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// Esotericism 
// Story: Their Otherworldly Grace 
// by MonoGlyph 
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As I cowered beneath my bed I wondered, nay, wandered the landscapes of the mind. I meditated once more on the purpose of this struggle, on the purpose to my life, or the life of Equestria at large. It is simplest to assume that existence is far too complex and nuanced to have an objective meaning. I followed the thought to its logical successor; if life does not hold meaning, is there any value to it? 
Ever since I started working with the Volumes, I’d grown to resent the way things were. The sun would burn out (as it must) and we’d all die cold and alone, our accomplishments worth nothing. Was it not justified, then, that I would wish for something more, that I should continue to search these dusty tomes for meaning? In the grand scheme of things, what did we all have to lose? I sat up, hitting my head on the bed frame. Yes. This was the truth. Nopony could argue otherwise. I would tread the path that the changelings pioneered in ages past, and I would succeed where they’d failed. I would find meaning in our empty existence, even if it meant dragging the whole of Equestria down into the lower layers.
Solitaire’s voice rang out in my mind.
“Indeed. Why should you run from Our harbingers? You were the one who brought them here in the first place.”
My thoughts were interrupted by an insistent knocking at the door downstairs.
“Pinkie’s here,” Spike informed me. “Did something happen outside?”
“You could say that, yes. There’s been an assassination attempt on the Princess.”
“WHAT?” He looked shaken. “W-well is she alright?”
I shrugged and checked the windows. The flying demons appeared to have left. I opened the door and let Pinkie in. 
“Twilight! Didja see? They were everywhere! We were lucky to have gotten off easy as we did! You know who wasn’t as lucky? The Princess. Ooh. Also Rainbow Dash. I think we should maybe check if they’re alright, don’t you?”
“Of course.” I tried to look concerned. 
“Why are you grimacing like that? Are you hurt?”
“N-no, I’m fine. Let’s get going, alright?”
We left the library and made tracks for where we thought we saw the royal carriage crash, scanning the cloudy skies as we went. I wondered idly how long ago the monsters first appeared in Equestria. They were probably the ones responsible for the disappearances the Mayor mentioned. Solitaire seemed to have said that I called them here, but I honestly could not remember such an occasion. Was I summoning these creatures unconsciously? What did they do with their victims anyway? They had no mouths to feed with. 
We arrived at the crash site. Trees were splintered where the carriage had made its passage. The thing itself had made an impressive crater. Parts of the carriage were broken while others were bent inwards at grotesque concave angles. The door was open and the Princess was nowhere to be seen. I could see a puddle of blood gathering on the floor. Had the demons taken her away? I felt a degree of ambivalence about all this. I was horrified. But there was something else. Was it… relief?
I noticed the guard who had been pulling the carriage. One of his wings was impaled on a beam that had freed itself from the frame. His breathing was quick and shallow. Pinkie approached him.
“Hi there! That looks pretty bad, doesn’t it, Twilight? Did you see what happened to the Princess, mister?”
The guard coughed weakly.
“Yes’m. The few surviving colts from the escort managed t’ catch up with us and made the’r stand against the monsters ‘ere. The brave mare with the rainbow mane pulled away a number o’ them, and we were able to repel th’ rest.” 
He craned his neck in the direction of the castle. 
“The Princess was injured in the crash, so we took ‘er back to Canterlot ta recover. ‘S the first time I’ve seen anything like them varmints. I s’pect we’ll be putting the whole place on lockdown again… Troubled times these are, and no mistake.”
So Princess Celestia was indisposed for now. I’d have more time to spend with the Volumes. My wish had been granted. I knew that a confrontation with her was inevitable, but I was thankful it’d been delayed once more.
“Alright, so now we know what happened to the Princess. Maybe we should start looking for Rainbow Dash.”
“Twilight! We need to take him to the hospital! Don’t you think that if you were hurt like him you’d want to see a doctor? If I didn’t know any better, I’d accuse you of being inconsiderate! I do know better. You didn’t mean it.”
I was annoyed, though it was hard to pinpoint why. It was clear that the guard was a brave stallion who’d done nothing wrong. He certainly deserved some help. I bisected the beam with a standard cutting spell, so as to avoid removing it from the guard’s wing and causing unnecessary bleeding. What does it matter if he’s hurt, asked a caustic little voice inside my head. He could die right here and now, and it would make absolutely no difference. 
I slung him across my back and shuffled silently back to the center of Ponyville, while Pinkie did her best to hold the beam in place. While my body was occupied with the manual labor, my mind drifted to another place.
I was flying over the vast landscape with the harbingers. The three of them had been chasing Rainbow Dash for an indeterminate amount of time. All they knew was that it’s been a while. And they may have been growing impatient. Every time one of the creatures began to slowly close the distance between them, the mare would pull away, as though she was toying with them. It was infuriating. Or rather, it would be, if the harbingers could feel any emotion at all. As it was, they were cold, mechanical and utterly unrelenting. They knew that the mare would tire eventually. And when she did, they would pounce. 
Presently, Rainbow Dash was climbing higher. The buildings and trees below steadily dipped and shrank as the chase gained altitude. The harbingers failed to notice that the bodies of mist surrounding them were growing darker and more menacing. All they could focus on was the mare. Electric sparks leapt from cloud to cloud, hinting at the natural power surging through them. The mare suddenly stopped atop an especially turbulent-looking specimen. As the three monsters approached, she raised her frontal hooves… 
I was startled by a series of flashes in the sky, as though several lightning bolts zigzagged from the sky in quick succession. I realized that I had made it to the hospital. Pinkie must have taken the afflicted stallion inside while I was spacing out. A deep growl erupted from the heavens, following in the wake of the flashes. I was curious about these visions. What was happening to me? Equestria was slowly turning into something else. Was I changing along with it? I wasn’t certain about whether I’d liked this new development. My new abilities ranged from potentially useful to terrifyingly unpredictable and I was not fond of unnecessary risk. But perhaps I was on the right path. Perhaps having these powers meant that I was approaching the elusive truth that I sought. I’d come so far; I could not turn back now. 
Pinkie skipped merrily outside. 
“You’ll be glad to know that our friend is going to be a-okay! They’ll stitch up his wing and after some bed rest he’ll be right as rain.”
As if on cue, several stray drops landed on my nose. I shifted my weight from one leg to another impatiently.
“Alright, alright! Let’s get going, okay? Rainbow Dash might need our help!” 
I took off, remembering the landmarks in my vision. Pinkie Pie quickly followed.
“Say, Twilight? How do you know that this is the direction we should follow? And not the lots upon lots of other directions we could choose?”
“I saw the creatures chase her… in the sky.” I was careful to phrase this so that I wasn’t technically lying. This seemed to satisfy Pinkie for the time being. We approached the meadow I’d managed to catch a glimpse of in my trance. Fillies and colts alike played here after school and during the weekends. This was a popular gathering spot due to the thick grass and wild flowers that grew here. Presently, the place was deserted. The constant rain and brutal winds had made sure that most foals stayed inside this season. We saw a dark heap lying in the center of the peaceful field. Something blue streaked through the nearby trees and landed in front of us. I twitched and caught my breath, but Pinkie remained unruffled. 
“Hi Rainbow Dash!” she shouted. “Sooooo, how’d it go? Did you teach those monsters what-for?!”
“Oh man, did I!” Rainbow made a show of dusting herself off. “You guys should have SEEN it. They didn’t even know what hit ‘em. Those ugly things chased me for like an hour, and then I lured them into a thunderstorm and set off a coupla lightning bolts. It was so RAD. One of them got shot up pretty bad. You could take a look at him over there.  I’m pretty sure he’s dead. And I wounded another one, but he and his friend turned chicken and took off after that.”
“Wowwie wow! That is amazing! Fantastical! You really can handle anything, Dashie!”
“Well, I don’t wanna brag, but—“
While the two chattered away, I inched closer to the body. Rainbow’s analysis was correct. The creature was certainly deceased, and was decaying faster than anything I’d ever seen. I perceived the flesh slowly tearing away from the body, dissolving into nothingness. All that remained of the wings was a papery shroud that billowed gently in the wind. Most of the body had already vanished, exposing the creature’s bizarre bone structure. I didn’t want to examine it too closely. Curious as I was, there was something revolting about the body. There was an air of the outlandish about it, something unknowable that compelled me to look away.
I realized that my friends had stopped talking. I saw them looking up. 
“What… what is this?” Rainbow uttered with a hint of dread creeping into her voice.
What could have been several hundred harbingers continuously circled the town before us. They purposefully soared above Ponyville, like a silent typhoon waiting to strike. Why were there so many, and what did they want? The earth shook. Far behind us, the mountains were sighing.