Violet Magica - The Arrow of Light

The sounds of a dull blast and a sudden snap blared in Violet's ears, followed by a rupturing noise as the shadow in front of her was violently torn apart, only centimeters before the tendrils reached her body.

“That was a close one!” A voice she had never heard before spoke to her.

After a few seconds, reality rushed back to Violet, as she let out a sharp scream and fell over, her headache and heartache gradually returning. Still shaking, Violet stared at the remains of the figure in front of her, the afterimage of the tendril still burned into her eyes.

“I'm so glad I was able to save you.” Violet willed her head to look at the pony talking to her. She beheld the sight of a young mare, only slightly older than herself. Her dim yellow coat, along with her two sunny strands of mane that were curled into helices and connected to her head via brooch on each side, didn't seem out of the ordinary at first.

On her head, however, Violet spied what seemed like a horn attached to her, with a glowing amber-colored gem inset into it. Violet also caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a weapon for ranged combat floating next to her, right before it vanished into thin air.

After suppressing another scream—a scream not for help or out of terror, but one out of pure instinct—Violet tried to force her mouth to open and respond to this pony, but before she could formulate a 'thank you,' she discovered a second pony in the corner of her eye.

The name 'Rose' shot into her head, yet the gem-inset horn attached to her forehead spoke something else to her. None of this made sense to her, so emotions of joy mixed with uncertainty, and ultimately fear. After all, Rose had also found herself in a realm that just a few seconds ago almost ended Violet's life.

Violet began to stutter wildly, trying to find any words to even begin putting everything she had just seen into spoken language. Her mind still clouded by a dizzying haze, she almost collapsed to the floor multiple times as she tried to get back up, standing on hooves that had been reduced to pudding.

Rose took her time to walk over towards a heavily sweating Violet. “I guess my secret didn't last very long. Please don't tell any pony else in class.”

As soon as Rose finished speaking, both her and the other pony's horns disappeared. Directly afterwards, the twisted dimension they had found themselves in began to fall into itself. Ever growing holes appeared on the horizon and soon tore apart the sky and ground, returning the world back to its usual self and placing the three back on the bridge.

Finally, Violet resigned herself and passed out.

***

The worlds of Violet's mind unfolded their full glory not during natural sleep, but forceful loss of consciousness. In these worlds she saw herself walking across lush green fields, chasing after something, anything. As long as Violet felt like she had some goal to chase towards, she would move endlessly forward. Eventually the fields of grass turned into many incarnations of imagined hellscapes, be they filled with molten lava and spawns of flame that hunted Violet, be they an endless abyss filled with only darkness, or even just a room of pure white color that stretched infinitely in any direction. Yet still, within her dream she felt at ease. After having traversed countless landscapes, the first conscious thought since she began dreaming crept into her mind: “Where am I headed?” Upon this, she drifted into the waking world.

Violet came to again in an unfamiliar room. Her mind was still groggy, a feeling she remembered from waking up after being under anesthetic. Disconnected thoughts swirled in her mind, visions were made up and disappeared, as if she still slept.

The noise of two ponies talking reached her ears. As her gaze still pointed towards the ceiling, she turned it to the side, where she heard the noise. They were both sitting on the floor around a glass table, drinking tea. It was Rose and the pony that had saved her earlier.

“Oh, you are awake I see. Sorry for bringing you up here to my house, but you seemed to have passed out.” The yellow-coated pony got up and walked past Rose towards Violet. After suddenly putting on a smile, she replied, “No need to thank me.” Apparently Violet mumbled without noticing it first.

“No no, I want to thank you.” Violet's senses started returning to reality, and as she could now hear her own voice again, she noticed how disconnected and even drunk she sounded.

“By the way, my name is Amber Spirit, and apparently you already know Rose here.”

Violet listened with only one ear while she tried to regain a sense of bearing. She found herself in what seemed like a living room, lying on a sofa, with a bed sheet over her.

Amber's living room—which consisted of three walls and a giant window front—was filled with splashes of color, decorated with few abstract paintings and some carafes and vases. A few fluffy pillows and—strangely—some stuffed animals Amber seemed too old for were littered throughout the room, with the triangular glass table in the center of the room.

Without thinking about it, Violet forced her body into a sitting position on the sofa, removing the bed sheet.

“Hey, take it slow for now. Are you alright, Violet?” Rose took her hoof and placed it on Violet's forehead, while stabilizing her shoulder with the other. “Are you sure you are okay?”

“I'm fine... I think.” Violet took a moment. Most of her pain had subsided, and her mind seemed to have arrived back in Kamino. After staring at the floor for a few seconds, Violet finally spoke up again. “I'm fine.”

Amber leaned in close to Violet. “If you like and feel like it, you can come over to the table and drink some tea to get better.”

“Yes... thank you.” With this, Violet slowly got up and made her way towards the table. Even though her steps were unsure, she made it to her spot next to the table without any difficulties.

Violet plopped down on the floor, along with Rose. Amber raised her voice. “I'm sorry if my house seems a bit chaotic, I didn't get around to cleaning everything up yet. Hold on a second.” With this, she quickly dove into a room to the side. “I need to make some more tea.” Her voice sounded from the other room.

“It's okay...” Violet hesitated for a bit while her eyes bounced between Rose and the floor. “And to you too, thank you for saving me.”

“No need to thank us, we just did our job. We are Sorceresses after all!” Her magenta eyes visibly grew wider, along with her smile, as she mentioned the 'Sorceresses.'

Violet responded to Rose's enthusiasm with confusion. Meanwhile, Amber had already prepared some more tea. “Here, this is going to help.” Violet thanked Amber and took a quick sip—she identified it as ginger tea—before Amber continued. “As Rose already mentioned we are indeed Sorceresses. To put it simply, we have attained magical powers and use them to fight evil.”

“You always make it sounds so heroic,” Rose chimed in.

At multiple points Violet wanted to say something, but she instead kept silent. Amber continued. “Well, that's basically what we do. There are beings out there who hunt innocent ponies just to kill them. These beings are what we call 'witches', and we are the only ones who can hunt them down and destroy them.”

Rose lifted a hoof and waved it around in mid-air while looking over at Violet. “But that back there wasn't a witch you know? That was something like a baby witch, or a 'familiar' as we call it. They separate themselves from a witch and try to grow into witches on their own. They aren't a big deal for us of course.”

Violet held her head and gazed at the floor in disbelief. “What? You fight these things?” Her voice trembled more with every word. “Are you mad? There's no way–“

Rose put her hoof on Violet's shoulder. Violet hung on to the feeling of Rose's touch to calm herself down. “It's not that bad. It's a lot less dangerous than it might seem. After all, our enemies are no match for professional Sorceresses like us.”

Amber glared at Rose. “Don't get ahead of yourself, you're still in training.”

“Ha! With a teacher like you I will be one of the greatest Sorceresses to walk Komaria in no time!” Rose swung back to Violet. “Amber here is a veteran and I'm learning everything about Sorceresses from her.”

Despite the oddly enthusiastic chatter around her, Violet felt more and more distressed. She had trouble listening to everything they said, as the images of what happened earlier were still floating around her mind.

Amber waved her hoof in front of her face. “Let's get back to the important part, okay?” She focused on Violet again. “That world you were in back there is called a 'barrier.' Basically familiars and witches try to either invade a pony's mind and control them into committing suicide, or they drag them into their own dimension, a 'barrier,' and kill them there. Usually you can only enter those if you get dragged in, but Sorceresses can use a sort of backdoor.”

Violet stopped thinking for a few seconds and let her head sink towards the floor. “I really was about to die...” “And I was almost ready to take my own life, too.”

Rose patted Violet on the back. “I'm sorry you had to go through this. But now that you have been dragged into this, you might–”

“I don't know, Rose. She probably doesn't want to.” Amber glared at Rose once again.

Violet took another sip of tea, her shaking hoof almost spilling it. Rose reached for her. “Oh I forgot to mention, Violet. The process of becoming a Sorceress involves having one of your wishes fulfilled.”

A similar feeling to what Violet had felt when she had first been dragged into the 'barrier' shot through her. “You get a wish fulfilled? How impossible.” Right when she had said this, she realized that with everything she had seen today, that might not actually be impossible. Of course there remained the possibility she was still dreaming.

Rose swayed her head from side to side and released her grip on Violet's hoof. “Maybe not absolutely any wish, but you'd be amazed of all the things you could wish for! Obviously there's money, the love of your life, achieving something almost impossible, or a feast fit for a king.”

Amber raised her tone. “Why do you always want to have a bunch of food? You should have wished for that instead if you keep mentioning it.”

“Sorry, I just thought it worth mentioning. It is pretty tempting don't you think?”

Amber leaned her face on her hoof while Violet tried to formulate some ideas. “Just go along with it.” “There are some things you can't wish for? What for example?”

“I'd be happy to take it from here.” An unfamiliar voice suddenly spoke up. None of the others seemed to react to it, leaving Violet to search around the room for the source of the voice. Her eyes stopped on one of the stuffed animals. “Hi, I'm Kiubee!”

Violet jumped up scared and almost fell over as she stumbled backwards. As her body hit the wall behind her, the impact sent her glasses flying, which she quickly shuffled after, only to immediately return to the wall with erratic movements. A quick glance towards Amber and Rose revealed them both holding back a chuckle.

What had looked like a piece of decoration suddenly acted like a living being. His white body was about the third the size of a pony, featuring a bunny-like—or cat-like?—appearance with a long scarf-like tail, deep glassy eyes of red hue, and weird tassels that were attached to his ears and almost touched down to the floor. Even while he spoke, his mouth did not move. In fact, only his tail waggled from side to side, while his entire face remained completely stiff.

“So you can see him as well. I guess that also means you can see the forms of familiars and witches.” Amber pointed at him. “This is Kiubee, our guide in all things magical and the source of most of my knowledge. He was also the one who made us into Sorceresses and granted us our wish. Since you can see him it must mean that he chose you as a candidate for a Sorceress.”

Violet tried to answer but only produced stutters while she still pressed her body against the wall. Taking a deep breath she slowly sat her body down and relaxed her muscles. For just a moment she wanted to shut everything out, every single external influence should stop for at least a minute so she could finally calm down and relax. Instead, she flinched again as Kiubee continued speaking. “To come back to your question, let's make it simple: whenever you want to become a Sorceress tell me what you want to wish for and I will tell you if your wish is possible. I shall then fulfill your wish and grant you the power of magic in the form of a Soul Gem.”

Violet stared back at Kiubee. “Soul Gem? Can you give me a break for once?”

Amber turned towards the table and pointed at a small object. It was the gem she had seen earlier, attached to her horn. “This is what a Soul Gem looks like. It's the source of all our magic. It allows one to cast certain spells and use certain abilities, depending on who you are and what you wished. There is also a specific array of spells and abilities that any Sorceress can use, for example this, which allows us to stay undetected in public.” Without Amber touching the gem, a dim light engulfed it and with a sizzling noise it shrunk to about a tenth the size, while also slightly changing form. She then picked it up and attached it to one of the brooches on her mane.

Violet's jaw dropped to the floor. “Unbelievable...”

Rose waved at Amber. “I think we should give her some time to think about all of this.”

Amber sighed. “You are right. I don't think it would be wise to just drag her into this, but if she can see Kiubee and was therefore chosen by him as well, she must have the potential for it.” Amber looked into Violet's eyes. “Listen, I am certain you have what it takes to become a Sorceress as well, and as we already discussed, you do get a wish fulfilled if you choose to do it. You could help us in our fight and form a team with us. You'd be safe.”

Violet didn't react, she simply stared at the floor again, trying to rearrange her thoughts.

Rose continued in Amber's stead. “If you want to see more we can meet again tomorrow. We still have to hunt down the witch that birthed the familiar we fought earlier. If you join us we could show you even more stuff and explain it better.”

Violet took a deep breath of air. A loud voice in her head repeatedly yelled at her say no, yet that word just could not escape her lips in that moment. She struck the voice back for now.As her gaze shot past Rose and out the window front, towards the sky, a liberating feeling engulfed her mind. “The familiar was right about one thing though: there really is no pony waiting for me at home.”

After hesitating for quite a while, Violet finally opened her mouth. “I'll think about it, Daybreak.”

***

The sun neared the horizon as Rose and Amber stood on the familiar bridge over the Kami river they had found Violet at the day before. From a few steps behind, Violet approached them.

Amber turned her head around. “To be frank, I didn't think you'd actually join as after everything that had happened. If I may ask: why did you decide to join us?”

Violet stopped in her tracks and stared at Amber for a while. To Rose and Amber it must have looked like she was locked in time, not moving a single one of her muscles as both of them awaited an answer. To Violet, she knew exactly why she came here: she wanted to fight the feeling that she did not belong anywhere. Despite knowing this, she did not want to admit anything of the sort, not even to herself. Finally, her mouth moved as the only part of her body. “I don't quite know. But I can think of plenty of reasons why I shouldn't have come.” She scratched her forehoof. “I guess I just wanted to accompany you a bit.”

In one quick motion, Rose turned her entire body around and jumped towards Violet with a bright beam on her lips. “Oh who cares anyway. You're here. We're here. The witch isn't here, but we want to find her, right? Also, the familiar isn't here anymore, but that's exactly why we came here, isn't it?”

Amber took out her Soul Gem and placed it on her hoof as she mumbled to herself. “It is indeed.”

Rose grabbed Violet's hoof and yanked her forwards, towards Amber. “You see what Amber is doing?”

“She's... making sure her Soul Gem is alright?” Violet adjusted her glasses to make sure her vision wasn't clouded.

Rose leaned back for a second. “Actually you are kind of right. But more importantly, take a closer look at it.”

The Soul Gem looked just as it did the day before, with one added detail: it emitted a faint glow. Tiny rays of light danced around inside the gem, creating a shimmering aurora.

“We can use our Soul Gems to track the energy of the familiar. It should lead us to the witch that created it,” said Amber and pointed towards a small path along the side of the Kami river. “It seems to be coming from over there.”

Before Amber took her first step towards her new destination, Violet spoke up. “How did you find me here yesterday?”

Amber looked surprised for a second. “It was a coincidence really. We were searching for stray witches and noticed that a barrier had been formed in the vicinity. Obviously we rushed to inspect it.”

“Oh.” Violet lowered her head to look at the floor. Rose opened her mouth but Violet immediately interrupted her. “Why did I even ask? I'm sorry.” Violet shook her head.

Amber approached Violet. “Familiars single out ponies and try to feast on them. Even though our main targets are the witches we absolutely have to stop them, especially since they might grow into witches themselves. Also, there are plenty of Sorceresses out there who ignore familiars, so it is up to us to clean them up.”

“Others ignore them?” Violet bounced her eyes between Amber and Rose, while they stared at each other.

Amber finally turned her back and started walking. “That's a different story entirely, let's just go after the witch for now.” As the other two moved on as well, she turned her head around. “I'll tell you later, okay?”

An awkward silence lay over the three as they followed the path the Soul Gem had pointed towards. Too much to ask, but nowhere to start. Whenever Amber and Rose talked about being Sorceresses, they looked proud and enthusiastic. They were eager to explain as much as they could to Violet and they would keep on talking all the time. Frankly, Violet thought they were being both too pushy and a bit insane, but she did not mind either too much. She told herself that this is what it must have been like to be genuinely excited about one's work.

She took a deep breath and watched the sun rays bouncing off the river surface. The light already turned orange with the sun touching the horizon. Soon it would be night.

“Daybreak, aren't you scared?” Violet still stared at the water while speaking.

“Of what?”

Violet flicked her head around. “The witches of course. And those familiars too. You described them as something that attacked other ponies to kill and feast. How can you face them?”

Rose smiled again. “I'm not as brave as Amber here if that's what you're asking. Sure I feel uneasy, but whenever I get scared I just remember all the good I do by fighting them. There is no pony else besides us who could battle evil like this. Whenever I fight one of them I am reminded of my foalhood dreams of ancient magic and great heroism. I think that is what keeps me going when I'm in the thick of it.”

Amber took her yellow eyes off her Soul Gem for a moment to glance back at the two. “Don't actually start dreaming while you are fighting. You need to stay focused and make sure not to let your guard down, because then you will be at your weakest point.” Violet only then noticed that all this time Amber hadn't changed the expression on her face once. The stern look in her eyes dug deep into Violet whenever their gazes met. Her face didn't strike Violet as either happy or sad, yet there was something odd she couldn't quite put her hoof on. However, one thing Violet felt sure about: she was safe around Amber.

Violet spoke up again. “Daybreak, you told me yesterday when you become a Sorceress you can wish for something.”

“Yup.”

“Then what did you wish for?”

Rose leaned her head sideways for a second. “Well, when Kiubee first approached me in my home I thought I was still dreaming. But the more he told me about it the more I got interested in this Sorceress business. So still all drowsy I just went ahead and wished to be able to fight for other ponies, since I always felt I couldn't really do anything to help other ponies. I didn't even think that everything he told me was the truth.”

“You wasted your wish?” Violet blurted out, but immediately covered her mouth with her hooves.

Rose scratched her head. “I don't quite think I wasted it, I did become a Sorceress after all. Surely I could have wished for something more useful, but I'm happy as is and I wouldn't wanna go back and change my wish. What counts is that I get to make this world a better place by fighting the witches, so I guess I got what I wanted.”

Violet suddenly stopped in her tracks and dug at the ground. The gears in her head turned. Wild rides within her mind happened frequently, sometimes spitting out important conclusions, sometimes painting painful imagery, and often putting her in a solemn state.

“I still don't understand how you can throw yourself into the face of danger like that. How can you grasp onto this one ideal while completely disregarding your own safety?” Her hoof froze as she raised her head to look into Rose's eyes. “And not just your own health, think about what your friends and family would do if something were to happen to you. What would your parents say if you came home wounded one day? Would you just try to hide it?”

Amber spoke up in Rose's stead. “Actually, our wounds heal a lot faster than those of normal ponies. I don't quite know yet what the limitations of that ability are, but I once knew a Sorceress that almost lost a hoof. It was only hanging on by–”

“I don't wanna hear it!” Violet shouted while she plugged her ears. “What is wrong with you? How can you talk so calmly about such matters?” She glanced at Rose again. “And what happens if you die on the spot? I don't even want to imagine what it would be like for your family if they found you dead one day.”

Rose finally broke her smile and covered her face while turning her body away.

Amber spoke up again. “Actually... They would never find her dead body.”

A sudden oppressing atmosphere pushed down on Violet. “What do you mean?”

“If you die inside a barrier, your body will get eaten by the witch's magic. You would simply disappear from this world. You would turn into an eternal missing case.”

All muscles in her body tense up before she broke out in a flash sweat and began to breathe heavily. A sudden shock electrocuted her body and left her numbed, and in that moment she could not keep calm anymore.“That's it. There's no way I'm ever gonna throw myself into this. I see you are really happy to be a Sorceress, but I simply can not understand why any pony would do this to themselves. You go fight that witch if you want to so badly, but don't you count on me joining you as a Sorceress. That's why you wanted to take me along isn't it? Hoping I would make a wish and join you? As a normal pony I would only be a hindrance to you anyway.”

When Violet looked up from the ground again, Rose stood in front of her. Before she could act, Rose embraced her. Violet tried to speak but all the air got stuck inside her, her heart racing. Rose pressed Violet's body tightly against her own, allowing Violet to feel her heart beat. Why was it so slow?

“I'm sorry, Violet. I hoped I could share some of my enthusiasm with you, but I guess I overdid it. And we would never force you to become a Sorceress if you don't want to, we just wanted to show you the door. It is up to you what you want to do and we won't force you. This might sound weird but...” Rose loosened her grip. “We would actually really like it if you came along just as you are.”

Violet let go of Rose and averted her face. “Thank you so much, Daybreak.” She took a few deep breaths to calm herself while she took off her glasses for a second to wipe her face clean of tears. “Actually, even though I am really scared of these things, I do trust you to protect me. I believe in you, Daybreak.” Words formed in Violet's mouth and sprang forth without any hesitation or consideration. Her thoughts did not matter anymore, they were discarded along the way. “It can't be wrong to be close to her.”

As Violet looked past Rose she noticed Amber had her body turned away. She shivered. Then, Amber slowly walked away, her hoofsteps slower than usual. Violet and Rose followed.

An ebb and flow of happiness and subtle terror overcame Violet in the next few minutes. In her mind she danced between repeating the horrors she had witnessed and Rose's embrace. Like a pendulum her thoughts swung from all the scenarios that could kill her to the company of new friends and new, furthered horizons with a look towards a future. Ultimately, every thought ended with the sight of Rose in front of her.

The awkward silence returned, but this time no pony felt like they had to break it. After a little while, Amber stopped in her tracks and raised her hoof. “We are here.” She pointed at an abandoned tower.