War of the Unfoals

by NPP6

Chapter 6 - Mistletoe

“The Left Hoof is lost. I can no longer sense him.”

“Well that’s annoying. Still, don’t tell me you were expecting this to be a bloodless victory.”

“No. Not in the slightest. My entire army is expendable, I just hope he didn’t waste his death. How goes your front?”

“Nightmare Moon is proving to be as stubborn as I remember. Her prison refuses to let go of the illusion. Hopefully that will fade when Ponyville is ashes.”

---

When Midnight and Diamond arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack was waiting out front for them. “I dunno how she knew, but Granny said you’d come.”

“When I returned I gave several ponies in town a way to alert me to emergencies. Your grandmother was one of them.”

“Why?”

“Aside from living with an agent of the Tree of Harmony and a Cutie Mark Crusader? Sweet Apple Acres covers an entire cardinal direction of approach to Ponyville. Anything coming from the west is going to pass through here.”

“Ah see…”

The three ponies walked into the farmhouse and the two guests stopped in shock.

“What happened?” Diamond asked.

Granny Smith gestured to the pair of unconscious foals on the living room couch. “We was hoping one of you could tell us.”

---

Twilight landed in a small pathway between rows of houses. “This doesn’t make any sense. I should be able to pinpoint her exact location! What are we supposed to do now, go door to door?”

Spike took a breath to respond, but froze as he noticed something shiny in the leaves on the ground. “Huh.” He jumped off and walked over a few paces. He knelt and started rooting through the pile of leaves, freezing after a few moments. “Tw… Twilight?”

“I mean, we could, but that would be ridiculously inefficient. Maybe I should have refreshed the spell more often?”

“Twilight?”

“Seriously though, how much more often than weekly should I go? Re-application daily? Maybe all I need is to focus more.”

“Twilight.”

“You’re right Spike, if I tighten down the calibration, I should be able to zero in exactly and–”

“Twi-light!”

“Yes Spike?”

When the Drake turned, there were tears in his eyes. “The spell worked. You found them exactly.” Twilight paled at what she saw.

A pair of saddlebags and a crusader emergency beacon were cradled in his hands.

---

Midnight opened his eyes. “Something’s blocking me out. Also, I seem to be cut off from my star, so I can’t just overpower it.”

“Are you saying there’s nothing you can do?”

“Let me try something.” Midnight inhaled and a ripple passed across his form. When he exhaled, he had shifted from an alicorn to a bat pony. “Alright, let’s see if the old magical theory talent still works.” His slit pupils widened until they were as round as most other ponies’, and then they began to glow. A circle formed through the irises, and then a septagram appeared across his pupil, the points touching the circle.

After a moment, he spoke, his voice strained. “They’re in the middle of something… ritual magic of some kind. I can’t tell what the purpose of the spell is, but… it’s incomplete. They won’t wake up until it’s finished. They still need something… approval? No, not quite… Acknowledgement. On Applebloom’s end, she needs her clan head to acknowledge… something… That’s the last thing they need, is a Rite of Acknowledgement… I need a nap now.”

Inkwell collapsed, Diamond barely catching him with her outstretched shadow before he hit the floor. “Any idea what he was talking about? What’s a Rite of Acknowledgement anyway?”

Granny Smith looked over at the box with the glowing gem again. “I think I have an idea… Big Mac, run out to the barn real quick like and bring me a couple bales of hay. Applejack, be a good filly and fetch me a few sacks of potatoes, would’ja?”

The stallion rushed out the front door while his sister headed towards the back and the cellar door. As they did, Granny caught Diamond’s eye and mouthed “Lock her in.”

The filly melted into shadow, returning a moment later. “So what was that all about?”

Granny looked over as she finished locking the front door. “I needed to get those two away so’s they don’t panic.”

“And I’m still here because?”

“If this goes wrong I’m gonner need a killer.”

“What?”

“Shush now.” The elderly mare leaned over her granddaughter and the strange colt they’d found. “I hope this is the right thing to do… Never hesitate.

“Plant the seed while gathered round,
Let this always be fertile ground.
Through wind, rain, sun, and winds that howl,
The Apple Clan does claim him now.”

Both unconscious foals seemed to let out a breath as she finished. A warm breeze blew around the room, and Granny Smith slumped as her ears drooped. “I was afraid of this…”

---

Button and Sweetie traded nervous glances as the windows rattled again. Both were still damp after cleaning up, and were huddled together for warmth – Cheerilee had sealed the flu, so a fire was out of the question.

“I wish my Uncle Angus was here,” Sweetie whispered, “He handles this kind of thing all the time.”

Button blinked in surprise. “You have an Uncle Angus too?”

“It’s the same Uncle Angus.” The pair turned to see Cheerilee coming in with three cups of hot cocoa balanced on her back. She slid the tray the cups were on onto an ottoman and sighed. Sitting, she began kneading her forehead with one hoof. “I really need to have a chat with both of your parents… It doesn’t matter, I’ll tell you anyway if it comes to it.

She sighed again as she lowered her hoof. Her head tilted slightly as she looked at her students, and then she let her forehooves slide forward, lowering herself to their eye level. “We need to have a talk. A very serious one. I need the both of you to be grown up about this.”

Button choked and Sweetie went beet red. “U-u-um, Miss Cheerilee? I’ve already done this with my sister…”

Button nodded vigorously. “My mom already talked to me about it too.”

“And, um… Well, even though we were both in the room, we weren’t actually in the shower together, and… uh…”

“Nothing happened?” Button’s squeak seemed to be the end of their ability to be embarrassed.

Cheerilee was legitimately confused for a moment. She had been focused in a direction so different that this blindsided her. And when it caught up…

It started somewhere between a snicker and a snort, a suppressed explosion of air that wanted desperately to leave her violently. It gained rapidity until she couldn’t hold it down any longer and it forced her head back. Within seconds she was desperately gasping to get enough air to breathe around her laughter as tears streamed down her face.

After a solid minute, she rolled onto her side with all the finality of an exhausted collapse. It took another minute for her spasmodic chuckles to subsides. Finally she managed to get enough oxygen into her system to prevent asphyxiation and rolled back onto her stomach.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh, it’s just… you caught me off-guard is all.” Cheerilee noted idly that while both of her students were now very red, neither one was making any attempt to protest the possibility. “Anyway…” She took in one more shuddering gasp, “This isn’t that talk. This is a very different one.

“You two… I don’t know what’s going to happen tonight. But something is wrong, I can feel it. So I want you to listen to me very carefully. You take care of each other, no matter what. If these things get into the house, you run. Together. As far and as fast as you can. You leave me behind if you have to. Am I clear?” A pair of mute nods were her only response.

“Good. Now then, the second thing. There are things that you two don’t know about yourselves… both of you. If things start going wrong… I want you to promise me, use what your parents taught you. Everything. That. They. Taught. You. Do you understand me?” Another pair of nods. “Do you understand what I’m asking you to do?” More nods, hesitant this time.

Cheerilee sighed. “I…” She swallowed. She’d known she’d have to do this someday, that was life. But did it have to come so soon? Wasn’t it bad enough that Diamond had to be a killer? How many more of her students would have to face the darkness? “I am authorizing you to kill. And I’m telling you that I expect you to do so before you let yourselves or each other get hurt.” She locked eyes with Button Mash. “Skeletons in the Closet.” She turned her gaze on Sweetie Bell. “Blindfolded, Bridled, and Bound.”

Cheerilee took another shaky breath, this one to steady her emotions. “I want you two to promise. Promise me you’ll keep each other safe.” More nods, her students wide-eyed with a multitude of emotions. “No, not good enough. I want you to… Pinkie Promise. Pinkie Promise me that you will do whatever it takes, even kill, to keep each other safe.”

The pair traded looks, sensing a threshold. Then together they turned and in stereo took a step towards adulthood.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

---

The Apple Family’s living room was once again full. Tempers had cooled after the initial surprise of deception and locked doors, all three sleepers had regained consciousness, and the mysterious earth pony colt was currently held tightly in Black Diamond’s umbrakinesis.

Applejack broke the silence. “So what exactly happened?”

Midnight cleared his throat. “Why don’t we let Applebloom tell us things from her perspective first, that way we can sort through things in order. Or at least, as close as we can get since our new friend doesn’t seem very talkative.”

The filly nodded. “Well, I was out in the barn, working on learnin’ that potion fer Granny’s knees. Alluva sudden, I felt something behind me–”

“You mean he–”

“Applejack! For the fourth and hopefully last time, the medical analysis spell showed she was intact! Now I apologize for shouting, but we are never going to solve anything if you keep interrupting at every turn.”

“What? How can you–”

“Hold yer tongue or I’ll hold it for you filly! Finding out what happened to yer sister is more important that your goldurned pride!”

Applejack swung to face the matriarch and the fire in her eyes went out. She looked down at her hooves in shame, opened her mouth to apologize, then swallowed it and sat back, shuffling a few paces further from the center of conversation.

Granny Smith nodded sharply, then turned to her other granddaughter. “Keep going.”

Applebloom gulped. “W-well, Like I said, I sensed somethin’ behind me, so I turned to see what it was. He was there, pointin’ something at me, and then I felt it. It was some kinda mind control spell. Zecora’d warned me ‘bout them, so I tried turnin’ it back on him, reversin’ the flow.”

Midnight nodded. “That is the safest way to handle those. I take it it worked?”

“Sorta. He didn’t really become my puppet, it was more like… Like a tug-o-war. And then it wasn’t, and I could feel the spell flowin’ through both of us. After that… I don’t remember.”

Granny nodded. “Didn’t you say that talisman thingy we found strapped to the colt’s hoof smelled like alchemy?”

Midnight nodded. “Yes, I didn’t recognize the charm, but Applebloom might. Do you remember where you put it?”

“Eeyup.” Big Mac went into the kitchen.

Midnight nodded and then turned back to the others. “Whatever Applebloom did triggered something. The intended one-way connection became two-way. It turned into an unstable ritual spell. I’m guessing your ghost friends tried to help?”

Applebloom nodded. “I felt Ruby and Mitta trying to snap the thread from the outside.”

Applejack spoke up, “About them. Why didn’t that one ghost just tell me all this when she led me to ‘Bloom?”

Midnight sighed. “Not out of malice, I assure you. It is very difficult for ghosts to manifest to normal ponies. The reason Applebloom can see them is something we need to talk about, and I’m not sure if we’ve got time tonight.”

At this point Big Mac returned with a small bundle held together with twine. He held it out to his youngest sister and she took it with a “Thank you.” Applebloom turned it over a few times, nodding, and then her gaze turned quizzical.

“What is it?” Diamond asked.

“I dunno. I’d say it’s a standard puppet charm like Zecora showed me… Ya hafta know how to make these things to know how to break ‘em.”

Midnight nodded. “A standard rule for most magic.”

“Anyway, it’s like the puppet charm she showed me, but…” The filly pointed to a segmented plant with white berries and flat, teardrop shaped leaves. It was the obvious center of the charm, the focal point of the spell. “This plant don’t belong here.”

“It’s holly.” It took a moment for the voice to register. The group turned to face the colt. “If you disobeyed me, it would slowly make you feel the pain of its poison until you bent to my will. It was supposed to turn you into the ultimate weapon against these fools, an innocent filly they couldn’t bear to hurt but who was more than capable of killing them.”

Applejack was fast, crossing the room and spinning into a beautiful buck intended to throw the colt through the wall. Diamond was faster, catching the mare’s hooves on the flats of her crossed blades. The filly was still thrown clear, and she vanished into a puddle of shadow on the wall.

The colt made it all of one step in his escape attempt before Midnight’s magic caught him.

After a moment, Diamond dropped out of her shadow. “That was stupid.”

“Yes it was, what were you thinkin’ Diamond, protecting that no good–”

“No!” Diamond’s shout cut the orange mare off, “You were stupid Applejack. We’re dealing with an undefined magical connection here, what if hurting him hurts Applebloom?”

The mare paled and backpedaled, glancing from side to side. “N-No, I…”

Applebloom’s voice spared her sister any further glares. “It doesn’t matter, I don’t think this plant has those properties, and nothing happened anyway.” She turned to the colt. “And this ain’t holly.”

He snorted. “What are you talking about, of course its holly. Trust me, I’ve watched ponies hang it up at Hearth’s Warming for years.”

“Yeah, ya have, but this ain’t holly…”

Author's Note:

Points to anyone who can guess what the end result of that spell was...

Comments

[guldringr]

Love spell