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// Chapter Five: The Defiler (Unedited) 
// Story: Shadows of the Past 
// by Dr Atom Discharge 
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Shadows Of The Past
Chapter Five: The Defiler


Last time:“B-but… this… this doesn’t make any sense… they’re all… blank…?” Twilight was right, every single page of every single book she pulled off the shelf was blank, as if nothing had ever been printed on them. Then Twilight froze as an ice cold breath broke against her neck.
“Awwww… poor Twilight doesn’t get it… he he he” Said a hoarse, rasping whisper in her ear, followed by the eerie giggle of a foal.

Twilight slowly turned around and was confronted by the sight of a tall, thin, skeletal Alicorn, at least as tall as Celestia herself. Somehow the thing stood tall and grinned, despite the fact it was made of naught but bone. Red light glowed in the sockets where it’s eyes should have been.

“Poor little filly…  you are so very lost… and now… you’ll never leave… you’ll rot…and wither… but you’ll never leave… you’ll become like me… hollow and alone.” The being spoke in the rasping voice it Twilight had heard, before throwing its head back and letting out a laugh, but again, instead of giving out a harsh rasping sound she had expected, it was the same sickly sweet laughter of a small foul, then a gust of dust swept through it and the being crumbled into dust and blew away.

Twilight was terrified, she looked around trying to get her bearings, but then she realised, she wasn’t in the same place she had been a minute ago. In front of her stood a different bookshelf, bent in towards her at and odd angle, and yet still holding the books, all of the bookshelves were now twisted and contorted in a similar manner.

Twilight backed away frightened and started to move down the corridor, but as more twisted and strange shelves. The rows were no longer straight either, twisting and bending of their own accord. She moved faster and faster as the shelves became more and more contorted until faces started to form in the wood as she passed, pushing out of it in what looked like an agonising torture. 

Twilight reached a junction and came face to face with the skeletal form once more. She skidded to a stop and started to back away from it. The tall form uncharacteristically tilted it’s head, and the sickly sweat foul voice spoke.
“Want to play a game? I choose hide and seek… ready or not… here… I come…” The voice said, coming from all around Twilight instead of from a fixed point.

Twilight turned about and ran, the terrifying clacking sounds of skeletal hooves on the wooden floor followed Twilight as she galloped through the maze of twisted shelves. Twilight galloped and galloped but no matter how fast she ran she couldn’t outrun those awful hoofsteps. 

Finally, after what seemed like hours of running Twilight dared a look back at the horrific form, and as she did the sound of the steps faded and by the time her head turned back, the creature was gone as if it had never been there. She slowly slowed to a stop and looked around. The laughed echoed down the corridor sending a shiver down Twilight’s spine.  She turned about and continued down the corridor slowly, now much more carefully.

After some time, though Twilight had no idea exactly how long it had been, she spotted it form out of the dusty haze, the iron gate she had entered through. She sighed in unimaginable relief and started to move towards it, but the joy in her heart soon turned southwards as the skeletal being walked out of the haze, through the gate, towards her.

“Twilight, there you are… we’ve been looking everywhere for you.” It said in the sickly voice of the foal. Twilight backed away but bumped into a bookshelf that had not been there a minute ago, she was hemmed in as. 
“N-no… no no no… it can’t… I…” Twilight muttered to herself, sliding to the ground in despair and huddled close to herself. 

The creature moved closer and leaned down, wrapping it’s forelegs around her. Twilight clamped her eyes shut, but instead of the cold horrifying embrace she had expected she felt a familiar warm, gentle hold, followed by the warm tingle of magic on her muzzle and a sensation she hadn’t expected to feel again; the feel of fresh air in her lungs.
“Twilight… it’s okay… I’m here.” Atom said gently in her ear.

Twilight slowly opened her eyes and instead of the twisted and horrific maze that had been there before, there was the entrance she had come through to get into the restricted section And instead of the skeletal form holding her, it was Atom. She had never been more glad to see anyone. Twilight moved closer to Atom and gently kissed him, and he kissed her back, before helping her to her feet.

Atom lead Twilight back through the Library. 
“Luna should never have sent you in without telling anyone first, she had no idea how dangerous that these kind of degraded spell can be… the dust hear is laced with ancient magic… it causes… hallucinations… in a way.” Atom explained as they walked

Twilight nodded lightly.
“Y-yeah… it was… awful… how-“ Twilight said, but Atom, still facing forwards, cut her off
“You saw him didn’t you..? The Skeleton Alicorn?” Atom asked in a distant tone, Twilight nodded. “He’s referred to, usually, as The Defiler. No one knows why, but everyone subjected to the degradation of magic see him… some have even suggested he is behind it…” Atom said in a sorrowful tone, before looking down at Twilight. It was the first time she had seen real fear in his eyes.

“H-how long was I down there..?” Twilight said in an attempt to change the conversation. Atom sighed 
“Twilight, you were down there for three days, we’ve been searching through this Haze for the last two and a half days… but people started to loose themselves… I’m the only one who’s had experience of this kind of thing…” Atom said, Twilight was she had thought it to be no more than a few days, but she tried not to dwell on it.

“How do you have experience with this…? You’re just a scientist right...?” Twilight asked, realising how little she actually knew about Atom.  Atom looked at her.
“In a way yes… but after I was first banished… I… well… there are other planes of existence other than this… sometimes things try to cross over… I spent time stopping that… I’d rather not get into it.. but I ran into a lot of places like this in those days… It’s why I developed the air filtering spell.” He said reluctantly. Twilight wanted to press the matter further, but she simply didn’t have the energy.

Atom lead Twilight out of the Library, where she was almost immediately attacked with a worried hug from an equally worried Princess.
“Oh I’m so sorry I sent you in there Twilight, I should have thought about it first, I.. I should have..” The Princess said almost breaking down. After the initial shock subsided Twilight hugged back weakly.
“It’s okay Luna, it was an honest mistake… you didn’t know… don’t worry; I wasn’t hurt, just… shaken.” Twilight said with a distant tone, thinking of the horrific form she had seen while in there… she was simply glad to be out of the haze and into the fresh air…

Together the three of them made their way up into the camp in the main chamber, where the camp had expanded significantly, apparently more groups of guards had either escaped from the castle prison, or regrouped after the timber wolf.  They had managed to set up basic defences like a wooden walls and a perimeter guard as well. 

Twilight wandered across the camp with the Princess and Atom towards what seemed to be a larger Command Tent. Twilight was marvelled at how much they had managed to set up in such a short time, even taking into account the time she had spent in the library, it had only been a week at most since they had arrived.

It was a calm evening and the sun was setting over the camp, and torches started to spring up around what was more like a base of operations than a camp. Obviously Luna and her troops had been ready for this in advance, thought twilight still couldn’t get over how long she had been down in the chamber.

Luna, Atom and Twilight entered the command tent and were met by Sabre, Blade and Discord. Discord stood up and walked over to Twilight. 
“Oh my dear, are you okay? I am so sorry, if I had only told Luna about the unreadable texts earlier we could have avoided all this.” Discord said to Twilight, though she couldn’t tell if his remorse was genuine. 

“Er.. I-it’s okay… I wasn’t hurt…” Twilight said awkwardly, not sure how to respond. Luna stepped over.
“Yes, he’s been rather worried about you. Discord really seems to have turned over a new leaf, he has been such a big help setting up.” Luna said walking over to the desk in the centre of the tent. “Alright, let’s recap for Twilight: After being locked in stone for so long his memory is understandably hazy, but he does remember that there is a specific item that we need from the Headquarters of the Conclave base that we need to recover. But we can’t Take Discord with us. Since his renouncement is  more likely to set off defences… “

Twilight was rather puzzled by this. 
“W-wait… how does Discord know all about this…?” Twilight asked rather confused, causing everypony to share glances.
“Oh, that’s right… you don’t know yet… Discord used to be a part of the Shrouded conclave.” 

Twilight gasped in shock. Not quite sure how to react, nor the implications of what she had heard. Twilight’s head went light though and she wobbled on her feet. 
“Listen… can we do this another time, Twilight needs rest…” Atom said, supporting Twilight to stop her falling.
“Atom, you know we have to set out tomorrow… this needs to be said.” Sabre said demandingly. Atom replied with a glare
“..Right… make it quick then…” He said irritated.

Sabre stepped forwards. 
“Alright, tomorrow morning Blade, Luna, Twilight and I are going to head to the old base of the Conclave which Discord has managed to mark on this map for us. We need to keep it a small group so we do not draw attention to ourselves. Discord and Atom will stay here to make sure things still run smoothly.“ Sabre explained to the group.

Most a small discussion about the chain of command while the group was the group split up for the night. Twilight was barely still on her feet by the time Atom and her had made it to their tent. And almost as soon as she was in bed she fell into a deep and mostly uneventful sleep.

Twilight’s eyes slowly opened, and she tried to breath in, but the dry hot air leached what little moisture was still in her throat causing her to gasp. She looked around and she was floating in the haze of dust… nothing around her, no ground, no roof, no walls, she was simply floating. Then the sound of bone hitting a wooden floor echoed through the space and the horrific form of ‘The Defiler’ stepped out of the haze

“You may have  escaped the Library Twilight… but you can never escape me… I am a part of you forever…” The Defiler spoke in a deep, almost demonic voice. Twilight tried to move but her limbs were slow and sluggish. Then the Haze started to swirl and twist around her, tearing at her body, stripping away skin and flesh, until nothing but bone remained and she resembled the Defiler him/her-self. The Defiler then stepped closer and closer, Twilight couldn’t move, until he finally reached her and embraced her in the cold dark grip of his body.