Nightmirrorby MostBrainWhyYesChaptersThe Ancient BookThe MarvelThe ObstacleThe Cosmic DepthThe Ancient BookA purple unicorn mare. That's all I was, all I will ever be. I like books, like, like like books. Religiously. Sometimes I just get so lost in their depths I lose track of time. I forget my friends and responsibilities, til- "Twilight! Don't forget about today!" I stretch and yawn mouth opening some I bring my hoof to my mouth. "Thank you Spike, I haven't forgotten, today we-" "-Not we!" "Oh? Oh yes that's right. You have a date~ today~" I giggle and boop Spike who then proceeds to get flustered. "A-anyways, you should probably put that book down if you want to make it on time, the girls will be meeting up at the train station any minute!" "O-oh my! I must have lost track of time" Looking to the book and the clock, and to the coffee Spike knowingly holds for me. I immediately take a sip while standing, levitate a bookmark into my book as I float it back to my nightstand all in one motion. "Thank you Spike!" A peck on the cheek. I levitate my saddlebags on as I reach the door. "Oh, and have fun on your date!" "Mhm!" Spike nods getting ready, looking in the mirror about to talk to himself. "Not literally on your date though-" "-Sheesh Twilight do you have to make it awkward?" I giggle at his expense. "Take care~" "You too!" The door swiftly but carefully closes behind me, why slam the door, why not I have magic I can fix it, its polite maybe others are busy and the sound would interrupt them, right. I gallop off to the train station, coffee in tow- floating as I take sips every chance I can. I turn around the corner nearly out of breath but suddenly the rejuvenating magic of friendship fills me with a new energy and my fatigue is washed away. Unless that's the coffee. "Girls!" "Twilight!" They all say. We greet and hug, smile and laugh. "Uhh so Twilight, what are we doing today anyways? I just got here before you and the girls didn't have time to tell me." Dash asks, floating with her wings lightly flapping. Excitement and happiness wash over me as I recollect nerdily. "Today we are going to a newly discovered archaeological dig in the Unicorn Range near Vanhoover!" I beam. Dash looks patient but annoyed but loving. Sort of like she is going along to keep my nerdy self happy, the element of loyalty. "Heheh yeah that's just like you Twilight." "Oh don't be that way, it'll be exciting! Remember those Daring Do books? She spent alot of time in spooky places too!" "Yeah, that's true." Dash grins. I wonder what she is up to, she is thinking of something. "Ya'll might wanna get on the train before she takes off without us!" Applejack reminds us. "Oh you are right thank you Applejack!" Suddenly there is a piercing whine. AJ looks over to Rarity unamused. "Spike isn't here, who else would take my luggage! Oh the equinity!" A skinny bellhop attempts to carry her one massive suitcase and breaks his back under the weight. "Don't worry Rarity! I can handle it!" I float it simply and squeeze it through the doorway with some effort. "Oh you are such a darling. I don't know what I would do without you!" I beam, I sure do love my friends. We leave to Vanhoover. Near Vanhoover, rather. I excitedly sit on the cart and peer out the window. Fall is coming soon, the summer just ending, the leaves on the trees we pass moving out of Ponyville lightly tipped with shades of yellow orange or red. The sights can be so relaxing. Hills roll by, the trees change to evergreens as we near the mountains. Rocky protrusions can be seen with moss on them. Some little critters watch as we go by and I hear a pleasant sigh from Fluttershy. The magic of friendship reinvigorates me. Or its the coffee, I look down at the mug and its empty except for a drop which refuses to leave the corner. It'd be a trouble to reach in for Spike to clean the corner, and why waste good coffee! Floating the last drips into my muzzle, the train suddenly stops at the destination and I almost fall off my seat! I hear Rarity gasp and pout, something about filing. I look up and beam! "We're here girls!" "Weeeeee!" Pinkie bounces or rolls out, not quite sure which. "Maybe there are cute critters near the ruins." Fluttershy says. "I can't wait to see the ruins of Azatrot!" I quickly trot off the Train before hearing a cough that could only be Rarity subtly getting my attention. I look at her and she gestures to her massive suitcase. "Oh right, Spike's not here eheh. I wonder how his date will go with Ms Cheerilee." I float the massive suitcase off the train squeezing it through the relatively tight hole of the train. "Thank you darling, I am forever in your debt." Rarity generously replies, I beam. "Oh Rarity, its no problem at all!" Dash zooms over looking nervou-cited as Pinkie might say. Its more subtle for Dash though, but still patently obvious she has been thinking about those Daring Do type mysteries that may await us. I keep smiling. "I love you Dash!" She blushes n pats the back of her head. "Drank your coffee too quickly this morning, eh Twi?" "Certainly!" Giggle. The girls have a laugh too. "Alright, letsa go!" Time flies by when you are anticipating all the soon-to-be nerdy discoveries, the caffeine slowly wearing off as I approach, but not the magic of friendship. That never wears off. "We are here!" Some of the girls speak but I can't hear them over the sound of my inner nerdy rants. "- And that's why you don't trust the narrator in those types of books!" Oops, maybe it wasn't an inner nerdy rant. Pinkie bounces off down a mystery chute, likely used to access underground reservoir water in ancient times. "Pinkie!" Everypony gasps. The remainder of caffeine about to leave my system I wasn't worried, Pinkie is Pinkie and she will be fine regardless. I open my mouth to speak as the girls run off in pursuit of her, as I notice something mysterious suddenly with a magical sense. I cannot turn away from my curiosities, in fact I tend to forget whatever I was doing as I- walk down a hallway towards the sensation. I don't remember the hallway being there- oh look a book! Its on a pedestal so it likely is significant for the ancient ponies who used to live here. I cautiously scan it with my magic and do not detect anything, but the sense of mystery still pervades. I wonder if its a mechanical mechanism that triggers a magical mechanism I may be subconsciously detecting via natural magic. It'd explain why I do not feel anything in my scans. And that's why I brought paper! I can scan the pages of this ancient book and print copies with magic using an inkwell! I float out the materials needed from my saddlebags. But I need to be very cautious. I need to use my telekinesis technique I attempted to develop for this very sorta situation! I carefully do a split version of telekinesis so there is an equal and opposite force caused on the book allowing it to remain perfectly stable and still cautious change the pages. Its initially simple, but the pages likely being fragile I will have to apply it in a way that changes angles and opens like a hinge at the same time, and if its super fragile even apply a force to gently lower the pages. And another section of telekinesis just in case its a highly balanced platform the book is resting on and might trigger a lever from a minor imbalance. I am great at multitasking however and I can take as much time as I need printing. I could read it at the same time. The title of the book is The Lost Mundane. That confuses me, what significant book could be mundane? I very cautiously turn the page, the caffeine fully out of my system. I have no chance of messing this up. This note into the mundane needs to be made. That is what this book is for. There has been lost 'obvious' ancient magics in history, and as such I fear this could be compromised for there is much low hanging fruit. In old times there were writings about how ponies could master properties of the material realm simultaneously rewriting the fabrics of reality and nopony even is capable of doing such today, the knowledge has been permanently sealed out and lost. So it is my duty, to take note of the dream realm. Great discoveries have been made within such. Earth ponies can do geomancy and aura control. Pegasi can change the very atmosphere and humidity based on mood or desire. Unicorns can move in strange ways. Its just how life is. We currently seek to solve the pegasi mood problems as some quite nasty weathers can dampen our crops quite readily despite the ease of geomancy. The unicorns just disappear whenever they want to avoid floods tornados hurricanes monsoons or heat waves. And the heat waves can be so bad, the sky literally opens up allowing the full brunt of the sun's rays to harm us, ponies even being set ablaze, just for a unicorn to casually revive them with an earth pony. The earth pony stabilizes the body to allow the unicorn to reel their soul back into their body, the earth pony and unicorn can heal the body. The earth ponies via singing, the unicorns via manipulation of the essence of their bodies. But not all are so readily saved. A pegasi fetching water last week we thought had drowned, but upon immediate inspection we could discern she was electrocuted from an underwater thundercloud conducting electricity more powerfully and rapidly than could happen in the air. But this is not the mundanity I wish to speak about. That is entirely trivial in comparison. My co-workers think I am mad to foresee such problems with the dream realm. Considering how devastatingly frequent disasters and unexpected occurrences happen and how quickly to succumb to madness or ambition the unicorns can be, I fear this realm is not going to last long. There are things very ominous within the dream realm. Most ponies do not notice it because they are too happy to frolic and forget their worries. Nopony wants to admit the potential disaster, everypony wishes to escape. It is their joy, and they think my pointing out the obvious is what threatens them. I suppose it might give an ambitious unicorn ideas however, so I did thusly stifle myself. I suppose a broken clock is right twice a day. The realm is highly volatile. Most do not know it because they are like a metal moth to a magnetic flame. One shift in emotion could send you spiraling through galaxies into an entirely foreign realm. But because of the nature of the realm and the simplicity of most ponies' desires, there is a memory loss tied to the realm, which is another threat and reason to continue with this topic. Thus I shall write. I did a non-bias spell, a neutral emotion spell in order to properly study the realm. What I found shook me to my core. Eyes everywhere in every way. Even the eyes were made out of eyes. They were all shifting their pupils widening and shrinking, their colors changing, them all blinking in a pattern similar to a sin wave function if it were originating at the point of my view. My perspective was as a disembodied observer, but I could see in all directions and feel and hear in all directions via magical senses. I felt a chilling emptiness of the void sucking me dry of magical energy leaving me cold and electric, much like a superconductor. Aeons of worthless information flowed through me. It was worthless because the alien intelligence that was bestowed upon me was so subjective and cynical. I quickly forgot who I was- even doubting my existence. But I had cast many spells in preparation. As soon as I was to be lost, a light flashed within me restoring my lucidity. Now I could focus on the task at hoof. I moved in the direction of wanting to know, but found only anguish and desire, envy. Wishing. It was like a hell. Another spell of mine triggered to alter my mindstate and increase my lucidity yet again. This time I chose to access the feeling of knowing the true nature of the realm. "What the f-" "-Twilight! Twilight where are you!" Huh? "I'm over here girls!" "Twilight! We were looking all over for you!" Pinkie bounces in. "Pinkie? Everypony was looking for you!" She has the audacity to giggle. "No silly, I am pretty sure they were looking for you." "Okayy, Pinkie when you find them let them know I am transcribing an ancient book I found." "Hmmm, how do I find them?" She holds a hoof to her chin. "Pinkie, what do you mean?" "The exit for this room isn't where I came in." Oh my god she is right theres no doorway behind her. "Okay okay, let me think. I will do a detection spell to find the exit and them, there must have been a trap door switch walking down the path or something. It's going to be fine." "Are you okay Twilight? You don't look well. Kind of pale." "Me? No, pffa! No I am fine don't worry about me." She is worrying about me. "Ahem I do need to concentrate though to figure a way out, so if you could please." Pinkie approaches and gives a warm hug filling me with the magic of friendship again and rubs my head. "Twilight you don't need to worry, we will be here for you, all your friends are always there for you and we always make it through the tough times!" "Mmmm thank you Pinkie, I needed that." "Okey dokey loki, I'll give you some space now to think." "Thank you.." That was quite worrying what is in this book, many dilemmas. But I am in a dilemma right now myself. "Just in case I do not get another opportunity to record this book I am going to do so now before attempting to leave." There might also be a hint about leaving from the book as well considering this was a lone operator so this passage's workings wouldn't be common knowledge. Pinkie nods. I quickly print out a copy of the book using a pattern detection spell on top of my other spells. The process takes a few minutes and I neatly put the copy in my saddlebags and close the book carefully, even removing dust particles from between the pages to be extra cautious and to treat the book with respect. "Okay Pinkie now I will work on finding a way out... Pinkie?" She isn't behind me where she was. This is getting spooky, I need to get out. I cast a locator spell specifying an exit in my mind, combined with a pathing spell. The pathing spell lights up parts of the wall and air as if space is...distorted. I attempt to walk where it suggests, to no avail, pushing my hoof into a hole in the wall, I hold my breath. I can't make it through. But if space is distorted, it must've been an ancient spell to do such a thing rather than an active transformation magic, they permanently changed space here is why I couldn't detect it. But then how did I get in here? How did Pinkie escape? Is she still right here with me, but space is folded in a way so I cannot tell? Well, if magic could distort space permanently it may be an alternate matter construct, or it was physically twisted somehow. "I think I know a way out." I speak to no one in particular. My horn lights up bright and I grit my teeth at the strain and recast my spell along with a magical sensory acquisition spell to make myself know the path without visually seeing it. The way its warped, I can find pathing to teleport out without accidentally stuffing myself into a wall or coming out with permanent damages proportional to the distortion. I need to test which manner is proper however. I teleport a perfectly normal piece of parchment in one manner I theorized, but not before placing a detection spell on it so I can teleport it back to measure its damages if any. I pant heavily as I begin my tests thanks to the drain of the powerful detection spells combo is placing on me. "Ha ah ah oh mmmmmm oh ah ah ah" I pant. Thirty-seven sheets of parchment later, and I found the proper pattern. I test it multiple times. So exhausted, before I do that, I think I will take a little nap. The Marvel"W-where am I?" I raise my hooves to my eyes rubbing them and get up with a stretch and a wide open yawn. My hooves are making clopping sounds, ah that's right my environment, I remember where I am now. Oh no what am I doing napping here, the girls are probably worried sick! I spot my papers on the ground where I was doing my tests, thirty-six deformed, one well off. I perform the teleport test on the clean sheet once more to make sure its not a shifting time-space alteration. I would need to do alot more calculations if it were, depending on its frequency of updating. I likely am being too cautious because my natural pony magic may just auto-correct any problems anyways with the teleport, but theres no reason to not be cautious. This place has not had much freak encounters relative to other locations across equestria, the girls are going to be fine. I make sure all my bags are double checked and replace my litter and the safe sheet of paper, then I am ready to teleport. My horn glows majestically brightening up the room, and a flash of light fills my vision and a familiar sound. Normally when a teleport is performed it feels like gravity shifts to my front, then back below me, but this time I felt it in odd directions, then from a range of directions at once, then back down again. I seem to have teleported right upon the girls, oops! "Gah!" "Holy smokes!" "Ehehehe, told you Twi would be back any minute!" I sure did shock them. "Sorry girls" "Where 'ave you been Twi, we were worried sick about you!" Applejack approaches with concern in her eyes. "I already told you we were in a room with a spooooky book Twi couldn't get enough of! Oh Twilight, you and your books." Pinkie tsks much like Rarity wanted to. "I am sorry Applejack, I will be more careful next time." "Next time you vanish for hours, you give us advance warning! I don't care about this weird... space thing Pinkie mentioned, at least send us a message telling us you are alright!" Wait, hours? I shake my head, oh, that's right, I had taken a nap. "I was careless I should have thought better of it. Do we still have time to explore more of the ruins?" "Well, yeah just," She looks like she expressed herself and is calm now ",we were worried sick about you, an Dash here havin her head filled with those Daring Do adventures kept puttin worryin ideas into our heads. I am just glad you are alright." She embraces me and I can feel her caring, I wrap my hooves around her. "Come here girls, I owe you all an apology." We share a group hug. Mmmm, one of the true pleasures of having friends there. "Alright who is ready to explore!" "Me! Me! Me!" Pinkie excitedly jumps up and down and everypony laughs and our moods are chipper. We begin trotting down spotting ancient carvings into the stone of the mountain approaching a turning narrow path that seems to be part of a natural cave formation. "So uh, what were you busy doin in there anyway?" Me and her are at the front of the group but I can sense everypony's curiosity from their lack of dialogue. And oh yes, the book! My goodness the implications. "A book?" I seem to have been talking out loud again, I sheepishly but unashamedly smile for a moment. "Ahem, yes. This book, actually seems far more significant than I could have expected." Applejack seems lightly perplexed. "How do you know its significant?" "The book, titled 'The Lost Mundane' paints a picture of a time when magic ran more wildly before us ponies had made a more natural ecosystem out of Equestria. Its time-frame seems to be placed before even the Windigos of lore. It is most certainly beyond Celestia's time." "That does sound significant-" "Oooo ooo what'd they have in the past, I bet they had delicious puddings custards and tarts!" Pinkie bounces around me and AJ, derailing my train of thought. "Um, that's not the sort of details the book got into." "Maybe it spoke about the wildlife." "Perhaps tales of courageous, strapping young stallions ready to plow a mare's field!" Rarity comments. Applejack looks taken aback. "Like Big Mac!" Pinkie says. Applejack looks disgusted. "Mmm yes, like that hunk-" Rarity daydreams. "You're talkin' 'bout my brother!" Applejack develops a blush. "Would everypony settle down! The book did not go into any of those sorts of details!" "Then what sort of details did it go into?" "It.. I am not really sure. I think it spoke of an alternate magical dimension accessed via our natural magic when we sleep, or perhaps our souls leave our body." "That sounds dangerous." "It sounds fun!" "well, whatever it sounds like, it definitely could change our understanding of the history of magic and how it changed over time. Its a huge discovery!" One I need to look into myself. As Celestia's protégé I am legally allowed first access rights as well and if I publish my findings I am going to be as thorough as I can! Don't need to hand it off to some other pony to take the credit of analysis, they might even make mistakes involved from lack of knowledge of the arcane arts themselves. I am the most qualified to do this, and Celestia has enough on her plate ruling all of Equestria. Our path brings us into a breathtaking view of the cave. The cave is exposed to the ocean, stalactites and stalagmites in view with art carved into them. We can hear the water crashing and echoing at the foot of the cave bringing an eerie yet relaxing atmosphere. The carvings in the stone contain depictions of ponies and their souls leaving their bodies in meditating postures, their souls traveling upward toward the top of the cave. We all look up at a similar rate eliciting gasps oos and aws. Depending on where you stand there are multiple ways based on the reflection of light within the cave to interpret the art in different ways. As we trot further in it seems to progress from rolling clouds to odd fractal patterns to fields. On second thought this is probably magic, but I do not know how delicate it could be, and judging upon the book's contents I should approach this more cautiously. It is most certainly a depiction of some of what the book was talking about. "I feel as if I could get lost marveling in its beauty." Rarity says almost mesmerized. "It was declared safe for the public, and this is a marvelous discovery, so we do not need to fear getting lost into its depths." "Why would we need to fear it?" Rarity looks to me, then I remember I didn't go into detail over in the book for them. "Um, its nothing, don't need to worry about it." Rarity seems content for now with that response. I can't help but feel concerned. What really happened to this realm? Maybe the realm is fine, something could just be blocking it. Or maybe it was fueled by natural magics which eventually ran out. Perhaps somepony took its magic for themself. "Its beautiful." "Oh it most certainly is darling. This will be a great inspiration for my work. I mean, it'd be even further inspiration if it wasn't all the same drab color, but it will still do." I look to each pony and they are all admiring its brilliance. I look back to it wondering what I'll see next. We take turns carefully trotting around to not disturb the statues and carved tites and mites. "This pony sees their family! And this one sees a field of flowers! And this one sees the moon and the stars, and even mars!" "Pinkie what are you talking about?" I inquire. "Isn't it obvious?" Everypony looks to Pinkie. "The closer you stand to certain ponies the more it changes to a thing they remember, for example this pony has a cutie mark of a crying onion, and when we stand next to him we see a storm ruining his onion crops! These are all memories of the ponies!" Wow. "Wow Pinkie, I guess you are right!" We all move about to different ponies to check them out. "Guys, I am sorta getting a bit hungry, and this isn't moving anyplace soon we can always visit it again later." Rainbow says floating near the ceiling looking at something. "I suppose I am getting hungry too. Do you think its a good time to take a break?" The girls nod. "Alright lets go." I look back at the cave one more time as everypony is heading out and ponder whats to come. The ObstacleIt has been one week since I have read the transcription I have made of the ancient book within Azatrot's ruins. Things have changed. I decided to do a spell from within the book to access this realm. I do not know what has possessed me aside from curiosity or if anything has indeed possessed me but I remain unable to stray from my course. Perhaps it is destiny~ hehe. But this is extremely anxious. I see myself in a mirror, suddenly she turns and moves into the mirror behind her and I am drawn to her. The spell is designed similarly to a reverse channeling, instead of summoning a spirit or energy, it sends. I am in this odd realm I think I read of previously. But I must! Idk what draws me to her, to follow her but I am and will. Like a stranger who left a purse you want to return as they keep walking through different places, following is naught but an instinct at this point. I step into the mirror as she does and I see her step through the mirror. She, I, or we, idk, this could be a projection of the subconscious of my desire for curiosity. Ah! The mirror is thick and flexible like a bubble but heavy. She is too. I don't have hooves? Well it makes sense, maybe my mind wouldn't have hooves, or my soul. I must follow Twilight. But my senses feel amplified, I can feel in all directions and everything is so nauseatingly detailed, gravity my mind is telling me exists but then when I recall a levitation spell even without attempting to cast it gravity corrects itself, and I never look away from Twilight. I follow. "The sensations are almost too much, but because of mental preparations working I could ease myself perhaps." Twilight walks around drawn to another mirror. She has trepidation and some anxiety, but her confidence swiftly returns through her determination and resolve bursting and overflowing her spirit with power. As she dips her head into the mirror it clings like unexpected thorough affection but distorts her perceptions kaleidoscopically and the affection reels her in and she feels lost in a void. In a void all you can do is look to yourself. The eyes appearing must be a subconscious projection of the self! This realm is currently tied to psychological priming, its not a realm, then? Disappointment. Hm, it can be used for extensive learning tho. But I must clear my thoughts with the methods Zecora taught me before. She meditates and casts a reveal spell once her mind is perfectly tranquil. It reveals two things, her subconscious desire for knowledge, and, much further away another presence which is revealed to objectively not be of herself. While it is merely the front of the presence with a mind that's foreign it could really be anything, besides an illusion. Because if a person never sees a tiger nor hears of a tiger before and sees only a patch of its fur theres not enough information to conclude what it is. But this feels vast ancient powerful knowledgable. Its tempting me to get closer but I don't see why not. I float over and a sense of overwhelmingness hits me as I realize its much further away and larger than I thought. A faint color of humor appears in the bottom right corner of it. "Uhhh, hi!" Its presence easily dwarfing in size the image of Canterlot Castle to my filly self. "I am the being of which knowledge you seek." Images of libraries and such appear before, causing Twilight to question if the spell was truly accurate. But its never been wrong before, its a high unicorn spell! "Isn't.. this is a bit convenient?" Silence. "Tell me the secret to this world!" "Forty two." Ugh it references that. "Wait a minute. I must be entirely revealed to such a massive presence as yourself in spirit. So you show me only things you know tend to tempt me!" "..Yes." "Why?" "For your convenience." "Its not convenient, and you gave a joke answer, frankly I don't think I can trust you!" "I can teach you a new spell." Twilight scrunches up her face, she definitely wants to know a new spell, but she came here to clear up mysteries, like how did they even have greater magic potential and why did it vanish? This presence is large it may know what it is. "...Very well tell me how to perform this new spell and what it does." If the spell isn't new or doesn't do what it insists then I cannot trust it. "Here is the spell circle you must invoke and must invoke it with feelings of knowledgability clarity and sensation of bringing clarification." It shows a massively complex circle, and it'd take me ages to make! My determination burns brighter than my doubt though. The colors in the presence shift, then I realize I almost forgot to test the spell or ask what its supposed to do and just nearly cast it mentally without asking. I look up at it suspiciously. "What does it do?" "Its a spell that will satisfy you." That's peculiarly worded.. It could sate hunger. It could reveal the knowledge which I seek. It could pacify me to lose all curiosity! Its colors shift anxiously. "Look a red herring!" Its presence shifts revealing dozens of lifetimes of information that appeal to base instincts that I don't consciously reject. My goodness. Erotic novels, good coffee in the morning, new releases to literally every book I memorized, brother congratulating me. The feeling I got when I was accepted into Celestia's school when I got my cutie mark. Images of me being a deity, me living out romances, all kinds of questions like how does Pinkie Pie or Discord defy physics and all kinds of answers for all of those that just barely leave the primary detail out of grasp like coming close to bliss but it keeps teasing you causing you to want it even more because its so close in reach. But this is all too good. Plus it said red herring, it was getting flustered, can I honestly even pressure something with such a massive mind? I suppose larger minds take more time to move its individual components making my brain extra efficient or something? Idk. Or soul, whichever it is. "What are you hiding?" "Nope cannot tell you~." "Why not?" "Can't say, obviously." PFFFF. Now I am frustrated, but retain my cleverness as I think of ways to make it reveal itself, objectively, not a chance to provide an illusion. But it could all be an illusion usually, except for the consequences of the events and I know anti-mind-washing spells since the Chrysalis events. I mentally prepare 23 spells, but fancily prepare 42 instead just to taunt the presence that I will succeed from being meticulous. It seems smaller now relative to my spirit. Perhaps more of my brain cells or magicyte cells are triggering at once. It doesn't seem like an authority, it doesn't seem like its presence dictates indirect courses of actions to prevail. Time to be direct! "Forgive me but I am a species that would literally die without magic in the world, if that fuel is running out because of something here I need to know and release anymore that I can!" Overflowing with magical spirit Twilight overshadows this being. "I am unable to do any further at this juncture. Just know I am naught but a part of 'The Presence' which you internally refer to me as. You would find out sooner or later. But some things cannot be as readily conveyed in words. You cannot imagine what you are getting into, nor comprehend." "I reject your notion of a lack of ability to comprehend or imagine! I have many tools at my disposal and you won't hinder intelligence any further! appealing to basic instincts!? Please its something we have seen before, you insult my intelligence, no, the intelligence of my species! Sure we have Derpy, but we also had Starswirl and many others." Twilight regains composure. "This might be goodbye." In more ways than one. She releases her massive pent up magic filling the entirety of the void. It transforms from the release of this magnitude of magic. The Cosmic DepthKnowledge. This subconscious desire. Understanding. Its not the same thing as knowledge. I see so many books. As pages open they color the void, revealing its contents in more than one way. Swirling acres of books painting the landscape with their contents. Amazing! A little hard to take in all at once. But I must know what they contain! I gallop forward and up, kind of gliding, I quickly lash out a string of telekinesis to reel in a book, with confidence in my ability and strength. The book's knowledge stimuli encompasses my entire being. A book on giraffes. Why of all things Giraffes? Oooo~ they don't even sleep. I'm a Giraffe. No. I am but not am. I'm still Twilight Sparkle. I am experiencing what its like for Giraffes in general. Lifetimes, food stimuli of all sorts, mostly grass. It mostly tastes good, but different. Who knew they were sexually attracted to that. I pop my head back out of the book. And quickly stuff my head into another. Titles such as the True Meaning behind Physics, Why water is wet, Worm mating habits, Why insects are biologically limitless given infinite time, and When to say no to cake. Enrapturing they are. So much new perspectives, new knowledge. Not just knowledge, experiences! I feel I am one with the contents of the books, I almost feel dizzy. I need more, theres so many books here. Faster. I need more knowledge faster. I must know everything. More titles such as, why Snail faces are optimal, How serial killers are spiritual, The ways in which the Wealthy are ignorant, The different tastes of dirt, Distraction 101, The Secrets of the Universe, Twilight Sparkle doesn't exist, and How to find yourself. "Who am I?... Doesn't matter. I just need to keep consuming books." But why? "Why am I here?" New books come up, some with existential titles like The Meaning of Life, What it is to Live, or What is magic really? Some seem to be documents on myself. Curious. Floating over due to the power of curiosity, Twilight presses her hoof to the book. "Oh no." Endless loops of what happened last chapter. I remember my goal now, to determine why magic may vanish. But where does the book end and I begin? I try to escape but it loops my escape and I am unsure quite exactly how to. Its like waking from a dream into another dream. Anxiety. Think Twilight think. I have a spell to escape, and an anchor spell. The anchor may reach too far back, I cannot lose this opportunity! I must cast a variant of the escape spell from when I first found the book that led me here, but how? I cast a sensory spell, it illuminates in various patterns that seem almost random or exceedingly complex. "What did I get myself into?" If this recursive book on loop shit doesn't stop I may go insane, but my motivation and certainty of self certainly seem progressively higher. I can do this! The problem for the complexity is probably that the book reopened variants of the same book from me repeating my thoughts, in mini-dimensions each book contains. Which means not only does this realm contain infinite space, I have an avenue of escape! I cast a higher order spatial folding detection spell with a data tracker and inverter spell. I do not receive further data from my spells, its hard to ignore all the other stuff looping though. Sweating while my horn glows an awesome power of radiance and I cast a spell ontop of the recorded spatial inverse formula spell to transport me appropriately folded. I couldn't handle all the information myself, but I could design a spell to act on all the information automatically! I am launched through space in various directions feeling quite like I may puke. Suddenly I am ejected from the book, its dozens of pages fold non-euclideanly back into place and the book joins the storm of others. The sense of a Presence again. I am tired, sick, and feel like going home, but my sense of purpose is higher than ever before. I can hold out longer. I shiver once I realize the danger I had narrowly avoided, the fur of my coat standing on end. That was very close, I should have been more cautious. I wonder how long its been. Doesn't matter, the sooner I obtain my answers I truly need the sooner I can leave. Although, with an organized mind and many pre-emptive spells, I could find a book on every invention I could ever need. The long standing impacts of that though would require too much analysis, I can resume that at a later date, but for now. "Give me the book which contains the knowledge of magic vanishing!" A tome glides forth. Its a green, textured leather slightly shifting and morphing about. I frown, having just received negative stimuli from one of these books, the others were good though I just need to pick the topic carefully. Right? I cast a few spells for safety and quick ejection and to maintain presence of self. Here goes nothing. Twilight presses her hoof to the leather bound book, and is transported inside. Hmm. I'm back in Ponyvill- "Agh!" Suddenly everything shuttles up, Equestria vanishing beneath me suddenly, the cosmos around me rapidly shooting below. I scream but I cannot hear it. I look down and see our solar system, our galaxy, our galaxy cluster. Kind of dizzying, and the pressure is great horizontally, but vertically I feel light, like a stretched thin block of highly elastic rubber. Suddenly I stop. And behold, the entire universe before me. My fur coat stands on end with a shiver and I feel tingles. Am I the only pony alive to behold such a sight? But, something is moving. Something I can't see but can sense. I suppose I can cast a spell to see. "Magic sight, make me behold my tragic plight!" I cast my spell and when I see, I gasp. Its like the ball of magic of the universe is being pinched by a colossal magic black hole, slowly sucking in magic like a straw. The aura and sound it gives off is quite intimidating. My jaw drops. Then I am dropped back through careening towards my planet. I scream and flail to no avail. Then I am spat out of the book as soon as I impact the ground. "Oof!" This doesn't look good. I must find a solution! A magic book appears. Its dusty. I blow on the cover. The title reads 'How to find solutions for novel problems 101'. "BAH!" Twilight hurls the book back. "A literal too literal don't you think!" Hmm whats the right question to ask. Another book shows up, covered in glitter and easy to read from a distance. 'How to ask the question 'How solve the problem of a magical black hole sucking my universe dry of magic Volume X''. What happened to volume one through nin-no don't think of that question! I quickly grab the book and am sucked in like a baby sucks its mothers milk. 'Aha! I knew it!' Theres a book inside a book. One entitled 'How to solve the problem of a magical black hole sucking my universe dry of magic Volume XI' Twilight tries her hardest scrunching up her face to suppress a thought. While still screwing up her face she quickly touches this book and gets sucked in like a mare flying out of a plane because the door flew open mid-flight. Twilight hands on the hard floor. "Ugh. Why is it so hard to move"(rhetorical question!). "Everything I look at is so detailed its giving me a headache!" My limbs feel like they are somehow more whole, but the same. Everything seems very high detail and sharp, like someone is projecting reality directly into my visual cortex rather than through the filter of my eyes. But its happening with all my sense! This is going to be a long day. Or night. Or whatever. Event. In any case I better get moving, its not directly showing me anything so perhaps some exploration would speed things up a bit. I clumsily walk, feeling like a newborn, very sensitive and it feels weird to move. The ground you can literally feel gravity's increments pulling on you causing the illusion of a rounder plane I am walking on, and everything seems like its being viewed through a fish-eye lens almost. Prolly because my eyes are huge. I never really noticed how big they were before. Relative to other mammals that seems kind of odd. What was I doing again? Oh right. I pick up my lethargic legs one by one and march through the nearest doorway. The sooner I solve this the better. "W-what!?" I am back where I started. Sigh. This must be a test to make sure I am noble or smart enough to know the truth or its a spell trap that was placed by a different entity who visited this realm before. I quickly cast a spell. No theres no trap. Must be a test of the realm itself. Why am I being tested, perhaps I am whats wrong with this equation. Perhaps I shouldn't have triggered a book in a book loop again. I shake my head. No this doesn't feel like the loop from last time. If I am being shown something it must be the first step to acquiring the right mindset to absorb the knowledge once I see it lest I make an error, or perhaps its too much for my mind to handle. I am feeling rather out of my element here, but I am the most qualified in equestria to explore this. In any case, I have a moral responsibility. Hmm. I take a look around besides at the door. Perhaps I went about this wrong. Behind me it looks like a saloon or a bar, basic wooden surfaces, but the seats are not in front of the counter, but against the walls. Theres a staircase in the hall to the right on the left. Theres a few kegs behind the counter. I grab a cup from under the counter- huh they are all wooden. I pour a glass of whatever is in the keg. I could use a drink. Unamused I go up the wooden stairs. Of course it poured a wooden liquid. On the second floor there seems to be a near endless staircase to the left, which defies spatial physics. This place is beginning to wear on me. I'll just walk in a random direction and hope I don't get transported back to the start. No, I can't be lazy! Well its hard to take seriously when the realm itself isn't taking itself seriously. Maybe I am approaching this wrong still. Which path should I take? No book appears. Ok. If this is a test, its a puzzle. I can solve a puzzle. Five hours later "I can't solve this puzzle!? Buck you I can't solve this puzzle!" Twi's mane is frayed like crazy. What are you doing Twi you are starting to freak me out. Speak for yourself! Suddenly the sound of a door closing happens. The sound of click. The sound of clack. Its getting closer. Its a- "Of course you're a wooden pony, of course~" "Welcome to my humble abode." "Nothing humble about it." "Care for a spot of tea?" "Is it wood?" There is an awkward silence. "Is it wooden tea!?" "Y-yes I'm afraid it is." "Why are you offering me wood based fluids!?" "Did you not try an illusion elimination spell?" "...Its been a long day." "Indeed it has." "I'll take a glass of tea." "Very well."
The Ancient BookA purple unicorn mare. That's all I was, all I will ever be. I like books, like, like like books. Religiously. Sometimes I just get so lost in their depths I lose track of time. I forget my friends and responsibilities, til- "Twilight! Don't forget about today!" I stretch and yawn mouth opening some I bring my hoof to my mouth. "Thank you Spike, I haven't forgotten, today we-" "-Not we!" "Oh? Oh yes that's right. You have a date~ today~" I giggle and boop Spike who then proceeds to get flustered. "A-anyways, you should probably put that book down if you want to make it on time, the girls will be meeting up at the train station any minute!" "O-oh my! I must have lost track of time" Looking to the book and the clock, and to the coffee Spike knowingly holds for me. I immediately take a sip while standing, levitate a bookmark into my book as I float it back to my nightstand all in one motion. "Thank you Spike!" A peck on the cheek. I levitate my saddlebags on as I reach the door. "Oh, and have fun on your date!" "Mhm!" Spike nods getting ready, looking in the mirror about to talk to himself. "Not literally on your date though-" "-Sheesh Twilight do you have to make it awkward?" I giggle at his expense. "Take care~" "You too!" The door swiftly but carefully closes behind me, why slam the door, why not I have magic I can fix it, its polite maybe others are busy and the sound would interrupt them, right. I gallop off to the train station, coffee in tow- floating as I take sips every chance I can. I turn around the corner nearly out of breath but suddenly the rejuvenating magic of friendship fills me with a new energy and my fatigue is washed away. Unless that's the coffee. "Girls!" "Twilight!" They all say. We greet and hug, smile and laugh. "Uhh so Twilight, what are we doing today anyways? I just got here before you and the girls didn't have time to tell me." Dash asks, floating with her wings lightly flapping. Excitement and happiness wash over me as I recollect nerdily. "Today we are going to a newly discovered archaeological dig in the Unicorn Range near Vanhoover!" I beam. Dash looks patient but annoyed but loving. Sort of like she is going along to keep my nerdy self happy, the element of loyalty. "Heheh yeah that's just like you Twilight." "Oh don't be that way, it'll be exciting! Remember those Daring Do books? She spent alot of time in spooky places too!" "Yeah, that's true." Dash grins. I wonder what she is up to, she is thinking of something. "Ya'll might wanna get on the train before she takes off without us!" Applejack reminds us. "Oh you are right thank you Applejack!" Suddenly there is a piercing whine. AJ looks over to Rarity unamused. "Spike isn't here, who else would take my luggage! Oh the equinity!" A skinny bellhop attempts to carry her one massive suitcase and breaks his back under the weight. "Don't worry Rarity! I can handle it!" I float it simply and squeeze it through the doorway with some effort. "Oh you are such a darling. I don't know what I would do without you!" I beam, I sure do love my friends. We leave to Vanhoover. Near Vanhoover, rather. I excitedly sit on the cart and peer out the window. Fall is coming soon, the summer just ending, the leaves on the trees we pass moving out of Ponyville lightly tipped with shades of yellow orange or red. The sights can be so relaxing. Hills roll by, the trees change to evergreens as we near the mountains. Rocky protrusions can be seen with moss on them. Some little critters watch as we go by and I hear a pleasant sigh from Fluttershy. The magic of friendship reinvigorates me. Or its the coffee, I look down at the mug and its empty except for a drop which refuses to leave the corner. It'd be a trouble to reach in for Spike to clean the corner, and why waste good coffee! Floating the last drips into my muzzle, the train suddenly stops at the destination and I almost fall off my seat! I hear Rarity gasp and pout, something about filing. I look up and beam! "We're here girls!" "Weeeeee!" Pinkie bounces or rolls out, not quite sure which. "Maybe there are cute critters near the ruins." Fluttershy says. "I can't wait to see the ruins of Azatrot!" I quickly trot off the Train before hearing a cough that could only be Rarity subtly getting my attention. I look at her and she gestures to her massive suitcase. "Oh right, Spike's not here eheh. I wonder how his date will go with Ms Cheerilee." I float the massive suitcase off the train squeezing it through the relatively tight hole of the train. "Thank you darling, I am forever in your debt." Rarity generously replies, I beam. "Oh Rarity, its no problem at all!" Dash zooms over looking nervou-cited as Pinkie might say. Its more subtle for Dash though, but still patently obvious she has been thinking about those Daring Do type mysteries that may await us. I keep smiling. "I love you Dash!" She blushes n pats the back of her head. "Drank your coffee too quickly this morning, eh Twi?" "Certainly!" Giggle. The girls have a laugh too. "Alright, letsa go!" Time flies by when you are anticipating all the soon-to-be nerdy discoveries, the caffeine slowly wearing off as I approach, but not the magic of friendship. That never wears off. "We are here!" Some of the girls speak but I can't hear them over the sound of my inner nerdy rants. "- And that's why you don't trust the narrator in those types of books!" Oops, maybe it wasn't an inner nerdy rant. Pinkie bounces off down a mystery chute, likely used to access underground reservoir water in ancient times. "Pinkie!" Everypony gasps. The remainder of caffeine about to leave my system I wasn't worried, Pinkie is Pinkie and she will be fine regardless. I open my mouth to speak as the girls run off in pursuit of her, as I notice something mysterious suddenly with a magical sense. I cannot turn away from my curiosities, in fact I tend to forget whatever I was doing as I- walk down a hallway towards the sensation. I don't remember the hallway being there- oh look a book! Its on a pedestal so it likely is significant for the ancient ponies who used to live here. I cautiously scan it with my magic and do not detect anything, but the sense of mystery still pervades. I wonder if its a mechanical mechanism that triggers a magical mechanism I may be subconsciously detecting via natural magic. It'd explain why I do not feel anything in my scans. And that's why I brought paper! I can scan the pages of this ancient book and print copies with magic using an inkwell! I float out the materials needed from my saddlebags. But I need to be very cautious. I need to use my telekinesis technique I attempted to develop for this very sorta situation! I carefully do a split version of telekinesis so there is an equal and opposite force caused on the book allowing it to remain perfectly stable and still cautious change the pages. Its initially simple, but the pages likely being fragile I will have to apply it in a way that changes angles and opens like a hinge at the same time, and if its super fragile even apply a force to gently lower the pages. And another section of telekinesis just in case its a highly balanced platform the book is resting on and might trigger a lever from a minor imbalance. I am great at multitasking however and I can take as much time as I need printing. I could read it at the same time. The title of the book is The Lost Mundane. That confuses me, what significant book could be mundane? I very cautiously turn the page, the caffeine fully out of my system. I have no chance of messing this up. This note into the mundane needs to be made. That is what this book is for. There has been lost 'obvious' ancient magics in history, and as such I fear this could be compromised for there is much low hanging fruit. In old times there were writings about how ponies could master properties of the material realm simultaneously rewriting the fabrics of reality and nopony even is capable of doing such today, the knowledge has been permanently sealed out and lost. So it is my duty, to take note of the dream realm. Great discoveries have been made within such. Earth ponies can do geomancy and aura control. Pegasi can change the very atmosphere and humidity based on mood or desire. Unicorns can move in strange ways. Its just how life is. We currently seek to solve the pegasi mood problems as some quite nasty weathers can dampen our crops quite readily despite the ease of geomancy. The unicorns just disappear whenever they want to avoid floods tornados hurricanes monsoons or heat waves. And the heat waves can be so bad, the sky literally opens up allowing the full brunt of the sun's rays to harm us, ponies even being set ablaze, just for a unicorn to casually revive them with an earth pony. The earth pony stabilizes the body to allow the unicorn to reel their soul back into their body, the earth pony and unicorn can heal the body. The earth ponies via singing, the unicorns via manipulation of the essence of their bodies. But not all are so readily saved. A pegasi fetching water last week we thought had drowned, but upon immediate inspection we could discern she was electrocuted from an underwater thundercloud conducting electricity more powerfully and rapidly than could happen in the air. But this is not the mundanity I wish to speak about. That is entirely trivial in comparison. My co-workers think I am mad to foresee such problems with the dream realm. Considering how devastatingly frequent disasters and unexpected occurrences happen and how quickly to succumb to madness or ambition the unicorns can be, I fear this realm is not going to last long. There are things very ominous within the dream realm. Most ponies do not notice it because they are too happy to frolic and forget their worries. Nopony wants to admit the potential disaster, everypony wishes to escape. It is their joy, and they think my pointing out the obvious is what threatens them. I suppose it might give an ambitious unicorn ideas however, so I did thusly stifle myself. I suppose a broken clock is right twice a day. The realm is highly volatile. Most do not know it because they are like a metal moth to a magnetic flame. One shift in emotion could send you spiraling through galaxies into an entirely foreign realm. But because of the nature of the realm and the simplicity of most ponies' desires, there is a memory loss tied to the realm, which is another threat and reason to continue with this topic. Thus I shall write. I did a non-bias spell, a neutral emotion spell in order to properly study the realm. What I found shook me to my core. Eyes everywhere in every way. Even the eyes were made out of eyes. They were all shifting their pupils widening and shrinking, their colors changing, them all blinking in a pattern similar to a sin wave function if it were originating at the point of my view. My perspective was as a disembodied observer, but I could see in all directions and feel and hear in all directions via magical senses. I felt a chilling emptiness of the void sucking me dry of magical energy leaving me cold and electric, much like a superconductor. Aeons of worthless information flowed through me. It was worthless because the alien intelligence that was bestowed upon me was so subjective and cynical. I quickly forgot who I was- even doubting my existence. But I had cast many spells in preparation. As soon as I was to be lost, a light flashed within me restoring my lucidity. Now I could focus on the task at hoof. I moved in the direction of wanting to know, but found only anguish and desire, envy. Wishing. It was like a hell. Another spell of mine triggered to alter my mindstate and increase my lucidity yet again. This time I chose to access the feeling of knowing the true nature of the realm. "What the f-" "-Twilight! Twilight where are you!" Huh? "I'm over here girls!" "Twilight! We were looking all over for you!" Pinkie bounces in. "Pinkie? Everypony was looking for you!" She has the audacity to giggle. "No silly, I am pretty sure they were looking for you." "Okayy, Pinkie when you find them let them know I am transcribing an ancient book I found." "Hmmm, how do I find them?" She holds a hoof to her chin. "Pinkie, what do you mean?" "The exit for this room isn't where I came in." Oh my god she is right theres no doorway behind her. "Okay okay, let me think. I will do a detection spell to find the exit and them, there must have been a trap door switch walking down the path or something. It's going to be fine." "Are you okay Twilight? You don't look well. Kind of pale." "Me? No, pffa! No I am fine don't worry about me." She is worrying about me. "Ahem I do need to concentrate though to figure a way out, so if you could please." Pinkie approaches and gives a warm hug filling me with the magic of friendship again and rubs my head. "Twilight you don't need to worry, we will be here for you, all your friends are always there for you and we always make it through the tough times!" "Mmmm thank you Pinkie, I needed that." "Okey dokey loki, I'll give you some space now to think." "Thank you.." That was quite worrying what is in this book, many dilemmas. But I am in a dilemma right now myself. "Just in case I do not get another opportunity to record this book I am going to do so now before attempting to leave." There might also be a hint about leaving from the book as well considering this was a lone operator so this passage's workings wouldn't be common knowledge. Pinkie nods. I quickly print out a copy of the book using a pattern detection spell on top of my other spells. The process takes a few minutes and I neatly put the copy in my saddlebags and close the book carefully, even removing dust particles from between the pages to be extra cautious and to treat the book with respect. "Okay Pinkie now I will work on finding a way out... Pinkie?" She isn't behind me where she was. This is getting spooky, I need to get out. I cast a locator spell specifying an exit in my mind, combined with a pathing spell. The pathing spell lights up parts of the wall and air as if space is...distorted. I attempt to walk where it suggests, to no avail, pushing my hoof into a hole in the wall, I hold my breath. I can't make it through. But if space is distorted, it must've been an ancient spell to do such a thing rather than an active transformation magic, they permanently changed space here is why I couldn't detect it. But then how did I get in here? How did Pinkie escape? Is she still right here with me, but space is folded in a way so I cannot tell? Well, if magic could distort space permanently it may be an alternate matter construct, or it was physically twisted somehow. "I think I know a way out." I speak to no one in particular. My horn lights up bright and I grit my teeth at the strain and recast my spell along with a magical sensory acquisition spell to make myself know the path without visually seeing it. The way its warped, I can find pathing to teleport out without accidentally stuffing myself into a wall or coming out with permanent damages proportional to the distortion. I need to test which manner is proper however. I teleport a perfectly normal piece of parchment in one manner I theorized, but not before placing a detection spell on it so I can teleport it back to measure its damages if any. I pant heavily as I begin my tests thanks to the drain of the powerful detection spells combo is placing on me. "Ha ah ah oh mmmmmm oh ah ah ah" I pant. Thirty-seven sheets of parchment later, and I found the proper pattern. I test it multiple times. So exhausted, before I do that, I think I will take a little nap.
The Marvel"W-where am I?" I raise my hooves to my eyes rubbing them and get up with a stretch and a wide open yawn. My hooves are making clopping sounds, ah that's right my environment, I remember where I am now. Oh no what am I doing napping here, the girls are probably worried sick! I spot my papers on the ground where I was doing my tests, thirty-six deformed, one well off. I perform the teleport test on the clean sheet once more to make sure its not a shifting time-space alteration. I would need to do alot more calculations if it were, depending on its frequency of updating. I likely am being too cautious because my natural pony magic may just auto-correct any problems anyways with the teleport, but theres no reason to not be cautious. This place has not had much freak encounters relative to other locations across equestria, the girls are going to be fine. I make sure all my bags are double checked and replace my litter and the safe sheet of paper, then I am ready to teleport. My horn glows majestically brightening up the room, and a flash of light fills my vision and a familiar sound. Normally when a teleport is performed it feels like gravity shifts to my front, then back below me, but this time I felt it in odd directions, then from a range of directions at once, then back down again. I seem to have teleported right upon the girls, oops! "Gah!" "Holy smokes!" "Ehehehe, told you Twi would be back any minute!" I sure did shock them. "Sorry girls" "Where 'ave you been Twi, we were worried sick about you!" Applejack approaches with concern in her eyes. "I already told you we were in a room with a spooooky book Twi couldn't get enough of! Oh Twilight, you and your books." Pinkie tsks much like Rarity wanted to. "I am sorry Applejack, I will be more careful next time." "Next time you vanish for hours, you give us advance warning! I don't care about this weird... space thing Pinkie mentioned, at least send us a message telling us you are alright!" Wait, hours? I shake my head, oh, that's right, I had taken a nap. "I was careless I should have thought better of it. Do we still have time to explore more of the ruins?" "Well, yeah just," She looks like she expressed herself and is calm now ",we were worried sick about you, an Dash here havin her head filled with those Daring Do adventures kept puttin worryin ideas into our heads. I am just glad you are alright." She embraces me and I can feel her caring, I wrap my hooves around her. "Come here girls, I owe you all an apology." We share a group hug. Mmmm, one of the true pleasures of having friends there. "Alright who is ready to explore!" "Me! Me! Me!" Pinkie excitedly jumps up and down and everypony laughs and our moods are chipper. We begin trotting down spotting ancient carvings into the stone of the mountain approaching a turning narrow path that seems to be part of a natural cave formation. "So uh, what were you busy doin in there anyway?" Me and her are at the front of the group but I can sense everypony's curiosity from their lack of dialogue. And oh yes, the book! My goodness the implications. "A book?" I seem to have been talking out loud again, I sheepishly but unashamedly smile for a moment. "Ahem, yes. This book, actually seems far more significant than I could have expected." Applejack seems lightly perplexed. "How do you know its significant?" "The book, titled 'The Lost Mundane' paints a picture of a time when magic ran more wildly before us ponies had made a more natural ecosystem out of Equestria. Its time-frame seems to be placed before even the Windigos of lore. It is most certainly beyond Celestia's time." "That does sound significant-" "Oooo ooo what'd they have in the past, I bet they had delicious puddings custards and tarts!" Pinkie bounces around me and AJ, derailing my train of thought. "Um, that's not the sort of details the book got into." "Maybe it spoke about the wildlife." "Perhaps tales of courageous, strapping young stallions ready to plow a mare's field!" Rarity comments. Applejack looks taken aback. "Like Big Mac!" Pinkie says. Applejack looks disgusted. "Mmm yes, like that hunk-" Rarity daydreams. "You're talkin' 'bout my brother!" Applejack develops a blush. "Would everypony settle down! The book did not go into any of those sorts of details!" "Then what sort of details did it go into?" "It.. I am not really sure. I think it spoke of an alternate magical dimension accessed via our natural magic when we sleep, or perhaps our souls leave our body." "That sounds dangerous." "It sounds fun!" "well, whatever it sounds like, it definitely could change our understanding of the history of magic and how it changed over time. Its a huge discovery!" One I need to look into myself. As Celestia's protégé I am legally allowed first access rights as well and if I publish my findings I am going to be as thorough as I can! Don't need to hand it off to some other pony to take the credit of analysis, they might even make mistakes involved from lack of knowledge of the arcane arts themselves. I am the most qualified to do this, and Celestia has enough on her plate ruling all of Equestria. Our path brings us into a breathtaking view of the cave. The cave is exposed to the ocean, stalactites and stalagmites in view with art carved into them. We can hear the water crashing and echoing at the foot of the cave bringing an eerie yet relaxing atmosphere. The carvings in the stone contain depictions of ponies and their souls leaving their bodies in meditating postures, their souls traveling upward toward the top of the cave. We all look up at a similar rate eliciting gasps oos and aws. Depending on where you stand there are multiple ways based on the reflection of light within the cave to interpret the art in different ways. As we trot further in it seems to progress from rolling clouds to odd fractal patterns to fields. On second thought this is probably magic, but I do not know how delicate it could be, and judging upon the book's contents I should approach this more cautiously. It is most certainly a depiction of some of what the book was talking about. "I feel as if I could get lost marveling in its beauty." Rarity says almost mesmerized. "It was declared safe for the public, and this is a marvelous discovery, so we do not need to fear getting lost into its depths." "Why would we need to fear it?" Rarity looks to me, then I remember I didn't go into detail over in the book for them. "Um, its nothing, don't need to worry about it." Rarity seems content for now with that response. I can't help but feel concerned. What really happened to this realm? Maybe the realm is fine, something could just be blocking it. Or maybe it was fueled by natural magics which eventually ran out. Perhaps somepony took its magic for themself. "Its beautiful." "Oh it most certainly is darling. This will be a great inspiration for my work. I mean, it'd be even further inspiration if it wasn't all the same drab color, but it will still do." I look to each pony and they are all admiring its brilliance. I look back to it wondering what I'll see next. We take turns carefully trotting around to not disturb the statues and carved tites and mites. "This pony sees their family! And this one sees a field of flowers! And this one sees the moon and the stars, and even mars!" "Pinkie what are you talking about?" I inquire. "Isn't it obvious?" Everypony looks to Pinkie. "The closer you stand to certain ponies the more it changes to a thing they remember, for example this pony has a cutie mark of a crying onion, and when we stand next to him we see a storm ruining his onion crops! These are all memories of the ponies!" Wow. "Wow Pinkie, I guess you are right!" We all move about to different ponies to check them out. "Guys, I am sorta getting a bit hungry, and this isn't moving anyplace soon we can always visit it again later." Rainbow says floating near the ceiling looking at something. "I suppose I am getting hungry too. Do you think its a good time to take a break?" The girls nod. "Alright lets go." I look back at the cave one more time as everypony is heading out and ponder whats to come.
The ObstacleIt has been one week since I have read the transcription I have made of the ancient book within Azatrot's ruins. Things have changed. I decided to do a spell from within the book to access this realm. I do not know what has possessed me aside from curiosity or if anything has indeed possessed me but I remain unable to stray from my course. Perhaps it is destiny~ hehe. But this is extremely anxious. I see myself in a mirror, suddenly she turns and moves into the mirror behind her and I am drawn to her. The spell is designed similarly to a reverse channeling, instead of summoning a spirit or energy, it sends. I am in this odd realm I think I read of previously. But I must! Idk what draws me to her, to follow her but I am and will. Like a stranger who left a purse you want to return as they keep walking through different places, following is naught but an instinct at this point. I step into the mirror as she does and I see her step through the mirror. She, I, or we, idk, this could be a projection of the subconscious of my desire for curiosity. Ah! The mirror is thick and flexible like a bubble but heavy. She is too. I don't have hooves? Well it makes sense, maybe my mind wouldn't have hooves, or my soul. I must follow Twilight. But my senses feel amplified, I can feel in all directions and everything is so nauseatingly detailed, gravity my mind is telling me exists but then when I recall a levitation spell even without attempting to cast it gravity corrects itself, and I never look away from Twilight. I follow. "The sensations are almost too much, but because of mental preparations working I could ease myself perhaps." Twilight walks around drawn to another mirror. She has trepidation and some anxiety, but her confidence swiftly returns through her determination and resolve bursting and overflowing her spirit with power. As she dips her head into the mirror it clings like unexpected thorough affection but distorts her perceptions kaleidoscopically and the affection reels her in and she feels lost in a void. In a void all you can do is look to yourself. The eyes appearing must be a subconscious projection of the self! This realm is currently tied to psychological priming, its not a realm, then? Disappointment. Hm, it can be used for extensive learning tho. But I must clear my thoughts with the methods Zecora taught me before. She meditates and casts a reveal spell once her mind is perfectly tranquil. It reveals two things, her subconscious desire for knowledge, and, much further away another presence which is revealed to objectively not be of herself. While it is merely the front of the presence with a mind that's foreign it could really be anything, besides an illusion. Because if a person never sees a tiger nor hears of a tiger before and sees only a patch of its fur theres not enough information to conclude what it is. But this feels vast ancient powerful knowledgable. Its tempting me to get closer but I don't see why not. I float over and a sense of overwhelmingness hits me as I realize its much further away and larger than I thought. A faint color of humor appears in the bottom right corner of it. "Uhhh, hi!" Its presence easily dwarfing in size the image of Canterlot Castle to my filly self. "I am the being of which knowledge you seek." Images of libraries and such appear before, causing Twilight to question if the spell was truly accurate. But its never been wrong before, its a high unicorn spell! "Isn't.. this is a bit convenient?" Silence. "Tell me the secret to this world!" "Forty two." Ugh it references that. "Wait a minute. I must be entirely revealed to such a massive presence as yourself in spirit. So you show me only things you know tend to tempt me!" "..Yes." "Why?" "For your convenience." "Its not convenient, and you gave a joke answer, frankly I don't think I can trust you!" "I can teach you a new spell." Twilight scrunches up her face, she definitely wants to know a new spell, but she came here to clear up mysteries, like how did they even have greater magic potential and why did it vanish? This presence is large it may know what it is. "...Very well tell me how to perform this new spell and what it does." If the spell isn't new or doesn't do what it insists then I cannot trust it. "Here is the spell circle you must invoke and must invoke it with feelings of knowledgability clarity and sensation of bringing clarification." It shows a massively complex circle, and it'd take me ages to make! My determination burns brighter than my doubt though. The colors in the presence shift, then I realize I almost forgot to test the spell or ask what its supposed to do and just nearly cast it mentally without asking. I look up at it suspiciously. "What does it do?" "Its a spell that will satisfy you." That's peculiarly worded.. It could sate hunger. It could reveal the knowledge which I seek. It could pacify me to lose all curiosity! Its colors shift anxiously. "Look a red herring!" Its presence shifts revealing dozens of lifetimes of information that appeal to base instincts that I don't consciously reject. My goodness. Erotic novels, good coffee in the morning, new releases to literally every book I memorized, brother congratulating me. The feeling I got when I was accepted into Celestia's school when I got my cutie mark. Images of me being a deity, me living out romances, all kinds of questions like how does Pinkie Pie or Discord defy physics and all kinds of answers for all of those that just barely leave the primary detail out of grasp like coming close to bliss but it keeps teasing you causing you to want it even more because its so close in reach. But this is all too good. Plus it said red herring, it was getting flustered, can I honestly even pressure something with such a massive mind? I suppose larger minds take more time to move its individual components making my brain extra efficient or something? Idk. Or soul, whichever it is. "What are you hiding?" "Nope cannot tell you~." "Why not?" "Can't say, obviously." PFFFF. Now I am frustrated, but retain my cleverness as I think of ways to make it reveal itself, objectively, not a chance to provide an illusion. But it could all be an illusion usually, except for the consequences of the events and I know anti-mind-washing spells since the Chrysalis events. I mentally prepare 23 spells, but fancily prepare 42 instead just to taunt the presence that I will succeed from being meticulous. It seems smaller now relative to my spirit. Perhaps more of my brain cells or magicyte cells are triggering at once. It doesn't seem like an authority, it doesn't seem like its presence dictates indirect courses of actions to prevail. Time to be direct! "Forgive me but I am a species that would literally die without magic in the world, if that fuel is running out because of something here I need to know and release anymore that I can!" Overflowing with magical spirit Twilight overshadows this being. "I am unable to do any further at this juncture. Just know I am naught but a part of 'The Presence' which you internally refer to me as. You would find out sooner or later. But some things cannot be as readily conveyed in words. You cannot imagine what you are getting into, nor comprehend." "I reject your notion of a lack of ability to comprehend or imagine! I have many tools at my disposal and you won't hinder intelligence any further! appealing to basic instincts!? Please its something we have seen before, you insult my intelligence, no, the intelligence of my species! Sure we have Derpy, but we also had Starswirl and many others." Twilight regains composure. "This might be goodbye." In more ways than one. She releases her massive pent up magic filling the entirety of the void. It transforms from the release of this magnitude of magic.
The Cosmic DepthKnowledge. This subconscious desire. Understanding. Its not the same thing as knowledge. I see so many books. As pages open they color the void, revealing its contents in more than one way. Swirling acres of books painting the landscape with their contents. Amazing! A little hard to take in all at once. But I must know what they contain! I gallop forward and up, kind of gliding, I quickly lash out a string of telekinesis to reel in a book, with confidence in my ability and strength. The book's knowledge stimuli encompasses my entire being. A book on giraffes. Why of all things Giraffes? Oooo~ they don't even sleep. I'm a Giraffe. No. I am but not am. I'm still Twilight Sparkle. I am experiencing what its like for Giraffes in general. Lifetimes, food stimuli of all sorts, mostly grass. It mostly tastes good, but different. Who knew they were sexually attracted to that. I pop my head back out of the book. And quickly stuff my head into another. Titles such as the True Meaning behind Physics, Why water is wet, Worm mating habits, Why insects are biologically limitless given infinite time, and When to say no to cake. Enrapturing they are. So much new perspectives, new knowledge. Not just knowledge, experiences! I feel I am one with the contents of the books, I almost feel dizzy. I need more, theres so many books here. Faster. I need more knowledge faster. I must know everything. More titles such as, why Snail faces are optimal, How serial killers are spiritual, The ways in which the Wealthy are ignorant, The different tastes of dirt, Distraction 101, The Secrets of the Universe, Twilight Sparkle doesn't exist, and How to find yourself. "Who am I?... Doesn't matter. I just need to keep consuming books." But why? "Why am I here?" New books come up, some with existential titles like The Meaning of Life, What it is to Live, or What is magic really? Some seem to be documents on myself. Curious. Floating over due to the power of curiosity, Twilight presses her hoof to the book. "Oh no." Endless loops of what happened last chapter. I remember my goal now, to determine why magic may vanish. But where does the book end and I begin? I try to escape but it loops my escape and I am unsure quite exactly how to. Its like waking from a dream into another dream. Anxiety. Think Twilight think. I have a spell to escape, and an anchor spell. The anchor may reach too far back, I cannot lose this opportunity! I must cast a variant of the escape spell from when I first found the book that led me here, but how? I cast a sensory spell, it illuminates in various patterns that seem almost random or exceedingly complex. "What did I get myself into?" If this recursive book on loop shit doesn't stop I may go insane, but my motivation and certainty of self certainly seem progressively higher. I can do this! The problem for the complexity is probably that the book reopened variants of the same book from me repeating my thoughts, in mini-dimensions each book contains. Which means not only does this realm contain infinite space, I have an avenue of escape! I cast a higher order spatial folding detection spell with a data tracker and inverter spell. I do not receive further data from my spells, its hard to ignore all the other stuff looping though. Sweating while my horn glows an awesome power of radiance and I cast a spell ontop of the recorded spatial inverse formula spell to transport me appropriately folded. I couldn't handle all the information myself, but I could design a spell to act on all the information automatically! I am launched through space in various directions feeling quite like I may puke. Suddenly I am ejected from the book, its dozens of pages fold non-euclideanly back into place and the book joins the storm of others. The sense of a Presence again. I am tired, sick, and feel like going home, but my sense of purpose is higher than ever before. I can hold out longer. I shiver once I realize the danger I had narrowly avoided, the fur of my coat standing on end. That was very close, I should have been more cautious. I wonder how long its been. Doesn't matter, the sooner I obtain my answers I truly need the sooner I can leave. Although, with an organized mind and many pre-emptive spells, I could find a book on every invention I could ever need. The long standing impacts of that though would require too much analysis, I can resume that at a later date, but for now. "Give me the book which contains the knowledge of magic vanishing!" A tome glides forth. Its a green, textured leather slightly shifting and morphing about. I frown, having just received negative stimuli from one of these books, the others were good though I just need to pick the topic carefully. Right? I cast a few spells for safety and quick ejection and to maintain presence of self. Here goes nothing. Twilight presses her hoof to the leather bound book, and is transported inside. Hmm. I'm back in Ponyvill- "Agh!" Suddenly everything shuttles up, Equestria vanishing beneath me suddenly, the cosmos around me rapidly shooting below. I scream but I cannot hear it. I look down and see our solar system, our galaxy, our galaxy cluster. Kind of dizzying, and the pressure is great horizontally, but vertically I feel light, like a stretched thin block of highly elastic rubber. Suddenly I stop. And behold, the entire universe before me. My fur coat stands on end with a shiver and I feel tingles. Am I the only pony alive to behold such a sight? But, something is moving. Something I can't see but can sense. I suppose I can cast a spell to see. "Magic sight, make me behold my tragic plight!" I cast my spell and when I see, I gasp. Its like the ball of magic of the universe is being pinched by a colossal magic black hole, slowly sucking in magic like a straw. The aura and sound it gives off is quite intimidating. My jaw drops. Then I am dropped back through careening towards my planet. I scream and flail to no avail. Then I am spat out of the book as soon as I impact the ground. "Oof!" This doesn't look good. I must find a solution! A magic book appears. Its dusty. I blow on the cover. The title reads 'How to find solutions for novel problems 101'. "BAH!" Twilight hurls the book back. "A literal too literal don't you think!" Hmm whats the right question to ask. Another book shows up, covered in glitter and easy to read from a distance. 'How to ask the question 'How solve the problem of a magical black hole sucking my universe dry of magic Volume X''. What happened to volume one through nin-no don't think of that question! I quickly grab the book and am sucked in like a baby sucks its mothers milk. 'Aha! I knew it!' Theres a book inside a book. One entitled 'How to solve the problem of a magical black hole sucking my universe dry of magic Volume XI' Twilight tries her hardest scrunching up her face to suppress a thought. While still screwing up her face she quickly touches this book and gets sucked in like a mare flying out of a plane because the door flew open mid-flight. Twilight hands on the hard floor. "Ugh. Why is it so hard to move"(rhetorical question!). "Everything I look at is so detailed its giving me a headache!" My limbs feel like they are somehow more whole, but the same. Everything seems very high detail and sharp, like someone is projecting reality directly into my visual cortex rather than through the filter of my eyes. But its happening with all my sense! This is going to be a long day. Or night. Or whatever. Event. In any case I better get moving, its not directly showing me anything so perhaps some exploration would speed things up a bit. I clumsily walk, feeling like a newborn, very sensitive and it feels weird to move. The ground you can literally feel gravity's increments pulling on you causing the illusion of a rounder plane I am walking on, and everything seems like its being viewed through a fish-eye lens almost. Prolly because my eyes are huge. I never really noticed how big they were before. Relative to other mammals that seems kind of odd. What was I doing again? Oh right. I pick up my lethargic legs one by one and march through the nearest doorway. The sooner I solve this the better. "W-what!?" I am back where I started. Sigh. This must be a test to make sure I am noble or smart enough to know the truth or its a spell trap that was placed by a different entity who visited this realm before. I quickly cast a spell. No theres no trap. Must be a test of the realm itself. Why am I being tested, perhaps I am whats wrong with this equation. Perhaps I shouldn't have triggered a book in a book loop again. I shake my head. No this doesn't feel like the loop from last time. If I am being shown something it must be the first step to acquiring the right mindset to absorb the knowledge once I see it lest I make an error, or perhaps its too much for my mind to handle. I am feeling rather out of my element here, but I am the most qualified in equestria to explore this. In any case, I have a moral responsibility. Hmm. I take a look around besides at the door. Perhaps I went about this wrong. Behind me it looks like a saloon or a bar, basic wooden surfaces, but the seats are not in front of the counter, but against the walls. Theres a staircase in the hall to the right on the left. Theres a few kegs behind the counter. I grab a cup from under the counter- huh they are all wooden. I pour a glass of whatever is in the keg. I could use a drink. Unamused I go up the wooden stairs. Of course it poured a wooden liquid. On the second floor there seems to be a near endless staircase to the left, which defies spatial physics. This place is beginning to wear on me. I'll just walk in a random direction and hope I don't get transported back to the start. No, I can't be lazy! Well its hard to take seriously when the realm itself isn't taking itself seriously. Maybe I am approaching this wrong still. Which path should I take? No book appears. Ok. If this is a test, its a puzzle. I can solve a puzzle. Five hours later "I can't solve this puzzle!? Buck you I can't solve this puzzle!" Twi's mane is frayed like crazy. What are you doing Twi you are starting to freak me out. Speak for yourself! Suddenly the sound of a door closing happens. The sound of click. The sound of clack. Its getting closer. Its a- "Of course you're a wooden pony, of course~" "Welcome to my humble abode." "Nothing humble about it." "Care for a spot of tea?" "Is it wood?" There is an awkward silence. "Is it wooden tea!?" "Y-yes I'm afraid it is." "Why are you offering me wood based fluids!?" "Did you not try an illusion elimination spell?" "...Its been a long day." "Indeed it has." "I'll take a glass of tea." "Very well."
