Twilight Sparkle's conscious brain, for the first time in its life, didn't know what to think; it was all empty and blank. She did hear what Shining Armor said, but somehow the process of analyzing the meaning of his words got stuck somewhere. Or maybe she simply didn't want to know about it. However, a part of her brain she had no control over kicked in, taking over the empty space and decided on the next course of action.
Her horn flared up, preparing a spell as she had done thousand times before, so often that even her subconscious mind could cast it on its own; teleportation. It was only when two pairs of hooves grabbed her that she snapped out of it. She was about to ask what was going on and why she was casting a spell when she, Rarity and Azure disappeared in a purple flash.
The two princesses left behind weren't really surprised. For a good moment Celestia considered going after her student, it wasn't really a problem as she had a good idea of where she would find her. However, she couldn't come up with what to do next. Trying to stop Twilight was out of question, she had no doubt that the unicorn could be as determined as Luna in this kind of situation and that was one of her best qualities. Helping her maybe? It wouldn't work, no matter how much she tried to make Twilight understand that she could be a friend just as any other pony, the purple one still considered her a mentor. Time was the only way to level that mountain separating them. Which meant she would doubt and question her every step if she was to be present. Even more, she would ask the Princess for guidance, which would no doubt prevent her brilliant mind from focusing on the task. No, her only choice was to stay behind, once more, and hope that Twilight would call for her in case she needed help.
It was that kind of situation that made Celestia curse her stature; she wished she could simply grab Twilight and go forth to help her. She knew her time for adventure had passed long ago and that she should be grateful for the chance of seeing others had their own, but she couldn't help it.
The captain of the guard wasn't too happy to learn that a unicorn could teleport out of the castle. From his point of view, he just say two unknown unicorns disappear with Luna's student. It also meant that this particular green unicorn could also teleport back in. Obviously the security measures were out of date and the protection spells had to be strongly reinforced. Only a few unicorns were allowed this kind of privilege and he personally knew them all; this one wasn't part of that select group. Still slightly out of breath, he was about to voice his anger about the security protocols when Celestia opened the door she had just come from.
"Shining," she called him by his name, which was quite unusual and automatically put him on the defensive. "Come in, we have a lot to talk about."
"Girls!" Twilight shouted in surprise. "What you just did was very dangerous, we are lucky to be in one piece! Teleportation isn't to be taken lightly. It's... It's..."
Rarity coughed a small cloud of black smoke. "Dear, I doubt you would have waited for us." She checked her body for anything missing and was happy that everything was at the right place, if only slightly burned from the uncontrolled spell. She didn't want to know how her mane looked at this moment. Azure looked sad as a good part of her tail hadn't made it. Rarity hugged her. "Don't worry honey, it will grow back in no time."
"I... I know. It just looks weird," answered the small filly while swinging her tail around.
"I'll give you a makeover, short tails are in this season," Rarity consoled her with a wink. She looked around before fixing her sight on Twilight. "I take this is your parent's house?"
Twilight suddenly remember why she was here and her eyes went wide as she looked at what remained of the small living room. It was obvious her parents had put up quite a fight, multiple burn marks painted the walls and the floor. What was left of a chair was slowly smoldering in a corner. "Oh my!" Twilight said as she brought a hoof to her mouth.
Rarity walked around and quickly checked the adjacent rooms before coming back. "The fight only happened in this room. The others are clean," she claimed before noticing Twilight lack of reaction. "Twilight!" she shouted. "Snap out of it. You need to focus if you want to help them."
The purple mare blinked a few times before staring at the floor. "But what if," she started before being interrupted by Rarity's hoof on her shoulder.
"No!" Rarity barked.
Twilight took a step back. "Right, focus! Focus Twilight, focus." She shock her head trying to push away the questions and the uncertainty. Rarity was right, she wouldn't help anypony if she couldn't put all her mind to the problem at hoof. She had the ability of noticing hints other would miss. She looked around the room, taking time to let every bit of the room sink in her brain. After a few minutes of examination, she stopped in the middle of the room to think, a hoof under her chin.
The whole time, both Rarity and Azure watched her in silence. As Twilight stood in the middle of the room they looked at each other wondering if she had noticed something.
"I don't understand," Twilight finally let out.
"What honey?" Rarity asked back.
Twilight raised her head to look at her friend. "That fight, it was violent, no doubt about that, but there is no blood, no fur. Not hint that any of those magic bolts hit anything beside the furniture or the walls," she calmly explained.
Rarity was surprised that her friend managed to keep her head cool like that. "Well, you always said protective magic was a family specialty. If you or your brother are any indication, your parent must be able to cast some pretty solid shields."
Twilight sat down and thought about it for a moment. "Well, I never saw them perform any, but it doesn't mean they can't. And because their work isn't focused on magic doesn't mean they are unable to do it." She shook her head. "No, what troubles me is that both sides didn't suffer any damage. I'm sure my parents would defend themselves, and yet they didn't score any hit. On top, nopony saw anything. I doubt it would have been easy to carry two mature ponies around Canterlot without anypony noticing."
"They could have teleported them," Azure proposed.
"Teleport two unicorns against their will? Unlikely, it is fairly easy to counter that kind of spell and my parents are kinda expert in that field," she explained looking guilty of something.
"What?" Rarity asked.
Twilight let out a small laugh. "Teleportation is one of the first hard spell I mastered. You can imagine they were not very happy to be unable to keep me in place, and well... sometime they had to."
Rarity smiled. "Oh? So the bookworm wasn't a nice and calm filly?"
"More like to keep me from teleporting to the city's library at night," Twilight explained while blushing.
Rarity used a lot of effort to prevent from facehoofing, but was unable to not roll her eyes. "So, I understand they would not agree to be teleported away."
"Well, they know how to counter my teleportation spell. But it doesn't mean it would work against higher spells."
"Higher?"
"There is three," Twilight started before being interrupted by Azure coughing. "Sorry, four teleportation spells. But your isn't well known yet, Azure. As for the three other, each one requires more magic, but allow for longer distances. I doubt me, or my parents could counter the bigger one," she explained before going back to her thoughts. "And if the attacker is able to cast that, he would easily be listed as one of the most powerful unicorns currently alive."
"Considering he or they captured your parents without being hurt, I doubt they would be weak," Rarity said with a sigh.
"So, what's next?" Azure asked, somewhat excited.
Twilight and Rarity looked at each other before facing the blue filly. "Well," Twilight started, disappointed. "I feel we are kinda stuck. Whoever did that didn't leave clues behind, at least none that I can find."
Azure frowned. "What do you mean? If they had such a big magic fight, they probably left tons of magic behind."
Twilight's eyes went wide. "Of course!" She quickly turned around and cast a fairly easy spell: magic detection. After a moment, she turned around once more while looking at the room. "Wow. I was afraid the magic would be long gone, depending how long it was since the fight happened, but there is plenty left."
Azure and Rarity looked around, not noticing anything different. Seeing they were unable to perceive the magic, Twilight cast the same spell on both. "Wow," they both let out at the same time. Colorful swirls of magic bleed away from every burn mark. The floor and the walls were painted of magic stream slowly pulsing. There were three distinctive hue around the room; cyan, blue and gold. In the middle of the room, a huge sphere of bright cyan was slowly expanding.
"I take this is where the teleportation occurred," Rarity said while pointing at the bright sphere.
"Probably," Twilight agreed. "I'm not sure, but I think the gold magic is my father and the blue my mother," she explained. They looked around, noticing that most of the burn marks were either gold or blue.
"So, your parents defended themselves, but whoever assaulted them didn't care much to attack back," Rarity noted turning around to look at Twilight. "Woah!" she let out in a small scream.
"What?" Twilight asked, looking around in defensive stance.
"Nothing dear, I knew you were a powerful magician, but I think I never fully understood it," Rarity explained.
"What?" Twilight asked again, confused.
"You're leaking magic," the white mare said with a small laugh.
"I told you you were easy to spot Twilight," Azure said with a large smile.
Twilight looked at her front legs and sure enough, her body was emitting a bright purple aura. "That's weird, I will have to ask the Princess about that." Suddenly noticing something, she turned around toward Azure. "You said you spotted me at the castle. How?"
The filly sat down, not sure if she did something wrong. "Well, I... It's just..." she started, nervous, looking at the floor.
Rarity came close to her and hugged her. "You can tell us, you know?"
"Just don't tell Princess Luna!" she said, almost shouting.
"We promise honey," Rarity said with a smile, obviously used to this kind of situation with her sister.
The small filly looked around, and finally decided to explain. "Princess Luna cast a lot of spells on me," she stared unsure. "Defense, detection and plenty others I'm not sure what they do." Twilight and Rarity looked at each other as they were not understanding.
"Well, I'm sure the Princess just wants to keep you safe," Twilight explained.
"I know they want to kill me," the small one let out in a breath. "Princess Luna tried to cast a sleep spell on me a few nights ago, but I was awake. I thought she was testing me or something, but I saw everything," she explained while looking at her hooves.
After a moment trying to digest the information, Twilight frowned. "You countered one of Princess Luna's spell?"
The filly shrank in fear. "Don't tell her! You promised!"
"Why not? It's awesome you managed to do that," Rarity said with a comforting smile.
Twilight shook her head. "Sorry, I don't understand how it made you able to spot me in the castle. But Rarity is right, you shouldn't fear anypony for being able to do something. Beside, we are here to protect you, nopony will be able to harm you. How about you explain exactly how you were able to spot me?"
Azure took a moment to collect her thoughts. "You know when they teach that everypony has some magic, that pegasi use it to fly faster and walk on cloud or that earth ponies use it to be stronger and healthier?"
Rarity nodded. "Of course, they teach that at kindergarten."
"But that only unicorns can cast spells? That's true, and I tried a lot."
"Honey, I saw your spell diagrams," Rarity cheered while hugging the filly. "Trust me, you will be famous around Equestria in no time, able to cast spells or not."
"However, if you have a spell applied to you, an earth pony and probably a pegasus too, can modify it. It's like... we have all magic inside, but only unicorns can use it outside," she explained while pointing a hoof at her chest. "So, I found out I could modify Luna's spells that she cast on me. It's very hard and only works on the spells that are inside. It's like... swimming with your eyes closed. If I didn't know the spell's structure, I couldn't do anything or if she created a shield around me, I couldn't affect it because it's outside. You understand?" She asked while looking at Twilight.
Twilight brought back a hoof to her chin. "So, you modified one of Luna's spells that detects threats so it would detect magic instead?" Azure nodded back. After a short moment, a huge grin lit up Twilight's face.
"It's not funny! Somepony wants me dead because of that!"
"Of course not!" Rarity shouted while putting a hoof on the filly's shoulder. "Some ponies are afraid of changes or the future, not your abilities. They fear that the next generation could be better then them or do things they couldn't even dream of." She pointed at the filly's heart. "You should never stop going forward or dreaming big. Because for every moment it hurts, for every critic, for every pony that tell you should stop, reaching your goal is worth all that pain and more." She noticed that Twilight was staring at her. "What?"
Twilight smiled. "That's nice, but it also applies to you Rarity."
Rarity looked away while blushing. After a moment she stared back at Twilight with a cold fire in her eyes. "I will rebuild my shop, and it will be better than ever."
Twilight's smile grew even bigger. "Now, that's the Rarity I know." She sat down and sighed loudly. "I'm happy you got your spirit back, but now what? We know my parents are probably alive, but how do we find them?"
"Couldn't we see them with a more potent magic detection spell?" Azure proposed.
Twilight shrugged. "It's worth a try." She stood up and once again cast a spell on the three ponies present. Where a few blobs of three color painted the room, there was now thousands of dots of every color possible. Some were appearing around, other were moving or pulsing while some were slowly fading away.
"What am I looking at?" Rarity asked while slowly turning around, overwhelm by the number of colors.
"It's no good, there's too many of them," Twilight let out. "What you're seeing is every source of magic in Canterlot right now. The pulsing lights are ponies, while the appearing and fading ones are spells cast."
"I never imagined there are so many unicorns in Canterlot!" Rarity said in surprised.
"There aren't. Like Azure said, every pony has some magic, unicorn or not. There are simply too many ponies in Canterlot."
Azure touched Twilight to get her attention. "I... may... may I?" she asked while pointing her own forehead.
"Azure, I told you a dozen times not to be shy for asking that," Twilight replied. She closed her eyes to focus on a more complex spell and let it out. A purple spark drifted from her horn to the filly's head, which glowed for a short moment.
"What was that?" Rarity whispered to Twilight.
"A mental link," Twilight whispered back as the filly closed her eyes to concentrate. "She can now use my horn to cast spells."
"I don't understand," the white mare replied.
"She has an idea, but I'm sure you know spell structures aren't really easy to communicate vocally," she explained.
Rarity opened her eyes wide as she understood. "Of course, so she will show you instead! I thought that kind of mental link was a very hard spell."
Twilight smiled. "It is, but I'm kinda used to it now." She sighed. "I would just prefer if she wasn't so... ashamed asking for it."
Rarity's face gained a serious look. "Well, if I put myself at her place, I don't think it's something I would be at ease asking for." She pointed at Twilight. "I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be any easier for you if you were at her place."
The purple mare thought about it for a good moment. She sighed. "You're saying I should be more considerate and not push her?" Before she could answer, Twilight continued. "You're right. She must go at her own pace."
She turned to face Azure as some spell structures started to show up in her mind. They weren't very complicated and she quickly noticed the basic shapes of a detection spell, but a web of different magic quickly wrapped around the familiar core. She was about to ask for some explanation just as the spell was released.
Azure turned around to face them. "It's... it's a kind of filter. We should now only see magic that is being actively used." Sure enough, the mass of colorful dots faded away, only leaving behind a few small dots.
"Awesome," Twilight said while looking around. "There's only a few dozen active magic sources left."
Rarity poked Twilight to get her attention and pointed in the direction of a large green sphere. "Over there."
Twilight examined that source for a moment. "Well, it is a lot of magic being used, no doubt about it, but it's green." Rarity sat back, stared at Twilight and raised an eyebrow. "What?" the magic expert asked confused.
"Which color do blue and yellow make?"
"Green... of course! You think my parents are using their magic in tandem and at this distance they blend together?" Twilight cheered.
Rarity shrugged. "Sounds like a nice theory."
Twilight walked up to the wall in the direction of the magic source and opened the nearest window, letting a flow of light enter the still smoky room. The light flickered as the dust was pushed back by a soft wind. Looking outside, Twilight waved to the two other ponies to come closer. "I'm not sure, but isn't that green magic coming from the mountain?" She said while pointing at the huge peak Canterlot was attached too.
"Or inside it," Rarity noted.
Twilight nodded. "You're right, it is."
"So... how do we reach them?" Azure, who stayed a bit behind, asked.
Twilight turned around, walked up to the small hill of charcoal and metal springs that used to be a sofa and smiled at the filly over her shoulder. "Well, teleportation is my specialty," she said with a wink.
It took Twilight half a dozen tries of teleporting random objects in the general direction of the magic source to finally find an empty spot big enough for them. All other attempt ended up with what remained of the sofa being teleported back to them with rocks partly or fully merged in them. If her parents were in troubles, she didn't want to appear in the middle of what could be a magic battle or anything that could cost them their lives.
It wasn't an easy task to send objects in a general direction and actually remember the exact spot, but Twilight wasn't any random pony. After a few more tests to verify that they wouldn't appear meters above ground, they finally got to be transferred inside the mountain.
At first, the arriving three ponies didn't move, trying to understand the shape of the room they had appeared in. They were on what seemed the third floor of what looked like a huge cathedral, hewn directly from the rock of the mountain. They were standing on a gallery a few meters wide that circled the entire room. Multiples columns were spaced around the room, some broken what could have been hundred of years ago, there was no way to know for sure.
At first Twilight feared that it would be hard to find her parents, but as her eyes got used to the darkness, they were right in front of her in the middle of the large room, suspended twenty meters above ground in a force field that pulsed of blue and gold magic. They hovered next to each other, both having their eyes closed, focusing to keep the shield powered, merging their magic just like Rarity had suggested.
A second cyan sphere was encompassing their spell. A stream of the same color was slowly pulsing toward the bottom of the room.
"What's going on?" Rarity whispered to Twilight.
"The blue sphere looks like an anti-magic spell or something similar. It's probably what prevents them from teleporting away," Twilight explained while keeping the volume of her voice as low as possible. "As for the stream going down, I think someone is trying to drain their magic."
"What? What for?"
"My guess would be that if their shield runs out, they will crash down. At this height..." Twilight didn't finish her sentence. It was quite obvious that falling from this height onto a stone floor would be fatal.