Mare of the Void
Chapter 1: She and It
Twilight Sparkle wept. Everyone she had ever known, had given her the cold shoulder. Even her beloved mentor, Princess Celestia turned away from her student and went to comfort 'Cadence'. Twilight knew there was something wrong about her former foal sitter, but she couldn't find any evidence of her treachery. 'She put me down here, after all. With no way to return.'
Twilight had found herself sealed beneath Canterlot's foundation, deep within the abandoned Crystal Mines. Ages ago, countless greedy Unicorns sought to horde the mines' vast amount of magical crystals to themselves. Many lost their lives down here, never to be seen or heard from again. Those who did survive became babbling madponies, due to the large amount of wild and untamed magic that dwelt within the walls. Twilight knew these stories well, her own uncle once stepped foot into the mines, searching for a rare gem that was said to grant wishes. A week later he was found missing, various guard patrols set about the infamous caverns, after another week of searching the corpse of Vane Sparkle was found.
'Uncle Vane...' Twilight shook her head in agony, shaking the terrible thoughts away and back to her current predicament. “I must find a way out of here, Cadence must be stopped.” Rising to her hooves once again, Twilight stepped into another vast cavern. She lit her horn with a weak light spell, and sent the small ball of focused magic directly in front of her. Several huge crystals laid about the cavern reflecting some of the magical light.
The sad unicorn trudged forward slowly, with a slight limp in her right hind leg. 'Tch, it's definitely twisted.' She murmured mentally. Twilight looked left and right, attempting to peer into the darkness the best she could. All around her were various sizes and shapes of the crystals embedded into the walls and ground, which was free of any sort of mining tools and rail tracks. “Now that's strange, so far I've come across all sorts of abandoned mining equipment, but this room is bare of any sign of pony hooves.” Twilight mused warily as she made her way to the center of the vast space.
Her spell fizzed out and the cave went black. “Darn it!” She tried her magic again, but nothing came up. “N-n-no! Not n-n-now!” Finally after hours of fruitless searching, Twilight smacked face-first into something and fell to her belly and sobbed. “W-why?! Why did nopony believe me?! I cared and treated the girls like they were my actual sisters.” She covered her face with her hooves as she felt another rack of sobs come down. “Princess, you too...fooled so easily by...Her.” Twilight's anger flared harshly, but it was smothered just as fast by her rising hopelessness. “I can no longer stop her from whatever she's planning, oh Cadence, why have you betrayed me like this? I thought we were best friends.”
Cadence's recent actions shattered Twilight's deep affection of her, it was such a fickle thing. A little filly's crush. She was mad that her brother never bothered to tell her that he planned on marrying Twilight's foal sitter, but was still happy for both of them. Her love for Cadence would never sprout again unfortunately, as her world upended around her, and her once close friends and family deserted her. “Even my own parents, haven't said a word to me ever since we arrived...” Her crying stopped suddenly. “NO! Why!? WHY!? WHHYYYY!??” Twilight's voice filled the vast chamber, it bounced off of every surface for miles until a deep voice answered back.
“You seem lost, equine.”
Twilight gasped at the sound of another voice appearing from somewhere. She turned her head about wildly, trying to locate it. “Who there!?”
“It's not a matter of who, but a matter of what.” It shot back.
Despite the pain in her back leg, Twilight stood up shakily. “I don't understand...”
Whatever it was, growled slightly. “Of course not. Mere mortals don't understand the concept of Eternals.”
Twilight drew her attention ahead of where she heard the voice. She looked up as her draw dropped. A massive crystal pillar jutted from the floor into the ceiling, white and light-blue runes glowed all around its structure each one thrumming with power. Three blood-red eyes gazed at her from within the pillar, the pupils were slitted almost like a dragon's, they had more of a four pointed star look to them. Twilight began to sweat. “E-Eternals?” She asked as she took a step back.
The middle eye blinked. “Yessss, beings who came before your Alicorns, We are one such being.” Twilight lowered her head in fear. “Now, what issss your name, equine? You musssst have one” It asked with a heavy hiss.
She could feel her legs shaking as it spoke. “T-Twilight S-Sparkle.” Twilight answered as the red eyes narrowed slightly.
“We see. We are Void, Twilight Sparkle.” Void as it referred to itself as it rose higher within the pillar. “Why are you here?”
Twilight hesitated. She had never encountered a creature like this before, she could somehow feel its immense power from within the crystal pillar. She briefly looked at the runes more closely. 'The magic coming off of those runes feels like Princess Celestia's and Luna's. But why?' She stepped closer and placed a hoof upon a blue rune. 'There's no doubt, this is definitely Luna's magical signature.' Twilight rubbed her tears away with a hoof and gazed back at the red eyes of Voidras who was now level with her. “They imprisoned you down here didn't they?”
Void seemed to understand who she meant. “Yessss, the Sun and Moon Alicorns trapped Us within this crystal prison.” It growled again, Void's voice reverberating across the crystal. “We wish nothing, but to be free again...”
The wounded mare turned, and walked away as swiftly as she could. “Then, I'm afraid you're out of luck. If the Princesses saw fit to seal you away down here, than it's probably for the best.”
Void's eyes widened for a moment before it rose up. “Like how they put you here with Us?”
That stopped Twilight mid-stride, as her own eyes widened. “What?” She said meekly.
“Alicorns have always been an arrogant race. Believing themselves above all other races of Pony.” Twilight turned her head around slowly. “Why do you think they would imprison you here, with the likes of Us? We can see it within you, the potential to become something more. And yet here you are, sealed away beneath their hooves like a criminal. Never to see the light of day again.” Twilight stared at its baleful eyes. “Itsss not hard to miss, Twilight Sparkle. We witnessed the entire scene from within here, they did not believe a word you said, did they?” Void smiled warmly at her with its dagger-like teeth.
Twilight's ears pinned back against her skull. “They did not.” She murmured.
“The Alicorn named Cadence, fooled you. But so did your mentor Celestia. Doesn't it strike you odd that she would so easily turn on you, the moment you say anything negative about her fellow Alicorn?” Void asked curiously.
The lavender mare faced Void. “Well, maybe a little. Princess Celestia always seems distracted or cold faced whenever I asked a personal question about her origins.”
“It's simple. She is the eldest Alicorn alive correct?” Twilight nodded slowly. “We see. How many Alicorns all together, that you know about?”
Twilight looked down. “Three so far. But there have been legends and myths of other Alicorns throughout the history section in the Canterlot Library.”
“Yessss. We can see that your talent is Magic yessss?” Another nod. “Cadenza trapped you down here for a reason, and it is likely that Celestia is aware of this.”
Twilight blanched. 'What did it just say?!' She glared at it for a moment. “Princess Celestia would never allow such a thing to happen when she can help it! I'm her...her...her faithful student...” She trailed off.
“And yet here you are. With Us. All alone. She turned away from you without a second thought, her most faithful student. She couldn't bare the thought of a lesser Unicorn say nasty things about her own niece.” Void growled and smiled cruelly at Twilight. “You are nothing but a prize to be shown to the other races of equine, Twilight Sparkle. She cared not for your safety when you faced down Chaos Incarnate or the Terror Nightmare her sister became. We saw it in her eyes, those cold, calculating eyes filled with deceit.” Void's eyes softened. “We wished nothing but to bring peace and equality to the world, but they disagreed and sealed Us away for all time, deep beneath their seat of power, eons ago.”
Twilight looked at Void with rapt attention, not seeing the creeping tendril of darkness coming up behind her head. “W-why should I even trust a word you say? For all I know you could be lying to me just so you can escape and wreak chaos.” The tendril paused.
Void smiled toothily. “What have you to lose? We swear, you have nothing to fear, except...”
Twilight lowered in head. “Except? What?”
Void smirked softly. “Except this.” The tendril rushed forward and sunk itself into Twilight's head.
Twilight screamed, her head was yanked back as the tendril lifted her body into the air and before Void's face behind the crystal pillar. “Understand Us, Twilight.” Twilight stared in terror. “We feel your pain, your every fear, loss, your feel betrayed by those closest to you. We wish to be free of here, the same as you do. Understand our pain, understand Us and We will understand you like you deserve.” Twilight was brought closer. “You're not alone, another being like you came to Us once, long ago. She felt betrayed by everything she knew. She asked Us for the power to gain the respect she wanted and fell to her own fool's heart. You know of whom We speak.” Twilight's eyes widened as tears of pain fell down her cheeks. “We will help you, if you help Us. If its revenge you seek, than We shall seek it also. If its the truth you want than We shall want it too.”
Twilight cried. “Do I have a choice?” Void nodded. “What's your bargain?”
“One thing.” Void summoned more tendrils and they carefully mended Twilight's wounds and noisily snapped Twilight's twisted leg into place, she clenched her teeth. “Freedom. We shall assist you at every corner, no one shall ever betray you again. We shall house Our power in you, Twilight Sparkle. Equestria, no the world shall fear Our power, we can see it within you your endless want for knowledge, with Us by your side, the world shall be your library, your canvas.” Void brought her even closer. “Just place your hoof upon this crystal, to undo this wretched seal holding Us within. Your connection to Harmony is strong enough, this seal would've broken eventually but We have waited for far too long.”
Twilight wordlessly lifted a hoof as Void's tendrils wrapped around her gently. “Yessss that's it, Twilight.” Magic itself blossomed within Twilight as she laid her hoof on the largest rune helping contain Void. “Let it fill every fiber of your being. You will know power. You will know truth. You will know Freedom. Together.”
The runes glowed for a moment longer.
Than went out all at once.
The cave exploded in a shower of endless darkness. Void smiled a sinister smile as it held Twilight in its grey-black crystal claws. “We haven't lied to you pony. Together this world will know peace, an eternal peace under Our sway.” Under the guise of darkness Twilight's body began to change. “You shall become Our second Seed in existence, in the place where Our first Seed failed.” The cavern rumbled as Void stalked through it, with no feat upon the ground. “Alicorns. Ugly creatures they are, false deities for the mortal realm. No more, Our brethren are gone and will not stop Us from doing what We set out to do before.”
Twilight's eyes were barely open, but if one looked closely, one could see how her pupils became a sinister four pointed black star.