Word of Malice

by Twisted Night

A guest from the past

Late evening. Black, calm night began to play its mysterious, yet enchanting music, lulling the town with songs of the crickets. Large colonies of fireflies begin to dwell on the high grass, waiting for the beginning of the night to shine with all their glory. A majestic white moon rose in the sky, led by the glorious moon princess. The lack of clouds in pre-night sky only increased the moon’s beauty. Now, this glorious moonlight is illuminating the moody room of Ponyville library.

Twilight Sparkle and Spike are finishing rearranging the books on shelf ten. While observing the sedative arrangement of her many books, Twilight’s eyes falls on the black book from two nights before. Twilight recently finished a book she was reading, so she has nothing to read at this moment. Twilight shrugged a little. For a reason unknown to her, she was afraid of that mysterious book. This fact is very disturbing to Twilight, accustomed to think objectively and to avoid prejudice.

“Oh, well,” she said in her mind, “let’s see what that Malice thing is all about. I can’t keep it like this forever.”

“Spike!” she calls. “Bring me that black book from shelf twelve.”

“Can’t you levitate it yourself, Twilight?” said Spike with a lazy voice.

“I am too tired to use magic, Spike. Pleeease!” pleaded Twilight equally as lazy.

“Ok, ok.” Spike climbs the ladder to the fateful book.

“This one, Twilight?” He looks at the book for a few seconds.

“Yes.”

“It looks kinda creepy…” mumbled Spike. He gives the book to Twilight. Twilight opens it.
Flipping to the page with the title, she finds some strange letters. Letters resembling crushed insects, mixed with broken sticks, all looking disturbing to Twilight’s eyes.

“Hmm… isn’t that an ancient Vigro?” she mumbled to herself.

“Ancient what?” asked Spike curiously.

“Vigro, Spike. An ancient, pre-Equestrian language, used by ancient unicorns.”

Spike shrugs. “If you say so… Wait, how do you know what ancient language looks like?”

“Oh, I just read a book about Vigro a long time ago.” Twilight thinks for a minute. “Maybe it’s just some kind of ancient wisdom or encrypted message… Let’s see what on the other pages.”

She flips the page. Next page is completely blank. As is the next page, and the page behind it, and the rest of the whole book!

“Hmmm… that is strange… Maybe this book is enchanted somehow?” She opens to the page with Vigro letters and thinks for a bit.

“Spike, bring me a large dicto…” She looks at Spike. Spike’s eyes are half-closed, and the baby dragon is slowly, sleepily swinging from side to side. The purple dragon is clearly exhausted after a long day.

“What, Twilight?” asked he with sleepy voice.

Twilight smiles. “Oh, it’s nothing. Go get some sleep, my number one assistant!”

“Ok…”

Twilight levitates a dictionary onto her table.

*******

“I don’t understand… It is clearly written in Virgo, but these words can’t be translated…”
She absent-mindedly begins to mumble ancient words without a meaning.

“Kasso… Gateh… Dorus… Maijo… Hosteh…” With the fifth word, the book began to glow red faintly, but Twilight hasn’t noticed it. “Shozjo… Takoho… Mayen…” The glow became stronger.

“Shihrim… Taukh… Mattres…” said she with the last word and gasps. The book is glowing furiously with red energy. The lavender unicorn backs away from the book in fright, unsure of what to do.

“Spike!” she called with a shrunken voice.

“What now…?” Spike raises from his bed. When he saw the glowing book, sleep completely left his eyes. “Whoa!” Spike moves to Twilight.

“Pretty…” said he, enchanted by the dazzling glow. Twilight found herself hiding behind the baby dragon, which disturbed her.

“Was I… casted some kind of spell?” blinks in her mind. Suddenly, the book begins to float. It raises from the table and freezes in the air, balancing like a balloon.

The book yawns. Right in front of the eyes of a stunned pony and dragon, the book’s cover begins to move. Parts from the cover’s center moves apart, revealing diamond – green eye. The eye blinks.

“Oh, is it time?” asks the book with a dry, old voice. The eye looks around.

“Hey, what with that voiceless impression, lass? Out of word of happiness to see me?”
Spike and Twilight are shocked and unable to move. The book slowly floats around the library, mumbling to itself.

“Hmmm… Evaria library sure has changed a lot… Or is it Evaria? I don’t remember this library to be inside a gigantic tree…” The book turned to Spike and Twilight. The eye focused on the baby dragon.

“Oh, you have a dragon servant, lass? You must be very rich…” The book continued to float around, mumbling. Spike pushed Twilight and pointed at the book.

“Do something!” his eyes clearly tell. But Twilight, for some reason, doesn’t want to start a conversation with a creepy talking, magically floating book with an eyeball in the center of the cover. After a few minutes of curious looking around, the book stops.

“Hey, lass,” it said, “what year is it?”

“O-one thousand second after the banishing of Nightmare Moon,” answered Twilight with a shaking voice.

“All right…” the book turns away from Twilight and freezes. “Wait, WHAT? Banishing of what?”

“I-it’s 1002 years passed since P-princess Celestia banished Nightmare Moon,” answered Twilight valiantly. She began to calm down.

“Wait wait waiiiiit….” the book’s voice sounds worried. “How much time has passed since I predicted Umbra’s return?”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Twilight looks confused.

“Say what again?! Don’t you know who I am?” Twilight shakes her head.

“Whaaaaat?! How could you not know who I am?! I am the Great and Mighty Stargale! Founder of uprising philosophy! Inventor of hundreds of spells!” the book’s voice volume began to rise.

Twilight shrugs. “I-I am sorry, sir, but I have never heard of the Great and Mighty Stargale before.”

The book’s eye filled with blood. Twilight involuntarily shivered under the eye’s heavy gaze. “Nonsense! Bring me to the unicorn king right now! I am going to insist on banishing you for ignorance and lack of education!”

“Why is this book scolding me?” blinked in Twilight’s mind. Twilight began to get angry. “There’s no unicorn king in Equestria,” said she, chipping her teeth.

“Equestria?... What is…” The book suddenly remembered something important. “Never mind! If you have awakened me, that means Umbra has returned! Where is he?”

Twilight shrugs. “There is no Umbra I know about,” replied Twilight.

She said the complete truth. She read a lot of books in the course of her life and she had never seen the word “Umbra” in them.

“Say what now? Then why have you summoned me?”

Twilight’s face took an excusing expression. “It was an accident… I found your book and… read those meaningless words…”

“MEANINGLESS words?!” shouted the book with a very angry voice. “These are the names of ancient elemental spirits, you ignorant fool! Go back to magic kindergarten, you worthless child!”

Twilight’s mind bloodshots. “Alright. That’s it.”

In the blink of an eye, Twilight jumped on the book and pressed on it with her front hooves to the floor.

“Listen, you! I do not know, who or what you are, I don’t even care! But I won’t let some… book to abuse me in my own house!”

“Yeah!” said Spike. “And don’t you dare insult Twilight!” Furious, Spike lets his boil inside him and clearly wants to sneeze on the book with fire, and only the fact that book shall be sent to Celestia if he will do so stops him.

“Why you, ins…” The book is literally choking out of anger. “Let me go immediately, you dirty...!”

“As you wish,” said Twilight quickly.

The book tries its hardest to break out. Twilight releases her hoofs and the book crashes into the bookshelf, being pressed by its less creepy and more silent brothers. Twilight levitated the black book out of a book pile.

“You shall ask for it, vermins!” The book’s voice is shaking out of hatred. “If only I was able to cast any of my spells…”

“Tell us what you are,” said Twilight, “and cease the insults, if you don’t want me to lock you in the closet.”

The book gasps heavily. “As I already said, I am the Great and Mighty Stargale!”

“I mean, why are you a book?”

The book closed its eye. “Some… long time ago we, glorious Quarina unicorns, had fought a mighty foe, who was endangering the balance of the whole world!” Spike rolled his eyes.

“We were able to defeat it,” the book continued, “but we failed to get rid of it completely. It was obvious for me that our foe would return after a hundred years. Buuut it looks like my calculations has failed.” Twilight and Spike looked at each other. “I decided to seal myself into that book with a spell I invented, putting myself into sleep. I told everypony they must release me from the land of dreams whence my foe would return… but it looks like I have been forgotten…”

Twilight’s face took a sad expression. The book began to float aimlessly in the air.

“I can’t believe I’ve slept over a thousand years… And now I am trapped inside this thing…”

“Wait a minute… You can’t get out of this book?”

The book rolled its eye. “Use your tiny brain, lass! If I could get out, I would have turned you vermin into the helpless slugs that you already are!”

Twilight moved closer.

“Whoa whoa!” The book backed away. “No violence! I am just telling the truth! The point is, I have invented that spell in a rush… And I hadn’t thought about how to revert it!”

“So much of a genius,” whispered Spike to Twilight.

“I heard that, rascal!” said the book. Spike bit his tongue. “Every genius has a right to make mistakes!” The book began to chaotically fly around, panicking.

“Calm down, Stargale… You shall think of something… You’re a genius!” mumbling he to himself, “but what should I do… My writings are gone… I don’t remember any formulas…”

“Why don’t you look in the library?” interrupted Twilight. “There are a plenty of books filled with magic formulas. Maybe you can create a release spell from scratch?”

“Of course!” The book’s voice fills with hope. “I will find something in books! I am sure magic is improved for past yea.. er, centure.. er, millennium!”

“Ok, good luck,” said Twilight, “if you don’t mind, we shall go to sleep. It is already…” the lavender mare stifled a yawn, “too late…”

“Right, go. Vermins need to sleep…” said the book absent-mindedly. It is already looking for books, encyclopedias, and formulas. Twilight and Spike head to their beds.

“You sure we can trust him?” asked Spike. “I don’t like this guy! Are you sure he won’t do something nasty while we sleep?”

Twilight uncertainly looked down, on the book, which is reading books. “Strange picture” she mumbled in her mind.

“Don’t worry, Spike. He won’t.”

Spike looks in her eyes questioningly. “Why are you so sure of that?”

Twilight smiles. “Spike, you shall laugh, but call it… a mare’s intuition.”

*******

“THIS MAGIC IS AWFUL!!!”

Twilight fell from her bed, alarmed by the sudden outburst.

“Mommy?” asked Spike with a sleepy voice.

Twilight looked downstairs. The black book is floating around a pile of its magic formula-filled brethren.

“What’s all the fuss about?” asked Twilight, trying to open her constantly closing eyes.

“’What’s all the fuss about’? Are you stupid? I just SHOUTED the reason why!”

“Grrr!” roared Twilight with an irritated voice. “Why are you such a jerk?”

The book ignored her. “This age’s magic is horrendously awful! It’s so simple, dumb, and uninspired! I can’t believe your society faced such degradation in magic! No wonder you are so ignorant in the society like that!”

“Twilight,” said Spike, “can I sneeze on him?”

“D-don’t you dare, dragon abomination! You are lucky that I can’t use all magic except simple telekinesis in this form! Hey! What are you doing?! STAY AWAY FROM MEEEEE!!!” Twilight, with one mighty jump, lands before the black book. Twilight hurled the morning irritator into the brown closet with an red owl painted on and locked the door with a heavy bronze key.

“No! You wretched vermin! Let me out of here! Or else I will…”

Twilight casted a soundproof barrier around the locker. “Alright, Spike. Start to clean out this mess. I will join after I wash my face and brush my mane”
Spike malevolently grins. “Aye, Twilight! And nice use of number 42!”

*******

The soundproof barrier disintegrated all too soon. After five minutes of swearing in the closet, the Great and Mighty Stargale, founder of famous philosophy and inventor of hundreds of spells, finally calmed down.

“Please, let me out of here! Darkness is too dangerous for genius to face! I have claustrophobia here!” he begged with a pathetic voice

Twilight walked to the closet. “Are you going to promise me to cease the insults?”

“I promise, I promise! Now let me outta here!”

Twilight pulled the key, releasing the book from its horrible, dreadful hell-born jail. “Now listen,” said Twilight, “I think…”

“Look out below!!!”

Rainbow-colored lightning comes flying through the window, crashing into a bookshelf, raising tons of dust. When the dust disappeared, a sky-blue Pegasus with all colors of the rainbow in mane and tail got out from under a pile of books, groaning. The Pegasus smiles.

“Eh-heh-heh, sorry, Twilight, new trick failed… again.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Geez, Rainbow. Can’t you NOT fly above library when you doing your tricks?”

The Pegasus fragrantly smiles. “Heh, sorry, sorry… Anyway, since I am here, please, give me the next Daring Do book in the series! I am about to finish Daring Do and the Diamond Throne, so…” Her eyes fell on the floating black book with a single green eye in the center of the cover.

“Hey, Twilight, what is that thing? New spell of yo..”

“PEGASUS! Pegasi are attacking!” shouted the book with horror in its voice. “Hide me!” The book hides behind Spike. Spike made a face and moved away. Rainbow tilts her head in confusion.

“Why are you so calm, lass? P-pegasi are attackin…” whined the book with a panicking voice.

“Rainbow Dash is my friend,” said Twilight with irritation.

“…What…?” The book is shocked.

Rainbow curiously looks at the book. “Twilight, why is this book talking?”

“… A unicorn… friends with a Pegasus. A UNICORN… friends with a PEGASUS…you gotta be kidding me…” said the book with a deeply shocked voice.

“What’s the problem?” asked Twilight.

The book sighed. “Ehh… Looks like times definitely has changed…” said the book melancholically, “in my time Pegasi and we, glorious unicorns, were mortal enemies.” Rainbow tilts her head.

“Then you shall see that times indeed has changed,” said Twilight.

“Twilight,” said Rainbow, “what’s going on?”

“Kinda long story. Let’s say that there was a guy, who put himself in a very long sleep in a book.”

Rainbow burst out, “That’s why he behaves like this?”

Twilight nods. Rainbow takes a step towards the black book. Suddenly, the book freaks out and backs away.

“Ah! Get away from me, you ruffian! I don’t care what happened for past the thousand years! You, barbarians, shall never change!”

“You wanna go back to the closet?” asked Twilight blandly.

“No!” The book hid behind a bookshelf.

“Anyway, Twilight,” Rainbow turned to Twilight. “What are you intending to do with him?”

Twilight thinks for a minute. “I will bring him to the Canterlot library.”

The book gets out of its sacred inviolable sanctuary. “Canterlot? What is Canterlot?”

“Canterlot is the name of a castle where the ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia lives. There is a big library with lots of books about high magic and old magic formulas, I think you shall find some advanced formulas there to help you lift the spell you casted on yourself.”

“That’s it!” the book’s voice once again fills with hope. “A royal library! Royal libraries must have better magic books than these boonies have!”

“Soooo we are going to Canterlot? When?” asked Spike.

“Did someone say Canterlot?” The library door opened. Behind it stands a graceful unicorn in a wide, green hat with plumage.

“Rarity,” said Twilight perplexedly, “you came to return ‘Modern Dress Art’ you’ve borrowed?”

“Yo!” said Rainbow from behind Twilight.

“Oh, hello there, Rainbow Dash, and hello to you, Twilight.” She looked around.

“Spike!” she calls. “Do you intent to keep a lady waiting forever?”

Spike dashed to Rarity, gallantly taking her hat. Rarity came in the library and froze, looking at floating black book with eyeball.

“Girls,” she said with worried voice, “am I seeing things?”

“Oh, finally! Somepony with grace and manners!” The book floats to Rarity and lowers its voice.

“You gotta get me out of here! These barbarians are making me sick! Bring me to the royal library, my lady!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Don’t listen to him, Rarity. He is just a plain old geezer, who sealed himself into the book without thinking about getting out of it.”

“How dare you, peon?!” The book’s eye filled with blood.

Rarity, cautiously looking at the black book, moved to Twilight. “So, Twilight, were you talking about Canterlot?”

“Yep. Unfortunately, it’s the only way to get rid of that jerkbook.”

“Oh! Then I am coming with you! I want to pay a visit to a new boutique!”

“…Ok, if you want,” Twilight lowered her voice, “but we will spend quite a lot of time with that geezer.”

“Hey! I heard that!” said the geezer.

Rainbow returned with a book in her hooves. “Good luck, guys.” She grins. “Have fun in your voyage.”