//------------------------------// // Chapter 69 // Story: The Darkness in our Souls // by Black Light //------------------------------// Chapter 69 I was sitting on the balcony of the spire looking out over the festival. It had been close to an hour since its start and everypony seemed to be having a good time. Rainbow on the other hoof told me she was going to try and convince Fluttershy to joust with her, Like that was fair. I told her it was a bad idea and tried to convince her out of it, she said she’d think about it. I smiled contently at the mass of ponies wandering around enjoying themselves. Princess Cadence and Armor were up on the balcony with me, Armor was here because we feared that the crystals on his horn may affect the crystal ponies in a negative way, and Cadence stayed because she wasn’t going to leave her husband behind. As for me… Well I’m just antisocial. A sudden commotion from behind me grabbed my attention as well as Armor’s and Cadence’s. We looked back and saw the Rainbow had burst through the door with Twilight close behind. “We have a problem. Like a really big problem, monumental-” Rainbow continued ranting and I slowly walked over to her. “Ginormous, gargantu-” I put my hoof over her mouth stopping her. “That’s enough big words from you for today.” I said sarcastically, then I turned to Twilight. “So what is this ‘big’ problem?” I asked. Probably out of crystal berries or corn or something. Twilight took a deep breath and began to speak at a pace that would make Pinkie proud “Thecrystalheartisactuallyasacredrelicthattheyusetokeepevilawayanditusesthecrystalponieshappinesstopowerit,withouttherealheartthisfestivalispointlessandweregoingtobedealingwithaverydangerousandangryking.Ididn’tknowitwasanactualrelicsoIjustcarvedamakeshiftoutasparecrystal,butwehavenoideawheretherealheartisandIdon’tknowwhattodo,Idon’tknowhowIdidn’tknowthis,nowit’sallmyfault.” She finished taking a breath. Cadence and Armor stood next to me confused since they had no idea what Twilight had just spouted. I on the other hoof understood everything, since I had found Pinkie’s cupcakes I had at least one daily and had grown accustom to her Pinkie-speak. Healthy? No, delicious? Yes. My eyes widened as I heard what she said. ‘This is a lot worse than running out of crystal berries.’ “Okay I’m going to go fetch the book and look for answers, you stay here calm down, explain in a voice Cadence and Armor can understand and don’t panic.” I told her rushing off down the hall to the meeting room the girls had planned the festival in. As I was rushing I passed Skies, it took her a moment to recover from her surprise, but she soon caught up to me. “What’s going on, I saw Twilight and Rainbow rush in here. Is something happening?” she asked me. “Oh you know, bad stuff, chaos, evil villains. The usual.” I told her. “Ah…need any help?” She asked further. I took a moment to think. “Head back to the throne room, tell Rainbow and Twilight to keep the fair going. We need the ponies happy so that it will give us the wanted result, now if you’ll excuse me I need to get a book, if you want to know more ask Twilight.” I told her, she nodded and started to head towards the balcony. I got to the meeting room pretty quickly and retrieved the book, when I got back to the throne room Twilight had just finished her explanation to the others. Their faces looked grim. As I walked in Twilight grabbed the book from me and started to flip through it. She stopped suddenly at the very end of the book. “Find something?” I asked. “More like what I didn’t find.” She answered flipping the book around. “There’s a page missing from the book.” “…And you noticed this just now how?” I asked. ‘I mean I know it’s not really the time to be asking this but come on, it’s not even like it’s a clean tear, it’s not exactly inconspicuous.’ “I don’t know, I must of just got so caught up in the fair I didn’t pay too much attention.” She said. I sighed. “Oh well, what’s done is done we can’t change that. We’ll just have to keep moving forward.” I told them all. “Rainbow, Skies. Get outside and keep that festival going.” They nodded and flew out the balcony to tell the others what was happening. “Cadence, Armor stay here with me. No telling if I may be needed so you may need to take over the spell, I don’t know if either of us have enough magic to completely recreate the spell so we can’t allow it to drop.” They gave nods of agreement. “Twilight you’re on scavenger hunt duty, find that heart.” I said. She nodded and started to run off towards the door. “…Wait!” I called out suddenly as a thought came to me. She slid to a halt in front of the door. “I have an idea.” I told her motioning her to follow me. She did so and I walked over next to the giant pit in the floor. Twilight followed me and managed to float over the giant opening. I began walking towards her and she didn’t know what was happening until I started to go down the stairs and eventually was completely under the floor from her perspective. She was spinning around looking confused above me. I walked u a few steps until my head was above the floor. “So yeah, there’s a giant pit here in Sombra castle.” I told her. “And you didn’t mention this before why?!” She asked slightly irritated. “I didn’t think it was important!” I responded. Suddenly I heard the soft foot fall of clawed feet down the hallway, Spike turned the corner and rushed into the room. “Twilight I heard what was happening I came to-WHY IS SHADOWMERE’S HEAD ON THE GROUND?!” He suddenly shouted in surprise. “Oh hi Spike.” I responded lifting a hoof above floor level and waving to him. “Yeah, there’s a giant pit here.” “…And you didn’t mention this before why?” He asked me. “Why does everypony keep asking me that?! I just thought it wasn’t important at the time.” I answered slightly agitated. “Well now it is important. The only problem is how am I going to use it?” She asked. I looked around the room and noticed something on top of the throne. “Hey Twilight.” I said getting her attention. “Does that look familiar?” I asked. She followed my gaze and saw the crystal sitting on top of the throne. It looked eerily like the one Celestia had shown us in Canterlot. “Don’t suppose you can go all dark magically?” I asked sarcastically remembering what Celestia had done in the throne room, now that I know she was trying to show us the difference between good and bad empire the demonstration made a lot more sense. And that dark magic she used. I mean seriously, she must have some really bottled up emotions up in her head. Twilight just gave me a small smirk. ‘wait she seriously isn’t going to-’ I could feel the dark magic building up even before her horn started to glow. It looks like everypony has at least some dark side to them. He horn began to glow violet and then shifted into an eerie black as a beam shot out and hit the crystal. Nothing changed for me, but from the looks Twilight and Spike had they were looking deep into the pit. “Yeah, when I said giant pit. I meant GIANT pit.” I told them. Twilight just shook her head and started walking down the stairs going by me as I went back up to the top. “Spike stay up here, no telling what’s down.” She told him. He gave a reluctant answer, but it was obvious he didn’t want to be down there. “How far down does it go?” He asked. “Let’s find out.” I said as I lifted my hoof and kicked off a chip of the crystal from the wall and watched as it fell. We all learned in waiting for it to hit bottom. I swear a full minute passed before I heard the clink of the crystal. “…Seriously what is with this guy and stairs?!” I asked. Twilight just gave a nervous gulp and started down the stairs. Her horn lit with a small light of magic, after a short while that was all I could see of her. Then something strange happen. I heard a sharp gasp of surprise from Twilight echo up the pit and then the little light started to bounce around in a circle. ‘…she slipped didn’t she?’ Eventually I saw the light stop. “Hey Twilight you okay?!” I called down. “…Yes.” I heard meekly from the pit. I turned to look at Spike. “You should probably go with her.” I told him. He gave a short nod and a nervous gulp, and started down the stairs. “Alright Twilight, Spike’s coming to help you, and I don’t want to hear you complain about how you have to do this on your own! Now take things nice and slow, there’ no real need to rush!” I told her. “But there’s no telling when the shield could give out and Sombra could get in!” She called back. “Don’t worry Twilight as long as the crystal ponies are still sca…Oh buck.” ‘Yeah, I was going to tell you, but I thought it would be fun to wait and see how long it would take you to realize. Quick find a mirror so I can see the look on your face.’ I quickly started to take inventory of how much magic I had left in stock. . . . I was empty. I quickly looked out the window just in time to feel my flow of magic stop and I saw the shield begin to burn away. “OKAY, SHIELD’S DOWN! NOW THERE’S A REASON TO RUSH!” I shouted down the pit.