//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Of Innocence Lost // by Lunafan1k //------------------------------// Night has passed and dawn had once again blessed the land of Equestria with its life-giving energy. Not ten hours ago, Sweetie summoned a being from across the dimensions and while they had a rough start, it quickly became apparent that they had a slave-master relationship. Before Sweetie Belle could find out more, they were interrupted by the filly Dinky and her captor. In an instant, she had ordered the imp Aznip to assist her against the assailant resulting in the kidnapper’s death. After pleading innocence to the guard, she joined her sister and her friends in the hospital where the doctor refused to allow them to see Ditzy and Dinky as they were examined. Too tired to wait for the exams to finish, Sweetie fell asleep in the lobby next to her sister. “Sweetie…” Sweetie Belle moaned, refusing to leave the state of blissful sleep. “Come on deary, they’re letting us see them now.” “Them…?” She questioned sleepily. Suddenly her mind was filled with images of the day before and the crazy chain of events leading her to the hospital. “Oh no! Are they okay?” she asked anxiously. “Well let’s go find out, hmm?” Rarity replied. Together they stood and walked down the hall. Sweetie noticed that they were alone, “Where is everypony?” she asked. “My, whatever do you mean?” Sweetie noticed Rarity’s smile was much larger than it should have been, it was big enough to make Pinkie jealous. “I-I mean, the nurses and our friends…” Sweetie trailed off. She got a better look at her surroundings, they were walking down an immensely long hallway with no doors along the walls. Instead the walls stretched seemingly forever. “Why would they be here of all places? After all…” they stopped, the end of the hall suddenly in front of them, a large door that had the same star in a circle mark as her spell book had, but this was dripping in fresh blood. “…they don’t murder ponies.” The doors were thrown open, revealing an endless barren landscape with rivers of flame and monsters roaming freely, feasting on naughty fillies and colts. Sweetie could do nothing but scream as the thing that wasn’t her sister pushed her through the doorway, the door sealing shut behind her. Sweetie woke up in the hospital waiting room, her throat raw from screaming at the top of her lungs for the last twenty minutes. The sight of the horrifyingly familiar hospital struck absolute fear into the heart of the filly, driving her over the edge into hysteria. The ponies around her seemed nothing more than monsters out to eat her very soul. She kicked, bit, and fought back in any way she could from the evil creatures reaching out to grab her, but it was to no avail. She was seized in the claws of a pure white one and held close to its chest, probably to make it easier to suck out her soul. “Sweetie! Calm down it’s okay!” It was her sister’s voice, this time she was sure. As she kept hearing her sister speak she began to feel the warmth of her voice, laced with worry. Sweetie slowly came to her senses and stopped fighting against the hold; instead she hugged her sister tightly and sobbed into her chest. After a few minutes her tears began to dry and she broke off the embrace. “Are you okay Sweetie? Was it a bad dream?” her sister asked. She nodded her head, “Y-yes, I don’t remember what it was about though.” It was a lie of course, but she was hoping it would become truth if she didn’t think about the terrible images. Rarity nodded her head in understanding. “The nice doctor is letting us see Ditzy and Dinky, did you want to see them or…?” She left the question open. “I think I’ll say hi at least.” Sweetie answered. “Okay, they are in room four right around the corner.” Rarity said as she led the way. They went around the corner and stood before a plain door marked with a large ‘4’ near the center. Rarity pushed it open and revealed a medium sized room. Inside the floor was a white tile with blue painted walls. The ceiling consisted of numerous panels with fluorescent lights in every third panel. The room had two beds, currently pushed next to each other so the occupants, mother and filly, could be next to each other with ease. Also in the room was the Doctor, Stitch, as well as all of Rarity’s friends. Twilight approached Sweetie as she entered the room, “Hey Sweetie, are you feeling better? You gave us all quite the scare you know.” “I’m fine now; it was just a bad dream.” She replied. “And it was to be expected really, after the shocking ordeal you went through yesterday.” Dr. Stitch said, “Dinky here was crying most of the night till she fell asleep half an hour ago. Anyway as I was saying, they both had minor concussions and need plenty of water and bed rest. Ditzy sprained her left wing, so no flying or strenuous activity for at least the next week.” “A week?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed loudly, “That’s in-equine! Complete torture!” “Calm down Rainbow, ahm sure she can handle not flying much better than another pegusus ah know.” Applejack said with a snicker. “Hey, maybe you could show her the joys of reading.” “Oh ha ha, AJ.” Rainbow replied sarcastically before she crossed her forelegs and pouted in midair. “Oh you girls,” Ditzy laughed, “I’m sure I’ll be fine, my muffin is here with me and she is all I need.” Sweetie took this opportunity to approach the beds, “Um, Miss Ditzy?” “Just Ditzy is fine, and I wanted to thank you for doing your best to protect my muffin, even if it didn’t turn out so good. But did you know who the mean pony was?” “Umm, you’re welcome, but no, I didn’t recognize the stallion. He did say something about Dinky’s father paying him a lot of bits to bring her to him.” Said Sweetie. Ditzy’s eyes narrowed in anger, “So now he resorts to kidnapping. Thank you for telling me, Sweetie. You are welcome over anytime you want, I’ll even have some muffins ready as thanks.” “Oh, well thanks, but you don’t have to.” Sweetie said modestly with a sweet smile. Ditzy shook her head, “No, I want to. If not for you, I don’t know what might have happened.” Ditzy held her sleeping daughter closer, “I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to her.” Sweetie smiled at the scene before turning to her sister, “Rarity, I think I’ll go home and get some sleep too.” “Okay Sweetie, do you want me to walk you?” Rarity asked. “No, I think I know where we live.” Sweetie giggled. Smiling at the antics of her younger sister, Rarity said, “Well if you’re sure. I don’t want the guard knocking on my door like last time you got lost.” Sweetie rolled her eyes, just because she got lost in the new town a few years ago and had to get help from the guard didn’t mean she was going to lose her way again. She was never going to live that down. Not bothering to give her the satisfaction of a rebuttal, Sweetie made her way out of the hospital and down the road to the boutique. She made it back home without incident as the sun was in the nine o’clock position. She went inside and made her way to her room. She pulled back the blankets of her bed with the intent on catching up on lost sleep when she saw her spell book out of the corner of her eye. She ignored it and crawled into bed. She lay there, unable to cross the final margin into sleep, for what felt like hours. No matter what she tried, her mind kept wandering back to the book sitting innocently on her bedside table. With an aggravated grunt, she tossed the covers off of her body and pulled the book onto her bed. Flipping through the book, she found a new section. This looked darker and more disturbing than the previous sections she had seen. Looking at the title, she read “The Art of Shadow Magic” in bold letters across the page. Directly underneath the heading was a quick summary of the various spells in the section. “The spells in the following pages are designed to curse the target, slowly eating away at their life force or mental stability.” Sweetie reread the description three more times, not fully understanding the purpose of the spells. With a sigh she turned to the next page, which revealed to her the mechanics of the one spell she was able to read. It was a mental instability spell called “The Follower,” where the target will begin to see a creature at various points throughout the day from a distance. As time progresses, the creature will seem to get closer and closer. Upon the end of the spell, the target’s mind will break. Sweetie went back to the mechanics and memorized them in a few minutes. She flipped through the book some more and found several destruction class spells, from which she learned how to produce a stream of fire, ice, and lightning from the end of her horn. The basics of each were rather simple with a minor tweak to change the element of the attack. She had no idea why she would even need to know such spells, but if she were ever lost in the Everfree then it was better safe than sorry. Flipping through the rest of the book, she took notice of another conjuration spell, this one of a small dagger. Thinking of all the times she could have used a knife to cut the various vines and ropes tangled around her and her friends during their crusading, this was a must have spell. She quickly devoted the spell to memory and cast it to make sure it was what she hoped for. A blue orb floated in the air next to her. It quickly expanded into nothing, leaving behind a good sized dagger. It was blue and had an ethereal energy flowing around it. Looking around for something to test it on, she found a random block of wood she used when she was smaller to help her get onto the bed. With a small grin, she realized she was able to manipulate the dagger with a dexterity she never knew she had, and sliced the block in half with ease. Blinking in astonishment, she slowly brought the dagger to one of the halves. She applied the slightest bit of pressure behind the blade and it cut through the solid wood as though it were soft butter. Sweetie’s jaw hit the floor; this was the sharpest thing she had ever encountered. If she wasn’t careful, she could easily severely hurt somepony. She mentally released her hold on the dagger and it faded away into nothing. She returned to her book and found a new entry in the Alteration section she had learned her first spell from a few days ago, Rejuvenation and Lesser Ward. Rejuvenation was used to instantly heal small cuts and bruises while the ward was just like her Oakhide spell, except instead of blocking physical damage it negated forty percent of magic spells and effects. After memorizing the new spells, she tested them. She grabbed one of the pieces of wood and turned it to a sharp edge. Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth she ran the edge across her left foreleg. Just as she hoped, a small line of red could now be seen beneath her fur. Focusing her magic on the Rejuvenation spell, her horn was shrouded in a white/gold aura. When the spell was released the aura expanded to cover her body and was absorbed into her body. She felt a slight tingling sensation in her foreleg and looked down the see the small cut had completely healed over. Sweetie grinned at the results. She gasped as a new thought entered her mind and as quickly as she could, she ran into the bathroom and examined her black eye. Right away it was obvious; in place of her black and blue eye was the white pristine fur of her natural coat. Looking closer, she seemed even healthier than she had ever been. Her fur was even and soft while her mane no longer had the random split ends. Continuing to look at her reflection she noticed that she was simply radiant in every aspect of the word. Satisfied with the Rejuvenation spell, she channeled more magic into her horn and cast the Lesser Ward spell. It was similar to the Oakhide spell in that it enshrouded her body, except it left a reflective sheen coating her body. With no way to actually test it she simply let it fade. As she made her way back to her room, she was overcome with a massive migraine and intense dizziness. In her rush to get into her bed she accidentally kicked the spell book under the mattress. She groaned in pain as she rolled back onto her bed and tossed the covers over her body. Before they fully settled around her she was out like a light. Performing such spells, while fairly simple, drained her completely. Several hours later Sweetie was woken by the loud noise of the front door slamming shut and several cheers of joy. Crawling out of bed to see what all the fuss was about, she noticed her migraine was at least more manageable than it was as she fell asleep. She made her way downstairs where she found her sister, Twilight, and Cheerilee drinking out of wine glasses. “Oh!” Rarity exclaimed when she saw her younger sister. “I’m sorry Sweetie, did we wake you?” Sweetie nodded, “Yes, but I think I was about to wake up anyway.” She rubbed her head, “Can I get some more of that potion? I have a headache.” “I don’t think so, it’s not good for a filly to drink too much. I can get you some aspirin if you want.” Sweetie nodded her head then Rarity disappeared into the kitchen for a moment before returning with a glass of water and some small white pills. Sweetie grimaced at the bitter taste on her tongue before she swallowed the pills with the water. Finished, she turned to Twilight, “So, what’s the occasion?” Twilight was more than happy to elaborate, “You see, I sent Princess Celestia a letter detailing what happened at the school and the possible persecution against Cheerilee for enacting punishment on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. “This raised further questions and it was discovered that their families were illegally buying the representatives, essentially paying them to make laws entirely in their favor. The High Court of Canterlot, headed by both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, found in favor of Cheerilee. The repercussions of what the families did were drastic, almost banishment from Equestria. They had their titles stripped, wealth forcibly returned to the proper ponies, and have been evicted from Ponyville. They have the next day to pack up whatever they have left and hit the road!” This was great news to Sweetie, the school bullies are getting kicked out of town! “That’s great! I’m going to tell Applebloom and Scoots, see you later!” Sweetie called as she ran out the door. She returned a moment later, “And thanks for the book Twilight!” Twilight watched in confusion as the door slamed a second time. “I thought the book was trashed?” she asked Rarity. “It was, she’s probably saying thanks because I told her to the other day.” Rarity said, shrugging off the comment. “Anyway, let’s continue our victory in the lounge!” she cheered as she led her friends through her home. Sweetie was happily trotting down the road that would eventually lead out to the surrounding farmland. She was just walking past one of the last houses when she heard someone yelling at her. “You!” Sweetie looked around before her eyes fell upon an irate Diamond Tiara, surprisingly alone. “It’s all your fault! You and your stupid blank flank friends destroyed my life!” Sweetie smiled smugly, “Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?” This was the spark that lit the fuse for Diamond Tiara, “Payback? Payback?! You ruined my life! I’ll show you payback!” Several things happened at once. First, Diamond Tiara leapt through the air at Sweetie Belle, who simply cast a spell that surrounded her and was absorbed into her skin. DT landed her first blow across Sweetie’s face much like she had done in school. This time, it was like punching a brick wall. The flesh gave much less as it resisted a portion of the attack. The backlash rushed up her leg, causing a great amount of pain. Sweetie grinned, having beaten DT without needing to go on the offensive, but she needed to be sure and end it here and now. “Aw, poor little Diamond Tiara, did you hurt your hoofie?” “Sh-shut up, blank flank!” DT said viciously as she tried and failed to pick herself up. Sweetie closed in and prepared one of her new spells, “That’s a shame, and here I was hoping you would see just how dangerously out-classed you were.” “A stupid blank flank like you could never outclass me!” DT yelled as she leapt up to strike Sweetie again, with the same result that sent her to the ground wincing in pain. “Oh yea? Let me prove it.” Sweetie cast the Rejuvenation spell, instantly removing the minor scraps on her face. Next, her horn became enshrouded in a shadow so dark it made Nightmare Moon look pale in comparison. “I do have a word of advice…” the shadow leaped from her horn and was absorbed into Diamond Tiara, “…run.” A/N: Yeay another chapter! It is a bit shorter than usual, but that is because of the next chapter! I can't simply give out all the awesome, people could get hurt.