• Published 17th Jul 2014
  • 813 Views, 20 Comments

Weird - FreedomFiend



Twilight Sparkle experiments with a new spell for interdimensional communication. How different can two beings be?

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Chapter 4: Visitor

Twilight jerked up suddenly, breathing heavily. A sudden, implacable dread had gripped her heart, and she quickly moved to check on Spike's basket. Seeing the baby dragon sleeping soundly, she breathed a sigh of relief, but the nameless horror still sat cold in her stomach. Looking at a clock on the wall, she winced; it was three in the morning. Getting up, she used her magic to take her sweat-soaked sheets and pillow to the upper patio and draped them over the banister to dry. Still feeling the need to calm her shaken nerves, She went downstairs and found a book to read. Although she was already quite familiar with the subject, an engrossing astrophysics book would probably take her mind off her troubles in no time.

After about twenty minutes of reading, Twilight finally felt at ease enough to return to bed. However, as she reached the bottom of the staircase, she heard an unearthly sound emanating from the basement. A low warble that sounded like some unholy combination of a howl, stones being crushed, and tearing metal permeated the air. It was beyond unnatural; her skin crawled the moment she heard it and even the ground beneath her hooves seemed to ripple in revulsion. Her instincts took over, causing her to bolt for the door. By the time she stopped, she was already standing in the middle of the street.

Taking several deep breaths, Twilight did her best to rationalize the situation. 'It's probably some animal that got trapped in the basement,' she thought, walking back to the tree. 'Maybe it's a raccoon that tipped over something heavy. It just sounded worse because of how late it is.' She started talking out loud in the hopes that hearing her own words would quell her terror while she headed to the basement. "Fear is the product of ignorance. Conversely, knowledge is the antithesis of fear. If I just see what's down there, it won't scare me anymore." Twilight opened the door and found out how wrong she was.

Twilight peeked her head in and was confronted with what could only be described as the ultimate Abomination. Nothing about it made logical sense. Its appendages twisted away from its trunk at angles that shouldn't have been physically possible, and its body was in a shape that defeated any sense of geometry. Even its colors didn't make any sense; it was as though she'd been given eyes that could see colors beyond the normal spectrum, but not the mind to handle it. Behind it stood something equally horrifying. A portal of nothingness loomed behind it, seemingly standing straight up and tilting back at the same time. It seemed so empty, so devoid of existence, that no word could describe it. It was like a hole, but not one Twilight had ever seen before. Instead, it seemed as though a great, rectangular tunnel had been bored through reality itself. But above all, they both seemed to have an unnatural level of detail. Simply staring at it was like peering through a microscope, and the longer she looked, the more she saw. It felt as though her mind was coming dangerously close to being filled to bursting.

'I need to get rid of these things,' Twilight thought. Hoping that the Hole was what the creature had come through, and further hoping that they would both disappear if she sent it through, she used her magic to give it a firm push. However, this seemed to have no effect. Focusing as best she could, she gave it a second push, which normally would have been enough to shift a small building. Still, the monstrosity was unfazed (relatively speaking). Mustering all her strength, she prepared to give it the mightiest blow she could deliver. She knew that such a blow against more conventional lifeforms would easily crush them, but she sincerely hoped that this creature could take it. Aiming for what appeared to be its center at the moment, she blasted it with enough force to send an elephant flying. Although it wasn't shifted, it did seem to have taken notice.

It slowly tilted its shortest appendage in Twilight's direction. As it slid up towards her, she could make out features that had been hidden by its previous angle. Unlike the other extensions, which branched off into smaller segments at their ends, this one was covered in thousands of tiny tendrils. Three holes were visible; two smaller ones that extended above the larger third one. Although none were very large, they also seemed like they could swallow up the world. Then, there were its eyes. She knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that those were eyes. They glistened and twitched as the head (as best she could describe it,) twisted upward, and they seemed to pierce through everything they pointed at. She willed her body to move, to avoid that unwholesome gaze, but her legs were locked in fear. For just a moment, she gazed into those glassy, almost metallic discs, before she managed to tear herself away.

Twilight sat on the floor, pressing her temples with her hooves. She squeezed and rubbed, clenched her teeth squeezed her eyes shut, but the image of those eyes just wouldn't go away. They spoke of an ominous, alien intelligence, not suited for the purview of any earthly creature. The mere memory of them caused her mind to scream in rebellion, with whispers of impossibilities clouding her thought. She began to mumble words randomly in the hopes that it would stave off the insanity raking at her mind. She scratched at her eyes and banged her head on the floor, anything to relieve her suffering. After a minute, the monster bellowed again; the sound had an amplifying effect on the new-found voices in her head, causing her to sob in agony.

Twilight could feel her mental fortitude draining away. Her mind felt like a single candle in a gale, sputtering and dying. But when she felt ready to give in, a small voice cut through the storm. "Twilight, what's going on? I'm so scared..." Working up her willpower, she looked up to see Spike standing at the top of the staircase. He was clutching his blanket and visibly shaking, his pupils reduced to slits in fear. Seeing him in this condition reignited Twilight's will, allowing her to fight back the voices with renewed strength. After a brief mental battle, she had finally reduced them to the mere occasional whisper, allowing her to think with some semblance of clarity.

"There's... Something... In the basement, Spike. I need to get rid of it, but I just need some time to figure it out." Her goal had been to keep the young dragon from further worry, but it didn't seem to work, and justifiably so. Twilight hardly sounded confident saying it. Nonetheless, she was sincerely thinking of a solution. 'It's obviously not immune to magic, because it noticed my pushing. It can't be forced to move, so that's out of the question. I'll have to convince it, but how? It seems intelligent, but I doubt even a translation spell would allow us to speak, although it's still worth a shot. I'm certain our anatomy is too different for it to recognize any gestures. The only other method I can think of is... No. No, no, no. It would be far too dangerous, I couldn't possibly... But will I have a choice...?'

Coming to a decision, Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She turned to Spike and gave him a serious look. "I have a plan, but I need to go down there for it to work. You must promise that, no matter what happens, you don't follow me."

"But, Twilight-"

"No! You can't go down there! Swear that you won't!" Tears formed in his eyes as he nodded his head. "Swear it!"

"... Okay, I swear." It hurt Twilight to shout at Spike, especially in his current state, but she couldn't allow him to suffer the horrors she had experienced. Looking up at him, she gave him a smile. Not the confident, caring smile she so desperately wanted to give, but a tearful one, full of defeated acceptance. She opened her mouth to say something that would encourage him, but she couldn't find the words. Instead, she turned around and entered the basement, reluctantly leaving behind the quietly crying dragon.

Twilight looked upon the Abomination again and thought about what she may have to do. If the translation spell didn't work, then neither would any form of suggestion spell, as they worked on similar principles. She'd be left with only one choice: direct thought control. Due to its invasive nature, which had a tendency to leave the subject of the spell with permanent brain damage, it had been banned hundreds of years ago. She only knew the theory behind it, but she was certain she could pull it off, if necessary.

Twilight watched as it touched a fan in the corner. The fan melted away where the nightmarish creature touched it; it seemed that even matter found the monstrosity's presence abhorrent. She gasped, covering her mouth with a hoof while her pupils dilated. 'That thing has got to go...' She took a few moments to cast her translation spell. Normally it wouldn't have taken her that long, but she was still battling the pains in her head. Unfortunately, she'd have to make eye contact for the spell to function properly, which she already knew was a dangerous prospect. On the other hoof, she wouldn't have to worry about getting its attention; it was already turning to face her.

Descending the stairs, Twilight stood in front of the Abomination, staring into those two unnatural orbs. Already she could feel the awful pressure on her consciousness. She thought of what cost there would be for her failure, and it gave her the strength to go on. "Please! You don't belong here! You need to go," she shouted, straining with every word. It stared at her for a moment, before leaning towards her. She shuffled back, not wanting to risk it touching her. Either it couldn't understand her even with the translation spell, or it ignored her request. 'Looks like I don't have any options left.'

The screaming in her brain was becoming unbearable, but Twilight couldn't give up. Focusing as hard as she could, she prepared the thought control spell. She stared into the creature's eyes yet again, and launched a mental anchor into its mind.

The monster's eyes were nothing in comparison to its mind. Like a hole in a dam, its unnatural thoughts poured out, surrounding Twilight's mind, smothering her thoughts. She pushed back, doing everything she could just to sustain her consciousness. She thought of what this thing could do if it found itself free in Equestria, and it gave her the strength to send a command into the Thing's mind. Nothing happened at first, but then it slowly turned around, moving towards the portal.

Twilight stood there, shaking and sweating, as it reached one of it's horrifying appendages into the nothingness. Although the vice-grip on her mind allowed little room for emotion, she was already feeling triumphant, until it pulled it's limb out again. 'No, no no!' She was so close, she couldn't fail now! Building her resolve again, she fired another mental command into its mind, which would have been devastating to any other creature, but didn't seem to cause any sort of harm to this nightmarish thing.

They both stood motionless as the corrupting influence started to warp the parts of Twilight's mind that it couldn't snuff out. She began seeing things that she knew weren't true, but they seemed so real. The things around her began to make less and less sense, but possibly more horrifying, the Abomination was beginning to make more sense. She was starting to understand how it saw the world, just as her own mind was unraveling. In a moment of clarity, she thought of what this thing could do to her friends, her family, and her loyal assistant, if she didn't get rid of it here and now. This gave her the strength to make one final order; using her new-found understanding of its mind, she built a rough image of what she wanted it to do and sent it down the mental link.

For one, dreadful moment, the Abomination did nothing. However, it seemed to have gotten the message, as it slowly but surely advanced into the Nothingness. Each part of it that passed the threshold seemed to not only be gone from Twilight's view, but to disappear completely. She couldn't quite explain it, but she felt that everything that entered the portal was being removed from existence itself. After what seemed like an eternity, it pulled its final appendage through the strange gate, which then faded away, as if it had never existed in the first place. Freed from the corrupting influence of the creature's mind, but not from the damage it had done, Twilight collapsed to the floor, sweating and breathing heavily. With dimmed vision and hazy hearing, she saw and heard five ponies rushing into the basement, before she finally succumbed to unconsciousness.

Author's Note:

A sudden moment of inspiration allowed me to finish this chapter. Fifteen paragraphs in about three hours. Gotta love it when that happens. I hope you're enjoying it so far, but please let me know what I got wrong if you didn't. Stay tuned for the epilogue.

Anyway, after some time thinking about it, I think the chapters should be read in the way I posted them, so this is now Chapter 4, not Chapter 3b.

EDIT:
In hindsight, I should have asked for those of you who read this not to go spoiler-riffic on this chapter. If you want to discuss this chapter, please remember to use Spoiler blocks, or you can go to This blog post.