The Heart of Worlds

by Alchemystudent

D is for Dragon

As the rays of the sun hit Pinkie’s eyes, she gave a little yawn as she woke up. Stretching her forelegs over her head, she quickly turned her head back and forth to look around. As her eyes began to scan around the room, she began to notice a distinct lack of her friends or anypony else. For all intents and purposes, she was alone in the room, “Hey, where did everypony go? Where are all my friends?”

“They’re busy, probably trying to stay away from you,” said the blonde nurse as she walked in with some medication on a cart.

“Now that’s just silly. Why would my friends want to stay away from me?” Asked Pinkie with a giggle.

“Because you are one of the most annoying ponies I have met! Do you even listen to yourself? Always jumping, squeaking, and being all happy all of the bucking time! Celestia, it makes me sick!” said Nurse Trueheart, grumbling as she got her medications read for Pinkie.

Taking a glass of water, Pinkie quickly downed the pills, “Oh, I get it.. .somepony’s grumpy! Everything always seems more annoying when they’re grumpy.”

“I’m not grumpy!” Yelled the mare, her eyes narrowing in rage, “I am just telling you what is on my and probably your friends’ minds.”

“No you’re not! If you were speaking my friends minds, then you would have their heads on your shoulders,” Pinkie said, before giggling at the image. “My friends know I just try to keep their minds off of being all frowny and grumpy when they are in a bad situation. So, come on, tell nana Pinkie what’s on your mind!”

“I’m four years older than you,” the nurse said, shaking her head. “And nothing is on my mind, I’m just... tired.”

“Of what?” Asked Pinkie scooting closer on her bed.

“Of everything, of sick people getting sicker, of everything I do not being enough, and just being overworked,” the nurse said, letting out a sigh as she sat next to Pinkie.

“Hmmmm, sounds like you need a motivator. How about this, you helped me and there are a few other ponies who are feeling better because of you right?”

“Yeah, but-”

“Exactly, all of those butts would be hurting without you. So what if it seems like there is more, if you keep at it, it’ll shrink, right?” Asked Pinkie with a smile.

“Yeah, I guess,” said Trueheart, then she looked at Pinkie, who now had a bad wig and beard on. “What?”

“It’s my doctoring beard, it shows I’m a P-shycharitst!” Said Pinkie.

“But-that... how could,” as Trueheart began to work through the motions, she began to giggle and then laugh for a few moments. The to then began to swap stories and talk to each other about their lives, all the while, the pink pony found ways to bring a smile to Trueheart’s lips.

---

Near an alleyway in the crystal empire, a young stallion with a emerald cutie mark walked by a flash of light, “What?” He asked before walking into the alleyway, “H-Hello?”

“Hmmmm, interesting, not the form I expected but it will have to do,” said a suave voice from within the shadows. “You there, stallion, come to me.”

“Y-yes sir?” Asked Emerald Glance as he walked closer to the being in the shadows, trying to identify the being.

“Tell me, is Princess Cadence entertaining court today?” Asked the voice as he looked to a clothesline and grabbed some robes.

“Oh yes, Princess Cadence is holding her love court today. She’ll see everypony who has a problem and will try and help them. She is so nice like that,” said the stallion with a smile. He then looked at the figure with a glare, “Hey! Don’t go and steal-URK!”

“I’m not stealing, I’m borrowing,” said the stallion as he strangled the crystal pony with his magic. “I’ll bring this back, when the empire is in flames.” With that, the being in shadows smirked as he dropped the stallion to the ground, dead. Walking towards the gleaming spires of the castle, the creature in shadows began to weave a spell across the land. One that began to slither and writhe as dark tendrils slunk deep into the ground.

After a few moments, he made his way up into the castle and into the throne room, “And I think we’ll convene after one more case,” the pink alicorn said as she sat on the throne.

“Ah, good,” the being in the cloak said as he walked into the throne room. “I was hoping that, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, princess of love and caring, would entertain me.”

“And who would you be, sir?” Cadence asked, looking at the thing in the cloak with a small bit of worry, “And please, it’s Cadence.”

“So this is what Nobility and Royalty have lowered themselves to? Allowing themselves to be called common names?” The man in the cloak said, removing his garb to the shock of the court, “My name is, Valtor of the Black Flame. And I have but one request, the Heart if you please.”

“The Crystal Heart is not to be given freely,” Cadence said defiantly, “It belongs to the crystal ponies!”

“I knew you would say something to that effect,” Valtor said, a sick smile came to his lips as magic glowed in his eyes. “Which is why,” he stopped as the screams of crystal ponies could be heard down below. “I brought the ponies of the crystal empire here. It seems that the dead of the past, the ones that Sombra took and butchered, are not too happy about being forgotten by the public. They wish to talk, and make the world burn,” Valtor chuckled as the fires began to erupt in the city below.

---

“GIRLS!” Will exclaimed as she walked into a circle, looking at the four ponies around her. “Oh, I am so glad to see you. You don’t know how much I need you right...now?”

As Will walked closer to the four ponies, she watch in horror as they began to fade away, their bodies being taken away from her, “Goodbye, Will,” the auburn earth pony said, her body being dragged by a wave of water.

“Goodbye, Will,” Cornelia said, the unicorn vanishing in a wave of starlight and moonbeam.

“Goodbye, Will,” Taranee said, the earth pony walking away into the dark.

“Goodbye, Will,” Hay Lin said, vanishing into a bright light.

“No! Girls, come back!” Will shouted, as her pleas were silenced by a booming laughter.

“Why, Will? I thought you knew where they are,” Valtor said, his voice carrying with it a sinister tone. “They are in Vanhoover, correct? You have so many memories of that place-”

“Of course I do I-” she was interrupted when she looked down at her hoof and saw a hand in its place. “W-what!!”

“A pony or a human? What are you? Do you even know?” Valtor asked, his voice coming from everywhere, “Maybe you should ask Twilight, maybe she might know what you are?”

Will shot awake from her bed as the dream ended, panting rapidly. Looking down at her body, she saw that she was still a blue pegasus with a weird pink cutie mark. Getting out of the bed, she gave her head a little shake in order to dispel the memory of the dream, hoping that it meant nothing and was just a nightmare. Perking her ears at the sounds of electricity and mumbling, Will began a slow walk down the stairs to where she thought she had heard Twilight, but was surprised to see nopony there, “If you’re looking for Twilight, she is in the lab down the basement. Though, I might warn you, she gets testy when ponies interrupt her,” Spike said.

“ARG! DARN IT!” Twilight screamed from within the basement, “557 spells in this stupid library and not a one of them is like this ‘hate plague’! AHHHH!”

“She, might be a while,” joked Spike.

Nodding with a small smile, Will began to flitter around the library. As she looked over some of the books, she began to try and figure out what was going on with her memories, “I was always a pony, wasn’t I? I mean, what else could I have been. I remember me and my friends meeting in Vanhoover, discovering our powers at Hay Lin’s, and then we became guardians. I can even remember being knighted by Cadence for what we-wait,” Will stopped herself as her hoof touched upon ‘multiversal theory’, “They...Hey Spike?”

“Yeah?” Spike asked, picking up some leftover papers around the table.

“Haven’t we-” before Will could ask, the front door of the library slammed open, a large green stallion standing in the doorway.

“WHERE IS ‘Princess’ TWILIGHT?” The stallion bellowed.

“Uh, who are UGGH!” Yelled spike as the unicorn lifted him with his magic and threw the young dragon across the room.

“Spike, what was that...SPIKE!” Yelled Twilight a she ran up the stairs and caught Spike in her magic. Lowering him down to the ground, she put a quick healing spell on him to keep him safe. Breathing out a sigh of relief at Spike’s dragon toughness, she turned to the unicorn who brought out his serrated knife, “Who are you?”

“You don’t need to know my name witch! That’s the problem with you pretentious piles of manure! You never pay attention to common folks like me, and then you just get the high paying offices handed to you. Well, not anymore, I’m gonna kill you!” He bellowed, charging at Twilight and slashing at her.

Twilight quickly moved out of the way and charged up her horn, then her eyes noticed the symbol on the stallion's neck, “He has the hate plague! I have to be careful how I fight and not hurt him too badly, it isn’t his-AHHHH!” She was knocked out of her thoughts by a right hook from the stallion. Getting up from being knocked against the books, she looked up to the stallion, “Celestia was right, they do get stronger from the plague. That punch really hurt!”

Will watched, trying to conjure up her inner magic that she had used a few days ago, “Come on, I need to hit him with something, anything!” Struggling, she tried to conjure up her inner spark, but then let out a gasp as a memory hit her.

“The one who holds the heart, has the power of Quintessence,” the old woman said as she poured some tea.

“Quin-whatta?” asked Irma, looking up from her bowl.

“Quintessence, means life don't it?” Asked Hay Lin.

“Yes, it does-” answered the old woman.

Watching the lightning crackle and charge around her blue hooves, she looked up at an unicorn statue head. “QUINTESSENCE!” She screamed, firing a surge of magical power at the object. She then watched in shock as the head came to life and leapt at the rampaging stallion, bashing him against the head and knocking him out.

Twilight stood in shock at the sight, “What, how did you?”

“I-I don’t know,” Will said, speechless. Looking down at her hooves in shock, she watched as the last remnants of lightning flowing from hoof to hoof.

Twilight’s eyes opened wide in wonder and curiosity as she picked up the pegasus and unicorn in her magic, “Oh, this is so utterly amazing! You have to tell me EVERYTHING!” With a squee, the alicorn pulled the two down into the basement and slammed the door. Once inside, she quickly strapped the unicorn to a table while letting the pegasus sit on a chair, “You know, I find it amazing that you can do unicorn magic like that. I mean, I have heard of bringing thing to life spells, but those were usually for very powerful unicorns, though I guess that includes me now that I am alicorn.” Without even turning to look back at Will, the young princess fired an anesthetic spell at the unicorn, “But you! You did something unbelievably amazing, used unicorn magic. Pegasi usually use emptha, emotion magic, when it comes to their magic, but using an Unicorn’s arcana? That’s never happened, even if a pegasus had the blood of a unicorn in them. Just,” Twilight stopped to take a breath as she finished laying her testing equipment onto a small table, “HOW!?”

“I-I don’t know,” Will said, shaking her head sadly. “All my memories come to me in little flashes, like I will see me and my friends standing around this old mare and she keeps talking to us about who we are and our ‘destiny’. She also keeps talking to me about what I can do, about what my powers are.”

As Twilight listened to the blue pegasus, she used a small needle to draw out some blood from the insane unicorn, “And that’s all you can remember?”

Will nodded, “ Other than where I live and my friends names.”

“Who are they?” Twilight asked, putting some of the black ooze under a microscope and looking at it.

“Well, there’s Irma and Taranee, both earth ponies. Hey Lin, a pegasus, and then there is Cornelia, an unicorn. We all come from,” Will held back a wince as the pain of her memories started up, “He-Vanhoover.”

“Vanhoover?” Twilight asked, out loud, “Isn’t that far away? Why did you come here?”

“I-I-”

“Hey Lin,” Will grunted as she looked to a small crater just a few feet away from the ruins of the high school. “Irma, Cornelia,” she said, struggling, but found that his grip increased the more she tried. Instead, she winced as she looked to the craters sitting side by side where two friends once stood, “...Taranee.” Will said, tearing up as the memory of her friend’s last moments came to her, “Where did you send them?”

“Isn’t it obvious, my dear? I killed them,” the man said, smirking.

“No, you didn’t. They’re alive, I can feel it! And I am going to find them!” Will said, her eyes looking back at the man’s golden ones.

“Such determination, that is why you will lead me to the heart,” the man smiled, forming a ball of energy in his hand.

“The-heart?” turning her eyes downward, she looked at the heart of Kandrakar around her neck.

“The greatest heart of them all,” he said, placing the ball onto Will’s heart, “the heart of worlds.”

Will blinked her eyes a few times, trying to get back the memory but watched it vanish from her mind quickly, “I don’t know.”

“Maybe if you got a letter out to Vanhoover, you can figure it out. Who knows, maybe your friends are there,” Twilight said, putting the blood into the vial. “Spike should be ok by now. Have him send a letter to the princess and have her get in touch with Vanhoover.”

Nodding, Will ran back up the stairs and sent out her letter. Once she was done, she walked back down to see Twilight growling in frustration, “Something wrong?”

“It’s this virus, I can’t figure it out!” Twilight yelled as she walked to some of her other beakers, “This plague can’t be airborne, or else we would’ve contracted it earlier. It doesn’t seem to be liquid based or does it seem to be touch based, it just seems to be...There!”

“So, magic based?” asked Will as she walked over to one of the microscopes and looked in it.

“That’s the only explanation left, but that is the rub,” Twilight said, walking to the last beaker on the left. “Watch this,” with a loud zap from her horn, the beaker was covered in a bright purple light. When the light faded away, the blood as still black, “That was a very powerful cure spell that Cadence once taught me, and it is supposed to cure certain magical diseases. But not this one. I also know that, for magical diseases like this one to work, the caster need to be somewhere close by to begin the spell. This ‘plague’ started sometime after Sunset came into town, and she was infected too.”

“So what you’re saying is...?”

“That this has the elements of being a normal virus, but it’s power and effects are much more magical in nature. It’s like if somepony merged a spell with a virus,” Twilight said, looking over the vial before her. “This Valtor is close to being a magical genius! I mean to do a perpetual spell like this is utterly-”

“TWILIGHT!” yelled Spike as he ran down into the basement, “We have trouble!”

“What is it Spike?” Twilight asked.

“It’s the Crystal Empire, it’s under attack!” Spike said, running to Twilight with a panicked look in his eyes.

---

The mood on board the train was unnaturally quiet as the six mares rode off in the train. The five bearers sat in their seats, taking the time to look up at the window to see if they were getting closer to where their friend was under attack. Will, on the other hand, was trying to cope with her own memories.

“What’s going on, Twilight?” asked Applejack as she ran with Twilight.

“Cadence sent a letter asking for us to come and save the empire from a certain pony, Valtor,” Twilight said.

“Isn’t Valtor the ruffian who-” Rarity asked catching up.

“Yeah, and now we get a chance to kick his tail back to wherever he came from!” Dash said, a cocky smirk on her face.

“Umm, shouldn’t we pick up Pinkie Pie?” Asked Fluttershy.

“She still needs her rest, “ Dash said, speeding up her flight. “The nutball would just slow us down anyway.” The last part was softly muttered, but only Will caught part of it.

“Why did Dash say that, it wasn’t like her,” Will said as the train bumped and moved along the track. “WAIT! How did I know that, I never...

“...thank you all,” Cadence said, finishing her speech.

“It was no problem, you majesty,” Will said bowing.

“You know, if we were here,” Dash remarked, smirking, “we would’ve had this done in 10 seconds flat.”

“Wait... they were there when me and my friends saved the empire? But I never,” Will then stopped herself for the moment.” Wait, I don’t remember ever-no wait, yes we did, it was right after our battle with Nerissa. We came to the empire and saved them... right?” Will then looked up to the bearers of harmony, her eyebrow arched in confusion, “Twilight, have we-”

“Get ready girls, we’re here!” Dash exclaimed, looking out the window.

“Oh, my goodness,” Fluttershy said, trembling as the train came into the station and looking ahead at the burning city. The blue and black flames arose high in the city beyond, some of the fires reaching high into the sky. Even from that distance, the screams and pleas of ponies could be heard.

“We don’t have much time!” Twilight commanded as she and the others ran from the station to the city proper, “Rainbow, you and Fluttershy go and get some clouds to help with getting rid of this fire. Applejack, you help the guards to get the ponies to safety. Will, Rarity, you are with me.”

“Where are we going?” asked Rarity as they split into their separate groups.

“To the Crystal Heart, if Valtor is anywhere, he is going to be there,” Twilight said, while Applejack ran off to fight some decaying pony corpses.

“Ok, what the hay are these things!?” Asked Applejack as she began to punch and kick the creatures.

“Valtor called them the ponies of the past”,said one of the guards as he punched a few of the zombie puppets. “I think they’re the ponies that Sombra executed.”

“Oh, buckin great,” Applejack said as she adjusted her hat and continued to help the ponies.

Meanwhile, the three mares ran to the crystal heart and stopped when they saw a pony sized figure standing front of it, “Ah, so you have come, princess. I am humbled to be entertaining the presence of royalty twice in one day. And what do I the pleasure?” Valtor asked, turning around to reveal himself.

“My word, he’s a dragon!” Rarity said in shock.

“Yes, much to my dismay,” Valtor said as he stood on his hind legs. “I was expecting for this world to make me something much more elegant, like an alicorn.” He then gave his wide wings a flap as he walked in front of the three mares, widening his slitted eyes at the sight of Will, “ Will, welcome! I do hope you are enjoying your new world, or is it your old one?”

“What do you mean?” Will asked.

“Why not ask Twilight?” Valtor smirked, looking at the purple alicorn. “Ask her if there ever was a Will Vandom born in Vanhoover. Ask her if a Irma was ever born to a royal guard, or if Cornelia ever gotten dresses from Rarity?”

“What are you talking about?” Will asked, growling, “Of course they did. I was born not far from Ponyville, and then I moved to Vanhoover a few years ago. Then...then...”

“You met four friends, became the guardians, and helped to save this empire once. Correct?”Valtor asked, looking at the nodding Will, “Rarity?”

"Guardians, what does she mean?" Twilight asked.

"I-thought I knew," Will said, her mind racing.

“I am sorry darling,” Rarity said as Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy arrived, “I don’t recall ever having a mare named Cornelia buying one of my dresses.”

“But I-AHHHHHH!” Will screamed as she collapsed to the ground in pain.

“Oh? What is this? Memory problems?” Valtor chuckled as he walked to the Heart, “Or, maybe they’re lying to you. Changelings, magic, or mind control are all available in this world. So maybe you have been born here, and they are just lying to you to get the Heart of Kandrakar. Who can you trust?” Asked Valtor as he laid a claw onto the heart.

“Get away from that!” Dash yelled but was pushed back thanks to the dragon’s magic.

“Hold, whelp!” Valtor shouted, “ I wasn’t thinking about using this heart. It is powerful indeed, but it is not the heart I am looking for. No, I am looking for something far more precious.”

“What?” Asked Twilight.

“You are smart, you can figure it out, princess,” Valtor chuckled as he flew off into the distance.

Will, still writhing in pain, let out another scream as she fainted.

Author's Note:

Thanks to Zoltan for the editing

Yes, now we meet the villian, from Winx...have you notice the huge amount of crossovers I do?

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Hoo boy, this is starting to get interesting!