Twilight's Nightmare

by Dulcet

Part IV

Part IV: The Metusonians

Back at Ponyville, the party was about ready to begin. The ponies remained anxious to start partying to celebrate all the memories and moments that Ponyville had been through. Unaware to the ponies however, the Metusonians were eavesdropping them, awaiting the perfect moment to strike. Pinkie Pie placed the final decorations in place and screamed,
"ALL RIGHT EVERY PONY. LET'SS PARTYY!"

All of a sudden, the Ponyville folks stormed on the streets and began to party. Cheers erupted, smiles were shared, laughter was heard, everything about the party seemed to be going according to plan.

Twilight, frantically observing every detail happening at the party, asked, "Is everything going alright? Is there enough fruit punch for every pony? OH NO, there's a piece of trash over there! Some pony pick that up or else some pony will trip! Oh my, is it getting hot over here or is it just m-"

"TWILIGHT!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "Everything is fine. You have got to calm down and take a deep breath."

"Yes, darling. If anything completely terrible went wrong, we have our Elements of Harmony to help us. Stop fearing the worst, my dear," added Rarity.

"Yeah, Twilight. We are wearing our Elements of Harmony, just like you told us. If anything out of the ordinary starts happening, we'll be ready, but I'm pretty sure nothing like that will happen," Fluttershy remarked.

Hiding on top of the roofs, behind bushes, and behind walls, the Metusonians overheard the word "Elements of Harmony" spill out.

"Empress Adrestia. We overheard some ponies talking about their elements of harmony," the guard said, pointing to the Mane Six. "It's them. They are the ponies we need to target."

"Good. Good work lieutenant.." the Empress responded.

"Thank you, my Empress. What shall you want us to do next?" the lieutenant asked.

"The time to strike is NOW. Get rid of all these petty decorations. Crash this party to the ground. It's a darn shame these ponies didn't invite us. We would've been great party guests," the Empress cackled. "Attention all Metusonians, enter cloak mode. It's time to make our grand entrance."

One by one, the Metusonians used their mysterious magic to enter cloak mode, blending into the environment, out of plain sight of the unanticipated ponies.

"Gosh, Twi. It seems like this party is a success!" Applejack acknowledged.

"You said it! Pinkie giggled.

"You know. I think you ponies are right. I never should've doubted -"

Suddenly, balloons began popping, stands started collapsing, and the Ponyville ponies began panicking. The ponies galloped back and forth and Twilight started feeling that gut feeling inside of her that something had gone totally wrong. Her fears were becoming a reality and this time, she did not know what to do.
The havoc ended, but the party was all in ruins.

"This party is ruined.." one pony said.

"All of these decorations and food.. All gone.." another hinted.

"All these years of excitement waiting for this celebration to start and we get this?!" another pony aggressively retorted.

"Ponyville deserves better than this!" another pony suggested.

All the ponies began directly looking at Twilight, as if they were blaming her for the catastrophic mess.
Nervously sweating, Twilight said, "Listen every pony.. I'll.. uhm. get this.. problem.. fixed! Do not worry, things will get better."
The other ponies then began arguing, refuting excuses for Twilight doing a poor job at planning out the 100 year anniversary for Ponyville.

The lieutenant was about to give the signal to the Metusonians to attack, but Empress Adrestia held him back.

"Not yet, lietenaunt. I want to see how this chaotic scene plays out for just a little longer."

"Of course, Empress." the lietenaunt replied.

"You've done a terrible job with this party!" a pony smirked.

"I didn't anxiously wait for this anniversary to start only to get this!"

"You call yourself a princess?!"

"A typical princess would've done a better job at this than you!"

"ENOUGH! Stop blaming Twilight for this mess!" Applejack rejoined.

"YEAH! You ponies should be ashamed of yourselves! That's no way to talk to a princess!" Rainbow Dash countered.

"Twilight has done nothing wrong! I believe every pony is just overreacting on this situation." Rarity added.

"We're all friends. We shouldn't be arguing! I hate arguing! We can make a better party together!" Pinkie suggested.

"Yeah. What they said." Fluttershy murmured.

The Mane Five and the Ponyville folks then unleashed their anger towards one another. Once, these ponies were cheering, laughing, and smiling when the anniversary started. Everything seemed to be what Twilight had hoped for. However, that all changed in a blink of an eye. Once cheering, smiling, and laughing soon changed into arguing, threatening, and yelling. Twilight's emotions have become her own reality and she couldn't believe what she was witnessing.

"Applejack. Rainbow. Pinkie. Fluttershy. Rarity. Stop," Twilight said. Her friends then looked at her, concerned of what she has to say next. "They're right."

"Wha- what do ya mean, Twilight?" Applejack asked.

"They are right. I don't deserve to be a princess. Their princess.." Twilight remarked, putting her head down looking at the ground.

"That's nonsense. You're a great princess, Twilight. These ponies are just letting their emotions get ahead of themselves." Rarity added.

"Rarity is right. There's always gonna be some bumps in the road, but in the end, you are a great princess. And you deserve to be one." Rainbow proclaimed.

"No. I messed up.. I should've triple checked to make sure everything was okay, but I didn't. I'm sorry every pony.." Twilight galloped off, away from the mess that she was afraid of happening in the first place. She galloped, galloped as fast as she could, away from every pony else

"TWILIGHT! WAIT!" the Mane Five repeated at the same time.

Twilight galloped into the Everfree Forest. She stopped, found a nearby tree, sat down, and cried. She was alone and every pony was against her; the only thing that Twilight could've done was cry. She wanted to forget what happened, but couldn't. No matter how far she was away from the mess, her emotions kept coming back. It was like a zombie that had taken a full magazine of shots to the torso; no matter how bad it may seem, they just keep coming. Twilight then looked up and there was Zecora's hut at the distance. She got up, wiped away the tears, and headed towards the hut.

As Twilight disappeared from the distance, back in Ponyville, her friends looked at the crowd and the crowd looked at them back. There was a moment of complete silence and anger can be felt in the air.

"Ya'll ponies should be ashamed!" Applejack proclaimed. "This wasn't her fault!"

Fluttershy cleared her voice to speak, but no one could hear her as every pony repeatedly kept arguing with one another.

"Uhm can I-"

Arguing still ensued.

"I have something to-"

More arguing.

"I really need to ask something.."

Still more arguing.

Fluttershy then tapped her friends to get their attention in which they all looked back at her, still heated from the previous arguments with the other ponies.

"What is it Fluttershy?!" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I really think we should go look for Twilight right now," Fluttershy suggested.

"She's right. Arguing with every pony is getting us nowhere," Rarity exclaimed.

Still in their cloak device, the Metusonians were still watching the hectic scene at a distance. Suddenly, the Empress told the lieutenant to give the signal to attack. The lieutenant looked around the area and waited to see if all the minions were watching him to give the signal. One by one, red glowing eyes then appear all around the area. Unaware to the Ponyville folks, these red glowing eyes were all surrounding them. The lieutenant raised his hoof to give the signal and the Metusonians soon marched into the area to make their grand entrance.

"We should go find Twilight now," Rainbow Dash proposed. "Let's go every pony! Before it gets dark." Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack nodded and proceeded to follow Rainbow Dash until the ominous color of the sky began to change, the threatening clouds began to race across the heavens, swirling and colliding, and a jagged bolt of lightning bolted through the sky.

"What in Ponyville is going on with the weather?" Applejack inquired, noticing the odd weather patterns in the sky.

"I have no idea. The pegasi weren't ordered to control the weather today because of the anniversary happening.," Rainbow Dash mentioned, scratching her mane in confusion as to what is going on.

"Uhm.. I think they might have something to do with it.." Fluttershy murmered, quivering behind her friends in fear.

"What are you talking about Fluttershy?" Applejack asked. "I don't see -" Fluttershy points directly ahead, where countless numbers of red glowing eyes are looking at them. There were red glowing eyes on top of the roofs, behind the stands, in the crowd, and behind them as well.

"Oh golly.." Applejack uttered, holding her cowboy hat in shock.

"Who are they?!" Pinkie Pie questioned.

We are the Metusonians. A voice can be heard in the distance.

"Who said that?!" Rarity asked, also cowering in fear.

On the spur of the moment, all the Metusonians revealed themselves, out of their cloaking devices, showing their true forms. The minions hissed and growled at the ponies and the Ponyville ponies all tried to gallop away, constantly bumping into one another. However, there was nowhere to run as the Metusonians all circled around them. The Metusonians all wore dark black hooded robes. Each of them had red eyes. It looked like a scene straight from Star Wars, in which the Sith were taking over a group of helpless people.

You have something we want.

The ponies all looked around wondering where the mysterious voice was coming from.

"Show yourself, coward!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Very well. Mwahahaha..

Dark smoke starts to appear and a shadow starts to form. A beam of light then shines, shielding all the ponies away from the light. Then, in the center of the circle, a tall dark figure figure is revealed, wearing a hooded robe like the rest of the Metusonians. The Empress removed her hood to reveal herself to the ponies.

"Some town you have here. Too bad, I have to destroy it to begin a new colony and era of dark magic," Empress Adrestia proclaimed.

"Who are you and what do you want!?" Rainbow Dash spitefully asked, planting her two front hooves on the ground, as if she was ready to attack.

"Oh, where are my manners? Hahah. My name is Empress Adrestia, leader of the Metusonians! What we want are your so-called Elements of Harmony!" the Empress growled.

"You're not gonna taking our elements that easily!" Rarity said.

"That's right! All right girls, let's show these Meta-whatsoever how much power these elements have!" Rainbow Dash declared.

The ponies all got in formation and waited for their elements to do their magic. However, something or someone was missing.

"Wait a minute, we need Twilight!" Applejack whispered to her friends.

"Oh no, what do we do now?" Fluttershy fearfully asked.

"You foolish ponies gonna use your elements or what? Don't you know it's impolite to keep a pony waiting? Fools! If you won't give me your elements, I'll just force them out of you!" Empress Adrestia roared.
Empress Adrestia then casted a spell using her dark magic. She directed the spell into the Mane Five, in which their eyes begin to swirl. The Ponyville ponies watched in horror as the Mane Five were being casted on. They didn't know what was happening to them, only seeing their swirly eyes, as if they were being hypnotized.

In an alternative universe, there stood the Mane Five. It was pitch black; only the color black was surrounding them; they were together, but alone at the same time. There was nothing there.

"Wh-where are we, ya'll?" Applejack asked, in a confused state.

"I-I don't know," Pinkie Pie hesitantly asked.

You're in my world now, ponies!

"Adrestia! Get us out of here this instance!" Applejack commanded.

All you had to do was give me your elements. Then you wouldn't have to be in this mess!

"Never!" Rainbow Dash snapped at the Empress.

Be that way then. How about we all play a game, shall we?

"We want no part on your game! Show yourself!" Rarity asserted.

Hahah, I won't take "No" as an answer. I wanna play a game and you're gonna play it! Let's play Face Your Fears! 3-2-1, let the games begin!

Quickly and without warning, walls began to form, separating the Mane Five from each other. This time, they were really alone. As the walls began to separate them, the Mane Five hollered each other's names, but the walls quickly barricaded them from one another.