Chapter 21:
Face Alone What You Fear Most
After putting the Orbs in place and charging them with their magic, The Mane 7 and Spike followed what appears to be a floating book into the moon temple of the White Isle to find the Oracle. It didn't take long for the Mane 7 and Spike followed the floating book into what appears to be a chamber of the Celestial Caves, they saw it's design looked similar to the design they've seen in the temple back home.
Looking around, they saw the place has closed doors with colorful symbols each representing the elements of magic. But, what got Twilight and her friend's attention is what appears to be a vision pool in the center of the chamber, surrounded by candles and rocks with symbols.
"Hold on a second. I think we found it," Twilight suggested, thinking that they might have found a key to finding the Oracle.
"Really? Let me see. Hello, is anypony there?" Pinkie shouted, calling out to see if anycreature is there to give them a clue.
"Hey, Pinkie! If there's…could we…you know…wake it up? Because everything we've met so far on this journey has been trying to kill us," Spike reminded her, covering Pinkie's mouth with his hands to keep her quiet.
Suddenly the strange weary female voice spoke to them again and said, "Expose your heart to summon a ghost. Then face alone what you fear most,".
"I knew it! This temple is nothing but trouble! We need to get out of here while we still have a chance," Rainbow Dash said, ready to high-tail out of the place as she turned and was about to leave.
"Hold on, Rainbow. The voice said expose your heart to summon a ghost and face alone what you fear most," Fluttershy said, stopping Rainbow Dash from leaving and recalling what the voice said.
"What exactly does that even mean?" Applejack asked, raising a brow in confusion.
"Expose my heart…Face alone what I fear most…," Twilight whispered to herself, trying to put the pieces of the clue together until it suddenly it hit her again, now knowing what she needs to do in order for her and her friends to find the Oracle.
"I know what I have to do. If we're going to find the Oracle, I need to face my worst fear alone," Twilight said, facing her friends as the others have a look of shock and concern on their faces.
"Twilight, are you sure you have to do this?" Sunset asked, feeling concerned about her friend facing her greatest fear alone without the help from her or any of the others.
"I need to do this, Sunset," Twilight assured her as she began making her way to the glowing vision pool.
"Yeah, well expose your heart and see what happens, Twilight," Spike said sarcastically, which made Fluttershy zip his mouth shut with her Nature Magic.
"Just be careful, darling," Rarity said, letting Twilight know what she is about to face would difficult to defeat on her own.
Twilight gave her friends a reassuring nod, telling them that she promise to be careful. Once she approached the glowing vision pool, Twilight took a deep and steady breath before she hopped onto the vision pool, ready to face her worst fear alone as a flash of light appeared and took her someplace else…
Once Twilight's vision soon came into focus, she soon found herself in a really strange void that was full of dark clouds and lightning, she was on a floating platform in the air. That's when Twilight looked ahead and saw something appearing before her.
Appearing on the platform was an elemental creature taking the form of Twilight's worst fear, the form of her previous enemy Slash, the corrupted form of Flash Sentry, who was made to strike fear into her.
The Elemental Slash lets out a menacing laugh, trying to scare Twilight. But the scarred Alicorn Warrior wasn't afraid of it, because she's defeated him before, and she'll do it again.
"Slash," Twilight said, glaring at her worst fear of Flash Sentry returning to the Dark Master's side while showing no fear.
"That's right, Alicorn Warrior! You never thought you'd see me again did you?!" Slash laughed evilly while smirking at Twilight.
"What do you want?" Twilight asked, keeping her fury under control.
"What do I want?" Slash asked, acting like it was a trick question before he started circling around Twilight, trying to strike her with fear but Twilight still remained fearless and stood against him.
"Aaah, Twilight, The Scarred Alicorn Warrior. Such a smart, special, and powerful Alicorn, but yet so naive in the face of the truth. Just helping my master what he started long ago. Soon all of Equestria will be ours," Slash replied as Twilight glared at him and still stood her ground against him.
"No, Equestria will never fall under your rule or the Dark Master's. Not this time," Twilight vowed, focusing on defeating her greatest fear as Slash faced her.
"Then so be it…," Slash said, facing Twilight with an evil sneer before he lets out a terrifying demonic whinny and started charging towards her, ready to fight and defeat her.
Twilight saw him coming, but now under heavy elements, but refusing to go down without a fight, she stood her ground and activated her horn as she angrily glared at him, holding her ground and ready for a fight.
As Slash were near, Twilight first used her magic to make a magic shield appear as Slash bumped into it but as the Scarred Alicorn Warrior stood her ground, the evil Elemental Alicorn Stallion was undeterred and started pushing her back with more strength as he tried pushing her over the edge of the platform.
Twilight looked behind herself and saw she was being pushed after seeing how close she was to the edge of the platform and looked down and saw endless the void is.
But gritting her teeth, Twilight took control and rose up into the air, letting her magic swell around her and…
BOOM!
Twilight unleashed her Magic Fury Attack and its effect back with her pure Alicorn strength, bombarded Slash with magic fireballs, creating dust around the evil stallion.
As Twilight landed on the ground, the dust cleared and Slash was seen being in a different color. He is now the color of yellow. Twilight knows what yellow means as she continued standing her ground and Slash began charging towards her again, this time ready to fight her with Electricity.
But Twilight was quick to charge towards him too as she galloped towards Slash, with her horn now glowing a yellow color. And just when Slash was about to fire Electricity Magic at Twilight, the Alicorn Warrior quickly used her Electric Magic and shot an Electrical Orb at the stallion, tossing him into the air screaming before he fell down with a thump.
Quickly getting up, Slash then changed from yellow to gray, now using Air Magic as he charges at Twilight, about to hit her with Air. But, Twilight knows what she needs to do, as Slash was about to attack her, Twilight quickly moved her tail around and created a Slash-sized Hurricane of Wind, the hurricane swirled around Slash before tossing the stallion onto the ground with another thump.
Now getting angry and irritated, Slash changes to a blue color, which Twilight could he is now using Water Magic. Slash then charges towards Twilight with a Demonic Whinny and his horn charging with Water Magic. Twilight only had time to quickly use her Water Bomb and shot it at Slash, blasting him back away from her a bit.
Slash quickly recovered and shook his head as he faced Twilight and tries lunging at her again, but Twilight quickly blasted her Water Bomb below Slash, causing a platform of water to shot up underneath the stallion and blasting him up into the air before tumbling back down the ground again with a pained grimace.
Twilight stalked towards Slash, waiting for him to make his next move. Twilight prepared herself for anymore of Slash's attacks. Changing his color from blue to red, Slash suddenly sent some ember at Twilight's face, some might have even got in her eye. As Twilight tried getting the ember off and tried to see, Slash saw she left herself open and then lunges at her as the two fell over.
Quickly getting up, Twilight and Slash lunged at each other as Slash shot Fire Magic at Twilight as the Alicorn Warrior blocked his attack with her magic shield. Slash forcefully begins pushing Twilight to the edge again. But Twilight quickly managed to use her Fiery Whirlwind to send Slash into the air again, before he came down and hits the floor before getting back up.
"You and the Dark Master can't win, Slash!" Twilight yelled, her horn still glowing a fiery orange color.
"THIS IS MY MASTERS' WORLD! MY DESTINY!" Slash roared as he lunges at Twilight tries blasting Fire Magic at her but missed.
Next, they lunged at each other again as Slash trips and throws Twilight down. But Twilight quickly managed to roll and got up as she shot some Fire Magic at Slash's face, giving him a scar on his right eye, identical to hers.
But Slash struck back and sent Twilight to the very edge of the platform on her back. Looking up, Twilight can see Slash jumping right towards her letting out a ferocious demonic whinny. But gathering her courage, Twilight uses Slash's momentum and sends the evil stallion over edge, plunging into the dark void.
Twilight got up and looked around, thinking she might have defeated Slash once again. But so far, she hasn't seen any sign of him, almost like he has disappeared into thin air.
"Where are you?" Twilight whispered, keeping her eyes on every direction until...
"Right Here!" Slash yelled as he suddenly lunges out of the void in front of her and slid to a stop, now he's a color of green which represent the elements of Nature and Earth.
Slash begins using Nature and Earth magic to tangle and pummel Twilight as she tries to avoid rocks and vines, "Hold still so I can defeat you once and for all!" Slash yelled.
Soon, Twilight was quickly near the edge again as she looked back. Slash chuckled evilly as Twilight turns back to him.
Seeing that he now has Twilight cornered, Slash begins to approach her as his horn starts to glow with immense magic. "Hehe, Nowhere to run now," He smirked. Then Slash rose up, about to shoot Twilight with his magic.
Twilight had her eyes shut for a few moments. But when she opened her eyes, she saw that her horn was glowing green glowing and that she has caught and tangled Slash with her Nature Pound Magic as Slash tried to break free.
Then Twilight faced Slash with a determined look and walks forward. With all her strength, Twilight uses her Earth Magic Flail and swung Slash into the air, releasing her from her nature magic, and Slash was sent flying off the platform, yelling, defeated once again…
After the defeat of Elemental Slash, Twilight's friends and Spike watched as the rocks with the symbols crumbled, which caught them by surprise at first. And before they knew it, the door ahead of them opened up, revealing another room.
Which could only mean one thing…
"Looks like Twilight has succeeded once again," Applejack said, sensing that her Alicorn Warrior friend has defeated her worst fear.
"Not bad…For an Alicorn Warrior," Rainbow Dash said next, pretending that it was no big deal.
"Looks like we are finally allowed to enter," Spike said, seeing that now the door's is open they can enter the room and perhaps find and meet the Oracle…