Chapters Starlight Glimmer awoke to a shrill ringing in her ear. Her field of vision increased as her eyes widened, though her sight was still blurry and out of focus. Rising to her hooves, she tried to observe her surroundings but to her surprise, all she saw was blackness as if her eyes were still shut. The darkness surrounding her seemed unlike any nighttime she had encountered before. The air was thick and heavy as if laden with steam, while the ground beneath her hooves was damp and puddle-like but quite murky and viscous.
“What is this place?” Starlight asked herself. She tried to take a step forward into the utter darkness but found her hooves to be stuck in heavy strands of black, sap-like slime. A disembodied voice suddenly echoed through the dark, resonating in a deceptive and sly tone as in the manner of a serpent.
“Look how far you’ve come Starlight Glimmer—you have even impressed me,” the voice spoke, “but you didn’t think about moving on without repaying my favour did you?”. The strands of dark sludge began writhing and climbing up her legs like vile little worms.
“What do you want from me?” Starlight demanded.
“Did you forget? We have big plans you and I. Seek the Endless Archives, come and find me.” the voice said. The dark tendrils engulfed Starlight and all went cold.
***************
She suddenly sprang out of bed in a cold sweat, her pulse rapid, pupils dilated and her breathing profuse. She recognized her sleeping chamber which Twilight had graciously lent her. A thin ray of sunlight broke through the slit in the curtains. She got out of bed and used her magic to open them. The harsh sunlight caused her sleepy face to scrunch inward. Staring out the window for a moment, she let out a sigh and then headed to the throne room. Still drowsy and groggy from her nightmare, Starlight greeted her teacher in the throne room.
“Morning Twilight.” she said still half asleep.
“Good morning Starlight!” Twilight responded most cheerfully as Spike arrived with a cart carrying breakfast.
“Geez, you look awful Starlight. Another nightmare?” Spike asked. Twilight looked at her student with concern.
“Yeah the same one. Again” Starlight said with a yawn.
“Hmmm, maybe this is something we should discuss with Princess Luna later today.” Twilight said as she reviewed her schedule.
“Later today?” Starlight inquired.
“You do remember, we are having a council with the princesses today, right?” Twilight said.
Starlight face-hoofed, “Oh, right. Sorry Twilight, I forgot. I’ve been sorta out of it lately what with the lack of sleep.”
“All the more reason to mention these dreams to her.” Twilight said, slightly worried.
“Uhh you guys mind if we head out after breakfast?” Spike said as he stuffed his face with a croissant.
Twilight giggled, “Of course, Spike”.
“I’ll just go and freshen myself up before we leave” Starlight said as she left the throne room.
She entered the bathroom and approached the vanity, turned on the sink and stared blankly as the basin as it filled with water. Once filled, she splashed water on her face. The cooling sensation dissipated the sleep in her eyes and revitalized her. She then peered into the mirror and suddenly jumped back in fear and revulsion. A veiny, sharply-shaped yellow eye with a red pupil leered at her maliciously.
Starlight turned away and shut her eyes tightly, her breath beginning to hyperventilate. She counted to five in her head and opened her eyes again and gave a sigh of relief upon seeing her reflection in the mirror once again. The high-strung unicorn then returned to her quarters, gathered her belongings and joined Twilight and Spike as they began boarding The Friendship Express bound for Canterlot. Though her mind was still clouded with what she had been experiencing as of late, she tried her best to block it out and think of more optimistically.
Keep it together Starlight, as with any problem there is a solution. Lets just focus on the task at hoof calmly and intelligently . But as she stared blankly out the window she knew that an answer would not come easily.
The train ride to Canterlot felt longer than usual. Starlight barely spoke to Twilight or her friends who had decided to join them on the trip. The majority of the ride she sat across from Spike who was absorbed into his Power Ponies comic book.
She silently pondered to herself what the voice had said to her. These long sessions of silent contemplation became more common to her, as the nightmare reoccurred night after night since she had undertaken her apprenticeship with Twilight.
Seek the Endless Archives . She could not unravel the voice’s cryptic instructions.
Endless Archives? What does he mean by that? She thought to herself. She was pulled out of her trance at the sound of Spike calling her name.
“Starlight?...uh Starlight? Hello! Equestria to Starlight! Come in!”
Starlight shook her head. “Oh Spike, sorry about that… everything alright?”
“I'm the one who should be asking you that,” replied the young drake
Starlight sighed. “No Spike, I don't think everything is alright, I've been having these nightmares ever since the whole time travel fiasco with Twilight”.
“Yeah, those were some crazy times, am I right?” Spike said smugly and chuckled over his pun of the situation.
Starlight gave him a disinterested glare as his chuckling trailed off.
“Look Starlight: I know that this is scary for you, but just try to relax and not worry about it so much. We're all gonna help you through this” he said with a compassionate smile.
“Of course we're gonna help you Silly! And when we do we gotta throw you a happy being-able-to-sleep-soundly-again party” shouted Pinkie Pie as she burst through the seat cushions behind Starlight with a pop of confetti and the sound of birthday blowers following her.
Spike and Starlight jumped from the surprise and giggled in response as their train pulled into the Canterlot station.
The group was escorted through the halls of Canterlot Castle by two Solar guards. Though they had seen the castle numerous times, the beauty of its ornate ivory walls, the rainbow stained-glass windows and the plush Saddle Arabian carpets never ceased to amaze them. They soon arrived at the Princess’ courtroom. Twilight moved ahead of the group towards the door.
“Alright everypony, it will be a while but I’m sure you can help Starlight with her research” Twilight addressed her friends.
“It would be most delightful,” replied Rarity “Furthermore, I might be able to get some inspiration for my new summer lineup from the Castle’s decor”.
“I honestly can’t decide what’s more boring: princess stuff or egghead stuff” Rainbow Dash said with a nasally snicker.
“Just let us know when y’all are finished in there” said AppleJack.
“Hey you think Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have a super secret book of baking recipes? I heard Celestia makes an out-of-this-world banana cream pie!” Pinkie said with a piggish laugh.
“Thanks for helping my you guys. It’s a huge relief to know that you guys are here” Starlight said.
“Think nothin’ of it sugarcube, we’re here to help you with any cadavers you got” replied AppleJack.
“AAAAnd get a new banana cream pie a la Celestia recipe while we’re at it” Pinkie said butting in.
They walked as a group to the magic archives, a library replete with numerous magical secrets of Equine sorcery. The room was a large dome-like chamber held up by ivory pillars. The shelves were made of ebony and lined top-to-bottom with ancient tomes, ornate scrolls, and numerous magical artifacts retrieved by the great Star-Swirl the Bearded during his travels.
“This will take hours to search! “It figures: just when we don't have Twilight with us, we come across a mountain of books!” Rarity complained.
“Um...Starlight. What was it exactly that you needed to look for” Fluttershy asked softly.
“Im looking for something on Oneirology” Starlight replied.
“Uhh, say what?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Oneirology, it's the study of dreams” Spike answered.
“Exactly. Hopefully the archives can shed some light on the nightmares I’ve been having.” Starlight continued as she began skimming through the various books and scrolls with her magic
The group scoured the library, searching for something that could be of use. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew up to search the top shelves, while Pinkie seemed to wriggle her way through the crevices of the shelves. AppleJack, Rarity and Spike gathered the texts at a large circular table and assisted Starlight in her search. For hours they searched the vast plethora of texts within the library. Everything from; Understanding Dreams: Oneirology for Novices , to the somewhat controversial, Take Charge with Assertive Dreaming: Iron Will’s Guide to Lucid Dreaming , but none proved useful in helping Starlight find a solution to her problem. Not even Star-Swirl’s almanac on the subject proved useful.
Spike turned to Starlight. “Any luck?”
“No nothing yet” she said with some dismay. “But did you know that one of the most common dreams is being naked in public?”
“Yeah, so? Most of us aren’t wearing clothes to being with,” Spike said before leaping off his stool, “I’ll check in the East wing.”
He briskly walked through the eastern wing of the archives where most of the magical artifacts are kept. Enchanted candles, ancient talismans, staves, and old chimes lined the shelves and cases surrounding him. That’s when a glow caught the young drake’s eye. There, on an ivory pedestal, sat a golden cube etched with glowing blue runes upon its faces. The cube’s faces were also embedded with a circular carving resembling a bulls-eye. By his nature as a gem-coveting dragon, Spike approached the strange box as if hypnotized by its eerie glow. He picked it up and the glow of its runes grew stronger. He felt utterly compelled to show this queer object to Starlight.
“Hey Starlight! Check this out!” Spike Shouted, the librarian suddenly hissed at him angrily in an attempt to keep him quiet.
Starlight approached Spike’s location in the East Wing. “Not so loud Spike” she scolded. “Now, what is it that you - what is that?” she questioned.
"Dunno, just found it at the far end of the library" Spike replied.
The strange object began to glow a light blue from the etched runes on its surface, a searing heat began to emanate from the cube. Spike gave out a cry of pain and dropped the cube and it hit the floor with a metallic crack.
The old librarian approached them furiously, “If you all are not going to be quiet then I shall-” but before she could finish her threat, the glow from the cube became a blinding light that saturated the entire room. The cube’s glow then changed from blue to purple and the device began to surge and spark with bizarre energy.
Starlight looked on, paralyzed in fear as the others rushed over to the spectacle. The strange magical energy continued bursting out of the cube like a vicious lightning storm. All of a sudden, several orbs of purple energy swirled around Starlight and began striking her with jolts of energy. She let out a terrified scream as the orbs began spinning around her, faster and faster until in a flash of purple light, Starlight vanished and the cube lay still on the tiled floor.
“What in tarnation?” yelled AppleJack
“Starlight! Where’d you go?” exclaimed Rainbow Dash
Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity all let out screams of fear and panic. Spike picked up the cube and ran out the door.
“Twilight! Twilight! Heeeeelp” he screamed, his voice echoing through the halls.
Chapter 3: The Darkness Within
Chapter 3: The Darkness Within
Twilight Sparkle and the other princesses of Equestria sat around a circular table in the royal debate room of the castle. The large ivory columns of the walls stretched out towards the sun and moon glass mural high up on the domed roof, the red and purple velvet curtains draped over the large windows were opened slightly letting in the orange glow of the sun setting across the western horizon. While Twilight payed close attention to Luna, Cadence and Celestia as they discussed a potential trade agreement with Yak-Yakistan, she heard the slight echoing of her name being called. The sound grew louder until suddenly the doors flew open aggressively. There stood the distressed Spike holding a strange cube-like object.
“Spike! What’s wrong?” She questioned as the other princesses turned to view the commotion.
“Starlight! Cube! Glowy things! Inside! Here! Help!” the young drake shot rapidly in between hyperventilated breaths as the other ponies swiftly arrived behind him.
“Calm down, tell us what happened from the start.” said Cadence in a soothing tone.
Spike took several deep breaths and began explaining still with slight distress in his quickened speech. “I was helping Starlight with her research, and this thing suddenly sprouted ghostly hands and grabbed her. I think it may have...dragged her inside”.
The eyes of the princesses shot open in worry. They knew that this incident was no laughing matter. After several seconds of deathly silence, Celestia spoke up.
“This is a Lexicon, a powerful remnant of an ancient civilization predating Equestria. Many magic scholars believe that these artifacts could be used to store a virtually limitless amount of knowledge and secrets.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “That. Sounds. Amazing!” she said elatedly “Just think of what knowledge about magic we could learn! What secrets we could uncover! What kind of-”
“Um Twilight, sweetie, now isn’t really a good time to ‘nerd out’.” Rarity whispered to her.
Twilight cleared her throat and regained her composure. “Sorry princess, you were saying”.
“This one once belonged to Star-Swirl the Bearded, but it has remained dormant for years. Until now.” Celestia said with a puzzled look.
Luna then spoke, “You said that a portal appeared, is that correct?”
Spike nodded. “But this is unheard of,” said Celestia, “None of the lexicons in the hooves of magic scholars have ever done this”.
“I’m not entirely sure what is happening, but all that matters is getting Starlight Glimmer out of there.” Luna said.
“But how are we supposed to do that?” asked Rainbow Dash, “Dive in there and get her ourselves?”
“That may just work Rainbow Dash.” replied Celestia.
“Wait, seriously?” Twilight asked her mentor, as she raised her left brow slightly.
“Why yes.” Luna explained. “Scholars researching lexicons have hypothesised that it may be possible for ponies to actually travel inside the lexicon and physically access its contents. However, this ability has so far only been able to be used by unicorns and alicorns.”
Fluttershy gave a sigh of relief, and turn to Twilight. “Well it looks like it’s up to you and Rarity to rescue her. Oh poor Starlight she must be so alone and frightened in there” she said with a slight shiver.
“Luna, Cadence and I will open up the lexicon for you two to enter. But be careful, nopony knows what lies within.” Celestia instructed.
The princesses each stood in a triangle around the table with the lexicon in the center. Twilight and Rarity stood at the end of the table and the rest of the party watched from the side of the room. Then each of the magical equines focused their magical energy into a single beam that gradually grew into an orb of yellow light. Sparks began to zap at the lexicon and suddenly a spherical portal of yellow light appeared over the cube.
“You two must hurry, we are not sure how long the portal shall remain open!” said Luna.
Twilight and Rarity exchanged a serious nod of the head and leaped into the dark portal. They were quickly engulfed in a vortex of swirling purple clouds, and both screamed at the sensation of falling at breakneck speeds. A burst of light drew closer to the falling ponies and all went a blinding white.
****************************
Starlight Glimmer, still dazed and drowsy, slowly rose up and observed her surroundings.
“Ok… definitely not in Equestria anymore.” she said as she took in her surroundings
The horizon she look out on was the most bizarre sight she had ever seen. Everything was white and looked unnatural, as if made by some science fiction machine. An endless expanse of hexagonal, polygon cliffs and pillars jutted out of the white ground and energy orbs of blue and pink ran in between them in a zigzag motion like electricity through a circuit.
“what is this place?”
“Welcome to the lexicon, the infinite archives of Star-Swirl the Bearded.” a mysterious voice echoed through the air.
Starlight turned to see a strange diamond-shaped sprite, pitch black and viscous-looking. The sprite began to pulsate and grew into a black fireball, then a face with red and yellow eyes and a jagged, toothy smile appeared upon the flame.
“Blitzeo...” Starlight said blankly.
“How nice to finally meet you in the flesh… well almost. I don’t have a body as you can plainly see” Blitzeo said.
“Why did you bring me here?” She questioned.
“To call in my favour of course.” Blitzeo replied, his tone growing progressively more aggravated. “While this place IS a storehouse of ancient knowledge and powerful secrets, though honestly, I have grown tired of this place. Quite tired. I wish to return to Equestria, however doing so would require something physical body.”
Starlight’s blood ran cold.“You want me to take you to the surface? With MY body?”
“Precisely” he said coldly. “My magic does not work in this realm. The only way I was able to summon you in the first place by manipulating this realm’s internal teleportation system. The only way to leave this infernal box is to open a dual sided portal using Unicorn or Alicorn magic.”
Without warning, a burst of intense light shot down from the white sky. The spherical portal hovered far off in the distant, artificial cliffs.
“Ah! There we are! Excellent work Starlight: that was quicker than I thought.” Blitzeo remarked.
“I didn’t do that” Starlight replied, she squinted her eyes and saw two figures in the distance one of white and one of lavander.
Blitzeo frowned and growled under his breath, “So… brought your friends did you?” Starlight froze as terror ran through her. “Well why don’t you introduce me to them?”
Blitzeo floated upward as his flame grew a light purple hue. He then shot downward and plunged right into Starlight’s body.
***********************
The intense light finally faded as Twilight and Rarity fell onto a white hexagonal plateau below. While Rarity shrieked and flailed her front legs wildly, Twilight remained calm as she spread open her wings and flew over to her, catching the falling unicorn with a levitation spell. She flapped her wings with all her might, but a harsh gravity pulled them towards the ground with a thud.
“Rarity! Are you alright?” cried Twilight as she rose to her hooves.
“My mane is a bit out of place, but I am alright.” Rarity replied, using her magic to fix her mane. “Now, to find Starlight.”
“Alright let me try from a better vantage point.” Twilight flapped her wings as hard as she could. Sweat began to drip down her forehead, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not lift off the ground. “Can’t... take… off!” Twilight gasped in between strained breaths, “This place has some sort of heavy gravity. Looks like flying is out, but we should be able to spot her from here.”
They scanned the landscape for some time until Rarity spotted a small pink speck in the distance. “There she is! But how are we supposed to get to her?”
Twilight thought for a moment and then used her magic on the artificial ground. A series of smaller, hexagonal pillars emerged from the lower chasm and created a staircase connecting to the other hexagonal plateaus in the odd landscape. The two magic equines sped down the staircase finally arriving at the plateau where their friend stood.
“Starlight! Thank Celestia you’re ok!” exclaimed Twilight.
“It’s such a relief to see you two.” Starlight replied
“There isn’t much time for celebration, the portal out of this...rather dull place, will close soon. We should hurry.” said Rarity.
The trio raced up the makeshift staircase, noticing the portal had decreased in size substantially since they arrived. They stopped suddenly upon reaching the plateau below the diminishing portal.
“We need to open it back up! Everypony focus your magic on the portal!” Twilight commanded.
They each shot a ray of magical energy from their horns. The portal began to spark violently and slowly grew larger.
Twilight sighed in relief. “Great job you guys. Let’s head home.” Twilight heard a low guttural laugh as a bolt of turquoise energy blasted Rarity. Twilight turned around quickly, her horn brimming with energy, ready to fire off a magic bolt. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open upon seeing her student with yellow and red eyes.
“Thank you for the assistance, but your road ends here.” said Blitzeo through his corporeal vessel.
He floated up towards the portal, firing several explosive magic bolts at Twilight before disappearing through the portal, his cackling echoing through the vortex.
“At long last, the beginning… of the end.”
