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Chapter 11,239 words
Chapter 21,031 words

Chapter 2

It's no accident that the church and the graveyard stand side by side. The city of the dead sleeps encircled by the city of the living. -Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider

I stood in shock and wonder for a few more moments as I stared at the unnatural being. Once I snapped out of my trance, however, I grew the courage to approach it, figuring that it can't kill me. Or rather, it could, sending me to the other side. And that's what I wanted, right?

Upon further investigation, the dark figure was... different, than anything I've seen. It had no real shape or form, mostly just black and gaseous, almost as though it were darkness incarnate. In fact, the only part of the creature that gave away its consciousness was its eyes: red, bright, a warm yet sinister-looking light emitting from a cold, soulless place. The eyes, although solid with no pupil, showed a hint of knowledge; knowledge of something only an immortal would understand. The creature had been eyeing me (at least, I think it was) for minutes now, seeming patient for my arrival. Why it wanted me, I had my suspicions but no real guess.

"Hello?" I called out to the darkness from six feet away. No response. I edged my way closer to better myself with the supernatural, hoping it would reveal its purpose. When nary a response came, I questioned the beast again. "Hello? Who are you? What are you? What do you want?"

Suddenly, I was answered not by the being before me, but from the vastness around me. The voice- or perhaps voices- echoed in the dim air. Hello Twilight Sparkle, they said, as though I were merely a recurring friend.

I frantically searched around me from the spot where I stood in attempt to connect voice to body. When I gave up my search and returned to looking at the beast, I found its eyes had somehow matched up with what had been said. Before I could begin to interrogate the darkness, it spoke again in its omniscient voice.

We have been expecting you, Twilight, the voice spoke both booming and, somehow, softly. We understand you have questions, but for now the following information must suffice. My name is Tenebris. I am one of many guiders. We are a race living in this world your kind calls Purgatory, the land for the dead but not-yet-crossed-over. It is my sole purpose to help you move on. For your first step, you must follow me to your first trial.

The "guider" never gave me the chance to question him, obviously meaning to leave me with this small amount of intel. My high intelligence came with one curse: a ravenous curiosity that ate at me when I only knew few things about a topic. This wasn't a big problem during my life, living in a library and such, but now the inner demon was full-on out-of-control. And unfortunately, like I mentioned earlier, Tenebris never gave any more information, nor any time to press him for answers before he started... er, walking? Gliding? Either way, he was moving away from me and towards the direction of what I hypothesized was my living home.

Like always, my hypothesis proved correct, for as I followed him my library-treehouse came into view moments later. It looked just as I remembered; how could it not? It's only been two days. Yet, it felt like an eternity since my last time in it, with Spike by my side, jotting down each one of my words to be sent to the princess, blood flowing through my veins as I spoke with such valor and knowledge... I quickly shut off the memories so as not to diverge from the task at hoof.

Once we arrived at the library, we looked through the windows to look on the inside. I began to ponder why we had come here; this was no longer my home, so it now had nothing to do with me. I brought up my confusion to Tenebris, and he only replied with a simple, Wait.

I looked back inside and again saw nothing of interest. Suddenly, when hope for an answer seemed all but lost, a purple being appeared near the center of the building. Spike slowly walked to the horse-head sculpture that centerpieced his former abode and sat. Tears were in the hatchling's eyes, trying to cleanse his sight from seeing the horrible truth that his only mother was gone. Moments passed before anything was said or thought.

"She's gone. She's really gone," began the child. "She left me alone. I'll never get her back. Why? WHY?!" Spike began a fit of pure sadness and sorrow. My heart shattered at the sight of the boy, my boy, in deep emotional pain. I would have joined him had I not been furious with Tenebris for bringing me here to witness it.

"Why did you bring me here?! Is my first 'trial' to kill me emotionally?" I angrily questioned the guider.

Tenebris only looked at me for a few seconds before responding, No. Your first trial has nothing to do with your emotions. In fact, you have no emotions; only memories. However, your trial is about his emotions. He turned back to look at Spike through the window.

I looked at the guider for a minute, dumbfounded and confused as to how I would even begin my trial. I then turned to look back at Spike also, who was now beside a tear-struck Fluttershy who was somehow in better condition than him. I listed in my head the ways I could comfort Spike as well, seeing as how we were in two completely different dimensions. At the moment, nothing seemed impossible; I mean, I was in Purgatory, for Celestia's sake! When no possible answer (or rather, too many possible answers) appeared, I turned back to Tenebris.

"What am I to do, if you don't mind me asking?" I inquired the dark beast.

Tenebris looked at me again with the omniscient look he always had in his eye. Dreams, Twilight he told me in his echoing voice. You enter his dreams.

To be continued

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