Heart of Magic

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Fifteen: Glasses to Ashes

Luna landed in the middle of the massive crater dug into the earth where the town of New Slate once stood. Teleporting here was easy enough. The guards she had with her were circling the sky and keeping a look out. The ground beneath her hooves was glass which cracked and broke beneath her weight. It was just like what happened to the Changeling hives. The only difference was it felt fresh.

She couldn’t quite explain it. There was certainly alicorn magic at play here, something she was familiar with, but there was something else too. A dark energy that felt almost like an old suit she hadn’t worn in many many years. It was cold, bitter, and tasted sour. Her mind filtered back to memories of when she was Nightmare Moon. Could it be possible she was looking at the aftermath of a new creature possessed by the Nightmare Spirits? Surely they wouldn’t drive a pony to destroy and murder on such a large scale, they wanted to be worshiped, not to destroy. Even Twilight could confirm that a kingdom led by Nightmare Moon wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world through her history of traversing the multiverse, it just would have been dark and cold without the sun.

She couldn’t imagine the Nightmare Spirits would do this. Even when they corrupted Rarity they did not seek death. So if not them, it was something like them. An ancient creature of darkness. She hadn’t spoken to Twilight about it, but she was beginning to doubt if this was truly the work of the Alicorn Empire. Even they wanted to rule and enslave, not… this.

Speaking of her doubts, she was still curious as to what Starswirl had revealed to Twilight in their meeting. Luna could not stand going anywhere near the monster and his prison, so she let Twilight do that task on her own. Still… what had he told her?

Out of the glass crater Luna managed to find something still remaining. Half buried in the glass and sand she saw what looked to be a bottle of unopened Celestial Fire Whiskey. This was Twilight’s poison of choice. Of course Twilight would drink distilled toilet water moonshine at this point. Luna lifted up the bottle and felt her insides twist and knot. With maybe just a bit too much energy Luna smashed the bottle against the glass. Now if only she could do this with Twilight’s horde of the stuff there life could go back to the way it once was.

Still she saw no signs of life here, nor any signs of who had created this disaster. Whoever was responsible was still out there, and so it was on her to perform her most important duty. She and her guard were to locate, safeguard, and bring home both Valiant Heart and Maud Pie. Judging by the traces of dark energy going toward the canyons to the west, she had an idea of where to go first.

Twilight stood there, her legs felt wobbly and her mind clouded. Before her stood all of her friends, her Ponyville family. Pinkie was a mess. Her hair had completely deflated, and her head what was visible of it was buried into Fluttershy’s mane. Trixie was off in the corner staring out the window at the storm that was brewing outside. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and even Rarity had found time to come here and keep Pinkie and Trixie company. Twilight’s flask was empty and her lungs burned for more of the elixir to deal with this situation. It was like everypony expected her to fix it, to come up with some kind of solution. Twilight on the other hoof just wanted to crawl under a bed and stay there until the Celestia died of old age.

Rarity made her way to Twilight’s side. “Twilight, have you given it any thought as to how we’ll break the news to the kids? Especially poor Amber.”

Twilight didn’t want to say anything, but she was certain Amber already had an idea of what was going on if she didn’t know exactly what was going on. The moment Luna returned from her search this charade would be over, and Twilight was spinning her mind in circles trying to find a way to fix this problem before it got any worse. Her only solutions were pretty horrible. Maybe she could swear Valiant and Maud to an oath of secrecy?

No Maud couldn’t be trusted with that. Valiant could though… so how could she keep Maud silent, keep Trixie and the others from finding out she lied about Maud and Valiant’s death?

Twilight stood up and walked towards Fluttershy’s kitchen. Rarity followed. “Darling, I know it’s hard, but we need you on this. Please tell us what to do.”

Twilight grumbled a reply that was mostly nonsense. Once inside the kitchen she began opening the cupboards. She had a pretty good idea of where it would be. She just needed some to think, some to get her mind working so she could figure out a plan. One cabinet had dishes. Another cereal. Another cans. One opened up to a family of squirrels who were enjoying a dinner at a table and started squeaking curses at Twilight for opening there cupboard, she closed that one.

“Twilight, what are you doing?” Rarity asked.

Twilight ignored her. What she was looking for wasn’t in here. It wasn’t in any of the usual places. How could she be expected to deal with this stress without her magic potion. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the pantry closet. Upon opening it she found an army of cans, dry foods, and anything one could need for baking. Up at the top shelf there was a bottle of pinkish-red wine, unopened. It was far from her choice but it would have to do.

With a flicker of magic Twilight brought the bottle down and opened the top.

Rarity let out a sigh. “I do suppose times like this are made easier with alcohol. I’ll get the glasses and you can poor them for the others. Good thinking, Twilight.”

Twilight gave Rarity a glare. Put the top of the bottle to her mouth and whispered, “You think I’m sharing?”

She drank greedily from the bottle as Rarity stared with wide eyes. The liquor calmed her nerves and guided her thoughts. It became increasingly obvious what she was going to have to do to keep everything sane, stable, and safe. Once half the bottle was downed she pulled away from it and offered the rest to Rarity. Rarity took it still eyeing Twilight with the oddest look in her eyes. Twilight smiled, took a step sideways and said, “I was joking, I only wanted half of it.”

Twilight almost laughed as she said the most brilliant thing she had all day, “I can’t believe I forgot that I know memory erasing spells.”

Luna flew through the air. Behind her she had two alicorn guards, each leading their own squadron of soldiers. Each squad consisted of 3 pegasi, one of which was pulling a flying wagon that had some supplies and a unicorn guard on the back. These were all Celestia’s guard wearing their golden armor with pride, Luna’s team would be waiting for the night search as they were better adjusted for it.

The red sandstone canyons stretched on for miles and were far more complex than she could have ever imagined. If it hadn’t been for the faint light energy she could sense out here she’d have no idea where to even start. The fact she could feel that energy was both a lucky break and a curse. On one hoof it meant she could find Valiant with more ease. On the other it meant that whatever monster destroyed New Slate could as well.

There was a lucky break for her for once. She spotted Valiant Heart and Maud Pie traveling on hoof in the general direction to central Equestria. Luna nodded to her scouts indicating that they should continue circling. She then led the wagons down to the earth and landed on the plateau with gentle grace. Valiant stopped moving and looked at her, the one visible eye told Luna that she must have known Luna was there awhile ago.

“Valiant Heart, Maud Pie, are either of you two injured?” The moment Luna asked this she felt like an idiot, of course they wouldn’t be, not with Valiant’s healing magic.

Valiant shook her head. “No, not physically.”

Maud had stopped moving but there was a blank look to her eyes. Like she wasn’t entirely home right then. Of course the poor mare must have just watched her family be wiped out from existence. There weren’t even any ashes to burry. Just glass. She was surely going to suffer for a long time after this, as would any pony else that had family here. That’s two equestrian villages now that were wiped from the world thanks to this… darkness.

Valiant looked around. “We should hurry.”

Luna nodded. “I agree. Whatever caused this may still be around.”

Valiant’s attention was drawn to a spot on the horizon behind them. “One of them is.”

Luna’s eyes followed. For a moment she wasn’t quite sure what Valiant was staring at. First she felt it. Like a tidal wave of cold energy washing over the area. Luna’s fur stood out on its end from the chill. The energy was followed by a streaking bolt of purple smoke. It flew through the air towards one of Luna’s guard’s flying above. The pegasus in question ducked out of the way but the purple smoke brushed by his wing and he loosed a scream as he fell to the earth. One of the pegasi guards swooped in and caught him before he hit the ground and turned back toward Luna. He landed and set the guard down. Luna stared in horror at the pony’s wing, part of it had been burned off, where it had been burned she could see ash, or dust falling off the wing. It didn’t look like the wound was growing any worse, but this injury alone might ground the pegasus for life.

Luna faced forward toward where the bolt of smoke had come from. Her eyes focused on a lone figure on the horizon. It seemed to be a lone alicorn. Stripped of any armor or clothing. The alicorn stood there, its pure white fur was stained with black veins running through its body. His purple mane was stained with black streaks. Yet the one thing that really hit Luna were his eyes. They were two hollow, gaping black holes with only two points of purple light emitting for pupils. Was this really one of the Alicorn Empire?

Or was this something new, and far worse?