Since before Equestria was founded, we know the spiral has existed. There's simply no records of it being built by the first settlers, so we must assume it is older than us. The stone has been dated to be billions of years old, predating any current species, yet it stands the test of time.

I've returned recently from a five year expedition to attempt to understand what the spiral is. The expedition was originally meant to be two years, but the allure of becoming the first creature, let alone pony, to see what was at the top of the spiral was too much for me to resist. Being the student of Princess Celestia herself, I was able to extend the funding to include an attempt at scaling the spiral.

First, I must relay to you what I found within the first year of the expedition, as was the agreement for the original funding of the trip.

I had a thesis on the spiral and it's anti magical properties. To educate any who read this essay and don't know, though I doubt that's many of you, there is a field around the spiral that keeps flying creatures to the ground, limits magic practitioners from fully using their craft, and weakens earthponies to a severe degree... Comparatively.

As this isn't common knowledge, earthponies simply feel especially weakened by the spiral due to the fact that they've simply been lowered to the same stamina and strength as normal creatures. Being so powerful to begin with, the sudden change makes them feel especially weak, though they are far from 'sickly'. This sadly still dissuades most earthponies from entering the field, so many adventurers are not earthponies, and the ones who are don't go very far up the spiral.

My trip down to Spiral's Shadow was an interesting one. The town itself was quite the melting pot of cultures, everything from Zebra alchemists to Minotaur artificers. The town flourishes under the shadow of the spiral and surprisingly has a booming agriculture despite the limited room for farms and uncontrollable weather.

Within the town I was able to find many opinions on the spiral. Some thought it was a gift of the gods, and practically worshiped the spiral itself. Going to one of their services is, in my honest opinion, a must. They're a very philosophical bunch.

Other, more conspiratorial creatures said it was from extraterrestrial beings, as a form of homing beacon back to the planet. They were... Interesting to say the least.

Of course, the town was nothing compared to the spiral itself. Stepping into range of the field was sudden and jarring. I was holding a photography crystal in my magic taking aerial shots when I did, and I ended up breaking the crystal. It felt like something had grabbed hold of my horn and changed my font of magic into a trickle. It was nausiating at first, and the guide laughed as I fell to the ground. They had opted to not tell me we were getting close to the field as it would have been 'absolutely hilarious'.

At this point I had taken my first glance at the spiral proper. I was charmed. The sight took hold of me instantly, drawing me in like a moth to a flame. I knew then why everyone stayed by the spiral, even though it stripped them of their abilities, of their magic, their flight, their strength.

It was not till later that I knew exactly why I saw the spiral as so magnificent as I did. But I'll get to that later in the essay. Before I was veiled to the absolute beauty this structure held. From the high Canterlot mountain palace looking out to the spiral I didn't even realize how transfixing it would be. Yet there I was, unable to remove my eyes from it.

I didn't realize it then, but I now know that my original two year stay had changed from that moment. From that moment as I looked up at the spiral, I know now that I would have spent those five years no matter what. I could see how they thought it a god, a beacon, and alien. Nothing on Terrathaumis could have built that.

And I had to know how to build one myself.

Author's Note

I have a goal with this. I've said that before. But I do have a goal for this.