Just a Teacher

"We need to hide! Quickly, slide away the door!" Written Fidgment urged Velvet, who went from impatience to a state of mild shock.

"Does it matter now? We're trapped. And if those cultists are indeed violent as you claim..." she whispered, and didn't finish her sentence.

"Maybe they're just back for a snack? Duck behind these crates, perhaps they won't notice us."

Twilight managed to close the sliding stone door, and hid behind a crate, with Written on the opposite side of the storage room. She also shot down her illumination orb, and even regulated her breathing to make as little noise as possible. But she knew her chances of not being discovered were pretty slim.

Several minutes passed. They heard several ponies walking around, and also talking, most of which were too muffled and distant to be understood. Then one sentence struck Velvet's ears, which was said somewhat louder, and for a reason.

"Hey, I did not put this here. Who was messing with my drawer again?!"

Twilight gulped, but for several more minutes, nothing happened. She could only hear her own heartbeat. But then a louder, harsher sound proclaimed.

"We've got an intruder! Search the base!"

Velvet's heart skipped a beat. Although she was skeptical all the way, now she was sure Written's claims would be all validated.

Twilight didn't know how many minutes could have passed in silent waiting. In the pitch black storeroom, she could only rely on her ears for perception. She couldn't see anything, not even her own hooves. But what she heard convinced her it was only a matter of time. Semi-loud conversations, interspersed with some yelling echoed outside, alongside the fast-paced clip-clops of hooves striking the stone floor of the base.

Eventually, the door slid away, and through the crack, a column of light was cast into the room. With being in complete darkness up until then, the sudden brightness hurt Velvet's eyes. But she could still see how Written wriggled deeper into the cover of the boxes. A moment later, a very clear male voice asked:

"Was this one visited?"

"Master, all the crates here are opened." came the answer.

"Then get inside, and search!"

Written Figment was found first, then a moment later, Twilight Velvet too. And now that their eyes got used to the sudden light, and were face to face with the cultists, they could surmise that they wore silver-colored hooded robes, and each of them wore a pendant on their chests, depicting a six-pointed star.

"Well, well, well." the owner of the previous voice started "What do we have here? It's some earth pony burglar, and her unicorn sidekick. Or is it the other way around? Search them!"

Two of the unicorn cultists took away their saddlebags, and levitated out the contents. When the tome and scroll were found, they were presented to the stallion.

"Hmmm." he rubbed his chin under his hoodie "Was anything else missing from the other parts of the base?"
"No, master" the mare who held up the items answered "Everything was roughly in its place, but was visibly shuffled over. Even our bits are present. I'd say they knew what they wanted."

Now "master" turned towards the two mares caught, and her gaze stopped on Written Figment.

"So, you wanted to take the scroll and its decoder, too. Now I just wonder, what an earth pony like you would do with such an obscure artifact?"

Written looked away from the stallion's gaze. In return, he stepped really close, and lowered his head, trying to make eye contact. He continued.

"Or perhaps you're not just some burglar. You're one of those pathetic Gladius Arcanus members, aren't you? Ponies who are obsessed with blocking progression!"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Written answered, sounding flustered, not hiding well that the stallion just nailed her allegiance.

"Oh, of course you don't. Policy of denial, and what not. Let me tell you sweetheart, your "secret society" is about as much of a secret as you're good at lying. I also know you lot work with Celestia. Because otherwise, you would've been culled centuries ago."

Written pouted up her lips, and gave the stallion a nasty look, but didn't respond otherwise. He turned away from her, and leaned into Velvet's face, whose heart was beating in her throat so far.

"And what about you? Why did you help her? Or maybe, you're actually in charge? Would be more fitting, I admit. Considering it must have been you who opened our front door..."

Velvet lifted up both hooves in front of her chest, and began in an apologetic tone.

"L-look, sorry we robbed you, but let's be clear and honest here: we don't know what's going on here, or what is your agenda. Please, let us go, we meant no harm, really. Look, I'm just a teacher from Canterlot. I wanted that one book, but I wasn't aware it belonged to you. Clearly, we've made a mistake, but maybe we can talk this out?"

The stallion smirked at Velvet's tender words. She tried to shoot back a little smile, but it turned into a scared frown. She felt that smirk wasn't the kind, agreeable one.

"Likely story. Just a teacher. You must be one of Celestia's mages, helping this fool."

"I am not! I'm just a teacher, as I said. Doing a little favor for my university. But not even they know what that tome could do. So with that said, and with your secrets kept unrevealed, could you maybe let us go? Or at least me?"

Hearing that, Written gave Twilight a nasty look. Velvet looked back, with sadness in her eyes. As if saying: "Sorry, but I have a family. Can't help you."

The cultist leader straightened up, and walked away a few steps from Velvet. After some seconds of silence, he yelled.

"Restrain them!"

Written was lifted up in a telekinetic aura. Trying to fight it, she kicked around with all fours, but she was kept firmly in the air. Twilight was grabbed too, but she was levitated by the combined spell of four unicorns. But unlike her companion, she didn't try to fight it. She knew it was no use, considering at least ten other unicorns occupied the room, ready to take down any resistance.

The leader stepped back to Twilight, and started once again.

"I am master Comet Crest, and we are the Disciples of Arcana. I was once learning under Celestia's wings, until I realized how much she held me back. How much she held Equestria back. I discovered many hidden truths, and even gained followers. We know what is at the end of the path, and are willing to do anything to reach it."

"You are a raving lunatic!" Written shouted, her front hooves kicking in the air towards Comet Crest "You probably think you're serving some higher purpose, like any cult, but you really are just criminals!"

Written clenched her teeth in a mad snarl. It looked like she could bite out his throat, was she let go. Comet just sighed, and looked back at Velvet. He continued.

"And she calls me a lunatic... Look, I have an offer for you: You don't seem stupid, and you must be pretty powerful. Actually, I can feel you are. You ooze untapped magicka. Join us, and give yourself a chance for ascension. Become another one of Arcana's students."

Velvet admitted to herself, this stallion indeed sounded like a lunatic. But at the same time, his eyes were clear, and didn't reflect the craziness of his speech. Maybe they weren't just raving madponies, and there was something to their words. Something to this Arcana, that was namedropped for the second time now. And although she was curious, she knew the only thing she should care about was somehow getting out of this predicament.

"I'm kind of honored by your offer, but I have to turn it down, before we'd go into this anymore deeply. But is there any other way I could make up for this incident?"

"Aside from joining us? I'm afraid no. You two already know too much. Now, I wanted to kill the dumb Gladius member from the get go, but I didn't intend the same fate for you. It'd be a terrible waste. I'd suggest you should rather join."

Velvet considered what she heard, and judging from the stone-cold expression, and calm voice, it was probably not just a bluff. But she had to figure out one for herself, one that would bail her out of this frying pan.

"L-let's say I join. Reluctantly. But please, leave my companion alive. Spare her, and I'm yours."

It needed some effort for these words to leave her mouth, but Velvet knew at that point she had to buy herself some time to formulate a real plan. Too bad Comet Crest didn't want a conditional surrender. She let out a little laugh, and the rest of the cultists also looked at each other bemused. Comet leaned in closer to Twilight, and answered.

"I don't think you're in the position to give us any terms."

He glanced at Written, then continued.

"So why not turn around these terms a little? You kill this pathetic wench, and you can stay, doing errands for us. You don't even need to become a full fledged member, if you don't want to. So, what do you say?"

Unlike so far, Comet's words were accompanied by a sadistic smile. Twilight winced, but at the same time, it gave her an idea. Provided she was allowed to use magic for the execution, that is.

"There is no other way then? And if I caved in, how would I have to carry out this act?"

The stallion's eyes went wide for a moment upon hearing the sudden acceptance. And on Written's face, there was a mix of fear and disgust. Of death and betrayal, respectively. But Twilight didn't react.

"Hm, maybe you are reasonable after all. Look, I'd allow you to use any method you want. But a magic bolt between the eyes would be the most painless. Provided you wouldn't rather see her suffer. Like me..."

Twilight closed her eyes, and let out a long sigh.

"Then magic bolt, it is."

Twilight Velvet was let go from the magical grip, while Written was grabbed by another unicorn, and was held firmly in place. Comet Crest presented the target with a forehoof.

"You may fire when ready."

Written's expression was now that of pure disgust. She shook her head slowly, as much as the firm telekinetic grip let her.

"And here I though you had integrity... Well, do your worst. I won't beg for my life."

She was looking Twilight right in the eyes. She had to admit, that pony had some spunk. But she didn't return any particular expression, she had to focus her energies elsewhere. Obviously, she didn't plan to kill. But to pull off her actual plan, she had to deeply concentrate.

"I'll need a few moments. I'm not particularly good at combat spells."

Comet just nodded.

Velvet began charging up her horn, all the while thinking of her teleportation spell. She accidentally realized a few years before that she could teleport objects, but she never teleported herself. Now she had to blink both "an object" (Written Figment, that is) and herself out of existence, briefly, travel through Caelum, and emerge at the desired location. The problem was, Twilight couldn't picture anything too clearly in her mind that wasn't too far away. And that was necessary for blinking out.

Sure, she knew many places in Canterlot that existed very vividly inside her head, but she just couldn't wrap her mind around teleporting such a distance. Then she thought about her surroundings. When they reached this base, she looked at the entrance for quite a few seconds, and that seemed something manageable distance-wise too. So she imagined the location, and channeled even more magical energy into the spell.

She imagined sending Written through the netherworld. Then tried to imagine herself as just some mere object. An alembic? An abacus? Maybe an arcanometer? Yeah, that would work, she thought. She could cast the spell that way. She couldn't think anything else, or the spell inside her head would begin to fail.

Twilight's horn now was throwing sparks, and every ounce of her magic was dedicated to the spell. She went through the mind-motions one last time. Written; herself; the base entrance; Caelum; then release.

But right before that last part could have actually happened, she felt a burning sensation in her horn. She opened her eyes, and for a moment hoped she actually pulled through, but she realized the spell misfired. Or more like, it was faltered by the cultist leader. Comet Crest's horn was glowing, and stared at Velvet with contempt.

"Do you take us for complete fools? Do you think I can't tell the difference between a charging combat spell and teleportation spell?"

Comet shook her head, then continued.

"You had your chance. You decided to waste it on trickery. Now you will pay the price."

Twilight shrunk back a bit. In a way, the cultist leader was right. On the other hand, she just dreaded the inevitable outcome of the situation. She felt so stupid and lost. Why did she think it was good idea in the first place to come down here? Why?!

"Master, let me deal with them. We already wasted more time on them than they deserve." came from a hooded mare, her horn glowing with magic.

Comet Crest looked towards her, and seemingly considered what she said. Then waved a hoof, and replied:
"No. That would be just too simple. Instead how about...

He turned back to Velvet with a mischievous smirk.

...a little demonstration?"

Twilight Velvet gulped. The faces of the cultists reflected far too much excitement.

Both Velvet and Figment were dragged to the large circular room they discovered earlier, which now they realized, must have been some sort of arena. It told them heaps about these cultists that they had a dedicated place for dealing with interlopers.

The arena's walls were high, and had one proper entrance, which was closed. Instead, they were literally thrown down into the pit, from what seemed like the observation deck. Then, several of the cultists erected an energy barrier in front of everyone, and the robed spectators formed a circle.

Comet Crest appeared too. He looked down at the unlucky ponies beneath himself.

"I think you will appreciate what you will encounter. A piece of technology, from the distant past. Most ponies couldn't even imagine such a perfect amalgamation of magic and machinery existing, yet the civilization it belonged to manufactured these by the hundreds. But don't fret. Actually, you should feel honored to be the first modern-day victims of a Praetorian."

Written and Velvet looked at each other. The latter breathed heavily. She asked:

"Just what the hay is a Praetorian?!"

"I dunno. But it sounds bad."

A moment later, the double doors of the arena took their attention, as they slowly slid apart. When they fully opened, a huge, pony-like construct was revealed.

It was tall, slender, and had a long horn. The magical lights of the arena were reflected by its brass frame. The opaque eyes, either thick glass or gems, lit up with a red glow.

Overall, it looked like Princess Celestia in a full suit of armor. And it made its first clanking steps towards its intended victims.

"I just wanna say before I go out" Written begun "that I'm awfully sorry that I doubted you. I'm truly sorry. You're a pony of great integrity, and I'm glad I got to know you."

Twilight glanced over, but then she fixed her gaze on the towering automaton in front of them.

"Sadly, I can't share that sentiment. Look what you dragged me into! But I'd rather go down fighting than mourning myself. Help me?"

"I won't let you down, Twilight Velvet."

Meanwhile, the automaton got closer. It was looking at Twilight, and it let out two words in a very artificial voice:

"TARGET_DETECTED."

Twilight stepped back. Again and again. The automaton's horn was charging up. Before she knew it, she reached the edge of the arena. She had to realize it wasn't really sized for entertaining fights, but more like quick executions. Adrenaline triggered her to get out of the way, but she really had nowhere to go. The automaton tracked her movements, but with some slight delay. And Twilight noticed this, even in her panicked state.

Then, she heard a mad roar...

"WHAAAAARGH!"

Written charged the machine, and crashed into it with such force, that it faltered. It cast its spell the exact same moment, but thanks to the intervention, it missed Twilight.

"Velvet, I'll distract it, you flee!"

"But there's nowhere to go!"

Twilight looked around, but all she saw were the walls all around, and the cultists looking on with satisfaction. She shifted her balance from leg to leg, ready to pounce, to either fight or flee. She just didn't figure out how to do either.

"Get back to its pen, that must lead to somewhere!" yelled Written, and bucked the brass construct with all her might.

"AAAUGH!!!"

A wave of laughter washed over the audience. "Bad touch. Bad touch!" somepony even said.

Written fallen to the ground. Detecting this, the automaton lifted a leg over her, obviously trying to simply crush her. Twilight reached out, and wrapped her telekinesis around the leg, then yanked it away from the injured pony.

Luckily, Written managed to stand up. She stood up on her hind legs, and grabbed unto the Praetorian's neck. She tried to wrestle it, but she'd proven to be little match for the automaton. Although she interfered with its aim just enough to miss the shot it took at Velvet.

"Twilight, get outta here while you can!"

"Not without you!"

"I can't hold it down much longer, escape already!"

"We're in this together now, we'll get out of this together!"

While Written was wrestling the machine, and the precious seconds went by, Twilight's brain-cogs possibly went into a fiercer overdrive than the Praetorian's neck servos. So, magitech. It has rudimentary artificial consciousness, like a golem, but possibly the enchantment doesn't hold the power it requires. The automatons Twilight knew about were basically children's' playthings, which held two tiny gems, with one providing the behavior, and the other the raw magical power. Removing either would shut one down. And Velvet didn't want to believe this one would be so much different.

With a sudden idea, Twilight got really close, just as the Praetorian managed to shake off a very clingy and fierce earth pony. Being too close to get shot at, she basically danced around the brass monster, avoiding its stomps, and prodding at its armor plates with her magic. It was more shoddily made than Velvet imagined. She grabbed into one firmly, and tore it off the machine.

"Bodily_integrity_compromised."

Velvet tried to get a good glance at the densely packed insides of the machine, but she had to maneuver around so much she just couldn't manage.

"Written, could you distract it just a little bit more?"

Written didn't even answer, she was already on it. Charging the machine from the other side Twilight was on, it fired at her madly, but she ran a circle around it, so only the walls got a taste of its magic bolts.

Twilight only saw from the corner of her eyes the marks those bolts left. She gulped. One like those could fry anypony to a crisp.

But she also managed to take a look at the various servos, sprockets, axles, and gyros the automaton contained. She couldn't make sense of them sadly, and had no idea what should be removed to shut it down. In the heat of the moment, she grabbed a large sprocket, and tore it out.

It did nothing, except making it divert its attention to Twilight.

Now it was her chance once again to avoid its close-quarters attacks, or dare running for her life, racing with its magic bolts. Twilight decided to stay close, and rolled away from the rearing automaton, which crashed down to the ground with such force that it shook a bit.

"Try its chest, Velvet! I'll help!" came the advice from Written, who now grabbed unto a back leg.

The Praetorian tried to kick her away, and using the opportunity, Twilight wrapped her magic around the chest plate, and tried to force it open. With some serious effort, she succeeded.

And there it was. A large, opaque blue crystal, embedded in a gyro. Twilight grabbed it, and began yanking it.

"Ah, useless machine, terminate them already!" came from Comet, audibly very frustrated.

That was Twilight's cue to don't let up now, and although some fail-safe spell was holding it in place, she powered through it, and with a final brutish pull, the gem remained in her telekinetic grip.

The automaton charged up a spell, and stepped back. Twilight didn't understand it. What was this? What she removed MUST have been the power crystal. Stray magic?

But the spell didn't fire. The automaton's glass eyes suddenly went out, and the brass construct fallen to its side with a loud clank.

Twilight and Written looked into each other's eyes, bewildered. They didn't want to believe it, but they defeated something none of them could even image the existence of before.

"NOOOOO!!!" Comet shouted.

The cultists collectively started to murmur. This surprised them as much as it did the unwitting gladiators. But Written was on the nose.

"Now's our chance Velvet. Follow me!"

They galloped into the automaton's pen, which had a stone door, possibly leading into the rest of the base. It was unlocked, so Twilight slid it open, and they continued onward. She could hear the loud "After them! Kill them!" from behind though.

"Which way?" Twilight asked.

"Forward. They are on to us. I only hope this leads somewhere."

Both ponies galloped along a narrow corridor, but they could hear many hooves not so far behind them.

"Faster, faster!" Written urged.

Eventually, they had to stop, as they reached a dead end.

"Now what?" Velvet asked in a frenzy.

"This wall ain't that thick. I can feel it in my hooves. Give me a few moments to determine where it's the thinnest, and maybe I can kick through it."

Twilight was skeptical about that claim, although she admittedly never fully understood earth pony magic. She could only hope Written knew what was doing.

"Great, but please hurry! I can hear them approaching!"

"Couldn't you distract them somehow?" Written answered as she ran a hoof along the dead end-wall. "As I said, I need a few moments!"

Sure, no biggie, Twilight thought, that'd be a breeze, considering they are perfect targets here in this dead end. Her brain was in an overdrive. It was ever since they were thrown in that arena. A shield spell? One of her brothers showed her one, and only once, and although she had the arcane patterns down in her head roughly, it wasn't enough to cast a proper spell.

Then focus shifted to what she had in her grip. She barely noticed so far, but she was still levitating the crystal core of the automaton. It dawned on her: only certain kinds of crystals were capable of holding huge amounts of raw magicka, and this particular kind was a... bluevale crystal?

Which made it obviously counterfeit.

And these were also known to be very unstable if overcharged.

"That's it!" an idea suddenly popped into Twilight's head.

The crystal must have been pretty "full" if it was able to power up such a powerful automaton, so it probably didn't need much more to reach a critical state.

Twilight changed the arcane polarity of the object, and it immediately soaked up the aura that kept it in the air. Now on the ground, she fed it more magic, simply casting a blank spell on it. A few seconds later, it began to glow, and Twilight was pretty sure it only needed a tiny bit of magical or physical punishment to burst.

She carefully picked up the crystal with her mouth. The hoofsteps were really close now. She didn't know how much damage it would do, but she didn't have a chance. She swung her head, and let go of the crystal.

It flew a considerable distance, and where it landed, an earth-shattering explosion struck the cave. Twilight felt the magical whiplash in her horn, and the slight shockwave in her legs. The part of the corridor where the crystal burst began to crumble and collapse.

"EEEEP! What was that???!" Written turned back, eyes reflecting horror.

"Relax. Just my distraction. And NOW it would be a very good time to leave."

Written nodded, and apparently she had just the place to bust through. She bucked with her hindlegs, and the wall cracked where her hooves connected.

"Almost! Heeee-ya!"

She kicked again, and the stone yielded, and about a pony-sized hole was created. Meanwhile, a considerable amount of rocks have fallen on the path separating them from the chasing cultists.

"Years of buck-boxing! Let's go!"

Velvet was in bit of an awe of the feat, but skipped the compliments, and followed Written. Soon they saw an exit, and the narrow, stony corridor began steeply going upwards. With a last push, they reached the upside world, and for the first time, Twilight felt they might just make it.

"Oh sweet goodness, I was never so glad to see the Sun!" she said, panting "Now let's get back to the train tracks, and find a royal guard patrol. I don't think these cultists have given up."

"YOU get back to safety. I'll handle the rest. And don't worry, I WILL report this to the authorities."

Luckily, both ponies reached the Hollow Shades junction train station safe and sound. But as no train was in sight, they decided to follow the track, so no cultists far too persistent for their own right, would catch up to them.

Meanwhile, Twilight Velvet was really quiet. Actually, the last time she said anything was when they emerged from the cave. So Written decided to strike up a conversation.

"So... I guess I have a lot to say, but first and foremost let me thank you for saving my life back there. If not for you, I would have been done for."

Twilight walked alongside, with her head hanging. She felt such a burning fatigue all throughout her body, that she wasn't sure if she could answer in a coherent manner. But she decided she had a few things to say of her own, and scooped up her remaining energies to blurt out a few words.

"Oh sure, you're welcome... Thank you for almost killing me, by the way. Perhaps this the way your days usually go by, but please tell the next Celestia-forsaken soul you bump into that you're gonna drag them into a deathtrap!"

Written didn't answer initially. She frowned with regret, and looked away from Velvet.

"I also have to apologize" she said eventually "You went through a lot. And I was responsible for it, in a manner. But let me say this: I never saw such determination from anypony. And believe me, I've encountered some real badflanks, fought alongside some real tough ponies. But none of them had the pure will of YOU."

Twilight just merely glanced over. What did she want, butter her up, so she wouldn't be mad? Her anger was fully justified, she knew it. She almost died, dang it! And what's more, even despite all this, there is no tome to present for all her efforts. To say nothing of what would she say about this to Night Light. If she told this, even a tiny part of this to him, he would surely get a brain aneurysm! She just wanted to get over the whole ordeal finally, make a report to the Royal Guard, so no other ponies would be in danger from those crazy lunatics.

And yet, somewhere in the back of her brain, Twilight was glad in a way she could be there for this earth pony. What would have happened if they didn't meet? Surely, as headstrong as she was, she would've lingered around until accidentally found, and then the cultists would have made short work of her. Twilight didn't want to have these thoughts, yet she couldn't help it. Her father...

"If you can help somepony sweetie, then help. Especially help them if you know no other pony could help them, but you. That's why I am doing what I am doing."

Her father said these unto her, and Twilight always regarded that as an exaggeration coming from someone who would willingly put his life on the line in service of others. As Lieutenant Shining Burst did, all those years ago. It seems his mindset rubbed off on her, even unconsciously. Or, this adventurous trait ran throughout her family. For better or worse...
Eventually, Written broke the silence.

"Look, I understand if you're mad. I also understand if you'd never want to see me again. Not like you'd have many reasons for that anyway, but you know what I mean. So I guess I just wanna say...

"No, no, it's fine." Twilight interrupted "Goodness knows, maybe this is how it was ought to be. If I wasn't there, you'd be dead. Who knows, maybe destiny is a thing, and watched over you."

"And that destiny is you, Twilight Velvet!" Written smiled warmly "My guardian angel! I will never forget you, and I will always consider you a friend. Whether you're mad at me or not..."

"Let's just say I'll let you redo your "Not dragging your friends into mortal danger" exam this once." Twilight smirked.

"Tee-hee!" Written giggled "Thank you, Ms Velvet! I think I'll take what I can get!"