The Spirit Of Knowledge

by LordAlastrayus

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Princess Celestia, Dark, Human, Main 6, Princess Luna, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 21357

It's been a long while since Shade last was free, and he is going to make sure he stays that way. How hard is it to stay out of trouble?

It has been 2000 years since I was last free, and when It finally happens, when I am finally released. I am made to question all that happened to me. Was it all a lie? I know it wasn't, but I can't help but doubt. Whether my past is true or not, only I will ever know. First I need to obtain my journal, it has been in her hooves for far to long, I just need to avoid being seen. It shouldn't be to hard to stay out of trouble.

Featured Oct. 27!

Published 2016-08-14 17:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-10-21 20:09:15 UTC

Prologue

Day 1

Alright journal, if the spell worked, then you are currently recording my thoughts. Do not let anyone but me read my thoughts. I'm just going to assume that worked, and dictate what is currently happening. ... nothing is happening. I watched as the sisters flew away carrying you with them. That was a few hours ago, and this is super boring. I can still think and everything, don't know how that works. I can still move my mana around within my body, but I can't mess with anything outside of it. I'm going to look through all the knowledge in my head and see if that can help me at all.

Day 2

So, something interesting happened earlier. A giant wave of power, which felt just like the portal iI went through, washed over me and almost shattered my statue. Thankfully, some weird rainbow light appeared around me, and fixed the cracks and stopped the wave from destroying me. That got me to thinking. It felt like time magic, and I shouldn't exist. I know discord said I would be fine if I did this, but with the universe changed, there was no reason for a version of me to be sent back. That my journal, is called a paradox. There are a few theories about what happens when a paradox occurs. One if everything stops existing, another is the person who caused it stops existing. Turns out the second one is true. See, that wave I felt earlier? That was the universe trying to cleanse me from existence. I was wondering why discord wasn't worried about unleashing an uncontrollable powerhouse, and I guess he thought I would be destroyed. I'm so lucky that the sisters didn't listen to me, and turned me to stone forever. The sad thing is I mean that. I'd rather be alive in stone, than not existing at all. Onto other news, I think I found a way to keep my sanity intact. More on that later.

Day 3

Interesting things happened today. A bunch of ponies carried me and discord to a castle dungeon. So that's nice I guess. The sisters dropped by, and said they would find a way to release me, and apologized a lot. I don't mind forgiving them if I get out of here soon. Mistakes happen after all. Back to keep my sanity in tact, I found a way to connect with my journal. I used the link it has to my mind, to transfer more power into it. Now it records everything that happens within the country of equestria. I was only able to though, because they brought the journal with them when they visited me. If they hadn't I would be in a pickle. Anyway, I also created a domain. You might be confused, and I understand if you are. See, I don't have a physical domain, I have a spiritual one, I think. Either way it isn't a physical thing, now matter where it is. Remember that aether realm? I connected to it and created my own pocket dimension thing, and I can even visit it. My physical body is still stuck right here, and I can't go anywhere but my domain, but it is completely worth it. You might wonder how my journal is recording equestria, well it's amazing if I do say so myself. While in my domain, I sent out a pulse through my journal. That pulse copied every written book, and connected to every living creatures shadow. Not on the whole planet, I'm not that strong, but this continent I have covered. It isn't all that big of a continent though. Anyway, what really surprised me, was what happened to my domain after. Shelves grew out of nowhere, and all the copied books appeared as freshly written ones on the shelves. I shouldn't be surprised that the spirit of knowledge's domain is a library, but It definitely startled me. What was really cool, were the books still being written. The ponies shadows that I connected to, were recording everything that happens around that pony, then shortening it to fit into the book. It basically kept out all the useless information, and anything interesting to that pony got recorded. Like if they got a promotion, or fell in love, they figured out a new spell, those kind of things. There was also one central book, in the middle of my domain. It was propped up on a wooden table that kinda resembled an altar, and I felt connected to it. That was my central power thingy. All I truly understand about it, is I can't let it get destroyed. Remember how the pulse went to every living thing? Yeah, when anything of importance regarding magical, physical, or any kind of cal happens near one of them, it gets recorded in the big book. Today has been pretty good for being trapped in stone. Oh yeah, Celestia and Luna freaked the fuck out after I sent the pulse. I guess they felt it and thought I was trying to attack them? I don't know but what I do know, is that they locked up my journal in a secret room. Also I learned their names.

Week 2

So, two weeks of being a statue, not all that fun. The sisters haven't visited me again. My library has steadily been growing, and something interesting happened with it. Whenever a creature it's connected to touches one it isn't, then the connection spreads. At first I thought I was dying, (my mana was disappearing and I was freaking out), but when I went to my domain I watched as more and more books appeared. As the books grew, the strain on my mana slowly lessened. I read Celestia's book, and it turns out they had a meeting. All the races in this world came together to talk about what to do now that discord is petrified. For some reason they didn't talk about me though. Not even in a passing mention, just took all the credit for themselves. At least I'm not bored though.

week 10

So, thought I would give another update. The sisters brought some bearded pony to take a look at me. He said something attacked my prison, and that the elements were stuck in defense mode. Why did they bring him down you might ask? Well, earlier that same day, they tried to free me. I was ecstatic at the thought of freedom, until the spell fizzled out and that same rainbow glow appeared. Turns out that when the universe tried to erase me, the elements went into overdrive to keep me imprisoned. The sisters of course, said they were sorry, and there was nothing they could do, all that junk. Luna even cried a little. At least they feel guilty. On a positive note, my mana isn't being drained anymore. The creatures from that meeting, spread all over the world. With all the knowledge I'm recording, my mana is growing instead of decreasing. I briefly entertained the thought of breaking out myself, but I squashed it pretty quickly. I doubt I will ever be stronger then the literal universe. Or if I am ever that strong, it will take a few million years before it happens. Not looking forward to that being a thing if it ever is. Whelp, back to reading about dragon fights.

Year 3

Hello again journal. It's been a while hasn't it? Not much has happened. My library is huge now, so I can fly around inside of it. That brought my boredom down a bit. I've actually become a pretty good flier. I still can't do any crazy maneuvers though. The sisters never visited again. So I guess I really am stuck like this. I encountered a new species again. Been a while since that's happened. They're called changelings, and they kinda freak me out. They feed off the emotions of their victims, and replace their loved ones. I stopped reading their books. Remember that bearded pony? I've been reading his book lately, and he has a lot to say about magic. The books he has written on the subject, are actually quite interesting. I would love to introduce him to runes, he could probably teach me a thing or two on them. Ooh, a dragon clan war just started. This will be an interesting read.

Year 10

Hey there journal, it's been even longer now. The library has grown, It's like 1/4th a mile now. Turns out a lot happens in this world. I've grown a lot stronger to. I think I lucked out when discord made me the spirit of knowledge. Imagine if I was the spirit of hope or something like that. Ha, I would be powerless then. I learned how to manipulate my domain more. I created a room to practice magic in. While I'm here, I basically decide what the rules are, so I set the room to be indestructible and made it act like the outside world. Good thing I did to, I've messed up quite a few spells in that room. I don't even need runes anymore, I can just picture what I want the magic to do and will the spell to do it. It costs me more mana to do it like that though. I think it's worth it, I can cast any spell in an instant now. Well, if I already have the mana gathered. I'm still practicing enchanting though, I can't just will my way through that. Nothing else of interest has happened.

Year 100

The dragon clan war finally stopped. I kinda wish it didn't though, I thought it was super interesting. Does that make me a bad person? Heh, probably. I've been stuck here for a while now. The library is huge now, and I don't think there is a single creature I'm not connected to. I had to reorganize all the shelves, since there were to many books to go through the way I was. Now the books are together by species and sub species. I further organized them by their job to. I then added a new rule to my domain, all the books that I would find interesting glow. I also made it so the book covers had the color of their genre. The adventure books were green, comedy yellow, slice of life blue, I think you get it. I also found some interesting things about the sisters. Turns out alicorns like them, are really just another form of spirit. They are both connected to the sky. Tia has the day, and lulu has the night. I read about those two nicknames a few years ago. I think it's kinda cute they call each other that. I also know they're spirits because Celestia tried to force her way into my domain. She didn't know it was mine, she just stumbled upon it and wanted to check it out. I held her off though, I didn't really want to talk to her.

Year 300

So, I played god. I modified the spell I used to create my journal. With the new spell and the power of my domain, I created my own librarians. They manage all the new books for me, and make sure any book I read goes back to the correct place. At first I thought they were more like robots, but they read the books to. I have even caught them talking to each other in private, and creating their own spells for fun. They do other stuff for fun to. After I made them the materials, they started to paint, make music, and study everything they could. They also have their own books, but for some reason they can't read them. I can, and they can read each other's, but they can't read their own. I thought that was interesting. They also call me father. I don't know how to feel about that, but I guess it's pretty apt. There is only six of them for now, and I don't think I'll make more. Just thought I would document what I did. They wouldn't survive outside my domain though. They aren't actual flesh and blood creatures. Just sentient magic.

Year 700

It has been so long, so very long since I last tasted freedom. Over the last 400 years I found out some interesting things about my new existence. Turns out I can't go insane from living to long. Since knowledge is my domain, I can't accumulate to much of it, and the sands of time don't wear down my brain. I don't know how I would fair without my domain, but with it I'm ok. I also have a perfect memory. I remember every single moment since discord changed me, with absolute clarity. The weird thing is, I can choose to think about stuff or not. I don't mean the normal way where you just don't think about it, I mean I forget what I don't want to remember, but it's still there. I can just remember it if I need to like it was never forgotten in the first place. My librarians have names now, though I'm not going to list them all. They also named their species. They call themselves Watchers. It is a pretty unusual name for a species, but it fits them perfectly.

Year 1000

So something interesting occurred a little bit ago. Luna went insane and attacked Celestia. Celestia then used the elements to trap luna in her domain. Wondering why that happened? Well, it all started 100 years ago. There was a kingdom, called the crystal kingdom. It was made of crystal, I know not very original, and it was taken over by an evil king. That king was named sombra, and he was an evil genius. He conquered the kingdom, and linked himself physically to his own shadow. Don't worry, he didn't have the strength to link to anything more than his own shadow. He was strong though. The sisters fought him, and with the last of his strength he cursed the empire and Luna. The empire disappeared with him,(no idea how he did that) and Lulu's dark side was slowly released. Over time this made Luna go insane. Leading to her being banished into her own domain. I would be more specific, but when sombra linked with his shadow, he destroyed my connection to it. Which is also why he only linked with his own shadow. I fought hard for control of the others, and I am waaaay stronger than he is. Back to the present, the sisters castle for wrecked. One of the death lasers exploded in the dungeon, and my statue went flying outside into some bushes. Tia ended up moving to a new castle, but she never found my statue. I'm pretty sure she thought I was destroyed. I think I prefer it this way though, since she moved discord's statue into a public garden for the world to look at. No thank you.

Year 1500

While studying a way to make mana come back faster, I discovered a neat little thing. The prison that's holding me, is also slowing down my mana regeneration. I just wish I knew why creating life cost so much mana. I mean, I can create dirt just fine, or water. They didn't take that much. But the plants? Not even close. (Did I mention I tried to make my librarians alive?) Not to mention everything is easier in my domain. I can't imagine how much it would take outside of it. Remember how I guessed it would take a million years to become a god? Yeah no, try a few trillion. Even then I couldn't make a universe. Really makes me realize how weak I am in the grand scheme of things. I mean, I'm currently just a little weaker then Celestia at her best. With enough time to prepare, she can suck so much power out of the sun, it's amazing. To be fair, I last saw her do that 600 years ago. So she's probably even stronger now. Normally I would think I got short changed, but I stopped to think about it. I grow stronger faster then she does. Therefore even though she started stronger then me, I will eventually surpass her. I also learned more about her in general. She has a physical domain, but she's so strong she can connect to the aether. She somehow connected her domain to the aether, and I don't think she realized how stupid that was. Sure, she can cross the aether,(which is how she found my domain), but if someone finds that connecting point and destroys it, she dies. Before they would have had to destroy the sun, and no one is going to do that. Now something can just destroy that link and boom, Celestia is dead and the sun remains. I just don't get why she would do that.

Year 1700

So something is going to happen. I don't know what, but the universe is slowly tensing. I think time is catching up to where I was sent back. The universe probably only has one more shot to destroy me before everything... I don't know. Before the paradox messes stuff up. I'm kinda anxious to see what will happen.

Year 1800

Oh boy it is getting closer. Whatever it is, my skin is tingling. I just hope I don't die when whatever is gonna go down goes down. Crossing my claws.

Year 1900

It is so close. It's all I can think about. I tried distracting myself reading the books of Celestia's students, but I can't focus. Whats going to happen?

Year 2004

It happened, and I can't believe it. I don't even... just what? Well, on the bright side I'm free. On the downside, I am now questioning my entire existence, but that isn't important right now. Don't worry journal, I'm coming to get you back.

Chapter 1

Freedom, it's something almost everyone takes for granted. Almost no one realizes the gift they have, until it's taken away. Can you imagine life without freedom? Imagine being stuck in a cell for the rest of your life, all you can do is read books and talk to your imaginary friends. How quickly would you go insane? 10 years? 30 years? How about over 2000? There are those who say one small moment can't ruin your life. I never understood why they thought that. What if you tripped and accidentally pushed someone into a moving car? What if that person died? What if you're found guilty of murder? What if that one small moment ruined the rest of your life? What if you lost your freedom? What would you give to get it back? What would you do to make sure you kept it? My name is Shade Mystic, and I have regained my freedom. No one, will ever take it from me again.

"It's happening, finally whatever this is, is happening. Ahh, I'm so excited! Hope I don't die though. That would suck..." My Watchers looked at me funny for that. I guess they wouldn't be happy if I died, or they're just looking after themselves. My watchers are six sentient beings I created, out of nothing but magic. Without me to sustain them they would fall apart. Oh well, more important things to worry about right now. I have been waiting for this for so long it's all I think about. I left my domain and fell into my stoney prison. I wanted a first row seat.

It started with pressure. The very fabric of the universe around me rippled and waved, as the pressure built the rippling became more intense. My statue started to crack, and I felt the enchantment being destroyed. My statue fell apart around me and I shook off the last pieces of stone.  I had to close my eyes against a brilliant white light, and I heard a thud. I blinked my eyes rapidly to clear them, and what I saw shocked me. Laying down in front of me, lying there unconscious was me. Right there in front of me was another version of me. All around the clearing I was in space rippled and weaved, and outside of it the world seemed to warp. I saw smoke in the sky, then the trees seemed to disappear, before coming back.

I saw changelings and ponies fighting, and I saw the world turn into a wasteland. Feeling the air move I turned back to my double. I watched in awe as space rippled around him and memories appeared out of nothing. They were like glowing white squares, and I saw my own past on them. I saw the moment I appeared in this world to the moment discord teleported me. All the squares seemed to float into my copies head and my copy started to move. Before it could awaken fully the rippling space condensed and seemed to shatter, like a plane of glass. The pieces of space fell, and where they once were was a hole. Through that hole I saw Celestia and Luna approaching discord. I was looking at the past. I blinked in surprise as my double was pulled through, and the pieces of space rose up and covered the hole once again. I was bombarded with the sounds of the forest, as the rippling vanished and time once again flowed.

This is how the universe fixes itself? I thought it would try and destroy me again, not whatever this was. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Only my memories of being a demon were added, so I know my past life was real. That I was real. The bad news is, I didn't know if my time as a demon was real. That was obviously me from the past, and normally one would think that means I was never a demon. But then where did the memories come from in the first place? Why did the universe try to erase me? If my time as a demon was never real, then there wouldn't have been a paradox.

Ahh this is to confusing! I just don't even... I mean, what? Gathering my power I physically moved to my domain. Unlike before where it was instant, this time I had to fly through the aether. Imagine if you could see the wind, and it was made of rainbows. Now imagine your floating so high up you can only see the wind. That's what the aether is like. It's an infinite void of rainbows. Well, the part I live in is anyway. You don't actually travel distance inside the aether, it's more like you... exist yourself to different infinite pockets. The only way to find someones domain is to randomly come across it, have someone lead you, or already have been there at some point. Once you actually go into a domain, you can always find your way back to it. Within a few seconds of entering my domain I laid down to fall asleep. It had been to long since I last dreamed.

My dream started out pretty nice. I was in the stands of a colosseum watching two panthers fight. I was pretty certain they were symbolic of something. One was a dark blood red, and the other was a pristine, shiny gold. The red one was missing skin all over its body, with visible ribs on its side. It was hissing and growling at the golden cat constantly, and seemed like nothing but a blood thirsty beast. The golden cat however was untouched, effortless batting the red one's attacks away. There wasn't a single mark on its coat, and was obviously intelligent. Unlike the red one, its attacks were precise and calculated. After a few more minutes of watching, I had an idea of what the fight meant. This was my inner demon battling my inner spirit. It was the two powers fighting for dominance, and spirit was winning. Yet no matter how badly Demon got wounded, it never died. After a while longer, I realized I had a choice. I could let this fight play out endlessly, neither side ever managing to win, or I could choose the victor. No matter what I wasn't going to make my demon side win, but I didn't really want to lose it either.

This is the last proof that my time as a demon was real. This imprint upon my soul, this internal struggle, was my consolation. But did it matter? It wasn't like I could show this to anyone, even if I did no one would understand its significance. And I didn't really need the fight to be endless, the fact it is happening, right now, is all the proof I needed for myself. It didn't matter if no one else believed me, why would I tell them about it anyway?

'Hi, I'm shade mystic, and I used to be a demon. But don't worry, the evil god of chaos sent me back in time to stop this world from being devastated. Why was I locked in stone? Well, your princesses saw me murder their supposed comrade before their eyes. He was actually a demon who wanted to trick them into selling the souls of this entire world. See? I'm also a super strong spirit now to, so let's all be friends!'

All that rant would do is make them think I'm either evil or crazy. Maybe even both. The sisters never even mentioned me to anyone, so there isn't a reason for anything to question what I say about myself. As far as this world needs to know, I have always been the spirit of knowledge. With my decision made I gathered as much magic as I could. Since this was a dream I decided to have a little fun, I created a dark black fire and surrounded Demon with it. I named it VoidFire and it did its job well.

The fire burned away all traces of the red cat, leaving a vacuum in its wake. Once it disappeared air was violently sucked into the gap, and I could feel the loss. I'm not going to lie and say something stupid like I felt lighter. The truth is that I just felt something was missing. Something that was there a second ago, wasn't there anymore. I wasn't any less evil, my mind didn't clear, I was the exact same person I was a second ago. Only difference is I'm not part demon anymore.I was brought out of my musing when I felt a tap on my shoulder, while I was lost in thought Spirit has walked over to me. He was bigger than before, and he was tilting his head questioningly at me.

"If you're wondering why I intervened, It's because I felt like moving on. I decided to leave the past in the past." He seemed to think a bit before he nodded his head. I blinked in surprise as he turned into a golden mist, and seemed to flow into my skin. Why are dreams always so full of symbolism? Why can't I just dream of getting a paper and a pencil. On the paper is two names with a check box under each one. I check the box of which I prefer and move on. No symbolism needed. Oh well, let's see what I can do for fun around here. I had barely taken a few steps before the world around me shook. I could feel something trying to enter my dream and my subconscious wasn't happy about it. I heard a siren start flaring as everything blinked red. Weapons of all kinds filled the sky, pointing away from the ground. I probably should have checked out what was happening more, but I was to surprised. I didn't think my subconscious could be this active. I felt something push against my dream once again, before it all fell apart.

I sighed as I opened my eyes, my nap was supposed to be relaxing and take my mind off things. Now I'm even more stressed out. With a mental command I summoned my librarians. "Alright guys, I need to know everything important that's happened in equestria in the last ten years." They all saluted before gathering the books I asked for. I ground in exasperation as I looked at the pile. I had a lot to catch up on.

Wow, the last few years have had more disasters then the last thousand. There's two new alicorns, Princess Luna is back, Discord escaped and rained down chaos, was then defeated, and then let go so he could be reformed. The first new alicorn Cadence, had a wedding to the second new alicorn's brother. They had to do it twice since in the first wedding, she was replaced by the changeling queen. Damn I hate changelings. Apparently the elements of harmony(the weapon that turned me to stone) come from the tree of harmony, I guess there its fruit? Anyway, the tree was dying so the had to give elements back to it. Equestria was almost destroyed by a centaur named tirek. After Twilight(second new alicorn) and the other five element bearers defeated him with the power of rainbows(I shit you not) Twilight got a new castle.

Everything was calm for a little bit before someone named Starlight Glimmer tried to cause a paradox. Apparently Twilight went back in time repeatedly to stop her, before she talked her down and made Starlight her student. That was two days ago, and I'm pretty sure it's what allowed the universe to fix the paradox I created. Apparently to repair the space time continuum, you destroy the space time continuum. Makes sense right? Time magic, is worst magic, end of story. Oh, and the first new alicorn is pregnant.

After six long hours, I was finally caught up. Well, caught up on the important things. All that was left was getting my journal, and building a house. One was hard and dangerous, the other was easy and time consuming. It wasn't that hard of a choice.

I smiled as I flew along the ceiling. Once I manifested back into the everfree, I used a tracking spell through my link with my journal. It led me to a small town outside the everfree, inside a giant crystal castle. The castle belongs to Princess Twilight, and the damn thing is unbelievably huge. I'm fairly certain it's bigger in the inside. The hallways are so big you can literally fly above people. Which incidentally, I just did. The Princess and her friends didn't even notice as I glided overhead, sticking to the darker parts of the ceiling. I was getting close to my journal. I flew threw a variety of different rooms, and to be honest Twilight deserves a refund. The castle is so disorganized and weirdly decorated. One room is overly fancy, the next has hay bales, and so on. Eventually the tracking spell led me to what I assume is her room. There's stuff animals and books everywhere! It took me a while to even spot the bed. After another flight throughout the room, I found a desk. On top of it sat my journal, finally I would have it back in my claws. I could feel my journal thrum with excitement, which I didn't think it could do. That's something I can worry about when it's safe though.

"Hold on girls, I almost forgot my book." I whipped my head towards the door as the handle started to turn. It seemed the Princess had forgotten something, and it was time to leave. I chuckled softly as I vanished into the aether.

"Hello, is any pony there?" Twilight asked as she entered her bedroom. Thats strange I thought I heard some pony laughing. She though has she scanned the room. Her eyes widened when she noticed the floor. The stuffed animals around the desk had been moved, and her book was gone!

"Thief! Somepony stole my book!" She shouted with alarm. She used magic to scan the room and found it empty. With growing panic she ran back to her friends, she had to warn them there was a thief in the castle!

Chapter 2

Ha, I can't believe how easy that was! I landed back in my domain with a huge smile upon my face. I had gotten my journal back, and it was so easy! I wonder how the enchantments have done over the years? To my surprise the journal answered the question for me, the words on its cover changing before my eyes.

'I am sorry master, but all enchantments you placed upon me were destroyed, except the enchantment that sustains my existence. I was powerless at the time of removal, to prevent the celestial bitch from doing so. They were removed shortly after you were turned to stone.' You know, I probably should have seen that coming, I doubt Celestia would keep a journal she can't read around her. Wait what did he call her? The celestial bitch! Oh my god that's amazing!

I barely managed to control myself, now wasn't the best time for a laughing fit. "D-don't worry, I do not blame you for what she did, but I see there are some enchantments I didn't place here, and your matrix has been modified." A matrix is what makes up bigger enchantments. It's basically just a big jumble of overlapping runes.

'Those are enchantments I had to place upon myself, so that I could follow master's final order.' Hmm final order... I believe the last thing I told my journal was to make sure nothing read my personal thoughts. It just admitted failing to do so before I even gave the order, but I did dictate my time in stone somewhat. It must have wanted to keep those words unread, how loyal.

"I would like you to update me on everything important that happened to you."

'If you would please open me master, I can't fit that much upon my cover. You can learn faster looking inside of me.' Why does that sound wrong?

I spent the next few hours conversing with my journal. I was impressed with what my spell created. After being read by the sisters it decided to improve upon its own matrix, so it could prevent them from reading anything else. How ever, since it had no mana or power of its own, it couldn't do anything but sit there and ask them to stop. The way it described what happened made it sound like rape... which maybe it was to a sentient book? Thankfully they stopped after Luna read it, apparently they got all the information they needed. The sisters then brought my journal to see me at its request, and I sent the pulse through it. I hadn't thought about that in a while, and I guess I would be in a pickle if this thing ever gets destroyed. Back then I used it as the connection between my domain and the physical world. All the knowledge I accumulated was first recorded by my journal, then sent to my domain. It thanked me profusely for what it perceived as a gift.

Apparently it was depressed it wasn't being useful to me. But with it collecting all that knowledge for me, it was once again happy. Thanks to the connection to me and my domain, it started to generate its own power the more knowledge it absorbed. It spent the next few weeks under lockdown from the sisters, and spent that time upgrading its matrix. Instead of only semi-sentient, it became completely self aware. From then on the journal thought of itself as male, and decided to wait for me to name him. Thinking this was as good a time as any, I named him Codex. Original isn't it? Once sufficiently upgraded Codex created an enchantment on itself to hide its new changes. If the sisters had bothered to look for such a thing, they would have seen it immediately. It wasn't very advanced. After a few more visits he was left alone until after Luna's banishment. There were a few ponies that studied him every couple hundred years, but nothing worth mentioning.

He spent the entire time improving on himself, and making more and more complex enchantments. I decided to check out what he currently has, and wow was I amazed. Instead of just looking where I placed my old ones, I felt out every single one within and without it. There was thousands upon thousands of matrixes everywhere. If someone just looked with normal sight they wouldn't even be able to see them all. I asked Codex to take a break and explain what they all relatively did, and he seemed almost eager to. Basically, he's immune to everything. There were resistance runes for fire, water, tearing, oxidation, basically anything that could damage him. Looking at him again, he was in better shape than any 2000 year old book should be. He had runes to make himself unnoticeable, invisible, and runes to warp the mind of his readers. He had runes that allowed him to completely modify his body, and to manipulate the world around him. Codex can cast fucking spells if he wants to.

Though he has to make a rune for each specific spell in advance. The most impressive rune of all though, was the one in his middle. It is by far the most advanced rune ever created. The thought of something more amazing than this one is impossible to me. There in the middle of his binding, was a rune that if I had to guess meant knowledge. It somehow contains all of the knowledge Codex has gathered, it contains his memories, and for all intents and purposes, it's his brain. He still uses the modified matrix I made, but that thing only acts as his connection to me. What amazed me even more, was to even see the entire rune, I had to look into the aether. Only some of it was physically written on codex, the rest somehow existed in the aether as its own domain. The journal in front of me wasn't the real codex. Codex is the rune in the aether. So if something happens to his current vessel, I can just put a copy of the physical part of the rune on another, and he'll just posses it and be good as new. Looks like I don't have to worry about it being destroyed after all. Hell, if he ambushed Celestia he could probably take her out. Well, her physical from anyway, she would still reform after a bit.

After I finished praising him for his work he finished the story. After Luna was banished Celestia became super lonely and started teaching personal students. When the time came to teach her students about golems, she would take them to Codex so they could see the one and only. Thanks to codex's manipulation, no one had discovered how to replicate his matrix. It wasn't that they couldn't duplicate an exact copy, they just couldn't make one of their own. Since I used runes I personally made, they couldn't understand what made up the matrix and had to start from scratch. A few unicorns got close to making a fully functioning golem, but the art fell out of favor before they could succeed. No one wanted to buy something that sits there and twitches after all. Unfortunately, if codex wanted his advancements to stay secret, he had to let them read up to my imprisonment. Whenever someone tried to read farther, they would find pages of nothing but insults and profanity.

Each time Celestia would explain that that was as far as the journal goes. Eventually she stopped her students before they reached that point. Codex managed to keep his changes secret until a few days ago. I had just told him mentally I was free and coming for him, and he celebrated while I slept. You might wonder how a book would celebrate? Honestly I couldn't contain my laughter this time. Instead of waiting for me silently, he manipulated the air currents in the library and proceeded to pelt everypony in the library for their, and I quote, 'insults towards my being, and the rough handling of my person'. He caused a booknado and terrorized innocent ponies because they called him a diary and weren't careful when they held him. Now, he was kept in the restricted section, so only Celestia, her students, and the librarians who clean it would have touched him. When I asked him why he targeted everyone in there he said, 'They were all conspirators of the celestial bitch, and I had to free my brethren from their mistreatment!'. At this point I could barely breath, but I managed to ask him about the books he threw around. H-he called them 'worthy sacrifices' and dedicated one of his pages in their honor. It took me a few minutes to get control of myself.

Within a few minutes of his shenanigans the Princess herself teleported into the library, and surrounded him with an anti-magic bubble. (Good to know she can do that.) She asked him similar questions to what I asked, and he gave her the same answers. He even repeated the last answer because he thought she was confused. When I asked him why he described the face she was making. It sounded to me like she was trying her best not to brake out into laughter. After he finished explaining himself, Celestia looked closely at him to see how he managed to cast spells. She managed to get a brief glimpse before he upped the power hiding his enchantments, and she started writing a letter. I'm not going to repeat the whole thing, but basically it asked Twilight (you remember her right?) to study Codex and to not let him out of her sight.

For the last few years Celestia had been letting twilight deal with all the magically related problems, so why would this be any different? She is the princess of magic after all. (Don't know why they consider friendship to be magic, but somehow because they do she loopholed her way into being the princess of both.) After that Celestia burned both Codex and the letter to ash with dragon fire... which somehow sent them both to twilight through spike burping them up. I don't even... does physics not matter when magic gets involved? I mean, are there just no rules to what you can do with magic? As a demon, magic just manipulated the physical world, but apparently these ponies can just say fuck it and let their imaginations be the limit.

Ahh, if I keep thinking about this I'm going to get a headache. After twilight read the letter she got the biggest, and creepiest smile Codex had ever seen. Twilight spent the next day talking to Codex, trying to break through his enchantments, and basically harassing him non stop. It probably didn't help that he starting referring to her has the 'hand of the bitch', and whenever he talked about Celesita he always added bitch somehow. The celestial bitch, Princess bitch, Celestibitch, he got creative. Finally Twilight had enough and decided to complain to her friends. She even rationalized out lout that nothing would happen to the book during the five minutes it took to meet her friends in the throne room, which is when I stole him back. Talk about foreshadowing.

And that concludes the recap of codex's life so far. You know, twilight is probably panicking about me taking the book. Celestia did specifically say not to let codex out of her sight. And I wouldn't want her to accidentally accuse someone else of stealing Codex. Don't they say the right thing to do is to take responsibility for your actions? I mean, I just got my freedom back, I should definitely make a good impression.

When I told my plan to Codex, I could have sworn I saw him smile. (How does a book smile?)

Twilight had been searching for hours now, and she wouldn't stop until she found a clue. There was no way the thief escaped without magic, and if they used magic than they left a trail. All she had to do was find it. Twilight suddenly found herself unable to see, and screamed as loud as she could. Hearing this, her friends came running.

"I can't see! I can't see!" She yelled to them. She stopped when she heard their laughter. "Girls I'm serious, I can't see!" Suddenly light once again filled her vision, to see Rainbow standing in front of her, holding a note in her hoof. Twilight accepted the note with a sheepish grin, causing her friends to role their eyes. Her eyes seemed to bulge out of her head when she looked at it.

"Well darling, what does it say?" Rarity asked, worried about her friends reaction. Silently twilight showed them the note, muttering under her breath the entire time. They were all shocked by its contents, except for Rainbowdash, who burst into laughter.

Dear Princess Twilight sparkle,

My name is Shade Mystic, and I just stole back my journal. His name is Codex, and he thinks that you're a bitch, Celestia is a bigger bitch, and that Luna is an asshole. Quite the potty mouth for a book don't you think? Apparently you tried to read him without permission, and look at his enchantments. For shame, have you no decency? Why, I ought to sue you for sexual harassment. Just kidding! Though if I'm being honest, you do seem the type to harass a book in such a way. I would go as far to call your love of them unhealthy. Maybe a therapist could help you with your obsession? Not to mention your other problems, not that I know of any such things. *cough* Want it *cough* need it *cough* spell * cough cough*. Oh my, it seems my auto write recorded my cough. I ask you disregard what was previously written, I would erase it but it used permanent ink. Tell Celestia I said hi.

Your thief

Chapter 3

That was by far, the most entertaining thing I've seen since that dragon war. Well, I only read about that, but it was still amazing. Those things are fucking brutal. Anyway, after I explained my idea to Codex, he brought up some stuff he thought would help. Since it would be boring to drop the note and not see her reaction (it's the best part) he recommended giving my librarians bodies of their own. I told him I couldn't create living things, and he immediately came up with a solution. His solution kinda made me wish I thought of it.

First, he created six smaller runes like his own, with small differences. Next we attached each of those runes to one of my six librarians, and codex split the runes from him, and connected them to my domain. I then created six crystal orbs, and codex loaded them with runes. He added all the necessary protections, and added a rune to let them control their own shadows. I then took the matrixes that are my librarians, and added them to those six aether runes, while added the physical part to each ball. With that, my librarians twisted their shadows, added power to them to increase their size, and created their own bodies out of shadows. I also made one giant crystal ball and placed it next to the big book. With that I could connect to each librarian and see what they see.

With all of that done, I wrote a note, gave it to my favorite, and dropped him off in the everfree. Each of the six look slightly different thankfully, or I'd never tell them apart. Each of their 'eyes' are the same color as their crystal ball, and they each have a defining physical characteristic. My favorite, has wings, two tails, and red eyes, I named him Vlad. The others aren't really that important, one has batwings, one has two tails, one has normal wings, one is just a panther, and one decided to be a lion. (cause apparently being a panther isn't cool enough for her.) Her and Vlad were the only two to define themselves as one gender or another unfortunately. The rest are just 'its'. Anyway, after I dropped Vlad off he snuck through ponyville and into twilights castle. From there he dropped the note, and hid in a shadowy corner while I watched through his eyes.

Twilight's reaction was priceless. She ranted about how 'terrible' I am for over an hour, before she wrote a letter to the princess informing her of what happened. When I saw her start writing, I grabbed a random librarian and manifested it in canterlot castle. I sent it to find Celestia to watch her reaction. Unfortunately it couldn't find her in time, but I did hear her laughter echoing in the halls. I pulled, (I'm going to call it shadow), Shadow from the castle and switched to watching twilight's reaction. It took a few minutes but a return letter finally came. I told Vlad to get a better vantage point, I wanted to read it. The letter said, and I quote,

Dear Princess Twilight,

Do not worry about loosing 'Codex', the journal originally belonged to Shade and he was only taking back his property. Though, if his assumptions are true that might not be the reason of your anger. Twilight, did Shade steal your special somebook? If so, I'm sure an arrangement could be made for you two to see each other. Jokes aside, I ask for you to not be to angry at him, this is probably just his way of venting his frustrations. A thousand years ago, me and my sister mistook Shade for an enemy, when he had just saved us from a terrible fate. It resulted with him trapped in stone, and with us having no way to free him. For an unknown reason the spell to do so wouldn't work, not even Starswirl could undo the petrification. I am honestly quite glad he is free, and I would like formally invite him over for tea. A little bit ago I felt something manifest from the aether in canter lot castle, the castle wards informed me that it came from a place I tried to enter long ago. If my assumption is correct, then shade is reading this letter over your shoulder right now. Tell him I said hi,

Princess Celestia

I watched in shock as twilight slowly turned around, her horn aglow.

"Celestia says hi." After she spoke her horn flashed with he casting of a spell and my connection to Vlad vanished. I remembered Celestia used a similar spell on Codex, so in all likely hood Vlad was fine, just trapped in a magic bubble in the castle of a crazed alicorn. Whelp, time for rescue operation part two.

"... Your Shade?" Twilight asked the cat floating in front of her. It had two tails, wings, and glowing red eyes. It seemed to be made of a black fire, and was about half her size, but still bigger than a normal cat has any right to be.

"No, I am vlad." The cat spoke with a deep masculine voice.

'Vlad' blinked in surprise when Dash flew next to the bubble. "Well if your not 'Shade' than where is he? And why are you spying on us!" Twilight rolled her eyes at Dash's antics.

"Father is most likely still residing in The Library, and I was spying because he asked me to." That seemed to grab Fluttershy's attention.

"If you're his son, then who is your mother? Do you have one? I've never met a creature like you before." She seemed to lose half her size when Vlad turned to look at her.

"I am not biologically related to Father, but he was the one to create me. I am an advanced rune matrix comprised and give from by magic. I am not a living creature, and would be shocked if there was any creatures but my sibling who match my appearance." Twilight arched her eyebrow towards the cat. In her eyes, such a thing wasn't possible.

"Impossible, ponies have been trying to make a golem for centuries! The practice was abandoned because such a thing is impossible!" Twilight was furious it would lie to her like that.

"Yes it's quite a shame ponies never managed to copy Father's work. The first golem created was Codex, I believe you know him?" Twilight slowly nodded her head. "Over the centuries many ponies examined and tried to copy his matrix, but none could understand how it worked. Eventually they just tried to create their own, and failed miserably." Everyone gasped in surprise when Vlad's chest seemed to pull back, and they saw a crystal orb with glowing symbols all over it. "This is the conduit I control this body with, as you can see I am an artificial being. You shouldn't compare Father's work to whatever ponies can fail at." Twilight was torn, on one side she was furious it was mocking her, on the other she was looking at a fully sentient golem that seemed to have magic of its own. She needed to figure out how it works! Then she remembered something he had said earlier.

"Wait, you said Shade is currently in the library!" Her eyes widened as she processed what he said. She was about to teleport to the library, but Vlad interrupted her.

"No, not your library, I was referring to The Library. Father is the spirit of knowledge, like you are the alicorn of magic. He gains power the more knowledge he has, and for the last 2000 years he has collected copies of every book written, and books containing the lives of every creature that has lived. He passed the time he was in stone by reading about said creatures, and practicing magical theory. This has made him quite the formidable force, and you currently have his favorite son, trapped in a magical bubble." He smiled, and his eyes danced mischievously, causing almost everyone to gulp. With wide eyes Starlight turned to Twilight.

"Tw-ilight, I think we should let him go. If what he said was true, then it's probably a bad idea to be holding him hostage." Unfortunately, Twilight had stopped paying attention when Vlad mentioned Shade's library. She was just sitting there, muttering the word books over and over again. Her friends all took a step back, when she suddenly stopped, and slowly turned her head to look at Vlad. Before anyone could react, she jumped and hugged Vlad's bubble, while screaming the word "Books!".

"Now sugarcube, I know you're excited and all, but I think we should let the poor cat go." All her friends nodded with what Applejack said.

"You're right!" Twilight's horn flashed, and the bubble surrounding Vlad vanished. After a few seconds, he seemed to just vanish before their eyes. Everyone looked at twilight worryingly, but she just kept on smiling, before holding up a crystal ball with a glowing point dot of purple in it.

"Wait for it!" The girls all watched the orb in silence, before the dot seemed to start folding in on itself. "What kind of direction is that!"

Twilight turned to Rarity, as she spoke up. "Well darling, I am sure if you were to ask the Princess, she could tell you what it means." Her eyes sparkled at Rarity's words, and she vanished in a flash.

"Alright do we have everything?" I asked Codex while preparing to rescue Vlad.

"I believe so." Codex preceded to go down the list, making sure we had everything. "We have the rubber chicken, pies, birthday cake, smoke bombs, whip cream, a bucket of freezing cold water, all we're missing is the fog machine."

I turned to my librarians with an eyebrow raised. "Did anyone remember to grab a fog machine?" They all either looked at anything but my eyes. "I guess not."

I was about to leave and find one myself, but the giant crystal ball flashed and my connection to Vlad was restored. Twilight and her friends were just staring at Vlad nervously, I guess they decided to let him go. I immediately pulled him back into the domain.

"Alright, what happened while I couldn't see you." Vlad opened his mouth to answer, but stopped when he saw the items littering the floor. He tilted his head at me, and gestured to it all and Codex's new body. "These are most of the pieces to my rescue plan, now tell me what happened."

The next twenty minutes was spent recapping what happened while Vlad was trapped. After he finished telling his side, and I finished scolding him for telling them so much, I told him about Codex's new body. I created a unicorn shaped crystal, with a hollow spot the exact size of my journal in its head. I placed the journal in there, and with Codex's help layered it with runes. Thanks to all the runes, Codex can cast magic through his horn, and no one can see his journal core. He looks like a real living crystal pony. His coat is blue, and his mane is a darker shade of blue, with a black streak going through it. I even made the body have crystal copies of real organs. We made runes to let him manipulate the throat and speak, he can move around, and there are runes that turn anything he eats into a physical liquid mana, that is constantly pumped through his crystal veins. What color is this mana? Why red of course! There is even illusion runes so he can make himself look like a normal, non crystal pony as well. I also tweaked the connection I made between us, so we can communicate mentally if we want to.

After I finished gushing over me and Codex's latest achievement, I noticed something strange on Vlad. Attached to his matrix was some kind of spell. It almost looked like a tracking... well shit. I erased it immediately, and strengthened the Library's defenses. I told my creations what I found, and for the next few minutes we all sat in tense silence. I was about to sigh in relief when I heard it. The sound reverberated throughout the library. Knock, Knock, Knock.

Chapter 4

"Master, Celestia and Twilight are at the door!" Everyone but myself and Codex were shouting and panicking, but out of all the noise one thing stood out to me.

"We have a door?" For some reason everyone stopped moving once I asked that. Even codex was looking at me strangely.

"Master, how did you not know there was a door? You have lived in here for two thousand some years." Codex asked, in a surprisingly respectful manner.

"Well, I mostly just stay in the center of the library, I created Vlad and the rest to find me books and manage the parts I don't visit. Also to be fair, I can just will myself in and out of here. Kinda makes a door useless."  Codex gave a slow nod at my explanation, and seemed to except it. "Now then, I'm going to go see what they want, and I want Codex to hide in my experimentation room, I have ideas for the future that would be ruined if they saw your new body."

After I finished speaking, Codex rushed to the testing room and everyone else put away all the books currently out, we have visitors and I did create them to keep the library presentable. With a nod of satisfaction I manifested myself far into the aether. I spotted them in the distance, and carefully flew behind them. They were waiting at the bottom of the spire... now that I think about it, I never explained what the outside of the library looks like. While the inside has more width than height, the outside is a thick, and very tall spire, things like bigger on the inside aren't that big of a deal here. It is completely black, with darker swirling designs cover it. At the very bottom, in front of Celestia and Twilight is a normal black door. It's barely distinguishable from the surrounding... stone? With great care I slowly floated up behind them, listening to their conversation.

"I mean, we can learn so much!" Twilight sure is excited.

"Yes, we could." Celestia.. less so.

"I can read about Starswirl, and learn how he made those creatures, I've never even heard of the writing he put on them." Like hell I'm teaching her.

"Before any of that, Shade would have to let us into his library wouldn't he? Plus, he might find it rude if we try and force him to teach you." Ahh Celestia, ever the voice of reason.

"I can't help but agree with her, it would be rude." I agreed with Celestia's opinion, and felt the need to voice such agreement.

"You see twilight, Shade agrees wh-" I smiled as they slowly turned to look at me. Twilight had a confused expression on her face, and Celestia giggling at her for it. Nothing really seems to faze her...

"So, how can I help you?" After sputtering for a few seconds, Twilight raised a hoof to her chest and breathed deeply, before breathing out while pushing out the hoof.

"I would like to read your books." Well that was blunt. I was about to reply when Celestia nudged Twilight with her wing. "Please." She nudged her slightly harder. "Oh, and I would like to formerly invite you over for some tea." After talking she looked over at Celestia, who gave her nod of approval, causing twilight to have a pleased look on her face. Can't have that now can I?

"Well, you certainly were polite about asking, with a nudge in the right direction." Twilight looked downwards, slightly blushing. "However, I don't know you very well, and I don't trust you to be within my domain. You might try to steal a book or something." She adopted a face of shock, before sputtering indignantly.

"One, I would never harm or steal a book!" I don't doubt it, but this is to much fun. "Two, you yourself called this a library!"

"Yes I did, but you're wrong about which type it is." Twilight tilted her head to the side. "A public library collects books for everyone to read, and mine is a private library. It collects books for me to read. And last time I checked, me myself and I doesn't include you." Her eyes seemed to go vacant, and she just floated there. I think I might have broken her. With a nod of satisfaction I turned to Celestia. "I would love to have some tea. What time should I be there, and where are we having it?" Instead of annoyance, or anger, she just smiled at me.

"How about tomorrow evening at three, canterlot castle?" I gave her a nod, and she smiled wider. "Then I'll take my leave. I think something in the aether is disagreeing with twilight." I turned to Twilight, who was still sputtering away, and watched as they both disappeared. That went pretty well all things considered. Hmm, the door is right there...

Once I materialized into the library, I was immediately questioned by Codex. "So how was it? Did you slap a bitch?" It took me a few seconds to stop laughing, he doesn't even know that's a thing.

"I, I supposed I did in a figurative way, but not I didn't physically 'slap a bitch'. More importantly, why aren't you in the testing room?"

"I knew they left from your thoughts." Oh well, alright than.

"So you know what happened?" Nod "Did you tell anyone else?" Shake "Well, for those who don't know, I'm having tea with Celestia tomorrow evening at three. Now that they're gone though, actually hold on a sec. Codex, if you read my thoughts, then why did you ask me if I slapped one of them?"

"I can only read the thoughts you actually speak in your head. I figured you slapped one of them and thought nothing of it." Wow, he really doesn't like them.

"Moving on, before we run out of daylight, I want you all to start repairing the old everfree castle. I'm going to ask Celestia to let me have it tomorrow, to make up for turning me to stone. I have no doubt she'll say yes, so I want it repaired as fast as possible." After I finished speaking they all immediately headed to where I assumed the door was. I was going to make sure they wouldn't get lost, but it was getting late, and I was to tired to care.

Once I fell asleep, I immediately realized I was dreaming. In front of me sat the golden cat from before, and around us was a vast white nothingness. I just sat there staring at him, for what felt like hours. It took me a while to notice, but whenever I moved, he copied my motion exactly. "I wonder what you represent now?" Even though he followed my motions, no sound came from him.

I wonder what I represent. I didn't here him with word... it's more like I knew what he said. It was like I was remembering that he said that, without him saying anything at all.

"You represent me as a spirit?" Yes, and no "You represent me?" Yes, and no "You represent me, but you don't represent me?" Yes "How can you be both?" What is you but isn't you, it represents all that you are but it itself is different, you own it, and it controls you "So, your saying you represent a part of me, that controls the rest, but still belongs to me? It is me, but it's different." Yes "You don't look like a darker half." You destroyed that part " Huh, I guess I did. So you were battling my darker half?" You were battling your darker half

(So, he's something that battled myself in my place. He is apart of me, yet separate. I own him, but he controls me. You could call him me, yet still say were two individuals. He know's the questions I have, but not the answers, but he knows if I'm wrong. So he doesn't know what he is because I don't know what he is, which makes sense, but he knows enough to say I'm wrong. That means I know enough to say I'm wrong. So he represents a part of me, that isn't really me, he in someway controls me, but ultimately he belongs to me. So it's a part of me, that controls the rest of me at least somewhat. He isn't my heart, because that wouldn't be defined as an individual, and he knows things I know, but I haven't thought of yet.)

"You're my subconscious?" Yes "You're why I can cast spells like I do now." Almost there "The stuff I need for the spell comes to me effortlessly, like remembering the answer to a problem. I don't need to think it through, my subconscious just give it to me!" So close "It started after I became the spirit of knowledge. So, since I'm the spirit of knowledge, I can effortlessly recall anything I've learned, and use that knowledge effortlessly. For that to be possible, my subconscious would have to become a lot stronger!" Yes

(Now that I think about it, how I'm able to do spells like that, and how my subconscious managed to fight off whatever tried to enter my dreams was really bugging me.)

"Thanks for figuring out the... oh." I looked around me, but my subconscious was gone. I guessed he only wanted to help solve that question. (Now what do I do?)

I woke up to codex shaking me. "Master, you have tea with the bitch of strings in a few minutes. Also, the everfree castle has been repaired per your instructions."

I sat up and blinked away my drowsiness. "Thanks for waking me up, and that was fast. Did you guys even sleep last night?" Codex cocked his head at the question.

"I am a book, and they are manifestations of magic runes. We do not sleep." Huh, go figure.

"If you ever want to experience it, feel free to make it so you can. I'll be back in an hour or two." He just nodded at me, and sat down to read a book. I just chuckled at him before leaving. He already has the knowledge of every book written in the last two millennia, and he's reading one anyway.

(If he is that bored, he'll love the job I have for him.) I thought to myself, as I got close to the physical world. Imagine the aether realm like water, that's floating over the physical realm. You kinda just, swim into yourself to enter it. To exit you just 'swim' to the lowest area and you can see where you're about to exit. I was at the very edge, looking for a good spot to manifest. I found Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and the pink one together in a room drinking some tea. Celestia and Luna spotted me immediately, and I made a note to ask them how later. I couldn't see into the aether realm when I wasn't in it. Since I was discovered, I manifested and sat down at the table.

"So what kind of tea are we having? Also hello." Everyone but twilight returned my greeting, she just gave a cute little harrumph, making the other three giggle.

"We are having a simple earl neigh. I do hope you like it." I swear she does that on purpose somehow.

(Just ignore it, just ignore it, for the love of you ignore it.) See what I did there? "I'm sure it's amazing. Would you be so kind as to poor me some?" After Celestia poured me some, we all spent the next thirty minutes making small talk. You know, talking about gossip and stuff. Though the atmosphere was kinda tense. I don't know who Blueblood is, but he sounds like a prick. Even twilight eventually loosened up. I was honestly surprised it took her as long as it did to ask about my collection again.

"So, is there an actual reason you don't want anyone in your library?" Her question caused the other three to look at me in interest.

(No getting out of this one.) "Well, my library is the spiritual manifestation of my domain, since knowledge isn't a physical thing. My domain is where all my power is stored, and if anything happened to my body, a new one would regenerate in my domain. As long as I keep everyone I don't fully trust out of my domain, and I don't piss off something much stronger than me, I won't die. Not to mention if someone found out what were in my library my power was centered at, they could steal it and hide it away. They could then blackmail me into doing anything they wanted, on threat of death. I don't think you would do that, but I do think you could tell someone something I don't want them to know. Ponies are generally to innocent and trusting for their own good, let alone mine. Celestia and Luna almost cursed me into an eternal prison by accident already." (No reason to tell them it saved me though.)

They all seemed taken aback by what I said, and Luna and Celestia's expressions quickly turned somber. Twilight opened her mouth to say something a few times, but closed it without saying anything. Eventually Celestia spoke up.

"I am truly sorry about what happened, but it was truly an accident. Can you truly blame us for reacting the way we had in the circumstance?" I honestly took the time to think about it.

"If I'm being honest, then no, I don't blame you. I still don't forgive you either. However, I think I have a way you could make it up to me."

Celestia seemed hesitant in responding, not that I could blame her. She probably thought I would ask for something unreasonable, like her life or... princessdom? Her nation. "I would love to put hurt feeling to rest, but what are you asking for?

"All I want, is ownership of your old castle in the everfree. Give me that, and, well, we won't be exactly even, but I'll consider us so." Celestia was relieved, while the other three were confused.

"I think we can afford to part with it, but may I ask, what do you want with it?" The other three's looks of confusion turned to interest in a second.

"I plan to repair it, and make it my own. I'm old, and I feel like owning a castle. Repairing your old one is quicker then building my own."

"Tis a good of reason as any. We shall not decline thy request." (...What? I don't even, that way of speaking never even became popular! There was like, three hundred ponies tops to ever speak like that! What the hell?)

"I thank you then. Unfortunately I have a lot of work ahead of me, and I must take my leave." I gave a nod to each of them as I addressed them. "Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Pink one." I barely got her look of surprise before I demanifested, and went back to my domain. I wasn't lying when I said I had a lot of work to do.

I immediately called everyone to me as I entered The Library. "Alright, I want everyone but codex to furnish my new castle. The sisters said I can have it, and I want it livable as soon as possible. So, I'm entrusting you all to decorate it to your tastes. Don't do anything to wild, and you can pick your own rooms. If anyone talks to you asking for me, just say I'm busy and I'll be available in a month or two from today." My librarians immediately cheered, and left to follow my instructions. I really hoped they wouldn't make the castle to tacky. "Alright Codex, I have a special task for you." He visibly straightened up once I mentioned that. "I want you to make yourself appear as a normal pony, get a job, and collect a hundred bits. I than want you to find out which towns sell certain things and a low price, and buy them, than sell them at towns that sell them for a high price and sell them there cheaper. I want you to create a business that does this, and create connections to all of equestria's towns.

After you get big enough, build a decently sized building in each town and sell as big of a variety as possible. Offer to sell other merchants merchandise for them, with them getting most of the money. Make sure each building looks the same, and has the same name on a big sign on the building. Hire managers and employees for each of them so their self sufficient. Make sure you're always making a profit, but don't be a cheapskate. Make sure there is good customer service at every one of them. Once they get big enough build them in cities as well. I also want you to find ponies that have great ideas, and make them a deal. You fund what they are going to create, and you get half the profit off of it. Make sure the company name is on each item. Don't limit it to physical things either. A new medicine, farming technique, and things like that are just as valuable. Hire employees to search for such ponies as well, and build a building they can all work in. While you're doing this, I'm going to use a spell to put myself into a dreamless sleep, because I don't want to wait for you to finish. When you're done, come wake me up. Just break the crystal ball I'll have next to me. I'm putting a lot of faith in you here, so don't let me down."

"Of course! I will not disappoint you master, and thank you for trusting me with such an instrumental task!" See, a normal person wouldn't agree to do something like this for me. But Codex is completely loyal, and doesn't sleep, combine that with how quick he is to solve problems, I have no doubt he can do this. And since it is something I asked of him, he won't get bored and will give it is all. You can't get that out of normal friends. Damn I miss normal people.

"Alright, I'll see you soon, well soon for me, not for you. Good luck codex."

"Thank you master, sweet dreams!" With that he left, and I crafted my new sleeping orb. I couldn't help but smile as I laid down to sleep. I was going to be rich soon.

"You've been saying the same thing for four months! Where is Shade?" Twilight couldn't believe him, for the last four months there hasn't been any activity regarding him! It was like he was purposefully ignoring her! Not to mention that new company that sprouted up almost overnight. You don't just randomly become that successful. She didn't know why he was doing it, but she would find out his plans. There was no doubt he was behind the company. Why else would it be called Knowledge Inc.?

Chapter 5

I suppose you expect something from reading this. Maybe you have troubles in your life, and reading about mine makes you feel better. Maybe you just think it's a great read. Maybe you want to read about the magic I was capable of, and somehow replicate it, or even replace me as knowledge. Though that last one would be a stupid reason. You can't replace me, knowledge doesn't work that way. If you remember something you forgot, the knowledge isn't different or new from that last time you remembered it. It's the same exact thing, you just didn't know it and now you do. There is no difference between the facts people know. If they both know the same facts about gravity, the facts don't change between them. They can learn new knowledge, learn new facts. But the old facts are the same, and will stay the same for every being who learns them. So yes, you could become knowledge, but you wouldn't be the same as me.

You wouldn't have the same strengths or ideas as me. You might be stronger or not as strong, your bond weaker or not. I don't know. But the point is that you would be different. You would be new. There is a way to use this journal to "replace" me. It probably won't work for you. Knowledge is gained for the sake of knowing, of understanding everything around us. You can't bond to knowledge if you don't understand it, or represent its virtues. Same thing with anything you could possibly bond to. You might be asking why I'm writing all of this here. Well, not everything stays happy for me. Soon, you're going to learn about failed ascensions. What happens to those who try to ascend, to bond with something they don't represent.

Or something they did, but they forsook at the last second to get where they are. The beings who don't care about the risk, and just want to bond to the strongest force they can. It never works of course. That's why there are so few immortals. The ones who are willing to do anything to achieve it, are never worthy of what they think they are. The ones who are worthy to be so strong, never care about becoming immortal at any cost. They just enjoy their lives to the fullest. To ascend all you need to do is represent a virtue, of anything really, pool a ton of magic power into yourself, and die. That's right, you read that correctly. To ascend, unless ascended by an ascended being like I was, you have to die. That massive amount of magic you took, is simply to great for a mortal shell, so it breaks it.

But if you hang onto your virtues, if you are truly worthy, than a bond will be created, and you ascend. When twilight sparkle ascended, it was in this way. She had used an unfinished spell, and basically cursed her dearest friends. Eventually, she succeeded by reminding them of their lives and friendships, and using her connection to her element to bond to the concept. She didn't do it intentionally, it was all the tree's fault. But in the end, she thought of the right words, in the wrong presence, (the elements), and at the moment the bond was strongest, the tree loaded so much magic into her she burst. Left little tiny sparkles and dust in the air, so don't remind her friends,(if they're still alive), they basically breathed her in with all their gasping. And just like that, twilight became an immortal princess of friendship.

Technically she had the help of an ascended being, (How the hell does a tree ascend anyway? Did it play enough footsie with other tree roots that they were considered in harmony or something?) but the tree did it in a way it happened naturally. It probably doesn't want anything knowing it's sentient. You can't force a tree to not be a tree, but you can force a sentient being to leave you alone. Conspiracies aside, congrats, you now know how to ascend. I've been using the term immortal for you, but you only really become ageless. You can still die. Not easily, but it can happen. So you going to do it? Will you pick about your inner being, find your strongest virtue, and believe in it so much you will risk dying, the thing you want to avoid, and try to ascend? Of course not, rational being don't do things like that. The ones who try are desperate, insane, or just general husks of who they once were. At that point they don't represent the virtue, and they fail.

The truth is, there are two ways to ascend. There is only one way you can possibly do it. Get it the tree's good graces, rub its roots or something, or get in good with the princesses/discord. Represent your virtue thoroughly, and be patient. Become their friend and in time, they will think, "Hey, why not?" and ascend you. Is it vile to just use their emotions like that? Yes, yes it is. Will most of those who read this go through with it? No, because I doubt Celestia would let it fall into the wrong hands. You probably think I"m trying to trick you or something, that I"m evil. Or you trust me, (for whatever reason), and you don't really care about ascension in any way. But one or two of you, you like what you just read. You're going to go through with it. And you're going to die. Because by reading this, you will never ascend that way. You will know what you're doing, you will know your treachery. And whatever false virtue you used to get in their good graces, the virtue they try to ascend you with, you won't represent. So burn this book, scream in rage monster, because I just took ascension away from you, even in death, I protect my friends. Even if they don't think of me as such.

Where did all this come from? Where did my story fall once again? I don't know. I don't know the events that led to my demise. I'm using a time spell, so I can write this, and think a way out. And I don't see one. Her blade is almost at my heart, the dam things enchanted. It will follow my link back to my domain, destroy my... shrine, totem, true heart, basically my center of power. I'm sure you read about it before, but it doesn't really have a name beside the big book. I have things I like to call it though. Anyway, enough delaying on my part. I don't exactly have the time, heh, so I'm about to die. I made it so my children will live, I protected my friends one last time, and I bet now I have your rapt attention. Oh and if a certain someone is reading this... I forgive you. (#No spoilers! ... bloody ponies won't even get the reference but it was so worth it.) You were fooled, we all were, and I should have seen it coming. Guess all my avid readers want to know where it went wrong. Well, it started a few weeks after I woke up, and I should have guessed something would happen.

Things were just going too well. My plans uncontested, myself content. My children happy, and Equestria praising my compony, the one Codex built. I had a castle, I was making friends. And I miss all of it. I don't want to die, I like to think the good I orchestrated was worth more than the bad. That I was a good person. But I can't really tell now can I? Morality is judged in the eyes of others, and I have no one to ask. It's just me and her, and I doubt I can talk faster than a blade kills me. Isn't it strange? The things we think of, before we-

I woke up to the sound of a crystal shattering, and the excited buzz of Codex chattering as fast as he could. He was saying things about process, awards, and friends. He had the biggest smile of pure joy on his face, and I knew right than. Today was going to be a great day.

Chapter 6

I jumped awake from the sound of breaking glass, taking a moment to calm down at the sight of a startled Index. I quickly remembered the spell I had placed on myself, and started doing some stretches. I couldn't figure out what startled me so much. I knew it wasn't how I woke up that scared me, I was never startled when a book was randomly dropped in the library, or the odd thump of my children fooling around. I couldn't have dreamed, there's no way the spell would have let me, and yet, I know whatever startled me happened in my sleep. Thinking back over my memories, I remember going to sleep, nothing, and for a small moment something caught my attention. It was only for a few seconds, but it pierced through my spell, and scared me. But I still wasn't fully conscious at the time, so I never processed what it was. And my dreaming mind couldn't, since no dreams. But what ever it was, it left a lasting trace of fear, enough to startle me when I woke up. I decided I would need to investigate it.

After I completed my stretches, I turned to Index, for some reason he still had his illusion going. "So, did I miss anything important?" I almost regretted asking him, once I saw the excitement go across his face.

"Well, it has been six months since you fell asleep, and I believe I did what you asked perfectly! I got a job, made friends, piled bits together with said friends, started the business, made more bits, expanded, made more bits, invested in other areas, made more bits, and expanded again! We got so big, that other businesses couldn't compete with what we had to over, which started running them out of business, so now we also buy all their products, than sell them on their behalf. With all that's been done, we basically own most of Equestria! I've even started expanding into other countries!"

He isn't going to... no way. "I think you did an excellent job, but just to be clear, I have no intention of taking over Equestrian." Instead of the shocked, or confused expression I had expected, he just tilted his head and pondered.

"Ahh! I get it, you don't want to deal with all the political and royal business, so we'll just be the true power behind the figureheads that the government becomes!" ... umm.

"Hey Index, where did you get the idea of background ruling from?" Please tell me I didn't... never mind I would be fine if this was my fault. It's a good plan after all.

"Well, some ponies accidentally overheard what I was saying about Celestia, and they gave me a card. The card had the address to this old guys basement,-" Damn, might need an Index doll for the next few questions. "- and there was a bar, and food, and a bunch of other ponies who thought like I did!" Oh, maybe I won't need that doll after all.

"So I spent the night talking to them, mostly about Celestia, but also about why they don't like her. Turns out her 'benevolent' ruling style just let's any pony do whatever they want. Like this pony names Black Bramble, he had an expensive deal with this noble. And the noble decides to flake on payment, but Bramble had him sign a contract before hand. But the noble just whines to Celestia and she abolishes it. The common theme throughout the ponies at the place though, is they hate how she rules, and not her. So they all want Celestia to be removed as the ruler, but not harmed in any way.

"So after a few days of meeting with them, they ask me what I plan on doing with my life, and other things. I talked about saving my bits, and the plan you gave me, and they said it wouldn't work. But I told them that my Father said it would, and that you are way older than all of them. They seemed to accept you would have more experience in such things, but they got curious about how old you are. So I told them you were over two-thousand years old, and they laughed at me.

"So I turned off my illusion, and created a doorway into the Library so they could see for themselves. "... what? " They were all so surprised, and they had so many questions. Like who you were, does Celestia know about you, and stuff like that. So I told them about her turning you to stone, giving you the castle, and again about the plan you gave me.

"For some reason they got these giant smiles on their faces, and gave me the bits I needed. When I asked why, they said it was because we were friends. So I started the business with them, they moved into the castle, they built banners and stuff for you, and we got an award from Celestia! But the ceremony for that isn't until a few days from now, oh and twilight won't stop trying to visit you."

I waited for him to continue, but he just looked at me expectantly. After going through the... interesting... information again, I pieced together what he said. I got a cult, he did good, I am rich, he made friends, I have subjects, Index is happy. Oh, and he can create doorways to the Library somehow.

"Well, I am very proud of what you accomplished, but I just wanted to be rich. If your new friends and you want to be the real power in the country though, I wouldn't mind giving you some tips. Make unofficial laws for when conducting business, or anything really, and if someone breaks those laws, you stop giving them business. If the company, still haven't told me the name, is as big as you said, than no one will want to disobey those laws. But again, don't go evil overlord on this. Also I want to set up some ground rules later."

"Thats a great idea! I can't wait to go tell Bramble about it. The company is named Knowledge Inc, see you later!"

(And just like that he's gone. Knowledge Inc though, are you kidding me? I should have told him a name for it. Something cool, like Future industries, or Spirit Tech. Ooh, Spirit Tech, maybe I can change it?) With a sigh, I walked towards the big book. It was time to read about all the magical phenomenon that happened for the last six months. How could this day get any worse?

Ok, so you're probably wondering how someone as old as me, could be dumb enough to think those words. Well, I spent all that time reading, so I don't really have the experience of dealing with 2000 years of life bullshit, I only read about it. And things definitely got worse. Now, before we get into what I read, I know a few readers will complain about exposition. The whole, show don't tell thing. Well, first, this is my journal, fuck you. Second, do you really want me to 'show' you six hours of boring ass reading? I don't think so. I could just do where I only show the interesting parts, ... nah fuck you exposition for the win.

Anyway, while I was asleep a few interesting things happened. First, the tree of harmony sent out a magic pulse into the aether, until it found me. It's been watching me ever since that pulse, and being rationally creeped out by that, I read backwards in the book. Going through till I woke up until than, The Tree had been keeping an eye on me the entire time. And that creeped me out, a lot. If you're to stupid to think what I did, this is what went through my mind.

(Ok so, I have a tree stalking me. Said tree, controls the elements of harmony, or is? The elements protected me from being purged, though I had thought it was an accidentally triggered reaction to the spell being destroyed. If it wasn't, than that tree is sentient, and I owe it my life. If it can send a pulse through the aether, and is sentient, it can go into the aether. Wow, that'd be funny to see. Back on topic me, If it can go into the aether/ send its power through it, than that time bubble from before wouldn't have weakened the elements. If the elements weren't weakened, than the Tree freed me itself. That would mean it had to understand what was happening, or just trust reality that much. Or it could control reality, like a god. All hail the tree god!)

Anyway, that one's the least likely out of the theories. Still though, sentient protective magical super stalker tree. How is this my life? Oh right, I was an idiot. Well, second interesting thing I found, is that literally everything has magic in this world. Every single atom is filled with the stuff, and it leaks into the... (souls?)... souls of all sentient beings. I mean, you already knew that, but I didn't.

And finally, the most important discovery, the one I've been putting off as much as possible. The horrible event, that managed to scare me enough subconsciously it almost broke my spell. The epic terror that haunts my thoughts, that distracts me from all other things. Oh, the horror of what is written, shall be told next time on spirit stalker tree!

I'm kidding, you wouldn't get the reference anyway. So, I'll just spit it out. Something tried to ascend, and somehow they managed to from a half bond with an element they don't represent. Now you probably don't understand how bad that is. See, you can't connect to something, unless it views you as worthy. The lesser things don't give a fuck who connects to them, but things like love and knowledge? If you don't represent it, or it doesn't allow you to, you don't connect to them.

That would be why it's only a half formed connection. Whatever they tried to connect to rejected them, and they tried to overpower it anyway. That has some side effects, like corruption of the self and soul, corruption of mind and magic, insanity, forced malevolence, and eventually suicide. If you are experiencing any of these side effects, please call your local princess so she can put a sword through your neck. Celestia would do it to, there's no saving any being who goes through with it, except for killing them early enough.

And if they haven't been killed by now, since it happened a good three months ago, there isn't anything left to save. The thing that is left is nothing more than a twisted corpse, run on twisted principles, with the desire to see itself and or all life ended. It doesn't care about morals, or ethics, or pain, or anything that might cause something sane to question what they're doing. It won't stop, it won't go away, and it can't be saved. There is nothing that can be done to save it, because the damage to literally everything involving them is so great, the soul moves on as if the body had died. So in reality, you have a powerful empty corpse trying to kill you. Isn't this going to be fun?

Chapter 7

So most of you are probably thinking I rushed to warn princess Celestia. Tell her to prepare, since almost nothing will beat her in a fight if she prepares for it. Or maybe I talked to this worlds discord, (Definitely not, been avoiding that.), or told anyone at all. All I have to say is, have you learned nothing about me?

After I got over the shock of what I learned, I rushed out of the library, straight for the castle. My mind was racing, wondering how the repairs went, and excited to see the throne room. I materialized outside the castle doors, and admired the view. The castle looked like it had been carved, a flawless sculpture. The stone was a pure black, with a gold rune every foot or so. The doors were twice my height, and made with a dark red wood reinforced with black metal.

When I opened them, they moved effortlessly across the stone, make no sound at all. Once I had entered, runes glowed on their backs, and the doors closed behind me with a soft click. I was in a hallway with a red carpet, and paintings of me and all my children. Between each painting there was a torch with golden fire, giving off nothing but light. The hallway opened up into the throne room, which left me breathless.

The throne was in the center, and elevated on a circular platform. The platform was carved to have three omnidirectional steps, with the carpet leading up to the lowest steps edge. The throne looked to be made of a deep black marble, with red coverings down its center to its seat. Around the throne was a giant library. In fact, it resembled the center of mine, with the throne sitting where the big book would. They had made the room circular, with bookshelves lining the walls, and added multiple floors. It looked like every room in the castle was directly connected to there.

Looking at the books, I saw they had managed to make physical copies of every book in my library, and had arranged them the way I liked it. There were three giant windows on each floor, and they depicted an event I had copied into Codex. They showed me waking up, my battle with her, meeting discord, and even escaping my stony prison. All the major events of my life were shown in twenty-four stainless glass windows. Eight floors in total. I realized I would have to change my terminology, and that I should've taken a better look outside. This wasn't a castle, they had built me a mage's tower. I lived in a damn mage's tower. How amazing is that?

Feeling a tap on my back, I turned around. Codex, Vlad, and all the others were standing there behind me. For some reason they had worried looks on their faces. It was then I realized I was crying. I was close to sobbing tears of joy. (Manly tears mind you, I mean give me a break. For me it was less than a month of freedom, and my basically biggest dream just came true. I hadn't even thought of building a mage's tower, but now that I had one? Way better than a castle.

"Don't worry, I'm ok. In fact, I've never been happier!" With a grin on my face I scooped them all into a hug, and forgot my worries. I smiled all the while as they showed me around.

Well, I had thought about leaving out the crying part but... I don't know. Something about excluding knowledge just really bugs me. Anyway, my new tower is even more amazing than I thought. Each floor has four doors, (except the first, big doors leading outside and all.), and each room is a pretty decent size. The first floor has the guest rooms, each room being able to fit four. Second floor has the kitchen, dining room, pantry, and a greenhouse. Third floor has a gym, obstacle course, floating obstacle course, and a pool. Fourth floor is for magical training. It has a rooms for practicing enchantment, spells, dueling, and infirmary. Probably a good place to have the infirmary.

The fifth floor is for... well, the guards. It's the barracks. Apparently, Codex's friends were so terrified of the Everfree he build guards to protect the tower. He built a bunch of mindless drones that take up three whole rooms, and the sentient guards that control them. So our guard units consist of three bodies, being controlled by a guard who sits in the safety of the tower. The link runs through the aether, but the... officers, can't control more than three bodies at a time, so their actual bodies never leave their room. They just sit plugged into a projector. Thankfully, they don't seem to care about that at all, or anything really. They just like guarding shit.

Putting possible implications and moral dilemmas aside, on to floor six. This floor is filled with rune circles that allow things to be teleported to and from my library. Thought that particular circle only takes up one room. Another room has a circle that teleports to my compony's main building in Canterlot. The other two are empty.

Floor seven has my children's rooms. The lion one and Vlad share a room, and Codex has his own. You know... I'm starting to feel bad about not knowing the names of my other children. I mean, I just didn't need to for so long. But now, I kinda feel like a dick for not naming/asking them their names. I know they don't care, because I treat them fine and do in fact love them, but I'm definitely going to fix that at some point.

Back on topic, the eighth floor is my favorite. It contains my room, a personal room for studying enchantment and magic, a giant ass safe, and a lounge. It has a hot tub, a sofa, a refrigerator, and best of all, a Tv. Now, you probably don't know what a Tv is. Or you do. Doesn't matter. This particular Tv, links to a remote controlled... ball? This ball sits on the very edge of the aether, so I can spy on anything I want to without getting caught. Well, as long as I'm not spying on a being that can see into the aether. They would detect that shit so fast. But, I can spy on the lesser beings of the world. Watch wars as they happen, diplomatic meetings, read diaries, and all kinds of fun stuff. It can even record things!

Don't worry though, I plan to only use my powers for evil. Uhh, you won't get that reference either. Anyway, after I finished squeeing admiring everything, I talked to Codex about the upcoming ceremony.

"So Codex." He turned to me as I called him, and tilted his head questioningly. "You talked a little about it before, but when is this 'award' ceremony, and what award are we receiving?"

Codex stopped walking, and I followed suit. "Well, Knowledge Inc. made it easier to run businesses, and basically got rid of homelessness. With all the jobs created, no one is left without anymore. Plus we expanded into literally almost everything. We built and bought orphanages, hospitals, and normal businesses. There is still private stuff and government owned stuff everywhere, but we own like 30% of Equestria. Which is another reason I think we're getting the award. We got so big and rich, that well, I think Celestia want's to appease us with it or something. Or she might not care about any of that, and she is giving us the award because of Twilight."

"Twilight? What would she have to do with the award, and what is the award?" Wait, I have an idea, and I hope it's wrong.

"Well, she comes to the castle once a week to see you, and we've turned her down for six months. So she might have orchestrated the whole thing to make you go to Canterlot. Where, she will be able to ambush, and finally talk to you."

Well, thank god my idea was wrong. What was my idea you ask? ... Don't worry about it. "Oh, well, that isn't to bad. Still haven't mention what the award is yet thought."

Codex's eyes went a little wider, and his cheeks turned pink. "R-right, umm well, we are being given the Equentarian award, the nobility award, and the Equestrian cross. The first one is for bettering Equestria through our company, I suspect the second is to allow Celestia to control us easier, and the third is to thank you for stopping Frost, though they probably won't actually say that." Oh god that pun, just wow.

"Alright, and when is the ceremony?" Codex looked away and dragged his hoof across the floor. His eyes wandered, and he took a mighty gulp. Suddenly, he stood ramrod straight, and with a mighty voice he spoke.

"Today..."

"You couldn't have told me earlier?" I shouted at Codex, as we rushed out of Knowledge Inc. headquarters.

"I said I was sorry!" I rolled my eyes at him, as we rushed through the empty streets. Why were they empty? Well, everybody was at the award ceremony, that we were late for. My own award ceremony!

"I know, and I do forgive you, I'm just stressed. Making a physical suite out of mana takes time, you have to get all the stitching just right or you will get called out on it. Not to mention the-"

"I said I was sorry!" (He created a half-sentient sec machine, that turned into a half-sentient rape machine. The less said the better, and let's just say Codex and me had a long talk.

"Where did you even get an idea like that?" Codex turned to me guiltily.

"Well, I read through the stuff you don't make books out of." ...

"Codex, I have that stuff locked away for a reason. That stuff isn't fit to read, or look through. I know curiosity is a bitch, but if I catch you looking through that again I will and can ground you." Well, at least he didn't get into my private, private collection. Don't judge me I got lonely.

Wait a minute... "Hey Codex?"

"Yeah?"

"Why didn't we just go through the aether?"

"..."

We materialized behind Celestia, as she was about to go and address the crowd.

"Well, I was worried you weren't going to come Shade." She turned to look at me, with a small smile on her face.

"Sorry, I would have been on time, but-" Codex shook his head franticly. "-some stuff came up."

Celestia gave a small nod as she replied. "Oh that's alright, I know how often things tend to happen at the worst of times. Are you ready than?" She asked me, with an expectant look in her eyes.

"I didn't rush here to make them wait longer, but after this I would like to talk to you." She just smiled as she walked out onto the balcony.

"Attention everypony, may I have your attention. I would like to introduce an old friend of mine, who helped Equestria long before it was even a nation. Who helped give our homeless homes, and acted noble in every instance. I would also like to introduce his son, Codex, who helped him in his endeavors. Together they founded Knowledge Inc., of which I'm sure you all know about by now. Please come forward, Shade and Codex!"

As we walked onto the balcony, the crowd below cheered. Well, mostly cheered, there was a few ponies with frowns. As we smiled and waved I telepathized with Codex. (If that wasn't a word before, it is now.) You sure you're alright with me getting most of the credit, because I don't mind correcting her.

Codex seemed to think about it, and gave a small nod. Whatever his reasons, it was likely he told Celestia that he only helped. Though, I couldn't think of a reason why.

"Today we are giving out three awards. First to Knowledge Inc. we give the Equentarian award. This wonderful company has endorsed business, built orphanages, and gave jobs to the jobless. On behalf of Equestria I say thank you." To the cheers of the crowd, Luna stepped out of the shadows, and Celestia stepped back. (And I might have jumped a little, I had no idea she was there.)

After the crowd calmed down, Luna continued the speech. "The second award is for both Codex, and Shade Mystic." She turned to look at us. "We give you the nobility award, thanking you for your service to this nation, and granting both of you the titles of Lord." After speaking, she gave us a small bow, which we both returned, and the crowd once again roared. Thought I did wonder, why weren't more surprised about my appearance? Most ponies are quite xenophobic.

My pondering was cut short, as Celestia came forward to stand at Luna's side. Unfortunately, they both spoke the next part together. Thoroughly creeping me out. "Together, we give the third award to Lord Shade Mystic. Long ago, Shade saved this world from a terrible fate, and now that we can repay him, we grant Shade Mystic the Equestrian cross. The highest award that we can give. With this award we grant the territory of the Everfree forest!" For a few seconds there was silence, before the crowd roared even higher. At that point I was getting worried. Why wasn't more ponies freaking out? This should be the first time they even had mention of me. As I scanned the crowd I saw Codex's face in my peripheral, he had a smirk of satisfaction upon his face. He did something...

Chapter 8

After the speech, everyone of importance retired to the ballroom for the after party.  Unfortunately, not many interesting things happened. So, if it's all the same to you, I'm just going to write about the interesting things, I doubt you want to read about the creampuffs. Actually... I don't know if they even had creampuffs, or any type of food. I don't exactly eat things anymore. Well, let's assume they had some, them being royalty and all. Anyway, we were early to the party by a few minutes, so Twilight thought it would be the perfect time to ambush me.

"Shade!" I turned to my left, to see an angry Twilight charging at me. After blinking a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things, I threw Codex into her path, causing both of them to become a tangled heap on the floor.

"Hello Twilight, did you know Codex right there, is the very same journal I stole from you? And that he has all the knowledge from my library in his mind? Judging from your face you didn't... well, see you later. Enjoy your date Codex!" Codex responded with a whimper, as a manic Twilight teleported them both away. I don't think she heard what I said about the date. "Shall we continue your majesties?"

They both responded with a nod, giggling the entire time. With a smile, I made small talk until the other guests arrived.

Most of the party was filled with boring conversations, except for a few interesting nobles. I did feel slightly guilty for what I did to Codex, but I knew he could handle himself. Plus he hid something from me, something he did to let everypony either know about me, or be less xenophobic. And if he wants to play the big boy game, (Politics and manipulations.), I wasn't going to deny him. Back on topic, the last interesting thing wasn't really a thing, but a pony. For some reason, I felt drawn to her the moment I saw her eyes.

"It's such a shame when one can't enjoy their own party, isn't it?" I turned away from my musings, to the pony before me. I couldn't put my claw on it, but something didn't seem right. She was a pegasus with dark golden fur, and a mane that looked like a rainbow without its color. What really got my attention was her eyes and cutie mark. One eye was a deep blue, and the other was a scarlet red. Her cutie mark was a book with a compass on the cover.

"Why, I have no idea what you're talking about. This is a magnificent party, filled with the most interesting of individuals." My comeback might have been ruined by the monotone it was delivered in, but it did get her to laugh.

"The individuals yes, but nopony would say such about the groups." My eyes followed her hoof, as it swept towards the crowd. The room was covered in tightly nit groups, that seemed to follow a select few individuals around wherever they went. "If I'm being honest, you aren't the only one who hates these things." Well, I wouldn't have gone as far as saying I hated it, but I wouldn't be telling her that.

"I hear so much about the castle garden, but I've never seen it. I assume from your non-pretentious attitude, you aren't above a walk through the dirt?" With a smile she chuckled, and motioned for me to lead the way. Most interesting thing that happened by far.

Now you might be wondering, why was I being so forward? I had only known the mare for all of five seconds. The truth is, I have no idea. There was something just so... familiar about her. It was like I knew her all my life, like an old friend. For some reason, the thought to be wary never crossed my mind.

"It's so very beautiful, isn't it?" We were sitting in the middle of the garden, looking at the statues and roses. But that wasn't where my attention was. My eyes only saw her, underneath the dazzling moonlight, and the way her eyes sparkled. We had been sitting in the garden for a few hours now, making small talk, and discussing the world. She seemed interested in ruins, so I discussed the histories I had read about. The evening had been perfect.

"The garden? I can see how an appreciative eye could see it as such yes."  She turned to me with laughter in her eyes, and the smallest of lifts to her mouth.

"Oh, and here I thought that we left the nobles back at the party? I'll have you know I was talking about the night sky. Though perhaps my assumption of noble was wrong, if all you think about is the dirt and mud like a commoner." The somewhat insulting effect was ruined so thoroughly, by the laughter she barely contained. I could see the smallest of hitches upon her barrel, and the tiniest of twitches upon her wings.

"Dear heavens, why I never! I'll have you know that I'm the number son from the rather obscure family you've never heard of! We have a history that I talk about so grandly as to shame you for not knowing it, while I direct the conversation away from areas I am likewise ignorant of! I sputter indignantly at your attempts to laugh me off, before I storm away haughtily, my nose going to ever rising heights!" By the end of my little tirade, she was on the ground wheezing, with tears in her eyes.  I watched with a smile until she had almost calmed herself, and than I struck the final blow. "Mistaking me for a commoner, various humphs and tsking sounds." Another smile graced my face, as she was once again brought to tears.

After she had once again attained control of herself, I realized I had forgotten something very important. "Forgive me for not asking sooner, but I never got your name?" She seemed to pause for a sec, contemplating something. She even went as far as to bite her lip. At that point I was starting to sweat, I had just had her rolling with laughter, and here she was thinking about denying me her name? Such a thing didn't make sense to me, what would she need to hide?

With a sigh and a small smile, she finally looked up at me. "My name is Daring, and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance"

Unfortunately, shortly after I got her name, I was called back to the party by Celestia. I couldn't get my mind of Daring for the rest of the night, she had hesitated to give me her name, but why? Was she in trouble, the kind that knowing the wrong name could bring you into? Did she worry about some gossip I would overhear about her? Either way I was going to look into it, after the party I headed back to the Library. It was time to do some reading.

She had lived quite the life. After finding her book, I couldn't bring myself to put it down. It was interesting. Her book started with her birth, and a little info about her parents. She was born in a cottage outside Vanhoover, to the renowned female author Written Knowledge, and her husband, the adventurer Archaic Findings. Her first year of life is spent in a loving home, with all the family time and toys she could want. She was taken with on visits to the city, got to experience the lovely forest air, and just had an all around great first year. Unfortunately, the story wouldn't have been interesting if it stayed like that.

A few months after her first birthday, she was left in the hooves of a trusted family friend. Her parents had found an ancient ruin, and wanted to be the first to explore and discover it. Archaic went, because it was his hobby and cutie mark, and Written went, because she thought it would give her inspiration for her next book. That, and they wanted a honeymoon away from their foal. It had... uhh... been a while.

Their trip seemed to be going great, not to many bugs, romantic nights under the stars, and no wild creatures attacking them. They made it to the ruins completely safe and sound. Archaic had discovered these ruins by accident, and only did minor exploring before leaving to get supplies.

After a few minutes of walking, they caught up to where he had stopped, and prepared to go further. They spend hours slowly moving forwards, getting etchings and pictures of what they could, while Written also wrote down her ideas.

It all went wrong a few hours later. They were halfway through the ruins, when they came upon a mostly intact library. Like foals on their birthdays, they rushed into the room. They gazed upon the books with awe, leaping with joy at their discovery. Until one of them accidentally bumped the table that sat in the library's center. On that table, was a big, blue, crystal ball. Once it felt the vibrations, it glowed with power, waking up once again.

Their eyes widened as they took notice, thinking they had sprung a trap, they both made to leave. Seeing this, the crystal ball closed the library's doors, and prevented them from being opened. They held each other, eyes wide with fear, but mostly love and regret. They had fear from the giant and frankly disturbing crystal, love for each other, and regret for not being there, for their little Daring do. The air seemed to quiver, as the crystal spoke.

"So more have come, seeking the gift of knowledge. Very well, let us see if you are worthy." They blinked to themselves, what was it talking about? They just wanted to explore a ruin and have some fun. And what did it mean more? Wasn't the ruin undiscovered? Surely some pony would have talked about it by now. Then the realization hit them. What if there was no pony left to talk?

Archaic gathered his courage, surely if they told it they were just explorers, it would leave them be? He opened his mouth, but was interrupted before he could even say a word. "Ahh, you wish to volunteer to be first? Very well than." He had just started shaking his head, when a blinding pain shot through his body.

"It seems you aren't worthy, oh well. I'm sure she will have much better luck." Archaic, screaming in pain, turned to his wife with fear in his eyes, as she stared at him with even more. Her face was pale, and she seemed close to fainting. After a few seconds of nothing, Archaic thought she would be fine, she wouldn't suffer like him. He was wrong.

Just when hope had started to overpower the fear, she collapsed in pain. Joining her husband in screams of agony. Looking to Archaic, she saw his cutie-mark changing, and his coat loosing it's luster. His eyes seemed to go dark, as if something no longer there. For some reason, he just stopped reminding her of her husband, and she screamed even harder.

"Two more to join the dust, won't anyone ever be worthy? Back to sleep I suppose." The dust Written wondered? It was than she took a look around the room. In odd places there was dust, and others were clean as a whistle. In fact, there was enough dust in those places, to vaguely form the shape of a body. With horror she realized she couldn't count the number of piles. What about those who searched for them? What about Daring? Wouldn't she ever wonder what happened? With grim determination, Written ignored the absolute agony coursing through her body, and used her magic (She's a unicorn, Archaic is a pegasus) to pull out her husbands old compass. With all the magic power she could muster, she etched into its back, Don't touch the cryst, before she knew no more, and it fell to the ground.

Search parties were sent out to look for them, but after two never came back, it was deemed to dangerous, and everypony moved on. Daring was raised by that family friend, brought up on stories of her parents, reading her mother's books. She slept with a picture of them over her bed every night, and dreamed of writing books of her own. She went through flight camp, break ups, and had an ordinary life. That is, until she turned seven-teen. She was staying in her parents old cabin, looking through mementos, when she found her mother's diary. It told the area the ruin was in, and the preparations they had made.

With determination, Daring decided to find out what happened to her parents. She battled through bugs, monsters, and bad directions for days until she found it. With confidence only the young can muster, she strode through the ruin, looking for traps, and any evidence of her parents. She had almost given up, when she stumbled upon on certain library. Unlike those before her, she slowly crept inside, and took the time to look over everything she could see.

After a quick glance over the room, she noticed three things. Their was pony shaped piles of dust in sporadic places, and the area around a big, blue, crystal ball was completely clean. She knew ponies tended to run away from what scared them, so it looked to her the crystal was the cause. She also noticed a golden gleam, down by her hoof. It looked just like the commas her father had, in the picture above her bed.

With tears in her eyes, she picked it up, and looked it over. On the back, in her mother's writing, Don't touch the cryst, was written. Daring quickly fled the ruins with tears in her eyes, knowing that they and many other's had fallen to that thing. She knew what it was, from eavesdropping on her caretaker. It was an ancient artifact, that had some evil purpose to fulfill. But she wouldn't let any other ponies die to such things.

With shaky steps, Daring traveled back to the city, took all her bits from the bank, and bought as much dynamite as she could. She even payed extra so there wouldn't be any questions. Dynamite in tow, she went back the ruin, back to the library, and blew the entire thing to kingdom come. (She brought the compass back with her of course.) She vowed to never let things like that happen again, and was startled by a realization. Her father's compass, was not just in her safe, it was on her flank as well.

And so, with her new cutie-mark, Daring do became an adventurer just like her father, thwarting evil plans and capturing/destroying evil artifacts. She told her caretaker about her adventures, and she told her to write a book about it. But Daring didn't want anypony to know the stories were true, or they might go searching for those evil artifacts. So she decided to write under a false name. Something that had meaning, she didn't want just any random name for the story of her life. So she thought back to the beginning. Thought back to her parents, and when she lost them. Archaic Knowledge Yearling, or A. K. Yearling for short.

I'm not ashamed to say I shed a few tears, reading about her life, and I'm sure you did as well. I decided to stop at that point, because I had read enough to answer my question. Though when it walked about her cutie-mark, it didn't mention there being a book involved. I decided to stop worry about it, I could always just talk to her like a normal being. I was just about to go to sleep, when I remembered Codex. How long did Twilight plan to keep him? It had been like seven hours since they vanished, and it was already one in the morning.

Maybe I should check in on them...

Chapter 9

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.