Violet Magica - The Arrow of Light

Once again, Amber's house had become a sort of basis of operation for the group, consisting of Amber, Violet, Azure, and Rose.

“...in the end, Crimson told us we were on the same side after all and just went and left,” Rose said, finishing up her very brief summary of the day before.

Amber hesitated for a moment, taking another sip from her tea before responding. “I guess I don't have any reason not to believe you... but still, something like this sounds pretty hard to swallow.” Her eyes went upwards, towards her Soul gem, even though she couldn't quite see it from this angle. “Are our souls really in there? What does that say about us as a being?”

“Well, I did talk about the whole thing with Kiubee earlier today,” Azure said in a tone more solemn than usual, “and he shared some more information. He said the whole idea behind this is that when we feel pain, that pain is dulled by having to be transmitted from body to soul, the seat of where our emotions lie. By disconnecting these two, it is possible to endure great pains and only actually feel a fraction of them. He also said it's possible to shut out the pain completely if you focus on it, but that comes at the toll of dulled senses and slower reaction time.”

Getting up, Azure turned away from the table and took a few steps toward a nearby wall. “Seriously, this is all so screwed up!” With renewed fire in her breath, she stomped her hooves down on the floor and raised her tone. “That's all fine and good, but look at what the whole thing can do to us! We have to walk around with that thing for the rest of our lives, and if we lose it we might never wake up again? And besides, what even am I right now? Am I still alive? Am I still a living being? You are telling me I can jump from a skyscraper and get up afterwards like nothing happened? What kind of joke is this?”

“Marina, before that you would probably fall unconscious when your body hits the ground and it would take a considerable amount of time to heal your body.” Right when she said these words, Violet noticed that a bit of Amber had rubbed off on her.

Azure prowled her way toward Violet. “Oh that's great isn't it? It only takes a while to rebuild this husk. Obviously now I see everything in a different light. Shut up will you.”

“Azure, can you please–” Rose tried to grab a hold of Azure, but couldn't find an opening between her stomping and flailing.

“Oh and by the way, what was the whole idea of that last speech you gave Crimson? We need to rely on her soon? You want her to help us out, because we are gonna get into trouble? What has gotten into you?”

Violet's eyes bounced between her friends, trying to look for any opening of empathy.“Well, she didn't seem that bad to me in the end. We need all the help we can get anyways.”

“That's even greater. This pony doesn't even trust our group. Why are you even here if you don't even believe in us? If only you had actually called Amber, she would have just kicked that Crimson's flank into next Sunday and that would be the end of that story.” Azure slowly returned to her place and settled down again, her anger exhausted.

After a short moment of silence, in which Violet was tracing a circle on the ground she replied in an almost silent voice. “Well, I probably should have gotten Spirit after all.”

In a last fit of energy, Azure lashed out one last time. “Why the hay are you calling her that anyway?”

Violet let out an astonished gasp. Rose glanced over to her and bounced her gaze between Azure and Violet. Looking over at the face of Amber, which suddenly bore a satisfied grin, they found their answer.

“It's like I thought after all, Violet. I never even told you my second name.”

A cold wave shot through Violet's limbs as her mouth dropped open. Her reaction as well as how she fumbled for words and excuses did not do a good job of disproving Amber's suspicion.

“As we concluded when we first met: we hadn't known each other from before. Surely you could have found out my name until now, but you called me by my last name since the very minute I introduced myself. Even then, to think you would go out of your way to call me by my second name?” Amber spoke with a sure and convinced tone, like a detective who had just masterfully recreated a crime scene.

Violet's fumbling died down as she accepted the fact she had been outsmarted the very moment they had met. Relaxing her muscles, Violet got ready for the continuation of the detective's great reveal, unable to stop her now.

“I wouldn't forget any pony I had ever met, but at the same time I couldn't remember you. So I thought I would go after my hunch. But enough of that. What interests me more is why you would act the way you did. You are trying to get Crimson to help us out, and you still seem pretty adamant about it. You were talking about one or multiple events where even the four of us might need help. You really make me get that feeling you know more than you want us to believe, especially after finding out you knew me... and maybe even the others before we met.”

All eyes glued themselves to Violet. Her mind turned into a wild tornado that sucked up all her prior fears and spat out only a single conviction. “Enough, I'll tell them.”

Her heart thumped almost loud enough for the others to hear, her body tensing up into a statue. “Spirit, do you remember what a Walpurgisnacht is?”

The astonished look on Amber's face was answer enough to her.

“In about two weeks, such a thing will attack Kamino and lay waste to the entire city. The only way to beat it is by working together as a team. It is not that simple though. We have to beat it while conserving our energy enough, and not use all of it up.” Her face jumped up and her voice did the same. “We absolutely have to beat that thing without running out of magic, and we need as many Sorceresses as we can get for that!”

Violet's sudden expression of terror shrouded the room in a tense light, embracing the other three listeners. Amber opened her mouth, trying to ask the obvious question, but failed to do so before Violet continued.

“If we run out of magic at any point, what will happen is...” She moved both hooves to stop her face from collapsing. “Our lives will be forfeit and our souls will give birth to a witch.” Slowly removing her hooves, her eyes moved to meet Amber's blank gaze.

For a few moments, the monotone ticking of a clock was the only thing to bring sound into this room. Azure and Rose stared at each other in disbelief while Violet was pressed down by the anticipation of their response. Only Amber seemed oddly composed.

“Well, if you didn't want to talk about it, you could have just said so.” Amber recreated a smile on her face. That in itself must have been magic. “I'm sorry for pushing you like this, I should have backed off and left it at that, but you didn't have to come up with such a story.”

It was simple. Azure and Rose had tried to come up with a response to Violet's story, yet the simple act of making it unreal provided a graspable solution. Furthermore, they didn't have to doubt every part of the story. If Violet wanted them to fight a Walpurgisnacht and get Crimson to join them for that, that was all right in everypony's books, it was only the last part that felt like a joke too bad.

“Anyways, it seems like we're almost out of tea. How about we talk more about this Crimson gal when I'm back making more.”

No pony dared interrupting her.

***

With a mood still heavy and a mind still clouded, Azure once again decided to part ways with her friends after school and head home by herself.

With her body of a zombie, a soul detached and Slate's recovery built on a lie, her life turned more complicated than she had hoped.

She had understood the power a wish could have, and the possibilities that came with them. Eagerly grasping for these, like a foal that saw a toy they liked on the shelf in a toy store, she had ended up throwing herself into this world of magic she knew little about.

Was it wrong to charge headfirst into this without a plan? This thought tormented her ever since she found out the truth of the Soul Gem. At the same time, she smothered that thought under a layer of righteousness. “I can, will, and have saved lives by fighting against witches and familiars alike. Something like this cannot be cast aside as a mistake,” she mumbled to herself. “I will never regret this.”

Similarly, she asked herself how she could still be with Slate, how the future of their relationship would pan out. Between the state of her body—or husk—and the lie his recovery was based on, she was unable to find a quick answer, but she told herself she would find one eventually. It would be an answer she could be happy with.

Still pondering, her body came to an abrupt stop as she noticed a streak of red across the fence she was walking along, yet she didn't try to take the initiative.

Instead, the pony in question opened their mouth first. “Hey Azure. Do you have a second?” Crimson took a small step backwards before jumping over the fence in a single leap, gracefully landing next to Azure.

“Didn't you want to run away somewhere? Go back to wherever you came from.”

Crimson bit her lip. Walking in front of Azure, she cut off her path. “That was my plan, but I want you to come along.”

Azure almost flinched at such an odd preposition, but forced herself to stay cool and not show any weaknesses. “What is it this time? You want to pick a fight again? Don't you need to make me angry first? You are doing a terrible job at that this time.”

She looked for the usual fire in Crimson's eyes, her toxic attitude, but she couldn't manage to find it. Instead, Crimson produced a grumpy sigh and lowered her head slightly. “Don't make this harder for me then it already is. Thing is, I just want to talk to you for once. I promise I won't do anything harmful.”

“And where would you want us to go?”

“You are not from Bluegrass but maybe you remember the burnt out and abandoned church, on the side of the city that's facing Kamino.”

Azure took a few seconds to ponder Crimson's current behavior before answering. “Well, Bluegrass is pretty close and I had no plans for today anyway...” Eventually, she nodded. “Don't do anything stupid or I'll have to go back to what I said that other day, about my swords and your ribs.”

***

The front of the church towered over the two ponies, a great gate on the bottom. The massive stone wall was blackened in places around and above the holes that used to be windows, and a general veil of dust mixed with soot embraced it.

Crimson, who had seemed on edge all the way from Kamino to here, finally relaxed upon the sight of the gate. “Well, here we are. Let's not stand around for too long and go inside.”

Azure believed the door Crimson grabbed would fall over the second she touched it, but it actually opened all the way without breaking.

Stepping inside, Azure was immediately greeted with a faint radiance of light which illuminated her face. The inside of the church looked about as ruined as the outside: bits of blackened wood strewn about, a floor covered in a thin layer of dust and soot, and walls and pillars visibly damaged from the fire. If this building wasn't made mostly of stone, it would probably not be standing anymore. Additionally, it would have probably been taken down after the fire if it wasn't located in a tiny grove just outside the city, where barely anyone would mind it.

Approaching the back of the church—where the altar had been missing—Azure once again noticed the glimmer of light that fell onto her face. Despite the ruinous state of the church, she hadn't felt like she was entering a burnt-out corpse of a once living church, but rather a sad but dignified reminder of what had once been. The broken windows behind where the altar should have been allowed the light of the sun to flood in and embrace these shattered remains, creating a feeling that, even if this place had been destroyed, it was still under the eyes of god, and everyone would be welcome here.

Reaching the top of the stairs that led to the back, Crimson reached for an apple from her magical pouch and tossed it to Azure, who was still looking around. “This might take a while, so take one of these.”

Catching the apple, Azure took a moment to look at it, before letting it drop out of her hoof and fall onto the floor. “Sorry, but I'm not really hungry right now.”

Within the very split-second Azure had finished speaking, Crimson was already standing next to her, her face right up to hers and staring back at her with a sudden burst of fire. “Don't you ever dare wasting food.” Giving Azure a slight headbutt, Crimson reached for the apple and picked it up. After inspecting it for a second and scrubbing off the ash, she walked backwards a few steps and took a bite off the apple.

“I didn't come here for fun,” Crimson said, turning around to meet Azure's eyes. “This is where I used to live... Well, I still live here to some degree.” She hesitated for a moment, in which she tossed the apple into the air absentmindedly, and catching it again. “What I do in Kamino to pass the days is another story entirely, and that's not what I came here for.”

Azure couldn't sense any sort of hostility from Crimson, so she decided to make herself as at home as possible and sat down on the floor.

“Obviously this church had days when it was still intact and functioned the way it should. It originally belonged to my father—the priest, and our family lived here. He was an honest and outgoing stallion, who was always trying his hardest to make this world a better place. He believed that with his power as a priest, he would be able to transform everyone around him to become better ponies and live even greater lives in happiness.

“Seeing how the world went against the ideals of happiness, increasing everyone's sadness and fear instead of their well-being, he felt his power ended up being useless, if he couldn't save anyone. It dawned on him: he had to reform his teachings and come up with new ideals that would benefit ponykind as a whole and create better lives that would laugh in the face of adversity.

“And so he deviated from the doctrine and preached new things to the churchgoers, trying to finally utilize his priesthood to the full effect.” She took a moment to take another bite of the apple before continuing. “He ended up being excommunicated and looked on with shame. As days and weeks went by, the churchgoers decreased in numbers rapidly. Society itself closed its eyes and ears, shunning him away.

“Certainly, to outsiders it would seem like he was trying to create his own sect, yet he only had the best of intentions. He took me and my little sister to go around and preach his word on the street. No pony would listen to us, and most would look down on us, shaking their head and moving on.

“At that point, our lives hit a low-point. We had barely any food and lived on an absolute minimum for multiple weeks. Only because our father was trying so hard to change this world for the better. If only any pony had listened to him for a while. If only they hadn't turned away and marked him as a lunatic. They only had to give him a chance and they would have seen for themselves how pure the basis of his teachings were.”

Taking a moment, she glanced over at Azure. She was still sitting there, listening—more or less—interested. Seeing no reason to stop, she continued. “Eventually, I was visited by Kiubee. Of course I had no way of understanding what he was trying to tell me at first, but the opportunity of having a wish granted came so right to me. And so I wished that ponies out there would finally listen to my father. That was the only wish I ever had to that point.”

Azure couldn't help but let out a slight gasp of surprise.

“From that point on, the churchgoers came back, and very soon our church was full to the brim with visitors again, who wanted nothing more than to hear the word of my father. Maybe my father had sensed that this was a miracle, but he held onto the idea that his teachings were finally coming through to them.

“Meanwhile, I ventured out at night and hunted down witches on my own. Of course I was a bit clumsy at first, but with the help of a great friend I managed to grow into an acceptable Sorceress and take down dozens of witches. While my father was fighting against the evil in pony hearts during daytime, I fought against the manifestations of evil during nighttime. We were a pretty powerful duo in that regard, and I was more happy than I have ever been before in my entire life. This was the purpose my life had gotten, and I cherished every second of it.”

Within a split-second, Crimson's almost absentminded face, which traveled through distant memories, took on a bitter expression, her voice turning serious. “Then, one day, a witch attacked this very church in the cover of the night. Of course I rushed out to defeat it, but when I did so, I had realized my mistake. My father had noticed me running into the church and found me, with the Soul Gem on my horn and a legion of floating spears and phantasms surrounding me.

“He made up his mind instantly. He told me how he had thought the sudden surge of visitors who all wanted to listen to him felt like the work of evil magic. He barraged me about how I was a witch who would cloud pony's minds and mislead them.” She shot another glance toward Azure. “Funny, if you realize I was the one fighting the evil witches every night.” Her eyes returned to the apple she was holding, but she couldn't take another bite, as her voice got caught.

“I had nothing to defend myself with. He wouldn't listen to anything I said. It was all so clear to him. How could he have been so blind as to let her little filly become a witch? After he had run his mouth dry, he went back to his chamber, his face lacking any of the light he used to radiate. I hoped that he would at least still see at least a fragment of the Crimson I had always been somewhere in me, so that he would be able to deal with it.

“The following days, he stopped preaching and fell into a deep depression. He would often sit motionless and expressionless in his chair, pondering his mistakes. Then, only a few days after the initial incident, I woke up in the night to the smell of smoke that pierced my nose. I shot upwards and tried to scream for my family, but I couldn't scream anymore. There was a knife embedded in my throat.”

Azure's eyes shot wide open.

“I didn't even try to understand how I was still alive or how I was even able to still move around while only feeling minimal pain. In that moment I only wanted to get out of my room and search for my family. I dashed out the door, fighting the smoke that rushed over my face, and ran into my little sister's room. There, I found her with a throat sliced wide open.

“In a rush of panic I tried to scream again, only to have the wind of my voice get stuck against the blade in my windpipe. In a moment of utter panic, I pulled the knife out and tossed it away. My vision went blurry as a pool of red formed below my hooves and the smoke stung my eyes repeatedly. I rushed out the door again, heading for my parent's room. There, I found what I had hoped I would never see: my mother, throat sliced open, and my father, dangling from the ceiling with neck in a noose. I can't tell you exactly what happened next, the only thing I remember is waking up in the nearby woods a while later. I probably rushed over there after losing the rest of my sanity.”

Pulling her head back, Crimson dropped on her flank, as if she had done something that physically exhausted her. “The wish I made to help my father and the ponies around me: in the end it came back to destroy and take away everything I ever had. I had been such a fool to use my wish for the sake of other ponies, I should have kept it to the one pony I could always trust: me. I had to learn this lesson the hardest way you could imagine.”

She finally tilted her head towards the light that poured in through the broken windows. “Every wish will one day turn into a curse of equal magnitude, creating an eternal balance. Hope that makes the flowers bloom will always be followed by a firestorm of despair, leaving only the primordial ground that had always been there.”

Taking multiple bites of the apple, she finally leaned back and took a long pause.

Eventually, Azure spoke up. “Why have you been telling me this?”

“Isn't it obvious?” Crimson got up again and took a few steps toward Azure. “You have been making the same mistakes I have. You were blinded by the best possible outcome, so you used your wish for the sake of somepony else. I'm trying to tell you to abandon your false hopes before it's too late. You have to understand what sort of strength you hold as you are now and use that—if only once—for yourself. I don't want to see another pony go down the same path, so lay aside your delusions and start living your own life.”

She stuck out a hoof towards Azure. “This is your wake-up-call. I don't know what your deeper motives are behind your becoming a Sorceress or what that Violet pony told you, but it seems she is as naive as you are. You should trust somepony more experienced to show you the way.”

Getting up, Azure dusted herself off, before meeting Crimson's eyes again and refusing her hoof with her stare. “I have to apologize. You are not quite the type of pony I thought you were. I had misunderstood you and for that, I am sorry.” Azure put on a face not as apologetic as her words. Instead, it held a notion of mischief.

“There is something you are getting wrong here though. Your story is not the same as everypony's story, especially not mine. You tell me to abandon others to live for myself? Sitting idly by while others get hurt is not the type of life I want to lead. Just the thought of that makes me sick to the bone. Living for yourself means throwing others into the fire that you are warming yourself with? What kind of sick ideal is this?

“But while we are at it: tell me, where did you get those apples from that you like so much? What money did you use to buy them?” Crimson stared down at the bite-mark-covered apple she was holding. She couldn't answer. “That is something I cannot tolerate. I don't want to tell you how to live your life, since I obviously can't change the way you are. But similarly, there is no way you could ever get me to abandon my duty as a Sorceress. I won't ever regret becoming a Sorceress, as long as I can save lives!”

With this, Azure took the initiative and walked away from Crimson, heading for the gate. Under her breath she mumbled: “Probably didn't even save a single pony after that fire. What a waste.”

From behind, Crimson could be heard shouting. “You idiot! We aren't the type of superheroes that always win! Don't just leave!”

Ignoring every single word, Azure passed the gate and moved around the corner. She was gone.

***

Once more Azure wouldn't join Rose and Violet on their way home as school ended. She had dashed off again, leaving the other two standing in front of the school entrance.

Obviously this behavior struck Violet as odd, but today she felt this even more strongly. When Azure had dashed off she had usually done so without many words, a “see you tomorrow” is what she shouted back most of the time, but today she explicitly told them that she needed somewhere to be. Ever since Azure had contracted she sought out her own ways more strongly than before.

Today, however, this happened to be just what Violet had hoped for.

“Hey Daybreak, before we go home, would you mind following me?”

“Huh? Where are we going?”

Violet had already started walking towards her destination, while only responding “not very far from here. In fact, you can already see it.”

The little jaunt had brought them to the side of a hill close to school. Situated towards the outer parts of the city, this spot was mostly covered in grass and a few patches of flowers. On this hill one could create a small world void of civilization, out of hearing range from others. For some odd reason, not many ponies actually relaxed on this patch of nature. The pupils were probably mostly wanting to go home or meet up in some other place, while others seemed to prefer the cold embrace of civilization instead of relaxing in nature's lap.

Reaching this place, Violet sat down on the grass, gesturing Rose to sit next to her.

“That was a pretty short walk, why did we come here?”

Violet threw her body back and lay in the grass, looking at the ever blue sky. “I thought that we should lean back for a bit and relax. Besides, there are matters I need to clear up.”

“Is it about Azure?”

“Well... kind of. It was mostly about your wish, but I also wanted to talk about her too.”

“My wish?” Rose leaned back as well, mimicking Violet. “I still haven't thought about anything. Well, I really want to start helping all of you out, but I can't come up with anything special that I would want. Just fighting alongside you would make me happy... Should I make a wish for the sake of wishing?”

From outside Rose's vision, Violet rolled her eyes. “Hm... I guess you would come up with something eventually, but if that's what you want to do, then go ahead.” With how happy Rose always seemed to be doing Sorceress things, Violet was sure the actual wish Rose settled on wouldn't matter.

“I don't want to wait too long. I put off making the wish after seeing what happened to Azure, but the more I thought about it the more I understood that this is exactly why I need to help her as soon as possible. She needs more friends that help and support her, so she can overcome every obstacle in her way. I know you are assisting her as well, but I still feel like I absolutely have to support her!”

“Well, I have kind of slacked on that part.” “I understand how you are feeling. I will not hold you back on contracting, so do it whenever you feel like it.” For a second, Violet tried to grasp for a cloud, only to have it slip past her hoof. “I have only really known Azure for the past few weeks, so I can't really tell what she's like yet. Does she usually go on one-pony trips?”

From the corner of her eye, Violet could see Rose smirking. “That sounds just like her. Ever since second grade she had often tried to take matters into her own hooves. If you believe in yourself enough that you think you can do anything, taking the hard work off others only seems like the most reasonable response. She is really good at what she does so this often plays in her favor, although this also means she won't let others take things off her shoulders, and sometimes she will even refuse the help of others.”

Rose let out a short sigh. “Well, that's what me and Leafy are for. Even if she rebels, we are always there for her and make sure she doesn't end up doing anything stupid or overestimating herself.” She shot Violet a grin. “We are pretty good at that.”

“A lone knight. I figure that's why she took that form.”

“Huh?”

“Oh sorry, loud thinking. Anyway, it's hard not to notice, but she has been running off on her own the past few days. Do you want me to keep a closer look on her? You made it sound like that would be a wise idea.”

Rose closed her eyes and produced a smile. “Sure, but you won't be alone, because I will accompany her in the future as well. I have waited long enough. I need to make up for all the times I let her fight alone.”

“Well... I haven't been the greatest help to her either. She once complained my bombs could blow up in her face since she always gets so close to the enemy. That is exactly why I managed to... well, 'collect' another type of weapon. You will probably see it in action soon.”

***

“Damn this stuff is good.” Happily eating away at her vanilla-flavored ice-cream, Azure sat at her destination across the pony who called her here today: Leafy.

“You eat this every time we come here, shouldn't you know what it tastes like already?” Leafy had already finished her scoop of ice-cream. In fact, so had Azure, but she had decided to order another one.

“Don't meddle with my meditation of vanilla-y goodness, frozen to exactly the right point where it stays round in its original form, but as soon as you scoop it up and bring it into your mouth, it turns into soft and creamy packages of flavor.”

Taking a moment to process what she just heard, Leafy only answered with a simple “I guess so.” Usually she would try to play on Azure's ways for a bit, but today she was rather serious. “You have been rather busy lately, haven't you? Instead of meeting together you always run off or tell us you have other things to do.”

“Well...” Azure scratched her head. “You could say I was busy. Without rambling around too much, you could say I am finally closing in on what I want to do with my life.” With the spoon still clenched in her hoof, she raised it triumphantly towards the ceiling.

Finally brightening up, Leafy relaxed a bit in her seat. “That's wonderful to hear. I, too, was asking myself recently what my plans for the future were, but say, how are you coming along with Slate? He has been back in school for a while but I didn't see you talking to him or anything.”

While still retaining a bit of her earlier cheerfulness, Azure mumbled. “Well, you see... I had some weird stuff happening lately...” After a short pause in which she was searching for words, she continued: “It's not like I was ever together with him in the first place, he probably just thinks I'm a good friend, but I don't want it to stay that way, yet at the same time I'm having trouble going for it...”

On the spot, Leafy regained her earlier seriousness while trying to speak with an even voice. “You see, when I was thinking about my plans, I came to a conclusion, and after weighing my options I wanted to talk to you right away. We are friends after all and I wouldn't want to do something like this to you, knowing your feelings for Slate.”

Azure's eyes widened as she almost dropped her spoon, fearing her next words.

“I love Slate too, and I am going to confess to him tomorrow. I am telling you this now so I can give you a choice that I could agree on: you have until tomorrow evening to confess to him first and I will give him up to you. I have seen how much you cared for him when he was in the hospital, but you are not getting anywhere if you don't take the next step. I'm really sorry for forcing you to do this, but I didn't want to wait any longer.”

Sitting there with an open mouth, her lower jaw slowly trembled its way upwards. A heavy gulp later, she wiped off the sweat from her forehead and dropped the spoon on the table. “Yeah, I see.”

“I hope you can do the right thing.” Getting up, Leafy dropped a few bits on the table to pay for her ice-cream before walking out the door with heavy steps.

“Thanks for telling me, I guess...” Nopony was able to hear her mumbles.