Moonlit Scroll had felt every part of his body swell, the building pressure rupturing him with an explosion of agony. To say he was surprised when the pain was replaced with a dull sensation of impact and the sound of shattering crystal was an understatement.
"What happened?" He asked in a voice that was not his own. Its deep baritone rumble vibrated the rubble piled atop him.
He blinked and looked at the devastation around him. Fragments of crystal were scattered around and below him. The only thing that was recognisable and intact was a current loathsome mirror. He tore his eyes away from that ingenious torture instrument before he started to shake. Just it being here told him exactly where he was.
"Well, it would not do to outstay my welcome. Thank you for your hospitality… I don't believe I will be returning any time soon." He pushed himself to his hooves, or tried to. The crystal shards exploded under his hoof, and his limbs launched him into the wall.
It may have well have been a hoof full of dust and pillows for all the pain he felt. That did nottihng to change the indignity of sliding down the wall. He lay there and looked at his foreleg. His huge obsidian hoof looked like it could shatter armour, and with the limb attached to it wrapped with those thick cords of muscle, it looked like that was no exaggeration. Even as he moved the limb, he could feel the raw power in each strand of muscle fibre. A power that no mere unicorn could possibly possess.
Did it work? Hope and anticipation filled him, and the half second it took to look at his back felt like it took a lifetime. They were dusty and had crystal shards stuck in them, but they were there, his wings.
"Yes!" He laughed. He could not help himself. Joy, relief, satisfaction, and just being alive demanded an outlet. The power of his laughter caused some more of the crystal castle to fall on him. When that did not even hurt in the slightest, he just laughed all the more.
With every breath, he felt like he could take on the world. It took him a good few minutes to calm himself and a few more to regulate his incredible strength enough so he could successfully stand.
"I knew earth ponies could be strong… but this…" It's as if I weigh nothing… His aura reached out and scattered the debris that concealed most of the mirror. With gritted teeth, he turned and made himself stare into his reflection.
In the mirror, he saw nothing of the pony he had been. The pony he saw resembled neither his original form nor Noble Guide. Instead, a tall, powerful stallion impassively looked back at him. Their dappled grey coat looked dull and lifeless, but that just made the shimmering silver mane stand out all the more. Even under their long, unruly coat, it was easy to see their powerful frame. Their thick body was bulky, with enough muscle mass for ten earth ponies. The pride of any unicorn was their horn, and the obsidian spire that topped his head looked like it would at least match Celestia.
It took some effort and some help from his aura, but he managed to spread his wings. They covered the space of the room, almost reaching both walls at once. As a whole, they looked grey, but to his newly improved eyes, he could see that each was mottled with dozens of different colours as each bore a unique arrangement of stains.
He chuckled at the imposing, powerful, but slightly fluffy Alicorn in the mirror. "Well, I'm going to need to have my coat trimmed, but that's a small cost to pay for immortality."
He pivoted to the side to take in his profile and froze when he noticed his mark. Gone was the scroll and moon symbol. In its place was a blank page, one edge ragged as if torn from a book. Even as a hollow formed in his gut, he smiled. "A blank page, what better mark for one with endless potential."
He glanced up at the hole in the ceiling and the black void beyond. "Where are the stars?" His wings flicked with an urge to fly, but all that was achieved was another painless collision with a wall. His chuckle shook both the room and himself. "Alright, I'll walk until I find a tutor."
Broken chunks of crystal powdered under his hooves as he stately made his way through the castle. Potent scents assaulted his nose, including the foulness of unwashed ponies. The harsh chemical sting of antiseptic and powerful cleansers did not do enough to drown out the blood, urine, and other bodily fluids under them. His eyes watered as he gagged, and yet more and more scents hammered him. Ashs, burnt flesh, ink, chocolate cookies, dozens of different types of alcohol that strange sent left after a storm, sickly sweet honey, hearty vegetable stew and the aftermath of amorous encounters where the ponies decided not to bathe afterwards.
His stomach clenched, and it tried to make him throw up, but evidently, it had nothing but bile to offer. His horn lit, and he fell back on his mind magic. It was a simple, reversible effect. But for now, he removed his ability to perceive anything from his olfactory sense.
"That's better." He panted, his heaving sides aching. I crashed through a castle, and this is what hurts me? He wanted to laugh, but his protesting sides held that impulse at bay.
Once he had left the devastated section, he awoke to find the rest of the place in much better repair, if eerily silent. Only his stray breath and the heavy falls of his hooves broke the utter quiet.
The castle was not what he expected. Things lay abandoned and scattered in the halls. There was evidence of panic and a few discarded items, but almost everything of use was gone. A set of open doors led to a library. It only took a glance to see it was a vast and empty repository without a single book on its hundreds of shelves.
Curiosity getting the better of him, he toured the rest of the castle. There were plenty of decorative items, some dropped personal effects, but no books, food, tools, or bedding to be found.
His path led him to a large window. Outside, only flickering mage light cast any illumination. Beyond that small, inconsistent radius, everything was the deepest dark he had ever seen. It was as if nothing outside the small circle of light existed. What in Tartarus? He said in the quiet of his mind where the things that might luck out there could not hear him.
Was this the darkest night or a sunless day? He had no way of knowing, and that lack of knowledge normally would annoy him, but right at that moment, it felt like he had all the time in the world. What time even was it? There had not been a single timepiece in the entire castle. How did they organise anything?
A quiet worry started and built. The blight had seemed simple and had worked when tested. What if the sacrificial ritual also proved overly effective. Had he just killed everypony in Equestria? It was impossible. There was no way it could have happened… But then again, there was no way the blight should have run rampant either.
As ridiculous as the concept was, he just could not rid himself of the doubt. He had to do something to prove that his rational self was right. His aura pulled a drape from the wall, and with a little more magic, he had a serviceable covering. He wrapped his magic around him and channelled one of the spells he recovered from the Temple of the Hidden Path. With a wavering of his outline, he faded from most forms of perception.
"Time to go for a walk."
The first step outside was a shock. The moment his bare hoof touched the ground, a wave of tingles raced up his leg... He lifted his hoof, and it stopped. He shivered. "It seems there is more to being an earthpony than controlling this strength."
He took a breath and slowly lowered his hoof again. The sensations returned, but this time, he was ready for it. He closed his eyes and focused on what he was feeling. As a breeze ruffled his coat, the sensation intensified. In his mind, little ripples of understanding sparked. If my hoof was a horn, how would I interpret this? That one thought changed everything. The sensations were not in his leg. No, they were beyond it, outside him like he was using a wide-field aura to feel around in the dark. The breeze came again, and it sent swirls and patterns through this new sense. For a moment, it made no sense, and then he registered the sensations of the grass as the wind played with it.
Like how he could feel the wind moving his coat, as long as his hoof was on the ground, he felt the grass as if it was the hairs of his own coat. He placed his other front hoof on the ground, and the new sense sharpened. A minute later, he stepped fully away from the dead crystal.
With each hoof lifted, the sensation dimmed. With each hoof fall, ripples raced through the ground like when stones were dropped into still water. Even with it now bearable, it was extremely distracting. Like having erratic and unshielded magic flux would be to his horn.
"Now I know why you always wear metal shoes…"
Outside, the air felt warmer than he expected. He stayed close to the castle and circled it to get a view of Canterlot. There were more lights visible in the mountain city than there would be on a normal night. As he focused, the city rushed closer, his wings flared, and he reared back.
Another painless impact with a wall followed. "Stupid pegasus reflexes," he sighed and pushed himself back to his hooves. He knew that pegasi had good visions. He knew they could see further if they were magically powerful, so why exactly did he jump when his vision zoomed in? He sighed again and returned his gaze to the distant city.
Points of magic light moved slowly atop the walls. He could just make out the horned equine forms that moved with them. There was a lot more than normal, at least a double shift of guards. As foalish as it made him feel, he welcomed the relief that washed through him. He was not the only pony left. He had not spent every life in his quest to give them the ruler they needed.
He slowly finished his circle of the castle. Up above the sky was nothing but a dark void, with no moon or stars and impenetrable to his sight. The only sources of light in existence were the Crystal Castle and Canterlot. He looked off towards where the magenta dome should have been visible, and there was nothing. Did my ritual drain that, too? It should not have. It should not even have affected it, but where was it? Twilight's creation was perfect and potent. It was made to last for an age, it would not fall to magics aimed to only be able to affect mortals.
Keeping his concealing magic warped around him, he headed off that way. He needed answers, and that was the most likely place to have any. Despite returning to the site of the crime, he estimated that that there were good odds in this dark, he would see their light long before they saw him.
His new earth pony sense was a poor substitute for sight, but it at least allowed him to follow the new road. At least his blood magic should warn him should any creature draw too near.
Well, time to see if anypony is laying in ambush for me.