Heart of Magic

by TheCrimsonDM

Part Three Chapter Twenty Eight: Returned Light

Heart of Magic

Part Three

Chapter Twenty Eight: Returned Light

Written by TheCrimsonDM

Trixie stood in the map room looking at the map of Equestria. It took nearly an hour to figure out how the zooming function worked on the thing but she did finally manage to get it to zoom into New Slate. Or at least the crater that used to be New Slate. Now it was just a glass crater spanning several miles in diameter.

“I used to live there,” she whispered to herself. “Dusty Soul, Bubble Wishes, the Pie Family…”

Trixie shook her head and scrolled the map closer to the border. After a few minutes she found the second crater. The recent settlement was simply another crater, smaller in size, but still devastating to see. This was the final resting place of Lemon Hearts as well as many, many others. Trixie scrolled past the border and into Southern Equestria where the Changeling Settlements had once been. More craters, most of which were smaller still save for the one focused on what had been the main hive.

How many had died already, hundreds, thousands? There hadn’t been a good estimate yet, but if this continued anymore there would only be more death. Now with Twilight gone, it was up to her to save everypony. The weight of having so many lives both alive and gone resting on her shoulders was almost enough to drive her to drink. It was no wonder Twilight had become such a mess. How many times had she been in this position over the years? How many late nights did Twilight sit here staring at the map and seeing how many lives depended on her success?

Honestly, it was no wonder why Twilight collapsed the way she had. Trixie was almost afraid that if she was in this position long enough, she might suffer a similar fate. She already knew to what extents Twilight was willing to go to keep everypony safe, but to what extents would Trixie push herself?

She didn’t want an answer to that question, but judging by how she reacted when she thought Maud was taken away from her…

“Lulu,” Maud’s voice spoke from behind Trixie.

Trixie didn’t glance back. “Yes, love?”

Maud brushed against Trixie’s side. Her dress was missing and warm fur pressed against Trixie’s. “You look stressed.”

Trixie glanced at her. “Yeah… I guess I am. Thinking of all these lives, all these ponies I’m responsible for… How did Twilight last as long as she did?”

Maud nodded and met Trixie’s eyes. “She had ways to relieve the stress.”

Trixie stared into those deep and endless eyes. “I don’t think she was relieving stress very healthily.”

Maud pressed her face up against Trixie’s. There muzzles touched. “You have a healthy way to relieve stress.”

Trixie swallowed. “Oh… yeah?”

Maud’s lips gently brushed against Trixie’s. “Let me help you.”

Trixie glanced back at the table one more time. It was a brilliant piece of magical technology, a resource that was valuable beyond compare, and most importantly, it was a flat surface that was within immediate reach. Yeah, Trixie was going to do some good stress relieving all over that table.

***

Twilight could taste the familiar electric energy of magic in the air. Canterlot; home to the largest population of unicorns in all of Equestria, not to mention the largest population of alicorns. If she recalled correctly there were just under one hundred alicorns living in Canterlot. Most of them in service to the country whether they were military or otherwise.

Twilight knew that ponies would recognize her, alicorn or not, so she had been just smart enough to wear a hooded robe of deep blue as she had stalked through the city. The closer she got to the castle the more stress she felt pounding on her heart. She did not look forward to this meeting, but she needed to be here.

On the way she recalled Sunset’s simple mission for her. To quote the fiery alicorn daughter of the sun, “We need your help in finding Discord. Thanks to Chrysy here we discovered that he has been locked away in some kind of magical artifact, and with the levels of chaos magic rising in Canterlot Castle lately I can only assume his prison is there as well. Find him, free him, and advise him of the situation.”

Twilight groaned. She did not want to be the errand filly here, nor did she want to be Discord’s savior once again. Of course as always, Sunset had a point. To combat this new threat she was going to need to have Discord helping out. His level of magical might was beyond imagination.

Once at the steps to the castle she was forced to reveal her face to the guards before she was allowed to pass. Inside it felt a bit quiet, though there were servants about they were also quiet and few if any noble ponies were in sight. Did Celestia send them all away for this meeting? What was Celestia planning for?

“Be brave, Twilight,” Twilight whispered to herself. She was going to have to do this, and like so many challenging things in the past twenty years, she would have to do this alone.

She walked through the halls making her way to the grand hall where Celestia would no doubt be waiting for her. Luna would surely be there to scold her or worse as well. Twilight arrived at the doors. The guards took one look at her, and then opened the doors.

Inside Twilight saw Celestia sitting upon her throne. She was giving an unreadable look at Twilight. The only thing Twilight could think was that Celestia looked stoic, powerful, and distant. Despite how warm the room was, Twilight felt a chill run down her spine.

She walked into the grand hall and listened as the doors closed behind her. She got about halfway to the throne before she stopped and felt her instincts kick in as she bowed to Celestia. Bowing, she hadn’t done that in a long time, yet it felt so natural for her. After she bowed she rose and met Celestia’s eyes once more to see they had softened a little. “Princess Celestia, you summoned me?”

Celestia frowned. “Twilight, your late.”

Celestia’s wings spread wide and with a powerful flap of her wings she soared into the air and flew down to a position in front of Twilight. Once again Celestia towered over Twilight, a giant, a leader, and a god all wrapped up into one. The air grew warmer still with her so close. “Why are you so small?”

Twilight looked away and focused instead at the murals. She saw murals depicting her and her friends, there adventures, there challenges, their lives. “I’m… not an alicorn anymore.”

Celestia nodded. “I read the reports, though I thought them overblown. I can sense it though, your body is no longer producing alicorn magic.”

Twilight bit her lip. She just wanted this to be over as quickly as possible. “I know why you summoned me here, and before you mention it I… I’ll just make this easy.” Twilight looked back at Celestia and made sure to make eye contact. “I, Twilight Sparkle, hereby relinquish my position as a princess.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “You what?”

“I am not going to be a princess anymore,” Twilight said with as much strength as her shaking legs would allow. “I’ve abused my power, my friends, and… the love of my life. I will do my utmost to stay out of any future affairs of the kingdom and try to live a simple life where nopony should be bothered by my presence.”

“Twilight, I-“

“Please, Princess Celestia,” Twilight interrupted, “I know I’ve caused too much hurt. I know that you’re only tolerating my presence here because you need to make it official. As soon as I sign whatever papers are needed, I will leave you and no longer trouble you… and for whatever its worth, I am sorry.”

Celestia shook her head. “What are you saying? Twilight, I didn’t ask you here to remove you from being a princess, or to scold you.”

“Then why did you send me such an official and impersonal message?”

“Because every letter I send through normal means is read by several hooves before they reach their destination.” Celestia stated. “If I’d made it personal somepony could use that against me, against you, or tartarus be damned, Luna. I am not kicking you out of your position, I simply wanted to see if you were okay. You’re still my daughter, when I adopted you I made a vow to raise you the best I could.”

Twilight sat down and cocked her head to the side. “But… I attacked Luna! Why aren’t you punishing me? That’s your sister, you should be teaming with anger, with rage, with fury!”

Celestia lowered her head until she was at the same level as Twilight. “Don’t get me wrong, Twilight. I was angry, but I know whose fault your behavior is. It’s mine. I was a poor mother to you, and I continued to push you past your limits and made you suffer until you became like you had. The fact that you’ve healed so much only after going so far away is all the proof I need to know that you’re addictions, your behavior, your… fall, was all my fault.”

Twilight worked her mouth several times trying to find the right words. This was not how things were supposed to be. This was not how Celestia was supposed to act. This was all wrong.

Celestia rose back to her normal height and her horn gave a soft golden glow. “I also summoned you here because you forgot something.”

A small burst of golden light in front of Twilight was followed by the appearance of a familiar item that Twilight had very little interest in. Her flask. It hung in the air, and Twilight could now smell the magic coming from it. It was begging her to drink from it, to let it give her the answers she needed to save her world from destruction.

Twilight took the flask in her own telekinetic aura. The gold light replaced by a deep red. Twilight stared long, and hard at the flask. It smelled faintly of booze still. She opened it. Her heart was racing. Just one sip. Nopony would really care right? And she knew it would tell her where to find Discord. Just one sip and she could get her answer, help Equestria and then never use it again.

Just, one, more, drink.

Twilight felt it hovering near her lips. Her eyes met Celestia’s and she saw something in them she hadn’t seen in a long time. Fear. Celestia was scared, like she was watching something horrible right before her eyes and couldn’t help but watch. Celestia was scared of Twilight drinking from the flask.

It was just enough to shock Twilight back into being in control. She threw the flask down onto the ground and watched as its liquid, green and slimy oozed out of the lid. Despite her best efforts Twilight just couldn’t get enough breath in her lungs to still her beating heart.

Twilight stared down at it. “Destroy it.”

“Twilight?” Celestia said.

“I, I can’t do it myself.” Twilight admitted. “I can’t defeat my own demons myself, please. I won’t ask for any favors ever again, but please destroy this accursed thing.”

Celestia smiled down at Twilight, put a hoof over the flask and with a bit of effort squashed it beneath her. The green goo splattered out of it. And Twilight had to look away. It was like watching a family member pass away, she couldn’t watch the thing that had given her so many answers over the years die like that, but she needed it to be destroyed. She almost broke her promise to Starlight.

The air next to them shimmered and a dark towering form appeared. Twilight stared up into the dark blue eyes that stared down at her. Tears were streaming down those blue cheeks and onto the floor. Luna’s voice shook as she said, “You really destroyed it?”

Twilight felt her entire body quake. Her heart was beating so fast she was sure it was about to give out. Luna looked healed now, at least from the physical wounds. She couldn’t look away from those eyes. “Luna, I-I-I-I c-c-can’t do that anymore. It d-d-destroyed me. Took away everything I loved. I c-c-cant-“

Luna jumped forward and Twilight recoiled in fear. She was sure she was going to be attacked in retaliation for her previous action. As Luna wrapped her forelegs around Twilight and dragged her tiny body into her fluffy, warm chest, Twilight realized it was far worse than being attacked, she was being hugged.

“Twilight, I am so proud of you.”

It was far, far worse than being attacked.

Celestia smiled at them. “Honestly, I don’t know what either of you two were worried about anyway. The flask is empty.”

Twilight felt her insides dying, her mind cracking at the seams from things not going the way they were supposed to. But even in her current state of disrepair she couldn’t ignore what Celestia said. She glanced back to the flask to see its cracked sides still leaking green goo. Far more green goo had pooled out of it than could ever fit inside. “If it was empty, why is it leaking?”

Celestia looked down at it. “It’s not…”

The green goo bubbled, and twitched. Twilight watched as it slowly lifted off the ground and shaped itself into a familiar form. It stretched its arms above its head and arched its’ back. The little green goey form of Discord gave her a one yellow eyed stare and said, “Being stuck in a flask will give you such a crick in the neck.”

Comments

[TheCrimsonDM]

10092931
Ill admit, twi and luna are kinda inpired by couples ive known in real life where one suffers from an addiction. Unlike in real life though, it seems like twi and luna might really get a happy ending after all... If there lucky.

[TheCrimsonDM]

10093271
Oh of course it is, but does she ever make good decisions?

[TheCrimsonDM]

10093466
or maybe just enough apprentices to fix her mistakes long enough. lol
But yeah, she has a few. Seems like the more personal things are for her, the more mistakes she makes, maybe a result of not wanting to get too close to ponies as an immortal who will watch them die.