Act Three Chapter Seven - Incursion
“Everything ready, Lumine?”
“Yes, Princess,” the silver stallion answered. “Checked, double checked, triple checked, and Checked again.”
The princess smiled, “That’s a lot of checking.”
“Yeah, then he checked it all again when I told him I was tired of checking,” laughed Peridot.
“What about you? You ready, Benny?”
“Of course,” Benevolentia answered. “I’m a princess, it’s my job.”
From beyond the great curtain separating them from the high balcony, Peridot could hear the gathered crowd stirring.
“Good luck, my dear,” Prince Dutiful said before leaning in and kissing his wife on the cheek. “Your ponies are waiting.”
The princess nodded and strode through the curtain to the balcony beyond, followed a moment later by the prince and then Lumine and Peridot. Peridot squinted and blinked as the mid day sun rained down on her, warming her pleasantly but temporarily blinding her. When the dazzle faded from her eyes she almost wished it hadn’t, except for the view.
Stretched out below them lay the entirety of the Crystal Empire, glittering in the sunlight as if the stars had chosen to descend from the sky and settle in this place. The streets below thronged with crystal ponies, each as brilliant as the city itself with the sun shining on their crystalline manes and pearlescent coats. If she looked for them, Peridot could make out the red pillars of cut gemstone dotting the city scape from the palace to the very fringes of the furthest neighborhoods, the results of the months of their labor. The crowd below rang with cheers as Princess Benevolentia ascended the small dais at the end of the balcony, Peridot’s head swam with the mere thought of coming that close to the edge.
Benevolentia paused for a moment, simply smiling down at her subjects, allowing them the chance to cheer before raising a hoof. The crowd, eager to hear what she had to say, quickly quieted.
“My dear ponies of the Crystal Empire,” the princess’s voice rang out clear and true even without magical aid. “Through the past years we as a people have made great strides in transforming this great city into the beacon of peace and harmony that it was meant to be. Our fields have produced bountiful harvests, enough to fill the pantries of every pony in the empire to bursting. Our schools have grown and our teachers are the envy of the world. And, through peaceful trade and exchange of art, culture, and ideas we have grown ever closer friends with our cousins to the south.
“Everything we have built and everything we’ve been able to do stand testament to the soul of the Empire and now, through the efforts of my dear old friend Lumine and my newest and most welcome friend Peridot, we can finally spread the light of the Empire, the Light of the Crystal Heart to the world beyond.
“Today, I am pleased to announce the completion of the great network of magical foci so many of you have labored to build. And so I ask of you, crystal ponies of the Empire, let us reach into ourselves and allow the light with in you to shine upon the Chrystal Heart to bring forth it’s radiance to shine upon the world, let us christen this great labor of love. I present to you, my dear friends, and to the world: The Heart Prism.”
A chorus of cheers sounded from below, as the Empire celebrated both the completion of nigh a year of preparation and the dawning of a new day for the Chrystal Ponies. One by one, each pony bent a knee and reached into themselves as they did they began to show with light, a light that came as much from within them as from the heart. Peridot joined her friends as they bowed their selves and gave the harmony within them back to the Heart. She wasn’t sure if she was actually able to help but she sincerely hoped that she was.
As the crystal ponies shined brighter the ground beneath them began to soak up the light, drawing it into itself, directing the energy into the foci. Peridot smiled, impregnating the roads with conduit material had been her idea and proved much simpler than having to dig trenches to lay cables of it through the empire.
With a flash, the light of harmony flooding the streets flared and drew in toward the palace. It reached the heart and set it blazing with energy as it spun before releasing a brilliant wave of prismatic light… that died out and faded away before reaching even the first ring of foci.
“Um, Lumine?” the princess asked over her shoulder.
Lumine snatched a gem like object out of his pack and scrutinized it, “It’s… it’s not enough! I don’t understand, we have every single pony in the Empire powering the Heart but it’s not enough to prime the foci!”
“What can we do?” Peridot asked, voice pitched with worry.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “We need more energy or everything was for nothing.”
The princess smile slyly at her husband, “I might have an idea.”
Lumine and Peridot looked at her, questioning. The prince nodded once, understanding.
“Watch this,” Benevolentia said to her friends before approaching the edge of the dais again. Down below, ponies milled and muttered in confusion.
“Oh, my dear ponies of the Empire, by the way, I’m pregnant.”
For a moment, the whole of the Empire was so quiet that Peridot swore she could hear crickets chirping in the distance. Then, as realization dawned on the ponies below, the whole of the Empire erupted into celebration.
The light of harmony blazed through the streets like the sun before it crashed inward, rebounded through the Heart and shot outward through the Empire. The Heart Prism, bathed in energy, filled itself to the brim and sent a beam of pure Light shining upward through the Heart that seemed to strike the very sky as it sounded out a shock wave of rainbow colored light that banished the sparse cloud cover and filled the sky with streaming auroras that stretched from horizon to horizon, warming hearts even as far away as Equestria and its most distant of Tribal allies.
Peridot looked down at herself and giggled wildly as she saw herself, again, transformed. Her heart swelling, she reached out her hooves and managed to draw the Princess, Lumine, and Prince Dutiful into a single embrace.
“You know what this calls for?” she asked, despite the fact that her friends could hardly breathe, let alone speak. “A PARTY!!!”
An hour later, a disappointed Peridot sat on her rump with her forehooves crossed, “I thought I said ‘Party’, whoever heard of a celebratory picnic.”
Benevolentia rolled her eyes and slid a plate topped with a hefty slice of cake across the red and white blanket in Peridot’s direction, “Oh hush you. We have cake, that makes it a party.”
Peridot’s eyes brightened as she eyed the treat. “Only if it’s Chef Cookie’s cake.”
“Only the best for my friends,” the princess answered as she cut another piece. “Hey Lumine, you want a piece?” she called out.
A short distance away from where Benevolentia, Peridot, and Dutiful sat, Lumine was fiddling with one of his tools as he examined the softly glowing pillar of red crystal that was one of the cities many Prism foci. The friends had decided to hold their picnic outside at the outer limits of the city to enjoy the peace and quiet away from the palace but Lumine still couldn’t be torn from his work.
“Yes, Princess, whatever you say…” he answered over his shoulder without looking.
Prince Dutiful rolled his eyes in response as Benevolentia and Peridot whispered back and forth.
“Hey Lumine, do you want to join us or would you rather have it out there?” Peridot chimed in a sing song tone.
“Huh? Oh um.. here would be fine I suppose,” he answered, oblivious to his peril. “No need to go back on my account.” He returned to his work examining the complex paths of magical energy flowing through the crystalline makeup of the pillar. It took him completely by surprise when a large, well frosted piece of cake struck him squarely in the back of his head.
“What the...?!” he exclaimed. “Cake?” he said examining the pink and white frosting dripping from his mane. “Really? Honestly, who throws cake?” He spun to find Benevolentia and Peridot casually surveying their surroundings, whistling to themselves in a perfect caricature of nonchalance, even Dutiful avoided his gaze. Lumine’s eyes narrowed as he saw the faintest of smiles tug at the corner of Peridot’s mouth.
“Why you little…” he muttered as remains of the cake lifted from his coat and collected in the air before him, glowing purple with his magic. He grinned mischievously “Return fire!” he declared as he sent the mashed mass of cake and frosting flying back to his attackers… and managing to strike Prince Dutiful squarely in the face. The prince glared at Lumine as he rose slowly to his hooves before scooping up his own slice and initiating what may have been the greatest cake war the Empire had ever seen.
The nearby guard ponies, already under orders to stay back out of sight in the hopes of at least maintaining the illusion that the group of friends was alone, hid all the better to avoid the occasional errant chunk of flying dessert, and so it was quite a surprise when a guard defied orders and boldly approached the picnic/battle field.
“Excuse me, but what was that flash?” he asked bluntly.
“Hmm, flash?” the princess asked, turning to face him. When she noticed the stallion’s guard armor she drew herself to her normal royal bearing, despite the crumbs clinging to her mane. “Guard, where you not ordered to give us privacy? What is the reason for the interruption?”
“What was that wonderful flash?” he said blankly. “The flash, only an hour ago.”
The Prince advanced on the guard, bristling at his impertinence. “You will answer your sovereign, guard. Why do you intrude?” Despite the prince’s imposing glare the guard didn’t flinch.
“Do you know? What was that flash?” he asked the Dutiful plainly.
“Does he mean the Heart flare?” Lumine asked. “Weren’t you there?”
“Heart flare…” the stallion closed his eyes, as if savoring the words. “So much… harmony. Much… much love…” he spoke slowly, as if tasting his words. “Delicious… more…”
The guard took a step forward, advancing on the group.
“Guards!” bellowed Dutiful. “Place this stallion under arrest for insubordination. Guards!”
No guard answered, and the strange stallion continued to approach.
“Peridot! Get the Princess back to the Palace,” the Dutiful ordered. “Lumine, find the guards, we have a mad stallion on our hooves.”
The prince leapt forward and pounced on the deranged guard, pinning him on his back. “Go now!”
“Princess…” the stallion hissed. “You have much… love for her. I, we, will feed well here.”
“Feed? Snap out of it soldier!” the prince yelled. “What in the Empire is wrong with you?”
“Wha… what IS wrong with him?” Peridot asked, staring at the stallion pinned to his back by the prince’s strength.
She looked him over carefully with the eye of a trained healer. The pony was… wrong. His coat, though the pure dark lavender imparted by his armor’s enchantment lacked the shimmer possessed by every pony in the empire, Peridot included courtesy of the recent Heart flare. His eyes stared blankly through the prince as if he was staring through him. Furthermore, the stallion moved his lips oddly as he spoke, as if he were concealing his teeth.
“Wrong?” he asked. “Nothing is wrong. Everything is right. We have long searched for a feeding ground so rich with love and now, we have found it.”
“What in the world?” Prince Dutiful mumbled. “Peridot, have you ever seen anything like this before?” He turned to look back at Peridot over his shoulder as he spoke, only to find himself looking at Lumine behind her.
While Peridot was absorbed in observing the pinned stallion, Lumine stared over her head. The normally silver stallion had paled to white and an expression of horror had spread across his face, distorting his features. Dutiful followed his gaze and looked upward and found himself eyeing the most bizarre creatures he had ever seen. A dozen of them hovered overhead, each a black carapaced, insectile mockery of a pony.
“Yes… we will feed…” an inequine voice rasped.
The prince looked back down, ready to shake some answers out of the madpony. For the first time in his life, the Prince recoiled in fear as green wave of magical energy washed over the stallion he held been holding down, revealing the stallion for what he was, one of those things overhead.
It crawled to its hooves, “The queen...will be pleased…”
Peridot felt a cry of alarm issue from her throat of it’s own accord as the blank eyes of the creatures bore into her as they began to advance. The lead creature, formally disguised as a guard, flared the ugly stump of a horn on its head and sent a burst of foul green energy at her hooves. Lumine swiftly jerked her out of the way with his magic, sending her sprawling onto her backside. She watched in terrible fascination as the thing’s magic coalesced into a small pile of hard green resin where she had been standing a moment ago.
“Guards! Guards! To me!” Prince Dutiful cried. “You two, get Benevolentia OUT of here NOW!”
“Dutiful, the guards!” the Princess cried, pointing to a large boulder a dozen yard away. Sticking out from behind it was a grey foreleg donned in bright silver armor, glued firmly down by the creatures’ green resin.
“No!” the Prince cried in concern for the guard ponies, all of which he had trained himself and knew well. He looked, for a moment, ready to leap to the stallions aid before glancing back at his terrified wife. “Everypony get out of here NOW!” he had just enough time to roar before the beasts pounced.
Dutiful reacted just in time to spin and buck one of the creatures in the chest, sending it flying and the Princess shot skyward as another plowed into the ground where she had been standing a moment before. Peridot gripped the silver tea kettle they brought for the picnic in her magic, swinging it back and forth between her and her attackers before another sprang from behind a bush and pinned her to the ground. Peridot screamed as the monster bared its fangs in a fell grin.
The creature chittered its wings in excitement as it lit its horn and lowered it to Peridot’s face.
She closed her eyes, not wanting to see when suddenly a brilliant purple flash shined through her clenched eyelids. She opened one eye cautiously and looked around to see what happened. Her attacker now lay, smoking, on his back, at the end of a yards long trench to her left.
“How the…” Peridot’s let the question trail off as she looked to the right and saw her savior standing beside the Foci.
Lumine stood panting, his eyes closed, and one hoof against the surface of the red gemstone. The remaining creatures ceased their attack and turned to the new threat.
“Lumine, RUN!” cried the princess, as she saw the monsters streak toward the silver unicorn, intent to preventing any further interruptions to their meal.
Lumine rasped, “Shield your eyes…”
He light it horn, enveloping it in the familiar glow of his aura. Peridot, ignoring his advice, watched in amazement as the evanescent purple magic flowed from his horn along his neck and through his outstretch foreleg to the Prism foci where the purple light of his magic shone along the arcane lines of force etched into its surface
Just as the creatures were upon him, Lumine’s eyes snapped open revealing orbits of pure white light. Foci shined like the heart itself and a brilliant beam of purple light lanced outward from its peak and struck the lead creature sending him flying backward. Another blast struck the next behind it and another struck one the the creatures advancing along the ground. By the time the foci ceased it’s onslaught, every one of the insectile invaders was either twitching on the ground or thrown far out of sight.
“Lumine!” Peridot cried as she rushed to her friend’s side. Lumine had collapsed to the ground. His coat and mane were scorched at the ends and the top of horn was marred by a smear of soot.
“Don’t move,” Peridot cautioned as she swept her horn over his body.
“Is he okay?” Benevolentia asked.
“He’s alive,” Peridot answered hoisting him up onto her back with her magic. “We need to get him back to the palace. I’ve never seen anypony burn out so badly. I don’t know what he was thinking tapping into the Prism like that.”
“I think he was trying to save our lives, Peridot,” the princess said, brushing a strand of his singed mane from his face.
“I know…” said Peridot, looking back at her downed friend. “I just…” she sighed. “We need to get him back. I can’t help him here.”
“You two go, I need to see after the guards,” Prince Dutiful commanded. “Tell the captain to send aid.”
Peridot nodded and she and Benevolentia raced along the crystal-gilt road to the palace, Lumine bouncing limply on her back.
Lumine had just begun to moan in his sleep as they arrived at the palace. The guards galloped to their side upon seeing their condition. A detachment sped out to the gate to assist their prince while a few stayed to help get Lumine safely to the palace clinic.
“Shh… it’s okay,” Benevolentia cooed while Peridot held an ear to Lumine’s chest to check his heart. “Whatever you did worked. You saved our lives, Loony.”
“‘Loony’ is right!” Peridot spat, straightening herself to look the Princess in the eye while pointing an accusing hoof at Lumine’s prone form. “The amount of magical energy stored in those foci is tremendous! It’s a miracle he’s only a toasted.”
“Peridot…” Benevolentia started shaking her head.
“Don’t ‘Peridot’ me, Benny!” Peridot shouted at the princess, much to the shock of the guards and clinic medical staff. “You’re not a unicorn, you don’t get it! It’s dangerous for a pony to burn their self out and the more powerful that unicorn is the more damaging it can be.” Peridot was furious now, “The amount of magical energy he let course through his body… I… I don’t think HE know’s how much the energy Foci hold.” she shook her head angrily. “Lumine shouldn’t be in the palace clinic right now because there shouldn’t even BE a Lumine right now.”
Peridot’s voice caught and her lips tightened and tears flooded her eyes. She threw her hooves over to friend’s damaged body and held him tight. Benevolentia soon joined her, gently holding Lumine’s head as she wrapped her wings around the three of them.
A pitifully weak voice whispered, “Four point three seven giga-thaums…”
Peridot and Benevolentia pulled back in surprise and saw Lumine slowly open his eyes a little ways. The stallion let out a string of half hearted coughs.
“The foci…. can channel... up to… four point three seven giga-thaums,” he wheezed. He looked up at Peridot’s tear streaked face and smiled, “I would.. never do something... so stupid unless… I knew… just how stupid… it was…”
“Lumine!” Peridot and Benevolentia cried in unison and lunged forward in relief to wrap their friend in the tightest hug they could muster.
“Gah!” Lumine cried. “Please… enough.. internal damage… for one day…”