Heart of Magic

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Thirty Two: Problem Plans

The gentle breeze coming in from up on the castle ruins was pleasant. Amber had to wonder how many times she or her friends had snuck off to this location to relax or have fun. Now here she was, training with her aunt and trying to become strong enough to keep those close to her safe from harm.

The sun was only just now starting to dip towards the horizon and the endless sea of green leaves and tree tops before her rustled with the breeze. She felt it before she saw it as Fluttershy came to sit next to her. For a long moment they watched the horizon in silence.

Fluttershy eventually held out a wing which had an orange juice box. Amber took it, punched the straw through and began drinking. Fluttershy smiled. “It’s been nice spending time with you.”

Amber nodded. “Yeah, feels relaxing out here, I mean when you’re not pounding my face to a pulp.”

Fluttershy winced. “I’m… is this too much for you?”

Amber shook her head. “No, I’m okay. Val’s here and her healing magic is keeping us both in good shape.” Amber thought about it for a moment before adding, “I have to become strong enough that even Twilight couldn’t hurt my family.”

Fluttershy nodded. “You’ve heard she’s sober now right?”

Amber shrugged. “Mom told me, I don’t care.” It was a lie but it was easier to not care most times then to think too hard.

Fluttershy looked off into the distance, and her eyes took on that look that said she was seeing something far away and from a different time. “When those closest to you betray you, it hurts. Especially when it doesn’t make sense, and it’s confusing or scary.” Fluttershy frowned. “I sometimes wonder though, if they truly do want to repent for their actions, should we let them?”

Amber struggled with that herself. She had found herself many times thinking about what she would do if she encountered Twilight again. Attack her, scream at her, cry… or maybe she’d be able to forgive her. Not much point in thinking about it too hard though because it really seemed like Twilight was never going to come back, and maybe that too was for the best.

Amber stared into the horizon realizing she had another question. “Who hurt you?”

Fluttershy didn’t respond right away, but when she did it wasn’t satisfying. “A person I once called my friend.”

“What did they do?”

Fluttershy put a wing to her chin in thought. Seconds turned to minutes as Fluttershy sat there quietly. Amber gave up on trying to get an answer when Fluttershy said, “Hushpuppy.”

Amber looked at her. “Uh… what about him?”

“I haven’t spoke about this to anypony since it happened. Maybe I should finally say something. Hushpuppy is-“

The sound of Valiant’s hooves approaching them interrupted Fluttershy’s conversation. Once she was close she spoke in a near whisper, “Dinner’s ready.”

Fluttershy’s ears folded back. “Oh, did you…”

Valiant shook her head. “Maud.”

Amber stood up and smiled. “I love mom’s cooking. Come on, Auntie, let’s go eat.”

Fluttershy nodded and rose. It was only then that Amber saw something on her Aunt’s neck. It looked like a black mark. It took her a moment and she realized it must have been a hickey left by Pinkie. Oh god, why did Amber have to see that?

Fluttershy offered a weak smile and the three of them went on. Amber made a mental note of what Fluttershy had said. There seemed to be a secret about Hushpuppy after all, but now that Val had interrupted them she wasn’t sure she’d ever find out exactly what. She made a note to speak with Hushpuppy about it after dinner, these ruins were made for secrets after all.

There Trixie sat in the middle of a meeting with Celestia and several of the council which formed Equestria’s leadership, and all she could think of was how far away she was from her Maud. At least she was sure she was safe back at the old Castle of the Two Sisters with Val and Amber to watch over her, but all she wanted was for Maud to be wrapped up in her embrace.

A unicorn stallion with gray fur and an orange mane spoke with a pompous accent that showed his wealth like a sore thumb. “I don’t believe these corrupted alicorn things could ever pose a real threat to Equestria.”

Celestia politely smiled at him. “But you see one of them nearly bested Luna and a squad of alicorns.”

“Maybe, but she did kill it, did she not?”

Celestia replied, “True, but there are still two more.”

“And so they should think twice before coming after our glorious kingdom a second time.”

The mare next to him was a reddish brown earth pony with a dark brown mane. “I agree with Cinder here. There is clearly no need to worry, after all we’ve had much more dangerous threats and come out on top.”

The last one was a pegasus with dark blue fur and a teal colored mane. She sat back in her chair watching the other two carefully. A scar over her lip told of a past with violence and no shame to let others know it. Her eyes glanced over at Trixie’s and locked on. There was a confidence and power behind those eyes, one that showed she was not afraid of anything and had earned the right to be. Trixie reached out psychically to get a grasp on the mare and felt a well of deep and resounding strength.

The pegasus stood up on her hind legs and looked at the other two. “Cinder, Rosey, you two clearly want something for your support in this cause. The EUP will fall if we don’t all work together, so spit out your demands already and let’s get this over with. I have a battle to prepare for.”

Cinder scoffed. “Oh, Vigilance, you are always so direct, it’s unbecoming of a mare of your stature.”

Rosey stuck her nose up. “But fine, if you must be impatient about this then I suppose I do have an appointment with a massage therapist today anyway.”

Celestia smiled at Vigilance and the smile was returned. Celestia looked at the other two. “Okay, what are your requests for your assistance in the defense of Equestria.”

Cinder let smiled. “It would seem to me that it would be very taxing for our unicorn wizards to divert there focus from the development of new spells for Equestria to stand guard against some non threat. I think that an increase of funding and less restrictions on our studies of necromancy would be only acceptable.”

Celestia ground her teeth. “You’re looking for blood aren’t you?”

“I’m looking only for the best way to help Equestria, My Princess.”

Trixie let out a sigh and rose from her seat. She’d been listening in, not to just the words they’d been speaking for the last half hour but also to what was going on inside their skulls. “Listen, Cinder, I think a raise in funding is acceptable, but we are not letting you have more access to necromancy. In fact your basement experiments on Project Dark are going to be taken down along with you if you refuse our request for assistance here.”

Celestia mouthed the words, “Project Dark?”

Cinder’s eyes widened. “I, I don’t know what your speaking of.”

“3rd street, sublevel three, room F17, passcode; Celestia’s Blind Eyes.” Trixie stated. Her eyes met Cinders. “I already have a team ready to deploy on that exact spot, and oh boy I wonder what they’ll find?”

Cinder swallowed. “Support, why didn’t you say so? You can have a full contingent of wizards right away, armed with the best defense and assault spells money can buy.”

Trixie glanced over at Rosey. “Do I really need to bring up your School of the Pink Rose, or should you just offer soldiers to our cause now.”

Rosey looked back and forth between the two other council members. “Of course I’m going to help, and I’m sure I don’t know of any schools.”

“Yeah,” Trixie nodded. “Of course you don’t. Just be careful not to get any diseases from your whores after this.”

Rosey’s smile faded. “I surely don’t know what you speak of, and if I did, I can assure you there are screenings for any… illnesses.”

Cinder actually raised a hoof. “Speaking of which, if your going to bring up Project Dark, maybe you could offer some assistance… what if we had discovered originally, as of a month ago, a disease, one that actually… brings the dead back to life?”

Trixie stood up she’d been listening into his mind in spurts, caught only enough information to know where Project Dark was, and that it had to do with necromancy, however, details were mostly unknown. “What do you mean?”

Cinder let out a sigh. “Cat’s out of the bag I suppose. Your research into my… studies is accurate, but it’s missing the reasoning behind it. I found a new disease, one that is of great concern. We actually have a hospital wing built and secreted specifically for this.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “So you weren’t just creating zombies for fun, your actually studying this illness you found.”

Cinder nodded. “Yes, and it all started with patient zero. Our agents found him wondering the homeless town in Canterlot, and he had already infected most of the other homeless. We have them quarantined, made a few examples of prisoners with testing, and realized that this might pose a much greater threat then we know.”

Rosey swallowed. “Um, so we have evil alicorns on one side, an entire empire of slaver alicorns on another, and in the middle we have zombies in our own backyard… please tell me there is alcohol nearby.”

Celestia stood up. “Cinder, we need to see the doctors studying this and these patients immediately.”

Cinder nodded. “Then I’ll let you into Project Zero… and you’ll see the Shadow Sickness for yourselves.”

Twilight sat aboard the airship waiting for everypony to show up. So far there was only her, Sunset and Wind Rider. It had been an exceedingly long wait. After all Cozy was busy doing who knows what, and Chrysalis was who knows where. In fact she wasn’t sure if Chrysalis would show up at all.

Wind Rider took a seat near Twilight. “How ya holding up kid?

Twilight glanced up at him. “You know I’m over thirty years old.”

He smiled. “Even so that’s still a kid to me.”

“I’m doing fine. Just glad I’m not in charge anymore.”

Wind Rider gave a whistle. “Couldn’t handle the responsibility I take it.”

“Yeah, too much stress. It’s hard, and when you realize how easy it is to lose the ponies you care about it becomes harder. I made a lot of mistakes and I don’t ever want to go down that path again.”

Wind Rider nodded. “I tried being a leader for awhile myself. Don’t know if it applies to your situation, but I started to go down a dark path myself. Even retirement didn’t help. I ended trying to maintain what little power I thought I had left, hurt some ponies that didn’t deserve it.”

“You mean Rainbow Dash?”

He nodded. “She’s one of them. Tried to frame Rainbow Dash. Got a few mares pregnant and left over the years. Now that I’m old I want to try and make up for some of the damage I caused. Try to meet some of my kids.”

Twilight looked over to Sunset who was pacing back and forth. She looked like she had something serious on her mind. Though with what, Twilight didn’t know, she hadn’t exactly been open with Twilight since she came back. “She looks stressed.”

Wind Rider nodded again and put a cigarette to his lips. “Yep, has every right to be too. This quest is kind of a redemption path for all of us.”

Twilight’s horn lit up and the end of the cigarette lit up. “You know those will kill you.”

“If I don’t kill myself in some crazy stunt first,” He laughed. “Honestly though, been doing crazy stuff with Sunset for years now. She found me in a dark place, found a few of us that way and gave us all a purpose. Most of us have retired since then but it’s been me and Sunset from the beginning. I think it’ll be the two of all the way till the end.”

Twilight let out a sigh. “With the threat that this Pony of Shadows poses, that might be sooner than we think.”

“Not with Sunset at the helm, figuratively speaking. I’m not letting her actually pilot my ship. Got it fair and square in a card game against those incest twin unicorns.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I uh… do you mean Flim and Flam?”

“Yeah, those guys are creeps. Coming from me that’s really saying something.”

Twilight shrugged. “Smart ponies though, good with technology… so Sunset’s been taking in troubled ponies for awhile then?”

Wind Rider smiled. “First it was me, well I guess first it was actually the sirens but she married into that.”

Sunset stopped mid pace and glanced at them. Wind Rider cleared his throat. “Then it was me. Lightning Dust, Suri Polomare, Flim and Flam, Trixie. Heck she even got Tirek to join us for a small adventure once. She’s good at helping villains redeem themselves.”

Twilight felt a shiver run down her spine. “Haven’t heard his name in awhile.”

Wind Rider shrugged. “I think he went home to the kingdom of demons. Had plans to rebuild his home and try to reconnect with his brother.”

Twilight glanced toward the forest clearing. “Why is Cozy with us then? She seems innocent.”

“Seems is the key word.” Wind Rider let out a breath of smoke and watched it dissipate for a moment. “When we found her she had spent the better part of ten years gathering all the magical artifacts needed to remove all magic from this world. Sunset actually stopped her, not even by beating her up or anything, but by talking to her. Trying to really understand why she wanted to do that and validating her feelings. Turns out the kid blamed all her problems on magic but never considered how much more damage would be caused if it was gone, all the deaths and all the pain. She had a troubled childhood to be sure.”

Twilight bit her lower lip. “Sunset’s better at my job then I am.”

“You never fell before,” Wind Rider said. “How could you know how to help a villain without understanding them before hoof? Now that you’ve been one, what do you think?”

Twilight had to think on that for a good long minute. Minutes went by but Wind Rider patiently sat by smoking and relaxing in quiet. Finally she thought she might have had an answer. “I know now, better than ever before, that villains think there doing the right thing, that they usually have some hurt that drives them from a place of pain to make them do evil things. In my case I wanted to keep my friends safe, to keep my world safe, no matter what I had to do.”

Wind Rider nodded. “That’s about the gist of it. Now that you’ve been there, do you think that other villains could have hope to become good guys?”

Twilight nodded. “If I can, after all the things I’ve done, then I think anypony can. Even Chrysalis, if she actually wanted to repent that is.”

The sound of hooves landing on metal sounded nearby and Twilight looked over to see Chrysalis standing there with her nose stuck in the air. “Like I’d ever repent, it is not my fault you prey species are too weak to deal with real predators.”

Twilight growled but otherwise said nothing. Cozy landed next to Twilight and smiled down at her. With everypony now here Wind Rider put out what was left of his cigarette and stood up. He made his way to the steering wheel while Sunset made her way toward Twilight and the others. Sunset stopped in front of them and let out a sigh.

It took a moment but she finally spoke. “Listen, everypony, we are about to go on a dangerous mission to tackle the heart of this darkness. To go to southern Equestria where these corrupted alicorns came from, find out where the Pony of Shadows is lurking and to end him before he causes any more death or destruction to our world.”

She let out a sigh and her tone became more gentle. “There’s a good chance we’ll get hurt on this mission. That not… not all of us might come back. If you want to quit now, nopony will blame you. If you want to stay, then I thank you.”

For a moment she waited, and when nopony voiced any concerns she continued. “Thank you. This mission, it’s going to be my last. After this I’m done saving the world, I’ve done this job too much, and I don’t want to do this anymore. Ask Wind Rider, I’m supposed to be retired. But, I will do this one last mission and save our world.

“My plan is simple. We find where the Pony of Shadows is. I suck in all the magical energy I can physically handle plus a whole lot more, and then we work together to absolutely destroy it. Most of you won’t see any combat, you’re here for your knowledge, your skills, and my trust in you, but it will still be dangerous… are there any questions?”

Twilight stood and met Sunset’s eyes. “I only have one; when do we leave?”

Sunset smiled. “Right now.”