Magic of the Heart
Chapter 2: Division
Shadows, Shadows everywhere. And worst of all, one was on Fluttershy, doing something that no pony could put their hoof on even if they were thinking rationally. But it wasn’t the time for that, it was time for action! Rainbow Dash, as quick as her name flew straight at the Shadow knocking it off of Fluttershy. However even then the creature still appeared unphased by this, only shoved. It got back onto it’s hind legs ready for more. Fluttershy balled up, traumatized by this. All her friends quickly surrounded her defending, even Rarity who didn’t wish to get dirty could not let her friend be hurt. Only Twilight didn’t get in the circle quickly looking over the message. “Heartless…Shadows! Girls this must be things the princess was warning me about! These strange creatures have no hearts!” Twilight yelled out.
“Explains a lot!” Applejack yelled. “These varmints don’t seem tah have a lick of remorse!” Applejack showed off her bucking skills to one of the Shadow’s face once more only knocking it away. “Resilient aren’t they?”. Just that moment the girls heard another scream, this time outside. “What the hay?”
Twilight peered outside and what she saw sent her stumbling back in fear. Staring back at her was a black smoky body with bright yellow eyes staring at her. And around it was more Shadows and some other creatures that must have been Heartless too. Ponies were running all over, decorations were ripped apart, and the oddest part, some ponies were being tackled and sapped of their heart, just to become one of the Heartless creatures. “Oh my Celestia…they are multiplying! And they are making other ponies like them!” All the other ponies eyes went wide, only thing breaking them of that was the pouncing of the Shadows attempting the tackle them once more. The girls quickly knocked them away once more. “Girls! Run!” Twilight didn’t need to tell them twice. The girls were out of there quickly, just running through town avoiding everypony.
“So, where the heck are we even going Twilight?!” Rainbow Dash yelled out to her friends low from the air. She knew she could get out of there just by flying away, but she refused to leave her friends. Twilight looked up a bit toward her, but mostly yelled to the whole group. “Well, it seems Princess Celestia knows what’s going on. I guess going to Canterlot to her castle is about the best choice we have!” “Oh great, that’s far enough!” Rainbow growled back. “Well it’s our only hope dear.” Rarity said, “The Princess has lived long enough to see so many things, she must know someth-” at that moment the girls heard a scream they’ve heard before. Rarity gasped stopping her gallop, causing the others to stop. “SWEETIE BELLE! Oh dear I need to help her!” Rarity began galloping toward the yell as fast as she could. “Rarity! Wait we need to-” Once again everything was cut off when Applejack was running full force toward her. “Ah got her! You girls keep going! Ah’ll make sure we catch up! Besides…Applebloom was with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo last ah heard!” The two were gone toward the scream in moments. The others looked afraid to keep running but they did anyway.
The last of the girls rushed faster and faster, only a short distance from the train station, hoping the train still ran. Luckily the train hadn’t come recently, so there wasn’t anypony around, meaning none of those creatures. The girls huffed and puffed for breath, sitting and lying down. “Alright, we should be safe here…” Twilight said through heavy breathing. “Oh I hope Rarity and Applejack are ok…” Fluttershy said still gasping for air. “Applejack will be fine.” Rainbow said, least tired of all. “She’s a tough pony. As for Rarity, she’s able to hold her own, but I am still worried about them.” Pinkie Pie took a seat and crossed her front legs. “All that planning for Hearts and Hooves and then these shadow things ruin everything! Then they attack all of Ponyville! We need to get rid of them or something.” Pinkie held a determined face, that surprised the other girls a bit. “Pinkie we can’t. Not yet at least.” Twilight said a little uneasy to say those words. “Princess Celestia knew these were coming somehow, which most likely means she knows how to get rid of them.” “Why didn’t we just write to the Princess like usual Twilight?” Spike asked, now to Twilight’s side, to give her more room to breathe. “She wanted to speak to us directly Spike. As much as I hate to leave Ponyville in a state like this, Celestia knows what she’s talking about. Now, we need to hurry. The sooner we get to Canterlot and speak with the princess, the sooner we can rush back and make sure everypony is ok. The three girls and Spike nodded in agreement to Twilight, getting up and running the short distance to the train station.
Lucky for the girls the train station didn’t appear to have much, if any of these heartless creatures. But just as they ran up they could hear a few screams from some different animals. This caused Fluttershy to pause and look back. “Oh no…the animals are being attacked too? We need to help them.” Fluttershy tried to convince the others. “There’s nothing we can do Fluttershy. You saw what happened to the ones that tried to attack you in Sugarcube Corner. No matter what we did to them they didn’t seem to be hurt, and I am NOT going to try and hold those things.” Rainbow Dash said. Fluttershy let out a light sigh feeling defeated. That was until she saw it. A new kind of these heartless creatures. A small white furry one, with a mysterious stitched up heart pattern on it’s chest. It’s yellow eyes glowing bright for a creature of the darkness. “Is that a rabbit?” Pinkie asked recognizing the shape. Fluttershy gasped loudly, before spreading her wings and flying a speed that made Rainbow Dash look slow…in the opposite direction of the train station. “ANGEL BUNNY!!” The girls heard her yell as she rushed back to her cottage. “Fluttershy?!” Pinkie yelled worried for the yellow pegasus. “I got her! You three hurry to Celestia and figure this out!” Rainbow Dash yelled chasing her friend down. Pinkie and Twilight looked at each other now more worried then ever. The six ponies were down to two and one baby dragon. “We need to go Pinkie. We can’t leave the girls forever.” Twilight said, looking a bit grim. “But…but we can’t just leave all of them.” Pinkie said, though starting the gallop to the train. “We can’t do anything. You heard Dash. No matter what we did it appeared these Heartless are both resistant to pain, and way too determined to attack. If Celestia knows of a way to fight them, we need that to help the others.” Twilight didn’t like to admit these words, but there was nothing else that could be done, and Pinkie knew it. Though Pinkie was first to run, due to her hesitant feelings Twilight quickly got ahead of her.
Finally the train station, and just in time. The train was seconds from leaving. Though she knew it was wrong, Twilight got onto the train without a ticket. However seeing as about all the other few ponies who were getting on didn’t seem to care for a ticket either due to the panic in Ponyville, no one would care. “We made it Pinkie. Should be easy until we get to Canterlot.” Twilight took a moment to slow her walk, happy in a moment she could sit after that panicked run. However, she started to get worried when Pinkie Pie said nothing. “Um Twilight.” Spike said still on Twilight’s back. “Pinkie isn’t behind us…” “What?! She was there a moment ago!” Twilight stepped off of the train and spread her wings, lifting herself about the height of the station building, searching for her friend but just couldn’t see her. “Of all the times you could do this Pinkie…” Twilight said sadly. “Should we turn back and try and find her? Maybe get the others?” Spike asked, now shaking a bit in fear, imagining what could be happening to his friends. “No.” Twilight was blunt about it. “Like I said, we need to get to Celestia.” Twilight lowered herself to the ground and headed back into the train, but not before one pony caught her eye. One exiting another car had a fully black cloak, hood over his head so you couldn’t see his face. But what she could see was his cutie mark, on his lavender coat fur. A black heart? It looked familiar, but she couldn’t place it. Before she could say anything the door shut. Guess it didn’t matter. She trotted over to a seat and sat. “Finally, to Canterlot.”