//------------------------------// // Magic Circles, Part Two // Story: Legends Never Die: Friendship is Magic // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// “Get back!” Ash opened her mouth and unleashed a torrent of flames that held the wolves back just long enough for the ponies to get free of them. Hugo and Lukas burst into action, running ahead of the ponies and leading them up to the castle. Midnight stayed behind to grow more vines and to keep the refugees calm as he gently herded them down the path. Hugo grabbed the large door and hauled it open, holding it so while a dozen ponies burst past him, following Lukas without hesitation through the halls of the palace. Down below, Flurry Heart hovered high over the group of ponies at the base of the cliff, her horn a blaze of light as she fought off the wolves that threatened to attack them. Below her, Brooks was taking on all of the wolves on the ground, none of whom seemed to be able to touch him because of his fire. Imara was still flying around the city in a mad frenzy, searching for any and all ponies who had yet to be saved. Kailani was at the base of the vines, calming ponies down before they dashed frantically up the crystal spires. Little Braveheart was next to her, looking scared, which was a rare expression for her, but she was doing everything she could to help as well. Zoom and Thunder, the pegasus guards who had flown down from the top of the cliff, were herding ponies in the right direction and making sure that order was maintained. It was still a desperate operation, but it was beginning to look like it might just be successful. Imara suddenly appeared in front of her with a young foal in her arms. She set the crying foal down beside an older pony who immediately began guiding him along. The changeling then took a moment to breathe, coming up beside Flurry Heart to examine the whole mess. “Who made the vines?” “Midnight.” Imara nodded. “Ah.” She turned from the fleeing ponies back to the city. Everything seemed darker now as the shadow wolves prowled the streets, looking for the same thing that Imara was: survivors. A large number of them were surrounding the escapees, penning them in on all sides in a dark semi-circle against the cliff, but thanks to Flurry Heart and Brooks, they weren’t daring to venture any closer. Imara looked up to the top of the cliff and saw a few wolves up there, but the tiny figure of Ash was darting around them, occasionally unleashing bursts of flame to keep them occupied. “I’m going to do one more perimeter sweep,” Imara told Flurry Heart before dashing away again. Seamlessly shifting form into a hawk, Imara’s newly sharpened vision began scanning the city below, looking for ponies in hiding, or any shadow wolves who were acting like they had found something. She was so focused on what was going on below her that she didn’t notice the giant airborne machine hurtling toward her until it was almost too late. The strange flying vehicle swerved around her at the last minute, sending Imara spinning, and she squacked in surprise, reverting to her original form. “Hey, watch where you’re going!” she yelled after the giant flying metal box. The giant flying metal box suddenly screeched to a halt and spun around, far more agile than a flying metal box should be, to face her. On the other side of the large front window were two ponies, both unicorns with blue coats, one with a pair of purple glasses and one with a pink and purple frizzy mane. Both of their eyes grew wide at the sight of Imara, who suddenly felt a quick stab of self-consciousness, but she quickly brushed it aside. These ponies needed to get to shelter before the shadow wolves down below developed an appetite for giant flying metal boxes. Imara flew up in front of the glass and jerked her head in the direction of the palace. “Follow me!” Frizzy Mane whispered something to Glasses, who seemed to be driving the thing, and they soared along behind Imara. She led them up to the green lawn in front of the castle, and the flying machine touched down on the grass with hardly a bump. A door slid open in the side of the box, and the two ponies hurried out, Frizzy holding a brown leather bag close to her chest, Glasses carrying a lantern with a rainbow inside. “What’s going on?” Frizzy yelled up at Imara. “Where did all these wolves come from? Who are you?” “What are you?” Glasses added in an awed sort of voice. Frizzy threw him a look. “Not important, just - get inside the castle,” Imara told them, waving her hoof airily. “My friends will show you the way-” “Imara!” shouted a voice. They turned to see Flurry Heart speeding toward them with a young foal beside her, carrying a large, ancient-looking book under one arm. When they arrived, they skidded to a halt, barely acknowledging the two strange unicorns. “Cozy Glow says she knows a way to protect us from the wolves,” Flurry told Imara in a rush, her mane a windblown frenzy. “We have to make a magic circle!” the little filly said, holding up her old book and flipping hurriedly through the pages. “A wolf tried to attack me, but I accidentally stumbled into a magic circle of some kind, and it protected me! We might be able to do the same thing to protect these ponies!” “I have no idea what that means, but let’s try it.” Imara sprang back into the air. “I’ll keep ponies moving while you set up this magic circle thing!” As the changeling flew away, Cozy Glow turned to Flurry. “But in order for it to work, we need some really powerful magic artifacts - their powers will connect to form a more powerful magic. But I don’t know what we would use-” “What about these?” one of the unicorns said. She held out the bag she had been hanging on to. Inside, Flurry could see glimmering gold and crystal. Cozy gasped. “The Elements of Harmony,” she whispered in a hushed, awed voice. Reaching out, she gingerly picked up the largest of them all, a golden crown with a lavender star at the center, and held it reverently in her hooves. A kind of quiet, intense power thrummed in her hooves, and a wave of painful memories washed over her. Looking up at the unicorn, she asked, “Where did you get these?” The frizzy-haired unicorn flushed and avoided their gazes. “That’s, uh, a long story,” she mumbled softly. “But will they work? Can we use them to protect us from the wolves?” The pegasus foal nodded, her eyes still wide with wonder as she stared at the crown in her hooves. “We just have to place them in a circle around the place we want to be protected and connect them by using this spell-” “We’ll figure it out as we go,” Flurry said, gently herding Cozy Glow and the two strange unicorns toward the palace doors. “Cozy, just get this thing set up. You two, just… stay with the others,” she finished, glancing at the two strangers. The frizzy-maned one squirmed under her gaze. “I’ll go help our friends.” She turned and galloped back down the green, spreading her wings and taking to the air as she went. “Cozy Glow!” Hugo called from where he stood by the door. “Hurry!” Cozy nodded firmly. She stuffed the crown back into the bag with the other Elements and looked like she wanted to take the whole bag, but thought better of it. She gestured to the two unicorns to follow her. “Hurry!” Hugo called again, more urgently. “We’re taking everyone to the air station - just follow everypony else.” “Did you see that?” the unicorn with the glasses whispered to his friend as they ran through the halls of the Zephyr Heights palace. “I didn’t know that Equestria had creatures like those!” “I didn’t, either,” his friend replied quietly. “Not until… recently.” “And there was another alicorn!” His voice was steadily growing louder as he got more and more excited. “Did you know that there were other alicorns?” The other unicorn was quiet for a minute. “Yes. Yes I did.” Before long, they had arrived at a short, dimly-lit hallway that ended in a crowd of ponies, all staring at an opening in the floor. A large, heavy grate was leaning against the wall. “What’s going on?” Cozy called over the low murmur of the anxiously waiting ponies. She spread her wings and hovered above the others. One of the earth ponies pointed at the hole in the floor. “The elevator’s the only way down,” he said, his voice shaking a bit with nerves. “So we just have to wait until it comes back up and load as many ponies as we can fit before we lower it back down again.” “All the pegasi are already down there,” one of the unicorns said in a sullen voice. “Everypony calm down,” Cozy said in a commanding voice. “The calmer you are, the faster you all can get down there. And once you do, I promise you’ll be safe. We’re doing everything we can to protect you.” “Where’s Sunny Starscout?” wailed one pony, echoing all of their thoughts. “She and her friends have always helped us!” That’s… a good question, Cozy thought with mounting panic. She hadn’t seen Sunny anywhere. It was always possible that she was out somewhere in the city, but… Tentatively, Cozy Glow reached out to Sunny with her mind. The mind link that she had forged between them was still intact, but she hadn’t used it in so long that she worried that it might have closed off. But she was relieved to discover that the mental linkage was still open. Sunny! She felt a start of surprise on the other end, and then a quiet voice appeared in her head, faint and staticy: Cozy Glow? Cozy was so relieved to hear Sunny’s voice that she almost dropped out of the air. Sunny, where are you? That’s… kind of a long story… You have to come back, Sunny. You have to! Sunny would know what to do. Sunny always knew what to do. Sunny was the last living descendant of Twilight Sparkle, and she was the most powerful pony that Cozy knew. If she couldn’t find a way, then there was no way. Why? What’s wrong? What happened? So wherever she was, she wasn’t anywhere near here, or else she would know what was going on. Cozy felt the panic return again, and she wondered desperately where Sunny might be at such a time as this. It’s Zephyr Heights, she said. The city’s overrun. There’s shadow wolves everywhere! There was complete silence on the other end, and then Cozy heard Sunny’s voice, firm and courageous. I’m coming back. It, uh, might take a while though… and I’m bringing some friends… It doesn’t matter, just get back here as fast as you can! Cozy heard her voice turn desperate. Please hurry, Sunny! I will. Just… just hang on until I get there. “Sunny’s coming,” Cozy told the ponies, who all cheered with relief. The elevator arrived back at the top of the lift, and a dozen earth ponies and unicorns were packing themselves inside and lowering it again. “But she won’t be here for a while, so we have to hold out until she comes. And we’ll be able to do that. We’ve figured out a way-” She was interrupted as yet another group of ponies joined them, and behind them, all that stood in between them and a herd of shadow wolves that were closing in, were Flurry, Imara, Hugo, Midnight, Little Braveheart, Kailani, Brooks and Ash. And the distance between them was shrinking rapidly. The ponies began to panic once more, crowding in around the hole in the floor as the elevator began to rise once more, agonizingly slowly. “Everypony stay calm!” Kailani called over the noise as they arrived. Flurry Heart stood at the end of the hallway, her horn blazing to life as a bright sunshine-yellow barrier appeared in the way just as the first wolves crashed against it.