Absent

by T6J2E5

Chapter 2

The moon was well on its way across the sky and was only a few hours from midnight by the time Twilight and her escort reached Ponyville. Twilight leaped from the chariot while it was still airborne, a metre off the ground in front of the library. The pegasus guards grunted when their load was suddenly shifted by the absence of Twilight’s weight. As their hooves touched down in the street, Twilight was already through the front door and racing into the kitchen.

“Spike!” she called, wrenching open the closet door with her magic and letting it bang against the kitchen wall. The hinges groaned in protest at the force she had unintentionally used. Inside, the baby dragon was huddled in the back corner, still clutching the quill he used to write the call for help. “Are you all right?” Twilight demanded, her features contorted in worry.

Spike slowly uncurled himself from the corner and looked into Twilight’s eyes for a couple seconds before recognizing it was her. He stood and wrapped his arms around Twilight’s neck in a tight hug. He was trying to be brave, Twilight knew, but the tiny trembles in his arms betrayed how frightened the ordeal had really made him. “Of course, I’m fine. Those... ponies... didn’t want to mess with a dragon once they saw me!” Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled.

“Spike,” Twilight broke the hug and looked at her assistant seriously, “did they say what they wanted?”

Spike thought for a moment as he scratched his chin with a claw. “No, they didn’t really say anything. They just barged in and started looking around. The spent most of the time looking upstairs.”

Twilight considered this. She hadn’t noticed anything missing during her short trip between the front door and the kitchen. “Well, did they take anythi--.” She paled as she remembered her conversation in Celestia’s throne room. “The Elements!” Before Spike could respond, she disappeared from the kitchen in a flash of purple light. Frantic hoofsteps above alerted him to her destination.

The lock was broken, laying on the floor twisted and shattered by blunt force. Twilight stared down into the open chest at the foot of her bed as if what she was looking for would suddenly appear. They were gone. All six elements, taken by the intruders. She felt a lump beginning to form in her throat. Celestia had entrusted her with the Elements after the Discord incident so that they would be easily accessible if ever needed again. Twilight’s mind reeled. She’d broken the princess’ trust. She had no idea where the Elements were taken, or who had taken them. She had thought that she was the only pony that knew where they were. She hadn’t even told Celestia her exact hiding place. The lump in her throat had grown, preventing her from swallowing in dread. I... I can’t tell the princess, she thought.

“Miss Sparkle?” one of the guards called from somewhere downstairs. Twilight was beginning to panic. What am I going to tell them? They’re going to tell the princess! She spent several long minutes pacing her bedroom anxiously before her calm rationality finally reasserted itself. It will be okay, she told herself. That’s why the princess is having her guards investigate, right? They’re going to help me get to the bottom of this. She inhaled a deep breath, releasing it slowly only after praying halfheartedly to whichever deity might be out there to hear it. The guard called again, this time from closer to the staircase. “Miss Sparkle? Are you all right? We need to speak with you.”

Twilight steeled herself for what she was certain would be a difficult series of questions. She stopped at the upper landing of the stairs. Both guards stood at the bottom looking up at her expectantly. “The Elements of Harmony...” she started, her voice shying away from the next words, “are gone.” Spike gasped, bringing both his hands to his mouth, his eyes wide with terror. The guards showed no sign of surprise. Stoicism, apparently, was a behaviour so deeply embedded into them during their training, that even a distinct threat to the security of Equestria couldn’t elicit a reaction. They said nothing, continuing to stare at Twilight. She descended the stairs and sat roughly in her favourite chair in the library’s main room.

The guards followed her, each standing at opposite ends of the nearby table. “Miss Sparkle,” the second guard said, “we will need to report this to the princess immediately.”

“Yes, of course.” Twilight said dismissively. Her mind felt vacant. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She and her friends were the only ponies who had the ability to wield the Elements. Why would anyone steal them, if they couldn’t use them?

The guards looked at each other for a moment, then the first guard directed his attention back to the unicorn clearly in shock. “Miss Sparkle. May we have a look around the library’s living quarters? Perhaps the thieves left clues about their identity.”

“Yes, of course.” Twilight wasn’t hearing anything the guards said. She was physically in the library, but mentally she was bowing in shame before Celestia’s disapproving glare. She’d made mistakes before, but this? The princess will never forgive me for this, she sulked. The guards nodded to one another before climbing the stairs into the living area.

After the guards disappeared up the stairway, Spike slowly made his way out into the main room. He hesitated briefly as he approached the chair in which Twilight had collapsed. He wrapped one of his hands around her foreleg, squeezing gently in a show of support and taking care not to scratch her with his claws. “Twilight?” He looked up into her face. She still stared vacantly into the low table in front of her.

The muffled sounds of the guards searching the rooms upstairs were the only disturbances in the night’s relative silence before Twilight slowly turned her face toward her assistant. “Spike,” she started, only partially seeing him through the haze of her thoughts, “what am I going to tell the Princess?”

Spike’s supportive look sagged as he absorbed the implications of the situation. “I don’t know. Just tell what happened. Two... ponies... broke in and stole the Elements. You weren’t even here when it happened, and they were locked up. You couldn’t have done anything to stop them.” Spike looked anxious, as if he wanted to say something else, but didn’t dare.

Twilight sniffed, her emotions barely under control. Then a thought suddenly occurred. “Spike,” she said, her expression morphing into confusion, “that’s the second time you said ‘ponies’ like that. Why did you pause? Were they ponies or not?”

Spike scratched his chin, letting go of Twilight’s leg. “Well, they were ponies, but not like any other ponies I’ve seen before,” he admitted.

“What do you mean?” Twilight recalled the pair of ponies she had seen earlier that week.

“They were...” Spike thought for a second, “scary-looking.” Twilight raised an eyebrow at him. He knows better than that, she thought. He knows I need more information. Spike seemed to hear her thoughts as if she had spoken them. “They were big. I mean, really big. Even the mare.”

“Like Big Macintosh?” Twilight considered, attempting to rule-out the possibilities. “Or big like Princess Celestia?”

“No, no,” Spike shook his head. “I mean big, like a bodybuilding pony or a weightlifter.” Twilight’s questions were yielding results in the direction of her suspicions. “They weren’t taller than most other ponies,” Spike continued. “About as tall as Mr and Mrs Cake.” Spike nodded in satisfaction at his comparison.

“So they were really muscular,” Twilight prodded. She began to wonder if it was the same ponies she had seen staring at her and Nyx as they left the library for Canterlot just two mornings ago. Spike nodded. I have to know for sure. The princess might know where these strange ponies come from. “What about their coats?”

Spike looked to the side as if he was drifting off into his own thoughts. His prior anxiety had returned to his face. “What about their coats? They were both brown, like the dirt in the Sweet Apple Acres orchards.” Okay, Twilight admitted to herself, they weren’t the same ponies. But they still weren’t from Ponyville. “Wait!” Spike said seemingly losing track of his thoughts and returning to the conversation. “Their coats had these... weird white hairs all over the place. Thick, too.” He presently returned to his anxiety, kicking lightly at the floor distractedly.

Ah ha! They were the same ponies! Or, at least, they were in Ponyville with those ponies. “Thank you, Spike,” Twilight said smiling at him. “I’ll let the princess know what you told me, and that you’re the bravest assistant I’ve ever had.”

Spike looked at her quizzically. “I’m the only assistant you’ve ever had.” He neglected to remind her that she had found him not fifteen minutes ago hiding in the back corner of a closet.

“And that makes you the bravest,” Twilight retorted in her most matter-of-fact voice. Spike shook his head as he brought a hand to his face. He looked more anxious now than he had when the guards left to search upstairs. “Spike, take a letter,” Twilight commanded, slipping into her familiar dictation tone.

“Twilight--,” Spike tried to regain her attention.

“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight continued, ignoring (or not hearing) him.

“Twilight!” Spike said sharply. Twilight stopped her dictating and looked at Spike absently. Spike wasn’t even holding a parchment or quill, Twilight noted. He’s never interrupted me in the middle of a letter like that before. What’s gotten into him? Spike sighed, then looked into Twilight’s eyes sadly. “Nyx didn’t come home from school today.” Twilight blanched. What? “Nopony’s seen her since this morning.” ... What? “She’s missing.” Twilight’s world tilted violently.

* * * * *

The late afternoon sun blazed down onto the picnic table in front of her. The stagnant air coupled with the radiant heat of the table was baking her beneath her purple coat. Birds chirped happily from the nearby apple orchard, and Fluttershy’s pet rabbit Angel happily hopped around Twilight’s left foreleg to chase after something unseen. Mmm... That smell... Despite the stillness of the air, the strong scent of freshly-baked, sweet apple pie wafted out of the nearby barn toward her and all the other eagerly waiting ponies seated around the dozen neatly arranged tables.

Nearby, Derpy Hooves was desperately trying to mop up the mugs of apple cider she had accidentally spilled all over the ponies within hoof’s reach of her. Twilight giggled as the pegasus’ efforts created even more of a mess than the initial spill had, much to the chagrin of Dr Hooves, who seated beside Derpy had been the splash-point of at least a litre of the sticky brew.

A cheer erupted from several ponies at a table closest to the barn. Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big Macintosh marched toward the crowd, each carrying an impossible number of steaming pies. Big Macintosh stopped to deposit his pies at the first several tables nearest the barn. Applejack stopped between the barn and the tables, shrugging the pies off her back and head, and turning to buck them as they fell. Graceful arcs through the air preceded the flawless presentation of two pies each to the tables in the back. By the time they landed and ponies began carving slices for one another, Apple Bloom was finally delivering the remaining third of the pies to the tables in the middle of the grassy area.

Twilight had to make a conscious effort to prevent drooling on the table after a pie landed between herself and Carrot Top across from her. Carrot Top apparently wasn’t bothering to make the same effort. The pies carved and its slices arranged on small plates in front of everypony at the feast, Twilight dug in, using her magic to levitate a fork, feeding herself in ladylike bites. “Mmm...” She couldn’t help but vocalize her reaction to the unbelievable flavour that assaulted her taste buds. Even with her extraordinary vocabulary, no words matched the merit of this confection. She closed her eyes, savouring every second of every bite. Several ponies at the table turned to watch her revelling in the magic of pie, smiling in agreement.

The cheerful conversation and festive attitude of the gathered ponies wasn’t dampened by the thick, dark clouds beginning to roll in from the mountains to Ponyville’s south, beyond the Everfree Forest. Twilight noticed the looming grey, but didn’t care. The pie was just too delicious to worry about a little rain on the horizon. She chewed and swallowed merrily as a few foals a couple tables down had started a minor food fight, large chunks of apple pie marring their coats amidst the cheers and laughter of themselves and the adult ponies around them. Twilight laughed aloud with her table-mates at the scene of apple salvos launched from the foals’ hooves only to land, messily, on the coat of another foal across from (or in some deviously friendly-fire cases beside) them.

She didn’t see exactly when, but Derpy had joined in on the fight at some point, landing a surprisingly accurate full pie in the face of... was that Scootaloo? The magenta-maned, orange pegasus filly wasn’t about to take that attack sitting down. She bucked at the top of her table, causing the three remaining slices of pie to bounce into the air in front of her. Spinning on a single hind hoof, she spread her tiny wings and batted them toward the still-gloating Derpy. The sticky, apple-flavoured missiles hit a target, albeit not their intended one. Scootaloo dove under her table to hide. All the ponies around the scene rolled with laughter while Dr Hooves scraped pie filling out of his ears and mane. Even Derpy had noticed, laughing so hard that she forgot to keep flapping her wings, falling onto the table in front of the unlucky stallion. She stopped laughing only long enough for the doctor to exact delicious revenge in the form of a full pie to her face.

A chill wind broke the laughter, catching everypony’s attention immediately. The hot sunlight had been replaced by a layer of angry-looking thunderheads. Sinister rumbles of thunder echoed in the distance. “Oh nelly!” Applejack said, looking up into the incoming tempest. “All right, everypony! Inta th’ barn, y’all!” She turned and galloped into structure from which the pies had emerged a half-hour earlier. The rest of the ponies looked at each other before abandoning their desserts in favour of the relative safety of the Apple family’s giant, red barn.

Big Macintosh and Twilight were the last two outside. “Ayep,” Big Macintosh said, gazing up at the ominous weather. He nudged Twilight toward the barn, following her inside. The party had apparently not ended with the flight indoors. Vinyl Scratch, the unicorn more commonly known as the turntable master “DJ P0n-3,” was already busy serving loud techno beats to the ponies on a large dance floor in the middle of the barn. The apple cider (now apparently hard, judging by some ponies’ conspicuous lack of balance) flowed uninhibited from the barrels near the back.

Twilight was about to rejoin the party to show off the new dance moves she learned during her latest visit to Canterlot when she saw a small figure in the centre of the dance floor and froze. The little, black alicorn stood stock-still, neither dancing nor interacting with those around her. Her neighbours didn’t seem to mind, dancing around her as if she wasn’t there. Twilight approached carefully. Something wasn’t right here. “Nyx?” she asked. The alicorn filly finally moved, turning only her head to look at her. Twilight gasped. It was her daughter standing there, but she was different. Her eyes were no longer the familiar, dragon-shaped turquoise-in-cyan that she recognized. Instead, eyes entirely of pure black, darker even than her midnight coat stared back at her, unblinking. This is Nyx, Twilight thought. Black coat, violet mane, alicorn filly... This is my daughter. She began to feel something she hadn’t felt since Nightmare Moon, reincarnated in Nyx’s body, had thrown her into the dungeon of her castle two years ago. She was afraid of her daughter.

“Hello, Mother,” the thing-that-was-Nyx greeted Twilight flatly. Her eyes remained solid, empty, unblinking. Twilight thought she could feel the room grow cold around her, colder the longer those obsidian orbs looked at her. The cold was penetrating, as if the Nyx-thing was gazing directly into her soul. She shivered, her hooves unwilling to move. “We have to go now, Mother,” Nyx said, emotionless. Her voice no longer carried the flat tone, but was instead a chorus of quiet, disembodied voices. “We have to go now, Mother,” she repeated, whispers from her voice’s chorus slightly out-of-sync with her own, giving her statement an ethereal, haunting sound.

The doors in the barn’s upper loft crashed open, the cold wind from outside howling over and across the dance floor. The other ponies present still didn’t seem to notice. They continued to dance unawares to DJ P0n-3’s mixes. Twilight tried to respond, but found that her voice didn’t work. The most she could coax from her throat was a barely audible squeak. The Nyx-thing tilted her head, looking curiously at her. Then her black eyes looked upward. Two large earth stallions, hideously pale, galloped in through the loft doors as if on an invisible path through the air. They whinnied an ear-piercing sound, thin, black smoke wafting from their mouths. Their eyes, empty sockets as pale as their coats, looked nowhere and everywhere at once. Twilight had the distinct impression that there was no hiding from these non-eyes, despite her terrified urge to hide under anything that could physically conceal her. The party continued, uninterrupted.

The ghostly stallions dove abruptly. Their galloping path now directly toward Twilight. Her hooves still wouldn’t budge. Her trembles of fear now became outright quakes. She shook uncontrollably in horror, watching the stallions bear down on her fast. “We have to go now, Mother!” yelled the Nyx-thing, still staring at Twilight with those horrible, black orbs. The voice was no longer Nyx’s. The chorus had taken a deeper, darker timbre. The out-of-sync whispers were replaced by muted wails of pain and despair. Her central voice morphed into that of fear, hatred, and darkness itself, the unmistakeable voice of Nightmare Moon.

Time stopped. Or, at least, time slowed to a barely perceptible crawl. The first stallion bowed its head, assuming a ramming posture as it barrelled toward Twilight. She braced herself against the hit which never came. The sudden, cold shock in her midsection forced her to gasp, icy tendrils radiating out into the rest of her body. Twilight looked back at herself. The stallion’s muzzle was emerging from her side, her body impaled on its neck. There was no pain, just a frigid coldness to her core. The stallion whinnied again, the painful, grating screech forcing itself into every corner of her mind. She felt a pull as the stallion’s mouth claimed her heart on its way through her breast. The void left behind where her heart should have been was replaced by a frozen lump of ice. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. What is going on?! This is impossible! Her legs trembled, threatening to collapse as she looked around the room. There, watching her from one of the balconies were two ponies: a stallion and a mare, large, muscular, and with dirt-brown coats thickly interspersed with white hairs. They were the only ponies at the party who seemed to realize what was going on, and they watched with a disturbing calm. Time resumed its normal pace, and Twilight’s awareness was snapped back to her surroundings by the scream of a terrified filly from very close by. Nyx!

“Twilight!” Nyx screamed, her appearance exactly as it should have been, exactly as the filly Twilight had grown to love as her own. “Mom! Help!” she cried, reaching a hoof for her mother as the last stallion roughly carried her away toward the back of the barn.

“Nyx!” Twilight still couldn’t move. Her hooves were frozen in-place to the floor, her chest aching around the lump of ice left in place of her heart. “Nyyyyx!” Twilight wailed, tears flowing freely from her eyes. The stallions had reached the back wall. Without slowing, they reared up on their hind legs before diving through the wall in puffs of black smoke, Nyx disappearing with them. The partying ponies apparently never saw any of it. “Nyx, NOOO!!”

Twilight opened her eyes to darkness. She was no longer standing in the Apple family’s barn, but was instead lying on something soft and warm. The slight tingle in her side indicated that she had been lying in that position for a while. She lifted her head from the pillow under her, and attempted to identify her surroundings. A light flickered on in the corner of the room. As her eyes adjusted to the new stimulus, she recognized the light as her bedroom reading lamp. She was lying on her bed, the covers of which were now damp with her sweat. She breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that Nyx’s ponynapping by those ghost ponies had been only a dream.

The stirring on the bed woke the purple-maned, white unicorn unceremoniously sprawled in the chair beside the lamp. Rarity climbed out of the chair, stretching the tension from her legs and neck as she made her way to Twilight’s bed. “You’re awake. Good morning, Twilight,” she greeted her friend, offering a caring smile and a badly concealed yawn.

“Rarity?” Twilight responded. “What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”

Rarity feigned surprise. “Well, I dare say I should be asking you that question. You’ve had quite a week, from what I’ve heard.” Twilight rose from her bed, stretching as she climbed out and onto her hooves. Rarity yawned again, not bothering to attempt concealing it this time. “You could have at least waited until sunrise to wake up, though,” she chided, teasingly. “This is no time of the morning to end one’s beauty sleep, you know.” Her smile drooped. “Although, that didn’t sound like a very nice dream you were having. I don’t blame you for wanting to wake up out of that.” She nodded toward the bed, its sheets twisted and pulled by Twilight as she slept.

Twilight looked confused. She glanced out the window into darkness. Only a faint reflection of the moonlight was visible off a couple of the nearby buildings in Ponyville. “What time is it, anyway?” she asked. Rarity didn’t answer. A look at the clock revealed that sunrise was still two hours away. Twilight was very tired, but hadn’t the slightest interest in going back to sleep. Not as long as those ghost horses awaited her and Nyx there. Wait... Nyx!

Twilight immediately galloped out of her bedroom and across the balcony toward Nyx’s bedroom. The door was open, and she could see the bed was empty even before she entered. She stopped just inside the doorway, staring at the room. Everything was as it should be. Nyx’s favourite book (another by the popular Dream Quill) lay on her nightstand, various articles of rarely-worn clothing hung out of the partially opened dresser drawers. Everything here was normal... except sans Nyx.

Rarity had caught up with her as she looked around the room. “I came as soon as I heard,” Rarity said softly from behind Twilight. “I’m so sorry, Twilight.”

Twilight’s mind was finally beginning to separate reality from the events of her dream. Nyx was missing: real. Ghost stallions: not real. She shuddered as a new wave of ice rolled through her. The Elements of Harmony were stolen: ... oh merciful Celestia... real. She winced at the thought. She still had to verify to the princess that the Elements were gone. That was not a conversation she looked forward to. Rarity’s voice beside her alerted that she hadn’t been paying attention to her friend.

“... then Spike ran from the hospital straight to Carrousel Boutique. The poor little guy was exhausted!” Rarity continued in her typically overly-dramatic manner.

“Spike?” Twilight interrupted, earning a mock-hurt look from Rarity. “Where is Spike? Why was he at the hospital?”

Rarity’s expression turned to one of concern. “Why, he went to fetch the doctor, of course. When you didn’t come around after an hour, he started to get worried. I can’t say that I blame him.”

“Come around?” Twilight was confused. The last thing she remembered was sitting in her favourite chair while Celestia’s guards searched the living spaces for forensic evidence. But, how did she wind up in her bed? “Rarity,” she let a hint of irritation enter her voice, “what are you talking about? Where’s Spike?”

Rarity blinked a few times before answering. “Oh, yes. I suppose you wouldn’t remember anything about that, would you?” She paused to gather her thoughts while Twilight waited patiently. “Well, from what Spike told me, you fainted shortly after the guards searched your room. Spike tried to wake you, but he couldn’t. He had the guards move you to your bed while he ran to get the doctor from the hospital. Then he came to get me. He’s back at Carrousel Boutique right now getting some much needed rest.” Her bottom lip stuck out in a dramaticized pout.

“Wait, what...” Twilight stammered. “How long was I out?”

“About five hours,” Rarity said quickly. “You had us all frightfully worried, you know.” Twilight resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Lack of sleep always made her friend even more dramatic than usual. “But the doctor said you’ll be fine. You just need some sleep.” She yawned. “As do I.”

Twilight attempted to piece together the fragments of information. “Wait,” she started slowly, “so you’ve been here all night?”

“Only since Spike barrelled through my front door,” Rarity quipped. She stared out Nyx’s bedroom window. The moon would be setting soon to make way for the sun to rise shortly thereafter. Twilight wanted to ask about Nyx. Her need for any information hung thickly in the air. She turned, walking out of Nyx’s bedroom, returning to her own and sitting on the edge of her bed. Rarity returned to the chair next to the reading lamp, this time in a much more lady-like fashion.

The emotions of the night finally overwhelmed Twilight’s ability to dam them. Tears welled in her eyes and steadily rolled down her muzzle, leaving tiny puddles on the wooden floor. “What...” Twilight asked, failing to control the sobs in her voice, “what do you know?”

Rarity sighed. “Not very much, I’m afraid,” she said. Her gaze, suddenly devoid of its drama but now betraying sadness of her own, shifted downward to the floor. “I didn’t know Nyx was missing until Spike woke me earlier tonight.” She paused. “I... I think he was hoping she would come home on her own.” She looked back at Twilight who was still weeping softly. “It wouldn’t be the first time she’d spent a night at her castle, right?”

Twilight sniffed, trying to regain control, but her tears wouldn’t ebb. “Has anyone checked her castle yet?” She was looking down, she couldn’t bare to make eye contact with anypony right now.

Rarity stiffened in surprise. “But of course not, darling,” her voice regaining a hint of the normal, faux-Canterlot pomposity. “Spike and I are the only two who know that Nyx is missing. Well, Celestia’s guards now know, as well...” She raised a hoof to her chin as she thought. “By the time the library was robbed, the Ponyville Sheriff’s office was closed for the night. Most ponies,” she placed extra emphasis on the first word, looking accusingly at Twilight, “were already asleep by the time you arrived.” That didn’t help, Twilight thought. How was I supposed to know something like this would happen? The princess’ guards can fly only so fast. Rarity continued in a softer, more forgiving tone. “Now that I think about it, there is one other pony who knows.” Twilight looked up at her hopefully. “That stallion who moved to Ponyville about two years ago; you know, the one you keep telling me is Luna’s guard. He disappeared from town this afternoon at about the same time Spike said Nyx should have gotten out of school for the day.”

Twilight’s brain twitched. What did Princess Luna’s guard have to do with Nyx’s disappearance? Did he take her? She mentally scolded herself. No, of course not, Twilight! Luna wouldn’t do that, especially after what she told Nyx about her feelings toward her. But then... was he helping her? Was he out there trying to find her? We weren’t even supposed to know he was watching us.

Questions continued to roil over Twilight’s mind, bubbling up to the surface and causing the creation of more questions in their wake. Rarity was right, she thought. I need sleep. Twilight noticed Rarity staring at her expectantly. She wondered how long she had been lost to her own thoughts and leaving her companion hanging in their conversation. “I have to go,” she stated flatly. She stood from the bed and started walking past her friend toward the door.

A white hoof stopped her after only a couple steps. “Twilight,” Rarity said softly, caring, “you need sleep. We can’t do anything until the morning anyway.” She turned Twilight to face her and wrapped her forelegs around her neck, pulling her into a gentle hug. Twilight’s tears began anew, her body trembling as her head rested against Rarity’s neck. Twilight was surprised to feel a drop of water fall on her shoulder. A second drop, several seconds later. Rarity was crying. “Shhh,” Rarity cooed. “It’ll be all right. We’ll find her, and we’ll bring her home.” She pushed Twilight and held her at leg’s length. Twilight noticed Rarity’s makeup was running, streaked by her friend’s tears. Rarity looked into Twilight’s eyes, a steely determination behind the rivulets of sadness. “You know how much I care for Nyx, too, Twilight. We’ll... bring... her... home.”

The mares embraced again as the moon set below the horizon, allowing their fear, anxiety, sadness to flow into each other’s manes.

* * * * *

A cool, light, morning rain fell on the Ponyville region, making the walk to Nyx’s castle all the more miserable. Thick stratus clouds obscured the sun, casting the landscape in a dreary, depressing ambiance. Twilight mused about how the pegasi were known to keep to their planned weather schedule, regardless of the events below on the ground. Her hooves were muddied, the path from Ponyville having become an ugly stripe of brown over the landscape hours ago. She didn’t care. The only item on which her mind could maintain a grip for more than a few fleeting thoughts was her daughter. She occasionally whispered a prayer to Celestia that Nyx was at the castle, that she and Rarity would find her there, huddled in her library with a book.

Rarity had been surprisingly quiet during the journey. She was just as sodden and muddy as Twilight, but had come prepared wearing a rain poncho and matching boots and floating an elaborately decorated umbrella above her in her magic. She had offered the umbrella to Twilight several times. The purple mare was wearing no more than her regular attire; that is, nothing. Finally, Rarity had given up and sheltered her own head from the raindrops. At this point, Twilight couldn’t possibly become any more soaked than she already was.

As they neared the castle, Twilight’s mood became both progressively more morose and more hopeful. She hoped with an intensity beyond Celestia’s summer sun that she would find Nyx safe and happy within her old sanctuary. More intense, however, was the other, colder half of her brain, telling her that the chances of her hope being realized were slim. Twilight had never been able to silence this pitiless, calculating, inner pony. Now more than ever, she wanted to buck this inner pony to the moon. But, numbers don’t lie, she thought. And I am using numbers... right? She spent a few minutes attempting to gather the data her brain was using to determine the unhappy probability, but she quickly realized that the calculation had included just as much (if not more) emotion as it did empirical data. Even so, she found that the little pony’s conclusion couldn’t be dismissed.

Reaching the main gate of the castle, Rarity’s umbrella shook itself of its collected rainwater, telescoped, and neatly tucked itself into one of her designer saddlebags. Leave it to Rarity, Twilight thought, can’t even join a search party without being fashionable. She rolled her eyes, turning her head away so her friend didn’t catch sign of her irritation. “Twilight?” Rarity said, stopping just inside the gate and out of the elements. Twilight stopped beside her, didn’t respond. She shook the rain out of her coat, causing Rarity to jump out of the way to avoid the flying droplets. She glared at Twilight irritatedly. “Twilight, are you okay splitting up? It would make for a quicker search, especially since there are only a few places she’s likely to be.”

Twilight shook her head, “If it’s all the same to you, Rarity,” she said, staring down the wide hall at nothing in particular, “I’d like to stick together.” She added in a more reserved voice, “I need the company right now.” Rarity smiled at her. Twilight was not a pony that regularly admitted she needed the closeness of companionship and friendship. But in the infrequent events when she did ask for such things, Rarity would never refuse her. Twilight had introduced Nyx to Rarity first just a few days after her birth. She had confided in Rarity (and Rarity alone) the secret of Nyx’s alicorn identity. Rarity never forgot this show of trust, and her friendship with Twilight had deepened immensely since then. Now, Nyx or no Nyx, she wouldn’t sacrifice that friendship for a lifetime seal of approval from Fancy Pants himself.

The pair walked slowly through the main hall toward their first stop, Nyx’s throne room. The clop of their hooves on the granite floor under them echoed in the cavernous chamber, making it seem even more empty than it was, despite the remains of the tapestries, woodwork, and sculptures. “Twilight, why didn’t we tell the Ponyville guard about Nyx?” Rarity had finally broached the subject. She must have realized Twilight had a reason for reporting the library’s break-in while failing to mention her daughter’s disappearance. Two guards had arrived to perform a search and forensic investigation at the library just minutes after she had reported the robbery. Twilight had half expected the Guard to take plenty of time to make her case a priority. She hadn’t been on good terms with the Guard (both in Ponyville and in Canterlot) since Nightmare Moon had magically sedated dozens of them during her invasion of the princesses’ castle. She chalked their diligence up to the missing Elements of Harmony rather than their actual interest in solving the crime.

“I was hoping she had just gotten scared and ran here,” Twilight said. That was only a half truth, she admitted to herself. I really don’t think the Guard would have tried to find Nyx anyway. There are only two ponies in all of Equestria who actually like her. Well, three, if you count me, I guess.

Rarity didn’t seem to accept this. “Well, if she’s not here, then we need to report her missing to the Guard. And if you don’t...” she paused for effect, “then I will.” Twilight looked at her in surprise. What was she trying to prove? Did she seriously think that the Guard would care about what happened to Nyx? Most ponies would love nothing more than to see Nyx just - Twilight swallowed hard at her thoughts’ unfortunate choice of words - disappear. “Come on,” Rarity encouraged gently, “let’s find her.”

The throne room was empty, the library similarly vacant. There were only two other places in the old castle that Nyx was likely to be, and one of those places was crumbling from the years of neglect, dangerous even for a light filly like Nyx. She could easily fly up to her bed chambers in the highest tower, but once she landed, the structure would be forced (and probably unable) to support her added weight. Twilight was, frankly, baffled that the tower hadn’t collapsed yet under its own weight and the stressed placed upon it by the wind and occasional snow. It had been hastily built by Nightmare Moon’s cultists to accommodate her brief rule, and she wondered just how much of the castle was actually held together by magic while they planned to slowly reinforce and finish it physically during the years following. Once the cult had been dissolved and the castle abandoned, any magical spells present would begin to decay. Nyx’s tower was a perfect example of this.

Rarity was apparently equally hesitant about searching the tower. “Um... Twilight?” she said, looking up the curving stairway into the dilapidated tower, “how about we look in the kitchens first?”

“Yeah,” Twilight answered, following Rarity’s line-of-sight, “yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” As she looked, a small chunk of the stairs from several metres above them broke off and shattered on the steps below.

The kitchen smelled awful, the scent of rotting vegetation and stale flours and spices making its way through the door of the adjacent larder. Rarity gagged and covered her nose with a hoof, remaining in the corridor outside where the malodorous assault was less offensive. Twilight cast a quick spell which manifested a mask over her muzzle, filtering the stagnant air to arrive at her nose fresh and clean. She wandered into the kitchen alone. The room was filled with all the conveniences and appliances of the finest kitchens in Canterlot Castle. The cultists had spared no expense in making sure Nyx... er... Nightmare Moon’s appetite (and sweet tooth) was always sated with the finest culinary delicacies in Equestria. It was also surprisingly clean. Nyx rarely chose the kitchens as her hiding place, and Twilight wasn’t expecting to find her here. She wasn’t surprised to find the multiple, connected kitchens devoid of a certain, black alicorn filly. Exiting the kitchen and removing her mask, she rejoined her friend in the subterranean corridor. There was only one other place to search, and she wasn’t looking forward to it.

Twilight had learned a spell several years prior that allowed her to use magic to locate objects and ponies. She had used this spell two years ago when Nyx was tricked into the Everfree Forest of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. For some reason she still couldn’t explain, the spell never worked as well when trying to locate Nyx. She assumed it was because of the filly’s unique magical ability blocking the spell somehow. But having never dared use the spell on Celestia or Luna, it was really just a very unscientific hypothesis.

Rarity stood again at the base of the tower’s stairs, looking upward. The wind had picked up slightly, causing the upper portion of the tower to sway menacingly. She swallowed nervously. “We... aren’t actually going to climb up there,” she asked, “are we?”

“Not unless we have to,” Twilight assured her. “Let me try something first.” She concentrated on the locating spell, her horn glowing a bright lavender. Nothing. She poured more of her concentration into the spell hoping to increase its efficacy, beads of sweat moistening her forehead. Still nothing. She let go of the magic and sighed, her horn’s glow slowly collapsing in on itself before fading completely. “I can’t find her,” she said, turning toward Rarity. “I mean, the spell can’t find her. But it’s missed her before. She might still be up there.”

“Then up we go,” Rarity said calmly. She tentatively placed a hoof on the first stair, as if checking to see if it was solid. Apparently satisfied that she wouldn’t fall through the stone, she placed her full weight on it, carefully climbing one step at a time.

“Wait,” Twilight called to her from the landing. Rarity stopped and turned. “I can’t let you do this for me,” she said as she climbed toward Rarity, hoping that the stairs would still support two fully-grown mares. They did, much to Twilight’s relief. “It’s too dangerous.”

Rarity feigned offense, looking hurt. “Nonsense, Twilight! I want to see Nyx back home safe as much as you do. It’s not a risk I’m unwilling to take.” She started toward the next step.

Twilight stopped her by grabbing Rarity’s tail in her teeth. Rarity stopped and glared at her friend. Twilight tried to explain, to dissuade her, “If Nyx is has been up there since yesterday afternoon, then she’s probably terrified of something. I should be the one she sees first, if she’s there.” Rarity seemed to be weighing this reasoning. “Besides, I’m not going to stay down here, and I doubt these stairs could handle both of us.” Rarity sighed, resigning herself to Twilight’s stubbornness. Twilight watched as she slowly descended the half-dozen stairs back to the landing. She turned, glared at Twilight, and dropped abruptly to sit on her haunches. “Sorry,” Twilight looked at her apologetically.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Rarity quipped curtly. Twilight flinched. I should have been expecting Rarity to be overly dramatic about having to stay behind. It’s Rarity.

Turning back to look upward into the spiraling stairway, she carefully continued her climb. Many of the steps had corners or pieces of edge missing or both. One was nearly half gone, the rubble fallen to the steps below it. Twilight jumped over this step to the next, not wanting to risk felling the remaining half. After ten minutes, her slow climb had put her only about half-way up the tower. She could no longer see Rarity, hidden behind several complete revolutions of the stairs. The wind outside gusted, causing the upper portion of the tower above her to briefly lean precariously. She could feel the vibration in the steps as the tower’s structural supports complained. Suddenly, she felt a lot less confident about this plan.

It took her only a couple seconds to reassert her determination. If Nyx was in the top of her tower, no amount of crumbling stone would keep her from her daughter. Of course, that was part of the risk, wasn’t it? Climbing this tower didn’t guarantee anything. Nyx might not be up there. Rarity had been right, but only barely. This wouldn’t be the first time Nyx had spent an entire night hidden in her castle since it was abandoned. But she had done that only once before, a particularly bad day at school driving her to hide from everyone, including her friends and Twilight, for nearly two days. She had been so terrified when she finally came out of hiding, that she barely had the wherewithal to walk back to Ponyville. Twilight had been worried beyond belief when her search of Nyx castle, like now, had failed to reveal the filly. Nyx had to come out on her own.

Twilight had successfully navigated the dangerously broken steps nearly to the top landing. Five more metres, and she could breathe a sigh of relief (albeit a brief one) on the upper landing outside the doors to Nyx’s old bedchambers. It was so tantalizingly close, yet still so far. The higher she climbed through the tower, the more violently she felt the wind as it threatened to topple the neglected stone structure. The climb up the last half of the tower had been agonizingly slow. She wondered what Rarity might be thinking on the lower landing at the bottom. She wouldn’t try to come up after her, would she? A sudden chill ran down Twilight’s spine as she realized that while the first several steps had held both of them, these upper steps likely would not. It was a very long fall to the bottom.

Shaking her head to rid it of the encroaching vertigo, she looked back to the upper landing and the large, double doors of mahogany inlaid with silver. Another step brought her closer. One more. That’s it, Twilight, she encouraged herself, only... fifteen more to go. You can do this! Another gust of wind, greater than the one before, buffeted the tower. The nearby beams groaned loudly in protest as the tower leaned impossibly away from the wind. Stone dust fell onto her face from the ceiling and walls above her. The tower righted itself again, the wind still howling at this altitude, but manageable. She looked ahead again. Seven steps. She climbed again and heard a quiet grinding of stone-on-stone. Then, there were no more steps ahead of her.

The sudden weightlessness caused her stomach to lurch and her heart to skip a beat. She looked upward at the heavy doors that were her goal, now quickly moving upward away from her. She craned her neck to look down. The central column of the stairway had cracked vertically during the last wind gust and collapsed, leaving the stairs with no support aside from the outer walls of the tower. Their weight-bearing structure removed, they readily fell away from the wall. The tower had become a tall tube of accelerating doom. Rarity had fled the landing for the relative safety of the corridor, but the floor was approaching just as quickly as the doors above her receded. She flailed her legs wildly, desperately trying to hold onto anything that might stop or at least retard her fall. Air and dust was all she could touch; even the debris falling with her wouldn’t allow itself to be captured by her grasp. This is it, she thought. I have... a quick calculation as she watched the floor closing in... three seconds. She closed her eyes. I hope Rarity will find Nyx. She and Sweetie Belle will give her a good home.

Two... What about Spike? What about the library? Ponyville could always get another librarian, but would she (she couldn’t imagine a buck librarian, as hard as she tried) allow Spike to stay on as her assistant? Rarity knows Spike has a crush on her. Maybe she’d take him in, too.

One... Tears began streaming from her eyes. She resigned herself to the fate she hadn’t expected and had saved Rarity from earlier. Rarity... What would she do? She’d start looking for me as soon as the collapse ended. She’d probably spend hours searching through the rubble until she found me. But what then?

Twilight’s racing thoughts were interrupted when she realized that the impending impact hadn’t occurred. She was still weightless, so that meant she was still falling. Her stomach gave its second nauseating lurch within the past ten seconds. Oh, Luna’s moon! The floor has collapsed, too! Her eyes opened abruptly. Rarity!

Something wasn’t right. She was weightless, and she was indeed still descending, as evidenced by the wall rising beside her. The air had a sparkling quality to it, a blue hue which surrounded her. She looked down. The floor was still here, right where it should be. In the centre of the floor, amidst the rubble of the fallen stairway, was Rarity, staring up at her with the most intense look of concentration Twilight had ever seen on her friend’s face. Her horn glowed with the brightness of Luna’s full moon on a cloudless night, several layers of progressively dimmer glow emanating outward. Twilight was only a few metres off the ground now, and Rarity was sweating profusely. She was panting heavily, nearly hyperventilating from her exertions. Rarity’s telekinesis was good enough to levitate several tools at once in her boutique, but Twilight was no pair of scissors or spool of thread. With a huff, Rarity’s horn’s glow faded, and she slumped slowly onto her side on the floor, unconscious.

Twilight landed beside her with a thud and a sharp pain in one of her front ankles. When Rarity’s magic released her from her slow, controlled descent, she had been only about a metre from the floor. The remaining fall had left her with a minor sprain, and for that, she counted herself lucky. If she hadn’t caved to Rarity’s insistence that she accompany Twilight on this search, she wouldn’t be standing here now. Now it was her turn to make sure Rarity would escape this relatively unscathed.

Rarity groaned and fluttered her eyes open. She looked around briefly, realizing that she was lying on the floor. Twilight offered a hoof to help her into an upright position. “Was I asleep for long?” Rarity asked, brushing the dust out of her coat as best as she could.

“Only about five minutes,” Twilight answered, removing a few smaller pieces of stone from Rarity’s mane and tail. She smiled at the white unicorn. “That was some incredible magic you performed!” Then, more reserved, “Thank you. You saved my life.”

Rarity stopped grooming herself and looked at her friend. “Twilight. No thanks is necessary. I’m certain you would have done the same for me.” She stood unsteadily, taking a moment to regain her balance. “Was she up there?” she asked, looking upward at the entrance to Nyx’s bedchambers through the now empty tower. Twilight realized that Rarity had no idea if she had made it all the way up. She’d been out of sight since she’d rounded the first spiral of the stairs, less than half way up.

“No,” Twilight responded absent-mindedly. She quickly corrected herself, “I don’t know. I didn’t make it into Nyx’s chambers. The steps collapsed just before I could reach the doors.” Twilight’s head drooped as she realized the implications of her statement. “Now there’s no way to get up there to check.”

“What about Rainbow Dash?” Rarity wondered aloud.

Twilight looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “What about Rainbow Dash?”

Rarity looked at her facetiously. “What does Rainbow Dash have that we don’t, and that could help us search the now-unclimbable tower?” she asked. Of course! Twilight’s inner pony took the opportunity to smack some sense into her. Rainbow Dash can just fly up there and look! She wouldn’t even have to land on the floors inside. Rarity shook her head and smiled, seeing the look of understanding spread across Twilight’s face. “Honestly,” she teased, “and you’re the scholar here.”

* * * * *

“Sorry, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said while hovering several metres above the centre of Ponyville Square, “I didn’t see her.” Rarity had already returned to Carrousel Boutique, presumably to reapply her makeup and fix her mane and tail after the deluge of fine stone powder she had received in Nyx’s castle. The rain had stopped, replaced by a drizzle for most of the walk back to Ponyville. Now, the precipitation had ceased, but the streets through town were soft and muddy, and the sky was still gloomily overcast.

Twilight looked at the cyan pegasus for a moment, then clarified patiently, “No, no. At Nyx’s old castle. Can you fly up to her bedchambers in the tower to see if she’s there? The stairs are gone, and I can’t go up to check myself.”

Rainbow Dash looked impatient. “I told you, I already looked. When Spike told me this morning that she was missing, I figured I’d help you out by checking her castle. She’s not there.”

“Wait.” Now Twilight was confused. “You’ve already been there? Why didn’t Rarity and I see you?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I dunno. I went to the library to get you before I left, but you weren’t there. So, I just went on my own. I can get there a lot faster than you, anyway.” She looked unnecessarily proud of herself after that last statement.

“But that would mean Rarity and I were already on our way.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Uh, Twilight?” She glanced back at her wings, flapping them animatedly. Twilight blushed. This was the second time this morning that her anxiety over Nyx had impaired her simple reasoning abilities. “Listen, Twi,” Rainbow Dash said, landing softly beside the embarrassed unicorn, “I went through her castle twice, just to make sure. She’s not there.” Then, gently, “I’m sorry.”

The mares turned as two of Celestia’s Royal Guard approached them from the nearby Ponyville guard station. “Excuse us, Miss Sparkle,” one of them said gruffly. “We need to have a word with you about the break-in last night at the library.” Twilight glanced at Rainbow, who shrugged. Oh right, Twilight realized. Spike probably didn’t tell her about the Elements being stolen. She made a mental note to thank Spike later for his discretion. She nodded to the guard and followed them into the guard station. Rainbow Dash waited for her to step inside before launching herself into the air and disappearing through the clouds.

The Ponyville guard station was small. Much smaller than the neighbourhood stations throughout Canterlot. Twilight had never actually been into this station before, even though she’d been living in Ponyville for more than three years. She’d never had reason to visit the guards while on-duty. Ponyville was nearly devoid of petty crime, and violent crime was all but non-existent in the denizens’ lexicon. The guards led Twilight past the front desk to the offices in the back. One of them politely opened and held the door to a conference room for her, smiling comfortingly. Twilight returned his smile as best as she could, feeling a little more certain that she wasn’t in trouble. The other guard motioned for her to sit. In the centre of the small room stood a wooden desk, not elaborately decorated, but not simple, either. It reminded her somewhat of Cheerilee’s desk in the Ponyville schoolhouse. Four comfortable, matching chairs sat around the rectangular desk, one to each side. The room was barely large enough to hold them without seeming cramped. Twilight chose one of the chairs to the side of the desk, facing perpendicularly to the door. “An officer will be right with you, Miss Sparkle,” the guard who had entered the room with her said before turning to leave the room and closing the door quietly behind him.

Five minutes passed, and the officer still hadn’t been in the room. The silence was deafening. The room had clearly been soundproofed, and the walls were bare, painted a bland off-white. Twilight sighed and heard reverberation as the sound echoed off the walls around her. Was this an interrogation room? It seemed rather well-decorated for that, she thought. Five more minutes passed before her boredom got the best of her. She counted the grains in the desktop to pass the time.

Three hundred twenty-one. That’s how many she had counted by the time the officer finally opened the door nearly thirty minutes after she had been shown in. The tan earth pony wore an officer’s field uniform: blue, button-down shirt and black tie, complete with black shoulder harness to carry a nightstick at his side. He held in his teeth a file folder with several sheets of paper inside. Twilight saw the top of one paper carrying the seal of the Royal Bureau of Investigation, Equestria’s most elite crime-solving organization. A twinge of worry presented itself along Twilight spine as she saw that.

“Miss Sparkle, I presume?” the officer asked as he closed the door behind him and sat at the desk opposite Twilight. She nodded. He smiled at her briefly. “I’m Captain Endeavour. How are you this afternoon?” He produced a pair of reading glasses and placed them on his nose while awaiting Twilight’s response.

“I’m fine, thanks,” Twilight said automatically. That was a lie, and she knew it. But, she didn’t bother correcting herself. In her experience, especially among the government ponies or Canterlot elite, that question was really just a one-sided greeting. Any response other than “fine” or “good” would be considered rude and presumptuous.

“Miss Sparkle--”

“Please,” Twilight interrupted, “call me Twilight.” Miss Sparkle was in the same category as ma’am.

Captain Endeavour smiled at her warmly, “Very well, Twilight. My friends call me Ender. You may, too, if it makes you more comfortable.” He looked down into the open file folder on the desk in front of him, flipping through several pages and pausing to read bits of information on each of them. “Twilight, why don’t you tell me what happened last night? We... that is, the RBI, has some preliminary information about the incident, but I see that we haven’t gotten a statement from you personally yet.”

Twilight was surprised. “You didn’t talk to Spike?”

Ender seemed confused. “Spike, your dragon? No, of course not. As he’s committed no crime, the law prohibits us from questioning him without parental consent.” Oh, of course, thought Twilight. And since I have no idea who or where his mother is, they can’t find a loophole in the law to talk to him.

Twilight nodded. “Well, I’ll tell you all I can. But, you should know that I wasn’t even in Ponyville when the robbery happened.”

Ender returned her nod in confirmation. “Yes, that’s what our report says.” He paused, writing a few notes onto a blank steno pad. He looked to Twilight and removed his glasses, a serious expression on his face. “Miss Spar... Twilight, let me be honest with you. I came to Ponyville with a small detachment of the Royal Guard at the behest of Princess Celestia.” Twilight listened carefully, becoming a bit nervous. “We at the RBI have a fairly good idea about what happened. While you were in Canterlot visiting your parents, two ponies broke into the library and stole the Elements of Harmony from the trunk at the end of your bed. Is this correct?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, from what I know. But Spike is the only one who actually witnessed the break-in.”

The captain looked at his notes again. “But, according to the guards’ report from last night, Spike had locked himself in a closet during the break-in. How much did he witness?”

Twilight didn’t like the direction this was going. “Spike said the ponies who broke in had plain coats with thick white hairs. That’s all. He hid in the closet after he saw them, and apparently before they saw him.”

“Mm hm...” The stallion scribbled a few more notes. “Or perhaps they did see him, but didn’t see him as a threat. Since nothing else in the library was taken, and the only damage done was to the lock on your trunk, doesn’t this sound like they knew exactly what they wanted, where it was, and how to get it?”

“I... guess that’s a possibility. I never thought about it that way.” She sighed inwardly. “I’ve... had other things on my mind since I got back.”

The officer looked at Twilight indignantly, raising a single eyebrow. “‘Other things?’ Twilight, do you realize the nature of this theft? The Elements of Harmony were stolen.” When he received no response, he tried again. “Someone stole the most magically powerful items in all of Equestria.”

“I know that!” Twilight snapped, unintentionally allowing her festering emotions to boil out. “Sometimes there are more important things than Equestria!” She immediately regretted saying that, flinching away as if Ender was about to strike her. Her interviewer stared at her, slack-jawed and speechless. Quickly recovering, he added to the growing mess of notes in the steno pad. Good job, Twilight, she thought. You’ve just earned yourself a permanent file at the RBI headquarters in Canterlot.

“Miss Sparkle, do you have anything else to add before I return to Canterlot?” he said icily, finishing his notes and placing the pad and papers back into the file folder. He rested his front hooves on it, blocking the contents from view.

Twilight sagged. “My daughter’s missing. She didn’t come home from school yesterday.”

The atmosphere in the room had quickly cooled since Twilight’s outburst. The stallions stare was frigid. “Perhaps you should report this to the local authorities.” He checked his watch. “I’m sure one of the guards up front will help you with that.” He stood, the legs of his chair scraping noisily against the floor tiles. Wow, thought Twilight. Good cop and bad cop all in one pony. How efficient.

Twilight remained sitting after Captain Endeavour had left, simmering in annoyance. What was even the point of this interview, she asked herself. They won’t talk to Spike, and the guards last night got all the evidence they could. The same guard that showed her into the room opened the door to show her out to the lobby. Once there, she glanced at the front desk, the reception pony casually reading the morning’s edition of The Canterlot Times. He obviously was not expecting much disturbance during his shift. But then, this was Ponyville, not Manehattan or Canterlot. She approached the desk, clearing her throat. “Excuse me, sir.”

The pony looked up from his paper, irritation clearly on his face from the interruption. Twilight recognized him, but she’d never learned his name. He, however, did somehow know hers. “Yes, Twilight. What can I do for you?”

“I need to report a missing filly,” she said matter-of-fact.

The reception pony returned to his paper dismissively. “Your daughter, Nyx was it? Yeah, your dragon already filed a report on that this morning,” he drawled. Twilight could feel her anger rising, replacing some of the loss that had, up until now, dominated her thoughts. There were several things wrong with that statement.

“My ‘dragon’s’ name is Spike. He’s not some pet or wild animal, you know!” The receptionist didn’t respond, focusing instead on his newspaper. “Did you send anyone out to look for her? Start an investigation?”

“We’ll get right on that,” the pony said, his nose unmoving from his reading. Twilight knew that the local law enforcement (any many citizens) of Ponyville had become bitter, and sometimes hostile toward Nyx over the past two years, but this was a whole new level of unprofessionalism. Incensed, Twilight left the guard station to return home. She needed to have a little chat with Celestia.

* * * * *

Twilight sat in her study in the library as the last rays of the setting sun shone brightly red through her bedroom window and onto the plush rug at her hooves. Tonight is going to be gorgeous, she thought. I’ll bet Luna’s already preparing something fantastic for us. She felt a brief stab of guilt, realizing that she was one of few ponies who frequently stayed up to enjoy the night sky, but she never actually told Luna how much she loved seeing the stars, the constellations, the magnificent moon... Luna’s magnificent moon.

She jumped as Spike stepped around the door frame and into the room, startling her from her thoughts. “Dinner!” Spike said cheerfully, carrying a plate with enough food for both of them. He carefully set the plate at the edge of Twilight’s desk, helping himself to one of the beetroot sandwiches and sitting in one of the large cushions in the corner beside Twilight.

“Thank you, Spike,” Twilight said sweetly even though she wasn’t hungry. The interview that afternoon had sapped her appetite. She took one of the sandwiches anyway. “You didn’t have to do this.”

Spike swallowed the bite in his mouth before answering solemnly. “I know. But with all that’s happened the past couple days, I figured you could use a break.” Twilight’s gaze lowered, eventually falling on the swiftly darkening spot of sunlight on the rug. She sniffed, attempting to hold back the sudden dampness in her eyes. First, she had Nyx’s magic to deal with. Then the Elements of Harmony were stolen. Those two alone would have made for a terrifically bad week. The news of Nyx’s disappearance had taken Twilight’s worst nightmares and shattered them, revealing what seemed an infinite abyss of loss. She was beginning to understand why her parents, especially her father, had missed her so much. She wondered how it had felt to them when Celestia had taken her as a personal protege. They hadn’t really lost her, though. She still saw them several times per week, even when she lived in Canterlot Castle. But then she moved to Ponyville. Her visits had become far more infrequent.

Was this what her parents had felt when they learned of Twilight’s new assignment? It was as if she had gone missing, in some respects. She lived too far away from Canterlot to visit them regularly or even casually. After Nyx was, for lack of a better word (she made a mental note to remedy this using the library’s resources later), born, all of Twilight’s free time was spent either with or on tasks for the filly. Nyx may have technically been adopted, but Twilight loved her as much as she was loved by her own parents. Worse still, Twilight was one of only three ponies in all of Equestria (that she knew of) who didn’t either fear or malign her. The sense of emptiness she felt in Nyx’s absence was a vacuum, tinged with the worry for her safety in the hooves of ponies who were likely among those without her best interests at-heart.

Spike had finished his sandwich and retrieved a second from the platter on Twilight’s desk. The small spot of sunlight on the rug had gone as the sun finally dipped below the level of the window sill, creating a dusky ambiance. Twilight couldn’t eat. Worry for her daughter had taken its toll on her, physically, leaving her with a nausea that forbid the addition of anything to her stomach. She placed the sandwich back onto the platter and stared toward the wall into her own thoughts. So preoccupied, she hadn’t noticed the tiny point of void blackness in the centre of the room.

The baby dragon noticed. His eyes widened as the minuscule sphere of nothingness grew slowly in front of them. “Uh... Twilight?” he said nervously, trying to direct her attention to the phenomenon. Twilight looked toward Spike, catching a glimpse of the sphere, now the size of a grape, in her peripheral vision. Instinctively, she snapped her head around to watch the object. No, it isn’t an object, she thought. It’s a... nothing. The ball of... nothing... had grown to the size of a baseball, but was now just hovering there in the room, neither moving nor growing any more. Twilight rose from her chair and moved for a closer examination of the non-thing. Just as she got close enough to reach out and attempt to touch its surface, the void collapsed in on itself with a loud crack and a bright flash.

Twilight’s ears were ringing, and her vision was spotted with the point of light lingering in her retinas. She blinked a few times, rubbed her ears gently with her hooves. She looked over to Spike as the spots in her eyes slowly dissolved. The flash had apparently been even worse for him with his exceptional, draconic eyesight. He was curled into a tight ball on his cushion, clutching at his eyes and trembling fiercely. To Twilight’s relief, he managed to recover after only a few seconds. She looked back to the place where the void had been. It was gone. Then she noticed the obsidian-coloured scroll laying on the floor. Around the middle was a band of the finest, deep-blue silk bound by a small silver disc bearing the royal seal of Princess Luna. The parchment quietly crackled, wisps of vapourising ice rising from the surface and disappearing into the air above it. The room immediately around the object had dropped in temperature significantly as if the heat itself was being absorbed by it. Twilight carefully grabbed the scroll with her magic and removed the silk band, unrolling it for both of them to see. The brief note was written in expert calligraphy with silver-enhanced ink. Twilight rolled her eyes. Luna always did have a knack for the excessively elaborate.

Dearest Twilight,

We apologise for the manner with which this message was sent. We couldn’t wait for thy dreams, as this is of an urgent nature. Our sister, Celestia, has sequestered herself in her personal study. Thou must speakest with her at once! We fear Nyx may be in grave danger. Celestia broke into tears and fled the Great Hall during a report from an agent of the Royal Bureau of Investigation. She cried seeming nonsense about Nyx as we followed her, and is refusing to divulge anything to us. As our sister’s beloved protege, thou might have better luck speaking with her. Make haste, we beg thee. We have sent our Royal Night Guard to bring thee to Canterlot immediately.

Thy friend,

Princess Luna

Twilight’s eyes widened. What is going on? Celestia knew that Nyx was missing, and she didn’t tell me something she knew about it?! The RBI agent didn’t seem to care when I mentioned Nyx to him. Had he mentioned it to the princess? If Luna was right there, why did she seem unsure? Her mind reeled. “Twi...,” Spike leaned toward her, his nervousness bleeding out through his voice, “please tell me you know what’s going on.”

The anger was back. “I don’t,” she said coldly, staring daggers into the black parchment, “but I’m about to find out.” Fifteen minutes later, Twilight found herself in Luna’s chariot, heading toward Canterlot for the second time in less than a week.

* * * * *

Two golden and very deadly-looking lances crossed each other, blocking Twilight’s path. She stood in front of the guards bristling. “Let... me... in!” she yelled slowly, her face contorted in an expression of pure rage. The stallions blocking the heavy doors to Celestia’s private wing of Canterlot Castle stared at her, unmoving. Twilight noticed she had garnered the attention of several other nearby guards who were casually, but carefully, making their way toward the commotion. Ugh! This isn’t helping!

Three of the approaching guards arrived at the gate, flanking their comrades and staring at the relatively small unicorn before them. One of the three wore a small, silver pip on the neck of his golden armour. “What’s going on here?” he barked at the guards in front of the doors. The rest of the guards snapped to attention, with the exception of the two blocking Twilight.

“Sir!” one of the gate guards answered. “This mare is demanding access to Her Majesty’s private chambers, sir!”

The stallion with the silver pip turned to Twilight. “What is your name? And what is your business here?” These ponies are either new to the Guard, or they’re one of the few I didn’t meet while living here, Twilight realized.

“I am Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia. I need to speak with her immediately,” Twilight managed to say in a semi-civil tone.

The ranking guard looked at the gate guards before answering. “Young lady, you cannot just show up to the castle demanding access to restricted areas. Regardless of who you claim to be.” Twilight’s mind abandoned any remaining pretense of civility. “Now, run along, and apply for an audience with her court next week.” He nodded to his guard and turned to leave. Two additional guards had arrived, bringing the living wall in front of Twilight to six ponies as their leader disappeared around a corner to elsewhere in the sprawling keep.

One of the newly-arrived guards turned to his companion, “How’d she get in here?”

“Princess Luna’s chariot dropped her off just outside,” the other answered.

“The princess’ chariot?” he looked shocked. “Well, where is Princess Luna, then?” The other guard shrugged, turning his attention back to Twilight who was now trembling violently.

Rage. Pure, unadulterated lividity. Twilight’s horn began to glow without conscious effort from the unicorn. She lowered her head threateningly, keeping her eyes firmly on the armoured ponies obstructing her path. She spoke slowly and deliberately, her voice joined by at least two others, disembodied and deep, creating a hellishly terrifying harmony. “You... will... let... me... pass,” she spat. She surprised even herself. Never before had she heard her voice change like that, even when she had thought Luna was about to banish Nyx (then Nightmare Moon) to the moon two years ago.

The two guards directly in front of her gulped, glancing at each other nervously but maintaining their blockade. The others began to crouch into a battle stance, ready for whatever Twilight might do. A guard near the end of the line cleared his throat, sweating beneath his armour. “Miss... Sparkle?” he tried to explain, “Please calm yourself. We are duty-bound to guard this entrance at all costs. Without the Princess’ explicit permission, we can’t let you pass.” He flinched as Twilight shifted her gaze directly into his eyes. Her horn’s glow increased in intensity, pupils glowing a dim crimson, wisps of smoke curling off her mane and tail. She bared her teeth and growled at him, the accompanying voices rumbling through the stone corridor and shaking the floor beneath their hooves.

Whatever doubt remained in the guards’ minds that the mare before them was from hell was quickly dispelled. In a blinding flash of light, Twilight’s mane and tail ignited, blasting the ceiling and wall behind her with jets of flame. The heat from the flames scorched black the floor stones around her, her coat slowly burning away, replaced behind the fire line by a new coat of the palest, hottest white. Her eyes glowed a furious red, seeking to immolate the soul of the poor guard who had dared speak to her last. Twilight’s mouth opened, a black hole peering directly into the bowels of the underworld, filled with the fire of Celestia’s sun. “OPEN... THE... DOOR...” The balefire from within licked at the corners of her mouth, at her lips as she spoke.

One of the guard ponies broke formation and galloped away, presumably to call for reinforcements. The remaining guards simply looked horrified out of their minds. “Uh...” one of them said weakly, “that’s it, ponies! Get her!” They didn’t move. The stallion ordering the apprehension started toward her, but stopped mid-stride, then quickly withdrew when he noticed his comrades were essentially statues, unmoving and paralyzed with fear. The two lances in front of the door grated and clanked together as the ponies holding them trembled.

Twilight was done waiting for them to respond. She actually attempted to pour her magic into her horn - which until this point had been glowing of its own accord - increasing its luminescence to a level that filled the corridor with light, the purple gleam streaming out the nearby windows into the castle gardens below. She intended to simply teleport past them. She knew Celestia’s private chambers well; she’d been there with the princess frequently when she lived in the castle. Magic, however, was not something well-manifested in the throes of raw emotion. The uncomfortably heated air swirled around Twilight and the guards, rattling the doors on their hinges. A flash of bright white at least thrice Twilight’s size erupted to her right, replacing the empty space with a very surprised, white alicorn bearing a cutie mark of the sun.

Celestia’s eyes were wide, her pupils pinpoints as she looked around her as she frantically tried to find her bearings. She spotted Twilight, or rather Twilight’s magically rage-altered form, and allowed her jaw to drop ever so slightly. She had seen Twilight succumb to her anger in this manner once before, but to enhance her own magic with raw emotion was unpredictable if not downright dangerous. To summon the power to teleport Celestia herself, in her own castle, against her will or prior knowledge, was something for which she (or any pony) was completely unprepared.

The guards had recognized Celestia the moment she appeared and collapsed to the floor in a terrified bow. They had succeeded in their duty to guard the door. Twilight had, indeed, not passed them. Celestia looked at them, then back at the dangerously transfigured Twilight. Her horn glowed briefly, barely noticeable in the presence of Twilight’s brilliance. Then the two mares were gone.

Her surroundings had changed abruptly, nearly before she had the chance to notice the tingling in her body that preceded a teleportation spell. To her right stood Princess Celestia, the very mare she had sought to confront. Celestia looked at her warily, appearing unsure about how to handle the situation. Twilight’s mane and tail still spouted bright yellow-orange flames, her eyes points of glowing crimson, he coat now completely pale white. Even her cutie mark had been burned off, replaced by a flank of the purest white. She looked at the room around her. It was unfamiliar, but so many of the rooms in the palace were so similar. She assumed it was one of the less important rooms within the princess’ private chambers.

The princess looked around the room, stopping briefly on the peeling paint on the walls, themselves a victim of the broiling heat emanating from Twilight’s mutated form. She slowly turned her head toward the enraged, purple unicorn. “Twilight...” she started, her voice barely audible to herself above the crushing pressure of intense, emotionally charged magic filling the room. Twilight stared forward, unfixed, unresponsive. She tried again using the traditional Royal Canterlot Voice, a voice which she had used only once before toward her faithful student, “TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” That got her attention.

“You took Nyx away from me!” Twilight groaned, the multiple-voices behind hers the sound of pain and anguish rolled together as one.

The princess attempted to defend herself, “No! Twilight, I couldn’t... You don’t underst-”

“I don’t need to understand!” Twilight interrupted. “GIVE HER BACK!” Celestia took a step back in shock as Twilight’s voice shifted into something very much resembling the Royal Canterlot Voice, only melded with a chorus of other, demonic voices.

“Twilight, please! Calm down!” Celestia pleaded. Twilight’s eyes betrayed a burgeoning malice, glowing more intensely red. Her capacity for logic had all but shut down, replaced by a burning hate, pure emotion that threatened to make her do things she would certainly regret later. “Please don’t make me do this...” Celestia begged, a tear escaping her eye and rolling down her cheek. The magical pressure of Twilight’s rage continued to press upon her. She closed her eyes. Her horn began to glow a regal, brilliant white. Celestia’s eyelids tightened as she concentrated on a spell.

Twilight knew this. She could remember feeling these same minutiae of magical ebbs and currents once before... but when? Celestia’s horn manifested the spell, sending out a powerful shock wave of magically disruptive energy. “Gyaaah!” Twilight screamed in agony as the wave washed over her horn, forcefully snuffing out the magic which had all but destroyed the room and probably would have seriously injured her guards. The pressure wave caught in the wake of Celestia’s magic picked up Twilight roughly, throwing her body into the far wall like a callously tossed rag doll. Twilight left a pony-sized impression in the wall and landed on the floor with a dull thump. Her unconscious form slowly faded back to its normal purple, her mane and tail no longer flaming but charred black at the tips.

The acrid smell of burned hair assaulted Celestia’s nostrils. She was at Twilight’s side in an instant, desperately searching the unicorn for any injuries. Twilight stirred, groaning but still unconscious. Celestia let out a relieved sigh, standing over her and waiting.

Twilight opened her eyes after what seemed to her like only a few seconds since she had hit the wall. She looked upward to see Celestia standing over her, a worried but caring smile on her face. “Princess... Celestia?” Twilight asked, confused. Her semi-wakefulness passed, allowing her brain to force an uncomfortably embarrassing reality upon her. “Oh... Oh no! Princess, I’m so sorry!” she stammered, attempting to climb to her hooves. She looked at the ruined room around her, then back at the princess. For the moment, she was at a loss for words.

“Twilight,” Celestia begin, “what was that all about? What is wrong?” She looked legitimately confused.

“I... Luna...” Twilight struggled to assemble her thoughts into a semblance of order. “Nyx is gone!” she finally wailed, tears streaming from her eyes. She leaped at the princess, burying her face in Celestia’s chest as a gold-gilded hoof wrapped around her comfortingly.

Celestia sighed. “Yes... I know, Twilight.”

Twilight sniffed and pulled herself away, out of the princess’ grasp. “Wh... what?”

“Twilight,” the princess looked at her, an expression of sad torment marring her normally beautiful face, “go home.”

“But... but,” Twilight sputtered, “but Nyx! Luna said you knew something! We have to find her!”

Celestia was crying openly now, quietly, tears dripping from the bottom of her muzzle. “Twilight...” She paused for a long time. “Twilight, I need you... Equestria needs you at the library in Ponyville. We must find the Elements, and you need to help in the investigation.” Something in the back of Twilight’s mind was attempting to convince her that this was a lie. But, Celestia wouldn’t lie to me... unless... She had a moment of terrifying clairvoyance. … unless she was trying to protect me. But from what?

Twilight wiped the tears from her eyes with a forehoof. “I need to find my daughter,” she said flatly. Her voice left no room for negotiation. “I know the elements are important, but...” she was hesitant to finish the sentence. “But my daughter is more important, to me.” This last part caused a sob to catch in Celestia’s throat. “Princess,” Twilight ventured, “what do you know about Nyx’s disappearance?”

Celestia shook her head weakly. “I’m sorry, Twilight. Oh, my dearest Twilight, I’m so sorry.” Sobs racked her body, making her seem almost... mortal. Twilight had never seen the princess like this before. It turned her heart to ice. Celestia forced herself to speak, “Twilight. Your assignment is to learn about the magic of friendship in Ponyville.” Twilight looked at her teacher, her friend, remotely. The teacher and friend returned her student’s look pleadingly. “Return to the library. Help find the Elements. Forget...” another caught sob, “forget about Nyx.”

“Princess...” A tear rolled down each of Twilight’s cheeks. Twilight walked slowly and dejectedly toward the door, watching the princess stand there weeping heavily as she passed. “I’m sorry, too Princess.” She exited the smoldering room, closing the door behind her with her magic.

Celestia listened to Twilight’s hoofsteps echo in the hallway, slowly becoming more distant. When she could no longer hear the clops of hooves on marble, she collapsed into a heap on the floor, pitifully weeping harder than she had in a thousand years.

Comments

[Gwenio]

"I’m not going anywhere,” Rarity quipped curtly. Twilight flinched. I should have been expecting Rarity to be overly dramatic about having to stay behind. It’s Rarity.

Thoughts should be in italics.

---------------------------------------------

Poor Twilight, she is having a very bad week. And is scary angry. Looking forward to the next part.

[Inkblot]

really nice read. Celestia must be really badly caught between her jobs as Equestria's ruler and her student's life.

[Yobikir]

uhm three ponies who don’t fear or malign her? three Ponies who like her?
Luna, Cherilee, Twilight, Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell, Apple Bloom, Twist, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie makes 12.
Luna, Cherilee and Twilight are most likely the ones you mean since they where confirmed for this in this Story.
Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell, Apple Bloom and Twist where her best friends in Past Sins and there where no signs that that changed.
Fluttershy reassured Nyx in the battle of Ponyville and is Twilights friend. Hay she stared down some Lupus Minors to save Nyx.
Rarity was with Twilight in this chapter and didn't hesitate a second to help.
Rainbow dash went ALONE into the castle to search for Nyx, that doesn't sound like fear or malign to me ...
Pinkie Pie ... is Pinkie Pie.
AppleJack is a friend of Twilight and the sister of Applebloom i highly doubt that she has anything against Nyx, but ... with her that’s the most uncertain because i can see that she afraid that Nyx accidentally hurts Apple Bloom, but then i think Scootaloo is bigger danger in that area with her ideas for Cutie Marks.

[Obsidian]

Twilight SOOOOOOOOOOOO should have rage-shifted again after Celestia told her to forget Nyx.

And she doesn't call her on it at all? I don't think so, sorry... but you broke from the character you set up earlier in this chapter.

[Gwenio]

226792

If you pay attention, you will notice it is Twilight thinking (needs to be italized). She is having a bad week, and is shown on multiple occations to not thinking straight.

EDIT

I see, there are two places that specify there being only three. The first is Twilight thinking to herself, the next time it is stated directly. But the point is that is what Twilight is thinking and not necessarily fact.

227013

What purpose would calling Celestia out serve except to waste more time that could be spent searching for Nyx?

[Obsidian]

It seems, at least to me, like Celestia knows Something! Currently Twilight doesn't have much in the way of leads, so anything would be more than what she currently has.

[Gwenio]

227139

Twilight did ask and seems to suspect, but it is just as obvious from Celestia's response that she is unwilling to tell.

[Jirodyne]

I'll pity the poor poor pony that tries to stop Twilight.

[T6J2E5]

226716
I used normal typeface intentionally for Twilight's thoughts there. It's the currently accepted convention for omniscient, third-person fiction that italics be used for a character's thoughts only when the thought spans more than one paragraph. Otherwise, the point-of-view of the paragraph (in this case, third-person POV through Twilight's perspective) should already be apparent when it shifts to a character's thoughts. Other narrative styles might do it differently.

226792
To help somepony isn't evidence that the pony isn't feared. Several of Twilight's friends and other residents of Ponyville eventually helped Nyx at the end of Past Sins, but there is no evidence that they don't fear Nyx. Also keep in-mind that this story takes place two years after Past Sins. A lot can change in that amount of time, especially when it comes to emotions.

227013
Twilight did call the princess out on it. Re-read the final scene. Pay especially close attention to how Twilight's reactions and emotions change as she attempts to get answers from Celestia. As for rage-shifting a second time, I thought it was pretty obvious that Twilight was in no condition to do that again (remember that this shift is a subconscious one; she has no control over it, even in canon). Celestia used some sort of magical overload spell to force Twilight's magic (and, hence, rage-mode) to collapse, knocking her out in the process, I might add...

[Production Run]

I'm scared of Twilight now, and she doesn't even exist in this universe.

[Gwenio]

231980

Yes, she was in good scary form. All that is missing is her saying something properly creepy like the Twilight in Backwards Through the Mirror does to a pair of muggers that attack Rarity. Of course that would require some level of self control...

[T6J2E5]

231980
232096
Unfortunately, regardless of intellect, pony with emotions + missing offspring + possible peril = LOL

To everypony: For future reference, I'll be posting chapter update info to the blog instead of the story comments.

[Gwenio]

232168

Yep, it is a shame. But maybe someday she will the trick to being flame-maned and coherent. Then the target(s) of her wrath will be really terrified.

[T6J2E5]

233502
I dunno... I think I might be a bit more terrified if she wasn't in control of her faculties. When she's thinking straight, she had a conscience.

[Gwenio]

234174

Though if she has the REALLY angry look then it would appear that she is very close to loosing control and acting upon any threats she makes. If she has lost all control then would the subject of her ire be around long enough to be properly afraid?

Kind of the difference between an errupting volcano and one that is showing every sign of going off at any moment. You do not want to be around either of them.

[T6J2E5]

234277
True, true. Although, I'd prefer to avoid the wrath of Twilight under any circumstances. Peeing oneself in terror isn't the most socially acceptable behaviour.

So don't go telling her about how I was staring at her flank at Pinkie Pie's last party... Kay?

[Gwenio]

234338

Depends on the interpertation of Twilight whether or not she would take that baddly.

[La Vallett1]

Twilight does seem very dangerous when she loses control of her temper.

[T6J2E5]

266458
Coming up next: 101 ways to make a royal guard soil their armour using only a Twilight Sparkle!

[Gwenio]

267058

For how many of those is she just a unicorn and not something... else?

Like an alicorn?

[T6J2E5]

272670

Alicorn Twilight Sparkle? No! Shh! That is legend...

[Gwenio]

272811

*in conspiratorial wisper*

One that makes guards soil their armour at the mere mention of it I take it?

Or is it a plot to keep her from learning the truth?

[T6J2E5]

272844

The truth? You can't handle the truth!

Naw, the "legend" bit was a quote by Billy Witchdoctor from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

I know way too many movie/tv quotes.

[Ccleecia]

Dude twilight really scares me when she gets mad or frustrated