The Elements of Randomness

by Razor Blade the Unicron

Chapter Thirteen: Worry

"Have you finished yet?" asked Cloudchaser, nervously tugging at her spiky blue and white mane.

Rarity gave a small sigh and turned to face the pegasus. "Now, darling, I know that you're worried, but I can't do this efficiently if you keep interrupting me."

"Sorry..." Her eyes flicked over towards the paperclip Rarity was holding in her magic. "But have you counted her yet?"

Rarity shook her head. "I'm sure she's just lost somewhere in the crowd. After all, I'm not the one who would normally do this sort of thing."

"Rainbow Dash!" cried Applejack's voice from a small distance away. "Knock it off!"

"I will serve the Empress as she requests!" yelled back Rainbow.

Choosing to ignore them, Rarity continued her list of everypony in town. At least, those that could be found. It was rather difficult, considering that there were more unfamiliar ponies that had come for the celebration. Currently there were four ponies who were clearly missing. Cloudchaser and Aloe were both on verge of panic due to the fact that they couldn't find their sisters, Flitter and Lotus. The more obvious to see missing was Amethyst and Twirly. Amethyst would typically be doing what Rarity was doing right now, and Twirly would be right by her side. However, nopony even had a clue of where they were.

"Hey!" called a voice from above her.

Rarity looked up to see Spitfire fly down next to her, and her eyes widened in surprise. She may not have been a fan of sports of anything of the like, but celebrities were still celebrities.

"Have you counted any of the Wonderbolts yet?" she asked nervously.

"Yes." She looked over at the clipboard. "I've counted five of you. Quite easy to see in your uniforms."

"Five?" Spitfire's face fell, and she became even more nervous. "Please tell me if you find Fleetfoot anywhere." She quickly zipped off, leaving Rarity yet another pony to keep her eyes peeled for.

"My goodness..." muttered Rarity as she continued counting ponies. "Where have all those ponies gone?"

---

Amethyst, along with everypony else, nervously looked through the trees and other plants in hopes to find even a glimpse of the castle, to no avail. The current lack of anything happening was causing their anxiety of something actually happening to increase.

Nightmare's wisp of magic that had been following the group was snaking through the trees to stay out of their sight. If it was seen, the group would be more on-guard for attacks from Nightmare. The wisp floated ahead of them, back towards Nightmare.

"There!" Fleetfoot pointed at a spot through the trees. "I can see some sort of structure!"

Amethyst's horn lit up as she activated her signature, and looked where Fleetfoot was pointing. She could see a far more detailed structure than any of the others, and it closely resembled that of a castle.

"It's the castle!" she said gleefully. "We can finally get the Elements!"

As the six ponies all turned to head towards the castle, there was a sudden rumble, and a huge figure exploded out of the ground. It was a giant ornament flytraps, except distinctly more monstrous. The frills had changed into sharp fangs, and something dark purple dripped out from between them. Everypony automatically took a step back, before it lunged towards them.

They all sprung into action, as if simultaneously agreeing to fight. Amethyst's horn flared up, and she yanked the mouth upward using her magic. Fleetfoot punched it back down from the air, and Limestone was about to kick it when Lotus suddenly interrupted her.

"Oh, pleaze don't!" she cried out, catching Limestone off-guard and causing her kick to miss.

"Are you crazy?!?" asked Limestone, ducking out of the way of the ornament flytrap as it lunged at her.

Lotus moved out of the way of the ornament flytrap as it tried to bite her, and reacted by gently placing her hoof on top of it, and gently stroking it. Everypony just froze at the unexpected action, and the ornament flytrap gently laid down on the ground.

"You don't vant to hurt uz, do you?" asked Lotus. "Are you just scared becauze ve interrupted your nap?" The ornament flytrap seemed to nod. "Go back to zleep, and ve'll leave you alone."

The ornament flytrap slowly moved back from where it had come, and hid underneath the dirt. Lotus signaled for the others to move away from it, and the group quickly moved away to another area of the forest.

"How did you do that?" asked Amethyst in surprise.

"I vas just calming it down," said Lotus.

"But it was in the middle of attacking us!" said Limestone. "How did you know what to do?"

She shrugged. "I didn't. I vas just kind to it. Just being nice to somevun can zlove the problem." She looked over in the direction of the now clear-to-see castle. "Ve should get going."

With a unanimous nod, the group continued on towards the castle.

---

The wisp of magic zipped into the castle, past where the mind-controlled Twilight Sparkle was hiding in the corner, waiting on Nightmare's command against her will. The wisp moved around the protective barrier surrounding the Elements of Harmony, and went into the throne room. Twirly was lying upside-down in her tiny cage that had been shoved off to the side, so Nightmare could have the glory of her throne all to herself.

The wisp rejoined into the rest of Nightmare's mane, and her eyes narrowed in anger. The six ponies were going to arrive soon, and all of her efforts had merely stalled them. She was growing weary of having to maintain control of her Midnight Warrior, as she seemed to be very skilled in resisting her. Her Shadowbolt had been captured by the townsponies, so she relented her control on her, and placed that new energy into the Midnight Warrior.

"Oh, Celestia!" called out Nightmare, her horn lighting up. "I have a few things I'd like to say to you!"

A ring of magic formed in front of her, and Celestia's weak voice echoed out of the glowing whiteness.

"Luna..." she whispered.

"I am not Luna!" boomed Nightmare. "I am a Nightmare! Now tell me, Celestia... Did you really think that you could fool me with your guard?" Silence. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice that other unicorn you sent after the Elements?"

"Other unicorn...?" Celestia was confused. "I don't know what you mean, Luna..."

"I am NOT Luna!" she yelled again. "And don't think that you can fool me! I know that unicorn is coming under your command! She was the only other pony besides your guard to even know who I was! I know that she's your back-up plan!"

"Sister, please... I don't understand... I didn't send anypony after the Elements... Twilight figured out that you were coming..." She paused. "Please don't tell me that you've hurt her or anypony else..."

"I'm not your sister," she spat angrily. "And stop lying to me." Her voice softened. "Oh, but you don't need to worry about your guard. She's under my control right now. And I'm going to use her to deal with the other unicorn's companions while I battle her myself! How do you feel about that, Celestia?"

"Please don't hurt anypony... Pleas-" Nightmare closed the ring before Celestia could finish.

"I am the Empress," said Nightmare out loud. "And nopony can stop me!"

She burst out cackling, her voice echoing throughout the castle. But she didn't notice the tiny breezie barely slipping out between the bars on her cage, and zipping outside. Twirly needed to warn Amethyst as soon as possible.

Comments

[Grekoy]

Oh snap.

[vazak]

Oooh very interesting!