Arcana's Wrath

by oop

Chapter 5: 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939

Screams, fire, light, the sound of tearing but not of cloth or even the hellish sound of renting flesh. The piercing light devoured, and it rent the very fabric of existence to be cloven in two from the might of an entity given godlike power and not a vestige of control over it.

This was the nightmare from which the young mare in the bowels of Canterlot castle awoke from, head still on her desk, the copious sweat of her brow soiling several old manuscripts upon which she had rested. It wasn’t an unusual thing for her to fall asleep at her worktable, in fact it was an almost nightly occurrence, but never before had she been dragged away from such a godless image by the suddenly blissful acknowledgement of wakefulness.

She winced slightly as she stood up, possessed already with one of the frequent headaches new information gave her, and this was beyond even what she was forced to be used to. Dreams were nothing new, not even ones as vivid as reality. That sort of illusion came naturally with a brain as powerful as hers, but this was new. The apocalyptic image had seemed more alive than anything she had experienced in the animate world.

Calm, calm was needed before her rational thought could come into play, and as painful as it was that was exactly what she needed right now. She slowed her breathing, taking time to collect herself before turning her reasoning on how, or more importantly why she had conjured up such a ghastly image into her dreamscape. The first thought was she might have pieced together something subconsciously, but turning yesterday’s events over she couldn’t analyze any of it, no one had even visited. She could not have made such a thought either, for despite her intellect she didn’t play on the delusion of having much of an imagination.

The mare came through these thoughts in a heartbeat, settling on as logical a conclusion as she could muster. The strange and terrible dreamscape had come from outside her own mind. This, above any other thought, was a terror to consider. She prided herself on knowledge of an unwarranted enormity and the thought of intrusion upon her mental archives was worse even than the nightmare she had witnessed.

Her racing heart was matched in pace only by her reeling mind as she paced the room, sending a flutter of old documents up around her hooves. It was dark here, the meager light now emanating from her horn doing little to dispel it, and barely encroaching upon the high rows of shelves housing manuscripts from ages long past. The dusty smelling room was the Canterlot archive, and it was a perfect place to think, though thinking might now be the last thing she wanted to do, not that there was much to be done about it, the thoughts kept coming, turning over every clue in for anyone with enough magic to produce such an image and checking what motives they might have to do so.

It didn’t take her long to figure, finding the threat and after that planning. Were it not for the adrenaline brought upon by enormous fear and panic she would be cold with it all, but at present all she could do was make herself busy. If she were close enough to be infected by his influence he was far too close.

Who he was she didn’t even like to think about, but again, inevitability dictated. An image flashed, as painful in her mind as a prodded scar, of a stallion in a dark robe, silent in action, though his hoof touched upon every misdeed in the greater Equestrian world.

This wasn’t her own rationalization for once, this time it was something less natural and far more arcane. The crème colored unicorn paced the dark space, a tiny bit of light glinting off her small, round glasses each time she came around. Her mind was turning her own world over and over again, trying to piece each bit together.

She knew his name, the mystery stallion who went by the mere title of i. The first affirmation of his existence had been through years ago, through the patterns of Discord, his chaos, and how he was guided. It was the first of two times in recent memory he had allied himself with another villain in betrayal. i had been a brief character in the novel of a world existing in her mind but he seemed to weigh heavily, more even than simply as a guide to Discord claiming Canterlot city. It was almost as though that plan, so cunning and well pieced had been silently doomed to failure from the start…

To Hell with assumptions, even if that was what they were. When the brown maned mare of knowledge turned her mind on something her inferences were always correct. The greatest disturbances in Discord’s presence were large magical outbursts, mostly his own, though several accidental forces also applied, but to what end other than to disperse magic was there? None, she knew that better than any other speculative eye. The reason for the attack was specifically to release old magic but she hadn’t the foggiest idea as to why. i’s next logical step after the fall of Discord was to move to another, hence the rumor of the changeling queen’s secret strike, and her attempted grasp at ancient and demonic artifacts. Perhaps even the procurement of the time capsule at Everfree could be attributed to the hoof of this hidden conspirator.

These revelations, as fast as they were moving, startled the mare. She had dreams of this stallion, never with specific actions, but in a misty darkness and in grisly silhouettes of action. Now, in a time where his actions were visible and in a world where he could really be known, Letterheart was, for the first time in her life, terrified. The pieces of this infernal chess game were too few, far between and veiled yet to clue in to the dark opponent’s end game, but something was oddly clear to her. The duke of Canterlot had sworn his allegiance to this shadowy stallion.

i’s plan involved magic, and it involved the duke, and in some small part it involved the manipulation of Equestria itself. It had been the summer following the Duke’s return that she had felt what she called the creeping chill. It was just a feeling, though it was the same one she had whenever she inferred news of the robed pony, but much worse. Some part of her suspected that i had wrested control of the pen writing this Equestria into existence, and she felt terribly that he had struck a near-fatal blow to the one who had previously held it.

If this were true, then the world was shifting, shifting in favor of the sinister being whose goals didn’t stop at control of the natural world. Letterheart wouldn’t try and fool herself for the cause either, i was not satisfied. There were elements he discovered even the previous creator had no control over, but they were his creations. What, then, could he be planning to change such a thing?

Letterheart was shivering, suddenly possessed with gratefulness for freedom, as though another’s omniscience had grafted her before a new and more wrathful god could take control. If this was all the case, and somehow, horribly, she knew it was, the good in the world was no longer in control. The good in the world was now the force chosen to lose.

And for the first time in her entire life, Letterheart dismissed something. She was in a state of heavy sleep deprivation, and she was only pony. Even with her enormous intelligence her worried thoughts could be just that, thoughts, delusions even, more heavily so given that a great deal of basis for this was dreams and assumptions rather than her usual solid facts. The entirety of a good five minutes worth of consideration was now slowly, and painfully, brushed aside.

Letterheart permitted a sigh, looking to a corner that was her living space in the library. A cot, a stack of her fictional books, a thankfully empty chamber pot, and an oil lamp was all she wanted or needed in the depths of the Canterlot Archive. She never left this space, and she hoped she would never have to. Here was a collection of knowledge enough to occupy her intelligence for a lifetime.

Though what she needed right now was more sleep…

Author's Note:

"I'm hoping you can all sense the duality involved in this little exchange, though I admit myself it is a tad complicated. Still I expect you all to notice at least the difference involved. Assuming that-"

Go away, leave my story alone and for gods sake give me control again, you've got your fifteen minutes of fame now-

"Everything continues on schedule, and thankfully we are very sure it will, you will be enligh-"

Look, i, I know what you're thinking and it's a little stupid, if you want this to make sense don't lead people on, you need-

"Excuse me, there seems to be some interfer-"

An intermission! I'm calling for an inter-
- -
-
-CC

"I am very sorry for that disturbance... As your new guide through this story I feel it my own responsibility to silence this one. I will say though it is not an easy task and you ought to be grateful for the effort involved in it. Thank me later, we'll be speaking directly very soon..."

-i

Comments

[Omniscent I]

Yay! Intermissions are my favorite! Sorry CometChaser, but I am rooting for i . Its all your fault he's in control anyway. Thanks to whichever of you wrote the update. I have been waiting for it.