Chapter III: A Gathering Storm

Chapter III: A Gathering Storm

Celestia leads the group to the throne room where her sister Lulu is either holding night court still or is looking over the Dream Realm. She makes her way closer to the room when she hears a scream come from down the hall ahead of them, causing her to panic and gallop down the halls to the throne room. She watches as the two guards ready their weapons and rush inside to protect the Lunar Princess and close the doors after them. Arriving at the throne room she stops in front of them when she hears another scream come from inside. Fearing for her sister, she uses her magic to throw the doors open wide and races into the room with the guards standing by Luna's trembling body and hears sniffling and sobs coming from her.

Luna hears and sees the doors open wide but cannot see who is coming in behind the guards and mumbles quietly, "I need help to defeat that monster, I just cannot do it on my own." She tries to get up and gasps as she discovers that she is wounded, having a long straight red cut running around her mid section, and wonders how a dream could cause harm outside of the realm.

The Solar Princess trots towards her sister and calls out an order for the guards blocking her view of her sister, "Guards, please move so I can check on the state of my sister."

The guards part to make way for the Solar Princess saying, "Sorry Your Highness, we do not know who the culprit is. Though we are going to check the area, but I don't think the culprit is around anymore."

Celestia looks at her sister and sees that she is sobbing and has a cut around her midsection, seeming to go all the way around. She rushes over to her sister with worry all over her face and says, "Sister who did this to you, whoponyever did this is going to pay dearly for harming my sister."

Luna sobs and throws her forehooves around her sister and tells her, "Oh sister, it was creepy. I finished dealing with the citizens that came to night court and was doing my duty in the Dream Realm when I sensed darkness all around me, it was coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I started wandering around, hunting for the source of the darkness when I felt a hint of rage and fear that led me to a door that led to the isolated realm for the dreams of the prisoners, I passed through it and then noticed a door that was almost ready to fall off its hinges with a plaque on it that read, Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. I opened and walked through it, then noticed I was in Carl Knoxx's dream and was about to leave when I heard my royal voice. I turned to see where it came from and saw two giant Alicorn Princesses, one looked like me and the other looked like you sister. We then noticed Carl Knoxx kneeling on the floor in chains and laughed at him, making fun of him and how he found love. That isn't the worst thing we did though, the representation of me threatened to kill any mare he lain with and slaughter any foal they may have had with him. We also said that he didn't deserve to have his bloodline continue to exist."

Everypony stands behind Princess Celestia with their mouths gaping open in shock when Fluttershy speaks up saying, "Oh my, that has to be the meanest thing that a pony could ever say."

Celestia closes her mouth and hugs her sister back saying, "We never said anything like that or were that cruel to him during court! The meanest thing we ever did was call him a monster. What happened then sister, how did you get that cut from a dream. Nightmares cannot cause harm outside of the dream realm."

Luna frowns at her sister and hangs her head a little and continues the story, "I tried twice to take control of the dream and rid it of the nightmares, but it had no effect on it whatsoever. On my second try, when my hooves slammed down on the ground trying to take control, I was thrown back by whatever was keeping the nightmare continuing. Then a strange pull affected my subconscious, I fought against it in vain when I saw the Tantabus that was imprisoned in me being ripped out and looked right back at me with fear on its face as it tried desperately to return."

Twilight steps a little closer in curiosity and says, "What force could have done that Princess Luna?"

She looks at Twilight with sadness in her eyes and replies, "Something stronger than me I'm afraid, it then was drawn towards Carl Knoxx. It transformed into mist and was absorbed, I then noticed that other tendrils were flowing into Carl's body. I charged a spell to try to stop whatever was happening, but was struck by something and thrown back across the floor. I tried to get back up and learned that I had twisted a hoof, I looked up from where I was and saw something that was easily three times my size."

Rainbow shifts anxiously back and forth, really wanting to know what it was that she saw so they all could fight it and says, "What did you see, Princess? We all will fight and defeat it together!"

Luna looks back and smiles at Rainbow Dash saying, "I am sure that all of us can beat that thing together, there was a storm raging behind the form and gave me a better look. It stood on two legs, had a skeletal body wearing a hooded pitch black robe, with small green sparks in the center of the eye sockets, serving as eyes. An even brighter flash revealed a large pair of black feathered wings, and a massive harvesting scythe with a mostly straight staff with a few twists in it in his hands. The staff part was extended towards me with the blade on the other side of his body."

Rarity gasps and says, "What a hideous appearance, that creature needs to feed itself more!"

She chuckles at Rarity's response and says, "It is a little late for that Rarity, with his body being mostly and quite literally bones. I started to feel uneasy as I stared at the large creature and said, "Who and what are you, and what right do you have to interfere with my royal duties!?" It looked back at me, keeping its pose and spoke without its jaws moving, "I am one of the mighty four, The Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I am known as Death, the Reaper, Kinslayer, Executioner, or even The Pale Rider. Most just call me Death, I am here because of recent events. I am not going to let you prevent this nightmare from finishing, after all...this is of both you and your sister's making. I will only tell you this once, Do not try to interfere or I will force you to leave." I then scowled at them and replied, "I am Princess Luna, I rule over this space where my subjects dream and make it so they can rest peacefully without nightmares interrupting their sleep. You have no authority over me, begone you foul creature!" I once again tried to use my magic to banish them from the Dream Realm, only to be pushed back with the back of the scythe's blade, breaking a few ribs. Death looked back at me and said, "I warned you not to interfere again, it is time you leave this place." I then coughed up some blood and tried to say something when he raised his scythe and swung it, cutting my dream body in half."

She then lets go of her sister and looks at them saying, "I fear that this one is too strong for me to handle. Can all of you help me banish this creature from the Dream Realm?"

Meanwhile, in the Dream Realm inside of Carl Knoxx's nightmare...

Death smiles as the last few tendrils seep into Carl's body, leaving only one step before everything is in place and thinks, 'I sure hope that she brings them back here with her soon, I am getting bored and there are so many souls that I need to start collecting..'

Back in the throne room

Everypony stands tall as Rainbow Dash replies first saying, "Heck yeah, let's go teach this Death guy a lesson!" As the rest of them voice their responses, agreeing to go help her fight the new threat to Equestria.

Celestia steps back and stands tall with a determined look on her face and says, "I am going with you sister, if we created this thing, it is only right that we both be there to face it together."

Luna smiles as hope fills her body and says, "Okay everypony, lay down in a circle and hold each others hoof so I can put us into a trance to enter the Dream Realm." She watches as they find a spot to lay and hold each other's hoof in a circle and wait for her to hold theirs. She takes hold of the two hooves in front of her, Twilight to her left and her sister to her right and says, "Okay, here we go everypony. Close your eyes and I shall guide you all there."

As they arrive in the Dream Realm, Celestia looks around and feels an uneasiness all around them saying, "Is this the darkness that you were feeling sister?"

She feels the sensation around her and replies, "No sister, this is something different. This is not what I was feeling, what I felt earlier was darker, more sinister. Let's see where this will lead us, please follow me."

After she leads them down the path for a few minutes, she finally finds the dark sensation she was looking for and replies, "Ahah, there is what I have been searching for. We are going in the right direction, keep following me everypony."

Twilight fights to ignore the creepy sensation that is surrounding her body and says, "It feels like it is darker in here, it is similar to how the Everfree Forest used to feel. Is this what you were talking about Princess Luna?"

Luna is shocked at what she hears, whipping her head around saying, "What do you mean Twilight?" stopping in her tracks and waits for her response.

She sighs and says to Princess Luna, "Earlier today, the six of us learned from Fluttershy and Honor Trail that you saw Carl Knoxx for the last time and sentenced him to die. He is going to be the first one to be executed in nine hundred years. After we heard that he was going to be executed, Rainbow and I were happy to hear that. After saying what we did, Rainbow's chair back broke in half and fell to the floor. The corner broke off of my chair back and also fell to the floor, right after that the emblems dimmed a bit. We then went to see the Tree of Harmony and were shocked to see that it was damaged, and there was a crack through the gem that represented Loyalty. There is also a chip missing from the corner of the Element of Magic. Just like the emblems on our chairs, it was also dimmed. We came straight to the two of you to see if you could do anything to fix that."

Her eyes widen at hearing what Twilight said and looks to the floor briefly then back to her saying, "Will the Elements of Harmony still function? We need them to work if we hope to banish Death from this Realm."

Twilight holds her head high and says, "I believe they will, the crack is not all that big. So the Elements should still function when we need them to. We plan to visit Carl Knoxx in Death Row to try to repair our friendship with him, maybe if we repair it, the Elements will also be repaired."

Luna sighs and says, "I sure hope you are right Twilight, and that it does repair the Elements. They are our main defense for facing enemies that are stronger than you, me, and my sister. Equestria is in trouble if we should lose those." She then turns to look back down the path and continues to follow her sensation that guides her towards the right door.

Celestia follows closely after her sister and says, "Worry not, dear sister. We will do whatever we can to repair the Elements of Harmony, we will also try to repair our friendships with Carl Knoxx. Though I doubt that it is at all possible to fix that since we sentenced him, but we will still try."

Luna stops in front of the barred door and looks to the others and says, "We are almost there everypony, I will unlock this door and we will enter the isolated realm for the prisoner's dreams." She unlocks the door and slides it open with her magic then opens the second door and waits on the other side for them to enter.

Pinkie Pie gets another tingle down her spine, a twitchy tail & hoof, then a squinty eye and says to the others, "We need to be careful around here girls!" She continues to walk down through the door and starts to look around nervously.

Applejack walks beside her and asks, "What in tarnation was all that supposed ta mean Pinkie, and why do ya say that?"

She looks to Applejack and says, "Those signs tell me that there is danger here." She changes her voice to sound deep and like a pirate then says, "Here, there be monsters!"

Luna closes the doors after Applejack and senses a pony in despair coming through a different door, she heads for it and is about to turn the handle when she hears the pony's voice yell at her, "Stay out you monstrous Princess, I HATE YOU AND I HOPE YOU DIE!" and then she watches as bars fall down and lock her out of Trixie's dream. She then hangs her head in sorrow as tears make their way down her cheeks, and continues down the path towards the door that is barely hanging on the frame.

Celestia drapes a wing over her sister's back and pulls her close then says to her, "Don't listen to her Lulu, she is just upset and brokenhearted right now. She does not realize what she is saying just yet, give her time and she will come around and apologize for what she said."

She stops in front of the door and says to her sister, "I still think we should have just sentenced him with banishment to the moon for a few years, but the guard that entered her room after hearing the argument seems to show that he did push her over the balcony rail." She then opens the door for everypony and says, "Okay everypony, be on your guard inside here as well. Celestia and I will keep him occupied while you prepare the elements."

They all step through the weak and rotting door as Rarity says, "EEW, what a disgusting door! It is absolutely covered with mold and algae."

Death watches the group as Luna closes the door behind them and turns around saying, "How dare you return here after I forced you to leave the first time! No matter, my preparations are almost complete. All that is left to be done is...well, that is a secret I won't tell you. Let's see if you can fare any better than last time with your new allies beside you." He then twirls his scythe through the air and lays it across his shoulders, draping his arms over the handle.

Applejack looks up at the creature and gulps loudly and says, "Well girls, he ain't lyin'. We need to hurry up and beat this guy, he looks very strong."

Celestia walks towards the creature as her mane and tail begins to smoke in anger and says to him, "How dare you harm my sister foul creature, prepare to meet thy maker!" She then prepares to charge a magic spell to fire at him.

Death laughs and says to the strange white being, "Hold on a moment. I just want to talk, what are you creatures anyway?"

Luna cocks her head in curiosity and says, "We are called ponies, what are you and why were you so rude to me before?"

He looks back at her and says, "Interesting, I have never met a species such as you. I am what is called a Nephilim. I was doing something that required a lot of concentration, how would you like it if I interrupted you on the pot?"

Rarity scoffs and looks at him in disgust saying, "Such a disgusting, vulgar brute, where are your manners?"

Death looks to the one who spoke and loudly grumbles out in anger, "The majority of my manners died with my six billion brothers and sisters."

Twilight clears her throat at Rarity and the other girls saying, "Don't lose focus girls, we have to use the Elements against him. Ignore what he says, he is only trying to buy time."

The other girls go back to focusing on what they have to do, looking inside themselves and activating the element that each of them possess.

Celestia looks at the creature and says, "What are you trying to accomplish here Death?"

Death looks back at her and says, "I was just ordered to come here to prepare this world is all, but that is all I am going to tell you right now." He looks behind her and sees that they are being connected together by a rainbow to use something against him and chuckles saying,"Well looks like the time to talk is over, I will see you ponies again at a later day...farewell little ones."

Luna doesn't like how he said that and thinks, 'It seems to me like he was waiting for something to happen, but why would he be waiting unless....he wanted some......thing to........' She comes out of her thoughts as she realizes he was waiting for them to come and throw something strong at him and says, "Oh no." She then turns her head around and looks at Twilight and sees that they are connecting to her and uses her royal voice to yell, "NO TWILIGHT, STOOP!! HE KNOWS ABOUT THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY, DON'T USE THEM ON HIM!!"

It is too late because Twilight doesn't hear what Luna says as her eyes open wide glowing white as she rises up into the air and fires a rainbow beam into the air to come down and hit him.

He holds his scythe in front of him, resting the staff on the ground as the blade sticks out to his right with his head angled forward as he looks menacingly at the group. He then points a bleached white finger bone out at the ponies and shouts, "Repent your sins, for the....."

Luna watches in horror as the rainbow rises up into the air and falls upon Death as he strikes a pose and starts speaking, but is cut off as he slowly turns to stone and vanishes from the room. She breathes a sigh of relief as it seems to have worked and says, "It seems to have worked everypony, thank you for helping me in getting rid of them."

A loud rattle of chains announces that they are still not alone as all eyes turn to see Carl Knoxx fighting the chains to stand up.

Celestia begins to walk forward towards the prisoner as she starts to hear him sobbing and sees his shoulders shaking and says to him, "Carl Knoxx, I apologize for what you have gone through. I still cannot forgive you for killing Flurry Heart, and you shall still be executed."

Luna is the next one to step forward and says, "Carl Knoxx, I apologize for what the false princesses said to you. I wish that there was something that I could do to get rid of them but was powerless to stop him."

Twilight steps up next and says, "I am sorry for not visiting you once I learned that you killed my niece. I just cannot bring myself to have anything to do with someone that killed one of my family members." She then turns around to head back when she feels a slight pain coming from her entire body, then grows and explodes into excruciating pain for a brief second when it disappears as the Element of Magic appears before her and explodes into powder and falls to the ground.

Carl Knoxx turns his head and looks right into Applejack's eyes and says, "How many times do I have to tell you stupid fucking whorses that I never did kill Flurry Heart! She was about to jump off the ledge because she was confused and thought I didn,t want to be with her, and I tried to stop her. When her hoof slipped and went over the edge, I caught her by one wing and her horn. When I tried to pull her back over, the mutilated wing tore off and her horn couldn't withstand the weight of her body and broke off. I had nothing else to grab onto to hold her and watched as she plummeted to the ground from the balcony that night."

Applejack collapses to the ground as the Element of Honesty finally proves to her that what he said is the truth and appears before her and shatters, causing her to cry out in pain as it falls to the ground in pieces. She struggles to find words for a little bit but finally says, "Ah can't believe it, he was tellin' the truth after all..., but what just happened right there with the element?"

Luna watches in horror as the elements appear from their representatives, causing them to scream in pain momentarily and fall to pieces in front of them, leaving them all speechless. After a few moments, she finally says, "Oh...My...God, what have we done...?"

Celestia stares at the destroyed elements on the ground and says to the others, "We must check on the Tree!" She then looks to her sister and says, "Please lead us out of here, dear sister!"

Twilight and the others race after her as Luna leads the way out to the door. She is the last one to jump through the door when it slams shut behind her and falls into a pile of dust, she then races down the hall after the others and passes through the door as it also closes behind her and locks itself.

Luna grunts in pain as she races down the path with a limp, when the door out comes into sight saying, "Just a little bit farther now, we are almost out of here!"

As Twilight watches them reach the door, Luna opens it up for them and jumps through as Luna and Celestia pass through last, returning to the waking world and says, "Somepony please tell me that the Elements of Harmony...didn't...just...break..."

Applejack looks at Twilight, and sees that her mane is starting to frizz out and her eyes are beginning to shrink and says, "Twilight, ya can figure out what happened when we go check on the Tree of Harmony."

She shakes her head clear and looks back at Applejack and says, "Thank you for stopping my freakout Applejack, you are right, we need to ensure that the tree is okay first."

Twilight then looks to Luna and says, "Here Princess Luna, allow me to heal your hoof for you." She then casts a spell on her hoof to heal it.

Luna sighs in relief as Twilight heals her injured hoof and says, "Thank you Twilight, but why did you abandon your friendship with him like that? Couldn't you just try to work it out and try to become friends once more?"

Twilight hangs her head and sadly says, "I'm sorry Princess, but it would take too much time to repair the friendship. Time is something that he does not have much of right now. I have read the laws and it says that once the verdict is passed, it would require significant proof that the individual is indeed innocent to stop or delay the execution. I am sorry to say, but both you and Celestia's hooves are tied in that matter."