Beneath the Surface

by Racingwolf

Chapter 8 – To the Castle

Beneath the Surface

Chapter 8 – To the Castle

Twilight gasped once she and her friends appeared among a group of trees. She had teleported farther from the cave in one spell than she usually would have, being so focused on saving her friends, and the sudden use of so much power made her head spin. “She knows!” Twilight rasped, her eyes wide as she tried to prepare for another teleport.

“What?” Rainbow Dash asked, shaking off her momentary disorientation.

“That unicorn,” Twilight replied shakily. “I’m sure it was Scarlet. She saw us teleport out. We can’t stay here. The artifact’s magic will only be blocked for so long.” Her horn glowed again.

“Twilight,” Applejack said, stepping forward, “we’ve…we’ve gotta warn the Crystal Empire too. Those cave unicorns know more than they should.”

Twilight noticed that Applejack was looking at the ground, not meeting her gaze. Rarity and Rainbow Dash exchanged uneasy glances. Whatever had happened, Twilight could see that they felt awful about it.

“It’s okay,” she told them. “We’ll do that.” Focusing her magical energy, she teleported herself and the group again.

After the next two teleports, Twilight had to pause again. She was low on energy, weak and dehydrated, and she needed a moment to gather her strength. At least they were close; they were standing in the frozen wastes surrounding the Crystal Empire. One more teleport and they would be at the castle.

“Twilight, dear, don’t overdo it,” Rarity said, seeing the alicorn’s exhausted state. “I’m sure we can-”

“I used one of their spells to block the magic coming from their artifact,” Twilight interrupted. “The artifact that enhances their power. But it was wearing off. We only have a small amount of time before they get their full power back. And Scarlet and one of her right-hoof lackeys can still teleport without it! If they come after us…”

The other five ponies looked at each other nervously, the harsh north winds whipping at their manes and tails. “Well, in that case…” Rainbow began.

A short distance away, Starlight and her group suddenly appeared. A look of relief came across Starlight’s face as she noticed the others, who immediately ran toward her.

“We’ve got a problem!” Starlight called to them.

“I’ll say,” Rainbow cried as she fought against the winds to fly toward Starlight. “We need to get to the Crystal Empire and have them put up a protection spell like, now!”

Starlight didn’t respond, instead gesturing toward where Thorax was lying in the snow next to Spike as the others approached. Twilight’s eyes went wide as she noticed the changeling’s wounds, and Fluttershy stifled a gasp. The others all looked on with shock.

After a few moments, Thorax opened his eyes, his gaze unfocused as he looked out at the snowy landscape and then up at the ponies closest to him. A look of sudden panic came over him. “Is…everyone out?” he asked, and Twilight wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or Starlight. He lifted his head weakly, but didn’t seem focused on anypony in particular. “Are they okay?”

“Yeah, but you’re not. Somepony needs to find help…as soon as we get there,” Starlight said between breaths. She turned to Twilight again. “I just need a moment…then I can take them back.”

“What…happened?” Rainbow asked, but Thorax had laid his head back down, looking in no state to tell them.

“I’ll explain later, okay?” Spike cried out, sounding on the verge of a breaking point. “Right now, that’s not important. We need to get him back!”

“I know,” Twilight said worriedly, closing her eyes as she focused on lighting up her horn again.

Though she didn’t feel quite ready, Starlight did the same, and the two of them combined their magic to teleport the whole group back to the Crystal Empire.

However, when they arrived in front of the crystalline castle, they were met with a scene of chaos. All around them, crystal ponies were either running or pacing fearfully, and several of their colorful tents that had been set up for the Crystal Faire had collapsed. A group of royal guards was on the ground, trying to reassure the frantic ponies, while another group soared through the air above, as if searching for something.

“Did…somepony crash the party?” Pinkie asked as she looked around at the damaged tents and strewn faire decorations.

“Twilight…” Starlight began, her eyes wide. “You don’t think…that spell around their crystal artifact didn’t already…”

Twilight didn’t respond. Her eyes were focused on the spot just beneath the center of the castle, where a large group of ponies was gathered around. “Where’s the crystal heart?”

Twilight’s friends went silent, each looking horrified. “Those unicorns…” Fluttershy spoke from where she was sitting beside Spike and Thorax. She had positioned Thorax to rest his head on her leg so he didn’t have to lay on the ground. “They…they could still teleport even when the artifact’s power was blocked. Like you said.”

“And you said the mare was Scarlet?” Rainbow replied uneasily.

“They, uh…they know about the crystal heart,” Applejack said, shuffling her hoof on the ground.

A flash of magic moved across the sky far above their heads, spreading out from the top of the castle toward the edges of the empire. Moments afterward, both Cadance and Shining Armor appeared, their horns glowing as they raced toward the newly returned group. Around them, most of the crystal ponies had stopped what they were doing, looking to their leaders and the disheveled group of friends with hope.

“Thorax needs help!” Spike shouted.

Cadance and Shining reached them, their attention immediately drawn to Thorax. Cadance called out to the surrounding ponies. “Everypony, back up! Give him some space.”

Shining Armor leaned forward, lighting his horn, and the chain around Thorax’s leg unlocked and moved to the side. “We’ll do the best we can to help him,” Shining told the group, lifting his head again to look over them. “Is anypony else hurt?”

Twilight looked to each of her friends, who were shaking their heads and only had minor scrapes. “No, the rest of us are fine. What…happened here?”

“Not long before you arrived,” Cadance began to explain, sounding grim, “a unicorn teleported right here and then away with the crystal heart.”

“What?” Twilight said, her eyes wide.

“She was one of the unicorns from the cave,” Shining said. “A few of the guards said she was white and had a black mane with streaks of orange and red.”

“That’s…Scarlet,” Spike said.

“We put up a protection spell over the empire right after you arrived,” Cadance continued. “But without the crystal heart, it won’t be long before the northern storms move over the empire. Our magic can hold our enemies back, but not the blizzards.”

“It’s not just that,” Applejack said. “The cave unicorns know you’re here, Cadance. An’ Twilight too. Also…” She sighed. “Twilight said that their artifact’s magic was blocked, but it wouldn’t last long.”

“What exactly happened, Twilight?” Rarity asked.

“I’ll explain as soon as I can,” Twilight answered, her voice growing more frantic. “But we need to make sure the protection spell is strong enough. I don’t know if it’ll stop them, and Thorax is hurt, and…and we need to protect everypony in the empire.”

“Scarlet an’ her unicorns would be happy to take any alicorn by force,” Applejack continued. “They think the Crystal Empire is an easier target than Canterlot.”

“Well, they’re not exactly wrong,” Rainbow said. At a glare from Applejack, she replied, “What? Celestia and Luna have been around for ages longer than Cadance and Shining have!”

“Scarlet got here before us even without the power-up their artifact gave her magic,” Starlight said bleakly. “I’m not sure I want to find out what they can do once that artifact is working properly again.” She looked worriedly upward at the shimmering magic shield far above their heads.

“To be honest, I’m not sure how long you can keep the shield up,” Twilight told Cadance and her brother. “Luna sounded really worried in my dream. Even both her magic and her sister’s won’t be able to hold them back forever.”

“Wait a minute,” Fluttershy said, her voice sounding bolder than usual. “Right before we went into the cave, Thorax said that he’d heard one of the unicorns say that they had a ‘window of opportunity’ to take Canterlot. Maybe their power is limited, and won’t last forever. That might mean…”

“Maybe the magic from their cursed artifact does have an expiration date!” Rainbow finished.

“That…doesn’t make much sense,” Starlight said. “Why would they wait all this time, just to attack now, if time was so limited?”

“We can’t be sure,” Shining Armor said. “Perhaps the magic does start to weaken. Why this is only happening now, I don’t know, but-”

“If we can just outlast whatever ‘time limit’ they have,” Rarity said, “perhaps we won’t need to go after their artifact again at all.”

“Or at least not until after the worst of the threat has passed,” Applejack added.

“But…we have no idea how long this ‘window of time’ is supposed to last,” Starlight said. “If Luna and Celestia are having trouble, our shields might also only last so long.”

Several ponies began talking at once, many of the crystal ponies around them joining in with their own anxious words. Even the guards looked nervous. The chatter continued to grow louder as it seemed like everypony was trying to voice their worries. Twilight suddenly found it overwhelming, closing her eyes as she tried to think, tried to block out the fearful cacophony of noise around her. There had to be something they’d overlooked, some way to keep the ponies of the Crystal Empire further out of danger.

“I have an idea,” Twilight said after several moments, silencing the conversations of the ponies closest to her. “Cadance, I know that keeping a protection spell around the entire empire requires a lot of magic. Would it be possible for you and Shining Armor to make a smaller one, over a much smaller area? We could bring everypony there, and that way, you could keep the shield stronger for much longer.” Seeing the worried looks of the others, she added, “I know it’s not a great plan. But Rarity could be right. If we can outlast whatever sort of time limit they’re working with, we can keep everypony safe until this is over. Then we can figure out what to do. And in the meantime, I’ll…keep thinking of any other ways we can solve this mess.”

Cadance considered her words and quickly agreed with a nod of her head. “We can bring everypony to the castle.” She turned to Shining. “Our spell around the whole empire will not be as strong and could have weak points. We need to move fast, before they can make or exploit any such weak points. We can only assume those unicorns will attack quickly and we’re not sure what their magic is capable of. And in the castle, we can protect everypony easier, since they’ll all be close together.”

Shining Armor nodded. “Okay, let’s do it.” He turned to his sister, who was standing by Thorax and Spike. “Twilight, get Thorax to the castle. The rest of you, start rounding up everypony you can and spreading the word.” He glanced over both Twilight’s group and the waiting guards and crystal ponies. “Tell them to bring food, warm blankets, and whatever supplies they might need. Without the crystal heart, the storms will be here soon.”

“We’ll also need help bringing any sick or injured ponies from the hospital,” Cadance added. “Starlight, your teleporting abilities can help with that.”

Starlight nodded. “Of course. I’ll get there right away.” Despite her exhaustion, she lit her horn and teleported from sight.

“Fluttershy,” Cadance then said, turning to the pegasus. “Can you help round up the animals from the faire?”

Fluttershy nodded in response and flew off toward the area where the petting zoo was kept.

“We’re gonna need a lot of supplies for the storms that are comin,’” Applejack said. “I can try an’ help the crystal ponies find some.”

“I brought several extra blankets,” Rarity added. “That’ll help at least a few ponies who didn’t come prepared for cold weather.”

“I stashed my party supplies around the castle,” Pinkie said. “So, uh, I’m pretty prepared for any spontaneous parties. I guess I’ll just help let everypony know.”

“I’ll check every building in the empire,” Rainbow Dash proclaimed. “Nopony’s getting left behind.” She sped off, leaving a brief trail of rainbow light behind her.

“Everypony, search and bring as much as you can,” Shining called as he galloped toward a row of buildings along the path leading away from the castle. “There are lots of visitors in the empire right now, so try to bring extra supplies whenever possible.”

As her friends hurried off despite their weariness, Twilight noticed that Spike had not left Thorax’s side. Thorax was still lying weakly and had not moved since they had arrived.

“Can I come with you?” Spike asked Twilight.

“Yes, of course,” Twilight answered, trying to give him an encouraging smile. Lighting her horn, she pictured the Crystal Castle throne room, a place where she knew there would be at least a few ponies around who could help them, and teleported herself, Spike, and Thorax there.

The throne room looked beautiful and pristine, quite different from the chaos that had surrounded them mere moments before. Two pegasus guards looked in their direction, and their expressions immediately shattered the feeling of tranquility.

“Twilight?” came Sunburst’s voice from the throne room doorway. Seeing the state of the three who had just appeared, Sunburst carefully levitated Flurry Heart’s cradle over to the two guards, who stood on either side of her protectively as it was lowered gently to the floor.

Sunburst raced toward the trio, a look of alarm crossing his face as he noticed the state of them, particularly Thorax’s injuries. “What happened? One of the guards said the crystal heart was taken and-” He broke off, realizing that none of the three who’d returned to the castle from the cave were in much of any state to explain anything to him. He turned to Thorax. “There’s a break room near the kitchen we can bring him to. It’ll be a lot quieter there. Then we can figure out what to do.”

Twilight nodded, lighting her horn for what felt like the hundredth time since her magic had come back in the cave, teleporting all four of them to a room she recognized that was fairly small. There was a couch on one side of it and a few chairs and a table on the other side.

Too afraid to touch Thorax because of his injuries, Twilight gently lifted him onto the couch with her magic. Sunburst left the room and hurriedly came back with glasses of water.

Sunburst levitated two of the glasses over to Spike and Twilight, who drank from them gratefully. He held the third up to Thorax, who barely opened his eyes, staring at Sunburst with a dazed look. The changeling then noticed the glass of water held in front of his mouth and started to guzzle the water. “No, no, not so fast,” Sunburst said, worry evident in his voice. It took a few moments for Thorax to register what Sunburst said and drink more slowly.

“Twilight, what happened?” Sunburst asked. “A few of the guards said the crystal heart-”

Twilight had begun to set her glass down, but before she could speak, Spike interrupted.

“Scarlet took it,” the dragon stated, not taking his eyes off Thorax. “Cadance and Shining Armor said that she teleported here, and…teleported back with it. Like it was nothing. Even without the extra power the artifact gave her.”

“So, you destroyed their artifact?” Sunburst’s eyes lit up with hope.

“No,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “I managed to disable it, but…it won’t last. Cadance is having everypony in the empire come to the castle. More energy can be put into a magical shield if it’s smaller, and-”

“Everypony in the empire?” Sunburst said, the magic around the glass he was holding flickering as he nearly dropped it. “I saw a shield go up, but I thought it was to prevent the crystal heart from being…” His eyes widened. “Are more of those unicorns from the caves coming here?”

“They’re after me,” Twilight admitted. “Or Cadance. Any alicorn. We…didn’t know that before we left.”

Seeing her distressed look, Spike added, “Thorax found out that, for some reason, Scarlet’s ponies only have a limited amount of time before their ‘chance’ to capture Celestia – or, anypony else – is gone. Twilight thought that if everypony stayed here, we could be safe until that chance is up.”

Sunburst looked from Twilight to Spike, trying to take in the information they’d given him. He was interrupted by a cough from Thorax. “You’ll have to tell everypony more about that later,” he said, before turning back to the changeling. “What happened?” he asked Thorax. “What did this?”

Though Thorax had laid his head back down against the couch cushions, he seemed more alert than he had been before being given the water. “I got hit by Scarlet’s spell,” he rasped between gritted teeth.

“I saw it happen,” Spike said, wanting to take over explaining for his friend. “Whatever that spell did, it was bad. Thorax is really hurt.” He looked to Sunburst. “Do you know what kind of spell would do this sort of thing?”

Sunburst looked over Thorax again, his expression uncertain. “There are a lot of spells that can cause injury, but I don’t know what this particular one was designed to do. I can’t tell how much damage was done just by looking.”

“Is there a way to counter these spells?” Spike asked.

“With these types of things, the magic from the spell has already done its damage,” Sunburst explained grimly. “There isn’t any magic left from the spell to reverse. And healing magic is, sadly, quite limited.” Sunburst turned back to Thorax and tried to adjust the pillows and cushions in order to make him more comfortable.

Twilight noticed Spike’s hopeful look fade. “They’re bringing everypony from the hospital here. Starlight’s helping with that right now,” she explained. “When they get here, there will be somepony who will know what to do.”

Spike looked up at her. “Thorax saw you being chased by all those unicorns back in the cave. He disguised himself as you to lead them away, and I tried to follow him, but…he got caught well before I could reach him. They tried to make him go after the second artifact, but I don’t think they got far before they found out…”

“He…led them away from me?” Twilight asked, her eyes wide.

Twilight now realized that Thorax’s actions were the reason she had managed to get away from that huge crowd of unicorns chasing her. There were many questions she wanted to ask, things she wanted to say to him, but she knew that now wasn’t the time. Thorax could hardly focus on what they were saying at the moment, and they had to work on getting him help before they did anything else.

Walking closer, Spike climbed onto the couch and sat down next to Thorax. He had tried not to focus too much on the injuries that were visible along the changeling’s right side and leg, but it had become impossible to ignore. In the light of the castle room, Spike could see much more clearly than he could in the cave. The burns and cuts along his side were obvious, but even those wounds didn’t account for how weak Thorax was, and Spike knew that most of the damage was internal.

Twilight watched him sadly before turning to Sunburst. “Starlight was helping bring everypony from the hospital here. Can you try to find her, and bring her back here? We need somepony who can treat him, and Starlight would know where the ponies from the hospital were setting things up.”

“Are you sure you’d be alright without me?” Sunburst asked, glancing from Twilight to Spike and finally to Thorax.

“Yeah, it’ll be fine,” Twilight responded. “And please let the doctors and nurses know about Thorax, so they can help as soon as they can.”

“Okay,” Sunburst replied, still looking concerned. “That is a good idea. I’ll see if Starlight’s here already.”

As he opened the door to leave, Twilight caught a glimpse of frantic ponies racing through the hallway outside, many of them carrying or pushing carts of various supplies. Some of them were shouting with urgency. Twilight felt another pang of anxiety as she realized just how serious the situation had become, and how the whole empire – and everypony who’d decided to visit it – was in great danger. How could things have gone so wrong so quickly?

The door closed, but Twilight’s worry didn’t fade. Would the magic shield protect everypony long enough? What if the cave unicorn that had told Thorax about their “window of opportunity” was wrong or was somehow lying? What if their power really didn’t have limits?

She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Spike ask Thorax if they could get him anything, and she knew that she needed to focus on what was important at that moment. She could figure out the rest later.

“I…can I have some more water?” Thorax said, his voice still raspy.

“Yeah, I’ll be right back,” Twilight said before Spike could answer, picking up the empty glass in her magic. She walked out the door, trying to block out the noise from the other ponies. She quickly made her way to the kitchen and began filling the cup with water.

She then heard a distant booming sound, seeming like it was coming from the edge of the empire but loud enough to hear from where she was. She jumped, the glass of water dropping and shattering on the floor. She mumbled a quick apology to the ponies working in the kitchen as she lifted the pieces off the ground and reached for another cup.

She tried to remain calm and focus on her simple task, but in the back of her mind, she knew the danger that was fast approaching. Scarlet's unicorns had reached the edge of the magic barrier protecting the empire.

Author's Note:

Sorry this took a while to post, I'm still really anxious about sharing stories. Thank you for being patient!

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is this story also going to end with Chrysalis being overthrown and acting different then how she previously acted, and the changelings getting new forms that most of the fans don't like?

[Scyphi]

9898198
...going to really try and do this without fanning any flames, deliberate or otherwise...

How do you mean Chrysalis "acting different then how she previously acted?" From what I recall, she stayed fairly consistent on that all throughout the series.

[Scyphi]

9898198
Also, not to speak on the behalf of the author here, but he's already indicated in past comments earlier in the story that he intended to keep the events of "To Where and Back Again" largely out of this story, precisely because he knew it was a controversial subject for fans, and he didn't wish to add to the controversy. So unless plans have since changed, I can assume that is still the case here.

[Racingwolf]

9898198
Wut...? It says in the description of this story that this is an AU where the Season 6 finale ended differently. Chrysalis has already been overthrown before the events of this story. And why are you ranting about an episode here? That has absolutely nothing to do with this story.

[Yoshifan30]

Ok so good news Twilight and the others got them self out of the cave and make the way to the Crystal Empire the bad news is everything went chaos and I'm not talking about Discord what I mean is it looks like Scarlet teleport herself to the Crystal Empire and took the crystal heart and now they don't have any protection around the empire now the winter storm is coming towards them but with Cadence and shining armor protect spells it will hold the Storm at Bay but not for long they need to find another spelled to hold a storm and not only that the other unicorns from the caves so now they had to gather up every ponies or anybody who's visiting to the castle for safety encase for invasion but right now thorax is really hurt and his wounds looks really bad I really hope they find a way to cure him and finding a way to stop Scarlet as well

[Racingwolf]

10540529
They did manage to get everyone inside, luckily. They will do whatever they can for Thorax but stopping Scarlet is going to be a lot harder.