Heart of Magic
Chapter One: Odd Omen
Amber Light stared out the window of the tallest part of Twilight's Tree Castle. The thick wooden walls, floor, and ceiling all felt like home to her. the green leaves just outside the window were each as large as a filly and almost seemed to glow with their own radiance. The room she was in was stuffy, quiet, and filled with dust. How long had it been since this place was last cleaned? Considering the broom and dust pan she had equipped in her telekinetic aura, she was well aware of when it would be cleaned next... as in the next few minutes.
"Ugh, I hate cleaning," Amber complained as she did her best to ignore the fact that Twilight had once again stuck her with this chore. "What does cleaning have to do with fighting evil monsters and saving the world?"
"It has lots to do with it point in fact," said the almost mother voice from the doorway behind her. Twilight entered the room. One of her eyes was covered by a eye patch which glowed softly at the edges with contained magical energy. Despite being taller than Amber Light, and still being an alicorn, Twilight was devoid of any wings on her back. For some reason she had chosen to never regrow her wings.
Amber let out a sigh as Twilight came to sit next to her on the dusty floor. "How is the cleaning going?"
She glanced up at Twilight, honestly she was one of the only ponies that Amber had to look up at and it still felt awkward. "Slow. I have friends you know, and we would much rather go out and save Equestria."
Twilight shook her head. "Listen, Amber... you're not even eighteen yet, and some of you're friends are hardly even sixteen years old. I will not put any of you at risk until you're full grown adults."
Amber looked up at her and met the steel gaze of Twilight's eye. "But you did!"
Twilight only stared back at her for a long moment before replying, "And I'm still going to therapy for it. I can't put you in the same situation I was thrust in as a kid. Celestia screwed up, and screwed up hard with me and so many of her students. You're poor mother seems to have received the worst of it by far..."
Amber shrugged. "Oh like becoming an alicorn and having it ripped away from her at some gala or something. Yeah, like I haven't heard that story before... over and over and over again."
Twilight's eye softened. "You grew up with all the adults having such amazing stories to tell you. I'm sure that must be hard to know when we keep telling you six to calm down and relax until you grow up."
Amber stared forward. "My big sister even got to go on an epic adventure with you and fight a monster!"
"And I'm still paying for that incident with Maud. Trixie was much more understanding at least."
"But not when it comes to me..."
Twilight reached out and wrapped a foreleg around Amber's shoulder and drew her into a hug. "You're Trixie's baby. She wants to keep you safe. We both know she can't always do that, but at least let her have her security while you're still young. After all she suffered, she deserves that much at least, can you do that for her, for me?"
Amber let out a long sigh and snuggled into Twilight's fur. Somehow Twilight always knew what things to say to make her listen. "Fine... I'll do that, but only because I love my mom... and you I guess."
Twilight laughed. "Well I kinda adopted you so you don't have a choice."
The wind outside blew fiercely causing the leaves to shake and dance about. Twilight's eye narrowed at the sight. Amber felt her grip tighten ever so slightly. "What's wrong?"
Twilight's voice came out quiet, but there was an undertone of hardness to it. "That was Rainbow Dash, she was heading for the castle."
Amber blinked. What was Rainbow Dash? She didn't see her at all. Surely even with all her boasting Rainbow wasn't so fast as to become invisible could she? As the leaves calmed down Amber saw a feint trail of rainbow light in the air. It was so feint that if she wasn't actually looking for it, she never would have seen it. Maybe Rainbow Dash really was that fast, and that awesome.
Twilight rose to her full imposing height and began towards the door. "Amber, I'm going out for a bit. I'll expect you to continue cleaning here. You're doing a great job so far, so don't worry, I'm sure you can do it."
Amber shook her head. "I want to know what has Rainbow in such a hurry!"
Twilight offered a small smile that said she understood, and was not going to budge on her position. No words needed to be said, Twilight left and Amber looked around the room she was left in. At least she would have the cleaning to take her mind off of things. That couldn't hurt after all, now could it.
Cleaning the room didn't take too long. Careful use of some telekinesis, a broom and dust pan later she managed to kill the dust and clean up the empty room. So many rooms in this castle were empty. Heck Twilight didn't even live in the tree castle, only a small selection of staff did, and even they weren't supposed to clean every single room. The entire top floor was actually off limits to everypony save for Twilight, well that and the basement, but the basement was a secret.
After cleaning the room Amber found herself wondering about a bit aimlessly. Now there was nothing to do. She wanted the hot scoop on whatever Rainbow Dash was doing, but if she was in Canterlot by then there would be no chance for her to find out. Of course, Rainbow Dash wasn't her only source of information. Out of all of Rainbow's kids, one in particular stood out in Amber's mind as being a good chance to get some news from. Now she just had to find out where Blackout was hiding.
It wasn't nearly as hard to find out where Blackout would be hiding out as she first thought. In reality there were only a few places the mare could be, and it turned out she was in her favorite hangout. Sugar Cube Corner. The family run business was a three story building, maybe four story if one considered the upstairs loft as two floors in and of itself. It was decorated to look like it was covered in sweets of all kinds and varieties. On the front door a pink sign read in big curvy and friendly letter, 'If you need anything at all, just call for Pinkie Pie'. The current owner of the establishment was perhaps one of the friendliest, and happiest ponies in all of Equestria.
One step in and Amber's nostrils were hit by the wonderful smell of freshly baked donuts, cookies, and was that a cake she smelled in the background? Off in the corner Amber spotted the mare she wanted. In the corner sat a round pudgy pegasus with gray fur and a mane of striking black and white. The image of a lightning bolt was forever painted into her tail with the strange way her tail grew. The black lightning bolt on her flank was also a prominent thing. This was Blackout, and she was currently stuffing her face with a piece of cake, while being surrounded by pieces of cake, some cookies, and half a dozen cupcakes. It should also be noted that Blackout was completely alone.
"Hey, Blackout!" Amber called as she trotted over.
Blackout looked up from her booth and rolled her eyes. "Sup, stretch?"
Amber scowled. Being tall had proven to be useful for her on occasion in the past, but she still didn't like being a giant mare. Sadly that was a problem that perhaps only Big Mac could really understand. "You eating the entire store yourself or what?"
Blackout took a bite of cake and spoke around it. "I'm doing what I want."
This was quickly leading into another fight. Amber didn't want that. She wanted to get info. "I saw your mom take off earlier. What's going on?"
Blackout eyed her suspiciously. "Why are you asking?"
"Because I think you're mom is super hot and I want to get with her. Now tell me what's up."
Blackout snorted and choked on her food for a moment. "Darn you, how dare you make me laugh while I'm eating out the entire store." She recomposed herself and nodded toward the booth across from her. When Amber sat down she continued. "Okay, so I don't really know what's going on, but I did catch a little bit of it. Some batpony showed up, middle of the day, in our living room. It was like the stallion walked right out of the freaking shadows."
Probably Luna's secret service member there to keep Rainbow's family safe. "Scary stuff. What next?"
Blackout closed her eyes. "I'm not sure. They were speaking so quietly that I can't believe my mom could hear them. She can't hear it when all of the kids start fighting, so I figured-"
Amber interrupted. "Blackout, there is a difference between tuning you guys out, and not being able to hear."
Blackout glared. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't catch that, I was tuning you out... anyway where was I? Oh yeah, I was telling my story!"
Amber leaned back. "Sheesh, I'm sorry."
"That's better. Now I was saying that even though I couldn't hear them very well I could catch bits and pieces. It sounded like some soldiers got hurt or died or something. And it happened on the southern border."
A spike of fear plunged itself into Amber's heart at the mention of trouble from the south. A good while ago Amber and her friends calling themselves 'the guardians of harmony' were forced to save the entire town from some kind of evil shadow thing. It had possessed everypony that Amber knew. During the fight something weird happened and Amber got super powers, if only for a few moments. It was enough to lay a magical smack down on the monster, but she could see that it was connected to something greater, something from the south. She dearly hoped this was not at all connected.
"Amber... you don't think it's the shadow thing again do you?" Blackout asked, her tone was quiet.
Amber shook her head. "We don't know anything yet. It could just be a changeling attack. Queen Chrysalis does raids against the border after all."
Blackout stared at her food. "Well even if it is another shadow thing, we'll kick it's flank just like we did last time."
Amber wanted to agree, but she hadn't been able to access those powers again since then. She didn't know if she could access them again when needed now... still she could and would try her best. She was Twilight's apprentice, and it was her job to fight the evils in this land to keep Equestria safe. After all her and her friends were supposed to replace the Elements of Harmony or something right... she had to do this.
The front door's bell chimed and Amber looked over to see Fluttershy walking in. Unlike everypony elses mom, she didn't look a day over twenty years old. It was almost as if she was cursed to be young forever or something. Fluttershy saw them immediately and offered them a kind smile. She then went straight to the counter where her wife Pinkie was at and gave the mare a kiss on the cheek. "How's the sweetest baker in Equestria doing today?"
Pinkie's entire face turned red and she stammered for a moment before correcting herself. "The Bestest now that you're here!"
Fluttershy's smile grew. "Did you see our niece is here today."
Amber stood up and started toward the door. "And that's my cue to leave. Thanks for the info fatty."
Blackout retorted, "What, I can't hear you from up there legs!"
Amber quickly snuck out the front door before she could be made the object of attention again. She had still needed info, and now that she had some clues she would need to find a more direct source to steal from. It might be time to hire out a little ninja to do some recon for her.