Streaks of moonlight shone in through the small but high windows of the room, cutting though the darkness and partly illuminating the large assortment of objects spread all over floor and mounted on the walls. Various metal contraptions in multiple states of repair, glass bottles and stacks of paper all sat, slowly collecting layer upon layer of dust.
A large desk, buried under a swathe of scruffily written notes and old, badly beaten books, sat overlooking a large, empty space in the centre of the room. Dust did not settle here. The worn wood was clearly visible across the well-trodden floor, and glint of polished metal made a contrast to the decaying abyss that surrounded it.
The creek of a floorboard and the stirring of the dust in the moonbeams announced the presence of somepony. The figure wafted silently through the space, coming to a rest at the desk. A crack, accompanied with a flash of brilliant light brightened the room for an instant; illuminating posters, newspaper cuttings and scribbled notes adorning the walls.
The darkness returned, although the light of a single candle bathed the desk in a warm glow, revealing the silhouette of the figure. The horn and long snout of a unicorn stallion looked down at the mess of paper before him. He began to rifle through the notes; seemingly intent on finding one in particular. After a few minutes of searching, his jet black eyes gleaming with excitement, he found what he was looking for. Smoothing out the wrinkles, he read the hoofdrawn page before him. A diagram of pony, drawn within a five pointed star, was surrounded by annotations in various archaic languages.
You don’t find this stuff in libraries anymore, he thought, walking to the clearing in the centre of the room. Setting the page on a small metal table, he prepared the rest of the equipment he needed. With another crack and a flash, a second, shrouded metal table rolled towards him, coming to a halt next to the first. He trotted around the room collecting books, several unlabelled flasks of liquid and a few small, metal gizmos.
Goodness, I've been waiting a long time for this! The stallion was visibly out of breath, despite only having made one circuit of the room. But not for much longer!
His anticipation was almost palpable as he made his way to large door at the very back of the chamber. With a third crack and a flash, the lock opened with a ‘clunk!’ Pulling the door open, the candlelight revealed the interior.
The cupboard was small; scraps of metal littered the floor, with wires and hoses hanging from large hooks on the walls. However, it was clear that the stallion was more interested with what was laying in the very centre. Atop a metal trolley, lay a lumpy mass covered by a crude patchwork quilt. Wheeling the trolley out from cupboard and into the main room, he noted that the quilt was gently rising and falling. Good, at least I haven’t lost my subject.
Whipping the quilt from the trolley, he gazed upon his next ‘subject’ - a pony that had been tied down to the shiny top. A pegasus mare with a pale fuchsia body and mint green mane. She was in a deep sleep; a thread of saliva hung down from her half open mouth. Although her face was relaxed, clearly devoid of any pain, the hard metal surface of the trolley and the positioning of the straps contorted her into an awkward position.
“I think it’s time to get started!” He exclaimed. Positioning the trolley in the very centre of the room, he reached up, pulling a large operating theatre light out of the gloom above their heads, “Wakey Wakey!” Finding the switch, the light exploded into life. But rather that illuminate the room, it focused its intensity upon the catatonic pony on the trolley.
With a moan and a grunt, the mare groggily returned to consciousness, but when she didn’t recognise the place she had woken up in, she started to breathe more shallowly. Taking in the room around her: the paper notes, the contraptions, and the smell. The bitter smell of iron stung her nostrils. Although it was most likely the rusted metal that lay in heaps around her, it could just have easily of been blood. That was too much for her. She tried to stand up, to get away from this awful place, but found herself tied down.
“What?” she tugged at her restraints, “What is this?”
“I’m afraid you won’t be able to get out of those,” a voice emanated from the dark.
“Who is that? Who’s there?” Considerably alarmed now, the mare had begun to shiver, her adrenaline flowing.
Stepping from the shadows, the stallion walked into the light. This only increased her terror. Gazing down onto her were two black eyes, no visible iris to speak of. The powerful light made them glisten like a starry sky. The black theme continued into his face, horn, neck and body.
“Who are you? What is this place?” She continued.
“Is it imperative that you get an answer to either of those questions? It won’t help you at all. If anything, it’ll just scare you a little more. And we don’t want that do we?”
The mare just stared in disbelief. Who was this guy? Why doesn’t he help me? It was clear that this stallion wanted to keep her here. “What do you want with me?”
“Does it really matter to you?” He smiled down at her.
“Listen! You quit these games, now. You need me for something. You’ve ponynapped me, brought me to this place and strapped me to this table. I think it very much in my interest to know what you want with me,” she snapped.
His smile faded. She’s quite sharp. I might as well tell her. “I need you, to help me.” He began to walk slowly around the head of the trolley.
“I don’t quite understand.” She caught a glimpse of his cutie mark - a smiling face with crosses instead of eyes. Who is this? What kind of pony has a cutie mark like that?
“My way of life is quite different to that of most ponies; different enough for me to require more than just grass, carrots and apples to survive,” he began, “I also have a very particular profession, one that requires a few budding volunteers to aid me. However, ponies don’t seem to be too willing to take part…”
I can’t possibly think why!
“But there is no need to worry. It is unlikely that you will feel any pain. But if you do, remember. It is simply a small sacrifice to contribute to the progress of pony understanding.” He removed the cloth from the second, small table exposing an array of well-polished surgical instruments.
“What in Celestia’s name are you doing!?” The mare froze, struggling to even breathe.
“Now, there really is no need for you to worry about that.” He turned to her, with a wide grin; eyes and teeth both sparkling brightly. “Remember, you should feel lucky. The part you play, however small, may change the world for the better.”
She simply continued to stare into the starry expanses of his eyes and thought of home. Her body ached and her fear had petrified her. She no longer had the energy to protest.
“Sweet dreams!” He tilted his head. A crack and a flash shot through the room, and the mare’s body went limp.
The unicorn got to work, taking a scalpel and making incision after incision; quietly humming to himself. Glancing over at his notes every now and again, he meticulously followed their instruction. He had waited for this day for a long time, and, as he worked, even if it were just the giddiness from his excitement, he felt his strength slowly increasing.
He smiled down at the mare. Oh how I’ve missed this!
Twilight Sparkle awoke with a start, breathing heavily. Her body, along with her sheets were drenched in a cold sweat.
It had happened again.
She had had yet another vivid nightmare. Screams and faces of anguish had woven themselves amongst lakes of blood and the stench of death. Untangling herself from her duvet, she sat on her bedside; attempting to re-immerse herself in the real world, away from the horrors of her subconscious. Taking a diary from her bedside table, she painfully noted down the disturbing images in as much detail as she could remember.
They had begun around two months ago, rare at first, but gradually growing in frequency until they were practically nightly. Although leaving her shaken at first, an understanding of pony psychology and practice of meditative techniques had enabled her to at least suppress their overall effect on her.
A cold shower brought her to back to her senses and smoothed out her matted fur. She didn’t want her unpleasant nocturnal experiences to somehow rub off on those around her. She felt better, knowing that ponies weren’t worrying about her. This was all in her head - nothing that she couldn’t deal with herself. Making her way downstairs, led by the smell emanating from the kitchen, she sat at the breakfast table.
“Are you sure you are doing the right thing, Twilight?” Spike poured the unicorn some coffee, “I mean I know your books have methods of nightmare prevention. But I can’t help but notice that this hasn’t really improved. If anything, your dreams have gotten even worse.”
“Spike, dreams are nothing more than an unintelligible mixture of the things that you’ve thought about during the previous day. I’ve been noting down the content of each nightmare when I wake up. If I can find a link, then I stand a chance of putting a stop to them once and for all,” Twilight explained.
“I’m just concerned for you, Twilight. Your sleeping patterns have been getting ever so erratic. You’re practically living off coffee; and you of all ponies should know that that isn’t good for your studies.”
Twilight had been thinking the same thing. Her hope in her methods had gradually diminished over time as days had turned to weeks and months. The nightmares painfully grating away at her psyche, flooding her mind with depression and despair.
“I have made you breakfast.” Spike carried over a towering pile of syrupy pancakes, “It should at least give you some energy to think.”
“Oh Spike, I know I could count on you to help me through this.”
“That’s what I do!” Hanging up his apron, Spike sauntered out of the kitchen, pausing at his exit, “Oh, and just a reminder. The calendar says that you and your little gang are meeting up at Sugarcube Corner for tea and cakes.”
The unicorn’s eyes sprung open, “Oh thank you, Spike! I’ve been looking forward to this get together for weeks. I can’t believe I forgot. Pinkie’s been put in charge of the shop and seemed to see it as a good enough excuse inviting us all over!” Twilight’s initial lethargy seemed to evaporate from her shoulders at the thought of her friends. At last, a chance for me to relax!
“That sounds great, Twilight! But I have to get started on my chores.”
She listened to the dragon ascend the staircase before returning to her breakfast. The gooey pancakes were warm, hugging her from the inside. She knew today was going to be wonderful, she could almost blow away the worries of her sleep for the day - but not quite. The unicorn knew full well that tonight would be like her previous nights - filled with pain and fear. Dammit! Spike’s right! I’ve trusted these books for too long! I need to find something else that could help me. She swirled the last of her coffee, watching whirlpools form and collapse. Well I am seeing my friends today. Maybe they’ll know how I could stop this. She drained her mug and washed up; walking into the library to get started on her studies. But I just feel awkward asking them about something so personal. Picking a book from her substantial magical theory reading list, she began to read. Maybe if I find the right moment, I’ll tell them. But now, studies.
The dragon was spending the week clearing out the rapidly growing mountain of junk in the attic. Twilight had discovered that a family of phoenixes had made their nest out of a stack of waste paper and, in doing so, almost burned down the entire library. The phoenixes had since, with a fair number of pecks and scratches, been safely relocated to the Everfree Forest and the task of clearing away the rest mess had fallen on Spike. As he tended to what sounded like a trapped and angry hippo, Twilight’s morning flew by with the words of Albert Einstallion and Shetland Hawking floating through her mind. Losing herself in the poetry of real life, the chiming of noon from the library’s grandfather clock brought her back to her senses.
“I’m leaving for Sugarcube Corner now, Spike,” Twilight called up into the loft hatch.
A grunt and a crash came from above. After a fairly lengthy silence, the dragon’s voice piped up, “Okay. See you soon.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with that? I’m happy to help if you want me to.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. This is nothing your number one assistant can’t handle!”
“Well if you’re sure. I’ll see you later”
Upon stepping out of the door, Twilight was greeted by the mild warmth of spring, and the smell of fresh air. All, but a few clouds had been cleared; the rays of the sun mixing with a cool breeze to produce the perfect temperature. By now, the day was in full swing. The centre of Ponyville filled with throng of vibrant ponies and the gentle hubbub they brought with them. As she approached Sugarcube corner, she saw her friends gathered around a table outside, making the most of the day’s weather.
“Mornin’ Twilight!” Applejack pulled up a chair for the unicorn, “Now how are we on this here fine day?”
“Fantastic!” Twilight knew, deep down, that it was a lie. But now was not the moment to inform them of her problems. Applejack was right. It really was a fine day, and she didn’t want to sully the mood, “And how are we all?”
“Well, ah just won a game of horseshoes with Big Mac. He had to clean the entire barn and ah got to watch him. So y’all could say ah’m feeling pretty darn good today.” Applejack lowered the brim of her hat.
“I’ve been practicing my latest flying routine. Maybe a few of these hardcore flips might finally get some talent spotter from the Wonderbolts to notice my awesome skills.” Rainbow Dash fidgeted in her chair, clearly finding the passive atmosphere of the meet up difficult to cope with.
“I had to look after an entire family of blue jays after a sudden gust of wind blew their nest out of the tree,” said Fluttershy, almost at a whisper.
“Nothin’ to do with a certain pegasus’s crazy flying ah hope?” The cowpony shot a glare at Rainbow.
“No way!” the pegasus exclaimed, “Fluttershy here has given me strict instructions about where not to fly during the hatching season. It can’t possibly…”
“Who wants muffins?” A sudden explosion of pink appeared between Applejack and Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie placed a three tiered cupcake stand piled high with vividly iced muffins along with a tray of tea and cups. “Dig in everypony!”
Twilight glanced over her friends, all hungrily tucking into the array of cakes before them, and noticed a certain absence of an expertly sculpted violet mane. “Hey, girls, where’s Rarity?”
Rainbow Dash swallowed heavily, “Oh, she mentioned something yesterday about her running out of buttons, so she is going to get some more this morning.”
“What could be keepin’ ‘er. Buttons can’t be that hard to find.” Applejack scanned the streets around her.
“Maybe it’s some really big buttons or a really big order of buttons; or they could be really small buttons, and she’s dropped them, and she’s trying to look for them, and she can’t find them because they are so small. Ooh, maybe we should find her and help her look for her lost buttons.” Pinkie pie chimed into the conversation.
“Ah know that mare can be impractical at times. But, even Rarity would think twice ‘bout using buttons that she can’t see.” Applejack tried to rationalise the discussion.
“Maybe that’s just what she wanted you to think,” Pinkie glanced suspiciously at Applejack.
“Hey look, there she is!” Rainbow had pulled herself away from the irrational discussion to notice the white mare trotting up to the table.
“Good afternoon Rarity, care for some tea?” Pinkie greeted the mare, “Did you find your lost buttons?”
“Whatever do you mean, darling?” Taking a seat at the table, she picked out a lilac muffin and began taking polite but painfully small nibbles.
“What took you so long? Surely Bobbintop’s shop isn’t too busy at the moment,” asked the unicorn.
“It wasn’t busy at all, Twilight; it was closed! On a Saturday too! I don’t know what she was thinking, not opening on such a busy day. I had to rush back to Carousel Boutique to postpone at least seven orders. Buttons are quite an integral part of fashion. I cannot hope to continue my work without them.”
“Actually, I haven’t seen Bobbintop’s shop open in quite a while, at least a week.” The yellow pegasus sipped her tea.
“Now that you mention it, Ah haven’t seen Bobbintop herself around for quite a while either,” remarked Applejack.
“I thought that she had moved back to Cloudsdale.”
“Well I haven’t seen her. But Cloudsdale is a big place, you could go for days without seeing anypony you knew,” Rainbow explained.
“And the commute would be dreadful!” Rarity took yet another tiny nibble of her muffin.
“Hey look over here!” Pinkie Pie darted away into the main street.
“What is it now?” Applejack exclaimed.
“Probably just another tomato with a slightly different colour to the rest of the tomatoes,” Rarity followed the bouncing mare, leading the rest of her friends, who reluctantly put down their cake to see what Pinkie had found.
The pink pony led them to a newspaper stand. Holding out her hoof, she indicated the front page:
Ponyville mare missing for over eight days
Under the headline was the face of Bobbintop, her lime mane framing her eyes and wide smile.
The six stared at the paper in disbelief.
“What could have happened to her?” Fluttershy asked.
Twilight paid for the newspaper, turned to the first page and began to read. “‘The Ponyville mare Bobbintop went missing several days ago. Failing to return home after working at her textiles shop on Wednesday evening…’ Well that certainly explains her shop being closed.”
“Carry on!” Rainbow dash demanded.
“‘Three search parties have been sent out, but have failed to return with any evidence of her current whereabouts. Although, they shall continue to search, the chief of the Ponyville Guard has said, ‘the outlook looks grim’’”
The friends stood in shock.
“She was our age,” said Rarity, “You always hear of these things happening all over the place, but you never think they will ever happen to you.”
Twilight continued to read the article, trying to understand exactly what had happened. “I have to write to the princess.”
“Right now, sugarcube?”
“Yes, right now! I’m sorry to have to leave so abruptly, but it is imperative that I contact the princess immediately.” Twilight grabbed the newspaper and set off at a full gallop back to the library.
Upon hearing the door slam, Spike clambered out of the loft, “Hey, Twilight, you’re back early!” Descending the stairs, he was met by a deafening ruckus as the unicorn searched the library, “Is something the matter, Twilight?”
“Ink! I need ink!” She snapped.
“What’s the hurry?”
“Something has happened, Spike, and I need to contact the princess right away. But I can’t, because I can’t find any ink!”
“Try the cubbyhole under the stairs.” Spike noticed that the mare’s mane was somewhat messed up, whatever this was, it must have been stressful for her, “What’s happened, Twilight.”
“Bobbintop has gone missing.”
“But I thought that she had moved back to Cloudsdale.”
“That’s exactly what I thought, but it turns out that she effectively vanished over a week ago, and nopony has found anything that has brought anypony closer to working out where she has gone,” Twilight explained what she had read in the article, “Now stuff like this rarely happens in Equestria. Normally, if the Guard can’t find a missing pony within a few days, the princess uses some powerful magic to locate them. This is generally a last resort. She avoids having to do this as it can be very dangerous if the spell goes wrong, which it can, and has done.”
“So what you are saying is that Bobbintop should have been found days ago?”
“That is exactly what I’m saying. If the princess hasn’t found her already, there could be a problem.” Twilight located a new pot of ink and sat at her desk, “Could you give me a moment, Spike. I need to concentrate.”
The dragon returned to cleaning the attic, leaving Twilight alone at her desk.
Twilight began to write. Today certainly wasn’t turning out to be as relaxing as she had hoped.
The tang of iron sat somewhat more strongly in the air than yesterday. The last few minutes of the warm, evening sun poured through the small cellar windows. Shadows of the chains and instruments that hung from the ceiling gave the far wall the appearance of a burning jungle.
The arrival of dusk bathed the room in a pinkish hue. It also triggered a stirring from the furthest and darkest corner of the dank chamber. The inky stallion gave a grunt and woozily returned to consciousness. Slouched in a faded and tattered armchair, he wiped a rope of saliva from his muzzle. With a crack of magic the side lamp next to him burst into life, casting light on a swathe of scrappy notes and a dog-eared Daring Do novel. Leaning forward and out of the chair, his spine gave several satisfying cracks, granting relief from the effects of his less-than-adequate sleeping posture.
The unicorn’s body aglow with energy and power from his last ‘feeding’, he remained blissfully content with himself. However, he knew that it was only a matter of time before he required yet more sustenance. But that was time that he didn’t just have to spend waiting. He was intelligent, powerful and extremely bored. He needed something to occupy himself with in the meantime. Although he surrounded himself in scientific and magical literature, the likes of Starswirl or Stellarheart offered no inspiration.
Weaving his way through stacks of books, he returned to his desk. In his way of life, there was no time to clean. Even if there was, he never would. Why waste time cleaning your space into dusted shelves and carefully filed draws when it will always revert to its natural, messy state? Fighting it was not something he wanted to waste his time on.
Levitating the newspaper onto the desktop, the stallion was met with the face of the pegasus mare from last night. Skimming over her glittering obituary, he couldn’t help but smirk at the memories of the family and friends. He had witnessed far more of her persona than any of them could ever dream about; sniffed at the sharp odour of her soul in the air, mopped her very essence from the floor. That essence was now flowing through his very body, driving his insatiable hunger for knowledge. These ponies knew nothing about her in comparison.
Flicking through the pages, past the gossip and other junk that was falsely deemed worthy to enter the newspaper, another picture caught his black, empty eyes. Six mares, quite clearly friends, pressed their faces together to keep within the shot – The Elements of Harmony. Details of their success in the Crystal Empire were described underneath as well as interviews with each of them:
‘To introduce the Elements of Harmony; Twilight Sparkle, magic student under Princess Celestia as well as coordinator of the Elements: - ‘The Elements of Harmony are exceptionally powerful magical items. Their power is drawn not only from the friendship between each of us, but also by the strong individual characteristics that make each of us who we are. The absence of any one of these shall render the elements themselves useless…’’
Twilight Sparkle, the famed Element of Magic; recognised across Equestria for her talents in every field of the subject. The shadowy stallion knew her face like every other well read and discerning pony. But there was another level. This unicorn knew Twilight Sparkle, not like the pegasus mare and those before her, but knew her personally. The very mention of her name conjured back feelings that he couldn’t even remember existed. However, this was a long time ago. Memories from back then meddled with his concentration and clouded his psyche. He pushed it far back into the recesses of his brain where it couldn’t distract him. But with his mind free to think again, it wasn’t long before a wave of inspiration hit him. The corners of his mouth began to curl upwards, until they framed a wide grin across his muzzle. After weeks of stagnant thoughts, the stallion had finally found a task commendable of his abilities. A task that even the Princess herself might not be able to rise to! The masses, one by one, would feel the effects of his abilities; and his first target: The Elements of Harmony!
