//------------------------------//
// The Texture of Trouble 
// Story: The Colors Of A New World 
// by LordOfTape 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 16: The Texture of Trouble
The wind rushed by us as we soared above the thundering clouds. I followed closely behind Dange to make sure I didn’t get lost. Surprisingly enough I was able to keep up. That was one crazy potion. I felt good as new and the unfamiliarity with my body had all but vanished. 
One question did bump across my brain though. Why hadn’t Twilight given me some of this stuff? Still, I didn’t have the luxury of time to ponder it. I was flying at a breakneck pace to a place I’d never been before. Had to focus on the road, or sky as it may be. It was unsettling traveling with only the sound of the air around us, so I spoke up. 
“So Dange,” I yelled to overtake the wind “What exactly did the letter say?”
She didn’t respond, her eyes and mind set on the destination. I didn’t bother repeating the question, and simply continued to follow quietly. 
Luckily for me, Canterlot wasn’t too far away by flight, especially at our speed. I began to see the crystalline towers from a distance. The storm shrouded the bottom of city from our view, but the tops of the spires and towers could still be seen. I would’ve imagined guards to be standing atop them, but there wasn’t a single pony to be found.
“Dange, Dash, RD!” I called out, trying to get her attention.
Again she didn’t respond, but instead flew faster from me. I tried keeping up, but she easily managed to whir past and land on what appeared to be a castle’s keep. She opened a door on the floor with her teeth and jumped down.
Why the heck was she ignoring me? Could she really have not heard me, or was the situation just that bad? I landed on the same tower and trailed along to find out.
When I landed inside, I found myself in a somewhat familiar place. It looked like the inside of the palace, but not any part I had seen before. There were tapestries everywhere, garnishing the wondrous royal hall. Forgetting my true goal, I wandered about, witnessing the hanging rugs.
I started on one end of the hall, slowly moving towards the other. The weaved work unfolded and regaled me a story of Equestrian history. Without words, it took more concentration to figure out what exactly trying to say.
The first picture was of a population of creatures. It was a large town, featuring all four forms of ponies, mules, bovines, sea serpents, sheep, minotaurs, dragons, griffons, goats, dragonaquis, diamond dogs, and zebras. It must’ve been the story of creation I guessed, considering all of the sentient animals in the picture.
I moved onto the next piece, which was of the earth. Rather, their earth. It shared some similarities with my earth, but the land arrangements weren’t the same. Still, the only thing on the piece was the earth, so I went to the next. The third tapestry showed a bird of immense proportions with its wings spread. It was some cross between a phoenix, and eagle, and a thunderbird. It was a dark grayish color and its beak was a striking yellow color. The bird didn’t look all too happy either, staring over the world with greedy eyes.
As I pondered the new creature, I trotted to the following picture. It depicted the bird as it set the world ablaze, sending all of the animals into a panic, running about. This piqued my interests and I anxiously but quickly moved to the fifth panel. The griffons, dragons, and pegasi flew towards the beast, but it blasted them away with lightening. Wanting to know more I went on to the next piece and the so on.
The sixth tapestry showed the bovines, sheep, mules, earth ponies, and zebras rush at its feet. Just as with the others, it blew them away with the wind from its wings. The next picture showed the sea serpents and diamond dogs try to go under it, but the bird covered the land in fire, trapping them in the water and ground respectively. 
I was at the edge of my proverbial seat as I went on to see the remaining three pieces. The unicorns, dragonaquis and alicorns all used their magic and fired colorful beams into the eyes of the monstrous bird. The bird was shaken and they used this time to open a portal into the earth. They trapped the bird inside the portal and celebrated. The last panel showed the portal closed and the races all united it the creature’s defeat. 
All I could think was, ‘what in the world happened here’? What was that creature? What was that thing? I mean really, this seemed like a crucial part of history. All of the creatures fighting together against this, eh, bird thing. 
The remaining voice popped back into my mind, “It was called the Roc. A bird of lightening and fire with wings that could cause hurricanes.”
“What in the hell happened?!” I shouted back, harshly in need of an explanation to this story.
“Many many years ago, the races all lived together in one collective space that was called Animalia. That was the original country so to speak. Unfortunately, we did not all get along and there was much in fighting amongst us. This infighting summoned the mighty Roc, Spirit of Destruction. The many races fought valiantly against the Roc, but in the end, only those with magical power could defeat it. Even still, we barely caught it off guard long enough to stop it. It took every single alicorn and dragonaquis to seal it away inside the unbreakable prison of Tartars.”
“Spirit of Destruction? So it was the incarnation of an invisible force? How did that happen?”
“You sure are an inquisitive one, aren’t you Drumroll?”
It wasn’t that the voice hadn’t called me by my name before, but this time it unsettled me. I wasn’t entirely sure why, but it was almost as if I could feel the voice’s presence.
“Please Drumroll, you know who I am, there is no need to refer to me as ‘the voice’.”
“I forgot, you can hear my thoughts.” I sighed.
“And so can he.” She replied.
I winced at the thought. Ironic enough, he probably knew that too. Had she heard our conversation earlier when I was broken on the ground? Well, I guess she did now. But how, how did they get in my head?
“When you’re magic, a little telepathy is no problem.” She informed me as if I had been talking to her.
I felt heated inside, as if my organs would explode from within me. With each word I grew angrier and angrier knowing that I knew nothing at all. “But why me? Why have you two been following me? Why am I here?!”
“I’m truly sorry for all of this Drumroll. It’s all my fault.”
She sounded like she was crying, but trying hard not to. Then, almost immediately the noise stopped. A new, sinister being entered the room, taunting me “And then there were two.”
With a snap of his finger the tapestries all burned. The beautiful works of both art and history reduced into mere ashes. The black dust encircled my foe and formed itself into a cane beneath his hand, or claw is it was.
“Now let me fill you in, my boy.” He chuckled. “That war is a story for another time. You can read all about it in the library when we’re done. You know, if you’re still alive. But the important part was where a young dragonaquis boy and two beautiful alicorn girls ran away together.”
As he talked he walked pompously over to the walls, tapping them with his new cane. Each tap twisted the walls until they formed a picture of what he was talking about.
“Oh wait, you wanted to hear about why you’re here? Oh well don’t worry, we’re getting there. You see, after the Roc was imprisoned, the nations just up and separated. We weren’t good for each other, you should know that by now.” He laughed as the walls illustrated the nations breaking apart and forming their own countries.
“Now listen up, this is important. The alicorns, pretentious folks as they were formed Equestria. Ugh, such a boring country, everyone knows it. But the dragonaquis’ founded Dragonia. We lived with the dragons and sea serpents.”
“What does this have to do with me? Or you and the princesses?” I yelled up at him.
He simply laughed and continued. “Maybe if you let me finish you’d understand. Now where was I? Oh yes, that’s right, our nations didn’t like each other. So what do we do when we don’t like each other?”
He snapped his fingers again and we were placed in a game show room. I was sitting at a participants stand and he was holding a mic.
“Well what do you say? What do countries do when they don’t like each other?” he asked me, pointing the microphone at me.
“Um, I suppose they go to war?” I said, unsure and confused.
A bell appeared from nowhere and began ringing. “We have winner folks!”
Clapping could be heard all around, but there was no one to be seen. 
“What does he win? Oh, I’m sorry, just a finished story. How boring. Oh wait! What’s this? The story of how Celestia became princess? This is gonna be a good one.”
The game show room disappeared and we were back in the tapestry room, or at least what used to be. Everything was changing so fast I couldn’t keep my head straight, and he took this opportunity to continue with his tale.
“Those three foolish children, ah my, what a shame. They went and decided that war was a terrible thing, useless even! Being such idealistic idiots as they were, they went to find a way to stop it. And my did they find out how to do that! They traveled quite the distance to find that old pit into Tartars you know. My feet still hurt from that.” He cried mockingly, removing one of his feet and rubbing it.
“But it was all for the best in the end. You see they found plenty of ancient artifacts filled with mystical powers.”
I was both disgusted and intrigued by his words. I was never really sure if he was trying to swindle me, help me, or just annoy me “You mean the Elements of Harmony?”
He stroked his oddly shaped beard, “Well in a way. In truth we found the Spirit of Order, the Spirit of Pandemonium, and the Spirit of Knowledge. There were three other Spirits there you know. Creation, Infinity, and Destruction.”
I remembered her telling me that the Roc was the Spirit of Destruction and wondered what they others were. Even more than that, I wondered what Creation and Infinity were.
“Boy, I can still hear you. And if you really want to know, those three were trapped inside the pit. The other two were far less harmful than the Roc, but they still managed to ensnare to other fools. Not like the last three didn’t. We used them after all. Hahahaha!”
Once more I was stuck between wanting to beat the living tar out of this guy and wanting to hear more. I decided that the more I knew, the better off I’d fare. “So what did you do with the Spirits you found? Did you end the war?”
At this remark he simply laughed at me, and a crowd of other voices laughed with him. I looked around to find the other voices, yet again, there was no one but us.
“Foolish boy no! We were all corrupted. I mean really, did that mare tell you nothing? Let me spell it all out for you.” his eyes narrowed in slighted anger and he twisted his cane into a pointing stick. He pointed at the air, and a chalkboard appeared from nowhere. Pulling off one of his horns, he began to write on the board.
It read “WE KILLED THEM ALL.”
I took a step back, but the ground behind me crumbled, as did the ground all around me, leaving me stranded on a small ledge. I felt the ground I stood on slowly turn to dust. I had nowhere to run, and there was nothing I could do to leave.
“Long story short, power corrupts, lots of alicorns and dragonaquis die. Luna was the first to lose her mind to the Spirit of Knowledge. Poor girl. Celestia and I had to trap her in the moon to save her from the horrid fate of Tartars. Of course, Pandemonium got to me next. I began realizing what kind of chaos is created from war.” A sly grin sneaked its way across his face as he spoke. I could tell he was enjoying his little rant.
“So you made it worse didn’t you?” I spat at him.
“Worse? Ha, not at all. I made it Better. The boring Princess didn’t think so though. Tried to seal me away in Tartars, even after I helped ‘save’ her sister. The nerve! Luckily our Spiritual powers were equally strong and she couldn’t do anything to stop me, just harass me.”
“Oh really?” I asked, sneering myself.
“Yes that’s what I said. Why?” he asked, unsure of what I was saying for once.
“If you two were even, then why’d you get turned to stone and she didn’t?”
“Oh you think you’re all high and mighty because some ancient, all powerful Spirit lost to another all powerful Spirit?! Well boy I’ve got some news for you! I’m the reason there are so few alicorns left!” 
As he ranted his voice got louder and each word chipped away at my ledge. When he finished yelling it completely fell apart and I found myself falling. For once I realized that I had wings and hovered above what was once ground. My eyes widened and my breath was short. I could feel my body going into shock. The evil that lurked in the haunted air with me was nothing compared to what I saw on the new floor.
A gigantic black circle, covering the floor. Ornately covered with various symbols and shapes. The circled glowed and eerie black light and wisps of ebony dust could be seen flowing along the ground. But that wasn’t even the worst part. Lined along the wall were five far more colorful beings. Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie.
“They add a nice touch don’t they?” he jibbed. 
“What have you done to them!?” I demanded.
“What have I done? Don’t you mean, what has Rainbow Dash done?”
His voice crackled as he laughed with a maniacal deepness that solidified my body. I could feel myself fall again. That’s all I ever did, fall. I couldn’t move, I didn’t even feel alive anymore. I simply fell. And I hit the floor with a bang.
Everything went black. There was a single sweet moment of absolute nothingness. I could not hear, see, feel, smell, or taste anything. It was as if I never even existed. But it all vanished like that, as if it has never happened. I was back in the room with the black circle, standing up, in the center, with my hooves chained to the ground. I tried moving them, but the chains were too tight.
All around me I could hear screaming. “Help! Help us!” but there was nothing I could do. There was nothing left to do. I didn’t even know what was going on. I didn’t even know if something WAS going on. Someone, please help ME.
“No one’s going to help you boy. Give up, just do it for the both of us.”
“But why? Why me! What in the world is ---” he cut me off.
“Good, you’re lost. Now listen to me.” he grabbed my chin and made me look right into his eyes. “After I slaughtered the ‘mighty’ alicorn race, Celestia felt the urge to do the same to mine. Sure I’m not the last dragonaquis, but I’m close to it. That rotten princess fought me in a magical battle. WE would’ve both died, but somehow, that power mad mare separated the Spirit of Order from within her and used its six pieces to seal me in stone. Then look who went on become the ruler of the land? Oh yeah, an idiot who did the same thing that I and the Roc did!”
My bones were shaking and they reverberated through the chains that kept me earth bound. He smiled at this, knowing that I was scared out of my mind.
“Wh-what is going on here?”
His face lit up with a devilish smile, his snaggle tooth making it more creepy than it should’ve been, “I’m here to finish the war from ages ago. I’m done playing around, I’m done with the childish games. It’s time for me to summon the Roc to ravage the land once more.”
“What is all this for then?” I asked him, refraining from shaking.
He gave himself a giant hand and used it to slap himself in the face. “It’s not enough anymore to tell your victims the history and the plan anymore? You’ve got to go all out with the explanations? Alright, let me get comfortable.”
A large recliner fashioned itself behind him and he sat down and laid back. A small script shaped into his right hand, while a cup of coffee went to his left. Casually, he flipped through the script until he found his spot.
“Ah, here we are.” He said pointing to the page. “Let’s see: Step 1. Explain history in shortened fashion so as to give basic understanding but still leave plenty unanswered for later. Got that. Step 2, Explain the premise of the plan but not too much so that they could potentially stop you. Check, did that too. Step 3, Tell victim his/her role in the plan. Ok, I can do that. Step 4. Let Rainbow Dash try to weasel her way out of doing what inevitably was the wrong thing. Oh wait, haven’t got there yet.”
“Are you, reading a book?” I asked him angrily.
“The Villains Guide to Evil Plot Explanations, yes. Very helpful when dealing with your kind. So you want your role? Well here it is. Chaos.”
“Wait what? I…I don’t understand.” I said, misled.
“No surprise there. You don’t understand much do you? Such a misguided and confused little boy. I bet you haven’t even considered what I said, have you?”
I wasn’t one to take someone belittling me so lightly, and every phrase he spat enraged me even more. I might not have known everything like a god or spirit being, but that wasn’t reason to insult me.
“What could you have possibly said that I would want to listen to?!”
At this, my delighted nemesis created a tape recorder from thin air and pressed play. The rewinding sounds played over my ears. When they finished scratching, I heard his voice play from the tape.
“You’re not that important, Drumroll.”
And the tape stopped, disappearing into the void from whence it came.
“But that doesn’t ---” he cut me off
“It does. It really does. I’ve got five pieces set in place. And what do you know, they just so happen to be five of the six pieces to the broken Spirit of Order. Who knows what I could possibly do with them and oh, what’s this?” he exclaimed, faking surprise. “The portal to Tartars! Why I never even knew. I suppose I’ll just have to put pieces six and…oh my, look at this!” 
His mocking tone exuded from every pore, and he let it sink in as he talked. Oddly enough, it didn’t seem to be directed at me. He sounded as if he was trying to talk to someone else; trying to crush someone else’s spirit.
“I’ve got the sixth piece right here in the center. And my goodness, the seventh is coming in right now. I must be one lucky fellow to have this work out so well. Of course, when you use a Generous amount of Magic to make a few people Laugh with an Honest joke, no one’s going to discredit your Kind actions now are they? Sadly, there’s something missing from there isn’t it?”
“Loyalty.” I sighed quietly.
The realization had slowly hit me. How he could’ve managed to capture the other ponies. How he escaped, accomplished all of these goals. He planned everything from when he first broke out. 
“Yes. Loyalty to the one and only King of Equestria!” he cackled. “Now dear, why don’t you come on out and say your goodbyes? I’ve got business to finish and I’d rather not take all day.”
A darkened figure stepped inside the room. Her mane glowed with a variety of colors, and her coat was of a bright cyan color. She was of a lean and agile build, but stood low and disappointed. I would’ve said I knew the mare, but where once were gorgeous magenta eyes were now grey circles, filled with despair. 
“You’ve got ten minutes. Don’t waste it Rainbow Dash.”