The tang of iron sat somewhat more strongly in the air than yesterday. The last few minutes of the warm, evening sun poured through the small cellar windows. Shadows of the chains and instruments that hung from the ceiling gave the far wall the appearance of a burning jungle.
The arrival of dusk bathed the room in a pinkish hue. It also triggered a stirring from the furthest and darkest corner of the dank chamber. The inky stallion gave a grunt and woozily returned to consciousness. Slouched in a faded and tattered armchair, he wiped a rope of saliva from his muzzle. With a crack of magic the side lamp next to him burst into life, casting light on a swathe of scrappy notes and a dog-eared Daring Do novel. Leaning forward and out of the chair, his spine gave several satisfying cracks, granting relief from the effects of his less-than-adequate sleeping posture.
The unicorn’s body aglow with energy and power from his last ‘feeding’, he remained blissfully content with himself. However, he knew that it was only a matter of time before he required yet more sustenance. But that was time that he didn’t just have to spend waiting. He was intelligent, powerful and extremely bored. He needed something to occupy himself with in the meantime. Although he surrounded himself in scientific and magical literature, the likes of Starswirl or Stellarheart offered no inspiration.
Weaving his way through stacks of books, he returned to his desk. In his way of life, there was no time to clean. Even if there was, he never would. Why waste time cleaning your space into dusted shelves and carefully filed draws when it will always revert to its natural, messy state? Fighting it was not something he wanted to waste his time on.
Levitating the newspaper onto the desktop, the stallion was met with the face of the pegasus mare from last night. Skimming over her glittering obituary, he couldn’t help but smirk at the memories of the family and friends. He had witnessed far more of her persona than any of them could ever dream about; sniffed at the sharp odour of her soul in the air, mopped her very essence from the floor. That essence was now flowing through his very body, driving his insatiable hunger for knowledge. These ponies knew nothing about her in comparison.
Flicking through the pages, past the gossip and other junk that was falsely deemed worthy to enter the newspaper, another picture caught his black, empty eyes. Six mares, quite clearly friends, pressed their faces together to keep within the shot – The Elements of Harmony. Details of their success in the Crystal Empire were described underneath as well as interviews with each of them:
‘To introduce the Elements of Harmony; Twilight Sparkle, magic student under Princess Celestia as well as coordinator of the Elements: - ‘The Elements of Harmony are exceptionally powerful magical items. Their power is drawn not only from the friendship between each of us, but also by the strong individual characteristics that make each of us who we are. The absence of any one of these shall render the elements themselves useless…’’
Twilight Sparkle, the famed Element of Magic; recognised across Equestria for her talents in every field of the subject. The shadowy stallion knew her face like every other well read and discerning pony. But there was another level. This unicorn knew Twilight Sparkle, not like the pegasus mare and those before her, but knew her personally. The very mention of her name conjured back feelings that he couldn’t even remember existed. However, this was a long time ago. Memories from back then meddled with his concentration and clouded his psyche. He pushed it far back into the recesses of his brain where it couldn’t distract him. But with his mind free to think again, it wasn’t long before a wave of inspiration hit him. The corners of his mouth began to curl upwards, until they framed a wide grin across his muzzle. After weeks of stagnant thoughts, the stallion had finally found a task commendable of his abilities. A task that even the Princess herself might not be able to rise to! The masses, one by one, would feel the effects of his abilities; and his first target: The Elements of Harmony!