Equestria's Ray of Hope

by The_Darker_Fonts

Aspects Unseen

Twilight flipped quickly through the pages of the old books of the castle’s library, frantically searching for the reference she needed. Dust flew off the ancient paper as she fanned past page after page, her frown deepening with each meaningless one. Surely it had to be around here somewhere, right? Of all the places and books she could think of, the Spectre would be recorded in Starswirl’s Guide to the Cosmos of Equestria. Still, there wasn’t a single mention of it in the countless S-named beasts, demons, and anomalies recorded by her idol. Groaning in frustration as she finally flipped to the Sph- section, she slammed the book shut and slid it carefully onto its shelf.

“Nothing,” Ray questioned sympathetically from behind.

“Nothing,” she answered, shaking her head as she turned to him. He looked as if he had somehow expected that, almost like there was more to it than he was letting in on. Of course there was. Whatever he was attempting to identify was something he was so scared of, he hadn’t given her straight answers, in spite of his oath for only truths. Licking her lips, she finally dared to inquire, “What is it you’re expecting to find?”

Ray paused at that, his eyes darting away and across the room, scanning for any potential company. Finding none, he bent over, gesturing for Twilight to move in closer, so close that she could feel his soft breath rustling her fur. The human licked his lips, eyes darting around suspiciously one last time before asking hushly, “Do you Equestrians have gods?”

Twilight’s brow furrowed in blatant confusion, both unsuspecting of the question and perplexed by why he would ask something so outlandish. Rubbing a hoof against the side of her head, she attempted to recall anything from the books, but there was absolutely nothing about either gods or the Spectre. The only thing she could think of was…

She couldn’t tell him that, though. It didn’t even pertain to him! He was a human, a foreigner from another world, completely and utterly alien to this world. There was no way in the wide world of Equestria that it could be them, already searching him out for their design. The Spectre didn’t sound like them though, the countless folds and its destructive, imposing demeanor the complete antonym of their essence.

“Twilight, what're you thinking,” Ray questioned harshly, obviously knowing something about her thoughts had to do with him. “It’s a yes or no question. Are there or are there not gods in Equestria?”

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she remembered her oath. Only truths. With a slow shake of her head, she replied even quieter than he had asked, “There are no gods in this world… but alicorns aren’t exactly the only powerful creatures in Equestria. In fact, one could say that alicorns only exist because of these other… aspects.”

Ray’s brow furrowed as leaned in, softly questioning, “Aspects? You mean like hints?”

Twilight bit her lip. She had probably said too much already, but there was nothing to prevent her from speaking more. At this point, she had to tell Ray the truth, because if he had experienced an encounter with an aspect before he had been transmuted, it could prove deadly for him and disastrous for whomever the aspect wouldn’t care for. Without a manifestation to stem its interactions with Equestria, the entire universe could collapse under the weight of its unfiltered powers.

“Ray, what I’m about to tell you, I only learned about myself a few years ago, just a little after I became an alicorn. I never thought it too important for Equestrians, let alone you, since it hardly even involves us mortals.”

“The Spectre used that word too,” Ray pointed out darkly. “Mortals. So there are gods?”

“Gods is too simple a term for what occurs throughout all reaches of existence,” Twilight corrected, not daring to glance at Ray. No matter his expression, she knew there was no way to prepare him on such notice for what she had to tell him. “In this universe, this timeline, there was nothing at the beginning. Like all things, it started with the first creation, and continued with the first destruction, gradually building until the first Light and first Dark. Light and Dark were the first aspects in the Equestrian universe, but many more followed. Life and Death. Friendship, Love, Hate, Fear. These all attempted to become the sole Aspect of the universe, the Aspect in charge of it all. Thousands of years ago, before Equestria’s first ponies were even born, they fought for the domain of the fresh universe. The end result was a shattered world roamed by smidgens of these Aspects left behind, the Timberwolves and Windigos, the sun and the moon. Magic, namely. When ponies, intelligent life- if you will- came into existence, the Aspects decided to allow smaller life to grow and die out on this planet before they continued their campaign for control.

“That was, however, until Celestia and Luna were born, and the Aspects realized they could at least interact with us through lesser means. They granted Celestia and Luna their alicorn forms to ascend them to higher magic and be able to survive within their limited presence. Most of what we know about them are from those early days, before the fight with Discord and Sombra. The two sisters believe that something about the mortal conflict warded off the presence of Light and Dark, which they had come to know as friendly. Most Aspects are, at least to us mortals, because they have no need to fear us. To them, we are…”

“Grime,” Ray finished unexpectedly, nodding in understanding to himself. “It makes sense now.”

Twilight whipped around to him in confusion. “No, I was going to say ‘pets’. Why in the hay would you think that?”

Ray glanced up to her now, his eyes darkening as he explained, “The Spectre said something about me being among the ‘grime of mortality’. It was offering to make me ascended.” Ray paused as his eyes widened, suddenly standing and grabbing his head frantically. “It told me to let it in. Holy hell, it was trying to transmute me right there.”

“What, no, that’s impossible,” Twilight claimed, standing with the human as he began to pace. “Raymond, in order to become an alicorn, or whatever it may be in your case, you have to go through something that proves your worth. When I became the Princess of Friendship, Friendship itself told me that of all of the trials I had and would face, the one I had just conquered proved myself as a worthy avatar of its glory.”

“That sounds like some real godly talk right there,” Ray countered. “I don’t think this one cares too much about etiquette.”

“Once again, they aren’t gods,” Twilight clarified. “They carry out only what they are, such as with Friendship only able to do anything of the sort. It did not fight with any of the other Aspects, and is really the one that is holding all of them to their agreement to let us live out our lives here.”

“I’m going to be real with you on two points here, Twilight,” Ray said impatiently, pressing his hands together as he stopped pacing in front of her. “One, the image of a friend god holding everyone to their word is kinda funny.”

“Aspect, not a god,” Twilight sighed.

“Two, the Spectre doesn’t stand by any rules,” Ray continued. He reached up to his tunic and pulled down the neck to reveal his right shoulder and a surprising star-shaped mark on it.

Gasping, Twilight questioned loudly, “Is that a scar? Did the Spectre give it to you?”

“Yes, and, somehow, yes,” Ray answered slowly, crouching back down so they were eye level. “I was standing on the bowsprit of Garish’s ship four nights ago, when I suddenly had a headache come over me. I closed my eyes and attempted to force it out, thinking it was just because of the usual stress or dehydration, but when I opened them again, I wasn’t in Equestria. It was a dark place, no sun, no light, and everything seemed to be made of solid blue smoke. It was completely surreal in the most evil way. There was this voice, then, the Spectre, and suddenly it was the world. I’m not sure if the form it took mattered, seeing as in general it didn’t seem to keep its image completely intact. It was just… It felt like it was inside my head, which is impossible, because I know everything that occurred went down in my head. Adant said she saw me standing there, unresponsive.”

“What happened there, in that other world,” Twilight softly asked, trying to keep him focused. She had never heard of anything like this, not even from the Pillars or the Princesses. For all she knew, this was the first time in recorded history that somepony had interacted with a mindscape demon.

“Well, it attempted to allure me by presenting its power, or, at least, I think it was. It kept mocking me for worrying about ‘mortal things’. I think it was attempting to make me forget about the war. Seeing as I didn’t know what was going on, I acted tough, tried to get under its skin to see if it would reveal anything. It worked, but it also saw right through me.” Tapping his scar, he muttered, “It gave me this.”

“Anything else,” she pressed, leaning in. Sweet Celestia, she wished she had a quill for this…

“It told me that it chose me,” Ray recalled. “It kept referring to me as more than mortal and that I had potential.” Ray paused for another moment, rubbing his chin as his eyes once again slowly began to widen. “It called itself ‘power’.” He looked up into her eyes, his own suddenly set with realization as he inquired, “Is there an Aspect of power?”

Twilight thought for a moment, but she had already listed all of the Aspects she knew of. With a sigh, she answered, “No, there isn’t.”

Ray muttered a curse, finally plopping down to sit on the floor in front of her, his arms wrapping around his knees as he leaned back slightly. His breath hissed out between his teeth, slowly rocking on the floor as he whispered, “There isn’t a damn thing about this damn Spectre anywhere.”

“Well, we might not know anything about a Spectre, but maybe it's something we can figure out,” Twilight reminded him. “A spectre is something unknown that is feared, right? The shadow of darkness, per se.”

“So it might be the Aspect of Fear,” Ray surmised, sitting up and snapping his fingers. His enthusiasm was doused quickly as he asked himself, “But what would the Aspect of Fear want with me?”

“Well, were you afraid when the Spectre came to you,” Twilight asked quickly, chasing their first real lead hopefully. “Were you thinking about making others afraid of you?”

“No, I was actually at peace for the first time in a while, just enjoying the ocean,” Ray reminisced absently. “I was thinking about fish.”

The two fell into contemplative silence as they continued to theorize possibilities, before Ray softly asked, “Aspect of Pain? That headache came outta nowhere and hurt pretty badly.”

“If it does exist, I don’t know about it,” Twilight replied honestly. Tapping a hoof against her chin, she decided to think outside the box. “Maybe it wasn’t an Aspect. After all, we ponies may accept you as Equestrian, but because of where you come from, maybe the Aspects can’t even talk to you? Perhaps they don’t even realize you exist. It’s a bit of a stretch, but maybe the Spectre is a new mindscape demon? It would explain how you were the only one affected…”

“But what about the scar and my knife,” Ray questioned with a shrug.

“You’re knife,” Twilight asked with a confused glance to his belt, where a knife was clearly clasped in its sheath. “What about it?”

“Not this one, but the one I left Equestria with,” Ray elucidated. “In the other realm, when the Spectre stabbed me, I decided to stab back. It didn’t do anything to it, but the Spectre seemed to appreciate the gesture for some reason and decided to let me go. Well, when I came back to the real world, I realized I had left my dagger in its side, and it wasn’t with me. That and this scar prove that there is something more to it than me going crazy.”

“Hmm, that’s a fair point,” Twilight allowed, sighing in defeat. “Whatever the Spectre is, this isn’t going to be the last time you see it. My recommendation would be to have somebody with you at all times, no matter what.”

“Bathing included,” Ray challenged with folded arms.

Teleporting herself a glass of water, she took a sip considerately, before replying firmly, “Yes.”

“Well, I guess that won’t be too much of a problem,” Ray responded with a shrug, standing up. “Most’ve ‘em have seen me naked already.”

“I don’t want to know why, but I was actually hoping for something else,” Twilight told him sternly, sipping again. “Just because we have this-” she gestured to his shoulder- “to deal with, doesn’t nullify what we discussed earlier, about you losing your humanity. I want you to be reminded that while the world isn’t black and white, there are white spots in it. Live in Ponyville the next few weeks, with some of the others, even. Have the CMC over, hay, even invite Fluttershy over. Celestia knows? Maybe fall in love again.”

“You’re really trying to get me laid, aren’t you,” Ray questioned with a knowing, brazen smile.

“A) Inappropriate, and B) no,” Twilight declared sharply, in spite of the blush at the connotation. “I just need you to have something to live for, because at the end of the day, I want you to come back with as many Fallen as you can.”

Ray’s smile fell as he stared at the mare, a different, thoughtful expression coming over him instead of his usual cold wall. Slowly, he nodded, saying, “That was really sentimental of you, Twi. Thank you.” The human slowly began to stand, but seemed to realize he had forgotten something, and crouched back down. Before she could ask, he had suddenly scooped her into a surprisingly soft hug, his warm, long arms wrapped around her from under her front hooves. “I’ll stay in Ponyville for a week or two.”

“I could’ve hoped for more, but I’ll take it,” she replied keenly, wrapping her hooves around his neck in kind. They stayed like that for a few moments before Ray pulled away, a small, sad half-smile on his face.

“If things go south, know that I’m just glad that you knew how to manipulate me so well. Without that, I don’t know where I’d be. Sometimes I’m just too damn headstrong for anybody’s good.”

“Well, for as good as my manipulation worked, we’re still having problems with your language,” Twilight teased with a smile.

“Hey, I’m keeping it PG.”

Twilight raised a brow at him, still smiling. “I’d beg to differ.”

“Regardless, I’ll be needed back at the dock tomorrow, and considering it’s probably actually today with how late it is, I feel it would be easiest to teleport me back there,” Ray referred summarily. With a sweeping hand, he asked, “Care to do the honors?”

“Like I have a choice,” Twilight responded with feigned fatigue. “Very well then. Begone, human!”

Lighting her horn, she focused on him and the location he would be needed, right where she had watched him board those boats eight days ago. With a slight push of power through her horn, she sent him to the spot, watching the particles of her magic drift to the ground from where he had stood. The warmth of their banter faded as quickly as the little sparkles, leaving her sitting on the cold stone floor in the cold stale air of the Forbidden Library. Sighing, she glanced to the book she had reshelved, shaking her head slightly and taking another sip as she questioned, “Are we helping the world, Ray, or only hurting it a bit more?”

Author's Note:

Yeah, you didn't expect me to play the gods Aspects into this world, but wouldn't it be funny to know that the original draft had them in the first chapter? Anyways, as you may have noticed, summer means weekly updates, with probably a few chapters out every 4-7 days. Roughly.

Comments

[Calmflame]

Another interesting chapter. Can't wait for more😁

[The_Darker_Fonts]

11275372
Yeah, we over halfway done with the book, so Imma be pulling out all the hidden storylines. When the book is over, Imma release one last chapter that has all of the bread crumbs, jokes, foreshadowing, and references that may have been missed.

[Calmflame]

11275397
Sounds good. I will await the next chapter patiently