As the gang walked through the forest they kept looking around to make sure they weren’t about to be attacked.

“I don’t know about you,” started Applejack, “but I just feel like we’re not welcome here.”

“I know what you mean,” answered Rarity. “This place feels more menacing with every step we take.”

“I think that crow was another creation,” said Twilight. “And it was headed in the same direction we are. So I guess it’s safe to say whatever is over there is near the Tree of Harmony.”

“That would seem to be the most likely scenario,” said Celestia. “We have to be prepared. Make sure you don’t make any risky moves. So long as we don’t know what we’re dealing with we should play it safe until we can get our hooves on the elements.”

“I agree with Celestia!” Discord said loudly with a completely sincere voice.

Fluttershy let out a breath that pushed her mane away for a moment. She could see he was just trying to suck up to her so she’d forgive him. Both Twilight and Discord had brought up good points that steered toward his innocence, but she wasn’t going to accept it until she saw for herself what he did when they got to the tree.

Despite the heavy feeling as they walked through the forest they met no opposition. They kept on their guard as they neared the old castle of the Royal Sisters. Each of them walked down the stairs slowly towards the cave that held the Tree of Harmony, half-expecting something to jump out at any moment.

When they arrived in the cave they stopped near the entrance. The Tree of Harmony seemed like it was fine, but there appeared to be a kind of haze around it, slightly blocking it from their view.

“What is that?” asked Fluttershy. “It looks like mist.”

“Surrounding the tree,” said Cadence. “This must be the reason that things have been getting out of control.”

“But look!” said Luna, pointing around. “All six of the Elements of Harmony are still inside the tree. Does that mean this creature is more powerful than even the Tree of Harmony?”

“I don’t know, my sister,” said Celestia. “However, this doesn’t bode well. Let’s see if we can get the Elements out. We shall need them to triumph.”

As they walked further into the cave they heard a deep voice call out, “Greetings, all.” From behind the tree came what looked like a pony, but was clearly not normal. Its body only seemed to be a shadowy outline that took the shape of a pony. It was a third taller than Celestia and Luna, with a horn and wings. Like the Royal Sisters manes, his mane flowed like theirs, but it was much more active, encompassing his entire body like a roaring fire.

All of them got into battle ready positions. “Who are you?” cried out Twilight.

“Easy there,” he responded. “I’m not here to fight with you all.”

“A likely story. If you’re not here to make trouble then I suppose you’re going to claim that you’re not the one who placed a spell on the Tree of Harmony?” Her horn started glowing as her eyes sparkled with anger. “Or the one who sent that Pony of Misfortune to torment me and my friends and the other citizens of Equestria?”

“Twilight!” Celestia said sharply. “Calm yourself.” Lowering her voice she continued, “We don’t have the elements yet. We need to wait for the right opportunity. If you provoke him now it might lead us all to our doom.”

Twilight heard what Celestia said, but her rage was drowning out her logical side.

The shadow pony sighed. “Are you sure you want to get into it right here? If you attack me I’ll be forced to defend myself, and it would be a tragedy if the children were to be caught in the crossfire, would it not?”

Applejack gasped, jumping in front of Applebloom. “Twilight!” she said desperately. “Please! Stop!” His voice had held no hint of a threat, but she wasn’t willing to take any chances.

Twilight let out an angry grunt, the glow from her horn fading out. “So then what do you want, if not to fight? What makes you think you can do things like this? What was all this garbage about a new world?”

“Well, I think we should start with the niceties, don’t you? As a ruler you have to set a good example for others. I am Shadow Blaze. I used to go by another name and form way back when, when I was called Inferno Blaze. However, I am no longer that being. I have evolved past that.”

With gritted teeth Twilight muttered, “Twilight Sparkle.” The rest of them introduced themselves as well, being cautious of this unknown element.

“I wish to chat with you, Twilight. Just you. Because you have intrigued me.”

“I’m not going anywhere alone with you!”

“I’m not asking you to go anywhere with me. I’m just saying I want this conversation to be between you and me.”

“Why?”

“Because if you ever hope to be a competent leader you’re going to have to be able to make difficult decisions, and that only comes from discourse and knowledge. I know you gave up your post to inspire your friends, but you want to tell me you’re not going to reinstate yourself once this matter is settled? Besides that, you won’t ever know the truth of the matter unless you are willing to put your anger aside and listen. I am most curious to hear what you have to say. Going from your memories you seem to be extremely intelligent.”

Twilight glared at him for a while, before moving ahead of the group and sitting down like him. “So go on. Let’s talk.”

“Tell me, Twilight? What do you think of the ponies of this land? Do you not find them to be weak and uninspired? They get a cutie mark, and are content with their lot in life until the end. They accomplish goals, but ultimately they spend their lives weak.”

“Everyone can be weak sometimes. I am no exception. What’s your point? What is your goal?”

“Why don’t you tell me? What did you learn from your experience today?”

Twilight closed her eyes in thought, all the while wanting to blast that monster where he stood. He didn’t seem nearly as tough up close and visible than his essence had been from afar. “That Pony of Misfortune came to us and told us that your plan was to show as many ponies as possible their worst fears, and that you wanted to create a new world without the weak. She also said something about the mistakes of the past not being repeated. Making a correlation between those statements you think by terrifying ponies you’ll cause a mistake that happened to you in your past to be prevented in the present.”

“You’ve pretty much nailed it down.”

“Well, your plan is stupid! Nothing good can come from what you’re doing. From what she also said you’re planning to make a world where only perfection and brute force will reign. You think you’re so powerful, but what do you really know? You’re evil! Isn’t that why you were sealed into this forest in the first place?”

“Twilight… you cannot understand because you have not experienced true despair. I want us all to be partners in this venture.”

“And if I say no? What then? Are you going to just kill us all right here?”

“Twilight, I want to improve this world that has grown soft with peace. What Discord says was accurate. Despite a gap of one thousand years Discord was still just as unbeatable for Celestia and Luna a few months ago as he was back when he first came to power.”

Twilight looked confused. “How can you know all this?”

The crow from before landed on his nose. “I have 'friends' all over the place. The whispers of the land reach me even sealed away. I don’t know everything that goes on, but I know enough. What would you do without your precious Elements of Harmony? The sheer fact that you use them only shows how weak you are.

"The Elements are simple a borrowed power. Since you know you have access to a great power you don’t believe you have to strive towards anything greater, since your crutch will always be there when you need it. And then what happened when Discord escaped? He hid the Elements until he could break all of you from their power. The only thing that granted you victory back then was Celestia reminding you of the lessons of the past, which restored your hope for things.

"Do you still want to claim you know what strength is? You ponies rely too much on your friendship and forget the strength of the individual.” His horn began glowing.

Twilight jumped up backwards away from him, getting into an attack stance. A red-orange glow was in the air, and several objects materialized. With another glow a gap in the haze of the Tree of Harmony appeared, and the Elements of Harmony came out before the mist covered the hole back up. He attached the Elements into the necklaces and crown, and placed each Element with its respective wielder. “When you touched the crystal ball earlier I also got a peek at all of your memories of the six of you. I believe this was how it was back then.”

Twilight looked even more confused now as she tapped her hoof to the Element of Magic. Why would he just give them the Elements of Harmony? Was he really that unafraid? Or was he just not that smart?

“Look what is going on right here. All six of you have your precious Elements, but Twilight is in the front. If something happened to Twilight all the other five elements would be useless. That’s their biggest weakness. If just one of the element users is taken out or is not awash in their respective aspect of themselves then they have no power. It’s all just a showcasing of weakness. You should know that. After all, you experienced it yourself when you fought him.”

Twilight looked down at the ground. “It is true that losing only one element makes the whole set useless, but that’s why we have friends: To stand up for each other and keep them safe. Discord only triumphed at the beginning because he brainwashed all of them. Otherwise they never would have given in to him.”

“Ah, but that’s all it takes, isn’t it? If there is a power greater than yours then you have to concede to the greater power. But what if there was no greater power than you, because all had the same power? That is the world I seek to create.”

Twilight glared at him again. “Coming back to that, what you’re proposing is still wrong. How is torturing ponies supposed to make them stronger?”

“Because it is only through trials and tribulations that one gains strength of mind and does not allow others to conquer them. What about the Windigo’s? They nearly destroyed your world because there was no one strong enough to beat them. The power of one strong being cannot be compared to a group of weaklings clustered together.”

“You keep saying the same sort of nonsense as your servant. I’m not going to ever accept what you’re proposing. You’re as good as mud on my hoof to me.”

He frowned at her, her eyes narrowing. “I see…”

Celestia tensed up as Shadow Blaze’s presence began increasing. Ducking behind her sister she cast a spell to talk telepathically to Twilight. “Twilight, even though we have the Elements now you would still do better not to provoke him. We do not know what he is capable of so try to continue to keep him talking for now.”

Shadow Blaze stood up. “Twilight Sparkle, like I told you before you do not understand the agony of true despair. That is why you cannot comprehend what I’m saying. On the other hoof, I have experienced it, and back in my time it was a successful measure. My friends and I found that out the hard way back in our infancy. Of course to a being like you that would be only a few years, but fpr a timeless being like myself it was a few hundred years.”

Twilight stood up too. “Why were you sealed in the Everfree Forest? And what is this 'true despair' you keep talking of, that makes you think what you’re doing is right?”

“You wish to know? I can tell you. Maybe that will help you to understand why this is a necessary measure. I really would rather have us all cooperate together than fight with you.” Closing his eyes he gazed back into his past. “A few thousand years ago we had a purpose.”

“We?”

“Yes. My friends and me. Before the Windigo’s, Discord, King Sombra, and the Changelings, there was a creature unlike anything we’d ever seen. There were four of us back then. Each of us embodied an element of nature, as well as one of the four seasons. Our sole responsibility was changing the seasons. We were properly immortal.

"As I said before, back then I was known as Inferno Blaze. I took care of the summer heat. My opposite number was Aqua Sapphire, who was like the most beautiful sparkling spring. And there was also Terra Rockslide, who embodied the hardness of the ground during Winter. And finally Tornado Breeze, who brought forth the fall when the air begins to grow cold.

“Of course you know well from your little Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant that back then the three races were split apart, but further even before that the three races had almost no interaction whatsoever. In that time we also took care of the rising of the sun and the moon. All the important things we were entrusted with.

"Though I do not know who it was, it feels like we were created for others, as I can still remember the strongest decree we were never to break. We were told to leave the pony world be except for our jobs. We were not to involve ourselves in the affairs of ponies, but only to watch out for each other. We all had fun and enjoyed ourselves, not needing anyone else or any sustenance to survive, playing without a care in the world. But… of course you well know that that can never last. Sooner or later something always comes up to ruin that happy, blissful time.

“A creature came into the world. How and why it came to be we never found out, but it had powers beyond anything this world had experienced at the time. It was little more than a living grudge just looking for something to vent its anger on. It could well have been a unicorn who gave themselves over to hate and immoral desires. Or it could have been something else entirely. At the time unicorn magic wasn’t anything special, since there were no books of spells to learn from.

“Ponies began being invaded by this creature and, one after another, villages were all but destroyed, the inhabitants nearly all killed. It did have at least a measure of intelligence. It seemed to allow some victims to run for sport, and chase after them as they fled, or to let them go to spread the word of its latest conquest.

For almost six months we were aware of this monster. But we had been ordered not to interfere in the affairs of ponies, and, thusly, we did nothing but continued our jobs. However, we were still troubled by all the slaughter. Our play time became less and less frequent, as we became awash in the pain of the ponies we were to look after. If things had kept going as they were, the entire pony world would have been destroyed, and thus we would no longer have any one to do our job for.

“When our hearts could no longer take it we made the choice to defeat this being. Trading our immortal, spiritual bodies we came down from our perch of perfection and adopted regular pony bodies so we could properly interact with the world. We were going to fight together, and defeat this creature together. At that time I was the weakest of the four, but I was also bold and cocky. I was sure I could do anything, so long as my friends were beside me.”

Twilight couldn’t see it yet. The way he was talking reminded her so much of how she felt about her own friends. What had happened that made him so angry and jaded?

“It took us one full day to arrive, tracing its magical energy. When we finally saw it for real it looked like nothing more than a shadowy giant of death. It was in the shape of a pony, and the size of a tree. We called out to it, each of us shooting at it with our magic. Our power caused it to cry out in pain, leaving four marks in its flesh. It turned to us then, determined to snuff out these beings who had finally stood up to it.

“The battle began, and we each did our best to take it down. However, though we had managed to damage it when we took it by surprise, it proved to be a lot more formidable with its guard up. We could barely cause more than glancing blows. Despite its size it was still quite fast, and its magic blasts encompassed a large range.

“For over two hours the four of us dodged, ducked, and avoided attacks, taking injuries here and there. It struck at me, knocking me to the ground. It fired one of its gigantic blasts at me, and I saw my life flash before my eyes. I couldn’t get out of the way in time. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see my end. The next thing I heard was a painful scream.”

Shadow Blaze groaned, a touch of despair creeping into his voice. “When I opened my eyes I saw Tornado Breeze in front of me, looking all but dead. She had taken the attack meant for me, and she was barely able to get out her goodbyes before she passed out of this world. By giving up her spiritual immortality she was dead for good. There was no coming back.

“In a fit of rage I charged the monster, dodging out of its newest attack, and blasted it with everything I had. I took out a good chuck of one its hooves with that, burning it off. I thought that it would be in too much pain to attack for a while, and I let my guard down so I could mourn for a short while. However, it was not nearly as fragile as I thought, and once again I had to be protected by one of my friends who took an attack for me. This time it was Terra Rockslide. He was lost that day as well.

“At that point I was beyond rage and hurt. Two friends had given up their lives for me, and we were no closer to killing it than we had been at the beginning. I felt so empty I sat there doing nothing, just waiting for it to finish me off. Aqua Sapphire got me out of danger, rushing away. She knew we couldn’t win. It didn’t want to let us go. Aqua Sapphire tried to block his last attack with a tree and a few houses, but it only diminished the force of the blow. She got hit as well.

“She was badly injured, but she wasn’t dead yet. Picking her up I desired only to save her. And just as another attack was about to hit me I invented the teleportation spell, getting us both out of there. We couldn’t return to our home anymore. Once we broke the rules we were no longer permitted to go back.

“We escaped to a village far away from the one that monster was attacking, and, with the help of a village of earth ponies, began nursing her back to health. However, I didn’t know how long that would take. I didn’t have the time to wait around for her to get all better. This being had to be stopped, at all costs. So I ran away.

“I traveled all around, training my mind and scouring what books there were on battle strategies and magic, the one or two that were around back then. I experimented, I learned, I raged, I hurt. I forged myself into a being of unmatched power, never wanting to let anything hurt those I cared for again. A whole year had passed by, and I felt I was finally ready.

I knew this time I was going to be all alone. I wasn’t about to let my last friend get killed in such a risky battle. When I met that thing again I didn’t play around. I took it by surprise like before, using the fullness and totality of my power. I was brutal. I used the strongest spells I had. I showed it no mercy. And this time there was a completely different outcome than before. When it tried shooting its magic at me I would open up portals to direct it back at itself. When it tried using its body to attack I would respond with my powerful flames, melting it. Who I was back then was nothing compared to what I had become. I saw that all it had going for it was its size and endurance. It, itself, was actually pretty straightforward.

“When I had weakened it to the point of death I continued onward. This creature had caused too many deaths, important ones to me and all the loved ones who had been lost in their own battles against it. I turned it into nothing more than a pile of mush. When I was done… I felt such a feeling of satisfaction. At the same time, I began feeling the loss of my friends once again…

“It took me some time, but I did manage to find Aqua Sapphire again. She was injured. Apparently shortly before I had gone after him she had tried to do the same. This time I helped her heal, glad she was still alive. I had been so afraid the whole time that she wasn’t going to still be there by the time I had grown strong enough to fight.

“After she had recovered we thanked the town and went on our way. We didn’t really know what to talk about. Things just didn’t feel right without our other two friends. We had been together so long that we didn’t know what to do without them.

“I began thinking about many things. What was going to happen the next time a being attacked? Could any of them handle it? We four had been special, gifted with far more magical energy than a regular unicorn could ever muster. But ponies had to be able to defend themselves.” Anger became prominent in his voice as he continued, “It had been theirR fault my friends were killed. If they hadn’t been so darn weak we would never have had to get involved.

"I saw that the answer I had in mind when I first went off to battle was worthless. Depending on my friends had not given us the ability to prevail. I had been so caught up in the thought of being protected that it made me reckless. It was only after I had gone off on my own and truly grew into my talents that I had been able to prevail myself against a monster the four of us together couldn’t beat.

“Aqua Sapphire saw my rage. She heard my words. She thought she knew better than me, but she hadn’t experienced what I had. She had only had to watch. I had been the one who had suffered that year, knowing that it had been my utter contemptible weakness that had caused us to lose, and them to die to protect me.

“She didn’t know. She didn’t understand. She kept trying to tell me to give up on these feelings of rage and responsibility. She told me that none of us had been able to win back then, so it was all equally our responsibility for failing. Every one of her words just made me angrier and angrier. How could she not understand what needed to be done? Ponies had to become stronger and deal with their own problems instead of just relying on the strong. I hadn’t understood that until the problem had been forced upon me and I had to learn it.

“As I looked at her I saw that she was no longer my true friend. She had been colored with weakness by staying with those regular ponies, the ones who were not special and privileged like us. The wickedness of that crime, of forcing two of us to die for their inability to save themselves from disaster, would be on their heads for the rest of their lives.

"I would not allow them to wallow in their weakness any more. I would show them what true strength was. I would show them all! Starting with her. I looked over at my former friend, and I knew it was time to wake her up from the fetters of the regular, and teach her the way I had been taught, so she too could grow strong. My horn began to glow for my new enemy…"