//------------------------------//
// Chapter 19 Into the Fire 
// Story: Hollow 
// by Demonfire463 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 19

I awake put my plate armor back on. Rainbow Dash must have woken up already, she is nowhere to be found. Wait, now how will I get back to Ponyville! Damn! I exit the house and walk to the Cloudsdale bonfire. I sit down and rest at the fire. I repair my equipment, then kneel at the fire. I grasp the hilt of the sword with my hand and will myself to warp to Ponyville. I shut my eyes and open them again. Upon opening them, I see earth. I look around, Ponyville. Excellent, it worked! I stand and see Rainbow Dash flying through the sky, chasing a... I rub my eyes. Was that right? Chasing a pink cloud? What sorcery is this? She seizes it and gets stuck.
"Rainbow Dash! What's going on?" I call.
"Ugh! I don't know, this is really weird!" She shouts back. Very strange indeed. Perhaps Twilight will know what's going on. She flies towards Sweet Apple Acres and I begin to follow in my heavy armor by foot. When I arrive I see Applejack harvesting some of her vegetables in the distance. The pink cloud begins to release a dark substance that pours on Applejack. Applejack shouts something to Rainbow Dash as I begin to make my way over closer. 
"There's crazy weather all over Equestria!" All the plants around me begin to pop.
"Ack! What's going on?" Pinkie pops up from one of the piles with a great smile on her face. 
"But why would you wanna stop this?" Pinkie says, bouncing between piles. Rarity walks up with a raincoat and umbrella and says something to Applejack. I am too distracted to hear, the apples on the trees triple in size and the trees lean far too the ground. Squirrels leap onto the apples and begin to chomp at them. 
"Fluttershy, do somethin'!" Applejack yells. Joshua walks over to me.
"Any idea what's happening?" He asks.
"Not a clue." Many rabbits with very long legs run by. Arthur walks up by us and Twilight and Spike are in the distance.
"I have seen many things, yet nothing like this." Arthur says.
"Don't worry everypony, I've just learned a new spell that will turn everything back to normal!" Twilight shouts. A magic aura glows from her horn and a brilliant beam of light shines over everything. We shield our eyes from the light. When we look again, everything is as it was before the spell, nothing is back to normal. 
"Well that didn't work." Joshua points out.
"No, it didn't." Twilight says. She gasps. "I got it! Rainbow Dash, round up those clouds!" She flies in the air and gathers the clouds together. "Applejack, I need you to get those clouds on the ground!" She nods and swings a lasso in her mouth. She releases and the rope ensnares the clouds. She tugs then to the ground and Pinkie rushes over to it and begins to eat the pink clouds. Twilight whispers something to Fluttershy.
"Oh my, I sure hope the animals don't get to these tasty chocolate milk cotton candy rain clouds. I sure would hate to share them." Upon hearing this, the critters rush over and ravenously eat at the clouds, knocking Pinkie out of the way.
"Hey!" She shouts.
"Well that was handled quite well, impressive Twilight Sparkle." I say.
"Indeed, good show." Joshua says as the others walk over to us. 
"Thanks. See Spike? Never give up, together we can accomplish anything." Twilight says. Spike vomits a letter. Twilight reads it and her eyes widen. "Celestia wants us in Canterlot immediately, she says it's very important."

We rush inside the palace in Canterlot. 
"We came as fast as we could Princess." Twilight says. I breathe heavily, as I am far behind but moving as quickly as I can. Twilight bombardes Celestia with questions. She raises a hoof to silence her student. 
"Follow me." She says. She leads us all to a long hallway with many stained glass windows. Fluttershy walks to one. "I fear that one of my old foes has been reawakened. Discord. He ruled over Equestria in a reign of chaos and unhappiness. Fluttershy eeps and runs back toward us all. I need you to wield the Elements of Harmony to defeat him."
"You can count on-" Twilight begins.
"Wait you guys." Pinkie interrupts. "Discord comes with chocolate rain. Chocolate. Rain!"
"Don't listen to her princess. We are honored to wield the Elements again and defeat Discord."
"Excellent " Celestia says.
"And we will help in any way that we can." Arthur states.
"Many thanks to you undead. Come. This is where we keep the Elements of Harmony." She leads is further down the hall to a door with a star in the center and six circles in areas on the door. She places her horn in the center of the star and uses a spell to open the door. A chest with six symbols on it is revealed, tye symbols are made from gemstones. 
"Nevermind the Elements, I'll take that case." Rarity says. Celestia presents the box up high and opens it with her magic. When it opens, it is empty! Nothing is there. Everypony stares wide eyed at it but Pinkie.
"If you need me, I'll be outside in the chocolate milk puddles with a giant straw." Pinkie Pie says, seemigly unaffected by the absense of the Elements.
"Is this some sort of joke?" I say.
"Where are they?" Joshua asks.
"That's impossible! The Elements are protected by a spell that only I can break. This doesn't make any sense." Celestia says. A malicious laugh echoes throughout the room.
"Oh, what fun is there in making sense?" The voice says. I can't tell if it's in the room or in my head, but everyone seems to have heard it.
"Discord! Show yourself!" Celestia demands. The voice, which I assume is Discord, laughs again.
"Did you miss me Celestia?" There is a flash and a picture on a window begins to move. "I missed you. You see you wouldn't know that would you? Because I don't turn ponies into stone!" He taps a picture of Fluttershy and it sounds like rock.
"Enough! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?" Celestia shouts.
"Oh I just borrowed them for a little while." He snaps his fingers and the picture of the Elements of Harmony disappears.
"You'll never get away with this Discord!" Celestia shouts. Discord hasn't acknowledged the presence of undead yet, I wonder if he even knows what we are.
"Why wouldn't I know what you are? Chaos thrives in your homeland doesn't it Agroth?" Discord says. What? He can read my thoughts?! "Yes, I can. And I've forgotten how grim you can be Celestia, it's really quite boring."
"Hey! Nopony insults the princess!" Rainbow shouts. She charges for the window but Discord disappears before she can get there.
"Ah, you must be Rainbow Dash, famed for your loyalty which is also the Element of Harmony that you represent."
"That's right. I'll always be loyal to the princess!" Discord teleports away.
"We'll see about that." He says. His voice is maddening! It sounds like it's in my head! Is he in my head? Agh!
"I can't believe we're wasting our time talking to a tacky window." Rarity says.
"The beautiful Rarity, representing the Element of Generosity if I'm not mistaken." Discord says.
"So ya know who we are, big deal." Applejack says.
"Oh I know much more than that, honest Applejack."
"You seem to know our strengths too."
"Oh indeed I do, Twilight Sparkle. And yours is the most powerful and elusive Element: Magic. Fluttershy's is kindness and Pinkie Pie's is a personal favorite of mine; laughter." He begins to laugh and Pinkie is as well.
"Pinkie!" Twilight says. Pinkie bursts into laughter.
"He's standing on your head!" We look over to see Discord in the stained glass window standing on Twilight in the window.
"Do you know our strengths as well?" Joshua asks the creature.
"Yes I do Joshua the willful. Arthur is very intellectual and good with magic, and Agroth possesses the strength of nothing seen in all of Equestria, and few undead in Lordran."
"Discord, stop stalling! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?" Celestia booms.
"Oh, really Celestia, so boring. Fine. I'll tell you, but I'll only tell you my way. To retrieve your missing Elements just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan, then find the Elements back where you began." The last line echoes throughout the hallway as the picture on the window stops moving and returns to normal.
"Can we go home now?" Fluttershy asks.
"I don't understand. Twists and turns? A labarynth perhaps? Change of events. Back where we began." Arthur begins.
"We all began in different places, if Discord knew what we were, could he have hid the Elements of Harmony in Lordran?" I think out loud.
"I certainly hope not." Solaire says as he walks into the hall. "Then no pony could retrieve them, we would have to. But we don't even know what they look like." He says.
"Exactly. I think it's worth a try however." I say. "Solaire, can you look? Just generally, not in every nook and cranny."
"I suppose, how did you get here?" He asks me. I stare at him, quite surprised.
"What? We came through Darkroot Basin then to the Everfree Forest. How did you get here?"
"I came from Anor Londo directly to the palace. Here in Canterlot."
"Well, good to know that there are other ways to get here. And have you tried warping back to Lordran? I haven't, but warping from Cloudsdale to Ponyville worked fine."
"I have, it doesn't work. Like in the Painted World of Ariamis or Seath's prison, these bonfires are cut off. Not from others in Equestria, but from those in Lordran for certain."
"Well, that's good. I don't want anything else coming here uninvited." Or hurting my friends. Why Rainbow Dash? Raymond, the demons, both got a decent hit on her. Perhaps she's not as excellent at dodging as I though she would be. Twilight walks over to the window.
"Twists and turns, twists and turns." She look out the window to the large hedge maze in the gardens. "Twists and turns! That's it! I bet Discord hid the elements in the palace labarynth!"
"Wow. I was actually right." Arthur says with genuine surprise.
"Good job old friend." I say.
"Good luck everyone, the fate of Equestria is in your hooves." She looks at the three of us. "And hands."
"Thank you princess. We won't let you down." Twilight says. With that, we run out the palace doors, headed for the maze. 

"We have to go in there?" Fluttershy asks.
"Nope, Discord forgot about these babies." Rainbow Dash says, flaunting her wings. She takes off. "I'll just do a quick fly over and we'll have the Elements in no time." Her wings disappear and she falls to the ground. "My wings!" Fluttershy's disappear as well and she screams. Twilight and Rarity begin to panic when their horns disappear. Oh no. We're next! I swing Smough's Hammer off my back just in time for it and my box to vanish.
"My hammer! No!" I shout. Arthur's catalyst disappears.
"Logan's staff! All my magic!" His dragon stones vanish as well. "AHH!" He shouts. A small flame is lifted from Joshua's palm and he shouts as well. I notice that the flame is much bigger than it used to be. Discord appears with an evil laugh.
"You should see the looks on your faces! Priceless!"
"Give us our wings and horns back!" Twilight shouts at him.
"And our weapons!" 
"And catalysts!"
"And pyromancy!" We all shout.
"In time, I simply took them to ensure that there's no cheating. You see, the first rule of our little game. No flying, no magic, and no weapons."
"Listen to me you vile serpentine chimera. I will not hesitate to tear you to bloody ribbons with my bare hands the next time I get the chance!" I scream with rage.
"You really should control that temper of yours Agroth, lest it get the better of you."
"First rule?" Rainbow asks.
"The second rule is that everyone has to play, or the game is over. And I win." He flies into the air. "Good luck everybody!" He laughs and teleports away. 
"Don't worry, we can overcome anything as long as we stick together!" Twilight says.
"Right! So let's do this!" Rainbow says as we all step forward. 
"Together!" The ponies shout. Immediately walls are thrust up from the earth between each of us.
"Get to the center as fast as you can! We'll regroup there." Twilight shouts. The ponies all agree.
"Undead do the same!" I shout. "There's strength in numbers, regroup as quickly as possible." 
"On it!" Arthur shouts over the wall.
"Let's get going then!" Joshua shouts. I begin to walk through the tortuous labarynth. It isn't long before I am horribly lost. I hate places like this. The sewers of the Painted World, the Depths, not to even mention Blighttown, many places in Lordran are just labarynthine hallways and ladders. I wander aimlessly in the maze for hours. I reach a dead end. I look down my the wall amd my box is there! My Bottomless Box! Ha hah! I rush to the chest and kneel down beside it. I throw it open and my heart sinks and my smile drops. My box is full of teeth and has a giant tongue. Arms begin to protrude from the mouth and I shut the lid on them. 
"Hahaha! I though that would have gotten you for sure." The chest says. I have heard that voice before.
"Discord!" I shout. I lunge myself at the chest. It warps behind me. I whip around and almost get it. It warps to my right side. "Gah! Stop that! Give me my weapons back!" I shout angrily. Discord laughs.
"Calm down Agroth." He says as he shapeshifts into his form from the box. "My my my, you need to learn to manage your anger better. I'm surprised you could manage it around your new so-called 'friends'." I calm down a bit.
"What do you mean my 'so-called friends'?" They are my friends...aren't they? 
"Why would they be? You intrude into their land and you kill. That's all you've done. What? Did you think they loved you? You come from a land where staying alive means getting on the good side of the powerful. Why wouldn't they do that in times like these?" The monster says. A small cloud of fog appears and he shows me Rarity, greedy, holding a rock she believes to be a diamond; Fluttershy, who is being mean everyone, even her animals; Applejack, fabricating lies to her friends and family; and Pinkie accusing her friends of laughing at her; Twilight has isolated herself from her friends; and Rainbow Dash is lying on a cloud, apathetically neglecting everything in the world. They seem to have forgotten all about me. I fall to my knees. "Oh poor Agroth. Nobody understands. Tell you what. I'll make you a deal. Be like Rainbow Dash." He says pointing upward. I look to the sky to see her flying away, betraying her friends...and me. Apathy. "I'll give you your weapons and box back and you can go back to Lordran." I grit my teeth under my helm in rage. I clench my fists and stand. Apathy, avarice, isolation, fabrication, cynicism, and malice rule now. Discord has won.
"Deal. At least in Lordran I know what to expect, and the undead don't feign love or friendship before they stab you in the back." He snaps his claw and my box appears at my feet.
"You'll find your weapons inside. So long." He disappears. I look at my hands, now a shade of light grey. My entire body, even my armor is grey. No matter. I stand above my box, motionless, paralyzed with rage. Traitors! A path clears to the exit. I scream to the skies with anger. I pick up my box and put it on my back. I walk back to the palace, oblivious to whatever is happening behind me. I walk to the main corridor where the fog door is located. I step up to the white light and stop. Luna walks up next to me.
"Agroth?" 
"What?!" I say without turning to look at her. She remains silent. I turn to see tears forming in her eyes. For some reason I don't care in the slightest.
"Please. Don't do this. You're the one being I've met that worshipped the moon, even if only once." Tears begin to roll down her cheeks and onto the marble floor. "Please. Don't leave. Your friends need you, now more than ever with Discord here." She cries even more. 
"If those are what you call friends, then I shall never make another friend for the rest of my days." I traverse the light, saying nothing else.