Premonitionist

Prologue 1

How the Premonitionist Came to Be

In the beginning, in a distant land further than you’ve ever imagined, there was a mighty nation known as Dussk. In those days, the land was shapeless and without form. The lesser ponies cowered in fear of the mighty Lords of Darkness who could bend the landscape and change all of reality by will alone.

Out of desperation, the ponies sought out an elite vanguard of unicorns known as the Premonitionists. Using their magic and insight, they created order out of the chaos and banished the Lords of Darkness in a struggle that nearly destroyed all of creation. From the ruins a beautiful new city was constructed, as well as a council who declared peace throughout the land. And though the ponies pleaded and begged, the Premonitionists declined the Crown of Leadership, but never did they abandon their friends of Dussk.

For as time passed and the kingdom flourished, the Order of Premonitionists knew that the Lords of Darkness were out there and patiently awaiting their...

“Twilight Sparkle!”

The young alicorn princess looked up from her book just in time to see Princess Celestia coming towards her room from down the hall. Just as she was entering the open door Twilight scrambled to hide the book from view and tried to look natural as her loving mentor came to pay her a visit.

“Good evening, my little pony,” said the princess, with all the pride and happiness in the world. “I wanted to stop by and personally congratulate you on a job well done.”

Twilight Sparkle wasn’t sure how to react. The book was safely hidden away but she was nervous and besides herself. Celestia must not have suspected anything if she hadn’t already noticed Twilight’s sheepish grin and sweaty brow.

After the young alicorn got ahold of herself she swallowed her fear and tried to make sense of her mentor’s words. “Pardon?” she asked, politely.

“Dealing with the parasprite infestation in Canterlot’s business district, of course,” Celestia chuckled. “While me and Luna were preoccupied with duties in Manehattan I would never have gotten back in time to save everything we risked loosing.”

As soon as Twilight remembered the incident she felt greatly relieved that Celestia’s visit wasn’t concerning the book that she 'borrowed'. The young princess nearly forgot altogether about the book as she got down from her bed and recalled those events from earlier today. It made her blush to think she had actually saved Canterlot.

“It... it was nothing princess, really,” she said.

“Not to me it isn’t,” Celestia smiled. “And neither is it nothing to all the loyal subjects who owe you their gratitude and thanks. I seem to recall a young pony who was also unsure of herself when another such invasion nearly destroyed all of Ponyville.”

Twilight blushed some more. “My magic wasn’t nearly as good back then as it is now,” she mentioned.

Celestia stooped down, closer to the younger princess so Twilight could see her smiling face. “And it will only continue to keep getting better, so long as you never forget the most important thing there is to know.”

Twilight still felt humbled, listening to praise from the pony who was her mentor since she was just a filly. But setting aside her humility, she paused and reflected on the events of today. “I... I guess I did alright,” Twilight said, partly to herself.

At that, Celestia touched a hoof to her face and made the young princess see the pride shining in her eyes. “You did just as good as I would have done, had I been here in your place.”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you princess.”

Celestia then stood up straight but kept her eyes trained on her student. “All your studies have made you a pony I feel truly proud of. There might even come a time when you don’t need me anymore as a mentor.”

Twilight became alarmed. “What? Don’t say that princess!” she exclaimed.

Celestia raised a hoof. “Calm yourself Twilight. It was only a joke,” she chuckled. She stooped down again and nuzzled Twilight to show how truly proud she was of her. After she stepped away, Twilight felt glad that somepony was so proud of her for doing such a good job.

After Celestia felt there was no more she needed to say she turned away and went towards the door. “It is late Twilight,” she said. “Have a good evening.”

Just as she was leaving Twilight suddenly remembered something. “Oh, Princess Celestia, I almost forgot!” she spoke out.

The princess stopped at the door and looked back at her student. “Yes, Twilight?”

“A minute ago you said that I would keep getting better at my magic, so long as I never forgot one very important thing. You didn't quite mention what that one very important thing was supposed to be.”

Celestia smiled with amusement. “I must have forgotten where I was going with that thought. Clumsy of me,” she chuckled. “I only wanted to mention that you are a wise and thoughtful young princess, Twilight Sparkle. In the chaos and the hardships of being a good leader, one must always be careful not to loose sight of who they really are.”

Before Celestia could continue Twilight suddenly got the wrong idea. “But, princess... are you suggesting I’m...”

“Not at all!” Celestia smiled. “You are an exemplary student, Twilight Sparkle. I know in my heart that you will always be the same little filly I trained as my personal apprentice. No amount of experience or power could change the pony who you are on the inside. You will always have my confidence, Twilight.”

Twilight felt gladdened to hear those kindly words. “Of course princess,” she smiled.

Celestia nodded. “Now off to bed,” she said. “You’ll be going home tomorrow. Your Ponyville friends will be excited to see you after you’ve been gone for so long.”

Twilight agreed. As Celestia departed from her chambers the young princess stood and waited until she was sure her mentor was gone. After her hoofsteps faded well out of earshot, Twilight spun around and threw back the covers on her bed. She then jumped on top of the book she had been hiding there and hugged it tightly.

“Oh thank goodness Celestia didn’t find you,” she cheered. “Who knows how she would have reacted if she had.”

Just as she was saying that, Spike suddenly appeared at the door. Overhearing nearly everything from the previous conversation, the baby dragon was quite puzzled as he came inside. “Twilight, Princess Celestia comes in to congratulate you on a job well done and the first thing you do afterward is hug a book?”

Twilight was startled before she noticed it was only Spike. After realizing how ridiculous she must have looked she put the book down and went to talk with him. “Spike, would you please not tell Celestia anything about this?”

“Anything about what?” the dragon wondered.

Twilight looked away; wondering how to explain it to him. “That book I was hiding... well, I kinda borrowed it from the restricted section.”

“The restricted section!” Spike said in alarm. “Does the royal castle even have one?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Oh honestly Spike. You’ve been working in Canterlot libraries all your life and you didn’t even know we had a restricted section?”

“Well, maybe there’s a very good reason I don’t know,” Spike shrugged. “Maybe that’s why it’s restricted. Why’d you take a book from there anyways?”

Twilight used her magic to levitate the book and bring it in front of her as she considered it. It hardly seemed like a special book at first glance. It was a reasonably big manuscript with a brown cover and a few words etched in the front. From an angle Spike read the title. ‘The Legends of the Premonitionists,’ it said. He did not recognize the book out of the thousands Twilight made him sort through, but something about it told him he would have remembered seeing it before; if he had.

Twilight stared at it with dreamy eyes and seemed lost in thought for a moment. “I was browsing through the restricted section, going through books that were reserved for only the most important unicorns in the academy. After I got my wings Celestia decided I was ready and gave me permission to do extensive research on bottomus roots.”

“Bottomus roots?” Spike giggled.

Twilight glared at him. “It’s serious business. You’re not even allowed to touch one of those roots until after graduation.” She paused before finally getting back on subject. “Anyways, while I was doing a little more browsing I happened to stumble upon this unpublished book which I flipped open and read. I skimmed through a few pages before I realized I couldn’t put it down and I had to read all of it!”

Spike scratched his head. “Uh huh...” he frowned. “And what exactly is this book about?”

Twilight suddenly faced him with a wide grin. “It’s a fiction book!” she exclaimed.

“In the restricted section?”

“Yes!” Twilight cheered; not realizing the strangeness of it like Spike did. “And this is one is amazing!” she continued. “I mean... it’s not pretty amazing like Mary Sue Grafton or Maretha Williamson! No sir! This story is closer to the amazingness of A.K. Yearling and Jade Singer!”

Spike was hardly finding this interesting as Twilight continued explaining it to him. “This story is an epic science fiction/fantasy masterpiece! It’s an amazing book about another world very different from our own! It’s about a civilization who had to adapt with magic and technology unlike anything you ever imagined.”

“I’m imagining quite a bit,” Spike said with his arms crossed. “Twilight, I had no idea you were into science fiction. I mean... who cares? Magic normally takes care of the day to day chores easily, right? That’s why science fiction stories aren’t very good sellers.”

“Maybe, but I never mind a good story about other worlds with less magic than Equestria,” Twilight smiled. “You see, in the fictional kingdom of Dussk, they live on these floating islands. Getting between places is very difficult, so they built a whole civilization in the sky with airships and another original invention called an ‘air-plane’.”

“Sounds kinda cool, but I’m still not all that impressed,” Spike remarked.

“And that’s not all!” Twilight interjected. “The most important detail of all are the legendary Premonitionists!”

“Premo-who?”

“Pre-mon-i-tion-ists!” Twilight told him. “They were legendary warriors who fought evil tyrants known as the Lords of Darkness. They were ancient villains so powerful they made Discord look tame by comparison. They could change reality on a whim, and the Premonitionists were mages tasked with preserving reality by using their magic for the purist of intentions. They could never lie or be untruthful. Everything they did was meant to keep ahold of the real world so the Lords of Darkness could never change it and rise to power again.”

“The Legends of the Premonitionists is an amazing book that covers a huge amount of history, from the creation of this magical world to the eventual fall of Dussk. It goes into a great amount of detail, describing whole islands and continents with all different kinds of ponies and all different kinds of heroes. Some go on epic quests while others fight the forces of darkness it terrible battles. There’s hope and there’s struggle and there’s tragedy... I could go on for hours.”

Spike was getting that impression as he stood there and listened to her. After it seemed she had explained everything, the baby dragon stepped forwards and made his first observation. “If you know so much already, how come the bookmark is at the start of the book?”

“Oh... I was skimming through a few pages to get a feel for the story till I realized several minutes later how much I was enjoying it,” Twilight nervously replied. “I was about to read it from the beginning before the librarian nearly caught me and I was forced to leave. Thankfully, I managed to smuggle the book with me.”

“And maybe you should return it,” Spike told her. “Twilight, if the library finds that a book is missing they’ll probably want it back.”

“They’re not going to miss it,” Twilight chuckled. “Besides, I’ll have this book read before they even notice it’s gone.”

“Or, maybe I could stroll downstairs right now and help them notice a little sooner,” Spike joked.

“Or, maybe I could tell Rarity about that horseshoe box full of love notes you keep between rows R through S at the Ponyville library.”

Spike gasped. “Twilight, you wouldn’t!”

Twilight suddenly reached her hoof around his shoulder and held him close. “Of course I wouldn’t,” she smiled. “I was just joking. I would never embarrass you like that Spike.”

The baby dragon needed just a moment to realize his friend was being sincere. “Thanks Twilight,” he smiled.

After she removed her hoof from his shoulder Spike looked up at the book again and was still puzzled. “So what do we do with it?” he wondered.

“Just give me until I’m done reading it,” Twilight assured him. “After I’m finished with it I promise I’ll give this book back.”

“Okay, if you say so,” Spike shrugged.

“I know so,” Twilight nodded.

After saying that, Spike stretched his arms and remembered how late it was. “Well, I’m off to bed if you don’t need me for anything else. Your last to-do list was a real work load.”

He turned and approached his basket in the corner. As he crawled inside Twilight realized how hard the baby dragon must have been working to prove he was still her number-one assistant. When his head was laying against his pillow and he fell asleep, Twilight levitated his blanket over to him and tucked him in. After he was laying all snuggly and cozy, the princess noticed how cute he looked before she realized it was time she got some sleep herself.

Twilight turned and got into her own bed, before she suddenly remembered the book. Unable to resist, Twilight opened it back to the first page and started from the exact sentence she left off on.

For as time passed and the kingdom flourished, the Order of Premonitionists knew that the Lords of Darkness were out there and patiently awaiting their return. For that reason, they passed their knowledge down from generation to generation should that fateful day ever come.