He didn't like having to harm one of his thestrals. They were family, in a way, and he never did like hurting those he felt were close to him.

It was a good thing that, slated as he was to became the Seventh Element of Harmony, Discord simply couldn't kill him, no matter how much he overpowered his spells.

He glanced over at the massive steaming canyon he'd carved through the forest, the body of the thestral-his name was Emerald-buried beneath mounds upon mounds of relocated dirt.

Ah, Nocturnia. His precious Nia. Queen of the Sirens and Mother of the Thestrals.

She would've loved to meet him. Discord was sure that she'd have just adored him.

After all, they were both willing to sacrifice themselves for the ones they cared about. They both held a strength beyond anything he'd ever seen. Not many would fight an impossible battle for someone else's sake, you know?

Though, it wasn't just psychological similarities. Change his species, gender, and dye his coat white, and he'd be a dead ringer for Nocturnia.

Speaking of, that wasn't the only thing about the colt that reminded him of Nia.

Discord waved his paw around a little, shifting hundreds of pounds of dirt around, until the injured little thestral was revealed.

Discord hummed at the sight. Burned fur, lacerations across the body, broken wings, charred flesh, and quite a lot of blood as well. All in all, he held up quite well. Seventh Element or not, most creatures caught in that spell were lucky if they weren't turned into piles of ash.

Still, that wasn't what Discord was looking for. Rather, it was the innocuous little mark upon the colt's flank that drew his attention.

It looked simple enough, if a bit abstract, but that wasn't why it interested Discord so.

No, the reason he was so interested in it, was because it was the same symbol that Nocturnia once wore.

It had confused Discord at first. Why would royalty wear a necklace with such a... modest symbol? It was nothing more than magically coloured iron. It had no gems, no precious metals, nothing that would justify it being around the neck of royalty.

"Why do you wear that silly thing?"

"Well, that's a funny question, Dissy. It's the royal crest, so of course I wear it!"

"But-but it's so simple! I doubt something like that is actually worthy enough for royalty such as yourself!"

"Hmph, just because it looks simple, doesn't mean it's not worth it. I would've thought someone like you would've realized that."

"W-well then, why do you wear it?"

"Because, simple as it looks, it holds a meaning that has guided the Royal Family since the beginning of my race."

"And... what does it mean?"

"It means 'to persevere'. That, even when in the face of the unknown and insurmountable, I must stand strong. For if I waver, for even a moment, then the fire in my soul will go out."

"... 'To persevere', huh?" he asked himself, idly rubbing the spot beneath his eye, letting the dirt fall gently back over the injured colt, minding his open wounds.

Five. That was the number of times where one of Emerald's attacks had actually connected.

Five! Astonishing! Not even Celestia or Luna could manage more than two actual hits each. Magical ones didn't count since he was immune to them, and therefore didn't care if they hit.

The only other individual to lay that many hits against him had been, of course, Nocturnia. Though, she had hit him more often. Their first impressions on each other weren't the best ones, after all.

Thinking about it, that was probably why he'd chosen the spell he did. Nocturnia's pride would've killed her if she'd been knocked out by mere pain after a battle like that. But a spell designed to level a castle? Merely getting knocked out by a spell like that would've sated her pride, at least a little.

Perhaps he was wrong in assuming that Emerald held the same pride as his ancestor, but he didn't think so.

Sating the poor fool's pride was the least he could do, considering what's going to happen once he and his little friends imprison him once more.

Oh, Discord knew that he wouldn't be free for very long, not this time. If Emerald had been anything, anything, other than a thestral, then Discord would've readily imprisoned all seven of them at the bottom of the ocean, never to be seen again!

But alas, he cared more for his thestrals than he did for his revenge, so he would play his part regardless.

He hoped the poor colt was strong enough to face the truth of the Elements after his imprisonment. He'd seen the kind of things those Elements did to their Bearers, even during his many years residing within the Tree.

Oh well... there wasn't anything he could do for him. He could only pray that this little thestral was strong enough.

Hmm... he wondered... How were the thestrals doing, anyhow? Perhaps he could pop by for a little visit. Undetectable, of course. Wouldn't want to frighten his precious children, of course.

Unfortunately for Discord, his visiting plans were ruined when a copy of himself popped into existence before him.

"What in the blazes was that?!" Copy asked, waving his limbs around. Discord waved his concerns away,

"Nothing much. I was merely putting our little friend here out of commission. He was strikingly similar to Nia, and I felt this was only an appropriate response. Now, how are things on your end?" he asked,

"That's not-!" Copy began, only to shrug, "Eh, whatever. Those ponies seem to be blundering around as expected. I took away their wings and horns and placed a few rules for our little 'game'. I've even taken to influencing some of them a tad, to drive them apart if they do find the Elements. Though some took a bit of effort to 'convince'. Except Fluttershy, I had to force it upon her," Copy explained. Discord nodded,

"It would make sense that the older Elements and their Bearers would be a bit more resilient, and the oldest of them all would be practically immune. Alright then, let's get back to it," he said, then snapped his talons, dispelling the copy. He paused for a moment, letting his copy's memories flow into his own, before he popped back over to the maze to see how the ponies were doing for himself.

Twilight grunted with every step, the weight of the boulder on her back beginning to really take its toll on her.

Part of her wondered why she was carrying a stupid boulder of all things, until it, oh so unhelpfully, reminded her why.

Her friends were acting strange. She could see it happening right in front of her. The way that Fluttershy-sweet, gentle Fluttershy-shoved the others around, smirking whenever one of them cried out. She could see how Pinkie Pie-happy, joyful, always smiling Pinkie Pie-growled when she heard someone start laughing at her. How Applejack-honest to a fault, can't-lie-to-save-her-life Applejack-kept dodging questions, always darting her eyes about shiftily. How Rarity-generous, understanding Rarity-kept sending her nasty glares, usually accompanied by a 'You'd better not be thinking about taking my diamond, Twilight!' or two.

Yes, the idea that Discord was free and causing havoc across the world and that they were the only ones in the entire world who even held a chance of stopping him was stressful. Absurdly stressful, in fact, but...

Okay, so the way her friends were acting was a little understandable. She, the bookworm who freaked out over every test she'd ever taken, understood that stress could make a pony act funny and do crazy things, but, this was crazy!

She and the others had just been locked into the maze, completely separated by Discord mind you, when she'd heard the sound of shattering glass and had looked up to find Emerald soaring through the sky.

It was... a little sad to find out that he still thought the Elements were somewhere else. The fact that Discord had gone so far as to take away their wings and horns, not to mention separate them, was proof that the Elements really were in the maze.

But, sad as it seemed, Twilight was still immensely glad that he'd fallen for one of Discord's tricks. He was injured already, and the last thing Twilight wanted was for him to get any more hurt. Now that he thought he'd figured out where they actually were, he was out of the picture and away from Discord, meaning that he was safe from any other of Discord's plans.

... Still, it would have been nice to have at least one friend acting normally around here.

"Oh, wouldja look at that!" Applejack suddenly shouted, looking up into the sky, "Rainbow Dash is flyin' away! She's abandoning us!" she said, glaring at the sky.

Twilight scoffed, letting the boulder slide off of her back-she took a moment to revel at the lack of weight on her back-and shook her head,

"Now I know that's a lie," she said, glancing up into the air, only for her jaw to drop as Rainbow Dash flew away, "What?! Rainbow Dash! How could that be?!"

She didn't have time to further contemplate the impossibility of Rainbow Dash abandoning them, as the ground beneath them began to shake, and the sky was overcome by clouds.

Suddenly, the walls of the maze started to shake, before somehow getting sucked into the ground, taking every last inch of vegetation with them, leaving Twilight and the other four standing in the middle of a barren field of dirt.

"Well, it looks like somebody broke the no wings, no magic rule!" Discord's voice echoed through the air, before he suddenly appeared through the cloud of kicked up dirt, looking rather severe as he snapped his claws.

A familiar presence returned to her as a weight suddenly reappeared on her head, and the feeling of her magic rushing back nearly caused her to wet herself from the sheer amount of sensations it brought back.

"Game over, ponies," Discord said, raising his claws to the sky as lightning danced through the air, "Looks like we're due for a big ol' storm of chaos! HahahahmhmHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Twilight's entire world practically fell away beneath her as those words rang through the air.

"And just what're you laughin' at?!" Pinkie suddenly barked, stalking angrily towards the spirit, while Twilight watched on, a small part of her beginning to wonder if this behavior was actually because of stress or not.

"Oh, nothing much," Discord said, smirking at the angry pink pony, lifting himself off of the ground while doing so, "It's just... you ponies are quite entertaining!" he said, "Though, not quite as entertaining as your green friend, of course," he added, glancing off somewhere.

"Well quit it!" Pinkie snapped, "You better think before you laugh at the pink... ie Pie!" she growled at him.

Twilight relaxed a little. At least she was still making jokes. That meant that not everything seemed to be going bad.

Twilight stumbled back a little, the sight of the least temperamental ponies she'd ever met arguing like this more than a little jarring.

"Hey, uh, Rarity. 'Bout this diamond'o yers," Applejack said, "Twilight said we should, uh, split it six ways since we, uh, found it tagether." Rarity growled, and tackled the earth mare away,

"Wha-girls!" Twilight cried, "Wh-why are you all acting like this?! We need to stick together!"

"Hmhmhm... all too entertaining," Discord muttered. Twilight turned to find him lounging on a velvet seat that hadn't been there before, an upside-down book in claw.

Twilight stared at him for a moment, and turned back to her friends, before glowering at the spirit.

"'Not playing fair'? Really?" Discord asked, peering over his sunglasses, "I'm your enemy, little pony. 'Playing fair' isn't something that enemies do for other enemies," he said, tossing his book aside as he rose from his seat, "Besides, I'm the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. What were you expecting?" he asked.

"You said this was a game to you! That we all had to play by the rules! How can we finish this 'game' if you take away the maze before we could reach the Elements at the center?!"

"Hmm?" Discord's brow raised, before a devilish smirk overtook his features, "Oh, you actually thought the Elements were in the labyrinth?"

"Wha-? O-of course!" Twilight said, before shaking her head, "I know the Elements are-were in the labyrinth!"

"Really?" Discord asked, leaning back once more, "And... just how exactly did you know? If I recall correctly, I never said anything about a labyrinth."

"But, but, but-" Discord mocked her, before chuckling, "Silly Twilight Sparkle. Your thestral friend had it right from the beginning," he said, causing Twilight's chest to grow cold, "I find it rather odd how you so easily dismissed his claims. But, then again, I suppose it's only natural for you ponies to ignore other species, isn't it?" he asked.

Twilight didn't hear that last part, her mind working too frantically to catch up.

Emerald was right! Dear Celestia, how could I have been so stupid?! Of course he was right! He has a lot more experience in this kind of thing than I do! Why didn't I just listen to him!?

A small, treacherous, part of her told her that it was because she didn't want him to be right.

It reminded her that she wanted to do everything she could to keep him away from Discord. He'd been injured, after all. And she didn't want him to get hurt anymore. By disagreeing with him, she could, possibly, drive him away. Away from Discord and the danger he represented.

"Funny, isn't it? You wanted to protect him, didn't you?" Discord suddenly asked, looking at her, though his sunglasses prevented her from really getting a read on his expression, "You wanted him out of the picture, so that he'd be safe, yes?"

"A shame then. He figured out where the Elements were, down to last detail. It really was quite brilliant how he managed to figure it out, all by himself," Discord's suddenly gave her a wicked grin, "I had to get rid of him, of course."

"I got rid of him, you see. He was dangerous to my plans. He'd not only managed to injure me a number of times, but with a personality like his, he wouldn't have stopped chasing after you lot, wouldn't have stopped trying to help you. Not until he was dead, at least."

No... no, he-he couldn't be dead! He was Emerald for Celestia's sake! S-sure Discord was powerful but-but surely Emerald couldn't actually be k-killed?

But wasn't Discord too much for him? Hadn't he been broken and beaten to the ground within that short period of time before she had decided to go back for him?

It would be just like him, wouldn't it? To fight an impossible battle, even if it meant dying? The danger didn't matter. Didn't she recall the hydra? The cockatrice? He'd sacrifice it all to protect them. To protect her.

"It would appear I've broken her," Discord muttered, waving his paw in front of her face, before straightening himself and shrugging, "Oh well, I suppose I'll simply have to find my entertainment elsewhere for now," he said, before snapping his talons and disappearing in a flash of light.

A flash of lightning lit up the sky, also breaking Twilight from her thoughts, just before a torrent of chocolate milk rain poured down over the five.

Was there even any point in searching for the Elements anymore? Her friends were... different. She thought it might be stress, but was it really?

No. Emerald wasn't dead. He couldn't be dead. Discord had fooled her once with the maze, and Twilight was not going to let him fool her again!

He never actually said Emerald was dead. Only that he wouldn't stop until he was.

He had 'gotten rid' of him. For all Twilight knew, he just teleported Emerald to the other side of the planet, or tossed him in Tartarus, or something similar. Admittedly, Twilight had jumped to conclusions, just like when she spotted the hedge maze from inside. Her thoughts had run wild and come to a conclusion before she could bother to talk to the others about it, and it had cost them precious time, and now...

They were acting strange now. Maybe... maybe this was how they really were and the stress of all this just brought it out?

Twilight knew there were times she would've been happy to just shout at them or tell them to leave her alone, but she could never bring herself to do that. Whenever she felt like that, she'd usually either bury herself in books or seek out Emerald.

Everything... everything would be fine. They just needed to find the Elements, and then everything would be back to normal. She was sure of it now.

It's more likely that 'back where you began' is the more important part.

Okay... so... 'back where you began'. I guess... where did we begin? I'm from Canterlot and we've managed to establish that it's not in Canterlot. Plus, Emerald left Canterlot earlier... Right, Emerald actually managed to figure the whole thing out, and he was very clearly leaving, but... to where?

"Ugh, I just want to go home now..." she muttered, before perking up, "Home? Home. The library! Of course! That's where the girls and I first grouped up together! The Elements are in the library!" she smiled, and even clapped her hooves together, "Yes! Sweet Celestia, it's so obvious! No wonder Emerald figured it out so quickly!" she nodded to herself and turned to the girls, "Alright girls! We're heading back to Ponyville!"

Blood, thick and red, ran through her coat, dripdripdripdripping onto the floor.

Limp, she fell to the ground, blade lodged through her once lively blue eye, blood pooling around her, staining his hooves red.

The mound of dirt he'd been trapped beneath exploded outward, leaving Emerald to greedily suck in the fresh air around him.

"Argh... fucking..." he stretched a bit, hissing slightly as his wounds protested the movement, "What the fuck did he hit me with.... and how the fuck am I still alive after that?" he asked himself.

Emerald shook his head and climbed out of his faux tomb, taking the time to look himself over.

His fur had been burned away in some spots, and he definitely had a few broken bones from the attack. Not only that, but there were various spots of flesh that had been charred black, leaving flaking bits of skin and dried blood to fall away. They were deep lacerations across his sides and his leg, but they seemed to have mostly clotted by now.

That was a dream he hadn't had in years now. He shivered slightly at the memory.

He didn't want any of the other prisoners to die. He knew what their suffering was like, so how could he leave them behind?

He steadfastly ignored the ones who had died by his hooves. That minotaur, the griffon, the dragon.

He ignored the ones he'd killed himself. He'd spared them the pain of living after the Facility.

Besides... those Tests had made him stronger, and, at the time, it was either him or them.

He shook his head. Now wasn't the time for him to be stuck in his head. He was injured, and Discord might still be out there.

He was still in the Everfree, that much he could tell. The general atmosphere and appearance of the trees suggested that he hadn't been moved since his... altercation with Discord.

The sky was the same, with both the sun and moon hanging above. That meant that, however long he'd been out, it hadn't been long enough for Discord to be imprisoned once more, in stone or otherwise.

"I won't allow a Seventh one to appear."

"I can no more destroy the Elements, and their Bearers, than they can destroy me."

It made sense, in a way. If Discord really couldn't destroy the Elements and their Bearers, then it would explain why he hadn't been killed by Discord's last attack.

"But I'm no liar, you see."

"I may twist and pull my words around, but outright lying isn't as fun."

It just didn't make sense! Seven Elements. Seven! What Element could he possibly be the Bearer of? Sarcasm? Stubbornness? Secrecy?

Well, Element or not, he still needed to help the girls. Who knows what Discord had gotten up to since he knocked him out.

"Finally! We're here!" Twilight shouted as they crossed the hill, "Ponyville should be just right over-! Oh sweet Celestia..." Twilight muttered, coming to a stop once... Ponyville was in sight.

The sky was completely covered in pink clouds, though only half of them were raining, splitting Ponyville down the center. Large chunks of the ground had been torn and now levitated in the air, with the largest one holding an upside down Town Hall. The surrounding land had been given a multicoloured checkerboard pattern that hurt Twilight's eyes to look at.

Those deformed animals from earlier in the day were running around aimlessly, and dancing buffalo could be seen frolicking about as well.

Those most jarring thing, perhaps, was the complete lack of anyone she could see. Nobody was out and about on the streets, leaving them completely empty. It was a though Ponyville had been turned into some... ghost town.

"Chaotic?" a woefully familiar voice asked directly in her ear. Twilight yelped and jumped away, turning to find Discord smirking at her rather than the empty air that had been there moments before.

"Why, yes! It's me!" he said, spreading his arms out, "I'm so glad you noticed, Twilight Sparkle. Tell me, how do you like the few changes I made to your dear little Ponyville?" he asked, "Aren't they marvelous? And to think! This is only the beginning of it!" he said, disappearing from sight.

Twilight yelped once more as an arm wrapped around her stomach and hoisted her into the air,

"Just imagine! Ponyville: The Chaos Capital of the World!" Discord announced cheerily, before dropping her, "Doesn't it just fill you with excitement?"

"Not in the slightest," Twilight growled, dusting herself off from the impromptu drop. Discord only shrugged,

"Well, I suppose you'll just have to get used to it, won't you?" he asked, walking away, before disappearing once more.

Twilight glared at the spot Discord once occupied, but turned back to Ponyville after a moment.

"Ponyville: The Chaos Capital of the World?" she said, before scoffing, "Not if I have anything to say about it!"

It had taken them some time, but Twilight and the others had managed to get to the Golden Oaks Library with only a few issues.

Namely Fluttershy messing around with Rarity's 'diamond', and a few altercations between Applejack and Pinkie.

"Okay girls!" Twilight announced loudly, "Can we all please please please get inside pleeeaaase?"

"With pleasure," was Fluttershy's response, though she did stop to trample one of the bushes by her door, irritating Twilight,

Twilight waited a moment, sighed, and turned to face Rarity, who was struggling with pushing her 'diamond'.

"Please just go inside, we need to hurry!" she moaned. Rarity growled at her, the sweat dripping down her face giving her a rather manic look,

"Nice try, Twilight, but I know your plan!" she declared, "The second that I go inside, you're going to have your little minion, Spike, come out and steal Tom!"

"Aha! But I'm onto you, I know what you're planning! And it's not going to work!"

"You're not going inside without it, are you?" she asked, but didn't receive an answer, "Fine!" Twilight snapped, using her magic to drag the stupid boulder behind her.

She slammed it against and through the front door, not bothering to care about any sort of damages right now, ignoring Rarity's shrill screeching about how she better not have scratched Tom.

"Twilight!" Spike cried, jogging over to her, dripping water for some reason, "What the hays going on with everybody?" he asked, "Why're they all acting so... weird?" Twilight shook her head, gently slipping by him and over to the bookshelves,

"I don't want to talk about it, Spike," she said, "I need The Reference Guide To: The Elements of Harmony," she said.

"That thing?" Spike asked, and perked up, "Oh! I know exactly where it is!" he said, before darting into the next room.

"What?" she asked, not even surprised when Fluttershy upturned a bucket of water onto her head,

"You!" she shouted, before slamming the metal bucket onto her head. Twilight stumbled slightly at the impact, but thankfully didn't suffer much injury.

"Here it is Twilight!" Spike said, running back into the room. Unfortunately, the poor drake was tripped by Fluttershy, who then took the book for herself.

"Keep away!" she shouted, before tossing the book aside, where it was caught by Applejack,

"Pinkie!" Twilight yelled, only for the pink mare to scoff and turn away from her, throwing the book back over to Fluttershy. The shy-turned-cruel mare eagerly reached out for it, only for Spike to tackle her out of the air, leaving Twilight fully able to grab the book,

"Finally!" she groaned, only for a familiar blue aura to surround the book, and yank it away from her.

"Wha-Rarity! Do you even know what you just took?!" Twilight demanded, chasing after the mare,

She continued to chase Rarity, darting around furniture and the other ponies for nearly a minute, until Rarity made a sharp turn, leaving Twilight stumbling after her, and causing her to blindly crash into 'Tom'.

Dazed, Twilight stumbled away, a strange warmth running down her muzzle. She managed to correct herself, and wiped at her nose, her hoof coming away covered in blood. She growled at the sight, and turned to face Applejack and Pinkie,

"Beats me," Applejack said smugly, not-so-subtly hiding the book Twilight was after under her hat.

"Lies!" Twilight snarled, jumping at the stronger mare. She shoved the earth pony down the ground, making a desperate grab for the book, only for Pinkie of all ponies to jump on her, pinning her to the ground.

She tossed the mare off of her, and kicked Applejack in the gut, allowing her to make a second dive for the book, finally grasping it in her hooves.

She panted and jumped away from the mares, huddling against the nearest bookshelf,

"Stay back!" she shouted, glaring at the four mares slowly advancing on her, "This is my book, and I'm gonna read it!" she snarled, as Spike jumped in, standing between her and the girls.

She glared at them for a moment longer, then turned to the book, flicking it open.

"Finally, now I can- the Elements?!" she shouted. Rather than finding a passage about the Elements, like she'd expected, she instead opened the book to find that it had been completely hollowed out and contained the Elements of Harmony themselves.

"I can't believe it, the Elements were here all along!" she gushed, her previously bad mood having evaporated, for the moment,

"That's awesome Twilight!" Spike agreed, smiling back at her. Twilight jumped to her hooves,

"Can you believe it girls?!" she asked, spinning around, "We found the Elements of Harmony, toge-you don't even care, do you?!" she snapped when she saw her friends lounging around, instead of celebrating with her.

"Ugh!" Twilight groaned, falling onto her flanks, "I can't believe it. My friends... have turned into complete jerks!" she snapped. Her horn ignited, and nearly tore the Elements out of the reference book,

"Necklace," she snapped, forcefully placing Rarity's necklace on, before proceeding to do the same with the others, "necklace, necklace, necklace, weird tiara thing," she muttered placing the tiara containing the Element of Magic onto her head, "Alright everypony, let's get this over with," she snapped, beginning to stomp her way outside.

"Nope!" Twilight cut him off, "We've got the liar, the grump, the hoarder, and the brute! That just about covers it!" she said, giving Spike a wide, and painfully fake, smile.

"But... what about Rainbow Dash?" he asked. Twilight stared at him for a moment, and sighed,

"Congrats Spike," she said, shoving the Element of Loyalty onto his neck, "you're the new Rainbow Dash," she concluded, making her way out the hole she'd made of the door.

"What?" he asked, "Me?! But-but what if she finds out I was impersonating her?!" he asked, rushing to catch up with her,

"Too bad," was Twilight's response, "Let's just get out there, defeat Discord, and then we'll never have to talk to each other ever again!"

There was a round of excited cheers behind her, further aggravating Twilight's already short fuse.

The sound of grinding stone behind her caused her pause for a moment, before she growled as her horn lit up,

"Move it Rarity!" she snapped, sending the massive boulder flying out through the wall, creating another large hole, before taking an aggravated step outside.

"Okay," she muttered, glancing over each of the girls, and Spike, "okay, we're all here, now where the fuck is Discord?"

The sound of slow, sarcastic clapping met her ears, and she turned to find who else but the very draconequus she was looking for.

"Well, well, it would seem you little ponies finally found your little Elements of Harmony. How terrifying," he drawled,

"Shut up, Discord!" Twilight snapped, "I figured out your stupid riddle, so just shut up and take it!"

"Oh my, I never would've taken you for that kind of mare," he teased, but Twilight's foul mood prevented her from feeling any embarrassment, thankfully, causing Discord to pout, "Oh, you're no fun. Fine," he said ignominiously, "you win, you've clearly proven yourself superior," he snapped his talons, and put on a pair of sunglasses, "I'm prepared to be defeated, Twilight Sparkle. Go on, I accept my fate. Take the shot," he added, placing a target directly over his heart.

"Formation!" she snapped, having to take a deep breath to control her temper when her 'friends' groaned at her, lazily taking place around Discord, but she noticed one was missing, however, "Rainbow Dash!" she snapped, looking around for Spike, who nervously peeked out from behind 'Tom'.

"Hehe...?" he laughed, before swallowing and jogging over to the empty spot between herself and Applejack.

While she couldn't exactly recall all the details of what happened the first time she used it, she did remember how strange it felt.

She could feel something within herself, a part of her she recognized as her magic, that was, yet was not, a part of her.

She could feel it resonate. She could feel it pulse within her like a second heartbeat. Every pulse was slow, tempered, and grew stronger. Like a burning star, she felt it fill her being with warmth, until it exploded out of her.

Twilight began to rise into the air, a magnificent aura beginning to surround her, as the very air became charged with magic.

In that instant, she could feel so much more. She felt the waves of magic course through the air. She felt the individual heartbeats of her friends, the magic rushing through their very being. But most importantly, she could feel their emotions, brushing against her mind.

The light faded, and Twilight fell to the ground, the grunts around her telling her that the other four had felt much the same.

"Ugh... what happened?" she muttered sluggishly, feeling her entire body pulse once in agony, before it faded away.

"I hate the Elements of Harmony!" Pinkie snapped, frowning, while Fluttershy tore hers off,

"Garbage," she muttered, tossing the priceless artifact to the side, which Rarity was all too happy to jump on.

Sarcastic laughter broke her from her thoughts, and she looked up to find Discord languidly approaching her, a smug grin on his face,

"Wonderful job, Twilight Sparkle, just look at all that harmony in Equestria!" he mocked, gesturing to the chaotic landscape around them, "Truly, you are a gem. It would seem that I've won," he said, gently tapping Twilight on the nose, retracting rapidly when she growled at him, "Discord rules, Celestia drools," he added, turning around and walking away, laughing all the while.

"And just who are you talking to?!" Twilight hissed, narrowing her eyes at the annoying pink mare,

"You!" she said, then glanced at the other three, "All of you! I'm outta here!" she growled, stomping off towards town.

"So am I," Applejack said, walking off as well, "I've got new, better friends waitin' for me back at the farm!"

Rarity didn't even say anything, letting the sound of grinding rock tell of her departure.

"F-fine!" Twilight shouted after them, "Fine! I don't need any of you anyways!" she said, breathing heavily, "Leave! See if I care! With friends like you who needs-!" she choked for a moment, tears beginning to fall down her face, "e-enemies..."

Was this was friendship was? A brief period of time where she was happy, only for it all to come crashing down, leaving her with nothing but some... empty, hollow hole?

Sighing, Twilight turned around and headed back into her ho-... back into the library, as the sun slowly began to set.

His goggles had been destroyed in the blast, Emerald found. He knew this, because in his search for his spear, he noticed a strange powdery substance laying around the area. Given the various colours it held, he managed to determine the powder as all that remained of his Heavybolts.

On one hoof, they were a gift from Spitfire. On the other, he hardly used them, only placing them on when he was about to start flying.

It hadn't taken him much longer after that discovery to find his spear, which had thankfully escaped the devastation mostly unscathed, though it was likely it wouldn't stay that way for much longer. The blade was chipped in a few places, and the shaft was slightly cracked, and he would definitely be needing a new one later, but it would do for now. Assuming it didn't snap immediately when he ran Discord through the next time he saw him.

Regardless, he'd spent long enough in this damned clearing, and was finally rushing towards town, ignoring the sharp pains in his chest, which were an unfortunate result of his cracked, likely broken, but he'd rather be optimistic right now, ribs.

He arrived back in Ponyville soon enough, but nearly tripped over himself in shock when he saw what became of the town. Checkerboard ground, earth torn asunder, buildings flying through the air, chocolate rain covering half the town, really!

"What a fucking mess...." he muttered. It was awful to see his... home in such a state, but it hammered home the fact that the girls had yet to find the Elements.

Emerald shook his head. There was no time to be wondering where they were. Chances are, they were being hounded by Discord back in that maze of theirs. It was entirely likely that he'd done something and made the thing endless, or something, and had trapped them.

The idea left a bad taste in his mouth. He'd essentially be abandoning Ponyville to its fate until he got the girls their Elements.

He ignored the thought, and made a mad dash for the library. If he remembered correctly, the report stated that Sparky and the girls first found out about the Elements' location in a book titled The Reference Guide To: The Elements of Harmony, meaning that they were probably hidden in that same book. He just hoped that Discord hadn't-

It looked perfectly fine, untouched by the rampant chaos that surrounded it. Well, perfectly fine, aside from the two giant fucking holes in the wall!

Books were strewn about the floor, and even one of the shelves had been knocked completely over! He looked around the room, finding some small signs of a struggle, a fight even, but there didn't seem to be any blood or signs of heavy injury, at least.

That calmed his nerves, slightly, but they shot right back up when a thought hit him.

Discord wouldn't need to make a mess if he was looking for the Elements. That meant that someone else had been looking for them.

And judging by the hollowed out book he spotted laying on the ground, someone had ended up finding them.

Before his panicked heart rate could shoot up any further, a motion from upstairs caught his attention. Without thinking, he bolted up the stairs, and nearly slammed through the door at the top.

It was a fairly small room, with a purple, circular rug on the floor, a cuckoo clock hanging off the wall, and a large bed resting against the wall, with a small basket resting at the foot of it. There was a window off to the left, where a set of green curtains were pulled shut, partially hiding a star covered telescope from sight.

He was, admittedly, surprised at the sight of Sparky's bedroom. He'd figured there would be more bookshelves.

He'd only scanned the room for a moment, before his gaze settled and locked onto the curled form resting on the bed.

"Sparky?" he called, taking a few steps towards the purple ball, which twitched at the name, before it uncurled slightly, revealing a familiar head of striped hair,

"Yeah, it's me," he said, frowning, "What happened? If you're here, then that means you lot realized the Elements are here. So why is Discord still running around?" he asked, walking forward. Unfortunately, his wounds were still a little resistant to his movement, and he ended up kicking a small trash bin he'd missed in his earlier scan, spilling its contents onto the floor,

"Shit, sorry, I'm a little-" he cut himself off when he caught sight of a golden tiara, with a star-like gem in the center.

The second his eyes landed on it, he felt a sudden warmth blossom into his chest. It was like a rush of fire suddenly began coursing through his veins, numbing the pain he felt from his wounds while also filling him with a rush of energy, as if he'd suddenly downed a gallon of caffeine.

"Wh-bu-Sparky!" he snapped, looking up at her, "Why is there an Element of Harmony in the trash?! What happened to you and your friends?!" he asked, striding over the trash on the floor until he was right beside her.

"They are not my friends," she stated, with all the certainty of an executioner's axe. But it wasn't her words he'd focused on. No...

Eyes once bright as a shining star, were now dull. A brilliant, gorgeous purple, faded into a melancholic gray.

Once filled with life, they now gazed back at him with all the brilliance of a fresh corpse.

"Sparky..." he breathed, feeling his heart ache within his chest the longer he stared at those eyes, "What happened?"

"I thought they were my friends," she began, turning away from him, her voice cold and bitter, like it should never be, "I thought they all cared about me, about each other, but I see it now. It was fake, wasn't it?" she asked, then scoffed before he could answer, "I should've known. I could never make any real friends back in Canterlot. I had a group I spent time with, but I wasn't really their friend. Nopony liked 'Twicry Sparkle' anyways," she trailed off, her eyes beginning to fill with tears, "... they were right," she breathed quietly, "I'm just some... friendless loser," she whispered, burying her face in her pillow, "I'm just... I'm worthless."

Without conscious thought, Emerald hopped onto the bed beside her, wrapping her with one of his wings, completely ignoring the pain it caused him. This was more important.

"You're not worthless, Twilight," he said before he could register his own words, "far from it. You're honestly one of the most valuable mares I've ever had the pleasure of meeting."

"You're just saying that..." she muttered, her voice muffled slightly by the bed. Emerald shook his head,

"No I'm not. I've met a lot of creatures in my life, and..." he swallowed the lump in his throat, "I can... I genuinely mean it when I say that you're probably one of the few I can't imagine life without. We might not have known each other for more than a year, but..." he trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence, instead, he opted for something else, "... You're important, Twilight. To your family. To your friends... To me."

Sparky only curled further into a ball, her ears folding themselves against her head.

She wasn't listening... no, she was listening, and his words were having some effect. The image of her eyes flashed into his mind.

Discord was behind this. He'd done something to alter Sparky's personality, and, if her words were anything to go by, he'd done the same to the others. He wouldn't be able to change her back to normal like this. His words might be helping, but Discord's magic was obviously working to make sure the opposite was true.

His magic made her remember her worst times in Canterlot. It made her hate herself, made her worthless in her own eyes.

No, true as his words might have been, to someone who viewed themselves so lowly, artificially or not, the words of one individual, no matter how sincere, meant nothing.

In order to save Sparky, both from Discord and now herself, he needed the others.

In order to save one mare from Discord's influence, he needed to snap five others out of the same thing.

He left the Golden Oaks Library after that, making sure to corner the hatchling and 'gently persuade' him to keep an eye on Sparky before he left, though he honestly doubted he had needed to.

After careful deliberation, he'd decided to hunt down Applejack first. Getting her back to normal would likely make it easier to find the others, and even help keep them in place should they prove... resistant to his efforts to return them to normal.

Besides, he didn't know how different they were. Sparky had a change of personality, so it was likely the others had as well, but the nature of these changes were still unknown to him. Applejack's straight-forward personality would make it easier to determine what sort of changes Discord had likely brought upon the group.

Sweet Apple Acres was just as much a mess as it had been earlier in the day, though it now sported quite a few holes in the ground as well, curiously enough.

Finding Applejack wasn't difficult once he arrived, as she was simply sitting outside the barn, eating... er reverse-eating some apples.

"-and so I tried to fight Discord, but none'o mah so called friends lifted a hoof ta help me!" she complained to Granny Smith, tossing aside the apple she was eating. Emerald decided to step forward,

"That's quite the interesting tale you've got there, Applejack. Mind telling it to me?" he asked, making his presence known, only for Mac's head to suddenly pop up from the ground, revealing the cause of the many holes, panting like a dog. Mac yipped and went to lick Emerald's face, only for a green hoof to slam into his jaw, sending him flying into the corn field while knocking him unconscious.

"Well, well, if it ain't Emerald!" the disdain in her voice quite evident, "Where were ya while I was off tryin' ta defeat Discord, eh?"

"Nowhere special," he said, taking note of her now gray eyes, thinking about how strange it was that no one else seemed to notice the difference, but, given the amount of changes Discord was making, he supposed it would be a bit much to ask them to notice such a small detail, "but you were in the middle of telling a story, right? Mind if I hear it?" he asked.

"Story?" she asked, "I wasn't tellin' no story!" she said, her eyes darting to the sides rapidly. Emerald narrowed his eyes,

"Oh, you weren't? My bad," he apologized, "but you mentioned fighting Discord alone, right? Where were the others?"

"Hay if I know!" she said, her eyes darting around once more, "They were jus' standin' around, watchin' me do mah thing!" her eyes kept darting around.

So, it would seem that Applejack, the Element of Honesty, was now a pathological liar, with the world's most obvious tell to boot. It was only one clue, but, if he had to guess, then the other four would be similarly juxtaposed with their Elements.

Shame, he'd expected something a bit more... original from Discord. Oh well, it made this a bit easier.

"Now, I doubt that that's true, Applejack. You know the girls wouldn't just stand around like that. They're your friends, after all. So, why are you lying to me?"

"Friends?! They ain't mah friends! An' I ain't lyin'!" she said, firmly stamping her hoof into the ground.

Hmm... she seems rather firm in her little lies... But that's just Discord's magic talking, isn't it? That would mean that the real Applejack is still in there, somewhere. I just need to figure out how to bring her out... Hmm... I wonder...

"Not your friends?" he asked, and smirked, "Ah, of course. They did always hate you," he said. Applejack smirked,

"Yeah, they hated-wait, what?" she asked, her smirk falling immediately, the gray of her eyes flashing suddenly,

"Oh yes, don't you know?" he asked innocently, hiding his growing grin, "They absolutely detested you. You said it yourself, they aren't your friends. What have they ever done for you?" he asked, "Did they ever decide to go out of their way to save your farm? Of course not!"

"I mean... think about it," he said, beginning to circle her, "Think about everything you've ever done with them. Did it ever feel like you were friends?" Applejack's mouth opened and closed like a fish, seemingly having difficulty speaking,

"Right," Emerald gently agreed, "forget about your first meeting, forget about the trust you all shared when you fearlessly faced down Nightmare Moon! Forget about the fear you held when your farm was nearly ripped from your hooves. Forget about how they stood up for you, how they helped you when they didn't need to, but wanted to. Forget about how much you cared for each other. Forget about the worry you felt when your ex-friends were in danger, and desperately needed your help. Forget it all."

"Y-yeah!" she shakily agreed, "I jus'... I jus' need ta forget 'bout it... 'bout how... how much I cared fer 'em... how much I... how much I..." she fell to her flank, staring aimlessly at the ground.

Emerald frowned, and went to say something when a sudden surge of warmth rushed through him.

It poured through his veins, sending a surge of energy rushing inwards. It was as though his blood had been lit on fire, burning wildly as it fought aside his growing fatigue.

He didn't have time to focus on the feeling, as Applejack's body began to glow brilliantly, traveling from the base of her tail to the top of her head, leaving her dull gray eyes sparkling green once more.

"Ugh...." she groaned, placing a hoof against her head, "What in the hay happened?" she asked, beginning to look around.

"You were... indisposed for awhile," Emerald said, causing Applejack's head to whip around to him,

"Long story short, Discord fucked with your head. He turned you into a pathological liar." Applejack stared at him for a moment, before she growled,

"Now's not the time. You can have your revenge later, after we fix the others."

"I told you, he fucked with your head, and turned you into a pathological liar. He's probably gone and done the same to the others."

"Ya mean everypony's a big liar now?" she asked, beginning to calm down. Emerald shook his head,

"No, I mean he's gone and turned everyone into an opposite of what they were. You became a liar, and Sparky's now a miserable little unicorn with self-esteem issues," he paused for a moment, "... more self-esteem issues."

"Well then, let's get goin'!" Applejack said, jumping to her hooves, "We've got some friends ta save!"

"I know, that's why I helped you first," he said, beginning to walk off with her right behind him, "I figured you might be more effective at talking, or tying, the others up if they prove to be less than cooperative."

"Sounds good ta me," she said, nodding, before she paused, "Wait, I'm the first one ya helped? What 'bout Twilight? I'd'a thought ya'll would'a fixed her right up befer anypony else." Emerald fidgeted slightly,

"... I tried," he admitted, "but with what Discord did to her, I doubt I can help her alone. So I need the rest of you to help me save her."

After several minutes of careful deliberation-arguing-Emerald and Applejack came to a simple agreement.

She would head back to the library to see if she could snap Sparky out of her depressed state, while Emerald would hunt down the others and send them her way. This was mostly due to the fact that she, and the other girls, had spent more time with Sparky than he had, and so were more likely to possess something that would, eventually, break her free from Discord's grasp.

The only condition Applejack had managed to force onto him was that he needed to save Fluttershy first.

And so, Emerald quickly made his way over to Fluttershy's cottage, wondering what exactly he'd end up encountering.

Fluttershy's cottage, usually surrounded by all manner of small, large, but generally harmless, animals was now completely isolated from all forms of life, save the lone pegasus hiding away inside.

The fact that the animals were avoiding Fluttershy, proved his initial theory that everyone was acting opposite of how they usually were.

That Fluttershy was now acting in a way to drive off a bunch of animals stirred his curiosity, and he hastily knocked.

There was silence on the other end, before a window above him opened, and he slid to the side to avoid the potted plant from colliding with his skull.

"I missed," a voice remarkably similar to Fluttershy's said, but the sheer amount of vitriol in it made it quite difficult to place it with the normally soft and meek pegasus. He glanced up to confirm that, yes, her eyes were gray just like the others, and, yes again, that there was a scowl marring her delicate features.

The sight of Fluttershy with a scowl stunned him for half a second, before he pushed it aside.

"My friends? What, you mean you and those losers?" she asked, before frowning, "Aww, is big bad Emerald having trouble?"

He stared at Fluttershy for a moment, and sighed. He could already tell where this was going,

"Isn't it? I guess you'd rather have the weak and pathetic Fluttershy back, huh?" she asked, scowling at him, "Well too bad! I'm done being a fucking doormat!" she snarled, before dipping back inside, slamming the window shut behind her.

Emerald blinked, and turned back to the front door. He stared at it for a moment, pondering, before shrugging and kicked it hard enough to knock it off its hinges, ignoring the way his body protested at it.

"Aw, did I hurt your feelings?" she asked, pouting at him, "I guess you're not so tough after all."

"Well, at least I'm not a pathetic bitch who has to resort to mocking someone to make herself feel better." Fluttershy stared at him for a moment, before scowling,

"I called you a pathetic bitch, are you deaf too, halfie?" Emerald snarled, growing amused by the way she began to vibrate in anger, "What's wrong, do my words hurt you? A little too cruel for your delicate little ears?"

"What?" he asked innocently, beginning to stalk forward, taking a rather shameful amount of sadistic pleasure at the way she backed away from him, not that he'd admit it to anyone, "Does it hurt when I say such mean things to you? Does it make you want to cry, halfie?" he quietly demanded, smirking at the way Fluttershy nearly yelped when her back hit the wall, even as she slowly began to curl into a ball, "Well... who cares? Who needs a kind word? Who needs a gentle smile? Who needs a sweet, soft, gentle heart, when it's so much easier to hurt?"

The warmth surged through him once more, filling him with strength as Fluttershy began to glow, her teal eyes shining like stars once it finally died down.

"O-oh... my..." Fluttershy murmured, gently rubbing her head, before she looked up and spotted him, "Emerald!" she yelped, "I-I had the most awful dream!"

"It's alright, Fluttershy," he said, placing a hoof on her shoulder, "Everything's going to be fine now."

"I-it was terrible!" she continued, but in a calmer manner, "I-I was being so mean to everypony!" she admitted, her eyes beginning to fill with tears at the mere thought, "It was horrible!" Emerald shook his head,

"A-anymore?" she asked, before gasping, "Y-you mean, th-that wasn't a dream?!" Emerald shook his head,

"No, Fluttershy, it was real, but-" he cut in quickly when he saw the look on her face, "it wasn't you that was doing all that. It was Discord's magic that was making you act that way."

"D-Discord?" she asked, sounding confused, before her eyes widened, "O-oh! I remember! I saw a bunch of little butterflies and thought... oh! B-but that was Discord and he-he..." she frowned, and looked away, "He made me all mean..."

Emerald shook his head. As nice as it was to talk to the real Fluttershy again, they only had so much time.

"Fluttershy," he began seriously, his tone grabbing her attention immediately, "the others were affected by Discord as well. I've already managed to help Applejack, but I need you to head to the library to help her with Sparky."

"T-Twilight?" she asked, "B-but wouldn't you have already... y-you know, helped her?" she asked. Emerald squashed the urge to twitch, and shook his head,

"I tried, but Discord's magic is affecting her a lot worse than you and Applejack. She needs you and the others," he implored. Fluttershy stared at him for a moment longer, before her expression hardened.

"O-okay!" she said, nodding firmly, "I-I'll go help Twilight and Applejack!" she added, before blinking, "Oh, but, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to hunt down the others," he said simply, narrowing his eyes, "There's not much else I'll be good for, not in my condition," he admitted.

After he managed to convince Fluttershy to head out to the library, rather than stay behind to treat some of his injuries, he rushed back into town.

Who to help next? Rarity's magic might be able to help the others if Sparky started getting antsy. Rainbow might be a good idea if she decides to pull a runner, but, considering her current condition, he doubted she'd be doing anything like that. On the other hoof, Pinkie just might be able to pull Sparky out of her funk by herself, or at least be a good contributor. Plus, Pinkie was closer than the other two.

He snuck inside, making sure to hop up and prevent the bell from sounding, and began searching around. The bakery was completely empty, the lights were off, but there were signs of ponies having recently been there. Desserts and other food had been left on the counters, and there were even some puddles on the ground from where someone's fallen ice cream had melted. Despite this, he could make out the forms of five figures upstairs. Likely the Cakes and Pinkie.

Carefully, he snuck upstairs and, after determining what rooms the figures were all in, peeked his head in to the twin's room, where the four were.

Mrs. Cake was flopping around on her stomach, clapping her front two hooves together like a seal, while Mr. Cake was crawling along the walls and ceiling like some demented spider. The twins, at first, seemed normal, until Pound began hiccuping bubbles and Pumpkin burped fire.

Leaving that mess behind, he snuck over to Pinkie's room where, presumably, the Discorded mare was.

Dispensing with stealth, he opened the door, prepared to meet the sight of an angry pink mare, only to find her sitting on the bed, staring at the wall.

"Pinkie?" he asked, catching the mare's attention. She blinked and looked over to him, before gasping.

"Emerald!" she cheered, rushing over to envelop him in a crushing hug, causing him to stumble slightly,

"I knew you were okay!" she suddenly said, breaking away from him, giving him a brief glimpse of her still baby blue eyes. He blinked in confusion,

"Hmm?" Pinkie tilted her head, before smiling, "Oh! You mean when Discord made me act all super angry and stuff?" she asked, receiving a bewildered nod, "Yeah, I stopped!"

"I dunno! I just started thinking 'Well, if I don't like laughing or my friends, then what do I like?' I started thinking of balloons, cupcakes, puppies, the Cakes, balloons, parties, birthday parties, candy-"

"-streamers, music, movies, surprise parties, chocolate, and a whole bunch of other stuff! But then I started thinking 'Huh. Those things are all super fun, but are kinda boring if nopony is laughing.' Then I started thinking that if laughing isn't so bad, then maybe my friends weren't so bad either!" she smiled at him, "Then I started remembering a bunch of super amazing stuff! Like my first party with my family, my cutie mark, when I came to Ponyville, and when I met the girls and you! So I started thinking 'Wow! All this stuff is really great! How come I don't like it anymore?' So I started liking it again! Then you walked in!"

... Okay? So Pinkie snapped herself out of it by mistake? That's... good. Very good, actually.

"That's great, Pinkie," he said, shaking away the rest of his surprise, before returning to his original purpose, "I need your help."

"Discord's magic has made Sparky pretty sad, and I need you to head to the library to help the others cheer her back up. Think you can do that?" he asked. Pinkie nodded, a rather serious look on her usually smiling face,

"You got it! I'll have Twilight smiling faster than you can say 'cupcakes'!" she said, before turning right around and jumping out the window.

The Carousel Boutique was as prim and proper as it had ever been, though the large gouge in the ground leading to the door had been a little odd. Considering that the gouge led all the way from her front door back to the library, it was even stranger.

Knocking on the door, only to have Rarity's familiar voice screech at him to leave her and Tom alone, was probably the fourth strangest thing he encountered that day alone.

He frowned, and, after checking to see if it was locked, pushed through the door, noting that there was no ringing from a bell.

The inside of the Boutique was vastly different than usual. For starters, every single one of the ponyquinns had been tossed aside, some of them even missing entire limbs, and were strewn about the room. Fabrics also found themselves laying haphazardly throughout the room, over furniture, in the rafters, and even somehow knotted into and through several of the shelves. He also spotted the bell laying on the floor near the door.

Of course, all of that paled in comparison to a massive, motherfucking boulder sitting proudly on the stage, surrounded by several mirrors, with Rarity almost reverently polishing the stone with a rag.

"What. The. Fuck?" he couldn't help but vocalize his thoughts, the sight before him too surreal for anything else. Expectedly, his silent arrival and sudden announcement startled the snowy mare, who let out a rather impressive shriek as she whirled around, holding a hoof to her chest.

"Who is it?!" she hissed, her normally prim and proper speech marred by a strange, raspy quality, as her dead, gray eyes frantically darted over his form, "Emerald?! What are you doing here?!" she asked, before sneering, backing up until she was laying against the boulder, "You're here for Tom, aren't you?! Twilight put you up to this, didn't she?! I told her! Tom is mine! Nopony can have him but me!"

Now, how to go about fixing this one? He didn't think talking would be anywhere near as effective as it had somehow ended up being with Applejack and Fluttershy.

... Destroy the rock? She obviously saw it as something valuable, so getting rid of its value could snap her out of it.

Well, he doubted she could get crazier than she was right now, but he wasn't sure it was a risk he was willing to take.

"Relax, I'm not here for.... Tom?" he said, before shaking his head, "I just came to see how everyone was doing. I've heard that Discord has been... interacting with you lot."

"Discord?" Rarity asked, before perking up, "Oh? You mean the thing that led me to my precious Tom?" she added, beginning to gently pet the boulder,

"Tom is not some filthy rock!" Rarity hissed, glaring at him, "He's a big, glorious diamond!"

... Okay, so she sees the big fucker as a diamond... so he put a selective glamour over the thing... huh, maybe breaking it is a good idea... It'll hurt like a bitch right now, but that should dispel the glamour... hopefully.

"Of course!" he said, bowing slightly in apology, "How could I have mistaken such a... gem for likes of a mere rock?" he said diplomatically.

"It's fine!" Rarity said, not quite paying attention to him, "As long as you know how beautiful he is!" she snapped her head back over to him once more, "But he's still mine!"

"Of course he is," Emerald said as she turned away from him once more, beginning to slowly stalk forward, "only someone like you can truly appreciate its... beauty."

"Yes! Yes!" Rarity gushed, beginning to hug the boulder, "I'm so glad you see things my way! Twilight tried to take him from me!" she growled, "Can you believe it?! A mare like her, trying to take away my Tom?! Ha! A little bookworm like her should stay where she belongs, with all her books, and leave me to all my gems!"

Emerald twitched slightly, feeling a pulse of irrational anger, before he brushed it aside.

He lunged forward, latched on to Rarity's tail, before dragging her away from the boulder, and tossed her off to the side, ignoring the way she screeched in pain and surprise.

He obviously ignored her, lifting up a single hoof in preparation to shatter the boulder. He faltered for an instant, feeling his body protest at the movement. A blue glow surrounded him, but it fizzled out almost immediately, giving him the time needed to overcome the momentary pain, and slam his hoof down on the rock.

His hoof crashed into the stone once, causing a series of cracks to spiderweb across Tom's surface, twice, causing them to expand and grow deeper, before a third strike caused the stone to split into a hundred large shards of stone.

He jumped back as Rarity charged at him, or Tom as it turned out when she fell next to the broken stone.

"No, no no no no no! It's okay Tom! I-I can fix you!" she said, beginning to hyperventilate, "I-it's okay! M-momma's here! Y-you're g-going t-t-t-to be alright!" she picked up a few of the shards, and began weakly clacking them together, as if it would cause them to magically stick together, "C-come on! Just-just stick together!"

Emerald frowned as he watched the mare break down in front of him. As he'd thought, she was beginning to snap from the sudden removal of her forced fixation. What interested him most, however, was that she seemed to still see the remains as bits of diamond rather than stone.

Regardless of the circumstance, he did feel a tad guilty. More so for her reaction than what he actually did to cause it.

With that in mind, he decided to approach her once more, placing his hoof on her shoulder once he was close enough. Strangely, she didn't seem to react to his touch, despite her state being his fault, scarcely even glancing at his hoof before she returned to her futile task.

"O-of course it is!" she insisted, her hooves shaking as she continued to clack a pair of the shards together, though it was beginning to slow down, "O-of... of course..." she trailed off for a moment, pausing in her frantic attempts to repair the rock.

She went silent, and stared down at the rocks in her hooves and on the ground in front of her, and suddenly began to blink rapidly.

The warmth surged within him once again. It roared and sang, stronger than ever before as it scorched away his pain, his fatigue, all in one encompassing burst.

Rarity lit up beside him, glowing with a brilliant white light, before it faded away. She blinked a few times, before turning her once-again-brilliant sapphire eyes onto him.

"Exactly. Now..." she trailed off for a moment, and glanced back at the stony debris sitting on her pristine little stage. Her eye twitched after a moment, and her horn lit up, coating every last shard of stone in her magic, before tossing it all, rather hastily, out the nearest open window, not even bothering to check where she'd thrown it.

"There!" she said perkily, gently clopping her hooves together, "Now that... that is out of my shop, would you mind telling me what happened, Emerald?"

He quickly filled Rarity in on his discovery of the Element's location, his 'fight' with Discord, his arrival in town, and the discovery of Sparky's, and by extension their, condition, as well as how the others had been affected.

"Why that-that-brute!" Rarity snarled, staring angrily out the window, "How dare he do any of that to us! To force anypony to act so against themselves, why it's despicable!" she growled, before turning her gaze back unto him, the fury giving way to worry, "Oh, are you alright, Emerald?" she asked, eyeing his visible injuries, "Those wounds of yours look rather ghastly. I'm not sure you should even be walking like this!" Emerald rolled his eyes,

"My injuries aren't anything noteworthy, Rarity," he said, "Honestly, I've had worse in the past."

"It wasn't meant to," he snapped, before shaking his head, "Anyways, I still need to find Rainbow. You should head o-"

"Oh no!" Rarity snapped, silencing him with a hoof against his lips, "I know exactly what you are trying to do, Emerald! You have done enough," she said firmly, "you don't need to prove that you're still useful, you silly colt," she added gently, "You're injured enough. Just find someplace safe and get some rest."

"And stand by while six civilians put themselves in unnecessary danger?" he asked. Rarity sighed,

"Pride? My pride?" he asked, before laughing, "Ha! This isn't about pride, Rarity!" he snapped, causing her to recoil, "The six of you are the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony! The six of you! Together, I'm sure you'd all be fine facing Discord, but alone or divided? Not a fucking chance!" he snarled, "If even one of you isn't around, then we're all fucked! I am not going to let you tell me to stand aside when there's nothing you can do by yourself! You will head to the library, and you will wait for Rainbow Dash to arrive. The five of you will snap Sparky out of it, then, and only then, will I let you lot fight Discord! Do. You. Understand?!"

Given that the other five had been lounging around places he had expected to find them, he had assumed Discord would spice things up by getting Rainbow Dash to leave Ponyville in its entirety, leaving Emerald with few to no clues to where she'd gone.

As it turns out, he found her laying on a small cloud not too far outside of her own cloud home.

In hindsight, he was grateful that she hadn't decided to lay around inside, as, with his current injuries, he wouldn't have been able to fly up to check.

"Huh?" the blue mare spun around on her cloud, having to lean over the edge to spot him, "Oh, hey Emerald!" she returned rather happily. Her response was a tad confusing. She seemed... normal. Aside from the gray eyes, he would've thought she was the same pony she'd always been. Especially since she was lounging about instead of getting to work.

"You realize that Discord is still roaming about, right? The girls need your help to stop him and fix Ponyville!"

"Ponyville, what?" Rainbow asked, before scoffing, "Please, have you seen this place? It's a total mess! Nah, I'm staying up here in Cloudsdale where everything's awesome!" she said, flopping onto her back without so much as a word.

Like Rarity's change, Discord's magic tied Rainbow to that cloud, forcefully tricking her into thinking it was something important enough to stabilize the forced personality change.

Whether he did that because he needed to overcome the Element's protections, or if he just thought it was funny, was lost on Emerald. Regardless, that meant that there were several ways he could go about saving Rainbow.

First: He could destroy the cloud. He might not be able to fly right now, but a fireball might do the trick.

Second: Try and turn the Element's magic back on, like he did with Fluttershy and Applejack.

Well, might as well try talking first. Avoid straining himself as much as he could for now.

"So that's it? You're just going to leave Ponyville behind? You're just giving up on the place you've lived in for years?" he asked.

"But what about when you first met your friends, huh? You stood by Fluttershy when she was getting bullied as a foal, right? Are you going to abandon her, too? Or what about when you first discovered the Elements? The six of you stood by each other, and fought off Nightmare Moon. Where's that loyalty now?"

"I see. But what about your Daring Do books? Remember when you thought your friends would abandon you for learning to enjoy reading? Or how about the Best Young Fliers Competition? Your Sonic Rainboom? It connected the sev-six of you from the very beginning! It gave you your destiny! Are you just tossing all of that aside? Is all that worth so little to you?"

He growled, and felt his chest begin to burn. He felt the spark in the back of his throat ignite, flame beginning to spill from his maw, as his eyes practically burned with a bright sapphire light.

His chest swelled as he arched his back, before spitting a searing ball of blue fire into the air.

It zipped through the sky at astronomical speeds, searing the air as it passed, creating a sharp whistling sound that pierced the ears.

Rainbow perked up at the strange sound, and turned just in time to see the pony-sized ball of flame approach. She yelped in shock, rocketing off of the cloud in a panic, letting the ball of ignited gas pass harmlessly through the air she'd just occupied.

Well, almost harmlessly. The cloud she'd been resting on evaporated instantly in the presence of the all-consuming heat.

"CLOUDSDALE!!" Rainbow screeched, hooves flying to the sides of her head as she stared at the empty air it had once occupied.

"So, are you ready to come back to Ponyville?" Emerald asked. Predictably, Rainbow turned to him, growling as she ground her teeth,

Rainbow let out a wordless scream as she pumped her wings and dive-bombed him. She shot through the sky, hooves outstretched and aimed for his unprotected face.

Her lithe body pierced through the air as her wings propelled her towards him, causing the wind to screech loudly in her ear. She closed in on him rapidly, bringing her hoof back to beat the ever-loving shit out of the bastard that destroyed Clouds-!

Despite his injured state, Emerald nimbly stepped aside, causing Rainbow to crash directly into the ground, having had absolutely zero time to react and correct herself before the impact.

The sky blue mare groaned for a moment, before a hoof roughly grabbed her by the mane, and yanked her up.

"Agh!" she growled, hooves flying up to her mane in an attempt to soothe the pain. It was for naught, however, as Emerald easily swung her around, until he brought her to a stop.

"Look," he said tiredly, but when Rainbow refused to listen, he growled and forced his exhaustion aside, "I said... look."

Rainbow stilled, her body suddenly tensing, instincts beginning to scream at her, and she resumed her struggles, only more frantically than before.

The part of her that wasn't her instincts, however, immediately followed the order, her eyes locking onto a large, but still distinctly distant, formation in the sky.

Rainbow's body fell limp as she kept staring off into the distance, continuing to repeat herself.

"Discord tricked you, lied to you. He made you abandon your friends, Rainbow Dash. Tell me... is that something you want to do?"

"That's... that's... that's impossible!" she suddenly snarled, her body beginning to glow like the others.

All at once, the warmth returned. It roared to life within his chest, his exhaustion burning away under its violent return.

He let go of Rainbow's mane, ignoring the way the mare began violently cursing Discord's name.

"Alright, before you go hunting Discord down," Emerald said, interrupting Rainbow's furious tirade, "we still need to help Sparky."

"Twilight?" Rainbow asked, before her eyes narrowed, "The girls. What did that jerk do to them?!" she demanded, earning a scoff from the thestral,

"The same thing he did to you," he snapped, "But now, Sparky's the only left we need to fix. She's at the library with the others, so-"

"Well what are we waiting for?!" Rainbow asked, "Let's go!" she said, before shooting off in a blur of rainbow colour.

He sighed, and pressed a hoof against his chest. He'd done it... he'd saved the other five, and they, in turn, would be able to do what he couldn't and help bring Sparky back to normal.

He was more than a little nervous when he got back to the Golden Oaks Library. Sure, nothing dangerous, or even suspicious, had occurred on the trip back. To be honest, the lack of anything happening was, in and of itself, suspicious, but he was willing to let it slide in his excitement to see Sparky back to normal.

He vaulted away, not caring what direction he was going in, just in time for the ground to erupt beneath his previous position.

"Hmm... that's twice now that you've done that. I didn't think much of it when you dodged that sword but... now this? Just how are you able to dodge something that hasn't happened yet?"

Discord's voice echoed around him once more, uncaring of Emerald's growing anger, nor of the damaged spear he brandished.

He pushed himself off the ground violently, ignoring the harsh pains his body rewarded him with, just as a large spike of earth shot up in front of him.

"Discord!" a wonderfully familiar voice called, cutting off the draconequus mid-sentence, "Come out here! It's over!"

Emerald spun around, just in time to watch Sparky confidently strut out of the large hole in the library, the Element of Magic sitting prettily a top her head, with the other five, each wearing their own Elements, right behind her.

"Oh. You're back already? Shame, I thought my spells would have lasted longer. Oh well, I suppose that's what I get for leaving this one alive."

He felt it this time. A small, niggling feeling in the back of his skull, an instant before he moved. It felt... Familiar somehow.

This time, a large war-hammer passed through the space just above him, growling as he aggravated his wounds with the hasty maneuver.

Strangely enough, he could still feel that... feeling, resting in the back of his mind. It was almost like it was... waiting for something.

"Now, now, Rainbow Dash. Don't you think that's a tad harsh? If you really want me to come out-"

There was a bright flash of light in front of them, before Discord appeared, lounging on a golden throne, a cup of chocolate milk in claw.

"Discord-!" Sparky snarled, she and the mares behind her all glaring quite nastily at the draconequus, before he cut her off,

"Yes, yes, that is my name. I'm glad we established that. Now, instead of making some grand speech, why don't you simply get on with it," Discord said, leveling a piercing glare at the six mares, "Your little Elements can't stop me. Have you learned nothing?"

The only response the girls had to that, was to get into a half-circle formation, with Sparky sitting at the center.

"Oh we've learned something, Discord!" Sparky shouted, as a brilliant white glow began to surround them, "We've learned that even though friendship can be hard, there's nothing about that isn't worth fighting for!"

"Gag," Discord replied, inspecting his talons, "just use those silly Elements of yours already. You're little speeches are annoying."

Emerald went to shield his eyes, but stopped when he realized that the glow wasn't hurting him.

The feeling withing him suddenly grew. He felt it surge and expand, forcing nearly every ounce of his attention on the spectacle before him.

The six mares suddenly began to float into the air, their manes and tails beginning to flow in an intangible wind. The Elements began emitting their own light, starting with Fluttershy's and moving down the other four, before the Element of Magic began to shine as well.

Sparky's eyes flew open the moment her Element began to glow, her once purple eyes completely overtaken by a blinding white light. All at once, the light condensed, before exploding outward in a familiar ring of rainbow light.

It was as though his entire body had been drenched in liquid ecstasy. He felt it wash through him, every ounce of pain and fatigue he'd felt suddenly vanishing as though they'd never existed. He could feel his skin begin to knit back together as the light poured through him. And as the feeling within his mind began to dance:

The World Sang.

And Then It Stopped.

Emerald stumbled suddenly, the warmth leaving him in an instant, leaving behind a cold empty hole in his heart.

Despite Emerald's current state, the Elements continued to glow, and a massive column of rainbow light erupted from the center of the six mares, piercing straight into the heavens, before curving and shooting straight towards Discord like the wrath of the gods.

The light surrounding the girls vanished, and they fell to the ground rather unceremoniously.

"Wh-what's going on!?" Sparky stammered, staring up at the spirit, "Th-the Elements didn't work?! Wh-why didn't they-?!"

"I told you," Discord interrupted, "Your Elements can't stop me. Have you learned nothing?"

"I won't allow a Seventh one to appear."

No! Emerald refused to believe that he was supposed to be some... some Seventh Element!

Discord was lying! He must've put one of the mares under his influence again when they weren't watching, how else would he know where to find them?

Emerald growled, and, thanks to his now partly healed injuries, managed to leap forward and take a swing at the distracted draconequus.

Unfortunately, Discord had either fantastic reflexes, or wasn't as distracted as he seemed, since he managed to catch Emerald's swing, before bodily tossing him back at the girls.

"Agh!" he grunted once he struck the ground, having landed on his still-mostly-broken wing.

"Emerald!" Sparky called, rushing over to him, "Are you alright? What were you thinking?!" He shook his head and pushed her off of him,

"Discord... he must've done something to you or the Elements," he said, standing back up, "that's why... that is why they're not working," he locked eyes with Sparky, "You have to figure out what he did and fix it."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Rarity asked, advancing on him, "We just snapped poor Twilight out of her little funk. How could Discord have possibly had the time to redo whatever it was his magic was doing?" she asked.

"Rarity's right, Discord ain't had the time ta do anythin'," Applejack supplied, rubbing her shoulder,

"Then what do you thinks wrong with the Elements?!" Emerald snapped, "What, you think they ran out of magic or something?!"

Emerald immediately tackled Sparky to the ground, just barely avoiding the bolt of magic that zipped by her head, which collided with a nearby building, taking it down in one shot.

Emerald glared venomously at the lounging draconequus, and turned to the mare beneath him, sapphire locking with amethyst.

"Figure out what's wrong with the Elements. I'll... try to stall for as long as I can."

"Discord!" he snarled, launching himself at the spirit, spear pulled back ready to kill. Discord smirked and vanished the throne he sat on, beginning to float backward to avoid Emerald's strike.

"Ah, this again?" he asked, nimbly stepping away from a vertical slice, "You realize how badly this ended for you the last time, right?" Emerald growled and swung once more, watching as Discord ducked. He smirked, his hoof whipping out to strike against the spirit's cheek, sending the larger being flying away.

Discord huffed and righted himself just as Emerald's spear flew towards his neck. Surprised by the thestral's increased speed, his tail flew out from behind him, and struck the colt's chest once again. Rather than get propelled away, Emerald had actually latched his remaining hoof onto the offending appendage.

Discord's eyes widened a fraction, before he felt the thestral pull on his tail, swinging him above his head and into the ground.

Emerald grinned maniacally as he continued pounding Discord's body onto the ground beside him, enjoying the rather comical sounds he made every time he hit the ground.

After a few more slams, he spun around, taking Discord with him, and threw the draconequus to the side, watching as he crashed through one of the nearby windows. Just as Emerald was about to charge and reengage, Discord shot out from the building, massive golf club in claw.

He scarcely had time to brace himself, before he was smacked off, careening through the air. The world around him flipped and turned, and was violently brought to a stand-still when he felt himself collide with something. This was, unfortunately short-lived, as whatever he'd hit collapsed seconds later, taking him with it.

Emerald burst out of the debris, a furious scowl marring his face as he looked around for his opponent.

Moving rather frantically, Emerald tore through the nearest wall, just as a motherfucking wrecking ball fell on top of the pile he'd just occupied. He didn't even have a second to breath as his ear flicked, and he turned just in time to see Discord charge straight at him.

He was forced to duck a series of swords, rubber chickens, and a single pie, before he managed to lash out with his spear, catching the side of Discord's utterly livid face, coating both of them in a shower of blood,

He managed to block a strike from Discord's suddenly flail-like tail, ignoring how one of the spikes gored straight through his leg,

The wind was knocked out of him by blow to his stomach he hadn't seen coming, but managed to prevent a follow-up with a panicked swing of his spear,

Discord caught the blade of Emerald's spear with his talon, and shattered it without issue, his claw reaching out and doing much the same to Emerald's uninjured leg,

A final blow struck Emerald the face, sending him tumbling head over tail before coming to a stop, hitting damn near everything in between him and his new resting point, which was right in front of the girls.

He groaned, and tried to push himself to his hooves, but failed when both his broken one failed to hold his weight, and when the one with the hole in it failed to even respond.

A warm hoof appeared on his back, just as a second, purple, hoof entered his vision. He didn't have the strength to look up right now, but he figured that Sparky was giving him one of those 'I can't believe how fucking stupid you are!' mixed with 'How the fuck are you still alive?!' looks.

"Oh sweet Celestia, Emerald! Are you ok-oh what am I saying, of course you're not!" Sparky nearly screeched. A second set of hooves gently grabbed the leg with the hole, though he only noticed because it happened to be in his line of sight.

The fact he could see Fluttershy gently trying to wrap a bandage around his injury-where'd she even get one?-but not feel it left him feeling rather cold.

Though, to be fair, that could just be the blood loss. His wounds had only just been healed-partially at least-before he got a brand new set.

"Ughhh... that, uh... yeah, that looks bad," he heard Rainbow mutter, followed by the sound of someone getting slapped, "Ow!"

"Rainbow Dash! Now is not the time to joke around!" Rarity very nearly hissed.

"No!" Sparky replied hysterically, "None of us are acting any different, and we all remember everything! I even tried running a few diagnostic spells and-!"

"I'm not surprised," Discord's voice interjected, the mares all jumping and turning to face him, though Emerald was lucky enough that he happened to already be facing Discord's new position, "mortals aren't really meant to understand the Elements," he continued airily.

"Discord, what did you do?!" he heard Sparky ask venomously, "The Elements worked against Nightmare Moon, so why-?!"

"Why is it...?" Discord cut her off, "that you think I had anything to do with your precious little Elements not working?" he asked, before throwing his arms out to the side, "I'm not responsible for everything, you know?"

"B-but then why?!" Sparky implored, seemingly forgetting just who she was asking. Discord chuckled darkly,

"Oh, well, if you really want to know, why not try asking your injured friend? He knows why they're not working," Discord said slyly as he gestured to the downed thestral, throwing Emerald under the proverbial carriage.

"Emerald?" Sparky asked, appearing in his vision, looking confused, "What is he talking about?" Emerald grunted, tried, and failed, to stand, before sighing,

"Bastard.... told me some stupid story... 'bout how he gets stronger with time... and that the Elements need a new one to... bolster their strength to overcome his... but it's... bullshit."

"You mean... we need a Seventh Element of Harmony?" Sparky asked, blinking in confusion, "B-but that's crazy! There's only six Elements of Harmony! How could there possibly be another one?!"

"But-but-that doesn't make any sense!" Sparky argued, "The Elements of Harmony are powerful magical artifacts. They can't just... just appear whenever it's convenient!"

"That's completely and utterly illogical!" Sparky continued, unaware of the impending doom encroaching on her.

She continued her little rant, but he saw everything as Discord's arm raised, and bits of neon blue light suddenly shot to his claw, taking the form of a large, three pronged spear.

He watched that arm slowly pull back, crackling with magical energy, before throwing the weapon forward.

His body shrieked at him, every fiber of his being screaming at him to Just Move.

"How are we going to do anything, if there are things we don't know about just hiding around the corner?!"

He watched as it carved through the air, creeping closer and closer to the back of Sparky's head with every passing instant.

Everything had been going just fine! But then, out of nowhere, the entire world is suddenly engulfed in some weird magical phenomena that happened to be caused by some ancient evil that had, somehow, gotten free from its imprisonment, and now she and her friends had to deal with it because, apparently, they were the only ones on the planet who were able to do so!

Then they get to Canterlot only to find that their sole method of dealing with the ancient evil was stolen by said ancient evil, got chased by said evil after watching one of their two rulers forcibly turn evil, attack other ruler, only to start getting chased by an absurdly powerful creature, watch her crush get pulverized by aforementioned creature, and received some stupid riddle about how their weapons were hidden away 'back where they began'.

Then the whole issue with the maze thing, getting tricked into thinking her friends had all turned their backs on her-and in hindsight that was absolutely stupid of her to think. Honestly, looking back, it was obvious that Discord was pulling the strings-got corrupted by Discord's magic, which caused her to forcibly recalled the many years of isolation and bullying she'd held after being taken on as Princess Celestia's student, and sent her into a pretty big spiral of depression which was sort of hazy now. Got rescued by her friends, with a lot of help from Emerald if her friends were to be believed-and she was inclined to think so-and finally got to use their Elements on Discord.

Then the Elements didn't work. Brief panic ensued, before her crush once more stepped in and fought off Discord long enough for her and her friends to do some talking, minor soul searching, only to realize that they had no idea what had gone wrong, just in time for Emerald to return to them, once again, heavily injured. Possibly even more so than before.

And then the object of their frustration, through their injured friend, revealed that, evidently, there was another Element. And wasn't that just peachy? All that effort they went through, all that trouble, all that pain, only for them to be told that it was meaningless because there just so happened to be another Element of Harmony that nobody had told them about!

Why hadn't Princess Celestia mentioned it? Surely she, as one of the previous wielders, would have some knowledge regarding a secret Seventh Element?

"Well, Twilight, the Elements of Harmony are powerful magical artifacts, and, admittedly, not much is known about what they do."

Right, of course. She probably didn't know, then. The way she described them painted the Elements as a mystery that can't be solved.

Though, from the sounds of it, Discord seemed strangely in on the little mystery. How could he possibly have this kind of information, when not even the ponies who used the things had any idea?

And now, she finished her miniature rant on just how stupid this whole thing was. Admittedly, it had made her feel just a bit better, now that all of that was off her chest.

Her friends were looking at her in horror, though. Which was strange, since she didn't think she had been vulgar in her speech.

No, she hadn't actually muttered any sort of curse so... why were they all looking at her like that?

A hoof grasped her shoulder, forcibly pulling her forward and onto the ground, when-

Then Emerald fell to the floor, the glowing blue spear having gored straight through his heart.

It was strange, watching this scene play before him. Watching as the life faded from the eyes of one of his dear thestrals. Watching as the purple unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, immediately realized what had happened, and was now clutching his dead body close to her chest.

But of course... that's not a dead body. Not yet. After all, it was my magic that pierced his heart.

Since the stallion was obviously going to become the Seventh Element, that meant that his magic spear couldn't have possibly killed him. Oh, sure, his heart was useless, and, under normal circumstances, this would've been a quick, practically painless death.

It had happened once, a long time ago. During his stint of freedom that would bring about the Third Element. He'd successfully killed the Bearer of Kindness, though it had been by mistake, he had never been a particularly bloodthirsty individual until he met Nia.

Ah yes, he'd mistakenly lopped off the poor fool's head. There had been quite a lot of blood, but, after some time had passed, the Elements had started glowing rather spectacularly, and, suddenly, he was back to normal.

Such blatant manipulation of reality, such obvious denial of the natural order, such total dismissal of the laws that govern mortal life were, of course, within the capabilities of artifacts created to counter him.

Then again... that had been the death of an already active Element, whereas Emerald's Element was still dormant.

Of-of course not! Such a small, insignificant detail surely wouldn't bother the Elements! After all, the colt just needed to... awaken his Element.

And no one had any idea just what the Element would represent. So how could he possibly awaken it while dead?

"Emerald!" Twilight screamed, staring down at the-stilldeadlifeless-sleeping face of her dearest crush, "C-come on, Emerald! J-just wake up! Please!"

She held him close to her chest, shaking uncontrollably. She was-was just warming him up! He was getting awfully cold after all, and k-keeping him w-warm was the l-l-least she could do!

"Emerald!" she shouted into his ear, goodness, he really was a heavy sleeper, wasn't he? "C-come on, we-we need your help, you can't just keep s-sleeping like this, you know?!"

"Please, just-just wake up!" she pleaded, ignoring the way her tears fell on to his sleeping face-hewasdeaddeaddeaddead-it would probably help wake him up, after all, "Please!"

"Twilight," a hoof suddenly landed on her shoulder, causing her to stiffen in surprise. She turned her head mechanically, coming face to face with Applejack, who was staring at her sadly.

"What?" she asked her friend, a tad impatiently. But she was sure Applejack would forgive her for her rudeness, since she really needed to wake Emerald up.

"Wh-what are you talking about, Applejack?!" Twilight asked, laughing hysterically, "Th-that's not funny you know! He's just-just sleeping is all!"

"Twilight," Applejack began, "I know it hurts havin' somebody close to ya die an' all-"

"-but lyin' ta yerself ain't gonna fix what happened," she continued, not even acknowledging her interruption, "Believe me... I know."

"Twilight, darling," Rarity spoke up, approaching her from Applejack's right, her eyes filled with tears for some reason, "he's gone."

Twilight just stared at her two friends for a moment, before turning to face the other three, hoping that they could talk some sense into their clearly out of their mind friends.

But none of them acknowledged what she said. Fluttershy was holding one of her hooves up to her mouth, quite sobs leaving her as tears trailed down her face. Pinkie had plopped onto the ground, slack-jawed, with eyes that didn't seem to be staring at anything in particular. Rainbow Dash, however, was just staring at Emerald's sleeping form as if seeing him for the first time.

A set of orange hooves wrapped around her suddenly, but Twilight didn't fight them off, not even as a second set, white this time, joined the orange around her.

It was only when completely surrounded by her friends, immersed in their collective support, that she realized something.

A Spark was lit, weak and frail.

"Emerald..." Twilight muttered, staring down at his lifeless face. She hiccuped, and gently wiped away some of the tears she dripped onto his face.

Her eyes drifted over to the hole left by the spear that was... had been aimed straight for her.

He'd had such an awful life, he didn't deserve this kind of end! He deserved happiness, love, friends, he deserved everything but this!

He was her friend. He'd been there for her when things had gotten tough. He'd stood by her side even when her friends hadn't. She'd felt so happy, so warm, so safe with him.

Twilight sobbed once more, and curled herself up with Emerald's body, hoping beyond hope that things would somehow turn out alright.

She had loved him, and now... well, now he'd never know, and she would never know what might have been.

Magic Ignited the Spark.

She remembered, back when she was a little filly, just a few months after Applebloom had been born, how her parents had died.

It had been a routine day at the farm, though there was a storm heading their way later on. Not that it mattered to the Apple Family. Come wind, rain, lightning, or snow, they'd be out in the field, working from sun up to sun down.

Well, her Ma and Pa had been out as usual, while Applejack helped Granny look after little Applebloom, and while Big Mac, well he was just Mac back then, worked on learning how all the farm's taxes worked.

They didn't know it at the time, but the Everfree Forest's magic started interfering with the normal clouds, and everything just... spiraled out of control.

Some lightning here and there, and suddenly, their orchard was on fire. In the end, the bit of orchard that had caught fire hadn't been large, but in their rush to put it out before it hit the barn and house, her parents, Bright Macintosh and Buttercup, where killed in the fire.

The funeral had been a silent affair, free of Big Mac's usual chattering at the time. Out of everypony there, only Applebloom hadn't really known what was going on.

But time passed and the wounds healed, both the ones on her and the family, and the one on the orchard.

But after that day, she'd vowed that she'd take care of the farm just like her parents had, and grow up to be just like them.

Shame she'd been a bit of a liar back then, but that eventually got fixed, thankfully.

Of all the pon-er-thestrals, Applejack had never really thought that the two of them were really close. Sure, they could work together, and got along well enough, but... she doubted she'd ever be as close to him as, say, Pinkie.

Still, he'd done a lot for her, her friends, and even the farm. He saved them from Flim and Flam, brought her to her senses during the Running of the Leaves, did it again during that ticket fiasco, and again when they were getting their dresses for the Gala, helped her and Rarity see eye to eye for the first time in a long time, gave her a right hard time an' threatened her pretty harsh when Twilight has having a hard time learning to work out, and just so much more.

He jumped right in front of the spear aimed for Twilight, and died. To protect her. To protect them.

It just... it wasn't fair. What did he do to deserve such a... such a cruddy ending?

A stallion like him shouldn't just.. die like that. He had so much more for him ta do in life!

What about Wisp? What about his family, huh?! What were they gonna do now that he was gone?!

After everything was over, she'd be happy to take Wisp in herself. It was the least she could do for somebody like Emerald.

He'd have done the same for Applebloom if it came down to it, even if he'd never have mentioned it. He was just that good of a friend.

Honesty Coaxed the Ember.

She hadn't known him particularly well, merely some basic information that Twilight had gotten and shared with the group, but she knew more than enough to know that Emerald was a one-of-a-kind individual. A truly magnificent stallion, who deserved a better fate than this.

He was strong beyond measure, the fact that he would fight Discord of all things to protect them, no matter how obviously futile it had turned out to be, was a testament to his strength. Not physical strength, but that of character.

Someone who would stand on broken hooves, if only he could shield them a moment longer. That was the kind of stallion Emerald... used to be.

He often spoke his mind, and had no qualms with insulting even his friends and family if he thought it would help them, like he did when she'd buckled down to make their Gala dresses and suit.

He was a stallion who viewed family as the most important thing, if his actions during their trip to Appleloosa and while Photo Finish's photo shoot were anything to go by. He'd stand before an army if only he could help and protect his family.

While his manners could be a tad lacking at times, Rarity was proud to have called him one of her dearest friends.

Generosity Fanned the Flame.

Rainbow Dash had not liked Emerald at first. It was sort of a combination of his just showing up outta nowhere, and getting kinda jealous when he started taking away her friend's attention.

But then he went and helped her realize that her friends weren't gonna judge her for something as stupid as liking books.

After that, she figured she'd give him a bit of a break, even if he still kinda got on her nerves.

Honestly! No matter what happened, he was just there, helping out in some way. Running of the Leaves? Helped Twilight get over their teasing, and helped her get second. Second! Tickets? Shouted at them to fuck off so Twilight could relax. The Gala dresses? Insulted the hay out of them until they came to their senses. Helped out Twilight with her new workout thing that she totally messed up. Helped them save Rarity from those Mutts. Then went out of his way help out the buffalo. Hay, he even used some weird political thing to make it official if that whole 'Champion' thing meant anything.

Faustdammit! He sacrificed himself to save them! He didn't deserve to die like this!

Rainbow scolded herself. She should've been the one to push Twilight out of the way. She was Rainbow Freaking Dash! She could perform the Sonic Rainboom, something that nopony had been able to do for like, ever! She would've been fast enough to get Twilight out of the way and then no one would have died!

But no! No, she'd just stood there like an idiot! She hadn't even had time to so much as think about moving, and he was already there!

Loyalty Fueled the Fire.

Fluttershy sobbed quietly to herself, even as she buried her head into the shoulder of one of the girls closest to her.

She didn't like this. She hated this. He didn't deserve to die, he should be alive!

He should be standing right now, looking tough by biting back at Discord with one of his funny little insults that was really meant to hide his nervousness.

That was just the kind of stallion he was. Always hiding something about himself beneath a mask. It wasn't a deep mask, as far as she could tell, but it was a mask nonetheless. But under that mask was a really nice stallion who just loved his family. And Fluttershy was lucky enough to a part of that family! He supported her in everything she did and helped assuage her fears, even the really silly ones!

She could see it in the way he interacted with everyone. That calm, distant exterior that melted away slightly whenever he talked to one of them. The cold, apathetic way of looking at problems, before solving them with relative ease, even if it meant causing others discomfort.

See it in the way he'd gently introduced himself as her cousin, how he happily started teaching her about the half of her family she'd never known, always remaining patient even when she'd asked a few too many questions at once.

She could see it in how he had raised Wisp, who turned out to be a smart, slightly cold, but easily flustered sweetheart who not-quite-secretly enjoyed being praised in any fashion.

She could even see it in how he treated his little bat, Bolero. Such a smart, but free-spirited critter. Like his master, Bolero enjoyed doing his own thing, but, when called for it, he'd come running back to help out no matter the task.

He had been a wonderful stallion, and someone she was glad to have called family.

Kindness Stoked the Blaze.

She... she had no idea how to even react to something like this. Laughing about it wouldn't help. Not even a cupcake or a dozen would make any of this feel even the slightest bit better!

Emerald would probably know how to deal with this. He was smart like that. Always thinking outside of the box.

He should be around to give that nice smile of his that said 'I'm really angry but pretending not to be right now', or one of those smiles that said 'I'm actually pretty happy but I'm toning it down because I'm not really sure how to show my emotions', or even that frown that said 'Something stupid just happened and I'm hoping it goes away so I don't have to deal with it'!

He was like that. Always hiding something behind a mask of some kind. It had taken some time for her to figure even a few of those out, but she had a lot of experience with ponies and donkeys and cows and a whole lot of different creatures, and knew how to pick up feelings and emotions from someone that doesn't really emote the same way she did!

But once she did figure it out, she found a shy, well-meaning stallion who just wanted everything to turn out alright. Sure he was kinda mean and acted tough, but she knew he was... well, was a big softy at heart.

... Who was gonna put together the funeral? She could try, but... funerals weren't like parties. Well... they kinda were, so...

Laughter Fed the Inferno.

A Sacrifice Made. An Element Awoken.

"Oh? So you're my cute little descendant, hmmm? I must say, it's nice to meet you!"

...

"Hmm... looks like ol' Dissy did a real number on you! Don't worry, it won't last long!"

...

"... You're probably wondering who I am. You probably won't remember this little meeting of ours, but... well, I'm your Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandma, Nocturnia! You should be honored, the Skies are the only ones who are descended from me! That technically means your my heir, little buddy, isn't that exciting?!"

...

"Oh... right, you can't respond... Huh. Can you see me? Or even hear me? Hmm... maybe I'm just talking to myself here... Oh well, you're still the best conversation partner I've had in... well, a long time!"

...

"Well, whether you can hear me or not, I hope you don't mind letting this old gal talk for a bit, alright?"

...

"Great! Well, for starters, I've been keeping an eye on you, my cute little grandson, and I gotta say, I'm impressed! You've lived a pretty hard life, and you're still moving right along with it. You don't see that often, not in this day and age, at least. Still, you've got a fair share of issues, but those cute friends of yours seem to be prying them loose, bit by bit."

...

"Hmm... Oh! Try and make some time to head home, by the way! Seventeen years is quite some time to spend away from family, so go on! Go home and see them again! It's the least you could do for those poor parents of yours."

...

"Oh! Looks like time's almost up! Hmm, is there anything else before that? Ah, right... try to forgive Discord, dear. He's made a lot of mistakes, but I really think he just needs someone to care about him again. Besides, he's always cared about his family, and having a cute little grandson to dote on would be good for him, so be a dear and give that to him, yes?"

...

"Oh and, before I forget, make sure to ask out that cute purple unicorn of yours before it's too late!"

Discord sighed to himself as he stared at the group of six still clutching around Emerald's body. It had been several minutes since he died and, quite frankly, Discord was beginning to worry.

Was it possible? Had he been wrong about Emerald's destiny as the Seventh Element?

It was possible. Unlikely, but possible. He didn't exactly have a large sample size to take from, based on his newly recovered memories. It had happened a total of six times, and, while they'd all had similarities, it was possible that there was some hidden quality about the Bearers that he was unable to find.

The startled exclamation from Twilight Sparkle broke him from his thoughts, and his attention refocused on the six mares. Twilight Sparkle, who had previously been the most distraught of the bunch, now bore a confused expression on her face as she stared down at Emerald's body.

She shuddered suddenly, something that the other five experienced moments after her, quite gasps leaving their lips as it happened.

Fear ignited within his belly. Primal, uncontrolled, it tore through him, the old, forgotten feeling beggingscreamingpleading him to run. To run and never look back.

Discord swallowed and forced the Fear down. The last time he'd felt something like this was, of course, moments before each of his previous defeats, which meant...

He watched with bated breath as the Elements began to glow, with each of the mares connected to them rising into the air, quickly being surrounded by the individual glow of their respective Elements.

Twilight Sparkle was the last to rise into the air, looking around wildly as she did so, before her eyes were overtaken by a blinding white light. The air, so overwhelmingly saturated with magic, suddenly felt charged, and a fierce wind began to blow, forcing Discord to brace himself against his throne.

The still body of Emerald suddenly began rising into the air, unimpeded by the wind, and surrounded by a pure white glow. It hung in the air for an instant, before six beams of solid light shot from each of the six Elements towards it. An instant before hitting, they bent and began to coil around the front of the body, until they each began to pour into the gaping hole where his heart once beat.

His entire body suddenly began to shine, a heavenly white light completely consuming him, before forcing Discord's eyes closed.

Rainbow eyes glared into his skull, but were outshone by the glistening golden crown resting above them.

Sitting perfectly a top the head of the now living thestral, was a golden crown, fit with seven arches each ending in a fine point. Fixed to the top of all but the center point were six different gems, whose colours matched the Elements adorning the other six. However, set in the metal under the seventh, empty, point was a large green gem, cut into the shape of a familiar question mark, even bearing a sapphire version of its flaming dot beneath it.

The voice of one Twilight Sparkle filtered through the silence, sounding like a broken jumble of hopeful and disbelieving.

Emerald turned slightly, his eyes, a spiral of rainbow colours, locking with hers,

"Yeah, it's me, Sparky," he said, before turning back to Discord, a scowl on his face, "we can have our little reunion later, but we need to take down Discord first."

Discord smirked and, when he proved unable to contain it, he began chortling, before it turned into a full blow laugh.

"Ahahahahahaha!" his voice echoed through the air, a wicked grin overtaking his own features, "I knew it! I absolutely knew it!" he boasted, throwing his head back to laugh once more, "Of course it would be now that it wakes up! Of course the Element of-" he stopped abruptly, his gaze falling back onto Emerald, "... the Element of... what, exactly?" he asked, his voice having dropped to a whisper, "Tell me, what Element of Harmony do you represent, Emerald Skies?"

"Figure it out on your own, asshole," he said, before glancing back at the girls, "now how the fuck do I use this thing?"

The fact that he'd gotten a crown of all things, rather than a necklace, was also annoying.

It didn't help that he had this... strange feeling that he'd... forgotten something. Something that had only just happened at that.

"Ah, right... try to forgive Discord, dear."

The words came to him, but they were naught but a jumbled mess of whispers and sounds he couldn't put together. Where had he heard them? From whom had he heard them? What were they even saying?

"Oh and, before I forget, make sure to ask out that cute purple unicorn of yours before it's too late!"

And considering how a bunch of messed up gibberish sent his heart to pounding like mad, he figured he didn't actually want those questions answered too much.

Back to the Element thing. It was annoying. He didn't know how to actually fucking use it. You'd think that a magical artifact that decided 'Yeah, you're gonna use me' would also come with some sort of instruction manual on how to actually do that.

It couldn't even just... pop the information into his head, like it had done with its own fucking name?

'Oh, you gave your life to save them? Well, here's a fucking medal that tells everyone that you did exactly that!'

How was that something he represented? He couldn't have at least got something interesting, like the Element of Strength, or the Element of Power, or anything else? No! He, apparently, represented sacrifice! You know, the stuff that you have to do in order to power dark rituals and shit? It made him sound like some damned necromancer or something.

Meh, at least he'd never have the use the thing after this. The Elements were meant to face Discord, and Discord alone. He just needed to use it this one time, and then he'd never have to see it again.

Sparky just stared at him, her eyes filled with quite a few emotions he wasn't prepared to deal with, not after, seemingly, coming back from the dead. At least, he assumed it was death. Discord did claim he couldn't actually kill him, so... Ugh, this was going to give him a headache.

Thankfully, Sparky didn't say anything. Instead, she walked up to him and took a place by his side.

It happened once more. His body grew weightless as the mare beside him lit up, the Element of Magic radiating a soft glow as she slowly began to rise into the air.

A boiling inferno began bubbling within his chest, however. He felt it scorch his insides, felt it press against his chest, threatening to burst free. He felt the air around him grow hot, and flames began pouring from his lips with every breath.

The mares around him, all suspended within the air, glowed once more, a violent burst of rainbow energy erupting forth, but rather than diverge onto the form of their enemy, it instead crashed down upon him.

His world glowed white, as the rainbow began seeping into his skin, turning that boiling, bubbling feeling earlier, into a living, roaring blaze that demanded to be set free!

And a sea of rainbow fire spewed forth. It barreled towards the sitting draconequus, a spiraling, churning swarm of fire growing closer with every instant.

The flames crashed into him, the rainbow flames eating away at his skin and bones, leaving behind nothing but cold stone in its wake.

The flames suddenly shot into the air, the massive flaming column spiraling into the sky like a forming tornado, before exploding outwards. The fire washed over him like a warm breeze on a cool day, burning away every trace of Discord's magic, leaving behind the world as he'd always known it, untouched and uncorrupted.

And there, sitting at the center of a ring of rainbow fire, was a lone statue of Discord, looking oddly at peace with the world.

The Champion of Harmony

by Voxum

The Return of Harmony: Requiem of Sacrifice