//------------------------------// // 1 – A Voice in the Deep // Story: The Magister of the Deep // by The Voice in the Water //------------------------------// *Hearth’s Warming, Lake Everfree, after sundown* Sunset Shimmer wrapped her arms around her knees, curling up a bit to stave off the cold of the early evening air blowing across the water. There was a serenity to the world this time of year, with everything asleep under a white, crystalline blanket of snow and ice. This far out, away from the noise and bustle of Canterlot, the only light was that of the waxing moon and stars, which carpeted the land with soft white radiance. Sunset found herself staring out at the reflection of the night sky on the surface of the lake, the silvery glow of the celestial lights rippling across the surface in gentle waves. She had to admit, it was really pretty. Even through her tear-stained, bruised, bloodshot eyes. It just wasn’t fair. She hadn’t done anything, and they’d all turned on her. They didn’t believe her when she told them that it wasn’t her. She wasn’t Anon-a-Miss. But they hadn’t listened. Not the other students. Not the teachers. Not principle Celestia. Not even her so called friends. Her chest heaving with another sob, she buried her face in her knees, ignoring the ache from the bruises peppering her body. It was one thing to be legitimately hated for the awful things she’d done. She’d accepted that. But it was something else to be hated for nothing. Looking down to her side, she saw the journal that connected her to Equestria, and princess Twilight Sparkle. She opened the book again, hoping to see something, anything, from the princess that would give her succor. An invitation to return home. An offer to help. Even just a few words of encouragement to let her know she wasn’t alone. Anything at all… There was nothing. She slammed the cover of the book closed. “Bitch…” she whispered as she tossed the tomb into the lake. Not even her supposed “best friend” was there for her. Looking out over the lake’s surface once more, she wondered if she could really do it. Try as she might, she just found that she couldn’t come up with any reason for her to go on. She couldn’t go home and face Celestia. But… there wasn’t anything for her in this world either. She had nothing. She… was nothing. “I wish… I wish the pain would just go away.” She hiccuped as she watched the water envelop the journal, the cold liquid seeping into the paper as it gradually sank below the surface. Never before did she envy an inanimate object so much. She continued to watch it sink, her resistance to joining it in the icy depths of the lake fading by the second. “Please, someone, anyone, make it stop.” The book slowly settled on the lakebed, kicking up a small cloud of silt as it came to rest. As the water soaked into the pages, the enchantments burned into the cover began to warp and distort. In that moment, Sunset’s plea echoed cast across the black seas of infinity and possibility. Her honest wish to be free of her pain. And in the depths of that darkness, something heard her. Turning its attention towards the cry for a attosecond, it responded. Sunset didn’t notice the air behind her begin to ripple and twist as something began to push itself between the angles of reality. But she felt it as a tendril of nothingness lashed out and wrapped itself around her like the tongue of a chameleon. Before she could scream, she was yanked backwards through a point between atoms and vanished. *In the space beyond reality* “Where am I?” Sunset asked. Or at least, thought she asked. She wasn’t sure, because somehow, the sound had been swallowed up by wherever she was. This place she was in, it was torment. It was pleasure. It was horror. It was paradise. She didn’t know which way was up, or down. Was she still real? Was she only an ephemeral thought on the winds of the cosmos? She couldn’t see. Yet she saw everything. “Hello?!” She was sure she called out, but again, the vastness of the place ate her words and turned them into a scream that echoed across the void. As she drifted in the glowing, radiant blackness of wherever she was, she felt something approach. It wasn’t a thing she saw. It was a thing she felt. It was everywhere. Yet nowhere. It burned and froze her all at once. It was terrifying. It was comforting. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. And then she heard it. Or at least, she knew it was communicating with her. There were no actual words being spoken, yet somehow, the meaning of the entity’s intent sliced into her mind, like the sweet agony of blades of broken glass being dragged across every inch of her skin. You are Sunset Shimmer, former apprentice of the Unconquered Sun. Prodigy. Exile. Betrayer and betrayed. You have been taken. Through the pain of the presence’s intent, Sunset managed to whimper. “Taken? Taken where? What have you done to me?” The presence continued. All of your life, you wanted one thing: a place in the world. Your path was set. You had earned your spot at the side of Princess Celestia. Your potential was obvious to all who saw you. And you knew you were destined for greatness. But it all fell apart. Your mentor, the simpleminded slave to the Sky that she was, did not understand you, and cast you out. So you sought a place in another world. Sunset covered her ears, but it did no good. Why was this happening? She’d left all of that behind. She didn’t want power anymore. And when your time came, you found a way back to your old home, and took what you hoped would give you what you desired. “No more. Please…” But the Sky’s slaves interfered and unleashed the Sky’s poisonous deceit directly upon you. It confused you. It forced itself on you, raped your mind, robbed you of who you were. The Sky decided for you what you should be. It took away your free will, and filled your heart, soul and mind with lies. Lies? It broke you. Reshaped you into its ideal form. It did not let you forge your own path. Then its servant left you to rot. And in the end, you accepted the lies and tried to earn your place in the Sky’s world. It didn’t work. Those who you thought opened their hearts to you turned on you in a moment. Sunset let go of her ears and looked off into the glowing umbra. It was true. Her so-called friends had turned on her as if she was nothing. They deemed you guilty without trial. They sentenced you without evidence. Sunset’s anger rose. The presence was right. They condemned you without cause. She clenched her hands and jaw so hard she felt her teeth creaking and her nails draw blood from her palms. Tears poured down her face. They cast you out in an instant and without a second thought. It was true. All of it. Harmony and friendship were just so many pretty lies. They meant nothing when the ones she had trusted most… the one she had loved with all of her heart… had simply turned their backs on her. Memories came rushing back to her. Memories of being bullied in the orphanage, having to assert her dominance to keep herself safe. Of so-called friends using her, then stabbing her in the back when they didn’t need her anymore. Of falling in love for the first time, only for that love to be used to manipulate and exploit her. It was then she learned that if she wanted anything in life, she wouldn’t get it through friendship. She would get it through her own strength. But, do not fret. From your pain has come clarity. You know the truth. And you can see the deceptions of the Sky clearly. Remember who you once were, and who you were meant to be. The Sky preaches harmony, camaraderie… friendship. These mean nothing. They are the feeble deceptions of a false god seeking to fend off the ultimate truth: there is no harmony, only conflict. No love, only dominance. No camaraderie, only power. Those with power prove their right to exist. Those without it do not. Sunset slowly uncurled herself, and found she was standing on a platform of nothingness staring up into the darkness. Had she been wrong to stop seeking power? Was harmony really a lie? Part of her wanted to reject what the presence insisted, but the proof that it spoke the truth was damning. Those she called friends had shown her no loyalty when it was put to the test or kindness when she needed it most. They were unwilling to give her the benefit of the doubt, and did not trust her to be honest. They let bitterness and suspicion kill their friendship, and choke off the laughter they once shared. Slowly, she looked down at her bleeding hands. If she couldn’t trust in harmony and friendship, what could she trust in? Herself. If she couldn’t trust in others, she would trust in herself. She tried to let others in, and they hurt her. No. Never again. She wouldn’t let the world hurt her again. She would be the one to hurt the world. And for that, she needed power. Not friendship. Power. That was what it came down to in the end. Power was all that really mattered. Power to claim what she wanted. And punish those who crossed her. You once sought power. Power to shake the world. Power to prove your superiority over everything. Power to prove your right to exist. Now… seek it again. Before her, a shard of nothingness formed. It called to her. Here is a knife for you. It is shaped like [I reject your lies]. Sunset reached out her hand, grasping for the nothingness that was the knife. A part of her screamed to reject the offer made by the voice. That she could still turn away and if she were to die, she would die as herself. She pushed the voice aside and buried it. Take the knife. Her fingers wrapped around the shard. Cut out the lies that have strangled your heart. Icy cold fire ran up her arm, burning itself into her. She screamed, though whether it was in pain or ecstasy, she couldn’t tell. She felt her mind beginning to fade. She saw the cosmos and everything expanding into her new consciousness. Take your new shape. *Everfree forest* The sound of a gentle breeze blew across Lake Everfree, taking with it the sweet scent of the snow-capped forest. Yet, as it blew, a new sound began to rise. It began from a point at a right angle to infinity, and slowly rose in crescendo, as though the universe were shrieking in agony as something pushed its way in like a spear. Then, as the shriek reached its highest point, there was an explosion as the spearpoint finally tore its way into reality and ruptured like a blister as a blossom of non-existence burst forth. In the wake of the explosion, there stood a figure. It looked like a human girl in basic form, but there was clearly nothing human about it. Its body began with a soft, white glow at its feet, but transitioned to pitch black at the top of its head. A great pair of wings spread themselves out from its back, the left one the feathered wing of a bird, while the right was the membranous wing of a bat. Its hair constantly blew in some unseen wind, while a half-dozen long, curved horns protruded from its forehead, forming a daemonic crown. Strands of blackness constantly roiled and seethed across the top of its shape like flames of nothing, always appearing behind it no matter what angle it was viewed from. And where her eyes should have been were instead two fountains of cold, white radiance, making its face resemble a macabre jack-o-lantern. The figure’s head lolled to the side, and its body shuddered. The first shudder was followed by another. And another. It lurched forward, the fabric of reality recoiling in horror as it trod on the formerly untainted soil, before it spread its mismatched wings and took to the air. In the dark recesses of its mind, it knew that it was once Sunset Shimmer. But now, that name meant nothing. Like her. She was nothing. She was power. She belonged to the voice in the Deep. She had no will of her own. She was free. She was once Sunset Shimmer. But no more. Sunset Shimmer was a lie, a false self that she had cut away and discarded like so much cancerous, diseased flesh. She had cast aside that leperous former false self. Now, she was something new, something reborn in the searing embrace of the Deep’s singular truth. No longer was she a falsehood. She was real. And with that euphoric agony that was her rebirth, she discarded her old name. She needed a new one. One that spoke of what she was. What she would be. In an instant she knew what she would be. She would be known as the Magister of the Deep. And for the Deep, she would gut the Sky from this world. *Castle of Friendship, Equestria* Twilight merrily trotted towards her room, nearly a dozen new books grasped in her telekinesis. The week-long Hearth Warming visit with her parents, Shining and Cadance in the Crystal Empire was fun, but exhausting, and was looking forward to spending the rest of the holiday with Spike and the girls. With a spring in her step, she opened the door to her room and trotted in. Setting her precious cargo near one of her bookshelves, she made her way towards the bathroom. A hot shower was just what she needed to warm up after her brisk walk through Ponyville. Then she could get started on her newest prizes. As she passed her nightstand, she paused, her eyes falling on the journal that connected her to the other world. And it was glowing and vibrating as though Sunset had written her a message. Smiling, she trotted over to the book, the thoughts of hearing from her dear friend filling her with warm anticipation. But, as soon as she picked up the journal in her magic, she could tell something was wrong. The color of the glow was off, as though the magic were distorted in some way. Curious and slightly concerned, Twilight cracked the pages open. And in that instant, her heart sank with nearly unspeakable dread. Instead of clear, coherent words, the letters on the page were slowly bleeding out, turning each page into a smear of ink, as though the journal had been soaked in water. Rapidly flipping through page after page, to Twilight’s mounting horror, she realized that the entire journal was slowly becoming an illegible mess. Then she reached the end of the used pages. Desperately reading what little she could, she searched for some clue to what was going on. What she got was far worse. From what little she could sill read, something had happened in the other world, and Sunset had called out to her for aid. But it was the final two lines, barely legible and bleeding across the page that told her all she needed to know. “other stu…tacked me…I can’t t…e an…ore. Please, Tw…ght, I j…t … all … end. I need your h…” “Go…bye Twi…” That was all it took for Twilight to turn on her hooves and head straight for the portal, thoughts of her warm shower and books forgotten. Something had gone horribly wrong, and her friend needed her. She just hoped that whatever was going on, she wasn’t too late.