Heart of Magic

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Forty Seven: Living Lightning

The jungle beneath them was rolling by at a faster pace than before. Rainbow had encountered few signs of life, undead or otherwise here. The miniature sun was massive, it was as large as any of the mountains near it, if not larger still and seemed to be incinerating the sea of purple slime surrounding it. If Sunset had to go out, Rainbow had to admit, she went out with style.

They were heading toward the old royal guard tower. She could already see a group of ponies on top of it. There was Twilight, small and unicorn with two eyes and an odd colored scarf around her neck. Some pink pony next to her. A large lump hidden behind them covered in a hooded cloak. Finally she saw the one pony that mattered, the gray overweight pegasus that had meant the whole world to her.

Luna was nearby and reached out toward Rainbow while attempting to say, “Rainbow, wait-“

Rainbow Dash couldn’t wait, she was the fastest pony in Equestria and waited for no god. She was already off the ship and soaring through the air before Luna could finish her sentence. Rainbow landed on the top of the old tower right in front of Blackout and nearly jumped into her daughter as she threw her legs around her and dragged her into a tight embrace.

Rainbow held her close. “You know you’re grounded for life right?”

Blackout held her in return. “Mom… he’s gone. He sacrificed himself to save us…”

Rainbow held her close. “I… I’m so sorry.” Wind Rider was right; he did die before Blackout turned eighteen. She just wanted to protect her daughter from him, to keep her safe. Now though… now she had to wonder if Blackout was really the one she was protecting by separating those two.

Rainbow glanced over at Twilight. Twilight couldn’t seem to look her in the eyes and was fidgeting nervously. Honestly Rainbow Dash didn’t have many words for her, but somehow seeing her now, a lot of the anger she held for Twilight’s betrayals was gone. She felt something else deep down. Pity? Sorrow? She just wanted the old days back where she could trust Twilight and they were friends. Those times were gone now.

Luna appeared along with the rest of the ship next to the side of the old tower. Her giant body was as light as a feather and graceful as a butterfly as she landed next to Twilight. Watching Luna hug Twilight was almost like watching someone eat something with their entire body. Twilight simply vanished beneath those legs and wings. Luna’s head leaned down behind the wings and Rainbow could hear her whisper, “Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”

Once Luna finally pulled away she saw Twilight there smiling. She looked so young, so happy. When was the last time Twilight looked honest to goodness happy? Even Rainbow Dash couldn’t remember. Was Twilight ever happy after becoming an alicorn? Did she miss something? Something important?

Twilight shook herself and although still smiling she trotted over to the lump of a giant pony hiding in a cloak. “Okay, we need to get everypony on board and get them out of here. We have one injured.” Twilight’s horn lit up and the giant lump was slowly lifted into the air.

A mean voice shot out at Twilight. “Do not lift me like some kind of child!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “The moment you can walk again I’ll listen to you.”

Rainbow sent Blackout onto the ship where the pink pegasus was already sitting. Starlight was there keeping an eye out for everything around them. That voice had sounded familiar and Rainbow wasn’t about to let some mysterious mare on her ship. She and Luna both seemed to have the same idea as they blocked Twilight’s path while she held the hidden pony.

Rainbow spoke first. “Who’s that?”

Twilight swallowed. “Um… the last member of our party.”

Luna’s horn lit up and the hood drew back revealing a face Rainbow had never hoped to see again. Queen Chrysalis was floating there. She looked tired but she was sure to be as dangerous and vengeful as she always was.

Rainbow growled. “You let my baby girl be near that monster?”

Twilight retorted. “She saved us all, you’re daughter would be dead if not for her.”

“Well she didn’t save Wind Rider.”

Twilight growled. “No one could have. By the time he… she was already injured.”

Luna added. “Twilight, despite what she may, or may not have done here, she has still been an enemy of Equestria for longer than even I can remember. We cannot allow her to be on one of our ships.”

Twilight opened her mouth to protest but Queen Chrysalis interrupted. “She’s right. I am the monster. If you should bring me back to Equestria, who knows what I’ll do? I might just eat everypony alive on the way to the ship. You’d be wise to leave me here if you value your life.”

Twilight glanced back at her. “I’m not leaving you.”

Queen Chrysalis’s horn lit up and a beam of green energy flew out and hit the ground near Twilight’s hooves. Twilight stared down at it for a moment and then grinned. “You missed.”

Chrysalis growled and shot another. This time Twilight yelped and dropped Queen Chrysalis hard onto the earth. Twilight bent over and rubbed at her leg. Rainbow felt her eyebrows rise. The second blast clearly missed Twilight’s leg, so how did she get hurt?

Chrysalis sat up. She leaned awkwardly and looked over Twilight’s fallen form. “I… are you okay?”

Twilight smiled and laughed. “I knew you cared.”

“Shut up and show the others where you’re hurt you vile unicorn!” Chrysalis demanded.

Twilight stood up and shook herself clean of the dirt she landed on. “I’m not hurt. I faked it.”

Chrysalis tried to rise, failed and settled on laying down. “Why would you do such a thing? Now of all times when so much has already been lost!”

Twilight turned and faced Rainbow Dash and Luna. “To prove to them that you’re not the same evil pony you used to be. That you’re my friend.”

Chrysalis growled. “So you used me?”

Twilight shrugged lifted Chrysalis in her telekinetic aura again and met Rainbow’s eyes. “If you insist she stays here, I stay too. I will drag her back to safety if I have to.”

Rainbow blinked. This obviously had to be some kind of ruse. She opened her mouth to argue when Blackout’s voice came out from behind her. “Mom, I’ve already seen two ponies die, please don’t make me watch anymore of my friends die too.”

It was like a thousand splinters of pain exploded inside Rainbow’s chest. She closed her eyes and forced out a growl. “Fine, Twilight, get her on the ship and keep her somewhere I don’t have to look at her.”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash. You have every right not to trust me, but thank you for letting me at least save one pony.”

Rainbow spat. “Now!”

Twilight hurried onto the ship with her villainous alley. Luna leaned down and whispered, “What did Twilight do to make Chrysalis care?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Be herself I guess. Like, her real self.”

Rainbow and Luna joined onto the ship as well and without a second thought they began their journey towards home. Rainbow Dash just wanted to get out of here and to stop worrying about all this mess already. She got her kid, got her ex friend, and saved Sunset’s group. Now she just had too-

Luna pointed toward the horizon with a shout, “Corrupted Alicorn!”

Rainbow Dash followed her hoof and felt her heart drop further still. On the horizon and heading toward them fast, she could see it. It was some kind of rotten alicorn, with bits of bone exposed and a hollow stare, it was heading straight for them. She knew this was bound to happen, but she had prayed she wouldn’t have to deal with this.

Yet she was Rainbow Dash, she was the only pony who could deal with this.

Trixie laid there. Her body ached and burned. The cool forest floor was beneath her. All around her she could see broken trees and cratered earth. By her side her sword lay uselessly. Once more she tried to push herself up, but her legs refused to listen to her. It didn’t help that one of them was bent in the wrong direction.

Up in the air she could see the Corrupted Alicorn. It was staring down at her. Above its horn a ball of black energy was steadily growing. It was only about the size of the creature’s head at the moment but she couldn’t tell how large it was going to get before it was done charging the spell.

This was it. With her body broken, her magic frayed, and her ability to defend herself gone she was going to die. She should have known these creatures were too dangerous to take on directly. Even with two alicorns against it, the thing had prevailed with hardly any damage. These truly were monsters.

She was not at all ready to take on Twilight’s role. This wasn’t her purpose, or her destiny. She’d spent most of her adult life as a traveling magician and a teacher. Not as a hero or a fighter. She was about to leave a widowed wife and two heartbroken children behind.

A strong male voice broke her thought pattern. “You look pathetic lying there.”

Trixie looked up to see the white deer king standing above her. King Aspen was his name as Red had explained to her. He looked down with emerald eyes that shined against the black background. “I did not release my crown to you so you could just go and die.”

Trixie laughed and spat out some crimson globs. “Yeah, well I can’t do much about that.”

King Aspen shook his head. “You wield the power of the Everfree, the Heart of the Everfree is on your head right now. Still, even after all this combat.”

Trixie glanced up, she did indeed still retain her crown. Its soft magic was warm against her scalp. Yet even if she still had it, “What’s the point?”

King Aspen’s eyes lit up and she felt magic starting to pour into her from the crown. The amount of magic pouring into her very soul was more than she’d thought possible from a little gem. Only the Alicorn Amulet had such power in the past, and even it paled in comparison to this. She looked up at the King but he had vanished and instead saw the ball of dark energy high above her. The thing was massive now. Easily the size of a two story building. The Corrupted Alicorn, if it had retained eyes would have been staring directly at her.

The magic from the crown continued to poor into her, yet it didn’t mend her broken body. It wasn’t enough to move. Even if she used a spell here, what could she do to really stop this thing?

The corrupted Alicorn threw his head back and slammed it forward as if he was head butting an invisible wall. The ball of energy launched downward toward her. Trixie tried once more to rise but her body refused. Even with this crown she was going to still die here.

Maud, Valiant, Amber, she could see them in her mind clear as day. The ponies she loved the most, her family. They needed her to stay there for them. To protect them. With Twilight gone, who else could keep her family safe?

For the first time since she got her she realized one other thing that set her heart aflame. Once the Corrupted Alicorn was done here, the castle of the Two Sisters was only a short flight away. If it so chose, it could go there and, and, and…

The ball of energy had consumed the trees above her that still stood as well as everything else in front of her. Trixie’s heart leapt up and the magic going into her doubled. Her body seemed to move of its own accord. Broken and battered Trixie pushed herself up and screamed at the ball of energy. Her horn lit up and lavender electricity surged in every direction. A blast of lightning shot forward and slammed into the dark energy. She wasn’t going to die here. Not to this thing, not to something that could hurt her family.

Trixie screamed louder as the ball of energy, although slowed by her efforts still came down toward her. This was not the end of The Great and Powerful Trixie! How could it be? Windigo, Ursa Major, and Frailty couldn’t stop her, neither could this jerk.

The ball of energy came crashing down all around her but Trixie felt nothing. The ball seemed to have bend and twisted around her and her blast of magic. She looked and saw it. Lightning formed a cage around her. A cage that the darkness couldn’t pass. The bolt of lightning shot through the darkness and into the air. The sky above erupted into a brilliant flash of lightning and an explosion of thunder. Rain began to pour down from the heavens.

The dark energy seemed to dissipate around her and Trixie’s lightning cage vanished. Her body was healed though still stained crimson. Her sword floated by her side and she could feel something had changed. Trixie looked down at a nearby puddle forming from the rain. It was hard to make out at first, but she could see herself. Her hair was frayed and stuck out on end, her body was decorated in a lavender armor, and her head still topped by the green crown of the Everfree.

Trixie had seen such a transformation only twice in the past. Once when she was fighting the Ursa Minor, and once again when Twilight had lost her mind after Luna’s injury. The very same event that cost Twilight her wing and eye. Of course something was different as well. Though Trixie felt more magic coursing through her veins than ever before, she still felt normal. She felt in control, and calm. Her emotions hadn’t risen to a point of destruction or rage. She was in complete control of herself.

Trixie flared her wings and lighting and thunder flashed in the sky above as if to proclaim her new form’s existence to the uncaring gods. Trixie looked up at the Corrupted Alicorn. No time to play, she’d wasted enough time here and put everypony at risk already. It was time to end this.

With a flap of her wings Trixie shot into the sky trailing lighting behind her. She was fast, so fast that it wasn’t even the blink of an eye before she was in front of the Corrupted Alicorn’s face. The thing moved as if in slow motion reacting to her sudden charge. Was this how Rainbow Dash viewed the world?

Trixie brought back her hoof and struck the thing in the face. Lighting exploded all around her and she watched as the creature was sent into the earth covered in electricity. He landed with enough force to create a small crater and she shot down toward it. Her blade seemed to split into two and with realization she was now holding a blade of pure electricity on her left and her father’s sword on her right. She plunged both blades into the Corrupted Alicorn’s chest and watched as its glowing eyes began to fade. With a grunt of effort she ripped the blades out sideways watching as gore, bone, and slime exploded in either direction of the creature.

The thing’s eyes faded. Its body began to bubble and boil. Trixie instinctively teleported away and watched as its body exploded into spikes of dark piercing energy. Once the explosion died down she saw the creature’s body there. Slowly it began to melt away and exposed bone. The bones were old, ancient even, and became dust as they were exposed to the air.

Once the creature was gone. Fully gone. Trixie turned to see Red staring at her with two wide eyes. Mistmane nodded in approval. Trixie took a step toward them and she watched as Red took a single step back before seeming to regain her composer. Mistmane smiled and spoke, “Well done. I was afraid only Princess Celestia would have been able to pull off such a feat… if you can defeat one of them, we should probably hurry. My allies, the other Pillars of Equestria will need us.” She waited a moment before her ears folded back. “Well, those who are still alive.”