The Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee
Chapter 21: Shattered Mirrors
The feeling of channeling so much magical energy was euphoric to say the least. It was so refreshing, and it almost felt like Twilight was temporarily shifting to a higher plane of existence. All she could see was the white light, and it was so calming. It was just her and her friends in this new world. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was aware that the effect would wear off, but for now this magic called friendship was all that mattered.
To imagine that she had gone on so long without something like this was almost unbelievable. Its power was so rejuvenating that it was a miracle that she didn’t lose hope earlier from not having access to it. Was this really how strong her bond with her friends was? It was almost surreal. It felt as if all of their minds and souls were one. One pool of magic made of their individual springs. The harmony and serenity that resulted was a thing of beauty, and surely it could banish any darkness from the world.
The light eventually came to pass, although it was much quicker than she would’ve liked. However, she was lowered to the floor with a sense of completeness, and her spirit and body were both completely refreshed. The room dimmed again, and everything was once again visible. She looked up at The Elements with a smile. Everything felt as it should be, now that she aligned herself with the rest of her friends, even though they were unconscious at the time.
At least, everything should have felt as it should be. She sensed a presence that definitely shouldn’t be there. She turned, the color draining from her face. All sense of purity and harmony she once had was gone.
“N-no, it can’t be,” Twilight stammered, reaching behind her to find something for support. “The Elements… my friends… so, it can’t be…!” Emerald Joy, though a bit tattered and unkempt, stood a few feet away as good as new.
"Nice little light show you had going there,” she commented. “It’s a shame that you really can’t connect with your friends enough to actually do anything with all that magic, though.”
“No, I felt it! I know I did…!” Twilight insisted, shaking her head in wild disbelief. She backed up further, tripped on a step, and fell to the ground. Still, she kept her eyes locked in horror at Emerald Joy.
“I can’t deny you accessed the field of magic, but I can deny that you failed to do anything useful with it. Maybe some healing and conditioning, but other than that?” Emerald scoffed, flipping some hair out of the way. “It’s quite pitiful, really.”
“I-I don’t understand…” Twilight choked breathlessly. She whipped her head around to face the wall again, wishing that her sleeping friends could offer some answers.
“Oh, don’t you see, Twilight? No matter how nice your little speeches sound, you still can’t change the reality of it. Even if your friends could bear their Elements in this state, I have The Elements of Harmony restrained so much that what you just attempted is most likely the limit of their power right now. Did you really expect me to go around with The Elements completely free to do as they pleased? With enough power, you can hold down even the most powerful forces of nature.” Emerald advanced slowly towards Twilight, who in return quickly scrambled away. But it was no use; she quickly felt the cold wall on her back.
“No matter how much you run away, you can’t run away from the reality that your only hope of defeating me is gone!” Emerald hovered her hoof above Twilight’s, who was able to move away in time to save it from being stomped mercilessly into the ground. Emerald Joy lit up her horn and picked Twilight up by the neck.
“In fact, why don’t I take away your Element, hm? Your only talent: magic.” Emerald used a separate cloud of magic to take hold of Twilight’s horn, squeezing it in such a way so that at the smallest provocation it could easily snap it off. Twilight’s eyes widened, but she didn’t give in. In a few critical moments, she focused every fiber of her being into her magic, and her horn soon burned white hot. The pain was incredible, but she knew that Emerald felt it as well. With a shout, the jade-clad empress pivoted and threw Twilight as hard as she could in the opposite direction. With a sickening thud, she landed in the middle of the room, which was still a good fifteen feet away. Her body wasn’t in nearly as much pain as she was expecting, which she probably could thank The Elements for, but it still took her a moment to recover. Emerald Joy’s physical and magical power was supernatural to say the least.
The attack didn’t seem to hurt Emerald in any way, however, but the shock gave Twilight enough time to stand back up and resume the battle. With a wave of her hoof, a landslide of tumbling rocks appeared out of thin air, with the large boulders aimed directly at Emerald, who was still recovering from the heat. She quickly noticed, however, and erected out of the ground great slates of emerald crystal.
“The walls of an emerald city are impenetrable, so don’t think your dirt can do anything to them! Crystals were once dirt that strove to be greater, and emerged as something more beautiful and powerful than you can even dream to become!” Emerald Joy shouted back, a storm of razor sharp leaves shooting down at Twilight as her words echoed on the walls.
The attack swiftly closing in, Twilight thrusted her head downward, creating a magical flurry of wind. She concentrated it for a few moments, balancing it around her body, then shot it outward to send the magical leaves off course. They fell to the ground with a clinking noise not unlike metal, then disappeared in wisps of magic.
Conjuring up another burst of wind, Twilight increased its intensity, then combined it with fire magic. The result was a whirlwind of fireballs, which she spun into a tornado and released, with a course set towards Emerald’s impenetrable crystal fortress. The smell of ash filled the air as it engulfed the structure, though Twilight didn’t have time to rest. Once the magical emeralds were destroyed, the fiery winds were suddenly engulfed and extinguished by a much larger cyclone. After a few moments, the power driving the pillar of water subsided and its walls crashed down onto the floor, whitecapping as it rushed towards Twilight.
With no time to act, the waves overtook her, tossing her around for a moment before smashing her onto the adjacent wall. The water then subsided, draining away to some unknown location. Her vision was cloudy and her breath ragged from the impact, but she was still able to fight. Not that she had much of a choice at this point, because when she looked back towards where Emerald Joy should’ve been standing, she saw instead something that resembled a dragon made of metal flying towards her at alarming speeds. Almost its entire surface was covered in metal spikes, and there was absolutely no way that she could withstand taking its force head-on. That meant she either had to escape or counter-attack, and with her current condition, neither options seemed viable.
She was losing time fast. The dragon began expelling magical fire. She could already feel it burning her. Was a spell this complicated even feasible? That wasn’t important. She needed to act. Nowhere to go left. Nowhere to go right. Look up. Any way out that way? Look forward. Look down. Sweat dripped where her vision touched. This plan was crazy. Crazy enough to work really isn’t assuring when it’s used.
The dragon lunged its head downward, aiming straight towards her. There was her chance. Kicking her legs as hard as she could, Twilight sprang up. She grabbed onto one of the metal spikes on its head. Pulling on it, she flipped over and landed on its back. Her face was headed straight towards a nasty looking spike, but with an instinctual flick of her horn, she caught herself midair, her nose touching the very tip. She quickly redirected herself, then stood up to regain her bearings. She quickly had to kneel down again, though, as the magical dragon took to the air. It spun around to try and shake her off, but she wasn’t quite so willing to let go.
The dragon shifted gears and instead rose higher. Twilight could spot Emerald from the ground controlling the magical beast, though she wasn’t sure what she was trying to accomplish by bringing her up so high. She didn’t have to wonder for long, though, because a few moments later her head scraped along the ceiling, and the dragon showed no signs of slowing its ascent. Thinking fast, Twilight slid down the side, grabbing onto spikes occasionally to keep herself from falling to the ground far below her.
Eventually she was sitting on the side of a particularly big spike, giving herself a good view of Emerald Joy’s actions, along with a good shot at her. Emerald seemed to notice Twilight’s plan, as her hooves that were glowing green began busying themselves again. However, much to Twilight’s confusion, she didn’t feel the dragon moving. She tensed up, clutching at the spike that she was sitting on, only to feel a moment or so later that there was no spike.
And then she was in freefall, the ground approaching fast. There was no way she could conjure up something to cushion her fall under the conditions, so she improvised. Thrusting her horn forward, she shot out of it a long string of magic. She whipped it to the side, wrapping it around Emerald, and swung it back under her just in time to save her from meeting the hard floor. Not only was she able to use her opponent to break her fall, but she also effectively brought her into range with no easy way to escape.
Twilight coughed, expelling some blood from her throat and dirtying Emerald’s face at the same time. A bit of it landed in her eye, temporarily blinding her. With a sickening screech, Emerald flailed around to try and throw Twilight off of her. Twilight, however, had used the time to make magical holds to keep Emerald tethered to the ground. Assured that there was no way she could escape, Twilight slowly stood up and thrusted her hoof against Emerald’s forehead. She looked at it with disgust, but since she was unable to move, she did nothing.
“I don’t care what you are, and I don’t care how powerful you are,” Twilight started, charging up power within herself. “If I blast you from this range, you die.” She felt the pressure build, along with Emerald’s quickened pulse, and finally the moment came.
With a sudden burst, Twilight was knocked away from the empress. Two ramps of ice formed on either side of her, one of which lifted Emerald Joy off of the ground and out of her reach. She turned to see where the two ramps lead to, and was promptly hit with another surge of water, pushing her backwards against the wall on the other side of the room for a second time.
Once the water flowed away again and Twilight could clearly see, she saw the two ice ramps melt away into nothing. She looked up, and there stood Emerald Joy, standing with an aura just as condescending as ever even though she was just about to be killed but a moment ago. To her side stood Ondine, her eyes still blazing red. She was the only one that could’ve cast that spell.
“I’m glad you finally arrived, my sweet Ondine!” Emerald Joy greeted with her usual saccharine voice. “We’ve been waiting for you, and now the party can finally begin!”