//------------------------------// // The Calm Before the Storm // Story: Reality Rewritten // by Khanathara //------------------------------// A long time ago, there were two siblings, an elder brother and younger sister . The elder brother raised the sun, while the younger sister raised the moon. Eventually the elder brother grew jealous of his younger sister, afraid she would take the love of their subjects for herself. The elder acted on his jealousy, Becoming a being of greed and fire. Taking all he thought he was owed or wanted. He attempted to take the throne for himself, and bathe the land in the eternal light of the sun. The younger sister with a heavy heart was forced to use the Elements of Harmony, the strongest magical artifacts known to pony kind, and banish her brother. The elder brother was sealed away in a place unknown to all but the siblings... "...And peace has rained ever since." Read out the voice of a stallion. "Hmm, The Elements of Harmony." He said, hoof on his chin. "Where have I herd of those before?" The gray coated unicorn with a black mane and tail rose from the ground "I'll go take a look in the library, i should be able to find something on them there." He said, his golden red eyes shining with excitement at something he didn't know. Putting the book in his saddle bag he took off to his room in the palace. "Discord!" the voice of a mare called out to him. Turning around he saw Fizzlepop Berrytwist "Hey Fizz, how are you?" Discord asked the earth pony mare. "No wait, let me guess." He said putting up a hoof to stop the overly cheerful mare. "You just couldn't bare to be away from me" His trademark smirk on his face. "Yeah riiight," Fizz responded rolling her eyes. "I came to make sure you don't miss Starlight's party Dissy" Sighing Discord muttered "Miss ONE party and they act like I'm gonna miss them all." Looking her in the eye he said "Of course I'm going to be there. It's not till five." "It's fore fifty right now and it looked like you were going somewhere else." She retorted with a raised brow. Casting a quick spell to tell the time Discord confirmed what she said. "So it is." He looked back at his bag deciding he could do any research on the Elements later. "Give me a moment to take my things back to my room-" "You mean your library." Fizz interrupted with a look of satisfaction at the slight annoyance on Discords face. "-my room, and to grab her present while I'm there." He finished "I'll also make sure to grab Opal." "I saw her on my way here, she's already on her way." Fizz told him. "Alright, I'll be there shortly." And with that he left. Discord and Opalescence were on their way back to their shared room in the castle. Starlight Glimmer's party had not been particularly of note, but he did hope the pegasus would enjoy the gift he got her, books on pegasus magic were particularly hard to get a hold of. Especially when they were written before the unification era, and by a pegasus and not an overly racist unicorn. Opalescence was asleep on his back, thanks to the party, showing just how much smaller the young dragon was compared to him. Which was not much as she was only about half a head shorter than him, and only four years from getting her wings. When they got back he made sure to tuck her into her bed, and then proceed to the research he put off earlier. "Let's see," Discord wondered aloud searching his books. "Gide to Griffish, No. Gide to The Everfree, Didn't know I had that. Aha, The Elements of Harmony, A Reference Gide." Taking the book off the shelf he brought it over to a large reading cushion and sat down. Opening the book to the table of contents he looked through it marking the chapters of interest in his head. Turning to the chapter that seemed most useful, he stopped and stared at the picture that was there. It was a group of six gems, five of them surrounding the sixth. But that was not what made him stop. The image of the center gem, and the other five it had around it, was familiar to him. Specifically the center gem was a six pointed star. He turned his head to look at his own mark, or as filly's like to say (especially the young ones) his cutie mark. Which was a large twisting six pointed star with another one behind it and five multicolored five pointed stars surrounding it spinning as if in a tornado. "Okay that is either one Tartarus of a coincidence, or there is something else going on here." He stated flatly. "For now in order to save my sanity, what little of it there is, I'll assume the former." He then turned back to the book and began to read through it. "There are six Elements of Harmony all of which have multiple aspects to them and can be used for great goods or great evils, as Harmony is a source of balance. The most common aspects are Kindness and Cruelty, Generosity and Greed, Honesty and Deceit, Loyalty and Betrayal, Laughter and Despair, while the last Element is a representation of all Magic." He stopped reading at this point in order to skim the rest and get to the important part about the Elements themselves. "Blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda, ah here we go." "The Element of Kindness and Cruelty one of the more direct Elements it is capable of healing grievous wounds even bring others back from the brink of death, or controversially it is capable of inflicting such wounds. One of the most famous wielders of this element did not actually wield it for either of the said aspects but, instead, wielded it for hope and thus was able to inspire entire armies on his own." "Huh, that's kinda awesome. Anyway onto the next one." "The Element of Generosity and Greed is more subtle. Often passively influencing others to act the way the current wielder does. This element often grants an affinity with gems or precious metals. The most famous use of this element was by Adagio Dazzle and was wielded for beauty and used to spread the aforementioned aspect across Equestria." "Ugh, boring, Next." "The Element of Honesty and Deceit capable of being extremely direct or passive is known to make the wielder capable of knowing when someone is lying or being truthful, and has even been rumored of granting an ability similar to the changing's ability to shape shift. It's most famous use was by Sonata Dusk (who is also famous for being one of the few to ever wield more than one element) for its capability of making her deceit nearly imperceptible, even to magic." "Wait, more than one element. Hmm, interesting." "The Element of Loyalty and Betrayal is quite direct in it's use having a similar passive affect as the Element of Generosity and Greed. It is also known for its ability to grant unwavering courage and an immunity to fear, its most famous use was also by Sonata Dusk. Her betrayal against her sisters was most unexpected and bloody, granting her the title The Great Betrayer." "Ohhh, she's the mare from that story. I see, I thought the name was familiar." "The Element of Laughter and Despair known of spreading happiness and laughter throughout the land, or the opposite, sadness and despair. It is also famous for boggling the minds of those who do not wield it as it seems to grant the ability to break reality. The most famous wielder being Aria Blaze, also Known as The Immortal Jester, she spread cheer across all of the world and many claim to see her spirit during the holiday of Jester Day April 1st" "Oooo, I love Jester Day! I'll have to do some research on her appearing during it." "The last Element, The Element of Magic, is said to be the most power of the elements. Where this claim comes from is unknown, but not far from the truth. The Element of Magic is precisely as it sounds enhancing the magic of who ever wields it, for better or worse. Unlike the others it has had far more wielders that can claim the title of most famous for it out right enhances what ever magic is in use, be it necromancy with Pipsqueak, erythromancy better known as blood magic with Prince Blueblood, faunamancy with the druid Sapphire Shores, floramancy with Granny Smith Apple, or pandemancy with Twilight Sparkle even tho she never wielded the element openly it is theorized that the chaos mage was the last to ever wield one of the Elements over two thousand years ago." Discord snorted at that last one as he knew that Twilight Sparkle was all nothing more than natural talent. The benefits of having your personal magic teacher being the princess who has ruled for nearly ten thousand years, if the history books were to be believed. But then those same books say that she has only ruled alonefor just about one thousand years ruling side by side with her brother before then, who seems to still be in the books but written off as a myth any more. His curiosity satisfied he put the book back in its place and went searching for another book, this one on Princess Cozy Glow's supposedly mythological brother. Eventually he found one, though he was skeptical about how useful it would be as its title was Predictions and Prophecies By Zecora. Reading though the book it was exactly as the title said, nothing but predictions and prophecies. However a rather large number of both have actually come true so he decided to read the one prophecy that seemed to be about Princess Cozy's brother, the Day Breaker. "The breaker of day The banisher of night After one thousand years His return a guarantee He will have his way He shall have his fight The land he will sear Shall none end his spree On the celebration of day Everyone he shall slay" "Well... that's ominous." Discord said, thinking of the implication "Wait, the celebration of day. That would be the Summer Sun Celebration... I think." "What are you still doing up?" Discord heard Opal yawn behind him. Turning to her, Discord said. "Oh, I didn't wake you did I?" "Please," Opal snorted out. "I could sleep though the end on the world. Now out with it, what are you still doing up?" "Just a little bit of research." he responded. "I was actually planing on going to bed soon. But, before I do, since your awake I would like to ask a favor for tomorrow. If that's alright?" "Oh no, how terrible. A favor, for tomorrow." She said rolling her eyes. "Of course you can, it's more of a question of whether or not I'll do it. Is it not?" "Can I get you to send a letter to the princess in the morning?" Discord asked. Beneath Canterlot, deep under Mt. Canterhorn, and far below the forgotten crystal mines, a soft sound could be heard echoing off the carved out hallways connected to an ancient antechamber the size of Canterlot Castle. On one side it sat the entrance of a maze of hallways many collapsed by time. On the other side sat a giant pair of stone double doors nearly as tall and as wide as the room itself. The doors held a depiction of a faintly glowing magic circle, in the center was a six pointed star of light lavender and at the points six gem like shapes of different colors, light blue, purple, pink, red, orange, and green. A loud boom followed closely by a crack could be heard in the chamber echoing and petering out to a soft barley heard sound. The doors now holding a large jagged line diagonally through there center, the magic circle flickering. Then came a light chuckle that got stronger and stronger, and with it came an angry orange glow from the crack and the seems of the doors fading fast. A whisper could be heard through the an silent antechamber. "Soon dearest sister" And the orange light flared again with another crack and a manic laugh.