The sun was going down, the town was being covered in shadows and everypony was returning to their homes, to take a well-earned sleep. Silvershine, the grey-eyed unicorn, looked upon the giant tree that would be her new home. Then she smiled at the alicorn standing by her side. Alicorns are usually bigger than ponies, and this one wasn’t the exception, and her long and pale mane gave this specific alicorn, a very majestic, honorable and wise appearance, like the one of a Queen.
-“It’s beautiful. Am I going to live in here?” – Silvershine said.
-“Yes, Silvershine, this will be your new home. I really hope you like it” – The alicorn replied, giving a warm and affective look to the amazed pony.
-“Bu…but… It’s too big for a pony that will live alone. It’ll be hard for me to keep everything in order and cleaned up.”
-“Oh, don’t worry. You won’t be alone. You will live with your personal assistant. He’ll take care of everything you need. He may look intimidating at first, but he’s a pretty nice guy, so don’t be afraid of him. Well, Silvershine, I have some duties to attend, so I’ll leave you to meet your new home and your new friend. Good Bye!”
“Good bye, Princess Celestia. Thank you so much!”
Silvershine waved at the Princess, who despite being a very old alicorn, could still fly with the same grace as a young Pegasus. Then, she took a deep breath and opened the wooden door of her new home. She saw shelves filled with thousands of books, some astronomic devices aiming to the skies, a desk with some scrolls, an inkpot and some quills. The place was pretty big, there was so much to see, explore and read. She has never been so excited. But then, she saw something that made her stand still in place, completely scared. It was a dragon dragging up some bags through the stairs. It had purple and green scales, very long claws, sharp teeth and it was almost twice as big as her. She was about to scream, when the dragon noticed that he wasn’t alone in the room.
-“Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!” –The dragon said, with his strong and deep voice. “My name is Spike. I will be here to help you in everything you need.” –And after saying that, he did the dragon equivalent of a smile, trying to conceal his fangs to avoid shocking even more the already frightened pony.
-“Oh, please, forgive my reaction. The princess told me about you, but it’s a pretty intense sensation to see a dragon from so close. My name is Silvershine.”
They both smiled and looked at each other, while Spike finished moving the package he was carrying. Silvershine was already calmed down, and she got excited again.
-“Whoa I can’t believe that I’m going to live with a dragon! Have you always lived here? How old are you? Do you talk with other ponies? What…”
And then Spike approached Silvershine, and gently, he put the tip of his claw on her lips
-“I guess the journey from Fillydelphia must have been pretty long, and you must be exhausted. There’s a bed upstairs. All your stuff is up there too. You should go to sleep, and we’ll talk tomorrow at breakfast. Okay?”
Silvershine nodded, and went upstairs. He lied in bed, and tried to sleep, but she was still too excited to sleep. She just couldn’t believe what was happening. She became the personal protégé of the Princess, she was given the chance finish her studies on magic and learn everything she always wanted to learn. Despite being so excited, Spike was right: she was pretty tired. She fell asleep after a few minutes of thinking how lucky she was, and how happy she’ll be with her new life.
At morning, the sun was going up. Silvershine’s room was still dark due to the thick curtains covering the only circular window that was next to her bed. Then, a small noise awoke Silvershine. It was the noise of someone entering her room. When she opened her eyes, she saw Spike, carrying a cup of warm tea, and some plates with food.
-“Wake up, Silvershine! I prepared some food!”- The dragon said with his deep, yet kind, voice - “Here, have some tea, eggs and bread. I hope you enjoy it.”
- “Oh my, thanks Spike!”- She was really moved. It was the first time she was being treated in such a nice and polite way. Then, she gave a small bite to the bread, and drank some tea. “This is delicious, Spike! I never thought that dragons could be so kind.”
- “Usually, dragons are pretty rough and bad mannered.” Then he looked down, with a sad expression on his face. “Good thing I was well raised.”
- “What do you mean by “raised”? Aren’t you a wild dragon?” – Silvershine inquired.
- “Oh no, I’m not. I was born from a little egg in Canterlot, and I was raised by a very smart and friendly unicorn. Her name was Twilight Sparkle. We were…” – But at this point Spike got interrupted by Silvershine.
- “Twilight Sparkle? THE Twilight Sparkle?” – She exclaimed, extremely excited. “The one that defeated Discord and Queen Chrysalis? The one that has a whole wing in the Canterlot Archives named after her?”
- “Yes, that Twilight Sparkle. The point is that we were very close friends. She was pretty much like my big sister, or even like my mother. She took care of me since I was born. But that was long, long time ago.”
- “I just can’t believe that you were raised by one of the most heroic and smart unicorn ever. That’s just amazing! But what happened to her?” – She regretted almost immediately of saying that, and felt stupid for asking such a question. The answer was pretty obvious.
- “Ponies and dragons have very different life cycles, you know. At some point of my life, I realized I would live for thousands of years. However, she wouldn’t. As time passed, she became older, and eventually, she died. I wasn’t in Ponyville when this happened. I was attending royal duties out there in Manehattan, so I couldn’t even say “Good Bye”. Princess Celestia said that she just passed out; it was a peaceful death. It was a very sad moment of my life, but I already got over it. Besides, we spent so much time together, and we had so many happy moments. She enjoyed her life, and I’m glad I helped her to do so.”
But obviously, he didn’t “get over it” completely. Silvershine noticed a small tear emerging from one of his eyes, and she saw how that tear fell down through his cheek, to finally land on the floor.
- “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” – Silvershine mumbled.
- “Oh don’t worry, it’s okay. Come here! I’ll show you the whole house, and if we have time, we could go to take a walk around the town.”
And so they did. After showing her the rest of the library, they went to some of Spike’s favorite places. They passed by one of the many “Pony Joe’s” Donut Stands that were all over Equestria. They went to the Theater and watched “The Dreaming Filly”, a very sad tragedy, with some touches of drama and social critique. Then, Silvershine decided to buy some flowers for her home, and after that, they got some treats at the Sugarcube Corner. The place was pretty big, compared to what it was centuries ago. Obviously, the original owners weren’t there anymore, but the ponies that bought the place were very kind, and almost as good bakers as Pinkie Pie and Mrs. and Mr. Cake were.
It was beginning to get dark when Spike decided it was time to go home.
-“Oh, sorry, but I’d like to make a quick trip to Canterlot and look for some books I’m missing” – Silvershine explained. “I hope you don’t mind”.
- “It’s already too late, Silvershine. Why don’t you go tomorrow? The books won’t walk away. Besides, if you want to study, you’ve got to do it when you are focused and after resting a little, not after a day of walking and shopping.”
- “Ok, fine.” – Silvershine mumbled. She wasn’t very eager to waste even more time “resting”. But, again, Spike was right: she was pretty tired. When they arrived home, she got some food and then went to bed, decided to take a final moment of relaxation before starting her studies. Tomorrow she would wake up early, so she could the trip to Canterlot she wanted to do.
The next morning, Silvershine woke up, ate the breakfast that Spike made, grabbed her saddlebag and took the train that was on his way to Canterlot. She enjoyed the view, especially when they reached the top of the tall mountain on which Canterlot was, as she could see the whole valley where Ponyville was placed. When the train arrived to the Station, she headed up immediately to the Canterlot Archives. Once she was there, she went straight to the Twilight Sparkle Wing.
When she finally found it and opened the door that leaded to the Library, she couldn’t believe what she saw. Hundreds and hundreds of books covering every space of the bookshelves that were all over the walls. The bookshelves were organized in hallways, and there were books of every topic she could imagine: alchemy, history, magic, biology, arts, and every single one of them was written by Twilight Sparkle or by somepony else that worked with her, or studied her experiments and reports.
She grabbed a list of books from her saddlebag, and started looking for the books she needed.
- “Hmmm, let’s see. “Basic Fundaments of Equestrian Flora”? Here! “Extensive Study on Zebras, Dragons and Other Non-Pony Beings”? Over here. I wonder where they have “Fundaments of Harmonic Magic”…”
She kept walking through the hallways, grabbing books, checking her list, and just looking, in case she would find something of personal interest. But as she wandered through the library, she noticed that one of the bookshelves in one of the corners of the room was slightly out of place.
“Bah, maybe somepony moved it by accident. “ – She thought, and then, she decided to go and put it in its proper place. She was slightly obsessed with everything being in order. “Hey, look! It’s the last book I’m missing! I’m on my lucky day” – She said, and then proceeded to grab said book.
But as soon as she took the book out of the shelf, she noticed something weird. Behind that bookshelf, there was a big empty space, obviously left there with some purpose. She started removing books, to see better what was behind the bookshelf. When she finished, she only found a small and very old plank pinned to the wall, like an improvised shelf. It was covered with the dust accumulated through years, and under that dust, there was a book. She blew out the dust of the book and grabbed it to take a closer look. She felt Goosebumps as soon as she touched the book. It was a book bound on a very dark leather; it had no title or any kind of significant mark, such as drawings, signatures or inscriptions. The first pages were missing, and the ones remaining were worn out and had a yellowish tone. They were covered on a very messy (but still understandable) hoof-writing. However, there was something wrong with that book, something that Silvershine couldn’t tell what was. She didn’t felt comfortable with the book in her hooves, but she couldn’t put it away, either. She decided to put the book in her saddle bag, with the others, so she could see if she could find out more about the book on her home. Then, she left everything as it was, and headed back to Ponyville, so she could organize her new books, and finally, get started with her studies.
When she arrived home, she immediately started reading the books she got from the Canterlot Archives. Spike wasn’t at home; he was buying some food and other things he needed in Ponyville. This time, there was no excuse or anything that would distract her from her studies. But after some minutes of reading, something interrupted her. It was like some kind of whisper, barely audible, even on that very quiet room. It came from her saddlebag.
- “Could it be that nameless book?” – She thought. “Oh come on, Silvershine! Don’t be silly, books don’t whisper. Those are things that happen only on old mare tales.” And she resumed her studies. But she couldn’t focus. She kept hearing those whispers, and she couldn’t stop thinking about the book. She had an unexplainable urge to read that book, no matter if she had to leave her studies once again.
She looked outside. The sun was still shining, so she had plenty of time left. Giving just a small read to that book wouldn’t hurt. She put away what she was reading, and grabbed the nameless book. She felt the same fear and uncomfortable feeling she had felt when she first encountered the book, but she still wanted to read it. She opened the book, and started revealing its mysteries. It was unclear when it was written, or who wrote it, as the first pages were missing (Torn apart and taken away in a not very careful way) and the book had no index, no introduction and no title. The writing was like the one of someone scared and desperate, maybe at the border of suffering some kind of disgrace. When she began reading, she realized that what she was holding wasn’t exactly a book. It was more like a journal. At a first look, it seemed to be written by some crazy pony, maybe a patient of some mental institution. Then, she thought this could be some kind of fantasy horror history, like the ones she loved reading when she was just a teenager. “Well, there’s just one way to see what this book is about.” – She said to herself, and began reading the nameless book.
“For when somepony finds this, I hope that the evil I’ve investigated during my career remains asleep in the darkest depths of oblivion. If you are reading this, you must have a lot of questions. To begin, this journal is where I wrote every report related to my investigation. No, don’t even bother on searching them. I left every page I wrote before this in a place that I hope nopony will visit ever again. That was forbidden knowledge I should have never get involved with, and nor should you.
I have little time before they catch me. I can hear them, scratching the walls, whispering my name, and worst of all, I hear them whispering HIS name. I don’t know what they are going to do, or when they will act. I must tell you the mistakes I made, so you don’t commit them again. I only hope that the things I’ve lived were just hallucinations, product of hysteria due to my age. However, I can’t take any risk.
First of all, if you ever notice some sudden change on my writing, stop reading INMEDIATLY. You may be tricked into bringing forth death and destruction upon Equestria…or something worse.
Second, stay away from dark magic and hidden knowledge. Don’t investigate about old civilizations or ancient histories. Believe me when I tell you that if something gets lost on time, it’s for some good reason, and it should be left forgotten.
I’ve seen horrible visions that nopony has ever witnessed. I’ve heard sounds beyond anypony’s imagination. But worst of all, I’ve talked with beings that are nothing like us, or like anything we know. They are not from here. You must avoid talking with them, and if you ever hear them calling you, ignore them. You must know that the things I’ve lived are enough to take away the mental sanity of any conscious creature, and you should not-…”
The writing ended suddenly. Silvershine was really intrigued about the history. “This is a great book! Such an interesting tale! I wonder what happens next.” - She thought, as she was flipping the pages. But, for her surprise, the next page was blank. And so were the following ones.
- “Oh, pony-feathers! Such an interesting history left unfinished, what a shame!” – She said, very disappointed. Then, just for curiosity, she flipped one page more. What she saw made her faint right after she realized that this wasn’t a fantasy history or a horror tale, and that it was a real journal, talking about a real threat.
For when she woke up, Spike hadn’t arrived home yet. She felt a little more comfortable, because what she saw was something that nobody else should see. Then, she looked where the book was; hoping that what she glanced was just an illusion, a trick of her mind. But she realized, horrified, that what she saw was real. There, over the table, was the very same image that made her faint a few moments ago. The pages she thought in blank actually had some writing. It wasn’t the same writing of the same scared pony that wrote the first pages. This was a different writing, like the writing of someone more calmed, with a more delicate style. And on the left side of this text, there was a hoofprint. All of this was made with a very dark red ink. But this wasn’t what made her faint. She saw stains made with the same ink, covering some parts of the pages, specially the borders. Those stains seemed to be made by someone spilling on purpose ink over the book. And right after noticing these unusual stains, she feinted when she realized everything. The color of the ink and the things she read before suggested that this part of the book wasn’t written in ink. Instead, it was written in blood. And the hoofprint and the stains covering the pages, suggested her something even more macabre. The book was written with the very same blood of the pony that began writing the journal.
After recovering herself from that disturbing view, she approached the book, decided to take a closer view to the writing. She saw just a few lines, written in a very delicate and clean (except for the stains) calligraphy. However, the content of these lines would change her life forever.
“Some things are bound to happen. And there’s nothing you can do about it. If I told you that the end is near. Would you believe me? If I try to teach you about knowledge that should be forbidden. Would you listen to me? If I offer you the chance to be witness of amazing events and to travel to realms of magnificence beyond imagination. Would you come with me?”
She remembered the first warning she was given: “If you notice some sudden change on my writing, stop reading immediately”. And that’s exactly what she did. She closed the book, and then, she proceeded to hide it somewhere safe. A book written with the blood of a murdered pony wasn’t something to be seen by anybody. She went upstairs, to her room. Then, she lifted one of the wooden planks underneath her bed, and hid the book there. She would let the book down there, and wouldn’t ever speak a word about it to anypony.
Silvershine looked outside. It was already dark and Spike would arrive at any time. She went back to the library, and tried to resume her studies. However, she couldn’t concentrate. Despite the warnings and the grim nature of the text, the nameless book and the words written in it had her very intrigued. Who, or what, wrote the last part she read? Were there more messages on the next pages? What was that “Forbidden Knowledge”? No, she had to stop thinking about that. She decided to go to bed and have some sleep. She was mentally exhausted due to the recent events. Tomorrow in the morning, she would think about what happened.
The next morning, she woke up and headed down to the kitchen. There she saw Spike, who seemed to arrive very late the last night. He was preparing the breakfast, as usual.
-“You spent the whole day studying, afternoon? I like that.” – Spike said, as he poured boiling water into a cup filled with herbs – “For Celestia, what happened to you? Look at your face! It seems like you didn’t sleep well. Drink this and you’ll feel better.”
Silvershine seemed more tired than usual and her mane was pretty messy. Overall, her face had a weary-looking appearance.
-“Oh, don’t worry.” – She said, while letting out a small yawn – “I’m just a little exhausted. But it’s nothing a warm cup on tea can’t fix. Besides, I can’t stay in bed all day long. I need to keep studying, and I’m sure Princess Celestia is waiting for my first reports about Natural Magic.”
-“I know you have an awful lot to do, so I’ll let you study in peace. In case you need anything, I’ll be in my room” – And Spike calmly walked to his room, in the very top of the house.
Silvershine was alone in the kitchen, holding the cup of tea, and thinking about the book. After meditating a few minutes and sipping some of her tea, she concluded that she had to forget everything about that book. The nature of this matter was way too dark to be treated with anypony. Besides, she realized that all this “Forbidden Knowledge” was just non-sense. There is no such thing as “Forbidden Knowledge”. This book was just some kind of prank written by somepony with a very sick sense of humor. She had wasted too much time on an irrelevant book. It was time to read some real books and start writing those reports for the Princess.
The days passed by, and Silvershine was making a lot of progress on her studies. She was very busy, but she still had time to rest, to walk around the town, to do some shopping or just to hang out with Spike.
Everything was normal, except for one thing. She was still worried about that journal she found weeks ago. She did her best to not pay attention to it, but she just couldn’t keep it off her head. She kept hearing whispers during the day, and during the night, she was haunted by nightmares. She just couldn’t take this anymore. She had to put this to an end, and there was just one way to do this. She’ll have to finish reading that book. No matter if it was just lies or fantastic histories. Or if there was nothing after the pages she read. The point is that she had to see what else the book had to offer.
One night, she went to her bedroom, and took the book from where it was hidden. She lied on her bed, and then, she opened the book and flipped until she reached the last page she had read. Silvershine took a deep breath, and turned the page. There, she found some text written with the same clean calligraphy, and made with the same red ink. They were just short lines, arranged in three paragraphs.
“You finally answered the call.
You came back to me.
I can feel you hunger for knowledge.
Hunger that only I can satisfy.
They shall be summoned by your craving.
They shall take you to my realm.
And once you are in there
you will feast upon the hidden mysteries
of time and universe.
Now, my dear Silvershine,
get ready, because, there’s no turning back.”
And as soon as she finished reading, a loud shriek pierced the silent night. An air current extinguished the flame of the candles that illuminated Silvershine’s bedroom. She saw horrified how the shadows of the corners of the room started to grow, surrounding her and covering everything in darkness. They were closer and closer. The more they approached, the louder Silvershine screamed. But she was completely helpless. When the whole room was covered in darkness, she felt the firm grip of an invisible hand grabbing one of her legs. Then, three more hands grabbed her remaining legs, making her escape impossible. She was horrified; she just wanted this nightmare to end. But the worst was about to come.
While she was struggling to break free of her prison, she felt the touch of an invisible claw, a ghostly, yet very sharp claw. The fear paralyzed her. But suddenly, she let out a loud, agonizing scream, as the claw tore her flesh apart. The pain was unbearable. She felt how more and more claws approached to take part on that torture. Her skin was being ripped. Her muscles were being cut. Her horn was being pulled, until it broke with a loud snap. Her limbs were being severed and her blood was being drained. This carried on during minutes, or hours, she wasn’t sure. Silvershine couldn’t see anything, just darkness. She couldn’t hear anything, but her own screams and the sound of her body being broken. She just wanted everything to end. And finally, one of the claws made a clean cut on her neck, putting her suffering to an end.
Silvershine woke up in terror. She could barely breathe and her whole body was covered in sweat. The first thing she did was checking her limbs and horn. She felt a great relief when she found everything in the right place. But that relief quickly disappeared when she noticed that she wasn’t in her bed. She was lying on the floor, on a room that wasn’t hers. She looked around, and she noticed that she was on a very old room, maybe in an abandoned shack. The place was pretty small and dark, and it was almost empty, except for a broken table and some thrash lying down on the floor. The room had a window, but it was covered with planks, and there was no way to look outside. She didn’t even have idea if it was day or night. Silvershine decided to go outside to find out where she was. After opening the door, she looked horrified the landscape that was in front of her. She was in some kind of valley made from grayish dirt. There were no trees, no grass, or any kind of vegetation, just dry dirt. The sky had a red tone, and Silvershine couldn’t see either the sun or the moon. Not even a little star. And the valley was completely empty. There was absolutely nothing, except for that rusty shack. Obviously, she wasn’t in Ponyville. And judging by the sky and the lack of celestial bodies, maybe she wasn’t even on Equestria. She was in the middle of nowhere on an unknown place.
Silvershine entered the shack again, and started looking for something that could answer her questions. On the broken table, she found a piece of paper. A closer look revealed that this was one of the missing pages of the journal that she found on the Canterlot Archives. The writing was completely different to the one of the journal she read. It was clean, smooth and clear, not rushed and nervous.
“Day 1
After years of investigation and tracking ancient legends, I finally arrived to the realm of the Sleeping God. Those old tales were right: the transition is horrible. And this land is unpredictable. Weird stuff happens from time to time.
I don’t know how much time I’ll be here, and since there’s nopony to talk to, I’ll be writing in this journal to keep my mind busy. Besides, the journal will help me to have references for my future investigations.
Now, I’m going to sleep. I’m completely tired. Tomorrow I’ll start my own quest to find the answers I’ve always looked for.”
Instead of getting answers, Silvershine had now even more questions. Where was she? Who’s this “Sleeping God”? What kind investigations was this pony doing? What happened to him before…dying? Obviously, she wasn’t going to find the answers in that room. If she wanted to know the truth, she’ll had to go somewhere else, but. Where? Despair invaded Silvershine’s mind. She had nowhere to go. She had no idea where she was. She had left behind the new life she loved so much. She lied on the floor and started crying. She was afraid, and the only thing she wanted was to be back in her home.
But her grief was suddenly interrupted by a loud blare coming from the outside. Silvershine wiped her tears and stood up. She hesitated for a few minutes before deciding to go out and see what happened. Once she opened the door, she saw the huge valley, but it wasn’t empty anymore. In front of the abandoned shack, there was a big obelisk, rising up towards the red sky. It was made of some kind of very dark mineral, similar to obsidian, and it was twice as tall as the house. Strange runes were covering every side of the old obelisk, and overall, it had a very intimidating look.
Silvershine noticed that near its base, there was a hole with some stairs carved directly into the stone beneath the dirt. The stairs descended straight into the earth. Silvershine slowly approached to the hole, so she could see what was down there. In the other end, several steps down, there was a stone door, with flaming torches on both sides. Its surface seemed to be completely flat, with no cracks, inscriptions or any kind of symbol.
Silvershine knew that she wasn’t going to find anything else inside the house, and that there was nothing of interest in the valley. If she wanted to get out of there, she’ll have to start advancing. And in that given moment, there was just one way to go through: downwards, straight to the door. Silvershine took a deep breath and started walking down stairs, as the fire of the torches flickered, covering the walls with lurking shadows and macabre dances.
And this is how Silvershine began her quest to escape from the ominous world she was trapped in. What she didn’t know, is that this was also the beginning of her very own descent. A descent into the darkest depths of dementia…
