The Material and Immaterial worlds
All is dust...
How prophetic those words seem now.
A wise mare from ancient Equis said them, or words just like them. I wonder if I am as gifted as her. I say gifted, but with every passing day, I come to regard these powers as a curse.
I look out with my mind’s eye from this etheric prison, over a landscape of peace and harmony of such strict order, and I remember reading those words in a crumbling book, were though I cannot remember. Over the centuries I read every one of the texts from the forgotten ages that filled the great libraries of Prancepero, but I do not think I really understood them until today.
I feel something drawing near with every breath, every heart-beat.
That I still have either is a miracle, after what that Tyrant did.
The pony I sense is coming to study me, of course. I can feel her intrigue, her thirst for knowledge and eagerness to learn of what was before her time. The power she has was unknown to many, feared by some and incorruptible. Power is fleeting, some say, but not this power.
Once acquired it will either grow in strength or break its wielders heart, but it can never be given back.
Her abilities are like nothing else wielded by ponykind. She could learn all I know from old tomes, but she will not. She needs to gaze upon my tomb as she plunders for knowledge. It is her flaw, one of them at least, that she is compassionate.
She is not privy to what truly happened. She assumes she knows what I have done, but her knowledge is not complete. The Tyrant as seen it that history remembers us as traitors. Truly we are not. None of my kin betrayed them; we did everything we could to save our brothers and sisters.
That is the greatest tragedy of The Thousand. They call us traitors, but such an irony will go unrecorded, even in the lost books of Kallimarekus. We remain loyal, as we have always been.
No one will believe that, not the Empress, not our brothers, nor sisters and especially the timber wolves that are not wolves.
History will say they unleashed the Timber pack of Russ upon us, but the history is wrong. They unleashed something far worse.
I can hear her, wrenching my cage from this pit.
She will believe freeing me will merit her new knowledge, and in a way she is right. But it is so much more than that.
The Tyrant destroyed my Legion and mentor: The two things I loved, the Queen that saved me, the brothers and sisters I lead in protection of innocent ponies, and this young mare will free me, without meaning to.
Ah, but before this young one does such a thing for me, you must know of how such an inquisitive one stumbled upon my prison.
Yet where to begin?
There are no beginnings and no endings, especially upon the streams of the Great Ocean. Past, present and future are one, and time is a meaningless.
So it must seem arbitrary, this place where I begin.
I shall start mere ‘days’ prior to now, with a pony.
A pony that runs a library.
Equestria has existed for tens of thousands of years, a rearing landmass of peace and harmony that had been forged by beings greater than anypony could imagine. Though the ponies of Equestria have only myths and legends about its true founding, the titanic forces of heavenly power, harmonious energies that flow like an unchecked river, the ponies of Equestria know enough to realise that without the order, chaos and unrest would rule.
Set in the heart of a sweeping plain lies a small town home to six special ponies, the town is well known across Equestria for these six ponies and the fetes they have accomplished, but one pony in particular is unique, a pony forge by etheric means.
Near the centre of town stands a tall imposing tree, the town’s library, a graceful elegant creation, combining both the beauty of the natural world and pony architecture.
The grass surrounding the library shimmered in the early morning sunlight, each blade of grass covered in many dew drops, twinkling like thousands of fallen stairs. To the ponies of Ponyville such a sight often goes unnoticed, many ponies still slumbering peacefully, for only one pony was up at such an hour.
From inside the library chaotic scrambling can be heard, the very familiar scrambling of a manic mare. A lilac coloured unicorn, with a dark blue main streaked with a single line of pink and purple, is rapidly running from bookshelf to bookshelf.
A purple aura begins to emanate from the unicorns horn, shimmering like the waves against the shore line, wrapping it around several books upon the shelves bringing them down to eye level. Frantically the unicorn whips through the pages of each book, panting heavily tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Have to find something.” Her voice is rough and cracked having lost the normal calm and elegance many know it to hold. “I have to stop the nightmares. I have to stop the voice!”
The unicorn stops flicking through the books, her horn losing its magical glow, the books fall from their levitated positions hitting the floor with a loud thud. The young mare gasps realising what has just happened, her body begins to shake violently, gulping she turns her head looking over her shoulder her eyes filling with tears.
‘’No... Not again!”
Slumping on the ground shutting her eyes tightly, curling into a tight ball, she begins to sob heavily begging some unseen force to leave her, to no longer torment her as it has done. Lying curled up the unicorn fails to notice the swirling vortex of etheric energy before her; bright vibrant colours of indescribable beauty and perfect comprise the swirling energy.
A snarl echoes from the swirling energy, the snarl of a hungry predator closing in.
Shuddering in fear the unicorn closes her eyes tightly not wishing to see that which has tormented her dreams. A shrill screech erupts into existence breaking the silence that has fallen within the library, a scream that pierces the very soul of those that hear its pained and wretched wail.
Her ears filled with a pain like none she has ever known the unicorn does the only thing she can think to do, she screams in utter terror. The scream is cut short; a choking garbled sputter is all that escapes her throat, for a long slender hand has a tight grasp hold of her very neck. Scrambling desperately with her fore-hooves the unicorn tries in vain to remove hand from her throat.
Slowly the unicorn is hoisted into the air, her hooves falling to her sides having lost all strength to continue trying to free herself. A sickening high pitched laughter fills the library, emanating from vortex. Slowly the laughter dies down only to be replaced by a voice, a voice so soft and sweet yet laced with such malice and evil the very words it speaks could cause even the bravest of ponies to break down into a jabbering mess of tears.
“Such a proud little mortal you are.” The sickly voice begins to whisper into the unicorn’s ear. “But not as smart as others claim you to be.” The voice chuckles still holding the unicorn by the throat. “You’re psychic presence is so rare now that finding one like you is such a treat. I shall enjoy ravaging your mind as a take your body miss Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight’s eyes spring open filled with such raw terror and lack of comprehension all she can manage is a broken whimper unable to believe that tonight after weeks of futile struggle against creatures she has never seen nor heard of, that she has lost and will now pay the ultimate price. Closing her eyes again Twilight waits for the foul beast to deliver the final blow.
But it never comes, without warning the hand gripping her throat tightly suddenly lets go, abruptly dropping the unicorn to the ground. A shriek of pain erupts from the voice that had Twilight’s life within its grasp. Wishing to see that which has sparred her such a horrific fate, slowly opening one eyes Twilight is taken back by what now stands between her and the etheric vortex the voice and hand originated from. Before her stand two beings both in striking contrast to what she knows as pony kind. The figure standing closer to the vortex, she is sure that this figure is an Earth pony but none like she has ever seen; standing nearly as tall as the Princess of the Sun herself the pony is clad in a thick suit of crimson red armour trimmed with gold; two large shoulder pauldrons sit above the left and right fore-hooves each one baring a different marking, the left pauldron bears the image of a black ravens head and nothing more while the right one bears a brilliant white circle what appears to be a curved white leaf embedded into the pauldron itself; upon the figures armour hang strips of parchment covered in runic script older than both Princesses; the pony is wearing a full helmet clad in the same colours as its armour crimson red with a gold mask upon the front resembling that of a traditional knight, underneath the left eye lies a black marking. The pony turns its head slightly to show its deep brilliant yet frightening blue glowing eyes.
“My lord the predator is subdued but for how long I cannot say. I shall hold it back for as long as I am able.” The voice is soft with an air of sophistication behind the words spoken.
Twilight shifts her gaze now to the second figure within the library, upon laying her eyes upon the figure she gasps, being taken back by the figure very appearance. The second figure bears several noticeable differences to the first one. For starters the figure is noticeably taller it seeming that it is having trouble even being within the library for its great height, another noticeable feature his that the figure is of a more slender build clearly being a mare, bearing a ebony coloured coat with both a crimson coloured ethereal mane and tail the figure is clearly one of great power, upon the ponies head lies a long elegant horn ending in a sharp point while upon her sides lie two brilliant wings making the figure an alicorn, covering much of the ponies body is a set of golden armour with runic symbols etched across its surface. Turning her head the tall alicorn looks down at Twilight, a small smile across her face. Getting a good look at the alicorn’s face Twilight is shocked to see only one eye, the left eye to be exact for were the right eye should be there is nothing, not even an empty eye socket, almost as if the alicorn had naturally never had a right eye. Looking into the left eye Twilight is greeted with a swirling array of colour the iris never able to settle on what colour it should be.
The alicorn tilts her head back her horn glowing a brilliant shade of red, as it glows she begins to speak in s deep commanding yet strangely comforting and motherly voice. “Thank you my son. I shall see to it that this young mare is returned to the material world safely from this demons foul labyrinth.”
“W...Wait!” Twilight manages to shout out overcoming her stupor quickly wiping her eyes looking up at the alicorn. “Who are you both? What’s going on? And what do you mean Material world?” her voice is filled with a desperation hoping for the answers to her questions.
The alicorn chuckles slightly her horn still glowing Twilight able to feel her very presence shifting, an indescribable sensation begins to overtake her mind causing the unicorn to black out. As she begins to black out Twilight is able to hear the alicorn’s final words.
“Who we are is not yet important but it is who we were young one. We you awaken this will be but a dream for you.”
With those words Twilight slips from consciousness slowly dissolving in a slowly pulse of red light, only to awake moments later within a sterile white room, lying atop a hospital bed. Bringing a hoof to her forehead she lets out an exasperated sigh, realising something must have been terribly wrong for her to be in the Ponyville library one moment, only to wake up within Ponyville general hospital the next.
“Oh. So you have finally returned to the land of the living Miss Sparkle.” A voice suddenly fills the room emanating from the door way. “I am glad, we have much to discuss”
Author's Note
\Well here it is after taking much longer then I bloody well wanted it to I have rewritten the first chapter completely. Taking the story in different direction, and leaving the ending of this chapter on a cliff hanger... ooh I am evil.
As always please comment point out the flaws it is helpful, since no amount of proof reading I do can I find each and every flaw.