Fire in the Leaves, Fire in the Mountains

It waited.  It had waited for so long now, a few more seconds would be nothing compared to the aeons it had been imprisoned.  The cracks on the statue of the fearful chimera radiated out from a central point on its chest, and grew until reaching every point on the statue until- FLASH a bright light shone out from the cracks suddenly, and in its place...nothing.  The blackness cast its sight around the pedestal, looking for any trace of Discord, when it...felt...a tap on its shoulder.  Turning around, it saw the draconequus staring at it with its tongue sticking out, and its eyeballs literally popping out of its skill, face twisted in a hilarious grin.  Luvaeis let out a laugh that cracked the stone around them, and brought the ivy covering the walls around them to ash. Discord put his eyes back in their sockets, and smiled at his old friend.

"Ohohohoho! Of ALL the things I'd thought I'd see after getting out of that awful statue, YOU were the last person I'd expect to see, let alone free me; dearest, darkest friend of mine." Discord's lithe serpentine body twisted up in the sky, to look at the surroundings outside the maze.  "Oh dear.  It really hasn't been that long at all.  I doubt Celestia or her little hooved minions have changed much, especially a certain Twilight Sparkle." He giggled again and looked back to the looming black, shifting black mass behind him, noticing the scarlet gem casting its light upon him.  "It's true, don't you  know?" The draconequus sat down upon a wall, stroking his beard, looking at his friend with an annoyed expression. "Despite actually being a nice, good natured spirit of chaos this time around, NOpony liked what I did with the place, shame on them.  Our dear Celestia had the elements of harmony embodied in nice, fragile, corruptible mortal ponies; two unicorns, two pegusi, and two donkies. I mean earth ponies." Luvaeis smiled again, this time moving towards the castle, walls crumbling to dust before him.  His grin was so wide and so terrible, it audibly tore through the space and air around him as he walked, leaving long, black scars in his wake, distorting the light around them.  Discord went off towards Ponyville.  "I always liked that smile of yours..."

Luna felt her ear and eye twitch suddenly, feeling something out of place.  She looked back in the direction of Canterlot, suddenly feeling very homesick.  They'd been flying most of the day now, and were within site of the mountains they had noticed the strange phenomena, and while Luna wasn't particularly tired, her sister's prized pupil was exhausted, panting heavily to stay aloft.  Luna swooped down to meet her.  "Let's rest for a bit.  I have an idea that should get us there faster that I think you'll like."  Twilight gave Luna a weary smile, and after dipping into the treeline to land, almost gracefully slammed headlong into a tree limb, dropping the purple unicorn to the ground, her head rolling.  Luna immediately alighted down on the ground, checking to see if Twilight was hurt.  The purple unicorn stared back at her, walleyed and her head still rolling. "Princess," she warbled out, "Please stop the forest, I want to get off..."  Luna suppressed a guffaw, and gently helped the unicorn up against a tree, and stabilized her inner ear with an afterthought.  Twilight shook her head, and blinked at Luna, confused and slightly embarrased. "Hehehe. I guess I need to work on my landings." She smiled and nervously scratched her head, looking down at the ground.  Luna giggled a little bit, and smiled down at Twilight.  "You actually did better than I did my first time." Luna said, earning open-mouthed surprise from the purple unicorn at her feet.  "Granted, your wings are magical so they're easier to use, but the first time I tried flying, I tripped...actually tripped in midair, over my own hooves, tumbled down, and got my horn stuck in a tree.  Celly wouldn't stop laughing, and she brought it up for the next hundred years or so whenever she wanted to tease me..." Luna looked down, and saw Twilight magically keeping her jaw shut to keep from bursting out laughing.  Luna gave her a mock glare, and ruffled Twilight's mane affectionately with her hoof.  Twilight calmed down, but was still smiling.  "So," she intoned quizzically,"What's this idea of yours?"

Luna looked up at the sky.  "I can teleport things extremely far; I was thinking that since we can see the mountains now, I'd have a good idea of where we should end up if I transported us both there.  What do you think?"  Twilight stared up at Luna, amazed.  She always found it difficult to transport herself long distances; she ended up with a broken leg and passed out when she was snowed in one day, and teleported herself out of the library to Sweet Apple Acres to visit Applejack...and ended up thirty feet up in the air, landing very hard on the snow, breaking her left leg.  Applejack was understanding enough, but staying with her for a few weeks while she mended was...uncomfortable.  She wasn't used to being so far away from her books, and even though Spike had a few brought to her in her absence, it simply wasn't the same as having an entire library at your disposal.  The country cooking all made the stay worth it, though.

Twilight smiled.  "I definitely think it'll be a lot faster than flying or walking.  Have you teleported that far before?"  Luna smirked.  "I teleported myself off the moon, you know.  I think that's pretty far, don't you?"  Twilight blinked.  Nightmare Moon was extremely powerful, and although Luna was no longer possessed by the vile spirit, she wondered how much of her power she still held.  Luna, noticing Twilight's uncertain expression, nuzzled the little unicorn.  "If you had any doubts, you'd best dispel them now, Twilight Sparkle" "WHATOHNOWAITDON-" The two disappeared in a flash of blue light, and off in the distance, far towards the mountains, you could swear you could almost hear a pony screaming as it fell through the air.

Celestia was in full gallop, running out of the castle towards the direction of the maze where Discord was kept now.  After clearing a second flight of stairs, she yelped as she felt herself slipping on the rug covering the hard stone, and panicked as she felt herself falling.  Strong hooves caught her, and she looked up to see Fen-ka Shal, slowly beating his wings in the air, holding her.  "You must be calm and collected in a crisis.  You must not rush into danger, and consider the factors before engaging an adversary.  Slow down."  He gently smiled at her, and her back at him, blushing.  She steadied to her feet, and cantered down the stairs, and out to the garden.

Rarity had been having a dreadful day.  She couldn't find anything she needed, was low on gems, and her back-orders were stacking up.  She grumbled as she threaded a needle through one of her newest dresses, and suddenly tore a giant hole in it when the door slammed open, earning a shriek of surprise from the pale unicorn.  "RARITYOHMYGOSHYOUWOULDN'TBELIEVEWHATHAPPENEDTOMEYESTERDAY!!!!"

Rainbow Dash had burst through the door, a huge smile on her face and her wings flapping away happily.  "RAINBOW DASH!" Rarity screeched, "KNOCK FIRST!!!!" The happy rainbow pegasus' smile turned upside down, and looked in horror at her friend glaring at her, livid with rage.  She noticed the large tear in the fabric next to her, and grinned sheepishly.  "I-" "GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!" Rainbow Dash gasped as she was lifted up off her hooves, and forcibly thrown out of the boutique, landing on her rear, looking back in stunned amazement.  She was on the dirt, with a small cloud of dust around her, and held her disbelief until a maple leaf fell on her head, obscuring her vision.  She shook it off, grumbled something about a crazy drama queen, and shot off into the sky towards Cloudsdale.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" Twilight screamed as she fell through the sky towards the sharp peaks below.  It was every falling dream she ever had, every nightmare of flying and falling to the earth, all rolled into one.  Suddenly, a dark blue light enveloped her, and she was stationary in the sky, blinking as a goose flew in front of her, giving her a look of confusion before honking and flying on.  Luna swooped down out of the clouds, and giggled.  "THAT WASN'T FUNNY!" Twilight yelled at Luna while laughing herself.  Catching their breath, they both flew down, out of the clouds, towards a small river.  The mountains towered over them now, reaching up several miles around them into the clouds.  the river cut a winding path through the peaks, and after Luna plopped Twilight on her back, they flew just over the stream.

Luna's hooves dipped into the cool river, as she flew on with Twilight on her back. This water is so clear and lovely, She thought to herself, I wonder what this place looks like at night, it must be gorgeous...  She lifted her hoof out of the water, rising herself and Twilight higher over the river.  It was still morning, and the sun shone down between the peaks, the rising sound of the air joining with the screeching of a few mountain shrikes.  Luna heard Twilight gasp  as they rounded a bend and were greeted with a glorious sight.  The narrow chasm that the river had cut through the mountains opened up to a huge valley, inundated by a lake that was as clear as crystal.  Luna could see the peaks slope down into the lake sharply, and disappear into its sapphire depths.  She had never seen anything so BLUE before.  The sun reflected off of the ripples over the lake to the east where it was rising, shimmering bright golden petals of light off its clear surface.   They heard a crane as it called out to its brothers and sisters, flying across the waterline, snapping up a small fish in its beak from the water.  A tiny island rose out from the blue depths out of the water, and was covered with a rocky outcropping of ruins, and a cave.  Luna landed gracefully on a flat surface that was obviously carved from the bright granite around them, and felt Twilight hop off her back next to her.

"This place is amazing..." Twilight said as she gawked at the shambled ruins around them.  Large pillars, easily forty or fifty feet tall by her estimation, loomed as silent monoliths over them, casting a shadow from the rising sun.  They were covered with all sorts of runes, obviously magical in nature but far too faded to tell what their original form or purpose was.  A cave rose from the rock, and had neatly carved stairs leading down into it.  Between them and the cave, an altar rose in a short step pyramid about three dozen feet or so, covered in the same runes.  Six large emeralds were raised up on small posts in the center, and caught the light of the morning sun.  Thin lines of green light connected them as they glowed faintly, trapping the light of the sun and spreading it amongst themselves evenly.  Twilight and Luna trotted down from the landing pad towards the altar, curious.  They could now see a barrier in front of the cave, glowing a faint emerald light like the bands of magic connecting the six gems.  A seventh emerald stood behind the barrier, much larger, and hung from the ceiling of the cave entrance.  "Well, this is certainly interesting." Luna stated with obvious curiosity. "This is a very advanced shielding spell; it uses the light of the sun and moon to power a barrier to keep people from entering the cave.  I'd guess that the only way to break it is to sever the connection between the gems."  Twilight nodded and levitated one of the many rocks from the crumbling structures around them, and placed it between two of the emeralds on the altar, immediately causing them to dim.  The light from the barrier was snapped up into the emerald, and a stone barrier slammed down further back in the cave, blocking the path. Twilight gulped, and lifted the rock blocking the connection up.  Immediately, the barrier snapped back on, and the stone barrier behind it lifted back up.  "Very smart security measure." Luna remarked.  "You'd have to have more than one person with you to properly clear the path of both barriers, and even then you'd have to leave someone behind to pick it up. Try leaving the stone in there for a bit longer this time, but let's move a little further back. I have a hunch about this." Twilight did as she was asked, and after stepping down off the altar with Luna, after a minute or two, metal spikes shot abruptly up from the perimeter of the steps on the pyramid.

"Oh my...whoever made this obviously didn't want any non-magic users inside."  Luna stated, sounding concerned.  "How do you figure that? Couldn't a couple of pegusi or dragons come in? They can both fly here, and all they'd have to do is leave one of their own behind to watch the entrance.  The spikes wouldn't do much if they were in the air, either." Twilight said, confused.  "You didn't notice the second thing that went up?" Luna queried.  Twilight looked around, and saw with horror as clear barrier of magic go up around and over the altar, constricting itself over pyramid, and finally coming down over the rock that had broken the connection into oblivion as it winked out of existence. "That's...that's horrible! What if a bird or something had just decided to sit or roost on the altar? It'd be killed!" Twilight looked at where the rock had disappeared, aghast.  "I did say it was a security measure, and a good one at that." Luna stated matter-of-factly.  "The spell relies on the sun and moon for power, and I doubt that even during a new moon or a cloudy day it would disappear, since it probably stores a fair amount of energy in that larger emerald at the cave mouth as a magic capacitor.  Spells like these last literally forever; as long as the gems are intact, the spell continues, and will keep working as long as the sun and the moon still shine."  Twilight looked at the large gem at the cave mouth, which was still glowing despite the barrier being gone.  "So...whatever's down there...is probably very important.  Whatever made that huge burst of core magic is probably down there, and it's probably being guarded by the security mechanism."  Luna nodded at Twilight's assessment. "So only somepony who could fly or teleport all the way here on their own, lift a rock with magic and put it between the emeralds on the altar, go behind where the barrier would be, and wait for the rock to be crushed, which wouldn't solve anything since they'd be crushed by the first barrier."  Twilight looked back to the still-glowing gem at the cave mouth, and noticed that the green barrier was still there, albeit further back, and moving up against the wall of the stone wall that had snapped down.  The gem blinked when it reached the wall, and after the secondary barrier was brought back up, the barrier snapped back to its original position.

"So, either somepony who knew how the system worked, and where it was, could properly get through or...an alicorn."  Twilight blinked at the cave entrance, wondering how many unfortunate creatures had died trying to get through.  Luna trotted up to the cave entrance. "Twilight, come over here." Twilight blinked again and did as she was told, walking up to Luna, starting to understand what she might have in mind.  Luna lifted up a rock with her telekinesis, and placed it neatly between the emeralds.  Abruptly, the magical barrier coming from the emerald at the mouth of the cave snapped off.  Luna pulled twilight into the cave just as the stone wall slammed down a few meters in front of them.  Luna pulled the rock off from the altar immediately, and flung it to the side.  Twilight yelped as the barrier snapped back on, shaving a bit of her tail off.  "Sorry about that, I guess I should've pulled you in closer." Luna grinned sheepishly, and they both watched as the stone barrier lifted back up, leaving a winding stairway going down into the dark.  Twilight gulped. "I guess this is where we go and see what's down there." Luna lit her horn with a soft, white lunar glow, and they descended down the staircase.

Celestia had reached the garden with Fen-ka Shal, walking cautiously into the open.  No sooner had they reached the mouth of the maze, then Fen-ka shal shouted "GET DOWN!!!" and Celestia felt herself being shoved violently off to the side by magic.  A thick column of black lightning had erupted through the walls of one of the maze, leaving a smoking hole in its place.  Celestia looked back to see Fen-ka Shal encased in a crackling web of...extremely dark magic.  He had erected a barrier around himself, and had his brow furrowed in concentration.  What in the world is going on here? The Princess of the Sun thought to herself. THAT certainly wasn't Discord's magic, it's far too malevolent and powerful.  Fen-ka Shal had eyes closed in concentration, and suddenly Celestia heard his voice in her head. RUN.  Celestia looked confused and scared, and heard a soft crunch as something hit hard dirt.  She slowly looked towards the direction of the maze, and saw, standing in the hole made by the previous attack, some...thing stood over the body of one of her fallen guard.  Celestia backed up slowly, as she took in the horrible blackness that stood over Light Hooves, the personal guard she had known for over a dozen years, now broken and bleeding.  A single, wicked red light glared through the darkness, and Celestia felt all confidence leave her as her legs began to shake.  In the back of her mind, she remembered Luna telling her about this...thing somewhere, but the only thing in her mind right now was a loud, overwhelming fear that would have sent her fleeing in panic has she not been in this monstrosity's gaze.  "W-w-w-what is it that you want here? Why have you killed my people? Why have you come to my kingdom?" She stammered this out, and watched in horror as the creature...smiled.  Its wicked grin was an emptiness that defied description, and Celestia choked with fear as it reached up around the entire front and sides of its head in a distorted mockery of a smile.  It then swung its head down, its gaping maw swallowing the corpse of her former guard whole.  She broke and ran.

Luna and Twilight had be descending the stairs for what seemed like hours.  They didn't know how deep they were, but they were guessing that it was very, very far underground.  The stalactites that had marked the beginning of the cave had  not continued past this few minute or so walking, upon which the two had noticed the ceiling become less of a cave, and opened up into a vaulted ceiling, which continued as the walked further down the spiral stairs.  Luna looked nonchalant as ever, and her light was added by Twilight's own as they descended past any light from the surface.  After what seemed like an eternity, they began to see a green glow coming from further down to their destination.  The kept walking, and suddenly, without warning, the path stopped. a wall appeared before them, with a network of glowing green emeralds arranged in a curious pattern.  A large emerald on the top was not glowing, and had several strange runes under it.  "I'm not quite sure what this is." Luna said curiously, with her head cocked to the side.  "It definitely isn't the end of the line, so it must be a...lock of some kind.  I recognize some of these runes; I think I'm supposed to open it with magic. Hold on." Luna pointed her horn into a small hole in the emerald at the bottom, until it fit.  Twilight kept her light on, fearful of it going dark.  Suddenly, Luna cried out, as a massive amount of magic was dumped into the crystal.  The runes around the wall began to brighten, as well as the gems inset on it, when suddenly all the light from them cut off.  Luna popped her horn out of the hole, panting. "Not...enough...magic...guh!" She lay there for several minutes, panting in exertion, with twilight huddled near her.  Finally, Luna had recovered enough of herself to stand back on her own hooves, and turned to Twilight.

"This is an incredibly powerful lock; I still have a lot of my magic to grow into, and to recover from Nightmare Moon.  I think...with you helping me, it should be enough.  Do you know how accept a siphoning conduit?" Twilight nodded.  Siphoning conduits were used by multiple unicorns together, to pool their magic together, and have one unicorn (or alicorn in this case) project far more magic than he or she would normally be capable of into a particular spell.  The Elements of Harmony did this with her and her friends when all the elements together were activated, and it was through this that the enormously powerful purifying magic of the Elements got their power.  She'd done a lot more research on them since the last time they'd been used on Discord, and found that the elements were each individual catalysts for the Core magic of the earth; they drew up into themselves an enormous amount of energy, converted it through the emotional catalysts of each of the six bearers, and then finally into her as the Element of Magic, which she then transfigured all the power from the other six elements into a huge torrent of energy, which took the form of a rainbow.  It was only through her immense magical capacity that she was able to channel the elements; focusing them was not something she did consciously; they just went after whatever was in disharmony closest to her and her friends.

She set up the siphoning spell; and an invisible conduit appeared between her and Luna.  Luna put her horn in the hole in the wall a second time, and this time poured everything she had into it.  Twilight's eyes suddenly blazed brightly with magic, and her mane and tail began to float upwards in defiance of gravity.  She poured as much of her potent magic into Luna through the conduit as she could, and felt herself getting steadily weaker, albeit slowly.  The runes and the gems were blazing a bright green now, and suddenly the whole wall disappeared.  They peered through the void into a vast cavern that opened up around them.  Mighty pillars of stone formed over aeons of stalactites and stalagmites forming soared up around them, hundreds of meters tall.  The ceiling had its share of dips and curves, as well as the occasional outcropping of large stalactites  clustered around some of the pillars, or those that had yet to form.  Luna sent a pulse of light off into the darkness; a faux moon to brighten the gloom.  They both gasped.  The cavern stretched out for kilometers in every direction, and off in the distance, they noticed some ruins akin to the ones on the surface.  A faint green light flickered from somewhere inside, and the pair set off in the direction of it, Twilight using her own magic wings to fly this time.

Celestia was galloping blindly, in a zigzag motion to avoid getting hit by the shards of obsidian that were being shot towards her.  She looked back, and screamed as she saw a huge, black serpent, massive compared to even the castle next to it, making its way towards her, and spitting blackness that that turned into sharp missile shards of volcanic glass, screaming after her.  She poured all of her formidable magic into her wings, and burst into the air at an incredible speed, determined to keep this menace confined near the castle grounds, and not anywhere closer to the populated areas of Canterlot.  The princess of the sun was a bolt of lightning, weaving in and out of a maelstrom of shards that now erupted from the black thing's gaping maw.  She saw that it now stretched back into the maze, and saw Fen-ka Shal fighting his way, slowly, out of the imprisonment spell erected around him.  Hurry she pleaded to him in her mind.  I'm not sure how much longer I can last she said as she felt a shard nick her flank, leaving a painful gash along her side.  She grimaced, and flew up between the sun.