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1: A Storm is Brewing3,166 words
2: Disharmonic Chords3,059 words
3: Prepare for the Storm3,169 words
4: Moonset3,504 words
5: The Darkest Hour2,381 words
6: Dawn of Power3,391 words
7: Harmony Within4,743 words
8: Eye of the Storm3,305 words
9: The Masters of Harmony6,977 words
10: The Masters of Disharmony3,841 words
11: Faceoff4,819 words
12: To Fear Laughter4,986 words
13: To Deceive Honesty3,802 words
14: To Betray Loyalty4,684 words
15: To Crave Generosity3,330 words
16: To Tyrannize Kindness4,358 words
17: The Power of Magic4,136 words
18: Incorruptible5,160 words
19: Dawn272 words

1: A Storm is Brewing

The sun bled its last few rays of fiery-crimson light over the horizon as an armada of storm clouds swept over the land, drowning the sky in darkness. Its unrelenting howls echoed through the miles of empty air, towards the colossal spire of Canterlot Mountain that pierced the sky. No pegasi would have dared to drive such a storm, though the winds of fate carried no such reservations.

In his study, a smartly-dressed stallion set down his tea cup, observing with an expression of cheerful anticipation.

Spears of blinding light flashed between each cloud of the armada, sending deafening shouts of thunder echoing off of the mountain sides...yet nopony heard its noise, save this stallion seated in his private suite far above the gilded streets of Canterlot. He watched as each pony trotted to and fro below him, as small as the ants he loved to crush beneath his hooves as a child.

A chessboard sat in the center of his desk, a very odd chessboard indeed. On each side of the board sat a king and six pawns, placed in a scattered formation. Necklaces of gold paper hung around the necks of the white pawns, all but one, which wore a tiny paper tiara haphazardly atop its marble head.

However, the decorations of the black pieces did not mirror those of the white. They featured the same fake necklaces and crown, albeit black instead of gold, but instead of adorning all of the pawns, only one held all of them together.

With a light tap the lone stallion pushed forward that pawn and its necklaces, moving it one square closer to its nearest black pawn. The second pawn sat blissfully unaware of its impending fate, only two squares in front of the king and his first victim.

A BOOM of thunder exploded in the distance, rolling off the side of the mountain, only ambient noise to the focused stallion. Holding his hooves ever so carefully over the two pawns, he took one of the necklaces and gave it to the formerly plain black pawn, grinning as he ever-so-carefully placed the black paper around its neck.

Glancing up to the white king on the other side of the board, he finally spoke.

“Your move.”

The six surest ways to break the harmony of friendship are
Fear,
Deception,
Betrayal,
Greed,
Cruelty,
and the lust for Power.

Deep within the heart of the earth, below a hive swarming with discontent, the queen of the Changelings brooded on her throne. She glanced idly around the empty room, thoughts of deep frustration bouncing around her mind.

After months and months of searching for new targets, none of her scouts had reported any nation with nearly enough love to feed her kingdom. No land anywhere near the Hive possessed as much love as Equestria did. And yet, some of the more rebellious scouts had taken to minor raids in Equestria, feeding off of individual couples in small towns.

Had the great Changeling Army been reduced to this?

Among the Changeling populace, however, the Queen was hardly the only one to be plagued by the nagging doubts of frustration. Her Grand Siege of Canterlot was a total military disaster, putting back their schedule and food income by uncountable amounts. Rumors flew behind her back, hiding in the minds of the populace, that the Queen's divine authority could no longer be trusted...and yet she could never locate and consequently never behead those who spread the rumors.

Suddenly, inexplicably, her heartbeat quickened as the soft echo of hoofsteps passed through her throne room, interrupting her melancholy thoughts.

Bum-bum.

“Having a bad day, your highness?” A deep and gravelly voice resonated through the musty air, inflected not with concern but with amusement. Chrysalis whirled around to see a midnight-blue pony in shining chrome standing alone in the middle of her throne room. Its deep red eyes glared straight through her, reading the back of her mind.

Bum-bum.

“GUARDS! Remove this pony from my presence at once!” she shouted, irritated that an Equestrian had waltzed through her security this easily.

“Don’t worry, your highness…I took the liberty to make sure we could speak in private.”

Bum-bum.

A crackle of energy resounded through the room, and green flames crawled up the surface of her horn. "And did you consider that I may not want to speak in private?"

The Equestrian let the silence compose his response as wisps of smoke swirled gently around him.

“What do you want?!” Chrysalis snapped, shifting uncomfortably on her throne and trying to remember when she last sent away her throne room guards.

“I simply require your assistance with a plan to overthrow the tyrants in power in Equestria. The plan is rather complex in its details, so I will summarize it briefly: You, I, the spirit of chaos, and several others shall wield the recently discovered Elements of Disharmony, rendering the Elements of Harmony useless to defend the kingdom and its leader. You will wield the Element of Deception to counterbalance the power of the Element of Honesty. The forces of the Changeling army will not be required for this effort. Once the Elements of Harmony are knocked out, we shall utilize our Elements to topple Celestia from her throne.”

Chrysalis's eyes narrowed. “Why should I help you take down Celestia for some revenge plan? Our attack on her kingdom was only for the good of the Hive. It is of no use to me if you replace one tyrant with another in Equestria, if I help you achieve power and recieve nothing." She glared straight back at him, resisting the temptation to blink.

The Equestrian’s red eyes bored into her. “You can have the kingdom as soon as we take down its only important defenses. Everypony in the entire nation will be under your direct control. Imagine how much food that could provide for your Hive..."

Chrysalis frowned, letting a moment pause before replying. “I accept, but first you must answer a question, only a curiosity of mine...what do you get out of this deal?”

The pony did not blink an eye at the question. “It is not necessary for you to completely understand my motivations at this time. Now come—we must plan the necessary corruption of the other Elements, for...they may not be as easily persuaded as yourself.”

Dear Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student,

I want you to know that I have received the letter you sent me that you discovered from this "Puzzle Master," and that I found its message very disturbing. I appreciate that you informed me of this.

First of all, I want to tell you everything that we know about these mysterious Elements of Disharmony, compiled mostly by a research team that I commissioned after receiving your letter. It also appears, however, that an expert sorcerer named Second Sight posited the concept of these Elements in a book on theoretical magic several hundred years ago. He only devoted one short paragraph to what he thought was a fruitless theory:

“The Elements of Harmony, while powerful, may not be the only such set of jewels with nearly infinite magical potential. One must note, in studying the deeper science of most powerful magical forces of nature, the presence of symmetry in twos. Night and day, and the respective Princesses who control their power, are only one example of which there are many—but I digress. It is therefore theoretically possible that in order to balance the power of harmony with that of disharmony in our world, there are just as many elements of Disharmony as there are of Harmony. These theoretical ‘Elements of Disharmony’ would possess an equal and opposite potential for power as the Elements of Harmony, and would be triggered by the opposite traits as the Elements of Harmony: Loyalty would become Betrayal; Generosity would become Greed, et cetera. However, as no actual proof of these Elements exists, this is only a theory.”

While Second Sight mentioned after this that the existence of Discord seemed to counterbalance that of the Elements of harmony, it seems that his original theory may be worth more than he thought.

A renowned scholar and head of Black Castle Enterprises, Lord Silver Tongue, claimed that an associate of his discovered these artifacts within the Everfree Forest. When he brought them to Professor Regal Magus of the School for Gifted Unicorns, Magus immediately recognized them for their dangerous magical potential and contacted me personally. All of this occured only a few days ago. From what Magus and the others on the team have observed ince then, these artifacts match Second Sight's description to a tee.

Second, there is no Puzzle Master among my staff of professors, or even in Canterlot that I know of. The ponies in the research group are Spell Scholar, Lord Silver Tongue, Prof. Magus, and Princess Luna, who has taken charge of the situation. My sister has told me that she has a very profound knowledge of darker magic, from her time as Nightmare Moon...hopefully her experiences can help the team understand these Elements.

Finally, this pony mentioned that they have located five Elements of Disharmony. The last time I checked up on my group’s progress, they only reported to have found four: the Elements of Cruelty, Deception, Greed, and Fear, respectively.

The group has not made very much progress lately with further investigation of the Elements, and I am beginning to sense that more is happening in this situation than meets the eye...somepony is hiding something. However, I cannot tell who it is, as you must understand that I am not the most inconspicuous pony in Equestria to uncover confidential information.

In order to find out more about this situation, I need an inside mare. Could you possibly come to the West Tower of Canterlot Castle this evening to find out what's going on here? I told the research team that you can assist them based on your magical expertise, but you do not need to stay more than a day or two. I will tell your Ponyville friends that you are helping me in Canterlot.

I still trust you completely, my faithful student. Let me know as soon as you can if you find out anything else about the Elements of Disharmony.

Your mentor,
Princess Celestia

Twilight re-read the letter for the third time as she trotted along the dark Canterlot streets, her mind whirling with thoughts and theories on an axle of uneasy memories. She still could hardly believe that it had only been one week since the midnight-blue pony calling himself The Shadow had trapped her and all of her friends in a nightmare, stretching their minds to the limit as he attempted to turn all of their darkest fears against them.

One week ago, she had stared right back through those glowing eyes and seen fear in the heart of the nightmare. Sometimes the images still flashed through her brain like pieces of a riddle, pieces that fell into a jumbled puzzle of empty space. What had happened between him and Discord? What were those five necklaces he kept? The letter that she found from ‘Puzzle Master’ had mostly answered the latter question, but opened up dozens more in its place. Who is the Puzzle Master? What is he doing? Why is he doing this? Hopefully, this visit to Canterlot could provide some answers.

“Um, Twilight? The West Tower is that way…” Spike’s voice snapped Twilight back to reality.

“Sorry, Spike. I’ve just been thinking so much that sometimes it’s hard to focus on that kind of stuff…” Twilight trailed off.

“Like where you’re going? Geez, Twilight. You need to try to think a little less and spend some more time here in the real world.” Twilight rolled her eyes. She trotted under the long shadow of the West Tower, which kept a silent vigil as the night approached. Its inevitable arrival would drive back the brightness of the twilight sky and usher in a long spell of darkness over Canterlot...

Princess Celestia stood next to the front door of the West Tower as Twilight trotted towards her. “Twilight, my most faithful student! It’s good to see you. How are you?”

Twilight Sparkle grinned, but frowned as she replied, “Not all that well, to be honest. That whole event with the Shadow last week kind of shook me up.”

The Princess sighed. “I wish I could offer something else more positive for you to keep your mind off of that, but I’m afraid that there is a situation that I need your help with. Come with me.”

They walked inside the castle, and their footsteps echoed inside the hollow shell of the building. The fading red light of the twilight sky flowed in through the wide windows of the tower, basking the tower in the flickering glow of a fire.

The door from the hallway opened to a large, spacious room, in which four ponies were positioned at a long table in the center. Princess Luna and three other ponies Twilight didn’t recognize sat fiercely concentrated, hunching over their work. Scrolls, open books, charts, drawings, maps and all other sorts of papers lay scattered haphazardly about the table. The scratching of quills on paper scarcely rippled the deafening silence of the room as candlelight flickered from the wall.

A wide, clear glass window sat motionless behind the shadows of the oblivious ponies, painting a beautiful display of the fading twilight sky. An ominous mass of thunderclouds lurked above the horizon, blocking the crimson light of sunset.

Princess Luna glanced up, and an expression of shock flitted across her face for only a second.

Then it broke into a huge grin. “Tia!” she said, breaking the menacing silence. She stood up, accidentally bumping the table in the process as walked up to her sister and gave her a brief hug. The rest of the research team also stood up, trotting over to greet their guests.

Princess Celestia returned her sister’s hug, but then turned and said to Twilight, “This is where I must leave you. I need to lower the sun and make my way to sleep, as it is late already. Princess Luna can take over from here and bring you up to speed with the group’s progress.” With that, Princess Celestia turned around and departed the room, her hoofsteps echoing through the empty hallways long after she departed.

Spike’s voice suddenly interjected a comment from right behind Twilight's ear: “Well, that was sure nice of her. ‘Here, can you help me with something? Wait, I need to go to sleep now. Bye!’” Twilight bumped the dragon, who was currently seated on her back, with her head. “Ouch!”

Princess Luna walked up to Twilight. “Twilight Sparkle! It has been too long. How art thou?”

Twilight giggled a bit as she remembered the Princess’s odd dialect. “I’m doing fine. What kind of progress has your team made in your investigation?”

Luna waved her hoof dismissively. “We will have plenty of time to explain that to thee in a moment. First, we wish to introduce you to the researchers on the team!”

She pointed to the first pony, a dull red unicorn stallion wearing a short tuxedo in formal Canterlot custom, his cutie mark a scroll above a purple star. “This is Spell Scholar,” Luna said. The stallion shook Twilight’s hoof firmly. “I’m very pleased to make your acquaintance, Twilight Sparkle. The Princess speaks very highly of you.”

The second pony, a bright blue stallion who wore a black coat and narrow glasses barely hanging above his nose, had just left his seat at the table after finishing something that could not wait. A small purple goatee hung off his chin, shaking slightly as he cleared his throat and spoke with a refined Canterlot dialect: “I am, of course, Professor Regal Magus, of Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Although of course I was only recently hired, so I doubt that you would remember me…” the unicorn trailed off.

“And this is Lord Silver Tongue.”

Twilight took one look at the pony in front of her and her heart skipped a beat. The Shadow was standing right in front of her, in the middle of the Canterlot Castle!

But…something was different; something was off. First of all, he wore a black tuxedo, not shining chrome armor, yet the former seemed much more frightening in this light than the latter. No silver-tipped, broken horn sat atop his head, as the spot was already taken by a thick head of formally styled white mane, yet a palpable feeling of raw power emanated from his every pore. Twin red eyes dominated his face, yes, but they did not visibly glow as they stared straight through her. Small black pupils glinted in their center, one behind a red-tinted, golden-rimmed monocle. A shorty white tail hung stiffly behind the stallion, rigid with the tension his presence exuded. He seemed older somehow, taller, and almost handsome.

“Good evening, Miss Sparkle.”

His voice carried the exact same deep tone to it as the Shadow’s, but with a strong inflection of polite bemusement rather than flat anger. Suddenly, the beginning of the letter from Puzzle Master to the Shadow floated through her mind: “Dearest brother Shady…”

The realization hit her like a smack to the face. This was the pony who was responsible for the Shadow’s wreaking havoc with nightmares only one week ago, responsible for the discovery of the Elements of Disharmony, and who planned to abuse the Elements’ power for a sick, twisted game of chess using her as a pawn. This was the turncoat. This was the Puzzle Master.

Twilight suddenly realized that she had been staring at him in silence for several seconds and gave a forced cough, turning away as her cheeks burned bright red with embarrassment. "Um, nice to meet you, sir," she said, eying him warily.

Silver Tongue…Puzzle Master spoke up again after watching her and laughing behind his unwavering mask of courtesy. “Princess Luna, before we continue showing this young filly the group’s progress, may I have a word with her in private? We must discuss a…confidential matter.”

Luna frowned. “Of…course...we do not see why not..." and Spike sighed, sliding off of Twilight’s back and landing with a measly thump! on the polished wood floor.

Puzzle Master glanced back Twilight’s way as he opened the door for her, his smile clashing palpably with her angry glare. She trotted out the door, and he followed, chuckling under his breath.

Outside the window, a blast of thunder resounded in the distance. The storm which had loomed on the horizon for so long had finally arrived.