The Twilight of the Crystal Heart

by WanderingPony

Chapter 4: The Blood-Dimmed Tide Is Loosed

In the Emptiness, Twilight Sparkle was suspended. No sense of then or now, up or down, here or there, and only the faintest feeling of I am to reject the concept of simply dissolving like ink into an endless sea of black. That, and the gentle gnawing of the void on what was left of her. Had she been there only a moment? Forever? The abyss even stole away thoughts as fast as she could recite a multiplication table (had she done it before, even two times two is four? The idea vanished along with the uncountable thoughts that had gone before, for Twilight Sparkle had a busy mind, but even it could not fill it's surroundings with enough thoughts to sate it. Even the memories of having been cast into this place had eroded away, leaving the withered alicorn confused, almost senile with deprivation of sense and mind.

A single, crystal feather slipped from what had once been a broad if clumsy wing. Time slipped back into gear, the frozen clock thawed, and her eyes, craving something, ANYTHING to see gazed at the bit of petrified plumage. Something looked back.

---
A tiny purple unicorn filly, bouncing around an examination room squeaking "YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!". The filly looked up onto high, straight into Twilight's eyes, and said:

"Princess Celestia, I'm gonna be the best student EVER!", then rubbed her head adoringly against a tall white leg. A spot deep inside mended itself within as the scars of failure melted away in the hopeful eyes of a faithful student...perhaps more?
---

The vision faded to a gleam of sunlight, trapped in the feather like an insect in amber as it bounced around. The barest hint of warmth radiated from the glow, something Twlight could not have seen or felt but for the absence of anything else around it...but it was like a warm ember of life, and she craved it like she had craved nothing else in her world. Her neck creaked alarmingly as she bent her mouth down to her wing, but she plucked another feather between her teeth and let it hang before her face.

---
The most adorable thing in the universe looked at her from under the rain-soaked bush. Long ears (for such a little thing), a button nose and the tiniest little hairs that poked out like...whiskers! Like Daddy's whiskers when he forgot to shave. The rest was all fluffy and white and two little black eyes like thunderheads in a big ol' cloud bank stared back. He looked kinda scared. So was she. But if she was with this little Angel, even the GROUND wouldn't scare her.

She slowly pushed her head under the bush and nuzzled the baby bunny with the care a mother gives her child, and the little Angel squeaked in what had to be baby bunny talk. Something wiggled up her head to hide in the warm maze of her mane.

A lonely place that had always been cold suddenly found itself filled with kindness. The animals loved her, and she was going to love them all right back!
---

Two tiny lanterns shed their light, and with it the beginnings of rational thought, of "first this, then that" returned to the not-space, even as she became aware of the Emptiness still stealing away what little strength Twilight had. She shook out her cramped and palsied wings and pulled out an entire mouthful of magicite, a brief tweak and a few floating droplets of red blood giving color and matter to a place that had neither. The clump of feathers seemed to ignite as they did, a miniature bonfire of strange memories that lent her a tenuous grip on her own.

---
The first kiss of her most perfect, wonderful husband mixed with sitting around the table with Apple Bloom and Granny and her big brother Mac, the biggest royalty check she'd ever seen as oh my goodness this Daring Do was going to be HUGE and she was the whole world, my new little Rarity that barely filled two hooves...
---

A tiny jolt of embarrassment sparked as she realized she'd just gotten to see what it was like to kiss her own brother and Mom really hadn't been kidding about how she paid for getting Shining Armor through school...and that Rarity really did look a lot like Sweetie Belle as a baby. And that whatever was around her, it was trying to take it all away. She could feel the void trying to sneak around the light where it could to snatch at her and steal the treasures hidden inside her wings, dilute the light of memories until all faded away once more.

A droplet of blood tinged the edge of a glowing feather. It soaked into the feather and for a moment, the feather softened before colliding with another and welding the two together into a sparkling "X". She studied the strange construct, brushing a shaking wing against it. The two feathers had glued themselves together and although not a spot of blood remained, they would not come apart. An idea formed, and tried to skitter away...only for Twilight to frantically pull more feathers out, the surge of foreign memories staunching the bleed of inspiration even as it tore another set of scraped tooth-marks across her wings. She tried to grasp the feathers with her horn.

Nothing happened, save a dull ache. Instead, she swept the pulled wing-feathers closer to her hooves and arranged them into a thin sheet of translucent glimmer. She could -see- the nothing as it streamed around the plane of feather-stuff, like wind blowing around a wall. Yellowed teeth cracked into the first smile she'd had in...well, she couldn't remember that right now. But enough walls make a house. She grit her teeth and set to the painful task of plucking her wings bald, a task that got worse as the glowing lights made her more and more aware of the sad state of her own body. Had she been here so long she'd gotten old and forgotten?

No. The memories of her friends were alive, so they were too. And she'd find them...but first, shelter. Eight panes of feather-glass- a four-sided tetrahedron glued together with blood from a raw wingtip, then a second, with a single feather on the inside of each to let her guide them into place with her teeth, then seal them together in a octahedral shell with her in the center.

The two halves became one, and as they did, the emptiness seemed to drain away and reality established itself, a claustrophobic chamber floating in the still endless un-world that held her little crystal of light. She hurt. Her wings scabbed and -everything- ached. And without the numbing theft of self, Twilight Sparkle found herself very, very tired indeed. Exhaustion and the need for sleep leeched thought into dream, wakeful into restful, and curled in her seed of love, Twilight's soul dreamed of spring and friends, the ponies she cared for, Spike, Ponyville, a big book and a lovely plate of daisy sandwiches...

The dreams rose, and the sleeping seed was carried with them- up, up, and through nothing until finally, the gleaming tip of Twilight's sanctuary found it's way from nothing into the something of the Astral. It floated free of the Emptiness, resting it's bottom on the very border...and finally unhindered by the black, hungry ocean it began to burn with a rainbow of light in every direction, sealing the void beneath it with divine radiance. Flecks of essence drifted in the current the Emptiness had created, but found themselves caught in Twilight's nest to feed the fire still brighter. Though the barest draw of malice still remained, it only drew more of the primal world-stuff to plug the crack in reality in Twilight's crystal. None escaped, none was lost, and the stone sent it's captured fuel back into the spirit-realm in the form of light and energy.

Oblivious to the miracle, the mangy, wrinkled and plucked-bald ball of alicorn provided a very humble wick to the lantern that held back the dark, as love and light and the harmony that held the world together filled what was finally an untroubled heart.

---

"She has proven us wrong, and in doing so, we have wronged her.", the electric-swirl that was Ramuh spoke. "She lives, and now we are bound to give more than we have taken- for she has saved us all."

"Quite broken in the process and has the small flaw of being a mortal without a body. What will you waste on giving a bit of life that will expire the moment it tries to flee back to it's fleshy shell?", Jolfr snickered. "Truth, I plan on giving her plenty. It'll only hasten the process of her little mote crumbling into the ether when she burns out trying, and I'll just have it all back."

"THE MOTE IS....UNWORTHY OF DISSOLUTION, JOLFR.", countered Alexandrite. "IT HAS PROVEN ITSELF CAPABLE OF GREAT ACTS OF PURITY. I WILL WELCOME THIS "TWILIGHT" TO THE REALM BEYOND IT'S WEAK FLESH...SOME WERE LOST BEFORE THIS ACT. SHE WILL BE USEFUL IN REPLACING THEM."

"I suppose you'll just have to put even MORE into keeping her mote from burning out, then. I say "thou dost crumble", you say "thou dost not dust"...it will be a pleasure watching you fail, Alexandrite. Again." The two elementals of dark and light shadow-boxed at the ethereal barriers that separated them, Jolfr teasing his opposite with illusive tendrils that only seemed to pass close enough to be struck.

"The mote shows great craft to form such a stone from her own essence, and the mortals do form themselves from me. To wish dissolution upon her would be unto wishing it upon myself. She shall have my blessing, if it will please her." , the horned bulk of Titan spoke with the scrape of an earthquake's grind of plate against plate.

"SHE HAS BEEN TEMPERED, AND NOT FOUND WANTING. A TREASURE TO BE KEPT. SHE WILL LIGHT A GREAT FIRE OF CONFLICT IN THE MORTALS IF SHE RETURNS.". Ifrit-wyrm shook it's horned brow and sizzle-hissed it's feelings in the tone of a forest-charring firestorm.

"SSSSSSHE BENDSSS AND FLOOOOWSSSS,", the leviathan-serpent spumed, "FOOOLISH TO WAAASSTE. TROOOUBLE AAAALIVE.". It curled in a Gordian knot woven from oceans, unsure of itself.

"FREE! FREE! FREE!", screeched the Garuda-Griffin. "FREE IT TO SPEAK! FREE IT TO SCREAM THE WORLD! FREE FOR ALL TO KNOW!"

"You speak of forgiving. You forget that we are the ones who need to be forgiven.".

And with that, the icy Ursa bent down to the crystal heart of their circle and breathed a frozen cloud of snow to drift across the sleeping Twilight.

"Forgiveness, I humbly beg. Be generous to we who have taken wrongly, and we shall walk besides thee, and your children's children for as long as pacts may endure. For long is the time for a penitent one to amend for their sins of brother against sister, eldest to youngest. This I give, this I swear."

"FOR YOU AND YOUR KIND, WAR COMES. DRAW STRENGTH FROM IT, LET YOUR ENEMIES BECOME THE KINDLING TO BUILD A BRIGHTER WORLD.", and flames set the crystal to dance with orange and red across it's facets. The flames melted the ice, soaking the stone as they writhed across the surface.

"A THOOOUSSSAAAAND PATHSSSS FLOOOOW. QUICK SSSSSHAAAALL YOOOUUU BE WHEN THE BRAAAANCH FOOORKSSSS!", and from two waterspout-fangs, the seas washed to follow fire. Steam hissed and wreathed Twilight's resting place.

"A spear to pierce a long-held fate, to pay a debt forgotten save by moon and dragon. Here the path writ in lore and lightning, from my horns to ease thine way. A book for a book, to teach thee of a new world." Lightning chased storm-serpent, crawling.

"Strong the hoof, strong the haunch. Those who are made from me will know no challenge they cannot find a way to defeat.". The seed of crystal found itself wrapped in a shell of stone, leaving the lightning to quench itself within it's earthen confines.

"SPEAK! SCREECH! CALL! THEY HEAR! THEY ANSWER! WILD! FIERCE!", and a frantic beat of gargantuan wings dried the muddy stone to dust and carried it away on scouring hurricane.

"Destroy, or thou shalt be destroyed. Blessing to curse, draw down the stars from the sky and war even against the heavens, for you must forever be tested to be worthy until the end of days. Destruction I give thee, strong foes to make strong hearts until the Ragnarok. And I shall send for the strong as they fall, to keep in the halls of the worthy for the final days and give them joy for seeking dark places. Test and trial, ordeal and reward. Pass and find eternal glory.". A shroud of darkness calmed the storm, though beams of crystalline light shone through it like stars in the night sky.

Light shattered the shroud, sending cracks of bright into the shell of shadow until it tore asunder.

"MEND AND GROW BRIGHT, LITTLE ONE. ONLY THAT WHICH IS IMPURE CAN FAIL, PURGE PAIN AND SUFFERING FROM THE FLESH SO IT MAY SEEK THE TRUTH OF THE SPIRIT AND DISCARD IT'S WEAKNESS. MY LIGHT, I GIVE TO YOU. EVEN DEATH IS A LIE TOLD TO THE FLESH, IF YOU HAVE FAITH IN ME. RISE ABOVE, AND KNOW THAT WHEN YOU BANISH ALL FALSEHOOD FROM YOUR KIND, I SHALL BE WAITING TO WELCOME THEE TO THE TRUTH, SHIELD AND SAVIOUR. MAY YOU ACT AS I WOULD."

The energies left miniature stars orbiting the still-sleeping form, then they too faded away.

Twilight still slept, peaceful even amidst the tumult that had surrounded her. For all the shouting and blessing and magic, it might as well been the eight making charades for all it seemed to rouse the still-decrepit pony, though the crystal shimmered and gleamed all the brighter.

"AHEM. RISE. AWAKEN.", rumbled Alexandrite.

The alicorn continued to snooze peacefully.

"Thou art truly a rousing performer, Alexandrite.", needled Jolfr.

The other six spirits peered curiously at Twilight Sparkle.

"IT SEEMS TO LACK A CERTAIN ROUSING SPARK.", Ifrit rumbled.

"The pony sleeps because it is missing what it needs to wake. A body."

"Why does it not form one from the dust like all flesh does? ,Titan questioned.

"Mortals do not manage that very well unaided, Titan. She needs a spark, something to start her up.", Ramuh added.

Ifrit rumbled and inhaled.

"The material realm, Ifrit. Something there that has to do with life and death, and it has to be right there where she came from to here."

Twilight rolled over in her sleep and soundlessly snored, a bit of ectoplasmic drool hanging from her mouth as the elemental forces puzzled over the problem.

"GOT IT!", roared Ifrit.

Twilight twitched briefly and vanished from within the crystal.

---

For the material realm, the day had come for a pony with a golden trumpet for a cutie mark to deliver to a very special court- for two Princesses, six little ponies, a scroll bearing what could be a very unhappily ever after. Wakeup Call, the House Herald had come with their final decision...a decision the Princesses would be obliged by law to deliver on the spot.

Comments

[Grif_Bladefeather]

where is bahamut in all this? i geuss he was too powerful for celestia and luna to take i mena he could probably have remade twiligth alone.