The League of Talented Magicians

This story is a fan-fiction of MLP:FiM. I don't own any of it. It belongs to Hasbro, etc, etc.

Don't sue. Seriously. That would be so uncouth.

Chapter 7: Welcome to the Club!

The six reappeared in a very different climate and scenery. As Helaku gaped at the changed landscape, Daisy gently tied his father’s necklace onto him. But Helaku was not the only one to be amazed at the scenery. All around the six were rolling, verdant green hills. There was a mist that hung around them and a large mountain skyrocketed out of the ground a little off to the distance in front of them. Discord got up and started to talk.

“Listen, we’re going into the mountain to get our armor. Our armors with the all of our Aspects of Magic are in the old headquarters of the League of Talented Magicians. They were the last bearers of the Aspects and they were known for being notoriously strong. This most definitely means that their headquarters is guarded heavily. So we’re all going to have to be on guard.”

“Fine, Trixie and I will take point, since she can clear away any illusions and I can protect us if anything goes awry.” said Shining. Trixie didn’t look too thrilled at being up front, but she could follow the logic behind Shining’s thinking.

“Then your three” Discord said, pointing to Syringe, Daisy, and Helaku “should be in the middle. I’ll cover our backsides.” He said, conjuring up some pillows that had magically become stuck to everyone’s backsides. Helaku laughed and Shining sighed.

“There. My job’s done.” said Discord as he snapped his favorite sunglasses into existence and slipped them over his eyes.

“Very good Discord, but how are we supposed to walk now?”

Discord frowned. “Very well.” He said snapping his fingers again, making the pillows disappear. “Joy kill.”  Shining marched out leading them towards the base of the mountain. They traveled over rocky hills and deep muddied valleys again and again, so when they reached the mountain Helaku was dragging behind and the whole group was getting tied of the journey before they had even started.

“Why can’t we teleport into the headquarters?” Trixie asked when they stopped at the base of the mountain. She had been trying to get the mud out of her fetlocks and was angry at how the mud latched itself onto her beautiful coat hairs.

“We don’t know how heavily guarded it is. For all we know, we could die the second we teleported in.” Discord said.

“Cut that out Discord! You’re scaring Helaku.” Daisy reprimanded him. Helaku was shaking, but he denied it was from fear. However, when Daisy offered to let him ride on her back, he gratefully excepted, since he was still just a child and that walk was much longer than is should have been.

When they all started walking up the mountain, they realized it was going to be much longer than originally thought. Soon seconds turned into minutes which turned into hours. They tried to keep going at a constant pace, but weariness was setting in. The loose stones and wet rocks underhoof didn’t make climbing the small stairs etched into the side of the mountain any easier. Around noon they stopped again to rest, looking out at the vast lands that spread out from beneath them. The grey clouds covered the sky above them, but it didn’t feel like it would rain anytime soon.

“Where are we exactly?” asked Syringe while he was looking out at land. “I can’t see any tows or cities from here.”

“The Rainy Mountain a couple miles North of Vanhoover.” replied Trixie. All eyes turned to her in amazement. “When you mentioned the League of Talented Magicians, I knew exactly where we were. I’ve been a fan of them since I was a little filly.” she said, blushing.

“You do know that they’ve been dead for a good 400 years, right?” asked Discord.

“So? They’re my heroes. And now it all makes sense, why they were so diverse. It was because they were actually the Aspects of Magic! OH MY GOODNESS!” she shouted in an almost impeccable impersonation of Pinkie Pie. “DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?” she said looking around the group, her eyes wide and filled with wonder. “WE’RE THE NEW LEAGUE OF TALENTED MAGICIANS!!!!!!” she shouted with such enthusiasm that Shining half expected her to break out into song.

Helaku started to laugh. “So who was in the League of Talented Magicians?” he asked.

“Well there was Hyp Nosis, Master of all Minds, Siguard the fighter, he could heal any of his wounds almost instantly, ummm….Hatched Chick, the most powerful elementalist ever, who was a griffon. Who else? Oh yeah The Philosopher, the only alchemist to turn lead into gold, and that into celestial gold; The Golem, a strong monster that was supposed to have come from the center of the earth; and finally, Lady Burton, the queen of the séance.” Trixie said as the group rose up and started to stretch out their weary limbs.

However Trixie kept talking even as they started to walk again. “The League had lots of adventures and helped create the common day study of magic and its effects on the world. They did so much for magicians, mages, and scientists all over the world!”

“Who was your favorite Miss. Trixie?” asked Helaku.

“I like The Golem, but it was Hyp Nosis who really made me want to become a magician. ‘The mind is a magical thing, just like the world. Therefore, you shape the world with your mind. Now go and make this world something to be proud of.’ He always said. It really made me want to be like him and make the world a better place with my own magic. I don’t know where I’d be now if I didn’t learn about him when I was young.” She said with a sigh.

“What about you sister?” said Helaku as he tapped Daisy’s shoulder with his tiny horns.

“I grew up in the Hallow Shades, a small village in the middle of a deep forest. It was said that I was born from the darkness of the forest, so I didn’t have a true family growing up, but I did live with a nice old mare that I called ‘grandmother’. She died when I was in my teenage years, and I missed her terribly. So I sang to her and her spirit came back to me. I was so happy that I learned to play guitar and tried to make all the spirits in the world as happy as I was. Now I just need to find a way to let other ponies see their loved ones, and we’ll all be happy! Yay!” Daisy said excitedly. Her words however, unsettled almost all, except for Helaku.

“What do you want to do when you get older?” asked Syringe.

“I want to lead our tribe to the leader of our alliances. I want to stop the fights for dominance and bring the tribes together. The other tribes are very obsessed about being the strongest, but I see no need in that. I know about lots of strength, and it is scary.”

“You’re pretty wise for a kid.” said Shining respectfully.

“Thanks.” Helaku replied, grinning from the praise.  “What’s that?” he said pointing at the large black obelisk at the end of the path. The six walked up to it and Discord examined it thoroughly.

“We might have to use some pretty heavy magic to get this open…..” he speculated.

Syringe sighed and walked up to the door. He looked at the extensive runes upon it and lifted a hoof. Everyone looked at him with bated breath as he put his hoof a little over head level.

“What are you…”

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK. Syringe’s hoof went three times. Then he stood there patiently and waited for a moment while the door slowly creaked open.

“It’s just common courtesy.” He said as he entered the mountain. Everyone except for Discord laughed, with Discord confused as to why the door had opened so easily. Something wasn’t right.  He followed the rest of them in, his senses burning with apprehension. Something was wrong, very wrong, but it made him angry he couldn’t tell what it was. Damn the Elements of Harmony and their medusa-like powers! Sure he could move about and use his power thanks to his father, but still he was felt tampered. His senses were always just a bit off and all his magic seemed slow too. And he knew that when he faced his father, slow magic and unfocused wits would kill everypony.

The six walked into a large hallowed out cavern with an extensive circle and rune-network lining the floor. On the opposite side of the cavern, maybe a 200 meter dash away, was the large enameled door that led into the headquarters of the League of Talented Magicians.

“Look everypony! It’s the magicians’ circle!” exclaimed Trixie. “It was said the magicians used this to travel to anywhere in Equestria and back. It was also speculated that the Lady Burton used this for her séances.”

That’s when it hit Discord. “Everypony back!” he screamed, backpedalling towards the closing door that led back out onto the safety of the mountain. But it had closed by the time he reached it. Discord slammed on the door with a marble fist as the others approached. Then he tried to turn the door into other things like snakes, gummy worms, leaves, balloons, anything so that they could escape. But it was no use.

“Does anypony else feel that?” asked Daisy.

“What?” asked Shining alarmed.

“That beating. It sounds like a drum beat of four. Wait, it’s gone.” she said, whipping her head over to the circle. “Guys, get ready.”

“For what?” asked Trixie, Syringe, and Shining.

“For something bad.” Discord said angrily.

At that moment, the magicians’ circle started to glow a deep purple, first with the outer edges and runes. Then, the purple light shot inwards and illuminated the center. The purple light got brighter and brighter until it filled the whole cavern with a purple sun. Then it exploded, washing the purple light over everything and the circle went silent again.

“Maybe it was just a dud?” Trixie asked hopefully from under her front hooves.

Then the ground started shaking. Tears appeared in the center of the circle and columns of dust flew up out of the tears. They intertwined and melded together above the center of the circle, forming a floating orb in the air. The tears slowly sealed and the ball started to pulse. Strange shapes started shooting out of it and, slowly it started to form. Daisy palled, which was strange on her normally happy face.

“Run.” She said.

“Run!!!!”

The forming stopped just as the group started to run towards the entrance to the headquarters. Where the ball of dust had once floated now stood a gigantic beast of ivory bone. Its long and deadly body filled up most of the cavern and its eyeless sockets roamed its home for the newest additions to its menu. It found them at the home of the powerful ones. It gave one long roar, showing off its sword-like teeth and stretched its membrane-less wings for all to see. Even in death it was a creature to be feared and remembered as a creature of nightmares.

It was Dracus.