//------------------------------// // 6|2 ◈ A Beginning // Story: Splintershard // by TheMajorTechie //------------------------------// ◉ Thump. Emily groaned as she lay on her back. Couldn't Sunset have at least given a warning first before teleporting her? Whatever. Emily stood up, brushing herself off. Actually, come to think of it--did Sunset give her a change of clothes? 'Cause these weren't what she'd been wearing before the whole transformation thing. Maybe. Well, what's done was done. From the looks of it, she was back in the Canterlot tunnels. Figures Sunny would TP her down here. Oh, and--she knelt down, picking up the shard of crystal and the stick she'd been holding moments prior. Thankfully, Sunset sent these down here as well. Emily stared at the two objects in her hands for a couple more seconds. This felt all too familiar. She proceeded to jam the crystal shard into the natural curl of the stick, giving it a couple test swings before setting off. Hopefully this would be enough for whatever she might encounter. From time to time, she could hear resounding booms ring out from above, followed by a reverberating tremor as some building or another toppled. From time to time, she could hear screams; of fear, of despair. She shut her eyes and took a breath. Sunset will handle things. All she had to do now was keep herself safe. From time to time, everything would fall into deafening silence. If only Starlight were here. Wait--Emily's eyes shot down to Splinter 2.0. If Starlight was able to project herself from her body, and if she was now stuck in the crystal instead... wouldn't it be possible to project her again? She planted her feet steadily against the cobblestones of the corridor, both hands outstretched before her as she held her makeshift wand at eye level. Now, more than ever before, she focused in on what magic felt like. Not the hows, or the outcome, or really even the fact that she was using it at all; what mattered was the magic itself. She pictured Starlight, from the last time she'd seen her. That strange trickle of energy that crept through her body, building up pressure with every second. The torrential burst of energy that immediately follows. Her eyes remained fixated on the crystal topping her wand. Even if the power was no longer physically in her, it would still be valid to try to channel it externally, right? She tightened her grip, staring even deeper into the crystal. Somewhere along the line she felt her vision fade to black, as if her eyes had shut. Yet, despite that, the crystal remained in view. There it was. A wide grin began to form across her face as she felt a familiar warmth beginning to radiate. She opened an eye, then the other. Twin streams of pale-teal light crisscrossed down the handle, streaming from the crystal and enveloping her hands. It felt like reaching into a bowl of microwaved pudding. Which, first of all, ew. And second of all-- Her thoughts were rocked back to the present by another overhead explosion. How these tunnels were surviving the onslaught she didn't know. As for her sudden shift in concentration... Within the same moment, a blast of light shot off from both her hands and the crystal simultaneously. Both the shuddering ground and the recoil of the shot nearly sent her sprawling. But there she was at last. Starlight Glimmer stood panting before her, her horn still alit and smoldering with lingering wisps of magic. "Star!" Emily's grin returned in full force. "I knew you were in there!" "And now I'm out here. Let me tell you now, living in a crystal is not enjoyable." "Okay, real quick now--" Emily held her wand in front of Starlight. "--before you fade away again, teach me how to make shields. I don't remember if you ever taught me or not, or if it was just something you did for me." "Are you sure?" Emily lowered Splinter. "Whaddya mean?" "About going right back into learning magic. Y'know, after the whole quest to get your body back and all?" Starlight sat down, her image flickering for a moment. "Aren't you afraid that it might backfire again?" "Kinda. But like, you're trapped in the crystal now! I've gotta learn how to protect myself if you can't just take over my body and do it for me." "About that, actually." "Hm?" "I think I've figured out how to retain my physical form now. Maybe even to the point of making myself tangible again. Try touching me." Emily reached out with a foot, watching it pass right through Starlight's body. "Okay, not tangible yet then. Anyway," Starlight stood back up. "I'm pretty sure now that so long as the crystal shard itself stays intact, then I'll be able to survive just about anything. If my physical form is destroyed, I can always summon myself a new one, since the magic I'm drawing from belongs to the Tree of Harmony itself." "Wouldn't you need me to perform the spell though?" Emily cocked her head. "No, I don't think so. It was helpful when you did that whole ultra-concentration thing though. Showed me the path I needed to take to finally externalize the spell I was trying to pull off. Sorry about that, by the way." Emily raised a brow. "That whole summoning me thing I'm pretty sure was almost entirely me." Oh. Emily set Splinter on the ground. "Then prove it. Un-summon and re-summon yourself without me." ...and whoop-de-do, she did it. Welp. Wait, is Star not able to read her thoughts anymore? "Why are you staring at me like that?" Yeah, no more unicorn mind tricks. Neat. "Alright," Emily started walking again. "Now that we've got this whole thing figured out, we need to find a way to put an end to this war." "I thought the entire point of Sunset putting us down here was for us to avoid the war?" Emily shrugged. "Says you. Listen, if Sunny is taken out up there, then who's going to get us home? I doubt Twilight's gonna be much help given how little she seems to care about anything anymore." She picked up Splinter from the ground. "I'm not saying that I will be fighting or anything. I just wanna make sure that she's safe. That alright with you?" "I guess..." "Okay then." Emily gripped the wand with both hands again. Already she cold feel that same warmth once more against her skin. "Emily, what are you doi--" Thump. Again. Hey, that actually worked! Emily sat up from where she'd fallen post-teleport. Starlight drifted up beside her through the ground, a visible frown plastered across her face. "Please give warning before you do that again." Touche. Starlight looked down at the ground she'd just phased through. "Also, it appears I can't go too far from the crystal without being magically dragged to its location. Keep that in mind if you need me to do anything." A burst of light flared overhead. "--Also, might wanna find a safer place to sit around and do nothing if that's what you're planning on doing." Okay, fine. Emily picked herself off the ground, lightly swinging Splinter beside her as she did so. For how tough it was to be doing any kind of magic stuff at first, she was finally getting the hang of this! "Emily--" Starlight urged again. An explosion rocked the ground beneath them. "You absolute idiot," a quiet whisper echoed in her ears. Emily opened an eye, coughing as she stared up at a flickering Starlight Glimmer. "You really gotta look out for yourself better y'know," Starlight hoisted Emily back to her feet with her magic, wincing as she did so. "I'm not part of you anymore, so you have to know when and how to react. Shield spell. Remember that." "Y-yeah," Emily dusted herself off. A glint of light caught her eye as another building in the distance burst into flames. Moments later, a beam of light shot in response from the top, ripping through the attacking craft and sending it plummeting into the skyline. "Brace yourself, Star. I think I know where Sunset is." Starlight glanced at the rising flames, then back at Emily. "Alright, I hope you know what you're doing." Her image wavered for another second before vanishing. Emily wobbled on her feet as she emerged at the top of the building. Falling over again would not be good at this height. "Emily, what the BUCK are you thinking?!" Starlight reappeared beside Emily. "The top of the building that was just attacked? Do you want to get us killed?" Emily saw Sunset beginning to turn toward the commotion Starlight was causing. Her eyes shot to another incoming airship. "Slow down!" Starlight heaved as she drifted up beside Emily again. "Why are we on an enemy craft? Sunset could shoot us down at any second!" "Shh," Emily shushed. She stared over the edge of the balloon down at Sunset, waving an arm. "Alright, Sunset knows we're up here. Star, do you feel anything? Like, harmony-crystal-energy-thingy sort of things. I have an idea." "I... kind of feel something." Starlight's ears perked at a low rumbling from somewhere beneath them. Sunset materialized behind Emily. "I thought I told you to get yourself to safety!" "Well excuse me for wanting to help!" Emily tightened her grip around Splinter. "You're my only ticket home, Sunset. I can't risk losing you." "You do realize that we literally opened a portal back to your school not too long ago, right?" Starlight deadpanned. "I think I can get you home right now if you wanted to." Emily shook her head. "Still! If not for me, then for Starlight. I'm her second chance, and late or not, I want to see this war end for her sake. Now, Star--" she alternated her gaze between Starlight and the surface of the balloon below them. "I want you to try and drift yourself into this thing. Try not to be seen if you can, but it should be alright if you are since you aren't physical." She watched Starlight give a tentative salute before sinking downward. Sunset stepped up beside her. "Since when were you this determined to get into the fight?" Emily shrugged. "'Dunno. I guess it's realizing that life's gonna go back to the same old stuff as before once this is all over. I know it's a bit selfish, but like, when am I gonna be seeing something like this ever again in my life? Magical ponies? Lasers? Setting off huge explosions with nothing but my hands and a thought? Even if it's dangerous, I feel more alive than I've ever--" "Emi," Starlight popped out of the balloon again. "They know you and Sunny are up here. You need to leave, fast. Sunset, you mind? I can feel Emi's crystal straining after she teleported us from the ground to the top of the building, and I don't think I've recovered enough strength yet to guarantee safe transport." Sunset nodded, lighting her horn in preparation. "Oh, and, leave me behind." Emily's eyes widened. "Wh--" "They brought the crystals, Emi. Those cannons that Flutters destroyed? Those were only their land munitions. We completely overlooked their aircraft." A massive explosion obliterated the burning remains of the earlier airship beneath them as Starlight continued. Clouds of dust rose up to envelop them. "And we already know well what happens if we destroy the crystals themselves. If more of these ships go down on the city, there won't be anything left to save." Emily stared at Splinter, then pointed it down toward the surface of the balloon. "What if we teleport the ships away from the city first, and then destroyed them? We have several alicorns and you, I can't imagine--" "--and they have the rest of the Tree of Harmony in their arsenal. Emi, they're just going to teleport back. You realize that? It's how they got here undetected in the first place. Alicorns or not, what we have in magical strength pales in comparison to their capabilities now that they've tamed the crystals themselves." A shimmering teal bubble momentarily enveloped them as a blast of magic crashed down around them. "Are you done?" Sunset's voice was laced with concern. "I didn't think that they'd resort to friendly-fire, but they very much are." Emily sighed. "Yeah. Get us off this ship before they blow themselves up with us on it." Oh hey, back in the office... tower... thing. Whatever the place was that she broke into and got snagged in a trap in earlier. Wow that felt like a while ago. "Okay," Sunset huffed, "So. I really can't have you... well, getting in the way, to put it lightly. Star, what was your plan for being left on the ship?" Starlight sunk down through the ceiling, settling beside Emily. "Sorry, what were you saying? Kinda was busy being slingshot through the air again." "Your plan. You wanted to be left on the ship for a reason, didn't you?" "Oh, yeah--" Starlight eyed the thin stream of mana tethering her to the crystal atop Splinter. "When I found their stash of crystals onboard, I felt this... pull toward them. I tried to touch one, just as an experiment, and saw that my flickering momentarily paused. It was like I was being recharged, in a sense." Sunset vanished for a moment, reappearing with a shard of her own. "We don't have very many of these in our possession, but here--I'd like to see for myself what happens. If I'm understanding this correctly, you're able to leech magic off of the crystals and add them to your own reserves. That might be a very good counter if true." Starlight stared at the crystal hovering in Sunset's grasp. She turned her eyes to Sunset. "Do you feel anything?" "A little. It's not nearly as strong as a pull as the barrels of crystal they had onboard, but I can feel it," Starlight reached a flickering hoof up to the crystal. Even in her nonphysical state, she was able to press it firmly against the angled surface of the crystal. The soft glow of Emily's shard intensified for the few seconds that Starlight kept in contact with Sunset's, pulsing gently as the flickering projection of Starlight brightened and stabilized. She took her hoof off of Sunset's shard. The crystal was noticeably more dull now than it had been before, its own glow reduced to little more than a dim sparkle. "Ow--" Emily let Splinter clatter to the floor. A thin trail of smoke wandered up from the wand as its wooden base began to smolder. "Interesting," Starlight took a step toward Emily. "Looks like there's a limit to how much mana a single crystal can hold. I wonder--" she lowered her de-powered shard to Emily's, watching as the shard topping Splinter practically leaped up to click against her own. "Wack," Emily shook her hand in the air. "But then why didn't the crystals onboard the ship fuse together like this?" Starlight watched as Sunset lifted up Splinter, now topped with both crystals. Though only loosely interlocked, they didn't appear to be separating with any amount of force. Sunset placed the wand back on the floor. "Maybe it's that you are inhabiting the crystal. It could be that you're serving as a sort of binder for them since it's pretty apparent that your projection is maintained by a constant flow of mana. It may even be possible to reconstruct the Tree of Harmony!" "I--" Starlight sputtered. "Me? Tree of Harmony? Am I really qualified to become it?" Emily gave Splinter an experimental tap before picking it up again, this time holding it by the base of the stick. "I mean, you did kinda go through death and back in the name of Equestria and all. I don't see why you wouldn't be qualified in the eyes of whatever force decides who's worthy of becoming a tree or whatever. Question is, do you want to be a tree." "I... maybe? I mean, if it's for the greater good and all, and I technically shouldn't be alive still in the first place anyway..." The building shuddered around them. Sunset straightened up. "Then it is decided. Emily, you've done your part. Starlight and I will take it from here. I'll get back to you as soon as I can to open up a portal for your return, since Starlight won't be available to do so for you." Emily gave a quick salute before popping out of existence. She blinked, still holding her salute. Of course Sunset teleported her then and there. She looked around. This time, she was on a nice grassy hill; nothing like the dark corridors of the Canterlot tunnels from last time. She sat down, staring into the distance. From here, the flames rising above the horizon were little more than a flicker of light. A dim glow, barely matching the fading illumination of the setting sun. So this was it. The end of her journey. Whatever one-two punch Sunset had in mind with Star was outside of her control now. All she could do was wait. Emily lifted her hand--the one that'd been momentarily singed by the heat of the crystal after Starlight had absorbed the second one into herself. Just as an experiment, she gave it a light twirl in the air. Maybe just a little flame, or a gust of wind... Nothing happened. No more magic. Not too surprising, to be honest. She flopped onto her back, staring up at the puffy clouds drifting overhead. She closed her eyes. "Alright," Sunset burst into the control room of an airship, the light of her teleportation briefly dazzling the ponies around her... or, lack thereof? She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to pay mind to the shambling constructs controlling the ship. Starlight drifted through the windshield, glancing between Sunset and the metallic equinoids. "Right, forgot to mention that part." She pointed a hoof past the doorway to the right. "One level beneath us and take a left. That'll take you to the cannons." Sunset gave a silent nod, gliding past the clueless automatons. There were a couple of others she encountered along the way, but it was simple enough to simply toss them aside every time. If this ship was like the rest, then it truly showed just how slim the population of the Old Guard must be. Or perhaps, how much they are attempting to avoid sending their own ponies into active combat. Sunset pushed open the door of the cannon room. Strangely, this part of the ship appeared to be populated with actual ponies rather than machines. Perhaps the equinoid constructs weren't accurate enough? She swiftly disposed of the momentarily awestruck ponies, teleporting them far from the ship they crewed. If she were to actively minimize the casualties she personally caused, then perhaps the Old Guard would be more amiable toward an ultimate resolution to the conflict. But that was for later. Sunset's attention shifted back to Starlight, then to the wand that Emily had built for herself. 'Splinter', she called it. Finally, it landed on the barrels of crystal stocked in the corner. A second, smaller pile of evidently spent crystals sat beside them. "Ready?" Starlight took a breath before shutting her eyes. "Ready." Sunset threw the wand--and Starlight with it--at the closest open barrel. Immediately, a massive burst of mana exploded out in every direction, shattering windows and rending wood and steel from their former bolted-down positions. Sunset braced herself against the oncoming blast--but no amount of shielding, even from an alicorn such as herself, could hold back the full might of pure, primal harmony magic. Sunset felt shards of glass and metal pierce her wings as she was blown through the fortified windshields. It hurt to breathe. Through bloody eyes, Sunset unfurled her wings the best she could, gritting her teeth through the grinding of obliterated bone and flesh as she slowed her plummet. Hopefully, this will work. Hopefully, Starlight can absorb the blast. Hopefully, Canterlot wouldn't be flattened today. Darkness began to seep in from the corners of her eyes. She could feel something streaming from one of her wings as it fluttered uselessly to the side, tattered beyond recognition. If this was how she was going to go out, then so be it. Perhaps she could finally see those welcoming faces again. She felt something slip underneath her crippled wing. "C-Cadance?" Sunset rasped, barely able to turn her head on her own. Cadance said nothing in response, continuing to glide downward herself with Sunset in tow before landing atop a nearby building. "Why now?" Sunset coughed, wiping the blood from her lips. "You know how weak you are after the first war." "Because I finally saw my daughter again. After abandoning her in a world falling to pieces." Sunset slowly turned her head, peering upward at what should've been the flaming remains of an airship struggling to keep itself afloat. Only, there was no flame. The airship hung eerily still in the air, its hull peeled open as if it were made of paper. A dim glow shone through the broken glass of its windshields, growing brighter by the second. Her eyes grew wider than she thought possible as a second airship careened into the first, crushing itself and its occupants against the hull of the first ship with a sickening crunch. Still, no flames. No explosion. A grin began to grow across Sunset's injured face. "She did it. Starlight really did it." "Did... what?" Cadance shaded her eyes with a wing. A third ship collided with the growing mass, settling itself at an awkward angle to align its hull against the first two ships. "She's ended the war. The Tree of Harmony will be restored." "Sunset, you aren't making any sense," Cadance hoisted Sunset onto her back. "I'm taking you to the infirmary." An explosion of light turned dusk into noon as a fourth, then a fifth ship crashed into the growing ball hovering overhead. More and more ships now were beginning to veer toward the bundle, their engines failing to steer them away from the invisible forces attracting them together--and at times, even being torn from the ship entirely, leaving gaping holes through which hundreds of glimmering shards of light raced toward the ball of ships. Those were the only ones that got away. Cadance herself now stared at the slow-motion implosion, too. And she realized, she could no longer move. Emily stared at the glowing ball of light that'd just appeared in the distance. She just knew that this had something to do with Starlight. "Hey," Twilight touched down beside her. Emily's eyes shifted. "Twilight? Weren't you supposed to be--" "This isn't my war to fight. I gave up that right a loooooooong time ago. Just got back from Flurry Heart, actually--I took some time to apologize. For everything." "So you're just going to let everyone else fight while you're here then?" "I could ask the same of you, Emily." Emily shrugged, showing off her empty hands. "No magic. I'm stuck out here without Starlight. She and Sunset have some sort of plan in place to end the fight. I guess whatever that ball of light over there is is what they meant. Not sure how it's supposed to work though, but I have this gut feeling that Starlight's got something to do with it." Twilight sat down, she too now watching the pulsing orb lighting up the sky. "Really? After all this time, she's still dedicating herself to the fight?" "Guess so." "So, what was that plan that Sunset and Starlight had, by the way?" "Hm? Oh," Emily gestured with her hands, knocking two fists together. "So, there's this weird effect that Star and Sunny discovered where if Starlight touches another crystal, she sorta just... absorbs it into the shard that I used as a wand-topper. Sunset thought that maybe it had something to do with how Starlight was living in the crystal or something like that." "I see." "That ball is growing pretty big now. Do you think that the ships themselves are being absorbed? It's looking waaay bigger than any sort of 'Tree of Harmony' that I had in mind." No response. "Do you think you can open a portal for me, Twilight? I think I'd like to go home now." Twilight turned her head. "Portal? I'm... not sure, actually. Ideally, you should be the one making it since you're familiar with the destination." Oh. Well, shoot. "Uh--" Emily pressed on "--what if you somehow lend me your magic then? Sort of in the same way that I used the magic of Starlight's crystal." It already felt weird not having Starlight lingering at the back of her mind. She was gonna miss that crazy mare. "Maybe." The two returned to watching the artificial sun that'd inadvertently formed far in the distance. Twilight picked herself up with a sigh before vanishing in a burst of light. She reappeared seconds later, a thin smile spread across her tired face. "Sorry, wanted to check on the old kooks in the Everfree. Blueblood freaked the moment he saw me." "Any sign of Sunset or Cadance?" Twilight peered at the glowing ball, then back at Emily. "I think it might be best to stay here where it's safe for now. I have no idea what that ball may be." Emily's heart dropped as she looked down at her hand. Thankfully no blister had formed, but... "Heat," Emily muttered. "You'd be cooked alive if you got too close with how big that thing looks." They didn't save Canterlot, they fried it. She was almost sure of it. All this rush to put a quick end to the war, and they'd overlooked one very crucial aspect of what happens when Starlight absorbs another crystal... or in this case, a few hundred, if not more. Twilight pat her on the shoulder. "Come. If you still want to try and open a portal, then we'd might as well do it now." She planted her hooves firmly in the grass, aiming her horn at Emily. "Right here, right now. You know the spell?" Emily nodded. Thankfully. "Very well then. Here we go." Twilight lit her horn. A magenta stream reached out from it to Emily, lingering just above the surface of her skin once it reached her. "Do it quick," Twilight urged, "You don't have any mana stores yourself. Whatever energy you don't use will be wasted." Right. Emily shut her eyes. Home. Her bedroom. The one with the big old wooden desk facing the window, and shelves overflowing with bits and bobs and books of all genres. The stuffed animal watching from its hammock in the corner of the ceiling. A deep, low rumble reverberated through the air and ground. Twilight turned her head. "You'd better hurry, I have a bad feeling about--" The rumble erupted into a tremendous roar, rocking the ground with such violence that the two were thrown from where they stood. Lightning crackled overhead as a wall of wind hit them. Emily looked up, her thoughts momentarily scrambled as her eyes shot to the ball of light over Canterlot. Or at least, where the ball of light should've been. Her jaw dropped as she watched the last tendrils of light become obscured in inky black. "Now, Emi, now!" Twilight urged. Her horn grew brighter. "Get out of here!" Emily felt an electric buzz wash over her as her focus switched back to the spell. Faraway, dark lines shot out in every direction, spiderwebbing outward like cracks in a pane of glass. She grit her teeth, pouring everything she had, everything she remembered, into this one last spell. Please. Just one last spell. Her breaths strained as she felt the familiar spiral of energy wrapping itself around her arms. But this time, toward her hands. Home. She winced as a burst of borrowed light shot from her hands, impacting the ground with a shoom that only added to the chaos that surrounded them. Twilight shielded herself with a wing as she ground her hooves into the soil beneath her. Slowly, the pellet of light began to grow. Taller, wider. Twilight grunted, taking a shaky step closer to Emily. The scattered trees dotting the hill around them creaked and groaned in the vicious winds, before one of them was uprooted entirely and left dangling in the air by what remained of its connection to the earth. A second magenta glow enveloped them now--both of them. Emily peered past the opening portal to Twilight, whose stream of mana was now split in two as she struggled to uphold her shield. A cacophony of faded colors entered her view as she looked back to the portal. She could see it now. Her bedroom. "Twilight, you gotta come with me!" she held out a hand to Twilight. The mare shook her head. "I'm done with running away and hiding. If this is how I go out then so be it. Once we're done, I'm going to go straight to Canterlot and search for survivors." The portal further clarified. Emily glanced down, poking a foot against its surface. It passed through. "Ah!" Twilight gasped. She craned her neck toward the spear of shadow that'd pierced her raised wing. "Are you sure? Emily kept her hand outstretched." Twilight shifted her wing, watching the black tendril slip out without leaving a wound. Her eyes widened as she turned her attention back to Emily. "Twilight, we can always--" A magenta glow surrounded her hand and yanked her into her own portal. It's said that your nose becomes desensitized to your own smell, alongside the smells of places you frequently find yourself in. Emily lay face-first on her bed. This was what clean sheets smelled like? She shot up, peering over her shoulder as a rush of recent memories flooded back into her. Twilight stared back through the shrinking portal. "Twilight!" Emily flipped around and reached a hand through the portal. "Twilight, come on!" Twilight placed her hoof against her hand. And pushed it back. Her horn flared one last time as the portal snapped shut. A thin, hairline crack sprouted midair where the portal once stood. Emily blinked. It was over. She sucked in a breath. It was actually over. No more Starlight. No more magic. And, she supposed, no more Equestria. Maybe Flurry Heart would be safe, given her distance from-- Her heart dropped. Lisa. No more Lisa. She was still in there.