Something new was happening.

New was different. New was good.

There. It happened again. He could feel a spark. He could hear the cracking noises. Tentatively he pushed against the immovable stone. It didn't give. But it did tremble. That had never happened before. And he'd pushed much harder in the past.

He stopped and listened again. Yes, there. Voices nearby. Childish voices. Arguing. His spirit would have smirked if it had a movable body to do it with. Chaos. You could always count on the little ones for chaos. But that shouldn't be enough. There had always been arguing. For as much as these ponies wanted to think they lived in perfect harmony, there was always arguing. Something new had happened. He didn't know what. Not yet.

He pushed again. Yes, the hold was weakening. Quickly. This wasn't like last time. The spirit wasn't being severed from the stone. The stone was falling away. A dark chuckle escaped him. This was going to be fun. And he did so love fun.

He watched. He listened. He made chocolate rain because...well, why not?

It didn't take him long after being released from the stone to gather the information he needed. And you should always get information first. Even chaos needed it sometimes. The cursed elements that had bound his body so long ago had severed their connection to the alicorn princesses. That must be why the spell binding him had broken. And now there were 6 new holders. That seemed silly, even to him. More that could go wrong...more that he could mess with.

But he still couldn't find the blasted things. He had to get them out of the way before he could truly unleash some fun and games. So a little storm of chocolate rain here or there, some delightfully annoying weeds...things that would point to him, without being enough to bring immediate wrath. It seemed to be working. The ever-reliable Celestia had called the new holders to the castle.

He listened as Celestia gave her long and boring explanation...really, she could monologue with the best of them. Then she opened the tower doors. Ah yes, he could feel the magic now. Apparently she had shielded them with some kind of protection spell. But of course now the door was open. They didn't even notice when he whisked the trinkets away. But they certainly noticed the emptiness of the box when it opened. He got a chuckle at the reaction of the little pink one. She would be a fun one. Enough chaos there to rival his own. And something….no, he had to focus.

He pulled from their minds the information he needed to know about each of them. Apparently they were each tied to a specific element. He could use that.

It was a small matter to manifest in the stained glass to taunt them. His ego did take a bit of a boost to notice that at least 4 of the windows had some likeness of him. It was nice to be appreciated, or was it feared? It had to be one of the two in order to garner him so much attention to be immortalized (in a sense) in the palace halls. He gave the ponies his little riddle, setting the game in motion. He could have rolled his eyes, if he'd been manifesting physically, when the ever-literal Twilight took his words to mean the hedge maze outside of the palace. That was way too obvious. She would learn that the obvious was not the way to go when it came to him.

The game was on.

Applejack was first. He pulled from her cutie mark, placing the three apples in her path. A little bit of tugging here and there, and they led her right into his illusion of the orchard. He chuckled as she gazed into the pool, seeing the vision he crafted just for her. A little trick of hypnosis, and he pulled the color from her mane and coat. One down. Really that would have been enough. Without all six of the elements, they couldn't send him back to his stone prison. But he was never one to only go halfway in a game. He dropped the hedge, allowing Twilight to find her friend. The little mare's confusion at her friend's behavior was simply delightful.

Pinkie Pie came next. He actually felt kind of bad about silencing her laughter. He was quite fond of that particular element. And this little pony did intrigue him. He felt her out again. There was something tickling at the back of his mind there, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. But no matter. It didn't take much for him to play upon her personal insecurities, however deep she buried them in her mind. Soon she had fallen to the grayness that showed her loss of connection to her element.

Rarity was ridiculously easy. How that self-absorbed mare ever came to represent generosity was beyond his understanding. Sure, she had the potential for generous acts, and may have engaged in them from time-to-time, but at heart she was rather selfish. He didn't even have to hypnotize her. Her own inherent greed did the work for him. How boring. But it was amusing to see her lugging around that massive boulder as if it meant more to her than her own coat.

Fluttershy. Now there was a challenge. He tried the usual tactic. No luck. He tried a different avenue. Nothing. That little filly really was the most oblivious little creature he had some across. So unfailingly sweet and kind. Bleh. In the end, he had to resort to brute force with her. A little bit of mind manipulation was not a difficult thing for him to do, but it was so….direct. No fun at all.

And last came loyal little Rainbow Dash. He almost laughed as she challenged him on her own after coming across him lounging on that cloud. The little girl really thought she was tough enough to take him on. A little riddle for her, a choice to make. He really wasn't being fair here. He knew that. He didn't care. Her loyalty wasn't challenged, she just had to choose which loyalty to follow. Loyalty to her home city, or to her friends. Of course with his...persuasion, she chose the former. And away she flew.

Game over. He won.