One strike. Donker had one strike left with her blade. Her shield had broken, as well as so many others. And that monster was still going strong. No amount of laser, no rocks thrown at it, no magical push, no blinding light, nothing was working on it. It simply kept on marching, tendrils out of its horn, legs and ears, deflecting every attack, responding to every move with one of its own.
Donker teleported again, panting, dodging another slam from a black tendril. She was exhausted. Keeping that thing away was so much worse than any magical training she had ever received, and she was trained in dealing with space difficulties!
"You look tired," the monster calmly said, looking at her from a few meters away.
"Shut up...!" she fulminated through her clenched teeth.
"You've put up a good fight. But your little help is fading as well."
As it said that, Donker saw one of the filaments around her horn slowly fall off, like an autumn leaf, barely glowing anymore. The mare's heart skipped a beat. The three others weren't fairing better. Their pulse was weak. The magic they were giving her felt weak.
"I-I..."
Another charge from a black tendril. This time, Donker was too exhausted to teleport or to dodge. So, instead, she swung her sword. The tendril was cut straight away, vanishing before it even touched the ground. But so did the sword.
The worms around the monster suddenly formed a large cone, with its widest part pointed at the unicorn. A torrent of gray matters burst out of it. Donker knew that one, they had used it before. That glitchy, vibrating thing was meant to paralyze her, to push her spirit out of her body. And it was coming in fast. A phasing beam.
She had nowhere to run. No magic to defend herself. Nothing but...
A name.
The gray laser crushed itself onto a blue shield that had suddenly appeared in front of the unicorn. And, in response to the attack, the shield glowed brighter, repulsing the beam away, up to where it had come from, forcing the worms to stop and the monster to take a step back.
The alicorn brushed it back with one swoop of her wing, making the shield go back to its owner. A half-sphere protecting the unicorn, standing strong on her hooves.
The monster smiled.
"What piece of yourself did you sacrifice this time?"
The unicorn didn't answer, but she clenched her teeth even more. That bastard knew. It knew that soul magic was costing her so much. But she wasn't going to tell him.
Her name. Her family. All the memories she had of them. This is the price she had paid for it. For that shield that was going to last for who knew how long. She only knew how to sacrifice things she held dear to use in soul magic.
"Shame it's all in vain," the monster said.
The unicorn suddenly felt something piercing through her right hind leg. She looked and saw, horrified, a black worm coming out of the ground and wiggling its way into her leg.
She panicked, tried to grab it by magic, but she was too weak. She couldn't get a grasp on it, and the filaments didn't even react. So she watched, helplessly, the thing passing through her suit and skin as if they weren't there, disappearing in her leg.
She could feel it. Making its way up her body, through her bones and organs. She felt sick, as it passed in her stomach. But it was aiming for her head. It went up right next to her throat and stopped, like it couldn't go further.
She was shaking. It was inside her. Inside! She couldn't get it out!
She tried to gain back her composure. Otherwise, the shield was going to fade. She immediately extended it below her, sacrificing the memory of her graduation in the process. It was only one. She was a unicorn. She could resist one, right? That's what Twilight had said. This was fine. Fine. Schim was going to be back soon. She would fix that.
How old was she? Eight? Nine? A little unicorn with a small pair of glasses, stuck in the crystal, mouth and eyes wide open in a scared but mute scream. Schim couldn't believe it. And she was struck by a terrible realization: she could see her eyes. See her teeth and tongue. She was...
"She's not corrupted by the worms..."
The pegasus immediately turned to the filaments by her sides, which were forming the shape of an alicorn but only its outline, while others were circling the crystal again.
"I thought they were all dead!" Schim shouted with indignation, stomping her hoof.
"She is," the filaments replied.
"She clearly isn't!" Schim yelled, pointing at the filly. "Her body isn't overrun by the worms!"
"I didn't say it was. She died upon being teleported here and used in the spell. She only had two worms inside of her at that point."
Schim stared at the alicorn-shaped filaments next to her in disbelief.
"YOU did that!?"
"I did."
This wasn't the natural coldness of the strands speaking. The voice was trying to sound firm, but even Schim could feel the doubt behind it.
"You killed a filly!?"
"There wasn't much time..." the filaments replied, although a bit shaky in their pulses. "She would have been dead anyway. The worms were swarming everywhere. They would have gotten to her."
"But YOU killed her!" Schim exploded.
"She didn't have a choice!" a young voice suddenly shouted, making the filament freeze immediately.
Schim turned. Something had appeared in front of the crystal. A small cyan translucent filly, floating in the air, looking at them. She had the same upper body as the one in the crystal, but from her belly downward, it was just two long black snakes, slowly waving.
"She lied to me," the filly continued, looking at Schim. "She told me we could save our friends. That I needed to bear her element. That everything would be fine."
She was calm. Resentful yet somehow compassionate. But Schim didn't understand that.
"She killed you..." she said, shaking her head.
"But she did not want it."
"How is that enough to forgive her...?"
The filly's eyes turned to the filaments. The alicorn they formed was shaking, wings low, emitting irregular and chaotic pulses.
"Because she hates herself for it," the filly finally said. "I held a grudge against her for all those years. But she died too. If she could have only sacrificed herself, she would have done so. She saved all those people, but she couldn't save me. She saved my mom, my brother, my cousins, and I'm sure they all cursed her all their life because she brought me here. They're gone now. I'm gone. And she only remains in those fragments that only seek for her sacrifice to not be in vain."
The little ghostly mare opened her arms and a thin wave made out of a cold blue magic came out of her, in a circle that passed through all of the filaments and Schim. While it didn't affect the pegasus, the soul fragments all pulsed at the same time. The circle of filament broke, as the alicorn silhouette crumbled to her knees. She was sobbing, in an echoing, distant, out of sync manner.
"What did you do...?" Schim whispered, frightened.
"I made them regain their consciousness, at least for a little time," the filly said. "Twilight's spell was incomplete when she made them, because two elements had ceased to resonate with her. She wanted her true self to stay in them. But instead, she created filaments that can feel and think. But they do not imagine, they do not dream, they do not see anything beyond their primary objective. Unlike the real Twilight did."
"Lily..."
Both Schim and the filly looked at the alicorn shape that had just spoken these words with a broken voice. Its head was buried in its hooves, sobbing.
"So you... fixed her spell?" Schim tried to guess, feeling a pinch in her heart.
"I didn't complete it, if that's what you're asking," the filly answered calmly, looking at the remnants of the mare she once called her mentor with a kind pity. "Twilight Sparkle is gone. Her fragments are trapped with feelings of guilt that will prevent them from working properly when time is needed. So I'm letting them experience all those regrets at once, with a substitute for her conscience, so they may help you afterward."
Schim turned to the filly, with a despaired question in her eyes. To witch Lily answered sadly:
"I can't bring her back. She used her whole soul and memory to create them. So, what was lost of her in the spell has been gone for thousands of years now."
"I'm sorry..." the silhouette cried in her hooves, as if Schim and Lily weren't there.
"But that's not the matter," the filly continued, Schim hesitantly looking away from the filaments. "Now, it's about you. You've already made it further than she did. You've linked yourself with all the elements, except mine."
"How may I do that?" Schim asked, still worryingly glancing at the sobbing alicorn.
"Your test has already begun. The trial of Magic is to actually find and use the other elements. If you fail, the trial ends with your life."
"Magic?" Schim repeated, unsure. "But, I'm a pegasus."
"It doesn't matter. Magic is something that you create yourself. With your intents, your actions. Unicorns just have a more visual way of doing it and feel more connected to it, but any creature can represent this element."
The filly looked at her in the eyes, like she was judging her. Schim was hesitant. She wasn't born in a civilization that knew what the elements represented, but she had felt it through the memories of the princess. They were important. And she had to use them. Harmony magic was the only thing capable of stopping the worms.
"Don't be too afraid of it," the filly suddenly said in a reassuring tone. "I thought I couldn't be an element. That it was too big of a task. And yet, here I am. The element deemed me worthy enough to allow me to communicate with you here, in this instant."
"But I don't know how to use magic," Schim argued, fearing her own inabilities. "Even less so to defeat the worms."
"I can't bring a solution. You have to find it yourself. Twilight came up with her own. Sacrificing her soul and her friends to destroy the worms. Will you come up with a different way? A better one? It's up to you."
"I... I can't promise anything."
"You'll figure it out when the time comes."
Lily wanted to sound reassuring, but instead it was even more worrying for Schim. When that filament had shared its memory with her, she had understood she had a role to play. But not that she would have to do it all herself.
"What if it doesn't work...?" she asked, afraid.
"You'll know when it happens," the filly shrugged, before suddenly taking on a thoughtful face. "I just realized something."
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe..." Lily hesitantly said out loud. "Maybe this was all Twilight's plan. Like, a backup plan. That would explain why she calibrated those crystals and the elements to preserve a part of us. Maybe she understood things might not work out, that someone else would need to correct her mistakes. Did she feel that Loyalty and Honesty had stopped resonating with her?"
The filly looked at the sobbing alicorn, wondering out loud:
"Is this why you send the planet away after sealing me in there...?"
The alicorn didn't respond. Because it wasn't Twilight. The filly shook her head. This wasn't the time for it. She turned to Schim, who was still looking uncertain.
"Maybe she planned for your arrival," Lily told. "If that's any reassurance for you. Now, take her. Time is running low."
"Take her?" Schim asked, not understanding what she meant by that.
"Twilight. Or rather, the filaments. This is your magic. Touch her."
The pegasus looked at the alicorn. In the meantime, the filly raised one hoof and another slight wave of magic echoed through the place, freezing all the filaments for a brief moment, before they all gathered around the alicorn silhouette, completing it. It stopped sobbing and progressively straightened up. Schim slowly approached her hoof, then touched one of the filaments forming the body.
Even through her suit, it was warm and had barely any consistency at all. Like smoke. But it stayed on her, the filament gripping softly onto her hoof. She felt the warmth going inside and the other soul fragments began to crawl up her leg, going around it, like an armor. They climbed up to her torso and began to spread, attaching themselves to her, passing through the suit, starting some kind of strange fusion.
Because that's what Schim felt. That power they held, it was becoming hers. The will of the alicorn was gathering inside her. Her wings became coated with a bigger version of themselves and she felt a horn poking through her forehead. Not one made out of flesh and bones. One of magic. Long and purple. They were now drawing her contours, not Twilight's.
"Go to the center of the crater, where she stood," Lily advised. "This is where the magic of the elements will be the strongest, at the center of us all. We will be with you, from our little place beyond."
Schim felt so different now. She had that power flowing in her. She couldn't believe how much it was. Alicorn magic. Soul magic. How on Weil had this not been enough to defeat the worms? And it was calm. The filaments weren't tormented by the sorrow of their creator anymore. She looked at the ghost filly.
"Thank you..." the pegasus said.
"May you find your way home safe," Lily nodded.
Schim spread her wings, looking towards the center of the crater. There was no air here, but she didn't have mere pegasus wings anymore. She flapped them, in a gust of magical sparkles, and took off faster than she ever had.
Finding the monster wasn't a complicated task. As soon as she was up in the air, a huge cloud of worms appeared in the crater. Another black crystal had been broken. Which meant... Schim headed straight for it, dashing through the start sky.
There it was. The monster, slowly swallowing all the worms liberated. But something else caught Schim's attention. Her heart sank. She was standing right there, by the alicorn's side. Her unicorn friend. Eyes black.
Schim immediately plunged towards her. Both the infested ponies looked up at her when she was only a few meters away. The monster appeared slightly surprised.
"What is-"
It couldn't finish its sentence. Schim swooped past it, grabbed Donker and teleported away in an instant, too far for the tendrils to even catch.
They both hit the metal floor of their ship. Donker immediately began to struggle. Schim pinned her down with her magic, but she was shaking. Refraining tears.
She looked at her friend. Her body was untouched, but she was screaming loud distorted grunts, struggling around, eyes empty and mouth black.
"Stay there..." Schim whispered, placing a magical rune on and around her friend. "I'll be back soon..."
She only received another scream of rage as an answer. She took one last look at her friend, then teleported away, right in front of the alicorn.
"We thought you would run away," it said.
Schim leaned forward, teeth clenched, staring at the creature with an indescribable anger, wings out.
"But it is too late," the princess said.
One last worm went into it. And something changed. Something turned wrong in the very essence of the alicorn's body. Bones cracked. Iris turned dark. Hairs changed into ink snakes. And a deep, loud roar of power emanated from the mouth.
"The alicorn magic..." the thing said with utmost delectation. "Finally, it is ours to-"
It was cut short. Schim had swung in and violently sent her hind leg right into its face. The infested alicorn took a bit of time to understand what was happening, and it only became clear once its back slammed against a crystal.
When it aligned its eyes again, it saw Schim rising in the air. She opened her hooves and her horn discharged a wave in the crater.
"Come to me!" she called.
But not to the worms.
All around them, all the crystals began to shake. Then, at once, the all collapsed, freeing all the worms inside and all of the filaments left in the while Shattered Sea. The only structures that remained were the six green crystals of the elements.
"You left more of us out," the thing said, almost mockingly, before frowning upon seeing Schim's face. She looked certain of what she was doing.
She wasn't. At least, not in the long run. But somewhere, in her, seeing Donker in that state had awakened something. Something that was guiding her. A power. A magic.
All the filaments freed went straight to her, while their ex-captives wandered around, not lost but wary. Something was up.
"What are you planning on?" the alicorn asked.
Schim's horn turned brighter and the magic floating in the crater suddenly became much more visible. All the worms were brutally pulled towards the ground, even the ones that were trying to fly off. The alicorn had to bend the knee.
"You tried to run away?" the pegasus asked with a menacing but also defiant tone.
She had felt the worms trying to leave the planet. As soon as they had sensed she was up to something, they had decided on an escape. Twilight had been right to imprison them all at once to be sure she wouldn't miss any.
But the creature reacted to her provocation. The alicorn's horn began to glow a dark purple, a circular magical rune appeared right in front of it. Schim barely had time to dodge before shards of pure magic were thrown at her. But when she looked back, the alicorn was gone.
She heard a flash above her. She turned, only to see the creature throwing a blazing laser of dark magic right at her. Schim blocked it with a shield, but got carried with the power of the shock, down to the ground where the cascade of magic didn't stop. But she stood, protection raised, clenching her teeth.
She caught a glimpse of a worm trying to approach her from another angle. She immediately teleported away, only to get stopped midway by a black tendril that she cut in an instant with a powerful beam. Harmony magic did work after all. But that wouldn't be enough.
She heard a roar. The creature was plunging right at her. Worms burst out from everywhere on it, eclipsing its true form and instead creating a new alicorn, bigger, scarier, with its mouth wide open and ready to swallow Schim.
The pegasus closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She spread her wings and flew off quickly, staying low, near the ground, dodging around. Some worms threw themselves towards her, others tried to cut off her escape, but she managed to pass by them with some clever wing movements. Magic was new to her, but flying definitely wasn't. And she had a target.
"Your powers will be a pleasure to take as well," suddenly said a voice right behind her.
She didn't turn around. She immediately jumped a few meters further with a spell, only to then stop and face her enemies.
They were everywhere. Thousands of them, swarming, wiggling like huge disgusting insects, waiting for their feast. Schim was scared, but paradoxically confident. She had the power of the princess, the power of the elements, the will to save her friend, to save the world. It was here, now, or never.
The alicorn creature was still rushing towards her, a wild beast made of a wormy sludge, with the deformed shape of Twilight Sparkle. Schim looked at it, in its yellow glowing eyes.
"Falling in the same trap again, aren't we?" she seriously said.
The creature stopped, realizing in a fraction of a second where it was standing. But it was too late. Schim's whole being began to glow. Brighter than any star, than any rainbow. The six crystals left all activated at the same time. The silvery ground emitted a dimmed light, as the will of its maker, passed on through the shape of her cutie mark, pervaded the whole area. All the worms bathed in it, and they couldn't escape. And the creature was standing right in the center.
Schim's eyes turned white. She stared at the creature, charging her own spell. She understood it. What the princess had felt in that moment. Begging fate to not fail her. To not be in vain. To just keep everyone else safe.
But, this time, it'll work. Schim knew it. Through her bones. Through her will. Through her soul.
The whole planet was engulfed in a white sphere. Inside of which, six ponies looked at the pegasus in the middle, with smiles on their faces. But the pegasus could only look on the side, at the spaceship, at the mare in it.
"Take care..."
The flash got more intense. Then vanished, along with the planet, the pegasus and the worms.