The Elements of Disharmony
Part 2
Dark Alliance
The air was calm, and cold. All of Everfree was silent. Deep within the forest, in the dark castle ruins, Discord stood face to face with the newly restored Nightmare Moon, “This is quite a surprise. The Dark Mistress of the Night, trapped in these walls, whilst her original body, Princess Luna, roams free~”
“Do not speak that name!” Nightmare Moon bellowed, though it wasn’t quite as loud as before, “My old body does not matter! Your power has granted me a form of my own! Now, I may be evil, but I am still royal! I will honor my vow to assist you, if only for the reason that I seek revenge as well!” She snorted, stomping her hooves.
Dark magic flowed from the Alicorn, coating the walls of the ruins. Her power restored the castle tower to its former glory, standing like a sentinel over the Everfree. “Now, to the matter at hoof! You need the energies of the six ponies, is that right?!”
The draconequus nodded, showing her the five necklaces, “I had disharmonized the five friends of Twilight Sparkle and from that chaotic energy, I created these. But, I need their regular energy to create duplicates, under my control. You stated you knew where to find these energies?~”
Nightmare Moon walked past him, her flowing tail coiling about his body. She drug the fiend over to the entrance, waving a hoof out in front of her, “I have been watching them from my new home. Their friendship is strong, and they bring out the best in each other. There are places around here, where their true potential has been let free because of their friends. Since your Elements are made with their energy, there is a spell that I know, ‘Seek Your True Potential,’ that will help us find these spots where their energy is strongest.”
Discord listened to the Alicorn, noticing how her voice had softened, she was not using the royal voice anymore. “That sounds simple enough~ Might I suggest, though, that we create some disguises? We will need to be able to blend in, for it is likely at least one of these spots are in a town.”
She nodded in agreement, her mane and tail forming a vortex around her. It quickly vanished, revealing a young unicorn with silvery-blue fur, and a purple mane and tail, “How is this? Do I…blend in?” Her voice was completely different, softer, and higher pitched than before. It was almost the exact opposite of her real voice, “I even changed my cutie mark…” she pointed at her flank, where the mark of a glowing blue moon could be seen, “You can call me, Lunar Glow.”
He chuckled, snapping his claws. In a flash, the draconequus was replaced by an earth pony, somewhat older than ‘Lunar Glow.’ His coat and mane were the same, being dark brown, and black respectively. But, all his strange colorations were gone, that is, except for his dichromatic eyes. One was red, and the other was yellow, “I shall be…Star Dusk.” Discord giggled, a cutie mark appearing on his flank, a white sun setting behind a cloud horizon.
And so it was, that two never before seen ponies, began their journey out of the Everfree forest. ‘Lunar Glow’ cast the ‘Seek Your True Potential’ spell on the Elements of Disharmony, “If it works right, the relative Element will glow near the location of where their true potential would’ve come out. And that is where you will find the energy source…but, this spell has to be cast every few hours, or else it will fade away.” Her voice wavered a bit, clearly she felt awkward in her disguise.
‘Star Dusk’ simply listened, whistling some crazy tune, and trying not to laugh as the Element necklaces jangled on his body. He decided it would be fun to wear them on random parts of his body, “I don’t know what’s so bad about being like this~ Personally, I think you look kind of cute, Nigh-I mean, Lunar Glow.”
It was a strange sight to behold, to see the disguised Nightmare Moon, BLUSHING. She fell silent, no longer sure about what to say. It didn’t take long on their journey, when the first Element began to glow, Pinkie’s opposite. “I recognize this place…” Lunar looked around, “This is the part of the forest I used against them when I broke free…Pinkie Pie defeated my spell with her laughter.”
The earth pony removed the glowing necklace, walking around and using it as an energy detector, “Ah, Pinkie Pie…I do so love the Element of Laughter…and this, her opposite, the Element of Anger~” In between two of the scariest looking trees, the element flashed, revealing a spectral image of Pinkie Pie, representing the energy of her true potential.
Star stomped his hoof, trying to cast a spell to collect the energy, but it failed, “Damn…my spell won’t work in this disguise! Well, nopony is around, it should be safe enough~” In a flash, he was back to his true self, snapping his claws to cast the spell. The image faded, wisps of energy pouring into the necklace. It began to hum softly, the energy forming into a perfect, disharmonized replica of Pinkie Pie.
It took mere moments, and there, standing before Discord and Lunar, was a grayish-pink Pinkie Pie, she tried to speak, only to find she could not. “Oh, I’m sorry dear…but you were born from pure energy…you have no voice~” Discord hugged his creation, “But don’t worry, you can still have fun. Now, go wait in the castle til daddy needs you.” He snapped his claws, warping her away.
“One down, four to go~ I really hope the others are as easy as this~” Discord chuckled, transforming back into his disguise, “Maybe if we do this fast enough, we’ll have enough time for a romantic dinner before taking over Equestria, eh?” he chuckled, joking with Lunar.
“Well, maybe…I guess.” She was blushing, AGAIN. “But, really, we should focus. I suggest we walk around Ponyville first, before heading in. It’s more likely that the energies are out there, than in town.” She rushed ahead, trying to hide the blush, leaving Star confused. Had she softened over these past two years? What exactly happened to her in the Astral Plane?
Star Dusk picked up the pace, soon catching up with Lunar Glow. The moon was still high in the sky, shining bright on the pair as they broke past the edge of the forest. They took a sharp turn, laying out a course around the outskirts of Ponyville.
The path first brought them to Whitetail Wood, home to the annual Running of the Leaves. It seemed there were a few other couples walking through here; apparently it was a romantic hot spot. Star and Lunar started walking closer together, so as not to stand out amongst the groups.
After a while, they were joined by another pair. They seemed familiar, but neither star nor Lunar could figure it out. Until one of them spoke, a Mare with a fiery mane, ‘Hi there! You two gettin’ your fill of the woods before the running?” It was Spitfire, one of the Wonderbolts, except she was out of her uniform. The pony with her was quickly recognized as Soarin’.
Lunar looked at them both. “Spitfire? Soarin’? I didn’t know you two were a couple. Nor would I have ever guessed that you’d come here on a date.” She was shocked, looking to star for confirmation that they were really Spitfire and Soarin’.
That mare laughed, “Naw, we’re no couple. Soarin’ and I just really love this place. We used to practice here when we were just foals. So, we visit whenever we can.” She looked to Soarin’ but he had started running off, “Well, looks like he smells some pie…I better go get him before he pigs out.” She waved a hoof goodbye, flying after her partner in flight.
“We should get goin’ too, before somepony mistakes us for a couple~” Star chuckled, inducing another blush in Lunar. He lead the way out of Whitetail woods, and they eventually ended up in the Gem Fields, a seemingly barren land, known for the vast amount of gemstones down beneath the ground.
They paused near a mound of dirt, so Lunar could cast the spell again, for it was fading off. Almost instantly, one of the Elements began to glow. Star quickly removed it, “Oh look…the Element of Greed…how fitting that Rarity’s energy is in the gem fields~ If I remember correctly, because of her, the Diamond Dogs no longer dig here~”
Once again, he used the necklace as a tracking device. It took longer than before, the area being an open space. But, eventually he found it near a cracked open geode. After glancing around, he transformed to cast the spell. Rarity’s spectral image faded, the energy collecting in the necklace to create her disharmonized doppelganger. It immediately pounced on the geode, looking at Discord with a scowl.
“Now, now, that’s no way to treat the one who created you~ I want you to go to your room, and think about what you’ve done.” Discord sent her home and changed back, walking up to Lunar, who seemed worried about something, “What’s the matter, Nightmare?”
She sighed, scratching a hoof at the ground, “These first too were far too easy, something tells me the others won’t be as simple to find. I think we should ask around town, maybe somepony can tell us where Twilight’s friends had their best moments…Actually, why not ask Twilight herself? Put our disguises to the test.”
Star clapped his hooves together, “Brava! Now you’re thinking like a true evil mistress. Trick Twilight Sparkle into helping us find the tools of her own destruction~ Oh, I do love that plan~” He laughed, walking with Lunar towards Ponyville.