//------------------------------// // The Library of Shadows // Story: Lyra and The Doctor // by Silver Inkwell //------------------------------// The Library of Shadows “Wow Doctor, I thought that I would never ever say this, but Star Swirl is a totally amazing epic pony, I mean I never imagined him to be that radical and cool.: “You’re forgetting awesome again as usual, but yes, historical figures do tend to have a life despite what you might think by reading the books.” “Oh, speaking of books I was wondering if-,” “We could visit the largest library in the universe? Sure, why not?” “I was going to say the Canterlot library, but I guess that works too as well.” “Canterlot? Is that the capital city of Equestria?” “Well I guess you could call it that.” “How very interesting, well then, let’s go, shall we?” “Yes, let’s, but can I pull the switch this time?” “Sure thing, be my guest, I allow all my companions a turn with it if they ask first of course, sadly enough very few ever manage to do just that.” “Well then it looks like I’m starting to change and break the cycle then, right?” she said as she pulled the switch and the Tardis slowly whirred away. “Yes, you are, and for that I’m sort of glad right now, but the rest of my emotions and feelings will have to wait until later to be sorted out of course.” “How can you sort out emotions though exactly?” she said now then. “Simple, imagine a filing cabinet for your brain and then store your memories there but put all the trash in the proper containers, that’s exactly how I do it.” “So then you just refuse to feel anything for anything, right?” “Well no, not exactly, I just don’t like getting all emotional or feeling that way, ever, when I’m not emotional it helps me stay focused on the task at hand.” “Hoof, you made another mistake,” she said. “Sorry, it just takes some time to get adjusted to your new body and form although I must say that I never imagined being able to do certain shapes either, but then again I guess that every day is just another chance and opportunity to prover itself or yourself wrong, I mean you never know what to expect, right? “Uh, I guess so?” “Wrong, if you expect a surprise or shock then you probably won’t ever be disappointed If you’re me. Now then that’s the lesson of the day out of the way.” “Ha, you just rhymed,” “Ah yes, so I did, what are you going to do about it though?” “Nothing, I was just saying that you did,” “Oh, well then if that’s all that you had to say,” he said opening the Tardis doors, “Then welcome to the universe’s largest most extensive library with so many collections of books that it would take an immortal to possibly ever read them all. In here is the largest database known to any species and life form, the only thing that could possibly ever beat this is the Gallifreyan library of course.” “Wait, Gallifrey, is that the planet that you come from?” “Yeah, of course, why wouldn’t it be?” “Oh, no reason at all, I was just curious.” “Well don’t be, because we’re in The Library now, it’s so big and huge, so wide and vast that it just got the title ‘The’ added to it, just a great big huge ‘The’, nothing else, nothing more, kind of a bit silly and stupid if you ask me, but then again it also kind of sort of makes a little bit sense when you think about it because what can you name the universe’s largest biggest most huge library?” “Alright, fine then, you’ve made your point, but can’t we just go take a look at them now if we’re not going to go to the beach?” “Yeah, sure thing, but no reading ahead, it’s like taking a sneak peek preview of your future and I just hate spoilers,” “Isn’t traveling with you like one big huge spoiler though?” “Yes, it is, but I always try to keep you away from all the major plot developments, which I’m really bad at since you always want to know because of your constant questions which I don’t mind so much since you’re so interested in learning. Learning new stuff and things is always very good for you, for your mind, your heart, and your soul too as well of course. Anyhow enough of that, let’s go take a look at The Library, shall we?” he said opening the Tardis doors. “Yes, let’s,” she said before quickly being stopped by the Doctor. “Oh, I just remembered, this probably isn’t a very good library.” “Wait, you said that it was the largest and biggest most huge best library?” “Did I? Well then let me tell you something else, this library is full of shadow creatures that will rip the flesh off of you in less than a second, so let’s go somewhere else shall we, how about the Canterlot library? Does that sound good enough or would you like this Castle of the Two Sisters instead?” “The last option.” “Alright, fine then, very well, off we go then,” he said. And with that said they whirred away to the castle. “So what would you call that shadow creature then?” “The Vashta Nerada, and they are wherever meat is, they’re on more than a billion different planets, usually they’re in very small groups and they like to live and hunt in forests, but The Library, well let’s just say that it’s the largest infestation of them that I have ever really seen before. Anyhow every living creature, alien or not, has an irrational fear of the dark, but it’s actually completely natural and rational because of the Nerada, they know that something is in there, something very dangerous and deadly, they just don’t know what, but they are always there unseen and unheard too as well.” “Wait, surely Equestria can’t have them?” “Nope, they’re in the Everfree forest, and usually they can just live off of the scraps of dead animals and creatures, but sometimes a very stupid pony will wander in, and they never come back out again, but that’s very rare since they live very deep in the forest usually, and they will only attack once there is enough again, but as I said before, they like living in small groups.” “Why are they so deadly though?” “They’re like piranhas in the air, they will literally eat the flesh off of you in less than a second, and the worst part about it all, you can’t defeat them, Daleks it’s the eyes, Cyberman, well you can reprogram them easily enough, but the Nerada, well you just have to run instead, anyhow enough about shadow creatures, here we are, the Castle of the Two Sisters,” he said stepping out very proudly. “Huh, I heard it was in ruins, but not that it was this much shambled.” “Doctor, be nice please.” “I am being nice, this is just my own thoughts and ideas no matter how cold, cruel, or brutal that they might be. Anyhow let’s take a look around, shall we?” “Yes, let’s indeed.” And with that said they slowly started to explore around the whole entire place. “You know if there is one universal constant so far I would have to say that it is love of books, the smell of them, that makes them so special and unique and different, sure you can have your digital download to take wherever you want, but books, they don’t ever need a battery recharge, sure they need to be taken careful care of and they fade with time, but they’ll always have that smell with them, and it’s something a computer can’t just generate or ever really truly understand, anyhow feel free to read them, it’s from your current timeline anyways so the castle hasn’t exactly been rebuilt, yet.” “Wait, this castle is going to be rebuilt?” “Oops, spoilers, shouldn’t have said that.” “Well it’s too late now, let’s just see if there’s anything interesting here yet.” And with that said they picked up various random books. “Anything interesting yet?” “Nope, not yet, I’ll tell you when I do.” Lyra picked up one book that had the cover of something very important indeed. “Here, this looks very much interesting or at least I think so.” “Diaries of a Draconequis? 101 Interesting Facts About Draconequi? Nope, I don’t think so, not today at least.” Suddenly there was a slow cold cruel laugh slowly echo throughout the whole entire castle. “Hello there, strangers, welcome to my castle.” “Unless you’re a princess I don’t think this is your castle.” “No, but I am a king.” And with that said suddenly a black misty smoke started to rise out and form into a pony shape and form. “Welcome to the Castle of Shadows as I like to call it, a rather fitting name especially considering my current situation, right?” ‘Well, yes, of course, but do you mind telling me who you are first before you attack us because I can only assume that it’s part of your grand plan. So tell me, what’s your name and scheme?” “They call me King Sombra.” Lyra shuddered at the name, “I’ve heard about you, after the Crystal Empire came back I heard news, rumors, myths, legends, stories, I didn’t know what to believe, so I decided to only trust in what the princess herself told me, which was that she had defeated you, which mean that you can’t be alive right now.” “But clearly I am.” “That’s impossible, sure maybe you’re just a hologram-,” “Nothing is impossible, and I am very much real,” -Or maybe someone else out there is trying to scare us, right?” “There is only me, and you will fight with me right now if you wish to even have a chance and opportunity to live no matter how small it may be.” “Oh, we’ll take small then because we work with tiny and little.” “Are you trying to make a joke about this situation?” “Oh no, why would I ever do that?” “I don’t know exactly just yet, but I intend to find out very soon.” “Oh, and how are you planning to just that exactly though?” “Simple, torture.” “Ah, but here’s the problem with torture, it means that you’re the only person in the room that is worth living for or about, you’re the only one that actually really truly does matter, so u=you use that advantage, turn it against them, they want you to die, well show them that you can die faster, show them that you’re not afraid to die first, and then you can finally escape and be set free.” “Well then, I’ll just have to try killing you first then, won’t I?” “Well you can try, but even if you did manage to I would eventually come back because I’m something called a time lord, or at least that’s what my race calls itself, anyhow we’re one of the most powerful alien life forms and species ever born, and do you want to know why? It’s because we can control time, we can travel through it and space, so literally we have the world in our hands, or rather in this case hooves, we have lots of different worlds that we could conquer if we wanted to, but we don’t just because we shouldn’t ever do it.” “And you obey these foolish rules?” “Oh yes, we do, even if I think that they’re a bit silly and stupid sometimes. But guess what, you can’t save everyone, we can’t there are some fixed points in time that you can’t change at all, ever, these include the death of a time lord mostly, and death in general usually can be most likely a fixed time point.” “Ah, so then not even you are immortal?” “Nope, this is my tenth regeneration and I’m over 900 years old, but no, I am not immortal, and neither are you either despite whatever you might think or believe, and if you think for one moment that I’m going to let you get away with your plan then you are very clearly and obviously thinking this through wrong.” “You don’t even know what my plan is yet.” “Oh, don’t I?” “You can’t, it’s impossible.” “Ah, but I thought- that just a moment ago- well you said that nothing was ever really truly impossible, or were you trying to lie to me instead?” “I wasn’t trying to lie, because many and most will refuse to see the truth even if it is staring them right in their face straight into their eyes piercing their very soul. You can’t hide from the truth, none ever really truly can.” “Yes, I already know that, but your ideas of truth seem to be a bit misguided so why don’t you tell me what you believe in first and then we can work through this together to sort this whole entire thing out?” “No, we won’t, I will get exactly what I want or there will be consequences.” “There’s already going to be that if I let you get away with this.” “You can’t stop me, none ever can.” “Well then, I guess that I’ll just have to be the very first then, won’t I? Besides you really should know better than to ever challenge me to anything, especially a stupid tiny little silly game, because you can try me out all you want, you can test me, quiz me, give me any question that you want, but if there is anything that I excel in it would be puzzles, games, and challenges too as well, but there is one thing that you really should never do, and that’s putting me in a trap.” And with that said he pulled something out of his waistcoat pocket and fiddled around with it, “Oh damn these hooves, holding my sonic screwdriver would sure be a whole lot easier if I had any hands, oh well, there are pros and cons to every world, this one just so happens to be one that’s really handy I guess. Oh dear, I just made a very bad pun, I wonder what could ever possibly be getting into my head, anyhow it’s time for me to stop whatever it is that you’re doing here exactly, King Sombra. Because that’s just what I do.” “As I said before, you can’t stop me.” “Well maybe, but you can’t stop me from trying at the very least now.” “I can still try do exactly just that.” And with that said the two enemies started to fight in the only way that they could, words. “You know I bet it’s very annoying not having a body because right now you’re only semi corporeal, but you need your old body back, isn’t that right? But you’ll also need to protect whatever is keeping you alive, which must mean that logically you must have guards around here somewhere, right?” “You’ll never find what keeps me alive, it’s very well hidden.” “Well, if you say so, but if I were you I’d know exactly where I kept the thing that kept me alive, because while you might seem just like the thing to keep something under heavy protection I also know that you’re also probably not that good with trust, so the guards would just be a distraction instead, a lie, so I figure that you would keep it as close to you as possible because you’re the only one that you can ever really truly trust after all, right? Anyhow it would have to be close enough for you to access, have something protecting it that would be easy enough for you but incredibly and amazingly hard for others of course. Naturally enough the location must be under your throne room.” And with that said he lifted a big huge chair up to reveal a reddish and black unicorn horn, “Bingo, looks like I found it, now all I have to do is break it and I’m guessing that I will end your life permanently, right then?” “Yes, but please, mercy.” “No, because guess what, I don’t think that you would have shown any pony else what mercy feels like exactly, and then what? Where would they be now exactly?” “I really honestly don’t know exactly.” “Well then at least you’ll die honestly,” the Doctor said suddenly snapping the horn in half. “So then, that’s over with, what will we do now then exactly?” “We’ll move on, go to the next adventure just like we always do, although I must admit that this adventure felt a whole lot shorter than the last one that we had, but then again we just met and there was a whole lot more ground to cover.” “Alright, fine then, very well, but can we at least take a book with us, just one?” “No, that might be spoilers, actually it would be because some things and stuff, well maybe it’s just much better to leave that alone and untampered with instead, after all, a library is supposed to be a very quiet place, and our adventures, they’re never really that quiet.” And with that said they left.