White Sun

by The Psychopath

Knowledge

"Wow," Twilight marveled. "Look at all this, Spike," the mare said to her 'dragon'. "It's a sand cave, and it's full of mummies!" She looked Spike in the eyes, her own gleaming with excitement. "I can't wait to take them all back with us!"

Twilight backed up in the tunnel and used the extra space to gain momentum and hop through a falling current of sand and land on the solid 'island' of blackened rock. On her way she ended up colliding with a falling body and got her brand new test subject to play with. She wasn't going to bring them back to life right away, though. That would be a waste in a place like this. She wanted to be able to observe the mummified remains in her laboratory before freeing them into the city below. It felt wrong to bring these ponies back to life and then keep them trapped in some kind of pen for her entertainment.

Spike landed right behind her, its claws digging into the stone to prevent it from slipping off. It watched Twilight look at it with glee and pull out surgical instruments from her own saddlebags.

"Spike, could you grab any mummies you find and bring them to me?" She patted a spot with her hoof to her right. "You can plop them here, please." The mare grimaced while looking at her assistant. "And don't fall into the sand. I don't know if there's a limit to how far these medallions can reach." She rubbed hers with a hoof. The image of that thing filled her mind. "I don't know what it did, but we can't play with distance. You'll be lost forever."

The mare returned to her enamored pursuits, cutting apart, peeling back, and digging into every mummified body she could find. Because she had come with supplies, the mare estimated she could stay there for at least three days before needing to return home. Three whole days of picking up whatever errant bodies appeared and three days of experimentation in a place literally no pony else would be able to reach! If it weren't for the impending chance of the 'roots' breaking and all the sand collapsing, burying her alive, then Twilight would have considered moving here, or at least making it a secondary base. The heat was a slight problem, but it was barely noticeable when compared to the surface.

Twilight gleefully conducted her experiments, comparing the state of decay and desiccation between bodies and placing them in designated piles to be marked for later. She had so many more theories to work on in the future and test their truthfulness or falsehoods. This part of the 'job' was what Twilight adored the most. She sometimes wondered what she would have done had Celestia not been...temporarily incapacitated, but it was too late to wonder about that anymore.

The mare paused. The same thoughts crept through the recesses of her mind every time she worked on what she was sure she loved, and reason as she might that she shouldn't dwell on the past, she still wished, deep with her, that none of this had ever happened.

Twilight pursed her lips. "Come on, Spike. Let's set up camp then go to sleep," the mare said with a yawn. "We've had a long week and today has been exhausting."

Her modest home had been stitched together with random assortments of cloth and destroyed clothing, but it did its job, especially in this environment. With a modest meal taken in and other business resolved, the mare checked outside of her temporary shelter, suspicious of any strange creature that could be lurking in the ever-flowing sands then sealed up the tent.

The next day was extremely enjoyable for Twilight. She hopped up and bonked her head against Spike's. The undead had been keeping watch over her throughout her slumber. Without the sun to guide her, the mare couldn't determine what time it was. She wondered if it wasn't better to just leave after the second day so her circadian rhythm wouldn't get destroyed.

Regardless, she and Spike fished out new bodies from the depths of the sand and got to work. It was only by the third 'operation' that Twilight froze in fear. Her skin grew goosebumps, her fur stood on end, and her blood seemed to freeze in her veins. Her primal instincts were telling her to run, but she was stronger than the baser savagery inherent to all living things. She forced her stiffened body to turn, feeling every one of her muscles fight against their host. The mare well and truly froze when she discovered what it was that caused these problems.

In a wall of sandstone was a single, giant, blue eye that sparkled like a sapphire. It had been watching Twilight the whole time, unblinking and silent. Twilight made for her medallion when the rock around the eye started shifting. Every movement was a sudden jolt then lock, like a machine. It moved twice to its right, then once upwards, revealing the smallest portion of a crescent-shaped mouth.

"What is this that comes before me?" it asked. Its voice was loud and rough, like somepony was rubbing marbles against each other. "A living pony? Why do you disturb my eternity of imprisonment and reflection?" it asked. Twilight was dumbfounded. "What ails you, pony? Is my existence so grandiose that it has caught you blind, deaf, and mute?"

"Wh-what?!"

"My mere existence baffles you quite a bit, I see," it continued. Its head turned to the right twice, revealing another eye under its triangular maw. Try as she might, Twilight couldn't see said maw move when the entity spoke.

"What are you?!" Twilight asked in terror.

"I am what I am," it responded. "Cast down from my place and stuck here as punishment, my mind full of knowledge."

The mare raised her brow. "Why would you specify knowledge?" she asked it.

The whole wall shifted, revealing the outlines of four arms akin to a minotaur's, or at least what seemed to be arms. Everything of this creature seemed to rotate in some manner in the walls, unable to exit them.

"Because I saw your experiments with the desiccated unfortunates of the sands above," the entity continued. "I enjoy the practitioners of necromancy and their art, but you aren't the first to have come here, looking for sources of knowledge." Twilight blinked slowly, still attempting to process the situation. "Your work is sloppy on these deceased," it chastized. A hint of frustration seemed to come from afar then hit Twilight's ears. She wasn't sure what was happening nor what kind of sensation that could be. "It is obvious you are only used to working with the dead in the wetlands," it continued.

"That's why I'm here," Twilight growled. Her fears had subsided almost instantly. "I came here to learn how to restore and reanimate the mummified."

"And you will have much more work to do." Its head raised once, allowing it to just barely open its maw, revealing it was comprised of three segments, and the shine of the crystals above ran around the gums like an odd webbing. "I can grant you the power you seek. The ability to evolve as a necromancer."

Twilight sat down and crossed her forelegs. "No."

The cavern trembled. "What? No?" the entity said. "You baffle me. The few creatures who came here seeking treasures, and the fewer still that were practitioners of your branch jumped at the opportunity I proposed." Several large chunks of the wall shifted and rotated, like the entity was getting more comfortable. "Do you seek, rather, immortality?" It paused. "You skittering beings pay heavy prices for such a thing."

Twilight waved her foreleg. "No. I'm only trying to learn how to bring somepony back to life."

The entity stared at Twilight, silently analyzing her and her words. The cavern glowed with the sunlight on the surface and the roots seemed to flow and grow as though enthused by whatever this visitor had said.

"Those who died by Death's hand are not so easily taken back when their hour has ended. Whatever aspect of Death holds your beloved's essence is--"

"She didn't die of old age!" Twilight blurted. "She was murdered! By traitors! All of them! They blamed all their issues on her, but she did all she could for a thousand years and didn't even fight back when they brought her down!" Twilight's eyes filled with tears as years of pent-up anger and frustrations flowed out. "I was her student! I looked up to her and she took me in as her own, personal student! I was so excited! I wanted to show her that I could surpass her expectations, and she never once looked down on me!" The mare shifted to the side. "I was chastised if I didn't do my work or I wasn't studying well enough, but that's normal as a teacher, and it pushed me to do better..." Twilight's ears drooped and she did her best to cover her hiccups. "Now I'll never know what she had planned for me and I'll never be able to impress her again with my magic development and knowledge, and no other little filly who almost had her hopes crushed will be brought up by her again."

The cavern echo'd with a grumbling, grinding noise that Twilight could only equate to some form of raucous laughter.

"Look upon me and see my fate, cast from my spot above those you could call 'gods'. Higher still than that, and see that my body has been interred within this land by those of my own stature," the entity said. "I grow yet on this plane, enticed by this existence I could not truly perceive, but your skittering kind breaks us apart on the surface, and so the world grows with me."

Twilight, through tear-filled eyes, looked at the wall the entity was embedded in and slowly realized the crystals were all flowing from its body and position. Even when it shifted the roots would not break, and it didn't seem to actively be trying to break them.

"Y-You're the Golden Pin Woods?" Twilight asked with her mouth agape.

"Is that what I am called above the sands? Very well then."

The unicorn paused. "Wait," she said before dragging her foreleg across her dripping muzzle. "How do you speak my language?"

"I peered within the brains of these dead." Its maw shuddered. "What existed when the soul was within was left behind in the body when they died. I partook in that knowledge." Before Twilight could get a word in, the entity shifted itself again. "You are unique among magic practitioners. Those who seek more knowledge tend to only want more power which would enable their needs in the future, but you are amusing. You simply seek more knowledge to accomplish a life goal, and if you increase in power then that is just a benefit you pay no attention to." There was yet another pause. "I can guide you and teach you what I know of the mummies, if you so choose, otherwise I will leave you here." The unicorn weighed in the pros and cons of such a thing, but she had yet more weight placed onto her collapsing thought processes. "If it took you years for the wetlands, then it will take you just as long for these," it mused.

Twilight groaned and covered her face with her hooves. "Fine!" she said. "But I want to know something."

"Am I not going to show you?" the entity asked.

"No, not the necromancy. You've been trapped here, per your own words. How do I know this isn't just a ploy to play a game with me or something and then kill me? What happened to the others who visited you?" she asked.

"Those that came before were trapped here with me," the thing explained plainly. "Some vanished, but I suppose they escaped." It shifted again, shaking the sands loose. "You worked upon some of them," it explained calmly. Twilight paled at the thought for a reason that eluded her. "To the first query, immortals that find themselves trapped and unable to pass on have a few outcomes to them. Mine is to simply stay here, relaxed, head empty. A bit of stimulation is not unwelcome, but I do find it somewhat irritating to have my relaxation broken by intruders," it complained. "It takes a while to recede thought processes and be stuck in my own mind."

The mare furrowed her brows and shifted her shoulder. She could propose to free this thing, but she didn't know what it was nor what prospects that would bring with it. The mare still felt strapped for time, but that didn't mean she had to do everything this...thing wanted. If it asked too much or somehow threatened her, then she would teleport away with Spike, and without...without the bodies. She internally gawked at the prospect.

Comments

[DarkSnowGaming]

Twilight gleefully conducted her experiments, comparing the state of decay and dessication between bodies and placing them in designated piles to be marked for later. She had so many more theories to work upon in the future and test their truthfulness or falsehoods. This part of the 'job' was what Twilight adored the most. She sometimes wondered what she would have done had Celestia not been... temporarily incapacitated , but it was too late to wonder about that anymore.

Eh, Twilight is not missing much, Twilight would have gained 5 friends, defeat villains and stop world disasterers every once in a while, like every week, than she would reform villains, saving Equestria, the world, the princesses, her friends, she would be an Allicorn, then she would basically be a friend to every creature in existence, so yeah, she ain't missing much, oh yeah and then she becomes the only ruler of Equestria.

Very strange how one thing changes and then the entire future is in ashes., or atleast should be ashes since Celestia died before Nightmare Moon returned, if Celestia died after Twilight because an Allicorn than Equestria would have a 100% chance pf being safe, but what about have happened in this story is there should be external night, chaos would be all around Equestria, changelings would be everywhere and all ponies would be dead, Tyrek and Sombra would be ruling over Equestria and maybe killing Nightmare Moon, who knows, or maybe discord or the changelings would do that first. Basically the entire world should be a giant wasteland, how none of this happened? Who the hell cares! Appeared logic got thrown out the window! But that is what makes this story enjoyable, but I do want awnsers.

So what I'm understanding is Twilight stumbled upon an entity within the caves, the entity wants to help? Or is going to use her by also helping her.
So I'm guessing she is gonna learn more about necromancy and gain more knowledge in the process to also revive Celestia?

[The Psychopath]

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Logic is like chaos: Stinky and inferior.