Avatar: Legend of Diamond Tiara. Book 3: Tirek

by Jeweled Pen

Chapter 21: Mistake

Ironwing’s eyes slowly opened and he gave a soft groan. What in the… “Ugh...”

“What’s wrong?” Prism asked.

“Your face is not the first thing I want to see when I wake up,” he groaned. “Please get away.”

The air bender smiled and stepped back. “Good to know you’re as nasty as normal,” he said with a chuckle. “My shift, hold on.” He quickly trotted away.

Ironwing groaned and tried to sit up. His head felt like the skull had shattered, and found he was strapped to the bed. He tried to remember what happened. He could remember Goldentips standing over him and attacking him. Why…?

Prism moved over to the chairs, waking up Styx.

“How long was I out?” Ironwing asked, trying to stretch out his wing and instantly regretting it.

“Almost a week,” Prism said. Then yelped when he was less than graciously shoved aside by Styx.

“Are you okay? How does your body feel? Does anything hurt?”

“Everything hurts,” Ironwing said, though he smiled when the other stallion leaned in and rubbed their noses together. “But that helps… Have you been waiting here the whole time?”

“When I could. Lady Scootaloo was most gracious in tending to what matters she could of mine to ensure I could be here as often as possible. However, there are some things only I could deal with. I am sorry.”

“You’re a member of the council. I think you’ve got more important things to do than watch me sleep. How bad is it?”

“Well, you look ugly as a diamond dog’s hindquarters, so not much has changed,” Prism teased, earning a glare from Styx. He gave a sigh. “You should be fine. Apparently the care was a bit hit and miss but… you woke up. That was their key concern. If… you didn’t wake up within a few weeks...”

“… Chances were you never would,” Styx mumbled. “Do… you remember anything? Do you remember who did this?”

“I… not… fully,” he mumbled. “I remember...” Ironwing closed his eyes and tried to think. It all melded together, a swirling mass of pain and confusion. “I remember… Goldentips and… there were others. Shadowbolts. I don’t… know how many there were. It’s all… blurry. But they ambushed me… and then he...” His eyes widened. “I was… dead. How… how am I still alive? I couldn’t… I didn’t…?”

Prism let out a sigh of relief. “No. Daring saved you. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a report to go make. She’ll likely be here soon to talk with you. I’ll give you two a bit of alone time and, ahhh, I’ll make sure Blaze files everything. Stay as long as you need, Styx.”

“Thank you, Prism,” Styx said, watching the other stallion leave. Then the bat pony turned to him, reached out to stroke his mane. “I am very thankful it was Goldentips...”

“Oh? Why do you say that?” Ironwing asked.

“Because the other option was Daring, and I’d hate to have torn the wings off your student. Goldentips is a dead pony...” he growled.

“Please don’t kill him yet...”

“Oh? Why?”

“Because when I get out of here I think I have dibs.”

Styx snorted, shaking his head. “I think there’s more than a few ponies who will beat you to it. Even Rainbow is ready to draw blood. Goldentips has been in custody, but… Well… I think it may be more for his protection than anything else at this point. And now that you’re backing up Daring’s story… well...”

------

Silver’s head was pounding. It was for a good cause, she reminded herself. A week long headache to alter an awful ‘story’ was a small price to pay. Ironwing was alive thanks to her. It was definitely worth it. It had set her back, though. The ‘teleportation disrupter’ was nowhere near completion. For one simple reason.

It was impossible. At least, with current technology. It was possible to weave a spell that would stop magic, but not something that they could carry with them. They needed a catalyst. A big one. She could do it, but it’d require the alicorn amulet to do something so big. Something she couldn’t hide. She wished this pounding headache would go away so she could focus. To make matters worse, since the… ordeal, her magic had been rough and erratic. If she didn’t know better, she’d believe she was experiencing burnout.

A silly notion, an earth pony couldn’t have burnout. And Discord’s magic was so different from a unicorn’s, she doubted it could either. She pulled out a small snow globe with a simple holiday scene inside, ponies singing carols. Slowly, her eyes glowed green. The little ponies inside danced around in a silly way, making her smile before they stopped again.

“Nope. Not burn out. Or at least not like normal. Headache didn’t get any worse… though I suppose it might be incapable of getting worse,” she grumbled to herself, leaning back and squeezing her head. She pushed the snow globe back before getting to her hooves. The alicorn amulet turned invisible again and she made her way towards the door, pushing it open. Deeeeep breaths. She slowly made her way outside and then through the compound, soon coming to the large warehouse where her father was working.

Over a dozen unicorns were working, with five separate devices lingering around the room. On top of that, each device had a single unicorn using the teleport spell to check the effects. Judging by the solemn looks, she didn’t imagine there was any headway. She made her way to Secretary, who was currently telling a pegasus some directions.

“Now, for Doctor Alicity, he’ll have a daffodil sandwich, no crust, potato bread, extra mayo, exactly three pickles and a slice of tomato. Now, for...” Silver waited patiently as the other pony took down the order and then flew off. Secretary turned around and paused. “Miss Silver? Is there something you needed?”

The earth pony shook her head. “No, I--” The words caught in her throat when the unicorn put a hoof to her forehead. “What… are you doing?”

“You do not look well. Are you coming down with a cold?”

“Oh! No. I just haven’t been sleeping well. Don’t worry about it.”

“It is my job to worry. And I assure you, with your family I have become quite experienced in it.”

Silver stared for a few moments, before giving a light snort. “I see. Is daddy making any headway?”

“A li--” A blast echoed through the warehouse, making both ponies jump. Secretary stared at the offending device, and sighed. “I take that back. We are making none.”

“Oh dear… What’s going on? Which was that?”

“It was the good doctor’s attempt to use the magic of the Everfree Forest.”

“WHAT?!” Silver snapped. “Use it how? That place is dangerous!”

“We are aware,” Secretary said with a nod. “However, the magic there tends to make… most magics useless. Your father was hoping to find a way to gather the magic from those trees and use it to create a full anti-magic field. However...”

“It blew up in his face...” Silver mumbled. Fortunately, nopony seemed to be hurt. Though the teleporting pony was trying to wipe soot off themselves. “That wouldn’t work, though. Meadowbrook teleported out from the middle of the Everfree Forest.”

“And you four were able to make a pillar to rise up out of it and await help. That clearing you were in was likely some kind of low density area. Your father is trying to create a full effect. However, it’s not really...” She gave a sigh. “Functioning, yet.”

“And the others?”

“Various attempts to nullify magic using standard practices. As annoying as it is, the Everfree version was showing the greatest promise...”

Silver nodded, eyeing the remains. She reached up and tapped her chin. “Can you make sure the notes are sent to my office as well?”

“Of course. I will have some of the prototypes and… remnants sent over as well,” Secretary said. “Would you like anything for lunch? I imagine you have no intentions of actually eating, either...”

Silver gave a sheepish smile. “Of course! I’ll eat, I’m not my father!” She scowled at the snort from the unicorn. “You know, you can be replaced.”

“We both know that’s an empty threat, Lady Silver,” Secretary said with a blank face. “The usual? And would you like a bit of carrot soup on the side?”

“… Actually that sounds great. Thanks, Secretary,” the earth pony mumbled as she eyed the devices. Normal pony magic couldn’t do it… but Discord’s could. She was certain of it.

------

Diamond’s heart raced when a rock flew past her head. She didn’t take her eyes off Applejack for a moment when she flew to the left, her wings out to steady herself and her quick movements. She jumped into the air and hovered right before a block of stone narrowly missed her face.

“Heh. You’re gettin’ better, kiddo. But let’s see yah try this,” Applejack said before hitting the ground, sending up a hailstorm of stones and rocks.

The alicorn dropped back to the ground and planted her hooves. The rocks slammed against her, but she made herself immovable, forcing the rocks to crumble against her and fall to the ground, dust. The earth pony kicked the ground and a large ball of rock rose up into the air. She gave it a swift buck and sent it flying at Diamond. The alicorn dipped to the left, reaching out and gripping the stone when it was close enough. She sent it swirling out and back at Applejack.

The earth pony lifted a hoof, shattering the stone and giving a light chuckle. “Yah’ve gotten better, Diamond, ah-- EEP!” She jumped back moments before the alicorn appeared from the dust, flying in and thrusting a hoof at her face. Applejack stepped back, avoiding the follow-up blows before her left hoof slid against the ground. The ground rose up under Diamond, throwing her balance off for a second.

For the earth pony, it was the only opening she needed. She stepped in, wrapped a hoof around the other mare’s head and slammed her into the ground, before laying on her. “Yah give?”

“Owwwww...”

“Ah’ll go ahead an’ take that as a yes,” Applejack said before getting up. She yanked the other mare to her hooves. “But ah gotta say, yah’ve definitely improved. Ah’m startin’ tah see a lot more of Twilight in how yah fight.”

“Did she see stars too?”

“Lot’sa times. But ah mean the way yah shift into different styles when yah fight. Wind, earth, ah even saw a bit of water bendin’ in there. It’s almost second nature to yah now, ain’t it?”

Diamond nodded, smiling despite the throbbing in her head. “Yeah. It’s not… sometimes it’s a little hard. But it gets easier every day. The more I train with you girls, the better I get.”

“Yah even almost landed a blow on meh this time,” Applejack said with a chuckle. “Yah ain’t done that in a while.”

Diamond preened at the compliment. “Thank you. I’ve really tried to improve. And with all of you training me, I--”

“Ah, don’t yah go praisin’ meh. If ah wanted somepony tah… well. Besides. Ah already know ah’m amazin’,” she said with a snort. “So, yah feel ready?”

“No, I really don’t...” Diamond mumbled gently. “Are we… sure this is going to work? I mean...”

“It’ll work, one way or another,” Applejack said with a shrug.

“And what if I can’t really… beat them? I mean...”

“You’ll have a whole herd of some of the best benders this world has tah offer. Same as Twilight did.”

Diamond nodded, though her eyes stayed lowered, making the other mare sigh. “Listen, ah get it. Anypony would have cold hooves for this. But yer gonna do fine. An’...” Applejack walked forward and put a hoof on her shoulders. “If yah can’t do it, we’ll pick up the slack. And ain’t nopony gonna think less of yah if yah don’t do everythin’ perfectly. Yah know? This all ain’t a one pony job. There’s a whole group of us workin’ on this problem. An’ let meh tell yah. This mare? She’s a big ol’ problem. Especially the way she’s goin’ about things. So yah jus’ keep workin’ as hard as yah can, an’ trust all the rest of us. Got it?”

Diamond gave a weak smile. “Thanks. It’s… it helps. Really. And I know I keep--”

“Worryin’? Well duh. Ah mean. Yer the Avatar,” Applejack said with a snicker. “Ain’t nopony alive who could carry that weight without worryin’. Heck, ah traveled with the last mare with that particular job for a while. She fretted more an’ anypony ah ever met. An’ the rest of us were almost as bad,” she said with a snicker. “Can’t have the whole world watchin’ yah without gettin’ a wee bit stage shy.” The earth pony kicked over a rock and nodded. “So… err… how’s our lil counter measure comin’ along?”

The alicorn let out a groan. “Not well. I’ve tried to keep out from underhoof, of course. I mean, I’m just a guest and all. And it’s not like I’ve been monitoring them or anything, I just, you know, hear a thing or two. But...”

Applejack snorted. “Ain’t nopony objectin’ tah yah stayin’ there. Tah be honest, ah wouldn’t wanna hang out on that island right now either. Prism takes after his mother a lot more than he realizes and neither of them handle their friends gettin’ hurt particularly well. So yah don’t need tah make excuses.”

“Fine,” Diamond said with an exasperated sigh. “Not well. I know Dr. Alicity is doing his best, but I don’t think it’s going to work. He’s had nothing but failure after failure and just… it might not be possible. What we’re trying to do is just...” She shook her head. “Stopping magic isn’t easy.”

“Ah know. If it was, the Water Nation woulda developed it ages ago. Heck, ah know they were tryin’. If they hadn’t been so pro unicorn, mighta even been able tah use some of it against us,” Applejack said with a smirk. “Then again, without their magic, we probably would have thrashed the lotta them a hecka lot easier.”

“Probably. Even with all this bending you thrash my butt. Even without your bending, I’m not sure how well I’d do,” she said with a sigh.

Applejack snorted. “Eh. Without bendin’, ah’m sure yah’d still do fine. Twilight did it, once. Ah ever tell yah that story?”

“… No? I think I heard about it, though… but I wouldn’t mind hearing it again.”

The earth pony got a lazy grin on her face. “Well, okay then. Let meh tell yah about them pirates. Oh, they thought they had Twilight alllll figured out...”

------

Acrylic couldn’t believe it, but he was actually starting to envy the coma that Ironwing was in. Button had, after a week of trying, managed to corner him. He would have welcomed an escape, any escape, but there was none. Instead, he was forced to walk through the streets, his cheeks getting redder and redder while his friend yammered on, only occasionally giving short, single word answers.

“So, did you kiss her? Did you grab her hoof? Did you two snuggle? Are you in love? Are you going to marry her?”

Acrylic just gave a small, soft shrug. He didn’t want to jinx it, but it HAD been going well. He was still nervous at the idea of dating anypony, especially one who he was scared felt too indebted to him to think their relationship through properly. Not to mention the fact he was going to be going off on a dangerous mission soon, with who knew what dangers awaited him?

But she was also really pretty, and sweet, and she had been visiting him almost every day. And even if it had only been a few days, he couldn’t deny feeling a little giddy whenever she came by. Even now, thinking about her, the way her cheeks got a little red whenever she saw him. Or how easily distracted she’d get and just kind of lose her train of thought whenever something interesting walked by. Or the way her coat glistened when she’d jumped into the water after they’d decided to go for a walk by the beach. Or the--

“Acrylic? Did you hear me?” Button asked with a grin. “You have that look on your face that Vinyl gets whenever a lecture goes on more than five minutes,” he teased.

The unicorn’s cheeks burned red and he quickly shook his head. “I-I’m fine. I’m just thinking.”

“About her?”

“Not at all!” he lied, his cheeks getting even redder. He couldn’t believe he was letting Button get to him so easily. It was just a little date, that was all! And a marefriend. Finally, however, he gave up. “Yes. I was thinking about her.”

“Finally! So, come on, give me details! You two are dating, right? So like… how’s it going?”

“You know, I don’t bother you about Luna.”

Button stopped in his steps and Acrylic instantly regretted the words. He wished he had just bucked the other stallion, it might have hurt less.

“Button, I--”

“No. You’re right. I just… I don’t know,” he mumbled, shaking his head. “I mean, when he was here and just… I didn’t… know and… then… I enjoyed him being here but... but now? That he’s not around, I just...”

The unicorn nodded. “You think all those feelings are fading, then? That it was just in the moment?”

“No! I miss him! So much!” Button said, shaking his head vigorously. “I just… I keep wanting to go down there. But I’m scared, and I like him a lot. But I never thought I’d, you know...”

“… Like a stallion?”

“Exactly!”

“I mean… maybe you don’t,” Acrylic said with a shrug. “Maybe you just like Luna, and that’s all there is to it.”

“… How does that work?”

“You like mares and Luna.”

“… Oh. Well. I guess. But...”

“But?”

“He wanted me to stay away and clear my head and… I mean… I just...”

“You’re scared to talk to him, and let him know how you really feel? Or worse, are afraid you accidentally drove him off by being a… well...”

“… That.”

Acrylic nodded. He couldn’t deny taking a small bit of satisfaction at not having to be on the defensive. “Welp, go talk to him, then.”

“W-what?”

“Go talk to him. Or, well. Write him a letter. Tell him how you feel. Send it before we leave. Ask if he can tear… just ask him to send you a letter back. You know?”

Button nodded with a sigh. “Yeah… you’re right. I’ll… Gahhhhh. If I wasn’t needed for this upcoming fight...”

“Life of being a friend of the Avatar,” Acrylic said with a shrug. “Could be worse. At least you know what it’s like now to NOT have Luna around. So you won’t have that on your mind worrying you next time you’re alone.”

The earth pony groaned. “Oh gosh. What if I DID end up scaring him off? I was a real… you know...”

“A flank? Somehow, I think he’ll forgive you. I mean, you did save his life and all. That counts for something.”

“Speaking of saving a pony’s life,” Button said with a grin that sent a chill down the unicorn’s back. “We talked about my romance, now let’s talk about yours! What’s it like? Is she nice?”

Acrylic let out a groan of exasperation, before finally nodding. “Yes. She’s nice. No. You know what? She’s AMAZING. She’s so sweet and goofy and weird and just...” His cheeks burned.

“Wait, really? Goofy?”

“Sometimes! A little, I mean, she’s just… I… I don’t know. She’s just...” He face hoofed. “I don’t know. I have fun when she’s around.”

Button made a face as if he had been struck, mock stumbling away. “Wait, FUN? You have FUN? I didn’t even think you could! We must find this mare! Study her! For the future of all partying, we must discover what is it that allows her to make you have… fun!”

The unicorn stared back at him, unamused. “If you’re going to mock me...”

“Sorry, sorry. I just… wow. So, you really like her?”

“It’s a bit too early to say. I’ve only known her about a week. And this week has been fairly busy with… you know...”

For a moment, there was silence while the thought of the wounded Ironwing hovered over their heads. Button shook his head after a few moments. “Even… so. If she’s making you have fun, I’m sure it’ll be for the best. Besides. You ARE allowed to have fun once in a while.”

“Yeah, I know. I just don’t normally like it,” Acrylic grumbled.

Button rolled his eyes. “It’s because you don’t let yourself. Listen, nopony says you have to marry her--”

“Mom’s heavily implying I should. And give her grandfoals.”

“… Nopony sane is saying you have to marry her right off the bat. But try to enjoy yourself, okay? If she likes you, then she likes you. You can both have a great time of it without having the whole world fall around on top of you.”

“I don’t--” He was cut off by somepony yelling behind him. The two glanced back to see a pegasus, one of the shadowbolts, flying towards him. Acrylic felt dread flood his stomach. The world might not fall out because of him, but he had a feeling something terrible was about to happen. The pegasus landed behind them.

“You two. Mister Acrylic, Mister Button?”

“Yes?” Acrylic asked, waiting for the bad news to hit.

“I was sent out to inform you that Ironwing has regained consciousness.”

Acrylic’s stomach went from falling to leaping. “H-he has?”

“He is? Does Scootaloo know?” Button asked.

“No, one of my comrades has already headed to tell her and mister Hornclipper. Your parents, as well. Since I saw you two, I figured I’d best let you know when I passed. I’m on my way to see Dr. Alicity and Miss Silverbelle now. I’ll--”

“Nah, leave it to us!” Button said quickly.

“Err...”

“It’s fine, we’re her friends. I think Scootaloo is down there, too. You have important things to get back to, right?” Button asked.

“Well, yes, but...” the pegasus mumbled, the indecision clear on his face.

“I think we can be trusted to deliver a message like this to one of our best friends. It’ll be fine,” Acrylic said firmly. “Please. We’d really like to be the ones to tell her.”

The shadowbolt sighed, before nodding. “Very well. Please hurry, though. It--” He was cut off by the two turning and running. He shook his head and chuckled, before taking to the air to go tend to his other duties.

------

Silver groaned, her head throbbing. Slowly she rubbed a hoof against her forehead, staring at the pieces of machinery in front of her. Or, rather, the remains of a few of the exploded magic ‘nullifiers’ delivered by Secretary. Nope. It wasn’t going to work like this. Her dad was close to the right path, that at least she couldn’t deny.

But the magic of Everfree wasn’t so easily controlled. He was going about it all wrong, and he had no idea how to know. Of course, nopony really did, so she could hardly fault him for that. SHE used it and even she didn’t quite know how it worked. Most other ponies could have never gotten as far as he did.

Of course, she did know how magic such as this worked, so she couldn’t help feeling just a little proud when she made her way towards one of the few remaining prototypes. Secretary had managed to bring it with the remains, while they continued to work on developing other models. She doubted they expected her to solve the problem, but she knew she could. Her artificial horn glowed while the containment compartment on the device opened, pulling out the ‘heart’ of the device.

She had to give her father even more praise while she admired it. The ‘heart’ was composed of a sapphire center, with a four point array woven around the base. However, the array was composed of vines FROM the Everfree Forest, wrapped in jade. It was a fragile, delicate mixture, but it did allow him to harness the power of the forest.

Which meant nothing since they had no idea HOW magic such as this worked. She admired the gem for a few more moments before sighing. “Oh daddy, you’re so brilliant, it’s a shame you don’t understand chaos. You can’t control it and force it like normal magic,” she said with a roll of her eyes. The device was good, but it would never function like this. Converting the magic they needed, into a function they desired, wouldn’t work.

At least, not without a few alterations.

The alicorn amulet appeared on her throat. The gem dropped from her grip when a sharp pain bore through her head, making her grit her teeth. No, it wasn’t chaos magic that triggered the pain, it was using the amulet. But she needed it for her best magic, so she didn’t have much choice. She wondered how long until her powers would fully return, until the headache would be nothing more than a distant memory that occasionally gnawed at her. She didn’t like this, she felt so vulnerable without access to her full range of powers. She couldn’t even ‘peer into the story’ now. She wondered if that was a side effect of using her abilities in such a manner, or if it was just overuse.

She glanced at the power source. Was it really safe to try this NOW? When she wasn’t fully able? A small voice in the back of her mind warned her that there were dangers to overdoing herself. Though she shook her head. They’d need this ready, soon. And while she’d love to create something that would do the job for them, it would draw too much attention if she was just able to magically come up with a solution.

So instead she shattered the delicate power source onto the ground, scattering it into a few dozen pieces. The amulet glowed and slowly, intricately, the pieces rose up and began to reform. Once again into four points, but the jade, sapphire and now-living vines of Everfree forming into a single, pulsing source. In the end, it didn’t look much different from how it had originally, but the magic that came from it was far more stable. Her own chaos magic moving with, and manipulating, the magic within. With this, she was certain her father would be able to create the field. And all it would look like was as if--

“Silver?”

Silver’s eyes widened and she almost dropped the power source, her head whipping around. A look of horror sprang onto her face when she realized who was standing there. “Button? Acrylic? What are… what are you doing here?”

But they weren’t looking at her. They were staring at the amulet around her neck. “Silver… We heard a crash. What’s… that?” Acrylic finally managed to choke out.

Silver felt the panic rising in her heart. “It’s a… it’s...” she started. But what could she say? It was the alicorn amulet? No, they could plainly see that. “It’s… a...” A novelty? A toy? A pretend? She tried to think of an excuse, but nothing good came to her mind. “It’s...”

“The alicorn amulet,” Button said softly. “Silver… how… do you have that?” he asked, confusing mixed with shock on his features, as well as a small hint of pain. Of worry. He stared at her.

“I… I...” Silver stared back at them and took a step back. No no no no. They knew. They’d know. How could she cover this up? It was so close! Soon, Tirek would be out of her hair. She couldn’t let them tell anyone. She had to stop them. “I… I’m sorry!” she shrieked. The alicorn amulet glowed with a blinding light…

And then the two were gone. She stared. “A-Acrylic? Button?” she asked. “Oh no. Oh no. W-what did I… Oh no no no no!” She stepped forward and only barely stopped herself in time, narrowly avoiding stomping on two small, tiny statues. She blinked and leaned down, staring at them. They were hoof sized little metal statues, perfect replicas of Acrylic and Button. Both with those shocked, confused looks on her face. “No no no no...” she whispered, shaking her head. “Oh please no… I’m sorry… I… I’ll turn you back. I promise. I just… I just...” She pulled back and began to pace back and forth. “No. Think this through. If you let them go, then the jig is up. Everything is done with. The alicorn amulet will be taken. And once she has that, there’s too many questions. Ponies WILL figure out who I am. And then… then stakes. And pitch forks. And who knows what else?”

Silver walked to the two small statues and picked them up in a hoof. She stared at them. No, they weren’t statues. They were figurines. She stared into their eyes and then slowly put them down. “No. No no. This isn’t… I won’t. They’ll understand. They’ll--”

“Do you really believe that?” a voice said from behind her. Silver jumped and turned around, staring at the ‘pony’ behind her. Trixie. The unicorn was sitting at her desk, though her body was see through and the chair didn’t move even slightly under her touch.

“You… h-how?” Silver asked. “You can manifest outside of…”

“A little. It’s not easy, though. Only for very important matters. More importantly, what are you doing?”

Silver glanced guiltily at the figurines. “I… I imprisoned my friends. It was an accident! I panicked and… and I saw them and they could ruin everything. I just--”

“Oh, no, I saw that. But you were going to release them, weren’t you?”

“...”

“And that’s why I’m here,” Trixie said with a sigh, before getting to her hooves and slowly walking towards her. It was odd, seeing a pony move, but not hearing any sound when they brushed past things, or her hooves against the floor. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“N-no I won’t. They’re my friends. They--”

“Do you think they’ll be your friends if they knew what you were?” she asked coldly. “Would YOU be your friend if you knew?” she asked viciously, lifting a hoof to touch the younger mare’s cheek. Surprisingly, Silver could feel it. “If you knew a pony who was the embodiment of all the destruction and pain and suffering of the last generation, would you just sit back and let them do their work? Or would you stop them in any way you could?”

“I...”

“Do you feel you’re strong enough to stop them?”

Silver stared and became all too aware of how much her head was throbbing. She whimpered and pulled back. “But… but they’re… they...”

“Yes, yes. They’re your ‘friends’. But they’re friends with ‘Silverbell, the beautiful heir to Tomorrow Industries’. Will they be friends with ‘Silverbell, the heir to all of Discord’s power and destruction. The pony secretly plotting behind all their backs to gain power and control’?”

Silver stared at the figurines in her hooves. “I… I...” She glanced back up, but the other mare was gone. “I don’t… I...” She closed her eyes and thought for a moment, though the headache made it a struggle. Finally, she slowly made her way to the desk and placed the small figurines on top of it. “I’m so… so sorry. Please. If you two can hear me, I’ll figure out how to get you out. I promise. Once… once I’m done. Just as soon as I finish my work. Just as soon as everything is… everything is ready...” she whispered, closing her eyes. She wiped the tears off her cheeks, before turning around and slowly lifting up the core with her artificial horn’s telekinesis. “But first… I need to go give this to daddy.”

Author's Note:

Okay then! So, starting next week, I will be off and relaxing! As such, I plan to go into my writing full tilt, woo! So, be prepared for a lot more chapters! This book is almost coming to a close, so I hope you're ready. Everything is culminating and nearly all the pieces are in place. Be prepared!