//------------------------------// // Divide and conquer // Story: The Force of the Elements // by LuminousRabbit //------------------------------// Chapter six: Divide and conquer Warning! This chapter contains a heavy amount of gore and torture. If you are faint of heart, skip to the next one. After Nightmare Moon saw Celestia headed for Canterlot, she slipped away, watching things unfold. Celestia had some ponies with her. One of them... Was red! It was the pony Nightmare Moon had nearly killed. She narrowed her eyes, but couldn't recognise the others. As they landed, Nightmare Moon went closer, hidden with magic. A black pony, a white one, an orange one, and that red one... Wait! She knew the black one! That pink hair...Nightmare Moon concentrated, but no name was forthcoming. Ugh, how frustrating. Nightmare Moon didn't know what Celestia was up to, but Nightmare Moon would put a stop to it. She morphed into a cloud of butterflies, the most innocent thing she could think of, and waited. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Princess! Princess Celestia!!' Dragonsilver called as he and Shadow galloped to the banquet hall. 'Prin-' Princess Celestia came into view. She was talking to some guards. She looked at them with a mixture of shock and confusion. 'What is it? What happened? Where's Silver?' 'Sh-she's been, she's been taken,' Dragonsilver panted. 'What?' 'Nightmare Moon,' said Shadow, 'We were in the gardens, and Dragonsilver noticed something off about the butterflies. They morphed into Nightmare Moon, and she took Silver! We tried to stop her, but we couldn't.' Celestia looked gravely at them. 'If Nightmare Moon can transform into multiple beings, then she is more powerful than I thought. We need to find Silver.' Celestia's horn started to glow, as she searched fortheir life forces. Dragonsilver, knowing what a complicated spell this was, added to her strength with his own magic. 'Got it,' Celestia said. 'She's so far away, we may not be able to get there in time. From now on, you are to stay right near me. I want to be able to see you. Especially you,Shadow.' 'Fine,' Shadow said, but she didn't seem too upset. 'Let's get Golden, and get going.' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silver woke up in a dark room. She could barely see. Pain stabbed at her from her chest, but when she tried to look down, she found that all her limbs were bound. She could barely remember the events that had happened. Oh, that's right. Nightmare Moon... And stuff. Her thoughts were hazy, like she had been drugged. She wrinkled up her face, and liquid dribbled down it. She stuck her tongue out, and caught some. The metallic taste was all too familiar to her. Blood. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw more of her surroundings. The walls were made of stone, and no light was coming through, so Silver suspected that she was underground. The door was in the corner, and it was thick and metal. It didn't have a window to see through. Green slime oozed down the walls, but other than that there was no life in the bleak room. Silver was strapped to something cold and hard. It was flat and very uncomfortable. She tried to wriggle out of her bonds but whenever she moved pain exploded from her chest. She was tired, but no sleep came. She waited for what seemed like hours, but could have been as little as ten minutes before the door opened. Nightmare Moon stepped in, smiling at the powerless earth pony. 'Do you remember your name?' she asked Silver. 'I-I don't quite know... I'm not sure...' Silver stammered, but it was a pretty poor performance, and Nightmare Moon wasn't convinced. 'Don't lie to me. It's not worth the effort, and even if it was, you're a terrible liar.' Silver blushed. 'Exactly. I want to know this: what does Celestia want with a bunch of weak commoners like you? Answer me straight, or you'll get hurt. And I'm not going to lie, tell the truth and you'll probably get hurt as well.' 'Like I'd tell you,' Silver croaked. She needed water, her throat was dry from lack of hydration. How long had she been imprisoned? 'Oh really? Does Celestia's little rebel need convincing?' Nightmare Moon conjured a mirror, and levitated it so that Silver could see the wound on her chest. It was deep and bloody. Two lacerations in the shape of an x. Silver didn't remember how they got there. Her face was also covered in cuts of a similar fashion. 'Uuuhhh,' she groaned. She felt lethargic, and couldn't think clearly. She wasn't sure she could tell Nightmare Moon even if she wanted to. Nightmare Moon advanced towards her, trying to look intimidating, to scare her into telling. It was very likely the orange pony would faint from anything physical, so she had to be careful. Nightmare Moon tried to invade Silver's mind, but she hadn't yet mastered the art, and it was far easier when the pony in question was a unicorn. This wasn't going to be easy, but it didn't mean Nightmare Moon couldn't enjoy it. But first she needed an interrogation subject with a clear head. Using magic, she conjured some water and forced Silver to drink. Silver didn't want to be Nightmare Moon's tool, but she was unable to gag up the water. If ever was a time to curse pony anatomy, now would be it. Nightmare Moon forced Silver into a healing sleep and left. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dragonsilver was prepared to do anything to get Silver back. Celestia could see it in his eyes, the resolute loyalty, also the love for the orange mare. Dragonsilver might even let his heart take over his head, and Celestia needed to stop that happening. She couldn't afford another loss of the remaining three elements she had gathered together. Heck, she made it sound like they weren't even beings. She needed to stop that. It would just turn her into another Nightmare Moon, which obviously wouldn't help the situation. The ponies were once again riding the air across Equestria, searching for Nightmare Moon and her prisoner. If her magic hadn't failed her, Celestia was pretty sure that Silver was still alive. She knew it would break Dragonsilver's heart if he found out she had her doubts. Dragonsilver loved Silver more than he let on, perhaps more than even he himself knew. Ponies were so frail, yet so strong when it came to love. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ten hours later, Silver awoke and saw the piercingly blue eyes of Nightmare Moon watching her. Nightmare Moon gave her ten minutes to come to fully, and shake off the sleepiness. She really needn't have waited so long, as Silver's heart was beating so fast from fright she couldn't have gone back to sleep if she'd wanted to. Her eyes adjusted again, and of all the things to think of, Silver was furious that shecouldn't wipe the sleep from them. But the dark blue figure in front of her proved to be a sufficient enough distraction. 'So,' said Nightmare Moon. 'Have you reconsidered?' 'Yeah, ah have. Now ah'm sure ah'd never tell y'all.' 'Don't be so hasty, I can still hurt you.' 'Yeah, cause ah didn't know that.' Silver said. 'I can make you tell.' 'Sugarcube, you can't make me do anythin' ah don't wanna do.' 'We'll see about that.' Nightmare Moon moved forward. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dragonsilver wanted to pace nervously, but there was no room in the carriage. Instead he just paced on the spot, the sound of his hooves infuriating Shadow. 'For the last time, will you stop that please?!' she yelled at him over the wind. Dragonsilver nodded, but a minute later he had started again. 'This is going to be a long trip,' Shadow muttered, looking out into the dark, star-filled sky. 'Cheer up everypony,' said Celestia. 'We're making good time, considering the wind, and I doubt Nightmare Moon will do any permanant harm to Silver.' 'How do you know?' asked Dragonsilver. 'If she wanted Silver dead, why take her? Duh.' said Shadow. 'If it was part of her plan to kill Silver, Silver would be a corpse. At the castle.' 'Thanks, Shadow. For making me see reason, I mean. You're right,' Dragonsilver said. 'As usual, your compassion makes me retch. How did you know about the butterflies, bythe way?' 'Uh...' he slumped. 'Fine. Sometimes I pick up on somepony's thoughts. I saw the way the butterflies were flying, it was weird, so I concentrated on their thoughts and found them a little more megalomaniacal than the average butterfly.' 'Fair enough.' 'I've been meaning to ask you about that, actually,' Celestia said. 'Never a good way to start a conversation,' Dragonsilver warned. 'And here is me, starting it anyway,' she said. Shadow grinned. 'Her Most Amazingly Powerfullness strikes again,' she said. 'I would have really appreciated it if you'd told me.' 'Watch her Everlasting Incredibleness on her quest for ultimate knowledge,' Shadow laughed. 'It cost me quite a bit of time and energy.' 'And her seeking of being more efficient than the speed of light.' 'Do you have any other bombs you'd like to drop while we're here?' Celestia asked him. Dragonsilver tilted his head to one side. 'What's a bomb?' 'Yeah,' said Shadow. 'I can't make fun of you if you use words I don't know.' 'Oh never mind. Just let me know if you're aware of anything... Unusual going on.' Dragonsilver agreed, but he still wanted to know what a bomb was. They flew across the seemingly endless night. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silver cried out again. Her legs were a gory mess of blood, and it was hard to make out the colour of her legs any more, as they were coated in a sticky red. Nightmare Moonhad destroyed them slowly, not breaking the bone but wanting to inflict as much pain as possible. Her face was streaked with tears, and Nightmare Moon had had to stuff some rags in Silver's mouth to stop her biting her own tongue off. Nightmare Moon, on her part, was keeping the pony fully hydrated and made sure she didn't lose too much blood. 'Tell me,' she commanded. Silver couldn't talk through the rags, but the defiant look in her eyes said enough. Nightmare Moon sighed. 'You brought this upon yourself,' she said, and broke Silver's hind leg bones into six separate pieces. The pain was too much, and Silver screamed into the rags, then blacked out. More waiting for Nightmare Moon, but it was worth it. Soon this pathetic earth pony would be broken. A while later, Silver came to. The pain from her legs caused her to scream, but there was still fight left. After she had calmed herself a bit Nightmare Moon continued. She looked at Silver's broken legs. Her left hindleg had some bone poking out. Bending down, Nightmare Moon carefully placed her teeth around the bone and tugged, extracting another scream from Silver Buckle. The harder she pulled, the higher the screams became. 'Haha...' Silver said weakly, spitting out the rags. 'Can't... Break... Me.' Nightmare Moon could not believe a pony could last this long. Especially not an earth pony. 'I'm going to drown you. I'm going to drown you like a bunch of dumb rabbits.' 'Why'd y'all drown rabbits?' 'Because they're cute and cuddly.' 'Ah'm starting to think y'all are a lesbian. Ah don't know how ah came to that there conclusion, but it may have had something to do with you likening me to cute and cuddly rabbits. Much appreciated and all, but ah have a colt who is probably looking for me.' This pony was getting on Nightmare Moon's nerves. She should have taken one of the other ones. Conjuring a knife, she decided to get a little closer to this pony's vital areas. She traced a line up Silver's neck, drawing blood. Silver whinnied softly, but was suddenly very still. This was getting dangerous. Nightmare Moon tried to keep doing this, but the cursed pony's hair kept getting in the way. Oh well. It's not like she'd be needing it. Silver felt a tug on her hair, then lots of sharp pain. Nightmare Moon had sawed through her hair with the knife. 'Lucky for you, ah've never really cared about mah mane,' she told Nightmare Moon. Her mane was shorter now. Heck, Nightmare Moon may have done Silver a favour. It could look cute. Stranger things had happened. AN: Okay, somepony may have noticed the similarities to the fic Cupcakes. Tried to steer it away from that, probably wasn't very successful. The main difference was that Nightmare Moon's purpose wasn't to kill Silver. Anyway, thanks for reading up until now, there's more to come!