Revelations: The Dark Void

by GhostofSandwich

Delphian

Twilight wiped the tears from her eyes as the vision of her friends and Mystia disappeared from before her. She was completely sure that it would be the last time that she would see her friends until she made her way out of the void, so she cherished it.

Despite feeling better from the lake's water, she still had a burning sensation in her chest as well as a difficulty to breath. She knew she'd be fine, as the blood had already clotted and stopped bleeding. Didn't stop the burning though, plus there was still the worry of infection. Either way, she felt she was nearing the end of this place anyways and would soon be back in the real world. Hopefully, she'd be out of this place before an infection was even a threat.

The fog split around her as she made her way through it. Each step was a burden on her body, but she continued to force her way through. All around, she could hear the angelic humming of the song that Mystia had been singing, almost as if it was interwoven with the void itself. It brought both joy and sadness to her to hear. Joy because it seemed to grow louder as she walked, sadness because she knew the truth behind the song.

"I'm so sorry, Delphian..." The faint sound of a sickened cough could be heard.

"Don't be, Mystia. I won't be able to continue on in this state anyways. Please, allow me to put all of my being into you, so that you'll have the magical energy to escape from this place."

"No, I can't let you do that..."

"I either do this and help you and live on inside you, or I die here." Twilight gasped as a ghostly image of Mystia laying besides a white stallion with a blonde mane appeared before her. The stallion had a large gash going down the entire length of his side, bleeding uncontrollably.

"I know it's what you have to do and I know your going to do it... Just doesn't make it any easier. You're the last of my family, Delphian." Delphian weakly reached up with a shaky hoof, placing in on his sister's face.

"You still have Celestia. You know she loves you more than her own sister. She sees you as her actual daughter." Delphian coughed violently, a spurt of blood coating his muzzle. Even a foal could tell that he didn't have much more time.

"I know, but I mean of blood relation."

"Don't worry, my dear sister... I didn't tell you, since I knew it would only alarm you... But back in the white room, I saw something you didn't... I have a child; a filly. I never knew about her until then... You need to get out of here, be a mother to her." Twilight watched as Mystia stared dumbfounded at her brother. It was obvious she was struggling for words.

"You... No. I can't leave you here if you have a daughter-"

"Shush. She'll be fine if you make it back. I'd never be able to be a father since I never had a mother or father. But you... You can show her everything she knows. Magic runs deep in our family, no doubt her and her descendants will be strong in magic. She even has my last name... A name I'm sure she's proud of."

"Who's the mother? How do I find her?"

"A simple house-mare in Canterlot. I won't go into details, but I met her about seven years ago. If only I'd known... Don't worry about finding her. You can have Celestia find her when you get out of here."

"Okay... Okay, Delphian."

"Please, let me do this... If not for you, then for my daughter."

"Goodbye..." Twilight watched in sadness as the two touched horns. Each of them glowed with a blinding white light. When they touched, a burst of brilliant light erupted from them, temporarily lighting the entire void up. Once Twilight was able to see again, she could see the life-less body of Delphian lying on the ground, Mystia sobbing lightly next to him. "Delphian Sparkle."

Twilight revolted back in shock as the image before her disappeared. Had she heard her right? Surely this was just the void playing more tricks on her. Even though she wanted to believe this, she knew it was the truth... She had just watched one of her ancestors die before her eyes and he was the brother of Mystia. How exactly he was, she still didn't know.

Almost as if answering her question, the world around her started to ripple as if it was a pool of water that just had something dropped in the middle of it. As the ripples cleared, the darkness of the void turned to another vision, this on in Mystia's room.

-----

"Mystia?"

"Yeah, Celestia?" Mystia looked up from her books.

"I have some news for you... It's up to you to decide if it's good news, or bad."

"What is it?"

"You... Have a brother."

"What?!" The mare stood and looked at the princess, who looked to the floor.

"I only just found out. I know it's been seven years since..." Celestia stopped herself from mentioning that night. "But I managed to find your brother. He shares the same mother and father as you, but he was left with a foster family because he was born when your father was but in training."

"Foster family, why?"

"Any guard in training that has a child is to be immediately released, so they won't be putting their child in danger. Of course, they are allowed to have a child after they get to a high enough rank and prove that they are capable of maintaining their job and a child. Anyways, none of that is important. What's important is that I've found him."

"Can I meet him?"

"Yes, but I wanted to make sure that you wanted to meet him before I called him from his home."

"Can- can he live here?" Celestia looked forward in thought, then nodded happily.

"Of course, Mystia. If he's alright with it, I'll have a room set up for him." Mystia jumped from her chair and hugged the princess, who smiled happily and returned it.

"Thank you!"

"Anything for you, my dau-... Mystia." Celestia held her breath as she waited to see of Mystia had caught what she said. It wasn't the first time she had nearly called her daughter, but it was definitely one of the times she nearly didn't catch herself.

"What's his name?" She released the breath from her lungs and smiled.

"Delphian Sparkle. He took the name of his father, a noble-stallion. I'll go send for him immediately. Don't worry, I've had the pleasure to meet him. One of the nicest ponies this side of Equestria if you ask me. You two will get along just fine."

"I don't even know how to thank you."

"Mystia, just being here is thank you enough." Celestia closed the door behind her as she exited the room, leaving Mystia alone with a smile plastered on her face. She jumped up and down in excitement at knowing that she actually has a brother. She stopped as she caught glimpse of the black book again.

She had slowly read the book in her spare time over the last seven years, never reading more than a page in a single week. Not because she was a slow reader or wasn't interested in it, but because it filled her with extreme sorrow when she read it. Almost as if the sadness described in the book, in this 'dark void' was seeping through to her. She hoped that Celestia would never find her reading it, since she knew that studies of such planes of existence saddened her.

Celestia herself had once studied the other planes of existence. She did this because she knew that there was much to be learned from them, especially one such as the one described in the book in question. But she knew that her god-like status stopped her from leaving this plane, as her immortality was granted in this realm of existence only. Leaving would be the immediate death of her.

But Mystia... She would be fine if she wondered into another plane. Just fine. All she had to do was find the single phrase that, when said, would transport the very soul of the speaker to the Dark Void, leaving their mortal body behind. This would grant them theoretical immortality in the other plane, at least from natural causes. So why couldn't she try? It was the least she owed Celestia...

-----

Mystia's room was slowly swallowed by the dark void once more as the vision ended itself. She started to walk forward once more, before she heard a familiar voice.

"Twilight." She turned and looked at the stallion standing behind her. "She's waiting." Delphian's ethereal form stood behind her, addressing her directly.

"How... How are you talking to me?"

"That's how this realm works. When you come here, you're only able to see your direct family members... Of course, nopony was ever meant to come here. This is a place for the deceased... a paradise for us."

"Paradise?! Look around, it's all darkness... All sadness."

"To a mortal, yes... I used to think the same way. Please, allow me to show you what the Dark Void really is..." Twilight took a single step back as Delphian neared her, but stopped as she realized he didn't mean to harm her. She closed her eyes as Delphian touched her, his hood disappearing through her chest.

As she opened her eyes, she expected to see the dark void... What she saw, it wasn't anything any mortal could ever dream of. As far as the eye could see, there were ponies all chatting with one another, all enjoying themselves. What was once the dark void, was now a beautiful blue sky with bright white clouds, green fields all around.

"This... Is this what the deceased see in this realm?"

"Yes... and no. This is my paradise. It's different for every pony."

"Why are you showing me this?"

"Look behind you, at the end of the dark tunnel." Twilight turned around and sure enough, there was a dark tunnel in the middle of the green field. At the end of it, a light much like the one at the end of that cave back so long ago.

"What is it?"

"She's waiting." The words faded out as Delphian removed his hoof from her. Immediately, the bright world turned back to the depressing Dark Void, but with one difference... There was only one way to go. At the end, a brilliant bright light.

"Is that her?" She looked at Delphian, who stared blankly at her.

"Can't say. You may have more trials ahead of you, or that could be her. But, Twilight... If it is..."

"What?"

"Help her home. It's been a thousand years here for her."

"That's why I'm here."

"Thank you." Delphian faded into the wall behind him, which was made by the same black marble like material that the floor seemed to be made of. She hadn't noticed it before, but the singing was coming from the end of the hallway.

"I'm coming..." She started walking down the hallway, immediately noticing that she had not a single injury on her body.

Comments

[sonofjello]

Wow that was crazy and awesome at the same time.

fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/272/c/2/dj_p0n_3_clopplauding_by_mihaaaa-d3gsmxa.gif

[GhostofSandwich]

2208773 Glad you enjoyed it! On the final stretch now... Only one or two more chapters.

[Biker_Dash]

Very touching. I am most pleased with this chapter. Looking forward to the rest.

[SolRadiante]

Looking forward to the end of this great fic!

[GhostofSandwich]

2209464 Working on the final chapter now. The title actually reveals the ending if you think hard enough. It's also the name of the sequel. It'll hopefully be up soon.

Revelations: Twilight to Darkness

[SaxPon3]

2209503 That title actually kind of scares me, seeing as the last chapter before this one implied that Twilight never makes it back and Mystia takes her place.......

[GhostofSandwich]

2210609 Don't worry, since the new chapter is scheduled for release today or tomorrow... All questions and worries will soon be answered.

[SaxPon3]

2210651 Kind of scared to find out what'll happen.....but my curiosity will keep me in. Oh, did I mention that a really good song to listen to while reading this is either Mad Mares (Mad World Parody) by Feather, or the original Mad World by Gary Jules. Both very good for this fic.

[Anubis Nox]

Awesome!