The Elements of Randomness

by Razor Blade the Unicron


Chapter Eleven: Resistance

"Amethyst!" cried out a faint voice, causing her to skid to halt in the darkening forest. "Amy!"
"Sis!" cried Amethyst. "Where are you?!?"
"Amethyst!" her voice became fainter. "Clear Cut! Help! He-" She was abruptly cut off, and all Amethyst could her was Nightmare cackling.
"No!" cried Amethyst, tears pouring down her cheeks. "No, no!"
"And you'll never see her again," whispered Nightmare's voice in her ear.
"Twirly!" yelled Amethyst, collapsing on the ground in tears. "SUGAR!"


Lotus tried to escape the ring of magic, but was unable to. Every time she went near the edge, the magic would spike up like a barrier, completely blocking her in.
"Aloe!" she cried. "Zister, you can fight it!"
"I don't vant to," replied Aloe hollowly. "And I don't care to."
"No!"
"She's said she doesn't care about you any more..." hissed Nightmare's voice to her. "Why do you think you can get through to her?"
The magic around Lotus began to close into a dome, and she nervously backed into the center.
"And no one can get through to you."


"Spitfire!" cried Fleetfoot as her teammates were surrounded in an orb of dark magic. "Misty! Soarin'! Surprise! Rapid Fire!"
The orb dissapeared, leaving all of them wearing Shadowbolts' uniforms. The Shadowbolt with the rainbow mane landed in front of them, and grinned at Fleetfoot.
"Guess that I'll have to be you now," she said. "Except better. Leader of the Shadowbolts. Without forgettable Fleetfoot in the way."
"You stop that mind control right now!" yelled Fleetfoot "Or I'll-"
"Hurt your teammates?" whispered Nightmare's mocking voice. "You don't want to hurt them, I can tell. But I can make them tell you the truth."
"You drag us all down," said Spitfire harshly.
"All you do is get in the way," added Surprise.
"I don't believe you!" yelled Fleetfoot. "You're only saying those things because of Nightmare!"
"Worthless," said Misty Fly.
"A waste of time," said Soarin'.
"Stupid," said Rapid Fire.
"I'm not listening!" screamed Fleetfoot.
"Sticks and stones can't break your bones," hissed Nightmare. "But words are easy to hurt you."
"I'M NOT LISTENING!"


"Father, I'm sorry!" cried Saffron.
"Saffron, this time you have ruined everything!" snapped Cumin. "Don't you understand?"
"I know, but please forgive me!"
"I will not forgive you until you make for what you have done!"
"But-" She suddenly couldn't talk.
"Oh, giving me the silent treatment? I expect better from you, Saffron."
Cumin walked away, leaving Saffron standing alone.
"You can't apologize when you've ruined everything," whispered Nightmare. "Your apology will never be accepted, so why should get to?"
Saffron tried to run after her father, but was blocked by a magical barrier.
"Nothing that you can do or say will ever make it up."


Limestone furiously slammed her hooves down on the magical barrier covering the pit. She didn't say anything. She just kept at it.
"You're just not strong enough for them," said Nightmare softly. "You never will be."
"Shut up!" yelled Limestone, slamming down harder and harder on the barrier.
"You never have been."
"SHUT UP!"
"And they will always think that you gave up on them."
Limestone continued to attack the barrier, her teeth gritted in complete fury.


"Thanks a lot, sis," said Cloudchaser angrily. "Just thanks. Playing around during a national crisis."
"I wasn't playing around," said Flitter.
"Yeah, sure." She rolled her eyes, and flew into the sky. "I'm going to actually help. Don't bother coming. I know you'll just treat everything like it's just a joke."
Flitter frowned. "But I won't..." she said softly.
"Your sister doesn't believe you," hissed Nightmare. "She's not going to believe you. This is what you get for thinking ridiculous thoughts."


"I don't want to lose you!"


"Please try to resist it!"


"I won't let you get to me!"


"Please forgive me!"


"I'm not going to stop trying to get to you!"


Laughter rang out across the sky.
"What are you doing?" asked Nightmare to Flitter, who was lying on the ground and laughing. "Have you gone mad?"
"Nightmare!" yelled Flitter between laughs. "It's a nightmare! That's a good one!"
"You knew?" hissed Nightmare angrily.
She smiled. "Not until you told me!" She burst into laughter once more. "But I don't even care right now! Just the thought of everything just going wrong... It was awful!" Flitter continued laughing. "The worse experience ever! But then I realized how ridiculous that was! Even if it was true!"
Flitter opened her eyes, and found herself lying on the ground in the Everfree Forest. She was still laughing, and she heard the others around her wake up.
"What the hay just happened?" asked Limestone angrily.
"Just some nightmare scenarios from Nightmare Moon," said Flitter, smiling broadly.
"Those were just nightmares?" asked Fleetfoot. "But they felt so real..."
"Aw, don't worry about those! We're gonna give Nightmare her own when we find the Elements!"
"How did you overcome your nightmare?" asked Amethyst, wiping away the tears in her eyes.
"'Cause it was ridiculous!" she said, getting stares from the others. "What, I'm not gonna let something awful get me down! I'll be laughing 'til I can't!"
There was a moment of silence, before Limestone gave an unexpected smile. "You sound just like my sister."
Flitter beamed happily, and her happiness seemed to be infectious, since soon they had all put the nightamre's behind them. Amethyst started leading the group once again, but then paused.
"What's wrong?" asked Lotus.
"Nightmare knows where Twirly is..." she said softly to herself, before taking off into the forest at a sprint, with the others quickly following.


"You let me out of this cage right now!" yelled Twirly angrily.
"Be QUIET!" yelled Nightmare angrily, causing the breezie to flinch. "Listen here, you little breezie, if I hadn't used up my mind control magic on that unicorn guard, I would have already used it on you!"
"Yeah, that sounds more like a you problem. Let me ouuuuuuuut!"
Nightmare slammed her hoof on the ground, cracking the stone underneath. "Midnight Warrior! Come here!"
The mind controlled Twilight walked into the room, and bowed to Nightmare. "What is it, Empress Nightmare?" she asked emotionlessly.
"Go wait for if they show up. I want you to deal with all of them except the unicorn with the diamond cutie mark. She's for me to handle."
"Yes, Empress."
"Considering that you're spying on them, have you really not figured out their names?"
"I can crush you with my bare hoof," hissed Nightmare to Twirly.
"Yeah, whatever."