My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro, The Hub and of course Lauren Faust who seems to have gone out of her way to make a show about pastel colored ponies with names like "Twilight Sparkle" completely awesome. This story is just for fun and no profit shall be made so please above mentioned people don't sue me. You're not gonna get much. Any OCs that pop up in this fic belong to me and can be used with permission. Please don't steal from me. Now with that out of the way, on with the show.

The Elements of Discord

Chapter 1: Prelude to the Dark

It was a bright, sunny day in Ponyville. The Pegasus ponies were doing an excellent job at keeping the clouds away so that everypony could enjoy the warm sun and feel the need to get out and do something. A fact not lost on Twilight Sparkle who had decided to hold off on her studies for the day and see what her friends were up to. Of course even then she was sure she was bound to learn something. She always seemed to when she was around them anyway. At the very least it might make for an interesting report to Princess Celestia. But that could wait for later, right now she was actually more interested in just having fun.

Unfortunately, those plans were put on hold when she noticed a large crowd of ponies gathering in the town square. Try as she might, she just couldn't help but be overcome with curiosity and so she slowly made her way over to the crowd. She was a bit surprised, but delighted to see that her friends were there as well and she slowly made her way through the crowd towards them.

"Hey girls, what's going on?" she asked.

"Something right peculiar," Applejack informed her.

Twilight looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"That guy!" Rainbow Dash spoke up, pointing a hoof at whatever it was.

Twilight finally turned her attention towards the object the rest of the crowd seemed so fascinated by and saw pony several feet away from them repeatedly stamping his right hoof on the ground. She studied him carefully, trying to remember if she had seen him before. He had a charcoal colored coat and his mane and tail were a bright blonde color. His Cutie Mark seemed to be an eye with five stars surrounding it. As she continued to study him, she realized that his tapping wasn't just random and actually seemed to be some sort of four tone rhythm. She wasn't sure if it was a song or not but there did seemed to be something almost...hypnotic about it. Aside from that though she really couldn't see what the big deal was. He was just standing there tapping and staring up at the sky. Yet everyone was making a big deal about it. This led her to only one conclusion:

She was still confused.

"Sooo...why's everyone staring at him again?" she asked.

"Because he just came into the middle of town and started up that dreadful tapping for no reason," Rarity informed her.

"So? Pinkie breaks out into songs all the time," Twilight remarked.

"I do?" Pinkie Pie screeched in horror before she calmed down and smiled brightly. "Oh yeah, I do! It's fun! You guys should join me sometime!"

"Not gonna happen," Rainbow Dash shook her head then looked at Twilight again. "But the weird part isn't that he started doing that. It's that he's been doing for twenty minutes."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that is a bit unusual but it's not really worth a bit crowd like this, is it?"

"It is when he's muttering all sorts of weird things under his breath," Applejack spoke up.

"What kind of weird things?"

"Awful things! Horrible things! I bet he's putting a curse in all us right now!" Pinkie Pie shouted, flailing about dramatically. "Why I bet tomorrow we could wake up tomorrow with no heads!"

Despite Pinkie's reputation for over exaggeration, this announcement caused some of the more skittish ponies in the crowd to gasp and jump back in horror. Mostly notably, of course, Fluttershy who quickly ducked down and covered her head with her hooves as she trembled a bit.

"I don't want to loose my head," she said in her usual whisper like tone.

Twilight rolled her eyes with a sigh. "No one's losing their heads Fluttershy," she comforted her.

"They're not?" the Pegasus asked hopefully, lifting her head a bit.

"No, they're not," the purple unicorn repeated as she looked over at Pinkie Pie. "And this is exactly the kind of thing that happened when Zecora first came around. You remember how she ended up not being a witch and cursing people, right?"

Pinkie's face scrunched up and she placed a hoof on her chin as she seemed to be thinking back to the event. Eventually a bright smile crossed her face and she nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh yeah! That was fun!" she said but her expression quickly darkened again as she moved closer to Twilight. "But this guy's much scarier and weirder than her! I tell ya, he's cursing us all right now!"

Twilight let out a frustrated groan before she turned to address the crowd as a whole.

"Have any of you actually tried talking to him?" she asked.

A round of embarrassed and shameful looks washed over the crowd at this statement as they all fidgeted nervously.

"Well..." Applejack started, rubbing her right off over her left one.

"That is to say..." Rarity also mumbled.

"Ya see..." Rainbow Dash tried to come up with an appropriate answer.

"Um..." Fluttershy squeaked.

"Is rock candy rocks or candy?" Pinkie Pie asked, completely oblivious to the situation.

"Fine, I'll do it," Twilight muttered with another shake of her head before she turned and stared over to him. She stopped in only a few seconds then looked back over her shoulder at her friends. "Does anyone know what his name is?"

"Ah think it's Star Gazer," Applejack offered.

"Right," she nodded then continued over to him cautiously. "Um, hello? Mr. Star Gazer? We were all wondering what you're doing out here."

"Can't you hear them?" he asked cryptically as he continued to tap his hoof and stare up at the sky.

Twilight's ears twitched a bit as she looked up at the sky as well. "Hear what?"

"The drums. The endless drums. I've been hearing them for awhile now. Always drumming. Drumming. Drumming," he seemingly rambled, his tapping getting faster and more intense. "Always coming closer."

Now Twilight was beginning to see why no one approached him. In fact she found herself slowly inching away from him even as she asked her next question.

"Um...drums? What...drums?"

"The endless drumming over war," he revealed, his eyes narrowing. "Growing closer and closer each day."

"Well. That's...um...something...interesting," she pandered, trying to sound interested and upbeat while she continued to back away. "Well it certainly seems you're busy listening to those drums so I'll just...be over there now."

"Beware Twilight Sparkle," Star Gazer warned, finally stopping his tapping and turning his head towards her.

Of course the use of her name caught her attention and stopped her dead in her tracks.

"I'm sorry, have we met before?" she asked, a strange prickling sensation in the back of her neck.

"She is coming back!" was all he offered before he looked back up at the sky and resumed his tapping.

Now more confused than ever, and just a little freaked out, Twilight's slow steps turned into a full blown sprint as she made her way back over to the crowd, and more importantly her friends.

"So what did he say?" Rarity asked anxiously.

"He cursed you, didn't he? DIDN'T HE?" Pinkie screamed, shoving her face into her friend's.

Twilight reeled back a bit from the close encounter before she slowly shook her head and looked back over her shoulder at Star Gazer again.

"I'm...not really sure what he said," she confessed.

"Maybe it's for the best that we forget about and go about our day," Applejack suggested. "I could use some help on the farm ya'll are interested."

"Actually Fluttershy and I are horribly late for our weekly spa treatments," Rarity said as she helped the timid Pegasus up and they started to walk off. "Oh I do hope they keep our spots open. And really Fluttershy I wish you'd try the full body kelp wrap, it's quite invigorating."

"I don't know," Fluttershy said unsurely. "I don't like the idea of being confined like that."

"Oh you'll have nothing to worry, I promise. And it'll do wonders for your coat. It'll help bring out it's natural shine."

"Is there something wrong with my coat?" the pink haired pony asked, taking a look at herself.

"No, no nothing wrong per say but it could look fabulous with the right treatment," Rarity assured her.

"I don't know..."

The conversation continued to go back and fourth as the two walked away.

"Well that will keep them busy for most of the afternoon," Applejack noted then turned to the rest of her friends. "So how about you three? You want to help?"

"Sure I'll help," Rainbow Dash offered, then smirked deviously. "In fact, I bet I could knock down more apples than you can today."

"Oh you are on hombre!" the Earth pony declared before the two of them ran off towards the apple orchard.

"Hey wait for me!" Pinkie Pie called out as she bounced along behind them.

Following the four's lead, the other ponies in the crowd slowly started to disperse and after a few short minutes Twilight was left all alone. Well alone in the fact that she was the only one who stayed behind to watch Star Gazer a little while longer. Soon enough even she started to walk away but not without shooting him a few confused and worried glances. What was he talking about? Who was "she"? And why couldn't she shake this nagging sensation that something very, very bad was about to happen very, very soon?

( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Deep within the Everfree Forest took the decayed remains of a castle who's original purpose was lost to the annals of time. It stood now as a foreboding place that seemed to personify all that was wrong and twisted about the forest itself. As if it was the forest's dark heart, slowly beating and breathing unnatural, evil life not every twisted tree and vine that chocked the ground. And deep within the castle's depths stood something else long forgotten.

A lone unicorn statue stood in the middle of a dark room tucked away in the corner of the lowest level of the castle. Although it appeared just as old as the castle itself, it was still flawless and in immaculate shape. In fact, it seemed even the vines and mold respected it's beauty and grew around it but not on it. Perhaps it wasn't respect though, but fear. Fear that this unnatural statue was more than just a piece of art and that the slightest touch might awaken something quite dark.

Those fears would be baseless though, as something quite dark was already awake from within the statue. In fact, it had been awake for a very, very long time.

It's so quiet in the darkness. How long have I been here? A year? A century? Longer? How long do they think this spell can hold me? Not long enough. I've felt it growing weaker and weaker with each passing...whatever. But as it grows weaker, I grow stronger. My powers are returning, slowly but surely. If I concentrate maybe I can...

The silence of the darkness went undisturbed as it had for a thousand years. But then...a small flicker a occurred. It would have been barely noticeable to anypony who was around but it was still there. Faint and quick. But still there. And had anypony been around they might have noticed just a small chip fall off the tip of the statue's horn. A chip and a crack that followed in it's wake. A little crack, certainly nothing that should have been that damaging to the statue as a whole. But even the littlest things can lead to big problems.

It's working! I can feel it! Soon I'll be free! Then I can finally help my Empresses once again! I can hear her calling out to me. She needs my help. She demands my help! I'm coming for you Empresses! Soon I'll be free of this pathetic spell and then I'll come to free you and help you take your rightful place as ruler of Equestria!

The crack continued to travel down the horn and spread over the rest of the statue at an incredible pace. Soon the once flawless piece of granite was covered in cracks as chips started to rain down onto the gobble stone floor below. It's eyes burst open in a flash of purple, revealing two dark, real eyes beneath it's rocky exterior.

I. Will. Be.

"FREE!" a dominating scream pierced the dark corridors of the castle as the remaining pieces of granite exploded off the pony's body.

A burst of energy the formally incase unicorn stood completely revealed. She had a deep, midnight blue coat offset by a long, silver mane and matching tail. Her eyes were a dark purple and filled with hatred and contempt for not only the ponies who had imprisoned her originally, but for any one foolish enough to try to put her back. Her Cutie Mark, if it could so be called that, was a storm cloud that was as black as the heart that beat within her chest. She took a few deep breaths so that she could get reacquainted with it after all this time and walked unsurely forwards, stumbling not only from the darkness but from the lack movement.

Those things didn't matter though. They were mere trivialities. The important thing was that after all that time she was finally-

"Free!" she shouted again joyfully. "Free to show those arrogant ponies who they true ruler of this land should be! I hope whatever day this is, it is a sunny one. For all too soon Dark Sky will fall upon them all!"

She reared her head back and laughed manically, the beginnings of her plan already starting to weave their way through her magnificently malicious brain. And woe be it to anypony who dared to try and stop her.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: I honestly never thought I'd see the day when I started writing My Little Pony fanfiction. Really I didn't see that coming at all! But dammit if the new show isn't just that damn good that it got into my head and made want to write something for it. Course the origin of this story is actually a bit more complex than that.

First of all you can all blame my friend Zearth for brow beating me until I finally looked up all the eps on YouTube and watched them. That's what got me hooked on the show. Well that and like I said above it's just really good. But what got this story in particular started was a vanity license plate of all things. As I was going out to get some food one night I saw a plate that read "Dark Sky" and thought that would just make a great villain name. I immediately thought it would make a great evil pony name, but I tried to push that aside as I already have way too many fics to go through already without adding another one.

But then I made the mistake of telling Zearth about it and he agreed it'd make a good evil pony name and before I knew it we were plotting out a pretty big story that would actually bring the ponies back to their magical girl parody roots from the pilot ep. At first I tried to pass it off as just talk and sharing ideas as we are wont to do, but then my muse got a hold of the idea and played out the two scenes above in my head. Again I tried to ignore her, but once my muse gets a hold of an idea she likes she screams at me to get it done and won't even try to work with me on anything else.

So if nothing more than to just get it out of my head I had to write this chapter. I know it's not a very long one but it's honestly not meant to be. It's set up a teaser chapter for the much bigger story to come. Think of it was the pre-credits seen on the show. Course I'm still working out the details on everything so I'm not quite sure how often I'll be updating. A lot of the pieces are there I just gotta make them fit and find the missing ones. So it might take awhile.

Though I can say right now I won't get into the main body of this thing without finishing my Teen Titans fic first and that should be done soon hopefully. Then I'll try to work more on these one while also doing what I can in the other four universes I'm writing fics in.

Oy. I really need to just gag my muse as some point so I can get some peace and quite. Or at least just focus on one thing at a time. But for now I hope you'll all enjoy my slow slip into insanity.

BTW, who here guessed what I homaging with the Star Gazer scene? Should be easy I made it pretty damn blatant. But it was still fun to do.

All right. See you next time guys. Whenever that will be.