//------------------------------//
// The Broken Elements 
// Story: The Alchemist's Dream 
// by L Drkheart 
//------------------------------//

Twilight ran ahead of her friends as they reached the labyrinth and found a heavy storm brewing above, in the distance, Pegasi could be seen trying to stop it but failing. The wind blew around the six as they all looked ahead. “Okay girls, I bet that our elements and Spike are somewhere in here so find them and stick together. Nothing can beat us if we do that.” Twilight turned to see her friends seemed shaken from before, more unsure of themselves. “Girls?”
“Don’t get us wrong Sugarcube, we’re with you till the end it’s just what that Discord said has us all… distracted.”
“I suppose I never thought of it but he’s right. The princess has lived for so long and has to have made many hard choices that we could never have made. She banished her own sister to the moon… I could never do that to Sweetie no matter what happened…”
“No, we can’t go doubting ourselves or the princess now! We met her and know what she’s like, sure she might not be perfect but we have to stay loyal to her and it’s better than the insanity Discord brings!” 
“R-Rainbow is right… We can’t doubt her now when she is trusting us with Equestria. She believes that we can do this and she was alone for so long… being kind and nice all the while watching everypony around you has a fulfilling life and then pass on… That would make anypony bitter and angry at times… We all make mistakes.”
“Yep but our mistakes don’t determine the fate of thousands of ponies and have the potential to change how all other species see ponies as a whole!”
“Pinkie!! ...Thanks for summing that up…” Pinkie smiled and saluted the bookhorse.
“Anytime Twilight!” Twilight sighed and looked at her friends before hugging them. 
“I know what he said hit hard, even I can’t push out everything he said but this isn’t about the princess. We are the last hope for Equestria and I know that all of you will do what you do best and keep true to yourselves and I hope I will be able to also.” They all relaxed and hugged her back, causing Twilight to smile and wipe away a stray tear that tried to escape. “Now let’s go save a kingdom!” They all prepared to step into the maze together when a voice echoed out from the labyrinth. 
“So united, an unbreakable bond between friends who are so different. I wonder what holds you all together? Are you even true friends or did fate push you all together? Would you all have become so close if the elements of harmony were destroyed? If Nightmare Moon never returned that night or even if she returned the previous night? You all believe that you are strong together while I believe that you all are exactly the same as you are alone.”
“We don’t care what you think now return the elements or we will take them!” Discord appeared while sitting on a cloud of cotton candy. “Very well, your elements in the center of the maze and should you be able to find them then I give up any claim to the kingdom and be on my merry way, never to return.” 
“Well, this is easy! I’ll just fly over and-” As Rainbow was about to fly over the maze, he wings vanished and Rarity caught her before she hit the ground. 
“Tch tch tch where’s the fun in a game if you cheat? No more wings or magic should even things out, right farmer girl?” He smirked as Applejack glared at him, snapping his fingers while making all wings and horns vanish with a poof. “Now my little ponies, you must get to the end of the maze and get the elements and you win the game but should any pony leave before that or refuse to play then you fail. The elements stay mine and Equestria becomes my plaything.”
“Deal now move so we can go.”
“One more thing~ seeing that this is six vs one I evened up the teams a bit with one of my own in the maze that will attempt to stop you.
“Fine, but one rule of our own! You are not allowed to cheat with magic!” 
“Whatever, deal.” Discord watched as they entered the maze and then walls separated them from each other. “Oh before your rule was made I turned the maze alive! It will try to stop you, have fun ponies!” He chuckled to himself as he looked over the maze from high up. “I won’t even have to use magic to stop you, my little puppet will make you stop yourselves.”
.   .   .
Applejack was fearless as she ran, believing in the earth under hoof and trusting her instincts to lead her to the center. The maze opened up to an open field and as Applejack cautiously trotted through the field, apple trees soon surrounded her. 
“These look like the ones back home… Ah hope Applebloom, Big Mac, and Granny are okay with everything happin.”
“You sure you weren’t meant to get the element of loyalty Applejack? It’s always family with you.” Applejack looked up and jumped back as Spike was sitting in a tree and munching on an apple. His emerald green scales were now a deep grey and his eyes held none of the life that Applejack had come to like in the dragon. 
“What did Discord do to ya, Spike?! Do you know that Twilight is looking for ya? We need to find the elements.”
“In the center of the maze, I was told but why do that? Where the good in destroying Discord and giving Celestia back her power?”
“What kind of dumb question is that? Ah know she ain’t perfect but is this what you want everywhere?! Ah hear the earth calling for help and Ah ain’t gonna stop here.”
“AJ why defend the truth? Why would you want to bring that back to the world? In a world of chaos, you would never be lied to, you would never have to hurt anypony else and could just make them happy.”
“That ain’t how the truth works and a lie can make ponies happy until they find they were lied to then all you get is pain and heartbreak! I want to bring the truth back because it’s what is right.”
“Then why help Celestia!?! SHE LIED TO ME! THEY ALL DID!” Spike growled and jumped down towards the farmer and landed in front of her. “Were you ever told that your entire life was a lie?! That everything you were looking for was right in front of you but no one was willing to tell you?! I loved every last one of them but they kept the truth from me as I suffered for nothing! All I ever wanted was the truth but I was never given such a gift, now I’ll take that from the world.” Applejack took a few steps back before preparing herself for an attack, pulling out her lasso. 
“Ah don’t want to hurt ya Spike but Ah will!”
“Where are your parents Applejack?” That question shook the workhorse to her core as she dropped the rope. 
“W-w-what?”
“Where are your parents? You must have questioned it… they never came back to you and Big Mac even when they had just had a foal. Why did they leave?”
“T-they were out on a job… they vanished… didn’t come home…”
“Is that the honest truth Applejack or is that just the truth that your mind wants to believe? If the truth is so perfect shouldn’t we speak the other option?”
“N-no… stop it…”
“Isn’t the truth that they could also have just run off?”
“No!”
“That they had gotten sick of everypony and of the farm?!”
“STOP IT!”
“That they never loved you all?!”
“NO THAT’S A LIE!” Applejack bucked Spike hard into a tree as she looked up with tears in her eyes and bucked the dragon again making him dent the tree as she cried and looked at him with anger. “They were perfect and they loved us! They would have done anything to get back!!”
“I-if that’s true… why did they leave? They had a foal to take care of and they still couldn’t just let somepony else deliver a few apples? What kind of love is that?” Applejack stepped back and shook her head before running away, her hat coming off and coat slowly losing all its color. The hat fell at Spike’s feet as he picked it up and while he felt nothing, a tear ran down his cheek.
.   .   .
Pinkie Pie happily hopped through the maze and wondered if she should just use her party cannon but wouldn’t that be cheating? She questioned that when she found herself in a garden party with an impressive amount of balloons and fun looking games. 
“Wow not bad, looks a lot like one of my parties!”
“Coming from you, that’s a big compliment and I did my best.” Spike toyed with a tiny cup that he had filled with punch. Pinkie noticed Applejack’s hat on his head and tilted her head at his lack of color.
“What did you do to Applejack? She would never have left that hat behind, she loves it more than an apple festival! Spike what happened to your color you look… how I used to look…”
“I don’t know Pinkie, I feel great and I like my color better this way.”
“That’s a lie, I know how it feels to be like that. When I thought the girls hated me, I became a lot like that but then I found that I had overreacted and we had a fun time laughing together with a party.”
“Heh laughing right… You sure they weren’t just laughing at you? I mean look at you, a pink pony who you can always count on to never do anything right! You pushed away your family with how you are, barely ever spending time to visit them because of how you turned out. Tell me, are any of them like you? Your own twin?”
“No but she isn’t supposed to be me, I’m Pinkie Pie and no one laughs at me! They laugh with me.”
“Oh wake up Pinkie! You and I were always the freaks of this group, me for what I am and you for who you are. I mean you told me how you pushed Rainbow Dash from one of her oldest friends, I bet that Griffon wasn’t so happy being the butt of the joke.”
“I didn’t do that! I tried to help!” 
“But only made things worse! Where’s the laughter when nothing is funny!? When all you’re left with is cruelty and bitterness then I’ll like to see you laugh, so tell me Pinkie how do you feel when you are the one laughed at!?” Spike clapped and the balloons formed a column around the party pony as several took the faces of her friends and threw insult after insult all the while the other balloons took the forms of the other ponies of Ponyville and even her family and began to laugh at her. Pinkie shook her head and covered her ears as their voices and laughs flooded her mind and drowned out her own screams for it to stop. Spike looked away and clutched his real hand tight against his chest, his claws sinking into the hand and spilling droplets of blood on his chest. Walking away as the balloons popped and left an angry grey Pinkie standing with tears in her eyes and her mane flat.
.   .   .
Rarity was groaning as she traveled through the maze, careful to avoid any stray thorns or mud puddles. She groaned loudly finding herself at another dead end. “This is ridiculous, expecting a lady to find her way to the center without magic or even a map. After we beat that brute I’m going to make an appointment to the spa for some me time.”
“Rarity~ How radiate your beauty~” Rarity was careful as she followed the voice and came to a lone door that seemed to open to nowhere but as she pushed in, she found herself on a stage and she was dressed in a dazzling white dress with purple trimmings and diamonds hanging by her side. She awed at her image and looked ahead, just beyond the curtains she could hear a familiar voice as the announcer hyping the crowd for “The greatest beauty and biggest talent in Equestria!” 
“Aww, Darlings there is no need for that much praise… but do go on.” She listened with a smile as the voice proclaimed her as an inspiration and that everyone knew of her kind deeds and would go down as legend for the future. Rarity felt her heart swell with pride and joy as it was all she wanted, to make a legacy that not only would outlive her but offer something to all of ponykind and make their lives better. As she stepped out to show herself to the crowd, a white unicorn with a flawless pink and purple mane and gorgeous pink dress pushed her aside. “Hey! Who do you think you are pushing me?!”
“Uhh, Sweetie Belle, the one they’ve been talking about for the last hour duh. I was running late but I think it’s time to show myself off.” Rarity was struck silent as the crowd cheered for Sweetie and she thanked them and even sung a song before she took the mike for a speech. “Thank you all for taking the time to come and see me! I’ve been so busy traveling the world but I’d never forgotten my home! Ponyville holds memories of the best times of my life where I spent them having fun with the Wonderbolt captain Scootaloo and CEO of Apple Inc, Applebloom! I know you two are watching, love you, girls! Anyway, I remember growing up here was fun and I learned things that I’d never forget like humility. When I was a filly, I was always compared to my sister and thought I could never get out of her shadow but then I found my talents in music and art were beyond even hers. I left home and took Equestria by storm and it’s all thanks to you all and my love, Prince Youngblood! Together, we made a team unlike any other!”
“N-no… T-this isn’t real! This is my dream, what I wanted! Sweetie wouldn’t… couldn’t have taken it from me!” The stage became bathed in soft red light as the crowd became hidden and distorted. 
“Of course my sister, who will go unnamed because who really cares, tried to hold me back once my fame began to outshine hers.  She became jealous and even believed that I took her future what a joke right?” The crowd laughed with Sweetie as Rarity gritted her teeth and slowly began to lose her color. “I mean, who cares about a greedy mare who can’t be happy for her own sister when she does amazing! I’m just glad that everypony forgot about her.” 
“NO! I will not go forgotten! I will not let you or anypony take what is mine!! This life and fame belong to me, you can go buck yourself!!” Rarity shouted coming out and in her anger, attacked her own sister. The attack shattered the world around her as the crowd’s booing stuck around and Rarity stood full of anger and greed. “No pony will ever take what’s mine and I will take what I deserve!”
.   .   .
Fluttershy nervously zipped through the maze, wanting to get to the center and back to her friends as quickly as possible. Awhile in, she relaxed some and trotted through while looking around for any critters that could help her. As she turned a corner she found Spike standing there wearing Applejack’s hat and looking hurt with a bit of blood on his chest. “Spike! You look hurt!” She rushed to help him when Spike held out a claw to stop her. 
“I knew my tricks wouldn’t stop you… your heart was too kind and filled with love to be turned by an illusion… There was only one way to stop you.”
“S-Spike… what’s wrong? I have to take you back, back to Twilight! She can help you.” Spike growled and stared at her angrily as for a moment the green of his eyes returned then was gone again. 
“You think she can help me!? After keeping secrets and lying to me!? You look for the best in people right?! You see the good in me, well I know there’s bad in you!” He stepped towards the pony and she only backed away in fear. 
“S-Spike you’re scaring me! P-please stop…”
“No! You were helping a liar and thief! You know animals better than anypony else so you must have known that I was a freak, different from others! You never offered to help me or even brought it up! You know what Fluttershy?! I hate you! What if you aren’t there for your friends when they need you? You gonna fail them too and make them hate you? If you don’t stop me here and now then I will make them fail! I will stop all of you from getting the elements and you can go on knowing that you let me!” 
“S-stop! I’m sorry Spike!” Fluttershy teared up before she attacked the dragon and he vanished, instead Fluttershy found a bloodied and broken dragon on the ground. She trembled and looked down to see his blood on her hooves, screaming and looking up to find Twilight and the others staring at her in fear and sadness. “N-No, I didn’t… he was gonna… I was trying to help for once! I thought I could finally be the one to save you! I was done being the damsel! I wanted to be the one helping you all…” Fluttershy couldn’t even hear their shouts at her as she apologized and shook her head that this wasn’t her fault. That this was the only way. They all walked away and left her alone in the dark and her color faded away.
.   .   .
Rainbow Dash raced through the maze, even without her wings she was determined to show off to the world that she was one of the fastest ponies in Equestria. She was stopped when she arrived at a wall of fog. “Think you can hide from me Discord!? Come on, show me what you got you oversize filly painting!” She got on her hindlegs and shadow boxed the air a bit before a soft voice called to her from inside the fog. “M-mom?” Rainbow’s tough exterior vanished and she walked into the fog nervously. “Mom! Where are you?”
“Rainbow.” She turned to see Spike was standing there, She rushed to him, hugging him before immediately dropping him seeing that hat on his head and the lack of life in his eyes. 
“Spike, what’s up with you? Why do you look so angry and… what did you do to Applejack?”
“I spoke the truth, isn’t that what she always wants us to do?” 
“No… something’s wrong, she would never let anyone take that hat from her… take me to her now!”
“You have worse problems Dash.” He pointed behind her and she turned to see Cloudsdale shaking and the ponies panicking, flying away in fear. “Cloudsdale is getting hit hard by the chaos around, without its lead pony everyone is scared. The city won’t last forever.” Rainbow watched as her home, the place where her parents are, began to fall and crash to the earth. 
“N-no!! The ponies all got away!”
“Most… the ones that could fly…” Spike looked away as he felt sick and his body and spirit fought again against him, against the pain he was causing and what he was about to do. The vision closed in on RainbowDash’s own house and in her room, under her bed, was a crying and scared Scootaloo. She held a small plush of Rainbow Dash and seemed to be begging for her to save her as the city began to fall.
“Scootaloo!!! Give me my wings!! She needs me!” Spike forced himself to his feet and summoned a chest. 
“Such loyalty… you forget that if you save her if you go to her now then you will be abandoning the game and your friends here lose. What’s more important to you Dash? The entirety of Equestria or the life of one pegasus? What do you care anyway, she was always just your fan. Somepony there to stroke your ego when you wanted. She looked up to you, imagine what she would think of the great Rainbow Dash unable to choose between a country and a little pony who can’t even fly. She’ll hate you if you go save her and doom everypony else. Can you live with yourself after something like that?” Rainbow Dash stared at the chest as she thought about the choice and looked down as her color vanished.
“I-I’m sorry…”
.   .   .
Twilight sighed as she walked and then turned a corner, finding the center of the maze was just ahead, a fountain of the princesses signaling it. She rushed forward only to be stopped as Spike walked out. “S-Spike! You’re here! Good, we’re gonna need your help! After we get the elements I need you to distract Discord and then we can beat him!” She ran over to hug the dragon but slowed as she saw him glaring at her. The glare was unnerving but it was the lack of life in his eyes that scared her, something in the dragon had changed. “Why are you… Discord did something to you!”
“No, you did this to me Twilight! He showed me what you had hidden in that safe in Ponyville!”
“Safe? You dug through my stuff?” Spike ignored that and pulled out the egg half she owned as her eyes widened and she stepped back from him. “Spike, I can explain-”
“No! You knew all along why I was like this! You knew that I left the Dragon Lands because I felt different from the others!  I wanted to learn why I never could call that place my home! Why I was… so lonely there for so long… I thought I found my place here with you… but you and Celestia lied even after I lost my arm for you! I could have died trying to protect you ponies! What was I to you Twilight?! A test who lost their purpose the moment that you were done with me? A friend who didn’t deserve to know the truth? A hero who was only kept around when there is trouble to be fixed? I want to know why!?” Twilight shook her head and stopped when she saw tearing pouring from Spike’s eyes.
“Y-you were never any of those things! I wanted so much to keep you with me after the test but the princess said that it would only put me and you in danger, the dragons would never put up with one being raised as a pony… I thought it was possible after I first met you but wasn’t sure until I asked Celestia and she confirmed it… I thought of telling you but you seemed happy… I wanted to make Ponyville the best place to you and then tell you but I was scared of losing you… I would never have used you like that Spike… I… We’re friends right?”
“I thought we were… and if you are telling the truth… I’m sorry Twi… Discord the game is over, I won…” Twilight looked up in fear as the clouds swirled and Discord appeared laughing and rubbed his hands together.
“I thought it was smart to put my bet on the little dragon! I guess you wager big you win big.”
“B-but the rules!”
“Oh please, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time and I wasn’t gonna let a unicorn like you stop me. I must admit I had no real plan to stop you until I remembered the mistake you made, you really are just like Celestia you know that? You keep secrets and think that you know what’s best for every other pony when you are building them up so high just to make the fall so much worse. I wasn’t the one that broke your friend, you gave me everything I needed and all I did was show him the truth. What’s the power of friendship when you have no more friends?” He snapped as the maze vanished and showed all her friends were grey and seemed to be hurting except for one.
“W-where’s Rainbow Dash?”
“Looks to me that she was more loyal to her family than to you. Too bad but as the game worked, I win Equestria!” He laughed as lightning struck above but was cut off as Spike cleared his throat and crossed his arms. “Oh very well, here is what you wanted.” He gave the dragon a book that Twilight recognized and then it all clicked and she realized what they had done wrong but before she could stop him, Spike was teleported away. 
“Wait!! Where did you send him Discord!? He has the Elements!”
“If you wish to find him I’ll give you a clue to where he is this exact moment.
He’s gone to a single pony
One I revealed was a phony
His anger and hate has clouded his eyes
This will end when one of us finally dies”
“Enough with the riddles!” Twilight shouted as Discord waved her off and sighed overdramatically. 
“I tire of you Twilight Sparkle and I have chaos to spread, ta ta!” Twilight went to gather her friends and decided she would make her way to Ponyville to think. In the highest tower in Celestia’s castle, she looked over her kingdom and shook her head, not turning at the sound of somepony or in this case dragon, teleporting behind her. 
“Spike…” The dragon in question tossed the elements at Celestia’s hooves.
“Use them and get rid of Discord, then you will tell me why you lied. You knew who I was the moment I met you and you were the reason I’m a freak!” Celestia looked down at the elements but none reacted to her.
“You hurt those ponies you loved and still brought these to me?”
“I hate you… I hate Twilight… What I did was what I needed to do to win the game but I still don’t want him controlling the world so use the elements and fix it!”
“The elements are useless to me Spike!! They are connected to the six mares whose spirits you just shattered! You thought that I would just send them against Discord for the fun of it?! I trusted them to win but then he used you, you think he would have made this deal with you if he thought you would be able to win? He played you… I’m sorry for what I did and I thought that the dragons would’ve given you a life better than what I or Twilight could of and when you came back I knew who and why you had. The flame in your heart is pony magic which gave you dormant power that I thought could be used for good if I awoke it slowly and gave you positive influences in your life.”
“That’s why you sent me to Twilight…”
“Yes, that and to right an old wrong. She did want you, more than anything else. It was the first time she ever demanded something of me and I refused her because I was convinced that she was not ready. I only found later how much I had scarred her. She needed you, she wanted a pony or dragon to take care of that would never leave her side. A real friend but I took it before she had a chance. I am not proud of all my choices in life Spike but you were one of my biggest regrets. I’m sorry that I made a mistake and now… all of Equestria will pay for both of our choices…” Spike took a few steps back as his eyes widened in fear and shock at what he had been told and what he had done. He looked at the elements and grabbed the last one that seemed to have any power left, Twilight’s crown. He held it and shed a tear on it as he realized that he had not only failed her but everyone that he had wanted to protect. He had given into hate and hurt only to cause more of it.
“N-no… I-I can fix this… I have to…” Twilight’s crown glowed for a bit only for the light to die and the last element of harmony lost her last bit of hope…