It was a quiet day in the usual busy place that is the Canterlot Library. Many ponies use it for their needs- whatever it could be and only the Restricted Section is untouched by hooves or magic.
On this day, however, very few ponies are present. That’s not an uncommon sight, but what is unusual is a certain alicorn searching through the books….for something.
This alicorn in question is light purple and has a dark blue-ish mane with pink stripes. She has violet eyes, and her cutie mark is a six-sided, pink star with 5 smaller ones surrounding it.
“It’s impossible for her to be here and disappear! Unless she tricked me by messing with the residual magic here, which is hard but not impossible, I should have tracked her from the outside! This is ridiculous!” Twilight pouted.
A green and purple baby dragon pinched his nose and sighed. “Why are you trying to track Starlight Glimmer in the First Place? She’s just good at that Unmarking spell, but we defeated her, right?” He raised an eyebrow at the last word.
“It’s clear that she has wonderful and a terrifying range of magic sets and skills, and unmarking a pony is unheard of. Cutie Mark Magic, as mages call it, is different from most magicks I know, even dark magic-“Twilight shuddered at the last two words while removing many books and returning it. “- and difficult to at least figure out its mechanics!” She looked below a table some stallion was using, making him give her a glare, in which Twilight grinned nervously and proceeded to another section. “ The explanation we give to fillies and colts just barely scratched the surface, anyway. This thing is an anomaly in our world, and its similarity with whatever makes most of us sapients, including other races such as the griffons, more colorful than most of the sentient species.” Twilight took a breath. “And those Everfree creatures are afflicted with its form of magic, which is like chaos magic but weaker yet worse!” Twilight’s body finally gave up and plummeted to the ground, face first.
Assisting his friend, and mother, Spike spoke with a serious and bored tone. “And why the library of all things?”
Once she was alright, Twilight explained, “She might have taken a book about dark spells, which thank Celestia didn’t happen, but if her last trail is here-“ Twilight looked at an all purple book with the outline of a 4-pointed star with smoke over it and smirked. Once she tried pulling the book, it only threw her back, earning some confused and suspicious glares. “-Then that means-“ Twilight looked at the book again, only with a charged horn. Once all ponies in the area is gone, she blasted her magic into the book, encompassing it with a pinkish glow. The book then finally budged, opening a secret door: an oak plank under the carpet. “She’s somewhere usually inaccessible. And now, a piece of the puzzle was solved but yet opens up a series of questions.” Twilight smirked, with Spike looking at the passageway, lit up by small torches large enough to illuminate the otherwise dark and scary path down. “What are her plans, why did she enslave a town in the first place, why did she craft an Unmarking Spell-from scratch, it seems-and most of all what does this means to the future of Equestria and the world as a whole?” It was her turn to peek. “After thwarting her plans, she might be brewing revenge against me, and her skill in magic might outdo me. And I’m an ascended alicorn! And after Tirek’s battle,” Twilight’s tone turned sad and she hunged her head, ears drooping, and the mention of the name has an emphasis of anger and fear. “I still question whether I can survive a situation that involves only one pony, me, without you,” She looked at Spike, still sad,” and my friends.”
Spike went close and hugged her, slightly patting her mane with his claw. “Don’t worry, Twi. I’m sure you can solve this. After all,” Spike made a rather smug grin of appreciation, “you’re the Princess of Friendship and you accidentally turned your parents into plants for some time.”
“Spike!” Twilight let out an angry groan and then chuckled. “Maybe there’s a way to stop it. After all, if Starlight’s after me and my friends, I’ll do what a true friend does to stop her.” She stood in a bipedal stance, a confident expression on her face. “Let’s explore this hole, Spike!”
Spike smiled and then did a double take. “Wa-wai-wait, we’re going…there?” His expression became of that a terrified mouse as he looked at the path as if it was a larger dragon, like that time Ponyville is almost covered in smoke and Fluttershy managed to make the dragon, aka the root of the problem, flee the place. “I thought only you will go do-do-down there,” he shivered in fear. Twilight only smiled while keeping up a serious face, and entered the secret tunnel.
Upon realizing Twilight’s actions, Spike exclaimed, “Wait for me!” and hurriedly ran into the tunnel.
Hey, ####.
Oh, hello there! How can I help you, ####?
Do me a favor. Find ####’s house and request him to come to mine.
Can’t you do that yourself?
Nah, I’m back in my place. Pretty busy here.
*Groaning* Are you dining out, again?
No no no! I’m flocked by a large crowd of reporters, saying something about “Unusual happenings” that they blame on me.
Alright....I’ll go get him. See you soon, I guess. Don’t burn them alive!
See you soon as we-Hey! I ain’t an arsonist! Unlike my –
END CALL
“Now where was I? Oh yes, him. ####.”
…
Huh? Why are their names gibberish?
Huh? Who was that? Oh well, that came out unexpectedly. Not part of my readings, though. Creepy…
It turned out that what was inside the tunnel is even creepier. Cobwebs all around, the tunnel itself is too narrow but tall enough for Celestia to go through, and lots of dirt and spiders all around. The place will give Rarity a heart stroke, to Spike’s horror.
“Man, this place gives me the creeps much more than the entrance.” Spike shuddered, hugging Twilight tighter.
“Don’t worry, Spike, I got your ba- wait, what’s that?” Twilight interrupted herself as she saw an iron door sealed with a lever and gave the impression it was dragged on the dirt just to get it there. Starlight’s cutie mark is embedded on the door, and there was a small peephole for some reason.
“Alright, here goes nothing.” Twilight breathed deeply. Unlike knocking on the door or opening it since it wasn’t fully closed, she blasted it with full force, sending it flying across the larger room. No, it looks slightly smaller than Starlight’s house at Our Town but with papers and equations thrown out everywhere, although in rather neat stacks, two boards with the Mane 6’s pictures (surely taken out of a newspaper) connected with their cutie marks and their exploits, a newly brewed coffee on a light brown, circular desk, and a menacing book on the corner. It reminds the duo of Twilight’s lab, only with lesser equipment.
“Who goes there?!” A familiar voice shouted. Reading by her voice, she just arrived through unknown means (teleportation or another secret path?) when Twilight and Spike entered the place with force. Coming out of one of the piles of papers, the unicorn mare revealed herself. She has a magenta coat with turquoise eyes, a purplish mane with a cyan stripe, the bangs separated into two sections, and the same cutie mark as the clues leading to her hideout.
“You…” Starlight looked with anger at the princess. “I could give you equality and freedom from those cutie marks of yours that separated friends…yet you thwarted the entire operation!” She stared like a hungry wolf.
“What’s next, capturing me like a hero catching a thief? Let. Me. Be!” Starlight blasted her magic towards Twilight, but she teleported away just in time.
“I will out to an end to this rivalry of ours before anyone can get harmed.” Twilight stood straight. “Now, tell me… what is the purpose of ‘Our Town’, your unmarking spell, and why-“ Twilight looked at the boards where her friends, or rather their photos, are pinned. “Do you have those?”
“Never!” Starlight blasted over and over, but Twilight doges every single one, until one almost hit her, to Starlight’s delight, which turned into horror as it hit the suspicious book. Said book turned into ashes in mere seconds, although the gem on it remains unharmed.
“No! What did you do?!” She exclaimed, earning the others’ confusion.
“Now what’s wrong with the boo-“ Before finishing her question, Twilight’s eyes shrank into pinpricks as she stared at the smoke coming out of the gem that used to be on the book, which became mist and turned purple.
“Umm, Spike, did you recall what is that book’s cover again?” Twilight shook in fear.
“Dimensional Magic and You: Summoning Otherworldly Entities Through Portals.” Spike gulped. “I remembered that edition in the ‘D’ section. That’s a type of book where the spell in it only worked once by burning the book into ashes, as those with such enchantment have dangerous and lethal spell-Oh no, we’re screwed.”
“Run!” Twilight and Spike retreated to the entrance, while Starlight took another route and disappeared, along with the boards and pile of papers. The mist swirled into a dark ring and stood vertically before something hits it and the portal mysteriously disappeared.
~*insert fanfare*~ Oh, there he is. Hey ####! How are you?
Hello there- Oh (f*ck? What is that word’s meaning....)! Look out, P###!
What do you mean- Ahhhh!!!!! HELP ME!
I’ll save yo-oh no. It’s too late…can anyone sen-
…..
Ugh. Where am I? Why is it so dark? Why do I feel….funny? Why is my mind…so foggy….
*stab*
…..
Help….whoever…is there. I’m…still…here.
A few hours later, many guards and researchers are confiscating and analyzing the whole place. Unfortunately, the boards are not found, to Twilight’s agony.
“Fear not, Twilight, all of Canterlot is ensured that everything is under control, although whatever is that Starlight mare trying to do might be otherwise dangerous, if not for a spear that poked through it.” An amused yet gentle tone of a mare’s voice called. Said mare is tall and white with the colors of the day on her mane, which is blowing to the nonexistent breeze. A golden crown, necklace with a purple gem, and golden shoes are adorned on her slender body, and a cutie mark of the sun is embedded on her flanks.
“We’re lucky there are guards stationed at the library front, otherwise we’re doomed.” Spike shuddered.
“Still, there are many questions on why Starlight has such of a book. By what little we knew about it, does she needs an assistant from other dimensions? Some way to send me there, never to be seen again, or something else?” Twilight pranced in an endless loop of left to right and she mutters more questions.
“Twilight dear, there’s no need for such assumptions,” Celestia assured. “Although bits of dimensional magic are detected, to my worries,” Celestia continued, sighing.
“Don’t worry, your Majesty, I’ll get to the bottom of this. I promise.” Twilight looked at Princess Celestia with a confident smile before looking at Spike and the two went out their way.
“There are other things I need to do, anyways, like-“
“Getting a snack.” Spike’s tummy growled at his reply. Celestia chuckled at the sight as the two faded into obscurity.
Looking up, seeing that the sun needs to be moved now, she told herself, “I need to continue my duties as well” and went on her way.
A few days later…
“Need. More. Explanations!” Twilight cackled like a madmare as she looked at her endless list of equations, gibberish only she can understand, and scans of the broken gem. Her mane is all over and her eyes bloodshot, with one twitching due to lack of sleep.
“The same, ol’ Twilight.” Spike shook his head and sighed. This investigation is surely gonna take a while, he thought.
In the Everfree Forest, there lay a pegasus. A gold furred pegasus with a luxurious brown mane that ends with blue, and a stripe ran down other the two gradients. Two tufts of hair stood over her head, and a pair of messy wings are on her back. Her mark on her flanks was a trail of two colors leading down to a white circle, slightly obscured by a white outline of a pair of wings. A stab wound stands out near her head, just near the ear but not that lethal.
Purple mist used to have surrounded her, before disappearing and joining the air above, and its magic with the forest’s chaotic nature.
Upon opening her blue eyes, she looked at her surroundings. “Huh….this isn’t-wait, what am I talking about?” She tried to stand up, only to be greeted by hooves a few shades darker than her coat, and feathers of the same, gold color stick up to the back of her hooves.
“I didn’t recall having hair this long-Wait a minute. Hooves?” The pegasus gathered all her breath and shouted loud enough to shoo away birds…and alert a certain pack of new prey.
“Where am I? Who am I? WHAT AM I?” She shrieked, then calmed down. “How am I alive? Why am I here?” She didn’t notice the yellow eyes behind her as she muttered multiple questions. Questions she’ll need to have answers to soon.
To be continued…
Author's Note
Hello there, reader. Those mysterious quotes are actually memory fragments, and the visuals are unfortunately obscured. Bold is the Protagonist speaking, btw.
Let me know if there's something needed to fix.
Ella out!
