//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11: The face of God (part 2) 
// Story: Elementals 
// by Parodox 
//------------------------------//

"No one is without fear. So long as we are alive we will always have fear. And so long as there is fear, I will always be king."

-King Sombra, the mad tyrant.





How long had Forester been walking? How long had Forester ran from his home, from the Element that corrupted his faith? Everything seemed so different, so vast and unknown. Forester was in a place that could only be described as 'a place void of Nature's touch'. Only rock, dust, and death loomed over this land like a fog, clinging to every inch of land like a cobweb. And Forester was but a fly, a fly that had wandered into a trap.

Forester could feel it, a sense of dread held in the air, a feeling of fear struck his heart like a bolt of lightning. Forester's ears perked up, a hollowed howl echoed through the lifeless land. Forester froze, his eyes wide and his heart stopped for a moment at the sight he was now witnessing.

A creature in grey fur that resembled a goat had its insides cut out and splayed across the ground, being devoured by what could only be described as a large wolf with black fur. Forester could only stare in horror at the act of evil being done to the goat, instinctively taking a step back he moved a patch of pebbles- and caught the wolf's attention.

The wolf paused, its ears perked up and its head slowly slowly rising up from the carcass. Forester's eyes widened even more than before at the sight of the wolf's mouth. Its mouth covered in blood, with chunks of meat sticking out of it. It's eyes were blood red and horns that curled stuck out from its temples. It almost seemed like it was smiling, a grin grew on its face at the appearance of its next meal.

Forester, as if knowing what was about to happen next, ran.

The wolf let Forester gain some distance, it wanted to toy with its meal before devouring it. After Forester had gained some distance, the wolf arched its back and took chase. Its claws digging into rock as the wolf's legs pushed itself forward. Whereas Forester's hooves gave him little traction on the rock. The wolf caught up to Forester in no time at all, it pounced onto him, tackling him and planting him on his back. Forester was frozen in fear as the wolf's hot breath brushed against his face with every pant the wolf gave. The wolf's mouth opened far wider than it should've, showing off its rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth like the jaw of a shark. But before the wolf's jaws could chomp down on Forester something far bigger than the wolf tackled it.

The wolf was thrown away from Forester, it let out cries of pain as the bigger creature sunk its teeth into the wolf's neck. Its cries were silenced after a ear-splitting *CRUNCH*. Forester was thankful for the fog, for he did not have to witness the horror of the wolf being eaten.

Forester didn't waste a second, he was back on his hooves and he ran as fast as he could to put as much distance between himself and the far bigger creature. Once Forester was certain that he was far enough from the creature, he hid behind a large boulder to catch his breath. His racing heart was beginning to stabilize itself, and his heavy breathing softened. For a moment, Forester felt safe.

And then he looked to the left, where he saw a four legged figure with the body of a pony adorned in a brown robe with several vials tied to a belt around the figure's waist with a mask covering its face, two horns jutting out from the mask. Before Forester could react, the masked figure raised its hoof that held a pile of yellow powder in it. With a gentle blow from the figure's mouth, the powder took flight and was blown onto Forester.

Forester coughed and wheezed, swiping his forelegs to wipe away the powder. But his eyes felt heavy, his mind started to become dizzy, his legs buckled and stumbled as he tried to keep balance. Forester then fell forward right into the figure's forelegs, unconscious. The figure took Forester and laid him over her back, the figure began walking away but halted as a loud roar echoed throughout the wasteland. The figure stood still for a brief moment, before continuing with Forester on her back.





Back in Canterlot, in the medical ward, Celestia still remained unconscious. Her body hooked up to several machines and her wellbeing was taken care of by the dozens of nurses and doctors in the room. Meanwhile, outside of the medical ward, Luna had left to enter the science ward of Canterlot Castle. She entered through the doors quickly and violently, catching the scientists and experts in the room to flinch from being startled. Luna, with her eyes completely white, her mane swishing quickly like a whip, and her horn glowing brighter than usual, demanded in the Royal Voice,

"WHERE IS THY MICROSCOPE?!"

If the question itself did not startle the scientists, then the royal voice definitely did the trick as they were all assaulted by the booming voice. Some of the scientists cowered in fear, some ran under tables to hide themselves from Luna. The princess noticed this at once and quickly calmed herself down, she felt terrible instilling fear into her citizens and apologized at once.

"I'm so sorry, I...I didn't mean to do that." She said solemnly before shaking away her regret. "I am in need of assistance, I must observe something under a microscope. Does anyone here know where one is?" She asked.

The ponies in the ward were silent, until one stood up and stepped forward. A unicorn stallion with a grey coat, white beard and man, and square glasses approached Luna. "I'll help you your highness." The stallion said, walking away from the room he travelled down a hallway with Luna following.

"What is your name?" Luna asked as the two continued down the hall.

"Gizmo, your highness." The stallion now known as Gizmo answered. "If I may ask, what is it you need to observe with a microscope?"

Luna levitated the vile of her sister's blood towards Gizmo. "My sister is in peril, and we believe that there is something-"

Gizmo lifted a hoof to silence Luna, "Say no more you majesty." Gizmo said. "We may be locked in here, but we know about the Griffons declaring war on Equestria, and them hurting Princess Celestia." Gizmo said with a bit of hatred in his voice.

The two entered a clean room with tables, sinks, and cabinets. The room was filled with all kinds of scientific instruments, but the one that caught Luna's eye was the microscope sitting on a desk in the corner of the room. Gizmo and Luna approached the microscope where Gizmo began preparing it straight it away. Gizmo used his magic to levitate a rectangular piece of glass towards Luna. "Place a drop of Princess Celestia's blood onto here." He ordered.

Luna did so by tipping the vile slightly, causing several droplets to drop onto the glass. Gizmo took the glass and placed it under the lens of the microscope. He leaned forwards, looking at the droplets of blood through the powerful lenses. He watched the blood for what seemed like hours before retracting his gaze from the droplets.

"Well?" Luna asked?

"Well...there's nothing." Gizmo answered. "Just the normal cells that us ponies have. Although I will say that I didn't see a whole lot of G cells."

Luna's ears perked up upon hearing that. "Do you have any G cells on hoof that you could insert into the blood?" She asked.

Gizmo answered Luna by using his magic to open a cabinet and levitate a vile of clear liquid towards them. Without a word, he used his magic to take a droplet of the clear liquid and placed it onto the the droplet of blood. The two droplets stuck together for a moment, Gizmo looked through the microscope once more and his eyes widened.

"Good lord." He exclaimed.

"What is it?" Luna asked in a worried and frantic state.

Gizmo stepped back, allowing Luna to look through the powerful lens. She saw several dots, each one a different color. But her eyes were drawn to the group of grey dots which she could only assume was the G cells. What she saw made her eyes widen just like with Gizmo. Every cell in droplet of blood was racing towards the G cells and committing suicide. They would run into the G cells, the two would wrestle with one another before they became one cell. The new cell would turn black and disintegrate.

Luna looked up from the microscope and asked Gizmo, "What is happening?" She demanded.

Gizmo paused, his mouth opened and closed like fish as he tried to find the words to describe it. "It's...irregular." He spoke. "Every cell in the body is attacking the G cells, damaging both cells to the point where they are all destroyed." Gizmo stroked his beard as he pondered. "This explains Princess Celestia's illness. With her lack of cells, her immune system is weak and easily broken, even to the point where the air itself could become toxic."

"Is there anyway to remedy this?" Luna asked in fear for her sister's life.

"Yes there is." Gizmo answered. "I have a theory that something has tricked the cells inside of Princess Celestia to make them think that the G cells are a virus. A dangerous virus, so much so that they are willing to destroy themselves in order to purge it. Therefore, the thing to do would be to remove the G cells from her body at once."

That was all Luna needed as she flew out of the scientific ward with extraordinary speeds. She was in the medical ward in no time at all, where she kicked down the doors. Inside, was still her unconscious sister, the dozens of nurses and doctors attending to her, Flash Sentry, and the doctor. But there was a new pony in the room, a stallion guard clad in golden armor had been talking to Flash. When Luna had entered the room, the guard seemed to have a sad and disappointed look. He held his low, not bearing to face Luna as he spoke.

"Princess Luna...I'm so sorry." The guard said sorrowfully.

Luna's mind raced to her sister, she demanded from the guard, "WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MY SISTER?!"

The guard flinched, but Flash quickly stepped forward to clear the air. "Princess Celestia is fine your majesty." Flash answered. "What the guard is referring to is the mob of ponies at the gate. They broke through with the help of seven very popular mares."

Luna raised a brow, perplexed as to what Flash was referring to before she knew what Flash was talking about. The Royal Guard was strong, but it was weak when it faced against magic. This was why the Royal Guard were helpless during the attack of Tirek, the Changeling invasion, and Discord's release. There was only one group of mares with powerful magic that could've broken down the gates and entered.

The Elements of Harmony had breached Canterlot.





Forester awoke with a jump. His body bolted upright, his chest heaved up and down to match his accelerating breath and heartbeat. His mind was racing, his head swung left and right frantically to scan the room for any dangers. Once he knew that none were present he began to calm down. Forester became aware of his surroundings once he had calmed down, he was lying on a bed under two sets of covers that had the edges neatly tucked under the mattress, behind Forester were two pillows which laid up against the back frame of the wooden bed. Forester's gaze looked to the room around him, everything was made out of wood but not the wood that had been cut and furnished. Forester recognized the style of the building as he had lived in one his whole life.

The deer believed that nature bestowed upon them three gifts. The first gift was plants from which the deer could feed, the second gift was water so that the plants would grow, and the third gift was the trees where the deer would take shelter. Nature would grow trees that were so large that the deer could carve them out and live in them. The same was for this house, it was the insides of a tree. Only this house was different, it had furniture that had been carved from different wood and placed in the room, the rings of the trunk were covered by a rug that was made of fine silk, and glass had been put up where the windows were carved out.

This was not the work of a deer, this was the craftsmanship of a pony. Forester had learned about the culture and different styles that the ponies had. But the work done on the house was a mismatch of pony and deer craftsmanship.

Forester's gaze landed on the stairs deescalating in a spiral. The stairs were planks of wood sticking out from a metal pole that descended in a spiral. Forester's brow furrowed, he pulled the covers aside and stood up from his bed. He made his way towards the stair case slowly as his legs felt sore for some reason. He clung to the metal pole as he descended down into the room underneath.

The new room was the same size as the one he had previously been in, only this one had different furniture. There were rugs along the floor, a couch and a cushioned chair, beside the couch and chair was a bookshelf with all kinds of hardcover books on its shelves, and there were two open doors that led outside, one on the side of the room and the other parallel to the first door. Forester made his way to one of these doors carefully, he took a step outside and saw where he was.

The first thing Forester recognized was the tree, it was known by the deer as Kinswood, but the ponies called it 'porcupine tree'. The tree was known as this because it grew strong and sturdy branches in no time at all, it was almost like a new tree sprouted from the trunk. Forester saw several tree houses that had been built around some of the strong branches, each house was connected to one another via rope bridge.

Forester looked down to see that the treehouse he had been in was the lowest and largest one of the others as it had been built inside the base trunk of the tree. The distance between Forester and the ground was roughly 200 feet high, high enough to where Forester would injure himself if he were to fall. Forester looked outwards to see the area of grass and flowers that surrounded the area of the tree and the cold barren wasteland that lie ahead of it. The tree was the only one Forester could see, there was only mountains and rock that surrounded it. It was as if life clung to the tree, almost like the vegetation would perish if it moved even an inch.

Forester's ears perked up, detecting the sound of a door releasing a loud moan as it swung open. His head swung to look behind him to see the other door opening. A hoof stepped into the room, followed by the body of, what Forester could only assume to be, the owner of this house. To Forester's surprise, the figure that had entered the room was a female deer with light brown fur, grey eyes, a white underbelly that stretched from under her neck to the tip of her tail. The female deer looked to Forester with a calm and normal gaze, she spoke in a firm and light tone,

"I see you're awake." The female deer said, "try not to overexert yourself, your body is fragile after being unconscious." The female deer was referring to the powder that she had blown onto Forester to render him unconscious. She calmly walked over to the cushioned chair and took a seat in it. "Take a seat Forester, we have much to discuss."

Forester was skeptical, he slowly walked over in front of the couch but did not take a seat. The female deer noticed this right away.

"Is there a problem Forester?" The female deer asked.

"I find it offensive to sit on something that was made from the stolen feathers of chickens and the shredded wool of sheep." Forester stated.

"Very well, stand if so desire." The female deer said.

"How do you know my name?" Forester demanded.

"I know many things." The female deer answered. "I know things which my kind found appalling, and I was banished as a result. Branded with the mark of 'heretic'."

Forester's eyes widened in shock as he knew the identity of the female deer. He had learned about her when he was young, as did all other deer when they were young. "You are Forthnum, the heretic, the traitor, the liar." Forester growled.

"My name is Forthnum, that is true, but I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a heretic simply because I learned the truth." The female deer now known as Fortnum said.

Forester took a step forward, "You denounced the ways of Nature, you associated yourself with ponies and brought their ways into the culture of the deer."

"You only know the story that the four seasons fabricated, would you be willing to hear my side of the story?" Forthnum asked. Forester refused to attend in Forthum's storytelling and made way for the door, only for the doors to slam shut and lock. "And yes, that was a rhetorical question."

Forester looked back to Forthnum with a puzzled expression. "You used magic?" He asked incredulously.

Forthnum gestured to the couch, "Sit, and I will tell you the story."

Forester still refused to sit, but he stood before Forthnum.

Forthnum began her story, "When I was 6, I had memorized every text, transcript, and book the deer culture had to offer. I craved knowledge, and one day I happened to come across a group of ponies that were settlers in search of a place to put their city. I accompanied them on their travel and delved into the culture and history of the ponies. The ponies were creative creatures, they made so many wonders out of the works of Nature."

"It wasn't long until we came across a land that was plentiful in soil and the perfect place to build a town. The group began cutting down the forests from which they built their houses, they began herding animals from which they farmed, and they built farms from which they fed themselves." Forthnum explained.

"And you let them do this? You just stood there and watched as they carved up Nature's gift?" Forester asked with disappointment.

"Forester...I wasn't the only deer in that town." Forthnum stated, causing Forester's eyes to widen in shock. "There was a tribe of deer that resided in the forest where the town was constructed. They were sick and dying, do you know what was giving them their sickness?" Forthnum asked Forester, only for her to answer her own question. "It was the trees, or to be more specific, the leaves which were poisoning the the deer. When the ponies cut down the trees they removed the sickness and the deer were forever grateful. The deer and ponies lived in harmony, the deer taught the ponies the way of Nature and Ponies accepted it as their belief."

"The ponies...worshiped Nature?" Forester asked in bewilderment.

Forthnum nodded, "They did, they accepted and worshiped the traditions of the deer as if they were our own kin. They were apostles of Nature herself." Forthnum's tone became sour and angry as she continued. "But one day, we began to notice that something was eating our crops. We assumed that it must've been some cattle that had gotten loose and paid no attention to it. But as time went one, the sheep and cattle were being found dead every day. Their body's dragged away from the town and torn to shreds to the point where they were unrecognizable as a sheep or a cattle. But that was just the start, it escalated quickly as a young filly had been killed in the middle of the town overnight. The truth became obvious too late, we were being hunted."

"There were creatures indigenous to this land, they avoided the town but when they began to change so did their habits. These creatures had evolved, Forester, I watched as they grew bigger and stronger with each passing day, becoming so daring that they would slaughter one of our own. It was Nature that evolved them Forester, and it was Nature that was killing us." Forthnum explained. "We didn't think that at first, we could never believe that our beloved god would do such a thing. We prayed to Nature to turn the monsters away from us but our prayers were never answered. Instead, Nature abandoned us when the monsters attacked."

"I awoke to the blood curling sound of screams and the vicious roaring of demons. What I saw still haunts me to this day, monsters tearing apart ponies and deer like their lives meant nothing, like they were nothing but food. They killed them all, Forester, the deer, the ponies, the town, the farms, everything. They destroyed it all like it was nothing." Forthnum glared at Forester to address the seriousness in her tone. "I held the corpse of a colt in my hooves with tears streaming down my face, I got on my knees and pleaded that Nature save us, that she come down ands kill these monsters." Forthnum's tone became somber and furious. "Nature did show herself, she presented herself in the form of a beast that could topple any building with ease. But what I saw made me lose my faith that day, I was betrayed by Nature when the truth was unveiled before my very eyes. Nature presented herself as the mother from which the monsters spawned from, the very monsters that killed the colt I held in my hooves. Nature, wanted us to die that day. She did not care if we were apart of her faith or not, she only saw us as vermin."

"Lies."

Forthnum blinked with a perplexed look on her face. "Pardon?" She asked.

Forester repeated himself, "Lies, all of it. You presumed Nature to be some beast that attacked you when Nature has no form, she is every life all around us."

Forthnum sighed, slowly shaking her head, "I had hoped that we could solve this crisis of yours easily. But it seems that I have no choice but to force you to accept the truth." Forthnum said as Forester was shown out the door and onto the rope bridge. Forthnum walked onto the bridge using her magic to keep Forester restrained she levitated Forester over the bridge and began to let him slowly descend to the ground. "Here's how this is going to work Forester, you are going to play a little game. The same creatures that attacked the town are still indigenous to this land, so I suggest you not get cornered by them. The only way you can win this game is by answering a simple question," Forthnum said as Forester touched the ground.

"What is the meaning of life?"