Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was faced with a problem. There was a new threat against Equestria, a stronger one than they had had in centuries. For fear of the Elements of Harmony, enemies had stayed away from this kingdom for a very long time.
But now that was changing. Cadence was now completely in charge of all of Equestria- her aunts Luna and Celestia had finally passed away a few decades back. Cadence's husband, Shining Armor had passed on as well, and so had his sister, Twilight Sparkle, and the other five Elements. Cadence had tried to keep in touch with Twilight's son, Quill Pen, and his descendants, but they had lost contact at some point along the way.
Mind you, the princess wasn't alone. She had her daughter, Princess Starburst, and there were new bearers of the Elements of Harmony- or at least, there were supposed to be.
Cadence sighed. Even now she could remember what happened whenever she went to see how the fillies were doing. It never went well.
"Moondust! You're supposed to be generous! Why can't you ever share?" That was Sunshine, the supposed Element of Laughter.
"Stop complaining! It's my hairbrush! River Song lost the last one I let any of you borrow!" Moondust, the Element of Generosity.
"Did not!" That was River Song, the Element of Honesty.
"Yes you did, you liar! You told me, remember?" The Element of Loyalty, Little Flower.
"I think you all should shut up!" Rhapsody, Element of Kindness would add.
The fight would escalate into something worse and worse, with the five little ponies bickering growing louder and louder. Throughout all of this, Dew Dazzle, the Element of Magic, would be off humming to herself in the corner, ignoring the entire existence of the others, as she did every second of every day.
Last time it had taken Cadence nearly an hour to calm them down, at which point River Song and Moondust both had injured wings, Rhapsody had a large bruise on her side from Sunshine's horn, and Little Flower had practically been trampled.
Cadence sighed again, remembering. These six little fillies were direct descendants of Princesses Luna and Celestia, the ponies she had looked up to her entire life. How could they have turned out so rotten?
She was very worried. The Elements of Harmony required friendship to work, and so far they had shown no sign of it. With the new threat towards Equestria, the Elements were needed more than ever.
Cadence sighed once more, than called for one of the palace guards, asking him to fetch the Element bearers from wherever they were- the infirmary, their tower, halfway across the kingdom- and bring them to her no matter what condition they were in or how much they protested.
It took him half an hour, but the guard finally managed to pile all six fillies into Cadence's chambers.
The princess could immediately see a fight about to start, and as they clearly still hadn't healed from the last one, she quickly moved to end it as soon as it started.
"ENOUGH!" she bellowed, and was met with the stunned gaze of six little fillies.
There was a long silence, during which Cadence looked closely from face to face, reflecting. They didn't look much of anything like the Elements she was used to. It was strange.
"You are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. It is a great power and thus, a great responsibility. It is the duty of you six to protect Equestria from danger." She paused.
"We know that already," Rhapsody mumbled, rolling her eyes. Cadence studied the new Element of Kindness. She was a light blue earth pony with a scruffy lavender mane- nothing at all like Fluttershy had been. And she was so cruel! Rhapsody's musical talent was wonderful, but she was a huge bully.
"Do you know, Rhapsody? Then you must also know that to harness the power of the Elements, you must have a true bond of friendship."
"We do," River Song said bluntly, looking her right in the eye. Cadence frowned. River's blatant lies were far different from what she'd expect from bearer of the Element of Honesty. In fact, Cadence found it impossible to see anything like Applejack in the green, pink-maned filly in front of her.
"Do you now?" Cadence replied skeptically. "I believe it was River Song who broke Moondust's wing? And Sunshine who injured Rhapsody's flank?"
"I don't really understand, Princess," Dew Dazzle piped up sweetly. "I think we have a beautiful friendship." The little white unicorn, with her blue striped mane looked painfully similar to Shining Armor. She wasn't anything like him, or like Twilight Sparkle. Dazzle was absolutely adorable, the most innocent looking little filly you'd ever meet, and she knew it. Cadence recognized the signs that she was being played- Dazzle's eyes widened slightly, she tilted her head the tiniest bit to the side and pitched her voice up just a smidge.
"Nice try Dazzle," Cadence replied dryly. "I know your friendship desperately leaves something to be desired. I'm not going to beat around the bush here, girls. A threat has been made against Canterlot and possibly all of Equestria. If you can't put aside your differences and learn to use the Elements together, I will be forced to find new harmony bearers to take your place."
There was a long silence, then-
"Do you really mean that?" Little Flower asked softly. Cadence looked down at the Element of Loyalty, nearly the spitting image of Princess Luna. Flower's lower lip was trembling slightly, like she was about to cry- something very un-Rainbow Dash.
"I do," Cadence told her, struggling to keep her voice calm and authoritative.
"No fair!" Sunshine whined. The yellow, red-maned filly began to throw a tantrum, thrashing her hooves in a violent series of kicks. "NOFAIRNOFAIRNOFAIRNOFAIRNOFA IR!"
"SUNSHINE! YOU STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!" Cadence screamed, and surprisingly, the Element of Laughter ceased her shrieks and kicks.
"Yeah, Sunshine," Moondust goaded under her breath.
Cadence glared at the silver, pink-maned pony. "Moondust, you are not helping."
A brief silence followed. Cadence met the eyes of each filly, every one looking at her with a range of hatred and distress. She sighed. "Look. I don't want to take this away from you. But I have to do what's best for the kingdom, and if that means finding new harmony bearers, then that's what has to happen. I'm going to send for the descendants of the former Elements, who should have had that trait passed down to them over the years. You will still have a chance to mend your friendship, but should you fail, the power of the Elements will go to them."
Sorry that it's short. I'll try to make the chapters longer later on, but for this I was just trying to get across the basis for the story and the little princesses.
Next chapter: The descendants don't show up yet, but we get a bit more insight into the fillies from here.
~ Sunny Joy