The Elements of Randomness

by Razor Blade the Unicron

Chapter Ten: Fear

Amethyst's head was pounding, but she tried her best to ignore it. It wasn't very safe for a unicorn to use magic if their horn was hit during the use of it. A cheap tactic used in magic duels would often be to hit the opponents horn while they were charging up their next move.

"You zure you're okay?" asked Lotus with concern.

Amethyst nodded, when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She automatically went to use her spell, but flinched when she felt a spark of pain.

"Is something wrong?" asked Saffron nervously.

"I saw something moving," said Amethyst, putting her hoof on her horn. "And it looked like it-"

She cut off when there was an abrupt flash of dark blue light, and flinched at the abrupt light. She opened her eyes to see that she was standing at the entrance to the Everfree Forest, with Ponyville right behind her.

"What?" asked Amethyst out loud. "Did she teleport me back? But the others are still in the forest, and-"

"Amethyst!" came Twirly's voice from above her suddenly. "Amy, help!"

She looked up to see Twirly held in a small cage in the air, directly next to Nightmare Moon. Her eyes widened in fear, and she took a step back.

"Is something wrong?" asked Nightmare mockingly. "Do I have something of importance to you?"

"Amy!" cried Twirly once more, before she was teleported away by Nightmare.

"G-give her back!" yelled Amethyst, taking a nervous step towards Nightmare.

Nightmare slammed down on the ground in front of Amethyst, and gave a sinister grin. "Oh, do not worry. I have sent her to a... special place. And as for you..." She yanked Amethyst closer with her magic. "You will be my second Midnight Warrior."

Amethyst quickly blasted of a thin beam of light at Nightmare's eyes, and broke away from her magic. She started to run, before crashing into Nightmare once more.

"I gave you a chance after your foolish attempt to resist..." hissed Nightmare. "But you have refused it. There are consequences to denying me!"

She teleported a picture frame into view, and held it up to Amethyst.

"But instead of you... I'll take this little pony!"

She slammed the picture on to the group, shattering the frame. Amethyst grabbed the picture in her magic, even though it still hurt, and quickly stepped back from Nightmare.

"I won't let you take my sister!" she yelled, her eyes briefly flicking over to the picture of herself next to another unicorn with a pink coat and purple mane. "I won't let you keep Twirly from me! And I will never be a Midnight Warrior for you!"

Nightmare cackled, and Amethyst quickly turned and ran back into the Everfree Forest.

"You cannot run from me!" yelled Nightmare as it became darker and darker. "Try as you might, but I will reign supreme!"

Amethyst just continued running.

---

Limestone blinked, and found herself standing outside of her family's rock farm. She blinked in confusion, before scowling.

"That stupid Nightmare teleported me away!" she yelled angrily. "Oh, when I get my hooves on her I'll-"

"Limey!" cried a voice from behind her. "Limey, help!"

She turned around to see her sisters, Marble and Pinkie Pie trapped underneath a gigantic boulder that her older sister, Maud, was just barely managing to hold up herself.

"Pinkie! Marble!" cried Limestone, quickly running over to help Maud. "What happened?!?"

"Limey, the scary blue alicorn came to find you!" cried Pinkie, her mane flat as opposed to at its usual bounciness. "And she said that she was going to do something awful if we didn't tell her where you were! But we didn't so-"

The ground underneath Pinkie and Marble suddenly fell away, and both cried out as they plummeted. Maud tried to reach out and grab them, but also fell into the newly formed pit.

"Maud!" cried Limestone, just barely missing her hoof as she fell. "Pinkie! Marble! NO!" She tried to jump in after them, but the pit was suddenly covered by a layer of dark blue magic. "NO!"

"This is what you get for resisting." said Nightmare from behind her with terrifying glee.

"You- you- YOU MONSTER!" screamed Limestone, whipping around and trying to punch Nightmare, just as she vanished. "NO!"

---

Lotus blinked, and found herself standing in her beloved spa. She looked around in confusion, before speaking out loud.

"Vat happened?"

"Zister!" cried out an upset voice from behind her. "Where have you been?"

She turned around to see Aloe with a large frown.

"Zister!" said Lotus in surprise. "I'm so glad zat you are safe! Has Nightmare-"

"Vhy did you just leave me all alone?" asked Aloe, stamping her hoof on the ground. "Do you really care so little about me zat you just decided to run off into ze forest because you could?"

"No, no, zister! I was helping Amethyzt to locate zomething to stop Nightmare Moon!"

"Iz helping her more important zan staying here vith me?"

She blinked in surprise as Aloe started to cry. "Of courze you are important to me, sister! But I-"

"Zat izn't vhat I asked!" She took a step back from Lotus. "You can come talk vith me vunce you care about me again!"

She sprinted outside, and Lotus quickly ran after her. "Zister, please, wait!"

Just as she made it outside, Nightmare landed on the ground in front of Aloe, and blasted her with a beam of magic.

"Why, thank you for a new subject!" said Nightmare to Lotus with a grin. "It's so easy to take control of ponies who have been badly hurt!"

"Aloe?" asked Lotus nervously, before her sister turned to her with emotionless eyes.

"I am a Darkness Catcher at your zervice, Nightmare Moon," said Aloe, her voice as emotionless as her eyes.

"No, zister!" cried Lotus, as a ring of magic surrounded her.

"Say farewell to your sister, forever," said Nightmare with a grin, her horn flaring up with magic.

---

Fleetfoot opened her eyes, and found herself standing at the field she and the other Wonderbolts had been practicing at before the celebration. She looked around in confusion, before hearing somepony call out her name.

"Fleetfoot!" yelled Spitfire, flying over to her. "Where in Equestria have you been?"

"I-" she started, before Spitfire interrupted her.

"Never mind, there's no time for that. Nightmare Moon is trying to hypnotize everypony! We need to help them!"

Her eyes widened in shock. "Of course! What do you need me to do?"

"You-"

"Spitfire!" cried Misty Fly, landing next to her with several other teammates. "Run!"

"What do you mean?"

There was a crack of lightning, and Nightmare landed next to the Wonderbolts, grabbing everypony except Fleetfoot in her magic.

"No!" cried Fleetfoot, trying to fly over to grab them, but she was yanked away by Nightmare's magic.

"Why are you even trying?" asked Nightmare. "You already gave up on them once to go run around in the forest, so why bother again?"

"I don't give up on my teammates or my friends!"

"Oh, really? Because you just fled at the first sign of danger to go with that unicorn. You didn't even consider going to get the rest of your so-called team."

"But I-"

"Oh, thanks a lot, Fleetfoot," snapped Soarin', causing her to flinch at the words.

"You're a fool," said Nightmare, vanishing from sight as a ring of magic surrounded the Wonderbolts.

"Guys, no!" cried Fleetfoot.

---

Saffron opened her eyes, and found herself standing in front of her restaurant in Ponyville. She blinked in confusion, before hearing a cackle from behind her.

"Did you really think you could get past me?" asked Nightmare. "I am an alicorn, fool! I will do as I please with you!"

"B-but what about the others?" asked Saffron nervously.

"Oh, you needn't worry about them. It's not like you were even helping them anyways."

"What?!?"

"All you've done is create more trouble! Those pegasi probably could have caught the other unicorn if you hadn't been in the way!"

"But-"

"Here, why don't you have some less trouble to deal with?"

Nightmare's horn flared up, and she blasted a beam of magic at Saffron's restaurant. It exploded into pieces, leaving her standing wordlessly in shock.

"Much better," said Nightmare, vanishing with a grin.

"Saffron?" she turned around to see her father, Coriander Cumin staring at their once-beautiful restaurant in shock. "What have you done to our restaurant?"

"Father!" she cried in surprise. "What wasn't my fault, it was-"

"I don't appreciate you lying to me, Saffron."

She flinched at his harsh voice. "W-what? But it really wasn't! It was-"

"Oh, let me guess: it was that scary alicorn. As if she would ever care about our tiny restaurant! Now tell me the truth: what did you do?"

"Father, I swear it wasn't me!"

He scowled at Saffron, who wilted under his gaze.

"Saffron, I am very disappointed in you."

---

Flitter opened her eyes and found herself lying down on a single cloud above Ponyville. She looked down without saying a single word, and just stared in confusion.

"Flitter!" cried a familiar voice from behind her. "What the hay are you doing?"

"Hey, sis," she said to Cloudchaser. "I'm trying to figure out how Nightmare teleported me here."

"Uh-huh. Sure. You were just napping, weren't you?"

"Uh, no, I wasn't."

"You can't take anything seriously, can you?" She looked behind her to see Cloudchaser glaring at her. "I'm flying around trying to protect everypony from that Shadow Rainbow Dash, and you're just taking a nap like it's just another ordinary day!"

"Yeesh, you're jumping to conclusions awfully fast. Not as fast as Dash, though."

Cloudchaser scowled. "Flitter! Take something seriously for once! I was going to tell you to help, but I guess that's too much work for you, isn't it?"

"Cloudchaser, I-"

"Save it, you useless pegasus. I don't think I even want to talk with you anymore after this."

Comments

[vazak]

Dang this is intense!