C-R-O-W-N-E-D S-O-U-L

by Mordy

Ch. 6 Castle Crasher

I had developed some very odd eating habits since I started living with Fluttershy. Not the kind where you devour everything like a slob or in the case of one particular pony, Twilight. It had more to do with my choice of methods as to how I ate. For example it would be similar to how some nobles would scrutinize an hors d’oeuvres before eating the treat. Well mine, like every other little miniscule thing I did, caught Twilight’s attention. Though, it was only because Fluttershy told her in passing.

The pegasus hadn’t been too keen on letting Twilight near me since our little Lesson Zero mishap. Fluttershy only agreed to this examination because she would be nearby to make sure Twilight didn’t do anything… drastic. That and she was a bit concern with my habits as well. I didn’t see why, it was just me having fun.

I was currently without my wardrobe and gloves so I was “naked” as you could say. I was bouncing up and down while leaning left and right in a mock stretch motion with my ears. Fluttershy and Twilight were sitting before me watching intently while Angel was off to the side eating his breakfast. The lavender mare ready to take notes and before me was bowl of salad mixed with vegetables.

Ladies and gentlemen! I thought out not really caring that I couldn’t be heard. Children of all ages! Come watch, as the amazing dark matter formally known as Magolor devours this simple salad using only his nonexistent ass!

I jumped high while doing a somersault before landing on my rear and made faux munching sounds while the lettuce and veggies were absorbed into me and yes, I could taste it still. The sight made Twilight’s jaw drop and Fluttershy just stared wide eyed. Angel was in mid bite of his own salad as he grimaced in disgust, quickly losing most of his appetite.

When I finished my meal I rolled backwards and let off a little cheer as the empty bowl shook for a moment before steadying itself. I took that time to absorb the shocked looks of the mares’ faces with glee.

“So… umm… should I be concerned by this?” Fluttershy asked as she turned her attention to Twilight.

Twilight was still shocked with a nasty eye twitch. “I… I guess not. I think he would know if that was bad for him to do that.”

I would? I merely do it for fun, could be killing me for all I know.

“It’s probably nothing to worry about. It’s just really weird is all.”

“Oh, I’ve seen some stranger stuff from him,” Fluttershy added.

“Really, like what?” Twilight had to ask.

“Like that.” Fluttershy pointed over to me and when Twilight looked her eye twitch got even worse than before.

I was currently drinking from two glasses with straws filled with orange juice. The fun thing though was how I was drinking them. By placing the pointed tips of my ears to the straws and the orange liquid was hastily sucked through them.

Twilight gritted her teeth and looked like she wanted to blast me through a wall. “He’s doing this on purpose isn’t he?”

“Umm… maybe?” Fluttershy answered tentatively. That poor mare was so timid.

After finishing my OJ I hopped over to my clothes and gloves. The little hands popped to life and I was able to quickly dress myself before I started to float away, preparing to leave. I had an important mission today!

Twilight started to follow, but she got cut off by Fluttershy. The mare chided her, “Uh-uh, we agreed that you only get to watch Yami eat.”

“But Fluttershy–” Twilight’s argument died in her mouth when Fluttershy pulled out my hitting fan and glared at the mare, daring her to even argue. Twilight swallowed heavily and smiled sheepishly. “Though, I suppose he needs his space!”

With that, I was out the door and began to head into the Everfree Forest.

I had spent a lot of my time recovering enough energy to brave the journey to the Castle of the Two Sisters. Not so much as to fight my way, but to have enough magic to warp my way back to Ponyville should things go south. Not that I was really expecting to run into anything on the main road in broad daylight, but better safe than sorry.

The trip overall was surprisingly dull. I didn’t see a living thing besides the trees. I suppose my lack of attention from the beasts of the forest could have been attested to my absence of noise from me floating and the fact I wasn’t really made of meat. So, I counted this is a boon even if was a boring trip.

The most interesting thing to note was the old rickety bridge that lead over to the castle. It might have been nerve racking to cross if it wasn’t for the little detail that I could float, thus the bridge didn’t even sway from my presence.

It was when I crossed to the other side that I felt IT. A piece of my power was residing in the Castle of the Two Sisters. I was bouncing in the air with joy as I charged forward with reckless abandon. I couldn’t believe my luck! It was almost too easy. I wouldn’t think Celestia would be dumb enough to leave my glorious crown behind in her castle, but I recalled her leaving a lot of things that shouldn’t have been left alone without some more proper measures. Inspiration Manifestation anyone?

The location of my crown was a bit vague. I had a general direction, but not a precise location. There were quite a few pitfalls before I found my way. And I mean literally. This place was booby trapped from head to toe. Nothing lethal, but I couldn’t wonder how anyone like the sisters or their servants got around this castle in the past without getting caught in one of these security measures. Maybe there was switch or something to turn it off? Not that it would matter to me in a few moments.

You know that mixture of being both happy and sad at the same time when you learn some news that is a bit of a double edge sword? I was feeling that right about now. Though, I was feeling more of a mix of happy and bite the heads off of puppies kind of rage. The source of this odd melting pot of emotions was my crown. To be a bit more specific, it was the piece of my crown that I had just managed to locate.

My beloved crown had been torn into chunks and most likely scattered across Equestria. Overall, I think I was handling the news very well.

Applejack was bucking an apple tree when a roaring shout echoed across the field sending birds and fruit bats flying. She looked every which way as she swiveled her ears to try and locate the noise.

“What in tarnation…?”

Fluttershy and Rarity were in the middle of their weekly get together at Aloe and Lotus’ day spa when they heard the noise. The four ponies there looked around in confusion.

“Oh my, what is that sound?” Fluttershy inquired.

Rarity hummed for a moment. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was pure unadulterated rage…”

In another part of Ponyville Rainbow Dash was sleeping deeply to not be awoken by the roar, yet in her dreams she could still hear it as she was flying with the Wonderbolts. She was curious about the noise, but was too awesome to care.

Pinkie Pie was another story, she gasped in the middle of selling a pasty treat to a customer at Sugar Cube Corner. “Somepony is having a screaming match without inviting me?! No fair!”

Pinkie was ready to speed off when Mr. Cake stopped her, “Pinkie, we are in the middle of lunch rush, we don’t have time for your antics!”

The pink pony froze in midair for a couple of seconds before returning back to her duties. “Okie doki loki!” she replied with a cheery smile.

For Twilight, she and Spike were about to sit down to eat in the library’s kitchen when they heard it. Both of them blinked before Twilight asked the obvious question, “What in Celestia’s name is that?”

It took Canterlot a little while longer to hear the rage, but it eventually reached Celestia’s ears while she was in day court. The goddess’ face looked on in horror. “On no… please don’t tell me… is that Blueblood?! Dear mother I need to hide! I don’t have the patience to deal with him right now!”

Over in the Minotaur kingdoms one of their own, a judge in particular, was going over various documents when the dreaded scream reached him. He looked around and called out, “Denise? Denise! Is that my wife? Leave me alone! You already took the kids, what more do you want?!”

Magolor and the elements hopped off the train to head to the castle to meet Twilight’s brother and help prepare for the upcoming wedding when a loud scream of rage echoed through the station. Everyone looked around to try and locate it before it quickly passed on.

Magolor had one simple thought: Why does that sound so familiar?

Yeah, I think I handled the news fairly well.

Anyway, back to my current problem. I found my crown, but only a fractured piece of it. It was a golden horn that had chipped off from the original. Seeing as it was gold that meant the crown had reverted back to its old form when I lost it. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.

What was odd though was that the missing piece was floating in the air, perfectly still and glowing faintly. I believed the glow was from my presence, but that didn’t explain why the thing was just stuck over there near a collapsed wall. The rest of the room was bare except for a few broken bookshelves, tables, and a dusty old carpet.

With my anger simmering I merely shrugged and floated over to the first piece of my crown. I reached out and grabbed it… only for my detached appendage to pass right through it. I blinked in disbelief and reached out to grab it again only for the same thing to happen once more. My left eye twitched as I futilely tried to swiping at it with both of my hands.

The universe was being a real tease today…

I reached out with my magic to get a feel for the anomaly and it was quickly relayed to me what was wrong. My irritation towards what the problem was causing me to shake violently. So, as it turns out, my crown wasn’t actually there. Well, it was there, it just wasn’t there… in this universe.

Yeah, not only was my crown in pieces, but they might have even been blasted out into alternate realities. Just bloody wonderful.

I know what you’re thinking; at this point I might as well give up and just forget the whole ordeal. To which I would reply with a very respectable: screw you. I could still get this piece of my crown. I had enough power to warp me to Ponyville, but I could instead apply it to warping into the reality where my precious was.

This wasn’t without risk. It would be pretty much a one way trip and I wouldn’t be able to return without the horn to give me enough magical strength to get back. Maybe I should think this over before making the dive?

…Nah!

Examining floating piece, I was able to deduce what reality it lay in. The only thing I had to do now was find a structural weak point where this dimension was closely connected with the other dimension. Luckily, the room over through the broken wall seemed to have been very close with this other world.

I floated into the side room and spread my hands as a star shaped hole appeared before me. Inside was like a star filled sky if it had been splashed with rainbow paint. I paid it little mind as I jumped through.

Warping through dimensions for some can be nauseating, but for me it was very smooth, though incredibly tiring in my current state. It was like a long stretch acid color trip before a star shape light appeared at the end and I passed through.

I ended up in the same room as before, but it wasn’t as run down as it was in my dimension. The place was still abandoned by the looks of it, but was in far better shape than it had been.

I raised my hand as I pointed in the direction of my reward. Now to get my crown and– My train of thought was interrupted as I found myself pointing at a wall.

A wall that was no longer broken.

A wall that was currently barring me access to my crown.

A wall that I would be tearing down right now if I wasn’t magically exhausted.

I just glared with a half lidded gaze at the stone built structure as my eyes drifted over to a door just to my right. I floated over to it while grumbling out as I exited and followed the outside wall around to another door that I believed lead to the room that had my prize.

I entered and there it was. Sitting on bookshelf was the first piece of my first real step to reacquiring my power. This was going to be piece of cake!

I looked around as I started to float over to the shelf taking note that room was in excellent condition. I dare say that you wouldn’t have figured the place to be abandoned by the looks of it. It was intriguing, but I couldn’t care less with my goal in sight. So, I continued to float over.

Now, there’s something important you need to know about my ability to hover. It used a little bit of my natural magic to do, but required very little as long as I stayed close to the ground. The further away I am from the floor the more energy it requires until I’m pretty much using my magic to fly. That requires a lot of magic that I simply couldn’t output at this point in time.

Why was this relevant right now?

Because that was when the large trap door opened up from under me.

I immediately began to doggy paddle, breast stroke, and whatever other swimming style there was in the air in a cartoonish effort to reach my beloved crown. However, it was a futile endeavor and I could only cry a little as I screamed out and began to fall into the depths of the castle. And boy, what a long painful fall that was.

When I finally landed I bounced around like super ball against the walls, ceiling, and floor before coming to an agonizing rest as I found myself in a cell. Of course it sent me on a one way trip to the dungeons. That’s just peachy…

I groaned out as I sat up, not bothering to remain afloat. I then heard the clip clopping of a pony coming down the hallway and I rubbed my head at the thought of how much a headache this was going to be.

As the clopping got closer, a gray stallion with an even grayer long wizards beard stepped in front of my cell.

What?

A stallion that was wearing a star studded cape with a wizards cap also filled with stars and gold jingling bells.

What?

The stallion then spoke to me, “I’m Starswirl the Bearded, who and what are you?”

WHAT?!