IV.
In less than a second after we made our discovery-
"Take us down there, Sky!"
We touched town in the bottom of the canyon upon my command. Then we actually landed, and everyone had grown anxious just to walk on the ground of the hidden cavity of land. But before the entry hatch would open, Sky moved in front of it and spoke a few words. Luna, Jahurl and I stood perpendicular from his facing direction.
"Okay," he started. " We're all aware of this Beholder character we've all heard so much about. So let me just share a few words of wisdom." We all knew where this was going, but we listened nonetheless.
"Princess Luna. I know you're older than me for sure, but for you two, you may be surprised by the fact that I'm fifty-four years old, and yes, I do know my stuff." Physically, he looks as old as the rest of the ponies I've seen!
We all let him continue.
"First things first: in the event of trouble out there, be the noble gentlemen I know you are and keep the princess safe from harm. Especially you, Midnight, being her father and all. I expect the best from you two. Ratchet and I will stay close to the ship for safety measures, but we'll help out with anything you need, but only if it's absolutely necessary. I bet you could give me one of those blades you've got there, mister Human, and we could have a pretty good sparring session."
As a precaution, I had my the tanto across my chest and the kukri strapped to my right leg. I wasn't really expecting an orientation on basic survival, though, especially since that's my field.
Boy, I could sure be an arrogant ass sometimes.
"You know what? This is actually really pointless. You all know this already; I'm just big on safety, that's all."
With no further words and a humble few chuckles, Sky made way from the hatch as Ratchet threw down the controls to lower it.
Finally, the three of us departed the ship. Ratchet flipped on the exterior lights that would give us all much more to work with. I also made sure that, on my way out, I had two blades with me, in addition to a bulky stiletto-like carving knife. But I didn't think I would be using it toward its basic purpose anytime soon. I mean, I brought my whole bag with me, but I felt it was safer to have my knives at my hips.
The place was a total wreck, so I guess that much of the legend seemed to be true. Jahurl, Luna, and I followed the trail of rubble while Sky and Ratchet stayed behind to look after the ship, as they said they would. We were paying them to take us places, not join in on the journey too, although if they wanted to do so, they were all the more invited to, just not in an unknown situation like this.
The amount of bricks and pieces of building strewn around the scene was phenomenal.
"How big could have this place been?" I asked no one in particular.
But of course, Jahurl had the answers. "This library was once site for more than twenty-thousand ponies."
"At once?" I asked again. He nodded.
"Pretty big place, huh?"
Following the grotesque amount of shredded wall scrolls, various sizes of grounded cement chunks, and most of all, books, I bet Twilight would think of this as literary murder, we found something very assuring.
"The Library of Alexmanedria." An embroidered rectangular plaque laid on the ground, barely visible from its heavy beating. I corrected it's wording aloud. "The Lost Library of Alexmanedria..." But then, when we looked up forward, the shuddering remains of a standing building towered tall. The entire dome and spire-like roof looked like a mountain range; it had fallen off entirely, and the rubble surrounded the base of the building.
The rubble from the library; the domes and spires, the wide pillars, and the various material laying around must have only been a small portion of the entire place, namely what would probably would have stuck out from the roof, but it could have been different, too.
At this point, we were starting to walk up the wide set of stairs leading up to the entrance.
Much to my surprise, the building itself was about seventy-percent intact from what I could make out that's illuminated by the ship's bright lights.
The base structure was essentially a large, multi-chambered cube with chamfered corners, forming an unequal octagon. On the side that we could see, two mutilated spires framed the main entrance, which had a vaulted archway. The main building sat on top of vast, four-sided cement structures with more destroyed spires on each corner.
The door for the entrance had remained closed for who knows how many years. This was probably a silly idea, but I would have never known the answer otherwise. I grasped the large wrought-iron rings on each side of the door and pull hard. It didn't budge.
Well then...
"Here, let me." Jahurl came up at my side and tried opening the door himself, but to no avail.
"Hey Luna, do you think you could use your magic to somehow unjam these doors?"
She nodded, happy to try and help. She stepped forward, enveloping the massive wooden doors with her magical navy blue aura.
"The hinges are rusted, and it's locked from the inside," she told us "Maybe I can..." She grunted and strained, and then I came to her side. I got on one knee and cradled my hand over her back, staring at the afflicted door as she was flinching at its difficulty. Eventually, we heard clicking and the distinct sound of a metallic clang resonate from behind the door. Luna magically pushed Jahurl and I to each side before the door could fall down and crush us.
"I got them! I pulled out the pins! " she beamed.
"A little bit of warning next time though, don't you think?" She giggled pleasantly.
We ventured inside our dark, dank destination, and were immediately greeted by the very same inky blanket of black that afflicted the hidden land outside. The air here was even more unmoved than that of outside as well and it felt adequately suffocating. Dust and expiration littered the air, trapping the scarce oxygen molecules too close to each other.
Jahurl reached at his back and pulled a torch from the tight strap he wore across his chest and quickly ran it across his horn, sparking a flint that caught on the torch and ignored the top. Apparently, Minotaur's and Canids fought with each other quite often, and Canids hated fire, so he was ready for anything, it seemed.
To help us with visibility, I reached behind my own back and slung it forward, using Jahurl's light to locate my own light source. I pulled out a hefty flashlight and zipped my bag up, throwing it back again. I clicked the button at the base preceding the head and toggled the focus by twisting the actual head to my desired lighting. I threw a wide beam of light at our surroundings, highlighting most objects enough to comprehend whatever we saw in the direction.
From what the both lights allowed us to see, we could make out a rather well kept interior. The main entrance from our position seemed intact, and we could even make out the main desk inth end center of the room, presumably used for thousands of transactions. We walked down the corridor past that desk, and from there the interior exploded outwards into rows upon rows upon more rows of scrolls, books, tomes, and other material. In all directions, not to mention.
"Woah..." That was all that managed to escape my mouth. It would take us a literal lifetime to look through all of these things.
"Check the front desk for an index system," Luna thankfully suggested. "It may have something that we could use to find out more about The Breach."
"You're probably right. Let's have a look." The three of us went into the circular desk area, of which is dotted with about four writing stations and dried up ink pots attached to the desk. In some of the drawers that lined the majority of the desk, there seemed to be a rather primitive filing system.
From what I could understand, there were different wings that held different subject and topics; art, magic, history, and so on like that.
I had no idea how to get to half of the places that were listed, let alone find what I was after.
"Well," I admitted. "I've checked all these files for anything. What about you two? Find anything?"
"Nope..."
"No."
"Well shit... What do we do now?"
"WHAT IS IT YOU SEEK IN MY LIBRARY?"
I froze on the spot. Paralyzed. Unable to move. An unknown voice boomed and bellowed behind us with enough resonance to make us all mentally shake. It was an utterly terrifying; a voice that could have probably dripped with venom whenever it spoke. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Part of me wanted to run in the opposite direction of the source-part of me wanted to turn around and see what that same source is. But seeing as how something or someone still lives here, we were still technically trespassing. I did what came by instinct at the sound of a voice from behind. Then, on the spot, I slowly turned around to face the thing that accosted us.
In the far black of my sight, there wasn't nothing there, but when I shined a beam of light upon it, the creature became visible. It made us all jump about a foot up from where we stood. It was the most horrifying creature I had ever seen.
It was just a head, levitating in the still, unmoving air. But it obviously wasn't a kind of prank someone could pull around Nightmare Night. This thing had a mandible that was loosely hinged to the rest of its jaw through thin webs of skin and flesh, and its mouth was lined with rows terrifying, dagger-like teeth protruding from overly red—almost bleeding—gums.
In the middle of it's face sat a single, abnormally huge eye, but it had much more than just that one. From the bulbous, fleshy meat that covered its head rose several eye stalks, all a different colors. Red, blue, white, green, yellow, purple...
I wasn't going to die here...
"I AM, THE BEHOLDER! GUARDIAN of this ancient library. State your business here or I will FEAST UPON YOUR BONES!"
"Feast!?" I exclaimed. This guy doesn't have a god damn stomach, or throat, even!
I was too busy meeting the Beholder's many eyes in front of me. Some of the smaller ones glanced at each other occasionally, giving off their own unique, deathly glow. I couldn't say anything; I just couldn't bring myself to say or do anything except stare and think about the possibilities my actions could hold.
Across from me, though, Luna spoke up, giving me strength again.
"We come not of ill will,but to explore your most wonderful structure! We come with the intention of acquiring knowledge that would aid us on our journey!"
"What is it you wish to learn, mare?"
"Information," Luna continued. She had to swallow her pride at the obvious disregard for her regal form and title. "Information about The Breach. Are you able to help us?"
"That I am. But if you wish to remove a book, you MUST replace it with another piece of knowledge."
Suddenly, an idea washed over my head. It was really at that exact moment where I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of the three BIC lighters I had on my person. I was terrified by the thought of making this beast think that I was going to attack it, but it did nothing more than observe my actions carefully with its myriad od eyes. I didn't hesitate a bit as I shifted it in place in with an outstretched arm.
"Hm?" The Beholder seemed puzzled. It was understandable, though, even if it was him. "What is this object you present to me?"
I slid my thumb over the wheel above the little tab that preceded it. Then I flicked it down, spinning the wheel and, in turn, sending a shower of sparks to an open flow of gas. A kindled flame erupted from the nozzle and flickered in what little draft there was.
"What magic is this?" He asked in what I assumed was partial awe.
I simply replied. "No magic. Just science."
"This is a work of artificiality?"
"Yes. I came from a world where science and magic are essentially one in the same."
An entire stalk of his eyes wormed its way over the Beholder's head, glowing more fiercely. Then, with a warm white paled light, the lighter levitated out of my hand.
"This is your offering to me?"
"Is it acceptable enough?"
He further studied the lighter, taking no time to get the sparks ablaze. It is strangely fascinating. "You may browse my collection as long as you wish, but I shall be watching. I have eyes everywhere."
What are you, my mother?
"Would you be able to direct us to the wing where we may find information about The Breach?" Jahurl asked the beast.
"Yes. Follow me."
A particular stalk of eyes, glowing a deep amber-red unexpectedly rose high above the rest and glowed with a fierce intensity, that illuminated the entire room we heading into. It highly resembled an artificial, electric light that was intended to mimic the radiance of a real flame. He lead us through several rooms, all littered with both an odd amount of rubble combined with an even odder collection of pristine kept books and scrolls that lined the impossibly high shelves.
How the hell could anyone even get those books all the way up there?
Eventually, we were lead into a smaller room after about ten minutes of walking through the illuminated darkness. I swear, Twilight would want to spend all eternity in this place. I wondered how she would react if I ever told her about this place
"Here. You will find what you seek in this room."
I set my bag down on a visible part of the floor and pocketed my torch while the light from the Beholder's eyes lit up the room with great intensity. The room itself wasn't all that big, but I could tell, from the condition of the tomes and scrolls that it was much, much more visited than the others I had seen on our way here. I didn't say anything, but my lips moved on their own, speaking an inaudible expression.
"Wow..." I was too amazed for actual words. Tens of thousands of books and scrolls and tomes... All at my fingertips. I abandoned my train of common sense and found myself caressing the spines and covers of a few of the dusty books I was able to reach.
"Tens of thousands..."
One book in particular stuck out at me. It wasn't much like some of the other leather-bound books on the decrepit shelves. It had a hard wood cover on the front and the back, with a curious symbol emblazoned on the front. The emblem was framed with a square diamond, and metal arms flared out from each corner point on the diamond, both vertically and horizontally.
It's spine, though, was what made it stand out to me so much. The hard wood covers seemed to be set into a metal cylinder that made it up, and there were rough skeletal-like knobs on each end.
"I think that's it," commented Jahurl. "Just a hunch, though, probably."
Curiosity and suggestion compromised a big part of me and led me to open it. I was amazed with what I saw inside, but I was more mystified by it than anything. Various brightly inked colors painted onto the paper, depicting.... something... I couldn't tell what exactly, but it looked like it could have been a journal, maybe. Possibly a diary?
The words inside were unlike anything I had normally seen in Equestria. Granted, some other countries spoke different languages and dialects, in addition to their own written words, but that's besides the point. It could have very well been from an age long past.
I called Luna over. "What do you make of this?" I asked, showing her the illustrations and the images. Her eyes grew wide and her brows ascended in interest.
"Tis an ancient dialect, a dead language!" She sort of took over as she leaned her head over across my chest. I still held the book for her, but with one hand."But it appears to be a depiction of an ancient civilization that worshiped some sort of crystal."
Over the next few pages, depictions of ponies and other creatures kneeling down in a circlar formation were depicted. They all prayed to a giant diamond-looking object, bowing and on their knees. The next page showed a diagram of a room—A simple, circular room—with the giant gem sitting in the middle, with a door guarded by two human-like statues.
"Do you know what any of that is?" I asked once more. "If it's relevant at all?" I pointed to the statues. "Those are humanoid, Luna. Even with the minotaurs and canids, this trumps them as being the most human thing I've seen since I've been here!"
"I have way too many theories." she said. "I fear to say anything and cause further questions to become apparent. What do you think?"
I totally wasn't expecting her to speak my own thoughts on the matter.
"Uhhmm... Either these people found a giant crystal that they worshiped, or it's their version of a deity? It's like..." I was kind of embarrassed, subliminally. "Back on Earth, people worshiped all sorts of things, believing it held some sort of power, or even it held their god in some form or matter, but as science eventually showed us, everything had a logical explanation."
Luna gave me a curious glance at my last word. I shrugged at her and gave the book to Jahurl so he could have a look at it. have a look at. He was the one who really brought me to picking it up anyway, so why not have his opinion?
"Earth pony find giant crystal, believe it to have mystical powers." I liked where he was going with that already. "Other ponies wanted to use it for evil, to gain Ascension. Crystal gave them all power."
"Wait, what's ascension?" I asked.
"Using magic to become an alicorn," dripped the Beholder's venomous voice. "That is Ascension."
With an accusatory look, I turned to Luna. She seemed to cotton onto my stare. "My sister and I were born like this," she admitted. "Ascension is earned nowadays. Anyone can become an alicorn, they just have to prove themselves."
"So then. Where did first alicorn come from?" asked Jahurl, again, putting Luna in the hot seat.
"Ponies most likely used magic to gain Ascension, or use powerful spells to grow themselves wings or horns, or even both. Because those actions rewrite the genetic code and introduces new muscles, the brain needs to teach itself how to use them, effectively becoming a genetic trait. If there is two powerful individuals, be it two Unicorns, a Pegasus and a Unicorn or vice versa, and they have a foal together, there's a chance—albeit a very slim chance—that the residual magic could turn the offspring into an alicorn."
"Correct you are... princess," the Beholder confirmed, with that last word hanging on a note of contempt with me.
I swear to god if he keeps disrespecting Luna... "Hey, do you mind keeping your snarky comments to yourself?"
The fleshy, floating head came to close in on me, with all of his eyes studying my rebellious stature. I tried my best not to flinch, but his breath was so terrible, I just had to shut an eye at it. I slid my hand over the hilt of my tanto knife, ready to draw it and stab his eye if I had to. "Two words buddy: Breath. Mints."
"I am an older being than she is. I can speak to whomever sets foot in MY library in whatever manner way I choose. What are YOU going to do about it?"
I slowly returned to my former, unthreatening stance, picking my bag up from the ground and tucking the book inside a loose pocket.
"I'm glad you asked." I then withdrew another equally fragile book from the shelf I partially leaned on. "You see this book?" The Beholders eyes all looked at me, both with suspicion and ferocity as I slid my other hand in my left pocket, pulling out another of the BIC lighters. I held it close to the dusty book, with my thumb threatening to descend down the wheel.
"Father, don't!" called Luna.
"You already got what you came for!" followed Jahurl. "Don't try to be a hero!"
"Keep talking the way you are and I'll give you no reason to stick around this place, if you catch my drift."
One of the eye stalks snaked its way forward to my face, and it was one that glowed a baby blue hue. It shot a wide gust of wind that extinguished my flame
"Well then. Hehe..."
"Leave my library now before I kill you. Your Minotaur friend is right... You've got what you came for."
"Not just yet." I replied. "You owe Luna an apology."
"Human has point, ugly!"
Jahurl was in on it too then! That made me smile.
Suddenly, another glow began emanating from behind us, one that the Beholder did not emit. Everyone looked in the direction of the source, we were absolutely surprised to see a corner of the room on fire.
The beast was obviously more concerned than we were; he shoved his way across Jahurl and I, using several groups of his eyes to try extinguish the flames. But he ended up turning it for worse, the air shooting from his eyes spreading the flames to the flammable wooden shelves and books. When he figured out that there was just nothing he do, and with the ancient library burning in all directions he faced, he turned to face us this time, murder in his eyes. All of them. He growled and screamed at us at the same time.
"Uhm, time to run, don't you think?!" He charged at us just then. And in exchange, the three of us turned hard tail and ran in the other direction.
"I WILL KILL YOU!"
With the Beholder hot on our tails, we twisted our way around debris that would soon be devoured by flames, and ran down a set of halls with my flashlight illuminating our way. It was so hard to see an escape route with the light bouncing around all over the place, but any direction would have done us good, preferably finding a way out of this maze.
A beam of green energy shot from behind, followed by a couple dozen more hitting almost every wall we were dashing past as a mistaken target. One of his shots shattered an already weak but enormously huge stone pillar, causing the insane force to push it across our planned route, allowing gravity to then take over from there. I only barely avoided the impact, throwing myself forward and rolling underneath it. Jahurl easily leapt over it, and Luna galloped underneath it, ducking her head as to avoid possibly having her horn snapped off. I was forced to pick myself up from off the floor, and I struggled to do so because of all the obstructions in my path that I didn't see at first.
The Beholder continued his pursuit, but slowed down when he approached the obstruction he created from the use of his own magic. I shuffled back on my ass and saw the demon head using his primary eye, glowing a deep mint saturation, to retract the pillar back to its original place.
"Did you honestly think you would get away?!"
"I know we can, you Nightmare Night reject! " I spent a moderate amount of energy to antagonize him. "Your fault for being big! How do you even eat? You don't have a fucking stomach!"
"Did you ever wonder about the Canids that dug their way down here? I drained their life and fed on their energy. Just like I will YOU THREE!"
"Not a god damn chance!"
"It's been so long since I've tasted a woman!"
You aren't getting anywhere near Luna! A different colored eye slithered forward from him; and I kept glancing at him to see it. The single eye—comprised of many—resonated a breathtaking purple glow.
With that thought in mind, and with the eyes creeping up on me, there was the sudden, brief sound of the air being pierced many many times, but all with a single 'schwing'. And then, even more abrupt, I saw that Luna and Jahurl had stopped as I fixed my beam of light on them. They were looking in the direction of the Beholder.
"Look!" shouted Luna.
"Someone have good aim!" Jahurl followed.
"Was that you, Father?"
I assumed they were joking about how I somehow left the decor around the room in such a way that I caused the Beholder to be considered majorly hindered. Or some other explanation.
Either way, I turned back to the Beholder, and-
"Holy hell!" I was looking dead-on at a spear sticking out of the bastards main eye! "Where the fuck did that come from?"
A voice then shouted out from the darkness "Get up and run!"
The Beholder was screaming in agony. He tried closing his punctured eye, but his lid didn't quite come down all the way—the spear shaft was blocking it. I then saw the opportunity to unsheathe my kukri machete. I ran up to the demon and leapt off of an illuminated table. I grabbed two of its eye stalks in one hand and, in one fell sweep, cut them clean off with the knife in the other hand. On my way down, I shaved a few more of the stalks from his head at random.
I fell to the blood-pooled floor and put the flashlight in my mouth, biting down on it hard. Finally, I picked myself up with difficulty and ran for it.
I had no idea who or what saved us, but I needed to make sure I thanked them later.
I was now dashing behind Luna, who, in turn was being Jahurl. The Minotaur was being led by a burning fire torch, presumably being held by our rescuer. It was strange because we didn't see a moving torch before Jahurl decided to follow it, but I chose not to question survival any further.
Weaving in and out of of corridors and between bookcases, trying to keep up with everyone wasn't very easy when you're holding a twelve-inch razor sharp machete in one hand and you can barely see. Sometimes, it was like running with scissors. Oh yeah, not to mention having a flashlight jammed in your jaw your mouth. I changed that part by taking it back in my free hand.
Finally, we exited the library through the front entrance, guided by the airship's floodlights, later assaulting our eyes. We all ran up the gangplank as fast as we could, then Luna magically hauled it back inside. And then, after declaring his commands in an appropriate sense of urgency, SkySurfer started to lift us all up from the bottom of this forsaken canyon. It was a slow and agonizing process, but we could gladly see smoke billowing from the libraries broken ceiling. I think we were all pretty convinced that the Beholder was dead.
But...
"Tens of thousands of years of knowledge and history up in smoke..."
"Is everyone in one piece?" Ratchet called out to us all. It was a real pleasure to hear her voice again.
"Check!"
"Check!"
"Check!"
"Eeyep."
"Huh?" Both of the engineers noticed the fourth cover, deeper than any one of us. I had completely gotten carried away, with my heart beating the way it was, that I forgot that our savior had boarded the ship along with us!
"Well, you're a new one!" said Sky. "Who are you?"
I took a minute to calm myself down when the character walked into view, out from the light shadows.
It was that Okapi that bumped into me in the streets! What the hell? His features were still equine, as one would expect, but with the bright flames of the library lighting up the ship, we could see him more clearly.
His authentic zebra stripes and coat color were partly spotted and majorly swirled together in some areas of his stature. He had a canvas or some kind, or just simple thick cloth coat covering his body, held in place by a bow strung over his back and a few spear heads poked out from under the cloak.
"So that's where that came from." I said to no one inparticular. "I owe you my thanks, man. No, I owe you my life!"
"Me too, brave sir," bowed Luna courteously.
"And I as well." said Jahurl. "My father will remember this act of graciousness."
"Hehe, sounds like a party!" commented Ratchet.
"So...what's your name?"
"My name is Bullseye, and I am here to help."
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I have said it before, and I shall say it again: This is a heart-felt story with ponies. Don't put your religious views into something so peaceful and corrupt it. Really, what do you have to gain? To hurt and offend others? Yeah... Don't do it.
4548383
What do you have a problem with specifically in this chapter???
4548400
Some people are not atheists. It is fine for you to be one, but why corrupt something so innocent with something that causes such controversy? That statement was COMPLETELY uncalled for!
4548430
One of the people on here whom I'm good friends with is religious, he read the chapter, saw your comment though, and had this to say to me via skype:
If you don't like it, leave, that much is your loss, not mine. Subsequent comments pointing out things of that nature because YOU don't like them will be removed. Being belligerent about it will get you blocked (you'll still be able to read, but blocking only removes the ability to comment to my knowledge).
I've since changed the portion you quoted to be less... harsh.
binarymoon.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/toy-story-3-bullseye.jpg
4548546
By way of comparison, this is an okapi: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Okapi2.jpg
I'm only using the description of one, but the Bullseye in this story is a pony-zebra cross breed.
4508625
Have you been taken to court for sexual assault yet? :P
Hold the fuck up.
I was reading the description cuz I was bored when suddenly;
How is this considered "unofficial"?
4549662
An official sequel is directly related to the events of the last story. A story can be a story of its own standing, but loosely tied to the previous one, thus, unofficial. I've said unofficial because in the ending of MLL, Luna tells Narrator that there's many adventures to come.
I see you got some of this it from avatar minus a giant owl, really loved the chapter can't wait to read the rest
When I saw mention of this library the last chapter, one of my main predictions was that they'd burn it down and low and behold it happened.