Spirit of the Arcane

Chapters

002. Of Spells and Assassins
003. Cat-O'-Nine-Tails
004. A Tainted Soul and the Harbinger of Fire
005. End of an Era
006. The Witch Hunt (Part I)
006. The Witch Hunt (Part II)
007. The Inquisition
008. Heart of Darkness
001. What I'm to Teach You is Deadly

002. Of Spells and Assassins

Of Spells and Assassins

"This used to be a training grounds for apprentices like you," Absinthe blindly lied, gently kneading the floor with her hooves, "a lot of things happened to this ground, but don't let that bother you." She took a strong breath in and let it out after materializing her staff out of thin air, she grabbed it and set it down next to her.

"Now," she sighed in a joyous tone, "how to phase blink,"

She rolled her shoulders and Trixie followed suit. Absinthe closed her eyes, Trixie did the same. Absinthe then backed away and called out, "now think of blinking somewhere else in the room! Think hard, now!" Trixie did as she was told and thought as hard as she could about moving. The circle beneath her started to glow a deep ocean blue and Absinthe's eyes got wider as she thought hard to keep her memories from flooding her mind.

Trixie kept thinking to herself, Move... just blink over there! To that wall! You can do it, you bucking stupid spell! Move me! You damned piece of- suddenly Absinthe saw Trixie's horn glow more and more fierce and gorge itself with light and streaks of it what burst from the blob that covered her horn. Absinthe tensed up again- she was planning to die, but soon after she had grabbed her staff to which she would prepare her soul for death, Trixie had blinked out of sight. Absinthe blinked blankly before realizing what had happened. She probably got lost in the Phase... happens all the time, she thought. Rolling her eyes but giving off a faint smile, she jumped in after her apprentice.

* * *

Trixie was no longer a blue mare with simple features and silver-colored mane. Her eyes glowed dark gold, her body was breathing a mysterious life force. Around her was a world pitch-black and hollow, not of this world. It dripped when dry and when dry would soak with madness. it glowed dark purple, the traditional color of the Arcane. She was lost and hated to admit it. This can't be blinking, can it? That wasn't part of the spell, was it? What is?- I don't even- what the- she shook her head madly as she heard Absinthe's voice calling from far away. But with only one turn of her head, Absinthe was standing right next to her. Shocked, Trixie fell over, clearly stunned, which made Absinthe laugh for a moment before helping her up.

"Are you ready to blink now?" Absinthe yelled, and Trixie nodded. And in a fraction of a second, both of them disappeared.
When the two mares had reappeared, Trixie was only a foot from where she started and Absinthe was back where she blinked from.

"I barely moved!" Trixie cried, frustration crawling in her voice. Absinthe laughed gently and coaxed the young mare to look at the bright side.

"At least you did blink, dearest," she mentioned. Trixie looked back at the circle and then back at her mentor.

"I suppose so..." Absinthe warmly wrapped her foreleg around her apprentice's neck and answered warmly,

"I know so. It takes practice to blink from place to place, it's a.. well... basic thing. I'm sure after a few days of practice you'll be just fine," Trixie nodded and shut her eyes again.

"Can we keep practicing, Absinthe?" she said in a determined voice. Absinthe nodded.

"Of course."

* * *

It was several hours that Absinthe trained the young mare, with each blink the trip through the Phase was less and less, and soon enough, Trixie was blinking around the room. With each new time, Absinthe's fears of death were lessened; Trixie wouldn't go rampant with madness she had decided. Trixie was one student who wouldn't succumb to it, no matter how much thoughts could pry its way into her mind. She was just too young to give in to it.

* * *

-A few months later-

"Are you sure it was Absinthe? Last time we tried to repossess a soul like that we ended up ending the lives of over three-hundred innocent ponies," a cloaked colt listened to his speaker. It was a nervous looking Colt who was always neatly dressed, a look of terror almost always on his face when he was around his workers. The cloaked colt was blind in one eye, so a solid fire ruby replaced it, but it had aged to the point where it matched the charred look of his cloak. He wore a hat of equal darkness and he glared at the nervous looking colt.

"Would I lie to you?"

The nervous looking colt shook his head furiously, sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Exactly," the cloaked colt stated dimly. "She had an apprentice with her, and when the young one- Trixie, I believe- was being taught to blink. I know that style of teaching, blinking is a spell that she commonly needs to rescue her new students from," the nervous colt merely nodded.

"But how are you sure it's her?" he thought for a moment, "Did she have any scars? Wounds? Trademarks? I mean... her cutie mark is barely recognizable. What means do we have?" the cloaked colt was looking away from his colleague and out of a tall glass window at the end of the room and chuckled darkly.

"Oh, we have old odds and ends we need to settle. When I see her I know it's her, when I see her style of teaching, I know it's her. When I get my chance to take her out before her apprentice does..." a dramatic pause followed, "... then the score will be settled," the nervous colt narrowed his eyebrows and blinked.

"Well?" the cloaked colt whipped around on his hooves and glared at his colleague.

"Well what?" he hissed, and the colt rubbed the back of his neck with his hoof, mentioning,

"Well what happened?" he shrugged, "you said you had a score to settle," the cloaked colt grinned. His good eye was a glossy, deranged shade of reddish-pink, his teeth were bright white. He tipped his hat over his bad eye and sat on his haunches- something he barely ever did, and he cleared his throat and began his story.

* * *

-Flashback-

There was a hushed silence, like that of a community before a storm and all the world waited for something to suddenly happen. Several seconds passed. Nothing happened. Minutes trailed on like days, the rain poured and the bleak sun slithered through the black clouds. No Pegasi had set up the storm, no weather team could move it, not even the best Unicorn could make the storm remove its presence between two ponies positioned across a giant Arcane circle. One was holding a curved sword in his mouth, and across from him was Absinthe, who was already beginning to cast a powerful spell. Her horn glowed and small glass-like tendrils begin to form from the ball of light. The colt who held the curved sword in his mouth narrowed his eyes and prepared to slice through the white Unicorn, who was carefully eyeing him back, watching him like a hawk. The colt watched the crowd of people grow, and eventually, several seconds clicked by again, and a long bell-tone rung through the air.

Lunging from his position, the Colt raced towards his target. He was brash, young, and definitely an athlete, but he was still no match for the power of Absinthe's magical abilities. He swung his curved blade, slicing through the air with a sick ease, but only air. Twisting his head around, he saw the bright purple and white tendrils fly past him, cutting a deep mark into his cheek. Following the tendrils was Absinthe, who had blinked moments before she saw the blade. Shaking his head fiercely and running back towards his target, he threw the sword towards Absinthe, who blinked as the sword reached her. She cried in pain as the sword followed her through the Phase and out it came as several small shards of obsidian embedded into her thigh. Groaning, she cast the tendrils at the Colt, who could do nothing to dodge the long strips of lightning-quick light. The slammed him against the wall, one of them digging deeply into his side, the other lashing relentlessly at his face. But yet in his effort and struggling, it only got worse as Absinthe, still at the other side of the circle controlled her whips with gentle ease and frustration. Suddenly she let go of her opponent and started walking away, and the colt, seeing this as his last ditch-attempt to kill her, grabbed a small dagger and threw it as hard as he could through the air. It spun and drilled into the back of Absinthe, who collapsed immediately. Blood dribbled out of her wounds, and the Colt had laid down on the dirt, panting furiously. That... he thought to himself, That takes care of her. Not even a mere second after the thought, he heard a sound like a swift object splitting the air, and before he knew it, one last tendril was in her control, and it passed through his left eye and shoved him up against the clock tower behind him. He slid down the tendril, bleeding tremendously, but he was barely alive.

Whatever their duel was for, neither of them exactly knew. But from then on, it was a cat-and-mouse game. When she could, she would recall grand architectural superstructures, but he knew how to see past her petty tricks. He would find her and one day kill her. There was no reason for their feud to keep going, their match came out of chance. They were lined up, told each other to end their opponent. However, the town didn't expect the game to last this long.

* * *

When the colt finished his story, the nervous looking one backed away.

"So you two aren't done, then? I mean... sounds like you two are fierce competitors!" the colt finally said. The cloaked colt nodded and blinked with his one good eye.

"I have learned a thing or two about the Arcane, however," he said, "and that whenever you kill your opponent in an agreed duel, you learn everything they knew about this dark magic," the nervous colt suddenly looked less nervous and a wild green grew on his face,

"So what do you plan on doing?" he inquired, "are you just going to kill her?" the cloaked colt thought on the statement and replied,

"If I assassinate Absinthe, I'll have to kill her apprentice, too..." he trailed off, but picked up again, "but only if she hasn't tried to learn anything more than she already knows..."

* * *

003. Cat-O'-Nine-Tails

Cat O'-Nine-Tails

-A few months later-

Another shot of the nine bright-blue glass whips shot from Trixie's horn as she lashed out at a wooden ponyquin, leaving grotesque looking gashes on it. She was becoming pretty talented at using, learning, and possibly even creating her own spells, and from this stemmed the greed to learn more. Trixie was standing in a wide-open field, the sky definitely free of any kind of clouds, the trees naturally bending in the direction of the wind. Upon her head was a light-purple magician's hat, adorned with lightly stitched arcane circles, and a cloak to match. In her concentrated state, nothing could stop her. But she was also warned that in a duel, concentration was not the key- a quick and sharp mind is what won you the experience. That thought would become the staple of her thinking, and ultimately in her end.

Several hours passed and Trixie was confident that the spell she had learned from an outside member of her personal circle would show the dedication she was putting into learning the arcane arts. After all, the field she was standing in was something that Absinthe had taught her to recall—generally as a place to go to when the world was dim and dark—not that it was any excuse to say that the world was always a dark place. Rather, it always seemed to be that way. Ponyville was several miles away from Absinthe's limited-space haven, and Trixie started off from her recalled field, slowly fading into the real world through a connection to the Phase, determined to show her mentor her skills.

* * *

When she reached Absinthe's haven, she popped her head through the door to see her mentor sitting around a pile of books, tirelessly going through them, reading off titles and setting them aside.

"What are you looking for?" inquired Trixie, which was followed with a surprised shriek and a pile of books collapsing near Absinthe.

"Trixie, you surprised me, dear," she stated as Trixie helped pick the fallen books up. Absinthe eyed her apprentice and noticed her beaming eyes and a quiet smile rested upon her face. "Did you want to show me something, Trixie?" Trixie's smile widened.

"Sure!"

She trotted to the center of the circle and requested that a ponyquin be brought over to her. Absinthe grabbed the requested object and placed it in front of her. With a silent grin on her face, Trixie released the energy from within her and the Cat-O-Nine-Tails burst from her horn, gouging every possible inch of the ponquin, relentlessly giving no time to break. The blue glass-like whips were slender and powerful, and Absinthe gawked as she saw her student perform the same skill she had used to nearly kill her opponent at the duel. She learn quickly, doesn't she? Absinthe thought to herself, still gawking. But don't worry, madness won't drive her insane. She smiled nervously at her apprentice and cast her an odd glance.

"Where did you learn that, Trixie?" Trixie stared at the ground and answered dimly,

"It was in one of the books you gave me to study from,"

Absinthe's mouth seemingly dropped to the floor and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. She carefully walked over to her apprentice and looked directly into her eyes, stating firmly,

"Now Trixie, that spell is extremely dangerous... I..." she sighed, "I know I no longer have that much control over how well you learn and what you can learn, but please, for the love of Celestia-" Trixie suddenly piped up in the middle of her mentor's comment,

"Can I use it in a duel? Like what you used to do?" Absinthe narrowed her eyes and slowly turned away and closed her eyes for a moment, taking deep breaths in before answering,

"What I used to do isn't much of importance as you think, Trixie..." she trailed off and Trixie sighed.

"Bu- But they seemed so intense! You were amazing! You've learned a lot that way, why can't I?" the pleading in her voice didn't much change Absinthe's mind.

"You're a young mare, Trixie! If I let you into the pigsty of that mess you'll never be the same!" Trixie sat on her haunches and thought over her mentor's comment. You'll never be the same, Trixie thought. That's quite the risk. She looked up at her mentor and Absinthe returned a glare back.

"Everypony changes though, don't they? It's just a thing that happens, right? Even to those who learn this kind of magic? Things change, right?"

Absinthe slowly reopened her eyes and blinked. The young mare is right, Absinthe, the voice leaked back into her head. She wasn't sure which voice it was, but she thought in reply, Indeed she is. She's still a child and likewise is her mind. So should we let her? Or shouldn't we? Absinthe shook her head and shut her eyes tightly. That is her decision, not mine. She slowly pulled herself out of her thoughts as she had frequently begun to sink into them and gave a thin smile towards Trixie.

"Yes, Trixie... ponies do change, so if you wish to go out there, that's your decision. I'll be here with whatever you need," Absinthe answered her apprentice's two questions, and Trixie grinned.

"I'll make you proud, Absinthe!" Absinthe gave a faint nod, and she turned around as she heard the door shut. A ripple shuddered through the room and Absinthe turned her head towards it. It didn't move, but it seeped through the crack in the door, and Absinthe glared after it. You bastard, if you steal my apprentice and drive her to insanity, I'll kill you with my bare hooves.

* * *

Trixie walked through the streets of some town she didn't see the name of, the daylight glaring off of every windowpane on the buildings. The thatched roofs seemed sturdy, and the town itself seemed cozy. She had to smile at it, it seemed simple enough and good enough to hold some good potential. The grass was soft and a lot like her recalled world of her own and the sky was the same blue and cloudless. As she walked, there was a hushed end of the town where several ponies were circled around three Unicorns, all waiting for the chance to get at each others' throats. Trixie smiled devilishly. They all look so young, she thought, I don't think they'll be smart enough to defeat me and take my soul from my body! She nonchalantly stepped into the circle and shoved forward.

"You! You're not a part of this argument! Get out!" one of the larger Earth Ponies from the crowd yelled. Trixie narrowed her eyes at him and summoned one of her whips, shoving it deep into the Stallion's chest. He gasped for air, and when he was as close to death as he could, Trixie released him and threw a small vial of medicine in his direction.

"I guess I am now," she declared, and many of the ponies in the crowd backed away. Now, she began her thinking process, How do I silently kill them without them killing me? Before she could think any further, however, the four were gathered into a small group, and one of the Stallion Pegasi flew by them, saying,

"Now all four of you have just signed your death certificates. If you get killed, the final winner receives your souls and all of your learned spells, got it? You can use anything you know, any method. No rules." he made his statement, and when he had finished he flew off, leaving the four to their own measures.

Trixie glared at her opponents, but two of them had already blinked behind her and attempted to kill by a swift cut to the neck, but Trixie was quicker. She blinked away from them and tried to recall her field so she could slowly pick them off, but she was interrupted by a buck to the side and she collapsed. Skillfully, as the Unicorn was jumping over her, Trixie rolled onto her back and gave a quick buck to the underside of the Unicorn. He flew back after the crack of most of his ribs resonated from his body. His shattered body lay in the dust, but he got back up, blood dribbling down his mouth. He started to summon an assortment of sharp objects from underneath the ground and after positioning them, he threw them, and before they could hit Trixie, she blinked out of the way and managed to catch one, tossing it to the side to hit another mare in the side of the neck. The mare tore it out and flung herself towards Trixie, but one lucky shot severed the mare's leg from her body. Blood gushed from the broken bone and a sheer cry of terror was heard. The third opponent who had cast the spell charged towards Trixie and plunged her horn into Trixie's side. Shrieking in pain, Trixie blinked, but got stuck halfway and into the Phase. She felt no pain when the unicorn tore the horn free of Trixie's flesh. But her eyes glowed and her body breathed, and the Unicorn tried to blink out, but she seemed to be paralyzed. She tried to flail and break free of Trixie's grasp, but all she could focus on was not falling into the same madness Trixie was. Slowly, the glass-like tendrils flowed out of Trixie's horn, and her grin was massive. Even before the mare could scream, all nine of the tendrils pierced the mare's body in several places and tore out of her body, leaving nothing but a pile of flesh and bloody pulp behind. Leaving the Phase, Trixie had a new-found feeling to kill. She swiftly blinked towards the last two of her opponents, who were decking it out with powerful spells meant for long distance killing, and she blinked back with the Stallion.

Once back in the phase, the Stallion gazed right into Trixie's eyes, and when Trixie had absorbed her last kill's soul, the Stallion's soul imploded within him and his eyes sunk deep into his skull. He slowly shriveled up and every bone in his body cracked with a deafening roar. Pleased her with her kill and that the Stallion could do nothing, Trixie blinked back out into the open and was hit in the flank by the shoulder of the mare whose front foreleg was severed from her body. With her stub bleeding severely and wobbling stupidly about, she tried to lunge at Trixie again, but Trixie ended the mare's existence by piercing her skull with a tendril from her horn.

At that moment, no words were spoken, no words had even been said during the duel. But Trixie came out alive and three dead ponies lay around her. She gave a brief smile of victory and she walked away, already having claimed the first three souls of her deadly and notorious career.

004. A Tainted Soul and the Harbinger of Fire

A Tainted Soul and the Harbinger of Fire

It wasn't long after taking merely four steps before Trixie looked back at the three dead ponies laying in the dirt and her eyes suddenly widened and she felt bile rise at the back of her throat. She felt the pain of all of her wounds and she vomited in the middle of the street, collapsing sideways. It was here she finally realized the gravity of her mistake, but she had no recollection of the event at all. All she knew is that she came into an argument, came out of an argument, leaving three ponies she didn't even know dead. Why?... How did I do this?... she thought between her endless sobs, I don't even... wha- how- no... I didn't do this! I couldn't have! While she lay in the street, a few of the onlookers came up to her and one raised a hoof to kick her, but the other stopped him before another hoof could damage the mare's body.

"Young mare," he started, unsure of how to go about talking to the mare who had just seconds before skillfully killed three strangers, "what in the world was that all about?" Trixie continued sobbing, and the Stallion only sighed and looked at his companion.

"I don't know what to do with the mare," he stated, glancing back at Trixie, "should she be exiled? Killed?" the Stallion's companion shook his head.

"No, she is sobbing. Deranged killers don't sob after they go on a murdering spree," he said, glancing at the Stallion. The companion briefly folded his wings and continued, asking Trixie,

"So? What was that all about?" Trixie's sobbing stopped for a moment as she struggled to regain her emotions.

"I don't... I don't know..." she muttered, "I don't remember any of it," the Pegasus rolled his eyes and looked at the Stallion.

"I'd send her back to wherever she came from. Obviously something didn't go as planned or something happened to her," the Stallion shrugged.

"Whatever you wanna do is perfectly fine, I'm staying here-" and just as the Pegasus started helping Trixie back on her hooves and walking with her, the Stallion barked,

"And you! You are staying right here,"

* * *

Absinthe paced around in circles as she thought of why Trixie was dead set on trying to win a duel- with the obvious consequences, she wasn't sure if Trixie was up to the task of doing it solely by herself. If she did end up killing her opponent, then the nail of insanity has already reached her, Absinthe thought depressingly. She sighed, but suddenly a ripple shuddered through the room, and a small bird flew down from the rafters.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" she yelled at it, and it gave a dumb look at her with its beady-black eyes. She glared at it and it glared back for several seconds before ruffling its wings and replying,

"I'm just admiring is all. You know how it is, don't you? I've already learned my full share of the magic, now I simply just get to watch," Absinthe sighed and retorted,

"Ignatius, if you kill me here, you'll be trapped in this limited space with no way to go back," the bird seemed shocked, but only in a mocking manner.

"Oh, no!" he cried out in mocking pain, and his body exploded, but his essence remained behind as his body slowly began reconstructing his normal self, "why, I'm afraid you haven't been paying attention to me," he continued, pacing around his old opponent, "because I have learned a few tricks of my own," Absinthe raised her eyebrows in confusion as Ignatius continued speaking,

"You don't already know?" he chuckled deeply, "I've learned to trap myself into the souls of ponies new to the art of magic. It's quite cunning, really, all one needs to do is find himself a comfortable place in a limited space," he said the last few words slowly and articulate and grinned madly. "Oh, Trixie's soul was perfect for the job. Ripe, pure, and in all essences, now tainted as well." he eyed the door as if he expected it to suddenly fly open and Trixie walk through, but he only continued, staring at Absinthe, who's jaw had dropped to the floor, "The way I could simply control her! It was all in good fun, plus now she'll truly never be the same," Ignatius noted Absinthe's words and Absinthe narrowed her eyes.

"You rat cat bastard!" she screamed, "why did you do that!?" Ignatius' face contorted into thinking and he replied calmly,

"All in good fun, dear," Absinthe gawked angrily as her opponent eyed the doors again. "I see that you take great pride in your newest student, Absinthe," he continued, "and to that I'm grateful you've given me the opportunity to have a new pawn to play with..." as he finished, Trixie walked through the door, exhaustion and fear trickling into her voice.

"Absinthe?..." she whispered nearly inaudibly, "what's going on?..." Absinthe looked back at her student and sadness nearly overwhelmed her.

"Trixie, I have... business to attend to, please, maybe you should go home and rest," Absinthe struggled to say something to avert her student, but Trixie stood firm, standing in the doorway.

"Absinthe, something horrible happened while I was out..." Absinthe glanced back at Ignatius, who slowly paced around her and stood between Trixie and her mentor.

"Oh, did it now?" Ignatius stated proudly, "did it feel like you... weren't quite yourself?" Trixie suddenly looked up at the speaker, and Ignatius smiled darkly. "Your mentor doesn't believe in the really dark side of things as much as I do," and before Trixie could do anything, Ignatius summon a Cat-O'-Nine-Tails of his own and threw them back, all piercing Absinthe in some place. She shrieked and collapsed, small red lines of blood dripping slowly out of her body, to which he briefly turned around and noted to Absinthe,

"Now, dear old worthy opponent, how will you fight now? It appears you are... partially disabled," Absinthe glared, but Ignatius managed to throw her back against the library's walls before turning back to Trixie, who was beginning to summon the soul-shattering spell she had stolen from the innocent soul of the pony her tainted soul had told her to kill. She glanced at Ignatius, but he, too, threw her back against the wall and walked up to her.

"What makes you think you're going to win this one, hm?" he inquired, staring at Trixie. Trixie glared back and yelled,

"I could kill you! For my mentor, I will murder you! Right here!" Ignatius' eyes fluttered with a hint of darkness and he smiled, nearly laughing. He turned back away and picked up Absinthe's almost lifeless body and slid her towards the center of the room where the clockwork mechanism was slowly beginning to die.

"If we kill your mentor as well, we'll have no place to go," Ignatius said, "so we'll be stuck here in another eternal battle you're going to die from," Trixie cycled through her list of spells and picked the one that she used every time to end her opponents. The familiar blue tendrils slowly trailed out of her horn, and Ignatius summoned his own. Without further warning, the two engaged in a gruesome fight.

Blue tendrils slashed and cut relentlessly at the air, Trixie fighting with all of her might while avoiding the grave and mighty shouts of Ignatius, trying to push her back or cut the tendrils from their living force. The world began to collapse as Absinthe lost the life force she needed to keep the circle going. It began to collapse in small peeling of the paint on the walls and the spontaneous combustion of books and paper. The glass shattered around the Colt and the young mare fighting, blood filleting the air, blood stains littering the ground. Ignatius summoned several spells at once, casting anything from knives from a parallel dimension to making copies of himself to kill Trixie. Trixie summoned nine-tail after nine-tail, trying to maim her opponent in any possible. She scored several cuts to Ignatius' flank, but he was quicker. Cut after cut he managed to strike upon Trixie's body, blood dribbling quickly out of her new scars. As both of them gave up the long-distance fighting, they both started summoning the darkness that had once tainted their souls, they began to glow a furious color of gold and blood-red, and started charging towards each other. Death was not present in the room, not even life. It was a series of events leading to Limbo as the two fighting and Absinthe preparing for death that not only collapsed the entire world, but killed Absinthe in the process. All three of the spells combined created a world worse than Limbo, not death, not life. Not lost in a limited-space world, not even in the fade. Absinthe's exploded body lay somewhere in Limbo as well, and Trixie's broken and shattered body lay in the darkness somewhere in the Phase. Ignatius still stood standing, breathing heavily. His malice overtook him, but he underestimated the mind of a young Mare who still had the life force of one thousand voices telling her that madness and malice would never overtake her. Her eyes glowing fiercely, she limped to get up and she blinked with her opponent out of the phase and into her own world. The wheat was on fire and the trees had a menacing look to them. Even though her world was tainted, she had planned to go out in style, to prepare for her death in some fashionable way.

"Why are you even trying!?" Ignatius yelled, "you'll know you're going to die!" Trixie narrowed her eyes and screamed madly in reply,

"At least I'll know I didn't fall into complete insanity!" Ignatius shook his head and charged towards Trixie, who lowered her head and as soon as he got near her, she released a balled wave of energy that sent him flying backwards and into a pile of burning wheat. "I'm doing this for Absinthe! Because you're the bastard who killed her! I will not fail her!" she summoned her whips and began harassing her enemy, who retaliated with bucking her in the ribs to get her away. He got up and retorted,

"You don't even know what you did, did you!?" he kept shouting, "you killed her! Your spell's force killed your own mentor in your insanity!" he was breathing heavily and Trixie shook her head.

"What about you!? I saw you summon the same spell! You killed her! You wanted to finish the job you started!"
Ignatius took the comment in shock. It was the truth, after all, and he was successful. Shaking his head, the two went back at it, casting spell after spell, the Earth trying to cope with the loss of Absinthe and now the slowly collapsing mind of Trixie, and the two made cut after cut, slash after slash, slowly ending era after era in their wake. Soon charges of fire and electricity exploded from their bodies in fits of magical bursts, glass whips became enemies to either one and knives from any dimension would fail. After everything they could do was possible to kill each other, Ignatius began walking away as Trixie could no longer keep herself standing. She collapsed and struggled to stay awake. The last burst of energy had crippled her back legs, but gathering her last amount of sanity, she blinked out of sight, hoping to have brought Ignatius with her into the Phase.

Once in the Phase for the second time, she realized that Ignatius was killed when she blinked. He was on the precipice of going into his own Phase and was caught between the two, severing his body from his soul, which was now lost in Trixie's world. His half-severed body lay in the darkness, his guts spread around, blood spattered somewhere in the area. Trixie looked away, and blinked back out of the Phase and into the real world, hoping to find somewhere to cope with what had just happened.

* * *

005. End of an Era

End of an Era

-The Arcane Courts-

Silence had befallen the Courts as they heard news of the assassination of Ignatius, and each member eyed the other. In the smoky haze of the room, the hushed silence became deafening as opinions rocketed through the heads of those not willing to speak. Coughs were heard, eyes blinked, blank faces became more blank. No one spoke for a long time until one colt opened his eyes and said loudly,

"I say we send our own team of assassins against her! If she is who she really thinks she is, we oughta do it ourselves, right?" one calmly stated in reply,

"Mind you, that any assassin is trained to possess the soul of another pony! That's what happened to Ignatius and this... this... TRIXIE mare! He possessed her and darkened her! She'll fall into madness and begin to corrupt others!" the colt glared back and retorted,

"Oh, and that hasn't already happened?" he laughed mockingly, "So what are we going to do, huh? What's going to happen if we fail?"

"Failure's not an option!"

"Failure is ALWAYS an option!" the two ponies were engaged in a heavy argument, the rest still too scared to speak. Their eyes darted nervously between the two and they sat down, still glaring.

"If just killing her doesn't work, then why don't we do what we did with Absinthe, her mentor?" the room gasped and everypony stared at the mare who had suggested such a ridiculous request.

"You know that rule has been abandoned for several hundred years," the mare scoffed,

"And who ever listens to rules?" she daringly eyed the circle, "honestly now... name one time where any of you actually obeyed the rules of the Circle," there was another hushed silence and the mare slipped a silent smirk upon her face. "Exactly," she stated proudly, and the two arguing colts looked at her, a look of enragement upon their faces. One of the colts shook his head, closed his eyes, and when he reopened them he stated quietly,

"This circle of ours is so corrupt that we forgot what we're dealing with..." some ponies gave him dumb expressions, others looked at him in interest as he spoke, "... I think that Trixie will fall into madness, yes, but when you look at her, she's just a mare who's dealt with a lot of the circle's attempts to kill her, and out of spite she killed our best assassin and her mentor. I think it's the end of an era, and the Circle needs to find a better way to deal with this mare." some ponies nodded, but the mare who had argued the rules spoke up.
"So what? Are we just going to watch Trixie ruin Equestria? Remember, we were meant to protect Equestria, not blow it all to hell for one mare," she growled. The colt shot a dark look up to her and he replied,

"Listen! I'm in no favor of saving Trixie's life, but I'm just saying instead of stealing her soul or having an assassin just killing her, we find a better way!"

"There is no better way!" the mare screamed, "that lighting arcane circle did the trick for Absinthe!"

"It did nothing to her! It made her nearly fall straight into madness! You know that, you were there!" the mare was hushed instantly and she retreated quickly into her silence. It was the truth, after all, and she was there right in view of Absinthe. The lighting process sapped much magical ability away from the arcane unicorn standing in the aurora of the lights, but it strengthened the part of the mind that is used for recall. So Absinthe quickly recalled her grand palace in the sky and relearned all of her spells, only to have it drive her into madness while Ignatius toyed with Trixie, eventually ending up killing him and Trixie's mentor. There was no better way to end Absinthe, but with Trixie still around, and probably one of the last of best arcane unicorns around in Equestria, there were limited options.

"I have an idea," a unicorn stood up, her face glowering, "I know a pony who might be able to stop Trixie's madness once and for all. No killing, no soul-stealing or possessing, just straight up ending madness," the mare scoffed,

"So what does that mean? Turning her into a vegetable? Effective sounding," the colt rolled his eyes at the mare's statement and turned back to the mare who had first spoken,

"And who might that be?" the unicorn's face lit up.

"Twilight Sparkle."

* * *

-Ponyville-

Twilight was going through some moderately heavy reading as the others were running their errands of the day to keep themselves off of the news of the Arcane Circle and the news of Trixie's killing spree. Books had always kept Twilight company—no matter what it was, they always had, always would. But that day, Twilight was deep into a book she had started earlier, and a rude poof was heard and she heard a scroll drop behind her. Startled, she slammed her book closed and glared at the interruption.

"Spike?" she inquired loudly, "Spike, did you send something to Princess Celestia without me knowing?" Spike bolted from the other room and responded,

"No, Twilight, why? You know I don't send anything to the princess without you knowing," Twilight rolled her eyes at the purple dragon's comment and knew it was true.

"That's true, but who could have sent this?" she sat on her haunches and opened the scroll, quickly reading through its contents. She set it down, confusion contorting her face.

"Well, what does it say, Twilight?" Spike asked excitedly, but his expression was met with a gloom look from Twilight.

"It's the Arcane Circle, Spike," her voice had retreated into itself as she spoke. "They want me to help them with retrieving Trixie," Spike shook his head in confusion and inquired again,

"What? What's that?" Twilight twitched at the thought of explaining the circle and she responded coldly,

"The Arcane Circle, Spike, is a group of ponies from all over Equestria who gather to discuss out-of-line ponies who have studied magic," Spike blinked confusedly and he sat down, saying,

"Why would they want you to help hunt Trixie, Twilight?" Twilight thought for a moment as she replied quietly,

"Because they think my magic can stop Trixie's Arcane magic from making her grow insane," Spike sat down and thought over the comment and let the silence fill the gap.

"Well I don't know, Twilight, I mean, good luck and all," he finally said after the silence had grown to be too much. Twilight glanced back at him, gave him a brief hug, put on her saddlebag and replied,

"Thanks Spike,"

* * *

006. The Witch Hunt (Part I)

The Witch Hunt.

Twilight left her house immediately, only to make a head-on collision with Trixie herself.

“Twilight!” the name was spoken with excited vigor and Twilight’s eyes widened as she glanced at the light blue mare standing before her.

“Trixie?” Twilight inquired, “what brings you here to Ponyville today?” Trixie’s eyes were red and puffy, and small brief sobs interrupted her explanation,

“I…. I need your help, Twilight…” Twilight’s mind raced as the first few words stumbled out of Trixie’s mouth and time seemed to slow endlessly. The Court wants me to help her, but what will they do with her? I’m not loyal to the Court, but if the Court finds out… Trixie glanced at Twilight, her eyes beaming with some kind of hope for something better.
“Twilight, please…” Trixie said quietly, “I need your help,” Twilight blinked and cleared her head for a moment before saying anything more and she finally replied after a spell of silence,

“Trixie, what is it?” Trixie replied softly, barely audible,

“It’s the Court, Twilight… I’ve heard from other ponies that the entire Arcane Court is looking for me,” Twilight’s heart leapt and she couldn’t help but wonder if Trixie knew that she had been summoned herself to help catch Trixie.

“I…” Twilight began, her heart beginning to race, but she tried her hardest to keep calm, “I… here, stay in the Library, I’ll be right back,” Trixie nodded as she walked into the Library and Twilight ran off towards the Arcane Courts.

* * *

-The Arcane Courts-

Twilight pushed open the doors to the Courts, and the room was empty, only a few candles were still lit and they were hung high above the circular formation of the room.

“I see you came early, Twilight Sparkle,” a voice called from the shadows of the room. Twilight peered into the shadows and replied unsurely,

“No, I just came as soon as I got the letter re-“ the voice cut her off,

“Requesting your help to contain one Trixie Lulamoon, yes,” a figure stepped from the shadows and it was revealed in the dim light that it was the unicorn who had spoken her name during the Court session.

“It’s been awhile,” Twilight said, her tone of voice surprised. The unicorn gave way to a thin lipped smile and answered,

“Yes it has, Twilight, yes it has. I see you’ve done well over the years,” Twilight smiled back, glad to get her mind off of Trixie for a moment,

“I have, thank you,” The unicorn nodded and quickly got back on topic,

“But back on topic, Twilight—you have a way of containing Trixie are preventing her insanity?” Twilight blinked dumbly, replying slowly,

“Well… not exactly, no… I’ve read in a couple of books about unicorns past who used a particular method though.”

“Can you do this method for us?” Twilight looked down at the floor and answered thickly,

“It’s a spell to blink deeper into phase and then into the realm known as Soulrend, a place where the conscience of a pony thrives. I don’t know what could be there in Trixie’s mind,” the unicorn nodded and replied,

“I believe one of our assassins, Ignatius, had tried to corrupt Trixie’s soul and succeeded in tainting it. Perhaps reaching this… Soulrend could save her?” Twilight looked up suddenly.

“I don’t know, it’s never successfully been done before,” the unicorn narrowed her eyes and replied cautiously,

"Then why would it be written about?" before Twilight could answer, another member of the court spoke up as he entered the room.

"Because the writer wished to acknowledge that such a place exists in Ponies' minds," he nodded to Twilight, "Welcome, Twilight Sparkle. Ruska mentioned your name in the meeting of the Court earlier," Twilight nodded back in reply, keeping silent.

"Do you know anything of Soulrend?" the first member asked, and the second looked deep in thought.

"Nothing more than it has a slim chance of both saving and killing both parties who are deep within the Phase." he paused, then continued, "but the Phase is an area within another dimension, so it is thus not singular, but yet it is. Soulrend is..." he trailed off suddenly.

"Yes?" the first member inquired quickly, "What is it?"

"Twilight is right that Soulrend is a place beyond the Phase. However, we all know Ignatius tainted Trixie's soul, which is located deep within Soulrend. Finding it may be impossible and could quite possibly kill Twilight," Twilight nodded, dread filling her heart and spreading its black poison through her body. She shivered madly.

"Is there another way?" the first member inquired, and the second shook his head.

"I'm afraid not. There is no greater magic than sending an Element of Harmony into the realm of the tainted. Whether or not a part of Ignatius still thrives there, you must destroy it without destroying Trixie—or yourself—in this process."

"Wait." Twilight suddenly looked up, despair in her eyes, but a glint of mad hope leaking out of them at the same time. "Ignatius tainted Trixie's soul, right?" the two members nodded slowly and Twilight resumed, "then he must have somehow reached Soulrend, right?"

Another nod.

"Then clearly if someone reaches Ignatius' soul within Soulrend..." she trailed off, her spark of random inspiration filling her, "... I'd learn how to repair her soul, right? Because in a duel when you destroy a soul you learn everything they know," the second member digested the comments and he replied,

"Nobody is sure how Ignatius' presence is still around, Twilight Sparkle. If it really is his soul, then you must trek into Soulrend after a considerable amount of study and Celestia's blessings. If it is not his soul and ends up being his essence instead, then by Celestia you'd better find a way to muster all of your magic to save Trixie's tainted soul."

"At all costs?" the member cringed at the words that came from Twilight's mouth, and he said in return,

"We will save you at our expense if it comes to that, Twilight Sparkle. But whatever it takes, do what you must." he added before Twilight left, "and Twilight Sparkle... the Elements of Harmony, as powerful as they are, cannot stop the Arcane Magic and its tainting of souls,"

* * *

-Canterlot-

Twilight walked into Celestia's throne room and she stood at the end of the hallway, a look of confusion on her face. Celestia was sitting at the opposite end and she knew it was Twilight even before anything was said.

"Twilight Sparkle, what brings you to Canterlot today?" Celestia mentioned, her tone gentle. Twilight was quiet for a unmentionable amount of time, seemingly endless before she spoke.

"I need to know how to get to Soulrend, Princess," Celestia's face grew grave, and even the sun seemed to die and dim. The silence nearly seemed to blacken even the marble stones that the throne was built from. Celestia leaned over to her guard and he slowly walked off. Twilight watched the guard walk away and Celestia walked down to Twilight.

"Soulrend is a place only of the Arcane, Twilight Sparkle," Celestia's tone shrunk from motherly to almost hatred, "what's there that concerns you?" Twilight did not dare look into the Princess's eyes and she looked away, replying,

"Princess, it's not about me..." she paused to take in a shaky breath, "the Arcane Courts picked me to save Trixie from falling into madness," Celestia's glaring gaze softened only a fraction and she replied,

"The Arcane Courts?" her voice hadn't changed a bit as she began, "The Courts, Twilight Sparkle, are nothing and nopony to be dealing with," Twilight glanced only but a second back at the Princess as she answered,

"Princess Celestia... they picked me because they knew I was the bearer of the Element of Magic, and they knew I might be able to save her," Celestia dropped her attack on the Courts and she looked down the hall and saw Luna, waiting patiently.

"Sister, you requested of me?" Luna inquired, and Celestia nodded rather stiffly and watched the dark blue Alicorn walk towards her.

"Hello, Princess Luna," Twilight bowed and Luna nodded, replying,

"Hello, Twilight Sparkle,"

Celestia glanced across at her sister and whispered about the Court's decision about using Twilight, and Luna's eyes widened. The dark blue Alicorn took a step in Twilight's direction and said,

"Twilight, there's a reason why my sister and I disapprove so highly of the Arcane Courts' decision to involve you," Twilight looked up with question—something of such nature she would normally know about, but no book had ever told her that the Courts and the Princesses of Equestria formally hated each other.

"And?..." Twilight inquired quietly, and both Celestia and Luna sat down to begin their story.

* * *

-Flashback-

It was a time of great importance for Equestria, and such was its protection against the surrounding nations. The Griffons, Dragons, virtually any creature known to Equestria at the time were budding, and their metaphorical flowers would bloom—and wish to take out the other nations beginning to rise with them. Equestria had built up her defenses over the past hundred years, and Celestia and Luna had been the newly announced Princesses only for a matter of a couple hundred years. Time was an essence, and very powerful magic needed to be used to protect Equestria, so a flyer was sent across Equestria, from the founding Appleoosa and Fillydelphia, all the way to New Colt City and the small share of land that Ponyville was built upon. Thousands of Unicorns answered the call, and one of them, a quite gifted colt, answered personally to Celestia and Luna the day he received the message.

* * *

-Canterlot-

Canterlot was open to anypony who stepped into the city’s grandeur and majesty, but few could waltz into the Princess’ throne room without being questioned at the time. The doors to the royal throne opened magically, then closed shut with a cold slam, sending a shudder hushing any noise that dare approach it. A young colt stood in front of the doors, his eyes beaming, face determined, but the anticipation made him weak—he was quivering like a hunter preparing for the kill.

“Welcome, Star Chaser,” Celestia said, her voice echoing off the white marble of the throne. The young colt named Star Chaser nodded and then bowed, replying,

“I’m here to answer the call, Princess Celestia,” Celestia nodded.

“So indeed you are, Star Chaser.” Star Chaser slowly got up out of his bow and walked up to the edge of the carpet that led straight up to the throne and he replied,

“So what do you need to me to do, Princess?” Celestia looked down at her sister, who was sitting beside her sister’s throne. Luna simply looked back, nodded, and beckoned for the young Colt to follow her down a series of passages and stairs far below Canterlot’s modern façade.

The winding passages made Star Chaser dizzy, but his determination kept him from backing out. The finely-built passages soon turned into nothing but tunnels of solid stone and dirt, all magically lit by torches, their blue flame licking the edges of their iron cages. Luna stopped before a wrought-iron gate and from the flames' dim light, Star could see a largely hollowed-out cavern, lined with bookshelves as far as the eye could see and in the center was a circle. Inside of it were intricate patterns and one star that each of its five points touched the inner layer of the circle. He glanced at Luna in wonder. Luna looked back, a look of hesitation upon her face, but she magically opened the wrought-iron gate and it swung open and the entire bookshelf-lined room burst into life.

The room was cylindrical in shape, large enough to house several ponies surrounding the circle and one inside of it as well as branching rooms meant for personal practice and further training. Luna walked behind Star as he admired the room and its brilliant contents.

“What are all of these?” He inquired, wonder broadening his already wide smile. Luna attempted to smile, and only succeeded slightly—she was not as thrilled as Star was with the room’s contents, but all the more she knew it was for the better of Equestria’s existence that this magic be used to protect it.

“Books of a very particular kind of magic, Star,” Luna replied, walking further into the middle of the room.
If there was one thing anyone should know of Unicorn and Alicorn magic is that the two are very, very different. Although Unicorn magic can be very powerful and very, very broad, Alicorn magic is extremely potent and can be destructive at will, all the way from physical to Psychological to the depths of Soulrend. And then there’s Arcane magic. Arcane magic is in a class of its own simply because of the power it holds—anypony can learn it, but when used to its fullest potential, it can be corrupting.

“What kind of magic?” Star asked, a lingering excitement leaking into his voice, his eyes wide. Luna glanced at him, but before she could reply with an answer, the book-keeper of the cylindrical room spoke first. His voice was old, but not raspy. It was aged like wine and slick like motor oil.

“Arcane magic, foal,” the figure stepped down from a ladder and walked towards Luna and Star. The old stallion looked kind, rough edges seemed to be carved into his features, but his eyes glittered strongly in their sockets. “it’s extremely deadly, but there’s plenty still to be done with it. Starswirl never wanted it to be created, but his younger brother wanted to have a say in the world.”

Star nodded and Luna looked down at him.

“The book keeper is correct, Star. First, we need to see if you are truly ready for this kind of magic, so step into the middle of the circle,” Star did as he was told and stepped into the middle of the circle, and Luna nodded to the book keeper, who quickly found a book on the middle shelf of one of the parts lining the wall and took it down and gave it to her.

Luna, flipping through its many pages and finding the one she needed, she set it down on the pedestal, took a breath in, and began the spell. Her horn glowed furiously, a bright blue light being emitted around it, and an equally strong white light firing out of it in all directions. Star felt his soul being searched, thrown around within him, his body struggling to cooperate, and he felt himself pass through a wall of nothingness and pass again into a world of complete darkness which yet somehow held a dark purple hue. He found he could walk, but before he could take another step, he felt his body slammed into another dimension and in a dark room with small glowing objects in them, some bright white, other stained as black as the night sky above. Again, before he could do anything, he felt himself pass through all three dimension and back into the real world. He collapsed against the ground and Luna did the same, her breathing shallow. Star struggled to get up, but he felt different—something within him felt changed, unlike his past self. He still held the strong vigor for knowledge, but when he looked at the circle again, it whispered its stories to him, its many knowledgeable tales and secrets. He looked over at Luna, who gave him a glance and she nodded. She recovered more quickly than Star and got up and walked over to him and said,

“Both your heart and soul are ready, Star. You can begin.”

* * *

-Many years later-

Star personally trained many students for the sole purpose of protecting Equestria from any danger that might come across her borders. But there came a point where the magic would overtake the user in mind and body—this point was the point of no return, and Luna and Celestia could see from Star’s slowly declining health that his physical body had taken the greatest toll on him.

Celestia sat upon her throne and Luna, like always, sat beside her sister and Celestia looked to her sister and stated,

“Luna, Star seems to be quite the teacher I’ve heard from many of our subjects,” Luna gave a quick smile and nodded.

“Indeed he is, sister. But there’s something I think we both know,” Celestia nodded in complete understanding.

“The Arcane magic you told him he was ready for is starting to take its toll, yes,” Luna looked down at the ground.

“His soul was completely clean, his body prepared. What is there to know that we do not?” Celestia did not reply immediately this time, as she was thinking nearly the same thing. She continued thinking over her sister’s comments and finally replied,

“We need a system to defend Equestria from those we created to defend Equestria before. If this does not happen, all of Equestria will fall to a magic that even us Alicorns cannot completely control,” Luna nodded in understanding and she walked off to the Library, willing to do anything to defend her country from any danger that it encountered.

* * *

006. The Witch Hunt (Part II)

Luna magically lit up the torches surrounding the library’s contents and she began walking through the sections, muttering every now and then the title of each book, carefully inching her way through, seeing if she had missed anything or not. What do you think you’re doing, Luna? We barely know anything about Arcane magic! Maybe sister has an idea that might help us learn more about this magic… Luna thought as she stopped, fluttering her wings in frustration. There has to be a way. She bounded off back towards the royal throne to ask her sister if there was any way to contain it without the use of current magic.

When Luna reached the throne again, Celestia glanced at her and stated,

“That was a quick visit to the Library, Luna,” Luna nodded, catching her breath and replied,

“Yes, because I wanted to talk to you about something,” Celestia raised her eyebrows and Luna continued, “it concerns that we know little about this powerful kind of magic… maybe we should build some kind of organization to handle it for us?” a hopeful look was in Luna’s eyes and Celestia thought over the comment.

“And how are we going to gather the ponies necessary for this?” Luna was quiet this time, but Celestia still seemed deep in thought. “I’ll think of something and we’ll send out another message. Something must be done, I agree. What we have done is now out of our hooves’ control,” Luna gave a dim smile—hope was on the rise for something better now.

* * *

-The Building of the Arcane Courts-

It wasn’t long before replies returned to Celestia and Luna’s messages on needing many various ponies from around Equestria to build up what would the Arcane Courts. Many of the greatest gathered there to begin the process on learning how they would contain the many of the corrupted members of society who learned the dark art of the Arcane magic and were slowly succumbing to it.

Hundreds were gathered in the throne room, Celestia patiently waiting to see if anymore had gathered. Seeing that there were none, she looked to her sister, who stood up and announced loudly, using her official Canterlot voice,

“Citizens of Equestria! You have been summoned here to help your nation from succumbing to the power of Arcane Magic! You will be known as the first Arcane Courts and will have a place of your own in Canterlot to handle those corrupted by this magic! Are you all prepared?” many of the ponies gathered nodded, others cheered. Luna looked back at her sister and Celestia announced,

“Follow us into your Court and we will all discuss the fate of those in society,” the crowd followed Celestia into their courts, which was located half way across Canterlot, and the doors opened, they all went inside, and the doors were locked.

“Now,” Celestia started, “first thing is first… who will step up to lead the Courts for the next several years?” the crowd backed up, leaving one stallion standing in the center. He looked up and around him, then back at Celestia and a look of pride entered his eyes.

“I guess I will,” he bowed as Celestia blessed him and she walked out of the courts, leaving them to their own device.

“So what are we going to do?” one of the members asked, sitting down near the circular desk of the room. Others followed her lead until every member had a seat in the court. The leader sat in the middle of the room, facing the rest of them, from the first row to the third row.

“Let’s first understand why we’re here,” the leader said slowly, unsure of what to do. Members nodded in confused agreement and the leader continued, “alright. There are ponies out there who are corrupt from the Arcane magic that Star Chaser once taught to many-a pony. We need to find each and every one of them and free them from their beastly nature,” he eyed the room. “understand?”

There were several more nods and motions of understanding and the leader gave a faint smile.

“But how exactly will we do this?” the leader pulled over a book and started to read about how in the older days of magic that fierce beams of light were encapsulated from unicorn magic and then used to power machines and a host of other things.

“I have an idea,” he said, and he grabbed a pen and a large sheet of paper and began to explain what was to be the way of taking care of the corrupt for years to follow. The leader scribbled several large glass bulbs which were arranged in a circle, hosted in a hexagonal-shaped room and in the middle was an arcane circle. He pinned it to the board in the room and let everypony see it.

"Bulbs?" one of the ponies inquired dumbly, "We're going to save tainted souls with light bulbs?" the leader frowned, then said,

"No. In the olden-pony days, ponies used to encapsulate their own magic to power machines and do work. I believe that if we encapsulate certain spells into these bulbs and have the said arcane user stand in the center and shine the bulbs, that will contain them." the one pony nodded and others began to nod as well, unsure of how well it would work.

"But before we begin that, even, I believe that we should discuss a way into the third layer of the Phase that I've so commonly heard about," one of the members stated, standing up. Another one got a look on his face that was both revengeful and triumphant, and he stood up as well, replying to the other’s comment,

“Perhaps if we use this machine to tear the magic out of the user and then we can learn it, that will help us bring into the third layer of the Phase,” the leader looked up, a wild look on his face as he replied,

“I heard from users of the magic that they called it Soulrend,” a wave of pauses was met in the room as the leader when on, “a place where the souls of Ponies are kept. If we can reach that, then we might be able to do our jobs,” another pause. Silence drifted throughout the room as the comment was heard and thought over.

Eventually there some nods, sounds of agreement. The leader nodded to himself and the other ponies in the room all stood up, ready to do the first of their assignment.

* * *

-Just short of half a year later-

A large Arcane circle was drawn in the Court that day, nervous looks cast from one pony to the other. Looks that said,

“I don’t know if we can do this.” “Is it too late to back out now?” “What happens if we fail?” “Will we even go anywhere? Many of us aren’t even Unicorns!” but the hope remained—somewhere, somehow. There wasn’t uncertainty as to why or how. It just did.

The leader of the courts stood at the center, his eyes fierce and ready for anything.

“Are we ready?” he called to everypony in the room, his voice containing as much hope and vigor as possible for the job to come, “we’ve spent months training and helping to try and purify the world from the outside in! But that has failed, some of us have died, but today...”

His voice boomed, “Today we will reach deep into Soulrend and save the souls of those lost to this Arcane Magic!” the amount of hope in his voice reached the depths of the ponies he was speaking to, and they grinned, all stamping their hooves on the ground. After a moment he quieted them all down and began to concentrate and one by one, each of the other ponies followed suit. Each of their Arcane Circle glowed a different shade of color, each slowly draining into the large one the leader was standing in. The air grew thick with expectation and intensity as the leader’s eyes slowly glowed fierce white, his horn glowing, the sky darkening and suddenly, the entire existence of the room seemed to disappear.

Everypony in the room blinked into the Phase, some blinking curiously, others shocked. The entire Court was still alive—the leader noted this with a satisfied grin. The spell he had expected to fail and kill all who weren’t Unicorns and could learn the magic hadn’t failed. His heart leapt and he called out, not knowing of what to expect once they all blinked into Soulrend,

“Now in a moment we will all be blinked into Soulrend, and I’m not sure what we’re going to find there, but expect anything!” the entire Court nodded at once, and the leader concentrated again, this time harder and more focused, and the Court disappeared again, their forms paint-peeling away from the Phase.

The entire Court felt their bodies be twisted out of their forms, mutilated and beat, their souls being searched as if they were being prepared to relearn the dark magic, but they remained concentrated on blinking into Soulrend and only Soulrend, as was their goal. They landed in Soulrend, and after taking a moment to recuperate with themselves, they stood up, blinking at the sheer amount of glowing spheres they saw, all trapped in dark cages. The floor was blackened marble and there was no end to the ceiling up above, only knowing that it gave off a dim light like a streetlamp in the dead of the night. The black and purple hue of the Phase was darker in Soulrend, it dripped with madness and sheer velocity of what was being held in the dark reaches of the subconscious space of Soulrend. The leader looked around him and back at his Court, and he said, slightly unsure of himself,

“Our first priority is to free the souls of those tainted the most. Let’s head out,” the Court walked around the endless amount of shelves and past the brightest spheres to the darkest and the leader stopped.

“Who’s the one responsible for knowing the spell to free the souls?” one of the unicorns walked up. She looked nervous beyond belief.

“I am,” she managed to get out of her mouth before she walked up to the cage the sphere was in and she closed her eyes, slowly letting tendrils leak out of her horn and slide into the lock, twisting and turning, corroding and melting the gears inside which mechanized the lock. It slowly cracked open, the door opened, and the one-foot diameter soul slowly rolled out, gently falling onto the floor with a dull thunk like a solid glass marble, and stopped shortly afterwards. The leader nodded to a small group of the Court, and slowly, the unicorn was more comfortable with the spell, unlocking shelf after shelf of souls, not knowing whose soul they were to save—or possibly destroy.

“Now what?” one of the members of the Court inquired, her voice muddled by the darkness of Soulrend, her eyes looking fearful. The leader seemed confused himself as he stared at the partially-tainted looking soul, the black covering seemingly flowing around the pure-white orb.

“I-I-I’m not sure…” the leader finally said, but in his mind he already knew that there would probably not be a way to save the souls. He slowly put his hoof down on the soul, feeling how much pressure it could probably take. His face grew grave and the color seemed to drain from his eyes. The orb shook, a small crack appearing on its surface.

“What are you doing!?” another member shrieked, and all the others did was watch as their leader crushed the soul, its liquid contents spilling onto the blackness that appeared to be the floor. The leader looked up, his face pale. A member of the Courts had collapsed, but none of them noticed. The realization of what they had to do had set in a little more firmly than they wished, and soon, instead of finding a firm way to save the souls, they only found it appropriate to destroy them.

* * *

-The Abandoned Castle-

A young-looking Absinthe poked her head through the doors of the abandoned castle—not that there were any doors to the building, really—and slowly trotted inside, her hooves hitting the concrete with definite claps. Her mentor was re-shelving her various books and jars of other various materials like she usually did when she had the time.

“Are you busy?” Absinthe inquired, her voice small but full of excitement and energy. Her mentor jumped and a pile of books that she was levitating fell and she turned around, her eyes full of what seemed to be nothing more than the usual,

“I didn’t expect you, and I’m kind of annoyed but really glad to see you. How are you, my faithful student?” Absinthe walked in and sat on her haunches as she reached her mentor.

“I’ve been learning more and more lately… and there’s one particular spell I’m not sure about,” Absinthe noted, and her mentor nodded as her mind registered her student’s words.

“Well, why don’t you show me? Maybe I can help,” her mentor replied, sitting down as well. Absinthe nodded and she concentrated, a bright orb of light surrounding her horn, shots of white light streaked out of it that slowly evolved into a trail of glass whips, but as she was doing that, she concentrated even harder. Her mentor’s eyes widened as she realized what was happening. Every unicorn who learned the Arcane knew about the place called Soulrend, even if the official name hadn’t been appointed yet. They all knew it was there, but not what was there. But even in the best of attempts to distract her student even if for a moment, Absinthe’s mentor couldn’t do anything.

Absinthe felt her body slammed through the different dimensions and eventually they ended up past the Phase, past the Deep Phase, and into a part of Soulrend not touched by the team of the Courts. Her mentor’s jaw dropped as she eyed each of the glowing orbs.

“Absinthe… you’ve learned a mentor’s spell. It’s to see if a pony’s body and mind are truly ready to learn of the Arcane,” Absinthe’s mentor said under her breath. Absinthe really was as skilled as many had said, but at her young age and to nearly accidentally learn a mentor’s spell was kind of impressive. But Absinthe didn’t have time to reply as her concentration was broken and she felt their bodies slammed back into reality.

Once back in the abandoned castle, Absinthe tried her best to stay standing and not pass out, but her mentor caught her in time to keep her upright.

“Very good, Absinthe…” She breathed quietly, and Absinthe just noticed that her mentor had pale lines of marks upon her hide, and the glass tendrils for which Absinthe had summoned lashed out at her, relentlessly and ruthlessly. Absinthe tried to go to her mentor, but before she could, she felt the magic recede suddenly and she watched as her mentor collapse to the ground, the light dying in her eyes.

* * *

All across Equestria, ponies who had learned the magic started dying, starting from a few at a time to hundreds, to thousands and to suddenly nothing as nearly every shelf in Soulrend was emptied of the blackest of the souls, the remaining clearer looking ones cracked and faint. The last few of the members of the Courts that were left were weak looking, and not enough magic was left to supply their fuel to stay in Soulrend. They immediately were slammed back into reality, and in the back of their minds, they knew they had failed.

* * *

-The Arcane Courts-

The team reappeared, the white substance from the souls now a deep blood-red color upon their bodies, their minds corrupt with what they had just done. One of the members of the Court looked sickly at their leader.

“Do you realize which one of those souls we destroyed?” the leader looked guilty himself and he shook his head, unable to say anything. The speaker said weakly,

“Absinthe’s mentor…” the leader blinked and he felt his heart drop to the floor.

“We didn’t mean it… we couldn’t find a way,” he muttered to himself, sitting down on the floor, “how could we have known?” one of the other members of the court looked back at the leader and stated,

“Listen. We can say Absinthe killed her mentor and try to redeem Absinthe. All’s not lost quite yet-“ he was interrupted as Celestia and Luna walked in, their faces grave.

“I thought we said to save the souls of the Arcane, not destroy them,” Celestia growled, Luna staying silent. The members of the Court glowered at their Princesses and the leader replied,

“We couldn’t find a proper way to save them. There was no way-“ Luna shook her head.

“Was not this machine you drew up enough to save them?” the members of the Court glanced at each other, shaking their heads. Celestia stormed out of the courts, Luna leaving them behind as well, slamming the doors shut as they left.

“Well?” one of the Court members inquired into the silence amongst them, “What are we going to do? We failed the Princesses.” The leader looked up, the air about him suddenly changed.

“Just because we failed them doesn’t mean that we still can’t try to save the souls of those who learned the Arcane,”

“But without the magic of the Princesses to defend-“

“We don’t need their magic. We have our own, don’t we?”

The leader retorted, looking about the group. Everypony nodded slowly.

“Then all we need is the strongest of magic to be encapsulated. Then we can find Absinthe,”

* * *

007. The Inquisition

The Inquisition

-Days later-

The Courts had built up their strength and grew in some size, the Princesses officially shunning them for killing the ponies who had learned the Arcane—Absinthe was considered a luxury asset now--, telling everypony possible to avoid the Courts at all costs. But the machine the Courts had built was improved; the room was decorated brightly with the dim emerald shade of green, faded red paint to adorn the high beams that held up the supporting roof. And in every gap between the supporting pillars was the bulb. Six feet high and with a core the thickness of several ponies’ hooves side by side, these bulbs were massive. They were made with glass to not only radiate the magic and light further from one end of the room to the other, they were made to refract the magic to every fiber of one’s being. It was an artificial effect of the Searching Spell used on students to see if they were ready for the Arcane magic, only this artificial effect was used to drain the user of any magical ability it all.

Only in theory was this proposed, however. Nothing said the bulbs were to actually work.

On the day of Absinthe’s inquisition, the Courts barged into her house, knocked her out cold, and dragged her body into the Court. They dragged her past the marbled and chiseled floors, past the hallways and books on magic and time, past passages and through darkened rooms until they reached the inquisition room.

They threw her body into the middle of the arcane circle chiseled into the ground and tied her, one stallion per rope, hiding in the corner of the room to help keep her constrained. The machines were switched on and they glowed for several seconds before dimming down—a sign the magic was waiting and ready to be released at any point in time.

“Absinthe, wanted for murder of her mentor and murder of one Ignatius Constantine.” The leader’s words stopped and he tried searching for other accusations, and realized there were none. “Is they anything you would like to say before we begin?”

Absinthe stared at the floor, not knowing that what had happened in Soulrend was what killed her mentor. Her inquisition was unfair justice.

The leader sighed and walked up to her and hissed in her ear,

"I said, do you have anything more to say?..." he added in shortly after, "you bucking worthless foal," she couldn't react because another force was holding her down, slowly chiseling into her brain that this memory would never be let down. Soon, another Unicorn entered the scene. She glanced at the leader, a nervous look on her face.

"Are you sure this is going to end well?" she inquired, glancing over at him. The leader sneered at her, glancing back at Absinthe.

"The machine works. Trust me," he pitched in, "I suggest you don't look at it. It might..." he glanced up at the ceiling and gave a faint nod, "... mistake you for her," and at that moment, the bulbs began to shine. Their thin strips of light beamed onto the Arcane circle, and it glowed an unnatural shade of black and purple. Absinthe began to scream as the lights grew more intense. The leader closed his eyes and the Unicorn who he had requested turned away. More screaming ensued as each light proceeded to shatter. Another blinding light was focused- it was Absinthe, giving it her all to prevent her ability to perform the Arcane from being repossessed.

"There's no point in trying to stop it from working!" the leader’s voice boomed, "this memory will forever be lodged in your mind! It will drive you insane!" and at that, the rest of the lights shattered, the Arcane circle flamed down to a red-hot glow, and Absinthe collapsed to the ground.

"Make sure she never forgets this," the leader growled, "make sure that her next apprentice makes the same mistake. She needs to end," the Unicorn cast a sideways glance at the leader and told him,

"When you kill your mentor, you realize you inherit their soul, right? You inherit everything." the leader didn't notice what she said, so she kicked him hard in the side and said again, "did you hear me?" the leader shrugged.

"They inherit their soul, so what? At least their powers and strengths aren't inherited, right?" the thought was only mildly comforting and the Unicorn knew somewhere that both of them were right.

* * *

008. Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness

Twilight felt her heart sink—this was horrible news, and she sat on her haunches at the thought of what could happen to her. Celestia and Luna exchanged glances and Luna walked over to her sister’s loyal student.

“Twilight Sparkle, if there is no other way to save Trixie’s soul, then…” Celestia sighed, seeing no other solution as well to the problem and got up and stood next to her sister.

“My sister is right, Twilight. If there is no other way to save Trixie’s soul, you must learn a bit of the magic yourself and go into Soulrend to amend Trixie’s soul of the deeds it has done upon itself,” Twilight nodded and replied,

“But Princess… what if I fail?” Celestia sighed and answered,

“You and your friends bear the Elements of Harmony; you have defeated both Nightmare Moon and Discord.” Twilight nodded again, stating,

“But neither of them knew Arcane magic,”Celestia felt her heart sink. After all, it was the truth, no matter how hard it hurt to think about.

“Twilight Sparkle, we have complete and utter faith that you will not fail,” Luna finally said after a few seconds of silence. “if you ever did fail, then the Courts wouldn’t have chosen you,”

Twilight let the thought sink in and she shuddered. Amongst all of her doubts, that was the truest of them all. If you ever did fail, then the Courts wouldn’t have chosen you, the thought echoed in her mind and she looked up.

“Where do I begin?” Celestia glanced at her sister, who nodded as if it were protocol to do so, and slowly trotted off to find the royal Libraries deep underneath Canterlot. There would be the ancient books of the Arcane magic and its deathly secrets. Several moments passed and Luna was carrying a small stack of books—generally thin—and she placed them at Twilight’s hooves, saying,

“These are the books of the basic spells of the Arcane, read through them thoroughly, Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight nodded, and when she was about to ask if she had to undergo the spell the other ponies had to go through, Luna shook her head.

“An Element of Harmony’s soul and body should be prepared. After all, aren’t you the Element of Magic?” Luna gave a reassuring smile and Twilight smiled dimly back. More truths were told. In the moments following, Twilight put the books in her saddlebag, said her goodbyes, and requested that a chariot take her back to Ponyville. But before Twilight left, she heard Luna yell,

“In the meantime, Twilight Sparkle, my sister and I will prepare a spell to protect your soul from being tainted by the Arcane!” and at that, the heavy doors closed, leaving a promise hanging in the air that neither the Princesses nor Twilight sure it would work.

* * *

-Ponyville-

-The Library-

Trixie paced back and forth, thinking and cursing to herself. This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening! She kept thinking, shutting her eyes tightly. What if I were dreaming? Her thought was interrupted by a ripple in the air around her. The sun seemed to fade and the air staled immensely. Death’s stench replaced the usual freshness of the Library.

“Clever, aren’t you?” a voice rippled from somewhere inside the room, “thinking you can employ one of the Elements of Harmony to save you?” Trixie narrowed her eyes and focused on the ripple. She had become well-acquainted with the presence of Ignatius.

“How can you still be here!?” she cried out, anger filling her voice. Ignatius’ rippling voice finally stopped and a deformed version of him stood before her.

“Why, do you doubt my existence?” Trixie glared strongly at the form and yelled in reply,

“You shouldn’t exist! I-I killed you, didn’t I?” the form of Ignatius gave a briefly dark grin. It nearly seemed to deform the very fabric of the Library.

“Maybe you did,” he declared darkly, “but what of my soul, do you ask?” Trixie sighed, still glaring. The doubt crossed her mind. The Harbinger of Fire was correct—what of his soul did she not destroy?

“Di- Didn’t I- I- I thought…” Trixie trailed off, her eyes wide now. She realized that when she blinked to bring Ignatius into the fight, she hadn’t destroyed is soul—she only managed to sever it from his body, and his soul was lounging around in her limited-space world. She stared at the ground.

“I thought I told you,” the grin on Ignatius’ face returned, “that you wouldn’t win.” The last few words hung in the air like an ACME anvil, waiting to fall. Ignatius soon slithered off into the space in between the world and Trixie tried to blink after him, but before she could reach the Phase, another spell broke her concentration, slamming her back against the wall. She tried again and again, only to have the same result happen. She finally collapsed and sobbed.

The sobs weren’t for failing to win, but the sobs were for the failing belief that she could be saved.

Twilight opened the door and was shocked to see Trixie’s body huddled in a corner of the library, blood splattered where she had been slammed against the bookshelves.

“Trixie?” Twilight inquired lightly, setting her saddlebag down and walking over to the blue mare, “what happened to you?” Trixie looked up, her eyes glazed but yet concentrated and said, barely audible,

“Ig… Ignatius was here…” Twilight blinked dumbly, sitting on her haunches.

“Who?” Trixie glared for a moment and then realized that Twilight wouldn’t know who she was referring to. She said again,

“Ignatius… was here, Twilight…” Twilight narrowed her eyes. Circles were one thing she hated, circular conversation being one of them.

“Yes, but who is Ignatius?” Trixie closed her eyes briefly.

“The Harbinger of Fire,” Trixie muttered. Twilight nodded slowly, processing the name. She looked around the bookshelves, whispering the name to herself.

“The Harbinger of Fire, The Harbinger of Fire… I’ve heard it—briefly—before, but I wouldn’t expect this Ignatius or whoever to be that…” she continued looking and plucked a book from the shelf, reading the title to herself,

“The Harbinger of Fire by Dr. Lockett Hooves,”she opened the book and sat on her haunches. As the book lay open in mid-air, Twilight read to herself,

“The Harbinger of Fire is a title given to the lead assassin of the Arcane Courts; few ever make it to get to that point of skill and ability, and rarely ever do Earth ponies ever get the chance-“ Twilight looked up, her face contorted into a mass of confusion. But that’s impossible, she said to herself, there’s no way that an Earth Pony can learn the arcane magic themselves! Twilight shook her head and looked back at Trixie.

“Trixie, is this Ignatius an Earth Pony?” Twilight mentioned and Trixie looked back at her, shaking.

“Yes,” the small whimper barely escaped Trixie’s lips and Twilight looked back at the book, the next line or two reading,

“And when an Earth Pony does get the chance, their natural strength grants them an unusual ability after pushing to learn the magic. Most of them have an inlaid Fire Ruby endowed with the power of an Alicorn to help them,” Twilight blinked a few times and reread the sentence to herself. But who would do such a thing? Surely the Arcane Courts wouldn’t have a leader like Ignatius now… or would they? She thought as she set the book down and helped Trixie up to her hooves and led her to comfortable place to rest.

“I went to Canterlot to ask if there was a way to save your soul,” Twilight mentioned as Trixie weakly climbed into the bed, clearly exhausted. Yet at the mention of being saved, Trixie gave off a faint smile. She quickly fell asleep and Twilight walked back into the Library and grabbed a couple of the books Luna had given her. The title was unreadable, but the text inside looked as new as any other book Twilight had seen. She started to read through the first few pages, occasionally getting up to practice the spell.

* * *

001. What I'm to Teach You is Deadly

What I'm to Teach You is Deadly

"Some say the power of the arcane is deadly. I laugh at their pity morals. They're all morally dubious... especially the Unicorns who don't use their abilities to their fullest potentials. I have harnessed this ability from the deepest forges of every dead Unicorn I have slain, I have adopted their mindset, their logicality. I am my abilities. I am to be feared, I am not afraid of what my become of me," - The Great and Powerful Trixie.

Bursts of white lightning shot out of an abandoned castle's walls, seeping through the air, seeking the air, bathing in its eternal essence. More bolts of white lightning. It pulsated with a force unknown to most ponykind. The power seemed to be alive. Whenever it shrunk down behind the confines of cobblestone and mortar, another stream would electrify the air and sent sparks flying everywhere within the room of the castle. Within the castle, beyond its various hallways and linkages, was a clearing the size of a medium sized shed. It was adorned with a grand marble floor- which surprisingly held well for being abandoned so long ago- and mostly broken down walls. But what sat in the center was an off-white Unicorn, her strikingly fire-red mane spilling over her body, her tail twitching fiercely. She was wearing a black coat the color of coal and the hat she wore was as charred as her coat. Her eyes were concentrated pits of emerald-green and under her mottled breath she uttered the spell that cast everything in the fierce and pulsating lightning. Below the spell-casting mare was an ornamentally decorated with smooth curves and inner circles, and below the glass section of the floor were ancient cogs connected to a wider outer circle. That circle was a giant gear itself, and the other, smaller gears connected to it were attached in such a way that it made a daunting triangle. They each glowed a fiery red, orange, and yellow each time a spell was cast, but the gears also moved on cog.

Each spectacular spell moved the machine, and the small, blue Unicorn who sat watching her elder was in awe. One day, the blue mare thought, her eyes narrowing and her imagination flying, one day that will be me. Right after her thought had crossed her mind, a blindingly strong bolt of lightning struck the core of the machine and the white Unicorn collapsed, breathing shallowly but otherwise unharmed. The machine below her struggled to cope with the stopping of its power, but as it processed the last bolt, it churned, grinded everything it had to get going, and suddenly it shuddered once, and was moving by itself. The blue mare watched as the castle started rearranging itself and started showing signs of the arcane, the deadly. The powerful and old magic only told of in old pony-tales. Her mouth dropped, but her attention was quickly reverted back to the white Unicorn. She walked over to her and nudged her with her nose.

"Are... are you okay?..." the white Unicorn looked up and smiled dimly. The machine had slowed down to a slow, working rhythm and soon, the entire Castle was transformed into a whole new world. Its clockwork mechanism raised the plot of land several layers up into the sky, and magnificent windows adorned the walls as shelves of books encased the walls as well.

"Learn well, for this is your humble beginning, Trixie," the white Unicorn said as equally dim as her smile, and she slowly got up. The blue mare named Trixie gawked at the weak condition the white Unicorn was in, and she answered the gaze, "What you have witnessed will open your mind to what you can be capable of doing. I need you to understand that this magic is powerful beyond most Unicorn's conceptual beliefs and can be deadly," she made an imposing glare in Trixie's direction,

"Do you understand me?" Trixie nodded and a glint of pure ferocity entered her eyes.

"Yes," The white Unicorn nodded in reply, thinking, That's what all your students of said, Absinthe. All of your students have said they understand the power of the Arcane... and it's... general ferocity. Should you take such young souls and twist them? Are sure you understand what you're truly doing? Turning innocent young mares into monsters. Absinthe shook her head, the deep nail of insanity twisting deep into her skull. No! she thought to herself, That's not what I'm doing! I am teaching this art to those who wish to use it for the well-being, the balance of all of Equestria... I am teaching an art. An art... she tensed up, but then she took a deep breath and released it. Her fiery-red mane had a different luster to it. It had the look of being drenched though completely dry. Most of it was draped in a wide arc over her left eye and the rest swung around the back of her neck.

Taking a deep breath, not sure of where to go from where she was standing with Trixie, she picked up the staff she had been holding and set it next to Trixie. Trixie eyed it and raised an eyebrow towards Absinthe.

"So what do I learn first?" Absinthe gave an unsure smile and look towards her new apprentice.

"Follow me," she finally declared, and started to lead Trixie towards the back of the refined castle, blinking out of the chamber completely.

* * *

Avoid your trophy collection, the voice inside Absinthe's head continued to speak clearly, or should you take her to it? Show her your madness. That nail inside your pretty little head's going to pop your brain like a cherry! Absinthe twitched as she walked with her apprentice down a long brick hallway that seemed to construct itself from nothingness, but it always formed in the process of reversed paint peeling. The entire world seems so... intricate, Trixie thought, her eyes widened at the tall, hauntingly beautiful ceiling and tall glass windows that adorned the hallway. Absinthe ignored the insanity that clogged her thoughts like a tumor and she said to her apprentice,

"Do you like everything so far?" Trixie nodded and Absinthe laughed gently, "this magic is not of the arcane, but a magic that the Pegasi used to have long, long ago. I was taught by a Pegasi who learned the skill from the founding Pegasus somepony once said," she sighed in wonder. When she built this wonderful place, she had worked so hard to make it beautiful and intricate. Recalling it was a process that had nearly killed her-- twice. But once recalled, reconstructing it from memory was no problem. The world she had recalled, brought up from the earth and into the clouds was limitless. That was the magic of the Arcane- it was lesser known, but it made her able to reconstruct anything in a limited space, given you had enough skill to activate the core of your platform.

"What you'll be learning first is to Phase Blink," Absinthe remarked as she pushed open large double doors to reveal a large room, adorned with empty seats. It was pentagonal in shape, and had a basic arcane circle carved into the floor. "And that's where you'll be practicing thus far," Trixie stepped into the middle of the circle and looked at all the empty seats.

"What did all of this used to be?..." Trixie's voice was once again lost in awe and Absinthe forced a mind-numbing thought to the back of her head. She shuddered madly and thought nervously, I didn't mean to recall this place out of nowhere...

* * *

-Flashback-

"It was long ago that memories become engrained in ones' mind, pressed and molded into their skulls. Such tragic events can muddle the memory, the psychological profile so delicately produced by the brain. All it takes is a little thought and it's all over. You end up murdering and plundering, losing your profile as you go. Arcane magic is powerful," a finely dressed Colt spoke, his hooves clattering the hard floor. He had teething green eyes. They were sharp and would stare directly into your soul. Whether that was magic or just simply pony nature it was never sure. The pentagonal-shaped room was well decorated; the wooden beams that held up the seats were painted a gentle green, and the supports were red. It was simple, elegant, perhaps classy. But the Colt admired the young white Unicorn at the center of the room.

She was tied at the neck and had four ropes tied from it, steaming from the center of the room out to each corner, where more Earth Ponies were standing.

"Absinthe," the colt announced loudly, a smirk on his face, "wanted for murder of one Ignatius Constantine. Mentor of the Arcane. Leader of the Revolt again us," he hissed, laughter stemming from it. "Do you have anything more to say?" he called over to her. Absinthe could do nothing but stand there, helpless. The Colt sighed and walked up to her and hissed in her ear,

"Are you sure this is going to end well?" the colt sneered.

"The machine works. Trust me," he pitched in, "I suggest you don't look at it. It might..." he glanced up at the ceiling and gave a faint nod, "... mistake you for her," and at that moment, several large light-bulb resembling objects were wheeled in below the arches of the room and began to shine. Their thin strips of light beamed onto the Arcane circle, and it glowed an unnatural shade of black and purple. Absinthe began to scream as the lights grew more intense. The Colt closed his eyes and the Unicorn who he had requested turned away. More screaming ensued as each light proceeded to shatter. Another blinding light was focused- it was Absinthe, giving it her all to prevent her ability to perform the Arcane from being repossessed.

"There's no point in trying to stop it from working!" the Colt's voice boomed, "this memory will forever be lodged in your mind! It will drive you insane!" and at that, the rest of the lights shattered, the Arcane circle flamed down to a red-hot glow, and Absinthe collapsed to the ground.

"Make sure she never forgets this," the Colt growled, "make sure that her next apprentice makes the same mistake. She needs to end," the Unicorn cast a sideways glance at the Colt and told him,

"When you kill your mentor, you realize you inherit their soul, right? You inherit everything." the Colt didn't notice what she said, so she kicked him hard in the side and said again, "did you hear me?" the Colt shrugged.

"They inherit their soul, so what? At least their powers and strengths aren't inherited, right?" the thought was only mildly comforting and the Unicorn knew somewhere that both of them were right. She shuddered at the thought of what was to happen if Absinthe really ever did get an apprentice.

* * *

Trixie had already stepped into the middle of the circle as Absinthe pulled herself out of her memory. This won't happen again, she tried hard to keep herself focused, won't happen again... then again, how would she know if she died?