//------------------------------//
// A Darkened Mind 
// Story: Elements Change the Dark Hearts 
// by Nightmare_0mega 
//------------------------------//

Quiet, uneventful life came the next day in the sleepy little town of Ponyville, which everyone was thankful for. After constant misadventures, chaotic takeovers, sudden stampedes of the mundane to the peculiar, monster attacks, and the arrival of strange creatures with even stranger talents, the citizens relished in the relative normalcy that covered most of the town. Even the odd sight of the maroon cyborg, whom was currently running the Sweet Apple Acre's apple stall at the marketplace, didn't perturb the frequently skiddish pony folk nor kick them out of there headstrong desire to want nothing to happen today. Life went on as it should, save for poor Applejack.

Having overworked herself once again, she ended up catching a nasty bug that had left her bedridden and entirely unable to finish her work. She fought tooth and horseshoe to insist she was still fit to continue, as it was in her stubborn nature, but the law was laid by a firm stomp through both Granny Smith and Applejack's brother, Big Macintosh. Unable to fight the both of them in her condition, she gave in, but not before demanding a compromise. In her place for the time being, Big Mac would take care of the fields, which he humbly accepted, knowing them just as well as his sister did over the years. Furthermore, in the older brother's place, Monsoon would handle the market stall. While Macintosh objected to the idea, Granny Smith was quick to point out that he was the only other able-bodied individual that could deal with it, much to both he and Monsoon's chagrin. The older brother would then argue that Granny herself could work the stall, just like in other times of need, but she'd have quickly rebutted that while she COULD do it herself, the trip to do so these years were always quite tough on her old frame. Besides that, Apple Bloom was still too young to help out in any significant way beyond chores here and there, so her involvement with the fields, or even the business side of things, was a long ways off. After Granny Smith gave Monsoon a quiz on the types of apples and small business economics, and after Applejack gave him a list of instructions on how to build and operate the stall, as well as a list of prices for the different apples and specials on bushels, he was sent away to Ponyville.

And so there sat Monsoon, within a stall that was just barely big enough to fit him, on a chair entirely too small for his body, so bored out of his chassis that he "borrowed" some sewing needles from Rarity's boutique halfway across town, and began experimenting with an apple he bought for himself: sticking the needle inside, levitating the fruit with his magnetic power through the needle's metal, and trying to hone his precision of movement and dexterity with so much non-metal material. In between selling off some of the product, counting the money, and shooing away the odd gawker, the apple experiment was so riddled full of holes that it was hard to keep the needle inside the fruit for longer than a second anymore. Monsoon gave a small, sick smile as he looked over the fruit's perforated flesh, as if it were violently stabbed over and over. Despite its look, however, he decided not to throw it away and eat it as intended.

"Waste not want not," he said, quickly devouring it, leaving no trace. The apple was delicious, as expected, but it didn't help his normally dour, cynical mood. "Too bad there isn't nearly enough in the seeds to kill me now. Not that they could, as I am," he laughed darkly.

"Hey, Monsoon!" called Twilight.

He gave a sigh as he leaned further back on the tiny chair, removed his feet and shins from his legs, and lifted the knees and thighs to rest against the edge of his side of the stall, one leg overlapping the other. Twilight looked at him, then to his halved legs.

"I... will never get used to that," she said frankly.

"Is there something you want?" he asked.

"I mostly just came to say hello, though I am a bit curious as to why you're here today."

"Jack is sick," Monsoon stated flatly. He looked to her, hoping the answer would suffice, but upon noticing she likely had no intention to have a simple response and would ask follow up questions, he continued with a sigh, "From what I've gathered, she overworked herself 'again', and she caught a bug because of it." Monsoon gave a small laugh. "Such is how the world works, regardless of which one I'm in, I suppose. Even the strong are vulnerable to something so piercing." As he began to levitate the needles with his magnetic powers and cause them to almost dance in the air at his command, he continued his little speech. "Aren't diseases such an exquisite answer to the ebbs and flows of life in nature? Such a biological detractor that can topple even the mightiest, effectively acting as the great equalizer."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, noticing the familiarity of the needles. "You're going to have to give those back to Rarity, you know that right?"

The cyborg stopped his impromptu puppet show and gave a sneer, before he put the needles away in one of his vacant pouches. "I'll see to it after the market is closed down."

"Good. It'd also be wise to perhaps apologize to her for stealing."

Monsoon rolled his eyes from underneath his helm, before he lifted his legs off of the stall's edge, put his shins back on, and sat upright once again. "Is that all you wanted to know?"

"Somewhat. I actually wanted to pick up a few apples. Some for home, but others for the new guest that recently arrived."

"I overheard Jack mention that," he said offhandedly, looking off to the side while in thought, "but didn't hear very many details on the matter." He then gazed back to her, "What new monster do we have trapped in the world with us now?"

Twilight frowned at the comment a tad, but answered the question anyway. "Well, he's a human, as far as I know. Apparently, Lyra's been able to get a fair bit more information out of him. I guess he used to live in a rather cruel world if his visage is any indication, on top of what I've been told. Further still, Lyra says he's likely an intellectual, and has invited me to play a game of chess with him, but I'm not entirely sure if he's up for something like that yet. The poor human looks so weak on that hospital bed. I just hope he'll be able to make use of the apples I'm going to give him." With that said, Twilight fished some bits out of her satchel with her magic, and placed them on the table, before taking the ones she wanted. Monsoon responded by lazily levitating the coins into the small chest.

"Fascinating," Monsoon stated flatly and dryly, "I suppose we have a winner with this one. What was his name again? I'd like to be able to know the name of such a dreaded being before I laugh myself to death when I confirm such a pathetic description."

Twilight narrowed her eyes, not appreciating the sarcasm in the slightest, but decided to answer. "If you must know," she started matter-of-factly, "His name is Mantis. Lyra tells me that he's-"

Monsoon stood from his seat, nearly smashing his head right through the stall roof, before he exited it frantically with some struggling and cursing. After such an amusing display, the cyborg swiftly marched up to her, grabbed both of her shoulders, and looked her dead in the eyes, which actually startled the little pony a tad, bringing a lot more tension to the moment.

"What did you say his name was?" Monsoon asked, deathly serious and straightforward.

"Mantis. Psycho Mantis, actually," she replied.

He let go of her slowly, rose back to his full height, before he stepped back, mouth agape as if a terrible revelation had struck him. "No," he muttered, "Not him. It can't be him!" He looked back to Twilight. He dreaded asking the next obvious question, but he had to be sure. "Was he wearing a mask?"

"Yes," she answered, wondering why he the cyborg had such a sudden interest.

"Scars. Did he have scars along his head?"

"Yes, it seemed so."

Monsoon grit his teeth as he snatched the apples from Twilight, and tossed the bits back at her, which elicited a protest from the baffled unicorn. "What's the big idea?"

"For the love of everyone's safety and sanity, don't you DARE help that... THING anymore." he growled.

"What?! Why? What's going on?"

Monsoon gave a heavy, shaky sigh as Twilight realized something very important that she never thought she'd see from the cyborg. He was terrified, and it was evident.

"Do you know something about him?" she asked.

His attention snapped back to her, before he gave a rather unhinged, nervous laugh. "Do I know something?" he parroted, "I honestly wish I didn't."

"Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"Not here, out in the open... too many minds," he warned, cryptically, "May we go somewhere safer? If I'm to tell you anything about this, you'll need to know EVERYTHING." With that said, he reached into the stall, grabbed an "out to lunch" sign, hung it above for all to see, and covered the produce with a tarp.

"Wait, it's not lunchtime ye-"

"Spare your neurosis for now, and take me to a safe, quiet place, immediately."

"Alright, alright. Hold on." Not a moment later, as she closed her eyes, her horn began to glow as the magic slowly built.

"What are you doing? We don't have time to-"


 -o-v-o-v-o-v-o-v-o- 


Back at the Golden Oak library, Spike had just finished dusting the main room, and was gearing up to reshuffle the books in a new organizational standard, as per Twilight's request. As he put his cleaning equipment away, there was a sudden burst of magic and a blinding flash that exploded within the main room of the Library. There stood Twilight and a somewhat dazed Monsoon.

"-w-waste..." he managed to stumble out, before he shook his head, trying to regain his senses, and gazed at the sudden new surroundings. "What happened? Where-?"

"We're at the Golden Oak's Library," she answered quickly.

"Twilight, what's going on?" Spike asked as he approached them.

"Oh, good, this is perfect." She then flared her horn up once again, opened the pouch that contained Rarity's sewing needled, and floated them towards the little drake. "Take these to Rarity. Tell her that 'Monsoon is very sorry for taking these.' Ok?"

"Uhm, sure, anything to have an excuse to see Rarity!" he said happily, snatching the needles from the air before practically skipping out the door.

"Ok, that should keep him busy for a while. Now, what did you want to tell me?"

Monsoon shook his head again for a moment, before he looked back to Twilight with irritation. "A warning would be nice, little Miss Friendship." He took a breath. "You may want to sit down. This is going to take a while."

Twilight did, pulling out a quill and parchment, ready to take down notes.

He began to slowly pace back and forth before her, wondering where to start. After a moment, he finally spoke, "Out of all beings I would never wish to encounter, Psycho Mantis is the apex of true horror in my world."

"What is he?" Twilight asked.

"Simply put, he's the most powerful practitioner of psychokinesis and telepathy."

"Telepathy? You mean-"

"He can read people's minds, yes," Monsoon interrupted, "But this isn't all he's capable of. After the fall of the SOP system, around the time I took my job as a Desperado Enforcement mercenary, I managed to read up on many of the files the new wave of free information had in store, mostly to help prepare myself for what I'd be undertaking."

"Wait, what's SOP? What's Desparado Enforcement?" Twilight asked, cutting into Monsoon's explanation.

"I'll talk about my own history another day, but right now you need to listen," he barked back with a stern tone. The smug, condescending attitude was all but gone now, as he took another breath, and continued. "Among the files and official government logs, his history and track record was listed and well documented. All of his known escapades, and some of the covert ones, detailed events that were... nightmarish, to be frank. Brainwashing, mental probes, illusions, spontaneous combustion, psychotic breakdowns, and this wasn't even including his very real ability to apply mind over matter. All under the employment of one spec-ops military group or another. Atrocities and human rights violations in the hundreds at an official government request. Even more done so at his own discretion."

"Oh my stars..."

"This isn't even going into the madness the plagues his mind. He's jumped into so many different, psychopathic minds of serial killers, warmongers, soldiers, and other violent criminals to solve cases and extract information. With as much knowledge he has accumulated and with as many minds as he's delved into, he's long since lost his own from the horrors and the disgust that's firmly rooted in the human condition." Monsoon quit pacing for a moment before he continued, "In consideration of the year I... 'died'... Mantis should have been ancient history for thirteen years, and yet he's in this town, in the flesh, being ALLOWED to gain his strength?!"

Twilight had no words, nor did she have the nerve to write down any notes from this lecture, as brief as it was. If it was honestly as serious as Monsoon made it out to be, keeping to her studies for the time being would be a bad idea. Something needed to be done, and fast. She first considered conducting a letter to the Princess to request urgent assistance on the matter. Next to that, she'd gather her friends and the other outer-equestrians to explain the situation and hopefully stand on guard in case something went wrong. However, before she could even try anything, what Monsoon said next shocked the kindly scholar.

"We need to kill him, now," he announced, already drawing his sai.

"Wait, WHAT!?" she exclaimed, leaping out of her seat.

"The longer he lives, the less we have for our painfully short time limit. If he's still weak, I may just be able to-"

"There has to be another way! We can't just... kill him," she hated saying it in that context, but continued anyway, "M-maybe he isn't as bad as those 'files' make him out to be? I mean, you-"

"I am willing to play ball if it'll get me out of this candy colored nightmare, even if it means cooperating with such... sickeningly idealistic abominations and affronts of nature, such as you and your species." Twilight's face scrunched from the blatant slander, but Monsoon continued. "But Psycho Mantis would likely want nothing more than to torch the world and all of us with it, to satisfy whatever desires he may have, whatever goals he may pursue." He paused for a moment. "Friendship and tolerance may be a law of your world, but he comes from a place of strife and war, where peace is only a temporary delusion and the blood of people soak the soil, for profit or for honor. Acting nice around him will only eventually get you murdered. He must die."

As the cyborg turned away from her and headed for the door, Twilight's horn flared up for a moment, before she teleported between him and the exit. Monsoon growled, gripping his sais tighter.

"Spare me your idealism," he spat venomously, "I couldn't care any less if you were all killed with extreme prejudice by that psychopath, but this is a matter of survival, and I'd rather live long enough to die in my own world. If you honestly do trust me on this, if you really care about your friends, your research, and your world, then you will step aside."

Twilight faltered for a moment. She didn't have much of a reason to trust Mantis as much as she did the other guests, nor did she have much of one to doubt Monsoon. She could utterly hear the fear in his voice as he stood before her in intimidation, and such contrast chilled her more than his capacity of violence ever did. She gave a sigh as she began to consider and understand the dire situation. It was a pony way of life to give every living being a chance, foe or stranger, but sometimes it was necessary to step down from upholding that wish to fight for the sake of others. That's why the Elements of Harmony were-

"The Elements of Harmony!" she exclaimed, "We could use them to try to cure him of the madness he has!"

Monsoon let out a dark, troubled laugh. Twilight was about to protest from the obvious mocking, but Monsoon raised his hand to interject. "I've heard of those little trinkets from Jack, and I'm not entirely surprised they actually exist in this world. They do indeed sound quite powerful, despite the rarity of their use. However, if I remember correctly, all SIX of you are required to use them."

"What do you-" It was then Twilight remembered. She cursed under her breath for forgetting such a detail.

"You could drag Jack out of bed to use them, if you so wish it, but I have no idea how effective that would be. Further still, with how weak she is currently, there's no telling what could happen if she used hers, nor is there any knowing that Psycho Mantis wouldn't just tear her mind apart and leave her useless on the floor with her normally iron clad will being brought down from her little illness. Even if we wait for her to get better, it may just be entirely too late by that point. There are FAR too many negative variables to consider, and gambling on possibilities in the hope of a positive outcome will come back to bite us, if not destroy us."

Twilight's gaze cast down to the floor. She was literally running out of options as Monsoon washed each possible preferable action away before her eyes. Save for one, but it was an option she had hoped she had never needed to consider.

"Monsoon," Twilight started, staring the cyborg dead in the eye, "I forbid you to act on your intention to kill Mantis."

Monsoon stood dumbfounded. "Y-you're kidding. After everything I've told you, after actually giving you advice on how you should proceed, you're going to pursue your-" He stopped with a frustrated grunt, rubbing the spots on his helm where his temples would be. He stopped, then took a step forward. "If you're not going to let me, I'll-"

"If you harm him in any way," she stated, having a tough time even going through with this ultimatum, "I will have to have you arrested." Every fiber of her being felt sick for even doing this, but she had to force herself to remain strong.

"You're... strong-arming me?"

Twilight stared at him, remaining quiet. Monsoon grit his teeth, gripped his sais harder, and tried not to pick up every sharp, metal object in the area to throw them at the stubborn, stupid pony. He contemplated long and hard, before he gave a heavy defeated sigh.

"Fine. Do whatever you want," he stated flippantly, before placing his sais back in their rightful holsters and passed Twilight, heading out of the door. Before he fully left her behind, he looked back to her and said, "If you and your race die off because of this... I'll have no trouble laughing in my grave."

With that said and done he walked off, heading further into town and back to the market place to finish his job. Twilight stood firm for a moment or two as she watched him leave, before she dropped to her knees, shaking like a leaf. So much was going wrong all at once, and there was no telling how everything would play out now. Monsoon was desperate and violent, while Mantis was a possible time bomb if everything the cyborg said was true. She could honestly hardly believe it, but now things were so uncertain. With Applejack out of commission for the time being, which likely renders the Elements too risky to use, the only thing she could do was simply increase the security. With a shaky sigh, she stood back up, headed inside of the library, and began to conduct her letter to the Princess. After that, she thought, I'll go and talk to the others, just in case.