//------------------------------//
// On the Verge of Chaos 
// Story: The Elements of Disharmony 
// by Damien Helvian 
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The Elements of Disharmony

Part 3

On the Verge of Chaos


Heads turned to watch as a black-haired earth pony, and a unicorn colored like the night sky, walked into town. Why? You may ask, most likely because the earth pony was wearing three red necklaces in the strangest of places. They walked along silently, occasionally nodding their head or waving a hoof at one of the locals. Star Dusk chuckled softly, “At least nopony can recognize us…so far- Oh crap, here comes Pinkie Pie.”
Hopping down the main road like a bunny, was the well known pink queen of parties, Pinkie Pie. And she was heading right for them, shouting with glee, “Oh my gosh! New Ponies!~ It’s been so long, well not that long really, we get new ponies here allllll the time. Well, not all the time, that would be silly, if they came in all the time, this town would be PACKED! But~ Then again-“ She rambled on faster and faster.
Lunar tried pushing Star into a hiding place but he already gave up hope of avoiding Pinkie, “She’ll find us…she always will. Nopony can hide from her for long~ Just grin and bear it…You’ll have to do the talking though, she’d recognize my voice.”
Pinkie came to a literal screeching halt right in front of them, “Hi there! I’m Pinkie Pie, and this is Ponyville, of course you probably already knew that. The Ponyville part that is, not my name, unless you’re psychic…are you psychic?” She asked, her head turning upside down.
Star mimicked her, snickering softly. Whilst he had his fun, Lunar responded, “No, no we’re not psychics. Glad to meet you Pinkie Pie, we’re travelers and we heard of somepony named Twilight Sparkle who might be able to help us. My friend here, Star Dusk, is looking for information about the star patterns around these parts. Could you possibly point the way? Oh, and my name is Lunar Glow.”
“Star Dusk and Lunar Glow, those are funny names. Come to think of it, most pony names are funny, have you ever noticed that?” Pinkie giggled a bit, “Well, Twilight is a really good friend of mine, and she has lots of other friends too, she’s good at making them. It’s because she’s so smart and helpful, and her magic is amazing~ She should be in the library right down thataway!” She pointed a hoof towards the library.”I’ve gotta go set up a party now, byebye!’ She hopped away whistling.
Lunar rubbed a hoof against her head, “That pony’s voice, gives me such a headache. Let’s hurry before somepony else decides to stop and talk with us. I’ll bet Twilight can help me out with this headache too…” She sighed, trotting forward at a slightly faster pace than before.
Star followed behind, but remained at a steady pace, watching her slowly drift away, “You know me, Pinkie is my favorite~ she’s always so happy and silly. A one-of-a-kind charmer~” He passed another earth pony, his coat was a light brown, and both mane and tail were a darker brown. Star spotted his hourglass cutie mark.
Time seemed to stand still as their eyes met, a strange energy filled the air. Each thought eh same thing about the other, ‘There is something not quite right with this pony…’ The gaze was broken and things slowly returned to normal as they walked away. Star mumbled to himself, “I know every pony around here…except that one…why is that?”
Eventually he caught up with his partner, receiving a very harsh glare, “What took you so long?” her voice was slightly similar to her original with her anger. Star responded with a shrug and they approached the door. Shortly after he knocked, a purple aura surrounded the door, opening it, “Come right in, I’ll be right with you, just give me a few seconds. And please, try not to wake the baby dragon.”


The candlelit library was warm and inviting. The only problem seemed to be the countless piles of books everywhere, “Sorry about the mess, today is Spike’s day off, and I’ve been distracted lately.” The purple unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, put her book down, smiling at the guests, “Pleased to make your Acquaintance, I’m Twilight Sparkle, how may I be of assistance.”
Star nudged Lunar, nodding the approval to proceed as she looked at him, “It’s nice to meet you, miss Twilight Sparkle. My name is Lunar Glow, and this is Star Dusk, feel free to just use our first names. We’re here on a research project about you and your friends, the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, correct?”
Twilight approached them, nodding slightly, “Well, Lunar, beautiful name by the way…this is true, but we haven’t used them in a year. What exactly do you need to know?” She inquired, her eyes spotting the other mare’s cutie mark, “Although, I do want to talk to you about your cutie mark. A blue moon is quite a strange one…in fact it’s very similar to the one Princess Luna has.”
Luna blushed at the mention of her cutie mark. She turned to Star for advice, but he had gone to look at Spike, the green and purple baby dragon, sleeping in his basket bed. “I knew Luna had a moon cutie mark, but I never thought mine was close to hers. I’m not really sure why mine is a moon, I just know that I’m a night-time Unicorn, and my magic is stronger in the moonlight.”
“That makes sense, I guess. I thought the Princess’s was unique thought. Now I wonder if there might be another pony with a sun-based cutie mark.” Twilight glared at Star, “Would you please leave my assistant alone? He needs…his…sleep…” her voice drifted off as her gaze fixated on the necklaces, “Where did you…get those?”
Star chuckled, hopping towards the mares. He spoke, trying his best to hide his real voice without laughing, “I made them myself~ I didn’t want to make them too close to the real ones, so I inverted them.” He spun around to show them off, “Oh, I heard you say something about a sun cutie mark…mine is like that~” He pointed at his flank.
Twilight watched the stallion, something about him seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite figure out what, “Well, they are very well made…although quite strange to say the least.” She got a close look at his cutie mark, a star, looking like a white sun, setting on a horizon, “Very odd…two new ponies come into town, with cutie marks similar to the princesses. Do you think we could get together after you’re done with your research?”
Star chuckled some more, “I’m glad you like them, they were so fun to make~” He nudged against Lunar, “We’d love to get together again…We’re almost finished with our project. I’ve been using these necklaces as, well a sort of monument. Placing them where the great heroes…I mean, you and your friends, had your best moments. We found Pinkie Pie’s and Rarity’s already but the others escape us. Could you help us out?”
The purple unicorn thought for a moment, scratching her chin with a hoof, “I’m not really sure. I would definitely say Fluttershy’s is up on the mountain. Some time ago, a dragon was sleeping up there, his smoke was covering the skies of our town. And even though she was afraid, she faced him down, and got him to leave…” She pointed towards the mountain in the distance.
“And my best guess for Applejack would be down at Sweet Apple Acres…” Twilight continued, “During my first Applebuck Season here in Ponyville, she tried to harvest all the apples by herself, and stacked up helping her friends out along with it…she was too stubborn to accept help. Halfway through though, she realized the truth, and accepted out assistance…I don’t really know what to say about mine,” she blushed, “And all I know about Rainbow Dash, is that it’d most likely be where she got her cutie mark…”
“Where she got her cutie mark, you say…” Star quirked a brow quizzically, “Well, we can try to find it. Lunar can cast a flight spell if it’s in the sky. Is there anything you know that might be able to help us find this spot…?” He glanced over at Lunar, she was standing by the door, bored.
“All I know is the story, how she performed the Sonic Rainboom for the first time. In fact, it was because of her that my friends and I go our cutie marks.” Twilight giggled, “Rainbow Dash had gotten into a race near Cloudsdale. When she was about to lose, she pushed herself to the limit, creating a Sonic Rainboom and winning. I don’t know where around Cloudsdale it is though…”
Star joined his partner by the door, “Thanks Twilight, I’m sure we’ll be able to find it, it shouldn’t be too hard. We’ll see you soon, ta-ta~” He waved a hoof with a chuckle, and they headed towards the forest, obviously their first destination being the mountain.
Twilight went back to her book, thinking aloud to herself, “It’s almost like I’ve met them somewhere before…and how exactly did they know where Pinkie and Rarity had their best moments…? Something strange is going on around here…but the smart move is to wait things out and see what happens.”


The trip to the mountain was easy enough, but going up it seemed to take an eternity. Mostly because Star, instead of using the path, was walking sideways on the cliffs that lined the path, And no matter how hard she tried, Lunar couldn’t get him to come down and walk like a normal pony.
She even screamed in the avalanche zone, hoping that the rocks would knock him down, but Star was able to easily avoid the boulders. Eventually though, when she was about to give up on it, they arrived near the peak, at the Dragon’s Horde Cavern, which was said to be empty since the sleeping dragon incident.
Lunar recast the seeking spell on Fluttershy’s counter-element, knowing that this was to be hers, and after a little walking around, the source of potential energy was discovered at the cavern’s entrance. In an instant, Star had transformed back into Discord, and was ready to cast the spell when a roar echoed from the cave.
“Who the hell is in my space? Is it those damn ponies? I’m not sleeping this time, and you know I’ll only talk to one of you…I’m here for a sho-Oh, you’re not them. Except for that one, I like her…is she a ghost?” The large red dragon head peeked down at them, pupils narrowing a bit.
Discord laughed, flashing himself onto the dragon’s nose, “Nah, just a bit of essence and energy. How are you cousin? Having a nice day so far?” He wanted to talk with the dragon, but a glare from Lunar set him back on the task at hoof, flashing back to the ground, “You see, we are on a quest to destroy those ponies…and we’ll be leaving as soon as we get what we need~”
The dragon placed his large claws between Discord and the disharmonized Fluttershy spirit, “No! They may have been hurtful that time, but they had reason to be. And that one is my friend now…she visits me sometimes when I stop here to rest during my trips…She was here today, actually, brought me some nice turquoise. Just leave them alone…” he bent his neck down, “Before I eat you…’cousin’…”
The draconequus laughed again, snapping a claw to levitate the dragon’s arm out of the way, “You can’t stop me, I have the power of Chaos~” He cast the spell on the energy, after the disharmonized Fluttershy was formed, she flew over and kicked the dragon’s leg, before being transported home.
“And just so you won’t be able to tell them…~” Discord snapped his claws again, creating a zipper on the dragon’s mouth, locking it tight, and chaining him deep within the cavern, on the farthest wall, in the darkest darkness. Soon enough, he turned back into a pony, “Sorry to be so harsh, but we’re too close to let things fall apart now…ta-ta~”
The dragon struggled against the chain, hot tears in his eyes. The metal was far too strong for him to break, and his claws were too big to try and pick the lock. If he tried to breathe fire with the zipper there, it could kill him. He watched as Star Dusk and Lunar Glow headed down the mountain, their next destination, Sweet Apple Acres.