Violet Magica - The Arrow of Light

“Okay, I'll be your guide today,” Violet said as she walked alongside Azure. Both of them were treading along a road, searching for any sort of reaction with their Soul Gem. “Hunting familiars and witches is simple: walk around with your Soul Gem primed and hope you notice a reaction. You can also try to collect information and rumors from other ponies to try to piece together where a witch might be hiding. Familiars usually stay on the move, so it's harder to pin those down.”

It only took them a few minutes to pick up the trace of an enemy. “Judging from the energy pattern it's probably a familiar. Keep at it, Marina!”

“You seem to be rather knowledgeable about witches and familiars, are you a veteran?”

“Kind of.” They increased their pace until they reached a lonesome alleyway. “It's right up ahead, ready your weapons!”

Azure transformed, conjured a bunch of swords, and instantly launched them forwards at their otherwise invisible foe which had come into view. Just as it was about to hit the familiar—which was riding on a tricycle—the swords were smashed out of their trajectory and hit the wall.

“Marina, did you mess up your magic?”

“I don't think I did...”

“Well, then at least try to retrieve it from over there. Your levitation magic works like a magnet, decreasing in power rapidly with increasing distance, but if you imagine a singular path along an invisible line between you and the swords, you should be able to exert enough force to pull them closer to you.”

Azure didn't have to try for long to get the swords to move towards her. Violet already figured it would be this easy. After all, she had managed to collect a broad knowledge of how Sorceress magic worked and reminded herself of it now and then.

Explaining magic was surely a nice way to get another Sorceress to understand what they were trying to accomplish in detail and by doing so, making it easier to move the invisible muscles that worked one's magic, but that was also why an explanation was usually not vital: it worked like moving muscles after all.

Due to the nature of this magic, it all came down to the simple idea in their mind, and how possible that idea was for their abilities. Those abilities were determined once they contracted and were directly mirrored from their soul, even if they were not aware of those.

For example, Azure seemed to have a thing for stylish swordplay and brave knights, even though she might not have let anyone around her know. Therefore, conjuring swords, swinging them around and tossing them with deadly precision was not something she had to learn. The seeds for those abilities had already been planted in her soul, and Kiubee did nothing more than to force that seed to sprout.

Apart from that, there were abilities that any Sorceress could use by simply having access to magic, no matter what their initial type of magic was. Violet's magical pouch was one of those. Amber told her how to use those after having learned it herself from some other Sorceress, but didn't have a lot of use for it—unlike Violet.

It was hard to gauge how many different abilities one could find, since it all came down to their imagination and the possibility of such a spell. The magical pouch, for example, worked by using a very clever combination of minor teleportation magic and the shrinking magic that every Sorceress used to conceal their Soul Gem. By combining these, a seemingly unique new ability had been found. Similarly, many new types of spells could be found without exceeding the possibilities of one's magical capabilities.

Violet was brought back to earth from her mental stroll by a voice she recognized too well.

“Well, at least you can use basic levitation, that's a good start.” A pony with a dim red coat approached the two from behind a corner, a crimson-tipped spear resting on her back. Violet did not expect to meet Crimson this soon.

“Before I start your next lesson, here's a little question for you two: what do you think you are doing? Why would you hunt a familiar?” Despite calling upon both of them, she only pointed at Azure with her spear, who was standing a few hooves next to Violet.

“Eh? We were hunting that familiar. Speaking of which, it's about to get away, so if you could excuse us–” Azure wanted to leap forward, but Violet tapped her on the shoulder before she could finish that motion.

“We can go after that thing later. Right now I have an even more important lesson for you: talk some sense into this pony over there.”

Azure stared back at Violet in confusion, until she sparked the fire in her eyes to commit. Maybe Violet was not the kind of teacher that was good for Azure after all, but she seemed confident in herself.

Crimson shrugged. “Oh, taking a step back? Fine, if you want to send your rookie to talk to me I have no problem with that, but I do have to say: I'm kind of interested as to way you would seem to harbor such a dislike towards me, purple one. What is it you are trying to accomplish? Oh and by the way, I'm Crimson Phantasma.”

“I'm Violet Somnia, and this is Azure Marina. As for your question, a friend of mine taught me about ponies like you, and I feel like talking to you directly will only get us off to a bad start. You see, I am actually trying to remain neutral, but I am already tainted by my other friend's views. So instead I will sit back and listen to what you have to say to someone new to the business.” Violet calmly took a few steps backwards.

“Hey, what is the big idea? You don't even know who I am and yet you strut around like this! Don't you play games with me!” Crimson lost most of her composure and shouted at Violet, who was now leaning against a wall.

Before Crimson could make a move toward her, Azure barred her way. “Hold on a sec, before you do any of that, would you mind telling me why you even stopped us? And my swords being knocked around back there, that was you wasn't it? Why would you do that?”

Crimson gritted her teeth, before backing off a few steps and taking a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down. “You see, I was patrolling around the area when I saw you guys going after that familiar. Seeing how you would waste your precious magic hunting that thing I obviously had to protect you from your own stupidity by ending your advance before a real fight could start.”

Azure lowered her agitated stance that she must have not even realized she took. “And how is using up some magic to hunt a familiar bad? After all, isn't it our job to hunt familiars and witches?”

“That's where the problem lies. Tell me, why are you hunting them? You are probably doing it to save the lives of innocent ponies. That is very laudable, really, but ultimately that will be your downfall.”

Violet had a hard time listening. She already had this conversation with her before, and seeing someone even less experienced than she was talk to her only made her realize just how strong Crimson's cards really were.

Though Crimson was still a fool for thinking you'd only lose your magic capabilities if you ran out of magic, but with the truth behind the corruption of the Soul Gem known, it made so much more sense to ignore familiars.

If one hunted familiars and died, one could not protect ponies from witches anymore. But if one were to only hunt witches and sustain themselves, they could keep on hunting witches for a long time and ultimately save even more ponies. So even with the argument that Azure was about to take, Crimson was still in the right. For the wrong reason.

Just as the discussion between the two started to heat up, Kiubee approached Violet from the corner that lead to the street. “And what do we have here? Are you taking a breather?”

“Oh hello, Kiubee. I'm observing these two over here settling a quarrel they are about to have.” Violet subtly gestured toward the scene next to her.

“I see. How about I give you some company?” Kiubee jumped up on her back.

“I don't see why I should stop you.”

While Azure had reacted to Crimson's ramblings similar as Violet had, it didn't take very long for Crimson to reach the point she had wanted to reach since the start.

“So you will continue to hunt familiars? Without even thinking about what I just told you? Helping others is all great and fine but as a Sorceress those actions will only come back to hurt you.”

Azure took a step towards her as if to brave her words. “I admit I haven't learned a lot about this business yet, but just the idea of letting those things run around to feed on ponies makes me want to vomit! No matter what your reasoning is, I will not accept such a thing!”

Crimson streaked her chin while her face twisted to match her unsavory words. “I see. Well in that case I guess I have to help you to your luck—by force. You can't hunt that familiar you saw earlier if I knock you out.” She looked over at Violet as she readied her spear in one hoof. “Don't worry, I will try to not hurt her too much if I don't have to.” Violet didn't react.

Azure readied two swords, without asking for Violet's permission if she was allowed to attack another Sorceress. Since she was only defending herself, fighting another Sorceress seemed instantly okay in her book. And besides, even though Azure was terrible at arguing, it was obvious that Crimson had avoided familiars herself and therefore endangered the life of hundreds of ponies. As the ally of justice she wanted to be, an enemy like Crimson would have to fall to her knees.

The two locked eyes with each other, their gazes drilling into their opponent's head with each second. Two unmoving warriors had already begun fighting without a single muscle being moved. One of them, a knight, tensed up each fiber in her body, readying them for the coming storm. The other one bore glinting eyes, set aflame by anticipation for the coming slaughter.

Azure blinked first.

A streak of red shot towards her, sounding a mischievous cackle. In one quick movement, so smooth it looked like Crimson denied all possibilities for errors and noise within her moves, Crimson shot towards the wall next to Azure and got ready to unleash what she had wanted to show off for such a long time. Unsure how to react to such an odd movement, Azure tried to protect her left side, the side Crimson seemed to be aiming for, with both her swords, levitating next to her.

Crimson swung her spear as if about to deliver a fierce slash, however with this trajectory it would surely hit the wall next to her. But it didn't. Instead, as the spear was nearing the wall, the long handle broke into pieces, as if breaking apart after being sliced like a vegetable. In between the pieces of wood, a single metal chain held all the pieces together, the wooden parts enveloping only about half of the length of the chain. With this the spear's true form had been revealed: it was only a spear in its compact state, but in its true state, it was a scorpion tail.

With this newly gained mobility and the impossible-to-predict movement possibilities, Azure was completely unable to react within the fractions of a second she had for herself. All she could do was brace for the scorpion's sting.

The sting... it didn't come. Instead, the chain with the wooden parts along it wrapped around her body and entangled her, until Crimson grabbed one of the wooden parts with her hooves and swung her body around, effectively flinging Azure into the next wall with a force big enough to leave a large imprint in the wall, her bones cracking in multiple places across her body.

“Ah, that felt better than it should have. You were a funny little one I have to give you that.” Crimson recreated her spear by magically contracting all the pieces and snapping them back together. She turned her face toward Violet, who was impressed. “Sorry for interrupting your lessons, teach. I'm sure she'll make a fine Sorceress once she recovers from this.”

Barely unable to hide her snarky grin, Crimson let out a sharp cackle before turning away from Violet without waiting for an answer and getting ready to leave. Violet was about to run over and check on Azure, as a shaking silhouette stood up amid the dust kicked up by the breaking wall.

“Bah... didn't you want to knock me out?” Azure spat blood in Crimson's vague direction. “I wouldn't want to go down before I had a shot at fighting back. Besides, who'd lose to somepony like you?”

Just as she proclaimed this, a magical glow became visible across her body, resembling sparkling musical notes dancing around her body. As the glow increased, bruises and cuts across her body healed almost instantaneously. When every single wound had been treated, the sparkle disappeared.

Violet stared at the scene in awe, but couldn't shake off an uneasy premonition. Something about Azure not being knocked out and instead fighting on didn't strike well with her.

“What you just witnessed was her magic,” Kiubee stated on Violet's back. “Judging from your reaction, it seems like you didn't anticipate something like this, but allow me to explain: a Sorceress's magic depends on their innate abilities, and their wish.

“Her magic concerning the conjuration and handling of swords is due to her abilities as Azure Marina, while her regeneration magic you witnessed is attributed to the wish she made. For example, if a pony were to wish for something like being a great cook, they would probably gain the ability to create food out of thin air. Ponies that wish to communicate with animals would naturally gain additional magics that allow them to handle and manipulate animals, and ponies that wish for healing would gain an even more powerful regeneration magic than what Sorceresses usually have.”

“There I was thinking my time lock magic came from my own abilities, but if the TCD and everything with it came from my wish then I can figure out what my innate ability was: absolutely nothing.”

Kiubee jumped down from Violet's back and stood next to her, trying to get a glance at her face. “That's odd. I don't remember contracting you. Well, must be some sort of error in my memory.”

Meanwhile, Crimson had turned around to face Azure once more, staring into her eyes with a new-found interest. “Oh a fighter are we? I guess this will get interesting after all!”

With one quick movement she dashed forwards again, pointing her spear forward for a lightning-fast thrust. With the power back in her newly healed bones Azure tumbled sideways to avoid the oncoming assault, instantly calling her swords back to her. With Crimson striking past her, Azure grabbed one of the swords and tried to slash back, but her movements were too slow to reach the crimson bolt.

Even before Azure had finished her slash, Crimson had turned her body around as soon as she had noticed her strike would miss, breaking her spear into the scorpion tail just as she passed Azure. From here, she shot the stinger backwards, aimed at Azure's exposed flank.

The sting Azure had feared before: this time it reached her. The wide-tipped metal tore into her side before knocking her off her balance and then retreating. The sting itself lasted only a tiny fraction of a second, it happened so quick that Azure's reaction of pain set in when the stinger had already retracted from her body.

Once again Azure's body collapsed on the floor, but this time she immediately jumped back up again and launched herself at Crimson, her body swirling with sparkles of cerulean hue. While closing the few meters that separated them, Azure conjured two swords and launched them at Crimson ahead of herself, while she grabbed both her other swords and rushed after her projectiles.

Crimson got ready to block the bladed projectiles hurtling towards her. Even though she hastily grabbed her spear with both her hooves, the act of blocking both flying swords—instead of simply dodging them—destabilized her defense. Looking for this, Azure struck.

There definitely was an opening. There was a chance. Yet despite this, Azure found herself on the receiving end of another scorpion sting just half a second later.

“You have quite some spirit in you, but that alone won't be enough to even scratch me! I have been in this business for over a year, honing my skills since the first day! What hope does a puppy like you even have?”

Azure patted herself off before facing Crimson again. “Even if I don't win, I will defend my honor as a Sorceress! And I plan on putting everything I have into that!” A few light sparkles appeared once again, healing some small bruises. At this point, Azure's cape was torn up, with long cuts running through it. Below the cloth, however, the skin no longer showed any signs of inflicted harm.

Violet couldn't help but take a liking to Azure's bravery, yet the whole fight unsettled her.

Close-ranged combat like this as a Sorceress played out as an intricate dance relying a lot on their mastery of close-range levitation. The closer an object was to a Sorceress, the more control they had over it. As such, an experienced fighter like Crimson was able to spin her spear around her body without having to touch it, performing various attacks while parrying incoming strikes and also grabbing the spear with her hooves in between for maximum force and maneuverability.

Kiubee spoke up again. “Interesting. If she keeps healing herself this fast, there is hardly any way to win for Crimson, other than an instant kill.”

Violet scoffed. “It is also possible that her bravery gives out at some point after being subjected to all of these futile efforts. The only thing keeping her going is the hope of victory she is holding on to.”

Kiubee tilted his head. “You have to teach me what this idea of hope is one day. It seems illogical.”

Initially, the fight had resembled an honorable duel between two fearless combatants, but at this point it had devolved into something different. Azure kept launching herself and her weapons towards her opponent, while Crimson gave her ample openings, probably on purpose, yet every single advance was brutally struck down, while Azure involuntarily let out short screams to mask the sound of her body being torn open. It sounded like an animal was cut open alive. And it also smelled like it. There was no glory or honor in this fight; Not for either fighters.

Still, for the most part, Azure's attitude didn't change. Surely she must have felt her resolve wavering underneath, but the face she showed Crimson was that of a brave warrior, not fearing anything that would happen to them.

“Does she not actually have a plan?”

Eventually, Crimson lowered her spear for a second as she took a breather a few hooves away from Azure. “You know it has been really fun playing around like this, but I'm starting to feel like you actually don't want to lose.” She shrugged. “Here I was trying to teach you a valuable lesson while having a bit of rugged fun and you go and repay me like that? Well, in that case, I guess I will just have to give you a scratch that even your tenacity won't heal that quickly!”

Within the very second she had finished her sentence, her spear exploded forward, splitting up in one quick motion and once again wrapping around Azure before her mind had even processed that Crimson had moved. This time, however, Crimson held on to the last part of the handle from a range and yanked it upwards, lifting Azure upwards into the air, and then jumped upwards along her. There, she smashed down Azure to the ground like a sack of meat, the chains letting go of her just before she hit the ground.

For her final move, she recreated the spear in mid-air and charged downward like a falling star, Azure in the center of the projected impact. “This is the end!”

She hit the ground with a force big enough to cleave steel in half, rending the ground and sending bits of pavement flying off into random directions while kicking up a considerable amount of dust. In the center of the crater... she had struck ground. She emitted a clearly audible gasp from amid the dust as she freed her spear from the crack in the ground she created.

Frantically throwing her head around, she spotted Azure lying barely conscious next to the wall. Still unsatisfied, Crimson kept scanning the area but couldn't find what she was so hasty to find.

“I think you had your fun.” Violet's voice sounded from behind her, a spot Crimson was sure she had checked.

“Hey, I thought you wanted to keep out of this?” She tried turning around, but as she did, Violet disappeared again.

“You were going too far. My pupil cannot beat you. You should have realized this and acted accordingly, instead of trying to brute-force a victory.”

Once again, Crimson swung her body around, only to be greeted by two purple eyes that stared directly at her. Instinctively jumping backwards, Crimson regained her stance a meter away from her. “I did go easy on her! I even gave her a chance! It's not my fault if she doesn't give up.” She pouted and got ready to leave. “Whatever, I'm off.”

Azure slowly got up, the glow once again healing her wounds. She tried to open her mouth to say something to Crimson as she was walking away, but instead that very pony turned her head around one last time.

“You're not off the hook yet. I wanna have some more fun with you in the future.” With this, she finally stepped around the next corner and left their field of vision.

“A pony like Phantasma... We need her.”

***

The following day, Azure had made her way to Slate's house, just after school was over. After his limbs had miraculously healed overnight, Slate was able to visit school again only a few days later. Without any idea what had happened, but also without any reason to hold him back, the doctors had released him from the hospital and allowed him to continue his daily life as if nothing had happened. Of course, that also included the return of his ability to play the violin.

Even after coming all the way here, Azure didn't even have any plan what she wanted to accomplish once she arrived. Instead, she stood in front of Slate's house like a garden gnome, staring at the doorbell.

When Azure had made her contract, the impulse of saving her friend allowed her to do so without any hesitation, yet she hadn't at all thought about what she wanted to do afterwards. Obviously she couldn't tell him something ridiculous like her magical wish having healed him. Despite her usually being fairly relaxed around Slate, having done something like this for his sake erected a new mental wall between them. A wall that she had to tear down at some point to continue her relationship.

While she was still thinking about how she could break down that wall—that only she could perceive—a voice approached her from behind.

“What's wrong, didn't you come here to see him?”

Certainly those words meant no harm in themselves, but Azure recognized the owner of that voice and immediately turned around.

“Crimson! What are you doing here?” Azure stretched out her hoof and made a stabbing motion toward Crimson. In some way a distraction from her earlier problem might even be able to have cooled her head, but this was not the kind of distraction she had hoped for.

“I followed you a bit, is that such a bad thing? Isn't this where he lives, your knight in shining armor? I didn't want to interrupt you at first, but you seemed to have some problems.” Crimson casually approached Azure until she was close enough to touch her stretched out hoof. She then casually took out an apple from her magical pouch—located behind her hoof—and took a bite.

Azure growled back at her for an instant, before managing to calm herself and regaining her posture. After taking a deep breath she responded. “Well it's not hard to find out that much. But I doubt you would even understand my situation if I were to tell you more.”

“Ho? Well, now you made me interested. Go ahead, I can be a good listener.”

Azure turned toward the house again. After letting out a short sigh she continued. “In short it goes like this: he is a friend of mine and got into an accident. Afterwards, some of his hooves were in bad shape and he wouldn't have been able to play his violin again. I visited him almost every day to make sure he was all right, but he never got any better.” She bounced her eyes back to Crimson. “And now I'm a Sorceress and he's back to being fine.”

“That sure was a short version, I'll ask Violet later for the full story.” Crimson quickly put the apple back in her pouch. It wasn't the sort of movement like someone throwing away trash. She rather put it there so she could finish it later. “At least now I know how to help you.”

Azure quickly stretched her hoof out again and repeated her stabbing motions as she shouted back at her. “I don't need your help! Stay where you are!”

“Don't want my help? Then I'll give you the advice instead: you want him to be yours? Want him to depend on you and cling to you? It's simple: just go in there and break a few of his bones again. You have to break him carefully enough that he is unable to care for himself anymore. At that point, he will be unable to resist your help, and he will be unable to ever let go of you.”

Azure let out a growl and gritted her teeth. “I knew I shouldn't have told you. Get lost!”

“Don't like the advice? I can re-offer the help: if you want to, I will go in right now and break him for you.”

Pushing her face right up to Crimson's, Azure barked back at her. “You are such a disgusting, honorless pony! Who taught you to be like that? How can you just go around and spout such aggressive and malevolent nonsense? You want to help me? I will help you! By planting my swords between your ribs!”

Without flinching once, Crimson simply nodded to herself before putting on a satisfied expression. “That's what I was hoping for. I'll take you up on those words, but how about we move somewhere else for that. We wouldn't want to alert him.”

***

A short while later, Azure and Crimson reached a bridge that crossed the Kami river. This bridge was fairly isolated from the rest the city and ponies wouldn't usually come here or use this bridge to cross the river at this point. Hardly any pony would care if this bridge was suddenly destroyed, so the two wouldn't need to worry about collateral damage either.

Reaching the center of the bridge, Crimson turned around to face Azure. “This place right here should be just fine.” Transforming and taking out her spear she rammed it tip-first into the ground to show how little she cared about damaging this environment. “Please, don't hold yourself back.”

“I didn't plan on it!” Despite the long walking distance having cooled Azure down quite a bit, she was still unable to control her temper and shouted back at her. She quickly grabbed hold of her Soul Gem and got ready to transform, when hoofsteps approached her from behind.

“Azure, wait!”

“Rose, what are you doing here?” Azure glared back at her. Surely she felt relieved to see Rose, but her enraged stare bore into her more than she had liked to.

“Kiubee told me you were in trouble, so I came to the place he described me!”

From the side of the river, where a few bushes grew, Violet had hidden herself and watched the whole scene.

When she and Rose were walking home after having met with Amber, Kiubee had unexpectedly approached both of them and told her about how Azure was about to get into trouble, as she was fighting Crimson again. Fearing that one of them would face death, he had informed them of the place they were headed to. At that point, Violet had given Rose the urgent task to rush ahead while she herself would return to get Amber. Judging from her current position she obviously hadn't done that. She also implored Rose to stop Azure from entering the fight at any cost.

“It's fine, step back and don't interrupt.” Azure gestured Rose to move backwards so she could start the fight, yet Rose wouldn't back up. Instead she moved in closer.

“I don't want you to fight another Sorceress. We should all work together to fight the witches! What use is it if you attack each other here?”

“You don't even know who this pony is. So please, step back and let me handle this.” Azure slowly averted her gaze from Rose and took a deep breath. At least she tried to. Just as she inhaled, Rose dashed in front of her, grabbed her marine-sparkling Soul Gem and tossed it off the side of the bridge.

Azure immediately rushed to the railing, where she only heard a faint splashing sound as her Soul Gem was swallowed by the watery depths.

Swinging her head downward she fell into a mixture of emotions and let out an awkward sigh mixed with an angered swinging of hooves as her body leaned over the railing. “What in the hay was that? Did you just–” She swung her head around and flailed her way toward Rose. “Why would you–? How and even why–?”

From afar, Violet was only able to make out how Azure bounced her hooves between grabbing her head, throwing them up in the air and then stomping them on the ground again, while her face took a rollercoaster ride from disappointment, through a loop of anger, and down a dip of despair.

The brakes were finally slammed as her body suddenly collapsed on the floor like a puppet that had its strings cut. The sudden gasps of both Crimson—who had felt a similar disappointment at Rose's behavior as she tossed the Soul Gem—and Rose—who had been unable to respond to any of Azure's half-questions until now—reached all the way to Violet.

This would have been the point where Violet would pat herself on the shoulder for managing to recreate this scene, yet she hadn't actually done anything herself. She merely left Rose alone and played silent watcher until now. Still, the projected “best outcome” had been achieved. She had a hard time telling herself that, however, as she spied Crimson's and Rose's terrified expressions as Kiubee had just appeared to tell them what had happened.

Sitting back, she tried to pass the time by trying to come up with an excuse as to why she wasn't able to catch up to Rose with Amber.

Just a short while later, Crimson had jumped into the river to go after the Soul Gem.

Spotting this, Violet subtly made her way out the bush and stepped over to the path, making it seem like she was about to catch up to Rose. She even remembered to act like she was out of breath.

“I'm so sorry, Daybreak, the way to Spirit was so long and in the middle of it I got scared and decided to just run over here before it's too late.” Slowly making her way to Rose—who still wore a blank expression and focused her gaze on the limp body of a zombie named 'Azure'—she acted like she just took notice of the scene.

Crouching next to Rose, Violet reproduced a frightened expression as she appeared to understand that something terrible had happened.

This limp body was hers in a different reality. Instead of inspecting Azure, who had substituted Violet today, she focused on Rose. Her blank stare, her sad expression, mixed with letdown and regret of her actions. All this must have also happened to her when Violet had lost her Soul Gem.

There was no act anymore. No trying to recreating scenes or emotions. She genuinely looked at Rose and felt her mind crumble under the pressure of silent despair that had filled Rose's heart. This is what seeing Violet's dead body had done to her back then, and now Violet had steered her off the same emotional cliff, having forgotten the weight of such a tragedy.

Blinking back tears, Violet slowly embraced Rose with quivering hooves and whispered into her ear, her voice almost breaking up. “I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry... I lost sight of you for a second. Please forgive me for doing such a thing to you...” She increased her grip on Rose as she started sobbing.

“She will live...” Rose whispered back, but Violet was only half-listening.

By the time Crimson returned Azure's Soul Gem, Violet's eyes had already dried up, yet she hadn't stopped holding Rose for even a second. This was what she had wanted to do to make up at least a little for indirectly causing this scene instead of stopping it outright.

When Crimson placed the Soul Gem next to Azure, Violet finally let go of Rose and got up.

With a gentle blue sparkle, the Soul Gem resonated with Azure's body, causing a spark to shoot through her body. Her limbs twitched slightly, before the light returned to Azure's eyes.

“Azure!” Rose jumped up and embraced Azure as she woke up. “I'm so sorry. I just wanted to stop you and didn't know what to do. I was such an idiot, I'm so sorry.” Her eyes welled up as she hugged Azure with all her might, almost smothering her under the force.

“What... was that?” Between Rose's waterfall of words, Azure simply shook her head and glanced around.“Did something happen?”

After letting go of Azure, Rose explained to her what had transpired.

Meanwhile, Crimson got ready to leave.

“Hey, where are you going?” Violet turned to go after Crimson.

“What do you mean? There is no reason for me to stay here. Or do you want me to still fight her?” As expected, Crimson's fighting spirit had left her voice, along with her usual enthusiastic tone. “Just leave me alone for now. I don't feel like doing anything anymore.”

“Wait a second and listen. You obviously have some sort of problem with how we deal with the whole idea of being a Sorceress, but you shouldn't turn your back on us. We do follow the same goal in the end, and I will not stand to believe you're just some sort of troublemaker we shouldn't commute with. No, it's the exact opposite: we need you.”

Having finished her explanation, Rose and Azure—along with Crimson—stared at Violet in surprise.

“Come again?”

Violet took a hasty breath before continuing. “Please reconsider. I'm not asking you to tag along with our group, but I want to know that we can count on you when hell might break loose. When we are about to face odds that put us on the brink of death, I want to be able to trust in you to come and lend us a hoof.” Violet extended her hoof as if waiting for a hoofshake. “We are on the same side after all.”

Crimson put on a smug grin before switching to a more serious expression. “I threaten to put your friend into hospital and maybe even kill her on two separate occasions and you just walk up to me like that with these words?” She shook her head. “I don't know what you want from me, I just wanted to have some fun and teach her a few lessons, that's all.”

She bounced her eyes between the ground and the sky while taking a deep breath. “I don't feel like we were ever enemies to begin with, if that's your point. We really are on the same side after all. Take that as you will.” With these parting words, she took off towards the city, Violet's hoof still extended.