//------------------------------//
// Vierzehnte 
// Story: Gestalt 
// by The Writer's Group 
//------------------------------//

LimeAttack was given only the thirteenth chapter and was asked to write this fourteenth chapter.


Twilight simply stared out into the rising morning sun, letting Luna’s words sink into her mind. Finally, she sighed. “So you mean to say that I will be to twilight as you and Princess Celestia are to night and day? That’s...” Twilight struggled to find any proper way to bring her thoughts into clarity.

Luna turned and prepared to start a day of court. “It is somewhat wrong of us to lay so many items of such great magnitude on,” she made a conscious effort to correct her outdated speech, “your shoulders. However, you would have learned such eventually, and we feel it better that you know now rather than later. We have noticed that surprises do not work well when combined with life-changing news.” As the clock struck eight o’clock that morning, Luna took a deep breath. “Remember your duty, Twilight Sparkle. Gestalt must be slain if Celestia is to recover. We pray that you are able to discover a way to do such without having to...” She trailed off as if neglecting to say the worst would prevent it from happening.

Twilight paced somberly away from the windows as the great double doors to the throne room swung open, letting the general public in for court. She passed them without a second thought, mind far too wrapped up in twists and knots over the gravity of the situation. My own brother... Why would such a vile creature enslave my own brother? I only hope that I can find a way to split Gestalt from him, or it may be that he will take the ultimate sacrifice for his Princess.





After a long day of training with the others, Twilight now found herself standing in front of the grand entryway to the Royal Archives. The vast collection of ancient and more current knowledge held so many closely guarded secrets and spells that guards patrolled it all around the clock--Serpent Division guards at night and Picassa Division guards during the day. It came as no surprise to Twilight that the shelves and scrolls had been specifically enchanted to repel dust because not even cleaning staff could enter the Archives without the explicit permission of royalty. With this in mind, she trotted into the vast maze of chambers.

Her first stop came in the section devoted to history. She inspected every last scroll, looking intensely for that set of symbols that se knew so well. When she finally came across a scroll written by Starswirl the Bearded, her face drooped when she unfurled it. A jumbled mess of symbols and scribbles covered every part of the parchment. “Mooneighsian? I didn’t even know that this language actually existed!”

After a trip to the translation section, she now had four scrolls lain out before her. From Modern Equestrian to Old Equestrian, then from that to Lunatian (another made-up language) and finally from Lunatian to Mooneighsian, the three scrolls accompanied the one she actually wanted to read. With a hefty sigh, she set to work riddling out the ravings of a true genius.





When the morning sun broke the horizon, the entire group of six sat ready and waiting at the castle’s airpad. Rainbow Dash flexed her wings, trying to get Fluttershy to do the same, and Pinkie Pie bounced around the the edge of the large, circular structure. Meanwhile, Twilight discussed the plans and what she had discovered with Rarity and Applejack.

As she used a quill and parchment to make notes and images, Twilight delivered a somewhat brief synopsis of what little she had learned of Gestalt. “So far, I’ve discovered a few key facts about this... thing. It feeds on the mind of whatever it inhabits, eventually jumping to another a few days later. That was, of course, until Starswirl the Bearded sealed him inside the hand mirror. Now, this was many thousands of years ago--before Discord, even. All of this time, Gestalt has been festering in the mirror, slowly losing all of the knowledge it had acquired over the millennia of his existence. That’s why it couldn’t be slain. At the time, it knew so much about magic that no existing form could kill it. However, Starswirl the Bearded made up a spell completely from scratch and used it to imprison Gestalt.”

Rarity nodded, slowly grasping the concept. “So, what is this spell you are referencing?”

Twilight chuckled. “Oh, even if I -did- know it, it wouldn’t work again. No, I have to make up a spell as well, with the help of these.”

As Twilight pulled the Elements of Harmony out of a jeweled box, Applejack frowned. “Now Twilight, I know you haven’t gone crazy and such. Princess Luna literally jus’ told us yesterday that they wouldn’t work on that thing.” The unicorn simply chuckled.

“I’m not using them. I’m going to study their magic and use some of it to create a weapon of sorts that can finally slay Gestalt. I’m going to need everypony’s help, though. It has to use a part of every Element’s magic to work completely.” By this point, everypony stood around Twilight and they all nodded their heads in acknowledgement.

“Whatever it takes!” Rainbow Dash put her hoof out in the center of the group, soon met by five others.

“We will do it together.” Twilight smiled as Rarity offered the sentiment.

“And then we’ll have a huge super awesome party afterward!” The group fell into laughter as Pinkie Pie threw a bunch of confetti in the air. Just then, the royal blacksmith wheeled out a specially crafted sun chariot.

Twilight walked over to the stallion and gave him a hug. “Thank you so much, Apollo. It means so much that you would take the time to do this.”

The gruff face turned into a smile. “Anything for my favorite niece.” He bust out laughing.

“I’m your only niece,” Twilight deadpanned. Soon after, she realized the joke and grinned sheepishly, turning to her friends. “Alright girls, load up! It’s time to track down the oldest being known to pony kind!”





On the long flight, the group constantly offered what assistance they could to Twilight as she tried over and over to perfect every last mote of mana used for the spell. Despite her constant restatements of how awake and alert she was, Twilight fell asleep first when the group stopped over on a mesa for the night.





Around midday on the morrow, the group landed in front of a large cave. The mouth seemed natural enough until Twilight took a few steps inside. The entire opening had been carved out of solid rock, leaving the walls smooth and glossy from the immense magical energy it must have taken to do so. With a touch, Rainbow Dash found the walls still hot to the touch. “There’s no way a pony could have done this.”

As she stared down into the belly of the beast, she reminded herself of Gestalt’s true name. If she worked it right, she could separate the being from Shining Armor and temporarily chain it to the physical realm. Ud’lufuce, Ud’lufuce, Ud’lufuce...