Ducenti Septuaginta Septem

by Capacitor

Chapter Nine: Checkmate

Part One: The Prophecy, The Princess and The Portal


Chapter Nine: Checkmate

"For in the vastnesses transcending our world are shapes of darkness that seize and bind. The Affair that shambleth about in the night, the evil that defieth the Elder Sign, the Herd that stand watch at the secret portal each tomb is known to have and that thrive on that which groweth out of the tenants thereof: all these Blacknesses are lesser than He Who guardeth the Gateway: He Who will guide the rash one beyond all the worlds into the Abyss of unnamable devourers. For He is 'Umr At-Tawil, the Most Ancient One, which the scribe rendereth as The Prolonged of Life."

—The Necronomicon, Equestrian Edition by Sand Song

[Equestria, Everfree Forest; 2nd of Bloom in the year 1004 after Nightmare Moon]

The Everfree Forest was never truly peaceful, nor was the weather ever perfect.
On this particular summer's day, it was, peculiarly, a bit foggy. Moist, white wisps curled up from the chasm surrounding the ruined castle, covering everything in a faint haze.
Perhaps even more strangely, it was rather quiet. An eerie, waiting silence stretched through the whole wood, only briefly disturbed by a strange noise from one of its monstrous inhabitants or a lingering whisper from one of the Things on the edge of reality.

Sparks showered down on the moss-covered, broken tiles that made up the floor before the short set of stairs leading up to Everfree Castle's main entrance as the Spirit of Chaos himself teleported into the tree-shadowed gloom. With the draconequus, seven ponies and the six Elements of Harmony appeared, even though the latter were supposed to be enchanted with a spell that protected them from Discord's magic.
While the ponies still stumbled around in a disoriented fashion, Discord already regarded his surroundings with an amused, playful fake-frown. “Gee, what happened to this place? It's a serious mess, no, a ruin!” He smirked at one of the ponies, one Princess Celestia of Equestria. “Haven't you paid your bills, Celestia?”

Instead of getting a reply, he got a blue pegasus snarling directly into his face. “Hey, warn us before you do that, would you?”

“I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash,” Discord said in the least apologetic way possible and smirked. “I didn't mean to frighten you.”

“Er—I'm not—It's just that—” Rainbow stuttered, fluttering backwards, furiously blushing. “Fluttershy!” she blurted out, pointing a hoof at her friend. “She might get frightened, not me. I asked because of her.”

“Now, Dash, don't be upset. I'm sure Discord only had the best of intentions.” Fluttershy spoke calmly over the spirit's light snickering.
She turned to Discord, mildly scolding him. “Still, I was bit sudden, and you shouldn't just teleport somepony without asking first. It's not very polite, you know.”

Discord stopped laughing. He gave Fluttershy a look that even bordered on guilty and let his head hang down while fidgeting with his claws.

“Come on, girls,” Twilight said, setting into motion towards the ancient castle's front gates. “Let's get going. We have a friend to find!”

The princess and her fellowship left Discord standing in the fog, alone with Celestia. For a few seconds, they silently watched each other as more vapour billowed from the deep ravine.

“You might have to work on your attitude, Discord. While it is a fine thing to have fun, doing so at somepony else's expense is not,” Celestia finally said, then turned towards the castle, following her subjects.

Discord gave her an annoyed glare and blew a raspberry, but nonetheless took off the ground and slowly snaked through the air behind her.

---

The entrance hall of Everfree Castle was in a terrible state. The entire roof was missing, the high windows were long broken, the pillars crumbling. Yet its centre, marked by a great circle, was completely free of the creeping vines and ivy. It was here that the atmospheric tension was the strongest. From time to time, strange, misshapen shadows seemed to dance through the shimmering, thin veils of white fog, and if one listened keenly, they might think they heard eldritch voices whispering in the distance.

When Twilight had first been here, the great stone stand for the Elements of Harmony had occupied the centric circle. Now, it had been moved to the far wall and made way for a curious mosaic of various stone shapes, inlaid with gems and lines of metal. Around the room, at least two dozen stands of cast iron were littered, holding up great crystals, braziers that burned in unnatural hues, polished works of silver and glass and other strange objects, often twisted in strange angles and odd forms.
Next to the great mosaic, currently lighting up a last brazier with his magic, stood the old unicorn in the tattered blue cloak. When the brazier was cast alight in coppery green flames, he turned to the six mares that had just entered his sanctum, his now steady gaze holding not only the nervous fear that never truly left, but also an insane, desperate euphoria. He swallowed, lips twitching, then bowed down to Twilight Sparkle, his muzzle nearly touching the cold marble.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle, Your Highness, what a grand honour to welcome you to this castle,” he muttered in one breath. “Just have a little patience and His Great Ancientness, the Watcher, will join us in no time. He's just, er, busy attending to a – er, hmm – 'nuqular'... thing, yes, a thing. I hope it—” He paused abruptly, staring past Twilight with the air of somepony looking at a tidal wave coming towards them. In the desert. Five hundred kilometres from the closest body of water.
“Gah!” He jumped backwards, fright and surprise transforming into anger and defiance. Twilight turned her head to the source of the stallion's distress, but only found Princess Celestia, who had just come through the entrance behind them.
“Don't come closer, murderer!” the old stallion bellowed, and his horn sparked to life with sizzling bubbles of lilac and green. “I know you. Don't think you can fool me. Tyrant!” He literally spat the last word, aiming his horn at Celestia, dark sparks of negative light dancing across its length.

Celestia's only response was a look of shock and horror that forced its way onto her face. Twilight shot confused glances back and forth, Rainbow Dash protectively sprung in front of her princess, spreading her wings to shield her from the crazed unicorn.

Through the castle gate curled Discord, faint interest reflected in his mien.
Immediately, the dark magic around the unicorn's horn died away. With a bloodcurling scream, he dropped to the ground, his legs flailing through the air like that of a beetle on its back. The scream quickly died down to a miserable whimper; the stallion stared at the draconequus with an expression of utmost terror.

“What?” Discord responded to the various looks of displeasure he received from those ponies that currently weren't busy cringing in existential horror. “I didn't do anything!”

Before anypony present could delve deeper into the discussion there was a brief flash of magic, accompanied by faint popping sound and the appearance of a smallish dragon at the very centre of the arrangement of arcane paraphernalia. Eyes of red energy focused on the ponies and the half sonic half otherworldly voice of the Beyond One housed within Spike's skull spoke.
“I Apologise For Letting You Wait, But Powering Up A Fission Reactor Is A Little Time-Consuming, Especially So If Those Who Constructed Said Reactor Had Actually No Idea Of Its Principle Of Operation.” He gave an amused little snort. “Now, What Can I Do For You?”

After a moment of stupefied silence only breached by the miserable whimpering of a certain terrified unicorn, Princess Celestia stepped forward. “So I take it you expected us?” she asked.

'Spike' shrugged nonchalantly. “I Did Not Rely On It. After All, I Do Have A Substitutive Plan Prepared.”

“Is Mister MacMad-Eye okay?” Pinkie asked quickly, pointing a hoof at the newly-christened stallion who still refrained from doing anything else but lying on his back, shivering, whimpering and looking frightened.

A wide smile spread on the dragon's chubby face, creating a stark contrast to the glowing, monochrome, emotionless eyes above it. “So You Made Him A Name. That Is Very Considerate Of You.” He turned to the Mister, smile vanishing as suddenly as it had come. “Cut The Worthless Sobbing, Get Back On Your Hooves And Say 'Thank You' To Miss Pie, Executive!” he commanded.

Mister MacMad-Eye furiously scrambled back on his hooves, swallowed and quickly blurted “Thank you to miss pie executive.” before standing silently shaking and staring wide-eyed at alternatingly either Discord or Celestia.

“Close Enough.” 'Spike' gave him another stern look before turning back to the Elements of Harmony, the ruler of Equestria and the Lord of Chaos. “I Hope He Did Not Behave Too Badly.”

“He insulted the Princess!” Rainbow Dash shouted, seeing it her duty to point that fact out.

Celestia herself thought otherwise. “It is of no concern,” she dismissed, “what is more important is the question who you are.”

'Spike' laughed, an eerie, resonating sound that made the hair on Twilight's neck stand on end.
“There Is That Question Again, And Again The Complete Set Of Answers Is Within Neither The Known Nor The Unknowable.
I Suppose It Would Help You Little If I Told You I Am A Dragon Possessed By A Coalescence Of An Alicorn Soul And An Astral Construct Imposed Unto This World By A Sapient Conceptual Entity. Thus, I Shall Refer To A Method Commonly Used By Mortals To Gain An Inkling Of Beings Such As Me. Epithets.”
He spread his tiny arms in a grand gesture and floated off the ground, surrounded by a faint corona of red magic. His voice swelled to a gale that pierced ears and minds alike.
“I Am The Watcher From The Shadows, I Am The Guardian And I Am The Gate. I Am He Who Lurks At The Threshold. I Am She Whose Eyes And Ears Are Everywhere. I Am It That Whispers In The Back Of Every Mind. I Was Before The Beginning And I Will Be After The End. I Am All That Is, And More.”
The howling winds of his voice subsided as 'Spike' levitated back onto the ground.
“In Case I Did Not Make Myself Clear, I Stem From Something That Is Of Such A Nature That Your Primitive Minds Are Incapable Of Understanding It. Now That This Is Out Of The Way, I Repeat, What Can I Do For You?”
He looked at them expectantly, then turned to Applejack in the exact moment she spoke up.

“You could start with giving us Spike back,” Applejack said flatly. She clearly wasn't amused by the situation. The burning fires of magic that looked so misplaced in Spike's face were giving her the shivers and she didn't like what he had said about himself.

'Spike' bowed deeply. “Certainly, My Lady.” He looked up, expression blank and unreadable. “Which Of You Will Trade Places With Me, Then?”

“Trade places?” Twilight frowned, unsure what he (Or she? Or it? Maybe capitalize the pronoun?) was getting at.

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle.” He tilted Spike's head and folded his claws. “To Give You Spike Back, I Will Have To Leave His Body And Settle Down In Another.”

“Don't you have your own body?” Dash complained. His head snapped into her direction instantly.

“I Am Afraid Not, Though I Intend To Change That.” He smiled politely at the pegasus.

“You see?” Discord interrupted from his spot above them. “It's not cooperating. Because it's evil.”

Twilight ignored his incredibly productive, helpful and convincing comment. “Is this body business by any chance related to some kind of incarnation?” she asked, recalling the topic from her conversation with the image of Goodwyrm.

'Spike' clapped his claws together. Three times. Very slowly.
*clap*
*clap*
*clap*
“I Am Glad To See At Least Somepony Paid Attention.
You See, I Came Here Because It Is Here That The Dimensional Barriers Are The Weakest.”
He raised a claw, red light shining from its palm. In the magical lighting, a thin web of nigh-invisible cracks could be seen in the air around him, small trickles of magic slowly dripping through the cracks and into his body. He closed his hand and the light subsided, the cracks becoming invisible again.
“You Would Simply Have To Wait Two Or Three Days Until I Have Prepared The Necessary Equipment To Be Able To Expand This Rift Into A Stable Passage. Then I Will Have A Body Of My Own Design, A Name To Cement My Existence And A Life To Lead According To My Wishes.” He smiled. “And You”, he continued, “Will Get Spike Back. Alternatively, One Of You Trades Places With Spike And He Is Returned To You Right Now.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow snorted aggressively, hovering closer. “Not gonna happen. How about we take the third option: You give us our friend back and take over nopony!”

'Spike' swivelled around in place to face Rainbow Dash, gesticulating with both arms and legs up at her, supported only by his short tail. “Dare I Believe My Ears? A Good Idea Actually Comes From You, Rainbow Dash, Of All Ponies?”

“You agree with her?” Rarity blinked, slightly taken aback.

'Spike' jumped back onto his feet, grinning broadly and creepily. “Why, Yes. Her Idea Is Brilliant After All.” He didn't react to Twilight mouthing “It is?” as a familiar glint of amusement appeared in his eyes. “Why Wait So Long When You, Between Either Discord, Celestia Or The Elements Of Harmony, Can Open The Portal Straight Away?”
He waved his claws in Discord's direction to silence his protest before it even began.
“Oh, But Of Course You Refuse To Do That, Because According To You, I Am Evil For Wanting What You All Take For Granted: Life. Corporeality.”
He snorted before addressing the whole group with an all-encompassing gesture of his arm.
“So All The Options We Have Are Compromised By Your Lack Of Cooperation.
Option One Is That You Wait Some Thirty To Forty Hours Until I Can Return Spike. You Object.
Option Two Is That One Of You Takes Spike's Place. You Refuse.
Option Three Is That You Use The Considerable Magic Power At Your Disposal To Open The Gate Right Away. You Veto.
We Cannot Proceed That Way. Assuming You Wish To Overcome This Impasse, I Would Suggest You Either Try To Think Of Alternate Options Or, If You Can Not Do So, You Should Change Your Mind.”

For some odd seconds, silence overruled what previously had been a conversation. Discord floated overhead, leaning against a broken pillar, his expression bordering on disinterest. Princess Celestia was still keeping up her poker face, hiding her uncertainty about what to make of 'Spike'. The Element Bearers were effectively silenced, Rainbow Dash was sulking, Twilight was tapping her chin rapidly with a forehoof, searching for a way out of the stalemate. The Last Listener to the Watcher was still caught somewhere between fear and awe and certainly had no intention of participating in the discussion. The Watcher himself stood completely still, face as expressive as a stone but eyes sparkling with confident glee.

Twilight Sparkle spoke up, having caught a detail that might, if not resolve the issue, at least help towards getting there. “Since you are a spirit of some sort, why do you need a body at all? Couldn't you just open this portal without possessing any body?”

“Any Body? I Do Not Need Any Body.” 'Spike' gave her an indignant look. “I Require A Body Whose Demise Would Be Unacceptable To Fluttershy So That Its Vulnerability May Protect Me From The Wrath Of Discord.”

“Discord is reformed now.” Fluttershy smiled comfortingly at the small dragon, immediately taking up the role of the protector of the small cute creature that was obviously frightened by something bigger than itself.
“You don't have to be scared of him any more. I'm sure he won't hurt you.”

“Excuse Me?” he answered coldly, his piercing amaranth gaze burning deep into Fluttershy's soft cyan eyes, Fluttershy shrinking back as the telepathic component of the words echoed through her mind.
“If It Were Not For His Reformation, He Would Have Sealed Me Away Without As Much As A Second Thought About Spike, And Turned His Little Dragon Body Into My Eternal Prison. Discord Being Reformed Was One Measure Among Many To Eliminate All Undesirable Outcomes From This Operation, Making It A Necessary Prerequisite Of This Successful Attempt At Incarnation.
Do Not Tell Me About Discord's Reformation, Filly, For I Already Knew Of It When Your Ancestors Still Hid From Him Under The Carnivorous Trees Of The Southern Syrup Swamp! It Was My Idea!”
'Spike's' voice calmed down as he continued.
“As You See, While Discord's Reformation, As The Reformation Of A Villain, Is Very Much In Line With The Equestrian Doctrine Of Love And Tolerance, It Is Also A Very Risky Operation That Is Only Viable To Be Undertaken Under Very Specific Circumstances.
Without A Functioning Group Of Element Bearers, Any Attempt Would Be Doomed To Failure Since He Can Not Be Kept In Check Otherwise. Moreover, A Certain Urgency And Necessity Of Reformation Has To Be Instated To Properly Motivate Such An Undertaking.
One Such Motivation Could Be Provided Through A Threat Or Possible Threat That The Elements Are Incapable Of Dealing With. Another Would Be The Information That Discord's Imprisonment By The Elements Is By No Means Permanent.
While The Latter Is Easily Achieved Through Disrupting The Elements Themselves To Weaken The Seal Holding Him, Causing An Early Return That Left No Doubt Of The Threat He Posed, The Former Is Slightly More Difficult To Set Up.”

Above, Discord rolled his eyes exasperatedly, his white eyebrows spelling out 'get on with it'.

“The Elements Of Harmony Cannot Resolve An Issue If They Defunct. An Element Bearer Falling Into Madness, Possibly In The Wake Of Serious Mental Strain Or Gaining Great Power, Would Cause Both A Threat And A Malfunction Of The Elements. The Ascension To Alicornhood, Which Includes Both Gaining Power As Well As Mental Strain Due To Fundamental Changes Of Body And Nervous System As Well As The Possibility Of Immortality And The Status Of A Princess, Is Well-Suited For Establishing The Danger Of A Fall From Grace.
The Driving Force For Such An Ascension Would Necessarily Stem From A Strong Emotional Bond Between A Bearer And Celestia, One Of The Few Who Are Actually Able To Cause This Ascension. This Bond Would, Considering The Age Difference, Most Likely Be A Mother-Daughter Relationship Resulting From Celestia At Least Partially Raising Said Bearer.”
'Spike' folded his arms behind his back and regarded his audience, who were mostly staring at him in various stages of confusion or shock.
“Still, While The Element Bearers Are Truly Special And Important, They Would Not Warrant That Intimate Attention, Lest There Was Something The Elements Would Be Explicitly And Most Urgently Needed For, Making Celestia Place All Her Hope In In That Pony. However, Hope Is A Fickle Thing To Spark, But, Once Ignited, Hard To Extinguish.”

Somepony drew in a sharp breath. Twilight turned to the Princess, from whom the noise had come. Celestia's face was no longer one of serenity and smiles, but a stern mask that reminded Twilight of the ones she had worn during Discord's return or that incident with Miss Smarty-Pants. “Princess? Are you alright?” she asked, looking up to her mentor with eyes full of concern.

“Her Problem Is That Choosing Hope Over Death And Despair May Mean Choosing Hope Over Mercy. The Choice To Destroy Is A Different One If All Other Choices Only Entail More Destruction,” the voice from Spike's mouth answered Twilight's question with no small measure of delight. “She Now Realizes I Made Her Realize This.”

Princess Celestia stepped forward. “You will not get away with this!” she scolded, causing Discord to silently snort in amusement.

'Spike's' voice shifted into a higher pitch, becoming that of a mare and losing its otherworldly component. “Is that so? Do these principles of yours matter so little? Don't they apply to yourself as well?”
Then, in an uncannily accurate imitation of Celestia, he added “A princess is obliged to her subjects moreso than to her principles. We may have failed to protect Our sister from darkness, but We shall not fail Our subjects. Yes, I Remember That Conversation.” He smiled at the Princess. “I Was So Proud, So Happy About What You Had Learned.”

The Princess of the Sun did not respond, but advanced steadily on the small drake, her expression frozen, but her eyes burning with righteous fury.

The grin on Spike's face flickered away. “What Are You Doing?”
When Celestia still didn't react, an almost shrill edge appeared in his voice. “You Can Not Repeat The Actions Of The Past. The Situation Is Different. It Is Illogical.”
As the princess didn't slow her gait, he raised two hands, palms sizzling with red energy. With a quick gesture, he summoned a domed forcefield around him, blocking Celestia's path.
“I Advise You To Stop!”

Princess Celestia of Equestria didn't even blink as she fired up her horn and passed the shield as if it had not been there, ripples going about its surface wherever it came into contact with her. She came to a halt before the possessed dragon, looking down at him fiercely.
“You will release Spike. You have no right to endanger my subjects.
Instead of replying, the dragon just stared up at her stoically with a sudden calm where moments ago had been nigh hysteria. His eyes silently burned, mocking her, challenging her, daring her.
Celestia looked back at him for a second, then closed her eyes and laid her still glowing horn against his forehead.

Silence fell as the two stood there, unmoving, 'Spike' wearing a numb expression, Celestia's face signalling determination and concentration. Twilight stared, slightly open-mouthed, gaze shifting from one to the other, unsure what to make of this. She silently cursed the fact that she hadn't abused her status as a princess to gain access to some of the more restricted works of magic, specifically those that dealt with the magic that would influence the sapient mind. The only magic of this type practised both on a common and legal basis was Princess Luna's dream magic, which by itself was a secret the Lady of the Night jealously guarded. Now that Twilight was actually witnessing what undoubtedly had to be mind magic, she didn't really have any solid idea what was going on, as she lacked any information but the most basic theoretical background.
Suddenly, the dome flickered away and red sparks began trailing off Spike. While Princess Celestia remained completely still, Spike started shaking as more and more sparks, veritable streams of magic, burst from his body, trailing and dissolving in the air, discharging into the ground, dancing around his fragile form. With a screech and a flash, the baby dragon fell.

Celestia raised her head, opened her eyes. The veil of magic covering her horn faded. At her hooves laid the silent, unmoving form of Spike. She turned her head to Twilight, swaying slightly like an old tree in a gentle wind, a tired smile on her lips.
“Spike is alright, Twilight, he is merely unconscious.” She spoke in regard to the look of fright and concern she found in her student's – and since recently colleague's – face, trying to qualm her worries.
“When he wakes up, he might have a slight headache and even a few blurred albeit disturbing memories, but nothing that can't be overcome by a good friend's love and care.”
She lifted the unconscious youth in her golden aura, floating him into Twilight's waiting arms.

“What about that—thing that made dear Spikey act so horridly?” Rarity asked tentatively. “Is it gone?”

“Yes.” Celestia nodded. “His mind is his own again.”

“I—” She turned to Mister MacMad-Eye, who had been staring at her and Spike with increasingly wide eyes for the last few minutes. Now, he looked at her with a mixture of fear and relief, the edges of a manic grin hysterically quivering around his mouth.
“I—I can't hear them any more!” he blurted, letting out a frantic giggle. “You broke the connection, you broke the connection.” He gave a loud, crazed laugh. “No more orders, no more schedule! It's over, I'm free!”
Then, like paper on flame, which burns fast and bright but too soon leaves only grey ashes, his euphoria was almost instantly gone again. He choked on his laughter, fright taking hold of his face again, and he backed off, away from the Princess of the Sun. Celestia simply stood looking at him, and a visible shiver ran through her whole body. Then her posture stiffened and with a casual flick of her left forehoof, she discarded one of her golden ornamented shoes, which slid over the tiled stone floor with a high, metallic clanking.
The ensuing silence was promptly interrupted by a second slipper following the first one. The former Listener was still staring at her, face ashen.

“Princess?” Twilight asked, uncertain what to make of this. She had, in fact, never seen the princess without her regalia, and this uncharacteristic behaviour worried her. She moved closer to get a look at her face, but Celestia already turned back to her, dispensing her third shoe in the process.

Her eyes were red.
“I Am Afraid Her Majesty Is Currently Indisposed.” Her last slipper landed on the floor. With a red flash of Celestia's horn, a mannequin appeared next to her.
“I Am Terribly Sorry This Had To Happen, But As I Stated Before, None Of Our Options Were Viable Under The Status Quo.” The regalia, hoofwear, neckpiece and crown were encased in red glow and placed on the mannequin, which then disappeared in another burst of magic.
“I Have Now Initiated Option Four: I Take Possession Of Celestia And Use Her Tremendous Power To Open The Portal Now.” 'Celestia' smiled thinly. “Fun Fact: Due To Its Hybrid Nature, Alicorn Magic Is The Most Malleable Of All Types Of Pony Magic. All Alicorn Magic Is Compatible, Which Makes It Very Easy For Alicorns To Join Forces.”
Her horn lit up red again, brighter this time than before. Slowly, streaks of gold began to appear amongst the red, the horn's light growing brighter and brighter.
“As I Already Told You, All Undesirable Outcomes Have Been Eliminated.”
Wild sparks of red and gold seared through Celestia's mane and tail, giving the impression of dancing flames.

With a surge of power, 'Celestia' spread her wings. The Elements of Harmony were pushed backwards by the winds Celestia's beating wings unleashed, and the fog all around spiralled upwards, breaching the dull haze, creating a veritable maelstrom of clouds around the perimeter of the circular mosaic of stone, gems and metals. 'Celestia' now stood in the eye of her own personal tornado, lightning arcing through the rapidly turning clouds.

“What in the hay is she doin'?” Applejack shouted above the howling storm, blinking into the now unfiltered sunlight.

“She's making a thunderstorm inside a hurricane!” Rainbow Dash replied, pressing her body close to the ground, the strong winds having forced her to land. “There's no way a single pony can pull that off!”

A bolt of lightning discharged into one of the iron stands, the deafening clap of thunder drowning the conversation. The stand was struck down, but the crystal it had been holding remained where it was, now crackling with energy.
Inside the circle, 'Celestia' reared up and struck the mosaic below her with her bare hooves. The ground shook, the gems inlaid in the mosaic lit up, the metallic inlays hummed with power, a few more stands fell, the associated paraphernalia held in place by a glowing band of energy that connected the various gems and crystals. And amongst the cracking of the stones, the thunder of the lightning and the howling of the winds, fell voices were on the air, whispering words of lost meaning.

The possessed princess raised her head, unblinking eyes staring into the sun herself. Her mane caught fire as her horn glowed ever brighter and forced the bright orb to yield. Within ten seconds flat, day became night as 'Celestia' forced the sun over the horizon, and where the ponies had moments ago been squinting into the sudden lights of sun and magic, they now stumbled through a night darker than any they had ever known, for there was no moon in the sky.
In the fiery light of 'Celestia's' magic, the seven moons of Nasreem, the wandering stars and the many other satellites moved into new constellations. Their light fell down in unprecedented angles, fell onto precisely crafted mirrors of silver and glass, were reflected and interfered, projected into sparkling gems, lighting up the different components of the complex arcane apparatus assembled all around the alicorn.
She, standing at the centre of the magical storm, was the one who directed it all, tilting a mirror for half a degree to optimize the starlight influx, pouring raw power into various gems, moving the various flaming braziers and glowing crystals in exact runic patterns, weaving a hex that was fuelled by the power of a royal alicorn and perpetuated by the laws of the physical world. Condensing plasma danced around her form as slowly, slowly, a tinge of blackness appeared at the tip of her horn, a swirling darkness that grew in the light of 'Celestia's' magic.

Twilight scrambled to her hooves. The furious winds and the consecutive tremors of the earth had knocked her down. Her head was pounding in the magic-saturated atmosphere that was so dense even an unskilled unicorn could see the continuous stream of magic flowing into 'Celestia' and the abomination of a spell she was casting. Involuntarily, her eyes were drawn to the expanding gap above the Princess, this unreal spot all dimensions were bending towards, the opening gate to the void between the worlds. One bolt of lightning after the other hit 'Celestia' and the dozen objects orbiting her, feeding more and more energy into the magic circle. Glowing symbols manifested in the air, flowing with the spell, patterns of which condensated into the physical world.
She turned to her friends, who were all staring at the spectacle, frowning, frightened. Except Discord, who was wearing a pair of tinted glasses and slurping a milkshake through a swizzle straw.
“Do something!” she shouted at him.

“Dude.” He pushed up his glasses. “I know when I have lost. All we can do is enjoy the show.” For some odd reason, his voice carried perfectly fine over the storm of noise created by 'Celestia'.

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “I thought you'd know better than just giving up on the Princess. The point where you really lose is when you stop fighting, and if there is anything worth fighting for, it is friendship!” She turned to her five pony friends. “Girls, let's save the Princess!”

Like on a silent command, the six friends stepped forward, and ere Discord managed more than a “Wait! What're you doing?”, the question itself had become obsolete. A halo of raw power erupted from the ponies, shrouding them with light. The Elements lit with inner fire, lifting their bearers into the air and drawing them closer together. For a few seconds, the Elements of Harmony floated there, braving the storm, eyes glowing in divine light, facing an opponent with equally glowing eyes.
'Princess Celestia' only reacted by pouring more magic into her spells, rearranging prisms and mirrors, all of her will focusing on the grapefruit-sized sphere of eternal darkness, the opening door to the abyss of the unnameable ones.

Forth from the Elements flew a swirling, humming rainbow of blinding light, piercing the storm and the cloud of magic. Without a sound, the white alicorn dissolved in the light.
The rainbow sought to purify if possible, and to imprison or banish if not. And hence came the first oddity, the first irregularity. The alicorn which the spell had been directed at was pure. Sure, she had two minds in her head, she was confused, she was angry, but her heart was free from any of the disharmonious impurities: deceit, grief, cruelty, jealousy, infidelity, chaos, none of these were present.
Imprisonment it was then. The mare had two primary affinities she could be bound to: first, the sun; second, the blackness between dimensions. Both options would require a good deal of energy to reach, but the rainbow had plenty. The sun was easier to reach, however, so the rainbow spiralled upwards like a current that went the way of the lowest resistance, quickly raising the celestial body in the process. Now, it would, in a burst of colour, shoot up there and imprison the alicorn. That was the moment the second irregularity occurred. It was a small, yet sudden and unexpected loss of energy. In total terms, it was a lot, enough to move a small mountain; in relative terms, it was a drop from an ocean. The cause was simple: Thaumic inertia. The main power source was gone, but the alicorn's spell was still going, trying to draw energy from where its caster had been, where the rainbow now was. It was only a temporary effect, though, and wouldn't cause any problems to the rainbow. As it moved upwards, it passed through a few highly conductive layers of still-moving spellwork, resulting in some more lost energy.
At that point, there was a third oddity. The affinity relation shifted in favour of the second affinity, which became more accessible with each moment the rainbow passed through the remaining parts of the other spell. Using brute force, the sun was the easier place to reach; using the hole in the world this spell was opening, the void was easier to reach. The rainbow swirled in place, hesitating, caught in a balance between the two conflicting affinities, losing more energy with each moment that passed.
In the end, inertia and the boundless entropy of the void won.

All of this happened within a matter of moments. The flaming rainbow of ultimate friendship (and possibly doom) engulfed the Princess, billowed upwards. The sun rose, flying to the top of the sky, while the rainbow still swirled in place. It spiralled upwards, then fanned out into a sphere that surrounded the whole setup of arcane equipment, turned inside out and quickly vanished into an expanding gap of utter darkness.

The Elements of Harmony gently levitated back to the ground, landed on their twenty-four hooves and opened their eyes, waking from the nigh-meditative state of harmony and friendship. Immediately, their eyes widened in shock, for where moments before had been their princess surrounded by a collection of different magical items was now only a gaping hole in the fabric of reality, an empty sphere of utter blackness, measuring about ten feet (2.983m, to be precise) in diameter, hanging not even a hoof's breadth above the ground. An almost imperceptible skin of energy covered its entire surface, long streamers of electricity discharging from it due to the infinitely low electromagnetic potential on the sphere's inside.

“Well done, my little ponies, well done!” Discord strode between them and the portal, applauding jovially. “I myself would have a hard time finding a more chaotic and risky solution for that situation.”

“But where is the Princess?” Twilight asked, eyes wide, voice unsteady.

Discord wordlessly pointed at the impossibly perfect black sphere. “Anypony want to go after her?”
He chuckled at their incredulous faces. “Didn't think so.”

He turned to the gateway, raised his lion paw and snapped his fingers at it.
The void portal quivered slightly and clo—

not stopped not held nor stalled by any spell
the gate has opened for the scient shell
to pass unto the realm of pony kind
a mortal life by will and word defined

—stayed open. The world flickered.
“Snap!” Discord cursed, inspecting his smouldering digits.

With the speechless words came the child of the void. The space inside the sphere expanded infinitefold, yet its boundaries remained finite. The unmoving darkness encircled the ponies, and from its depth's emerged a colossus made from what one could only hope to be flesh. Crawling over Itself, a titan of endless proportions, moving, shifting like a swarm of angry locusts, though no world had ever born such locusts. Attentiveness, perception without senses, directed itself towards the portal in grim triumph, if such a word was even appropriate for a being that wasn't even truly an individual in all senses of the word. It moved in a straight line, moved along the shortest path through a polydimensional, warped, twisted continuum. Needless to say, what was the simplest of motions to the monstrous entity was a nightmare of translocation for the fourdimensional ponies. They saw spheres in colours they were biologically incapable of perceiving expand from nothingness, shifting into increasingly spindly tendrils that moved here and fro, forward and backward in time, yet closer and closer with each moment that passed.
The infinite spaces within the pandimensional sphere expanded further, reached into each other, creating an endless amount of local loops and hoops. Twilight glanced to her left in an attempt to escape the sight of the unholy Beyond One, only to find herself looking at the back of her head from ten seconds into the future.

Applejack, as the Element of Honesty least susceptible to self-deception, was the first to pass out, eyes transfixed in unnatural angles as she tried to not stare into her own skull.
Rarity quickly followed her example when the world turned inside out and up down.

The abominable Thing came closer, going neither faster nor slower as time itself stretched into infinity, the unknowable beast growing more and more terrifyingly real the closer it got to the sphere's finite surface.

Twilight completely lost her perception of time, and by extension track of her friends, as she began to feel her legs at different times in the same thought. She was sure her wings weren't supposed to be bent at these angles, yet it felt somehow right. The floor had long begun to pulse and blister, but now it seemed to extend anywhere inbetween her left ear and the ceiling, as it had been a thousand years ago. A draconequus wandered by, standing on the wall, hands in his nonexistent pockets.

The Thing hit the sphere's surface, and the entire world was filled with clawing bits of the revolting being as the infinite was condensed into the finite. It convulsed, from within and without It a new light lit, both the same as the abysmal entity and utterly different, one a projection of the other, both infinitely greater than themselves. The light gathered on the threshold of the world, inside the sphere's surface, shining brighter than Itself, in colours Twilight could not, but did see. Reifying and dissolving, neither dead nor alive, It spoke Itself.

Twilight's mind imploded.

---

"Access Granted."

—Incarnation Log, line 14190

Comments

[TheLordSiffer]

Man, I'm still enjoying the shit out of this.

Eldritch being of Mindwarping Existence and Unending Force comes through the Portal, becoming Incarnate upon the mortal plane.
Is super cute mare.

Make it so.

[Capacitor]

4460865

I can't say nothing to that, I'm afraid. According to my (somewhat fallible) memory, the final design decisions on the incarnation were already made sometime in early April, so... just wait and see... I guess...