Heart of Magic

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Seven: The Tactic

Heart of Magic

Chapter Seven: The Tactics

If only Amber had known that being punished meant walking for miles out into the Everfree Forest, she might have actually thought twice about saving Twilight. No, no she wouldn't have really thought twice about that, but she was paying for her actions with some leg pain as Fluttershy seemed intent to go as far as she could into the woods. It had already been a few hours and the sun had long since vanished from sight. Fluttershy had neither told Amber how long they'd be walking for, nor where exactly they were going. Her only guess would have been the Castle of the Two Sisters, but Amber knew better, they were skirting around the place. Just how big was the Everfree Forest really? It felt like she'd entered a world unto itself in here.

Suddenly Fluttershy stopped, causing Amber to stop as well. Fluttershy's ears stuck up straight and twitched. Her eyes scanned around them carefully. Finally she let out a sigh. "I guess we really can't avoid this encounter, much as I'd like too. Amber, pull out you're hammer."

Amber felt her chest tighten as she withdrew her favored weapon. The heavy top weight of the hammer was a familiar comfort. Around her she could hear the woods creak, and groan. Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed on the path ahead of them. A fierce snarl grew over Fluttershy’s face revealing a single fanged tooth.

This was what Amber had wanted, right? The thrill of combat, dangerous adventure, and excitement. If so, then why was she so scared?

“Amber,” Fluttershy said carefully as she walked ahead a few steps. “Get behind me.”

Amber jerked a nod and took a place behind Fluttershy. She waited with bated breath as the noise in the forest seemed to quit working altogether. The silence that filled the area now was deafening.

Off in the distance Amber could see something coming down the old path. It was hard to make out. A sort of shadowy shape, almost equine in form. It moved, less like a pony and more like water floating over the path. Fluttershy’s eyes seemed to light up and her snarl grew into a grin.

Before Amber could react, much less think, Fluttershy leapt forward in a low flight only a few feet above the ground. The shadow sped forward to meet her speed. Just a second before slamming into the shadow Fluttershy pulled upward in a sharp angled rise and the shadow kept moving forward beneath her. The shadow was now heading straight for Amber.

Instinct kicked in pushing the fear aside as Amber struck a combat pose. Her hammer set up to strike the moment the thing got too close. Amber watched as the thing drove toward her at increasing speeds. Her eyes were fixed on the two red pits where the eyes of the shadow thing should be.

A pink and yellow blur smashed into the top of the creature. Black shadowy goop went flying in all directions. Amber could only watch as a large glob flew into her chest. A few more smaller globs splattered her hair and face. For a moment she continued standing there staring at Fluttershy who was half covered in black oil like tar.

Fluttershy shook her head. “We really need to close that pit.”

Amber sat down. For some reason her lungs were starting to burn and her head was getting a bit dizzy. When she remembered to inhale the dizziness went away. For a long moment she stared at the goop covering her and listened as Fluttershy approached.

“Amber? Are you okay?” Fluttershy’s voice came out as soft as silk.

“What… what was that?”

A yellow hoof reached up and squeezed Amber’s shoulder. “A monster.”

Amber looked down into Fluttershy’s worried eyes. “Are there more of them?”

“There will be, unless we hurry.”

Amber felt herself shaking. Why was she so scared all of a sudden? Why did this monster put fear into her. It was only then that she remembered the shadow thing that had nearly destroyed the entire town, had taken over the minds and bodies of all her loved ones, and forced her to fight them. She was shaking now.

Fluttershy’s voice came out gentle. “Okay, we can go home. Twilight can deal with the monster this time.”

Amber shook herself hard, trying to lose the fear. How could she really be Twilight’s apprentice if she was going to be so scared. It was just a weak little slime monster. It wasn’t the big evil threat she’d faced before. Amber stood up, picked up her hammer and walked forward past Fluttershy. “No, we’re finishing this. I still have to repent for what I did, right?”

Fluttershy looked after her for a moment before a smile grew over her lips. She walked forward while shaking her head. “Just like your mother.”

***

Twilight stood in a lone room in her castle. A few machines sat against the wall with a multitude of lights blinking on them. Against the far wall there stood a massive door, it was closed. Twilight hadn’t used this room yet for anything outside of a few test runs. So far it had worked perfectly, but that didn’t mean something couldn’t go wrong in the future. If she wasn’t feeling so pressed for time, she wouldn’t even consider it.

Behind her stood three ponies she was very familiar with. Starlight, Rainbow Dash, and best of all, Luna. Twilight turned to face them and addressed what was no doubt the big question on their minds. “I bet you’re all wondering why you’re here?”

Starlight sighed. “I already know why I’m here, I helped you with that machine, remember?”

Twilight blinked. “That was you helping me?” for a moment she tried to remember, she barely recalled having an assistant of some sort, her whiskey, and then there was some pony else there too.

Starlight blinked. “I did all the location matrix calibrations!”

Twilight shook her head. “Sorry, I must have been drunk.”

Luna’s frown deepened, and Twilight could hear her whisper to herself, “What else is new.”

Hearing that hurt Twilight. She wasn’t drunk that often. She was still sober more than she was drunk, at least fifty one percent of the time. Speaking of which she was itching for a good drink, but that would wait until after the meeting at least. “Anyway, I have an important mission for the three of you. Or should I say the four of us.” With a flick of her magic she created an illusionary map of southern Equestria along with the locations of the Changeling nests they knew of. “These are the six Changeling nests that we have found, right now we are worried about a mass stampede across the border and so we’re going to check out the nests and do a quick, quiet scouting mission.”

Rainbow Dash raised her hoof. “I can do that, but it’s still gonna take me a while to get there, I’m fast, but not that fast.” She then looked at her alicorn company. “And uh… isn’t teleporting that far dangerous for you two?”

Starlight nodded. “That’s why none of us are going through traditional means.”

Twilight added, “This machine, in fact this entire room, is dedicated to creating a self sustaining portal to get us to Southern Equestria where we can start this mission.”

Luna spoke up. “Why are we going on this mission? I understand Rainbow Dash, but why don’t we send some scouts instead of us?”

Twilight smiled at her. “Each of us have special skills and enough power to back them up to make sure no matter how south this goes, it will end up okay.”

Luna’s eyebrow raised. “More south? How far do you plan to take us?”

Twilight shook her head. “You’ve had twenty years, love. Twenty years to pick up this euphemism, and still you missed it entirely.”

Rainbow Dash gagged. “As sickeningly cute as you two are, let’s just get to the battle plan.”

Twilight nodded. “Rainbow Dash and Luna, you each get one of these locations, color coded for ease.” One of the dots on the furthest settlement became rainbow colored, while the second furthers became dark blue. “Starlight, you can use that spell of yours to become two ponies and still do a good job so you get these two,” the two closest became pink. “I on the other hoof will take this one near the center.

“Once we have scouted out these locations we will make our way to the center one, the largest one. I just want a quick flyby for these smaller locations. Check to see how many changelings are there, and if there are any large scale movements or actions. The center is where the danger is, as we believe Chrysalis herself is there. No moving on the city until we all meet up at this location.”

The map changed into the picture of a large mountain ledge sticking out over the jungle below. “This is Hangmares Height, keep an eye out for any Noose Vines, they’ll try to choke you.”

Twilight paused to let go of the spell and recollect herself. “Listen, this is going to be the most challenging part I fear, but I must stress this as the most important. This mission has zero engagement of enemy units. No fights with changelings, diamond dogs, or alicorns. I don’t even want you to fight any monsters unless absolutely forced to, is this understood.”

Starlight bit her lower lip. “I see… this isn’t about the changelings is it?”

Twilight gave her a scowl. “It doesn’t matter what it’s about, we’re keeping Equestria safe and that’s all that matters.”

Luna spoke up. “Twilight, all of us here know about the Alicorn Empire’s recent attack.”

Twilight shook her head. “I am very concerned about these changelings and refuse to fight a war on two fronts…” She paused and then added. “If you see any alicorn involvement inside the nests, head to Hangmares Height immediately and await further instruction.”

Everypony nodded. Somewhere in the back of Twilight’s mind she told herself she wasn’t good enough to lead them, or even send them on this mission. Still she was the only one who could. After all, what was Celestia going to do? Sit on her fury butt until the enemy knocked on the front door and then let the Elements of Harmony take care of it again? Screw that, Twilight was nipping this in the bud now.

With another flick of her magic she threw a lever and the door against the wall opened to reveal, not an entrance into another wall, but rather a lush forest jungle floor. Twilight turned toward it, and without a further thought began the march that would start this mission, and send her into the darkest pits of Southern Equestria.

“Alright everypony,” Twilight said as she withdrew a flask from her saddlebags. She unscrewed the top and took a long drink of the burning liquid. “Mission start.”

***

Trixie sat on her front porch staring out over the flower garden set up against the wall. Across the table from her sat everypony’s favorite pink pony. Pinkie let out a sigh and leaned back in her chair before taking a sip of her lemonade.

“Everything okay?” Trixie asked.

Pinkie gave her a weary stare. “You don’t already know?”

Trixie gave her a hard look for a moment. “If you’re referring to my… ability, no I don’t. I haven’t used it in years.”

Pinkie nodded. “I don’t exactly control mine, so… there’s that.”

“So what’s wrong?”

Pinkie took another sip. “Twilight.”

Trixie leaned back now and gave a low whistle. A dreadful habit she picked up from her cousin Applejack. “Okay, I get it. You can already tell something big is going on.”

Pinkie shook her head. “It’s not about that alicorn thing, though that stuff is s-c-a-r-y.”

Trixie was going to pretend that Pinkie Pie couldn’t read ponies minds for five minutes and forget that she knew about the alicorn empire thing entirely. “Okay, so what’s bothering you?”

Pinkie stirred her lemonade around with the straw. “She’s scaring me. The drinking is getting worse, the things she’s doing that she doesn’t think anypony knows of, using her friends more like weapons then… friends. I think Twilight needs a good long vacation.”

Trixie nodded. “A few weeks off would do good for her?”

“Not a few weeks, years… maybe forever.” Pinkie frowned. “I don’t think Twilight was ever cut out for a stressful position like that.”

Again Trixie nodded. “I agree. I’m just hoping my little Amber can keep her sane long enough to replace her.”

Pinkie’s eyebrow raised. “You think Amber will replace Twilight?”

“Give or take ten years? Yeah. Either her or Valiant, but if Val does she’ll need to learn to speak up more.”

Pinkie shook her head but smiled. “Val doesn’t need to speak to be a Princess.”

Trixie laughed. “True, true, and she already has the weird magic powers down to a tee.”

They both shared in a joyful laugh. Once they had both calmed down Trixie added, “Isn’t it nice that we can have conversations like this on nice, quiet, and boring days.”

Pinkie nodded. “That’s what being an adult is all about. Being boring together.”

***

Amber felt her tall legs running as fast as they could. Fire burning through the muscles as she pushed herself harder. Behind her she could hear the splashes of goo as they landed against trees and rocks. She leapt over a fallen tree and started screaming, “This was the dumbest punishment ever!”

The giant three story tall goo pony must have agreed as it flung several more globs the size of ponies at Amber in response.