//------------------------------// // Chapter Eleven // Story: The Crucible of Restoration // by Golden Paw //------------------------------// “So Vigil is an alicorn then? That’s very surprising,” Foresight said, her astonishment clear. “I know, I would never have guessed that from the descriptions we heard,” Twilight replied as she led the way up the boarding ramp of the Bloomberg. The airship hung low to the desert floor, its propellers idling as ground crews set about gathering the stragglers.          So much had changed in such a short time and Foresight still marveled at the cause. Twilight had remade this place. She had rewritten the very nature of the Sal Palomino desert! It was a breathtaking feat of magic that Foresight had only ever thought possible in story books.         She could already see the tender young shoots of new growth beginning to push their way through the barren ground and there were even some birds sailing overhead. A miracle was the only word that sprung to mind. “But you still haven’t told me about the Vault! What was in there? Why did Vigil let you pass, what….” Foresight broke off as Twilight held up a warning hoof. “I told you I can’t speak of what I saw in there. Some things are best unknown, alright?” Twilight’s expression became dour. “I owe Vigil that much.” Foresight snorted angrily, “You can’t expect me to just let it go Twilight! What you’ve done here is amazing, you brought life back to this place!” Twilight fixed Foresight with her most intense stare to date, “No, there are many reasons why the Vault was hidden so well and from so many. It’s dangerous, more than I can tell you. I only just got out again because of a binding promise I made.” She handed the stunned Foresight a glowing crystal. Foresight stared at the gently glowing gem before peering at Twilight again. It was subtle, but there deep under Twilight’s optimistic expression Foresight detected something. A growing sense of wrongness that just wouldn’t leave her alone. Twilight smiled as if nothing was awry. “I want you to hold on to this and meet me in the briefing room in an hour. No matter what happens you’re to show it the others understand?” Foresight frowned as Twilight turned and without another word proceeded up the ramp, leaving the data crystal in Foresight’s hoof. The doors slammed shut and sounded far too much like the doors of a tomb to Twilight. There was only darkness all around her. It wasn’t menacing, yet Twilight could feel the gaze of something watching her. With the briefest spark of magic Twilight dared to light her horn for a moment. In the sudden flash Twilight caught the impression of angular walls, their dark outlines reflected in the meager glow. A straight corridor lead forward and down, the end of it lost in the shadows below. Her confidence returning, Twilight fully lit her horn and took a proper look at the surrounding features. Unlike all the other walls this place was smooth and polished. The rock was perfectly sculpted as if from one huge piece. There were no lines where block met block, nor were there any signs of dust or wear either. The feeling that Twilight was being observed only grew as she took a few hesitant steps forward, stopping at the beginning of the ramp that lead downwards. There was still no light down there. Twilight’s horn failed to pierce the darkness which seemed to writhe and billow. It was the same black shroud that surrounded the caves earlier and Twilight had a pretty good idea what it meant. “Looks like portals are still the name of the game.” Twilight advanced with growing confidence and was just about to push through the barrier and see what awaited her when the darkness bulged suddenly. Twilight danced back as a horn, quickly followed by a pony stepped out of the shadows before her. She could only stare in confusion as the purple alicorn mare regarded here with familiar eyes. Her eyes. “This is going to get very complicated very quickly Twilight,” The other Twilight said in a resigned voice. “No, no wait I’ve done this before, you’re me right? From the future?” Twilight asked hesitantly. Her twin tilted her head back and forth, “Yes… but it’s a little more complicated than that okay. I’m on borrowed time as it were.” Twilight’s ears flattened, “Borrowed! I‘m in trouble?” The other Twilight shook her head, “Not exactly but the others definitely are. They need you but, you’re needed inside right now as well. Best to forget you saw me and get on in there.”  “You’re not helping me feel better about all this,” Twilight grumbled only for her copy to chuckle. “That’s just what I thought you’d say. Look just get in there and know I’m going to take care of the others alright?” The other Twilight said in a no nonsense manner. Twilight stared at the forbidding darkness, “What’s beyond the portal?” Twilight asked but when she looked back to herself the other pony had gone. “Well I guess I should follow my advice,” Twilight muttered before she stepped through the swirling darkness. It wasn’t unpleasant, just a brief sense of dislocation before Twilight found herself in yet another room. Instead of dark stone there was warm polished floorboards. The walls were lined with  shelves which in turn held all manner of books. The whole effect was of a cosy library, filled with golden brown furnishings and the occasional jade decoration. It was reminiscent of a gentlepony’s study. In the centre of the room was a desk covered in scrolls and documents all resting on expensive looking green felt. There was even a cosy little fireplace with logs crackling within. As she glanced about Twilight could see no exits and even peering behind herself saw that the white plain wall was also bare. Okay not what I was expecting. Curiosity peaked Twilight moved slowly around the room, looking at the titles of the books lining the shelves. They had very strange titles such as “Ambition, the hidden peril” and “Confidence, beware where it leads you.” Twilight shifted her attention to the desk and saw scrolls and papers covering it. She saw an inkwell, various pens, pencils and even a little lamp. Her gaze moved to take in the little plaque that adorned the desk and froze as she read the name: Twilight Sparkle “Okay, okay, this place gets stranger,” Twilight mumbled as she saw among all the trappings a small envelope with the simple title, “Open Me.” Double checking she was truly alone Twilight lifted the curiosity. Its yellowing paper looking out of place when compared to the other well kept items covering the desk. With slow care, expecting every moment for some dark thing to leap out, Twilight opened the letter. “Dear Twilight, In case you haven’t guessed this already the room is a test. Be sure to know which words to heed in here. Your’s faithfully, Twilight Sparkle.”          Still holding the paper in her magic, Twilight turned it over to check that was the whole message and finding nothing more looked about the room again, “A test huh?”         Twilight continued to scan the various books and other titles that surrounded her as she pondered the meaning of the note, “Well I’ve warned myself so best pick something safe to start with.”         Straightening up Twilight roved the shelves and looked for a ‘safe’ title to read. There were hundreds, far more than should have been able to fit into such a small room. Twilight looked back to see she’d only gone a few feet from the central desk despite having walked about for several minutes.         All the books seemed to have an ominous title adoring them. Finally Twilight gave up looking for a ‘safe’ title and instead went for the smallest book she could find. In the end she settled on “Hope, the prelude to disappointment.”         It was a small white covered book, little more than a pamphlet. Twilight headed back to the central desk and placed the innocent looking book down as if it might explode. Oh well here goes nothing. Poised ready to slam the book shut the moment it did anything sinister, Twilight opened the front cover with her magic.         She stood there for a long moment simply staring before a confused snort came out. The book inside was blank. Twilight turned the pages one after another only to find they were all the same. There was absolutely nothing written on them. Her brow furrowed Twilight closed the book and saw the title had changed, “Disappointment is what you found.”         Twilight read the title over and over again, trying furiously to understand what the point of it had been. “Well that didn’t tell me much,” She muttered before looking around for another book. Passing the assorted shelves Twilight finally settled on a dark red book called “Dedication, opportunities missed.”         Twilight brought the book back to the desk and repeated the same actions as before, half expecting the book to be blank also. This time she was wrong. The book was full of pictures of, well, Twilight. Each an image of her past.         Twilight saw herself as a foal in magic kindergarten, nose buried deeply in a book unsurprisingly. That wasn’t the focus of the image. All around Twilight saw all the other foals playing and having fun, making friends while she was busy with her studies. Under the picture was the caption written in her own neat hornwriting: “Friends I never knew.”         She turned to another picture where an older Twilight was reading another book in the park, but the scene again focused on the other ponies. There in the centre of the shot was a timid looking stallion who eyed her longingly. Twilight read the caption and felt her heart tremble: “The love I could have had.”         Twilight slammed the book shut and took a calming breath. She knew that stallion, the shy and retiring ‘Quill Point’. He’d been at school the same time Twilight had been, she’d even helped him out a few times in a study group. I had no idea he felt anything for me. She stared at the book as an icicle of doubt began to grow inside her. No, this had to be a trick. This book was cursed to put Twilight off surely? But what if? Shaking herself down Twilight opened the book again and dared it to try again. This time it showed Twilight holding a little foal with Quil looking on in love struck joy. Twilight looked so happy. The pain in her heart only grew, she could have been…. This time Twilight threw the book away even as she wiped tears from her streaming eyes. “That was low!” Twilight screamed at the room even as her chest heaved, sobs threatening to burst out. The flow of emotion had been so sudden and unbidden that Twilight was shocked. The red book thudded off the wall and landed with its cover facing Twilight almost mockingly, “Happiness that passed me by.” Twilight stood panting as she stared at the book for a long time. There was no reason to believe what she’d just seen. After all the traps and tricks this place had thrown at her Twilight shouldn’t be surprised that it would stoop to such. “Right! Enough of this, I’m going to find a way out,” Twilight announced. True to her word Twilight began searching the room for anything out of place, doing her best to ignore the books she passed. She felt around bookshelves, lifted the rich rug and even peered about the ceiling. But no exit presented itself to Twilight’s view. Frustration mounting Twilight returned to the note and read it again. Clearly this test was something to do with the books all around, but after the last experience she had little enthusiasm to read more. She had no stomach for any more ‘history’.  Closing her eyes Twilight took several breaths before searching the shelves again. She looked for books that seemed to lead somewhere. Daring another, “Good Intentions and where they lead.” Twilight read furiously only to be greeted by an agonising future where she was seen as a tyrant. Casting down Celestia and Luna to replace Equestria with a land of complete ‘order’. Nothing out of place, all fixed in eternal predictable order. Twilight ripped that book apart. Shredding the scraps until she threw them in the fire and watched them burn. She vowed that such a fate would never come to pass, yet deep within she felt doubt. A world of order had a certain merit to it. Shaking off this idea Twilight tried several other books, but they only got worse. Each showed Twilight all manner of tragic regrets and fearful futures. That they were mutually exclusive didn’t matter. They all could be. Soon Twilight was trembling in a heap, surrounded by sundered scraps of books. She wept, unable to see any way to progress. The burning question of ‘what if’ tormenting Twilight the more she tried to ignore it. The Vault was rumoured to know everything, had it already seen Twilight’s actions and knew how they would end? A kind of madness gripped Twilight, she had to know what the end would be. She had to know if there was any point to going on or would it all end in failure. Twilight frantically scoured the room for any hint or clue as to what the future held, but with each book it seemed to become less certain. Everyone of the potential futures was bleak, every choice however well meant always lead to pain and suffering in the end.  Finally with a scream of despair Twilight lit her horn and unleashed a barrage of bolts into the surrounding shelves. She intended to blast her way out of the suddenly confining room. She’d flee back to Equestria and tell the princesses that there really was no cure for the Lithi. The books exploded all around her, their contents filling the air with paper shrapnel. Twilight didn’t stop however and continued to rain arcane wrath upon the hapless shelves. Soon the air was thick with smoke and the sounds of crackling fire. All the time Twilight continued to hammer the shelves. Yet there was no end to the targets, as fast as Twilight destroyed the books more would take their place, the shelves full of undamaged works. Eventually Twilight tired, her wrath spent. All around the floor were smouldering chunks of books, the occasional flame licked cover and ruined treaties. Exhausted Twilight sank down again and cried openly. As the dust settled Twilight looked up to see the shelves were full again, examples of Twilight’s failures looking down at her almost mockingly. She gave another gasp before lying down among the fallen books, not caring that soot blackened her coat. Just as Twilight was about to close her eyes, hoping never to open them again she caught sight of a tiny glimmer coming from the desk. It was a reflection of herself, distorted in the rounded edge of an inkwell. At some point during her frenzied despair Twilight must have broken it and now the contents was spreading slowly across the blank paper. Twilight stared at the sorry state of the bottle and couldn’t help but draw a comparison for herself. So pathetic, broken and…. Twilight wasn’t sure where the flash of inspiration came from but it hit her like a thunderbolt. Slowly she arose and looked at the room with new eyes, of all the things in the room Twilight had ignored the central feature of it. She saw the empty scrolls and paper just waiting to be filled. The air in the room seemed to shift and Twilight almost felt a sense of fear from the books all around. With a simple spark of her magic Twilight levitated an unbroken quill and delicately dipped it in the spreading ink. With purposeful strokes Twilight wrote a simple phrase, “My future is for me to decide and I will live with the consequences.” The books all around shivered and Twilight knew she was on the right track now. With growing determination she wrote further, “I have made choices and I will live with them.” The shelves began to shudder and several books fell to the floor, “I name my enemy here: ‘Indecision’ and ‘Regrets’. They will haunt me no more. I will ‘listen’ to myself.” The whole room vibrated for a moment before, with infinite slowness, everything simply dissolved. The books, the desk and even the walls vanished to reveal the open pathway leading onwards. Twilight was back on the ramp again, the dark stone all around and a door now stood open before her. Foresight pushed open the door to the briefing room, a satchel carrying the various items Twilight had requested, “Twilight? I’m sorry I came a little early I but….Twilight are you alright?” “I’m fine Foresight, but I want you to go I’m not ready for you yet,” Twilight replied, sweat running down her muzzle.         Foresight paused, before pushing a chair under the trembling, “Twilight you really don’t look well, what happened?” Foresight watched as Twilight lent on the table, her limbs shaking. “I’m fine honestly. I just need to wait here for a while,” Twilight whispered quietly, “I did what I needed to do that’s all. No need to worry about me. You go and get some rest yourself.” “I could fetch a healer?” Foresight asked the panic rising in her heart. Twilight’s head snapped round and she gave Foresight a determined stare, “NO! Ehm no healers I….I just need to rest for a while that’s all. Now please go alright.” Such was the power behind those eyes that Foresight backed off. Twilight looked weaker by the second, her wings drooping and even as Foresight watched she saw a couple of feathers had drifted to the floor, “Twilight I must insist that we get you help! Tell me what happened in the Vault, maybe we can fix this if we know what happened.” Twilight only shook her head and even that effort seemed too much for her. With a final sigh Twilight slumped forward before toppling sideways off the chair. “Twilight!” Foresight yelled as she dove forward, but no response came from the stricken princess. Full blown panic flooded Foresight. After fruitlessly trying to revive Twilight for several moments she threw herself at the comms unit and quickly punched the emergency call. “Twilight’s collapsed in the main briefing room we need a medical team here now!” Her task done Foresight galloped back to Twilight, she looked even worse if that was possible. Her wings were almost barren and patches of her coat were balding before Foresights terrified eyes. It was several agonising minutes before she heard the pounding of hooves from the corridor outside. Hope flared and Foresight rushed forward to meet the ponies as they opened the door, “She’s over there quick!” Instead of the friendly faces Foresight had hoped to see she was greeted by several armed wardens. These were thankfully followed by a number of medics along with a furious looking Applebloom, “Twi! What have yer gone and done ter yerself!” Foresight moved to help, but with a stern look from Applebloom the guards lifted a pair of stun batons, “That’s far enough Missy.” “Oh for heaven’s sake! Not this again!” Foresight shouted even as the medics rushed to Twilight’s aid. Foresight didn’t need to read minds to see they were as lost as she was, but they began their ministrations. “Nothin against yer Foresight, but yer were the last one with Twi when this happened. It’s standard protocol,” Applebloom explained sadly. “We’d have done it ter anypony so don’t take it personal like.” Foresight was only half listening, her attentions fixed on the rapidly degenerating Twilight. With shocking speed her muscles thinned, her mane and tail turned white before crumbling away. The medics frantically began casting spells, the mixed hues of combined magic surrounding the failing Twilight in a rainbow cloud of power. Foresight could only grimace and stare as sweat broke out on their faces. A spasm ran through Twilight and she let out a fevered moan, her eyes rolling and fluttering open. Foresight gasped, Twilight’s eyes were now a milky white, their normally kind purple hue replaced with a blinding affliction. Still the ponies at Twilight’s side threw more magic into their spells, their own bodies shaking with the effort. It was terrible to watch, not just because of the disturbing sight of Twilight in such distress but because of the hurt of those all around. Not for the first time Foresight wished she could just turn off her talents, blind herself to the sorrows of those around her. It was hard enough to deal with her own ache and fears, but the pain was doubled and doubled again as Foresight understood the feelings of the others. Applebloom was almost crippled with loss, the waves of crashing against Foresight like tidal waves. It was like the love of a sister who could do nothing to change events. Nor was Applebloom alone, everypony present ached for their princess. It was grief that transcended respect and loyalty to some distant ruler. They loved Twilight, they venerated her and despite all their efforts they were losing her.     After only a few minutes Boldstorm thundered in his eyes wide with worry, “Is it true? I heard that the Princess was……” He took one look at the now emaciated Twilight and froze. Skeletal thin and almost utterly devoid of coat Twilight gave one final shudder and then became very still. Everyone stopped, no one ready to believe what they’d just seen. Foresight could only stare open mouthed, what was left of Princess Twilight Sparkle turned an ashen grey and crumbled into a pile of dust. The world simply stopped and Foresight almost felt her own heart burst with the pain. It stabbed her core just as if a spear had been thrust into her chest. Disbelief, fear and a smothering shock all collided in the collective souls of those present. The medic backed away, their faces pale and for a long time there was silence. Then a wailing gasp erupted from Applebloom. She tore across the room and knocked the stunned ponies aside before staring down at the dust. Shock turned to dismay and the others began to sob or cry out, the impossibility of what had just happened finally becoming a reality. It sent Foresight to her knees, the wrenching despair of those around her threatening to break Foresight’s heart in two. Still the grizzly event wasn’t over. The very dust itself evaporated until there was no sign that Twilight had ever been there at all. Applebloom’s wailing was joined by several sniffles and a heart wrenching groan from Bold. He spun around and pounded the wall with his stocky hooves, leaving dents in the metal and cursing loudly that he should have been there, had done something to stop Twilight from going alone. Applebloom just sat on her haunches, staring at the floor in mute agony as tears rolled down her cheeks. She’d stopped wailing, the grief robbing her of any strength or comment. Boldstorm stopped his pounding and through the haze of pain Foresight felt his resolve crack. She watched him through a single streaming eye as he turned slowly and made his way over to the comms unit by the door. With a trembling hoof he activated it and began to speak coldly, “Crew of the Bloomberg, this is your captain speaking. A few moments ago Princess Twilight Sparkle….” Bold paused for a moment, regarding them all with a face heavy with utter despair, “Ehm, Princess Twilight Sparkle is dead.” Twilight Sparkle was gone. The collective shock of everyone aboard the Bloomberg sunk into Foresight’s mind like an icey talon and paralyzed her soul. It crashed down upon her like a mountain slide. What was left of Foresight own composure broke and left her mewling on the floor. The famous Twilight Sparkle who had saved the world time and time again, who had been the one to restore Luna back to Equestria was dead.