"I- I'm starting to have second thoughts about this..."
Beneath the streets of Thicket, In an Underground tunnel known to only a select few, Gloriosa Daisy was having second thoughts.
"It is too late to turn back now, Miss Daisy, We're already under the Royal Tree." Captain Beech of the City Guard felt a smile spread on his face as he turned to look at the Earth Pony behind him.
Gloriosa Daisy looked away from the orange-armored Stag, Her mind replaying for her everything that happened to her that day.
"...Fine," She sighed, a resolute look in her eyes as she glared at the Deer, "But once I have the Heart I am getting out of here,"
Beech couldn't help but widen the smile on his face, "That is all I wanted to hear..."
With a resolute look in her eyes, Gloriosa Daisy followed the Deer as they walked through the underground tunnels of hollow roots that spread beneath the Kingdom of Thicket.
She was going to save her Summer Camp, even if she had to make an enemy of an entire nation to do so.
Because nothing mattered more.
"Now, Blueblood Platinum, Descendant of the cursed house, Speak, or Begone."
I took a deep breath to concentrate my thoughts, ignoring the constricting feeling of the vines wrapping around my body, holding me in place as their sharp spikes threatened to pierce me.
"Over one thousand years ago, there was an event that left a powerful spirit banished into a crystal prison, her body then split and scattered around the world. According to my investigations, I have concluded that you were there when the Spirit was imprisoned. I want to know everything." I decided to get straight to the point, assuming that the old Deer wouldn't want to walk around the bush and would rather get right into it.
"...I do not know what you speak of..." Aspen's eyes seemed to blink slowly before he frowned, his brows furrowing in anger.
"You DARE DECEIVE ME?!" he yelled.
"No! No, I wouldn't think of lying in regard to this topic!" I hurriedly added on, feeling the vines constricting me pull tighter against my body.
It would be easy to escape them, but unless I want to make an enemy of the Deer, I'll need to play along with this senile old man.
"If you would give me permission to show you, I'll conjure an Image to explain what I mean," I tried to gain permission from the King, knowing that he'd likely react negatively if I suddenly started casting magic in his own throne room.
"...Permission Granted..."
And so I lit my horn and allowed the image I received from Cosmos all those months ago to appear, the image of a Younger King Aspen.
"This is how you looked like, one thousand years ago when you banished her, You were there," I tried to explain slowly, watching the King stare intently at the Illusion of his younger self, many thoughts passing behind his eyelids before he said something.
"That is me... Yet I do not remember any Spirit banishment..." He said slowly, his mind wandering back to a millennia past, "Show me the spirit..."
"Of course," I nodded at Aspen, feeling the vines constricting me loosen a bit as he lost focus on me, his full attention on the Illusions.
And with a weak thrum of magic and a glow of blue from my horn, An Illusion of Cosmos's true body appeared in the throne room.
King Aspen furrowed his brows at the new illusion, his leg moving to rub at his head as he started shaking it side to side.
"I- It seems familiar, but I do not remember... I do not remember this- this Spirit..." Aspen almost seemed to whimper as he started rubbing at his head, swinging it from side to side as he groaned.
"Why can I not remember?!" He suddenly exclaimed loudly, his legs slamming onto the floor before a flower emerged from the wooden wall of the castle, a small cloud of pollen puffing out of the flower, King Aspen visibly calmed down as he breathed in the cloud of pollen.
"Platinum... Who else knows of this Banishment? Who else was there?" He asked slowly once he relaxed, his eyes turning back to stare at me, a weak red glow from the Heart-shaped crystal around his neck causing the vines that wrapped me to pull back and disappear into the floor, the wood they broke out of magically fixing itself.
"I only have two people who might have any knowledge of what happened that day, But neither of them are trustworthy-" I started only for the King to interrupt me.
"TELL ME! Who else knows of this?!" Aspen almost threw himself off the Throne as he yelled at me, his eyes wide as he breathed heavily.
"Fine Fine!" I hurried up, "One of them is Lord Tirek, who shouldn't have any knowledge of the events because he was already imprisoned in Tartarus before the event took place,"
"That Centaur is smarter than he looks, I wouldn't put it past him to have a way to view the outside world, but he wasn't physically there! WHO WAS THERE?!" Aspen almost seemed manic, like he was waiting for me to say a name in order to remind him of something that was just at the tip of his tongue.
"The only other person claims to be my Uncle from one thousand years ago," I told him, watching his eyes widen as if the answer to what he was looking for was almost in his grasp.
"His name! What does he call himself?! ANSWER ME! PLATINUM!"
Seeing the king act in such a way, I hurried up and said the name my Uncle gave me when we first met, And as I repeated that name, I watched as King Aspen rose onto his feet and yelled at the ceiling like a madman.
"I KNOW HIM! CURSE HIM! CURSE HIS NAME AND TITLE!" He howled like a maniac, his eyes wide as memories that were likely locked away reemerged in his mind.
"BUT WHAT IS IT?! It's at the tip of my tongue, what was his name? WHAT WAS HIS NAME?!" The Crystal Heart around the King's neck glowed red as plants burst out of the tree, vines holding him down as the same flower from before once again puffed a cloud of pollen at the King, visibly calming him down.
"...Pony of Shadows..." King Aspen collapsed back on the throne, almost whimpering with tears rolling down his face as he held his head in his hooves, "Curse you for what you did..." he looked sick, Broken, an Old man who has lost so much and is viewing his life with clarity for the first time in over a century.
But before our talk could resume, the door to the castle burst open, a brown Deer wearing orange armor huffing as he ran in.
"Your Majesty! The Ponies-" He puffed as he took another breath, And I recognized him. It was Captain Bitch or whatever Portunes called him.
"What? Beech, what's happening? Why aren't you at your station?" Aspen asked from his place on the other side of the hollow room inside the castle made of a hollow tree.
"Your Majesty! The Ponies have stolen the Heart of the Everfree!" He exclaimed before collapsing on the floor.
""WHAT?!"" Both Aspen and I exclaim simultaneously.
"Your Majesty! I can assure I know nothing of what this Deer is speaking of!" I quickly try to defend myself as I watch King Aspen glare at me.
"I should have known... House Platinum is ruled by lies!" He shouts as he stands up on wobbly legs, the Crystal Heart around his neck glowing with red magic as more plants burst out of the tree.
Only for them all to suddenly wither away and disappear as thick black vines with blue spikes burst through the wooden walls of the tree, a dark blue glow to them as the Heart around Aspen's neck turns dim.
"WHAT?! Punderseed Vines?! Impossible!" Aspen exclaims in a shout, tripping over his own legs to get away from the black plants.
I try and catch Aspen before he hits the floor, my magic stopping him from falling for but a moment before the vines glow dark blue once more and I feel my magic turn off, letting the old deer fall to the floor.
"Why is this happening?!" I scream in my mind, "Just how unlucky am I?!"
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza gulped as she watched the black vines wrap around the giant tree in the center of Thicket, before turning her head to glare at the Earth Pony who was laughing maniacally in the air in front of her, Her previously vibrant pink coat now dulled and dark, her Raspberry mane now Cyan and elongated, A Mask of magic covering her eyes which were now two green dots in a sea of darkness.
Wood and leaves wrapped around her like makeshift floral clothing as a bright red Heart made of Crystal glowed around her neck.
"She stole the Heart of the Everfree!" Princess Cadance heard Bramble yell from beside her, pointing at the cackling mare.
"But the Heart was around King Aspen's neck, how could she have stolen it?!" Cadance asked before widening her eyes and grabbing Prince Bramble in her magic as she flew to the side, eyes widening in horror at the sharp vine that pierced the ground where she previously stood.
"I don't know how she could have gotten past the Security!" She heard Portunes yell from below her as she flew up, landing on one of the many living bridges of Thicket, placing the Deer Prince beside her, "But his Majesty's Heart of the Everfree isn't the only one!" Whatever Portunes was about to say had to wait as another thick green vine swiped through the street, throwing the armored deer down the road.
"Don't worry about me!" She heard the Deer Captain yell from behind the thick wall of vines that started rapidly growing from the ground, "Protect the Prince!"
Bramble quickly turned to Cadance, "We need to stop her somehow!"
"But how?!" Cadance asked with a yell before once more picking up Bramble in her magic, flying away as a vine slammed into the Bridge the two were standing on, collapsing it down to the ground.
"The Heart! We need to get the Heart away from her!" Bramble exclaimed, followed by a chirp of affirmation from the yellow bird on his head.
Cadance looked at the Pony, the one who likely followed her and Blueblood in secret, Raging down on the streets as the Magic from the Heart of the Everfree seemed to corrupt her.
"Get the Heart away from her," Cadance repeated the words before gulping.
"Easier said than done."