> The Elements of Disharmony
>  by HippityHoppity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Discovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Celestia! Are you sure that you don’t want to join me in exploration?” Princess Luna questioned her sister one beautiful summer evening.
“Yes, Luna, I’m sure,” she answered. “I have my evening duties to attend to, and so do you.”
Luna frowned. She had harmlessly been nagging Celestia to come with her to find the place where a strange flower had blown from.
“Sister,” Luna piped. “Will you raise the moon tonight?”
Celestia raised her eyebrow suspiciously. “Why?” she asked.
“I want to explore!”
“Luna, it is your duty, not mine,”
“You raised it for 1000 years when I was on the moon with no difficulty at all. I had a perfect view,” Luna replied.
Celestia though about this for a moment, then clearly realized that her sister was right. “Alright, I’ll do it. . . . .” she agreed.
Luna lunged forward and embraced her. “Thank you my sister!” she squealed happily.
Celestia gently pushed her away. “Only for tonight,” she said. “And be home before dawn!”
Luna nodded then flew out of the window. “I’ll be back before sunrise!” she called over her shoulder.
“You’d better be!” Celestia yelled.
Luna soared into the dusk, smiling wide.
The sunset was gorgeous this evening. Luna blew barely below the clouds, trying to trace the way the strange flower had come from. She soon found herself face-to-face with the mountains Canterlot uses for support. 
“How odd” Luna noted. “The flower must have blown over from the other side of the mountain,”
She knew of no pony who had really trekked over to the other side, so it could be dangerous.
“Maybe I should go back,” she mumbled quietly. 
Luna shook her head. “I am the Princess of the Night! The darkness is not my enemy!” she announced confidently. She flew swiftly upward, fearing what beasts might reside on the other side of the mountain. When she arrived at the peak she looked over the landscape, expecting it to be a desolate, deserted area. It was the exact opposite of desolate and deserted.
It was the most magnificent thing she had ever beheld. Shimmering silver flowers twinkled under the moonlight like stars. It was amazing. She dropped down a few yards to a ledged and perched there on her stomach, examining the field, searching for any threats. No such thing appeared to be haunting this beautiful place. Luna glided down to the ground, and looked around. There was nothing like it! The flowers were so bright, it was blinding.  She picked one and held it with her magic.
“I have never seen or read about such a flower,” she whispered in awe, turning the flower round and round. “Amazing,”
Luna smiled. “I declare this flower a Crescent Lilly!” she declared, even though there was no one around to hear it. She started running through the field, ever so delighted that she had discovered this amazing place. She jumped up and down, flew around in circles, doing all manner of things to show her excitement. She had been flying for several minutes now, passing all of the silver-plated ponds. Luna landed by a small grove of grass and laid down. “Ah, it feels so delightful to sit down and res— And then she fell. She screamed, leaving the lovely Crescent Lilly to softly float down the gaping hole of darkness.

Luna awoke on the cold stone ground. “What? Where am I?” she groaned, putting her hoof to her head. She walked forward a few paces, then tripped and fell flat on her face. “Ow,” she said standing up. The drip of distant water was all she could hear. “Hello? Is anypony there?” she called into the dark. No response. Luna continued walking. It is very dark, she thought. Then she remembered, Luna! You’re an alicorn you idiot! Use your magic! She thought around for a light spell. Immediately the area was illuminated and she could finally see clearly. She looked up and nearly fell head over hooves. The cave was ginormous! Huge stalactites hung from the ceiling, they appeared to be stretching, trying to reach the ground. There were a few stalagmites here and there, several blocking her view of what was ahead. Luna walked on, carefully avoiding the stalagmites. She twisted her head in all directions, trying to get a view of the massive cave she was in. Suddenly she smacked her head on a wall. “WHY ARE THERE SO MANY WALLS IN THIS CAVE?” she screamed angrily. But it was not a wall. Luna stood at the foot of a giant pedestal. She flew towards the top and could not believe what she saw. A large stone ball stood in the middle of five smaller stones, held up by big stone rods. “I-Impossible!!” Luna yelled. “The Elements of Harmony are safe inside the Tree of Harmony!” She flew back down to the ground. She started to pace around in circles. “How is this possible, Twilight Sparkle and her friends would never take them out again, not after—
“Who goes there?” a voice boomed from the darkness.
Luna strained her eyes, trying to see who had spoken.
“Honestly Twilight, why would they answer you? They’re an intruder! I’m positive they don’t want to reveal who they are,” another said.
Twilight? Twilight Sparkle? What is she doing here? 
“Because Rainbow, she should be honest,” Twilight said.
“Pfft, honesty! It is a useless trait to have, ah’ say,” a western voice replied. It sounded vaguely like Applejack.
“Twilight Sparkle? Is that you?” Luna called. There was a surprised tenseness in the air.
“How does she know your name Twilight?” a gruff, angry voice called.
Luna could now see six figures ahead of her. One started to walk towards her. Luna stepped back. 
“Stay back!” Luna said, shining light from her horn. “I don’t want to hurt you,”
She could now see the figure clearly. It was Twilight Sparkle. Twilight laughed.
“You? Hurt me?” she chuckled. All the ponies behind her joined in laughter. “We don’t even know who you are!”
Luna was surprised. How could she not remember her?
“It’s me, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna, Celestia’s sister? You converted me from Nightmare Moon to myself, remember?”
Twilight’s eyes widened. 
“You’re Nightmare Moon?” she said. “We are great fans of your work!”
“What? No, I am not Nightmare Moon any longer! My dark powers were taken from me a long time ago, by you and your friends, with the Elements of Harmony!”
Twilight nodded. 
“Ah, I see,” Twilight whispered. “We are not the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, dear princess,”
The rest of the figures stepped forward. Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash.
“We,” she continued. “Are the Elements of Chaos!”
“Selfishness!” Rarity said proudly. “You should really give me that wonderful crown, I really want it!”
“Brutality!” Fluttershy said roughly. “By the way, I hate your crown! It’s so ugly!”
“Sadness!” Pinkie Pie sniffled. “I really really want to leave this cave!”
“Deceit!” Applejack sneered. “And mah’ name isn’t even Applejack!”
“Betrayal! I’m gonna go, you guys have obviously got this covered,” Rainbow Dash said loudly, flying away.
All of them stood triumphantly before her, smiling ugly smiles.
“And last but  not least, Reality!” Twilight sparkled. “You see your highness, we are not the Elements of Harmony, but the Elements of Chaos,”
“Our father Discord wanted nothing more than for us to thrive down here until the time came for us to fulfill our purpose,” Rarity began.
“And our time is now!” Twilight finished. “Our purpose, destroy Equestria!”
Suddenly Luna found herself back in Canterlot Castle, facing Celestia.
“Celestia! I’m back!” she said, but the words that came out of her mouth sounded, evil.
Celestia backed away.
“Please Luna! It  doesn’t have to be like this!” Celestia said, tears filling her eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you again!”
“What do you mean Celestia? I’m not here to hurt you!” Luna said. “I want to kill you!”
But, that’s not what she meant! Luna started moving closer to Celestia, walking slowly.
Luna looked down at herself, horrified at what she saw. Her coat was black, and her mane long, blue, and flowing. Large slippers, and when she looked into a window, her reflection she saw, it was awful. Helmet, sharp teeth, snake slit pupils, all too familiar. 
“No!” she screamed as she lunged at Celestia, unable to control herself, horn forward.
Celestia shrieked in agony, Nightmare Moon’s horn deep ion her shoulder.
Nightmare Moon pulled out her horn, raised Celestia into the air, and threw her at the wall.
“Celestia,” Nightmare Moon said coldly. “I never knew you were so weak,”
Celestia tried to stand, but fell down, blood trickling from her mouth and shoulder.
“Luna,” Celestia cried softly. “Please, stop,” Then she coughed, closed her eyes, and lied there, motionless.
Nightmare Moon laughed. “My work here is done! The sun shall never rise again!”
Luna found herself back in the cave, sobbing. The ponies were all in front of her once again.
Twilight smiled at her darkly. “Equestria will fall!” she said. “And you, will fall with it,”
Luna jumped up and flew away. She shot a beam at the roof of the cave and broke out into the night.
She looked around, then remembered where she was. She flew toward the mountain, flying as fast as she could. She finally reached the castle, and flew onto the balcony.
“Your highness!” a guard stopped her. “Are you all right?” 
She payed him no heed. She ran down the corridor and broke into Celestia’s bedroom.
“Celestia!” she yelled. “Celestia!!”
A light flicked on. Celestia was lying in her bed.
“Luna! What is it?” she asked.
Luna rushed over and fell to her, and buried her head in her shoulder, sobbing.
Celestia pat her head. “What’s wrong?”
Luna sat up and told her the story she had to tell.