Godly

Godly
Chapter 33: A Goddess is born

I pass through the portal and close it behind me, making a few zebras around me jump or yelp at my sudden arrival. I change to He bo and pull the drape covering the doorway to the elders hut aside.

"Hello?" I call out and see two of the elders, Kiana and Manata sitting around the fire pit along with the mare I remember named Onabi preparing a meal at the back on a table.

"Pantheon? To what do we owe this surprise?" Kiana asks me in surprise as I glide over to them.

I lower myself down on my swirling water half to appear sitting. "Oh not much... I've got the Minotaurs to help with Celestia, but they want to deal with Celestia as soon as possible, so I'm here to ask you to gather any who wish to help set up an embassy within Khepria, as well as one of your forces officers to help coordinate with the Minotaurs and Changelings subduing Celestia's forces while the alicorns, Queens, and I deal with Celestia," I reply. I also inform them of the Unari who will also aid us in the battle.

"So a new race has risen?" Manata asks more to himself by the sound of his tone. Onabi presents two meals to the elders while I decline when she asks me if I would like one. She bows to us and then leaves the room through the left side doorway.

"Yes, and they're a relatively young race still. But they are a very kind and protective race from what I've seen of them so far. But we're running out of time now and I would like you to gather all who wish to operate this embassy along with supplies to run it, although we can offer food and water if needed," I tell them as I get back up.

They agree and after around an hour of gathering zebras, supplies, and ready to build tents. They're ready to head back to Khepria. They have fifteen Zebras, ten warriors including one of their officers, and four servants to keep the place clean and running, and lastly Kiana will run the whole embassy.

"Are we ready to go?" I ask them all, getting affirmatives in reply.

I change to Janus and open a portal to the back of the embassy section of the city. As they pass through I turn back to Manata.

"I will open a portal when we're ready for the battle, or Kiana needs something from here. Until next time, farewell," I say getting a goodbye in return before heading through.

I close the portal and float over to the Minotaurs section. Stonehoof and Luna notice us as we head over to them.

"Welcome back, I see the Zebras have agreed," Luna says and nods to Kiana who returns it.

"Yup, so," I say and turn to Kiana. "Which of these sections would you like?" I ask her and gesture to the empty sections.

She looks around and points to the second to the left. "We shall have that one," she says.

.................[] || []..................
.................[] || [Minotaurs]
.....[Zebras] || []..................
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"Then head on in and get set up, I still need to go to the Crystal Empire and bring over their embassy set up," I reply and open a portal to the Empire.

I frown as I don't see the throne room, but the barrier outside the Empire. No matter how much I try, I just can't make a connection past the barrier. I pass through the portal and press my hand on the barrier and surprisingly, it's solid.

I hum in thought as I float higher and higher and look to my right. Nothing of interest there, to the left and behind, also nothing. I scowl as I go all the way up and my eyes bug out as I see over the barrier a large force of about ten-thousand or so about two miles from the Empire.

I open a portal near the army and look though before quickly closing it and head towards the main entrance to the Empire. The army is made up of equestrian Ponies both young and old, seems there's civilians mixed in with the guards along with some Gryphons as well, I also noticed Celestia was leading them all at the front.

My eyes widen as Celestia and a bunch of Unicorns launch balls of magic at the barrier, on impact a massive explosion shakes the ground as flames disperse off the barrier. Seems Celestia is besieging the Empire.

I get to the entrance where I see some guards tense up before sighing and relaxing. The barrier then opens a small hole big enough to let me in. Floating though, the guards walk over and one in more decorated armour speaks up as the hole closes.

"Sir, Carl! I mean... Pantheon, are we happy to see you. As you've no doubt noticed, the Nightmare has decided to invade us," he says and looks out towards the incoming forces.

"What provoked her?" I ask as we start heading towards the Palace.

"One of our scouting Pegasi was spotted near Canterlot and the Nightmare just gathered her forces and led a march on us. She's been blasting the barrier for two days now," he replies as the civilians look nervously at us.

"Strange... then why didn't she attack Khepria while I was away?" I wonder to myself aloud.

We make our way to the base of the palace where I see the Crystal Heart is spinning rapidly while energy or magic flows from it and up into the palace which is then amplified into the barrier from the tip. But the heart is slowly getting dimmer.

Another explosion sounds out and the heart brightens for a second, expelling more magic before dimming.

We head inside and the guards open the doors to the throne room where I see Amore sitting on her throne surrounded by high ranking officers. She looks up from a piece of parchment and looks at me with surprise.

"Carl! Oh we art happy to see thou here! We see thou received our message!" she tells me and quickly walks over to me.

"We received no messenger, I didn't even know this was happening. I just came by to see if you wanted to set up an embassy and discuss with the others on how to deal with the Nightmare," I reply as she hugs me briefly.

"That will have to wait until we either evacuate, or manage to deter the Nightmare," she says with a sigh.

"Well bad news, she's using civilians in her forces now. I saw young and elderly marching in that army, along with Gryphons, I don't know if I'll be able to gather the Zebras, Minotaurs, Unari, and Changelings in time before the barrier falls..." I reply with a snarl.

She frowns and then sighs deeply. "Then we hast no choice but to evacuate the Empire..." she tells me sadly.

"But what about the Crystal Heart? Can it be moved and keep this barrier up?" I ask her as another series of explosions ring out. I look out the window to see the barrier flicker slightly before stabilising.

"We may have to leave her here, if we remove her the barrier will fall and the Nightmare will be free to strike the City," she replies with regret in her tone.

I feel a pulse of magic pass through me and it seems the others felt it as well.

Amore looks down, then up at me. "Heart Shine... She's calling to us..." she says in surprise.

We all head out down to the Heart and see it's getting even dimmer and not spinning as fast. I change to Thanatos and think on how to touch it while it's spinning, so I carefully extend my left index finger upside down under the heart and gently let it spin on my finger.

I see Heart Shine appear, looking ragged and wincing. She looks at me and from what I can see from her lips, I think she's saying 'help'.

"What do I need to do?" I ask her as another explosion rocks the barrier. Heart Shine's form flickers as does the barrier, before stabilising again. her colour looks dimmer again.

Her lips move again and I frown. She repeats it a few times until I think I understand.

"More magic?" I ask and she nods with a wince.

"Carl!? What is going on?" Amore asks me as she walks up to my left side.

"Heart Shine needs more magic, she's not going to last much longer," I reply and change god to Merlin. I take a deep breath and channel arcane magic into my hands. "You and your guards get everyone ready to evacuate. Once I've given Heart Shine some magic, I'll open a portal to Khepria and you get everyone through. I'll go in last with the Heart!" I tell her as I turn back to the Heart.

Amore starts giving orders and ponies run off to gather everyone.

I hold my hands on either side of the heart and begin pouring my magic into it. My purple magic mixes with the pink of the heart which then changes into a rose coloured hue. The Heart then glows brighter and spins faster as I continue to pour magic into it.

The Palace then changes to the same rose colour followed by the barrier. What happens next shocks me as I can see Heart Shine's form appear and it seems the others can see her too as her face scrunches up before she releases a spectral sounding scream, followed by her eyes opening with pure white magic flowing through them.

"MORE! I NEED MORE!" she tells me with an echo in her voice as the ground starts shaking.

"Amore! Help me with your magic!" I call out to Amore as I begin to pour even more magic out. I see pink magic flow from my left and into the Heart, the Heart and Heart Shine start to glow brighter and the Heart is now a spinning blur.

The sound of glass shattering above us gets our attention as the Elements of Harmony fly down from the hole they made in the Palace and start spinning around the heart, pouring their magic into it as well.

My jaw drops as two ethereal wings spread out from Heart Shine as she screams out again, her form growing larger similar to Luna's shape. I almost trip as the ground shakes violently before it feels like we're rising.

"DON'T STOP!" Heart Shine tells us as I look to my right and out of the City to see the City itself rising into the air.

I fall to a knee while most of the others trip onto their sides as we suddenly soar up into the sky past the clouds and to everyone's surprise, we stop in orbit above the planet. The barrier is still up and appears to be more powerful than before as the Heart slows down to a gentle spin.

I pant heavily as my mana feels nearly dried up. I try to stand but my legs give out and I fall, but something catches me and I see it's Heart Shine. She's now rose coloured and looks like a solid form of pure magic, her eyes are a constant white and her mane and tail are flowing gently on their own. The Elements of Harmony are slowly spinning around the middle of her now longer horn.

I gently pull myself up using her shoulder for support as she smiles at me.

"This is certainly unexpected," I comment with a chuckle.

She giggles with an echo in her tone. "Yes, I was contacted by the Elements and they had a way to save the Empire and all within it, but I couldn't speak to anypony and didn't have enough magic to begin the spell, so I called out to you," she says and nuzzles me.

Amore is back on her hooves and walks over while the other ponies just stare slack jawed at Heart Shine or the Planet on the horizon. I raise an eyebrow as I see a foal float by while spinning gently.

"Weeeeee!" she yells and giggles as a mare tries to run after her but is having trouble with the lower gravity.

I can't help but grin at the sight as Amore speaks up. "Heart Shine? But... how?" she asks the new Alicorn in confusion.

Heart Shine looks to Amore and smiles. "The Elements were only meant to allow me to move the Empire elsewhere, but Pantheon's, the Element's, and your magic fused with mine, altering it and ascending me. But I am not an Alicorn, I am now a being of pure magic, or so the Element's tell me," she replies and looks up to the Element's spinning around her horn.

I can feel the magic coming from her, it's three or four times more powerful than Celestia when she attacked us. If I had to guess, I think Heart Shine is now a Goddess in her own right.

"So... Now what? You can't go back or the Nightmare will try to attack again, and I don't know if you can stay up here for long," I ask and explain.

Heart Shine looks at me still with her smile. "I will need a moment to recover, but I should be able to move the Empire to a new location. Would you allow me to place it near your City?" she replies and asks me.

I look from her to Amore. "What do you think?" I ask her.

"We think it would be best, as we would be able to defend one another should the Nightmare assault us again," she replies.

I nod and look back to Heart Shine. "Alright then, there you have it. Heart Shine, do you think you could allow me to make my portals go through the barrier?" I ask her.

"I believe so, please try to form a portal," she tells me and stands back.

I try to change god, but I can't. "No good, my mana is too low to change, seems I need to recover as well..." I reply and sit down with my back against the Heart's pillar. "Quick question, are you now free from the Heart, or is this something else?" I ask and gesture to her new form.

"I am still in the Heart, this is more of a projected construct, and I am bound only to the interior of the Barrier," she replies as she looks out towards the planet.

"Damn, so we can't bring you to help with the Nightmare... Well then, let's get some rest first then we can think about getting this hunk of floating rock back down to earth," I say and yawn.

"Yes, I need to recover my magic before I can bring the Empire back down," Heart Shine replies and looks to the Crystal Heart.

I follow her gaze and stiffen at what I see... There's a long deep crack on one side of the Heart.

"That's not good," I comment as I stand up and look closer. The crack looks about an inch deep and four inches long, but the Heart itself looks okay.

Heart Shine sighs. "It's not as bad as it looks, but it will take me a long while to repair the damage done to me. Now go rest, I'll find you when I'm ready to move the Empire,"

With everything calming down, Heart Shine's form morphs into a cloud of raw magic and flows into the Crystal Heart, which softly glows and floats on the spot.

Amore then guides me into the Palace and gives me an empty guest room to rest in before walking off to make sure her subjects are all safe. I lay down on the rather small bed and stare at the ceiling for a good ten minutes as my mana recovers.

Seems we'll have to really accelerate plans when we return if the Nightmare is starting to attack other nations. With that thought in mind, I close my eyes, fall asleep, and start training with my new gods.