Freedom Through Harmony

by Electricut

Chapter Seventy-six

Chapter Seventy-six
Eclipse Swamps
Twilight

“There is another passage over there.” Max stated, getting to his feet. He pointed to the right side of the battle-torn room, where another passage of about the same size as the last one was situated. “And there are no other tunnels throughout the entire stronghold so far, so I am guessing that is where we are going.”

Spike, Twilight and Pinkie all turned from their conversation, following Max’s gaze. Twilight nodded and moved to stand beside him. “I’m ready. My ancestor is waiting somewhere through there.” As she spoke, though, she realized something that shook her confidence. She would most likely have to fight a statue of her ancestor just as Pinkie had, but her wrist was still in a splint! How was she supposed to fight in this condition?

She swallowed hard, suddenly very apprehensive about their next move, but balled her good fist at her side. No sense in worrying about it, she thought, We can’t go back now, we have to finish this. I’ll just have to find a way to fight with one arm... Grimacing slightly at the prospect, Twilight stepped back to allow Max to pass and illuminate the hall with a fresh torch, then followed silently behind.

This passage was much the same as the previous one, with dusty, weathered bricks in the walls and the occasional root poking through the ceiling. However, this one seemed to grow subtly wider as the group trekked through, and soon the cramped tunnel only big enough for a single file line had more than doubled in size. At last the party came to another clearing, and was forced to stop short. A glass window, similar to the one Twilight had fallen through earlier in it’s appearance as dirty ice, allowed pale distorted light to filter into the room, and illuminated three other passages branching off to other parts of the stronghold.

“Well, that answers that anyway.” Spike stated. “We just came in at the far end. This must be the main part of the fortress.”

“But... Which way do we go now?” Twilight asked. “I don’t want to split up again, not when we don’t know what else is in this place... but I don’t want to be in here longer than we have to either.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s just us in here, Twi.” Pinkie pointed out. “But I’m not sure how big this place is, so splitting up isn’t the best idea... I say we just keep going the way we were going, and use that passage right across from the one we came from. If it looks like there’s nothing down there, we can come back here later.”

Twilight nodded, Spike and Max both shrugged, and the party continued in the same direction. This passage was about the same basic width as the first one, and unlike the last one, it stayed that size the whole time they traveled through it. However, in a few places, there were mysterious defects in the walls; large scratches here and there, loose brick, and in a few cases, large holes leading to tiny caves beyond the borders of the fortress. Twilight eyed all these features warily. What could cause something like this? It looks like something dragged itself through this passage, and ended up breaking a lot of it... I sure hope whatever it is, isn’t still in here.

“Woah, stop.” Max cautioned a few minutes later, coming to a sudden halt. Twilight stopped as well, but then crept up behind him to see what the issue was. As soon as she did, she took a step backward again. The passage had ended just as suddenly, giving way to a huge chasm with no discernible end in any direction. Max’s words echoed off into the space, and Twilight could tell it was a long way to the ground.

“Well...” Spike began, peeking over the drop himself. “I guess that’s one dead end. I wonder what caused this... Maybe an earthquake or two over the years... Ah well, I really don’t think the statue will be down there. Let’s head back and take one of those other tunnels.”

Twilight nodded, but her eyes lingered on the chasm for a moment before following the others. That thing that came through here... must have gone this way. But I wonder if this hole was there at the time, and if it’s down there now...? Shaking her head clear of thoughts of some huge beast, she turned and jogged back to the others.

After retracing their steps and coming back to the crossroads, they decided on another path, and set off quickly to avoid burning any more of the daylight hours than was necessary. This hall was much shorter, and ended in what must have once been the living quarters for the stronghold’s occupants. The remains of some rusty weapons were visible in one room, traces of a dining hall in another, the remains of tiny sleeping rooms through another small hallway. There was scarcely anything left now, though, and no trace of Twilight’s ancestor-statue could be found.

Near-despondent, the group trudged back through the halls and to the crossroads, then through the fourth and final passage. Frankly, Twilight was tired from the long search, her arm still ached horribly, and would have loved nothing more than to just return to camp and come back later. Spike certainly wouldn’t have been opposed to it. But partly out of her own determination to finish the job quickly and efficiently, and partly out of sheer stubbornness on the subject, she remained silent.

This hall, unlike any of the previous ones, featured various twists and turns, though never diverged into another path. The torchlight danced upon the walls, shadows looming around each new corner, but soon they came to a large stairway that descended far into the darkness. The party gazed down, knowing that they had to descend, though much of the stairs were crumbling and broken, even in the small halo of light.

Twilight gulped and followed cautiously as Spike led the way down. The stairway gradually twisted to come to a full ninety-degree turn by the time it let out in the vast basement. The orange light from the torches bounced like water over every surface in the room, from the craggy walls and ceiling, the smoothly-eroded ground... and the statue just visible on the edge of their line of sight.

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat, and she lit a fire spell herself and took several steps forward to see the depiction of her ancestor’s face. Spike bid her caution, but she scarcely heard him. The statue wasn’t terribly tall, much like Twilight herself, and wore the same stark, long coat and wizardly that Trixie often wore; the classic Black Mage ensemble. He carried no weapon, but his hands were held at a tense and battle-ready position, and Twilight could imagine him snapping to a battle stance and letting loose some powerful spells at a moment’s notice. The hair atop his head was close-cropped and well-kept, but the beard upon his chin was another story.

Her heart sank slightly. She had still held out hope that Jonathan the Arcmage might have been her ancestor, but she supposed she’d still just have to make the best of it. As she was examining the statue, the same light that had appeared for Surprise began to form around this one, but in a dark violet. She backpedalled to the rest of the group, her good arm held cautiously before her with the basic thunder spell already charged. The light concentrated and thrummed with energy until the whole room seemed to be shaking, then dispelled as soon as it had come. A moment later, the eyes of the statue flew open and sparked with violet energy.

The statue’s legs ground against it as it slowly lumbered to life, and it took a few steps forward before coming to a stop, possessed eyes locked on Twilight. She waved the others aside, knowing she had to complete this challenge alone, then held up her hand to the statue to stop him from attacking. She then motioned to her injured arm, showing in as clear terms as she could think of that it would be useless in battle. The statue seemed to frown slightly in thought, then shrugged. He brought up his right arm above his head, and an unusual blue light began to course around it. Twilight could see that it was magical in origin, but did not carry the same qualities as an ice spell, or any other for that matter. It ebbed and flowed gently around his palm, and carried a pulsing light. Twilight couldn’t guess as to its power, but it seemed to be generally neutral.

She gasped when the statue chopped down on its own left shoulder, and the arm fell heavily to the ground, breaking off several fingers. The fact that it was solid stone didn’t do much to make things any less horrific. Her ancestor had removed his own arm to level the playing field with her! She was glad for that, of course, but the fact that her opponent was willing to remove one of his own limbs so easily...

The remaining arm was leveled back down to Twilight, and the blue energy began to fluctuate again. It was clear that this one was an attack meant for her. Twilight raised her good arm at him, and quickly began speaking the ancient words that would call upon her most powerful spell, ArcThunder. With a grimace, she thrust her arm forward and fired the spell, just as the statue launched his own attack, and the two collided violently in the center of the chamber.

Twilight could sense the others flinch away from the sudden explosion of light and sound, but she remained completely focused. It was a test of both power and endurance, and she had to hold up her attack longer than her ancestor to defeat him. His strange blue energy was much more powerful than she had anticipated, and her thunder was easily matched.

Arcs of blue and yellow magic jumped away from the center, scorching the rock all around them. Twilight kept her eyes glued on her opponent, just as he kept his magically-possessed eyes on her. The light from the clash illuminated the two duelists’ faces flickeringly. Twilight’s arm began to shake, and a bead of sweat formed on her forehead, but she just gritted her teeth and pushed even harder against the onslaught.

At last, the two beams both began to waver, and the stray bolts became more and more frequent and wild. Thunder scorched at her ancestor’s stone cloak, and whiplashes of energy stung at Twilight and her friends. With one last bloody cry, Twilight put all her energy into one final push against her opponent, and his resolve shattered. The spell broke, and her lightning rammed him in the chest and sent the statue reeling. As it fell on one foot and teetered on the heel of its boot, beginning to fall, another tiny bolt of lightning arced from his forehead. Twilight didn’t flinch, as she knew when that bolt hit, she would be sent to the Dreamscape to learn the truth about their world, and herself.

With open arms, Twilight allowed the bolt of energy to strike her in the head, and didn’t struggle when consciousness left her.
______________

She awoke seemingly only seconds later, on the same dusty plane on which she had been instructed to travel to the swamps. She scrambled to her feet excitedly, but saw nothing besides the dust. She did notice, however, that in this dream world her arm was as good as new. She frowned, obviously disappointed in the lack of scenery, until she noticed another figure face down on the ground beside her.

“Trixie!” She exclaimed, running over to help her sister to her feet.

The Black Mage shook her head groggily as she rose, leaning heavily on Twilight. “Hey.” She said simply. “What’s up? Our ancestor give you much trouble?”

Twilight chuckled. “A little, but I took care of him. How are you here though?”

“I don’t really have much of an answer for you.” Trixie answered. “Our ancestor seems to want to teach both of us his technique, but only needed the Element of Harmony out of the two of us to fight him. I just passed out in my hotel room a minute ago and woke up here.”

“Hotel room? Where are you right now? Oh, and how’s Phil doing?” Pressed Twilight.

“Ugh, don’t you get started too. Phil’s been more and more of a lovesick wreck these days. It’s getting annoying. We’re still held up in Manehattan, trying to stir up some resistance there. He’s getting ready to end this life cycle, though, so it’s mostly just me actually doing anything. But yeah, he misses you and stuff.”

Twilight nodded gratefully. Soon, she and Phil could be reunited, though in what circumstances, she couldn’t guess. Things were finally starting to look up. Twilight took another look around the expanse, searching for any sign of the two girls’ ancestor, and managed to spy another figure striding through the dust towards them, silhouetted in his black mage outfit. As he reached the two, Twilight was finally able to see what he truly looked like, not just a depiction of him in stone.

He looked much the same as his statue had; not particularly tall, but not outrageously short, with no weapons to speak of, and walked with an air of confidence. There was a completely non-possessed spark in his eyes, such a shade of brown that they almost looked yellow, and his hair and scraggy beard were a salt-and-pepper color, clearly having been on its way to becoming gray before his demise.

“Right, let’s try to make this quick.” Their ancestor said, his voice carrying a scratchy, taunting quality. “Twilight’s going to nee this skill pretty quickly here, because I think that Hydra I somehow neglected to kill is still lurking around the stronghold... The name’s Starswirl.”

“Woah, seriously?” Trixie responded immediately. “Same guy who was the big hero of Eclipse during the civil war?” Twilight’s own eyes widened in surprise as well, as she had heard of Starswirl before in her studies. He was apparently Jonathan’s equal and opposite from the enemy state of Eclipse, so it seemed that Twilight had actually become interested in what could have been her family’s greatest enemy.

“The very same.” Starswirl answered. “And the skill would of course be the ridiculous spell I invented just for the war. Now listen up you two, because like I said, we don’t have a load of time.”

Comments

[Electricut]

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Not exactly, but you're on the right track.