Insanity War

by InsaneBatPony

Search for the Elements

Search for the Elements

In the time since Insanity had taken his place on the thrown of Equestria the world became void of plant life and the surviving ponies had become his personal servants or the food source for his own power. The princesses remained in the condition of that night when they had been nearly killed. Now they sat in the throne room chained like animals to the walls. Metal collars around their necks and four hoof cuffs on their feet also chained to the wall. They no longer had their wings or horns. Their bodies had not been cleaned since then; their fur caked in their own blood causing it to be discolored in areas. Massive scabs had formed where their horns and wings had once been. The beauty of the princesses and their regal presence had now been defiled and marred by the recent events. Insanity had ransacked all of Equestria, killing indiscriminately all those who did not bow to him. If one did not bow then the whole town and everypony in it was destroyed. This had transpired in roughly one month. Only the Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie pie, Twilight and Fluttershy remained free from Insanity’s grip.

Insanity looked out upon his Equestria and reveled in it. He turned and looked at the two captured princesses, their bodies maimed and ugly. He laughed in pure pleasure and happiness.

“MY WORLD, MY EQUESTRIA. HOW I HAVE DREAMED OF THIS DAY. AND YET MY VICTORY IS NOT YET COMPLETE. I STILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY THE OTHERS CREATED. WHEN I DESTROY THEM MY VICTORY AND REVENGE WILL BE COMPLETE. BUT WHY HAVE THEY NOT COME TO ME AS I HAD PREDICTED? IF THEY WILL NOT COME TO ME, THEN I WILL FIND THEM MY SELF. THE GAME OF CAT AND MOUSE BEGINS THEN. IF THAT IS WHAT THEY HAVE CHOSEN.” He said while looking at the princess of the sun. He turned back around and placed a hand on the ground, his red power began to cover a portion of the floor and in its place a large table and a map of the new Equestria had appeared. He began to look it over trying to pinpoint the most likely places the six Elements could be hiding.
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In the past month the six Elements have moved from place to place after every few days to a week at the most. They knew that if they had stayed in the same place for too long they would be found before they would be ready to face off with Insanity. In that month they had changed. They knew they could not stop Insanity if they faced him when princess Celestia told them to flee. They had used the month to discover the inner secrets of the Elements of Harmony. Many of their secrets lay hidden to them still yet they had discovered ways to release more power than they had used previously. However Twilight had been the one leading the charge to unlock their secrets and the events of the previous month were starting to take their toll on her mentally and physically. After a long day of travel they had finally stopped in a mountainous area near the volcanic lands where Insanity used to reside. They found a crevice in the rocks near their location and used what they could to make a makeshift shelter. After it was built they all huddled together in the small space. They all had had enough of running.

“How much longer do we have to keep running from him?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Until were absolutely ready ta take Insanity down!” Applejack responded loudly.

Rainbow Dash let out an aggravated sigh and turned trying to get a little rest before they had to move on again. Twilight had not slept for a long time due to her constant want, need in her mind, to avenge the princesses, Spike and all the others whose lives Insanity had taken since his release. She only looked up at the blue sky with both the sun and moon hanging in the sky as though they were taunting her because of her ‘failure’.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Spike, Fleetfoot and every other pony who have lost their lives in this war will be avenged someday. I will stop him for all of their sakes and restore Equestria to the way it was.” She said to herself. Unfortunately for her it was loud enough for the others to hear it.

“Ya know ya don’t need to do this alone Righ?” Applejack said facing Twilight’s back.

Twilight turned her head around not moving her body to acknowledge that she had heard Applejack’s statement.

“I know, but I feel responsible for everything that has happened! I need to make it right.”

“And ya will. Just not by yourself. Were your friends we’ll always help anytime we can and we’ll help each other no matter what. So, you get yourself to bed and sleep a little bit. You need to okay?”

Twilight nodded and lay where she stood. She put her head in her forelegs and drifted into sleep for the first time in days.
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After nearly two hours of reading over his map of Equestria and considering different places the six Elements could hide he had narrowed it down to two possible locations and a third one as a backup. He went back to his thrown and sat down. He outstretched his arm and swirled a small orb of magic. He released it and it became a creature of dark shadow and mist.

“THANATOS, GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN.” He said to his newly revived minion.

“My lord? You don’t look the same as you did before.” Thanatos said to his master.

“MUCH HAS TRANSPIRED AS YOU CAN SEE.”

Thanatos looked around at the room where Insanity sat and noticed the two princesses on his left and right. He stared at them in disbelief and horror at the sight of them. “Sire, you defeated the princesses? Was it necessary to maim that as you have done?”

Insanity stood up at Thanatos’ second question in a rage. “DO YOU DARE QUESTION MY ACTIONS IN MY OWN THRONE ROOM?!” his voice booming making the walls shake.

“No, sire I just wondered what could drive you to do something so evil. Sire they were the princesses of the old Equestria doesn’t that entitle them to some form of respect?”

Insanity stared at his most trusted minion and walked over to him. Standing at his full height he towered over the being of shadow and mist. “YOU OF ALL OF MY CREATIONS SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN TO QUESTION ME IN THIS MANNER, THANATOS. I WILL OVERLOOK YOU TRANSGRETION FOR NOW, BUT DO IT AGAIN AND YOU WILL SUFFER THE SAME FATE AS THE PRINCESSES. UNDERSTAND?” He said angrily.

“Y…Yes sire, forgive me. What would you like me to do?” Thanatos said looking away from his masters eyes.

“I HAVE PINPOINTED THREE LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT EQUESTRIA WHERE THE SIX ELELMENTS COULD BE HIDING. I WANT YOU TO SEARCH THEM AND TELL ME THEIR LOCATION. THOSE ARE YOUR ORDERS, GET MOVING.”

Thanatos did not respond. He simply evaporated and disappeared into the air to carry out his master’s orders.
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Thanatos traveled to the first location, the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. He materialized at the entrance and looked at the devastation that had occurred here in the previous months. He looked at all the bodies of the ponies decaying and smelling like death. Flies and other creatures flew around the corpses or were nibbling on them for food. Thanatos put his head down and went inside the castle in search of the Elements.

He proceeded through the ruins of the castle looking in every possible location and every room. He entered the room where Insanity had been revived and found the remains of the ancient ponies that revived and sealed him. He searched the room with no regard for their remains. Seeing nothing he left and searched the rest of the castle in a few minutes deciding that it would be better to search in his shadow form allowing him to travel faster. He found no sign of the six in the castle and proceeded to the next location.

The second location was Ponyville itself; while it was unlikely that the Elements would be there Insanity had decided that it was a possible location so he had to search it as well. He materialized in the town square where the statue of Celestia had once stood. He looked in all directions taking in his surroundings. Buildings were reduced to rubble and ponies lay in the middle of the buildings there body parts sticking out of the debris. Thanatos walked to one of the buildings when something caught his eye. He proceeded to make his way through the rubble of the ruined home. He found a child’s toy, a small scooter with the handle bars missing. He lifted pieces of the rubble to discover a sight that nearly tore him in two. Three young children, three fillies, one was wearing a cape that was torn on the corners and most of the sides and it had the initials CMC on the back. They were all huddled together in a ball, likely huddling together trying to stay safe from the collapsing of the house. At seeing this Thanatos, for the first time since his creation long ago and now, collapsed to his knees, his vision became blurry and he felt wetness in his eye and it began to travel down to his nose. He lifted his arm and wiped it away. He looked at his arm and the darkened stain it had left.

“A…A tear? But how? I’m not supposed to be able to feel remorse or sadness, only hatred and madness. But I have never seen the results of what my master has done, only the after math of what I commit for him.” His voice wavering from his new found emotion. He looked back at the three young fillies no older than school children, one had a yellowish coat with red hair and the remnants of a bow in her hair, the other a snow white unicorn with purple and white hair and the last a Pegasus with small wings, a purple mane and orange fur. “Children. Children. Children?! CHILDREEEEEEN!” he cried at the top of his lungs. Thanatos had begun to go crazy, he beat the ground with his fists and kicked the rubble around him, tears now flowing freely. He fell to his knees again and this time grasped the three of them not caring about their condition of decay and hugged them tightly to his chest.

“How? Why them? Why them? He cried into their lifeless bodies. “They still had their whole lives in front of them. They didn’t deserve this.” He looked around at the remnants of Ponyville and his anger and hatred grew, but its direction had changed from the ponies of Equestria to his master and creator. “They didn’t deserve this! None of them did!” He roared into the air.

He looked down to the three fillies he still had clutched to his body. The tears began to fall again. He lifted the three of them up as he stood careful not to drop them. He walked out into an area that did not have any debris or rubble blocking the way. He placed the three fillies on the ground near a collapsed building and went back to the spot he had found. He bent down and began to dig with his hands never ceasing until he completed his project.
After some hours of digging he had finished his project. He stood up and walked to where the fillies now lay. He picked the unicorn up first and placed her in the dirt her front hooves crossed over her body, next he picked up the Pegasus and laid her beside the unicorn, then finally he went to the earth pony, he took the cape off of her neck and put it in the pocket in his cloak. He picked up the earth pony and placed her in the ground next to the Pegasus all in the same position as the unicorn. He filled the hole with the dirt that had piled up from his digging.

When he was done he found a stick and stuck it in the mound. He then took the ruined cape out of his pocket and tied it to the stick in the ground. The cape waving in the breeze like a flag, the letters C.M.C reflecting the sun and moon light as it flapped. Thanatos stood there looking at the grave he had dug for the three fillies. He stood and looked at the waving cape and looked at the mound of dirt, the ruined town not knowing how many more parents, children, pets and others were laying buried in the rubble not to be discovered. He bent down to one knee and placed a hand on the grave and let his head hang in silence for a moment. He stood up again after a few moments and let out a cry of sadness and shame that was unlike any heard before.
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The six Elements had been traveling for many days and hours. They were exhausted at this point and saw a building in the distance. They made their way to the building which was in the volcanic lands practically on the other side of Equestria itself. They looked at the castle of black and granite. Only twilight knew this building and she knew it well for she had lived there for a few months.

“Wow this place is creepy.” Pinkie Pie claimed with a face.

“Yes, it’s kind of scary.” Fluttershy said quietly.

“It should be scary; this was where Insanity lived before he took over the throne of Equestria and killed the Princesses.” Twilight said matter-of-factly.

The others looked at her with a faces of shock and disbelief.

“This is where he lived before he attacked the Princesses?” Applejack piped in.

“Yes it is. And I used to live here to before I was rescued by Princess Celestia. Come on, it’s abandoned now, we should be safe inside for a few days at least.”

They made their way into the castle with slight hesitation unsure as to what they would find inside.
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Thanatos turned from the grave and looked to the South.

“One last location; please let them be there.” He said to himself. He vanished instantly traveling through the darkness and shadows to his last location, the castle where Insanity had once resided.

He finally made it to the castle after hours of travel via shadows. He materialized once again in front of the castle. He looked at his old home and wished that it had never stood. He walked to the door and blasted it down with his own magic abilities. He wanted to be heard and he was.
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A large crashing sound was heard by the six in the old throne room they had found after exploring the castle. They ran down to where the sound was heard hoping that it just a broken hinge on the door that had broken causing the door to fall down. When they arrived standing in front of them in the door way was Thanatos, Insanity’s Death Dealer.

“You!?” Twilight said while preparing to charge.

“Mania. Listen to me I have something important to OOOOF!” Thanatos was rammed in the gut by Applejack. He stumbled over and fell to the ground. He began to stand up when Twilight fired a magic bolt of lightning at him. It hit its mark and sent him flying back into the volcanic lands outside of the castle. He stood up quickly and roared.

They six all stopped in their tracks at this mighty sound. Thanatos cleared his throat. “Now, as I was saying, I have something important to tell you.” his voice deep and resonating. “You need to face Insanity now. You can’t run anymore.” The six of them looked at each other wondering if this was a trick.

“Why should we trust you? You helped Insanity kill all of those ponies and he killed the princesses! So why should we trust you?!” Twilight yelled at him.

Thanatos was not surprised by this question and answered as best he could. “There is no way I can earn your trust, I know, but you need to listen to me. Your princesses are not dead, just severely wounded; Insanity keeps them as living trophies chained to the wall next to his throne.”

They looked surprised and also suspicious of this information.

“Can you prove it to us?” Applejack asked.

“Yes, I might be able too. I’ll try to show them to you.” Thanatos raised his hand and it began to glow crimson. He put his hand in front of his body and projected an image of Insanity’s throne room. He panned his vision around to the throne. The six gasped when they saw Insanity sitting there on his throne. They observed his new form of nothing but bone and red energy holding it together. Thanatos was able to turn his vision to the princesses on either of his sides quickly allowing nothing more than a glance before he had to quit the projection due to his exhaustion.

“Well, ah never thought ah would see the day that one of Insanity’s minions would be telling us the truth.” Applejack said a little more relieved but still doubtful because of his past actions.

“Sorry, I had to stop. I’m not very powerful with projection magic otherwise it would have lasted longer.” He said while breathing somewhat heavily. “Your princesses are alive and there is something else.”

The six Elements were perplexed, not only had a minion of Insanity showed them that their princesses were alive reinforcing his point that his message was in fact important, but now he had something more to tell them? They looked at him wondering what else he could possibly have to say.

“I…I want to help you stop Insanity.”

The six of them practically fell down in shock and disbelief at his statement. They were now highly suspicious of Thanatos and his words. They dint know if they could trust him giving everything that he had done.

“Really? Why would you, Insanity’s master assassin, want to help us?”

“Actually, the term is Death Dealer” he corrected. “I want to help you because when I was searching for you to do his bidding and I found…” his voice trailed off getting quiet. He made fists and began to tremble a little bit.

“Wha did ya find?” Applejack asked trying to get an answer from him.

“I…I found three young fillies huddled together in a pile of debris.” He said quickly trying hard to not choke on the words. “I found them huddled together in a small ball. There was a yellow colored earth pony with a red bow, a white unicorn with a purple and white mane and a small orange Pegasus. One of them was wearing a cape that had gold letters on it. It had the letters C.M.C on the back.”

The six of them were now dumbfounded by the descriptions of the fillies. Playing it in their minds over and over again. Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe their ears.

“Those fillies, you were talking about. Where did you find them?” Applejack asked not wanting to believe.

“I found them in Ponyville huddled together in what looked like a school building.” Thanatos said. “I didn’t see anything else except for the remnants of scooter missing the handle bars.”

“That means that…” Rainbow Dash said beginning to become teary eyed.

“Yeah, I reckon it does.” Applejack said beginning to cry.

“Sweetie Bell is…” Rarity said under her breath also falling to the floor.

“I made a grave for them. If you would like to go and see it, I can take you there.” Thanatos spoke up. The six, in unison made nods of recognition and signs meaning ‘take us there’ to him. Thanatos charged his magic again and after a few moments they were teleported to Ponyville’s front gate.
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They all made their way through the wreckage of Ponyville not wanting to look at the buildings that their friends had been buried under. They walked in silence still not wanting to believe that Thanatos was telling the truth. Yet they had to believe him because of the wreckage that they were looking at.

“Turn here.” Thanatos spoke as he guided them around a wrecked building.

When they finished walking around the building they saw it, the grave mound that housed three small fillies without a cutie mark, the stick still standing with the cape waving gently in the breeze. They walked over to the mound and Fluttershy grabbed the cape in her mouth and held it still so that the others could read it clearly. There they sat taking in the sight. The golden initials, just as Thanatos had said there would be, were imprinted on the ruined cape that once belonged to young Applebloom. Fluttershy let go of the cape and let it fall back to waving in the breeze. The six had stood there in silence still unbelieving even though the evidence lay before them.

“Thank ya, Thanatos.” Applejack said quietly.

“For what?” he asked, shrugging his shoulders, not knowing why she was thanking him.

“Fer burying them and giving them a place to rest. At least now they can play and be free from all of this just like the others. But I have to ask why did you do it. Ah thought you weren’t supposed to have feelings like this.”

“I guess I always had feelings. I guess I just ignored them for so long that I had forgotten about them. When I saw these three children I guess they were reawakened. Now all I want to do is to listen to what my feelings tell me to do and right now they are telling me to help you. So, if you don’t like it then… tough.”

“Nah, not tough, good luck. Righ now my feelings tell me that ah can trust you with all my heart. Agreed Everypony?” she said while looking at the others. They all nodded in agreement. “Listen Mr. Thanatos can we have some time to say our goodbyes? Ya see that white unicorn was Rarity’s sister and the one with the bow was mine. Scootaloo was really a fan girl of Rainbow but they had become quite close to each other almost like sisters.”

Thanatos agreed with a nod. “You may. But try to keep it brief, for the sake of the world. The sooner we go after Insanity the better. Alright?” Applejack agreed and she went to join the others who had already begun to say their goodbyes to the three little ones.

A few moments later they were finished with their goodbyes and Thanatos joined them by the grave again.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked them all, his voice still somewhat quiet.

“Yes. Were ready. Take us to him.” Twilight said to Thanatos.

Thanatos nodded and they all disappeared in a wave of shadows and mist.

They reappeared in front of the new Canterlot Castle where Insanity now resided. Thanatos stepped in front of them.

“The castle has nearly the same layout as before so you can find the throne room easily. I know how to restore the princesses back to normal, so I will free the other ponies that Insanity has under his control then I will retrieve their horns from his vault in the basement of the castle.”

“You mean that the princesses can be restored to what they were before he did all of that to them?” Twilight asked with surprise.

“Yes, an Alicorn’s magic comes from within right? But without their horn it has no place to go. The way I see it, the magic inside of them has been building over the past month and when their horns are reattached then that magic will release and restore them to what they once were before. But, listen all of you; this will be your hardest and most challenging battle yet. Are you ready for it?” Thanatos asked them all.

They all responded in unison by saying yes. Thanatos turned his back to them and faced the castle in front of them. They began to walk toward the massive black door. Thanatos spoke again to them as they walked.

“It’s time to end this.”

NEXT CHAPTER

DOORWAY TO INSANITY

Comments

[Flutterdev]

So Intense. Can't wait for the next chapter. Also how many chapters are left?
P.S. I shed a manly tear at the CMC part

[InsaneBatPony]

405724 Not many. The way its going now it has about two to three left.

[InsaneBatPony]

405724 Actually. Scratch my first response. This is going to about four more chapters long including a chapter change for the next chapter. So, Elemental Fury is going to come later on.

[Pleaseworkforonce]

by the way i just finished the prequel or whatever you want to call it and just the word count of this one made me happy and i havnt even started yet
ps whats with the chapter 1 being released after 2 and 3

[Pleaseworkforonce]

you killed the cmc realy i know it was for the plot but man LOOK AT THIER FACES AND SEE WHAT YOU DID NOW ATTACK FLUTTERSHY!!!
yay!

wait fluttershy did you just yay him killing the cmc!!!
wow i think the time thing is messed up i dont think i couldve read this in 30 mins and eat dinner

[InsaneBatPony]

437105 Thanks for the comments first off. I run this through a spell check every time I write a chapter at least twice and chapter 1 was not released after 2-3 The date that it shows is the last time something was modified. I changed something in the first chapter on the date shown. I submitted the story with that chapter attached to it. Also if you could, point out where the spelling mistakes occurred and I will fix them. I dislike misspellings. What do you mean by "the time thing is so messed up"?