//------------------------------// // 6. Passacaglia in the Library // Story: Awakening // by solocitizen //------------------------------// Awakening Solocitizen 6. Passacaglia in the Library Present Day There was no gravity. Lumina floated away from the green turf beneath her while her legs scrambled in vain to touch the ground. The warmth of the midday sun rained down her back, and the scent of lavender sailed on the wind. The oddest part about the situation was that Lumina didn’t know how she got there. She didn’t gradually wake up in that mess, nor did she make any kind of transition. She was just there, in the middle of the action, like in a dream. “Oh my, do you need help?” asked a voice above her. So timid and sweet, she put Lumina’s fears at ease. “You should really stop fighting it and think about the ground.” She tried to turn her head to look up at the airborne creature, but she couldn’t crank her head around enough to get a good look at it. Feathered wings turned the air above Lumina and fanned little gusts of wind in her direction. The more and more she thought about the creature and its voice, the more and more she drifted toward it. As she drew closer, vibrations trickled through her and shook her very core. Lumina’s mind wandered into thoughts of spinning, and she started to rotate. “Wow, what’s happening?” Lumina flailed her hooves. But they had no effect. She spun over her head and stopped facing the fluttering voice. “What?” A yellow pegasus hovered above Lumina. Her mane was the softest shade of pink, and combed in just the right way to hide a good portion of her face. And she was flying. Her wings were actually flapping and sustained her in the air. “You’re flying?” Lumina gasped. “That’s not a problem, is it?” The pegasus started to hide behind her own forelegs, but then lowered them again. “Well, I think it might be, seeing how ponies can’t fly.” “Um, if you don’t mind me pointing out, you’re flying right now.” Lumina glanced over at the grass beneath her. “I’m trying not to think about that.” Lumina flicked her tail back and forth. “Maybe you’re not ready to fly yet,” said the pegasus. “Maybe you should keep your hooves on the ground, at least until you get used to it. It’s okay though, I bet you’ll pick it up a lot faster than I did. Try thinking about floating down until you touch the ground.” Lumina gulped, then breathed in, and out, and concentrated on reversing the sensations flowing through her. She focused her thoughts on the firm earth below and didn’t let her mind wander. Sure enough, Lumina started drifting toward the ground. Soon she was lying on her back with little blades of grass flicking in her ears. The pegasus landed less than a meter away from her, and loomed her bright pink and yellow head over Lumina. “There, is that better?” she asked Lumina. “I think so,” Lumina said. “At least I’m not weightless any more.” “But you are weightless, you’re just not floating right now because you told yourself not to.” Lumina ignored that last statement. Moving proved a lot more difficult than she thought. Whatever that place was, the traditional concepts of locomotion didn’t apply there. No matter how much Lumina commanded her body to move it stayed put. “I’m afraid that doesn’t work here,” said the pegasus. “You have to visualize what you want to do instead of, you know, actually trying to do it. You can do it, though, give it a try.” Lumina breathed in, and created a mental image of herself standing on all fours. That time she floated off her back and spun in the air until she completed a one-hundred and eighty degree arc, before landing on her own hooves, just as she imagined. “Wow.” Lumina stared at her hoof, and watched as it rose off the ground after merely picturing it moving. “I’m going to need to relearn the basics.” “Walking and flying aren’t that hard, it just takes a little getting used to.” The yellow pegasus grinned with her eyes closed. “You’re picking things up really quick. I’m sure you’ll be walking and flying around in no time.” The mind commanded the body, the body obeyed, and that was how body and mind moved through the world. But not there. In order to move, the mind must command itself, but the problem was that the mind wasn’t used to obeying. Stray thoughts, lack of clear visualization, and self doubt all hindered Lumina and her early attempts at the simple act of walking. The pegasus commented on Lumina’s struggle to put one hoof in front of the other, often with reassurances such as “you rock,” and “way to go, just a little more,” or even “woo-hoo.” After she mastered walking, Lumina took the opportunity to study her surroundings. From what she could tell, she was in a field that stretched out endlessly in every direction. She raised a hoof to shield her eyes from the midday sun and scanned the heavens. The sky overhead was full of churning clouds that flowed and swirled together, and feigned the shapes of temples of grand buildings before dispersing and reforming again. Lumina stared directly into the sun, but instead of burning her eyes, it filled her with an intangible warmth. “The sky here is so, I don’t know, there’s something majestic about it.” She lowered her hoof away from her eyes. “I know, and it’s amazing to fly in,” said the pegasus. “Which is odd coming from me. I’m not exactly a very strong flyer.” A symbol on the pegasus’s flank caught Lumina’s attention, she recognized it from her storybook. Three fluttering butterflies, Fluttershy’s own emblem and cutie mark. Lumina galloped along side the pegasus to get a clear view of her flank, and froze in shock. “Is there something wrong?” asked the pegasus. “You were doing really, really, well. I think you’ve just about mastered walking, and you could probably try flying, that is, if you like.” “Why is that on your flank?” Lumina pointed a hoof at the three butterflies. “That?” The pegasus followed Lumina’s gaze to her rear. “Oh that, that’s my cutie mark. I forgot you’ve never seen one before. You see, when a pony figures out her special talent--” “I know how the fairy tale goes!” Lumina stomped her hooves and marched forward. Her aggressive posture and raised voice frightened the pegasus into hiding behind her own mane and forehooves. “What I want to know is, why is that particular symbol on your flank? Where am I, and what is going on here?” “Be-be-because it’s my special talent.” The pegasus quivered with fright and lowered her voice with each word. “I’m, um, well, really good with animals.” “Just who are you, exactly?” Overcome with fright, the pegasus couldn’t meet Lumina’s eyes for more than a fleeting pass, and didn’t even raise her wings in a defensive stance. Instead she backed up and quivered. If she could retreat into the earth, she would have. “My name is Fluttershy.” The pegasus spoke just above a whisper. “But that’s impossible, you’re dead.” Lumina took a step back and shifted all her weight onto her hind legs. Her front hoof lifted from the ground, primed to swing to her left and propel her out of there. Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t. The vibrations flowing over Lumina took a sharp turn in frequency, and a vortex of purple light flashed into being beside her. It burst open with a snap about five meters away. The entire phenomenon occurred within a second. She darted back a step, but something inside her told her not to run, and she relaxed. In place of the vortex stood a purple unicorn, she held herself with confidence well earned, and her flank was marked with a magenta star. Right away Lumina recognized the pony. “Twilight Sparkle?” Lumina’s jaw dropped, and after the initial shock wore off her eyes found the ground, and her body language closed up. “What’s wrong?” Twilight trotted forward and put a hoof on Lumina’s shoulder. “I thought you’d be much happier to see us.” “I am, don’t get me wrong, but this is all so expected.” Lumina’s eyes never left the turf. “You’re here, Fluttershy is here. I don’t know. It’s too perfect. It’s exactly what I would dream about if I could choose. I’m really sorry, but I...” “I understand,” Twilight said. “Are we still, you know, friends?” Lumina forced herself to pick her head up and make eye contact with Twilight. “Of course. That will never change.” Twilight and Lumina pulled each other in for a hug, and the two held each other close before backing away. Lumina’s eyes lit up. Fluttershy cantered up along side them and pawed at the ground. “Well, um, unless you need me for anything else, I think I’ll just be going,” she said. “Thank you, Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “I’m glad somepony was here in time to meet my friend. I’ll stop by for some tea a little later.” “Thank you for helping me out.” Lumina put a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder, but the mare tensed up, and Lumina quickly put her hoof down. “Sorry.” “I’m glad I could help,” said Fluttershy. “If you’ll excuse me though, Twilight has a lot to talk to you about. Also, I need to check up on another pony.” And with that, Fluttershy vanished with a snap and a flash. “That’s so strange,” Lumina said to Twilight. “How do you ponies keep doing that? I thought that only unicorns could do magic, at least that’s what I was always heard.” “Come, along Lumina.” Twilight Sparkle motioned at a dirt path leading through the grass field. “I’ve got a lot I need to tell you.” Through the grass, and over the trail, Twilight guided Lumina. Little bugs chirped in the grass, and the smell of flowers wafted up from the ground. A strong breeze flowed through the grass and whistled in Lumina’s ear. For a brief second as it passed, she felt a tinge of weightlessness. She planted both her hooves on the ground and cast her gaze upward at the endless sky. “I know this is probably just a dream or hallucination, but I want to hear your explanation for where we are exactly, and for why you and I are talking, even though you have been dead for the last eleven thousand years or so,” said Lumina. “Actually, just skip to how I can save Animus.” “I’ll start with where we are first, and then work my way up to how you’re going to save your friend.” Twilight dragged her eyes away from the trail every now and again to glance at Lumina, but she never slowed or paused. “Right now, we’re in the magical plane. You can think of the physical world like the stage at a theater. The magical plane is the backstage, at least as far as you’re concerned. Whenever a pegasus walks on a cloud, or a unicorn levitates an object, or an earth pony grows a plant from seed they make it happen here first. The same is true for much more mundane things too, like writing a book or building something new. Most of the time ponies aren’t even aware that they’re using the magical plane.” Just ahead of them, purple light rolled up the path, and replaced the dirt trail with fresh bricks. It stopped right at Twilight’s hooves. She stepped onto the bricks and continued without taking notice. “Did you just do that?” Lumina recoiled from the brick trail. “Yes, and it wasn’t even that difficult,” said Twilight. “Anything you imagine becomes reality, which makes magic a whole lot easier. Anypony can fly or teleport or make their own little world just by thinking about it. Pretty neat, huh?” After testing the path with her hoof, Lumina stepped onto the bricks, and caught up with Twilight. “Could I, you know, make some pony appear?” Lumina asked. “Yes, but you won’t be able to interact with her.” Twilight Sparkle turned around. “At least not with your current knowledge of magic. Go ahead, I bet you know what to do.” Her mother’s smile, the flicker in her eyes, and her wonderfully pink coat. Lumina closed her eyes and poured every detail she could remember about her mother into her mind’s eye, and when the image was complete, that familiar tingling sensation filled her horn. When Lumina opened her eyes again, there stood her mother. Age and stress took its toll on her, but her smile and that little light in her eyes was unchanged. She was standing on her hind legs, with her front hooves propped up on an invisible table, and her eyes darting across pages on an unseen book. Lumina’s mother scooted down the table, picked an invisible object up with her mouth, and set it down beside her book. Lumina watched, half in delight and half in sorrow. “How come I can’t see any of her environment?” she asked. “Your perception alters reality. The things you want to see and what you’re familiar with changes the spell,” said Twilight. “We’re actually in the middle of a magical downtown Ponyville right now. You can’t see it because you’re not open to seeing it yet. The same goes for my wings; I was actually a princess for a while.” “Is there any chance that she can see me?” The projection of Lumina’s mother paused in her work, and glanced over her shoulder. She looked to her left and aimed her gaze right at her, but only for a brief second, and then she was back to work. “Never mind, I don’t need to know,” said Lumina. Dark swirls danced around the image of Lumina’s mother, and then the projection flickered out. It hurt to watch, but seeing her for that fleeting minute was worth the pain. Lumina tore herself away from thoughts of her parents and forced herself to look away. “I’m sorry, but did you just say you had wings?” Lumina raised an eyebrow and made a question gesture with her hoof. “That can’t be right; there was never any mention in any of the stories that you were a princess.” “My point exactly.” The purple unicorn sighed, and rolled her eyes. "If you've convinced yourself somepony is a unicorn, then you will never see an alicorn when you look at them. It doesn't matter too much, though, because what you think of me doesn't change who I am." Lumina shook her head and flicked her hoof in the air as if she was shooing away a pesky bug. “We’re getting off topic,” she said. “You said that if I came here, that you would tell me how to save my friend. If I don’t do something quick, he’s going to die. So, what do I have to do?” “I was never trying to keep the solution from you.” Twilight Sparkle aimed her sympathetic eyes right at Lumina. “You wouldn’t be open to even hearing what we had to say unless you came here first. That, and my teacher wants to tell you that in person.” “So when do I get to talk to this pony?” Lumina said. “Can we teleport over to her? The sooner I talk to her, the sooner I can get back to my ship and save his life.” Twilight looked straight up at the sun, without covering her eyes or squinting. “She’s up there.” Twilight pointed up. “When you’re ready to speak with her, start floating up to the sun. I’ll be right behind you the entire time.” More floating, Lumina hated the thought, but Animus’s life was on the line. With a deep breath in, and a deep breath out, she closed her eyes, and conjured up the sensation of ascending up and up. When she opened her eyes again, she was floating away from the ground with her legs dangling in the air. Twilight Sparkle hovered in the air beside her. “It’s great that you’re giving flying another try,” she said. “I’m surprised to see you trying again so quickly.” “Flying is something I don’t think I can get used to, unless I’m in a ship, of course,” Lumina said. “If the only way to save Animus is by floating, then sign me up. I’ve lost a lot of ponies I cared about, and I’m not losing another.” As the two mares drew closer and closer to the sun, a new high frequency of magic washed over Lumina. The sensations intensified and pulsed through her very core. The light from the sun enveloped everything in a white glare. Twilight vanished in the flare, but Lumina was still aware of her presence on an intangible level. What happened next Lumina didn’t see, smell, hear, taste, nor feel. She just experienced events using the very essence of her being. The sun opened before her like a blooming flower, and as she kept pushing herself forward, the sun's petals arced over her being and joined back together. There was geometry and an endless space ahead of her, all of which fractaled and spun and blossomed again. There was an intelligence, too, which reached out to Lumina with welcoming intent. She accepted its invitation, and allowed the boundaries of herself to blur together with the shapes and the magic around her. At that moment she became aware that her body back in the Luna Dream had toppled over. Her eyes rolled back and were fluttering open and shut. She was panting and quivering. She watched herself for a moment, and then fell into the heart of the sun. The scent of old books emerged out of the flowering space and teased at her nose. * * * Lumina’s eyes darted to book shelves on her left and right, and then down. She floated centimeters above a white stone floor, and with a little bit of effort, she lowered herself onto all fours. She arrived at this place the same way she entered the magical plane: floating and in the middle of the action. Faint music played somewhere nearby. Violins, maybe, but it was too faint to tell. “Hello? Twilight!” Lumina called out. Bookshelves, and the white stonewalls behind them, reached up until they faded into blue sky. She was in the library, just as she envisioned as a filly, and standing there at that moment, it felt right. Actually, it was better than ‘right,’ the experience was nothing short of euphoric. She was meant to stand there now, amongst the books and sky and the music. Then she remembered her book, and her vision of the place as a filly, and then her stomach turned over and her heart knotted up. She studied the place in fine detail, and compared it to her memories, but in the end, Lumina failed to reach any conclusion on if the library was real or not. Embedded in the high walls were stained glass works, identical to those in her storybook. They caught the sun and breathed color into the events depicted in the images, such as The Banishment of Nightmare Moon and The First Discord Crisis. As far as Lumina knew, these events were arranged in chronological order, and as she cantered off down the hall, she hit The Fall of Magic, and in the next window over, Equestria sank into the ocean. After that centuries of war and chaos followed, and then came The Advent of High Technology and the three tribes reached for the stars. Further down The Great War and The Colonial Rebellions were depicted in orange and crimson. The last ten thousand years had been bloody. No matter where Lumina wandered, the music followed her, and always just far enough away to keep the details of its melody hidden. “She’s gotta be around here somewhere.” Lumina heard Twilight’s voice echo off the chamber walls, followed by the clippity-clop of hooves on stone. “I’m really sorry about this. I didn’t think I’d lose her coming up. For pony’s sake, where did she go?” “It’s quite alright, Twilight Sparkle, she’ll turn up soon enough,” said a second voice Lumina recognized. Where exactly she remembered it from, she couldn’t tell. It was mellow and soft, but authority hid just behind the words. A distant part of her recognized it. “I believe she’s listening to us as we speak.” “Hey, I’m over here!” Lumina shouted. She tried to leap above the bookshelves to get a glimpse of the other pony, but didn’t catch any more than the sight of more bookshelves. The hoof steps stopped, and when she checked around the next corner, the most radiant pony she had ever seen stood tall before her. She was both a pegasus and a unicorn. Only three ponies in Lumina’s storybook had both a unicorn’s horn and the wings of a pegasus. Even when her perfect white coat and her aurora mane wasn’t taken into account, the way she held herself, with overwhelming authority softened by benevolence and wisdom, quickly eliminated the other two princesses. Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria, and harbinger of the sun. Every fairy tale and bedtime story Lumina ever heard referenced her in one way or another. She stepped back and gasped in awe. She was also a great deal taller and longer than anypony Lumina had ever met. “Enjoying my library?” Celestia asked. “You’re Princess Celestia!” Lumina looked her up and down. “You’re a lot bigger than I imagined.” Twilight Sparkle popped out from around a bookshelf behind Celestia; she bit her lower lip and shook her head at the words. “I haven’t heard that one in a long time.” Princess Celestia laughed a little, and Twilight sighed in relief. “It’s so lovely to finally meet you in person. My faithful student, Twilight, was not sure if you were ready to come here, but I had confidence in your ability to reach this place.” “My abilities?” Lumina asked. “Are you sure that you aren’t confusing me with somepony else? I’m the most unmagical unicorn you could find, and I’m still on the fence if magic is even real or not.” “You shouldn’t dismiss your talent so easily.” Celestia motioned for Lumina to follow her. Lumina and Twilight obliged. “You see, I’ve been watching you very closely. Ever since you were very small. I know about how you started mastering levitation when you were just a foal, and I know about how your talents led to therapy that sealed off your magical side.” “I don’t blame any psychiatrist for anything in my life,” said Lumina. “I used to, at one point, but not any more.” “And neither do I.” Celestia ruffled her feathered wings and led the other two ponies through an intersection. “Therapy helps millions of ponies deal with the struggles of this era, but that wasn’t what you needed to take advantage of the moment. Simply put, it wasn’t an experience that you wanted.” "I’m sorry, but how do you know?” Lumina put her hoof down, forcing the other two ponies to stop. “I get Twilight, she’s had a back door into my head since forever, but I don’t understand how you know. Has Twilight been writing letters about me?” “I’m surprised you didn’t explain me away as a part of your subconscious, and naturally privy to such information,” said the princess. Lumina opened her mouth and started gesturing with her hoof, but then stopped mid motion, and furrowed her eyebrows at the floor. Meanwhile Celestia slighted a smile. “I guess I wanted to hear my subconscious justify itself,” Lumina said. “During my time as ruler, my most important station was watching over my little ponies. Although I couldn’t intervene in the lives of each of my subjects, I would have spent the entirety of my days helping each of them if I could. After my reign came to an end, I was put in charge of keeping this library, and from here I continued my role as guardian. I watch the lives of every mare, stallion, and foal unfold before me. Each one is worth protecting. But I’ve also been watching for ponies such as yourself: those with the capacity to fill some very important roles.” A bird called from far across the library, and Lumina glanced in its direction to try and snag a glimpse of it, but saw nothing. She spotted a leather bound edition of Abel’s Island resting on its pages atop a bookshelf. “Have you really?” Lumina pawed at the ground with a hoof, then raised her head and narrowed her eyes at Celestia. “I mean, you say that you’ve been watching us and acting like some sort of protector, but do you even know what’s going on in the galaxy today? Arion is occupied by the Pegasus Empire, our homeworld burns, the griffon race is shattered, and the three pony tribes are fighting a war that claims thousands of lives every day. You say that you’re a magical guardian, but I say that you’re not doing your job at all!” “Lumina!” Twilight gasped and galloped over to her. “What are you thinking? You can’t talk to the princess like that.” “I’m thinking about how I watched my world die, and pony kind may be coming to an end, but I will die on a Discord-forsaken ball of ice long before then.” Lumina stomped a hoof. “Twilight Sparkle, she has every right to be upset.” Princess Celestia raised her voice, but only ever so slightly. “The truth is that Lumina is correct, in many ways I am powerless to prevent the suffering that has fallen on pony kind. As Twilight Sparkle said earlier, the magical realm is only a backstage. The healing of the galaxy, if it is to be done at all, must be done in the physical realm. The most I can do is nudge ponies into waking up to the magic of friendship, and to expedite the arrival of ponies such as yourself. There is a plan in motion but I can not execute it.” “There you go again implying I’m something special.” Lumina turned her back on Princess Celestia and Twilight. Her eyes found the floor. “Crazy, most likely. Special? Not in particular. I thought flying starships was my thing, something I was cut out for, but just look at how that turned out.” She kept her eyes low and kicked at the floor with a hoof. “Whatever plan you have worked out, I don’t think I’d be able to help. I can’t even help myself or the few ponies close to me. “What were you expecting me to do anyway?” Lumina circled back around to face the Princess. “Like what, were you expecting me to be an Element of Harmony or something?” Neither Princess Celestia nor her faithful student spoke, but Twilight’s eyes widened and her ears shot up in excitement. Celestia tilted her head inquisitively. “What?!” Lumina backed up and shook her head at the alicorn in front of her. “No, no, no, no. You must have made some kind of mistake. I’m not a bearer of an Element of Harmony. I lie, I’m mean, I’m not exactly loyal or an optimist, and I’m not any more generous than the next pony. Unless, I’m not any one of those, but that would make me--” Twilight Sparkle threatened a grin. “No, I am definitely not the embodiment of magic, that’s impossible.” Lumina tried to laugh, but a nervous heat rising through her prevented the chuckle from escaping. “For starters, magic isn’t real.” “You are special, but not more so than anypony else,” said Celestia. “We all make choices about who we are, and a very important one is ahead of you. I’m not saying if magic is or isn’t real. I also never said if you were an Element. That was entirely your idea, and a choice that has presented itself to you. “I have a question for you, Lumina; do you have enough self-love to truly listen to yourself and figure out what you think on those matters, or are you waiting for somepony to figure those out for you? Lumina, are you the Element of Magic or aren’t you?” “I don’t know.” Lumina backed away and raised her front hoof to turn and run. The heat building in her brought her ears to an uncomfortable temperature. Her careful breathing devolved into erratic panting. “I just don’t know!” Lumina spun away from the two ponies and galloped down the library aisle. A short distance away, she found an alcove in the wall and collapsed into a little ball. She traced the grooves in the floor with a hoof and absent eyes. The other two ponies showed up later. “I’m not an ideal pony, I’m not some paragon of pony kind,” she said. “I don’t think I’m the mare for the job. This last week I tried so hard to change, but today I nearly killed an alien out of spite. I can’t believe I almost did that to another sentient being. I just don’t know if I can let go. That, and I don’t know the first thing about magic. I don’t even have a cutie mark. I’m not the kind of pony that can take on an entire galaxy!” Twilight Sparkle sat down next to Lumina, and wrapped a front leg over her shoulder. She looked up at her. “All we want is for you to be yourself,” Twilight said. “We’re not asking you to change overnight. In fact, we’re not even asking you to change at all. Follow your heart, know yourself, and love yourself, that’s all we want from you. The best thing you can do to help the galaxy are those simple things.” “And you will not be without friends.” Celestia laid down on her legs right next to Lumina. Even at this level she towered above Lumina and Twilight. “I will provide whatever assistance I can, and I know my student will do everything in her power to help. Your mother, your father, your friends on Arion, and that computer living in your ship, are all cheering you on. You also have five of the best friends anypony could ask for waiting for you in known space. The hardest task ahead of you is embracing who you are, once you’ve done that, the rest will fall into place.” The sun over the library set, and once the last of its light trickled out, the sky gave birth to millions upon millions of tiny lights. So many stars filled the sky as they lit up the library and illuminated the stained glass. A breeze moved through the library carrying the scent of old books. “The crazy thing is, the idea that I’m an Element of Harmony doesn’t sound so insane.” Lumina picked herself off the floor some. “Maybe this is what I’m supposed to do. I don’t know. I want to believe I could be that kind of pony, but when I tried to grow and forgive and let go, something little got in the way and I couldn’t do it. Why did all this happen now, right after everything fell to pieces?” “Nothing happens before it’s ready,” said Celestia. “That’s just the way it is.” Keeping her head low, Lumina pulled herself off the floor, and paced to and fro between the bookshelves. She looked to her hooves, then at Celestia, and then to Twilight, before finally turning her eyes back to her hooves. Lumina breathed in and exhaled. “I don’t want to run away from myself any more.” Lumina pulled her eyes from the floor and met Celestia’s gaze. “If that’s all I have to do, then yes, I’ll be the Element of Magic.” “That is a decision about who you are only you can make.” Celestia rose up, unfurled her wings, and nodded at a point further down the library. “I am glad that you are finally starting to listen to yourself. Now, there is the matter of your friend, Animus, and your way home. That is why you came here, is it not?” A sharp pain shot through Lumina’s heart, and forced the air out of her lungs. She gasped for breath and clutched her chest, the pain spread outward throughout her whole body and she clamped her eyes shut. The pain faded, and Lumina relaxed and opened her eyes. “Are you alright, Lumina?” Princess Celestia asked. “Yeah, I’m okay.” She set her hooves down, straightened up, and held her head up. “I think I’m going to be okay.” Lumina and Twilight followed Celestia through the library to a circular clearing. A looking glass, filled to the edge with water, rested mid-air in the center of the clearing. Celestia turned her gaze to a scroll tucked away on a bookshelf as a yellow light enveloped both her horn and the scroll, and it rose from its place and floated toward Celestia in one elegant motion. She stood before the looking glass with the scroll unwound as it hovered in front of her. “This library has many names and as many keepers,” she said. “A copy of every book ever written, and every book never written, is contained here along with a record of every moment experienced in history. Both of what has occurred and what has yet to come.” The symbols on the scroll didn’t match anything Lumina had ever seen. They looked, well, alien. They glowed a bright yellow, and with a nod from Celestia, they swayed off the parchment and drifted into the water. “Millions of years ago, the world you crashed on was home to two great tribes.” As Celestia spoke the water rippled, and the image in the looking glass morphed into scenes of mighty cities adrift upon an endless ocean. Lumina sniffed and took in the scent of sea air. “They were called the Nasharis and the Nash’To, and they were the creators and the created. For a long time there was peace between the two.” Red light flashed across the looking glass, and the sprawling ocean cities were replaced with broken ruins consumed in fire. Aircraft filled the sky and rained metal down on figures scrambling for cover. Fumes from the fires mixed with the salt in the air. “The harmony did not last and war engulfed both tribes. They battled for resources, over ideologies, and for no other reason than they were different. There was no room for friendship in any of their hearts.” The entire looking glass flared yellow, and the boom and rumbling of an explosion followed. When the glare cleared, mushroom clouds dotted the ocean. “In time they resorted to the most desperate of measures to destroy one another, and their planet was lost. It froze to death under a cloud of ash. However there were those who saw the end coming, and made preparations to begin life again after the fallout.” Now the looking glass showed the lattice-work ceiling in the alien ruin. Pale light filtered down from the gaps in the metal canopy, and lit the way for hundreds of machines that slithered, crawled, and strode along the floor. “They built it knowing that their oceans would freeze under the cloud,” said Celestia. “They hoped that someday after the skies cleared and the radiation dissipated, someone could use it to breath life back into their planet. It was designed to warm the oceans and send trillions of tiny plants and animals into the air, and they even left a sentinel behind to wait for the perfect day to use their machine.” “That’s the centipede, isn’t it?” Lumina asked. “So if that’s the all-wise-and-benevolent guard of a big terraforming engine, why did it try to kill me?” “For the past four million years, she’s been feasting on the memories of those that died in the war, and she’s been reliving those events all this time. She doesn’t trust organics anymore and doesn’t want to see them growing on the surface again.” “But you can restore her with a memory spell.” Twilight stepped around to the other side of the looking glass and propped herself on her hind legs. “Once you do that she’ll be her old self again in no time. I had to do this to my friends once, I can show you how it’s done.” “Okay, but how does any of this help me save my friend?” Lumina asked. “The machines that built this device also included a brief record of their civilization,” said Twilight. “Which so happens to include a vault filled with spare robots. Each is as blank as a fresh sheet of paper. With the sentinel’s help you can download Animus into one of those.” Lumina tried to imagine him as a giant centipede, and shivered at the thought, however it still sounded a lot better than him dying. “You have to understand, bringing life back to this world is the single most important thing you will ever do.” Celestia flapped her wings. “The tasks ahead of you as an Element of Harmony are important, but they will never rival the importance of seeding this world with life. One day, civilizations will crawl out of the oceans of this world and build cities that will span the stars. Long before my reign, unicorns like yourself raised and lowered the sun. The sun must shine on this world again, and it is well within your power to bring its warmth.” “I’m not sure if I can do that.” Lumina gazed down into the looking glass. “I’m terrified of running into that thing again. Not just because it’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen, but also because of what I might do. Earlier today, I tried to kill it, but not because my life was in danger, I was just angry and wanted it dead. What if I do something like that again?” “You will just have to trust yourself to make the right decision.” Celestia extended her wings and gave Lumina a warm grin. “I have every confidence that you will when the time comes.” The image in the looking glass faded back to light reflecting off water, and the words from the scroll ascended up from the water and reattached themselves to the scroll. Celestia rolled the scroll back up and deposited it back in a bookshelf. “Unfortunately, time does not permit us to continue our conversation.” Celestia flapped her wings in quick succession. “I must attend to matters elsewhere, and you have a friend that needs your help. It was lovely meeting you, and feel free to stop by anytime.” “Wait, what?” Lumina took a few quick steps forward. “I’m not going anywhere, not until you tell me how to get my spaceship back in the sky, and what about the other elements, how do I find them? Don’t I need a cutie mark before I try anything magical? Isn’t that the way the legend goes?” “I’m sorry but nopony gets all the answers all at once,” said Celestia. “For the rest of those, you’ll just have to wait and find out for yourself. I must warn you though, there are those out there who do not wish to see the Elements return, and they will do everything in their power to prevent it.” “That ship that attacked Luna Dream, it’s coming back for me, isn’t it?” “I won’t shield you from the truth. They are an ancient foe and you will see a lot more of them in the years to come.” “I’m not going to try and hide it,” Lumina said. “If they come back, I don’t know what I will do. Animus and I were completely defenseless against them when showed up last time. I don’t think we can survive another attack.” Celestia ruffled her wings and raised her head. “The assistance we are able to provide is quite limited,” she said. “I can only do for you what I can do for anypony who consents to my aid and who can open themselves enough to receive it. However, I will intervene on your behalf once, and only once. After that, you will be expected to climb your hurdles without my intervention. Now, you must go.” “Oh, and you’ll need this.” Twilight Sparkle levitated a scroll off a bookshelf and thrust it into Lumina’s hooves. “I’ll be there for you anytime you need me. Just go easy on yourself from now on, okay?” She gave Lumina a little hug then took her place by Celestia’s side. Lumina kept her eyes on Twilight, but then she started shifting upwards. When Lumina looked down, her hind legs were sinking into the floor. The vibrations that pulsed against her climbed down in frequency, and when her torso reached the stone, the weight of it crushed and remolded Lumina’s form. She clung to the scroll in her hooves, breathed deep, and let the floor pull the rest of her down. Her horn was the last part of her to remain in Celestia’s library, and when it descended into the stone she plummeted down, through the darkness of her eyes and into some confining space. Thank you Twilight, she remembered thinking. Thank you for everything. * * * Something cold pressed against Lumina, and when she opened her eyes to meet it, her vision blurred metal grating and electronics together. Lumina picked herself up off the grated floor. It left an impression on her chest and face. The space in her heart ached a little, but the pain subsided. Her body felt as heavy and unwieldy as a starship. Cold sweat covered every centimeter of her. The music that played during Lumina’s time in Celestia’s library was gone. She was back on the Luna Dream, in the AI core room, just as she left herself. The vibrations of magic never completely vanished, they persisted and trickled in through her horn and filled the rest of her body. Lumina glanced at her flank; still no cutie mark or anything else to prove her journey, for that matter. Damn. Lights below her flashed; it was a warning light on Animus’s computer core. Lumina galloped out of the AI core and toward the nearest equipment locker. She had work to do.