Amulet

Starlight huffed in frustration, shutting and putting another useless book onto the useless book pile. It wasn’t hard to find references to the Amulet if you knew what to look for, but there was hardly any actual information about it beyond what she already knew. This had been a promising lead, a guide to magical artifacts that directly discussed the Alicorn Amulet, but upon reaching the section in question the author revealed that they had never actually come into contact with it, and twenty-two thousand words of theorizing about such an artifact’s possible nature were promptly wasted.

Starlight got up from her seat and began pacing. This was getting her nowhere. Twilight had probably already exhausted every record with even a hint of information about the Amulet already, so anything about neutralizing the enchantment would already be in her notes. Starlight would just have to ask Twilight how she would go about destroying her latest research project, then. That would go well.

She could just look through the notes while Twilight wasn’t around. Without Twilight’s uncanny organizational memory she probably wouldn’t be able to find anything useful in the mountains of research, though. Attempting to reverse-engineer the Amulet had created a veritable landmass of theory, and was beginning to point in some unsetting directions towards its origins.

Starlight stopped pacing. Had they tried tracing where the Amulet came from before? They’d discussed possible beginnings for it, yes, but that had always been in the larger context of figuring out how it worked. Actually finding out where it came from had never been considered. With the amount of appearances it made throughout history records it should be possible to map out where it had come from. Why hadn’t either of them thought of this before? It was one of the first things she and Twilight should have tried, and...

There were two principle ways of dispelling mind control. One was to notice and actively resist the spell, and the other was to inadvertently remove it while getting rid of a connected effect. The spell cast on Starlight had been incredibly subtle, not actively changing thoughts but instead diverting them away from certain lines of reasoning, making the first option all but impossible and causing the effects to linger afterwards in the case of the second.

This meant that a piece of jewelry had cast an unbelievably complex spell that normally took years to concoct, requiring intimate knowledge of how the target thought, after only a few weeks of being around Starlight. It also meant that said spell had been active and undetected by either of them that whole time, only noticed when it flared in response to Starlight trying to discourage further contact.

This changed Starlights plans. She couldn’t disenchant the Amulet. Well, she could, probably, but Starlight wasn’t fond of the possibility of fighting a berzerk alicorn afterward. Or dealing with a comatose alicorn. Or a dead alicorn. Starlight didn’t really know what would happen, was the point. She couldn’t just remove any spells affecting Twilight, either. Most mind-altering magic required prolonged separation from the source, and Starlight was pretty sure that the Amulet would react poorly to that.

Well, Starlight still had the first steps of a plan. The goal had just changed. She was still going to investigate where the Amulet had come from, and she was still going to keep it from brainwashing her friend. She just had to do that without destroying the Amulet or interfering with anything it was doing.

Somehow.

The house wasn't actually in Ponyville, though it was relatively close. It was small and poorly maintained, crouched in the middle of a group of dry, claw-like trees. Streaks of peeling, grey paint clung to the rotting wood of the walls. The only window Luna could see was broken, a jagged shard of glass filling half the frame.

Cheery.

Luna knocked twice on the rough, unpainted door. After a moment of waiting, it opened until a chain pulled taut on the other side. A tired, bloodshot grey eye peered through, widening when it saw Luna. The door shut for half a second before being flung open to reveal a prostrated blue pegasus, a long white mane covering her downturned face from view.

“You may rise, civilian. Are you the head of this household?”

The mare didn’t move, trembling slightly as she remained fixated on the floor.

“You are not in danger, miss. I simply want to satisfy my curiosity.”

The pegasus mumbled something incomprehensible.

“Ah, could you repeat that?”

The mare took a deep breath before answering quietly.

“Moody’s not home right now, your majesty.”

Unsurprising, considering he was dead.

“Miss…”

“Missus Canary Blue, your majesty” The mare answered quietly.

“Missus Canary Blue, how long has it been since he was?”

Another mumble. Luna sighed internally.

“May I come inside?”

The pegasus stumbled to her feet, nodding panickedly.

“Wonderful.” Luna walked past the mare and into the dilapidated house.

The interior of the building was in as much disrepair as the outside. Old, half broken furniture was scattered haphazardly in the four damp, musty rooms. The kitchen was the dirtiest of them. Stacks of dirty dishes overflowed the sink, spilling over to nearby countertops. The trash in the corner was filled with half eaten food and appeared to be growing mold. The room bordering, separated by a change from tile to poorly maintained wood, held a table surrounded by chairs, presumably used for dining, though it was currently covered in letters and bills. Two doors across from the kitchen marked the two remaining rooms. One of the doors hung open and at an angle, the top hinge having been broken at some point. The room inside held the window Luna had seen. Shards of glass gleamed from inside, dully reflecting light onto the savaged room inside. A bookshelf had been overturned, and the books inside had been ripped into confetti. Fluff from a gutted bed was strewn across the room.

Luna looked worriedly back to Canary, who had been trailing meekly behind her as she investigated the building.

“Missus, is that your room?”

“Oh, no, your majesty. That would be my daughters, your majesty.” The mare answered rapidly.

“Princess is fine. Who is your daughter, then?” Luna suspected she already knew, but confirmation would be helpful.

“Blue Sky,” The name was spat with such venom that Luna nearly took a step back. Canary caught herself, looking up at Luna with a stricken expression and quickly restarting, “I mean, my daughters name is Blue Sky, your maj- Princess. If she’s done anything-”

“Your daughter has committed no crimes I am aware of, Missus Blue,” Luna interrupted, turning to fully face the mare, “Are you aware of where she is?”

“No, Princess,” Canary swallowed, “She, um, left three years ago.”

“Unfortunate. Have you talked to her since?”

“No, Princess.”

“Hmm. If I may ask, why has her room has been destroyed?”

Canary’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly as the pegasus tried to answer.

“Well, Princess, she, um, well, Moody-”

“Moody did this?” Luna gestured toward the room with a hoof.

“No! No, I, um, well, Blue left without telling us, and, um, Moody went after her-” Canary cut herself off, fidgeting nervously under Luna’s unwavering gaze.

“I am aware of that, yes. Moody Blue pursued Blue Sky intending to punish her for leaving.” Canary’s eyes widened.

“Did, um, Princess, did Blue tell you that? Because, well, she, um, she likes to make up stories, and-”

“Do you think it would be easy to lie to me, Missus Blue?” Luna’s voice grew icy as she to a step towards the cowering mare.

“No! No, Princess, of course not!”

“Then why are you trying?” Luna took another step toward Canary as the mare rapidly backed away, “I watch over all ponies dreams, Canary Blue, and I remember hers. Tell me, who destroyed her room?”

Canary backed into a wall, looking up with terrified eyes at the looming Princess of the Night.

“I did,” she whispered.

“Why?”

“She… she disobeyed me. She disobeyed her father, she refused to respect us and ran off with a colt! It’s her fault! She deserved it!” Canary’s voice rose with a desperate, pleading tone, “I only wanted her to do what was best for her! If she had just obeyed us Moody wouldn’t have to hit her, I wouldn’t have to-”

“Enough.” Luna’s voice thundered through the house, shaking walls and rattling glass.

The house was silent for a moment, Canary frozen against the wall with Luna glaring furiously down at her. Luna closed her eyes, breathing deeply. She turned around, not looking at Canary, and slowly walked out of the house.

“The Royal Guard will arrive in a few days, Missus Blue,” Luna called back to the cowering mare, still curled against the wall, “Do not leave.”

Twilight prodded the Amulet with a quill, willing it to make sense. She was slumped over her desk, Amulet inches from her nose, surrounded by notes. She had hit a roadblock in her research. She had made no progress in understanding the Amulet in the past few days, and had no idea how to continue.

There was a knock at her door. She didn’t move. The knock sounded again.

“Yes?” Twilight called, still staring at the Amulet. The doorknob rattled as somepony tried to open the door. There was a pause before Spike’s muffled voice filtered through the door. Somedragon. Whatever.

“Um, Rarity is wondering if you’d like to go with her to the spa?”

This is more important.

“No thanks. I’m busy.”

“Oh. Okay” Spike sounded worried. “Um, Twilight, You haven’t done anything with the girls for a while.”

“Yeah, I’m busy. Spike, I can’t talk right now.” Twilight picked up the Amulet with her magic, trying to find any runes or inscriptions on the metal. There weren’t any. Again.

“Alright, I’ll get going then,” Spike paused. “We miss you, Twilight.” Miss her? She wasn't gone. Just busy.

Twilight spun the Amulet, examining it from different angles. The gem in the middle reflected the growing light from the window into dancing red streaks as she did so. They darted across her walls, flowing into each other and breaking apart. It looked like a red ocean, waves ebbing and flowing as she moved the Amulet.

A shadow crossed her window, cutting off the Amulet’s display. Twilight put it down, rubbing her eyes with a hoof as she straightened up in her seat. She looked down at it watching as the gem lit up as the shadow in her window passed. Even without her, the light inside seemed move. Twilight leaned closer, watching the shifting crimson. Again,she was struck by the image of an ocean, rolling and crashing within the gem.

Listen.

Twilight felt something pushing at the edge of her mind, trying to be remembered. She lifted drew the Amulet to eye level in a cloud of purple magic. The sea inside grew more violent, waves crashing again and again. Twilight strained, trying to listen to the silent sea. She could almost make out faint echoes of a sound at the edge of her hearing.

Hello, Twilight.

Twilight flung the Amulet across the room, pushing back and toppling her chair with crash and sending paper exploding around her. Twilight flailed to her feet, horn ablaze, frantically searching the room. The Amulet lay across from her, nestled in a pile of scattered notes. The gem in the middle gleamed in the light.

Twilight kept her horn charged as she cautiously approached. Reaching out a forehoof, she paused before touching the Amulet.

I’m not dangerous.

Twilight jerked her hoof back. It was talking. Why hadn’t it talked before? What had she done? Was it light?

Twilight pooled mana into her horn, and an inky black fog started to flow from the tip. Soon, the room was cast in complete darkness. Twilight fumbled around for a moment before brushing the side of the Amulet with her forehoof.

It’s okay.

Twilight jumped back, tripping and falling over in the dark. She grunted in pain, dispelling the fog and pushing herself to her hooves. Not light then.

Twilight stopped, considering her options. She could never touch the Amulet again, limiting her possibilities of investigation down to looking at it, or she could try talking to it and risk being turned into a tyrannical monster. Neither seemed like good choices.

Well, just talking to it didn’t seem like enough to corrupt her. She had to actually use it for that to happen. She could just talk to it without using it. It’s not like it would let her do anything she already couldn’t do as an alicorn, right?

Hesitantly, Twilight wrapped her magic around the Amulet, pulling it towards her.

Good.