//------------------------------// // The Mindscape // Story: The Burden of Knowledge // by Scion of the Foreseen //------------------------------// Outside the boundaries of our own universe, there is a place so vast, it seems to stretch for eternity. In that place, lies a great city. This city, called Elysium, houses the First Creators, who were forged by the hand of the last true God. They were meant to maintain cosmic balance, and they did just that. However, when you spend several quadrillion years with someone, you will learn how to despise them in every possible way, and yet still love them like family. Yes, the Creators certainly did bicker, and have even started wars with each other. Yet, every time the war was resolved, and they were always welcomed back with open arms, be they the losers or victors. Of course, the First had also created their own friendly rivalries with each other. The most famous of which is the one between Mageus, Bastion of mana and spellcraft, and Adagnitio, Bastion of knowledge. It seemed like these two were at each other ever since they were spun by the cosmic thread, and have never stopped since. The two had formed some sort of strange relationship, becoming both close friends, and mortal enemies. For whatever reason, most likely to sling casual insults at each other without having to seek each other out, they developed Tea time. Once every couple of hours they would meet, and drink tea while telling each other of their exploits. Mageus was waiting at a table in one of the many fields of Elysium, their chosen meeting place, and impatiently scanned the horizon for any sign of the tall Creator. She huffed, "What does he have in store for me now...", she grumbled under her breath. She was dressed in her usual attire, a light blue robe, matching her eyes. She sipped her cup of tea, which magically refilled itself when she set it back down. Mageus looked back up, and saw Adagnitio heading towards her. He was dressed up in his usual attire, a silken gold robe, and small glasses perched on his nose. Mageus swore she could feel the smugness radiating off him, and grew nervous. Usually when he was this smug, he just discovered something to use against her, or something to tease her. Adagnitio sat down, and grinned widely at her. "Oh Mageus! Guess what just happened," he sang, before taking a sip of his tea. "Please don't drag this out anymore than it has to. I hate it when you rub it in," Mageus said, a scowl upon her face. Adagnitio pouted, and rolled his eyes as he added sugar to his brew. He always did have sweet tooth. "You're no fun. Well, I guess I'll just tell you then. You remember my son Rubicae, right?" Mageus's scowl grew even deeper after he mentioned the name. "Yes, the one who merged with his brother, and then when they were one entity, went mad," She massaged the sides of her head, "How could I forget the Rending Demon? Went rampant for thirty years, forcefully taking knowledge from civilizations all over the universe. However, I somewhat benefitted from that nightmare," Mageus sipped her tea, "Since the Demon drained the knowledge out of my followers, he had counter to all of my sealing wards. Forced me to get creative," She leaned smugly back into her chair, "The ones I created to contain him are the strongest ones I've ever crafted. Fifty thousand years later, and those things are still containing Rubicae. A shame Scryus split from his brother and got out of the temple before we could fully seal it. Adagnitio's face darkened for a moment when she mentioned Scryus's name, before becoming smug once again. "They're your strongest? Well then, this will probably make you have a divine aneurism," he took a biscuit from the plate in the middle of the table, and tore a piece off. Mageus felt her eyes widen, as she asked, "He's escaped? But, how? Those wards are the strongest of their kind to exist! It was Scryus, wasn't it!?" Adagnitio shook his head as he played with the biscuit piece in his hand. "No, he does not care that much for his brother. Another broke past the door with a simple teleport spell," Mageus exploded in a fit of fury and disbelief. "Impossible, what creature could possibly have that much power?!" The bastion of Knowledge smirked before preparing himself for the godly temper tantrum Mageus was going to throw after he told her what had broken the barrier. "Well, if you must know," Adagnitio's smirk grew even more, "It was a little lavender unicorn filly," The scream of rage that the Bastion of spellcraft and mana let out could have broken a dragon down into tears. Adagnitio just smiled widely as he popped the biscuit piece in to his mouth. (=¥=) Twilight woke up in a library, in a heap on the floor. Quickly picking herself up off the floor, she looked around. Every where she looked, she saw rows and rows of books. She walked up and pulled a book out of one of the many shelves, and saw that the entire thing was blank. "Where am I?" She thought aloud, before a familiar warm voice responded from behind her. "We are in your mind, young Twilight," The filly spin around to see the Spirit standing there, looking around at its new surroundings. "You have a very interesting mindscape, however I believe we're going to need a little more space than this," Mindscape? Twilight thought, what's that? Before she could question the Spirit, she felt something in the air shift. Twilight then saw the floor twist and turn, the shelves slithering back like a wooden snake. Soon, grass was growing, and a small tree poked its way. A checkered blanket soon appeared in the air, and settled down in the new clearing. All this happened, but Twilight and the Spirit had stayed in the same place the entire time. She didn't even feel the floor writhe beneath her when it moved to make way for the clearing. "How did you do that?" Twilight asked the Spirit in amazement. It once again gave off that warm chuckle. "We're in your mind, Twilight. Anything is possible here, the only limit is your imagination," The Spirit walked over to the blanket, and sat down "Come, it's time we had proper introductions," The lavender filly made her way over, and sat down facing the Spirit. "I will go fist," it stated, and began, "I am the first born son of Adagnitio, a Spirit of Knowledge, and now, mentor to you," Twilight took moment to process this new information. Well, he said he was a son, so that makes him a male, but what about his name? Surely that title wasn't the only thing he is called by, as the Spirit had even stated itself that it had gone through many names. She would question him later though, as it was her turn to introduce herself. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, second born daughter to Twilight Velvet and Night light," the lavender filly declared, in a manner similar to the Spirit. "I'm am curious," she spoke, and the Spirit listened attentively, "Do you have any name other than the Spirit of Knowledge? What about the one your parents gave to you?" At this, the Spirit stiffened, and Twilight felt something come from him. Anger, sadness, and loss. She didn't know how she knew this, it just made itself known. "I have.... abandoned that name for reasons I don't feel like discussing," the Spirit answered curtly, making it clear that Twilight shouldn't pursue the subject. "Well, I don't want call you Spirit for rest of my life, so I guess I'll just have to come up with a name myself," She put hoof up to her chin, and began to think. "Oh! I know!" Squeaked the lavender filly, and looked up to the Spirit excited. "You said you were a Spirit of Knowledge, right? Well, my dad is letting me study ancient pony languages with him. The old earth pony word for knowledge is..." She paused a moment for dramatic effect, "Gnosis! Do you like it?" Gnosis. That seemed to snap the Spirit out of the stupor that he had fallen in to when Twilight had brought up his birth name. He let it echo in his mind. Gnosis. It just seemed to fit so well, it felt so right. "Yes, Twilight. It....will do," the young filly beamed up at him. Pleasure. There it was again. The feeling had just, radiated off of the newly dubbed Gnosis, and she just instinctively knew what it was. She frowned, trying to understand why this was happening. Gnosis was about to ask her what was wrong, when he felt it too. Confusion come rolling off her in waves. In an instant, he knew what it was. "It seems that our link is beginning to strengthen. What you are feeling is our emotions being shared with one another. You see, the joining process bonded part of my conscience with yours. This created a link in which we share every thing, including emotions. We can also communicate telepathically this way," How could a thing like this happen? Through out all of the books on magic Twilight had read, not a single one mentioned an experiment that tried to bond minds that ended well. The ponies would either go insane at the exchange of memories, or it would the spell wouldn't be cast properly, overwhelming them magically, and killing them. Gnosis laughed at the scrunched up face the filly made, "You forget Twilight, I am many eons old. I know spells and techniques your people have forgotten over the years, and ones from civilizations far away from here," he paused to let the Twilight process this information, before continuing, "If our link is already this strong, then your body is processing the magic quite faster than I anticipated," "Wait, you mean I'm still absorbing magic?" The lavender unicorn asked Gnosis. "Well, not exactly. Your body is going under magical reconstruction in order to make space for the amount of magic you took in a day ago. It shouldn't change you on a physical level, but your mana pool will grow exponentially," Twilight was about to question the Spirit on what a mana pool was, before something else he said drew her attention. "Wait, a day? But, I've been asleep for only a couple hours!" At this point, if he had a face, Gnosis would have cringed. He had hoped to explain a few more things before she brought the subject up. "Well, your body needs all the energy it can in order to get the reconstruction period over it has quickly as possible. So," Gnosis thought of a gentle way to break the news to her, "You've been put in to a magically induced coma," (=¥=) Twilight Velvet walked down the halls of the Hospital for Magical Mishaps, with her husband by her side. They were walking down to ER room, where their daughter now lay. After Night Light had found Twilight in the crater of the temple, he and Velvet began to carry her back to Canterlot. They tried to use teleports to hasten their journey, but it it was too taxing on the unicorns. Then they were found by the alicorn of the sun, Celestia, herself. She had seen the explosion, and felt the great shockwave the magic Twilight had absorbed made. She traveled as fast as she could, and discovered Velvet and Night carrying Twilight, both on the verge of collapse. With Celestia's help, the couple made it to the hospital, and then slept there. Apparently, all of those teleport spells drained more then they thought, for the couple slept half the day away. After they woke up they spent the rest of the day looking after their sleeping daughter, while the doctors began working on her. Shining armor came in as soon as the messenger informed of Twilights condition. Shortly after, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, a close family friend, came in to see how the little filly was doing. She was her babysitter, and became close with the family after she helped rebuild a wall Twilight had 'accidentally' knocked down. They all huddled around Twilight as the doctors began to begin some final tests. Before the final procedure, they were all ushered out of the room. Night Light and Twilight Velvet stayed at local hotel, and planned to visit the next day, and now they were doing just that right now. Night Light knocked on the door, and Doctor Mend opened it. "Come in, come in! There's a table and some chairs by the operating table, so feel free to sit down," As the unicorn couple complied, the earth pony walked over to his desk to grab some papers. Doctor Mend then Went over to sit with them, and put the papers on the table, "As you already know, Twilight is in a magically induced coma, most likely by all the magic she took in that night when the temple exploded. I've had my best unicorns scan her, and we have found no other problems. However, we have discovered an.... anomaly," Doctor Mend pulled out a paper from the stack, and gave it to Night Light. "When scanning her head for trauma, concussion, etc, we found that her brain was very much active. It wasn't her just dreaming, the brain was to active for that to work," he walked over to a projector, and turned it on, "When the brain makes decisions, it fires an electric signal to tell the body what to do. When looking at Twilight's brain, we discovered that her brain was firing signals like she was having a conversation. Ma'am, sir," Doctor Mend looked at them with seriousness, "Did you see anything else in the temple? Because if she's now a host to magical spirit, the results could be catastrophic. Twilight already had incredible power, but with all the magic she absorbed at the temple, her magic now rivals that of an alicorn. She's only eight, and of the magic spirit decided to take over her body, she isn't capable of puting up a strong mental defense to fend it off," Night Light's eyes widened as he looked to his wife, and seems Velvet had reached the same conclusion as he. "We did see something, Doctor Mend," Velvet spoke, "There was some sort of golden apparition, and it shook her hoof," The doctor rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So Twilight made a deal with the spirit, but until she wakes, we don't know what the deal was. We already know she has gained a vast amount of power, but what was the price?" Doctor Mend looked back to the couple, "Could you describe this apparition more?" Night Light shook his head. "We were thrown back by the magical shockwave before we could get good look at it. We did see where the shock wave came from though," Velvet explained. "There was some kind of giant stone. It exploded after they shook hoofs," Night Light said, and the doctor raised an eyebrow. "So the stone most likely acted as an anchor, chaining the spirit to this realm. Then most of his power was probably trapped within said stone. Then the temple was built around it, and was warded heavily. But when the deal was made, it freed the spirits power. I've heard of such a process before, but nothing on this scale," Doctor Mend looked to a nurse by Twilights side, "Nurse Cherry? Could you please contact Opaque Pearl? I believe we will need an expert to purge this spirit from the poor filly," The nurse nodded, and went on her way to find the postal office. (=¥=) Gnosis was currently thinking of a way to calm the now frantic filly, while berating himself for being so blunt. "Ohnoohnoohno, what if they think I'm dead, or possessed, and then sell my room, or accidentally bury me alive, or..." Twilight went in to the fetal position at this point, and began shaking back and forth. The spirit picked her up gently, trying to comfort her. "It's going to be fine, young one. It will only last a couple more hours, and that," He looked down at her, trying to get her to smile, "Is more than enough time to teach you how to manipulate your mindscape," At this, Twilight immediately poked her head up from his chest. "Really?!" She said excitedly. Gnosis sighed, glad that he had finally found the right words to say, and said, "Yes! It is important to master you mindscape, as it can be you testing ground. But, you have to know how to control your thoughts, right down to the finest detail," He summoned a chair, and set Twilight down on to it. "That takes immense mental control and precision, but based off your organizational skills, " He glanced at the long winding bookshelves, "I'm sure you can handle it," Gnosis summoned an apple, "I want you to move it. Imagine your self going to this apple, and lifting," Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated. Yet, once she opened her eyes, the apple was still there. Frowning in frustration, she concentrated even harder, and the apple zoomed in to the air. "Yes!" She cried, and then accidentally made the apple explode. Gnosis shook his head in amusement. He knew he has a lot of work to do. Over the next few hours, Twilight kept practicing. She mastered it at a rate that impressed Gnosis, and soon had perfected the basic techniques. Twilight wasn't yet capable of manipulating more than three objects at once, but Gnosis has no doubt in his mind that with time she would soon. Of course, Twilight had made a few mistakes along the way. They all, strangely enough, ended in Gnosis being covered in some sort of sweet. Be it from burying him in cookies, to smothering him in hot fudge, by the end of it all he swore that he could actually taste the sweets. While Twilight was once again profusely apologizing for covering Gnosis in caramel, he detected something in the farthest reaches of his unicorn host's mind. "There is someone trying to purge me. I have to leave quickly," he stated, I interrupting Twilight. "Someponys trying to purge you? Why?" She asked, and then suddenly began to feel light headed "They believe I have, or will, control of your body," Gnosis turned to the filly. "You must not let them know I'm here, it will only complicate things. Tell them you are a servant, awaiting my call," At the look on Twilights face when he said that, Gnosis bent down in one knee, and pulled her in to a hug. "I know it feels wrong to lie to family, but we will tell them eventually. But for now, it must be this way," he set her down, and stood back up, "My active conscience will leave for a short time, though our link will remain. I will return shortly, good luck Twilight," With that, the spirit vanished in a golden flash. Twilight felt nausea make its presence known, and then felt a sudden spike of pain in her head. It was a like a nail was being driven in to her skull. With a scream of pain, Twilight sparkle awoke with a start. (=¥=) Opaque Pearl was doing an advanced scan. If this spirit was anywhere as near as powerful as Doctor Mend said he was, it would take some effort. What she didn't expect was for the filly to wake up, and then for said filly to launch Opaque through a wall, in to the hallway. Twilights parents sure didn't expect that either, but were nonetheless happy that their daughter had awoken. Velvet and Night Light smothered her in a giant hug, and Twilight realized she had woken up. After they were finished hugging her, Twilight looked down in guilt, "I'm sorry for not listening. It's just that I hadn't finished my notes, and then the door drew me in..." She began to cry. Velvet pulled her daughter in to yet another hug. "Shhh,It's okay," she nuzzled the little filly, "We're just glad your safe," Night light trotted up to the pair and joined the hug, as Opaque picked her self off the floor. "This has to happen less frequently," she grumbled. Far up, on the very peak of Mount Canter, Gnosis smiled at the scene. He sighed as he closed the scrying spell, and looked the moon. It was a beautiful night, and this was Gnosis first actual break from all this madness. He closed his eyes, and enjoyed the night. Gnosis thought of the recent events hat had transpired, and marveled at he sudden change of his fate. To tell the truth, he thought he was going rot in that temple for eternity. Then that filly had came and that changed everything. Maybe things were finally going to get better. Gnosis let these good thoughts and feelings cover him, and they made him feel nice. However, all good things come to an end at some point or another. There was a bright red flash, and whip-like sound. Gnosis heard heavy footsteps make their way towards him. Then, he heard the voice he had never wanted to hear again. "Hello, brother. It's been quite a while, hasn't it?"