//------------------------------// // See The Fire In Your Eyes // Story: The Equestria Chronicles: Journey Through The Crystal Mountains // by Slippin_Sweetie //------------------------------// Thorax pulled the heavy cart along as he did his best to seem inconspicuous. Ponies would quickly dart past them as whistles echoed through the streets before a loud alarm blared throughout the city, "This is a code yellow; the city is currently under lockdown! Return to your homes immediately; this is a code yellow; the city is currently under lockdown! Return to your homes immediately!" Starlight quickly shot out of the hammock, slamming her head into a nearby box before grunting loudly, clambering her way toward Thorax, "Thorax, we need to get to the border now! Run, run!" Thorax quickly huffed as he started to gallop through the city streets, rocking and shaking the wagon as it bumped and jumped at every pebble or crack it rolled over. Trixie nearly tumbled over as she struggled to get out of her hammock, her precious items thrown around like they were in a snow globe.  Untangling herself from the fabric, she crawled to the front and yelled, "Not so fast; if you keep galloping along like that, who knows what the explos-- fireworks in the back will do! Those are expens– dangerous!" "I swear to Celestia, if you damage my wagon, I'll drain you dry of every last bit you have!" the showpony hissed at both of them. "Trixie, for the love of– wait, did you say these are explosives?.... Then we might need it when we face the royal guard…Thorax! Wrong way!" Starlight shouted. "But you said to the border!" "Not the Equestrian border! We need to go where the Royal Guard won't dare to follow us; go toward the Crystal mountains!" Thorax veered in the opposite direction as he galloped past a few ponies and police officers.  A few officers tweeted their whistles at Thorax before shouting, "Slow down! You might hurt somepony– hey! I said slow down!" the officers quickly chased after the cart. "Excuse me?!" Trixie yelled, "For one, those are MY explosives, and two, why would we face the royal guard for a second time?! You barely won the first battle!"  "And third-- The Crystal Mountains?? Do you even know anything about that place? Not even the Crystal ponies go out there, and they're native here!" the unicorn grit her teeth as she did her best to hold on to the rattling wagon. "Because it won't take long for our' friends' to realize that we're not running to our homes and for all the officers and Guardsponys to get the memo about the wanted fugitives in a cart trying to escape the city!" "Riiiight, and running through the city in the cart was the best idea we had–  if you're so much more powerful than I am, why don't you just magic us out of this situation?!" Trixie shouted back before being slammed against one of the wagon walls, groaning in irritation. Peeking out the window and noticing their little entourage, the blue showpony sighed, "You two really had to make this difficult..." Pushing Starlight aside to make her way to the front, the showpony grabbed onto a thick pulley and tugged hard. Underneath the wagon, three large bottles of oil began to pour out their contents behind them, giving their pursuers quite a tumble. "Don't worry, I got a map, and I know there's civilization up there. All that talk about the mountains being cursed is just superstition! Once we get up to Yakyakistan, you and Thorax can hold out up there til the heat dies down!" Starlight sighed, ("Assuming the Yaks will let us in…") "VEER LEFT! NO, YOUR OTHER LEFT!" screeched Starlight Cadance had already returned to the castle to tend to Shining Armor as Twilight and the group wandered the city aimlessly, looking for Starlight before a black cart raced by them. Twilight could recognize the voice barking orders inside the wagon. "FASTER, WATCH OUT FOR THAT FILLY, OH CELESTIA!!!" The purple alicorn immediately turned toward the familiar voice, her eyes widening. Her body responded quicker than her brain, racing after the wagon. The only thing that she managed to yell was, "It's them!! Catch that wagon!" "You got it!" Rainbow gave a mock salute before zipping after the wagon, effortlessly flying beside the young stallion pulling it. Applejack quickly raced after them, grumbling, "The one time I didn't bring my lasso, come on, Rarity!" "I really hope this doesn't ruin my hooficure!" she'd fret quickly following after them "Sooo.... are you gonna make this difficult, or are you gonna stop and make this easier for everypony?" Rainbow cocked a brow as she kept in perfect sync with his speed. A pink blur appeared on the other side of the stallion, with a rather serious expression on her face, "Hold it right there, mister! You hiding something in there?! Is it cake?! Then you need to share!!" "O-Oh my..." Fluttershy muttered as she flew as fast as her wing would take her, "P-Please, stop?" Thorax quickly stammered and stuttered, "I– ah, um, well, it's just I'm pulling my family to our house on the other side of town!" "Now that's the worst lie I ever heard; pull over, you're outnumbered!" Applejack ordered, putting on a stern voice that would have had Apple Bloom running to her room. "And most certainly outclassed!" Rarity chimed eloquently. Breathing heavily, Starlight scanned the cart and instinctively rushed to the explosives. In the back held several high-grade bottle rockets, rockets, and smoke bombs; Starlight would grab as many fireworks as she could, lighting the fuse of each of them as she quickly used her magic to hold them near the windows. Turning to Trixie, the lilac unicorn gestured for her to get down. Trixie's eyes widened as she witnessed what Starlight was doing. Her jaw worked between screeches of indignation at how much money she was wasting by firing them all off and wondering if this strange unicorn had a death wish. In the end, she couldn't decide and simply flattened herself to the floor, covering her head with her hooves. "This is Princess Twilight; I command you to pull over now!" Twilight's Canterlot voice boomed, "I know you're in there, Starlight!" "C'mon, silly, just stop, and we'll check to see if you're telling the truth!" Pinkie smiled widely at the young stallion,  "Then I bet we can be friends! What's your name?" "One last chance, buddy, or I'm gonna make this hurt." Dash punched her hoof into the other in a threatening manner. "Pull over!" The changeling shrank away from Rainbow Dash's threat before Thorax quickly beamed a bright smile at Pinkie Pie. "Oh! Um, my name is Thorax. Friends? Really? I would really like that actually my goal in life is to make new fr–" Starlight quickly flew the windows open as the fireworks erupted from the cart; as they raced and screeched through the air, sparks of red, blue, and purple exploded around the ponies next to the cart. Some bottle rockets even shattered the windows of several businesses and homes, quickly starting fires across the city block. Rainbow and Pinkie halted as the wagon sped past them at impossible speeds, watching as the fireworks rained chaos into and downward from the sky. Pinkie turned to her pegasus friend as the wagon flew out of sight and smiled. "He seemed nice." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and groaned, speeding off to try and relocate their target. Twilight stood frozen in shock at the destruction around her; wings spread wide as her brain struggled to think of what to do. Turning around, she addressed the officers who had followed her.  "Call emergency services immediately, firefighters and medics, anyone available. Tend to the wounded. My friends and I will try and catch those criminals," the purple alicorn ordered before taking flight, the force of her take-off ruffling the manes of those who stood nearby. Velvet Bristle quickly turned to his ponies, "I want you, you, and you to put out the fires on the left, and I want the rest of you to put out those fires on the right! Everypony else, we need to get the civilians out of here. Let's move out!" Thorax clung to the wagon desperately as the few bottle rockets still attached to the cart jetted the wagon closer and closer to the border; the changeling screamed widely as he was at the complete mercy of the cart now. Starlight swiftly opened the back of the wagon to witness Twilight and her friend's swift approach before spinning back to face Trixie, "Do we have anything besides smoke bombs left!?" Trixie was holding on for dear life under one of the shelves attached to the walls, praying to Luna that it wouldn't collapse and crush her underneath its contents. Looking up at Starlight in the chaos of hissing smoke and the smell of sulfur, she laughed hysterically. "Are you kidding me?! Do you think I have some sort of artillery in here?!" she shrieked, "Do you have any idea how much all of that cost me?! More than you make in a year!! You're the one who got us all in this mess, you figure it out!" Starlight scoffed as she quickly levitated herself to the cart's roof, looking at the situation, "Six ponies, one alicorn, one unicorn, two pegasi, and two earth ponies…." she'd quickly take a deep breath as she channeled arcane magic through her horn. Leaning her head back, Starlight would flick her horn forward, unleashing a powerful hyper beam at Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Twilight's heart nearly stopped, and before she knew it, she had catapulted herself so fast that Rainbow Dash would be proud. Landing in front of the two earth ponies, Twilight raised a shield just in the nick of time. Applejack quickly screeched to a halt as she covered herself, bracing for impact. Opening her eyes which she hadn't realized she had clenched shut, the apple farmer let out a relieved sigh. The spell seemed to vibrate from the impact of the beam, but it held firm in case of another attack. "Fall back!" the purple alicorn yelled, causing her friends to falter in their chase, "I'll follow them; I don't want any of you getting hurt!" "Twilight, we've been over this, like, a dozen times. We're not going anywhere without you!" Pinkie sighed as she skidded to a halt, "Haven't we learned this lesson before? Seems like it's every twenty-two minutes at least once a week." "Hu– what, Pinkie– That's not important right now! Starlight is a very gifted spell caster, and I can't have any of you getting hurt! Maybe if Rarity could raise a shield... but... no, I can't leave it up to chance." Twilight lifted off from the ground. "Please, she already hurt my brother." Twilight turned to Spike and amended her statement with a bittersweet gaze, "Our brother." "We're dead weight if Twilight has to keep protecting us! We ought to help the royal guard put out those fires!" shouted Applejack Rarity turned to Twilight,"My magic isn't nearly powerful enough to protect us against something like that. I think you should end this madness once and for all!"  Spike quickly gestured to the wagon speeding away, "We really need to make a decision here, guys; they're getting away!" "A-At least if you go, we can go with the officers and help the injured ponies. Don't worry about us, Twilight; just be careful, okay?" Fluttershy muttered, her soft voice barely cutting through the chaos. "You guys go ahead; I'll stick with Twilight," Rainbow commanded, "You take care of things here, and we'll tear Starlight a new one!" Before Twilight could protest, Rainbow was already in hot pursuit. The purple alicorn sighed and turned to the rest of her friends. "Please, stay safe... especially you, Spike." Spike waved to Twilight as he and the rest of the gang quickly galloped off in the opposite direction, "Don't worry about us, Twilight; go get Starlight!" Giving the group one more nod, Twilight used a surge of magic to provide her with a short boost in speed, attempting to catch up with Rainbow and the racing wagon. Starlight sighed at the sight of Rainbow Dash and Twilight, looking up as the two quickly gained on the wagon, "For the sake of clarity, I didn't intend for a fight today!" "Well, maybe you shouldn't have turned that barkeep into a literal block of ICE!" Trixie hissed from out the window before quickly pulling it shut, not wanting to be involved in any more excitement, willing to ride out the rest of the firework-propelled ride. "Heh, well, I'm always ready for a fight! Let's see how quick your reflexes are!" Rainbow shot the unicorn a grin. Before Twilight could tell her to stop, the pegasus moved nearly faster than the pony eye could keep up with. Dash clocked the lilac unicorn in the jaw, putting all of her speed and muscle into the swing, attempting to knock the unicorn off balance. Starlight spun as she was struck in the jaw by the pegasi, falling back on the roof of the wagon as she was dazed, "Yes, mother, I did brush my mane," shaking off the pain and lightheadedness, Starlight levitated off the coach, letting it race off as she confronted the two. "You want a fight? Fine, let's see how you fair against this!" she'd quickly fire a magic beam, turning Rainbow Dash into a bluejay. The once-pegasus attempted to curse, completely confused by her predicament, but it only came out as a musical bird call. The only pony who could have understood her was Fluttershy, who thankfully wasn't there to hear the particular words Rainbow had in mind. Twilight nearly faltered as she witnessed what Starlight had just done. A Transmogrification Spell? That was incredibly advanced; how in Equestria did she learn it?! Good thing Twilight had studied that spell and its counter; otherwise, Rainbow would be in some trouble... But the counter-spell would take time to perform, enough for Starlight to get away... "Rainbow, I don't know if you can understand me, but go find Fluttershy! I'll reverse the spell later!" for once, the alicorn shot past Rainbow, who chirped in indignation. Catching back up to the wagon, Twilight summoned her strongest telekinesis and grabbed the wagon itself, bringing the cart to a complete stop, hovering in mid-air. Trixie let out a small moan of relief and nausea as the wagon finally stopped, resting her head against the wooden floor. Clumsily, the showpony crawled beneath one of the hammocks, a chill going down her spine as she felt the magic coursing around them. Thorax quickly stopped screaming as he smacked against the pavement while the cart was lifted into the air. Starlight sighed as she quickly grabbed Thorax with her magic and threw him into the back of the cart before firing a beam of magic at Twilight to get her to let go. "It's me you want, Twilight Sparkle; let those two idiots go!" The unicorn snarled as she approached. Twilight managed to dodge out of the line of fire before returning fire a bead of sweat going down her brow as she kept the wagon a foot above the ground. Twilight knew well enough that letting this unicorn gain followers was not a wise idea, and if Trixie was involved… It only spelled trouble. "Then give yourself up, Starlight Glimmer! You don't need to drag those two into what you've done and what you're clearly planning to do! Attacking me is one thing, but to harm my brother..." it seemed as if a gust of air caused Twilight's mane to flow in the wind, but Starlight could feel nothing against her coat. The unicorn rolled her eyes at the melodrama, "It is despicable. And look at what you have done to this city!" she raised a hoof at the destruction behind them, "Was this all to get back at me?" Starlight quickly fired a hyper beam as the two mages engaged in a duel. Truthfully no, this was all happenstance and the product of mismanagement and pure incompetence, which she blamed entirely on Trixie. But Starlight wasn't going to waste an opportunity to get back at Twilight, even if it was just causing emotional damage, "Yes! Take a look around you, Twilight! Do you see what I'm capable of!? What I'm capable of taking away!? I will burn down this whole city if it means destroying YOU!" Twilight's eyes betrayed the horror she felt from the unicorn's words but quickly hardened into a focused gaze. Summoning her strength, Starlight would use all her might to push back against Twilight's magic. She had a sadistic glint in her gaze paired with the satisfaction of hurting the princess. The purple alicorn closed her eyes before snapping them open and, in one quick motion, diverted Starlight's hyper beam to an already shredded and unoccupied building. Without a second to spare, she summoned a chunk of the building, appearing as if she were going to throw it at Starlight. At the last second, the chunk of stone disappeared and attempted to hit Starlight with another beam of magic, intending to keep the unicorn on the defensive. Meanwhile, Trixie struggled to wrestle herself out of the cart, falling to the pavement with a grunt. Looking up, she witnessed the battle above her and squeaked, crawling close to the ground to try and find cover. She had enough of this, and now they were tossing around bits of ponies' homes? The showpony didn't want to get crushed inside of hers. Starlight quickly raised a shield as she turned to Thorax and Trixie, "Run, you idiots, run!" The changeling quickly trotted over to Trixie, forcing her onto her hooves, "Well, you heard her; let's get out of here before we're toast, help me pull the cart!" running over to the wagon, Thorax hooked the pair up to the wagon before galloping away. Trixie sluggishly moved, her legs shaking beneath her as she watched acts of magic that she knew she could never hope to perform. Coming back to her senses, the blue unicorn forced her head down and began running for her life. Starlight summoned a large boot made of magic before punting the two and the cart toward the Crystal Mountains guaranteeing their escape, leaving only Twilight and Starlight. The two yelped as they were literally booted towards the border, with Trixie and Thorax squealing the entire way. Examining the situation, the lilac mare really didn't need to get into a skirmish. It was only a matter of time before backup arrived, and she was outnumbered. She needed to make a scene and get out while the going was still good.  Charging up her horn, Starlight fired a massive beam but not at Twilight; the magic flew past the alicorn before striking a nearby building behind her, engulfing the structure in flames. Twilight reacted quickly, charging her horn and sending a frost spell to smother the fire in a blanket of snow. Sweat trailing down her brow, Twilight turned back to Starlight as she kept the frost spell going. Taking a deep breath, the alicorn's horn let out a loud pop before something could be heard falling from above. The large piece of stone Twilight had levitated earlier teleported back into existence fifty feet above Starlight; it seemed as if the alicorn had been saving it for this moment. Starlight quickly raised a shield as the debris began weighing down on her. She'd soon focus on the shield as it slowly began to crack and chip away before finally shattering. Twilight shielded her eyes from the dust and dirt that flew up into the air. Gasping and nearly collapsing to the ground, Twilight was impressed that her wings could keep her up in the air while she strained herself with so many spells at once. But that wasn't what truly stupefied her. Had she just... killed a pony? Taking deep, ragged gulps of air, Twilight struggled to her hooves and stepped closer to the large stone pillar. She couldn't see any blood, but the horrific image of somepony, even as awful as Starlight crushed or trapped beneath the stone, drove her to action. Using the last of her strength, Twilight used levitation and even her own hooves to move the stone. After toiling for a minute, she finally managed to move it. No blood, no remains, and no Starlight. It was as if she had just up and disappeared. Suddenly a beam of magic struck the alicorn. Just like before in the Everfree forest, her muscles grew stiff as she toppled to the ground as Starlight approached from a nearby alleyway. Twilight nearly let out a sigh of relief when she was hit. In fact, it left her lungs in a state of constant inhalation, making breathing difficult. "Pretty clever use of teleporting, right? Just a second off and I would've been paste…." before nealing next to Twilight, she chuckled, "Alright, a little heart to heart. I didn't plan on having a fight in the Crystal Empire, but you know how making plans turn out... One minute you're living in the perfect utopia, the next minute, you're a fugitive of some fuddy-duddy princess with a hero complex." Gritting her teeth, the alicorn attempted to throw off the spell whilst Starlight was monologuing but found her magic had just shorted out, using too much in such a short time. Looking up at the lilac unicorn, she threw the pony a glare that would have startled anypony who knew her personally. Starlight slowly rose up from the ground, "Now, I would use this opportunity to destroy you with that rubble you tried to crush me with, buuuuut… I'm a bit more patient than that. Starting a fire and assaulting two monarchs, that and, well, you know…." She'd slice her hoof across her throat as she made a slight 'Ek' sound, "-- would make the heat on me even worse. But don't worry, I will see you around 'friend'... very, very soon." Turning around, Starlight kicked up some dust as she levitated from the pavement and into the air, following the direction she had sent the wagon moments before. Breathing as deeply as she could, Twilight watched the unicorn fly away, noting which direction she went while thinking of a way to get herself out of this predicament. As she attempted to squirm, a particular bird call met her ears. Ceasing her useless struggle, she felt immediate relief when she saw Fluttershy approaching from the corner of her eye. "Twilight! Oh goodness, are you okay?!" the pegasus rushed forward, attempting to lift the alicorn off the pavement, "This little birdie told me you needed help and... well, it's funny, but it says she's--" "That's Rainbow." was all Twilight could grunt out, "Petrified... need a mage." "Oh!" Fluttershy's eyes went wide, and with the strength a pegasus could only attain through years of wrestling wild beasts, she pulled Twilight into her hooves and began flying towards help. As the chirping bluejay fluttered after them.