Heart of Magic

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter thirty Six: Sick Shadows

Heart of Magic

Chapter Thirty Six: Sick Shadows

Written by TheCrimsonDM

He found himself lying on the cold floor of a cement building. It was dark in here. The floor was cold, wet, and sticky. Oh god was it sticky. Every muscle in his body ached but he pushed himself up. He had to escape. He had to get out of here, everything felt wrong. He tried to take a step and knew something was wrong, he lifted his leg up, but it felt like he could still feel his hoof on the floor, he kept lifting but no matter how high he lifted his leg up he could feel his hoof on the floor until he heard a cold wet snap.

He swallowed. Something that wasn’t saliva rolled down his throat and melted into his lungs. It’s okay, it’s okay, it was just mucus. Yeah, you’re sick. That’s all.

He stepped forward. Each step was easier than the last. Each one came with a wet snapping sound. He wanted to vomit but he wasn’t sure if he even could. He had taken a few steps and bumped into a wall. The wall was covered in a thick slimy surface, it was cold and seemed to stick to him unnaturally. Where was a light when he needed one?

The sound of hooves from far away made him turn his head. He saw a sliver of light appear in the distance and then the light exploded into the room. All around him he saw thick, black slime covering everything. In the corner he saw the slime starting to lighten to a purple color. A large mound of slime sat there. What looked like the shape of heads, legs, and wings or tails stuck out awkwardly from the purple mess. The mess of slime moved and a head appeared with a pair of hollowed eyes and a gaping mouth as if it was trying to scream with no lungs to make sound.

He looked back toward the light and saw a staircase leading up. Was he in a basement?

A lone pony stood at the top. They wore a dark purple cloak and all he could see was a malicious grin. “Looks like you’re finally moving. Lord Smooze would be pleased to see my progress.” The door began to shut. He tried to rush forward to the door. He needed to get out of here. He just had too.

He tripped on the slime covered floor and fell forward. That’s when he saw it for the first time. His foreleg… no, no, what, what happened to him? The slime, why was there so much slime?

***

Trixie walked through the hospital wing. From every direction it felt like she could feel the coughing and not just hear it. Beside her stood Princess Luna. Together they walked down the halls and could see through open doors ponies of all sorts from young and old lying on beds. They all had one thing in common though, each one of them had some sort of black or purple mark on their body. Sometimes it was on the face, sometimes the hoof or leg or the neck. Each one of them had the mark, and each one looked sicker than the last.

They reached the end of the hall and saw a group of doctors wearing masks all staring at Trixie and Luna with wide eyes. One of them spoke up, “Why are you not wearing protective gear?”

Trixie shrugged. “We’re alicorns, we’re immune to disease.”

Luna added. “I also threw a magical shield upon us before entering.”

The doctor nodded. “At least one of you is smart enough. Come with me.”

Trixie scowled. “I could have said that too.”

The doctor led them down a separate hall, these all had locked doors. At the very end there was one door that was open, two guards wearing masks and armor stood there. Each one had some kind of spear with a glowing tip by their sides. Trixie hadn’t seen such weapons employed by guards in the past, these must have been special. They wore gold and orange armor with the symbol of a white sun on the flanks of their armor. Luna seemed to tense up as she walked past them.

The doctor walked into the room and Trixie and Luna followed. Inside there was a loan bed, and a white tarp covering it. Black stains oozed through the sheets and goo fell onto the floor spilling into a pool. This… this looked familiar.

The doctor explained. “This is, as far as we can tell, patient zero. Reanimation happens every few days, so the guards are outside to keep him still while we study. The doctor went to the bed side and gently pulled the sheet up. There was a sticky sound that made Trixie’s hooves curl and her stomach rise. The sheet pulled back with tendrils of black goop stuck to it. Underneath Trixie saw what looked like a mix of rotten purple meat and black goo in the shape of a pony, and a skeletal structure exposed underneath. The eyes were hollow, and lidless creating an eternal stare into the abyss.

The doctor continued. “He was found stumbling in an alley, confused and mumbling to himself about being sick and escaping the darkness. We put him in quarantine until his first death. After that we were getting ready to autopsy him when he reanimated. It was more than just frightening, he attacked the doctors. Luckily they were able to escape but we had to figure out what to do. Guards put him down and we tried again. Just after the autopsy he got up again.”

Luna blinked. “So he’s undead?”

The doctor stared at her. “We’ve all been taught that necromancy is a lie.”

Trixie muttered under her breathe, “How better to keep ponies from practicing it if they think it’s a myth.”

The doctor stared at the corpse again. “That’s just it though. We aren’t sure what he is. Or how he works. The other cells in this wing that are closed each contain a very similar patient. The ones in the open rooms you saw, we suspect they have the same disease.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Wait, there diseased and their doors are open?”

The doctor shook his head. “It’s not airborne, thank Celestia. We suspect it only spreads through physical contact, and we aren’t sure how potent it is.”

“Then why are the doors open?” Luna asked again.

The doctor let out a sigh and pulled down his face mask. There were streaks of black lines over his cheek. “Because all of us here didn’t know it was spread through touch.” He put the mask back on and looked at the corpse once more. “I know it’s not very scientific, but I pray to everything that is holy whoever this stallion used to be isn’t still somehow… sentient.”

Luna nodded. “For your sake, I agree.”

Trixie swallowed. What was she supposed to make of this? There were just over fifty ponies here that were sick, and they could only hope it was contained here. Canterlot city was not supposed to be in danger from a sickness. One that looked so familiar.

It took a moment but Trixie recalled where she’d last seen this sickness. “The Everfree Forest.”

Luna looked at her. “Surely you can’t mean this is the same kind of thing you and Twilight found.”

Trixie nodded. “Far too similar for my taste. Just… we could kill those things, if this one isn’t staying dead…”

Luna asked, “Did anypony actually check on the corpses after a few days?”

Trixie blinked. “Oh… oh… no.”

***

Twilight walked down the halls once more. This time Blackout was by her side.

Blackout was walking next to her. “So uh… are you like, actually Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight glanced at her. “Yes, I am.”

“OMG, you really did become a unicorn and you’re TINY!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I am still much older than you, I’ll have you know.”

“Sure, but uh…” Blackout cut herself short. “Um, you’re not going to tell my mom are you?”

Twilight glared at her. “You really think she doesn’t already know? She just doesn’t know where we left too and I hope for your sake she catches up with us before we get there.”

They reached the stairs and Twilight looked up them. “You made the biggest mistake of your life coming with us on this trip.”

Blackout shook her head. “Nah, you’re just going to beat up some bad guys right?”

“We’re fighting a foe that even the princesses couldn’t face alone. And we’re fighting multiple of them.”

Blackout swallowed. “Well uh, I’ll just punch him. I’m good at that.”

Twilight let out a sigh. “Doesn’t matter, we’re sending you home.”

Twilight marched up the steps and found Sunset sitting on the deck. The sunlight around her was strong like an intense beam of energy focused into her being. In fact Twilight would go so far as to suggest that Sunset might even be glowing herself. She approached and felt the heat around Sunset, it was actually hot enough to make Twilight keep back.

Sunset had her eyes closed. “What do you want?”

Twilight spoke, “We have a stowaway, Rainbow’s kid. We need to teleport her back home.”

Sunset did not open her eyes. “I cannot do that. It would take an incredible amount of power for even a one way trip that far. I need every ounce I can summon for this battle.”

Twilight let out a sigh. She was right; it was going to be a challenge. “Then we’ll head back and you can drop me off somewhere in Equestria. I’ll take her home myself if I have to.”

Sunset replied. “Again we cannot do this. Our path is set, my power is secure. We have only one chance at this. Besides, shouldn’t Rainbow Dash already be on her way by now.”

Twilight had to concede with that. Honestly she didn’t know what Sunset’s actual plan was, but she assumed it would be enough to save the day. The amount of power she was bringing into herself right then was incredible, it probably even surpassed Celestia’s in strength. Sunset couldn’t hold that kind of power for long, so it would seem they were stuck on this course. Of course Rainbow had to be on her way already.

Until then, however. “Hey, Blackout, why don’t we go meet Wind Rider until your mom gets here? Get out of Sunset’s mane.”

Blackout’s eyes widened and almost sparkled as she replied. “I could toats do that!”

Twilight nodded. “Well that settles it then, let’s go chill with the Rider.”

Going back over the deck and up to the steering wheel where Rider stood on his hind legs steering proudly Twilight realized that maybe, just maybe if Rainbow Dash didn’t kill everyone here for kidnapping her kid, maybe some good might come of this. Upon there arrival Wind Rider looked over with a boyish grin and said, “Ladies.”

Twilight smiled. “Mr. Rider.”

“Oh please, my father was Mr. You can call me Wind Rider.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. He was always a flirtatious stallion. One of the things she’d heard an earful of from RD over the years, assuming she got drunk enough first. Blackout took a seat next to him and stared up with wide eyes. For a moment she didn’t say anything but when she did she demanded, “Tell, me, everything, about, you.”

Wind Rider smiled and stared off into the horizon. “You know most folks these days don’t ask me about myself. So I’ll gladly tell you the greatest story you’ve ever heard, the Tale of the one and only Wind Rider.”

Twilight had already heard all of this before, but Blackout had probably never heard any of it. Seeing that look of amazement in Blackout’s eyes actually reminded her of a young Twilight looking up at Celestia. Back when things were simple, blind optimism and faith were something she excelled in.

Cozy’s voice chimed in from next to her. “Is he really going on about himself to that kid?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “That’s his daughter, let them have their moment.”

Cozy snickered. “Even worse.”

“Oh hush you.” Twilight smiled. “So, where have you been?”

“Hiding, sleeping, eating. Haven’t seen you in a bit.”

Twilight rubbed at her scarf. “Yeah, doing the same really. Sleeping lets me spend time with my Luna. I… well I want to spend time with her before we get to our destination.”

Cozy bit her lower lip. “You know where we’re going?”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “I wasn’t positive until I spoke with Chrysalis. Now I’m certain. The Pony of Shadows comes from somewhere south of the old Changeling Hives. So we’re heading further south then that. To where I believe the ground zero is.”

“I don’t want to make any hazardous guesses, but I’ve studied the maps, I’ve explored a large part of the country down there.” Twilight thought back to the one place she saw on the map, the one she’d visited the outside of only once. She’d gone there, by herself and even with her immense alicorn power she could feel that whatever darkness lay in wait for her was something that came from the ancient world, something that needed to stay hidden and forgotten for all time. “It’s a dark pit, once guarded by an elite royal guard tower, now left abandoned. The pit leads to an ancient ruin that as far as I know only the likes of Starswirl ever explored though his notes are almost nonexistent on its subject matter save for the fact that it was a place nopony should be allowed to remember. its name is deceptively simple in modern terms, we now call it Ye Olde Obblilite.”

“That name sounds silly.”

Twilight could feel herself shiver as she recalled what Starswirl had called it. “It’s original name, however, is; The World Eater Pit.”