Prologue: Sovngarde or Bust
- The Equestrian Scrolls -
Ponykiin
Prologue: Sovngarde or Bust
By Sergeantmolt
Nomulus Thel, sole Dovahkiin of Skyrim, broke into a sprint as he pulled out his daedric sword and conjured up a Storm Atronach, running full-tilt at Nahkriin, the Dragon Priest guarding the entrance to Alduin's Portal. The young Dovahkiin was outfitted in a full set of Nightingale armor; it had a black-as-night color scheme, and light metal plating arranged in intricate designs across his entire body, both protecting him and giving an ominous appearance. His face was hidden by the armor's dark hood and mask; the only part of his body uncovered was his eyes. An engraved emblem in the shape of a raven was noticeable on his chest plating; it symbolized his status as a Nightingale, an elite member of the Thieves' Guild, and protector of the goddess Nocturnal's shrines. But today, Nomulus wasn't fighting for his Guild. He was fighting for the safety of Skyrim's people itself. He was fighting to save the Nords' homeland from Alduin World-Eater, the Nordic god of destruction and chaos.
((Quick A/N: I'm going to leave out any sort of detailed description of the main quest line here, due to how long it would take to describe it. Needless to say, if you don't know the complete story, I'd suggest you do a little research, or you'll probably be confused. Also, note that Nomulus is at Skuldafn Temple, at the portal on the top.))
Cape billowing out behind him, Nomulus managed to make his way up the stone steps to Nahkriin before the Priest could pull his curved, intricately carved staff out of the seal holding the portal open. Nomulus swung his sword once, aiming at Nahkriin's throat, only to have it skate across a magical barrier, the Priest unscathed. Before he could strike again, Nahkriin had yanked his staff out of the seal, and he was forced to retreat, channeling his magicka into a ward to protect himself from a sudden onslaught of lightning. Behind the Dragon Priest, he could see the portal's beams of energy and light fade, dispelling any promise of escape.
Dammit, he's definitely not going to make this easy. the Dovahkiin thought as he rolled behind the only obstacle he could: the stairs leading up to the seal. The lightning forks poured into the stone for a few seconds before being cancelled, and Nomulus cancelled his ward, then quickly pulled an invisibility potion from his belt, downing it in a single gulp and turning transparent. Letting some of his magical energies recharge, Nomulus stood stock-still as the Priest rounded the corner, obviously looking to kill him as quickly as possible. The priest looked around, then turned and stared, his mask expressionless, right at Nomulus' hiding place. As Nahkriin raised his staff, all Nomulus could do was pray to the god of his choice.
Before Nahkriin could fire another river of electricity, however, he was hit in the back by another being's lightning bolt, and turned around just in time to take another bolt to the chest. He had forgotten about Nomulus' storm atronach, which had just come close enough to start its own attack. Growling in an indecipherable curse, the Dragon Priest poured lightning towards Nomulus' conjured ally, intending to kill it quickly. Due to the fact that it was made of electricity, the storm atronach was able to absorb the staff's lighting attack, and flew straight at the Priest before he could realize that his lightning attack didn't affect it. As it closed in, the atronach swung a fist of stone and shattered several bones in Nahkriin's stomach, right where its lightning bolt had hit beforehand. However, before the conjured golem could get another hit in, Nahkriin realized his mistake, and changed the stream of lightning from his staff into a barrage of ice spikes from his palm, punching through the essence of the storm atronach and decimating Nomulus' conjured assistant with ease. The gaping hole in the Priest's chest didn't seem to even faze him.
As the battle had gone on, Nomulus had managed to sneak up behind the Dragon Priest, and swung his sword as hard as he could, aiming at something different: the arm that had fired ice spikes at the storm atronach. He was rewarded with a shattering sound and the clatter of an undead arm on the floor, but then was forced to retreat again under another barrage of lightning. Nomulus tried his best to get behind some cover, but Nahkriin knew what the Dovahkiin had in mind, and intended to deny him the pleasure of surprising the Priest again. Instead of giving Nomulus a chance to recuperate, Nahkriin kept pressing his attack, staying close to his foe (though not within range of his sword) and not allowing a single moment of respite. When Nomulus tried to put a pillar in-between the two, Nahkriin circled around it. When the Dovahkiin rolled behind an obstacle, he swooped above it. If the Dragonborn tried to move closer, the Priest simply moved back.
Nomulus began to panic as he felt his store of magical energy rapidly draining away as he kept his magical shield up. I'm going to die before I can even enter Sovngarde! He kept on backing up, unable to charge Nahkriin due to the careful distance the priest was keeping between the two, and the lightning that was pouring into the space.
"Daar Faal Dovahkiin Tol Wah Krii Alduin? Ha! Nis Orin Krii Aar!" Knowing the Dragonborn was close to defeat, Nahkriin had begun to verbally assault Nomulus in the language of dragons.
((Fast A/N: I dare you to translate that ;).))
I've got no other choice; time to use my last resort.
Just as his magicka was about to be depleted, Nomulus took a deep breath, and called forward his understanding of three Words of Power. All of a sudden, he felt a rush of energy embrace his entire body, flowing through him, a force more powerful than simple magic could ever be. Then, all at once, the energy rushed out of him as he channeled it into Thu'um: "YOL TOOR SHUL!" As soon as he Shouted those three words, the invisible energy that had been released into the air was transformed into a raging inferno, hot as the sun. All of this heat energy ended up being focused on the Priest, who had realized too late what the Dovakiin was doing. The inferno of Thu'um enveloped Nahkriin, barreling though a poorly-constructed, last-minute ward and burning the essence of the Dragon Priest to a crisp. Even the wards placed on the Priest's body couldn't hold up against the full power of a three-word Shout.
However, this victory didn't come without a price. Nomulus, after channeling out his Thu'um, was knocked to the ground from the force of his Fire Breath, mentally drained from the use of a three-word Shout. About a minute after the cone of flames died out, he slowly got up, head swimming, sheathed his dropped sword, and searched the remains of Nahkriin. Sure enough, within the pile of ashes was the Priest's powerful enchanted mask, as well as his staff. He took the mask and placed it on his sword belt, then picked up the staff and trudged over to the seal that opened Alduin's Portal. Staggering up the steps, Nomulus placed the staff in a small slot located at the center of the seal, and watched as Alduin's previously dormant portal activated. After a few moments, he saw the first beam of light shoot out of the large stone circle, soon followed by many more. One by one, the beams of light connected into arcing yellow figures, and soon the entire circle was aglow with shifting arcs of golden energy, displaying majesty and beauty unmatched by anything Nomulus had ever seen. After a few minutes of staring at the sight and steeling his mind, Nomulus managed to slightly recover from the skull-splitting headache that the use of powerful Thu'um had caused, and walked to the center of the portal, feeling energy surround and embrace him, lifting him up to the heavens.
For Nomulus, it would've been hard to explain what happened next. One moment he was floating up, embraced by threads of pure energy and knowing he was on the way to Sovngarde. Next thing he knew, there was a subtle shift in the embrace of energy, and all of a sudden he was plunged into a vat of excruciating pain as the energy turned on him and started to slice through his body instead of embracing it. The energy cut through his entire body, breaking every bone and boiling his blood inside of him. He tried to struggle, to escape the pain, but whenever he tried to move his muscles, he was met with even worse agony, which quickly convinced him to stay still. He tried to call upon his healing magic, but as he began to call upon his magicka, he felt his power vanish, and knowledge of his healing spell drain away. All he could do was scream in absolute suffering as he felt his soul torn out of his body by some unknown force. Soon, without a brain to host it, Nomulus Thel's consciousness shut down, and he effectively blacked out.
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"Spike, do you have my copy of Comets: A Study on All Things Extraterrestrial?" Twilight called through the library as she levitated a carefully folded picnic blanket into her saddlebag.
"Got it right here, Twi!" Spike replied as he ran down the steps to the second floor, short legs barely managing to keep himself upright due to the pace he was setting.
It was the night of the annual meteor shower in Equestria. Once again, Twilight and her friends - Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie - were going to watch the sparkling comets streak across the sky, and this time, she was making sure that nothing went wrong. Twilight telekinetically picked up her checklist, and ran through it a third time:
Punch - Check.
Snacks - Check.
Scrolls - Check.
Quill and ink - Check.
Extra quill and ink - Check.
Extra extra quill and ink - Check.
A copy of How to Stargaze: A Manual - Check.
Backup copies of any and all books she might need - Check.
Spike hasn't burnt any books - she quadruple-checked all of her manuals and guides, and then, satisfied that there wasn't a smidgen of ash on any of the books, checked it off her list.
"Alright, everything's ready." Twilight said in a satisfied tone. "Spike, grab the punch and food please."
"You got it, Twi!" Spike picked up the large stack of refreshments, carefully balancing the precarious pile of cookies, punch, and other snacks, then trotted over to the door, where the purple unicorn was waiting. "Ready to go!"
"Come on, then. Everypony's waiting."
After a few minutes of walking, Twilight and her assistant managed to reach the hill that they had used to watch the shower last year, approximately 5 minutes late, by Twilight's calculations.
"Sorry for being so late, everypony. Have you seen anything yet?" As she spoke, the mare began levitating everything in careful order on the crest of the hill. She placed the punch and snacks on the upper-right corner, her scrolls and writing equipment on the opposite corner, and her books equally sorted between the remaining corners. Twilight also made sure that nothing was within 5 centimeters of the blanket's edge.
"Not yet, sugarcube; the shower seems t'be pretty late this year." Applejack replied, face drawn into a half-frown of puzzlement.
"Yeah! It's like they took a vacation or something!" Pinkie chimed in. She gasped loudly. "What if they got taken away by some evil comets, who were jealous of how everypony admired the meteors, and now the nice meteors are never ever never going to get to come back, and-"
Rainbow Dash sighed, then stepped in and shoved her hoof into Pinkie's mouth, muffling the barrage of illogical theories that she was pouring out. "Pinkie... please be quiet."
"Yes, Pinkie, do be a dear and cease your senseless blabbing." Rarity said, lady-like as ever. "Some ponies are trying to wait for the meteor shower in peace."
"O-ay!" Pinkie said through Rainbow Dash's hoof. The light blue pegasus removed her hoof, and shook her head before grabbing a cookie and wolfing it down, sitting next to Applejack on the hill.
Knowing it was useless to try educating Pinkie on the science behind meteor showers, and unlikeliness of "evil comets taking them away", Twilight just sighed as she picked up a scroll and quill, preparing to take notes on the streaking comet debris.
"So, Applejack, Rarity," Twilight asked after a few moments of awkward waiting, "Where are Applebloom and Sweetie Bell?"
"Oh, they wanted 'ta go watch the shower with Scootaloo someplace else." Applejack replied with a shrug.
"I wanted them to stay with us, like last year, but they just wouldn't stop begging." Rarity added, slightly smirking at the memory. "And really, who can say no to those little faces?"
"Besides, I've got Big Mac watching over 'em."
"Well, I'm glad that they wanted to spend some time alone," Twilight said, "knowing those three, they're probably trying to get stargazing cutie marks." Now that's something I'd love to teach them. I've got so many manuals that could assist them-
Rainbow Dash interrupted her train of thought, letting out a harsh laugh. "In your dreams, egghead! Scootaloo would never have a cutie mark for something as lame as stargazing!"
Twilight gave her a dull, 'Twilight-is-not-amused' look in return. "It was just a suggestion, Rainbow."
"Um, girls?"
"And I'm just saying that nopony would have such a lame talent! I mean, who in Equestria would like to stargaze for a living?!"
"Girls? If it's not too much trouble, there's something you need to-"
"I like stargazing, Rainbow!" Twilight replied with a little heat, annoyed at the pegasus' outright blasphemy of one of her favorite subjects. "And if you weren't at least interested in the subject, why are you out here waiting for a meteor shower?!"
"Because meteor showers are awesome! Who doesn't like to see comets shooting across the sky?"
"They aren't comets Rainbow Dash, they're debris from the tails of-"
Fluttershy suddenly stepped in-between the two arguing ponies, startling them out of their debate, and said (with a little force): "Girls!"
Both ponies shrunk back in embarrassment, realizing that they were arguing over something totally trivial; I mean, they were arguing over stargazing, for Celestia's sake.
"Oops....um....sorry Fluttershy; what's the matter?" Rainbow said in an apologetic tone.
Fluttershy slowly pointed with her hoof at something in the distance. "Look." Her five friends turned to see a yellow streak crossing the sky; suddenly, everypony jumped with excitement and began to scramble into position, grabbing snacks and a cup of punch as fast as possible.
"Yippee, it's starting!!"
"Oh, this is just marvelous; I hope it's as grand as last year's!"
"Where's my quill, where's my quill??"
"This is going to be so awesome!"
"Hoo, dogey, looks like this rodeo's about to start!"
"I hope that it lasts longer than last year..."
"Um, girls? Why is that meteor getting closer?" Spike asked, voice quivering with uncertainly. Everypony suddenly froze, turning and taking another look at the 'meteor'; it had drastically grown in size, and what had once been a speck was now a disk, as large as Town Hall.
Pinkie Pie was the first to react, calmly walking in front of the group of ponies and clearly stating: "Alright, everypony, you know the drill." She then jumped up in the air, and exclaimed: "EVERYPONY RUN!!!!!" before darting down the hill
Instantly, the group of friends fled from the scene: Twilight teleporting away with Spike, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying as fast as their wings could carry them, Rarity and Applejack darting down the hill. As the two grounded ponies reached the bottom of the hill, the giant sphere of energy flew straight into the hill, resulting in a large BOOM, a shockwave of lightning shooting out of the landing site, and a decimated picnic.
Twilight popped back to the scene, with Spike no longer on her back. Immediately, the unicorn began to search for her friends, as well as anypony else that could have gotten hurt.
"Applejack! Rarity!" She shouted, eyes darting all among the piles of dirt thrown up by the crashing of the meteor, scanning for any signs of her friends. "Fluttershy! Rainbow Dash! Pinkie Pie! Anypony hurt?!"
She heard some coughing from behind her, and turned around to see one of the piles of dirt crumble away, revealing a muddy, but overall okay Applejack. "Ah'm fine, sugarcube. Go look for th' others."
Twilight nodded, then moved on to try and find the rest of her friends. Needless to say, it wasn't that hard. She found Rarity in the same condition as Applejack, covered in mud and dirt. "AH! THE DIRT! IT'S ALL OVER MEHEHEEEEE!!!" Rarity whined as she desperately looked for something to clean herself with. "I MUST LOOK ABSOLUTELY HIDEOUS! WHERE IS MY BRUSH?! WHERE IS IT?!?!?!"
Soon after finding Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew in, reporting that nopony had gotten hurt from the explosion, including them. However, Pinkie Pie was still nowhere to be found. The four gathered friends (Rarity was still off on her 'fashion tantrum') began to call out for her, looking for the pink earth pony.
"Pinkie Pie?"
"Hey Pinkie Pie! Where are you?"
"Pinkie? Could you please, if it's no bother, of course, show us where you are?"
"Pinkie? Come on sugarcube, where are ya?"
"Pinkie? Where are you, silly filly? Oh, wait, I'm Pinkie!" a pink pony suddenly appeared amongst the group, giggling at her own joke.
"PINKIE!" The group shouted as they turned to the filthy pony, who was currently in hysterics.
"Where were you?!" Twilight scolded, "We were worried sick!"
After finally recovering from her laughter, Pinkie bounced up and pointed a hoof at the remains of the picnic. "I was just over there, seeing if any cookies survived that meteor! I mean, did you see it?! It fell out of the sky, and it hit our picnic, and-" She was once again silenced by Rainbow's hoof.
"We were there, Pinkie Pie." She said dully, and waited on Pinkie to stop talking before asking "Did you see that thing that hit our campsite?"
"Well, duh, who wouldn't see it? I mean, who doesn't want to see a sleeping pony inside of a crater? It's so cool!"
Twilight shook her head at Pinkie's response, before realizing what she had just said. "Wait, WHAT?!?! A PONY IN THE CRATER?!"
"Well yeah, didn't you hear me before, silly filly?"
But Twilight didn't give a response. She was already sprinting up the hill, headed for the crater apparently created by a crash-landed pony.
((A/N: I hope you enjoyed Chapter One of my new story. I know that my combat scene between Dovahkiin and Nahkriin wasn't that good, but that was my very first attempt at writing an action scene, so cut me some slack. I'm also currently looking for an editor/editors for my story. If you think you can help me out, please comment below/PM me. Finally, please tell me what you think of the story. I can't know what's awesome and what's just plain stupid without people's advice ;).))
Chapter 1: Hitting the Books
- The Equestrian Scrolls -
Ponykiin
Chapter One: Hitting the Books
By Sergeantmolt
Twilight galloped up the hill, mind racing through all the different scenarios that could occur when she reached the top. Maybe he (or she) is hostile, or maybe he/she is some sort of super-powerful magician with a spell gone wrong, or maybe he/she's an alien pony from- She pulled the emergency brake on her train of thought before she got too carried away. Hold on a sec, Twilight; you're starting to think like Pinkie Pie. Most likely what she saw was some pony looking at the crater, or something like that... Either way, I've got to take a look at who, or what, Pinkie saw. Within moments, Twilight reached the lip of the impact site.
By Twilight's calculations, the crater appeared to be about 26 feet in diameter. The deepest part, the center, looked approximately 5 feet deep, when compared to the lip of the crater. As her gaze shifted to look at what was inside the crater, Twilight's jaw dropped. Inside the crater was close to 20 books; each had one of five strange symbols adorned on the cover, and somehow, all of the books were in perfect condition. Surrounded by these strange tomes was a jet black male unicorn. A white mane, streaked with a single light blue stripe, was scattered in tendrils across his neck. A tail of the same colors was barely visible; the mud-caked appendage was half buried under the dirt. As Twilight cautiously crept closer, she could see that the strange stallion had splashes of dirt across his body, and that no trace of a cutie mark could be seen. His chest rose and fell very slowly, rhythmically pushing a lean, muscled stomach up and down – a clear sign that he was still alive.
"How in Celestia's name did you manage to get here?" Twilight asked the unconscious pony, head cocked to the side in puzzlement. And who, or more specifically, what are you?
After a few moments, Twilight's friends reached the lip of the crater, and saw her studying the black pony. Immediately, Pinkie took the lead, bouncing down to Twilight and saying (in her usual spunky attitude) "See? I told you there was a pony up here, didn't I?"
After a few moments of staring at the contents of the crater, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy made their way over to where Twilight and Pinkie were standing, heads swiveling around to try and take note of every little detail.
"Twi, who is that?" Applejack asked, voice full of awe as her gaze settled on the stallion in the center of the crater.
"I...I have no idea, but after an impact like that…I’m not sure if he’s even still alive."
Rainbow Dash promptly walked up to the unconscious pony and started jabbing his stomach with her hoof. “HEY, CAN YOU HEAR ME? HELLOO-! Hey!” She was abruptly silenced by Applejack, who had yanked her back by the tail.
“Rainbow, just what do ya think you’re doin’?” Applejack said after she spit out the rainbow-colored tail.
“Well he can’t be that hurt! I mean, look at him! There isn’t a single scratch on his body! I’ve gotten hurt worse in my sleep!” The cyan pegasus scoffed.
Applejack rolled her eyes in response, then turned to Pinkie Pie, who was busy discussing who the jet black stallion could be. “OOH! Maybe he’s one of Luna’s stars that got kicked out of the sky by other, meaner stars who liked to pick on him, and he’s to sad to wake up, and-“
Applejack held up a hoof to stop Pinkie’s barrage. “Pinkie, sugarcube, maybe you should go and find somepony that could help.” She paused, pondering the wisdom of her next statement. “…and then, did you forget that he’s…new in town?”
The pink pony’s eyes suddenly grew to the size of saucers, and with a giant gasp, she darted off to find somepony to help, then to plan a party for the new pony in town. Much to her friends’ surprise, Pinkie was back within a minute, a very surprised pony from the hospital staff clinging to her back. She promptly bucked him onto the ground, and then zipped away again, undoubtedly to start on party prep.
“Uuugh…what happened?” The tan-colored doctor said as he picked himself up off the ground.
“Pinkie Pie.” The five mares replied in unison.
“That explains a lot.” He groaned, and then began to take a look at his surroundings – only for his eyes to end up locking onto the jet black stallion in the center of the crater. “Who’s that?!” he exclaimed as he rushed over to the unconscious pony.
“That’s just it…we don’t know.” Twilight replied with an apologetic smile. “All we know is that he hasn't moved since we…found him like this.”
The doctor carefully placed his ear to the pony’s mouth, listening for breathing. After a few moments, he straightened up and sighed. “Well, he’s alive, but I can’t properly diagnose his condition without the proper equipment. I need to take this stallion to the hospital.”
“Girls…look…” Fluttershy whispered, pointing her hoof at the sky. The group turned around to see the beginnings of the meteor shower, bright yellow lights flashing across the sky in less than a second. “The meteor shower’s starting.”
"If only we could stay and enjoy it." Twilight sighed as she turned away from the night sky's display. "Come on, girls, let's get this pony to the hospital."
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One Week Later
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Nomulus' consciousness surfaced to the sound of two people discussing something. They were talking quite loudly; just loud enough that his slumbering mind had decided it was too much to sleep through. Intending to tell the two loudmouths off, Nomulus got up and opened his eyes; or rather, he tried to. As soon as he tried to put his body weight on them, his limbs failed him, dropping his immensely sore body back onto the bed. Nomulus experienced something similar with his eyes as well; they slammed shut after a painful white light shone directly through his pupils, driving the spike of his migraine deeper into his skull. The Dragonborn was forced to just rest there, his entire body now throbbing with renewed pain. He heard the two people that had awoken him rush over to his bed and start firing a rapid-fire barrage of questions; they sounded muffled, as if they were trying speaking through layers of cotton. Nomulus decided to ignore them, employing the massive amount of concentration that comes with learning to focus Thu'um to take all of the pain and stuff it in a mental box. Eventually, the throbbing in his body was mentally herded into a corral located located at the back of his mind, and Nomulus was able to form coherent thoughts for the first time since awakening. His body still ached, but the force that kept it at the forefront of his mind had been pushed into the box as well.
With his mind now wrested from the pain's control, Nomulus tried to come up with scenarios of what had happened. Maybe that whole ordeal with the portal was a dream, he mused, but pushed away the thought just as quickly as it had popped up. No, the pain was too real; how sore I am now attests to that. Something must have gone wrong with the portal; maybe Alduin knew my plan, and sabotaged it? If the feeling of pain that was trapped in his mental box didn't have such a significant hold over his body, Nomulus would have wrinkled his face in a thoughtful frown. Either way, someone must have found me; from the sound of this place, it seems that I'm getting tended to in some sort of hall. That, or I’m in one very fancy healer's tent. I should be up and about sooner or later; then I can sort out this whole mess, and figure out what in Nocturnal's name happened to me. Until then...guess I'm stuck in bed.
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It was about 5:00 PM, about a week after the meteor shower. The bright white lights of the hospital illuminated its equally white-washed halls and rooms. In one such hallway, Twilight Sparkle and a pink-maned, white earth pony were discussing the 'new arrival'.
"How is he?" Twilight asked Nurse Redheart for the eighth time that week, both mares' gaze set on the strange black pony through a hospital window.
"It appears he tried to get up a few hours ago; our two nurses in the room couldn't say for sure, though." The earth pony replied. "All I can guess is that he tried to push himself up, but overestimated his strength and collapsed back onto the bed."
"Has he said or done anything that might give us a clue to who he is?"
"No, he hasn't said anything. He just lies there, and doesn't say or respond to anything we say." the nurse's face was set in a puzzled frown. "I can't say for sure, but I think until he's fully recovered from...whatever injured him, we're not going to hear a peep from that stallion."
Twilight sighed. "I can't help but wonder how he got here; logic tells me he got here via that large ball of…energy, but how would he survive such a large amount of force when he hit? I mean, the impact made a five foot deep crater!"
"Maybe it's some sort of weird spell; from your description of what happened, that bright light could be some sort of magical shield that protected him from the worst of the crash."
"Maybe...I just know that the stallion in there can explain."
Nurse Redheart let out a soft laugh. "Either way, you're going to have to be patient. It's not looking like he's waking up anytime soon."
"I suppose so." Twilight sighed once again. "Well, there's nothing to be accomplished by staring at him. I might as well head back to the library." She went to leave, and was accompanied by Nurse Redheart to the front door of the hospital. Before she pushed open the doors, Twilight turned back and asked, "You'll let me know if anything happens?"
"Of course, Twilight."
She nodded in acknowledgement and pushed open the doors, headed for her library.
As soon as the door to her library swung open, Twilight was calling for Spike. "Spiiike! Where are you?"
"Right here, Twi." the short purple dragon replied, walking up to Twilight with a ladle in one claw and a cookbook in the other. "I made some dinner, you-"
"That's great, Spike, but could you cut the small talk for later? I need to know where I put those books from the crater."
"They're still in your room, where you had them last week." Spike replied. "Now, did you want some-" He was interrupted by a POP, and sighed in defeat. Twilight had teleported to her bedroom, leaving the young dragon with nothing to do but eat alone, then go to bed.
As Twilight popped back into existence, she immediately rushed to her desk, levitating some parchment, ink, and a quill to the right side. To the left, she had placed five of the original twenty strange books from the crater, each with one of the five symbols she had discovered on the books' covers. She hadn't had a chance to truly study the five mysterious tomes ever since discovering them with the strange pony. Her previous week had been completely booked, and Twilight hadn't planned any "change around the schedule" time in her calendar, so the books had remained untouched on her bedside table. However, now that her crazy week was over, it was time to settle down and do what Twilight did best: study through the night.
To begin, Twilight selected a purple tome, its cover adorned with what looked like an upside-down, square U symbol. Inside the 'U' was a small swirl. As she opened the tome, faint purple beams of energy floated out, dissipating in the air once they traveled a few feet from the book.
That's strange... Twilight made a quick note on her parchment, then continued with her study, turning her eyes onto the book's pages. To her surprise, all that was on them were various images depicting what seemed like...stages of a ritual of some sort. Eagerly flipping though the pages, Twilight soon had the images of this ritual imprinted in her memory.
That's when everything started to go wrong.
After finishing the last page (which depicted a wolf emerging from some sort of vortex) and closing the book, Twilight looked up from her notes to discover that the strange purple tome was falling apart. Piece by piece, the book was slowly crumbling away, the surprisingly informative knowledge within crumbling with it.
"Oh nononononononoNONONONONONO!" Twilight shrieked as the fallen pieces turned to ashes, desperately trying to hold the book together. "This can't be HAPPENING!!!!" However, despite her efforts, the book dissolved into nothing but a pile of ashes, the knowledge within lost.
Twilight sat there, staring at the pile of ashes for a good minute, jaw dropped in disbelief. ......What just happened? What did I do wrong? Was there some sort of fail-safe spell I didn't notice? Frantically searching her memories, the young mare tried to come up with something she did that would've caused the book to be destroyed. As far as I know, just reading the book made it dissolve like that!
Despite her best efforts, the purple unicorn couldn't come up with any logical reason the book would have crumbled into dust and ashes. Maybe the Princess would know... No, I can't tell her that I destroyed one of the precious books that arrived with that black sta- Twilight gasped as something occurred to her. That's it! The pony from the crater! He'll know! But another realization drowned the fires of her hope. He's in the hospital, and still won't talk. I'm not finding answers there anytime soon.
Once again, the purple unicorn scoured her brain, this time searching for something that could give her a clue as to what the book was. This time, she located something completely new and alien pressing at her thoughts, begging for recognition. Curiosity piqued, Twilight accessed the knowledge, feeling the images from the tome flood into her consciousness and compound into a single, fluid understanding of...she wasn't sure. Upon further self-examination, it appeared that she possessed the knowledge of a brand new spell; one that not only seemed different when compared to her usual magics, but felt different as well. It was like the knowledge was connected to an entirely different section of her mind; an entirely different well of power that Twilight had never noticed (or maybe never had). Intending to see just what this new spell did, Twilight turned her focus back to the physical world...and screamed.
Floating just above her left hoof was a swirling ball of purple and black energy. In its center was what looked like a dark purple black hole; surrounding it was an aura of spiraling, lighter colored energy. The sphere was in constant motion, swirling its own dark energy lines into the center and recreating them around the border at the same time.
After overcoming her initial shock and letting her scream die out, Twilight sat and stared at the purple sphere in her hoof. …what is this thing? Is this the product of that strange spell? Still staring at the vortex, she accessed the part of her brain where the arcane knowledge was located. To her surprise, it seemed that the spell hadn’t truly activated yet; in fact, it felt more like calling it forth had taken off the safety, and gotten the spell ready to fire. Intrigued once more, fright forgotten, Twilight called forth the knowledge once more. Immediately, she felt a previously untapped reservoir of energy begin to drain, the power flowing directly to…her left hoof.
Snapping her focus back to the physical world, Twilight discovered that the vortex in her hoof was now swelled up – its center was about 1.5 times bigger, as well as the aura surrounding it. The energy particles poured into the center even faster than before; it looked like the sphere was ready to burst, and was simply waiting for Twilight’s permission. Even more curious than before, she decided to let it do so; the unicorn found the trigger mechanism woven into the spell and flipped it, unconsciously flicking her left hoof towards the wall as she did so. Almost immediately after she released the energy, Twilight saw the ball of flowing energy burst into the air and dissipate, fragments fleeing into the air and disappearing. Then, to her surprise, a mysterious purple portal appeared seemingly out of nowhere, the awning purple gap of energy spinning particles around it for a few seconds before dissipating just as quickly.
However, it didn’t disappear without something coming through.
A few seconds after the portal closed, Twilight began to see streaks of blue lightning form out of nowhere, moving towards where the portal used to be. The unicorn was entranced by the sight; she couldn’t tear her eyes away as the condensed electricity formed into the legs, torso, back, and head of a timber wolf. As soon as the shape was finished, the electricity wove itself together to complete the wolf’s body, combining the streaks of energy and giving its entire body a purple sheen. Every section of the beast was purple; its eyes were the only exception. Instead of the default purple, the woven energy had colored the beady orbs a blood-red.
Pushed forward by her ever-growing curiosity, Twilight moved closer to the timber wolf, trying to get a closer look at what this…conjuration was. As she crept closer, a whirlwind of thoughts swept through her consciousness. What is this? How did a purple timber wolf suddenly form from that blue lightning? What exactly did that spell do?!
Within moments, Twilight came within five feet of the beast. Then it did something that would always give her chills when she looked back to that one moment: it turned its head and stared at her, right in the eye. The wolf’s murderous red eyes bored into her skull, and a clear message transferred itself to Twilight’s cranium: Who would you like me to …deal with, mistress? The wolf bared gleaming purple teeth in a snarl, as if to assert its lethality.
All Twilight could do was stare at the conjured beast in a mix of fear, awe, and confusion as she tried to process what was going on. How in Equestria did a living purple timber wolf get in my room? Was this what that spell did? It teleported a purple timber wolf into my room?! What the hay is going on here?!?!
Much to her surprise, the wolf replied telekinetically. You cast a conjuration spell, calling me forth from the plains of Oblivion. While I am here, your spell commands me to protect you, and to tear out the throats of any who would oppose you. Twilight fought the urge to gag as she fought back an assault of graphic images. …Let me tell you just…one thing. Once again, the wolf bared its teeth in a bone-chilling snarl. I may have to serve you, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like it. I assure you that if I had a choice in the matter, your throat would be in my jaws at this very moment.
Twilight felt as though she was going to collapse as the pieces clicked together in her mind, and stumbled back a few steps, feeling a very strong urge to puke. That spell took a timber wolf…a living being from its home, brought it here, and chained it to my will? On top of that, its whole purpose in being here is to kill other living things?!
All Twilight could do was stand there, trying to figure out what to do as her mind went into lockdown. In return, the timber wolf just stood there, staring at her with its accusing, glaring red orbs. After a few minutes, however, Twilight noticed something different about the lupine.
It was disappearing. It started slowly at first, but little by little, the lightning that had originally made up the timber wolf was returning to its former appearance and dissipating into the air, leaving the small section of the beast’s body that it made up empty. Gradually the process gained speed, and soon, the wolf was completely static again as its body was halfway evaporated. After about a minute, the purple timber wolf, and the energy that had formed it, had disappeared, leaving no trace of its previous existence.
Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, everypony. My work and school schedule haven't exactly given me many chances to write, and the call of Borderlands 2 has been way too strong for when I have a couple of hours to myself.
