Live for Another Dayby Ek VitkiChaptersChapter 1 - BookwormChapter 2 - The FetchChapter 3 - To Draw from the SourceChapter 1 - BookwormIn the end, death finds us all. From the lowliest insect skittering across the earthy forest floor, to the highest mountain, standing stalwart under whipping winds and the unrelenting sun. Across the eons and beyond the heavens, there have been those who quested like heroes, seeking to conquer this enemy of the living. Myriad beings from an endless number of civilizations and races all drove themselves to become more than just a participant in the cycle of the life, they sought mastery over it. All attempts were met with failure, and more often than not, a grim submission to that very circle whose bounds they tried to step outside of. It is commonly believed that the Alicorns were the only species known to ever wield immortality in Equestria, and all the world. This, of course, was an exaggeration. The princesses have incredible longevity, yes, but eventually even they will succumb to the grave, be it by disease, age, or injury. Surely, if not even they can avoid death, no one can, right? The Royal Library in Canterlot was a veritable paradise for Twilight, whose towering shelves and stacks of books were like the palm trees and limestone cliffs of some distant tropical island. “Dragons, dragons, dragons... aha! Dragons!” the lavender librarian exclaimed as she found the section of the library she had been searching for. Her young assistant, was going through what appeared to be a growth spurt, so Twilight, being the bookworm she is, dove immediately into her library’s repertoire on dragons. With a resounding zero books on the species, she found herself forced to visit her home city of Canterlot in search of the knowledge she needed. So here the magician found herself, her dragon napping back home while she stalked the elusive Dracopedia. She couldn’t be more content. Twilight eagerly bounced into the draconian archive, setting her saddlebags down at a nearby table. She ogled at the colossal wall of books before her, mesmerized by its monolithic number of books, waiting for her prying hooves to caress their covers. The sheer amount of knowledge on dragons was staggering, but it was nothing in comparison to the immensity of what Equestrian society didn’t know. Twilight dragged the rolling ladder over with a bit of magic, scampering up like a mouse, desperate for crumbs atop the dinner table. Her eyes scanned the bookcase for what she desired, systematically reading titles on book spines and savoring the flavor of boundless knowledge at her hooftips. Her wandering eye fell on one volume that seemed out of place. It was a tattered old book, with no title written on its spine. The mare huffed, pulling out the book with her magic and gazing over its cover. Upon it was nothing at all. A completely bland, what appeared to be leather surface looked back at her. She cringed a little at holding the tanned skin book, knowing very well where leather came from “A leather book? That’s... monstrous.” Forgetting the Dracopedia, she stepped down from the stepladder and brought the tome back with her to the table. Twilight set the book down, donning her reading glasses and preparing to devour whatever this book had to offer. A whisk of magic flopped the hard cover open, revealing a blank page. She furrowed her brow, turning the next page. Empty. Frustration drove her to wildly whip through the pages, all of which had nothing printed upon them. “What’s this stupid book doing in the archives if there’s nothing in it!” Twilight growled at no one in particular. A loud ‘shh!’ came from another pony sitting on the far side of the small section. Twilight smiled sheepishly and shrunk down into her seat. With a sigh, she rose out of her chair and returned to the sliding ladder, deciding to find the Dracopedia and learn ways to help Spike feel more comfortable during his molting, rather than waste time staring at an empty book. Once more she dove into the shelves, tunneling through irrelevant texts and scanning order tags. At last, with a grin plastered on her face, Twilight pulled the book she sought out from among the others, levitating it with her back to the table. When she sat down, however, something caught her eye. She had left the empty book open, and an errant breeze had blown through the pages, landing on a page with a single, unusual glyph inked in the center. Curiosity overcoming her, she flipped through the next few pages, but found nothing. The entire contents of the book was that single glyph. The mare pushed the Dracopedia aside, peering closely at the enigmatic symbol. Her mind was blank for a moment, before an idea struck her. She bounded off, heading for the section of the library containing ancient languages and scripture. Not a moment later, she had returned with a dozen reference books on ancient ideography and symbolism. How Celestia’s prized student managed to find those books faster than the Dracopedia, she wasn’t quite sure. She blamed it on lazy librarian assistants. Twilight popped open the first book, The Omnibus of Ancient Symbols, Ideographs, and Runes. “It looks rather like the old troll scratchings, but what would a troll be doing with a book?” she wondered. Turning the pages, the lavender unicorn found the ancient troll section. She arranged the books side by side, comparing the mysterious glyph to the wide array of trollish letters and symbols. They were indeed similar, but she could not identify this particular glyph, and it didn’t completely fit the overall theme that the troll’s used when they wrote on stone. “What in Equestria could it be?” She huffed, the foreleg that had been supporting her head lazily fell across the page, landing on top of the symbol. A subtle warmth snaked through her leg, growing more intense with every second, reminding her of the heat one felt during an embrace. She snatched her foreleg away, staring at symbol beneath. It seemed liquid now, jiggling and undulating as if it were projected on the surface of a pond rather than paper. The unicorn’s mouth worked, but nothing came out as she gawked at the page. She hesitantly reached out with a hoof, prodding the letter and reeling away as it rippled on the page. Twilight looked up, her eyes darting about the room. That other pony had since left, leaving her alone in the dragon section of the archives. Casting her gaze down, the student prodded the letter once more with her hoof, eliciting another watery reaction from the glyph. “Well this is certainly interesting,” Twilight mumbled, still staring perplexed at the tome before her, “I suppose I’ll just take this with me. It’s not like they’d store important or dangerous texts in a place where any old pony could access it, right?” She giggled nervously at her own attempt to assure herself. Scooping up the Dracopedia and her unusual new subject of study, Twilight saddled up and went to the front desk to check them out. “Ah, hello there Twilight! It’s so good to see you again!” the old librarian smiled warmly at her as she approached the front desk. “Hello Inkwell, I’d like to check out these two books please,” she said, returning the smile. “Alright, let’s see what we have here. Ooh, the Dracopedia! Whatever do you need this for?” “Oh well, Spike is going through a growth spurt, and his molting is making him uncomfortable. I figured I’d help him out, since he’s been such a good little assistant to me.” “I do miss that little dragon, he was such a joy to have around, though his fire wasn’t always so pleasant,” the old mare said in a low voice, grinning at the younger unicorn. “Well he’s gotten a lot better with that, he almost never burns things he’s not supposed to!” Twilight chuckled. “Well, what is this here? An empty book? What in Equestria is this doing in the archive?” Inkwell hummed at the bland book, flipping through its pages, then looked back up to Twilight, “Why did you want to check this out?” “Oh well, I saw it was empty and I, uh... I wanted to try writing a book! So I figured I could just take it off the archive’s hooves...” the student forced her best smile, panic breaking loose in her head. The old mare shrugged at her, “Eh, alright, it’s yours! Here you go, and when you finish that book and it becomes a famous piece of literature, you be sure to send a copy here!” “Of course, have a nice day Inkwell!” Twilight said as she backed out the library doors, heaving a sigh of relief as the door closed behind her. The walk home from Canterlot had exhausted Twilight, and the anticipation of studying the mysterious book further hadn’t helped make the journey feel any shorter. She trudged up the stairs, noting spike still passed out on the couch, and made her way into the library’s inner sanctum. Collapsing on her bed, the mare pulled out the blank book and opened it, looking for that strange, liquid symbol. As she turned the pages, it became obvious that the symbol was gone. Twilight scowled at the book, but an idea dawned on her. She left the book open, and gently blew on the side, lifting and turning the pages with her breath. Empty pieces of paper flipped by, until one with the single, unknown symbol landed open for her to see. Grinning at her own brilliance, she laid her hoof down on the glyph, feeling that familiar warmth once again run up her foreleg. Removing her hoof revealed the rippling behavior, mystifying the mare to no end. “If wind made the book reveal the symbol, maybe it’ll do something more...” Twilight pondered as she stared at the mystery before her. She inhaled slowly, then gently blew across the page, over the glyph. Much to her surprise, the symbol seemed to spill and slide across the page, and in its wake hundreds of other glyphs flew out, erupting across the page in an ideographic tsunami. The paper turned black with letters, until many of them faded into nothingness. Those that remained ordered themselves into lines and paragraphs, with accompanying charts and graphs. The letters remained illegible to her, but the unicorn noticed that the lines formed what appeared to be a list. Next to each entry was another word, written in either green or red ink. She frowned at the writing as she levitated the book along with writing materials over to her desk. Twilight sat and began taking notes on the foreign alphabet, recording each unique glyph and noting how words were separated and the characteristics of each individual symbol. The letters were simply in design, but recurring attributes appeared in all of them. There were never more than four strokes per design, and each stroke was straight. Not a curve was in sight, nor were there any horizontal lines; each line either went vertical or diagonal on a forty five degree angle. Furthermore, each ‘word’ or ‘sentence’ was sandwiched in between two horizontal lines on the top and bottom, running the whole length of what was written. Words that were adjacent to others above and below them shared one of the horizontal rules. The exhausted pony let loose a big yawn, and in the process, accidentally blew on the letter coated pages, knocking them away into whatever oblivion awaited them. She stared dumbly at the pages, now devoid of any writing whatsoever. Several moments were spent steaming before she tried blowing on the pages again, once more revealing that singular ‘cover rune’ as she had come to call it. She ‘restarted’ the book again by touching the symbol and blowing its watery contents across the pages. Once more, the list formulated out of the mess it created, letting her resume her study. She made sure to breathe away from the book whenever the need made itself apparent. Returning to her notes, Twilight discovered her quill had gone dry. She quickly dipped it in her well to continue her observations. She pushed the quill to the paper, but instead of writing, it slid right into the book. The letters on the tome’s pages began to jumble and jiggle as those on her notepaper did the same. Out of the runic nonsense, Equestrian words formed, becoming readable, if not messy, in mere moments. For what seemed the hundredth time today, Twilight stared at the book in amazement. The list that had puzzled her minutes before, now revealed itself to be a set of names, in alphabetical order. Next to some of the names was the word ‘alive’ in green ink, while the vast majority had ‘deceased’ in red. A frightened look grew on the student's face as she saw the sheer number of names labeled with the latter. In among the vast list of names, was one she least expected to see. Applebloom. This was more just writing an idea down than anything, I don't know if I'll continue with this, but if you guys like it, then chances are I'll keep going. Chapter 2 - The Fetch“A-Applebloom?!” Twilight sputtered at the the book in front of her. She continued down the list becoming no less surprised and confused as it went on. “Appleblossom, Apple Cobbler... Applejack!?” she continued on, now jumping randomly from name to name, “Bon-Bon, Carrot Top, Sparkler... Celestia...” Twilight pushed the tome away from her, leaning back in her chair. The unicorn sat, tapping her hooves together but otherwise silent. What is Celestia’s name doing in there? What are any of these names doing in this book? What in Equestria is this? she pondered, gazing at the yellowed pages. The librarian leaned forward again, staring down at the now frightening book. She hesitantly picked at the pages and turned them, going to the beginning. What greeted her there caught her off the guard. Instead of a list of names, there was a short blurb: I know not why you read this journal of mine, but it is my dearest hope that these are a man’s eyes looking down on my words. I fear you have all died, or given up on reading. Same thing, really. Take whatever you can read out of this book, use it wisely. It just might help you live for another day. That was it. Twilight read it four times, each time humming at it thoughtfully. She turned the page, and was confronted by a wall of the illegible runes in an incredibly small print. “Huh?” she scowled at the text as she grabbed her note paper. She rubbed it on the pages, but with no result. She stared at the book and tried again. Nothing. “But you just did it a minute ago!” The book did not respond. Twilight sighed, facehoofing at her frustration. The purple unicorn decided lunch was in order. A short trip down the stairs and into the kitchen. She summoned bread from the bread drawer, and opened the fridge to acquire dandelions and pickles. A whisk of magic hovered the ingredients, assembling them into a delicious sandwich in mid-air. She grasped the cupboard handle with her magic, intent on fetching chips, but was stopped by her breath fogging in front of her face. Twilight furrowed her brow as a chill swept through her, making her fur stand on end and her teeth chatter. The unicorn looked around her kitchen, searching for a draft. Did I leave the fridge open? She turned to the white box. It was closed. Twilight’s bones rattled under her skin as she felt around the room with her magic. There was nothing out of the ordinary, no magical fields or enchantments. “Why is it so cold in here!” she shouted, and as soon as she did, the heat of summer returned, leaving her confused and frightened. “Twilight, what’s with all the yelling?” Spike entered the kitchen, rubbing his eyes with a yawn while an errant scale fell off his arm. “Oh, Spike! I’m just a little... bound up is all. Ah! I got a book that has information on dragon growth in it, I’ll whip up something to help you with your shedding in a bit.” “Oh, cool. I’m gonna go back to sleep then...” he muttered, stifling another yawn. Twilight watched him leave the kitchen and flop back on the couch, unconscious in moments. “He sure does sleep a lot. I should work on that treatment,” the mare talked to herself as she levitated her meal. The sandwich and its creator traveled back up the stairs to her room, finally coming to rest on her desk. She suddenly remembered a key component to her lunch. “Chips! I forgot the chips!” Twilight hurried back down into the kitchen, leaving her sandwich all alone. The librarian’s room fell silent. The sandwich was alone, with no company to eat it. The sandwich began to move, as if it were being nudged by some invisible finger. Crumbs fell off, and a small portion of the sandwich began to disintegrate into thin air. All that was left was a small bite on the corner of the bread. Not a moment later, Twilight returned to her sanctum carrying with her a bag of potato chips. She sat down once more, unrolling the previously opened bag and picking out a large, curled up chip to crunch on. The chip stopped midway to her mouth, however, as she noticed the small chunk of her sandwich missing. “Spike-” she began, but she remembered he had been within her sight, asleep on the couch the whole time. There was no way he could have gone up to her room without being noticed. Twilight stared for several minutes at her sandwich before letting the chip onto her tongue and slowly chewing it. Her eyes wandered about the room, unsure of what they should be looking for. The sensation of being watched tingled on the skittish unicorn’s spine, making her shift uneasily in the chair. Twilight held her breath, listening to the silence, only to have it broken by the light snoring of her assistant downstairs. “I must’ve taken a bite and forgotten about it, there’s no ghosts or anything in my house!” Twilight laughed to herself nervously, timidly biting on another chip. With caution, she looked back down on the wall of unreadable text that had made her irate earlier. Uncertainty on what to do next spiraled through her mind, forcing her to return to the notes. And so an hour passed, and not a single thing she had written had helped her decipher the runic text. Twilight had at one point returned to the list of names, finding her own with ‘Alive’ tag next to it, thankfully. She spent several minutes reading through it, finding the names of her friends and family, the princesses, and even Discord, to her surprise. Eventually the Celestia’s star pupil returned to the wall of illegible words. She had tried everything from blowing on them, rubbing her notes on the page, she even prodded and poked the words until her foreleg ached. Twilight sighed, the book was tiring her out and she was getting nowhere fast. “Maybe I should just go to bed,” the mare murmured as the sun’s last rays broke through the immense windows of her room. With the decision made, Twilight prepared for sleep, then plopped herself onto her bed, passing out near instantly. A vast evergreen forest stretched out in front of the purple magician, flooding the valley floor and capping the mountain tops in the distance. Twilight stood on a cliff, overlooking an immense waterfall that poured its guts down into the basin below. The landing zone of the waterfall tapered off into a roaring stream that wiggled and snaked through the little hills and stands of trees, until it finally ended in a small lake that was ringed with half-timber lodges and fishing docks. The spruce and pines stood, swaying gently in the breeze coming down over the mountains, spreading the earthy scent of the needles and the rich moisture emanating from the falls. The breeze felt refreshing, though the air was a bit chillier than what Twilight was used to. She sat near the edge of the cliff, observing this little microcosm of a valley as it offered the unicorn a visage of natural beauty. A caw alerted her, beckoning her to look up and see the raven that circled above. The bird landed, perched on a large branch strewn on the cliff’s edge. It turned to her, looking the mare in the eye with its black, beady pupil. She stared back, watching the raven sit and share the warden’s post on top of the high cliff. Intelligence stirred beneath that eye, like the waters of some well just deep enough to escape the sun’s light. “What are your intentions, wizard?” the bird spoke, its mouth open but no other action causing the voice to form. “I want to learn. I love to learn,” Twilight responded. “And why do you want to learn?” the raven inquired further. “Why not? Aren’t we all students? Aren’t we all learning anyway?” she answered, making the bird cock its head. “I suppose we are, even the oldest of us. Your name is Twilight Sparkle.” It was more of a statement than a question, causing the unicorn to raise her eyebrow. “It is, how did you know?” “Your name is on the list, after all. I think you can move along now,” the bird said cryptically before flying off. Twilight was confused at first, but then blissful indifference found her. The sights of the valley below were soothing, making the bookworm feel as if she were home after a long journey. The purple mare jerked awake, her slumber suddenly coming to an end. She looked about the room, the dreams of the night before still prominent in memory. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, the unicorn saw that the sun was just rising. She rose from bed with it, unusually awake and full of energy. Twilight stepped over to her mirror, fetching her brush with a bit of magic. She stroked out the knots and tangles, making sure her bangs were even and orderly. As she brushed away, she could see the book in the mirror’s reflection, lying open on that page she couldn’t read. The brushing slowed as violet eyes fixed themselves on the tome. Eventually Twilight set it down and trotted over to her writing table, sitting in its seat. When she looked down at the pages, she gasped. She could read them! They were in Equestrian, but how? Shaking her head, she drank in the words. I speak to you, my journal. It has been thirty years since I’ve left, and just now have I decided to write in you. It’s a shame I hadn’t earlier, Hilde would’ve liked to see me all curled up with a stick of charcoal, scrawling on these pages about my day and how sore at the world I always am. I miss you, Hilde. Enough of that. The streets of Volrun are empty, the invaders had come and gone. Of course, they didn’t see me, a quick cloaking spell was enough. The Torzhakt weren’t very bright to begin with. I’m going to leave now, I think I’ll go to Duld, perhaps those artifacts are there. I have no idea of course, but what else am I going to do? I love you, Hilde. Twilight looked up from the book, her eyes shiny with the beginning of tears. The thoughts of loneliness she had long ago bubbled to the surface of her mind, tickling her brain with sadness and flecks of joy, now that she had so many good friends. “Celestia was right in sending me here,” Twilight smiled, thanking her mentor inwardly for helping her. She wiped away the moisture, and moved on to the next entry. I speak to you, my journal. Duld is a nice place. Very calm, very peaceful. VERY green. By Odin’s left eye, I’ve never seen so many different plants in one place! I landed in the middle of a forest, but I wasn’t far from this little village of lizard people. A strange kind, but friendly to me, and they have good food too. Hilde would’ve liked this place, she always complained about how cold it was up north. She mentioned wanting to go down south once, to see the princesses. The night alicorn, I forgot her name, she wanted to meet her. Always a fan of her skies, that girl was. A shame the nights here aren’t as beautiful as back home. Good night my journal. “Luna? This pony knew about Luna?” Twilight’s stomach grumbled as she finished up the second entry. “Ah! I forgot about breakfast!” she jumped up from her chair and hurried to the door, but before she left, the unicorn turned to look at the book. “I’ll read more later.” Twilight headed down the stairs to prepare the most important meal of the day for her and Spike, humming happily to herself. Out on a leafless branch, a raven looked in through the kitchen window. Twilight was cooking waffles, and the sweet smell of the batter tickled the bird’s nostrils. It’s dark eyes watched her, analyzing every move. The raven felt it had made a good decision. And on the story goes! I hope you all enjoyed it, there will be more soon! Chapter 3 - To Draw from the SourceI speak to you, my journal. So there it was, the thing I, and all other living things, dread the most. Time had caught up with me, the thread ended. I felt betrayed and disappointed, was that really it? I died today, and my blood seeped out onto the battlefield, moistening the earth and nourishing it. I came back. The sword was pulled clean from my body, and I stood up again. The hole filled itself in, and I could breath. Part of me wishes that had never happened. Part of me wants it to end, to die the Varyag’s death, to see Hilde again. I know very well that no weapon can kill me, but all the same I was stunned. It has been two thousand years since I left home, two thousand since Discord brought us to our knees. I felt my fetch stir, speaking for the first time since my long journey began, someone has found this book. Someone spoke to my raven. You have much to read, child. I hope you are human. A pair of dextrous fingers set down the quill, capping the ink pot and closing the book. After enjoying a filling breakfast and mixing up an ointment to help with Spike’s shedding, Twilight collapsed into her reading chair. With a whisk of her horn, she hovered the old journal into her hooves, picking up where she had last left off. She flicked through the pages, finding her bookmark. This place is devoid of magic. Durandal has no leylines or springs, nothing at all. I can barely feel my cords back to the other worlds, and I fear I may not be able to leave. Now that I think of it, I wonder if my home journal still updates from here? It should, in theory, but in this dead place I can’t be too sure. I wonder what happened to it... That is all for now, I suppose. This place is static, not much I can do until I channel enough fuel from home to walk out of here. “Leylines?” Twilight pulled her face away from the pages. “Why would he need leylines? You can’t use leylines in magic, right?” She stroked her chin with a hoof before deciding to hop off her chair in search of a particular book. The hunt did not take long, thanks to her immaculate system of organization. Before she could say ‘leylines,’ she sat back down at her desk with a book on the very subject. Twlight flipped through the pages, coming upon a passage concerning the theoretical use of leylines in magical practice. ...Starswirl the Bearded was reported to have been able to tap leylines for their magical energies, where he discovered his methods and how he actually did it, is still a hot topic of debate amongst scholars and magicians alike. With a leyline’s incredible output of power, a magician is capable of potentially matching even the princesses in power... “Oh my.” Twilight murmured, a thousand questions rushing through her head. Should I tell the princesses about this book? She gasped. Do they use them? Are they only as powerful as unicorns, but they figured out how to use the leylines? “Jumping to conclusions Twilight!” she sighed, wiping a hoof across her forehead. “Maybe I should just keep this to myself...” The unicorn turned back to the journal in search of more on the subject of leylines. She flipped through the next couple of pages of the journal, only to find a largely printed glyph that was not too different than the one that she had seen upon first finding the book. “This again?” She moved her head around, practically orbiting the rune. “Maybe this has something to do with the leylines?” The text surrounding the symbol was a long, unbreaking paragraph of the illegible runic alphabet. She reached out hesitantly, knowing that what she was about to do just might end up going awry. The librarian’s hoof gently tapped the symbol, flying away immediately after contact. She slammed her eyes shut and bit her lip, waiting for some loud sound or horrifying sight. Nothing happened. “Phew! I guess it’s ju--” Twilight was interrupted by a pillar of icy-blue light erupting violently from the glyph. It smacked into the ceiling, then exploded outward, temporarily blinding the unicorn. She tumbled out of her chair, rubbing her eyes in a panic. As quick as the light came, it was gone. Twilight stumbled to her feet, swaying where she stood. As she regained her balance, what she saw made her eyes as wide as saucers. Permeating the air around her were thousands of the little runes, glowing in a rainbow of colors. Motes of light scattered and floated like dust, while each rune pulsed like a star. Her jaw hung loosely as she beheld the sight, drinking in the colors and the humming that seemed to fill the air. She reached out to touch one of the runes, but it zoomed off, coalescing with hundreds of others into a whirlpool of light forming in the center of the room. From this chromatic eddy was born a sphere. On this sphere rose continents and oceans, a miniature globe evolving before her eyes. It was Equestria. It was the world. What remained of the symbols spiraled around the globe, positioning themselves over specific spots on the landmasses and oceans, some changing colors while others morphed into other symbols entirely. The light show ended, with the globe remaining static in the air. Twilight sat where she was and stared dumbly at the thing. “Ok, I need to approach this scientifically. I have no idea what this is and I must be careful.” The unicorn whisked magic up through her body, into her horn. She reached out to the globe with her telekinetic touch, probing the construct with her mind. She grasped one of the runes, and her mind was suddenly inundated with images of a redwood forest, the trees alive with vibrant and powerful energies. The librarian recoiled at the sudden intensity of the magic, intrigued and at the same time frightened. The images disintegrated, leaving the stunned unicorn sitting on the floor with stars in her eyes. “What in Equestria was that?” she groaned, rubbing her temples. Though they were gone from her sight, the trees stuck in her mind. The forest floor felt rich and supple beneath her hooves, though they never stepped on that soil. It all felt so alive, as if every inch of the woods were crawling and breathing to the rhythm of the cycle. It was so full of energy. Could that be one of those springs? Tentatively, Twilight reached out with her magic, prodding and pinching that same rune. Once more, the sensorial rush rammed into her, but she was prepared. The impact was dulled by readiness, making the sprawling redwood forest in front of her all the more vivid and delicious to her eyes. Twilight could feel it, it was everywhere! The tang of life itself permeated everything like water in a sponge. The pure power coursing through the woods was similar to what she had within her very horn, yet it had a strange, incomplete flavor. The first thing that came to her mind was a chocolate chip cookie, but without the chocolate chips. The energies around her swarmed in like insects. Her presence in this pseudo-environment was like a flame, drawing in the motes of life. Twilight felt her skin tingle with the sensation of magic beating down like a light drizzle. The unicorn felt herself get hot, the energy building within her core. This shouldn’t be happening, a unicorn’s horn contains and channels magic, not her body... Awe darkened to concern as she drank in more of the life magic. Twilight wasn’t aware of it, but her body was shaking as veiny green mycelia erupted on her skin and twisted through her fur, glowing with the power of the forest. Twilight’s mind reeled, desperately trying to claw its way out of the forest and away from the energy. With a cry, the visions tore away, releasing her from their grip. She flew back from the globe, smacking into a bookcase. Tome after tome toppled down onto her head, earning her a headache for her efforts. Slowly, the unicorn’s eyes opened, revealing yet another reason to groan. The portion of the floor where Twilight had sat just moments before was coated in a thick weave of bramble and vines. Greenery grew seamlessly out of the floorboards as if it were rich soil. “Huh?! But... I didn’t...” Twilight sputtered. The air still tingle with the familiar flavor of life magic. The librarian stared at the mass of plants, her eyes widening in realization. “Starswirl was right... I channeled that energy from outside my body, and I’m not even tired! All that power with no effort... oh my.” She clasped a hoof to her mouth, wrestling with the implications of such an impressive amount of power at her disposal, with little strain to wield it. But why was this energy so specific? Energy is energy, there aren’t any types of it. Well, I thought there weren’t. I need to tell Celestia about this. The unicorn eyed the brambly clump in the middle of the room, figuring that clean up can wait until after she sends her letter. Sighing at the mass of plant life, Twilight hovered a quill and paper over from her desk and began furiously writing her letter to the princess. Dear Princess Celestia, I, your faithful student, have made an incredible discovery! In the depths of the Royal Canterlot Archives, I have found the journal of what appears to be an ancient unicorn that history has forgotten! Or, I think he’s a unicorn, mentioned these things called ‘Humans,’ and how he hoped that whomever was reading the journal was one. The book itself is a strange magical artifact. When I found it, the pages were completely devoid of any writing. However, upon blowing through the pages, a single glyph from an unknown written language appears. Blowing on this glyph ‘activates’ the book, so to speak, revealing its contents. The writing itself was in that unknown language, but upon coming into contact with a page of my notes, the letters, both on the notes and in the book, seemed to animate and translate into legible Equestrian. The writing turned out to be a list of names, I am assuming of all things that ever lived. I found my name, all the names from the apple family, I even found you, Princess Luna, and even Discord! I am absolutely puzzled as to why or how this list came into being, I will study it further. After the list, I discovered journal entries, which is how I came to the conclusion of what exactly to call the book. The author, who may not be a unicorn, spoke of these otherworldly places he has traveled, such as ‘Durandal’ and ‘Volrun.’ I have never heard of such places, and the way he put it implied that they were not within the same world. You wouldn’t happen to know of these places, would you? Lastly, I have discovered something truly incredible! Within his entries, the author mentions the ability to channel energy OUTSIDE of one’s horn! Starswirl the Bearded spoke of this in one of his essays, but everypony laughed at him! While I was going through the entry, I found a page that had that same unknown glyph from before, surrounded by illegible text. I touched the glyph, and everything exploded in light! Before me then formed a model of the entire world, with runic symbols over various locations, it was like a map! I reached out with my magic to touch one, so I could see the weave of the spell, and I saw a forest, with tall trees, millions of them! That’s not all, this forest was full of energy! It felt like life itself was filling the air, filling my horn! Before I knew it, the energy was within me, I took it from outside and channeled it through my horn! Now there’s a bush in my room... Starswirl was right, you can channel outside energy! I didn’t even feel fatigued in the least when it happened, too! I could have nearly unlimited power... This may be dangerous. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle Rolling up the scroll, Twilight called for a tired and grumpy Spike. He hobbled into the room, switching from an irate glare to pure confusion at the sudden appearance of a bush in the middle of her room. With a shrug, he grasped the letter with two fingers, and blew it away into nothingness. Spike turned to leave, but was stopped cold by a loud belch. Within the fiery burp materialized a response from the princess, which Twilight eagerly snatched up. I must see you at once. Prepare for my arrival. Princess Celestia. I feel like this could have been better, but I'm just too tired and lazy, I write this while my pre-readers run through my main story, so you won't get grade A quality here. I just wanna tell a story, not write a New York Times best seller, you know? As long as you enjoy it, what do I care? You're all great readers, keep it up my people.
Chapter 1 - BookwormIn the end, death finds us all. From the lowliest insect skittering across the earthy forest floor, to the highest mountain, standing stalwart under whipping winds and the unrelenting sun. Across the eons and beyond the heavens, there have been those who quested like heroes, seeking to conquer this enemy of the living. Myriad beings from an endless number of civilizations and races all drove themselves to become more than just a participant in the cycle of the life, they sought mastery over it. All attempts were met with failure, and more often than not, a grim submission to that very circle whose bounds they tried to step outside of. It is commonly believed that the Alicorns were the only species known to ever wield immortality in Equestria, and all the world. This, of course, was an exaggeration. The princesses have incredible longevity, yes, but eventually even they will succumb to the grave, be it by disease, age, or injury. Surely, if not even they can avoid death, no one can, right? The Royal Library in Canterlot was a veritable paradise for Twilight, whose towering shelves and stacks of books were like the palm trees and limestone cliffs of some distant tropical island. “Dragons, dragons, dragons... aha! Dragons!” the lavender librarian exclaimed as she found the section of the library she had been searching for. Her young assistant, was going through what appeared to be a growth spurt, so Twilight, being the bookworm she is, dove immediately into her library’s repertoire on dragons. With a resounding zero books on the species, she found herself forced to visit her home city of Canterlot in search of the knowledge she needed. So here the magician found herself, her dragon napping back home while she stalked the elusive Dracopedia. She couldn’t be more content. Twilight eagerly bounced into the draconian archive, setting her saddlebags down at a nearby table. She ogled at the colossal wall of books before her, mesmerized by its monolithic number of books, waiting for her prying hooves to caress their covers. The sheer amount of knowledge on dragons was staggering, but it was nothing in comparison to the immensity of what Equestrian society didn’t know. Twilight dragged the rolling ladder over with a bit of magic, scampering up like a mouse, desperate for crumbs atop the dinner table. Her eyes scanned the bookcase for what she desired, systematically reading titles on book spines and savoring the flavor of boundless knowledge at her hooftips. Her wandering eye fell on one volume that seemed out of place. It was a tattered old book, with no title written on its spine. The mare huffed, pulling out the book with her magic and gazing over its cover. Upon it was nothing at all. A completely bland, what appeared to be leather surface looked back at her. She cringed a little at holding the tanned skin book, knowing very well where leather came from “A leather book? That’s... monstrous.” Forgetting the Dracopedia, she stepped down from the stepladder and brought the tome back with her to the table. Twilight set the book down, donning her reading glasses and preparing to devour whatever this book had to offer. A whisk of magic flopped the hard cover open, revealing a blank page. She furrowed her brow, turning the next page. Empty. Frustration drove her to wildly whip through the pages, all of which had nothing printed upon them. “What’s this stupid book doing in the archives if there’s nothing in it!” Twilight growled at no one in particular. A loud ‘shh!’ came from another pony sitting on the far side of the small section. Twilight smiled sheepishly and shrunk down into her seat. With a sigh, she rose out of her chair and returned to the sliding ladder, deciding to find the Dracopedia and learn ways to help Spike feel more comfortable during his molting, rather than waste time staring at an empty book. Once more she dove into the shelves, tunneling through irrelevant texts and scanning order tags. At last, with a grin plastered on her face, Twilight pulled the book she sought out from among the others, levitating it with her back to the table. When she sat down, however, something caught her eye. She had left the empty book open, and an errant breeze had blown through the pages, landing on a page with a single, unusual glyph inked in the center. Curiosity overcoming her, she flipped through the next few pages, but found nothing. The entire contents of the book was that single glyph. The mare pushed the Dracopedia aside, peering closely at the enigmatic symbol. Her mind was blank for a moment, before an idea struck her. She bounded off, heading for the section of the library containing ancient languages and scripture. Not a moment later, she had returned with a dozen reference books on ancient ideography and symbolism. How Celestia’s prized student managed to find those books faster than the Dracopedia, she wasn’t quite sure. She blamed it on lazy librarian assistants. Twilight popped open the first book, The Omnibus of Ancient Symbols, Ideographs, and Runes. “It looks rather like the old troll scratchings, but what would a troll be doing with a book?” she wondered. Turning the pages, the lavender unicorn found the ancient troll section. She arranged the books side by side, comparing the mysterious glyph to the wide array of trollish letters and symbols. They were indeed similar, but she could not identify this particular glyph, and it didn’t completely fit the overall theme that the troll’s used when they wrote on stone. “What in Equestria could it be?” She huffed, the foreleg that had been supporting her head lazily fell across the page, landing on top of the symbol. A subtle warmth snaked through her leg, growing more intense with every second, reminding her of the heat one felt during an embrace. She snatched her foreleg away, staring at symbol beneath. It seemed liquid now, jiggling and undulating as if it were projected on the surface of a pond rather than paper. The unicorn’s mouth worked, but nothing came out as she gawked at the page. She hesitantly reached out with a hoof, prodding the letter and reeling away as it rippled on the page. Twilight looked up, her eyes darting about the room. That other pony had since left, leaving her alone in the dragon section of the archives. Casting her gaze down, the student prodded the letter once more with her hoof, eliciting another watery reaction from the glyph. “Well this is certainly interesting,” Twilight mumbled, still staring perplexed at the tome before her, “I suppose I’ll just take this with me. It’s not like they’d store important or dangerous texts in a place where any old pony could access it, right?” She giggled nervously at her own attempt to assure herself. Scooping up the Dracopedia and her unusual new subject of study, Twilight saddled up and went to the front desk to check them out. “Ah, hello there Twilight! It’s so good to see you again!” the old librarian smiled warmly at her as she approached the front desk. “Hello Inkwell, I’d like to check out these two books please,” she said, returning the smile. “Alright, let’s see what we have here. Ooh, the Dracopedia! Whatever do you need this for?” “Oh well, Spike is going through a growth spurt, and his molting is making him uncomfortable. I figured I’d help him out, since he’s been such a good little assistant to me.” “I do miss that little dragon, he was such a joy to have around, though his fire wasn’t always so pleasant,” the old mare said in a low voice, grinning at the younger unicorn. “Well he’s gotten a lot better with that, he almost never burns things he’s not supposed to!” Twilight chuckled. “Well, what is this here? An empty book? What in Equestria is this doing in the archive?” Inkwell hummed at the bland book, flipping through its pages, then looked back up to Twilight, “Why did you want to check this out?” “Oh well, I saw it was empty and I, uh... I wanted to try writing a book! So I figured I could just take it off the archive’s hooves...” the student forced her best smile, panic breaking loose in her head. The old mare shrugged at her, “Eh, alright, it’s yours! Here you go, and when you finish that book and it becomes a famous piece of literature, you be sure to send a copy here!” “Of course, have a nice day Inkwell!” Twilight said as she backed out the library doors, heaving a sigh of relief as the door closed behind her. The walk home from Canterlot had exhausted Twilight, and the anticipation of studying the mysterious book further hadn’t helped make the journey feel any shorter. She trudged up the stairs, noting spike still passed out on the couch, and made her way into the library’s inner sanctum. Collapsing on her bed, the mare pulled out the blank book and opened it, looking for that strange, liquid symbol. As she turned the pages, it became obvious that the symbol was gone. Twilight scowled at the book, but an idea dawned on her. She left the book open, and gently blew on the side, lifting and turning the pages with her breath. Empty pieces of paper flipped by, until one with the single, unknown symbol landed open for her to see. Grinning at her own brilliance, she laid her hoof down on the glyph, feeling that familiar warmth once again run up her foreleg. Removing her hoof revealed the rippling behavior, mystifying the mare to no end. “If wind made the book reveal the symbol, maybe it’ll do something more...” Twilight pondered as she stared at the mystery before her. She inhaled slowly, then gently blew across the page, over the glyph. Much to her surprise, the symbol seemed to spill and slide across the page, and in its wake hundreds of other glyphs flew out, erupting across the page in an ideographic tsunami. The paper turned black with letters, until many of them faded into nothingness. Those that remained ordered themselves into lines and paragraphs, with accompanying charts and graphs. The letters remained illegible to her, but the unicorn noticed that the lines formed what appeared to be a list. Next to each entry was another word, written in either green or red ink. She frowned at the writing as she levitated the book along with writing materials over to her desk. Twilight sat and began taking notes on the foreign alphabet, recording each unique glyph and noting how words were separated and the characteristics of each individual symbol. The letters were simply in design, but recurring attributes appeared in all of them. There were never more than four strokes per design, and each stroke was straight. Not a curve was in sight, nor were there any horizontal lines; each line either went vertical or diagonal on a forty five degree angle. Furthermore, each ‘word’ or ‘sentence’ was sandwiched in between two horizontal lines on the top and bottom, running the whole length of what was written. Words that were adjacent to others above and below them shared one of the horizontal rules. The exhausted pony let loose a big yawn, and in the process, accidentally blew on the letter coated pages, knocking them away into whatever oblivion awaited them. She stared dumbly at the pages, now devoid of any writing whatsoever. Several moments were spent steaming before she tried blowing on the pages again, once more revealing that singular ‘cover rune’ as she had come to call it. She ‘restarted’ the book again by touching the symbol and blowing its watery contents across the pages. Once more, the list formulated out of the mess it created, letting her resume her study. She made sure to breathe away from the book whenever the need made itself apparent. Returning to her notes, Twilight discovered her quill had gone dry. She quickly dipped it in her well to continue her observations. She pushed the quill to the paper, but instead of writing, it slid right into the book. The letters on the tome’s pages began to jumble and jiggle as those on her notepaper did the same. Out of the runic nonsense, Equestrian words formed, becoming readable, if not messy, in mere moments. For what seemed the hundredth time today, Twilight stared at the book in amazement. The list that had puzzled her minutes before, now revealed itself to be a set of names, in alphabetical order. Next to some of the names was the word ‘alive’ in green ink, while the vast majority had ‘deceased’ in red. A frightened look grew on the student's face as she saw the sheer number of names labeled with the latter. In among the vast list of names, was one she least expected to see. Applebloom. This was more just writing an idea down than anything, I don't know if I'll continue with this, but if you guys like it, then chances are I'll keep going.
Chapter 2 - The Fetch“A-Applebloom?!” Twilight sputtered at the the book in front of her. She continued down the list becoming no less surprised and confused as it went on. “Appleblossom, Apple Cobbler... Applejack!?” she continued on, now jumping randomly from name to name, “Bon-Bon, Carrot Top, Sparkler... Celestia...” Twilight pushed the tome away from her, leaning back in her chair. The unicorn sat, tapping her hooves together but otherwise silent. What is Celestia’s name doing in there? What are any of these names doing in this book? What in Equestria is this? she pondered, gazing at the yellowed pages. The librarian leaned forward again, staring down at the now frightening book. She hesitantly picked at the pages and turned them, going to the beginning. What greeted her there caught her off the guard. Instead of a list of names, there was a short blurb: I know not why you read this journal of mine, but it is my dearest hope that these are a man’s eyes looking down on my words. I fear you have all died, or given up on reading. Same thing, really. Take whatever you can read out of this book, use it wisely. It just might help you live for another day. That was it. Twilight read it four times, each time humming at it thoughtfully. She turned the page, and was confronted by a wall of the illegible runes in an incredibly small print. “Huh?” she scowled at the text as she grabbed her note paper. She rubbed it on the pages, but with no result. She stared at the book and tried again. Nothing. “But you just did it a minute ago!” The book did not respond. Twilight sighed, facehoofing at her frustration. The purple unicorn decided lunch was in order. A short trip down the stairs and into the kitchen. She summoned bread from the bread drawer, and opened the fridge to acquire dandelions and pickles. A whisk of magic hovered the ingredients, assembling them into a delicious sandwich in mid-air. She grasped the cupboard handle with her magic, intent on fetching chips, but was stopped by her breath fogging in front of her face. Twilight furrowed her brow as a chill swept through her, making her fur stand on end and her teeth chatter. The unicorn looked around her kitchen, searching for a draft. Did I leave the fridge open? She turned to the white box. It was closed. Twilight’s bones rattled under her skin as she felt around the room with her magic. There was nothing out of the ordinary, no magical fields or enchantments. “Why is it so cold in here!” she shouted, and as soon as she did, the heat of summer returned, leaving her confused and frightened. “Twilight, what’s with all the yelling?” Spike entered the kitchen, rubbing his eyes with a yawn while an errant scale fell off his arm. “Oh, Spike! I’m just a little... bound up is all. Ah! I got a book that has information on dragon growth in it, I’ll whip up something to help you with your shedding in a bit.” “Oh, cool. I’m gonna go back to sleep then...” he muttered, stifling another yawn. Twilight watched him leave the kitchen and flop back on the couch, unconscious in moments. “He sure does sleep a lot. I should work on that treatment,” the mare talked to herself as she levitated her meal. The sandwich and its creator traveled back up the stairs to her room, finally coming to rest on her desk. She suddenly remembered a key component to her lunch. “Chips! I forgot the chips!” Twilight hurried back down into the kitchen, leaving her sandwich all alone. The librarian’s room fell silent. The sandwich was alone, with no company to eat it. The sandwich began to move, as if it were being nudged by some invisible finger. Crumbs fell off, and a small portion of the sandwich began to disintegrate into thin air. All that was left was a small bite on the corner of the bread. Not a moment later, Twilight returned to her sanctum carrying with her a bag of potato chips. She sat down once more, unrolling the previously opened bag and picking out a large, curled up chip to crunch on. The chip stopped midway to her mouth, however, as she noticed the small chunk of her sandwich missing. “Spike-” she began, but she remembered he had been within her sight, asleep on the couch the whole time. There was no way he could have gone up to her room without being noticed. Twilight stared for several minutes at her sandwich before letting the chip onto her tongue and slowly chewing it. Her eyes wandered about the room, unsure of what they should be looking for. The sensation of being watched tingled on the skittish unicorn’s spine, making her shift uneasily in the chair. Twilight held her breath, listening to the silence, only to have it broken by the light snoring of her assistant downstairs. “I must’ve taken a bite and forgotten about it, there’s no ghosts or anything in my house!” Twilight laughed to herself nervously, timidly biting on another chip. With caution, she looked back down on the wall of unreadable text that had made her irate earlier. Uncertainty on what to do next spiraled through her mind, forcing her to return to the notes. And so an hour passed, and not a single thing she had written had helped her decipher the runic text. Twilight had at one point returned to the list of names, finding her own with ‘Alive’ tag next to it, thankfully. She spent several minutes reading through it, finding the names of her friends and family, the princesses, and even Discord, to her surprise. Eventually the Celestia’s star pupil returned to the wall of illegible words. She had tried everything from blowing on them, rubbing her notes on the page, she even prodded and poked the words until her foreleg ached. Twilight sighed, the book was tiring her out and she was getting nowhere fast. “Maybe I should just go to bed,” the mare murmured as the sun’s last rays broke through the immense windows of her room. With the decision made, Twilight prepared for sleep, then plopped herself onto her bed, passing out near instantly. A vast evergreen forest stretched out in front of the purple magician, flooding the valley floor and capping the mountain tops in the distance. Twilight stood on a cliff, overlooking an immense waterfall that poured its guts down into the basin below. The landing zone of the waterfall tapered off into a roaring stream that wiggled and snaked through the little hills and stands of trees, until it finally ended in a small lake that was ringed with half-timber lodges and fishing docks. The spruce and pines stood, swaying gently in the breeze coming down over the mountains, spreading the earthy scent of the needles and the rich moisture emanating from the falls. The breeze felt refreshing, though the air was a bit chillier than what Twilight was used to. She sat near the edge of the cliff, observing this little microcosm of a valley as it offered the unicorn a visage of natural beauty. A caw alerted her, beckoning her to look up and see the raven that circled above. The bird landed, perched on a large branch strewn on the cliff’s edge. It turned to her, looking the mare in the eye with its black, beady pupil. She stared back, watching the raven sit and share the warden’s post on top of the high cliff. Intelligence stirred beneath that eye, like the waters of some well just deep enough to escape the sun’s light. “What are your intentions, wizard?” the bird spoke, its mouth open but no other action causing the voice to form. “I want to learn. I love to learn,” Twilight responded. “And why do you want to learn?” the raven inquired further. “Why not? Aren’t we all students? Aren’t we all learning anyway?” she answered, making the bird cock its head. “I suppose we are, even the oldest of us. Your name is Twilight Sparkle.” It was more of a statement than a question, causing the unicorn to raise her eyebrow. “It is, how did you know?” “Your name is on the list, after all. I think you can move along now,” the bird said cryptically before flying off. Twilight was confused at first, but then blissful indifference found her. The sights of the valley below were soothing, making the bookworm feel as if she were home after a long journey. The purple mare jerked awake, her slumber suddenly coming to an end. She looked about the room, the dreams of the night before still prominent in memory. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, the unicorn saw that the sun was just rising. She rose from bed with it, unusually awake and full of energy. Twilight stepped over to her mirror, fetching her brush with a bit of magic. She stroked out the knots and tangles, making sure her bangs were even and orderly. As she brushed away, she could see the book in the mirror’s reflection, lying open on that page she couldn’t read. The brushing slowed as violet eyes fixed themselves on the tome. Eventually Twilight set it down and trotted over to her writing table, sitting in its seat. When she looked down at the pages, she gasped. She could read them! They were in Equestrian, but how? Shaking her head, she drank in the words. I speak to you, my journal. It has been thirty years since I’ve left, and just now have I decided to write in you. It’s a shame I hadn’t earlier, Hilde would’ve liked to see me all curled up with a stick of charcoal, scrawling on these pages about my day and how sore at the world I always am. I miss you, Hilde. Enough of that. The streets of Volrun are empty, the invaders had come and gone. Of course, they didn’t see me, a quick cloaking spell was enough. The Torzhakt weren’t very bright to begin with. I’m going to leave now, I think I’ll go to Duld, perhaps those artifacts are there. I have no idea of course, but what else am I going to do? I love you, Hilde. Twilight looked up from the book, her eyes shiny with the beginning of tears. The thoughts of loneliness she had long ago bubbled to the surface of her mind, tickling her brain with sadness and flecks of joy, now that she had so many good friends. “Celestia was right in sending me here,” Twilight smiled, thanking her mentor inwardly for helping her. She wiped away the moisture, and moved on to the next entry. I speak to you, my journal. Duld is a nice place. Very calm, very peaceful. VERY green. By Odin’s left eye, I’ve never seen so many different plants in one place! I landed in the middle of a forest, but I wasn’t far from this little village of lizard people. A strange kind, but friendly to me, and they have good food too. Hilde would’ve liked this place, she always complained about how cold it was up north. She mentioned wanting to go down south once, to see the princesses. The night alicorn, I forgot her name, she wanted to meet her. Always a fan of her skies, that girl was. A shame the nights here aren’t as beautiful as back home. Good night my journal. “Luna? This pony knew about Luna?” Twilight’s stomach grumbled as she finished up the second entry. “Ah! I forgot about breakfast!” she jumped up from her chair and hurried to the door, but before she left, the unicorn turned to look at the book. “I’ll read more later.” Twilight headed down the stairs to prepare the most important meal of the day for her and Spike, humming happily to herself. Out on a leafless branch, a raven looked in through the kitchen window. Twilight was cooking waffles, and the sweet smell of the batter tickled the bird’s nostrils. It’s dark eyes watched her, analyzing every move. The raven felt it had made a good decision. And on the story goes! I hope you all enjoyed it, there will be more soon!
Chapter 3 - To Draw from the SourceI speak to you, my journal. So there it was, the thing I, and all other living things, dread the most. Time had caught up with me, the thread ended. I felt betrayed and disappointed, was that really it? I died today, and my blood seeped out onto the battlefield, moistening the earth and nourishing it. I came back. The sword was pulled clean from my body, and I stood up again. The hole filled itself in, and I could breath. Part of me wishes that had never happened. Part of me wants it to end, to die the Varyag’s death, to see Hilde again. I know very well that no weapon can kill me, but all the same I was stunned. It has been two thousand years since I left home, two thousand since Discord brought us to our knees. I felt my fetch stir, speaking for the first time since my long journey began, someone has found this book. Someone spoke to my raven. You have much to read, child. I hope you are human. A pair of dextrous fingers set down the quill, capping the ink pot and closing the book. After enjoying a filling breakfast and mixing up an ointment to help with Spike’s shedding, Twilight collapsed into her reading chair. With a whisk of her horn, she hovered the old journal into her hooves, picking up where she had last left off. She flicked through the pages, finding her bookmark. This place is devoid of magic. Durandal has no leylines or springs, nothing at all. I can barely feel my cords back to the other worlds, and I fear I may not be able to leave. Now that I think of it, I wonder if my home journal still updates from here? It should, in theory, but in this dead place I can’t be too sure. I wonder what happened to it... That is all for now, I suppose. This place is static, not much I can do until I channel enough fuel from home to walk out of here. “Leylines?” Twilight pulled her face away from the pages. “Why would he need leylines? You can’t use leylines in magic, right?” She stroked her chin with a hoof before deciding to hop off her chair in search of a particular book. The hunt did not take long, thanks to her immaculate system of organization. Before she could say ‘leylines,’ she sat back down at her desk with a book on the very subject. Twlight flipped through the pages, coming upon a passage concerning the theoretical use of leylines in magical practice. ...Starswirl the Bearded was reported to have been able to tap leylines for their magical energies, where he discovered his methods and how he actually did it, is still a hot topic of debate amongst scholars and magicians alike. With a leyline’s incredible output of power, a magician is capable of potentially matching even the princesses in power... “Oh my.” Twilight murmured, a thousand questions rushing through her head. Should I tell the princesses about this book? She gasped. Do they use them? Are they only as powerful as unicorns, but they figured out how to use the leylines? “Jumping to conclusions Twilight!” she sighed, wiping a hoof across her forehead. “Maybe I should just keep this to myself...” The unicorn turned back to the journal in search of more on the subject of leylines. She flipped through the next couple of pages of the journal, only to find a largely printed glyph that was not too different than the one that she had seen upon first finding the book. “This again?” She moved her head around, practically orbiting the rune. “Maybe this has something to do with the leylines?” The text surrounding the symbol was a long, unbreaking paragraph of the illegible runic alphabet. She reached out hesitantly, knowing that what she was about to do just might end up going awry. The librarian’s hoof gently tapped the symbol, flying away immediately after contact. She slammed her eyes shut and bit her lip, waiting for some loud sound or horrifying sight. Nothing happened. “Phew! I guess it’s ju--” Twilight was interrupted by a pillar of icy-blue light erupting violently from the glyph. It smacked into the ceiling, then exploded outward, temporarily blinding the unicorn. She tumbled out of her chair, rubbing her eyes in a panic. As quick as the light came, it was gone. Twilight stumbled to her feet, swaying where she stood. As she regained her balance, what she saw made her eyes as wide as saucers. Permeating the air around her were thousands of the little runes, glowing in a rainbow of colors. Motes of light scattered and floated like dust, while each rune pulsed like a star. Her jaw hung loosely as she beheld the sight, drinking in the colors and the humming that seemed to fill the air. She reached out to touch one of the runes, but it zoomed off, coalescing with hundreds of others into a whirlpool of light forming in the center of the room. From this chromatic eddy was born a sphere. On this sphere rose continents and oceans, a miniature globe evolving before her eyes. It was Equestria. It was the world. What remained of the symbols spiraled around the globe, positioning themselves over specific spots on the landmasses and oceans, some changing colors while others morphed into other symbols entirely. The light show ended, with the globe remaining static in the air. Twilight sat where she was and stared dumbly at the thing. “Ok, I need to approach this scientifically. I have no idea what this is and I must be careful.” The unicorn whisked magic up through her body, into her horn. She reached out to the globe with her telekinetic touch, probing the construct with her mind. She grasped one of the runes, and her mind was suddenly inundated with images of a redwood forest, the trees alive with vibrant and powerful energies. The librarian recoiled at the sudden intensity of the magic, intrigued and at the same time frightened. The images disintegrated, leaving the stunned unicorn sitting on the floor with stars in her eyes. “What in Equestria was that?” she groaned, rubbing her temples. Though they were gone from her sight, the trees stuck in her mind. The forest floor felt rich and supple beneath her hooves, though they never stepped on that soil. It all felt so alive, as if every inch of the woods were crawling and breathing to the rhythm of the cycle. It was so full of energy. Could that be one of those springs? Tentatively, Twilight reached out with her magic, prodding and pinching that same rune. Once more, the sensorial rush rammed into her, but she was prepared. The impact was dulled by readiness, making the sprawling redwood forest in front of her all the more vivid and delicious to her eyes. Twilight could feel it, it was everywhere! The tang of life itself permeated everything like water in a sponge. The pure power coursing through the woods was similar to what she had within her very horn, yet it had a strange, incomplete flavor. The first thing that came to her mind was a chocolate chip cookie, but without the chocolate chips. The energies around her swarmed in like insects. Her presence in this pseudo-environment was like a flame, drawing in the motes of life. Twilight felt her skin tingle with the sensation of magic beating down like a light drizzle. The unicorn felt herself get hot, the energy building within her core. This shouldn’t be happening, a unicorn’s horn contains and channels magic, not her body... Awe darkened to concern as she drank in more of the life magic. Twilight wasn’t aware of it, but her body was shaking as veiny green mycelia erupted on her skin and twisted through her fur, glowing with the power of the forest. Twilight’s mind reeled, desperately trying to claw its way out of the forest and away from the energy. With a cry, the visions tore away, releasing her from their grip. She flew back from the globe, smacking into a bookcase. Tome after tome toppled down onto her head, earning her a headache for her efforts. Slowly, the unicorn’s eyes opened, revealing yet another reason to groan. The portion of the floor where Twilight had sat just moments before was coated in a thick weave of bramble and vines. Greenery grew seamlessly out of the floorboards as if it were rich soil. “Huh?! But... I didn’t...” Twilight sputtered. The air still tingle with the familiar flavor of life magic. The librarian stared at the mass of plants, her eyes widening in realization. “Starswirl was right... I channeled that energy from outside my body, and I’m not even tired! All that power with no effort... oh my.” She clasped a hoof to her mouth, wrestling with the implications of such an impressive amount of power at her disposal, with little strain to wield it. But why was this energy so specific? Energy is energy, there aren’t any types of it. Well, I thought there weren’t. I need to tell Celestia about this. The unicorn eyed the brambly clump in the middle of the room, figuring that clean up can wait until after she sends her letter. Sighing at the mass of plant life, Twilight hovered a quill and paper over from her desk and began furiously writing her letter to the princess. Dear Princess Celestia, I, your faithful student, have made an incredible discovery! In the depths of the Royal Canterlot Archives, I have found the journal of what appears to be an ancient unicorn that history has forgotten! Or, I think he’s a unicorn, mentioned these things called ‘Humans,’ and how he hoped that whomever was reading the journal was one. The book itself is a strange magical artifact. When I found it, the pages were completely devoid of any writing. However, upon blowing through the pages, a single glyph from an unknown written language appears. Blowing on this glyph ‘activates’ the book, so to speak, revealing its contents. The writing itself was in that unknown language, but upon coming into contact with a page of my notes, the letters, both on the notes and in the book, seemed to animate and translate into legible Equestrian. The writing turned out to be a list of names, I am assuming of all things that ever lived. I found my name, all the names from the apple family, I even found you, Princess Luna, and even Discord! I am absolutely puzzled as to why or how this list came into being, I will study it further. After the list, I discovered journal entries, which is how I came to the conclusion of what exactly to call the book. The author, who may not be a unicorn, spoke of these otherworldly places he has traveled, such as ‘Durandal’ and ‘Volrun.’ I have never heard of such places, and the way he put it implied that they were not within the same world. You wouldn’t happen to know of these places, would you? Lastly, I have discovered something truly incredible! Within his entries, the author mentions the ability to channel energy OUTSIDE of one’s horn! Starswirl the Bearded spoke of this in one of his essays, but everypony laughed at him! While I was going through the entry, I found a page that had that same unknown glyph from before, surrounded by illegible text. I touched the glyph, and everything exploded in light! Before me then formed a model of the entire world, with runic symbols over various locations, it was like a map! I reached out with my magic to touch one, so I could see the weave of the spell, and I saw a forest, with tall trees, millions of them! That’s not all, this forest was full of energy! It felt like life itself was filling the air, filling my horn! Before I knew it, the energy was within me, I took it from outside and channeled it through my horn! Now there’s a bush in my room... Starswirl was right, you can channel outside energy! I didn’t even feel fatigued in the least when it happened, too! I could have nearly unlimited power... This may be dangerous. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle Rolling up the scroll, Twilight called for a tired and grumpy Spike. He hobbled into the room, switching from an irate glare to pure confusion at the sudden appearance of a bush in the middle of her room. With a shrug, he grasped the letter with two fingers, and blew it away into nothingness. Spike turned to leave, but was stopped cold by a loud belch. Within the fiery burp materialized a response from the princess, which Twilight eagerly snatched up. I must see you at once. Prepare for my arrival. Princess Celestia. I feel like this could have been better, but I'm just too tired and lazy, I write this while my pre-readers run through my main story, so you won't get grade A quality here. I just wanna tell a story, not write a New York Times best seller, you know? As long as you enjoy it, what do I care? You're all great readers, keep it up my people.
