//------------------------------// // Origins pt. 1 // Story: Anima Mea Tenebre // by Nixus //------------------------------// "So why don't you tell me about yourself?" The mare asked as she sat comfortably in her chair and sipped her tea. Dante, on the other hand, felt incredibly awkward as he attempted to emulate the sitting position of the mare in front of him. Walking to the café had been a long process in itself. Actually, when he thought about it, stumbling after her would have been a better description. Still, trying to figure out how to sit in a chair was proving to be slightly problematic. He just couldn't find a proper position in which to balance his body out. The strange mare seemed to enjoy the show as well, if Dante could tell by her suppressed giggles. He had even managed to draw the attention of every other pony at the café, only adding tohis embarrassment. On the other hand, their comments did reflect the fact that his physical differences weren't being focused on. "I've never seen him in town before..." "He's kinda cute! Weird horns, but take a look at that flank." "Do you think he's single?" "The mare beside him is either his mom or he's just her trophy stud. My bet's on him being a trophy. If they're related then I can see where he gets it from." "We seem to be drawing the eyes of the crowd," she commented, giving a disarming smile to Dante. He raised an eyebrow as he examined the stranger a little more closely. She seemed to take note of his stare and put a hoof to her mouth as she turned away. "Oh, stop it; you're going to make this old mare blush. Giving a married mare those bedroom eyes, how could you be so bold?" He practically balked at the statement. His face heated up to the point where he firmly believed he was on fire. His reaction seemed to have the desired effect on the mare who tittered at his reaction. "I knew I was right, you do look rather cute when you're embarrassed. Oh if only I was a few years younger and single." "Is there a point to you dragging me here?" Dante asked as he covered his muzzle with a hoof. The lack of support caused by the action offset his balance and threatened to ruin his precarious seating. When he finally managed to right himself he gave his face a little time to cool off before he tried speaking again. "And who are you?" "Well it does seem that my little filly likes the straightforward and serious type. You certainly do act like her father used to." The mare sighed. "I can't even begin to tell you how long it took me before he even began to lighten up. I swear, all stallions are being raised far too strictly." "Daughter?" Dante questioned. A few seconds passed before his eyes widened. He knew that the mare in front of him looked familiar, but he hadn't been able to place it. Then, when it clicked in his mind, the similarities between the other mare in his mind and the one in front of him made sense. All it took was him changing a few colours before he had a name. "You're Twilight Sparkle's mother?" She let out a small chuckle before extending out a hoof. "Twilight Velvet is my name, but please, just call me Velvet. My full name just makes me feel old," she said. "Well, older than I already am." "A pleasure... I guess?" Dante replied as he shook her hoof. If anything, he had to disagree with her statement. Had Twilight been sitting there, he might have mistaken them for sisters. Other than her coat and the natural streaks in her hair, she didn't have a single grey hair in her head. "I could have sworn you weren’t any older than Twilight." Velvet grinned devilishly just as Dante groaned and covered his mouth. "Oh, aren’t you just a charmer. Or do you have an attraction to the older mares?" She patted one of Dante's hooves, softly rubbing the limb. The shock brought about from the action caused every hair on Dante to stand at attention. "Naughty colt." Dante's hoof retracted so quickly that even Rainbow Dash would have been impressed. "Anyway!" he said, attempting to shift the direction of the conversation. "What brought you here?" "Oh you know, just a mother being concerned when she finds out her daughter is secretly harbouring a stallion. Therefore, I felt that the right thing to do was to pay a visit to my dear daughter, and get a sense of the one who's sleeping under her roof." "Which begs the question of how did you know I was the one living with her?" he asked. He had a strange feeling about Velvet. There was something about the mare that made him wary of her. She had a peculiar look to her eye that gave him the impression that she was analyzing him more than she let on. She gave him the same disarming smile and brushed a lock of her mane away. "Celestia told me that her guest had a few noticeable features. Not many unicorns walk around sporting a pair of horns rather than just one. I also thought she was joking when she said you had access to some rather destructive spells. Yet it seems the everfree would like to prove me wrong." Dante grimaced at the reminder of his little outburst. He hadn't meant to do that, and he definitely hadn't meant for another to see it. "I'm sorry you had to see that. Today has been rather rough for me." Velvet only nodded as she began tending to her tea again. Leaving it alone had allowed it to grow cold and she grimaced before setting the drink to the side. "We all have terrible days once in a while. You just need to look on the bright side of things." "If only I could..." "Pardon?" Velvet cocked her head as Dante realised he had been mumbling. She sighed and rested her head on hoof. "First I find you yelling to the air and now you're talking to yourself. Is that tiny pony on your shoulder just that loud?" "No, I just tend to brood over things. I'm currently in the middle of a disagreement with my partners. We have different views on what we should do." Velvet only watched, her welcoming gaze only further enticed Dante to start ranting. It was the same feeling as earlier, as though she was enticing him to keep talking. So that was what he did, he spoke at length and took his time as he did so. Every reason, every personal feeling, every problem he had with their extended stay was laid bare. By the time he finished, he was practically lightheaded from the sudden relief he felt. The great weight had lifted from his shoulders and he began to reflect on his actions. His mind traced back to the argument and what Moe had said. Yes, he realised that he was letting certain obligations take precedence over pressing matters, but his reasoning still stood. They did not belong here and their continued presence was nothing but an added danger. In just a month, they had brought a bullywug into town and partially destroyed a few buildings. Coppa had rescued the apple family farm but in exchange for putting ten ponies in the hospital, all he got was a concussion and the loss of most of his gold. Sam had managed to find his voice and innate abilities. However, that had only managed to put him in the hospital for the foreseeable future. He didn't care for what Moe had gone through at that point though. In his current mood, the elf could go jump off a cliff. I shouldn't have expected anything less from a race of perpetual loners... "Who did he think he was to come to that conclusion? He hadn't done the things I had. He never had to experience what it was like growing without any privileges. I've struggled since I was born. I've had to live with the fact that I may never have complete control of myself. I've had to live with the knowledge that I can't ever experience the things he gets to experience every day." Dante almost wanted to laugh at his own rant. Instead, he focused on breathing as he gripped the table. "He thinks that this place is a paradise where we can just forget everything. He doesn't realise that it's never that simple. You cannot be an idealist in this situation, it's just not an option. The longer we stay here, the more we upset the natural order of things here." "So you think that your only option is to leave?" Dante took a breath before he locked his eyes to Velvet's. "It is the only option." "Well that is disappointing. I doubt Twilight feels that way though. You seem to have grown on her. You and your friends are all that she's been writing about lately." Dante's ears perked at the words. "Really?" He had no idea that Twilight had done such a thing. He had seen the discarded and half finished copies of paper lying in Twilight's home every now and then, but he had never actually stopped to read them. It actually began to make him wonder what she thought of him. Velvet seemed to notice his absentminded stare and gave him a tender hoof. "Don't worry, she hasn't said anything bad about you." That's a relief," he said before a sudden banging interrupted the follow up questions in his mind. Both looked over to see Coppa in the doorway, heaving and panting. Dante cocked an eyebrow as he began to notice that certain features had appeared while others had vanished. Coppa's features had softened and rounded and he seemed to be sporting two new, and very apparent, additions on his chest. Maybe her was a more apt description... Despite having an idea of what happened, he still needed to question the situation. "What happened to you?"  Coppa groaned. "That asshole Moe thought he'd play a joke on me while I was out. But this..." He grabbed the two orbs that had grown from her chest. "These are not jokes! This is far from a joke! I have tits now because of him, and I'm hating the fact that I have some added free space in my pants right now." "I take it that this is Coppa then," Velvet questioned. She turned towards him, watching and examining him with a narrowed eye. "Twilight did say you were a little crass, though she never told me that you were a girl." Coppa turned from the mare to Dante. "Who the hell is that?" he asked while pointing his thumb at Velvet. "This is Twilight's mother, Twilight Velvet." "Oh, then she should probably hear this too." "What happened?" Coppa's gaze hardned and he stopped playing with his breasts. "We don't know what happened. I was beating the crap out of Moe when a group of ponies showed up. They said they were related to Twilight, so I pointed them to the library. Next thing I know, they're screaming for help." He seemed uneasy as he explained, clutching at his arm and avoiding any eye contact. “They found Twilight on the floor, unconscious. We don't know what happened. All we found was a bunch of your stuff lying around. She was holding some picture of you and a human girl, and muttering some name over and over again." The colour in Dante's face seemed to drain faster than water in a bucket with no bottom. He scrambled from his seat and slammed through the door, almost taking it off its hinges, before running towards the library. Coppa looked towards Velvet who had begun to pale in the face. "This isn't good..." ***** Where am I?  The feeling of weightlessness felt odd as Twilight floated along in the pitch black void she had woken up in. For as far as the eye could see, there was nothing. There were no trees, no houses, no ponies in the endless expanse of the void. Not even a piece of grass grew on the ground beneath her. 'Am I dead?' she thought. Had the mere sight of that thing killed her? Did her heart simply stop out of fear and shock? She couldn't tell, not as the threads of comfort seemed to wrap themselves around her. They pulled at her mind, urging her to close her eyes and rest. They told her to sleep and forget about her troubles, to put aside all that bothered her and simply give way to peace and contentment. For a moment she almost gave into them and allowed herself to drift off. Her eyes fluttered before the sound of a child laughing brought her back to the world. "Hello?” she called, eyes scanning the area. At first she saw nothing, only the endless expanse of blackness. Yet, as she peered into the distance, she eventually began to see a change in the landscape. Something along the lines of a bright wall of white light travelled towards her, changing the darkness into bright skies and cobblestone streets lined with brick houses. The scene was empty at first, but soon began to fill with people as Twilight trotted down the street. None of them paid her any attention, most likely because this was only a vision as she hypothesized. Her assumption was proven right as a Dwarf practically phased through her in order to pursue a fruit stand. Despite the fact that this all seemed to be a vision, Twilight found herself enthralled at the opportunity before her. Before her very own eyes was a mass of people of races known to her through Coppa, Sam, and Moe. Additionally, there were those that were new to her. Men and women, as designated by what she had gleaned from the four, all had features that differentiated themselves from another. It ranged from feathered wings to adults only slightly larger than the children that played in the street. Even so, Twilight took it all in and made a mental library of notes as she watched them go through their activities. The enthralment soon turned to confusion as Twilight pondered her situation. "Where am I?" she asked herself. "What is going on?" A lone voice answered her. "You are seeing that which you desired." A slight tingle ran across her back as though an electric current went through her. The voice itself was calming but eerie at the same time. It sounded as though two voices spoke in unison, meshing in a perfect and synchronized tone. Twilight looked around, searching for its source. She found it in the form of person covered in flowing dark violet robes that reached to their feet. He held a simple wooden staff in his hand and beneath the cowl of that robe, Twilight saw the ends of two horns and eyes of red and black. The being’s face was relatively hidden by the cowl, but Twilight could make out his features from where she stood. He had a youthful and handsome face, framed by white hair with black ends. His horns stuck out, and were longer than what she imagined as he pulled back his hood. He resembled Dante slightly, but there was a different air around him, one that reminded her of the Canterlot nobility. Yet, it was his eyes that drew her attention. The dark red on black was eerie to her, and yet there was something else to it. Beneath the pleasant and youthful tint his eyes, there was intelligence that Twilight had only seen in her mentor. "Who are you?" she asked. "And where am I?" He gave a polite bow, a small and neutral look on his face. "My name is of no importance at this moment, I am simply the guide within this realm. As for this location, you are currently in Saint Mara's town square." "Why am I here though?" she asked. "You desired to learn of the source of the melancholy within Dante's heart. This vision is your answer." Twilight cocked her head. She looked towards the crowd and searched for the familiar face of her friend. "So this is a memory of his?" "That it is," he replied just before a sudden clamour brought Twilight's head back towards a crowd that had begun to gather. A few mocking voices and the sound of a child crying could be heard from where she stood. She turned her head back to her ghostly guide who shook his head while he glowered. "And so it begins..." Twilight felt her heart hammer as a small child was pushed to the front of the crowd. He landed roughly as he slammed into the wall of a fountain, bring a sharp cry of pain from him. He shivered in pain, his body quakeing through the thin clothes he wore and the red piece of cloth wrapped around his head. A small book was pressed tightly against his chest while three drunk and brutish looking men exited the crowd, surrounding him. The biggest of the three picked up the child, his hand grasping the cloth and the child's white hair. Twilight cringed as the action brought out another sharp shout of pain that was followed closely by panicked sobbing. To her horror, not a single person in the crowd moved a muscle to help the child. They all looked at the scene with passive indifference and only a few seemed to be unnerved by the display. A gargantuan feeling of revulsion welled in her stomach, increasing with each instance or abuse hurled at the boy. She turned to her guide and saw that his hands were clutching his staff so tightly that the wood beneath his whitened knuckles was splintering. Still, he maintained enough composure to remain where he was despite the action. “Why isn’t anyone helping him?” she asked, every emotion in her body telling her to go help the child. Yet, she knew that it would do nothing. She couldn’t even touch any of the people here, let alone attempt to save a child when her spells were as likely to pass through the three men as her hoof was. She waited for a response, but the strange being standing to her side only remained silent as he watched the exchange. Barely suppressed rage flickered through his eyes, but it seemed that he knew just as well as she did that any attempt was futile. All she could do was watch whatever it was that was being shown to her.  "This world is not as benevolent as yours. Not many would come to another's aid unless they are of the same blood. In the present situation as you are seeing, even fewer would choose to go against those they perceive as stronger for the sake of a parentless child." He gestured towards the child with a wave of a hand. "Then there is the situation we see now. I will tell you now, what is to come in the next moments, as well as what you will see later, will be hard on your conscious. Do not think you are the only one who would shut their eyes to this." "What do you m--"  "You're gonna regret ruining my shirt, kid!" the largest of the three spoke, his voice becoming suddenly clear to her. She looked at the offending article and saw that whatever was spilled on him had left a large black spot. The silken piece of clothing was obviously ruined, and had she been there, Twilight would have no doubt that Rarity would have torn at her mane at the sight. Yet a soiled shirt was no reason to attack a child. Whoever these people might have been, they could obviously afford a replacement or several hundred. The three, whether they were related or not -she couldn't tell since they were all ugly and pig nosed- were all dressed in a similar fashion of bright shirts with golden suns sewn into them. From her perspective, it gave them the appearance of glorified peacocks, but still proved effective in flaunting whatever wealth or status they had. The sound of a boot meeting a stomach, followed by a gasp for air brought her back to the scene at hand. The two other thugs cackled as the child groaned and clutched his midsection. The book he had been clutching was gone, taken by the leader who held it as though it were a piece of trash. "A beginner’s guide to magic?" he scoffed as he looked over the cover. He glanced at the boy who was still retching and attempting to catch his breath. "I'm surprised. Why would a dirty little brat like you steal such a common book? You probably couldn't do the simplest of spells within this book, let alone read any of the words." "I-I didn't steal it..." the boy groaned. Twilight cringed as his response was met by a boot to the back. One of the richly dressed thugs sneered as he the child struggled beneath him. "Who said you could talk back to us? Don't you know who this is?" He pointed at the man who only continued to look at the book with feigned interest. "You're looking at three members from the Holy Order of the Sun. You better show some respect and compensate Eric for his shirt." The one identified as Eric only gave a small snort of amusement as the crowd began to murmur. His pig nose wrinkled as he refocused back on the boy held down by his two friends. Calmly, he opened up the book and stepped forward. "Don't be stupid, he couldn't afford to compensate me for this. But I think a punishment is in order for him." He held the book out, opening it so that the pages faced forward. "Is this your book?" "Yes. I got it after helping the book lady with her delivery. Please just give it back to me, I worked hard for it..." The boy's sniffling as he pleaded for the book only seemed to amuse Eric. He flipped the book so that pages faced him and took a few between his thumb and finger. He looked at to his friends who both grinned and held their literal prisoner so that he could watch. "Sorry, but I can't do that. After all, in the natural order of things, one must know what loss is if they wish to learn anything," Eric replied plainly before he ripped a few pages out from the spine. Twilight gasped as the boy struggled and yelled while more and more pages were ripped from the book. They fluttered in the wind and flew off into the crowd. The yelling soon reduced to pained sobs as a now empty book cover fell to the ground. Eric ignored them as he knelt down and grasped the boy’s cloth head wrap. He grinned as the boy’s teary eyes looked back at him. "You see kid, that's how I do business. You break something of mine, and I do the same to something of yours." he said before his grip tightened around the red fabric. "Now one small book isn't going to compensate for much, so I'll take this instead. I'm sure I can make a handkerchief or something out of it." "No, please..." the boy said, struggling against his grip. "It's mine and the sisters said I can't take it off." "Too bad, kid," Eric replied as he pulled the cloth. It unraveled fairly easily and seemed to be much longer than any of them anticipated. When it did come off, Twilight saw every person in the crowd turn white as a sheet alongside the three who backed off. A quiet but panicked murmur went through the crowd as the stared at the child. Mentally, Twilight hit herself for not recognizing who the boy might have been. She should have recognized the pale skin or the red eyes of Dante. Even the cloth on his head, which now served presently as a tattered scarf, should have alerted her to the fact. Yet she had been too caught up in events to realise it. It only took the revelation that the boy had a set of small horns growing in the sides of his head to make her aware that she was looking at Dante as a child. "Well well, what do we have here," Eric said, dropping the cloth after comprising himself. He stared coldly at Dante who was trying to cover his horns in an attempt to hide himself. "I thought you might have just been an albino, but it looks like you're just one of those freaks. No wonder you hid behind a rag." "Please just give it back..." Dante said as he nervously scanned the entire crowd. Twilight followed his gaze and saw the crowd had begun to advance and some were now brandishing tools like weapons. Even the three in front of him were reaching for the hammers which hung at their belts and looked poised to do their worst while the crowd began to shout. "He's a devil child!" "He'll bring destruction to the town." "He should be put down like a dog!" Twilight couldn't believe what she was beginning to hear. As though a switch had been flipped, the crowd had devolved into nothing but a mob out for blood. Some managed to find sticks and stones and held them out as though they were weapons, approaching Dante as he backed himself up against a fountain. Her feelings boiled over in that moment and despite the futility, she fired off a beam of magic that only passed through the front off the crowd. Then, to her amazement, the crowd stopped as Dante pointed a stick he had found at the base of the fountain towards the crowd. The three men looked at Dante before breaking out into laughter at the sight. “You think a stick is going to save you? How pathetic,” Eric said as he and his men pulled a large headed hammer from his belt and raised it above his head. At the same time, Twilight heard Dante murmur something quietly as he continued to hold the stick forward. She craned her head, but a loud and a disturbingly familiar voice spoke out. Do it, burn them to cinders! A bright light grew from the end of the stick before it expanded outwards. A large column of flames burst forward, spewing out like fire from a dragon. It blew forward and briefly covered one of Eric’s thugs who fell to the ground screaming as his entire front side was burned. Eric was luckier, and only found his left arm completely burnt as he managed to avoid most of the flame. The flame itself continued on consuming everything in its path, scorching the ground pitch black and making the air itself sizzle. Screams and shouts of panic followed as the crowd practically threw themselves out of the way of the flames. Almost everywhere she looked, Twilight saw flames spreading and engulfing anything they touched. The fire spread from roof to roof, eating up the straw like substance before moving onto the wooden walls. It raged despite everything the townspeople threw at it, resisting everything from magical water spells some shot at it to the dirt and blankets that some used to try and smother it. During it all, Twilight shrunk back as she watched the sheer magnitude of it turn the sky a bright orange. “He burned Stuart. Somebody help him!” the other thug shouted above the roar of flames as a house went alight while Eric stood clutching his arm. His call was disregarded as the crowd ran around in an attempt to put out the flames. Realising this, he and Eric directed a frozen bystander to take the wounded man away while they advanced on the child. They both raised their improvised weapons and Twilight shut her eyes when Dante covered his head as Eric spoke. “You’re gonna regret this, you little monster. I’ll bash your skull in!” Yet before either could ready themselves to throw their stones, the sound of a bone breaking was nearly made inaudible by chaos around Twilight and those present. A man, completely covered in a dirty brown cloak, stood behind the now prone thug who was clutching his arm. The hood was drawn up, but Twilight could see the start of a greying beard poking out from beneath it. Shiny plates of metal were partially hidden beneath the cloak, reflecting the bright glow of the firestorm around them. Twilight wondered just how the man wasn’t feeling the effect of the heat around them as he stood, towering above all of them. “My arm!” the thug cried as he shuddered in pain. “The bastard broke my arm!” “What the hell are you doing?” Eric demanded as he faced the man. He narrowed his eyes as he clutched his stone, keeping his eye on Dante but addressing the newest threat. “Are you defending that little monster?” The man seemingly chuckled as he advanced. “Monster? All I see is a frightened child being tormented and defending himself from the likes of you.” “Do you not see the sun on my shirt? I am part of the Holy Order of the Sun and it is my duty to rid the world of any demonic taint. That includes this child! The statement brought another chuckle out of the man, prompting Eric to growl slightly. “The Order of the Sun is it? So I take it you’ll be using your position as a holy man to not only justify frightening a child, but to attempt to execute him as well? My, how much more cowardly can one get?” “Don’t play coy with me, I’m dealing with the cause of this whole situation. Now I think that you should go back to wherever you came from old man, and let me kill this demon. I have the power of the Order behind me and I can deal with a heretic like you.” “If you are going to deal with the root of the problem, then take a look at yourself. If anyone is to blame, it would be you. You pushed this child to go the lengths he did," the man said as he strode past Eric and knelt in front of Dante. “Are you alright, child?” “I didn’t mean for this to happen…” Dante sobbed as he clutched at his shaking arm. The man placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and gently smiled. Dante only continued to sob as he went from clutching his arms to his head. “Someone told me to do it. To burn those men so that they would go away. I didn’t mean to burn the town or hurt anyone.” “It is alright child, it was only an accident,” the man said as a house caved in to the intense fires. Both Dante and Twilight winced at the deafening noise, but kept an eye on the man. He had risen and was offering Dante his hand. “Come with me, I can take you away from here before these people come after you again. I can also teach you more than you could ever hope to learn from a book.” “But what about the sisters and the orphanage?” “Do not worry, I was there a few minutes ago,” he said with a little chuckle. “You see, Dante, I’ve been looking for you for a while now. I heard about your talents from one of the sisters, and I’ve come to help you. From what I see here, you have a lot of raw potential and I wish to help you refine that. To do that though, I will need to take you away from here. As you can see now, not many appreciate you for who you really are, but we will change that in time.” He kept his hand out as Dante seemed unsure of the offer. Twilight watched as Eric made no move to do anything, only remaining still as he watched the exchange with barely suppressed fury. The man however, seemed not to mind as Dante seemingly made his decision and reached for the man’s hand. “So you will come with me then? Don’t worry about your things, we can get you new clothes soon enough.” Dante nodded and cautiously stood up and hid behind the man as they went to go past Eric. A few villagers had joined with him and were looking at the two of them warily. All had weapons, and Eric seemed to have been given a rather long knife by one of them. They stood in the way of the two and Twilight believed she saw them ready themselves to pounce on the man to get to Dante. To both her and the group’s surprise, the man reached into his cloak and withdrew the same silvery sword she had seen Dante carry only days ago. This left her with little doubt as to who the man was, but she had to see for herself just to be sure. “Holy Order or not, I would suggest you move,” the man said, brandishing the sword in one hand while directing Dante further behind him. When none of them made way, the man simply sighed and closed his eyes. “I may be slightly older than most of you, but I can cut through each and every one here as easily as carving a cake. I would also suggest that you don’t test my patience and allow the two of us to leave.” One of the more confident villagers seemed unfazed by his words and spoke against him. “That demon spawn burnt our homes and you expect us to let you leave with him?” “If I remember correctly, only moments ago, you all were threatening to kill this poor boy. I am fairly sure that under any laws, whether they are of the church or courts, his actions can be considered self defence. I doubt the fact that he is a Diablon would have any consequence as to that fact,” he said, not lowering his sword an inch. Twilight held her breath, only to relax as doubt began to grow among the crowd. The man certainly gave off an intimidating presence, and she had no doubt he could make good on his promise. She might have not been able to see his physical assets, but something told her that he was far more able than any elder she had met. “So unless you wish to see the rest of your town burn to the ground, I suggest you leave us to our travels while you deal with the fire. One of you should have the proper mental faculties to realise the importance of a town over a single boy.” “This isn’t over, boy. You will pay for this one day. I swear it,” Eric said as he limped off. The crowd quickly moved and went back to dealing with the fires. When they all left, Dante tugged on the man’s sleeve, making him turn to face the boy. “What is it, child?” the man asked. “We should be be going before they decide to try anything else.” “I know, but who are you?” Dante asked cautiously. “I, my boy, am a simple knight and soon to be teacher,” the man said drawing back his hood to reveal medium length brown hair with streaks of grey that matched his beard. Soft brown eyes watched Dante with amusement. “My name, however, is Alec Feinman, and I'll be taking care of you from now on." With those final words, the vision began to fade, turning fuzzy before giving way to darkness once again. Twilight turned to her guide with almost a thousand questions she wanted to ask. The only problem was she had no idea where to start off. However, it seemed her guide had other plans and began to walk away. "Wait," she called out while running up to his side. "Where are you going?" "We have much to see and little time to see it," he said flatly. "The threads of fate are beginning to bring you closer to your first test. We have only seen the beginning, and there is much more you will need to witness before you are prepared. Follow me and you will soon learn the truth and be all the more ready to face what is to come. Now come, we must not waste any time. ***** A suffocating air hung over the main room of the library as Dante, Moe, Coppa and Velvet sat in silence. None of them had said a word since they had all gathered to check on Twilight, and not even Dante understood what had happened. Hours had passed and night had come upon the town, but Twilight was no better than when Dante had first seen her. She had been white as a sheet, tossing and turning in her bed as she spoke unintelligibly. A pony from the hospital had been called to the library to check up on her out of fear that moving Twilight might make things worse. The diagnosis the doctor had given them was no relief either. There was no term for what Twilight was going through, and a scan of her revealed little other than fluctuating levels of brain activity. As far as they could tell, Twilight was perfectly fine. The only difference however, was that any attempt to wake her had been futile. Dante looked towards Velvet who was staring worriedly at the stairs leading up to Twilight’s room. A pang of pity filled Dante’s mind as he shifted his attention to the items that were placed in the centre of the room. He frowned at the sight of both the journal he hadn’t written in for months, and a picture he wished had remained hidden. If anything, there were obviously going to be questions about the nature of the picture, questions he was not prepared to deal with presently or in the near future. He then turned to the fragment from the statue. Regarding it coldly, he traced it over with his eyes while silently contemplating his multiple theories on its nature. Each one was as grand as the last, but none seemed to fit exactly right. He couldn’t comprehend the nature of the statue, and nothing seemed to make sense concerning it. Where did it come from? There was no possible way it could have come through a portal like the one they had gone through. That was fact because there was no statue nearby when they had been taken away. The notion meant that there was only one other plausible origin, which was both sound but completely insane at the same time. Yet, out of everything that was on the floor, the fragment was the only possible thing he could think of that may have done this to Twilight. Everything else, while dangerous in their own regard, could do everything except put a pony as powerful as Twilight into a coma. Yet simply staring at the fragment was not going to do anything or get him any closer to revealing its secrets. To do that, he needed to go back to the beginning and work from there. With that idea in mind, he rose and trotted over to the edge of the room. He picked up Twilight’s saddle bags and managed to put them on with only a minor struggle. He then placed the fragment into them, much to the curiosity of the others around him before heading to the door. “Where are you going?” he heard Moe ask. Not even stopping to answer, he continued to head toward the door before Moe decided to be a little more forceful with his words. “Where do you think you're going with that?” “There’s something about this thing that made Twilight like that,” he said without even looking back. His hoof rested on the door, a patient gesture which silently hinted to the others that he was only a step away from simply leaving. “I’m figuring out what it is.” “So you’re going alone?” “I may as well. It would certainly fit the bill of a racially inclined loner,” Dante said before he pushed the door open. Had he even taken a moment to look back, he would have seen the slight presence of shame on Moe’s face and the beginning of an attempt to apologise. But he didn’t look back, he only kept walking forward toward the everfree with the full moon lighting his way. He knew what he had to do and he was going to figure out the nature of the fragment one way or another. Yet something told him that there was more to this than he originally thought.