//------------------------------//
// Chapter Twenty: Castle Of Nightmares 
// Story: A Rather Large Adventure 
// by BradyBunch 
//------------------------------//

"AM I HAVING AN ORGASM??!!"

Firestorm collapsed on the floor and started to furiously rub his flashing Cutie Mark of a flaming X. "OH BABY!" he cried in a deep moan.

"Stop it, Storm," Noble told him, half a smile on his features.

Firestorm, however, paid him no attention and continued to jerk his hips forward. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- "

While Twilight immediately went the deepest shade of red, Noble Blade just sighed and picked him up with his magic. "You're not having an orgasm, Storm."

"Then why the heck is my Cutie Mark acting so funky?" he asked, trying to rub his butt some more.

"It has something to do with the map there," Noble told him, pointing. "It appears you're called to go to the Castle of the Two Sisters with Rarity and Rainbow Dash." He smiled then. "But who knows? Maybe you are having an orgasm. I mean, you've never had one before, so you wouldn't know."

Firestorm fixed him with a murderous look.

Twilight seemed to finally regain her composure, and shook her head, trying to shake something off. "Well, uh, what happens is when our Cutie Marks do that sort of thing, it means we're being called on a Friendship Mission."

Firestorm wheeled around. "A what?"

"Friendship Mission," Twilight repeated. "Where we are sent across Equestria to help ponies that have problems with their friendship."

Firestorm stuck out his tongue. "And I have to go on one of these..." He made air quotes. "Friendship Missions?"

"Look, it'll be no different than the missions Aunt Cadence or Luna or Celestia sends us on."

Firestorm shook his head. "All right, just let me go get ready real quick." And he flew out of the throne room towards his private room down the hall.

After five minutes passed, Rainbow Dash flew into the room via a window in the top of the room. She groaned, "I was just here this morning..." but stopped when she saw Cadence, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart. "Oh, uh, hey guys. How's Flurry doing?"

"She took her first steps yesterday!" Shining Armor proudly announced.

Rainbow flew over to Flurry's crib. "Woulja wook at that! Wittle Fwurry hewe's getting aww big on us now!" She rubbed the top of Flurry Heart's mane, and both of them laughed. Rainbow then turned her attention towards the Cutie Map, and her eyes bulged. She approached it warily. "Hey, uh, Twilight? What's Firestorm's Cutie Mark doing here with mine and Rarity's?"

"Well, obviously, he has to go with you," Twilight said.

"But I thought the map only called the Element Bearers?"

"Not exactly. I think Starlight can get called, right?"

Flurry Heart made a "Blessu" sound as she sneezed and scrunched up her face. She wiped it with a hoof.

"Blessed art thou, mine dear cousin," Noble Blade said melodramatically.

The doors to the throne room opened and Rarity came in. "...And I was just in the middle of a new order as well," she muttered, then she spotted the visiting royalty and her face brightened. "Oh, hello, Cadence, Shining Armor. How are you? Flurry, you're looking as adorable as ever! Yes you are!" She rubbed her nose on Flurry's nose. Flurry made a few "Aah"ing noises and tried to reach up to grasp Rarity. Rarity pulled up, however. Then she spotted Noble and started to twirl her mane. "Oh, hiiii, Noble," she said, flashing him a bedazzling smile.

"...Afternoon, Rarity," he mumbled. He looked at Shining Armor with wide, desperate eyes that seemed to scream, Help me!

Shining winked at him and said, "Rarity, stop giving him bedroom eyes and report for your friendship mission."

"OH!" Her face was suddenly very flustered. "Um, ah, heh heh, gotta go check the, uh, map!" She rushed to the table.

Noble looked at Shining Armor incredulously. Bedroom eyes? he mouthed silently.

It worked, didn't it? Shining Armor mouthed back with a grin.

Noble just sighed and rolled his eyes. Thank. You.

Rarity, meanwhile, had spotted the Cutie Map and exclaimed, "WHAT?!" She looked at it disapprovingly. "Out of every. Single. Pony. That we could have had as a companion. We had to have FIRESTORM?! WHY HIM?!"

At that very moment, the doors to the throne room burst open and a voice said dramatically, "Because it's telling us that we need to be together! Don't you see? It's our destiny!"

Firestorm had reappeared, and was now wearing his maroon and earth-colored rags over the black fireproof flight suit. He had metal coating his wings, two meter-long swords crossed over his back, and two knives on his flank and underbelly.

"Hey, uh, Firestorm?" Rainbow asked. "What's with the outfit?" Rarity, meanwhile, avoided looking at the sloppy uniform.

"It's the Castle of the Two Sisters! Fortune favors the prepared." He shrugged. "Besides, you never know what might pop up in there."

"Why the Castle of the Two Sisters?" Twilight asked uncertainly. "There's nothing there that warrants a friendship conflict. Unless... you meet some travelers there?"

"I don't know. But whatever's there, we're gonna find it and fix it for good!" Rainbow said, flapping into the air and smacking one hoof into the other.

"Yes. Let's take care of whatever problem is present at the castle. It is almost three o'clock already, and I would like to get back before nightfall," Rarity said.

"We can do that by flying," Firestorm offered. "Between me and Rainbow, we should be able to get here in-" he and Rainbow simultaneously said, "Ten seconds flat." When they said it, they paused and looked at each other strangely.

"You are forgetting that one of us can't fly," Rarity pointed out.

"Well, that's easily fixed," Firestorm said casually. He came in front of Rarity and lay on the ground, spreading his wings and giving Rarity a perfect view of the back of him. "Come on, baby. Imma take you for a riiide." He flapped his wings.

Rainbow burst out laughing and started to roll on the ground, clutching her sides. Shining Armor couldn't contain his laughter either. Rarity flushed hard and stammered, "Well, I-I never- good gracious, no! Absolutely not!"

"Ah, I'm just teasing, Rarity!" Firestorm said as he watched Rainbow continue to roll on the ground laughing. "I'm such a tease! Plenty of mares say I'm good at, ah, teasing."

Rainbow's laughter increased as she got the double-entendre.

Rarity glowered at the pair of promiscuous pegasi, then looked at Noble Blade. "Is he always like this?" she asked him, pointing at Firestorm.

"I think you already know the answer to that," Noble said.





As the reluctant group of three went past Fluttershy's cottage near the edge of the forest, they saw Fluttershy humming happily to herself as she fed some of her animals. She seemed to do it in a near trance-like state, like her mind wasn't fully on the task she was performing. Firestorm waved widely to her. "YO! WASSUP, FLUTTERS?"

Rarity slapped his hoof down. "Flutters?" she demanded incredulously.

Fluttershy just waved back weakly, not looking at him, and sighed in happiness. She was still looking off into space with a wide grin on her face, obviously thinking about a daydream of some kind. Rarity and Rainbow looked at Fluttershy strangely, unaware of the last time they had seen their friend so happy.

Some time later, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Firestorm entered the Everfree. They had walked because Rarity adamantly refused to be carried by Firestorm.

Because of the girl's frequent visits to the castle before, there was now a clear path leading to the castle ruins that the group of three now followed. The forest hadn't changed, but because it wasn't night yet, it wasn't as scary.

As they went through the dark green foliage, Firestorm gently elbowed Rainbow and whispered, "Hey, uh, Dashie? Can I call you Dashie?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes and ducked under a tree branch. "...Whatever."

"Well, I was just wondering something. Since I lost the flying competition a few days back, do I need some sort of punishment or something?"

Rainbow and Rarity's heads immediately snapped over to look at Firestorm.

"What?" Firestorm asked innocently. "Do I have something stuck in my teeth?" He started to run his tongue along his teeth. "Is it green? Oh, please don't let it be green. I don't remember eating anything green."

"You admit you lost?" Rarity asked, slightly disgusted by his comment. "You aren't the kind of pony to admit to losing so readily."

"Are. You. Serious?!" Rainbow asked, bringing her head closer to his with every word. "Are you telling me that... that I beat you that day?!" Her eyes were popping with excitement.

"Listen, Rainbow. You said it yourself. I was supposed to match every trick you did. And as far as I can recall, I had to do a Sonic Rainboom, not a Flameboom. You were right. I can't do a Rainboom. I didn't match you. I may have come close, but I didn't. You won."

Rainbow imitated a fish, her mouth closing and opening in shock as happiness hit her in the middle of her rose-colored irises. A grin almost split her face in half and she leaped up into the air. "WOO HOO! HE SAID I WON! I DIDN'T LOSE AFTER ALL! YES!" She started to do a victory strut in the air from side to side, singing, "I did it, I did it, I did it." Firestorm could not help but feel happy watching her be the happiest he had seen.

After her victorious celebration she landed, a thoughtful expression on her face. "But wait. Wait a sec. You broke the sound barrier, so technically you did match me. The only reason you couldn't do a Rainboom is because you don't have a rainbow tail. I mean, you did a trick I couldn't do either. And that's because you have a fiery tail instead. You have a fiery tail, and you did a Flameboom. I have a rainbow one, and I did a Rainboom. You did match me."

Firestorm looked at her quizzically. "Are you trying to say you don't want to be the victor for once?"

"What? No..."

"Because it sounds like you're making up excuses to make yourself lose."

Rainbow didn't answer.

"Dash," he said to her softly- the softest voice either of them had heard out of him. "I feel really awful about that right now. I embarrassed you. In front of the entire town. With your confidence so high, no doubt. Seeing you so broken like that- it-it was the most depressing thing I'd ever seen. I want to see you happy. And if that means having me lose a competition, then..." He bowed his head. "I'll gladly do it. I'd never forgive myself if you drank yourself to death and it was my fault. So accept it. Please. You won." There was actually sincerity in his voice, with no hint of sarcasm or exaggeration.

Rarity looked at Firestorm with no small amount of surprise. Where had this come from?

Rainbow's voice was subdued as she said, "But... I want to see you happy, too..."

Firestorm smiled. "The best way to make me happy," he told her, "is for you to be happy."

A small thought began to blossom at the back of Rarity's mind. It was a subconscious thought, and she didn't pay much attention to it. But it involved Rainbow and Firestorm, and that what was happening was entirely natural.





The forest path was devoid of predators- most of them were nocturnal, anyway. So they reached the castle with little interference.

They eventually came to the rope bridge spanning the gap to the abandoned ruins. Firestorm "Oooh"ed in awe. "You know what this reminds me of?" he asked out loud. "This reminds me of something taken straight out of a Daring Do book, if you ask me."

Firestorm found his face obscured by Rainbow's. "YOU READ DARING DO TOO?!" she squealed.

"WHO DOESN'T?!" he screamed back excitedly. "SHE'S FRICKIN' AWESOME!"

"I ACTUALLY MET HER FACE-TO-FACE!" Rainbow slipped out loud, then put a hoof to her mouth as if she had said a bad word.

"YOU WHAT?!" Firestorm yelped. "YOU DID THAT?!" He flapped into the air, pumping a hoof in triumph. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW SHE REALLY EXISTED!"

But before they could continue, they checked their surroundings. Rarity was nowhere to be seen. She had already crossed the rope bridge.

"Are you two done with your fascinating discussion yet, or shall I continue alone?" her exasperated voice echoed across the misty rocky canyon.

They both laughed embarrassedly and flew across the chasm in lieu of using the bridge.

As they flew, Firestorm instinctively looked down, studying the bottom of the chasm. He could see a lot of rocks, but there was... there was something down there that seemed to be almost... familiar to him. He didn't know exactly what it was, but it pulled at him.

As they touched down he casually asked, " 'Dashie? What's at the bottom of the chasm?"

Before Rainbow could say anything, Rarity spoke up. "The Tree of Harmony. We discovered it when we had to give the Elements back to ensure its survival."

"Okay, so wait," Firestorm said, holding up his hooves. "The Elements of Harmony- the most powerful, most enchanted objects known to all Ponydom- are just sitting in a tree?"

Rainbow cautiously said, "...Yeeaah."

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G?" he asked jokingly, fluttering his eyelashes.

They both laughed, though Rarity cut off her laughing sooner than Rainbow. "Well, I'm not sure they're doing that," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Then what are they doing?" he asked, starting to walk to the castle. "They're not doing much good just sitting there embedded in a tree. Why aren't they up here with you?"

"We had to give 'em to the Tree of Harmony when it was dying," Rainbow explained, flapping a foot above the heads of the others. "Without the Elements, it couldn't last long."

"Except now that the tree is healed, does it need the Elements anymore?" he pressured. "Does a healed pony keep bandages on him? Does he keep the I.V bag in him?"

That created silence as they walked to the castle ruins. Eventually, Rarity said, "I suppose the tree's simply holding onto them until the time is right."

"But when will that be?" Rainbow asked.

"When our need for them is greater than ever," Rarity ominously spoke.

Not another word was spoken for a while.

Finally, they reached the entrance of the ruins.

Firestorm poked his head in through the rotting doors. "HALLOO! ANYONE IN THERE? YOU GOT A FRIENDSHIP PROBLEM HERE? 'CAUSE IF YOU DO, IMMA SOLVE IT!"

"Get back," Rarity irritably commanded him, and she used her magic to pick up Firestorm and drop him behind her and Rainbow. "Weren't you the one saying we had to be cautious in here, as 'You never know what might pop up in there?'"

"No, I only said fortune favors the prepared. Lady, ya gotta understand this by now. I'm not good with caution. That's a six-letter word I don't get along with very well."

"Caution has seven letters," Rarity reminded him.

"Whatever." He waved a hoof.

Rainbow peeked her head inside and took a look around. It looked exactly as it was the last time they had visited. A fine layer of dust and grime coated everything. Most of the books they remembered having taken to the Royal Canterlot Library beforehoof, so the shelves were deserted. All the tables and chairs and walls, however, were in a dilapable condition. Most of the mortar holding the bricks together had long before been reduced to something resembling crumbly old bread. Everything looked calm. Undisturbed. Abandoned.

Rainbow took her head out of the doorway. "All clear," she reported. They then went in themselves. Night was showing the first signs of approaching.

Buttresses soared overhead, supporting the old ceiling from falling. The air was foul and rancid, carrying the smell of rotting wood and stagnant water, with rusted iron and dead vegetation mixing in with it. It lingered near their noses threateningly. Scuttling creatures evaded the light.

Firestorm pinched his nose and observed nasally, "I'm thinking this isn't a popular tourist attraction for you, is it?"

"No," Rainbow said.

"I've only heard rumors about this place before. I haven't had the opportunity to visit. Where's the guidebook for this place?" Firestorm asked, looking around curiously.

"Be thankful you've only heard about it," Rarity told him with a hoof over her nose. "This place is filled with such tasteless decor. Take away the tapestries, and the place just becomes so... bland."

Firestorm looked at her slowly. "Tapestries?"

"This is a castle, is it not? There are tapestries, are there not?" Rarity chided him. "A while back, me and my friends came here at the same time for different reasons. Mine was to examine the priceless cloth decaying in here and bring it out for restoration. Our visit... did not end well." The memories came back to her with frightening clarity, of how she had just about reached the end of her rope.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't all that scared!" Rainbow said defensively.

"Your cries of terror betray your words," Rarity muttered under her breath.

"Why should I be scared?" Firestorm asked, grinning lopsidedly. "I can totally handle anything this pile of bricks can throw at me."

There came a deafening BOOM as the doors shut by themselves and they were enveloped in darkness.

Firestorm let out a very feminine shriek of terror.

"Stop that!" Rainbow yelled at him in the dark. "It was just the doors closing!"

Indeed, the doors were now closed tight. Rarity, Rainbow, and Firestorm were alone. A small ball of light appeared on the tip of Rarity's horn and in the faint light they could now see themselves and three feet in front of them. Rarity didn't remember the castle being this dark since the last time they had visited, which was strange.

Firestorm took a deep breath. "Sorry about that. It's just that, uh, in the dark you can't see how large the space you're standing in is." There was a loud SHING as he drew one of his swords.

"Are you expecting us to get attacked while we're in here?" Rainbow asked, eyeing his meter-long blade warily.

Firestorm paid her no attention. He instead put his hooves to the front of the hilt, where a switch rested. Without a word, he flicked the enchantment ignition.

There was a loud FWOOSH that roared in the still air, and the sword erupted into flame that ran all the way up the blade. There was now a sharp bar of fire clenched in Firestorm's hoof, and the sudden light threw shadows everywhere in the darkened castle. Rarity and Rainbow recoiled from the sudden heat and light, blinking a little. Then Rainbow stared at it with adorably wide eyes.

Firestorm noticed this and smirked. "Awesome, isn't it?"

"Totally!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"How... how is that possible?" Rarity asked, bewildered.

"Enchanted weapon. No big deal." Firestorm shrugged. "Well, heat and light are now ours. Let's find this friendship problem and get out of here." He flapped into the air, holding his sword aloft like a beacon. He looked back. Rarity and Rainbow were still looking at his sword with fascination.

Firestorm sighed in annoyance. "I'm WAAAIIITIIING!" he sang loudly. His voice echoed in the spacious castle.





They advanced through the dark castle. But in the sparse light of Rarity's horn and the flickering orange flame of Firestorm's weapon, the castle seemed even scarier than usual. Shadows seemed to scuttle about on their own and seemed to bleed onto the ground in black puddles. There was a gentle rumble as the flames ran up Firestorm's sword, lending an eerie, unnatural quality to their surroundings.

"I don't like this," Firestorm muttered as they passed a mossy, cracked statue of a rearing Alicorn. "This doesn't feel right. We shouldn't be here."

"Do you want me to hold your hoof?" Rainbow asked, a hint of teasing in her voice.

Firestorm blushed, though it was hard to tell in the sparse light, and it barely stood out against his dark orange face. "Ah, no."

They came to the old throne room in the castle. A threadbare carpet led from the massive entryway to the pair of regal thrones at the end of the room. There were side corridors leading deeper into the castle, looking abandoned. The flickering flaming sword put the room into light, casting strange, twisted shadows over the walls. "They say this is the final resting place of Nightmare Moon?" Firestorm asked. He shuddered.

"This is where she was banished, Rarity clarified. "Where, about six or seven years ago, me and my friends harnessed the Elements of Harmony for the first time and drove the Nightmare force out of Luna."

"But where did the Nightmare go?" Firestorm asked.

Rarity looked at him strangely. "Huh?"

Firestorm drew himself up. "Matter cannot be created or destroyed," he told them in the air of a professor reminding his students of something they ought to already know. "Whatever happened to the Nightmare possessing her, it was not entirely destroyed. Did it just run off? Was it banished to Tartarus?"

His voice dropped. The fiery sword made a sinister shadow across his face."Or is it still in the castle, nursing its injuries and ego, waiting for the right moment to strike and infect any who come near to feed on their stubbornness and pride, until it gains enough power to overtake its victims entirely and drain their bodies to an unidentifiable husk?" He paused, his face undulating in the light his sword gave off. Then he widened his eyes. "Wow, I think I just scared myself. I, uh, I'm just gonna say it went and, uh, got banished to Tartarus! Yeah! That's it!" He smiled. "I need to go and make myself happy now." He dropped his voice to the lowest it could possibly go. "Shoopadoop," he intoned lowly. "BubblebubblebubblebubblebubblebubbleBUBBLE!"

The last bubble echoed around the spacious throne room, and Rarity tried hard not to giggle. That pegasus was like a mix of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, if the latter had a male brain.

And when she thought of that, it hit her. He wasn't an uncouth attention-seeking, sarcastic warrior. He was a friend! True, he was all of the above, but he also shared attributes with her other friends to the point where even though he stood out like a sore hoof, he was indistinguishable from her other friends. He was a part of them now. And Rarity hated to admit it to herself, but she had to- reluctantly- admit that he could be... likable. Yes, she went for that adjective.

He was ribbing others, sure, but not in a way that made them hurt. He was actually rather self-deprecating about most of the comments he said about himself, like him being super hot or being super awesome. He didn't actually mean any of that. He liked exalting himself, but only as a point of humor. Ad not just that, but he proved that he actually could be sincere, like just a little bit ago with Rainbow. He liked over-exaggerating and being pretentious, sure, but he could be a lot worse.

They were now at the pair of staircases leading up to the twin thrones. Rainbow said, "Well, there's nothing here. Let's maybe check if there's a friendship problem in one of the towers?" She didn't sound certain.

"I would hold off on that, Dashie," Firestorm cautioned. He squinted. "I'm a little curious about this little space here between the stairs. Something... I don't know. It's like something's whispering to me, saying to me, 'Firestorm, you dunce! I want to show you something! So get your fantastic toned flank over here and look at me!'" He looked back. "Did any of you have the same thoughts?"

"...I dunno about the 'fantastic toned flank' part," Rainbow muttered under her breath, looking away from Firestorm's illuminated face. Was she embarrassed?

"I don't hear anything," Rarity said, straining her ears. "You must be hearing voices."

"Oh, no, lady. You're thinking of Freedom Fighter. Except he makes up all those voices by himself. This one's more intrusive. Like an annoying roommate you think you kicked out into the hallway, but they just chopped the door down to come back in."

Rarity and Rainbow exchanged looks.

"Well, it looks like we're going to have to investigate!" he said in a chipper tone. Firestorm stuck his sword in the space between the two staircases leading up to the thrones. As the fiery blade entered the small space, a few rats and bugs scuttled away from the harsh light.

"Charming," he muttered. He then walked in, running his hoof along the back wall. He seemed to be looking for something, though the two girls didn't know what.

"Come on... there should be something here..." Firestorm muttered, searching with his hoof. "You want me to find something... What do I need to find... where are you- Ah!" He found a small indentation. He pushed hard, and a cylinder went back into the wall. The wall then split in half down the center with a loud CRACK, and started to rumble.

Firestorm hurriedly took his hoof out of the hole and blew off the mound of dust and cobwebs that caked it. Rarity and Rainbow stepped forward, their mouths open as the wall under the stairs split apart, revealing a small room. Rarity used a foreleg to push aside Firestorm, and came to the front, entering the small room.

Her light lit the entire diminutive chamber. Along the length of the walls ran symbols and signs that were made almost unreadable by lichen and dirt. Firestorm and Rainbow also came in, barely fitting the three of them and still allowing space for Firestorm's sword.

Firestorm began to sweat bullets and shake as his claustrophobia kicked into overdrive. He looked nervously around the small antechamber that seemed to get smaller by the second, compacting the three of them. He pulled at his collar and stammered, "T-t-this is a bit crowded, don't you think?"

"Then you should leave," Rarity told him in a posh voice.

Firestorm blinked. Then he scowled. "And what, you make me get out? Why not you?"

"Because I'm not the one with claustrophobia," she told him. "If you stay out there, your problem is solved, and it allows us more space to work with."

Realizing he was losing the argument, Firestorm said defensively, "But I want to see it, too! Am I not as important to the group?"

Rarity opened her mouth to reply.

"Actually, you know what, I already know what you're going to say, so just forget about it." He sighed. "Why can't I see it?"

"We'll tell you about it when we come out. Now go on, shoo." She waved a hoof.

Firestorm squinted at her. "Are you always like this?" he asked her.

"Sometimes she's even worse," Rainbow admitted to him.

Firestorm groaned in mental pain and stepped outside. "Fine. You've won. One for your side." He said the words like it hurt to say them. He left, and now the only light in the chamber was Rarity's illumination. Outside, Firestorm said, "You are infuriating, you know that?"

"Of course I know it. That's why I do it," Rarity smugly replied, imitating Firestorm. "Now be a dear and keep a lookout, won't you, darling?"

Rainbow snickered shamelessly. They heard Firestorm groan again. "Another one for your side," he sighed.

Rarity got to work studying the wall's hieroglyphs with interest. She wasn't one for studying historic writing-- that was more of Twilight's area-- but as a simple dressmaker, she could admire the symbols themselves. They were fluid and smooth, looping and curving into each other and spread apart perfectly even. She was afraid to touch them, as they looked sandy and chipped and scoured with dust. She studied the left wall intently.

Where's Twilight when you need her? she thought as she studied the drawings.

She heard a sharp intake of breath behind her. "Hey, uh, Rarity?" Rainbow called weakly behind her, breaking Rarity's concentration. "You might want to take a look at this." She sounded afraid for some reason.

Rarity pointed her head to look at Rainbow, who was on the far wall. On that wall was a massive engraving of- 

"The Tree of Harmony?" Rarity asked in bewilderment. She came over, her light shining on the carving on the wall. There it was, ornately carved with its scraggly branches holding flowers and leaves. Many figures were kneeling at the tree's base, which had bright shining stones in the trunk and branches. But something was wrong.

Rarity's eyes bulged in shock. Everything was there and accounted for-- except for one small detail. She was speechless at the sight.

There weren't six Elements on the tree.

There were ten.