The Book of Ages. Volume 1. Harmony and Immortality

by Rune Singer

Prologue

“Whose is this thought, the fleeting one,
The stars only know.
What will it wake, the slumbering one,
Time only knows.
For like it, everything ebbs and flows.”
Rune Singer~2017

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Before the break of a chilly and slightly misty dawn, a tawny owl flew out of the Everfree Forest carrying his prey and alighted upon one of the numerous turrets of the Castle of Friendship. Gobbling the morsel up, Owlowiscious, after preening his feathers for a moment, looked around and with a long hoot, flew off and around the castle top in a wide arc. In his descent his right pinion only slightly touched one string of beads hanging from the side of the Tree that supports the castle, causing the white crystals to hum ever so faintly. Satisfied with this antic the owl glided through an open window of a winding staircase. At its base he accelerated with a single silent wing beat to cross a long corridor. Spreading his wings abruptly the owl halted and landed above the door of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s bedchamber. Owlowiscious nudged the ornate glass-work window with his beak so that it swivelled on hinges unseen.

In the soft blue shadows of the room within he spotted Spike curled up in his basket bed. After flying down the owl hovered over the young dragon and released a small gem he had in his talon all this time. He often found small gems in the warrens of his prey and brought them to Spike as a token of good will. Spike, still asleep, clutched the gem, mouthed a “Thank you Owlowiscious” and turned to his side to fall deeper into slumber. The Owl then landed on a perch next to Twilight’s bed, settled into a comfortable pose and watched the last of the setting moon with half lidded eyes.
A muffled grunt and mumbled half words rattled Twilight’s pet out of bliss, his hoot sounded more like a drawn out question of “Whooo?”

Within her dream Twilight Sparkle stood in the middle of a council hall filled with ponies, non pony friends and even faces she did not recall. In the pews that seemed to reach up endlessly whenever a voice spoke up, their owner was lit garishly as their harsh words blamed, accused and slanted her. She was ignored whenever she attempted to reply and tried as she might no magic she performed could change her predicament.

At some point the setting changed to that of a stone amphitheatre, the faces now of total strangers. Their voices called down in languages she half understood or not at all, while their adornments and mane styles spoke of a bygone era. The scene flickered in and out from the amphitheatre to that of a bay, with her standing on the waters and the voices now whole crowds of ponies. No longer herself she stood in the hooves of a young Alicorn. The scenes flickered faster and Twilight shut her eyes as the voices coalesced into crumpled sentences :

“Are … mortal … immortal … cannot … can … love … friends … lost … they.”

A voice asked “Whooo?” from far away and Twilight fell backwards into an abyss just as Princess Luna found her way into the nightmare. But even she, Protector of Dreams, was soon swallowed by the dark as Twilight fell and fell.

Her descent ended without impact on a swampy floor where unnamed shadows moved under thick liquid.
A book hovered ominously before her just out of hooves reach, its solid binding seeming to be of wood and its weight more of a feeling than actual physical manifestation.

The one page that started to turn had her terrified and stepping back she was sucked violently out of the abyss, out of the dream into wakefulness, to immediately forget what she had dreamt.

The feeling of dread remained though and a stirring,an awakening alluded to things very old and life-changing …

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To those acquainted with the nature of that awakening the stirring was felt across Equestria and beyond.
In Canterlot Princess Celestia stood facing her bedroom door waiting for her sister’s arrival. As soon as Luna appeared out of a portal, they nodded knowingly to each other. With a pained expression Celestia averted her eyes, centuries of memories passing by.

Uttering “So the time has come for her at long last” her wings folded tightly to her sides and she hung her head mournfully. Luna draped one wing over her sister comforting her as best she could.

“We knew it was going to happen Sister. It always happens to one of us”

“Yes… yes it does”. Celestia whispered, leaning against Luna.

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Farther to the North in the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadence awoke to that stirring reminiscent of just a few years before. Her husband and foal were sleeping serenely next to her. Cadence was almost guiltily glad for a moment yet after glancing towards little Flurry Heart felt the familiar pang of fear and knowledge of pain. Placing a kiss on Shining Armour’s cheek, she hugged her Alicorn daughter closer to herself, her horn glowing pink as she covered the three of them with a blanket.

Even further, one in hiding among her brood, another imprisoned in Tartarus and one in banishment, the Fallen -but still Alicorns- perceived of the same stirring. Envious the one seethed, hating the other strengthened his resolve and the banished, unable; did nothing.

Lastly in a different dimension altogether a manifestation of chaos awakened to an ice cold rendering within the fabric of his being. In less than seconds the Draconequus was at the side of the one being, among the living, that understood him the most. Appearing outside Fluttershy’s house, he refreshed all his secretly placed magical wards,despite knowing she was not in danger. Blinking out and reappearing within, he looked about and flew up into his friend’s bedroom. Indeed Fluttershy was sleeping serenely surrounded by many of her animals she took care of.

As soon as he took the sight of her in, her calm breath, her natural beauty, even the kindness with which she made space for all the animals sleeping with her, the rendering from before became mere pain, but pain nonetheless spanning Centuries and Millennia.

She stirred, and Discord was startled, afraid he woke her. Yet as one knows their lover is near, even in deep slumber, she turned on her back, smiled and beckoned him to her.

The draconequus diminished his form just enough to be able to lie with her and snuggled into her embrace. Without turning or opening his eyes he gently glided the sleeping critters into various beds and baskets with his magic. Then turning slowly on his back her let Fluttershy settle against his chest. They sighed in bliss almost simultaneously and only after Fluttershy’s breath settled back to a steady rhythm, did Discord’s smile diminish. If only the rest of his friends would forgive, understand and accept him as Fluttershy did. But it was not to be, soon yet another would judge him, rightly, for his past actions and would probably change their view of him altogether.

He knew precisely what had awakened, what it contained and how he would be reminded of his past in the eyes of the one who would read: The Book of Ages.