Diaries of a Traitor part 2: The Elements of Disharmony

by Paradox Theory


Chapter 11: Lost in Sand

"I'm afraid my answer is no." Ri'laan sighed.

"Why?!" I shouted, "Equestria needs help. You have to help us!"

"Your kind would not trust mine, dear Aurora. " Ri'laan explained, "That, and the Zebras are natural prey to my kind."

I took a step back, "So by joining the war, you'd be turning the Zebras against Equestria?"

"Exactly," Ri'laan nodded.

"So what am I here for?" I asked.

"This," Rilaan answered, "A black crystal, otherwise known as-"

"An element of disharmony." I replied.

Rilaan nodded, "Cruelty, to be exact."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Because it was swiped from the one who calls himself 'Cruelty'." Rilaan explained. "You must take this and find him. Then, you must cleanse him to cleanse the stone."

"Well where do I find him?" I asked.

The cat paused, "Him?"

"Didn't you say Cruelty is a him?" I asked.

"I did, but, Cruelty is a female." Rilaan answered, "Keep an eye on the bounty hunter, his greatest trial is coming."

I wondered what the cat could mean by that, but left with the crystal anyways.


"Wait, why is it my trial?" Bright Blade asked as we walked out of the Cat's den.

"I don't know, but it worried me." I told him.

"Hey Aurora?" Sempra asked, "Will we start looking for my brother after this?"

I gave her a sad smile, "I still have to go to Zebrica first. We can start there after the meeting."

"Alright." Sempra sighed.

"Aurora, I sense a very dark magic, you have an element." Slate stated.

"I have Cruelty. I don't know where the actual wielder of Cruelty is though." I explained.

"Hmm. I have an idea. I know of a few places in Zebrica that could look at that." Bright Blade suggested.

"Then I guess we trek across this desert." Second said, "Bright, lead the way."

"But how do we know which way to go?" Sempra asked.

Bright chuckled, "I grew up in Zebrica, I know it's deserts well."

"Then let's start walking." I told everypony.


A few hours had passed, and all we could see was sand. Endless sand. Though it was getting dark, and therefore getting cooler, it was still hard to navigate with the constant wind.

So I relied on Blade to lead us.

Luckily, we all had water in our canteens, so we weren't going to be thirsty anytime soon.

"If it weren't so dark, I'd say that I should fly up and get a look." Second commented, breaking the silence. Just then, another gust of wind went pass.

"Second, doing that while the winds cross the desert will surely blow you away." Blade said.

"So?" Second asked.

"So do you want to risk being lost in the desert the rest of your days?" Blade replied.

"Touché." Second admitted.

"As for the bearer, the pyramids may be a hiding place. Either that or some seedy tavern." Blade explained.

"Either way, we should be careful. We can't risk getting ambushed by Cruelty." I stated, pulling my gaze from the stars.

"Exactly." Blade agreed.


I don't know how it happened, but the impossible happened.

A few short hours after the previous conversation we passed some ancient ruins, I recognized them as the same from the Cat's bunker.

Calling out, I told the others that I was getting a closer look. Inside the buildings were some sort of boxes with lit up screens. I saw some sort of board with keys, similar to a typewriter. I clicked a long blank button, and the box chirped. I looked at the screen, and saw a list of dates.

Pressing the button labeled 'enter', I watched as the words on the screen changed. And now they told some sort of story.

April 5, 2155

I still can't believe how similar this place is to the old world. I thought that the bombs would've destroyed all life, yet there seem to be new creatures. My group are running tests to see if we can survive. I want out of this stuffy suit.

The first test is to use these 'elements' we made to try and change our biology to survive in this world.

I hit the 'enter' key again and it moved to the next date, however it said the account was deleted. So I hit enter a few more times until something caught my eye.

June 6, 2156

More people died. We have to find a success. We have to.

Some of the other labs say that they had turned their subjects into some sort of colorful pony. Balderdash.

. . .

Sorry, the radiation in my body is quite high. I suspect I won't survive long enough for the procedure.

But, I have to wonder if the successful subjects being kids had something adults don't?

I felt my chest constrict. What did it mean 'They were turned into some sort of pony.'?

Does it mean that our race was just some sort of last resort?

I noticed one last post, some few years later, dreading what lay within, I hit enter once more.

July 7, 2160

My world is going dark. But we were successful. We saved the humans.

We saved them by making them ponies of all things. And none of them showed any chaotic tendency.

. . .

Had another fit, it's getting worse. My two beautiful daughters won't leave my side. But they will surely die this way.

I gave them instructions to follow, and now I'm alone. Lost in sand.

I saw them before they left. They were so small. But one shone like the sun, and the other rivaled the beauty of the moon.

So, they called themselves 'Celestia' and 'Luna'.

Then they forgot everything about the humans. Including me.

I am the last of my kind. One of the three head !@#$#%^, and founder of the 'Elements of Harmony".

And. . .

"END OF MESSAGES" The box said.

I sat there, only two thoughts in my head.

And I still couldn't believe what I read.

But that means that this was a long time ago. I began clicking random keys until the screen showed me the current 'date' According to itself.

APRIL 6, 4500

Over 2000 years? We were over 2000 years old?

My mind now numbed with this information, I began to walk back to my group, only to feel pressure against my neck before I passed out.


I woke to find a group of Zebras talking around the campfire. Near where I lay, the rest of my group were tied up, save for one.

Blade.

"Ma'am, why don't we just tie up this bloke and sell all o' them back to Cardinal?" A Zebra asked.

"Because, I want to teach this pony not to steal from me, or to cross Cardinal." A feminine Zebra replied.

Cruelty, I thought to myself as Cruelty walked up to Blade and smacked him awake.

"Do you remember me?" She asked him, "Because I've missed you, dear."

Dear? I wondered. I then noticed the rest of the group had woken.

"Go ahead, tell your friends who I am, that is, if you do believe I'm really alive." Cruelty chuckled.

"You, you're the one I've been looking for. The one who murdered my wife. Who broke me." Blade said, his voice shaking. "How was I to know that my dear wife, was never dead?"