The White Void

by Sealcake

Everything

The unicorn licked her lips, a few beads of sweat running down her temples, only to stop when reaching the goggles' bands that covered her eyes.

Illuminated by the weak light of a pair of candles, she levitated a book nearby and gave a quick glance to the page explaining the spell. Looking to the circle drawn underneath her hooves, with every trace made with imported magical chalk, she made sure to have done it in the right way; no residues of chalk, no shaky lines that could disrupt the fluency of the magic.

Smiling at her hard work, she put down the book and levitated five scrolls -all of them written by her- and floated them over, reading in her mind their contents.

It had taken weeks to perfect the spell: She had had stressing days studying the worn out papers written by Star Swirl the Bearded, just to infer something that could be a clue or a phrase taken completely out of context.

But in that moment, she wasn't going to utter a single thing about those days of looking after ancient -and lost- books; only after finishing the spell would she let those memories break her concentration.

She inhaled sharply, the smell of detergents and cleaning products filling her nostrils, along with the almost indetectable smell that all basements have.

Twilight Sparkle was ready.

---

The night, that time were ponies were asleep and safe in their warm homes. That time when Rainbow Dash had to explain, for third time, to a group of newbies what was the schedule to follow and what they didn't have to do.

"No, no, no!" she exclaimed, breathing like a bull. She closed her eyes, counted to ten and looked to the team that was assigned to her; all of them horrified by her actitude. 'Don't be too hard with them, they're just newbies...' Rainbow reminded herself. "You just... don't try to use spectra to make the mist look colorful, okay?"

An off-white stallion with a gray mane hid an empty bucket behind his back, whistling.

"And you don't use spectra to MAKE mist..."

A blue stallion with a white mane hid his dirty hooves behind his back, looking everywhere but Rainbow. 'How did they get spectra in the first place?' Rainbow thought.

Sighing in annoyance, Rainbow continued speaking. "Tonight we need mist in the town's territories, not too thick and not higher than three foot," she looked to the two stallions. "And specially not colorful," she said, the rest of the team giggling.

Rainbow continued. "Since there hasn't been a single rain in some of the town's farms, the owners had asked specifically for a fog." She pointed to the two stallions that had made all the disaster. "Prism Glider, Milky Way, you get to make the fog. You can take it from the Everfree -" their eyes widened "- or you can place hot air over cold air, whatever fits you two."

The two stallions nodded and flew. Rainbow looked to the rest of the team.

"All of you get to make the mist, I will make sure to maintain the paths clear and keep in line the fog. We don't want pegasi falling from the skies or another incident like the past week, don't we?" The pegasi left gulped. "Thought so."

The team parted and Rainbow, having said it all, flew towards the town's main paths, the night's cold air passing over her cyan fur with its fresh touch.

She smiled and flew upwards, stopped and fell, only to open her wings in the last moment. She flew parallel to the ground, dodging buildings that seemed spots at the speed she was flying. Her colorful hair waving in the wind. In her excitation, she made a few stunts, a rainbow trail following all her movements.

For a moment, she forgot about the schedule and its strict rules. The sensation of being free present in her mind.

But then there was a loud sound, like a bomb exploiting. She turned around and saw something that sent chills to her spine.

An enormous, destructive and bright white pilar of magic coming from her friend's house.

---

Wrong.

Everything was wrong.

From the inkwell flying to the wind that was making it fly.

Twilight Sparkle covered her face with her forelegs. Her eyes were glowing in the same way they had done so many years ago, when she earned her cutie mark. Twilight hadn't known of something at that time, and that was the threat that a magical outburst represented. She was lucky that the outburst didn't kill her when she was a filly.

But now, fate wasn't in her side. And she would need much luck to end with nothing but a broken horn.

'I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die' Twilight repeated in her mind like a mantra to hold into. If she was going to die, at least she would keep her sanity, or so she thought.

Her body, floating in the center of the circle due to the strong winds, twitched uncontrollably. Twilight let out a groan, pain taking over her head.

She could feel the magic taking physical form, but her fears were only confirmed when she heard wood breaking and small pieces of stone falling to the basement.

'Ev-evv... ever-everypony wi-will s-SEE IT!' Twilight thought. Crying, she tried to gather all the magic back, even if that meant that her organs could end up dispersed in the basement, or her horn imploding, dooming her to never use magic again.

But the safety of the other ponies was before hers. After all, she was the one who thought that casting an incomplete spell -and completed by her- in a foreign language was a good idea. It had nothing to do with the fact that doing a small sacrifice could save the entire town from desintegrating into ashes. Nothing to do with that.

Nothing at all.

Her horn felt like a balloon that was going to explode at any moment, sending waves of pain towards her brain. A high pitched beep piercing her eardrums, only interrupted with the sound of an object smashing another. She closed her eyes, screaming, trying to stop the pain that was crushing her head.

"Hold on!"

She recognized that voice.

And she wanted it as far away as possible.

"R-R-Rainbow do-do... DON'T COME CLOSER!" she yelled. Opening her eyes, she could hardly see Rainbow Dash, her vision ruined by the bright ball of magic in which she was trapped. However, her plan seemed to work, as proved by the lines of energy that were being recolected in the tip of her horn, forming a spiral of purple lines over it.

Rainbow covered her face with a foreleg, but continued to step forward to save her. Seemed unaffected by the strong winds that were making everything fly.

'Didn't she hear me?! Why doesn't she stop?!'

Rainbow extended a foreleg, she was too close. 'No no no no no no NO NO NO NO!'

"RAINBOW, NO!!"

Her hoof touched the ball, disrupting the already unstable energy and liberating the magic gathered by Twilight's horn, unleashing it. The whole basement was engulfed in light for a few seconds, and when it disappeared, nothing but a big black spot was left where once two ponies were.

The ceiling of the basement, weakened by the magic beam, collapsed over the scene with a loud sound. A cloud of dust rising above the pieces of broken wood and concrete. Different scientific instruments scattered all over the place.

Accompained by the sound of hooves, ponies -awakened by the explosion- came rushing; only to be surprised with the sight of what was once the Golden Oak Library.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

This is gonna end with Twilight becoming an alicorn, isn't it.

[Starlight Nova]

Have you ever considered submitting this story to Equestria Daily? You can find out how to do so here.

[musicluvr1974]

Hm! Looks intriguing so far! Adding to my Read Later list as of right now!

[Monochromatic Rainbow]

Oh! I approve of this muchly!

[PegaSista101]

This reminds me of Magical Mystery Cure (Twilight finishing an incomplete spell; Twilight and Rainbow Dash disappearing in a white flash with a black spot left behind) and Twilight's Kingdom Part 2 (the Golden Oaks Library exploding) at the same time. I'm officially interested in where this goes.

Also...um...did Spike die?