Dream's End

by zaleacon

Chapter I - Passage 1

Twilight’s eyes flitted about the shelves as she darted through the tight corridors of the labyrinthine library. She stopped, once, twice, to grab a book or two from the nearby shelves and read them over. They had more words now, at very least. Some had as many as three, some had as many as five.

Either way, however, it seemed to confirm Twilight’s suspicions: the further into the depths of the library she went, the more likely she was to find a legible, valuable book.

How far had she strayed from the entrance? Twilight glanced over her shoulder nervously. Could she even find it again if she searched? Did it matter? She had gone in so far, now, that she had almost forgotten the entire path back.

Still, though, she felt as though something were drawing her further into the maze – as though something was at its end, beckoning her to go closer to it and further from the entrance.

This thought terrified Twilight to no end. What was it? How was it possible? But then she reminded herself that she was seeking books. It was likely the books that were pulling her in further. Yes, that made sense. Right? Yes.

The maze stretched on further in front of her. Twilight soon came to yet another junction – to her left stretched a path that ran off to another shelf before vanishing on a path to the right, while a similar path stood directly in front of her.

Ah, if only she had brought a quill or three, this trek would have been made so much easier. At least in that case, she would have been able to draw out the map as she went. As it currently stood, she was blindly running down a series of interconnected hallways, all for the sake of a good read.

Left or forward? Forward or left? Or back? Did it truly matter which direction she went? She just had to be careful; she had to be incredibly, undeniably careful if she wished to avoid being ripped asunder by whatever beasts dared to prowl the silent halls around her.

Even if she had not seen any beasts yet, Twilight knew they were there. She could feel it deep within her gut. Something was there. Something was watching her. Or was it? No, it almost certainly was.

She could not afford to be lenient; Twilight had to be cautious. She had to be careful. She had to escape.

Yes. Escape. That sounded lovely. That was all Twilight had to do – she had to return to her little box, grab a book, and pretend it had some sort of substance buried within its empty pages. She could live; there was no need for her to go through such fear and suffering all for the sake of some simple cause as this.

But even so, she knew that could never happen. Twilight had already gone too far to simply turn around and leave. Even if she knew what direction leaving the maze was, she knew she would not be able to do so. It would just be betraying herself.

Left or forward? Forward or left? Both presented positives and negatives alike, but neither could truly be seen until it was explored entirely.

Explored? Twilight chuckled to herself. Or she would have, at least, if sound existed inside the library. To think that mere hours ago, she would not even walk down a flight of stairs. Now she was journeying down hallways of bookshelves, searching for something readable.

It was almost exciting, in a way.

Twilight chose randomly, turning to the left and stepping down the passage. She glanced over her shoulders nervously, hoping she was not being followed by some sort of library-dwelling beast. Much to her relief, that fear proved entirely unfounded, as she was alone in the silent, dusty halls.

Twilight paused for a second to look through the shelf directly to her right, pulling out yet another book. Without even bothering to look over its title, she opened it. Ten words. She was making progress.

She had not even read the words over completely; she was much too excited by the mere prospect of progress to worry about such a thing. Twilight replaced the book on its shelf hurriedly, and she started her walk anew.

The bookshelf in front of her came closer as Twilight neared the far wall. It sat there solitary and proud, even as it lay amongst its nearly identical brethren. Twilight reached forward and brushed away the dust coating its auburn shelves, taking a moment to admire its creation.

She stopped herself suddenly, feeling very odd. The other shelves had not stirred such feelings of admiration, so why had this one been so different? Was there something so special about its design? No, of course not. It was just an average bookshelf.

But it was strange. It looked newer than the other bookshelves. Cleaner, more recently polished and shined, even with the layer of dust settled over its books.

Twilight turned to the side, looking for more paths, but found none. Her current route simply ended with the odd bookshelf that seemed almost entirely off compared to the others.

She reached out towards hesitantly, as though worried it was going to grow fangs. But that was an absurd notion; the worst a bookshelf could cause were splinters. Or a concussion, depending on how hard it fell.

Twilight giggled to herself at the joke. Or she would have, at least, if sound existed inside the library. So instead, she simply reached forward a bit further, using a hoof to pick a single book out from the shelf.

It was the first book that had caught her eye – an ornate thing, with a brown spine and golden markings that ran across it like vines across a castle wall. There was no title on its side, but Twilight was positive that would change as soon as she got a better look at it.

The book, however, did not leave the shelf completely. It instead came out only partially, as though it were locked in place by a sort of spring.

Twilight frowned. That was not what was supposed to happen. The book was meant to exit the shelf so she could read it and determine just how long it was. If it was long enough, she could leave the maze – or at least, she could attempt to – and get to work on reading it. If not, she could just turn around and take the forward path at the last junction.

But instead it only hung out partially. Was it stuck? Twilight grimaced at the sight; such a beautiful, brilliant book, and it was trapped by the infernal, empty things around it. Disgraceful.

As she released it with a sigh, however, Twilight found herself surprised to view the book falling back into place, followed by the odd bookshelf suddenly swinging open like a door.

Her jaw dropped at the sight. Of course that bookshelf had felt so odd; it was not a bookshelf at all, but a sort of hidden doorway. She had read about such things before – many of her books had contained such strange contraptions –, but she had never seen them with her own eyes.

Twilight stepped forward past the bookshelf-turned-door and into a large, rectangular room. It was a refreshing change from what she had been used to so far. Rather than long, narrow hallways, it was a full room, complete with tables, chairs, and bookshelves spanning each wall. It seemed about the size of the area she had found at the bottom of the stairs, but it was definitely longer.

Another hub area? Perhaps she truly was making progress. But Twilight could not find a way to get deeper into the maze. She looked around, grabbing books and taking in each shelf carefully before she found yet another odd shelf.

Once again, it had a strange, ornate book on one of its shelves, and Twilight knew that pulling it would likely open another door further into the labyrinth.

Twilight reached forward for just a moment before a chill ran down her spine. As much as she wanted to find a new book, she was terrified to see what lay beyond this latest shelf. Was it yet another bland, dusty area of the library, or was it something more?

She turned around and looked back at the open doorway. It would be so easy, she knew, to just walk out and leave. She could return to her box; it was not yet too late.

But even as these voices of protest burned away at her mind, that strange feeling of something calling to her made Twilight want to keep moving forward. She had to keep going, like her brother had, even if it had resulted in him being blown to bits in the last war.

Twilight paused again. What was that thought? She did not have a brother; she had been an only child. She hardly even remembered her parents’ faces, let alone their names, so she could not have possibly known a brother.

Ah, but she did know their faces. She had seen them when they had abandoned her at the library twelve years ago.

Twelve years? No, Twilight was… How old was she, again? She could not remember.

Were her memories becoming jumbled? Was she going mad? There was something wrong with the library, but that much was obvious. But what was happening to her? Something was wrong. Something was terribly, horribly wrong.

She took a step back accidentally running into the unopened doorway. Jumping at the sudden contact, Twilight let out a horrified yelp. Or she would have, at least, if sound existed in the library.

After she had composed herself, Twilight looked back at the doorway. Her heart pounded in her chest, threatening to burst out if anything else even remotely frightened her, but she still forced herself to stare ahead. Her hoof trembled as it reached towards the ornate “book” on the shelf in front of her.

She could not run, no matter how she wanted to. All she would be running back to would be isolation.

Shutting her eyes tightly, Twilight reached forward further and yanked the book out of its socket. She released it slowly, still trembling a bit even as it slowly slid back into place.

Twilight presumed that the door had opened on its own before slowly opening her eyes. She let out a sigh of relief as she saw yet another hallway that stretched out before her. The paths were tight, but it was still familiar nonetheless.

At least she recognized the basic scenery. The wooden, barely carpeted floors, the massive bookshelves that reached to the ceiling, and the flickering lights on the ceiling had not changed one bit from the hallways before.

There were no monsters, no demons, and no beasts. The path was clear and empty of anything save for the thick layer of dust over the floor and shelves.

Twilight stepped forward, feeling her hooves against the dusty floor. She reached out to the nearby shelf and grabbed a random book from it. Again, without reading the title, she pulled it open. Fifty words.

Of course, those fifty words did not really tell a story. They were merely a few sentences, one of which was cut off partway through. But it was progress, and progress was something Twilight had really started to enjoy lately.

She replaced it on the shelf and began to step through the dusty, tight corridors of the silent library once more. It almost amazed her how large the place was; it seemed impossibly long, and even she had no idea how long the building truly was.

Before long, Twilight found herself at another junction. This time, the paths stretched left and right, each going quite a ways before the ends of the paths vanished from sight. She looked both ways for a moment before making a decision.

Twilight turned and began down the right side, not bothering to look behind herself for fear she was being followed. She merely continued walking forward, ignoring even the books around herself with the knowledge that they likely held nothing worth mentioning overall.

As she continued her trek, the dust around Twilight reached her nostrils, causing her to sneeze. Or she would have, at least, if sound existed inside the library. She rubbed her nose, hoping to dislodge some of the dust particles that were starting to become very prevalent.

Twilight grinned to herself. Rarity would have hated a place such as the library’s maze, given her aversion to all things dirty and disgusting. The mere sight of all the dust would have given her a heart attack.

Twilight stopped walking and frowned. Rarity? Who was Rarity? She did not know anypony named Rarity. In fact, she did not know any ponies at all. So where had that name come from?

Her mind was screaming at her, telling her to turn back and run away. It told her that there was something seriously wrong. Her memories were not her own, and Twilight knew without a shadow of a doubt that something was terribly, horrifically wrong with the maze.

But still, she shook her head and continued forward. She had gone too far to turn back now, after all, and so she was going to persevere. For better or worse, Twilight had no plans of stopping.

After even more walking, Twilight came to another junction. This one had three new paths – one in front of her, one to her left, and one to her right. Once again, Twilight closed her eyes and picked solely by instinct, stepping down the path directly in front of her.

As she kept going, however, Twilight found herself staring not at a bookshelf at the end of the path, but at a window. She ran forward, curiosity overtaking her mind. After all, she had been staring at nothing but bookshelves for the past few hours. A new sight was as valuable to her as the books surrounding her.

She ran up to the window, but frowned at the sight. Once again, a long tree sat outside the window, which was continuously struck by lightning. This time, however, Twilight began to make out the more minute details of the tree.

It burst out of the ground at its base like a monstrous fang that twisted and turned up to its top. Its branches were short and barren, and its main body was scarred and a deep blackish brown. Though lightning hit it every three or four seconds, its appearance did not change. Even when the blue and red flames licked at its bark, extinguished and reignited by the blazing bolt of white, it did not alter in the slightest.

It did not change. It simply was.

Twilight shuddered at the sight. Even though she knew it was normal, something about it seemed disturbingly off. She turned away and looked down a new, unexplored hallway that branched off from the old one. Anything was better than staring at that strange, disturbing sight.

So with that thought in mind, Twilight grabbed another book. She counted up every word carefully, coming to the simple quote of three-hundred and thirty seven words. She was certainly making quite a bit of progress, but even so, she knew she had hardly even scratched the surface of the odd library’s passages.

So with that in mind, Twilight turned back to the unexplored hallway that led away from the burning tree, and she began to step even further into the library’s unknown depths.