What Was Found Below

"Of course, Madame Mayor," Quickdraw assured the mare in front of him with a smile, “Our circus is sure to kick off the winter with a bang.”

“I see...”  Ivory Scroll murmured as she skimmed over the pamphlet that he had given her merely minutes ago.  His troupe was known as 'The Trotham Twelve', which obviously originated from the southern island-city of Trotham.  “I suppose you could set up your tent in the field west of town.  All that remains is the matter of payment for the space...”

“I assure you that we'll gladly pay, whatever your price,” The gunpowder gray stallion assured as he pulled a bag of bits from his bag and dropped it onto the table,  “After all, our job is to entertain, because that's what we love most.”

The mayor's jaw dropped as she watched the coins spill out onto the table, “Oh no, no, no, I couldn't ask for this much!”

“Think nothing of it, Madame Mayor...  Just think of it as a donation to Ponyville if you fear it will weigh on your conscious too much,”  Quickdraw smirked and adjusted his hat with a nod, causing the mare to just stare in awe for a moment before nodding.

“Of course, you can set up your tent in the west field, and if you do require any aid...  You only need to ask,”  Ivory smiled with a sparkle in her eyes as she looked at the money given to her.

“Oh no, we prefer to do things ourselves...  It wouldn't feel right if we had help from our audience,”  Quickdraw offered as he began to stand up, “By the way...  Feel free to contact us if you have any other questions; here's my card...”  He stated and levitated a small blue card from a case in his bag, laying it onto the table as he made his way out.

It had ornate silver designs framing it, while it showed a phone number, Quickdraw's name, and a rather simplistic star underneath the circus' name, which held what was vaguely reminiscent of a flame.  “Hm, maybe I should advertise for them...”  The mayor pondered as she remembered the generous amount of money he had thrown away without thought.

~*~*~

Meanwhile, within the halls of the premium dress shop of Ponyville, its owner and proprietor worked with a dragon standing by her side.  Holding several small pins in her magical grip, she worked fervently on a tuxedo that the dragon wore with beads of sweat rolling down his face as the needles came dangerously close to stabbing him.

“I don't know, Pinkie...  A circus isn't exactly my idea of fun,”  Rarity commented halfheartedly as she worked.  “Besides, I'm a little busy with this next order.”

The pink mare let out a groan and sprawled out across her friend's sofa and looked over the pamphlet again,  “Why does everypony keep saying they're busy?!  Applejack has to buck apples, Twilight is busy reading that weird book, Fluttershy hates how they treat the animals, and you're working...  Rainbow is the only one that wants to go!  I mean, they have a free chocolate fountain!”

“Well, we can't really help us being busy, darling,”  Rarity explained before jerking back from a yelp as a needle poked into the dragon's underside,  “Sorry, dear, I didn't mean to!”

“I-It's fine, really!”  Spike offered with an unconvincing grin, although Rarity had seemed to buy it as she went back to work.  “You said something about Twilight reading that weird book, right, Pinkie Pie?”

“Yeah!  Since she asked to stay at Sugarcube Corner with me, she's been reading this book that  has some really bad drawings in it...  And I mean bad!  There's no words either, which Twilight never reads books without words,”  Pinkie joked, but the other two members in the room had their attention brought to the party pony.

“What book would that be, Pinkie?”  Rarity asked curiously.  Not that it was out of character for Twilight to be reading, it did sound a little strange for her to be so into a picture book.

“I dunno, it's all yellow though,”  Pinkie explained before exclaiming, “Ooh, they have free carrot dogs at the circus too!”

“Yellow book...”  Spike pondered before remembering what Twilight had found in the basement only a few days ago,  “But it was blank, wasn't it?”

Pinkie stared at the dragon for a moment, as if what he was saying was sinking in,  “It does look kind of the same, doesn't it?”

“Maybe she drew the pictures?”  Rarity suggested.  “She's not exactly known for her talent in art.”

“Mm-mm,”  Pinkie shook her head,  “I already asked her.  She did get mad that I said she was bad at drawing, though.”

“Maybe I should talk to her...”  Rarity murmured as she looked out her window thoughtfully before hearing Spike yelp in pain from another needle, causing her cheeks to flush.  'One problem at a time, Rarity.  One problem at a time.'

~*~*~

Monday 21/12

In my studies of the tome, I have deemed 'The Yellow Book' as per the repetitious theme of the color yellow that has been surrounding the recent events of my life.  Although I am having a rather difficult time translating the text in the book, as my only cypher is a translated page that I had found in my bedroom that night before I fled to Sugarcube Corner.  For Spike's protection as well, Rarity was kind enough to let him stay with her and Sweetie Belle while I sort things out with the intruder in my home.

From what I can tell, the book is hardly anything more than the ramblings of a madman, but I can't figure out how the events of the past few days possibly happened otherwise.  I have cast a wide array of magical detection spells on the book, the translation page, and all throughout my library, only to find hardly a trace of magic other than what I perform daily.

From the images within the book alone, though, I do fear what I may have stumbled blindly into, as the images seem to relay the most blasphemous of rituals and spells that should, by right, not even work.  Magic is a science that one can study, measure, and control, but the supposed rites that this book offer have no basis in fact.  How would drawing pseudo-runes and cannibalizing the heart of a stallion offer you sustained youth?  Age magic is nearly impossible, and is only superficial at best.

My scientific mind is admittedly conflicted with this though, as my logic denies the possibility of these dark arts even working, but my curiosity also wants me to try a ritual to see if it would.  Provided that I can find a ritual that does not involve harming those around me, I will attempt it and in the impossible event that it does work, I will study how.  Ever since I had moved to Ponyville though, I have constantly disproved the rumors around magic, and I have almost found the cause of the things I do not know, with the exception of Pinkie's impossible power of foresight.  Maybe not all things in this life are as straightforward as I would like.

Tuesday 22/12

Through my studies, I have only found more and more disturbing images within the pages of the Yellow Book.  Pinkie mentioned something about a circus coming into town, but I had admittedly given her an unsure answer, as I would prefer to study, but I should not neglect my duty to my friends either.  Maybe I will make time to go to the circus with her and the girls later;  I think it depends if I find a breakthrough on translating the pages or not.

Wednesday 23/12

I have officially decided that, whether or not these spells work, the writer of this book was completely insane.  Although I had joked about it in the past, I have officially decided that it can possibly be nothing less than the truth.  When I arrived on page 182, the book began to detail creatures far beyond pony comprehension.  Eldritch things not of this world that accidentally created us as some byproduct to their unholy experiments.

Amongst these creatures, they mention a few by name, although their pronunciation is quite literally impossible.  How does one pronounce xch or rchk?  There was one that I found curious though, as he is only ever mentioned as 'The King' or 'The Unspeakable', as if it is some kind of crime to say it even in text.  Although I would assume it not be impossible for life to exist on planets other than our own, I do find the claims that this book gives us to be highly unlikely.

Thursday 24/12

A spell!  I found a few spells that actually do not require physical harm to those around you in order to perform them.  One I noticed was referred to as the 'dread name', which was nothing more than one word...  Hastur.  Granted, it is supposed to inspire fear in these elder things that I have mentioned yesterday, but it's hard to test such a thing without any creatures like that around.  So, I did settle on performing a spell with a runic circle, words of power, and a rather dark intent.

To my understanding, it is a kind of initiation to gain contact with the Unspeakable One that I had mentioned before.  I, of course, expect to have little more than a waste of magical energy as I try to perform this ritual.  I can't help but notice a common theme throughout this book, and that it is magic always comes at a price, no matter how minimal it may seem.  Tomorrow, I do believe that I may perform this ritual to gain contact with this King that this book seems so keen on talking about.

~*~*~

Twilight sat in front of the spell circle which was etched with the blasphemous runes that were described in her tome.  Runes that roughly translated into 'yellow', 'wind', 'darkness', 'power', 'lordship', and the dread name, 'Hastur'.  The unholy cirlce was drawn in yellow chalk that Cheerilee had provided for the librarian upon request, to which Twilight was admittedly nervous to try.  In the off chance that it would work, she found herself filled with dread to meet a creature beyond the comprehension of ponykind.

She took her place in the center as she looked up to the beautiful moon that Luna was admittedly so proud of.  With a wry grimace, she uttered a few words and closed her eyes, and uttered her best attempt at the dead language.  Due to her uncertainty if the Equestrian translation of the ritual would perform the desired effect, she had decided to speak the enchantment in its archaic form with the pronunciation as close as she could possibly make.

She chanted these words over and over until she started to channel her magic into her horn, using those unholy words to fuel her spell.  What was normally a violet glow around her horn had turned a faint shimmering gold as the spell began to take form, only to fizzle out at the last moment and release the raw magical energy to the air.

Finding herself actually a little downtrodden from the lack of an effect, Twilight let out a groan of both frustration and relief, “Well, at least it proved to be little more than a madman's ramblings...”  She offered before noticing how the moon had moved across the sky.  It may have only seemed like minutes to her, but she had apparently been trying this spell for no less than an hour.  With a sigh, she made her way back to Sugarcube Corner with a small sense of frustration at how pointless her studies had proven to be.

~*~*~

“You called me...”  Twilight stirred as a small voice echoed throughout her head.  With her eyes popping open, she found herself standing in a frozen desert, surrounded by spires of yellow sand and ice.  “Awaken, child.”

Glancing around the alien landscape, she felt overwhelmed at the impossible terrain that housed the most bizarre of creatures roaming around her.  Floating throughout the air were masses that could only be described as polypous, expelling a foul smelling gas from their mutated bodies to propel them throughout the sky.  Amongst the towering spires, batlike creatures watched her with their eyeless expressions.

Their whispers were ones in an incomprehensible language, causing Twilight's ears to twist and swivel to soak in the noises that echoed around her.  Beneath her was a very familiar symbol in yellow, splayed out in its three-pointed shape with her standing in the center of the yellow dot.

“This is impossible...  The spell was impossible!”  Twilight hissed as she backed up, feeling the sand threaten to shift underneath her as she attempted to leave the circle.  Overhead, the bats were picking apart the mutated creatures, ripping them apart at what could only be described as seams and dragging them into the holes littering the spires.

“Only a fool denies what is right in front of them,”  Twilight's attention was brought to a creature rising from the sand, which formed into a vague shape of a robed stallion, having a porcelain mask being the only thing with apparent tangibility.  “But you are no fool...”

“W-What are you?”  Her words fumbled out of her mouth as she desperately tried to draw on her magic, only to feel nothing answer her call.  Feeling a vague semblance of a fight-or-flight instinct, she began to back away, only to feel the stand collapse from underneath her back leg, causing her to retreat back into the circle.

“Your king...”  He stated calmly,  “Even if you did not believe it would work, you still signed a pact...  And with it, I offer you knowledge beyond your wildest dreams.”

“Knowledge?  Is that what you call this?!”  Twilight hissed in panic, feeling as if her heart was about to explode as the shrieking of the polyps called from overhead.

“Knowledge is power, child...  You need not use the knowledge I give you, but what harm is there in learning it?”  He offered as the sands of his body shifted, revealing a hoof of sand outstretched to her.  “After all, you are a scholar...”

“But why would you do this?”  Twilight raised her brow, retracting her hoof away from the creature.  “What's the catch?”

“I am a procurer of knowledge, and what use is knowledge if it is horded?”  He explained,  “Now, I will not offer this again to you, but I will still give you my blessing if you accept it now...”

Twilight froze up as she stared into the unreadable mask in front of her, trying to find anything behind it, only seeing the black void of its eyes looking back.  Although she knew that she could not trust the stallion, her scientific mind wanted to learn more about this foreign magic.  He did have a point though, as she did not have to use the knowledge, so what would the harm be in learning it?

“... I am willing to learn,”  She stated uncertainly and outstretched her own foreleg, meeting her hoof against the sand.

“Then take my blessing, you will learn all you need from there...”  He replied before his body began to crumble, followed by the sandy landscape, leaving her standing in the yellow paint that slowly began to shrink, closing in on her.  Panicking, she collapsed onto the dot and groped at it with her hooves in an attempt to escape the void below before...

Twilight opened her eyes to the morning light, feeling her head throb from a first-thing-in-the-morning migraine.  Tossing over, she pulled the blankets over her head and let out a groan, “What a dream...”