//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Emerald Leaves // Story: Stopping the Future That the past Creates // by Yoshi1990 //------------------------------// Lightwing landed in front of a tall castle in a clearing. To both Lightwing and Tracy’s amazement, the castle was well preserved. Lightwing looked behind her. “I guess it’s time to say bye to the Mysterious Oak Woods.” She turned back toward the gray-walled castle and looked up to see a large tower in the center. Tracy jumped onto the ground. “I bet the throne room is at the top of that tower. The one with no windows!” Lightwing entered the castle followed by her purple-tulip buddy. The gray walls became purple as they walked through the first hallway. Candles were evenly spaced on the wall and hieroglyphs filled the rest of the spaces. The two girls were silent as they walked through the hall of hieroglyphs. The two girls reached the main chamber of the castle and noticed its square shape. Lightwing saw the corner of the tower and an open door. “Thats an odd place for a door. Why is it on the corner of the tower and not one of the walls?” Tracy shrugged. “Why would I know? This place was built by a pony.” Tracy began walking to a doorway toward the right. “There’s another hallway to our left. Why are you going toward the right one?” Tracy turned around and asked, “What do you notice about this hallway?” “The walls are green…” With a sigh, Tracy continued walking toward the green hallway. “Read the sign above the doorway and you will know why I chose this hallway first.” Lightwing took notice of the sign and saw it said Emerald Passage. “Don’t forget we need to go to the throne room at some point.” Tracy did not respond. She was too busy observing the blank walls. “Tracy?” Quiet, Lightwing!” Commanded Tracy. “I am looking for clues. You should too. Go observe the other wall.” Lightwing walked to the other side and began searching for clues, whatever they may be. The next five minutes were silent. They reached the end of the hall but had no new information. “So now what?” asked Lightwing. Tracy jumped onto the Lightwing’s back. “Lets go see what is at the top of the tower. The two left the hall. Lightwing chose to fly instead of walking up the stairs. Getting to the top of the tower was more time consuming than the heroines wanted but was not a real problem. The throne room was the same dull gray color as the outside walls. The room was strangely empty aside from a single chair in the center and a black diamond embedded into the floor in front of it. Lightwing was in awe of the beam of light that shined out from the diamond and into the sky through a small hole in the roof. She noticed the light start to flicker. She blinked a few times to see if it was an illusion. Lightwing stared in shock as the light faded and did not come back. Tracy stood right next to Lightwing and readied her voice. “Pony-girl!” Lightwing turned her head toward Tracy and eyed a broken diamond in Tracy’s leaf-hands. “Pony-girl, it’s time to go back down stairs. We still need to find magic leaves.” Lightwing nodded in agreement. “Get on my back and hold onto that broken diamond. The trip downstairs will be much faster.” Tracy go on and held on tight as Lightwing walked to the staircase. Lightwing smiled as she dived down the center. She watched the stairs as they zoomed by her and loved the feeling of free falling. Tracy was cautiously watching the floor get closer. “Are you going to open your wings? The ground is approaching fast.” “No way! This is the best part!” Tracy continued holding on tight. “But...you need to slow down or you will not have time to stop.” With a chuckle, Lightwing continued her free fall with no sign of slowing down. Worry was taking over Tracy as the floor was getting too close for comfort. A thought made itself known in her head. We are going to die any second now. Adrenaline was coursing through Lightwing’s body as she mentally prepared to open her wings. Her wings flared open when she was only a few inches from the ground. Lightwing’s momentum changed from downward to forward. “I love this!” she exclaimed as she zoomed out the door of the tower. Flying quick circles around the square room, she showed no sign of slowing down. After two minutes, Lightwing’s momentum had slowed enough for Tracy to safely jump off. Tracy watched the pegasus continue making laps around the room, slowing down a little each time. After another two minutes, an out-of-breath pegasus landed in front of Tracy and collapsed on the ground. Tracy stared at Lightwing before asking. “Did you have fun?” “...Yes,” replied an out-of-breath pegasus. “I need to rest a little. Give me a minute and then we can continue our search.” Two minutes later, the two got up and walked over to the sapphire passage. Looking into the blue-colored hallway, the two were disappointed to see the walls were as barren as the emerald passage. Lightwing sighed as she walked out of the sapphire passage. “I guess the tower was the highlight of our search...literally.” Highlight? thought Tracy. “High...high! Pony-girl, go check the roof of the emerald passage.” “Yes, boss.” Hovering over to the green hallway, she began looking at the roof for clues. Tracy walked in a moment later. “See anything up there?” “Yes boss. I found a hieroglyph of four leaves surrounding a circle...and an outline of a leaf.” “Will you bring me up to the roof?” Tracy asked curiously. “There was nothing on the roof of the other hall.” Lightwing picked up Tracy and they both observed the hieroglyph. Tracy slowly put her leaf-hand into the outline. The hieroglyph glowed a dark green for a moment before a doorway magically appeared in the wall. Lightwing landed in front of the newly formed doorway and looked in to see a stone staircase going deep underground. Lucky for the two heroines, the cave walls were lined with candles that had a magic glow to them. Lightwing began hovering down the stone staircase. Five minutes later, the stairs came to an end. The two explorers entered a large square room. Next to the entrance, there was a square tablet made from stone. The floor was divided into a sixty-four square grid, with an open door on the opposite side of the room. Multiple rows of candles lined the walls, leaving little space for darkness. With Tracy still on her back, Lightwing looked at the tablet. “Plant-girl, do you know what these strange symbols mean? Tracy turned her head to look at the tablet. “This thing is as big as me. It’s our written language. The path of the leaves shall guide you. That’s what it says.” Lightwing smiled. “Looks like we need to take a special path.” With a chuckle, she opened her wings. “I think I’ll take a shortcut.” With a flap of her wings, she took to the air and began her flight. She never made it past the first tiled floor, as a white light surrounded her and she was standing back in front of the tablet. “...I guess that won’t work.” “It was a nice thought, Pony-girl but I think you won’t be able to cheat the puzzles ahead of us.” Lightwing laid down on her stomach and started thinking while Tracy reclined against one of her pegasus friends wings and began thinking too. Something on the roof caught Tracy’s eye. The ceiling was divided into the same pattern as the floor but had leaves carved into some of the tiles. Tracy tapped the back of Lightwing’s head. “Look at the ceiling.” With a glance at the ceiling, Lightwing replied, “I think you found our path.” She flew up to the tiled ceiling. Tracy nearly fell off as Lightwing turned upside down. “What are you doing?” she asked as she tightened her grip. Lightwing could not stop herself from giggling as she said, “I’m following the path of the leaves.” Tracy just shook her head and said nothing. Lightwing continued giggling as she walked on the ceiling, following the path set before her. Once she reached the end of the path, she landed on the floor and walked into a small hallway. Lightwing looked down into the room in front of her. “This room is much smaller and has three doors to exit from.” She hovered down to the floor and saw another three doors behind her. Tracy read the stone tablet in this room. “Move straight into the future to find your way, but don’t get left behind. Look to the past and make the right choice.” Tracy jumped off Lightwing and casually started walking around her. “It says to go straight...but it also said to look back. Maybe it wants us to take the door behind us. Then there’s that whole right choice thing.” Lightwing was now sitting down on her hind legs and playing with her mane.“I guess we should go straight into the center door in front of us...but that seems too simple. However, it does seem like the best first choice.” “Let’s do it,” agreed Tracy. The two walked through the center doorway into the next room. Tracy sighed as she looked at the stone tablet. “This tablet says the same thing as the last one…” “Tracy, there are no more doors in front of us. We have to go back. Just like the tablet tells us.” Tracy looked up from the tablet and saw a solid stone wall a few feet ahead of them. The two went through the center doorway again back to the other room. Tracy began walking to the center doorway at the back of the room. “Follow me, Lightwing. I have an idea.” Tracy lead them into the back room and turned to face Lightwing. “It said to look to the past and make the right choice. I think it wants us to go through the right door in this back room.” The two went through the right doorway back into the center room. Lightwing glanced around the room. “Nothing is happening or changing.” Tracy pointed in front of them. “Lets go back into the future room. It did say move into the future and not get left behind.” Lightwing smiled as she followed tracy into the future room through the same center doorway. Her smile faded as she said, “Nothing is happening or changing.” “I see that,” replied Tracy. Lightwing jumped into the air. “Idea! What if the tablet was telling us to go straight into this room through the center door but go back through the left door instead of the center door like we did? The whole left behind thing could be a clue to take the left. Then we go to the past room and take the right door into the present room and then the center one back to the future.” Tracy agreed with a smile. “Good idea but it says not to get left behind. Lets take the right door first and try the left if that fails.” The two heroines went through the doors in the order they agreed on but nothing happened. They tried the other order but had no results again. They tried five more paths but had no luck. From the future room, as they called it, Tracy stood at the stone tablet reading it over, trying to think of more ideas. Lightwing sat against a wall thinking with her voice. “Why did none of our ideas work? What are we doing wrong? Move straight into the future to find your way. We did that and even skipped that part too. But don’t get left behind. We tried a few ideas with this too...look to the past and make the right choice. We did that too. Every door combination has failed us.” Lightwing began pacing between the back wall and three doors in the front. As she was walking next to the back wall, she noticed a faint green glow on the wall in the farthest room. She stopped pacing and stood in place staring at the faint green glow that was two rooms away. Lightwing took a few steps forward only to see the green light vanish. She backed up and the light reappeared in the far room. Without turning away from the tablet, Tracy asked, “Pony-girl, what has your attention?” “I think I see something interesting...I’m going to check it out.” Lightwing reached the far wall and began looking for the source of the light. Two minutes later, Tracy felt the ground begin shaking. She looked up from the tablet the back wall opening up. Lightwing trotted room with a sigh of relief. “I figured out that annoying riddle...accidentally.” “Accidently?” asked Tracy with confusion. “Not what you expected,” replied Lightwing. “There was a diamond in the past room. It’s above the center door and it shines a green light. Sadly the light can only be seen from a certain angle, so we can see it from this room. I was hovering in the other room when I saw the glowing diamond. I rotated it to the right. It was a switch for the secret door.” Tracy shook her head in annoyance. “I guess the riddle was literally telling us to look back from this room...whatever. On to the next room.” The two adventurers walked down the newly opened hallway, admiring the candles as they passed by. Lightwing trotted into the new room and closed her eyes as she sat down on her hind legs. “What’s the riddle for this room?” “Make the leaves face each other to move forward.” Lightwing opened her eyes and scanned the room. “The only leaves I see are the ones you use for hands and the hieroglyph on the far wall.” Tracy rolled her eyes. “There is another hieroglyph on the front of the stone tablet. Pony-girl, do you think you can rotate this tablet?” “I’ll try...but I don’t think it would be that simple.” Lightwing propped herself up against the tablet, using her wings to help balance. She pushed the tablet rotating it easier than she expected. Neither of them noticed that the hieroglyph on the wall had moved. Lightwing looked to the location of where she last saw the hieroglyph. “Where is the hieroglyph that was on the far wall? It’s...gone.” “It’s behind us,” Tracy said as she walked around Lightwing. “Pony-girl, do you think you can lift the tablet up?” “I don’t see why not,” replied Lightwing. “What’s the idea?” “It’s simple,” replied Tracy as she pointed at the hieroglyph. “I just want to see if the hieroglyph moves on the floor and roof too.” Lightwing opened her wings and stood behind the tablet. She turned to face the opposite direction of it. She slowly pushed one of her back hooves against the bottom of the tablet as Tracy pushed the top toward Lightwing. It fell onto Lightwing’s back with a little more force than the pegasus was expecting. Her legs trembled under the new weight as she stood in place. “Turn toward me,” commented Tracy as she waved. Still trembling from the extra weight, Lightwing slowly turned to face her plant buddy. Her voice was a little ruffled as she asked, “Why...why am I doing this?” “Don’t move.” Tracy quickly got behind Lightwing. “Now slide the tablet off your back.” Lightwing held up the tablet with her wings and stood up on her hind legs. Gravity pulled the bottom of the tablet down to the ground and Lightwing breathed a sigh of relief. She did not notice the door in front of her open. With a smile, Tracy said, “Nice work pony-girl. Onto the next room.” “What?” asked lightwing. Tracy pointed behind them. “You got the two leaves to face each other. The hieroglyph only moves from left to right and not up and down.” “Oh,” said Lightwing skeptically. Tracy mounted Lightwing. “Pony-girl, lets move out.” The heroines walked through the doorway into the hall. The walls were lined with the same candles as every other room. Upon entering the next room they saw it was the largest room and yet the smallest because of the huge hole in the center of the room. Lightwing looked across the huge hole to the other side of the room, noticing many vines ten times larger than her passing through the walls. That’s odd, she thought as she saw an open doorway on the opposite side. “This room has to be at least three hundred feet across.” “Is that your measuring system?” asked Tracy. Lightwing nodded as Tracy made another comment. “I would say this room is one hundred and twenty yards wide. The center hole being one hundred and eighteen yards and our walkway being two yards wide.” Lightwing stared at the candles on the wall.“Plant-girl, go read the tablet.” Tracy jumped off Lightwing and glanced around but saw no stone tablet. “There is no tablet here…just these really really big vine like objects around the room.” “Oh...well it doesn’t matter.” Tracy was now examining one of the many large vines that cruised through the wall as Lightwing looked down the hole in the center and fear struck her. “Tracy...I...I think we should leave this room.” “Nonsense,” dismissed Tracy. “These vines are interesting. They are transferring energy to something and I want to find out what.” With fear in her voice, Lightwing replied, “I think I know the answer to your question.” “Please share your knowledge.” Still looking down the center hole, Lightwing answered, “It’s big...no, it’s insanely enormous...and has sharp teeth. One tried to eat me earlier.” “Oh,” Tracy said with enthusiasm. “You think these vines connect to those large piranha plants.” With a slight laugh she continued. “But I would not call them insanely enormous...maybe large or even huge.” Lightwing growled under her breath. “Stop looking at those vines and look down into the center of the room.” Tracy rolled her eyes as she turned toward the hole. She was speechless as she saw what was in it. A small smile formed on Lightwing’s face. “Do you see our one-hundred-eighteen-yard piranha plant. I like to call it insanely enormous. Tracy said nothing. Lightwing’s smile was replaced by a serious face. “We are going to walk to the other side of this huge room now. Let’s hope that insanely enormous plant does not chose to eat us.” Tracy quietly got on Lightwing’s back and they began their long walk around the huge room. Lightwing walked under the huge vines and flew over some too on her walk to the other door. Tracy was silent, only staring at the one-hundred-eighteen-yard monster plant. As they were getting close to the halfway point of the walk, Lightwing began talking. “This insanely enormous plant is quite impressive. I have no doubt that the other two large piranha plants are somehow connected to this one. Don’t you agree?” Silence filled the air for a minute. “I guess you don’t want to talk. Anyway, I think I would be dead right now if this insanely enormous plant wasn’t connected to the other ones.” I bet this insanely enormous plant is the mother plant. I’m annoying myself by saying insanely enormous. I bet the plants above ground all eat stuff, digest it, and then that is the energy that we saw in those huge vines...I guess they are stems. “I wonder if plant-girl can talk to momma piranha? Plant-girl did say she can connect to other pants for communication.” Lightwing stopped in front of their target door. “Tracy, do you think you can connect to this mama piranha?” “No, I can only connect to its roots and they are not up here.” Tracy walked through the doorway into the next hall. Lightwing followed her. The two heroines could see the end of the hallway. The next room glowed bright with candle light. The two adventurers could see a large circular shrine in the next room too. As they got closer, they could see some murals of plants on the wall too. Lightwing stopped at the entrance to the room and admired the large shrine. A staircase went up the side of the shrine to the top. Five pillars surrounded the large circular structure. Lightwing and Tracy looked up at the roof to see a huge mural that covered the whole ceiling. The two stared in awe. Tracy looked at the mural curiously. “I’m guessing the large creature on the left is an ice dragon.” Lightwing nodded. “And behind him is the portal I came here through. If you look on the right side, you will see the solar princess and lunar princess of my world.” “So those are the ones that control the sun and moon of your world,” commented Tracy. “ The solar eclipse behind them looks nice but I like the center of the mural best.” “Of course you do,” said Lightwing as she rolled her eyes. “You and me do look nice at the center of it. The five Emerald Leaves above us and the six Elements of Harmony do add a nice touch.” “So thats what those necklaces and crown are? Nice name for some magic artifacts.” The two heroines began their ascent up the staircase. “Pony-girl, who would know about all this and be able to paint it all? How would anyone know to paint us, my Goddess tree, your Princesses, the enemy that wants both our worlds dead, and magic artifacts from both worlds?” “Your great tree knows about both worlds...so why can’t she be the artist of this mural?” “Pony-girl,” said Tracy as she glanced at the hovering pony. “My Goddess is a tree...trees can’t paint.” Lightwing sighed dramatically. “Magic. Not just magic but the magic that holds this whole planet together. I think it could make a mural on a stone wall...a stone wall that is underground.” “Good point,” Tracy said with a nod. The two reached the top of the shrine. Five podiums stood around, each with one Emerald Leaf on them. All radiating mystical light across the room. Lightwing stood in the center and focused, trying to keep an open mind. The five podiums shot beams of light at Lightwing and the Emerald Leaves vanished. “Pony-girl, do you feel any different?” Lightwing shrugged. “No different than I feel when I use magic.” “Can you teleport us out of here?” Lightwing answered with a sigh. “I guess now is a good time to practice.” She closed her eyes and focused, trying to keep an open mind. I really don’t want to be possessed...even if it’s by a good entity that doesn’t take over me. Lightwing could feel magic radiating from within her. Now in a field outside of the Mysterious Oak Woods, Lightwing opened her eyes. “That was easier than I expected. Without a voice in my head to remind me that I’m technically possessed, it’s almost like I’m just using my own magic.” Lightwing glanced around. “Tracy, where are you? Tracy?!” Frantically looking around, Lightwing noticed the Mysterious Oak Woods had no more dark clouds over them. Thats weird, she thought. “I wonder if the tree goddess...Yggdrasil knows?” I do not. Lightwing let out a sigh. “I almost wish you had not answered my question. Lets go back to you being quiet, please. Then I can continue pretending that the magic leaves don’t allow you to possess me.” I know I teleported Tracy here with me...so why is she not here? Lightwing felt ice under her hooves. She watched as the field she was in froze over. A familiar ice dragon appeared in front of Lightwing. “So nice to see my favorite pegasus,” he said with a smile. With a glare and a calm voice Lightwing asked, “What did you do to Tracy?” The dragon smiled gleefully. “Frozen, and soon you will follow the same fate. You have no magic potions to save you this time. Just give up like you did last time and all will be well.” Lightwing took a deep breath. I have to keep an open and calm mind. She calmly replied, “No.” She spread her wings and took to the air. “You need to catch me first.” Lightwing zoomed away at full speed and the dragon gave chase. Lightwing gracefully dodged large pieces of hail from above and shards of ice that were appearing in front of her. Lightwing could hear the dragon mumbling to himself. With no warning, the dragon appeared in front of Lightwing. Lightwing came to an abrupt stop in front of the dragon. “You can’t teleport...that’s cheating.” Lightwing stuck her tongue out in a mocking way before she turned around and zoomed away. Once again the dragon teleported in front of Lightwing and she came to a stop. “Fine,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “I’ll fight you.” Lightwing raised her fore hooves into a fighting stance. The dragon rolled his eyes as he shot a volley of ice shards at Lightwing. Lightwing threw gracefulness away as she punched the ice shards into many pieces. Shock was heard in the voice of the dragon as he said, “You should be a frozen block...unless...you have magic.” With new found confidence, he continued, “Now that I know you have magic, Any chance of you beating me is gone.” “Why is that?” asked a curious pegasus. He must know he can’t win, she thought to herself. “I don’t have to explain myself to you. I know I shall win,” replied the dragon. “All you need to know is that your magic won’t help you for long.” Lightwing crossed her fore legs. “Stop stalling for time and prove to me how my new magic won’t help me.” “Temporary magic,” replied the dragon. You don’t need to be so specific, she thought. “It’s still enough to beat you and with little effort. I just wanted to have some fun while fighting you.” It’s a dumb question but I’ll ask it. “Why do you think it’s temporary magic?” “Maybe I like being specific and-” he was cut off by a question. “What did you...just say?” “Maybe I like being specific and you did ask a dumb question.” Lightwing said nothing as fear was slowly becoming visible on her face. The dragon chuckled lightly. “Looks like you have realised I can read your thoughts.” And so much more when you keep an open mind. Lightwing heard the last sentence, but she was sure she shouldn’t have. Without thinking, Lightwing sporadically shot blasts of magic at the dragon but none hit the teleporting target. Lightwing heard a thought in her head. You’re going to have to do better than that. Continuing her sporadic attack she yelled, “Get out of my head! Get out!” I have to keep an open mind. I...I can do this. He’s only talking through my mind. Another thought that was not her own came to her. Watch this. Lightwing lost all control of her wings. She fell to the icy ground and landed on her rump. I can’t do this! I won’t get possessed again! Lightwing’s head shook violently as she tried to force the unwanted entity out of her mind. She could feel two entities fighting for control over her mind. One was pushing her into a dark corner of her mind. The other was trying to coexist with her and trying to bring tranquility to her. Lightwing wanted no entities in her mind. She was going to take her mind back at all costs. A minute later, Lightwing sighed in relief as her mind was now free of any other entities. She looked up at the dragon standing over her and smiled nervously. “I’m…happy I got my mind back...to myself.” A smile was returned as the dragon replied, “Me too. Now that you closed your mind, you have no access to magic.” A cage of ice formed around the powerless pegasus. ==================== Tracy woke up. Her petals and leaf-hands were a little stiff. She saw that she was in an ice field. “Last thing I remember is getting frozen. But how am I unfrozen?” she asked herself. My powers freed you, a familiar voice told her. Goddess? How are you communicating with me when I am not touching a root connected to you? Simple, my friend. You now hold the power of the Emerald Leaves. When did this happen? I thought pony-girl had them. Lightwing gave up my power when she realised she would lose the ability to use my magic. She used my magic to find you and transfer the Emerald Leaves directly to you. She needs help now, and you are the only one who can help her. I understand. I will do my best for you my goddess. How do I teleport? Think of being close to Lightwing. Tracy focused on the new power within her and thought of being close to her friend. Tracy appeared behind a dragon. Tracy almost screamed but stopped herself to keep the element of surprise. She took notice of pony-girl in a cage. Lightwing stared up at her captor. “Answer one thing before you kill me. How were you able to connect with my mind and take control of me? You’re not a spirit this time.” “We shared our mind, body, and soul. Twice at that.” Lightwing could see Tracy waiting. “One more thing, dragon, I’m going to escape now by using magic.” A second later, a green shield formed around Lightwing and the cage of ice shattered. The speechless dragon stared at Lightwing in confusion. Tracy took this time to attack. She shot a bolt of magic at the dragon’s left wing. It left a small hole in the wing. The dragon turned to see his attacker. “Shouldn’t you be frozen? That was a nice shot,” he said as his wing healed itself. A beam of ice was shot toward Tracy. She frantically put up a shield. Still sitting on her hind legs, Lightwing watched as two forces shot magic at each other and teleported to avoid getting hit. “I feel totally useless now...I have no magic...I’m just a helpless observer now.” Tracy appeared next to Lightwing. “Pony-girl, will you help me?” Icicles began hitting the shield protecting them. Lightwing’s voice had much sadness in it as she spoke. “And how can I be any help to you? You have the magic. I’m just a useless observer now. I’m no hero. I just bring destruction to wherever I go.” “Thats just quitter talk,” said a disappointed Tracy. “You did not have magic for most of the time I was with you. That did not stop you before, why should it stop you now? Quit the woe-is-me act and fly me around. You are way more mobile than me.”Tracy mounted Lightwing and the two took off. A volley of ice shards shot up from the frozen ground, aiming toward the two heroines. Lightwing did her best to avoid the onslaught of ice as she asked, “When do you plan on attacking back?” Tracy shrugged. “Attacking will do nothing. The dragon will just teleport and avoid the attack. I could teleport us around too but the shield works nice too.” Heavy hail began falling and obscuring Lightwing’s vision. “Just cast a counter spell.” “And how do I do that, pony-girl?” Lightwing sighed. “Pony-girl! Don’t give me that tone. I’m totally new to using magic.” “The same way you put up a shield and attacked. You just have to want it and your goddess will provide. Better yet, why don’t you ask her? I’m sure she could help more than me.” “Good idea.” Three seconds later, Tracy sighed. “I guess it was not a good idea. I just talked to my goddess and she said our magic works differently than that.” “Did you come up with another plan?” asked Lightwing. “Yes we did.” Tracy focused her mind on the ground below the dragon. “That fixes that problem.” Are you sure?” asked a confused Lightwing. “I didn’t see anything.” Tracy chuckled, almost evilly. “That’s the point. Now watch this.” A small green ball of energy formed in Tracy’s leaf-hand and she threw it at her target. The dragon vanished in a flash of light but then reappeared in the exact same spot. Having gone nowhere, the dragon was hit but little damage was done. Lightwing shook her head in disappointment. “That pathetic attack was pointless.” “Watch that attitude, pony-girl,” snapped Tracy. “I was just seeing if the plan had worked. I’m going to try a real attack now. I’ll have to lower our shield to do this.” Tracy wrapped her roots around Lightwing’s stomach. Lightwing put a hoof above her eyes, in order to protect them from the onslaught of hail about to hit her. The green shield faded as Tracy focused on powering up a new attack. A green aura surrounded, Tracy and radiated in an upward motion. More shards of ice shot at Lightwing from the ground. She gracefully avoided them as she flew around the dragon. Lightwing banked left as a beam of ice shot at her. She took notice that, Tracy was now holding a ball of magic that was at least five times bigger than the two heroines. “Shouldn't you through that thing at the dragon?” she asked. “No,” replied Tracy. “It’s not strong enough.” Lightwing narrowly avoided a blast of ice as she flew away from the ground. She kept a close eye on the ever growing ball of magic above her. The immense amount of energy was starting to singe her fur. Lightwing nose dived avoiding two beams of ice from the dragon but took a few hits from ice shards that came from the ground. “How much longer, plant-girl? I can’t keep this evasive flying up for much longer.” I’m pathetic without my magic...I rely too much on it. “I think it’s ready,” replied, Tracy. Lightwing shot a quick look at the huge energy ball. With a bit of surprise in her voice she said, “That thing is as big as the dragon.” Tracy threw the immense ball of magic toward the target. The air sparked with electricity from the magic. The dragon casually flew up to a point that the attack would pass safely under him. Surprisingly to Lightwing and the dragon, the immense ball of magic arched upwards toward the dragon. He reached out with his claws and prepared to hold the attack back. The two heroines eagerly watched as the ball of magic collided with it’s target. It slowly pushed the dragon backwards but it was losing momentum. The heroines watched in horror as the the dragon and energy ball both came to a stop. With a victorious laugh, the dragon looked at the heroines. “I must say that was most impressive. You are new to using magic and you had the ability to use an attack that could destroy me.” Tapping the immense magic with his claws, her continued. “However, you made a huge mistake. You should never never focus an attack into a ball, unless you can fire it fast enough. Now we have this huge mass of energy that is under my control.” Wasting no time, the dragon pushed the blob of magic back at the heroines but at a much faster speed. With almost no time to react, Tracy put up a shield. This action stopped them from being disintegrated, but the force of the attack sent them both spiraling to the icy ground where they slid on the ice for a moment. Tracy quickly got up. “Pony-girl?” she said as she looked around. “Over here!” responded Lightwing. Tracy looked up toward the voice and saw Lightwing being held by the dragon. Tracy glared at the dragon. “Let pony-girl go!” The dragon landed in front of Tracy. “But she will die if I let her go. I placed a spell on her. Since you can’t cast a counter spell, you must give up or pegasus-girl dies.” Tracy stared at the dragon for a moment before Lightwing spoke up. “Incinerate us both. I will happily die if it means this dragon dies too.” “Are you sure?” asked tracy. “Yes. Focus all the energy you can and blast both of us into nothingness.” Tracy shook her petaled head. “I won’t kill you.” “Kill us!” Lightwing flailed her hooves, secretly unlatching her necklace. “You have to kill me or the whole planet will be doomed. The tree goddess gave you a job. So do it!” A green aura surrounded Tracy as she moved her leaf-hands to her left and focused energy there. “Are you sure this is what you want, pony-girl?” “Yes. Now blast us with every piece of magic you have.” The dragon forced out a laugh. “You’re dying to save the planet...that’s so noble and predictable.” Tracy let out a sigh of defeat. “Countdown to destruction. Three...two...one.” From her leaf-hands, Tracy shot a beam of magic that was big enough to engulf the dragon. Lightwing saw the huge beam of magic hurtling toward her and her captor. The next second of her life was now the most important. Lightwing smiled as she tapped the dragon with a fore hoof and grabbed her necklace with the other. The dragon glanced at her and horror hit the dragon’s face. Lightwing’s smile grew bigger as she threw her necklace with full force, so that it was out of range from the attack. Both creatures watched as the beam of magic hit them and missed the small necklace that was now flying away at a decent speed. Lightwing could feel the magic energy burning her fur and melting her. Before the two were incinerated, Lightwing opened her mind and sent a thought to the dragon’s mind. You lose! I will come back to life and you won’t. Tracy made the beam of magic take a sharp turn upwards after it had destroyed its target. The huge blast of magic flew up and into space, heading toward the sun. The sun would swallow the magic like it was nothing. Tracy stared at the now empty spot that her friend was at just moments ago. She had seen Lightwing throw the necklace but did not know why. She walked toward the necklace as the ice covering the field evaporated. Tracy picked up the object and stared at it. “I guess I should keep this as a reminder of the sacrifice pony-girl made.” A faint light began to shine from the necklace and Tracy watched curiously. Another faint light appeared next to Tracy and took on the shape of a pony. After both lights faded, Lightwing stood next to Tracy. Lightwing jumped into the air with great enthusiasm. “We won! I’m back and he is gone!” Tracy was speechless before her not-dead friend. Lightwing looked at her with slight annoyance. “Don’t I get a 'Hello, pony-girl'? What about a ‘'happy to see you're alive, pony-girl'?" Tracy glanced down at the necklace she was holding, back at Lightwing, and back to the necklace. Lightwing sat on her hind legs. “The necklace brought me back,” she said. “I knew it would...I’m surprised the dragon forgot about that. I also knew that my little necklace would have been totally destroyed by the magic blast, thus I threw it out of range.” Tracy gave the necklace back to her friend. “How did you come back to life? Our goddess says she can’t bring creatures back to life. She says it would cause problems.” Lightwing smiled as she strapped the necklace on. “She also said that magic from this world and my world work differently. In my world, bringing a creature back to life is not easy but it is possible. Now what do we do?” “I guess one of us should open a portal to your world. It should probably be you.” A green aura briefly surrounded Tracy as five leaves made from emerald appeared in between the two heroines. Lightwing touched a hoof to one of the leaves and focused her mind. A moment later, a blue portal opened up next to Lightwing. “You need to give me that piece of black diamond we found.” “Oh...right.” Tracy’s necklace glowed as the half-diamond appeared in her leaf-hands. “I guess this is goodbye. I’m going to miss you, pony-girl. I’m happy I knew you for these four days. You are a good friend.” Lightwing sighed with slight annoyance. “I really don’t like calling others my friends. I’ll make an exception for you. I had a nice adventure with you and would be happy to call you my friend.” Tracy smiled as she gave Lightwing a medallion. “Take this. I want you to have something to remember this world.” Lightwing looked at the picture of her and Tracy on the medallion and also saw a picture of a tree on the back. “I’ll keep it forever,” she said as she attached it to her necklace. “What do you have to remember me?” “That’s quite simple. I’ll have two statues of you built. One here to remember the place the world was saved and one in the town you first came to. The whole planet knows you saved us...or at least helped.” “How?” asked Lightwing. “You remember the observation station in space? They recorded our battle with the dragon. This story of ours will be told for countless generations. I’ll make sure all the details are right.” With a smile, Lightwing said, “Good luck with that. I’ll always remember you.” With half of a diamond in hoof, Lightwing hovered into the blue portal next to her. Tracy watched the portal in front of her close. “I’ll always remember you too, Lightwing.”