presence?” Now give her a moment to process the betraying implications of her own actions. Twilight’s mind reeled in shock. Why didn’t she tell the Princess immediately? She could have easily told Spike to send a short letter with Silver Tongue’s true identity in it. Was she not sure of who exactly he was? No, she was sure the moment that she saw him. So why… Shock has settled in nicely. The opponent is vulnerable; now I may proceed. “No, if you could have told Celestia who I am, you would have done so already. My purpose in this conversation is to discourage you from meddling in my plan. You see, you shall play an essential role in the dramatic events that are soon to occur, bringing with them a new era of-” “What events?!” Twilight 's eyes flew wide open and cold terror flooded through her. Puzzle Master knew exactly what he was doing, and his plan became horrifyingly clear to Twilight. The Elements of Disharmony were set perfectly in place to strike at the heart of Equestria, overthrowing the Elements of Harmony and bringing a new reign of terror by disharmony and evil! And with that, she swallows the façade perfectly. Not only can she see the predictable and immediate possible result of my workings, but she is short-sighted enough to believe that I am working only towards what any other power-mad villain she has encountered desires. I see no reason not to continue this illusion. “Believe me, you will know in due time. And of course you will play your part in them, whatever it may be. However, my plans for Equestria have been in place far too long to be upset by any interference you may cause.” And with this perfect setup of reverse psychology, the young leader of the Elements of Harmony plays directly into my hooves. Twilight jumped at the chance to reassert herself with Puzzle Master’s claim. It was time to deploy her strongest offense, the one thing not even Puzzle Master knew. “You do realize that my friends and I intercepted the letter you sent to your dearest brother Shady, don’t you?” “You WHAT?!” Puzzle Master’s deep growling voice cracked with a high-pitched squeak. For the first time in his recent memory, Puzzle Master spoke without thinking, his mask of cool confidence slipping off for a fraction of a second. If she read into that letter, she knows my true intentions…but not all is lost. I must cut my losses and reaffirm her naïve confidence that she knows what I am really after. Puzzle Master cleared his throat and returned to his usual, businesslike manner of speaking: “Well. That shall make this game even more interesting, no? But it is of little importance in the grand scheme of things. The pieces are set. Even as we speak, each of my Elements of Disharmony chooses a new master, carefully placed in the perfect position by your trusted leader…” Twilight frowned, not sure if Puzzle Master was acting like an idiot on purpose or just ignoring blatantly obvious facts: “They’re locked up in a box.” She thinks she has made a brilliant move! The filly has set me up perfectly. I must demonstrate for her how all of Equestria has played itself into my hooves. He chuckled once before replying. “You truly cannot grasp the power of the Elements of Disharmony, can you? Ask Spike how well the magical protections are working when we are done here. He can tell you how incredibly they keep the corrupting aura of the Elements from affecting anypony around them. Oh, and have you seen the Element of Betrayal anywhere, perchance?” Perfect. That close of a strike to her areas of vulnerability will place her automatically in a defensive position. Now for the killing blow to end this. From a secret pocket inside his coat, Puzzle Master drew a necklace, black as the coat of Nightmare Moon. A pale-blue crystal hung from its center, glowing softly, carved into the shape of a lightning bolt. Poor Princess Luna, Puzzle Master mused, what she craved so desperately was within her grasp all along. “I could have taken any Element out of that room at any point I desired. However, I do not think it would be wise to take any Element away from its future master prematurely, nor introduce an Element to its wielder before the time is right.” Check and mate. Another opponent defeated in this living game of Chess… A rising sense of panic bubbled up within Twilight as she realized exactly how much control Puzzle Master really had over the situation at hoof. He felt no fear of revealing to her that he had the Element of Betrayal all along, and within the very halls of Princess Celestia’s castle, no less! Twilight tried to form a response, but...she found that she could not. Instead she slowly backed away, opening the door to the meeting room carefully with her hind leg. She did not dare take her eyes off the pony in front of her for a moment until she was safely back in the meeting room, her back against the door. She jolted as a loud BOOM thundered overhead. A single bolt of lightning had collided with the top of the West Tower of Canterlot Castle, which stood so high and mighty above the city. The raging storm that invaded Canterlot under cover of darkness had begun its first strikes.