Chapter 7
Twilight followed John up what seemed like a long, rocky ridge, followed the entire way by Levi Brett’s two – friends? – and that whatever-it-was. Its paws padded softly and somehow repulsively on the forest dirt as it trailed them, its eyes never leaving them. The old man and woman kept chattering away the entire time like a pair of malevolent Pinkie Pies, assuring her and John that everything would be explained to them in time.
Both looked like particularly sad specimens to her. Their clothes were near rags and when they smiled, their mouths showed brownish stubs of broken teeth.
“Let them scared-out folks down there huddle together and die of the shivers,” the man said, breathing hard from exertion. Still panting, he said, “We’ll see you to some food. Yep, and shelter as well. That is, we’ll see you both to your own proper house.”
“It was a pure-down kindly thing you did,” his companion stated, a short and squat old woman. She grinned that broken-tooth grin at Twilight, panting a bit herself. “I always say that’s it’s young ‘uns that got true courage and helpfulness in their hearts.”
“Er, thanks.” Twilight knew them for either Shonokin and enemies, or for dream-images without reality, but even so she slowed and saw that John did as well. She didn’t want to chase these two forlorn elders like this. “I wish we had something we could give you…”
“I reckon we kindly do,” John turned to them and held out some of the money from Levi Brett’s wallet to the pair. “Here.”
The two stepped back, like Crystal Ponies about to stampede before the shade of King Sombra.
“No, no,” the old man waved his hands and stood clear of them both. The old woman did so as well. “Why, we’re doing this for love, and gratitude,” he flashed another broken-toothed smile. “You’re one of us, now.”
“You mean part of your herd?” Twilight asked. She wondered how much of a privilege it was to judge by these two.
“Eh, something like that, young miss,” the old woman answered her. “After all, hasn’t Parway taken you up?”
The creature raised its head and looked first steadily at John, and then at her. Twilight forced herself to look back, seeking any trace of a Shonokin presence in that loathsome form. She saw only a cunning beast, or maybe more than a beast. Parway looked away and moved to walk along before her and John.
“He’ll lead you home.” The old man said. “Follow and he’ll lead you home.”
They strode on for a distance more in silence. Twilight wished she dared speak more to John and ask questions about this dream-memory of his. He’d told her that this one frightened him more than almost anything else he’d ever seen, but thus far it seemed less distressing than most of the battles she’d engaged in, both with and without him. But John never struck her as a timid sort. If he’d been afraid when this happened, it was with good reason.
And where were the Shonokin? Either they had yet to reveal themselves, or whatever happened here, this dream held things that frightened even them. Nether thought comforted her.
“So where is Mister Brett’s house?” She asked, hoping to try and get some information from their two speaking guides. Parway ignored her to keep loping on ahead. “It’s on Dravot Ridge. Is that much further ahead?”
Both the elders broke out in scornful laughter, short and harsh like they didn’t dare laugh too long. Twilight frowned at them. She noticed John looked equally displeased with their laughter.
“Oh, begging yore pardon, young miss,” the old woman said. “But Levi Brett’s home isn’t a house. It’s a gardinel.”
She saw how John flinched at that word. Had he mentioned that to her and her friends back when they first met? She vaguely thought so, but right now couldn’t remember.
“A gardinel?” She looked from the old woman to the old man. Both grinned nastily at her. “What kind of a house is a gardinel?”
“No kind at all,” he informed her, “but it can be used like one, by certain people as who know how to plant and raise it and what kind of feed it needs. There’s a sight of them around, though most folks never notice until –” He stopped with a sudden wary look on his face before saying, “Most folks just never notice. They look empty and broken down to the wrong kind o’ folks, but the right kind can see them for what they are. And they see you too, with what look like windows but work like eyes on them.”
“I recollect I’ve heard of them once or twice,” John said, keeping his voice even. “They’re found in old towns, or along abandoned roads. They make theirselves to look like shelter when it rains or gets dark or cold, but if you’re fool enough to go in, you nair come out again.” He tapped the pocket with the wallet again. “Except for folks that look human but aren’t, rightly.”
“Like Sho –” Twilight caught John’s warning look. She amended it to, “Like, er, Changelings and such, I guess.”
“Like what now?” The old man looked at her in confusion before shrugging. He picked up the former conversation without missing a beat. “Mostly, but some human folks can live in gardinels. The ones that know how to rightly ask, and how to rightly serve.”
“Serve who or what?” Nightmares, Windigos, or both?
If those two heard, they didn’t answer. Twilight looked down the trail, wondering how much longer this would take, and saw sunlight ahead. They must be coming up on a clearing.
It took only a few moments more to reach it. The trees thinned out as though pulling back away from the house at the center of the clearing; even the stout branches and old massive trunks leaned away from it. In the center stood Levi Brett’s house.
“How d’ye like yore new home?” The old man asked.
It looked like it had been carved or grown rather than built, but not in the manner of Ponyville Library. The walls and ceiling met in ways that normal support beams couldn’t or wouldn’t, with the angles all set wrong to each other. Shutters and sills showed by the windows, a pale fungal gray, looking almost leprous. The entrance showed no sign of a door, only an oblong hole opening into darkness. Two windows were set in the front, looking out like the eyeholes in a skull.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Twilight forced cheer into her voice, before muttering, “And I hope I never do again. It looks like Chrysalis’ summer home.”
Parway slipped past her – how had he gotten behind when she’d last seen him in front? He barely brushed against her flank as he did, and she bit down on a startled whinny. His hide reminded her of Spike’s after a molt, soft and slippery. John went to stand close by.
“Did the real house look like this?” She whispered to John. Within, she saw a pale reddish light begin as Parway entered. It reminded her of glow-gems from back home, that same soft steady glow. She could have done without the thought that it made the entrance look like a bloody mouth. Or Thorn’s netherworld from his grimoire. Or his throne room in Sunnytown…
“Kindly like it,” he answered her. She looked at him, wondering how even a much younger he could have entered here. Her wonder must have showed, for he said, “I was desperate and hungry right then.”
“You must have been,” Twilight responded as she preceded him to the door and entered she knew not what to expect.
Beyond its being mortally dangerous, of course.
###
“Oh, what is happening to Twilight?” Fluttershy circled her friend, looking in from outside the containment circle on the floor. Twilight twitched and groaned, but thankfully she didn’t show any signs of violence. Bandages covered her injuries. Fluttershy shook her head at them.
“Something wrong, sugarcube?”
“Only that I wish those bandages on her wounds weren’t so tight,” Fluttershy said back to Applejack. “If they’re on too long they might aggravate the wounds.”
“It was Princess Celestia’s own doctors that did them,” Applejack responded where she stood by one of the windows, looking out into the sunny Canterlot day in the direction of Ponyville. She glanced at the doors. “Ah reckon they knew what-all they did. Ah kinda wish they’d come back from rushin’ off after that book they mentioned.” She trotted away from the window and stood beside Fluttershy. “An’ that Dash would get herself here.”
“She will,” Pinkie Pie trotted over, not bouncing, but still smiling. “The Guardsponies just gotta find her first, but when they do, she’ll come whooshing in the way she always does.”
“I just hope she does it soon,” Rarity added from the other side of the room. She’d been examining some old tapestries hanging on the walls. On them, images of night and full moons and a proud and elegant dark Alicorn Major predominated. In many, she reared in defense of ponies under attack from shadowy beings. “Just measuring them against the ones in the Castle of the Sisters. Much the same material and cut, really.” She pointed at the ones showing Luna protecting ponies. “I do hope that’s a good omen. At least Twilight isn’t bleeding or in a panic any more. What do you suppose was happening to her?”
“Nothing good,” Applejack looked down at Twilight where she lay inside the circular ward. “’Leastways she can’t get hurt again the way she was when we first came here. Ah wonder why she didn’t tell us ‘bout findin’ John again after all this time?”
“She wanted it to be a surprise?” Pinkie said, sounding doubtful. She shook her head. “Naw, that’s not like Twilight. She’d come running and tell us all and be all excited and ask me to get some party goods together for the ‘Welcome Back John We Missed You’ party and I’d tell her that I got those together a long time ago, you silly filly, and I’ve been waiting for what feels like years to use them, and then she would get that funny look on her face she always does when I talk like that and –“ Pinkie immediately fell silent at the looks on her friends’ faces.
“Sometimes Ah wonder if you actually do breathe, Pinkie,” Applejack snorted. “Ah want ta meet John again ma own self, he was a good feller, but not if Twi gets hurt.”
“We trust she will not,” Luna’s voice came from the doors as she entered, Celestia with her. The horns of both Princesses glowed as they bore books with them. The tomes looked ancient, bound in wood and leather with dark iron hasps on the spines to hold them together. Luna set her book down on a nearby table, as did Celestia. She looked at Twilight, and the grimness in her eyes softened before she looked away. “We, I, will do all that can be done to save her and the human.”
“His name’s John,” Pinkie said as she bounced over to look closer at the book.“Can’t we use his name? And what book is this it looks old and kinda reminds me of that one meany-pants Thorn used on Twi.” She reached out to touch it and gave a whinny as she suddenly shot into the air and away from it.
“My apologies, Pinkie Pie,” Luna said, setting her gently back on her hooves. “But these tomes are not lightly touched.” Luna looked at them. The gathered Element Bearers did so as well and noticed how shadows seemed to almost ooze from them. The part of the table they were on seemed darker than even the rest of the room. “They come from the Sealed Archives; my sister and I set warding spells on them long ago, to keep them from the hooves of the unwary and the power-hungry. “
“Oh, dear,” Rarity walked close to the table, but not too close. She gave a shiver. “Uuugh! It feels like insects crawling on my coat! That’s the warding spell?”
“No, that is their contents reacting to a basically decent nature,” Celestia said. She looked at the books and frowned. “These are the darkest magic left in Equestria, sealed away in the Archives. I dislike handling them myself, let alone using their contents. Unfortunately the wards set on them are imperfect. They did not stop Sunset Shimmer,” she sighed, “or my sister when she –” Celestia stopped and looked at Luna.
“When my envy consumed me, sister,” Luna said where she already examined the spellbook in her magical grip. She frowned and conjured up a small area of darkness around herself. A faint glow seemed to start on the pages hanging before her gaze. An inky blackness seemed to roll over her face, and her eyes looked green and draconic, before she was normal again. “Thou canst say it. I know better than any what my deeds were.”
Rarity drew close to Applejack. They noticed how Fluttershy drew close to Celestia in the still lit part of the room, and Pinkie stayed close by Twilight.
“Dear,” Rarity said, her voice a whisper, “when Princess Luna looked into that book, did it remind you of anything?”
“Yeah,” Applejack shifted uneasily. Her hooves clicked lightly against the floor. “Kind o’ what John said ‘bout that Cold Fire book, and what we saw o’ it. Letters and pages ya can’t read except in the dark. Ah got ta wonder how Princess Luna would know about them.”
“Maybe that human sorcerer who summoned her, ahem, other self, taught her?”
“Maybe,” Applejack said. The light shining from the page grew brighter. Luna’s eyes seemed to glow in it. Applejack shivered like she felt the first chill promise of winter.
“Hah!” Luna said. She slammed the book shut. “I have it, sister!” She took the tome in Celestia’s grip and set both books on a high shelf, out of normal reach. Both Applejack and Rarity noticed they were set on the opposite side of the room from the corner where Twilight lay.
“You can awaken Twilight?” Celestia’s hopeful look fell as Luna shook her head.
“Nay, but I can take other ponies into the Dream Realm with me,” Luna walked over to the circle. Twilight seemed to twitch. She gave a little fearful whinny. The rest of the Elements were close by in a moment as Luna said, “Once there, we can aid both Twilight and John against their attackers,” she pinned her ears and snorted, “those other strange humans that sought to control me.” She looked at Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie. “Thy presence, my friends, should be enough to maintain my self-control, and if not,” she scraped her forehoof against the floor, “then all the Elements together should prove enough to restore my true self.”
“Wait, all the Elements?” Fluttershy looked from Luna to her friends. “But Rainbow Dash isn’t here yet.” Twilight made another groan and kicked lightly. Fluttershy almost went to her side, pressing against the invisible dome of the containment wards. “Poor Twilight and John. How much longer can they hold out?”
“Twilight at the least should be safe,” Luna said. “’Twas part of the reason for the containment circle. Whatever besieges her in the Dream Realm cannot reach past it to the physical world of Equestria, and it should give her some protection in dreams as well.” She looked thoughtful. “At least ‘gainst whatever evils are dredged up from the human John’s dreams. If his attackers find a way to use her memories against her…”
The Element Bearers and Celestia cringed at the worried look on Luna’s face.
###
“John?” Twilight said softly to her friend, now that they were finally alone in the weird house – or gardinel. “What do we do now? Rather, what did you do now?”
“Right now, I recollect looking for some food,” John said. “But I wasn’t such a gone fool as to take airy meal such as these folk offered.”
Twilight nodded as she looked around the inside of the room. The inside of this house was no more reassuring than the outside. The walls were curved outwards slightly, like some growth, and the beams and rafters reminded her of the skeletons she’d seen in books on anatomy. Grown instead of built, like the Library tree. If the Library tree had been grown and shaped from fungus by Thorn instead of from oak by Unicorns. A table rested in the room, looking twisted and gnarled on its one leg, with papers resting on it. At least she thought they were papers. They had a wet grayish look to them like skin from some unknown animal.
Twilight thought back on what happened since they’d entered Levi Brett’s house. First meeting that man Dravot, in his gray robes and with his mane pointed at eyebrows and over that low forehead, reminding her of a seedier version of Thorn. His effusive welcome and trying too hard to be mysterious as he spoke grandly of the way they would join them in spreading Levi Brett’s glorious truths, of working wonders to bring others to their service. Twilight shook herself as she remembered similar words from Thorn, in the Town Hall as he tried to win over all of Ponyville.
“Have you noticed a strange thing?” John walked to the wall, reached out to touch it and stopped. Twilight didn’t blame him. In the harsh white light that came from a tar-black candle set into a wall sconce, that wall looked damp like it sweated. The smell didn’t help, a close and harsh odor that reminded her of unbathed ponies.
“I’ve noticed a lot of strange things,” Twilight said. She trotted to stand beside him, wincing a bit at the feel of that floor underhoof. She wondered if she only imagined that it gave slightly, like pressing on a living – or rotting – thing.
“I reckon we both rightly have,” John smiled, and she returned it. Then he knelt beside her. “What I mean is, where are the Shonokin? They should be somewhere around here and looking to be making more trouble.”
“Maybe they gave up and left?” Twilight didn’t believe it even as she said it.
“Maybe,” John said, sounding as unconvinced as she felt. “More like, someone or thing’s keeping them at a distance right now. And I reckon it must be you or your Luna friend.”
“What?” Twilight looked around and at herself, checked with some low-power detection spells. “It can’t be me. They didn’t fear me before. And they,” she gulped, “they scared Luna away. I’m hoping she finds a way to get back in here and help.” She looked around hopefully, but all she saw was that nasty house. At least that creepy Parway was staying away for the moment.
“Maybe she did something back in Equestria?”
“Maybe.” Twilight blinked. She checked again with her detection spells, and found something at the edge of her perceptions. “Yes! She could have done a containment circle. Like that ward you set when we were in Zecora’s hut? It could keep outside magic at a distance as long as it’s unbroken, like say by someone giving a channel to the Shonokin.”
“What-all do you mean, a ‘channel’?”
“Like if they, well,” Twilight flicked her tail as she sought an explanation. “Like if you were to think of that battle again, or something equally traumatic or frightening. That could allow a pathway of attack.”
“Let’s hope it stays unbroken then,” John said. As he did Dravot re-entered the room. John rose to face him. Twilight set herself beside him, facing Dravot and, ugh, Parway as it slunk into the room and eyed her with those too-wise eyes in that not-human-enough face. It snarled, or maybe just leered at her.
“I trust you have had the time to consider my words?” Dravot said. His soft voice never reached those hard eyes. “You took Levi Brett’s sins on yourselves. The knowledge and wisdom of those things, the knowledge and power of those things. There is more of his knowledge contained there,” he nodded towards the papers on the desk, “and even more contained in the walls and structure of this gardinel. Rest here. Sleep here. Let his power become part of you that he will –” Dravot stopped as though about to say too much. “I mean, that you may become part of us.”
“I reckon that Twilight and I have thought on all you said,” John answered. Twilight noticed how he set his feet firmly and held his hand sat his sides, doubled into fists. Dravot’s smile turned into a near pout as John said, “We thought on it, and we want nair part either of it or of you and yours. We’ll be going on our way.”
“You may not find that easy,” Dravot said, scowling. “It may be harder than you think to leave from here. And what of her?” He looked at Twilight. “Does this young lady agree with your foolish decision?”
“It’s not foolish,” Twilight said, “and ‘she’ does agree with it.” Parway bared triangular teeth at her, like a shark’s, if a shark had teeth that looked lead-gray and poisonous. She took several steps forward. To her dismay Parway didn’t back away. Forcing herself to ignore him, she looked up at Dravot. “We’ll both be leaving. Nothing that Mister Brett had is of any interest to us.”
Soft mocking laughter came from outside. Twilight didn’t need to look to know it was those two wretched elders. Dravot joined in on it.
“Young woman, are you really this foolish?” He pointed at the table. “Brett’s thoughts there will become yours. You will share in what we know, bring our truth to more worlds than we can guess.”
Just like Thorn… Twilight shivered at a nightmare image she’d once had, of a Nightmare version of herself spreading Thorn’s dark “magick” across Equestria. John reached down and set his hands reassuringly on her withers.
“And if we refuse?” Twilight said. She rose on her hind legs to look Dravot in the face. John raised his fists beside her. Dravot stepped back and Parway moved between them, teeth bared and paw-hands raised. Short sharp claws showed at their tips. She gulped but held her ground. “Besides, this could be some trick for all I know.”
“You cannot refuse what you have freely accepted,” Dravot responded. Twi shivered as the familiarity of those words began to sink in. “Do not be foolish. If this is a trick, what of Parway?”
“A freak or mutation of some sort,” Twilight said. Parway glared. Dravot chuckled.
“Parway is not flattered, nor can I blame him. Have you never heard of familiars?”
“I have, thanks to John,” Twilight said, backing towards the door, her horn glowing. John went along with her. “And everypony here has been more than familiar enough and – DON’T TRY IT!” Parway and Dravot both froze as she fired a spell-blast from her horn into the floor before them. It was barely enough to leave a scorch mark, but it seemed to impress these two. “John and I are leaving!”
“But you,” Dravot said, looking confused now. “Mistress, I didn’t know you already had some knowledge. I never would have, I mean…” He stepped forward, stopped at another warning shot. From the fading yells those two outside had seen what was happening and were running off. “Please but look at what Levi Brett left, I beg you.” He pointed at the table and the papers on it.
“I said no,” Twilight began, when suddenly the papers flew off the table despite a total lack of a breeze and flew at her face. “HEY!” Flying books now? This was starting to remind her of Thorn’s gift and the Letters of Cold Fire.
No, no, remember what you told John, don’t even THINK about that! But she couldn’t help it. The spell seizing hold of her mind. Her chanting her way through the invocation as something forced her to call on those names, many still unknown and some like Sombra and Tirek sadly all too well known to her now…
Something in her mind seemed to go, Hah!
On the page forced over her eyes, feeling wet and slimy like some worm crawling through her coat, words began to appear. Reject not the gift you have freely accepted, Twilight Sparkle. Holaha, Eroyhe, strong Alector, Somiator, sleep ye not, I call to you, Mikaded, Tuma, Tumch…
She heard John yell something, followed by Dravot, and something like a moan from Parway.
…Mighty Tetragrammaton, Molech of the Flames, Ba’al-Zebul of the Flies, Lillith Killer-of-Foals, Bloody Asherah, Asmodeus, Athe, Stoch…ARIOCH! GROGAR! IBLIS! JADIS! LEVIATHAN! SOMBRA! TIREK! TASH!
And then everything faded in a wild equine scream of terror as she forgot everything Luna and John alike had warned her of and hurled the wildest spellblast she’d used since her fight with Tirek.
And her world became fire before everything around her, the house and the table and the paper with those names and even her friend John, seemed to whirl away into nothing.
###
“Doggone ya, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack scraped her hoof against the floor, like she was ready to charge. “What’s takin’ ya?”
Beside her Pinkie suddenly twitched.
“Oooh! Triple left ear flick, a pinch in my dock, and a shiver in my left cannon?” Pinkie lashed her tail and shook her left rear leg. She smiled at the confused looks all around her. “Dashie’s almost here!”
They raced to the nearest window and looked at the horizon. Behind them, unnoticed, Twilight’s eyes shot wide open, seeing nothing in the physical world. Her ears pinned back and she tucked her tail close in panic.
“There she is!” Rarity pointed at a blue speck growing in the sky, trailing rainbow. Applejack snorted beside her.
“Took her long enough. Who knows what coulda happened?”
An equine scream tore through the room. “AHHHHHHHH!”
Everypony there wheeled to see Twilight. Her eyes wide and unseeing, ears pinned, sweat streaming down her sides, legs twitching.
“NO!” Twilight shrieked. Her horn and eyes glowed like metal in a Fillydelphia blast furnace; the containment circle glowed back. “Not again! Not that again!”
“Oh, Twilight!”
“Twi! We gotta get her outta there!”
A dome of light began to form over the purple Alicorn Minor. Now her eyes and horn were bright as the sun and getting brighter.
Casting shadows on the walls, her friends hurried forward only to stop at a cry from Luna.
“No!” She snatched them with her magic and fell back by her sister. “Celly! Ward Major! Full Power, with Diversion Channel! NOW!” Both Alicorns Major's horns glowed in unison, sun-gold and moon-silver.
“Princess Luna!” Rarity twisted to get away from her. “What are you doing –“
And a blasting spell that would have rocked Tirek back on his hooves exploded out from the spell circle, through the containment wards, struck and flowed against the shields raised by the Princesses, and blasted through the outer wall with a BOOM that echoed across Mount Epona, raining shards of stone and wood down the mountain slopes.
###
Twilight groaned and shook herself. She ached in every bone. The floor beneath her hooves felt odd as she rose. No texture to it, it didn’t feel like dirt or stone or carpeting. It was just there.
“Okay,” she groaned, “where did everypony go?” She forced her eyes open, expecting to feel pain when light hit them.
Nothing. She just looked and saw a sort of gray emptiness all about her. The gardinel was gone, that awful Parway too, and so was – “John! Are you there? JOHN!”
Twilight spread her wings to take a quick aerial look and blinked, Wait, my wings are back?
They were. She felt the pull of her wing muscles as she stretched them out. She felt relief and had to smile. Despite doing very well for most of her life without them, she’d felt maimed to lose her wings, even if harmlessly due to John’s dream.
Wait, John? Where IS he?
She looked around. Nothing anywhere, just that emptiness. She remembered that mighty spellblast, and gulped to remember something else. What Luna told her. We must be wary with our spellcasting in the dreams of others. What befalls there can affect their waking selves, destroying the dream or even their minds.
“No! John?” She looked all around, saw only this emptiness in every direction. “John! Please be okay! I’m sorry I –“
A log-walled room appeared around her, the wood dark from age. She felt things again, fire-warmed air against her coat, the fur-carpeted stone-flagged floor underhoof, smelled something hot and spicy like some exotic seasoning or herb. And more, she heard somepony clear their throat behind her.
“Thank goodness.” She sighed and turned to face John. “I thought I’d killed you. I’m so glad you’re alright.” She would have said more, but when she saw who sat in that carved high-backed almost throne-like seat, she froze.
“Young lady,” the Shonokin leader said in that voice that whispered like dry leaves blowing over gravel as he leaned forward, his dark eyes sharp and hard on her.
“No.” She stepped back, tried to call on her magic but nothing happened. A glance at the floor showed something like John’s long-ago protection-ward circle. Only turned inward.
Against her.
“Young lady,” the Shonokin who’d tried to kill her and John several times already today repeated as he steepled his long talon-like fingers before him. He smiled those sharp white teeth at her, a predator’s humorless smile.
“We need to talk.”