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Chapter 16,421 words
Chapter 24,526 words

Chapter 1

Stones and pebbles were scattered as the woman slid down the rest of the ravine, key in hand. She landed hard at the bottom, where ancient ruins lined the sides of the ravine, most likely untouched for hundreds of years thanks to the war. That all changed now, as laying ahead of the woman among the derelict stone, was the Elktaur, or rather, his parts.

The General just laid there, unconscious, with an obvious broken arm, and probably a lot more damage that was otherwise unseen, made evident by what was next to him. Unlike the General, the Nowhere King was responsive, and seemed to be crawling towards his other half. He was breathing heavily, despite his unnatural form, and as the woman approached he looked at her.

The glow from his eyes was gone, and black ichor leaked out of every hole in the Nowhere King’s skull. Dark sludge was splattered everywhere, and a trail of it led from him to where he most likely hit the bottom of the ravine.

The woman sighed, and grasped the key in both hands, causing it to extend and sharpen.

“Let me see you as you once were, one last time,” She said, holding the key before her.

The Nowhere King bowed his head in acceptance, and the woman tapped the key on the ground, only for it to explode with magic. She was sent flying back into the wall, and the key was held aloft as it began to glow brightly. Arcs of magic and energy began to gather around it, which soon travelled into the stone beneath it, causing it to glow and shimmer.

The stone block the General was laying on rippled, and his body began to slowly sink into it, disappearing a moment later. Just then, the Nowhere King was jerked to the side, and pulled across the ground towards the shimmering slab. He screeched, and clawed at the floor as he too was forced into the portal.

“No!” The woman shouted, and she leapt forward, reaching through the maelstrom of magic and gripping the key, yanking it back.

But it was too late, and only the tips of the Nowhere King’s translucent hooves were visible as the magic was cut off, closing the portal. The dismembered limbs simply fell flat against the now inert stone, before melting into the same sludge that littered the area.

The woman just stared, eyes wide, before she glanced back at the key in her hand. She tapped it on the floor again, but there was no second surge of magic, and the slab beneath her cracked and crumbled into pieces.

“Are you sure we should be doing this,” Hitch Trailblazer asked, stepping over a root, “And why are we doing this again?”

“Well…” Sunny Starscout began, “Even though magic has returned to the world, nopony actually knows how to use it, and according to this map,” She held up the old looking piece of paper, “This place is supposed to be a library, which was owned by a renowned mage. That means it could be a treasure trove of ancient magic knowledge,” She said hopefully, “So yes, we should be doing this.”

“And where exactly is this library?” Zipp asked, hovering next to the group.

“It should be right…” Sunny trailed off, looking up from the map, only for her face to drop, “...through that fence.”

Said chain link fence extended into the forest in both directions, with only the gate on the pathway to break up its uniformity.

“Why is this here?” Sunny asked as the group fanned out across the path, inspecting the fence.

“Um,” Izzy Moonbow said, “Probably because the unicorns didn’t want anything to do with magic when it disappeared. But now that it’s back we don’t need these anymore!” She tore off a few warning signs.

“Sure…” Hitch said, “But how exactly are we supposed to get through this? It isn’t like we can just jump over it.”

“Sure we can!” Zipp responded, and she leapt into the air, soaring over the fence and landing on the other side.

“Uh, Zipp.” Pipp said, gesturing to the other three ponies, “Not all of us can do that.”

“Oh,” She said, “Right,”

“Actually,” Sunny said as she returned to the other side of the fence, “Could you carry us over?”

Zipp looked over all of them, “I’m not strong enough to do that… yet.” She added, “I’m working on it.”

“What if you worked together?” Sunny asked,

The two sisters looked at each other, then they looked at the rest of the group.

“We can try.” Pipp said, “But Hitch goes first.”

“What?!” He asked, “Why me?!”

“Because you’re probably the heaviest,” Pipp answered, “If we can’t lift you then we can’t take everypony over.”

Hitch sat there for a moment, thinking, before he responded, “Alright fine, just don’t drop me.”

“Only if you ask nicely,” Zipp said jokingly.

“Please don’t drop me.” Hitch deadpanned,

Zipp just smirked, then she and Pipp got on either side of Hitch and hooked their hooves underneath him.

“Ready?” Pipp asked

“Ready.” Zipp responded,

“I’m not ready!” Hitch shouted out,

“Too late!” Zipp said, “1 2 3 go!”

Hitch yelped as the two pegasi sisters lifted him up slightly, both of them flapping their wings hard and fast, but the progress was negligible at best. It took about five seconds for them to lift him just a foot off the ground, and they were already starting to show strain, not to mention Hitch was not helping in the slightest.

“I’m slipping! I’m slipping!” He shouted, “Don’t drop me!”

“Hold still or we will!” Zipp grunted, lifting him a bit further.

They only raised a few more inches before the weight overcame their strength, and no matter how hard the sisters tried, they couldn’t lift Hitch any further, instead falling rather abruptly back down to the ground with a whump.

“Yeah.” Zipp paused to catch her breath, “That’s not happening.”

“You’re too heavy Hitch,” Pipp said,

Hitch, who had managed to stay upright the entire time, just stood rigid, staring straight ahead.

“It’s alright,” Sunny began, “We’ll just have to find another way through.” She turned and looked back towards the gate. “Hmmm, Izzy, you wouldn’t happen to know where the key to this would be?” She asked, holding the padlock in her hoof.

“Nope!” She replied cheerfully, “But I know a spell that might help!”

“A spell?” Hitch asked, shaking himself out of his stupor.

“Yeah! I’ve been practicing some magic since it came back, and I figured out how to open up things like this.” Izzy explained,

“That’s great,” Sunny said, “Do you want to try it?”

“Well…” Izzy began, “I haven’t used it on something as complex as a lock, it might not work.”

“It’s not like there’s much else we can do right now,” Pipp said, “I think you should do it.”

“Yeah,” Zipp joined in, “Show us your magic, I wanna see it.”

Izzy looked at each of her friends, and was met with smiles and nods of encouragement.

“Okay,” She said unsurely, “I’ll try.”

Levelling her horn against the lock, Izzy closed her eyes in concentration, and a second later light began to emanate from her horn. It travelled from the base to the tip, before jumping to the lock on the gate, which also began to glow. She scrunched up her face, and forced more magic into the spell, the lock began to glow brighter and brighter, causing the rest of the group to avert their eyes.

“Aaannd done!” Izzy said a moment later, pulling away from the gate.

The others looked back at the lock, the nearly white hot lock. It sagged and melted until it eventually dropped free from the gate, plopping heavily on the ground as it cooled back down.

“Ummm, I guess that works,” Hitch said, looking at the molten metal as it resolidified, “Was that what you were trying to do?”

“Yep!” Izzy replied, “I figured out how to heat things up.” She rubbed her horn slightly, “That took a lot though.”

“Oh. I thought you were just going to unlock it.”

“Well it is unlocked isn’t it?” Izzy asked, pushing open the gate, “Now let’s go!”

They all looked at each other for a moment, before following their friend through the gate, making sure to avoid stepping on the now destroyed lock. The path continued through the forest, eventually leading the group into a small clearing, where a single, run-down building lay.

“This is it.” Sunny said, looking at the map.

“You sure?” Zipp asked, “It doesn't look like much of a library.”

“Sure it is,” Sunny responded, “It’s just a little… um…” She trailed off as she looked up from the map.

The ‘library’, if you could still call it that, was in ruins. Most if not all of the wooden structure had rotted and collapsed, causing the entire second story and roof to cave inwards. Swarming puddles of murky water surrounded the building, which appeared to have sunken into the ground slightly. Moss, vines, and all manner of plants covered everything, showing that it has been untouched for generations.

“...old is all,” Sunny finished,

“Would there be any books left?” Hitch asked,

“We may not find much, but anything is something,” She replied, stepping forward, “We just have to check it out.”

The rest of the group looked at each other unsurely, but eventually followed Sunny towards the dilapidated library. They carefully stepped through the miniature swamp that surrounded the building, swatting at insects the entire time before reaching the front door, which had managed to stay closed after all this time. Sunny reached out to open it, only for the door to simply fall over backwards, causing a huge plume of dust to spread out behind it.

“Yeesh,” Hitch said.

They all quickly shuffled into the library, which was thankfully a lot more dry inside, but that didn’t take away from the fact that everything was still destroyed. Dust lingered in the air, along with the strong smell of must and mildew. The plant life was ever present, and an entire section of the room was blocked off by a few shrubs. Sunlight streaked through the massive hole in the ceiling, then continued through the hole in the wooden floor, which showed a basement underneath.

The decayed floorboards creaked loudly as the group fanned out in search of anything useful, but there wasn’t much. The few bookshelves that lined the walls were sparse, and even then any remaining books were ruined by countless rainfalls. Underneath the part of the ceiling that hadn’t collapsed was a stained desk, which had all of its drawers removed and looked to have the nest of some animal in it, which thankfully wasn’t there at the moment.

The second story was of course completely destroyed, having collapsed and therefore being much more exposed to the weather. It was to the point that only things made of metal or glass were recognizable, with everything else either rotten or overgrown with vegetation.

That only left the basement, which was suspiciously dry, considering the whole structure acted as a funnel for water. Still, it was the last place left to look, not that there was much to even begin with. A large wooden beam rested in plain sight, making it evident that it must have fallen through the entire building when the second floor collapsed. The resulting impact overturned every single bookshelf, leaving a multitude of old books scattered across the floor, all of which were destroyed beyond repair.

“I don’t think there’s anything left.” Zipp stated, flipping through a water damaged book, which wasn’t legible in the slightest. “This place has to be what? A few decades old? At least?”

“Almost a century actually,” Sunny answered, “I was hoping there would be at least something of value here, but it looks like everything is either gone or destroyed. Sorry guys.” She said, a bit disappointed.

“Now hold on,” Hitch said, “I think I found something.”

“You did?” Izzy asked.

“Yeah.” He replied, gesturing the group over to the beam where he was. “You said that this place was owned by a mage right?”

“Yes?” Sunny said,

“Well wouldn’t a mage keep their best material someplace secure?” Hitch asked.

“That seems reasonable,” Pipp said,

“Then look at this,” Hitch finished, pointing at the floor.

Underneath the beam there was a break in the floorboards, not one that was caused by its fall. A rusted metal frame with a handle set in the floor, it was a hatch. Only there was one problem, the wooden beam was resting on it entirely, blocking it from opening in the slightest.

“It goes further down?” Zipp asked.

“It certainly looks like it,” Hitch said, “Now give me a hoof with this.”

They all nodded at each other, and together they pushed up against the beam to move it out of the way. It was certainly hefty, but with the combined effort of five ponies, they began to slide it off of the trap door inch by inch until eventually they pushed it off. However before anypony could celebrate their teamwork or possibly open the hatch, the floor creaked, loudly.

A second later several of the floorboards cracked and splintered, and the wooden beam sunk a few inches into the floor. Sensing the immediate danger, everpony jumped to the sides of the basement, and a moment later the center of the floor gave way, taking most everything with it and dropping the wooden beam even further downwards with a large splash.

Several moments of silence followed as the ponies stared at the brand new, third hole in the building.

“That was close!” Zipp shouted, “Is everypony okay?”

“I’m fine!” Pipp responded from across the room,

“We’re good!” Hitch said,

“I’m over here!” Izzy called out.

“Okay good, now why did that happen?!” Zipp demanded

“We must’ve moved the beam to a less stable section of the floor!” Sunny deducted, “And that caused it to collapse!”

“Well what’s down there?” Hitch asked.

She peered down into the newly made hole, which was fairly dark considering how deep it was and the fact that the sun was far from overhead. Luckily they had at least semi prepared for this journey, so Sunny pulled out a flashlight from her saddlebags and quickly turned it on, shining it down below.

“Great,” She groaned, “It’s flooded,”

They had their answer on why there was no water above, it must have been collecting all the way at the bottom for who knows how long, and from the looks of it there wasn’t much to drain it either. At least the beam wasn’t fully submerged, meaning they had something to stand on, however small it might be.

“What is that?!” Izzy pointed.

Sunny quickly moved the light over, and the soaked cover of a book floating in the water was seen.

“Well, at least we know there’s more books.”

“We’re not going to go down there are we?” Pipp asked,

“We might have to,” Sunny responded, “Just to check.”

“How would we get out?” Hitch asked,

“We couldn’t” Sunny answered, “But one of you could,” She pointed at the pegasus sisters, “Could you check to make sure we don’t all have to go down there?”

Pipp vehemently shook her head, while Zipp just nodded slightly, “Sure, you got another flashlight?”

“Just the one, here” Sunny responded, tossing the flashlight over the hole.

Zipp quickly caught it, then took off and fluttered down into the hole, landing squarely on the wood beam. She took a moment to circle the room, making sure to shine the flashlight over everything and anything.

“Good news!” She called up, “There’s books, and they’re not soaked!”

Sunny let out a sigh of relief, “Great! Now come back up here so we can figure out how to recover them!”

“Hold on!” Zipp interrupted, “There’s something else, something you should see!”

Sunny glanced at the rest of her friends before calling back down, “Right now?”

“Yeah!”

“But how will I get out?” She asked,

“There’s a ladder here! Besides, I’m pretty sure we can lift you, just not Hitch!” Zipp shouted, “He’s too fat!” She added on.

“Hey! I’m standing right here you know!” Hitch called down.

The others giggled a bit, then Sunny looked back down the hole.

“Okay! I’m coming down!”

And with that, she leapt down into it, landing hard on the wooden beam below. It rocked slightly, but both ponies managed to keep their balance as it settled more.

“Look,” Zipp said, pointing the flashlight down one of the damp corridors.

Sunny followed it with her gaze, and saw all manner of bookshelves, filled to the brim with books, and while the bottoms were submerged in water, more than half of the shelves were just fine, if a little moist. However, it was what lay at the end of the corridor that caught their attention.

“It’s the same symbol from before.” Zipp finished.

“It is…” Sunny realized, squinting her eyes a bit.

Above the doorway at the end of the corridor, the same six pointed purple star was carved and painted into the stone. It was a little obscured by some moss, but it was the exact same symbol that Zipp had shown her before in the stained glass.

“That has to be important.” Sunny deducted

“I’ll say. You wanna take a look at it?” Zipp asked,

“For sure.” Sunny readily agreed, “But not right now, we don’t exactly have the stuff necessary to-”

She was cut off as the beam rocked back and forth from another impact, nearly causing the both of them to fall off of it.

“Hey guys!” Izzy said, “What’cha looking at?”

“Woah!” Sunny righted herself, “Izzy?! Why did you jump down?

“I wanted to see what you guys were looking at.” She answered, looking around, “Wow, it’s dark in here.”

“It is.” Sunny replied, “And we were looking at that,” She pointed down the corridor, which Zipp soon pointed the flashlight down again.

“Ooooh,” Izzy began, “Let’s go check it out.”

“Hold on, not ye-” Sunny stopped, as Izzy was already tying up her hair, and a moment later she jumped into the murky water, splashing the other two in the process.

“Yuck,” Zipp complained, trying to clear her white coat of some of the muck.

They watched as Izzy continued to wade through the chest high water, ignoring the other bookshelves in favor of the main prize. Sunny then looked to Zipp

“So about that ladder.” She said,

“It’s over there,” Zipp responded, gesturing with her head as she kept the light focused on Izzy.

“Right then, I guess we’re doing this now.” Sunny then tied up her own mane and tail, and then she stepped into the chilled water.

Wading over to the ladder that was pointed out, which had managed to stay standing after all this time, Sunny dragged it over to the beam and underneath the hole before testing the first few steps. When they managed to hold she continued the rest of the way up, her head just barely peeking above the basement floor.

“Who wants to help recover some books?” She asked

“Sure,” Hitch said, and he quickly moved to jump down as well.

“Pipp?” Sunny asked, turning to look at her.

“Ugh! Fine!” She groaned, “But only because it’ll be something interesting to show my followers,” She pulled her phone out to take a selfie.

Sunny rolled her eyes as she climbed back down the ladder, stepping into the water once more, only to see a lot more than she was able to before.

“What the?”

“Hey.” Zipp called out, “Izzy found the light switch.”

“I did!” Izzy shouted from across the corridor.

“This place has electricity?” Hitch asked, looking up from a bookshelf.

“No, I think it runs off magic!” Izzy responded, flicking the switch a few more times.

Sunny watched as the not bulbs but gems repeatedly flickered on and off, effectively lighting up the entire room.

“Oh yeah,” Hitch said, “Sunny, what books should we be looking for?” He asked.

“Um, look for anything related to magic, you may have to read through it a bit, but pick out what looks important, we can only carry so much, but we can come back later.”

“Alright,” Hitch nodded, and he went back to pulling what little books remained on the shelves.

Pipp did much of the same, though she chose to hover above the water and snap photos of almost every book she looked at, which was most likely for her blog, but would still prove to be a useful catalog later.

“Hey, wanna go check out the other room? Izzy is about to open the door,” Zipp asked, hovering next to Sunny.

“Oh sure,” She replied, “Let's go.”

It took some time for the two to catch up to Izzy, mainly because Sunny had to slowly wade through the water while Zipp kept pace, but eventually they made it to the end of the corridor and at the sealed stone door, where Izzy was waiting.

“How do you think we open it?” She asked, tilting her head slightly.

“Does it have a handle?” Zipp asked,

“I don’t think so. At least not anymore.” Izzy pointed to a hole in the door, where a handle could’ve been.

Zipp tested her hoof against it, but it was too small to get a proper grip.

“Did it fall off or something?” She asked,

They both stared into the water, searching for whatever was used to open the door previously. Sunny just looked at them, then at the door, then the hole in it, then at Izzy, and finally at her horn.

“Guys,” She said, drawing their attention away from the water, “I think a unicorn needs to open it.”

This time Izzy looked from the door to her horn, then to the door again,

“Ohhhh.” Both she and Zipp realized at the same time.

“Do you think I could do it?” Izzy asked,

“It wouldn’t hurt to try.” Sunny offered

“Okay! Here goes nothing!” Izzy excitedly said, levelling her horn against the door.

She carefully slotted it into the hole, and managed to push in all the way to her forehead. The three of them waited for a moment, but nothing happened.

“I think you have to try to open it.” Zipp suggested,

“Oh right!” Izzy said, then she grunted as she began pushing against the door, trying to slide it open.

The sound of stone grinding against stone filled the room, which was thankfully dampened by the water, and the door ever so slowly began to move to the side.

“You’re doing it! Keep going!” Zipp encouraged.

The door screeched to a halt, groaning as whatever was holding it in place was caught and put under stress. Izzy took a moment to exhale before inhaling once more and pushing even harder. The door creaked louder, but didn’t budge.

“C’mon!” Izzy said through gritted teeth,

Something inside the wall snapped, and a moment later the door began moving again, enough to show a sliver of the room on the other side. This one wasn’t flooded, which was made evident by the flow of water that started to pick up as Izzy continued to open the door. Sunny had to step to the side to avoid getting sucked up against the door.

By the time the flow equalized almost a foot of water had drained from the main corridor, which certainly made moving easier, but that meant whatever was in the other room was now partially flooded as well. Hopefully they could get in there before any serious damage could take place. Izzy pushed open the rest of the door and pulled her horn out, panting heavily and sweating slightly.

All three of them then looked past the door, only to see the torn metal latch that was keeping the door shut from inside the wall.

“Um, I think you were supposed to use magic,” Zipp said, shining the flashlight through the door.

“Oh, whoops,” Izzy said between breaths.

“It’s fine, at least you got it open,” Sunny said, partially agape after watching the feat of strength. “What’s in there?”

“Uhh…” Zipp trailed off, peering through the doorway, “It’s a little hard to see from here but it looks like something big and shiny is in the middle of the room.

“Is it sparkly?” Izzy asked, also trying to look into the room.

“Nope, doesn’t look like it.” Zipp replied.

“Aww…”

“Let’s check it out shall we?” Sunny said, moving past Izzy’s disappointment.

The three of them walked into the room, which was only illuminated by the faint light from the door and their flashlight, meaning the lights were probably on a different circuit. Still, even in what little light they had, there was a lot to be seen.

“Look at all these… notes!” Sunny exclaimed, “There has to be something of worth here.” She waded up to the nearest desk, which thankfully stood just above the water level, so every single piece of paper atop it was intact.

“Is that… a mirror?” Zipp wondered, shining the flashlight towards the object in the center of the room, which sat on a raised platform, though it wasn’t enough to keep it out of the water.

“This has got to be important,” Sunny said, holding up a notebook, which appeared to be overflowing with additional pages and notes. She quickly stuffed it into her bag, then continued to search the nearby desks and diagrams.

“Hey guys!” Izzy shouted from across the room, “I think I found the light switch!”

“That’s great!” Sunny said as Zipp shined the flashlight over to Izzy, “Go ahead and turn them on.”

Then Sunny saw what Izzy was standing next to.

“Wait! Don-” She tried to call out, but it was too late.

Izzy flipped the massive knife switch on the wall, and a moment later the machine in the center of the room sparked to life. Lightbulbs, nixie tubes, gears, and pistons jumped into action as magic filled the system once more. A large amount of light began to emanate from the mirror in the center, and its surface began to waver and ripple.

All three of them watched in shock as the ancient machine started for the first time in decades, centuries even.

It was only when nothing more happened in the next few moments that they decided to speak.

“You really thought that was a light switch huh?” Zipp asked.

“I mean it was A switch!” Izzy shot back, “It could’ve controlled the lights.”

“That’s not important anymore.” Sunny interrupted, “Can we turn it off?”

“I think so,” Izzy said, “Should I flip the switch again?”

“Please do, we don’t know what this thing is or what it’s doing.” Sunny said

Before Izzy could reflip the switch though, a noise stopped her, one from the mirror. It started as a whisper, but grew in volume until it sounded like somepony screaming.

In a flash and a splash, a pony was ejected from the machine and sent tumbling into the water, coming to a halt near the doorway. Every other pony watched in shock as the stallion erupted from the water, gasping for breath before frantically looking around. His eyes met with the three friends, and he jumped back in surprise, only to notice his own body, and his limp, dangling hoof, obviously broken. He fell over again, splashing back down into the murky water and scrambling to stand back up, failing miserably several times.

“Are you okay?!”

The stallion stopped and stared at them with wide eyes, then he noticed how they were standing, and adapted his stance to match their own, making sure to not put weight on his broken foreleg.

“Sir?” Sunny approached the wobbling stallion.

“Stay away from me!” He shouted out, taking a shaky step back, almost falling over again in the process.

“It’s okay, we just-”

Sunny was interrupted by another noise from the machine. They all turned to look at it as it began to shake, violently.

“Turn it off!” Zipp commanded.

Izzy nodded rapidly, and pulled the knife switch back down, and a moment later the bits and bobs surrounding the mirror shut off, yet it stayed lit. Its shaking intensified, gears fell off, some pistons broke, its nixie tubes and lightbulbs burst as the whole thing overloaded. It was at this point that the mysterious stallion ran out of the room, tripping over himself several times.

“Hey! Wait!” Zipp called out, but she was blocked from pursuing further as the machine rattled and shook.

All of its external parts detached and fell off, leaving only the mirror standing. The ripples along its surface grew large and choppy, and the swirling vortex of blues and pinks began to change color. Splotches of black began to streak across it, as if somepony was dripping ink into it. Any light that was emanating from the mirror was soon blotted out as the darkness overtook it. Then it went still, leaving the trio in a state of shock and confusion.

Zipp shined the flashlight over to the mirror, where its once flawless surface was now inky black and warped, but it wasn’t solid. They all watched as blobs of dark sludge oozed from the mirror’s surface, making contact with the water and staining it black. The flow increased, and both Sunny and Zipp stepped back to avoid the tainted water as it spread.

A splatter of black fluid sputtered from the mirror, and Izzy gasped as something solid slipped through. Now the center of attention, the sludge covered object slid across the raised platform before coming to a rest near the edge. Its shape was obvious enough, but as the majority of the ooze covering it dripped off, they were able to see exactly what it was.

A skull, one of an elk.

Zipp looked away, and Sunny had to stop herself from gagging at the sight. Izzy appeared to be fairing a bit better, but she still looked unsettled.

“What do we do?!” She asked,

Before anypony could respond, a deep growl filled the room, causing them all to look around frantically.

"You!” A voice called out.

It had come from the skull.

It then went rigid, and so did the sludge surrounding it, then the water started to ripple. The skull was raised up, held by a growing mound of sludge as it flowed through the water. A moment later the lower jaw snapped into position, and the now whole head, if you could call it that, shook, spraying inky flecks all over the room.

The creature then focused on Izzy, staring straight at her with empty, leaking eyes. She stepped back, horrified. It surged forward, flowing through the water with relative ease, before Izzy could even begin to react, it was upon her. In an instant, dark, translucent tentacles shot out of the thing’s body and the water, wrapping around Izzy and holding her, constricting her. She tried to gasp out, but the slime covered her mouth, beginning to suffocate her.

“Hey!” Zipp shouted, mustering up enough courage to face the being. “Let her go!”

“Yeah!” Sunny joined, inspired by her friend.

The skull turned, staring down the two others, causing them to shrink back down. Then, small beads of green light appeared in each eyehole, and the creature turned back towards Izzy as she struggled. More lines of sludge rose out of the water, binding her further, and preventing her from moving in the slightest.

“Come on!” Sunny shouted, dashing through the water.

Zipp nodded, and immediately jumped out of the water and into the air, she flew over to the now inert portal and picked up a piece of machinery, carrying it over to the creature and dropping it. It impacted hard, causing the creature to screech, then turn its head all the way around to look at its attacker.

“Over here!” She yelled, waving her hooves and flying over to the other side of the room, with the creature soon following.

Sunny took the opportunity to wade over to Izzy, who remained trapped in the goo, and began to search for a way to free her. It immediately became apparent that nothing would work however, as no matter how hard Sunny tried, she just couldn’t get past the amorphous bindings that held her friend. She even tried biting it, and was rewarded with a retching fit.

Tears were now openly streaming down Izzy’s face, and Sunny was looking around frantically for anything that could help. She flinched as pieces of magical equipment were sent flying across the room, crashing into the wall next to her. Then she looked down, and noticed the slime in the water, which appeared to be more transparent than the slime above it.

“Izzy!” Sunny shouted, “The water!”

She looked down with her eyes, then looked at Sunny.

“Ready?” Sunny asked,

“Mmmph!” Izzy grunted, nodding slightly.

Without a moment to spare, Sunny pushed her friend into the shallow water, scrubbing her all over with her hoof, trying desperately to free her from the thing’s grasp. Almost immediately scraps and strips of sludge began to break away from the bindings, and Sunny redoubled her efforts, causing more pieces to break away. After a few moments of this something else came up from the water, bubbles, which meant Izzy could breathe once more.

A moment later she burst from the water, gasping for breath before leaning over to cough up any remaining slime in her throat. An unnerving amount of it came out as she hacked, and Izzy then took a moment to catch her breath. Another loud crash came from across the room, causing the both of them to flinch and look over. There Zipp was still engaging the monster, flying just out of its reach as she dropped things on it. Enraged, the monster lashed out with tentacles of sludge, only for Zipp to nimbly dodge each attack.

“Zipp!” Sunny called out, “We gotta go!”

Both Zipp and the creature looked over, and the water surrounding them began to tremble. A low growl emanated from the monster, and it posed to strike. Before it could however, another piece of magical equipment smashed over the top of it, causing it to recoil and screech.

“Let’s go!” Zipp shouted, flying over to the doorway.

Izzy and Sunny rushed through the water, completely foregoing trying to keep things dry. They skirted around the room, giving the recovering creature a wide berth as they splashed ahead, eventually making it to the door as well. Tearing through it, they slowed as their other two friends stared at them.

“What’s going on!?” Hitch demanded, “Who was that?!”

A screech echoed through the doorway, causing all of them to stop and look. Two beads of green light appeared in the darkness, and the water surrounding the doorway began to shift and darken. The green eyes moved forward, revealing the bleached white skull of an elk, its wicked antlers just barely fitting through the doorway.

“Run!” Sunny shouted, and she bolted towards the ladder.

Hitch nodded, eyes wide, and he began climbing the ladder immediately, jumping back up into the first basement. Zipp dashed upwards as well, and Izzy moved to begin climbing as well, while Pipp just stared at the monster as it fully entered the room.

“Woah,” She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture.

“Come on!” Sunny commanded, making Pipp realize what was happening, she too flew up into the basement.

Sunny then jumped up the ladder, following the rest of her friends out of the flooded corridor, but not before kicking over the ladder leading out. She turned and looked back down, seeing the monster reach where the just were, it looked up at them with its almost empty eyes.

Then is shifted, and several more tentacles of slime raised up, only for them to take shape into something else. All of them watched as one two three four… five and six translucent cloven hooves rose, gripping the floor around the hole. The creature then pulled itself up, out of the water, large amounts of tainted liquid slopped off, but enough held together for it to reach the first basement.

Its head then snapped to the side violently, and its slimy form began to waver, causing it to lose traction and fall back down into the corridor below, screeching as it thrashed around. This spooked the five ponies into continuing out of the basement, up the stairs and into the main floor then out the front door. They didn’t slow down until the dilapidated library was well behind them and barely visible through the thick trees of the forest. Even then, the group only stopped as the reached the chain link fence and gate from earlier to catch their breath.

“What was that thing?!” Hitch asked,

“I don’t know!” Sunny responded, “It just came out of that mirror with that other guy! And then it attacked… Izzy!” She realized, and she immediately looked at her.

Izzy looked to be on the verge of crying, but before she could she bent over and threw up even more sludge onto the ground. Then she began to sob uncontrollably.

Her friends surrounded her, and Sunny hugged her in an attempt to comfort her.

“Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay, we’re all okay” She said softly.

Izzy sniffed, and looked up at Sunny with a small smile.

“Well,” Pipp said, frowning slightly, “What do we do now?”

They all looked at each other in confusion, then Sunny stood up fully.

“I don’t know,” She admitted again, but then she pulled out the notebook from earlier, which was a little damp, “But I found this book, and it has to be important. Maybe it’ll tell us what to do next.”

With that, she valiantly turned towards the open gate in the chain-link fence, only to stop a moment later as she stared ahead, causing the rest of her friends to look as well.

There, laying splayed out and unconscious, was the mysterious stallion from earlier.

Pacing back and forth among the murky water, the Nowhere King grumbled as it slid through the corridor. Then it stopped, and looked towards the shelves that lined the walls. The shelves that held books, books that held knowledge.

Knowledge of magic.

To be Continued…

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