//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty: Tricky Times // Story: Heart of Magic // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// Heart of Magic Chapter Twenty: Tricky Times Written by TheCrimsonDM Twilight could hardly believe her eyes as she read through the book. It was an early book she’d written herself about magic and the theories behind how it worked. She wrote this book herself, many years ago, back when she was still living in a tree house and before she became an alicorn princess. Yet the words in it felt foreign, strange, and not at all like something she’d make. “In my studies of magic here in Ponyville I’ve learned two important lessons. Lessons that have changed my entire view on how magic worked, and what magic even is. The first is that everypony can use magic, from the earth pony all the way to the unicorn, everypony has magic in them. The second is that magical power can be vastly increased by the power of friendship.” Twilight blinked. “Friendship…” It had been a long time of Twilight trying to increase her personal magic. Trying to gain as much power as possible. Shoving almost all of her excess power into that missing eye of hers. Yet where did all that power go? It was gone now. She was tiny, only as tall as the average mare, and her magic felt like it was weak, limp. Only the magic stored in her eye remained like that of a burning torch out in a dark unforgiving sea. Had she really forgotten how the magic of friendship worked? Was it just her? Did everypony forget? So many questions yet in her current state of affairs it was impossible to get any answers. Her throat was dry. Twilight took a sip of water from a nearby glass but it did nothing to wet her throat. The words on the page were becoming fuzzy again as well. Twilight closed the book and let out a sigh. “Still having trouble reading?” Starlight asked from nearby. Twilight was in the anti-chamber surrounded by books she’d written in her youth. Most of which were about friendship and the magic surrounding it. With her flask gone she needed to find an answer to fix what she’d done. Somehow though she suspected these books would not hold any answers for her. “Yeah,” Twilight admitted. It’d been an eternity since she last had a drink. Her throat was dry, her mind scattered and vision blurry. In the back of her mind she could hear a little voice telling her to find some booze, that would surely make her feel better and give her the answers. Yet she knew better. It was the booze that gave her the answer which destroyed her friendships in the first place. No, she was better off not taking the elixir’s advice ever again. No matter what promises that little voice told her. “Twilight,” Starlight said gently. She walked over and knelt down by Twilight’s side. “I know it must be hard, but it will get better.” Twilight looked at the books around her. The constant migraine already scratching at the back of her mind once more. “No… not this time.” Starlight reached out with a hoof and stroked Twilight’s cheek. “I’m sure it will. Just give it some more time. Even with… what you did… I think given enough time, and effort on your part, they’ll come around.” “I just abandoned them. I… I mean, Trixie is trying to take my place and, and-“ Starlight put a hoof to Twilight’s lips and shooshed her. “No, you can’t go back and help right now. Right now you can only focus on yourself. No more stress. Just relax, if you can’t read some books, go on a walk outside. Some fresh air might help.” Twilight nodded. Reluctantly she agreed with what Starlight said. It was all the overbearing stress that put her in that dark place, this dark place. Now she just needed to let it all go and start again. Make a new life, a new Twilight. Going on a walk might help. At least she could walk in a straight line now. It was bright and sunny outside. Almost too bright forcing Twilight to avert her gaze from anything skyward. The town itself was a quiet little place built on a leveled hill top. The town was built in a sort of circular spiral with the roads all going in circles. Lots of lush green bushes, colorful flowers, and trees dotted the town. Ponies as they always have, came out in herds on days like this, and even with the small population of this town that rule was true here as well. Twilight meandered about town for awhile. Watching ponies go about their daily lives, window shopping, and maybe taking a bite or two of some wild daisies when nopony was looking. It was pleasant but no matter where she went or what she did there was a constant scratching at the back of her skull. Something that begged her to find what she really wanted. She pushed those thoughts aside, there had to be something else she could do. Much to her surprise she found herself winded after only a half hour of walking. Luckily for her there were plenty of shady places by tall trees to rest at. She actually found one near a small stream and laid down. It was a lot harder to keep moving then she thought it would be, or should be. Was this an effect of her shrinking to the size of a normal mare, or the loss of her alcohol? A high pitched voice came out of the tree above her. “Aww wookin to take a wittle nap?” Twilight shot a glare upwards at the pink pegasus mare sitting in the tree. She looked young, maybe in her late teens. “I’m resting because it’s a nice day outside.” The mare dropped to the ground and smirked back at her. “Oh, is it? I thought it was stormy and gloomy outside.” Twilight growled. Maybe she’d just find another place to rest at. She picked herself up and took a few steps away when the mare called out to her. “Wait, I… sorry, was I too mean?” Twilight looked back at the mare. She was giving puppy dog eyes to Twilight, yet with Twilight’s instinct to never trust anything, she wasn’t sure if it was genuine sorrow or some kind of manipulation. “Yes, you were quite rude.” The mare’s ears folded back and she pawed at the earth. “Sorry, I… I was just trying to be funny.” “Making fun of ponies is not the same as being funny.” “I guess you’re right.” She looked away. “If you’ll stop being rude I’ll stay here,” Twilight offered. The mare’s ears perked up. “Oh really! Thank you. I’m sorry, I’m not so good at the whole ‘friendly pony thing’.” “I could tell.” Twilight laid back down and watched the stream for a moment. The mare kind of shuffled nearby looking a bit out of place and awkward. After a quiet sigh Twilight said, “My name is Twilight. What’s yours?” The mare beamed. “I’m Cozy Glow. Nice to meet’cha! There aren’t too many ponies around my age here so… I thought I’d try and talk to you… kind of messed that one up.” Twilight shook her head. “It’s fine. Take a seat.” She thought about what she just heard for a moment and asked, “How old do you think I am?” “Twenty… two?” Cozy asked. Twilight laughed bitterly. She was in her late thirties but hey, whatever magic trickery made her look young and unicorn again she’d accept. “Fair enough. How old are you?” “Um… twenty two. I know I don’t look it though.” Twilight had to admit the mare looked nothing like a twenty two year old. *** Trixie had found the library to be the best place for studying. There was a fireplace in the corner, one that had her family currently sitting in front of and warming up. It was getting a bit chilly at night now. As for Trixie she was surrounded by books and trying her best to shift through the mess. The only real lead she had was that the villain they were facing this time was called ‘The Pony of Shadow’ and for her that basically meant nothing. Even Val had only heard scarce rumors of such a creature. All of which were horrible. From what Trixie could gather, it was a monstrous creature, a destroyer of worlds, and one that seemed to creep through multiverses eating them. At least that was how Trixie imagined it worked from Twilight’s half drunken notes. Of course if half of what Trixie had read was true, she could understand wanting to drown out reality with booze. It was odd. Taking Twilight’s place as the pony responsible for trying to fix the mess and save the world. Despite what Twilight had done to her, what she’d done to Amber, Trixie just couldn’t bring herself to hate Twilight. Maybe it’s because Trixie herself had done some horrible things in the distant past. Her mistakes with the Alicorn Amulet, with Fluttershy, with helping Red Velvet get her wish. Trixie had done more to nearly destroy and kill her friends than anypony else. Yet she was always given a second chance, a third chance, a fourth and fifth chance. She could at least give Twilight a chance, so long as Starlight kept her word and rehabilitated her. The drunken Twilight was untrustworthy but perhaps a sober Twilight could be a useful friend again. Maybe she’d even be like she used to… Fluttershy’s voice spoke gently from behind Trixie’s ear. “Worried about her?” Trixie nearly jumped out of her chair. When had Fluttershy snuck up on her like that? At least Fluttershy looked better, after that healing from Valiant Heart her wings looked good as new. Trixie shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Fluttershy glanced over at the fireplace. Pinkie Pie was there beside Maud. Pinkie’s mane had remained downcast and heavy since the revelation of her families death. Fluttershy spoke in a quiet voice that only Trixie could hear. “You know what she did to us, what she was planning to do to us, and what she might have done in the past.” Trixie swallowed. “Yeah… I do.” “Who knows how many times she’d done something bad, and just… erased our memories.” Trixie set the book down and focused on Fluttershy’s eyes. They had a steel gaze to them, one that did not betray a single emotion. Yet Trixie could feel it, there was a mixture of hate, confusion, fear and hurt emitting from Fluttershy’s heart. Her mind however was a brick wall and without some serious effort Trixie was not going to get any thoughts from her. Instead of mind reading Trixie decided to let out a sigh and lean back in her chair. “So you wouldn’t give her a second chance?” Fluttershy looked at the table. “Spike… has been telling us of some of the things Twilight has done, even when she was young and not an alcoholic. It wasn’t the alcohol that made Twilight do the things she has… it just helped.” Trixie’s back tightened. “She’s always been secretive, and… well manipulative. But she’s also always tried to do her best to keep us all safe.” “She killed the Pinkie Pie Clones.” Trixie felt her entire body tightening up. “I… I uh” “And… and you knew about it, but… none of us did. How could she even think of harming Pinkie? Pinkie Pie!” “It wasn’t easy, and she didn’t kill them all.” Trixie said. “It nearly destroyed her to do that. And when she found out a few survived she hid them. From everypony. Gave them homes, new names, and just let them… live. She’s never healed from that.” Fluttershy pawed at the earth. “It’s not the worst she’d done to us. At one point she… Spike told us what she did right before she became a princess. She changed all of our cutie marks, our destinies. Just… what? Practicing a new spell without thinking about what it did?” Trixie shrugged. “I know she didn’t mean to do that.” “She also left us to die in some of these alternate universes. She didn’t try and save us at all.” Trixie could feel her ears folding back against her scalp. “I’m sure she had reasons. But… wait hold on a minute. You’re acting like you didn’t already know that Twilight killed the Pinkie clones.” Fluttershy nodded. “None of us did. I… I’m kinda mad at you for not telling us all these years.” Trixie stood up straight. “That’s because she told you all. I was there, I watched it when she broke down sobbing and begging for you to all forgive her for doing that. You all forgave her.” Fluttershy’s eyes began to widen. “What… but… no, no she didn’t. We’d remember something like that.” Rarity’s voice broke in like a battering ram. “Not if she had erased our memories of it.” Fluttershy looked over at her. “But… she would never… she didn’t…” Rarity eyed Fluttershy. “Do you remember how you became a werebat pony?” Fluttershy nodded. “I was cursed by an apple.” Trixie looked over at her. “I think she meant the first time.” Fluttershy nodded. “Yes, I bit an apple but it was cursed to turn a pony into a werebat.” Rarity bit her lower lip. “What… what if I told you that wasn’t how it happened?” Fluttershy sat down. “I might suggest you were lying to me, um… if I was um… bold.” Rarity shook her head. “Twilight turned you into the werebat pony when trying to get a bunch of bats to stop eating all of Applejack’s’ farm.” Fluttershy shivered. “N-no… she helped me get better. She didn’t…” Trixie interrupted. “Hold up, I’ve read Twilight’s journals, I know she turned Fluttershy into a batpony. How come Fluttershy doesn’t remember?” Rarity looked back at her shoulder. “For the same reason I don’t recall becoming an alicorn after I died.” Trixie laughed. “But you’re not an alicorn.” “Not after Twilight took my alicorn magic from me.” Trixie’s laugh was cut short. Rarity explained. “Apparently I was struggling with the memories of dying. I… well me and spike had gotten trapped in a cave, we were there for weeks. We had water but ran out of food. I couldn’t watch my Spikey Wikey starve so I… gave him the last of the food. I guess that act of selflessness turned me into an alicorn and I teleported us out of there after that. “I only stayed an alicorn for a few hours. I couldn’t cope with the memories and begged Twilight to remove them from me, as well as my wings. She took all of my magic, my wings, and my memories. Then swore Spike to silence on the subject until just now.” Trixie rubbed at her foreleg. “So the reason you’re not aging…” “Is more due to me being part dragon now then it is the alicorn thing. Still it proves my point.” Trixie felt herself shaking. “Which is?” Fluttershy spoke for everypony there. “That Twilight was willing, and able to erase our minds.”