Predictions and Prophecies

by WaferThin

The Storm

It couldn’t be.

Hours had passed since she’d first finished reading Predictions and Prophecies. She had spent those hours frantically researching all the events it referenced; verifying its accuracy, cross-referencing the surprisingly accurate forecasts with the historical records that followed. In each case, she found the same chilling result; an exact match.

Everything this book predicted had come true.

She couldn’t deny the startling accuracy of the book. Quite honestly, she wouldn’t have doubted it very much even before reading it. She already had a vague knowledge of the strength of prophecy in Equestria; it was a well-recorded fact that, for thousands of years, there were ponies that had been born with a special talent in predicting the future. It was an ability most commonly found in unicorns; they could use their magic to help them part the veil between what was and what would be. She’d even experienced some of this first-hand, with the folklore that had led her to the Nightmare Moon incident.

With a slight shade of her head, Twilight dislodged herself from the mound of reference books she’d buried herself under and returned to the original text. A shudder passed through her body as she flicked backwards through the heavily-scripted pages, searching for the prophesised return of the darkened alicorn.

This edition of the book was, as she had suspected earlier, far more comprehensive than the version that she’d previously owned. In addition, the predictions held inside were ordered chronologically by the date when they had been made, rather than alphabetised as before. They detailed visions of the future, whose origins stretched as far back as the pre-classical era, all the way to the founding of Equestria itself.

And every single one had come true.

Twilight had never really been that interested in the field of prophecy. She’d intended to research it eventually, but had always found more interesting and pressing matters to attend to, and hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Even so, she had assumed it to be more of a hit-and-miss process; a system of identifying possible futures that may or may not yet come to be, depending upon the actions of those in the present.

Even her own dabbling in time travel hadn’t changed that opinion; despite the fact that her actions she had taken to prevent that future instead ensured it, Twilight had been confident that it was her own act of interfering with her timeline that had caused this. Under normal circumstances, she felt it more likely that there would be a range of possible futures; options which would result from the decisions made by ponies in the present. Essentially, she had believed that the future was not set in stone—and, therefore, that it was not so surely predictable.

Given the nature of what she had read today, she clung to that belief desperately. It was all that stood between her and utter despair.

Finally, Twilight reached the prediction she’d been searching for; an entry which had apparently been recorded on the eve of very first Summer Sun Celebration, exactly one year after Celestia had banished her sister to the moon. The language was particularly archaic, and had required the help of several translation books to make it readable, with the translation written alongside the original. For the tenth time, Twilight read the converted verse out loud to herself.

“On the thousandth year of moonless day,
The stars will aid in her escape.
The night will surge through starlit door,
To bring forth darkness evermore.
But fear not the seeming end of day,
For twilight follows in its wake,
Bringing forth harmony once again,
To right the night and ease day’s strain.”

Twilight was certain that she could have dismissed this prediction as a mere vague statement, left open enough for interpretation and a wider application, if she hadn’t lived it herself.

“‘The thousandth year of moonless day’ clearly references the Summer Sun Celebration, rather than some arbitrary, distant date.” Twilight spoke mechanically, analytically dissecting the paragraph and repeating the same speech she had made several times so far, as if taking notes.

“‘Night surging to bring forth darkness’ could only be Nightmare Moon’s plan to have an everlasting night, and ‘bringing forth harmony’ would be the return of the Elements of Harmony. ‘Easing day’s strain’ could be one of two things; it may refer to either Luna relieving Celestia of the duty of raising the moon, or perhaps the transfer of the Elements themselves to their new hosts.”

She then stopped for a moment, gulping, before continuing with the part she dreaded the most. “And… And ‘twi—’” she shuddered, before forcing herself to continue, “…‘Twilight following in day’s wake’ must be about… Me. I am Celestia’s student, so I do follow her, both in an educational and literal sense—in that I followed her request to travel to Ponyville.”

The realisation that a pony from almost a thousand years ago had not only known that she would exist, but that she would be living a very specific life as Celestia’s student, and that she would be the one to restore the Elements… It was actually less crushing than the first time she had read it, but it was no less worrying. It meant that, even from so long ago, her very life could have been seen as being carried out as a predetermined procedure, with no choice on her part.

What did this make her? Merely an actor on a stage, speaking her rehearsed, fated lines?

Twilight forced herself to continue, skipping ahead through several centuries to the next relevant prediction. As she progressed, the wording became closer to the common Equestrian Twilight was used to, and so there were fewer notes in the margins. She finally reached a marked section, reciting it in her head this time.

When twilight bridges day and night,
The greatest threat shall be in sight.
The mismatched god, confined in stone,
Let loose once more to claim his throne.
Through tricks and despair shall he reign,
‘Til harmony be reached again.

There could be absolutely no doubt in her mind what this was talking about. It exactly matched the events of Discord’s return, from the time frame—after Twilight had ‘bridged day and night’ by restoring Luna to Celestia’s side—right down to how he had first defeated, and then been defeated by, the Elements of Harmony. Twilight shuddered again, a chill running down her spine at the very memory of the chaotic events of that day, before flipping the page.

The flow of time, disrupted here;
The future and past connect in fear.
But efforts made to change events
Will only force fusion of tense.

Memories of the week she’d spent living in fear of the future flooded her mind again. Was that all that was happening now—another baseless assumption, leading to her own terror?

Had she learned nothing from her future self? Or, was this something more?

Shaking, she flipped further forward in the tome, coming closer to the end… Closer to the part that she most dreaded seeing again.

A face, in absence, may be changed,
From what our memory has claimed;
But not as much as what we see
In joining of guard and royalty.
Heed the sibling’s boldest claim,
For it is truth, despite her aim!
But though the threat may seem so tall,
It shall be proven: love conquers all.

Her brother’s wedding. The day she almost lost everything he held dear; her brother, her foalsitter, her friends… Her Princess.

If any of them had seen this… If they had known of this prediction, would it have changed anything? Would they have believed her condemnation of Cadence more readily? Or were they all destined to never see this verse, to ensure it came to pass as it was written?

Twilight knew she was stalling. These questions, any other day, would have held her captivated—but this was not any other day.

She could avoid it no longer.

Twilight turned the final page, revealing the last recorded prophecy in the book. Absently, she noted that although it bore no date of prediction, the ink seemed far darker than that found with the previous few listed predictions, suggesting that it was a much more recent entry. With a terror slowly gripping her heart once again, and ignoring the many notes she had shakily scrawled around the prophecy earlier, Twilight forced herself to vocalise the entry, despite the fact that she knew it by heart at this point.

“The Crystal’s return will be the herald.
This is the sign that the Death of Harmony has come.

When Honesty turns against itself,
When Loyalty abandons the ones it loves.
When Laughter fears its own nature,
When Generosity buckles under Kindness’ weight.
Then, shall the Spark of Magic choose.

Magic must break Harmony, in order to save it.

Magic will kill a wielder of the Elements.”

The library was silent for many long moments. It was as if the air itself were stilled by the weight of the revelation, holding a breath it had never taken.

Finally, a single sound could be heard—a stuttering, mournful, terrible noise that seemed to echo impossibly throughout the building.

Twilight Sparkle was crying with fear.

She couldn't remember ever being so terrified. All thoughts of raising issues with the prediction… Any ideas of analysing things the recentness of the entry, or the stark difference to the rhyming format of the rest of the book… They were all lost in the haze of horror.

Twilight was left completely distraught by the very concept. It was so unthinkable that her mind simply couldn't handle it, and shut down all responses other than terror and despair.

Who could ever think of such a thing? And why? What did it all mean? Did she really have to—

Twilight collapsed to the floor, shuddering uncontrollably.

Do I… Do I have to…

Kill.

No. She couldn't think any further; it was literally beyond her comprehension. In the midst of her sobbing, she could feel the bile rising in her throat, and could do nothing to stop it. She began retching, the simple thought of such an action making her physically sick.

Kill.

Every time she thought she had started to recover, that word came back, rising to the surface of a dark sea of despair, and she had to desperately repress her instinctive urges to vomit and hide in fear.

Kill… An Element... Kill a friend...

She couldn't hold it back any longer. Striking out with a forehoof, she managed to knock the bin under her desk into reach. She desperately lifted her head above the rim, just before a series of shudders racked her body. With a sickening lurch, Twilight began to throw up.

If someone had suggested earlier that the written word could have induced such physical pain, Twilight would have laughed at them. Many times, she had been left emotionally affected by something she had read, but never to the point that it could cause a bodily reaction.

Yet, here she was now; her throat was burning, her limbs were numb, and her mind felt like it was being crushed in a vice. What she had read was so horrifying that her body just couldn't cope.

Kill.

Twilight felt another retch coming, and leaned back into the bin as she heaved.

She’d hoped that it would get easier to handle, by going over the past readings and researching the field. She’d always relied on finding out more about what she didn’t know, in order to fight the fear of the unknown.

Not this time. It just got worse.

Everything she had seen, every source written by all the names she’d come to rely on… Every academic agreed: prophecy was a part of life in Equestria. She’d seen one particular extract refer to it as “akin to meteor showers: a rare and wondrous phenomena, but just as predictable, and just as natural”.

Twilight struggled to remember who had said that. She knew she’d seen it in one of the reference books, but the moment she tried to concentrate it all hit her again, and she had to thrust her head back into that foul-smelling bin.

Magic will kill…

She tried to think of something. Anything. Every possible thought she could latch on to, in the hope it would give her a way out.

Every time she tried, it came back to the same words.

Magic will kill a wielder of the Elements.

Twilight had found other prophecies within the book; some of them mentioned her, citing things she didn’t yet know about. One, for example, spoke of ‘the preparation of twilight’; it was constructed in riddles she didn’t quite understand. She hadn’t looked at it too closely, though; this, she was sure, was a prophecy from a future further away. Given what she had discovered from this one, though…

Kill…

…Twilight repressed the urge to vomit further. After… that, she wasn’t exactly eager to investigate any other prophecies about her own future.

Twilight forced herself to breathe deeply. She cleared her mind as best she could, and simply sat, trying to force herself to calm down.

After what seemed like mere seconds, though, there was a loud knocking on her bedroom door. “Twilight?” came a concerned voice. “Are you alright in there?”

Twilight’s eyes flew open again. Spike was coming to check on her! She couldn’t let him know!

Quickly, she enveloped the copy of Predictions and Prophecies in her magic, flinging it under her bed.

“I’m fine!” She called back. “I was just—”

Kill.

Twilight swallowed, before coughing to clear her throat a little. “…Just checking on the books you put in here!”

The doorknob began to turn. Panicking, Twilight threw open the window with her magic and levitated the bin out of it, hurling it out onto the grass below.

Spike walked into the room, a small frown on his face. “You sure?” he asked sceptically. “You were making some really weird noises.”

“I was…” she rasped, before forcing herself to clear her throat again, studiously ignoring the aftertaste of sick. “…Just doing some throat exercises!” She explained, glancing around anxiously. “I think I might be losing my voice or… something. Just thought I’d practise some techniques Pinkie showed me!” She gave Spike the most convincing grin that she could. Given the situation, though, it wasn’t very effective.

“Uhuh,” Spike grunted noncommittally, sniffing the air. “Phew, it stinks in here!” he groaned. “What have you been doing?!”

Twilight said nothing. She sank to her haunches, practically collapsing onto her bed, staring off into space.

“Ugh, we’d better open a wind—oh. You already have.” Spike stared at the portal for a moment before turning back around to glare at the piles of discarded books around the desk. “Well, make sure you put these all back,” he ordered. “I didn’t put them all in order just so you could mess them up!”

“Yeah, sure, will do,” Twilight muttered absently, looking into the distance with a troubled gaze. After a moment, she winced, as if in pain, before turning to look at Spike again. “Say, has Celestia replied yet?” She asked.

Spike had returned from his lunch break a few hours ago to discover Twilight frantically collecting books for some kind of new research project. The second he’d walked in, she’d had him send a sealed scroll to the Princess, marked as being of upmost urgency. The fact that she hadn’t even told him what it was had worried him a little, but he was confident that she would tell him if it were something he needed to worry about, so he had shrugged it off as being some kind of secret new pet project the librarian was working on. That would explain the behaviour, too; once Twilight got an idea, she stuck to it until it was completed to her incredibly high standards, even if that meant doing the research work of six ponies at once.

“For the twelfth time this hour, no,” Spike replied, irritated. “Just be patient! If it’s so urgent then I’m sure she’ll get back to you soon.”

Twilight wasn’t so confident. Her entire life was laid bare in that book, and Celestia knew nothing of it? She found that hard to believe. Either the Princess really was ignorant… Or she was deliberately hiding something from Twilight.

Did she know about this prophecy? Had she been trying to protect her student from the fate that awaited her?

Or… Had she been ensuring it?

Kill.

Twilight winced again. It was less painful now, it seemed; the very idea still sickened her to the bone, but at least she was capable of coherent thought again. It didn’t take her long to decide that this couldn’t possibly wait. She needed answers, and she needed them fast.

The ‘Crystal’s return’ was the herald, after all. It had been around a month since she and her friends had journeyed to the Crystal Empire, restoring the Crystal Heart—and the Empire itself—to all its former glory. This meant that the prophecy in question could be fulfilled any day now.

Twilight wasn’t a mare to give up easily. She certainly wasn’t going to take this lying down. She’d gone so very far in order to protect her friends before; she was willing to do whatever it took to protect them now—even from herself.

Kill.

Not on her watch, she wouldn’t.

“Okay, Spike!” Twilight barked determinedly, springing to her hooves and startling her assistant. “I need you to bring me Pre-packed Emergency Travel Saddlebags numbers four and five, pronto!”

Spike looked confused. “Why? Are you going somewhere?”

“Yes, I am,” she replied, giving him a look that conveyed equal parts terror and resolve—and raised his worries for Twilight to a new level. “I’m going to Canterlot.”

With that, the room became a flurry of motion. In the time it took Spike to pull the relevant bags from the wardrobe, Twilight had four textbooks, a hairbrush and—of course—a checklist rotating around her. She was staring at each item intently. Spike knew that stare all too well; it was the kind of look that led to a town of lovestruck ponies chasing after a doll. Topped off with her thoroughly odd behaviour ever since he’d gotten back, and the fact that, now that he was really paying attention, he thought that she did look a little peaky… This was almost certainly a recipe for disaster.

Making a mental note to send Celestia another letter—this time marked “ULTRA SUPER CITY-THREATENINGLY URGENT”—Spike set the saddlebags down on Twilight’s bed and looked at her, wondering what had prompted this change of heart. “So… I guess you changed your mind about going along with the girls, huh?” he asked.

“Uhuh,” came the distracted reply, as Twilight apparently weighed up two of the textbooks.

“So, ah… What are you going to do about the library?”

Twilight’s left eye twitched, and she turned to stare at Spike. “The library?” she asked. “Oh, that’s right. Can’t leave the library, no time left for trips away…” She trailed off, apparently considering the issue for the first time. This set off another warning light in Spike’s mind; this library was precious to her, more so than any regular home would be. There was no way she’d be so keen to drop it, and without any forethought, unless something really serious was happening.

Spike double-ticked that mental reminder to contact the Princess.

Before he could voice his concerns, however, Twilight’s eyes lit up. “I know! I’ll get somepony else to cover for me! I’m sure they won’t mind doing me a favour!”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Really?” he asked. “You know a pony that you can go to at a moment’s notice? One who knows you well enough, and is actually interested enough in books, for them to look after a whole library for you?”

***

“…and so that’s why I figured that, since we know each other well and share a passion for knowledge and learning, you’d be perfect to look after the library for me!” Twilight finished, panting slightly after concluding her monologue. She stared at Cheerilee hopefully. “So, could you?”

Cheerilee gave her a tired, slightly bemused look. Twilight felt it was probably a look that a lot of her students found themselves on the receiving end of. “Y’know, you could have just said, ‘I need someone to cover for me,’” she said dryly.

Twilight bounced on her hooves slightly, eager to hurry things up. “Yeah, I guess, but I thought you should have the full story. So, could you?” she repeated.

Cheerilee sighed. When Twilight had turned up on her doorstep, she’d hoped that it would be to organise something fun; instead, she felt like she was been forcibly drafted into doing more work. “Well, you’re lucky it’s at least half term,” she commented. “I was planning to have some quiet evenings to myself, but I guess I can look after that old place for you.” She giggled a little. “Actually, I’d quite like to spend some more time there. Why, I remember, back when I was researching my—”

“Okay, great!” Twilight interrupted, desperate to get moving. “So, just keep it open until five every night, and make sure ponies sign out the books using their full names.” She glanced over one shoulder, back towards Ponyville’s centre. “Spike knows you’ll be there, but he can take care of himself, and he’ll probably do the cleaning too, so there’s no need to worry about that.”

Twilight paused for a second, trying to think of anything more, before turning around. “Well, I’ve got to get moving! Don’t want to miss the girls’ train. I owe you one!”

With that, and before Cheerilee could raise any objections, Twilight began to sprint away. She didn’t get far, though, sliding to a stop at the end of Cheerilee’s garden as a thought occurred.

“Oh, one more thing!” she called back over her shoulder. “If an owl breaks in during the night, don’t worry about it—he works there!” With that, she hurtled down the street, leaving a particularly perplexed pony in her wake.

“…Wait,” Cheerilee frowned, puzzled. “Does she expect me to… sleep there?”

***

Twilight thanked her lucky stars that Cheerilee hadn’t had any plans already. She’d really have to do something nice for the schoolmare; willing to spend a whole week—her own week off, no less—covering somepony else’s job, at the drop of a hat… Yes, she’d have to find some way of repaying her.

Assuming she could find a way out of this horrible mess.

Kill.

Twilight clenched her eyes and repressed a shudder as she hurtled into the train station. She reopened them just in time to take in a world of white fur before she slammed straight into it at bone-crushing speed.

The world slowly came back into focus. Groaning in pain, Twilight slowly rolled herself off her back and onto her hooves, wincing slightly. She shook her head a little to clear her vision, and took in the sprawled shape that she’d sent flying.

“Oh my gosh, Rarity! I’m so sorry!”

Rarity moaned as Fluttershy righted her. “Oh, the pain!” she cried. “It’s simply unbearable! Why, what kind of brute could have…” she looked up, intending to fix her assaulter with a fiery glare, before realisation set in. “Oh… Twilight? What are you doing here, dear?”

Twilight took a look around. She had indeed made it in time; the train was still at the station, and her friends were yet to board. They were instead gathered around her, each one fixing her with a perplexed look.

All except Rainbow Dash. She actually looked mildly impressed, and was apparently trying to stifle her laughter.

“Wow, Twi! You totally KO’d Rare!” She gave Twilight an encouraging pat on the back. “You got some real force there, girl!”

Applejack pushed Rainbow away, giving her a disapproving frown, before glancing back at Twilight. “Y’all here to send us off?” she asked.

“Actually… I’m coming with you,” Twilight replied, nodding back at her saddlebags.

For a moment, everypony took this in. Then Fluttershy, of all ponies, spoke up.

“But, uh… didn’t you say earlier that you couldn’t come?”

“Yeah!” Pinkie agreed. “I used the Patented Pinkie Pie Puppy Pout to try and get you to come, and even that didn’t work! What gives?”

Twilight felt an inexplicable frustration building. “Why? What does it matter why?” she snapped. “I’m here now, aren’t I? Maybe I just decided that my friends are more important to me than some stupid books!”

Rainbow jokingly gave a scandalised gasp. “More important… than books?” she cried. “Who are you, and what have you done with the real Twilight?”

“Why is this so hard to believe?!” Twilight huffed. “Maybe I find my relationship with the ponies closest to me more important than some stupid words on a stupid page! Maybe I don’t have to believe everything I read! Maybe I can act against it, and I can be with the ones I love! What’s so wrong about that, huh?” Twilight panted, glaring around.

Her friends slowly backed away from the raging mare, equal parts confused, worried, and scared—apart from Fluttershy, who was certainly more scared than anything else, and seemed to be trying to hide herself behind Applejack.

“Sugarcube, we’re just pleased as punch to see ya,” the farmer said in a calming tone, giving Twilight a wary stare. “We’re just… Surprised, that’s all. T’ain’t like you to change yer schedule willy-nilly,” she explained.

“Honestly, AJ. It’s just a schedule,” Twilight said, feeling the fire inside of her beginning to cool. “It’s not like it’s carved in stone or anything. So, shall we start boarding?” Without any reply, Twilight headed towards the train.

The five mares she left behind stared at each other, a dread air hanging between them.

“…‘Just’ a schedule?” Rainbow Dash repeated sceptically. “More important than books?”

“She seemed… Uhm… Angry,” Fluttershy whispered, slowly emerging from behind Applejack.

“Angry?” Rarity snorted. “She was practically ablaze! What on earth has gotten into her?”

Applejack decided to take a diplomatic approach. “Don’t you worry none, girls,” she reassured the group. “Ah’m sure it’s nothing all that important. Probably some kinda problem with havin’ to reschedule.” She chuckled. “Ah’m just happy to have her comin’ with us.”

The group murmured their assent, turning as one to board the train as the conductor’s whistle blew. Rainbow, however, hung back, remaining sceptical. “I dunno,” She muttered to herself. “I think there’s something going on here. There’s no way Twilight would spend all that time trying to get us off her back, just to turn around and come with us anyway.” She narrowed her eyes at the train. “There’s something up with her… And I’m gonna find out what.”

Comments

[WaferThin]

Well, here's to an endeavour that—knowing my track record—will likely take me a year to complete.

I'll admit to you now that this story is a little slow to start, but please believe me when I say it picks up. I'm trying to build you a nice, normal Equestria, and set everything up nicely, so that I can then shake it around a little.

Trust me; when it hits, it hits... Well, I was going to say 'hard', but that's kinda my own prejudiced opinion. I'll just say that it's got the dramatic punch I was looking for; we'll find out together whether or not I was looking in the right place for it.

So: please enjoy, leave any feedback you feel necessary, and be merry.

[Jorlem]

All of those prophecies were made by different ponies across the ages, right? And they all followed the same pattern, that is to say, rhyming and use of metaphor and symbolism? And then the last one, the one Twilight is so scared of, breaks the rhyming pattern and states what will happen outright, with but the thinnest of metaphors on the fulfiller's identity? I'm betting that this isn't a legitimate prophecy, but a false one that was written into the book in order to manipulate her. (I wouldn't put it past Discord or hypothetical Discord cultists to have set a de-harmonizing time bomb like this, especially since if their connection with the elements breaks, he goes free.) Heck, the whole book could be falsified, as all the prophecies but the last refer to events that have already occurred, and faking prophecies for things that are in the past is quite easy. She cross referenced the earlier prophecies against history books, but did she check if these specific prophecies showed up elsewhere?

Given how panicked she is, I don't blame her for not thinking of this, but once she actually calms down and starts thinking rationally, I think she'll realize some of the issues with this. At the very least, I'm sure she'd try to think of ways to subvert the prophecy.

Looking forward to seeing how this goes. :)

[Meridian Prime]

...Is it just me, or does the prophecy NOT rule out the possibility of the actual Element of Magic killing Twilight, as one of the wielders of the elements?

[i_am_the_jam]

Let's see....

When Honesty turns against itself,

Maybe AJ will have family problems?

When Loyalty abandons the ones it loves.

RD joining the Wonderbolts?

When Laughter fears its own nature,

Pinkie would become fully aware of her lurking Pinkamena personality?

When Generosity buckles under Kindness’ weight.

Hmmm...an accident where Fluttershy will crash on top of Rarity?