006. The Witch Hunt.
Twilight left her house immediately, only to make a head-on collision with Trixie herself.
“Twilight!” the name was spoken with excited vigor and Twilight’s eyes widened as she glanced at the light blue mare standing before her.
“Trixie?” Twilight inquired, “what brings you here to Ponyville today?” Trixie’s eyes were red and puffy, and small brief sobs interrupted her explanation,
“I…. I need your help, Twilight…” Twilight’s mind raced as the first few words stumbled out of Trixie’s mouth and time seemed to slow endlessly. The Court wants me to help her, but what will they do with her? I’m not loyal to the Court, but if the Court finds out… Trixie glanced at Twilight, her eyes beaming with some kind of hope for something better.
“Twilight, please…” Trixie said quietly, “I need your help,” Twilight blinked and cleared her head for a moment before saying anything more and she finally replied after a spell of silence,
“Trixie, what is it?” Trixie replied softly, barely audible,
“It’s the Court, Twilight… I’ve heard from other ponies that the entire Arcane Court is looking for me,” Twilight’s heart leapt and she couldn’t help but wonder if Trixie knew that she had been summoned herself to help catch Trixie.
“I…” Twilight began, her heart beginning to race, but she tried her hardest to keep calm, “I… here, stay in the Library, I’ll be right back,” Trixie nodded as she walked into the Library and Twilight ran off towards the Arcane Courts.
* * *
-The Arcane Courts-
Twilight pushed open the doors to the Courts, and the room was empty, only a few candles were still lit and they were hung high above the circular formation of the room.
“I see you came early, Twilight Sparkle,” a voice called from the shadows of the room. Twilight peered into the shadows and replied unsurely,
“No, I just came as soon as I got the letter re-“ the voice cut her off,
“Requesting your help to contain one Trixie Lulamoon, yes,” a figure stepped from the shadows and it was revealed in the dim light that it was the unicorn who had spoken her name during the Court session.
“It’s been awhile,” Twilight said, her tone of voice surprised. The unicorn gave way to a thin lipped smile and answered,
“Yes it has, Twilight, yes it has. I see you’ve done well over the years,” Twilight smiled back, glad to get her mind off of Trixie for a moment,
“I have, thank you,” The unicorn nodded and quickly got back on topic,
“But back on topic, Twilight—you have a way of containing Trixie are preventing her insanity?” Twilight blinked dumbly, replying slowly,
“Well… not exactly, no… I’ve read in a couple of books about unicorns past who used a particular method though.”
“Can you do this method for us?” Twilight looked down at the floor and answered thickly,
“It’s a spell to blink deeper into phase and then into the realm known as Soulrend, a place where the conscience of a pony thrives. I don’t know what could be there in Trixie’s mind,” the unicorn nodded and replied,
“I believe one of our assassins, Ignatius, had tried to corrupt Trixie’s soul and succeeded in tainting it. Perhaps reaching this… Soulrend could save her?” Twilight looked up suddenly.
“I don’t know, it’s never successfully been done before,” the unicorn narrowed her eyes and replied cautiously,
"Then why would it be written about?" before Twilight could answer, another member of the court spoke up as he entered the room.
"Because the writer wished to acknowledge that such a place exists in Ponies' minds," he nodded to Twilight, "Welcome, Twilight Sparkle. Ruska mentioned your name in the meeting of the Court earlier," Twilight nodded back in reply, keeping silent.
"Do you know anything of Soulrend?" the first member asked, and the second looked deep in thought.
"Nothing more than it has a slim chance of both saving and killing both parties who are deep within the Phase." he paused, then continued, "but the Phase is an area within another dimension, so it is thus not singular, but yet it is. Soulrend is..." he trailed off suddenly.
"Yes?" the first member inquired quickly, "What is it?"
"Twilight is right that Soulrend is a place beyond the Phase. However, we all know Ignatius tainted Trixie's soul, which is located deep within Soulrend. Finding it may be impossible and could quite possibly kill Twilight," Twilight nodded, dread filling her heart and spreading its black poison through her body. She shivered madly.
"Is there another way?" the first member inquired, and the second shook his head.
"I'm afraid not. There is no greater magic than sending an Element of Harmony into the realm of the tainted. Whether or not a part of Ignatius still thrives there, you must destroy it without destroying Trixie—or yourself—in this process."
"Wait." Twilight suddenly looked up, despair in her eyes, but a glint of mad hope leaking out of them at the same time. "Ignatius tainted Trixie's soul, right?" the two members nodded slowly and Twilight resumed, "then he must have somehow reached Soulrend, right?"
Another nod.
"Then clearly if someone reaches Ignatius' soul within Soulrend..." she trailed off, her spark of random inspiration filling her, "... I'd learn how to repair her soul, right? Because in a duel when you destroy a soul you learn everything they know," the second member digested the comments and he replied,
"Nobody is sure how Ignatius' presence is still around, Twilight Sparkle. If it really is his soul, then you must trek into Soulrend after a considerable amount of study and Celestia's blessings. If it is not his soul and ends up being his essence instead, then by Celestia you'd better find a way to muster all of your magic to save Trixie's tainted soul."
"At all costs?" the member cringed at the words that came from Twilight's mouth, and he said in return,
"We will save you at our expense if it comes to that, Twilight Sparkle. But whatever it takes, do what you must." he added before Twilight left, "and Twilight Sparkle... the Elements of Harmony, as powerful as they are, cannot stop the Arcane Magic and its tainting of souls,"
* * *
-Canterlot-
Twilight walked into Celestia's throne room and she stood at the end of the hallway, a look of confusion on her face. Celestia was sitting at the opposite end and she knew it was Twilight even before anything was said.
"Twilight Sparkle, what brings you to Canterlot today?" Celestia mentioned, her tone gentle. Twilight was quiet for a unmentionable amount of time, seemingly endless before she spoke.
"I need to know how to get to Soulrend, Princess," Celestia's face grew grave, and even the sun seemed to die and dim. The silence nearly seemed to blacken even the marble stones that the throne was built from. Celestia leaned over to her guard and he slowly walked off. Twilight watched the guard walk away and Celestia walked down to Twilight.
"Soulrend is a place only of the Arcane, Twilight Sparkle," Celestia's tone shrunk from motherly to almost hatred, "what's there that concerns you?" Twilight did not dare look into the Princess's eyes and she looked away, replying,
"Princess, it's not about me..." she paused to take in a shaky breath, "the Arcane Courts picked me to save Trixie from falling into madness," Celestia's glaring gaze softened only a fraction and she replied,
"The Arcane Courts?" her voice hadn't changed a bit as she began, "The Courts, Twilight Sparkle, are nothing and nopony to be dealing with," Twilight glanced only but a second back at the Princess as she answered,
"Princess Celestia... they picked me because they knew I was the bearer of the Element of Magic, and they knew I might be able to save her," Celestia dropped her attack on the Courts and she looked down the hall and saw Luna, waiting patiently.
"Sister, you requested of me?" Luna inquired, and Celestia nodded rather stiffly and watched the dark blue Alicorn walk towards her.
"Hello, Princess Luna," Twilight bowed and Luna nodded, replying,
"Hello, Twilight Sparkle,"
Celestia glanced across at her sister and whispered about the Court's decision about using Twilight, and Luna's eyes widened. The dark blue Alicorn took a step in Twilight's direction and said,
"Twilight, there's a reason why my sister and I disapprove so highly of the Arcane Courts' decision to involve you," Twilight looked up with question—something of such nature she would normally know about, but no book had ever told her that the Courts and the Princesses of Equestria formally hated each other.
"And?..." Twilight inquired quietly, and both Celestia and Luna sat down to begin their story.
* * *
-Flashback-
It was a time of great importance for Equestria, and such was its protection against the surrounding nations. The Griffons, Dragons, virtually any creature known to Equestria at the time were budding, and their metaphorical flowers would bloom—and wish to take out the other nations beginning to rise with them. Equestria had built up her defenses over the past hundred years, and Celestia and Luna had been the newly announced Princesses only for a matter of a couple hundred years. Time was an essence, and very powerful magic needed to be used to protect Equestria, so a flyer was sent across Equestria, from the founding Appleoosa and Fillydelphia, all the way to New Colt City and the small share of land that Ponyville was built upon. Thousands of Unicorns answered the call, and one of them, a quite gifted colt, answered personally to Celestia and Luna the day he received the message.
* * *
-Canterlot-
Canterlot was open to anypony who stepped into the city’s grandeur and majesty, but few could waltz into the Princess’ throne room without being questioned at the time. The doors to the royal throne opened magically, then closed shut with a cold slam, sending a shudder hushing any noise that dare approach it. A young colt stood in front of the doors, his eyes beaming, face determined, but the anticipation made him weak—he was quivering like a hunter preparing for the kill.
“Welcome, Star Chaser,” Celestia said, her voice echoing off the white marble of the throne. The young colt named Star Chaser nodded and then bowed, replying,
“I’m here to answer the call, Princess Celestia,” Celestia nodded.
“So indeed you are, Star Chaser.” Star Chaser slowly got up out of his bow and walked up to the edge of the carpet that led straight up to the throne and he replied,
“So what do you need to me to do, Princess?” Celestia looked down at her sister, who was sitting beside her sister’s throne. Luna simply looked back, nodded, and beckoned for the young Colt to follow her down a series of passages and stairs far below Canterlot’s modern façade.
The winding passages made Star Chaser dizzy, but his determination kept him from backing out. The finely-built passages soon turned into nothing but tunnels of solid stone and dirt, all magically lit by torches, their blue flame licking the edges of their iron cages. Luna stopped before a wrought-iron gate and from the flames' dim light, Star could see a largely hollowed-out cavern, lined with bookshelves as far as the eye could see and in the center was a circle. Inside of it were intricate patterns and one star that each of its five points touched the inner layer of the circle. He glanced at Luna in wonder. Luna looked back, a look of hesitation upon her face, but she magically opened the wrought-iron gate and it swung open and the entire bookshelf-lined room burst into life.
The room was cylindrical in shape, large enough to house several ponies surrounding the circle and one inside of it as well as branching rooms meant for personal practice and further training. Luna walked behind Star as he admired the room and its brilliant contents.
“What are all of these?” He inquired, wonder broadening his already wide smile. Luna attempted to smile, and only succeeded slightly—she was not as thrilled as Star was with the room’s contents, but all the more she knew it was for the better of Equestria’s existence that this magic be used to protect it.
“Books of a very particular kind of magic, Star,” Luna replied, walking further into the middle of the room.
If there was one thing anyone should know of Unicorn and Alicorn magic is that the two are very, very different. Although Unicorn magic can be very powerful and very, very broad, Alicorn magic is extremely potent and can be destructive at will, all the way from physical to Psychological to the depths of Soulrend. And then there’s Arcane magic. Arcane magic is in a class of its own simply because of the power it holds—anypony can learn it, but when used to its fullest potential, it can be corrupting.
“What kind of magic?” Star asked, a lingering excitement leaking into his voice, his eyes wide. Luna glanced at him, but before she could reply with an answer, the book-keeper of the cylindrical room spoke first. His voice was old, but not raspy. It was aged like wine and slick like motor oil.
“Arcane magic, foal,” the figure stepped down from a ladder and walked towards Luna and Star. The old stallion looked kind, rough edges seemed to be carved into his features, but his eyes glittered strongly in their sockets. “it’s extremely deadly, but there’s plenty still to be done with it. Starswirl never wanted it to be created, but his younger brother wanted to have a say in the world.”
Star nodded and Luna looked down at him.
“The book keeper is correct, Star. First, we need to see if you are truly ready for this kind of magic, so step into the middle of the circle,” Star did as he was told and stepped into the middle of the circle, and Luna nodded to the book keeper, who quickly found a book on the middle shelf of one of the parts lining the wall and took it down and gave it to her.
Luna, flipping through its many pages and finding the one she needed, she set it down on the pedestal, took a breath in, and began the spell. Her horn glowed furiously, a bright blue light being emitted around it, and an equally strong white light firing out of it in all directions. Star felt his soul being searched, thrown around within him, his body struggling to cooperate, and he felt himself pass through a wall of nothingness and pass again into a world of complete darkness which yet somehow held a dark purple hue. He found he could walk, but before he could take another step, he felt his body slammed into another dimension and in a dark room with small glowing objects in them, some bright white, other stained as black as the night sky above. Again, before he could do anything, he felt himself pass through all three dimension and back into the real world. He collapsed against the ground and Luna did the same, her breathing shallow. Star struggled to get up, but he felt different—something within him felt changed, unlike his past self. He still held the strong vigor for knowledge, but when he looked at the circle again, it whispered its stories to him, its many knowledgeable tales and secrets. He looked over at Luna, who gave him a glance and she nodded. She recovered more quickly than Star and got up and walked over to him and said,
“Both your heart and soul are ready, Star. You can begin.”
* * *
-Many years later-
Star personally trained many students for the sole purpose of protecting Equestria from any danger that might come across her borders. But there came a point where the magic would overtake the user in mind and body—this point was the point of no return, and Luna and Celestia could see from Star’s slowly declining health that his physical body had taken the greatest toll on him.
Celestia sat upon her throne and Luna, like always, sat beside her sister and Celestia looked to her sister and stated,
“Luna, Star seems to be quite the teacher I’ve heard from many of our subjects,” Luna gave a quick smile and nodded.
“Indeed he is, sister. But there’s something I think we both know,” Celestia nodded in complete understanding.
“The Arcane magic you told him he was ready for is starting to take its toll, yes,” Luna looked down at the ground.
“His soul was completely clean, his body prepared. What is there to know that we do not?” Celestia did not reply immediately this time, as she was thinking nearly the same thing. She continued thinking over her sister’s comments and finally replied,
“We need a system to defend Equestria from those we created to defend Equestria before. If this does not happen, all of Equestria will fall to a magic that even us Alicorns cannot completely control,” Luna nodded in understanding and she walked off to the Library, willing to do anything to defend her country from any danger that it encountered.
* * *