I stood atop a cliff, watching the two massive armies fight. On the side nearest me, there was a group of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of human soldiers, fighting against a nearly powerless army of ponies. I frowned at the sight; what had gone wrong? My friends had shown they were quite capable of wielding the Elements of Harmony when they received them so long ago, but as the years went by, they seemed to develop a thirst for the power the five stones held. They went to Earth and returned to Equestria some time later, each with an army of their own to try and bring down the mighty Equestrian Empire and take the country for humanity.

I was not about to let that happen without a fight; they may have been my friends, but I had an oath to fulfil.

I heard a branch crack behind me, and dove out of the way just as Saevus leaped forward in an attempt to impale me on his blades. His eyes may have been unseeable due to his mask, I could clearly see that his teeth were bared in rage.
“Traitor!” he hissed, his voice heavily distorted by the power coursing through him. I narrowed my eyes.
“How dare you call me a traitor!” I said, brandishing my sword. “You turned your back on your friends! You turned your back on Equestria! You gave up the right to be called the Element of Honesty!” I shouted.
Saevus smiled. “If deception is what it takes to gain power, then so be it!” he screamed, and charged at me. I stopped his charge by holding my sword out in front of me, and quickly pushed him aside.

“Does everything we’ve been through mean nothing to you?” I asked angrily “We had an oath to King Cosmos: bring harmony to Equestria and her peoples, and uphold justice! Instead, you and the others have brought nothing but death and destruction!”
Saevus pulled off his mask, and revealed his face. It was badly scarred, as if he had been in a fire, and he no longer had any hair. His irises glowed a bright orange, just as they had since the day I gave him his Element, and they looked full of pain.

“I know what I have caused,” he said sadly, “but the Elements of Harmony showed us more power than we could have ever hoped for. You would have done the same in our position!” he accused, pointing a blade at my chest.
I nodded sadly. “You may be right, Saevus,” I said quietly. “I am only human, after all. But I still have goodness in my heart, just as you do.” As I said this, I dropped my sword and slowly stepped over to my old friend’s side. “I know who you are, Saevus. You are not a power-hungry monster; you are a good person, and a loyal friend. If you help me, we can restore order to Equestria, and try this all again! Our races can still live together in harmony,” I begged.

Saevus stared at me, unblinking as I approached. “You’re right,” he admitted, “there is still a chance for harmony to exist between Earth and Equestria.”

I sighed with relief at his words.

“But I’m not the one to bring it.”

Just then, he released his grip on his blades, causing them to fall and bury their tips in the dirt, and he broke into a wild sprint for the cliff.

“SAEVUS, NO!”

I jogged over to the edge and looked down, gasping at the sight of my friend’s mangled body on the ground far below. I was able to clear his mind of his selfish desires, but all it had done was show him the monster he had become.

I stared sadly for a long time, before suddenly snapping to my senses. “I have to get to Canterlot,” I whispered. “Cosmos may know what to do.”

Saevus was not the first of my friends to find me. Before him, Aequani, Ludus, and Liberalis had all sought for me, hoping to earn my favor and recruit me. When I refused, they attacked me in their outrage, and I was forced to slay them. Liberalis had fought me in the forest where we dueled atop the trees, and when she lost her footing she was devoured by a pack of Timberwolves waiting on the ground below. Ludus confronted me in his armory, and fought me with all sorts of weapons. He died painfully, still struggling to get one last blow as he crawled towards me with various weapons protruding from his badly beaten form. Aequani, however, was the hardest to watch; we had battled in a narrow canyon, and a rockfall had buried her alive. I was able to dig her out, but she died in my arms, tearfully apologizing for what she had done.

Now, Saevus was dead, and the last of the Elements of Harmony lay with Magnus. As each of my friends fell, I had taken their respective Element in hope that uniting them would stop this senseless war. I pried the Element of Honesty from its resting place on Saevus’s blade and stuck it in a ragged backpack I wore.

Four down, I thought bitterly, one to go.

I found myself at Canterlot a few days later, and was shocked to find the city under seige.
“If Canterlot falls,” I murmured, horrified, “then Equestria will have no rulers to guide its people!”
Using my advantage of being human, I snuck past the battalions of soldiers that circled the city, barraging the magical force field with catapults and arrowfire. Using the Elements I possessed, I was able to bypass the magical barrier that prevented the other humans’ entry, and ran to the castle.

When I reaced the throne room, the sight that awaited me left me stunned. King Cosmos lay on the ground before his throne, while Queen Galaxia sat in the corner, watching helplessly. I looked up to see Magnus standing before the golden throne, laughing mockingly at the fallen king.

“You ponies think you are so much more powerful than humans,” he taunted, “but my army surrounds your city, getting closer to breaking your last line of defense with every passing moment. Who is the weak one now, Cosmos?” he asked maliciously as he pulled his massive sword over his head.

“MAGNUS!” I bellowed from the doorway, and my friend looked over and brought his blade to his side.
“Argentum, my old friend!” he cried, rushing over to greet me. “It’s so good to see you! How have you been?” he asked, overjoyed.
I stared at him, my face blank. “I have been well,” I said in a low voice.
Sanguis patted me heartily on the shoulder. “That’s good to hear! Tell me, however did you get in?”
“The Elements of Harmony allowed me to pass through the shield harmlessly,” I replied.

Magnus raised an eyebrow. “Elements of Harmony? However did you get those? To my knowledge, only our old friends possessed them. How are they, by the way?” he inquired.

“Aequani lies dead in a canyon. Ludus died by his own arsenal of weapons. Liberalis was devoured by a pack of Timberwolves. Saevus threw himself off of a cliff.”

Sanguis’s joyful expression faded. “What? Who killed them?” he demanded.

I looked deep into his light-blue irises. “I did,” I whispered.

Magnus stared for a long time, before screaming and throwing me against the wall. “You traitor!” he shouted, pulling me away from the wall and slamming me into the floor. “You would side with these disgusting horses than your own friends?! They trusted you! They loved you! And you repaid them with death!” With each accusation he hurled, he slammed a fist into my face, which was luckily unarmored at the moment. By the end of his rant, my nose had been broken, my left eye swollen and bruised, and my right cheek bleeding profusely. Sanguis pulled out a dagger and pressed it against my throat, breathing hard as he struggled to force himself to end me, before his shoulders suddenly fell, and he let the blade fall to the floor.

“...why?” he asked helplessly. “Why would you turn your back on us?”

I looked up at him with my one good eye. “Because you were supposed to lead humanity into an age of peace and prosperity,” I said in a choked voice.
Magnus looked me in the eyes sadly. “That’s what I’m doing!” he moaned. “Humanity will be more powerful than ever once we possess the magic of this world! There will never be any need for war ever again! There will only be peace…”

“And what of the ponies?” I asked angrily. “Will they die so we can further our own progress? Genocide is never worth power, Magnus. It only ends in sadness and death.”

Magnus stared at the floor for a few moments, before suddenly growling and pinning me against the wall. “You would betray your own people for these… these… horses?” he hissed. “It is only because of what we have been through that I don’t kill you right now for your actions!” he let me fall to the floor and stepped away, snapping his fingers as a portal opened up behind him. “I will order my army to retreat on this day,” he said clearly, “but I will return. And next time, nothing that opposes me, whether it be pony or human, will survive.”

And with that threat, he was gone.

Galaxia ran to Cosmos’s side, who was quickly regaining strength and staring at me angrily. “I trusted you,” he growled, “I trusted you and your people with the most powerful relics our kind possessed, and you turned them against us! Galaxia, tell Starswirl to activate the pillars! We have been merciful for far too long,” he said bitterly.

I widened my eyes. “Cosmos, please!” I begged as I struggled to stand, “if you summon the Guardians to fight, you will be doing no different to them than what the humans are doing to you!”
Cosmos glared at me. “So? You’re people attacked us unprovoked. This is merely a countermeasure. I will not allow my descendants to live in a world ravaged by a war you caused; this ends tonight!”
I stood, using my sword as a crutch. “Please, Cosmos, grant me one request before you activate the pillars,” I pleaded. “Let me fight Sanguis. If he falls, the Elements of Harmony will be under Equestrian control once again, and my people will be forced to leave. Our worlds will be separated once again, and we can forget any of this ever happened.”

Cosmos stared at me, his gaze slowly softening. “Fine,” he said quietly. “You have one week to find Sanguis and kill him. If the humans have not left Equestria by then, I will have no choice but to let the Guardians annihilate any remaining soldiers,” he said with a hint of regret. “This war will fade from memory, and we will both ensure neither of our races, human and pony alike, can recall what has happened.”
I nodded respectfully. “It will be done,” I said simply. “I will not be able to defeat Sanguis on my own; I must ask Starswirl for some kind of weapon to aid my endeavours,” I said slowly.

Cosmos nodded. “You have my blessing,” he said. “Speak with Starswirl, and leave my city. It is nothing personal; I don’t want my people to be panicked by the sight of a human.”

A small voice sounded from the enterance. “Daddy? What’s going on?”

I looked behind me and saw a small, white alicorn with a pink mane trotting carefully into the throne room. She looked around curiously at the destroyed windows and statues. “Are you redecorating?”
Cosmos laughed slightly. “Yes, Tia; I wanted it to be a surprise for you and your little sister.” I saw the alicorn was carrying a much smaller blue sibling on her back. She looked around and cooed happily, and I couldn’t help but smile warmly.

“Daddy, who is this?” she suddenly asked fearfully, having seen me standing off to the side.
Cosmos looked at me solemnly. “This is an old friend of mine,” he said, trying to sound friendly for his daughters. “He was just leaving us to take care of an errand he promised me. Take Luna back to your room, and your mother and I will be there shortly.”

The young pony nodded and trotted back to the hall as Cosmos glared at me. “I am sorry, but you cannot be here any longer. Speak to Starswirl if you must, but I’m afraid I cannot allow your presence in Canterlot to persist. I am not asking you this as a king, but as a friend: please, leave my people alone,” he asked simply.

I nodded slowly. “I will speak to Starswirl, and then you will never hear from me again.” I said sadly, and left the throne room without another word.

“Hey, mister!” a small voice called from behind me. I turned to see Cosmos’s daughters running to catch up with me. “Where are you going?” the older white pony asked.
I smiled warmly, which was hard with my injured face. “I have to go speak with Starswirl the Bearded, and then I need to leave,” I explained.
She stared at me in awe. “You’re going to go see Starswirl? You must be important,” she said, surprised. “Here, I’ll show you the way to his laboratory!” she offered, and ran ahead of me.

“No, that’s not…” I started to protest, but shrugged when it was clear she wouldn’t listen, and I followed her to the old wizard’s lab.