//------------------------------//
// Symbols & Sigils, Twisted and Demented 
// Story: The Watchful Eye 
// by Mr Anomalous 
//------------------------------//


Symbols & Sigils, Twisted and Demented

Wisp was not in Canterlot.  He was not in Equestria, either, nor anywhere on the entirety of Equis.  He was somewhere else entirely.  He was in some abyss, moving slowly.  He was not crawling, walking, running or flying, yet he was moving, half voluntarily, half involuntarily.  The sights around him should have driven him mad, but instead he stared in wonder.
Below him was an incomprehensibly black void, with demented and twisted shapes jutting out of the blackness, odd shapes, shapes never before seen by pony.  Eye level with him, though far in the distance, a sheet of indescribable colors danced and ran about, touching the sky, or whatever it was, above him.  Three massive rings of fire, all different hues and on different levels, burned far above him.
Sometimes things moved, shifted, scratched in the blackness, and Wisp got the chilling sense more then once that he was being followed, watched. But before definite answers could be formed, he always awoke, like now.
Wisp did not bolt up in a cold sweat like he had had a nightmare, but rather he simply opened his eyes, his face stuck in a scowl.  He had been having those odd dreams ever since the incident in with the creature in the alleyway, and he had long since grown used to them.  He didn't know of they had implanted something into him, or were trying to frighten him with otherworldly visions, but whatever they did, Wisp had actually grown rather indifferent to it.
And so he crawled out of bed and checked the time.  Seven in the morning.  Good; not too early, not too late.  It was a Saturday, but Wisp still had things to do sometime during the day, and he aimed to not let any alien visions stop him.

- - -

Luna had known even less than Celestia had, unfortunately, but all of the princesses were growing increasingly concerned, and the more worried they became, the more indecisive they became as well.  Would the creature fall for the same trap again?  What about the alleged second creature?  These and many other questions buzzed about in Twilight's head as she wrote a letter to Cadence, the only princess unaware of the odd happenings in Canterlot.
The North was a place far separated from the rest of Equestria, and it held many secrets, some of which Cadence had grown familiar with; perhaps somehow there was a relation.  Twilight wasn't sure, but she was growing desperate.
It was just when she finished her letter that a guard poked his head into her door and cleared his throat.
"Princess Celestia would like to speak with you," he said, his voice oddly trembling.
Twilight sighed and gave her quill one last stroke, and then rolled the paper up, leaving it for Spike to send whenever he stumbled upon it.  He was a busy dragon, busy with many things, but he still considered himself Twilight's assistant.
Twilight exited the chamber and the guard escorted her not too far away.  Twilight turned the corner and halted.  There, across the marble wall, was something that was most certainly not there the day before.
Twilight was immediately seized with a sense of unease, but cautiously urged herself forward regardless.  Celestia stood staring at the thing, silently, not visibly acknowledging Twilight's arrival.
Eventually, Twilight spoke up, saying, "Celestia?  What is that?  Who put it there?"
Celestia worked her jaw in though but eventually said, "I do not know.  But I am most certainly doubling the number of guards around here."
There, upon the wall, was a massive, twisted symbol, its angles weird and its purpose unknown.  A circle, a star, two writhing lines.  Some sort of hellish sigil from a world beyond.