//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 // Story: Welcome the Unknown // by Equestria Buck Yeah //------------------------------// Matt raised his hand skyward. He was in complete control of his new abilities, just as Discord promised. A yellowish ring of light emitted from his feet and rapidly expanded across the ground, covering everything in its path. The buildings and cotton candy clouds floating in the air turned yellow as well as the ring passed by. It expanded as far as the eye could see, eventually reaching Canterlot. Everything began turning back to normal one piece at a time. "Hey! What are you doing?" Discord growled. "Hah! Way to go, Matt!" Twilight cheered. Matt reached out and magically pulled Discord close, staring through him. "Starting from scratch. This is my show now, remember?" he said, releasing the god and lowering his arm to his side slowly. Their hope turned to despair in an instant. "Oh no," Twilight mumbled. "Matt, snap out of it! Come back to us! Please!" Discord zipped behind Matt and leaned over his shoulder. "You can have him back, sure! All you have to do is blast me with the Elements." A mocking gasp escaped him. "But you might hit your friend, and I've already shown you how useful your Elements are. Oh, what to do?" "That won't be necessary," Matt said coldly. He snapped his glowing left hand over his shoulder and ripped the Elements away from their bearers. Discord jumped back in surprise, wondering what his puppet was up to. The necklaces and tiara floated behind him surrounded by the same magic Matt was wielding. He tightly clenched a fist and the Elements were crushed, the jewels shattering to pieces. He grinded his fist and what was left of the powerful relics turned into dust. He let the remnants fall to the ground and they scattered into the wind. "Yyyyyes!" Discord cheered. "I don't know why I never thought of that. Magnificent!" The girls were speechless and now defenseless. Matt had just destroyed the only things that could be used to stop the Spirit of Chaos like they were nothing. Discord disappeared and reappeared, sitting back in a recliner with a bowl of popcorn in his lap. "Alright Matt, go ahead and amuse me now. This should be fun!" he said anxiously. Matt looked toward the heavens and the glow in his eyes intensified. A thick layer of black clouds appeared high in the sky with an eye appearing directly overhead. They almost appeared to cover the entire world, having entirely blotted out the sun. Lightning bolts flashed across the sky and loud cracks of thunder shook the buildings. He raised his arms slightly away from his sides and sparks of power shot out from his fingers. Gale force winds and torrential rains began tearing at Town Square. Twilight had to raise a protective shield over herself and her friends just to prevent them from being blown away or from being impaled by any flying debris. After being hit in the head by a stray lamp post, Discord followed suit. With a baring of his teeth, he commanded the winds to collect together in several areas around Ponyville. Numerous massive tornadoes slowly descended as the hurricane continue to wreak havoc on the center of town. Trees were uprooted and thrown around like rag dolls. Roofs were torn off buildings. The structures at the farm had been ripped apart and livestock flew across the skies, carried by the raging winds. "Hm! This isn't bad so far," Discord remarked as he watched the carnage. The earth began to shake violently. The roads broke apart and chunks of the earth rose out of the ground, toppling homes and work stands. The elementary school was swallowed up as a hole broke open nearby. The mountains in the distance cracked apart, resulting in multiple landslides. The effects of the earthquake were felt in Canterlot as well, windows shattering and structures collapsing. Much of Ponyville was falling apart by now, but Matt continued his rampage. A mechanical sounding noise approached from the south that his audience was unfamiliar with. Even through the natural quakes, it felt like it was rumbling right toward them. They looked for the source when suddenly a line of tanks, surrounded by Matt's magic, crashed through and around what was left of Rarity's boutique. What was remaining of her beautiful store and home collapsed into pile of rubble. Almost as if they had a will of their own, the tanks rolled through the town, flattening everything in their way and firing their mortars randomly at whatever they saw. One blast fired past the town and hit the mountainside, flinging large chunks of rock into the air that landed in the fields just north of town. A few of the smaller boulders resulting from the blast careened toward Ponyville and smashed into the several buildings including the hospital. "Oohohoh, I've got to get me one of those!" Discord said with glee, rubbing his hands together. Twilight and her friends could only watch in horror as their worst fears came true in front of them – Ponyville, Canterlot, and everything they had ever known and loved was being wiped out, and there was nothing they could do. Matt's hands and eyes glowed brighter still, and overhead, half a dozen F-15s flew by. Though no one in attendance but the out-of-control human knew what they were, the girls did know they were intended to bring further devastation, being covered in Matt's yellow aura. The war planes' missiles fired out randomly, blowing up whatever they came into contact with and leaving fiery craters all over. The flames left in their wake danced in the powerful winds, staying alive in spite of the terrible downpour. When the jet's arsenal was depleted, the missiles simply rematerialized. The smoke that bellowed out from the violent explosions added to the thick, black clouds overhead. Matt silently looked toward Canterlot. His nostrils flared and in the distance, far above the royal city, a flicker of magic popped out. It was another jet. The girls and Discord took note of where he was staring and turned their attention to the castle as well. A nearly invisible spec appeared to fall from underneath the plane. "I suggest you hide your eyes," Matt said loudly over the howling winds. ----- Shining Armor stood where he did months ago when the Ursa attacked after being called for. He and his battalion watched Ponyville being systematically destroyed in shock, unable to come up with any plan of attack. A tiny flicker of yellow light, almost invisible in the distance through the tornadoes and rain, taunted him with the idea that it was the reason for the destruction. "Shining Armor!" He turned around upon hearing his name spoken from a beautiful, familiar voice to him. "Cadance! What are you doing here? You should have gotten to safety with the others." "I've been watching what's happening down there. I'm not going to sit back and do nothing while things go to Tartarus. If things down there come here, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but by your side," his lover said, embracing him. "We'll get through this together, I promise." High over their heads, a noticeably bright flash of yellow magic appeared. Out of it, a bizarre flying machine popped into existence. Its belly opened up and it almost looked like it laid an odd-looking egg in midair. "What in the world is that?" A blinding flash of light consumed them. ----- The girls, and even Discord, yanked their heads away as the bomb detonated. Matt lowered his head beforehand, knowing what to expect. After the light shining right through their closed eyelids had faded, they turned back to see the ever growing mushroom cloud sitting where Canterlot stood a moment ago. The cap of the cloud seemed to climb higher and higher into the sky, almost as if it was trying to touch the sun through the dark clouds overhead. The six friends stood frozen under their shield is disbelief at the size of the blast. Discord was stunned as well, unable to come up with a typical, inappropriate comment. A wave of energy visibly crawled along the side of the mountain Canterlot had stood on and was heading toward Ponyville, breaking larger pieces of rock and stone into smaller ones and turning smaller ones into burning ash and dust. Matt lifted his fist up and formed a thick, yellow shield over himself and Discord. The spirit floated nervously closer. If Matt felt the need to raise a barrier this big, something serious was going to happen. Twilight saw the massive shield her friend erected and quickly padded her own. The shockwave they saw on the mountain suddenly, violently, whipped through town, incinerating and disintegrating what was left of the buildings that barely stood. The jets and tanks were unaffected thanks to their magical shields. Even with the extra layers of protection on Twilight put on her own bubble, they almost weren't enough. The sudden rapid increase in temperature and the force that they were hit with almost broke through. The unicorn toppled over by the impact and almost lost her focus while Matt stood motionless from the safety of his shield. Discord looked around at the rampant destruction happily. "The weather I understand. The rest...is this a sample of what your people can do?" he asked. Matt didn't answer, choosing to stare soullessly into the distance. "Okay, I admit it. I'm impressed." The swirling rains suddenly started to crack as they beat on the shields. The air began slowly cooling, turning the rains into hail and making the hair on Matt's arms stand on end. The girls shivered and huddled together for warmth, their own coats of fur tensing up. A second ago, the heat that permeated and almost destroyed the shield made it nearly impossible to breathe and now they were starting to freeze. Their rapid temperature shift burned their lungs so much they felt on fire. Matt raised his hand again and the shield throbbed with power. Nothing appeared to be happening otherwise. "What are you up to now, kid?" Discord asked his protégé. He glared at the draconequus for interrupting him. "I just vaporized the air. I still like breathing cool air, y'know." There was nothing of Ponyville left by now but piles of smoldering, smoking ash. The tanks and jets had turned toward the Everfree Forest. With nothing left of the town, the war machines had an itch that still needed to be scratched. Twilight saw him distracted by his task of replenishing the air. Her friend was gone and only this monstrosity was left. She came to a hard decision and lifted herself to her hooves, planting them firmly in the ground. "I'm sorry, Matt," Twilight mumbled, shedding a tear. Her horn channeled everything she had without dropping the shield in a single desperate blast. The purple laser sparked off Matt's shield and ricocheted harmlessly into the air. She collapsed onto her stomach exhausted but still able to barely maintain her shield. Her friends silently comforted her. After completing his ritual, Matt lowered his yellow barrier and called away the hail and violent winds. The tornadoes retracted into the dark clouds overhead as thunder and lightning continued to make their presence known. He spun around and saw the girls huddled together in terror, shrinking away from the friend who just finished annihilating everything they knew and loved. Matt narrowed his eyes and his magic wrapped itself around Twilight's weakened shield. Without much effort, he pushed down and cracked the shell. It shattered to pieces and the last of the unicorn's magical strength was gone. He lifted the girls and slammed them down on their stomachs in a circle, flank to flank. In the blink of an eye, six sets of clamps appeared above the girls' midsections and dug into the ground, locking them in place. They tried desperately, fruitlessly, to get free. "Matt, please!" "We're your friends! What are you doing?!" "This isn't you, Matt! Fight him!" "Matt, stop!" Their pleads went ignored as he extended an open hand toward the sky, summoning a single, gigantic twister. He led it to one of the piles of debris that was still burning thanks to the bomb's shockwave and hovered the tornado above it. He magically guided the flame into the winds, merging the two forces together. Despite the initial fire being significantly smaller than the tornado, he managed to magically ignite the powerful winds and keep it hot as the fires climbed. It wasn't long until his burning whirlwind was complete. "Okay, that's pretty cool," Discord said, mimicking Matt from earlier. He opened the cone of the fiery twister and guided it over the girls before lowering it the ground. He clenched his fist and the reds and oranges turned shades of white and blue. His eyes sparked and the tornado started closing. As it inched closer to the trapped friends, the intense fires burned the earth black. The powerful heat ignited their manes and tails one by one as it got closer. Their coats singed. Their skin blistered and charred before bursting into flames too. Their screams were drowned out by the intense winds whipping around them. After what felt like an eternity, the fiery tornado was upon them, only a few feet across from one side to the other. It was only a few seconds until the only sounds in the air were a raging twister and death. Matt held his creation in place for a moment before lifting it off the ground and letting the whirlwind dissipate out of existence. At the center of the large ashen ring that was once the road in Town Square laid six burnt skeletons that belonged to the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Matt relaxed and let his magic subside. He stared emotionlessly at the remains. Discord jumped for joy, laughing at his ultimate victory. "Ooh, Matt, this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship!"