//------------------------------// // A Twilight Tale: Part 1 // Story: What Happened // by Evowizard25 //------------------------------// High Inquisitor Fervent always did his best to stay calm in any circumstance. Whether during a time of war or a family outing, he was always calm and collected. At least, he thought so. “And you are sure that the human civilians will not give us trouble if the Romans invade?” The Inquisitor that stood before him nodded. The duo were seated within a private room within Canterlot castle, “The humans of our colonies are loyal to Celestia as any pony would be. If the human Romans invade, they will not find solace with their species there.” Fervent chewed on the thought for a moment, “Still, send a few Inquisitors and a Priestess or two to make sure that the humans remain loyal to Equestria. I want you to send your best. One’s that won’t anger the locals. We need to remind them that they are still Equestrians, no matter the species.” What the duo were talking about were the Folkland Islands. A series of small to large islands that laid themselves down between the nations of Equestrian Empire and the Roman Empire. They had originally been Roman territories thousands of years ago, but were somewhat abandoned when Queen Majesty had invaded and conquered them. Ever since, Equestria had kept a presence on the islands and marking them as part of the Equestrian Empire. Thankfully for the humans that resided there, Queen Majesty had never tried to exterminate them the same way she tried to do with the mainland. They weren’t numerous to worry about at the time. However, the Romans hadn’t forgotten. It had been thousands of years, but they had always tried to take back the islands. For the most part, it was through diplomatic means. A war between Rome and Equestria could be devastating. They did not have the numbers of the Griffons or the natural advantages or tech as other creatures, but humans were amongst the best druids and had skills in rune magic. Celestia had done her best to pacify the Romans but Fervent could see the flames of war were being heated. The only time Equestria had gone to war with the humans after Queen Majesty’s invasion, was when the humans had tried to exterminate the Troodon nation of Sauria. Equestria had dominated the sea engagements. Cut off from their nation, surviving Romans had been rounded up quite quickly. That was a few hundred years ago. The Romans wouldn’t be so behind in the naval category now. “It will be done,” the inquisitor bowed his head and stood up. He trotted over to the door and stopped. “High Inquisitor.” Fervent raised an eyebrow, “Yes?” “You have a visitor.” “Grandpa!” A little purple blur rushed over and smashed herself up against him in a fierce little hug. Fervent laughed and hugged her back, “Well if it isn’t my favorite granddaughter.” The little filly, Twilight Sparkle, giggled. “I’m your only granddaughter, Grandpa.” “Well you’d still be my favorite even if I had a thousand granddaughters,” Fervent ruffled her mane with a hoof. He made a gesture for the Inquistior to leave. He bowed and closed the door on his way out. “So how is my studious Sparkle doing? Getting perfect grades, I hope.” Twilight Sparkle nodded, “Yep, they’re going to advance me two whole grades. They think I’m really smart and that I’ll easily get into Celestia’s school.” “That you will,” Fervent smiled. “No unicorn in my family has ever failed the entrance test. You’ll do fine.” “Really?” She looked up at him with hopeful eyes. “Because I ran the statistics, I could still fail.” “Because I sense a power in you that could dwarf mine with the right training,” Fervent nodded. “That and your lust for knowledge will surely get you in. Besides, unicorns with subpar magic have gotten in. Well mostly for their grades, really. You won’t have to worry about either.” Twilight smiled, “But just in case, can I read some of your books?” Fervent smirked and nuzzled her, “I just got a new shipment of books you can read. Some of it is a bit advanced, but I know you won’t have any problems.” He nodded towards a wooden box. Twilight squee’d and hugged his leg, “I love you, grandpa.” Then she took off towards the box holding all the new books. Before he could help her sort through the books, somepony opened the door. It was her parents. They were panting, no doubt having to run after the excitable filly. Shining Armor was no doubt with a drill instructor who was assessing his capabilities at the moment. The colt was going to be a fine soldier someday. “It’s about time you showed up.” Night Light huffed, “You’ll have to forgive me, father. Twilight’s a bit excitable.” “Which one?” Fervent quirked an eyebrow, earning a chuckle from Night Light. Twilight Velvet playfully elbowed him before trotting over to her daughter, “I do hope you put away those… dark books we talked about.” Fervent nodded, “They were moved to a more private section.” Velvet grinned, “Good.” She went over to help Twilight organize the books in the box so she could research them better. Fervent had to chuckle as little Twilight reminded him of Night Light when he was a colt. “Ah, memories. It was only yesterday you were that small.” He ruffled his son’s mane. Night Light huffed and swatted his hoof away, “Yes and I hated when you did that. I still do.” “And yet I find your mane ruffled all the time when I come to visit,” Fervent quirked an eyebrow. “That wife of yours must truly be something.” Night Light blushed causing the older unicorn to laugh.   Yes, Fervent was sure his little family was going to do well for itself. ___________________________________________________________________ The little filly nervously trotted in place. She was standing between her parents outside a room in the school as they awaited their turn to be judged. “Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. I’m going to fail and they’re not going to take me in and then they’ll force me back into magic kindergarten.” Twilight Velvet rolled her eyes, “No one’s going to send you to magic kindergarten. You’re going to do fine.” “How do you know that?!” Little Twilight Sparkle huffed. “Because, like I’ve told you many times before, I went to this school.” Velvet explained. “Just like your father.” Night Light nodded, “Yes indeed and you have much more magic then I did at your age so you’ll do fine.” He pulled her into a comforting hug. “We’ll be there for you so you won’t have to do this on your own.” Twilight grinned, ‘Thank you, daddy. I won’t let you down.” “I know you won’t,” Night Light smiled and nuzzled her. “It’ll be easy, I promise.” “Exactly,” Velvet spoke up. “I mean, they allowed your father to join and his magic wasn’t that good.” “I resent that remark,” Night Light huffed. “I was quite talented at my age.” “With astronomy, not magic.” Velvet smirked and before he could say anything more, she kissed his cheek. He blushed slightly and smiled at her, “Alright, I admit it. I wasn’t that good with magic. Are you happy?” “Very,” Velvet giggled. “It gave me the chance to tutor you after all.” She nuzzled his cheek as she kept close to his side. Little Twilight’s ‘gag’ at the little lovefest made them chuckle. The door opened up to reveal a pair of unicorns walking with a little pale yellow coated filly between them. She had a set of thick glasses and a red/purple striped mane. She was nervously hiding between them. Twilight tried to flash her a smile, but she slunk in between her parents for safety. ‘I’m going to talk to her later. Maybe she needs a friend.’ Twilight thought. Little Twilight wasn’t good with ponies, but her mommy always said she needed to be nice to others. Her daddy said the same thing, though he usually tried to bribe her with cookies to get her to do it. Daddy’s way worked more often. “Come on now,” Night Light gently nudged her. “It’s your turn.” He offered her a comforting smile that allowed the little filly to have enough courage to walk inside with them. The room wasn’t that big. It resembled a simple step classroom which could possibly house about forty to fifty students. The doors and ceiling were a bit high though. On the third level of the room sat three judges. The unicorns held a clipboard and pen in their magic. In the center of the little stage sat a simple, dark blue box. One of the judges looked down at them, “You are Twilight Sparkle, correct?” The little filly shyly nodded, “Yes, sir.” “Good,” another judge, a mare this time, spoke. “Now what we want you to do is simple. Open that box you see before you. You can use whatever magic spell you want to in order to do so.” “You will have thirty minutes,” the last stallion judge said. “Make it count.” Twilight gulped as the judges started their timer. She looked to her parents for guidance. They offered up reassuring smile. Her father gestured to the box, mouthing ‘you can do it’. She smiled and walked over to it. Taking a deep breath, she thought up a few locksmith spells she had memorized. Releasing it, she closed her eyes and focused. Her horn lit up as she channeled her magic. Around the box’s opening, it glowed slightly red. She tried to wedge it open, but it wouldn’t budge. She tried to seep into it, but that did nothing. She tried to form a keyhole, but the box resisted her efforts. She sighed. It would seem usual locksmith spells wouldn’t work. So she tried to break it. Only slightly, so it wouldn’t damage what could possibly be inside. The box withstood her onslaught. For the next few moments, Twilight tried a number of spells. Not one of them did anything. The box was still in the same condition as when she had entered the room. She started to growl as she glared at it. This was supposed to be her day to shine. She was supposed to make mommy and daddy happy. This box wouldn’t let her get all those new books. She wouldn’t have that. So she tried to delve deeper into the realm of magic and pool more power. Yet it didn’t work. At most, it destroyed the cheap stool it was placed upon. She delved deeper. She opened her mind to encompass as much as she could. She would not fail. She would succeed and everyone would be happy. ‘They are going to be so happy for me. I’m going to eat a bunch of ice cream after this.’ Yet it still wouldn’t budge. She started to sweat. She was failing. She could hear the clock tick ever closer to its final conclusion. She could hear her parents fidgeting about. She could hear the the judges tap their hooves as they waited. She wanted to cry. She sniffed as she held back her tears. ‘I don’t want to fail. I worked so hard for this.’ Steeling herself, she opened her mind even further. This was something her books had warned her of doing. There were dangers to extending your mind too wide over the Realms. You could hurt yourself and others. Yet, Twilight was willing to risk it. She was not going to disappoint anypony. She was going to succeed and everypony would be happy. That’s when it happened. Her mind seemed to brush up against something strange. It was like haphazard ideas and thoughts were thrown into a blender. Then that strange feeling exploded inside her mind. She screamed, holding her hooves to her head as it felt like she was going to explode. “Twilight!” Her parents yelled in fright. Before they could do anything the environment started to warp. Objects started to twist out of shape. The box seemed to swirl into itself. Finally, it disappeared… right before a purple portal took itself place. The room darkened as the walls and ceiling started to chip away. Each piece floated towards the portal, which grew each second. The room started to shift more and more. The door disappeared as though it was absorbed by the wall. One of the judges noticed blood seeping out of his nose before he started to laugh. It was a laughter of pure insanity. He fell over, laughing in agony as his skin seemed to drag back and forth over his body. Both the judges and her parents moved to stop what was happening, but something happened. A creature emerged from the portal. It had four long spindly legs with large claws at the end of its four fingers and toes. It was lithe with skin that seemed to shift between purple and blood red. It had no eyes in its sockets but instead had purple fire that seemed to leak out. Its snout looked like an alligator's and its tail looked like a spiked whip. It was twice the size of a regular pony. The laughing judge grew louder and he started to cough up more blood. The beast roared and charged. It moved quick. Before they knew it, the beast had its jaws around the mare’s midsection and slicing through the other judge's skull. The mare screamed as it thrashed her around. The laughter continued, until the beast smashed its clawed foot down on the insane judge’s head. “Get Twilight. I’ll make sure the beast doesn’t get to us.” Night Light spoke up after the initial shock had worn off. His horn lit up as he cast a shield spell around them. Velvet nodded and tried to go over and pick up their daughter, but the moment she tried to touch her, a bubble of magic burst around the little filly’s body. Velvet was sent flying into the wall, falling to the ground unconscious. “Velvet!” The mare’s carcass smacked against the shield. The beast’s attention was on him now. Normally  he would run. He wasn’t the bravest of ponies, neither was he the strongest. He was an average level unicorn. However he was also a father and husband. He wasn’t going to fail either. He braced himself for when it charged. He put more power into it, hoping it would last. It didn’t. The beast sliced right through the magical barrier, nearly taking his head off as well. He cut off his magic and rolled to the side. The beast tried to make another swipe at him. Again he narrowly dodged. ‘Damn it,’ Night Light thought. ‘I can’t just keep dodging. I have to get rid of it now before more of those things come out of the portal.’ The best kept trying to cut into him, but Night Light was just fast enough to jump out of the way. He used the chairs and steps to dodge as they kept tripping up the creature. Given another minute or two, he was sure the creature would strike him. He eyed the portal and got an idea. ‘I might die, but it’ll work.’ He jumped down onto the ground floor, his horn alight. The creature attempted to follow suit, but Night Light used two chairs to trip the monster. It roared in anger as it tumbled past him and back into the portal. He sighed in relief, but his attention turned back to his daughter. Twilight was still holding her head in pain. Her horn was still alight with magic. He needed to stop it or the creature would be back. He could faintly hear guards on the other side of the wall, but they wouldn’t make it inside soon enough. So he looked around. Thankfully for Night Light, he spied a small inhibitor in the mare’s pocket. It must have been a just in case precaution if a student’s magic acted up. He quickly took the ring and walked over to Twilight. He couldn’t rush it. He saw what had happened to his wife. “Twilight,” he spoke to her softly but with firm resolve. “Listen to me. Everything’s going to be alright. I want you to be a good girl for daddy and stay still. I’m not going to hurt you.” Twilight’s screams seemed to die down for a moment, “Daddy… it hurts.” Blood tears were falling down her cheeks, staining her coat red. Night Light’s heart was breaking at the sight. His beloved daughter had been reduced to this state. He was going to help get her out of it. “It won’t last, Twilight. It’s going to be alright. Trust me.” He moved closer and quickly hooked the ring around her horn. Instantly, the portal disappeared and the room seemed to bend slightly back to normal. He sighed in relief and hugged his little girl, “There, see? I told you everything was going to be alright.” Twilight merely sniffed and hugged him back for security. A groan caught his attention. He turned his head and smiled as his wife stirred. She wasn’t hurt badly by any means, so they had made it out alright. The judges hadn’t, but he could be a little selfish when it came to family. “Are you alright?” Velvet nodded and she rubbed her head with a hoof, “I’ve had much worse. Is Twilight alright?” “I think she’ll be fine,” Night Light stated. “Daddy,” Twilight croaked. “My head’s hurting again…” Night Light rubbed Twilight’s back, “We’ll get a doctor to look at it. You’re a strong filly. Everything’s-” The filly’s horn flared and the inhibitor ring broke as if it were a cheap toy. A curved spear made of pure reddish magic pierced his chest and went straight up through his back. Night Light’s eyes widened one last time as he coughed up blood. He could faintly hear Velvet’s scream and his daughter crying out in surprise and fear. Then he knew no more.