Journey to the center of Equestria

by Rarity Belle

Chapter LXXIX

The purple fog raced over the physical plane of existence that was Equestria, nothing could have been able to stop it. The goal that it had set in mind was one of utter destruction and annihilation. But the tool for the job still had to be acquired and finally had the time come to do just that. Nightmare Moon, the devil of the lands and creator of the Dark Witches had finally come out of her own hiding spot.

Never in recorded history had such a thing ever been done by the devil herself. Given the simple fact that she used to be a mare who always hid behind the protection of her own realm. She took of course a massive and major risk by revealing herself to the world like that. But it never bothered the entity in the slightest. All she had set her eyes upon, was soothsayer Twilight Sparkle.

The dark clouds raced over the lands as this fast moving shadow. It went through settlements and forests as if they were nothing. But everywhere it went were the feelings always the same. The uncomfortable feeling of something lurking behind every wall crawled up to the beings it crossed its path with. Feelings of malice and destruction soon followed up afterwards.

The anthronies didn’t had a single clue of what was going on, but all of the sudden were their minds filled with terror and horror. They had to shake their heads a couple of times in order to get everything straight once more. Perhaps it was just a little something that would fly over again?

None of them had an answer for the strange behavior and only thought it was them who were affected by it. Words weren’t spoken about it at all. But the settlements that laid closer to the woods all saw the same thing happening with their eyes.

When the dark fog turned around to race to the forests, the same scene always seemed to be playing out. Within the vegetation of the woods did all the birds suddenly came flying up while chirping or screeching in terror. Nopony had ever seen such a thing and the worst possible thoughts were already given off.

What if there was a massive hydra that managed to get in the woods, but was moving outwards from the center and straight towards them? Shudders went down the spines of the settlers as they hoped that they were just dead wrong upon their own predicaments.

Time would have been able to tell for them whether or not they were right.

~~~~

In the meantime had the company of mares made it to White Tails woods. When they arrived, they saw just why the forest was given that name. Six pairs of eyes looked to the natural wonder of the world as they couldn’t do anything else but smile. The feelings that were going through them at the moment made them forget every single problem they had.

The very forest had something unique to it, something interesting even. While they stared at the fog filled woods, there was a strange pattern that could be witnessed within it. The very wind that was blowing the mist in the northern direction it made it look as if it were tails that swayed within the wind. Much like their own tails were doing in the moment. Except the one of Pinkie for rather obvious reasons.

It was a truly beautiful sight that they saw and they wanted to keep on watching even more in fact. But the longer they would have been just gazing upon the place, the longer it would have been before they reached the port of Manehatten. Perhaps they were willing to spend one more night in the land of Equestria before they would sail to Canterlot.

Or perhaps not, Twilight had gestured that they had to continue on further. The mares caught the silent hints and then just did what was asked of them all. They all went onward to the forest. One by one they walked through the fog and disappeared within it.

The distance between one another had to be kept close for obvious reasons while Applejack and Rarity formed the front guard. The two mares of the sea both took out a compass to knew at least the general direction they had to walk into. The very last thing they wanted was that they would be getting lost in the woods of fog before them.

Perhaps that was the biggest fear of them all. The fact that they would be getting lost in the massive sea of white mist. That they would just wander around in circles and lose all sense of the world around them. Those fears were all too real in their eyes. So the only thing that could be done was to stick together and follow the seamares.

One by one had they disappeared within the fog of White Tails. One by one did the mares of the company seemed to have just disappeared from the face of the land. They were all swallowed up by the white darkness that was the fog. A fog that was thick enough to block any gap possible. The sunlight was allowed to enter through it because of nature’s rules. Though there never was a gap that showed them where the sun stood in the very skies.

They were speaking of luck that they had the compasses ready. But Nightmare Moon had so her own little thing that would have allowed her to travel through the woods. The devilish fog stood still at the entrance of the woods of White Tails and looked a little bit around.

If anything would have seen her standing there, it almost would have looked like there was a giant centipede that had raised the front of its body to get a more aerial view. The only exception being that the entire centipede was made out of the fog. The creepy similarities could have been drawn pretty easily though.

The eyes of the devil then appeared gentle inside of the fog and they could be seen from both front and back. The eyes themselves were narrowed when she then looked further and deeper into the woods. The devil had to find the trail of Twilight’s very magic. That unique scent that was given off by the unicorn’s very own arcane powers.

It was the way that Nightmare had already managed to find her, but the trail she followed happened to be straight. When they entered the forests had it become scattered all over the place. A deep growl of annoyance was given off by the devil. Of course she could have just lifted the fog for what it was and gone straight in for the kill. Though if she did so, the mares would have realized that something had gone wrong.

She had to keep the element of surprise to her side. Which meant that she could only head straight in. With one last growl she glanced over to her sides and released a deep exhale of utter annoyance. If the games were going to be played in the manner they were looking like, she best would play along.

What followed were a couple of deep sniffs that were given off to get the scent again. The scent of Twilight’s arcane magic. The ‘head’ of the centipede moved from left to head as the sniffs were continued to make.

Mere seconds had gone by before Nightmare Moon had finally felt the right trail again. Her nose was powerful and the magical trail was getting significantly weaker. But nothing would have been able to escape her clutches. Moon had set her eyes upon the fact that she would get back what was hers. And that was exactly what would have happened.

The devil herself then lowered her body back to the ground while she seemed to have gotten the right trail. And before anypony could have spoken a word had she disappeared in the fog as well. The deadly game of cat and mouse was initiated. Though the mouse didn’t even knew that the cat was home once more.

The element of surprise was heavily in favor of Nightmare Moon, who preferred to keep it that way. Which meant that all of the weak scented magic would have been followed. All the way up to the very point when she could have gotten an actual visual upon the mare.

Time came and went while the dark purple fog shot through the forest. The smell had been getting stronger and stronger with every single second. She was on the right trail because the unicorn had came by there not all too long ago. A dark delight began to fill the devil. She had gotten closer and closer to realizing and finalizing her plan.

Months of planning would finally have been able to be paying off for her. Finally could she just watch and enjoy the destruction through another set of eyes. Time was up for two certain anthronies. Their clocks had chimed a long time ago and then, then the devil herself was ready to claim again what was rightfully hers.

Silence was the sound of the forest and not even a single bird made a sound. It almost seemed to be as if they were all terrified of something that lurked around. But to Nightmare Moon it only meant that she was closer. Closer to the group then that she had anticipated. Who knew, perhaps the matter wasn’t one of minutes anymore, but of mere seconds?

And then, as she shot around a corner from a tree to a bush, could she see it. She could see the tail swaying in the wind and with every step that was taken. The three toned coloring in it made it unmistakable. There was no doubt in the mind of Nightmare Moon.

She had found the one mare she was looking for. She had found Twilight Sparkle.

The devil was literally right behind her but Twilight didn’t seemed to have noticed anything about it. She had literally turned her back to the most powerful magical being in their whole land and she didn’t even knew it was there. From the looks of it, she didn’t even sensed the dark magic that was carried by the devil herself.

The mare released a gentle exhale through her mouth while she then continued on with the journey. They were far from being home and Twilight just wanted to get out of the woods. For the winds that were blowing in her back gave her the chills. A feeling that was both unpleasant and uncomfortable to begin with.

Something had changed the atmosphere in a matter of seconds but Nightmare Moon didn’t attack. She didn’t initiated the final plan that she had for the soothsayer. No, there were still too many beings with her. They could have destroyed the vessel she would create for herself just like that. The plan had to be refined a little bit more.

Patience was a virtue were words that was always being said by the elder anthronies and the oldest soothsayers. Luckily did Nightmare Moon carry a lot of patience inside of her. Brute force could have been used for certain, but that to brought the sheer amount of danger with her. No, waiting for the right moment would have been the best option.

When Twilight Sparkle would have been alone or when they all slept, that would have been the time that she would make her massive strike.

The mares didn’t knew for how long they had been walking through the forest. All they knew it was for a long time. The fog had turned into a reddish coloring which indicated that the sun was setting over the land. Had they truly been walking for that long through it, or was their mind playing tricks upon them? None of them knew and none had the actual answer upon the matter. But none of them were in the mood to speak a single word.

It almost seemed as if they were too terrified to talk in the thick fog. Whatever the real reason happened to be behind their silence, it created just an overall creepy mood. Six mares that travelled in a single row and all were as silent as the night. If one didn’t know any better, it could almost be judged upon the fact that they were out for trouble.

The only problem happened to be that trouble always managed to find them.

With perhaps the last shards of light of the day did the mares came to a clearing in the forest. With the last shards of light they saw just what they had been looking for, for a long time. For right in the eyes of both Applejack and Rarity it laid. In return there was a smile which came to both their faces before they just pointed towards it.

The rest of the mares broke the formation and looked over to what they were pointing at. The four other set of eyes just went wide as they couldn’t believe it. Somehow had the two seamares managed to guide them directly to a little spring in the middle of the forest. One that seemed to be good enough for a fresh water supply as well.

Massive feelings of relief came up in the anthronies as they began to scatter themselves. Once again was the silence preserved nicely Though with the discovery of the spring did they all knew that that would be broken sooner or later.

Twilight then opened the void storage and took out just the sleeping bags and pillows for the company. There was neither time nor place to set up the massive tent they carried. Not to mention that they also had to fill the bottles with fresh water. Which was in fact a perfect job for both Fluttershy and Pinkie. The doctor and the lamia were put to work while Rarity and Applejack set up everything else. Rainbow couldn’t help herself but to take a glance at the skies above.

She still had the feeling that the griffons were lurking around and about. Though she never could have given any of them the full proof that they were there. Which was most likely for the better. The last thing they needed was a massive battle in the fog covered woods.

Twilight had closed her eyes just after the void storage was closed by her magic again. Her horn remained charged while she in silence she thought about a source of light for the night. It would have been blowing their cover almost instantly, but it was perhaps the best thing that she could have been doing. One simple nod was given to herself.

With that same nod did the powers of her horn increase. Small rings or arcane fire began to circle around it. Tedious seconds went by and the mares didn’t had the slightest of clues about what was going on.

But then the charge was just sent straight out in the wide, wide world. A charge that stopped right over the little spring and a massive, purple flame erupted just out of thin air. Gone was the subtlety that Twilight’s magic usually carried.

Just that one time she went all out with her magic and created one of the biggest fire that they had seen in a long time. The fire was so powerful that it managed to make the fog around it spin lightly before consuming it. Yet another thing was that it seemed to burn through the ceiling itself.

Their cover had been blown away as a whole. But with the knowledge to the griffons known that Rarity was able to stand herself it didn’t meant much. And not to forget that Twilight was being able to create such a fire, they would have thought twice about just straight up attacking the mares again.

The unicorn soothsayer nodded calm to herself before she turned herself back around. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie seemed to have been done with the new supply of fresh water. The unicorn nodded in silence towards the two of them.

They both nodded back before the mare opened the void storage once more. All of the bottles of fresh water were stored inside of it before the first words were spoken by the doctor. “Twilight, if, if it isn’t too much, the water in the spring is clean and the flow out seems to go to a little river. You mind if we, well, take a bath? We haven’t been able to do such a thing for the longest of time by now.”

Twilight listened carefully to the words of Fluttershy before she nodded once more. “Yeah, you all get some refreshments, you all deserved it,” the unicorn replied to them before a small smile grew upon her face.

The doctor and the lamia were mostly relieved that they could be taking a much needed bath. They left the soothsayer alone and began to undress themselves. Pinkie had it of course easy and before Fluttershy could react, she had entered the waters already. A little splash followed and a wave caught the attention of the seamares.

They both then looked over a naked Fluttershy who had dropped herself at the edge of the spring. The hooves and lower legs were already consumed by the waters. Moments later would the rest of the body have followed.

The two mares then looked at one another and shrugged a little bit. It perhaps wasn’t the most ideal place, but they too were ready for some refreshments. So once more did the act of stripping apply.

Both of the seamares then too dropped themselves in the spring. They allowed the filth that they had collected over time to be just washed off. Not to mention the little fact that it all felt unusually comfortable with the giant purple flame above them. Applejack never really went for a swim because the crowd had gotten too much.

But what she did do was just relaxing under the heat of it. Her arms had been placed upon the shore as she just laid in the water. The eyes closed upon themselves and for a moment she seemed to just be able to actually forget the troubles that she had.

She wasn’t alone in that regard though. Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie all shared that moment of utter relaxation with her. Only Twilight and Rainbow were not in the waters, but they had so their own manners of why not. The major of the air force thought that she was still clear enough to take a bath. Yet Twilight was too busy with something else.

The unicorn soothsayer had dropped herself against a tree with a charged her horn in a gentle manner. Scrolls of the arcane and even a quill were summoned by her. Twilight then just began to both read and write things down. All the matters that she had discovered were written down in a personal file as well a letter being written to the head soothsayer of Canterlot Castle.

One that would explain what they had done and that they were coming back to the place where it all began. The letter was both vague and completely revealing at the same time. Matters that were best left undiscussed found their way into it, as well as almost everything else.

Though only once the letter was done was it ruffled up into a little ball and set ablaze. The matters that were written down in that very letter weren’t things that were in the need to be said to the head soothsayer. The matters were all a bit too personal in the eyes of mare. In the end she made the decision to drop the letter all together.

Canterlot would see the mares again when the mares were ready to walk back in.

~~~~

Time ticked away for the mares while they were all silently laying either in the water, against a tree or upon their sleeping bag. The moment that the mares were having for themselves caused them all to just be massively relieved of everything. Scrolls after scrolls were being gazed upon by Twilight as she felt comfort for the first time in a long time.

The unicorn released a deep exhale through her nostrils of relaxation before she rolled up another scroll. Everything just seemed to have been right in the way as they were supposed to be for her mind. Everything and everypony was at peace, so the stress just flowed straight out of her body without much of a second thought.

A new scroll was being conjured up and she looked over it with high eyes. It spoke of tales forgotten through most of times and told about events mostly unheard by most beings. But the deeper she got in the scroll, the more she had to think about a couple of other matters. Mostly those that involved the book that was deemed too controversial, but happened to be the actual truth.

“Interesting, highly interesting,” the mare spoke to herself while she blinked a bit with her eyes. Through the arcane scroll could she see how Rainbow just laid there on top of the sleeping bag and stared to the stars in the night sky. A gentle smile then came to her face before she gently shook her head.

Everything was just at peace by the looks of it. In the moment did everything seemed to just have been all worth it. All of the things that had happened, all of the setbacks that they had before. All of it just seemed to be worth it in her eyes. The unicorn was actually glad about the fact that she had taken part in the journey. They had seen sights which nopony would have believed even if they told them. They had both seen and done the impossible.

But to everything, there must have gotten some kind of end to. That much was all too true in the eyes of Twilight. So perhaps the only way she could end that day, was by taking refuge in her sleeping bag.

One last glance was given to the mares that went skinny dipping in order to clean themselves up. Her attention then just turned back to the arcane scroll with the thoughts that she could read longer for just a little bit.

Though that ‘little bit’ she thought, turned out to have been a couple of minutes. The anthronies were still laying in the comforts of the water before Twilight felt a shiver down her spine. In an instant had the mare realized that something was wrong.

Her body turned from left to right as the eyes wanted to know whether or not there was something behind her. Anything that could have indicated the fact that it was the ice cold wind would have been appreciated. There was only one little problem, there was no actual wind blowing that very night.

Twilight released a gulp before she turned and twisted upon the spot. She didn’t wanted to become the mare that cried manticore for no reason of course. But if there indeed was something that haunted them, they all could best be prepared upon the matter. Yet the soothsayer needed to have more concrete proof of something like that. She had to know exactly what it was that caused the chill before she would say anything.

Trouble could have been laying on her path once more and she realized that little fact. “And here I was, having such a great evening,” she mumbled to herself with a light growl. The arcane scrolls were folded and she had a look to the rest of the mares.

Rainbow was vast asleep upon her sleeping bag while the other four also seemed to be asleep. Though they still laid in the waters and were naked. “…Well that’s not going to be much of a help, is it?” Twilight replied to the matter before she stood up. Her legs then carried her around the tree a couple of times.

She was glancing through the fog to the best of her abilities. If it was a griffon that caused the chill, they were getting cheeky. That was just about the last thing that they could have used in the matter. So Twilight continued upon her investigation of the matter with a set of narrowed eyes.

The unicorn soothsayer had to be certain that she would have eliminated most of the facts that were thrown against her. The scrolls all hovered around her as if they gave her some kind of divine protection. It wasn’t true at all of course, but at least it felt good to have some kind of protection with her.

The scrolls could have been used in all kinds of manners that would be enabling Twilight to actually help her in her quest of probable madness and insanity. She had to discover exactly just what it was that caused the shiver down her spine.

Though as time went on, the more the realization came settling into her mind. The realization that whatever she was hunting for, wasn’t the thing that she originally was looking for. Instead was she hungering for something else. Nothing that she originally had come up with could have even tipped at the facts of what it actually was. Once more would the unbelievable be faced.

Twilight stood behind a tree with her back firm against the bark. She faced in the opposing way of all of the other mares. She stared straight into the darkness of the fog covered night and forest. Something told her that a force greater than her had finally been able to catch up. What followed was that a deep gulp was once more given off by her.

The soothsayer wasn’t usually that easily spooked about something, but the only option that remained was one that terrified her. “You have got to be kidding me,” she muttered up to herself as she couldn’t believe it. “It can’t be..!” Twilight then exclaimed just before her eyes went wide.

Hidden deep within the fog, it crawled by at an incredible speed. It came in her direction like a giant centipede straight out of a horror story. The unicorn wanted to scream the lungs out of her body as her initial response. Though she simply wasn’t allowed to be doing such a thing.

The fear and horror that began to fill her body contradicted everything that a sane anthrony would have done. She felt like her hooves had been turned to stone and merged with the bottom of the forest floor. She couldn’t go a single way as the dark purple fogged centipede came closer to her.

But the closer the thing came to her, the more it became apparent that it took an actual and physical shape. It merged even further with the physical world and Twilight still couldn’t do anything. She then felt a burning sensation in her chest. Almost as if all of her magic seemed to have gone haywire for some reason.

The arcane scrolls that she kept with her for some kind of protection failed to do their job while they were burned by purple flames. But whether those flames came through her own doing or that of the nightmarish centipede remained unknown to her. That very same centipede also seemed to have been the origin of a lot of dark magic.

Twilight felt it burning within her chest. Those massive amounts of dark magic stored in just one creature, only revealed more about whom it truly was that had preyed upon her. There was only one logical explanation for the unicorn and she just couldn’t believe it. Words wanted to leave her mouth but they were all silenced before they even left.

She was already under the effects of numerous spells that were spoken by the creature. A creature that then rose the front half of its body upwards and glanced brightly in her eyes. Twilight didn’t dare to look back at first though. Naturally she had all the rights to not do such a thing of course.

But as soon as she heard the saliva physically dripping down to the grass, the mare had to inspect what on earth was going on. She had to know what would happen to her, what was hunting her. Twilight’s eyes opened before they quickly turned in the direction of the centipede.

Sweat of pure fear began to travel down her neck and head. She had glanced straight into the giant maw of the beast. But above that were four eyes all primed directly at her. It must have been her, it could only have been her in fact. Twilight began to fear even more as she realized that it was nopony else then the devil herself that had seen it for her.

Twilight Sparkle was literally at the hands of the devil as she tried to escape the clutches of her. But with the burning sensation that went through her chest and the disability to call upon her magic, there was little hope. There was just so little hope that Twilight would have gotten out of the situation unharmed.

The centipede then went on with its attack. It would have placed two of its leg against the bark of the tree in silence before the mouth opened up to release some sort of steam. The same thick, purple fog that it used to travel within left the maw and headed straight for the soothsayer. The unicorn tried her best to not inhale it or allow it to enter her body.

Shakes were given off by her head while she made the same noises a foal would make when it denied the spoon. Every single exhale she took blew some of the fog away. But the battle was already lost for Twilight long before she even began on it. The fog always found a manner in which it could have entered the body.

Wasn’t it through the nose, it would have been through the mouth that opened and closed every so often. There was no escape and the spirit of Nightmare Moon entered the body of Twilight Sparkle herself. The two beings were gently merging with one another, all while the very soul of the soothsayer was forced in a stasis sphere.

Nightmare Moon would have taken full control over Twilight’s body near instantly. That was the sole reason of why she waited so long. She was fully aware of the fact that she happened to be one of the strongest soothsayers in the land. That was why she took her time and allowed the unicorn’s mind to crack the way it had done. To make the hostile takeover seem a little bit less hostile and that she had an easier time making the fix within it.

Nopony knew what had happened behind the tree as they were all still laying with their eyes closed. They didn’t knew that Twilight had changed for the worst and would have been used by Nightmare Moon as her own puppet of utter destruction. The eyes of Twilight went from left to right as the husk of the giant centipede still stood before her.

“Hello there, cutie,” the mixed voice of both Twilight and Nightmare spoke before the mixed entity let out a chuckle. Even her whole appearance had changed once it was over. When she walked back to the campsite of the mares, the changes were revealed within the purple light. She seemed to have shared more with Nightmare Moon than was hoped. Her mane seemed to be turning into a deep fog. Not to forget the little fact that her eyes turned more demonic.

But as those same eyes looked over the group of mares. They were all just small fish to fry. No, they wouldn’t have been worth it to fall beneath the power that Nightmare Moon had thanks to Twilight. Instead she turned her attention around again. Towards the direction of the forest of Everfree itself. There did the prize await. There did the true goal of the whole operation await them all. A deep and low sounding growl was given off by Twilight. One that was loud enough to awaken the other mares from their deep or light slumber.