"This... this is incredible!"
Twilight's eyes never stayed in one place for very long. They constantly moved from bookshelf to bookshelf as she quickly trotted around the large library. Starlight moved at a more sedate pace, taking in the room with less enthusiasm, but no less wonder than Twilight herself.
"What are the odds that we'd find a library out here?" Twilight asked, narrowing her eyes as she scanned the books on the lower section of one of the bookshelves, "I can't believe it! I never thought I'd see even one more book again," she straightened up and laughed as she galloped from shelf to shelf, "and now I'm surrounded by hundreds, thousands, maybe tens of thousands of them!"
"Yeah, it's... something alright," Starlight answered cautiously as she eyed the magical chandelier with a curious raise of her brow, "I definitely didn't expect to see all of this when I set out to find that town," her eyes widened and she lowered her gaze to one of the tall windows on the far side of the room, "wait a minute..."
Twilight paid no heed to Starlight as the light pink filly galloped over to one of the few windows not blocked by a bookshelf. Starlight reached the window, lifted herself up onto her hind legs and planted her forelegs on the window itself.
She frantically swept her gaze from left to right, trying to see exactly where they were. Unfortunately night had fully fallen and she couldn't see anything outside the window whatsoever. With an annoyed huff, she lowered herself back to all fours and went to see what Twilight was doing instead.
"Twilight?" Starlight called out, "where are you?"
"Over here!"
Starlight's ear twitched and she turned in the direction of Twilight's ecstatic voice, surprised at how far away it was. She sighed, shook her head and began trotting towards the lavender filly.
Wandering the entirety of the floor, Twilight had found something else she hadn't expected to be there. On a rather ornate stone pedestal in between two bookshelves was a large glass orb sitting on a violet cushion. The glass orb was surrounded by a translucent casing which was itself made of glass.
Starlight trotted over to find the filly sitting transfixed by the sight. She looked from Twilight to the pedestal with a raised eyebrow.
"What is that?" Starlight asked, "and why are you drooling over it?"
"Starlight, this..." Twilight shook her head and frowned at the display, "this is an Orb of Insight... or at least I think it is... but..."
"But what?" Starlight replied sitting down next to Twilight, "looks like one of those fake crystal balls fortune tellers use."
"No, Starlight, this is different... and very real," Twilight replied, "I'm fairly sure this is an Orb of Insight, but it's too... big," she raised a hoof and showed it to Starlight, "normally, Orbs of Insight are only about the size of the underside of my hoof, but this..."
She trailed off and lowered her hoof, turning to stare at the orb with a thoughtful frown.
"Why would there even be a need for an Orb of Insight this big?" she mused quietly, "it's not like increasing the size of the Orb will change its function..."
"And what exactly is its function, Twilight?" Starlight asked somewhat impatiently, "what's it supposed to be giving insight into?"
Twilight was about to explain when a deep chuckle that seemed to come from everywhere at once caused both the fillies to tense up.
Why don't you try using the orb and find out for yourself, Starlight Glimmer?
Before either filly could react, the glass casing around the orb vanished in a flash of yellow light. Twilight took a startled step back and looked around trying to find the source of the voice. After a few moments of searching, she gave up and sat back down in front of the now uncovered glass orb.
"It's that mare again," Twilight whispered, still glancing around cautiously, "how did she even do that? Who is she?"
"I don't know, but how do you use this thing?" Starlight asked, a look of curiosity replacing her earlier look of skepticism.
"What? Starlight!" Twilight cried in exasperation, "you're just gonna do what she says? We don't know anything about her! What if it's a... a trap or something? There's no telling what she did to that--"
Starlight ignored the lavender filly as she lit up her horn and enveloped the orb in her magic. In an instant everything went white and Starlight inhaled sharply, countless symbols she had never seen before flashing before her eyes. In another flash she saw images of things she couldn't comprehend.
Weapons of all shapes and sizes etched with ancient script that rained terrible magical destruction upon an unsuspecting land.
Titanic beasts made of stone and metal that glowed with an arcane light, lumbering along and smashing anything and everything in their way.
Demons summoned from the darkest pits of Tartarus, descending upon the world through large magic portals that covered the sky.
Ponies and zebras and griffons and all manner of races twisted into abominable, monstrous shapes, rending innocent lives asunder in their pain wrought madness.
Entire armies of undead walking the earth, adding more victims to their countless numbers.
Evil shadows that danced amidst bloody fields where horrible battles were fought again and again.
And overlooking all of the carnage, chaos, and corruption were the tall dark silhouettes of two mares -- two sets of eyes drinking in the sight before them.
Cold and cunning blue eyes that held nothing but glee in what had been brought about, and draconic amethyst eyes, intelligent as they were brutal, looked on with grim satisfaction.
Both mares suddenly turned their gazes skyward just in time to see two other mares descend upon them. One mare blazing with all the rage and splendor of the Sun itself and the other overflowing with the ice cold fury of the Moon and Stars, angry pulsating nebulas sparking and flashing within her ethereal mane and tail.
Before contact could be made between the two opposing forces of destruction, the scene flashed white once again and with a gasp, Starlight fell to the floor. Panting, sweating, and shaking as she was, it took her a moment to notice Twilight on the ground right next to her in much the same state as she was.
The two fillies looked at each other with wide terrified eyes, rendered unable to speak from the sheer shock of what they had both seen. They were snapped out of their stupor by another chuckle.
Well now, isn't that interesting...
"W-What are you talking about?" Twilight cried, looking up at the ceiling, "what... what was that? W-What... what did we just see?"
I have absolutely no idea, Twilight Sparkle, the voice of the mare replied, but just based on yours and Starlight's reactions alone, I'd say it's something worth talking about.
Somewhere in the library, the two heard what sounded like a door being unlocked.
So come, talk to me about what you saw, and if it's as interesting as I think it is, maybe I'll even explain what it means...
With one last mocking laugh, the voice fell silent.
Twilight and Starlight didn't move for another few moments, the two of them still trying to get themselves under control.
"That thing... is not... an Orb of Insight..." Twilight panted as she shakily rose to her hooves, "they... can't do something like that. I don't know any kind of magical artifact that can."
"Nevermind... what it is," Starlight replied as she stood up and shook her head, "what the buck was all that?" she shivered, "I don't... I can't even imagine... Twilight, what was that?!"
"I don't know!" Twilight cried in response as she fell to her haunches and held her head in her hooves, "I don't even want to know! Whatever that was, it was awful! It was terrible... it was... it..."
She trailed off and sniffed a few times, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she thought about what they had seen. For a few heartbeats, they both sat and ruminated in silence, then Starlight spoke up in a quiet shaky voice.
"Hey... Twilight?" Starlight began, "those shadowy mares... the ones we saw in that... vision..."
Twilight heard the light pink filly, but she didn't respond, already knowing what Starlight was going to ask.
"Did they... look familiar to you at all?"
Starlight looked from her hooves to Twilight and saw the other filly looking back at her with tears streaming down her face. They stared at each other for a moment and Twilight gave a slow quiet nod of confirmation, not daring herself to speak.
"What does that mean?" Starlight asked again, looking back at the mysterious orb that had once again been encased in glass at some point, "who were they?"
"I don't know, Starlight," Twilight replied with another sniff, "but I do know one thing..."
She wiped her eyes and stood back up, turning to the orb with a worried look. She shuddered and shook her head once before giving Starlight a determined frown.
"The only way we're gonna find out what's going on is by talking to that mare."