//------------------------------// // Chapter I - End 1 // Story: Dream's End // by zaleacon //------------------------------// Dream’s End ~ Chapter I – End 1 ~ Twilight’s Dream ~ The Silent Library The instant Twilight stepped into the room beyond the massive door, she knew she should not have. It was not the darkness of the room – for, in actuality, it was lit very well – or the fact that it resembled the hallways above once again. Something just felt fundamentally wrong about it, even as she found herself enthralled by its odd, disturbing aura. Candles hung along the tall, square walls in groups of three, hanging over the shorter bookshelves and casting shadows about the area. There were no tables or chairs, save for a lone desk at the far end of the room. There appeared to be a large book on its surface – one that was longer and wider than any in the entire library thus far. Despite her misgivings and the uneasy feeling in stomach, Twilight could not help herself; she walked over to the desk, feeling her hooves against the carpeting. She reached down, picked it up in her hooves, and blew a large coating of dust from its surface. Clearly, it had been there quite awhile. It was bound in a brown, faux-leather cover that was decorated with golden markings. Twilight squinted at its cover as she looked it over, upon which the word “Last” was written in that same golden-bronze color. Last? Was it the last book? Was it complete? Excited beyond belief, Twilight began to open it slowly, flipping through to its last page without any sort of hesitation. It was the last book. She had at last found it, and now she could reap the rewards. Twilight dropped it suddenly as the large door behind her slammed shut. She blinked. Wait, it “slammed”? No, that was impossible. Sound could not possibly exist inside the library. And then her blood ran cold. It did not matter if the door made a sound or not; the fact was that it slammed at all. And if it had closed behind her when she had clearly left it open, then that meant– “I don’t think that’s a good idea… Twilight.” A voice. She had heard a voice, and it was right behind her. Was it the thing in the darkness? Was it something worse? Did it matter? Something was in there with her. And it had spoke. Twilight bit down on her lower lip, doing everything in her power to force herself to turn around, to look at the thing that was standing there, but she could not. Her body trembled viciously at the mere thought of being followed, and now her fears had been confirmed in the worst possible way. She heard steps behind her. Heard? How could that be possible if sound did not exist inside the library? It had not existed for years, for as long as she had been there. So how was it possible that this intruder could make it? “You’re certainly tough to have made it here, I’ll give you that. But I’m sorry to say that’s the best you’ll get outta me.” Turn around. Turn around! The words echoed off the walls of her mind, but she could not obey them. She was paralyzed by fear and shock – even her eyes refused to open when she begged them to. Twilight felt a hoof grip her shoulder and whirl her around roughly towards the direction of the mysterious intruder. She clenched her eyes shut, however, and could not see the creature facing her. “Really? Really? Sheesh, you sure are a terrified little foal, aren’t you? Guess that’s what happens when you’re stuck like this for a bit. Probably screws up your head.” Twilight did not look. She did not dare to look at the creature addressing her. Nothing could make her peak, nothing could make her open her eyes, and nothing could make her want to see the monstrous creature before her. Then, unfortunately for Twilight, her scientific side once again got the best of her, as her eyes seemed to pry themselves open against her will. What she saw was both a relief and more terrifying than anything she had seen before in her life. The figure before her was undoubtedly a mare. She appeared to be an alicorn – a princess, perhaps, or maybe just a result of her birth – with a color scheme that seemed to reflect the sky during a sunrise; her coat was a light yellow-orange, clashing with her mane and tail of blue, red, and purple. Twilight blinked as a disturbing realization hit her: the mare before her was almost identical to herself in appearance, save the coloration and species differences. Though her mane was noticeably much shorter than Twilight’s, it still had the highlights in the same areas. Even her Cutie Mark was the same as Twilight’s, albeit with a monochrome coloration. Twilight blinked. Wait, when had she gotten her Cutie Mark? She had been a blank flank ever since her parents had died… no, even since they had abandoned her… since her brother had… No, that was not right. None of it was right. Why did her head hurt so much? The reflection smirked at the obvious fear and pain in Twilight’s eyes. “Heh… I bet you’re wondering what’s going on, huh?” Was her voice the same as Twilight’s? No, it sounded a bit lower-pitched. More tomboyish, maybe. Of course, Twilight had not heard her own voice in years. The reflection’s voice brought her back to reality. “I bet you’re wondering where you are, what I am, and how you got here, right?” Twilight shook her head, and the reflection sighed. “Come on!” she said angrily. “I didn’t come down here to talk to a freaking brick wall! Say something!” Twilight choked. Her words were caught in her throat, perhaps from underuse, but she eventually managed to awkwardly stutter out, “Wh-Who are you…?” The mare clapped. “There we go!” she said. “Seems you’re not dumb, after all. Mostly, at least.” She laughed a bit at her own joke. “Anyway, let’s get this introduction over with. The name’s ‘Dawn.’ That’s the name I chose, at least. And I,” she said with a flourish, “am your Disparity!” Twilight stared at the strange mare for a second. “My… My what?” “Your Disparity!” Dawn said. She stared at Twilight’s puzzled expression for a second before continuing. “You know, the worst part of you? The part you wanna overcome? That thing?” “I-I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Twilight smiled hopefully. “Er… Do you… maybe have the wrong mare?” Dawn stared at Twilight incredulously. “The wrong mare? The wrong–?!” She breathed in slowly and let out a sigh before turning around. “Okay. Okay. Let’s see, did I forget something? Huh… Maybe I forgot the…” She paused for a moment before pressing a hoof to her forehead with a quiet groan. “Oh, dammit. Yeah, that’ll do it.” “I-I’m sorry, Miss Dawn,” Twilight said, “but I really should be getting back to this book. I need to make sure it’s finished.” She turned around to grab it before Dawn suddenly whirled around and grasped her shoulder. “Don’t even think about it, Twilight,” she growled. “Sorry to tell you this, but that book’s off limits. It contains… ah… restricted information. Highly confidential stuff.” Twilight slowly turned to look back at Dawn. “O-oh, I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. Even if she wanted that book, she could hardly break the library’s rules. “Um… I-I’ll just check some of the other shelves, then.” Dawn nodded impatiently and tapped a hoof against the ground. “Yeah, yeah. Sure, you do that. But first, I’ve got a little something to tell you.” “Uh… What is it?” Dawn’s face broke out into a twisted, cruel smirk as she leaned in close. “You’re dreaming, Twilight.” There was an audible snap as Twilight felt her eyes widen in a combination of shock and pain. Waves of memories began to wash over the ones planted by the library as everything began to return. She was Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, former student of Princess Celestia and the Element of Magic. Her parents had never abandoned her or been killed; in fact, they were very much alive and loved her dearly. She remembered her friends – the dozens of creatures she had met in Ponyville – and Spike, who had been like her brother. She remembered her brother, Shining Armor, and the other Elements of Harmony. As all these memories flowed back into her mind, Twilight felt her back and forehead tingle. She reached up slowly and felt her horn, back where it belonged, and fluttered her wings a bit in order to make sure they were really there. And then she remembered something else: Princess Celestia’s request to Twilight and her friends to meet her in the castle, which had been written in such a terrified tone that Twilight had raced over immediately, followed by… She paused. Followed by what? Twilight could not remember what had happened after she and her friends had opened that door into the throne room. Had they met with Celestia? Had something else happened? It was a massive gap in her memory, and it was a gap that she had absolutely no recollection of. It was then, however, that Twilight remembered the situation that was happening in front of her eyes. She was still inside the walls of that mysterious, labyrinthine library. And, more importantly, she was still staring down that odd mare, Dawn. Dawn grinned and clapped her hooves together. “Awesome,” she said. “That’s freaking awesome. Damn, how’d I forget about something like that?” Twilight took a step back. “I’m… I’m dreaming? How is that even possible?” Unless it was some sort of insanely lucid dream, there was no way that Twilight was simply “dreaming” something so absurd up. Dawn waved a hoof. “Eh, don’t ask me about it. I’m not interested in all the gory details. Well, not usually.” She giggled a bit, causing Twilight’s spine to tingle. “I’m just your Disparity. I’ve just been sitting here for the past couple hours or so, waiting for you to show up.” “Waiting for me? What do you mean?!” “Heh. Maybe I shouldn’t’ve given you your memories back, yet. It’d make this whole thing a lot more fun, lemme tell you.” Dawn ran a hoof through her mane. “So yeah, here’s the thing – basically, you’re stuck in your own head, and I’m the one trying to keep you locked up. Get it yet?” Twilight paused. “Wait,” she said. “You’re the one who made this library?!” “What? Of course not. Don’t be so freaking stupid.” Dawn muttered something under her breath. “You made it, Twilight. Like I said, this is your head. I’m part of you, this place is a part of you, and these books… Well, most of ‘em are a part of you.” “’Most of them’?” Twilight said. A sudden realization hit her as she looked down at the book on the table. “Wait a second…” Dawn clapped her hooves together. “And the genius figures it out! Congrats, Twilight. Seriously.” She stepped over to the large, faux-leather-bound book. “Yep, this book’s something special. Something really, really special… And that’s why I can’t let you take it.” Dawn suddenly lurched forward and violently shoved Twilight against a bookshelf on the wall beside the table. The books – most of them certainly unfinished – fell from the impact of Twilight’s body and crashed down on the ground around her. Twilight, now lying awkwardly on the ground, looked up groggily as Dawn stepped overtop her. “Wh-what’re you going to do to me?” she asked, struggling back to her hooves just in time for Dawn to push her back down. Dawn looked a bit surprised by the question. “Well… not much, really,” she admitted. “I mean, sure, Disparities are the worst parts of you – your anger, your fears, your guilt, all that crap – but we’re not really supposed to ‘hurt’ you. That’s not how we’re built.” Twilight’s vision grew blurry. Dawn’s face – her face, really, which disturbed her more than anything else about Dawn – twisted back into that cruel smirk. “Like I said, don’t worry. I’m not gonna kill you or anything; that’d be stupid. I’m just gonna… make you head back to that little room of yours. But you won’t really be awake for the whole ‘heading back’ bit.” Dawn lowered her head as a disturbing, blackish-red aura began to form around her horn. “Well, there isn’t much else to say but… heh… ‘goodnight,’ Twilight.” Twilight closed her eyes, waiting for the spell to strike her and force her into unconsciousness. That’s when she heard it. “Don’t give up here, Twilight! Please, you have to help him!” Twilight froze. There was a flash behind her closed eyes. For just a second, Twilight could have sworn that she saw a mare with a golden coat, but she vanished just as quickly. “’Help him’…?” she heard herself mutter as her eyes opened again. Dawn laughed. “Hah! You should worry about yourself, Twilight! Now, where was I? Oh, right, the–” Her contemplation was suddenly cut off, however, as a bolt of dark magic struck her in the side and sent her flying into the desk. Dawn’s back hit it with a very noticeable crack, and she simply lay there, seemingly too dazed to do anything else. Of course, Dawn could not move anyway, given that there was now a horn pointed directly at her throat. “Do not move,” came a cold, assertive voice, “or I assure you that you will no longer need to worry about your head.” Twilight blinked as the grogginess slowly receded. She took in the form of the pony who now had Dawn pinned to the ground. A tall mare – an alicorn, at that – with a deep purple coat and a very angry scowl etched across her face. Her jaw dropped. “Pr-Princess Luna?!” “Indeed,” Luna growled, pressing her horn further towards Dawn’s throat. “I came into your dream as soon as I could. I had been hoping I was the only one locked away completely, but it seems I was wrong.” Dawn suddenly seemed very aware of the massive, alicorn princess who seemed ready to blast her head off at any second. “Wh-what the hell?!” she shouted, pressing herself further against the desk. “Why’re you here?! How are you here?! Y-you were supposed to be locked up in your own dream!” “And I was, for a while,” Luna said. “However, I was given a bit of… assistance.” Her eyes seemed like fire. “Whatever is in charge of this wretched place, I must admit it is quite powerful. You, however, are different. Much different. Much more… destructible.” Her horn began to turn blacker than the deepest abyss Twilight had ever seen. “Harming a princess of Equestria is a crime punishable by death. Planning to kill a princess is a crime punishable by far worse.” “Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey!” Dawn shouted. “W-wait! I-I wasn’t gonna hurt her, I swear! I-I was just gonna knock her out and send her back to the start of the maze, that’s all!” Luna said nothing, but her horn continued to flare up until even the light of the surrounding candles became consumed into the pure, unremitting darkness. “Wait! Wait, please!” Dawn screamed. Her eyes had turned wide as tears welled up in the corners, her mouth had become panicked, and her entire face had paled to the point where it looked sheet white. “I-I wasn’t gonna kill her! I swear, I wasn’t gonna kill her! Please, don’t! Please!” Twilight suddenly forced herself up, ran over, and shoved Luna to the ground. Her horn let loose a massive burst of energy that disintegrated the wall to the point that not even dust remained. All that was there now was a massive hole that lead to the thundering storm outside. Dawn looked at the hole, trembling in shock and fear before promptly passing out beside the desk. Luna stood up and glared at Twilight. “What are you doing, Twilight?!” she growled. “Can’t you see that she’s an enemy?! That creature would have slaughtered you in seconds!” Twilight clutched at her still-aching head. “I-I know, but she told me she wasn’t going to.” “And you believed her? Are you mad?” Luna’s face was contorted with rage. “Do you understand what she is, Twilight Sparkle?!” Before Twilight could speak, Luna pointed a hoof at Dawn’s unconscious body accusingly. “She is a Disparity! They are not to be trifled with under any circumstances, and they are certainly not to be believed!” There was that word again. “Princess Luna… What is a Disparity?” Luna blinked. “You… You do not know?” At Twilight’s blank expression, she let out a sigh. “I suppose information about them is rather sparse. Few creatures know they exist, and even fewer books or essays acknowledge them…” She shook her head. “To put it simply, a Disparity is the physical – or, I suppose, mental – manifestation of your worst traits. They are what you regret the most about yourself given shape.” She glared down at Dawn. “They are monsters born of your inner evils. Even the few that are respectable are still beasts at heart. They do not know kindness nor compassion, and that is why they cannot be trusted under any circumstances!” Twilight simply stared at Luna in bewilderment. The worst parts of herself given form? Certainly, such a thing was plausible. In fact, it seemed incredibly probable for the mind to create manifestations of a creature’s worst aspects. But something about Luna’s explanation bothered her quite a bit. Her anger at the Disparities seemed almost… personal. Was it just a coincidence, or something else entirely? Her thoughts were cut off as Luna began speaking again. “Come, Twilight Sparkle,” she said. “We must get going. The others are waiting.” Twilight blinked. “Wait… Princess Luna, what do you mean by ‘the others’?” It did not mean what she feared, did it? “Twilight Sparkle…” Luna paused for a moment, as though she were searching for the right words. She sighed and looked away. “You and I are hardly the only ones who were stuck inside our dreams.” No. “It would be best if I were to show it to you – exactly where we are, and how we got here, and why it is that we cannot escape. However, there is one point that I should probably address before we leave your dream.” No. “Your friends, Twilight Sparkle, they are…” Luna cut herself off, breathed in deeply, and continued, “they are also here. They are all here. All of them.” She looked away. NO. “As I said, we are not the only ones trapped within our dreams.”