Starswirl opened the door to the furthermost tower and icy winds from the long-forgotten tower flew through his cape. With a single look, Blood Diamond only saw to clean the inside of a single tower for his use. The others, though clean on the outside, were just as dusty and old as before. With a wave of his horn, Starswirl frowned to see there was no sign of the siren's present inside this one either. He had checked all four now and found nothing. He knew she was here, but where was uncertain.
He exited and looked over to the outside. Dim's soldiers had been slowly surrounding the four towers as soon as Twilight reached the last floor. He looked up to the tower Twilight was in and barely could glimpse her. She didn't seem to be in any danger as far as he could tell Blood Diamond gave no care what was going on down below to bring any harm. The old wizard smiled and hoped his fears were for not.
He remembered Blood Diamond from the days long past. When the four alicorns, Celestia, Luna, Golden Williams, and Blood Diamond were but children, he met them and got to learn the most about them. He trained Celestia and Golden Williams first, and when Luna and Blood Diamond came to the right age; he trained them as well. Blood Diamond was the last one to be trained and was the youngest of the four and therefore felt the most desire to better than his elders. Blood Diamond always felt like he needed to prove something. Sometimes this would lead to excellent outcomes, but more often than not, bad outcomes.
Soon enough, Starswirl noticed something strange about the scene between Blood Diamond and Twilight. Not the scene itself, but the image of the scene. He held up his hand and snapped his fingers. A banana appeared in his hand. He lifted the banana in magic and floated it over to the same building. The image of the banana looked normal.
He snapped his fingers and teleported the banana just outside the room Blood Diamond and Twilight were in, just outside of their sight. The image of the banana altered to match the strange change in the rest's image. In fact, it looked bent. Starswirl's eyes widened and he let go of the magical pull of the banana, allowing it to fall.
The strange bent kept over the image for several floors before returning to normal, just eight floors from the ground. Starswirl stopped the banana before it splattered on the ground and lifted it back up. He stopped at floor seven and crept closer. He stopped on the last time as they bent started.
The old wizard's eyes narrowed and his horn's magic turned to a yellow with spots of black. Chaos magic filled the banana, making it explode. His eyes widened as pieces of the banana stopped in the middle of the air, stuck to a wall invisible to sight. However, seconds later, the image of the splatter pieces vanished.
Starswirl smiled and lifted himself in magic. Rising to the full height of the eighth floor, he was stopped by a wall; the same wall that stopped the banana. He placed his hands on the wall and the image of the tower behind the wall shook before adjusting. It seems there was a structure sitting between the four towers, invisible to all sights. Leaning closer, he placed his horn on the wall to scan for the siren.
He was correct. The siren had found her way into this place, but why would she go here? And why was such a thing hidden from sight?
He lit up his horn and covered the wall with magic. He kept pushing until the entire structure was covered in magic. He snapped his fingers and the illusion flickers for a moment, revealing a ten-story tall orb with walls made of solid geode.
The phase in the illusion wouldn't last long. He needed to find a way in. His eyebrow raised, and he waved his hand over the gesturing his fingers. Making a few symbols followed by a snap, a portal opened. "Chaos Spell Number Sixty-four, Unheeded Void!" With that, an opening appeared. Much to his disappointment, another stopped him, but this seemed to lack any magical veil so he could let go of the illusion and still see the new hole. He repeated the spell and created a new opening, yet again another wall stopped him. It was clear this a very fortified structure. Even with such an advanced spell, this would take a few moments to get through.
He waved a hand to one side and poof a floating mirror to his side. With another snap, the image of the mirror showed the outside world, as he suspected this travel might cut him off from everything outside. Casting another void spell, he moved through the holes and removed each wall, blocking him. Meanwhile, he looked at the mirror and tuned it to Clover and Rex.
******
Rex and Clover looked onward over the towers from on top of the titan airship. Clover wasn't concerned for Twilight, but for Rex. He seemed so uneasy since seeing Cold Blue. The two rivals rarely ever talked to each other as long as she knew them. Out of all the creatures Rex knew, Cold Blue was the one she knew the least about.
Finally, having enough of the silence, she spoke. "You have said nothing yet still? You left Starlight and Twilight to their own devices, and yet even now you watch them? Are you that worried?"
"No, Cold Blue..." He stopped and turned to his shadow. "Just why would he attempt to stop a transformation of that form?"
"I don't know. Maybe he was worried about Twilight."
"Twilight? He barely seems to know her. He would have left her to burn everything around her... like." He stopped and reached out. The scroll holding the coordinates to the alathar flowed out.
"Like what? Like him?" She questioned. "Or like her?"
Rex looked at her with shame, knowing very well she wasn't talking about Twilight at all now. "She... is not what I'm fearing. It's Cold Blue..." He unrolled the scroll and traced his eyes over the descriptions. Still mostly hidden within a dead language, he could only gather so many answers. "Legends speak of dark ascensions."
"Yes, it's what we assumed Twilight was turning into?"
"Yes, but Cold Blue had one of his own. He is the only dark magic user I have ever encountered that can revert and forth... That is until..."
"Twilight..." Clover stepped closer. She moved her eyes over the dead language, the words even more foreign to her. "She differs from most."
"Yes, an alicorn. But there are dark ascended alicorns too, Cassandra, Sapphire, Caster, Alastor, Avalon... All of them of which could never revert and forth. All of which are dead, anyway." He pointed to two spots on the map. "Two of these alathar pertain to two dark ascended."
"What are you getting at?"
"Before Cold Blue, there hasn't been a dark ascended since... the purge."
"No..." Clover's eyes went wide.
Rex's eyes narrowed on the towers now. "Emerald Teal purged them all five thousand years ago, around the same time Indigo Frost, the real Indigo Frost died, and yet the one moment someone poses as him, another dark ascended appears and another purge. This time of unicorns, yes, but still..."
"Are you saying somepony is trying to repeat history?"
"No, most of the details behind the purge and even the dark ascension itself are kept under near-absolute secrecy..." Rex stopped and raised his eyes to the towers, bringing them up to the height where Twilight would meet Blood Diamond. "Maybe somepony is attempting to reveal something through this retread." His sight narrowed to their smallest points. An uneasy feeling settled into his stomach, bringing far more fear than any evil he had ever faced. "However, what I'm fearing right now is that the fake Indigo Frost might not be the one pulling all the strings."
******
Back on the top floor of the north tower, pieces tapping the crystal board were the only sound that could be heard as Blood Diamond and Twilight continued their game. Twilight’s hand had become jittery since she lost both of her knights. She didn’t know how long she could take this game. Blood Diamond was just as much of a master at this game as she was. And to make things worse, he seemed to get sheer enjoyment at taking each of her pieces.
Blood Diamond raised his eyebrow. A clever smile cut loose as he took a breath and grabbed his piece. He moved it ever so slowly and then slammed the piece down loudly, making Twilight jump back.
She adjusted herself as she looked up at him. Narrowing her eyes, she tried to stay strong as she grabbed her piece. Moving her piece into place, she called out, “Check.”
“Oh, we see you caught it.” Blood Diamond’s eyes fell in disappointment.
Twilight’s heart rate finally slowed. Maybe she could end this war; with a mere game, such a thought would even make the likes of Discord laugh, but she hoped for success either way.
“Twilight Sparkle,” Blood Diamond spoke loudly as his eyes lit back up.
She came to attention and even lifted her head high enough to reach his tall stature. “Yes.”
“Do you know what is the best thing about this game?” Blood Diamond grabbed his king and held it up high and then moved into place. Twilight tried to follow with her move as he grabbed his knight and held it high. “It tells everypony what kind of ruler you would be. For instance, since you started with your knights first, it means that you are a steadfast ruler who wishes to end conflicts quickly.”
Twilight’s eyes widened as he placed his knight back down in its original spot and moved it to take the piece that she was about to check his king's with. Twilight moved another piece to take his king. Blood Diamond followed this by moving his bishop, “If you are strong with your bishop, that means you are loyal to your beliefs but easily predictable." The bishop took her piece, so she moved another. Blood Diamond matched this with his rook. "If you favor the rook, then you are slow to start but hide your kindness with cruelty.”
Twilight took a breath and made another move, this time her queen. Blood Diamond smiled at this and continued his brief lesson.
“But it’s the use of the queen that show, which is most important to us.” Blood Diamond moved his queen. “So Twilight which is most important to you?”
Twilight’s eyes moved back onto Blood Diamond as she heard his piece stop moving. She grabbed her queen and moved into place, “Check.” She let a small smile cut through.
However, it was halted as she saw the smile on Blood Diamond’s face. “We see. It was once friendship, wasn’t it?”
Twilight’s eyes widened at Blood Diamond’s words as he moved his piece. “What do you mean--”
“Checkmate.” Blood Diamond stopped his piece and leaned back.
Twilight’s mouth fell as her eyes wandered on the board. Indeed, while she was so preoccupied about making a check, Blood Diamond had used his pawns to trap and then checkmate her King. All of his kills were to lore all her other pieces away. He even broke the check he was trapped while killing her queen. He removed all his obstacles, saved his king, and claimed victory all in one move.
“But how?” Twilight stood up in defiance.
“The pawns.”
“The what?”
“Now we know a little more about you, Twilight Sparkle.” Blood Diamond stood and raised his hand into the air. The chessboard and pieces vanished. “You are fractured, like us and one other. However, where we admit our brokenness, you deny it and it's strength, therefore, can't properly use it.”
“What are you talking about? I’m nothing like you.”
“Us? As in all alicorns.” He turned away from her and walked over to the throne. “Not all alicorns are born… pure.” His voice halted for a moment and seem to almost deepen in tone. "Some are hateful, some are jealous, some are monsters, and some are in total misery." He pointed to her. "Which are you?"
"I..." She blinked twice, unable to come to an answer for herself. However... "Celestia is pure."
"Celestia? Really?" Blood Diamond couldn't hide his laughter. "She just as impure as we, impure for the same reason."
"What?"
"Where I lusted for Luna, she adores Starswirl the Bearded."
"What?" Twilight jumped back at those words.
"You didn't know. Those two have been behind curtains for a few hundred years now. Luna doesn't know, his son doesn't even know, not even Celestia's ex knew."
"I... I..." Twilight's mind fell back on old memories of Celestia. Her strong friendship with the wizard of chaos was always assumed to be base level, but could she have been wrong?
"Enough on failed loves. What is your impurity?" Suddenly his pasture changed almost completely; his back straight to a near-perfect level and his shoulder blade dropped to their lowest point. His face fell as he continued, "Do it... answer me?! Alicorn!” His speech pattern seemed to almost alter for a moment as he dropped the royal 'we'.
"I... I'm not an alicorn."
"DO NOT LIE!!" He roared his horn with twisted green magic. Much to Twilight's shock, her illusion fell completely, unveiling her wings and proper form.
"What? That magic is?" She took a step back. That spell looked way too familiar.
"Do you take Blood Diamond for a fool?! His mother was the Queen of illusion!! He sensed it from the moment you stepped inside. Compared to her, your shapeshifting is a pale imitation!" He laughed at her failures.
Twilight was in utter confusion. Blood Diamond was now speaking his name instead of using me and we as if he was talking in third-person. "What is going on here?"
“I ask the questions!!" He turned to the window. "Are you like Luna, constantly jealous of her sister's victories?"
"No... I'm not impure."
"ANSWER ME?!" he screamed, "Are you secretly hateful like Golden Williams?"
"No, I don't want to be such a thing."
He smiled, knowing that something had been plucked from her. He could see the impurity all over her form. She was broken, but was unclear about her brokenness. His eyes went wide upon realizing her brokenness was familiar to another. "Or are you a monster, just like... Crim--" He stopped at the sight Twilight falling to the ground, tears pouring down her face.
His words, his actions, had completely torn her apart as nopony could. Her face fell forward, facing the ground as she punched the glass. "I'm... not a monster... I'm not a monster!!" Magic attempted to pulse from her eyes in her rage, but she stabbed her hand into a shard of glass, making the pain overpower the rage.
His eyes widened at the pulse of maroon magic and the strange sense of them and familiarity became clear. “But of course…. You are not a normal alicorn, are you?"
Twilight unconsciously distanced herself completely at his words. “Of course I’m an alicorn--”
“No, you are not! So you wouldn't be able to understand him or his ways.” He turned to face her with his head held high. Twilight’s face went completely cold upon what she saw. His eyes had changed form completely. His pupils were now knife like in form and his irises were now glowing bright neon green. "I see it as clear as day. You’re not a true blood-born alicorn, just a cheap fake.”
Twilight dropped her tears and moved into a battle stance as she placed her hand on her kopises. "Those eyes, I've seen them before..."
Blood Diamond saw this and took a moment to calm his breathing. His pupils returned to the round form they were before, and his irises stopped glowing. Twilight still kept her guard up and her hands at the ready. There was no telling what he was going to do next.
However, he smirked almost playfully at her. “Sorry, he interrupted us.” His voice returned to its original pitch and style. This threw her the most off guard. She never knew about this strange attitude.
She kept her hands gripped tightly to the hilts of her kopises, and her eyes stayed strong on him as he walked over to the window.
“Even though I won, I will still answer you, Twilight Sparkle?” He stopped at the window and looked toward the second of the four towers.
“About why the alicorns want to destroy Princess Platinum’s kingdom?” She pulled on her kopises, not fully sheathing them, but being as ready as possible for anything.
“Because they are the enemy. Nothing more, nothing less. A pawn must do whatever it takes to complete a command, and a king, a ruler must give whatever command it takes to win.”
Twilight’s eyes widened in horror at his bitter words. “That's what you meant.”
“Yes, the moment you chose to not favor your pawns over your strongest piece shows that you have never ruled a single thing in your life. And to make things worse, you once valued friendship, but your value in it, because you fear letting anypony close at all.” He held up a crystal, and it transformed into a pawn. "The pawns were your friends, and you lost them, therefore you can't use them, instead you use other pieces to replace them, memories of what you thought what they were like instead of moving on now that they are gone."
"They are not gone..." Twilight rose back at his words and attempted to deny them, but each time. Her mouth opened again to answer why, but nothing came this time. Her brow dropped and her jaw hanged as she forced out words. "I will... find them!"
"You want to find them, yes, but you are afraid you will. Why?" Without a single hesitation, Blood Diamond threw the crystal pawn into the window. It impacted with enough force to crack but not break, giving massive cracks that spread the window from end to end.
She stopped, she found herself unable to answer, but not because she didn't know the answer she did; her mind was now screaming the truth, but no words would leave her mouth. Instead, her body wanted to buckle and drop her to the ground, only her battle stance kept her standing, as fragile as it was to Blood Diamond.
“Enough time has passed, we see it’s done.” He placed his hand over the window as he looked at the giant circle of crystal stars that now surrounded the four towers. “So that’s the Ultra Dampeners, developed by Nox Co. Said to be strong enough to even stop an alicorn in its tracks.”
Twilight was at a loss for words until she walked over to see what he was pointing at. Just as he said, there was a massive barrier of magic blockers all around the towers. Her eyes widened to see Princess Platinum's naga standing ready with the activator already pressed in hand. It was at this moment she realized the truth.
"You see what we saw the moment we arrived, right?" Blood Diamond turned to meet her fearful gaze. "Before we arrived, we sent a message for her to meet us at this tower, yet when we arrived we found nopony had set foot near it in years. Princess Platinum didn't answer my summon because she has wanted this war from the very beginning. Peace was never an intention. We came here seeking the same as you. A peaceful end, but she wouldn't tell you the truth."
Shame poured over Twilight like a fountain. He was right; she agreed. Mira had lied to her from the very moment she arrived. And yet she couldn't help but question why? Why would Mira want this war? Why would Emerald Teal give into something the unicorn princess already wanted? And if this all fit perfectly, why would he even openly make such a proclamation in the first place?
Blood Diamond turned to the window and, with no hesitation, finished the job the pawn started. “What are you doing?” Twilight braced herself as the pressure from the outside air pushed its way around the room, sinking into every crevice of the room until the pressure settled.
"We are doing as you wanted, ending this war before it can even begin."
"Even begin?" Her eyes went wide and her mind bounced back to her first question to him. Her demand to end the war before any more bloodshed. He had answered back with a question of his own.
"Is that what she told you?"
"She..." Her eyes went wide.
"I see you have the truth now." He walked over to the very edge. "My father would never waste time with a proclamation at all. My father would have committed mass genocide without warning, as he has done to many species before."
"Wait, that means the message sent to all those cities was an illusion."
"Exactly. Someone else wants this war, not our father." He lifted one foot over the edge. "Whether it is Princess Platinum or somepony playing to her weakness, matters not."
Twilight reached out to him as he dropped downward. “There is nowhere to go. All magic is down, including flying.”
“Looks like you haven’t been a fake alicorn for very long.” He held out his hand for her to see. Instantly, her eyes widened as she saw a trigger pull out of his sleeve and into his hand. “You don’t know how durable we alicorns can be.”
Time appeared to slow around Twilight as her legs pushed her toward Blood Diamond in failure to stop him. In the end, he frowned with a disdainful look and pushed the trigger button with his thumb. Meanwhile, floors from the bottom upward began exploding one after the other. His plan was now destroying all others in a sweeping motion.
Dim and his armies were pushed back. Starlight and Silver Pear fell from the shaking.
*******
The winds rushed through the cracks of the windows of the nearest tower until they ripped apart. As she watched the other building collapse, Starlight coughed hard from the harsh punch of the air. She stopped herself upon seeing Twilight falling.
“No… no… NO!” Starlight ran over to the edge and reached out. “Teacher--”
“No, it's too far.” Silver Pear pulled at her arm.
“Let me go, I have to get to her.” She struggled free
“But, how?”
Suddenly, Starlight’s eyes went wide. “Throw me!”
“What?!”
“Just do it.” Starlight stared at Silver Pear with determination.
Silver Pear’s eyes raced back and forth between Starlight and Twilight. He grabbed Starlight by her shoulder and hip and lifted her with a quick spin to get better leverage as he aimed for the opening.
“NOW!!” Starlight words snapped him out of his hesitation as he threw her through the window. She knew she didn't have any magic; however, if she could land her in the building next to them, they would be safe. She gritted her teeth as the winds and shatter glass scraped around her and she reached out for her teacher.
*******
Several meters inside the orb, Starswirl finally reached a proper opening. He lifted his horn and lit the room with magic. The inside was a lovely hue of mixing colors, with the black walls mixing perfectly into the green floors. Despite how dusty the other towers were the inside, this place was the complete reverse; not cleaned, but a lack of dust ever forming on any surface. It wasn't a sealed room, as rain could be seen falling from vents of the ceiling two stories up. They fell softly into a built-in pool at the center with a pedestal in front of it.
He walked over to the pedestal and read the writing, "From the grace of the Queen of Illusions, only the ones who value love can take a grasp of this... alathar." His eyes widened at that word. "So the alathar is here."
"Yes, just beyond her sight." A voice caught Starswirl completely off guard. He turned to see a siren filly wrapped in a light tan fur coat hide cloak and hood.
The wizard didn't waste time in knocking down the hood and revealing a light purple siren fill with purple ponytails and turquoise highlights. "So, this one is Aria."
The siren filly huffed with a male voice. "If you wanted to see this host's face, all you had to was ask."
"I would ask why we were led to believe that Indigo Frost took them."
"Oh, he took them... a minor agreement with me."
"I'm assuming you need them for their bodies." Starswirl snapped some powerful magic at the siren open to gauge the power of the controller.
"Yes, I lack a body of my own." The siren waved away the spell with ease. "It a simple agreement. He provides me with hosts much like that demented octopus. However, where that eldritch beast provides followers, I provide information."
"About the alathar." Starswirl fired off a stronger spell, yet despite relying on the siren as a power source, the controller still could block him with ease. He didn't want to push the power too high or risk hurting the host.
"Yes."
"With such knowledge, you must be someone of great supreme." Starswirl poor party streamers over the siren.
"You are one to talk. The legendary chaos wizard, Starswirl the Bearded, doesn't seem to care too much about hiding his power." Despite being in a small siren body, this controller had quite a spiteful tongue.
"You know mine, but I still lack your... title?"
"Fine..." The siren's eyes narrowed, "I am the Abandoned Alicorn."
Starswirl's eyebrow raised slightly. "An alicorn? I never suspected that."
Aria grinned widely, "You think I'm lying."
"Well, of course. Anypony can claim they are something they're not, as long as they are hiding behind the face of another." Starswirl's voice rose slightly at those words.
"Believe what you will. But know this, I am far from done with these siren sisters."
Starswirl frowned at that answer. "What do you want with them?"
"I want freedom."
"Oh, so you're imprisoned. Well, then I might believe you are an alicorn. If it weren’t for one very important thing."
"And that is?"
"The alicorns are an endangered species." Starswirl raised his cane slightly into the air as an idea formed. "Which makes things stranger on the fact you wanted your sirens to ponynap Granny Apple when you could have gone after Twilight."
"Twilight? Why would a simple unicorn be useful to me?"
Starswirl smirked. He found a weakness finally. "So Indigo Frost hasn't told you?
Aria laughed slightly, "Starswirl, oh Starswirl. You want to negotiate with me for information. I assume you want the sirens sisters released of their curse in exchange."
"Well."
Aria raised her hand upward toward Starswirl. "In exchange for Twilight Sparkle."
Starswlrl's smirk dropped. "No, that is out of the question--" He stopped as the entire room shook. "What was that?"
"Hmm, alicorn made his move." The siren frowned at the shaking. "Looks like I will have to speed up my plans." With that, the body rushed over to the pool and jump inside.
Starswirl gritted his teeth and held his fingers in forked form and span them around as his horn glowed. "No, Chaos spell Number Three, Spinner!!" The room filled with steam as the liquid around the pedestal span around the room at high speed.
******
Dim jumped in horror as the entire front building collapsed in a fiery explosion. He threw up his tail and his arms as they grew to massive sizes, shielding his soldiers from the falling debris. He turned his head down to cover his eyes as the explosion echoed louder.
The ground shook, making him taking another glance. His eyes wider to see the fire shooting over to the other towers, catching them ablaze as well. He was shocked to see the flames have such great power, far more than natural. His sight raced over to the power dampener and was glad to see them on. Had they not been, the entire city would be consumed in a fiery storm.
And yet he still couldn't figure it out. Just how could the flames be this strong without a magic source, was some else powering them? And if so, why would Blood Diamond call on such power? According to the reports, his range was crystal-based.
A loud boom interrupted his thoughts. Lifting his head to the source as the glass finally stopped falling around them. Standing in a crystal-encrusted crater a mere ten meters ahead, draped in smoke, was the target they had all feared. The naga's mind raced with the possibility of fighting him, but considering that his previous plan had completely shattered, what could he do. Dim unconsciously took a step back upon coming face to face with the enemy as the smoke faded and revealed him.
Blood Diamond had finally taken center stage. He smiled as hundreds of crystal spike shot out in all directions.
******