Chapter 35 – The fall of the damned
As the room comes back to Violet the young light purple mare falls to the ground as she just barely catches herself with her front hooves. (Fight it Violet...Once you do, our minds will combine and my intentions will come clear). The hard echoing ring to her head causes the mare's front legs to go limp as she collapses to the ground, the rush of unknown magic that now swirls to her body brings an unwelcomed heat as she curled herself to the cool crystal tile in a fetal position.
Her body shakes and her mind yells in pain as her horn glows a bright green trying to expel Sombra's echo, (Good...Let my thoughts roll through you).
The shock to the absent weight in the young stallion's mind has faded as he now jumps to the light purple mare that has fallen to the floor, "Violet...i'm so sorry..." The stallion's eyes start to tear up a little as he holds his hoof to the mare's shaking side, but the stallion's emotions don't take over his voice as he speaks up, "Violet..."
As Sparky's words come to her ears the ringing in Violet's head and the rush of heat starts to come down, and the mare slowly starts to bring herself up as she pants hard. (Violet, the throne room...I promise you all will become clear once I have done what needs to be done).
The young pegasus quickly holds his hoof to the mare as he steadies her out, "A-are you ok?"
Violet's eyes are clear and her body slowly starts to stop it's shake as Sombra's influence starts to come over her, (I promise you Violet, you will not be lied to, we are going to save Equestria).
The mare takes a deep breath as she starts to trot out the door, Sparky follows after the mare as he speaks up, "Violet?"
(Listen to me, go to the throne room...If this Shinning does care for my Queen then he will not be at disposal, once you are in the throne room I will guide you).
Violet's trot starts to gain in speed as Sparky follows after her, but the two ponies don't even get halfway down the hall before their stopped by a boyish voice, "Oh there you are Violet..." Spike holds a smile to the two ponies as he walks down the hall towards them, in his claws he holds a few colorful crystals that he continues to pop into his mouth as he chews, "S-so where you two off to?"
No answer comes from the two ponies as they both ignore him and trot pass him, however the lack of conversation turns the little dragon's eyes as he starts to follow after them, "Violet?"
Sparky speaks up as he turns his head, "W-were just going to look around."
A bright smile comes over Spike as he cocks his head and holds his following of the two ponies, "Oh? Well where are you two going, incase Twilight gets here."
(Ah...Tell the dragon to bring the Princess to the throne room.)
To the voice Violet turns around as she gives a faked smile and brings her hooves up. Spike and Sparky both blink to the motions as the little dragon speaks up, "You want to show Celestia and Luna that spell? B-but when did you get the time to practice that spell?"
Violet waves her hoof to the comment as she motions for Spike to go. Spike blinks to the motion as he shrugs, "A-alright, I saw Celestia and Luna come in a little while ago. I think they went to Cadence's room to check on her, i'll go see if they can come. Oh were?"
"The throne room." Sparky speaks up as he smile, "That's were I think V-Violet wants to show them."
Violet nod to the comment as her trot comes back up.
Again the little purple dragon just watches as the two ponies leave him alone, "Ok...You can count on me." He sighs a little as he plops another crystal into his mouth as he starts bringing his walk back up, "Ya i'm the number one family assistant."
- - -
Violet's trot through the castle has brought her and Sparky to the entrance of the closed throne room. However the journey seems to have met an early end as the familiar crystal stallion they first meet comes up towards them, "Excuse me but can I help you?"
To the stallion's words Violet brings her hooves up as she comes up with an excuse.
The crystal pony blinks to the hoofing as he speaks up, "Y-yes, I suppose you can wait in here for Princess Celestia and Luna if they are coming."
The stallion moves to the throne room doors as he opens on one of them, "Please make sure you keep the throne room closed though, it's customary for them only to be open if the king or queen is in the throne.
Violet gives a smiling nod as she and Sparky quickly trot into the room that overlooks the crystal city that sits underneath it.
However as the large elegant door closes the echo to Violet's head rings to her, (Forgive me Violet, but our time is short).
Without a moment of hesitation Violet's horn sparks up with a dark green bubble glow as the mare's eyes turn to a dark greenish tint. The spell that builds to her mind comes back to start up fast as a bolt of magic is shot to the floor of the throne room, as her magic bunches to the room Violet quickly swings her head to the back of the door as a bolt comes to strike against the door leaving it in a shining green color. (This spell can only be broken by a powerful unicorn, but we should still hope that my Queen has the same ideas about the safety of the Crystal Heart when not on display under the castle.)
As Sombra's echo ends the floor of the throne room where the bolt of magic hit starts to what looks like dissolve the crystal floor as a dark stone staircase comes into view. (Make haste) Violet's green eyes start to blink back to their normal soft blue coloring as she looks over what the flooring has relived.
Sparky and Violet both move towards the top of the spiraling down staircase as they hold their own astonishment and slight confusion. However they push it aside as they begin to start down the stairs.
The area around them is cold and as the young ponies hooves make quick work of the stairs the light from the castle's windows starts to become a little more absent.
The quick spiral of the stairs and the rapid pace at which the young ponies are traveling has made their eyes slightly round the room bringing a slight nauseous feeling.
However after a few strenuous moments later the end of the staircase comes under their hooves as they now look around the circular area that surrounds them. As they stand in the underbelly of the castle the dark stairs start to clang as they begin to fold into the walls. Violet and Sparky both look up to the now distant hole as a slight bit of claustrophobia sets in. (Ah...I see they have reset my spell).
Violet turns her eyes to the simple wood looking door as Sparky speaks up, "What do we do?" The fact that the usually sheepish stallion's voice only has a slight tone difference to it flick's Violet's ear but the young mare doesn't react to it as Sombra’s magic start to run to her coat.
The strong heat of his magic is unsettling and Violet clenches her eyes tightly as she tries to force the spell out of her horn, [i(The room itself is not a room at all, it's a magically created area. Passing through it and then back out of it will take you back to the castle's throne room...My spell will allow us to change the room too a more simple design. Prepare yourself though, this is not normal magic you will feel again).
Violet's horn sparks up in a green and blackish bubble of magic like before, but this time the chime of the magic that runs around the room has a organic chime to it as the heavy spell begins to weigh itself to the young mare's horn.
However as the mare grinds her teeth she jerks her head forward as the bolt slams against the wooden door. The loosening of her magic leaves the mare trembling as she pants hard only to suck in the damp and hard to swallow thick air of the castle's hidden chamber.
Sparky holds his eyes to the mare as he stands beside her, but Sombra's voice is unrelenting as it chimes back to Violet's pounding mind, (The door Violet, open it).
Violet slowly starts to move her shaky trot towards the door as she starts to open the door, unlike the dark hidden world around her behind the door a bright and whitish crystal room awaits her, the area around her looks to be made of crystals that extend all to the same height above the room. Sparky follows after his friend as he looks around the room he's stepping into, (There Violet...Take it.)
Both Violet and Sparky stop freeze in their hooves as they stare to a bright blue heart shaped crystal that rest in the middle of the room on a solid white stone pillar. There's a low shimmer of what looks like rainbow coloring around the shaped crystal.
The door behind the two ponies slowly starts to close as they continue just to stare mesmerized to the stone, (The heart!)
Violet's trot slowly starts to come up as she bites to her bottom lip a little, her right hoof comes up to the crystal as she holds it just in front of the stone. However she takes it to her hoof as the rainbow shimmer around the low chiming stone ends and the stone just glows silently.
(Good...Now open the door that has closed, and you will be teleported back to the throne room).
Violet's horn sparks up in a low glow as the heart starts to float next to her in a faint magical hold, although despite the Heart's crystally appearance it's not heavy and takes almost no effort to lift. The light purple mare turns herself to the door and the stallion that followed after her as she swallows hard and begins to trot towards the door. Her mind still battles with what she's doing...But Sombra’s hold over her has pushed her thoughts to nothing more than a low whisper.
Violet's hoof comes to the wooden door as she pulls it open.
However the dark stoned and cold atmosphere of the castle's underbelly doesn't brush against her coat as she steps out of the bright Heart's chamber.
Sparky follows behind her as the two young ponies just stare to the top of a hidden staircase they just have been magically teleported too.
"Violet?"
Their eyes don't stay to the stone for long as the low confused boyish voice in front of them quickly snaps their heads up. In front of the newly opened entrance stands Spike, Shining and Cadence and the two Princesses, however it's the few guard ponies that stand behind them that bring the reality of what Violet has just stolen, and for the moment Sombra's control of the young mare breaks as her fear comes to pour to her now rapid heart.
The tall white princess holds an emotionless face as her eyes like the dark mare beside her just focus on the bright bluish stone that Violet still holds in her low magical glow.
"Violet...What are you doing?" Shining takes a step forward as he shifts his eyes between the staircase gap between him and the light purple mare, "W-why do you have the Crystal Heart?"
Violet's hooves as the mare's blue eyes flicker to a deep greenish red, the purple wisp that Sombra’s eyes usually have comes to whip in the air a little from Violet's eyes as his voice rings from Violet's motionless mouth, "Time is short, and words bear little to actions..."
As the ringing words bounce around the room Violet's horn sparks up in deep green glow as her figure is coated in her magic. Before one of the wide eye ponies could speak up the light purple mare's figure is teleported from the room with a slight pop.
The loud pop of Violet's magic comes to ring in the entrance of the castle just before the throne room, the few armored ponies around her are stunned for a moment as they just stare to the newly teleported mare. Celestia and Luna are the first to turn around to Violet as the light purple mare's eyes set to the exit of the castle.
No time is wasted though as Violet's hooves send her into a quick dash, Celestia and Luna both gallop after the mare as Shining's voice sparks up to the light orange pegasus left in the room, "What happened!" The white stallion takes up a stance as his horn comes to Sparky's coat locking his wings to his back.
Sparky gives a pained groan to the magic as he clenches his teeth.
To the stallion's pained face Cadence brings her hoof up to her husband's side, "Shinning, there has to be a reason for what Violet did..."
Shining squints his eyes to the stallion he has in his hold as he breaks his hold over him and instead brings his gallop up to follow after Violet. His voice comes to the few guard ponies still standing in the other room as he quickly passes by them, "Don't let this peagsus out of your sight."
As Shining's hooves leave the room Cadence follows after him, but her weak gallop is more of a brisk trot.
Spike just holds his claws to his head as he bites to his bottom lip not knowing what to do or how to handle what's going on as the few guard ponies come into the room and speak up, "Don't move peg-..."
Before their words can end Sparky's wings have flared out as he tries to bring the same mind set he had when Sombra did the few spells through the stallion's wings. A faint orangey static like electricity comes under the young pegasus's wings as he jumps himself to the air, the amateur spell to his wings comes to stick against the first armored pony that took an extra hoof inside the room.
The shocking magic causes the armored crystal stallion's eyes to widen but the actual effects of Sparky's amateur pegasus spell were really nothing...However the confusion to the pegasus's glowing wings did freeze the guard ponies as he quickens his flight.
He's able to dart just above them as he uses the high castle's halls to his advantage, the young stallion's breaths are hard and rushed but he still shouts to the ponies as they either try to grab at him or just barely miss their bolts of magic, "Sorry!!"
His adrenalin filled flaps make quick work as he dashes through the castle bringing him outside with Spike and the few guard ponies quick to follow after him.
However as Sparky brings himself outside his wing's are bound and he falls to the ground, just barely able to bring his hooves up to not fall flat on his face.
Sparky's eyes turn to the white stallion who has just ceased his flight path, Shining's voice turns to the guard ponies as he speaks up to one of the crystal unicorns, "Don't let him go." His voice ends as his horn's magic comes undone and the other stallion's magic comes over Sparky's wings.
Shining's attention is once again turned to the light purple mare that has been cornered in the under area of the Crystal Empire.
The magical influence of Sombra has stopped leaving Violet's mind to deal with the situation she now stands in.
To her left the Crystal Heart floats next to her with a low chime from the green magic that holds it. In front of her stands Shining, Cadence and now all around her gather armored crystal ponies awaiting orders from either of the two Princesses that hold their eyes to Violet. The dark Princess's eyes and expression show her confusion and worry as she looks over the young mare she and everypony else has cornered.
Celestia's stare though sends chills to Violet's figure, as the tall mare's cold emotionless face holds to the Crystal Heart in the young mare's hold.
Violet's breathing is heavy as she just turns her head around the area just looking for an escape, her mind screams to just give up the crystal heart but her magic is no longer in her control as her horn continues to hold it.
Cadence holds her hoof up as she holds a sweet tone, "Violet...Sweetie, we just want the crystal heart back."
Violet's hooves don't comes up and her horn's magic doesn't falter as she just takes a step back.
"Violet Sparkle, are you well?" Luna's words hold their confusion as she takes a step forward.
However as the dark mare's few steps forwards comes to an end a loud almost crazed laugh comes over the area as a dark orange bubble of magic pops around where Violet and Luna stand.
Everypony even Celestia takes a step back as the loud chime of magic bounces and rings to their ears.
"Really? The Heart is taken and you all just stand around the thief?" The laughy voice turns everyponies heads as they look to the misshapen creature that floats above the magical bubble of orange magic.
"Discord."
The name turns Discord's head as he waves to Celestia, "Yes, and hello to you...I see you've gotten a little bigger. Perhaps you should take a break from those cakes hmm?"
Celestia's horn sparks up in a deep gold glow as she holds a sharp eye to his words.
"No no no, Celestia..." Discord snaps his clawed hand as he smiles to her, the gold crown pops to his mismatched horned head as he just smiles down to the white mare.
To the new sigh of the crown Celestia's magic fades as her face turns to a shocked stare.
Discord rolls his paw to Celestia as he speaks up, "Oh don't be so sad, here let's make this feel a little more dramatic." A orange glow comes to Discord's claw and lion pawed hands as he starts to build his magic, but his spell doesn't come from a motion of a snap as the crown atop his head starts to ring.
The sound of lighting cracking overhead booms as the bright sky above the castle starts to take on a cloud look, "Ah much better...Everypony know's clouds are scary...You know Celestia, you shouldn't leave the Elements of Harmony with such a simple pon-.."
A bolt of purple magic is sent towards Discord but it only strikes the crystal castle's under belly as Discord's figure is teleported to the side in a quick flash of orange.
Shining's horn holds it's glow as his stunned stare from the sight of Discord is broken from his words, "What did you do with my siste-..." The deep stallion's voice is cut off as a bolt of orange magic slams against him shredding him in a vial of Discord's magic.
"Shining!" Cadence’s voice comes as she stares to where Shinings magical shrouded figure stands.
The crystal ponies hold their eyes to dumbfounded to do anything as the veil of magic comes away from Shining's body, the once large and deepened voice stallion has been changed into a crying baby eyed foal.
A few screams of terror ring from the crystal pony onlookers as some ponies start to gallop away to afraid to stay. The unicorn stallion that bound Sparky's wings losses his ability to continue the spell as he looks to the small white foal.
"Ha ha ha!" Discord's eyes flicker a little black as he cocks his head, "Awww...Look now it's cute when he interrupts those more important than himself!"
Cadence scoops Shining into her grasp as she holds her eyes to Discord's continued voice, "Well ta-ta Celestia...I believe somepony has something for me." With a snap of his clawed finger Discord's figure is flashed away.
No words come from Spike, Sparky or the few crystal ponies as Candace's stressed out almost crying tone comes to Celestia, "W-we have to do something!"
Celestia doesn't speak up as she just stares to the orange bubble that now stand under the Crystal Castle.
End of chapter 35