Missing Harmony

by Razor Blade the Unicron

Chapter Three: Theory

The glow on Twilight's horn wavered slightly, but the shield maintained. Amethyst's horn lit up, and a layer of magic washed over her eyes as she started using her signature. Her eyes flicked around the large room for any sort of signs as to what had just happened, and she paused at one of the hallways. She spotted the tiniest glimpse of something shiny that was in pink-purple.

"Twilight, I think there's somepony over there," she hissed quietly, not taking her eyes off the now seemingly empty spot.

"An ally or an enemy?" she whispered back.

"I don't know." Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What kinds of gemstones are pink-purple?" she asked. "I thought I saw something like that, but I don't know why somepony would have a pink sapphire on them..."

"Could be a rhodolite garnet," offered Spike. "Or an ametrine, rubellite tourmaline, orichalcum-"

Twilight inhaled sharply, and Spike looked at her in confusion. "That would be how the Princesses are gone too!" Amethyst tilted her head and opened her mouth to ask for clarification. "Orichalcum absorbs magic, and it's one of the few things that can kill an alicorn!"

"Kill an alicorn?" repeated Amethyst, her eyes widening in horror. "I didn't even know that was possible!"

"But nopony is dead!" said Spike nervously. "So that couldn't be what happened!"

Twilight shook her head. "Orichalcum isn't just used for that. It absorbs magical output when connected to the source, which is why it's used as a fillament in magic-nullifying rings. If the wearer attempts to use magic, they instead receive a shock of pain. But if there's too much orichalcum for their magic to handle, the shock can be much more drastic, and even life-threatening. A ring made fully out of orichalcum as opposed to it being used as a fillament will knock out a unicorn if they try to use any magic, and four can knock out an alicorn. I'm not sure what the possibilities for usage on Earth ponies and pegasi, but the results would likely be the same."

"You think that everypony got an orichalcum ring put on them?" asked Amethyst.

"Or their magic output was hit with something made of orichalcum."

"But orichalcum is really hard to find!" said Spike. "It would take ages to make enough rings or weapons to take out an entire room full of ponies! Besides, who would even do something like that?"

Twilight horn flickered more, until her aura finally snapped and the shield dissipated. She flinched from the overuse of her magic, and put a hoof to her head in pain. Amethyst heard some sort of elastic sound, and she whipped over to look at where she saw the orichalcum. Barely a moment later, something small came streaking through the air towards Twilight, and hit the tip of her horn. She stumbled back, and then collapsed on the ground, pink-purple gem shards on the ground around her, as well as a broken arrow shaft.

Spike's wing sprang open, and quickly wrapped around Amethyst's waist and pulled her close. He adjusted his stance to shield her from any more arrows, and she bit her lip nervously.

"Won't it knock you out, too?" she asked nervously.

"I can eat orichalcum," said Spike, who sounded more nervous than she. "So I don't think that it can affect me."

"But an arrow is still an arrow!"

"I've got tough enough scales."

Yet again, there was a tense silence as they waited for something to happen. Amethyst was still using her signature, looking for any signs of movement. Nothing happened.

"What do we do now?" she whispered to Spike. "If we move at all, we could get hit with anything!"

"Can't you teleport us or something?" asked Spike.

"I've never tried to bring anyone with me, let alone two others! And I don't think I have enough energy to teleport even just myself!"

"Then what other spells do you know? There's got to be something that could help!"

She bit her lip even harder, thinking over the possibilities. She couldn't form a moonbeam for any purpose, since they were too far away from any of the window. She had just started learning any kind of defensive spells, so those wouldn't even work. Maybe some of the charms she knew could help.

Obviously the one she used to block a cockatrice's stare would be useless, ignoring the fact that they didn't even have any goggles or anything on them. The fastening charm that she used to use wouldn't be of any help either, as she would have to be in close range for it to work. The only other one she could think of was the wind charm that she occasionally used to provide small breezes for Twirly, the strength of the wind aided by her being part pegasus.

Maybe I can make a funnel of air around my horn to deflect any orichalcum away from it, but if I get shot at anywhere else... She glanced over at the unconscious Twilight. "Spike, can you carry Twilight? I can shield my horn, and if we move fast we can get to some place safer."

"Where?" asked Spike. "Do we try and find the other Royal Guards or look for where everybody was taken?"

"Let's just get outside first. We'll have more space to move around and avoid things." The glow around her eyes faded away, and a funnel of wind began to spin around her horn. "Let's head towards the window over there-" she titled her head towards one of them, "-since I saw that it was unlatched."

Spike nodded, and the two of them moved as quickly as they could. Amethyst remained as close to Spike as she could while he tried to place Twilight on his back. The dress she was wearing made it harder, but they managed to pick her up. The two sprinted towards the window, and halfway there a second arrow came flying towards them, but it just barely missed Amethyst's horn thanks to her wind charm. She caught the shaft in her magic, and winced it pain when her aura tried to surround the orichalcum head. She simply pulled the arrow over and grabbed it tightly in her teeth, simultaneously opening the window with her magic. Just a moment later, she and Spike jumped out into the snowy night.

"Don't think that you can outrun me..." hissed an angry voice from the corner, notching another orichalcum arrow onto their bow. "I've always hit my targets in the end..."

Author's Note:

Actually, orichalcum is a bronze-yellow in real life. But I function on Terraria logic, so pink-purple it is!

Comments

[EverfreePony]

Oh, really nice bits and pieces about magic and the effects of gemstones. Also, such a cliffhanger at the end!