The Element
by Lan
“Stay calm, girls! Everypony head to the middle as fast as you can, and we'll regroup there!” Twilight yelled to her friends over the tall hedges that divided them.
“Moving out!” A voice responded. It sounded like Rainbow Dash.
Another called, probably Rarity, “See you in the center.”
“Yee-haw!” No need to guess for this one.
“See you guys there!” The chipper tone must have been Pinkie Pie.
Finally, one last, unheard voice gasped, “What's that? Who's there? Girls!”
Applejack found herself in a small clearing in the hedge maze.
Hahahahaha... A distant voice laughed at her. Applejack. Element of Honesty. How are you?
The orange mare could hardly contain her astonishment. “Discord! Where are ya?! Come on out!”
“Right here, Applejack.”
She jumped around. There stood the draconequus, grinning at her. “What do ya want?!” she barked at him.
“I just wanted to ask you, my dear, a few simple questions. Can you do that for me?”
Somewhat confused at his strange peculiar question, Applejack lost all of her rage. “I suppose so. Why?”
“Now, now, now. Let me ask my question first.” He turned around dramatically, envisioning himself as if in a movie. “How do you feel about your friends?”
She would not doubt her love for her friends and responded quickly, “I wouldn give 'em up fer anythin'! They mean everythin' ta me!”
“Wouldn't give them up for anything?”
“Not a thin' in tha world.”
The monstrosity got a devilish grin. “There's nothing you value more than your friends?”
“Nothin',” she declared.
“Not even yourself?”
“Wha-?” The question caught her off quard. Herself? What could Discord mean by that?
“You just told me there's nothing you value more than your friends. So, Element of Honesty,” he practically spat the title, “do you value your own life more than theirs?”
“I...” Her confidence shattered.
“Well? I don't have all day.”
She couldn't lie. That was who she was. If she put herself above her friends, she would never be able to look them in the eye again. “I... No.”
“No?” The draconequus looked quite surprised. He did not expect her to stick to her morals. His expression suddenly changed. “Excellent.”
The bubblegum-pink mare bounced light heartedly though the maze. Like Applejack, she found herself in a wide clearing. Unlike Applejack, she found it filled with balloons of all colors. Wide eyed and with a smile spread over her face, she marveled at the balloons and the music. It was a party! Oh, how she loved parties. They made her feel better than anything! Despite there being no other ponies around, she began to feel better and actually began to laugh.
“Element of Laughter. So we meet.”
“Huh?” Pinkie looked off to her side. “Oh. Hi, Discord! Enjoying the party? I know I am!”
“Can I ask you something, Pinkie Pie?”
“Sure! I don't see why not.” She grabbed a large balloon and began bouncing on top.
“You like to laugh, don't you?”
“Haha! I sure do! Who doesn't? It's the best feeling in the whole wide world!”
“Don't you wish you could just keep laughing for the rest of your life?”
“Of course! That's why I throw so many parties! I wish I never had to stop laughing, so I share my joy with all my friends.”
“I thought as much.”
Pinkie shrieked as the balloon she was bouncing on popped. Inside was a strange contraption that grabbed all her limbs, flipping her over and revealing her belly. “Hey, what gives?”
“Oh, Pinkie. I'm going to help you laugh. For the rest of your life.” Discord raised a feather and chuckled at his own joke.
Rarity, desperately worried about not getting her perfectly styled hooves dirty, made her way through the maze at a delicate pace. Soon, just as Applejack and Pinkie Pie had done, she found herself in a clearing. Discord wasted no time in appearing.
The white mare gasped, “Discord! What are you doing here? I though it was just me and my friends who were in this filthy maze!”
“I never said I wasn't here, my dear.”
“What do you want?”
“I wanted to ask you a question.”
“And why should I answer?” All the exits to this particular clearing in the maze vanished, new hedge walls taking their place. She gulped, “Oh.”
“Now, as I was saying. I wanted to ask you some questions.”
Slightly nervous, she responded, “Fine. But make it quick. I want to get back to my friends.”
“Alright, Element of Generosity. First question. What would you be willing to give up if it meant saving your friends?”
“I don't know. I've never really thought about it.”
“Would you give up your looks?”
“I did once before.”
“Really?”
“I gave my tail to a handsome seaserpent who was missing half his mustache.”
Discord burst out into laughter. After a brief while, he managed to calm himself down. “I honestly never expected to hear that. That is one of the funniest things I've heard all day! Don't you realize that his mustache would just have grown back?”
“So did my fabulous tail.”
“Heh, I guess so. Tell you what. You've put me in such a good mood that I'm going to skip my questions.”
“Really? I can just go?”
“Oh, no, my dear. You can never leave.”
“What? But-”
“But what? You're trying to ruin my plans. I can't just let you run around doing whatever you want. You and your friends are never going to leave this maze alive.”
“What? But-”
“In fact, I've already killed two of your friends. And I had this beautiful thing set up too. See, I was going to ask you 'Would you give your life for your friends.' And you, being the Element of Generosity, would give it for them. If you said no, then...” He snapped his fingers and all five of her friends appeared in cages behind him.
“Help us, Rarity. We need to stop Discord. He says he'll let us go if you give us your life! Please, Rarity, we need it.”
The unicorn was in tears at this point, seeing her friends, even if they weren't real, like this. “You, you MONSTER!”
“Oh, yes. I know, my dear.”
Too terrified to move from the entrance and get to her clearing, Fluttershy hid in one of the nearby hedges. She heard a weak voice down the maze. “Please. Help me.”
The yellow pegasus clenched her eyes shut in fear.
“Please.” It sounded pathetic and tiny.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of her hiding place and opened her eyes. Discord, tiny, crippled, and weak, lay in the center of her lane in the maze. “Fluttershy. Thank heavens. Help me.”
“D-Discord? What happened?”
“I need help.”
“What can I do?” She was barely audible.
“There should be some herbs nearby. Maybe they would help. Do you know anything about healing herbs, Fluttershy?”
“I know a little.”
“Please. Hurry.”
She nodded and galloped past him, scanning the hedge for some herbs. She spotted a vine with many purple flowers on it. “Ah! Devils' claw.” She craned her neck out and bit off a flower.
“Oh, Fluttershy.”
“Huh?” She turned to the voice. Discord stood there, as large and uncrippled as ever. She gasped in fear, dropping the flower. “Discord? But weren't you injured?”
“You shouldn't have helped an enemy, Fluttershy. Don't you know that?”
“Huh? But why not?” Suddenly, there was a ringing in her ears. Discord's mouth moved, but she couldn't hear a word he said. Then, her vision clouded with little green and blue specks of light. Soon, she couldn't see or hear Discord. Then, she lost consciousness.
Rainbow Dash's hooves smashed against the ground, tearing up the soil as she galloped through the maze. “I've got you now, element!” She turned a corner, chasing a cloud that resembled her cutie mark, only to find Discord himself relaxing on a bed of clouds.
“Oh, I can see why you like these clouds so much. Very plush.”
The mare, reacting violently to the image of the grotesque, stood up on her hind hooves and made punching motions at the beast. “Get off of there and put 'em up! Come on! Let's go!”
“I assure you, you would not best me in a fight.
“Oh yeah!? Bring it on!”
“You're one hundred percent sure you want to fight me?”
“More like a hundred and twenty!”
“Fine.” A clawed hand shot out from behind Rainbow. It grabbed her head and dug into her skull with its talons.
“Hey! Fight fair you little-” She didn't get to finish her sentence as the hand twisted.
Twilight dragged one hoof through the dirt, marking where she had been, as she traversed the maze. She turned a corner and came face to face with the god of chaos, Discord.
“Well, hello there, my little pony.”
“Discord!”
“I get that reaction a lot.”
“What are you doing here?”
“That one too. Well, you see, I've come here to tell you that I've just won.”
“Oh?” She thought of her friends and how they would vanquish him once they all possessed the elements once more. “And how's that?”
“Well, all you're friends are dead for one.”
“Wha – Nice try, Discord. You told me yourself, you don't hurt ponies.”
“I told you I don't turn ponies into stone. I kill them and mess with their puny minds.”
“I don't believe that you've killed my friends, but I do believe that you're trying to mess with my mind. And why wouldn't you have just killed me too?”
Ignoring her question, he continued, “Fine. Don't believe me. But believe this. Get to the center and you'll see your friends. Or what's left of them..”
“Oh, I will.”
He vanished in a dramatic puff of smoke, leaving a lingering laugh in the air.
When Twilight did finally manage to reach the middle of the maze, she found Discord siting atop a throne where the fountain should have been standing.
“Oh there you are, Twilight. I've been waiting. Maybe now you'll believe me.”
“Believe you? I thought you said my friends would be waiting here. I don't see them. They are alive! I told you so.”
“Oh? Take a look.” He gestured to his throne. It had inexplicably become a seat of dead ponies. Her friends all lay under him. “I don't lie, my dear. Something that I have in common with your friend, Applejack. Oh, sorry. Had.”
“You are a liar! That is a lie. My friends are still somewhere in this maze! This is an illusion.”
The draconequus tsked. “I told you, my friend. I don't lie.” With a snap of his fingers, every wall in the maze came falling down. Twilight's friends were nowhere in sight. She turned back to address the spirit, but he too had vanished, leaving behind the bodies of all her friends.
Her gaze fell upon the pink mare that had thrown her a party on her first day in Ponyville. “Pinkie?” She walked over to where her friend lay. “Please tell me it isn't you, Pinkie.”
But the corpse did not tell her anything.
Tears filled Twilight's violet eyes. “Pinkie? Please say something. Tell me about your next party. Who's it for?” She waited for a response that never came. “Pinkie?” Her heart broke and tears streamed hot down her face.
“Shhh... It's okay, my student. Everything will be fine.” Celestia cradled her blubbering pupil.
Barely managing to control her breathing through the tears, Twilight shouted back, “No, everything WON'T be fine! ~hic~ They're all dead! All my friends are gone!”
“Are they really gone?”
“Yes, I saw them myself.”
“That's not what I meant.”
Twilight barely seemed able to comprehend in her current state. “Huh?”
“Your friends are never truly gone as long as you have them here.” A single hoof tapped her chest. “You'll always remember your friends and what they meant to you. They've made you a better pony. I've seen you grow up so much in this past year all because of them. It's incredible. That kind of friendship transcends death. They'll always be your friends.”
“Princess?”
“Yes?”
“I just don't know what to do.”
“That's hard to know. Just do what feels right.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course. What kind of teacher would I be if I didn't let my students ask questions?”
“Do you still have all of my friendship letters?”
Every single letter Twilight had ever written to her mentor lay at her feet. Each lay open, the ties holding them together removed. She had read every last letter from the past year. Teardrops covered their pages, staining them forever and ruining the ink. With a heavy heart and a lifetime of memories lived in a year, she slowly made her way out of the castle where the Princess lived.
It was a long journey back to her home in Ponyville, but that no longer concerned her. She had nothing left to fight for. Her slow pace did not slow her down on the soap roads and she took no notice of the twisted landscape and animals that dotted it. She thought so much about her friends that she bumped into her front door. Night had begun for the umpteenth time since she had left the castle.
She swung the door open. Her assistant, Spike, who had been pacing in worry, turned to the front door as it opened. “Twilight! What's going on? Where have you been? Where is everypony?”
“They're all gone, Spike?”
“What? Even Rarity?”
“Yes, Spike.”
“Where'd they go?”
“I don't know. Nopony does.”
“What does that mean? When will they be back?”
Somehow finding room for more tears, her tired eyes began to cry again. “They won't be coming back.”
“Why not? What wrong, Twilight?”
“They're all DEAD, Spike! They won't be coming back because they CAN'T come back.”
“What?” Spike stood with his mouth hanging open. A tear formed in one of his eyes, but he wiped it away. He was manlier than that. He mumbled to himself, “Rarity...” He could not hold back his tears any more, and he hated himself both for that and for thinking that he should hold them back.
The two of them sat there for the longest time, never gaining the courage to look at the other.
At last, Twilight's tears dwindled again and she asked the floor, “Spike, could you get me a quill, ink, and some paper?”
Dear Princess Celestia,
Although my friends have passed from this world, they have left the deepest of impressions on me. Not a mark on my body shows this, for the kind of mark they left can't be seen by mortal eyes. Through my time in Ponyville, I have lived more than I ever thought possible. I've seen my friends, through the good and the bad, but most importantly, they've seen me. And loved me for what they found.
All my life, I've been too blind to see the value in friends. That's because their value has no unit to measure. I can't perform experiments on friendship or watch it closely like a guinea pig. I have to experience it and let it happen. It is my experiences I have reported to you, not my findings. I've approached everything my whole life as a scientist should, but my friends showed me there's more to life than just facts and figures.
Pinkie showed me that anything is possible if you believe in it. She lived her life believing in the impossible and it came true for her. She lead an impossible life and accomplished impossible things. She showed how to live life without fear, to bravely step forth into the world and carve myself upon it.
Applejack showed me the best in ponies. She proved to me that we are creatures that need one another. We need somepony to lean on in times of need, even if we do not realize we are in need. She lead a life for her family, dedicating herself tirelessly to them. She showed me that hard work and effort can fix anything, that there's no need to take the easy way out, as that only leads to disaster.
Rainbow Dash showed me how to never give up. She lived for the thrill of living, and that is something I can never forget. Even when the world seemed against her, she was always able to pull herself together and come through in the end, either for herself or for her friends. It did not matter, for she made no distinction. She showed me how to believe in myself and others.
Rarity showed me why ponies are distinct from animals. She gave away things just so that she could see them feel better. She did not give gems or fabrics, for which she was known to love herself, but rather she gave meaning to those around her. Without ponies like her, the world would be a darker place to live. She showed me how to live for the good of others.
Fluttershy showed me the good in every living thing. Though she could hardly express it herself, the world is not a scary place, for it is filled with love. Even when the situation seemed bleak and hopeless, her love for everything would find a solution. She showed me how to trust the world.
I hope that I was able to show them something too. They made me who I am today and I hope they could have said the same about me. They have changed me. And I can never go back, for they have filled a hole in my heart.
Signed,
Love,
Twilight Sparkle