Well, the bad thing is the entire place was in complete ruins. Dried blood stained the ground and broken glass and other building parts covered the streets. On the bright side, it wasn't raining. "I have a feeling this place was a lot nicer before I got here." Neon said.
"Really? I never would have guessed." I said sarcastically
Twilight really looked the most upset. I mean, not that I'm surprised. "I just hope everyone made it out." Twilight mused.
"I'm certain they did, darling." Rarity said. She didn't sound to sure of herself, though.
I stepped in a puddle of, as you might have guessed by now, mud. Why? Because the blood would be all dry by now. Most of it at least. "Hay Neon, could I see that water form of yours for a second?" I said.
We walked down on Main street. I could imagine ponies swaying to the smokey beat in the little club on the corner. I imagined myself staring at a very pleasant looking mare. Her smile was shy but inviting. I smiled at the thought. It was shattered when Twilight said, "Here we are."
The palace in it's silly and dismantled glory stood there like a beacon of sure death and bad memories. We walked to the gates when we were brought to a halt. "This is as far as you- Princess Twilight?" one of the guards said in awe. They were wearing a different uniform then what I remember. The armor was now black and red. It looked pretty cool.
"Yes, We need entrance into the palace."
The other guard shook his head. "I do hope you don't expect it to be that easy." he said.
"Nope," someone said behind us. "I expect it to be this easy." Rock Well stood there in his armor. How did he get that?
The guards stepped back in shock. "R-Rock Well?!" one said. The two stood there, dumbfounded.
"Now, I will escort them in and that will be it." Rock Well said.
The guards looked at each other and one finally stepped forward. "I understand you want to enter the palace, but as far as things go within the new order, you're not a guard and therefore, ineligible for entrance. Please, leave now."
"You can't even make an exception?" Rock Well asked.
The guard shook his head. "If we do, we'll be killed for sure. I'm sorry."
Rock Well, nudged me on the shoulder. "Get that knife out. We'll need it." he whispered. "Well, that's too bad. But I guess I'm the one whose going to be sorry in the end."
The guards looked at each other. Rock Well stepped up to the guard on the left who pointed his spear at him. "I already said, no entrance!" he said. Rock Well took a step forward. "I don't want to do this!" the guard shouted. The other guard turned and pointed his spear at Rock Well, too. Rock Well turned his head and winked at me. Fun time I thought.
I pushed through Rainbow Dash who almost hit the ground and jumped in the air with my knife in my hoof. The guard in I was after, opposite Rock Well, turned to me but it was too late. I slapped the spear into the air and pushed the guard against the wall, holding him against it.
The other guard turned to me but Rock Well teleported in front of him. He didn't hesitate to impale Rock Well, or at least try to. Rock Well is dead; a ghost, therefore, the spear passed right through him. Rock Well stepped into the guard. He started to shake vigorously and then he just died. Rock Well stepped out of the body. "Well?" he said.
We looked at each other for a second. The truth was, I just couldn't kill him. I got an idea, though. I slid the knife across his neck, lightly, and he fell to the ground. I knelt down and said. "You're not going to die. I didn't puncture your wind pipes. Just get something to cover that up. Understand?"
The guard nodded slowly, but he still stared at me with a look of horror. Just like Bull... I saw a towel or rag or something about maybe one hundred feet away and I pointed at it. "That'll work." I said. And he scrambled over to it. I got up and everyone was looking at me.
"I guess you changed after all." Twilight said.
"I guess so..." I mused.
"Alright, now we need a plan and that's what I'm going to make." Rock Well said. He slapped a helmet on his head which surprised me. He was a ghost, how was he able to ware things that are not -well- intended for ghosts? And so I asked.
"I can do many things you wouldn't expect." was all he said.
We walked into the palace and to be honest, I like what Malice had done with the place. Truly. The statues were a little self-centered but everything else looked nice. There was black and red and purple all over. Wow... this is what happens when you're stuck with a bunch of fillies. Neon looked at a huge water fountain. He smiled for some reason. I asked Rarity what she thought about the place. "A little too much black. But other than that, it's very nice."
So as me and Rarity were awe inspired by the atmosphere of the palace, another guard stopped us. "Who are they?" he asked.
Rock Well stepped up. "I found them wandering around the outskirts of town. I'm-"
"Hold on," the guard said, cutting off Rock Well. He looked at Twilight for a good long while and smiled. "Princess Malice has been expecting you."
Well shit. If it was going to be this easy... "Wait," Applejack said. "She what?"
"Hold on." Rarity stepped in. "If that's true, why were the guards trying to stop us?"
"Huh? Oh, they must have missed the meeting. Oh well, they were going to die today anyway. Now follow me." The guard walked up in front of Rock Well. "You're presence is no longer needed, Commander. Rest in peace."
Rock Well and the rest of us were very surprised. But he turned to us and said. "I'll be back if anything comes up." And he vanished. The armor clattered on the floor. "I always looked up to him." The guard mused. "This way now."
I found it weird that Malice was expecting us. I mean, of course she was expecting us to show up one way or another, but why were we being escorted? Something was up. So, yeah. The guard took us to the throne room and he knocked on the door. "What?" someone called out behind the door sounding annoyed.
"Guests, your majesty."
The room- or- rooms were silent for a minuet. "Bring them in." The voice said.
The guard opened the doors and there she was. Malice was sitting in her throne using her magic to manipulate a glass of white wine. She took one last sip and smiled devilishly at us. "Welcome." she said. The doors closed behind us so it was just us and her in the room. "I trust your little quest is going swimmingly." she said.
I exchanged looks with everyone. I didn't get it. "Is this a lady-like way of accepting defeat or something?" I asked Malice.
Malice threw the glass of wine away and the glass crashed on the floor. "Do you expect to defeat me here?" she asked.
I looked around. As I was, I felt like something was missing. I'm not sure what, though. I looked back at Malice. "I suppose." I said.
Malice threw her forelegs in the air. "Well I guess it is, then. You do have the elements, do you?" she asked.
I did a count just make sure. We had them all. Still had a feeling something was missing. "Yes..." I said slowly.
Malice hopped out of her throne and shook her head. "This went by too quick. Why couldn't you have taken more time? What is it now? November the 11th?" The 11th1!? Shit, my birthday is in one week. Let's see if I die before it.
"Hold on. Something's up! What is it!?" Rainbow Dash said.
Malice rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on! What could be more powerful than the Elements of Harmony?" Malice asked.
I shrugged because hell, I didn't know. I looked at everyone else. If I were them, I would just use the damn things before Malice changed her mind. "Well, we might as well. We might not get this chance again." I said.
Twilight looked at her friends. Malice started to yawn. "We're all waiting here." Malice said.
"Alright!" Twilight said, annoyed. "Hold it!" Twilight was thinking hard. I didn't know why they had to think about this. But I also don't know why Malice was giving in like this. "Fine. Let's do this." Twilight finally said.
"Finally." Malice said, rolling her eyes. Twilight closed her eyes. When she opened them they almost gave me a heart attack. They were completely white! Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy's eyes did the exact same thing. Pretty creepy. Anyway, They started to float up into the air and for some reason, a rainbow ring just looped around them.
Wind started to blow vigorously through and the room was engulfed by a purple-ish light. Malice just stood there. She was- smirking!? Why? What- why was she doing that?! Something's wrong. Crap! Something is very wrong! Before I had a chance to think to react, A huge rainbow thing shot a Malice like a projectile. "Shit, shit, shit, Shit!" I said to myself. Malice flinched at the last second as the projectile smashed into her. The impact blew me back a couple feet and the ground was still shaking when I hit it.
The dust cleared slowly. I looked back at Applejack and Twilight and the rest. "W- what happened." I said with a scratchy voice. Twilight had a look of pure triumph on her face. I looked back. What was Malice was now a mere statue. She was looking into the distance, saluting. Her face was stern. I wonder why she took that pose.
"That's it." Twilight said. "We won."
I rubbed my face slowly. Finished at last. Thank Celesti- "That looks good." Malice was stroking her chin and looking at the statue. "Very nice, indeed. I'll get some guards to put it in the garden. Right behind the line of graves. Yes! That would look good!"
... ... ... ... WHAT?! Malice looked back at me. "Oh, I should take care of that. Guards!"
Guards came rushing through the door. They grabbed me and threw me right next to Applejack. "On your knees!" One of the guards said. They pointed their spears at us. Malice came up to us.
"You bitch!" I said. "You lied!"
Malice shook her head "Oh, no, no, no. I don't lie. I told you that you would need the elements to defeat me. I didn't tell you exactly [ihow to use them. I never said you would defeat me in here. You did. I don't lie, Volt. Remember that."
The door flung open. And who else came rushing in then Rock Well himself. In the... what exactly is he made of? Mist, maybe? "Finally! Something goes right!" I said.
"Ah yes. Rock Well. Not exactly a pleasure to see you. But you're here." Malice said
"Now, this might as well be a stalemate. I can't kill you, and I think we all know you can't kill a ghost." Rock Well said.
Malice smiled mischievously. "But while that is true, I can certainly stop you, can't I?" She used her magic to surround Rock Well. He struggled to get out, but try as he might, nothing happened. A guard handed her a small box. Malice threw the box and Rock Well was instantly sucked in.
"Well, we're screwed." I said.
Malice looked to me. "Alright, kill them. And please, some-pony take that statue and put it in the garden. Behind the open graves." She said.
Two guards went to lift the statue. One of the guards pointed their spear at me. I looked at my friends for the last time. Friends... huh. I guess I surprised myself to the fact I was able to get friends. Friends that wouldn't leave me until the very end. I smiled at Applejack. "We were close, huh?" I asked her.
A small tear rolled down Applejack's cheek. "Yeah. Too close."
I believe I was the only one who actually started to cry. I looked quickly to see if anyone else was crying. Nope? Just me? Alright. I don't blame myself, though. I got to think a little bit, these last few seconds. Had I lived a full life? I honestly say I'm not too sure.
Why aren't I dead yet? I looked up at the guard. He wasn't paying attention to me. He was paying attention to none of us actually. The guards were looking at the ground. "What's going on?" on of the guards asked in general.
There was this huge puddle of water on the ground. It was moving around a lot. More than a puddle usually would. I looked back at everyone else. I got that feeling like something was missing again. Wait a minuet. I counted. Six? There was Twilight and Rainbow Dash and Applejack and Rarity and... hold on.
A bird flew on one of the guard's noses. "Astheno?" I said. Astheno stared at the guard. That guard just backed up and walked out the door just so casually. Like nothing important was going on. Malice screamed at him to get back. He didn't come back.
The puddle on the ground shrunk and launched itself into a guard's mouth like a water snake. Only thing. I realized it wasn't a water snake. The guard was choking and hitting his chest until he hit the ground. The snake slithered out his mouth and went to the next. Then the next until they all hit the ground. It disappeared for a seconded and soon, a bright, blue light started to form in the room. "Neon..." I said.
"What is that?" Malice said in shock.
"Lady," Neon said to Malice. "I'm just about everything." Neon quickly changed back into his water form and swept us out of the room in a giant wave. Where did he get all the water? I finally remembered. The fountain. "The box!" Twilight exclaimed.
The box that Rock Well was in was swept along with us. Right out the window. So now we're falling at insane speeds and about to hit hard ground. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy went to grab whoever they could. Rainbow Dash caught Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy had me. Probably because I was the lightest and smallest. Twilight used her magic to catch the rest. Neon was flying on his own beside me in his plasma form. "I knew I was missing something." I said. Astheno landed on my nose, too. Freeloader.
And the last thing I would have expected, we had gotten away from Malice.