//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: One Heart's Destiny // by Robobrony //------------------------------// Chapter 8 Heart and Rainbow had just finished lunch when they started with another magic training session. Heart Wing wanted to practice firing magic projectiles, Rainbow Dash was next to Heart Wing. “All right Heart, you ready?” Rainbow was set to throw a few rocks up in the air so Heart could practice shooting them. “I’m ready, and…..throw!” Heart called out. Rainbow tossed a rock up in the air and Heart fired a white magic bolt from his horn. “Darn it, I missed again.” “Good try though, you almost hit it that time.” It had been a month now since they left Ponyville and were now beyond the borders of Equestria. As promised, Luna had been visiting them in their sleep each week to see how they were doing and would pass the news along to their friends back in Ponyville, Heart made sure to ask Luna to pass along his thanks to the others for all the things they gave him and Dash. Heart Wing had taken every opportunity he could to practice his magic skills whenever they stopped for a rest for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. So far, he had been practicing with his shielding spell, he was starting to get the hang of it. He also started practicing with a teleportation spell, that hadn’t been going so well so far, every time he tried it, he ended up above the ground upside down or in a tree. He was starting to get the hang of this projectile spell, he just needed to work on his aim which is what they were currently doing. After a while of practicing, Heart Wing felt it was time to get going. “All right, I think that’s enough practicing for now, would you mind if we just walked for a bit Rainbow, my wings are kinda tired from all the flying we’ve been doing.” “Yeah, mine too. Let’s go.” Rainbow agreed. Heart placed his magic books back in the bag and placed it back on his back, he still opted to keep his cloak in the bag. The two then began their walk along a dirt road Heart had led them to. They walked for a good few hours when they came to a point in the road that seemed to enter a dark forest. Before they went any further, Heart Wing stopped in his tracks, Rainbow stopped too. “Hold on Dash, something isn’t right here.” Rainbow Dash looked at Heart Wing with a curious expression. “What is it?” “According to the map in my head, this path is supposed to go around the forest, not through it, something’s wrong.” “Maybe someone just recently made a path through the forest to make a shortcut. I’m sure it’s no big deal, come on.” Rainbow Dash then started down the path through the forest. Heart followed hesitantly but he had to catch up since he was supposed to be the one leading the way. Heart Wing then took the lead in front of Rainbow and they continued down the path through the forest. As they walked, it seemed to get darker and darker. “I don’t like this Dash, it’s getting darker when it should still be daylight.” “Would you relax, the forest just has a thick canopy, quit being such a baby, just use that illumination spell you recently learned.” Rainbow Dash wasn’t afraid of a dark forest, she had been in the Everfree forest before and she wasn’t afraid, it was the most dangerous place in all of Equestria as far as she knew, but she never thought that there could be other places more dangerous than the Everfree forest outside of Equestria. Heart Wing lit up his horn and provided some illumination for them. They continued on and soon found themselves coming up to an area where the trees weren’t as thick anymore, but it was still kind of dark. They found themselves standing before some ancient stone ruins with stone buildings and pillars all covered in moss and vines. Rainbow Dash was impressed with the site. “No way, this place is awesome, check it out heart, I wonder what this place used to be.” Heart just looked around nervously as they made their way into the place. “I don’t know, but I’m seriously getting a bad vibe from this place, maybe we should go back.” No sooner had he said that that a sound erupted from behind them, like hooves landing on the stone road they were on. Heart and Dash quickly turned around and were greeted with a horrifying sight, it was a walking skeleton of a pony with red dots in the eye sockets wearing an old metal helmet. “AAAAAAHHHHHH!” Heart and Rainbow cried out together. Soon, more skeleton ponies appeared, some on the rooftops of the stone structures with bony wings and some with bony horns on their heads, they were everywhere, Heart and Rainbow were surrounded. “What the hay are these things?!” Rainbow asked with fear. “How should I know, I’ve never seen anything like this before.” As if to answer their question, the skeleton ponies in front of them stepped aside and let a new figure through to approach them. It was a minataur with black fur, he was wearing a gold chest plate with fancy designs on it and a long red cape with black lining, as well as a gold gauntlet on his right hand. He stepped forward and greeted the two ponis. “Well well well, what do we have here?” He spoke with a deep voice that rumbled a little. “Two little lost ponies, how sad for you to walk right into my kingdom.” Heart Wing tried to address the minataur. “Uh, Excuse me sir, but we didn’t mean to intrude, we were just passing through, please just let us be on our merry way and we won’t be any trouble.” Rainbow shook her head to agree. “Sorry, but that’s not how things work around here, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Dark Horn, and as I said, this is my kingdom. You two are trespassing, so I get to make you my newest sacrifices.” Rainbow tried to put on a brave face as she spoke. “What do you mean sacrifices?” Dark Horn continued. “It’s a bit of a long story, you see, ages ago, I made a deal with a demon to grant me power and eternal life, it was in this city that it happened, for it was in this city that I found an ancient spell that told me how to contact and make a deal with a demon, I’ve always craved power. I did as the spell instructed and the demon appeared. The demon would grant me eternal life and an army of undead soldiers so I could rule the world, but in exchange, I would have to sacrifice one thousand souls to him of ponies from outside this city, little did I know there was a catch. “I couldn’t leave the city to find the souls I needed, I had to find a way to trick others into coming here instead. I’m guessing you two came to a road that led you right through this forest, correct, through the powers I was granted, that road originally went around the forest, so I used the magic I have to create an illusion of the road going through it to trick travelers. Now that you’re here, there is no escape, there is a barrier around the city that can only be entered through and no one can leave.” Rainbow put on her toughest act she could. “You’d better let us go you creep or you’ll be sorry, I’ll buck you clear to next Tuesday!” Dark Horn was not amused. “Oooh, feisty, I like that, maybe I’ll keep you as a pet, your quit cute. Today is indeed my lucky day, you see, so far I’ve managed to sacrifice nine hundred and twenty two souls, but the demon said that if I manage to get an alicorn, he would let me leave this place right away so I can begin my campaign, you see, alicorns are rare and powerful, so sacrificing one will automatically set me free from this place. I can just sacrifice your alicorn friend and keep you for myself, once that’s done, I’ll be free to lead my army of undead soldiers and take over everything.” It was now Heart’s turn to get mad. “You are not turning my friend into a pet, I’m gonna blast you all over your stone city if you don’t let us go!” This made all the skeleton ponies and Dark horn erupt in laughter. “HA HA HA, haven’t you been listening, I’m immortal and powerful, do you really think you can harm me? I think a demonstration is in order. YOU, come forward.” Dark Horn pointed to one of his minions on the side, the skeleton pony obeyed without hesitation. Dark Horn held up his right hand with the gauntlet, a black aura appeared around it and fired a black bolt of magic at the skeleton, it fell to pieces before Heart and Rainbow, after a second, the skeleton then reassembled itself. “You see, you can’t harm my minions and you certainly can’t harm me. TAKE THEM!” The skeletons swarmed towards Heart and Rainbow, they tried to fight them off but there was too many, Heart and Rainbow soon found themselves hogtied and hanging upside down from long wooden poles. One of the skeletons took their bag of supplies from them and carried it along-side them. The skeleton army carried them through the town as their dark leader led them. Rainbow tried to threaten him again. “Let us go you creep, you’ll be sorry, our princesses, Celestia and Luna will kick your sorry flank if you don’t let us go.” Dark Horn ignored her, Heart Wing noticed that they were being watched by faces from inside the stone buildings through the windows. From what he saw, they seemed to be half faces, there was flesh on them but half the face was gone around one of the eyes which also had a red dot in the eye socket like the skeletons. The faces seemed scared and worried as the two prisoners were carried off. Heart Wing tried to use his magic to break himself free from his bondage but his magic just didn’t seem to want to work. Dark Horn seemed to notice this. “Don’t bother with your magic, those ropes are specially made to nullify any magic, as I said, you two are not the first visitors I’ve had, and certainly not the first who could wield magic.” Dark Horn led his prisoners to a large stone building with bars on the windows, he went up to a large stone door with two skeleton guards who promptly opened the door for him. He went inside with the skeletons carrying his new prisoners behind him. He came up to a guard that was not a skeleton, but looked almost like a regular pony, he still had a body but some of it was missing chunks of flesh and his bones in those areas were visible, his coat (what was left of it) was a dark green color with a black mane and tail. He was also missing an eye and his eye socket was visible, just like the others, there was a red glowing dot in the socked. This guard also wore a helmet and a worried expression, he was an earth pony. Dark Horn addressed the guard. “Spear Hoof, you are to guard these two until preperations for the sacrificial ceremony is complete, understood.” The pony guard saluted in response. “Yes sir, understood sir.” He then opened one of the cells, the skeletons carrying Heart Wing and Rainbow Dash took them off the poles and threw them into the cell. The one carrying the bag set it on a table in the room for safe keeping. “Now don’t you two go anywhere, I’ll be back soon. These bars will keep you from pulling any magic escape attempts. HA HA HA HA!” Dark Horn teased them. “Come, let us prepare for the ceremony for the sacrifice, and OUR INVASION!” He then cheered to his minions who promptly cheered in glee back. He left the building to begin his dastardly plans. Rainbow quickly got up with anger on her face and ran up to the bars, she gripped them in her hooves and tried to shake them loose, of course, it didn’t work. Her face then fell to one of sorrow as she went back and sat next to Heart Wing. “This is all my fault, I should have listened to you, I’m sorry Heart Wing. You knew something was wrong and I didn’t listen.” Heart Wing looked into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. “This isn’t your fault, no pony could have known this was going to happen, what we need to do now is figure out a way out of here and stop that maniac before he gets this ceremony thing ready.” “But how, were trapped in here, not to mention he’s got an unstoppable army of skeletons and some weird powerful magic on his side.” “I know how he can be stopped.” Heart and Rainbow turned to the guard who was identified as Spear Hoof outside their cell. “Excuse me? what did you say?” Heart Wing asked. He looked around nervously before answering, he motioned them to come closer to him. They looked at each other first then back to the guard and moved closer. Spear Hoof whispered to them. “I know how you can stop him, it won’t be easy, but it may be your only chance to stop him once and for all.” “Hold on, how do we know we can trust you, and why are you telling us this?” Rainbow asked with suspicion. “Take a good look at me, I’m a freaking zombie, do you think I like being like this, this town used to be a great place, me and all the other ponies who lived here had peaceful lives, until he showed up. That deal he made turned all of us into the walking dead, we’ve been trapped here and forced to serve that creep minataur for centuries, were in constant torment because of him.” Spear Hoof seemed to get madder as he recalled the events that led to the town being cursed. “He may see immortality as a blessing, but it’s a curse for us. You, alicorn, are the only one who can save us.” Heart Wing and Rainbow Dash were very surprised by this revelation. “ME, why am I the only one who can save you?” “Because, only a true immortal, like an alicorn, can approach the crystal orb that is the source of all this misery, if any of us tries to approach it, we’ll get disintegrated and turned to a pile of dust, only to come back in a another part of the city away from the orb. Please, you’re our only hope, you heard what he plans to do once he can leave the city, you have to do this, or he’ll destroy your home.” Heart Wing started feeling nervous at all this news. “But, how am I supposed to destroy it, why me, I’m only just now learning magic, and for the longest time, I doubted I even was an alicorn. How am I supposed to stop a mad minataur from taking over the world with an undead army? I can’t do this, I just can’t!” Heart was now ready to start crying as so much weight was being thrusted on him, he was all of a sudden expected to stop a crazed minataur from ruling the world, face an army of undead creatures and remove a dark curse on a whole town. Rainbow Dash saw Heart Wing feeling distressed about the situation. She put a hoof on his shoulder as she spoke. “Hey, it’s ok Heart, you can do this, I’ll be right there with you no sweat. Come on, between the two of us, this will be a piece of cake.” Heart Wing looked up to Rainbow. “You think so? But what if I end up having to fight Dark Horn, I still haven’t perfected my aim with my magic bolts and my teleportation still needs a lot of work.” “Hey, that Dark Horn guy is WAY bigger than some rock, and you don’t need to be perfect with your teleporting, you can just use that magic shielding spell to protect yourself. Plus, you’ve got me to back you up.” Heart Wing seemed to perk up at Rainbow Dash’s words. “Thanks Dash, your right, no matter what, I still have to try, and with you to help, I know we can do this, but that still leaves the question as to how I’m supposed to destroy that crystal. Spear Hoof, would you mind filling us in since you’re so adamant about helping us.” Spear Hoof began his explanation. “It’s actually simple, all you have to do is get within a few inches of it and fire your strongest magic bolt you can at it, and it will shatter and break, thus ending this horrid curse and freeing all of us. It should be easy to sneak around since most of the skeleton soldiers will be busy with the preparations for the sacrificial ceremony. I’ll let you out and help you get to the altar at the center of the town where the crystal is.” Rainbow Dash gave a confident smile, as did Heart Wing. “All right, let’s do this, we’ll show that no good jerk not to mess with ponies from Equestria.” Cheered Rainbow. Spear Hoof smiled back, he got out the keys for the cell, opened the cell door and let the two out. “Follow me, we have to be quiet when we get outside.” Spear Hoof led the two to the door and quietly opened it, before going outside, he looked around for any loyal guards patrolling the streets. “The area is clear, let’s go.” The three walked out the door to begin their trek to the middle of town for the crystal orb to destroy it. “NOT SO FAST!” Luck was not on their side, Dark Horn was now standing before them. “Did you really think I wouldn’t think you would try something like this Spear Hoof, the only creature capable of breaking my spell comes to my kingdom and you think that I would just forget that you might try to help the creature to try and break it, just like how all the others would most likely try, I don’t think so.” “Please lord Dark Horn, I can explain!” Spear Hoof started pleading before Dark Horn. “Explain what, how you would betray your king, how you would help the creature that can help me finally achieve my goal escape and stop my plans, you have betrayed me Spear Hoof, and now you must suffer the consequences.” Dark horn raised his right hand, his gauntlet started glowing, Spear Hoof was lifted up in the air and was flung back down hard. “I will not tolerate traitors in my kingdom.” Dark Horn fired a bolt of magic at Spear Hoof, his body was then engulfed in flames as he rolled around screaming in agony. Heart Wing and Rainbow Dash watched in horror as their new friend burned and suffered. Rainbow had enough. “THAT’S ENOUGH, let him go you jerk!” Rainbow then took to the air and flew straight at Dark horn with all her might. Heart Wing tried to call out to her to make her stop. “DASH NO!” It was no good, she was already on an intercept course with Dark Horn. Dark Horn saw her flying at him, he quickly pointed his gauntlet at her and fired a black bolt of magic, it struck her square in the chest and sent her flying back to the ground and skied back to Heart Wing. “DASH, NO!” Heart Wing called out to her agin, he quickly rushed to her side and lifted her head up. “Dash, come on get up, I can’t do this without you!” She didn’t move. With all the commotion going on, he failed to notice that the other ponies who were suffering from the curse came out to see what was going on, they gathered just behind the skeleton guards that had formed a circle around Heart and Dark Horn. “Dash, please, don’t leave me, I need you, I can’t do this without you, I need your strength.” Heart’s eyes began to tear up over Rainbow’s body. “Please……please be ok, you have to, I need you, I……I….love you Dash, I should have said something before, but all this time we’ve spent together, I started getting these feelings for you. It was your sonic rainboom that helped me begin my path to freeing me from my curse, it was also your sonic rainboom that made that special connection that we share with our friends, it was you that helped me learn to fly. You volunteered to come with me to make sure I’d be safe, and it was you that has been helping me with my magic training. Please Rainbow Dash, please don’t leave me.” A tear fell from Heart’s eye onto Dash’s motionless body. “Oh please, you’re going to make me sick with all this mushy stuff.” Dark Horn interrupted Heart’s speech. Heart Wing looked up from Dash’s body as he glared at him with tears in his eyes. “YOU, you’re going to pay for this!” Heart Wing set Rainbow down on the ground gently, he got up and stood before Dark Horn. I won’t let you get away with hurting my friends, I will stop you!” “HAH, you don’t stand a chance against me, just consider yourself lucky I need you alive for now. But if you want a fight, then you’ll get one, you and me.” Dark Horn smirked. Neither of them noticed Spear Hoof as he got up after recovering from his torment, he made his way over to Rainbow Dash to check her. He put his ear near her mouth to see if she was still breathing. He sighed in relief when he heard her breath. She was hurt, but not dead. He figured it would be best to tell Heart Wing she was ok after the fight that was about to occur. Heart Wing didn’t waste a second, he made the first move and fired a continuous beam of magic at Dark Horn, Dark Horn just casually lifted his right hand and produced a shield in front of him to stop Heart’s attack. Heart’s beam was bigger than the bolts he shot before in his training. Dark Horn found himself actually having to strain as he tried to hold back Heart’s attack. Heart didn’t let up, he just kept firing his magic, soon, Dark Horn’s shield started to crack, then it just shattered to pieces and he was struck square in the chest by Heart’s attack. It sent him flying backwards and into a stone building. Upon impact, the building collapsed and buried Dark Horn in rubble, after a moment, he stood up and got out of the rubble with a very displeased look on his face. “You, you are going to pay for that. NO ONE HURTS DARK HORN!” In a fit of rage, he charged at Heart Wing. Heart Wing quickly got an idea, he readied his horn with magic and waited for Dark Horn to get close. “Just a little closer.” He said quietly to himself. After Dark Horn was about five feet away from him, he quickly jumped straight up using his wings for lift, Dark Horn passed right under him, he then quickly turned around just as he landed and fired another powerful magic bolt at Dark Horn, once again sending him flying through the air and crashing into another building. Heart Wing saw this as his chance to make his way to the center of the town where the crystal he needed to destroy was. He quickly took to the air and flew as fast as he could, he was soon being followed by the flying skeleton soldiers. He blasted them as he flew, his aim still wasn’t perfect as he missed more than he hit a few. They were starting to gain on him, he needed some way to lose them so he could do what he needed without interruptions. It was then that he got a big surprise, some of the Pegasus citizens came up to him, they too had chunks of flesh missing and some of them had one bony wing, it was a mystery how they were able to fly. “Alicorn, you go to the crystal, we’ll do what we can to hold off the soldiers!” One of them said. “We’ve been afraid of Dark Horn for too long, this is our one chance to free ourselves from his tyranny and find peace at last!” Another called out. With that, the pegasai all turned around and started to engage the airborne skeleton soldiers. Heart Wing looked back at them as the airiel battle of the undead began, he faced forward again and continued on his path. The alter he was searching for soon came into view, he saw the crystal he was supposed to destroy sitting on a pedestal under a stone roof held up by four stone pillars. “There it is, time to end this nightmare.” He came to a landing near the altar, the crystal was letting off a very ominous red glow, he heard all kinds of wails and moans coming from it. He then noticed he wasn’t alone, he saw more of the citizens gathered around waiting for him to do his thing and save them from their eternal torment. “HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” Heart Wing quickly turned around and saw Dark Horn approaching. “DO YOU REALLY THINK I’M JUST GOING TO LET YOU RUIN MY PLANS THAT EASILY, THINK AGAIN! I WILL BE THE ABSOLUTE RULER OF THE WORLD, AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME!” “Your wrong Dark Horn, he can stop you, and he won’t do it alone!” Dark Horn and Heart Wing saw a mass of the citizens of the cursed town gather, pegasai, earth ponies and unicorns all gathered around, the crowed stared angrily at Dark Horn. The one that spoke for the crowed stepped forward. “We have suffered under your rule for too long, we are not about to let you take away our one chance at salvation! We won’t let you hurt the alicorn!” Dark Horn glared at the crowed. “You pathetic creatures, do you honestly think you can stand up to me, I am all powerful! SOLDIERS TO ME!” As he called out, the ground shook with great force, skeleton ponies emerged from the ground around Dark Horn. The citizens didn’t back down, they too were immortal. They just had to do what they could to get to Dark Horn and let Heart Wing do what he needed. “CHARGE!” The skeletons charged at the crowed and some at Heart Wing. Some of the Pegasai landed in front of Heart Wing to intercept the soldiers, other pegasai flew at Dark Horn to try and take him down once and for all. While the battle ensued, Heart took this opportunity to make his way to the crystal. He ran up and got a few inches from it like he was instructed. “This is it, time to end this.” Heat focused his horn with as much magic as he could, he charged it up, once he felt he could give all he could, he fired the most powerful blast of magic he could muster at the orb. As he kept up his beam, the orb started to crack, red light started to shine through the cracks until eventually it burst, letting loose with a massive shockwave of white light. It flung Heart Wing back a few feet away from the altar. Dark Horn saw what had happened too late. The shock wave struck him, his body started to form cracks as well. “NO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” He screamed as he too burst into a million pieces. As the shockwave spread, every skeleton it touched turned to a pile of ash, as did the zombie citizens of the stone city. Heart Wing fluttered his eyes open, he slowly got up and looked around. “What, what happened?” “You did it, that’s what happened.” Heart Wing quickly searched for the source of the voice but found no one. “Hello, who’s there?” A ghostly figure appeared before him, followed by a mass of them. “Thank you Heart Wing, because of you we can finally rest in peace.” “Spear Hoof, is that you?” Heart Wing looked upon the ghostly apparition before him, it did indeed look like Spear Hoof, he looked whole, but also white and transparent. “Yes, it’s me, you saved all of us from that evil monster, we are now free. We can’t thank you enough.” “You’re welcome, I just wish it didn’t come at such a high price.” Heart looked down to the ground as he remembered what happened to Rainbow Dash. Spear Hoof smiled. “Heart Wing, she’s not dead, she was hit bad yes, but she was just knocked unconscious, you’d better get to her before she wakes up, it’s time for us to go now, take care my friend.” The ghosts all faded out with Spear’s goodbye. Heart Wing quickly got up and flew as fast as he could back to Rainbow Dash, he just had to go and make sure for himself that what he heard was true. He found her right where he left her, he quickly got to her and lifted her head. “Rainbow Dash, are you ok, wake up.” “Ooohhh, my head, what happened?” Rainbow groaned as she opened her eyes. “Rainbow Dash, you’re ok, oh thank Celestia you’re all right!” Heart Wing then embraced Rainbow in a tight hug. “Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?” “When Dark Horn hit you with that magic blast, I thought you were dead. I can’t tell you how happy I am you’re ok.” “Hey, no worries, I knew you could do it.” Heart Wing then broke the embrace. “Wait, how did you know I did it? You were unconscious.” “Before I woke up, Spear Hoof came to me and told me what happened. Sounds like you didn’t need me after all.” “Don’t you ever say that Rainbow Dash, I’m always going to need you, I……I mean, you are my friend after all right, heh heh.” Heart Wing chuckled nervously as he was about to say what he did earlier, he wasn’t sure how Dash would react if he told her that he loved her. “So Heart, is it true?” “Is what true?” “All that stuff you said earlier when you thought I was dead.”