After a few moments of polite, but insistent knocking, I heard the familiar voice of Daring Do from within the cottage assuring me that she was in and prepared to meet me. She pulled open the front door and it was with great relief that I looked upon her smiling visage in the doorway.
I noted, with some slight amusement, that the mare had forgone her customary tactical safari wear and pith helmet. She instead chose to greet me in the guise of A.K. Yearling, complete with red horn rimmed glasses, purple shawl, and cloche hat. Her smile fell slightly as she took in my appearance, particularly where my eyes were concerned, but it didn't bother me overmuch as I had been expecting such a reaction.
It was just as well she see me in this state, for it would only further prove the dark and terrible nature of my plight. Though she looked troubled, Daring did not let her gaze linger for longer than a moment and with a quick greeting, she allowed me entry into her abode.
The interior of her home was far removed from what I'd seen the last time I visited. In the past, there had been a sort of organized chaos of haphazardly placed artifacts of all kinds, shelves of books old and new pushed against the walls with no regard for propriety, and near the back was a desk overflowing with various maps, worn writing utensils, old scrolls, and half read tomes.
It seemed now however, that Daring Do had decided to reorganize the entire cottage—though whether it was in light of my visit, or because she'd simply wanted a change of pace, I couldn't say for certain. The hardwood floor was uncluttered, both the desk and many of the artifacts had been moved to a cellar below the cottage, and the bookshelves had been lined up in a neat row along one wall.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was a fireplace I hadn't seen before. In the dim light of the main room, a small fire blazed above the hearth, its soft light illuminating a low coffee table that sat between two plush armchairs. The drastic change had given the cottage a far more pleasing, and somewhat cozy aesthetic.
As I admired my surroundings, Daring Do took the opportunity to put on some tea. I eventually set my saddlebags aside and settled into one of the cozy armchairs by the fireplace as I waited for Daring to finish in the kitchen. In the meantime we made an attempt at small talk, with some success.
It turned out the mare had recently traveled all the way out to a remote region somewhere in Abyssinia to investigate a mysterious illness that had suddenly struck a small village. She was no doctor, but had received word that the illness was born of an ancient curse come to life.
The tale was as fascinating as it was horrifying, and I found myself enthralled. All too soon however, the tea had finished brewing and Daring Do set the tray holding both the pot and two teacups down on the table before taking a seat in the other armchair—her grim countenance reminding me of the grim reality of my own situation.
A tense sort of silence fell over the room as we each partook of a steaming cup of cinnamon tea. I tried to enjoy it as best I could, and it was certainly a delicious blend to be sure, but my enjoyment was marred by the thought of what Daring Do and I would soon be discussing.
The first and foremost question Daring Do had posed however, was the nature of my affliction. I of course, should've expected as much, and was all too willing to oblige her an answer. I told her of my meeting with the mysterious stallion aboard the train, and the following dream that left me unconscious for a full day.
I told her of how I was fully convinced that it was that dream that had somehow affected me in such a way. As I spoke to Daring of the effects of the affliction, I pulled my journal from my saddlebags and passed it on to her, urging her to peruse what I'd documented so far.
For some reason I'd expected more reluctance from the mare and was surprised to see that there was none. She took the journal and, without hesitation, flipped through its pages, scanning the words with an ever deepening frown.
She was still reading when I finished my recollection of the events aboard the train, and did not respond right away. I poured myself some more tea to steady my nerves as I waited—the remembrance of Sound Mind's sickening presence causing a slight tremble in my hooves.
Her expression grew graver still as she quietly closed the journal and set it on the table between us. She returned her attention to me, and I found myself feeling a touch uncomfortable under her intense scrutiny. She looked troubled naturally, but there was something else in her eyes that I couldn't quite place, and it made me nervous.
Upon asking what her thoughts were on the matter, Daring leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes and took what I presumed to be a calming breath. Once she'd gathered her thoughts, she opened her eyes once more and spoke, her tone clear and measured.
"If I were any other pony, I'd find your tale quite hard to believe, Miss Sparkle. Indeed, if I were of a more zealous mindset when it comes to the forces that protect us from disharmony, I'd even go so far as to say that your writings on the Tree of Harmony in particular were utter blasphemy. I'm not exaggerating when I say that a lot of what I've read sounds like the ravings of a complete madmare... but luckily for you, Miss Sparkle, I know better.
"I've seen many strange and horrifying things over the years—things you could not possibly imagine. I've seen both the best and the worst this world has to offer, and believe me when I say that Equestria is practically a paradise—a utopia, compared to some of the locations I've been. What I mean to say, is that I have learned not to take everything I hear at face value, because in my experience, many things are not often as they seem."
Daring paused a minute, her gaze sliding from me to the journal she'd placed on the table, then from the journal to the fireplace. Her eyes lingered on the crackling flames above the hearth, and her expression was quite hard to read. I thought to say something on the matter, perhaps to give my own two bits regarding what I'd seen, but before I could decide for certain, the mare spoke again.
"These visions of yours—these dreams, these nightmares... I can't say for certain as to why you've started having them or what they portend, and honestly, I don't know quite what to make of your current condition. I could make any number of guesses, but I'm afraid none of them would bode well for the world if they turned out to be correct. Before I attempt any kind of explanation however, there is a particular object I've stumbled upon during my many travels that I feel I should show you."
At that, Daring Do rose from her seat and motioned for me to follow her outside the cottage. Curious—and somewhat shaken by her words—I followed swiftly behind as she led me out the front door and around to the back. Behind the cottage was what seemed to be the entrance to the cellar I'd been told of earlier.
A thick metal door covered the entrance, barring any entry into the depths of the cellar itself. I noticed with some bemusement that there was no handle of any sort, and the door was little more than a large square slab of black metal. My inquiry about the design was met with a sly smirk from Daring Do, who answered not with words, but action.
She moved to stand before the entrance and placed a hoof on the center of the metal slab. To my astonishment, lines of white light began to snake their way out from beneath Daring's hoof and form themselves into a complex magic sigil that expanded to engulf nearly the entire surface.
Daring removed her hoof a moment later, and the sigil slowly faded away, leaving the surface blank once again. Before I could question the mare about what I'd seen, there was a muffled click, and the slab split down the middle. Both sides swung up and outward to reveal a set of stairs leading down into darkness.
Daring Do wasted no time in heading down into the cellar, and after a brief moment, I followed after. As we descended, Daring explained that she'd made drastic changes and improvements to her home after it had last been ransacked by Caballeron and his gang.
She'd called in several favors and had the cellar built beneath her cottage in order to house the objects and artifacts she deemed too dangerous or valuable to keep out in the open. Upon the cellar's completion, she'd gotten a unicorn friend of hers well-versed in the study of sigil magic to seal the entrance so that it would only open by her touch.
As an avid student of various magic of all kinds, I could tell at a mere glance that the sigil crafted into the metal was a masterwork, and assured Daring Do that she had very little to worry about with such a seal as this.
I could see a faint light as we neared the bottom of the staircase, the source of which was revealed to me a moment later as we reached the lower level. What I initially thought were candles or maybe lamps Daring had brought from above, were actually luminescent crystals placed into the walls at regular intervals, bathing the entire room—which itself was much larger than I expected—in a soft amber glow.
All around me I could see many strange and wondrous odds and ends of all sizes placed neatly on various shelves, or atop pedestals, in glass cases and chests both of metal and wooden make. There were even a few bookshelves placed at one end of the spacious cellar.
After gaining Daring Do's consent, I gravitated towards the various bookshelves before me, and upon these shelves were tomes the likes of which I'd never seen before. There were several books with spines both thick and thin, and pages both few and plenty. At a glance, I could see that many of these tomes were written in languages I couldn't comprehend, and some even had a sinister air about them.
These books both fascinated and repulsed me, and had I been given the chance I may have pulled a few of them open to study their contents despite the foreboding I felt from many of them. I knew full well that it may have been a terrible idea, but books, no matter their content, were a great weakness of mine.
It was as I was perusing the rows of strange and foreign literature, that I began to feel an odd sensation tugging at me. I wasn't quite sure what I felt, but whatever I had sensed made my horn tingle unpleasantly. I couldn't tell if the feeling was magical in nature or not, but the odd sensation felt eerily familiar.
Daring Do seemed to have noticed my confusion and discomfort, because she was quick to voice her concern. I confided in her that something within the cellar was causing me to feel strange, and upon hearing what I had to say, a look of realization passed over her face and her mouth dropped into a troubled frown.
She pulled me away from the shelves of books and together we headed deeper into the cellar. As we trotted past the many artifacts Daring had collected over the years, that sensation began to grow stronger, and I knew then that I was reaching the source, for I could almost feel it pulling me closer.
Then, at last, I saw it.
Sitting atop a small stand on a shelf near the back of the cellar, and encased in glass was a book. Though it sat amongst several other admittedly more fantastical objects, to me at least, it was far from unassuming. The tome itself was in horrid condition, but that in no way detracted from the sheer sense of unease that practically overwhelmed me as I gazed upon it.
It was a grimy, tattered thing, bound in dark leather with heavily rusted metal clasps adorning the sides. There were hints of an intricately designed cover, and I could even make out a few unfamiliar sigils similar to those used in sigil magic. Most of what adorned the surface however, including much of the now illegible title, had been worn away by time and poor handling.
I suspected the tome was some sort of grimoire based on what little I could discern of the cover. What appalled me even more than the sorry state of the book, was the utter foulness of the aura coming off of it. The horrible sensation had increased tenfold, as vile as it was intoxicating.
I didn't know whether to move forward or shy away, and in the end, I simply stood there, dumbfounded and slightly dizzy from the confusing assault on my thaumic senses. It was so familiar, that sensation, and yet, I couldn't place it for the life of me. At loss of what to do, I turned to Daring for answers, and, much to my relief, she did not disappoint.
"This strange and unsettling tome is, in fact, what I wanted to show you, Miss Sparkle. I came across this book during an expedition into the ruins of an ancient temple in the eastern deserts of Saddle Arabia. The temple itself had long since been buried deep beneath the sand, but I found a way in, and I still shudder to think about what I saw there in that place.
"There were countless detailed paintings that stretched along those cracked and decrepit walls, sometimes across entire corridors. They depicted images such as I'd never seen before, and told a tale that shocked and horrified me. These paintings told of a time long before the advent of the wendigoes, and indeed, even long before the rise of the three pony tribes themselves.
"The paintings told of a time when the land was far different than it is now—a time long ago, when our equine ancestors first arrived and settled upon these lands. From what I could gather, all seemed well, and our ancestors were able to eke out a modest living. After a time, they began to grow as a civilization, and soon sought to expand their reach. If these paintings were to be believed, it was at this point that the ancient equines discovered that they were not the first to inhabit these lands.
"I'm not sure what the specific catalyst was, as some of the paintings were either worn away or unclear, but the ancient equines, through their fervent expansion into more and more territories, managed to wake something from within the depths of the earth. Eventually they reached what would one day become the land of Equestria, and stumbled upon a cave of sorts.
"Something—I'm uncertain of what—happened in this cave, and due to this mysterious event, a dark and terrible evil was unleashed. From out of the ground, a great pillar of blackness burst forth, seemingly without the slightest warning. From within that pillar, came some unspeakable monstrosity of titanic proportions.
"It appeared this nameless horror had power enough to blot out the moon, the sun, and the rest of the stars, bathing our world in complete darkness. I know it might seem a trivial task for our two Princess's or the Lord of Chaos to accomplish these days, but you must understand that this was ages before Celestia and Luna existed, and the sun and moon presumably moved under their own power. I've done my research, and if past records match what I saw in that temple, this nightmare had taken place long before even Discord roamed the earth.
"That, unfortunately, is all I was able to glean, as the rest of the corridor where I'd stumbled upon these paintings had collapsed. I tell you this in part because of the vision described in your journal, that of the pillar of swirling darkness rising from beneath the mountain. That vision is what worries me the most, but it is a discussion that can wait, and I apologize for my digression. What you really wanted to know about, was the tome I found in that very same temple, correct?
"Well, I'm sorry to say that, though I've held onto the book for some time, I don't really know all that much about it. I found it among the rubble of a partially collapsed room in the temple. It had been the only thing I found in that temple worth bringing back, as every other artifact I'd found had been completely destroyed or was otherwise irrecoverable. The fact that this book survived in even its current condition is nothing short of baffling, and yet, given what I've seen within, that only worries me more."
Here, she turned her attention away from me and eyed the book with no small amount of wariness. It showed in her eyes, her posture, and her tone as she spoke again.
"I of course, attempted to read the book, but in doing so, I gained nothing beyond a horrid sense of foreboding and disgust. I have, at the very least, a passing knowledge of all known languages, but I'd never seen any such language as what's written in that book. The illustrations I saw were of twisted and terrifying monsters not unlike the ones described in your dreams. I saw pictures of horrible things with countless tentacles, bulbous eyes, and formless shapes—all kinds of maddening creations that make my stomach turn just thinking about them.
"That alone was reason enough to bring the book to your attention, but what cemented my decision to show you this repulsive tome, was the strange text written in that journal of yours. I have no doubt that those words were the same as some of the text I'd seen in that very book."
I was completely stunned in the wake of the revelations I was hearing. That my vision in the Cave of Harmony and those words I'd written in my journal had some possible basis in reality made my head spin and my heart beat quicken with fear and disbelief. What's more, that grimoire most likely held the answers I was looking for, but it was a dangerous thing.
It was clear that Daring Do was having second thoughts about bringing me down here to see this ominous book, and this was confirmed when she retreated away from the encased tome and urged me to do the same. When I asked if I could take a closer look, she thought on the matter for a moment before denying me, stating that, while she had meant for me to read it originally, my reaction to its presence worried her greatly.
I made an attempt to change her mind, but the more I insisted, the firmer her rejection became, and in the end, I had no choice but to concede. I found it frustrating in the extreme, but upon exiting the cellar, that oddly alluring yet repulsive sensation vanished, and I found I could think much more clearly.
With my mind no longer clouded by the pull of that grimoire, I mulled over Daring's words and realized she was right. I needed to keep far away from the book and seek my answers elsewhere. Whatever its contents held, no matter how useful and no matter how I desired to read through its ancient, yellowed pages, I had the feeling the knowledge would be far from worth the risk.