The Elements Final Test

The Elements Of Harmony were all assembled into one massive control room.

Pinkie burst out saying, “OOOOoooo!!!  What do all these buttons do!” and jumped towards the computers staring at the thousands of buttons.  The ponies at the console were startled when the pink pony virtually smashed her face into the screen watching everything on it.  Pinkie then said, “Hey, why is there a destroyed house in this screen?”  She then got sad when no pony answered.  She asked again, “Why is this house destroyed?” This time her hair got strait and she started to look very sad.  The ponies at the console felt very awkward having this pony all of a sudden turn from a ball of energy to this sad depressed pony.

Some pony broke the silence, “Pinkie, please come to the table we have to discuss something of importance greater than you can imagine, I will fill in the gaps along the way.”

Pinkie Said, “What is your name then Mr. Smarty Pants!” and her hair sprang up again.

The Unicorn Said, “Well I am Korve.  Now Miss Pie please sit at the table please.” And pinkie sat down.

Korve had finally gathered all the Elements into one control room.  He had recently talked to Twilight and explained the plan to her first and what happened so her friends would have a better idea of what is happening, or what has happened and will believe me.

Korve Said, “Ok, we all know you are all confused, Twilight and I here have already discussed a few things together, since you do not know what happened in the recent months.  Ok here is the thing, you all have been asleep for 9 months.” All the Elements gasped accept Twilight.

Korve said, “War has broken up Equestria, a lot of our friends that we know and love, they are dead and we cannot bring them back, if they are not here then they are probably nowhere to be found.  I hate to break it to you but what I say is facts, we are getting this out of the way first so that we have no problems latter.” Fluttershy started to cry, Rarity just stood, jaw open, Rainbow acted like nothing happened but did show some worry, Pinkie turned into the sad form as she was earlier, Applejack just stood there as the words sank in, Twilight already knew what happened but she still grieved.

Korve continued, “Ok, now the reason why you were asleep was because we had to put all of you, Excluding Twilight, in a sedation spell due to the princess tracking spells.

Pinkie giggled hair back to normal and said, “Silly Filly, Celestia is probably looking for us right now to help us!”

Korve looked at her hair flattened again at his sight.  “Pinkie, Celestia is the problem, this was started because of a portal from another dimension and time.  Celestia, 2000 years older than ours, killed our Celestia and murdered thousands of innocent ponies.  This is the reason why we are here, this is the reason why our friends are dead, this is the reason why the Elements have to put things right.”

Twilight took over, “Ok girls, Korve and I have already talked, his story may seem outlandish but it’s true, I got to see some of the destruction with my own eyes, he took me to the surface of what is now former Fillydelphia.”

Applejack broke the silence, “Ah say Twilight, this is a mighty fine accusation you have going here, you sure this whole place isn’t a trap?  He could be planning against us.”

Twilight said, “Not like we have much of a choice, we can’t do anything about it, they are the only people we can trust, we have to put our trust in them and hope it gets us out of any situation.  Ok back to the topic, we have to stop the new Celestia.  She is cold, deadly, a pure murderer.  We have no hope of winning against her right now as it is, we have to recover the elements first.  They are in a large vault in Canterlot, heavily guarded by the Royal Guard, and even the Unicorn Guard.  The reason the guards fight for her is because they are under a strong spell that cannot be broken until she is defeated.  We are not the ones that will recover the Elements, our buddy Korve here is sending a special tactical squad into the vault to retrieve each one of the Elements.”

Korve said, “Yes, a squad will be inserted, they are all volunteers who are willing to lose their lives to help the cause, the thing is, are you willing to risk your lives to save Equestria?”

All the Elements nodded.

*****

“Tactical 6 In Position.”

“Watch Squad In Position.”

“This is Commander Korve, do we have an all clear?”

“Tactical 6 clear”

“Watch Squad clear”

“Then let commence operation Dis Harmony”

*****

Storm, “Cover our rear Liva.”

Liva, “Got it.”

Trip, “Think we will pull out alive Storm?”

Storm, “I don’t know, don’t care either, as long as I get those Elements I will be ready to die.”

Liva, “Agreed, if we fail then Equestria is doomed.”

Trip, “Ya, I guess you are right.”

*****

Blaze, “You have two unicorn guards around the corner Tac 6”

Radio Storm, “Gotcha, heading to engage now.”

Blaze and Rope watched as Tac 6 eliminated the two unicorn guards with ease, storm easily flew into the first and Liva had to snap the others neck with her magic.  War was never pretty, no matter how much they saw death, it never got easier.

Blaze, “Rope see anything?”

Rope, “Nope, just a couple of dead unicorns…  Hold on a second, is that?  This isn’t good,”

Blaze, “What is it?” He looked into the direction and saw, there was a pegasus guard that was patrolling the area, heading towards them.

*****

“Hey Captain, is that two pegasus on that hill?”

Captain, “I think so, we are heading in for a run, be ready.”

*****

Blaze, “Rope, get ready they spotted us.”

Royal Guard Captain, “What is your business here pegasi.”

Rope charged to the captain, his helmet sliced into his neck and blood spewed everywhere, the Captain fell to the ground, blood pooling the grass.  Blaze flew in the air and did a summersault before slicing another one of the slower pegasi.  They were now in a fight of 5-1, the guards soon after losing 4 men, not including the captain, finally subdued Rope, Blaze on the other hand, lie in a pile of blood.

*****

Storm, “Blaze, are you their?”

Response, “Static”

Storm, “Blaze? Respond Now!”

Response, “Static”

Liva, ”Storm, look up at their hill, there are pegasi up there, they were discovered, looks like they have Rope.  Oh no, Blaze, he is in the pile of bodies.”

Storm, “What!  This can’t be!  He was just a watch!  How could he have been killed!”

Liva, “Storm, they knew the risks when they volunteered for this assignment, they are now paying the price like we may later in this mission, now snap out of it and get back to work, we have to get the door opened before we are discovered,”

*****

Tactical 6 walked down a narrow corridor and found five unicorn guards talking and socializing like it was a club rather than a job.  Liva easily suffocated two of them, Storm and Trip easily slit the throat of the other three.

Storm, “So we are almost to the Elements, it’s a shame that the guards have to die here under a spell.”

Liva, “It’s not our fault that they are corrupted by Celestias spell, they are now harming other ponies that are innocent and we are the ones who correct it, to save some ponies you have to harm others in the process, the trick is figuring out who to save and who to harm.”

Trip, “I hate to say it, but Liva is right on this one.”

They kept walking down the long hallway when a trap went off.

Trip Yelped and fell.  Storm and Liva had no idea what just happened, Storm checked his pulse, there was none, he was not even breathing.  He looked around his body and saw something, a small arrow has plunged strait into his neck.  Liva cried a little bit but regained her composure as she went on, she kept telling herself that they knew the risks when they joined, but somehow now, it seems different than just saying it on paper and words.

Storm, “Liva, its ok, things like this happen, just keep calm and we will come out of this alive ok?”

Liva, “O… Ok… It’s just that… that I… I never thought it would be like this… this may not be my first mission but this is my first real mission where I have seen death on our side.”

Storm, “Liva, I have seen it on and on again, it does not get easy, you say to yourself that it will get easier, it does not, sometimes you wonder why couldn’t it be you, don’t let those feeling get to you, the minute they do, you’re a dead pony.”

*****

They were running out of the vault with the elements at hoove.  Liva was holding the Elements while Storm bashed through any pony dumb enough to get in their way.

Storm, “Liva you holding out!?!”

Liva, “Ya!  I think were almost out!”

Storm, “I see the ex…”

Storm fell to his knees as a pony had tackled him, Storm fought bravely, he yelled for me to keep going, my training asserted and I followed orders against my own whim, I saw what happened, he had taken 3 of them out, but the third one, it got a hold of him and slowly carved his helmet blade slowly down his throat killing him slow and painfully.  I got out and started to return to Fillydelphia.  When I got there Korve asked where everybody was, I told him what happened and he seemed very disappointed.

*****

Liva, “Here, we lost a lot of good ponies to get these, I’m glad that I could finish my mission,”

Twilight, “I’m very sorry for your losses, your valor will be remembered and that of your squad.”

Liva, “It has been an honor and would gladly do so again,” But this time, Liva started to cry.  She slowly left the room.  Twilight felt bad and sorry for the mare, she does not deserve this.  Sadly there was nothing she could do to help her.

*****

The Elements Of Harmony were reassembled in the Command Room.  The room was different this time, it had a large map on the table, and it was ignored by the Elements.  Korve approached the Elements at the table and they all sat quietly.

Korve broke the silence, “Ok, this is the plan, you all now have your Element’s, we lost a lot of good ponies for them, it was worth the cost, you still do not know the proper way the Elements work sadly.  Luna left instructions on how to train you before she was off to fight her sister, you are to be subject to these tests and we will keep on until you finish.  These tests she instructed us to do are not the safest, it requires you to endanger yourself and others, you are going to be leaving your comfort zone, these tests are going to be survival, if you cannot pass them, you would never have survived a battle with Celestia.  The tests, it is, surviving on the outside world.”

Twilight Gasped and said, “You can’t be serious!”

Applejack said, “Ah don’t think this is a good idea Korve, we don’t exactly know this rodeo yet.”

Pinkie said, “EEEEeeeee It will be fun!  We can party with all the ponies on the surface girls!”

Rarity spoke, “Pinkie dearie, there are no ponies on the surface.”

Pinkie said, “What do you mean?”

Rarity was about to answer but Korve said, “Pinkie, every pony that IS on the surface, will want to kill you, not party with you, this is a test of how well you will cope when faced with a challenge.”

Korve said, “Like I said, it is not safe up there, there are little to no friends up there, they all want you dead, trust in only the Elements, do not become corrupted and stay true to your Element, if you follow your Element you will always prevail.  Deviating from this path will result in the death of all of Equestria, not just you.”

All the ponies at the tables just looked at each other and took in what he had just said, if one of us fails, all of Equestria is doomed.