Starlight had an advanced invisibility spell layered on herself, running through the halls of Castle Bleck as fast as she could. She wasn’t going for any sort of target or assault; she was looking for the statue of Discord and Cadence. In the process, she passed many monstrous slimes, goblin creatures, tentacled beasts, and of course hypnotized ponies. She noticed that, the further she went, the less common the ponies became and the more common the monstrous beasts became. Crystal entities slid through the halls, cactus creatures hopped around wildly, and a myriad of other creatures that were under Nastasia’s complete control continued to get in the way.
None of them could sense Starlight. At least, nothing Starlight had encountered so far, though to be fair they probably weren’t looking for an invisible unicorn running through the halls of Castle Bleck.
Starlight’s theory was that the statue had to be somewhere in the center of the Castle. So far, the resistance had discovered two edges of the previously thought to be endless structure, and from that Starlight used the power of geometry to find a line that she assumed went toward the center. It was likely slightly off, but it would do.
Eventually, she found herself approaching a large, closed door. As always when she reached one of these doors, she scanned the other side to see if anyone was there. There was—O’Chunks, Mimi, Nastasia, and a form she didn’t recognize.
“You will go nowhere!” Nastasia’s shout came from through the door.
Ah, I’ve found their meeting room. Good… I must be close.
She kept scanning, waiting at the edges of the door. Nastasia walked out first—going directly through the door and walking past Starlight. Three steps down the hall, Nastasia froze in place, glancing around the hall.
She can’t see me.
Starlight was correct, Nastasia couldn’t, but that didn’t stop her from being suspicious. In the end she took out a notepad, scribbled a few lines in it, and then went on her way.
Letting out a tense breath, Starlight scanned the room again. Now, Mimi and the unknown minion were gone, leaving only O’Chunks in the room, kneeling as though tired. I’ve taken him on during missions before. He’s an idiot, won’t suspect a thing.
Cautiously, Starlight opened the door a crack, allowing herself to slip through. High above her on a pillar, O’Chunks stood, his back to her. He was breathing heavily with a slight scratch that indicated he had been overusing his voice. Was he making the racket a while back? Not something to focus on. Instead, Starlight performed more advanced scans on the central hall. There was only one door in and out and… wait. She focused her magic on the far wall, furrowing her brow. There was nothing there—and that was the problem, every wall in this place gave off residual dark magic. A blank wall suggested that something was being hidden.
And she wasn’t going to be able to cast revealing spells while invisible.
Biting her lip, she sent a quick sleep spell to O’Chunks. He had no mental capacity to resist, nor the strength to attempt it. He collapsed into a heap, snoring loudly.
After checking to make sure no one else was coming, Starlight dropped her invisibility and began slamming the wall with reveal spells, praying that one of them would work. She knew a grand total of eight ways to reveal the unknown. It was the seventh that finally broke through whatever illusion was in place, creating a massive set of double doors.
To her annoyance, Starlight found that she couldn’t scan the other side. Taking a deep breath, she poked her head in.
It was the wedding hall. White pillars, white stairs, white altars... it was the place the Chaos Heart had been created. Except now, it was eerily empty save for a single soul—Count Bleck himself, his back turned toward her, staring intently at the statue on the altar. The Chaos Heart was nowhere to be seen.
Starlight made herself invisible again but didn’t shut the door—she didn’t want to make the noise. Carefully, she levitated herself off the ground and drifted toward the statue.
Count Bleck sighed. “You would have hated it,” he muttered. Starlight froze, taking a few moments to realize he was talking to himself. He angrily turned and marched down the stairs, blowing through the doors and slamming them in a fury. He either did not notice the doors were open, or he believed that he’d forgotten to close him.
The doors vanished shortly after he left. No matter, I can make them reappear. Starlight trotted up to the top of the stairs, taking in the disgusting statue. Discord and Cadence, locked in a passionate kiss that both of them seemed to be enjoying. But it was all a lie. A disgusting, terrible lie that was abused to start all this.
Scanning the statue, Starlight found some residual energy on it, likely from the Chaos Heart. Perhaps it could be used to find the Heart? Maybe that was why the warrior wanted them to find it. Because it would be a boon.
“You know, I originally wanted you to find it because I could use it.”
The warrior was standing at the foot of the stairs, all four of his arms crossed. Starlight decided it was useless to remain invisible. “Use it for what?”
“To break the limiter.” He strode up the stairs. “I was once a cursed wanderer, doomed to flit from universe to universe, location to location, not having a home. And you know what? I loved it. I loved it so much I learned to become one with it and control it. But then a bunch of idiots grab the Void and try to abuse it, and I’m stuck traveling within the Void’s manifestation. Stuck in this bland castle.”
“This statue can provide you a way out?”
“It can,” he agreed. “It is the source of the curse. I had every intention of stealing it from you and breaking the hold placed on me. But!”
“You changed your mind.” Starlight corked her eyebrow. “Let me guess, you figured out what the Count was trying to do?”
“Yes!” he said. “More than even you know.”
“I’d love to hear it.”
“Later. Right now, we need to get this statue to the others. The curse on it is based on—eugh—love, so setting right the love that went wrong should do something. I think.”
“Shining Armor and… Fluttershy.” Starlight considered this. “Yes, that could work.”
“The Chaos Heart itself would change, and we might be able to break the travel ban for all. Bleck’s minions would no longer have a monopoly on the other dimensions.”
“And we might be able to get help!” Starlight lit up. “That’ll work amazingly! Let me just teleport it…”
“Room’s teleport proof.”
“Only a minor inconvenience,” Starlight said, waving a hoof as she levitated the statue up relatively effortlessly. “Anyway, if we’re going to be working together… I’m Starlight Glimmer. You?”
“Gilgamesh. And you are right about how minor it is…” He clapped his hands, creating a Void portal. “Behold, our escape.”
Starlight narrowed her eyes. “You sure you aren’t one of Bleck’s minions?”
“I was traveling the Void before that idiot was even born,” Gilgamesh snorted. “After yo—”
“No, says Count Bleck!”
A burst of dark energy hit Gilgamesh in the back, knocking him over. The doors had re-appeared—and Count Bleck, Nastasia, and Dark Oak stood in them.
Gilgamesh stood to his feet, shaking. “O-ouch…”
“You have been quite a pain to track down,” Nastasia said. “But this is the end of the line.” She reached her hand to her glasses.
“My line never ends!” Gilgamesh created a Void portal around himself, one that Count Bleck couldn’t act quickly enough to disable.
This left Starlight alone at the base of the statue. She quickly cast her mental protection spell to keep Nastasia from hypnotizing her, not that she told anyone that. Horn glowing, she laughed nervously. “H-hello, Count! How are you doing?”
“Annoyed that you have invaded Count Bleck’s inner sanctum,” the Count said, tilting his hat upward. “But at least you get to appreciate them!” He gestured at the statue. “Beautiful, aren’t they?”
“Disgusting,” Starlight spat, horn still glowing. Come on, there has to be a way to do this…
“Bleh heheheheheheheheh…” the Count’s sneer widened. “You are the strongest member of the Resistance, are you not? Nastasia, she is likely to become one of… the special entities.”
“She holds all the requirements,” Nastasia admitted. “Like Lulu and Mr. L, she’d check off all the boxes.”
“So you do not traditionally recruit willing minions,” Dark Oak noted.
“It depends,” the Count said, smirking. “But for now, Nastasia?”
Nastasia adjusted her glasses. Starlight felt the spell hit her—and bounce off, but she still reacted. “Hail Bleck!” she called, trying to put on her best blank expression, but she kept her horn lit.
It apparently worked. “Um, she appears normal, Count.”
Bleck shook his head. “A small loss. I do prefer the minions with more personality to them, but it is what it is. Set her on patrol, tell her to smile. Maybe it’ll fool some of them, bleh heh heh heh!”
Come on…
“Why is her horn still glowing?” Dark Oak asked.
Come on come on comeoncomeon!
“You, stop the magic,” Nastasia ordered.
Starlight dropped her blank expression, fixing Nastasia with a cocky grin. “Make me.”
The Count pointed his scepter at Starlight. “Bleh heheheheheheh! You have been very entertaining, Starlight Glimmer! But now your time is at an end. Nothing you can do w—”
“GOT IT!” Starlight shouted, finally feeling her magic touch the transdimensional nature of the statue. She didn’t care that she didn’t feel like it had been there a second before, it was there now, and she had it. Space rippled around her, twisting around herself and the statue. No Void portal appeared—space just twisted and folded until both of them were gone.
~~~
“Look, Timpani. The stars are beautiful, aren’t they?”
“…There’s a tradition in my village. We believe that wishes on stars come true.”
“Oh, is that so? In that case we’d better get wishing. Don’t you think?”
“I don’t need to wish anymore.”
“Mmm?”
“I already got my wish. Now… I have everything I need right here.”
“Timpani… Aren’t you cold?”
“Not at all. I’m very warm… Can we stay like this? Just a little longer?”