It's All In Your Head

by treetoptrooper

The Discovery

“Hey gramps!”

“Yes Archaic?”

“Do you mind giving me a hoof with this?”

The old stallion rounded the corner to see his unicorn grandson struggling to lift a book with his feeble and young magic. “Ya really shouldn’t push yourself so hard, son,” he denounced as he lifted the book and placed it on its corresponding shelf.

“Thanks gramps, but how am I ever going to become a famous explorer if I never practice my magic?” Arc replied in a bubbly tone. His shaggy golden mane fell in front of his eyes and blinded him for a second, causing him to hop right into a pillar.

The elderly pony chuckled at his grandson’s excitement and helped him stand back up. “Enough with the gramps, alright?” he playfully scolded.

“Yeah yeah, I get it,” Arc replied with a cheeky grin.

This was pretty much Arc’s job. He worked with his grandfather as a helper out at the Royal Canterlot Library, helping ponies find what they wanted and making sure all the books were in the right place. He was trying to save up enough money to go out on his own in the world. It was always his dream to go on an adventure and then write a book about it and from the looks of it all it’d take more than a few years before he could depart.

He enjoyed working with books; it was even in his name and Cutie Mark. Archaic Text preferred to go by simply Arc, and that’s what everyone knew him by. He was the youngest and one of the liveliest of all of the ponies in the entire area, his turquoise coat and golden yellow mane contrasting with every slab of marble that made up the city. Everypony else around the library was a posh and uppity dictator, a quiet old senior, or a stone-faced guard.

Arc had gained a special connection to books ever since going to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. He used to despise them with a passion, hating his parents for giving him the name, but the first time he ever thoroughly read a book was at the CSGU. After that he fell in love with them and even got his Cutie Mark because of it. However, he decided that he wanted money more than a magical education and dropped out of the prestigious school to help out his weak old grandpa.

Little did he know that books would be his ticket into a giant adventure that he would never forget.

------

The day was over and the library was closing. Arc’s grandpa had gone home and left him to finish closing the place up without him, leaving him alone in the library. He finished what he was supposed to do and was just about to follow after his grandpa when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

It was the Annex. That place was an ancient extension to the regular library that was filled with knowledge that common ponies weren`t supposed to know. Only the keeper of the library (his grandpa) and certain royal figures were allowed inside. It had dark spells, forbidden history, and if the rumors were true, excerpts from Princess Celestia`s diary when she was younger.

Normally he would continue on out, but this time Arc felt something drawing him in. Something was beckoning for him to come in, slowly luring him towards it. Everything got a bit stranger when he heard something from behind the door.

Help me…

It was a voice calling out for help. He wasn`t sure whether to dismiss its very existence or to follow it and go where he wasn`t supposed to go. He did have all of the keys and could enter the Annex with no difficulties, but was it really the right thing to do? What if he was just hearing the voice in his head? Or what if it was a trap?

Please... help me out...

Being filled with youthful curiosity, Arc gave in to the temptation and exhaled deeply as he approached the door. He placed the key into the door and slowly turned it. It swung open faster than he’d expected, making him jump back slightly. He looked around the room to see if anyone was there before slipping in through the door.

The Annex was fairly darker than the rest of the library for some reason. Withered and ancient books lined the shelves that seemed like they were even older than the ones that were in the regular section. It had no windows; the only sources of light in the room were the bleak torches that lined the walls.

Keep going forward…

Arc had no idea why he was even listening to the voice, but followed its directions and continued down through the rows of ancient tomes. He felt like he was being watched, and wasn’t exactly sure if he really was or not.

Right there… open it…

He stood before yet another door, albeit much smaller than the one that led into the Annex. He slowly opened it and looked around it to see an even darker room – it was a surprise that the door wasn’t locked. It was no longer made of marble, but rather an eerie dark stone that resembled obsidian. At the end of the room was a big book that was about the size of a large encyclopedia that had a low green glow emitting from its pages.

Open the book… please…

“Why should I be listening to you anyways?” he called out into the room.

I need your help… would you help me?

Arc looked around the room as he slowly stepped into it. “Help for what?”

I’ll explain once you open the book,,, just please do it…

The young unicorn was now right in front of the book. It rested on a pedestal made of silver that shaped into two angel wings at the top to hold its cargo. He took a deep breath, steeled himself, and cautiously opened the book. However, he soon regretted it.

A sharp pain shot through Arc’s head and he fell to his knees, groaning and growling in agony. He felt nauseous and sick, and soon collapsed onto his side. It felt as though his head was being pried open with a rusty crowbar. It was like red hot needles were piercing the very flesh of his brain.

Through all of the suffering he heard the calm voice from before...

I’m sorry to put you into this pain, but it’s the only way I can get out. Please bear with me, I needed to get out of that book.

“Who are you? And why are you doing this?” he asked the voice, his youthful strength leaving him.

Just wait a second and maybe I’ll explain to you.

The agony went on for a while longer before it all began to drain out of him, leaving him exhausted on the floor of the dark room. His entire body ached, but at least the pain was over. “Alright, what do you ponyfrom me?”

Witch? I’ve never been so insulted in my life! And by a common pony, too…

“Fine, milady. What do need me to do?”

I need you to simply listen to me and be my vessel for a while, that’s all.

“Vessel? Where exactly are you, anyways?”

I’m just inside your head.

“How is that even possible? Who are you?”

My name’s Empyrea. I was in that book and you just let me out, so I went in your head.

“Are you a witch?”

No, silly! I’m a nice filly who just wanted to get out of that book.

Arc certainly wasn’t sure if he should listen to the voice in his head or not. Voices in somepony’s head usually meant that they were going bonkers, but right now anything seemed plausible. At his young age this didn’t bother him so much due to his naïve mind. “So do you need me to do anything?”

You don’t have to do anything yet. Just let me be your friend for now and later on I’ll tell you more.

“Okay, I’ve gotta get home. Don’t bother me too much and maybe I’ll let you be my friend.” Confused and frightened by the recent turn of events, Arc galloped out of the Annex and back home to his grandpa. He wouldn’t tell him about it – he didn’t feel like that was the right thing to do. Instead he kept it a secret.

------

The long years went by and Arc grew from a little colt into a strong stallion. His grandfather also grew older, meaning that he had to do a lot more work to compensate for the loss of strength in his elder. Arc became better friends with the character that he had met in the Annex all those years ago and they chatted constantly. Inside Arc wished that he could meet Empyrea in person, seeing as how they were such good friends now.

Arc didn’t have many friends at his local school. He was just that weird pony who acted out stories that he made up himself at recess and excelled in History and English. Arc didn’t really want a friend most of the time, but now that he had found one he realized just how great it was. He had been missing out, no doubt about it.

It was in the midst of a cool summer night Arc finally had another milestone in his relationship with this Empyrea character – she invited him over to her place.

Hey Arc, I’m lonely in here. Can you come give me some company?

Arc rolled over in his sleep, talking to her through his mind. Empyrea, that’s impossible. I’ve got a body, and from what I’ve gathered so far, you don’t.

Yeah, but I’m in your head. If you just focus on me then maybe you can see me.

It’s worth a shot, sounds kinda like dreaming. I’ll try it out.

------

I… think I can see something.

Come closer.

A blinding white light surrounded Arc for a second, forcing him to shield his eyes – in his mind, of course. When the light dimmed and he could finally see again, he found that he was in a mystical place. It was a meadow filled with flowers of many colors, a warm breeze blowing through his mane (or lack thereof). There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky and the sun beat down on everything around him. Nothing lay over the horizon; this field seemed to be endless.

“Welcome to the depths of your mind, Arc.”

Arc spun around to see the source of the voice, recognizing it as Empyrea’s from before. However, he wasn’t prepared for the sight that he was about to behold.

It was yet another unicorn, a little bit smaller than him. Unlike him though, it was a mare that confidently stood on her spot. A warm smile was on her face that made Arc instantly calm down from the strange feelings that he had just felt. Her coat was a light, ashen grey hue that contrasted wonderfully with the misty cyan mane that floated around her and bright golden eyes that shimmered like jewels. The wind of the field tossed her hair around her body and created a dream-like aura in the area that made Arc feel light and airy. Her sheer beauty literally stunned Arc for a moment, making him wonder if he had died and gone to heaven.

“You’re Empyrea… right?” he slowly asked.

“Yep, I’m the one who you just let out of that book. I’ve decided that we’ve become close enough and you’ve grown strong enough for me to go into further depth about how I’m in here and why I was inside that book.”

Arc still couldn’t get past how pretty Empyrea was in this real-pseudo-life. “O-okay, if you say so. I’m ready for anything you’ve got.”

“Alright then, I do hope you’re actually ready - I come from a place where imagination is key, and you’ve got a pretty big imagination. Lots of room too, so I decided to ask you for help out of my prison,” Em replied, beginning to walk around Arc as she examined him. She hummed slightly as she did so, a wave of uncanny peace washing over the confused stallion as she did so. “I haven’t quite regained the strength to fully look at you from inside your head yet, so I decided to make it easier for me and bring you in here for a sneak peek. Good thing I did; you’ve got a nice and strong ‘body’ here.”

Now Arc was starting to feel very uncomfortable. “W-what? You’re creeping me out here, Em.”

Empyrea stopped and gave Arc an eyebrow raise in confusion. “What’s an Em?”

“A nickname, it’s just short for Empyrea. It’s got fewer syllables in it. I was getting tired of calling you by full name over all these years, and I think it sounds nice, fitting for such a pretty pony like you.” He couldn’t believe those words just escaped his inner self’s mouth.

The mare dreamily sighed and swivelled around Arc. “I’ve always been so glad that I picked such a gentlecolt for a home. Hope you don’t mind me starting to order you around more than usual.”

He scratched the back of his head nervously. “So, what kind of orders do you mean?”

“Well, Arc, I’m not really sure yet. I’ll have to sift through your knowledge some more before I can come up with a plan of action.”

“Haven’t you been living in my knowledge for ten years or so?”

“Yeah, but I’ve been mostly just living it up instead of studying it up.”

Arc looked out across the vast meadow that he and Em stood in. “What exactly do you plan to do in the long run?”

“Escape this curse, and help my people do it too.”

“Excuse me?”

Em swirled around to look him in the eyes and a smirk crossed her face. Her horn flashed and the flowery fields disappeared, leaving the two in a black void of nothing. “We Ethereal ponies are known for our mind manipulation magic. I think I’ll tell you my tale with some of it.”

“A long time ago there were three subsidiaries of Equestria.” An image that appeared to be drawn in oil paints appeared in front of the two displaying three different ponies: one a normal blue pegasus, another a shimmering green earth pony, and the last a faded purple unicorn. “They were the Common ponies ruled by Celestia and Luna who made up most of the kingdom, the Crystal ponies ruled by Cadenza who lived in the far north and were known for their beauty and art, and the Ethereal ponies ruled by Allucina who had some of the most powerful magic in the world. Together they prospered and lived in ultimate harmony for many years.”

A black shadow with piercing green eyes appeared and swallowed up the Crystal pony in its deep darkness, causing the other two to jump in fright. “Until we began to lose each other. The Crystal ponies were enslaved and later placed into a millennium-long sleep by the evil King Sombra, which threw the two remaining races into paranoia. They both feared not only the outside forces of the world, but also each other. Neither met with each other for the longest time; Allucina was cut off from her family by the pure terror that all felt at the time.”

A sky blue, glassy figure that resembled the head of a reptile appeared and proceeded to suck the Ethereal pony up like a vacuum. “The Ethereal ponies had their own marauding lord of evil to worry about. He stripped us of our bodies so that he could devour their life energies, leaving only our souls and minds behind. To make sure that we would not cause any other trouble for him, he sealed us all away into a single book that was called the Lexicon. He kept it at all times and was going to use his powers to destroy the Common ponies next.”

Two ponies resembling the princesses Celestia and Luna appeared and destroyed the reptilian jewel with a beam of light. “But the use of the Elements of Harmony by the two princesses of the skies dispelled the energy he had gained from our bodies and killed the fiend. However, our minds were still trapped in the book and our bodies were nowhere to be found, and never to be united again. Celestia took the Lexicon and placed it deep in the Canterlot archives for safekeeping, where you seem to have found it and helped me get out. Why she didn’t put it under better security is beyond me, but it doesn’t really matter. I myself was the first one to experience the portal that you somehow opened and immediately leapt in; no one else could escape in time.”

“I’m not sure if I could have handled more than one pony at a time,” Arc joked, but it seemed like Em really wasn’t in the mood for play.

The dark area they were in returned to the meadow of flowers from before. Arc turned to look at Em and noticed a tear in the corner of her eye. “That’s it, that’s the story,” she summed up as she hastily wiped the moisture from her eyes. “I couldn’t do anything as a spirit, so I had to go see you. It was my only chance to do anything useful for the others.”

Arc was touched by the emotion of story and it took him a while to form words again. “How exactly would we let out the rest of your friends?” he quietly asked.

“We need to somehow dispel the curse on the Lexicon. You’d think that destroying Eksago would have done it, but apparently not…”

“Eksago?”

“That dragon guy who stole the Ethereal ponies’ bodies.”

“Ah, I gotcha. Continue.”

“Anyways, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna obviously can’t do it on their own; if they could they would have done it by now. The Elements of Harmony may have a chance, but I doubt it…”

Arc noticed a hole in the scheme that Em was concocting. “Sorry to interrupt again, but once you get out of the Lexicon what will you do? You won’t have any real bodies; you’ll just be floating spirits with nowhere to go.”

Em sighed in dismay, making Arc regret ever saying anything. “I don’t know. There may be a way to get them back… maybe Eksago stored them all in cells somewhere?”

“Wouldn’t we have found that already? It’s hard to hide an entire race, you know.”

“Not if he hid it well enough. He could have done anything: hidden it underground, placed a cloaking spell over it, we have no idea. It could still be out there, and we wouldn’t even know it.”

“What are the chances of that?”

“Second to none. We’ll just have to hope.”

The two spent the rest of their time together like this: conversing, brainstorming, and debating. Despite the tense atmosphere of their goals, Arc felt at peace while around Em. There was something about her that made him calm down immediately. Was it her personality now that he had really gotten in touch with her? Or rather her beauty? He didn’t know, but he knew that he wasn’t taking this curse-breaking business seriously enough. However, it couldn’t go on forever.

Arc shot up to attention as he realized something. “Em, do you know how much time has passed?”

“Not really. I’d say seven or eight hours.”

The stallion looked around at the landscape around him. “I think it’s about time I wake up or I’ll sleep in and miss out on work.”

“Just imagine that you’re back in your real body instead of this inner one.” Em smiled and tapped the side of her head. “It’s all in your head, remember that. Including me and this lovely little place. It’s your escape, and you can come here to get out of it all.”

“Okay. You sift through some of my further back knowledge while I’m at work,” Arc said. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate, but a hoof touched his head and he looked up to see Em.

“Thank you for helping me with this, Arc. It means a lot to me, both you offering to help out and you letting me stay in your head,” she giggled at the last part, showing off that wonderful smile of hers again.

“It’s really no big deal. I was planning on going out on an adventure before I found you anyways.”

“Still, thank you.” Em squeezed him in a tight hug before trotting off into the field.

For a while Arc stood in a shocked silence, totally paralyzed by the magic of such a small touch. Although he didn’t really want to admit it, he was slowly falling in love with somepony who didn’t even possess a body of their own. It seemed a bit silly when he really thought about it with his mind, but when he did with his heart he saw nothing strange about it. What could he say? She was kind, smart, and drop-dead beautiful. What was wrong with that?

Probably that he had met this mare by following a voice he heard in a library. That was pretty weird.

“So you were leaving then?” Em called from down the field.

Arc shook himself out of his trance and nodded hurriedly. “Yeah! See you later!” With a quick, deep thought he felt himself black out again and fall asleep.

Comments

[AltGrendel]

Fun read, looking forward to seeing how it works out.