Violet Magica - The Arrow of Light

“Kiubee deceived us all.” In her head, Violet played out the scene of confronting him, thinking about which selection of degrading and humiliating words to toss at him. At the same time, however, she tried to deny the words that would inadvertently be uttered by him in defense: “You never asked.”

She awoke in her hospital bed again, visions of Rose's witch still ingrained in her mind, layered over the bright sunshine that passed through the window onto her bed and smiled in her face. “Go away. Your light isn't fooling me. How dare you shine your light onto me. You should burn out. Begone. You have forsaken us, so act like it. I hate you.”

Unable to persist against her stellar opponent, Violet jumped out of her bed... and immediately tossed her body onto the floor with a face of agony. Her body cramped up while she fought against the pain of her prior wounds. The adrenaline surge she had received in her encounter must have helped the effect of her Soul Gem's pain dampening. With that now subsided, a bigger portion of the original pain swept over her. Even though this was still only a small fraction of the amount of pain such a wound would have left her in, it was still enough to make her cower in agony.

After a few seconds, Violet at least managed to find the composure to stand on all fours again, her chest still burning, the taste of blood still lingering. Taking a glance back at the bed while coughing blood into her hoof, she noticed the bed was as white as ever. Her chest seemed fine too, but only on the surface. She must have subconsciously healed her skin first as her body shuffled through the shutters of time, putting off the healing of her internal wounds for now.

Another glance went to her Soul Gem. It was sullied with black clouds, yet it should still provide enough magic for about a minute of time lock, even with the amount of magic subtracted she needs to heal herself. With this in mind, hunting a witch right away was in order to restore her magic.

Violet wouldn't end up as she did. More so, she would save her and unlock the door to a new future.

***

Chance seemed to favor Violet. The first day after leaving hospital, her Soul Gem already reacted to an enemy in a secluded area of the park. She should be able to enter a barrier around here without being seen if she can find an entrance.

Around another set of trees, she finally found her target. It was then she realized chance despised her: she hadn't tracked down a witch, but a familiar instead.

She tried to fight her thoughts about what would happen next as she analyzed her situation. With barely any magic to spare, hunting even a familiar would hinder her if she wanted to restore her magic soon. Avoiding fights entirely was out of the question as well. Even if someone else was to defeat the witches and familiars, her magic was steadily draining to maintain her dead body, demanding her to fight at some point, but only a witch.

The state of her body wasn't an open question for her at this point. If her heart was pierced and she still lived on, she could not call herself alive anymore. She was a walking weapon, remote-controlled by a single object.She placed her Soul Gem on her hoof and looked at it: she was about to run out of fuel.

While still hiding in the treeline, Violet observed the familiar's behavior. In the guise of an ethereal pony formed of shadows, it patrolled a path not often taken. How much she longed to stop time and blast its flank into next Tuesday. She would even forget about the commotion an explosion at sunset might cause, just for the thrill of disintegrating this familiar.

As one would expect, the more she held herself back, the more she had to think about Crimson's words. Her idea of ignoring familiars to conserve magic sparked an immense hatred inside her that she had never felt before, yet now she was forced to act the way Crimson would.

Crimsondidn't know about their souls being inside their Soul Gems, so she must have also not known about what happened once their magic ran out. If all that happened was her being unable to use any further magic and having to give up on her secondary life as a Sorceress, she should have been able to overcome it. In Violet's case, saving Daybreak had a priority so high, even the loss of her magic would have been unforgivable. The loss of her life even more so. She remained different from Phantasma.Violet took a deep breath.

Eventually, she agreed to leave with a heart so heavy, she considered ripping it out to feel better about herself. Just then, she noticed two young ponies striding along the very path the familiar was patrolling.

Her breath was knocked right out of her as she managed to identify the two ponies: Azure and Rose. Frozen in place, she found herself once again unable to make the right call. She knew what the right call was immediately, that wasn't the problem; the problem was actually acting upon that call.

When the two oblivious ponies got into range of the familiar, both of them vanished from sight instantaneously. The audacity to attack two ponies at once!Every bit of reason left her mind in that instant. Surely, she had more than plenty of reasons to save her friends, yet it were the tiny smudges of ill reason that told her not to save them that had blinded her enough to forget her entire purpose. With those gone, Violet exploded towards the familiar, transforming mid-gallop. With speed putting every prior movement of hers to shame, she blasted into the newly created barrier.

Her mind blanked out. Every fiber of her body had yielded to the pent up anger and despair inside her she had partially locked away after seeing Rose's witch, causing her senses to short-circuit and overloading ever muscle she possessed, even the one that managed her magic.

Her body moved on its own. Magic was spent as if the faucet providing her with energy was smashed to pieces to unleash the wild spout beneath. Boiling blood. An immense blast. Violet's brain only calmed down after the deed was already done.

Standing outside, her mind finally managed to catch up with itself and she realized she was awkwardly staring at two ponies both equally terrified and amazed.

***

“This is your house, Violet? It's er... pretty cool!” That was probably the greatest overstatement Violet had heard in the past months. She pointed to a still dust-ridden table with four plain chairs next to it. It came down to personal preference if one put either a tall table in their house that required chairs, or a short table that one would sit next to—like Amber had.

After saving Azure and Rose, Violet felt the need to act similarly to Amber: bringing them to her house and telling them about Sorceresses. Since they had seen a familiar, it meant they were now involved in the Sorceress business. And besides, Rose would probably get recruited by Kiubee sooner or later. It was Azure rather that brought chaos into the round.

A general feeling of uneasiness encumbered Violet ever since she fought that familiar. There was still a bit of juice left in her Soul Gem to keep her alive for maybe two weeks if she did not use any magic in the meantime, but fighting was out of the question for now. She had already formulated a few plans in her head to restock her magic supply, but she now experienced the side-effect of having a corrupted Soul Gem: dark visions of despair clouded her mind and weighed down on her, suffocating her mentally. She could hear the void calling to her, yet she gathered all of her fortitude to focus her mind on the now and smother every dark thought, something she had learned in her fights as a Sorceress.

After having taken their place next to the table in Violet's otherwise unremarkable living room, the three proceeded to bounce glances around. Azure and Rose were waiting for Violet to open her mouth but kept glancing at each other.

Eventually, Violet took a deep breath and spoke. “I'm not very good at this so I guess I'll make it quick: I am a Sorceress and I just saved you from an evil monster that tried to feed on your bodies to grow into an even bigger evil monster and feed on even more ponies. I got my magical powers from a thing called Kiubee—I think he uses telepathy to speak or something—and use them to fight these evil things. You can do the same if you go up to Kiubee and ask him to fulfill one of your wishes. He will then proceed to grant your wish and make you into a Sorceress so you can fight many evils and save many lives. Any questions?”

Azure and Rose looked at each other with open mouths. Slowly, they tilted their head and let out a hearty “What?” in unison. Their sight wandered back towards Violet, their face now showing the sort of expression you would give someone who escaped from an insane asylum, but was speaking like they were stating an obvious truth.

Violet mumbled to herself. “I guess I'll give you the long version...” and began taking apart her earlier words, explaining things in a more detailed way.

After about half an hour, she finally managed to make both Azure and Rose understand what had happened that day and what they were now in for. For now, she let out the parts about them losing their soul and turning into witches. As much as she despised Kiubee for leaving those things out, she understood at least the part about losing their souls. Some parts of her told her that she was no longer a respectable pony for actually siding with Kiubee on this matter, yet the recent events showed her the usefulness of such a modification and so she let that part out with a heavy heart.

On the matter of turning into witches, however, Violet felt an inner tumult about telling them. It was an insane punishment for running out of magic, a fate worse than death that made you “eat other ponies” while “losing your will” and forcing other ponies “to kill you.” At the same time, Rose shined brightest as a Sorceress and always radiated an aura of happiness and light when she was committed to saving ponies. She was reminded of Kiubee's earlier reasoning about not telling them: they would not want to become a Sorceress anymore.

This is where the core of Violet's inner tumult laid: Sorceresses turning into witches was probably the sole instigator for the witch's existence. As long as at least one witch exists, however, there needs to be at least one Sorceress to defeat it. But that Sorceress will then turn into a witch of their own, which requires another Sorceress to beat, unless the Sorceress can die without turning into a witch. And even without the witches, if there was still one familiar alive there would still need to be one Sorceress to kill it. In order to get the number of evils that low, however, one would require slaying multiple witches and familiars before dying, therefore reducing the overall number of evils.

Violet couldn't find an answer to her problem, nor could she come up with a quick solution to her situation. Instead, she figured to leave everything as is and focus on what would happen next. After all, there was still a Walpurgisnacht to beat.

“Wow it seems like a wish come true!” Azure beamed across her face. “More exactly, it's a wish that will come true! I'm gonna have to think about something quickly and get in on this right away!” She looked like she was about to leap right out of her chair and run out the door in excitement.

Rose, on the other hoof, managed to contain her enthusiasm. “That sounds pretty nice. If I could save innocent ponies like you said, that would be really great. You know, I always told myself that I was just another unremarkable pony with no special talents—and that would be correct—but if I could become something like you that fights for good and defeats evil, then I would finally be happy with myself.”

Azure reached over and slapped Rose on the shoulder, almost knocking her out of her chair. “Hey, do you already know what you're gonna wish for? I can't decide! Should I take money, or the glory? Or even... a feast fit for a king?”

Did Rose get that from Azure or the other way around?

Violet spoke up again. “You don't have to push yourselves to think about anything. You can take your time and come up with the perfect wish for yourself. You should be perfect candidates for Sorceresses so whenever you are ready just call out for Kiubee and he will appear.” She knew at least Rose was worthy of becoming a Sorceress, and she didn't see why Azure wouldn't be able to.

“Really? What does this Kiubee look like? We can see him if we are candidates right?” Azure slowly leaned further over the table towards Violet.

Right when Azure almost fell out of her chair, Kiubee appeared from somewhere in the room and hopped onto the table. “Well if you want to know so badly: yes, you are worthy candidates and yes, you can see me. I have nothing to add to what this Sorceress here has said to you—Violet was it?” Kiubee glanced at Violet. He was met with a stare that radiated murderous intent. “Er I guess I can leave you alone until you found your wish. See you until then.” With this, he hopped back down and disappeared behind the corner that led to the kitchen.

“I guess it's settled then. We are gonna come up with some great wishes and become a crime-fighting trio!”

“We are probably going to be a quartet after all. Maybe even a holy quintet.” Violet inspected her Soul Gem again (she took it out earlier to show Rose and Azure). The clouds swirling around her gem were almost covering the entire inside of the gem, only leaving tiny areas of purple radiance.

“Before you leave, I have something to ask of you.” Violet bounced her eyes between Rose and Azure. “You remember the part about running out of magic and being unable to use any magic after that point?” That's what everyone was probably thinking until Violet uncovered the truth.“I haven't mentioned this, but I am actually almost out of magic myself. I know this sounds really selfish, but once you become Sorceresses—I don't want to pressure you or anything, just hear me out—I want you to give the first Grief Seed you find to me, so I can replenish my magic.” In order to say these words, she tried her best to smother every bit of pride she managed to build up in the past weeks.She bit her lip and swallowed hard before finishing. “I can't actually fight right now with this bit of magic left.”

Rose answered with a smile that made Violet think Rose had already known her for half a year. The sort of smile only Rose could give to a stranger. “Don't worry, Violet. You saved our lives so this is the least we could do. So cheer up, you look so gloomy.” To her, they were already close friends. Something told Violet that Rose would have answered similarly even if she had not been the one to save her. Rose was the type of pony that would immediately befriend anyone she deemed trustworthy.

At that moment, Violet doubted parts of herself. Did Rose only befriend her because of her personality? In the past two months, Rose was her best friend, but maybe it could have been any other pony beside Rose that could have managed to get this close to her.Yet Violet still shuddered at even the thought that Rose could have been replaced with any other pony. It had to be Rose, and only Rose that became her friend.

***

Once again, Violet experienced another first day in school. She still felt a certain excitement on this day, a certain anticipation of all the school days that were to come. Here she wouldn't have to worry about any of that Sorceress business and instead focus solely on her friends. Her studies were always the same obviously, so she didn't even need to concentrate on them at all. On top of that, her physique improved through the magic of her Soul Gem that surrounded her body, as well as the training she received from hunting witches.

Violet left Azure and Rose to themselves for a while, simply having small chats on breaks, but not inquiring about their wishes or pushing them to make a contract. After all, this was something they had to decide on their own, without any outer influence.

After school was over, Azure quickly left the group and made her way to the hospital.

Arriving there, she didn't have to ask at the reception where she needed to go. She already knew exactly where her destination was.

The door to his room opened with a faint but audible creek. Stepping through the door, Azure walked towards the bed next to the window with paced steps.

“Hey, I'm over here,” said Azure as she was about to reach the bed. The pony she was visiting, Slate, had been looking out the window. He must have heard the door opening but ignored it.

Swinging his head around like a pendulum, it snapped into a position facing her. “Hey Azure, nice to see you again.” A smile appeared on his face, yet the tone of his voice remained half-asleep. Appearance-wise, his gray fur seemed fairly rough, with an unkempt mane, that seemed to try to form into an actual haircut but wasn't cared for properly recently. His limp facial expression along with the rest of his body made him look fairly meek.

“Hey how's it going Slate?” Azure reached the bed and—instead of grabbing a chair to sit on—sat down on the floor. “Are your hindhooves feeling better?”

Slate slowly reached for his hindhooves that were hidden beneath the sheets. “Well, the feeling has returned to them at least. It might take a while until I can use them properly again.”

“Don't worry, I can lend you some hooves when you walk around again. At least until you can walk properly on your own.”

“Well that's er... nice I guess. I'm not quite sure how that would work but thanks.” Slate scratched his head with an awkward smile.

“More importantly, how is your right hoof doing? Can you move it again?”

“Well, I can kinda swing it around,” he said while grabbing his twitching right hoof with his left hoof and pulling it out from under the sheets, “but I haven't been able to bend it yet. It feels like there's a dead lump of meat attached to my shoulder.”

Azure leaned in closer. “How long do you think until you are up and running again? Surely you want to go back to playing your violin. I'd love to listen to you playing again.”

He streaked his right hoof while staring at it. For a few seconds he remained like this, not uttering a sound. “I... don't know.” His eyes trailed off, bouncing around the room until he met Azure's eyes.

“What do you mean? Did the doctors say anything?”

“Well that's the problem. They didn't want to tell me a whole lot about the state of my hoof. But whenever they tried to say anything about it, they were talking in a really roundabout way. I also remember one of them looking at me like I was a broken puppy.”

“You don't think–”

“It seems like it.” He lifted his right hoof and brought it down like a hammer. He probably couldn't bring it down softly anyway. With this, his voice grew in momentum and shed off it's earlier sleepiness. “Look at it. It's like someone petrified it. I can be happy enough that I can at least move it enough to walk with it, but even then I will have a hard time running or climbing stairs.” He lifted his hoof again and brought it down next to him. He repeatedly slammed it against the side of his bed, the force of his slams increasing with every swing.

“What are you doing, stop!” With a hasty leap, Azure jumped forwards and grabbed his hoof. “What has gotten into you?”

He swung his head around again, facing the window. Despite this, Azure still noticed his watering eyes. “I don't even feel anything in there anymore. I can hide from the truth as much as I want to, but it would be better to just face it: I will never be able to use this hoof again. Forget playing Violin, I now need to try to somehow live with this thing attached to me. If you are so eager to lend me a hoof you can chop this thing off for me so I don't have to carry it around anymore.”

Azure jumped up. “What are you even saying? This isn't the Slate I know! How can you give up like that? Of course you aren't getting better with that attitude! You need to hang on to that glimmer of hope as small as it may be! You will get through this I know you will.”

“Big words from someone with no problems.” For a moment, there was silence. Then, he brought his head back and shook it while muttering “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that.” He focused his eyes on Azure again. “But you have to look at it from my perspective too. The chances this thing will heal on its own are abysmal. I didn't want to tell you this, but... I overheard one of the doctors saying it's hopeless. They are probably still trying to find the right time to tell me directly.”

Azure hesitated for a moment before eventually speaking up again. “Even so, I will be there if you need any help. And don't give up hope just yet.”

***

The weight on Violet's mind increased by the hour, thoughts of death and decay crept through her, trying to take control of her, trying to make her give in to her deep-rooted desires of violence and atonement. She had a hard time breathing normally when she was alone with her thoughts, and she felt like she wanted to redeem herself for things she didn't do by having an executioner cut her down.

A blaring noise eventually pulled her back into reality and banished those thoughts back into the depths of her mind. It also made her jump from her seat and crash face-first onto the floor.

The bell of Violet's home screamed in a shrill voice far louder than needed, causing her to open the door after just a few seconds with an annoyed face. On the other side stood Azure, her face gradually losing its smile.

“I should have told you last time you were here: this bell is really loud, and you should knock instead. And yes, I would hear that since I don't actually have anything else to do.” Especially without being able to hunt witches.

“Er... sorry. I guess. But listen, I have formed a contract with Kiubee! I can start hunting witches now!” Azure jumped up and down with every second word, causing her voice to hiccup with every landing.

“Not a moment too soon. I tracked down a witch close to here, let's go.” She hastily walked past Azure without waiting for a response.

“Wait, but what about teaching me how to fight or use my powers, I don't even know anything about fighting these things yet.” Reluctantly following Violet, Azure made her way down the street.

“Don't worry, this is a simple one. And frankly I'm running out of time. I was about to resort to Plan S to restore my magic but this will do nicely. Even a rookie should be able to take this witch down.”

It only took them a short walk down the streets and into the back alley behind some shops in the market district. Violet came here earlier that day to check if this witch would appear again in this time line and found weak reactions with her Soul Gem. Last time this witch barely defended itself and proved to be an easy kill: the octopus-like witch hanging between lines in a barrier in the sky. She gulped while trying to suppress her anxiety.

“Well, here we go. Follow me, Marina... and get ready to hang on to something.” With this, she transformed, activated the gateway and stepped forward. Azure took a deep breath, transformed herself, and leaped after her.

On the other side, she landed on a wash-line of unmeasurable length, suspended beneath an abyss as blue as the sky around them. The nature of her powers and her class of Sorceress allowed her to immediately balance on the lines, calling upon foreign instincts she didn't even realize she had.

Next to her, Violet was clinging on for dear life.

“Wow this world is amazing.” She glanced over at Violet for recognition. “...Are you all right?”

“It's fine, it's fine, just go and fight that thing!” She hastily waved her hoof around to symbolize her attack command. “Don't overthink anything, the knowledge of how to use your basic abilities should have been ingrained into your brain as soon as you contracted. Just improvise the rest!”

Azure hesitated for a second before nodding. In this form, a white cape the length of her body waved along her back. Violet got the feeling she resembled some sort of feminine knight. That thought was strengthened by the fact she had just materialized two swords in front of her.

Running along the line, Azure levitated her swords around her as she closed in on the witch. As expected, the witch didn't notice her and instead sat prone between multiple lines.

After making her way to a position close to one of its legs, Azure took a leap, grabbing both swords in mid-air. The handles of her swords were shaped like gloves, situated below the blades and pointing downwards, allowing one to use the swords as an extension of one's hooves.

In one fluid movement she brought both swords down, cross-slashing one of the legs of the witch with such a force the cuts widened around the original incision area to encompass the entire leg and sever it within the next second.

“Ha! That was easier than I thought!” Azure landed back on a wash line with swords floating besides her as the witch pulled its body back, increasing the distance between them.

“Well, there's more where that came from!” With small hops, Azure moved from line to line, each of them about five meters from each other, to close in on the witch again. About halfway to the witch, it lifted on of its legs and pointed it at Azure. Much to her dismay, the leg suddenly detached itself from the body and shot at Azure. Startled and unable to dodge the attack, she blocked the massive leg much greater than herself with nothing less but her face, causing her body to be torpedoed backwards through the air.

“Well, that's new. How was I supposed to know it does that? I should have minimized the possibility for error by having her end it right away. I guess I'll think about that next time.”

Meanwhile,Azure's body landed safely—not on a wash line—but on a cushion of yellow ribbon.

“Tiro Finale!” shouted a voice from behind Azure. Just as she turned around, the witch in front of her exploded in a violent blast of magic. The pony behind her, Amber, was holding a ginormous gun between her hooves, much greater than she herself. Seems like Plan S would have also worked.

“If small weapons don't work, use bigger ones.” With this, Amber jumped over to Azure and helped her get up. “It seems like you could use some assistance. Are you all right?”

“I think so...” She brushed her face with her hoof. Within the next second, the barrier around them had disappeared and the three found themselves back in the alley. “Doesn't hurt as much anymore as it did right when that thing hit me...”

“What about you over there?” Amber glanced at Violet who was now approaching the two. “You don't seem wounded.”

“I wasn't exactly fighting, so that's only natural.” Instead of facing Amber, Violet scanned her surroundings until her eyes stuck to the object of her desire: the Grief Seed. Scrambling over and picking it up, she held it out on her stretched hoof, right in front of Amber's face. Violet tried to hide the stinging pain she suddenly felt convulsing in her guts. “Don't get me wrong, you deserve this Grief Seed more than any of us, but I'm in a bind right now and low on magic. We will definitely make this up to you, don't worry.” With this, she immediately used the Grief Seed and let out a long satisfied sigh.

“Oh?” Amber tilted her head in surprise. “You talk like somepony I know. What was her name again? How odd...” She swung her head around and tilted it the other direction. “I don't forget the names of any pony I meet, I could still name you all the Sorceresses in Bluegrass, but this...” A sudden flash of uneasiness shot through her face. “Did I only dream of that?”

“They say it's possible to dream of the future,” Violet chimed in, “some think that's where déjà vu come from.”

“I heard that before, too...” She shook her head. “Well in any case, I have no problem with you taking the Grief Seed, especially after elaborating your position. Oh and you don't have to make it up to me, I would have helped you either way.” She bounced her eyes between Azure and Violet. “Say, why don't you come over to my house and we drink a cup of tea?”

Azure jumped up.“That would be great! But now I have to thank you not only for saving my flank, but for the tea as well!”

“You hadn't lost the fight yet.”

“Sure, that sounds nice,” Violet said and added a nod of approval.

Amber started walking, leading the two ponies behind her, but quickly turned around for one last moment. “Oh and by the way, I'm Amber, nice to meet you.”

“I'm Azure Marina, and I actually became a Sorceress just today, so if you can help me out some that would be great!”

“And I'm Violet Somnia.”

After only a few steps, Amber turned her head toward Azure. “You still seem inexperienced. If you want to, I can train you.”

Azure's face lit up momentarily, but Violet cut in right away. “I wouldn't mind, Spirit. Right now, however, I would like to train Marina myself for a bit. I will make sure to get her up to speed with everything she needs to know about this whole business.”

Azure shot Violet a quick glance, wordlessly telling her of her dissatisfaction. Amber only answered with a satisfied chuckle.