JTHW: Journey To Hearth's Warming

by Lighttone GryphonStar

S6 Episode 47: The Lunar Calamity

The entire Giant Blue Hourglass shook violently with each step taken by the beastly giant towering over everything. The mighty corpse of the former king of all centaurs raged with wrath and violence. Its eyes were blank to the world, completely under the command of Aitym. With little effort, it tore apart the walls of the hourglass, sending them shattering to the ground, creating landslides and hurricane winds to fly out in all directions.

Deep within its massive mane, Rex slowly awoke. He scratched his head and straightened his chains. He got up, trying his best to stand upon the unstable flesh of the giant monster. His body winced in pain from all the backlashed dark magic. He was never a master of its power and it proved pointless in the end as he failed to stop the beast's resurrection.

"Damn it... Aitym!" Rex turned his attention to the giant face of the monster. "You used us from the very beginning." He growled at his body and failures. "You let us rescue Twilight and Cold Blue, knowing it would give you a view of our minds and past." He flinched over at the icy storm forming around the beast, slowing its efforts. "You didn't have enough information from Cold Blue's memories, so you needed mine..." His eyes narrowed at the two shadows clashing in the snowstorm. "Looks like I'm alone in this."

Rex gripped his chains tightly and threw them off his body. Dozens upon hundreds of chains flowed. His eyes glowed and his shadows expanded outward over the body of the giant, as far as he could push it. Out of every foot, more chains flowed out. "Shadow Spell 72, Chain Coffin!!" Slaming his hands down, his entire arsenal of chains wrapped around the giant centaur.

Despite the massive number, it was barely enough to cover the face of the creature, dropping to the ground. Rex gritted his teeth and pulled back, hoping to suffocate it. But that proved fruitless too as it continued its advance, unhindered by him at all.

"This is pointless... That head is simply a piece of flesh." Aitym's voice echoed under him. Looking down to the flesh revealed the face of Rainbow Dartz peaking out like an eyeball. The previous host of Aitym was still entirely under his command.

"So you succeeded..."

"Oh, the irony. The Centaur King invaded this land for the sole purpose of claiming this zombie spell from the ruins of the umbrum capital. Fighting so hard that he was sealed away by the very umbrum standing before me now. And to top things off, I'm using that very spell to take command of him."

Rex tried to step on it, only for it to move away, sliding through the flesh like it was liquid. "Damn you, let them go!!"

"Which one?"

"Both the pegasus and this monster!!" Rex screamed back.

"Oh, you don't know the truth yet..." Aitym laughed at his efforts.

"What are you talking about?!" Rex sent chains after the head only for it to sink back into the flesh of the giant centaur.

"You will learn how cruel reality is soon enough!!" Aitym's voice faded deeper into the flesh. "For now, accept fate and die!!" With that, the flesh rose up around Rex's feet. The chains wrapped around the giant's throat and began to glow with light as they tightened their grip.

"I won't do that!" Rex shouted back. Yet his efforts continued to be pointless as the flesh moved like lava over his legs and his hips. "I won't give up!!" He pushed his magic beyond its limit, and the flesh reached around his chest. With that, his chains faded away, back into his shrinking shadows. "No!! Amulet!!" He called out to it, but it gave no answer, leaving his eyes wide. The flesh wrapped around the dark alicorn amulet and reached his neck.

"What now?" Rex muttered as his resolve shook. "All my spells mean nothing..." He dropped his head in shame. "I couldn't defeat this thing before... Not alone..." The flesh reached over his face. "I need... help!!" His voice echoed outward in all directions as the last of him sank within the beast's flesh.

******

The roaring reached the cliffs of Pegasus Isles, where the remains of a pink orb airship crashed down. It ripped apart on contact with the cliff edges. Luna and Celestia were sent flying out of it. They barely had enough time to pull out their wings as the fires of the explosion hit them, tossing the two alicorns into buildings on the left and right.

"Celestia!" Luna's eyes widened as the roaring hit her ears. She tried to stand up but was so off balance by the crashing. "I... I think I heard Rex..." Flying out of her building, she fell to the ground just as hard. "Celestia!!" She called out to her sister. "Answer me!"

"I'm... fine..." Celestia tried to lie as the blood poured out of her mouth.

"No, no, you aren't!" Luna rushed over at the sight of the piece of permafrost stabbing through Celestia's hip.

"It's fine!" Celestia tried to laugh. Summoning magic to cut her free, she winced as the saw shape cut through the back and front ends of the permafrost. Luna was barely able to catch her and land her slowly.

"I'm supposed to be the reckless sister here!" Luna moved to remove the permafrost.

Her sister stopped her and sat up. "No, you need to leave me behind." Celestia sneered at the pain. "I'll be fine, you have a mission to complete."

"I'm not leaving you behind!" Luna traced her fingers through the clouds around them. They turned black and flowed around Celestia, lifting her into the air. "We are sisters, even in this madness, that can't be forgotten."

Celestia looked at her. "You're serious?"

Luna nodded before dropping her eyes. "I know what the mission is, but I can't do it without my sister beside me."

"Luna..." Celestia smiled and nodded back in agreement. "Thank you, Let's find Rex together."

"Good." Luna led her to the source of the roaring.

From the shadows, Gale watched the scene playing out. Seeing the two sisters moving together only made things harder for her. Here she was planning to murder her own brother and free him from the enslavement of Aitym. She had already lost one brother, and now she was considering killing another.

Hearing their strong connection broke the proud Commander Hurricane, making her fall into her spot. She looked at her hands, covered in her brother's blood and flesh. Rubbing it away proved fruitless as the images couldn't fade. Grunting and growling at herself, she slapped her legs. "I can't freeze up now..." Throwing her head against the wall hard she screamed.

She breathed harder and harder. Slapping herself in the face twice over and jumping back up. "I must... I must kill him!!" Gale fixed her armor and smirked at her helmet. "I'm fucking Commander Hurricane!" She threw her hand up only to remember she lost track of her legendary crooked spear. "And..." Her eyes widened at the shame. "I don't even know how to stop him?"

"Commander?"

Gale spun around to see a soldier crumbling toward her. She rushed over to catch him, only to see he was among several, calling out to her. Seeing all of them reaching out to her, asking for her command. "I... I am your commander."

"Commander Hurricane!" they shouted at her with a mix of joy and shame. "Commander Hurricane!!"

"I... I am your commander!!" Her eyes narrowed and her stance straightened. She held up her hand with no spear and shook it as if her weapon never left her hand. "I am Commander Hurricane!!" She turned toward the sight of the giant centaur moving toward them. "And I must kill my brother!" Pulling out her wings she took off to the sky.

Never once did she realize the soldiers not following her. She hadn't considered, no, she would rather deny the reality of those soldiers as they faded away. They were never there to begin with, just the ghosts her ever-growing guilt, stabbing deep into her soul.

The lone soldier with nothing but ghosts at her back, kicking her wings harder through the icy winds. She gritted and roared with fury and rage. "I will end this!! I will make sure this Aitym pays in a thousand tons of blood!!" Gale closed her eyes and flew faster than she ever did before

******

Deep within the giant centaur's mighty grasp, darkness faded away to the bright light of Twilight's horn. Sparking a soft spell above them, she sat down next to Clover. The unicorn was shivering in fear as both could hear Rex's roaring fading outside. The alicorn raised her wing around her. "I'm certain he hasn't given up yet." She waved her head back and forth.

"How can we win now?" Clover dropped her head in shame. "We're trapped in here."

The alicorn turned her face away. "I don't know. Ixion is a beast beyond all of us in power and might..." Twilight pulled in her legs too. "On top of that, he's under the control of Aitym, an alicorn greater than any other." She stared at the bright light she cast, knowing it wouldn't last forever. "If Rex can't defeat him... If Cold Blue can't either..."

"This war shouldn't have happened," Clover answered her so bluntly. "We should have never been in this war to begin with."

"War..." Twilight spoke the word slower. "War... War?!" She shouted the last word.

"What?!" Clover jumped at Twilight rushing toward the light. "What's wrong?"

"This isn't the only war that this centaur has been a part of right?!" Twilight screamed at her. The unicorn couldn't figure out what she meant so the alicorn rushed over and shook her. "Ixion wasn't just involved in this war!!"

"Yeah, and?" Clover raised an eyebrow. "He's a corpse, we already knew that."

"Yes and who killed him last time?" Twilight demanded.

"I... I don't know, that part of history is a total mystery." Clover rubbed her head. "Frankly, I only know Rex was involved because I saw it in his memories."

"And I saw the same in Cold Blue's memories." She pointed to the hand. "Aitym was able to use both those memories to see where Ixion was imprisoned, so he also must know who killed him."

"Asking him is pointless!" Clover threw up her hands.

"We don't need to!" Twilight laughed out loud. "We can just use the same trick he did!"

"What do you mean?" Clover was even more confused as Twilight sat down in front of her and took both of her hands into her hands.

"Both our minds have been inside Rex and Cold's memories." Twilight stopped and smiled. "You... You are greatly connected to Rex. Just as I'm..." She waved her head back and forth. "I've been training with Cold Blue for over one thousand years in the mindscape."

"What?!--" Clover was stopped as Twilight covered her mouth.

"We are the closest connection they've had in a long time, right?" Twilight gripped her left hand tightly around Clover's right hand. "You and Rex." Grasping just as tightly with the other hands she finished. "Me and Cold Blue."

"Twilight... What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, in order to defeat Aitym and Ixion, we need to know how Rex and Cold Blue survived it last time." Twilight wrapped her wings around Clover's shoulders. "So... Clover. Would you join me in the mindscape?"

Both closed their eyes as a mind egg of magic swarmed around them. The two slowly floated into the center of the mindscape embrace. The air of the world around them flashed from black to white in color. The flesh below and around them was replaced by the emptiness of the void.

"Hollow Prince?" Twilight spoke out. "Please help us once more in finding something hidden within our memories and hearts."

"Right?" Clover agreed. "Show us the past of those idiot stallions in our lives."

It took a few moments but soon he answered them. "Bold proclamation. You dare return to me now!" His rage was so intense that both of them opened their eyes.

Just as before, images flashed around them. Their forms changed rapidly with each image. Clover saw the image of a younger Twilight with no wings at all, growing into the adult in front of her. The alicorn's form changed in the unicorn's eyes so fast that she could barely process the next few, being Twilight with paler fur, then the Pale Mare, in all her madness, and finally a being of pure ice and rage.

Twilight called out to Clover, making her flinch and twist. "Don't break the connection. He is showing us possible futures. It's a side effect of his power."

"Then what do you see?!" Clover called out to her.

"I... I'm not sure." Twilight visions of Clover were more fuzzy. She saw a younger Clover grow up into the one before her but there was something else that made no sense. There were the flashing images of chains around Clover's body, particularly around her neck and hips. At first, she thought they were a visage of Rex's chains, but everything told her that wasn't right at all. They look so very familiar to her, but nothing like Rex's chains at all.

On top of that, both were hearing a strangely familiar laughter. It wasn't the venomous laughter of Elisus, but rather a rageful malice whose source was a complete unknown. It traveled over their ears and faces, below their chins, and craving against their throats. It squeezed with more wrath and hatred than any other feeling ever could.

"Patience, you two will be reaching the shared memory very soon." Hollow Prince's voice was filled with annoyance and frustration as he formed a memory bubble around their minds. "While you are there, another will be watching. Someone of whom you have yet to free from his command."

"The pegasus, Rainbow Dartz!" Clover questioned.

"No, another unicorn named Mira!"

Twilight's eyes widened. "Princess Platinum!"

******

On the other side of the mindscape, her eyes popped open at the sounds around her. The princess didn't move at all, instead, she tried to force herself back to sleep. But her eyelids were so light that they wouldn't stay closed. It felt like she had been sleeping for eons. Even so, she would rather be asleep than awake in this place.

The sounds got louder as if they were digging into her ears. She could hear voices arguing, wailing, screaming, and moaning about around her. Her ears were ringing from all the noises, but she couldn't understand a single word of it. The princess couldn't even make sense of what language they were speaking in.

Unable to void them away with sleep, she stared upward, hoping to distract herself. White, purple, blue, and pink lights flickered in the dark space above her. She looked around the place in confusion, as there were no walls around her or even a ceiling. Her body could feel a floor or moving mass, but her mind doubted there was anything at all below her either. Plus, a sneaking fear was forcing her not to confirm these doubts.

The princess shut her eyes in a last attempt to go back to sleep, but the noises had grown to be unbearable. The longer it went on, the easier particular sounds became. The ones that shook her the most were emotions pf children crying and parents arguing.

These parental voices brought tears forth in her eyes as she was made powerless. They weren't voices she knew, but each word of an unknown language they spoke made her shiver and twist around. Never would she face them, instead being forced to listen to every syllable. She shut her eyes as tight as she could, only hearing their yelling voices through the walls of her eyelids. Her hands covered her ears only for the voices to scream louder than before with even more aggression as if sensing her defiance.

The princess opened her mouth and finally screamed back, but was only able to produce a whisper. "Stop..." It was the only thing her mouth could muster. She forced her voice harder, and less sound came out as if she couldn't speak at all. "Please... stop..."

The princess felt the soft breeze brush over her body, feeling her nose with a sweet smell of exotic food from an eastern land. "Father..." She knew his cooking anywhere. But there was no answer, the voices just kept going. "Father, I know you are there! Father!" Still no reply, only more noise. However, the more she said, the more her voice returned. Taking in a deep breath she screamed as loud as she could. "Father!"

The screaming sounds stopped abruptly. The moving mass under her stopped at the exact moment. The darkness beyond her was replaced by a softer light. Her eyes opened slowly and revealed herself in another place altogether. Feeling a great sense of safety she lifted her head up and looked around.

She could recognize the white marble floor, the rows upon rows of tables, covered in her favorite foreign foods. The tapestry on the wall had writing she knew all too well. It was her father's handwriting and it said, "Happy Birthday!!" Her eyes stopped on her father smiling at her. "Happy birthday my darling girl,"

Her hand reached out only to stop at her crystal hands in place of her previous limbs. She pulled back and touched the hands out of curiosity. They were as cold and hard as the marble floor. "Father?"

"Daddy!!" A small filly ran past her and into his arms. The princess's fear returned in full force to see that it was her younger self. "No!" Her teeth gritted. "That's just cruel..." She dropped to her knees at the sight of the proof. From the smaller horn to the hidden wings, yet to be removed, long after his death. "Father, no..."

"Your mother sent you a gift." He placed the filly down and pulled out a tiny box. Her younger self opened it without any hesitation, revealing a red broch. Her eyes widened at it as she lost it years ago. She was still looking at it when her father vanished.

The whole scene around her changed. Her younger self had looked up to his statue, tears dripping down her face. The princess approached her younger self from behind and placed her hand on her shoulder. Her eyes winced at the scars from the wings being removed. "No!" She snapped at her past self. "Stop it! Stop looking at the statue! It won't bring him back!" Jumping in front of her, she dug her fingers into those scars. "Removing them won't bring him back!!" Her voice shivered and ached. "It will just take more from you."

Her younger self didn't even acknowledge her, keeping her eyes on the statue. She pulled back at the smell of the rotting flesh approaching from behind the young filly. "Look away..." The princess pleaded with the filly. "Hurry and run away from... Thule." But the young filly kept staring forward, ignoring the warnings as the smell got stronger.

A sense of quick safety came as an axe stood between her and the corpse. Her eyes fell upon the image of her naga guard as the scene slowly morphed again. His visage filled her with warmth and joy. That is until the area was replaced by a mountainside. This scene shook her away to see her younger self now an adult, watching in horror as a beam of light tore through his chest.

The naga fell in slow motion, his eyes turning to hers. She felt his blood spurt into her face. "No..." She pleaded for her past self not to look at the scene. Before this scene felt like eons ago, but now it felt like she had been reliving this single moment over and over for eternity. "Please, stop..." She could no longer move. Her feet were rooted to the spot by a force she could no longer comprehend.

The images faded and the feeling of motion under her returned in full force, along with the screaming voices. As everything cleared away she finally saw the source of this rage, agony, and torment. Thousands upon millions of souls flow by like a river. Their faces looked back at her, each face full of pure hatred. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." She repeated to them all. Though most of the faces she couldn't recognize, there were plenty, unicorns, that stuck deep in her eyes. Those were the faces of her soldiers. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you." All because of her stupidity and foolishness. Her ears burned in her skull as the voices screamed at her. "I'm so sorry... please forgive me..."

"Don't be sorry..." A new voice answered. "The fault is ours."

Her eyes moved up from her knees and found the owner of the voice. Standing in front of her was another mare. The image of her face burned deep into her mind. "Mother."

"I see your mind has healed much from when we last met. Yet it still has much to go before you can truly be whole again." The queen nodded with a smile, her wings folding out to her. "Please sleep again..."

"No!!" The princess didn't know what made her make a bold statement. She had been wanting to go back to sleep this whole time, but now after seeing those images. Her legs kicked her body upward into a stance, aiming her rage at her mother. "I'm not going to sleep, not ever again!" She screamed as loud as she could. "You've been the one wanting me to sleep!?"

"Yes, I have wanted you to sleep." The queen spoke in a soothing tone. "Your soul has been trapped in an endless cycle of nightmares since they died."

The princess felt the fire inside her increase. "No, they didn't just die! I killed them!!"

"No!" her mother argued back. "You didn't kill them." Images around her showed that of a wendigo and alicorn. "They did with their selfish and hateful nature."

"Liar!!" The princess popped back. "I killed them, by forcing them to follow me into battle." Her body trembled from the rage she felt. "I couldn't even save one..."

"That's not true..." The queen pulled back her wings. "You can't use your rage on yourself." She raised the images over her daughter. "They took them away from you. Aim your rage for the truth." Her hands dropped onto the shoulders of the mare. "Take these new hands and smite them for what they did."

The princess looked down at her new hands and back at her mother. Her memories were unveiled to reveal that it was the same alicorn that killed her beloved naga guard that took her arms. No, it was someone protecting that alicorn, just like her naga was protecting her. The image appeared behind her mother and stood far taller than her or the images she used to bring out her rage.

"Hollow Prince..." The mare didn't know why she said such a thing. However, everything told her to turn away from her mother and the image behind her. Her legs moved ahead of her thoughts, ignoring her mother's call, and she ran away from it all.

"Once again, you run..." Hollow Prince replied from outside of the memory bubble that Aitym had trapped the princess inside. "When will you realize that running is pointless in this place? If you wish to leave, you must face the real evil in your past. Seek the anomaly, destroy it and the one responsible for it all."

******

Author's Note:

What does he mean by that? What kind of anomaly lock has been placed over her memory bubble? Also, who was responsible for the strange new laughter of rage and malice that Twilight and Clover heard? Is it something connected to both of them?

So many questions await in the next chapters of this season.