//------------------------------// // Chapter Sixteen: The Duel // Story: Heart of Light // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// Heart of Light Chapter Sixteen: The Duel Written by TheCrimsonDM The cold room smelt like blood and worse. Valiant’s entire body was in wretched agony. There was so much pain. It was more than anypony should have been able to live through. Half her face was swollen, she couldn’t even open her eye anymore. Then there was her broken leg. Those evil mares had taken her, and, and… Valiant wasn’t even fully capable of understanding what they did to her. She just knew it hurt and that they laughed about it. Especially at the blood. Valiant knew she shouldn’t be bleeding from there. Still none of this compared to the pain in her heart as she watched those evil monsters of ponies take her cat, and her kittens. Put them into a potato sack. The poor little creatures mewed as they tried to find the way out. The leader, the mare known as Frailty took a baseball bat to the sack. There was horrible shrieks for a second, and then there was just the wet sound of the bat hitting a sack of meat. They made Valiant watch everything. Was this what they did to Trixie when the brave mare sacrificed herself to save Valiant? Maybe Trixie didn’t have the cats, but she did have the other parts. This was where she died. In a little room, with both her body and spirit broken. Yet she didn’t fear the prospect of dying here, she actually found solace in it. Death would free her from this terrible life. At least than she might be with her kittens again. There was a gasp from the doorway. Valiant’s good eye opened a crack and she saw a new mare, one with gray fur and a dull gray purple mane. The mare’s eyes were impossibly wide, her mouth agape. It took a moment but the mare collected herself and marched up to Valiant. She couldn’t move away, all Valiant could do was twitch as the mare got to her. She expected to be hurt again, but instead she felt gentle hooves pick her up. The new mare was cradling her in her forelegs. Outside Valiant heard a familiar voice, one she thought she’d never hear again, she heard Trixie. “Am I dead?” Valiant mused. The mare replied in a voice so gentle it was like porcelain. “No, me and Trixie came here to rescue you.” Valiant closed her eye and as a song began to fill the room she felt herself falling back into unconsciousness. If Trixie was really here, then she was safe, she was finally safe. *** Valiant opened her eyes and looked around. The library was quiet, her body was burning with pain but her insides and her leg felt fine. She could also see out of both of her eyes. Still she felt wet tears running down her face. That dream, that memory was the one thing that had haunted her for the last eight years. She now understood what those mares did to her. She had been beaten, broken, and raped. Nopony beside Trixie had understood how this made her feel, yet Trixie still seemed to handle it better than she did. However, that last bit, the part involving Maud and Trixie. From even the first moment she met Maud, the mare was trying to take care of her, to keep her safe, to help her. Valiant had forgotten how hard it must have been for Maud to find her in that condition, and how much Maud would never want to see her hurt again. Valiant made a promise to apologize to her mom the moment she got home. “Are you okay?” Boulder asked quietly. Valiant pushed herself up and looked around. The aisle was littered with books now. “Oh, yeah… I exploded.” “That was more power than I thought we were capable of, though it’s left me feeling pretty drained.” Off in the distance Valiant spotted the limp form of Shade lying amongst a pile of books. “Did I win?” “I don’t think he will be moving again.” Cautiously Valiant approached the downed stallion. Her heart was almost cold as she examined the wounds on him. Half of his face was burned, even over his eye. His foreleg was bent in the wrong direction, and burn marks covered his entire body. He might live, but he’d never be able to walk right again, and he might have lost the ability to see as well. Valiant looked down at herself, most of her wounds were already healing from the attack. “I didn’t know I could heal myself.” “It takes more energy to heal yourself than others.” Shade’s wounds were not healing. Valiant didn’t look away from him as she asked, “Can he heal?” “Not like you. He’s an umbrum, a creature of shadow and night. Healing is the opposite of what he does.” Valiant reached over and gingerly touched him. The mere contact burned her. She pulled back just an inch and closed her eyes. “I don’t want to leave him here like this.” “Healing him will take what little energy we have left? He might just get up and attack us.” Valiant smiled. “True, but if I left him like this… I can’t.” She found the light inside of her and forced it through her hooves. For a split second she worried that maybe her healing arts would hurt him, but as her inner light was cast over Shade’s body she watched his wounds reverse. She couldn’t take care of everything, so she focused on the two problem areas first. His eye and his leg. It took nearly a full minute but when she was done the leg was back to a normal position with the bones fused back together, and his face was merely bruised with a few very minor burns. After that she turned and walked away. Her movements were sluggish and her legs weak yet she was confident that she’d done some good here. Now she just needed to find that book for Twilight and her mission would be complete. “You,” Shade’s voice called out. She glanced back at him as he pushed himself up off the ground. It was clear that he was in pain, but he looked at her with determined eyes. “You healed me.” “Yes,” She replied flatly. “Why?” Valiant looked away and continued walking. “I don’t have to answer that.” Shade simply stood there for a moment longer looking angry. He then laid back down and laid his head flat on the ground. “Whatever, I’m done here anyway.” Now Valiant was off to find any books on the Guardian Hearts. *** It was unthinkable. Twilight stood there mouth agape as Celestia only offered her a regretful stare. To think that Celestia was the one who had destroyed those books, set up a trap for both herself and Valiant and even sent the thief after them. There were so many questions that Twilight had, but she settled on the most important one. “Why?” Twilight asked, unable to hide the pain in her voice. “The knowledge in the Seekers Archive is dangerous, Twilight. They know secrets that had been lost for a millennia, things that should never be allowed to escape here. It is the very same knowledge that if the likes of Queen Red were to obtain we’d lose the war before it even begins.” “We are not at war though! The Alicorn Empire took off somewhere and left us.” Celestia smiled, that condescending smile that always managed to make Twilight feel both stupid and guilty at the same time. “Red will not stop until I am dethroned or dead. I’d offer up my throne freely if I believed she would respect that decision. Instead now I fear that she has dug herself into a hole, one that she cannot get out of. Soon we will be at war, and it will be unlike any we’ve faced before. We can’t allow this knowledge to get to her empire.” “Well she already knew where the archive was,” Twilight argued. “I suspect she already has whatever she needed from here.” Celestia walked forward. “So you’ve spoken to her.” “She was taking some of her youth back to be punished after they attacked us,” Twilight said. The memory of that encounter still left a stain of fear on her. Celestia walked past Twilight. “That’s not what I’d expect of her… Still, this place must be burned. These secrets would destroy us, our very existence.” Celestia’s horn took on a golden glow. “I’m sorry that you have to bear witness to this. I know how much you love your books.” A fireball launched from Celestia’s horn slamming into the doorway. The doors were thrown back and off their hinges. Celestia began walking once more, a look of determination across her face. “Do not worry though, I will make sure your filly gets out safely before setting things right.” Twilight blinked. She looked at the doors, the flames burning over the steps, and at Celestia’s horn. There were so many things for Twilight to consider. She needed the knowledge that was located inside here to find that prophesized pony, the mare who was to be her next apprentice, and to stop whatever dreadful event was coming. Valiant had been wanting to find this place for so long now, it was her dream to follow in the Seekers hoofsteps. Not to mention that there were records here that could never be replaced, bits of history that had been lost for so long now. Twilight had made a vow to protect and serve Celestia, but she’d also sworn her own allegiance to history itself. She had to ask herself, what would Starswirl have done in her situation. He would have done some awful things. Of that Twilight was positive, but could she do the same? Could she even raise her sword against Celestia? Twilight knew that she couldn’t’ kill her old mentor, but neither could she allow Celestia to destroy this most holy of places. There was only one thing Twilight could do then. “Stop, right, there!” Twilight demanded as she threw her sword aside. Celestia stopped and looked back at her. “Twilight, words will not stop me.” “No, but I know what will.” “You wouldn’t hurt me.” Twilight screamed in frustration as she realized that Celestia was probably right. Every muscle in her body was burning from the need to keep these books safe and to serve Celestia. Celestia was the ruler of Equestria, and Twilight swore and oath to serve Equestria when she became a Princess. Now she was about to buck that promise in the face… or was she? Surely saving the Seekers Archive would only go to help Equestria in the long run. Celestia was simply wrong and too stuck in her old ways to realize this. Twilight had sworn to serve Equestria, and perhaps right then the best way to do it was to force Celestia’s hoof in this matter. Twilight cleared her throat as she stared down Celestia. “I challenge you to a magic duel. If I win the Archive stays safe under my protection and guidance. If you win, you may destroy it.” Celestia blinked and turned around. “Twilight, you cannot be serious.” “I am dead serious, this place could help us win the war with the alicorns. It could save us. You can’t destroy it.” Hearing the truth of Twilight’s words made Celestia narrow her eyes. “Do you honestly believe you could win in a magic duel against me? In a real duel, not some fillies game?” Twilight knew very well the rules of challenging royalty. It would be a fight, a deadly and dangerous one. Nopony would be killed, but that hardly mattered when Twilight was already a crippled alicorn. “You’re serious,” Celestia said. Her body hardened as she walked back towards Twilight. “You would betray me, betray us, for some dusty old books?” “If they were merely dusty old books you’d not wish to destroy them,” Twilight said, her heart was beating faster than ever before. “So be it.” Celestia said as she took her position facing Twilight. “It is customary for the changed party to get the first move.” Twilight swallowed. There were strict rules to duels between royalty. Basically it was a game of catch. One party would fire a spell, the other would defend. Then the opposite party would fire a spell and the original party would defend. Twilight had gotten a lot of practice in with Starlight in the past, yet it was never for keeps it was always just practice. Nopony was hurt, but in battles like this it would go on until one pony gave up, or was unable to continue fighting. “Yes, it is,” Twilight agreed. Twilight took on her battle stance as she faced Celestia. It felt like her hart was going to break right out of her chest. The skin on the back of Twilight’s neck was crawling. The battle hadn’t even started yet and she could feel sweat beading up on her brow. Celestia’s horn began glowing, and never before had that golden glare looked more threatening than in that moment. “Very well, prepare thy self.” The fireball launched faster than Twilight could see, in fact she only had a moment’s notice to bring her shield back up to full strength. The flaming missile exploded against her shield, though it was weaker than most of Starlight’s attacks, and Twilight was easily able to defend against it. That didn’t make her feel better though, because Celestia wasn’t serious yet, she was simply testing Twilight’s defenses. Twilight swallowed hard. It was now her turn to strike her teacher. A lump of led formed in her stomach as she prepared the laser spell. An attack against Celestia, any attack, big or small was a grievous sin in Twilight’s opinion. But then again so was the destruction of books. It hurt, it felt like she was violating everything she held sacred as her horn took on a pale red aura. “Celestia,” Twilight whispered. “Do not give up now, Twilight. You’ve already made your challenge, now stand for what you believe in,” Celestia said. Twilight fired the laser. It flew true and hit an invisible wall that shimmered with golden light as the laser broke apart across it. Much to Twilight’s surprise Celestia was actually smiling. “Very good, so you can attack me after all.” Now it was Celestia’s turn again, and she fired another fireball at Twilight. This one was stronger, but only by a bit. It was still well within Twilight’s capabilities to stop. “I was always afraid you would never be brave enough to challenge me, Twilight.” Twilight frowned as she began charging her next laser, making it twice as strong as the last one. “Why does that matter?” The beam flew out and slammed against Celestia’s invisible wall. It still did nothing to Celestia. “Because if you were merely a sheep to me, than how could I ever trust you to take command of the kingdom one day. You need to be able to make your own decisions and to stand up for what you believe is right and just, even if your loved ones don’t agree. You need to be strong enough to stand up against even those you love should the need ever arise.” This time Celestia sent two fireballs streaming toward Twilight. Each impact was in different parts of Twilight’s shield causing her to split her focus. This was surprisingly more challenging than blocking one fireball, but neither one of the spells were very powerful. At least not considering what Celestia was truly capable of. Celestia smiled. “You’ve gotten better since you were little. It is a shame that I never had any practice bouts with you. I’m glad you were strong enough to take on the challenges that were set before you.” A flash of anger bit into Twilight’s voice as she replied, “Oh yeah, like sending me and my school friends on those missions?” Twilight hit Celestia’s shield thrice as hard, yet it still didn’t affect Celestia in the slightest. “Twilight, those were meant to test you and strengthen you so that you could become a princess. If you were to become an alicorn you needed to be strong.” Celestia sent three fireballs this time. Twilight changed tactics and created a wall shield to block all of them at once. It worked better than the bubble shield. Still it taxed her to focus on that many targets at once. “How could you even know that I’d become an alicorn? If the elements hadn’t turned me into one than I’d still be a unicorn, I’d grow old, I’d have kids, I’d… have the life I wanted.” Celestia’s eyes widened and her mouth parted open as if to speak. That was when Twilight shot a laser at four times the strength. Maybe it was because Celestia was distracted, or maybe it was because she hadn’t been expecting Twilight to strike that hard, but Twilight was rewarded with seeing a few cracks spread in Celestia’s shield. “Twilight, I thought you said you didn’t want kids,” Celestia said. “That was true when I was filly, I had to raise Spike all on my own, I didn’t know how much it would hurt when all of my friends started having kids and I was left with a barren womb,” Twilight spat. Celestia’s eyes hardened and she sent a torrent of flame down upon Twilight. This time Twilight brought up the bubble shield once more. The flames wrapped around her shield, beating at it, draining Twilight’s internal energy. The torrent was done after a moment. “Twilight, I’m sorry. I should have asked you if you were okay. I would have offered you the chance to live as a normal unicorn if I could. You can still adopt,” Celestia said. Twilight charged up her horn. “You’ve ruined my life. You wouldn’t even let me become a proper wizard. I spent so many years trying to make you proud that I didn’t realize that I wasn’t living for myself. By the time I did realize it, it was too late. My Tartarus damned sister can have kids because she’s the alicorn princess of sex, but I’m just as barren as you are because all I get is friendship!” Twilight’s horn took on a second layer of energy. This time she wasn’t testing Celestia’s shield. She was determined to hurt her old mentor. When she fired the laser this time she watched as the beam split into three and hammered down upon Celestia’s shield. The first two caused massive cracks to split through it, the last one shattered Celestia’s golden wall. Celestia blinked at Twilight and for a moment her mouth worked silently. She recovered quickly though and her face was set into a hard expression her eyes burned holes into Twilight’s soul. “So now you’re serious about this.” Six fire balls flew from Celestia’s horn, and Twilight prepared her wall. The first one struck against the red energy wall with over twice the amount of force as the last one. Then two more hit the wall. Twilight shield was cracking and she realized quickly that she could not block all of them. The other two hit home hard and Twilight’s shield shattered on the impact. The last one flew at Twilight, and she had barely any time to roll out of the way. The explosion cast burning flames over Twilight’s side but she picked herself up quickly enough. The burning sensation brought dreadful memories of balefire, but Twilight wasn’t made fearful of fire for that, no she only grew angrier. This time she poured every ounce of magic that her body had collected in it into her horn. Four layers of over glow covered her horn and she faced down Celestia. This was going to be the end of the challenge; she wouldn’t allow Celestia to get away with burning books this time. Twilight screamed as she unleashed her magic into a beam of crimson fury. It flew true and drilled into Celestia’s shield. The shield cracked, shattered, and Celestia ducked only moments too late. The beam lanced across Celestia’s cheek. It left a deep gash that bleed profusely instead of burning. Celestia picked herself up and Twilight nearly collapsed. This was bad, Celestia was still fully capable of fighting and Twilight didn’t have enough energy left to even bring up a decent shield. While Celestia’s horn glowed, even taking on a second layer of magic as she poured more power into it than before, Twilight realized her only way of getting out of this in one piece would be to give in now. Yet if she did that, Celestia would simply go on to wreck the library while Twilight watched. That was a fate perhaps even worse than death itself. Twelve missiles of fire were launched into the sky. Twilight stared at her incoming death knowing that she couldn’t defend against it. The energy hidden under her eye patch itched to break free. That was it, Twilight still had two days worth of alicorn energy stored up. Not enough to do anything too impressive, but more than enough to defend against something like this. Twilight threw off her eye patch and brought up another bubble shield just in time. This one was red lined with golden stripes. The fire rained down around her, explosions knocking blows into her shield. Her head throbbed as she continued holding up the shield. Each one only got worse. When the explosions were over, and the ground and surrounding grass were on fire Twilight stood there staring at Celestia. She felt her legs shaking and her head was in agony. Celestia’s mane was tipped with orange flame as she stared down at Twilight with an unsympathetic gaze. It was clear that Celestia was still far from beaten, yet Twilight was already past her limit. “Give up, Twilight,” Celestia said coldly. “Never,” Twilight spat. She poured more alicorn magic into her horn. “I will not let you destroy these books so long as I still stand. You’re not taking this from me too.” Celestia took a step forward. “You can’t continue. Face it, you’re beaten. All of your magic comes from the elements, as well as your friends. You can’t fight me with your own strength. Not when I’ve been soaking in sunlight for two whole days.” Twilight’s face went white. “You… two… two whole days?” “I knew that I might encounter some resistance. I just didn’t expect that you would still fight me knowing who I am.” Twilight lowered her head and closed her eye tight. “I… no… no! I can’t let you do this. I have to win.” “Then make your move,” Celestia demanded. Twilight blinked the tears out of her eye. How could she have been so foolish? Of course Celestia would have been preparing for a huge fight. She knew the extent of Twilight’s power better than most ponies. She was able to even take on and defeat the likes of Chrysalis as well as the entire Changeling empire when she prepared for it. More fire covered Celestia’s mane and Twilight knew that Celestia’s next move would destroy her. Twilight had only once chance, but even her alicorn energy was drained. There wasn’t much she could do to stop Celestia. Not like this, not now. Twilight fired another laser at Celestia, and watched it fizzle out against that golden wall of Celestia’s. This was a hopeless battle. Celestia’s mane was covered from head to hoof in fire now along with her tale. “Now it ends, Twilight.” A wave of flames flew from Celestia’s horn washing over the ground and devouring the grass along its way. Twilight ran over to a pillar and hid behind it as the fire raced past her. The heat was too intense and burned at her flesh. The pain was enough to make her scream out. “Come on, Twilight.” Celestia said as the flames died down. “Give up. You’re already out of magic, now you can’t even attack me.” Twilight licked at the burns on her legs, but it didn’t help. Then she saw her sword right next to her. It wouldn’t do much for her to fight with, but it did have one ability that if she could survive long enough would help. It would all but ruin Celestia’s magic. The alicorn magic was all but gone in her eye from using it to shield herself from that barrage. Her normal magic had been drained on that one attack that Celestia had luckily dodged. The only thing Twilight could use to hurt Celestia without breaking the rules would be a magical attack, but using her sword to disrupt Celestia’s shield wasn’t against the rules. Twilight stepped out from behind her place behind the pillar. The sword was barely held aloft by a fading telekinetic aura. Celestia smirked at Twilight. “You know you can’t use that to stop me.” “I can’t attack you with it, no,” Twilight said. “But magical accessories are allowed to improve one’s chances of winning.” “But if you don’t have any magic left to fight with, how could you win against me?” Valiant appeared from the busted doorway. Her saddlebags were full of books. So at least her mission was complete, still it didn’t help Twilight any unless… “Val,” Twilight said. “Do you have any magical energy left?” Celestia looked behind herself and glared at the filly. “Oh, it’s you.” Valiant looked between Celestia and twilight with growing worry. She quickly galloped across the field to Twilight’s side. She looked up with wide eyes that didn’t match in color. “W-what?” “Do you have any energy left?” Twilight asked. Valiant shook her head. “N-not enough to fight. I c-cant even heal anypony now.” Twilight frowned. “That’s-“ A shadow from behind one of the pillars stepped out and formed itself into a stallion. Shade stared at Twilight and Valiant. “You need more energy? Heh, I got some to spare.” Celestia glared at him. “What are you doing?” Shade walked over to Twilight, his black aura covered Twilight’s horn. “It’s the least I can do to repay that filly.” Twilight felt the magical energy transfer into her filling her up. It wasn’t much, in fact it was pretty low compared to what she was used too, but it gave her a shot. Shade walked past the two and toward the blue door leading out of here and back to Equestria. “I’ve had enough with this mission. You can keep the rest of your money, Celestia.” Twilight faced Celestia once more. “It’s not against the rules to have proxies for refueling.” “It is not, but it is looked down upon,” Celestia said. “Don’t care,” Twilight said. “Because it’s my turn.” Twilight poured all the magic she had received into a new spell. Her aura was darkened severally by his magic. Twilight smiled, held her sword aloft, and charged. Celestia stood her ground, and built her shield up. It became a transparent wall of gold bricks, and the power emanating off of it was impressive. Still Twilight charged. Twilight’s blade swung down upon the wall, and found resistance as the blade jaggedly cut through the shield. The shield faltered and then failed altogether, Celestia jumped back out of sword’s reach but it wasn’t Twilight’s sword she had to be worried about. Twilight shot a beam of black red energy at Celestia. It struck her horn and Celestia shrieked as her horn was burned. Celestia thrashed her head left and right. “What did you do?” Twilight took a few cautious steps back. “I followed in Chrysalis’s hoofsteps.” Celestia glared at her. “MY TURN!” Celestia’s horn sparked. She scowled and it sparked again. A scream of rage escaped Celestia and yet again her horn merely sparked. “You injured my horn!” Twilight made sure there was a good distance between them as she grinned. “Does that mean you’re unable to continue fighting?” Celestia frowned. “You…” She stomped a hoof on the ground but her hair was already loosing it’s flaming temperance. Soon she lowered her head and closed her eyes. “You win.” Twilight sheathed her blade. “Your horn will recover.” “Yes, but now I must stay true to my word. You… can take responsibility for the Seekers Archive now.” Twilight looked up at her new library, and smiled. It was indeed impressive. More impressive than both the Canterlot Library and the Crystal Kingdom’s Library combined. Of course it wasn’t just hers and hers alone. She was going to share it with Valiant. “Okay, Val.” Twilight said. “Shall we explore our new building?” Valiant looked at Celestia and frowned. “I…” She shook her head and galloped over to Celestia’s side. Celestia gave Valiant a sad stare. After beckoning for Celestia to lower her head, Valiant hugged Celestia around the neck. Soft white light spread over Celestia’s horn, and although it didn’t do much Twilight did think the horn looked slightly less burned than before. When Celestia pulled away she looked toward the blue door. “You’ll need to change the location of this place’s entrance.” Twilight nodded and walked past her. “Yeah, I will.” “Let me guess, you won’t be telling anypony where it is, even me,” Celestia said. “Especially not you.” “Twilight,” Celestia asked, her voice was full of pain, but not from her horn. For a moment Twilight wanted to ignore her, but she didn’t she stopped and looked back to meet Celestia’s eyes. “Yes?” “I’m sorry, I never meant to harm you. I still think you should destroy this place the moment you are done with it, or perhaps even before then, but I won’t make that decision for you. I can however apologize for all the pain I have put you through, all of it. I’m sorry.” Twilight looked back to the Seekers Archive entrance. “I know you are. I’ll be able to forgive you one day, but not now.” Celestia laughed, but it sounded more like a cry. “I guess I’ll have an eternity to make it up to you.” Twilight and Valiant walked inside the Library. I guess you will.