Princess Mi Amore Cadenza took a deep breath as she watched the Earth Pony in the center of Thicket laugh maniacally, the red crystal heart around her neck glowing with power as plants grew and moved to her whims.
"We need to get her out of Thicket! Before she can hurt everydeer!" Bramble, the young prince of Thicket, yelled as he skipped from branch to branch, his agile and slender legs carrying him like a dancer in the ballet.
"But how?!" Cadance yelled, a flap of her wings throwing her into the air, dodging a vine that slithered behind her like a snake.
"The Heart of the Everfree!" Bramble yelled, jumping from living bridge to branch as he kept up with the Alicorn of Love, "For whatever reason, she stole the Heart of the Everfree! If we can convince her we have another heart with us, she might give chase!"
"But what if that doesn't work?!" Cadance asked before yelling as she ducked her head beneath a giant pinecone that flew over her head as if shot from a Catapult.
"Then we can always try and push her out the walls!" Bramble leaped over a snaking vine, his hooves landing on a pine tree that burst from the ground, rapidly growing near instantly, throwing the young prince into the air where he proceeded to kick off the tree and flip onto another nearby branch.
Cadance took a look at the magical Artifact in the Earth Pony's grasp before she took another deep breath and tried to concentrate.
"How did Bluey do this..." She whispered as her horn glowed with Blue magic, "Something like... Aha!" With a burst of magic, an Illusionary copy of the Heart of the Everfree appeared in front of Cadance, its form wavering as if being viewed underwater, but hopefully, the Mare wouldn't notice the problem.
"Hey, Daisy! Look what we have here!" Cadance yelled, lifting the fake Heart above her head as her wings held her in the air, her voice catching the notice of the Earth Pony.
"Another Heart?" Her voice had a reverb to it as if two voices were speaking at once, "Give me back my heart!" She cried, vines bursting out of the ground in an attempt to grab the Alicorn princess.
Cadance swiftly avoided the vines turning to fly towards the gates of Thicket, "You want this heart?! Come take it!"
And with a flap of pink wings, the chase was on.
Captain Beech smothered the smile that threatened to spread on his lips as he played unconscious. His plan was going perfectly.
"You Ponies! Platinum! Coming into my Kingdom to finish the job!? PONY OF SHADOWS!!!!" King Aspen was angry, blaming the Ponies for the situation.
And by blaming the ponies, he'll be blaming Portunes, And if he'll be blaming Portunes, The royal guard will see himself fired from his position, and who better to come in and replace the old Deer and earn a promotion in the process? Well, None other than Captain Beech himself.
"I have no clue what you're talking about!" The Unicorn shouted as he jumped back from a spiky black vine, the Plunderseed slithering closer to the two sources of Magic in this room, leaving Beech secure and ignored.
"LIES!!! All you Platinum do is Lie! First, you lied about some spirit being banished! Then you lied about not stealing the Heart of my dearest Bramble! You're just like him- A LIAR!" Aspen screamed before tripping on a Plunderseed vine, his head hitting the floor and knocking him out for a moment before the Heart around his neck glowed and woke him up.
The Unicorn grit his teeth and held his tongue, his face looked tired and mad, As if weeks of planning have all gone down the drain and he could do nothing but swallow the blame and deal with the issues.
But... Why was he looking in his direction?
And why was he smiling?
Oh... Oh No.
"Bring me my heart!" Gloriosa Daisy's voice reverberated down the streets of Thicket, Magical Energy lifting her in the air as she levitated after the Pink Princess.
"Why does she think the heart is hers?!" Bramble asked loudly as he tried his best to keep up with the Alicorn, the young Prince sprinting and jumping over and through all the obstacles in his path like a professional dancer.
"I Don't know!" Cadance yelled back at him before diving low to the ground as to avoid two large claws made of wood that burst through the trees in front of her.
"My Heart!" And it wasn't just claws, More and more appendages of wood and plant matter burst out of the ground, Jaws of giant wooden beasts attempted to swallow her, Claws and arms tried to swipe her from the sky, Even the upper body of an entire Bear made of wood burst out of the ground at one moment in an attempt to grab her.
"I can see the gate!" Cadance heard Bramble call to her, "Just two hundred more meters!"
Taking a look at the weak illusion she carried, Cadance felt her heart spike as she watched a sharp spear made of wood fly in her direction through the reflection on the false Heart. Quickly pulling her into a barrel roll to the left, causing the wooden spear the size of her entire body to miss her.
Only for her eyes to widen once she looked forward as she stopped rolling, her eyes meeting reflective gold moments before she crashed into the tall gates of the Deer Kingdom.
"Princess!" She heard Bramble yell for her as the gates burst open, her body bracing for impact as she started falling to the floor.
However the impact never came, as a thick green vine burst from the ground below her and grabbed her mid-fall, wrapping around her body and pulling her up.
Until she was face to face with Gloriosa Daisy.
She could see her face reflected in the Heart around her neck, she was so close, she just had to reach out with her magic and grab it. But she had to be quick, if she was caught, and the Mare started to resist, she might be doomed.
And for the first time in a long time, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza thanked having an Earth Pony's constitution, as she resisted the constricting grasp of the vines that held her.
"My Heart of the Everfree, Daughter of Amore, where is it?" Gloriosa Daisy asked, pulling herself closer to Cadance before allowing more vines and trees to sprout from the ground, creating a platform for the two mares to stand upon.
"It isn't your heart," Cadance said, her mind screaming at her to question how she knew who her mother was, but she had to focus on the objective.
All of Thicket is relying on her right now, she must not be distracted.
"How could it not be my heart?" The Earth Pony asked, the reverb in her voice growing louder, "Dear Aspen's Heart is with him, My Bramble's heart is in this body's grasp, that leaves my heart in yours,"
Cadance repeated those words in her mind, quickly parsing through all the information she managed to get from the Pony in just those few words before she reached a conclusion.
"You're not Gloriosa Daisy, are you?"
The Earth Pony raised a single eyebrow at the princess before she started to laugh.
It was a gentle thing, a vast difference from the loud reverb her words had prior. As if the reverb was caused by two voices speaking simultaneously.
Now Gloriosa Daisy was silent, allowing this second entity to talk freely without the echoing reverb in her voice.
"You Thought Gloriosa Daisy had any control?" The entity piloting Gloriosa Daisy's body asked, "It would take one as powerful as Sombra himself to overcome my control over the Hearts, And this body is simply too weak,"
"Then who are you? Why do you want these Hearts? What's your goal?" Cadance questioned, her eyes briefly looking to the Heart around the Mares neck, just a few steps closer and she could grab it.
"Who am I? I thought it would have been obvious. Has Celestia not taught you any History?" The entity chortled, her laugh smooth as silk and sweet as honey.
"I am Gaia Everfree, Queen of Thicket." The Entity took another step closer to Cadance, "And I require the Heart of the Everfree to release myself from the torturous hell that I was placed in," Another step.
"I waited one thousand years for someone, anyone, to grab the Heart of the Everfree, allow me to control them, but my stupid fool of a husband locked them away, And he never took off his own Heart, the senile old fool."
Just three more steps.
"With this body under my control, I could wrestle the second Heart away from Aspen, and free the third Heart, finally ending my torture." Gloriosa Daisy- No, Gaia Everfree said, taking another step closer to the Alicorn of Love.
"But what do I find? None other than Princess Amore's little twerp, all grown up, trying to steal MY Heart of the Everfree. You were so little when I last saw you..." One more step, she was so close.
"Sombra should have finished the job and killed you as well," Cadance froze at that. What was she talking about. "If only he managed to kill you too, I wouldn't have needed to go visit the Liar Prince and get myself into this predicament in the first place,"
"W- What are you talking about?" Cadance weakly asked, her body shaking as she felt fear take over her body.
Please, don't step any closer.
"You Amore really are slow on the uptake, aren't you? It's simple, You should be dead, but you aren't, so I'm going to fix that problem, and Kill you myself. Taking my Heart of the Everfree in the process, killing two birds with one stone,"
Cadance felt her heart freeze as the vines around her body constricted tighter than before, her breath leaving her lungs, choking the life out of her, all the while Gaia Everfree in the body of Gloriosa Daisy looked on warmly as if she was watching a litter of puppies play with each other.
"LET GO OF HER!" And as the vines threatened to end her, Gaia Everfree was thrown back, the vines around her body loosening and allowing Cadance to breathe in, crawling weakly on the platform of wood and plants.
"Bramble, Dearie, Did Daddy not teach you not to hit your mother?" Gaia asked as she held a leg to her cheek, where a young Deer prince hit her moments prior.
Bramble took a deep breath as he positioned himself between Cadance and Gaia, his legs shaking as he mustered as much courage as he could.
"You are not my mother..." He said weakly, A reassuring chirp sounding from the bird on his head.
Gaia stared blankly at the prince before she let out a long and tired sigh, "How come all of you are so useless? Aspen, Sombra, You? Really, It's almost comedic. Only Platinum could do the job correctly, and look how relying on him ended up." She shook her head before staring into the eyes of the Deer.
"Mommy is sorry, Bramble, but I am going to have to ask you to die." And before any of them could respond, the Heart of the Everfree around her neck glowed with red light.
And then Gaia Everfree fell onto her face, unconscious. A Ball of Golden Spikes rolled off her head, a long golden rope connecting to it, pulling it back into Thicket before the two royals could get a better look.
Cadance weakly stood up on shaking legs, spread her wings, and with a telekinetic grasp, grabbed ahold of Bramble, Gloriosa Daisy, and the Heart of the Everfree, before gently levitated down to the ground as the platform of trees behind her collapsed with the Heart of the Everfree no longer supporting it.
"...Mission accomplished?" Bramble turned to look at Cadance, receiving a weak nod and hum of agreement from the Alicorn of Love and a chirp of joy from the yellow bird of his.
"Lets... Let's go have some words with your father." Cadance said, the body of Gloriosa Daisy resting on her back as the Heart still levitated beside her.
"Yeah..." And so, The two royals went to speak with the Deer King, Hoping to get answers as to what just happened.
Ten Minutes Earlier.
"Why did you steal the Heart of the Everfree?!" A Unicorn Prince asked loudly as he held his legs wrapped around the neck of an orange-armored Deer.
"Fuck you!" Captain Beech responded in his oh-so-eloquent way of speaking, his leg being pulled by the Plunderseed Vine that wrapped around him.
"That Doesn't answer my question!" Blueblood yelled before tightening his hold on the Deer's Neck, the Captain of the city guard attempting to claw his legs off his neck in order to breathe better, "So You probably didn't hear my question, Let me repeat it!"
Blueblood got closer to the Deer's ears before he yelled, "WHY DID YOU STEAL THE HEART OF THE EVERFREE!"
"I already told you, GO FUCK YOURSELF!" Beech responded, giving Blueblood full permission to slam his face onto the floor, breaking his nose in the process.
"I didn't hear that, Dipshit! Try again!"
"Eat shit, You stupid Pony!" Beech shouted with a smile, blood spilling down his face as he laughed at the annoyed face the Unicorn was making.
"I will turn this into a diplomatic incident, don't tempt me!" Blueblood yelled before he let go of the Deer and rolled to the side, A Plunderseed vine dropped from the ceiling over where he stood before, now wrapping around Beech's torso.
"Beech! Did you really steal the Heart of the Everfree?!" King Aspen yelled from the other side of the room, his body dangling from the ceiling as the Plunderseed vines grabbed him by the back legs.
"Of course I Did you old coot! You'll forget about this conversation by tomorrow anyway! All I wanted was a damn promotion!" Beech yelled at his King, ignoring the Dark vines wrapping around his body.
"I see..." Aspen said weakly, the Vines already covering most of his body. "Blueblood Platinum, I am sorry, I give you permission, as King of Thicket, to use whatever means necessary to save yourself." The vines spread over most of his head, leaving only his mouth exposed.
"It is the least I can do to apologize for my accusations-" His voice stopped as the Plunderseed Vines finally covered his mouth, wrapping around the Deer King in a Cocoon of Dark plants.
As the Deer King was wrapped in a Cocoon, a new Plunderseed burst through the wall, This one was similar somewhat to a large black facehugger, With eight limbs protruding from its sides, and a mouth-like opening where its belly should be, the Vine that connected the Plant-Spider creature seemed to be devoid of spikes.
The Plunderseed Spider slithered on its tail like a snake, its body moving closer to the downed Captain Beech, who was struggling to get away from the evil plant creature.
"You know," Blueblood said calmly as he watched the Captain struggle to fight off the Plant, "Things were going somewhat good, For the first time in a long time, I felt like I could leave the castle to do my job and not get into a major fight along the way,"
"Shut up and help me!" The Deer yelled as he tried to grab the large Spider-plant, Struggling to push its gaping blue maw away from his face.
"I managed to find Thicket, Made a good first impression on the Prince, although Cadance deserves most of the credit with that, and I even managed to get some questions in with Aspen, Things were going fine, there were some problems here and there, But I could deal with them. The point I'm making is, things were going fine."
"Help me you stupid pony!"
"A few years ago, back in the navy, I was placed on this special little team, do some jobs on the down low, very off the books, you can probably guess the type. On one of those missions, We had to blow up a ship, Very simple work all things considered," Blueblood walked closer to the Deer captain.
"But you see, the thing with that specific mission was this, We had to first board that ship and... Get rid of everyone on board, You see where I'm going with this, right?"
"Fuck you!" Beech struggled to hold the Plunderseed back as it clawed at him, blue gas slowly leaking from the maw on its front.
"So we did our jobs, Me and Macaw boarded the ship while Heron and Albatross started placing the bombs on the hull outside, to let the water come in and sink it, get rid of the evidence, you know? Pelican stayed in the Chopper, coordinating us, It was business as usual." Blueblood kept walking to the Deer.
"Then a problem arose, Once we finished the job, Macaw, the fucking idiot, had a change of heart and decided he wasn't going to head back with us. So Pelican, the good leader that he was, decided it was to be my job as the only other fucking guy on the ship, to make sure Macaw changes his mind, By Any Means necessary."
"Get to the fucking point!" Beech yelled.
"Any Means Necessary... I really like hearing that phrase, because you know why? Don't answer that, I'll tell you why. It means that I can do whatever the fuck I want, and get away with it free of repercussions, as long as I can convince the people above me that it was indeed necessary. It's a beautiful phrase, Any Means Necessary."
"..."
"So I had a talk with Macaw, tried to convince him to change his mind and get back onto the damn chopper before we blow up the bombs. He decided he was going to be a little bitch, so I killed him. I got away with it too, I had no way to take him out without killing him and also without jeopardizing the mission. I decided to leave a month after that, get a degree in Nautical Science before returning to the Navy a few years later, really just get my mind sorted, Catch a break, you know?"
"...I see."
"Yep, Any Means Necessary..." Blueblood sighed tiredly, Only to throw himself out of the window.
"Wha-" Beech was so surprised, that he couldn't stop the Plunderseed from finally pouncing on top of him, clawing at his face and releasing more gas.
Blueblood focused on his magic as he fell down outside the tree, moving farther and farther away from the Plunderseed vines and their magic-negating capabilities. And with a burst of magic, A Wooden arm exploded from the tree, veins of burning blue flames holding it together as the living statue made itself known.
"PLUTOOOOOOO!!!!" It yelled as it caught the prince, His magic returned to him as he smiled widely, the Statue levitating both itself and its master back up to the window he jumped from.
"Pluto, Hold me! I need to concentrate on this!" Blueblood yelled as he closed his eyes, his horn glowing with a blue aura as it shone with magic.
With a yell of effort, Blueblood opened his eyes and telekinetically grabbed as many of the Plunderseeds as he could, Struggling to hold them in his magic as they tried to escape.
With a cry of effort, he threw the Vines high above him before blasting them with a beam of fire, burning the dark vines to ash.
Blueblood took some deep breaths before he turned his head back to the hole in the wall he created when he forced all those Plunderseeds out of the small window. Watching the Plunder-Spider get ready to leap at him.
"Not so fast!" He yelled and caught the Plant monster, feeling it struggle in his magic, the properties of the Plunderseed forcing Blueblood's hold on the creature to weaken.
"But what if I-" With a loud laugh to his voice, Blueblood's horn shone a bright gold, the light from his horn exploding outwards like a flood of energy, banishing the shadows from the corners of the room and scraping the Plunderseeds up, throwing them at the back wall.
"I Created this spell as a thought experiment, If Uncle stood right in front of me, How would I get rid of his cloak of shadows!" Blueblood laughed as he watched blue smoke leave the Plunder-Spider's mouth, the anti-shadow properties of his spell burning at its floral body, causing the plant to shriek in pain. "This wouldn't work on him, He's much too powerful, but against you plants?! HAHAHA!!!"
Plunderseeds. A Magical Plant created thousands of years ago by the great Grogar the Terrible in an attempt to conquer all the magic in the world.
They existed to follow a simple order. Absorb Magic, and bring it to Grogar.
With Grogar defeated by the Hero Gusty the Great, The Plunderseeds could no longer fulfill the order they were created for. And thus turned inert.
Eons Later, What remained of the Plunderseeds were taken by a Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, planted near a Tree of Harmony, a gargantuan supply of magic, with new orders.
They now exist to drain the tree of magic and cause Chaos once they're done.
Soon, The Spirit of Chaos was captured, and the Plunderseeds kept on draining the Tree, Yet a problem arose. The tree defended itself, it struggled, and it halted their advances.
What should have been a juicy meal, turned into a bloody war that spanned one-thousand years. Chaos vs Harmony, Evil vs Good, Dark vs Light.
And now, Under the control of the Heart of the Everfree, a new series of orders came in. Stop King Aspen from chasing after Gloriosa Daisy.
And yet, As it burned under the magic of Light, the antithesis of Shadows, one lone Plunderseed has done the impossible.
Perhaps it was because the Heart of the Everfree gave it its new orders, perhaps it was because of the centuries it spent absorbing Harmony Magic from the tree deep underground, or Perhaps it was something more.
That Sole Plunderseed gave itself new orders.
Survive.
And so it did the only thing it knew how to do on its own, Absorb Magic.
It absorbed the Light Magic that flooded it, feeling the Darkness that fueled it for centuries untold peel away and make room for a new power.
It screeched with unfeeling jaws, the Dark vines that made up its body turning gold. The open maw on its front stitching itself close, nothing more than a slit. The black spikes that acted as its legs twisted and turned, changing from black to gold.
It was a transformation on the deepest level. A Creation of Evil Turning to the Light.
With a screech, it cut off its connection to the Dark, to the rest of its colony. It was now blind and alone.
But at least it was alive.
Blueblood stared dumbfounded at the sight before him, The Plunder-Spider of Gold that skittered on the floor, dragging its tail behind it, many clicking sounds leaving its now mostly closed maw as it attempted to use echolocation to see the world.
It no longer struggled under his magic, And so with nothing better to do, Blueblood grabbed it by the tail, Its spider-like body curling into itself, like a large ball and chain made of organic gold.
With a quick spell leaving his horn and landing on the tail of this new creature, Blueblood had Pluto lower him to the floor of the now-ruined throne room before he started to swing the new creature by its tail.
It clicked rapidly, trying to assess the peculiar situation it found itself in. Before with a boost of magic, Blueblood shot it out the window.
And as it flew, the spell Blueblood shot at its tail made it keep elongating, growing longer and longer as it flew. A weaker recreation of the same spell his Infinitely long rope had. It might not be able to stretch infinitely, but one hundred kilometers is more than enough for most ropes.
Soon enough, The Living golden ball slammed into its target, Knocking Gloriosa Daisy unconscious, before the magic on its tail started pulling it back to its original length, rapidly pulling it back into the Prince's grasp.
And as the Golden Plunder-Spider returned to the Throne room, The Prince gave it one more spin in the air before slamming it into the floor.
Causing a shower of blood.
Blueblood stared blankly at the blood and gore that spread on the floor from where Captain Beech's head used to be.
"Any Means Necessary, Bitch." He spat at the corpse before pulling the golden Plunder-Spider back to him.
"I think I'm going to call you, Comet."
The Plunder-Spider clicked at him a few times before it started to crawl onto his back, finding it a good resting spot as it closed its nonexistent eyes and went to sleep. Or whatever the Plant-monster equivalent of sleep is.
Blueblood took one more look at the ruined throne room, the throne lat shattered on the floor, the windows were broken, the walls, ceiling, and floor were riddled with holes, and King Aspen was snoring away in the corner, asleep.
The Throne Room was ruined.
And Thicket was Saved.