Twilily Saga: Past, Present, Or Damnation

by Lighttone GryphonStar

Chapter 10: The Mind Temple

Starlight arrived at the coordinates only to find a great temple. The temple was a grand, pillar like building with two twisting stairways going along the side of it, but one extremely wide set of stairs in the center that went all the way up. Along the walls there were the images of yellow lions with green eagles above them.

She practically gasped upon seeing it. Though it looked nothing like the pyramid that she had seen in her vision, it was still breathtaking. She walked forward to the middle stairway, sure all three seemingly looked to go to the top, but the middle seemed the most simple. She stepped on the first step and began long climb up. She didn’t know what she would find there only that there was something very important up at the top. It took her a few moments to even realize that the rails of the stairway had the form of a long serpent.

As soon as she reached a certain height she found what looked like a strange entrance with two lion heads at the bottom corners and two eagle heads on the top corners, built into the very stairway as part of it kept going up. This was confusing since this could have been easily seen from the ground. In fact from the ground, it had looked like there were no entrances or even changes in the stairway. Starlight decided to just ignore it and kept walking up the stairs.

However, what was originally a few minutes turned into several hours. The stairway just kept going and going. She didn’t know how tall this temple even was. From the ground, it had looked at most five stories, but considering how much time she was walking it felt like fifty stories. The even stranger part was every five floors she would see that same exact strange entrance with lion heads and eagle heads. Was this stairway on some sort of loop or was it just her imagination. Soon she came upon the eleventh time of seeing it before she finally gave up and fell to the ground exhausted.

When suddenly she heard a crash below her. She looked down the stairway for the first time and looked in shock to see that the bottom floor was only five stories down. That had answered it, she was stuck in a loop. But what crashed? She looked around from where she was and saw Twilight on the ground. “She crashed, why?” That's when it hit her. “Oh, of course, the loop must extend to the sky as well. She must have been flying above me for nearly as long as I have been walking and just fell from exhaustion. Good thing she is an alicorn or that would have really hurt.”

“Ouch,” Twilight slowly rose up in slight pain.

“Nevermind,” Starlight gave a deadpan face.

Twilight jumped at that voice and looked straight toward Starlight’s direction. Starlight tried to hide, but she had been spotted as Twilight flew up toward her direction as quickly as possible. However the second she got up there, Starlight kicked her to the ground, expecting a fight. The two wrestled across the ground for a few moments before Starlight realized that she wasn’t fighting her. “Why aren’t you fighting me?”

“I didn't fight you earlier.”

“Well, that was a different situation.” Starlight punched her, but Twilight caught the fist and stopped it by having it hit the ground instead.

“Starlight, I’m not here to fight you. I’m here to save you.”

Starlight growled. “From what?”

“From the Greatest Evil,” spoke somepony else.

Starlight looked off to see who it was and Twilight kicked her off. Starlight quickly recovered and once more looked toward the direction of the voice, just as Twilight did. They both looked to see a figure in a teal cloak walking out of the entrance. At first, they were a little confused by who this was. That is until the hood was dropped to reveal the head of a unicorn stallion with a yellow and red mane.

“‘F’, is that you?” Twilight looked confused as she walked over to him.

“I know, interesting effects this place has on me.” He moved his now less wrinkly right hand over the left side of his face, for this had been what confused Twilight as he originally had a scar there. Afterward, he moved his hand away and finished, “Welcome you two, to the Mind Temple.”

Twilight looked in confusion as strange gray donkeys walked out of the entrance and quickly surrounded them. Twilight and Starlight raised their hands in surrender when ‘F’ spoke, “Halt, they are with me.”

The gray donkey’s backed off and just stood in place. Twilight looked in confusion at them when ‘F’ decided to answer her question before she could ask. “These are soldiers I worked beside during this timeline. They helped me in defeating Cult Race.”

Twilight sighed with relief. ”Oh, you had us going for a minute. Anyway, why are you here? Did Realta send you the same message?”

‘F’ tilted his head in confusion. “I lived through this time already. I don’t need that old fool directions.” ‘F’ sounded slightly more annoyed than before. Maybe this temple did more than simply make him look younger. “Our only problem is that there is no way to leave this place once it has been entered.”

“What?!” Starlight nearly shouted.

“What do you mean?” Twilight questioned.

“When you arrived, which way did you automatically take?”

They both looked at each other before saying the same answer, “The simplest one.”

“Exactly as I did. This temple seems to have a spell over it. I think it also combines a bit of psychology.”

“Syco--what now?” Starlight scratched her head in confusion.

“Of course!” Twilight jumped. “When confronted with multiple paths, everypony will always take the simplest one. I flew and you and Starlight must have taken the center stairway. So the only true pathway is the sides.”

“Indeed,” ‘F’ answered. On that Starlight ran toward the stairs to run back down them, but was stopped upon ‘F’ yelling to her. “That's not going to work.”

“Why?” she stopped. Suddenly another gray donkey ran up the stairway before falling down to the ground out cold. “And who is this one?”

“That would be Gog. I sent him down several hours ago and he is still going through the loop.”

“So the loop goes both ways!” Starlight shouted.

“Indeed, now step inside. I want you to know what led you here.” ‘F’ walked back through the entrance and Twilight and Starlight followed after him. He led them through a long hallway, that seemed way too long for it to fit in this temple. Soon they came upon a wall with a mural on it.

“This is the legend of the omni-pony. A mare of light and darkness.”

Twilight and Starlight looked in shock upon the four images of the mural. The first image was broken and mostly destroyed, but the second image showed a great pyramid shining with light yet contrast with darkness. A seemingly pure being standing on the pyramid with four objects surrounding the being. The third image showed the being fighting with a pony that wielded a blue blade and a red blade. The final image showed a giant centipede surrounding the whole planet before a great purple light seemingly powered by the red blade and a blue blade that pushed him back. Under the mural was ancient writing that almost seemed to be in two different languages.

Twilight walked closer to the mural while Starlight stepped back from it. They were almost having completely opposite reactions to it. Twilight was very intrigued, while Starlight was scared of it and yet she didn’t know why. She felt great fear building up the longer she looked at it, in particularly the final image and it’s almost demonic looking centipede.

“So what is the legend?” Twilight asked as she looked over the writing closely. She felt she could almost read some of it, yet couldn’t. It was a very strange feeling.

“I can’t read all of it because most of the writing is gone, but I will give the best translation I can. The writing is in two parts, one-half is in light alicorn and the other is in dark alicorn.” ‘F’ coughed slightly into his right arm’s sleeve as he walked closer to it. He placed his right arm upon it.

Twilight jumped back upon seeing his right arm as it looked different now. “What happened to your arm?” She pointed to how it was not covered in white fur and instead covered in yellow fur like the rest of his body.

“Hmm, must be this temple having a greater effect on me than I thought. This is the right arm I had in the past. Hey, who knows, the longer I stay, maybe my left arm will fully return.” He looked away from his arm and back to the writing. “Anyway, the legend speaks of two bloodlines, one of darkness and one of light. When these two bloodlines intertwine an omni-creature can be born, that has the blessing of both bloodlines.”

“So, the omni-pony is descended from somepony that made a deal with Grogar and somepony that made a deal with Realta. Has that ever happened before?”

“I can only think of four times the bloodlines have crossed. King Morpheus and Queen Cassandra were the first, but she became too sick to conceive an offspring. Next one was Cult Race and Selena Moondie.”

“Wait, those two were once together.”

“Indeed, but due to Selena Moondie being undead, such an offspring is impossible, especially since Cult Race is a doppelganger as most are staral.”

Twilight looked at ‘F’ confused, “Doppelganger? Cult Race mentioned that he was one, but what is such a creature? I've never heard of it’s name.”

“Perhaps a tale for another time. The only two other couples that I can think of is….” On that, he stopped and looked at Twilight closely, then to Starlight. His head went back and forth over and over as his jaw almost hanged for a moment. Unfortunately, Twilight didn’t notice.

“Well, what else does it say?” Starlight finally got the guts to walk closer to the mural.

“Right?” ‘F’ straightened himself and looked back at the wall. Eventually, he got to the parts that were scratched up. “Uhm, this part is a bit harder because of the scratches in the writing. But as far as I can tell, the omni-pony is meant to defeat the corrupted one.”

“Which is obviously this centipede?” Twilight assumed as she looked over the mural. “But then who is the being with four objects around him?” She traced her fingers over the objects and their shapes. “Two of them feel like eyes, the one of top feels like a brain and the one on the bottom feels like a heart.”

“Indeed, I don’t need to read this part. Those objects are the oldest artifacts in the world. Said to been created millions of years ago by the first alicorn, King Heavonos Nighsky.”

“Wait, Celestia’s grandfather. I’ve heard a few legends of him.”

“Then maybe you heard of the legendary battle between King Heavonos and the Titans?” ‘F’ questioned. Twilight nodded a no. “I thought not, it’s a part of the history Celestia would rather forget ever happened.” ‘F’ took a breath before continuing, “Millions of years ago, the first alicorn and his great lion ally fought the titans for rule of this land, a great battle that lasted for so many years. Finally, after so long, the battle was ended. The four most powerful titans were slain and four charms were made from their remains. The Eye of Jupiter, which allowed it's wielder to see all forms of life. The Eye of Ra, which allowed it's wielder to see all forms of magic. The Heart of Odin, which allowed it's wielder to see all the land. And finally the Mind of Ceous, which allowed it's wielder to see all forms of knowledge.”

“Wait, mind as in the Mind Temple.”

“Yes, legend says that one of the charms is hidden in this temple. This is why I am here. The Greatest Evil is after these charms. We need to get them before he does.” ‘F’ walked over to Starlight. “But first we will need a way out of this loop.”

“But how?” Twilight had to think for a moment, but ‘F’ did not.

“Starlight, the loop is based in light and dark magic. So I will need both of your help.”

“Me and Twilight? Look I only came here because I saw this place in a vision. I’m not here to help you and especially not her.” Starlight walked off without giving any more words.

‘F’ followed her, but Twilight walked ahead of him. “No, let me talk to her. I need to explain a few things to her anyway.” On that, she ran off after Starlight.

Meanwhile, Starlight got outside and walked down the stairway. Twilight followed, they both knew there was no way down, but it seemed this was more for getting some fresh air rather than trying to get away. After going through at least one loop, they finally stopped and sat down. Twilight got over and sat a few steps behind Starlight, even though she could see her as clear as day.

They sat there for nearly an hour before Twilight finally spoke up, “Starlight I--”

“I find you very confusing Twilight,” Starlight interrupted, “I set out on this journey to destroy your friendship and you don’t seem to want to stop me.”

“I do want to stop you… I did want to stop you." Twilight corrected. "But that was nearly a year ago for me.”

Starlight turned toward her in almost disbelief. “But how? You haven't aged a day.”

“One of the small side effects of time travel is you stay the age you were when you first left until you return to the time you were originally from.” Twilight stopped and took a moment, reaching over her arms. “But even though you don’t age, some scars don’t disappear.”

“I… I see.” Starlight’s eyes widened upon the look Twilight’s face had. She just turned away from it and looked forward. “Well, apparently I have my own scars now too.”

Twilight looked to Starlight as her back was turned. Though the gash was healed by Celestia, the scar that Cult Race gave her was still there as well as the tears in her purple jacket and black shirt. Twilight walked a little closer and sat right behind Starlight and filled her horn with magic.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Starlight tried to jump, but Twilight stopped her.

“I’m restitching the holes in your jacket and shirt. Now hold still I’m not an expert at this like my friend Rarity.” Hearing Twilight’s words and feeling the soft movement of her magic calmed the unicorn mare. As they sat there Twilight thought this would be the best chance she had, “So…”

“So where did you go in the time portal?” Starlight once again interrupted.

“Well, your kick landed me in a destroyed future filled with many evils and very different versions of my friends.”

“And I assume you made friends with them too,” Starlight nearly sassed.

“Well, not at first. Believe it or not, Rarity and Spike actually tried to kill me twice and nearly succeeded one of the times. Then there was Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie who I barely even got to know. The one I learn the most from was Rainbow Dash and…. Flash.”

“What? That stallion you would fon over occasionally.”

“Wait a minute. I figured you spied on me, but--” Twilight stopped herself and took a breath as she finished fixing the tear. “Me and him are just friends. Just like you and Sunburst.”

On those words, Starlight jumped away before Twilight could finish completely. “Friends. I’m not friends with that ass or anypony for that matter. He abandoned me, he is the main reason I started this battle against friendship.”

“I doubt that's what he meant to do?” Twilight stood up. “I’m sure no matter what happened it can be fixed. Friendship should never be torn because of some argument.”

“Some argument, some argument! Do you even know him? Do you even know what happened?!”

“No.” Twilight looked at her sternly, but Starlight turned away. “But I know how much you care for him.”

“I don’t care for that fool at all.” Starlight folded her arms over.

Twilight was taken back slightly by those words. Her face saddened slightly, for only a moment, before forming into anger. “Then how come that was the only thing that kept you sane?!” she shouted.

“What do you mean?” Starlight trembled at her words.

“In the other timeline, I met an alternate you. This alternate you had suffered so much that you had created a lie around yourself. In that lie he was beside you the whole time. As your friend.”

Starlight stopped trembling at her words. “So…. that was another timeline. For all, I know they were under better means.”

“Better means?” Twilight held up her hands in confusion. “Starlight, you were chained to a wall in the deepest part of Tartarus. Your prison was beside Queen Chrysalis and one of the oldest evils in all of creation, Calavoss. You….you...were going to die.” Twilight let a tear drop. “And yet you never gave up hope. Sunburst’s memory was beside you the whole time because he was your first friend and as far as I can tell, your last friend, in both timelines. But not anymore.” Starlight's mouth fell agape upon her words as Twilight pulled her into a hug. “I want to be your friend too. I know you have been alone, but not anymore.”

“Just leave me alone!” Starlight tried to fight the hug with what little will she had left, but it was not enough as tears from her own eyes finally broke.

“Never. My friend.” Twilight held on for as long as possible. Starlight fell slight and raised her arms up and wrapped them tightly around Twilight, finally giving into the hug and the friendship Twilight was offering her.

Soon a small roar of thunder separated the two new friends as they looked to the sky to see clouds gathering fast. It would start raining eventually. They headed back up to the entrance and saw ‘F’ standing there watching them as they arrived back.

“I’m glad you're back. Are you willing to try my idea?”

"Of course," Starlight smiled as she raised her hand up to her face to clean the tears out of her eyes.

'F' walked over and pointed toward the stairway. “This loop is based on a mix of light magic and dark magic, so why not overload the spell that has been cast over it.”

"That might work," Twilight agreed.

Starlight scratched her head before giving an answer. “I guess that could work. Though truthfully, I only know a few spells in light magic. I’m better at normal magic.”

“That doesn't matter, as long as you're able to channel light magic.” ‘F’ walked out of the way and gestured them to looked toward the stairway. “Just aimed your horns outward toward the stairway and concentrate.”

Doing as he asked they pointed their horns. Soon their horns glowed with different colors. Twilight's horn glowed maroon red and Starlight's horn glowed a maroon blue as they both shot a stream of their magic toward the stairway. After a few moments, the stairway shook. They kept pushing but nothing else was happening.

“It’s not working.” Sweat poured down Starlight.

“Just keep going,” ‘F’ urged them.

Soon the shaking increased, but this time it wasn’t just the stairway, time and space around the stairway was shaking as well. Suddenly the whole temple shake as more of the magics were used. Starlight fell down slightly in pain, but luckily Twilight was able to catch her as they kept going.

“Don’t give up, you almost have it,” he assured them.

The shaking became greater as the pain of using so much light magic caused Starlight to almost tear up. She wasn't used to using so much light magic. However just as she thought she had reached her limit, Twilight screamed in pain. It turned out she had been holding her pain in.

“What's happening?” Starlight felt herself being pushed back away from Twilight as Twilight's body floated into the air.

“Twilight's dark magic reserves are over loading.” 'F' trembled. "Hurry up and finish it before it's too late."

Pushing all their magic forth, they finally broke the spell as the temple stopped shaking. Once they were finished Twilight fell to the ground out cold. Starlight ran over to her and tried to wake her but nothing worked. "Why isn't she waking?"

'F' walked over and placed his hand over her head only to pull it away in pain. "Damn it, it seems somepony placed a failsafe on her if she were to reach certain limits. She broke it during that spell and it caused her brain to overload. She be will out for a while. But otherwise, she will be fine." He got up and walked to his donkey allies. "Keep watch over her, we need to go on ahead."

"Of course."

He walked back over to Starlight and pulled her away from Twilight. "Come on, we need to get the charm before the Greatest Evil gets here."

Realizing what he was saying Starlight followed him but with much regret as they made their way to the top floor. They moved as quickly as they could to the top floor. Once there, they saw a pedestal with a yellow geode in the shape of a brain at the center of the top floor. “There it is, the Mind of Ceous.”

“Well, let’s grab it.” Starlight rushed over to it.

“No, wait. There will be one final test.” He pointed to the parchment with writing on it that laid over the charm.

“What? Seriously?” She stopped just a few feet from the charm.

“Yes. The stairway was clearly meant for ones that were already trapped. But what if somepony figured out the stairway was a trap before falling for it?”

“Then, of course, there would be a second test. What do I have to do?” Starlight spoke hesitantly as she slowly approached it.

“Just simply place your hands on it and the test will begin. Once you have passed the spell should disconnect and you will be able to lift it without any problems.”

“Okay.” Starlight took a deep breath and reached out to the charm. “Are you sure this is the only way?” She looked to him and saw him nodded a yes. Understanding she placed her hands on the charm. Without warning the charm glowed bright yellow and her eyes followed suit.

******

Starlight found herself in her old hometown. She looked to see all of the ponies she knew when she was young. They looked so young as they ran right passed her like she wasn’t even there as they played in the rain. They were much younger than she remembered.

She slightly smiled upon seeing them all. Sure she barely knew any of them but this was one of her happiest memories. Or at least that was what she assumed at first. She raced around the place, trying to find her younger self or maybe even Sunburst.

However, neither were anywhere in sight. But as she was about to give up, she heard a voice. She looked to the road and saw a carriage arriving. The carriage shined with hues of blue and red. That’s when it hit her. This was her first day in this town. That was why the others were still so young.

The carriage pulled up and a black batpony stallion with a long silver mane in silver armor stepped off the front of the carriage and walked over to the door. He opened the carriage and out stepped forth was a mare and a stallion of unknown species in hoods with a small filly in their arms. The filly was Starlight. A small as ever younger version of Starlight that couldn’t even walk yet let alone speak.

The faces of the mare and stallion were too blurry to see. This was obvious as she could never remember what they looked like only because of what happened afterward. The mare and the stallion walked over to a building with the saddest looks. “Are you sure she will be safe here?” the mare questioned as she held baby Starlight closer.

“You both already know she will,” the black batpony stallion assured them. “This needs to happen. Besides, we need to keep her away from those two as long as possible.”

“We know this,” the stallion spoke sternly as he stood calmly and grabbed a crib and placed it in front of the door.

The mare gently placed baby Starlight in the crib and slowly moved away, holding onto her little hand until the very last second. “Goodbye, my shining glimmer of starlight.”

The stallion didn’t even give a goodbye, at least not in words as he leaned down and brushed baby Starlight mane to one side, before rising back up. The mare leaned into the arms of the stallion as they slowly backed far enough away to not be seen.

Once they were out of sight, the black batpony stallion knocked on the door twice. Before making himself scarce as well. The door opened and an old stallion with a gray mane looked down to see the crib. “Oh, you poor filly. Out here all alone. Let's get you inside.” He picked up the crib and walked inside.

The older Starlight looked as the memory finished with the door closing. Slowly she felt a small tear fall down her cheek. She wondered why her parents would leave her like that. What could have compelled such actions?

The area changed and now she found herself on a playground. She looked to see her younger self-sitting on the ground all by herself in tears. She remembered this day well. She had misfired a spell during class and nearly hurt the teacher. The whole class had laughed at her until she ran out of the room crying.

She didn’t like seeing her younger self in tears and all alone. She just wanted to go over and pull her into a hug. But this was just a memory. And of course, she knew what was to happened next.

A small colt walked over and said hello. He was orange in color and had a slightly dark orange mane hanging in his face.

“What do you want?” her younger self pouted.

“I just wanted to meet the coolest filly I have ever seen.”

She looked at him in confusion. “What do you mean? I nearly set the room on fire. I’m a freak.”

“No.” he sat down beside her. “There is no way you're a freak with awesome powers like those. Most of us can’t even charge a spell let alone shoot one off like it was nothing.”

She rubbed her eyes clean and smiled slightly. “You actually thought that was pretty cool.”

“Of course.” He stood up and held his hand out to her. “My name is Sunburst Shimmer, what your’s?”

“Starlight Glimmer.” She grabbed his hand and rose up.

Starlight smiled greatly at this memory. This one was happier than the other one. However, she was beginning to question the point of these memories. Why was the charm showing her these? Was this part of the test?

As a new memory formed, she wondered what other memories this charm would be showing her.

******

As Starlight relived old memories, ‘F’ stood by and watched silently as he sweated for some unknown reason and seemed to be out of breath. He looked to his left shoulder as he sensed something approaching in the distant. “He will be here very soon.”

He looked back at Starlight once he was sure she couldn’t hear him. “You poor mare. I knew what you were the very second I saw you. Once he arrives, everything for you and Twilight will change and what I have wanted for one thousand years will finally happen.”

******

Author's Note:

Sorry, this came out at a different time, I'm been think Noon fits better for a posting time anyway as it stays on the front page longer.

Anyway, this was the big moment you all were waiting for. Most if not all questions were answered here. As well as some new ones were put forth.

The next chapter will be posted August 9th. But if you don't want to wait. Go join my Patreon. For just one dollar get chapters sent directly to you, one week earlier.