Chapter Eight: “Hints of the Things to Come”
“Have you ever taken the time to notice how the birds have stopped singing, the insects have ceased chirping, and we all appear to be on edge? Ah, a storm is coming, is it? That’s always nice to know. Unlike nature though, there isn’t any fair warning for us before the cogs of fate begin turning, the winds of fortune are blowing, and the powers of fate are in the works, is there?” – Star Swirl the Bearded, Unicorn Prodigy
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“Believe in yourself, Twilight Sparkle…”
“What?”
“Believe in the impossible and it becomes that much more possible. Believe, won’t you?”
“Wait, who’s there? I don’t understand. Hello?”
Nothing horrible leaped forth from the shadows, nothing lunged from thin air, nothing remotely terrible threatened careful Twilight at all as she gingerly investigated the glowing blue room behind the self-opened door. If anything, apart for a whisper of an inviting voice that just barely reached her attentive ears, the only real discomforts she presently experienced were the doubts, confusions, as well as reluctances that were her own and gnawed at her gut as she trotted forward.
Regardless, with or without dramatics, even as a breathtakingly familiar scene unfolded before her eyes beyond the mysterious doorway, Twilight wisely kept some kind of guard up around herself in case of any possible trouble. As the most curiously intellectual raven had said of her back in the palace hall before disappearing forward, the Element of Magic had always been a smart pony and remained so even now by staying alert of her surroundings, by realizing that she could still be at risk of... well, anything. As for Canterlot Castle, she kept looking repeatedly back over her shoulder to make sure she still had the option of being able to turn around when desired. True, she was willing to press forward. However, as if her hooves were made of lead, she’d frozen half and half in the doorway.
Did Twilight really want to proceed into what she felt wasn’t right? Or did she want to remain – although not to her knowledge – in Luna’s perfect dream to talk to Cadance in the garden?
For this situation she was getting into, for listening to a three eyed bird, for following it through an ancient door, Ponyville’s princess admitted she might very well be out of her element. Quite honestly, she had no idea how correct she was in thinking so.
As foreseen by the secretly swirling powers of fortune around her , whether she participated in a dream or reality or something else entirely at the moment, Twilight would have always played it safe when investigating where the raven had traveled. No matter the smallness of the case, she would have had her advanced arcane abilities at the ready in case there were any hiding dangers ready to pounce against her.
Why she behaved in such a way seemed simple enough to figure out, no? She hadn’t made it to being royalty, she hadn’t beaten every one of her lethal enemies, by being ignorantly naive. Even as an Element of Harmony, it was common knowledge that one had to work their hardest to be victorious, to remain free, to keep breathing.
And so, naturally, Twilight had made a very good move by remaining cautious of the setting she was within. Considering her past, her settling into being defensive was to be presumed really. Her show of acute intelligence, of her awareness plus more, was why the winds of fortune had come to favor her above every other pony throughout Equestria. That was why she had been guided to parts long forgotten by normal mortals… to see glorious things that would undoubtedly drive most anypony to their, heh, wit’s end.
But insanity wasn’t inbound for the lavender alicorn. Oh no. She was much too witty, much too strong, to be driven mad by destiny’s call.
Fortunately for clueless Twilight, much like Luna, the forces that controlled the certain dream world that the she was melding into didn’t wish to see her done any real harm. In the first place, they didn’t wish to see anypony, any Equestrian, harmed. That was why they were subtly inviting Twilight into their domain, into their grasp, to provide her with the prophetic answers to dealing with the future’s dark threats and, as their uncertain guest was just inside the blue room for the most part, they hastily shut as well as sealed the gnarled door behind her with a heart jarring slam!
Now, the only way for the shaken alicorn to go was to come to them. Willing or not, their visitor could only move forward and, even as she attempted all kinds of powerful enchantments to reopen her way of exiting, the Element of Magic finally had to assume the same thing.
At that moment, there was no turning back for the supposedly almighty Princess Twilight Sparkle. There was no going to see the others in the garden. There was no more frolicking in the past when the present needed so much more critical attention. There was only the glowing room around her, the surroundings that practically appeared to be a night sky illuminated by the strongest of auroras, for her to explore. After comprehending this, the lavender alicorn did several things to help herself calm down before venturing on.
During the period where she tried to relax, heh, it was a bit funny of a thought of how her sleeping was becoming more unpredictable with age, how it was getting to be teeming more with nightmares then happy dreams nowadays. Truth be told, it was time that she joined the alicorn club in that regard. Celestia and Luna had probably had their fair share of such during their long lives as immortals. Maybe, even though not being as old as they, Cadance had dreamed about enough bad stuff too.
If anything, with how uncertain she felt, Twilight should have woken up by now, right? Yet, no, she couldn’t wake up. Not when she was unknowingly in the playground of the ancient forces of fortune! There were places to be explored, sights to be seen, secrets that needed revealing!
And who said she was in a nightmare, hm? Nothing bad had happened to her so far, had it? Nah, if she could actually be told the truthfulness of the matter, there was nothing that scary ahead. Just a lot of, ahem, partial madness or unbelievable things that would put the fabrics of her reality into question. Nothing serious… correct?
Nevertheless, what fun was there in revealing that secret stuff to her, in spoiling the tension that radiated off of her? Rather, it would be far better to observe the Element of Magic – she who had done the impossible time and time again – innocently make her way to where she needed to be, to see how she would handle each trial that would come in her direction meanwhile. All she had to do to get started was simply begin trotting ahead… which looked to be harder for her than one would think. Even with it solidly closed on her, she still had herself backed into the door like she was still hallway through it.
Simply put, it seemed Twilight wasn’t willing to tread anywhere yet. It looked like she was going to need a “nudge” of sorts.
“Hello? Uh, hello?”
When able to find her courage at last, when able to find her voice which echoed throughout the environment as if she were in a canyon, calling out was the first of several actions Twilight made to figure out her conundrum of being trapped. Her reason for shouting, obviously, was to try to decipher if she was truly alone or not. After all, somebody, something, had spoken to her when just entering, right? It had told her to believe in something. Believe in what was the real riddle.
When nobody, nothing, replied back to her call, Ponyville’s princess got the answer to the question of if she was alone or not. Indeed, amidst the foggy stars shining with multicolored lights, far up in the heavens somewhere, she was alone.
Where her three eyed blackbird of a guide had swooped off to, where its calling master resided, she couldn’t hardly begin to guess. All she could really do was attempt to stay calm, take in everything around her, try not to fall from the sky, and suddenly realize where she was next moment.
The blue room the self-opening door had led Twilight into couldn’t exactly be described as a room. It was more like she was in… heaven? Yes, heaven seemed the right way to put it. In fact, with the surrounding foggy night sky illuminated by the brightest of aurora lights around her, she abruptly came to comprehend that she was in another memorable place from her past!
It had literally been here that Twilight had earned the right to wear a crown, where she’d been told she’d made new magic, where Princess Celestia had guided her along through a series of memories from the earlier days in Ponyville when they’d been proud teacher as well as faithful student. Here, in the room or heaven or whatnot, was where the lavender alicorn’s days as a student had finally stopped and her becoming a princess had just begun. Here was why she’d even been given the chance to bond with Zeklathine’s princes, why Garm had wished to speak with her privately, why she was adored throughout all of Equestria!
With the newest comprehension about her surroundings clearly distinguished in her mind, Twilight couldn’t help but begin wondering through the other possibilities that faced her then.
For one, she was sure it was okay to proceed beyond the door. Now that she was aware of where precisely she was for the most part, she confidently knew there was in no danger of her freefalling into the gaping abyss below. If anything, ha ha, she could’ve just flown around from the beginning! Duh! When getting around to flexing them, she had kind of forgotten she had wings. Oops?
After confirming that, though, Ponyville’s princess next turned her thoughts onto the raven as well as its so called “master”. Who could they be? Where were they at? Wait, could it be that Celestia was the blackbird’s owner? Considering the surroundings and how mysterious the keeper of the sun could be, that seemed quite likely all of a sudden. Yet, no, that couldn’t be…
Hadn’t the three eyed bird said earlier that, after the princess of the sun had chosen her as a pupil, its own master wanted to help Twilight further her studies now? Wow, how confusing this all was getting to be! And, considering whom she was, that was saying something for the know it all Element of Magic who could figure out most anything!
Trying not to get a serious headache from the bewildering matter playing across her conscious, finally looking to venture forth into what was clearly a memorable place of hers, the purple alicorn tried her best to remain in control of her emotions. Naturally, the series of things occurring to her seemed a bit overwhelming. Unknown to her, they were only going to get worse than better. Yet, unlike anypony else, she had been readied since birth to overcome all odds. Even if she was dealing with fate, after all.
Regardless of knowing or not knowing what to expect, Twilight found that thinking about her hometown, of her friends, of her princesses, always worked the best in settling her nerves. At actually thinking of the alicorn sisters sitting on their thrones in Canterlot Castle though, at envisioning Celestia raising the sun with unrivaled magnificence, it was then that Twilight gained the bravery she needed to cry out her loudest yet.
“Princess Celestia? Are you here? Please say yes!”
There was a prolonged silence where Ponyville’s princess could only hear the blood pumping in her ears.
Not willing to give up, wanting desperately to have the best of her friends, any of her friends really, to comfort her during this most bizarre time of her life, she yelled once more, “Please, anyone? Hello? Is anyone here? Where am I?”
For an eternity it seemed, a heart shaking quiet settled upon the luminous scene again. Then, as the Element of Magic began to cave into what seemed the obvious – that she was utterly unaided – her fears were immediately erased, her heart soared, and her courage bolstered when a honeyed chime of a voice echoed through the environment.
“Twilight Sparkle?” The recognizable, angelic words of Celestia rebounded through the air, making the lavender alicorn’s ears stand straight at attention, “My most faithful student? Is that you, I hear?”
“Yes! Oh, yes, you highness!” Twilight practically screamed back! When getting a better handle on her excited self, she yelled out hopefully, “I’m over here! Where are you? Where can I find you?”
“No need to search for me, my student,” The goddess of the sun replied, her most graceful form in the distance becoming a clearer and clearer outline against the night sky as she neared her anxious former pupil, “for I will find you.”
And, as this was said, magnificent Princess Celestia epically appeared from among the foggily clustered stars.
With her usual bright smile upon her reassuring expression as she trotted forward, with her mane billowing so regally, the princess of the day ordered, “Please, remain still. I’m coming to you.”
Oh, how beautiful Celestia looked against the surroundings! How grand a sight she was at the moment! How very happy Twilight was to know that she wasn’t alone in participating in what appeared to be building up into craziness around her!
As for Celestia, if she was here too then she undoubtedly had some answers as to what was going on! Right? Of course, right. This was the princess of princesses, the goddess of daytime, the wisest of all ponies! She had answers for everything, duh! Heh, or so everypony would like to hope.
When thinking of her former teacher’s sentient knowledge, not wanting to stay alone anymore, wanting to hug the white alicorn above all else, the Element of Magic looked to gallop to Celestia’s side. However, she didn’t get more than several feet when she noticed a noise sounding off beneath her cantering hooves. The sound of what seemed to be… breaking glass?
Indeed, when taking a moment to examine her cause for curiosity, Twilight found that the progress she’d made from the door towards the keeper of the sun was littered with shining cracks where her steps had landed! The airy floor was nothing but a delicate mess not to be underestimated!
Even for having been careful not to lower her guard, the lavender alicorn came to realize too late that the scenery around her wasn’t exactly the same as the moment she’d trotted amid the clouds when being made into a princess through ceremony. In this instance, with the gnarled door behind her, with the three eyed raven gone, she was practically walking upon something resembling a thin sheet of ice!
In fact, where she stood now was breaking out from under her and it was only barely in time, as a shrill squeal escaped her throat, that she avoided plummeting downwards into the bottomless abyss of night by jumping aside! Even then, when supposedly safe, the new spot of the floor she stood upon dangerously groaned under her weight! Yet, how could that be? She didn’t weigh that much! Only about – oh, never mind!
Move!
The Element of Magic knew full well that she had to keep moving or face falling into probable nothingness! Yet, as she kept galloping along the cracking sky floor towards Celestia to keep from descending into oblivion, she couldn’t help but notice that where the pieces of sky fell completely out from under her… the most eerie of white lights blazed upwards through the newly made openings. Yet, that didn’t seem correct. The nighttime sky was beneath her cantering hooves. How could there be such bright lights appearing from nowhere?
At pondering on this, the lights shining through the breaking floor, Twilight could only question the reality of the things happening around her. Was there a dark abyss truly beneath her? Or was there something else completely that made that bright illumination shine through the cracks from below? If she were to fall, what would await her down there?
Not really keen on finding out, not really happy at the thought of descending into the unknown, Twilight refocused onto reaching Celestia as the princess of the day worriedly shouted out her name.
“Twilight, my student! Remain still! I am coming to you!”
“What?!” Twilight hollered back, not at all believing in what she had just heard her previous teacher say, “Stay still?! No way! There’s been a change of plans! I’m coming to you!” And, at this, the craziest series of things happened.
With the noticeable tremor of an earthquake, the night sky, whatever delicate glass floor there was to be treaded upon, began to collapse altogether!
Beginning at the self-opening door and roaring towards Celestia in a wave, as if trying to catch up to the fleeing Element of Magic on purpose, the invisible floor gradually caved in! This allowed the whiteness shining through the cracks to gradually become everything upon the scene!
As the stars winked out, as the aurora lights faded, as the whiteness glowed brighter than ever, the relaxing sensation of the familiar environment that had been previously inspiring Twilight was now only filling her with a panic, an adrenaline, a need to reach her awaiting teacher! However, no matter her efforts to reach Celestia on hoof, Ponyville’s princess found the shattering floor was upon her all too soon.
When the ground became fiercely unstable underneath her, the lavender alicorn had no choice other than to spread her wings, pray for good winds to guide her, and made the greatest leap of faith towards sanctuary she’d ever done in her life!
And she would have landed beside Celestia’s side, she would have been safe from falling into the white luminosity glowing from beneath her… if the princess of the sun didn’t purposefully blind her with a flash of her horn next instant!
Where, in the hoof, had that come from? Why, of all times, had Twilight’s teacher attempted a blinding spell? Could she not see that her student was on the verge of descending into oblivion or maybe worse? Could she not see that her student would’ve certainly made it to safety if not for her intervention?
Again, innocent Twilight was unknowingly in a realm where things had been forgotten for thousands of years. She was severely out of her element there. The things she thought she saw before her… were not as they seemed.
Either way, with trickery or no trickery, the Element of Magic just managed to seize the edge of the remainder of the breaking glass floor that had stopped just before her grim looking teacher. Relief wasn’t in store for her though as, with much heart stopping groaning, the surface she dangled from appeared to be more than ready to snap away at any moment! And, if she fell, what rested below was truly nothingness! There was only a shining white light as well as a long, long fall into what seemed to be a whirlpool sucking in everything that came down its way!
By Equestria, she couldn’t fall down there! She couldn’t let that happen! Celestia! Celestia was just inches away! She would help prevent any harm from coming to her pupil!
Freaking out at what she was facing, squealing out her pleas rather than saying them, Twilight exclaimed to the goddess of the sun looming over her, “Your highness, please! Help! Pull me up!”
When her teacher didn’t move, when she actually shockingly stepped back instead, the lavender alicorn screamed out, “No, Celestia, what are you doing?! Pull me up! You’re right there! Do something!”
As Ponyville’s princess finished her rapid sentence, the edge she clung to cracked to nearly shake her loose! However, as it did not break, as it did not make her fall just yet, she observed Princess Celestia grab onto her hooves next moment!
Well, it was about time! What had come over the keeper of the sun earlier?
Thinking she was secure, thinking she wouldn’t be falling anywhere, the Element of Magic said with tears nearly brimming her purple eyes, “Oh, thank you, your highness! Thank you, I – Ow! Ouch! You’re crushing my hoof! Stop, stop!”
It was then at that innocent moment where Celestia lowered herself down to show a most grim, most disappointed, face to her fretting student. Most shocking about her expression, though, was that which had just appeared upon her forehead… A third eye!
A trick against vigilant Twilight, a trick against everything she thought she knew, had been played against her here. Ponyville’s princess had just realized that, from the beginning, there had been no Celestia. There had only been falseness, an assortment of traps, along with a very frightening descent into madness far below. Yet, why? Why was all of this happening to her? What had she done to deserve the actions being taken against her?
In truth, the event she faced wasn’t as tragic as she was assuming. In fact, she was being closely watched over by protective destiny and, having stayed at the door too long, she had just needed a nudge to get going with its plan. Both back in reality and in fantasy now, on her road to true greatness, she’d remained far too still for far too long. It was hard to see her scream, to fret at falling, but, to save Equestria, the actions against her had been deemed necessary.
Either way, for Twilight, destiny’s plan for her seemed a bit too scary at the moment. Especially when Celestia rasped out, not in her usual encouraging tone but in a chilling voice that suggested only bad things to come, “Twilight, my most faithful student… Did I not tell you to remain still? And what did you do instead? You decided to gallop, to move, to disobey me.”
At this, the false white alicorn eerily shoved squealing Twilight closer to tumbling downwards. A few shards of the breaking floor descended into the void waiting below.
“You’ve disappointed me very much, my student. How will you save Equestria if you do not even pay attention to directions, to the obvious? How are you to be the chosen one if you do not listen to those that wish to help you?”
“Stop! Get off of me!” Twilight cried back into the shadowy face of whatever that was taunting her, of whatever that was shoving her closer towards her supposed doom, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! I’ve saved Equestria already! More than once!”
“Not when it will matter the most, you won’t. Not if you continue acting like a filly and continue to depend on me!” The false Celestia snapped back, her amethyst eyes beginning to glow like coals meanwhile, “In the face of the darkness that is coming for us all, Twilight Sparkle, you must learn to believe in the impossible! You need to learn to stand up for yourself! As you did to become the princess you are now, you must find the will to trust in yourself, to trust in your decisions. Not just mine. Not just in your dear Celestia’s.”
Once more, Twilight was shoved! Once more, she was pushed closer to nothingness! Once more, she cried out for everything to stop!
“This isn’t making any sense! I’m not listening to you! You’re not Princess Celestia!”
“Oh no? Then you do not truly know your Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle!” The copy of Celestia bellowed out, “I am what she should have been with you for all these years! Instead of raising you with the harsh truth of the future, she has only taught you lie after lie! You have been taught to believe that everything is splendidly fine, that everything will somehow will work out, that all darkness can be conquered if faced by you… Yet, no. There is no greater lie than just that!”
“Augh, stop! Stop pushing me! Let me go!”
“You winning over evil alone every time… that is the worst lie of all of Celestia’s lies! Of mine! She is the false one! Not me!” The false goddess of the sun roared from above, “I am not the one who is hiding from the reality of things and holding you back from completing your true destiny in the process. I am not the one who is against you researching the supposedly forbidden texts concerning Yonderland when I know it’s right. I am not the one going against the Spirit of Destiny’s wishes and keeping you from going on to summon a Yonderlander as it has been planned for so many millennium!”
“W-wait?! Yonderland? Yonderlander? Planned for many millennium?” Twilight started to question rapidly, being reminded of the three eyed raven that had led her into this fiasco in the first place, “What are you-”
At this, cracks began to break out upon Celestia as she exclaimed into the stunned Element of Magic’s face, cutting her off “You need to wake up, my student! You need to see that you can be so much more than a princess for some village. You can be more than a legend! The Celestia you know is holding you back! She’s putting all of Equestria at risk over her stubborn pride! From Yonderland, you shall bring forth he who has been as prepared as you for what the coming darkness may bring! You shall bring he, he who will be your sword and shield for forever more, into the fray!”
As the cracks stretched further across the remainder of her form, the copy of the white alicorn actually smiled a blessed smile upon the shocked Element of Magic as she finished, “You need to see that calling to Star Swirl’s Yonderland has always been the answer to solving the troubles our land of Equestria now faces. Since you were born, you have been prepared by the powers of fortune to do so. Since you were born, you have been made ready to bring the Yonderlanders back home.”
The clone of the goddess of the sun flared her wings out, threw back her mane, along with leaned in closer than ever to her dangling victim.
“The Celestia you know, that traitor, doesn’t think you are ready for the prophecy, Twilight Sparkle... The one where you will bring a forgotten people back into the fold and unite two worlds as one again against the approaching shadows. But, unlike her, I believe in you. I know you can. We all know you can.”
The cracks all over false Celestia were flaking, drifting away, allowing a light as bright as the sun to shine out from within her frame. Something was about to happen! Good? Bad? More than likely the latter!
“So believe me when I say unto you that your greatest lesson is just beginning, my most faithful student… You must believe in everything impossible you are about to see. For when you believe in the impossible, it becomes that much more possible. For when you believe, you shall find the help everyone you adore needs… and truly fulfill your destiny in the end.”
And, as if the scene were not crazy enough, the cracking copy of the goddess of the sun literally exploded into a swarm of inky black ravens! In turn, with much cackling and jeering, they swarmed helplessly bewildered Twilight!
“Caw! Down she goes to meet her fate! To hear the prophecy!” One laughed as it pulled on the purple alicorn’s mane.
“Stay still, Twilight Sparkle! Listen to your traitor of a teacher! Believe in the impossible! Caw!” Another called out while pecking at her hooves.
“Destiny is calling for you, pony! Caw! Yonderland is calling!” A third jeered in the middle of nibbling her ears.
“Augh, no, get off of me! Stop, stop, stop!” Their victim sharply exclaimed.
It was then that, as she tried to get up onto safer ground, as she started to attempt to defend herself with her magic from the sharp assaults against her, as she tried to cling to hope, that the edge finally gave way from underneath Twilight!
With the sarcastic ravens following her all the way down towards whatever ominous whirlwind or typhoon below, keeping her from extending her wings to try to fly or hover, all the Element of Magic could do was release one final scream of sincere fear as the roaring whirlpool below swallowed her and the trailing birds up, crushed in on her breathing, and forced her into deeper unconsciousness than slumber.
From there, she was off to wherever to hear whatever prophecy was awaiting her arrival. She was off to have everything she thought she knew… retold.
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End of “Hints of the Things to Come”…