Chapter XXIX: Let Your Heart Be Your Guide
Buckler
"It seems to be coming from here," Dani says as we came up to a door. I look around making sure there are no traps. "Anything?" she asks as I shake my head and motions for the Captain and the others to follow me.
"Celestia's greenhouse?" Captain Armor says looking at the door. "Why would he go in here?" Dani shrugs but says she can sense the monster in there. "I'm one of the only ponies who can open it," the captain walks ahead of us and place his horn in the lock. "Be ready," he says as the door glows and opens.
"Something is not right," the captain says, "Sabaton, Poleyn, scan the room," the two guard ponies start to look around for anything. They give the all clear. "Show yourself!" the captain shouts but there is nothing.
"Vlad must have hightailed it," Dani says as I keep alert for anything. While I am looking I feel something wrap around my hoof. I am pulled off my feet and toward the maw of carnivorous plant. I try to blast it with my magic but nothing is working. "Buckler!" the girl says as she flies up and slices the vine with a glowing green blade.
"Thanks," Dani says not to thank her yet. A flower opens up and squirts acid at me but Dani shields me. "Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way," I tell the captain as he smiles and says to form phalanx position. "We don't have enough ponies...," he says just assume the position. "Yes, sir," my glows with magic as we prepare to fight our way through here.
Ghostwriter
"We got the keyboard," I heard Apple Bloom ponies say as she and Sweetie Belle come down the stairs. "What in tarnation happened here?" she asks seeing the damage done. Tucker tells her that Vlad ambushed him. "That varmint's here?" she asks looking around nervously.
"It was just an projection of him. One that could do damage," he explains looking at the circuit board. "The power regulator is shot. The portal is useless without it." I look to my keyboard as an idea formed in my head. "Using your keyboard will probably alert Vlad that we're still alive," I tell him I have other plans.
"My quantum keyboard has a power regulator in it. We can use it replace the busted one," Tucker asks if I am sure I want to do this. "I am, right now getting our friends back home is more important," Tucker hands me a screwdriver so I can open the keyboard up.
"What kind of power does this keyboard work on?" Princess Luna asks as I remove the cover. I tell her that even I am not sure. "It is yours and you don't know how it worked." I told that when I woke up on the other side it was the first thing I saw. "Wielding such power without knowledge is dangerous," I assure her that since the Fright Before Christmas incident I don't use it as often. "Fright Before Christmas?" she asks confused.
"You don't have Christmas in Equestria," Luna says they have holidays but nothing like this Christmas. "You don't have a season where everyone is nice and give presents to everyone?" the alicorn says they do but it's called Hearth's Warming. "Long story short, I learned not to use it to warp reality," Tucker shudders as he thinks back that 'interesting' time.
Scootaloo
"I think she's coming to," a voice in the darkness said. It sounded like Spike. "Uh Danny is that supposed to happen?" the voice said as I opened my eyes and to my surprise saw I was floating above the table. Danny rushed over and looked me over.
"It's a side effect of getting my blood," Danny said as I floated around the room. "I would take it easy Scoots. Ghost powers are tricky," the ghost boy said but I wasn't paying attention as I was too excited that I was finally flying. I zoomed around the room as fast I can. "Whoa there," Danny said plucking me from the air. "The effects won't last long." he said as I roll my eyes.
"What causes it?" Applejack asked concerned. Danny said it has to with the ectoplasm in his blood. It transfers temporary powers to the recipient. He said once that an evil ghost invaded his school and infected everyone with Ghost DNA. All the kids were manifesting all kinds of powers. "How long does it last?" Danny said a few hours.
While they were talking I flew around the room as fast I could. "Hey Rainbow Dash, you want to race?" I ask Dash but she stops me. "Come on, I'm going to be able to fly for a few hours." She tells me all the more reason not push it. She says this is first manifestation and other might follow. "Like wha...," I feel myself hitting the ground. "No fair," I pouted. "I was just getting the...," a beam green energy shot from my right hoof blasting through the book Trixie was reading.
"Is there anyway to control her?" Applejack asked worriedly. Danny removes a strange device from his belt. "You may feel a slight shock," he said place it on my chest. A bolt of energy went through me sending me flying into the wall. "That should keep your powers under control," he said.
"That is nice but that book I was reading had a spell in it on to get rid of the skeletons," Trixie said looking at the burnt book. Rainbow says our main goal should be getting to Twilight. "What if more of those skeletons show up?" the unicorn looks at the page. Danny assures her that they can handle them if they show up. "If you say so," she says casting a spell.
A map of the castle appeared, "We are close to Twilight and Rarity," she said as Danny studied it. He asks her if she can sent a message to Twilight. "Yes but Vlad know I used my magic."
"I have an idea," Spike chimes in. "I can use my fire breath to deliver a note to Twilight. The amulet can only sense pony magic, not dragon magic." Danny smiles and says that will work. All we need a paper and a pen.
"I have a parchment and quill in my saddlebag," Dash says taking looking for it. "Twilight always says to carry it just in case," she finds them and gives them to him. He asks if Twilight is familiar with ciphers. "Yes, one time we went to her birthday party and she had an encrypted scavenger hunt set up for us." Danny begins to write something down. He then hand it Spike who sent it on its way.
Skulker
"Are you sure this is the way to the human world?" a changeling asked as I approached my island. I told him I needed stop here to get my spare suit of armor. "Chrysalis will not like this. She wants to find the world...," I told them I can't defend them without my armor.
"It won't do you any good," a voice said as were surrounded by ghost cops. "By order of Walker you all are under arrest." The point their weapons at us. I was about to make a get away when the changelings turned into the ghost cops and attacked them. "They're trying to trick us!" the cop said as I slipped away.
"Who knew those bugs were good for something," I phased into my compound and went into my armory. Sitting in the corner was my armor. "Yes," I said as I entered the armor and boot it up. "Skulker is..." something hit me in the back knocking me unconscious.
"Wakey Wakey," a voice said as I came too. I tried to move but was tied to a chair. In front of me stood the warden glaring at me. "Treason is punishable by death," he said approaching me. "You've done some dumb things but this coup of yours takes the... Bullet came in holding a strange device. "What is it, can't you see I'm interrogating him?"
"Sorry, sir but we found a bug carrying it," The moment he places in Walker's hand it glows bright green. An image of Chrysalis appears before us.
"I am Chrysalis, queen of the changelings," she said smiling. "We are moving through your realm to the human realm. You have two options- A) Stand down and leave us to our business or B) We will use you as food for the journey. The choice is...," the message stops as Walker crushes the device in his hand.
"This Chrysalis has just opened a nasty can of worms. Bullet, have our men stationed at every entrance that leads to human world. We will make sure these...changelings never leave the Ghost Zone." He turns back to me and smiles. "You should have stuck with Plasmius. This Chrysalis is powerless to save you." he said as reached in and plucked me from my armor.
Twilight Sparkle
"Are you sure these spells will work darling?" Rarity asks as I take one more book before leaving the study. I tell these spell are very powerful magic and should be able to clobber Vlad. "That is...," a blood curdling shriek pierced the air. "What as that?" The three ugly green birds came through the wall. "Look at those garish hats!" Rarity points out.
"Hey these are sacred headgear!" the leader said as he swooped at me but I teleport away. "Hey no fair!" he glares at me as he fires his feathers at me. I uses shield to block them. I ask them they were sent here by Vlad. "None of your business. " I charge up a spell but before I could attack I felt something jab me. I look back and see a feather in my back. "Æsc fetch the pony,"
The room around me was spinning, I feel something grab me but then let go. I am not sure but I think Rarity did something. "Leave her alone you terrible birds!" I hear her voice as am I snatched up again. "TWILIGHT!" I hear Rarity yell as I sink into blackness.
My head ached as I slowly opened my eyes. I was in some kind cage. "Hello is there any pony here?" I ask as a pair of red eyes glows in the dark. A tall human like figure stepped out. He was dressed in a white suit with a black shirt. He had blue skin like rainbow dash and demonic fangs. "Vlad Plasmius, I presume," he smiles and bows.
I try to use my magic to teleport out but something was blocking my magic. "I would think Celestia's prized pupil would know better," I demand him to let me go. "Why? So you and your friends can use your Elements of Harmony against me?" How did he know about them. "Unlike your human friends I did my homework before coming. For every one hoofstep you take I take fifty," he gloats as I try to control my anger.
"If you did your homework, you know nothing beats the power of friendship," I tell him as he laughs at me. He says only if we work together. As long as we are apart the Elements are useless and he would, something distracted him.
"Damn that useless hunter! How dare we betray me," he conjured an image of Chrysalis' army being led by Skulker. "No matter, Their little invasion would get further." He turns to me and smiles. "What's wrong little pony?" he asks holding my head up with his hand. "Maybe you need someone to hold you," his fists glow with power as two black tentacles appear. They sway back and forth. I feel my mind getting foggy as I feel them entwine around me and tighten. "Don't worry unicorn, I won't kill you," he says as my eyes close.
Jazz
"I believe that is check and mate," Celestia says as she captures my king. I look amazed, she did it in three moves. "Starswirl always said to study your opponent. I watched your every move and figured out your style," I tell her that Starswirl must have been a genius. "He was gifted in many things," the princess says as we rest the board.
"What other things did he teach you?" I ask fascinated by what she knew. Celestia said Starswirl taught her and Luna math, science, magic, astronomy, and most all a love of reading. "That is a truly something to cherish. Mom and dad would too busy with their ghost hunting to play with me, so I spent most of my time reading," Celestia giggles and says I sound like her student- Twilight. "Does she like reading too?"
"Oh yes, She has potential but was squandering it by studying all the time. I sent her to Ponyville to learn how to truly excel. Now is she equipped with true magic and will do great things." Dr. Hooves laughs and asks why she chose Ponyville to send her. "Same reason you chose to live there. There is something special about that town." The doctor laughs and admits it's true.
"I do have some good news. We almost down with repairs. We just need to hook up the keyboard and we'll be ready." I ask him why he needed the keyboard. "All dimensions have their own frequency. It allows one to access a realm without having to do all the math. Trust me three hours of staring at equations will make anyone question their sanity."
"How do we find out Equestria's frequency" I ask as Sweetie Belle asks if she could try it. The doctor tells her harmonics is not as easy as it looks and...the little unicorn goes up to the keyboard and plays a tune. The portal changes from green to gold. "Great whickering stallions! How did you know it?" Sweetie simply says it was in her heart.
