//------------------------------// // Noctis Aeterna - Chapter 2 // Story: Insanity's Truth // by Caffeinated Pinkie //------------------------------// How many times must one deceive oneself before they concede fallibility? Perhaps the answer is not nearly that simple. Perhaps we are unable to do so, to admit our own reality is flawed. After all, how does one distinguish the truth from falsities but with the baseline of one’s own perception? And as such, would denying what you behold as the truth only serve to destroy what few vestiges you may still hold of your world? To admit your reality is flawed is to admit that you have nothing whence to differentiate right from wrong. Therefore, can you truly blame people who fall victim to insanity or delusions for not being stronger? Can you truly blame people who believe in the only reality that they have been handed? I certainly am unable to do otherwise. To define crazy you must relate to your own normality, and thusly it is nigh impossible to separate truth from lies when neither are right nor wrong. — It has certainly been some time since I last wrote in here. A lot of stuff has happened since then, but this isn't the time to discuss it. I’ll fill you all in on what I skipped in the last entry. And remember, I was new to this strange world and let me tell you, this place is fucking weird. — I stop walking, falling behind Spike and raising a shaky hoof. “Hold up.” Spike pauses and turns to look at me inquisitively. “Yeah?” “Are you telling me…” I wave towards the building in front of us. Spike takes on a blank stare. “Um—” “...That the library…” “Well—” “...Is in a tree?!” I whisper. He scratches the side of his head. “Apparently. Sort of a weird place to put a library.” He shrugs and walks to the door, and I follow after a moment’s hesitation. I watch silently as the dragon pushes open the wooden door. It creaks as the room within is flooded with light. A distant bookshelf is illuminated in the far back, spines shining as my eyes pass over them. Both him and I walk into the darkened library and he closes the door behind us. Shadows immediately overwhelm us, suffocating any remaining vestiges of light in the room. Eventually, I hear the flick of a light and the room instantly brightens. Dusty volumes line the shelves around the room. I can’t help looking around in wonder at the wealth of knowledge at my fingertips. “Why did I never think about living in a library?” I whisper in childlike amazement. I spend a few minutes lost in the moment, wandering down the shelves and reading the spines of the books. The Transcontinental Railroad, An Abridged History of South Equestrian Dynasties, Virtues Of Sorcery - A Treatise On The Binding of Cutie Marks, and the list continues. I pour over the history section, then the fiction section, then the alchemy section, then the music section— I file away some of the interesting titles for later. Spike is busy looking through the fiction section, a handful of comic books in hand. I let him do his thing while I simply close my eyes and try to relax. “Twilight, what have I told you about using spells on other students?” A voice asks sternly to my right. My eyes snap open and I find myself surprised when I see I am in a dimly lit room. I’m planted on a rough cushion upon the ground, sitting rigidly as I stare straight forward. I look to my right and see a large white creature pacing back and forth. It— no, she —leans forward to address me. It’s then I notice the prominent rainbow mane and tail adorning her head and backside respectively. Coming through the mane is a long spiralled white horn and similarly colored wings sprout from her sides. She speaks again, “Well?” “I’m sorry,” I hear myself say feebly. It sounds distant, as if it’s a recording. The creature stops pacing and stands in front of me. She sighs and sits down. “Twilight, I’ve let you off with too many warnings before. Just like all of the students, you are to follow the established rules of this institution. It is not fair to the other students if it were any other way.” Sweat beads on my face.  “You may be my personal student, but to let you go unpunished forever is an egregious abuse of power, both on my behalf and on yours.” A quiet sob escapes my lips and I close my eyes slowly. When they open once more, I’m lying in a soft bed with tears streaming down my face. I stifle my crying and attempt to lift out of the bed. Without the lights on, I’m guided only by the gentle moonlight streaming through the far window. Shadows seem to jump and move in the corner of my eyes as I make my way to where the stairs are partially illuminated by a single beam of light. I pause. “The moon’s up? How long was I out?” With a nervous shuffle, I began my careful descent of the stairs. As I reach the bottom, I find myself in a narrow hallway, visible only by the light flitting in from the other end. When I reach the light, I find myself in the room we entered through. Looking around, I see Spike atop a tall ladder dusting on of the shelves’ larger tomes. He turns around at the sound of my foot— hoofsteps, nearly falling from his perch. He steadies himself and addresses the pony in the room. “Oh, Twilight! You’re awake!” He quickly climbs down the rickety ladder and runs up to me with a hug. “Geez, you really worried me back there.” I shift awkwardly on my hooves. “What happened?” I ask after a moment of silence. I lift an unencumbered hoof to my head. “All I remember is seeing all the books and then… I dunno. I woke up in the bed upstairs. I feel like I had a really strange dream too.” I mutter the last part. Spike either doesn’t notice or chooses to ignore it and backs up a bit. “Well, I had left to see if Celestia stocked the fridge with any gems, but when I came back, you were on the floor crying.” He crosses his arms and looks away morosely. “And there weren’t any gems either,” he mumbles. My eyes widen. “Wait, you carried me all the way upstairs?!” I stare in disbelief at the diminutive dragon. He lifts up his arms in a display of strength. “Guilty as charged,” he says before dropping his arms to his side and looking down. “You were asleep for awhile.” We stand in silence for a bit after that. Eventually, Spike returns to dusting the shelves, humming a catchy tune to himself as he does so. I yawn as I watch him, surprising myself. I suppose everything that’s happened today has really taken a lot out of me, I figure. I turn to stumble my way back up the stairs, gulping in trepidation. As I take my first step around the corner, Spike calls out to me. “Are you sure you’re okay?” I lean around the wall. “Yeah. I think so.” I pause. “Thanks. For everything,” I eventually say, catching a glimpse of Spike giving me a strange look for just a moment as I turn back to the stairs. He seems unconvinced, but nods anyways. “Uh-huh… Well, have a good night! The beds here are great!” I smile slightly. Even with everything going on in my head, I can’t help but think I will. I continue to the room, hardly stumbling on my way upstairs. Nothing but sweet dreams for me tonight. — “I’ve got some reading to do,” I say to Spike. He rolls his eyes and returns to breakfast. I’m feeling a little peckish as well, but I’d rather not indulge just yet. When I glance over, I swear I see him eating some shiny rocks as well, but I write it off as a trick of the light. I walk to the rightmost shelf and began browsing the selection of titles again. My hoof trails from spine to spine, until I stop at one book in particular. Something about it freezes in place and I’m unable to tear my eyes away from it. I clumsily pull Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide from the shelf and place it before me. “Shit. How am I supposed to read this?” I mumble to myself. With a shrug, I attempt to separate the cover from the rest of the pages with my large hooves. Eventually, I give up and just lean down with my muzzle to unceremoniously shove it open. Before long, I manage to get halfway decent at this. “The Elements of Harmony are six powerful relics, lost to time,” I read aloud. “It is said that Celestia used them in the War of Aeterna to banish Nightmare Moon, during her final stand in the Castle of the Two Sisters.” I gaze out the window, silent for a some time. The blank moon stares back at me surrounded by the pitch black sky. Not a single star is out. “Hey, Spike,” I call. The reply came a second later. “Yeah?” I drop the book on the ground and walk up to the dirtied glass. “What time is it?” “Uh… Like eleven in the morning. Why?” My hoof begins to tremble. Something’s not right. “Oh, no reason!” I shout hastily back, trying to control the shaking in my voice. “Hey, I’m gonna go for a walk! Kay, bye!” I quickly open the door and run outside. “Wait, Twi—” Spike’s cry is cut off as I slam the door. I began rapidly trotting down the path towards the rest of the town. I don’t know how busy everything should be at this time of day, but there’s not a single pony out and about. Silence wafts through the streets, early accentuated by dull wind whistling through the alleys. “The sun should be up by now, right?” I ask nobody in particular. I hear a soft laugh and turn around quickly to face it. Seeing nothing behind me, I continue forward. But when I look forward once more, I just barely see a midnight blue pony turn into a dark cloud and fly away. I shake my head. What the… Where have I seen her before? I give chase after the rapidly retreated figure. I began to draw closer until I trip over my unwieldy hooves. My face slams into cold dirt and I slide forward a foot before coming to rest. “Again?!” I shout, looking up to see the creature disappear into a menacing forest. I growl in anger. I attempt to push myself up, but my hooves slide on the dirt, landing me on my stomach. I take a deep breath before trying again. This time, I manage to wedge myself against a rock in the ground. Standing once more, I take off again, albeit slower with a slight limp. My body plunges into the forest and the chase is on. — I arrive at a ravine, coat muddled by dirt and an unsightly amount of twigs. The journey through this place went pretty smoothly. A rickety rope bridge stretches across the infinite chasm. It looks ancient, but the sides are lined with what looks like fresh ropes. The boards are mostly old, but here and there, a missing one is replaced with a brighter piece of oak. I frown. It definitely looks like someone just came through here recently, judging from the fixes, but there aren’t any foot or hoofprints in the wet mud and the entire clearing looks untouched. Given that the thing I’m trailing is flying, I suppose it makes sense there wouldn’t be a trail. With a confident nod, I step onto the bridge despite every part of my body screaming at me not to. I’m surprised when I realize just how sturdy the pass is, whoever worked on it did a good job. Though it seems like a whole lot of work for a place nobody seems to come out to. Nonetheless, I reach the other end of the ravine. As I take the last step off the bridge, the whole cliff rumbles and the bridge entirely collapses, trapping me on this side. I gulp, turning forward to stare at the overgrown castle wall. It was obscured by thick fog back a ways, but now I can see how menacing it truly is. Large cracks run down the massive brick walls and vines cover much of its surface as if trying to squeeze the last of the life out of the ruins. A tremendous set of metal doors hang open, beckoning me inside. Unable to resist the allure and without a way to leave, I step within the dark abodes. Like the bridge, the doors slam shut behind me causing me to jump a foot into the air. Whispers fill my ears and I attempt to cover them with my hooves. But even as I do so, a sharp pain pierces into my head and I collapse on the floor, crying out in pain. I can barely hear the soft hoofsteps approaching over the din, until my head is forcefully lifted upwards. This close, I can see the mare from before much better, even as tears blur my vision. Suddenly it clicks. I know where I’d seen her before, in the Elements of Harmony book, there was a blurry picture of her flying through the air. Between the brief look I got of her before and the quality of photo, I couldn’t tell who it was. “Nightmare Moon,” I manage to croak out. My vision clears somewhat as the pain lessons. The pony standing before me is far taller than I previously thought, her body’s partially covered in shining metal armor, and two slitted eyes and a mouth full of fangs gazed smugly at my crippled body. The rest of her coat was almost a pitch black, with barely a tint of indigo. “Ah, so thou knowest who we are. We are not surprised. Truly, Celestia spoke highly of thee before she was banished,” she lets go of my aching head, but I continue to stare at her. “With how confident she was in our defeat, we nearly feared for our own life.” She leans down to stare me in the eyes. Cold, merciless eyes stare into my own. “But thou are not Twilight Sparkle, are thou,” she asked with a toothy grin. I choked on my spit. How did she know?! I thought with panic. She backs up and laughs deeply. “Oh, do not underestimate us,” she admonishes, walking towards a battered throne mere meters away. “From the moment we first returned, we could feel thy mind, however fragmented it may be.” She takes a seat in the regal chair. A moment of silence passes. I drop my head back to the ground. It isn’t long before she continues though. “So what manner of creature are thou? We have heard whisper of a being of many shapes.” She leans forward. “Genuinely, we would like to know before we kill thee.” She flashes another one of her toothy smiles. “I’m—” I began before the doors to the room bang open, interrupting me. A tomboyish voice shouts, “Hey, get your hooves off her you filthy…” She pauses and lowers her stance for a second. “Uh… Filthy…” She frowns before sighing. “Just get away from her!” I can’t help but raise an eyebrow at the performance. I force my body to turn around just enough to see the new visitors. The pony has a light cerulean coat with an extremely vibrant rainbow mane and tail. A cocky grin rests on her face as she glares at Nightmare Moon. Four other ponies step out from behind her, filling the narrow hallway. On the far right is a bright yellow pegasus with flowing pink hair. Her lips are quivering and she looks ready to run away at a moment’s notice, yet she stands her ground. Next is the pink pony from before, smiling brilliantly despite the situation, she catches my eye and gives a quick wink causing my grimace to lessen slightly. On the other side of the rainbow pony is an orange pony with short yellowish hair. Her face is similarly determined like the rainbow one’s, but without much of the cockiness. She looked between Nightmare Moon and I with worry. And last is a pure white pony with an elegantly styled dark purple mane and tail, each curling into itself. She holds herself with a essence of regality, but seems as if she could handle herself in a fight if push comes to shove. Immediately, the yellow pony runs over to my crippled figure and attempts to help me up. A quick glance back at the mare on the throne tells me that she wasn’t prepared for all these ponies showing up. A sneer escapes her lips, but it doesn’t frighten me nearly as much this time. “What are you all doing here?” I find the courage to ask. “Not to mention, who are all you?” They glance at each other. “Well, when we left the Town Hall and saw you run into the Everfree, I would never have forgiven myself if I stood idly by,” the alabaster one says. Her eyes glow with determination. The pink horse bounds forward, landing in front of the unicorn. “What kind of friends would we be if we didn’t help you trounce Nightmare Moon?!” She smiled widely with almost too much glee given the situation. Friends… I mouth the word and feel the strange sound linger on my tongue. It suddenly feels so foreign for some reason. I close my eyes before opening them with newfound determination as I stand up. I need to find the Elements! I’m caught off guard as Nightmare Moon laughs again. I look up to see her levitating five glowing crystals. I hardly pay attention to that as I’m too fixated on the gems. Are those…? The unexpected visitors back up slightly, while the cyan pegasus holds her position defiantly. “Indeed they are, my faithful student,” she says mockingly. “We suppose we may never discover what thou are, but we shall enjoy destroying thee.” Her horn glows bright and the elements fill the room with blinding light. An electricity fills the air that makes my fur stand on end. I squint, trying to see what is happening. I gasp when I see a red hot beam of energy arcing towards the group of ponies in the doorway. I realize in horror that I only have moments until it strikes. Information flashes through my consciousness. Pure manus at quadro point. One thousand keltcians at least. Twenty million gigamana of corrupted harmonic magic... Enough to completely destroy a full grown pony in less than a millisecond. I cry out in anger and lunge forward. I’m overcome by a searing pain enveloping my body, the air around me erupting into flames and the beam of energy slamming into my chest. The last thing I feel is my horn exploding with pain as I hear the terrified cries of the ponies — my friends — behind me.