A Truth in Shimmering Light
For the Times can tell, Life is but one of two, Two but of three and three is but of none. There is no such thing as the true truth, but there is no such thing as a true lie. Close the curtains and run, because nothing can free you from the light that will immerse your eyes...
It was a beautiful, magnificent nighttime, the darkness’ embrace was warm against the coats of Ponies whom stood outside. Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn and bookworm who is the protégé to Princess Celestia is studying in her Library home for the night.
“SPIIIIIIKE!” Twilight Sparkle shouted as she searched around frantically for a specific book, levitating out the books off the shelves and floating one-by-one each book to see the front-cover. Spike picked up a book off of the shelves and looked at the cover, seeing hieroglyphic markings.
Spike looked at Twilight Sparkle and held up the book asking “Is this the book Twi?” and he descended from the ladder and gave the book to her, she levitated the book in front of herself and nodded, saying “Yes it is! Thank you Spike.”, dropping all of the books onto the floor leaving a mess for Spike the ‘Number-One Assistant’ to clean.
Spike sighed lightly and expected this to happen, so he got to work putting all the dropped books back onto the empty shelves of the Library...
The shimmering light dawns upon the light of day, blinding both your eyes temporarily and taking from you the secrets that you keep deep within yourself. Run before it catches you...
Twilight Sparkle placed the book on top of a stand and opened it. She flipped through the pages trying to find something specific. It was a fairy large book with five-hundred pages all with incomprehensible writing that only unicorns can easily decipher. She stopped on the six-hundred and seventy-fourth page and read through it.
As she was reading through the book the lighting in the room began to flicker gently, something wrong was beginning to happen as she read through this page. “Huh...” she said in a contemplative voice when she finished the page and closed the book.
Twilight Sparkle’s intentions for this book was that it was the only book of it’s kind and was only in Ponyville and she wanted to find out what was inside of it. Some voice inside of her told her to turn to the six-hundred and seventy-fourth page of the book.
The voice was husky and heavy, it seemed to call on her continuously when she got hold of the book.
She yawned softly, knowing that it has gotten late by now she walks into her bedroom and sees Spike who was already tuckered out from putting every single book of the library back into their spots.
She thought of spooking him and giggled at the thought, but she didn’t do it and she jumped onto her cozy bed, wrapped the soft blanket around herself and fell asleep...
To know a certain truth’s hazardous, Run, you will be hunted by the light, darkness’ embrace cannot help you anymore, the shimmering light will find you and you will face punishment...
The book that was left on the book-stand began to glow, flickering brightly and shaking as it flew into the air and began to release a bright light. A faint voice whispered, “Thine punishment wilt be severe purple one...” and then the book dropped back down without a sound and halted the bright glow.
The faint voice once again whispered, “The Shimmering Light...” and then a flash of white engulfed all of Equestria and disappeared in a split-second.
The Night finally ended as Luna brought down the moon and Celestia brought up the Sun. Twilight Sparkle woke up, and got out of bed but saw Spike was still asleep.
She snuck past the sleeping baby-dragon and checked her mane in the mirror, seeing that it was a complete mess she picked up a hair-brush and began to brush her hair as-silent-as-possible to not wake up Spike.
As she looked in the mirror her eyes moved towards the door which exited her room and there stood a solid white pony with no eyes at all. It held a maniacal smile on its face, seemingly staring at Twilight Sparkle.
She turned around and looked at the door but the mysterious figure had vanished but a note was left in its place.
She walked up to the note and picked it up, reading it she read out the first words she saw which said: ‘Run’...
The punishment will form from the terrible secret that you know as both are connected together, the shimmering light whom follows you is the last ‘one’ who tampered and looked at this secret...
Twilight Sparkle didn’t understand the meaning of this note, but one thing she knew was that something is amiss and she needed to find out what. Maybe if she walked around Ponyville she can figure out what it is.
She put down the mysterious note by her mirror and walked outside.
When she got outside however she didn’t see a single living soul. She didn’t even see her best friends too as she searched around Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle stopped infront of the town hall which had another note posted onto a bulletin board.
‘Nobody’... was the word on this note as she looked at it, there were words all over both notes but it seemed as she glanced at it a small glow formed around a certain key word in the note. She turned around and saw the same solid white pony standing right beside Sugarcube Corner.
She needed to find out what was going on so she ran towards the mysterious pony without thinking about it first.
The white pony walked into Sugarcube Corner and closed the door and like a fool Twilight Sparkle kept on following. As she opened the door the lights were off and she knew it was a bad idea to enter.
A faint voice began to whisper, “Come on inside... Twilight...” and its voice was joined by twenty other voices who repeated the phrase but none said it in unison.
It was like she was hypnotized but she walked inside, the door closing afterwards.
Twilight Sparkle regained control and she lit up the room with the light from her horn to see a mysterious white pony standing one-foot in front of her.
“Welcome... to... the... party...” the mysterious pony said as it opened its eyes slowly, the pony’s eyes were missing and all that was there was red, bloody flesh. Blood began to droop down the pony’s eyes slowly as it looked at Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight Sparkle gasped, “Oh Celestia!” and she began to ran backwards but saw more of the same pony everywhere. It was like she was surrounded because each pony had a gash or a missing limb.
She quickly regained her composure and cast a teleportation spell, luckily teleporting back outside of Sugarcube Corner but when she was out the sky was bloody red and the tint of the Atmosphere was shallow and dark.
Twilight Sparkle turned her head to see the door open and many of the deadly ponies began to exit the building. “You... cannot... run...” said one of the ponies...
All whom are killed by the Shimmering Light will become one with the secret that they laid their eyes upon and thus they must guard it with their whole lives. To anger one will anger them all...
Twilight Sparkle ran as fast as she could, trying to get away from the ponies that were following her but it seems like she couldn’t escape as they kept the same pace as her.
She turned her head as she ran and picked up one-by-one every pony and tried throwing them back, but they seemed to get stronger and come right back into the fight immediately.
Her face was covered with sweat that began to droop down onto her purple coat. She screamed, “HELP ME!!!” as loud as she could but nopony except for those... ‘things’ could hear her.
Somehow a wave of darkness engulfed all of her attackers and they all disappeared, one of them uttering “The Darkness... can’t... save you... forever...”
Twilight Sparkle finally stopped and took a few breaths, “What were those things?” she asked herself but couldn’t logically figure out the answer to her own question.
She tried to cast a spell but her horn seemed to stop working, she was startled and scared now that her only self-defense stopped working.
Now she began to sneak around, knowing that those things are out to get her. She spotted one of them walked around and she quickly hid behind a wall, holding her breath.
The bloody white pony looked towards where she was and then looked away, continuing on its regular path.
“There... are... some... secrets... you... shouldn’t... know...” a husky voice whispered behind Twilight Sparkle.
She almost screamed when she turned around but she kept silent knowing it was best to do so. “Who are you?” she asked as she looked at the normal looking white colt.
This mysterious white colt had regular eyes and his hair and mane was a gentle blue with green streaks included. He bore magnificent white Pegasus wings and his tail looked like Rainbow Dashes. His cutie mark was a sun with its rays poking through two clouds.
“I’m called Day Shine... but I don’t know my real name...” the colt said and a tear dropped out his eye. Twilight Sparkle asked “Why are you here?” and the colt answered “Would you like to hear my whole story?”
Twilight Sparkle nodded and Day Shine walked away and turned his head towards Twilight Sparkle, signaling her to follow him. She was hesitant but she began to follow.
They walked into a small house and sat down, there were candles lit everywhere around them. Day Shine started the conversation and said, “I used to be from this town called Ponyville...” Twilight Sparkle interrupted and said “I’m from there too!” and Day Shine sighed and continued, “I somehow got here from reading a certain page in a book from the Library, I never knew what I was reading but a friend dared me to do it and I fell for it. I’ve been stuck in here for five years now and I couldn’t find a way out...” he ended the sentence with a sigh and Twilight Sparkle asked, “It seems I can’t use my magic anymore here, can’t you fly a-“, Day Shine interrupted her as he said “I can’t fly, this world seems to nullify all magic and flight from everypony except for ‘them’.
Twilight Sparkle stood up and paced back and forth for a minute and then asked him “Don’t you know a way out by now?” and Day Shine easily answered “Yes... but I couldn’t get in there alone, probably if we work together though... we can get out!” and she nodded at the idea and asked, “How do we get out though?” and he answered “The Exit only opens when ‘they’ reveal their true selves, It seems you got away from them when they did so and so the escape should be open in the Town Hall... a long walk away from here...” and as he ended both Twilight Sparkle and him sighed.
There is no such thing as love in this world, for this world is only the nightmare made by those whom are too curious. The truths that are known must be taken back and the pony knowing these truths must be punished immediately...
Twilight Sparkle heard steps outside of the door and Day Shine whispered to her “Quick! Duck down!” and she followed his order. The steps grew louder and after a few seconds they disappeared and all that was left was a large scream of a pony being destroyed. “What was that...” Twilight Sparkle wondered and Day Shine answered in a shaky voice, “They caught somepony...” and as he said this she jumped up and gasped, “Just How many ponies are in here?!” and Day Shine answered “Its just you and me left now...” in a desperate tone. “I think we better move before it’s too late though but for now lets get some rest.” He said as he laid back on the floor and quickly fell asleep. Twilight Sparkle was tired aswell so she laid back on the floor too and fell asleep.
The Nighttime quickly changed to Day but the sky was still bloody red but the atmosphere was a bit brighter. Twilight Sparkle slowly woke up and as she opened her eyes she saw he head was resting against Day Shines chest. He was still asleep although so he wasn’t able to see her blush. Twilight Sparkle quickly stood up and nuzzled the sleeping colt’s cheek to wake him up. “H-huh?” grumbled Day Shine as he hazily woke up from his sleep and she said “Come on, wake up Shine, its Daytime already.” He stood up and stretched out his fore-hooves and hind-legs and chuckled lightly. She asked him “So, when are we going to try to escape?” and quickly he answered “Tonight, Daytime usually means the Portal is closed but it also means those things aren’t out there hunting us.
Day Shine walked outside and looked around, he saw no traces of the things but gasped as he saw the torn up body of a yellow earth pony to his left where the screaming originated. Twilight Sparkle walked outside and saw Day Shine covering his eyes with a foreleg and as she turned, she also gasped at the sight and she almost fainted. The poor pony’s body was all bloody and torn up, her right foreleg was torn off and her lower jaw was shattered. What was mysterious and gruesome was that both her eyes were missing from her head, blood drooping down her face until it touched the bloody puddle and became one with it.
Twilight Sparkle looked away as the sight and smells of the pony were strong enough already to almost make her puke. Day Shine said “Come on, this way...” and he began to walk towards Town Hall, she followed him and as they walked they seemed to see red eyes poking out of all windows inside of houses. Both of them knew who those eyes were as they continued down the street and suddenly one jumps outside unknowingly.
It was the one that was recently killed and as it jumped it said, “Don’t... try... to... escape... us...” and then it began to scream like a siren as the sun began to burn it and both Twilight Sparkle and Day Shine were disarmed and put to the ground. Twilight Sparkle held onto Day Shine while it screamed and he returned the embrace to try and ignore the loud shrieking. The ‘thing’ ran back inside of its home and stared out of the opened door, watching the two.
Day Shine shook his head, the screaming had stopped and he nuzzled Twilight Sparkles cheek to get her to stop holding onto him, she didn’t let go although because she secretly enjoyed being so close to him. Day Shine rolled his eyes and gently pushed her away from him and said “Let’s get outta here.” And she nodded with a slight but unnoticeable blush on her face.
He began to walk forward again and she followed along and as they both got to Town Hall there was a note posted on top of another note that she had read earlier. He read it out-loud ‘No Escape...’ and it seemed to be written in blood. Twilight Sparkle asked Day Shine, “So we wait here until Nighttime then?” and he nodded replying “Yes, Here I can fly and you can use your magic. But I need you to cast a specific spell to unlock the portal.”
She nodded and asked “Which spell?” and he answered “If you read the special page in the book, you should know the spell...” and it was true, Twilight Sparkle did know the spell but it was deep inside of her mind. She thought as hard as she could and after a few minutes of thinking she got it and said “A Spell of Light?” in a confused voice and he answered “Yes, it’ll take awhile for you to fully cast the spell so I’ll try my best to protect you.”
There is no such thing as the easy way out because everypony has the will to survive and the consciousness to try not to die. But there are those who fear nothing and will do anything to protect the secret that one has intruded to look at...
The Nighttime came by quickly and a small portal formed inside of the Town Hall, “Twilight, here’s your chance!” Day Shine said as those ‘things’ began to surround City Hall. They began to advance and Day Shine flew into the air and tried diving down and punching, kicking, tossing away any of those ‘things’ that get close to the entrances. Twilight Sparkle was already inside starting up the spell, a purple aura engulfing her as her horn started to glow its bright raspberry color and a light began to shoot at the small portal, slowly increasing its size.
Day Shine retreated inside of the Town Hall and saw Twilight Sparkle was still working on the spell, the monstrous beings entered one-by-one into the building and Day Shine once again repeated his actions by hovering in the air and diving into each monster and punching, kicking, tossing them away or hitting them down to the floor. Nothing worked as they immediately got up and continued advancing.
“Twilight! I can’t hold them off any longer!” Day Shine shouted as he landed beside Twilight Sparkle, tired from fighting as much as he could and Twilight Sparkle said “Day Shine... the portal can only handle one pony going through it now, you should go through and leave me...”
Day Shine shook his head and said “You go through, I’m tired of fighting and I’m tired of running away. You’ve got a life to live Twilight, leave me behind...” and as he said this he pushed Twilight Sparkle into the portal and it began to close. “Ack!” Day Shine shouted as he was grabbed by multiple monstrous ponies and reached out a fore-hoof towards the portal. Twilight Sparkle grabbed his fore-hoof and was crying, she said to him “I love you!” and Day Shine replied in a raspy gasp “I love you too...” he was crying too, and he shook his fore-hoof free of her grip and the portal immediately soon closed after.
All that was left was a loud scream of pain and agony and Twilight Sparkle turned to see she was back home and saw the book on the stand. She walked up to it and hid it away in a high shelf where nopony could ever find or reach it. She trembled in sadness and her heart was pounding from the loss she endured...
She fell onto the floor, crying terribly hard almost like Pinkie Pie would, she rubbed the fore-hoof that she last held Day Shine with against her cheek and continued crying...
The debt has been done and the punishment has been served, the secret has disappeared from the eyes of lies. The truth that was once known through the times has been stored away from those curious to seek it. Sleep... for it is over...
