ELEMENTS OF DESTRUCTION
by
STARVINARTIST
CHAPTER ONE
"Nightmares"
Twilight Sparkle sat bolt upright, eyes wide and staring out into the darkness as her heart pounded inside her chest. Her breath was sharp, quick, nervous, and her wild eyes darted around the room in a blind panic. Dark shapes leapt out at her, the dim moonlight doing nothing to protect her from them. She let out a short yelp and clasped a hoof to her mouth, before once again peering into the night.
Slowly her breathing returned to normal, as she realised with a sigh of total relief that she was, in fact, in her own room, in her own bed. She was safe. It had all just been some horrible, horrible dream...
This was worrying. Frightening even. She hadn't awoken in such a state of panic since... Well... She hadn't ever done so. No. This was something new.
Something worth taking note of.
Cautiously, still a bit shaken up from the sudden fright, the Purple Unicorn shuffled off the edge of her bed, the thin blanket still draped over her body, and quietly moved to the small desk that stood neatly in line with the edges of her window. Her journal lay neatly closed, with the spine neatly in the exact centre of the desk so that, when she opened it, it was still perfectly, centrally, neat. Such perfection may have seemed obsessive to some, but to Twilight it was the one thing in the town that she could truly say she had under control. Order was logical. And logic was the key to success.
Which was what played on her mind most, as her horn glowed dimly and the nearby quill floated into position over the page. This, FEAR, she was experiencing was just ridiculous. The very fact that she had been startled by the long, thin shadows cast by the branches outside her window was inconceivable to her - sensible, logical Twilight Sparkle, afraid of the dark? Just what had she dreamt that had disturbed her in such a way?
She glanced down at the paper, quill still poised and ready to write. But she didn't know why. What was there to write about? "Dear Diary, tonight I had a bad dream. Off to sleep again now. Ta ta." She shook her head and laid the quill back down, her horn's glow diminishing. She couldn't even remember what the dream had been about, so why in Equestria was it still rattling round her skull like a parasprite in a cake shop?
She yawned, and turned to go back to bed.
'Twilight?'
The voice scared her to death. She leapt into the air, a high pitched squeal escaping her, and she dropped onto her back, clutching at her poor heart which was once again attempting to free itself from the confines of her ribcage.
'Whoa! Easy there girl!' came the voice again, and a quick glance revealed it to be no more than her trusty assistant and companion, Spike, 'It's just me! Calm down, what's the matter?'
Twilight scrabbled to her hooves once more and glared through the darkness at the young dragon.
'What do you think you're doing, sneaking up on me like that, Spike?!' she hushed angrily, trying to keep her voice down so as not to wake the rest of Ponyville.
'Sorry!' Spike replied with a yawn, 'What's got you so shaken up? I woke up after I heard you yell and I just thought I'd come to make sure you're okay...' he looked at the unicorn, bundled up in her blanket, mane sticking out all over the place and eyes wide and staring, 'Clearly I was right to be worried...'
Twilight sighed and loosened up again, standing fully and rubbing her neck with a forehoof.
'I'm sorry for waking you, there's nothing wrong ... I'm uh... I'm okay. Just...' she looked at the floor sheepishly, 'Just a bad dream, that's all...'
Spike crossed his arms and raised a quizzical eyebrow.
'A... Bad dream? You're telling me that you're all freaked out about some Nightmare, Twi?'
'I know it sounds dumb, but...' again she was lost for words, 'I dunno... I've had Nightmares before and they've never had this kind of effect on me... This is something more, something...' she swallowed and sat down on the foot of her bed. 'Bad.'
She closed her eyes and rubbed them with her hooves. All this stress, plus the tiredness had given her one heck of a headache. Spike saw the discomfort on her face and stepped over to her, placing a comforting claw on her shoulder.
'You're beat. You should get some rest, settle that egghead o' your's. You're overthinking things again, thats all. I'm sure in the morning everything'll make more sense - shoot, I'll even bet you'll have forgotten the whole thing by then!'
Twilight let out a quiet laugh as her sidekick let out a long, noisy yawn, and smiled at him.
'Thanks, Spike. You always know the right thing to say to calm me down. Now, its way past your bedtime...'
The dragon nodded and stretched. 'Trust me, I know. Night!'
With that, he turned and descended the staircase into the library, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts.
She shook her head and laughed once again, her bedheaded mane wafting infront of her eyes, before lying back and wrapping the blanket back around herself. She wouldn't even remember what she was so worried about in the morning, of course she wouldn't.
But right now, she certainly did.
**********
"Back again I see."
The disembodied voice crackled through the cold, damp air like lightning, ringing in Twilight's ears and forcing her to clamp them shut with her hooves.
"WHO ARE YOU?!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs, letting her usually mellow demeanor slip away, "WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?!"
Her shouts echoed throughout the cavernous space she was in, bounding off the walls and clashing with the chorus of drips and running water that seemed to emanate from nowhere.
"Oh it's not you I want, Twilight Sparkle," the Voice came again, calm and crisp with a layer of mocking thrown in, "At least, not JUST you. And not quite yet, either."
Twilight fell onto the hard stony floor, covering her ears and her eyes closed tight. Why couldn't she escape this place? Why did she keep coming back here?
The Voice continued.
"Oh, no no no. Right now, right at this very instant, do you know what I REALLY want?"
Silence. The purple unicorn on the floor curled herself into a ball, letting a single tear of pure terror run down her cheek.
"I want..." the Voice snarled, "To have some fun..."
With that, a blast of cold air rushed through the cave, lifting Twilight as though she were a Ragdoll. As the wind intensified, it hurled the terrified mare through the deep, pitch black tunnel as she let out a scream of abject horror. Lightning and thunder crashed around her, the invisible taunter laughing maniacally over the cacophany as she was thrown through the air, and collided against the sharp, jagged rocks of the cave wall.
"I'm on my way, Twilight..." the Voice cooed softly as she fell, broken and beaten, "Tell your Princess that Disaster is just around the corner..."
Twilight opened her eyes painfully, just as she hit the ground with a dull, sickening thud.
She awoke again. This time, she screamed.
CHAPTER TWO
"Disaster"
'I don't have any options left, Spike.' Twilight said, still shaking as she stood at the library's main desk and finished packing her things. She hadn't gone back to sleep again, and her matted mane and tired, shadowed eyes showed it. Spike just sat, heavy lids drooping as he struggled with consciousness. Twilight being awake meant that he simply had to follow suit. 'I thought I could ignore it, that it was just a normal recurring dream... But after last night I...'
She shivered again, as Spike slowly slumped forwards before snorting himself awake. Twilight turned her head to him and swallowed.
'"I'm on my way"...' she repeated the vindictive Voice's words quietly, '"Tell your Princess that Disaster is round the corner"... How could I ignore that?'
She turned back and grabbed the lightly packed saddlebag, swinging it over her back and then turning once more to face the exhausted Dragon.
'I still think you're being paranoid...' Spike mumbled, drifting between the land of the living and tiredness induced oblivion.
'I can't take that risk. The least I can do is talk to the Princess about it.' The unicorn said, levitating a hairbrush over to her and finally sorting her mane out. Spike watched through sleep-filled eyes as his friend returned to her normal, tidy self. He could already see her standing straighter, prouder, stronger. It was amazing what order and routine did to her psyche.
As soon as she had finished brushing her mane, Twilight Sparkle span on the spot with an air of renewed vigour and confidence. A look of determination had replaced her panic stricken looks, and a small smile even began to grow across her lips.
'I'm going to get to the bottom of this, Spike. And don't you think otherwise - there's no mystery in the whole of Equestria that can't be solved by Twilight Sparkle!'
And with that, she swivelled round and darted through the front door, letting it swing shut behind her.
Spike sat in silence for a while and blinked. He then sniffed, closed his eyes, and instantly fell onto his back, snoring loudly. No nightmares ever bothered him.
However... There did seem to be a certain... Atmosphere in the air. A cold, clammy, crackly atmosphere, that sent a chill down his spine.
'Brrr...' he shuddered, sitting up and huddling close to himself. He stood, eyes still closed, and staggered over to his bed.
As he pulled back his blanket, a sound cut through the cold air.
'She's more right than you know, Dragon...' came a calm, crisp and slightly mocking voice from nowhere, startling Spike awake, 'If I were you, I'd pay more attention to her. Heh... She seems to know when Disaster is going to strike, does she not??'
Spike stared, wide eyed and terrified into nothingness, as the voice slowly began a deep, ominous chuckle.
'I don't appreciate it when my powers are overlooked, Spikey.' the Voice growled, the chuckle dissappearing and being replaced with pure malice, 'You have no idea what Equestria is about to face at my hands! I'm going to make a VERY grand appearance. Trust me... It's going ...'
Spike gulped.
'To be...'
He felt something on his shoulder, and turned to face it.
'A BLAST!' the black shadow in front of him bellowed, smashing the young dragon against the opposite wall with the force of it's voice before dissipating into nothingness, leaving an evil, haunting laugh behind it.
Spike rubbed his aching skull, groaning in pain as he tried to stand.
'No...' he whispered weakly, 'Twilight... Twi...'
His legs gave in, and with a grunt he collapsed to the hard wooden floor, before sinking into blackness.
From nowhere, the Voice chuckled.
'This is going to be FUN...'
**********
'I still don't understand why you needed us ALL to come with you, darling!' Rarity moaned, slumped over the small wooden table that split the passenger booth of the 23 to Canterlot. The white unicorn was wearing a long silken bedrobe, and was still sporting a set of bright pink curlers in her purple mane. 'Perhaps not all of you realise that SOME ponies need their beauty sleep!'
Around the small booth, the other ponies groaned and fidgeted in their felt covered seats.
Twilight had wasted no time at all in rallying her friends and practically dragging them to the Ponyville Train Station. Most of them had been asleep, which made for an air of annoyance and tension in the cramped cabin.
'I'm sorry girls,' Twilight spoke up, squashed against the large glass window by a clearly uncomfortable Fluttershy, who was in turn finding it difficult to breathe with an asleep Rainbow Dash leaning all of her weight on the small, yellow pegasus. 'I just couldn't leave you all in the dark about this. It's a very serious potential threat to all of Equestria, so I really had no time to waste...'
'It's... alright... Twilight...' Fluttershy gasped from under Dash's dead weight, 'I... completely... understand...'
'ALRIGHT?!' Rarity slammed her hoof on the table, startling the Cyan pegasus awake, 'Maybe for you, but I had a meeting with a Very Important Fashion Designer from Baltimare tomor -' she glanced at the Train's clock, '... TODAY, even! And now I'm going to either miss the whole thing or turn up looking like... like...'
'FER CELESTIA'S SAKE WOULDYA KEEP THE NOISE DOWN?!' a brash country voice came from the floor at the end of the table, as a clearly perturbed Applejack reared her head and glared at Rarity, 'Ah woke up with a headache as it is, an' yer just makin' it WORSE!'
Suddenly, a fluff of pink exploded from an overhead luggage compartment and landed on the table, bright blue eyes sparkling and bouncing around the booth.
'CAN YOU GUYS BELIEVE HOW NICE THIS TRAIN IS?' Pinkie Pie yelled in excitement, bouncing off the table onto the elegant red carpet and hopping on the spot, 'I mean it's SOOOOO fancy, it's like it's out of an old movie or a book or a newspaper, and did you see how BIG those lockers are?! They can fit a whole Pinkie Pie, which means they'd make a perfect bed for me because I AM Pinkie Pie!'
Rarity began to grind her teeth loudly, as Applejack pulled her hat down over her ears and Fluttershy cowered down in her seat. Rainbow Dash simply stared into thin air, her eyes open but her head still firmly locked in dreamland. The sound in the booth approached a cacophany, until finally one of them had had enough.
'GIRLS!' Twilight snapped, causing quiet to befall the booth once more, 'Please! This isn't ideal for anypony - except maybe Pinkie - so let's all just CALM DOWN and wait until we're at Canterlot to start venting! As soon as I've spoken with the Princess we can all go back home, okay?'
A wave of annoyed muttering spread through the booth, but eventually everypony was silent again. Twilight was right, of course. Acting up would just make the trip even more unbearable.
As time went on, the majority of the ponies settled and fell to sleep, resting on each other's shoulders or - in Rarity's case - sprawled across the table. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief and glanced up at the clock.
3: 24 am. The train still had an hour or two to go before it reached Canterlot, which meant she had plenty of time to rest herself. As she closed her eyes, she felt a tight knot of unease in her stomach. She felt awful for doing this to her friends, but deep down she knew that whatever was going on she was going to need her friends there to help her through.
She sighed one more time and cautiously let sleep take her away.
**********
Rainbow Dash stirred from her slumber and lazily opened her rose eyes. The cabin's lights had dimmed, making seeing a little bit tricky, but in the dark she could still make out the shapes of her friends, huddled together and snoring.
She sat up, not thinking about the pony who was leaning against her at the time.
'Dern it!' a hushed curse emanated from the now awake shape and Dash glanced at whoever she had disturbed. 'Watch whatyer doin' willya?'
Applejack. Of course. How couldn't she have guessed?
'Jeez, sorry AJ.' Dash yawned, not really paying attention as she shuffled over Applejack's lap and stood up straight in the middle of the cabin. She stretched her legs and let her wings flap a little, getting the blood flowing again.
'You should be!' Applejack groaned, before getting to her hooves as well and copying Dash. 'You gotta be a bit more considerate, Rainbow. Y'can't just go wakin' folks up in the wee hours of the mornin'.'
Dash yawned again, before taking a good look at Applejack and letting a smile cross her lips.
'Meh. At least now I won't be bored as the only one awake.' she grinned, causing Applejack to roll her emerald eyes. Even in the dark they shimmered.
'What're you awake for anyway?' the orange pony asked as the pegasus turned and began to walk away into the darkness of the cabin. 'Hey! Where you goin'? Don't just walk away from me!'
Setting her hat down on the table, she caught up with Dash and waited for a responce as they continued walking. She didn't get one.
'Hello?? Earth to RD?' she said, but Dash simply smirked and passed a sideways look at her.
Eventually they reached the end of the cabin - a door that lead out onto the rear platform. Rainbow Dash pushed a hoof against the handle and the door swung open, letting a blast of cool air fill the Cabin.
'C'mon. Get some fresh air.' she smirked, stepping outside as Applejack shuddered in the cold.
'What's this all about, Huh?' the farmer groaned, stepping out into the bright moonlit night and letting the door close behind her, 'Ah don't have any warm clothes or -'
Her words were cut off by Dash, as the blue pegasus caught her mouth in a kiss and wrapped her front hooves around the pony's neck. Ah, that's what this was about.
The kiss lasted long, neither pony wanting to stop before the other. Eventually, they parted lips and smiled at each other.
'Y'coulda just said...' Applejack purred, stroking a hoof through Dash's mutlicoloured mane. Even in the pale white glow of the moon, the spectrum of colours was clear as day.
'I didn't know if any of the others were awake!' Rainbow said, giggling and pushing the orange pony away, 'Didn't exactly wanna out us in the middle of nowhere, you know?'
Applejack nodded in understanding. They had only been seeing each other for a few weeks and none of their friends even knew what was going on. Well, they always knew that Rainbow held the belief that "you couldn't help who you fell in love with, be it Mare or Stallion", she was quite open about it, but to find out that another one of their friends was seeing her could come off as... Awkward to say the least.
'Ah guess not...' the farmer smiled, hugging Dash around the neck and breathing in the soft scent of her mane. 'And ah spose it... is kinda pretty out tonight...'
'Not as pretty as you.' Rainbow whispered in her ear, causing the orange pony to chuckle to herself. The normally brash, tomboyish Rainbow Dash had revealed to her a softer, almost cheesily romantic side since they'd started dating; a side that Applejack adored.
It had happened at Sweet Apple Acres. An argument originally, over a tree that "somehow" had been split clean in two and a blue rainbow-maned pegasus who insisted - despite a nasty bruise forming on her forehead - that she had had NOTHING to do with it. The two had argued, and eventually in a fit of rage Applejack had pounced Rainbow to the ground and attempted to wrestle the truth out of her. One thing, as they say, lead to another.
'Besides, being out here I can do this!' Dash grinned a sly grin, before clutching Applejack tightly round the waist and hurtling into the sky, ignoring the Earth Pony's screams of terror.
'RAINBOW!' Applejack screamed, eyes shut tightly and arms hugging on for dear life, 'AAAAAAAGH!' PUT ME DOWN, Y'HEAR, YOU KNOW AH HATE FLYIN'!'
Rainbow Dash slowed her ascent and then came to a stop, wings beating slowly so as to maintain altitude. She looked down at the terrified face of her companion, her scrunched up eyes and windswept mane catching the moonlight perfectly.
'Hey, hey, easy, it's alright...' Dash hushed to the petrified mare in her arms, 'I've gotcha, I ain't gonna let you fall... C'mon open your eyes, the view's amazing up here...'
Applejack cautiously opened one emerald eye, then the other, catching Dash's kindly, caring look before turning and looking out over the Equestrian skyline.
It was breathtaking. Hills and mountains stretching off into the dark purple night, with only a few lights from camps or tiny villages illuminating their sheer sides. Below them, the train puffed along the tracks that stretched far into the distance, running alongside a huge, crytalline lake. White moonlight reflected off the water, rippling and basking the whole scene in a dreamlike glow.
'Oh, wow...' was all Applejack could manage, before turning to face Dash again, who was gazing off into the night. 'It really is beautiful, Rainbow...'
Rainbow Dash nodded with an accomplished smile, before suddenly and without warning dropping from the sky and plummeting towards the lake. Applejack screamed once more, as at the very last second Rainbow pulled off one of her patented 90 degree turns and skimmed along the surface of the moonlight lake, leaving a vapor trail of kicked up water behind them before the two reached the back of the train once more and came to a slow, calm stop on the rear platform.
Rainbow released her grip on Applejack, who promptly collapsed onto the wood of the platform, panting and wheezing as her heart pounded at a thousand miles an hour.
'I promised you, AJ.' the blue pegasus grinned and stifled a laugh, before nuzzling the farmer's cheek. 'I'm never gonna let you fall...'
Applejack stopped shaking, looking up at Rainbow's kindly, loving face once more, before grabbing her round the neck and kissing her deeply.
'Ah know you won't, sugarcube...' she whispered, as the two shared a tight embrace.
'Aw. Well isn't this cute??' a calm, crisp voice said, causing the two ponies to jump in shock and swivel on the spot to face the source.
What they saw was a huge, black shadow, perched on the railing of the platform and leaning over them with a serpentine neck. Two deep red eyes shone out from the darkness of it's Equine head, and two dazzlingly white fangs overhung it's lower jaw, and it's whole mouth was curled into a vicious grin.
'What in Equestria-?!' Applejack yelled, as the creature stood up straight and let out a raucus laugh to the sky. Rainbow Dash simply stared, frozen in shock.
'RAINBOW DASH! APPLEJACK!' came a familiar, panicked voice from behind them, as the door swung open and Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the gang piled onto the platform, awoken by the shouting and that terrible, terrible laugh. 'What's going.... Oh... My...'
All six ponies stared up at the monster infront of them, as it lurched down and glared at each of them, that venomous smile still on it's face.
'GREETINGS, EVERYPONY!' the Monster bellowed, and Twilight remembered the voice all too clearly. 'Allow me to introduce myself! I AM THE BRINGER OF DESTRUCTION, THE CREATOR OF DISARRAY, IN SHORT, MY LITTLE PONIES...'
The beast leapt into the air and two giant, black, batlike wings spread out and caught it.
'I AM DISASTER!'
A crack of thunder split the sky and suddenly the world turned upside down, and with a terrific metallic crashing and smashing, everything went black...
