//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirty Three: Whispering Willow // Story: Heart of Magic // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// Heart of Magic Chapter Thirty Three: Whispering Willow Written by TheCrimsonDM Twilight found herself sitting in the back of Wind Rider’s airship. It was going to take a few days to get everypony there, but they were going, and to quote ‘take the fight to the Pony of Shadows’. Twilight had explained to Starlight that she was going to leave, and even explained what she was going to do, at least what she understood. The look Starlight gave her when Twilight said she and Sunset were going to fight the Pony of Shadows, it still haunted Twilight. It was like Starlight was saying good bye for the last time, but of course Twilight knew that couldn’t be it. Sunset had a plan, and since she was a better, smarter, and more capable pony her plan was going to have to work. She laid her head down on a pillow that was an uncomfortable mixture of colors and heard a gasp coming from it as she did. Discord’s voice emitted, “Well I’ll be, Twilight Sparkle, how dare you?” Twilight groaned. “Shhh, I’m trying to nap.” Discord’s voice almost purred. “Oh, and why would you want to nap now when you’re on an adventure, I wonder?” “Because I want to cuddle.” Twilight closed her eyes and felt herself drifting off. Discord was retorting something but Twilight missed it as her body grew heavy. The last thing she heard was Discord nearly whispering in her ear, “Get some rest, at least one of us needs energy to deal with this mess.” The world around Twilight felt cool, and a piercing white light filtered into her vision. Twilight opened her eyes to find herself no longer on the ship. Its rusted metal walls with flaking gold paint having been completely replaced by a large open plane surrounded by glowing white flowers. The moon hung in the sky casting a blinding white light over the land. In the distance twilight saw a familiar wooden castle. A dark blue wing laid down over Twilight’s body. She looked up to see Luna staring down at her. “Twilight, you seem stressed.” Twilight stared up into those huge eyes that were as deep as the ocean, but as warm as a hearth on a lonely night. “I’m… I just wanted to spend some time with you.” Luna smiled. “You can always spend time with me.” “I’m going to Southern Equestria with Sunset to fight the Pony of Shadows.” Luna looked away, back at the moon and stared at it in silence. Her wing tightened its embrace pulling Twilight closer still. For a long moment they simply stared out together at the moon. At length Luna finally replied, “If you need anything, anything at all, just dream and I’ll be there when you awake.” Twilight nuzzled into Luna’s neck. “I know. But I promise, Sunset has a great plan, she’ll keep me safe and I’ll return having saved the world.” Luna replied, “Why are you doing this?” Twilight stared into that moon. Its surface seemed to ripple and change. She saw a reflection of Applejack. It lasted for a moment before shifting into Rarity. It changed still into Pinkie Pie, then Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and finally Trixie and Maud. Twilight felt her heart ache with each change of the images. She knew why she was doing this, she knew that with the elements of harmony destroyed thanks to her, she would have to take up the mantle alone and save the day. Unicorn, Alicorn, or earth pony it didn’t matter, Twilight was a hero. She would save them. She had to save them. And maybe, just maybe if she did they’d forgive her. Luna let out a quiet breath. “Twilight, even if you succeed it won’t change things.” Twilight shook her head. “I have to do something.” “Couldn’t you just apologize to them?” Luna glanced down at Twilight. “I know they might not accept it, but it would be better than this.” Twilight shook her head. “Apologizing isn’t enough, I have to repent… and even if they don’t care, I still need to save them.” The image in the moon changed one more time to show Luna. Twilight let out a sigh. “I have to save everyone close to me.” Luna shivered. “If you see those evil alicorns. Run. Teleport as far and as fast as you can. And leave anypony else behind. As soon as you’re safe, dream and I’ll come get you.” Twilight nodded. “I have no plans to do any fighting, but if things go south…” She knew she couldn’t really abandon Sunset, or Frailty. Heck if she was really part of this group abandoning even the likes of Chrysalis would be wrong, they were on the same team now. However, it was also important to let Luna know she’d be safe. “…I’ll keep myself safe and contact you, I promise.” Luna leaned over and pressed her lips against Twilight’s. She pulled back just enough to whisper, “Now, since I have you all to myself for a few minutes, let me take advantage of it.” Twilight swallowed. Sorry Discord, this dream might get a little… personal. *** The midday sun was high in the sky and even with its bright light Amber could feel a chill blowing in from the Everfree Forest. Being so close to it, she could feel it more than the others who were currently inside the old ruined castle. A part of her wanted to, no, it needed to understand why it was so cold. Step by step Amber approached the woods. It was subtle but she could feel it grow a bit colder the closer she got. The darkness in the woods seemed more impassible than ever. How many times had she and her friends snuck in there, went to the old castle and hung out? Amber could almost hear it. Like a whisper coming from the woods, a voice was calling out. She strained to understand what it was saying but it was so muffled, so quiet, so far away. She walked closer to the forest line, she could feel a brush of cold air against her fur, her breath was visible in the air. She could almost hear it. Was it a cry? Was it a call? What was it? Hushpuppy’s voice broke her stance. “What are you doing?” Amber looked back at him. “Can you hear it?” Hushpuppy joined her by the woods. “Hear what?” “The voice? It’s whispering?” Hushpuppy raised an eyebrow at her. “You… you only just now started to hear that?” Amber blinked. “Wait what?” Hushpuppy looked around. “The forest, it’s been whispering for as long as I can remember. Once we came here to start your training I heard mom mention it to Maud. It was the first time I heard anypony else talk about it. I just figured you could hear it too.” Amber shook her head. “No I’ve never heard this before. What is it?” Hushpuppy looked back into the woods and narrowed his eyes. “You know what, I want to know that too.” He grinned and met Amber’s eyes. “I mean, unless you’re chicken?” Amber glared at him. “I’m not chicken. And you know what, I’ll go find out what it is.” Hushpuppy added. “Wait a second, you might not be chicken but don’t be stupid. The woods are still dangerous. Let’s go together.” Amber nodded. “Fine by me. With Fluttershy’s training, nothing in these woods can scare me now.” Even though she said those words proudly, some part of her didn’t believe them. The woods seemed more dangerous now than ever before, but still she had faith in her new found training and power. Amber took the first step and Hushpuppy followed along without missing a beat. They were going to discover what was lurking in these woods, and what was making that noise. It was a mystery, one that these two could easily solve, she was almost certain of that. Each step into the woods made things darker still. It wasn’t long before the light from the castle glade had faded from them. The tree of harmony might have kept the castle glade and valley clean and bright, but here there was nothing but darkness. The air was getting colder still, and both Hushpuppy and Amber’s breathing left visible trails of fog. Hushpuppy’s eyes had a determined look to them that she had never really seen before. What was he hearing from this voice all these years? What did it mean to him? For Amber it was simply a mystery and a minor annoyance. Yet if she had to hear it for so many years and nopony else could, how would she react to it? They walked over tree roots, around thick bushes, and past jagged rocks and strange plants. Lucky for them they’d heard enough stories from there folks to avoid any and all blue plants. It took a good while but eventually they found their way into a dark place where even the towering trees above them only ended in more darkness. Amber had to ask, “What is this place?” Hushpuppy wasn’t looking up, his eyes were focused on something ahead of them. His ears perked. “I’m not sure, but I hear the word, ‘home’.” Amber glanced at him. The whispers were more frequent now, but they were no louder or clearer to her. He must have had some kind of special connection to the magic here. Not surprising considering who her parents were. “So, any other bits of wisdom oh mighty tree talker?” Hushpuppy shrugged. “Not yet. I’m still trying to figure out what this place is.” The trees around them were starting to look different somehow. The bases were becoming larger but thinning out as they reached upward but widening again at strange angles. Branches grew out and reached into other trees circling around them and branching out to yet more trees. A few trees even had large round openings that revealed hollowed insides. The largest tree yet, one that made the width of Twilight’s tree castle look like a twig stood silent as a grave. Its bark was a pale gray, the large opening lay covered in dust with many smaller openings much like windows all around it. Amber walked toward the large opening and poked her head in. It was dark, dust covered the floor and she felt a freezing cold draft come from inside the massive tree. She back peddled from the frozen air alone. Hushpuppy stared into the woods. His eyes seemed to take on a slightly different look. They were almost… yellow. He ground his teeth. “It’s here.” Amber looked into the darkness. “What’s here?” “The voice.” Amber let out a quiet shaky breath. She focused a bit of magic and set a glowing pink light above her horn. “Well, if we’re going to finish our mission, let’s do it already.” Hushpuppy glanced at her. “Why is your light on?” “Because it’s pitch black in there, and we can’t see.” He looked ahead. “I can see just fine… weird.” “Yeah, weird.” Amber grunted. Hushpuppy took the lead and together they walked into the tree. The construction here was amazing. Even with all the layers of dust she could see the way pillars had been grown out of the earth and into the ceiling far, far above them. Her light only illuminated a good thirty feet around them, and seemed to be shrinking bit by bit the deeper they walked. Halls had been grown into the wood work, as well as stairs and rooms. Most of these they ignored, it was actually a pretty straightforward walk to get to where they needed. The largest hall yet, one lined with long tables and what appeared to be chairs with some kind of gnarled root oblong shaped thing sitting on them. It was like someone had carved parts of a tree into strange shapes and set them at the chairs almost like some kind of dinner. No plates, nor cups though so the scene wasn’t complete. The layer of dust here told Amber that whoever or whatever made this had done so long ago. It took minutes of walking but they finally reached the end of the hall and saw a massive throne sitting in front of a larger still table. There was a huge version of the gnarled root thing sitting on top of it. Only on what could be argued to be its head, there were two antlers sticking out, massive in size and carved with runes. Hushpuppy stared up at it. “That’s it.” Amber stared at it and felt the room drop a degree or two. The light spell around her shrunk before her very eyes until it was only ten feet around the two of them. Hushpuppy was still staring at the giant throne. The whispering was louder here. For the first time Amber started to hear the words. It was like a hundred different voices all crying out at once. Their voices a song, singing in sorrow and pain in some kind of eternal whisper. “The darkness came, and with a bang, it took it all, our homes and bones, they would fall.” Amber swallowed. “Hush, we should leave. This is… I think this is dark magic.” Hushpuppy looked away and around them. “I think your right.” His eyes surveyed the room around them and narrowed still. “Let’s go, now.” Hushpuppy began with a trot back toward the entrance. Amber followed close behind quickly matching his speed. The voices around them were growing louder still. Sobs could be heard like drum beats behind the lyrics. “We had our hopes, and our dreams, but she came in and as it seems, we lost it all, with our fall.” Hushpuppy’s eyes were darting left and right and he turned his trot into a full gallop. Amber matched his pace again. She couldn’t see what was past ten feet around them. She couldn’t see the tables, or the chairs or the things on the chairs. But she really, really didn’t want to. The voices were shouting now. The sobs and some kind of cracking, snapping sound filled in as the instruments of torment to their howling song. “But in our restless tombs we rise, forever trapped in our minds, our hearts and souls have died, so you two will lose it all, when we make you fall.” They reached the end of the grand hall and Amber caught a glimpse of part of the table nearby. The chairs stood there, but the chairs, the chairs were empty. Amber felt rather than heard herself screaming. Hushpuppy was still leading them. They ran, and ran, and ran some more. The cold became less oppressive the closer they got to the exit. Once they saw the exit they both ran out of it and into the open area of large trees once more. Behind them the voices had quieted down once again to a mere whisper. The air was far warmer out here, and Amber could no longer see her breath in the air. Amber looked down at Hushpuppy. His eyes were both pale yellow with red pupils. His teeth bared in a grin showing off fangs. A giggle escaped his lips. “That was, haha, that was, hee, that was fun.” Amber looked back at the entrance to the massive tree. “What, exactly, about that was fun?” “There pain, haha, it was, oh my goodness, it was, hee hee, ha,” Hushpuppy looked back at the tree and waved a hoof as if he could see someone she couldn’t. “This! This is what I have been saying for years now! There torment is beautiful, and hilarious.” Amber felt her lower lip tremble. “N-no, it’s not. It’s scary. It’s bad. I… I just want to go home.” Hushpuppy looked up at her. “Scary?” For a moment she stared into his eyes, and then she looked down and away. She couldn’t look at him. Those eyes were scary too. Hushpuppy’s laughter was gone, his breathing calmed, and his voice came out soft. “I… I’m sorry. Your right, I… that was scary. It was fun, but it was also scary. I… why did I think it was funny?” Amber looked up and Hushpuppy’s eyes were normal again, they were green, they were wide with fear, but they were normal. “We should go back to Fluttershy, and tell her what we found. Maybe the forest isn’t safe.” Hushpuppy nodded. “I… I’m sorry.” Amber shook her head. “You don’t need to apologize. I think that the fear just got to you more than it did me. Let’s go home, get some hot coco, and try to calm down. Before I go crazy.” Hushpuppy nodded. With a trot to their step they headed home. This forest, this place that felt far too dead for its own good, was way too spooky, and way too dark to be sticking around in. Though with this new… quirk of Hushpuppy’s, she had more questions now then she ever did before about him. About him, and about what Fluttershy didn’t get the chance to tell her about him.