//------------------------------// // Chapter Six // Story: Spoon // by Flame486 //------------------------------// The four of them arrived through the portal and found a very familiar door in front of them. The door to the Golden Oak Library. Twilight took a cautious look back at her friends before looking back. The others looked as apprehensive as she did. Twilight cautiously opened the door. Inside was exactly what you'd expect. It was the library, filled with the same old books and strange floating magical runes flying around the library. The four of them walked inside before the door seemed to close very quickly and lock. The walls began to glow an ominous red and they realized that they were locked inside. A book was sitting on the table in front of them. "Well, what are we waiting for?" Applejack asked, breaking the silence. No one seemed to have an answer before Twilight went up to inspect the book. Suddenly, the book began to glow an ominous red glow and lift itself off the table. Floating in the air, suddenly its pages opened up to page 356. An archaic picture of a griffon shown before them. The picture began to change before as if it was looking at them. A claw began to rip out of the portrait as the griffon climbed out of the book. It was malformed with black ink, like an artist's rendition had drawn most of it before giving up with a series of dashes. The griffon's eyes glowed red and it howled a blasting cry. It stung most of the group's ear drums. Spoon stepped forward. "Don't worry everyone, I'll protect us." He took out an icon from his bag. The icon had a droplet on it. He cast magic and the droplet took on the appearance of water. The water began to multiply until it was a sheet of rainwater. The rainwater turned into a shield that protected the four of them. Then he took out a similar looking icon with a musical note on it. After casting some incantations, the note flew out of his bag and began to multiply until piano music could be heard in the background. The piano music seemed to dissipate the cries of the griffon. Spoon continued his incantations before the water shield reflected and wrapped around the griffon itself and lifted it into the air. The griffon screamed but it was trapped in the water prison. After everything that took place, the lights began to change back to normal and the red glow disappeared. Twilight and the others breathed a sigh of relief. Twilight went deeper into her library. "Spike?" She called. A small dragon approached her. "Yes Twilight?" the dragon said. "Spike, what are you doing here? I thought you were on that dragon retreat." Twilight asked. The dragon's form seemed to fizzle with static before responding, "I am on the dragon retreat." "Then how are you here, in the library with us?" She pestered. The form shook and became hazy before fizzling out completely with a small implosion. Spoon walked up to her and put a hoof onto her shoulder. "It's best to not stay here for too long. It was clear that this wasn't the real Spike, but a manifestation of your internal thoughts. We had better make haste back to our original realms." He lifted the hoof off her shoulder and began to walk closer to the table that held the book. He said a few incantations and the Elements of Harmony began to glow. Their eyes began to shine before they seemed to teleport and the world dissolved with it. Applejack awoke with a thud. She was back in her own bed... again. Almost as if everything that had previously happened was a dream. Despite everything, she got out of her bed and rushed downstairs. Big Mac seemed to look at her. He was wearing his harness as if he was going to be working in the fields again. He looked at her with a confused expression on his face. Applejack seemed to run past him through the doorway. He sighed and continued walking to the fields. Applejack rushed out of the farm and went straight through the town square, over to Twilight's library. She opened the door and on the other side was Twilight and Grandmaster Spoon. They seemed all right. "Twilight! Spoon! Are you two all right?" She asked. Twilight dusted herself off before responding. "Well, I am now. Spoon seems to be all right too. He says he woke up in his own bed too before teleporting here from Trottingham. "And I'm all right too!" Came Pinkie's voice. The three of them looked around for her before she appeared from behind the staircase. "Pinkie! Where did you come from?" Twilight exclaimed. "From behind this staircase. This place has so many nice books!" Twilight cautiously opened up the door to her basement. The four of them went down to her laboratory to talk. They all sat down in some chairs as if to mentally digest everything that had happened to them. There was a period of silence before Spoon got up to speak. "Well, that didn't go as well as we had hoped." He started. "You think?" Applejack chimed in. "What in the hay happened in there? You made it sound like we were doing all this to save ourselves, but it turns out we entered Twilight's mind? What in Celestia's name is even going on around here? Do you even know what you're doing!?" She practically screamed. Twilight got up to calm her down. "Easy now, Applejack. It's not that bad. There's a lot that we don't know here. In terms of metaphysical realities, we're really in the dark in all of this." Spoon spoke up. "Well, actually not really." Everyone looked at him before he continued. "We all started out with an initial premise, that this universe was fake, and we managed to prove it. Attempting to leave the universe dumps us into a holding pod, like a basket to prevent us from leaving the aquarium. We're then able to return to this universe if we desire to do so. But there's always that question, of what lies beyond. Clearly something doesn't like that we don't bow. The Captain wasn't a figment of your imagination, Twilight. The idea came from somewhere. None of us knew about it in the beginning." He seemed to pause, before Twilight chimed in. "If that's true, then is it possible that there are hidden memories in each of us? I believe that there might be a spell for remembering the unknowable." She opened a book and cast some incantations. Suddenly, Spoon seemed to glow and rise up into the air. His eyes shone a bright glow and his mane turned ethereal. He began to speak. "You are correct, Ms. Sparkle. I am that entity from the other world, and my name is Spoon. However, the one that is known as The Captain is my counterpart. He is called Archmagician Fork, and he seeks outside of the known boundaries. He seeks to create a false universe with everyone's souls imprinted on it and absorb the magic within. With that much magic, he could become a god. One that could challenge even Princess Celestia herself." With all that, he fell to the ground and rubbed his head. His hair reverted back to its original gray. "I don't remember much else, other than that Fork was in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. He came across a book in the Canterlot Archives that seemed to offer complete and total power, as long as he surrendered his soul to it. He did, and it turned him into a monster. He became obsessed with alternate universes and with creating one of his own making, and transported all of us to it. No one has existed in the prime universe for a very long time. That's what inspired me to become a chrono-wizard. There is something dangerously wrong with the timeline. Metaphysically so." "Then we need to find this Archmagician Fork then as soon as we possibly can." Twilight spoke up. "Yes. We do." Spoon replied. "But how are we supposed to find this guy?" Applejack asked. Spoon sat down in his chair again and pondered. "Well, we all know that his prime body exists somewhere outside of this universe, but a conduit for his power should exist here. In fact, a dimensional counterpart should exist here as well. That is very anomalous. We should find him. He is probably located in a place of immense magical fortitude." Twilight thought, before consulting her maps. "Well, presumably he's not at the Canterlot Archives anymore. He's probably gotten as much use out of them as he could. The only place I know of with that much magical prowess probably takes place in the Crystal Empire. The Crystal Palace is beaming full of that magic." "Then that's probably where he is. We should get going!" Spoon said before getting out of his chair. "Now wait a doggone minute. Now we're going to the Crystal Empire based off of a hunch?" Applejack asked. "Yes, but it is a very good hunch!" Spoon replied. "Well, you can't argue with that logic." Pinkie chimed in. Applejack rolled her eyes as everyone gathered their things and departed for the train station.