Lost

by FluxFeather

Chapter Two - A Voice That Won't Quit

Author's Note:

This chapter was written by Latenighter. This was also the only chapter that he had written before he quit the project.

Twilight awoke later in the night, her dream, or rather nightmare was still vivid in her mind. All she could see was darkness… as far as she could see, equestria was dark, but yet being blinded by light. Her fur was on fire, but she could feel her fur freezing all at once, her ears bleeding from the deafening silence of the empty streets full of ponies. She was then shown Canterlot, her home, in flames. The city was burning, and in the middle of it, was her. She watched her home burn, heard her subjects suffer, but as much as she tried to help, nothing worked, and in fact only made things worse. On the horizon was a dark shadow, resembling a pony, but one whom she did not recognize.

The pony laughed and began to spin the sun and moon around in its hooves. The dayand night shot by in flashes, the light of day going by faster and faster, the light blinding her as the pony laughed and crushed them in it’s hooves. In a nasally high pitched voice, the pony mocked her for not being enough to stop him.

“If you had half the power your predecessor did, maybe you could have stood a chance against me! Ha ha haaa” the voice mocked, its shadow disappearing as Twilight shot out of her sleep like a bullet.

“Ahhhh!!!: she screamed as she woke, nearly hitting her head on the railing in her old bed. She looked around to see if anyone was in her room, looking for the shadow from her dream, but the only shadow in the room was hers from the moon.

She groggily got up as she walked to the balcony door, opening it with her magic as she prepared her spell to raise the sun and bring the day to a new beginning. Her horn glowed a bright purple as she lowered the moon slow and brought out the sun with the amulet that her predecessors had given her, imbued with their magic of the celestial bodies of the sun and moon. Majestic orange and royal yelows coloring the morning sky like a wonderful canvas, the city she called home dotting the horizon like a beacon.

“Nothing like a bright morning to ease one's mind…” Twilight said to herself as she watched the sun rise from its slumber. She took a deep breath as she sat down, trying to get her mind together, when she heard it again… the voice from the night before.

The voice was no more than a whisper, but enough to the point that she could hear it.. A voice calling to her. She stood up, her mane starting to frizz as she made a cringey face, groaning as she stood up and trotted into her room, grumbling as she found an old groove in her floor from all the times she had paced her room as a younger alicorn.

“Grr… What is this voice I keep hearing!?” she growled as she paced her way around the room, grumbling as the door opened and Starlight walked in, a confused look on her face.

“Am I missing something? Why are you pacing at dawn?” she asked as she watched Twilight pace around again before reaching out a hoof and stopping her. “Something is up Twilight, and you’re not telling me something… What is up!!?” she asked as she sat Twilight down.

Twilight took a deep breath, trying to put out the voice in her mind. She looked at Starlight and with a deep breath, began to tell her friend of the voice calling to her.

“For the past few days, ever since I got here… I’ve been hearing a voice… calling to me, like its trying to lead me to something, but as to what, i'm not sure of, I thought it was just my inner thoughts, but then this morning it came again, a whisper, just saying find me… come…” she said as she looked at the ceiling, her mind trying to make sense of the ordeal.

Starlight sat listening to this point, not trying to interrupt her friend, but knowing that something wasn't right. After Twilight came to a stopping point, Starlight cut in to put in her thoughts.

“You told me about the voice, but you had said it wasn't too big of a deal, but it looks like this is becoming more than just a small thing happening Twilight. I mean, a voice that seems to call to you, now nightmares, who knows what could be next!” Starlight said as she herself began to pace for a minute, before stopping herself and walking back to Twilight, who sat, almost looking like she was on another planet in her mind.

“Twilight… please… come to me… help me, please… follow my voice..” The voice nearly chanted now, demanding her attention, and Twilight herself could no longer ignore the voice either.

She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she stood up, the voice seeming to calm, but its words still echoing in her brain. “I think i know what i have to do Starlight, i need to follow that voice, if i ever want to calm my mind again!” she said as she walked towards the door, Starlight closely in toe behind, a worried look on her face.

“So you’re just going to what? Run off into the woods, trying to find some mysterious voice, that is if the voice even exists outside of your head!” Starlight pleaded, trying to put the ever so important logic back into Twilight's mind, but it seemed that Twilight had already made up her mind on the matter, walking through the castle as if she was being led by a small filly, stopping at every door and hall before going in a new direction.

“I have to find out where that voice is coming from Starlight, you must understand, I can't sleep or even think without hearing that voice, just trust me on this, ok?” Twilight answered as she walked through a small room that led to the main foyer, where she turned towards the map room, her ears perked up and focused on it. “It’s coming from there… from the map, could it be trying to tell me something Starlight?”

“The map has always been mysterious about it’s ways of getting those ponies to do what needs to be done… but this? Blatantly telling you, without lighting up your cutie mark? I don’t think even the map could be capable of this,” Starlight said as she followed Twilight to the room in question, watching Twilight open the door with her magic before following her inside, where the map waited patiently, a small village named Hollow Shade bright on the map, emanating a light as it spoke to Twilight, begging her to go there.

“There… where the voice is coming from Starlight, From Hollow Shade…”

“The same village where you freed Stygian from his own shadow? Where darkness is still alive… no Twilight, you can’t go there, i.. I won't let you,” Starlight answered, worry deep in her face.

“Oh Starlight, why in Equestria would I go alone, I need my friends, I need you… come with me Starlight, please,” Twilight said as she heard the voice whisper again, calling out to her softly, yearning for her to follow it.

Starlight looked to the ground, trying to make heads and tails of what was just asked of her. Twilight asked her to go with her on a crazy wild adventure, like they used to when they were younger. Her mind could see that this could very well be the last adventure that she went on before she retired, and the con of this was just the same. She wasn’t the young mare she used to be, she had aged, like the rest of her friends and the elements, other than Twilight, who wasn't even approaching the prime of her life yet. Could she go? Be a heroine one more time? Or would old age catch up to her.

“Starlight…? Starlight…?” came Twilight's voice, breaking Starlight’s concentration from her deep state and back to the purple alicorn before her.

“Huh… oh.. C-could i have some time to think it over, and maybe tell you my answer… tomorrow?” she answered, trying to keep her eye contact away from Twilight’s gaze, now beginning to dampen, her eyes looking to the ground.

“Oh.. Ok, well then, i might as well get started with my day then, eh?” Twilight answered as she stood up and walked to the edge of the room before opening the door and leaving Starlight to herself, thinking to herself about the choice she had to make… if she could make it…