“So, let me get this straight,” Ace replied. “You hear voices from your doll?”

Silver and Huntsmen glanced at each other, reading the concerned look on each other’s faced.

“Yes.” Eclipse nodded. “When Nightbeam speaks, they speak, and I listen. They are very wise, and I use that to aid me in my life. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t even be here.”

“What are these, voices, like?” Silver asked.

“Darklight loves to cause trouble, Starglow enjoys teasing others to her will, and Shadow is the voice of reason. Sometimes they get along, sometimes they don’t.”

Ebony then asked, “What are they saying about us?”

Eclipse stayed silent as she listened to the cat doll. The crackle of the fire in front of them kept out the silence as they waited. Through the smoke, Ace could see Mt. Gné, only a dozen kilometres ahead. After a long trip, they have finally done it, and now, they celebrate by spending the night enjoying a final supper and drink.

They had been telling stories of their lives and told personal secrets in their tipsy state. Silver had confessed to knowing the age of that mare, Huntsmen boasted how he crushed a whole nest of sparrow eggs between his thighs, Ebony admitted she always found Ace cute, and Eclipse had just recently revealed her abnormal mental state.

All that was left was Ace to tell a story. She had hundreds of adventures to choose from, but not one of them was really that notable. As Ace stared at the mountaintop, she recalled each and every adventure she went one ever since she was a foal. She found that, the best ones, were all the ones that she had Ebony with.

In her heart, there was a special place for the bat-pony. They had been friends for ages, and the two shared moments that many friends would die to share with their partners in crime. Ace glanced over to Ebony, and began thinking, thinking about their relationship, and how it could advance.

Eclipse finally spoke, “Darklight likes Ebony the most.”

“Aw, that’s sweet,” Ebony chimed, forgetting that it’s a disembodied voice that said that.

“Starglow thinks Silver is cute,”

Silver Chord blushed. A doll... Thinks I'm cute... Well, things just got a WHOLE lot more complicated. He thought.

Eclipse then continued. “…and Huntsmen is the strongest, and the most dashing.”

Silver’s face quickly turned to an irked scowl and looked towards Huntsmen, posing himself on the log and puffing his massive chest out. He rolled his eyes and returned to Eclipse, but not before giving a light punch to Huntsmen’s shoulder.

“And finally,” Eclipse concluded, looking towards Ace. “Shadow thinks you, Ace, are a great leader.”

“I am?!” Ace exclaimed.

“Although you have terrible sense of navigation and an annoying tendency to jump into things without a plan-”

“Hey!”

“-You bring great morale to the team, know how to defend yourself and your kin, and have a strong heart in justice.”

“Okay.” Ace simply nodded. It wasn’t the most ideal of judgements, but Ace still took the compliment.

Ace prepared herself as everypony’s attention turned to her. It was her turn to reveal something about herself, and she had just the thing in mind to tell, as her last words before they slept and headed to the volcano.

However, before Ace could speak, Huntsmen quickly asked Eclipse, “Do the voices tell you stories?”

“Actually, they do,” Eclipse answered.

At that moment, everypony returned to Eclipse.

“Can they tell us one?” Ebony begged.

Silver and Huntsmen tagged along and rapidly nodded their heads like excited puppies. Ace held back from intervening, for she too was curious of what stories these voices hold. Seeing as she didn’t really have any excuses, Eclipse agreed.

The four others surrounded Eclipse as she looked down to Nightbeam. She could feel the voices rush to the controls of her mind and take over. Stanzas and paragraphs were written from the abyss the voices reign from and presented by her tongue. She illustrated her story with magic, using the red of the fire, the black of the smoke, and the white of the stars to draw shapes and colours. As the night reached its peak, she told her story, The Tale of the Weaver Brothers.

“A long time ago, long before the islands took their shape, long before the world knew of the colour of fire, there were two brothers. The brothers were gifted by the gods with incredible magic, able to produce enchanted strings from only their hooves and mind. The first brother, The Weaver of Creation, made strings made from the strongest materials. His strings were indestructible, unmalleable, permanent. The other brother, The Weaver of Destruction, made strings made from the sharpest materials. And his strings were razor-sharp, honed, unyielding.

Together, the brothers brought great honour to their pony brethren with their gifts. The Weaver of Creation would raise buildings from the earth below, and The Weaver of Destruction would ward off the beasts that lingered. The Weaver of Creation would make clothing of the most elegant design, and The Weaver of Destruction would clear forests to make roads from. The Weaver of Creation would uphold peace, love, and spirituality, and The Weaver of Destruction would uphold justice, power, and mentality.

They would guide the souls of those who’ve had not yet departed, whose lives remained unfinished and without peace. The brothers would give those souls purpose and love, and aided them to the spirit realm. The world became silent and peaceful as the souls of those who have passed no longer mourned.

As they learned more about themselves, the greater they became. They weaved muscles into their flesh and bone, making them stronger than the strongest Earth pony. They laced wings to their bodies, and they could fly greater than any pegasi. They placed horns upon their heads, and could perform magic unknown to even the wisest unicorn. The brothers were seen as gods among mortal ponies, and for the early years of their life, they wandered the land, seeking out those who needed their help.

However, as the brothers got older, and their magic more firmly grasped, their bond slowly withered. The Weaver of Destruction no longer saw his brother as strong as he was. Even when faced with a force of evil, his brother refused to kill, and only sought peace with the monster. The appeal of aiding others fell from The Weaver of Destruction’s interests as well, seeing as they had become blind to the dangers of the world.

The Weaver of Creation kept to his ideals however. As he saw it, as long as he and his brother stayed to guide their pony brethren, there was no fear to be feared, no monsters to sacrifice lives to, and no struggle to endure. The two brothers began to argue with one another. Which was of greater value, independence or trust, fear or love, justice or mercy?

Eventually, The Weaver of Destruction rebelled against his brother. For it was only he that could break his brother’s strings, The Weaver of Destruction destroyed the buildings his brother created. He made an example of the danger that awaited outside his aging brother’s wall, and struck fear into the ponies.

With that fear, the ponies became strong, and warded off the beasts with as much ease as the other brother. Technology began to advance, and the land became more bountiful to its ponies. However, this came at a price. As weapons became common amongst the ponies, they became fearful of one another, and violence within soon followed. The Weaver of Creation looked over what his brother had brought, and was disgusted.

One night, as the Great Eclip set to its slumber in the horizon, The Weaver of Creation confronted his brother upon a mountain. On one side was the land The Weaver of Creation created, untouched. On the other side was the land that The Weaver of Destruction had usurped from his brother.

The Weaver of Creation instructed his brother, ‘Look upon your land. It has been inflected by the weeds of war and fear. Now tell me, is this right?’

The Weaver of Destruction coldly replied, ‘It has become a great and powerful society, Brother. Despite its faults, it is more suitable for these times approaching.’

His brother shook his head in disappointment. How could his brother have gone astray? What makes him think that tampering with a perfect land is correct?

His brother then motioned to the mountains beyond the walls of their land and said, ‘What are across those hills are monsters beyond what we faced as young. They can fly over your walls, they can travel under the earth, and they can kill without laying a claw onto their prey. Our ponies must be strong against the monsters when they come.’

The Weaver of Creation then asked, ‘And what happens after those monsters? Will your ponies be at peace, or shall they fight once more, not content with no matter how much blood you feed them? Blood has no value once removed from the heart that loves.’

The Weaver of Destruction didn’t reply. He flew away into the night, and returned to his half of the mountainside. He had disowned his brother, and proclaimed his land as separate to The Weaver of Creation’s. They had never looked into each other’s eyes before, and they vowed never to in the future.

Eventually, the monsters did come and invaded. While The Weaver of Creation’s wall stood firm, the beasts infiltrated his land through the other means his brother warned him about. Without adequate weapons, the ponies relied on their leader, The Weaver of Creation, to save them. However, he did not have such power without his brother. Instead, The Weaver of Creation made friends with some of the monsters, and they sacrifice themselves to ward off the other monsters from their friend and his land.

Without a sturdy wall, the monsters easily flooded into The Weaver of Destruction’s land. However, with military training rich in their blood, and weapons greatly more powerful than that of their brothering state, the ponies fought off the monsters. In a fortnight, most were defeated, few had retreated, and only one remained. The Weaver of Destruction brought it upon himself to slay the beast and done so. As a trophy of their victory, The Weaver of Destruction tore off its head and wore it as a helmet.

After the invasion had ceased, the brothers looked over their land once more. On The Weaver of Creation’s side, many more lived were taken, with some having the homes they were inside swallowed whole. However, its citizens remained peaceful, knowing that the damage can be repaired. On The Weaver of Destruction’s side, barely any lives were taken, and the land celebrated over their victory. However, in only a night’s time, a faction declared war onto another, and blood had been shed once more.

The brothers met on the mountain once more. They argued how their side handled the monsters better than the other. The Weaver of Creation called his brother a failure, for not ending the bloodshed on his land even after the vanquishing of the bloodthirsty monsters, and The Weaver of Destruction called his brother a coward, for allying with the monsters that killed and brought great suffering that still remained. Over the next set of generations, the two sides of the mountain quarreled more and more with each other, separating families and friends. This had caused them more pain than any of the monsters.

They’re arguing turned to rage, and their rage turned to violence. Wanting to expand their land, the ponies of The Weaver of Destruction waged battle against their neighboring territory. With their mastery in technology, they snuck behind The Weaver of Creation’s wall and attacked. For it was only he who could dull his brother’s strings, The Weaver of Creation put a stop to the invaders’ advances, weakening his brother’s weapons and strengthening defenses, but not before the lives of many were taken away.

That night, The Weaver of Creation confronted his brother in his palace, furious of what his brother’s followers have brought.

The first brother asked him, ‘Why? Why do you allow this? Your ponies have invaded my land, and have taken the lives of many families, defenseless against them.’

The other brother had no idea such an invasion took place, and to have it told to him now by his sworn enemy in his own palace shocked him.

Concerned, The Weaver of Destruction said, ‘I had no idea that such an incident had occurred. I am greatly sorry for your loss.’

‘If you were sorry,’ the first brother told him. ‘You would destroy the weapons that have brought this needless bloodshed. Ever since you left me, Brother, it seems there is more suffering in this world than ever before.’

In that instant, The Weaver of Destruction’s words turned from concern to anger.

He yelled, ‘Do not call me ‘Brother’. How dishonorable must you be, to blame your incompetence upon my ponies, upon these sacred grounds? My ponies are now strong, independent, free from the walls that you use to imprison your blind followers.’

The Weaver of Creation replied in an equally sharp tone, ‘I do so to protect them! How incompetent must you be to not know when innocent blood has been spilt by the hooves of your own?’

‘Be gone,’ said The Weaver of Destruction, ‘For what reason should I have to respect you anymore? I do not fear you.’

With that said, The Weaver of Destruction exited his throne, and walked to his personal chambers. Disgraced, The Weaver of Creation flew back to his land. The flames of fury swept through his castle as he went to sleep. The seeds of wrath were sown, and would soon blossom the weeds of death and loss the next morning.

As the Great Eclip rose and brought light to the land again, The Weaver of Creation looked out from his castle, and saw the towering buildings of metal and stone on the other side of the mountain. Soon, he predicted, soon those towers will devour the simple homes he had built, using their untied remains as foundation.

The Weaver of Destruction looked out from his palace as well, and saw the pure white walls of silk string on the other side of the mountain, not stained with a single drop of blood. Soon, he predicted, soon his ponies would turn against one another, fighting to be the first to break down that perfect wall, and destroy themselves and his entire land.

Desperate, they summoned a soothsayer to each of their homes and asked of them to tell them their future.

The foreseers told the brothers, ‘Look into your brother’s eyes, and see what he sees. Come to understand one another, and bring honour back to your land. If not, then you shall die at the hooves of your brother, and death and sadness shall reign over the land. The souls that die will never move on to the afterlife, and those that survive will never walk the same way they used to.’

The Weaver of Creation was stunned. If we were to protect his ponies, and keep peace across the land, he would have to break his vows. However, he knew it was for the better, and prepared to meet his brother one more time. He put on his finest robes, prepared a gift of good fortune, and flew to the mountaintop.

The Weaver of Destruction became furious. He made a vow, and wouldn’t soil his honour and the glory of his ponies by breaking it. If he was to be slain by his brother, then he will no longer have a brother to slay him. He put on his strongest armour, armed himself with his most powerful blade, and flew to the mountaintop.

The two brothers met at the top, and confronted each other one last time. The Weaver of Creation pleaded for mercy from his brother, trying to look into his eyes, but was obscured by the beast’s head. The Weaver of Destruction threatened to kill his brother, avoiding eye contact with him and focusing on his sword in hoof.

The Weaver of Creation pleaded one last time, ‘O’ Brother, please, there is no need for this fear, this violence. Accept my gift, and may us find balance and unity once more.’

The Weaver of Destructed simply responded, ‘O’ what a great fool you have become, for fear and violence is why I am so great. Die quickly, or I shall make the skies rain with your blood.’

Fear had overtaken The Weaver of Creation, just as it has for his brother, and with the misstep of a hoof, the battle begun. The two brothers fought with their godly powers for days and nights, their violent struggles crushed the earth beneath and silenced the winds above. Their fight became so brutal, that the sky and the Great Eclip shattered above, and were reformed into the constellations, the Sun, and the Moon. The entire world shook and reformed from each time one of the brothers had smashed the other into the mountain.

Until finally, after countless days and nights of fighting, The Weaver of Creation struck down his brother with his own strings. The Weaver of Creation was triumphant, but as time passed, the fear faded from his eyes and he saw what had come from his actions. The battle had destroyed the land on both sides of the mountain, and the mountain itself was now a volcano. Hundreds of lives were lost in the conflict as their homes were destroyed by loose strings and fragments of the sky.

Without his brother, The Weaver of Creation had become lonely, and lost touch with his once great powers. Without his brother’s strings, there was no means of removing the excess strings he alone had created. The sea shrunk as the strings littered the water, the land became unfertile as the strings choked the ground, and the sky became crowded with the constellations and quarreling daughters of the Great Eclip.

Although peace had returned, it was only in the silence of the dead. Although there was no longer fear, it was only for a few innocent moments before the ravenous monsters returned to consume the fearless, the unaware. Without his brother, The Weaver of Creation no longer found purpose to his life, not in his followers, nor in his wife, nor his daughter.

A year after his victory over his brother, The Weaver of Creation walked up to the grave of his brother, and saw a scroll sitting atop of the burial mound. It was one of the few things his brother created. Its fabric was razor sharp, and its contents stuck anypony who read it with fear, but also great power. No pony was able to read it to the end though, as anypony who tried were driven mad and had died from the cuts inflicted from the scroll.

After examining the scroll for some time, The Weaver of Creation decided to join alongside his fallen brother. He destroyed his body, and reweaved it into a scroll, one that gave whoever gazed upon it would become powerless, but also peace of mind. No pony would be able to read it to the end though, as anypony who tried simply gave up in humbleness and couldn’t find the strength to fully unravel the scroll’s heavy cloth.

Over time, the two scrolls, the last of the remnants of the Weaver Brothers, had become lost. No pony knew where they went, but some say that they’re still together, side by side. Over time, the Weaver Brothers were mostly forgotten by the world. The ponies moved on to form their own ideals and kingdoms. Over time, the land that was once the utopia the brothers created had formed into part of a larger nation, one of many that held both the ideals of The Weaver of Creation and The Weaver of Destruction.

Many years after the disappearance of The Weaver of Creation, his daughter, who was now a strong, beautiful mare, sought after conclusion to her father and uncle’s story. She found the two soothsayers, now old and dying, and asked of them what will now be of the two brothers.

In their dying words, they told her, ‘In one thousand, one hundred, and eleven years, the Weaver Brothers shall return to this world. They will look over what has become of their land, and finally see eye to eye. The land will be united once more, and as for the two brothers, they will walk side by side once more.’ The End.”

Eclipse suddenly snapped her head back and shook it. The voices left her mind and returned to Nightbeam, satisfied in their work. With her eyes restored, she saw her friends were asleep. Her story could only hold on to their dying stamina for so long.

Regardless, Eclipse was content, and went to sleep alongside them.

Twilight slowly eased the book onto her stomach, but kept an angle for her to still see the words. A sense of tiredness overwhelmed her, but she wanted to keep reading.

As the moon climbed higher and higher in the cloudy night sky, the words on the pages became less legible and more muddled. Soon, Twilight could only interpret single words before temporarily blacking out and returning to the same paragraph. Her eyes grew heavy, and her body ceased.

However, a voice then spoke into her ear, “Twilight.”

Twilight turned her head, and saw Ace, laid next to her in bed.

“Hi, Arcega,” Twilight greeted her friend.

“Oh please, Ace is fine,” Ace giggled.

“Okay, Ace.”

“Aren’t you excited? We’ve reached Mt. Gné!”

“I am!”

“Yeah!”

“But wait,” Twilight then asked. “What about Ebony? What were you going to say?”

“I… I don’t know. Perhaps, ‘Ebony, I know we’ve been best friends for a long time. So close, that I want to take it to the next step. Ebony, will you be my special somepony?’.”

Twilight thought more a moment before giving her opinion.

“I think it should be a bit longer,” she said. “Add some poetic statements in. Show her how you feel it should be taken to the next level.”

“Are you sure?” Ace asked.

Silver, appearing from the other side of Twilight, responded, “I think it’s a good idea.”

“Thanks, Silver.” Twilight replied.

Huntsmen squirmed from below Twilight, making room for him to breathe. He gave a nodding huff in response to the conversation above before going back to sleep.

“Yeah, Hunter has the right idea,” Silver proclaimed. “We should get to sleep.”

As Silver snuggled in however, a might jolt punched him in the side. It was Huntsmen, getting back at him.

Twilight and Ace giggled at the stallions before returning to one another. Ebony hung from the canopy, still resting while the two mares talked.

Their talk was nothing notable to an outside observer. They shared inside jokes, gossiped about current events, and told of the adventures they have experienced.

“Whoa! You beat a whole crew of pirates?!” Ace exclaimed midway through the chat.

“Yeah,” Twilight further explained. “The captain was the worst, which is a shame, from what I’ve heard from Rarity, he wasn’t that bad of a stallion.”

“Still, you brought justice to the sea, and saved the world.”

“I guess I did, alongside a few other times.”

“Like when?”

“Oh, you know, stopping the Spirit of Chaos and reforming him, reversing a Changeling invasion twice, preventing the return of an evil smoke king, sending a power-thirsty centaur back to Thanatus, saving the universe from an interdimensional conqueror, saving a distant kingdom from a grand-scale coup, stopping a bloodthirsty warrior from assassinating Princess Celestia, the usual.”

“…You know, with that first one, did you actually reform him?” Ace asked.

Twilight winced, feeling a piercing gaze from behind. It latched onto the back of her head, and gazed into her mind.

Twilight shook off the feeling and replied, solemnly, “Well, maybe ‘reformed’ isn’t the ideal word.”

“He’s the Spirit of Chaos, so wouldn’t conforming be contradictory to his being?”

“Yeah bu-”

“And wouldn’t it be more in his nature to steal that book?”

“Yeah bu-”

“Twilight, we need you to keep reading the book until the end. Without you, our story won’t advance. Centura will fall to Lord Thanatus, everypony I ever knew and love will be gone. My aunt, my uncle, the princess, that homeless stallion that hangs out at the tavern, everypony, will be gone if you stop reading.”

“…” Twilight was in utter dismay, for how could she even find herself thinking about closing that book.

“Everything depends on you finishing that book, both here and in your world,” Ace heeded. “Please Twilight, don’t fail us.”

With a wave of determination rushing through her body, Twilight jerked up out of bed. She lifted the book with her magic and found her spot. She looked around in the empty room and saw no pony was going to disturb her, and so, she read.

Eclipse slept alongside the others around the dying fire, cuddling Nightbeam and snuggling into Huntsmen’s warm underbelly. However, unlike the others, who dreamed in the night, she joined alongside her partners in Nightbeam, and the four spent the night there.

It was a dark, endless chamber, with Eclipse standing in the center of it. Ahead of her was a sharp, orange shade of empty light, with a shadow inside resembling a pony. To her sides were similar beings, one emitting a just, light blue glow, and the other a solemn, dark blue shine.

“Hello,” Eclipse greeted the beings.

“So, we’re finally done with this quest?” the blue being, Shadow, asked.

The orange light, Starglow, replied, “There is still the obstacle of obtaining the sword.”

“Yeah, and killing Lord Thanatus,” the red one, Darklight, added. “What do you say that sword will sell for?”

“Legally or in the black market?” Shadow asked.

Darklight pondered before answering, “Hmm… might be more fun to drop it in the black market, see what happens to it.”

“Who knows,” Starglow countered, “Such a powerful blade would be quite effective in our work.”

“That would imply that we can’t take on anything.” Darklight replied in a cocky tone.

Shadow then added, “She does have a point. Remember our fight against Thunderbolt Sentinel in the East Lands?”

“Not this again…” Darklight groaned.

As the two stallion beings began to argue with each other, Eclipse turned to face Starglow. But as she turned around, she was only met with darkness. Starglow had disappeared.

“Starglow?” Eclipse called out into the void.

It wasn’t the first time one of the voices disappeared. Starglow was probably peeking into the dreams of Huntsmen. After calling for her names a few times, Eclipse gave up and returned her attention to the barking voices.

“And furthermore,” Shadow proclaimed to his rival. “If we weren’t lucky, we would be spending at least twenty years behind bars!”

Eclipse and Shadow turned to face Darklight in order to see what he had to say, but he was gone as well.

“Pfff, typical,” Shadow huffed.

Eclipse called out, “Darklight! Where’d you go?”

As Eclipse examined the void around her, Shadow explained his theory, “He probably couldn’t face the fact that I’m right. Bah, whatever, at least we’re getting something from this quest. Hey where’s Starglo-”

Shadow’s voice was suddenly snuffed out. Eclipse turned around to see what stopped his rambling, only to see nothing. She was all alone in the now pitch black darkness of her mind.

“Starglow? Darklight? Shadow?” Eclipse yelled out.

One voice disappearing was common, two was odd, yet nothing alarming, but all three vanishing had never happened. There was nowhere all three could’ve gone to without Eclipse’s knowledge, and yet, it has happened.

Eclipse wandered the darkness, not scared, but very concerned for her voices. At the end of her vision, a red dot appeared. It was a fourth light, a fourth voice in her mind. She didn’t recognize it one bit, but knew for certain it wasn’t as friendly as the others.

As she and the red being drew closer and closer, the void begun to change. A floor of hardened tar rose from the depths and stopped at Eclipse’s hooves. The emptiness above was now polluted with black clouds and smog. Spires sprung from the black pool and twisted and curved together. Upon reaching the source of the red light, Eclipse saw the shadow of a massive dragon, perched upon a throne made of smoldering riches and bones.

“Greetings,” the alien voice spoke.

“Lord Thanatus?” Eclipse asked.

“Clever mare, you appear to really fulfill the role of the wise.”

“What did you do to the others?”

“What else do you do to a light? You snuff it out. They are dead.”

Eclipse gave a huff in prideful disagreement. “I highly doubt that.”

“I figured you would. Regardless of whether or not you believe, I will be the only one here to haunt your mind. You will become my slave, and will do as I say.”

“In your dreams,”

“Dreams? I rather prefer nightmares.”

Without a second for her to react, the dragon shot his claws out to her. The black digits of his claws stretched out from the light and wrapped around Eclipse. She was then pulled to the being’s face, and crushed by the constricting power of his shadows.

“Nightmares give a pony reason to become strong. They show what monsters are out there, and how to vanquish them. My pedagogue taught me that, and now I shall teach you, by destroying your friends and the land you hold so dear.”

Eclipse, feeling as if her bones were about to snap, resisted his presence with all of her might. But without Starglow, Darklight, and Shadow, she was virtually powerless in the mental realm. As she looked up at the monster before her, she saw a bright, red eye, piercing into her soul.

“Their inferior defensives shall fall, and a new age of power will come, my power.”

As Spike lay in his bed, Twilight’s voice echoed through the castle. Out loud she read the words and made her own comments during parts of the story.

“Starglow?” Twilight would ask alongside Eclipse.

“Eclipse, no!” Twilight would scream as her eyes watched in horror.

“Lord Thanatus, you bast-” She would holler before hopping back into the words.

Spike couldn’t fall asleep for the night. Twilight’s reading was too loud, but more notably, and the reason he didn’t go in her room to stop her, was that he was enjoying it. He was enjoying it despite his body crying at him to go to sleep, with only his ears and mind to refute such please.

He enjoyed that book, and he hated that he did.