//------------------------------// // The Black Library of Chaos // Story: Swooping Pegasus // by FenrisianBrony //------------------------------// Rainbow awoke with a gasp, her eyes instantly snapping wide open as they focused on the smooth lighting above her. It was odd, there was no singular source for the lighting, as if the entire ceiling was made of lights. Dismissing the odd phenomenon, Rainbow looked around the rest of the room, surprised to find that she was in a large, and comfortable, bed, the sheets pulled up around her, calling her back to their soft embrace. Two years ago, she wouldn’t have thought twice about curling up and going to sleep again, but two years could change anypony. Sliding out of the bed, she glanced around the room, instantly catching sight of her armour and walking towards it, inspecting its surface. The last thing she remembered was the raid on the Forge World, and she could clearly remember being hit by some very large rounds from the minigun on the Vulture gunship, as well as lasers from the multi-laser. However, now she looked at her armour, she couldn’t see any signs of damage at all. The entire surface of the armour seemed to be gleaming, radiating a soft glow, not to mention the tiny, intricate details that were now inlaid into it. If she hadn’t been looking so carefully, she would have missed them, or simply dismissed them as scratches, but unless she was very much mistaken, those were runes, although she couldn’t for the life of her read them. That meant one of two things. Either they were written in the language of the Dark Eldar, Rainbow shuddered at the prospect that one of their kind had inscribed them, or they were written in the pre-fall language of the Eldar. “Where the hell am I?” she whispered softly, looking around the room. She had some ideas, but until they were confirmed, she didn’t want to give them extra life by believing them. Grabbing hold of one of the leg guards, Rainbow began to pull it on, before stopping as she looked down at her naked body. It had been a long time since she had seen herself fully unclothed, the last time probably being when she had got her new cybernetic wing or when she had duelled with Juhani for the honour of joining clan Nar’bok. Back then she had acquired quite a few scars, but they were nothing compared to this. There was hardly an inch of her that was the same as before, her once gleaming cyan fur now taking on a duller colouration. Scars and cuts crisscrossed her body, ranging from the disfiguring one across her face, to the largest one that spread down her left side, courtesy of a human Chainsword. And then of course, there was her bionics, their smooth surface looking out of place and alien on her body. She sighed as she realised that even if she got home, her friends would probably see her as a monster when she took off her armour and they found out what she had done in her time away. “No,” she scowled, looking up at the lights with a snarl. Her friends wouldn’t reject her, not for her looks, and more importantly, it wasn’t ‘if’ she got home, it was going to be ‘when’. She had come far too far to start having doubts now, nothing would stand in her way of finding her way back home. Not the humans, not the guardians of the Black Library, nothing. Quickly slipping into her armour, Rainbow checked the power charge on her las-blaster. The power packs had been steadily recharging while she had been out, and each one was now registering as one hundred percent ready. Grinning softly, she slipped one into her weapon, activating it and disengaging the safety, before pushing open the door and walking further into…wherever here was. The corridors she was in quickly widened out into a cavernous hall, and Rainbow was momentarily stunned as she looked around it. The place was massive, stretching on for as far as the eye could see, and then stretching a bit further. As she looked back the way she had come, she was shocked to see the room stretch backwards the same distance, the corridor she had come from nowhere to be seen. It was as if she had been dropped right in the middle of the room, and now she had even less idea where she was than before. The room was packed with large transparent walls, each one acting as a book case of sorts, and having small pools of yellowish light breaking up the monotony of see-through glass. As Rainbow drew closer, she saw that within each pool of light rested a single object, suspended in mid-air by whatever field the light was projecting. Books, crystals, data-slates, everything Rainbow could have imagined was in one of the fields around her, and this was only a fraction of the size of the room. Quickly flapping her wings, she tried to get above the bookcases, rising up to try and see over them to find something living. The closer she got to the ceiling however, the further away it seemed to get, the bookcases stretching upwards forever, until she finally had to concede and land once more. Even though she had only gone straight up and straight down, her surroundings had changed once again, and Rainbow found herself mesmerised by one of the pools of light, and the object it contained. It was a perfect replica of the rune she had seen when she had first conquered the war mask, the rune of the Swooping Pegasi. “Did you find what you were looking for amongst the stasis fields?” a smooth voice asked from behind her. Rainbow acted without thinking, spinning on her hooves and firing in a single movement. The laser slashed towards the tall Eldar, and Rainbow’s heart froze as she watched its passage. The Eldar did not seem to worry about it however, instead simply raising a hand to intercept the beam. As he did so, he began to roll his hands, forcing the laser bolt into a small red ball of energy, before reverently placing it in an unoccupied stasis field. “Brash, but expected,” the Eldar nodded smoothly. “I’m sorry,” Rainbow blurted out. “I didn’t know who you were.” “I know you didn’t Rainbow Dash,” the Eldar nodded. “We know who you are though, and what you seek.” “Who are you?” Rainbow asked in confusion, before whirling around and seeing another host of Eldar walking towards her, although perhaps walking was the wrong term. Dancing seemed more appropriate for these individuals. There were four of them in total, each one of the clearly an Eldar, and clad in gaudy, checked clothes. On their faces were odd masks, their features ever shifting, never staying the same for more than an instant, and Rainbow could have sword she saw the face of Elarique and Talvan flash before her, before they too were snatched away. Glancing behind her, Rainbow saw that the first Eldar had vanished, only to find him standing with the group before her when she turned around. “We go by many names Rainbow Dash,” one of the Eldar said, pirouetting as she spoke. “The Guardians of forbidden lore, the speakers of terrible truths,” another nodded, twisting his leg up over his shoulder in a beautiful dance move. “You may not know our names, and you may not know our faces, but you know us Rainbow, our reputation, and where we reside,” the third one continued, spinning a large gun around his waist in a graceful manner. “So tell us, do you want to know who we are Pegasus,” the fourth one asked, twirling a sleek sword in her hands. “Or do you already know what you seek?” the final Eldar, the one Rainbow had first seen, finished. “You…you’re Harlequins,” Rainbow breathed softly, looking between the figures. She had heard all about the mysterious warriors of the Laughing God when she had been on Saim-Hann, how they appeared from nowhere on the eve of battle, performing great works of art and entertainment, before demonstrating their devotion to their god in the coming battle. They never stayed long, always disappearing after the battle was done. No one truly knew what they were, but no Eldar would ever seek to earn their ire. “That is one of our names,” the more heavily armoured one nodded. “We are the troupe of the Laughing God. We have no names, only our troupe name, and my own title. I am The Guardian.” “Tell us little pony, with the knowledge gained, where are you?” the sword wielding Harlequin asked. “The Black Library?” Rainbow asked, hardly believing her own words. “The Lost Craftworld, the Repository of Forbidden Knowledge,” the same Harlequin nodded. “This is what you have sought Rainbow, searched for for so long. Tell us, is this what you still seek?” “Yes,” Rainbow nodded slowly, her throat feeling dry as she spoke. “You have questions, speak,” the Harlequin with the massive cannon said smoothly. “And we shall answer,” another finished. “We have answered, and we will answer,” The Guardian nodded. “All is known to us, the past, the present, nothing escapes our gaze.” “How did I get here?” Rainbow asked, looking between the five enigmatic warriors. “I was injured…I passed out…” “And we found you,” The Guardian finished. “We brought you here, we nursed you back to health, and we snatched you from the jaws of She Who Thirsts ourselves.” “Why?” Rainbow pressed. “I mean, why let me in?” “The Black Library is a test, those who wish to find it must prove themselves,” one of the Harlequins began. “Some search for decades trying to unlock our secrets,” another continued, “they lie, they cheat, they kill, all in the hopes of finding the hidden webway paths that lead to us here.” “Others search not for themselves, but for others,” a third Harlequin began, appearing beside Rainbow in an eerily Pinkie-esk manner. “You have given your very body and soul to the finding of our world, not for yourself, but for others.” “For ones such as yourself, there can only be one eventual destination,” The Guardian finished, gesturing with an arm. “The Black Library of Chaos.” “Does…does this mean I can go home?” Rainbow asked, smiling broadly beneath her helmet. “That depends,” The Guardian nodded slowly, before walking towards Rainbow, gesturing for her to follow. The other harlequins seemed to melt away into the library, leaving Rainbow and The Guardian alone. “Depends on what?” Rainbow asked, hurrying to keep up with the Eldar. “Many who seek the Library wish to stay in it forever,” The Guardian clarified. “They do not leave once they have arrived, living out their considerably longer lives here in the webway. For those who travel its myriad pathways for long enough, the ageing process is slowed, sometimes indefinitely. I have seen human Inquisitors, on the verge of death and only kept alive by Technology come here, only to walk out without that which once kept them whole. My question Rainbow, is what do you now desire now that you are here?” “Shouldn’t you already know the answer to that?” Rainbow asked. “I do,” The Guardian nodded. “And I don’t. The past is well known to me, the present is stretching out all around us, but the future is still uncertain. I can see a hundred thousand possibilities, each future being possible and yet unchangeable. I have seen futures so bleak that they put the present to shame, but I cannot change them, for if I act upon my knowledge, or the knowledge of the library, we can bring about those terrible futures ourselves.” “I can’t stay here,” Rainbow shook her head. “I made a promise, that I would find the Black Library and that I would go home.” “Indeed you did,” The Guardian nodded. “But our home is where we are. Our place of origin is not relevant, only where we choose to go, to lay down our routes and make a stand. The place we say ‘no, you will come no further’. Your friend Elarique, where was his home? Was it Saim-Hann, the place where he was born, or Hannibal, the place he gave up his life to protect?” “Hannibal I guess,” Rainbow replied. “But me, my home is Equestria. It’s where my friends are, and if we’re talking about giving up our life for a place, I would do it gladly. I did when I was training, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.” “So that path?” The Guardian sighed slightly, before coming to a halt, looking at the stasis fields in front of him. Rainbow followed his gaze, looking around the larger stasis fields and the vehicles stored within. There were some that looked positively ancient, more like the old chariots from Equestria than anything Rainbow expected to see in the Black Library. There was one that caught her eye however, and she instantly walked over to her Jetbike, the field fading away as she neared it. “The portal you seek is here Rainbow,” The Guardian informed her, pointing towards a large wraithbone arch. “It is…interesting.” “How so?” Rainbow asked, running her hoof over her Jetbike, and finding that like her armour, it had been fully repaired by the denizens of the Lost Craftworld. “I have walked the surface of this Craftworld my entire life, I am one of the few Eldar save for our Dark Kin who remembers what our race was like before the Fall,” The Guardian sighed. “Before that, I was a historian, and I discovered the wonders of the Old Ones, their power. They created the webway, and showed Eldar kind how to use it. The Black Library was the first Craftworld to be created, springing into existence alongside the webway itself. This portal…I’ve never seen, nor heard of records, of it being activated.” “What do you mean?” Rainbow asked in surprise. “It looks like it’s working to me.” “It is now,” The Guardian nodded. “Before this, nothing has been able to rouse it from its slumber. Many have tried, all have failed. And then, two years ago, it flickered into life, just briefly. Now it has activated fully, as soon as you set foot…hoof, on the Craftworld. It responded to your presence as if it was welcoming back ones who were meant to have it.” “But…I’m nopony special, I’m just Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow pointed out. “Oh, never underestimate the power of one,” The Guardian chuckled. “One can change the universe, for better or for worse. But I did not mean specifically you, I meant your race, Ponykind.” “I’m not following,” Rainbow shook her head. “The Old Ones were powerful beyond measure, able to fight with the gods themselves for a while, before finally being overrun by the Necrons and their C’tan masters,” The Guardian explained. “They created races, they engineered worlds. No one truly knows what they were capable of, only that many of the wonders of the universe are owed to them.” “So what,” Rainbow pressed, getting slightly annoyed at The Guardian. “Portals like these, they would only open if the ones they were designed for returned to them,” The Guardian explained. “I believe the Old Ones knew of your kind, maybe even created you themselves. For whatever reason, you do not know them, but the fact remains that the portals are speaking to you. Scans show they lead to one place, to a world deep within the confines of the webway itself, impossible to reach except through this portal, well, until you came through. Worlds do not exist in the webway, but yours, this Equis, flows through time forgotten by the galaxy. More than that though, Eldar believed they were alone in the universe, doomed to forever be the higher species, until we came into contact with you.” “What?!” Rainbow shouted, taken aback. “But I’m not an Eldar.” “No?” The Guardian asked. “You read our language, you respond to our metal techniques, you can even interface with our technology. Tell me what other races can do that? Humans? Orks? Tau? None are like us, none but you. I’m not saying you are Eldar, but you yourself seem to share many similarities with us. Maybe you come from the same stock as us, engineered by the Old Ones from the Eldar themselves.” “But…I…huh?” Rainbow spluttered. “But this changes everything.” “Does it?” The Guardian asked innocently. “Are you not still Rainbow Dash, are ponies not still ponies?” “But we may be Eldar at heart,” rainbow pressed. “Yes, you may be Eldar at the very basest level, but that does not make you any less of a pony than you were before. The Orks were once different creatures, and now they are the brutes you see today. Does their past influence their future? No, they are Orks, not the creatures the Old Ones intended them to be. Your origin doesn’t matter, much like your home, it is what you now do with that information that matters.” *** Equestria *** All the ponies stared at Rainbow in shock, their mouths hanging open as they tried to work their brains around what rainbow had just casually told them. This was huge, a possible answer to the oldest question in the history of all sentient life: Where do we come from. This sort of information was what wars were fought over, and now Rainbow had provided a sound answer as if it was nothing. “I…you…why…” Twilight spluttered. “Didn’t I tell you earlier?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah,” Twilight nodded. “This does seem like it would be something that would have been the first thing you informed us of,” Luna agreed. “Really?” Rainbow countered. “I’ve been gone for two years. If I just reappeared and told you all, ‘hey, I know where we came from. We were created by a race of creatures as old as time itself and trapped in a parallel universe known as the webway’, don’t you think that would have been slightly odd?” “I must admit, it may have been even harder to accept if that was the first thing Rainbow had told us,” Rarity reasoned. “Exactly,” Rainbow nodded. “So instead I decided to let you find out like I did, in context and nearing the end of my journey. Now you may not instantly assume it’s my crazy talking.” “Yer not crazy Sugarcube,” Applejack chuckled. “Just a bit…roughed up is all.” “Thanks,” Rainbow grinned. “But…this is incredible,” Twilight protested, trying to bring everypony’s attention back to the matter at hoof. “I mean, ponies have looked for answers like this for millennia, even Starswirl the Bearded and Clover the Clever, and they never found anything that pointed to this, and now you’re just saying this like it’s as normal as the weather.” “Twilight, believe me I was shocked when I heard it, but after seeing everything I’ve seen, it gets harder to get the jump on me with things like that,” Rainbow smiled. “I don’t even know if it is true or not, for all I know The Guardian could have been completely wrong, he did say it was only what he believed. But you’ve got to admit, it does make some sense.” “This changes everything though,” Twilight pointed out. “It doesn’t though,” Rainbow insisted. “Just like The Guardian said, we’re still ponies, nothing more, nothing less. We just know that we’re not alone, and that we could have a much more complex ancestry than we ever expected, one that’s not even on this planet.” “I wonder if Discord knew of this,” Luna mused softly. “he has been around for as long as documented history itself in one way or another. He may not have been in charge, but he was there, just as we were sister.” “Perhaps he does, but we don’t,” Celestia countered. “Discord is…odd. I doubt he would tell us even if he did know. He’d probably say something about surprises, secrets and plans.” “Well, he’s sealed in stone now, so it’s not as if we can just ask him,” Fluttershy said softly. “He is sealed away still, isn’t he?” Pinkie asked, eyeballing Celestia, her eye bulging out of her head slightly. “Of course he is,” Celestia nodded. “Why would he not be?” “Oh, just a hunch,” Pinkie smiled. “What sort of hunch?” Luna asked. Pinkie smiled, before taking in a large breath. “In an alternate universe where Dashie never disappeared and we still remained together Discord was freed because everypony wanted to reform him, but nopony thought they could expect for Fluttershy, and then he was all ‘friendship is magic’ and then twilight became an Alicorn and Celestia and Luna got kidnapped by evil black vines and then we saved them and had to give back the Elements of Harmony to a massive tree, and then a flower popped up and showed us a box with six key holes and all went on a video game key hunt to find the keys,” she stopped for a gasp of air before continuing, “and then Celestia Luna and cadence had to transfer their powers to Twilight just so she could save Equestria.” She finished quickly, beaming at the others as they all looked at each other with slack mouths, before Rainbow began to laugh. “Pinkie Pie, you are so random.” “Yes, random,” Celestia chuckled awkwardly, casting a quick glance over to Luna and grimacing, before turning back to face the others. “But enough of these hunches of Pinkie’s, I do believe you have a bit more of a story to tell Rainbow.” *** The Black Library of Chaos *** Rainbow stood in front of the recently activated portal, staring into the shimmering lights that would lead her home. She had hardly spoken since The Guardian had told her about his idea for Ponykinds heritage, and was still trying to work out how everything looked now. So much made sense now she applied this logic to the questions she had been silently wondering about for a long time now. Things like what were the chances of the Eldar language being the same as Equestrian, or why could the mind of a pony interface with the Spirit Matrix on a Craftworld all now made sense. If they shared even a scrap of DNA, then it was possible that they shared brain functions as well. Finally, Rainbow turned to face The Guardian. “This will lead me home?” Rainbow clarified. “It should,” he nodded, looking at the portal. “I never expected to see this portal live, even in my long life. I believe you will be the first creature since the Old Ones were defeated to even attempt to use the passageways beyond.” Rainbow sighed, looking wistfully at the portal. “You don’t have to go you know,” The Guardian pointed out. “What?” Rainbow asked in confusion. “I told you, I want to go home. It’s just…” “You are worried that you have changed too much,” The Guardian finished. “As I said, you are welcome to stay in the Black Library. We will accept you into our fold if you wish.” Rainbow chuckled softly, before shaking her head. “Twilight’s the egghead, not me. You want somepony to freak out over the prospect of spending an eternity learning, talk to her. Just…give me a bit.” “You have all the time you need Rainbow, a decision like this is not to be taken lightly,” The Guardian nodded. Rainbow took a deep breath, before nodding to herself and walking towards her Jetbike. She was halted when The Guardian stood in front of her, placing himself between the Pegasus and her ride. “Hey! What’s the big idea?” She asked indignantly. “My apologies Rainbow,” The Guardian apologised. “It was not my intent to cause alarm, only to offer my advice and opinion now that you have made up your mind to return to where you come from.” “What advice would that be?” Rainbow asked, intrigued by the prospect of advice from the age-old Eldar. “Leave the bike, at least for a day,” The Guardian said simply. “If you feel like you are going to have a hard time fitting back in, don’t turn up with everything you have. Ease them into it, let them see that you are still you underneath the armour. Then you can show them so of the other changes. It’s just my opinion though. If you wish to take your bike with you, I will not stop you.” Rainbow considered her options for a moment, pondering what The Guardian had said. It was true she was worried about not being accepted, and coming back without all of her new toys may help to speed up the process of her friends accepting it was really her. She knew that if the roles had been reversed and Twilight had disappeared, before coming back in a War Walker or something, Rainbow would have a hard time believing that it was her and not some uber-intelligent robot or something. Nodding, she looked up at The Guardian, moving away from the bike slightly. “How will I get it then? I don’t really want to come through the webway like before again,” she pointed out. “I can ensure that it is sent through the webway for you Rainbow,” The Guardian nodded. “If I can, I will try to send a warning signal through first so you can be ready, but sending signals through the webway can prove difficult. The natural warp energies that surround the webway interfere with things being sent through, and on non-physical objects can distort them entirely.” “Thank you then,” Rainbow smiled beneath her helmet, before turning to the portal. “Wish me luck.” “Good luck rainbow Dash,” The Guardian nodded. “I hope you find what you are looking for beyond this portal. Always stay in the light Rainbow, never forget that.” Rainbow nodded, before taking in a deep breath and walking forward, touching the portal and feeling the warm tingling sensation that came with traversing the webway. Inside the portal, she found herself in a narrow, shimmering tunnel, its cylindrical structure leading to only one place. There were no passages branching off from this artery of the webway, and Rainbow slowly broke into a gallop, her mind fixated on the prospect of finally finishing her journey. Her body hurt, and she suddenly felt tired, but she pushed through the pain, sprinting at the shimmering portal at the end of the tunnel and passing through it, nearly being blinded by the sudden light, before her helmets lens filters darkened to allow her to see again. She instantly recognised where she was, and grinned as she took in the majesty of the Wonderbolts stadium she had first disappeared from. The stands were packed, and they were cheering something that Rainbow couldn’t see, but she quickly worked out what it was. Slowly, attention began to be shifted onto her, ponies pointing and yelling at the new arrival. Ripping her helmet off, she allowed it to fall to the floor, her short cropped mane blowing slightly in the wind as tears fell from her eyes. Her smile only grew wider as she watched the entirety of the Wonderbolts Flight team soar over her head, the Mach cones around them condensing and erupting into the Sonic Rainboom she once pioneered. The Wonderbolts veered off from their straight line formation, pulling off an acrobatic manoeuvre that left an image of Rainbow’s own cutie mark emblazoned in the sky. Laughing, Rainbow began to feel dizzy, unable to stand up unaided anymore as the reality of what she had done crashed into her. She had faced down perils that killed billions, lived through things that drive others insane, and she had found the hardest place in the universe, answering the oldest question in history accidently in the process. With this knowledge, Rainbow Dash fell forward, slamming into the floor with a soft ‘thud’. If she was still awake, it probably would have hurt, but she wasn’t, her body finally insisting that she get some rest, even as ponies began screaming, five familiar mares vaulting onto the pitch and running towards her. Rainbow Dash, the Swooping Pegasus, was home.