"No... NO GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Twilight screamed at the monster staring her down. She was in the middle of a destroyed Ponyville. She had thought the town was a wreck after that parasprite attack a while back, but this was on an entire new level. Most residents were already dead, with there carcasses now scattered all over the streets. All of the buildings were either burned to the ground and nearly nonexistent or still burning towards the former condition. The few ponies that were still alive were running out of the town as fast as possible. Unfortunately this was more difficult than it would usually be, because of fallen debris littering the streets.
"Oh, come on Miss Sparkle. You know I won't do that. We've been over this before." The monster said in an evil tone that echoed on itself off of every word. Just hearing it incited fear into anypony, and Twilight was no exception.
The monster reminded Twilight of Owlicious. It seemed to be part owl and part bird, except neither at the same time. It was giant, probably about the size of 3 or 4 ponies stacked on top of each other. It had the head of an owl, and could turn its head like one. This only made the monster even more scary looking. Its body and wings were that of a bird's. Everything about the monster scared the living daylights out of everypony in town. The most terrifying thing about it was not it itself. The monster was a machine that somepony constructed. It was an AI (artificial intelligence) and the scariest thing was that somepony with a mind this powerful and demented was out there, hiding away waiting for the perfect moment to take over the world or something.
Twilight had tried using her magic on it, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't even cast a spell. She figured the AI was emitting some sort of anti-magic spell barrier that was stopping her abilities from activating.
She knew she had no chance, nopony did. They were all going to fall this monstrosity and its creator and there was nothing anypony could do about it. It was the worst feeling in the world for a genius like Twilight.
She saw her life flash before her eyes as the AI moved in for the kill. The monsters abilities were endless. It opened its beak and let out an ear-piercing screech quickly followed by a deadly blast of fire scorching Twilight who was paralyzed in fear and had given up on trying to escape a while ago. No matter what she did to avoid the AIs deadly attacks, it would stare her down with those creepy glaring yellow eyes whenever she turned the corner.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Twilight screamed as she shot up in bed. She was sweating profusely and breathing rapidly. She looked like she was on the verge of crying as well. The nightmare seemed so real, and in it she had witnessed everything and everypony she loved and cared for die a horrible, horrifying death.
"That nightmare again?" Spike asked, woken up by Twilight's screaming.
"Hmhm." She mumbled in response. It was the fifth night in row she had had that same nightmare.
The first night she had it and woke up screaming and in a terrible condition, she scared the crap out of Spike. After five nights, he had gotten used to it, unfortunately Twilight hasn't.
"You still gonna refuse to see a Psychiatrist?" Spike asked as he got out of bed.
"Maybe... maybe, it would be a good idea." She replied. After the second night in a row of her having it, Spike asked if she had wanted to go to one. She promptly refused saying it would be a waste of time and money and it would go away on its own. Obviously it wasn't and something was wrong, very wrong. "I'll call Doctor Whooves in the morning and see if he can take me or make a recommendation for somewhere else." She added, still shook up from the nightmare. It had seemed so real, she thought to herself.
"OK, are you gonna be fine this time? Cuz I'm exhausted and could use a few more hours." Spike asked sleepily.
"Ya, sure I'll be fine. It was only a dream. Although I doubt I'm gonna sleep again, I'll be downstairs." She replied a bit more alert.
"OK goodnight.... again." Spike said before quickly dozing off again.
Twilight trotted into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face and then got a glass of water to drink.
"It was only a dream," She quietly said to herself, "not reality, and it never will be." She knew it was all a dream, but the fact was that it felt so real. She had dreamed before, and didn't remember everything being as it was in this one, and she didn't mean the plot. Every time she thought about it and remembered it, it seemed even more like reality than the last time. After five whole days and nights of this, she eventually had the small back of her mind convinced that it was real, but she knew better.
After the second night and Spike suggesting to go see somepony about this, she had read some books she found on neuroscience and psychology. Nothing had seemed to make sense about this recurring dream. Usually it had something to do with real life, but she couldn't think of anything at all in her life that was related and translated too a giant mechanical AI destroying the town and killing everypony. She didn't want to talk to her friends about it either. It was just too horrifying, and none of them knew as much about this type of thing as she did anyways.
The back of her mind kept nagging her saying it was pointless to keep looking through all her books and that she wouldn't find anything. She ignored this part of her and relentlessly told it to shut up, as she continued to read everything she could find on the matter.
As she was ripping books off of the shelves, she saw one story book. She screamed as loud as she had when she woke up upon seeing the cover. The creature on it reminded or of the AI in her nightmare. It looked just as she had pictured it. She knew that it was just a book and that it could in no way hurt her. She also knew that every image in a dream comes from something seen in real life, or translated from something in real life. It made sense that the monster would be from one of her books, seeing as they were her life, aside from her friends.
"Twilight! Are you OK?" Spike said running downstairs.
"Y.. ya." She choked out still a bit shocked from the vision of it. "I just found this book, and see this monster on it?" She said as she levitated the book in front of Spike's face. "It looks exactly like the one in my nightmare." She finished.
"One Last Try to Save Them All: A book of Philosophy by Al-Sean Eye." Spike read.
Spike grabbed the book to see what was in it, at the same time Twilight began levitating it over to her desk. This resulted in her pulling Spike off of the halfway mark of the stairwell and causing him to slip and fall all the way down the remainder of them.
"What? Spike did you trip?" She turned around and asked as she saw the purple dragon lying on the ground in front of the stairs.
"You could say that..." Spike said while he got up. "Don't worry, I'm fine."
Twilight finished her trip to her desk and opened the the book to see what she had apparently written. On the inside cover page a message was written in pen:
If you've found this book and are reading this message, then chances are, it has already begun. Read this entire book, cover to cover and memorize everything. Peace cannot last forever, and a great empire cannot survive in prosperity forever.
"It has a message to me on the cover, something is coming. I don't think my dream is just a dream anymore." Twilight said terrified at all of this. "You can go back to sleep, I'm gonna read this book and see what its about."
"OK, goodnight." Spike said as he began ascending the stairs. "I hope." He added inaudibly.
Twilight flipped through the pages and a look of great confusion grew on her face with every page she turned. She was staring at blank pages. Every single page after that message was blank, they had no words. Hoping there was something in there she didn't stop till she hit the end. On the last page of the book her confusion grew even more. There was something written there, but it only made matters worse. It simply said:
GG; Game Over.
She didn't want to bother Spike again, but she had to send this to Princess Celestia. She knew the teleportation spell that was needed, but it took a lot of energy. She thought that this would be worth the cost, and there was always the chance of Spike accidentally burning the book instead of sending it.
She flipped through the pages a second time, this time backwards, to see if she happened to miss something. She knew nothing would be there, but she had to look anyways. she got back to the first blank page and nearly screamed. Where it was once blank, it was not anymore. Even worse, the writing hadn't stopped and it was in a different language. Throughout all of Equestria and the books, to Twilight's knowledge, there was only one language invented: Ponish. Twilight had no idea what this book was, but she knew it was nothing normal.
She quickly took out a quill and a piece of paper and began using her magic to write a letter to Celestia to send along with the mysterious book.
"Dear Princess Celestia," She said to herself as she wrote it down.
"I have recently been having a recurring nightmare for five nights of a half bird and half owl mechanic AI creature destroying the world. I just recently found the attached book and on the cover, it shows the monster in my dreams. At first I saw this book had absolutely no words in it. I looked through it a second time a minute later only to notice, it was writing itself in a different language! I was wondering if you could maybe make sense of any of this insanity.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle"
She reread her letter to see if there was anything to change or add, when there wasn't she quickly sent the letter with the book before she drove herself insane from all of this.
"I need some fresh air to clear my head..." She said as she got up to take a walk. It was the middle of the night and pitch black out, but she didn't care. She knew the town map like the back of her hand anyways.
She nearly collapsed and just began crying her eyes out when she stepped outside. Everything bad was happening to her. It was endless torture. One week, she was having a wonderful time and as happy as always, then the next, endless torture. Especially this night. First she has the worlds worst nightmare again, next she finds a creepy ass book, and now this.
She stared up at the brand new structure. It was the middle of the night and pitch black out, yet she could see it as clear as day. It seemed to radiate light and was purposely built to be seen from all over. It looked as if it were miles and miles away from Ponyville, but it was taller than anything she had ever seen. It was a spire. It stretched all the way up and probably touched the sky. It definitely went through the clouds. It seemed to have its own clouds surrounding it anyways. It was like the epitome of haunted houses, except much larger. It just had a creepy vibe to it.
Something told her that this spire had a connection to the strange book and her dream. She just dearly hoped that it wasn't going to be the house of that horrible monster and its creator.
She decided to go back inside and go back to bed. She hoped that this was all a continuation of her nightmare and she would wake up to another normal day. She still would have to go see a doctor, because dream or not, she couldn't handle any more of this.
Twilight was able to quickly fall back asleep, as she was so exhausted and wanted nothing more to escape this hell.
She woke up the next morning feeling better and believing none of what she saw was real.
"Twilight! Your finally up. Princess Celestia sent you a letter, with another copy of that book you found last night for some reason." Spike said as he saw Twilight getting up.
Her good mood immediately dropped down after realizing that she hadn't dreamed it and it was reality. Something terrible was about to happen, she knew it.
"Thanks Spike." She said in a partly depressed tone as she took the letter and opened it and read it to herself.
Dear Twilight,
I don't know whats going on, or anything about this book. However, the language I do know. It was used a very long time ago and no one from this or the past few generations would know it. It is called Excrilik. I was able to translate what it said, and it does not sound good. It talks about the beginning of some prophecy and it doesn't sound good. I have never heard of this before and unfortunately I cannot tell what happens next. When it arrived to me, I saw it continue writing and then stop after only a minute more. The only thing I can think this means is it might be writing a story as it happens in real life. If this is the case, then this is bad, very bad. I want you to write back immediately.
The translation of the text is as follows:
'Intro:
It will all begin once the spire has shown. The spire is a magical artifact. It will only show itself when the alignment occurs. What is this alignment? A few million years ago lived a society that was very advanced, in fact more advanced than Equestria currently is. Back then this land was called Arcadia. Every society must end and every empire must fall, peace cannot last forever, even when everything seems perfect.
A group of scientists were experimenting with technology that would allow them to use teleportation for Earth ponies and Pegasi, and even Unicorns. Unicorns could already teleport, but the energy and strain to use it is very high, and even so they cannot go very far and are restricted to known locations. This machine would allow everypony to teleport anywhere in the world at any time. Unfortunately, the machine backfired on a test. It teleported the ponies who used it yes, but the destination was horribly incorrect. Instead of staying in the same dimension, they were ported to the Dark-Matter-Verse in the location they chose previously.
The Dark-Matter-Verse is nicknamed the DMV and it is the opposite of this world. The ponies that inhabit the DMV act as the exact opposite of the ponies in this world. For example, if a pony here is very generous, kind, and helpful, in the DMV they will be cruel, destructive, heartless, ruthless, and they will show no mercy to anypony.
Ponies going to the DMV from the original world and vice versa, is even worse than the DMV itself. The power to warp between the two will open up a rift. This rift will eventually combine the two worlds. If they combine, then all hope is lost as both dimensions will erupt and be completely, 100%, destroyed. The scientists knew this and they had to figure out a way to stop it.
The spire was created in order to do this. It was built to hold the two dimensions together, but once every million years its power begins to overload. Once this overload happens it will take 3 years for it to cool down. For this 3 year time span, the creatures that inhabit either dimension will have the ability to walk between the two using the spire. The dimensions will not be able to combine though.
This is especially a problem for the original world. The ponies that inhabit the DMV are mostly dark and evil creatures bent on destruction. If they discover that they can walk between the two dimensions, they will come into the original world and take over. They will have the power as well. Evil will always be stronger than good. Dark is more powerful than light. It is the unfortunate truth. In the storybooks the good will always beat the odds and defeat the villains. This is real life though, and this isn't always the case, but the inhabitants of the original world must try. They must hold back these ponies for the 3 years. The easiest way to do this is to have a team of ponies enter the DMV and stop them from ever finding out. Another solution is to have an entire army guard the spire and kill anything that exits it. Although, if one pony does manage to sneak through, it isn't that hard to say their counterpart in Equestria is the one from the DMV.
If the ponies who enter the DMV are spotted by there counterparts, they will know something is up. They aren't stupid, they will research and figure it out. If the squad is found by their counterparts, they will have no choice but to kill them and hide the bodies where no one will ever find them, or at least until the spire disappears.'
If this is the case, and this is reality, then I will be assembling a team to go into the DMV and guard the spire and stop them from discovering its properties.
Currently my idea for the ponies to be my A team in the DMV, I am thinking you and your friends if it is OK with all of you. You all stopped Discord and Nightmare Moon before when the rest of the Equestria was clueless, I believe you girls are the best for the job. Please write back once the six of you have either declined or accepted. I will be sending in Luna with you as well. I would go, but I must watch over this kingdom. I will also be creating a B team for if the ponies within the DMV manage to cross into our world, and they will be guarding the spire on our side constantly.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
"Oh my gosh..." Twilight muttered to herself scared to death. What she had just read was horrifying, it sent chills down her spine with every sentence. She knew she had to go in, whether she wanted to or not. Her dreams must be true, and if that is the case, she knew the power and weakness of the AI beast. Chances are dealing with the counterparts of Equestria's ponies would be much more difficult though.
She imagined what Fluttershy's counterpart would be like. Fluttershy was the kindest, shyest, and most helpful pony in the world. That would mean that her counterpart would be cruel, ruthless, and more insane than Discord. Thinking of this sent more shivers down her spine. She didn't want to think about how the rest of the ponies would be. She didn't know a single evil soul in Equestria, meaning there wouldn't be a single kind soul in the DMV.
"Twilight? Are you OK? What does the letter say." Spike asked concerned. Twilight looked scared half to death, in fact she didn't even look as scared as she felt.
"It says... we're fucked." She muttered monotonously in reply.
"What?" Spike asked even more concerned.
"Go... go look outside and tell me what is different." She told him.
"Um OK..." Spike said as he began to walk outside confused.
As soon as he exited the house he re-entered, except now with a half confused and half scared look on his face.
"What the hay is that thing?!" He finally choked out.
In reply, Twilight explained everything in the letter. He already knew about her dreams so that made life a bit easier on the explanation. She didn't want to trouble the little dragon and scare him this bad, but she had no choice. This was very important. She left out the part about her going in for the time now, she would tell him after she rallied the other five of her friends.
The little dragon was stunned at all of this. He couldn't seem to comprehend it, because of how terrible it truly was. "Well... what are we gonna do?! How are we gonna survive if there are monsters like that that will be entering into our world!" He eventually choked out after a moment of shocked silence.
"Well, Celestia wants to create an A and a B team. The A team goes in and stop them from entering, and the B team guards the spire on our side of it in case they do manage to get through." She said. She decided it would be easier to just tell him now, instead of later, even though she didn't want to. "Celestia wants Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Luna, and me to go in as the A team. I'm going to rally the others now." She then added. "I wonder how everypony else is handling seeing a giant structure as foreign as that in the sky."
"You can't go! You'll die in there! At least take me with you!" Spike cried out.
"I'm sorry, but its to dangerous for you. Its probably too dangerous for anypony, especially a baby dragon." She said sadly. She then got a terrifying image in her mind. What if the Spike in the DMV is a full grown deadly fire breathing dragon! She quickly pushed it out as she made the excuse that if that was the case, then everypony else there would be extremely old and unable to do anything at all.
"So Twilight, are you afraid yet?" A voice suddenly said to her. The voice didn't even have to say words to incite fear. Its voice echoed off of every word and its tone was evil, dark, insane, and malicious already. Just from the tone she could understand that it wanted to torture her.
Her heart stopped beating and she nearly fainted. Not only did the voice sound horrifying, she had heard it before. She couldn't feel the emotion of its voice in her nightmares, but she knew for a fact that the voice came from the AI bird.
"Sp...Sp...Sp...Spike, did y...you hear that?" She stuttered out.
"Hear what? I didn't hear anything except us." Spike said confused again. "Are you OK?"
"Of course he can't hear me. How could he hear what does not exist?" The AI said. "Because I like to play with my prey before I destroy it all. I will give you and your pathetic friends one little hint. Nopony within the DMV knows the portal exists. They're just as confused as you are, or were. But I know it is there, well if I didn't I wouldn't be talking to you. I am the keeper of the spire. Another failure of those Arcadians, I was supposed to guard the spire in case a rift would open. I decided to instead burn them to the ground. It was much more fun, except now I'm trapped in this stupid spire, well for the next three years I'm free to have some fun though." The voice laughed. Its laugh wasn't nearly as terrifying as its voice was though. It was much worse. It made her feel like she was about to die within the seconds, even if the AI hadn't said anything. "OH! Yes, one more thing. Your precious elements of harmony won't work this time. Just thought you should know. Goodbye for now, until we meet again, but this time not in a dream, not in your mind, but in real life." It said before leaving her mind. Twilight could feel a weight being lifted off her head as it left. With it she felt the nightmares go away as well from her thoughts.
"Oh never mind, its nothing." Twilight said feeling a bit better from the monster leaving her. "And yes, I'm sure." She then added predicting Spikes next words would be 'Are you sure?'. "I better get going though. I'm going to tell the mayor to give an announcement saying the spire is nothing, don't want the entire town freaking out, and then I'm gonna rally the others so that we can report back to Celestia, then go into hell."