//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: A New Purpose // by Sparky Brony //------------------------------// “Nick, look out!” Twilight screams. I can feel how much magic has been drained from me by the changeling as I bounce into the air to avoid a swipe from one of the bugs. As I’m in the air, a vivid green lightning bolt slams into the bugs, then a second one hits, I land and look at Twilight, smiling. She growls as she opens up yet another pen, she moves towards a unicorn sitting there, she touches her horn to his, “This is the way home.” She murmurs as her horn’s aura envelopes his, “Hurry.” Thousands of ponies are on their way back to Equestria now, we’ve been slowly working our way to the citadel. We are climbing the mountain now. I look ahead of us, some sort of structure encapsulates the summit of the mountain, “What are we going to do when we get there?” Twilight continues to walk slowly, deliberately, her head rotating around, “This place is so unlike home.” She murmurs. I shudder, “I’ve never known magic until I got here. But I think my world has more magic than this one does.” I flap my wings, smiling at the sharp glance I get from Twilight as she notices my wings, I shrug, “I want to fly, Twilight.” Surprisingly, she chuckles, “I’ll be you do, Nick. Just a little longer and you should be able to. But we aren’t in Equestria, the magic you use, the magic that we all use, comes from everywhere. Our life force, the air, the sun, the moon, it imbues Equestria. Here…” She scuffs the ground as she continues walking, “You have to wait for your own natural reserves to replenish on their own.” I cock my head to the side, “How?” She smiles, I actually enjoy many of her lectures, learning has become a joy to me in the last year, rather than the bore it was for me when I was on Earth, “Well, Nick it all comes down to…” Her eyes widen as her ears perk forward, “Nick, fly!” She screams. I turn forward to see a bug rushing at me. Twilight is fast, and her lightning reaches out at it. Only to be absorbed by some kind of field over the carapace of the bug. I rear up and strike it with a hoof, it doesn’t have have any face that I understand, it’s eyes are set back, with wicked claws all around them. Its strength is amazing as it pushes me back. I flap my wings to bring up my rear legs to strike it. I slam my hooves into it with everything I’ve got. Only to be slammed to the ground by the bug. It lifts a leg and it seems like slow motion as I watch the leg hit my chest, not even slowing down, the leg slices through my chest, continuing through to emerge out of my back. I stare at what is impaling me for what seems like a long time, I weakly flap my wings and push on the leg with everything I have. The adrenaline is going too strong, I don’t feel a thing, but I know this is fatal. I scream as I strike with all four hooves, trying to get it to let me go. I feel my strength starting to fade as I watch my blood splash on the bug. Finally it lifts the leg that has me on it, shaking it hard I’m tossed across the ground, rolling several times, I end up against a boulder. Though I count it lucky, I’m able to see Twilight as the bug stalks towards her. “Twilight, run away.” I whisper, it’s all I can do at this point. Though I’m surprised, there still is no pain. A green beam impacts into the bug, staggering it. Chrysalis leaps at it, her wings fluttering as she slams into it physically, the bug catches her and she starts to struggle in its grip. Twilight screams in rage, the bug focuses on her. It slams Chrysalis down to the ground and steps toward the alicorn. I watch the tears flow from her eyes as she continues to bellow, in slow motion as the bug rears up to strike her down the way it did me. Then everything turns white. A white bar of liquid fire slams into the bug. Its colors turn opposite for just a moment, like it’s turned into a photographic negative. Then it breaks apart into dust which fades rapidly away. I touch my chest, looking at the unblemished fur. I bend my head down, I could have been certain that I had just been impaled through my chest. I shake my head hard, only to have Twilight tackle me, “Oh, Nick.” She murmurs as she holds me. “What did you do?” Chrysalis screams at Twilight, who silences her with a glare as she turns to me. “I could have sworn…” I start, only to have her wingtip placed against my lips. “That…” She looks at where the bug was, then back at me, “that was balefire. And now you can see why it’s forbidden.” I shake my head so hard my ears flop, “Huh?” She lets me get to my hooves again, and starts walking, “After that, they’ll try to figure out what to do, but there is nothing to be done against balefire.” She sighs, “They were able to adapt to the magic lightning, but balefire is a whole different threat.” “I don’t understand, Twilight.” She smiles, “Balefire essentially is fire so hot that it doesn’t just burn you way, it burns you out of time itself. The thread of life that was you, is burned back in time, so what was hit actually ceases to exist before it was hit.” She shakes her head, “That’s why you were impaled, you were fatally hurt, and now you are fine.” “But, I distinctly remember getting hit.” She nods, “Only memories remain, Nick.” She nuzzles me quickly and continues walking, picking up her pace to a trot, which I copy. I shake my head, trying to understand, “How far back in time did you burn that bug?” “Balefire’s affect is based on the strength of the caster, and how much strength they used in the weave.” I look at her, I know how strong she is, “So…?” “Probably a few days. A week at most. I’m one of the strongest ponies alive, and I was understandably using every bit of power I could muster on it.” I shake my head, “Wow.” “That is why the spell is banned. A few thousand strong spellcasters using balefire in a single battle could unravel reality, when entire towns suddenly no longer exist, and haven’t for days, or weeks, or longer. The chain reactions from something like that could destroy our world.” I nod, “That is scary, Twilight.” She nods, “Celestia has some serious penalties for using that spell. Though I’m using it in defense of Equestria, and I’m not really in Equestria, at the moment.” “Serious penalties?” Chrysalis screams, she seems to have gotten over her paralysis from Twilight, “You would have to have your horn removed for that. The penalty is the permanent loss of your magic.” Twilight smirks at the changeling queen, “Then be glad I’m using it here, and I’m not using it on you.” Chrysalis swallows a few times and steps back. I wink at Twilight, “I think Celestia would be able to forgive you for that.” She nudges me with a wing as we get to a set of stairs heading up into the citadel itself, “I hope so, but I don’t know if she would condone what I’m about to do. You ready to fly?” I spread my wings, “I’ve been waiting for you to say that, love.” We take flight, though only a few moments in the air have me feeling like I’ve been flying for hours. We slam through the doors into the large building. We end up skidding on the polished stone as we land. Hundreds of bugs are in here. But one stands out, she’s larger than the others, and as far as I’m concerned, more evil looking as well. Several bugs rush towards us, Twilight lights her horn, “You know what I can do. Stop now or I will fire on the Queen.” Several bugs get in between us and the Queen, Twilight takes to the air, and I stay with her, she keeps her charged horn aimed at the Queen, “Right now, I just want to talk, you talk to me, you might live.” She calls out. I look back, Chrysalis is hovering behind us, by the look on her face, she’s terrified, and the bug queen speaks, though it’s not with my ears that I hear her, but somehow in my head, In answer, Twilight sends out a pencil thin bar of balefire, it strikes a half dozen of the bugs. The process takes longer, but every single one has the colors invert, and they slowly crumble into dust and fade away. She gives them a few seconds, “Would you like a taste of this, Queen?” The bugs are all still for a long time. I keep an eye on Twilight as she watches the bug Queen patiently. With their odd shape, the workers are all angles and sharp edges, the queen is more rounded. I presume she’s like bugs that I’ve known, with a queen who lays eggs, and the rest do all the work. Though these bugs are intelligent, so I don’t know. The bug queen shuffles forward and the rest of the soldiers and workers move to the periphery of the room. Allowing us a clear space to land. I look at Twilight and Chrysalis, and we finally land. The bug queen is silent a long time, then she shifts slightly, and again, I hear her voice in my head, Twilight growls, “Not acceptable, enough ponies have died to feed you. I am here to end this war.” I can only describe the sounds made in my head by the queen as some kind of laughter, Twilight’s ears fall, “So, you are saying that you will not stop, no matter what we do? No agreements can be made to make peace?” The bug queen moves forward, Twilight stomps a hoof on the floor, “That is completely different, plants are not intelligent, they don’t have thoughts and feelings. The animals some ponies consume are lesser creatures. They don’t have the level of intelligence that ponies have, and the ponies require the nutrients to survive. We don’t eat those with intelligence like ours.” Her voice rises, “We can’t have conversations with our food like you and I are conversing!” “You are a plague to ponies. I came here to end this war, and I will.” Again, that odd laugh in my head, My only warning is Twilight extending her wings. Once again, a liquid bar of fire slams into the bug queen, and beyond her, destroying many other of the bugs. As I blink the bright purple afterimage from my eyes, I can see Twilight and Chrysalis have taken to the air. I bounce into the air myself as dozens of bugs rush towards us. “Nick, hurry.” Twilight calls as she streaks towards the door. I catch up to Twilight and we speed towards the portal she had made. Landing, Twilight looks at me, tears flowing from her eyes, “I’m sorry I couldn’t give more warning, Nick. Talking with her wasn’t working. And given how they think of us.” She sighs, tears continuing to drip freely, “I don’t think it’s possible to compromise. We need to go home.” I look at the empty space that I know is the portal, “So, what are we going to do?” “I don’t know, hopefully the destruction of the queen will do as she says, put them into temporary disarray. I will have to talk to Princess Celestia. Maybe we can think of something.” She nudges me towards the portal, Chrysalis walks through and I follow, Twilight bringing up the rear. We step out of the portal, I look around, “What time is it?” Twilight takes a look into the sky and gasps, “Oh, dear sweet Luna, No!” Cloud Kicker comes up, nuzzling Twilight, “You certainly rescued a lot of ponies. I sent them south, I hope they will be okay. I think Luna is doing what she can to stop this. The moon came out and eclipsed the sun not very long ago.” Derpy and Sparkler come forward, “Twilight, did you end the fighting?” Sparkler asks. Twilight’s tears continue to fall, “No, I might have bought us some time. But I need to end this.” “But how?” Cloud Kicker says softly. Twilight stands there for a long time, her ears flicking back and forth. Then she brightens, “Princess Luna used the nightmare because it draws power from the moon, she has a lot more power than she usually does, right?” Cloud Kicker frowns, “If the legends are true, that is the case.” Twilight smiles, “I need to find Nightmare Moon.” Derpy sighs dejectedly, “Just listen for maniacal laughter.” Twilight takes a moment to nuzzle Derpy and Sparkler, then she moves over to me, “Nick, keep with me.” Then she hardens her glare, her horn lights and her aura encases the horn of the changeling queen. “And you, you will be unable to transform, and you will stay with Cloud Kicker, Derpy and Sparkler. They will take you to Canterlot. I will try to catch up when I can.” She looks at me and spreads her wings, I smile. Once getting back to Equestria, my energy seems to have multiplied. I can keep up with her, now. We shoot off into the sky.