Twilight woke up as a hoarse scream tore its way from her throat. Her whole body shivered as rivulets of tears streamed down her cheeks. She drew in ragged breaths, her heart hammering painfully in her chest.
She sat bolt upright in her bed for a few moments, before an overwhelming sense of bile and sickness forced its way from her stomach. She was barely able to teleport to the bathroom in time before unloading the contents of her stomach into the sink.
For the past several months, Twilight had been practicing her teleportation and transposing spells. Despite her royal duties, she had surprisingly large amounts of free time. She had developed an obsession with learning this type of magic to the point she had re-invented the spell twice now, each iteration more efficient than the previous one.
The captain of Celestia’s personal guard had shown great interest in learning her techniques but had stopped bothering her very quickly. Twilight suspected Celestia had a hoof in that.
Her ears twitched and swiveled towards the door as a faint magical signature tickled her magic-source. Various spell threads and arcane energies resonated against the ley-lines to a certain harmony.
Twilight heaved a heavy sigh, recognising the leftover signatures of a teleport spell. Each spell had its own tune and her obsession with it meant she recognised it immediately, like recognising the difference between two differently tuned violins.
There it was again...teleport. Like she could have just teleported her reports and scrolls to Princess Celestia. Like she had been doing for the past year.
She splashed water on her face and wiped it off, before swishing a mouthful of water and spitting out the leftover taste of sick. She pulled in a calming breath before taking a few shaky steps outside.
“Twilight,” a soft and warm voice greeted her. Twilight leaned into the alabaster-white coat as a large wing draped over her back in a comforting manner.
Telling Celestia had been...difficult. She was practically a mother to Spike during his early years and Twilight had almost lost all resolve to actually share the news with her mentor about the baby dragon’s uncertain fate.
“It’s okay, Twilight,” Celestia said soothingly. “It was only a bad dream.”
Twilight was ashamed to admit that Celestia didn’t cry like she had expected, instead offering her love and support just like the rest of her friends did. Ever noble and ever kind, Princess Celestia had helped one of her little ponies when they needed her most.
“Wh - why didn’t Luna come…?” Twilight croaked, the scream having left her throat hoarse. The past year had been plagued with nightmares, but each time Princess Luna had come to help her.
“This dream was different, Twilight.” The larger alicorn nuzzled the younger Princess. “By the time we felt the magic surges, you were far too deep in your nightmare for my sister to help you.”
Twilight shivered. She had a habit of sleep-casting spells. As a filly, she had set her curtains on fire more than once. A horn-ring was usually enough, and she had been able to keep it under control recently, but the sheer terror at losing Spike again…
“I heard Princess Luna right at the end, but barely…”
“We had caught the magic surges and she was able to break you from the nightmare before anything bad had happened,” Celestia said. Twilight just nodded meekly into her mentor’s embrace. “It’s okay, Twilight,” she continued. “You are safe now.”
“It was...so real, Princess...all I saw was his tiny…” she couldn’t finish the sentence. “I want him back so badly…”
The Sun Princess simply nuzzled her ex-student softly, not saying anything. It was still in the early hours of the morning. The sun wasn’t due to rise for at least another half-hour.
“Did I really cast…?” Twilight hesitantly asked. She attempted to shrink away, but the large wing hugging her cut off all escape paths. Luna had told her that ever since King Sombra, wards existed to pin-point and detect dark-magic whenever it was cast.
“We don’t have to discuss it if you don’t want to Twilight,” Celestia said. The tone in her voice sent an unpleasant shiver down Twilight’s spine. So the answer was yes - she had cast necromantic magic; and she would have to deal with the consequences sooner rather than later. That part of the nightmare was actually true: she had stumbled across a single tome long ago.
“It’s been one year,” Twilight breathed after a while, pushing the the thoughts to the back of her mind. “Today, I mean.” She allowed herself to smile up at Celestia. “I get to...I get to see him again.”
Celestia didn’t say anything for a while, only tightening her hug around Twilight. She nuzzled her before finally saying. “Just remember - wait for him. Al’Gorath is not one to break his promises. Wait for him to send for you, Twilight.”
The young alicorn tilted her head quizzically - ‘wasn’t his name Al’Mal’Gorath? And Luna had referred to him as Mal’Gorath.’
She shelved the questions to the back of her mind for later, instead just nodding up at her mentor.
**** ****
There was a certain problem having a conclusive personality like Twilight’s: it always jumped to conclusions. It was already lunchtime, and while the day was not over yet, she had heard no news from the elder dragon she had left Spike with exactly one year ago.
So the most logical conclusion she jumped to, was of course the fact that the worst had happened. Mal’Gorath had obviously either forgotten about her, or maybe he had been attacked and defeated on his way here.
It was a good thing the floor was made of crystal, else there would be a visible circle worn into it where Twilight had been pacing around for the past three hours.
She flumped down onto her throne, hanging her head with a defeated sigh. She was about to give up all hope, heaving a despondent sigh, when the doors to the castle burst open.
Twilight looked up with a hopeful look on her face but it dropped rapidly as a panic-stricken Roseluck charged up towards her.
“Princess Twilight!” the cream-coloured mare gasped out, pausing just in front of her. Twilight couldn’t tell if her bend down was from a curtsy of respect, or from the need to gulp in mouthfuls of air between words. “Th - th - there’s a m - m - monster out in P - Ponyville!” she stammered between breaths, the terror obvious in her voice.
For a moment, Twilight filed away her worry about Spike. If Ponyville was under attack then this needed her immediate attention. Her own personal worries shouldn’t affect the citizens of Ponyville in any way.
Steeling her resolve, she stood up proudly. “I’m on my way,” she said, a determined frown coming over her face. She thought of teleporting, but decided if it were truly a monster attack, any amount of mana, no matter how miniscule, would be needed.
Charging towards her front door, a tiny flick from her magic-source swung the doors open.
Her jaw dropped at the sight awaiting her. Ponies everywhere were in a flat panic, screaming and running into various objects and other ponies. It was text-book comical, if it weren’t for the fact that their panic definitely meant something was wrong.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Twilight tried asking a passing earth pony, but was rudely brushed away as he continued to run screaming in terror. All she really could do was throw a disapproving frown in his direction.
Twilight looked around again, making note of the general direction the majority of ponies were running away from. The south side of Ponyville seemed to hold the most tangible threat, considering the general population were so keen on vacating it.
With a slight huff, she held her head tall and began a steady march towards the apparent danger. None of the other fleeing citizens paid her much mind.
It must be quite the dangerous beast if it had the whole town acting like this? She hesitated for just a moment. What if she was getting in over her head? What if she wasn’t equipped to handle this threat?
...What if it was Mal’Gorath with news of Spike’s return?
Breaking into a full gallop, Twilight sprinted as fast as she could manage. Yes! Of course, how could she be so stupid? Of course it would be Mal’Gorath!
Upon reaching the now very vacant southern park of Ponyville, the alicorn skidded to a halt, wings flared out in a show of force and authority. She mentally kicked herself for simply not flying here instead. Old habits truly die hard.
At first she couldn’t spot anything. The area looked fine save for a blatant lack of ponies. Her eyes squinted, looking out for anything out of place.
Just down the road she spotted an upright figure walking towards the town proper. Her breath caught as she started to define a few familiar features on the creature.
He was tall, almost twice the height of a normal pony, when standing upright. His jaw was still round, but squarish features were starting to show on it. Bright green spines sprouted upwards in a proud crest on top of his head.
The limbs were lithe and powerful, long claws protruding from each digit. Purple scales adorned the creature’s hide, his tail ending in a powerful lance. A ragged scar ran up his left side and up his cheek, although it was well faded.
Emerald green eyes contemplated Twilight Sparkle with a slight frown as he said nothing.
Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat, not remembering when tears had started flowing from her eyes. She took a hesitant step forward. “Spike...is that you?”
The young dragon looked at her for a few moments more, before breaking out into a toothy grin.