Marble Magic

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Fourteen: The Chase

“The Everfree Forest!” The group all cried in unison.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Why do ponies always have to shout the name at the same time? It’s not like we haven’t been there a dozen times before. I mean even Trixie’s been in there a few times.”

Trixie gave Rainbow Dash a dirty look. “Isn’t that where you tried to break my nose?”

Per usual Rainbow Dash completely ignored her. “Anyway, I got to catch up with Pinkie Pie, Starlight you bring Spike or whatever and look too. The more search parties we have the better right?”

Starlight nodded. “That’s right, we’ll do our part.”

Rainbow Dash turned around and flew out the way she came. “Just hurry, that storm is getting worse.”

For several moments after the mare left nopony spoke. They all sat in silence and stared at the map. Trixie couldn’t tell what the others were thinking, but if she had to guess they were all coming to the same conclusion that she had. If Marble was in the Everfree Forest, the only shelter from the storm would be the castle… where Baast was.

“We have to hurry,” Trixie said as she pushed herself up.

Starlight nodded. “I’ll go with you. Marigold, can you go fill in Twilight and gather the rest of the mane six?”

“I can do one of those things,” Marigold said. “And I can get Rarity, after that I can’t promise much. We’ll meet up at the castle then?”

Starlight nodded. “I’ll use a detect life spell in the forest on the way. If she’s in there, we will find her.”

“If Baast has her,” Trixie said quietly.

“Then we will kick Baast to the curb and take her back!” Starlight said. “Nopony hurts my friends. We’re going to get Marble back.”

Trixie nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

“No it sounds like suicide, but Twilight always says that friendship will prevail in the end, let’s put that to the test shall we?”

“Be careful you two, I don’t know if either of you have noticed it but there’s a lot of dark magic going around here,” Marigold said.

Now that her mother mentioned it, Trixie could feel the dark magic. It was like a cold whisper at the back of her head, it was reminding her of the loss of her home and how useless she was to defend against it. Dark magic brought with it all the negative emotions and made those already present stronger. Trixie thought back to Guile’s words on the subject. “Dark magic breads strife.”

“Anypony notice an increase in violence, fighting, or hatred?”

Starlight frowned. “Pinkie Pie has been acting a little… aggressive.”

“If she’s being affected by it, than you might need to be extra careful. From what I’ve seen, she’s close to the edge. She’s about to go gray, and I think she’s bringing Rainbow Dash down with her. Be extra careful around those two, dark magic can be an ugly thing to deal with, especially in friends or family,” Marigold explained.

Starlight nodded. “We will. I’m sure that if I just talk to her I can help. It’s Pinkie Pie, she might be a little off right now, but I’m sure that I can help her.”

“I hope that’s true.”

Starlight led Trixie out of the map room and into the hallway. They paused briefly and Starlight grabbed a heavy cloak for the two of them. After putting it on and dawning her hood they walked out into the rain. The weather out here was complete crap. Rain was coming down in buckets and within seconds Trixie felt like she had picked up fifty pounds of extra weight. That didn’t stop her or even slow her down. It was just a minor annoyance to deal with before she could save her marefriend.

The pair went straight for the Everfree Forest, there were at least five other search parties there. Trixie had to stop when she saw two ponies that she knew. Trixie approached the couple and said, “Lyra, Bonbon, what are you two doing here?”

Lyra grinned. “We heard that you’re marefriend was lost in the woods. So of course we would come to help.”

“They aren’t marefriends yet,” Bonbon said. Trixie looked down at the muddy earth. “Or are they?”

“We were, and then Pinkie Pie took her away.” Trixie let out a sigh. “That’s why she ran away, she just wanted to be with me and Pinkie Pie wouldn’t let her.”

Bonbon looked a little ashamed. “Rarity told us she had a plan, and that all we had to do was… nevermind. It looks like Rarity might have told her to run away.”

The image of shoving a hoof down Rarity’s throat appeared in Trixie’s mind. “That cur! How dare she do that. Rarity had to know that Marble wouldn’t be able to handle the forest!”

“I don’t know, I don’t even know if she really did that,” Bonbon said. “It just seems likely… I’m so sorry, all we did was tell Pinkie Pie we saw a gray mare going into the forest… is Marble gray?”

“Yes she’s gray! She is gray and perfect!”

“Then I think that Rarity helped, you better hurry and go on ahead. We’re still trying to sort out a search plan, and Amethyst is late. You go on ahead and we’ll come after you. Just beat Pinkie Pie to her,” Bonbon said.

“Why?”

“Because when you get her, I think the two of you may want to elope together. Just don’t forget to stop by and say goodbye to us,” Bonbon said.

“Yeah, get your filly, run away, and get married,” Lyra said. “We believe in you.”

Trixie smiled. “Trixie is not running away with her… but it’s nice to know you care.”

Starlight walked past her. “Come on.”

Trixie followed. “Thanks for the help, fillies.”

“No problem,” Bonbon said.

“Good luck,” Lyra added.

Just like that, Trixie and Starlight entered the Everfree Forest and what little light they did have was almost immediately cut off. Thankfully both Trixie and Starlight used their magic to create orbs of light, Trixie’s shined purple-white light on everything around her, and Starlight’s teal. Using the light they easily navigated the woods. Determined to do their utmost to find and rescue Marble before anything bad could happen. Or if need be, to fight a cat demigod and take back Marble by force.

There were no paths in the forest, and all they could do was head straight. Trixie had no idea where they were going, everything was dark, murky, and terrifying. Things continuously moved just out of sight, shadows scurried out of sight whenever Trixie tried to look at them. Starlight moved with confidence, which helped. At least Trixie was sure that the mare knew where they were going.

At some point Starlight stumbled over a rock but caught herself just in time. She turned around and looked at the rock. Trixie followed her gaze. The ground here wasn’t just mud, there was cobbled stone scattered about the ground and the trees were less thick in two directions.

Starlight smiled. “This is the old road leading to the castle. You should have seen it a thousand years ago. The forest wasn’t as thick nor as dangerous. Ponies would travel up and down it all day and night, including earth ponies, pegasi, unicorn, and even bat ponies. Ponies of all shapes and sizes, of various wealth, and even a few other races like dragons would come to pay homage to the two sisters. I even saw Starswirl here once.”

“You… what?” Trixie asked.

“Don’t tell Twilight,” Starlight said. “She would be upset if she found out I was messing around with time out here. Mostly I just view different time periods and don’t actually visit them… then I saw Starswirl.”

“You actually met him?” Trixie asked.

“Yeah, and he was fantastic! He was so worried about the empire after Luna’s fall, but I explained to him about the legendary heroes who took the mantle of the Elements of Harmony, and boy did that cheer him up,” Starlight said.

“So you just stay out here messing around with the time stream all day?”

“Uh… I told you I practiced spells out here, right?” Starlight said. “So it’s not like I lied or anything.”

Trixie shook her head. “Okay, well, that explains why you know this forest so well. Now find me Marble.”

“You won’t tell?”

“Why would I?”

“Thank you, Trixie,” Starlight said. “When this is over I’ll take you two out here and show you the glorious empire sometime.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

Starlight faced one direction and took off. Trixie followed behind closely. Since it was less dense on the old road they were able to move much more swiftly and freely. It was good that Starlight was here, she knew the forest better than Twilight ever could because she had seen the old world and watched it develop. The idea was absolutely insane, but if Starlight was capable of that, then fighting Baast should be nothing.

Thunder crackled overhead, but the lightning flashes hardly reached the forest. The darkness here was unnatural. Trixie could feel the coldness in this forest, a deep chill that started at her horn and went all the way down the length of her spine. There were things in here, dark magic things.

Starlight stopped, and Trixie nearly bumped into her. Starlight’s eyes darted around wildly. “Something is wrong.”

“What?”

“Shh…” Starlight looked very carefully around them.

So did Trixie, but there was nothing around them but plants, mud, rocks, road, and bones. Trixie’s heart skipped a beat when she saw the bone pile. They weren’t pony bones, too small for that. It was some sort of small creature, but what kind of creature was beyond her imagining. Gray goop seeped out of the mud and Trixie took a few steps back with a shriek.

Starlight did the same. “What is that?”

The goo covered the bones and pulled them into its mass. Slowly the goop pulled itself up and took the shape of something vaguely cat like. Standing on all fours it looked at them with a large grin. “Mrow?”

Trixie blinked. “Do you speak cat?”

“Do I look like Fluttershy?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Trixie said.

The slime-cat took a shambling step forward, it nearly collapsed. It’s body jiggled like horrific jello with each step, threatening to complete fall apart but never once doing so. Trixie gulped as Starlight’s horn lit up and a blast of teal energy smote the creature where it stood. The goop splattered on the ground and the bones fell lifelessly to the ground.

“Darn it,” Starlight said. “That’s more than normal slime monsters. I think it’s undead.”

“What?”Trixie asked. Guile’s words ran through the back of her mind. “Dark artifacts are usually surrounded by two things. Death, and strife.”

Trixie growled. “Great, now Trixie really owes him. The stave must be close by if it’s causing undead to rise.”

“Yeah… but why would she just raise some undead cats…” Starlight looked up just as lightning flashed. Trixie saw the castle in the distance. They were close.

“It looks like we’re going in the right direction,” Trixie said.

“I bet that even Pinkie and Rainbow aren’t this far yet,” Starlight said. “Since they didn’t know about the roads it took them nearly six hours to find the castle the first time.”

“Well let’s get going, Trixie is saving Marble first!” Trixie exclaimed.

They took off in a full gallop toward the castle. The road got less and less dense until finally they broke out into a hillside. Just ahead of them was an old wooden bridge, the one used to cross over to the castle. They jumped on it and dashed across. They reached the ruins and quickly got out of the rain and under the protection of the cracked roof. Rain dripped from every direction and although an improvement from the outside, it was still wet. Trixie and Starlight kept their cloaks’ hoods drawn.

Trixie turned around and her face bleached. Two other ponies raced across the bridge behind them. Both Starlight turned to face them as well. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash stopped just short of them, both of them wore rain coats.

Starlight took her hood off and Trixie followed in her example. Starlight waved. “Hey, looks like you’re finally here.”

“YOU!” Pinkie Pie shouted while thrusting a hoof at the two. “You’re working together?”

“Uh, duh,” Trixie said. “Trixie and Starlight make the perfect team.”

“Yeah,” Starlight agreed. “A pair of unicorns like us and can do whatever we want.”

Pinkie Pie threw her head back. Her mane was flat, long and straight. Her fur had lost most of the vibrant color it once held and was much closer to gray. There was a fiery rage in her eyes that Trixie had never seen from the mare before. She spat to the side. “I can’t believe you would do this. Starlight we were friends, or at least I thought we were… working with Trixie to fillynap my sister, that’s low, even for you.”

“What?” Starlight asked dumbly.

“Don’t be rude, you’ve already taken my family,” Pinkie said.

Rainbow Dash landed on all fours and took her hood off. The rainbow mane was less than colorful. “Are you sure that’s what’s going on?”

“Honestly, Rainbow Dash, you know how similar these two are. Are you telling me that it’s impossible for them to fall back to their old ways? Become evil again and hurt us worse than ever before? This storm, those undead cat things, and my sister’s disappearance are all linked together and it’s because of them!” Pinkie Pie explained.

Rainbow Dash looked back at the two. Her fur darkened before Trixie’s very eyes.“She makes a good point. It’s kinda odd that you two would be here at the center of the storm, just as everything is going wrong… I’m going to have to ask you to surrender and give yourselves in. If you’re innocent then we’ll sort it out, but right now I can’t trust you.”

“Are you serious?” Starlight asked.

“Yes,” Rainbow Dash said, she pawed the earth and lowered her head. A fierce grin spread over her lips. “I still have a score to settle with both of you, so just go ahead and make my day.”

“You two are nuts!” Starlight said. Her horn lit up teal and she lowered her head. “Besides you have no chance against us.”

Pinkie Pie frowned. “You’re right.” She opened up her saddlebags and pulled out a present wrapped in pink wrapping. “Can we pay you for my sister’s return?” she tossed the present over to Starlight. The mare caught it in her telekinetic grasp. “I know I can’t win in a fight, but she really means a lot to me. Go ahead and be evil but let me take my sister back, please.”

Starlight looked at the gift. “Uh… I’m not holding her hostage.” She began unwrapping in. “So thanks for the present, I guess, but I’m not-“

The present exploded in cloud of powder. Trixie rolled over to the side and covered her face just in time to avoid most of it. However Starlight stood still, covered in white powder and staring distantly like she wasn’t there. When she fell over completely limp, Trixie’s heart stopped.

“You’re gift is a good nap,” Pinkie Pie said excitedly. “With that much powder you’re going to be out for twenty four hours at least.”

Trixie stared up at them. “You drugged her!”

Pinkie Pie grinned. “She’s got enough power to defeat Celestia and Luna at the same time if she wanted too, of course I drugged her. How else could I win?”

Trixie stood up. “She trusted you, you ugly, fat, hideous, annoying, loud mouthed, foul breathed, monster!”

Pinkie’s smile widened. “Those were exactly the words I was looking to hear. Rainbow Dash, be a dear and capture her would you. I got something I want to do to her, that require a rope, a feather, and a two liter of soda.”

“Uh… what?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Just catch her.”

“Fine.”

Trixie did the only thing she could at that point, she turned around and bravely ran the most opposite direction, deeper into the castle. There was no way she could get far, or for long, but she could try. Pinkie Pie was absolutely insane, and Rainbow Dash was violent. Trixie vowed to come back for Starlight as soon as she found Marble and rescued her. For now though, being caught would ruin the only chance she had to save her marefriend. So she galloped for her life.

Her heart beat hard, and her legs burned. She continued going, and when she heard the dreadful sound of wings flapping behind her she knew her time was up. So with a last ditch effort her horn began to glow and the walls all closed in around Trixie. She heard Rainbow Dash let out a curse and looked back just long enough to watch the walls fully close behind her, blocking off Rainbow’s path.
 
Trixie didn’t stop running. It would only take the pegasus a few moments to realize it was all an illusion and the walls hadn’t actually closed up. So she galloped into the nearest opened room and hid. She made the doorway disappear only to be replaced by more wall. For all intents and purposes the room she was in didn’t exist.

A few seconds later did she hear Rainbow Dash screaming, “You cheater! That wall wasn’t real! I’m going to so get you for this.” She heard the air whoosh as the mare flew by at impossible speeds. Trixie stayed hidden and didn’t once move or breathe. The last thing she wanted to do was reveal her hiding stop. So long as she stayed hidden, Rainbow Dash couldn’t hurt her, and Pinkie Pie wouldn’t torture her.

Still, this left the issue of Starlight Glimmer and what she could possibly do about it. The mare was literally the best if not only weapon they had against Baast and now she was down and out for the count. That meant Trixie was on her own in a dangerous castle, being chased by two extremely dangerous and crazed mares, and left to face the powerful demigod that held her lover and her friend captive all alone.

This situation really couldn’t get any worse.

Marble was in the dark, she couldn’t see, and it was nearly impossible to hear anything over the sound of the rain and thunder. It would all be okay, that’s what Rarity promised. She and Trixie would be together soon, as soon as Pinkie Pie learned her lesson. The blanket covering her head was lifted up by a light blue aura and Rarity stared down at her.

“Good news,” Rarity said. “She bought it.”

Marble smiled.

“Bad news is that Trixie bought it as well.” Rarity averted her eyes. “So Trixie is in the castle right now.”

“Also,” Marigold said as she walked into Rarity’s bedroom. “This means we’re the only ones left to save them. My daughter, your sister, and their friends. I know you’re scared, but do you think you can help us?”

Marble was shaking. The mere thought of not only Trixie, but Pinkie Pie being in trouble all because she tried to get back at her sister was painful. Despite her fear of going out there, facing those ponies, and even worse the forest full of monsters. Marble knew she was responsible and had to make up for it.

Marble nodded. “Mmhmm.”