Puppets of Tragedy

by Iridescence T Wind

The Elements Of...

Blinding pain filled every cell of my existence. The inital searing light blowing away my ability to concentrate on anything around town, and causing the dematerialization of all the minions and several masked puppets I had stationed as side bosses to the main ones. The pain itself, was amplified, over and over again as it screamed at me, raged at me, and tore at the very spirt of my being. In the span of the first second I was overwhelmed in agony, and any errant thoughts or idle curiosity was wiped out for the pure primal instinct to survive.

REPENT!

The word screamed through me, as if someone was driving a spike through my brain. Wordlessly, I screamed, and raged back against it. Even if I no one else had defied it, I would try. I had to try. Instinct was my guiding hand here, as I forced a puppet into action. Nothing else mattered, as Grevious brought out his sabers, and I forced my ability to drain and severe magic through him, the mask cracking beneath the weight of magic I was pressing into it. Lightsabers alight, and beams burning too bright, he slashed into the mess of chains, cutting them apart, but missing the Element bearers themselves. The backblast destroyed the mask as the spell came undone, still blasting into me but no longer unified. Looks of confusion and hurt adressed each of their faces as the chains broke and from above in her cocoon Celestias face looked extremely alarmed. I didn't have time to worry about the ramifications, though.

I needed to survive. I grit my teeth as the fiery light continued to consume me, the Rainbow no longer intact but six streams of light making the golden burn. I lunged blindly with my hands, trying to capture one, and after three tries, caught one, I tore into it...

Redeem.

There it was, the first of many trials as my body fought against the force trying to change it. A hopeful element, soft and gentle, almost kind as if trying to show me the error of my ways. The ways I could of been better, caused less harm, and hurt less feelings. It tried to take it, my path forward. A trade, of freedom for a path of kindness. To be forged anew. I rammed against it, my choices were my own! My mistakes made me who I was. Was this why Luna tortured herself at night? I felt my grip tighten, every fiber of my being rejecting the golden strings it tried to weave, to tempt and show me how I could be a healer, a doctor, a surgeon of prosthetics to all those injured in accidents. How I could save hundreds of ponies by dedicating myself to a life servicing the needs of others. It was a bitter dream to reject. Even more bitter to consume it. Tear it, rip it to shreds again and again as it tried to force feed me its thoughts.

The element in the necklace of the butterfly cracked, and faded, Fluttershy being pushed out of the group. Her thoughts not on what had just happened, but rather alarmed that I had been struck at all. It seemed she got that I had been defending Canterlot, despite the lack of information she'd had on hoof. The pressure lessened, but I could still feel the magic scouring me, trying to take back what I had just stolen, to try and divide my strength so that it could free it once more. I hissed, pulling at myself, and ripping at the intruding magic, feeling like an injured small bird stuck inside a cotton candy machine that was in full swing. After several tries, I grabbed at the next strand, still blind, as what Puppets remained slowly made their way here.

Guilt.

Whatever thoughts I had about Redemption, had been almost blown away instantly by the feeling of my heart being crushed underneath this new magic. I gasped in a fresh wave of agony as the Element associated with Pinkie Pie threw my every fault back at me and made me relive it all a hundred fold at once. Every bug I had crushed, every fight I had fought, and every hurt feeling I had ever done, was repaid to me hundred fold. I could see every moment racing through my mind again and again, and part of me died there. It wasn't just one Element, it seemed, that had turned Luna into what she was now. I clutched at my chest, both to drain the magic crushing it, and to try, somehow, if futile, to get it to stop. Every action in my life played before my eyes, and their every consequence, their every wrong, and the great effects of what happened over the course of my story.

Much of it was tripe, I gritted my teeth. Butterfly effects, and unintended consequences of actions I couldn't fully understand far outnumbered ones of any meaning. Spooking a deer in a forest while on the walk, caused it to wander into someone else's vegetable garden hours later looking for a snack? Really? I refused to be guilt tripped over such things! Snarling I bit and chewed into the magic, ripping apart its accusations, that my every wrong deserved this fate worse than death. To no longer be me! I fought it with the image of Luna, torturing herself at night when she thought no one else was watching. The Tantabus, whom would nearly end the world at one point. Was that really Order?

The element of laughter cracked, at that argument and my assault. fading away into dust as the first had, Pinkie Pie being repulsed from her spot and landing on a table nearby, but I spared no time for the results of it. Her eyes were confused, not that we had targeted me, but rather that they hadn't aimed for me and still hit me. A subtle difference that I had no time to explore. Two down, four to go.

The pain had lessened to a degree, but it was still as though someone had decided to cover my entire body with soldering irons, as I fought back, my props breaking and tearing away from the sheer amount of magic hitting me. Golden strands were starting to cover me, and I tore at their bindings. What seconds passed by, felt like hours, days even. As I caught the next one trying to do its work, an attempt to untangle the mess of magic I had taken from me.

Amend.

It wanted to put back what had been stolen, I recognized immediately. The image of magic returning to their owners after Tirek had stolen it all. I smashed aside its petty idealisms with the image of whom the magic had belonged to before me. The image of Sharp Opera sacrificing lives for his petty kingship, of the Windiego king threatening to consume the world in ice with his mere existence... To the greedy dragons, Chrysalis's lust for power, and all the other villains I had beaten. It was trying to pry them apart from each other, and like a giant fighting a hydra, I began to pull, rip, and tear each of its tendrils out from the base of the neck, and unlike the hydra, I consumed and it didn't regrow. Once it was crippled, I took the effort to pull the rest of it into me, forcing it to disperse with the rest of my magic. I was still spasming from the heat, and my magic, spirit, and mind was crippled in pain, but I was getting there. It still burned my throat, but at least I could breathe now, that half of them were gone and dealt with.

Rarity fell to the side, looking frazzled, but absolutely livid with me. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why she would look so mad when the others looked more confused thus far. I couldn't afford the waste of time to dwell on it, as the other elements were trying their own methods of taking me out. I tried to grab at the next element, blue and circling around me at an even faster pace, but the orange one slammed into my hand first, knocking my grip off, and forcing me to deal with it next.

Repress.

My body felt heavy, slowed, and my thoughts dulled as it tried to brute force itself on me. Aiming to inhibit my existence in every way it possibly could. A binding that I recognized had made Luna her season 1 appearance, and one that was already overbearing in itself. It tried to grab at parts of my mind, motivations and bad experiences, and with my own thoughts, I smashed it to the side, using the newfound strength of the prior three elements to batter it away from my thoughts. My own hatred for the attempt to alter my mind making me zealous to the idea of overkill as I grabbed it and battered it with repeated brute force as it tried again and again to edit my mind.

I took the venomous, rotten thing and with all the grace of a beserker, I tore it into bits. Those bits into shreds and then absorbed the shreds for good measure, Applejack falling out of the loop with a look of shock at the man handling of her element. Whereas the other jewels had fallen apart into dust, hers violently exploded outwards, with the jewels pieces fading away into the same sort of dust, its amulet falling apart on the ground unlike the others from likely my violent reprisal. I was still caught in the vortex, but the burning fire consuming me now felt like I was merely an inch away from an open flame rather than being consumed by it. Magic hovered just out of reach, arcane symbols now recognizable inside its mass, but too far away to grab, while Loyalty continued its insane pace, as if it was trying to take me skyward. I reached out with magic and grabbed it, the element slamming into it as I discovered its purpose and meaning behind its actions.

Isolate.

It was trying to banish me, and my heart skipped a beat in slight horror at what it had been attempting to do. A little longer, or if they had remained unified, I might of been put into the sky as a decorative art piece. I wasted no time in putting the prepared spell work to ruins, dashing its attempts to recompile the effort as I dragged the element itself away from its course of action kicking and mentally screaming. The thing lashed out magic as if an octopus armed with tens of daggers, and I hissed as it burned into me, cutting my clothes and leaving burns and stab wounds on my arm. My hand was nicked as I grabbed the flailing limbs with my other hand, squeezing the magic out of it as quickly as I could. It bucked and thrashed like a bull but four elements in it was too late to put up more than ten seconds worth of struggling before I had it as well under my thumb, both figuratively and literally.

I focused on dispersing it as quickly as possible, while Rainbow Dash was flung from the magical radius of the struggle. She landed gracelessly atop a table, and as she got up, she was the only bearer to actually stand back up, a look of distaste aimed my way, and I got the feeling she and Rarity might of been holding a grudge against me, which was fine, I had a grudge with Rainbow after-

Magic was now in full swing, and I panicked as the first wisps of a spell slammed into my face, blindly I lashed out and caught the element, alarmed as numerical theory, and mathematics flowed between the link of it and its bearer into me. Unlike the others, there was no word present for me to dissect. It simply was magic, and I lashed out, only to connect with nothing as it moved out of the way, golden strands blinding my vision further as the darkness wore off. I bit and chew into the strands, finding naught for the effort but as if I had bitten a wire fence. Changing my effort, I lunged at the source of it, and it dodged out of the way again. Out of patience at this point, I did the next best thing.

In the beam of the blast all of this battling had done, I had barely moved from the spot... Now I lurched forward inside the beam, puppets forming and shoving me from behind forward. I felt like I was pushing against an avalanche, waterfall, and stampede all at once and with a gargled scream of hate, I forced myself through it, one painful step at a time. The other element bearers looked extraordinarily alarmed at this, as I blindly crawled forward, my only vision being the puppets around me. Step by step I approached until I was within arms reach of Twilight herself, and with a final herculean effort, I grasped her element directly, draining it from the source. Victory in my grasp, I gasped as the light faded around me, and I grinned, a vicious bloody grin as the element of magic was being drained. The ribbon of purple light, wasn't done, however, as it faded, it slammed itself into my face, in one last effort, applied something to my face.

I stepped back, the element of magic's jewel in my grasp, and slipping through my fingers as golden strands faded from all that had been connected to them. I could see the strands disintegrate from my remaining puppets vision, as I staggered back, away from Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Applejack interposing themselves between her and me as she stepped back with alarm on all of their faces. I waited for my vision to return, and as the cool air brushed my skin. As I numbly grinned, I opened my mouth to draw breathe and...

Nothing.

I didn't feel air enter my mouth, or nose... My vision didn't return... I moved my hands to touch my face, but the sound of shattering stone and the scatter of broken stone into my feet and lower legs as if someone had kicked gravel into me, drew my puppets gaze to my front... My face was now on the ground, and I hadn't felt it, it had shattered and I fell to my knees, blood racing through my head as I slowly came to terms with what had just happened. All of the elements of harmony had attempted methods I had already seen in the show, but one hadn't been done until just now, the method that was used to seal Discord away...

Petrification.

It had sealed my face, an object separate from my body in its final effort. I had won, but now I had also lost, and desperately I pulled the remaining masked puppets to me, Bowser, Aku, Ice King, Nox, Mr.Freeze, and Tanya coming into the ballroom as I tried and failed to pull in a fresh breathe of air. The puppets pulling off their masks as I tried to put their faces on, but without explanation, they didn't work. The masks didn't change my shape, didn't give me a mouth or nose that I could use. I called on my token, but found myself cut off from it, my alarm growing as I realized this was it. I was going to die here.

There was still so much I needed to do, I needed to breathe. I couldn't breathe, Pain was starting to grow in my chest as my lungs recycled my last burnt breath I had taken before the mask broke. I sent a puppet to the nearby after-wedding tables, and brought a serving knife from it to me, trying to buy myself some time in a fashion. I stabbed at my face, and was only rewarded with pain as the knife bounced off solid bone where my open jaw should of been, and only cut skin deep. Discarding it, I wanted to scream, as the Element Bearers stared at me in shock. There was no avoiding this, and every second now counted. I had no time to think, the strands of the elements were slowly fading away, but I was now doomed. With no recourse I would need to resolve things before I was gone.

My puppets view turned skywards, but my vision lurched as pain broke my concentration. My lungs betraying me again as my puppet count dwindled into the single digits, my legs collapsing under the spasm. I couldn't concentrate like this, not enough to get a puppet to put a mask on, or break Celestia down. Even then, would I had the time to break all of her thousands of chains? I couldn't think-. I needed to breathe, I needed to do something before I faded from this miserable world. What would happen to my props, my body? I needed to scream, to breathe, to live!

A gentle touch caught me from behind as I fell onto my back, lowering me onto a pillow of furs, my concentration was waning, as all but two puppets were now gone, Luna was there, holding my head, as I could hear the blood flowing through my veins. The agony of being unable to breathe now like a fire relighted in both my lungs and heart as they struggled to work. I couldn't save Equestria from this grave injustice...

My hands reached up to touch Lunas face, as she held my blank visage. A look of worry and regret mirroring my thoughts. Her chains were still there, I realized, held up by Celestias magic alone as the golden chains were mid way through their fading.

I couldn't save Equestria, maybe... but at least... I put the power I had to use...

I could save Luna.

The chains broke, as I lost consciousness, regretting all the things I hadn't done. The last puppet fading away as I heard the final noises that would conclude my life... A quiet sob... And someone clapping.

Comments

[Veo Skride]

Fuck.

[Arveildir]

Celestia needs to fucking die no second chance, no reforming, just death. And I hope to God that it is Luna that fucking kills her.

[Chibalt]

Welp, the elements in this are 110% fucked up, and Celestia's use of the chains is about to bite her in the ass quite hard.

[Vigriff]

These Elements are monsters!

[Deltorix]

So I was right! It was rarity and rainbow’s dislike for the MC that made the elements attack him and because of them he is going to die

[MysteriousOtaku]

Dam cliffhanger, please update soon. Obviously, the sob was from Luna, I'm guessing the clapping was from discord

[Zilverfoss]

The end result seemed to come from the Elements trying to defend their own existence more than any thing...
*Slow clap*
Opposite loyalty -> Turncoat
Opposite Generosity -> (you'd think Greed) but here -> Grudge

Going to be curious to see how your Twilight reacts.
Seems Applejack was neutral, more peeved about the destruction of the element than anything else.
Pinkie and Fluttershy, seems like they're positives, and going to be chocked.

Let's see just how deep realisation goes for Rarity and Rainbow.
Will they realise that they committed 'assault with deadly force' and caused the destruction of the elements?

10734872
I don't know what worry me more - that that’s your initial want - or the rate of likes on that comment.

[Closet-Bronie-333]

10734847
fuck indeed

[Holydude]

Damn he gets alot handed to him... hope this ends well

[Eon Dragon]

[JackieFingWeeks]

Fuck, I...I wasn't expecting this! This! This was huge cliffhanger and I'm pissed about it! Oh why you have to tear apart my heart when it was relief! By the Gods that hold our world afloat, I hope the next chapter comes out soon or I shall be very disappointed...but hell of a good chapter mate.

[Fireeaters]

Uh oh.

[The A I]

Well... That was a chapter... At least he didjt get mind controlled i guess?

[CrAzY FaLcOn]

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