//------------------------------//
// 4 Test part 1 
// Story: Knowledge is Power 
// by hydra30 
//------------------------------//

Twilight marvelled at the sight before her as she stood upon the edge of the bridge she had just finished traipsing across. When she had first got close to her destination she thought she had surely been seeing things. Now that she stood before the island she had been directed to, her earlier assessment was proven true.

Instead of jagged black rock like she first thought, the island was completely composed of books, stacks and stacks of huge black book. Lifting a hoof, she lightly tapped the first section of books before her, they stood firm, neither wobbling, nor shifting. She leaped off the bridge to land on the mass of books before her.

"Amazing!" said Twilight, reaching out with her magic to pluck a book from the ground(which came free without effort) its fellows staying firm enough to stand on beneath her.

It was just like any other book Twilight had seen in her life, other then the fact that it had no title, and the fact that it was composed of those same runes Twilight couldn't make heads or tails of.  Looking left, Twilight stared at the other land masses and now that she was closer, she could tell that other then a few stone platforms, and some wrought iron panelling similar to the platforms that had brought her here, they had to be mostly composed of books as well. Hermaeus Mora had not been kidding, him realm was where knowledge was hoarded.

"I was wrong earlier," said Twilight, floating the book back to its place as part of the ground. "This place is not a nightmare,  its a dream come true. "

Under normal circumstances Twilight would be hard pressed not to pour over every book within reach.  But she had something more important to focus on now, and despite the fact that Hermaeus Mora was giving her all the time in the universe now, she wanted to end the crisis in Equestria as soon as possible. With a deep breath, Twilight moved forward,  passing under an arch that unlike the stone arches she had seen before, was lopsided and made of books.

Despite the structure being made of books as well, its presence was foreboding and menacing before her. She never thought she could ever feel nervous about anything book related before. But she had to do this, for everypony she cared about.

Taking a deep breath, she forged ahead, running up the stone stairs and through the huge entrance.

Inside was a huge hallway, it's walls stretching up several feet above to meet with a ceiling just as composed of books as the walls were. Steeling her nerves, Twilight lit her horn to illuminate her surroundings,and trekked down the corridor. It was a sight Twilight never thought she would see outside of her dreams, she was exploring a building made entirely of books. 

Then the hallway exited out into the largest chamber Twilight had ever seen, her breath leaving her as she took in its grandeur. 

The floor before her ended in a huge downward plummet, the sea of ink visible in the light of Twilight's horn. Out farther, huge columns rose from the black liquid, composed of stacks and stacks of books that spiraled upward and out of sight. Looking to her left, Twilight noticed a small bridge that extended out to the nearest column and connect with a stone platform attached,  which in turn had another bridge that connected to the next column,  going on and on, climbing up higher and higher into the dark.

Taking the obvious path, Twilight began crossing the first bridge, thankful to her horn for lighting her way. Onward she travelled, noticing how the churning fluid below got farther away as she ascended. Once the sea below was no longer visible in the gloom Twilight began to feel fatigue, for she had been walking for quite some time. 

She stopped at the next column of books to catch her breath, sighing as she sat down on her rump. When she opened her eyes next though she became aware that this column of books was slightly different then the others. Upon it sat a torch scone of some kind, its texture reminding Twilight of the shell of a crustacean.

A glowing green orb of light sat at its top rather than a torch though, and it intrigued Twilight enough to stand up to get a closer look. She was never fond of the color green, but something about this pulsating sphere brought a tranquil smile to her face. Curious,  Twilight reached out a hoof to touch it.

And fell on her backside in shock when the light flowed out of the scone and raced up her body, vanishing into her.

But before she could even panic, new energy flowed through her veins. Twilight stood up, too full of energy to stay sitting,  every nerve, every muscle eagerly waiting to get on the move again. Never before had she felt so exhilarated. 

"What the?" Twilight gasped, looking at the now dark wall scone. "What was that?"

There was no answer, her voice echoed in the dark space.

But since she was feeling energized now, she decided now was the time to continue. With one last glance at the wall scone, Twilight took the next bridge heading up, wondering how much farther it was.  Which was apparently not far, for in the next minute her horn illuminate an arched door that led down another hallway that would leave this vast chamber behind.

Twilight wasted no time scurrying up the rest of the final bridge, the chamber behind her plunging into darkness as the glow of her horn left it. This new hallway was no different than what she had seen at the entrance, until for the first time Twilight saw a light that did not originate from her horn since entering this place. Extinguishing her horn to see it better, Twilight saw a shining white light ahead that appeared to be illuminating a room that the hallway exited out into. 

Smiling, Twilight hustled the last few paces, entering the first room she encountered that wasn't mind blowing huge. It was made of book, same as everything else, but only about as large as the main room of her library in Ponyville. The light from before originated from a glowing globe that stood on a long arching pole that extended out of the ground, flower pedal like objects surrounding the glowing orb. 

Looking around, Twilight quickly noticed that other then how she enter, there was no other way out of this room. Moving forward, she examined every wall, looking for a closed door, or stairs. But came up empty, the room was a dead end. 

"Well what now?" Twilight asked herself, turning around to look down the way she came. "Did I make a wrong turn?"

But then Twilight saw something she had not noticed until this vantage point. In the corner to the right of the entrance,  there was another book stand, a book laying atop it. Curious to actually see a book actually on display in this place, Twilight approached.

To her surprise, the words on the spine were legible to her.

"Prying Orbs," Twilight read, picking up the book in her magic. "What a creepy title for a book."

Flipping it open to the first page, Twilight read the short phrase there:

What takes the world in lightened sense
Can also seek the outward gleam
They rob the all of essence to
Report the nothing they have seen

Twilight felt a chill pass through her spin as she finished. 

"Well that was kinda foreboding," stated Twilight flatly, turning the books pages, only to find the same phrase.  "Huh?"

Flipping through it quickly,  Twilight found the same words repeated, mounting her confusion. 

"What kind of book is this?" asked Twilight irritability, bringing the book close to the strange light. "Its completely unhelpful..."

Twilight jerked her head up after seeing something out of the corner of her eyes. There before her, a door to another deep hallway was visible. Mouth open in shock, she approached the clear path, looking down to see more light down the hall.

"This was not here before," gasped Twilight, remembering that this was a plain wall when she entered. "Were did it come from?"

Still puzzled, Twilight made to move down the new corridor, but then she saw the book still held in her magic. Twilight was a librarian through and through, and though this book made no sense to her, it was not in her nature to take a book and not put it back once done with it. And Hermaeus Mora might not appreciate her messing up his library, as odd of a library as it was.

So she placed it back on the stand and moved to head forward...only to jump back in surprise as the door became filled with books that just appeared out of nowhere, blocking her path.

"What?" Twilight plucked the book up again, watching as the barricade of books lift up and vanish from sight. "So that's how it works."

Placing the book Prying Orbs on the ground before her, much to her dismay, Twilight made to move forward.

But screamed in terror as a horrible monster appeared in her path in a flash of green light. She had never seen anything like it, it was hovering there, unconnected to the floor by no form whatsoever. Its body was a mass of grey tendrils poking out of ragged grey rags, two long skinny arms that ended in spiny limbed claws also visable among the mass.

Twilight lit her horn to prepare to defend herself as she looked into the black beady eyes that adorned the tentacled face.

"Stay back," yelled Twilight, backing up slightly. 

The creature before her said nothing, only pointing to the book upon the ground with one of its thin arms.

"You want this?" asked Twilight frantically, once again gripping Prying Orbs in her magic. 

She held it out to the floating abomination, but it made no move to claim it. Instead it moved to the side, gestering to the lights visible down the hallway. So this thing wanted Twilight to take the book with her.

She nodded and sprinted forward as fast as she could, leaving the hideous thing as far behind her as fast as possible. Stepping out in a new room, Twilight sat against the wall on her left and fanned herself with the book that she undoubtedly needed to take with her.

"That was terrifying,"whispered Twilight, recalling the creatures features."Was that thing an associate of Hermaeus Mora?"

She looked to the book in her magic. She was unsure what it could mean, but she decided she had better not question. The last thing she needed was for another one of those things to show up.

Deciding to resume her journey to the top of this place, Twilight brought her attention to the room around her. It was very similar to the other, only this one had black grill panelling as a floor, and if Twilight looked she could see a black ink pool big enough to take up the entire room. The smell of ink would be overwhelming if Twilight had not been used to it.

Another thing that set it apart from the previous room was the long stone staircase on the opposite side of the room that led up about a stories worth of height, another book stand illuminated by four of those light poles that let Twilight see a book not unlike the first. Rolling her eyes, Twilight moved to ascend the stairs. The trek was uneventful, and when Twilight was close enough, she read the title on the books spine.

"Delving Pincers," she read out loud, flipping open the book with a hoof this time:

Crushing razors, hollow shells
That snap, that twitch, that crinch and rend
To hold the subject, bodily
'Til mind blows soft and life meets end

This one nearly made Twilight hurl, putting a hoof to her mouth to hold her bile.

"Who wrote these horrible things?" Twilight whispered, picking up the book in her magic to levitate near the first, turning around, expecting to see a new door appear. 

But she gasped in shock as the grill floor fell into the ink with a splash. She stared as two huge cylindrical objects made of intertwining back wire slowly rise up out of the ink on thin poles, to begin spinning horizontally before her. When they would briefly meet each other, Twilight saw that they form a path to an open door on the higher part of the opposite wall, directly over her point of entry. 

Doing the obvious thing, Twilight leaped onto the closest cylinder when it came by, gripping the floor as she landed. She could have teleported, but it was never a good idea to teleport onto a moving object. Standing as best she could, Twilight moved to the other side of the large cylinder, struggling to stay standing as she watched the room rotating before her. 

She waited afew passes, counting the seconds between each times she saw the other cylinder pass by. With a deep breath, Twilight leaped forward, her calculations ringing true as she landed in the other cylinder. Crackling a little at her success,  she stood up and wobbly made her way over to the other side, doing the same with the door as she watched it drift by.

She looked down to below her form her new height. With the grill gone, she had no way back. Now she had no choice but to move forward. 

Nodding her head to herself, she turned, ascending another flight of stairs.