Legend states that when the Elements Of Harmony were created peace was brought to the land, and that they would be used to protect the land for all eternity. But legends also state that for every good thing that is created there must be an opposite, and so when the Elements Of Harmony where created, their twins were created as well, The Elements Of Disharmony.
Outside Of Ponyville
As the group came out of the Everfree Forest, they hoped to see Ponyville as it was: happy, clean, and peaceful. But they could only see destruction, mayhem, and disharmony across town. Buildings where burning, smoke covered the once blue sky, and the smell of burning flesh, could be smelled across the town. At that moment Twilight saw something she never thought she would see again: Celestia crying. The Princess of the land, who was always full of joy and happiness, was now crying.
"Celestia...." Twilight said.
"I...I should have...I could have...." Celestia said.
"Sister," Luna said, "It will be ok."
"NO, IT WILL NOT!" Celestia shouted. "I am supposed to protect my subjects, be the protector of the land," she said. "Now I have failed at that."
"You have not failed," Twilight said. "You were with us, we had no idea this would happen."
"Then what should we do, Twilight?" Sunset said.
"Luna, take Celestia back to Canterlot and have her rest. We need everyone at full strength if we want to win this," Twilight said. "The rest of you, stay with me and help Ponyville go through the wreckage. Find any survivors you can."
"And what about you, Darling?" Rarity said.
"I need to see what happened to the Castle," Twilight said. "Then I need to find Spike and Starlight." Then under her breath she said angrily, "if they are dead, so help me, Celestia, I will kill Triek with my own two hooves."
Ponyville
As the group walked into town they could see that it was even worse than they first thought. Ponies running to the water fountain to put out the fires, hospital beds in the middle of the street, and worst of all, blood. Lots of blood.
"Look, Princess Twilight and her friends are back!" a pony said.
As the rest of the town looked to the group, they could only see tears falling down the Princess’s face.
"What happened?" Twilight said.
"It's the changelings! They have betrayed Equestria," Lyra said.
"The changelings?" Applejack said. "I thought they were at peace with Equestria."
"We did too," Triple Diamond said, "but then an army of black and green changelings came with weapons and armor and destroyed the town and ransacked the castle!"
"How many casualties?" Twilight asked hesitantly.
"We lost 20," Dr. Whooves said, "Bon-Bon, Berryshine, Vinyl, Lucky Clover, Rising Star,...Rose, just to name a few."
"How many injured?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Over 40," Derpy said. "But we were able to fight them off before any more could be injured."
"Thank you all," Twilight said. "This is a dark time in Equestrian History. It's nice to know we have ponies like you to fight off the evil that threatens this land. In my opinion, you are all heroes." Then after addressing the crowd, she turned around to face the mane 7.
"I need you guys to help situate the town," she said. "I will be looking for Spike and Starlight if you need to find me."
Castle Of Friendship
"Spike, Starlight!" Twilight said, shouting down the hall of the damaged castle. When she saw what had happened to the castle she was more than worried. The walls had been blasted, the carpet and furniture on fire, and the Cutie Map Room blocked off by rubble.
"Twilight?" a voice came from the rubble.
"Spike?" Twilight said. "Starlight?"
"Twilight, help me," Starlight said.
"Starlight, where are you?".
"When the castle was attacked, I put a shield over the map room Spike and I are trapped in here," Starlight said.
"Is Spike ok?" Twilight said.
"He was hit with a falling rock, I think he has a concussion," Starlight said.
"Hold on, I'm going to get Applejack and Rainbow Dash. They can help me move the boulder," Twilight said.
"Ok, hurry!" Starlight said worriedly.
Sweet Apple Acres
"It's a good thing Zap wasn’t here," Applejack said going through the rubble of the house she called home with Rainbow. "He would have been terrified."
"I'm sure he would have been fine," Rainbow said. "He is our son, after all."
"Haha," Applejack said, chuckling, "you’re right."
"Did you call Fluttershy's parents and tell them what happened?" Rainbow said.
"Ya, they said that they would take care of him until we are done with the mission," Applejack said.
Then as they continued to dig through the burnt down house, a purple object began heading towards them. "Hay, is that Twilight?"
Just then Twilight slammed into the ground in a furious act. "I need you guys to come with me," Twilight said with a worried tone.
"Why, what’s wrong?" Applejack asked.
"Spike and Sunset are trapped in the Map room and I need you to help me move the rubble," Twilight said.
"Well why didn’t you just say so?" Rainbow said. "Let's Go!"
The Cutie Map Room, 20 minutes later
"Well it took a while, but I think he will be ok," Nurse Redheart said. "But he needs to stay and rest for the time being."
"Thank you," Starlight said as Nurse Redheart walked out of the building.
"Starlight, you did a good job protecting Spike," Twilight said as she walked through the door.
"I did the best I could," Starlight said, "I just wish I could have done better."
"You did all you could, Starlight," Twilight said. "Now as for the attack, do you know why Thorax would attack ponyville?"
"This was not Thorax," Starlight said. "These Changelings looked like what they did before Thorax took over."
"Do you think Chrysalis is behind this?" Twilight said.
"Who else could it be?" Starlight said. "But the better question is, how did she convince some of the changelings to betray the hive?"
"Hey guys," Rainbow said, "you better take a look at this."
As Twilight and Starlight walked towards Rainbow, they saw what made Rainbow Dash call them. "Bite marks?" Starlight said.
"Why would the Changelings eat the castle?" Twilight said.
"Because it wasn’t the Changelings," Spike said.
"Spike, what are you doing," Twilight said. "You should not be up, you need to rest!"
"I will, but you need to listen," Spike said.
"What do you mean the Changelings didn’t attack? Everypony saw them," Starlight said.
"The changelings did attack Ponyville," Spike said. "But they did not attack the Castle, a Dragon did."
"You think the Dragons attacked us?"
"It was not the dragons. It was one dragon," Spike said, "Garble."
"Ok, this is getting crazy," Rainbow said. "First Lightning Dust is broken free."
"Then Chrysalis attacks ponyville," Starlight said.
"And now Garble joins with Chrysalis to destroy the town," Spike said.
"What is going on here?" Twilight said.
"Hay, y'all will not believe who I just got done talking to," Applejack said as she walked into the room.
"Who was it this time?" Rainbow said.
"Flam," Applejack said.
"What does that idiot and his brother want now?" Rainbow said.
"Actually it's not what you think," Applejack said. "At first I thought it did not make sense and I thought it was another trick, but he seemed worried."
"What happened?" Twilight said.
"According to Flam, two changelings broke into the brother's casino and coltnapped Flim," Applejack said.
"What do the changelings and Chrysalis want with Flim?" Rainbow said.
"Nothing good I reckon," Applejack said.
"Twilight," Sunset said, "I looked where you told me to go and you were right, they are gone."
"What's gone?" Starlight said.
"The Elements of Harmony were stolen during the attack," Twilight said.
"Why would Chrysalis want the Elements? They are useless to her," Rainbow said.
"Not necessarily," Twilight said.
"What do you mean?" Sunset said.
As Twilight dug through the pile of burnt books, she used her magic to conjure up a book and pulled it out if the rubble.
"This was Starswirl's Diary," Twilight said. "He gave it to me the last time we saw him."
"What does some book have to do with the Elements?" Applejack said.
As Twilight flipped through the pages, she stopped at a page that had a picture of the Elements.
"You recall that Starswirl and the Pillars made the Elements?"
"Ya, why?" Applejack said.
"Ahem..." Twilight cleared her throat. "When The Pillars and I created the Elements of Harmony, we created peace to the land. But little did we know about an old legend that states for every good thing that is created there must be an opposite, and so when the Elements of Harmony were created, their twins were created as well, The Elements of Disharmony."
"Ok, I think I understand," Rainbow said. "So let's find these Anti-Elements and destroy them."
"It's not that easy Dash," Twilight said. "The Elements of Disharmony have not been created yet."
"Now I’m confused. What do you mean, not created?" Sunset said.
"In order for the Elements Of Disharmony to be created, you need to have its twins."
"The Elements, right. I got that," Applejack said, "but what else do they need?"
"Just like the Elements we have, they need people with the traits of the elements and with them being the Anti versions of the elements they would be; Dishonesty, Cruelty, Loneliness, Greed, Betrayal, Negativity, and Apathy," Twilight explained. "Because Apathy was destroyed, and Empathy, which is the opposite of Apathy, is back in Sunset’s world, we don't need to worry about 7 Elements Of Disharmony. But we still need to worry about the 6 that still do exist...or have yet to."
"And the people that have Captured/Teamed up with Tirek are what they need to create the Elements," Starlight said.
"Lightning Dust is obviously the Element of Betrayal," Rainbow said.
"And Flim is the Element of Dishonesty," Applejack said.
"Garble must be the Element of Greed," Spike said.
"Then Chrysalis must be the Element of Cruelty," Starlight said.
"And with Apathy gone, Cinch must have the Element of Negativity no doubt," Sunset said.
"So that leaves the Element of Loneliness left," Starlight said. "But the question remains, who could be lonely enough to be the Element?"
"That's something we need to find out," Twilight said. "And quickly, because if we don't find that pony first, Tirek will."