Magi Chronicles: Fires of Equestria

by Xeadin


Chapter 5 -- Reality

“The Royal Canterlot Library.” Twilight Sparkle’s grin went from cheek to cheek as her and the others entered through the marble threshold. The entrance was short of exquisite, sporting two griffon statues on either side of the tall half-pillars that lined the doorway. The door was crafted from the finest oak, held golden imprints of the caretakers who managed to work in such a grand environment, and glistened with heavy coats of finish that almost looked like a glossy mirror.

After the doorway, the inside was much more impressive. Columns of bookshelves arranged in standard rows equally spaced apart from one another surrounded a central study. Dark, hard oak desks lined with golden corners and golden, built-in lamps squared up the middle of the library. Neither the desks, nor the books themselves, showed any sign of wear, and it was apparent that the caretakers of the library were dedicated hard-workers without a doubt. Few ponies could be seen occupying the desks, reading books and writing notes of various topics. Who knew what they were writing about? Twilight was not here to question that. She had a much more important agenda to fulfill.

She walked around the edge of the study area, looking down the aisle ways of all of the books and journals that filled the shelves. They all seemed to be arranged in the most caring ways, often sorted with books of the same thickness and/ or length to keep with the uniformity and cleanliness of the space. It was truly Twilight’s place of peace. She could read all the books she wanted if she could.

One aisle sparked curiosity within Twilight. A silver-lined doorway contrasted against the dim-lit row of multi-colored, hardened leather spines. She carefully walked along the row of bookshelves, making sure that she did not disturb anypony close by. She heard a treading bouncing behind her, indicating that it was most likely Pinkie Pie, who tried to keep her own excitement at bay. Twilight knew that if anyone made so much of a peep that they’d be scrutinized by just about everypony in the library. It was silent enough to hear a pin drop from the fourth floor.

They had reached the end of the aisle, and the silver doorway came in to better view. It was a double door that led in to another part of the library. Glossy windows on either side showed blurred sets of bookshelves reflecting the torchlight on the other side of the walls between the window frames. On the top of the threshold of the door, golden letters intricately weaved from the top of the doorway to the ceiling, spelling out the word ‘Restricted.’

Two of Celestia’s royal guards stood in watch on either side of the door, aimlessly looking straight for who knows how long. Twilight knew that if she was to find out who and/ or what that strange figure was and where it came from, the answer would have to lie behind that door.

Twilight took a step forward and was mere feet from the silver lined doorway, when one of the guards briskly angled his spear across her path. The guard spoke in a low, intimidating tone.

“Halt.”

The command shook Twilight’s spine and she gulped heavily, and her heavy eyes looked straight at the guard who had spoken.

“Only those of royalty may enter.”

The other guard looked at Twilight, then towards the rest of the crowd.

“Oh, um…”

Twilight heard Fluttershy’s voice from behind, as she gently flew by and landed next to the guard, whose spear was still held in front of Twilight. “Princess Celestia said it was alright for us to go in.” Fluttershy, weakly, drew a smile to the guard, as she shifted her eyes between her friends and the guards. The helmed unicorn turned his head towards Fluttershy and gave her an inquisitive look. His horn was enveloped in a golden mist—it looked to be of Celestia's magic. Twilight clenched her hooves for the worst—her face blushed red with embarrassment.

Just as Twilight held her breath for the boot out of the library, the mist that had enveloped the guard’s horn dissipated, and he readjusted his spear upwards. He gave a slight grin towards Fluttershy. “Very well. You may proceed.”

Twilight reluctantly sighed heavily, as she opened up the silver door. The pegasus guard to the left snapped his head toward her and held up his hoof. “Shhh!”

Twilight covered her mouth as she realized her mistake.

Inside, the room was much smaller than the main part of the library itself. It seemed about as large as the study in the middle of library. Shelves on just about every part of the walls were lined with golden braided hardened leather books that did not seem to vary in color as the ones out in the rest of the library were. The smell of aged parchment hung in the air, but it was not overwhelming. Rainbow Dash flew over the others, along with Fluttershy and stopped a few feet from Twilight, who turned to face the other three.

Twilight cleared her throat. “You all know what to look for now, right?”

The others nodded their heads. Applejack was the first to speak. She propped her hat up so she can see the shelves easier. “How can ya tell if it’s th’ right one? Wouldn’t ya have to show the princess the book first beforehand?”

Twilight shook her head. “If the book shows a picture that looks like him in the slightest, we may have a match. Although, I may have to take a few back if we find more than one with similar qualities.”

Rainbow Dash analyzed the bookshelves above the first set, hanging off of the dome. “I sure hope we can find it in here. Me and Fluttershy will look in the shelves above.”

Twilight nodded. “Alright, Rainbow.” She turned herself around to the nearest bookshelf and took out a book with her magic. The book glowed with a lavender sheen in her grip and she carefully placed it on top of a heavy oak desk.

Rarity took a book out that was adorned with a blue-tinged cover. The golden lace that had bound the book together accentuated the cover very well. She placed it next to the bright red hard covered book that Twilight had set.

Pinkie Pie bounded up and down along the edge of the room, looking at all of the leather-bound spines that stuck perfectly from the shelves. It was easy to read the titles of the book in their state, but it was a daunting task as well. Glancing along the covers of the books was an easy task for Twilight, but glancing through and within the pages of every book would take her a long time, even with the help of her friends.

Fluttershy flew down with a few books and stacked them on the floor next to the desk, which was overflowing with stacked books at this point. Twilight knew where to put all of the books back when she was done with them. One-by-one, she carefully carted them back with her magic to their original spots and quickly glanced through the next book. The contents of some of the books looked similar to those she had read in her home at Ponyville, such as ‘Supernaturals: Natural Remedies that are Simply Super.’ She still held a scar of remorse for busting down Zecora’s door before accusing her of being bewitched by her spells and enchantments.

There were also books that she had never laid her eyes on which seemed fascinating, such as the Journal of Starswirl the Bearded. ‘Now that one I’m definitely going to have to read soon.’

Right after shelving the journal, she gazed into the pages of another brick-red leather journal and came upon a page that made her eyes widen. She saw the head of a figure with humanoid facial features and long, pointed ears that seemed to match the ears of the strange figure. Not only did she find a book that resembled the figure, but she had found a personal journal that matched the figure’s physical description. She raised her hoof in the air with excitement. “I found it!”

The others had bee-lined it to Twilight, and had overlooked the contents amongst each other. Applejack clapped her hooves with delight. “Well ah’ll be, sugarcube. Ah guess y’were right all along.”

Pinkie Pie bounded up and down, reading every line of the pages to herself as she did. “They should have party cannons in here to celebrate!”

Rarity chuckled at Pinkie’s statement. “Oh, darling. I’m sure the librarians wouldn’t be too happy about that.”

“Oh, why do libraries have to be so dull and boring all the time? I mean, Twilight’s library isn’t always somber and dark, right?” Pinkie grinned.

“That’s because no one else uses it, Pinkie,” Twilight inclined. “The mayor of Ponyville was happy enough to let me live in it since it was very rarely used, if ever. This is a public library. Everypony uses it to learn and study in an environment that offers very little distraction.”

After Twilight’s explanation, Pinkie giddily bounced towards the silver door. “Okey dokey lokey!”

Twilight sighed happily after avoiding yet another Pinkie argument, which she’s never gotten into since the incident with Pinkie’s Twitch-a-Sense.

After gathering up all of the un-shelved books and putting them back in to their proper places, the group had made their way to the door, when a Pegasus maid came in. She held a dusting broom in one hoof and wore a black, tight-fitting dress with white, wavy undergarments that lined the edges of the dark dress. She eyed the group as they had approached the door. “Oh, hello. I didn’t notice you were in here.” The maid said in a harmonic, squeaky voice.

Twilight exchanged formalities with the maid. “We were looking for a book upon Celestia’s request. We were actually curious if we could bring a few with us to present to her?” She held a small stack of books before the maid.

“Oh, of course. If the princess requested it, do bring it.”

Twilight smiled. “Thanks. We’ll bring it back as soon as possible.” She had walked out of the room, along with the rest of the group. Pinkie Pie hopped her way through the door. The maid gently closed the door and continued on to dust out the room.

Rarity walked up next to Twilight, looking up towards the ceiling of the library and the many floors from the study. “I must say, the ponies that designed this were absolutely stellar. I must also admit that the ones that work here are also very dedicated to the beauty of it all.” She blinked once and imagined a golden ballroom in the middle instead of a desk-lined study.

Twilight broke Rarity’s daydream with a slight nudge. “We’ve got more important matters on our hooves. Let’s get back to the princesses with what we’ve found.” The others nodded and followed closely behind as they left the library in a hurried pace.

~~~~~~

The boy slept within the sheets of the bed without interruption, while Celestia comforted him further by nestling herself behind him. She had extended her wing over the frail boy’s skin—his body still as cold as it has been. Neither of the princesses knew what was wrong with him. They were hopeful that Twilight would find an answer soon.

As they waited, Celestia rubbed the boy’s back in an effort to keep him company, and to jump start his process of thawing. Luna took the time to walk around the boy and examined his physical features from all angles. It was a strange sight to see the boy’s curves all along his frail body—the way how his back was arched, how his arms were somewhat bent. Overall, his whole body was not entirely straight. Then again, Equestrians also had a similar body structure—arching backs, curved legs.

Celestia muttered a few words to herself, and then looked up towards Luna. “Do you think you could, perhaps, attempt to reach in to his mind—see what he may be dreaming?”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “And what, possibly, could we be able to obtain, dearest sister?” She stood valiantly before Celestia, exchanging a look of question.

“Manners, first of all. You should remember that I don’t use the Royal Canterlot Voice as much as you do.”

“Deepest apologies, dearest sister. It has been a thousand years since we hath last spoken to all but ourself.” Luna turned her head to one side and then the other, and eventually back at Celestia. “How’s this? Is this what you suggest that I do?”

Celestia chuckled. “Much better.” Luna did the same. “Now, I think that he may have somethi—“

The door opened, and Twilight rushed through the entryway with a stack of books floating beside her. The rest of the gang shortly followed suit and the door closed, leaving only two Pegasus guards to stand outside and one within the room. Twilight gently placed the books on top of the table next to the couch and sifted through the selection carefully.

“So, I was able to find what could be a match, but I also found several others that looked similar.”

Celestia brought forth the one which Twilight had first pointed out to herself and smiled. “This is the one.”

A huge grinned spanned between Twilight’s cheeks, and the others looked in awe and wonder. Celestia opened the book and flipped through to a page that Twilight had mentioned. She noticed that the image had an uncanny resemblance to the boy, and proceeded to read the text that supplemented the page. She came upon a word that suddenly triggered a fragment of her thoughts to become pieced together.

Before she could say anything further, she was met by Twilight’s excited voice. “Cadence!”

The rest of the gang had looked to the entrance to find both Shining Armor and Cadence accompanied by two stout Pegasus guards with cloudy white coats and royal blue manes, adorned with cleverly polished golden armor that covered most of their bodies. Shining Armor wore his silver chestplate with his cutie mark adorned on the front of it—his sparkling blue mane contrasting his pale white coat very well. Cadence, her beautiful pink coat and curly tri-colored mane, wore a golden trinket around her neck and wore a short, plump dress that hung down above her hooves, almost touching the floor.

The princesses were both delighted to see familiar faces once again, and Twilight was overflown with joy that she had almost forgot about the book that Celestia was still reading. “Big brother! My favorite foal-sitter! How was your trip from the Crystal Empire?”

Cadence’s smile quickly turned sour and stuck out her tongue. “Boring,” she said, in a somewhat comical tone. She managed to giggle a little bit before Twilight burst out with laughter.

Shining Armor held out a hoof. “We got caught up in a middle of a snag as we were about to leave, but things got sorted out and all is well. It took us about a good half an hour to get such a small issue resolved.” He shook his head in disdain. “I tell you, those ponies are sure peculiar when it comes to their own belongings.”

“I wouldn’t blame them,” Celestia said, continuing to flip through the pages of the book she was reading from. “They’re just naturally protective over what they had been through.”

Shining Armor sighed happily. “I guess you’re right.” He started to notice the head of the boy that had lain in Celestia’s bed. As he stared long enough, he realized that the boy wasn’t a pony. “Uhh, princess? What’s that thing doing in here?”

He pointed out the boy who was laying on Celestia’s bed. She cleared her throat. “Shining Armor. Cadence. I brought you two here because of two reasons—one: I need you, Shining Armor, to make sure that the guards do not provoke this creature under any circumstances; two: I need Cadence to assist with Luna to see if their combined magic can attempt to reach into his thoughts. I have high hopes that you two will be able to accomplish such a task together.”

Luna precariously loomed her eyes towards Cadence, who nodded in agreement. Cadence walked over to where Luna was sitting and looked down on the boy. She frowned at the sight of the creature—lying on the floor in a cold, hard, motionless stiffness. Both Cadence and Luna closed their eyes and focused deeply on their powers. Luna could handle such task of reaching in to thoughts, and Cadence had a decent amount of training as well while on her last stay at the castle.

Both of their horns lit up and began to wrap around the boy like another blanket. Almost immediately, Cadence backed off and let go of her power. She looked at the boy in surprise, almost shocked by what she felt.

Shining Armor and Twilight stood by Cadence, Shining Armor comforting Cadence with a hoof on her shoulder. “Is everything alright?” he asked. “Is it something that it did?”

Cadence nuzzled Shining’s hoof and looked up at him. “No, it’s not what he did that surprised me—it’s what he has within him that came as a surprise.” Luna nodded in agreement. It was in that moment of realization that the boy had a magical presence stored within him—something mysterious that laid dormant. “It’s as if he has his own magic.”

Celestia brought down the book as she gasped in surprise, after hearing what Cadence had said. She crouched down to the boy and removed part of the blanket that had sheathed him from the autumn air. The boy still had his shirt on, so she partially brought the collar of the shirt down under his shoulders. There was yet another mystery that was revealed to her. On the front of his right shoulder, a small circular mark was clearly visible. It looked as though it was some sort of karma symbol, but it was quite a bit different. It had no other color aside from the boy’s own skin, slightly accented to stand out.

Twilight focused primarily on the symbol that Celestia had uncovered. She held a puzzled look and tapped her hoof on her chin. “Is that his Cutie Mark?”

“I’m not quite certain,” Celestia said, “but it may seem like one. I’ve never seen such symbol before, so I wouldn’t know what it means.” She brought the book back in front of her and flipped through several pages before making an interesting discovery. There was a page that held the same symbol in amazing detail—a bronze medallion-like amulet with two brass teardrop shapes circling around each other in a karma-like fashion. Granted, it was only an image, but it was enough to confirm that the book would hold all of the answers to their basic questions.

Celestia gazed upon the words that the page contained and came upon one that stuck out to her the most. She recited much of the text. “’The symbol that you see on this page represents an ancient race that live in harmony with space and time. They are the creators and sculptors of the worlds, and they help bring order and chaos into perfect balance. This symbol is of their heritage—their traditions unlike any I had seen in my entire life. They are known, commonly, as the Precursors.’”

Everyone in the room was enticed by the words that Celestia had read, including the guards that stood behind Shining Armor. There was a long moment of silence before Luna gasped in surprise. Her horn had brightened, and her magic around the boy intensified. It was clear that she was in some sort of a struggle. Candence summoned her magic and enveloped it around the boy, assisting Luna in her struggle, only to find herself being locked in the same situation.

Thy... cannot control… our power…” Luna managed to say, before the magic within her escalated to unprecedented levels. Before long, everyone in the room began to feel a tugging feeling towards Luna and Cadence, and over time the tugging became stronger and more evident. There was a point where the tugging went from a tingling feeling to a greater sensation of pain. Before long, everyone went quiet, sat in place and closed their eyes. Their consciousness went blank.


A slight, gentle breeze brushed up against Luna’s face. She was the first to open her eyes, only to reveal that she wasn’t in Canterlot castle. Had that boy conjured some sort of spell and brought her and the others here? Everyone else was lying on the floor in front of her. As she stood up, she saw that they were beginning to awaken. She took a moment’s notice to examine the surroundings.

It wasn’t exactly like Canterlot, but the place had a similar feeling of brilliance and tranquility. The hallway they were in was quite large. The floor was made of a polished light marble with dark accents that gently contrasted against the white base. The walls and ceiling were smoothly crafted of an orange stone with a slight bronze tinge. Down the hallway, white cloths draped over an archway that had led to an outside balcony. She noticed that the sun was out and had brought in an ambient glow within the hall. Celestia also noticed the glow of the sun, and was intrigued by the beauty of the craftsmanship of the hallway.

Celestia looked all around, studying the surroundings. “Are we inside his dream?”

Luna could only imagine. “I do believe we are, sister. It seems to be a very peaceful one as well.”

“Where is ‘he,’ though?” Celestia looked down the other way of the hall and found that it continued down for many hundreds of meters.She noticed that she was wearing something on her back. She looked at Luna, who had a bronze robe-like dress hanging off the back of her body. The others appeared to be wearing the same thing. They began to come to and stood up. They all looked around to assess where they were. The guards that were in the room last had also made it in to the dream, though they lacked their armor and were, instead, wearing the same robe-like garments everyone else was.

“Flash!” One of them exclaimed. “Your armor!”

The other guard examined himself and held a mortified look. “I am so gonna get in trouble with Shining Armor when he sees me like this…”

He heard a familiar voice cleared its throat. The guard’s eyes went wide when he realized whose voice it was.

Shining Armor could only help to laugh at Flash Sentry. “No, you’re not gonna get in trouble, Flash,” he said playfully.

Cadence shook her head and stood next to Shining Armor, examining the cloth that had draped over the rear of his body. “Ooohh, such fancy décor. I wonder if we can get that in our dreams?” She blinked innocently, feeling the frail, soft fabric run through her hoof.

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and flew about the vicinity of the hallway, keeping close to the others. She noticed the unarmored guards and could only manage to chuckle. “Talk about ‘uncovering’ your duties.” She laughed manically and fell to the floor, rolling on the floor in her bouts of laughter.

The guards raised their eyebrows in question and stared at each other.

Twilight walked up next to Celestia. “Where are we?”

“I do believe we are in—“

“Ahem.”

A strange voice echoed throughout the hallway, interrupting Celestia and tearing Rainbow from her blanket of laughter. Towards the end of the hall, a humanoid figure stood in front of the draped archway. The figure wore a bronze dress with brass highlights around the edges and streaked down the lower portion of the gown. The figure had radiant blonde hair that reached down to the lower back and flowed freely in the wind. It had bright blue eyes and a timid light tan skin and sported long, pointed ears—the same as the boy. It was apparent that the figure was looking right at the group.

The figure spoke—it was clear that it was a female from her high-pitched harmonic tone. “Can I help you with something?”

Something that understands our language? Very interesting!’ Twilight’s thoughts could only meander towards the sights that were unfolding before her. ‘Wait, this is just a dream, right?’

Celestia walked towards the figure in an elegant manner. She let her mane drape over the side of her head and body and stood tall to address herself to the woman. “As a matter of fact, we would like some help. We are not sure where we are, but we managed to drop in to the dreams of another just like you.”

The figure turned her head slightly to the side. “You are not in a dream.”

The figure’s words caught everyone off-guard. Their expectations were thrown out of proportions when they had to process what they had just heard. Even Luna had a tough time trying to swallow what she had just heard.

Celestia looked at the figure, heavily puzzled by the figure’s statement. “I’m sorry, but you said… we’re not in a dream?”

The woman shook her head. “I assume you all must be new here, given that we don’t see too many of your kind around here. Your physical selves are where you once were still, but it is your souls that have come here.” She held up her hand as Celestia was about to speak. “You are not dead. You are simply experiencing a temporal leap from your physical bodies—a form of telekinesis, synchronized with the power of the Elements.”

Celestia only managed to draw a blank. “You mean, the Elements of Harmony?”

The woman looked at Celestia with odd curiosity. “I am not familiar with the element in which you call Harmony. Is that what you refer to our elements as?”

Celestia was baffled by the woman’s inquiry. Never before has she had anyone question what the Elements of Harmony were, especially since they were standing, in broad daylight, behind her. “No. Where we come from, we possess powers that we call the Elements of Harmony.”

The woman nodded. “I see.” Her hand lowered and was held out toward Celestia. “I am Paleia, the keeper of the halls of Aniliath.”

Celestia smiled and held her hoof out to Paleia’s hand. “I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria.”

Paleia’s eyes sparkled when she heard those words. “So, the legends are true.” Celestia managed to wrinkle her nose. “There is much for us to discuss, Princess Celestia.” Paleia finished the hand/hoof shake and beckoned the others to follow her down the left corridor.

Celestia and Luna looked at each other, equally puzzled. Still, they had no other obligation than to follow Paleia to wherever she was going to lead them to. The rest had also listened to what had happened and had the same obligation to learn more.