Dreaming in Shadows, Awaken in Flames

by BaryonBrony

Lost in Translation

Twilight rubbed her eyes against the sides of her forelegs. She had finally done it. Weeks of work, and so many sleepless nights behind her had finally paid off. The first few pages of the dusty old tome no longer looked as if they were written in gibberish. She could read it, granted with a pile of notes surrounding her. That didn't matter though, her mystery was finally coming to its solution, even if that in and of itself would take just as long. She had an entire book to translate, which could take just as many weeks as finding the proper references had.

Still, she had a peek into a nameless book. A mystery not even she could deny.

The concept of "normalcy," not one I ever followed. We are the children of eternity and the time long since gone to the beyond, older than the spirals that abound the expanses before us. We are shepherds of the emptiness, bringing new stars into being and guiding them to share their light. Or... so the others are.

I was the star that never lit, fires burning within so many times hotter than can even be fathomed; but my light was never to be shared in the shroud. I was one of the oldest, but never seen as an equal. Where the others brought light and beauty to the darkness, I formed like bodies to my own. Worlds I called them, taken from an ancient word left in my mind from something long since forgotten. These worlds were my passion, my only solace in the dark as I wandered the emptiness as but a shadow.

For all my efforts though, my creations were as barren and cold as their creator. Within them burned great furnaces, but their shells hid this from all. They were seen only as lifeless spheres hanging in the void, sharing nothing to their neighbors. Over time I came to simply wander, not caring to share my gifts again. I watched as stars still young frowned at my presence, a blight on their glory I was considered. These were feelings I was accustomed to, and so I removed myself farther and farther from the other stars.

Those who could share light shared it. Those who had gifts to give gave them. I simply watched in the dark, staying far enough that their scathing glares gave me no grief. Far enough that when the overwhelming light of new stars turned my worlds to ash I did not feel them die. It was not until I was so far that all light had gone did I find myself alone. So, there in the deepest dark, I simply waited. I still know not what I waited for... and so I resigned to wait even still.

It was so dark there, no light to be seen in any way. It was in that cold that I knew I had found the place I belonged. Alone, forgotten... the only one to feel the light and fire of my own heart, or so I had come to believe. It was there that they came, seeking their own were the old stars. Ages past my brothers and sisters had spread out to the vast reaches of the void, to seed all corners with light and beauty. Now, I stood before them again, and for the first time in a turning of the great spirals I was among friends in a place I thought lost.

The old stars joined me, and for a time we were family again. It was then that I made that fateful attempt to share my gift to the emptiness one last time. For ten thousand years upon ten thousand I had wandered, my power growing with each beating of my heart. I had saved this, nurtured the power for one final blessing. A world that would shame all others now but mourned. I shared my intent to the others, knowing that my world would be dark and barren despite my most fervent desires.

That is when she approached. Asteria, a star so radiant and beautiful that if we were to have a Queen than she would truly have been ours. With a smile she nodded to me and pleaded in a voice like a chorus for me to do as I desired. Too long I had toiled alone, but no longer was I outcast. Beside her, my friend and star brother too nodded his approval. Amongst all the others, an affirmation by the mighty Chronos was as great a decree as could be made.

I closed my eyes, expanding myself into the void to show the work to be done. This would be unlike any of my past works. My very life-blood would be the mortar for this monument. My heart split open and from it ran like rivers of molten rock to form the perfect sphere that would serve as they heart of this final world. Veins split away from the heart and spread, rivers of burning light glowering and waxing despite the icy grip of the shroud. The veins reached their apex and spread about to create the skeleton of the orb I would construct. When the rivers intersected, I slammed down upon the border and from this blow spread solidity. I formed the rock and crystal surface that flowed out like tidal waves to meet again on the other side.

The earthen surface roiled like a great and turbulent sea as I roared, filling the whole of the world with its sound. From it spread dark clouds, lightning slashing the dark as the storms flew. I slammed the surface again, splitting open the ground beneath me as I drew a breath of the newly formed air. With lungs full I roared into the open ground, rivers of magma flowing from me to fill within amongst the hot veins.
With a swipe I sealed again the ground and drew open my wings, a single beat sending me high into the angry sky. Never before had I sacrificed a part of myself for my creations, never had my own blood been pumped into the heart. This was my masterpiece, as much a part of me as I was of it. As I flew over the forming mountains, flattening plains, and boiling seas I felt myself change. As much as I had shaped this world, it now also shaped me.

Where once had been pure will, long curved horns stood like crystal spires. My being was shaped, four legs and a body that held my still molten heart. My body was like the world, crystal and fire and wonder that which I had never imagined. I set down on the tallest peak, folding my wings against my new form and watched the lands fall to calm.
But, as with all the others, my world soon grew dark and cold. The lightning faded, and the burning core was sealed beneath solid ground. Though this world was my greatest work, it was doomed to share the fate of its like. That is, until a light rose at the horizon. Asteria spread her wings and from them came warmth and light and hope. She set down on a great peak and lifted her head, a horn coming to shine just as my own had done.

The others had seen my transformation, had witnessed what such a making had done to me. Far from turning away, I watched as hundreds upon hundreds came to stand high in the sky with forms just like that of mine. Even Chronos in his infinite pride came to stand beside Asteria, his love and mate in similar forms to my own. To her radiance, his was dark and filled with stars, and his shadowed horn shone for a moment as he sealed the light of my brothers and sisters in the sky.

Forever would their glory be remembered in the darkness, for all to sit upon the surface would be shone the light and hope of the old stars. But still, the surface grew colder and darker yet. Despite the countless stars, even theirs was not enough to illuminate the surface... only the sky. As the others began to leave, their legacies saved forever, only Asteria and Chronos remained. The meeting of the first ones had concluded, and the world was made.

"But it is not yet finished," Chronos spoke in a voice that shook the ground. He rose up into the air, and soon had left the world I had built behind. I watched him go, knowing I could not follow. Now, only the fairest was left. She knew, perhaps more than all the others, what I had wrought upon myself. I was a part of this world, and never again could I be apart from it.

She lowered her head and smiled to me before rising tall again. "We will return, my dear Cindus. When we do, we will have gifts for your blessing greater yet. The worlds you have filled the void with are priceless gems in a sea of dark, and too many have been lost to vanity. The young may scoff, but we know greatness when it is given to us. Guard your child, dear Cindus. Guard it well, for we will return with glad tidings before the turning spirals vanish to the roiling of time."

And so she left, vanishing into the void. All that remained now was me, and on my world there was still work to be done. Mountains to be shaped, oceans to be spread, and chaos to be undone. So, when they returned, there would be a gem truly worth the promised gifts. My masterpiece would be waiting.

The sleepless night had taken its toll. Just as poor Twilight Sparkle's eyes reached the end of her translation, they closed and she fell against her desk. The soft rise and fall of her chest a warm whisper to the silence of the library. A shadow appeared beside her, a quick breath blowing out the candle as Spike lifted his best friend from her desk and carried her to her bed.

Returning to the desk, Spike quietly began to collect and organize the papers just as he had done for years. He looked down at the book Twilight had been reading, but shook his head without the ability to read it. Had he seen it before, he would have noticed the markings at the edges of the pages. Markings that had not been there even minutes ago. With an expert's hand, the young dragon went about putting books in their proper places before sliding into his own bed.

Again the library fell silent, and all was well.

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