Chapters Chapter 1 - Prologue | Done
Hello.
My name, is Silver Valerius, or, if you are a student of mine from the Celestial Academy, ( used to be known as the academy for gifted unicorns, until a lot of problems sprung up. Bad publicity, and all that ) I am probably known to you, as Professor Silver. If you know me, then you will know that I am to be called Professor Silver, or at the very least, Prof. Silver.
Currently at the time of writing this, I am 5'7, with no wings nor horns to speak of, which makes me bland. In many eyes, lesser than pegasus's and unicorns, especially inferior to alicorns, but, I am special. So special, that I am feared by all, even the alicorns. Now, you may wonder, "Why is a simple man feared? Why, would such a non-magical, non-flying creature, feared?".
I, Silver Valerius, am feared because of how I was created : by ponies. Not by love, like you may think. No.
I was created by magic, the darkest of kinds, from multiple books. Some, stolen from the royal sisters centuries ago when their palace in the Everfree fell. Some, stolen more recently, from the restricted sections of the royal sisters library, and from Twilight Sparkles library. And some, stolen from Lord Sombra himself, before the entire empire was cast away from light, down into the pits of shadow itself.
Many would say that I am a monster. Well, I must admit, I certainly look the part...
My eyes are a deep green, like the forest, with black slits for pupils, as dark as the void itself. My hair, a deep silver, just like my fur. My tail nearly having no fur at all, merely seeming griffon-like, the same material their talons are made of. At the end of this tail, is a tuft of silver, not too much, but a decent, handful sized amount. I have teeth, razor sharp, looking as though they can rip through steel. Fun fact, they can.
I wear suits, with red ties, and other deep, deep dark colors. But, mostly, I wear green, black, white, and red. To be honest, it just feels good in those colors. I feel, natural.
Its not just the outside of myself that is different, no. The inside is different from most as well.
I am extremely smart, and clever. Now, you may think I am boasting, but let me ask you this : who else, can defeat the alicorns in a game of chess, when they are all working together to try to beat you? I am not just talking about Luna and Celestia, no, I am saying ALL of them, Princess Sparkle, Princess Cadance, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna. All of them together, could not beat ME, in a game of chess. Trust me, they tried.
I believe the current score is 433, to 0, with 433 being how many wins I have.
But, onto the important matters!
I, like most other different people, or as you call them, monsters , are frowned upon, simply for existing. Merely us existing, offends people, making them say horrible, horrible things to us, and yet, we have done nothing wrong. Sure, there have been stories of us attacking normal people, but have you ever really read into that? Every single time, we were provoked, because we were attacked.
But, nobody cares about that. All they care about is the fact that we, should not, exist.
I write this too show my life, to show exactly who I am. Each day people have tried to hurt me, but in the end, I am merely hoping to improve the world. That is why I teach at the academy. I wish to leave an impact on people, that will change the world, not for the worse, but for the better .
This story will show my life, denying any chance for people, especially the royal sisters, a chance to act as if I do not exist. This will show my contributions to the world, and show that the term 'Monster', must be redefined if continually used to describe my race, for we, are not, monsters.
We are merely different.
... and if you don't like that, then buck off.
For everyone that is staying, lets begin!
Chapter 2 - History Lesson | Done
To understand me, you must understand my past. To understand my past, you must understand what happened before me. Because of this, we begin before the 2 sisters ever came to rule, even before this land was called Equestria.
At this time, there existed a concept, that is very, very important today. The concept, of harmony, the concept of true balance. In this period of time, the world was in constant turmoil, with wars occurring between the races, and so the idea of harmony, of balance, was a very amazing thing to think about. It was even said that if true harmony could be obtained, then it could not be undone. True harmony, forever. Imagine that! There would be no more wars, no more problems. Just, balance .
Well, in the end it depends on how you look at it. The definition of the word harmony, I mean. At the end of the day, harmony is just a word, and words can be viewed in different ways, by one. Perhaps by race, by culture, by social upbringing, or all of the above.
Because of the different views on harmony, many groups were created to obtain their versions of perfect harmony. Many of these groups eventually failed, perhaps destroyed by opposing groups, or cults, or perhaps the idea simply died off with time. However, there was one group that was created, that existed for a long time, until modern day. This group, was known as 'The Harmonicin Umbrin', which actually has 2 translations. 'The Harmonicin Umbrin' translates to either the Harmonies Shadow, or the Shadows of Harmony. To be honest, researchers across the globe truly are not sure which, but it doesn't really matter. All you need to understand, is that they existed. Below, I have put their symbol.
DRAWING OF SYMBOL BELOW
This group was created by 2 siblings, Romaunus Valerius, and his sister, Miranda Valerius, in the belief that in order to create perfect balance, you must have someone with the perfect blend of dark and light magical energies. The perfect blend of good and evil. The perfect blend, of harmony. So, with this idea, the 2 Valerius siblings began to compile research, magical artifacts, people to join the group, as well as test subjects, in order to reach their goal.
At first, they thought teaching people how to use both dark and light magics would be what they needed, even trying to teach pegasus and earth species. Even other species, like griffons and dragons! They did this using special items, giving these creatures the ability to channel magical energies, much like the way a horn works, but sadly, in the end, the idea being lost to time. This idea of teaching people both dark and light magic, was a terrible one, as it caused each subject to go mad, none having the will to handle the energies fighting, submitting to one of them.
Years went by, as the cults leadership was passed down from Valerius to Valerius, with the group trying to find someone that had the will to survive the process, to no avail. However, one day, Gold Valerius, had an idea while creating golems to protect the central base from enemies : Instead of aiming to change someone to be the perfect balance, why not CREATE a being via both magics?
This idea, once shared, revolutionized the cult, making them all change their aim to make this idea a reality. You see, they knew that creating golems was easy, so how hard could it be, to create a person? Teams in the cult formed, some to research existing spells and magic, some to create spells, some researching creatures, some dealt with golem research and creation, and then there was a primary group. This 'Primary Group', was made with one job in mind: compile all of the information that the cult gathers into a way to create what they call, the 'Harmonic Being'.
. . .
The research division mainly conducted research programs on specific magical creatures, that are uniquely tied to magic. For some examples, research was conducted on draconeques's, chimera's, umbrum, changelings, and normal everyday people, but they did gather information on others as well. All of this information, either gathered or collected, was gathered in multiple safe-houses across the globe, to ensure that no information was lost.
Sadly, since these safe-houses are very secure, and kept a secret, we have not been able to find a single one that is in tact.
. . .
Off on a tangent now, sorry...
Over the years, they conducted many experiments on creating the ultimate being, with most failing. Failing, SPECTACULARLY ! One such experiment created a consciousness that had no body, but was imbued with a lot of nature magic. I mean, a LOT, of nature magic! Since this being was an amalgamation of both light and dark energy, it was fairly unpredictable.
Also, with no body, it latched onto the largest nearby life-force, in order to properly contain itself... a nearby forest, to be exact. After a couple days, large wolves made of pure wood began to attack the base, seeming very angry. There was also the problem of the forest growing, aiming to take over the entire outpost, which it was able to do, within 3 days. The group decided to abandon this outpost, as the entire forest began to run rampant. The forest was only stopped, when they sent in a form of 'cleanup' crew, that created a form of limitation, on the forest. It slowed down, unable to grow any larger, but inside this forest, nature itself ran rampant.
Another experiment, is actually really well known, so well known, I will give it its own section of this story...
. . .
The Nightmist.
If you haven't heard of it, then you should know that there is an entire children's story based around it. The story goes that if you are a bad child, a creature of pure mist, in the dead of night, will come to tempt you, and turn you EEEVIL!
Well, this creature is actually real, according to my research. The cult had been working on a experiment in the far north, in the tundra.
You see, their idea was to try to create the being, and that all that was missing, was more power. They believed this because of the 'Everfree' incident that took over a base near a forest, towards the center of the nation. That incident occurred because, well, in their minds, they believe it occurred because there wasn't enough energy for a body to be formed for the consciousness, so when a consciousness mixed with a forest, that is cut down and abused, and WILD, well, it doesn't reach favorable results.
In the end, in the tundra, the 'Harmonicin Umbrin' cult tried to create the ultimate being, this time with extraordinary amounts of power, such as, the power of the entire planet itself, using ley-lines. I could explain that now, but I won't. Just know that they used the power of the planet in a way that generated the kind of energy that could destroy any foe.
Well, when they created the creature, and performed the right rituals, they found that their theory was correct, but they STILL, did not have enough energy. Because of this, the creature only had a partial form, a dark, shadow-like mist. At first, the cult believed they had success with their plans, and they celebrated... until they learned they hadn't.
For you see, this creature had no soul. A consciousness, but no soul. For that, it grew angry, and resentful, falling into the dark magic. With no form, and this magic, it began to look into peoples minds, finding what they were afraid of in their heads, and then, it would mimic a form, aiming to change them to its side, to accomplish its goals. All it really did, was use illusion and alteration magics, but, it was very dangerous, for it had a wit, and clever way of thinking. People thought they were strong, but in the end, they weren't. For the enemy had a silver tongue as well, convincing people over to their side. For each person that it corrupted, the being grew stronger, enabling it to conquer faster. The being quickly took over the entire building, with a few people managing to escape.
However, it had a weakness : The extreme cold of the tundra. This cold surrounded it, and managed to keep it from escaping, for a while. The cold didn't really hurt it, but instead would weaken it. Now, you may be thinking, 'There is no way that this creature still exists... right?' . Well, based on my own research, it is alive, and has been active.
If you doubt me, then think about these well known, instances, of Equestrian history. For instance, imagine a simple unicorn, a kind man, turning evil, and taking control of the entire empire. Does that sound, normal, to you? Or, the fact that when a princess visits that empire soon before this occurs, she comes back, and eventually turns into a evil creature? Those events don't add up to me. But, if the Nightmist is active, it explains, so much.
Luckily, based on my research, the creature has not been active within the rest of Equestria, only the cold climate of the tundra.
Now, back to the story!!!
. . .
Time kept passing, and with time, civilization grew too. Even the cult grew in substance.
As the cult grew, they began to pass out items to members, with one such item, being pendants, with the groups symbol etched onto the design. These pendants have actually been seen through history. For instance, in Sombra's bedchambers, historians have found one of these pendants. That, is interesting, for these are only passed through members. Could Sombra be a member?
As the cult grew, other things began to occur, like, thievery. I do not mean within the group, but with books around the world. Important books around the world began to vanish, each time replaced by a single piece of parchment, declaring the book to then be the cults property.
Below is a list of books that were stolen, who wrote them, and from where they were stolen. Do know the list only includes important books.
'Compendium of Spells', by Starswirl the Bearded, stolen from Canterlot Castle.
Title Unknown, by Sombra. Stolen from his study. This book is to believed a diary of sorts.
'Cutiemark Spell', written by Twilight Sparkle, stolen from the Crystal Castle.
'The Darkest Spell', written by Sombra, and was stolen from Sombra's study.
'Runes: All Research', written by Starswirl the Bearded, stolen from Canterlot Castle.
'Golems, & Golem Creation', written by Starswirl the Bearded and Princess Celestia, and stolen from The Everfree Castle.
'Physiology & Interaction: Creature Compendium', by Twilight Sparkle, Celestia, and Luna. Stolen from Canterlot Castle
As you can see, many things were stolen, and yet, because of the cults grip on the globe, they had no repercussions, as time continued to pass, as it finally reached the modern day. However, they had done the one thing that no group, ever wants to do, for it never ends well. They caught the eye of Princess Celestia. You see, Celestia had had enough with cults like this, as they continued to commit a various number of crimes, freely, as they used the laws of freedom of religion, to keep themselves out of the laws grasp, but in the end?
The Princess had had enough of that.
. . .
One day, Celestia passed a bill, without the consent of her people, for she knew many nobles were under the influence of the cult, and she knew this for one reason. Most of them, wore the symbol of the cult, around their necks. This bill, was known as the 'Anti-Cult Initiative', or the A.C.I. This officially banned what it defined as cults, by using a simple form. You see, each religious group would have to fill out this form. IF, the group meets certain various standards, then it counts as a cult, and must be disbanded, or, the people will be arrested. Now, you may think this sounds wrong, but it was created to do good, and it truly did.
You see, with cults now illegal, the Princess deployed every branch of the Equestrian forces, especially the military, to dismantle these cults, that the populous knew were doing things wrong, and she did this, always , by force. Over a single week, over 95% of the cult members in Equestria were dead or jailed, mostly dead.
But, she wasn't happy with that. Using Equestria's bargaining power with other nations, she began to spread this bill to other lands, which most agreed to integrate. Because of this, cults were forced underground, and they suffered. Their information stores were unknowingly cut off, as their numbers were drained away each and every day, but, the 'Harmonicin Umbrin' were resilient. They would survive.
You see, there was one man that Celestia could not touch, in the cult, and he was at the top. His name was Lairit ( Lay-ri-t ) Valerius. He was an old man, with his age came a clever way of thinking, and that saved him and his closest friends, the other leaders of the 'Harmonicin Umbrin' cult, from death.
Lairit had not had any children, as Celestia had his wife killed, since she would birth the next child to continue the cults work. Since her death, Lairit and his friends had disappeared to the final cult stronghold, deep within the Canterlot sewers. You see, the magic of Canterlot created a lot of cover for the base below. There was also the mines, the crystals in which created disturbance, which also hid the entire base. At the end, the idea of this was truly impressive. This fortress sprawled beneath the city, containing libraries, labs, testing rooms, and even food storage area's, which contained plenty of food. Well, it contained plenty of food, normally .
But these days were not normal. Lairit had forbid the ability of leaving the stronghold, in fear someone may follow that member back, revealing the location of it. With this, food stopped flowing into the base, and with that, the food area's grew empty, as the last remaining members grew desperate. Lairit hadn't eaten in 24 hours, and he was becoming extremely desperate. In this desperation, he called together the members, for a final experiment. He wished for the cult to go out in a blaze of glory, to put all of their research together, to try to accomplish their goal.
"Besides, if it fails, the energetic release would destroy the city, and obliterate those stuck up royal cunts. Well, only if it fails." the journal I have found says. Yes, that is my source, a journal of his.
He just hoped he had enough time to accomplish this.
Chapter 3 - My Creation | Done
I smiled, as my friends, the 9 other 'leaders' of the 'Harmonicin Umbrin', gathered. I even smiled as one of the most annoying stallions in existence, Prince Blueblood, came into the room. However, he was a unicorn, and one with power at that, so I... tolerated, him.
"Please tell me you have found food..." Blueblood grumbled, looking like shit. I loved that. He DESERVED, that look. But, we needed him, at least, we used to. He used to give us information, but now, his only use was that he wasn't dead. I kept my face grim, shaking my head.
"No. I have called you all together to say that today, will be the final day of our group. It is my belief that we are the LAST living members." I announced, letting that sink in. I knew that these words sucked the happiness out of them. "The empire that we have built over thousands of years is about to collapse...".
"What do we have to show for it? We haven't created what we need to, the ultimate being. Damn, we haven't even tried since the NightMist incident, over a thousand years ago!" I let it sink in further, as I stirred their emotions, like a stew. However, it wasn't finished, not yet.
"I gathered you all, to say that it is time. This is the culmination of all of our work, our ancestors, WORK! We have been planning this since we last tried. I saw we perform the ritual!" I yelled, adding more ingredients to our stew, watching them, waiting for the final ingredient to be delivered.
I knew they were agreeing with me, just fairly nervous. Marcus, a good friend of mine, voiced his concern, delivering the final ingredient directly into my hands.
"But what happens if we fail!?" Marcus asked, nervously. I smiled at him, a clever glint in my eye.
"Well, if we fail, 2 things can occur. A - The spell collapses, with an energetic release vaporizing us instantly, a long with Canterlot and the 2 royal cunts! Or B - The energy will cause a resonant collapse in the ley-line, with this area feeling the brunt of the force. The entire mountain will collapse from the small explosion that will fill the tunnels..." I finished, continuing my grim smile. "But so what? If we succeed, the ultimate being will be created. We fail, we destroy Canterlot!!! I honestly love the fact that if we fail, we destroy the royals crowning achievement!!!".
Everyone was silent, the worry gone. They now burned with a new purpose.
"So, who is with me!?" I yelled, as I was tasting the stew, seeing if the tasted was the one I desired. They smiled, and roared their answer. Yes.
"Then gather what we need! We shall perform the ritual in the central chamber. GO!!!" I ordered, making them scramble to get things ready for the ritual.
Seems I made a delicious stew.
. . .
It took many hours to become prepared for the ritual, but I knew it would be worth it. You see, we needed a lot of materials to do this right, and there were a few things some of us wished to do before we began. For instance, pray to some god that this would actually work.
I watched 2 of our members, wrapped in our special robes ( dark black garments with white contours, our symbol adorning the back), go into the main chamber at the center of our base, and begin to draw runes across the floor, using alchemical chalk, of the finest quality.
The runes would fizzle and shiver as they were drawn, thanks to the special chalk formula, involving changeling chitin, chimera blood, and fragments of harmonic crystals. These materials were inherently tuned to magic, and with these magical symbols, it all began to interact with the power of the ley-lines.
At first, they drew the absorption runes, in a large circle at the center. Next, a containment rune around this circle. Thanks to the absorption runes that tapped into the ley-lines power, the containment runes began to glow, becoming charged with power. It was as if the 2 people were drawing a circuit as it was fed power, truly impressive. Next, around those runes, was another layer, filled with runes meant to create a golem, with healing and other runes, all modified for our purposes. Around that, another containment rune. The third layer was meant to hold important materials to build the being, and it contained warped and twisted golem creation rune, and twisted absorption spells. After that, another containment rune! The 4th and final layer contained no real runes, but instead a set of candles, that provided the perfect amount of light, a BALANCE between light and dark. The real purpose of the layer was its set of intricate containment runes, meant to be a backup plan, and to provide a central purpose, to allow the flow of energy into the circle, but not allow that energy to flow outwards. Outside of the runes were multiple circles, 10 in total, each made to protect those that are inside them, and to focus their magic into the rune area.
The other cultists entered the room, carrying the final materials, which made me smile. I then approached, and I watched as Blueblood tried to speak, but I had already seen his face, covered in doubt and worry, and so I held up my hand, calling for silence.
"Do not worry my friends. Nothing can reach the chamber, for I have engaged the magical alarms, and crystal defense golems. If anyone were to break into our base during the ritual, they would be slaughtered... Now, may we begin?".
With nobody answering, I smiled, and pulled out a dagger, which shimmered from its ebony material.
"Lets do this...".
. . .
Each person gathered items, and put them within the golem material runes, aka, the 3rd rune circle, with each item important to the ritual. Earth pony tendon, Pegasus wing, unicorn horn. A ( supposed ) fragment of the moon, bottled sun-fire. A book from Sombra, and a book from Starswirl the Bearded. Changeling chitin, and fur of Discord. There was even root of the Everfree, and mist from the NightMist. Each ingredient was there to add something special.
I then took the ebony blade, as I walked to the center rune, and cut my hand, dripping blood into the central rune. After that, we passed the blade around, each unicorn cutting their hand and dripping blood into the center. A gift of life. I loved how Blueblood whimpered when he did it. Once the blood was spilled, and the dagger back in my hands, I threw the blade to the side, as it was no longer required. Stepping back, I gestured at my colleagues, and our horns lit, and the ritual began. The artifacts began to glow, and were yanked to the center, being crushed into a ball, with the blood wrapping around them, forming a crimson orb.
At that moment, a crystal near me flashed a deep red, much like the crimson color of the blood, and an image appeared, showing that someone had broken in, and was moving quickly towards the central chamber, bringing down any defenses they came across. Sadly, I could only detect their life-force, not how strong they were. I dispelled the image, growling to myself.
"Someone has broken in, and is approaching quickly from the Northern sections. You 4!" I commanded, pointing at 4 cultists. "Go investigate, and show these intruders the might of the Harmonicin Umbrin!". The 4 looked at each other, worried. They then stopped feeding magic to the ritual, and ran through the Northern doorway of the room, the direction that my back was facing. I merely continued watching the ritual, as it was progressing. By now, an aura had filled up the center circle, with its containment rune crackling, the field it created glowing gently. In fact, the aura was crackling too, for if I took a closer look, I'd see the aura was actually magical flame, half a glowing white, half a deep black. It licked at the air, trapped behind the invisible wall the containment runes formed. But I could see that the first containment rune was failing, being slowly overwhelmed as the flame grew. However, the absorption rune survived, as it was merely adding to the aura, not aiming to contain it. In minutes, the field the rune created cracked, and SNAPPED , the magical flame surging forward, consuming the second layer, and yet the golem runes survived.
You see, even though the first containment rune had collapsed, that did not mean that the ritual was going to fail. Quite the opposite actually, as with more space, it seemed to work better. I could feel a small soul forming, and a body trying to form at the same time.
As I continued to cast the spell for the ritual, before my very eyes, gentle white lines began to form across the ground and ceiling, all converging at the center of the ritual. These lines even appeared above-ground, across the landscape and in the sky. All over the world they formed, well more like appeared. These were the ley-lines, the planets current of magical energy. So much stress being put on them, it was making them show themselves. It made sense, the rituals magic came from these ley-lines, and many converged upon this mountain. More specifically, on the ritual, exactly.
It was easy to see when the body for the being began to try to form, as within the aura, the magical aura began to twist and shiver, trying to form a body, but seeming to have trouble. Hopefully, this would solve itself...
Wait. Why had the 4 cultists not returned yet? Shouldn't they have returned by now?
"... Ahem..?" a voice behind me called, from the... Northern doorway. What scared me the most about that simple sound was the following : That was a females voice... None of the cultists I sent were female. I turned...
... to see 3 fully armored, and armed, alicorns, staring me down.
Buck me...
. . .
"Hello Lairit... So nice to see you." Princess Celestia said, voice strangely calm. To her right stood Princess Luna, and to the left was the fidgeting purple brat, Princess Twilight Sparkle. I watched them, taking in every detail I could. The group was dressed not in their normal attire, but in the attire of warlords, ready to do battle.
Celestia wore armor that shone pure white, like marble, with grey, iron ( or perhaps steel ) highlights. It covered much of her body, yet seemed as light as air, not hindering her movement at all. Behind her, in a ponytail, her hair waved like the ocean, but that is not what caught my attention. Her helmet, styled in the gleaming white material, had a piece which covered her horn, that looked to be chain-mail, but woven much tighter, to be solid and unmovable. With this addition, it made her horn as sharp as a sword, and the material gleamed. Now that I mention it, her wings were the same way, clearly able to let her fly still, but now they were sharp killing machines. On her back sat a large, gleaming greatsword, made of the same material as her armor. This weapon glowed and crackled, as if filled with the fire of the sun.
Luna and Twilight wore very similar attire. Luna wore a set of modified ebony armor, making it lighter and deadlier, as it shimmered in the light ( Actual Authors Note : Imagine a set of ebony armor from skyrim, but with the golden highlights like the ebony weapons in Oblivion ). Twilight wore a set of armor that was made of a glass like material. Perhaps crystal? It gleamed in different colors, and luckily, was not translucent enough to see through. The mare had no weapon, but her horn was charged with a spectral bow spell, but this spell was modified, perhaps to be her own personal weapon. Luna on the other hand wielded a large Ebony Battle Axe, with a spike that could stab her enemies ( Actual Author Note : Imagine an ebony battle axe from skyrim, with the golden highlights of Oblivion ). Both of them had the chain-mail like materials on their horns and wings, making those appendages protected, and highly dangerous.
I quickly cast a spell of my own design, as energy from the ley-lines few into a shield spell around my group, and the ritual. I couldn't let them stop me.
"Oh wait, am I disturbing you and your friends..?" Celestia joked as she moved forward, dragging a finger across the shields surface, making it fizzle a tiny bit. She frowned as she looked at her finger, which was now a bit burnt. "Twilight..? Can you dismantle this shield?".
Twilight had been watching, and apparently taking notes, as in the corner of the room, a floating pencil scribbled away on a floating notepad. This little girl was taking notes. Actually, it was a bit flattering. She ran over beside the white alicorn matriarch, examining the shield, obviously thinking hard about how I had cast it, its power source, and the specifics of the spell. It was actually kind of cute to watch her think, until you took into account she was dressed to kill.
"Yes, but it will take time. Apparently, this man knows how to create very interesting and complex spells..." Celestia nodded at her student, as the purple alicorn got to work. I seethed with dread. I couldn't allow them to get through that shield. To ruin my work. My ancestors work.
"Averson, Blueblood, Clyde, handle them!" I ordered, making the 3 unicorns move away from the ritual, and through the shield, with Blueblood hesitating for a moment before gathering his courage, and moving onward. Blueblood took the spot a few feet in front of Celestia, with Clyde against Luna, and Averson vs. Twilight. The princess' seemed to be calm, while Twilight backed up a tiny bit, but not in fear. I knew they think they can win, they are confident. Why wouldn't they be? They are alicorns, this should be easy for them.
Boy were they in for a surprise~
"Blueblood, I knew you were terrible, but I did not expect you to join a CULT ." Celestia chided, staring the prince down, anger and hurt in her eyes. He appeared to growl, and I swear I could hear the final band snap, as he let his true thoughts free.
"... Auntie, if we can create the ultimate being, then imagine the power gained from controlling it. Perhaps I could even use the ritual to give myself that power~!" Blueblood exclaimed, his horn flashing, as wards began appearing around him, intricate and complex protection spells. Celestia laughed at him, yet her eyes seemed a bit troubled. Blueblood should not know those ward spells.
"Blueblood. Nephew..." her eyes filled with a new thing... Mercy. "You still have a chance to redeem yourself, to not be destroyed. Step aside, please. ".
"That's a funny thing to say... to pretty much say I am weak." Blueblood aimed his horn, the necklace with our groups symbol glowing like the ley-lines, as an arc of lightning, frost, and fire left his horn and hit the alicorn. The sudden burst of energy sent the alicorn flying, the stomach portion of her armor shattered. She hit the wall, and collapsed onto the floor with a crash. Blueblood laughed like a madman, watching the not moving form of the alicorn matriarch. He was then visibly saddened, as after a moment, Celestia rose, panting. She appeared to be confused, and definitely hurt, as blood dripped from her stomach.
"... good... try... at... killing me..." she breathed, standing up to her full height. "Seems you're... stronger... than I thought.".
Celestia reached behind her, pulling the sword free from its straps as her eyes became focus'd, while Twilight summoned her bow, ready to fire already. Luna already had her weapon in her hands, watching her opponent.
"But that won't save you.", as she flew up a bit, and charged.
The battle had begun.
. . .
Now, do know that I can't remember the entire battle, for I was more focused on the ritual, but I did manage to steal glances. I could see Blueblood focusing on Celestia, casting constantly, spells flying through the air at her. She kept moving, switching between flying and running as often as she could to evade the magic. She didn't try to attack Blueblood anymore, merely watching, trying to figure out how exactly she would pull off such a thing. She couldn't cast magic, since it would bounce off the ward and potentially hit herself, or the others. She couldn't get close, for she would be blasted by his magic. Quite the predicament.
Luna and Clyde were fighting, an ebony battleaxe vs. a spectral sword and shield. Clyde moved in a way that was honestly magnificent, moving the shield in ways that gave the night princess no resistance when she slashed downwards with her weapon, making it slide across that shield, and make her stumble from not having resistance to steady her, at which point Clyde gave her a series of jabs and slashes. This strategy was extremely effective, evidence of that was all over the floor, in the form of Luna's blood. She would definitely die down here.
Finally, there was Twilight, who, in a mere 5 minutes, murdered Averson, his body filled with arrows. She then turned, seeing Clyde and Luna dueling. It was at that moment that I turned away, watching the ritual. The body was still trying to form, as the soul was nearing completion.
It was nearly, over.
. . .
20 minutes passed with my eyes on the ritual, and many things had occurred. The soul had fully formed, shimmering within the rituals aura, and my 2 comrades, Jessi and Ryan, worked with me to solve the rituals problem. You see, it was having a lot of trouble creating a body that could withstand having so much power inside of it. To be honest, that was always the problem with the ritual. After so long of trying to fix this, I decided to look back, and I was instantly worried at what I witnessed. Clyde lay dead, arrows in his body, which was chopped up into 3 separate pieces, with his sword arm laying near the 2 pieces of his upper, and lower, body.
Now, the 3 alicorns were facing off against Blueblood, who appeared to be able to handle it. The question was : For how long? I turned away, needing to focus. I couldn't let the ritual fail. I couldn't fail my ancestors. I sighed, mumbling to myself.
"I won't fail.".
. . .
The next hour passed slowly, as the 3 of us worked to fix this, to give the runes a way to finally create the body. That's all we needed, a body for the soul. Luckily, we were finally able to solve the issue, by using our abilities to change around a few spells and runes, modifying them a bit. Now, all that we needed, was time.
It was at that moment I heard the tell-tale noise, of a shield being disabled.
I tried to turn as quickly as I could, to blast those behind me apart, but as I turned, I witnessed purple projectiles streak through the air in a blur, and by the time I had turned to face the alicorns, my 2 comrades, Ryan and Jessi, were already dead. I was all that was left. I now stared down the 3 princesses, 2 of which ( Luna and Twilight ), were ready to strike me down, weapons raised. Celestia however still seemed so calm, even though she was bleeding from the stomach. It was almost alarming how calm she was. Behind me, the ritual hummed, trying to complete itself, but it couldn't. Without at least 2 unicorns to guide the magic, the ritual would collapse.
All of us were so focused on each other, we didn't even notice my comrades bodies turning grey, and then to dust, a light glow left behind. That glow then sped into the ritual, and managed to keep the ritual going for a bit longer.
"... Twilight, Luna, stand down..." Celestia ordered, taking her weapon, and sheathing it. Everyone was surprised, even myself, but the 2 princesses followed the order. Celestia watched my every move while the 2 younger princesses put their weapons away. "Twilight, take Luna outside of this chamber, and into the corridor, to heal her. I shall call you if I need you.".
"DO NOT ARGUE! NOW GO!".
The young alicorn made a 'Eeep!' noise, and ran out of the room in fright, carrying Luna with her in a magical grasp, along with her notebook and pencil... Leaving me with an angry goddess.
I am so screwed.
. . .
The moment the 2 lesser princesses left the room, the sun goddess muttered a few incantations, and with the wave of her hand, a field rose around our room, and when fully formed, it became invisible. A complex muffle spell, made so nobody can hear what anyone inside of the spell talks about. Seems she doesn't want her princesses listening. The next set of spells made an ancient wooden table appear, along with 2 chairs, 2 teacups, and a teapot, from which a wonderful aroma flowed. Celestia took a seat, poured herself some tea, and drank. I could see her wounds glow and heal as she sighed in pleasure from the healing tea, as she turned her pink eyes towards me, even gesturing for me to sit. I took note that my cup was only filled with water. I merely turned away, watching the ritual.
"Hoarding the healing tea to yourself?" I asked, waiting. Why hadn't she killed me?
"Yes. I need to relax and speak to you, in private. I cannot be injured this badly, and think clearly." siiip .
"Speak to in private? You don't trust your friends, nor family much if you cast a muffle spell to speak to a villain." I retorted. She merely sipped her tea, thinking.
"To be honest, Luna and I wish for you to die, and for your cult to be erased from history, with no trace left behind." siiip . "However, Twilight wants us to spare you. She believes we can learn a lot from you, and your cult... and I must admit, I would like to know how that necklace Blueblood wore worked.".
"... if I refuse?".
"You will be killed." Celestia announced nonchalantly. I merely continued to watch the ritual, the body of the being having collapsed to dust. Soon, without guidance from 2 unicorns, it would all collapse.
"... are you happy, princess? Destroying a long history of hard work?" I asked, annoyed. I turned, blasting the table to bits, with the teacups, teapot, and chairs vanishing with a flick of Celestia's magic. Celestia merely watched, then stood up, face seeming disappointed.
"I suppose that means no..." she replied, watching me with pity.
"Of course it means no!" I roared, angrily. I began to aim my horn, about to fire a barrage of magic, as the muffle spell was disabled. "NOW DIE BIT-----" .
I was interrupted by a bolt of fire, ripping through my chest, burning as hot as the sun. It threw me backwards, over the rune symbols, and into the flames of magic. I was dead before I even hit the aura.
. . .
Twilights POV
The next couple pages looked to be ripped directly out of a notebook, or diary. Interesting.
I heard the blast of fire magic, echoing from the main chamber, followed by a low rumble. I turned my focus back to Luna, noticing that she had been healed sufficiently. I rose, helping Luna to her feet, and we both ran into the central chamber.
For your information, whenever I enter a room, I would scan what is around me. I found that it often helped me figure out any threats, exits, or interesting items. It just helps in general. So, when I entered the room, I analyzed my surroundings. There were no bodies, nor any blood from the people we killed, which was odd. I also noticed that Lairit was missing, with his precious ritual going berserk. Celestia stood in front of the runes, eyes wide in alarm. Then was the rooms structure, which showed signs of strain, especially near the ley-lines, which uncharacteristically sparked and crackled, damaging things around it.
"Twilight! Whats happening!?" Celestia yelped, as the entire mountain began to rumble and shake. I thought for a moment, compiling all of the information I had gathered from the room, and came to a gut-wrenching conclusion.
"... Total Runal Collapse! All of the energy contained within those runes will cause the containment runes to fail, and--" I spouted off, hyper ventilating a bit, until I felt a hand on my shoulder. Luna smiled at me with her mouth, but the rest of her face was covered in a nervous, panicky look.
"Twilight, English, please." Luna said, making me take a deep breathe, in and out, to calm myself down.
"The runes are going to release all of their stored energy in a large burst; An explosion." I relayed, making the 2 rulers eyes widen more. Yet, I hadn't given them the full news yet. "The burst, in all likelihood, will not only vaporize Canterlot and the mountain... but all of Equestria.".
That seemed to scare them both, as Celestia began pacing, thinking to herself. She then froze, looking at me, a glimmer of hope in her eye. "We could use a dispel incantation to cancel out the rituals magic..." Celestia suggested, then continued onward. "Twilight, is it possible that would work?".
Of course! You see, a dispel incantation / spell ( a dispel spell, if you will ) is used to basically drain something of magic by dispersing it, typically over a wide area. Magic dispelling runes are actually how horn rings / nullifiers function, by dispelling the magic over a wide range, making any spell not work at all.
I continued to think over what I knew about that kind of spell, the golem ritual spell, but I had to go with my gut, as the ritual was deteriorating very quickly. Large fractures formed across the roof and walls, the room threatening to collapse around us. I cast a few quick spells, large rock spires rising from the ground to push up against the roof, to keep it from collapsing. Basically, large rock supports!
"We don't have time to think about whether it will work or not, we just have to try." I stated, the 2 leaders nodding in agreement. I thought for another moment, and began to give orders. "Okay, for this, we will move into a triangle formation around the ritual, and we will cast the spell. If you see anything unusual, tell me, okay?".
The leaders nodded, moving into their positions as the rituals next containment rune layer failed, now barely held back by the 2 final rune layers. This was the moment, where Equestria was saved, or doomed...
"Now!" I yelled, and we all cast the spells at once, the beams of magic hitting the rituals aura, as our magic began trying to get rid of the rituals magic, and it actually showed results. The rituals ball of magic began shrinking, growing smaller and smaller. We may actually survive this!
The next moment, the energy in the deteriorating ritual RUMBLED , and grew quickly. The final runes that kept the energy within the ritual groaned, emitting a noise like chhing ! I knew what was about to occur, and there was no time to stop it. The dissipation magic wasn't/hadn't been working fast enough to stop the collapse. Or perhaps, the spell had caused this? I watched as all of the runes glowed, then were obliterated. I felt my entire life flash before my eyes, as I felt the immense heat from the rituals energy, inches away, and getting closer. Time felt slow, as I realized that I was about to die, my friends, about to die. Everything I cared for, everything I had worked for, were about to be destroyed. No.
I can't let ANYONE die!
NOT TODAY!
I moved without thinking, my horn flicking, throwing the princess' back, as I felt my entire body surge with an untapped energy. It burned and hurt, so much, but I didn't care. I had a job to do. I roared, my wings flapping and throwing be back, with my horn casting the strongest spell I had ever used, perhaps even the strongest spell to ever be used. A bubble of energy snapped shut around the magical explosion, which had grown to an intimidating size, the noise it created being a roar which filled the room. Celestia and Luna watched me, looking concerned, confused, and amazed.
I had no idea that my hair flowed, crackling with energy, while my eyes shown a pure white. I had no idea that I was floating with my cutiemark shining, nor that my horn was glowing with many aura's, not just my own. All I knew, all that I could think, was that I would not let my friends, my family, die.
Nobody dies today.
I kept that idea in my head, forcing the magic back. Apparently, the 2 princess' tried to help me, but found that their magic was not there. The magical ley-lines, the river of magic that supplies us all, were gone, no longer feeding the explosion, but instead being used to contain it. That's what burnt inside me. The entire planets supply of magic.
Nobody dies today.
I forced the magic denser and denser, the runes magic being forced together. I could feel the fragments of a soul within the raging storm of magic, with the format of a body within it as well. I could even feel the other fragments of the soul and body, scattered across the world.
Nobody Dies Today.
I forced it all smaller and smaller, until the bubble began to change shape. The explosions energy brightened as it shrank, as the shape formed, a humming noise building up as the roar died. I could feel my insides burning faster and faster, my fur and hair slowly turning black in some places, as all of the infinite power surged inside me. I couldn't stop. I was so close.
Nobody.
Dies.
Today.
The moment the bubble became the right shape, the form glowed with a blinding light. The bubble popped, and something fell to the ground. With this done, I let go of the energy, and everything went black.
. . .
Celestia's POV
I watched as Twilight slumped to the floor, and energy shot from her, moving like a raging river, with the ley-lines being formed from this energy. The rumbling had stopped, and there was nothing left of the ritual. I ran over to Twilight, leaving my sister in the dust. She didn't notice however, as Luna watched something.
"Twilight..? TWILIGHT!?" I screamed, attempting to grab hold of the seemingly unconscious girl, but instead I jumped back, looking at my hands as they hurt from being burned. Twilight was SCALDING HOT! "Sister... We need to get Twilight to the hospital, and fast...".
Luna however did not answer, eyes wide like dinner plates, filled with fear. They were locked onto something in the crater where the ritual once was. "Sister! Didn't you hear me-- Oh. Oh my...".
I had turned my gaze towards the crater, and I now saw something sitting within the crater. A large figure, that was clearly male, and had fur much like my own. It looked much like an average earth pony, except for some major differences. Its hair was a deep shaggy grey, and its mouth looked like a squiggle, as if his lips had their own teeth. The main difference however was an odd tail, which looked a lot like a reptiles, but it ended with a tuft of grey fur. To be completely honest, that thing looked like a monster. It wasn't just his appearance that scared me, oh heavens no. I could feel the power that surged within the non-moving figure, power much stronger than mine, or all of the alicorns magic combined. There was also the weird fact that he looked much like the men that we had killed. The cultists.
"We should destroy it... That creatures power is far too dangerous..." Luna growled, able to feel the monsters power. Even if he was an earth pony, he was still highly dangerous.
"Agreed... I'll kill it, then we will burn the body. After that, we will get Twilight medical attention..." I said, grabbing my sword, and stepping over the man. I turned the blade downward, so it was aimed directly at his skull, and then, I raised the blade, ready to jab it downwards and kill him. As I slammed downwards, a bolt of purple energy was sent flying, and blasted the sword out of my hand. I stumbled from the force, then looked at my blade that lay nearby, the heat of the magic having burned it so bad it split in two. Well, it was the heat, and the sheer impact of the spell against the blade. I turned my gaze to the form of my little purple alicorn, that lay on her stomach, staring at the man. She was panting, and was clearly very weak. Twilight then looked me right in my pink eyes. I could see, clear as day, a frightening amount of determination staring back.
"Nobody... Dies... Today...".
The young alicorn passed out.
Chapter 4 - Dreams | Done
??? POV
Most do not remember their first moments in this world. None remember what occurs before that. What are we, before we exist? Do we always exist, even before we actually do?
I remember things, things that I should not.
I remember having no body, no mind. I began with practically nothing, surrounded by a roaring energy, like fire. I was nothing, merely a floating essence. A speck. But, as time passed, I began to grow, I was edited. I was evolving. My soul and mind grew, becoming different and more complex. I could also... not feel, but sense a body trying to form, with my essence automatically aiming to bind with it, to become one with it. I could sense items being added to the roar of energy, which caused more changes. Traits and idea's from each item were added to my own essence. My intellect also grew, becoming advanced, to a genius kind of level, while my magical abilities soared. I had strength, wit, and speed~.
With my new mind, I could figure things out on my own. I felt bindings to my form, with other beings, about 10... No, more. Bindings with the items, and then 10 people, outside of my aura of magic, where I could not see them. The connections with the people were nullified a bit, blocked by intricate magic, and made by blood.
While all of this occurred, I felt... odd. It felt as if 2 sides of my essence were fighting against each other. The good and bad, the light and the dark. They both wanted control, dominance over the other. No, not just dominance over the other, they wanted dominance over me as well! I began my fight at that moment, not willing to let anyone, nor anything, control me!
As time passed, I kept up the fight. Other things occurred too, for instance, after a while, I could feel fear coming from somewhere, yet it wasn't my fear. No, it came from someone else. It was the fear of failure. The fear of death. When the fear vanished, a short time later, it was replaced with memories. Entire lives worth of them, appearing in my head, yet jumbled and fuzzy in some places, as if sent via a game of telephone, the message muddled after each person. In minutes, 4 whole lives sat within my head, all having something in common. I saw their ends, each a bit fuzzy, but they involved 3 figures, colored purple, blue, and white. Besides the colors, I couldn't make anything else out.
Each life changed me in different ways. With the added memories came strength, and a higher intellect. I felt my form growing more physical as well, as if I was absorbing something. The memories provided wisdom and solidarity. Each moment we experience changes who we are. To be honest, we are different people all through our lives, each experience building off of the others. Well, the experiences of these lives were building me. After a bit of thinking, I finally realized where these memories were coming from. The people that used their blood to build me, to help give me a form. They were dying. Their deaths were building me.
It wasn't just that their deaths built me, they also gave me focus. My creators were smart, having made me to learn. That became my focus, a thirst for knowledge. That thirst for knowledge became who I was, and I used it to keep fighting against the good, and the evil, that fought to control me. I wasn't good, nor was I evil! I was... A scholar, seeking knowledge! I was...
A professor!
... but what was my name?
. . .
Time kept going with each bind, each of my creators, dying, their minds joining mine until only one man was left, one creator. The aura around me was weakening. I knew ( from my creators minds ) that without at least 2 other people guiding the magic, it would all fall apart. I would die.
I felt the final bind shake, as my last creator died, and with his death, a body flew into view, coming into contact with me, and dissolving. I felt power from it. With his death, came knowledge...
... and pain.
The moment my creators memory hit me, pain erupted everywhere, a searing hot pain, which burned and burned. The pain was from the unstable magic, from there being nobody to guide the magic. It felt as if I was surrounded by fire. The spell was failing, as my body, and very spirit, began to decay, began to be burned away. It was unbearable, so bad that I barely heard the voices outside of the aura of black and white. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.
A noise, 3 flashes of gold, blue, and purple, and then a new pain, which was added on top of the burning. However, this pain was much worse, so much worse, so bad that it is hard to even describe it. Everything I was made of, magic, spirit, mind, body, it was all being ripped in every direction at once, and away from me. I tried to scream, yet couldn't, a true flaw of having no body. The roar of energy around me actually began to grow quiet. But I barely noticed. I just wanted this to stop! Death was preferable to this pain! Anything was preferable to this pain!
The pain changed again, with my spirit weak, and body gone. It was back to the burning, as I tried to think of a way to stop this. It was a real longshot, but maybe if I figured out who I was, it would end? Who was I? What was my name? After a while, I couldn't think of a name, that showed who I was. With that, I nearly lost hope in surviving. Right before I lost hope, I heard words. With the words, came a purple aura, surrounding my own, with it all closing in. The aura began to shrink, and as it shrank, I felt what was lost coming back. It was all becoming so very clear.
I felt things, at the end. I could even see things, properly. Past the purple tinge, there was a purple woman. My body formed, and my essence was bound to it, and I just felt... tired. When it was all over, both aura's vanished, and with that, I fell to the floor, hearing her words, the words she said when I nearly lost hope.
"Nobody dies today.".
Author's Note
Hey! This is Pumpkinfright1012 here, writing this to speak with my readers. I am writing this little note to discuss a few things, well, 3 main things.
1. Up-vote and Down-vote
First off, if you are going to give my story a rating, please comment stating your rating, and why you put that. If you do this, then it will help me improve! For example, if you up-vote my story, comment and say why. If you hate my story, comment and say why!
2. Format Help
There are many things that I am still learning about FiMFiction. For example, does anyone know how to actually indent a paragraph? I keep trying to do it, and feel like it would help the story, but it just will not let me.
3. How I work
While writing this story, I write in my journal first, and then copy it down to the site. After I have written 2 chapters in my notebook, I copy them onto this site ASAP, and hit publish, and thats why you have received 2 chapters today! I hope you enjoy your gift!
I hope you have enjoyed this little stop, but now, lets continue with the show!
Chapter 5 - A Dream | Done
The words continued to echo in my head while I slept, bouncing around inside the new space like a game of pong. "Nobody dies today.", such noble words. Hero's words. Heh, perhaps that can be my motto.
I must admit, even though I was asleep, I did not dream. Well, not at first. I don't believe you can call it a dream. I was in a mass-less void, that stretched on forever, but didn't at the same time. I floated within the void, not feeling anything, merely on the fact I chose not to. I only wished to ponder things. I did take note of something trying to push its way into this place, but I just swatted it away. As I said, I needed time to think. At one point, I even heard a calm, soothing voice.
"I cannot get into his dream via dreamscape, nor a direct connection." the voice said, calmly, but I could detect a bit of panic. I wonder who she was talking to? Baa! There are more important things to think about!
First off, what am I? Why do I exist? I thought hard on this, trying to figure it out. I used the memories in my head to my advantage, the memories of... Lairit, Blueblood, Marcus, Keldon, Archex, Jessi, Averson, Aurous, Clyde, and Ryan. Yes, those were their names. Perhaps their memories would help with my predicament. I organized these memories the best I could, and began skimming through looking for answers. The Harmonicin Umbrin. I drank the information, learning of this cults goal : The creation of a perfectly balanced being, the creation of a god. Interesting stuff, I must say. I kept thinking, looking at Lairits final moments, watching the creation of this being...
... wait...
... that aura looks much like what I saw...
... no! I'M their 'perfect' being!?
Actually...
That does solve a few questions, like what that aura was, and why I felt dark and light fighting over me. It also explains the bindings I had felt, and these peoples memories. I took a look around, seeing the empty void. This really didn't suit my tastes. I instinctively waved my right hand, feeling energy within me be released, as I thought about what I wanted. Moments later, the void swirled, becoming dark inky shapes, and after that, the shapes gained color, and physics, the entire process only taking a matter of seconds. I now sat on a very comfy chair, in a very large room. The walls were lined with full bookshelves, with the books containing information I knew, and memories. There were even display cases for items, but for now, they sat empty. While half of the room was a library / trophy area, with oak floors, the other half had floors of marble, counters, and lab equipment.
With that done, I rose, moving to a table which held book binding material, parchment, a quill, and ink, also known as 'Everything you need to write a book'. I took the quill, dipped it into the ink, and wrote on the first page 'Questions and Answers. Vol #1', and after that I began writing my questions and their answers, often having to re-dip the quill. There must be a better way to write.
After writing down the first question and its answer, I thought for a moment. Next question : What does it mean to be a god? Or whatever they thought I would be? Their perfectly balanced being? I wrote that question down, as I thought to myself. To those cultists, I was meant to rule the world, and to be honest, I probably could. That's why I was built with so much magic. In fact, even though I don't have a horn, it's probably possible that I can still use magic. Who knows! But, back to the question. I suppose being a god, their god, means that I should be perfectly balanced, neither good nor evil.
Next question : What are my goals? Why do I exist? Now that made me think long and hard. What ARE my goals? I looked around, seeing only my room, with many of the books on the shelves being blank, the displays empty. I could remember what most cultists were for their day jobs, being teachers / scientists. I remember what I wished to be while in that aura. Yes, I want to be a professor, sharing knowledge. But I also wish to be a scientist, to learn. I want to change the world, and time will tell if its for the better, or for the worse.
Next, and very big question: Who are my enemies? This is an important answer to find, based upon how my creators died. They were slaughtered by white, blue, and purple figures. I wrote this down, and the fact that the white and blue figures were definitely my enemies, but I was hesitant when thinking about the purple figure. That figure ( I believe a girl ), saved me, so does she still deserve the title of enemy? In the end, I chose no. She saved my life, therefore, she is no enemy.
I continued writing for a long time, eventually growing bored, and reaching for a new book. On the first page, I wrote 'Invention Concepts and Idea's. Vol #1', and on the second page I thought about the dilemma of the quill and ink, noting the flaws of using the quill, and the flaws of getting ink, the entire concept actually annoying.
What we need, is something more like a pencil, with ink inside of a tube, which funnels it to the point. There would be an easy way to fill or refill the device, a way to stop the flow, and the ultimate part: an intricate eraser spell for the ink, which takes the ink you drag the back of the pen over, and uses it to refill the pen. There could even be other features, like the ability to copy and paste text/writing on one page to another! But back to the eraser spell : For some strange reason, ink has interesting properties, making it (practically) magic proof. Another problem is that gathering ink is difficult, so if you add those 2 factors together, it causes the ink to be fairly expensive.
The solution to that?
Natural ink, made like a potion. Its ingredients would be mordant (Natural dyes like walnuts, and onion skins), and Gum Arabic ( used to make the dyes a more solid form so it sinks into the page ), and so in the end, it forms a natural ink. This solves the problem of the resistant property, as this ink works the same, yet isn't resistant. This natural ink is also much easier to create, so with both of these factors combined, you get a cheap and just as effective ink. I began sketching, thinking about how this device would work, even designing the spells for it.
Once my planning was done, I did not grow bored, no. I began to think of other idea's, jotting them down into my journal, filling page after page. I didn't even keep track of how much time was passing by, as I sketched, wrote, and sketched some more! The only real time I noticed other things was when I dipped my quill into ink whenever my quill ran out.
It was sometime later, as I was brainstorming, that I heard a noise.
Taptaptap
You would think such a simple noise was something I'd ignore. However, it wasn't the sound that made me notice. It was the fact that it did not come from the area I was in. No, it came from outside the area.
Taptaptap.
The noise echoed all around me, everywhere but nowhere at once. It was distant, and slightly muffled, as if playing through the walls. It sounded like nails, a living things nails, tapping against wood, in an impatient manner. The noise was spaced out, so I would hear it once, and then 5 seconds later...
Taptaptap.
The muffle effect was appearing to fade, as the world around me was growing blurry, out of focus. I knew what was occurring. I was waking up. Yet, I wasn't sad I was waking up, for, to be honest, I wanted to wake up. My only regret was that I couldn't take my journals with me. The area around me continued fading, the colors in front of my eyes shifting as the real world crept back in.
I woke up.
I awoke in a dim room, with blankets over my form. I could see an ornate ceiling, and could hear the tapping coming from nearby. I also took notice of something which sat against my leg, but, those didn't really matter, for I was more worried about where I was. Wait a minute. The tapping, it had stopped.
"I know your awake..." a voice growled. I could feel someone watching me, and the sound of someone standing up slightly echoed around me. A gentle sigh, as he (based on the voice, I believe it is a male), clapped his hands twice, the room growing bright. "You can get up, I don't plan on hurting you.".
I bent upwards, letting my eyes adjust to my surroundings. I was in a very ornate and beautiful bedroom, with the walls marble white, the ceiling painted like the night sky, and enchanted so it moved with the night sky. There were 3 sets of doors, mahogany doors, a spruce wood door (which lay ajar, showing the bathroom), and 2 birch doors with windows, showing a beautiful balcony. The room also contained a bed, a desk, a simple bookshelf, a dresser, and some chairs. In front of a chair which sat near the mahogany door, sat the man that had been tapping.
He stood tall, at the height of an average stallion, but he was no stallion. A dragon, in his teen years, with purple scales, and green spikes, which started at his head, and went down his back, all the way to a tail. In fact, upon his back, poking through 2 holes through his shirt, were 2 majestic, folded wings. He had kind, but calculating green eyes, and clawed (but soft looking) hands. He walked towards me, and outstretched one of those hands, in a friendly gesture.
"If Twilight trusts you, then I do to. The names' Spike, the right hand dragon of the princess of friendship." he said, as I reached out, and gave the dragon a nice, firm handshake.
"Who's Twil---NCGHHHH!!!" I yelped, doubling over in pain as my head felt as though it was roasting. I groaned in agony, as memories in my head burned, fog clearing. The purple figure. Twilight Sparkle, princess of friendship. They are the same person! Spike tried to yell for someone, but I grabbed his arm, holding it, squeezing it in a (hopefully) reassuring way, as I was waiting for it to pass. Seconds later, the burning was gone.
"... are you okay!?" Spike yelled, making me smile a bit. Good heart. Bit annoying. I waved him off, smiling gently, well, faking it to smile gently.
"Yes... Just some... memory problems. Bad headaches...".
"Makes sense, actually. I'd probably have bad headaches if I slept for 2 weeks." Spike replied, making my brain spin into overdrive. 2 weeks!? That's insane! Before I showed my reaction, I steeled myself, and put a mask over my face, hiding the emotions away. I had to look... professional.
To be honest, I don't know why.
"How is Twilight..?" I asked, and instantly pain shone in his eyes. Something had happened.
"... that day... Apparently, when the ritual that made you... well, when it tried to explode, something in Twilight snapped, as she puts it. She wanted to protect her friends, her family, her country, and so, she took in a LOT of magic, to stop the explosion... More magic than anything can possibly handle..." Spike sighed to himself, looking very sad, staring out the window and into the night sky. "The doctors say that the magic has burned her insides very badly, so badly that for now, she can barely walk. She is still trying to act normal but...".
He paused for a moment, thinking to himself, obviously fighting off tears. "... the doctors are saying it'll be a good year before its even safe for her to cast magic.". He paused once again, thinking. "... in fact, she's only here at the castle because... SHIT I FORGOT!!!".
Spike jumped up, eyes frantic and worried. "Get some clothes on, now!".
"Why?"
"Celestia told me to alert her when you awaken. When you are awake, Celestia and the others are going to put you on trial to decide..." he paused, obviously not wanting to finish this next sentence.
"... decide what..?"
"... they are going to decide on whether or not to let you live, or to kill you." Spike finished, letting that little tidbit of information sink in like a battering ram hitting a castle door. The leaders of Equestria, are going to decide whether or not to kill me. I kept silent, thinking. Finally, I came up with an answer.
"When will the trial begin?".
Hey, its all I could think of at the time! Don't judge me!
"Most likely as soon as Celestia gathers everyone together, and sends a battalion of guards to retrieve you. She will begin that as soon as she knows your awake..." Spike replied, grabbing a scroll and hastily writing something, before breathing fire on it, and reducing it to ash. "There are some clothes in the dresser. Now I need to go. She will have preparations for me to make as well.".
With that, Spike began to leave, but stopped at the door, turning to me.
"... and I will say : You don't seem like a bad guy.".
And he left, leaving me with idea's that continued to roll around in my head. I may die today. No. I won't die today. I'm going to somehow, win this trial.
I went over to the dresser, which sat beside the desk. Opening it up, there was only formal wear, all my size, and a note. I chose to wear a suit, which looked good on me, with red, green, and black. It was just, my style, and to be honest, it just felt really comfortable on me. It fit, perfectly. I went to the mirror, and looked at myself, seeing that I looked, damn good.
Looking at the note, it read 'I took the liberty of making you some clothes. It was really interesting, working with your looks, and I hope you enjoy them, and that they fit your taste. -Rarity'. Huh. I suppose I will need to thank whoever 'Rarity' is.
With that done, I went back to the bed, sitting down... upon something. I scooched over, and looked at what I had sat on, curious : Resting there, was my Idea Journal! I was confused, grabbing it, and looking through it, just to confirm, and yes, it actually was my journal!
But, I didn't have time to speculate as to how in the hell an item from my dream had appeared in the real world, as I heard a knock at my door. I shoved the book inside a suit inner pocket, and went over, opening the mahogany doors. On the other side, stood 6 guards, armed with spears, and holding shackles. I merely went forward, and let them shackle me, knowing it was useless to fight.
It was time, for the trial.
We moved briskly through the halls, and when I tried to talk, the guards would shove me in the back, forcing me to keep up. I looked into their eyes, and found looks of hatred, as if I was a mere animal. We kept moving, deeper and deeper within the castle, until stopping at a large oak door. I could hear voices on the other side, all seeming bothered by something. The guards opened the large doors, and forced me forward, to now be in a bland room with a large table, which formed a circle around a small stage. I was teleported upon the stage, and the room grew silent.
At this table sat a large cast of characters. There was the changeling king Thorax, watching me with interest, and the leader of the yaks, that didn't appear to care. The hippogriff queen, Queen Nova, watched me with a tinge of fear, as if I reminded her of someone. Then, next to the hippogriff queen, was the blue dragon ruler, Ember. She was calm and collected, only breaking her facade when glancing at Spike, who sat beside her. He had a clipboard, quill, ink, and paper, acting to be a court writer. He glanced at me every once in awhile, worried. To his left sat Twilight, and she looked, horrible. Her limbs were in casts, and wings bandaged. She appeared angry with someone as well. Then, to Thorax's right sat Cadance, who I knew from memories. She was using her magic to scan me, seeming friendly, but cautious.
Between Cadance and Twilight, sat 2 large forms, each in formal attire. These women were both alicorns, and looked vaguely familiar. They both watched me with an icy glare, until finally, the yak leader spoke up.
"Celestia... Luna... Why have you called us here!?" the man grunted, as pain exploded through my head, causing me to collapse. Ember was alarmed, looking to the 2 leaders, smoke blowing from her nostrils.
"Whats happening to it!? Explain yourselves!!!" she yelled, not liking my wails of agony. Luna sighed, looking the dragon in her eyes.
"This thing was created by magic that is forbidden, by a dangerous cult. He is filled with dark magic that if he learned to wield, nothing would be able to stop him. He has also absorbed some of the memories of the cults memories..." Luna said, continuing. "His brain had blocked out the memories of their deaths, in order to save him the pain of dying, a pain nobody truly feels... With him seeing us, and knowing who we are... those blockades have been lifted... he's feeling death.".
And I could. I felt my body be torn, slashed, cut, punched, blasted, shot, and burned. I kept screaming for about 10 minutes, until finally being able to go quiet, the pain having faded. I looked back at the rulers, only to still be met by cold stares. Those 2 did not, care.
"We have called you all together to make a decision. Can we let this thing, exist?" Celestia asked, and instantly the entire room burst into discussion, with Twilight looking furiously at the 2 sisters, while I could only watch. The 2 sisters let everyone yell and argue for a moment, their eyes scanning, looking for any people that may stand up to them. Soon, Twilight did so.
"This isn't a fair trial! We barely know anything about him!" she yelled, then began coughing heavily.
"Life isn't fair, and what we do know is concerning." Celestia answered, then noticing Thorax was thinking himself. "Thorax, your thoughts?".
"Well... What do we know about him?" Thorax asked, looking at me. He had a curious look in his eyes, probably wondering what exactly I was. I will admit, I certainly did look, different.
"Enough. As I said, it was created by forbidden magic. It has access to power far greater than any we've seen before, and if it learned to wield this power, nothing could stop it. It was made, to be evil." Celestia explained, voice serious. "That is why we are having this trial.".
"That's it? You think, he was made to be evil?" Ember asked, as Twi voiced her anger.
"That's part of the problem. We just don't know!" she yelled, following it up with another cough. "He may have been created to do bad things, but we don't know! All we know is that he has magic, is intelligent, looks scary, and he was made by bad people. We can't condemn someone to death based upon that!".
"She's right. You all thought that I was bad, based upon what you thought about changelings. You didn't bother to learn anything about me, only Spike did." Thorax said, nodding at Spike warmly, who nodded in return.
"Luna. The same thing happened to you, and it turned you into a literal nightmare. Don't you see your doing the same thing to him?" Twilight said, making Luna look guiltily at the table. "We need to learn about him before we judge him!".
I nodded to myself, agreeing with the purple girl. Celestia growled, angrily. "It wouldn't be able to help us in any positive way anyways! It will harm us!".
An annoyed look grew on Cadance's face, and so, she let loose a burst of magic from her horn, which made everyone silent, unable to speak. She looked at them all, as if waiting for someone to even try to break free from her spell. When nobody tried, probably stunned from this, she spoke.
"Why don't... we ask him some things? Then we decide, instead of jumping to conclusions." Cadance looked around, at everyone's faces, waiting for someone to push back, and when nobody did once again, she continued.
"Okay... Why do you exist? What do you think your purpose is?". That made me pause, thinking back to my 'dream'.
"To change the world by knowledge." I responded, smiling at my own words.
"A noble goal... How will you accomplish that?" she asked, smiling. It filled me with warmth, that smile. But I couldn't forget this trials purpose, and so I thought long and hard about my response.
"I wish to become a researcher / scientist, someone that discovers things and gathers information. An inventor that uses the information he has gathered to create new things, or to improve the old. But above all else, a professor, one that teaches others about the information I gather, in order to create more thinkers like myself." I finished, smiling. Cadance beamed, looking at the other leaders, who all nodded their approval of my goals.
"You've thought this out..." Luna replied, Cadances silence spell having worn off. She was smiling at me, and so I responded in kind.
"Plenty of time to think while dreaming. In fact..." I reached into my coat, retrieving my journal, and shown it to the group. "If you'll allow me, I can prove myself right now.".
Luna stood from her chair a moment later, her magical aura grabbing my journal, and my body, her eyes wild with fear and confusion. "How did you get this!? Only I know of the spells to pull something like this off!".
Cadance grabbed on to her aunt, and looked her in the eyes, confused. Even Celestia appeared baffled by her sisters sudden outburst.
"Luna! Whats wrong!?" Cadance asked, highly concerned. Luna growled in return, rage boiling in her eyes.
"That journal... it twas created via dream magic, not by normal means." Luna explained, watching me with that glare. "Only I know the spells required to pull that off. So, how did you do it!?".
Luna's magic began squeezing down upon me, and would have crushed me if Cadance hadn't stepped in, by forcing her aunt to stop. I panted, looking at the night princess, who still had my journal in her grasp.
"Answer me, monster! ".
"... after I was created... I awoke in a void. I began to build things up around me. I even created journals in which I wrote important things." I explained, trying to stay calm, but my anger managed to get the best of me. "For instance... I wrote down a list of my enemies. You and your BITCH sister are the only ones on it! You two have tried to kill me, for no good reason, TWICE NOW!".
I was moving closer and closer to the 2 sisters, stopping before the edge of the stage, for a good reason. I needed to calm down, but I couldn't. I had to get this off my chest.
"... so, if ANYONE should be on trial, ITS YOU!!! " I roared, showing teeth, and causing Luna to throw the journal back at me. Both leaders were shaking a bit, terrified. The others had scared looks on their faces, and to be honest... I loved it. I sighed, adjusting my suit, and began to speak again, in a much calmer manner.
"... one of the journals that I created, was one for storing invention idea's, and when I was waking up, I wished I could take it with me. So when I woke up, I just... had it.".
"So, does that answer your question?".
Silence.
Lovely~
"But, as I was saying, this journal contains those invention idea's, one of which would benefit everyone in this room. If..." I turned my eyes, letting them rest upon Twilight. "... you will gather a few things I need, I can create one of these inventions for everyone. Would that be okay?".
The leaders of the countries were dead silent, and Twilight smiled a bit, impressed. "I can do that... what do you need?".
"I truly don't understand this..." the yak ruler groaned, as the leaders watched me, and the materials that lay in front of me. Twilight moved, placing a jar of mordant in front of me, and then, retook her seat. In total, there was metal, mordant, and other materials, all of which I required.
"To be honest, I don't understand this either. But..." Twilight paused, looking towards me, and smiling gently, her look the one a mother would give a child as she watched him grow. "Whatever you have planned, I feel it will work.".
Her words made me smile, as Celestia just growled, eyes angry, wishing to get this over with. "Just get to work.".
I nodded, and did exactly as she said. First, I looked to Cadance, eyes asking for a bit of heat, as I took the metal-working tools into my grip. Her horn flashed, the metal glowing, and I went to work shaping it, moving it into multiple tubes, then caps, and other intricate pieces. Next, I carved runes into the tubes, their design not just functional, but added an interesting look to these devices. I looked around, noting how those that watched seemed impatient, especially the yaks.
"Hurry up, wrong-pony!" the yak chided, bored. I looked up at him, eyes piercing, and he went silent.
"You cannot rush perfection... So shut, the fuck, up." I chided, keeping my voice smooth and calm, and very authoritative, reminiscent of a scolding parent. I turned my gaze back to the pieces of my creation. Oh, this will be very, interesting~.
About 30 minutes later, after having loaded my devices with a natural ink, created via the mordant, I inspected my creations. Flawless, they lay on the stage, enough for each person in this room, including me. I turned, gesturing to Twilight, as I swept the ink from my brow.
"Twilight, I am finished. You can pass them out to everyone, for all of you to try." I said, snatching my pen, and planting it in my suit pocket. Twilight merely nodded, moving to get up, but Spike rose first, smiling at her and me, and gesturing for her to sit back down.
"I'll do it, Twi." Spike said, making the nerd princess smile, obviously proud of him, and she sat fully back down. Spike went up to the stage, grabbing the creations, and then passing them out, while I explained them.
"I call these, pens, a replacement for quills and normal ink. Light, non-messy, and able to accomplish things that quills cannot, like being able to be filled, without needing to dip it somewhere every few seconds, and, can even be used to copy something that pen has written, and then paste it somewhere else." I explained, everyone on different levels of amazement. For instance, Twilight, Luna, and Cadance were especially amazed, having to fill out a lot of paperwork, and they each tried it out, clicking the end to fill the pointed tip with ink, or removing the ink by clicking the end again. Celestia however appeared suspicious of the pen, as she messed with it gently, inspecting and scanning it, before testing it out on paper, and it definitely worked.
"Why did you create the ink yourself? I quite like normal ink.".
"Oh sister, do not try to ruin this amazing thing!".
"No, its okay, I understand where she is coming from." I interjected, actually enjoying the fact that someone was questioning my decision. It'd actually feel odd if someone hadn't. "You see, princess, based on my knowledge, ink is expensive, hard to acquire, and its magic-nullifying properties bring problems. This new ink is cheap, easy to make, and has no such properties.".
I let Celestia think for a moment, as she wrote a few sentences on parchment with the pen, before speaking again. "What if you like the old ink?".
"Well... You can use the old ink, but the copy spell nor the erase spell will work. You lose some functionality, but it should still work, since it can be reloaded via removing the tip of the pen.".
"Hmm..." Celestia hummed, thinking. Then she looked to the other leaders at the table, judging how they judged the pens. When seeing that they all were interested in them, even the yaks, she sighed, and I swore I could see a faint vein outline. "We cannot forget why we are here. We must still decide his fate, my friends.".
This time, everyone sighed, thinking, as I growled in annoyance, moving towards Celestia until I stood near the edge of the stage. I could feel so many things boiling to the surface, many new, yet not, to me, but I had to keep my cool. I kept myself from reaching over the stages edge, for I could see what (practically) nobody else could (perhaps Spike can see it... Hmm...). Around the stage was a shimmering, veil-like field, in actuality, a kind of death spell, which worked only on certain people, and I knew it was set to only me. If I tried to escape, I would most likely be disintegrated, based on the amount of energy in this shield. The reason that I could see it (and perhaps Spike as well), was an attunement to magic, coming from being born via magic, or consuming crystals which contained a large amount of magic.
"Listen to me, right now, Celestia. I can tell you have a problem with me, and it doesn't seem like your willing to explain at the moment. It honestly reminds me of a pesky child . Well, if your not willing to talk, I will ..." I paused, taking a breathe, and continuing. "I plan on changing things in ways even I cannot foresee. I will do good, and I will admit, I will do bad. I plan on researching, inventing, and teaching others what I have learned---".
"He could perhaps teach at my school, or perhaps your academy!" Twilight interrupted, making me gesture for her to shut it!
"That is a very good idea, Twilight, but please, allow me to finish." I paused, then sighed, taking a breathe, adjusting my tie, and looking around. Everyone's eyes were upon me, yet I wasn't nervous. Now, is my moment.
Now, was the time to prove myself.
"... I plan on being a professor, and not one without a name. No, I will have a name, and it will be known across the world someday. Professor Silver Andreis. Now, if you wish to strike me down, then do it. If not..." I looked away, straightening my tie once again. "Then let me off this stage, and fuck off .".
I paused, letting everything that I had said sink in, as I observed everyone. They all still watched me, with looks of shock, happiness, proudness, and other things like that. Ember was first to speak.
"I think we should let him live, and not judge based upon your prejudices.".
"I feel the same, lets give him a chance." Thorax smiled warmly.
"You have guts, wrong-pony, and we yaks admire that. I vote to let him live!".
"We have made a terrible error..." Luna said, looking at me with guilt in her eyes. "The others are right. We have judged thee exactly as others judged us: without proof nor reason. We art truly sorry, and please, forgive us...".
Luna bowed to me, shocking me even more. A royal, bowing to me!? This women must really feel guilty! I forced myself out of my shocked stupor, and began chuckling, from how ridiculous her actions truly were.
"Why art thee laughing at us? Have we made a fool out of ourselves again?" she asked, a confused look on hers, and everyone else's, faces.
"Luna, get up, you have no need to bow." I said, managing to stifle my laughter and speak. Luna rose, with confusion and guilt now strewn across her face.
"But... we have made a grave mistake, one that, if not been pointed out, would have condemned thy life!" she yelled, eyes serious. I merely chuckled.
"Yes, you made a mistake. However, many people all over the globe make, or have made, that same mistake, each day. What matters is what you learn from that mistake.".
"We... We believe we can do that." Luna smiled warmly at me now. "We will not judge thee with no actual proof. Therefore, we vote thee should keep thy life.".
"Twilight and I vote the same way." Cadance said, smiling at me, with Twilight watching Celestia with concern. I turned my gaze, and could see Celestia's face still stone cold, but, parts of it twitched every once in a while. Spike chose that moment to rise from his chair, clearing his voice.
"... I don't know if my vote counts, since I am not a leader of a country, but, I was with him, alone, when he awoke. He's no danger to anyone." he finished, and Celestia shot up and onto her feet, fury in her eyes.
"Your vote does not matter, Spike." she growled, leaving Spike with a hurt look on his face.
"W-well, my point still sta----".
"SIT DOWN, YOU DRAGON WELP!!! " she roared in the royal Canterlot voice, sending the now terrified dragon into his seat, shaking gently. Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but a mere glance from Celestia made her rethink that, and keep quiet. Luna's surprised look told me that her sister had never acted like this before. Celestia turned her gaze back towards me, hate burning brighter than even her sun.
"... none of you, will ever understand why I MUST do this... never be able to fathom my reasoning..." she growled. "I had been hoping, that you would all agree to destroy it , so I would appear justified in it, and so Twilight would not be angry with me. But, if your going to try and let him live...".
I watched her horn charge up, with a very powerful humming, the horns aura even crackling, forming sparks. I stepped back, many thoughts running through my head: 'She had done this trial to trick people into murder? What does she have against me to produce this level of anger!? '. I stole a glance at the others at the table, seeing how they were frozen in shock and fear.
"... I suppose I will have to finally, end this!" she roared, aiming her horn and firing a ray, directly at me. I raised my hands in a futile attempt to protect myself, and time appeared to slow for a moment. I saw Twilight flick her hand, and a pen spun through the air, and in to the beams path. The pens runes glowed bright as the beam hit it, as they were absorbing the magic, and in an instant, the pen exploded. All of the magic packed within that spell rebounded in 2 directions, shattering the shield, and throwing both myself and Celestia back, our bodies colliding with the walls in a resounding crash. We collapsed onto the floor, groaning in unison.
'Dear Galaxia, that hurt. ' I thought, trying to get to my feet, but I watched Celestia rise faster, horn charged. I stared, feeling more impending doom, however, it seemed us toppling had snapped everyone out of their stupor. Cadance and Luna both teleported, appearing at Celestia's sides to then grab her, aiming to use their combined magical and physical strength to subdue the rogue sun princess. The others moved to me, with Thorax forming a green bubble shield around us, while Queen Novo, the yak ruler, and Ember, moved to me, and helped me onto my feet. Twilight was unable to really help, since she was injured, just sitting in her seat and watching.
"Ya know... I planned to vote to let you live..." Novo said, getting me steady. I smiled at her, mouthing the words 'not the time'. I looked back at Celestia, just in time to see her full on throw Cadance and Luna away, onto the stage, and turning her gaze towards me. Her hair actually crackled like fire, as she watched, seeing how everyone was ready to protect, or defend me, and she let out a sound of annoyance.
"... your not going to hurt those I care for. I won't let you. You won't hurt Luna..." Celestia teared up a little. "... you won't hurt anyone like you did the poor king...".
Celestia spun, and stormed from the room, leaving a trail of tears in her wake. Luna's face had a look of surprise as I rose, as if she knew something that we did not. I walked, moving to follow Celestia, but Twilight had finally moved, grabbing my arm.
"Don't. She will kill you.".
"... I need to settle this, or someday, I will die by her hand, but the cost, the cost will be much greater than if I died now.".
With that, I pulled away, to stop a princess, from becoming a monster herself.
Author's Note
Hey, its me, the author! To be honest, IDK what the chapter after chapter 7 will be about, so if you want to help me, throw out some idea's!
But, I hope you have enjoyed the book so far, and I will see you next time, in chapter 7: Saviors.
Chapter 7 - Savior | Done
I ran out of the meeting room, knowing where she had went instantly, my senses in overdrive. I could smell her perfume, see puddles formed via tears. But, I could mainly feel a tingle of magical residue, that I (somehow) knew was hers. I had a moment of doubt though. '
This was a terrible idea, so why was I going through with it? Why am I after her?' I wondered, as I moved forward, in the direction she had went. As I ran, moving left, right, forward, I noticed small changes, down stairs, the area growing more secluded. The walls grew more decayed, and old. There were no other paths to follow now, no branching hallways, just this ancient passage. There were also burns on the walls, created via fire magic, and recent, based on this newfound magic sensing ability.
There was also the unsettling feeling that this place gave off, the kind of feeling that was screaming in my head, telling me to turn back, run away as fast as possible, but I was smarter, I could feel what was causing it. Runes, etched into the bricks, hidden from view, with the sole purpose of keeping people away. But I am much smarter than that...
SLAM
I toppled, having ran face first into a wall. I held my nose, feeling that it wasn't broken, but was bleeding a bit, letting it drip onto the floor. Glancing around, I found that I was at a dead end, with Celestia's trail having went cold, leading to the wall, and just cutting out.
Wait.
I looked at the wall, feeling hesitation, and something trying to push my gaze away. I looked away, and felt relief. Then slowly, back at the wall, feeling a force, trying to make me look away. It was something trying to make me turn back. I fought, getting up, and pressed my hand against the wall.
A jolt. Ancient runes, everywhere, even inside the bricks. I could feel their purpose, to make me turn back, run away, and never speak of this place again. To make me ignore the wall. To be honest, if I hadn't ran into it, I probably never would have noticed it. Or perhaps, the runes had caused me to run into it, since it made me not take notice of it.
There was also an interesting spell. No, more like a lock of sorts, appearing to be tuned to someones specific magical aura. An alicorn's magic. You see, without an alicorn's magic, it was just a wall, but, when that kind of magic touches the wall... Well, the lock would unlock. The very wall would disappear. At least, that's what my senses and logical mind told me.
"So that's how she disappeared..." I mumbled to myself, staring at the wall. But...
'How am I supposed to get in, if I don't have alicorn magic?' I pondered, dragging my hand across the wall again, feeling the runes within. 'In fact, how is it that I can feel the runes in the first place?'.
'Well, I am attuned to magic, and runes are practically the written word of magic. Therefore, I can feel them, and read them easily... Wait... That's it!!!', my eyes widened, the solution had been staring me directly in the face the entire time! I am attuned to all magic, to the very source of it! That, is the solution!
I kept my hand against the wall, thinking about Celestia, and all I knew about her, hoping to god this would work. I pushed those thoughts through my arm, through my hand, and out via my fingertips, letting them loose against the wall, keeping my eyes closed the entire time. Her normally kind and calm demeanor, but anger as hot as the sun, when needed.
A spark, a flicker of gold. The wall vanished, and with my weight being pushed against the wall via my hand, I fell through onto the other side, where the wall appeared, most of the light vanishing, leaving only torchlight, revealing the stark difference between this area and the last one. This hallway, instead of the marble brick, had ancient grey cobblestone, looking so old that it made me think it had always existed. The area had many cobwebs, and lots of dust, showing off its disrepair, obvious even in the torchlight.
I could feel Celestia's aura once again, leading down the hall, and so, I followed, each step echoing. The hallway was long, and filled with rune-based traps, but all were disabled. Soon reaching the end, I saw a large door, looking new and refurbished, a stark contrast from everything around it. It was gigantic in size, with 4 holes, appearing to be meant for horns, and above the holes, were cutie-marks, specifically, the marks that adorned the alicorns, which mean't to me, only a royal alicorn could open this door. Thankfully, the door lay open, showing the brightly lit room beyond.
I stepped forward, and cringed, being hit by a wave of magic. The next room was filled with a lot of magic, enough to make me feel sick. As I cringed, I noticed the writing above the door. In Latin, it said 'Buy De Reliquia' and 'In his nocent. Ex causa quia terra rursus redire', which said 'The Relic Vault', and 'Within are dangerous things. For the sake of the land, turn back.'.
I knew what that was, and to explain, allow me to add a fragment of an old book one of the cultists have read.
The Relic Vault
This vault is an ancient legend, linked to the 2 sisters, and has existed even before them. This legend describes a vault, where dangerous objects are contained, hidden away, and best left forgotten.
Back to the story though! Despite the interference, like a annoying static, I could feel Celestia's aura ahead, and so, I pushed on. Into, the Vault!
The room I entered was large, like a warehouse, the walls made of iron and stone bricks, and covered in runes, securing the room. The floor was made of stone bricks as well, and for lighting, fiery orbs hung from the ceiling, like mini-stars. Once my eyes adjusted to the light, I took notice of the different sections. In one corner, a gigantic mound of gold bars and jewels, glittering in the light. In another corner, many bookshelves, lined with ancient and old books, full of forbidden knowledge. The rest of the room held stands, cases, chests, or cabinets, full of relics, all of it organized and labelled, like a dangerous museum.
I was in awe at the objects and the sheer power they emitted, as I stepped forward, observing. There was a bust, and on its neck sat the fabled alicorn amulet, its ruby glowing darkly. Another case held a pieced together obsidian statue, of the storm king, his shattered staff in a case beside him. Then, there was an odd cauldron, filled with a purple corruptive goo, with eyes. It tried to reach for me, but bonked into the glass the covered the top.
Then, there was a case with an odd, grey rainbow, trapped by the cases runes. I kept moving, getting closer to the bookshelf area, noticing interesting books, some written by Sombra himself. There was also 2 movable thrones, grand and beautiful, with busts beside them of alicorns, showing off crowns adorned with galaxies and stars, that actually seemed to move. Gorgeous.
However...
'Who's were they?' I wondered.
Before I could truly ponder, I experienced something... odd. I spun to my right, where this odd sensation could still be felt from. Do know that Celestia was becoming a faint memory, thanks to all of these events, however , now that I look back, I could feel her nearby, but this feeling was more important to me. I kept moving, seeking out the source, until my body naturally froze up, staring directly at it. A simple, long mahogany case, that brought its contents a little above waist height. The case had a few lower tier sealing runes, but none were active. Within the case sat a scythe, made of moonstone, and forged by the dark. The blade shone white, but appeared to drain its surroundings of light.
I stepped closer, hands moving of their own accord, finding the case unlocked and slightly open. I fully opened it, watching the weapon with fascination, especially the handle, which was pure black, a stark contrast from its blade. I felt much closer to the sensations source, giving me a clearer sense of what it was : a sense of...
Connection. Bond. Family.
I watched, taking notice of a fog, a gentle mist, leaking from the handle, and trailing off and onto the floor and away from me. At that moment, I caught myself, my hand hovering over the handle, giving me a cold feeling, as if the rooms temperature had dropped.
'Why had I been trying to touch it? Should I?' I wondered, leaving my hand above it. I could feel the weapons energy ready to react to my touch.
"Screw it." I grabbed the weapon, and instantly the feeling of 2 energies wired up my hand, and hit my head.
Wait...
2?
My vision blurred, all I saw growing fuzzy and melding together. My ears filled with a buzz, a static. My other senses grew dull as well, leaving me in an odd predicament. I couldn't even move, my limbs weightless, but no longer in my control. Then, noises. Voices low and ominous, chanting. My vision slowly grew more focused, revealing robed figures, chanting in an ancient tongue, but too distorted to make out. I looked down, seeing my body was a shapeless mist, moving through the air easily. Dark thoughts were everywhere.
My vision swirled, showing corpses, blood, and hatred. I felt time passing rapidly, and watched a city be built in my domain, shining, made of crystal. I watched as people were twisted, even a lone grey unicorn, and a beautiful blue alicorn. I watched her fight her sister, being trapped, and cast out, and with it, 2 fragments were cast out as well, landing within the scythe, the said object clattering to the floor besides the EOH. Another image, a woman in white picking it up. She had many fears, including the fear of being alone. A shape rose behind her, whispering into her ears. I was spun around, the shape directly in my face, seeming angry.
"Looking for something, brother?!" the being howled yet whispered, in a female-ish voice. I fell back, my vision returning as the case cracked, but not shattered, the scythe on the floor nearby. I gasped, shaking slightly, thing about what the FUCK just happened.
"I... believe I just witnessed... history." I said to myself, watching the scythe with fearful curiosity. 2 entities, trapped within the handle, one weak and nearly dormant (I believe the fragment of NMM), and then another fragment, of a being that felt familiar, almost like family, perhaps a cult experiment?
I looked up, having taken notice of a gentle noise, sad and emotional. Sobbing. The moment I noticed this noise, I remembered the trail of mist from earlier. I rose, looking at the mist, and how it appeared to snake its way in the direction of the sobbing. Following the mist did not take long, as I reached an area in disarray, tables and stands having been thrown around, glass laying shattered on the floor, furnishings in shambles, leaving a rough clearing. Its creator was stomping around, sobbing hysterically, my eyes widening at the sight.
Celestia yelled angrily, her golden magic wrapping around a stand, with it flickering a lava orange, as she sent it flying. Her form appeared different from earlier, streaks of fire in her hair, and one of her eyes were a deep red instead of an adorable pink. Then there was the mist, having coiled up her legs and body, and pooling into her ears, its influence moving into her, like a creature whispering into her ears.
"How dare they turn against me! I'm merely trying to protect them!" she stopped sobbing for a moment, appearing to be listening to someone speaking, yet, nobody appeared to be speaking. "Yes... Maybe Twilight and Cadance aren't ready to take my place, nor my sisters, after all.".
"In fact... its a fucking horrible idea for us to retire! Luna could become corrupted by that beast! Silver could easily take her down!" she threw another stand, back turned. "Luckily, the monster is long gone, torn apart by the elements...".
"No, it wasn't Celestia." I said, rising up from my hiding space, watching her. She spun around, while the mist shifted, so a bird-like face with yellow eyes formed behind her head, and near her shoulder, looking as if it was perched there.
"You! How did you get in here? What do you mean it wasn't destroyed?" she screeched at me, the misty being watching me with curiosity. I sighed, remembering spells used by the Harmonicin Umbrin, as I may need them. I kept one in mind, letting my magic course through my body.
"I realized whats going on, so you need to as well, Celestia. The creature that took down Luna, was the Nightmist, a monster made by the Harmonicin Umbrin. When NMM became Luna once again, a fragment of the 2 were cast out and into her weapon, the scythe. Both beings survived, Tia" I stepped closer, knowing it would be best to end this quickly, while Celestia stepped away, not wanting to listen. The Nightmist began to growl.
"No. NO. Those monsters are DEAD." she screeched, but I ignored her, continuing.
"... after fighting and defeating NMM and the scythe fell... you took it, to put it in this vault. But, you were shown a way to be stronger, to stop an monster like NMM from ever appearing again. You refused, but it stayed. Its been whispering into your ear for a long time." I was an arms length away from her, a spell charged in my right hand, a yellow orb of energy in my fingertips. I continued again.
"The creature you believe is a friend, is the very creature you despise." I paused, watching her silently sob. I moved my left hand, letting it rest on her shoulder, feeling sorry for her. "Celestia, it isn't your friend, and if you keep believing that, you'll end up as Luna did. Please, for her, force the mist out of your head.".
She looked up, staring me in the eyes, worry and doubt having replaced the tears. She sniffled, and attempted to speak, even though she was still sputtering from crying so much.
"I-I f-f-felt so ah-alone for those 1000 y-years. It became my friend. If I lose it... What do I have left?" she asked, looking for guidance away from this darkness. I smiled, mustering the kindest one I could muster in this circumstance.
"Celestia, that creature is the reason you feel alone, even though your not. Luna has returned. Twilight is always willing to visit her mentor. Cadance is willing to visit her aunt. There's new rulers always able to meet with you. Hell, there's even Discord." she giggled gently at the mention of Discord, but then she looked to her side, eyes widening at finally being able to see the source of the corruption, and then they narrowed. I continued, even though a faint footstep echoed nearby, confirming the suspicion that I'd been followed. "Celestia. This monster wants you alone so it can corrupt you. Don't let it.".
The creature appeared furious, as it began to speak angrily. "Do not listen to him; he is related to me! I am your friend, and he is the enem-------".
"ENOUGH!!!" Celestia boomed in the royal canterlot voice, as she looked the Nightmist in the eye, with a full pink glare, the rage of the sun burning into the monster. "I can see what you truly are you monster. I was wrong about Silver, for you, are the only monster here." she growled, and like a wave on a beach, a wave of magic ran across her form, reverting back into her normal form, her yellow aura grabbing the mist, and throwing it off of her. It watched her, seeming scared now that it had been separated from its host.
"Stop! You need me!"
"No she doesn't!" a figure yelled, moving into view, with her number-one assistant beside her, both seeming pissed. "I have read stories about you, a boogeyman of the cold north. You shouldn't be allowed to leave!".
Twilight took aim with her horn, letting loose a barrage, even though she was weak. The magic collided with the monster, and it howled in pain, before darting at them both. Spike tried to stomp it, but instead, it latched onto his leg, moving up his body and into his ears, while Twi teleported beside me, staggering weakly.
"Spike!" she yelled, but he stood still, mist flowing from his now purple eyes. His body twitched, as he grinned, showing off his sharp teeth, turning towards us.
"Now this... is interesting~." it growled, misty tufts of fire being exhaled from its nose. It glanced at its hands, observing the sharp claws, and then, began moving towards us. Celestia growled, appearing in front of us, horn charged with magic.
"Get away from them!" she fired off a very strong banishment spell to try and throw the Nightmist out of Spike, but, it merely bounced off, as it chuckled.
"VERY interesting..." Celestia appeared frozen in fear, allowing him to slash her side, letting blood fly. Like an instinct kicked in, I pointed at her, magic flowing through my arm. As she fell, Spike moved to slash her again, but he never did, a silver grey aura wrapping around her, and then she vanished, appearing beside me and Twi.
"Celestia! Silver, why didn't that spell work?" Twilight asked, moving to Celestia, conjuring up a first aid kit, and pushing aura to her side as well.
"The gems that dragons eat are filled with magic. Over time, their scales have developed a resistance. Basically, they have armor..." I explained, watching Spike slowly stumble towards us, getting used to the body. "I'm going to distract it while I think of something, and you are going to fix up Tia, okay?".
"Mhm."
"Okay..." I had kept my eyes on Spike the entire time, as now he was very close, mouth filled with purple fire. I smirked, diving to the side, a shield appearing in front of Twi as the spot I'd been in was roasted, all while yelling "Hey Nightmist, aka, failure me! It must suck knowing your very existence was a fluke!".
That seemed to grab his attention, huffing angrily at me, moving away from the 2 alicorns...
... and after the man that is less than a week old, that doesn't fully understand his magic.
Maybe this was a bad idea.
I gasped for air, having been dodging for hours. My clothes were torn and singed, but my body, burned with exhaustion, and I fell no closer to a solution.
'Lets go over this again: a monster known as the Nightmist is using a scythe as a host, and using Spike as a puppet.' I dodged a fireball, running across the floor, the monster following behind me. 'Wait...'
I turned, looking for the scythe, spotting it still laying on the floor beside the case, still crackling with energy.
'If I can run, and get it in its case... and activate the runes.' I grinned as the idea took shape, my body going into overdrive as I ran for the case. But, the next moment, I was flying through the air, vision going black, pain erupting from my lower right side and back, until I collided with the floor, pain erupting through my other side, yet I was unable to scream, my jaw feeling odd, almost broken. I heard Twilight scream, and the monster laugh, turning away.
"Its over, Sparkle. That, was a killing blow~" a deep chuckle, while she sobbed. I took this moment to look around, noticing that I sat in a pool of my own blood, deep claw-marks in my side and back. 'I should be dead'.
I looked around more, noticing that I'd been thrown very far, and it wasn't totally a bad thing. You see, I'd collided with a downed display case, and beside it, sat the scythe! I very nearly chuckled, but instead, kept silent, getting up, and picking the case up as well, moving it into position, which was much louder than I expected. Spike spun, watching as I placed the scythe back into its case, while Twilight gasped, staring at what she saw as a walking corpse.
"How are you alive!? No, you need to die, NOW!" it roared, charging at me. I readied 2 spells, as it grew closer and closer. It opened its mouth, a purple fireball ready. I launched a spell from my right hand, a quick bolt of silver plunging towards Spike, and down his throat. He sputtered, fire going out as the body froze up, paralyzed, the first part of the spell. The body then appeared to inhale, and exhale the mist, throwing the Nightmist from the body. I smiled, the Nightmist appearing dazed and confused. Time for phase 2.
My other hand appeared to glow, as I thought about the runes within the case, and how they were inactive. In my head, I imagined the free trade of energy, from me to the runes. I pictured the runes activating since they had fuel now: my magic.
"Nooooo! I will kill you!" it screeched, entire form vanishing into the scythe. I merely sighed, tunnel-vision still there.
"... and I won't kill you, sibling." a squeal from nearby, and a shout of victory, Twilight was running towards me.
"You did it! You saved us!" Twilight shouted, limping a bit, but still had a great big smile on her face. I smiled... Collapsing onto the floor, exhaustion and blood-loss having finally caught up to me.
"SILVER!!!" was what I heard, before I blacked out.
Voices, flowing in and out, seeming closer and then farther away. All of it sounded urgent. Something about.. losing a lot of blood. May not make it. Should be dead. The voices drifted away, but I didn't care. I just wanted to sleep.
"No, you don't, my sibling~." a melodious voice said, from directly behind me, a hand made of vines touching my shoulder. The moment it came into contact, a deep rage filled my very soul, and so I rocketed awake.
The first sight I was greeted with was of Twilight, in cute purple footie pajama's, that hugged her cute, nerdy form, having passed out in a chair beside the bed I lay in, beside her...
"Good, your awake!" shouted 2 alicorns, one in a yellow and red tank-top and shorts, with a sunset on the top, basically pajamas, while the other younger sister was in a beautiful dress, stars dotting the blue gown. Luna drank coffee, while Tia drank a gentle, calming tea, which she put down to speak.
"Thank god your all right." she smiled, and I observed her curvy and plump figure from all of the cake waggle within her pajamas. It was the kind of figure that just made your mouth water. I looked back into her eyes, smiling back as she asked. "Do you need anything?".
"Some tea would be nice. Are you okay?".
"Mhm." her steward mumbled something to a nearby maid, and she ran off, soon returning with a nice green tea. "Twilight used strong healing magic for my wounds, but didn't have any left for you. It still hurts a bit, but its tolerable.".
"What happened after I was knocked out?". Luna answered this time.
"From what my sister has told me, after you went down, Twilight cancelled out your paralysis spell on Spike, using him to send a message to me, and so, I sent Celestia's guards, with myself accompanying them, and we took you all to the infirmary. You've been out for a few hours." Luna finished, smiling. "Now that I know your okay, I sadly need to take care of peoples dreams. Goodnight, Silver.".
She rose and left, as Celestia cleared her throat, watching me with regret in her eyes.
"... Silver. I'm sorry for how I treated you. I was horrible. Your not how I thought you were." she paused, looking down guiltily. "So, you can go with Twilight to teach at her school, I will not stop you.".
"... actually, I'd like to teach at your school.".
"Huh? What do you mean?".
"I'd like to teach at your school, and stay here in Canterlot." I paused for a mere moment. "And, if its okay, I'd like the cults base as my home... and to take the scythe into my possession.".
"What!?" she appeared to panic slightly, shaking a bit. "Why would you want the base, AND the thing that tried to kill you!? No way!".
'I should have known it wouldn't be that easy.' I thought, watching Celestia. 'I suppose I should tell her what I've been thinking.'.
"Celestia, allow me to explain. I've been thinking about the cult, and my siblings, the beings before me. I still wish to learn and teach, but I also wish to track down my siblings and traces of the cult, to study them and stop those changes from hurting this world. I also wish to study their last base, perhaps, we can learn something good." I finished, watching her, looking for a hint of an answer, but now, she appeared torn. "I wish to teach at the best school around, and if you want, you can think over my proposa---".
"Fine, you can do what you wish, but, you will have plenty of guards, and your first order of business will be the creation of a faster messaging system, okay?" she ordered, watching me with her serious pink eyes.
"Deal..." I rose, watching her and waving off a nurse that tried to put me back in bed. "I will be heading there now, after grabbing the scythe. Oh, and by the way, can you tell Discord to visit sometime? I need to talk to him.".
"Okay. And Silver?".
"Hmm?".
She wrapped her arms around me, a bit of pain hitting my side, and she smiled warmly, looking into my eyes.
"Thank you, my savior." and she gave me a gentle kiss on the lips.
Chapter 8 - Foggy Thoughts | Done
I strode away from the castle, yawning. In one hand, I held a large case, a handle attached, while in the other hand, a large bag of clothes (from Rarity, she'd left them as a present while I was knocked out). I stole glances at the wondrous city of Canterlot as I went, whistling, and turning down a side street. As I walked, I moved my hand to my jacket pocket, feeling my journal. I sighed, and looked around, using my memories to find what I was looking for: a manhole cover, the cult symbol emblazoned in small print.
I grabbed the manhole cover, and lifted it easily, finding it to be much lighter than an average manhole. I threw my stuff down, smiling a how there wasn't a crash noise, the glass now reinforced, since the runes were now active on the case. I then began climbing down the manholes ladder, soon hopping onto the cool stone floor of a hallway, and heard the cover moving to closeup the hole on its own, cutting off the light, and leaving me in darkness.
"Llumia..." I said quietly, waving my hand, the torches around me bursting to life. I smiled, picking up my stuff, and moving down the hall, passing many doors, with who-knows-what behind them. Well, I could figure out whats behind them easily, if I took the time to translate the labels which was on the doors.
Soon, I reached the center of the underground base, the conjuring room, coming from the northern passage, and I flinched. You see, thanks to the cults battle with the princesses, the room and surrounding area's had been trashed, many sections ready to collapse, but that wasn't why I flinched. No, this was thanks to the odd sight that was floating in the air at the rooms center. At its center, you could see a faint disturbance, a convergence of lines, showing the ley lines, the lines of magic that flow like blood across the planet. Where these lines met, a glowing white crack floated, energy pouring out of it.
"My creation really did a lot of damage, didn't it?" I asked myself, knowingly. You see, this crack was in the air, floating and crackling gently, and was caused by the overflow of magic that Twilight stopped dead, was either caused by, or created, a fracture in the lines, allowing pure untapped magic to leak out. The area thrummed and crackled with that energy, making the air feel charged. I sighed, looking at how the room was ready to collapse.
'I can't live in a place this messed up. How do I fix it?' I wondered, thinking for a long moment, and not finding any good spells from my memories to fix this predicament, but instead found a weird idea. A sense of confidence in my magic. I put my stuff down on a messed up, slanted and nearly shattered worktable, and moved to the center of the room, echoes of the near past all around me, and I put my hands together.
Letting my thoughts drift, acknowledging the fact that my magic works best when I don't think about it, and soon, they focused on their own, on how this place was created, how the inside of the mountain was carved open, and how each brick was laid. With my eyes closed, I whispered gently.
"Create.".
A new gentle hum filled the air, my magic everywhere. Letting my thoughts drift again, they came to how everything here was innovated and changed over time, made better. I let the words loose in another whisper.
"Innovate.".
The area surged, my body releasing a wave of energy, surging and swaying. I smirked, thinking about how the area was torn apart, how it was changed from before.
"Destroy.".
Another surge, the area humming even louder, causing me to smirk, feeling so close. I finally thought about the room now, and the room before it was screwed up, all at once. I inhaled, opening my arms as I spoke.
"Restore.".
The area seemed to glow as I opened my eyes, the energy flowing over everything. Then, the area began to move. The stone fragments from the floor and ceiling flying into place, the burn marks on the floor fading, until the room, and the rest of the base, was fully restored. But, the magical tear did not vanish from existence, but instead faded a bit, and closed up more, becoming more akin to a healing wound. This use of made me stumble as the spell ended, the restoration of such a large area having drained me.
'Jesus, I need to go back to sleep...' I thought, moving over to my things, and picking them up. 'In fact, where even is a bedroom?'.
I paused and smirked, closing my eyes and looking through my memories, which, to be honest, was always kind of difficult, as they were a large jumbled mess, but soon, I saw the memories of the leader, or what I believed was the leader. I gathered my things, and began moving down a nearby hallway out of the main chamber, heading south, quickly reaching a door to my left, and a door to the right, both a gentle spruce, latin on the doors labels. The left door, 'principes Requiem Tabernam', or 'The Leaders Rest', while the other door said 'Studium', or 'Study', and so I went through the left door, finding it unlocked.
"Now, this is more like it!" I exclaimed, observing the room. It was grand, but old, like a haunting reminder of the cults former glory. Beside the door was a key rack, holding a nice key ring. Then there was a few dressers, and a closet, probably filled with the past occupants belongings. Then, there was an ornate, large mirror, for when you wish to dress up. Next, there was a nice, gigantic, ornate bed with large pillows and a blood-red blanket, the bed having 2 nightstands, one on each side. Above the bed, at the ceilings center, was a glass orb, a sphere of fire within, bathing the room in light.
Before I took another step, I let my senses run wild, as I didn't trust the fact that I hadn't ran into any security. I opened my eyes, feeling that there was something off about the walls.
"Revelare." I had instinctively spoken in latin, having said 'Reveal'. Instantly, the lines on the walls revealed themselves, showing themselves to be sensor runes, and trap runes. If I had entered the room, err, stepped any further into the room, the entire thing would have exploded. I paused, thinking for a moment.
"Averte." I said easily in latin, having said 'Deactivate/turn off'. The runes hummed, appearing to shutdown, the lines going black, like ink. Then I said 'Conceal' in latin. "Celare.".
The runes faded, becoming invisible to the human eye once again. I sighed, planting my stuff down beside the bed, and jumping onto it, sighing happily, but quickly growing annoyed, thanks to the light. "Llumia off".
The orb dimmed at my command, making the room dark, perfect. I smiled, closing my eyes, and quickly drifted off to sleep.
My eyes gradually opened, observing the area around me, noticing that I was back within my dream study, sitting at my desk. I smiled, summoning an empty spell book, and quickly copying down the restoration spell from my memory, 'Create. Innovate. Destroy. Restore.'. Then, in a small notepad, I scribbled down the useful note about the fact that my magic, and the cults magic, works especially well with latin, probably because latin was a dead language, and the cults form of magic is a dead one as well.
Smiling at my notes, I poofed the spell book and notepad away, and I summoned my invention notebook, finding that it had come from the real world without a scratch, and the changes I had added while in the real world had stayed. The book appeared upon the desk, opening on its own to a blank page, with my pen appearing beside it. I grabbed the pen, filling the tip, and writing down the problem, 'How to create an instant messaging system that you can take anywhere.'.
I paused, thinking to myself, watching my book, before a lightbulb appeared above my head, since this is a dream, and I can have my fun with its physics. I quickly began scrawling notes, drawing a sometimes soft, sometimes hard, stone slab, with a pen-like device. I didn't notice the eyes watching me at that moment, until a yellow, clawed hand gave my shoulder an easy tap, causing me to jump, startled. A being laughed, revealing its full form.
"Calm down, very-young man! Weren't you expecting me? You did ask for me, after all.".
"Yeah, I suppose I should have been expecting that, Discord." I paused, slowing my breathe quickly. The draconequus chuckled warmly, floating down from above, and summoning a floating arm chair, which he quickly sprawled out in. I smiled, enjoying his antics.
"That reminds me: Why did you want to talk to me?" he asked, looking around at his surroundings. "Nice place, by the way.".
"Why thank you, and the reason I asked for you was that I was hoping you could explain something to me." I said, drawing many complex runes on my paper to give the invention its magical properties. Discords brow raised, curious.
"What question could I, the lord of chaos, answer?" he asked, thunder sound effects playing, the area flashing, even though there were no windows for lightning to shine through to cause that effect. I clapped my hands, enjoying his personality more and more.
"I wanted you to explain your kind of magic, since its so similar to my own. I'm hoping to learn how to control it." I explained, continuing to draw my plan for the communication device, having finished the design and functions, but running into problems with how the runes would fit on the device, as currently, the device would have to be gigantic in order to hold all of the runes. Discord laughed heartily, smiling at me.
"Your bizarre, creepy-pasta pony! I love it!" he paused, thinking for a moment while stroking his beard. "Our form of magic is similar because its the same!".
"What do you mean..?".
"Well, our magic is the same! You see, when unicorns use magic, they pull it from the ley lines, but are only able to really harness a small percentage of the energy, while the rest is wasted. Alicorns are able to handle a larger percentage, but still waste some of it." Discord explained, while using puppets to show his point as well. "This kind of magic-use allows for far more controllable usage, at the cost of effectiveness, and so, most beings use it the most, and some have even evolved to only be able to use this kind of magic.".
"But then, there's beings like you and I. We have more of a connection to the lines, as if they are part of our very being, and this grants us access to the full extent of the lines magic." Discord explained, grinning as he played with a cube formed via magic. "The magic is more chaotic, but far stronger.".
He paused for a moment, playing with the cube. I watched, interested, until finally speaking up. "So, how do I control it?".
"Well, you use every fiber of your being, body, mind, and soul. Use your emotions, and your link to the source, to not control your magic, but guide it instead." he paused, giving me time to think over his answer. "Does that answer your question?".
"... Yes, yes it does. Thank you." I smiled warmly at him, grabbing his cloven paw and giving it a good shake. He pointed at the devices designs, the image seeming to become 3D, and split into multiple, very thin layers, and upon each layer was multiple runes, and then, the layers reconnected, showing the full schematic. I stared, wide-eyed, amazed at how easily he had solved my dilemma.
"Your welcome~." he sang, blowing me a kiss, and disappearing, leaving me smiling, moving to my invention, observing the intricate ways the runes were interwoven, like clockwork.
"Is that the device my sister commissioned..?" a voice echoed, from seemingly everywhere. I nodded, having sensed the presence for a while now.
"Yes, and should the princess of night be spying? Or, are you supposed to not even be trying to be clever about it?" I said, pointing at a bit of empty space nearby, my hand sparking with silver, and her invisibility spell was disabled with a jolt, her eeping as she was revealed, and her voice projection spell was disabled as well.
"Hey! Be careful with your magic!".
"Then don't spy on people, and be reckless while doing it.".
"Listen, Silver!" Luna shouted, grabbing my full attention. She sighed, appearing a bit frustrated, moving to a chair beside the desk, and taking a seat. "I was planning on visiting! I wanted to check on you.".
Luna was silent for a long time, allowing me to take a good look at her. Her figure was fairly similar to her sisters, a lovely hourglass, but, she was smaller, a younger form of Celestia's body. The noticeable difference though was in the hips and bust. You see, thanks to Tia's large diet of cake, she had the hips and ass of a goddess, but Luna had much smaller hips, but instead, had a mouthwatering chest, each orb far bigger than her head, which would be a problem if she didn't have a strong skeletal structure, thanks to the fact that she was an alicorn. This lovely figure was trapped in a beautiful black dress, her royal attire on as well, glittering, complimenting her sparkling, flowing hair.
"Silver, can you explain your new device?" Luna asked, snapping me out of my perverse ogling. I cleared my throat, looking over the design, closing my eyes, and letting my magic flow, and in a silver poof, the design became a prototype, a 3D model, stylus included. I snatched it, putting it in my lap, stylus in my right hand.
"Well, this device is made to enter/connect to a network of these devices, using a number on the front as a sort of address. You'd write an address..." I pressed the stylus against the light stone, and it began to draw gentle, dark lines, like paint, upon the device. "Then, you'd put your message and when done, say 'Send'.".
"Any security measures?".
"Yes. This device is linked to my magic, or my physical aura. Every being has a kind of aura, even non-magic users, allowing for any being to use this a device, but once used, it will lock into their aura, linking the device, and the user.".
"Very interesting... Silver?".
"Hmm?" I looked up, catching her eyes with my own. Only kindness stared back at me.
"We need to address a few things... for instance, your magic.".
"Okay... what about it?".
"I've seen your magic, and Discords, and it is incredible, especially since you were born only a few days ago, but..." she paused, appearing unsure, which wasn't as odd as it should have been. You see, everyone puts alicorns upon a pedestal, but, they are still people. They are imperfect, just like everyone else. Luna cleared her throat, locking eyes with me, and seeming to gather up her courage. "You need to be very careful with your magic, especially when it comes to dreams.".
"You mean, you don't want me messing with your domain?~".
"ITS NOT JUST THAT! " she stomped her foot, curves jiggling, making me blush a bit. "Silver! Your magic can take dreams and make them reality. That kind of power can cause real problems!".
"Fair point. I honestly hadn't thought about that.".
"Its okay, now you know. Just, promise me you'll be more careful, okay?" she asked, giving me adorable puppy-dog eyes, but I was more focused on mentally undressing this beautiful woman. I shook my head a bit, throwing the thoughts away.
"I promise..." I said, wondering why these thoughts were appearing now. Perhaps a form of pubescence? I then took note of the awkward silence that had fallen between us. Glancing at her, I saw that she was smiling at me, but it was clear that there was more on her mind besides that. I cleared my throat, smiling back at her. "Anything else you want to discuss?".
"O-oh. Yes. I'd like to discuss the cult. For instance, their involvement with my transformation into NMM..." she explained, a silence filling the room as I processed what she'd just asked, and me trying to formulate a response. I then began explaining, firstly, the cults transformation through history.
"Then, there's the Nightmist, my sibling. Through reports through history of drastic personality changes, it was tracked by the cult. You see, nobody fully knows exactly how it corrupts, but one theory from the cult is that it makes an offer, and if its accepted, the Nightmist gives you a piece of itself, to fester and grow into a evil form. That's what Nightmare Moon was." I explained, her thinking it over.
"And, that reminds me... In the scythe is a fragment of the Nightmist... and a fragment of Nightmare Moon." she seemed to pause, a knowing look appearing strewn across of her face.
"Tell me: What do you plan on doing with the scythe, and the Nightmist fragment?" she asked, seeming to not wish to discuss parts of Nightmare Moon being alive, at all. I decided to let it go, and thought about her question genuinely.
"I plan on studying the fragment, and the scythe, to better understand my magic." I explained, moving to a nearby book, writing down useful information. Luna pondered my answer.
"What about the base? We left it in a mess..." she gave a slight giggle, and I chuckled in response.
"I have already fixed the damages.".
"Really? How?".
"I... created a spell. Its able to restore things to their former glory.".
"That's... Incredible! But shouldn't your magic not require words, like Discord?" she questioned, seeming puzzled by this, and that made me truly think, as I hadn't thought about that before.
"Well... The magic we both use is fairly chaotic. Discord thinks like a madman, which allows him to better grasp how the magic works, and there's the fact that he has been alive for far longer than me, giving him the time to gain mastery." I explained, then realized I hadn't actually answered the question, and so, I continued. "I... think my way of controlling my magic is treating it kind of like normal magic.".
"But, back to the base..." I paused once again, but would continue, now knowing what I'd say. "I am going to 'update' the place, change it so it reaches my standards. So then the base isn't so... old-school.".
Luna smiled a bit, and then appeared to come up with an idea, looking at me.
"I know my sister has repaid you for her rudeness via granting you the base, so, it would only be right if I give you something for the problems I caused. If you'd like, you may have the funding to pay for the construction, err, reconstruction.".
"That's very kind of you, Luna." a short pause, as I took notice of how long she'd been here. I cleared my throat, gazing at her. "Anything else?".
"No. I need to go anyways, there's plenty of dreams that I need to tend to. Goodbye." Luna rose to leave, but before she could, a thought popped into my mind, like magic.
"Wait!".
"Hmm?".
"How do you and Celestia have visions? What sends them?" I asked, thinking about the vines and the scythe. Luna stopped, mulling over my question for a long moment.
"... I don't know where they come from, all that I know is that they occur to those with a part to play, not just alicorns and royalty, but it tends to be alicorns and royalty, since we have power over many things. Does that answer your question?" she paused, horn charged, ready to leave. I nodded.
"Yes.".
"Good. Have a peaceful night." Luna said, vanishing, probably off to handle others dreams. I turned back to my desk, aiming to get back to work...
I don't know how much time had passed, but I knew it was a lot, but, in the end, I couldn't turn my focus back to my work, as a question had become stuck in my head, aimed at a nearby being. I sighed, closing my journal, and moved to a nearby clear space, and moved my hands slowly and sensually through the air, whispering.
"Et ego in te, Nightmist..." I said 3 times in latin, having said 'I let you in, Nightmist', and when I finished, in a grey flash, a door appeared which seemed to lead to nowhere, but when opening it, it did, revealing a black, shifting void. At that moment, from the darkness, a shape appeared to rush the door, yet I did not stop it, allowing it past. The smokey being pushed into my dreamscape, shivering and shaking, and took the form of a young woman, but its body continued shifting like jello, as it appeared to be trying to keep morphing, yet it managed to stay mostly stable.
"Man its been a long time since someone allowed me in, knowing what I was!" it said, voice sweeter than before, but still distorted and echoey. "What do you want?".
"... where's the rest of you?" I asked, voicing the question that had plagued my mind.
"I have no idea what you mean.".
"Your only a fragment of the full being. Where's the rest of you?" I asked, looking her in the eyes, or what it had chosen as eyes. She smirked returning the look.
"Some of me is left buried with my past... victims. Other fragments merely lay dormant in the cold ice." she explained, managing to be both helpful, and not helpful, all at once.
"Your not going to actually answer me, are you?" I questioned, eyebrow raised.
"No.".
I sighed, angry, but not at the same time. I should've expected this. I should've expected that she or it wouldn't answer my questions, but instead dodge them and be fairly vague. That was her nature.
"What about my siblings?" I asked, actually curious about my own 'technical' family, and the Nightmist giggled.
"Which one? We have quite a few.".
"... well, are there any with vines?" I asked, hoping to find an explanation for my vision. The Nightmist seemed to pause, thinking, before finally answering.
"You mean Evie?".
"Who's Evie?".
"The spirit of the Everfree, of course! You see, long ago in one of the cults many bases, the 'ritual' was performed, and failed to create a body, thus leaving a consciousness with lots of magic. Since it had no vessel to contain itself, it latched onto the largest, nearest living thing, which was, the forest the base was located within. Once connected it was overwhelmed by the wildness of the forest, and the pain it received from being cut down, which put it into a angry frenzy." she explained. "It made the forest grow out of control, consuming the base, and was eventually stopped by the tree of harmony, which didn't really STOP its growth, but merely SOOTHED it so then it'd stop.".
That information dump nearly overloaded me, forcing my legs to give out from underneath my body, and making me land in my desk chair. It made sense. The being in my dreams had vines, and my sibling was the spirit of a forest. Why had nobody noticed the cultist base? Well, its in a very dangerous forest! Why is that forest so unstable? Because it can feel everything done to it! Why is there so much magical fauna and flora inside? The entire forest is supercharged with magic!
"Hey, Silver, you there?" she asked, wondering why I was still silent. She leaned in, staring with wide, misty eyes, and reached out to poke me.
"Leave. " I said quietly, noticing that the door behind her creaked open. She leaned in, not having heard me.
"What? I can't hear you, speak up!"
"Apage!" I yelled, having said 'Be gone!'. The Nightmist yelped, being thrown through the door by an invisible force, and once on the other side, the door slammed shut, my mind now separated from the scythe once again. I sat there, appearing frozen, almost seeming dead. I didn't even breathe, but to be fair, in a dream you don't have to.
"Thank god she's gone." I sighed, turning back to my desk, and laughing gently. "Man, I've only known her for a short time, and I already hate my older sibling.".
I laughed a bit more, shaking my head gently at how that had played out, and moved on to my journal, as there was work that was needed to be completed. I sighed, not needing this notebook, and so I summoned my To-Do notebook, and planted it before me, opening the new pages and grasping my pen in my hand, beginning to scribble down what I needed to do. I'd need to renovate the base, perhaps by adding a few teleporters, and possibly renovate the study that I had seen, or even add a few entrances. I'd also need to stock up on food, water, research gear, and supplies. Perhaps the school would have the proper equipment, in which case I could 'borrow' some things, and pay them back at some point. Hopefully. Hey, its for good reason! For the gathering of knowledge! But, then there was the problem of this base being a labyrinth, so I'd need to either find a map, or fabricate one.
Finally, there was what I was going to do about the Everfree. Once I was done with my home and gathering supplies, I would travel to Ponyville and meet with Twilight, to gather additional information and perhaps have backup in case I didn't return for a while. Then, once within the Everfree, I'd gather information on it, and perhaps learn how to help nearby settlements with traversing it, or perhaps even containing it indefinitely.
The area around me shook as I closed the journal, signaling that the dream was coming to a close, and my body was trying to wake up. I grinned, hoping that this journal would come with me as well, just like my invention journal. To be honest, I'll probably need to purchase a bag to carry all of this around, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I closed my eyes, accepting that the dream was ending, which would allow it to end quicker.
It was time to make my base feel...
Author's Note
Hey! I bet you guys missed me! Well, I've been working very hard on this, and I hope you've enjoyed these 2 chapters, and please know that I am already working on the next 2!
Do know that this story is a sequel to 'Dreams and Demons', and before the 3rd book will be released, this one will need to be finished.
As I have already said, I hope you enjoy, and I hope you are ready for chapter 9 - Like Home.
