Essays Index
Magical Items series: Part 1 - The Eternal Elements

A deep dive into the mechanics and history of the Elements of Harmony, as well as some of their derivatives. I've been working on this one ever since I released Just Dodge!, but it was slow to come, as I also wanted to cover the other artefacts of the Eternals such as the Box of Harmony, the Darkstone Throne, and the Chaos Blade in the same series. But in the end, I decided that this was more than enough material for its own essay.

Since we're getting into magical representations of opposing abstract concepts and virtues here, I hope you're ready to get P H I L O S O P H I C A L.

The Eternal Elements:
Elements of Harmony:
The Elements of Harmony are a set of six magical artefacts which were created by the Tree of Harmony. They exist in two forms. First are the magical forms of the Elements, which are called their aspects. Second are the physical forms of the Elements, known as their vessels.

The aspects are the true Elements of Harmony, and were created using the psychic impressions of the concepts of honesty, loyalty, kindness, generosity, joy, and friendship. These concepts fall within the Tree of Harmony's domain, and so their psychic impressions naturally formed within her soul rather than birthing distinct lesser deities. The aspects of the Elements of Harmony are thus not sentient entities themselves, but still each individually wield power equivalent to that of a lesser deity. Like a lesser deity, the raw power of each Element is drawn from its respective concept, with a radius covering the entirety of the Nine Realms. In this way, every act of kindness in Equestria empowers the Element of Kindness, every joyful laugh strengthens the Element of Laughter, and so on and so forth.

In contrast, the vessels of the Elements of Harmony are primarily gemstones, created from the fruit of the Tree of Harmony's archtree body, though they can potentially take any number of forms to tailor themselves to their bearers. Their primary purpose is to act as a representation of the aspects for the sake of their mortal bearers, to make them aware that they are taking up a mantle and wielding an external power. The aspects also physically reside in the vessels by default. However, the vessels of the Elements are not actually necessary to their function, and are in reality superfluous. Even if a vessel is destroyed outright, it makes no difference to the displaced aspect, which will simply move to reside in its bearer's body instead, though the bearer can still choose to recreate their Element's vessel if they so wish.

The Tree of Harmony is strongly bonded to the Elements of Harmony, and is the entity who creates and severs the bonds between the Elements and their bearers. Because the Elements are tied to specific virtues which the Tree considers important to achieving harmony, they are intended to be wielded by champions who exemplify those virtues. Thus, when the Tree forms the bond between a bearer and their Element, it does so by linking the aspect to the bearer's identity as an exemplar of that trait. This may cause minor headaches after the new bearers first activate their Elements, but afterwards, the bonds are locked in, and will continue to be so for as long as the bearers embody the virtues which they were chosen for. These bonds can be temporarily disrupted by magical corruption, but will not truly be broken unless the Tree of Harmony herself decides to sever the connection, which she usually only does in the event of a bearer's death.

In fact, once forged, the bond between a bearer and their Element is in some ways even stronger than the connection between the Elements and the Tree. While the Tree of Harmony herself only needs to reside in the same universe as its Elements in order to remain connected to them across any distance of space, even this limitation does not apply to sanctioned bearers. Even taking an Element of Harmony into another universe altogether does not prevent its bearer from summoning it back or calling upon its power, so long as they are actually aware that this is an ability they have. This makes it almost impossible to permanently steal an Element of Harmony, though they can still be temporarily hijacked under the right circumstances.

In addition to assigning them to bearers, the Tree of Harmony also plays several other roles in the function of the Elements. For one, in the unlikely event that the Elements of Harmony are ever somehow depleted of their power, the Tree of Harmony uses her own magic to supplement and recharge them. For another, whenever the Elements choose to banish an enemy, it is the Tree who maintains the magical seals on their prison, so that the Elements themselves do not have to constantly expend power to keep such powerful entities sealed away.

However, arguably the Tree of Harmony's most important function is regulating the use of the Elements, which cannot be activated without its permission. This prevents the Elements from being abused by fallen or unworthy bearers with ill intentions, and is also intended to prevent anybody except for their true bearers from using the Elements at all. However, as noted, since the Tree of Harmony's connection to the Elements does not extend beyond its own universe, taking an Element of Harmony into an alternate universe is sufficient to bypass this safeguard, allowing its power to be hijacked and activated without permission, though even in this scenario, the Element's connection to its true bearer remains.

The Elements of Harmony are intended to be used as a set, forming a kind of magical circuit with each other and the Tree, as their power is amplified, naturally, by their bearers working in harmony with one another. Without the full set, the Elements will not function properly, but due to their mutual connections, the full set can potentially be activated by any number of bearers, so long as those bearers are all working in harmony with each other. This allows the Elements of Harmony to continue functioning even in the case of a missing or corrupted bearer, such as when Celestia was able to wield all six Elements alone against Nightmare Moon, or when Rarity was similarly corrupted and then saved by her friends. However, this is strictly an emergency measure, as drawing upon an Element of Harmony without its true bearer will not work for long, unless another bearer in the group is fully capable of taking up the missing bearer's mantle themselves.

Because the Tree of Harmony acts to represent the balance between Order and Chaos, two of the Elements also function as representatives of these other forces, and so have additional requirements and expectations of their bearers. The Element of Laughter is the Tree's concession to Chaos, and is optimally wielded by a chaotic bearer who exemplifies the joy, excitement, and love of life that Chaos brings. The Element of Magic, in contrast, represents the positive aspects of Order; it is a control Element which maintains the bonds between the other five, representing leadership and unity, and so is elevated in importance above the others and contains greater magical power, as well as only manifesting its vessel once the other five supporting Elements are already assigned to their bearers. But in this way, the Element of Magic also represents friendship itself, as friendship is the power which maintains these bonds of unity.

When used, the Elements of Harmony are initially activated by their bearers consciously choosing a target and agreeing on their intentions towards it. Once the Tree authorises the activation, the magical circuit is completed, and the Elements of Harmony begin their charge-up sequence. Once this begins, the Elements are locked onto their target, and the bearers are shielded by a protective and restorative magical field. Besides defending the bearers from external attack or manipulation to prevent the charge-up from being interrupted, this field also rejuvenates their bodies, heals injuries, and leaves them in a pristine state, as demonstrated when their first use against Nightmare Moon regrew Rarity's tail.

Once fully activated, the Elements of Harmony form a temporary gestalt consciousness from the minds of its bearers and the Tree, drawing on the knowledge, skills, and personalities of each, which is the primary reason why the bearers must be both in harmony with one another and pure of heart. This gestalt entity, wielding the full power of all six Elements of Harmony and the vast knowledge of the Tree, is the being which directs the power of the Elements, decides what form it takes, and what spells to use against the chosen target.

If it wishes, this entity can manifest a form for itself, such as when it appeared as a giant alicorn during the confrontation with the Dazzlings. The gestalt is usually more subtle than this, but the more often a particular group of bearers draws upon the Elements, the more their gestalt may begin to act out. In the case of the mane six, gaudy transformations such as the Rainbow Power are a direct result of their gestalt inheriting the creative impulses of Rarity and the chaotic enthusiasm of Pinkie Pie, resulting in the gestalt acting out its chaotic, creative desires in its few brief moments of existence. A similar phenomenon can be observed with the Rainbooms, who also undergo magical transformations, though theirs are also influenced by superhero comics and magical girl anime, which several of the human bearers are fans of.

Once under the direction of the gestalt consciousness, the Elements of Harmony are an almost unstoppable weapon. They cannot be escaped, as once locked onto a target, the magic of the Elements can breach any shield, cross any dimensional barrier, follow a fleeing target through the time and into alternate universes, and cannot be fooled by any trick or disguise. The Elements are also extremely fast and precise, able to catch targets quickly, and inflict multiple complex spell effects simultaneously to hit their target while avoiding collateral damage. These effects are not limited to defeating villains either, as the Elements are also highly effective at healing, cleansing, repairing, and restoring on a grand scale.

Typically, when directed against a living target, the gestalt determines their fate by attempting to make contact with their mind and judge them. If it finds only pure evil, or no sentient mind at all, it will kill or destroy the target. Otherwise, it will offer them a chance of redemption. If this offer is accepted, then the Elements will burn away any magical corruption, and if necessary, hit the target with mind-altering magic along the lines of a reforming spell, as they did with both Sunset Shimmer and Luna. However, if it receives no response, or if this offer is spurned, then the gestalt defaults to magical imprisonment and stasis instead.

This is a much riskier option, as maintaining the magical seals on imprisoned enemies requires the circuit between the Tree, the Elements, and their bearers to remain intact, meaning that either destroying the Tree, killing the bearers, or even just the Elements transferring to new bearers will disrupt all the previous seals, and potentially allow previously imprisoned entities to escape. For this reason, the Elements of Harmony should not be considered a permanent solution for dealing with persistently malevolent villains, and are best used as a last resort or deterrent.

The Elements of Harmony are not the only set of their kind, as other worlds across the cosmos have their own Elements of Harmony to protect themselves from Order, Discord, and all other threats. However, in the history of Nine Realms, there has only ever been one set of Elements of Harmony, which Celestia and Luna were the first and only bearers of, until Twilight Sparkle and her friends took up the burden centuries later.

Geodes of Harmony:
The Geodes of Harmony are an alternate set of Elements of Harmony, created by the Stump of Harmony of Earth-237 after her reawakening. The magic surge unleashed by Princess Twilight and Demon Shimmer at the Fall Formal partially revived Earth-237's long dead Tree of Harmony, and the connection the alternate Element of Magic drew between Princess Twilight and her friends' human counterparts allowed her to identify and designate the human versions of the mane six as her chosen bearers as well, with Earth-237's Element of Magic accepting both versions of Twilight Sparkle as acceptable bearers.

Metaphysically, Earth-237's Elements of Harmony function almost identically to Equestria's, and were produced in the same manner, with the aspects formed from the same six concepts, and the vessels again grown from the Stump of Harmony's archtree body. However, due to her weakened state upon reawakening, the Geodes of Harmony are cruder in design than Equestria's Elements of Harmony, and the Stump was also unable to present her bearers with their vessels right away, instead gifting them their aspects first and the physical Geodes later.

Aside from their aesthetic, the Geodes of Harmony also differ from Equestria's Elements of Harmony in some of their functions. Most especially, they are uniquely tailored for the limitations of the human species, as human beings naturally lack the ability to use magic, and are extremely vulnerable to demonic transformation if exposed to external magic from almost any source. While being a legitimate bearer is already enough on its own to insulate humans from demonic transformation, these Elements of Harmony must also compensate for their bearers' lack of channelling or casting ability. They achieve this in two primary ways, one intended to work on a group level, and the other on an individual level.

The first way is through a partial physical transformation, temporarily changing the bearers' bodies into a state halfway between a human and a pony, drawing primarily on the memories and experiences of Princess Twilight and Sunset Shimmer. These temporary transformations allow the bearers to mimic pony magic such as pegasus flight, earth pony strength, and unicorn casting, and are primarily intended for group efforts. However, as such abilities are of limited use when the Elements are fully activated and the gestalt consciousness is in control, these transformations can be individually induced at an earlier stage by displays of harmony, if they would be appropriate for the situation. Acts of friendship and virtue, harmony with oneself, and even musical harmony are all valid triggers for this transformation, though transforming in this manner is more difficult with fewer bearers in close proximity.

The second method of enabling magic use, intended to help the bearers on a more individual level, is that the Geodes of Harmony themselves also act as channelling points for their bearers, much like many other enchanted objects such as wands. This allows the bearers to use their own unique magical abilities at will, without requiring a physical transformation first. Uniquely to this set of Elements of Harmony, the enchantments enabling the individual powers are functions of the vessels, not the aspects, and so the bearers require at least some physical proximity to their Geodes in order to use their powers. However, much like their Equestrian counterparts, the physical state of the Geodes is irrelevant to their functioning, and they can theoretically be reformed or summoned back by their bearers at any time if lost or destroyed.

The unique individual abilities which the Geodes of Harmony enable are much like talent spells, using the bearers' unique soul signatures as a base for the spell structure, and then building upon them using the Stump of Harmony's magical knowledge to create coherent, predictable, and reproducible effects. As such, the bearers' abilities are all intended as reflections of their special talents.

However, the Geode powers are not perfect representations of their bearers' personalities, nor do they match the actual talent spells of their Equestrian counterparts. This is in part because of the differences between the human and pony versions of each bearer, such as the human Rainbow Dash's talent being speed in general rather than fast flying in particular. Some of the differences are also due to the Stump of Harmony designing the powers to be broadly useful for a variety of situations, instead of perfectly fitting for their bearers. Thus, Twilight Sparkle received telekinesis instead of a power based on Strange Magic, Rarity received her diamond shields instead of Shine On, and Sunset Shimmer received her touch telepathy power instead of No Rest for the Wicked. Applejack's super strength is another example of a Geode power granted for utility rather than propriety.

Unlike the full Harmony blast, the individual abilities draw on the bearers' own souls for power, just as pony magic in Equestria does. Because of this, the Geodes of Harmony also have a limit on how much magic they can channel at any given time, as a safeguard to prevent reckless magic use, exhaustion, or total magical burnout. If overtaxed, the Geode powers will stop working and require a cooldown period to recharge. However, much like a muscle, the Geodes can be trained, and as their limits are pushed, the powers can greatly increase not just in endurance, but also in scope of their abilities. With extended use, the magic of the Geodes of Harmony continually learns and adapts, overcoming previous limitations and discovering new applications for its abilities.

The final major difference between the Geodes of Harmony and their Equestrian counterparts is the apparent presence of a seventh Element of Harmony for Sunset Shimmer, often called the Element of Empathy. While this would seem to indicate another fundamental difference in the Geodes of Harmony's creation process, in reality, this is not the case. Despite Sunset Shimmer being a legitimate bearer, and represented with her own Geode and her own individual power, she does not actually wield a seventh Element of Harmony. Instead, much like the Stump of Harmony recognises both the human Twilight and Princess Twilight as worthy bearers, so too is Sunset recognised as a secondary bearer for the Element of Magic, allowing her to lead her friends and activate the Elements of Harmony even in the absence of both Twilights, as she did to defeat Midnight Sparkle during the Friendship Games.

Elements of Disharmony:
The Elements of Disharmony are a set of five magical artefacts crafted by Discord as his own counterpoints to the Elements of Harmony. Metaphysically, they function much the same, with mechanically unnecessary vessels, and their true power contained within their aspects, forged from several psychic impressions from Discord's own soul that fall within his domain. These Elements are devoted to what Discord regards as the primary virtues of chaos, and each is intended to be both a counter and a critique to their corresponding Element of Harmony. These virtues are freedom, creativity, passion, desire, and individualism.

The Element of Creativity is opposed to Honesty, encompassing deception through lying, but also stories, art, and inspiration. The Element of Passion is a critique of Laughter, as it contains all forms of passion, including anger and lust, not just joyful exuberance. The Element of Desire opposes Generosity, as it represents the desires and ambitions which drive and motivate people, including love, wealth, power, and success. The Element of Freedom is a counter to Loyalty, devoted to free will, the spirit of independence, and not being tied down by others. And the Element of Self is a counterpoint to Kindness, representing the will to survive, the necessity of looking after one's own needs before others, and the drive for violence necessary for self-preservation. As for the Element of Magic, it has no counterpart, as the fact that the Elements of Disharmony eschew a unifying control or leader Element altogether is its opposite.

Just as the Tree is connected to the Elements of Harmony to authorise and regulate their use, the Elements of Disharmony are connected to Discord, who can assign them to bearers if he wishes. Unlike the Elements of Harmony, however, the Elements of Disharmony were designed to function independently, and do not require his permission to use, instead bending to the will of any semi-suitable bearer who comes across them. They also do not work as a set, gain no special benefit from activating simultaneously, and do not require any kind of complete circuit to use. Discord himself plays no role in their function other than initially assigning their bearers, meaning that individual Elements of Disharmony are not affected by any harm befalling Discord or any of the other bearers, and they do not require Discord's explicit permission to activate. This allows them to be freely used on any target at their bearers' discretion, including other bearers if they so desire. Even Discord himself is a valid potential target for the Elements of Disharmony, albeit one they are extremely ineffective against.

As they do not work as a set, the Elements of Disharmony instead give their bearers individual powers, similar to the Geodes of Harmony, only themed around the Elements themselves rather than their bearers. The Element of Creativity gives its bearer great powers of conjuration, transformation, and illusion. The Element of Passion enhances the bearer's physical abilities to incredible limits. The Element of Freedom grants super speed, intangibility, and perfect instant teleportation across impossible distances. The Element of Self protects the bearer from almost all forms of harm or manipulation. And the Element of Desire grants its bearer great charisma and powerful mind-affecting magic to help them obtain their heart's desire. Each of the Elements also comes with a plethora of minor secondary powers and protections to complement their main abilities and keep their bearers alive.

In addition, while the Elements of Harmony only form a temporary gestalt consciousness to direct their power when activated, the Elements of Disharmony each have permanent but rudimentary individual intelligences of their own. These intelligences are very primitive, with no real personalities beyond a base drive to embody their respective virtues, and they retain no memories aside from their inherent knowledge of the magic they wield. Instead, these spirits of disharmony mimic the memories, traits, and personalities of their bearers, becoming their shadows, only with a greatly exaggerated drive towards disharmony.

This is because the Elements of Disharmony cannot actually harmonise with their bearers in the same way the Elements of Harmony do, and do not obey their bearers' direct commands. Instead, the Elements of Disharmony take on the personalities of their bearers so as to better anticipate their needs and tailor their magic accordingly, and will act independently using their host bodies as a conduit when they believe they are most needed. This system mostly works as intended, though has predictable side effects, such as the Elements sometimes acting out at unexpected or inopportune times, occasionally not responding when actually needed, or the personalities of the Elements and their bearers bleeding into each other and becoming confused. Bearers of Disharmony going mad and being possessed by their Elements is not uncommon (especially with particularly ill-suited bearers), and this effect usually requires Discord's direct intervention to fix.

The Elements of Disharmony in the Nine Realms were first created and distributed by Havoc, the previous incarnation of Discord, when she first came to the Borderworld following the Split, though Discord has rarely bothered with them since, preferring to let the Elements of Disharmony take their own courses through history. Taking on a wide variety of forms, the Elements of Disharmony were never recognised as a set, instead becoming individually infamous magical artefacts of legend.

The Element of Creativity became known as the Inspiration Manifestation, and passed between numerous great artists and dark wizards across the world before eventually being recovered by the Royal Sisters during the Reign of Chaos as a potential weapon against Discord, by which time it had taken the form of a book of stone tablets describing the discoveries of its previous bearers. Upon learning its true nature, it was locked away by the Royal Sisters in their castle until its rediscovery by Spike many years later, and its vessel was subsequently destroyed in order to save Rarity from possession. Though its aspect survived despite this, the Element of Creativity was left without a bearer as a result, and thus currently lays dormant.

The Element of Passion, also known as the Stone of Tears, is an artefact fought over throughout history, taking the form of a red gemstone which was worked into many different items of jewellery, including crowns, rings, necklaces, bracelets, and talismans. The Stone of Tears first came to prominence during the Chimera Wars, the centrepiece of many critical battles, where it was worn by numerous kings and warriors. It later passed between several noble families, for whom it played a part in a number of tragic romances, gaining its name. From there it made its way to a bard's college of the Unicorn Kingdom, and was briefly lost during the Reign of Chaos, before turning up again in the possession of a chivalric knight order. Throughout the Celestial Eras, it changed hooves between many great Equestrian institutions, including the Church of the Holy Sun, the Hunters Guild, Apollo Division, and the Royal Guard, before eventually finding its way into the private possession of the Sunheart family, the last scion of whom is rumoured to have pawned it off for drinking money.

The Element of Freedom took the form of a pair of ethereal prosthetic wings, known to history as the Favour of the Stars, and was initially gifted by Havoc to Boreas, the god of the sky, storms, and warfare, who led the griffon invasions of Thoroupe during the Chimera Wars. Boreas made the Favour of the Stars a status symbol in his army, bestowing it upon a champion of Griffonia once every generation (usually after they killed the previous champion). It is rumoured that it was one such champion who eventually slew Boreas himself during the griffon uprising, leading to his sealing within the Idol of Boreas, after which the Favour of the Stars became another treasure fought over by the warring griffon nobles. Unfortunately, it was eventually lost forever along with its last bearer, a griffon warrior known as Escape Velocity, who was possessed by the Favour of the Stars, and lived up to both its name and his own by using its power to leave the planet, never to return.

The Element of Self is the only Element of Disharmony to have never been known by another name, having been inseparable from its original bearer ever since he ingested it long ago, and never known to the wider public. The Element of Self was gifted by Havoc to the now infamous Bugbear, permanently protecting him from not just physical and mental attack, but also age, illness, magic, and any other form of harm, rendering him immortal. Ruling over his own territory for much of his solitary existence, the Bugbear committed many terrible crimes over the centuries, for which he was eventually brought to account by Special Agent Sweetie Drops of SMILE, who was able to trick and imprison the monster within Tartarus.

Finally, the Element of Desire became known as the Apple of Discord, taking the form of a solid gold apple. Using a particularly extreme variation on the Want-It-Need-It spell, the Apple was used by the minotaur Eris during the Reign of Chaos as a means of sowing strife in the region of modern Minos, breaking up a diplomatic meeting between the leaders of the surrounding city-states, and plunging them into war to clear the way for the minotaur invasion. The Apple of Discord itself was lost in the fighting, but the eventual outcome of the conflict was the emergence of the state of Minos, the creation of Cerberus, and the fall of every pony civilization in the region save for the city-state of Trot. Though the Apple of Discord's ultimate fate is unknown, it notably later became the symbol of the Brotherhood of Chaos, a secretive Discord-worshipping cult, whose uncanny ability to avoid detection or capture by authorities for over a thousand years was a cause for much suspicion.

Elements of Order:
In response to both Discord and the Tree of Harmony's own creations, Order also long ago produced his own corresponding set of Elements of Order, primarily to maintain a sense of symmetry with his counterparts, though also to directly counter the Elements of Harmony and Disharmony on a tactical level, as well as to assert his own ideology against theirs. They were created in a similar manner, using psychic concepts drawn from Order's own soul, but unlike their counterparts, the Elements of Order eschew vessels altogether, and exist solely as aspects, residing in the bodies of their bearers.

The Elements of Order are most similar to the Elements of Harmony, but designed to be more efficient as weapons. They are again a set of six, and can be used in tandem to unleash a devastatingly powerful blast of dark magic, which can rival the Elements of Harmony in power, range, and utility, though they are generally more lethal than the Elements of Harmony are. The charge-up period for this attack also similarly protects and heals its bearers. However, unlike the Elements of Harmony, the Elements of Order do not require all six bearers to be present or even alive to use this attack, as the control Element has the ability to draw on the power of the other five directly without the need for their bearers' consent.

Bearers of the Elements of Order are exclusively selected by Order himself, and are almost always orderly gods or demigods, though exceptionally powerful mortals have also been known to make the cut. Order can create and sever the bonds between bearers and their Elements at will, and remains deeply connected to them at all times, even able to hear his bearers' thoughts and feelings. Like the Tree of Harmony, Order also directly contributes his own magical power and knowledge their function. However, in contrast, he does not need to personally authorise every use of the Elements of Order, and can instead delegate the task to the lead bearer's discretion if Order himself is distracted or debilitated, though he can still immediately shut down any unauthorised uses of his Elements if he desires.

The six Elements of Order represent Order's own perceived virtues, which are control, logic, unity, justice, equality, and purity. Like the Elements of Disharmony, the Elements of Order were conceived as direct critiques of their counterparts, and also grant their bearers additional predefined powers which can be used independently of the group, each inspired by a different Element. However, unlike the other sets, these additional powers are not truly individualised, as all of the Elements of Order aside from the leader use the same powers. This serves both to make the bearers as efficient a fighting force as possible, and also to make the philosophical point that individual strengths and virtues are ultimately meaningless, as all worthy bearers should be striving for the same perfect ideal regardless.

The Element of Leadership, representing control, is a counterpart to the Element of Magic, and functions much the same in the sense that it is a leader Element elevated above the other five. It is also the only Element of Order with an entirely unique power, able to exert direct and unbreakable mind control over the other five bearers, though all of the bearers share the lesser ability to use this same mind control on non-bearers. The Element of Leadership is also represented by incredible telekinetic power, again shared among the group.

The Element of Wisdom, representing logic, is a counterpart to the Tree's Element of Honesty and Discord's Element of Creativity. It asserts that one should always follow their head rather than their heart, whether that be an idealist's heart leading them to blind adherence to a virtue like honesty, or an artist's heart leading them to thoughtlessly indulging their whims like creativity. By the Element of Wisdom's logic, neither truth, deception, nor creative thinking are inherently good or bad, and instead, all should be used as needed depending on what is the most pragmatic course of action for the situation. This is represented by the Elements of Order's powers of emotion-dampening for clarity of mind, limited precognition to show the bearers their most direct paths to victory or success, and ability to pierce illusions.

The Element of Unity is a counterpart to the Element of Loyalty and the Element of Freedom, representing group cohesion, cooperation, and harmony, but more importantly, obedience and adherence to the leadership. It is not incompatible with the Tree of Harmony's ideal of loyalty, but more strongly emphasises loyalty to the leader and the collective, similar to patriotism or operating within a military structure, rather than personal loyalty or individual emotional bonds. It also thus stands in stark opposition to Discord's characterisation of freedom, despite also eschewing personal bonds in the same way. The Element of Unity is represented by the power of telepathy, both between the bearers to allow them to cooperate with each other, and towards non-bearers so that they may monitor the loyalty and intent of others.

The Element of Justice is opposed to the Element of Kindness and the Element of Self, and represents both punitive and restorative justice, security, and the enforcement of peace through the threat of violence. Like the Element of Self, it opposes the Element of Kindness on the grounds of the necessity of violence, though it frames this in the context of that violence serving the greater good rather than the needs of the individual. The Element of Justice is thus represented through the various combat-oriented powers of the Elements of Order, including the bearers' enhanced strength, speed, stamina, durability, and ability to summon shields or projectiles, as well as their most potent attack, an instant death spell.

The Element of Equality is the counterpart to both the Element of Generosity and Element of Desire. As the Element of Generosity is similar in concept to the Element of Kindness, so too is the Element of Equality close to the Element of Unity. This Element once again focuses on the supremacy of the group over the individual, but this time more specifically in the context of ownership. As opposed to generosity, which is those with plenty giving to those without, or desire, which is to want what one doesn't have, Order's conception of equality is for nobody to need to give or take from anyone else. Similar to communism, the Element of Equality represents an ideal where everyone's needs are provided for equally, and nobody needlessly takes or owns more than anybody else, for they are all treated the same in the collective (except for the leadership, of course). This is represented in the Elements of Order by the bearers' power of duplication, both duplication of objects, and duplication of lifeforms, including themselves.

Finally, the Element of Purity is opposed the Element of Laughter and Element of Passion. Similar to the Element of Wisdom, it is a rejection of emotion in favour of calm, though it is a broader rejection in this case. Instead of rejecting emotional thinking in favour of logical thinking, the Element of Purity rejects chaos in general, especially the emotional chaos of joy or passion, in favour of a pure, orderly ideal. This encompasses purity of mind, such as lack of emotion, unthinking obedience, and living an orderly lifestyle; purity of soul, achieved through purging oneself of the influences of Chaos or Harmony; and purity of body, in this case meaning not just perfect health and cleanliness, but also "racial purity," and living up to Order's idea of genetic perfection (i.e. alicorn supremacy). The Element of Purity is represented by the bearers' incredible powers of healing and restoration, as well as a wide variety of counterspells to purge or nullify chaotic and harmonic magic.

In addition, unlike their counterparts, the aspects of each of the Elements of Order are fully sapient and capable of communicating with their bearers, though they do not have free will, as they cannot feel emotion, and are bound to obey both Order and their bearers in all things. The primary purpose of their sentience is to be objective outside observers, guides, and advisors to their bearers (especially when training new bearers), and to handle coordinating the wide variety of powers available to the bearers, so that they are not overwhelmed or confused in the heat of battle. These spirits also retain the magic and memories of all their previous bearers, as whenever a bearer is killed, their soul is absorbed by their Element of Order, so that their power and experience may be used to benefit their successor.

Notably, although Order did create a set of Elements of Order in the Nine Realms for an elite unit of alicorns in his army (including Odin, the last bearer of the Element of Wisdom), these Elements were stripped from their bearers during the alicorn rebellion in the War of the Sun, and were never reassigned, thus effectively disappearing from history.

Acknowledgements:
-Elements of Disharmony have been a fandom trope for almost as long as Discord's been around (hell, even the show considered doing them for season nine), but I have to give it to Alara J. Rogers for actually making me take the concept seriously and get thinking about my own take on it, specifically with Not the Hero. I may have borrowed a few of the specifics of their functions from her take as well.
-I'll also blanketly credit Alara for a lot of my ideas about the Elements of Harmony as well. It's been so long now that I couldn't tell you what I came up with, what she came up with, and what was already in the show that she just pointed out to me in various times and places, but she definitely brought a lot to my attention, regardless.

Posh
Hoofler doesn’t drink.
we established this.

DannyJ
You are correct. Of course.
The insane rambling will still happen, though.

Posh

Well, duh.
agony would wonder if he was drunk before remembering he doesn’t drink.
then would wonder if he had gotten drunk.

DannyJ
Yes.

7672998

NOBODY'S PERFECT

I GOTTA WORK IT

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Even taking an Element of Harmony into another universe altogether does not prevent its bearer from summoning it back or calling upon its power, so long as they are actually aware that this is an ability they have.

"Would have been nice to know!"

Fascinating stuff throughout, especially the comparisons between the Harmony sets and the philosophical contrasts. (And, naturally, part of me deeply appreciates the Elements of Disharmony's strong black-red theming and Elements of Order's equally pronounced white-blue.)

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And, naturally, part of me deeply appreciates the Elements of Disharmony's strong black-red theming and Elements of Order's equally pronounced white-blue.

Seriously, you'd think after years of reading Friendship is Card Games I would've picked up more of this MTG stuff by now. Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and read Elementals of Harmony already.

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Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and read Elementals of Harmony already.

I mean, if you want to see what my writing was like during my acute case of Lavender Unicorn Syndrome...

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We all gotta start somewhere.