Originally published on April 27th, 2017
Night had befallen Equestria. Twilight and Spike lay asleep in the same room, after Twilight had comforted Spike about events earlier in the day. Starlight had finally returned to the castle after helping to clean the mess made earlier. She walked slowly through the castle, unsure if either Twilight or Spike were asleep. Starlight opened the door to Twilight's room and saw them both asleep. She gave a little smile, and quietly closed to the door as to not bother them.
I hope Spike's not too upset over what happened earlier.Starlight thought. I wish I could have shown Twilight my new spell earlier today.
Starlight went inside of her room to go to sleep. She hopped into bed, but couldn't sleep, her latest spell was bugging her.
"Ugh" Starlight grunted. "I can save Equestria from an onslaught of Changelings, but I can't do this stupid simple spell."
Never the less she laid in bed trying to shut her eyes. The same went for the rest of Ponyville, they all went to sleep. The moon shined dimly in the sky. Starlight closed her eyes, and eventually did fall asleep some time later. All seemed well, but all was not well in Equestria.
Several hours later, deep into the night, Starlight had awoken, feeling thirsty. She got out of bed, and walked to the kitchen.
Gee, Twilight's castle sure is... scary at night... when it's dark. Starlight thought.
She poured herself a glass of water, and drank about half of it. She leaned on counter and bathed in the calm silence. That silence was interrupted however, when she started to hear a faint rumbling sound from outside the castle. She didn't think twice about it at first, but the noise grew louder, and the ground started to shake. Her eyes widened, fearing what the noise could possibly be. It wasn't typical to hear such a noise, let alone at night. She put her drink down, and ducked down behind the counter, wondering what to do. Should she investigate what was going on? Or wait it out? The ground was now really shaking, and the noise was very noticeable. She wondered if Twilight or Spike were awoken by the noise. Then, as suddenly as it came, the noise stopped. Some time passed, and there was a bit of silence. Starlight had wondered if whatever it was had passed by, but no. She could hear the main door slowly open, making a terrifying creaking noise. She'd never noticed the door creaking during the day, but it seemed amplified at night. Somepony, or something walked into the castle. She heard faint hoofsteps clash with the castle tile. They were trotting lightly, as if to be not heard, but she heard them.
Starlight wondered what to do next. Investigate? Or hide and hope they leave?
I have a bad feeling about this. she thought to herself. Whatever it is, I'm not taking this sitting down. I defeated Queen Chrysalis without magic. There isn't anything I can't take on with magic. And whatever it is, I have to protect Twilight and Spike.
With that, she made her conclusion.
It's time I investigate what's going on.She thought to herself. She stood up and investigated. There was nothing at the main foyer, but she heard some rattling down the hallway.
As young fillies, we are told not to be afraid of the dark, but the truth is that the dark and the unknown never stop being scary. It's only a matter of having the courage to face the fear, that is likely what your parents meant when they told you that there's no need to hide when it's dark outside. Any fear you have, just think of one right now, it all has to do from the unknown, not knowing. Twilight is afraid of quesadillas, because she doesn't know how her body will react to so much hot melted cheese inside of a tortilla. Darkness is scary because it can conceal anteing, your deepest darkest fears could be standing right in front of you. Or there could be nothing, but you have no way of knowing without the light.
Anyway, Starlight cautiously followed the sound of the hoofsteps, and wandered through the almost pitch black castle. Twilight's castle gave off a completely different mood at night than during day. By day, the crystal like interior lit up its guests. But at night, the large open rooms and empty space made every hoof-step echo, and trapped more darkness.
Starlight crept cautiously around the castle, following the sound of the steps down the hall. She couldn't see anypony yet, but she made some observations based on the steps. They were walking opposite her direction, aka away from her so she followed. Though faint, she could tell it wasn't just one pony, it must have been two or three, all trotting slowly.
After some cautious searching, the trotting just stopped.
Starlight wondered if it as all in her head.
But surely there had to be something, it couldn't have just bee nothing. Starlight thought to herself. Why would the sound go quiet... probably means they stopped trotting because... *gasp*... they found what they're looking for! But what? The question Starlight should have was not what, but who.
She hastily trotted forward, trying to keep pace, but not make a ruckus as to give away her location. The mysterious trotting started up again, but this time, it was coming towards her.
Starlight panicked, and hid behind a nearby closet door. The door had no openings, so they couldn't see her, but she couldn't see them either. Whoever they were. Starlight was shaking in her hooves. She saw the shadows of somepony wandering outside the door. The shadows paced, as if they were looking for her. It's clear they knew they were being watched. The shadows then went back down the hall which they entered.
What could they want. What's down that hall anyway other than *gasp* Twilight and Spike! They must be in trouble! Starlight thought to herself.
Starlight now had a better idea of the situation. Whoever they were, they wanted something from Twilight or Spike, and Starlight wasn't ready to let that happen. She opened the door and trotted down the hall towards them.
Starlight could see just past the corner where Twilight's room was, were the shadows. She made out at least three horses, and they were reasonably sized.
Whatever it is you want, you ain't getting it. Starlight thought to herself, still trying to stay hidden until the time was right.
Starlight charged up her horn's magic, ready to strike at whoever they were. She paused, and took a deep breath. And then, she jumped around the corner and shot a beam of magic forward. It hit something, and made a bright flash, temporarily blinding Starlight. She tried to regain focus, but the split seconds she was impaired were enough. Some force knocked her to the ground, and then started constraining her. She could hardly breath, and felt her head getting lighter and lighter. And then everything went blank.
The sun began to rise upon Equestria, lighting up the castle. Starlight opened her eyes and found herself lying in her bed tucked in. But how? Did the nighttime investigation even happen? Or was it a dream? She wasn't sure. Starlight got up out of bed and walked around the castle. Everything was like it was the previous day. Nothing was touched or misplaced, as if nothing had happened at night. She got up and trotted to the kitchen. Starlight found Twilight in the cooking something with absolutely zero cheese for breakfast.
"Good morning Starlight!" Twilight said warmly.
"Um... morning Twilight." Starlight said with a hint of hesitation.
"Something the matter?" Twilight asked. "You seem a bit... startled. Did you have a rough night?"
"Yeah." Starlight replied. I couldn't sleep all night. All because of this spell I've been trying to master."
"Which spell?" Twilight asked. "I'm sure I can be able to help."
"Well..." Starlight tried to think of a difficult spell to avoid talking about her possible nightmare. "I saw from your tree chandelier a picture of that one time you cast a spell on Rarity to give her artificial wings." Starlight explained. "And I thought it'd be really cool to try on myself. Unfortunately I haven't successfully done it yet."
"Oh that one... *giggle* that was quite a day." Twilight explained. "The day Rainbow Dash pulls off a Sonic Rainboom right in front our eyes in an effort to save Rarity and the Wonderbolts isn't a day you forget so easily."
"But you know well enough that magic is trial and error. I have a feeling something else must be bothering you." Twilight peered wanting to know more.
"I uh... had a bad dream last night." Starlight confessed.
"Oh. Of what?" Twilight asked concerned.
"I um... don't remember. I just remember being scared." she replied half lying. Everything seemed so ordinary, that she wasn't sure if last night was fact or fiction.
"Is that so? Okay then. Dreams sure are elusive things." Twilight said.
"Heh heh yeah..." Starlight took a sip of water from a glass that'd already been sitting on the counter. Could it be the same water she poured and left on the counter the night before? Her eyes widened.
I left a glass of water half empty last night didn't I? Or was it half full? Either way, if the glass is here, then did last night actually happen? Starlight thought to herself.
"By the way, have you seen Spike this morning?" Twilight asked. "He wasn't in his bed this morning and I haven't seen him yet today. So have you seen him?"
Hearing that had startled Starlight. Her heart sank, if her dream was real, she might have just figured out what they were after.
Starlight spit out her water in reaction to the realization.
"Uh he's... probably running some errands like he always does." Starlight said, trying to come up with an explanation. She didn't want to tell Twilight her dream in case it was just a dream and unrelated. She looked over and saw she spit all that water in Twilight's face...
"You know you could've finished your drink before you said something." Twilight said.
"Sorry Twilight." Starlight said.
"I just wish Spike would have left a note or something. It's not like him to leave unannounced. Where in Equestria could he have gone?"
Yes. Where in Equestria could Spike have gone indeed? I'll give you a hint, he was not running errands.
Find out the whereabouts of Spike in Chapter 3! (Or maybe find out in Chapter 4)