Chapter 13
*Fred rubs his forehead with his free hand.*
“Being in a situation where another wants to kill you? You can’t even hope to prepare for that in the slightest. That’s how I’m sure we all felt when that cultist brandished the knife at the Princess. We all froze in horror at the sight. Why do these ponies even want to kill Celestia anyway? Some sort of cult, with those robes.
“The door into the throne room was ridiculous to break open, with that unicorn holding it. This’ll be a great thing to get to the bottom of. Murderous cultists, strange gems and lots of nonsensical magic... Damn these laws of physics.”
Everypony and Fred Walsh were frozen in fear and shock. Princess Celestia, the ruler of the land of Equestria, was right in front of them, with a knife to her throat. The unicorn holding it there was obscured by blood-red robes and clearly wasn’t looking for anything besides the assassination of the Princess.
“I really didn’t expect quite the defence, but no matter,” the remaining unicorn said, whom Fred believed he was a cultist. “We will destroy the sun tyrant’s regime, and replace her with our true lord and master, Potens Daemonium!”
‘So he wants to kill the princess and replace her with a demon.’ Fred looked around. Celestia’s mane, normally flowing in the colours of Aurora Borealis, was dead still. Even her magic was being drained. He checked for the cultists, and could only see three from his position on the ground at the back of the throne room: The unicorn holding the Princess hostage, the earth pony he fought earlier, and an unconscious unicorn previously holding the door. What intrigued Fred was that they all wore some kind of jewelry. The earth pony cultist wore a silver-looking amulet with an amethyst in the centre. It could be seen hanging out of the robe. The remaining unicorn wore a horn ring, also with an amethyst. The doorstop, instead of an amethyst on his horn ring, had what appeared to be a glowing emerald.
‘So the one holding the door was insanely powerful, the guards and Celestia have no magic, but the amethyst wearing ones do have it… Is he stealing it? That’d make sense for how powerful he was.’ Fred contemplated a few things as the cultist continued his speech.
“While I admire your determination, I’m afraid you have failed.”
Fred moved toward the unconscious unicorn, being careful to avoid the sight of the remaining cultist. He reached the pony and quickly looked around at him. His horn was cracked and his face was scrunched in pain. The emerald was still glowing. ‘If this is blocking magic, removing it might do something.’
“Goodbye.” The cultist moved the blade toward Celestia’s throat.
Fred gripped the ring and yanked it off of the unconscious cultist’s horn, despite the remaining heat on it. Right as he removed the ring, he heard a boom, accompanied by a flash of white light. He turned back to see the cultist flying across the room, who then smacked onto the ground and slid for a few metres. The guards immediately bounded to apprehend him. The knife embedded itself up in the ceiling with a metallic TWANG.
As the guards rushed around him, Fred stood up from the floor, clutching the emerald ring in his left hand. Within moments, the final cultist had been caught, and the others were being collected. Fred inspected the emerald ring as he walked to the princess, who was sitting down, traumatised at what she had witnessed fist-hoof. The ring was no longer glowing
She took notice of the jewellery as Fred commented, “I don’t think this is an ordinary emerald.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I think this was what blocked everypony’s magic in the area. I pulled it off one of the cultists the moment that last one was flung across the room.”
“My subjects have never had a reason to kill me before. It goes against the very values Equestria was founded upon!”
Fred remembered the Hearth’s Warming episode, but thought it best not to act upon it.
The princess continued, “I’m getting to the bottom of this. Take the ring to the lab. I’ll get it analysed there,” she stated with a mix of determination and anger.
“The other cultists had amethysts. I’d say they’re significant too, considering they could use magic,” Fred inputted.
“We’ll collect those as well.”
The two finished their conversation and headed toward Science Lab 3 to discover what the gems really were.