//------------------------------// // Aftermath // Story: Crimson Tides // by CrimsonWalker //------------------------------// Princess Celestia was currently relaxing in her study, about to enjoy the cake she was gifted. The cake appeared to be a simple white cake. As she was lifting the fork to stab her before dinner slice, she felt a wave of magic wash over her. The wave wasn’t a huge problem if it had any other magical signature. The magic was muted like it had many sources, but her student’s magic overpowered them. With this signature, the cake was gently precariously set down. Princess Celestia was out the balcony window, angled towards the guard barracks. Her cake fell to the floor from the gale of wind. Princess Celestia pushed through the double doors of her magi division. They were tasked with the protection of the capital from the magical arts within and kept track of flares. Two ponies have slammed away, but they didn’t spill their paperwork. Beyond was a symphony of chaos. Everypony was carefully avoiding each other, barely, as wings came within centimeters of brushing horns and flanks. They weaved in and out of each others’ ways. One of the leads caught the eye of Princess Celestia and made her way towards. “Princess Celestia, it would be best if we don’t disturb their activities. It’s a bit chaotic in here, and all reports are going through one hub.” The navy blue unicorn lead Princesa Celestia to a room filled with the captains. Each of them, except one, was there. Shining Armor “Lieutenant Shooting Star, where is Lieutenant Shining Armor?” “None of us have seen him since he went home for dinner. We’ve sent messengers to his home and office, but they were both empty. His parents said he had a lot to catch up on at work, but the second in command said he had a very important family dinner.” Shooting Star replied. “At the home, was my student present?” “Um… we didn’t ask…” Shooting Star scratched the back of the neck. “We weren’t able to tell whose magic flared. It was a jumbled ball of strings. You’re usually attuned to such magic, do you know whose it was?” “Yes. It was predominantly my student’s magic, and at least three others.” Before she could speak more, a third voice interrupted. It was Captain Long Shot. “Princess, we seem to have another problem, the alarms for summoning magic triggered and its location seems to be centered on or near Canterlot’s School for Gifted Unicorns Advanced Spell library.” “The Advanced Spell Library? Doesn’t Twilight usually go there after a large project?” “She does, and had a large project due.” Princess Celestia answered while building a spell matrix. “Long Shot, I’ll see what we’re up against. Be ready to mobilize.” In a flash, Princess Celestia was gone. A second later, a thunderous sound could be heard as Princess Celestia reappeared and skipped across the table, crashing into the back wall. With a pained groan and two high pitched screams, Princess Celestia extracted herself and the two stallions she bowled over. Above her, the paper was floating down like the winter’s first snow. Princess Celestia stood up, her base good, but weakened. She let out a grunt as she shook the double vision away, and the Lunas. “Princess?” Shooting Star asked. “I am fine. Just a bit shook up.” It was then that Princess Celestia figured out what happened. Her teleport was snap rebounded. “Anypony hurt?” “Yes,” groaned one of the ponies extracted from the wall. Princess Celestia looked back at them, then to Long Shot. “Second thought, do an emergency recall. I want your full squad here in twenty. Full combat gear and readiness.” Long Shot, a dual-toned sky blue pegasus looked very concerned. His jaw was wide open, as a fly flew in. His cutie mark was of an arrow in a bullseye. “Princess, are you sure we need all of Zulu in full gear? We’re not breaking an army or repelling a large scale invasion, so I hardly believe we’ll need everyone.” He had hesitated in his asking, his wings shaking. Fear seemed present to all but Princess Celestia and Long Shot. The rest of the ponies seemed frozen, some remembering advanced combat training, where only one member of Zulu knocked the class unconscious, without any combat gear, and he was one in the room. From the rumors, he’s their leader and to be part of Zulu you had to draw blood from him. But that was only the first test. The final was to hold your own against Princess Celestia. Most that passed the initial test didn’t make it to the final test. The training had disabled at some point. It was also rumored that together, Zulu could defeat Princess Celestia. “Yes, I am sure that they will do admirably. Although I was snapped back, I was able to confirm a few things.” Princess Celestia levitated a file over. “Take a look in here, they are for your eyes only. You have twenty minutes to meet me at the southern gates.” Grasping the file in his hooves, he gave a quick salute before shooting out the room. In the twenty-three minutes, it took to gather his team, and read the file, another two flares had happened. Princess Celestia was tapping her hoof. She stood outside the southern gate. The more time he spent, the less time they had. Finally, the seven ponies arrived. Princess Celestia looked them over: Two earth ponies, three pegasi, and two unicorns. She recognized Quick Fix, Long Shot and Ruby Fire first. The earth ponies seemed comfortable with each other, though. One was silver coated, while the other was charcoal. The pegasi were twins Summer Breeze and Winter Chill. They weren’t full members yet if she remembered correctly. She could only tell them apart since Summer Breeze was a head shorter than Winter Chill. Each of the assembled gave Princess Celestia a salute. Once it dropped, Long Shot stepped forward, his bow sitting across his back, and quiver of arrows strapped to his hoof. “Sorry for the delay I had to grab these two since the other two are preoccupied with,” he began before yellow magic enveloped him. In a flash, they were a block from the school. Princess Celestia wasted no time as she began galloping towards it. Other guards were starting to organize a perimeter. The others quickly fell into a diamond formation, with medic Quick Fix in the middle. Long Shot was flying in the back, looking for ambushers, or far-out combatants. Princess Celestia led the squad, turning quickly and leaping downstairs. It took only minutes for her to reach the correct room. The closest was one of the earth ponies. He was three minutes behind Celestia. The furthest was Long Shot, five minutes behind, as he called out, “Princess! Let us enter first. Your eyes don’t…” When she did, she pivoted on one of her front hooves and sent her back hooves into the door. They glowed with magic, and the door was splintered as it exploded from the impact. Celestia did hear a shout as she pivoted but paid no mind to it. The room was void of light, but she could see three, no two sets of glowing red eyes. With a spark of her magic, she bathed the room in light. She heard hissing from the sets of eyes belonging to injured demons. As she surveyed the room, the light went out. A void of black tentacles dispersed it. “Foul creature, you will be cleansed.” Princess Celestia pivoted, taking the time to summon her maul. The black tentacles seemed to corral a prone form. They revived away from her magic as she arced the maul. A wave of magic was pushed out. The tentacles formed a barrier, but it shattered when the maul came down. The room lit back up, and shortly returned to darkness. Two lances silenced the breathing demons. The princess closed the gap between the tendrils and herself. The tentacles then grabbed the wing of the princess and flung her into the west wall. They hadn’t moved from the prone form, which Celestia found odd. By this time, Amoux had arrived. “Princess, you alright?” “Yes. They just surprised me with their strength and quick movements. It’s odd they aren’t straying from where I first saw them.” Amoux looked out into the room. There were four ponies. Three unicorns and an earth pony. However, one of the ponies smelled odd. Similar to Long Shot, but different. He could also smell blood; it was almost overpowering. “At least one pony is injured. I smell too much blood.” “The shadow magic needs to be dispersed first. It hides what it guards.” Princess Celestia took to the air. From her higher point, she launched a ball of white magic. One of the tendrils formed a bat, knocking the magic away, but burning a lot of itself away. As suspected. Weak to solar celestial magic. The princess made her maul hum with the magic she infused. Amoux approached the tendrils. They watched him but didn’t attack. They seemed more concerned with the maul. “Princess, I think you should wait. There’s something odd about these tendrils. Have they attacked you?” The princess gave her wing a mighty flap. She heard the guard’s question but paid it no mind. This is shadow magic, the kind used by demons to mask themselves. They hurt her Student. Giving her wings a strong downward flap, Princess Celestia pushed off from the wall, towards the center of the tendrils. About ten feet from her target, she angled her wings, grabbing the shaft of her maul, somersaulting forward. The maul followed. With a mighty hit, the ground beneath the raised shield cracked. There was an explosion of light. A shattering of a shield. Bones breaking. When the dust settled, Princess Celestia felt something wrestle the maul from her grip. With a flick near its shaft’s center, Princess Celestia felt the maul crack into her jaw, sending her cartwheeling into another wall. The maul was sent spinning in the opposite direction. Amoux was disoriented. The meeting of the shield and maul deafened and blinded him. The wind expelled from his chest as the maul hit his back. He whimpered. “Amoux!” the charcoal earth pony screamed. Her eyes lit with a golden aura and saw the prone form of a lavender pony. Her side was charred along with the area around her. The earth pony’s sight of the lavender disappeared as tendrils obscured it. They flailed around, but she could see a pattern. They’re aiming for the princess. The earth pony knew Princess Celestia was still disoriented. “Princess Celestia! Raise a shield.” The pegasi shot forward at the same time as the tendrils. Princess Celestia raised a hasty shield. The first two cracked the shield. The third broke the shield. The fourth and fifth penetrated the enchanted wall. They bored a hole through it. Princess Celestia popped back, with two pegasi in her wings. “Stay back. Those tendrils will skewer you if take a direct hit.” The Princess summoned a sword, gripped in her magic. Its white blade lit the room, unmasking the tendrils as they moved about. With fire in her eyes, she charged forward. “Princess Celestia! RETREAT! Your magic is aggroing the tendrils.” The Princess didn’t. “Ruby, shield the tendrils. Her sword mustn’t strike what it guards.” “What! Quick Fix, you’re…” “I know, but trust me. The Princess’s path will be a terrible mistake.” He moved his hoof and a glowing chain unwrapped. Attached to the chain was a ball. Snapping the chain, he sent it towards Princess Celestia. Moving his hoof, it started to encircle her. The Princess reached the tendrils. Seeing all of them strike at her, she teleported, wings flared. Her sword slashed the air, cracking a ruby barrier. The sword was deflected northward. Princess Celestia quickly moved it to thrust. Unfortunately, the tendrils had other plans. They snaked around her wings, and with a twisting snap, Princess Celestia was thrown headfirst into the wall. She tried to use her wings to slow her momentum, but as soon as she did, pain knifed into them. She was rendered unconscious, head through the wall, and her majestic wings seemed to be at odd angles. The others gaped. Quick Fix had his horn glowing as he rushed towards the swirling mass of tendrils. The charcoal earth pony tried to grab him, but she was knocked to the side. The tendrils watched his approach, preparing to turn him into shredded paper. They had enough of them. As his magic touched the form they guarded, they parted. He moved in closer. The light grew, tinting the area green. “Ruby. Areal teleport. Medical hub, class 1 trama.” Her magic glowed and they disappeared. “Long Shot. I’m checking on Amoux. The pegasi are looking over Princess Celestia.” “Conditions of both?” Long Shot asked as he stepped out from a corner. He looked into the well-lit room. “Glad the lights are back. As for Princess Celestia, she is out cold. She has at least a fractured jaw, and both wings are broken in multiple places. Quick Fix is needed here, not treating what injured Princess Celestia,” one of the pegasi angrily snapped. “Judgements are due once we know the facts.” He turned towards Ruby, the lone unicorn. “Ruby, did you recognize the magic those tendrils were?” “Princess Celestia called them shadow magic,” Amoux answered. He was still winded. “But something was off about them. They parted for Quick Fix, while any time the princess got close, she had been pushed away. As soon as the maul broke through and cracked the bones of whatever was being guarded, they moved more offensively.” “It wasn’t offensive in nature. They were defensive. The struck out like a spear wall when Princess Celestia charged with her sword. When they threw her, I think they were trying to remove her mobility.” “You’re right. I think they were defensive. They never attacked me.” “Then how were you injured?” Long Shot asked. Amoux pointed to maul near him. “That was tossed back. I was its path. Couldn’t avoid. Was deafened and blinded.” “Ruby, your assessment?” “The tendrils guarded Twilight. Unfortunately, I was only able to get them to Canterlot General. Something lingering here made teleporting a lot harder. Took about two hundred percent more magic than it usually does, and that was only half the range. The magic in those tendrils is impressive. It was able to withstand a strike from Princess Celestia’s maul and still toss her like a rag doll.” While they talked back and forth, a shaft of light enveloped Princess Celestia. It calmed the pegasi as they watched the numerous injuries heal. Her wings snapped and reformed. He jaw set itself right. Her broken leg straightened. The cut in it glowed through the armor. Though, the magic could do nothing about the pounding headache she had. “What are our orders?” “To figure out what has transpired here. What happened to the shadow demon. Where my student is. Whether my student is alive or dead. Kill the shadow demon that injured me.” “It wasn’t a demon, but a shadow construct. It seemed intent on keeping Twilight from being injured. And when you did, it though to disable you. See the wall? I think your armor would have been penetrated. You had a cut on your leg, Princess Celestia.” Ruby grinned. “Well, then find whoever made that shadow construct. It was very powerful, and if given different commands, deadly. Each time it was hit, it used the magic to recharge itself. I realized that too late. “Long Shot. I am sorry that I undermined your command. Each of your squad members has a specific role, and Zulu was created to oppose alicorn strength threats. I took the lead when I shouldn’t have. You seem to have more experience than me with the supernatural.” Long Shot nodded. The earth ponies retreated to guard the loan unicorn. “With your student safe at Canterlot General, we will get onto the task of figuring out what has transpired. Once we are done, we will watch and protect your student. If the demons died here, there has to be a reason, because they wouldn’t stay.” “I agree. As for the three others, take these three to the on-campus medical center. I will send a pair of paladins to complete the autopsy on the earth pony. Interview the two unicorns. See if they were the ones to do the summoning, and what they know of the earth pony.” “Understood. Pegasi and Ebony, get a surgical room and chain the other two something that won’t move. Make sure they are alright and don’t have anything missing.” In a flash, Princess Celestia was gone. Each one grabbed a remaining body and flew out. Long Shot glanced around, looking at the carnage. Why was Twilight in the middle? Based on what I can see, they were converging on somebody, but she was left in the middle. “Long Shot, we may have a small problem.” Ruby intoned. “What do you mean?” “The present arcane circles. Two are for summoning. The one in the center and the one over here.” Ruby walked over. Around her, there wasn’t much. Just a bit of Twilight’s blood. “This smaller one is more concentrated and takes very specific individuals to cast. It also summons someone. “However, the larger one I think opened a gate. There are three protection circles, too. And some incomplete ones. Since parts were damaged in the clash, I can’t tell where the gate was opened, or if it was to a specific location. Meaning we’re short one unicorn.” Ruby continued to look around. In the center of the large summoning circle, Ruby levitated a ring up. It was intricately carved, runes etched into its surface and heavy with magic. Giving it a once over, it clattered loudly to the ground. “Long Shot, add another problem. We have a broken class black artifact. The Alicorn’s ring.” “What’s the alicorn’s ring?” Amoux asked. He knew that black level artifacts were seeped in the darkest of magics, and corrupted its users. “A set of four rings. One for each solar tribe. When putting on another pony, it forcefully drains all the magic out of its wearer, killing her,” Long Shot answered. “Wait. You said broken, Ruby?” “Yes. Its enchantment is inert. I can sense the presence of six magics still in it, one of which from Twilight Sparkle. It’s also empty of magic, which means it was spent on something.” “If it kills the wearer, and Twilight’s magic is on it, doesn’t that mean Twilight is dead?” “Most likely.” “Then who was Quick Fix working on? Since we are suspecting demons and I know some can inhabit the body of the dead.” “I didn’t see what he was working on, but it was ponyesque and lavender,” Amoux stated. “Did anyone see her eyes?” Long Shot asked. The remaining shook their heads. It clicked. Three protection circles. Incomplete circles. This was rushed and occurred after they drained Twilight. It also meant that demons could try to inhabit the body, and take the place of their current soul. If Twilight is dead, her body would be soulless. A prime target. Long Shot cursed. “Everyone, you secure this area, get your tails to Canterlot General. We may have a demon to put down where it could draw souls of the dying.” “Should we alert the Princess?” “We only have speculation. I want confirmation since if that is what we’re dealing with, only a cleanse works. Demons can split their souls up if they have a place for it. A dying soul is a shrinking soul, meaning there’s room.” “Yes, sir. Good luck, and may Faust smile on you.”