The Fallen and the Forgotten

by PCDenton

1. Erasure

Ask the average pony in Ponyville to describe the Everfree Forest in a word and most would say dangerous. Not many pony folk venture out into it’s depths, and even fewer would call it home. The local folklore that has been passed down over generations featured everything from haunted houses deep in the woods to headless ghost ponies that roam the night. Twilight Sparkle had no doubt that there would be at least a few new tall tales to be told at slumber parties to spook young fillies and colts after this evening was through.

With the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters shrinking into the forrest behind them, Twilight and her friends were in a full out gallop in the midst of the densely packed trees. Her ever faithful assistant Spike atop her back, along for the ride.

Twilight looked skyward in the direction they where headed. Even this deep in the Everfree Forest the unnatural shimmering shaft of blue light that projected upward in the distance was visible through the tree canopy. The enormous pillar of light cast long, shifting shadows across the forest floor.

The origin of the strange phenomenon was the Crystal Mirror, a magical artifact that Princess Celestia had entrusted Twilight with. Twilight had set up the mirror in a corner of the castle library so she could continue study it. The irregular behaviour began a few days after the last trip she had taken to the human world to trade books with Sunset Shimmer about each other’s world.

At first, Twilight had merely observed the strange behaviour, assuming it was her own modifications to the mirror to enable being able to use it outside of it’s original intended limits. A week and a half of extensive research brought her to the conclusion that the abnormal amount of excess energy was thankfully not due to her modifications, but seemed to be occurring within the mirror itself.

Her research at a dead end, the answer continued to elude her. No amount of poking and prodding at the artifact or re-reading every single book that had been sent over along with the mirror a second time proved to be nothing more than a reminder of just how long Princess Celestia had this particular magical item in her possession. She continued to read every single book she had in her library of Star Swirl the Bearded’s research even remotely connected to cross dimensional travel, hoping to find something referencing similar observations of her own, but that also turned up little of use.

Rarity, who was following closest to Twilight had quickened her pace to pull alongside her. She broke Twilight’s train of thought. “Oh dear, I feel like I’m coming down with something absolutely dreadful,” she said. Rarity shook her head. “I don’t know how else to describe it. I feel like my mind is enshrouded in a thick fog. The more I attempt to focus, the more my thoughts are jumbled up. It’s quite unpleasant,” she complained.

Twilight took a measured breath to clear her own thoughts. The acrid scent of raw magical that had built up in the air was starting to take it’s toll. She looked to her friend with concern. “I think it’s a side effect of the raw magical energy seeping from of the Crystal Mirror, as I’m starting to feel the effects of exposure as well.

“The amount of energy being expelled from the Crystal Mirror has built up in the air around us, and far exceeds the normal level of ambient energy. The amount of that’s being generated shouldn’t even be possible of something that size,” Twilight grimaced. “Your horn makes you especially sensitive to the the built up energy,” Twilight said. She returned her gaze towards the shaft of light. “Thankfully even long term exposure won’t cause any lasting harm. Nothing that a little rest wouldn’t fix, anyway.” She smiled weakly.

Twilight stole a glance to her other flank. The rest of her friends continued to follow close behind on hoof. The only exception was Rainbow Dash, who took to the air, flying just above the forest’s canopy overhead. “I’m afraid that even earth ponies and Pegasi will start feeling the effects soon enough,“ Twilight said.

Rarity sighed. “In that case, I can tough it out a little longer,” she smiled weakly. “I do hope everypony in town is managing okay. It must be absolutely dreadful seeing that light outside and not knowing anything about it.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll fix this and everything should go back to normal,” Twilight reassured. She returned her attention towards the direction of her castle as the group weaved through the trees. “If only I had more time to study this. I’m sure I can figure out exactly why,” Twilight muttered to herself.

It was a lucky break they had found a possible solution to the current problem. Twilight and her friends took a trip to the ruins of the Castle of Two Sisters to go through the last of the books that still hadn’t been transported to Twilight’s castle. Rainbow Dash had been the one to find the spell. She had been flipping through one of Star Swirl’s final journals and found diagrams similar to that of the Crystal Mirror.

Spike leaned forward atop Twilight’s back, steadying himself by gripping tightly on to Twilight’s saddlebag and mane. “There will be plenty of time to figure that out after we make sure Ponyville is safe.”

“You’re right, Spike,” she sighed. “We still have to represent the Elements, and protecting Equestria comes first. Any word from Princess Celestia?” she asked. Not even a full day before the Crystal Mirror started to misbehave, both Princesses Celestia and Luna had left for the edge of Equestria’s border on an urgent diplomatic incident.

Spike shook his head. “I’m sorry Twilight, Nothing from her yet.”

“Well, I’m sure we’ve got a good handle on this without the extra help.”

She slowed to a trot, the group following suit. The trees thinning until they reached the tree line bordering her castle. Twilight saw the royal guards she had posted in front of the twin doors that served main entrance to the tree castle where still there.

A small squad of Princess Celestia’s royal guard had been temporarily assigned to Ponyville to help Twilight settle in to her new castle. Twilight had posted two of them outside and the remaining guards to head into town to ensure it’s residents stayed a safe distance from the castle. The two posted out front recognized Twilight and her friends and deftly made enough room for her group to proceed into the castle’s lower lobby.

Twilight and her friends galloped up the spiral staircase to the second set of doors that opened up to the main hall. She came to a full stop just before the oversized doors, her friends gathering on the steps behind her. Spike hopped off of her back to stretch his legs.

Twilight put one hoof against the huge crystalline door and closed her eyes, calming herself. Clearing her throat, she turned to look to each of her friends. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike all stood, attentive. Twilight smiled, proudly.

“Girls, as always, thank you for everything. We never would have made it this far if it wasn’t for all of you, my friends coming together in a—”

Rainbow Dash cut in. “No need to thank us, Twilight. When you have awesome friends, specifically me, you there should be no doubt.” Rainbow Dash drifted lazily in the air, her wings’ slow, rhythmic flapping keeping her a steady just above the stairs.

Applejack rolled her eyes and shook her head at Rainbow Dash, who just grinned and shrugged. “Translation for the more humble folk here, we’re always happy to help.”

”Unfortunately, this is as far as we go for now as a group. I need to cast the spell and—” Twilight began.

“Hey now, hold on there a minute,” Applejack interjected, her brow furrowing. She took a step up towards Twilight. “We do this sort of thing together. That’s kind of what we do.” The rest of the girls murmured in agreement.

Twilight had expected her friends to outright reject her proposal, but Applejack did have a point. Every time they’ve ever encountered an extraordinary problem, they’ve always come together to get through it.

“I know how you all feel, and any other time I would be more than happy to have you all there with me. From what I deciphered from Star Swirl’s journal that Rainbow Dash found in the ruins, this spell requires the pony casting it to have a high level understanding of magic. As I am the most experienced magic user here, it has to be me. I want to proceed as safely as possible, and since an immense amount of magical energy is involved I don’t want to risk anypony getting hurt while I do this,” explained Twilight. “No need to worry. I understand what the spell requires me to do. I can handle it,” she nervously smiled.

Twilight nervously observed everypony with bated breath. Each exchanged sidelong glances with one another. All except Pinkie Pie nodded in silent agreement. Pinkie Pie’s attention turned to Twilight, her eyes narrowed to a squint. Pinkie opened her mouth about to speak up, but then thought better of it. Her expression instantly snapped back to her normal, joyful self. Pinkie turned to Applejack and nodded eagerly in agreement.

“This means a party afterwards. Guest of honour: Twilight!” Pinkie said cheerfully.

Applejack sighed, returning her attention to Twilight. “Well then, I reckon that’s that. We’ll stay put, but at the first lick of trouble, we’ll come running. Just holler if you need us.”

Twilight exhaled, relieved. “Thank you for understanding, this wasn’t an easy thing to ask of you girls,“ she said. She turned to face the large crystalline doors that opened directly into the main hall and the inner chambers of the castle. Twilight’s new library was adjacent to the throne room at the far end of the hall.

Spike took a small step forward from Rarity’s side. “Twilight—” he began.

“No, Spike,” Twilight cut in. She turned her head meeting Spike’s pleading gaze. “You have to stay here as well.” Before he could mount further protest, she faced the doors once more. “I’ll be back before you know it.“

Before Spike could protest further, she focused her magic on the doors that stood before her. The doors heaved open, the vacuum caused by the magical energy finally giving way. The vortex of charged air from the Crystal Mirror had fully saturated the air in the hallway. Twilight carefully stepped through the doorway and and turned, focusing magic on the doors once more. As the doors closed, she smiled, her friends proudly encouraging her on. Fluttershy winced at the sudden gust of magically charged air that slipped past the doorway.

The doors closed, another gust of magically charged air pushing them firmly shut. Alone, Twilight turned to face down the empty hallway. The main hall of the castle was nothing short of stunning. On an average day, walking through here felt welcoming. The enormous green tinted glass windows that lined both sides cast a warm glow, along with the intricate rugs lined the polished stone floor. With the shimmering beam of light projecting out into the evening sky the light that filtered through made everything turquoise, as if the hallway was under water. The unnatural metallic whine drifted down the hallway from the crystal mirror helped to complete the unsettling ambiance.

She used magic to pull Star Swirl’s journal from her saddlebag and flipped to the bookmarked passage. She re-read the spell that had been written as well as the additional notes scrawled all over the page. A few of those notes directly referenced the spell he had built, one in particular stood out. As far as Twilight could determine the note translated literally to:

‘Danger, fortune transform. Curtail unknown.’

“Danger,” she muttered, frowning. The translation didn’t make any sense. Star Swirl’s note taking shorthand was still mostly a mystery to her even after reading and deciphering most of Star Swirl’s original journals Princess Celestia had preserved.

Using powerful magic like this almost always brought about unpredictable side effects, and this specific scrawl had to be some kind of warning, Twilight was sure of it. Risking anypony else’s well-being when trying out a powerful new magic spell for the first time all because she couldn’t completely understand the cryptic warning scribbled in the margins of the journal.

She was confident she could handle any risk based on the results written in Star Swirl’s journal, as he indicated the spell did succeed in it’s intent to address the excess magical energy of his own dimensional mirror. She closed the journal and returned it to her saddlebag, committing the entire spell to memory.

Twilight shook her head clear and took a deep breath, clearing any remnant of doubt. Putting one hoof in front of the other, she proceeded down the hallway. The bright blue light from the mirror radiated from the library’s doorway near the end of the hall in front of her.

She paused directly in front of the doorway, and tried to block some light with one of her forehooves and squinted. As her eyes adjusted to the light, the immediate area around the doorway had sustained significant damage. The mirror was now projecting long tendrils of raw magical energy from it’s surface. “Well, that’s new,” she muttered.

She assessed the damage directly surrounding the Crystal Mirror. The reach of the thrashing tendrils cut into everything they came in contact with, the crystalline doors and the surrounding stone wall sliced to pieces. A few of the nearest book shelves had been entirely cut through, the books resting on them either cut to pieces or entirely vaporized. “Aw, my books,” Twilight said.

The stacks of cargo crates that sat just inside the door where mostly undamaged, Princess Celestia’s royal seal still protecting them from harm. Twilight looked to the mirror itself. Both the contraption Twilight built to augment the power of the mirror, and the mirror remained undamaged.

Twilight grit her teeth together, attempting to stave off the mounting headache that was brewing. Even with her training into magical resistance being this close to the source of this much raw magical energy was pushing her own limits.

Still squinting, she peered upward. The mirror was emitting so much energy the excess had burned a large hole straight up through the castle to the outside. The beam of pure magical energy came to a point that reached even higher than the tallest spire of the castle.

She returned her attention to the Crystal Mirror that sat in front of her. She had to be extremely precise with this spell. Hitting the mirror frame instead of the mirror’s event horizon would be catastrophic. Twilight suspected the mirror’s frame was enchanted, a containment vessel for the dimensional vortex magic held within. She shuddered at the though of would happen if that where breached.

She focused on the mirror surface near the center of the blinding light. The shimmering blue pool of liquid-like mass rippled endlessly. Concentrating solely on the spell, she channeled every ounce of focus into the tip of her horn. Glowing a bright purple, the magical stream of light shot forth from her horn and struck true, hitting the center of the mirror.

She could feel the raw magic crawling it’s way back up her own spell. She was prepared for this, drawing the raw energy away from the mirror into herself. After a few seconds Twilight could feel the extreme level of magic was weakening.

“It’s working!” she exclaimed aloud to the empty room. Twilight took a confident step forward, the energy from the mirror shrunk further. The odd energy tendrils had also diminished in size. She closed her eyes, Twilight could sensed the latent energy saturated in the air had tapered off.

Suddenly one of the energy tendrils lashed out and followed Twilight’s focused beam of magic back to her horn, latching onto it firmly. “What the—” Twilight pulled her head back in reflex, but kept the spell going. She fanned her wings, to balance herself. “Let go!“ Twilight commanded the tendrils. She gave it a hard tug, the tendrils responded in kind, pulling closer to the mirror.

A jolt of energy ripped through the tendril, her focus slipped for an instant. “Ow!” Twilight exclaimed. It felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on her head. She brought a hoof to her temple, massaging it. “What in Equestria?”

Another tendril extended from the Crystal Mirror and wrapped around her forelegs. Again, it was ice cold to the touch. It pulled in tandem to get her even closer to event horizon of the mirror surface. Twilight started to panic. She tried to take a step back as well flapping her wings for assistance but it only slowed the rate she was being dragged in.

“Maybe a teleport then as soon as this is complete,“ she said to herself. She continued to strain against the pull of the mirror, but forced every remaining ounce of her strength into a pinpoint in her consciousness. Another few anxious seconds and the casting of the neutralization spell was complete.

The out of control magical energy emanating from the mirror levelled off. Twilight exhaled a sigh of relief. she stole a glance upward. The excess energy blasting skyward had all but disappeared. The evening sky was visible overhead, The moon lit the lightless library.

“Yes!” Twilight exclaimed. She looked back to the mirror. Despite the beam of light vanishing and the mirror’s energy returning to normal, the unnatural tendrils still extended from the surface of the mirror, entwined firmly to her horn and forelegs. She tugged hard again, expecting the mirror’s appendages to release her. They didn’t budge. “Well, mostly.” She concluded.

She didn’t understand why the tendrils of energy extending from the mirror were still present. Even Twilight’s own physical strength augmented with her magic were not enough. Her gaze drifted back to the mirror surface itself. It had gone from bright blue-white to a light absorbing pool of darkness, the tendrils shifting properties in an instant to match.

Twilight’s heart raced, a thousand thoughts firing through her mind, sending her head spinning. Twilight had never encountered a phenomenon like this in any of her studies. None of this made any sense to her.

“Let. Go,“ commanded Twilight. She tried tugging on the blackened tendrils once more, but it was a futile effort. They pulled her roughly towards the mirror. “Teleport it is then.” She focused on casting the spell to put some distance between herself and the mirror.

A second surge of magic ripped through the tendril to her horn, much stronger than the first. This time, she felt the invasive prodding of her consciousness woven into the attack, an icy chill tore down her spine. The invasive force combed through her very being.

“Oh no,” Twilight whispered. A new hypothesis had just occurred to her: The mirror malfunctioning was an intentional act. Somepony or something was in control of every event leading up to this point. An elaborate attempt to get her to cast that spell on the Crystal Mirror. One thing was for sure, Twilight knew she had to regroup with her friends, to figure out who would do and more importantly, why. She tried to organize her thoughts to finish casting the teleport spell to get her out of the tangle of tendrils, but the magic from the tendrils reacted quicker.

The invasive magic dug deep into her mind, stunning her. It sifted through a lifetime of her memories. The brief flashes were just bits and pieces but where incredibly vivid, as if reliving the moment in perfect detail. Her first time meeting Princess Celestia, her very first visit to Ponyville, her transformation into an Alicorn and becoming a Princess. The relentless amount of information sent her mind reeling.

The barrage ceased as quickly as it had began, Twilight’s mind was hers alone once more. She felt mentally exhausted, unable to think clearly. The tendrils capitalized on the momentary weakness, abruptly pulling her to within a hoof of the black pool that was once the surface of the mirror with strength that now easily exceeded her own.

“Wha!?” Twilight slurred, her reaction to the sudden movement noticeably slowed. The pool of black warped outward outward in an instant, closing the remaining distance between herself and the mirror. Twilight reflexively closed her eyes. She panicked, attempting to muster the last of her strength to try and kick herself free. “No!” she yelped.

The viscous, black mass spread outward surrounding her body like a cocoon in the blink of an eye. The black substance closed in around her, enveloping her almost entirely. Twilight tried to opened her mouth to call out to her friends, but not single sound escaped her throat.

The black bubble encompassed her entirely. Twilight’s eyelids drooped, heavy with sleep as the last of her mind and body’s strength ebbed. Alone, her consciousness slid into the darkness.

Author's Note:

I haven’t really written anything in a long while and I was on the fence on whether or not to pursue starting a new project, since you know, completing any project has been… problematic. This has been sitting half edited for a few weeks so I apologize for any glaring issues. I do hope this proves to be an interesting adventure!

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