The Forgotten Prince

Chapter VIII: Deciphering the Enigma

The treetops stirred as a gentle and slightly cold breeze blew through them.

Luna had found herself wandering in the unknown woods alone, once again, for the images of her young self and her friend had phased out like ghostly apparitions as soon as the whole flashback of their first meeting came to an end.

She knew that they were nothing but mere projections of her mind, so a part of herself had already been expecting that to happen, but she still could not help but to feel awfully sad afterwards, like if she had the opportunity to reach them for a brief moment, and then lost it, probably, forever.

At least she heard him uttering his name at long last, which gave her some consolation. In fact, that was the very last thing that occurred right before they vanished.

She continued treading the moist grass, passing by the hill in the centre of the vast clearing, as the wind whistled calmly between the tree leafs and the scent of many different wild foliages lingered in the air, and she was completely lost in her thoughts.

A torrent of memory fragments flooded her mind, some longer than others, a few even felt absolutely unfamiliar, but, nevertheless, she followed them in hopes that they would lead to more details about what really happened more than a thousand years ago.

“I really enjoy being around with you. Do you think we could... maybe meet again, soon?”

Those had been the words she had used to seal their friendship. Upon meeting with an affirmative response, both the young foals had promised to meet each other every single night from then on. And that would be the perfect place to do so: exactly where they had met the first time, where he had saved her life, and where Luna’s dream had brought her to.

“You’re doing great! Just keep flapping your wings and don’t look down. I’m right here to catch you!”

Unlike her elder sister, Celestia, who had shown to be quite a naturally proficient flyer at a young age, Luna had been more clumsy and fumbling while moving in the air as a filly. She remembered the flight lessons her friend used to give her for so many nights. Losing control and falling down was frequent for her during the first weeks, but he would always be there to catch her. During the daytime, she would yearn excitedly for the nightfall to come, and resuming their lessons.

“Do you see that big boulder over there? I bet I can lift it with my magic!”

Another memory she recalled with great fondness: their magic skills demonstrations. She had always been eager to show him a new trick she had learned during the day. Sometimes, the spell would fail, leaving her slightly embarrassed. Yet he never derided her, not even once; instead, he would try to help her master the spell, as he had proven to be not only a gifted flyer, but also a very talented magic caster, considering his age.

Luna reached the other side of the hill, where a small lake of calm, limpid waters was hidden, right before the dense tree line ahead, marking the edge of the clearing.

“Come on in! The water’s great, I promise!”

It was there that they used to swim together, under the resplendent pale shine of the moon. Luna had never tried swimming in her life until then, but it would not take long for her to find it extremely fun.

The two foals had the best days of their youth back then. However, something unpredictable and terrible must have occurred in the meantime, as their meetings came to an end, and she never saw him ever again.

She approached the lake to see her own face mirrored in the water, observing how her saddened eyes could not hide her immense sense of longing. Those nights had been the best ones in her entire foalhood... why did it all have to end?

It was then that a horrible, shattering memory struck her: the morning after their last meeting... it had been exactly when all the strange events started for the first time... when their parents lost their lives, along with a great number of their race and their family. Could it be possible that he... had been killed that day, as well? Her heart refused to believe it, yet reason kept pointing it as being the painful truth. She and her sister had been told to be the only surviving alicorn descendants, so he must have been obliterated like all the others.

She closed her eyes tightly, as large tears began to form around their edges from the devastating melancholy that had overtaken her, then streaming down her cold cheeks before dripping into the water of the lake. She felt miserable just to think that she had utterly forgotten about her best friend and confider, nearly believing that he had forsaken her, when he could most probably have met with a terrible fate. Her heartrending sobs could hardly express all the sorrow and atonement inside of her, only there was nopony around to hear them.

As she slowly opened her eyes, she got a little startled upon realising that the face reflected in the lake was suddenly not hers anymore... or at least it did not look like her present self: it was filly Luna who was staring back at her in the water, and she looked just as sorrowful as her.

The reflexion of a young darker pony then appeared beside her, who she recognised as being her friend. He looked at her with his compassionate, caring light blue eyes, like he was pleading her not to be sad.

All of a sudden, Luna sensed a presence right to her side, corresponding to where his reflexion was relatively to hers. She hastily turned her head, landing her gaze right away on the dark silhouette of a very large and muscular pony, much bigger than herself, facing her in absolute silence.

Fear and panic were the first sentiments to overcome her, but they were immediately replaced by perplexity, and ultimately by a quaint, yet tremendous solace, as she recognised those distinctive brilliant icy-blue eyes looking deeply into hers. Every single muscle of her body froze and her eyes widened, with more tears rolling down from them, these ones of pure bliss.

“Fenrir?...”

In another dimension, the yellow pegasus kept searching tirelessly for anything that could be an exit out of the intricate upstairs hallways of the crystal castle, always followed closely by the young greyish alicorn colt she had found earlier in one of the many rooms, whose reliance she had earned by simply showing him some affection and kindness.

After taking one more turn, they came across the familiar form of a rainbow-haired pony, lying motionless in front of a broken tall glass window.

“Oh my goodness, Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy rushed to her and lifted her head up on her front hooves, noticing the several painful-looking cuts and shards of glass tucked deep into her skin “You’re hurt! Did you crash against that window?”

She was still too numb and half-conscious to give a proper response. The yellow pony readily lifted her back up, and leant her against her own body for some balance.

As the cyan pegasus leisurely opened her eyelids while stammering and breathing with some difficulty, the colt cringed a little beside Fluttershy, frightened of the unfamiliar pony before him.

“Ugh... where am I?” She finally spoke up with some clarity “Did I make it to the castle?”

“Yes, but your landing was a bit too harsh. Here, I’ll help you walk...”

The injured pony rapidly moved away from her friend, who looked at her worried and confused at the same time.

“I don’t need your help! If I made it here all by myself, I can find a way out of this crazy place alone!” She then spotted the quivering colt hiding behind Fluttershy’s legs “Hey, who’s that one?”

“Oh, this is Fenrir. I found him in one of the rooms while I was searching for a way out of here.” She moved to the side and delicately pushed him forward “Come on, little fella, don’t be shy. Rainbow Dash is a good friend of mine, she won’t bite.”

As Rainbow Dash finally managed to inspect him better, she abruptly gasped and jolted in a burst of rage and disquietude, turning again to Fluttershy with a dreadfully alarmed expression on her face.

“Fluttershy, do you KNOW who he is?!”

The young colt hastily backed down to her shouting.

“Rainbow Dash, please! You’re scaring him...”

“HE’S THE DARK ALICORN! I caught a glimpse of his eyes when we were inside the Crystal Heart chamber, and they’re the same! I’m sure it’s him!”

“B-but... what are you saying? He’s just a young foal!”

“Step aside, Fluttershy! I’ll end this right now!”

She charged towards him with a menacing pose and a fervent, blinding determination visible in her eyes, which were entirely focused on the little colt, piercing him like burning daggers. She was definitely going to kill him.

However, Fluttershy was also resolute not to let her do him any harm, so she blocked her path.

“No, I won’t let you do it! Even if he is the dark alicorn, he’s just an innocent, defenceless colt! He hasn’t done anything wrong ye- AH!”

Rainbow Dash shoved her violently to the ground, hurting her quite badly, as she fell on her jaw, but not as much as her following bitter words.

“I am so SICK of you all! You claim to be my friends, but you’re just a bunch of scoffers and cowards! And I’ll be honest with you: I’ve never met a pony who was as naïve as you are in my entire life, Fluttershy. You disgust me!”

She rose up on her back hooves and started punching the fallen pegasus with both her front hooves, while the latter just flinched and cried pleadingly with teary eyes and her mind drenched in chagrin and incomprehension, which weighted more than any of the hits bruising her body. The colt just watched the whole scene petrified in horror and trembling uncontrollably.

“Rainbow Dash, pleas- Augh!... W-we’re friends!” Fluttershy beseeched.

Rainbow Dash delivered another painful punch on her face, before ceasing for a brief moment and looking down at her with despise.

“I don’t need any friends...” Her voiced sounded distorted when she uttered those words; a second timbre overlapping hers, similar to a demonic shriek.

She reared up once more and prepared to bring down one final, lethal struck on the badly wounded pony, shuddering on the floor. The yellow pegasus closed her eyes tightly and braced herself, expecting for the strike that would put an end to her life, inconsolably devastated that it would come from the one pony she least expected.

Yet, the strike never came down; instead, a deep inhalation was heard from the attacker, followed by the unmistakable dull sound of a body falling stiff on the floor. Fluttershy opened her eyes and glanced to her side, landing her gaze upon a convulsing Rainbow Dash lying next to her.

“R-Rainbow... Dash...!” She crawled to her through much agonising effort, as every single joint of her body hurt appallingly.

The spasms stopped as soon as she touched her shoulder, and everything went dead silent. She called her name again, but met with no reply; Rainbow Dash was not even breathing anymore.

Her cyan body then jumped swiftly from the ground, landing right on top of her, and began to chock her feverishly. Only then could Fluttershy notice, through desperate and agonising gasps, as the other pegasus had an incredibly strong grapple around her neck, that her eyes were not of the usual tone of rose they used to be: they were awfully darkened, looking like a pair of black spheres with small, bright red dots for pupils.

Not too long after, however, Rainbow Dash released her, sitting on top of her body while holding her own head tightly with both her front hooves, and let out a shattering scream. Fluttershy coughed and looked at her completely bewildered.

“Shut up. Shut up! Get out of my head!” the rainbow-haired pony cried, before she dropped to the side, wincing and sobbing in her lying position “I’m so sorry, Fluttershy! I never wanted to hurt you! It’s... HER! She’s inside me!”

“W-who?” The yellow pony stared at her in panic and dread, as her friend kept writhing frenetically.

“I can’t hold her much longer. Kill me! JUST KILL ME ALREADY!”

“I... I don’t understand what’s going on!” the other pegasus wept in absolute despair.

All of a sudden, the entire corridor was enlightened for a split second by a powerful, blinding flash of white light, carrying a slight gust of wind with it, and everything went calm and insensitive.

Once her vision returned, Fluttershy turned her head around to inspect her surroundings, immediately becoming aware of the source of that magical flare: Fenrir’s tiny horn and eyes were still emanating an intense pale shine, and only when it finally dimmed down did the young colt fell over to the ground.

She hurriedly got up on her hooves and ran towards him, without even noticing that all her bruises and pain had inexplicably vanished, washed away with the spell he conjured up. After lifting his little head up, she sighed in relief upon stating that he was awake, and merely exhausted.

“Fenrir, did you do that?”

“Forgive me, miss Fluttershy...” he muttered in a weakened tone, still struggling for breath “These tend to happen to me sometimes, I cannot control them...”

“You saved us, you have absolutely no reason to be sorry.” She kissed his cheek tenderly, making him blush a little “Thank you.”

“You’re very nice, miss Fluttershy... you remember me of my mother...”

Suddenly, she heard a moan behind her, so she turned around, still holding Fenrir’s head on her hooves, to see Rainbow Dash trying to get up, completely cured from her bizarre possession.

“Dash! Are you feeling okay?”

She was holding her head with one hoof, like it still ached, but still managed to sit up straight, despite feeling a bit disorientated.

“I... I think I’m fine now. And what about you, Fluttershy? I hope I didn’t harm you too much...”

“I’m okay, now. Fenrir saved us both.” She paused for a few seconds “Dash? Who were you struggling with inside your head?”

The inquired pony moved her sight away, staring down at the floor, before she began explaining.

“When we were back in Ponyville, before we found you outside of your house, I got hit by a lightening and nearly died from the fall. Since then, I’ve been hearing this strange voice whispering in my mind, driving me insane... sometimes I even lost control of my own actions...”

“Was that when you argued with Twilight?”

She simply nodded affirmatively, without lifting her head up to face her friend, perhaps because of the unbearable shame that memory brought her.

“And, after that, it happened again when we exited in this dimension, this time with Applejack...” Only then did she look at Fluttershy in the eyes, revealing hers filled with large tears of grief and repentance “I’m so sorry about everything I’ve done, I never meant to hurt any of my friends!”

The yellow pegasus purely smiled at her.

“Of course I forgive you, Dash. Don’t worry. I know you’d never intentionally harm your friends, and I’m glad you’re yourself again.”

At that moment, an unexpected pink beam of light irradiated from Fluttershy’s chest, much to their astonishment, as the collar representing the Element of Kindness reified itself around her neck.

Before they could exchange expression of wonder and awe, however, their attention was immediately drawn to the distinctive sound of hoofsteps coming from the far end of the corridor. There was a small group of bizarre-looking ponies with darkened fur and closed eyes walking slowly in their direction.

“Who are you?” Rainbow Dash demanded, not liking the appearance of any of them.

They all halted except for the one in the middle, who took a few more steps forward.

“We are your worst nightmares!...” it replied in the form of a horrifying, screeching female voice which reverberated inside their heads, one that the cyan pegasus recognised quite well, right before it rose on its front legs and clashed them thunderously with the ground below, creating numerous breaches in the crystal pave, ultimately collapsing beneath Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Fenrir, and a profound hole was opened vertically through the building, reaching down to several floors.

They fell along with the wreckage and shards of broken crystal. While Rainbow Dash managed to grab the edge of one floor before reaching the bottom, Fluttershy and Fenrir fell down to a farther distance, disappearing from sight within the shadows of the massive pit below.

“SHY!” The rainbow-haired pony cried in desperation “I will get you, I promise! Wait for me!”

Further down, somewhere in the awfully dark basement corridors of the castle, flooded with water up to the level of an adult pony’s knees, where the air was filled with the disgusting stench of mustiness, echoed the rhythmic splashes of two ponies walking through the murkiness, as they searched for a way out of there.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie had both exited the interdimensional maelstrom right into the dungeons of the crystal castle, and found each other in an intersection between several cell blocks a few minutes ago. They were now struggling together to find some kind of a stairwell leading to the upper floors.

Suddenly, they heard more hooves splashing in the water coming from every direction and getting gradually closer. Soon, they spotted one black silhouette of an unfamiliar and rather creepy pony coming out of the shadows, treading slowly towards them with its eyes closed. Not liking its aspect at all, they opted for scampering away from it, heading quickly through the corridor ahead.

Eventually, they reached two large, solid metal doors, which they hurriedly tried to push, then pull, but with no effect, for they were locked securely.

“What are we going to do now, Pinkie?”

The pink pony narrowed her eyes to better inspect the doors and the frame around them through the darkness. Almost instantaneously, she jumped in exaltation.

“Ooh, I found something!” She pointed to what looked like a pedestal made of crystal with a concavity on top of it, with a sign of carved words fixed on the wall just above it.

Rarity approached to read the sign “In order to open this door, a sacrifice must be made; fill the cold crystal bowl with thy warm life fluid, and passage shall be granted.”

“What’s this... life fluid?” Pinkie asked innocently.

“Oh dear, I believe this dreadful charade is referring to our blood.”

The pink pony shuddered at the thought of spilling her blood. But then again, she understood quite well that they had no other choice if they wanted to get out from there. Turning back was not an option at that point, as they could hear the group of fearful ponies drawing closer.

“I-I’ll do it...” she faltered, after gulping with a bit of unease “we’ll use my blood...”

“Absolutely out of the question, dear.” The white unicorn immediately lit up her horn and touched its tip to one of her own wrists, simulating a slicing motion with her forehead protuberance as she let out a stuffy whine.

“Rarity...” Pinkie watched her friend in great admiration, while she approached the bowl and began filling it with the blood dripping from the self-inflicted cut on her wrist.

“I simply could never ask a friend of mine to harm herself intentionally.” She smiled at her pink friend.

All of a sudden, an intense lavender light shun from her chest, and the collar representing the Element of Generosity materialised around her neck.

“Woah! Rarity, your Element! It reappeared!”

“It did!” she said, right after removing her front leg from the pedestal, for it was now completely filled and they had just heard the door unlocking magically “We have to find the others, maybe theirs have reappeared too.”

They pushed the door open easily, and proceeded to climb up the stairs on the other side.

Inside the princess of the night’s dream, Luna enlaced the large pony before her in a tight, loving hug. She knew very well that this was all a dream, as her mind kept telling her, yet never had she wished that this was all real so much as then. She was embracing her friend once again, at long last. Illusion or not, she wished for that moment to freeze in time, as her unceasing tears of merriment could express.

“Fenrir, I’m so happy to see you again!” She sobbed with her nose pressed tightly against his chest, drying the tears on his dark coat.

“Why do you cry, Luna?” he spoke in his slow, grave voice, which she had always found extremely calm and soft.

She let go of him and wiped her face with one of her hooves, recomposing herself.

“It’s just that... I’m really glad to see you again, but a part of me knows this is just a dream. You’re probably dead, and that hurts to be reminded. I’m not sure if I want to wake up...”

“Please, don’t say that.” He grabbed her chin very gently, directing her attentive eyes and adorably blushed face to him “I am not dead. Yes, this is your dream, but I am not a part of it. I have only come here to see you.”

“You... entered my dream?”

“Yes. Forgive my intrusion, but I missed you very much, Luna.”

She hugged him once more, overwhelmed with contempt and relief.

“Oh, I want to see you when I wake up. Where can we meet?”

“We cannot.”

“Huh?” She stepped back, confused “Why? I don’t understand.”

He turned his head to the side, having his long, straight, black mane hiding his bright blue eyes.

“Anywhere near me, you would be putting your life in a greater peril than you realise. I cannot promise to always be there to protect you, and I would never forgive myself if something happened to you. I do not want you to hate me...”

“I could never hate you. You’re my best friend! Please, I want to meet with you again, in the real world.”

Although still reluctant, he turned again to look at her pleading eyes and gave a prolonged sigh.

“I will be waiting for you at our usual place.”

The younger alicorn sister woke up in a darkened room, which she quickly recognised as being the one in the hospital wing of the Canterlot castle where Celestia was resting. She had fallen asleep leaning against the bed beside her elder sister, who slept profoundly, recovering from her wounds.

She got up carefully not to wake her up her, and took a quick glimpse at her to make sure she remained asleep, before exiting the room.

“Please forgive me, my dear sister. I know I promised to stay here, but... I just have to see him” she thought while running out along the hallway.

However, Celestia had not been truly asleep, as she opened her eyelids right after Luna left the room, and sat on her bed looking suspiciously through the door.

“Where is she going?” she questioned herself.

Meanwhile, Rarity and Pinkie had made it to the ground level floor of the castle, and were now trying to find the others as quickly as possible, running through the labyrinthine corridors, which at least were definitely better illuminated than the cell blocks where they came from.

A few turns later, and they came across one large pile of shatters of broken crystal, right in the centre of a hallway, with an extensive hole in the ceiling. They recognised a certain pink mane and yellow coat in the middle of the wreckage, and rushed to help it get up.

“Ohmygosh, Fluttershy!”

“Fluttershy dear, are you alright?”

She nodded affirmatively. They noticed that, like Rarity, she had already her Element reappeared and in one piece around her neck. Immediately after that, they landed their gaze upon the little colt she held on her lap, protecting him from the falling debris.

“Why, hello there!” the designer pony approached him “And what would your name be?”

“F-Fenrir...” he muttered bashfully.

In just a split second, Pinkie grabbed him from the yellow pegasus’ lap and squeezed him so tightly he squealed and could barely breathe.

“Ooooh, you’re SOOO cute! I love your tiny-weenie horn and your tiny-weenie wings so much!”

“Wait a second, he’s an alicorn?” Rarity interrupted her friend’s sudden excitement attack “How... and what is he doing here, in this place?”

“I’ve found him earlier, upstairs...” Fluttershy spoke up “I’ve also found Rainbow Dash, but then a group of terrifying ponies appeared out of nowhere, destroyed the floor below us, and we got separated.”

“We’ve also come across with some awfully-looking ponies in the dungeons...” Rarity informed, who was then interrupted by a suddenly stuttering and horrified Pinkie Pie.

“S-speaking of w-which...” She pointed horrified to the end of the hallway, where more of those bizarre ponies were coming from, all with their eyes closed.

Without hesitating, they turned to the opposite direction and ran as fast as they could, only to be forced into a full stop later, as another group was coming from there, as well. They were surrounded, but not entirely out of options for escaping. Rarity ordered them to follow her through one door to their side, which led to a small, faintly lit space, perfect for hiding until they passed.

Fenrir cringed and flickered inconsolably in pure dread on Fluttershy’s lap, which Pinkie noticed right away and felt she ought to abstract his mind, so she grabbed his little hooves with hers while looking at him in the eyes, smiling ever in a reassuring and amiable way.

“Don’t be afraid, little one. Your auntie Pinkie Pie will not let those meanie monsters get you” she whispered quietly, trying not to be heard from the other side of the door.

The colt become gradually less anxious, and she had even managed to put a petite smile back on his face. Even though this threat was real and they were not yet entirely safe of it, she simply could not stand to see such a young foal undergo the appealing fear for his life.

Her chest was suddenly illuminated by a strong, blue shine, lighting up the room they were in. The collar representing the Element of Laughter had materialised itself once again. However, that beam had also given away their position, as the dark ponies began hitting the door repeatedly with loud hits, from the other side.

“Oh no, please no...” Fluttershy whimpered.

All of a sudden, the wall on the opposite side to the door was knocked down, lifting a dense cloud of dust, through which a familiar figure appeared.

“Rainbow Dash!” the three friends yelled at the same time, clearly pleased to see her friend.

“I promised I’d get you, Fluttershy.” She stood in an heroic pose, smiling proudly while a red beam shot from her chest and acquired the shape of the Element of Loyalty “Come on, let’s get out of here!”

They followed her through the hallways, scampering as fast as their legs allowed them to, making countless twists and turns to try to lose the creepy ponies.

At some point, they stumbled with three other ponies right after taking another turn. Everypony fell on the ground, scratching their aching heads.

“Huh? Twilight?” the rainbow-haired pony said, upon realising who she had landed over.

“Girls? I’m so relieved to find you!” She got up in a split second and hugged each one of them, before noticing the colt under one of Fluttershy’s wing. She stared at his blue eyes with some dread, for she could swear she had seen them before.

“Fluttershy, he’s...”

“I know who he is, Twilight. But, please, trust me in this,” she assured her in a soothing tone “Fenrir is not evil. He saved me and Rainbow Dash a while ago, and he’s actually very kind and sweet. Fenrir is a good pony, I am certain of it.”

The cyan pegasus walked over to Applejack, scratching the back of her head with a bit of unease.

“Hey, AJ. Listen, I can’t tell you how sorry I am from how I behaved with you earlier. It’s a long story to explain, but... oh hay, friends again?” She offered her hoof, which the farmer pony promptly shook.

“Of course Ah forgive you, RD. And Ah also should apologise for letting you go all alone with that rain.”

“Hey girls, I recognise this!” Cadance suddenly drew their attention to a pair of tall doors right before them “This is the castle library!”

“Perfect, we should go inside!” Twilight said, always excited to be in the presence of literature “who knows? Some of the books may contain significant information relative to this dimension, and how to get out of here.”

They pushed the doors open. Inside was an enormous, clean chamber, with countless high bookshelves filled with the most assorted themes. On the centre, right ahead, there stood an old oaken table with a large book open on top of it, a burning candle to its side, and the unconscious body of Twilight’s brother laid on the floor.

“Shining Armor!” the purple unicorn and her former foalsitter called in unison and ran to him.

He moaned mutely and made some minor movements, indicating that he was beginning to wake up, giving them some mitigation. Cadance held his head up and caressed his forehead tenderly.

“I wonder what’s in this book over here.” Twilight moved near the dusty tome on top of the table, checking its cover and first pages. “Strange, there’s no title, nor does it say the name of the author.” Through reasons unknown, just by looking at it she got the feeling this mysterious book did not belong in that dimension.

She starting reading the pages on which the book was already open, as all the others got closer to listen attentively, also curious with what it might contain.

“The prophecy of the Ragnarök

And, in a single instant, the entire land trembled in shock and despair, as the fear living deep inside the hearts of all the four races that wander its surface gained a physical form, at last; a hideous beast who feeds on the horror it spreads, and grows stronger at each death it brings down on a living being. Her true name remains unpronounceable, the same as the hot furnace below the earth, in her forgotten realm, where the flames of damnation burn eternally and the sulphur poisons even the lungs that can no longer breathe.

At the apogee of the first great war against this goddess of fear, thirteen brave warriors of the divine ancient race of the alicorns gathered their powers to create an immaterial and utterly inaccessible prison where they could constrain the evil spirit for eternity; an alternative dimension, parallel to the one they inhabited, which became known as the Undone Dimension, for it remained ever incomplete, broken in many ways.

What none of the alicorn forefathers anticipated was that the immense power of the combined spell would result in an equally potent backfire, which unpredictably birthed a counterpart to the Undone Dimension; it unwillingly created the key to unlock the interdimensional gates.

The key itself held an amount of mystical power that was as colossal as it was unstable. But the alicorn ancestors were unaware that, in order to open the gates, they must be unlocked from both sides at the same time, which would require the key to be split in two pieces. Afraid of its power and instability, they decided it was best to destroy it, ensuring, that way, that the gates would never be opened. One of them, however, stood up against the others’ precipitate verdict, and readily accepted the key into her own heart. The benevolent, kind and merciful princess later became the founder and first ruler of the majestic Crystal Empire.

But the spirit of death was feverishly determined not to stay imprisoned for long. Although her powers were restrained from their world, her eyes were not, and she found a vessel of flesh and bone to harbour her power and essence there, one she could easily manipulate to do her biding, while safeguarding herself inside her captivity. And so began the second great war, this time resulting in a more tragic outcome, with thirteen valiant alicorns taken from the land of the living.

The vessel to her wrath had vanished as well then, but as destiny speaks the highest, the strings of time before the masterful craft of Norns dictate that it shall return one day, when its one thousandth one hundredth forty-third year is completed, brought back from the void by a soft harmonic, and it shall finish what she started.

There is one hope, and one only, to prevent the final event from befalling on the land, and it is to find the key and awaken its power, granted in the very day it was forged, ripped from the void where nothing dwells, and bound by the power of thirteen in one concentrated, and so it shall complete its destiny of vanquishing the maleficent goddess from both universes, thus restoring maximum balance and order.”

After hearing the lecture, they all stood in silence staring at each other confused, still attempting to decipher what was just read. For Twilight, on the other hoof, it all started to finally make some sense.

“A vessel that shall return one day...” she shared her thoughts aloud, gasping at a sudden realisation “could it have been Fenrir this whole time? The vehicle the wicked spirit this book speaks about has found to spread its power in our world?”

She suddenly felt her mind enlighten, as she looked now at the young colt beside Fluttershy, the image of the dark alicorn’s youth, in a whole different way. All the attentions in the library turned to the little alicorn, sharing the same thought.

“Sugarcube,” Applejack turned again to Twilight, behind the secretary “have you got any idea who this goddess might be?”

She shook her head negatively “I’ve never heard, or read about such a theme. This... Ragnarök thing appears to have already started even before princess Celestia was born!” She paused for a brief moment, looking over the book again “The founder and first ruler of the Crystal Empire... who was she?”

“I can answer that question!” Cadance responded right away “According to the records in the Crystal Empire historical archives, princess Aqua has founded the Crystal Empire more than a thousand years ago. There’s even a common myth among the crystal ponies, which says that the Crystal Heart is actually what remained of their beloved first leader’s heart, after her early demise.”

“That’s it!” Twilight jumped in elation, believing she had finally solved the riddle “If she accepted the key to her own heart, then that must mean that the Crystal Heart IS the key! That makes perfect sense, considering the amount of mystical power it has. And that’s one more reason why we must find it.”

“So... is this the Undone Dimension, where we are now?” Rarity inquired, still a bit confused.

“I don’t think so. If this was the Undone Dimension, I believe we would have already crossed paths with the goddess, by now.”

“Then, where are we?” Fluttershy interrogated.

“Hum, considering that it was the dark alicorn who sent us here, plus the fact that we found a projection of his youth... I believe we’re trapped inside his mind.”

She approached the book again and repeated the lines “Her true name remains unpronounceable, the same as the hot furnace below the earth, in her forgotten realm where the flames of damnation burn eternally and the sulphur poisons even the lungs that no longer breathe.”

“That sounds like hell, if you ask me!” Rainbow Dash let out.

Immediately after her state, the entire castle shook briefly, as if the words themselves had caused an unexpected, violent earthquake. They could barely stand up on their legs, until it finally stopped and everything when sinisterly dead silent.

“What’s going on?” Pinkie squealed.

The doors to the library were knocked down abruptly with a loud thump, and through them entered another large group of darkened ponies.

“We’ve gotta get out of here, follow me!”

The purple unicorn took the lead of the group and they headed rapidly towards a back door nearby, with Cadance carrying the heavy, numb body of her husband on her back.

“The Crystal Heart chamber!” Twilight remembered “That’s where we were when he sent us here, maybe the exit point’s in there!”

Before long, they found the door leading to the downward stairwell, and proceeded to descend it as fast as they could. However, the next door at the bottom of the stairs, behind which was the vast, round chamber they sought, was completely obstructed by a pile of debris.

“Stand back!” Twilight shouted to her friends behind her.

She then quickly enlightened her horn generating a powerful, thunderous explosion that cleared the passage and knocked the door down.

There it was, the Crystal Heart hovering static in the air, right in the centre of the entire chamber. Its faint blue light flickered weakly, and large drops of water formed around its hard surface, before streaming down leisurely, ultimately dripping into the thin layer of water below, completely filling the floor. Yet, nothing that could resemble a vortex end was there to be found, much to their frustration and despair, as they were running out of ideas.

“What do we do now?!”

Then, to their absolute astonishment, the floating jewel in front of them illuminated itself with a stunning, beaming blue shine, so bright and intense that they had to look away or cover their eyes in order not to hurt them. As soon as it dimmed down and they looked back at it, a sudden resplendent vision made all of them agape in wonder and surprise.

The Crystal Heart had disappeared, in its place standing the blazing, tall and beautiful form of a female alicorn. She was about the same size as Celestia, but her mane and tail were slightly longer and of the same colour as the sea, stirring as smoothly and graciously as the waves. Her coat was of a light bluish, like the clean waters of a flowing river, and her big, round eyes reminded the depths of the ocean, both in hues and in mystery.