//------------------------------// // Rituals // Story: Crimson Tides // by CrimsonWalker //------------------------------// The day had gone by fast for Twilight. In one of her classes, she received a “B” on the group project for failing to work with the others. They weren’t too mad since the other members received a “C”. After that, it was a guest lecture on different forms of magic. The topics were of old magic, most of which is believed to be ineffective. There was a good number of students enjoying it. Three had stayed behind to ask a question, which seemed odd to her. She didn’t stick around to hear the question and made her way to the library to practice a few spells. When Twilight entered, it was quiet. The rain poured, and thunder drummed in the background. As she looked around there wasn’t a single pony near. She was a bit surprised, but it was of little concern to her and she made her way to the arcane rooms. They were designed to allow mages to practice spells with precautions already set up. The first room was occupied by the whispered voices she heard, so she went to the second one with a privacy spell to make sure she wasn’t disturbed by the sound, and she began her work. Lost in concentration, she didn’t notice the three unicorns that opened the door. There was a spell, Twilight lost hers and the feedback sent her into one of the walls. Slightly dazed, it took her a couple of seconds to gather the magic to trigger the alarm. Another spell flew towards her. Not wanting to be hit a second time, she hastily changed the magic into a shield and started to gather magic for a teleport. In magical duels, distance was a major factor and three on one weren’t good odds. The other two gathered their magic. The spell broke her shield, but it did what she wanted. Buy time. Twilight and one of the other unicorns released their magic. Twilight disappeared, only to be snapped back to the library into a hard, magical wall. She wasn't feeling great, but she wasn't injured. Standing on shaking legs Twilight looked up, noticing the spherical shield she was now trapped in. Runes glowed on the surface, which was unusual for a normal spell, and based on what she knew, these were a complex teleporting trap. One that should be beyond any of the colts’ understanding. “Well, looks your spell worked. She’ll provide a great amount of energy, and we weaken Celestia too,” one of the unicorns commented, laughing at Twilight’s predicament. Twilight glared at the three unicorns. “Your spellcraft is good. Maybe you can regale the book you learned it from?” “And spoil our fun, not a chance. You’re smart, Twilight, so time is not our friend.” The unicorns swiftly turned and walked away. The spherical shield followed, approaching Twilight’s tail. “If you think I’m just going to follow you three to whatever fate you have in store, you’re wrong. I’m staying right here.” Twilight slammed her hoof down. She would not go with them. “You’ll follow,” the leader spoke, as though it were fact. As the shield touched Twilight, her coat stood straight up, and pain lurched across her. With no choice, Twilight jumped forward. Bolts of pain flashed through her and looking back at her dock, it was singed. Her tail was shorter. One question down. A dozen more left. Twilight kept pace with the ponies. She wasn't happy, but this was better than being electrocuted. As they made their way out of the private room and through the library, Twilight tried to gather more information and ask more questions. Her questions were mostly unanswered, but inanimate objects passed through the shield with no problem. However, as soon as she lit her magic, the shield morphed, causing it to touch a different part of her body. It wasn’t pleasant the first or fourth time. She was barely standing after that. With a good understanding of its workings from the encounters, Twilight had an idea of how it’s cast but hadn’t seen a flaw. She had the whole picture, but the pieces were spread out. After a few minutes, the stallions stopped. They were near the restricted archives now. “Well, we’re here.” With a flash of his horn, a ring with rune’s etched into it was slipped onto Twilight’s horn. Twilight felt the ring as it shrunk to a snug fit, then dug itself into her horn. When she tried to blast the ring apart, she felt the twinkle of her magic’ before it turned. The gathered magic was forcibly ripped away into the ring. Tears rolled down the side of her face as she dropped to her rump. Teeth ground against each other as her anger simmered. “Lovely, the ring seems to be working at full capacity. Now, all we must do is drain the magic from her. Maybe after two more, we’ll have enough power.” The speaker allowed his grin to grow. “Seems to me the ring has a flaw. I have to use my magic for it to take it.” “You’re not wrong, but we’re prepared.” He reached into his saddlebag and pulled a small vial out. Using his hooves, he poured the dust onto his hoof, before blowing it into Twilight’s face. The others immediately backed away from her. Twilight coughed. It took only a moment to realize what the dust is for. It numbed her mind and coaxed her into casting a spell. The spell grew in power, activating the ring. Gritting her teeth, Twilight latched a hold onto her magic. She wasn't just going to allow them to drain her magic and kill her. As the tug of war began, Twilight felt at least five different magical signatures. Although she could only place one of them, they were starting to rip her magic away. Around her, she could see the pulses of magic. The ley lines below the surface; a pulsing book on the back self; runes carved into the floor; enchantments on the walls. If it actively used magic, she could see it. Her head was lighter, she could see spots forming in her vision, tears freely flowed down her muzzle. However, the voices were the worst. They were asking to be let free. To claim her birthright. To topple the rule of the blinding princess. Her ears twitched as they tried to locate the sounds. It was from behind her. Then her vision sharpened; her muscles tensed as she whipped her head back, pulling her magic into her. For the three stallions, their mouths seemed to have passed the floor. They watched as something began to morph Twilight. It started with her eyes. Her pupils were shrinking into slits. It didn't last long. The ring shot four more tendrils at the magic and snaked around. With a yank, Twilight crashed to the floor. A thud was heard as Twilight exhaled a lungful of air. She currently couldn't breathe or groan in pain. The ring let loose a bit of energy as it popped off Twilight. It glowed white. They watched as Twilight was thrown back first into the bookcase. When she hit the floor, her chest compressed with a sickening crack. Twilight laid on the floor, her lungs burned, and her pulse was slow. She could still hear the voices. Looking up, she saw the book of pulsing magic. It drew her towards it. Her eyes were distant; a light shined. Beyond he could feel peace, love, longing, and warmth. No. It won’t end here. Around her, magic permeated the air. It weighed down on her. It felt wrong. The stallions were grinning. They didn’t seem to care that she was dying. That they killed her. All they cared about was the ring. “Well. That’s a surprise. I thought we’d have to trap two more.” His grin grew as he picked up the ring and tossed it inside the circle on the floor. It seemed to have burned his hoof. Each of them went to different triangles. They began to chant as a glowing circle surrounded the ring. The ring hummed with power, brimstone and sulfur permeated through the air. The outer circle was lit ablaze and traveling inward. A summoning portal, Twilight thought through the haze of a myriad of injuries. She didn't have a lot of magic, but she still had her life. “Let me, royal one,” the voices spoke again. Twilight nodded. The stallions finished their chant as a gate to Tartarus opened. Multiple beings wormed and clawed their way out. Twilight’s first spell went off. Four solid chains of magic attempted to pull the portal closed, trapping the smaller ones. It almost succeeded if not for the two big hands fought the closing portal to allow itself and three others in before the portal snapped completely closed. In total, about fifteen made it through. When the portal snapped, anything not completely on Equestria’s side was sliced cleanly through. Some lost hands and tails; others, wings; an unlucky one, head. The second spell formed multiple balls of energy that slammed into the demons. A few were able to defend or dodge. Others were taken out of the fight. Twilight felt blood splatter against her muzzle as claws scraped across her side. It tried to hit her horn, but Twilight pulsed her magic, pushing the clawed demon away. The third spell lit the ground as glyphs appeared. Standing on top of the closed book, a fiend stood. He quickly went to work. Twilight breathed hard, physically, mentally, and magically exhausted. Twilight had no clue what was going on. After the second spell, a third spell had was cast without her even doing the matrix for it. It was an out worldly experience, but she didn’t mind the results. She knew she no chance of holding these many demons. The only thing keeping them in place was her barrier. Everything around her was moving so fast that she couldn't think. Only act. She guided the magic, but never reasoned or questioned what she was doing. It was at this moment, one would say Tartarus broke loose, but it already had. Therefore, pandemonium broke out. Spells, claws, tails, and other weapons were thrown forth in a maelstrom of chaos and order. Some from the stallions, others from the pony fiend guarding the dying mare. The fiend moved fluidly through the fight as he moved Twilight to a safer spot, away from infinite attack vectors. Twilight wanted to protect the unicorn stallions that started this mess but quickly realized the demons were targeting them. The unicorn stallions weren’t much of a threat. When one of the demons got near the unicorn stallions, a bolt of magic hit them. However, all things must end. All that remained in fighting condition were Twilight, the pony fiend, and two other demons. One was an imp. The other was the centaur. He had remained out of the fight, weakened while trying to keep the gateway open. The imp was currently whispering to one of the stallions that started this mess. With an in-equine growl, the stallion jumped towards Twilight. She rolled to the side, not realizing his plan. He stabbed the glowing red horn into Twilight’s side. The demon watched as the wound blacked and blood gushed from the wound. Twilight then felt as though somepony had stabbed her with molten metal. The stallion’s aim was not true, so Twilight’s heart was spared. He tried to get away. Twilight only reacted. Her teeth grabbed onto something; energy and life flowed into her gullet. With a flick of her head and a swallow, her horn glowed. The pain in her back and legs faded. Her chest no longer hurt as she drew each breath. However, the fires still raged in them. Six stars of magic formed around her. One large star surrounded by five smaller ones. Before anything else reacted, a matrix of runes burned the floor. From each point of these smaller six-pointed stars, a beam shot forth. Five demons struck six times were wiped away. The largest star struck the centaur looking creature, but unlike the others, he fought the spell, trying to scatter it. With a matrix of a spell, the two spells exploded, as he rode the energy through the rune matrix and teleported before it stripped him of his soul. All his magic was spent in causing the explosion. His soul splintered and scattered. Twilight then collapsed, caught by the one remaining pony fiend. Looking over the room, he spotted two heavily breathing unicorns about twenty-five feet away. He thought about turning them into a succulent meal, but the one by him needed to be taken care of first. Laying down he wrapped the purple unicorn up in his wings. He gently brought her forth. “Hey… hey…” he softly spoke, pushing against the unicorn. “It's time to wake up.” He waited a moment; her breathing was labored, and the heart was beating faster than normal. “Please…” “Help me… the… the… fires… is…” Twilight choked out as she coughed blood. Another moment and the unicorn wasn't getting better. “Please…” “Viam inveniam aut faciam…” His jaw dropped, and his wings almost dropped Twilight as his mind short-circuited. That language has been dead for ten millennia, outside of his homeland. His turned as he heard the heavy boots, one set out of sync, thumping their way over the raging storm. Its wind howled as it whipped through the city. Rain pelted the rooftops and ponies equally. Most were soaked as though they just came out of the shower. With a spark of magic, he felt who was approached. The white alicorn and seven guards, but they aren’t the run-of-the-mill royal guards. Stronger, two unicorns, a thestral, two pegasi, and two wolf-like? But not the cursed kind. He questioned. He didn’t think Celestia employed the lunar pony races, or she could not know they were lunar. It was nearly impossible to tell them from looks alone. Smell easily gave it away. He glanced at the one in his wing. “The others will survive, but you won’t. Only two magics could heal you. Both of which I can’t cast. The white one, Celestia could cast one of the magic’s, but then you’ll roast alive, and she’ll accomplish nothing. Adsentio.” He smiled. As the door broke, he disappeared. His work complete. All he had to do was wait.