My Little Pony: Return of the Primal Fear

by Lizardsareradical

Questions and Answers

Chapter 2 Questions and answers

It has been several hours since reading about Phobos and Screameater, yet Twilight Sparkle still couldn't get the subject out of her head. She always perseverated on something if there was a chance something terrible can happen from it. This was almost like what happened with Nightmare Moon. That was supposed to be a story and that turned out to be true. Why couldn't this be too?

After another couple of minutes, Spike entered through the front door, finished doing all of Rarity's chores. Before he even knew it, Twilight dashed right next to him.

"Let me guess? You want me to write a letter about this whole "Screameater" guy?" Spike asked rolling his eyes. He could tell she was still thinking about the fallen prince. So he took out a quill and a piece of paper and gestured the purple mare to start talking.

Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath and started to speak.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

It has occurred to me that your brother Cosmus is never around. But today I came upon a book that claims that he was corrupted and imprisoned on an island called Phobos. Is this true? If so, why haven't you told me earlier? And something about three more elements? May you please answer these questions for me?

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle"

And with that Spike sent the message to the Princess with his fire. After five minutes, Spike spat out a scroll. Twilight used her magic to open and read the scroll. She then began to read aloud to Spike.

"My loyal student Twilight Sparkle

I'm sorry I have gotten you worried about Cosmus. But unfortunately, Screameater does exist. And he has been a problem. If you look outside, you will see that a carriage is ready to take you to Canterlot. I have important news to tell you.

From,

Princess Celestia"

Twilight Sparkle immediately looked out her window, and of course there were two white pegasi guards waiting outside with a carriage. Twilight then grabbed the book on Phobos to show the princess. She then turned to Spike, who was stunned at the shock of Screameater's existence. The studious pony then patted his head as she turned away to the door.

"Alright Spike. Keep an eye on the place for me. And if anybody comes around, tell them I'm speaking with Celestia." Was the last thing Twilight said before she opened the door. She looked rather unsure about this meeting with her teacher. She knew she would learn a lot.

As the chariot ascended into the air, Twilight took one last look back at her house. She saw Spike waving back at her trying to keep a happy face. She decided to wave back, with a smile that said "Everything is going to be alright".

Spike waved until he couldn't see her anymore. He then thought to himself and shrugged.

Why should I be so worried about Twi? She's been through worse.

He then began to do his daily chores in a more positive light, knowing that his friend/guardian would come back without any trouble.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a brief chariot flight, Twilight Sparkle was in front of Canterlot Castle. She showed the scroll to the two pegasi guards in front of the castle, who immediately opened the door and let her pass through without argument. After all, it wasn't her first meeting with the princess.

Twilight entered the castle and went straight to the throne room. As she expected, Celestia was there waiting for her. The Element of Magic walked over to her teacher with several questions on her mind. But as Twilight showed her the book, Celestia lifted her hoof to peacefully silence her student.

"I understand your questions Twilight Sparkle. Once again, I'm sorry I didn't tell you or your friends sooner. But as you can tell by now, neither me nor Luna are too comfortable talking about Cosmus, or Screameater as he likes to be called now." Celestia explained to her pupil in an understanding tone. She kept the warm smile on her face but thinking about her twisted brother made it that much harder to keep her calm demeanor. Even immortals had soft spots.

Twilight Sparkle then looked back about ten years ago. She thought of the first time her tutor mentioned her brother. She hasn't thought much about it until now, especially since Rarity mentioning that the Prince must've been from a sibling of the Sun Princess. The memory flashed before her eyes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle was grabbing some spell books to look at with her teacher when she noticed an elegant if not overdressed male unicorn walk right past her. After asking a guard who the unicorn was, she discovered that it was none other than Prince Blueblood. She wondered how he was a prince when she only knew of a princess.

After seeing Prince Blueblood in the castle during her lessons, she was at first convinced that he was her teacher's son. The very same day, she asked Celestia if the prince was in fact her son. Celestia just chuckled and told her that Blueblood was her nephew. Twilight then asked if the prince's parent was a brother or a sister. With that comment, Celestia brought her head down to the purple filly saying that it was her brother's. But when Twilight asked where her brother was, Celestia just frowned. Celestia then immediately changed the subject with the day's teleportation lesson.

Twilight Sparkle went on with the day without a hassle. She never thought about her teacher's brother after that. But now that she knew the truth she wondered if he was a threat now.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight finally shook her head to stop reminiscing about the past. She then once again got ready to question the shining princess.

"Is Cosmus…or Screameater…give or take a threat?" Twilight asked thinking of what to call her tutor's brother. She thought that perhaps the princess preferred to call him by his old name rather than his malign title.

Celestia just used her magic to lift the book about Phobos out of Twilight's bag. She then began flipping through the pages. After a minute, she found what she was looking for and showed it to the purple mare. The picture was of Screameater being shrunk down and weakened by Celestia and Luna with the nine Elements of Harmony. On the opposite page was a filly sized Screameater with a bunch of suitcases in the middle of a volcano. The small dark prince had a relatively upset face, with his eyebrows down and with a huge frown on his face as if he was annoyed about his punishment.

"That's…him…now?" Twilight asked to the princess trying not to laugh. According to the book, Screameater was at least an inch shorter than Applebloom. Her worries were suddenly lifted.

"Sadly Twilight, this isn't a laughing matter. He did steal three of the Paraelements." Her tutor answered her, her voice changing from divinely serene to quite solemn, bringing the mare's worries back. Celestia then sighed and continued to explain. "But for simplicity's sake, let's just say they're nine elements. Makes the bearers feel a little more important.

"Many years ago, the Element of Tolerance was born to a couple from a town in Froggy Bottom Bog known as Berrybash Bottom. As you can guess, like how Appleloosa specializes in apples, Berrybash Bottom specialized in berries of all kinds. A resident Earthpony family known as the Blueberries just had a cute little colt. It was a time to celebrate for the small town. There were strawberry shortcakes, cranberry juice, raspberry tarts, blueberry muffins and the greatest Berrybash delicacy; multiberry pie."

Twilight listened intently on what the princess had to say. It seemed so positive right now. What could have gone wrong?

"Cosmus must have sensed the Element's energy and with his limited power summoned a pegasus skeleton to capture the foal. The Blueberries tried as hard as they could to keep the child safe, but the skeleton just took from them the most valuable thing everypony has."

Twilight gulped in horror. She knew what the undead took. And it wasn't money or berries.

"With the family out of the way, the skeleton took the foal and flew off with it, leaving Berrybash Bottom to grieve of their loss. From what I know, if an element of Harmony dies, a new pony takes the previous one's place. And since I have never detected another Element of Tolerance, that means Cosmus has the child as a prisoner for so many years."

"But why couldn't you just get the baby back? And come to think of it, how did he get a pegasus skeleton? And how did somebody know so much about Phobos to write a book?" Twilight questioned Celestia quite puzzled yet visibly disturbed by the story. The princess just sighed again, obviously not comfortable with the conversation.

"I and Luna are part of a ritual that if he absorbs us, Cosmus will be that much closer to his full power. And without the one element he took, nobody would be able to save Equestria from facing what likes to call The Primal Fear. To answer your second question would also answer your third question.

A hundred years ago, I sent a unicorn explorer named Hazelhoof and her crew to explore Phobos by ship and make sure Cosmus did not anything up his saddle, and perhaps even recover the lost elements. Turns out he was up to no good as his mere presence on Phobos for over a millennia has allowed him to use his slowly charging magic to make the island a living nightmare to anyone he saw fit. There were casualties, thus the skeleton mentioned before, but more than a third of the crew had managed to escape.

But unfortunately, over the years, the horrors they saw took a toll of the crew's mental health. Many of them started acting erratic and had to be put under mental care. Even Hazelhoof, one of the most resilient mares I knew, eventually succumbed to her nightmares, which were only made worse by writing the book you brought me. With my magic, I managed to help restore their sanity so they can be part of society again. But I do regret having them suffer like they did." Celestia lamented as she told her story to her student, who was in awe by the chilling answers to her question.

But Twilight had one more question left to ask.

"What and who are the three lost Elements of Harmony?" Twilight questioned as she got to her senses once again. Celestia seemed happy by the slightest change of subject from her brother's atrocities to the elements. She once again began to speak in her always soothing voice to her pupil.

"The three lost paraelements are as I said Tolerance; the feeling when you can handle the occasional disagreement and learn to forgive, continuing the friendship. That wielder is the child my brother sadly has in his hooves. The second element is Caring; very similar to kindness, but also considering the safety and well being of the fellow pony. And also minding their steps quite a bit if you know what I mean. That wielder is actually a stallion in Ponyville named Paramail. Ever heard of him Twilight Sparkle?"

Twilight scrunched her face trying to remember who that was and if she's ever seen him anywhere. After a while, she just gave up and shrugged. Celestia also shrugged and continued speaking.

"Me neither. But the third and last element is Respect; the way of treating each and every person equally and without biases. That pony actually lives in Diamondale. His name is Coocoodrill. And I'm not going to lie, it fits him quite well."

"Why's that?" Twilight asked Celestia confused about this "Coocoodrill". Pinkie Pie was quite a handful, how bad can this guy be?

The princess just looked at her student awkwardly, as if trying to find the right words then answered the curious mare.

"Well…? You know… the time…during your magic school years…when the School of Magic had… a huge hole in the center of several floors in the building?" Celestia answered quite clumsily as she had the memory in her mind. It cost many bits to fix those floors.

Twilight though about it for a bit and then slowly and also awkwardly nodded her head. It was quite a disaster that day.

"Well that was Coocoodrill trying to do a simple levitation spell. Ended up using his horn to magically drill into the floors." Celestia said as she got back to her usual benevolent voice. But she did roll her eyes.

Twilight Sparkle's eyes just widened and her jawed dropped to the floor. A simple levitation attempt went that disastrous. She wondered where he was now. He definitely was expelled, but due to her lack of a social circle in the past, didn't really know who did it.

After an awkward silence, Celestia decided to speak up again.

"But anyways, Coocoodrill works in the mines around the mountainside. I will get a guard to show you the way. But don't worry, Coocoo's a nice person. He wouldn't intend to hurt you in any way."

That made Twilight come back to her senses a third time (spacing out a lot today). So she waved goodbye to the princess and left with the guard.

"So she still calls him Cosmus. It must mean she still cares for him." Twilight muttered to herself as she left to find the element of respect.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in Manehattan, Blubayou was wearing his black cloak, looking for a worthy unicorn for Screameater. All the Unicorns he met always ran away for some strange reason. He thought it might just be his breath. He lifted a finned hoof in front of his mouth and breathed and sniffed it. He didn't smell anything bad. He just shrugged and saw a supermarket. He remembered that his master wanted a couple of granny smith apples.

So he rushed inside, grabbed a basket, got several granny smiths and went straight to the checkout counter. The obviously bored mare at the counter just looked up and saw the freaky, amphibious, slimy stallion in front of her.

"TAKE THE APPLES! THEY'RE FREE TODAY!" The clerk hollered as she dived under her counter, cowering.

The amphibipony just blinked twice, then made a big wide smile.

"Why thank ya madame! Have a nice day!" Blu told the cowering mare in a jolly manner, not even wondering why she was under the counter anyways.

So he bowed and left. But not before leaving a couple of bits in the tip jar.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blubayou was still in Manehattan searching for a unicorn to bring to Screameater. He was having no luck at all. Every time he tried to talk to someone, they ran off for some odd reason. Now he was in the Manehattan Park. After some walking, he saw a tan unicorn mare sitting on a bench reading some sort of fashion magazine, using her magic to lift it and flip the pages. The amphibipony walked up to the mare feeling that this would be the one willing to work with/for his master. So far, he hasn't even gotten far enough with anypony to even tell them who he's working for.

As he walked closer, the unicorn looked up at Blu relatively disinterested. She just rolled her eyes and put her magazine down.

"Can I help you?" The mare asked Blubayou with little interest. She then took a closer look at the approaching earth pony, seeing his clammy blue skin and yellow eyes from under his cloak. In a second, she screamed in terror and galloped away.

Blubayou just watched her "escape" in confusion. He takes off the hood of his cloak, causing everyone in the park to stare at him in shock. He then used his long, sticky tongue to scratch the top of his head, causing the crowd to gasp in horror. After a while of thinking, the monstrous earth pony spotted a large fly hovering about two meters away. Licking his lips in delight, he used his froglike tongue to snatch the insect from the air and into his mouth. The crowd just looked at Blubayou as if he was some sort of abomination. They all then screamed and ran off. Blu didn't even notice them gallop off. He just whipped his tail in realization of what he did wrong to scare off the mare.

"I KNOW WHA I DID!" He shouted in triumph. "I was hiding my face with this cloak! Hooooooo weeeeeee! That's just ain't right to just walk over to a stranger like that! It's creepy!"

He then looked around him and noticed that virtually everypony was gone. The only pony left was a small tan earth filly. She was shaking in fright and whimpering, tears about to stream from her eyes. She was so scared of the unusual horse that she couldn't even move. Blubayou jumped ten feet right up to the filly, and started to asked the foal where all the ponies went in curiosity.

"Excuse me bu…"

The filly started to scream in fear, tears pouring out of her eyes. Blubayou had no idea what to do about it. It's not that he didn't care; it's just that due to living on a relatively deserted island with a short, if not intimidating adoptive father. He simply had no idea how to handle the situation. As he was cringing, pondering at what to do, some of the girl's tears fell onto his smooth, drying legs. It's been a while since he was in water, and he was getting thirsty, and the tears helped slightly. Blubayou realized that he needed water soon or he will risk dehydration. He then started to smile in excitement, rubbing his forelegs. He had an idea.

"Sorry for startling ya little missy. But I have a question. Where's the nearest pond? I've been walking all day and I'm tired. Plus, I need to rehydrate myself. Can ya give me a hoof?" The amphibipony kindly asked the still crying filly as he crouched down to equal height of the little girl.

The little girl stopped screaming and started to calm down a bit. He didn't look malicious at all. He actually looked more like a tourist with his map upside down.

"Wait? You're not going to hurt me?" The filly asked Blu still quite nervous. She stepped back a couple feet relatively unsure how to handle the situation. Her parents did teach her about "Stranger Danger" after all.

The amphibipony was shocked at such an accusation. Why would she assume such a ridiculous thing? He never acted threatening, he used his manners, and he never hurt a fly all day (just ate one [different story]). He then got to his senses and rapidly shook his head.

"You promise?" The filly asked still relatively paranoid. She crept a little bit closer to Blubayou, a sign of trust.

The blue "earth pony" went on his hind legs. He then used his tongue to "cross his heart".

"Cwass my hwart." Blubayou promised the girl with his tongue still sticking out. He saw that the filly was grossed out, so he stuck the tongue right back into his mouth. After an awkward two seconds, Blu spoke up once again.

"So where's the nearest…" But before Blubayou could finish his question, the filly just pointed behind the amphibipony. The earth pony looked behind him, seeing a quaint, clean, relatively large pond. He then looked back at the foal and smiled sheepishly. He then made a croaking sound, which inflated the area between his chin and throat. It sounded just like a relatively high pitched tree frog's croak.

"Sorry to waste ya time madame. I shall leave you alone now." Blubayou quickly and awkwardly said to the little filly as he patted her head with a slimy hoof. He then hopped away in joy of a good rest.

The little earth filly just wiped the slime off her head in disgust and annoyance and turned to walk away.

"Freak." Was the only thing she could mutter as she trotted away. She felt like she needed a long bath.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bluebayou was leaping towards the pond absolutely thrilled that he was finally going to rest. He was hopping so fast, he didn't see the branch in front of him. He jumped straight into it, hitting his stomach on the branch. He then fell to the ground.

"Uuuuuh. Toad-daddies that hurt." Blu groggily whined as he slowly got up. When he opened his eyes, he saw a poster being blown by the wind towards him. He grabbed the poster with his tongue then put the post in his forehooves.

It had a picture of a Unicorn mare lifting various things such as ropes, cards and even a rabbit with her magic. She was blue in color with silvery hair and was wearing a purple wizard's cloak and a pointy, slightly limp wizard's hat. Both articles of clothing had different sized stars all over it, each one colored blue or yellow. Under the unicorn had an audience of various ponies cheering for the magician from off the stage. On top of the poster was the words "Behold the magic of the GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!" The poster also had the address of where the show was.

Blubayou was jumping for joy at the find. It was around two thirty right now and the show started at about nine o'clock. He decided that a unicorn this "GREAT AND POWERFUL" would be great for Screameater. He then galloped the rest of the way to the pond laughing cheerfully to himself. He was going to get both a powerful mage for his master and a great show.

"How can this trip get any better?" the amphibipony said to himself with his eyes beaming as he put his belongings away in a hole in a nearby tree.

He then jumped twenty feet into the air, just above the pond. At the highest point, he tucked his hooves in and shouted "CANNONBALL!" before splashing into the pond. Under the water, he made a small bed out of grasses and dirt. He then got into his makeshift bed.

"Oh boy! Good old Screamy's gonna love it when I get him that Trixie girl." Blubayou groggily said to himself as bubbles came out of him mouth. He then deeply yawned, although it sounded more like gurgling. He then closed his eyes. After a while, he started to snore, which was just him breathing in, the softly croaking out.

He needed all the rest he could get, for tonight, would be all about "THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE".

Comments

[insightguy]

you got the name from DooM did you?
(Phobos)

[Lizardsareradical]

137659

Actually, i've never played doom. Phobos is just Latin for fear. I should play doom though. Looks awesome.

[fearanger]

137921 nice use of latin words! I like it.

[Thespurgin]

oh shi-... Trixie is doomed.