"Alright Twilight, call it."
Our magician stood, hooves braced, head low, horn alight. At my words the glow faded and she raised her head, blinking blearily.
"Yeah. Something's in there. I'm not sure it's useful, but Rainbow's survey and my scans agree; this is the only significant source of magic."
"Right, then. I stand by my decision. We're going in." I turned and spoke into my comm. "Rainbow, any luck on the upper stories?"
"Nope, it's all locked down. Looks like the ground floor is our only real option."
"Dang. Well, we did plan for this. Start the distractions."
"Aye aye, bombs away!" A clink and a swish came through the mic as Rainbow primed and dropped one of her grenades, carefully aiming for the empty areas we'd agreed on. A loud CRUMP sounded a moment later, echoing oddly through my comm.
"The windigoes noticed," she said. "Several are moving in. Any luck with the golems?"
"Nope." My heart sank slightly as the statues near the doorway stayed frozen. "Give the backup plan a shot." Rainbow, working quickly, zipped towards the rear wall of the castle. Another grenade was dropped, now on the actual building. Another CRUMP sounded. This time, the golems twitched slightly. "That got a reaction," I reported. "Go for a guard." Rainbow had been given most of our grenades, but I'd promised myself I wouldn't let her make more than three runs, even with the disguise spell. One more swish, one more blast. This time the golems jumped, and started moving clockwise around the castle. "You got one?"
"Yeah!" Rainbow exulted. "Direct hit! Take that, chumps!"
"Sweet, they're outta our way. Now, get back."
"But if I wait till they bunch up, I can-"
"Back here. Now." I hardened my voice, trying to channel Captain Armor. Maybe I was overly cautious, but I wanted our group together as much as possible. I wasn't willing to test Sombra's forces more than necessary, and didn't share Rainbow's thoughtless certainty of being safe in the air.
"Right, right." Moments later, she arrived with a swish.
I led our group across the square, keeping low but focusing on speed over stealth. I grabbed the door handle and twisted roughly. I gasped in shock and nearly tumbled through when it opened easily. My friends slipped in and I slammed it behind us, the crash echoing unnervingly in the crystalline hall.
"I really didn't expect that to open," Twilight gasped, as she slowly let the magic drain from her horn. She'd planned to open the door one way or another.
"Hey, don't jinx us now," Rainbow smirked, before glancing around and whistling. "Whoah, this place is pretty sweet!" She flitted away, examining the room. I silently nodded agreement. The inside of the castle didn't disappoint. It wasn't anything like the castles Celestia and Luna had built, but it was breathtaking all the same.
Instead of soaring, airy geometries, we found ourselves nestled into intricate crystal perfection. It didn't have the sheer breathtaking scale of Canterlot Castle, or the ruined grandeur of the Ever Free City's palace, but it was dazzling in its own way, layer upon layer of decorative art flowing lushly over every spare inch of wall, ceiling, and even floor.
I trailed my fingers along a mosaic, an abstract pattern which seemed to repeat but was broken and twisted in such a subtle manner as to draw and dazzle the eye. It flowed smoothly into the tiling of the floor, each individual piece picked and placed with such care the surface under my feet seemed to ripple with light.
"This is like being inside a snowflake," Twilight murmured.
"Yeah. Like..." I groped for words, unable to better describe the splendor. "Like M.C. Escher decorated Superman's Fortress of Solitude."
"Come on, guys!" Rainbow's voice came clearly through the comm. "It's even better further in! Let's see what we can find!"
"Rainbow's calling," I relayed. "We need to move on. Let's go before she gets too far ahead." Twilight nodded, and we set off into the interior of the castle.
"This is all starting to blend together for me." I sat, my back against a sculpted crystal pillar. "How's the map coming? Thoughts on how much we have left to explore?" The map floated over towards me and I plucked it from the air. My eyes skated across the cryptic scribblings. I tried to force concentration, but found myself staring blankly through the page. I groaned. We'd been carefully working our way through the castle, mapping and trying to note anything interesting. Unfortunately, the intricate interior made everything extremely confusing. I felt like I'd been stumbling through a carnival fun-house for the past hour.
I set the map down and slipped to the floor, curling into a ball. "I want to take a nap. Let me know if anything interesting happens."
"Wes?" Rainbow's voice sounded in my ear. I swallowed a moan of protest, and sat back up.
"Yeah?"
"Uh...not sure if you want to tell Twilight, but I found a library. And, wow, what a library."
I forced myself to my feet, and stoically set off on her trail. I'd made her stay nearby on her scouting; she couldn't be far. Twilight collected the map and wordlessly accompanied me.
"We're on our way."
*GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASP!*
Twilight's reaction to the library was pretty much exactly what Rainbow had expected. She babbled something about preparing a report on Sombra, and dived in. I decided to let her take the lead in this; she knew what we needed, and research was part of her specialty. Rainbow and I stood for a second, watching our bibliophile friend zip from place to place, excitedly pulling book after book off the shelves, skimming for a second, and then zooming on to another one.
"Take a nap, Rainbow." I said, barely fighting back a yawn myself. "She's going to be here for a while, and I'll keep watch. If we're lucky, she'll find something useful." Rainbow nodded, and curled up in the comfiest seat she could find. I walked a slow circuit of the room, making sure that all the doors were closed and locked, and stationed myself where I could observe Twilight's progress.
First, the bookshelves were thoroughly scanned, in a seemingly random pattern. After they had been sampled, Twilight took a small break, sipped some water, ate a ration bar, and buckled down for some serious study. The library had a few tables. She moved two or three of them together and started constructing a wall of floating books around her, her quill already scribbling across page after page of parchment. She was just starting to get into the swing of things when Rainbow yawned, stretched, shook herself, and took over watch.
I shoved a few of the seats together to accommodate my height, and drifted off for a few hours of well-earned rest.
When I woke, Twilight was snoring quietly in a chair across the room and Rainbow was gliding slow laps by the ceiling, counting quietly on each circuit.
"Dash?"
"Oh, you're up! Good, I was getting realllllly bored. Are we moving on?"
"Um, not sure." I stood, and walked over to where Twilight had left her notes. "How much sleep has she had?"
"Dunno. She didn't last too much longer after you conked out. She mumbled something about 'exhausted trails of inquiry', and went to sleep."
"Did she say anything about what she discovered?"
"She found a map." Rainbow flitted behind me and pointed over my shoulder at a buried parchment. I twitched, controlled my instinct to violently eject her from my personal space, and carefully unearthed it, nearly causing a noteslide. "Also, she had some ideas about what sort of magic Sombra might be using." I took a seat and carefully started to organize the note pile. A minute later, I was intrigued. Five minutes, and I was fascinated.
She had done an excellent job of researching and synthesizing a report on Sombra and the windigos.
According to her research, Sombra had secretly worked with the windigoes long before his banishment. His magic being based around emotions, same as the windigoes, had pointed her in that direction already. However, the journals and reports she'd found suggested there was more to it. Sombra's experiments on corrupting the magic of the Kingdom Crystals all but confirmed his duplicitous nature, even before he seized power. His magic was highly illegal, but nopony had taken the warning signs seriously until it was too late. He'd orchestrated a coup using his forbidden magic, holding an artifact called the Crystal Heart hostage in order to force compliance. I circled that, determined to ask Twilight about it later. What followed was a protracted war with nearly every nation nearby, a war he'd been shockingly close to winning before Celestia and Luna struck him with the Elements.
After summarizing Sombra's rise and fall, Twilight delved into conjecture and calculation on how he returned and what he was now. My eyebrows climbed higher and higher as I read her conclusions, but all of her logic was sound. It even made a twisted sort of sense.
Sombra had become part windigo.
In order to safeguard his life and extend his magical power, he was transforming himself to be more and more like his mindless wraiths. I was blown away by the intricacy of the spells Twilight postulated. She had more question marks and dummy variables in her equations than real numbers, but what she did have demonstrated it might actually be doable, and if so, that it would look something like what we'd seen from Sombra. It would also make him extremely difficult to actually hurt, although in his weakened state he could definitely be inconvenienced. He would simply get stronger with time, though, and if he was smart, he wouldn't repeat his mistakes.
Bothered by the idea that we might be in even more trouble than I'd imagined, I double-checked her figures as best I could, grasping fiercely at the magical loan-knowledge that slipped randomly in and out of my mind. I was a little surprised to find a section of multivariate calculus right smack-dab in the middle, worked as cleanly in modern Earth decimal. I checked that as well, hoping that I remembered enough from my college classes to do an accurate job of it. It seemed OK, although I would have needed a calculator to properly work the math she was doing in her head.
I sighed when I reached the end. If this was correct, then.... it didn't change much. We already knew Sombra was bad news. We'd started to realize that he was formidable intellectually as well as physically after we'd examined The Edge. Although more evidence of his power was discouraging, it was actually a good thing; with this, we better understood our opponent. I rubbed my eyes, and looked to the future. Maybe in our next skirmish we could actually devise a plan.
I finished reading and was about to try finding more about the Crystal Heart when Twilight yawned, noticed the clean state of her workspace, and shrieked quietly.
"What did you do to my notes?" she asked, voice full of horror.
"I...organized them?" I tried, weakly. The narrowing of her eyebrows told me this was not a satisfactory answer. "Um...I can put them back?" I tried again. Her countenance darkened further. "I, uh, checked your work..." I tried one last time. She seemed slightly puzzled at that, but her distress faded a little. Her sleep-bleared befuddlement sparked a mischievous idea in my mind. "You got...FULL MARKS!" I exclaimed, forcing as much cheer into my voice as I could. Still half-asleep she smiled widely and bounced off the chair.
"Yaaaaaaay!" She squealed, bounding around the room. I smirked stealthily. Too easy.
"I had a question, though, about the Crystal Heart that you mentioned. Any more ideas on what that is, or where it is? Maybe it's our key to getting out of here?"
"Well, you see-" She was instantly by my side, spreading out books and talking a mile a minute. I kicked my brain back into gear, and started filtering her words for the useful stuff. Soon enough, I had a handle on what was going on.
"So, what you're saying..." I stopped her with a raised hand. "Is the Crystal Heart must be nearby the castle, since this was the center of his power. It's probably what you picked up on your scope. And that, is right about-" I jabbed a finger into the map "-here."
"Yep!"
I stood, tapping her sheaf of notes into as neat a package as I could, and started tucking them into my pack.
"Right. Let's get out of here! Rainbow-" I was stopped with a look. Huge velvety purple eyes pinned me to the spot. A wibble of her lip, and tears threatened to spill.
"But... books!" Twilight quavered.
"Gah! Um..." I wracked my brain. I should have considered this before I let her go hog-wild. "Ten pounds. For each of us. That's all we can take. Pick fast!" I withdrew quickly, leaving her to frantically weigh her options, sometimes literally, and waved Rainbow over. "We have an objective, Rainbow." I traced our route on the map. "Start scouting towards the throne room. Remember, don't go more than two or three doors, and mark your path carefully. First sign of trouble, head back. Keep me updated." I tapped my comm. She nodded; we'd been using the same scouting pattern before. "Twilight will have a few books for you to carry when you return."
"Aye aye." Rainbow took off in a blur. Our rest must have really been good for her. "All clear!" she called, re-appearing shortly. If I hadn't already been accustomed to it, her speed would have surprised me.
"Twilight?" I called.
"Uuuu..Just a minute...urgh....um...huuu..."
"Pick!" I called heartlessly. She squirmed, eyes flickering across the piles. Finally she grit her teeth, grabbed a few books for each of us, and hovered them over. Rainbow and I tucked them into our packs.
"Let's get out of here," she grit through clenched teeth. She clomped towards the door, obviously frustrated to leave so much knowledge behind.
"Hey, Twilight, don't take it so hard," Rainbow called. "We'll be coming back later to free the Crystal Ponies anyways, right?" Twilight noticeably perked up at that, but we still made our way forwards in silence.
The throne room was probably grander than the rest of the palace. However, my mind was so inured to the splendors of the Crystal Empire by now that my jaded eyes skated unseeing over the frescoes and friezes, murals and mosaics adorning the walls and halls. I was slightly surprised to find a large square pit directly before the throne, with a downwards stairway winding along the walls. After a short deliberation, we headed down.
"Why did he build this here?" Rainbow wondered aloud. "Not much of a hiding place."
"Normally, you wouldn't be able to see it." Twilight easily fell into 'lecture' mode. "This castle is created from empathically reactive crystal. See the black streaks running through it? That's Sombra's negative emotions. He could manipulate the crystal into nearly any shape with that. If he wanted this closed, he could just withdraw his control of the crystal and it would revert to the original form."
"Huh." Rainbow nodded. "I'm going to pretend you said that he hid this when he didn't need it."
"That's exactly what I...urgh!"
Rainbow winked at me. I smiled back.
"Ok, enough of this." Rainbow flipped herself over the railing with a wing. "I'm taking the low road, slowpokes." She tipped her nose down, and dropped towards the bottom of the stairwell like a stone.
"How are you doing, Twilight? Holding up OK?"
"Yeah, I think I'll be fine. This has been both exciting and terrifying, but that nap helped a lot. I think we'll be OK...even if we can't escape, the others will move heaven and earth to recover us."
"That's true. Magic still the same?"
She grimaced.
"Yeah, unfortunately. That nap helped, but as I said, I overstressed myself. I'm going to need some serious rest to get back up to speed."
"Eeeeek!" A shriek floated up the stairwell.
Both of us shot to the railing, looking straight down into the darkness. We looked at each other.
"Rainbow!" we exclaimed together, and shot down the stairs as fast as we could.
Turns out, that in a race down a flight of steps, a human can nearly outpace a pony. Turning corners is a bit more difficult with twice the number of feet. I edged ahead of Twilight, rushing as much as I could but still careful with my footsteps. I nearly tripped once, and slowed down as much as I dared. A twisted or broken ankle was the last thing any of us needed right now. Still, Rainbow.
I reached the bottom with a clatter and a stumble, nearly falling as I made one last turn onto flat ground. I found Rainbow curled into a ball in the center of the room. I skidded to a stop near her, checking if she was OK while scanning the room for threats.
"Don't look..." She quavered something unintelligible. The room seemed clear; I dropped to one knee, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"What was that?" I asked quietly. I thought she would repeat what she was saying. Instead, she tackle-hugged me. I staggered and fell on my back with a grunt of surprise.
"Don't look at the door!" she mumbled into my chest, all six limbs tightening.
"Twilight!" I called, as she reached the bottom of the stairs. "Don't look at the door! Rainbow, are you going to be OK?"
I think I've used up my week's quota of hugs, I thought. I hope this calms her down. I'd hate to use next-weeks hugs up pointlessly.
"I..." She was so quiet, I barely heard her. "I'm scared."
At that, I hugged her back. If she'd admit that, she really was shook up. Soon enough she stopped shaking, and pried herself off me.
"Going to be all right?"
"Yeah, I think so." She shook herself and fluttered her wings for a second, folding them carefully.
"What happened?"
"I got to the bottom, and I saw that." She pointed a hoof, but carefully didn't look at the door frame carved into the stone. A a dark, purple-black crystal capped it. My eyes skated across it, but I didn't let them linger. "It...draws you. But if you look in, all it shows is nightmares."
"A door to your worst fear..." Twilight muttered. Her eyes were tightly shut, but her magic probed the door. "So, how do we get through?"
I shrugged helplessly, and turned back to Rainbow. She seemed better, but her pupils still looked smaller than normal, and there was a certain tension to the set of her wings I didn't like. Whatever she saw had badly shaken her, and she wasn't over it, no matter what she said.
"Bah!" Rainbow snorted. "Sometimes we need egghead solutions, but sometimes we just need to BREAK THINGS!" She flipped into the air with a flick of her wings, and spun to face away from the door. Twilight's eyes popped open, and I started to call her back, but she was just too fast. She launched a kick at the gem crowning the sculpture faster than either of us could react.
"Rainbow!" we chorused. The door flickered, squirmed, and shattered, black empty sky showing through the frame.
"Huh," Twilight said. "I guess... it sometimes does work?"
*WOOP* *WOOP* *WOO-*
"Aaaaand, that's an alarm." I ducked out the door and glanced around. "Something very odd is going on here. This leads to the surface of the central spire! But no choice; we need to move forward, and fast. Come on!" I barely spared a glance to make sure they were following before I darted up the stair.
It was a long, long, staircase. I expected Rainbow to take to the air, but she stuck with us. I guess she didn't want to rush into trouble again. I slowed down when I felt my heartbeat accelerate, setting a pace that would get me to the top without leaving me gasping.
"Wes!" Twilight called. "We're being followed!"
"Horsefeathers!" I swore. "Golems?"
"Sounds like it."
I stopped, and flattened myself against the wall.
"Go ahead!" I motioned them past me. "I'll stop them if they catch up."
"Wes, I think I can get us all up there!" Twilight was charging her horn as she spoke. "But I'll need to use a spell to do it. You OK with that?" I bit my lip for a second. I'd been saving Twilight's strength for a pinch, but I guess that if anything qualified, this did.
"Go for it."
"Hold on, everypony!" she yelled. I grabbed her mane and Rainbow threw a hoof over her shoulder, just as her power flared across us and the whole world flipped upside down.
Literally.
I stumbled, and only my grip on my comrades kept me from reeling over the edge of the tower. Twilight, having expected it, took the transition the best. She landed on all four feet, and started sliding down the underside of the stair, carefully leaning just enough to corner smoothly. Her military-issue steel shoes threw sparks from the smooth stone. Rainbow yelled in surprise and what maybe delight, spreading her wings wide to glide behind. I barely managed to keep up, running frantically to not end up underhoof.Thankfuly, we quickly reached the top.
"Stopit-stopit-stop-STOP!" Twilight yelled, frantically working to dispel the charm as we hit the smooth lip circling the top of the tower. The world abruptly righted itself and I gasped, gulping down air in an attempt to settle my stomach.
"That was intense," I wheezed. "But it bought us time. I hope we found something worthwhile." I circled the tower once more, reaching the top of the staircase. My eyes slowly widened as they took in what we had found.
This must be the Crystal Heart.
It was enclosed in a glittering cage. The gem-stuff of the tower grew upwards, the dark streaks branching throughout the whole castle continuing out of the floor, enmeshing the Heart in a net of glistening black. It looked like cancerous veins, or the branches of a fire-blackened tree. The heart-shape was clearly visible inside. Its bright blue, like the unending sky, shone bravely past its prison.
"This stuff..." I walked across the tower, and flicked the crystal with a fingernail. "This is like the stuff that was covering the ponies. I wonder..." My mind flashed back across everything we'd seen today, and I gasped. Could it be? "Twilight, I think-"
"-it IS the same!" She finished for me. "This isn't just a cage; those ponies aren't just imprisoned! This...this whole city is some sort of diabolical machine! This siphons emotions from the captives, and shuttles it through some sort of underground network...Look! You can even see it pulse!" She pointed to where the darkness of the crystal seemed to be oozing along a branch. "Sombra is using the Crystal Heart as a doorway! This whole pocket dimension is lynch-pinned on this artifact! But that shouldn't be possible... the Crystal Heart should be anathema to this sort of magic! It was created by Clover in order to help combat the windigos. How did he do this?"
"Reflections!" I spat, thinking back to his dimensional magic. "Look, this whole place is unusual. Remember what you were saying about it not following geometry laws? I think he took a piece of space, something hypothetically there and sorta-" I groped for words, unsure of how to convey what I was getting at, "-inverted it! Those field integrals you were working, I don't think this space is really real! OW!" I'd been reaching for her knowledge as I said that. Now I grabbed my head as our connection deepened, thoughts leaking through, ideas firing faster than I could process. I looked over, and to my dismay Twilight's eyes had gone completely white, the frantic synthesis in her mind moving towards a conclusion. "Rainbow, watch out! Things are going to get crazy!"
"Oh, trust me! I've seen that look before!"
I held my head and tried to concentrate on the outside world as Twilight began her spell, peeling back the enmeshing crystal around the Heart. Whatever conclusion she reached, apparently it was time for action. She absently moved until her nose nearly brushed the black glass and gently floated into the air.
"Twilight!" I yelled, trying to drown the noise in my head. "Can you get us out?"
"Yeah! Um...I think so!" Her voice sounded only in my head.
"OK, give it all you got! Rainbow, she's got a door for us coming up! We need to hold the line!" I dashed back to the stairwell, not a moment too soon. The golems reached the top just as I did. I spun my war hammer, using my higher position and the element of surprise to completely shatter the head of the first. It collapsed into dust, tripping the next. I took vicious advantage, swooping in to belt it as hard as I could. It shattered satisfyingly, but refused to break. I took a step back, willing to give a bit of ground for another clean stroke, but as I adjusted Rainbow zipped past me and body-checked it off the stairwell.
"BOOOYAH! Take that!"
"Rainbow! What-" I started to berate her. Jumping into combat was foolish, but not even warning me was suicidal! I cut off as another golem, rounding the corner at a tireless gallop, dashed directly at her unguarded side.
"Oh, no you don't!" I threw caution to the wind and slide-tackled it, something I avoided even on flat ground. I winced as my sneakers slammed into its ankles, but I managed to push it over the edge. I gasped and flinched, barely managing to grab the lip of the stair, somehow swinging far back in enough to land on the next spiral.
My feet tingled, the fear of nearly falling to my death crawling over my skin. I took a deep, shaky breath, planning to chew Rainbow out, but she hit me like a ton of feathers. Soft and fluffy, but still enough to destabilize. I staggered, and let my body go limp, trusting to her grip. I got another flash of color, felt the world twirl, and we were on top of the tower again.
"-stepped in-" I thought I heard her mumble something against my shoulder as she set me down. I almost questioned her, but the remorse on her face stopped me. She pushed me away, and focused on the stairway again. "You take the center. I'll hit them from the sides."
"Ok." I flipped my hammer into my grasp by its wrist strap, and stationed myself on the top step. She flicked my combat knife out of her pack, and stood where heads would be at stabbing level. The first golem surprised us by falling out of the air, nearly atop Twilight. Rainbow tackled it and I looked over the edge.
The golems on the ground must have decided that if they could fall that far, they could fly that far. Several of them were in formation; as I watched, they hoisted one onto their shoulders and heaved. I boggled, unbelieving, as the crystalline figure soared upwards.
"In the air, Rainbow! Get your whips!" I finally called. She heaved the golem she'd been struggling with off the edge, and glanced over. Her eyes widened in shock, and she reared back as another golem zipped by, just missing her. She reached into her pack, exchanging the knife out for her aerial-combat chains. A moment's work attached them to her hooves, and she was in the air.
I breathed easier as I saw her work. She would whip a chain around a flying golem, approaching from a blind spot so they couldn't even try avoidance, and yank it off course. I relaxed as each successive missile was harmlessly re-directed. She even took a minute to yank the ones off the stairs.
I glanced back at Twilight. Merely thinking about her made the roar of magical formula return. I winced as glyphs zipped past my vision, imaginary sigils and symbols scorching past my inner eye so fast I felt dizzy. Is she really thinking that fast? I carefully plumbed the connection between us, dipping my metaphorical toes into the raging current of thought that was tearing through her formidable brain.
I caught a glimpse of what she was working on and gasped, yanking my attention back as firmly and fiercely as I could before the incredible inertia of her thought process pulled me in. Her project was fascinating, but I couldn't spare the concentration to help her now. Still, she was doing OK; the portal should go live any moment.
Twilight was tunneling between two layers of reality. Using the same pathways Sombra had established for leeching the Crystal Empire, but using the force of her own magic, she was piercing through the spell used to stabilize this entire bubble of space-time and doing it smoothly enough to not collapse the whole thing. I pushed thoughts away as arcs of ancient numbers tried to expand in my vision. I couldn't afford this distraction.
I turned back out, looking for Rainbow. I bit my lip when I saw her; she was flying with consummate skill, drawing graceful arcs around her foes, all pretense of stealth abandoned in favor of crushing speed. She successfully diverted attack after attack, but she was no longer alone.
A noisome cloud of wraiths followed her, a shrieking conglomeration of shadows, each windigo making a noise like fingernails on the blackboard of my soul. She dodged and wove brilliantly, avoiding them even as they split and flowed, dividing time and again in attempts to catch her. I glanced over my shoulder. Twilight had better be quick; this couldn't last long. I canvassed the tower top again, looking for another threat to deal with, but came up cold. I fidgeted nervously for a second, almost deciding to help Twilight; but by the time I turned back towards her, I saw the portal spark, take, and spin outwards.
It expanded like a vortex forming on the bottom of a drain. The skin of reality puckered inwards and twisted inside out, leaving a hole. Late evening sunlight shone through. Tension I didn't even know I'd been carrying melted off my back as I saw a way out appear.
"RAINBOW!" I pitched my voice just right, cutting across the racket around her. She didn't even look towards me, but flipped a wing in acknowledgment. I steadied myself and dove through, carefully not touching the edges. Twilight floated after a moment later, the white already fading from her eyes. We waited for one tense moment, until Rainbow followed. The windigoes behind her shrieked even louder, but seemed afraid of the sun; they turned back from the portal. I glanced nervously at Twilight, wondering why the portal was still open. She was panting, her head sagging nearly to the ground, ears and tail limp from exhaustion. I heard a few golems thump onto the top of the tower.
"Wes..." She forced the words out between gasps. "Wes, you need to close it! I can't work it right now!"
"What? How can-"
The knowledge hit me like a ton of bricks. The backlash of her magic overload was wearing off, but our expanded connection still persisted enough for her to foist the entirety of her considerations onto me. She had been surprised and fascinated by the magic crystals under my skin, in the stains on my hand. It had been forgotten in the argument about the windigos, but she'd been worrying at the problem ever since. Her magic crystallizing under my skin meant I wasn't as anti-magical as she'd originally thought. The scanning pulses that hurt me so much showed the magic that had coursed up my arm might have burned power pathways into my soul. If so, using the correct magical focus, I could manipulate magic. I might even cast a spell, leaning on borrowed power, if she was right.
If.
I reached into my knife-sheath, and drew out the last keepsake of my first Equestrian friend; Splinter's horn. I probed the connection between us. Twilight's reserves were drained to the dregs.
"Hold on, Twilight! This is going to hurt you a LOT more than it hurts me!" I well remembered the pain I'd felt when she'd burnt part of my soul to get us away from Sombra last time. It hadn't been pleasant. If this worked, she'd be sore later. One of the golems carefully pushed a leg through the portal, carefully clear of the edges.
At least she would be in one piece later.
I reached deep into the narrowing connection between us, gathering as much magic as I could, and the most sparing smidgen of her life energy I thought I could get away with. Then I marshaled my thoughts, and carefully crafted the spell necessary to disrupt the tunnel.
Twilight had done most of the hard work when she created the thing. Destroying a high-energy construct was always miles easier than creating one. Witness, a train-wreck. My lips twitched at the image of a train hitting Sombra. Focus! I reminded myself.
Most of what I did, I could rely on Twilight's transferred reflexes for. She'd trained herself in magic manipulation long enough that basic spellcraft shone clear in my mind. I needed to strong-arm a few things, and one or two pieces took serious concentration, but it all fell into place faster than I expected. I made a few rough calculations, waving the horn like a wand. It started to glow, a sickly orange aura twisted through with streaks of purple life-force. Holding the magic back was difficult; it felt like blood was pooling in my arm. The very skin of my hand felt tight and swollen, like a balloon. I half expected my fingers to grow pudgy and stiff.
Finally, the spell was complete. I gathered together everything needed to power it and pushed it all into the horn. I stepped forward, gesturing grandiosely, and with one final wave unleashed every scrap of power. Twilight screamed somewhere in the background, nearly drowned out by the rush of energy in my head.
<"Abara-Cadabara!"> I yelled at the top of my lungs.
The collapse was surprisingly slow, a controlled crumble. I couldn’t risk rupturing the inner dimension. My orange and lavender aura circled the portal, wreaths and clouds of light eroding the passage. The twist in space tightened, reversing the ripple we’d escaped through. The golems in the gap seemed to panic for a second as it closed in. I grimaced fiercely as, with crunching, shattering sounds, they were twisted in half. Parts of one landed on the ground by us. It turned to dust and I breathed a sigh of relief, finally taking the time to examine our surroundings.
Snow.
I looked down. I'd hardly noticed, but we were standing in ankle-deep snow, surrounded by trackless plains. Mountains rose in the distance, but there was nothing for miles.
This could be bad.
I looked to where Rainbow was holding Twilight up. The purple unicorn was swallowing convulsively, and the pegasus was trying to comfort her. I tried to banish my sudden feeling of guilt, but to no avail. It had been necessary, yes; but hurting a friend like that still left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I sighed, and started to slip Splinter's horn, My wand, I thought, back into my sheath when one last surprise was unleashed on us.
With a bang, a flash, and a twist of fire, a light-orange unicorn appeared. A streak of red ran through a flamboyant yellow mane, and a yin-yang sun gleamed from her flank. She swept our entire group with searching blue eyes, which narrowed accusingly on the relic in my hand.
"What have you done to my brother?" Her voice cut across the sudden silence like a whip.
Connections fired in my brain. Where I'd seen that color orange before. Why Luna had known Splinter. A few scattered stories, told in near-death delirium.
"Sunset Shimmer?" I barely managed, before my brain went blank from shock.