//------------------------------// // Chapter Seven: Second Clue // Story: Heart of Light // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// Heart of Light Chapter Seven: Second Clue Written by TheCrimsonDM Twilight and Valiant arrived at the hospital in less than an hour. Flowing Water’s Hospital was a place that was run by an old student of Ink Pots and a one time resident of Ponyville by the name of Moon Flow. Both Twilight and Valiant had met this wonderful unicorn mare in the past, both under different circumstances. Still it was not her whom Twilight had come to see, it was in fact Ink Pots herself. After speaking to the receptionist Twilight located the room. Ink Pots was being held on room 313 so up to the third floor it was. This wasn’t a new hospital, and that was evident as some parts of the hospital were clean, white, sterile, other parts were older, stained from age, and a few were being renovated. Twilight had remembered when she was asked to help fund Moon Flow’s project, rebuilding this older hospital into something grand; a place where the newest magical medical practices could be developed and implemented. The pair made their way up via the elevator, and found themselves on the floor dedicated to unicorn treatment and magical aliments. Twilight walked by a few rooms with open doors, although mostly unoccupied a few had unicorns with black splotches on their fur. Twilight shivered at the thought of catching some terrible magical sickness and moved on. Valiant lingered a little. “It’s this room up here,” Twilight said as she approached the door. Valiant made a sour face as she tore her eye away from the sight of one of the sick ponies. With her magic, Twilight opened the door a crack and peeked inside. Ink Pots lay on the bed, her old gray body was calmly resting, her black hair was still tied into that familiar bun. Finally her one open eye was staring up at a television with a fabulous thirteen inch screen and a black and white picture on it. Some film about a young couple falling in love in Manehattan was on. “Miss Ink Pots?” Twilight asked quietly. Ink Pots eye came to rest over on Twilight and her smile widened. “Ah, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” There was a hint of pride in her voice. “Did you come all the way out here to wish me farewell?” Twilight walked in with Valiant Heart by her side. “I actually wasn’t made aware of your illness until after I came here, though I did come to visit you. I… I just wish it wasn’t under such circumstances.” The closer Twilight got the more she saw how aged Ink Pots was. Ink Pots was old, far older than Twilight had known, yet still she held a youthful look in that eye of hers. “I had a feeling that I was holding on for somepony, I guess it was you,” Ink Pots said quietly. Pain shot through Twilight’s chest as she stared down at her one time teacher. This was the mare that had first taught her when she joined Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns. This was the mare who had first taught her the value of friends, and despite Celestia’s irresponsibly dropping a baby off on a filly Twilight, Ink Pots helped her. “Yeah, maybe so.” “What do you need?” Ink Pots asked. “Valiant and I are looking for the Seekers Archive. There is a long lost prophecy being fulfilled, and only the archive has answers to the trouble that will unfold soon. We would like to know your clue.” A frown crept over the old mare’s lips. “The danger this secret will put you two in, are you sure you can handle it?” She paused to take in a shallow breath. “There are those who will do everything in their power to stop you from finding it.” “There are many more who will be hurt if I don’t find it.” For a moment Ink Pots was silent. “I will tell you, on one condition. Keep the Archive safe. The world still has need of the knowledge inside it, please don’t horde the knowledge, share it.” Twilight smiled. “I was already planning to.” Ink Pots closed her eye. “Only when surrounded by darkness does the mind’s light shine.” Twilight frowned. “That… will probably make sense when I get the last clue. Thank you.” Ink Pots didn’t open her eye, her body relaxed deeply. “Twilight, Valiant, you two now know a closely guarded secret. Your quest will become more dangerous than it was before. I know several ponies must have been watching over my room during my stay here, hoping for me to die without telling anypony my secret. They will suspect you of knowing, even if they didn’t hear anything I said.” Twilight looked around nervously. “I can take care of the two of us. Don’t worry about us.” When Ink Pots didn’t respond Twilight took a step back. The heart monitor flat lined. Yet Ink Pots body wasn’t done moving just yet. Her body grew bright, too bright to look at. Rainbow colored lights filled the small room and Twilight looked away. Out of the corner of her eye Twilight saw Ink Pots body change shape, turning into hundreds of motes of rainbow colored light. The lights all floated up and through the walls. Once they were gone, the room returned to normal lighting, leaving both Twilight and Valiant stunned. From behind them a nurse appeared. “Did… it happen?” Twilight nodded. “The cost of using the longevity spell, your body slowly becomes pure magic until finally it can no longer sustain a physical form. Ink Pots is gone, though I can’t say whether she is dead.” Valiant looked up at her with a wide eye that spoke volumes of how she clearly didn’t understand. Twilight only offered a tired smile. “Come on, let’s go to the castle, I need to rest a few hours, and then I’ll have some pegasi take us home.” Valiant stared back at the now empty bed for a moment, before leaving the room first. Twilight followed after her. As for the nurse she simply stared at the room in wonder, at least until she seemed to realize the heart monitor was still going off and went to take care of it. Twilight was done here, and didn’t want to spend anymore time around the company of death. *** The dark alley was full of garbage, dumpsters, and rats. It was a disgusting filthy place, the kind of which she loathed to ever need walking into. The night sky was cast overhead as the brilliant sun had gone to bed only to be replaced by the uncaring moon. Still she pushed through the alley, keeping her senses all on guard for any surprises. Just ahead of her walked out of an alley was a stallion wearing a cloak darker than the one she herself was wearing. The stallion looked up at her, his gray muzzle barely visible. “Sup?” She blinked in response. “Hello, you are the one I’m looking for correct? The Last One?” “Yeah that’s me, you’re the Betrayer right?” he asked. He always sounded too young for this kind of job. “Yes, I am.” “Good, what do you want? And how much are you paying?” The Betrayer nodded. “I need you to track, follow, and keep tabs on two ponies. One of them is the Princess of Friendship; Twilight Sparkle. The other is her assistant, a filly by the name of Valiant Heart. There is to be no harm done to either of them, I only need you to keep track of them and report back to me.” “Good, I don’t like muscling ponies about anyway, too much work. Now about the payment.” “Twenty thousand bits.” “For spying on a princess? No freaking deal. If I get caught, twenty thousand is not en-“ “Up front. Another twenty once the job is complete.” The Last One smiled at that. “That’s a bit better. You can expect me to watch them for awhile, but if this goes on too long I will be demanding more pay.” She nodded, this wasn’t her first game of politics. “I am willing to accept that, after all you do good work.” “Yeah, whatever you say. I’ll get started as soon as I receive the payment.” “It’s already in your account.” He smiled up at her. “Good.”