//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: A Sea More Sunless // by Phenoix12 //------------------------------// Her eyes feel heavy and tired, laden with many hours of ceaseless study in the pale lamplight of the cavern and its walls of alien and incomprehensible symbols. Hundreds of pages of notes lay spread around her, covering the cavern floor like a sea. A sea only broken by islands of open books containing ancient and dead languages. For hours now she has studied the glyphs upon these walls and for every hour spent no questions are answered, only new ones raised. The meaning behind the impossibly red symbols sear her eyes and chill her heart. The symbols blur as she hears her name. But she does not want to focus on that. She has work to do. She has to know. She has to see. She cries out, startled, as somepony shakes her and calls out her name, “Twilight!” Twilight's body jolts stiff, as if woken from a dream. She gives a cry of fright startling the orange earth pony who had snapped her from her trance. “A-Applejack!?” She manages to stutter out after calming herself. “Yah Twi, it's me. The girls and I were getting worried about you. You've been in this here cave for... well, for almost the whole day, sugercube,” Applejack says, with a hint of worry. The young unicorn looks around herself slowly, seeing her sea of unfinished notes and half-read books. Each one a testament to her failure to unlock the secrets of the cavern. “Applejack, I can't stop now. Not when I'm so close.” “Twahlight, you've been saying that yer close every day for the past week now. Ever since the we stumbled on this cave ya been coming here. Ah think it's time you come on back to Ponyville.” “I can't! I'm so close! I can see it... I can see it... I can see-” “Twi! Look at yerself! Ya look like you haven't slept in days.” “No time for sleep...” “Twi, ya can't keep doing this to yer self,” she says her voice filled with worry, “me and the girls are all worried about you. I think it's time you come back home and stop fussing over these scribbles, alright sugar cube?” “They're not just scribbles Applejack! These glyphs possibly predate Equestria for all we know! What secrets to they hold!? What can we learn from them!? If I could just read them! I've looked though every book I could get my hooves on about ancient languages, dead or otherwise. And nothing! I've even looked though books on ciphers, code, symbols... nothing. I can't find anything that matches these symbols.” Twilight breaths heavily, giving her eyes a rub before picking up a random book and leafing though the pages looking for the answers she knew weren't there. “Twahlight... Sugar cube, I think you need a break from all this.” “No no no, I can't take a break. I know that I'm close, it's in one of these books. I must have just overlooked it, I just need to keep researching!” Twilight says defiantly, trying to reassure herself more then anything. A white bat swoops down past her head causing her her duck with a yelp. “These stupid bats! Fluttershy says they're harmless, but I know... I know. I know they're judging me- mocking me! Yeah that's right! I'm on to you!!” Twilight screams. The bats upon the ceiling merely look at the yelling unicorn with mild disinterest. “Twahlight!” Applejack yells, shaking her friend. “Just look at yer self! You're yelling at bats for Celestia's sake! When's the last time you've actually eaten, or took ah bath for that matter?” “I...” “Come on Twi, you need to come home. We're all worried about you. The girls, Spike, all of us.” “B-But...” Twilight stammers out, slowly looking down at her self. Her usually well kept fur was now matted and dirty. Her hooves were stained with dry ink. How long has she been here? She doesn't even know anymore. “No buts now, missy. Let's get ya back to Ponyville, get a nice supper in yer belly, and a warm bath. How's that sound” “It sounds... nice.” Twilight says wistfully. “Yah Twi, this cave'll be here tomorrow, and the next day. It'll be here for a long time yet also. Ya can come back 'n study it anytime. Alright.” Twilight only nods in response before Applejack helps her pack up her books and leads her home. Twilight gives a single longing glance back at the slowly darkening cave, feeling a deep yearning burn inside her to view the untold secrets of the runes. As the lamp light fades from the cavern, the large white bat watches them leave. Its eyes shimmering in the fading light before darkness once again covers the cave. Only the subtle near-unnoticeable glow of the glyphs on the wall to keep them company. Several hours go by, and the day quickly turns into a dark night. The sky is slowly obscured by a blanket of clouds signaling the coming storm the weather department worked to set up for tomorrow which created the illusion of a great roof over the world below. Twilight lies awake in her bed, eyes wide open but unseeing as thoughts of the symbols and their secrets swam around her mind taunting her. Crying out for her to understand them. She could almost see. She could almost understand. Like a zombie she rises from her bed; like a ghost she moves without sound. Careful not to awaken Spike, she gathers her supplies which were still laid out downstairs where she left them; and steps out into the dreary midnight. Silently she trots though town to the dark forest beyond knowing that each step brings her closer to her desire. The dark cave is once again filled with pale light as Twilight enters the empty cavern, the bats that call it home having left for their night. All except for one. The white bat hangs from the ceiling, watching her. It knew she would return; she always does. Twilight lays out her books and notes around her as she sets to work. Ignoring the weight of her eyes as the night drags on as she continues studying the glyphs trying to gleam their secrets yet finding none. The light of her lantern grows dimmer and flickers drawing her attention as she watches as the last flames of her light die casting her into darkness. “Drat.” She whispers to herself and prepares to cast a simple light spell to see.. She stops when she notices the glyphs and their subtle glow. She becomes enraptured by their ethereal and impossible light. She can't help but stare at them. All around her the cavern's walls a alight with glyphs. Movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention. A glyph. It's moving. They're all moving, twisting, sliding across the walls. Their inner light becoming brighter and brighter yet never seeming to dispel the dark of the cave. Twilight watches them lost in the beauty of their dance. Her mind filling with their wonder. Faster they move, onto the ground spinning around her like dancers. Ever growing closer. Fear. Twilight is afraid, why: she does not know. They close in. “N-No! Wait!” she cries out, unsure of what magic the glyphs will unleash. She can't go back; they're already behind her. Their angry red glow the only thing she can see in the dark. They surround the unicorn, covering the floor around her. They reach her. Crawling up her legs, she screams. They burn red hot, yet are colder then ice. She screams and cries out for help as they climb her legs, twisting around her. She can't escape. The reach her neck, she cries out for help. But no one comes. They reach her eyes, and suddenly she can see everything. With a start she sits up, breathing heavy. How did she get on the ground? Remembering the glyphs she's is instantly to her hooves checking her body in the red light of the cavern. 'I'm... okay?' She thinks to herself. 'Oh thank Celestia it was... just... a...' Something is wrong. A feeling of inversion overtakes her. Why is her hair falling upward? Why does it feel like she's upside down?! Twilight looks around her, the small patch of mostly flat ground she stands on is surrounded by stalagmites. She slowly traces her eyes up the walls, the glyphs casting their red light around the room. Up she looks to the flat ceiling, covered in her books and papers. “What's going on?” She whispers to herself. Looking around her eyes are drawn to the only other living thing in the room. The white bat standing on the floor, no... no she realizes. It's hanging from the ceiling. The ceiling that she's standing on. The bat regards Twilight with something one may say was amusement at her confusion before taking flight and disappearing down a small tunnel Twilight never noticed before. She looked down the tunnel the bat had flown down, it was small, barely big enough for her to walk down. Its walls, floor, and ceiling completely covered in the glyphs like the ones below her. They bent in twisted in such beautiful ways casting their secretive glow over her. Twilight was afraid but stepped forward anyway. As she walked forward into the tunnel, her head turning to try to take in each of the symbols on the wall, she could swear that they were whispering to her. Soon she came to a deep hole descending (or was it ascending?) into darkness. She gazed into its darkness and saw fear. She was afraid; she didn't want to know the secrets anymore. She felt herself falling forward. All she wanted to do was go home. The glyphs compelled her to let her self go. She wanted to wake up from this dream. Twilight closes her eyes, listening to only the whispers of the bats calling her into the darkness. Maybe if she just wished hard enough she'd wake up. And up she fell... into the dark. All around her Twilight could hear a cacophony of the noise of the wind rushing past her; her hair whipping behind her as she falls and then. Then suddenly the air fills with thousands of shrill cries. Twilight's eyes burst open as she lights her horn to see, instantly laying eyes on hundreds of thousands of bats all surrounding her as she falls. In awe she watches them fly around her like a hurricane of leathery wings and small furry bodies. They close in upon her, caressing her gently with their wings. Covering her entirely with their warm embrace. Twilight wants to scream, but the warm darkness is too inviting. Her horn dies as she allows the bats to spirit her away... into the darkness... into the unknown... into the Neath. Welcome. Delicious friend.