Heart of Magic

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Thirteen: Triforce Terror

Twilight stood once more in the imposing ivory castle of Princess Celestia. The city below and behind her was lively even this late at night. This was about the last thing she wanted to do. Confronting Celestia, especially after how shameful she had acted. Luna was only a few feet away giving her a reassuring smile. It didn’t make Twilight feel any better. The only thing that relaxed her nerves was the burning liquid in her flask, of which she took another drink of to steel her nerves. Luna’s smile all but faded in an instant.

Twilight walked toward the double doors and braced herself for what could possibly be another confrontation. Opening the door revealed the great hall where Celestia and Luna’s thrones stood. With each step into the room Twilight felt herself growing tense. Celestia was there on the throne staring down at her with an unreadable expression. It could have been a cold glare, or a disappointed stare, whatever Celestia was feeling was hidden behind that stoic mask.

Twilight and Luna walked to the middle of the hall. The whole while Twilight’s mind was racing to remember what had happened the last time she was in front of Celestia. They were meeting in her basement, and… Twilight had found a few bottles of Celestial Hellfire Whiskey. Everything after that was a blackout until she woke up with everypony mad, but much to her surprise they were angry with her student and not actually her.

This was going to be a diplomatic meeting and Twilight was positive she’d done or said something horrible… again. So her first action had to be the most important chess move made tonight. Twilight lowered her head and braced her pride to take a hit. “I’m sorry.”

Celestia replied. “Oh?”

“Yes, I know that what I did when I was… drunk was horrible. I’m sorry I said and or did that to you. I hope that you can at least look past my actions so we can work together to keep our country safe.”

A smile appeared over Celestia’s lips. She must have known that it took a lot for Twilight to lower herself like that. Much worse it meant she knew she had that much more power over Twilight at the moment. Twilight had to simply deal with it though. She chose to get blackout drunk and do something horrible.

At length Celestia spoke. “I forgive you. Now let’s move on to what brought you here tonight. I’m sure it must be important if you’re apologizing right out of the gate like this.”

Twilight let out a sigh and rose to her full height. “There is a new threat to Equestria, one that possibly rivals that of the Alicorn Empire.”

Celestia gave her a long quiet look. No emotion could be seen behind those eyes, yet the room itself seemed to fluctuate in temperature growing warmer and colder. “Explain?”

“There seems to be a substance. This dark tar like slime that is capable of bringing life back from the dead but mutating it into a sort of monster in the process. It brought back an Ursa Minor turning into… well a monster.”

Luna nodded. “This ooze seems to be growing out of the Everfree Forest. I would be so bold as to suggest it might even be a manifestation of pure evil, the likes of which we have not seen in almost a millennia.”

Celestia turned her head away to stare at a glass mural against the wall. This one showed the mane six all coming together and using their elements of harmony to create a rainbow. It was one way to look at the events of Nightmare Moon but in a more positive light, showing the coming together of a new group of heroes rather than the destruction of an old enemy. “Primordial ooze… this feels familiar but I fear I only know of one pony who might have knowledge on this substance.”

Twilight didn’t have to guess who it was. Her mouth felt like it was vomiting acid as she spoke the name, “Starswirl.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed. “The creature who took your wings from you shall not be given the time of day. We shall solve this conundrum ourselves.”

Twilight shook her head, pulled her flask to her mouth and just before taking a drink said, “He’s locked in a magic sealing tower, at this point all he can do is talk.”

Celestia let out a sigh as Twilight drank from her flask. “He could do much more than that, though I believe he already obtained his goal.”

Luna snarled, lifted her wing and swatted it near Twilight’s flask. The wing froze mere inches from the flask and Twilight could only stare at the beautiful feathers mere inches from her face. Luna’s wing retreated and she shook her head. “I cannot allow you to face this demon.”

Twilight recalled her promise. That no matter what dark gods she had to face she was going to save this world. She lowered her flask, the taste of burning whiskey still strong on her lips. “Luna, this is my choice. I am going to ask him some questions.”

Celestia looked between the two of them and finally settled on looking up at the ceiling. “I fear that even should we survive another war, the cost might already be too high.”

Valiant Heart stood on the edge of a cliff overlooking the series of canyons filled with red sandstone, sparse vegetation, and crystals growing out like weeds. This place was stunning. Sure rocks weren’t her hobby so at most she could guess by the colors that she saw sapphires, rubies, and emeralds growing out of the sandstone. Maud had tried to correct her a couple times already but the most she remembered was that one of the rocks was called a lapli uzily or something.

Maud was actually down below her using some climbing gear to scale down the canyon and a pickaxe in her mouth to chip away at some of the gems. Valiant smiled down at her. Maud was in her element.

A young foal’s voice spoke next to her. “I wonder if she’s really happier in Ponyville than she is here?”

Valiant looked down at the colt next to her. This was Boulder Dash, her spirit guide and much to everypony’s surprise, Maud’s child who died in a miscarriage. Even through that though Boulder wanted nothing more than to keep his mom safe. “Why can’t she be equally happy in both places?”

Boulder Dash smiled. “I was just mirroring your thoughts.”

Valiant nodded. “Okay, so… sometimes I wonder that too. Especially with how harsh Amber can be on her. I understand why Amber doesn’t like Maud, but it’s not very fair.”

Boulder nodded. “Amber is going through some hardships right now herself. I’m sure she’ll come around soon.”

Valiant looked up and nodded. “Me too.”

For a long moment they simply stood there enjoying the brief silence. Only the sound of Maud’s pickaxe below them and the wind could be heard. The wind sounded strange here on the top of the canyon. Like some kind of low quiet whistle. For a moment it almost sounded like a long drawn out scream.

The screaming sound grew in intensity. Valiant looked over the edge and saw that Maud was just fine, smiling and happy as she worked on some kind of gemstone. Valiant looked around but couldn’t see anypony around them. “Boulder, do you hear that?”

Boulder’s body faded in and out for a moment before he looked around himself and his eyes widened. “I feel that.”

It took a moment but the next time the wind rushed by her she felt it too. There was a chill in the air. One that almost stung her fur. Yet it was hot out here, almost too hot. This chill wasn’t natural. It was also coming from the direction of the village behind them. The village was about twenty miles away but she could just barely make it out far below them on the horizon. She could even make out the family rock farm and the cottage she spent so many months in helping Twilight heal after the windigo war. New Slate, a place for ponies to restart after suffering through the darkest of times.

Valiant narrowed her eyes. “Trixie told me that there was something dark hiding under New Slate. Do you think-“

Before she could finish she watched as three pillars of bright light broke free from the earth and rose up into the heavens piercing the sky. Each one of them was purple and seemed to fluctuate from bright to dark. In the sky above the town a triangle of dark energy appeared. The energy triangle had to be larger than the entire town. Valiant stared at it in disbelief. The sound came rushing towards her as a deep rumbling sound that shook the earth. Valiant watched as the triangle of light centered over the town shot down towards the earth and upon contact exploded into a massive bright light. The wind rushed at her, the ground shook and Valiant felt herself thrown back over the edge of the cliff.

Maud’s hood reached out and wrapped around Valiant’s pulling her tight against the cliff face. She hit the wall with enough force to knock the wind out of her lungs. For a long moment the two just stood there, Maud staring down at her making eye contact, and Valiant staring right back up.

Boulder Dash floated down towards her and didn’t need to say a thing as his body sunk into Valiant’s. The two of them now merged gave Valiant access to her most powerful of abilities, in this instance she felt her body floating up on its own. With a little bit of help she aided Maud into floating up to the top of the cliff. The two of them landed safe on the ground and Boulder left Valiant’s body.

Now that the bright light was gone she looked on the horizon. Where there had once been a small town there was now a crater. A massive hole in the earth that stretched on for miles. Every nearby farm, cottage, or outpost was replaced by the crater. Valiant’s eyes drifted further and further out. The crater couldn’t have reached that far. It had to be safe. The place was far out of the way. She kept searching with her eyes, going further and further but she couldn’t see it. The rock farm, the Pie Family Rock Farm, she couldn’t see it.

Maud took a step forward. Her lower lip was trembling. Valiant watched in silence as Maud closed her eyes. Valiant opened her mouth and began to say, “They might-“

Boulder interrupted. “No, they’re not.”

Valiant closed her eyes. She searched out with her energy. Combing over the town, the farms, the outposts. Boulder was right. There wasn’t a single sign of life to be found there. A cold dark presence appeared there and a shock went through her soul forcing Valiant to retract her energy. She opened her eyes and found herself in a cold sweat. There was no life down there, but there was something. Something far, far worse then she’d encountered before and it might have just noticed her.

“Mom,” Valiant’s words came out sturdy as she steeled herself for what was to come next. “We have to go, now!”

Maud looked back at her. Her eyes were glossy, tears streaming down her face. Valiant nodded. “We are getting you home.” If only she was a unicorn, she could teleport them home. Now they were going to be on hoof, and probably running away from whatever monster just destroyed the entire town, but they were going to make it, they had to.