Harmony and Courage

Twilight touched down just outside of her castle, her hooves clacking on the crystal steps. She was about to use her magic to open the door, but stopped herself at the last second. Instead, she pressed a forehoof to the golden door and gently pushed it open. The hearts in the middle of the door split as it opened. The alicorn trotted through the double doors and quickly closed them behind her. The purple mare sighed and fell to her haunches. She leant back against the door and stared up at the ceiling.

“What was that creature?” she asked herself. “Why was it only temporarily hostile? Why did it wear a chain?”

The alicorn was broken from her musing by a knock on the door. She stood up quickly and reopened the door.

“Hey, Twilight.” The unicorn behind the door smiled.

“Starlight! So you finally managed to escape Pinkie?”

“Thank Celestia.” Starlight laughed, trotting past her mentor.

Twilight forced a smile as she watched her student disappear down the hall. She glanced back out through the door, sighed deeply and closed it again.

She saw the creature again the next day. There were a couple more scars across his sides and he was walking with a sense of purpose. Twilight’s curiosity took over and she began to stalk them.

The creature led her to the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, where she debated following him. In the end she was able to reason her way into the act – she was quite powerful, and this creature might be a danger. If she found out where he was going then she might be able to stop him hurting anypony.

Twilight ducked behind a bush as the creature padded forwards. He stopped suddenly in the middle of a random clearing. The alicorn watched in amazement as the creature’s shadow sprung to life and turned into a dark-coloured imp.

The imp casually pointed an arm to the grassy floor, shooting a small bolt of orange magic from its fingers. Twilight continued to stare in shock as the ground opened up beneath the two shadowy figures. They fell into the darkness surprisingly calmly and disappeared.

Once the alicorn had finally recovered, she darted into the clearing and stared hard at the ground beneath her. It was no less solid than all the other ground around it. There was no magical signature – just some of that shadowy stuff that Twilight knew better than to touch.

“What the hay?” Twilight yelled, not fearing that anypony would hear her. Nopony hung out near the Everfree anyway.

The alicorn pawed at the ground a little, with enough force to break away some dirt. Surprisingly, as it fell away, it revealed the dark passage underneath. The purple mare facehoofed before picking at the rest of the earth. The shadow left on the ground made it impossible for her to use magic, so it took much longer than she’d have hoped.

Twilight breathed heavily as she stared down into the darkness. This was her last chance to turn back. With a flutter of her wings the alicorn dove into the darkness.

Around halfway through the drop she gave up trying to glide. It wasn’t that the tunnel was too narrow – it had widened around a hundred metres ago. It was that her magic told her the ground was a good five minutes away. However, as with the rest of the shadow magic she’d encountered, she was wrong.

Twilight gasped as the ground suddenly appeared beneath her. A sudden attempt to right herself only led to more pain as she crashed into the hard stone floor. The breath was knocked from her lungs and a sharp pain filled her body. One of her wings crumpled and two of her legs twisted awkwardly. It took all of her willpower to contain the scream that threatened to pass her lips.

She took deep breaths to try and calm herself, despite her body wanting to suck in all the air in the room and panic. She couldn’t afford to go into shock. Calming herself, Twilight forced herself onto her right foreleg. Her left was sore, but she could tell it was nothing serious. She flared her wings, but hissed in pain and folded one again. When she tried to stand, one of her hindlegs buckled and she smacked into the ground again.

The alicorn closed her eyes and ran through it all in her head.

My right wing is sprained. My left hind hoof is twisted, possibly broken… My magic didn’t work properly! What is this shadow stuff?

Twilight called a ball of light to her horn and looked around. The room was small and carved from stone. The floor was covered in cracks, and large tufts of grass sprung from each one. A wooden chest lay open in one corner of the room, completely empty spare from a short length of fabric. A dot of light shone in from above. On one side of the room was a tunnel, with a single lit torch in the distance.

Unfortunately, the shadow lingering in the air zapped her horn and cut out her magic once again. Twilight groaned as the light died, knowing the only other light in the place led her deeper into it. The alicorn looked around until resting her gaze on the empty chest. A few pained moments of dragging herself across the floor later, she was able to snap off some of the wood. It would be messy and painful, but without her magic she couldn’t do much else.

Taking the fabric from the chest, Twilight turned to her hindleg. A quick glance told her that it was indeed broken. She could just about see where the bone must’ve snapped, although there was no blood. Thank Celestia.

The alicorn rested her hooves against the limb. It would hurt a lot more since she couldn’t use magic, but it had to be done. Until her wing healed a little she would be stuck down here and wouldn’t be able to get real medical help. With a loud yelp of pain, she snapped the hoof back into place. She couldn’t help back the scream as a fresh wave of agony flowed up her leg and muddled her thoughts. She wanted nothing more than to just curl up and cry, but she forced herself to stay focused.

Twilight took a deep breath before taking the plank of wood and placing it over her ankle. She took the fabric and began to wrap it tightly around her hoof. Every now and then she would stop to loosen it a little. She couldn’t let it stop her circulation.

When she was finally done, she forced herself to stand so that she could test the makeshift splint. Twilight winced and yelped at every step, but it held well. With her major wound tended to, she began to check along the rest of her body. The swelling in her sprained wing wasn’t too bad. The ache in her foreleg was already dying out. There were cuts and bruises all along her form, but none of them were deep.

Once she had checked every injury, she set off down the hallway.

The tunnel was also carved into stone, and Twilight came across a total of three dark wood doors before she found the creature. He was standing in the centre of a large chambers with high stone walls, tall enough that the ceiling was lost in the darkness above. Vines hung against the walls and from the blackness that was the ceiling. There were doors at regular intervals across the walls, two of which were covered in chains and locks. The centre of the room was a raised platform with a single tree sprouting from the middle of it. A thin layer of grass covered the room and leaves constantly drifted down from the darkness above.

The creature was crouching, muscles tensed as he glared and growled at a hunched, bipedal green creature with grubby clothes and a thick wooden club. It glared back at the quadruped creature with glowing red eyes, raising its club to strike.

The dark creature lunged forward, closing their jaws around the green creature’s neck. They screamed and flailed their club, but couldn’t break free. Twilight could only watch in horror as black blood dribbled down the quadruped’s muzzle and the green creature stopped moving. A moment later, the body burst into a small shower of the shadow, which the dark creature didn’t seem to mind at all.

The creature shook their head, scattering drops of black blood across the surrounding stone. They padded up to the tree and gazed up into its branches. A moment later they backed away and lunged at the tree, crashing into it with enough force to knock down a small silver key. They smirked and picked up the key in their teeth before turning to the two locked doors.

Their shadow shifted on the floor, pointing to one of the doors. The creature nodded and walked over to it. Twilight hesitated before trotting painfully after him. The creature slid the key into the lock, but paused before turning it.

Twilight flinched backwards as the creature rounded on her, growling. She stared at him with fear in her eyes, ready to bolt at any second, adrenaline numbing her pain. The creature seemed to calm when he saw her, and relaxed. Twilight did the same, but took a few cautious steps backward anyway.

The creature looked her over before sighing and pointing back the way she’d came.

“You want me to leave?”

They nodded.

“But I can’t!”

The creature blinked before gesturing to her back.

“I sprained my wing.”

They groaned and pointed to her horn.

“That shadowy stuff cut off my magic.”

They looked a little confused. They glanced down at their shadow, but it offered no assistance. The creature sighed before turning back to the door and gesturing with their tail for Twilight to follow. Twilight limped up to the door as the creature turned the key and the chains fell to the ground. The key shattered as soon as the creature pulled it out.

“So… I-I’m Twilight…” the alicorn muttered as the creature pushed the chains out of the way. If this creature was no longer hostile, why not make a new friend? “Wh-what’s your name?”

The creature glanced around before resting their gaze on the chains. They rested a paw on one of the links and looked back at her.

“Chain?” Twilight mused. “Uh… Link?”

The creature barked.

“Link. That’s… unique.” The purple mare smiled nervously.

Link rolled his eyes and reared onto his hindlegs. He pressed his forelegs against the door and it swung open. Despite the darkness that covered the tunnel beyond it, Link padded through unfazed. Twilight contemplated staying here until he came back, but she didn’t want to be left alone in this place. She forced a trot and followed him down the dark tunnel.

Halfway down the tunnel, Link came to a stop. He turned and padded up to a nearby door, pressing his ear against it. His tail wagged in anticipation as he pressed against the door. Twilight watched as it swung open and followed Link inside. She immediately regretted it as the door closed and locked behind them.

In the centre of the room, a giant plant stuck out of the ground. It seemed to be pulsing, like a heartbeat. Sprouting from the top of the plant was a flesh-coloured stalk with a large head hanging from it. It lacked eyes and was made mostly of a large mouth with long sharp teeth that tucked grossly into an oversized lower jaw.

Link barked a warning to Twilight, who backed up against a wall. He then lunged forward and ran circles around the plant, taunting it. The creature took the bait and threw their head forwards. Link easily dodged it, jumping aside as the head slammed into the ground. He then leapt at the head, digging his claws into the top of it and biting down into the soft skin of the plant. Black blood spurted across his muzzle as the plant shook itself and threw Link off.

He flipped in the air and landed perfectly. He gagged a little and spat out the blood that had slipped through his jaws before repeating the process. The plant lunged at Link, and he leapt atop its head. This time, however, the plant threw him straight up.

Link was obviously surprised, as he didn’t even retaliate as he flew up into the air. Twilight’s eyes widened and she began to limp towards the plant’s base. Above her, Link began to fall back down. She called for her magic, but the shadow had well and truly blocked it. In desperation, she lunged and drove her horn into the bud.

The plant shrieked and flailed its head, just in time for Link to be knocked away. He smacked a little harshly against the wall, but it was better than being swallowed whole. Twilight pulled back and began to wipe to the blood from her horn.

The plant roared at her, snapping her back to the battle. Twilight stared up in fear as the plant’s head loomed over her. She could only whimper as the head lunged for her, jaws open wide.