//------------------------------// // Dealing With The Noise (Part 1) // Story: Friendship Starts With You // by Indi3g //------------------------------// "The Night shall last.....FOREVER!" Nightmare Moon cackled. All the ponies, including the Solar Guard froze in horror from her claim. Taking advantage of the moment, she snapped her fingers and collapsed into a shimmering mist; with one more cackle, it gathered itself up and flew off into the sky. Instantly, the crowd erupted, with colts, fillies, mares and stallions alike screaming and shouting in blind panic. While the guardsponies attempted to take control of the crowd, two different groups snuck away. One consisted of a mare and young drake, and the other, five mares who were following closely behind. Both sets of groups were determined to find the answers to the chaos, one way or another. ------------------------------------------------------------Within the Everfree Forest------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hidden away by layers of trees and vines, a statue that had rested there for over 1,000 years had begun to crumble. It was a figure of what appeared to be a spikey-maned, fur-less colt. His face was one of pure determination and his body stretched out to protect; clad in shorts and a sleeveless, high-color shirt, the statue was a life-like work of art. Cracks suddenly ran throughout it, and with a pulse of grey and purple light, it shattered. "Oh man, that sucked..." a voice grumbled. The figure then stood up, dusting off bits of stone that were still attached to his clothes before stretching and yawning. "Now, why the heck am I in the middle of the forest? Last I remember was Nighty trying to blast us and me getting a face-full of it." Scowling, he began to pull some of the vines down and try and make out where he was. "Screw it. Just gonna head back to the castle...hope it hasn't been THAT long." With that in mind, he began to make his way through the forest towards what he would soon find, to be the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters. ------------------------------------------------------------In Ponyville Library------------------------------------------------------------ After accusations and questions were thrown around (mostly Rainbow Dash getting into Twilight's muzzle and Applejack having to physically restrain her) , the group of seven were discussing their plans of how to deal with 'Nightmare Moon' and get Princess Celestia back. "So I need to go to the Everfree Forest and get the Elements of Harmony! Spike, go get some things ready!" Said Twilight Sparkle. She was attempting to straighten her black skirt (with her cutie mark embellished upon it) and her purple dress shirt, from when Rainbow Dash had attempted to 'get some answers'. The drake, Spike, was running around grabbing anything and everything he could think of to help them out in the forest. "You got it Twi!" He called out before trying to stuff everything into a bag. "Now, jes' hold on a minute. Ya'll ain't goin alone into that forest." Said Applejack. It was obvious from the way the had handled things earlier that she could make her point pretty well "Yea, not without us! We wanna kick that thing's flank too!" Whooped Dash. She was hovering in the air, shadowboxing enemies left and right. "Besides, I don't think you two could handle yourselves in there; the forest plays by its own rules." Giving Dash a sour look, Twilight threw her hands in the air and made her way to the door. "Fine, but we need to get to the Elements, and fast. Nightmare Moon might try and get them before we do!" ------------------------------------------------------------Back In the Forest------------------------------------------------------------ Nick delivered one more hit to the cragodile before it finally slunk away. "Yea, keep moving ya stupid thing!" Once it was out of sight, he breathed a sigh of relief and started walking once more. "What happened to this place? I guess all these plants are outta control, but the crocodile? Really? Somethin's not right..." Pausing, he dug into his pockets and pulled out a handful of pins. "These things don't even work anymore! Well, not all of 'em anyway....." Glancing around, he spotted a stump and began to go through the pins, putting a large number into one pile, and the rest into another. "Only this many? I-I can't even use most of these! Gah, Cel better have a good explanation for all this..." Taking a pin with the picture of a graffiti flame on it, he focused on the large pile of pins before they caught on fire and began to melt away. Once he was sure that they were properly melted down, he began to walk again, keeping his eyes open for any sign that he was getting closer to the castle. Just when he was about to give up, he spotted some cobblestone sticking out of the grass that lead in a slightly different direction than what he was taking. "Alright, almost there...." ------------------------------------------------------------Castle of The Two Sisters------------------------------------------------------------ "Darling, could you hurry up please? This place is ruining my outfit." Whined Rarity. She was wearing a slightly frilly white dress with her triple diamond cutie mark on its edge. "I thought you have everything you needed." "Ooooh! This place is so BIG! If we cleaned a little, we could have TONS of parties here! Plus, those tapestries look really cool and castle-y!" Pinkie giggled. She was bouncing around, looking at every little thing in the room she could with the energy of a filly on a sugar rush. "Ugh! This makes no sense! I have all five right here, so what's missing? Mabye...that spark is...?" Twilight was so busy staring at the stones in front of her, she failed to notice a shadow rising from behind her. Luckily, Fluttershy did and gave a shriek of horror. Turning around, she saw the shadow and barely dodged out of its way, as it swooped down upon her. By the time she got back up, the stones were swirling within a massive amount of shadows and magic; before the rest had time to react, Twilight had dove into it and vanished with a loud ' BANG '. Both Spike and Fluttershy began to panic, while Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash attempted to find where she had vanished. Once it seemed like their attempts were pointless, Applejack began to think of any way to track the lavender mare. "Hey, you could track her with that fancy magic o' yours, right?" Rarity blinked a few times before turning to Applejack with a confused expression. It took a moment, but once she realized what was being said, flexed her fingers and closed her eyes in concentration. "...........got it!" She cried out. With a grin, she began to follow the magical trail of Twilight, with the rest of the group following behind. Twilight slowly pushed herself up, wincing in pain from experiencing forced teleportation. "Are...are you serious? They sent a foal to get the Elements? Ha!" Her eyes widened instantly and she tried scrambling away from Nightmare Moon. Once she was far enough, she took in the corrupted goddess in her full form. She wore dark purple and silver armor; a breastplate with a crescent moon, along with arm and leg guards. Her hands were in gauntlets, while her hooves were bare and the helmet giving her an even more sinister appearance. From the way Nightmare's cat-like eyes flashed, to the slight muscle that could be seen that wasn't covered by armor, Twilight could tell that trying to take her on was suicidal. Which is why, when the Elements were tossed to her, she was more than confused. Staring at the stones, her jaw gaped like a fish, until a chuckle filled the air. "Please, by all means, if they think you could wield the elements against me then do so. It will be...most entertaining to watch." With a smug look, she crossed her arms and waited. Once Twilight had recovered enough, she grabbed the stones within her magical aura and began to focus on them. With a small flash, they rose and started to orbit the mare, picking up speed as more magic was fed into them. Nightmare simply watched to see what would happen. Eventually, the orbs dropped and Twilight fell to the floor, exhausted and almost completely out of magic. "What a shame," Nightmare Moon purred. "You seemed so close to making them work. Sadly, I have to destroy you along with them. It's a shame really; all that magical potential, going to waste. Ah well." As a dark blue aura began to cover Nightmare's hands, Twilight couldn't help but think, ' If only I had a bit more time! ' In that moment, a loud crash and shattering of glass was heard. Both Twilight and Nightmare Moon turned towards the sound, but one of the two took a shoe to the muzzle. As Twilight watched, dumbfounded, and Nightmare, (who was on the floor), holding her cheek in both rage and shock, Nick stood between the two with a large grin. "So. what'd I miss?"