//------------------------------//
// World of Ashes 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Starlight knew, without even opening her eyes, that she was having that vision again.

Even the insides of her eyelids were gray. It was like using a Nightmare Module, only instead of only remembering the lack of color after she was restored, she was aware of it now, like a layer of sand in her mouth. The silence was absolute, less like no sound was being made and more like it was a concept that hadn't even been invented yet. Slowly, her emotions stilled by anticipation, she opened her eyes to see what she could see.

It was a room, with walls cut from stone and a single door and several furnishings like a bed, table and paintings. On the bed was a mare, another mare leaning over her and heaving with sobs. Both were sarosians, but she didn't think she knew either. It was hard to tell without color, though. And a single set of armor sat by the door, looking damaged.

"Hello?" Starlight heard her words, but didn't feel like her voice moved the air.

Neither of the mares looked up. Starlight walked around the one who was standing to get a better look at the one in bed, and her brow shadowed in concern. The other was breathing shallowly, laying with a deep wound to her neck that might have been caused by fangs, but it was hard to tell because there was no blood. Instead, her neck leaked the same kind of ash that came from sarosians slain with the black sword, ash Starlight quickly realized she had mistaken for snow the first time she had been here. She had no doubt if she were outside, it would be falling from the sky, and she was tempted to try teleporting to observe whatever terrible calamity had befallen the world. Her horn felt flawless, empowered even here by the flame. But the vision had put her here for a reason, and she had to stay to observe it.

She watched as the standing mare shook, stroking the dying one's cheek, and saw her lips move with words as a tear fell from her eye. Starlight tried to read her lips, but had no practice and couldn't make out a thing.

Suddenly, a faint static crackle flickered in her ears, and sound existed again, ragged sobs filling the air. Starlight blinked, knowing they still couldn't hear her but about to try getting their attention again... when a faint pop came from the bedside table and it vanished in a puff of ash. The vase atop it fell, shattering when it hit the floor.

The crying mare gasped, looking up. Within seconds, there were more pops, the paintings on the walls turning to ash as well. Starlight felt a wall of pressure in her heart as the flakes drifted and flurried, and suddenly the broken vase was ash as well.

"This is the end," the injured mare gasped, recapturing the attention of the other, who leaned down and hugged her. "We failed..."

There was a bigger crash as the bed, too, turned to ash, dropping both mares hard on the stone floor. Then the door was gone as well.

"What's happening!?" Starlight yelled, her flanks burning where a cutie mark should be. Suddenly, a wave of blackness appeared through the stone, expanding in a solid wall of force, so devoid of light that she couldn't see any contour whatsoever. It moved both terrifyingly fast and slow enough that she could watch as both of the mares were devoured, and then she, too, was inside, tumbling head over heels as it clung to her and washed her and bowled her over. But she was floating, rising to the surface, buoyed by a tiny spark in her chest, and she finally broke the surface, the darkness dripping off her and disappearing like heavy tar.

Before she could even attempt regaining her senses, another wall of something hit her, and both her hearing and vision imploded. "I'M HELPING," a metallic voice blared into her head. She could see colors, but everything was made of broken, refracting triangles save for a large image of the metal dragon Aegis peering at her with its faceless head.

Starlight winced from the volume, feeling intense vertigo. Where was she supposed to be right now? In the flame, connected to the generator... "What are you doing!?" she yelled, trying to be heard above the ringing in her ears.

"I WAS TOLD TO INTERFERE WITH YOUR SENSES BY MISTRESS."

Starlight reeled. "Well, that hurts, and I need time to think!"

"I'M HELPING."

Great. Starlight frantically tried to remember what Glimmer had told her to do in the generator. Lower the power. What were the steps? Could it just hear her thoughts and react accordingly? She wasn't even sure if she could hear her own thoughts under whatever Aegis was doing. She sincerely hoped it couldn't do this when she was awake and not in a trance or dream.

Something changed in the world around her, and she heard another voice, though it was buried and distorted by the effects of Aegis's presence. "That's really annoying," Starlight growled, then raised her voice. "Generator, I want you to give five percent less power to the Aldenfold!"

There was another shift around her, but Aegis shifted to remain at the center of her vision, preventing her from even getting a good look at the broken triangles that probably made up what she was supposed to see. "Glimmer, make it stop, I can't concentrate like this!" she shouted, unsure if she was in control of her body in real life. "I don't even know if I did it right!"

Aegis remained. "This isn't going to make me not wonder about what's in here that you're trying to hide!" Starlight called. "What's this generator going to tell me, anyway? What kind of information does it even have?"

The world shifted again, and the distorted voice of the generator returned. Starlight suddenly realized with a sinking feeling that it was trying to tell her.

"Never mind! I'm done here!" she called as Aegis leered. "Let me out! Let me wake up!"

Her vision began to fall away one last time, more peacefully than the start and end of her experience in the grayness. Aegis faded from her sight, red rose around her, and she finally found herself in the Tree of Harmony's brazier, her head swimming and ears still ringing but otherwise fine.

Glimmer sat before the flames with patient expectance. "That was really annoying," Starlight repeated. "I have no idea if I did it or not because your dragon got in the way."

"You're awake!" Glimmer smiled in relief. "Here. Come to the control panel and check. It should be open to a diagnostics screen."

"I don't know how to read any of this," Starlight huffed, walking up to the platform she had observed earlier. The screen was bathed in a red glow, countless changing numbers labeled in a language she couldn't read. "Ask Garsheeva or Meltdown."

"...So," Glimmer said.

Starlight raised an eyebrow. "So what? So I have a headache from all that noise? What did I see and why was it important I didn't see more?"

Glimmer sat down and sighed. "Which vision was it? It's been a long time."

Starlight gave her a strange look.

"If you can live without answers, not knowing what is and isn't important will make you happier than knowing which parts I can't tell you. I'm tempted to say nothing and walk away." Glimmer averted her face. "But that wouldn't help you at all. I did promise to talk when you were done, so. Ask away."