The Elements of Cacophony

"You understand how insane this idea is." Princess Celestia sighs, watching her handiwork slowly rise into the air. "Right?"

"Do not point a hoof at me. It was your student that simply mentioned that trapping it might be possible." Princess Luna replies, keeping her eyes affixed on the rising dawn as it cascades it's influence across the land.

"And it was your Detective that leaped upon the idea of being the first to test it. And that his disposable nature made him up to the task. Then he puffs his little chest out and holds his chin up high. I know he means well but you can't help but want to put some sort of leash on him."

"I do." Luna replies. "He does not get a single case unless he behaves. Appears to work."

"You really believe all the big talk Darkness gave before he set off?" Celestia asks, watching her sister for her reaction.

Luna lowers her gaze: "Enough. He has sense and strength. I have confidence in him."

"Funny." Celestia remarks, looking back on the sun. "You can only ever keep your poker face when you're playing the game itself. I think it's stupid not to be a little scared by this. It's such a colossal effort, it seems larger than it actually ought to be."

"They will keep him safe. Even if he succumbs." Luna states, Celestia's wing pulling her in close.

"We have the Elements of Harmony, Princess Twilight Sparkle and the most insane warriors that could be summoned led by a fox that cannot be killed. If it doesn't run, it'll back down in sheer terror." Celestia said. "I can't see this failing."

<~|~>

[size=+2]~| The Elements of Cacophony |~[/size]
A Story of How Pure Evil is Retooled for Good

<~|~>​

As they waited for the help to arrive, two baby dragons continue to argue.

In one corner, Spike, the Assistant to the newly appointed Princess Twilight. In the other, Sulphelious, or just Sulphy to his friends, the Aid(or Royal Babysitter, as he would put it) to Tyro of the Moonlit Agency.

They were discussing their recent escapades.

The current swing was with Spike: "Twilight and the gang took on an entire gang of Changeling in the middle of an invasion! She was firing off magic blasts all over the place!" This was illustrated with little noises as Spike mimed how Pinkie turned Twilight into a Gatling gun.

Sulphy was unimpressed: "Eh...My guys took down an Alicorn armed with Bottled Lightning. This mad mare could level a castle in a second with just one blast of this contraption her daddy built and could still have enough to blast holes in a mountain side. Foxyloxy takes the whole blast while Bouncy and Stretchy come from both sides."

Sulphy smirks, egging Spike to try harder.

"Uuuhh...We all went inside a comic book and stopped The Mane-iac just as she was going to release her ultimate weapon! All thanks to me!" Spike licks his tongue, marking one up for himself in the air proudly.

"We brought The Soul Thief to justice after she imprisoned each of the others' souls in crystals where I had to summon them like demons and use them against her." Sulphy said, straightening himself up and marking up his own imaginary point opposite Spike's.

"Yeah...Yeah, well...Me and Twilight went to an alternate world where I was a dog and she was this two legged thing and we all fought a demonic former student of Celestia with a different set of friends! And I was a dog!"

Sulphy checks his claws for a moment: "Library of Life." He said. "A place full of books writing down what everypony is saying and doing at all times. Plus, a life-switching machine. Which was used on me and I became a Great and Powerful Magician!"

Spike huffs and turns his back, staggering over to a rock and sits on a rock to sulk.

"Least we...uh..."

Sulphy turns, puffing up his chest: "What? Are you looking to start something? I would chew you out so fast, y'little pip-" And that was all that was said before Sulphy was engulfed in jelly, now floating within a large blob of it with eyes. And a face emerging out of the clear, minty green form to look down on Spike.

"Sorry! If he's not complaining, he's bragging. And if he's not bragging, he's sleeping. And if he's not sleeping, he's complaining. Sort of a cycle of bad leading to worse!" The Gelatinous Pony said, trying a warm smile for the little dragon. Her voice was like a mother trying to make an apology for her son sound like a stand up routine. A sort of enforced jolliness that wasn't fooling anypony.

A Zebra arrives at the Jelly mare's side, his cornrows meeting his furrowed brow, looking to the rising horizon.

"They should be here by now." He looks to Spike and the Jelly Pony. "After raiding Canterlot for spare armour plates and rolling pins, I hope they're ready for what awaits them."

Spike looks up at the Zebra: "Gust, why aren't you and Gel with Tyro?"

Gust the Zebra chuckles with a hollowness that was rank with the amount of time it took to convince himself of his next statement: "There's few things I couldn't avoid. I'd be stupid to push my luck in there with that thing. Certain defeat and possibly death has never been so final as it is in that castle. The Fox can always come back, I and Gel can't."

Gust looks back towards the road ahead of them. They should have arrived by now.

[Here's where you come in.]

 

(Bugger...Forgot to set up the location. So much for writing at Celestia-Knows-When o'clock.)

The approach of Blade Runner was a disquieting presence on the group assembled just before the castle, a quiet area in the Everfree Forest that lead to the bridge to the ruins. The looming remains hang over them all. The Jelly Pony slinks in behind Gust, Sulphy sulking within his semi-liquid prison. The zebra remains tall, watching Blade mainly, barely paying attention to Darkness or Nova. It seemed more to ensure the 'Beserker' didn't try anything.
,
"You..." Gust starts but glances from Blade to Darkness and Nova, apparently a little surprised. Possibly disappointed. "Three, are the help? I don't quite see it entirely. Is the plan to throw in the already corrupted and insane?"

He steps around Blade, already aware he'd be well armed from previous encounters. While the zebra was one of the fastest and agile things on four hooves, he could only ever just keep out of the way of the weapon Blade wielded. Well, by 'wield', he would describe as unleash and hold onto for dear life as it carved through anything around it.

Gust approaches Darkness, curious on what he was wearing here. He knocks a hoof against the magic shield and pieces of armour as he circles the pony, scrutinizing everything. He soon stands up, nodding to Darkness.

"Mm...Sir, I would recommend staying near Blade Runner. If it get's past his swordsponyship, there will be very little left. But a cautious distance." Gust informs Darky, giving a low bow before moving to Nova.

"And what, are you doing?" Gust descends on the Bat Pony, looking him up and down. He didn't question why he was here; he expected this. Tyro probably insisted on strange allies, it's why he worked with the bizarre Gel. Or even himself. So, a bat pony wasn't out side of the norm.

However...

"Where is your armour?" Gust asks, patiences beginning to take strain. "Could you not find any at Canterlot? Even coming in a saucepan and a colander would have been better than nothing."

He turns his head away: "Spike! Tell them the reinforcements have arrived. Blade, Sir: you may go. Just follow the path to the Castle."

There was a quick burst of flame into the air as Spike sent the message across the air as Gust sighs...

"There are old suits of armour in the castle itself." Gust said, glaring at Nova. "Go and pick up something to defend yourself. If you value anything, you'll heed me."

The points to Blade and Darkness: "Go."

~ | ~​

The ruins of the former palace, overgrown and largely quiet loomed above them in the morning sun. The moss grew over almost every surface, the plants latticing across the walls, almost submerging the cold stone out of sight. The only colour that stood out was Tyro, beaming in excitement.

In fact, he was bouncing on his paws, giggling to himself. He ushers the three of them inside, his toothy grin wide.

"Guys! Hi! You'll never guess! We caught some of it!" He cries. "It can be caught! We can actually trap it! This could work!"

 

"Oh Bladey!" Tyro said, walking straight up to Blade Runner. "We're in the Everfree Forest. The only one's stupid enough to be here are us!" He smirks.

"So relax! Anyway! I got stuff to show you. Try and chisel a little levity out of somewhere, you might need it."

And then a flash of light. Just as Tyro was about to lead the group inside, the whole proceedings simply come to a complete halt as some striped body jumps around and looks at everyone in search of Tyro.

Even after he put up his paw when she asked, she continued to wonder around, apparently not seeing it until, by the power of deduction, she came to the right individual.

"Hey Tyro!" She said. "Bet you can't jump higher than me!"

"Uhh...I don't care but I betcha never seen a horrible manifestation of fear, greed, and other nasty emotions all feeding of the ill-will of a squirrel!" He said, slipping around Azure particularly quickly and trotting inside, ushering the other to follow.

~ | ~​

The outlier here is Nova. The batpony's excursion from the group as he surveys the ruins of the former Palace to the Princesses. The shadows were long in the tree obscured sun, giving many patches of bright morning light but many shades among that.

The dust and debris was still here, a few pieces of armour are still standing while they sit, collecting bird droppings and leaves. The once ornate windows are in disrepair, their images shattered.

All round the batpony, the atmosphere was bitingly anxious. You could feel something here, but more as a superstition than a solid sensation.

That's when he heard it: "Fighting rumours must be pretty hard for you..."

~ | ~​

Tyro took the group to a small library. The books were either gone to other libraries or simply too broken to worry about. The castle was somewhat cleared out after the last excursion here.

In the middle of the room, sitting in the shaded and gloomy corner, was a strange jar. Said jar, contained a tiny, smoky form of a rodent of some kind. The eyes and barely formed body were a strange oddity to watch.

And it seemed to be watching Darkness rather intently, even pressed up against the screen. Even while Tyro approaches it.

"Equestria practically runs on Emotional Energy. It powers most spells as most Unicorns seem to use it as an extension of will rather than some arcane energy from the environment or stones or whatever. At least, usually. The Elements of Harmony are the most powerful forms of this Emotional Magic but even they're damn near unpredictable. They can free Princess Luna, turn Discord to stone and a whole bunch of stuff. Which brings me on to this little chap."

He points down to the...'squirrel'.

"An almost exact opposite polarity to the Elements of Harmony. This thing is living contempt. And, just as Emotions will shift and alter, this thing has no solid form. According to record, it would need something to latch onto to do so. It is a parasite we have some here to destroy. And as soon as Jackpot is back with a few essentials, we can see about trying to contain it."

He approaches the group.

"Make sense?"

 

Tyro watches her, a little amused at the pony's overjoyed reaction. He was growing a little glad he'd asked her to come.

Out of the rather tiny number of applicants, you understand.

"Really? Neat! How about the rest of you? I know Darky over there has had a few run ins with dark powers but I've never known Bladey here to be the academic type." Although, he had a feeling The Samauri would likely prove him wrong. Blade seemed to like being so insular, you couldn't judge his skills. It made him slightly annoying.

Darkness seemed OK, despite being right within the very presence of the black squirrel. Perhaps he was learning to hold it together...