Heart of Magic

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Forty Four: Entropic Energy

Heart of Magic

Chapter Forty Four: Entropic Energy

Written by TheCrimsonDM

Rainbow Dash was already onboard the ship they were taking out. The deck was busy with activity and the captain was steering them towards the south. Her mind was set on one and only one goal. Of course she was also ordered to retrieve Twilight and her companions, those that still breathed. The Wind Rider flew through the air at an incredible pace for a ship, nothing compared to her personal speed, but for a giant hunk of metal and sails, it was amazing.

Luna was marching around the top of the ship as well, her eyes too were drawn toward the southern horizon. As fields of green grass, rolling hills and the occasional forest rolled beneath them she knew they were both going out for the same reasons. In fact she was surprised that even with the Shadow Sickness going on that Celestia wasn’t joining them as well.

Luna approached Rainbow Dash and sat down next to her. “Are you prepared for a battle?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “I don’t care what stands in my way, even those corrupted alicorns aren’t going to stop me.”

Luna let out a sigh. “Just one of them nearly killed me and all of my men. If we should be so unfortunate as to actually encounter one, or let alone two of them, we cannot risk dragging them back to Twilight’s group. It would be best to distract them and take them out away from our actual mission.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Obviously, I’m not that dumb. Also, it’s not like even an army of them could stand up to me in my true form.”

Luna let out another sigh. “You have been going on about that for ages, yet I have never once seen you ‘transform’.”

“Never faced an opponent strong enough to make me use it. I want to be at least a little fair to my opponents after all.” Rainbow Dash chose not to add the fact that the only pony who’d seen it, fought it, and still beat her was of course Fluttershy. That mare was scary when she got serious; she highly doubted anything in Equestria could bring Fluttershy down.

Another alicorn walked out from under the deck and glanced at them with a smile. Starlight Glimmer was here too, and she was more than enough of a match for anything that could threaten them. Once she was in front of them she sat down. “This is exciting isn’t it?”

Rainbow Dash smirked. “Heading face first into the most dangerous place on Equestria, yeah, I guess it might be a little exciting.”

Starlight beamed. “I haven’t been on a proper mission in years. That scouting mission with Twilight was just depressing, I want action, I want magic, I want, well something fun.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “You could always try and join the Wonderbolts if you want more excitement.”

Starlight shook her head. “Full time, nah. I have a family, but I wouldn’t mind joining you for a dangerous mission or two in the future.”

Luna looked past them and back into the horizon. “I’m glad you are here, Starlight. You’re power will be needed… but maybe you should be a little less excited for this task.”

Starlight shrugged. “Why? I mean the stakes are high, but we’re good enough to accomplish anything. I mean even the combined might of Tirek, Chrysalis, and Sombra couldn’t stop us, so what else stands a chance?”

Luna smiled. “Let’s hope for our sake your confidence is well placed.”

Rainbow Dash would be lying if she said she wasn’t at least a little worried about this mission. The stakes weren’t about survival, they were about rescue, and so it didn’t matter how strong she was, she also had to be smart about this. If even one of those Corrupted Alicorns appeared, well… it would be time for a much more desperate plan. All in all she shared Luna’s sentiments, she hoped that Starlight’s confidence was correct.

***

Amber Light and the family were already back in the Castle of the Two Sisters, but the first thing she realized was that the whispering had stopped. After talking to Hushpuppy he agreed, for the first time in his life the voices were gone from the woods. In fact the entire forest somehow felt warmer, and less oppressive.

Back at the Castle everypony was enjoying themselves in what amounted to the living quarters, reconstructed thanks to Twilight. Amber however was not content lying there and being still. She took to exploring the castle, something she’d become familiar with since her training began. In one section there were scaffolds and places where new bricks were being lain, the floors and ceilings reinforced, and a few new buildings constructed.

Amber looked out and imagined what it would be like in just a few more years. After this mess with the Pony of Shadows was over with and everypony was free and safe again. Would her and her friends be able to just enjoy themselves like kids, or would they be forced to be more mature and live their own lives much like their own folks did?

Sophie appeared from around the corner. “Hiya!”

Amber shook her head. “Hey, Soph. What’s up?”

Sophie beamed. “Just exploring the ruins, trying to see if I can find anymore friends for my animal friends.”

“You mean your stuffed animals?”

“Yeppers!”

Amber shrugged. “I might as well help. Let’s go.”

Amber started walking toward a section of unexplored castle. Sophie was hoping alongside her. Her curly yellow tail bouncing along for the ride. They traveled until they got to a hallway Amber hadn’t explored before. The doors here were all shut, and surprisingly made of wood. How could wood last this long? A thousand years should be more than enough time for it to rot into non existence.

Amber pushed one door opened and watched in stunned silence as the thing fell backwards and hit the ground creating a dust plum in its wake. Inside there was a dust covered room, mostly empty save for a metal bed frame, long since missing any mattress or covers. A lone glass window sat against the wall, whatever mural had been there was long since gone with the window itself halfway melted against the stone wall.

Sophie looked at the window. “Neato, how did that happen? Did the sun melt the window?”

Amber shrugged. “Maybe, probably not. It’s a lot more likely that it was just time. One theory states that glass is actually a super slow moving liquid, but uh, science can’t prove it yet.”

Sophie laughed. “Glass isn’t liquid silly, it’s made of sand.”

Amber shook her head. “Yeah, I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

They moved onto the next door and pushed it open. This one’s hinge snapped and it swung awkwardly inside before leaning against the wall. It looked to be another bedroom long since abandoned. They tried another door and found instead a staircase going down. At the end of the staircase Amber could see a level floor but not much else from there.

The steps were carved of solid stone so she felt safe enough to walk down them. Sophie followed. Sophie’s voice quieted down a bit as they went. “Um, Amber. You’ll keep us safe right?”

Amber nodded. “Don’t I always?”

“Yeah, but like… remember when everypony was gobbled up by that shadow thing?”

Amber remembered, how could she forget? The thing’s presence even connected to something down south, something horrible, dark, and corrupting. She could only assume this was the first meeting with the Pony of Shadows, but she couldn’t be one hundred percent sure of that. “What about it?”

“Well, it could happen again? Right?”

Amber got to the bottom of the stairs and stepped out onto a balcony overlooking a large room. In the center of the room was a giant machine made of brass and copper. Magical crystals hung from it giving off a faint glow. Another solid stone stair case led down to the machine floor. Amber walked toward it.

Amber replied. “Anything could happen again. But I think we’re better defended against such a parasite. It also seems to me that whatever created that mess has moved onto different tactics.”

Sophie swallowed. “So it’s still out there?”

Amber started down the stairs. “Yeah.”

Sophie followed in silence for a moment until they reached the bottom floor. Once there Sophie spoke again. “Then we have to stop it.”

Amber paused. “You know what that would mean right?”

Sophie nodded. “Yeah, it means the six of us will be in danger, but… I’d rather be the one in danger then let my mommy be hurt or used like that ever again.”

Amber reached the machine and put a hoof against it. It was warm and hummed with silent strength. “Yeah, I completely agree. I almost lost my mom, and that’s when I realized that even if I am scared, even if I don’t want to be hurt, I have to use my power for good. The six of us have some kind of connection, kinda like our folks used to have. I think it’ll be up to us to keep everything safe someday.”

Sophie brushed up against Amber’s side. “You’ll never turn out like Twilight right?”

Amber growled. “Of course not. Why would you even think that?”

“Because you’re our leader… and Twilight was there’s and she well…”

Amber let out a sigh. “I swear I will never become like she did. I’ll learn from her mistakes and do better… I promise cus, I’ll never hurt any of you.”

Sophie beamed. “Thanks!”

Amber looked back up at the machine. There was a control console with a few buttons each one with a label. A big red one said, ‘start’ on it. Despite the faint power coming from the machine it wasn’t enough to activate it. There was a round half ball depression on one side of the consol. It was as large as her head and almost looked familiar. Like something she’d seen was supposed to go into there. She wasn’t sure what it was supposed to go there, but she could hazard a guess or two, and now she was glad she took that magical orb of doom with her. Whatever it did, they could be forced to find out, and if they were, Amber would use it to save her family.

Amber smiled. “I’ll always keep you guys safe. Always."

***

Trixie and Red left the deer city behind, it was now time for the forest to reclaim the land that was once shared by it and the deer. For now Trixie needed to find the source of darkness that resided here in the Everfree Forest. The moment she stepped out of the woods she could feel a change around her. The crown atop her head seemed to grow warm and the darkness of the woods before her lifted to reveal a bright and colorful place. Strange flowers of every color grew in hidden patches around them, vines hung low, forest critters scampered about with little care of hiding themselves from Trixie’s sight or hearing. The entire atmosphere had changed.

Red glanced at her. “What’s wrong?”

Trixie smiled. “Nothing, I just didn’t notice how beautiful the forest was before.”

Red looked around and frowned. “I don’t think we’re looking at the same forest.”

“Probably not.”

Off to one side Trixie could almost see something wrong. Like a strange dark purple tint covering part of the forest. It seemed like less plant life grew in that direction and most of the animals around them, birds, squirrels, and raccoons all avoided it. It really didn’t take a genius to realize that this was where the darkness was coming from.

Trixie marched off in that direction. “Come, I think I’ve found where we need to go.”

Red followed behind. “That crown is showing you the way?”

Trixie nodded. “Yeah, seems like not everything is bitter and dark here.”

They continued to walk in relative silence for some time. Each step continued to bring them into a darker place. Plant life became less apparent until eventually they were in a forest with dead bare trees, hardened grey grass and cracked dry earth. Whatever was here was literally sucking the life from the area. Trixie felt they were on track.

Off in the distance Trixie caught the glimpse of something. It was a ball of pitch black energy waving and shimmering. The closer they got to it the larger it appeared. When Trixie was finally close enough to see it clearly she realized it was attempting to rise out of the earth and was the size of a two story house. At the bottom where it touched the earth small trails of it drifted off and out turning everything it touched dark.

Red nodded. “This is what we were looking for.”

The area was freezing cold with dark energy. How much dark magic was here? It was more than Trixie had ever seen in one place in her whole life. Even the Alicorn Amulet’s darkness was nothing compared to this. Something atop the ball of energy grabbed Trixie’s attention.

She flew up a little bit and saw an old unicorn mare meditating above the ball of energy. Her eyes were closed in tight concentration. Her purple fur was wrinkled and old, her green mane frayed and a mess. Trixie had seen this pony before, in history books of old, this was one of Starswirl’s old alleys. This was… Mistmane. But how? She was a thousand years old at least!

Red joined her side a moment later. “I think we may have just discovered something important.”

Trixie swallowed. “I agree.”

Mistmane’s eyes opened and she shouted. “Get out of here you two! If I don’t concentrate the energy will be released!”

Trixie looked once more into the energy, the pitch black ball of pure hate and death. Something was inside of it. Something she could only barely make out the shape of. It was an alicorn. Trixie swallowed. This did not bode well.