The two princesses stand there side by side, each staring across the kingdom from the gilded balcony they stand on. The youngest is impatient. She shifts back and forth unsure of how to hold herself, thinking that princesses should know already what to do.
“Calm yourself Twilight,” says the older princess, standing, unmoving, continuing to enjoy the day she has brought the world. Twilight puts a hoof to her chest and breathes out slowly, moving her hoof slowly away from her chest just as her sister-in-law had shown her some time ago. This calms her and she sets her hoof back on the ground and resumes her position only silently this time.
The two have been standing there for some time now, standing silent vigil over the land. Curiously, the expectation for two ruling bodies would be to take more direct influence of their people’s lives, but Celestia has overseen this land for thousands of years without spreading her influence too far or too forceful. Only when utter tragedy arises does she stir from her palace to right it.
Twilight’s impatience once again gets the better of the young mare.
“May I ask why we are here princess?” she directs at her superior without moving her head, lest she break the peace that has settled upon her form. Celestia does not answer right away, but instead closes her eyes and inhales deeply allowing the air to escape slowly through her nostrils.
“We are here taking the time to enjoy and meditate upon the day, and see the world for what it is. It is a practice I have long been doing, I feel it helps calm my mind and help keeps the darkness at bay.” Celestia finally answers. Twilight’s interest piques at the mention of the ‘The Darkness’.
“What darkness?” she asks the princess. “Is it like what you showed me before I left for the Crystal Empire?” Twilight tries to not cock her head, holding a steady balance and control over her body. Again, Celestia does not answer right away. Instead, the princess turns and begins to leave the balcony. Twilight, not sure of what to do, follows.
They walk in silence down the center of various corridors inside of the vast palace. No matter how many times Twilight has passed the various tapestries and paintings she is awed by the beauty she sees in them. Some of the scenes depicted were rather ancient, but Twilight had never thought to ask Celestia what they showed. There was one that frightened her though. It was the most vibrant and moving piece of art Twilight had ever witnessed and the first time she had studied the beautiful painting it had driven her to tears out of fear and sorrow.
Twilight turns her head to view the particular image as they pass it. The colors are perfect, dark and bright hues mixed by the most artistically gifted hoof that Equestria had ever seen.
It showed Discord, darkness coiling beneath his hooves and from each clawed hand bright light shined out of his pupils giving him a sinister appearance. He hovered a few inches off of the ground. Beneath his hooves lays Princess Luna. She appears young, her coat and mane a lighter shade of blue instead of the intense midnight that all are accustomed to seeing her in. She is bleeding in this depiction. Her face has been pulverized by several heavy blows and her nose and eyes are pouring her life out onto the broken stone beneath her. Several of the fragile bones in her wings are broken causing her feathers to jut out at various angles. Her right foreleg has been snapped painfully and the pain shows upon Luna’s face, as tears have been stirred into the blood but it is hard to spot except by the most discerning eye. Before Discord stands Celestia, a look of confidence upon her features, her mane has been mussed and is mixed with soot and ash. Scrapes and cuts have made their way up her limbs, some dripping blood others just barely visible but her eyes are what catch all the attention. The master behind this work has been able to project emotion through the canvas and instill it into the viewer of their work if only through the eyes alone. Celestia’s eyes show rage, rage beyond mortal belief as she glares up into Discord’s face. If this rage was directed at any other creature that was not immortal they would be so dismayed as to fall dead upon the spot as the eyes would pierce to their heart and halt its function.
Twilight feels her heart twinge at the image and quickly turns away so as to not be distracted from the princess who stood before her benevolent and calm as ever.
They continue on. Twilight has no idea where they are headed as she has never seen this route before. She felt like the princess was upset with her somehow. She had no idea why she had only asked a question.
Celestia remains silent as she leads Twilight through the castle. They come to the bottom of a stone spiral staircase that leads up into darkness. Celestia, without hesitation, begins moving upward. Twilight feels a plethora of questions explode into her mind like a bomb, but she remains silent and feels that patience here will yield answers unlike earlier.
They climb and climb, step by step, hooves clip-clopping off of the stone. The temperature begins to drop. The further they climb the colder it gets until the air begins to mist before Twilight. Twilight was confused by the change of the temperature as they had come up and not down.
They come to a door that was thick and ancient looking. Across the width was a massive iron bar with several locks imbedded into the old and rusted iron. Celestia’s horn began to glow and each of the locks began to light up with series of clunks and clicks as tumblers and gears fell into place.
“This,” Celestia says. “Is a place that only I and Luna have ever seen the inside of.” The door swings open. Rust pops out of the hinges as shrieks and squeals emit from the old metal. The two princesses step over the threshold of the room. Twilight inhaled the air and felt her throat burn as the chill enters into her mouth.
The room is devoid of any ornamentation or much of anything else except for one small shelf with precisely six enormous books perched upon it. The covers appear to be made of leather and are black as pitch until Celestia steps closer and their colors begin to shift. Twilight stops and stares open mouthed at the books as the covers turn and flip about until each individual spine is occupied by one massive eye.
Celestia lifts the one that sits upon the right end. As the book comes through the air and hovers in front of Twilight. The covers shifts again in color and position the eye comes to rest looking at Twilight. Twilight is about to take the book when it begins to gibber at her in some unknown language.
“Ah!” Twilight exclaims as she backpedals away from the book.
“Take it,” Celestia commands. Twilight looks between her mentor and the gibbering book. She takes hold of the book magically and brings it closer to her. The eye narrows and begins to study her as if sizing her up. She feels unsure about this book. It scans her body and then looks up into her eye and narrows its eye even further as if determining that she is a threat.
“These are the only books on the properties and use of dark magic,” Celestia says coldly. Twilight can now see that she is upset with her. “Be careful Twilight, this is something I feel you can handle now.” Celestia steps past her student but stops at the top of the stairs. “Come see me once you are finished Twilight. I have things to discuss with you.” Without another word Celestia begins her descent. The door slams shut with a rusted squeal from the hinges.
Twilight moves closer to the shelf still staring at the book. The fear she had felt was gone and has been replaced by excitement. This was all of the world’s knowledge concerning dark magic and she had it in her hooves right here in front of her. She sits down upon the cold ground and opens the first book looking into the runes inscribed upon the ancient parchment.
The letters and words were different from what she spoke natively and usually she would have trouble deciphering such texts but she can somehow make sense of the script and the words flow around her mind actually immersing themselves into her consciousness and nesting there she could even hear them speak quietly to her as her eyes move down the page absorbing the information.
“Praktikal Applikayshuns of Black Majicks and Nekromansy”
The title seems rather harmless so the purple unicorn decides to dive in like any other book she has read before.
“The praktishunurs of majicks beings known as warlocks and witches have praktised manipūlæshun of the sfírs for hundreds of yeers and to this day kôntinüe to use the arts for praktikàl applikæshun and how to move the sfírs about them. In this time our new rülur, belovéd Prinsess Selestia, has given us läws and boundarys on the use of such pöwur. Some of these praktishunurs have not taken well to our new ladys läws and to spyte hur thay have taken to wurk agaïnst hur läws in spyte. This scröll and the wuns to kum are to teech the spells and arts thees stallyuns and mayrs have put together in the arts or death and ressureckshun and manipulæshun of the dead. The names skribed heer are seekrèt to most but our fayr laydy knoes of thayr dooïngs and such has asked that I right them doun in such that we may know what thay have accomplished may be sumthing wurth note. I, being næmed Starswirl the Beerded Wun, have tækèn on the wurk with pryde as wun uf the fools who have added to thees förbidden arts".
Twilight blinks slowly. She has stretched out onto the cold stone her body was freezing. She moved slowly her joints popping loudly. She has gone a small way through the first book and already she feels the weight of these words pulling her down. She couldn’t imagine how so few words could have such a strong affect on her already. She shakes her head as if trying to clear it of what she just read and the implications of what was coming.
She once again looks back to the words and the feels as if some other presence has entered her consciousness with her almost as if it’s guiding her through the words and is drawing her in deeper. Her eyes move faster and faster as runes and drawings pass under her gaze. The things that were inside of this book, they were rather unspeakable. The subject of ‘the spheres’ keeps reappearing and the first few actual spells that come up all require some connection to another realm by sacrificing other living things to use the blood and flesh of the dead to bring something else back to life. The only problem Twilight could see is that almost all of the resurrected dead only imitated life and could not actually become who they were so the spells were useless in a way.
The cold creeps deeper and deeper through Twilight’s coat as she reads the first book. The chill seeps through her fur and begins to dig its way into her flesh seeking out her bones. Twilight hits the midway mark for the book the binding of the pages becomes visible between the divide of the parchment.
She closes her eyes the muscles in them aching from her reading. It has felt like hours have passed laying there on the cold, dead stone. The cold has finally made its way to her bones making moving that much harder. She manages to break away from the books hold fully and sets the book down on the floor. She drags her left foreleg underneath her the shoulder and elbow popping and cracking, her muscles screaming in protest at the movement that takes almost all of the power that hasn’t been sucked away in the freezing temperature.
She pushes down her only goal is to roll herself over onto her back so she could get her legs in the air. The muscles begin to burn as the power used is feels like the most intense thing she’s ever done. Her joints begin to pop again as she moves fraction by fraction; it feels like she’s shifting the planet.
Twilight manages to move over to her ribs each joint popping loudly and angrily shooting pain up and down her nerves like a hammer playing upon her bones. Her momentum continues and she comes to rest on her spine. She begins to push her limbs up trying to extend them grunting and even sweating from the ridiculous effort this requires to simply extend her four legs. Finally her back legs extend fully each hip popping loud enough to be mistaken for a gunshot. Her forelegs were not as difficult and not as loud to extend fully.
Twilight rolls herself over fully and shakily gets to her feet. She realizes that she can only take shallow breaths as the cold has managed to shrink her lungs to what felt like pins and breathing deeply was excruciating. The book lay there on the floor like a corpse rotting away in the chill that refuses to go. As Twilight walks slowly around the empty chamber stretching her muscles she wonders how this ordeal was supposed to be passed. Celestia has ordered her to read these books but she feels that if she hadn’t moved she would’ve died there on the floor from freezing to death. Was this another test from the princess?
Twilight moves over to the shelf and begins to examine the other five books. The eyes swivel about again and begin to scrutinize her some angrily some curiously. She looks them over like a surgeon looking over a patient before inserting the blade. The shelf itself was not special in any way it appeared. She moves each book looking behind them and studying the tomes themselves. They all flow and shift each keeping its eye upon her at all times as she moves them but otherwise they only differed in length.
She decides to end her quest to find anything strange about the shelf but does grow curious about one thing. She places both of her hooves upon the top of the shelf and feels the wood. Compared to the rest of the blank chamber it is like a furnace against her fur.
Twilight moans somewhat as the heat seeps into her fur banishing the cold from her muscles causing them to loosen. She begins to rub her body against the warm wood continuing her moaning. It was the most pleasurable experience she had ever had to date and was almost arousing in its warmth.
Lying atop the shelf she summoned the book she had left on the floor. The thing hissed at her as it was moved from its own lying place. She ignored the hiss and held the tome above her delving once more back into this ancient text.
Now the words seem to move through her mind without weighing her down as the warmth from the shelf passes into her flesh making stiff muscles flex and cold bones movable. The reading becomes enjoyable instead of arduous and the task at hand is doable.
Twilight finally closes the first book and rolls from the shelf and lands on her hooves. She moves around to the front and sets the book back and summons the second one. This tome is not as lengthy but it is one of the more angry looking ones. Twilight repositions herself upon the shelf and delves right back into her reading.
The hours slip by like sand. The chill air still assaults her fur and she has to turn every few hours to stay warm atop her only safe place. The information that is taken in is not easily forgotten as the things these books tell of are indeed abominable by the standards of good honest ponies in these times. Several times Twilight must close the book for fear of retching at the acts described.
One particular spell sticks out to her in the most morbid fashion. The spell tells of the ability to slow and even stop time. To work this spell one must have done the correct spell beforehand. The spell describes having to raise a recently dead foal. The user must then cut off a piece of dead flesh from the foal and eat it. Then the spell caster must recite a chant that calls out to the ones ‘outside the spheres’ and time will bend to the users will. Twilight finds it disgusting and barbaric not only to resurrect something that has passed but also to consume its flesh.
There is an image carefully sketched that shows a half rotten corpse of a colt standing. The detail of the sketch is breathtaking even if the image shows rotten, maggot eaten flesh and portions of bone. But what is most disturbing about the image is the single eye that stares at the reader out from under the skull of the colt like it really is still alive. Twilight quickly turns the page unable to look at the picture anymore or have it look at her.
Twilight manages to make her way through the second tome with little or no effort the information held within even more disturbing than the first. She once again slips from the shelf. She replaces the book and picks up the third book this one is the largest of the group.
The third book promises to be just as diabolical as the first two but she sets into it with determination. The subject for this book was almost specifically on destruction based magic. The first few spells she comes across all instruct her on how to either rip the guts from her foes or turn them inside out. The book was insistent upon having enemies and needing to find the most terrible way to rip them to pieces.
Twilight rubs her eyes with one of her hooves. How long has she been reading? It did not feel like it has been too long. The book falls to the cold stone floor and begins to hiss and growl angrily at its mistreatment. Twilight’s head hits the ancient wood with a solid thud as her mind shuts down and forces her to sleep.
Twilight stares out into the darkness that surrounds her. She stands beneath a spotlight. The darkness looms above her menacing her with its inky black emptiness. From behind her she hears a small skittering. She turns around quickly trying to find where the noise is coming from. She sees nothing beyond her circle of light which seems to be ever shrinking.
The skittering continues to grow louder and begins to come from all sides. Twilight peers out looking for the noise afraid to leave her circle of light. She doesn’t know if the light will follow her or if it will stay there, the uncertainty was what keeps her there. The skittering grows louder and louder until it is overwhelming.
As she peers out into the darkness Twilight can begin to make out flashes of movement but only the quickest glimpse which makes her question if she had really seen it until she hears the gibbering, squeaking tongue of whatever it is that is running about. It sounds like a thousand mouths begin to speak in a thousand dead tongues in quiet whispers all at once.
Twilight flattens herself out on the ground and puts her hooves over her ears trying to block out the sounds. Then the eyes begin to appear. The small glimpses of movement turns into a swirling vortex of yellow lights as the creatures turn their eyes upon her. She looks up and tries to step away but turns when she feels something brush up against her back. Twilight whirls about voicing her fear to the shadows beyond her agonizingly slowly shrinking pool of light.
As she turns about she meets the gaze of two massive green eyes staring angrily down upon her. Those eyes, they look so familiar and so menacing, bright green with blood red irises an pupils the color of the dead night. Her mouth hangs agape as she steps backward. Her rear hoof leaves the safety of light. Twilight whips her head about as she feels something tug on her leg. She tries to free her leg as the grip tightens around her limb like a vice.
“No!” Twilight exclaims. “Let go!” she commands the unseen force. She pulls and pulls on her leg tears beginning to stream down her face as the light is coming in she is being pulled out. She turns her head and sees, once again, the massive green eyes looking down at her. The look in those eyes is one of accomplishment and loathing like a gloating victor.
She continues her struggle determined to free herself. Twilight’s horn alights as she attempts to magically extricate herself from the darkness. Her magic doesn’t manifest in any way she can’t feel it upon her leg or even see it. The tears continue to come as she realizes that she cannot free herself. She rolls to her stomach and begins to pull with her forelegs. She looks up into those ethereal green eyes and feels her limbs begin to seize and stop moving. She screams and she’s pulled into the abyss out of her ever shrinking light.
Twilight kicks and screams trying to free herself from the darkness. The grip around her ankle crawls up her body wrapping itself around her and tightening as it pulls her ever downward until the blackness swallows up her face silencing the Alicorn. The eyes close up and the noise stops suddenly. There was the sound of thousands of tiny creatures diving into water as one to find the princess who has disappeared beneath the depths. The spotlight fades from existence entirely leaving the dark morass alone to do what it would with the princess.
Twilight awakes with a start her body covered in frozen droplets of sweat. The princess looks about the chamber not sure where she was immediately. She calms some as she realizes that she is still in the chamber with the bookshelf beneath her. She shakes herself the sweat falling to the floor clinking off of the cold stone. Twilight stretches her limbs. Which were beneath her and still retained some of the warmth along with her belly. She steps from the shelf and takes a quick walk about the chamber stretching her limbs. The chill that has set in is intense the top half of her body is numb the warmth from her moving limbs beginning to make its way up into her ribs
The unicorn comes to the book that has been dropped on the floor. She distinctly remembers it falling open but it was closed now and the eye hadn’t swiveled about to look at her menacingly yet. She lifts the book magically and resumes her position on the bookshelf.
Twilight feels her stomach begin to rumble as the need for food arises. Yesterday she had been so enthralled with what she was reading she had not thought to eat. She moves from shelf and heads to the door. She pauses thinking. She had not yet finished her reading task she wasn’t even halfway done yet, but she was hungry. The Alicorn decides that Celestia would forgive a moments interruption to seek out sustenance. Magically the door swings open and Twilight sees a maid sitting upon the top step covered from head to hoof in thick winter clothing fringed with faux fur.
The maid bows low to Twilight without looking up.
“Your grace, I’ve been ordered to see after your food needs from now until you are finished with your task.” The maid says as she keeps her eyes upon the floor. Twilight smiles at the maid.
“Oh thank you. Can I get some slices of whole wheat toast and a big glass of orange juice for now?” she asks politely. The maid nods and backs away without looking up. Twilight wonders at her odd behavior as no servant here had ever been afraid to make eye contact with her or even Celestia. The princess shrugs and shuts the massive door with a loud squeal and a bang. She returns to the shelf and begins reading again.
It feels different now. The words feel as if their message belongs in her mind not just a visitor or stranger who was unwelcome. It was somewhat unsettling as she could feel a physical difference from yesterday. She wonders if her dream has had anything to do with this and decides to ask the princess about it later.
After several minutes pass a loud bang come from the other side of the door. Twilight sets down the book and moves to open up the ancient steel. There is a shriek from the hinges and on the other side stands a different maid still dressed prepared for the worst winter ever with the tray balanced between her hooves.
“My princess.” The maid says quietly holding the tray out to Twilight. There are several pieces of wheat toast on a large plate accompanied by a large bowl of fruit slices a steaming pot of tea and a large glass of orange juice with a pitcher for refills. Twilight feels somewhat confused at the amount.
“Everything has been protected against the cold your grace.” The maid states.
“Where was the other maid who took my order because I didn’t ask for all of this.” Twilight asks as she takes the tray magically.
“We are being rotated my princess as we are not allowed to see inside of the chamber. The extra is for you to have throughout the day.” The servant answers. Twilight looks at the doorway and then looks over her shoulder. The bookshelf is covered from sight by her body but then again Celestia was one who always took extra precautions.
“Thank you.” Twilight says pleasantly and backs away quickly shutting the massive door again. She sits down on the bookshelf and sets the tray next to her. The unicorn pours herself a warm cup of tea and sighs pleasurably as warmth and relief floods into her body like an overwhelming tidal wave. Twilight begins to work into her mound of toast enjoying the break in the reading that lasts for more than a few minutes of trying to relax her eyes or stretch her abused form. Twilight sips her way through another cup of tea deciding to err on the side of caution and save a majority of it for the day ahead of her. The princess then has a tall glass of juice to go down the taste wonderful and bright making her think of the sun.
A flash of her dream runs through her mind. She sees the little speck of light where she had stood being overcome by the unending blackness flowing like a living viscous soup smothering her until the last glimpse of hope is gone. Her throat tightens and her lungs begin to struggle as the dream becomes more and more visceral before her. The glass falls from her magical grip and shatters across the cold, dead stone the enchantment on the juice breaking causing the liquid to freeze into a citrusy puddle.
Twilight falls from her shelf hitting her head upon the stone floor knocking her from the grips of the dream, a dream that seems so real it can halt her lungs from functioning and close her throat. The Alicorn inhales oxygen like it was the last thing she would ever do pulling in air as quickly and in as large amounts as possible as the she feels the grip of the darkness tightening around her again. Panic begins to set in as her breathing continues to spiral out of control and the grip moves feeling like tendrils creeping across her fur.
Terror floods into her mind as she stands and sprints to the door hurling it open seeing another servant sitting upon the top of the stairs. Twilight hurtles over the threshold bringing the door slamming and creaking shut behind her. Her chest heaves as her heart begins to slowly calm as the mist from her breath before her grows exponentially.
Being outside the room, away from those books helps her mind calm, as her mind calms her breathing begins to slow and her heart begins to come down from its erratic climb. The Alicorn sinks to the stone sitting on the floor as tears begin to come down her cheeks. She begins sobbing uncontrollably as the unseen grip releases itself. The maid is taken aback at the princess’s behavior as she has never known a princess to weep before. The maid places a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder reassuringly rather unsure of how to handle the situation. Twilight breathes deeply feeling some of her fear begins to fade but the feeling across her fur of where the tendrils had touched her have left the ghost of their grip upon her.
Twilight shudders with a massive sigh feeling more of her emotions drain away.
“Thank you.” She says to the serving pony without looking at her. “Thank you.” She repeats as she comes back to her hooves her limbs shaking violently. Twilight pushes the door open the hinges screaming once again. Twilight moves into the empty chamber and the door closes behind her. She looks at the shelf and stares at its contents.
The books sit there doing nothing not even their eyes were showing as if they had lost interest in her. On top of the shelf her food and current tome were sitting as if waiting patiently for her to return. She moves back to the shelf curious of the books. She lifts the last one and begins to inspect it. The cover appears to be made of some sort of odd leather and it feels icy to the touch. Twilight hadn’t actually handled the old books until now as there was no need with her magic and now she’s glad she hasn’t touched the cursed thing. But she’s determined to find where the eye has gone searching the cover she even opens the book to look at the inside cover.
As she searches she finds nothing. Not a single trace of the menacing eye that had been watching her not a few hours ago. She finds this perplexing and somewhat disturbing that a book or creature or whatever these things were had been interested in her and now had decided to hide their intent. She gives up on the search and sets the tome back in its place and turns back to her current read.
The book had marked itself for her which she, again, finds rather disturbing. She flips the book open holding it before her telekinetically and begins reading where she left off and with nothing to distract her she could finally concentrate.
The book seemed to streamline its content for her now just pushing everything by as fast as it could on the smallest explanation almost encouraging the reader to dangerous experimentation with things that were less than understandable.
Twilight reads and reads feeling her mind react to the words in front of her. She could feel the influences on her brain like scars, things earned through accident or mishandlings. She continues on ignoring the physical reactions and plows her way into the final portion of the third volume.
After another few hours of reading she finally sets the book down. She sighs happily as another chapter in this horrible sojourn is finished. Twilight fishes the fourth book from its stand and sets the third back in place making sure that all of the books sit perfect before she begins.
The fourth book was of an average size considering. She opens the pages and is greeted by an illustration of a fanged skull of a pony. The picture is followed by a description of the first ever summoned demon from the underworld. The theme of this book became very clear very quickly as the summoning and manipulation of creatures. In the narration, however, it tells of one creature that is only taught in the final book and that it is quite possibly the most devious of all of the creatures and evil beings that could be brought forth from other realms.
The monsters and beasts were all illustrated in drastic detail within the book as Twilight moves from page to page learning of each one. Each detailed a terrible sacrifice and ritual required for the summoning and subjugation of each one of the beasts. Twilight is enthralled if disgusted by some of the requirements. The most astonishing one she found was the portal required to bring forth a giant bat winged, tentacle faced monster from beneath the sea. There were at least a hundred of the casters required to summon the horrid thing and the sacrifice was the life of almost a thousand ponies. Twilight pauses at reading this and thinks on the implications. A thousand lives, gone in an instant, she reads the description and gasps in horror. These lives wouldn’t be taken in an instant they were to be tortured one by one ritualistically.
Twilight remembers reading that this was written by Starswirl the Bearded and he had said that he had even taken part in these horrible acts. Twilight remembers the spell she had used to turn herself into an Alicorn which had been written by that brilliant unicorn. And yet here she sits atop a bookshelf in a freezing chamber reading a book made of Celestia knows what reading about the evil exploits of him and his colleagues all to learn more on dark magic. She feels disgusted at her excitement of learning of such a terrible thing. She feels her breakfast about to make a reappearance but struggles through to keep it down. However sickening it might be these events took place long ago and they were locked up here so that only the most intelligent and mature of sorcerers or sorceresses could learn of them if to never use them again.
The Alicorn brings her attention back to the book and moves through the pages. After another several mind scarring hours of flipping through pages and turning about on her shelf she can thankfully close this book which was arguably more terrible than the last.
By now Twilight has drained all of the food and most of the tea. She puts the book back into its place and lifts the tray. She moves quickly to the massive door and pulls it open with her magic. As the door screeches open Twilight is surprised to see Princess Luna standing on the other side.
The princess has a stern look upon her face as if she can’t decide whether or not to be upset about something. She looks down on Twilight somewhat disapprovingly. Twilight smiles warmly at Luna hoping to engender some kind of connection to her. As long as Twilight has known the mare Luna has been aloof and somewhat recluse in her dealings with most of her subjects.
“I had to see for myself if what my sister says is true.” Luna comments looking over Twilight at the shelf in the room. Her brow furrows in thought and her gaze shifts and becomes unfocussed as she falls into memory.
“I despise this knowledge.” Luna growls out through her teeth. Twilight is somewhat surprised and confused at the princess’s behavior.
“It is rather intense and kind of gross, but it’s still good to know.” Twilight says. Luna glares at Twilight.
“Is it good to know Twilight Sparkle? Is it good to know what went into those terrible experiments?” The moon princess stepped into the room the cold having no visible effect on her.
“I was there.” She whispers looking at the books. The covers open their eyes confusing Twilight at their disappearance and all glare at Luna as if willing her into oblivion.
“Excuse me?” Twilight asks unable to hear Luna clearly.
“I was there.” Luna repeats. “I saw it all. Every atrocity I watched over making sure nothing got too out of hoof.” Luna turns from the room. “I would burn these tomes if it were up to me, but I don’t get to make those kinds of decisions.” Luna leaves the chamber. The Princess of the night pauses before she descends.
“Twilight?” she asks.
“Yes Luna?”
“Does a ponies magical aura ever change?”
“Well, I’ve never heard of it but it might be possible.”
“You might want to find that out and sooner rather than later.” With that Luna begins to move down the stairs slowly leaving Twilight to ponder her odd question.
Twilight leaves the tray outside of the chamber and sequesters herself inside once again. This time she sits up with her back against the back of the shelf holding the book before her magically.
As horrible as some of these spells were Twilight couldn’t help but feel some inherent curiosity at some of these possibilities that were presented. Summoning some of these creatures seemed relatively simple without having to give up too much in the way of life or blood. She begins to rationalize the use of one or two of these spells. Before she realized it she was beginning to plan out of some these things mentally knowing where to look for this or that and it fit perfectly.
Soon enough the fourth book was behind her and She was ready for sleep. Twilight stands and makes her way to the exit. She pulls the door open and on the other side is another serving mare only this time the servant is carrying several thick blankets and pillows.
“For your pleasure your grace.” The mare says casually holding the covers out for Twilight. Twilight graciously accepts the blankets and backs into the room shutting the door after her.
Twilight sets up a comfy position for herself on the floor. She had been given enough blankets to put between herself and the cold floor. Twilight settles into her makeshift bed and sleep overtakes her.
The Alicorn’s sleep is restless and unnerving. The eyes appeared in front of her over and over again. Those giant green eyes filled to the brim with malicious intent. They seemed to scream and whisper at her all at once and she could see the horrid agenda those eyes hid. Once again she was under the spotlight only it seems the world was reversed as if someone had flipped a switch. The spotlight this time was the only spot of darkness and all about her bright light shines happily.
Twilight moves from the darkness to embrace the bright light. As she steps the shadow spreads with her. Ever hoof step adds another tiny puddle to the ever expansive ocean of bright light. The puddles begin to grow and expand to overtake the light blotting it out with every single step.
Twilight stops seeing the blackness she is spreading. She begins to backpedal away from the edge of the ever growing black. She turns and runs back to the spotlight hoping that the darkness will follow her back into where it began.
She stops and twirls about staring at the edges of the growing pool of blackness choking out the light. She eventually stops seeing as the darkness just continues to grow darkening everything and soon enough Twilight is lost in shadow so thick she cannot make out her hoof in front of her face. She doesn’t know what to do unable to see anything anymore. Then she feels it, that sinister stare from behind her something watching her that is trying to bore its way through her flesh. Twilight turns around slowly and those massive green eyes come into view again. Twilight stared at those eyes her gaze locked onto them unable to break away.
There was a new expression inside of those glowing globes. Instead of just the usual malice and anger something sits in there like a raven lauding over fresh carrion. Twilight knew that if she could see the face that those eyes were attached to was smiling at her. Not some warm smile of accomplishment but a smile of contempt and victory. Twilight shrinks back from the gaze trying to hide from them but something tells her that those eyes will find her no matter where she goes no matter where she hides those eyes will already be there staring at her.
Then the laughter starts. It was a deep baritone that was deep enough it vibrates in Twilight’s bones. The laughter begins to dig its way into her mind penetrating her strongest mental defenses. Twilight begins to silently cry as the horrible laughter continues its assault on her mind and the eyes stare at her happily. She feels trapped, there is no way out from this place, from this darkness. She has lost.
There was a loud slam upon the steel door that brings Twilight out of her sleep. She sits upright breathing heavily with frozen drops of sweat clinging to her face. Twilight reaches up and wipes the frozen sweat from her face. She throws the blanket off of her. It was nice to have her entire body warm finally. Twilight stands and stretches her form feeling her muscles loosen from the tension of the past few days. She was still sore and ached from sitting in the cold for so long but with the addition of these blankets her task seemed even less daunting if only her dreams would stop with the darkness. At this point she isn’t fully sure that they are dreams anymore.
The loud bang comes at the door again. Twilight moves to the door the chill of the room setting in once again but not with the same conviction as it had before. She pulls the door open and sees another serving mare holding another serving tray piled with food.
“Thank you.” Says Twilight warmly as she takes the food. The servant didn’t answer as the door was slammed shut. This morning was a repeat with toast, tea and fruit. Twilight sits down amidst her blankets and begins enjoying her breakfast. She again opts to spread the tea throughout the day.
The fourth volume had been finished the day before and sat in its place looking rather inconspicuous and without an eyeball in sight. She grabs the fifth book and pulls it from the shelf using her magic. The cover flips open as it comes over and she begins to read once more. Twilight was curious as to what the theme of this book was going to be and was shocked when she learned that the book was going to cover the manipulation of the body. Not only did it go over pleasure but how to torture a being to death using their nerves alone. The spells within had little to no sacrifice or ritualistic acts seemingly the closest to most magic.
Twilight reads and reads page by page spells and descriptions flow by like water this book is unlike its predecessors however the words left no impression upon her mind physical or emotional. The actions described were just as terrible as before but for some reason she feels immune to the horror within. This was the first of the books Twilight actually loses herself in. Each spell is told in such description and all of them illustrated as to the consequences as bodies are displayed with entrails and organs flowing outward from burst skin and ponies with boiled bones resembling piles of mush.
A particular spell sticks to Twilight. The illustration shows a several step process where the victim is torn apart layer by layer staring with the skin falling away like a wet blanket. The muscles come next some tendons burst apart and other curl up tearing themselves from the bone in the most painful manners. Lastly the bones are left to fall to the ground atop their housings.
Twilight reads the spells thinking of instances in her life where she could’ve used these. The hydra could’ve been the most prime candidate for anyone of these spells. If she had known the spell that breaks multiple limbs at once she could’ve prevented the stampede at Appleoosa. There were hundreds of applicable situations for these spells.
The fifth book flew by in a blur leaving but the barest of imprints upon the princess. She set it back on the shelf and summoned the sixth book to her. The final tome before her she was determined to finish with it this day and leave this place forever. She would never need to come back as she would never forget what was in these books.
The sixth book opened up with an introduction again from Starswirl detailing the end of the era of dark magic experimentation and Celestia making her decree on the wicked art. Twilight felt perplexed at the lack of Luna’s presence within any of the books. She decides to ask Celestia about it once she’s finished.
The hours tick by as Twilight reads comfortably within her blankets and sips her tea to retain her bodily temperature. This book didn’t have a theme but was a narrative on the rise and fall of dark magic.
The story began just after Sombra took over the Crystal Empire. At the time Celestia and Luna were unaware of their northern border and thus unaware of Sombra and the threat he represents. The period was short by Equestrian standards only being in the realm of about two hundred years when the hate filled influence of Sombra began to spread across the land. The first Sorcerer to notice the properties of the darkness was a stallion by name of Shadow Spreader. An odd and ominous name considering he was single-hoofedly responsible for the rise of the use of dark magic.
Shadow noticed the growth of black and charcoal colored crystals about his home. Shadow Spreader lived as a recluse in a mountainous region where arcane power converged. One day the sky was overcast and a storm was approaching. Shadow was aware that an approach of a storm usually indicated an increase in magical flow. The stallion exited his home readying his grimoire as he had experiments to conduct like any good warlock. He stumbled upon a grouping of dark colored crystals. These intrigued the stallion and gathered as many as he could and took them back to his home.
Shadow Spreader then spent the next few months examining the crystals he found about his home. He found that the darkness within them reacted strictly negatively to his influences. Whenever he sent a growth spell through it would destroy something and the unicorn came close to death on more than one occasion from his experiments but soon enough had begun to discover that the crystals themselves held emotion and a rather great amount at that. The most prominent emotion was anger, but they did radiate a small amount of sadness and rage as well. The rage was the smallest and yet the most potent of the cocktail.
Shadow Specter took his findings to his colleague who worked at the Canterlot University. The two sorcerers began to work together and eventually found out how to manipulate their own emotions for use. The magic, they found, had a mind of its own however and began to destroy their beings.
Soon, though, the country was beginning to feel the rage and anger these crystals produced and Celestia had to take action. She stumbled upon Starswirl and Shadow at work in the depths of the university with a group of some two hundred students up to their elbows in dead flesh and rotting bones of sacrifices and surprisingly enough her sister had been observing from afar for, what was later revealed to be, the entirety of the time the students and the sorcerers were experimenting. The discovery made the princess pause in her rage. She condemned the university and the actions of the two warlocks. Celestia was not one to throw out what might be useful information and commissioned Starswirl to write all of his findings down on ancient scrolls which aged brutally in time and had to be transcribed again by Celestia herself to include the illustrations.
Of Starswirl and Shadow Spreader they were executed in the dungeons beneath the palace and their bones had been buried beneath the ocean. Celestia had questioned Luna on all of the experiments and spells she had witnessed and why she had not stopped it. Luna had never given a straight forward answer as to what or why she was up to.
Twilight reads all of this taking in the illustrations with the narrative and she feels awed and confused. There was no mention of Sombra’s fall or how he left power. She was curious as to how the dark magic was banished from the land.
The pictures depicting Shadow Spreader and Starswirl are wonderful renditions. She has seen pictures of Starswirl before with his massive beard hanging from his chin like a living creature in and of itself. But Shadow Spreader was a different case. He was a young looking stallion with a short cropped mane. He was shown wearing a long dark robe that covered up his cutie mark and his tail. His eyes look intense and focused with a youthful energy that few could muster in any lifetime.
Twilight feels herself warm a bit as she inspects the picture of the young stallion almost like a physical attraction. She turns the page to avoid looking at the young stallion. The pictures of the stallions were at the end of the narrative and as promised when she turned the page she came to the final spell in the series of tomes.
The spell describes itself as a summoning spell of the most devious caliber. It is the first summoning spell to require no actual sacrifice and the rewards appeared to be small. The creatures it described were small tadpole like things that wormed their way into a beings body through an orifice. The preferred method was insertion through the mouth. The little things would then make their way through the victim’s system heading for the brain. Once it has arrived it will attach itself to the brain and corrupt the mind from within. The creatures are undetectable and the spell brings forth several of them at a time.
Twilight reads this in wonder. This could’ve been used to control Discord. It still could be used against him as his nature sometimes made him get out of control.
Twilight sets the book down. Her mind is exhausted from finishing two of the books in such quick succession. She closes her eyes but before slumber can grasp her again she opens them as she remembers the dreams she’s been having. Twilight pulls herself from the covers. She folds the blankets up and carries them from the chamber.
She opens the door for the final time and slams it shut behind her. There is a new maid waiting at the top of the stairs.
“Allow me to take that for you my lady.” The maid says taking the load from Twilight. Twilight smiles at the maid and follows her down the stairs.
As they descend the steps the temperature begins to warm. It feels amazing after spending three days up in the freezing chamber. She sighs with relief her task now over.
Finally Twilight comes to the bottom of steps and is greeted by the sight of three guards armed and armored. Twilight recognizes the officer in front.
“Good evening Lieutenant.” She greets Lieutenant Twitch happily. Twitch bows to the princess.
“Your grace, Princess Celestia has asked for your presence once you are finished with your lesson.” The lieutenant says with a gruff voice. He takes stock of Twilight noticing that she is disheveled and her eyes sag with fatigue.
“Lead on.” Twilight commands happily. Twitch nods and flips about with his two guards. They begin to lead Twilight through the palace. The serving mare disappears as she is trained to do leaving Twilight alone with her guards.
Celestia sat in her throne room a line of dignitaries and important ponies standing before her patiently waiting their turns to deal with her. Twitch leads Twilight to the side where a large cushion was situated for ponies that were staying at the palace. Twilight lies down upon the cushion pulling her legs beneath her for comfort.
Celestia acknowledged Twilight’s presence but continued on with her work meeting with ponies from other nations. Some want an alliance others wish for trade agreements and Celestia manages to work these dealings with what appears a casual air and never second-guessed herself. After an hour or so she has seen the last diplomat from her throne room.
The sun princess stands and stretches her legs. Celestia strides down the small ramp over to Twilight her face expressionless.
“Leave us.” She commands. The guards bow their way out respectfully. “Come with me Twilight.” The princess commands. The two walk from the throne room in silence. Twilight has learned from her earlier mistake of impatience and her ordeal was worth a small wait to discuss.
They stroll calmly through the palace passing the same murals and frescoes they see every time. Twilight turns her head just as they pass the picture of Discord squaring off against Celestia. The picture which usually moves her so deeply didn’t budge her heart an inch. She stares at it as they pass and saw it for what it was: a painted picture of an old event that meant little now especially since Discord had been converted.
The two finally came to the hall with the vault where the Elements of Harmony were kept. Twilight looks up at the various windows showing important events from Equestria’s history.
Celestia looks out one of the clear windows down upon the massive hedge maze behind the palace. Twilight moves up next to her. She looks down and remembers the first and only time she has ever entered that place trying to hunt down the Elements of Harmony from Discord.
“Twilight,” Celestia says. Twilight turns her head and looks up at Celestia. “I know what you’ve read and I know about your small interaction with my sister. I would like you to put Luna from your mind as that is an interesting situation that is between her and I. As for the books, what did you think of them?”
Twilight thinks for a second putting a hoof to her chin as the images from the books and from her nightmares come back to the forefront of her mind.
“Atrocious.” She answers. Celestia nods as if in approval of her one time students answer.
“Indeed the actions within are atrocious, but do you understand why I had you read them?” Twilight nods in response not entirely sure why the princess had made her read the entirety of dark magic and its history. Celestia nods again.
“I had hoped to tell you something that may come as a surprise to you Twilight.” Twilight continues to remain silent. “You are a princess now that is true, but I do not yet know what role to assign to you.” Twilight raises and eyebrow. Celestia turns from the window and begins walking along the corridor, Twilight follows her.
“The problem is that you can fit two roles and a solid enough argument could be made for both, firstly the Princess of Magic. You’ll notice that mine and my sister’s cutie marks are associated with our roles in the world with the sun and the moon and Cadence is the Princess of Love and the leader of the Crystal Empire.
“Now you’re cutie mark a special talent is in magic, a rather unique talent. But then comes the second role as Princess of Friendship. You are an expert on the subject of creating and maintaining friends to the point where it could be your special talent as well.” Celestia stops and turns to her student. “I don’t know what to name you as Twilight so I need you to fade into the background for the time being. It is not to say that you will not be needed or are not important in the future but for now you need to stay quiet and continue in your studies of both subjects until Luna and I feel you fit one role or another more appropriately. This may seem a bit harsh but this is what I need from you.”
Twilight doesn’t answer. She just looks up at Celestia and feels something inside of her breast begin to tear. She wasn’t needed, she wasn’t important. The princess hadn’t said in that manner it was what she meant.
“Oh, alright.” Twilight mumbles looking down at Celestia’s feet.
“Do not take this personally Twilight, we’ll find a place for you.” Celestia says. Twilight excuses herself saying that she is fatigued from her reading. Celestia gives her leave to go.
Twilight leaves the massive room sniffling. In her mind words are tumbling about. She has worked so hard and the princess says they still have no place for her. Why would they turn her into an Alicorn without knowing what she was supposed to do? Twilight moves through the palace to her room. As she climbs the steps tears begin to fall from her eyes as she begins to blow Celestia’s words out of proportion.
We’ll find a place for you. Those stuck out the most to her like a splinter in her mind and after all of the damage she’s suffered from her readings on dark magic her mind was in no shape to handle the princess’s declaration.
She comes to her room and the door opens quietly on oiled hinges a small blessing. As she enters the room she sees all of the things that remind her of her place, a nothing a pony with no role to play. She begins to feel frustrated. She’s worked so hard for all of this and now she can’t even take part in being the ruling body because Celestia couldn’t decide what she was supposed to do. Celestia, the most powerful being on the planet couldn’t make a simple decision on someone’s position.
Twilight snarls her horn lighting up black as one of the massive desks is engulfed in a black aura. She lifts the desk and hurls it across the room smashing an armoire filled with priceless dresses. The massive four poster bed was set aflame as Twilight’s rampage continued.
Furniture continued to fly about as Twilight was losing her mind to anger and sadness at Celestia’s words. As Twilight thought on Celestia’s words she thought of Celestia. Celestia wasn’t nearly as important as she made herself out to be. Even Twilight could do her job raising the sun wasn’t that hard. And Celestia herself wasn’t that important. If Twilight couldn’t have role she would carve one out of the existing roles. Celestia’s would do just fine. But Twilight knows she could never take down Celestia on her own, she would need the Elements of Harmony to do it.
But her friends would never turn against the princess even if Twilight asked and gave them good evidence. She would have to turn them. Then a thought wormed its way into Twilight’s mind. If she couldn’t convince her friends then she would have to turn them, after all friendship is tragic.
Author's Note
Thanks to DarqFox for doing the accenting for me go read some of his stuff especially his poetry.
