Rise of the Element Gang, Book 1: The Adventure Begins

by Power of Six

Chapter 11: Too Good To Be True

Chapter 11: Too Good To Be True

For the next few days, after I had visited Leon and Fluttershy, I managed to get myself to visit the others. For the most part, it had worked and I gave them an equal share of quality time…though I couldn’t help but feel awful about it.

For starters, I became so depressed after visiting just one of them that I didn’t want to see anypony else until the next day. Another thing was that I didn’t visit Twilight that much as I thought I already spent so much time with her. Though I felt a little less depressed when it came to Rarity (who had me wear one of her designs for stallions as she put the final touches on it) or Pinkie Pie (when I managed to find her), it still felt the same when I visited the rest. Whenever I visited with Applejack and Dog, I always found Dog playing with AppleBloom. The way they played, it was like a big brother playing with his little sister, which was ironic because Apple Bloom did have a big brother: the oldest Apple sibling Big Macintosh. The Apples treated him like he was family, something I’m too familiar with. With Shield and Rainbow, I always got talked into doing some winter stunts they were doing. We managed to get some laughs in from some fails. And when it came to Leon and Fluttershy, it was more calm. We usually just had tea and talked about a few things. Though, with them, I kinda felt like a third wheel. Even though I feel better with spending time with them, I just end up being depressed for I spent most of the day with each of them. I really didn’t want to disappoint anypony, so I decided to visit each of them once a day. Though I guess what I was feeling was guilt as I didn’t spend any time with Twilight the whole time.

Today, however, I’d received an urgent message from Twilight at the library, the only one I truly considered to be the closest friend I had simply because she was the one that knew me best, though I even kept a few secrets from her too. And one of her friends has to keep it away from her. Today, she said in her letter that she and Spike needed my help with something in the library and I needed to get there as soon as I could.

This had arrived while I was eating a late breakfast, which I had now quickly eaten. After that, I then brushed my teeth, wrapped my scarf around my neck, picked my saddlebag, tossed it over my shoulder, and I hurried right out of the door. I prided myself on, at least, being quick at this kind of thing, as well as reliable when needed.

I had to admit, I was looking forward to spending some time with Twilight and Spike too. Even if I would be doing work on my supposed winter vacation, if Twilight needed me, I would be there.

“Why, hello there, Dusk.” I spun around to see Rarity, who was levitating a few shopping bags, filled with fabrics.

“Oh, good morning, Rarity.” I greeted, inclining my head. “How are you?”

“Simply splendid, thank you. And yourself?”

“I can’t complain.” I gestured to the bags that she was carrying. “For the store?”

“Indeed, yes. I’m planning on bringing out a new series of slim-line evening gowns for spring. I have a feeling they’ll catch on quickly once I get the designs underway.”

“Interesting, but…” I hated to point out problems, especially to somepony I liked even my own cousin, but she motioned for me to continue. “Uh…isn’t it a little early? Spring is still a few months away.”

“Exactly. If I get the designs and sewing done now, start advertising around December, then I should have several orders in for them by the time spring comes around.” She smiled in satisfaction. “I never misplan when it comes to fashion, darling.”

“Of course, I should have known.” I tried to excuse himself, but she started again.

“Anyway, enough about what I'm doing. What have you been up to, Dusk? Has been a while since your last visit.”

“True enough, heh…yes, anyway,” I started, “I’ve been busy at the library and, right now, I’m just enjoying some time off.”

“How lovely. Well, if you’re not busy, do you fancy popping over to the Boutique for a bit, okay? You can see some of my new designs and we can have a nice chat, perhaps some tea.”

“Um, actually, Rarity,” I put in, beginning to move away, “Twilight just contacted me and I’m needed at the library. Sorry, I’ve got to get going.”

“It’s fine, I understand. It seems you can never truly escape work, can you?” She tittered a little at her joke. “Well, I shall see you later, Dusk. My regards to Twilight and Spike, ta-ta!”

“I’ll pass them on. See you soon.” With one last inclination, I set off again. At least I had a genuinely good excuse this time for shrugging off Rarity. I knew she wouldn’t have taken no for an answer otherwise.

Arriving at the library, I opened the door to see the same books I had sorted out a week ago, well some of them anyway, in piles with boxes nearby. Twilight and Spike were just finishing a discussion as he arrived, turning to face me.

“Dusk, nice to see you.” My friend greeted. “You got here fast.”

“I’ve always been kind of speedy when I need to be.” I placed my saddlebag in the corner. “I would have been here sooner but, I got held up.”

“It’s alright, you still got here quickly. Kinda like Rainbow Dash and Shield.” she compared. I laughed a little as I guessed she was right. “Anyway, I’m sorry we disturbed you, but we need your help.”

“Yeah.” Spike said, taking over. “We need to sort through these older books, we're gonna try and sell them off to collectors. Not only that, all this dust is making me—AH-CHOO!”

I had to duck as a ball of green flame soared over my head and outside the door. Thankfully, it didn’t hit anything or anypony.

“Right you are.” I agreed, smelling a little burning. The fire had just singed the tip of his mane. “The sooner we move these books out of here, the sooner we aren’t in danger of Spike burning the good ones. No offense.”

“None—AH-CHOO!—taken.” That last one was smaller, thankfully. “Let’s get started with—AH-CHOO!”

“Uh, Spike?” Twilight said quietly. “Maybe it would be best if you went outside for this. Dusk and me can handle it.”

“Alright, alright. Have fun, you gu—AH-CHOO!” He cringed a little as it singed the floor, quickly making his way out.

As he did, I notice him exchange a fervent, almost concerned, glance with Twilight. At first, I thought it was by some way of silent apology for almost burning the good books. But…I couldn't help but feel that something else motivated that look. I glanced at Twilight, who was giving him a slightly more soft expression in return. I couldn't help but feel they were…up to something.

Twilight must have seen me looking as she replaced it with a smile. As such, I dismissed the look the two had exchanged. It was obviously something private, so I decided not to pry into it. Spike left outside, giving one last sneeze and shut the door behind him.

“Well, Dusk, shall we get started? I’ll show you all of the boxes we need to sort the books into.”

“Right you are.”

“Dusk, just so you know, I’ve received an urgent note from Princess Celestia. Me and the girls need to investigate something in the Everfree Forest tomorrow. We should only be gone for a few minutes, but could you come in and watch the library with Spike? Just until I get back?”

My eyes flickered at the sound of that.

“Wait, you and the girls are going out?” I asked her, wanting to make sure that I heard it correctly.

“Yes and I want you to watch the library with Spike until I get back.” She answered. “Can you do that for me?”

Hearing that, I smiled confidently and then said “You need only ask. But I do request something.”

“Okay, what is it?” she asked.

“After you and the girls are done with whatever is going on in the Everfree Forest, I would like you all to come right back here.” She then looked at me with a raised brow.

“Why?”

“Because I want to know how it all went and what was going on over there. I’ll even invite the guys over so they can join in on hearing what you girls did. I mean, a mystery in an untraveled forest? Who wouldn’t want to hear a story like that?”

She smiled before she rolled her eyes and said “Okay. After we’re doing with the investigation, we’ll come back to the library to tell you and others all about it.”

“Thanks, Twilight! I won’t let you down!” I said as I confidently saluted her.

“Thank you, Dusk. I really appreciate it.”

Okay, parts of the reason were lies. I was gonna call the guys, but not so we could listen to how things went in the Everfree Forest, but to set everything up here at library for when they came back. What do I mean by “set up”? I mean, getting everything ready for when me and the guys finally say thank you to the girls and reveal our secret to them! What Twilight had just said, that was the perfect moment for me and the guys to get ourselves ready to say thanks to them for defeating Nightmare Moon and gave us a private location for us to reveal our secret to them. After so many months, me and the guys have finally got the chance to execute the plan! All I needed to do was call the guys and wait for Twilight and the girls to leave for the Everfree Forest. But first I needed to help her with all those books.

Once she directed me to all of the boxes for different genres, history, science, classics, we set about sorting through the large pile of old books that Twilight had gathered up. From what I could tell, most of these would be valuable to collectors and would make them quite a bit of money.

As I sorted through them, I couldn’t help but notice that Twilight seemed a little preoccupied with something else. Three separate times, I had to re-sort three books she had placed into the wrong boxes because she hadn’t checked them first. She was acting distracted, distant almost. Like there was some fierce debate in her head. What could she be thinking about that would make her act like this?

I was about to ask her if anything was wrong, when she tried talking to me, trying to sound casual:

“So Dusk…how’s your winter vacation been going?”

“Um…fine, thank you.” He decided to go along with it. “Not too bad, I've just been relaxing, catching up on reading, and spending time with everypony else.”

“Great.” Silence followed. “That’s actually good to hear.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s good because…” She stopped herself suddenly. “Actually, never mind.”

“No, go on.” I urged. I was anxious to know what she had to say.

“It’s just that…” She paused, trying to find the right words. “Well…Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, and Fluttershy have told me that they…invited you to join them for activities, but that you’ve been leaving at some point because you were worn out.”

“Oh.” At that moment, I wished that she hadn't pressed on the matter. I tried to just return to work, hoping Twilight would too…but she persisted.

“You do spend some time with everypony. Not that that’s a bad thing.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Shield and the others are a bit concerned about you because they’ve never seen you like this.”

“I guess they would be.” Please, I thought desperately, just drop it.

“Dusk.” I stopped and turned to look at her. She wasn’t angry, but she looked worried. “Is there something wrong?”

“No!” I replied, a little too quickly. “I mean, um…no, nothing’s wrong at all.”

“Are you sure? You can talk to me if you need to, you know that right?”

“I know and…no, there’s nothing wrong.”

“Then what’s going on? You seem to keep making excuses to leave then not even coming back in a few days.” Guess they finally managed to see what I was doing. “I could be wrong, but I just want to know why.”

“There’s nothing to know because there’s nothing wrong.”

“Then why are you leaving them like that? Why are you avoiding them?”

“I’m not avoiding them.”

“But…”

“Twilight! Please, just drop it!” I was rather shocked to have raised my voice like that. So was Twilight. “I’m sorry. I…didn’t mean to snap like that.”

“It’s okay.” she said gently, “I suppose I should have just stopped. It's just…me, my friends, and your friends, we’re all worried about you. If there is anything wrong…”

“There isn’t.” I turned away from her and took a deep breath. I then turned back to look at her with a smile. “I really am fine. Don’t worry.” I then started heading back towards the door. “I’ll be right back, I…I think I left something at house.”

“Alright, take your time.”

“I will, thank you.” I then left, moving pass Spike, and heading out the door.

Though I was heading back home, I was just gonna stand out the door then move somewhere else to hide till enough time passed to make it look like I went home.

That was close. I thought to myself after I sighed in relief, my claw on my chest. Why did she have to ask me about that? I wasn’t avoiding them, I was trying to give all of them a fair share of my time. I knew they might genuinely care about me. Twilight said that they had been worried about what I had been doing. I knew it was rather rude of me to leave them like that when we were having so much fun. Some gentlecolt I was. Why couldn’t the guys see that I felt guilty spending so much time with one or two of them without sparing some time with the others? I then realized I was getting angry again and then tried to calm myself again, shaking away those thoughts. No, Dusk. Calm down. You need to be positive today. This is the big day you’ve been waiting for. You can’t mess this up.

With that, I then decided to dive right into the bush so nopony would see me before I then pulled out my communicator and used it to call the others. A little while after I opened it, the screen split into three sections, each one showing Shield, Dog, and Leon.

“This is Leon.” Leon said as he answered.

“Hello?” Dog said as he answered.

“Shield here.” Shield said as he answered.

“Guys, it’s me.” I said to them, quietly so I didn’t drag any attention from anypony, whether it was Spike or Twilight or anypony outside the library.

“Dusk? What’s going on?” Shield asked me.

“Yeah, are you using your communicator?” Leon asked.

“Is somethin’ wrong?” Dog asked.

“Shh!” I shushed them as I realized they weren’t whispering. “Keep it down!”

“Why?” Dog asked.

“And why are you whispering?” Leon asked.

“Because I’m hiding right in front of the library and I don’t want Twilight and Spike to hear me.” I told them.

“Oh.” All three of them said, realizing the situation I was in.

“Why are you hiding?” Shield said, now speaking quietly.

“You guys aren’t gonna believe this.” I said to them as I explain. “Twilight just told me that she and the girls are going to the Everfree Forest for a while.”

“Already know about that.” Leon said to me, speaking at the same volume as me and Shield. “Fluttershy told me about it.”

“Same here with Applejack.” Dog said, whispering as well.

“Dash told me that too.” Shield said. “But what does that have to do with you calling us?”

“Because Twilight just put me in charge of the library while she’s gone and I even got her to agree for her and the girls to come back here.” I said to them. “Don’t you see? The moon has risen! I repeat, the moon has risen!”

I bet you’re wondering what I was talking about. Well, “the moon has risen” was the phrase meaning “we can finally set our plan into action.”

“Really?” Dog said to me with joyful disbelief.

“Alright!” Shield said, excitedly.

“Finally!” Leon said, happily.

“You guys know what to do.” I said to them.

“Right!” They all said in unison.

Before they hanged up, I saw the background and said “Wait!” they all looked at me with confusion. “Where are you guys at?”

“In Dash’s pad.” Shield answered, shocking me.

“I’m up here at the farm house.” Dog said, talking about the farm at Sweet Apple Acres and worsening my shock.

“I’m still here at Flutters’ cottage.” Leon said, giving me the sucker punch that made my shock turn into all-time worry.

“What?!” I said, trying to keep my down. “Are you nuts?! You can’t answer your coms at any of those places! The girls might hear you!”

“Relax, Dusk.” Leon said to me. “Flutters’ already left for the library. She even put me in charge of the animals until she got back.”

“AJ headed out for the library too.” Dog said.

“Same for Dash. She flew off right after she told me.” Shield said.

“Phew!” I sighed in relief before I realized what they had said. “Wait, did you guys say the girls left for the library?”

“Yeah.” Shield said to me.

“Yep.” Dog said.

“Yes.” Leon said.

“Guys, when exactly did they leave?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” Shield said to me. “A while ago, I guess.”

“A few minutes ago, why?” Dog said to me.

“Flutters left a moment ago.” Leon said to me.

Hearing all that, I soon realized that I was outside while the girls were on their way. I heard their voices and saw they were coming over to the front door.

“Uh-oh.” I said, worried they were gonna see me before speaking back to the guys. “I’ll call you back!”

I then hung up and used my metalbending to make myself invisible.

Luckily, they didn’t notice as they walked to the door and went into the library. I thought I was in the clear until Pinkie Pie stopped and looked at the bush I was in. I then watched in worry as she tried to get a closer look at it. She no doubt knew I was in here and was about to find out by sticking her hoof in the bush, but, just as she was about to touch a single leaf, Twilight said:

“Pinkie, what are you doing?”

“I think there’s something wrong with this bush.” She said, looking towards the library.

“Pinkie, it’s just a bush. Quit messing around and get in here!”

“Okay!” she cheerfully said as she then went into the library and closed the door behind her.

“Phew!” I sighed in relief as I got rid of the camouflage. I then got out of the bush and called the guys back. “Okay, I’m in the clear. Now get the supplies and meet me at the library.”

“I’ll be right there!” Leon said.

“Will do.” Dog said.

“Aye-aye, captain!” Shield said as he saluted to me.

With that, I hung up and then ran off to my house to get the Porta-capsules from my house. To explain, Porta-capsules are these little sphere-shaped objects that we used to carry anything of large amount or size. Perfect for when you’re moving, making a delivery, or carrying supplies. These were exclusive carrying cases of us Element Squad. Me and the guys had used them to carry some party supplies we’ve been saving for a special occasion. We divided the Porta-capsules between the four of us to lower suspicion about what they were for in case anypony accidently stumbled upon them.

I managed to get there and find the Porta-capsules. Now that I had them, I then began to make my way back to the library.

I was thinking on how it was gonna be. But I soon realized that Spike was still gonna be there while the girls were off in the forest. I began trying to figure out how I was gonna explain all of this to him when I reached the door. I stopped to go over what I was gonna tell him when I could hear voices on the other side. It sounded like the girls were talking.

I hadn’t planned on this, thinking they would’ve been gone by now. I wondered what they were talking about. Curiosity took me over, I needed to know what they were saying.

Realizing this was becoming a bad habit, I put my ear to the door and listened. Twilight was the one currently talking.

“…tried to ask him about it, but he wouldn't say anything. He got upset again, so I let him go home for a bit to let himself calm down.”

“That pony really likes to keep himself bottled up, don’t he?” That was Applejack I could hear now. “I mean, we’ve only seen him once a day since he got here.”

“Not quite true.” Pinkie piped up. “He was hanging out with us before.”

“Yeah, but, Pinkie, that was before the Running of the Leaves.” Rainbow pointed out. “He hasn’t been hanging out with us at all since then. Why would he hang out with one of us one day and say no when we ask him to?”

“He said he was busy…I didn’t want to bother him, if that was the case…” Luckily, Fluttershy was standing closest to the door or else I wouldn’t have heard her.

“But, Fluttershy dear, that’s what he’s been saying with all of us too.” Rarity said delicately. “He makes excuses, usually poor ones, to not spend much time with us.”

“I’m not sure about this, girls.” Twilight said again. “There’s something he’s not telling us. He’s a nice pony and a good friend, to me at least. Even Shield and the others say he’s a good friend. So I think we should give him a chance to explain himself.”

“I suppose so.” Rainbow said doubtfully. Then more confidently. “I say we make him tell us, set Pinkie talking until he cracks.”

“Ooh, ooh, I love talking! Whatdya wanna talk about? Let’s talk about cakes, I love cake ʹcause it’s so sweet and yummy and there’s so many kinds. There’s chocolate, lemon, coffee, carrot, vanilla, vanilla with chocolate, blue…” Her voice became muffled and she stopped.

My suspicions were confirmed: they had started to notice my behavior towards them and they certainly sounded offended. I hadn’t meant to do that, but I felt rather guilty now it was the end result.

“Hold your horses there, girl.” Applejack pacified. “I don’t think we need to go that far. I agree with Twilight. When he gets back, we ask him to tell us why he’s been avoidin’ us so long if he has. But gently mind, we know how sensitive he is.”

“I’m sure that, whatever it is, won’t be that bad.” Twilight said encouragingly. “Everypony deserves a second chance.”

After hearing what Applejack said, I smiled a little and realized what Leon had meant. It was just the same as Celestia told me. I shouldn’t have kept what was troubling them a secret. They were my friends and would understand and help me through it. This gave me all the more reason to walk in there and explain myself to them all.

But I was stopped by what Rarity said next.

“Twilight, I do understand and I think you're right as well. While his behavior has been rude, I think he means well. I’m rather glad that Princess Celestia instructed you to make friends with him.”

“Rarity, that’s not right at all…”

I didn't hear the rest of what she would have said because, at that point, I stopped listening as something inside me plummeted like the Porta-capsules I was holding with my magic and replayed those words over and over again.

“Princess Celestia instructed you to make friends with him.”

All of this time I thought Twilight genuinely wanted to be my friend, that the others wanted to be my friend, had all just been because that Princess Celestia had told them to do it. How could it have possibly been genuine? How could they have actually wanted to be my friend? More importantly…why had I been so stupid to not realize it before?

It all made sense now: why they had been so friendly to me, acting like my friend when they had barely known me, being kind and appreciative of what I did, trying to include me in things they did… They were just doing it because the Princess had told them to. It had all been a lie…and I had been stupid and naive enough to believe it!

Suddenly, I just felt…numb. I wasn’t sure if I was sad, angry, or depressed by this realization. I just knew that, right now, I didn’t want to see any of them for a while. Or anypony for that matter. I just wanted to be alone. I then began running back home, tears filling my eyes, the snow crunching beneath my claws and hooves, aware of how dead and lifeless the trees actually looked.

Shield’s view

After picking up Leon and meeting up with Dog at Sweet Apple Acres, the three of us then began walking over to the library. We were almost there when we suddenly got a beat and decided to lay it down.

“We’re gonna party!” me and the guys said as we walked over to the library while carrying our saddlebags having the other Porta-capsules need for the party, right before we started rapping with Dog starting us off.

Got some chips,

Got some dip.

Then Leon kicked off his verse.

Some call me cheap,

Bit of a free loada,

But I got some cups,

To drink our soda.

I then finished us off.

I don’t mean to brag,

I don’t boast,

But here’s some humus,

For this toast!

The three of us then did a verse together.

Yeah!

We’re gonna par-ty!

Gonna par-ty!

“What are we gonna do?” I asked before all said:

Gonna par-ty!

Gonna par-ty!

Gonna par-ty!

Gonna par—whoa!

We all stopped when somepony ran right past us, making us do a complete turnaround.

“What was that?” Leon asked as we all recovered from that.

“Hey!” I yelled out to the pony who ran past us until I saw who it was. “Huh? Dusk?”

“Where’s he goin’?” Dog asked, just as confused as I was as we watched him run. “Isn’t he supposed to be at the library?”

“Something’s wrong.” I said to the guys. “Come on, guys!”

With that, all three of ran after Dusk.

Dusk’s view

When I got back to my house, I closed the door and locked it. Then I went over to lay on the couch, trying to make sense of it all, but in the end just staring blankly into space. To try and organize myself and to ease my growing pain, I decided to resort to my own pathetic methods.

I weaved all the girls out of color, slightly fainter than usual and placed my own avatar at the center. I depicted him as happy, jumping around and smiling at them all, the illusion of acceptance. As he jumped and bounced, they all remained still like statues, smiles fixed on their faces. My puppet realized something was wrong, investigating the Rainbow puppet.

She vanished, fading into nothingness. Alarmed, he moved to Applejack. She vanished too. One by one, they all did. Finally, he dashed to the Twilight one, trying to desperately keep a hold of her. She stayed the longest, but in the end, she faded away as well. My puppet was the only one left, hanging his head in shame for looking like such a fool. Alone.

I didn’t know how long he sat there for, how long he watched his form just sit there. But, when I heard a knock at the door, I erased my puppet too and looked to the door.

“Dusk? You in there?” I heard Shield’s coming from the other side. “It’s us: Shield, Dog, and Leon.”

Though I wasn’t happy to hear that, I was just plain mad at all three of them. Being around the girls, they all no doubt knew that the Princess ordered Twilight and the girls to be my friends and were too scared of what she might do if they told me. Right now, they were the ponies I didn’t want to talk to the most.

Shield’s view

After a while, we managed to catch up with Dusk and watched as he then ran into his house and slammed the door. We ran right over and stood at the door.

“He locked the door!” Dog said after he tried to open the door as we were all getting worried.

I knocked on the door and said “Dusk? You in there? It’s us: Shield, Dog, and Leon.”

“Go away!” Dusk yelled at us through the door.

“Dusk, are you okay?” Dog asked, trying to get him to come out. “What are you doin’ outside of the library?”

“Because I don’t want to be there right now!” dusk said to us. “And I’m not going back there anytime soon!”

“But what about the party?” Leon asked, trying to remind him that we still need to do the plan. “What about the whole plan to thank the girls?”

“Forget the plan!” Dusk said. “There’s isn’t gonna be a party!”

“Dusk, what’s the matter?” Dog asked.

“Go away!” Dusk said.

“Dusk, come out of there—ouch!” Leon said as he tried to grab the door handle, but jumped back as he then put his hoof in the snow, steam coming off it.

Me and Dog looked at the handle and saw it was glowing red. Dusk had heat it up with his fire breath and that actually shocked us.

“Just go away!” dusk yelled. “I want to be alone!”

As Leon got over to us, I was about to knock on the door again, but Dog put his claw on my shoulder and nodded to stop me. We all looked at each other before looking back at the door. We were all pretty worried about Dusk, though we knew we couldn’t make him talk to us. He just needed some time to cool off. Whatever happened to him, he definitely did not want to talk to anypony for a while. With that, me and the guys then decided to go back to the girls’ pads to wait until he was ready to talk.

Dusk’s view

After the door handle turn back to its rightful color, I looked at the door with anger as I panted from yelling that before then heard as hoofsteps crunching on snow and then begin to fade away, showing me the guys were leaving. When the sound was gone, I then went and laid my back against the door and resorted to the only thing I could do: to let out my emotions.

I, Dusk Noir, now reflecting his own puppet, hung my head, buried it in his forelegs, and wept. Sobbing with nopony to hear him.

---

In the dark depths of the Everfree Forest, in the harsh world of its cave, something was laughing. A hideous, horse, and empty sound with no warmth or joy in it. (In other words, evil) Well, perhaps a little.

?? view

I had done it. I had successfully mimicked those letters my most hated enemy sent to her pathetic little student and, using the magic it had stored, had now sent off my forgery to the unicorn Sparkle. My plans were finally in motion, after all of these years.

Soon…soon, she would come with her little friends. I would separate them, make them helpless, powerless. I would start with Sparkle. With her great power, she would surely feed me best. Then the others. Then…Celestia and Luna. It would be…delicious.

“At lasssst!” it hissed. “After all of thessssse yearsssss!”

I laughed again in satisfaction and the creatures of the forest shuddered to hear me.

Author's Note:

Well, that didn't go as planned. After hearing a conversation from the girls, Dusk has now fallen into a deep depression and the threat hidden in the forest is now making their move. Will Dusk be able to recover from this shocking discovery? What will happen to the girls? Can anything stop this mysterious evil? Find out next time!

Okay, everypony, we're getting closer to the big moment. You'll soon see Element Squad in action. Just like in the prelude, you're gonna see these elementals at work. That's all i got for this chapter! Don't forget to comment and rate the story to tell me what you think!

Comments

[AstralFlare42]

Is the villain a snake?