//------------------------------// // Discovery // Story: A Nightmare to Remember // by Cereal Velocity //------------------------------// That's the thing with magic. You've got to know it's still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you. Charles de Lint Sometimes, Twilight Sparkle simply loved living in a library. The purple pony looked around herself for the first time in what seemed like hours, and gazed at the absolute mess she had made. Abandoned, open books were piled as far as she could see, pages splayed open to whatever subject she had been perusing when another tome had caught her eye. The shelves of the library, lit only by several sputtering candles, were looking rather bare at this point. This was one of her nightly rituals; once the sun had set and Luna had brought the moon to bear upon the landscape of Equestria, Twilight would retreat into her library home and unwind by locking her door and researching a subject that interested her. There was certainly no shortage of material- as small a town as Ponyville was, it still sported an impressively well-stocked selection of valuable references, something that had delighted Twilight when she had first arrived. It didn’t compare to the royal libraries in Canterlot, of course, but it made the town feel a little more like home. The mare rubbed her eyes with an elbow. At the moment, she was hoof-deep in whatever books on magic she could find. Arcane studies was one of her favorite fallback topics. When she couldn’t find anything else interesting, she would read about unicorn magic. Sometimes her research would reveal an interesting tidbit to help her in her own magic use, or perhaps unfold a fantastic tale of the ancient magicians who had pioneered the art. She couldn’t get enough of it; it was her bread and butter. The book currently occupying her attention was written in several languages, including some she didn’t recognize, but that didn’t stop her from trying to decipher it anyway. As far as she could tell, it was a spell book, probably copied from many old scrolls and bound together to make it easier to read. The worn leather cover was plain and black, with a gold leaf trim, and there was no title or other identifying information on the spine. She had fallen in love with the book as soon as she had found it in the endless stacks. It had a mysterious air about it, as if she were holding something extremely powerful. It even smelled good. She had, after about an hour of trying to read the pages, found one that had begun to make sense to her tired eyes. It was definitely a page for a spell, but she couldn’t make out the title of it, and, unlike some of the others, there was no illustration. The procedure for casting it was also extremely long, and mostly incomprehensible. The one thing on the page that she did understand, and the part that captured her attention the most, was the spell’s result. It read: Energies alternate and barriers are demolished. Living substance is rendered inconsequential. All besides is ravished by forces seemingly extradimensional and corporeally unknowable. Transposing this spell leaves the caster as a silent and solitary witness to forever. Twilight’s heart pounded as she read the passage over and over, her imagination playing over what such an event would look like. Surely this spell would require a magician of great power to perform. She toyed with the idea of trying the incantation blindly, but stopped herself almost immediately. Such a thing was surely out of her abilities. And yet she couldn’t stop staring at the page, looking at the symbols of the ancient text, and letting her mind's eye run wild. So enthralled she had been with the page, she hadn’t noticed how late it had become. Her candles had snuffed themselves out one by one as she read, and she was surprised when the last one went out, leaving her in total darkness, unable to see her book. She blinked a few times, and magically lit one of her lanterns. Maybe that was her cue to get some sleep. She got up from her sitting position, stretched her legs, and started to head in the direction of her bed. She stopped, though, and looked at the open book on the floor, seemingly nestled in the countless other volumes. It seemed to stare back at her, inviting her to read more. After a moment, she decided to keep it where it was. In the morning, she said to herself, I will try to figure that spell out. Twilight climbed her ladder, lifted the sheets aside, and crawled into bed, putting her head on the pillow with a contented sigh. Despite her mind still running wild with possibilities, she was asleep instantly. *** The purple pony found herself high upon a castle rampart, looking out between stone murder holes upon a distant, rolling landscape. In the sky above her was neither sun nor moon, but a dusky haze of fiery, luminescent scarlet, casting the entire countryside in deep, bloody shadows. Far in the distance, as far as she could see, Twilight saw equine figures dressed in silver, glimmering armor, wielding steel lances and shields, doing battle against black, amorphous shapes that could only be said to vaguely resemble horses. Behind the armored ponies were lines of terrifying wooden siege artillery, sending their flaming ordnance crashing down upon the shapes that were unlucky enough to be in the line of fire. Beside the siege weapons were lines of pony sharpshooters, each wearing saddle-mounted archery equipment. They fired into the line of shapes along with the larger missiles beside them. Magician unicorns lay the furthest back; their horns alight with power as they tried to turn the tide of the battle. Beside Twilight, similarly-equipped archery ponies were firing from the ramparts onto the battle below, trying to support the armored troops, seemingly oblivious to her presence. Despite their best efforts, the line of black shapes were slowly beating back the infantry and were advancing towards the artillery line, growing ever closer to the castle walls. Where am I? What is this? Twilight could only watch in horror at the scene before her, and did not notice at first when two ponies galloped to her side and yelled her name over the din of the battle. She turned to see Applejack and Fluttershy, both wearing similar armor, though theirs were scratched, dented, and stained with what looked like blood. One of Fluttershy’s wings was torn and held close to her side. “Twilight!” Applejack yelled, panting. Her voice seemed oddly muffled. “We’re out of time! You need to use it!” Use what? I don’t know what you’re talking about! You’re hurt- what happened? Are you okay? What’s going on? “No!” she found herself yelling, for reasons that remained a mystery to her. “I can’t!” Her vision flashed, blurred, the very sound around her skipped a beat, and when she opened her eyes before her stood two new ponies- Rarity and Pinkie Pie, wearing the same armor and sporting the same horrific injuries as the other two. “You have to!” Rarity shouted hoarsely. “They’re at the gates! You’re our last chance!” I’m the last chance for what?! “I can’t!” she found herself repeating. “I don’t know what will happen!” Another flash, another stutter in the world around her, and she saw before her Rainbow Dash, with a pleading, demanding look in her eyes. “Then we’re all going to die!” she screamed. Will somepony tell me what’s going on?! Instead of responding like she wanted to, Twilight found her body turning towards the battle below the ramparts. It was as if she wasn’t in control of herself any longer, if she had ever been to begin with. In the briefest moment of her conversation, the battle lines had drawn impossibly close to the castle, with barely any armored troops left between the black shapes and the gates. She could feel the thundering vibrations of hooves and the clashing of lances below her in her very bones. She closed her eyes and started incanting words she didn’t recognize, for reasons she didn’t understand. There was a precise sequence she was following, but whatever her mouth was doing, she didn’t know what it was. As she spoke, the sound around her dulled into nothing, but the vibrations remained, in an eerie reminder of what was occurring. She could feel her horn glowing with immense power, power she had never felt before. It coursed back from her horn through her body like waves of heat, and she timed her breathing to the pulses of energy as she spoke. It took only a minute. As she spoke the last words, the vibrations ceased. The sound, which had long hinted at leaving, came to an end as well. The world became silent and still around her, and the only thing she could hear was her own breathing. When she opened her eyes, she was no longer on the castle ramparts. She was in a world of inky black, facing one of the black pony shapes, who was a mere foot from her. Where a face should have occupied the head, there was nothing but a set of dead-looking eye sockets. It spoke. You have done well. *** Twilight’s eyes snapped open. She heaved a deep breath, but instantly recognized the library ceiling. She looked around herself, head whipping in all directions, eyes wide, heart beating like a jackhammer. The room was quiet, and it was still dark outside. It took several minutes of tense observation to convince herself that everything was okay. She swallowed, allowing herself to breathe normally. A dream. A nightmare. Once she knew she was safe, she moved with a purpose. She lit one of her candles, levitated it, and climbed back down her ladder. She quickly located the spell book she had left open in the middle of her pile. Lifting the book as well, she held the candle underneath the aged volume until it caught the flame. She watched as the dried pages slowly disintegrated into nothing. She returned to her bed only when she was sure there was nothing left of the book. Some things should stay forgotten.