adventure Elements of Equestria 2: Chapter 6

[DivineMist1000 71,098]

Chapter 6: The Hunt Begins

Lee, Tempest and Chrysalis were walking through the Everfree Forest as Chrysalis consulted a map of Equestria that she had marked with the locations of the Essences of Emotion.

"Okay, the closest location on the map is this castle here! We should probably start there, yeah?"

Tempest looked at the map with Chrysalis and noticed the castle that was circled. Surrounding the castle was what looked like a dark pit and all that was connected to the castle was a thin stone bridge.

"Looks... safe. Are we sure that one of the Essences is there?"

"Well, according to the book, this is the place for Essence of Sadness and this castle has been called 'The Castle of Departure'. The castle has been abandoned for decades, so we should be in the clear to go in and get the Essence."

Lee continued walking ahead of Tempest and Chrysalis as they talked to each other. As Lee stared at the clouds above, he thought about all that has happened so far and about the Essences of Emotion that they were searching for.

"Hopefully we can find these stones soon and keep them away from Malice. I just have this feeling that this guy could be anywhere and he could even be watching us right now... Ahh, I'm just getting worked up over nothing I think."

Suddenly, Lee felt himself sliding and rolling down a hill until he crashed into a tree and made several branches and limbs fall onto his head. Tempest and Chrysalis quickly rushed over to Lee and he looked up at the both of them with both confusion and frustration.

"Lee? Are you okay?" Tempest asked.

"Uhh, yeah I'm okay. W-Wasn't paying attention to the road I guess... heh."

Lee stood up and Tempest made sure he was okay by brushing all the leaves off of his head.

“You need to be more careful! Are you sure everything is okay with you?”

Just then, Lee felt a rumble in his stomach and Tempest smiled a little when she heard it too.

“Hmm, you must be hungry. Why don’t we stop at that village on the way to the castle and grab something to eat?”

Chrysalis was skeptical of this idea at first as she felt they should continue onwards but she soon felt a rumble in her own stomach too.

“Yes. Food should help get our spirits up. The village of Hoofden is nearby and they have a few places to eat as well, so we should be able to stop there before we head to the castle.”

All three nodded in agreement and made their way to the town of Hoofden.
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After a couple of hours, Lee was walking ahead of Tempest and Chrysalis as they were looking over the map of Equestria for the Castle of Departure. Lee felt a strange ringing in his ears, but the noise only got slightly louder as he walked along.

“Lee, we’re getting close to the castle! It should be right up ahead here!”

Tempest's words made Lee get his mind off of the noise in his head and nodded to Tempest and all three of them continued walking until Chrysalis started seeing something dark ahead and a cool breeze blowing through the trees.

Just as she cleared the trees however, Chrysalis suddenly couldn't feel the ground underneath her and felt herself falling downwards rapidly. Lee rushed ahead as Chrysalis was falling and quickly grabbed her hoof.

"I got you! I got you!"

Lee pulled Chrysalis back up and they both backed away from the edge, with Tempest rushing over too to make sure that they were both okay. Lee and Chrysalis looked ahead and they saw a very strange sight before them: a massive gorge that covered a large radius of the forest and the only thing within the empty void was a large stone castle connected by a thin stone bridge.

"I-Is that it? The... Castle of Departure?" Lee asked.

Chrysalis consulted the map again and lined the castle up with the picture on the map.

"Yes, it is and the Essence of Sadness is supposed to be inside. We should just go inside and retrieve it..."

Tempest didn't agree with Chrysalis' plan and stopped Chrysalis from moving as she looked at the castle before her. An uneasy feeling came over Tempest as she focused on the stone bridge.

"Whoa, hold on a minute. We shouldn't just rush in there! There could be some traps in there somewhere."

"It's been abandoned for decades and there's clearly nopony living there now. Look, the bridge is right over there and we need to get that Essence."

Chrysalis walked ahead of Lee and Tempest and the two of them looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders and catching up with Chrysalis. The three of them approached the bridge and Chrysalis looked down over the edge as she noticed how far down the drop went.

"Hope nopony is afraid of heights... That's uhh, quite a drop."

Lee and Tempest also looked over the edge and Lee immediately panicked at the sight and held onto Tempest for dear life. Tempest giggled as she kissed Lee and gently removed his hooves around her.

"Don't you worry, Lee. I won't let you fall, I promise!"

"Thanks Tempest! Hehe, totally not afraid of heights either..."

The three of them continued carefully across the bridge and looked up as the castle before them started to tower over them. Lee started getting a little nervous and looked toward Chrysalis in front of them.

“I’ve never seen a castle like this. Who would want to live in such a lonely and desolate place?”

“Well, according to legend, it says that a pony lived here all by his lonesome and ruled this region of Equestria with an iron hoof. After he passed away, it is said that the very castle was cursed with his overbearing sadness and it created the massive gorge surrounding the castle. What better place to put the Essence of Sadness, right?"

After hearing Chrysalis' words, Lee got more and more concerned as they neared the main entrance to the castle. 
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As Lee, Tempest and Chrysalis opened the front doors and walked inside the castle, there was nothing but silence and darkness and the wind outside howled through the broken windows and a few lonely leaves were blowing in the breeze. 

Lee looked around the entrance hall that they were in, but all he could make out was a few paintings on the wall and a few stained glass windows that let in a faint light.

"I can't see anything. Did we bring flashlights?" Lee looked through his satchel as he asked this question, but Tempest stopped him.

Tempest and Chrysalis both lit up their horns and illuminated the corridors, but they still felt an eerie feeling as they walked ahead of Lee and looked around with caution.

"It's just... too quiet isn't it? Is that even possible?" Tempest asked.

Before Lee could answer Tempest's question, he felt more ringing in his ears and covered his ears at the sharp noise. Tempest and Chrysalis looked at Lee in concern, but Lee clutched his head as the ringing continued.

"W-What is that?! Do you guys hear that?" 

Chrysalis listened for any noise, but she didn't hear anything except for the wind. Tempest saw Chrysalis nod at her in denial and she too couldn't hear anything either.

"We don't hear anything, Lee. Are you sure you're not hearing things?" Tempest asked.

Lee was surprised at their answer, but he could still hear the noise in his head. All of the sudden, Lee quickly went ahead of Tempest and Chrysalis and hurried down the hall with Tempest yelling his name, but she saw as Lee stumbled into the wall and all sorts of furniture in his path as he tried to make the noise stop.

"Gah!! Make it stop!! T-Tempest, help me!"

Tempest followed Lee into a room with a large and very decorated door, but Lee didn't stop until he was in the middle of the room. The ringing suddenly was louder than anything else for a split second before it stopped completely.
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After the noise stopped, Lee opened his eyes and started breathing heavily. Lee looked around the room as he noticed a few things: the lone throne in front of him, portraits of the ruler of the castle along the walls and stained glass windows with all sorts of different pictures upon them.

"W-What? What is this?"

Lee then looked down and was shocked when he saw something strange before him. What he saw was a lone pedestal with nothing but a purple glowing gem in the shape of a teardrop. Lee stared at the object in awe and felt himself entranced by it too, but Tempest shook him a bit to get his attention and he looked at her.

"Lee? Lee, are you okay? What happened to you?"

Tempest put his hooves against his face, but all Lee could do was hold his head in confusion as he looked around the room again and back at the purple gem.

"I... I don't know. I was trying to get that noise out of my head and the next thing I knew, I was standing right here."

Chrysalis joined Lee and Tempest and looked at Lee for a moment to make sure he was okay before she looked at the purple gem before them. As she looked at it, Chrysalis felt the same hypnotizing feeling inside of her too.

"I-Is that it? One of the Essences of Emotion?"

"I think it is... What should we do now?" Tempest asked.

Lee was about to pick the Essence up before Tempest stopped him and pulled his hoof away.

"Whoa whoa whoa! We can't just pick it up. This whole thing screams "trap", doesn't it? Lee... we have to come up with a plan."

"Tempest, we have to. Look... I don't want to do it like this either, but we don't have a choice. Just... just be ready for anything, okay?"

Tempest still wasn't sure about the idea as Lee slowly went to pick up the Essence, but she still decided to go along with his plan and remained on guard. Chrysalis watched in suspense as Lee came closer to it too, but remained on edge as she looked around the room for any possible traps.

"S-slowly. Don't make any sudden movements, Lee."

Lee took a deep breath as finally placed his hoof on the Essence and paused as he looked around for traps, but Tempest reassured him that everything was okay. Lee took another deep breath as he picked up the Essence and he closed his eyes as he held it in his hoof.

Tempest and Chrysalis looked around, but noticed that nothing had happened. Lee opened his eyes and laughed a little as he looked at the Essence of Sadness in his hooves.

"H-hehe. I-I got it!"

All three ponies suddenly started laughing together in triumph as they finally found the first Essence of Emotion.

Just then however, the ground underneath them started shaking and the entire foundation of the castle was starting to rock violently too. Suddenly, the ground gave away and a huge fissure opened up between Lee and Tempest, making them both fall to the ground.

"Ahh, I knew it was a trap! Let's get out of here!"

Chrysalis made it out the room first and she helped Tempest as she jumped over the huge cracks between them. Tempest looked back at Lee as he tried to steady himself but Tempest yelled at Lee to hurry up and run.

"Lee, come on! Come on and get out of there!"

Lee ran towards the edge and opened his wings to make sure he could make the jump. Tempest helped him out of the room, but he looked up as he saw the roof beginning to cave in all around them and large chunks of roof were falling and destroying the ground as well.

All three ponies began running back to the main gates, but the windows started to shatter at the unrelenting shaking all around them. As this happened, the walls began to fall away too and it revealed nothing but the dark and deep gorge surrounding the castle.

Lee froze in fear as he looked outside where the wall fell out, but Tempest yelled at him again and he saw how far away she and Chrysalis were now.

"Lee! Stop stopping and move! Come on!"

"Uhh, right! Yeah..."

As Lee continued running, he suddenly looked up when he saw another huge chunk of ceiling falling towards him, but he moved out of the way in time as it landed just behind him. Lee gave a sigh of relief, but he then suddenly felt the ground underneath him give away and yelled as he quickly grabbed the ledge.

"Not good! Not good at all!"

Lee tried yelling for Tempest and Chrysalis to help him but they were nowhere around him. Lee then pulled himself up and back onto the solid ground, but he soon got himself back up and ran for the gates.

Just as he reached the gates however, he felt something heavy slam against his sides and he fell to the ground in pain. He looked at one of his wings and noticed that one of them was broken now.

"Great, just what I needed right now!"

Outside the castle, Tempest and Chrysalis made it safely off of the stone bridge and were both catching their breath. Tempest looked at the castle as it began to slowly collapse and saw one of the spires breaking off and fall into the gorge.

"Well, that was a close call, huh Lee? Lee?"

Tempest looked around and noticed that Lee wasn't there. After yelling his name a few more times, Chrysalis called to Tempest to get her attention and she pointed towards the castle to see Lee limping at the gates of the castle.

"Oh, by Equestria... LEE!!!"

Lee saw Tempest and Chrysalis off in the distance, but was distracted by the sound of a loud roar behind him. This roar was the castle behind him collapsing before him and the entire foundation falling into the dark gorge beneath him. Lee then began to panic as he saw this happening.

"Gotta go! GOTTA GO NOW!!"

As the castle continued to crumble, Lee made his way to the bridge and started running even with all the pain he had. As Lee ran, a large tower connected to the castle fell directly behind Lee and the stone bridge was starting to collapse too.

Tempest saw this happen and she yelled at Lee to look behind him. Lee did as Tempest said and looked behind him in disbelief to see that the bridge behind him was collapsing quickly, but this only made him panic more.

"No no no!! Just keep running!!"

Lee continued running as the collapsing bridge was beginning to catch up with him and the ground beneath him was starting to crack and break away. Tempest and Chrysalis stood at the end of the bridge and told Lee to keep running, but they both became increasingly worried as Lee was beginning to run out of ground.

"Come on, Lee! Almost there!"

As Lee came closer to where Tempest was, the ground beneath him suddenly gave away and he felt himself falling downwards. Just as he began to fall however, Lee made a leap of faith and grabbed a little bit of solid ground until he felt his grasp giving away and started to slip off the cliff.

"LEE!! NOOO!!!"

Tempest managed to catch Lee with her magic and levitated him back up and onto the solid ground. Tempest began to sweat using this much magic, but she quickly put Lee down and he collapsed on the ground as he tried to catch his breath.

"Well... hehe, that went well."

Lee began laughing hysterically until Tempest came over to him and hugged him tightly before he tiredly did the same thing.

"Thank you, Tempest! Thank you..."

Chrysalis looked away from the two of them as she looked at the castle and saw the rest of it fall into the darkness. She then looked at the Essence of Sadness in Lee's satchel and a sinister smile ran across her face.

"One down... four to go."

A/N: A new chapter for everyone to enjoy! This is where things start getting more interesting too... Wait and see, my friends!

Edited September 10, 2021 by DivineDivine1000

[Tom Gallagher 33,521]

That was a close one! 

[Misty Shadow 7,067]

Ooh, this was cool! I felt like they were exploring a haunted house and an Indiana Jones temple in one! 

2 hours ago, DivineStorm1000 said:

Chrysalis looked away from the two of them as she looked at the castle as it finally all fell into the darkness. She then looked at the Essence of Sadness in Lee's satchel and a sinister smile ran across her face.

"One down... four to go."

Heh heh. I feel the same way about Sombra. Not evil...but I still remember the character's "evil".  

[DivineMist1000 71,098]

4 hours ago, CloudMistDragon said:

Ooh, this was cool! I felt like they were exploring a haunted house and an Indiana Jones temple in one! 

Heh heh. I feel the same way about Sombra. Not evil...but I still remember the character's "evil".  

What do you think of the way the castle collapsed?

[Misty Shadow 7,067]

15 hours ago, DivineStorm1000 said:

What do you think of the way the castle collapsed?

That was like something out of Resident Evil where they always have to get out before everything blows up. Or Castlevania, where the castle always crumbles at the end. 

[DivineMist1000 71,098]

1 minute ago, CloudMistDragon said:

That was like something out of Resident Evil where they always have to get out before everything blows up. Or Castlevania, where the castle always crumbles at the end. 

Are you enjoying the story so far?

[Misty Shadow 7,067]

15 hours ago, DivineStorm1000 said:

Are you enjoying the story so far?

You ask a silly question, of course!

[Octavia Heartstrings 28,397]

That was an awesome chapter! It would have made a great movie scene, it's so cinematic!