Elements of Destiny

"Oh, ah' hope she found it." I was pacing back and forth.

"I'm sure she's fine. Sweetie Belle is a pretty tough and brave pony. I'm sure that she'll be back with the Element soon." Scootaloo said comforting me. Just then, Sweetie snapped out of the trance she was in.

"Sweetie Belle! Did you find it?" I shouted as I ran up to her. Just then, a necklace appeared around her neck.

"Whoa!" Scootaloo said as she jumped up and fluttered her wings.

"It's more beautiful than I imagined..." Princess Luna said quietly.

"It sure is interesting," I said as I stared at it.

"Ok, what's next?" Sweetie  Belle asked as she looked to Princess Luna.

"It is quite far, but the Gryphon Kingdom is next." Princess Luna said.

"Isn't there any place closer?" I asked.

"I wish that I could remember, but my memory is escaping me." Princess Luna said. She looked as though she was trying to remember a closer place.

"Well let's go!" Scootaloo said as she ran up the stairs. We followed her, but I stayed close to Princess Luna, since she was getting a bit far behind.

"There is no need to follow me dear child." She said.

"I was always told by mah parents to consider others, before you consider yourself." I simply say. She smiles down at me.

Finally we climbed out of the gap, and I watched as Princess Luna closed it. We went outside, where we saw Shining Armor. "I hope that you found what you needed." He said.

"Yes, thank you." Princess Luna said.

We walked back to the chariot, where the guards looked like they didn't move an inch. "Where to Princess?" The guard asked. He stared straight ahead and didn't seem to notice Sweetie Belle's necklace. We climbed into the carriage and the guards started to fly in the air.

******************************************

"We've arrived Princess." The guard said. Around us, there were gryphons staring at us. I guess that ponies ain't common around here. Or maybe it was because Skourene, the force Sweetie Belle mentioned on the way here. I'm not too sure.

"This is it girls, the Gryphon Kingdom." Princess Luna said.

"It's not like Rainbowdash described it, it's... gloomier than usual." Scootaloo said.

"I think that mah Element is here." I say as I start walking to an old, ruined building. 'What happened here?' I thought. I felt the surge grow stronger as the others trotted to keep up. I met a gryphon there, and I realized that it was a building being built.

"May I help you?" A gryphon said with a rude sneer.

"Ah'm looking for something." I said.

"Then you better talk with the librarian." He said as he walked away. I looked to where he pointed. And saw an older gryphon with a book cart.

"Do you need something?" She asked with an attitude.

"Um, can I get a book on..." I looked to Luna, and she mouthed the word 'destiny' "Destiny?" I asked politely. She rolled her eyes and looked through her cart until she found what she was looking for. Then she held out her claw.

"Um..." Princess Luna came up from behind me and paid her a pouch of gold.

"Thank you," she said as we walked away from the shocked gryphon. We walked away with it and opened it up. I opened it to the table of contents where we all leaned over to read it. I looked around until I saw The Legend of The Elements of Destiny. I opened up to the page and read it aloud.

"Once upon a time, a long time ago, there were the Elements of Destiny, which were formed by five creatures. One, a pony, represented the Element of Consideration, a pony bearing Compassion, and another bearing Confidence, the fourth, a gryphon, bearing Forgiveness, and the final was united by all, the Element of Fate, a crystal pony. Any species could become either of the Elements, whether it was an earth pony, gryphon, zebra, or dragon etc., that could range from different ages. Until they were lost. The tree from which the first bearers first created and planted the seed was killed by a mysterious force named Skourene.

"The last they were seen or heard from was The Gryphon kingdom, The Crystal Empire, RainbowFalls, and a settlement the same place Manehattan was hundreds of years ago,...that's all it says." I said. The last few pages of the story were worn away, some ripped out.

"That explains a lot." Sweetie Belle said.

"Whatdaya mean?" I asked. She then explained her dream and how she learned how this new threat we're dealing with had confronted her.

"Does it explain anything else about the Gryphon Kingdom? "Scootaloo asked.  I flip through the book but only find torn out pages.

"Maybe we should try askin' around." I say looking up at them.

"What do you dweebs want?" A gryphon with purple in it's feathers and familiar voice asked. I turned around to find her pulling a cart full of scones. She must be the gryphon who came to town a few years ago. She's just gray....

"Do you know where we can find treasures?" Princess Luna asked.

"Do you have any bits?" She asked holding out her talon. Princess Luna sighed and pulled out a small pouch.

"You can ask Grandpa Gruff. Now get lost." She said pointing to an old gryphon with few feathers and torn up wings.

"Thanks." I say. We approach the tattered up gryphon.

"What do you want?" He asks rudely.

"Do you know about the Elements of Destiny?" I ask. He holds out his claw and Princess Luna gives him two bits. He excitedly takes them and places them underneath his hat next to two more.

"Elements of Destiny.... Oh yes! In the ancient times of the gryphons, we were as greedy as dragons, before King Glover came along we gryphons stole the treasures of others. One gryphon as greedy as they come, came across another who represented this Element of Diversity hoblah, and saw the gem that gryphon represented. Everyday he would find out more and more about this gem, how it possessed some kind of magic that when combined with others could protect the land. And how it was a fruit from the Tree of Destiny. When one day, Skourene, a mysterious force, killed the tree, the Elements had to give up their gems. But the greedy gryphon stole one of them, and what happened to the others is unknown, but it is believed, that a ruler of some sort would take a gem from the tree to the place that needed it most, and  those gems would go on to protect the creatures, and land around it. The gryphon hid his behind the walls of the kingdom, where his treasure can be protected as long as the isle could bring gryphon pride, but few know or knew that the gem was protected as well."

"Whoa." Scootaloo said.

"What isle?" Sweetie Belle asked. The gryphon rolled his eyes and held out his claw again. Princess Luna gave two more bits and he went on to tell about the isle. He started walking to the place he described, and we stopped at a tree stump.

"That's a sad story." Sweetie Belle said.

"Too bad, no refunds." The gryphon clenched his claw that the bits were in and flew off. Leaving us alone in the ancient room.

"Ah' can feel mah' Element!" I exclaimed. " It's coming from there. I say pointing at the tree stump.

"How could that be? It's coming from the stump!" Scootaloo asked.

"Maybe not from the stump, but under it. The gryphon must've planted it there before the tree grew!" I say.

"But we can't dig it up, how do we retrieve it?" Princess Luna asked.

I walked away as they pondered about what to do, I look around the room to find a hole in the ground. Walking to it, I see a little faint red glow. Without thinking, I climb into it.

"Apple Bloom! What are you doing?" Sweetie says.

"Gettin' mah' Element." They run over to me, and try to stop me by saying there's another way, but I've already fallen through, landing on a patch of glowing mushrooms. There voices echo as I walk through a tunnel with the faint red glow. I take a look at the place around me, and it's surprisingly bright as day. The glowing mushrooms and the faint red glow made it seem like another glowing world.

I follow the red glow to find something glowing deep within the tree's roots. I touch the roots, and immediately the inky black fog surrounds me. I notice giant red eyes with purple trailing at the edges staring at me. They squint  in an angry expression and the fog makes a purple gas surround me and I immediately fall into a nightmare.

******************************************

'What am I doing on the farm?' I say as I look out the window from my room. Then I realize that there's no farm. The crops are completely destroyed, and the sky is empty except for the red and yellow tint.

"Apple Bloom!" My sister sounded really angry. 'What did I do now?' I turn around to see my sister fuming.

"You just couldn't do the simplest of chores could ya? Because of your lack of consideration, the farm is no longer thriving. You may have apple in your name, but you ain't an Apple to the core." She said as she threw down a suitcase for me.

"Sis, wait, I didn't mean for this to happe-" She turned around, fire in her eyes.

"What?!! You're sorry for ruining our family's generations of work?!! No wonder Ma and Pa left after you came along, they knew you would slip up." Applejack said. At this point I had tears in my eyes, flowing freely down my face.

"What do you mean? We can still fix this, ah'm sorry" I say.

"For what?" Big Mac said, I was suddenly in the kitchen. "There's no point, " He continued. "You just couldn't do the simplest things could ya? We all have a part to play Bloom, but you didn't even bother to play your own." Granny opens the door for me to go through  and I'm sucked outside ad pulled into the polluted air. I cough and go looking for my friends. They would still help me.

"Scootaloo?! Sweetie Belle?!" I exclaim. I find  the clubhouse and my friends are inside. "Guys! You've got to help me!" I exclaim. The shutters close, and the air and black ink fog spin around the house for a few minutes until all that's left is broken wood and everything inside the clubhouse.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I shout. I run up to the club house while the swirling swirls around me, taking the form of my friends. Only cloudy.

"You want to save Equestria? Don't make us laugh." Says shadow Sweetie Belle.

"How is a filly without a cutiemark supposed to save a nation?" They laugh at shadow Scootaloo's remark.

"Stop! Just because I don't have a cutiemark doesn't mean I can't help Equestria." My tears fly off my face and go up into the air. I scream as they circle with the wind, that's eating at everything until it's darkness. They're eyes glow until it's just orange and green light and that's all of what's left of them as the swirling ink clouds eats at their bodies until the turn into the squinting eyes.

"You're strong for a filly, join me, forget about your friends, if they cared about you they would've helped you." She lifts my chin as the tears that were swirling around take the shape of ponies running around and yelling at me.

"You don't belong here," Said the echoing voice. It had to be Skourene. Her voice sounded like a bunch of different voices speaking at one time. Seeing the look on my face, she new that I wouldn't agree.

"You belong in my empire, where you can make yourself useful. Together, with every other pony in the Equestria, we'll grow a new permanent empire, big and strong." She said as she got closer and closer.

"No! I'll never help you enslave everypony!" I shout. She laughs at my words.

"Then I'll take it by force." She started to drain the power from me, but suddenly, a flash of light, blinding me, appears, and I realize it's the same light Sweetie Belle described. I discover that it's coming from me, that it's protecting me. The light shines brighter and brighter, and I soon find myself staring straight at Scootaloo.

******************************************

"Are you ok? You're eyes started glowing like Sweetie Belle's back at the Crystal Empire." Scootaloo said.

"They glowed?" Sweetie and I asked.

"That explains what you said 'bout the previous Elements protecting us." I said to Sweetie. I noticed her necklace was off. 'She must not want it to be damaged.' I think.

"I need to get back there," I say. They nod and didn't stop me from touching the roots again.

******************************************

I walk along the star trail in the Celestial Plane, and I see the earth pony spirit in front of me, she smiled down at me. "Welcome Apple Bloom, you think of other ponies before you think of yourself, always quick to want to include your friends on your crusades, when you had your nightmare about your cutiemark, you were willingly to give up your talent to include your friends, you're always worried about your friends when they're in worry. You are a considerate pony, and part of destiny is including others with you for your talents and you have truly proved that you can handle this Element." She looks down at me.

"What's my Element?" I ask. She smiles.

"Apple Bloom, you are the Element of Consideration." My eyes begin to glow, and I start to float from the trail and into the air, as my Element, a red gemstone; a lot like Sweetie Belle's. Comes to me and spins as it circles me before coming to a stop at my neck. It forms a necklace that wraps around my neck.

"Take care of this precious Element, don't let it fall into the wrong hooves. I will protect you as Sweetie Belle's Element protects you and the rest. Take care Apple Bloom." Another flash of light appears as I open my eyes to see Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

******************************************

"You found it!" They shout as they hug me excitedly, they look at my Element with awe.

"It's beautiful." Sweetie Belle said.

"Let's go, we need to find a way out of here." Scootaloo said as she looked around. "There! she shouts pointing to a light that lead to the outside. We run to it, and hop on the mushrooms one by one and climb out.

"Girls! Thank goodness you're alright." Princess Luna says as she rushes over to us from where she originally stood.

"And ah' got mah Element" I say as I show it to her boldly.

"Now all we need is my Element, and to find the other bearers." Scootaloo said.

"How about Babs!" I exclaim. They look at me with wonder. "Think about it, if we the Cutie Mark Crusaders are Elements of Destiny, then surely a former Crusader will be too. If ah can remember correctly Bab had too learn to forgive herself for what she done to us, and that she learned from that mistake, she could be the Element of Forgiveness! Plus, she lives in the same place one of the Elements were last seen." I say.

"Where does your friend live?" Princess Luna said.

"Manehattan."

"Manehattan it is, then we just find my Element, and we can find the Element of Fate!" Scootaloo says as she flaps her wings excitedly.

"It is set then, we must go to Manehattan at once." Princess Luna says as she leads the way out.

******************************************

'Foolish foals, they're leading ,me straight to the next Element. And aren't even worried about my clutches.' I say to my shadow as I stare from a shadow as they load into their carriage.

I have sent my precious shadow-fog out to follow them, and I watch from my lair, as those ponies foolishly never look back for a second. I laugh at them.

'Follow them and find this Babs, we can't let them get to her first.'

"Yes my Queen." He says.

"And as for you all," I say as I turn to the previous tyrants that have failed to capture Equestria.

"What do you want you shadow beast? You already took us in your clutches." Queen Chrysalis snaps.

"Your power."I say with a devious grin. I surround them as I grab each, King Sombra's remains, Queen Chrysalis, Tyrek, the reformed Discord, and the queen of the Nightmare forces, and I once again, take their power, only I drain them of their power, to which it can never be regained. I grow stronger as I feel my darkness spread across the land at a faster pace.

"Yes! Equestria will be mine!!!!" I yell in triumph, "I look at the Elements in their little chariot.

"And I'll destroy anyone who gets in my way."