The true nature of the Elements of Harmony is still unknown, and to an extent there are some things that we never will understand. But what we can say however is that the effects they have on every pony - including the bearers - raises the question:
Do we control them? Or are we merely the foci?
-Excerpt from 'The Elements of Harmony: A Revised Reference Guide'
Chapter 22
Convoluted Convulsions
“Don’t touch that.”
Slam.
“Put it down gently. Gently. Right now. That means don’t bang it.”
Slam.
“I’m trying! How do you even get past all this stuff in the first place without breaking it?!”
Crash.
“With ease. Now, would you kindly place that back where you found it. Yes, that’s it. Slowly. Almost there. A few mor-”
Bang.
“...Are you actually doing this on purpose? Seriously? I’m not even joking when I ask you this. That thing you just broke was over two thousand years old. And I made it.”
“You’re an idiot.”
Celestia’s warning of the Doctor was quickly coming into effect as I stumbled around the crowded interior. I may not be the clumsiest of people, almost the opposite, but there was a limit to how well I could navigate through a maze. I could’ve just switched form and become a bit more fluid, but I still wasn’t sure how much the Doctor knew, even after his displays.
And besides, I probably still would’ve smashed more than a few absolutely priceless artifacts.
Come to think of it, I had no idea how the two ponies made it through the minefield. And that was when I remembered that I was talking about two near-immortals that could alter reality.
It may not seem like it, but realisations like that tend to put you just a little bit on edge. Can’t imagine why though...
Slam.
“My bad...”
“Damn right it’s your bad! How did you even hit that one?! It was in the middle of a clear spot in the first place!”
I nervously rubbed the back of my head, “A gust of wind?”
He eyed me levelly, “We’re in the middle of a building. In an alley. There wasn’t a gust of wind.”
“...Magic?”
The silence that followed would have made space seem like the noisiest place in the universe. Not even an understatement. “Light, just because almost everything here is caused by magic, doesn’t mean that you can blame that on it.”
A hoof shot out towards the pile of shattered brass and clockwork components, “That my dear idiot, is an accident that was caused by you.”
Celestia tried to stifle the giggle that sprung up from nowhere. The Doctor shot her a glance, “And I suppose that you think this is funny, yes?”
Her face instantly became deadly serious, “No, it’s not funny at all,” I let out a sigh of relief, knowing that I at least had one pony that wasn’t going at m-
“It’s hilarious!”
The Eternal Princess, Custodian of the Day my ass. She was practically rolling around on the floor. The Doctor watched her, unamused.
I had no idea what was happening.
Eventually though, Celestia stopped her writhing and mimed wiping a tear from her eye - it might have actually been real, who knows - and focused on the Doctor, who by this point was looking like he was ready to...
...You know, I don’t know what he looked ready to do, or what he would do anyhow, but hey, he looked ready to do something, and I doubt that it would have been healthy. Or sanitary. Or nice in any way whatsoever.
“And how, may I ask, is this funny in any way Celestia? Hmmmm?”
She waved a hoof in his direction, “What happened to being old and wise and unflappable? Doctor Doctor Doctor, you’ve let yourself go.”
“Well, I’m old. Old people are allowed to do these things. Get over it. And don’t think that I forgot about you mister, you’ve got a lo-”
“...What are you doing?”
“...I’m invisible?”
“That’s not going to work on me you know, I’ve had more experience at detecting these sorts of things than even you have. Now, back away from the machines and sit somewhere, I really don’t care where, just don’t break anything this time,” He paused for a second, grimacing, “Please.”
I let out a sigh and dropped the veil that I’d quietly raised to block myself from the stallion’s sight. Hazardously, I maneuvered through the mess of stuff to a small clear space.
And I only knocked over a few more, so everyone’s happy.
I was still curious as to how the two ponies would sit down anyway. Even if the room we were in was less crowded than the others, it was still almost full to bursting, small contraptions everywhere. Celestia managed to sneak through a gap and settle in a clear patch, the last one in the room...
Nowhere for the Doctor to sit...
And then he shrugged and threw bunch of small items over his shoulder - how did he grab them anyway? - and sat down, barely making a movement as they impacted heavily on the other side of the room. I pointed at the Doctor, and at Celestia, “What?! Why are you allowed to do that! Celestia, see? He threw them. He threw them. And he went crazy at me?!”
The Doctor ‘coughed’, “I’m allowed to do that because I made them. And besides, I make the rules, and I say that you can’t break anything. Isn’t that right ‘Tia?”
“Mmmhmm, yep.”
I looked between the two of them, struggling to find something to say, “Bwa, wha, whaaaaa? That’s stupid. You’re stupid.” Perfect picture of pouting, even had the arms going.
I’m so mature, it amazes me sometimes.
The Doctor raised a hoof, “Shut up. That’s not why I’ve brought you here to my office,” Celestia sniggered, “You’re here so that I can find out...” He turned to Celestia, “Actually, you never did tell me why you came here.”
She raised an eyebrow, just a little, “Well, Light here needs something, a task performed on him, and I thought that you might be able to help in some way.”
“...And what might he need?”
“Actually, I think it might serve better if Light himself tells you. It can get a little... convoluted, and not even I know the full details of it.”
They both turned towards be, the Doctor speaking, “Well, I’m not sure what to think here, you’ve popped up in my house and want something from me. I wouldn’t normally care,”
I held my breath, “Buuut, I think that the fact that Celestia herself is vouching for you could say something in itself.”
“And I never, ever turn down someone that needs my help.” His aura of seriousness relaxed slightly, but not much, more in the way that a supreme leader is giving you a chance, and that you’d better not screw up.
Come to think of it, that’s probably what was actually happening, so all in all that feeling was logical.
“So,” he said, “Weave me a tale,” A small smirk crept onto his features, “Let me hear your story...”
“And then I’ll see what I can do...”
Rainbow Dash
The whirling miasma of shades flew towards her, shards breaking away from the whole to attack her, split her skin, slice her tendons, drain her lifeblood.
She could see her friends, the only things that really mattered to her, lying on the cold dark ground. Some had their innards spilled, other with heads cleanly removed. The one that stood out most prominently was Fluttershy, both of her forehooves cleanly separated from her body. Her stomach was ripped open, and something pink and slimy could be seen emerging slightly.
And as her death approached, time slowed. She was eerily aware of the beads of sweat that soaked her face, one falling with a soft dripping noise. The sound of her breath permeated her head, filling her ears to the point that it became overbearing.
The dark floor was cold underhoof, an unrelenting force that clinked as her hoof made its ever-so-slow impact. There was almost no light, the darkness preventing her from seeing anymore than a few metres in any direction. She was in the darkness.
And the bodies of her friends had vanished, leaving her all alone in the flat chasm. A sense of foreboding took over her. Where was everypony? She was meant to be the Element of Loyalty, and who could she be loyal to if there was noone around?
Crimson eyes, snake like in appearance, burst into existence close to her, opening lazily in the darkness. They were a deep crimson with shards of green interwoven into the matrix. The eyes swept around her slowly, and were joined moments after by a matching set of teeth, stained red with blood.
And the eyes, or what might have been a face, circled closer and closer, drawing towards her. She tried to flee, but found that her hooves had become rooted to the ground in her fear.
And then the whispers started. They were quiet at first, almost imperceptible, right on the edge of her hearing. But they got louder until she could easily hear them.
But she wished she couldn’t. They were the voices of her friends, the same friends that she’d seen on the ground only moments ago, before they’d vanished. They talked to her, questioned her, attacked her.
Everything but comfort her.
If it had only been the whispers then Rainbow might have managed to block them out over time, but they weren’t the only things in the dark void. There was a voice, unplaceable and untraceable. There was no real trait to it, but it seemed female, only slightly. It actually sounded reptilian to an extent, as if the speaker wasn’t even a pony, but was instead something more...
...Strange.
It spoke to her, changing pitch as it modulated, almost male at some points, “Why are you here young one...” It wasn’t even a question, more of a lead on to something else, “Are you lost? Did something happen? Why are you scared?” The mouth opened wider in a grin.
Rainbow tried to speak, and managed, but only just, “I-I’m not sure where I am...” She tried to smile weakly, or do anything that would show that she wasn’t scared, but failed miserably.
The grin only seemed to grow wider, “Are you scared? Did you have company? Friends? Did something happen to them?”
Images of her friend’s crippled bodies filled her mind, “I-I think s-so, I’m not certain...”
“Then what happened to them? Hmmm?”
“I don-n’t kn-know...” A tear fell from her muzzle.
The face came right up to her side, its eyes bearing into her, forcing her to gaze into them. They housed an unimaginable amount of emotions and feelings, all of them bad.
It was close enough to breath on her, and yet she still could not see a body of any sort, “I think I know what befell them...”
And then it swallowed her, and she was falling, falling, falling deeper, deeper inside the now-existing body of the beast.
And there was something at the bottom, a shape of some sort, bright and dark and featureless all at the same time. And the shape was waiting for her at the bottom, its jaws splitting in a hideous grin.
And as she fell towards her doom she knew that it was what killed her friends, the thing that had betrayed their trust, the thing that only she knew about, or could do anything to stop.
And then she entered the shifting, swirling jaws of the betrayer, the trickster, and the world went dark.
And then the world went white again as her surrounding lit up in a sudden blaze. Instinctively a hoof shot upwards to defend herself from the jaws of the beast and collided with something solid, something heavy, something orange.
And then Applejack gave a shout of alarm and went tumbling backwards, tripping over her own hooves as the unexpected force of Rainbow’s blow sent her head over hooves.
Rarity’s head shot up from the corner of her vision, “Rainbow! What was the reason for that? You just hit the poor dear!”
Rainbow barely heard this, shooting to her hooves and backing away into the corner of the room, shaking violently. “S-stay a-awa-y from m-me! I kn-know wh-what’s happening! I cou-couldn’t save you!” And then she collapsed, moistness on her face.
Her friends exchanged worried looks, even Applejack who was trying to stand and ignore the pain in her muzzle. And then four of them looked at one, and that one blanched as she realised what they were insinuating.
“Okay,” Fluttershy squeaked, “I’ll help.”
She tentatively crept towards her cyan friend, edging a hoof to touch her mane. The blue pegasus flinched slightly, but relaxed a little as Fluttershy made faint cooing noises and stroked her mane. Rainbow, without warning, leaped at Fluttershy and enveloped her in a hug and cried into her mane.
Fluttershy looked a little unsure, but passed it off like a pro, “Shhh Dashie, everything’s alright now...” This didn’t stop the speedster from crying, but it sure helped. The four other friends walked over and joined in a group hug, separating only after at least ten minutes.
Rainbow wiped a tear from her face with a hoof, cracking a small, weak smile, “Thanks guys, I needed that...”
Twilight raised a hoof, and Rainbow, somewhat unsurely, pointed at her. Twilight nodded and let her hoof fall, “Rainbow, we were all wondering...”
She paused, “I’ll just say it bluntly, what were you dreaming about?”
Applejack stepped forwards, “Yeah Sug’rcube, we let you sleep fer a few minets and sudd’nly your scar’d outta yer mind! What happ’ned?!”
Rainbow shivered, “I don’t really want to talk about it, it’s still scary... and painful...”
She lifted her head towards the group, “I’m still not even sure what happened, but it seemed so surreal...”
“Let’s just say that it was a nightmare, and leave it at that.”
I'm going to quickly put this in here, so pay attention. I'm going to be doing a Q n' A session/thing/stakeout/barbecue, so here's the deal:
In the comment section (That thing below) put in your questions about the story, or about me, or about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. I'll be answering them WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE! Just kidding, but really, if you have any questions submit them below.
NOTICE: If I choose to not answer the question, it'll be because I don't want to reveal something, most likely due to spoilers. If that happens I'll send you a PM, so keep that in mind.
TL;DR - Write question below, I answer at some point. Kapeesh?