"Come on Twilight!" said Spike. "How many concerts have you been to?"
"For the last time Spike, I'm not going." proclaimed Twilight, searching for a specific book in her library. "Besides, we have more important things to do, don't we?" Spike sighed.
"Yeah, yeah..." he uttered. "But once we're done, can we please.... please go?" Spike crossed his fingers and stared at her with dog eyes.
"Umm.... Maybe." she replied, causing Spike to shout "YES!"
"So... what do you need help with?" he asked, dodging a book she flung away with her magic.
"A book on spells. I can't find it anywhere!" she said, gradually becoming more and more desperate as she threw the unrelated books to the other side of the library.
"What's so special about it?" asked Spike, catching a book in mid air and putting it on the table.
"I forgot to practice spells!" she said, still desperately searching for said spell. "Where is it?!" Spike turned to other bookshelf and grabbed a big red book. It was exactly the one she was searching for.
"You really need to calm down." he said and gave it to her. She already had a mental breakdown this week when she forgot to make time for making schedules, but this was just ridiculous. Why would she want to practice so desperately? And what exactly?
"Why? I didn't-" She looked around and saw the mess that was her library. A sorry look appeared on her face as she looked down and saw that she was standing on a book. "I did..." Spike went closer to her.
"I know being Celestia's student is a lot of work but..." he said, looking at her sadly. "you're making me worried. You just don't know where to stop. Please, take a break. Just this once." She sighed.
"Let's just get over this so we can go to the concert..." she said, opening the book and started looking for a specific spell. Spike leaned to see what sort of spell it was and gulped.
"A... demolition spell?!" he said worringly. "Why on Equestria would you want to learn that?!"
"With that spell, I won't have to worry about getting surrounded by trees in the Evertree Forest." she said and closed the book. "It's not that dangerous, really."
"But why would you go there again?" he asked, very worried since destructive spells had the habit of backfiring on the pony who casted them. That and the fact that in very unfortunate circumstances, it could backfire at whoever was nearby as well.
"You never know." she said, lifting an apple with her magic. "Maybe we'll go there again."
"So... what am I supposed to do?" he asked, looking at the apple. "Should I get you more apples?"
"No. Not just yet." she said as the magic aura surrounding the apple started shifting to another color. Seconds later, it was orange and if Spike read a small part of the description right, that was exactly how it was supposed to look while the spell was being cast.
"What's it supposed to do?" he asked, gazing at the apple as it levitated above her head.
"Explode." She was quite new to these kinds of spells, but what gives? A good unicorn knows a lot of spells to fit each situation and since she's the bearer of the Element of Magic, magic should be her speciality. The apple inflated, but instead of exploding as expected, it flung itself at the trunk of the library and then exploded, tearing a hole in said trunk.
"Was that supposed to happen?" asked Spike and rushed to the hole the apple made.
"No, it wasn't." Twilight too rushed to the hole the apple made, but since she was taller than Spike, she was able to look into it. Apart from parts of the apple scattered everywhere, she also saw a dusty old book resting in the trunk. Suprised, she took it out and brushed off the dust with her hoove.
"A book?" asked Spike, looking very suprised. "How did that end up there?" Underneath the dust was a black-reddish cover with strangely unaged white pages underneath.
"I dunno." She put the book on the table, clearing it of everything else just to make room for it. "I haven't seen any book like this before." Curious, she opened the book, hoping to at least find out its name. Both of them opened their eyes wide when they saw orange, glowing text organise itself on the paper. One word bigger than the rest appeared at the top, with several smaller ones underneath. However, the language was unlike anything Twilight ever seen.
"Ultima." she read the first word. "Non uti, nisi omnes aliud deficit." It was quite hard to pronouce since she had no idea what language it was, but she did her best.
"What... what does it mean?" asked Spike, looking at the book.
"I... I don't know Spike." she replied, looking puzzled by the book's writing. "I've never seen a language like this." Suddenly, the book shut itself violently with a loud thud, dispersing her magic aura into nothing but violet dust. It was almost as if it wanted her to use her hooves instead of her horn.
"Argh!" Spike jumped. "Did you see that?!"
"Yes, I did. Nothing to be scared of." she said calmly and opened the book again, this time with her hooves. "I've read a few books that were enchanted to shut themselves after being opened by an unicorn, but none of them so violently. It was primarily to stop thiefs from stealing them." She turned to the first page right after the title and was once again greeted by orange text, jumping around and organising itself into something intelligible.
But much to her confusion and disappointment, it was just wall of text, impossible to understand. She looked at the other page but much like the one of the left, it was just plain, orange glowing text that she didn't understand. Some words seemed familiar with her language, but they possibly had a completely different meaning altogether. She sighed and closed the book.
"Well, did you make out any of it?" asked Spike.
"Not even a single word!" she said. "Why would someone write a book in a language no one understands? I really want to know what's in it."
"Well, you have a lot of books, one of them has to know at least something." he said, taking a random book out of the bookshelf, looking at it briefly and then returning it back.
"You're right... Spike, you're a genius!" she said, happy that he reminded her that. "I'll start right away." She took ink, scrolls and a bunch of language books from her shelf and put them on the same table with the book.
"What about the concert?" asked Spike, showing her the two tickets he had. "You promised we'll go after you're done practicing the spell."
"Oh, well... I umm..." Twilight quickly started thinking about what was more important - going to a concert with Spike or spend time trying to translate the book. Obviously, concerts don't happen once in a while, so they could go right after she was finished with the book. The book, on the other hoove was something so exciting and interesting, she was sure it would never happen again. And so, with most awkward smile she could make, she said "Can't you go with someone else?"
"What?!" he said, unable to believe what she just said. "You gave me a promise!" The first thing that came to her mind was that it wasn't a Pinkie promise and as unfitting as it was for the moment, that's exactly what she used as an argument.
"I didn't Pinkie promise." she replied, still keeping her awkward smile. Spike looked at her very sadly and then sighted.
"Fine." he said as he walked towards the door. "I wonder when will you start ignoring your own friends." With that sentence, he left the library, probably to convince Celestia-knows-who to go with him.
Oddly, she didn't feel sorry, not even the slightest. In fact, she was happy that she could continue her work without him interrupting her.
According to her books, the language appeared to be ponin, an ancient and dead language that was used by all ponies before the current one. After succesfully translating a small part of it, she found out it wasn't an ordinary book... it was a spellbook. The first two spells were levitation and telekinesis but since already knew them, she didn't even try to cast them.
As hours passed, she translated more and more of it, yet the spells still appeared to be the same ones used today. Eventually, she fell asleep on the book only to be woken up by a small hand poking her cheek. She immediately got up and saw Spike. It was also quite dark, meaning that she slept quite a lot.
"Oh, you're back." she said, yawning. "How was the concert?"
"Would have been better if you were there." he said, still upset that she didn't go with him. "Dash doesn't really appreciate Octavia's music. All she did was talk about how boring it was and I could barely hear a thing." Only now did Twilight finally realize how much was Spike upset. She told him she wants a break and yet, here she is, sleeping on books again.
"Spike I-" she tried to say how sorry she was but was cut off by him.
"translated the whole book?" he asked, "Great. At least you'll get yourself a better assistant than me." It was now obvious that he took the broken promise very seriously and though he's not good enough for her anymore. She followed him upstairs, hoping that he would talk to her, but he just went to his bed and covered himself with the blanket. Twilight didn't say anything afterwards and just went to sleep. Hopefully, he'll speak with her tomorrow.
Instead of her usual dreams, however, she wa standing alone in complete darkness. She looked around but there was nothing there. Suddenly, she heard a voice.
"Help me..." It said. "Please..." She looked around in confusion but there was no one there. Even her dreams seemed to follow logic, but this seemed like it didn't.
"Hello?" she said. "Who's there?"
"Behind you..." It responded. Twilight turned around and saw a mare on fire.
"By Celestia!" she said, horrified. "You're on fire!" She made a bucket full of water appear out of nowhere and tried to extinsguish her, but the flames weren't put out.
"Twilight, I am not on fire." she said, taking one step closer to her. "I am fire or more precisely, a creature of fire - an elemental." Twilight's eyes opened wide and she took a step back.
"I've never heard of you." uttered Twilight, still taking a step back every time the fiery mare made a step forward. "How am I supposed to trust you?" The mare stopped, looked at the ground and then back at Twilight, sad.
"You aren't." she said, looking straight into Twilight's eyes. "No one ever set me free from that horrible book." Twilight stopped as well, thinking if she meant the very book she found hidden in the trunk.
"You mean Ultima?" asked Twilight. "You mean the book I found?" The sadness from the mare's face faded away and was replaced with happiness.
"Yes! That one!" she said happily. "I was starting to think it was lost forever."
"Why do you want me to free you?" asked Twilight. Obviously, she though that a pony cannot be trapped inside a book
"Because I'm here so long..." she said. "It seems like forever."
"That's not a reason." objected Twilight. "You didn't give me enough proof to trust you." The fiery mare sighed.
"You know how the book closed when you used your magic and how your magic aura around it turned to harmless dust?" she asked her. "That was me. No thief repellent, no enchantment. That's how I was written - commanded. Any unicorn that interacts with the book will be given different spells, based on what I think is important for them. But there are many, many more."
"No, that's impossible!" argumented Twilight, getting slightly angry. "Sentient books don't exist. Not even in old pony tales." The mare sighed again, disappointed that her efforts in trying to persuade her didn't work.
"Fine." she said, saddened. "I'll have to wait another year, or a century until someone finds this book again. I don't do want to do this anymore, I really don't, but what else can I do?" Twilight though about she said and felt sorry, not realizing she was talking to someone who probably had an opporturnity like this once in a thousand years.
"What do I need to do to free you?" asked Twilight. "Is a spell needed?"
"Yes." the mare said. "You have to summon me using a spell no one has ever used before and then break the casting bond by another spell. That will make me free."
"Is... is it safe?" asked Twilight, doubtful whether freeing the fiery mare would be right. "What will you do after you're freed?"
"Yes, it's completely safe and harmless and so am I. The only thing I wish is freedom." she said. Before Twilight could say that she'll do it, she woke up in her bed in the early morning. It took her a few seconds to memorise exactly what she said and did in the dream, but then it became clear - she was to free someone trapped within the book. She carefully brushed past Spike and went downstairs, the book still on the table, opened.
"Now, to find the right page." she said and turned the page. Suddenly, the pages started turning by themselves and stopped on the two last pages. They contained only one spell, consisting of two words, with each word written on one page. Intricate red markings could be seen around the spell words. They appeared to be decorative, as if signifying the importance of the spell itself.
"Vocet..." she said and the word lit up with an orange glow. "Ignis." The book started twitching, as if possesed by an evil spirit and then stopped. A red pentagram appeared on the floor next to her, accompained by a dark red mist. The fiery mare stuck her head out and then walked out of it, appearing the same as she did in her dream.
"Now the other spell." she said and looked around. Twilight placed her hoove on the book again and turned to a random page. Shortly after, the book itself turned to the right page and similiarly to the previous spell, it was broken into two pages, each containing one word. It also contained the same decorative markings.
"Vinculum..." uttered Twilight and the word once again lit up. "Rumpunt." The portal behind the mare disappeared and the sound of metal shattering was heard.
"Thank you!" said the fiery mare and stepped out of the pentagram. "You have no idea how grateful I am." Twilight smiled.
"Always glad to help." she said and tried to close the book. For one reason or another, she couldn't, not matter how hard she tried. Suddenly, the pages turned back to the page with the spell used to summon her.
"I... I don't understand..." she said, confused about the book's behavior. "Why does it want me to summon you again?" The mare smiled.
"Now that I'm free," she said, her voice darkening. "you deserve to know the truth." Twilight, still confused about what was happened looked at the spell again. A third word, Daemonium, appeared in black, spreaded across both pages. The word had many translations but the one used most commonly was demonic or belonging to a demon. She gulped and her heart started beating faster.
Upon looking back at the mare, she saw something one could only see in a nightmare. Fiery horns grew out of where a pony's ears should be and a ball of fire appeared between them. The fire surrounding her extinguished itself and only burned at the base of her hooves, around her head and tail. Grotesque black wings grew out of her back and her eyes changed from yellow to dark red, with only a small black dots in their centers serving as the pupils.
"What... what are you?!" asked Twilight, horrified. The decorations in the books changed to a number of red pony skulls with horns.
"A demon." she said, her regular voice being overlapped with a fiendish one. "I can't thank you enough for summoning me and breaking the cast-bonding. For your services rendered, you and you only will be spared from the work I have been planning all those long years. Thanks to you, it will finally become a reality. Enjoy your precious Equestria, for it will last long."
"No, no!" said Twilight, panicking. "This can't be happining! This isn't happening! It's just a dream. I'll pinch myself and I'll wake up."
"No, dearest student of Celestia." replied the demon. "This is not a dream, this is a nightmare. A living one." Before she could react or stop it, the demon blew a hole in the ceiling of her library and flew away.
Scared and unable to think straight, she woke up Spike from his slumber.
"What... mommy?" he said, half-asleep but after seeing Twilight, his eyes opened wide. "You're not mommy." He rolled to the side of his bed and covered himself in the blanket again.
"Spike, I need you help!" said Twilight, in an effort to get him out of his bed.
"My help?" he asked, apparently still angry after yesterday. "When were you when I needed yours?"
"Look, I'm sorry about yesterday, but you know me and my books." she replied, trying to calm him down. "I just don't know where to stop. That's why I have you." Spike pretended he didn't hear her but eventually got out of bed and they shared a hug.
"But I won't be your assistant forever, I-" he said, but was cut off by Twilight.
"have a crush on Rarity?" she said with a smile. "Oh come on, Spike. I already know that." Spike blushed and smiled.
"So.. what do you need help with?" he asked. Something akin to an explosion happened inside Twilight's head and she immediately remember why she woke him up. It drove her completely crazy and speechless, so instead of telling him what happened, she grabbed him using her magic and ran downstairs. Spike immediately noticed what was wrong but only after a small piece of wood fell on his head he noticed that there's a fiery hole in the ceiling.
"Ow... what... what happened?" he asked, unable to comprehend what he saw. "Twilight, what did you do?"
"I... I did something I wasn't supposed to!" she said, running amok. "She lied to me, SHE LIED TO ME!!!" Spike waited a couple of minutes before instantly calming her down with another hug.
"Calm down." he said. "Now, tell me what happened. Slowly." One does not simple get "fixed" after a mental breakdown and Twilight was the perfect example of someone trying and failing.
"I had a dream. A mare in the dream convinced me that she's trapped in the book and I agreed to help her." she said, somehow calmed down. "I did as she told me, used the spells to summon her but..."
"What happened after that?" asked Spike, worried that Twilight did something very wrong. "Hmm?"
"She lied to me... She wasn't an innocent trapped in the book." said Twilight. "She was a demon. The book was her prison and I sent her free..." Spike's heart stopped after she made the last sentance.
"What now, WHAT NOW WHAT NOW WHAT NOW?!" shouted Twilight, once again losing her mind. Spike kept his presence of mind and begun writing a letter to Celestia herself and soon after sending it, the Princess herself flew down into the library through the hole the demon had created.
"Twilight, is this-?" she asked. Twilight, who was running around like a scared chicken stopped and didn't say a word. "Did this really happen?"
"Y-yes..." stuttered Twilight and lowered her head in shame. A concerned look appeared on Celestia's face, as she was worried about her student.
"Spike sent a letter to me that said how it happened," said the Princess, softly lifting Twilight's head with her hoove. "but I want to hear it from you."
"A mare appeared in my dream and convinced me to free her." said Twilight, tears rolling down her cheeks since she knew would be punished. "I did as I was told but the mare was a demon in disguise. She tricked me."
"A demon?" asked the Princess. "In a book?" She looked around and saw the very book Twilight used. She recognised it and the book did too, since she had no problem handling it with her magic.
"My old spellbook..." she said. "I though it was long lost."
"You... you used a spellbook?" asked Twilight, curious as to why someone as gifted in magic would neen one.
"It was a backup plan in case the Elements of Harmony would fail against Discord." she lectured her and turned the pages of the book once again to the summoning spell. "This demon, the same one you released, cannot be stopped by conventional means. That is why I though it would work agaings the draconequus."
"How can it be banished or defeated then?" asked Twilight.
"A bond with a demon can be broken, but the chains on both the caster and the summoned remain." said the Princess, pointing to Twilight's left front hoove. "In other words, they can be rejuvenated and that is the only way a demon can be banished. However, a special object is required for this procedure and acquiring it is almost impossible."
"I'll do it." Twilight responded, knowing that she was the one who was responsible for the whole situation.
"Have you lost your mind?!" said Spike, not believing she volunteered on something that sounded like a one-way trip.
"I'll be fine Spike, I promise." replied Twilight and smiled at him.
"Very well." said the Princess. "I can take you there right away, but there's no guarantee you'll get back. Not even I can safely travel through that place. Be careful, Twilight."
"I have to do it. If I won't, who will?" said Twilight and the Princess started casting a spell that lifted her off the ground.
"Of all the promises, please keep this one. Please..." Spike said worryingly and she disappeared.
With a white flash of light, Twilight found herself in a mysterious place. It looked like a large cave, full of lava rivers and rarely rocks or boulders that could be walked on and a red sky which gave the impression of murder while it's sulphuric smell gave the idea of explosions. Looking down to her hooves, she saw that she was standing on a small rock. She gulped, since no rocks were seen around her to jump on and the one she was on appeared to be sinking into lava. Quickly using her newly-learned levitation, she kept herself in the air before the rock the sunk and much to her luck, about seven more rocks appeared on the lava's surface. She levitated in it's general direction but before she could safely land, the levitation stopped, causing her to land on her back.
"Ow... what... what is this place?" she asked herself while getting up. A rock larger than the rest suddenly emerged from the lava and she was confident in making it across to it. After her first jump, she smelled something burning and when she looking behind her, her tail was on fire. In a fit of panic, she quickly stomped it with her hooves, ignoring the burns she caused. She then saw the reason for her tail being charred - a jet of lava appeared to burst once in a while between the rocks. Suddenly, the rocks started sinking and so, she had to do watch for both her timing and her hooves. In what seemed to be more luck than skill she crossed the lake and jumped on the large rock, collapsing from exhaustion. She knew she had to go on, but for the sake of having at least some energy, she needed a break. Suddenly, she heard a faint whisper and got up to look around.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" she asked, hoping the denizens of this cave were friendly. Fortunately, she got a reply from someone nearby.
"What do you want here, mortal?" Twilight looked around, hoping the speaker meant no harm. It was another demon, looking exactly like the one she released, albeit muscular and by the sound of its voice, male.
"I'm... I'm looking for something" she replied, stil hoping the demon meant no harm. "I've summoned and released a demon." The demon smiled and looked at her passionately.
"Oh, poor thing." said the demon. "Don't you know no one has ever returned from Hell? Maybe you should go home to your mommy and pretend this never happened. Here, I'll help you." The demon opened a portal which seemingly led back to Equestria but Twilight declined by shaking her head.
"No?" said the demon. "Very well mortal. I'll see how long you can persist." With a sound akin to an explosion, the demon vanished from sight and massive structures emerged from the lava, one more twisted than the other. Their only common trait was that they were made of stone and were mostly spikes.
"I'm not scared." she said as she looked at the spikes and attempted to destoy them with her horn. Obviously, that didn't work since this was Hell and all things there were considered dark magic. Instead, her blast of magic reflected off them and into the lava. An "ow" was heard shortly after and something climbed out of the lava. It was once again the demon she had seen before, this time with a bulge on his head.
"Can you please be more careful?" he asked. "You can get someone hurt, you know."
"Why are you following me around?" she answered his question with another question. "Don't you have better things to do?" She didn't know much about demons but following ponies around in hell was probably not something they were supposed to do.
"Actually, I do." he asnwered. "It's just entertaining for me to watch you, a mortal, traverse Hell. Plus, you're kinda cute." Twilight blushed and a worried smile appeared on her face. Of course she's cute! All demons look like, well, demons.
"Ehm... heh." said Twilight, blushing. "Thanks, I guess." The demon aproached her, as if wanting to accompany her.
"You must be looking for Malbolge." he said. "Right?"
"Who?" she asked. "Who's Malbolge?"
"It's not a pony or demon but a location. A plane of Hell to be exact." he answered. "Full of information about demons but written in complete rubbish."
"Can you lead me there?" she asked. "Please..." Maybe complete rubbish to demons but to her, it could mean something.
"Are you crazy?!" he responded. "You can't ask a demon for a favor, he'll ask for all sorts of evil things like sacrifice, blood and-" Twilight rolled her eyes and interrupted his ranting with putting her hoove infront of his mouth.
"So much for helping." she said and tried ascending the spikes. The demon appeared to be offended but after seeing her trying so hard and not giving up, he decided to help her. Besides, with one good thing, no one's gonna portray demons as good guys, right?
He grabbed her using her magic and put her down on the rock. "Hey, what are you-" Twilight didn't finish and instead, lost words when she saw the spikes bend and form a bridge across the lava.
"I... I..." stuttered Twilight, unable to comprehend the impressive use of magic.
"You're welcome." said the demon and the two of them started crossing the lava lake via the bridge. Truly, it is an extremely rare sight to see a demon help a mortal in need.
After they crossed the bridge, they saw a stony staircase, leading down into the lava lake. How is that even possibe? She saw rocks emerge and sink into the lava but this was just ridiculous.
"Fancy stairs, huh?" he said. "They're not actually endless, just very long... like, forty thousand steps or so." Forty thousand? How on Equestria was she supposed to reach the end?
"Forty thousand?!" she uttered and looked down. "How am I supposed to traverse all of them?" Her anger was at place mostly because forty thousand is, well, a lot.
"Oh, darn it, did I say forty thousand?" he replied. "There's just forty of them. Really." At this point, she started having doubts about her friend's alliance. Perhaps he was just a liar or a very bad trickster, taking the chance with quite possibly the one and only mortal to ever set hoove in Hell. Maybe he was both and this Malbolge was just another of his tricks.
"Okay..." she said nervously and tried to step on the first step. However, before she could touch it, the demon once again grabbed her using his magic, creating a reddish aura around her.
"Are you completely out of your mortal mind ?!" he shouted. "Archdemons built this stuff! You can't just lay your hoove on it!" She sighed and he let her go. With an annoyed expression, she sat on the stony bridge and waited for his explanation.
"You see," he lectured her, speaking in a very slow manner. "you first have to shout your name down the stairs and then, you go down. Sloooooowly." Twilight though hell would freeze over before he finished speaking. Why do ponies in kindergarden have the habit of speaking that way? Fillies maybe aren't as smart as adults but they aren't outright stupid and can perfectly understand what you're saying.
"Twilight Sparkle." she said and started walking down, going a bit slower than she usually did at her library. The demon quickly shouted "Dante" and followed her, going at a faster pace to catch up with her. He hoped the two of them won't get into trouble since the library rarely allowed regular demons to enter, let alone mortals.
"You know, you could have waited for me" he said her after they reached the opening at the very end. Twilight looked at him with a smile and walked into the library. She stared, mouth agape, at all the bookcases and the black-covered books it contained. Even though it was poorly lit, it was still enough for avid reader like her in case she wanted to read any of them.
"Whoa..." she said, almost crying from such a wonderful sight. "this is... unbelievable."
"Well, not everyone's very happy to see Malbolge." he followed her. "You see, not every demon likes to see the place where his actions are being... ehm... written."
"Written?" she turned to him. "What do you mean?"
"There is a certain list of rules called the Commandment that a demon must obey." he lectured her. "If he breaks them, they get written down and the said demon is punished. Thanks to you, I broke four of these rules." His neutral expression changed to that of angst. If that was true, Twilight inadvertly got him in big trouble.
"I... I didn't mean to cause any problems." she said in an attempt to stop him from worrying. "I was just trying to find the book of the demon I had accidentally released." Why did he help her anyway? Any other regular demon would most certainly watch her drown in lava and burn.
"If you're lucky, the Master Librarian might have some info on him or her." he said and spectral glasses appeared on his face. "If you're not, you'll have spend a little over one eternity searching through all of those books since none of them are labeled." One eternity? Since when are eternities numbered? As far as numbers went, eternity always meant infinity in terms of longevity. How did demons measure it?
"The Master Librarian?" she asked. "Who's that?" An scared expression appeared on Dante's face and Twilight didn't understand why.
"L-look behind you." Twilight turned around and saw a pony levitate on his hind legs, covered in torn, dark grey hooded robes with nothing but darkness visible underneath. Certainly a figure you would see in the most frightening of nightmares.
"Ehm... you're the Master Librarian?" she asked. The pony nodded and Twilight turned to Dante, who was still staring as if seeing a ghost. Apart from no apparant face, what was so scary about him? Twilight couldn't understand that even for demons, there were still things they were afraid of.
"Oh come on, he's not THAT scary." she said happily."He doesn't even speak."
"Twilight, you shouldn't be saying that." said Dante. "You really shouldn't be saying that." Little did she know that the Master Librarian heard her remarks.
"Why?" she asked, confused. Why shouldn't she be saying that? "It's not like he's going to-" Twilight stopped talking as something grabbed her from both sides. Whatever it was, it was strong and turned her away from Dante back to the Master Librarian.
"You dared to walk into my library and now you mock me and my authority, mortal?" he asked.. "By saying you're not afraid?" Twilight tried to escape from whatever was holding her, but with every struggle, it got stronger and moments later she could barely move. She sighed, as her only plan of escape failed.
"No." she uttered, still fighting against the magic that was holding her. "I am not afraid, especially not of you." The librarian walked up to her and put down his hood, revealing almost-pitch black skin, dark red eyes and fangs protruding from his mouth. He also had two goat horns, which were red at the tip and gradually darkened as they reached his skin. Around his neck was a metallic collar with various sharp spikes.
"Last mistake, mortal." he said. Dante, whom she expected to help her, was just hiding behind a bookshelf and watcing in fear. Twiligth felt a breeze of cold and her whole body was starting to go numb. It kept getting stronger and even though she tried to use her magic to escape or atleast counter it, it didn't work. It felt as if every happy memory from her life, the warmth, was being drained from her, leaving behind nothing but traumas and nightmares. All the happy moments from her life started rolling before her eyes and she felt the cold taking her over. She tried screaming but it was almost as if her vocal cords were torn out. All that she could say was a very quiet "help" reminescent of something Fluttershy would have said.
But that didn't work either and mere moments later, she was stripped of all her memories and left broken, devoid of all happiness. She took a look at her hoove as she was starting to faint and noticed it turning gray and quickly advancing. A single teardrop fell from her face and then, she was no more. Bound by the librarian's magic, powerless and corrupted, she was now at the mercy of him and his rules as a demon. Using the same magic he used on her, he grabbed Dante and brought him to Twilight.
"What... What have you done?!" said Dante, horrified by the librarian's actions. "She didn't do anything!" The librarian let out a demonic laugh.
"But neither did you." he turned to him. "Now, you will carry out rule one as any other demon would." The librarian presented him a sacrificial dagger with intricate markings and a black pentagram appeared for a split second underneath Twilight's corpse.
"No." rebelled Dante and shook his head. "I'm not going to do it." The librarian tossed the dagger aside, shocked and disgusted by his answer.
"What?!" he said. "What has this filthy Equestrian done to you?" While it wasn't uncommon for a demon to break a rule or two once in a while, this was outrageous. This was the sixth rule broken - not carrying out the order of a higher ranking demon.
"She opened my eyes." he answered. "Something you or any other demon would wouldn't have done. All she had to say was please." And now, the rules broken stopped at number seven - doubting the philosophy of the demons.
"If you won't do it," uttered the librarain and conjured a sword similiar to the sacrificial dagger. "I will."
"I won't let you." replied Dante and conjured a fireball.
"I should have ended you long ago!" shouted the librarian, charging into the battle and fighting for the fate of Twilight Sparkle.
After a long and tedious battle, Dante stood victorius. He didn't kill the Master Librarian and instead, forced him to search for the demon that was last summoned and give him its book. Then, with a final strike of his sword, he banished the Master Librarian into the lowest pits of hell. Since demons couldn't be killed and only banished, this was the only thing he could do. By doing this, he also broke two more commandments but at this point, he simply didn't seem to care. After banishing him, he kneeled to Twilight and tried to wake her up.
"Twilight, wake up..." he uttered but she didn't move a muscle.
"Please, wake up..." Desperate and unsure on what to do, his conjured up the book containing the rules a demon should follow and looked for anything he could do to help her.
"It just isn't here!" he said as he was furiously turning the pages. "There's nothing about dark-leeched mortals!"
"Look... in the register..."
"Gee, thanks." He looked in the register for a few seconds and then it go to him. He dispelled at the book and looked at Twilight. "T-twilight?"
"You're okay!" he said happily and tried to help her get up. However, instead of letting him, Twilight places her hoove on his chest and said a faint "no".
"I... failed..." she uttered, once again starting to drift into unconsciousness.
"No, you didn't." he replied, keeping her head upright with one of his hooves. "I haven't seen anyone who could hold up for so long. You must have had a lot of happy memories." Happy indeed they were. One could even say that she had most happy memories of anyone in Ponyville, not counting Pinkie Pie.
"I... have... failed... Celestia..." she spoke in the sammer like she did before, keen on her failure to banish the demon. After all, it was all her fault and right now, it could be doing Celestia-knows-what.
"She tasked you with finding the demon?" he asked her. "Well, here it is." He showed her the book detailing the released demon's actions. Twilight didn't was unresponsive and instead, started fainting again.
"Are you a student of Celestia?" he asked her and she gave him a weak nod.
"What did she sent you to Ponyville for?" he asked again. "Why were you sent there?" Contrary to popular belief, even such creatures as demons and fiends were are informed of what's going on in the upper plane. Heaven doesn't want to share any information with them. To this date, no one knows why.
"To... supervise... the preparations... for the Summer... Sun Celebration..." she uttered. Sadly, none of them got an invitation to the event and even if they did, Celestia has forbidden every and all demons from entering the mortal plane. Poor fellas never had to put up with stuff like that during Discord. Those were the times...
"And what else?" asked Dante. Twilight was once again unresponsive and he didn't get an answer.
"Twilight, who am I?" he asked her in a saddened tone.
"Dante..." she uttered and her eyes closed again. Memory loss from dark-leeching is not a new or uncommon effect but to see it for himself. It was simply horrifying. She appeared to not remember anything related to friendship. He sighed, knowing that there's nothing he can do as memory loss from that spell is often pernament.
"History is not a thing unknown to us, demons, and a year ago, during the Summer Sun Celebration, you and a couple of other ponies stopped Nightmare Moon from making night eternal. The ponies who helped you were your friends. Friends." he lectured her in a sad tone. "Do you know what friends are?" he asked, but once again didn't get a reply.
"They're always there-" he said and hugged her. Then, he whispered "-for you." A single, gray teardrop dropped from his left eye on Twilight's horn. He then closed his eyes, knowing this was the last thing a demon could do to say goodbye. It was very uncommon but desperate times call for desperate actions.
Suddenly, a faint violet light appeared at the tip of her horn and her colors were slowly returning. Twilight didn't notice he was hugging her until she woke up again, cured of the librarian's spell and hugged him back.
"All the time?" she asked him. "Or just when they have free time?" Dante smiled, opened his eyes and let go of Twilight. And they say miracles only happen in the mortal plane. Reddish liars.
"Always." he said and helped her get up. "Always." Twilight smiled. She then looked around the library, curious what has happned to the Master Librarian.
"Is he... gone?" she asked, with a bit of worry in her voice.
"As gone as a demon can be." he replied. "In the deepest pit of hell." Twilight began taking books off the bookshelves and searched for the very demon she released. Like always, she couldn't find the book she was looking for. If only Spike was here with his book-finding skills.
"He gave me the book, if you're looking for it." uttered Dante and handed her the book. Twilight put all the books back into their place before turning her attention to the one he gave her. She opened the book and a horrified look was bestowed upon her face.
"Oh no..." she said as she was reading it and turning the pages. "This is bad."
"What did Cylyen do?" he asked.
"Arson, looting, robbery, property damage of forty houses and it keeps going up..." she said, worried. "But no one got hurt so far."
"What do you plan to do?" he asked her.
"Celestia told me of a procedure to rejuvenute a broken bond" she replied. "Have you heard of something like that?"
"Yes, I have." he said. "A demon can only be banished by it's summoner and technically, you're still the summoner , even if you broke the bond. Sure, you can try banishing without the bond, but it's take a lot longer, to say nothing of all the fireballs that would be hurled your way."
"Do you have any idea how to set up the bond again?" she asked. "Please..." She wasn't sure if using "please" still had an effect since they were friends at this point. Nevertheless, she was still a mortal and he still was a demon.
"I do, but it's very dangerous and may not even work." he said. "You see, since you accidentally set 'your' demon free, you can recall her by attempting to summon her again but if I know Cylyen, and I think I do, she'll resist your summons but inadvertly restore the binding."
"Well, I still remeber the spell but what's so dangerous about this?" she asked. "I mean, you would protect me, right?"
"If she fails to resist your summons, you'll see her in a form far stronger than the one roaming Equestria." he replied. "And even though I did manage to take on an archdemon, barons of hell are way out of my league. In other words, it's a risk." Twilight, though not used to taking risks, wanted to take this one since no other plan seemed to be logical. And so, she once again casted the same summoning spell but luckily, it failed but restored her binding. Out of nowhere, she felt a sudden burning sensation which, despite giving her a feeling that she was on fire, also gave her an almost unhealthy dose of joy from destruction.
"Heh, fire..." she said. She wasn't sure how to comprehend this but if barons felt like this all the time, maybe being one wasn't that bad.
"Twilight?" asked Dante. "You okay?" Twilight gave him a worried smile.
"Why do I feel an urge to set everything on fire?" she asked, smiling. "And why do I feel happy when I think about it?"
"Psychotic pyromania syndrome. Cylyen has it. Don't worry, it'll go away shortly" said Dante. "Fortunately, Hell is already on fire, so she won't burn anything once she gets back." Dante opened a portal and it looked exactly like the one he offered her earlier to give her a preemptive way back home.
"You coming?" she asked and Dante shook her head.
"Can't you make an exception?" she asked. "Just this one time"
"It doesn't matter who accompanies us," he said. "we're simply not allowed in there." Twilight saddened. It was sad to know that her new friend who helped her so much couldn't come with her.
"I... I don't want to say goodbye." she said, tears in her eyes. "Because 'goodbye' means gone forever..." Dante hugged her and smiled.
"And how about 'see you later' ?" he asked. Twilight giggled.
"I'm going to have to convince Celestia to let me visit you once in a while." she said, smiling. "You're not going anywhere, right?" This caused the demon to laugh, albeit in a normal manner, not in the one common with all demons.
"See you later, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight smiled and stepped into the portal.
In a flash of white light, she was back in her library. Or at least, what was left of it. It was barely something more than just a fiery mess that was about to cave in but she didn't panic. Instead, she cleared the fiery debris out of her way and ran outside. The street she was saw was nothing like the one she remembered. Half of it was on fire while the other half laid in ruin, with ponies running in all directions and screaming for help. Carefully following the burning homes and the general direction they were running from, she found the one who was responsible for it all - Cylyen.
Twilight tried to be a little stealthy but was immediately noticed and greeted by a rain of fireballs. After she dodged them, Cylyen turned her attention to just Twilight and flew down just to get a better view of her. After she located her, another hurl of fireballs was sent her way.Twilight dodged them once more and hid behind an almost-collapsed house. Knowing it takes a few seconds to conjure more, she peeked out of her cover and targeted the demon's wings, intending to freeze them. This took her a few tries before the wings themselves shattered after too much light magic was used on them and Cylyen fell down. Furious over the loss of flight, she begun casting fireballs from the skies themselves, effectively destroying every place Twilight could hide. Upon finally finding her, she lifted her up with her magic and grinned.
"Oh, hello, my dearest summoner." she said in a friendly, almost-childish tone. "Can't you see I'm busy destroying a town here? It's very rude for you to come and interrupt me."
"This... is... my... town!" said Twilight and broke free from the demon's grip. The demon, shocked by the power of her willpower, started channeling a fiery, incinerating beam from her horn. Instinctively, Twilight did the same but with water and their beams collided, causing small rocks to form under the collision point.
"You think you're strong, huh?" the demon taunted her. "You're a weak, mortal nobody!" Twilight ignored this and focused more on the spell itself, which was now slowly pushing through Cylyen's one. But little did Twilight know that Cylyen still had a bunch of dirty tricks up in her sleeve.
When Twilight's beam was almost touching the tip of her horn, two fiery hands emerged from the ground and dropped themselves on Twilight, breaking the spell, whist also filling the area with smoke. When it cleared, Twilight, whose mane and coat were left slightly burned, was trying to get up. Cylyen approached her and smiled.
"You know, I promised you that I'll spare you because you released me," she said and lifted Twilight with her magic. "but you just had to interfere with my plans, now didn't you?." Twilight tried to free herself but her horn was burned out.
"By the order of light, I banish you!" shouted Celestia as she approached the demon from around the corner, her coat and mane also slightly burned by the fire. Cylyen burst into laughter.
"You have no power here!" she said. "You know what? All of you are funny. I mean, first I show up in this loser's dream, say "pwease let me out" and then she goes all haywire and does exactly what I tell her. Then, you show up and start babbling all sort of crazy things, thinking you can send me back to Hell." Celestia repeated the sentence and went closer to the demon. A spectral chain appeared around Twilight's and the demon's hind leg. The demon, however, did not notice this.
"You dumb as a rock or what?" she uttered. "You ain't banishing me today or any other day." While would she offend rocks? Rocks are smart. In fact, they are so smart they can't be set in fire.
"Yes, I am." said Celestia and the demon looked arround. A look of worry appeared on her face when she noticed the chain.
"Hehehe, alright, you got me." said the demon with a worried smile. "Maybe you guys aren't as weak as I though." The same pentagram which was used to summon her appeared underneath her hooves and she was unable to escape it. In a sudden jolt of panic, she let go of Twilight.
"By the Order Of Light, The Princesses of both Night and Sun, I command you, demon, return!" The pentagram lit up as Celestia uttered these words. The demon gradually started loosing her demonic appearance and was quickly reduced to the form Twilight saw in her dream.
"I... I don't want to go..." she said and looked sadly at Twilight in the same manner she did in her dream. Twilight, despite noticing the sudden shift in her personality, didn't interrupt Celestia and watched as the demon, now reduced to an elemental, was fading, her skin evaporating in the air as if it was made of ice.
"You... are... banished!" shouted Celestia and the demon faded away completely, along the with pentagram. For some reason, Twilight felt guilt and sadness, despite knowing that Cylyen was nothing more than just a fire-spreading lunatic. She sighed, letting go of the though.
In less then five minutes, a large number pegasi appeared in the sky and set clouds for heavy rain. Those who lost their homes were offered to temporarily live in the homes of other ponies while new houses were built. All was well, save for one thing. Even though Celestia and Twilight saved the day, there were still a lot of questions Twilight didn't know the answer to. Who is Cylyen? Of all the demons, why did Celestia want to use her instead of someone else? How did Celestia come across a demon?
My dearest and most faithful student Twilight Sparkle,
I am writing you this letter to answer any questions you may have about Hell, my old spellbook or anything related to these matters. Hell itself was and always will be a place where evil creatures are contained to avoid causing harm in Equestira or any other kingdom. You may have met one or more friendlier ones but they are indoubtly evil and thus, must be kept from entering this plane of Existance.
As for Cylyen, the very demon you released, there's... something I never told anyone about, not even Luna. She used to be called Crystal Diva and was one of bravest and most talented unicorns I have ever known. In the desperate times of Discord, I needed to have a backup plan in case the Elements of Harmony didn't work. Diva volunteered for this backup plan and went through drastic changes to become what you've seen in your dream. However, there was one thing we didn't think would be affected - her mind. I had no idea she would turn into a pyromaniac. Nevertheless, I kept her contained in the book, hoping to use her dark magic againts the powers of chaos.
I lost track of what became of the book after the Elements of Harmony trapped discord and assumed it to be destroyed. Someone must have buried it and that's how it ended up in the trunk. Since Ultima cannot be destroyed, the tree could only grow around it and thus, the trunk became hollow. Since not even I, it's author, can destroy it, I'll have to at least guard it so that it won't get into the wrong hands.
I think this letter covers I wanted to tell you but in case you want to know more, just make Spike sent a reply.
Princess Celestia.
P.S : There is a very small chance for Crystal Diva's return.
Special thanks to fine gentlemen Nightwolf289 and Corejo for their critical reviews. Their reviews helped shape the story and thanks to them, non-sensical things were completely eliminated from the story. No more Moves Like Jagger lyrics and gender-swap! Super special thanks to YOU, the reader of this story, for being patient with both me (took me forever to rewrite) and the story. Stay awesome !
