No Warm Soul

by WolfOblivion

Chapter 5: |Twilight| Wings' Grace

No Warm Soul
Chapter 5: |Twilight| Wings' Grace

"What!? What do you mean illegal use of magic?" Twilight screamed out towards Trixie.

The spiteful unicorn dressed in a judge's gown crossed her legs in contempt, feeling utterly superior to the three mares below her she had grown to hate over the years.

"Why, I mean the use of magic under a direct banning against it's use due to it's harmful effect upon those around whom do it."

Twilight let her mouth gape open but did not respond. The utter ridiculousness of a limit on magic use struck her so far that she could not construct coherence for the odd law. It makes no sense. Almost one-third of the population had been unicorns, and even simple levitation was considered magic...if that was under the jurisdiction of illegal use, then every pony within Canterlot haven't used magic for two whole years.

Rainbow Dash had been the first to speak after her Twilight.

"I don't get it. If mostly Canterlot is unicorns, than why is it not allowed?"

Trixie rolled her eyes before responding. "The use of magic within the facility has been labeled dangerous by the standing government.

Rainbow shrugged. "So how is it dangerous?"

"The facility was built to ensure a stable and eternal compressible system that takes the cold elements from the surface and transforms them into efficient qualities for the sustain of life. Such as snow will be heated into water and carbon dioxide that has been left into the world changed back into oxygen. When anypony inside of the facility uses magic, it easily interferes with the system, completely jamming it."

Twilight had regained her focus during the verbal play between the two. "So how were we trespassing?"

Trixie flipped between some papers on her desk of importance that wasn't realized. "A year ago, Gryphons had tried to breach the facility doors. Once they had realized they had no chance of getting in, they made a mess of the city on the surface. Soon finding the external compression system, they tampered with it and caused it to shut down. We eradicated them. And so, the government passed a law that of any species to walk upon the surface will be considered trespassing and a threat to the civilizations well being. And since you were on the surface, you are charged with it." Trixie flipped her packet closed with a wry, mocking smile.

Twilight scratched at her head as she thought. "So if we were trespassing, how come you didn't pass us off to execution?"

A low mumble of disappointment sounded off from the audience at the utterance of a skipped execution, obviously saddened by the fact that bloodshed would have to wait. Twilight grimaced, feeling disgusted and hurt by the detestation of her living for one more day.

"Come now," Trixie said in a condescending voice while twirling innocently in her chair with a childish smile, making Twilight twist her face in irritation. "We are the same species, we are not that sadistic."

"You were ruled a trial because we just have so much history, me and your gang of ponies."

Twilight sighed, feeling defeated. She had no idea what they were even trying to do. Stalling their founding guilty? Hopefully trying to find a loophole? Nothing was really working as they were faced with a brick wall of laws that were too closely knit together. Fluttershy had crouched behind them, cowering from the jeers of the audience and trying to hide herself from the inevitable. But then she had leaned into Twilight and spoke.

"What about Celestia?"

Twilight let her mind process her friends suggestion, and nodded with confidence.

"I demand to speak to Princess Celestia!"

The audience gasped at the criminal pony's demand, not sure whether or not she could do that. Trixie looked down on Twilight with a frown and bemusement flashing across her face.

"You can't do that! You have no right to command the presence of the princess!" Trixie rebutted, leaning on her desk and shouting down at the amused unicorn.

Twilight shook her head and barked a tiny chuckle. "Then I'll go see her myself!"

Twilight leapt to her hooves and faced the giant doors at the end of the cathedral sized room. Using her magic, she strained eagerly with sparks flying off her horn as the doors flung open, the lock from the left side hanging limply in place. Running, she pulled Fluttershy off the ground, Rainbow following them out of the door with lighting speed.

Running down the circular corridor Twilight could hear the angry screaming coming from the audience and the cries for justice as they had broken the honored trial that they had been given. Guards flashed out of the door behind the trial room and chased the trio down. Uneasy turns, slippery stairs and fancy regal rooms passed by as the ponies raced to find any type of royal chamber that would hold their only path to freedom. Stumbling upon some stairs, the trio climbed onto a hallway landing with only three doors. A Sun hung above the middle door, a Moon above the right one, and a crystal hung above the left.

"Celestia must be in the middle door." Twilight said, approaching the middle door. Putting her hoof on the handle, she twisted and pushed it open.

What was inside shocked all three mares when they had seen. Celestia was sitting by her desk, but it didn't look anything like Celestia. Her mane no longer flowed endlessly as it had become gray and solid, draping her face like a curtain. Her tail was the same and became ruffled at the end. Her coat which used to be a bright pearl white was now a matted iron color, clashing with her fading cutie mark. The sun that had stood out among her flank seemed to be deteriorating and losing hue. She turned towards them with tired and sickly eyes.

"Twilight?"

Twilight left her mouth open, almost close to crying the longer she looked at her aging mentor. Taking small steps she approached Celestia with a shocked and distressed expression lit upon her face. "Wha....What..."

Celestia turned towards her and put her hooves to Twilight's head, peering into her eyes all the while. "What are you doing here Twilight?"

Rainbow Dash hovered over to help in the situation. "Our uh....water chip broke....and we have no way of repairing it so we needed a new one. We were hoping the scientists here could build us a new one."

Celestia looked at Rainbow and gave a half nod. "So why are you in my chamber, out of breath and fearful."

Though she was tired and losing her colors, she was still perceptive as usual.

Twilight and regained her composure, but spoke with a dull draw. "When we got into the city surface, guards knocked us out, and brought us into a trial. The charges were illegal use of magic and trespassing."

Celestia let go of Twilight, a utterly confounded expression growing. "What do you mean illegal use of magic? There is no such thing."

All three nodded in response. Celestia stood and walked out of the large bedroom, walking out of the landing and down the stairs. The three mares looked at each other before following their princess, catching up to her as she cleared the stairs. Down the same halls, she brought them all the way to the court room, all the commotion had died down but ponies still filled the room. A rotund gasping around the room sounded out as Celestia sauntered in followed by the three criminals, and the trio of friends were confused as Luna was hovering by Trixie's desk, captured in a heated discussion until she realized her sister had come in.

Unlike Celestia, Luna still looked her best as she had two years ago. Her colors were still definite, along with her mark still being evident. Her face lit in a small fit of desperation and fear, flying down to meet Celestia by the circle where criminals sat for trials.

Celestia was the first to speak. "Sister, what is all this? Capturing three of the elements along with my student? Illegal use of magic? Last I checked, magic was not illegal in Equestria."

Luna kept her head down. "Sister, we must not talk here. It is not good for your health to be up and around. Let's go back to your chamber; then we'll talk."

Celestia gave Luna a scolding stare before she turned and spoke to the Elements. "Let's go."

Back in Celestia's chamber Luna began to explain. "I had initiated a law against magic due to suspicion of a revolution. A large underlying organization to lay the facility to waste and escape into the surface. We actually did have a small uprising while you were asleep, Celestia..."

"What? How?" Celestia demanded, causing Luna to shrink even further inside of herself.

"When you were in one of your comas, the ponies involved in the revolution attacked the engineers. We quickly handled them, capturing them all. Most were unicorns so I issued a law against magic use so the guards could handle them without much trouble."

Twilight snapped her head to look at Luna, confusion sparkling in her eyes. "Coma?"

The princess looked at Twilight and sighed. Celestia sat down and explained.

"The reason I look so sickly Twilight, Is because of the sun. I am no longer within sunlight, nor is it shining past the blanket of clouds. The whole lack of sunlight is causing me to, in a sense, deteriorate. I have no connection with it now." Celestia stared pensively at the ground, seemingly losing her self among the patterns of the carpet.

The news struck at the three mares like a sack of bricks. One of the most powerful beings was slowly deteriorating in front of them due to a loss of connection to her entire purpose of living. The vex of saddness was broken by the moon princess.

"That is not all. The sun and the moon both move on their own, no longer influenced by our power. We suspect that whatever had started this frozen oppression must have some supernatural power beyond that."

Twilight pondered for a couple moments. A question came to her mind. "Do you have any idea what caused this all?"

Luna and Celestia shared a glance, a small bit of recognition showing in both of them. Luna swung back to Twilight. "Well, we do have a notion, but it was seemingly un-likely. There used to be this species of burly creatures, who lived during Star Swirls' time. Being the first to discover them, he named them Lox. Large, bear like creatures with dark blue fur and black eyes. He said that they contained a type of magic that could only be manipulated through snow. To that extent, he hypothesized that they could affect normal water and steam alike. They could cause large blizzards, usually inhabiting the northern parts of the world. Near Star Swirls' old age, they began to trickle into Equestrian's northern border that aligned with the Crystal Empire. They never did do much to us, but in the beginning of this accursed blizzard, we began to suspect the Lox. But it seemed, as I said, un-likely. A little after Star Swirls' death, the Lox became extinct. Massive piles of Lox nests were full of dead Lox, from the youngest of cubs to the oldest of seniors. " Luna finished her info dump.

All three ponies listened intently to the flow of information, processing the possibility of the old dead species coming back into fruition.

Twilight scratched at her head. "Well...what if we found the source at stopped it?"

Luna rose an eyebrow, along with the unicorns two companions. Rainbow Dash leaned into Twilight's ear. "But Twilight, we really need to get this water chip back to our Facility! We don't have time to solve problems!"

Twilight pushed Rainbow away with an extended leg. "No Rainbow, we do." Looking to the two listening princesses, she continued. "We can take the chip back to the Facility, leave, then we continue on to find whatever has caused this mass covering of snow."

Rainbow let her face warp into a expression of anger and compliance. Settling back into her sitting position, she grew quiet. Fluttershy remained quiet throughout this, knowing when she shouldn't question other people. The familiar face of a determined Twilight enforced those feelings, knowing there could be no way she could talk her out of it.

Celestia shambled forward. "Twilight, you know you don't have to do this. This isn't a mission that we've granted you."

Twilight shook her head. "No princess. I want to do this. To fix Equestria." She paused, giving the ponies in the room another sweeping glance. She sighed in exhaustion and continued.

"I don't know about you...but I'm tired of living underground. I want to see the sun again. I want to feel warm winds. Not the stale heating that the Facility provides. I don't care if I'm not being told to do this, I want to. I need to."

The ponies in the room all became silent from Twilight's speech. Her defiance against the forces that tried to stop her in her self proposed quest was shown on her face, willing any of those who oppose her to stand down.

"I'm in." Rainbow said behind Twilight. Turning around, the purple unicorn gave her friend a smile and nodded in recognition. Turning to Fluttershy, Twilight rose an eye brow to her timid friend.

"I...I suppose. If it means saving Equestria again, I'll join."

Twilight turned back to the princesses in front of her. Luna showing an expression of being impressed. Celestia sat up behind her sister and showed a proud smile at her former student.

Luna tilted her head in a pensive pose, humming. "Alright then." She said slowly, turning her head to look at Twilight. "You can sleep here for the night, and we'll construct another water chip for your facility. In the morning, we will send you back to Ponyville, but that's the most we can do."

Twilight nodded curtly in acknowledgement. Before turning away, Twilight made a Realization. "Oh, Princess?"

"Yes?" Luna questioned.

"Were does Rarity live here?"

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Author's Note:

So now that summer has arrived, I can begin writing again and pumping out more chapters.