Chapters Nightfall was long over; it was the darkest hour of the night and only a few mortal souls were awake. It was the time of supernatural beings and the time of forbidden magic. The light of the pale moon broke through the clouds, through the high Gothic stained-glass windows of Canterlot and met Twilight sitting restless on her dark ornamented chair by the polished wooden desk. A glass of red wine was sitting on it, the sweet scent wafted through the room where it mingled with the smell of dust and old wood. Lost in her thoughts and her seclusion, she sat there and pondered on everything she knew; philosophy, magic and history.
She was surrounded by books, ancient and new. A simple unicorn would never be able to obtain or even afford, the things she loved most in this world, nevertheless she wasn't able to find any delight in them any longer. To herself she spoke:
It's true, I'm brighter than all the vain creatures. Still, so much is left to know that no Master, no Doctor nor any Writer knows. What use do I have for the affection of the humble folks, if my soul can't settle and I can't find rest, thinking about how little time I have left, to learn the truth behind all things. Maybe no one in this world can answer my questions. I need the help of the forces I’ve always shied.
She stood up and began to walk towards a single pedestal, the sound of her hooves silenced by the old thick carpet. On this pedestal rested a grimoire so ancient, even the princess couldn't remember when it has been written. Some years ago the princess brought it with her from a journey through the land but never talked about where exactly she got it. The only thing she said to Twilight was to be careful around it.
A symbol was visible on its cover, but the longer she looked at it, the less clear it became. It was no mere book, it felt like a doorway,like it was trying to talk to her, to get into her mind. Fear overcame Twilight, but she knew it was not rational to be afraid of a book. Still she felt like the room was shrinking more and more and reality was bending around her each step she got closer. The princess had always warned her to trust her instincts and feelings, everything about the grimoire felt bad.
Nevertheless she picked it up from its rest, hoping she would find the revelations she longed for. A cold shudder ran down her spine, just like if something touched her soul, as she opened the book and began reading. Her eyes were drawn to one specific symbol. It was the same, she now recognized, as on the cover. The first time she was able to behold it clearly, the symbol looked like nothing she had ever seen: It was always changing but somehow representing everything at the same time. She knew it was there she would find what she was looking for, and she read through the passage below the Symbol.
In it the long forgotten author, if there ever was one, described a simple but powerful ritual to summon a spirit of the world. Twilight pulled away the rug which covered the floor, caughing from the dust which the rug had collected over the years. Using some chalk she started to sketch the symbols out of the book onto the plain stone floor. Around it she wrote formulas she had never seen before, some of them containing words that barely resembled words, they rather looked like living things.
Twilight felt the preparation of the ritual draining her energy and a less skilled unicorn would long have collapsed. She knew magic wasn’t a matter of sheer power, but rather of skill and intellect because magic isn’t like wielding a hammer. It’s rather like directing a river. With the help of magic one is able to shape the world through her spirit by influencing the little things. Why should one force a spirit to come, when she could attract the spirit through offers?
Despite this frightening situation, Twilight let out a short chuckle, thinking of the common ponies who thought one needs gruesome things like blood or spider legs to perform such a ritual. What interest could a supernatural being have in one’s blood or even spider legs? The only reason they come is out of inquisitiveness or to get ones soul.
She reminded herself to stay on topic because losing her concentration would be the first and last step to losing said soul, which she wasn’t keen on.
After finishing the last preparations, Twilight decided to rest for a moment so she could regain some strength and to drink up her glass. After recovering from the previous exhaustion Twilight picked up the grimoire, took a deep breath and began to read out loud the words that were written .
To her they made no sense but the sketch on the cold floor reacted. One by one the symbols vanished. An unnameable yet familiar scent filled the air. It felt like reality would be twisted and turn into a wild void of scents, sounds and images. A cloud of smoke billowed in the centre of the circle and in it was a thing, maybe even living, too absurd and horrifying to have come from her world. Her heart nearly stopped as she looked up to see what she summoned in this world. She had seen it before, in books, but never imagined how standing in front of an entity with such raw power would feel. They were old, maybe even older than time itself. Nobody knows and now one of them was here because she wanted it to come, to answer her questions.
She knew she wouldn’t get any answers.
“It’s true I’m not worthy of all the aggrandizements I receive” Twilight proclaimed into the empty dusty dark room.
“It seems my lot was written by some unmerciful deity. Brought into the world by a caring mother. Born to a respected father, a stallion of vast medical knowledge who dedicated his life to helping the poor and weak. So why do I receive praise even though I never did anything besides studying old dusty books in a dusty old chamber. Knowledge is a dubious blessing. I always thought I would learn something with which I would be able to help Ponykind. Day by day, year by year I sat here and studied words written by authors long gone.”
The wind howled by the windows, many historical and mythical events were depicted on them in beautiful colours. They looked like they were made only a short time ago but in reality some of them were centuries old and not even made in Canterlot.
Twilight picked herself up and walked past the historical ones, she knew them by heart from the unifying of Equestria to the coronation of the princess. Every picture told her a story some of them, like the painting of Celestia watching over Equestria down from the top of Canterlot.
In most ponies, this would evoke an inner peace and calm but not in Twilight, she knew the true events that lead to this picture. It was a nearly forgotten part of equestrian history, something about 3 centuries ago parts of the country rose up against the princess because they thought she had too much power and shouldn’t rule alone. The royal guard literally trampled this uprising.
Since this age Celestia liked herself to be viewed as motherly and benevolent rather than the powerful warrior she once had been. The warrior who defeated the gryphons and diamond dogs, was crowned princess while the blades were still wet from blood.
At first she blamed her actions on an evil nameless force but everypony thought she wanted to wash away her sins and after some time the rumours stopped. But she never again was Celestia the warrior, she was from then on Celestia the mild, Celestia the caring. And never again she spoke about the evil force and the revolution which ended so bloodily.
Keeping Equestria unified wasn’t easy but necessary; otherwise, the weak separated baronies would be eaten alive by dragons, the remaining griffons or other enemies of Equestrian.
Shuddering yet understanding her mentor, Twilight trotted on over the old dusty carpet.
Passing by the many other historical pictures she reached one that stood out of the rest.
From every other window, copies existed all over the country but not from this one. It seemed that nobody except Twilight noticed it. From her books she knew it was probably picturing the last day of the rebellion after endless skirmishes between the royal guard and the rebels. At this day Celestia suddenly ordered her troops to march against the self-declared new capital of the rebels, to burn it down to the ground and slaughter every living thing, young or old, inside its walls.
On that day countless souls were lost either to the blades and hooves of the royal troops or to the all-consuming fire. The whole town was erased, foals, rebels and peaceful town folks alike.
It is said Celestia watched the end of the city, alone, from a nearby hill, never turning away her gaze.
Some eyewitness reports stated that it seemed the princess was in tears the whole time. Many historians later interpreted this as expression of the pain she felt when she realised at what cost she had saved the unity.
This was also shown in the picture in front of Twilight, there was only one major difference, all the eye witnesses stated the princes was alone but in the picture on the window there was a second alicorn visible. The alicorn was dark blue and smaller than Celestia, at the same time it made the impression to be stronger than Celestia. It stood a few steps behind Celestia in the cold moonlight and watched the burning city under the star filled nightsky.
Dawn had come without Twilight’s notice, and outside cheers were audible. It was the day of summer sun celebration. Freed from her morbid dark thoughts about her life and past events by the first rays of the morning sun, Twilight turned around towards the door to join the simple folks in their celebrations.
It was neither demon from the plains of hell, nor an angel from the kingdom of heaven. It was tall and grand but at the same moment terrifying, the perverted image of a living being.
The entity opened its eyes, neither hate nor wickedness was visible in them. Turning towards Twilight it asked a single question.
"Who calls to me?"
It gazed down expecting an answer. Twilight was nearly frozen in fear but forced out her answer.
"I’m Twilight Sparkle. I’m the personal protégée of Princess Celestia, the countess of Canterlot and benevolent ruler of Equestria."
“I have no interest in your petty names and titles. They are boring me. Tell me who you really are ” the apparition declared.
Twilight was confused and answered again “I’m Twilight Sparkle, Head of Canterlot University.”
The entity remained silent.
"I summoned you to obtain your enlightenment."
Finally the thing before her retorted.
"And why should I share it with you, Twilight?"
He spoke her name more like curse rather than a name. To her this seemed like it just hated names; this was stressed by the fact that the thing had never told her its name.
"Because we could learn from each other. Because we both strive for knowledge at the bottom of our souls."
The captivating abomination began to laugh like a madmare.
"Oh silly mortal, silly Twilight. No matter how high you think of yourself, you’re just as simple minded as the rest of your pony folks. You compare yourself with something like me.
I remain the same, untouched by the ever changing world. I soak every aspect of live. I spark love and hate, things you would never understand from your books. Some people see me as trickster or as jester but I’m neither of both.
I am the embodiment of chaos, where everything came from and someday everything will go."
With this last words spoken he vanished.
Exhausted and despaired Twilight laid down on the floor saying to herself.
"Where do I belong, rejected by both mortals and immortals. I want to belong to both. I want to join in the songs and laughter of the normal ponies but I also want to discern the truth behind this life."
With this in mind she drifted off into a sleep. In her dreams she stood in a field of light but the darkness was lurking on its edge, hungry and waiting.
Drenched in sweat Twilight awoke. It was just before the break of dawn.
She walked back over the old carpet, head hanging low full of dark thoughts, towards a shelf were a single goblet stood. In it she had prepared a drink with whom she would drift off in a dreamless sleep, for all eternity.