Twilight Sparkle and the other princesses of Equestria sat around a circular table in the royal debate room of the castle. The large ivory columns of the walls stretched out towards the sun and moon glass mural high up on the domed roof, the red and purple velvet curtains draped over the large windows were opened slightly letting in the orange glow of the sun setting across the western horizon. While Twilight payed close attention to Luna, Cadence and Celestia as they discussed a potential trade agreement with Yak-Yakistan, she heard the slight echoing of her name being called. The sound grew louder until suddenly the doors flew open aggressively. There stood the distressed Spike holding a strange cube-like object.
“Spike! What’s wrong?” She questioned as the other princesses turned to view the commotion.
“Starlight! Cube! Glowy things! Inside! Here! Help!” the young drake shot rapidly in between hyperventilated breaths as the other ponies swiftly arrived behind him.
“Calm down, tell us what happened from the start.” said Cadence in a soothing tone.
Spike took several deep breaths and began explaining still with slight distress in his quickened speech. “I was helping Starlight with her research, and this thing suddenly sprouted ghostly hands and grabbed her. I think it may have...dragged her inside”.
The eyes of the princesses shot open in worry. They knew that this incident was no laughing matter. After several seconds of deathly silence, Celestia spoke up.
“This is a Lexicon, a powerful remnant of an ancient civilization predating Equestria. Many magic scholars believe that these artifacts could be used to store a virtually limitless amount of knowledge and secrets.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “That. Sounds. Amazing!” she said elatedly “Just think of what knowledge about magic we could learn! What secrets we could uncover! What kind of-”
“Um Twilight, sweetie, now isn’t really a good time to ‘nerd out’.” Rarity whispered to her.
Twilight cleared her throat and regained her composure. “Sorry princess, you were saying”.
“This one once belonged to Star-Swirl the Bearded, but it has remained dormant for years. Until now.” Celestia said with a puzzled look.
Luna then spoke, “You said that a portal appeared, is that correct?”
Spike nodded. “But this is unheard of,” said Celestia, “None of the lexicons in the hooves of magic scholars have ever done this”.
“I’m not entirely sure what is happening, but all that matters is getting Starlight Glimmer out of there.” Luna said.
“But how are we supposed to do that?” asked Rainbow Dash, “Dive in there and get her ourselves?”
“That may just work Rainbow Dash.” replied Celestia.
“Wait, seriously?” Twilight asked her mentor, as she raised her left brow slightly.
“Why yes.” Luna explained. “Scholars researching lexicons have hypothesised that it may be possible for ponies to actually travel inside the lexicon and physically access its contents. However, this ability has so far only been able to be used by unicorns and alicorns.”
Fluttershy gave a sigh of relief, and turn to Twilight. “Well it looks like it’s up to you and Rarity to rescue her. Oh poor Starlight she must be so alone and frightened in there” she said with a slight shiver.
“Luna, Cadence and I will open up the lexicon for you two to enter. But be careful, nopony knows what lies within.” Celestia instructed.
The princesses each stood in a triangle around the table with the lexicon in the center. Twilight and Rarity stood at the end of the table and the rest of the party watched from the side of the room. Then each of the magical equines focused their magical energy into a single beam that gradually grew into an orb of yellow light. Sparks began to zap at the lexicon and suddenly a spherical portal of yellow light appeared over the cube.
“You two must hurry, we are not sure how long the portal shall remain open!” said Luna.
Twilight and Rarity exchanged a serious nod of the head and leaped into the dark portal. They were quickly engulfed in a vortex of swirling purple clouds, and both screamed at the sensation of falling at breakneck speeds. A burst of light drew closer to the falling ponies and all went a blinding white.
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Starlight Glimmer, still dazed and drowsy, slowly rose up and observed her surroundings.
“Ok… definitely not in Equestria anymore.” she said as she took in her surroundings
The horizon she look out on was the most bizarre sight she had ever seen. Everything was white and looked unnatural, as if made by some science fiction machine. An endless expanse of hexagonal, polygon cliffs and pillars jutted out of the white ground and energy orbs of blue and pink ran in between them in a zigzag motion like electricity through a circuit.
“what is this place?”
“Welcome to the lexicon, the infinite archives of Star-Swirl the Bearded.” a mysterious voice echoed through the air.
Starlight turned to see a strange diamond-shaped sprite, pitch black and viscous-looking. The sprite began to pulsate and grew into a black fireball, then a face with red and yellow eyes and a jagged, toothy smile appeared upon the flame.
“Blitzeo...” Starlight said blankly.
“How nice to finally meet you in the flesh… well almost. I don’t have a body as you can plainly see” Blitzeo said.
“Why did you bring me here?” She questioned.
“To call in my favour of course.” Blitzeo replied, his tone growing progressively more aggravated. “While this place IS a storehouse of ancient knowledge and powerful secrets, though honestly, I have grown tired of this place. Quite tired. I wish to return to Equestria, however doing so would require something physical body.”
Starlight’s blood ran cold.“You want me to take you to the surface? With MY body?”
“Precisely” he said coldly. “My magic does not work in this realm. The only way I was able to summon you in the first place by manipulating this realm’s internal teleportation system. The only way to leave this infernal box is to open a dual sided portal using Unicorn or Alicorn magic.”
Without warning, a burst of intense light shot down from the white sky. The spherical portal hovered far off in the distant, artificial cliffs.
“Ah! There we are! Excellent work Starlight: that was quicker than I thought.” Blitzeo remarked.
“I didn’t do that” Starlight replied, she squinted her eyes and saw two figures in the distance one of white and one of lavander.
Blitzeo frowned and growled under his breath, “So… brought your friends did you?” Starlight froze as terror ran through her. “Well why don’t you introduce me to them?”
Blitzeo floated upward as his flame grew a light purple hue. He then shot downward and plunged right into Starlight’s body.
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The intense light finally faded as Twilight and Rarity fell onto a white hexagonal plateau below. While Rarity shrieked and flailed her front legs wildly, Twilight remained calm as she spread open her wings and flew over to her, catching the falling unicorn with a levitation spell. She flapped her wings with all her might, but a harsh gravity pulled them towards the ground with a thud.
“Rarity! Are you alright?” cried Twilight as she rose to her hooves.
“My mane is a bit out of place, but I am alright.” Rarity replied, using her magic to fix her mane. “Now, to find Starlight.”
“Alright let me try from a better vantage point.” Twilight flapped her wings as hard as she could. Sweat began to drip down her forehead, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not lift off the ground. “Can’t... take… off!” Twilight gasped in between strained breaths, “This place has some sort of heavy gravity. Looks like flying is out, but we should be able to spot her from here.”
They scanned the landscape for some time until Rarity spotted a small pink speck in the distance. “There she is! But how are we supposed to get to her?”
Twilight thought for a moment and then used her magic on the artificial ground. A series of smaller, hexagonal pillars emerged from the lower chasm and created a staircase connecting to the other hexagonal plateaus in the odd landscape. The two magic equines sped down the staircase finally arriving at the plateau where their friend stood.
“Starlight! Thank Celestia you’re ok!” exclaimed Twilight.
“It’s such a relief to see you two.” Starlight replied
“There isn’t much time for celebration, the portal out of this...rather dull place, will close soon. We should hurry.” said Rarity.
The trio raced up the makeshift staircase, noticing the portal had decreased in size substantially since they arrived. They stopped suddenly upon reaching the plateau below the diminishing portal.
“We need to open it back up! Everypony focus your magic on the portal!” Twilight commanded.
They each shot a ray of magical energy from their horns. The portal began to spark violently and slowly grew larger.
Twilight sighed in relief. “Great job you guys. Let’s head home.” Twilight heard a low guttural laugh as a bolt of turquoise energy blasted Rarity. Twilight turned around quickly, her horn brimming with energy, ready to fire off a magic bolt. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open upon seeing her student with yellow and red eyes.
“Thank you for the assistance, but your road ends here.” said Blitzeo through his corporeal vessel.
He floated up towards the portal, firing several explosive magic bolts at Twilight before disappearing through the portal, his cackling echoing through the vortex.
“At long last, the beginning… of the end.”