Maintaining Harmony

by DiabloGuapo

The Charity Ball

A well groomed unicorn with a monocle took a sip of his drink and listened as another stallion droned on with his speech about how much he donated to some charity fund. Which charity fund, the monocled pony wasn’t quite sure. The bragging stallion didn’t mention which one. In truth, he didn’t care what it was, along as he was recognized for his “generous” donation. That was one of the reasons why that the listening pony didn’t want to come to this charity ball. It was filled with snobbish ponies from all across Equestria. Normally, he would have just sent a check, since he couldn’t stand being in the presence of the pretentious hosts, Jet Set and Upper Crust. The only reason why he came was because his wife, Fleur de Lis, loved to dance and had insisted that they went. He was really starting to regret that decision, for this current one-sided conversation had been going on for nearly an hour.

“Fancypants, come and dance with me,” asked his pink maned wife.

“Oh, course dear,” Fancypants replied. Turning to the other stallion, he said, “We’ll continue this conversation at another time. Hold my drink for me?” He gave the other unicorn his glass and walked with his wife to the dance floor, not waiting for a reply from the braggart.

“It looked like you needed somepony to save you,” Fleur stated as they waltzed.

“Thank you for that. I wouldn’t have lasted another minute,” he laughed.

“Oh, darling. It’s not that bad.”

“Yes, yes, but I can’t stand some of these ponies. They’re so…fake.”

“Not everypony can be as wonderful as you, you know.” They continued to dance as the band played on. The song was a duet between the piano and the cello.The piano was being played by a brown earth pony stallion, and the cello was being played by a gray earth pony mare with a black mane. The song that they were playing was one of Fleur’s favorites. It was so soft and soothing, like a lullaby. Supposedly, Princess Celestia wrote it herself a thousand years ago in commemoration of her victory over Nightmare Moon. What only a few ponies knew, was that it was in truth a song of morning for Celestia’s loss of her beloved sister.

As they danced, Fancypants observed the other ponies in attendance to the ball. Something odd caught his attention. “Sweet heart, have you noticed something strange?”

“What?” asked Fleur, looking at his perplexed face.

“This ball is supposed to be a charity fund by wealthy ponies all across Equestria.”

“It is, dear,” Fleur said, not seeing his point. “I see some ponies we know from Manehatten, Baltimare, and Fillydelphia. Look, even Prince Blueblood is here.”

“Yes, but what do you notice about them?” questioned the blue maned unicorn. Fleur took a closer look at the partygoers and saw what he did.

“They’re all unicorns,” she observed. It was true, everypony, except the band and the butlers, were unicorns. “Why did Jet Set and Upper Crust only invite unicorns?”

“Hhhmmm…I’m not sure,” Fancypants said with some concern. Something was amiss, and he didn’t like it. After thinking for a moment, a thought came to him, and it disgusted him. “I’ve should have known.”

“What?”

“They’re Unicorn Supremacists,” muttered the stallion. “Jet Set and Upper Crust are Unicorn Supremacists.”

“What? Oh, come now,” she dismiss. “How could they be supremacists? After all, they’re holding a charity ball for the…oh dear.”

“For the establishment of more schools for gifted unicorns across Equestria,” he finished for her.

“Perhaps we should leave. I don’t feel comfortable here anymore,” she said, looking a little distraught. Fancypants nodded in agreement, and they discreetly headed towards the door. However, their departure didn’t go unnoticed. Jet Set and Upper Crust were watching from the floor above, overlooking the dance floor.

“Fancypants and his wife are leaving,” noted light olive mare.

“It doesn’t matter. There are plenty other influential ponies,” reassured the gray stallion.

“The Element of Generosity isn’t here either.”

“Really? Hhhmmm…Oh well. That’s a little disappointing, but I’m sure we can work around it.”

“Work around what?” asked a third voice.

“Oh, um, the Element of Generosity, Rarity, didn’t show up,” answered Jet Set, a little nervous to see how this news would be received.

“Disappointing, I had hoped that we could have taken care of her tonight,” the third unicorn remarked.

“I was certain that she would have come. I thought that she wouldn’t be able to resist coming to a high profile event like this,” Upper Crust tried to rationalize.

“Never mind that now. The plan is already in progress,” the third unicorn gestured to a fourth unicorn that Jet Set and Upper Crust failed to noticed. The fourth unicorn stood there with a blank expression on face, her eyes glowing green and red. “Go and join the party.” The glow faded from the mare’s eyes, and she walked off like nothing had happened.

“What did you do?” ask Jet Set impressed.

“I’ve been going around all night socializing with ponies, planting thoughts and suggestions in their hearts and minds,” the unicorn smirked. “Thoughts of discontentment and superiority.”

“Did you manage to ‘convert’ Fancypants or his wife to our cause?” asked Upper Crust.

“Unfortunately, no. But I don’t expect to get to everypony here tonight. Just enough to secure our grasp across Equestria,” the unicorn explained as the three looked down at their potential new sleeper agents. “If you will excuse me, I have many more ponies that I simply must ‘talk’ to.”

The couple watched as the third unicorn walked away chuckling to itself. Now, that they were alone, they continued with their own conversation.

“What do you think the next part of the plan will be?” Upper Crust asked her husband.

“I’m not entirely sure, but I think it might have something with the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony,” answered Jet Set. “After all, it seemed like the dual purpose of this ‘charity ball’ was to gather followers and to divide the Elements of Harmony.”

“Divide the Elements?”

“Yes, remember that they can only be used if all the Bearers are in harmony with each other. If we had Rarity under our control, then they would have been incomplete.”

“But Rarity didn’t show up. If the next step is to divide them, how are we going to do it?”

The party was coming to an end, and the unicorns were starting to leave. The band packed up their instruments, and the serving ponies began to clean up. Soon, all of the guests were gone, and the hosts were alone, except for one last guest, who was about to depart.

“So how many ponies did you ‘talk’ to,” asked the wealthy mare as she and her husband escorted their guest to the door.

“Plenty. I made sure that I converted at least ten very influential unicorns from every major city,” reported the unicorn.

“Well, well, well. Someone is a very busy pony,” remarked Jet Set. “I’d say our mission is accomplished for the night.”

“Almost,” replied the unicorn, stopping before they reached door. “There is just one more thing that I have to do.”

The couple exchanged a confused glance, and then they both asked, “And what would that be?” The third unicorn smirked, and there was a brief flash. The door opened and the guest walked out, leaving the couple standing there with their eyes glowing green and red, and a vacant expression on their faces.

Comments

[DiabloGuapo]

The song that Octavia is playing is my favorite song, "Clair de Lune" by Debussy.

[Trickquestion]

Spike's wings sure came in at just the right time.

[DiabloGuapo]

1611213
That's Spike for you. Being a hero even when he's not trying to be. By the way, what do you think of the inclusion of the song?

[Carnation83]

I'm really not surprised there is such a thing as Unicorn Supremacists. Now, I'm thinking the unknown unicorn villain is either Blueblood or Trixie.