Nightmare Equestria

by Herald Design

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The train to Ponyville rattled as it traveled through one of the many tunnels along the route. I sat looking out the window as the train rumbled out of the tunnel into the open air. Even outside the tunnel there was nothing to look at. Once Nightmare Moon had taken over she had immediately implemented her threat of creating a night that would last forever. Or at least it would last for a year, until the Chaos Lord, Discord escaped his thousand year imprisonment and made his own claim on the throne of Equestria. His magical power centered on controlling chaos, or maybe setting chaos loose would be the better way to say it. His attacks against Canterlot were rarely cruel at first, though quite frequent. Hardly a week went by when Discord wasn’t pulling some joke on the elite of the capital. He would turn the clouds above the city into giant pepper shakers, to have ponies sneezing in the streets or have the roads turn into celery soup and the wagon wheels into wheels of cheese.

Most ponies didn’t really mind these little games. For whatever their inconvenience there was always one large benefit. Whenever Discord came, he would bring with him the sun. He did this I am sure as a mark of defiance against Nightmare Moon. The ponies of Equestria wouldn’t mind trees getting up and walking around, as long as they could enjoy the sun for a few days, hours, or minutes. Nobody would dare say that around the Dark Queen, for her fury at being scorned like this was unmatched.

For some reason about half a year into the war Discord’s attacks became vicious. Now rather than innocent, if annoying pranks the coming of day brought with it pain and suffering. Now Discord would bring to life the furniture in a room and use it to attack the furniture’s owners. Also he would unleash his creatures into the city and the towns surrounding it. Creatures such as Manticores and Cockatrices let loose on a city was devastating, especially in the outlying ones which didn’t have very many of the new royal guards.

This situation was made even worse by the fact that many of the most powerful and most skilled ponies were still loyal to Celestia, like Silver Hammer dozing on the bench next to me. He could easily have handled a single manticore, even without that mage hammer of his. With it, he could take care of several Manticores, and even something as large as a hydra. But when you break a unicorn’s horn he is not likely to forgive you and loyally serve you. Anymore then would a now wingless Pegasus. So the cruelty of the Dark Queen added to her own problems.

Also the problem of crippled guards wasn’t helped any by Discord’s new attacks. Soldiers coming back from a patrol, or returning from a battle would return to the city maimed, sometimes almost beyond recognition. Though I know that Discord was well capable of simply removing the wings or horns of a foe with his magic he doesn’t do that. I know from my personal experience in Equestria Proper that when he magically removes ones horn it doesn’t hurt at all. It just felt vaguely like I was missing something that I couldn’t quite put my hoof on. But this simple and painless solution would never suit for this new lord of Chaos. The guards who came back would return with extra limbs, or limbs switched with other creatures, or simply switched places on where they should be.

I couldn’t understand where this clearly more evil Discord had come from. In Equestria Proper he had been cruel but never to this degree. And eventually Fluttershy was able to show him the magic of friendship and teach him to be good. I think I am going to hold that in reserve. I don’t know how I am supposed to bring him around without Fluttershy especially since I don’t even trust him in the real world.

Silver Hammer snorted then sat up on the bench next to me. “Are we there yet?” he drowsily asked.

I shake my head then he dozes off again. It boggles my mind how he can sleep right now. For one thing this train is the most uncomfortable thing in this world. It rattles and shakes and has to stop every couple of minutes to clear some piece of rubble off the tracks. No pony travels much anymore, preferring the comparative safety of the capital to the greater risk of the surrounding country side, so the tracks fell into ill repair.

Also there was too much to think about to sleep. I was trying to remember everything I could think of about the Elements of Harmony and what my friends were doing before I met them in Ponyville. Pinkie Pie had been working at the sweet shop Sugar Cube Corner, Rarity at her own store Carousel Boutique, Fluttershy lived in her cottage, Apple Jack on the farm, and Rainbow Dash lived above Ponyville in a house made of clouds. I wanted to see my friends again so badly. Celestia was right, once I get all my friends together again, then everything will be all right. Of course I would have to find the Elements of Harmony again, but with my friends around me, we found them once and we would find them again. I don’t know what will happen when we have rescued all the Elements, but with all of us together nothing could stand against us.

Silver Hammer jerked awake as the train rattled out of one more tunnel. He looked around then is about to fall asleep when I nudge him and point out the window. Distantly the glow of lights from Ponyville could be seen. Even with the eternal night, it still made me happy to see my old home. Wordlessly Silver grabs the magic chest Celestia sent me as well as our small bags. Last night before we left I had run up stairs and grabbed the Element of Magic, which was now safely hidden in the chest. Since no pony could remove it without my permission, it would be much safer there then back at my parent’s house. I still hadn’t told Silver about it. Instead I had snuck it in while he was grabbing food from my kitchen. That had just been to distract him, but so far it turned out to be a really good idea. There was no food served on the train and food would likely be expensive in the smaller towns.

When the train pulled up to the Ponyville station I quickly disembarked, excited to find my friends and see the end of this miserable nightmare. Once off the train I stopped so fast Silver Hammer almost ran into me. Ponyville was not how I remembered it. The light I had seen from the train was not the yellow light of the mage lights that lit and warmed Canterlot. Instead it was the dirty red light of fires. Hundreds of fires. There were fires scattered all over the town. On every street corner there were fire pits and torches. Even some of the buildings were on fire. I couldn’t understand, what had attacked that would burn so much of the town?

“Brrrr. It’s freezing here!” behind me Silver Hammer shivered. It was a little chilly here but certainly not to the degree that he was making it out to be. Then I noticed that the Omnicanicron was flashing dimly. I reached out with my magic and removed it from my hoof. Suddenly the cold hit me. It was freezing here. Within seconds I could see my breath. The cold wasn’t the only thing to hit me; I was also hit by a sudden realization. The fires weren’t the sign of some attack against Ponyville; it was the mark of desperation. It was the middle of winter and the citizens must not be able to afford the magic lights that keep Canterlot warm. So the ponies here were burning anything that would stay lit to keep warm, and to be able to see.

I replaced the Omnicanicron on my hoof, then thinking quickly cast a “repel cold” spell on Silver Hammer. He immediately stopped shivering and began to look around at the town. A “stay warm” spell would have been easier to cast, and require less energy to maintain, but that would mean we would be melting our way through the snow. The last thing we wanted to do is attract attention when I didn’t know what was happening.

“Thanks for the spell, but I still think it would be better to head indoors to plan our next step.”

“Yes, of course. We should head to the Ponyville library. That is where I stayed in Equestria Proper. It should be able to shelter us.”

He nodded and without another word we set off. Canterlot is kept free of snow by the powerful magics that reside there, but there was no such luck for Ponyville. No doubt the weather ponies had long abandoned their jobs. So the snow was piled up all around. Sometimes it was as high as the windows. As quickly as we could we made our way through the snow drifts. I was just glad it wasn’t actively snowing.

Before too long we arrived at our destination. The Ponyville library was abandoned just like I thought it would be. The library was maintained by volunteers before I had arrived in Equestria Proper, no doubt the volunteers would leave to take care of their families once Celestia was dethroned. When we forced our way through a snow drift to get inside I saw something that I did not predict. All of the books were gone. Every single one had been stolen. They were burning anything that would stay lit; I didn’t think that applied to the books too. My books were as close to me as my friends. Before I had found the magic of friendship all I cared about was books. Now they were gone.

“Some library. Even the bookshelves are gone,” Silver Hammer said as he wandered into the room.

It was true even the shelves had been stolen to make fire wood. Almost everything that wasn’t nailed to the floor, and several things that were, had been stolen to feed the fires. The old tree that the library was built in was protected by spells from librarians decades past against both fire and axe. It is a shame that no one thought to protect the books.

Silver Hammer came back to me from his walk around the room then says, “I don’t sense any lingering magics, only those built into the tree itself. All those are much older the Nightmare Moon’s return. We should probably put some protective spells of our own up though.”

I nod quietly then set to work. The bubble force fields that my family is famous for would be the strongest shield I could summon. Like the purple shield I put around Silver earlier they could prevent anything from passing them without my permission. Though the one I created for him wasn’t that powerful, I could probably create one that even he couldn’t break with his mage hammer, but I wasn’t willing to try unless I had to. The more magic you put into a spell, the more magic it takes out of you if it falls. Those shields would be the best defensively, but were the least subtle. Especially since mine adjusted the conditions inside to better suit me, effectively turning us into a reverse snow globe. With snow piled up outside, the weather inside would be early spring at worst.

Instead of using the more powerful shields I set about weaving more subtle spells into the walls of the tree itself. I created protection spells, early detection spells, and spells to go unnoticed. I had never spent too much energy learning war spells, the casting of fire balls, or the creation of walls that burned any enemy the touched them. But it is impossible to have studied as much about magic as I have without picking up a trick or two.

Silver Hammer however clearly had studied war time spells. I finished my spells then stood and watched him work for a moment. The spells he was creating would do quite a bit more than merely protect the tree, let us know when enemies approached or make them ignore us. Currently he was working a spell that would physically absorb any attacker into the tree. I memorized that one; it might come in handy later.

Shortly we were both done. Now the tree that the library was in was protected, warm, well lit, and almost invisible to outsiders. Silver Hammer was sweating a little from the effort of doing that much magic.

“It’s been a while since I have had to sustain that much magical energy. Or have even had the ability to.” He smiled at me as he said that. I know I healed him with my magic, but I wish he would realize that it was because I had lost control. “So what is our plan now?”

“Well I honestly wasn’t expecting this, but there is nothing we can do about the weather. I think the best thing to do is still to find where my friends are. Once together we can face any challenge.”

Silver looked worried, “And what is our plan B?”

The bemused look on my face needed no explanation.

“Plan B. You say you remember where your friends are, because you remember it from Equestria Proper as you call it. But what if here in Nightmare Equestria they aren’t there? What is our plan if they are lost, or dead? I know you don’t want to think about it, but I have suffered too much to just let you go galloping off without thinking through a backup plan. I have attempted coups against the Dark Queen and I will not suffer another defeat because of poor planning.”

“Well…” I hadn’t wanted to bring up the Elements of Harmony, at least not until I was sure that I could trust him. But there didn’t seem to be any point. And if I failed there needed to be somepony else who knew about them. “If we can’t find my friends we need to find the Elements of Harmony.”

He arched an eyebrow at me, so I continued. “The Elements of Harmony are some of the most powerful magical devices in the world. Together they form a magic that can’t be stopped. My friends and I each represent one of the elements. Six elements, six ponies.” I was pacing now. I needed to walk as I thought. “I tried to do some reading from the book Celestia left in chest, Elements of Harmony, A Reference Guide, on the train but the lighting was too bad. Also I was hoping to be able to do some more research here, but that option is out. Fortunately I have most of the lore regarding the Elements memorized.

If we can’t find my friends then there is only one thing to do, find the Elements. They can be wielded by less than six ponies. Celestia and Luna together used all six Elements when they entombed Discord in stone. In fact they can be used by only one pony if necessary, Celestia used them by herself when she banished Nightmare Moon.”

“Yeah well a lot of good that did. They are both free now. The Elements didn’t do a very good job killing them.” Silver Hammer replied sarcastically.

“Of course not. The Elements are not a destructive force. They imprison, entomb, or strip the evil from somepony. And we don’t need to kill anypony. We just need to get Celestia back so she can help us, but first we need to see if we can find my friends. We will start with Pinkie Pie. Sugar Cube Corner is the closest.”

“How about instead of doing that we split up? I have some contacts here in Ponyville that may be of some use if we need to find somepony. You look around for where they lived in EP, and I will meet you back here.”

“Are you sure that is the best idea?”

“Yeah, I can take care of myself, and you have demonstrated that you can take care of yourself. Besides my contacts aren’t really the type to enjoy having new faces around and it will already be hard enough to explain why I look like I was never in a war. If anything happens meet back here.”

What he said made sense, so I nodded. He opened the door of the library, and after looking around to make sure that nopony was out there began to make his way up the street. I quickly headed in the other direction. The wind had picked up since we went indoors, blowing the fresh snow into my face. After only a couple of minutes I was happy that I still had the omnicanicron. Even with its magic the wind still cut through me. Soon I found my way to where Pinkie Pie lived in Equestria Proper. The building had been named Sugar Cube Corner. It was a pastry shop that sold the best cakes and sweets. It was owned by an older couple, the Cakes. They rent out the upper floor to Pinkie Pie the town’s resident party expert.

Here though it had clearly been a while since a party was hosted here. The building no longer tries to look like a ginger bread house. Its roof is a standard thatched roof, with the thatching in desperate need of some repairs. On top of the upper floor there’s still a room that looks vaguely like a cupcake, but without the rest of house, it looks more like a grotesque mockery. In this world the former sweets shop was a soup kitchen. The ponies were lined up in front of it waiting to get food. Many looked like this would be their first meal in days. In front of the building a large covered area had been set up so ponies could eat out of the weather. I walked around the line trying to get to the front. If anypony needed cheering up with a good party it was these ponies. Surely even here in this world Pinkie was here to help make people be little less miserable. Suddenly as I tried to make my way to the front, somepony grabbed me from behind.

“Hey no cutting! If you want food get in the line with the rest of us!” A large stallion grabbed me around the waist and began dragging me to the back. I quickly used my magic to break his grip and drop back to the ground.

“Oh yer a unicorn? Doesn’t matter; get to the back of the line.”

“No you don’t understand I don’t want food! I just…”

“You don’t want food? Yeah and I don’t want the sun to come back!”

“What’s going on out here?”

The shout quieted both of us. I spun around and there in front of me was Carrot Cake. If it weren’t for his yellow fur and cutie mark in the shape of his namesake, I wouldn’t have recognized him at all. His formerly short orange mane had grown long and was almost completely gray. Also his typical good mood had apparently left as well. He was glaring at me and the stallion I had been arguing with.

“If you two are going to fight in the line then neither of you are getting anything. Go home!” he yelled at us.

The other stallion looked crest fallen and began to walk away without an argument, though he did pause to give me a dirty look as he passed. Mr. Cake turned and began to walk back to the front.

“Mr. Cake! I need to talk to you!”

“Yeah you and every other poor pony in this town! Well I told you, you lost the privilege to do that today. Come back tomorrow.”

“Wait I just need to talk to Pinkie Pie!” I cried when he had almost reached the door.

“I don’t know anypony by that name. And you had better clear out unless you want me to close down for the day!”

When he said that several ponies grabbed me and forcibly evicted me from the square. I could only watch from outside. Clearly Pinkie wasn’t here. So I turned and walked to the next place I had to check. As I walked I talked quietly to myself.

“It’s ok. I couldn’t expect fixing the problems of Equestria to be easy. It never was before. Plus Pinkie Pie is only the first pony I’ve looked for; I am sure that with the help of the others I will be able to find where she went.”

Sometime in the middle of ramblings I arrived at my next location. In Equestria Proper Carousel Boutique had been Rarity’s pride and joy. It as a store where the rich and famous from as far away as Canterlot and Manehattan came to purchase the finest dresses. Rarity always had a knack for fashion and dress making, and that only got better when she discovered her special talent for finding gems. With the additional funding brought from that secondary cash flow she could focus all of her time and attention to making the most beautiful outfits for pony kind. But this wasn’t Equestria Proper, this was Nightmare Equestria. Here I could only gape at what was in front of me.

Carousel Boutique simply wasn’t. There was no sign of it having been burned down, or destroyed; it looked like it had never existed. Even the land where it should have been had never been changed to allow for a building. I had asked Rarity one time how she had gotten the building, and she had said that she had bought it with some of her gems. So the building should have been there even if Rarity wasn’t. Yet clearly something had happened in the past, when our fates changed that made it never be built. I couldn’t begin to fathom what that was, and there were still several other ponies I needed to find.

Now I am panicking. I had never heard where Rarity’s family was from. She and Pinkie Pie were always very tight lipped about their pasts, though it seemed to me to for different reasons. I thought that Rarity was embarrassed by her family and with Pinkie; well it is never easy to say with that pony. Sometimes she reads like a book for fillies and other times I’ve gotten more information talking to a rock. So if these two weren’t here then I had no idea where to start looking. But there was one other pony who I knew where she would be, Applejack.

AJ had grown up on the family farm, Sweet Apple Acres, and still worked there with her older brother Big Macintosh, little sister Applebloom, and her grandmother Granny Smith. If there was anypony who would be easy to find it would be Applejack. I raced down the street to the Apple farm. On either side of the road, signs of destruction stretched out before me. The once proud family orchards are now gone. Cut down for fire wood, some with even the roots torn up. As I ran I even saw the burnt out remains of the school. That only drove my fear. Soon I was galloping full out down the street.

Then there in front of me was what I was looking for. Sweet Apple Acres stretched out before me. Even though the orchard itself is much reduced there are still a couple of sickly apple trees. Now instead of thousands of apple trees there were a lot smaller crops. The apple trees probably didn’t fare as well without sun. Some smaller plants could last much longer without sun, and mushrooms didn’t need light at all.

As I approached the gate I was surprised to see it closed and barred. The gate for the farm was never closed. I can’t remember a single time when it had been locked. I used my magic to undo the lock and open the gate. I wondered if the Apples were having problems with bandits. That question was answered quickly by a resounding click from behind me.

I whirled around to see Big Macintosh standing behind me with a loaded cross bow. Cross bows were one of the few types of bows that earth ponies could use with any skill. Pegasi could use their wings to draw smaller light bows and unicorns can use their magic to draw the more powerful compound bows, but neither of those could match the crossbow for power and accuracy. Plus they could be easily be rewound and reloaded without the need of magic and wings. Big Mac’s crossbow was strapped to his hoof. He could fire it just by moving his hoof forward. And it was trained on me.

“Whatever you’re thinking of stealing you had better rethink your plan.” Big Mac had always seemed like a mountain to me. Solid, steady, always there for you, and above everything else, calm. Now I could see another side of Mac. One that was all anger and sadness. The big stallion was glaring down at me.

“Big Mac! I am so glad to see you. Though I wish it were under different circumstances. Before you kick me out where is the rest of the family?”

Mac reared and I ducked afraid that the crossbow would go off. His rage and anguish was written all over his face. “The rest of the family? There is no rest of the family! I am the only one here. I am the only one who has to take care of the family farm.”

This news hit me hard, how could Mac be the only one? There had always been a family of Apples here when I had visited. “What about Applebloom and Granny Smith?”

“Granny Smith died a week after the last sunset. Her heart couldn’t take the stress of a world shrouded in eternal night. And Applebloom, little Applebloom, she vanished shortly after. I haven’t seen her in almost two years.” The anger in his voice had disappeared, there was only a deep soul wrenching sadness. “I am the last Apple here.”

Granny Smith, dead? And Applebloom gone? Those two had been as close as family to me when I arrived in Ponyville. If Applebloom had disappeared in this world of shadow then it was unlikely that she was still alive. Too many monsters roamed where they shouldn’t, to many dangers, and too many desperate ponies, for her to be safe. But there was still one more Apple I hadn’t heard about, the first pony in Ponyville to introduce herself to me, one of my closest and most stalwart friends.

“But what about Appleja…” My words were cut short as the crossbow went off. The bolt from the crossbow cut across my cheek leaving a hair line graze.

“Don’t you dare mention that name around me!” Big Mac roared at me. “She abandoned the farm. I gave her every chance to come back, but now she is dead to me. The only sister I have was stolen from me two years ago. Now you better clear off my farm, or I swear that I will bury you here.”

I backed away from him, tears streaming down my face. With Big mac bearing down on me I tried to will myself to turn and run but I couldn’t do it.

“Macintosh!” The voice behind me stopped me in my tracks. It also stopped Mac; he looked up surprised, anger still written on his face. A flash of light came from behind me and the look of anger disappeared almost immediately, replaced with one that was as readable as a stone wall. I turn to see Silver Hammer standing behind me. There was some glowing sigil in the air above his head, drawn with his magic, but it disappeared before I could even focus on it.

“Go wait by the gate, I will talk to him. Go on”

I went slowly to the gate. This news hit me the hardest of all. I had been hoping that my friends would be here. Even when I saw that Pinkie Pie and Rarity weren’t I was still hoping that Applejack would be. She was always so dependable, and the farm was everything to her. We had fought hard on several times to help her keep the farm, or help her work it. I couldn’t understand why she would leave the farm. And if Applejack wasn’t here, then it wouldn’t make sense for either Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy to be in Ponyville, they would likely still be in Cloudsdale the Pegasus city. Celestia had said that I could do anything if I had my friends with me, but was I supposed to do if I didn’t even have them?

Silver Hammer had finished up his conversation with Big Mac and the both of them were walking slowly towards me. Big Mac was the first to speak.

“The pony you are looking for is Manehattan. If you find her tell her that if she ever shows her face here I’ll put a bolt through her eye.” He turned to go, then paused and said, “You should get that taken care of.”

Mac turned and walked away. I felt the cut on my cheek, but it had already almost stopped bleeding. The bolt had only barely touched my face. Maybe somewhere in that exterior of anger and sadness the Big Mac I knew is still in there, he had only fired a warning shot, something that almost missed. Silver Hammer lead me quickly back down the road. Walking back this way was a little easier because both of us had trampled the snow down a little, so there was a path through the piled snow.

“Just to let you know, for all future engagements make sure to wear the OC.”

“Why do you say that?” I glance at the omnicanicron on my hoof; it didn’t seem to be behaving in any noteworthy manner. It was still flashing dully as it kept the cold off, but it wasn’t doing anything else special.

“Because Macintosh didn’t miss. You were supposed to eat that bolt. He said that when he fired the bolt moved away from your face.”

“He tried to kill me?” My voice was suddenly high with fear.

“Tried, and would have succeeded if it weren’t for that thing, oh and me of course. I somewhat doubt you were the first pony to taste that cross bow since the sun fell.”

Another hammer fall. Ever since I had discovered the truth about this world it just kept beating me down. My family was dead, my friends were scattered or lost, and one of the ponies I thought I could depend on the most had just tried to kill me. I almost wished the chest had never come to me. It was so much easier living in ignorance. Silver Hammer noticed my silence and didn’t break it for several moments.

“What do we do next? Try and find a way to pay for a trip to Manehattan? I know you spent the last of your savings getting us here, but there could be a way to get to the city.”

“No, there is something we have to do before we leave.” Even to me my voice sounded dead and tired.

“And what is that?”

“We have to find the Elements of Harmony.”

* * *

“When you first mentioned finding the Elements of Harmony, I thought it would be some great quest. Where we would have to fight our way through some ancient dungeon at the edge of the world and defeat some terrible monster to acquire them.” We had been walking through the woods of the Everfree forest for almost an hour. Silver had been complaining for the past several minutes. “When you said that they were here in Ponyville I thought it would just be a matter of going back to the library and getting a shovel to dig them up out of one of the local fields. Now you are telling me that we have to wander around in the dark in this stupid forest forever? Where are the Elements exactly? And when will we get to them?”

“We are almost there now please be quiet.” The Everfree forest, which practically surrounds Ponyville, is never the easiest place to navigate even in the best of times. Unlike most of the rest of Equestria where plants are grown, animals are cared for, and the weather is controlled all by ponies, the Everfree forest is just the opposite. So what could be a pleasant stroll through the woods anywhere else is cruel maze here. The trees grow completely randomly and the path such as it was meanders all over, under, and through many different obstacles. Now with the night and winter obscuring everything it made the path even more difficult.

Another reason I didn’t want him to be talking is because the Everfree forest is home to many fearsome monsters. I didn’t want to attract anything that might be out there. In fact I am still surprised that so far nothing has jumped out at us, or attacked us. The last time I had come by this way, when I had all of my friends around me, we had been attacked and plagued by problems almost every step of the way. Though that was with the concentrated effort of Nightmare Moon trying to stop us. With each step that we took and didn’t encounter some terrible creature made the expectation that it was going to happen with the next step even higher. This continuously mounting anxiety was starting to wear on my nerves.

But I wasn’t lying to Silver Hammer when I said that we were almost there. We had just crossed the river where Rarity’s friend the sea serpent Steven Magnet, lived. We didn’t see him, and our crossing of the river was aided by a thick sheet of ice over the top of it. I don’t know if I really want to see him or not. Every other pony here is behaving differently than what I remember, and I didn’t want to try to mess with a fashion conscious sea serpent without Rarity to placate him.

There just ahead of us was the gorge we had to cross to get to where we were going. The castle of the royal pony sisters. It was the ancient home of Celestia and Luna before Nightmare Moon took over the moon princess. It was here in Equestria Proper that we found the Elements of Harmony. I was hoping against hope that I would be able to find them here. I needed something to go right for me.

Silver Hammer had stopped in front of me. He was looking down into the gorge at the remains of a bridge that had previously spanned the gap. In my world Rainbow Dash had flown down into the gap, grabbed the remains of the bridge and was able to repair it. Without a Pegasus I didn’t know how I was supposed to repair it. Silver was apparently struggling with the same problem. We were wasting time. We need to get the Elements so that we can get to Manehattan.

I decided I had enough thinking. I summoned my magic and began weaving it into the fog that constantly filled this gorge. Slowly the fog came together to form a path from cliff to cliff.

“Quickly get across! I don’t know how much longer I can hold it.”

Silver Hammer stepped delicately on the fog bridge, then when it supported his weight, he ran across. I walked across more calmly. Solidifying an entire bridge of fog took a lot of strength, but just holding together the patch I was standing on and the one immediately ahead of me was much easier. Still I was starting to sweat from the exertion by the time I made it to the other side.

“Impressive, I haven’t seen a display of magic like that in some time.” Behind the surprise on his face, I could see a bit of sadness. I am pretty sure that he last saw any kind of magic display it was with ponies who were now dead, or lost. Now is not the time to open that can of worms though, and I am still hurting from my experience at the farm. So I just nodded to acknowledge his remark.

The castle loomed in front of us as we made our way towards it. Inside I hoped to find the Elements on their pedestals. So much of our hopes and dreams were hinging on this. As I got closer I could almost taste the Elements. Once we have them everything would begin sorting itself out.

I rushed into the room where the podiums stood, and immediately stopped. They were gone. Every single stand was empty. Not only that but it looked like there had been some kind of fight over the Elements. Some of the plinths were knocked over and others bore claw or scorch marks. I wandered around lost as Silver Hammer came in behind me and began investigating. The scorch marks I recognized as lightning strikes. There was only one pony I knew who could summon lightning at will, and that was Nightmare Moon. She had used the lightning bolts repeatedly during the time when my friends and I defeated her. The claw marks at first confused me, until I noticed how lopsided they were, some were the claws of an eagle, others of a dragon. Again there is only one creature in the world that can do that. Discord. His body was made up of parts from all kinds of creatures. There was a couple of other marks around that I couldn’t begin to decipher. But the one thing that was sure was the Elements were gone.

This last hammer blow brought me to my knees. How can this be? How is it that nothing is going right? Tears started to fill my eyes. There was nothing I could do, Celestia had given me this mission and I was failing it. Silver Hammer kept looking around the room. He didn’t seem to understand how hopeless this whole situation was. He was sniffing the air, trying to track whatever he was smelling back to its source. Suddenly he ran into a dark corner of the room. I turned, afraid that something was attacking us, that one more thing was about to go wrong.

“What is this?” he asked, rolling a large round ball out from the corner. The ball came up to his knees and was made entirely of stone. I jumped to my feet when I saw it.

“You found one! You found one!” As I was saying this I was jumping up and down in a circle around Silver Hammer.

“I found one what? What is it?”

“It’s one of the Elements!”

“Really? Seems kind of inconvenient.”

“Yeah. Hmmmm. Let me look at it closer.”

I crouched down so I can look at it closer. We would never be able to travel with something this size. When I moved closer to examine it I accidently bumped the omnicanicron against it. As soon as the two touched the Element immediately shattered.

“What? It’s broken!”

“No it’s not. I was hoping this would happen. Watch!”

He turned his attention back to the Element. The shattered pieces began to float into the air, hovering around my hoof where the omnicanicron was. The pieces began to spin, moving faster and faster. Also a light started to come out, which grew to be so bright that I could hardly bare to look at it. Finally with one last burst, all the light faded away to nothing. There resting on my hoof was a necklace. It was a gold necklace with an orange apple in the center; the apple had two small leaves.

“Yes! It is the Element of… Honesty!”

* * *