JTHW: Journey To Hearth's Warming

by Lighttone GryphonStar

S3 Episode 20: Punishment Part 2

Deep within a floating crystal airship far above the Unicorn Providence, the pieces echoed with the movement of black and white pieces across a chessboard. Blood Diamond moved each piece carefully, only occasionally moving a piece back when a different decision was made. The black pieces represented the Unicorn Providence itself, or rather, each one served as the cities within the country, with several of them already fallen.

Blood Diamond stopped his arrangement and nodded to a screen on the other side. "So, you say that Lord Red is on his way?" He asked the one on the screen.

"No, just his soldiers," Golden Williams answered from the screen. "Hmm, what about your left flank?"

"No, that's a decoy. We suspect she might see the same thing, especially if she is listening to that alicorn."

"Princess Platinum listening to Twilight Sparkle? Brother, you put too much faith in these mortals."

"Faith? No, we refused to ignore all options and possibilities. We suspect that Twilight sees things in a similar mindset to this and she will see the decoy just as easily."

"Then, why keep it?"

"Because if we remove it and Twilight is not helping the princess, then even she could figure out something is wrong."

Golden Williams laughed at his answer. "With all these tactics in play, why not try some diplomacy?"

"Always the one to see all the angles as long as they are in your favor, brother," Blood Diamond snarked back.

"Angles, how is that any different from you seeing all possibilities?"

"Possibilities and angles are as different as tactics and strategy."

"Fine," Golden Williams narrowed his eyes, "Your left quarter flank."

"We know," Blood Diamond stopped him, "But that can't be strengthened without breaking our decoy."

"Just trying to help." The older alicorn noted the area where the place was. "That's near Rage Mountain."

"What about it?" Blood Diamond raised his eyebrow and leaned over to it.

"Nothing, it's just thousands of years ago that place used to be a massive crystal--" Golden Williams was interrupted as Cold Blue entered the room.

"I'm sorry to break this meeting," the siren kneeled. "But I must ask Blood Diamond for something important."

"What is it?" Blood Diamond didn't even turn to face the siren. "We are busy."

"This can't wait..." Cold Blue's voice slowed as anxiety settled in his throat, "I need... advice,"

"This is about Twilight?" Blood Diamond's question was spot on. "We discussed this. She is on the opposite side of this war zone."

"But, sir, she could be of great use to us."

"To you. However, the only purpose she could serve us is in weakening Princess Platinum's army and that could easily be achieved by the princess simply not using her as a proper piece." Blood Diamond was quick as ever to see his soldier's questions without even letting him speak.

"Sir--"

"Enough, Twilight will remain where she is."

With his words given, an air of uneasiness could be felt in the room, especially from the siren. The creature clenching his fist so tightly at his master's words. His eyes turned to the hallway behind him and a shadow watching all of this play out.

What neither alicorn could realize was the full scope of things that were about to unfold today as the two went back to their game, no longer noting the siren was still in the room; the shadow begging to be seen rushing forward.

******

Back in the city below, the storm clouds parted, allowing the sunlight to finally reach the city and over Silver Pear as he pushed Starlight into a wheelchair.

"Do you have to push me?" The unicorn was annoyed to be stuck in the chair since her wounds weren't that bad. At most, she saw herself with a small limp for a few days.

"Yes, I have to," the earth pony completely disagreed with her as he was still uneasy about her leaving the hospital anyway, especially after what he saw Twilight going through earlier today. "Princess Platinum is still on a tirade of everything that has been happening."

"I still think we should break her out."

"That would only make things much worse. Besides, I would think a former criminal would come up with a better plan that didn't involve breaking the law."

"Former criminal, or rather a criminal, yet to be. I'm from the future, remember." Starlight corrected him.

"Pretense versus future tense can be pretty confusing even for your teacher, Lovely." Silver Pear came to a stop as they reached the dock where the titan airship was sitting.

Starlight's eyes fell at the mention of her teacher's current fate, "Yeah, I guess she wouldn't like me to fall into such evils when she tried so hard to bring me to the side of good."

"Exactly, we just need a legal way to get her out."

"Like that's going to happen with Princess Platinum controlling the legal systems." Starlight leaned back in her chair and huffed. "The only thing that could make things better or possibly worse right now is if another legal system got involved."

As if right on cue, a blast of magic could be seen flowing out of the airship and throwing what appeared to be a unicorn to the ground. Silver Pear and Starlight were shocked by this action and rushed over to see what was going on.

They arrived to see a unicorn stallion covered in chains attempting to get free. They were about to ask what was going on when the scream of a familiar umbrum answered them. "Don't you dare help that bastard to unicorn kind!" Rex blasted more chains out to throw Clovis even harder.

But the cowardly unicorn was always a master of escape, easily unlinking the chains that currently held him and jumping clear over Starlight and Silver Pear with the same olympic grace as his sister, placing a knife by Silver Pear's throat. "Back off, Rex. Clover wouldn't like us fighting."

"Right, still not as bright as ever," Rex snarked.

"What do you mean--" Clovis's knife was stopped by the pulsing magic of Starlight, giving Silver Pear enough time to throw his hand as his claymore flew to them from Rex's shadows.

In a crackle of magic and metal, Clovis was sent back further, knocking into the side of the hill until the titan airship was near. Corner by Silver Pear, Starlight, and Rex might have been too much, even for this master at escaping.

Starlight and Silver Pear wanted to question what was going on, but knew that could wait as the unicorn charged his magic. Rex ready his chains and charged in one side and Silver Pear another side. Previously, these two would fight each other, trying to outmatch the other because of their separate knowledge of Indigo Frost. Now they could combine those fighting styles, not against the wendigo, sure, but a problem either way.

Clovis slipped between the two swings of weapons before activating his spell; akin to a teleportation he appeared behind them only to be blasted by a magic pulse, knocking him back into Rex's chains, the blast belonging to Starlight, though still bound to a chair she was still a genius in her own right to the teleportation spell.

Clovis sneered at this but jumped upward again as Rex's chains flew around him. Using his hand, he twirled around over the heads of the two stallions, dodging them multiple times before landing back in the corner.

"Damn it, this unicorn is annoying!" Silver Pear ready his sword.

"He always was. Never as strong as his brother or as clever as his sister, but annoying to the highest degree." Tiring of this, Rex placed his hand on his chest and on the hidden amulet. "Make me an opening."

"Whatever you're planning, you've got it." Starlight teleported above Clovis, using her wheelchair as a heavy weapon. The opposing unicorn twisted out from under and barely jumped over Silver Pear's claymore as it swung by. “Watch it!" Starlight stopped the claymore from breaking her chair even more than she already did by throwing it back to hit Clovis again, but as annoying as Rex said, the tricky unicorn twisted under the blade and kicked Starlight over before turning back to Silver Pear and landing a fury of kicks against his claymore.

Rex used their efforts to distract to channel the magic within the dark alicorn amulet. He closed his eyes and whispered, "Listen, you damn goat. This unicorn is a servant of Lord Red..." There was no response, as often there wasn't. He had hoped the mention of Lord Red directly to that old creature would get a reaction. "Damn it, answer me! He is threatening one of your descendants." A twist of pain from the amulet brought Rex down to a knee. "No, not me. I know I disappointed you, but she clearly has not... this Twilight Sparkle."

Shockingly, the near mention of that name directly to the dark alicorn amulet was enough to finally get a response; glowing a bright maroon red, flowing dark magic into Rex's hand and through his chains. His shadowmancy spread far beyond his own shadow and took complete control of the hill's shadow, launching thousands of chains upward to the hill's edges.

"Move now!" Starlight's eyes went wide to the maroon glow flowing outward from Rex and she grabbed Silver Pear, teleporting behind the umbrum as he unleashed the amount he could barely charge.

The umbrum held out his hand and spoke "Dark Spatial Break!" With that, the hill cracked open and crumbled over the unicorn.

Clovis' eyes moved fast to seek an escape, but none were easily clear as chains surrounded him and were at each edge of the hill. He sneered. Rarely caring to defeat, he channeled his magic into a teleport, but found the very space around him was preventing any kind of exit. He growled at the sight of Rex using dark magic, knowing he couldn't keep it up for long. Frowning, the unicorn accepted defeat and sat down, waiting for the boulder to fall and crush him.

"Enough!!" Clover finally interfered, breaking his connection to the amulet. "We don't need my brother dead." Rex dropped to a knee and took a moment to change his breath.

"Brother?!" Starlight and Silver Pear, now having their answers, hastened to catch the unicorn. Starlight threw Silver Pear through the rubble, so he could grab the trickster and land on the other side.

Not crushed, Clovis still found it rather hard to escape as Starlight enveloped him in a very familiar magic. "Wait, what?! I taught no one this spell?!" the unicorn struggled.

"Huh, there are perks for being from the future." Starlight rolled over. "I read this spell from your family spell book long ago. Never thought I would meet one of your family."

"Sorry, Starlight." Clover rushed over and stomped her staff into her brother's chest. "Now enough escaping."

"Why? Your stallion is just going to kill me again!"

"He won't need to if you don't pose a threat! Unlike your master!"

"Lord Red isn't a threat as long as you hand over Twilight immediately--" He was stopped as Rex's chains climbed back over him and held him to the ground.

"That will not be happening." Rex tightened the chains. "You will tell your master we refuse his help."

"I can't. He won't let me teleport to his side until I get an agreement. In fact, I can't even leave this city."

"Teleport him anyway," Starlight answered.

"Who is this unicorn?! You dare question the power of my master!!"

"If he said Lord Red won't let him, there is no power at all that can change that." Starswirl finally arrived. "Lord Red is far beyond the power of most unicorn."

"Master Starswirl..." Clovis sneered in disappointment.

"Hello, Clovis, how is your father?"

"To my sister, he is already in the city. However, he isn't taking orders for Lord Red. I was the only one Lord Red sent."

"Fine, then we will have to talk to Lord Red," Starswirl walked over to Starlight's wheelchair and looked down at her.

"Wait, why me?"

"I would rather not face him alone. Plus, there has been something I've been curious about." Starswirl leaned down and whispered into Starlight's ear, "Omnious pony." Before they could be stopped, both vanished in a teleportation of chaos magic.

Silver Pear was left in utter shock as he was hoping to help Starlight back to the bed in the ship so she could get some better rest. "Huh, I guess we should go warn Twilight."

"Not going to happen!" Fredricson rushed over. "Damn it, I missed him."

"You need to get back to repairing the titan airship," Rex stopped him, "The sooner we leave the better."

"That's not our biggest problem no more."

"What do you mean? What's wrong?" Clover could see the distress in the earth pony's eyes.

"Look for yourself," He tossed her the newspaper.

After a few moments, she dropped the paper "... fuck!" being her only answer.

"What?" Silver Pear attempted to catch it, only for Rex to take it instead.

"It seems our two groups aren't the only ones after Twilight." Rex unfolded the paper, revealing the main title, "Alicorn escape with the help of strange lightning."

******

Back in the floating crystal airship, Cold Blue felt shame cloud every part of his mind as he attempted to speak his thoughts to his master. Such action was always so hard to do. He owed so much to this alicorn, his training, his life, and even his soul. Speaking against him took so much willpower as the siren gave a definitive answer, "Forgive me, sir."

"What for?" Blood Diamond's eyes went wide. "What did you do?"

"I..." His eyes strained away, especially when the alicorn stallion stood up from his chair and faced, expecting an answer. "I..." his words fell again.

"He did nothing wrong," a fresh voice entered the room as the shadow hidden behind Cold Blue made herself known. Even Golden Williams came to attention at the sight of Twilight Sparkle standing in the room.

"What is this?" a spark of a rage spat from Blood Diamond's horn.

"Please don't, Blood Diamond Constantine Hollow Chernobyl Bloodstain," Twilight rushed to Cold Blue's side and bowed to the ground, using the opposing alicorn's true full name to plead. "Do not punish him."

Blood Diamond was taken aback by the false alicorn's use of his full name. Such knowledge before their meeting twenty days ago would have been questionable, but it was clear from her actions now that Twilight had learned a lot since their last encounter.

Blood Diamond raised a crystal to Twilight's throat but didn't cut the flesh. "You have gained knowledge, but so have we, time traveler."

Twilight gritted her teeth as her secret was revealed. Caving, she answered, "Yes, I am a time traveler. I was forced through a portal and after many journeys arrived here." She winced her eyes as a thought bubbled through her mind, assumptions she hoped to never reveal to anyone outside of Starlight. However, this was the only possibility that could work. She channeled all her magic and pushed away from the crystal at her throat and faced the alicorn.

"Fine, speak." Blood Diamond could see the fire in her eyes. "What do you offer us?"

"There was something I didn't want to consider at first. But after learning your full name I knew it had to be true." Twilight's eyes narrowed. "As this Lord Red must have revealed, my magic matches Celestia and Luna, but even he doesn't know the full scope of things."

"Really? That the truth is what you offer?"

"No, I offer you pride, a pride that you don't even know exists yet, because it has yet to form in this timeline."

"Pride? As in familial?" Blood Diamond was quick to figure out what Twilight's answer even faster than Cold Blue's answers.

"Yes, I did time travel here, but not alone." Twilight stood up and present an image of Starlight Glimmer.

"The unicorn? What does she offer?"

"When I heard your name I knew the truth," she pointed to the image, "Her full name is Starlight Constantine Hollow Glimmer."

Blood Diamond's mouth hung open. Pure shock edged every part of his face. He was in such realization that the crystal chessboard faded from a lack of concentration along with the screen showing Golden Williams, preventing him from hearing what Blood Diamond was about to say. It took Blood Diamond a full minute to finally answer what Twilight suspected this whole time. "Constantine Hollow, it's a family name, held by my mother, passed to me."

"It's also the true name of Starlight's hometown, which is why I knew it was important at first, but..." Twilight stopped herself, this final bit of information was too dangerous to give him even if she was just as desperate to learn the truth

"That gives us no answer. Matching a name to a city is one thing, but a unicorn to an alicorn no fewer breaks too many questions."

"Yes, but it still creates far more questions than breaks." Cold Blue affirmed Twilight's assumption. "If this unicorn is too from the future--"

"Enough." Blood Diamond summoned chairs for both of them. "We will accept this alliance. You may stay with us for now." Sitting back down, he gave his own offer. "What is it you desire? Know this though, we will not stop our battle with Princess Platinum."

"Fine..." Twilight turned away with shame. "But what about this Lord Red?"

"Knowing Starswirl, he will make his own move against his old rival soon. Now, what is your desire?"

"I wish... to move the battle away from the capital."

"Oh, changing the view, why?"

"No... Princess Platinum is so determined to fight this war, but I don't think she is the one causing this pain, nor are the unicorns living in these lands. But if they aren't, wouldn't it be better to find out who is responsible and end them."

"Taking the battle away from the capital would require a different arena of battle...?"

"It would push Princess Platinum and her forces out of this city long enough to find the traitor and end hi--"

"Kill him, we will only accept if you bring us his head." Blood Diamond smiled as he saw the words bring a shock out of the false alicorn. "Cold Blue will accompany you and you will bring this traitor's head to us."

"I..." Twilight's eyes fell, and she gritted her teeth. "I understand."

"Good, you will leave once you explain how we get Princess Platinum to follow this plan unquestionably, especially with you free of her grasp." With that, the chessboard reappeared in front of Twilight.

Twilight's fist tightened, and she took her chair and grabbed the first piece. "First off, we will need to cast some sort of illusion to make it appear as if I am leaving with you to the next area of battle. Princess Platinum has such hatred toward me right now that the mere fact of us working together should pose a far greater threat."

"We are not a master of illusions, but our brother is. We will contact Golden Williams to send one of his doubles to us before we make our move."

"How long will that take?"

"Only a few hours. As for your allies, Rex, Clover, that earth pony and..." Blood Diamond's voice slowed, "Our granddaughter, Starlight Glimmer."

"You said Starswirl will deal with Lord Red, odds are he will take Starlight with him. He has been curious about her since we join his group."

"Hmm, you've learned about that old wizard."

"Let's just say a form of him still exists in my time. As tricky as he can be, I trust him in making moves that won't pose a threat and instead lean toward pros of curiosity."

"Intriguing, still dangerous for a child of our lineage."

"If you don't trust me, then send Cold Blue to check while we wait for Golden Williams-" Twilight stopped upon seeing Cold Blue was gone.

"He does that often. Knowing him for over five thousand years makes trust an absolute priority." Blood Diamond leaned back. "We will send the message to Golden Williams. Meanwhile, you will tell us everything you know about this town Starlight heralds from."

Twilight felt a shift of coldness upon Cold Blue leaving her side. She had hoped he would stay longer, as she still didn't trust Blood Diamond that much. She didn't know why she trusted the siren more, but did hope for his return soon.

******

Author's Note:

Yeah, I know another short chapter, but it's not like I split a single chapter up just to make a post, quite the opposite. I had planned for this to be one of the biggest chapters in this season but I found most of the scenes I had in it detracted away from the main plot of this chapter. Sure the last chapter covered a lot of plot points but that was because that chapter was the opening.

Either way, while editing this and removing the parts to other chapters I started to notice something about their lengths. It's something I've been noticing since July with the other stories and I plan to fully go over the details next week. Either way, be ready for something big to happen to the story, nothing will be removed but changes will happen.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was a lot of fun and I am very glad to have Twilight and Cold Blue in the same scene as I have been planning big things for them since the story started. The next chapter will go back and cover a small bit of the break out as well as finally give us a glimpse as to what Indigo Frost's group has been doing since season two.