Three pairs of hooves could be heard entering the the room where Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor were standing. “We heard you were done with your first investigation, Twilight Sparkle?”
Twilight’s mouth stayed shut. She was shivering, not knowing how to ask what she had to ask. This question could not remain unanswered. Eventually, her mouth opened. “Princess Luna, your latest student...”
A pair of eyes filled with pain turned away. Just thinking of that subject seemed to hurt her a lot more than you could imagine. “Yes Twilight Sparkle?”
Twilight hesitated as she saw the pain that came with this subject. But once spoken, words could not be undone. She would have to continue her questions. “What did he look like?”
Luna walked towards one of the beautifully decorated windows. That window showed the entire story of her latest student. Not a single word was spoken, she just looked at the window and sighed.
The window was made out of small pieces of colored glass. It was divided into three parts. The lowest part showed a silver cage, and nothing more. The middle part showed a pink cloud entering ponies. The ponies were in a laid down position, under watchful eye of the moon. But the moon was powerless, and could not protect them. The ponies were lost.
And then there was the top part. That part was the biggest of the window, and laid with utmost care. The detail was immense. In the picture, the same pink cloud as in the center one. But this time, the cloud did not seem to enter a pony. Instead, it was breathed out, through the nose of a brown alicorn.
None of the ponies in the room spoke a word. The silence was deafening. The sound of a bird chirping on the other side of the window broke the silence. Luna opened her mouth, and spoke with a soft, tear-filled voice. “Now you know, Twilight Sparkle. Now you know.”
Twilight knew, but was too dazzled to say anything. Even though she knew, she did not understand. This was nothing she had expected at all. The alicorn was brown, and did resemble the unicorn and pegasus she had seen in her dreams perfectly. So it was obvious that the one they saw in their dreams was indeed, Luna’s last private student. But it did not make any sense to her.
How had he become an alicorn? Becoming an alicorn was the result of excessive studies of a certain object. It showed that you had absolutely mastered the subject. It was something she had looked up long ago. Princess Cadence had become an alicorn after studying Love, and Celestia and Luna had become alicorns as soon as they could raise the sun or moon. But how could somepony filled with hatred become an alicorn?
She tried to speak, but her mouth was unable to form words that made sense. Never had she known. As far as she was aware, alicorns did not age unless it was for a specific reason. They grew when their wisdom grew, and only when they were killed they could die.
“Eeh, could somebody explain what is going on please?” Twilight turned her head and looked at Rainbow Dash, who had broken the silence.
“I was right, Rainbow Dash, it was indeed her student. Princess, every time something bad happens in a dream, it is caused by your student.”
Salty drops fell off the chin of the princess of the moon onto the marble floor. With the grace of the sun a wing was draped over her back. “It was not your fault, dear sister. Nopony saw it coming. Twilight Sparkle, I think it would be better to continue your studies at a later time.”
Luna raised her head and sniffed. “No sister, they need to know. They need to know why he became an alicorn. They need to know his magic could not be killed. Why it lived on though his body had passed away. Twilight Sparkle, my student was the prince of hate.”
The words struck like lightning. Four mouths fell open. Hatred was powerful, but nopony had imagined it could be powerful enough to turn somepony into a prince. Only the most powerful kinds of magic could do that.
Luna continued. “This pony was my sixth personal student. He was studying the magic brought forth by the stars. Or at least, that was what we thought. He was able to raise the stars without any problems, and if needed he could even raise the sun or moon. Back in those times Equestria was not as peaceful as it is now. Sometimes, me and my sister had to leave to fight for the freedom of Equestria. At that time, we harnessed the power of the elements. In those days, my student would take over our everyday routine. He raised the stars, the moon and the sun.
“But what we did not realise is that he was actually studying a different subject. In utmost secrecy, he had been studying the powers of hatred. We did not realise it, until one fateful moment. We had left the palace to fight alongside the pegasi. The griffins had raided the northern part of Equestria, and needed to be brought to a halt before all of Equestria would have been taken over. We fought for three days, and gained the upper hand. The pegasi could now handle the situation, so we left to return to the castle. As we arrived at the castle, we could not enter. A black forcefield had surrounded all of canterlot. It did not matter what we tried, we could not get through.
“Then he showed up. He came up to us, and laughed. He just laughed. I tried to reason with him, but as soon as I spoke, the sun disappeared. My sister tried what she could, but it was in vain. She could not raise the sun. Then, he challenged me. He challenged me for a duel. We knew that it was the only way to save Equestria, so I accepted it. I also knew, that this could very well be the end. As soon as I accepted his challenge, the force field was lowered, but a new one appeared. This time, it was a smaller one. It only surrounded me and him.
“He charged at me, and hit. As soon as the tip of his horn hit, I was defeated. His hatred had been transferred. In a flash, he was gone. Hatred inside of me grew. Fortunately, his tactic backfired. My hatred was aimed at him, and at nopony else. After a while, he returned in a flash of white. There he was, the prince of hatred.
“I charged at him, and caught him off guard. He was terribly wounded, and was unable to do anything. He was defeated, but it was not enough for me. I did the worst thing you could imagine. I... I killed my own personal student!”
The last words were shouted with the force of a hurricane. A soft thump was heard, as the pony collapsed on the floor. A stream of tears fell like a waterfall. Silence returned in the room. This was a part of history that had been long forgotten, shoved aside as if it was just a myth. Just like Luna had been shoved aside as ‘the mare in the moon’.
Soft words from Celestia calmed her sister down a bit. “Twilight, I think it is the best if we would pause our studies for now. You know what you need to know, you and Rainbow Dash can continue your studies if you like, but my sister can not assist you right now.”
With the grace of the moon Luna regained her footing. “We are not done yet. The spell has only been cast one way. Please allow me to cast it the other way as well.” Twilight and Rainbow nodded, and laid down in front of each other. This time they knew what was going to come, and they did not speak a word. There was no need to. Rainbow unfolded her wings, and put the tips on Twilight’s horn again. Then, a soft touch on her head followed.
She fell the heat again, but this time it went the other way around. It started in her head, and spread through her veins down. Down her neck, into her spine. From her spine into her front hooves, and into her wings. Every feather in her wings was filled with heat. Slowly it reached the top of her wings, and continued to spread. It must be spreading into Twilight’s horn now, she thought. It took mere seconds after the magic reached the tip of her wings to reach Twilight’s mind. All the magic got pulled from all across her body, towards the fine line of magic that flowed from her mind through her wings to Twilight’s mind. Even though she knew what was going to come, she still was not prepared for the feeling. She was starting to melt again. The tips of her wings began to glow, and she felt like they could burst into flames any second now.
A vortex of darkness and coolness opened up behind her, and she got sucked away from reality into a deep sleep. This time the dream was different. Instead of waking up in Twilight’s house, she was standing in an entirely different house. This house... She had never expected to see it again! She hoped she would never have to see it again! What was going on? She barely even remembered anything of this place. Pushed aside, locked away into the deepest part of her memory. Not a single good thought could be associated with this place.
She stood on one end of a table. The table looked like they were eating, but she felt the wall behind her. She was trying to walk back further, through the wall, away from the table. On the other side of the table there were two ponies. One was a full grown pegasi, and the other one was just a small foal. The full grown pegasi looked at her, eyes full of fire. The foal just watched, a small evil grin on his face.
The sound of shattering glass against the wall was not loud enough to cover up the screams. Screams of fear, screams of pain, screams of horror. No matter how hard she screamed, it was in vain. Glassware flew around the chamber, followed by the plates of the dinner that had not yet been finished. Even though she tried, she could not escape. Never could she escape. Running was no use, hiding wasn’t an option. As she saw him grabbing the last plate on the table, she tried to dive away. But she was too late.
“Noo!” she screamed.
Her eyes opened. Trying to adapt to the bright light in the castle, she blinked. Her eyes could not help it, tears poured out of them. She stood up, and ran away. As fast as she could. The door came closer and closer. A pink cloud surrounded the door, and opened it for her. The castle walls and rooms flashed by as she ran. Where? She did not know. The castle was like a labyrinth.
As she ran through another door fresh air filled her nose. Her wings unfolded and carried her up. Up into the sky. Away from the castle. Away from her dreams. Away from her memories. She looked around and saw a cloud. She raced into it. The cloud moved as she landed on it. Not carefully, or slowly like she usually did. She slammed into it with all of her force. Almost had the cloud flown apart, it just barely held. Tears dripped into the cloud, and from the cloud down to Canterlot.
This could not have happened. This had never happened before. Why now? Why had she dreamt like that? Her mind went crazy. What had just happened? She thought she had left this behind her long ago. Then why did she dream about this?
The light of day turned to dark. The full moon rose into the skies, followed by thousands of stars. It was not like a normal moonrise. The moon flew into place like the sun, not the way it usually did. It was the same as before they had defeated Nightmare Moon.
Her thoughts wandered off as she relived that day. It was the best day of her life. Actually, it was two days. But there was no sleeping in between, so she counted it as one. That day she had met Twilight, who came into Ponyville to check on the preparations of the Summer Sun Celebration. It had not been a celebration though. Nightmare Moon had escaped from her prison on the moon, and the Princess had disappeared. A book revealed that the elements of harmony were the only way to defeat Nightmare Moon. A quest followed to find the old Royal Castle, deep in the Everfree Forest. In there, the Elements had chosen her and her friends to be their bearers.
Fluttershy, element of kindness. Applejack, element of honesty. Pinkie Pie, element of laughter. Rarity, element of generosity. Twilight, element of magic. And herself, element of loyalty. Their friendship had gotten them through that challenge and eventually brought down Nightmare Moon, to re-unite her, now as princess Luna, with her sister. From then on, they had been the best friends. Their friendship had pulled them through a lot of challenges.
First there was the Grand Galloping Gala, which turned out to be a disaster. They had split up to do what they liked to do, but only when they were reunited they could enjoy the rest of their evening.
Second, there was Discord. Discord had brought chaos throughout Equestria. He had almost defeated them, but through a spell Twilight cast to remind them of their friendship, they had been able to stand up against him as one. Once their friendship restored each of them, Discord had been easy to defeat.
After that there was the wedding of princess Cadence and Shining Armor. However, Cadence turned out to be a changeling, whose only goal was to consume pony kind to feed her own people. That time, their friendship had failed. Twilight stood on her own, to rescue the real princess Cadence and stop the wedding. After Cadence and Shining Armor had been reunited, their love was what saved Equestria. If they had listened to Twilight, and trusted her, everything would have been a lot easier.
Their friendship had pulled them through a lot of problems. And even though this time it was only her and Twilight, their friendship would be victorious! If only... That dream was not something she wanted to relive.
Eventually the cloud stopped raining. A well-aimed kick made it disappear. I have to find Twilight, I owe her an explanation. Rainbow thought. But no matter how hard she tried to get back to where Twilight was, the maze of halls did not let her through. One of the Royal Guards looked behind him as he heard Rainbow’s hooves on the marble floor. “Can I help you?”
As much as she did not like to ask help, she wanted to find Twilight. And it wasn’t asking help if it was offered, right? “Yeah, I am looking for Twilight Sparkle.”
The guard took a better look. “Are you miss Rainbow Dash?”
What a stupid question. How many pegasi are there out there with their hair colored like a rainbow? “Yes, that’s me.”
“I have received orders to show you your room. If you would follow me please?” The guard started walking. Left, right, right left, left, right, left, Rainbow could not remember what way they were going any more. The sound of hooves stopped as a door was opened with a blue cloud of magic. “This is your room, miss Rainbow Dash. I will notify miss Twilight Sparkle that you were looking for her.”
Well, that was a better idea than having to walk through the castle again. This place was so big she would need a map, compass and guide and would still get lost. “Thank you.” She walked in the room, and closed the door behind her.