//------------------------------// // Chapter Fifteen: Magic // Story: The Elements of Randomness // by Razor Blade the Unicron //------------------------------// Amethyst cautiously peeked into the seemingly lifeless castle, all of her senses waiting for something to react to. She continued looking around, before she finally noticed two clashing magical sources in the corner. Twilight was standing there, completely still. Her eyes refused to leave the ground, meaning that she wanted to stay away from confrontation as long as possible. Amethyst took a step back so she was now outside, and turned to face the others. "Nightmare has Twilight- her Midnight Warrior -stationed in there," she said softly, as so only the five other could hear her. "She's likely guarding the Elements, so we'll have to try and stop Twilight from attacking first." "How are we going to do that?" asked Flitter, nervously tugging at her bow. "If I hit precisely the tip of her horn with a moonbeam, it should prevent her from attacking for a bit. Don't forget, she doesn't want to be fighting us." "Know how strong she is?" asked Limestone. "I might be able to hold her still for you." "All I know is that she's very magically inclined. She can make up to eighteen magic constructs at a time, those being swords and spears." "Yikes," Fleetfoot frowned nervously. "No wonder Nightmare decided to mind control her." Amethyst nodded. "And why Celestia decided to bring her. Alright, here's the plan: Flitter and Fleetfoot, you two should fly in from the sides to catch her off-guard, and try to strike her horn to lower the amount of constructs she has. Saffron and Lotus, you two should grab some of the broken shards of glass to deflect any other spells she tries to use, and be on the lookout for if anypony is going to get hit by something. "Limestone and I will head towards her and off to the sides to she'll have to pick a target. I'll try to draw in her attention so you can try and hold her down for me. Once that's done, we'll have to just improvise." She paused to check over what she had said. "Just try not to hurt Twilight too much. She can't control what she's doing." Everypony nodded in agreement, and split off to where they needed to be. Fleetfoot and Flitter where peeking in through the crumbling walls at the entrance where the other four where standing. Amethyst's horn flared up, and they all jumped in at the same time. Twilight's horn flared up in a magenta glow, the aura flicking as she tried to fight Nightmare's control. Bring me the unicorn! yelled Nightmare's voice in Twilight's head. Get her close enough, and I'll take care of the rest! Her magenta constructs began fading in existence, as she jumped out of the way of Flitter and Fleetfoot as they dove down at her. Nightmare eagerly honed her in on Amethyst, hardly noticing Limestone split to the other side. Saffron and Lotus had already gathered up a small pile of glass fragment and, since they weren't as suited for direct combat, had switched to trying to fling Twilight's constructs back at her. Twilight flung three swords towards Amethyst, who skewed their angles with her magic. They barely sailed past her, due to the fact that she was only using minimum amount of energy in case she needed to fight again afterwards. Twilight just looked so sad as she fought against the five ponies, and it only increased Amethyst's determination. Limestone yanked Twilight's right rear leg to pull to down to the ground, as she had managed to sneak up on her. She tried to hold down the unicorn in place, but there were small spikes on her dark armor that none of them has seen earlier. She gritted her teeth and held through the pain, while Amethyst started launching off moonbeams to try and hit Twilights's horn. Even if she was precise, the furious movement made anticipating her next location difficult. Three of her constructs suddenly snapped away as she grabbed Amethyst in her magic, and fling her across the room before she could break away. She crashed to the ground, with Lotus already moving towards her to see if she needed help. But she was unexpected grabbed in a dark blue aura, and yanked forcefully into the next room. Her eyes widened fearful in realization, just as she came crashing down on the ground once more, but this time also slamming into the wall on at the end of the room. The clasp of her saddlebags broke, sending the contents messily across the area. "How nice of you to visit," said Nightmare, standing next to a pedestal holding five stones on it. A barrier of her magic covered the entryway between the two rooms. "Shame that will have to end so quickly." Amethyst, panicked by her current situation, tried to back away from the alicorn. But instead she was grabbed in her magic once again, and thrown across to the other side of the room. "Let me see if you are any match for the new Empress!" Nightmare cried in cruel joy as Amethyst slammed into the wall once more. "Just try to touch me, foal!" Amethyst barely managed to dive out of the way as Nightmare fired a beam of magic at her, smashing through the wall in barely a moment. The area of possible escape was blocked off by a smaller magic barrier. "What, is this a bit above your league?" asked Nightmare with mock pity. "Such as shame. I would have enjoyed at least some fight." Her horn flared brightly. But Amethyst had acted while she had been talking. She had grabbed the rope that she had brought in her magic, and quickly whipped the end around Nightmare's horn. She yanked the other end with the use of her magic, causing Nightmare's blast of magic to completely miss. She blasted through the wall, and covered it up with another barrier. She disintegrated the rope in her magic. "Well, didn't that do you much help," said Nightmare. "Now did it?" Amethyst smacked one of her books into Nightmare's head, causing another beam of magic to miss. She filled in the hole once more, and tore up the book. "So weak, said Nightmare harshly. "To think that I actually thought you might have been a threat." Her horn glowed even brighter. Amethyst still had two more books, and both smacked into Nightmare. Her beam missed for the third time. Amethyst started to think rationally about the situation. "Desperation," spat Nightmare like it were an insult, while Amethyst activated her signature once more. "You're humiliatingly weak." The unicorn focused her gaze on the stone pedestal behind the alicorn, and her eyes widened in realization. "And so scared that you won't even speak." She blasted off yet another beam of magic, which Amethyst ran straight at. She dove underneath it at the last second, and slid past Nightmare to where the pedestal was. Amethyst went freely through the magically barrier protecting the Elements of Harmony, but Nightmare was stopped. "Why you little-" Nightmare began throwing out bursts of magic at the barrier. "You're not even strong enough to create a spark, foal!" Amethyst's horn glowed more brightly, as she enveloped the five stones in her magic. She concentrated, trying to create the spark for the sixth Element. "Please..." she whispered nervously. "Please..."