Heart of Magic

by TheCrimsonDM

Part Two Chapter Twelve: Dark Deity

Amber opened her eyes. For a moment her eyes were blinded by a golden orange light coming over the horizon. After looking away it took her a few minutes to adjust her vision to see what was around her. She was surrounded by a ruined house, its walls mostly crumbled and its wood stained gray with what looked like layers of dust or ash. The air smelled and tasted stale. She walked forward kicking up a small dust cloud with every step. Something about this ruined building felt familiar though she couldn’t quite place why.

She walked to what used to be a front door and was just about to leave the building when she looked on the floor and saw a face down picture frame. First she tried using her magic but her head exploded into pain when she did so she used the secret earth pony arte of simply picking up the picture frame. The front of the picture frame was caked in a thick layer of dust. She wiped it off with a hoof and saw an old faded photo of her and her family.

Amber set it down and let out a sigh. “I guess this is another nightmare then.” She walked out the door. “Well if this is a nightmare then can I at least be an alicorn warrior princess?” Much to her pleasure a pair of wings with the tips glowing red hot like embers appeared on her sides. A hammer was slung to her left. “Now this is better.”

Outside she saw the world around her. It was all covered in the same gray dust, not a single piece of greenery. Not a single full building. To her right she saw what looked like the remains of a giant tree made of some kind of rock or crystal, though it was faded with only a vague hint of a pink hue left to it. Several small buildings stood but only just barely.

Amber refocused her attention to where the glaring light was coming from. The horizon was on fire, or maybe it was just the sunrise, she couldn’t tell as it burned too brightly to look at directly. Amber walked, step by step toward the light. After awhile she heard some steps ahead of her and she jumped behind a ruined wall and hid. With a careful peak around the corner she saw a young mare only a couple years older than her at most. The mare was sky blue, wore the magical cloak that Trixie gave to Amber years ago, and was an alicorn. The mare was looking out ahead of her watching another odd sight. It was another young alicorn, this one had all the same colors as Twilight Sparkle but was like shorter than Amber was, so maybe it represented Twilight’s kid? The purple alicorn in question was speaking with a mare that even Amber could recognize; Starlight Glimmer. The pair were too far away for her to hear them but it sounded like some kind of argument.

A much more mature voice appeared behind Amber nearly shocking her out of her hiding place. “Amber? What in the depths of tartarus are you doing here?”

Amber turned away and saw Luna staring down at her. Her body was covered in dirt, dust, scrapes and bruises. She wore a tattered hooded cloak and a scarf covering her muzzle. “How are you here?”

Amber turned away to look at the other ponies she had been watching but they were gone now. Vanished from plain sight as if they never existed. She turned to face Luna who was still here and Amber shrugged. “Just thought I’d have another nightmare.”

Luna’s eyes widened. “Nightmare? This isn’t a-“

The orange light burned brightly across the landscape and the temperature sky rocketed. Amber found herself instinctively hiding behind the wall too afraid to look out behind it. Yet everywhere the light touched it burned. Luna’s horn lit up and a cool shield surrounded them. “I cannot promise that I can keep you safe for long. This battle is meant for the gods. You should not be here.”

Amber stood up and looked around the wall and saw a burning alicorn made completely of flames and fury sending a tidal wave of flames out from her horn burning at a dark cloud of pure black hate. The cloud loomed down around the flaming alicorn but was burned away as it tried.

Amber stepped back until she bumped into Luna. “What is that?”

Luna nodded. “That is my sister, fighting off against the most evil threat we’d ever seen. The one even that felled even the Elements of Harmony. This world is gone. Nopony stands here to fight save for us two, and we will not give in until our favored enemy has fallen to our magic.”

Luna stepped forward. “This world may be covered in the ashes of our loved ones, but even that will not stop us from defeating this one last foe.”

Amber looked down at her hooves. “Ashes of our-“ she suddenly felt sick.

Luna stared down at her. “Seems like your time here is up.”

Another voice cried out to her. It was familiar as well. It sounded like… a screaming royal princess. “AMBER LIGHT, IT IS TIME THAT YOU AWAKEN FROM YOUR MOST HORRIBLE OF VISIONS!”

Amber blinked and the world around her disappeared. Now she found herself in her own room again. She was in her bed, her head hurt, and something heavy and warm was lying by her side. Amber looked down only to see her mom’s head lying next to her. Her head hurt really bad. Rubbing at her temples didn’t make her headache go away, instead it only rubbed some dirt off on her face. Looking down at her hooves her heart froze in stark horror and confusion.

Her hooves were covered in ashes.

Twilight found herself once again pacing, this time it was outside of Trixie’s home. The ground was already beginning to protest under the weight of her hooves and her rapid movements. The only thing she could think of was how much she’d nearly screwed up. Amber nearly died on this mission. She was supposed to be better than Celestia. She wasn’t supposed to put her student in harm’s way like this. Yet now here she was, with an injured student, an upset mother, and an injured friend. Where was she screwing up at?

The flask tasted of bitter fire as she took another pull from it. By now she should have been empty, of course that was before she found Trixie’s hidden whiskey stash. It wasn’t good whisky by any stretch of the imagination, it was fairly cheap but it worked. Refilling her flask was about the only thing she got right today.

The sound of hooves approaching behind her came with the gentle sent of moon petals. Twilight didn’t need to turn around in order to know who was coming her way. “Luna, I’m surprised your still here.”

Luna’s reply was gentle but there was a slight hesitation to it. “I thought you could use the company.”

Twilight felt herself smiling. “You seem to know me better than I know myself most of the time.”

“Do you even know yourself anymore?”

Twilight looked back at her and saw the unreadable expression in Luna’s eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You didn’t have enough whiskey in that flask to still be drinking from it. Where did you get more?”

Twilight shrugged. “My flask was like, half full for some reason when I left. Thought the least Trixie owed me for saving her daughter was a quick refill.”

“Hmm.”

Twilight felt her eyes narrowing on Luna, but managed to catch herself before speaking out loud her protest to that judgment. “Luna, we have bigger concerns than my choice of liquids right now.”

Luna grumbled. “I agree. These… tar things. They have not spread outside of the Everfree Forest yet, but that does not mean they couldn’t if left unchecked.”

Twilight nodded. “I am going to issue a careful watch of magic hunters to patrol the outside of the forest. Specifically for these tar creatures.”

“That is a surprisingly reasonable action.”

Twilight growled. “Why is it surprising?”

Luna shook her head. “I’m tired is all. We are dealing with things that even I am not sure what to make of. I’m sorry if my exhaustion is making me… grumpy.”

Twilight let out a sigh. “Ditto.” She looked up at the night sky. The moon was full tonight, its bright light shining down and filling the air with a unique kind of magic that was far too familiar to Twilight at this point. Of course this meant that Pinkie was going to have her hooves full with her wife tonight as well.

“Twilight, what are we doing?”

Twilight blinked. “What… what?”

Luna was only a few inches away from her now. There muzzles almost touching. “There are threats popping up all over now. Dangerous ones. As if the world we carefully built was coming undone now by just a few crazy events. What are we doing?”

Twilight lowered her head and let her face fall into Luna’s neck. The warmth of Luna’s fur against her face was more than a comfort for her now, it was a need. “We are surviving. Dealing with each threat as it appears. For now, until we can gain more information this is all we can do.”

Luna completed the gesture by laying her muzzle on top of Twilight’s head. “We should confer with my sister about what is going on. Mayhap she would have a solution to our current problems. Even if we are the same age she is far more experienced then I.”

Twilight nuzzled into Luna’s neck. “Alright. If you go with me I’ll… talk to her again.”

Luna’s muscles moved as Twilight felt a smile grow over her lips. “Thank you. And for being such a good princess, I say you deserve a just reward.”

Something stroked Twilight’s rump drawing a quick and quiet yelp from Twilight. She looked up to see a magical and mischievous look in Luna’s eyes. Well… if this was what Luna had in mind, Twilight had to agree, it wasn’t a bad idea.