//------------------------------// // 006. The Witch Hunt (Part II) // Story: Spirit of the Arcane // by DuskIsGolden //------------------------------// Luna magically lit up the torches surrounding the library’s contents and she began walking through the sections, muttering every now and then the title of each book, carefully inching her way through, seeing if she had missed anything or not. What do you think you’re doing, Luna? We barely know anything about Arcane magic! Maybe sister has an idea that might help us learn more about this magic… Luna thought as she stopped, fluttering her wings in frustration. There has to be a way. She bounded off back towards the royal throne to ask her sister if there was any way to contain it without the use of current magic. When Luna reached the throne again, Celestia glanced at her and stated, “That was a quick visit to the Library, Luna,” Luna nodded, catching her breath and replied, “Yes, because I wanted to talk to you about something,” Celestia raised her eyebrows and Luna continued, “it concerns that we know little about this powerful kind of magic… maybe we should build some kind of organization to handle it for us?” a hopeful look was in Luna’s eyes and Celestia thought over the comment. “And how are we going to gather the ponies necessary for this?” Luna was quiet this time, but Celestia still seemed deep in thought. “I’ll think of something and we’ll send out another message. Something must be done, I agree. What we have done is now out of our hooves’ control,” Luna gave a dim smile—hope was on the rise for something better now. * * * -The Building of the Arcane Courts- It wasn’t long before replies returned to Celestia and Luna’s messages on needing many various ponies from around Equestria to build up what would the Arcane Courts. Many of the greatest gathered there to begin the process on learning how they would contain the many of the corrupted members of society who learned the dark art of the Arcane magic and were slowly succumbing to it. Hundreds were gathered in the throne room, Celestia patiently waiting to see if anymore had gathered. Seeing that there were none, she looked to her sister, who stood up and announced loudly, using her official Canterlot voice, “Citizens of Equestria! You have been summoned here to help your nation from succumbing to the power of Arcane Magic! You will be known as the first Arcane Courts and will have a place of your own in Canterlot to handle those corrupted by this magic! Are you all prepared?” many of the ponies gathered nodded, others cheered. Luna looked back at her sister and Celestia announced, “Follow us into your Court and we will all discuss the fate of those in society,” the crowd followed Celestia into their courts, which was located half way across Canterlot, and the doors opened, they all went inside, and the doors were locked. “Now,” Celestia started, “first thing is first… who will step up to lead the Courts for the next several years?” the crowd backed up, leaving one stallion standing in the center. He looked up and around him, then back at Celestia and a look of pride entered his eyes. “I guess I will,” he bowed as Celestia blessed him and she walked out of the courts, leaving them to their own device. “So what are we going to do?” one of the members asked, sitting down near the circular desk of the room. Others followed her lead until every member had a seat in the court. The leader sat in the middle of the room, facing the rest of them, from the first row to the third row. “Let’s first understand why we’re here,” the leader said slowly, unsure of what to do. Members nodded in confused agreement and the leader continued, “alright. There are ponies out there who are corrupt from the Arcane magic that Star Chaser once taught to many-a pony. We need to find each and every one of them and free them from their beastly nature,” he eyed the room. “understand?” There were several more nods and motions of understanding and the leader gave a faint smile. “But how exactly will we do this?” the leader pulled over a book and started to read about how in the older days of magic that fierce beams of light were encapsulated from unicorn magic and then used to power machines and a host of other things. “I have an idea,” he said, and he grabbed a pen and a large sheet of paper and began to explain what was to be the way of taking care of the corrupt for years to follow. The leader scribbled several large glass bulbs which were arranged in a circle, hosted in a hexagonal-shaped room and in the middle was an arcane circle. He pinned it to the board in the room and let everypony see it. "Bulbs?" one of the ponies inquired dumbly, "We're going to save tainted souls with light bulbs?" the leader frowned, then said, "No. In the olden-pony days, ponies used to encapsulate their own magic to power machines and do work. I believe that if we encapsulate certain spells into these bulbs and have the said arcane user stand in the center and shine the bulbs, that will contain them." the one pony nodded and others began to nod as well, unsure of how well it would work. "But before we begin that, even, I believe that we should discuss a way into the third layer of the Phase that I've so commonly heard about," one of the members stated, standing up. Another one got a look on his face that was both revengeful and triumphant, and he stood up as well, replying to the other’s comment, “Perhaps if we use this machine to tear the magic out of the user and then we can learn it, that will help us bring into the third layer of the Phase,” the leader looked up, a wild look on his face as he replied, “I heard from users of the magic that they called it Soulrend,” a wave of pauses was met in the room as the leader when on, “a place where the souls of Ponies are kept. If we can reach that, then we might be able to do our jobs,” another pause. Silence drifted throughout the room as the comment was heard and thought over. Eventually there some nods, sounds of agreement. The leader nodded to himself and the other ponies in the room all stood up, ready to do the first of their assignment. * * * -Just short of half a year later- A large Arcane circle was drawn in the Court that day, nervous looks cast from one pony to the other. Looks that said, “I don’t know if we can do this.” “Is it too late to back out now?” “What happens if we fail?” “Will we even go anywhere? Many of us aren’t even Unicorns!” but the hope remained—somewhere, somehow. There wasn’t uncertainty as to why or how. It just did. The leader of the courts stood at the center, his eyes fierce and ready for anything. “Are we ready?” he called to everypony in the room, his voice containing as much hope and vigor as possible for the job to come, “we’ve spent months training and helping to try and purify the world from the outside in! But that has failed, some of us have died, but today...” His voice boomed, “Today we will reach deep into Soulrend and save the souls of those lost to this Arcane Magic!” the amount of hope in his voice reached the depths of the ponies he was speaking to, and they grinned, all stamping their hooves on the ground. After a moment he quieted them all down and began to concentrate and one by one, each of the other ponies followed suit. Each of their Arcane Circle glowed a different shade of color, each slowly draining into the large one the leader was standing in. The air grew thick with expectation and intensity as the leader’s eyes slowly glowed fierce white, his horn glowing, the sky darkening and suddenly, the entire existence of the room seemed to disappear. Everypony in the room blinked into the Phase, some blinking curiously, others shocked. The entire Court was still alive—the leader noted this with a satisfied grin. The spell he had expected to fail and kill all who weren’t Unicorns and could learn the magic hadn’t failed. His heart leapt and he called out, not knowing of what to expect once they all blinked into Soulrend, “Now in a moment we will all be blinked into Soulrend, and I’m not sure what we’re going to find there, but expect anything!” the entire Court nodded at once, and the leader concentrated again, this time harder and more focused, and the Court disappeared again, their forms paint-peeling away from the Phase. The entire Court felt their bodies be twisted out of their forms, mutilated and beat, their souls being searched as if they were being prepared to relearn the dark magic, but they remained concentrated on blinking into Soulrend and only Soulrend, as was their goal. They landed in Soulrend, and after taking a moment to recuperate with themselves, they stood up, blinking at the sheer amount of glowing spheres they saw, all trapped in dark cages. The floor was blackened marble and there was no end to the ceiling up above, only knowing that it gave off a dim light like a streetlamp in the dead of the night. The black and purple hue of the Phase was darker in Soulrend, it dripped with madness and sheer velocity of what was being held in the dark reaches of the subconscious space of Soulrend. The leader looked around him and back at his Court, and he said, slightly unsure of himself, “Our first priority is to free the souls of those tainted the most. Let’s head out,” the Court walked around the endless amount of shelves and past the brightest spheres to the darkest and the leader stopped. “Who’s the one responsible for knowing the spell to free the souls?” one of the unicorns walked up. She looked nervous beyond belief. “I am,” she managed to get out of her mouth before she walked up to the cage the sphere was in and she closed her eyes, slowly letting tendrils leak out of her horn and slide into the lock, twisting and turning, corroding and melting the gears inside which mechanized the lock. It slowly cracked open, the door opened, and the one-foot diameter soul slowly rolled out, gently falling onto the floor with a dull thunk like a solid glass marble, and stopped shortly afterwards. The leader nodded to a small group of the Court, and slowly, the unicorn was more comfortable with the spell, unlocking shelf after shelf of souls, not knowing whose soul they were to save—or possibly destroy. “Now what?” one of the members of the Court inquired, her voice muddled by the darkness of Soulrend, her eyes looking fearful. The leader seemed confused himself as he stared at the partially-tainted looking soul, the black covering seemingly flowing around the pure-white orb. “I-I-I’m not sure…” the leader finally said, but in his mind he already knew that there would probably not be a way to save the souls. He slowly put his hoof down on the soul, feeling how much pressure it could probably take. His face grew grave and the color seemed to drain from his eyes. The orb shook, a small crack appearing on its surface. “What are you doing!?” another member shrieked, and all the others did was watch as their leader crushed the soul, its liquid contents spilling onto the blackness that appeared to be the floor. The leader looked up, his face pale. A member of the Courts had collapsed, but none of them noticed. The realization of what they had to do had set in a little more firmly than they wished, and soon, instead of finding a firm way to save the souls, they only found it appropriate to destroy them. * * * -The Abandoned Castle- A young-looking Absinthe poked her head through the doors of the abandoned castle—not that there were any doors to the building, really—and slowly trotted inside, her hooves hitting the concrete with definite claps. Her mentor was re-shelving her various books and jars of other various materials like she usually did when she had the time. “Are you busy?” Absinthe inquired, her voice small but full of excitement and energy. Her mentor jumped and a pile of books that she was levitating fell and she turned around, her eyes full of what seemed to be nothing more than the usual, “I didn’t expect you, and I’m kind of annoyed but really glad to see you. How are you, my faithful student?” Absinthe walked in and sat on her haunches as she reached her mentor. “I’ve been learning more and more lately… and there’s one particular spell I’m not sure about,” Absinthe noted, and her mentor nodded as her mind registered her student’s words. “Well, why don’t you show me? Maybe I can help,” her mentor replied, sitting down as well. Absinthe nodded and she concentrated, a bright orb of light surrounding her horn, shots of white light streaked out of it that slowly evolved into a trail of glass whips, but as she was doing that, she concentrated even harder. Her mentor’s eyes widened as she realized what was happening. Every unicorn who learned the Arcane knew about the place called Soulrend, even if the official name hadn’t been appointed yet. They all knew it was there, but not what was there. But even in the best of attempts to distract her student even if for a moment, Absinthe’s mentor couldn’t do anything. Absinthe felt her body slammed through the different dimensions and eventually they ended up past the Phase, past the Deep Phase, and into a part of Soulrend not touched by the team of the Courts. Her mentor’s jaw dropped as she eyed each of the glowing orbs. “Absinthe… you’ve learned a mentor’s spell. It’s to see if a pony’s body and mind are truly ready to learn of the Arcane,” Absinthe’s mentor said under her breath. Absinthe really was as skilled as many had said, but at her young age and to nearly accidentally learn a mentor’s spell was kind of impressive. But Absinthe didn’t have time to reply as her concentration was broken and she felt their bodies slammed back into reality. Once back in the abandoned castle, Absinthe tried her best to stay standing and not pass out, but her mentor caught her in time to keep her upright. “Very good, Absinthe…” She breathed quietly, and Absinthe just noticed that her mentor had pale lines of marks upon her hide, and the glass tendrils for which Absinthe had summoned lashed out at her, relentlessly and ruthlessly. Absinthe tried to go to her mentor, but before she could, she felt the magic recede suddenly and she watched as her mentor collapse to the ground, the light dying in her eyes. * * * All across Equestria, ponies who had learned the magic started dying, starting from a few at a time to hundreds, to thousands and to suddenly nothing as nearly every shelf in Soulrend was emptied of the blackest of the souls, the remaining clearer looking ones cracked and faint. The last few of the members of the Courts that were left were weak looking, and not enough magic was left to supply their fuel to stay in Soulrend. They immediately were slammed back into reality, and in the back of their minds, they knew they had failed. * * * -The Arcane Courts- The team reappeared, the white substance from the souls now a deep blood-red color upon their bodies, their minds corrupt with what they had just done. One of the members of the Court looked sickly at their leader. “Do you realize which one of those souls we destroyed?” the leader looked guilty himself and he shook his head, unable to say anything. The speaker said weakly, “Absinthe’s mentor…” the leader blinked and he felt his heart drop to the floor. “We didn’t mean it… we couldn’t find a way,” he muttered to himself, sitting down on the floor, “how could we have known?” one of the other members of the court looked back at the leader and stated, “Listen. We can say Absinthe killed her mentor and try to redeem Absinthe. All’s not lost quite yet-“ he was interrupted as Celestia and Luna walked in, their faces grave. “I thought we said to save the souls of the Arcane, not destroy them,” Celestia growled, Luna staying silent. The members of the Court glowered at their Princesses and the leader replied, “We couldn’t find a proper way to save them. There was no way-“ Luna shook her head. “Was not this machine you drew up enough to save them?” the members of the Court glanced at each other, shaking their heads. Celestia stormed out of the courts, Luna leaving them behind as well, slamming the doors shut as they left. “Well?” one of the Court members inquired into the silence amongst them, “What are we going to do? We failed the Princesses.” The leader looked up, the air about him suddenly changed. “Just because we failed them doesn’t mean that we still can’t try to save the souls of those who learned the Arcane,” “But without the magic of the Princesses to defend-“ “We don’t need their magic. We have our own, don’t we?” The leader retorted, looking about the group. Everypony nodded slowly. “Then all we need is the strongest of magic to be encapsulated. Then we can find Absinthe,” * * *