Learning Magic

Chapter 9: Self Defence

They teleported to the throne chamber, in hopes of resolving the whole thing quickly. What they didn’t expect was Princess Luna, looking at them like they, well, drugged her sister and destroyed the Elements.

“Traitor! We already wit what thou hath wrought! Dost thou trow that thou canst be left unpunished? Defend yourself!”

Princess Luna didn’t even give Rarity enough room to speak and attacked her, dark blue projectiles firing off her horn. Rarity had no other way left other than to avoid them by teleporting.

“Princess– wait– stop– I can— explain— please–!” Rarity said.

It didn’t help that Twilight kept quiet, seemingly afraid to draw attention of the trigger happy princess. Luna also seemed to fire more and more rapidly, Rarity was almost unable to dodge the last few.

I’m not going to die in here! If I can’t reason with her, then I will truly have to defend myself.

Rarity conjured a fireball, this time much bigger and stronger than any of her previous ones. It was almost white and heat emanating from it could be felt all across the room. Twilight shuddered at mere sight of it. Then Rarity fired it in Luna’s direction, but the Princess of the Night dodged it easily.

Oh no, you don’t!

Rarity teleported the fireball directly behind the princess. Without enough time to react, Luna could only scream as it hit her into her side.

“...”

“Princess? Princess, are you alright?” Twilight asked.

When the princess didn’t respond, Rarity stepped closer to inspect her. While Luna was still breathing, she was also unconscious and probably dying from blood loss, judging from a large gaping wound in her side with her coat completely burned around it.

“Oh no... What have I done? I can’t stay here any longer!”

“No Rarity, wait! She needs our help!”

But Rarity was already gone.

———

“No Rarity, wait! She needs our help!”

“...”

Well this is just great. Now I’m here alone with a half dead princess – I don’t need much imagination to know what will happen if the guards see me.

Twilight started to inspect the wound; it wasn’t as bad as it seemed to be on first glance. While it was quite deep, most of the wound was already cauterised by the fireball. Twilight tried to heal the wound with her magic.

Ugh! Her magical defences prevent me from healing it! I should be glad she has them though, that fireball would have killed her if not for them.

Suddenly, the door to the throne room swung open.

“Princess Luna? We heard an explosion and came as soon as– Twily? What– what happened?!”

“Shining Armor! This– this isn’t how it looks like! Let me explain!”

“Call the medical team. And... and take my sister in for interrogation.”

“What!?”

Two strong guards grabbed her and forced a strange metallic ring on her horn.

A magic dimmer?!

“But I’m innocent!”

“We’ll see about that,” one of the guards said.

———

Three hours later, Twilight was still in the interrogation room, telling her story for the fiftieth time.

“...and then you guys came in and grabbed me.”

“This is very interesting, Miss Sparkle, but we have already searched the whole Canterlot and found no trace of Rarity,” the interrogator said.

“That’s because she teleported farther away! She could be anywhere in Equestria by now!”

“I’m sorry, but that is impossible. Nopony except the princesses has the power to teleport so far away.”

Twilight was visibly irritated now.

I told you this exact same thing several times already!

“Are you deaf?! I already said that she has the power of Elements of Harmony!”

“Yes, you also said that they are now destroyed, correct?”

“Yes.”

“But we found them in perfect shape. You say that the gems are supposed to be ‘full of life’, but since almost no one except you, the bearers and the princesses had seen them, much less taken a good look at them, we can’t be sure if you are telling the truth. The princesses are both... indisposed at the moment and the bearers are in Ponyville, which is several hours of travel away from Canterlot.”

“I guess you’ll have to take my word for it then.”

A devilish smile appeared on the interrogators face.

“Yes, but we might also find... other ways to make sure.”

Twilight’s eyes widened in fear when she realised what the interrogator meant.

Surely the princesses wouldn’t allow him to torture me, right? But... the princesses aren’t here now, are they?

“I think I should prepare my ‘tools’ and–“

“That will not be necessary.” a familiar voice said.

Twilight had never felt so relieved in her whole life.

“Princess Celestia? Thank goodness you are alright! And thank goodness you stopped him! He wanted to torture me!”

“I would do no such thing. I just wanted to scare her into giving me the information I needed.”

“I’m alright, my faithful student, and I know what happened to the elements. But tell me, what happened to my sister? The guards accused you and your brother was found in the nearest bar, sleeping under the table in a pool of alcohol.”

That sounds just like Shining. When he can’t fix a problem himself, he’ll just start to drink until it resolves itself.

“I and Rarity came into the throne room, hoping that she could apologize and undo whatever she had done to the Elements. But then Princess Luna started to shout something and attacked Rarity, leaving her no other option other than to defend herself.”

“I see. Rarity’s ‘self defence’ left my sister half dead. She’ll pull through, but won’t be able to fulfil her duties for the next month. We can’t have someone so powerful running around unchecked; Twilight, do you have any idea where your friend might be? I promise I won’t hurt her unless I have to.”

Twilight frowned and gave Celestia an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry, Princess, but I have no idea where she could be. She teleported right after injuring Princess Luna, but didn’t say anything about where she is teleporting.”

“It’s alright. I’m sure I can find her on my own, even though it will take me a little longer than I’d like to.”

———

Meanwhile

Rarity looked around herself. There were cobwebs and dust everywhere, the majestic ruins around her creating a nice shade. Rarity wasn’t sure why she teleported to the old castle in Everfree Forest. Perhaps it was because her first encounter with Elements happened here, or maybe because she knew nobody would search for her here.

Why did I have to mess up this badly? I’m now exiled forever... No, I’m not in exile, you need to be banished in order to be in exile, I am in hiding. I am in hiding like some common criminal!

Rarity started to pace around furiously, her hooves stomping on the ancient dusty floor. However, her expression soon softened.

But what am I if not a criminal? I did assault a princess. I’m just like Nightmare Moon was... This time, however, the Elements won’t work, since I destroyed them... I’m even worse than Nightmare Moon – she tried to destroy them, but they only shattered into pieces of crystal, and then reformed again, while I succeeded in taking all their magic for myself.

Then, her head suddenly swung up, excited expression forming on her face.

That’s it! That’s what I need to do in order to fix this whole mess! I just hope that at least this plan will work.