//------------------------------// // My Name Is... (Alternate Version) // Story: The Journal // by InsaneBatPony //------------------------------// Chapter 1- MY Name is… The sun was rising and its radiant light seeped through Twilight's curtains. The sun had put small luminescent lines onto the bed and across Twilight's face. Twilight lightly stirred and turned to her side trying to avoid Celestia's sunlight. She groaned as the sun continued to put a small light into her eyelids. She sat up and rubbed her eyes with her hooves. She looked around her room and everything seemed normal as though the events of the previous night were a dream. She got out of bed and opened the small curtain to allow the light of the sun into her room. She smiled and breathed in the clean fresh morning air. She got herself ready for the day and went down stairs to begin her daily routine. As she made her way down the stairs she noticed that Spike had already started the normal cleaning duties, she noticed him over by her study table holding a book in his hands looking it over from top to bottom. He looked over to see her coming into the room. He called out to her. “Twilight?” “What is it Spike?” she said with enthusiasm, eager to begin the day after a nice breakfast. “What is this book doing on the table? I thought you put everything on the shelves last night before bed, and are you feeling better? You said you were slightly depressed yesterday.” “I did shelve the books last night, or at least I remember doing so. And yes I am feeling better, thank you for asking. Rain makes feel a little depressed is all.” She said with enthusiasm. “That's good to know. But what is this book doing on the table if you put all the books on the shelves last night?” Spike said while holding the small tome in his clawed hand. She grabbed the book out of his claw using her magic. She levitated it in front of hr face and gave it an exhaustive examination. Satisfied with her analysis of the book she placed it back on the table thinking nothing of it, or where it came from. "I'll take another look at it later, Spike. Lets go eat some breakfast, I'm a little hungry." Twilight said as she ushered him to the kitchen to help her with breakfast. ___________________________ After a good breakfast, spike went about his normal day to day routine before going out to Rarity's to assist her with some new designs that she had asked for assistance with. Twilight went back to take a look at the book that had come into her possession for reasons she could not remember. She levitated it once more in front of her. She concentrated on it to see if it had any magical properties. She could sense a presence within its pages but could not deem what it was or who this presence might be. She told Spike to write the Princess about this strange book and told him that she would go down inot her study and read some of it in order to try to determine what this book is. She went down into her study and locked the door behind her, not wishing to be disturbed. She cleared a space for herself near the chair in the corner of the room and sat down. She levitated the book in front of her once more and undid the small leather strap keeping the book closed. She opened it and studied the writing shortly, noticing that it was in cursive an it had been faded with age. She noticed that the lettering was written with ink and that the words were hastily written. She cringed a little bit at the lack of tidiness in the writing. After her observations she started to read the scribbles that were written in the pages of the book. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ A warning to anypony who dares to pick up this journal and read its contents. The research written here in is dangerous. Those who dare read this journal; I hope you are ready to bargain your mind and soul. My name is Orion Lunarius, head researcher for Project M given to us by Celestia herself. Our mission was to find a way to increase a pony’s resistance to magic and also find a way to give anypony the ability to use a limited amount of magic be them a unicorn or not but something went wrong. I have barricaded myself inside the deepest part of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. My colleagues have all but gone mad. I write this journal to tell our story and as a warning to all who may read this after my passing which will not be long. Soon I will no longer be in my right mind. He is stealing my mind and is trying to get in. I will not let him, not until this journal is complete. How I have lasted this long is unknown to me but a welcome blessing. Our studies into ancient pony magic lead us to discover a way to increase the magical capabilities of any pony who wished for it. We could only imagine the possibilities at this point. However, it was only a matter of time before we strayed from the good intentions of the Princess. We began do delve into a dark and forbidden magic thought to be destroyed but had been preserved in ancient writings from long before my time. We had no clear goal in mind, all we wanted was to explore this unknown power. As we researched this dark magic we found that if used properly it would allow the user nearly unlimited magical capabilities including mind control among other things. We never could have imagined what obtaining this power would do to us or turn us into. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight promptly shut the journal in a shock and did not want to continue after the first few paragraphs. She continued to hold the journal in her magic. Her mind screamed at her to put the book away and wait for the Princess to arrive. Her scholarly side on the other hand told her to continue. She fought with herself for a while until she gave in to her scholarly side and continued to read the journal with some hesitation. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ After a few weeks of research we decided to try an experiment on a live subject. We knew that nopony would willingly want to go through the experiment as the subject so we resorted to combing the forest. We found a fox lying in its den. We chose the fox because it was a weaker animal in mental abilities. We figured it would be a good place to start. We were right. The experiment was something of a success at first; it would do anything we asked without question. We wanted to test the extent of the control we had over it. We brought in a rabid Manticore and told the fox to attack it. The Manticore was chained. We didn’t want the fox to be killed, it was an experiment. To our surprise he charged and started attacking the Manticore. We never expected we would be able to tell a weak animal to attack a fully grown monster and that it would actually do it. We stood in awe as it rammed the manticore in the lower body because its small size. We made it stop and decided to keep it with us in order to study the effects of the magic we had learned. But we knew it was only a matter of time before we were discovered by Celestia's guards. Even though we were in the forest near the Castle in Canterlot we knew we had to move somewhere safer. The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters was a perfect place to go. It was secluded and safe from prying eyes. It had only been abandoned a few years. It was not yet in ruins but in some disrepair. As quickly and quietly as we could we moved all of our research to the sub-levels of the castle. Using a strong teleportation spell we knew. It took a few days but we managed to get everything into the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters without arousing suspicion. We began to monitor the fox more closely because its condition was deteriorating, it would no longer do what we asked when under the influence of our spell. He calls for me, one of the fruits of our labor. I must hurry to finish this before he takes me. A being unlike any other, he's eating away at me from the inside! How long I can continue to write I do not know. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight looked up from the journal perspiring and breathing heavily appalled at what she was reading. She could hardly bear to read any more. Her mind still screamed and pleaded with her to not continue this endeavor. Her mind kept reminding her of the strange essence that was lurking within its pages. Her mind was being torn apart from the inside. She let the book fall to the floor and she clutched her head in her hooves. "Stop it! Stop it!" she told her mind. Once the internal argument had quieted; she picked up the journal and opened it once again. Next Chapter Resolve