“I’ll tell you what we’ve learned, Discord! We’ve learned that friendship isn’t always easy, but there’s no doubt it’s worth fighting for.” Twilight Sparkle stood proud before Discord’s throne, her eyes narrowed in a determined glare. The Spirit of Disharmony looked more amused than threatened, but when she finished, he sharply drew close, a wince on his face. Behind him, Twilight Sparkle could see a flight of pigs lazily wandering through the air, above the twisted checkerboard that was all that remained of Equestria.

“Uugh! Gag. Fine, go ahead, try and use your little elements ‘frenemies.’ Just make it quick.” With a flash, Discord vanished, reappearing back on his throne. “I’m missing some excellent chaos here!” He gave a wide, lazy gesture with his eagle’s claw, encompassing the floating islands and twisted creatures all around them. His lion’s paw was pressed to his chest, and when he relaxed, a smug grin showed his one fang.

“Alright, ladies! Let’s show him what friendship can do!” Twilight Sparkle grinned in turn, lowering her head so that her element faced Discord head on. She shut her eyes and concentrated, power flowing from her body to her horn, from her horn to her crown, into the Element of Magic itself. Purple light surrounded her, an aura that grew grand and wild, humming with unnatural strength.

It continued to hum.

At some point, Discord started to laugh, bringing his paw and claw together in a slow, mocking clap. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes opened wide, and she looked wildly around her to see what was wrong. She saw no trace of her friends, fear rushing through her when she realized she was alone before Discord.

“Missing something, Twilight Sparkle?” the Spirit of Disharmony asked, his deep chuckle lending menace to his words. He flew from his throne down towards her, slithering through the air like a serpent even as his wings gently beat. “Mmm, no,” he corrected himself, “I see you do have everything you need after all.” A point from his claw made Twilight Sparkle look downwards, where she saw the other five Elements of Harmony, wrapped around her neck. Necklaces on top of necklaces piled up against her, and the weight of them pulled her to her knees.

“What have you done with my friends, Discord!?” Twilight Sparkle demanded, defiant even in the face of this turnabout. Discord only laughed, leaning back with a paw over his chest.

“Feisty,” he observed approvingly, but his tone quickly shifted back to mockery. “But as it happens, I didn’t do anything to your friends, Twilight Sparkle. You’ve already proven you can defeat me when you have five other ponies do to the heavy lifting, and you will receive no points for solving the same challenge twice! This time you’re on your own.”

“Already...” Twilight Sparkle narrowed her eyes in confusion, wondering if Discords strange assertion was another of his tricks. There was no time to think about the matter at length however, not when she was before the Spirit of Disharmony himself. “But nopony can wield the Elements on their own!” Twilight Sparkle tried to rise to her hooves, but she couldn't lift her neck, the weight of metal around it making her body shake and pinning her to the ground.

“That is a lie, Twilight Sparkle.” In a flash of light, Discord changed before her. His scales and coat turned white, and boots of gold adorning his legs. His wings turned to papier-mâché and were tacked on, a horn suspended above his head by a stiff wire that ran down around his ears. He gave a disapproving click of his tongue, presenting the pony before him with a report card that clearly read, “Equestrian History: F.”

“No more games, Discord!” Twilight Sparkle smacked the report card out of his grasp. She gritted her teeth and struggled against the weight around her neck, shakily rising to her hooves. “If you could make it impossible for the Elements to be used against you, you would have done it in the first place. For whatever reason, you have to give us a fair chance to defeat you. Now show me the Bearers of the Elements!”

Discord started with surprise at her request, but then his eyes narrowed, and his smile grew wide and dark. “As you wish, Twilight Sparkle, and since you’re right that I love a good bout, I’ll even give you a hint.” Discord reared up, transforming back to his usual self, now in a beret and a set of small, dark glasses.

“Each morning I was vanquished, with silver and glass, but as they reject you, you now must surpass, your previous conquest, over chaos and lies. To defeat me now, see what’s in front of your eyes.”

He snapped his fingers.

Twilight Sparkle was somewhere dark.

Most kinds of dark didn’t scare her. She was not frightened of the night, or the gloom of the Everfree Forest, or the shadows in a dim room. She did not fear every bump in the night or rustle outside her room, like she had when she was a foal with her nightlight. She did not fear those things, because she knew they were nothing but darkness, that they could not hurt her.

This darkness was different. It concealed things. Things that could and would hurt a pony. Twilight Sparkle could tell she was in a confined space, by what little light there was. It was so dim that at first she thought she was sealed in a box, but gradually, she picked out other features—square, but not a box. She was in a hallway, a passage, one that smelled like dirt, rot, and stale copper. She could hear rustling in the distance, the sound of things moving.

Quickly, she lit her horn. The world revealed by it’s glow did little to assuage her fears. She was in a narrow passageway dug out of the earth, reinforced by old wooden beams. Broken bits of crates, rusted lengths of chain, and other odds and ends of mining lay abandoned along either side of the path around her. The light from her horn did not stretch far, but she could already see branching corridors before and behind her—a maze that stretched out every way but up.

“H-hello?” Twilight Sparkle called, hesitantly walking forward. There was no sign of Discord’s chaos here. This place felt very real. The hairs on the back of Twilight Sparkle’s neck started to rise with each step, her body growing more tense. Light shifted around her as she moved, shadows from stray pieces of debris seeming to dance and scuttle as she walked past them. The metallic tinge in the air was distinct, joined to the scent of molding wood and general decay.

“Is there anypony here?” Twilight Sparkle asked, almost at a whisper, afraid now to raise her voice.

“Shhh!” A voice from the left made Twilight Sparkle jump with surprise, the Elements around her neck jangling sharply. She turned, seeing another unicorn just down one of the side passages. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, tone indignant and head held high. Her posture and bearing reminded Twilight Sparkle of nothing so much as the spoiled nobility of Canterlot—another overbred unicorn who couldn’t so much as find the time of day for anypony.

“Dim that light,” The Noblepony demanded. “You’ll get us all killed if the monster sees it.”

“T-there’s a monster down here?” Twilight Sparkle quickly dimmed her horn’s light.

“No, the monster will see the light all the way from outside. Of course it’s down here!” The Noblepony insisted, irritated at Twilight Sparkle’s delay. “You’re lucky I was here to find you. Come with me.” She turned and quickly trotted back down her side corridor, Twilight Sparkle following her.

It didn’t take the two long to reach their destination. No matter how far they walked. Twilight Sparkle saw no end to the mine. Every passage seemed to stretch on as far as her light would carry, until it was lost into gloom. The mine seemed to go on forever, but barely a hundred paces down The Noblepony’s side passage, they came to a heavy wooden door. The Noblepony gently tapped it with a hoof three times in quick succession, and on the other side, a heavy bolt slid open. “This way.” The Noblepony gestured Twilight Sparkle inside, and once they were both through, shut the door behind her.

Once the door was shut, The Noblepony let her horn flare to a bright light, and Twilight Sparkle took that as her cue to do the same. The room was small, little more then a walk-in closet, unfurnished except for a small table. There were five ponies there in total, including the two of them. One sat in the corner, a small and unremarkable unicorn that stared at her hooves and tried not to make eye contact. One stood in front of the table, giggling to herself with an unhinged grin, repeatedly stroking her own hair with both hooves. The last sat on the table’s other side, with a dreamily relaxed smile on her face, happily reading through a copy of The History of Spackle as though nothing were amiss.

In an instant, Twilight Sparkle took a disliking to all of them. It was possible, given her request, that Discord had somehow made these mares four of the six Bearers of the Elements, but that seemed unlikely. They were obviously as useless and faulty as the mare who led her here, and none seemed well suited to dealing with reality, much less a crisis. She silently named them The Foal, The Lunatic, and Ivory Tower, resolving to ask their actual names later.

“Well, now that that’s over with—” The Noblepony started. The Lunatic barged past her. Twilight Sparkle shrunk away as the other pony leapt clear into her personal space, wrapping her forehooves around Twilight Sparkle’s neck.

“The Elements!” Her voice was like somepony dragging her hoof down a chalkboard, and Twilight Sparkle winced more from the sound than from the weight. Having her so close was palpably unpleasant, even frightening. Her eyes were too wide and her pupils too small, her mane and tail each a ragged mess. She watched as The Lunatic’s eyes wandered over each of the elements, necklaces to crown, and then finally turned to stare unblinkingly into her eyes

“That’s... right.” Twilight Sparkle hesitantly answered. “They’re—”

“The Elements of Harmony!” The Lunatic burst out, an ear twitching behind her head. “That must mean you’re here so that we can use them to defeat the monster! I wonder which one is mine? Is it this one, or this one, or—” It was all Twilight Sparkle could do not to leap away, as the madpony in front of her started to grab at the Elements like a magpie looking for shiny objects. Luckily, The Noblepony sharply smacked The Lunatic away.

“Stop that!” she demanded, raising one hoof in front of her and grimacing. Twilight Sparkle thought it looked a little like she was posing for a statue of herself, hoof up, head high, eyes down on those below her. “The Elements bond to their users at the appropriate time. You can’t just grab one and light them up.”

“You don’t have enough evidence to support that claim.” Ivory Tower insisted, her crisp, critical inflections reminiscent of teachers and tutors Twilight Sparkle preferred to forget. “The Elements have only bonded to users twice in known history, and since the first of those incidents was Princess Celestia, you have only a single data point for how they behave in the presence of normal ponies. That is insufficient to establish general trends.”

The Noblepony scoffed, raising a hoof to her chest. “The Elements of Harmony are not a science experiment.” She spoke slowly and evenly, as if she were explaining something to a particularly dimwitted foal. “They’re a supernatural representation of—”

“Special pleading.” Ivory Tower tapped the table twice sharply with a hoof. “In the second relevant case, the Bearers of the Elements became friends shortly before the Elements defeated Nightmare Moon. However, with only a single data point, it is impossible to show a causal link between those two events. Going out there to fight the monster would entail significant risk on your claim that the Elements will defeat it, and I refuse to accept any claim I cannot prove.” With a sharp shake of her head, she turned back to her book. Twilight Sparkle looked between the three of them in disbelief.

“Are you serious?” Twilight Sparkle took a step back and opened her mouth to continue, only to be interrupted by a feeble whimper from the corner of the room.

“I’m sorry,” the mare who Twilight Sparkle had decided to think of as The Foal whimpered, squeezing herself tighter into the corner. She lowered her head to try to hide her face, but everypony could see she was starting to tear up, faint sniffles audible. Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes, letting out an irritated sigh.

“No, forget it. I’m sorry I said anything. You’re not crazy. Just don’t cry.” Her words seemed to have little impact on The Foal, though she did look back up at least. “How did you all get down here in this mine? What’s the monster outside? What’s happening?”

“We each asked to see the Bearers of the Elements,” The Noblepony explained. “Next thing we knew, we were down in this mineshaft. I can only infer that Discord has tried to impede the Elements’ use by causing them to bond to ponies who, while they technically possess the relevant virtues—” she chuckled, pressing a confident hoof to her chest and shutting her eyes for a moment “—are so unpleasant and generally useless as to make the required friendship difficult.”

“I try to be nice,” The Foal insisted, looking at The Noblepony imploringly, before looking down at her hooves again. “I always mess up, though.”

“Well...” The Noblepony managed, after a hesitant pause. “That’s... great. You clearly fold like a sponge under the slightest pressure, so based on past history, I’m going to assume you’re the Element of Kindness.” The Noblepony’s horn came alight as she pulled one of the Elements from around Twilight Sparkle’s neck, letting it come to rest around The Foal. “Naturally, I’m the Element of Magic—”

“Whoa, hold it.” Twilight Sparkle insisted. “You can’t just go and assign elements to ponies based on what you think fits them. I’m the Element of Magic.”

“And you’re doing a real bang-up job of it,” The Noblepony complimented her, reaching out to ruffle Twilight Sparkle’s mane like an adult would a petulant colt. “But let’s be serious. I have a little more magical ability then the average unicorn to start with, and I was trained by the best in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. The Element of Magic clearly fits me. Besides, the Element of Magic also symbolizes the leader of the group, and, well...” She cast a skeptical gaze over Twilight Sparkle, setting the other unicorn’s teeth on edge.

“Listen to me, you pretentious—” Twilight Sparkle started, but the brewing argument between her and The Noblepony was cut short by the sound of giggling. The Lunatic’s eyes darted between the other two ponies unnaturally quickly, her eyelid twitching as she laughed to herself.

“Numbers are important,” she murmured, that off-tone, scratchy voice setting Twilight Sparkle on edge. “Five. Five ponies here. Not six! Five. You can’t have five Bearers of the Elements. This is the problem, you see? Nopony thinks things through. They don’t listen to me. They run off and just end up making more problems!” She turned on the others in the room with a sudden glare, the intensity of the action enough to make all the standing ponies step back, while The Foal cowered in the corner. The Lunatic held that glare for a moment, and then it vanished as suddenly as it appeared, replaced by a rictus of a smile.

“But don’t worry! I thought of a solution!” The Lunatic reached behind her, and sharply upended the table at which she had been sitting. It hit the floor with a crash, revealing the drawings she had carved into its rough wooden surface. They looked like anatomical sketches, sections of a pony clearly demarcated by dotted lines. “By my calculations, we have just enough spare parts between us to cobble together a sixth pony. Except for the brain of course, but that’s okay. I think I know how to fix the reanimation spell so we don’t even need it!” The Lunatic’s horn came alight, and she drew a set of dirty surgical knives from behind the fallen table, looking around the room with a gleeful, “Who wants to go first?”

Twilight Sparkle sharply scrambled away from the obvious madpony, and many of the others joined her. Ivory Tower leapt away, and The Noblepony braced herself for combat, letting her horn come to life. Only The Foal didn’t run away, having nowhere to go, her ears folding back in fright.

“Now girls, there’s no need to be afraid! I’m a very capable surgeon, probably! I’ve certainly read enough books on the subject.” Her gaze traveled from pony to pony, the knives behind her floating along so that their points followed her gaze. “It’s not like we can stay here!”

“This isn’t a well-reasoned plan!” Ivory Tower insisted, shuddering as she backed away, the broken remains of an old bucket and chain left on the floor striking her hooves as she moved. “Those knives are unsuited for amputation. There are multiple organs that lack redundancy other than the brain. There’s no logical reason for me to be in an old mine being threatened by madponies. Clearly, this isn’t viable!”

“You obviously don’t know the first thing about necromancy or surgery,” The Noblepony insisted, sharply pointing at The Lunatic and tensing herself for combat. “Now put those knives down before I use force.”

“I think I hear the monster coming,” The Foal squeaked.

Instantly, The Lunatic dropped her knives, backing away from the door. The Noblepony doused her horn’s light, and Twilight Sparkle did the same, plunging the room into darkness. In the pitch black, Twilight Sparkle strained to hear any trace of the creature’s presence, adrenaline shooting through her like ice water. As her ears stood alert, growing more sensitive to the faintest of noises, she started to hear the sound of her own breathing. She started to hear the beat of her own heart, and in that tense silence, it seemed like the beating of a drum whose sound would call all predators near.

Then she heard the breathing outside.

The sound was low and deep. Each breath was drawn between clenched teeth and emerged as a growl. Twilight Sparkle could hear hoofbeats, but couldn't believe that the creature outside was a pony. Nopony could make noises like that, sounds of such undiluted rage. This was some tartarian beast, some abomination that desired only to destroy whatever was placed in front of it. Twilight Sparkle shivered when the door rattled in its frame. The monster let out a long, slow hiss, and everypony in the room held their breaths, realizing the creature was listening at the door.

The creature’s presence seemed to stretch on forever, listening, growling, waiting for them. It stayed until Twilight Sparkle’s lungs were burning, until she had squeezed her eyes shut in concentration. Her body demanded she breathe, no matter how much she knew that would get them all killed. Though the room was dark, spots were appearing in her vision. It was all she could do not to let the breath out, when she again heard hoofbeats outside, the creature turning away from the door.

Once it had passed out of hearing range, Twilight Sparkle released her long-held breath. She sucked down the dirty mine air like it was the elixir of life, and the rest of the room did much the same. The Noblepony lit her horn again, illuminating their expressions of relief. Ivory Tower slumped against the floor in shock.

“Good job.” Twilight Sparkle found a strained smile for The Foal, the other pony picking herself up out of the corner. “How in Equestria did you hear it coming up the hall? I could barely make it out even after we were all quiet.”

“Oh, I didn’t,” The Foal replied. “I just figured that with how loud we were all being, it would definitely hear us soon if it hadn’t already.” She glanced at Twilight Sparkle’s face, then down at her hooves. “That was clever of me... right?” Her fishing for praise rapidly depleted the good will she had earned a moment ago, but Twilight Sparkle nodded anyway, and The Foal beamed.

“Before he sent me here, Discord—” Twilight Sparkle started to explain, only for The Foal to interject.

“So... it was clever enough you think I could actually be one of the Bearers now?” she finished again. Twilight Sparkle shoot her an irritated glance.

“Yes, sure, fine,” Twilight Sparkle snapped. The Foal turned to look back at her own hooves, her face scrunched together as she averted her gaze. “As I was saying, before he sent me here, Discord gave me another one of his riddles. He said I vanquished him every morning with ‘silver and glass,’ but that now that they ‘rejected’ me, I’d have to do it again by ‘seeing what was in front of my eyes.’ He also said I’d have to beat him without help, which after seeing you four is easy to understand.”

“Well, that’s obviously a metaphor,” The Noblepony explained, with a steady tone and a wide, inclusive gesture. “‘Seeing what’s in front of your own eyes is usually used to indicate recognizing something simple, but unintuitive, so that you feel it was obvious in retrospect. ‘Silver and glass’ could indicate anything in your life literally or thematically tied to those two materials.”

“Too vague,” Ivory Tower corrected The Noblepony, rising to her hooves. “A riddle that imprecise could mean anything. I wouldn't put any weight on it.”

“Ooooh, I got it!” The Lunatic said, grinning as she walked back up to Twilight Sparkle, twisting her head at an odd angle, to look up at Twilight Sparkle from below. “What do you do every morning?”

“I... wake up, get out of bed, brush my mane...” Twilight Sparkle started to list off items, only for The Lunatic to lean in sharply. Twilight Sparkle trailed off, as she grew increasingly uncomfortable.

“Exactly! You brush your mane.” She nodded aggressively, like her head were a bobble-toy. Twilight Sparkle and the others gave hesitant, nervous nods in return.

“Oh, I get it!” The Foal interrupted, hopping forward. “You brush your mane!” She repeated The Lunatic’s observation in a tone of great revelation, but The Noblepony was having none of it, and fixed her with an irritated glare.

“Which is relevant because?” she pointedly asked The Foal.

“Well, uh—” The Foal stammered, looking down to her hooves again. Her voice shrank away, growing quiet as a blush rose to her features. “It’s um... that is. It’s part of the riddle, so—”

“So you defeat chaos!” The Lunatic pressed on, nodding again to nopony in particular. “You take that chaotic, messy bedmane and make it all orderly and pretty. And you do it—”

“With a mirror!” The Foal cut in, eager and energetic, only to be silenced by a sharp, irritated glare from The Noblepony. The glare sent The Foal scrambling back into her corner.

“Well... mirrors are made of silver and glass,” Twilight Sparkle admitted, tapping her jaw with a hoof as she thought. “And since Discord is the spirit of chaos, you could view making a part of the world more orderly as ‘vanquishing’ him.” She turned to the fallen table, and with a touch of magic from her horn, levitated The Lunatic’s fallen knife collection. Stainless steel was not an ideal material for producing a reflective surface, but it would have to do, and it was probably better the madpony not have access to weapons anyway. Twilight Sparkle pulled the collection of knives closer to her, focusing her magic to transform the metal in front of her.

With a flash of purple light, the knives vanished. In their place appeared a small, undecorated hoof-mirror, little more than a metal disk with a handle attached. It hovered in front of Twilight Sparkle, held aloft by the glow of her telekinesis. The reflections in the stainless steel were muted and distorted, but clear enough. Twilight Sparkle could see the walls behind her, the door to the room, The Noblepony looking over her shoulder. What she could not see was herself.

“Well, that explains the second clause,” said The Noblepony, tapping Twilight Sparkle’s shoulder. “You vanquish chaos every morning when you brush your mane in the mirror, but now you can’t, because reflective surfaces won’t show your—”

“You don’t have to repeat everything that we just saw back to us like we’re foals,” Ivory Tower snapped at The Noblepony. “And this still doesn't explain the last clause. She needs to see what’s in front of her own eyes? If that is referring to what’s normally in front of you in a mirror—to whit, yourself—the riddle has rendered it functionally impossible for her to do that. Conversely, if it refers to what she is presently seeing in front of her eyes, the mirror, she has already fulfilled the terms to no effect. Further, Discord said that she would have to defeat him without help, and here we are, trying to help her. Clearly this is a waste of time.”

“Will you stop nitpicking everything everypony says?” Twilight Sparkle growled at Ivory Tower. “It’s no wonder you think you can’t help! You’re a useless, pedantic know-it-all! If the real Bearers were here, we’d already have this solved, so why don’t you just keep quiet and stay out of our way?” Ivory Tower stepped back at Twilight Sparkle’s words, The Noblepony smirking.

“Well said, now—” The Noblepony began.

“Don’t you start! You stuck up, arrogant, selfish, presumptuous, pretentious, brat of a pony! All you can think about is how much better you are then everypony else here. I’d say you’re delusional, but the sad thing is, you’re probably right! Not that that’s hard when your competition is a madpony and a needy foal who didn’t notice when she grew up!” Twilight Sparkle snorted, glaring at the others in the room. The Lunatic’s gaze flicked uncertainly between the ponies around her. Ivory Tower was leaning back with wide eyes. The Noblepony looked wounded and uncertain, and The Foal had quietly started to cry. “Now if you would just shut up and let me solve this riddle, we can all get out of here and... and...”

Twilight Sparkle trailed off, lost for a moment in recollection.

“See girls? We did it! We found the Elements of Harmony. Together!” Twilight Sparkle trotted up to her friends, a broad grin on her face. Spike ran alongside her, carrying the book that held the Elements in his claws, as eager as she to see Discord defeated. The other ponies in the room showed no reaction, however, ignoring Twilight Sparkle except to shoot her an annoyed glance. “You don’t even care, do you?” Twilight Sparkle asked, her tone starting to falter.

“No!” the other ponies answered as one, turning their heads away from her and Spike.

“I never thought it would happen,” Twilight Sparkle whispered, lowering her head. “My friends...” Sharply, she brought her head up, glaring at the others. “Have turned into complete jerks!”

“No.” Twilight Sparkle stopped, the other ponies in the room looking up with surprise, as she abruptly ended her angry rant. “No, this is a trick. Discord doesn't keep us from the Elements by teleporting us away, or putting walls or monsters around them. He does it by bringing out the worst in everypony so we can’t get along, and here I am, ripping into all of you when we should be working together.”

“Your information on Discord’s behavior seems to come entirely from a recent case study that was never properly documented. Besides, we aren't friends, and you need memories of friendship to counteract his magic.” Ivory Tower raised a faint hoof in protest, but Twilight Sparkle didn’t rise to the bait. Instead of reacting to Ivory Tower with irritation, Twilight Sparkle carefully considered her for a moment, then turned her attention back to the mirror.

“I have to see what’s in front of my own eyes.” She nudged the mirror with a hoof, turning it slowly, so its reflection panned across the room. The other ponies in the room looked at her through the steel, faces distorting as the mirror slowly turned past them. The only other pony the mirror could not see was The Lunatic, who was standing directly across from Twilight Sparkle. She turned the mirror, until its edge faced her, and she could see the madpony’s face around its sides.

Twilight Sparkle considered The Lunatic for a moment. Her eyes were bloodshot, and too wide. Her features twitched in disturbing ways, and her smile was a jagged hook drawn across her face. She stared straight ahead, unblinking and unmoving, but Twilight Sparkle swallowed her disgust and fear, forcing herself to look at this pony objectively. “You’re... really creepy, and probably a little dangerous.” She resisted the urge to expound on the merits of pills and therapy. “But... you aren't actually a madpony. You try to think of ways to get us out of here. You’ve even been helpful with the riddle. You just really, really, really don’t deal with stress well. You bottle it all up inside you and...”

Twilight Sparkle’s horn came alight as she trailed off, and she levitated one of the necklaces over to The Lunatic, fixing it around her neck. The Lunatic looked down at it curiously, nudging it with a hoof, and the pink balloon that adorned its front sparkled in the light. “And you need to learn to laugh it off.”

Next, Twilight Sparkle turned to the pony she had labeled Ivory Tower, the bookworm of a unicorn trying to hide behind her tome. “You act like nobody’s plan can work, but that’s not true. Earlier, you said, ‘There’s no logical reason for me to be trapped here.’ You don’t understand what’s going on, and you’re scared. You’re going into denial so that you don’t have to deal with it.” Twilight Sparkle levitated the Element of Honesty from her neck over to the other pony, letting it come to rest against her. “You have to learn to deal with the truth, even when its unpleasant.”

Twilight Sparkle had to turn in place to face The Noblepony, and the stuffy Canterlot unicorn fixed her with an expectant stare. Twilight Sparkle bristled at that look, starting with a curt, “You’re kind of a pretentious jerk.” Her tone softened as she continued, and she forced her indignant look to relax to an accepting smile. “But you mean well. You came out into the mine to help me. You want to get us all out of here alive. You were ready to face down an armed madpony. The problem is that you see us all like extras, secondary characters in your story.” She levitated the Element of Loyalty from her neck, leaving only one necklace behind, and she placed it around The Noblepony. “You need to learn to devote yourself to others, not the abstract idea of others.”

Finally, she turned to The Foal, the whimpering pony looking up at her from the corner. “You act like you want to be helpful, but ultimately, that only makes you more selfish. You just want to help other ponies so that you can get praise and a place in the group. The problem is everypony can see what you’re doing, so all you do is annoy them.” Twilight Sparkle levitated the last element from around her neck. The Foal hurriedly took off the Element of Kindness, making room as the Element of Generosity came to rest snugly around her neck. “You need to learn to give to others for the sake of others, not just for yourself.”

Twilight Sparkle reached out with her telekinesis, taking the Element of Kindness back from The Foal. “As for this... it’s like she said.” Twilight Sparkle nodded to The Lunatic. “Numbers matter. There are six Elements, and only six living things in this mine.” She turned to look at the door. “One of which needs kindness.”

The room was silent in the wake of that statement. The Noblepony looked affronted, but in some ways, also humbled, and she sat back on her haunches. The Lunatic let out an experimental, forced laugh, tapping her Element sharply with a hoof. The Foal stopped crying, and stood up on all four hooves, trying to stand tall before Twilight Sparkle.

Ivory Tower, of all of them, looked curious, stepping forward with a quiet, “But. Um. Even if what you were saying about me was true. And I’m not saying it is.” She looked down for a moment, bashful, picking at her Element with her hooves. “But, if it was. Wouldn't you still need memories of friendship to remove Discord’s magic? Memories we don’t have.”

Twilight Sparkle paused at that question, and gradually, her head sunk. “Yeah,” she replied, almost at a whisper. “Knowing what Elements you’re all supposed to be doesn't do much good if you can’t use them.”

“It’s the last part of the riddle!” The Foal burst out, her shout so sharp and sudden that the madpony actually lept back in surprise. She was standing tall on her hooves, trying to hide the signs of past tears, a determined look rising to her face in the wake of her outburst. “It’s the last part of the riddle,” she repeated, at a more moderate volume. “Discord said you would have to beat him without help. We don’t have the memories we need, but you obviously do or you wouldn't have been able to figure all that out.”

“I can’t impart memories you don’t have,” Twilight Sparkle raised her head to object, but The Noblepony put a hoof on her shoulder.

“You can tell stories.”

“Oh, no no.” Twilight Sparkle laughed, the five mares sitting in a circle together in the little storage room. Each wore their Element, save for the Element of Kindness, which rested in the floor. She had conjured a heatless flame on the floor between them, so that The Noblepony would not have to keep her horn alight, and then she had told the stories of her and her friends. The mares had listened, and commented, and laughed, the company of others making the storage room seem not so bleak.

She had told the story of her ‘zeroth’ lesson, where she learned to deal with frustration. She had told the story of Winter Wrap-Up, and how her continual attempts to help so she could fit in almost stopped her from seeing how she could actually help the town. She had told the story of how she learned about the Pinkie Sense and to accept that which was strange to her. The stories had come in no particular order, and so it was only last that she told them about the start of it all—the day she left Canterlot to go to Ponyville.

“I was so much worse than you back then,” she assured The Noblepony, with a giggle. “When Princess Celestia told me to go to Ponyville, my reaction was to throw a pout that she didn’t trust me. Nevermind that Equestria was in mortal danger, my highest priority was to have a snit the whole chariot ride over.”

“That can’t have been where you learned loyalty.” The Noblepony jangled the Element around her neck with a hoof, the others looking in, curiously. “What about Princess Celestia?”

“I love Princess Celestia, but loyalty to a mentor or authority figure isn’t quite the same as loyalty to a friend.” Twilight Sparkle lets out a happy sigh, shutting her eyes as her mind drifted back to times gone past. “That’s why I chose to leave Canterlot, even though it meant leaving everything I knew behind. That was the first time I felt that really personal connection to another pony. I couldn't give that up.”

“Well, you certainly earned it,” The Noblepony observed, tone faintly jealous, and embarrassed at that jealousy. She folded her hooves in front of her, looking down at them. Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, and turned to The Noblepony, a smile on her face.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I didn’t earn friendship by saving Equestria. I just met the right ponies. In a way, I got lucky.” She reached out to put a comforting hoof over The Noblepony’s. “I’m sure if we’d ever met in Canterlot, we would have been friends.”

“It’s nice to hear somepony say that,” The Noblepony answered, a bashful smile touching her features, along with a hint of an embarrassed blush. The others had much the same reaction, looking down or away. Even The Lunatic seemed touched, hiding it by repeatedly tugging her mane down over her face with her hooves.

“Actually,” Twilight Sparkle muttered, looking down at the floor as she furrowed her brow in thought, “why didn’t we ever meet? You said you went to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. We must have been in the same—” Twilight Sparkle’s words died in her throat, as she looked up and found there was nopony there. She was alone in the store room, no trace of the other mares. All of the Elements of Harmony were around her own neck again, save the one on the floor, and Twilight Sparkle rose to her hooves in confusion.

“Hello?” She looked around wildly, searching the floor for where they might have gone. She wondered—had Discord teleported them away? Was this another of his tricks? Was she going crazy, and had imagined them all to begin with? Her breath came quick with surprise, her search for some trace increasingly more frantic.

Then, she heard breathing outside the door.

Inside the confined space, the sound of the door crashing against its frame sounded like a thunderclap. The latch was strong, and the wood was thick, but after only a single strike, Twilight Sparkle knew the door would not stand up to whatever was on the other side. An incoherent snarl of rage echoed through the wood, a bright purple flash visible through the cracks, moments before the door shuddered with impact. The wood of the doorframe splintered with the blow, the door itself developing a hairline crack across its midsection.

Twilight Sparkle looked around wildly for something to prop the door with, but there was nothing in the room large enough—nothing that the force outside that door couldn't crush into splinters. Another thunderclap split the room, when she finally noticed the Element of Kindness on the floor. The crack in the door was no longer hairline, but wide as the tip of a pony’s hoof. The wood buckled further inwards with every strike, every growl, every hiss of unnatural breath carrying clearly into the room. Twilight Sparkle backed away from the door, clutching the last Element to herself, wide eyes locked on the doorway before her.

“This is only one of Discord’s tricks. It can’t actually kill me,” Twilight Sparkle said to herself as a chunk of the door finally gave way, the piece of wood landing in the room before her. “This is only one of Discord’s tricks. It can’t actually kill me,” she repeated as another section of door flew inward. She could see a glimpse of the monster now, a thing wreathed in purple light, like it was on fire, but never finished burning. “This is only one of Discord’s tricks. It can’t actually kill me. I’m going to use the Element of Kindness and it’ll go away.” Her words became more desperate the more of the door broke inwards, until finally, the door flew off its hinges entirely, landing in two pieces on the floor.

It was a hideous mockery of a unicorn. Its face was unnaturally ugly, twisted into a grimace. One was wide and intense, while the other fixed her with a narrow glare. Its ears seemed perpetually folded back, contorted by rage like the rest of its features. Worst, though, was its horn. Magic was Twilight Sparkle’s life; she used it to study the world, to heal and make it better. This thing radiated all of her power, a telekinetic flame pouring forth from its horn to envelop its entire body and all around it, but it wanted to use that power only to hurt her.

Any delusions she had that this was just Discord trying to scare her vanished in that instant. The field of force around the monster picked her up like a child’s toy and brutally smashed her into the wall. White-hot pain coursed through her as she felt something break. The Element of Kindness fell to the floor as that unnatural force pinned her forehooves behind her back. Purple fire surrounded Twilight Sparkle as the creature squeezed, the pressure around her offering no escape. Panic started to overcome her as she realized that this creature was not going to give her a chance to speak, was not going to be overcome by words. It was just going to crush her, until every bone in her body broke, and she was no more.

It didn’t even seem to enjoy harming her, didn’t smile as it became harder and harder for her to breathe. There was no joy in it, only anger. That anger was going to kill her.

“No!” Twilight Sparkle’s own horn blazed with light, so brilliant that the monster had to avert its eyes, stumbling away in surprise. “This isn’t how it ends! I won’t let it!” Twilight Sparkle proclaimed, magic like she had not wielded since the day she got her cutie mark coursing through her. Her eyes burned a brilliant white, brighter than the flames around the monster, and it stumbled away. It did not, could not fear her, and so it had no sooner recovered than it leapt at her again.

“No.” Twilight Sparkle repeated, catching the creature now as easily as it had caught her a moment ago. She held it helpless before her, and with a blink of her eyes, snuffed the flames around it. “I am stronger then you, monster.” She lifted the creature up in front of her, suspending it as it had suspended her. It was helpless now, pinned and wrapped up in magic, all its snarling and hissing just so much noise and fury. All she had to do was squeeze.

She reached down to the floor and picked up the Element of Kindness, resting it over the creatures neck.

“I don’t know what happened to you, to turn you into this thing, but you aren't a monster at heart. You’re a pony, and I’m going to help you.” Her tone turned soothing, as she looked into its eyes. Once you got past how it glared with them, it had very pretty eyes: purple and expressive. She could call a creature with those eyes beautiful. “We’re going to get you better and then we’re going to beat Discord.”

“Do you understand?” Twilight Sparkle asked, reaching a hoof up to brush the creature’s face.

“Everything’s going to be okay.”