Chap 14

Tiger felt as he had been dropping for a long time. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Sol Lune standing right in front of him. “Awake Dusk? Good,” he grinned as he held up the Dark Oily substance that held the Elements of Harmony. “Give them back,” Tiger tried to move, but realized his whole body was being restrained. “Hmm… no” Sol Lune let the Darkness return to his body, “you shouldn’t be worrying about this… when your ‘beloved’ and so called friends are not in the best of positions right now” he pointed to the 6 uncontious ponies laying around him. “What did you do to them?!” Tiger’s eyes narrowed in a sudden fury. “Hm hm hm hm,” Sol Lune grinned, “let’s just say… they are facing their inner demons right now,” Sol Lune looked down at Apple Jack who appeared to be in a cold sweat. “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER!” Tiger struggled. “My my… that powerful of a feeling hmm?” Sol Lune let his new lance form, and held it up under Tiger’s chin, “I’ll give you one more chance Dusk, and I’m being nice here… normally I’m not that forgiving. We need you the in Darkness, unless you want to see these poor defenseless fillies taken instead? I mean I could save time, take you and Twilight with me to the Master right now, but what’s the fun in that hmm? So… what’s your answer Dusk?” Sol Lune looked up at Tiger again.

---Inside the Darkness---

“Remember when Tiger disappeared?” the Untruth asked Apple Jack, “we sat there wonderin why the hay he ran away, and without so much as a word to us”. “He was in a rush, he explained it,” Apple Jack. “He said he didn’t want to say goodbye, such a sweet guy huh?” the Untruth stroked the words fondly, “Ah love him just as much as you do, Ah am you, you know? But as Ah recall another thought passed our minds” her smile curled a little at Apple Jack. “What do ya mean?” Apple Jack was trying to stand up, but found her legs were not responding to her. “What if he thought we were not friends hmm? Remember that? I do recall we were kind of a bully to him,” the Untruth looked straight into Apple Jack’s eyes. “No! Ah was just playn with him and he knows that!” Apple Jack yelled out. “Well if yer so sure, why are ya panicin like that?” the Untruth smiled softly. “It’s not true!” Apple Jack yelled. “Remember? When he started workin at the farm? Ya teased him about the way he couldn’t buck a single apple off the trees, and told him he was lazy, and Ah do recall it pretty well, aren’t we the guilty party here?” the Untruth asked her words were starting to make Apple Jack cry. “Cryin now?” the Untruth lifted a eyebrow, “guilty as charged huh?” “But… Ah was jus foolin, Ah really liked him…” she stuttered, “Ah.. Ah didn’t mean to hurt him or nuthin” Apple Jack looked down at the floor. “Ya told ourselves that every night before ya went to sleep for a month,” the Untruth laughed, “a pathetic attempt at askin for forgiveness?” “…” Apple Jack couldn’t find her words, had she really hurt Tiger Dusk as much as her reflection was telling her?

---Elsewhere inside the Darkness---

“Oww… that was quite the doozy,” Pinky Pie groaned as she looked around, “where am I?” she asked. “Oh it’s you,” came a depressed voice from underneath Pinkie Pie as she realized she was standing on top of a large mirror. “Wha…?” Pinkie Pie’s mouth opened wide as she saw the reflection of her slide up in front of her. “Who are you?” Pinkie Pie tilted her head. “I’m you silly!” the reflection imitated Pinkie’s cheerful voice, but retained her gloomy disposition. This version of Pinkie Pie had her hair down, it was not bubbly, and her face was frowning. “You’re me?” Pinkie Pie backed away slowly. “Are you afraid? Pinkamena?” she sighed, “I am the Element of Depression” “Why are you so sad?” Pinkie Pie asked nervously. “You should know Pinkie, we are the same,” the Depression crept in closer towards Pinkie Pie. “…” Pinkie Pie stumbled backwards and was now looking up at the Depression who was looming over her. “Parties are a great way to make friends… yes,” the Depression looked down at Pinkie, but then added, “but what if they are just attending cause they take pity on you?” “Pity?” Pinkie Pie asked softly, her hair had gone down. “Yes, your friends might be pretending that they like you, and don’t try to refuse that… we both know you have thought about that! Remember how you reacted to a simple surprise birthday party?” the Depression almost looked as if she were about to cry. “But… but they did that surprise party for me!” Pinkie Pie remembered. “It still doesn’t change the fact… that we doubted our ‘friends’ after that somewhere at the back of your mind, you thought about how they might have reacted to our untrust…”

---Still elsewhere inside the Darkness---

“Help…someone!” Fluttershy called out. “No one’s gonna come and help a weak pony like you!” Fluttershy’s eyes opened wide as she jumped up into the air. “You’re always so quiet and you even end up being rude when someone asks for your name!” her voice seemed to angrily yell back at her. “But.. “ Fluttershy was scared, where was this voice coming from? “I’m down here, you sad excuse for a Pegasus pony!” an angry looking version of Fluttershy stood there as she crawled up to the surface in front of Fluttershy. “I am the Element of Rudeness,” she tossed her hair and glared at Fluttershy. “But.. I don’t mean to be rude, I want to be kind,” Fluttershy had tears in her eyes already. “Sure sure sure, that’s what you spout all the time right?” the Rudeness laughed mockingly, “and lemme guess, you act all shy cause you don’t like other ponies paying attention to you right?” “…” Fluttershy was quiet. “I think you actually like the attention,” the Rudeness got closer with an intimidating look on her face. Fluttershy curled up into a ball and hiccupped a small cry. “Remember when Rarity sprung us that job?” “Bu..but I didn’t like it one bit,” Fluttershy’s voice came out small. “See? Not only are you rude, you’re ungreatful!” the Rudeness yelled at Fluttershy. “Rarity wanted that job more than anything else and what do you do? You UPSTAGE her and later REFUSE the job!” the Rudeness turned around and huffed, “I can’t even look at you!” “But…Rarity understood,” Fluttershy said quietly, “and it was a big misunderstanding that could have easily been avoided if we just told each other the truth at the beginning”. “Oh don’t get all holier than thou on ME!” the Rudeness turned back around.

---Still elsewhere inside the Darkness---

“This place is so dreary..” Rarity sniffed, “I must find my way out of here!” “Always thinking about yourself hmm?” Rarity heard a familiar voice. “Who’s there! It’s very impolite to sneak up on a lady!” Rarity looked around. “I am the Element of Greed,” the Greed rose slowly from the ground that Rarity realized was a mirror. “But enough about me Rarity, let’s talk about you!” the Greed walked over to Rarity and smiled. “Greed?” Rarity looked appalled, “I am not greedy!” “Oh please Rarity, you can fool the other ponies, but you can’t fool yourself,” the Greed said smugly as she examined her hoof for any imperfections. “What are you talking about?” Rarity looked insecure. “Remember when we wanted every single Pegasai in Cloudsdale to look at our … beautiful wings?” the Greed grinned as Rarity’s mouth slowly opened in surprise. “Now now Rarity, heh heh, it isn’t very lady like to gawk like that,” the Greed laughed curtly. “But…I apologized to Rainbow after that!” Rarity protested, “I understood that what I did was wrong, I should have been supporting her rather than showing off my… beautiful wings,” she thought about the wings again. “See? Even now you think about those wings and how much admirers you had,” the Greed giggled. “But…” Rarity started. “You went further as to have a tinge of jealousy am I wrong?” the Greed was relishing this conversation. Rarity collapsed, unable to bare the words that rang true… but something just felt wrong about all of this.

---Still elsewhere inside the Darkness---

“Hahhhhh!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she tried to fly as fast as she could to get out of the Darkness. “Where is every pony!” she called out. “Why do you care?” came a reply that sounded remarkably like her own voice. Out from underneath Rainbow Dash, a ripple in the mirror she was flying over appeared. From the ripple another Rainbow Dash flew out, and stopped in front of her. “Girlfriend, we need to talk… about number one” she grinned. “Huh?” Rainbow Dash slowly flew back to the ground. She was stunned that another pony that looked exactly like her had appeared. “Can’t get enough of me? Hay yeah, neither can I” the Rainbow Dash doppelganger flew down to meet face to face with Rainbow. “They call me the Element of Vanity,” she pointed to herself and a proud smile. “Ok… but how does that get me out?” Rainbow Dash asked the Vanity. “Why are you in such a hurry to get outta here anyways? You’re with number one! Yourself!” the Vanity grinned. “But I need to go and rescue my friends! They might be in trouble!” Rainbow Dash started to flap her wings to fly forward, but was stopped by the Vanity. “Are you really worried about them? Or do you just wanna show off your stuff like you always do?” the Vanity smirked. “What the hay? I’m no show off!” Rainbow Dash frowned at the Vanity. “Oh? Ever so loyal right? What about that time when we wanted those tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?” the Vanity shrugged, and remember how we treated Apple Jack during the fall of the leaves? I mean, I like to win sure, but even I think we cheated just a bit, but hay I got no problem with that, gotta keep the appearance up for Cloudsdale’s number one best young flyer right?” “But…” Rainbow Dash stopped. “I mean we could be modest…but hay we’d end up like Fluttershy right?” “Hay don’t go and insult Fluttershy like that!” Rainbow Dash glared at the Vanity. “I’m just voicing your thoughts ya silly filly,” the Vanity laughed.

---Outside---

“So what’s the answer Dusk?” Sol Lune asked again. “…”Tiger struggled a little, he watched as tears started to run down Apple Jack’s cheeks. “Either way my Master wins you know,” Sol Lune smirked. (What am I going to do?) Tiger winced at his options. He watched as his friends twitched in what seemed to be pain. Twilight wasn’t in any better condition. She was rolling from side to side as she let out a small groan.