//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: An Element of Fear // Story: The Seventh Element. // by masorin //------------------------------// Over in the Crystal Empire, Cadence was roused from her sleep by another tremor. The entire earth beneath them shook for several moments with enough force to make her think the castle might collapse. Getting out of bed, she went out onto the balcony that gave her a view over her entire empire. The night sky was as beautiful to look upon as ever, with the moon covering the land in it’s dull glow and the small clouds that were generated by the light winds. She couldn’t help the feeling of dread that was slowly filling her. Her special kind of magic gave her the ability to feel the strength of the bonds between ponies, those intangible little threads that bound lovers together and when she’d finally realized that she was falling in love, her own relationship was no exception to her powers. In a way, it was like a sixth sense that was setting off alarms in her brain that told her she was well justified in wanting her husband to stay home. Somewhere out there, something was happening to Shining and she didn’t know what. And that terrified her, but eventually, she just let out a long sigh and reminded herself that her husband had gotten through worse before. As expected, soon enough, a few guards were at her door, pounding away at it, “Princess?” She used her magic to open the door from where she stood, before walking back inside. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. You should really go check in with the citizens, make sure no one has been gravely hurt.” ----- Further down, in the heart of Equestria, Princess Luna felt the ground beneath her hooves tremble. As Canterlot was built into a mountain, the city had been safeguarded against such natural calamities but that didn’t deter the trembles that shook everything around her. All around her, books and various other objects were falling off their resting places and then a scream could be heard as a rather expensive chandelier was loosened from it’s place in the ceiling and came crashing down, startling one of the night staff. As the tremors subsided, Luna quickly gathered her staff. Her guard were quick to report, all in their enchanted armor that gave them features of bats and dark blue coats that were indistinguishable from pony to pony, adding to their mystery as well as allowing them to blend into her night sky better. “Why do you waste time, standing here? Go! Spread out into the city and make sure all our citizens are safe!” ----- For the first time in what was a very long time, Shining Armor felt fear and doubt sink their claws deep into him. He’d brought these ponies down here, unknowingly lead them to their deaths. Just like that, crushed beneath layers of ice and rocks. He felt a hoof on his shoulder and turned to see the face of a saddened Right Hook and behind him, the three other surviving members of his squad, all with equally morose loks of their own. He gulped, thinking of Cadence’s words of him returning to her alive and clung to them. Now wasn’t a time he could let his fear best him and lose hope. When he spoke, his voice was filled with regret. He shouldn’t have been so foolish to lead his squad further down these caves. “There’s no turning back now, we’re going to have to carry on.” The others nodded before paying their respects to their lost teammates. Slowly, they turned and walked with their captain. None of them wanted to speak of the fear they all felt. Were they trapped? Would they never find their way out? And, most pressing of all, what in the name of all things good had screamed? They walked more carefully, now, their only light source being Shining’s horn. He used his magic to project light all around them, yet, everything still remained as dark and cold as ever and that sent a chill down their spines. Shining himself was more than a little shaken, despite his extensive experience with being stuck in a bad situation. As the others carried on, Right Hook couldn’t shake the feeling that everything around them was just plain wrong. The glow of Shining’s horn was enough of a light source that everything should’ve been fine, however, with every step he took, he could feel the peculiar air around them, acting as if it were trying to tell them they should leave. His connection to the earth was telling him that ponies had no place in these caves. As he went to walk alongside Shining, he stumbled as his hoof made contact with something and hit the ground in a soft, wet splash. Pain instantly washed over him and the cold cut through him to the point where it burned and he screamed, scrambling back from where he fell. Shining had turned just in time to see one of his men stumble into a puddle of murky liquid, even though he was almost sure it was shallow when he’d passed it. Turning his attention to Right Hook, he ran to the pony’s side. The pain didn’t stop. Even once he’d distanced himself from the puddle, the cold continued to cut through him even more than before. He could feel it go past his bones and seep through his entire being, spreading a cold, burning sensation that just didn’t seem to feel like stopping anytime soon. “Stay back!” He yelled, distancing himself from the group. He felt like he was dying. Very slowly and extremely painfully, but dying. Shining and the others had stalled their movements to aid him, not because of his words -which had made Shining want to help him even more, if anything- but because of the fact that he was slowly being covered by an oily, black fluid. All he did was step in a puddle and now, it seemed like it wanted to consume him, slowly spreading itself more and more on his body. Shining quickly turned around when another of his ponies let out a scream of agony, having backed into the wall covered with the stuff. Focusing, he was able to increase the brightness of his light spell, illuminating every little crevice in the walls and what he saw made him wish he really hadn’t. The thick, dark fluid was oozing from the walls all around them, more a dark purple than actual black. Slowly it inched it’s way toward him and his remaining men, Right Hook and the other guard who’d come in contact with the fluid were already long past saving, with the goo slowly eating away at their skin and everything underneath, slowly turning them into a part of the goo. The sight made Shining sick to his stomach, nauseated to the point where he thought he’d throw up on the spot. If he wasn’t before, he was terrified, now. For a moment, he considered just turning and running as far as he could but realized that there wasn’t any real place he could go and so, he did the only thing he could think of. “I’m sorry!” He yelled as he summoned his shield around himself... and himself only. The others ran toward him as his shield materialized, leaving them without it’s protection. They continuously pounded at the shield, crying out in anger and fear at being left for dead by their captain. ~~~ Spike sat at the Council of Friendship, yet again. The six ponies and dragon had reunited after the trip to Canterlot had given them an idea as to what happened. It was still early in the day, enough for a majority of the towns residents to still be lost in sleep. Spike couldn’t help but feel a little bit at odds with the current situation. They had to take an item of extreme power from a dragon, and if that wasn’t enough, everything about the item itself remained a mystery, except the fact that it killed it’s user. And that it was being held by a giant, fire-breathing dragon who was more than a thousand years old, at least. “Kinda makes you wonder, huh? About how future Twi actually learned about this thing in the first place.” He blinked, realizing that he’d actually said that out loud. “I don’t think she did.” Twilight said, “I’ve been thinking a lot on the warning on our way back from Canterlot and it seems to me that whatever she was up against was able to withstand her magic and our connection to the Elements before, so she made a logical connection that we required something more. Her warning was to send us on, quite possibly, a wild goose chase that ended up with us finding out about the missing Element.” Spike just nodded in agreement, it kind of made sense in an odd way. Though it struck him more as something Celestia would do rather than Twilight, but he could chalk that up to incredibly poor timing. “Ah think the bigger problem is that we don't even know what this other Element does.” Twilight put a hoof to her chin for a moment, “Well, we didn't know anything about the Elements of Harmony the first time around, either. When we found them, they were just stone husks of their former selves, it took the magic of our friendship to actually make the things work.” “So all we need to do is find the Element and somepony who could represent it?” Rarity said, thinking lightly. Why some’pony’? Spike thought, a little sourly. He had the seventh chair because it didn’t have anyone else’s mark... Was he not supposed to be here with them? “Well if that's the case why are we still here! We know where the Element is, lets go kick dragon butt and get it back!” Pinkie added, rather cheerfully. “...” Fluttershy's whimper was hardly audible over Rainbow Dash’s excited cheers. “Woah there, Dashie.” Applejack gave her a stern look, “Do y'all remember what happened the last time we decided to just up and kick a dragon? It wasn't all to happy about that decision now was it?” Spike felt a sinking feeling. Are they just going to leave me behind like last time? “Well... yeah, but last time we didn't have an Alicorn on our side!” “I am not going to kick a dragon, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight said slightly flabbergasted that her friend would even make that kind of suggestion. “Well either way, we need to get going.” “And I’m coming too!” Spike almost screamed in his chair. He wanted to- no, needed to go on this trip. “Well of course ya are, Spike.” “Well duh, silly! We are sooo gonna need you!" Pinkie was breathing heavily for a moment after having sat still in her chair for so long. “Also, why the hay do I get the fewest lines in this series?!” ---- Spike felt the rumbling of the train under his feet, looking out into the rest of the world as it passed them by. They were now long past the trees and were close to Dodge Junction and from there, it was all dirt road to the Equestrian Badlands. The last time Spike had come this way was when he’d followed the Dragon migration, wanting to see the world as the other dragons did and considering their path took him over harsh mountains, murky swamps and just about every other type of terrain he could think of, this was quite the improvement on traveling conditions. "I'm still surprised that all those guards were just up and willing to let you go, darling." "How many times do I have to tell you? My 'guards' are just for ceremony. Every princess gets a few of the E.U.P. Royal guards for accompaniment. I don't really want them around and they certainly have no authority to tell me where I can and can't go since I go with my friends, yet even when I tell them I don't want them around..." She pointed a hoof towards Quick Quill. "...They still find an excuse to send a tag-along." Spike glanced at the young Pegasus guard who was supposed to be his assistant, "Well I tried to tell him that I didn't need any help, but... he insisted. Quick Quill himself, had a large grin plastered on his face as he glanced between the seven friends. Even though he wasn’t allowed to act out of line, he couldn’t believe that out of all the guards over in Twilight’s castle, he was the only one who was able to find an excuse to tag along on an actual adventure. "Yah know y'all can talk right? We ain't military ponies, you don't need to just sit there in silence with a grin on ya face." "I'm sorry it's just... I'm actually on an adventure again! I've been relegated to castle duty and maintenance for what feels like forever and it's not that Ponyville isn't unique, it's just also very small and quiet. I joined the E.U.P. Guard because I crave adventure and here I am, heading into dragon territory!" "That's certainly an... interesting outlook to have but you do have to realize that this is dangerous work that we are doing here, right?" Rarity glanced between each of her friends. Pinkie nodded, "We are going to be asking a dragon for one of their most precious treasures so that we can then use that treasure to prevent what ever destructive force is-” Pinke didn’t get a chance to finish what she was about to say as suddenly there was a major shift in the ground as the train pitched forward as if something hit it, effectively derailing it. Spike felt himself in the air, for a few moments as the train came to an abrupt stop, crashing onto it’s side. He bounced along the side of the train, his spines hitting against the glass and smashing through them before he felt the heavy weight of  a pony slam into him.