Godly

Godly
Chapter 21: The heart of the Empire

In just a matter of seconds, I'm back at the Palace and walk up to the Crystal Heart floating above a pedestal, slowly spinning and emitting a faint light blue aura. Two mare guards stand beside it and eye me warily.

"Morning, Ladies. Don't be alarmed by what I'm about to do, I've heard that the heart might have the soul of the one who made it trapped inside. I'm just going to check if it's true," I tell them both.

They look at each other and then back at me. "And how do you plan to do that, Sir?" the left one asks, a light blue mare with some tufts of white from her mane poking out from her helmet.

"I have the power to sense souls near me as Thanatos. So I'm going to use that to see if there really is a soul in the heart," I reply and change to Thanatos.

The two yelp at my intimidating appearance as well as the large scythe in my right hand. "Right then, let's see if the story is true shall we?" I say in an eerily smooth and spine tingling tone.

They both watch me intensely as I place my left hand in front of the heart and focus on it. After a minute of looking, I can't seem to find anything, I sigh and just as I pull my hand away, I hear someone yelp and yell "Look out!" followed by a clattering of objects before something slams into me from behind, making my hand touch the heart.

I go wide eyed as I can now not only sense, but feel a soul within the heart focus on me. The image of a transparent pale pink mare with a powder blue mane and tail, green eyes, and a mark of a red heart with a golden glow around it appears behind the Crystal Heart.

She's looking at me with equally as wide eyes as I stare at her. Her mouth moves but I hear nothing coming from her.

I pull my hand away and she fades from my sight. I frown as I put my hand back on the heart only for her to reappear again.

She tries talking but again, no sound. "Can you hear me?" I ask her making the ponies next to me look at me oddly.

The transparent pony smiles eagerly and nods at me.

"Okay, so you can hear me but I can't hear you. Are you Heart Shine? The mare who made this Crystal Heart?" I ask her.

She nodded again.

"I take it that you weren't supposed to get stuck in there, right?" I ask her making her shake her head sadly.

"Sir? Is she really in there?" one of the mares asks me.

I glance at the mare. "Yes, but I can't hear her, though she can hear me," I reply and turn back to Heart Shine.

"Is there anyway of freeing you without damaging the Crystal Heart?" I ask her.

Tears begin to fall from her face as she shakes her head again.

"I see..." I say sadly. "Perhaps Amore will know something, I'll ask her when I see her. I'm sorry to leave already, I know I'm probably the first person you've interacted with in a long while, but please just wait a bit longer, we'll figure something out," I tell her, making her look at me pleadingly.

She shakes her head and holds a hoof out to me, her eyes begging me to stay.

"I'll visit again, I promise. But the sooner I go the sooner we can help you, okay?" I tell her making her shut her eyes as her tears flow, but she eventually nodded at me.

"Okay, see you in a few hours," I tell her and let go of the heart where I see her breakdown and weep openly before fading.

I stare at it for a few seconds and turn to the mares. "Keep that heart safe, don't let anyone near it," I tell them and change to Janus.

"Yes, Sir!" they both reply and salute.

I nod to them and look behind me to see Crystal Blade picking up tools and supplies that scattered on impact with me. I ignore him for now and make a portal to the Palace Throne Room where I see Amore and Cadence still talking to some ponies. I walk through and cough to get their attention.

"My dears, I've just discovered something VERY important and need to speak with you both now, court or no court," I tell them seriously.

Amore frowns in confusion while Cadence looks worried.

"What is the matter, Sir Carl?" Amore asks.

"I won't say in public but it's urgent, please can we go?" I reply and ask them again.

Amore sighs and looks to the ponies here. "We art sorry, but we must see to our guest. So for now, court is adjourned till the evening," she tells them getting bows from the ponies before they file out.

Amore and Cadence stand up from their thrones and walk over to me. "Follow us, Sir Carl. We have a private room for matters of importance," Amore tells me and I nod in reply.

I follow both of them to a side room where the door is locked and their horns glow, which encases the room.

"There, nopony shall hear us or enter. What is so important that we must end court?" Amore asks a bit irritated.

"There's a soul trapped in the Crystal Heart," I tell them making them both look shocked.

"What?" Cadence asks dumbly.

"The pony named Heart Shine who made the heart has been trapped inside it since its creation, and she's not doing so well. While I couldn't hear her, I saw her and she could hear me. After asking her a few questions, I told her I'll talk to you two but she begged me to stay for fear of being alone again. I promised to return after speaking with you two," I tell them.

"We thought that was a legend..." Amore says with disbelief.

"It's no legend, a pony has been stuck in that heart for over eight-hundred years alone," I tell her which makes Cadence looks upset. "I think the only thing keeping her sane is the fact she's responsible for keeping the Empire safe."

Cadence has tears slowly leaking from her eyes while Amore appears to be in thought.

"Heart Shine confirmed that she can't be removed from the heart without destroying it, or at least its effect," I then tell them.

"There must be something we could do?" Cadence says quietly.

I frown in thought myself as I think of ways that might work... After a few minutes of silence I get an idea.

"Amore, can you make golems like Sombra did out of crystal? Except not black, evil, or an eyesore and is it possible to merge the Crystal Heart with said golem that Heart Shine can control? But also keep the power of the heart functioning?" I ask her.

"It may be possible... We recovered Sombra's research notes and we've carefully been looking through them to destroy anything harmful. He did record how the golems were made and that they held the souls of bound elementals to power them," she replies.

"Elementals? That's what the dragon in the gem from Zebrica called my Sol form... So if these golems can contain the souls of an elemental, could it work for Heart Shine?" I say and ask.

"A dragon in a gem? We think that thou art jesting with us," Cadence says with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm not. We have the shards left from the gem or crystal and Chrysalis already confirmed it had soul magic in it," I reply.

"Speaking of Zebrica, how did it go?" Amore asks.

I recount everything that happened to both of them over the next hour or two.

"That is disturbing... why would the dragons want to wipe out the zebras?" Cadence asks with worry.

"I don't know, but do you know where Volcanica is?" I ask them.

"We art not sure, but we believe it to be near Draconis, homeland of the dragons to the far east. Tis the only place with the most active volcanoes on the world," Amore answers.

"I'll head over there later sometime. But as for a golem body for Heart Shine, do you think it's possible?" I ask her.

"Mayhap, but we would have to fuse the Crystal Heart with the body as to not destroy its enchantment," she replies with a frown.

"Alright then. Lastly, have you heard anything about Celestia's declining behaviour? We received a group of ponies who fled from Equestria and have taken residence at our City. Have you received any refugees from Equestria?" I ask them both.

Cadence nods with a sad frown. "We have. Most were part of the attack on thine City, but after telling us of aunt Celestia's unstable emotions, they decided to flee here, they did mention a Blockade and his herd went to you due to lack of supplies," she tells me.

"I see. Ask Luna to keep a really close eye on her sister, I'm going to head to Equestria just so I can get a portal location in case Luna needs help," I reply and head to the door. "But now I need to tell Heart Shine what could happen," I tell them and open the door.

"Thank you for letting us know, we'll get our best mages and crystal moulders on this project," Amore says as they follow me out.

They head off back to the Throne Room while I head back to the Crystal Heart. I spot Crystal Blade in the lobby along the way with several packs of crystals and tools and stop in front of him.

"I need to see the Crystal Heart one more time then we can go, alright?" I tell him getting a nod in reply.

"No problem, I'll just wait here for you," he replies.

I nod and head out back down to the heart. The two guardsmares are still there and they nod to me. I change into Thanatos again and place my hand on the heart where Heart Shine fades in again.

She smiles at me and I would return it if not for my mask.

"I have spoken to both Amore and Cadenza, they believe they could construct a crystal body for the Crystal Heart to be placed in so you can walk around again," I tell her making her ears shoot up and her smile to widen. "Don't get too excited, I said they could make one. It is unsure how long it will take or if it is even possible," I say making her deflate a bit.

"As I promised, I'll come visit you now and then. I'll even tell you about the places I've been to and what their people are like, okay?" I tell her. She looks saddened but nodded in reply. "Okay, I need to go now as I have plenty to do still, I'll visit in a couple of days alright?" She nodded again and I let go, making her fade away.

I then turn to the guards. "Protect her with your lives," I tell them making them nod again.

With that sorted, I change to Janus and head back to the lobby where I make a portal back to the Hive. Crystal Blade walks through excitedly making me chuckle.

One week and two days later

Chrysalis has laid her new eggs while the first clutch is just under two weeks from hatching, they look even more like centaur changelings now. She can also shapeshift again now that she isn't pregnant, but says she wants to try something new in bed soon making me both worried and excited at what she has planned.

Life at the Hive is still going smoothly. Blockade and the other two ex-Equestrian guards have decided to join our defensive team, whose role is patrolling the outer wall and defending the City. They even joined us for the next game night where they shared a bit about themselves. Blockade though has one of the best damn poker faces I've ever seen, bugger showed no twitches or emotions when we played poker that night, only hums and quiet grunts were the only indications he made.

I've even been playing with the pony foals still as Ratatoskr a few times at the playground I made. Makes me feel like a little kid again and reminds me of the days I went to the park as a child.

Crystal Blade is having the time of his life right now and is working with Seth to learn metalwork while teaching Seth about his enchantments. The two of them are getting along well so far and I wouldn’t be surprised if they became good friends soon.

Back in the Empire, I've spoken to Heart Shine twice and told her about Zebrica, the changelings, and a bit about my world. She soaked up every word, listening to me intently, and when it was time to go, she would look sad but still had a smile on her face.

As for the golem body, its construction was simple enough. From my description of Heart Shine, they made a pale pink crystal body with doll like ball joints in the legs and neck. Using silk, they made a powder blue mane and tail in the style I drew out for them and painted her mark on the golem's flanks. On the back of the golem is a deep slot that looks like it's where the Heart will be inserted and removed if necessary.

The problem is trying to enchant it to allow Heart Shine to control it. While Sombra bound the elementals souls to his golems and magic, Heart Shine is bound to the Crystal Heart already, so they need to make the golem an extension to the Crystal Heart which hasn't ever been done before. It will take time which I've told Heart Shine and she understands, but she is looking forward to walking around on her own again.

As for Celestia, no news has arrived from Luna yet, or any letters at all after Amore sent one to her. So I'm going to head to Equestria and talk to Luna myself.

I'm standing at the outer wall gate facing Equestria where I have a few of my stone warriors constantly guarding this one and the others. I am currently Mercury and I have a pack on my back with a lunch and some crudely made but still good fruit flavoured water in it.

I start jogging on the spot as I can never seem to just stand still as Mercury, I need to be constantly moving as Chrysalis now back in her quadruped form looks worriedly at me.

"Do you really need to go?" she asks me.

"Even Amore and Cadence are worried something has happened, I'm just going to have a look, talk to Luna for a bit, and then portal home," I tell her.

She walks up to me and kisses me softly before pulling back. "Okay, just be careful," she tells me.

I smile and boop her on the nose, making her scrunch it up a bit. "I'll be fine, but if Celestia has lost it, I might need to either fight her again or evacuate Luna and any others in danger," I reply and face towards Equestria.

"We'll be ready for them should that be the case," she tells me and flies off back into the centre of the City.

I clap my hands to my cheeks lightly a couple of times and make sure I'm stretched and limber before running off towards the Equestrian capital.