//------------------------------//
// Community 
// Story: The Stone Chisel Way 
// by King Genesis 
//------------------------------//


Arc III - Chapter VIII - Community


"...AHHHH!"

Twilight falls and realizes she is not in Canterlot anymore. The ground where she hit her head is not even green. She, along with her friends, the Princesses, Flurry Heart, Spike, Stone Chisel, Stolen Bag and the mysterious beige pony, is standing on a yellow round platform surrounded by an orange dome. She starts breathing heavily while being approached by her friends. Spike, who is holding the baby, finds out she fell asleep. "Are..." she blinks. "Are we dead?"

Her voice resonates with echo... "No," replies the mysterious beige pony, known as Grapefruit Slice. "We are in a special section which I designed a long time ago, along with an old fellow, in the limbo for us illegal users to refuge."

Twilight blinks while looking at her. "Wait..." 

"So this place is not... Equestria?" asks Rainbow Dash, looking at the orange dome surrounding them. Nobody can see through it. "Where are we?"

"We are in the middle of two different dimensions." She turns around. "And we've got to hurry up, because Tenebris may discover where are we in not so much. With those godlike powers he may have robbed from Discord, he may find us like a cat catching a mouse."

"He did rob them," replies Stone Chisel to Grapefruit Slice. "And he doesn't need to learn so much about it."

Celestia is the last one who speaks. "So..." she whispers. "This whole place is a creation of chaos magic?"

Slice nods her head, without looking at the princesses, and Stone Chisel approaches her: "Wait, but I thought you... took the chaos magic out from you."

The beige pony turns around and looks at him. "And why would you look for me, then?"

"LaCrowley gave you the magical powder, didn't he?"

"I gave it back to him." Stone Chisel remains silent and closes his eyes. "I know what you want to do, Stone Chisel... you want to clean the mess you've done... but you've got to understand, firstly, I'm not in terms with LaCrowley and from what I know, you neither."

Everyone is in silence while observing both of them talking. Stone Chisel shakes his head. "I don't know anybody else who may be capable of confronting Tenebris."

"No. Sweetheart," she says, touching one of Stone Chisel's cheeks with a hoof. "You think that we can battle him... but you know Tenebris is the God of Chaos, don't you? His powers united along with his cruelty and bloodthirst are a lethal combination... and despite me and LaCrowley controlling the same powers, the same roots as him... we can't do anything else than twist his hooves and throw him away. No matter how many times we break it, he will wake up and rise."

"Please," interrupts Twilight Sparkle. "Would you put us in context?"

The princess of the sun frowns. "I've been wondering who you are, beige mare, and why, according to Stone Chisel here, you are the one who could help us to stop Tenebris. Would you mind explaining to us what are you actually?" even adds Celestia, in a rude tone, looking at her sister for a second. "Now."

She only nods while looking at the princesses. "My name is Grapefruit Slice," starts speaking the beige pony. "I founded, along with the last known Wizard of Chaos in Equestria, Black Magic LaCrowley, the Urushiol Forest Friendship Community, dedicated to helping lost creatures and making them find their way again by teaching them the Magic of Friendship. I am the one who put Stone Chisel in there."

"And you said you were not on terms with LaCrowley, didn't you?" asks Luna. "May we know what happened?" 

Stone Chisel stutters, trying to say something. "Well, uh--"

"I was a pupil of LaCrowley in chaos magic, and he was the last pupil of the founder of the Wizard Legion, Shadow Star... but when the leader died, both of us escaped and stayed in Urushiol Forest, where he had the idea of the friendship community thanks to a scroll I had... about you, Princess Celestia, writing about the Magic of Friendship."

Every pony gets surprised at that. "Oh," says the princess. "I forgot that I wrote scrolls of this... when I was alone."

Luna blinks, trying not to remember her dark times as Nightmare Moon. Grapefruit Slice, however, keeps speaking: "LaCrowley has been always a Shadow Star contrarian, something that I still agree with. He said that he was an authoritarian, selfish wizard that locked all of his pupil's minds in a specific grey place controlled by him, and didn't let anyone there experiment with the magic powers in the beautiful entirety of Equestria." At that right moment, something inside Stone Chisel makes him feel dizzy, making him lie on the yellow platform. "At first, I collaborated with no problems at all with Mr LaCrowley, helping the lost ones and taking them to him, until I realized that he was doing the exact same things as Shadow Star. He locked them in Urushiol Forest and didn't let them come out of there, a place controlled by him and his eldest pupils, such as Galloway the Griffon, Cheesecake the pony and..."

A short pause in the yellow platform where someone points at somebody else who speaks: "Me." Stone Chisel says that in a very low, almost inaudible voice.

"And did he teach chaos magic to his pupils?" asks Twilight Sparkle.

"To some. Not all of them, but that's something I also disagreed with." Slice takes a breath. "I told him I was not in favour of what he was doing and I even dared to say he was just another Shadow Star. I know that... really hurt him in a way, but I feel he never understood what I really meant." She squints her eyes. "I didn't want to be rude, I didn't call him a hypocrite... I wanted to let him know that he wasn't doing something good. I wanted him to do the right thing." She then sighs and keeps speaking: "He gave me a magical powder which I could use to talk to him through the limbo... but I never used it. I even tried to steal the Shadow Star amulet we robbed together from the Wizards of Chaos, but I decided not--"

"Until he did it." Luna points at Stone Chisel. "You know he robbed that amulet and swallowed it to gain powers, don't you?"

Grapefruit Slice opens her eyes in shock and looks at the stallion, who looks at her back with disappointment. Everyone doesn't say anything. "Tell me it's not true."

He slowly shakes his head. "I wish."

"Where is it, then?"

He closes his eyes, turning his head down. "I... I haven't talked to you since I left the community. There are too many things you don't know... and you also shouldn't know."

"Do you have it inside you?" asks Grapefruit, then looking at everyone else. "Or... don't tell me the amulet was the cause of---"


VROOOOSSHHH


A portal is opened in the middle of the circle. Everyone is prepared for battle. Is it Tenebris? Is it Rushkwa? Which one of the rams will enter first? They begin to doubt who may be getting inside when they find out a boney hoof is the first thing that actually comes out of the portal. Both Grapefruit Slice and Stone Chisel unexplainably recognize who has entered the limbo. An old grey stallion with a short white beard and a black star as his cutie mark. He looks at the princesses and the elements and then turns around to observe Stolen Bag, Stone Chisel and Grapefruit Slice looking at him. Once he slowly moves his head, the portal is closed. "Since my back started itching, I knew someone was here." He tries to calm down, looking at his pupils after so long. "I can not forget the feeling of someone inside the refugees, Grapefruit... what I didn't expect was..." he turns around. "... so many."

"LaCrowley?" asks Celestia, shocked. The wizard turns his back to look at her and nods his head in silence. The only thing he does is look at both Stone Chisel and Grapefruit Slice. Twilight Sparkle and her friends, confused, slowly approach the wizard just in case he does something suspicious.

Stone Chisel approaches the magician he hasn't seen for a long time and surrenders. He turns his head down and slowly, barely crouches. "It's all my fault. Everything's my fault." He shakes his head once. "I should have listened to you."

"No," he replies. "It's my fault. Everything's my mistake. I shouldn't have let you go so easily." He slowly puts a hoof over Stone Chisel's loin while looking at Grapefruit Slice. "I shouldn't have let you go too, Grapefruit. I was an irresponsible mentor."

Grapefruit Slice, however, doesn't approach the wizard. "You know that... everything I said to you that night didn't have any intentions of hurting you, but to help you. Why didn't you listen to me?"

LaCrowley sighs while shaking his head, and turns around to look at the princesses and the elements in silence. "It's no time to speak about this, sadly. I may be still one of the most powerful users of the chaos magic... but, if I think clearly for a second, neither I nor my pupils can fight together against not only the source of our power but an unstoppable force." He takes a small look at Stone Chisel. "I knew it. I knew that if you had survived the butchery of Tenebris, you will come to me sooner or later to ask for help... and I'm glad you came to me and I really wish I could help you, Stone Chisel... but I can't eradicate Tenebris."

The six manes look at each other. "So..." Pinkie Pie asks, with smooth hair. "This is it?"

Pure silence on the yellow platform. LaCrowley raises his eyebrows while looking at the yellow platform. His whole back feels goosebumps. "In a way," he replies. "If the equestrian land depends on us, yes. This is it... but there is something under the place where I rest every night. It's something I never wanted to use. I cannot control it. I cannot manage that... but it's the only thing I know that may be able to erase this ram."

"No," suddenly says Grapefruit Slice, with tears about to come out of her eyes. "No."

LaCrowley turns back, calling Stone Chisel's attention. "I'm sorry, Grapefruit Slice."

"You..." she starts crying. "You said you returned that to the zebras which owned it."

"I've been lying to you. I've never given that tribe what is theirs back, and I also hired a zebra from another tribe to pray on i--"

"What are you talking about?" suddenly shouts Stone Chisel. "What are... or were you hiding... under the place where you rested?"

Silence, one more time. Everybody looks at Stone Chisel but LaCrowley and Grapefruit Slice don't stick their eyes from each other. "Does anybody else know, in your community, about what you are hiding under the house?"

LaCrowley shakes his head. "No."

"Do you realize that the sole existence of that puts everybody in Equestria in danger?"

"Yes."

"Do you know that if Tenebris finds that this object exists, we have no solution but to be doomed?"

"AND WHAT IS THAT?" Stone Chisel shouts at them both, running away from them and getting nearer the princesses. "What are you hiding from us? What were you hiding from me, Cheesecake, Galloway, Light Eater and the others...? Why is it so dangerous? Why is it related to the zebras?"

LaCrowley looks at his pupil and then at the mares from Canterlot, who have been looking at this whole spectacle in silence. He has to explain while Grapefruit Slice is shedding tears behind him. "It is an ancient object which belongs to a certain tribe of zebras... It's older than the princesses, much older than the Wizards of Chaos, and I could even say... that it's older than chaos itself."

"Is something related to the ancient equusquagga mythology?" asks Celestia. "The leaves of Zaitonia? The trees of Zeironi?"

"No."

"The crimson flower of Zerbuhmahs?" asks Twilight Sparkle.

LaCrowley clenches his teeth after hearing that name. "No. It's an object I can't use because... it repels any kind of chaos, dark magic. It only allows clear magic that comes from zebras, unicorns or alicorns."

"So..." says Luna. "This means... we are allowed to use it, as clear magic users."

"Absolutely." LaCrowley nods his head. "I trust Celestia and Luna the most. That object may be the only thing that can save us."

"And what does it do?" asks Rainbow Dash. "I mean, if you say that it's so powerful... tell us why."

Grapefruit Slice gasps and raises her hoof, approaching LaCrowley. "Because... because it has the ability to modify destiny."

"Destiny?" asks Applejack, confused. "Don' ya mean..."

"Change destiny?" Twilight Sparkle raises an eyebrow. "In which way?"

"Alter the flow of history... modify the skeleton itself," says LaCrowley. "That's what I know about the object, but I could never use it because I'm not worthy of it. It hurts to say it but... Nobody. Nobody in my community is worth it. I paid a zebra and ordered her to pray on it, to maintain the object magically active. The last time she came into the community... was yesterday morning."

"Yesterday morning," replies Celestia. "And what does this mean?"

"I don't know." LaCrowley looks at both princesses. "If you want to find out what that means and if you want to save the lands... you need to, at least, come with me... and try."





Just a minute later, LaCrowley opens another portal where Cheesecake comes out from, and he orders her to help everyone enter Urushiol Forest. She gets surprised at seeing Twilight Sparkle, Celestia and Luna in the limbo but almost loses her mind when she finds out Stone Chisel is there. She tries to give him a hug, but once she realizes on which verge of their lives are they standing, she decides to hurry up and order everyone to enter immediately. However, Mr LaCrowley ordered her something else: Stone Chisel had to be the last one entering the portal, after Grapefruit Slice. Looks like somebody needs to tie some loose ends. She expects them to not last so long.

The princesses enter without saying anything, expecting to do something at least before the rams eat everything. Grapefruit Slice takes a bit of time to make a decision but decides to enter the portal without even looking at her old mentor and her pupil. Once Stone is about to cross the portal, Cheesecake puts a hoof over his loin and smiles at him. "Actually," says LaCrowley. "I want Cheesecake to go. I need to talk to you about something in private."

Cheesecake passes by him and enters the portal without saying anything, and turns around to look at Mr LaCrowley, his mentor. Why would he want to talk in private now? "We don't have so much time... what's going on?"

LaCrowley nods his head while his eyes are getting filled with a certain spark. "You unintentionally freed Tenebris through the Shadow Star amulet, didn't you?" The question makes Stone Chisel's fur freeze. "I know you would never do it on purpose, so... tell me the truth. Tell me... if you accidentally released him using Shadow Star's amulet."

Stone Chisel gets goosebumps when he observes the spark in LaCrowley's eyes. In all of his years, he has never seen the mysterious and intimidating wizard Black Magic LaCrowley doing that. "What. What's going on..."

He closes his eyes for a second. "There's something I need to explain to you. It's not..." he pauses. "... something easy to digest but... has Tenebris ever told you what is a souklat unáe creature?"

Chisel feels he's slowly freezing and turning into ice. He doesn't want to know the truth behind his master's words, but he has to. He tries to remember those two words... souklat unáe... souklat unáe...

Wait, he... he actually...



...an-basic knowledge of magic too. We are souklat unáe creatures, I mean, we are creatures whose magic increase and improve when they unite with another soul, another being. Two becomes one, but after that... we didn't know anything else. We didn't even use our magic so much, we just used it for fis...



He actually explained to him what does that mean. "Yeah," he says. "He explained that to me."

"Would you repeat what he told you?" he squints his eyes, increasing the spark on them.

"... What's going on?"

"Repeat to me what he told you."

"But... w..."

"Repeat."

Chisel now has a lump on his throat and feels his eyes getting watered. "Well, uh... he told me they united with another... um, soul and... their magic got stronger with... uh, what's happening, LaCrowley?"

The mentor closes his eyes and touches Chisel's loin with one of his hooves. "I've been reading everything about souklat unáe creatures the whole day. There is something about them which is called The Involuntary Union. It's a theory that was believed to be false, according to old texts and declarations... but, thanks to newer and better investigations, it has been discovered, recently, that is a true thing."

Stone Chisel's body is freezing without even being in the cold. "What's that about?" 

"The involuntary union says..." LaCrowley takes a long breath. "... any living form that reunites two souls that were connected or destined to be with each other... turns into a supporter of the connection, even if they aren't connected to one or both of the souls." Chisel can't even breathe. "I did this to you. It's my fault... I always knew that Shadow Star's amulet had Rushkwa's soul on its inside. It was a secret that was revealed to me, and I never looked for it. You are realizing this now, but let me explain it to you... according to the involuntary union theory, you are a supporter of the magical connection Tenebris and Rushkwa have." The face of Stone Chisel is now red. He's trying not to think. "And no matter how powerful you are, if one of your connections in your soul union is erased... you suffer. You have a second of pain, even if you are the God of Chaos. That's how the souklat blood works."

The wizard slowly hugs the pupil and the stallion whispers. "This means... A way..." he can't stop sweating. "A way to counter... Tenebris... is my death?"

LaCrowley softly caresses Stone Chisel's loin while both of them are crying on their inside. "If we don't have time. If we don't have any choice... I will have to kill you, Stone Chisel. This is a pain I cannot describe, and you don't deserve to have..." 

"What..." only manages to say Stone Chisel while trembling non-stop. LaCrowley gasps while cleaning his eyes. 

"I assure you if... if everything goes the way it has to go... you will be OK. Did you hear me? You will be right... as if nothing... nothing had happened."