Herald of the Night

by Commentaholic

Chapter Eight: Complications

Herald of the Night

Chapter Eight: Complications

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"Nonononononono! This is not good, this is not good!" Twilight wailed in a rambling, panicked voice as she galloped forward, darting around the central dais, examining each pedestal with a glowing horn, searching for magical trickery. "Maybe this is some sort of test! Yes! A test! I can handle tests."

The unicorn galloped all over the room, poking her head into side rooms and passages, returning mere moments later with a disappointed look on her face.

"It does not look to be a test. Who else knew about your quest?" Zecora questioned, waving a hoof through the air above one of the radiant pedestals and touching nothing but air.

"Nobody! The Princess gave this mission to me in complete privacy. The real question we need to ask is who else even knew about this place!?" Twilight inquired, passing her horn's glow over the floor around the room, "This place is supposed to have been abandoned for centuries! The pony who took these would have to be... impossibly.... old..." the unicorn trailed off, sinking down onto her haunches, eyes wide, horn dimming and guttering out.

"Twilight, please, tell me of your plight. What has inspired in you such fright?" Zecora requested worriedly, waving a hoof in front of the lavender unicorn's unblinking gaze.

"She's taken them..." Twilight whispered, her voice almost lost amid the sound of wind whistling through the hall through the broken windows.

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"Gone? And you accuse my sister of this?" thundered Luna, stomping around the dome in which herself and Twilight had gathered amid the land of dreams. She whirled on Twilight. "I cannot believe it. How sure of this are you? What have you discovered?"

Twilight cowered before Luna, terrified at the alicorn's fury. Dust rained down from the dome's roof as great cracks crept across the arched ceiling while the room seemed to grow smaller.

Luna, seeing this, took a deep breath. "I apologize, Twilight Sparkle. It is... hard to think that my sister would betray our oaths to leave the Elements where we put them. Though I should keep in mind that it has been a thousand years and I can hardly claim to know my sister the way I used to." She put a comforting wing around the unicorn. "Please, explain how you came to this conclusion."

Twilight sniffed and took a moment to compose herself. "Well..." she began, looking up at Luna, "After we - Zecora and I - found the elements missing... I spent the rest of the evening searching the palace top to bottom with my magic. I found evidence of ancient wards both yours and similar ones that I presumed to be from Celestia. But they were all broken. Dismantled and cast aside. Using Clover the Clever's Magical Decay Rate Theorem* from the Laws of Magic**, volume twelve, I determined that both the ambient aura the Elements radiated and the wards had been decayed for approximately fifteen to twenty-five years. That would also match up with the approximate age of the Earth Pony I encountered with a trace of the Elemental force inside of her..." Twilight rambled.

Luna held up a hoof. "You say an Earth Pony was infused with an Element's power?"

Twilight, seeming rather perturbed at being interrupted during her full-on report-giving mode, nodded, "To be specific: Honesty."

Luna winced.

"Oh, your Highness! I'm sorry! I should've... I forgot it was one of your Elements of Harmony."

"Think nothing of it, Twilight Sparkle. I felt its direct power leave me around the time you are implying, as well, so that confirms one idea and raises a dozen more questions. Not the least of which is what my sister is planning. But our first priority should still be to locate the Element Shells. A good place to start would be in Canterlot, her capitol." Luna said, tapping her chin with a hoof. "If they are anywhere, they are probably in the vaults beneath the castle. I would expect numerous magical traps and snares."

Twilight nodded, "So... any particular reason you sent a zebra to bring me a Lunar Sapphire?"

Luna gave a small smile, "All in good time, Twilight Sparkle. If you don't figure out, I will tell you when the time is right."

The dome went dark and Twilight woke up.

---

*=Presented by Clover the Clever one thousand and ninety-eight years prior. States that Magic itself has a constant decay rate depending on how strong the cast spell was and how long it has been in a state of permanence. Spells begin to decay at a rate of after they are either discontinued by the caster or broken by an outside force of equal or greater power.
On average, a unicorn's spells will degrade and diminish within a few days. In the case of an Alicorn, that process may extend over several decades, though this is hard to measure, given that whenever an Alicorn casts a spell, they are capable of maintaining it from impossible distances and for unknown durations with little to no effort, as well as the fact that Alicorn spells would be near-impossible to break.

**= The Laws of Magic were penned by Starswirl the Bearded and compiled and added to by Clover the Clever over the span of their lifetimes. The full set is comprised of thirty-nine volumes and over one hundred thousand pages. Twilight herself is proud to say that she has read half of the collection and is looking forward to finishing the process upon her return home.

Author's Note:

Now things get serious.

Comments

[SeventhBrony]

well, thank you for the update just wish it had been longer

[Commentaholic]

2107663

Next chapter should be longer. Keep in mind that some chapters will be shorter than others due to the scene-by-scene style. I may put out a second chapter today, depending on whether or not I can finish it.

[ShadeTail]

I would have expected Twilight to instinctively refer to Applejack as a moon pony, rather than an earth pony.