Chapter 5: Push, meet Shove
The music of warring steel pierced the air throughout the lowest chamber of the tower. A shuddering boom knocked fragments of mortar free from the ceiling as the entire structure trembled. A pair of pillars collapsed, one pitching over into the other, and kicked up a billowing cloud of dust. Applejack burst from the dirty haze, streams of it trailing after her as she ran full-tilt between two rows of columns. A short distance away, Rainbow Dash also shot from the smoke and began to parallel her. For several strides the two just ran, their focus split between watching where they were going and each other as pillars flicked past between them.
Rainbow made the first move, leaping up and springing off of a column with a flying slash of her swords. Applejack ducked under the attack and swung Winona up at an awkward angle, but a skillful midflight twist kept her from striking anything but air and Rainbow sailed past overhead. With a pained shout and an act of superhuman agility, she managed to land on another pillar feet first, legs coiling beneath her, before rocketing back in Applejack’s direction with her blades leading the way.
Applejack grimaced. Her hammer turned aside Rainbow’s high-speed double thrust, but she could do nothing to stop the flying girl’s momentum and was bowled over, the pair of them tumbling end over end. After two or three dizzying rolls they disentangled enough for Applejack to get one of her feet under her just as Rainbow landed face-down on the stone. She swept Winona along the floor, so low that it actually skipped off the ground, but Rainbow shoved off and popped herself back to her feet as the hammer passed, all while maintaining a firm grip on her weapons.
She leaped forward, swinging both blades down in another tandem attack, and caught a still-kneeling Applejack off balance. The cowgirl intercepted both swords with Winona’s long, sturdy handle, but positioned as she was she found herself at a disadvantage. Rainbow grit her teeth and pushed down on her with all her might. Applejack could feel Rainbow’s sporadic breath on her cheeks, and she was sure the swordswoman was feeling hers. Beads of moisture slid down their skin as their arms and weapons quivered, fighting for control with faces only inches apart.
The cowgirl surged forward, a searing pain erupting in her arms and upper back as she shoved Rainbow away from her with a sudden burst of strength. She lurched back to both feet and took a single step before her leg turned into jelly. She caught herself from falling only by planting Winona’s haft into the ground, leaning heavily on the weapon, and her breath came in rapid, labored pants as she looked up. Rainbow Dash stood just a few feet away, her arms hanging limply at her sides and her shoulders slumped forward as she too greedily gasped for air. She looked about as sweaty and bruised as Applejack felt, but still her eyes smoldered with focused determination.
A long moment passed while the two combatants caught their breath, Applejack’s steely emerald gaze immutably locked with Rainbow’s fire-filled magenta stare, but no words passed between them. There was no more room for trying to taunt, persuade or intimidate each other. This was a battle of wills now, and neither woman was planning to lose.
Hefting Winona into a proper fighting grip, Applejack started forward again even as Rainbow took one last deep breath and charged, closing the gap between them with a guttural battle cry.
The steel song was far from over.
Spellbinder’s mind went blank. A sudden wave of panic washed away every thought except those of the sleek purple claws that were rapidly descending toward his head. He jerked away reflexively, but nevertheless Spike’s talons sliced a trio of long, deep cuts into the left side of his face. Blood spattered across the floor and stained the covers of a pile of nearby books as the mage unleashed a short, wordless scream and staggered backwards, bumping into a still-suspended Twilight and careening off to one side.
Spike’s hulking form growled and stalked after him, giant tail swishing from side to side and toppling mounds of books in his wake. He reared up again to deliver another blow to Spellbinder, who was practically doubled over and clutching at his face with one hand in a useless attempt to try and stem the bleeding as it stained his formerly pristine white robes. The mage suddenly lashed out with his other hand, and a bright bolt of yellow magic struck Spike in the chest. The pseudo-dragon howled as he stumbled back, but the blast appeared to do little more than singe his thick scales. Spellbinder started to cast again, but grimaced and gripped his bleeding face harder as the spell fizzled on his fingertips.
Recovering swiftly, Spike hunkered down on all fours and prepared to leap at the wizard, who finally let go of his injury so that he could point a single finger glowing with magic at a simple gold band wrapped around the middle digit of his other hand. Twilight and Pinkie gasped as they both got their first good look at Spellbinder’s wounded face, where one of the claws had gouged straight through his left eye. The hatred raging in the eye that remained burned itself into their memories.
“Twilight Sparkle,” he spat, as if her very name was poison. He touched the ring just as Spike pounced, and a blinding flash filled the room. With spots in his vision, Spike sailed through the space where Spellbinder had just been and crashed tumultuously into the piles of books beyond. A moment later, the binding spell holding Twilight aloft and the bubble containing Pinkie both winked out of existence. The young mage fell to her hands and knees, coughing and sucking in air as fast as her sore throat and neck could accomodate.
“Holey guacamole!” Pinkie exclaimed as she rubbed her eyes. “Where’d he go?”
“I think that ring was enchanted with a recall spell,” Twilight said as she slowly stood, gently rubbing her wrists. “It teleported him to wherever the corresponding anchor spell was cast, which I’m guessing must be pretty far away since his other magic vanished as soon as he did.” She made her way over to the messy pile of books where her half-buried familiar was stirring. “Spike? Spike!” There was a minor bookslide as the purple beast pushed himself up and turned to face his master. “Are you ok?”
Spike’s eyes widened for a moment just before his whole body began to shake, and with burst of magic and an audible ‘pop’ he was cat-sized once again. He staggered back and forth, holding his head with both claws as his eyes rolled about haphazardly.
“Ugh… dizzy,” he managed before flopping forward into Twilight’s waiting arms. She gave a small laugh.
“I bet. Using that form takes a lot out you, and your timing couldn’t have been better. You hid before the fight started and waited for my signal just like we practiced. You saved my life Spike, and Pinkie’s too.” She pulled him into a gentle hug. “Thank you.”
“Thanks, Spikey!” Pinkie all but shouted as she popped up next to them and snatched the familiar up into a decidedly less-gentle grip, spinning the groaning creature around as she twirled on one foot and held him at arms’ length. “That was totally amazing! You were totally amazing! Me and Twilight got trapped and were all ‘oh, no’ and then that mean wizard was all ‘mwa ha ha’ and then you were all like ‘grrr’! And then you totally kicked his butt, pow!” She accented her last word with an energetic hop and another midair spin. By the time she landed, the color of Spike’s face nearly matched that of his spines.
“Ok,” Twilight quickly reclaimed her familiar, cradling him in her arms, “let’s put Spike down for now; preferably before he hurks up all the gems he had for lunch.” As soon as she said the words, Twilight’s face fell and her shoulders slumped.
“Oh, what’s wrong Twilight?” Pinkie asked. “You should be happy! We won!”
The other girl shook her head as she sank to her knees. “No, we didn’t. Professor Spellbinder escaped, and there’s no telling where he could be.” She stared at the ground as Pinkie got down alongside her. “We lost any chance we had at getting the Heartstone back.”
“Whaddya mean?” Pinkie asked, pointing to the floor a short distance away, and Twilight’s head swiveled in that direction.
There next to one of the few undisturbed stacks of books lay the Heartstone, its perfect round-cut facets glimmering against the low candlelight with a soft rosy hue all their own. For a long moment, Twilight just stared. Suddenly her eyes shot open and a sound that was somewhere between a shout and a laugh burst from her mouth.
“Spellbinder must have dropped it in the fight!” she said with a wide smile as she quickly handed Spike back over to Pinkie and all but scampered across the floor. “He must not have realized it either, or he never would have teleported out; I can’t believe it!” She reached out to claim the priceless jewel, practically tasting her apprenticeship to Celestia already.
The instant her fingers grazed the gem, the rest of Twilight’s world vanished.
Applejack had worked herself to exhaustion on the farm many times. She actually enjoyed the dull ache that came with muscles that had been pushed to their limits and beyond, knowing that it had been the result of a full day of honest work. The mixed, musky smells of dirt and sweat oftentimes brought up fond memories for her; memories of a simpler life she longed to return to. This was not one of those times.
Fond memories were the furthest thing from her mind as she leaned as far as she could without falling over backward, narrowly avoiding another of Rainbow Dash’s horizontal swipes but losing a bit more of her long hair in the process. She kicked out, landing a glancing blow to Rainbow’s side, and prepared to follow up with a swing from Winona when her foe spun suddenly to the right, and she was a fraction of a second too slow in getting her guard back up to prevent the blade from nicking her elbow. Applejack retreated a few steps until she was beside a column, trying to get outside Rainbow’s striking range for a moment, and glanced down at her new injury to make sure it wasn’t too severe.
She had half-a-dozen similar cuts ranging from her face, shoulders and upper arms, and one on her left thigh. None were deep enough to worry about by themselves, but together they were starting to slow her down. Luckily, while she had yet to land a decisive hit on Rainbow, the Cloudsdaler was going to be walking away with a few new bruises of her own, and from the way she was favoring her right leg it was clear the fight was taking it’s toll on her as well.
Injured or not, that didn’t stop Rainbow from darting in suddenly to take a stab at Applejack’s stomach. The sword never got anywhere close to making contact as Winona swatted it away, and the one that followed fared no better as Applejack stepped to the side, putting the column between them. Knowing that the swordswoman would pursue her, she set her left foot and spun in the same direction. Her hammer whipped around in a tight arc, demolishing the pillar in a single stroke and spraying the area Rainbow had to pass through in order to reach her with fragments of rock and masonry.
Applejack briefly glimpsed motion in the corner of her eye. She narrowly deflected Rainbow's sword with the plate on her right glove as her foe rounded the opposite side of the column, well clear of any stone shrapnel, but could do nothing to avoid the metal-clad shin that impacted her lower spine a moment later.
Applejack staggered away and very nearly toppled over as spikes of pain radiated through her upper body. She regained her balance, albeit on unsteady legs, and turned back to glare at Rainbow as pieces of the pillar came crashing down around them. She raised Winona just as an eardrum-splitting crack shook the room. Startled, they both looked up in unison and instantly spotted the titanic, room-spanning fissure that had appeared in the ceiling that was in places over a hand wide.
“Aw, hell,” Applejack said as she and Rainbow both realized what was happening, their eyes glancing around at the multitude of columns that laid in ruin.
“Great! Look what you did!” Rainbow said.
“Me?!” Applejack shot back. “This’s your fault for always jumpin’ and flippin’ out o’ the way at the last second!”
“Oh, like I’m gonna stand still and let you hit me with that oversized mallet!”
Applejack’s eyes flashed dangerously. “Why, you-!”
Another earth-shaking snap from above caused them both to jump. The break in the ceiling was now visibly wider.
“Uh,” Rainbow started cautiously, “maybe we oughtta think about getting out of here.”
“I ain’t goin’ without my friends!” Applejack turned and headed for the spiral staircase, but after only a few steps another loud crash threw her off balance. She skidded to a stop and shielded her face with one arm as a massive blast of dust and debris shot out from the arched doorway. She coughed twice as the air cleared, revealing that the stairs had been replaced by a pile of broken rubble.
“Aw, c’mon now!” she shouted at the rocks. “Is there any other way up?” She wheeled around, but Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen. Applejack grimaced just as another massive tremor shook the tower, causing a column near her to topple on its own. She looked back at the collapsed stairwell one last time before bolting in the direction she hoped the exit was.
She made it about a dozen running paces before she caught a glimpse of Rainbow’s distinctive hair between the passing columns off to her right. She had the unconscious body of Thunderlane over her shoulder and was frantically trying to lever the last slab of broken stone off of Snowflake. Without even thinking, Applejack reached out and grabbed the edge of the next pillar, slingshotting herself toward them without losing too much speed. She dropped Winona on the ground a few steps away and all but ran into the stone Rainbow was trying to lift.
“What are you doing?” she asked when Applejack suddenly appeared beside her.
“Helpin’, ya dolt!” She set her feet wide apart and gripped the underside of the slab, the muscles in her arms and back snapping taut as she strained against the weight. Rainbow stared at her for a split second before shifting Thunderlane off her shoulder and to the floor as gently as could be expected under the circumstances. She turned around and set her back to the stone next to Applejack, taking hold of the lower edge and bracing her legs.
“On three!” she shouted. Applejack nodded. “Three!”
The rock never stood a chance; the girls’ combined strength lifted it clear of Snowflake and toppled it over on its side in one fluid motion. Applejack grabbed the giant man by his leather bandolier and tugged him free of the remaining rubble with a grunt as Rainbow scooped Thunderlane back up and headed for the exit. Finding that Snowflake was, unsurprisingly, much heavier than his namesake, the cowgirl draped one of his thick arms over her shoulders and started dragging him along. She hooked a foot under Winona’s handle and tilted it up so she could grab on as she passed by, jogging after Rainbow as swiftly as possible.
“You sure this’s the way out?” Applejack asked, noting that she was headed in a slightly different direction than she thought they should, but before Rainbow could reply the whole tower began to quake with a steady vibration.
Rainbow swallowed and quickened her pace. “Hurry it up!”
“Easy for you to say,” Applejack yelled back, “you ain’t carryin’ the fat one!”
Darkness… darkness and vague bursts of light and color. At first they happened so fast that she couldn’t discern anything more than that, but everything gradually came into focus. They were images - people, places, and objects - all flashing by so quickly that she could scarcely identify one before it was replaced by the next. Yet somehow each one spoke to her, ephemeral emotions whispering of more than the images themselves ever could.
The grounds of Celestia’s Academy, abandoned and in disrepair. Pinkie Pie, weeping and laughing at the same time. A book, old and faded, with the golden head of a unicorn emblazoned on the cover. Trixie, staring at a grave with tears of rage in her eyes. A maze of some kind that smelled of danger. The girl from before - what was her name - Rainbow Dash, fighting for her life. A city in the sky, suspended between mountaintops.
Twilight...
A dark-skinned man with a sword made of vengeance and a soul heavy with regret. Princess Celestia, her heart splintered. Another city, this one buried beneath the earth, where something moved in the shadows. A radiant woman with flowing purple hair and a cunning smile. Her parents, overjoyed when she cast her first levitation spell. A great forge fueled by the heat of a volcano. Applejack, begging for forgiveness. Some kind of arena, the sandy ground soaked with blood. People with glowing eyes that oozed deception. Five gems, spiraling around a void that yearned to be filled. Another young woman in a forest, her pink hair a playground for nature’s creatures, but alone. Someplace hidden where breath misted in the air, with tall spires that shimmered in the weak light of dawn. Herself, and Spike in his larger form, in a cavern carved of naught but ice and desperation. The moon.
Twilight.
The vision of the moon lingered. She found herself floating before it now as it loomed larger and larger in her sight. The surface darkened, the shadows playing across it morphing into different shapes as they moved with their own will. They merged into a single mass that expanded and grew to cover nearly the whole lunar disk, twisting into the shape of a giant winged unicorn… an alicorn, she remembered. Remembered? No, she was certain she had never heard that word before.
Twilight!
The dark alicorn, now more than just a shadow, turned its head to look at her. Laughter pealed through the night, ripping the heat from her body and the breath from her lungs. The alicorn continued to laugh as it flapped its black wings, swooping up above her before diving down, pointed horn ready to skewer the life from her chest. She tried to scream, but the laughter drowned her out a thousand times over.
Twilight!
She gasped as her eyes snapped open to behold the concern-filled faces of Pinkie Pie and Spike leaning over her. The sound of her pounding heart filled her ears, and for a moment it felt like the organ was about to leap from her chest with each beat. Muscles ached everywhere, and there was a cold knot in her stomach much like the one she had experienced last month when she realized she had forgotten to plan time to study for one of her mid-year exams. She had the strangest recollection of some kind of flying shadow, but before she could think about it any more she realized that Pinkie was talking to her.
“What?” Twilight croaked out, her voice dry and hoarse. Just the effort of speaking made her head swim a little.
“She asked if you were ok,” Spike said. Twilight stared up at them for another moment before squeezing her eyes shut against a sudden stabbing in her temples.
“I don’t… I think so. What happened?”
“Oh, I don’t know!” Pinkie said as she took Twilight’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “First you were totally fine and smiling, and then when you touched that pretty gem there was a big magical whoosh and you just sorta fell over! We tried waking you up but we couldn’t even tell if you were breathing and I was so scared that you were gonna die and-”
“Ok, ok! I get it,” Twilight said as she swayed back and forth, still holding Pinkie Pie’s arms to keep her balance. “How long was I out?”
“A few seconds, maybe?” Spike offered.
“A few seconds?” Twilight repeated. “It feels like it took longer than that.”
“What did?”
Twilight was about to answer her familiar when a strange look of vacancy come over her. “I’m not sure. I… I think it was like a dream, but for some reason I can’t remember it at all now.”
“Aren’t dreams normally like that?” he asked.
Twilight shook her head. “No, it was- oh, nevermind, we don’t have time for this! Where’s the Heartstone?”
Spike pointed a short distance away and the three of them turned in sync just in time to see the glowing gem scooped up off the floor by the delicate hand of a woman wearing a form-fitting suit of pristine white leather. As she stood up she casually flipped part of her shining, violet hair out of her face, letting it cascade halfway down her back in a flurry of styled curls. Her sparkling, sapphire blue eyes struck a distinctive contrast with her hair and alabaster skin as she gave them all a winning smile.
“Hello girls,” she said with a refined accent, slipping the Heartstone into a pouch on her belt. “Thank you ever so much for getting rid of that troublesome wizard. Sneaking past someone of his talents would have been dreadfully difficult.”
“Hey!” Pinkie pointed at the newcomer. “Give that back!”
The woman chuckled lightly. “That would defeat the entire purpose of my coming here to steal it, now wouldn’t it?” Pinkie frowned and leaped at her, only to stumble right through as her body shattered into tiny flecks of light. Pinkie only had a moment to be shocked before another dainty giggle drew her attention to the nearby open window where the thief now leaned.
“I’m sorry, darling, I don’t mean to laugh but… um… dear me, are you alright?”
Pinkie hadn’t moved, but her whole body was spasming; wracked by a sudden convulsion. After a few seconds she stopped just as quickly as she had begun. Her pupils shrank as her eyes flew open.
“Uh-oh.”
The tower jerked beneath their feet, the motion accompanied by a thunderous cracking sound from somewhere below. Pinkie teetered on one foot and flailed her arms while the thief used the window frame to steady herself. Twilight, her balance still far from perfect after her encounter with the Heartstone, promptly landed on her backside, and Spike too flopped onto the ground as piles of books toppled and spilled across the floor. Alchemy equipment tumbled off tables, some of the glass instruments shattering on impact. The three women and one pseudo-dragon eyed the room carefully as the tremor faded. A short, silent moment passed while they all held their breath, but the shaking did not immediately continue.
“Well then!” the thief said. “I really would love to stay and chat, but a lady knows when the situation calls for a discreet exit.” She turned and stepped up onto the window ledge. “Ta-ta!”
“Wait, Rarity!”
She froze, crouched in the window frame. Her head snapped around to stare at Twilight with wide eyes, her mouth slightly agape, and Twilight clapped a hand over her own mouth in surprise an instant later.
“How did-!” The thief was cut off as the tower gave another violent lurch. Even Pinkie was thrown to the floor, and by the time Twilight had regained her focus amid the constant, low rumbling that now filled the room, the window was empty.
“No!” she shouted as she leaped to her feet and ran to the window, struggling with a few haphazard book piles in her way. She leaned out as far as she could and looked down, gasping as she saw for the first time how high they really were. The Coltshire district was laid out to her right, mostly dark due to the late hour, and to her left sprawled the rest of Canterlot city. In the distance the faint outline of the Royal Palace and some of the taller spires of the Academy could still be seen against the night sky.
Twilight wasn’t looking at any of it. Her eyes scanned below her for any sign of the thief. She had fallen from a window that she herself had opened, but instead of seeing a rope or some sort of climbing gear, the side of the tower below was but bare stone. Twilight furrowed her brow just as she glimpsed a soft blue light floating in the air above a small building a short distance from the tower. She tried to focus on it but was suddenly pulled away from the window.
“C’mon, Twilight!” Pinkie said as she tugged on the mage’s arm. “We’ve really gotta go!”
“But-”
“Now!”
With one last glance, Twilight let herself be led away from the window and guided across the trembling, obstacle-filled room. As she turned she spotted her familiar sitting on the floor and staring at the window with vacant eyes.
“Spike? Are you ok?” Twilight called out.
The little pseudo-dragon blinked. “She’s… beautiful...”
“Spike!” Twilight scoffed angrily, and he finally snapped from his stupor, scurrying after the girls as they headed for the stairwell. Pinkie started to reach for the door but suddenly froze in place, her hand just inches from the handle. Before Twilight could question why, another tremendous boom rocked the tower and brought several chunks of stone down from the ceiling. Both girls toppled over and landed awkwardly on half a pile of books that did little to cushion the impact. The breath was squeezed from Twilight’s lungs as Pinkie came down on top of her, but with the grace of a cat she bounced right back to her feet and pulled the disoriented mage along for the ride.
“What in the name of Celestia was that?” Twilight coughed out. Pinkie leaped back over to the door and pulled it open. A sudden gust of wind blew her frizzy hair about her face as her eyes widened in horror.
“Oh, no no no! This is bad! This is really, really, super-extra bad!”
“Ugh,” Twilight huffed as she stepped next to Pinkie and gently pushed her aside, “what else could possibly go wro- oh.”
The stairs were gone, as was the portion of the tower that once housed them, giving the girls a another view of Canterlot and the countryside beyond. Spike poked his head out around Pinkie’s legs and sucked in a sharp breath at the sight.
“Ok, so we’re definitely not going that way,” he said. “Any ideas?”
Twilight bit her lip for a moment before she wheeled around and, finding a spot that was relatively devoid of books or other debris, kneeled.
“I’m going to try and teleport us out,” she said, closing her eyes and placing both hands flat on the trembling stone floor, “stay close to me!” Pinkie and Spike did as instructed and crouched near Twilight as she tried to shut out the noise of the collapsing tower. She briefly wished that she still had her concentration-enhancing staff, but knew that even just looking for it would take far too long.
She felt her magic surge within her chest, and a spreading feeling of warmth enveloped her as she channeled and weaved it into a spell. The ground surrounding the three friends pulsed with lavender light as a spell circle began to take shape, but just as it neared completion some of the runes began to twist and evaporate. Twilight’s brow furrowed, new runes popping up to replace each one that disappeared, but it was a losing battle. The outer edge of the circle warped and finally shattered as Twilight lost control of the spell, gasping for breath. She grit her teeth and tried again, drawing more deeply from her dwindling reserves of magical energy. The runes fell into place, but began to unravel even faster than before.
“Twilight, are you ok? What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked as the rune circle contorted and broke a second time.
“I… I don’t know if I can do it!” she said between pants as sweat poured down her face. “I’ve used up too much magic and I can’t keep my focus!” She took a deep breath and began again, pulling every last scrap of power from her body that she could muster.
“C’mon Twilight! You can do it! I know you can!” Spike cheered for her. His words were practically lost as another crack deafened them and the tower began to sway dangerously.
Twilight pushed past it, concentrating even harder. She visualized every rune in her mind’s eye, two and three at a time, and shaped her magic to match each of them before placing them on the circle. Almost there. She bit her lip until a thin rivulet of blood ran down her chin. She held the image of her target location - the stack of crates across the street just outside the tower - at the forefront of her mind. Just a little more. She sensed one of the runes to her left begin to waver. No! No, please hold on! She replaced it with a new rune the instant it shattered. I can do this! I have to do this! Another two runes were replaced, even as she continued to form new ones. The circle began to pulse brightly. Last one! She reached into her soul to wrench forth the last of the magic she would need.
She found none.
Twilight let out a strangled, primal scream as the teleportation spell collapsed, and pitched forward until her head smacked into the cold stone floor.
“Twilight!” Pinkie and Spike both shouted. They reached out for her as her shoulders began to heave.
“I’m sorry!” Twilight said, sobbing as hot tears fought their way through her clenched eyelids. “I… I can’t do it! I’m so sorry!”
“Twilight,” Pinkie tried to comfort her by laying a hand on her back, but Twilight made no indication she felt it. Spike did the same, stepping up next to his master’s head and reaching out to hug her gently. He turned and looked at Pinkie, who gave him a sad smile. She opened her mouth to say something when a sudden, pale purple light flared to life in front of them. They turned toward its source, and even Twilight lifted her tear-streaked face to stare.
A rune circle made of magic just a few shades lighter than Twilight’s own was burning brightly on the floor. There was a loud magical pop accompanied by a burst of light, forcing all three of them to shield their eyes.
“What’s the matter, Twilight Sparkle?” a haughty voice asked. “Are you giving up already? Maybe you’re not much of a rival after all.”
Twilight’s eyes shot open, barely believing as she took in the sight of the slender, silvery-haired woman before her.
“Trixie?!”
“The one and only!” she said with a laugh.
“How did you-”
“You can be astounded by Trixie’s magical prowess later,” Trixie cut her off, stooping down so that she was kneeling in front of the trio, “for now, just hold on tight and don’t let go no matter what!”
Twilight and Pinkie did as they were told, each of them taking one of Trixie’s hands as Spike wrapped his arms around Twilight’s shoulder. Trixie closed her eyes and began to cast, a teleportation circle appearing beneath them. The tower gave one last earthy groan as it started to collapse, and a bright flash made Twilight squint. She had the sudden sensation of falling, followed by pain, and then nothing but chilled darkness.
Stats
Page generated in 0.02 seconds
Total duration
612 users online
884,141 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
So I guess Applejack and Rainbow Dash will have to take a raincheck on their dual. I can just hear Rainbow saying, "It's a draw! It doesn't count until I win!"
Just one more mane cast and we got all six! Collect them all!
Heartstone, the magic crystal of foreshadowing? And it appears that ponies have been here before...
Great job! Awaiting the conclusion.
3434283
). I wanted to include all of the Mane 6 but even from the initial storyboarding stage I was pretty sure it wasn't going to work out that way. Rest assured, she'll play a central role in Part II! 
Thanks! I always look forward to your comments RT,
Again, I apologize to everypony for Miss Not-appearing-in-this-story (
Aw, I'm a bit sad that Twi couldn't really hold herself against the evil mage and needed Spike and Trixie to get saved, but then again this was her first experience in a real magic battle and this only means that there's tons of room for her to grow. I hope she will grow. Seeing Twi fail over and over again and getting saved for everything would be quite boring after all, just like it would be if she curpstomb everybody who she comes across. xD
I liked the part where Twi had those flashbacks, I suspect the heartstone to be part of the elements of harmony or be in contact with them or something. Since Trixie doesn't belong to them, I wonder what her role will be in this story aside from being Twi's "rival". Now Rare got the stone and Twi/Pinkie/Spike are divided from AJ who escpared with RD and her friends. Man, this mission was a mess. Doubt Celestia will be happy about it. :/
So, now they need to rest, treat their wounds, find each other, become friends or at least comrades somehow and go and find Rarity before she sells the stone or gets attacked by somebody who wants it for themselves. And then there's the princess and her family. Boy, poor Twi will be in so much stress in the next chapter.
Well, we got all neccessary main charas seen and Twi even knows Rare's name which really surprised the thief for good reasons. I hope this means Twi has some sorta way to "feel" where her friends/other elements are or some other idea how to find them 'cause I got nothing.
3435401
Wow, that's a big comment,
Fear not, Twilight is most definitely going to grow over the course of this story. I'm starting her off a little 'behind' the others specifically for that reason. I have big things planned for the little missy, and I'm as excited as you are to see how she's going to deal with it all,
Thanks for your feedback!
3435401
Well fancy seeing you here haha! This fic is quite something isn't it?
I always like stories with medieval themes in it.
3645836
Welcome! Glad you're enjoying the story!
I know it's been a while since the last update but I assure you (and everypony else) that the story is not dead... the blame for the delay can be laid squarely at the feet of the Neverwinter MMO, the Holiday season, and Enterplay's MLP Collectible Card Game,
EDIT: and HOLY PFTHARKLE, your art is amazing!
3645913
Thanks!
3977389
God, I love that show...