//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14: A Fragile Horn 
// Story: Piercing the Heavens 
// by Calm Wind 
//------------------------------//

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 14:





“Slowly. Slowly. One hoof at a time, commander,” Fire spoke to Soarin constantly, comforting him in the presence of friends. Soarin’s eyes were shut tight, he continuously groaned in discomfort, and his teeth were grinding together. Misty kept her eyes on him as they moved making sure Soarin was okay as Fire mainly guided them along. Little sputters of blue light kept spitting up from the horn as if it was trying to get out, but was being wedged through a tight space.

Misty and Fire kept the pace slow and easy as they moved through the side passage. There were multiple small hallways like this one littered throughout the first floor of the compound. It allowed staff members and Wonderbolts to travel quickly between facilities if need be, or avoid crowds or media in the hallway. The passages weren’t painted and had no ceiling, exposing heating and water pipes that ran below the second floor. They neared the doors leading into the lobby. It was a short walk from there to the access tunnel for the palace. Hopefully they would make it there without any mishaps.

“GRRRAAAAAAHHH!!!!” Soarin suddenly arched his neck back and the horn began to glow brightly. Misty and Fire both instinctively dropped him and backed away. Soarin thrust his neck forward and a large magical blast jettisoned from the horn. It traveled in a slightly bent line due to the horn being off center, but it still collided with the metal double doors leading into the lobby.

A loud POW resonated through the passage and the heavy doors got blown right off their hinges. Fire and Misty shielded themselves as a small shockwave battered against them. Loud clangs and clattering rang out as the doorframe collapsed as well. 

“AH!!!” Soarin crouched down and smacked the side of his head against the concrete floor. The horn began to glow brightly again. “N-NO!” Soarin clamped his hooves over the horn. Misty made a move towards Soarin, wanting desperately to help him. Fire quickly stepped forward, grabbed Misty by the hoof and yanked her into his body. He put his back to Soarin as the magic exploded from the horn again. Soarin’s hooves painfully muffled the blast, but little streams of magical energy shot out in all directions. Most of them hit the walls, but one struck a water pipe overhead, causing the pipe to burst and send searing hot water spraying everywhere. Three more of the smaller beams struck Fire in the back.

“ARGH!” Fire winced and grunted. Misty felt his body twitch in pain followed by the super-hot water spraying all over them. A sharp exhale escaped Misty’s throat as the burning water showered over them. With Fire still slightly stunned by the magic, Misty took action and quickly pushed herself into Fire’s chest. The two fell forward and rolled out of the water. 

“Damn!” Fire cursed as he struggled to his hooves. Misty quickly got in front of him, tapping his shoulder rapidly. He looked up at her as hot water dripped from his mane. She crossed two feathers on her right wing, held them to her lips and slowly extended them towards him, pointed at him with a hoof, then used the same wing feathers to make a small circle with her feathers, then extend one up and flattened another. 

Her symbols read: “Are you okay?”

Fire glanced over at Soarin. He was still on the ground and groaning, but it looked like the magic had calmed for the moment. This wasn’t just a magic spasm. This was much more dangerous than he thought. 

Fire turned his head back to Misty. Her eyes were filled with worry. Fire gave a small smile. He tapped a hoof against his chest, then held it in front and lowered it slightly. He reached a wing around his body, flattened it and slowly moved it in and out from his chest. Then he put his other wing up flat by his lips and slowly extended it towards her.

He replied with: “I am fine, thanks.” But he cringed again right after at the sharp pain in his back. The magic blasts weren’t very strong, but they stung and burned. Misty pouted at him, not convinced he was fine, especially since he had just used his body to shield her.

“What the hell’s going on in here?!” a few security guards appeared in the lobby through the wrecked doorway. They saw Soarin lying on the ground and began moving towards him.

“STOP!” Fire yelled to them. They all froze in place and looked to him. “Let us move him! Get back in the lobby and make sure we have a clear path to the castle access tunnel!” Fire ordered as he got to his hooves shakily with the help of Misty. They all blinked and stared at him and Soarin in confusion. “THAT MEANS NOW!” Fire stomped his hooves on the floor kicking up little bits of water as it spread along the ground. “And get somepony to stop this leak!” he added as the guards moved back into the lobby. 

There was much more wrong here than Fire or Misty had knowledge of. What was supposed to be a simple task of leading Soarin carefully to Princess Luna had effectively turned into a hazardous situation. Just what was going on in Soarin’s body to cause such a strong and dangerous magical presence?

Fire placed his hoof on Misty’s shoulder and made a head motion towards Soarin. She nodded in response and the two carefully approached him. The magic was flickering off the tip of the horn, but otherwise it looked like it had been tamed for the moment. They had to take this opportunity now. If there were to be any more mishaps, Fire preferred it was in the confinement of the castle passage and not the lobby. Not only would other ponies get hurt, but it would be one heck of a bite out of their paychecks if Soarin broke some of the expensive lobby architecture. 

“Commander Soarin?” Fire crouched down beside him as Misty gently rubbed her hoof on Soarin’s back. 

“Ugh…” Soarin grunted in response. His brain was so scrambled he could barely focus. 

“We’re here, stay vigilant!” said Fire as he and Misty propped him up on their shoulders again. They moved faster this time. A steady pace no longer seemed like a good idea. They thought it would help the magic stay calm at first, but a burst pipe and few explosions on the back later, Fire realized they needed to hurry to avoid any more unneeded damage. 

They emerged in the lobby and, as Fire ordered, the security team was holding off staff members and other Wonderbolts so they could pass. A stir passed through the small gathering as Fire and Misty moved Soarin through the lobby. The collective focus was on Soarin’s false horn. The fact that it was actually crackling and popping with magic was shocking to most of them. Soarin had been seen around wearing the fake horn, but most had passed it off as an odd fashion statement or a lost bet. Most of them never had guessed there was real magic involved.

“Back them up further!” Fire ordered the security guards. “Give us as much space as you can! This is a dangerous situation!” he warned, causing most of the surrounding viewers to back up before the security team expanded the blockade. They had a clear path and a large buffer zone in case something else happened. It seemed like it would go smoothly from there.

“Rgh… RRRGHHH!!!!!” Soarin suddenly growled and thrust his neck downward, almost pulling Fire and Misty with him. The horn began to glow again. Fire didn’t hesitate.

“EVERYPONY GET BACK!” He yelled. This time however, the small ribbon of magical energy passed over Soarin’s body as well. 

“AH!” Soarin cried out as a wave of energy exploded out from his body. Fire and Misty were blown back in opposite directions. “S-S-S-STAY…” Soarin tried to say something. His body twitched and lurched, making him stumble all around. He suddenly fired forward from his spot, taking to the air briefly, before turning downward and slamming back to the ground. “AH! ARGH!!!!” he pushed himself back up and his eyes locked on the doors leading to the castle tunnel.

“Commander Soarin!” Fire Streak got to his hooves and leapt towards Soarin. Misty followed close behind. 

“S-S-S-STOP!!!” Soarin yelled out as they approached. Fire tried to grab Soarin’s arm. “NOOO!!” he thrust his arm out. Fire yelped as Soarin threw him off almost effortlessly. He slammed right into Misty and the two landed in a pile on the floor. Fire quickly sat up and turned to assist Misty. “S-STAY… BACK!!!” Soarin pleaded as he forced his body to move towards the passage. Every few steps, Soarin’s body rebelled and tried to throw him in a different direction. He slammed against the floor and the walls multiple times as he moved. It was as if the magic was trying to go one direction while he was going another. The glow around him was becoming more intense and the bursts of energy were popping all around his body. His eyes were glowing with a bright blue light. “ST-STAY AWAY!!!!” he yelled out as he pushed towards the one place he knew he could go to fix this: to Luna.

Misty, however, could not hear Soarin’s warnings. Oblivious to the danger, her kind nature compelled her to try and assist. She stood up quickly and fired towards Soarin again.

“MISTY!!!” Fire called to her. Alas, she could not hear his warning.

The glow around Soarin intensified as she drew near, and a large magical pulse shot out from around him right as Misty’s hooves touched his body. The effect was strange. She was not pushed back immediately. A few sparks of the dark magical energy ran off of Soarin’s body, through Misty’s arms, and onto her body. After a two second delay, Misty was propelled away from Soarin, her goggles shattered to pieces and the uniform around her neck, head, and face ripped to shreds. She crashed violently against the wall beside Soarin and fell roughly to the floor.

"MISTY FLY!!!" Fire yelled out as he sprung up and shot towards her. She was lying face down on the floor, small ribbons of blue magic pulsing all over her body. She twitched and writhed as Fire approached. 

Soarin grunted in pain one more time before his body performed the Sonic Blast-off and crashed him right through the doors of the castle passage. Fire only gave a quick glance in the direction of Soarin before turning back to Misty. Fire ripped his goggles off and removed the mask portion of his uniform before he crouched down and reached for Misty. He quickly and gently supported her and turned her over. Her eyes were stuck wide open, her body tensing and relaxing spontaneously. 

Her muscles began to spasm like crazy, causing her limbs and body to reach and swing uncontrollably, the ribbons of dark energy visibly running over her body. Fire panicked as he tried to hold her steady, forgetting all about Soarin, who was at this point, long gone. He wanted to call Misty’s name to let her know he was there, but it would literally fall on deaf ears. Raspy squeaks began to escape Misty’s throat, as if the pain coursing through her was forcing noise through her unused vocal chords. Fire gritted his teeth as he frantically looked her over. He reached for her, but a crackle of blue energy zapped against his hoof.

“Argh!” he pulled his hoof back and shook it out. That really hurt… if just a small touch felt like that, what sort of unbearable pain was Misty in? Fire stared down at Misty in horror as tears began falling out of her eyes like streams. If she had a voice, she surely would be screaming and wailing. Fire shook his head and slammed his eyes shut.

He reached forward and clamped his arms around Misty. The painful shocks from her body surged into him, but he didn’t care. If he could absorb some of the pain and ease hers, that’s all that mattered to him.

“SOMEPONY GET HELP! PLEASE!” Fire yelled out to those standing nearby. “PLEASE!!!” He yelled out again as he felt the tears from Misty’s eyes dampen the chest portion of his uniform. 

“Oh relax, I’ve got it,” a voice suddenly came from above them. An eagle talon suddenly reached down from above and lightly touched to Misty’s head. Fire instantly felt the pain fade and watched as the magic was pulled out of Misty, collecting in a small, baseball sized sphere on the talon. Fire looked up to see none other than Discord standing above them, balancing the sphere of dark magic on his finger. “That should do it.”

Fire looked back down to Misty. Her body stopped flailing and her breathing slowed, but her eyes were still open wide and tears were still falling from her eyes. She immediately clung to Fire’s uniform as tightly as she could and shivered with fright. Fire held her as tightly as he could for a moment before freeing his right arm slightly. He didn’t make her look up. He made the motions within her line of sight. He tapped his chest with his hoof, and then let it fall slightly before bringing his wings around and making two small circular motions towards him.

His signs said: “I’m here.”

Misty dug her face into his chest as she sniffled every few seconds. Fire just held her tight, waving off the medical crew as they approached until Misty was ready to move.

“Hmph,” Discord grunted as he examined the small mass of dark energy he pulled from Misty. “A small smidge of it managed to get out? That’s no good,” he blew at the sphere, causing it to dissipate like dust in the wind. “I should probably get to Lulu before he does,” Discord spoke to himself before disappearing as suddenly as he appeared.

“Wait!” Fire tried calling too little too late. He looked around for signs, but Discord was gone. “…thank you…” Fire sighed as he held Misty.





Soarin grunted and gasped as he sped through the castle access tunnel.  He was bouncing off the walls and ceiling frequently, his body unable to choose a controlled direction. His head felt like it was under intense pressure, like it would explode any minute. His limbs were numb, but moving regardless. He felt like he was only half in control of his body. He’d try to move one direction, but his body would go in another.

He felt like he was in a pinball machine and his head was the ball with extra weight attached to it. He finally reached the other end of the tunnel, only to slam against the floor.

“RGGHH!!!! ARRGHH!!!!!” no matter what he tried he couldn’t reach the door handle. It just had to be a pull door, he couldn’t just blow through this one (at least not consciously), and he couldn’t concentrate enough to grab the handle, much less move his arm.

“Who’s there?” a passing royal guard suddenly opened the door. Soarin didn’t think. He only forced himself to move. He propelled forward and ran right into the guard, toppling him and tumbling to a halt inside the room behind the throne room. Multiple guards posted about stepped forward as Soarin barged in.

“NO!” Soarin forced his body to stand and shook his head as a few approached. “DON’T! DON’T COME NEAR ME! PLEASE!!!!!!” he pleaded. He took a step towards the throne room, but the step turned into a bound and his body thrust skyward. “JUST STAY…” Soarin was cut off as he landed face first on the ground. “AWAY!!!!” this was the tenth time he had smashed his head to the ground, at least. He had a wide trail of blood running down his left cheek. 

Unfortunately, the guards were bound by duty to protect the princess no matter what. They bared Soarin’s path.

“NO! RUN! PLEASE!” Soarin forced his body forward, blowing right through the first two guards in his way. 

He felt his conscious slipping. The strain on his mind was becoming too great for him to bear. He had to get to Luna now. He had no idea what was happening to him and had nopony else to turn to. Two more guards put their hooves on him. They were instantly blown aside by a magic pulse that fired out from around Soarin’s body. 

“You cannot enter!” The last two guards posted in front of the door waited for Soarin to come to them, but they were cast aside like waste paper. Soarin’s vision had become blurry. He couldn’t see straight nor make out anything around him. All he could feel now was pain. Pain searing through his head like an arrow had just been put right through his skull. His body lurched forward once more and he burst through the doors.

“Ah, ah, ah…” Discord was right on the other side of the door. He reached forward with his hand and grabbed the tip of the false horn in his fingers. 

“AAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHAAAAAA!!!!!” Soarin cried out as the magic sparked and jolted out of control around the horn. Discord didn’t even flinch as the magic snapped and clawed at his hand. With one solid yank, Discord moved the horn back into the proper place. 

Soarin felt like an explosion went off in his brain as if his whole skull had been shifted. And then the pain instantly ceased, leaving not a single trace of discomfort behind. Unfortunately, his mind was still completely battered by the experience. His hazy vision grew hazier as he slowly collapsed to the ground.

“What the devil was that?!” Soarin heard a male voice. 

“We do not know!” Luna’s voice came from around the throne. Soarin caught the sights of three different, completely blurry ponies and Luna step around the throne.

“Soarin?!” a female voice called his name.

Then he completely passed out.





What had happened to Soarin? 

Dash couldn’t keep her mind off of it. She may have been far away, but she saw most of it. She saw the sparking blue light shoot from him as Blaze tried to touch the fake horn on his head. She didn’t get much of an explanation from him on what was going on in his body, but seriously, what was wrong? What happened to him?

The third test was still finishing up, but Dash took absolutely no notice of the rest of the runs. She was too busy thinking about her stallion. She wanted to go with him. She wanted to make sure he would be okay. She trusted everything would be fine with Fire Streak and Misty Fly helping him, but what really struck her was the way Fleetfoot acted. Fleetfoot gave Dash a stern order. Being serious was something Fleetfoot almost never did. Something had to be up if she was taking it seriously. Dash wanted to know! She felt like she had the right to know! This was Soarin they were talking about… you know… her lover!

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?”

Dash cringed at the sharp, bitchy voice. She half expected to see Arctic glaring at her when she turned, but as she moved she saw something much worse. 

Arctic Blast was glaring down at Derpy. Derpy had almost completely contorted herself into a ball towards the ground as Arctic imposed her will upon her.

“I… I don’t know! I didn’t mean…” Derpy shivered beneath Arctic’s ice cold stare.

“HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HIM?!?!” She yelled again, nearly spitting on Derpy in the process.

“I… I…” tears began to well up in Derpy’s eyes.

OH.

HELL.

NO.

“HEY!” Dash yelled, sharply turned, and glared at Arctic before making her way over. She grabbed Arctic’s shoulder and forced her to look at her. “What the hell is WRONG with you?!”

“With me? ME?!” Arctic pressed her hooves to her chest then pointed at Derpy. “She PUNCHED Soarin! MY SOARIN!” 

“Derpy did NOTHING!” Dash spat back, resisting the urge to punch Arctic in the face for calling Soarin 'her stallion' again. “Take your self-centered bullshit elsewhere!”

“Psh!” Arctic rolled her eyes and looked back to Derpy. “I can’t BELIEVE you would do such an awful thing!” she talked down to Derpy, completely ignoring Dash. Derpy began to whimper and Dash was quickly losing her cool.

“Hey! Back off!” Storm Front suddenly stepped over Derpy, shielding her underneath him and flaring his wings out defensively. Arctic raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Oh, look at this white knight!” Arctic glared at Storm. A crowd of cadets was beginning to form around them, mostly due to backing off from the scuffle. Arctic pointed at Derpy again. “Are you all taking pity on this dumb bitch cause of her ugly wall-eyed face?!”

Dash snapped.

“THAT’S IT! I’M GONNA—”

A hoof landed on her shoulder, followed by a loud yawn.

“No,” a nonchalant voice spoke. Dash turned to see High Winds holding her shoulder. Before Dash could say anything else, Winds pulled her aside and approached Arctic. She grabbed Arctic’s arm and started forcefully dragging her away.

“HEY! What did I do?!” she barked as she tried to rip free from Winds’ grip. She failed miserably and Winds pulled her out of earshot of everypony save for Dash.

“Enough,” Winds put plainly before yawning again and looking at Arctic as sternly as she could with her sleepy expression. 

“Enough WHAT?!” Arctic threw her hooves up.

“Bitching,” Winds blinked and cracked her neck.

“Excuse me?!”

“I said bitching.”

“I KNOW! But what about her?!” Arctic pointed back towards Derpy. “Did you see what she did?!”

“Yes.”

“And you’re not doing anything?! She punched MY stallion!” Arctic repeated to Winds. Winds just blinked again. “Seriously, you have to do something abou—,”

“Sorry, all I’m hearing right now…” Winds paused to yawn. “Is, blah, blah, blah… I’m a whiney little skank that takes it in the ass,” she said with a completely calm, straight face. Arctic’s body froze so hard it was a surprise the sound of glass breaking didn’t echo from her. Her mouth hung open and her eyes grew in disbelief.

“Whoa, there!” Blaze hovered down while chuckling. “I think you’ve made your point Windy, I’ll just stop you while you’re ahead.”

“Okay,” Winds replied calmly as Blaze turned her around and the two flew off, leaving Arctic behind with High Winds’ words still sinking in.





Dash had heard the whole thing and was trying not to burst out laughing. Not at Arctic’s expense… okay maybe a little bit at her expense… but more so at how BLUNT High Winds was to her. That ought to shut up Arctic for a while.

It only lasted a moment though, because Derpy suddenly came back to mind. She quickly turned around to see Derpy crying. The tears were gushing down her face. That horrible comment from Arctic really hit her hard. Dash would have moved in to comfort her, but Storm Front had beaten her too it. In fact he was already down with a wing and arm draped over Derpy before Dash even turned.

“Hey, don’t cry, I’m here,” he spoke softly to her as she sniffled.

“But… she… she said…” Derpy hiccupped and dug her eyes into her arm.

“Don’t listen to her, you have wonderful eyes,” he countered Arctic’s insult while rubbing his hoof gently on her back. Dash smiled and trotted up to Storm while eyeing the other cadets that were watching. She bent down and whispered to Storm.

“You’re a great guy. Thanks,” she smiled at him. “Stay with her, I’ll get this crowd away.”

“Alright,” Storm nodded. 

“Okay, break it up, BREAK IT UP!” Dash turned to the cadets and threw her hooves out. “Nothing to see here! Get lost!” she barked at them as they all moved away. “HEY! I said get lost!” She pointed at one cadet that didn’t move before trotting over and pushing him away. 

Dash turned and looked back at Storm as he comforted Derpy. While the sight made her happy and made her feel more than ever like she could trust Storm, she had to look away. It only made her think of Soarin.

Seriously… what the hell happened to Soarin? Was he hurt? Was something else wrong? She didn’t give a damn what was wrong actually, she just knew something wasn’t right and he had been injured in some way. She wanted to comfort him. The sight of Storm over Derpy only reminded her that she was unable to go to Soarin’s side.

She hoped nothing bad had happened or was happening.

--- To Be Continued ---