A handful of months have come and gone since Twilight Sparkle returned to Canterlot. In that time, she has made good on every opportunity she has had to return to the city of her birth, spending time with her family and the friends she had long neglected. Midnight’s influence over her thoughts is weaker than it has ever been before, and Twilight almost - almost - feels like her old self again.

If only she could have known of the inferno nipping at her tail, about to swallow her whole…

“It really is good to see you again, Twilight,” Lyra Heartstrings said as she poured another refill of juice for the four mares seated at the table. “Bon Bon never believed me when I told her I knew you and Dash way back when I lived in Canterlot.”

Twilight smiled, politely declining her refill with a wave of her hoof. She was sitting at a round table in Lyra’s house, joined by Lyra herself, her girlfriend Bon Bon, and Rainbow Dash. Spike had wanted to come, but Rarity had needed his help with something and had ‘acquired’ him when they had been en route.

“Honestly, I still labor to believe it, personally,” Bon Bon said, giving Twilight an appraising look for what must have been the thousandth time tonight. “I never really imagined Lyra rubbing shoulders with such high-profile figures.”

Lyra rolled her eyes and lightly nudged the butter-colored earth mare in the shoulder. “Is it really that hard to believe? I went to Celestia’s school, for pony’s sake!” she said with a chuckle. “I met Princess Celestia herself plenty of times! She even told me my music was beautiful!”

Rainbow sat forward mid-swig of her drink, one eyebrow going up. “Wasn’t that the day you got your cutie mark?” She asked curiously.

Lyra’s face split wide with a proud grin. She rotated in place, putting her flank and the mark emblazoned upon it on full display - and very deliberately bumping it into Bon Bon’s in the process. The action elicited a blush and a high-pitched squeak from Bon Bon.

Grinning wider, Lyra continued. “You betcha! Music class, first year, fourth period, halfway through. Princess Celestia came walking in while we were in the middle of personal practice. She was supposed to talk to the teacher about something, but instead, she came walking up to me. She told me my lyre-playing was excellent! Hearing the princess of all the land tell me that, you can bet that I felt inspired! So I decided that I wanted to play a little thing I’d been working on for the princess, played my little heart out, and then BAM!”

She smacked her flank with a resounding slapping sound, deepening the blush on Bon Bon’s face. “Got my mark!” Lyra declared before crossing her hooves over her chest and puffing up with pride.

Twilight blinked in surprise. “Wow. I didn’t know that was how you got it!” she exclaimed, leaning forward slightly to get a better look. She had never taken any classes in music when she was in school, but she had known Lyra had been the best in her class. To hear that she had got her mark playing for Celestia of all ponies sent a whole new wave of appreciation for the mark washing over her.

Bon Bon gave Twilight a confused look. “Not sure how you’d miss it. Lyra brags about it every chance she gets,” she noted, scooting a little closer to Lyra as she did.

“To be fair,” Rainbow noted, pointing down at Lyra’s still presented flank with a knowing smirk. “I think that’s mostly for your benefit.”

Bon Bon was silent for a second, the gears slowly turning in her head. She then turned to the unrepentantly grinning unicorn and pouted. “...Oh, you are gonna get it,” she said with equal parts annoyance and amusement.

Twilight chuckled in amusement at the sight, immediately reminded of her own flirting with Rainbow Dash. The motions of it typically came naturally to her, but seeing something so like it from the outside was a whole other feeling. She smiled warmly at Lyra, and she couldn’t help but feel a little pride for her friend. Lyra had come so far since Twilight had known her in Canterlot, and there was no mistaking the passionate glint in her eyes.

Allowing the conversation to carry on without her, Twilight leaned back in her seat. She looked over towards a nearby window… and let out a yelp of alarm when she realized that the sun was setting.

She sat bolt upright, her wings flaring out and smacking Rainbow right in the face. “Speaking of Celestia, sweet Celestia, where did the time go?!” she asked a little louder than intended.

Rainbow said something, the words muffled by Twilight’s wing and tickling the outstretched limb.

Lyra chuckled. “Heh, it happens. We had a lot of catching up to do!” she said before setting her glass down and standing up as well. “And this has been really nice. It’s been wonderful to chat with you two again, but we should probably be wrapping this up. Bon Bon and I have a date night tonight.”

Rainbow managed to pry Twilight’s wing out of her face long enough to give her a questioning glance. “Oh yeah? Where ya goin’?”

“Local theater,” Bon Bon replied, also standing up. “There’s a big musical performance tonight. Figured I’d bring my little note-goblin to see it. My treat.”

“It’s the Four Harps!” Lyra squealed, trotting in place with frantic energy. “Oooh, I’m so excited! They never stop by small towns like this!”

Rainbow finished folding Twilight’s wing up against her side, gave Lyra and Bon Bon a puzzled look, then shrugged. “Sounds fun? I dunno who the Four Harps are, though,” she made the mistake of saying. To call the look on Lyra’s face ‘scandalized’ would be akin to saying the sun was a little warm.

“You don’t know the Four Harps?!” Lyra shrieked, reaching out with her hooves to take Rainbow by the shoulders and give the pegasus princess a ferocious shake. “They’re only the most esteemed quartet of classical musicians in all of Equestria! Fifteen years, nine tours, and at least ten albums of the best musical bliss in the whole wide world! They’ve played in the court of Princess Celestia herself! And Princess Luna once she came back!”

Rainbow might have conjured up a witty response about liking more modern music, like those weird guitar things that relied on electricity or powerful drum solos. But any words she uttered came out as an indecipherable mass of yelps and rolling groans as Lyra thrashed her around like a ragdoll. Twilight laughed merrily at the display before lighting up her horn and gingerly prying Lyra off of her.

“Hey, hooves off. That’s mine,” she lightly teased, setting Lyra down beside Bon Bon.

Bon Bon rolled her eyes and quickly got Lyra into a masterfully practiced headlock. She pressed her hoof into Lyra’s mane with a wicked grin, giving her a noogie. “And this one is mine. Unfortunately,” she replied.

Twilight let out another happy laugh at the display, then took a few steps back. “Alright, well, we’ll leave you to it. We need to get back to the library anyway. Spike’ll be home by now. Thanks for hanging out, Lyra! We should do this again, sometime!” she said, guiding a still dizzy Rainbow for the door.

Lyra finally managed to pry herself free from Bon Bon’s noogie, dusted herself off, pouted at her girlfriend, and then waved happily after Twilight. “Yeah, we should! Maybe next time Pinkie throws a party!” she called out. “And I’ll bring a Four Harps album!”

Twilight looked over her shoulder at Lyra as she and Rainbow stepped out into the rapidly cooling Ponyville air. She gave the two lovebirds a warm smile and a nod. “Sounds like a plan. Until then!” she said before closing the door. The last thing she saw before it closed fully was the absolutely predatory look that Bon Bon was giving Lyra.

Some small part of Twilight wondered if they were actually going to make it to the theater…

Twilight let off a little sigh of contentment, falling into step beside Rainbow as the two began the walk back to the Golden Oaks. “Whew. That was nice!”

Rainbow nodded along. “Sure was. Lyra hasn’t changed a bit,” she said with an equally pleased smile. “Kinda surprised by Bon Bon, though.”

Twilight turned to her, quirking a brow. “Huh? How come?” she asked curiously. She had never met Bon Bon before, but nothing had stood out to her as odd.

Rainbow opened her mouth to say something, but then stopped. A second later, she offered up a helpless little shrug. “Eh. Dunno. Guess I just didn’t realize Lyra swung that way.”

Twilight eyed Rainbow for a moment. The pegasus clearly knew something and was keeping it to herself. In the end, though, Twilight decided that it probably didn’t matter. So she simply shrugged and dropped it. The two fell into a companionable silence after that, taking a chance to enjoy the relative peace and quiet. The usual noise and chatter of Ponyville in the day were rapidly fading away as ponies started making their way to their homes to tuck into a home-cooked dinner and a warm bed.

Twilight took a deep breath, savoring the moment. Getting to see and talk to Lyra again, setting right another of her youthful mistakes, had brought another measure of peace back to her mind. A measure of clarity and satisfaction, the reassurance that she was on the right path.

But still, she knew she was missing something. Her smile faded, replaced with a thoughtful frown. Her thoughts wandered back to the Tree of Harmony, and that enigmatic chest. She hadn’t set hoof in front of either of them ever since the chest first appeared. She felt like she had made progress in opening it, but she could not for the life of her find a justification for that feeling. It was like an instinct or Intuition. Like there was some outside thing that was telling her she was making progress, and she had no choice but to take it at its word.

Maybe it was the Tree itself? It was intelligent, she knew that much, and it was absurdly powerful. But thus far it had yet to communicate with her in any way that wasn’t infuriatingly cryptic. Perhaps the only direct communication it had ever given out was a flash it had forced on Fluttershy when the Plundervines were on the rampage, and even then it had taken a few minutes of detective work to decipher what the stupid thing wanted.

She shook her head, banishing the thoughts. She knew nothing would come of stressing herself over it. For now, all she could do was keep living her life and hope for the best. And right now, living her life just meant spending time with the lovable featherbrain that walked beside her.

Their moment of tranquility was, unfortunately, shattered. A voice came hollering over the rooftops, loud and shrill. “Rainbow! Rainbow Dash! Where are you?!”

Rainbow and Twilight came to a stop, the former groaning in frustration. “Oh, for the love of- what now?” she demanded under her breath, clearly exasperated. She unfolded her wings and took to the air, followed closely by Twilight. They were met just above the rooftops by a grey pegasus mare with a blonde mane and tail and eyes that pointed in different directions. Derpy Hooves, the local mailmare.

“Dash! There you are!” Derpy said, flapping her wings to slow down and coming to a stop only slightly past Rainbow. She turned to face them, one eye focusing on the princess and the other following a firefly that had decided to pop out its light a little early.

Derpy, unfazed by the casual greeting, nodded her head to the east. “Uh, Thunderlane asked me to come and get you and the other weather team members. There’s a big storm brewing in the Everfree, and he wants all hooves on deck to chase it off!”

Rainbow groaned again, slapping a hoof to her face. “Gah! Of course the Everfree’s acting up,” she muttered, deflating on the spot. “And tonight was going so good, too…”

Twilight gave Rainbow a supporting smile. She reached out to pat the pegasus on the shoulder, drawing Rainbow’s attention back to her. “It’s alright. You go do what you need to do. I’ll have Spike whip something up for you for when you get home. Sound good?” she suggested hopefully.

Rainbow looked like she wanted to protest, but closed her mouth a second later. Then she nodded, rolling her hairband up a little higher on her mane to better keep it behind her head and out of her face. “Alright. I’m on my way, Derpy. You go on home. Ya don’t wanna be out in the open in case the storm somehow gets past me.”

Derpy threw a sharp and corny little salute before turning and flying down for the streets below. Twilight watched her go, and a thought occurred to her. She turned back to Rainbow with a raised eyebrow. “Why did Thunderlane send Derpy? She doesn’t even work for the weather teams. What was she doing there?”

Rainbow shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe she was just walking by. Or maybe she was flirting with one of the team members. Either way, if Thunderlane wants all hooves on deck, that probably means it’s a big one, and sending a team member out as a messenger would mean fewer hooves to do the job. So, send the nearest pegasus who knows who you’re talkin’ about.”

Twilight hummed, turning her attention back toward the Everfree. Sure enough, now that she was really looking, she could see storm clouds just peaking up over the distant treeline, dark and ominous. They roiled and churned, and even from here, Twilight could faintly make out the distant rumble of thunder.

She cringed. “Ooh, that is a big one. Do you need any help?” She asked, feeling a pang of concern for Rainbow’s wellbeing.

Rainbow shook her head. “Nah. You’re a good mage and all, Twilight, but you don’t really know the first thing about fighting a storm. You go on home and I’ll see ya there.”

Twilight’s expression flattened. “Gee. Thanks for the compliment,” she droned out.

Rainbow grinned, flying slowly backward in the cocky way she did when she wanted to show off her skills in the air. “You’re welcome. Besides, somepony’s gotta be there to keep Spike company.”

Twilight couldn’t refute that logic. She gave Rainbow one last look, an encouraging smile, and then dipped into an overly exaggerated and flamboyant bow. “As you command, your highness.”

Rainbow gagged playfully, snickered in amusement, and then turned to bolt off for the weather team office. In a flash, all that was left of Rainbow Dash was a prismatic blur, and even that faded away in a matter of moments. Twilight stared after her for a moment, feeling the gust of air from the sudden departure. Her smile slowly faded. “Well, so much for walking home together,” she thought morosely. “Still. Duty calls, and she’s not one to shirk it.”

A new, far colder gust blew by, a prelude to the oncoming storm, and Twilight decided it might be better to stick to the ground. She was good at flying, yes, but a strong enough wind from a primal storm could throw off even a master flyer, and she was not in the mood for unplanned crash landings. She touched back down on the ground and resumed her journey at a brisk pace.

The silence around her was now occasionally being broken by the rising howl of the wind, and the voices of ponies being sent out to warn the population to hunker down and wait for it to pass. Those few ponies who were still out and about quickly moved to withdraw into their homes, not wanting to be out in the open when it came upon them.

Twilight weathered it all without complaint. She’d been through far worse than a little storm from the Everfree. And even that itself was a routine enough occurrence in Ponyville for basically everyone to know exactly what to do. So she just kept her eyes focused ahead. It wouldn’t much longer until she reached the library, and then it would just be a waiting game. And waiting was never much of a problem when you lived in a library.

Another hard gust of air suddenly blew by, strong enough to make Twilight pause and lift a wing to shelter her face. She heard a stallion just down the street from her let out an impressed whistle at the gale before he ducked into his home, leaving Twilight as the only pony standing in the street.

As the gust died down, Twilight put her wing away with a huff. She was about to resume her trek at an even brisker pace when a new sound caught her ear, distinct from the soundscape she was used to. She paused, perking her ears up and listening carefully.

The noise came again. Labored wheezing, followed by a series of sharp, rattling coughs. They were coming from a nearby alleyway.

Twilight turned to look. At this late hour and with the clouds rolling in, the alley’s contents were draped in deep shadows, casting everything as blackened silhouettes against off-black darkness. The back wall of a house cut the alley off farther back.

The coughing came again, and now that Twilight was paying attention, she realized just how unhealthy it sounded. Whoever was in there, they were not well. She felt a spark of concern, and before she was even aware of the decision, she had pivoted on her hooves and was advancing into the alleyway.

“What are you doing?” Midnight demanded, apparating next to Twilight in a flicker of blue mist. “We don’t have time for this. Move on.”

Twilight cast Midnight a dismissive glare before focusing ahead. “Somepony might need my help,” she mentally spat. “I can’t just leave them without making sure they’re alright. They sound sick.”

Midnight scoffed. “Their concerns are none of your business. You can’t waste your energy on every little trifle that crosses your path!”

“Maybe not,” Twilight conceded in a low whisper, shrugging her shoulders before pressing on, marching past a glaring Midnight. “But I can spare enough for this one.”

Midnight stomped a hoof in frustration, but she did not fade away. She lingered in the entrance of the alleyway, silently watching.

As Twilight advanced, she caught sight of a lone figure deeper in, taking shelter from the wind behind a trash can. They were around her size, maybe a little shorter, though she could not see any details of their form under the ancient grey cloak they wore. She could barely make out the tips of iron-covered hooves on the ground. The figure lurched forward, letting off another series of ragged, gurgling coughs.

Twilight winced, slowly lighting up her horn to cast some light across the alleyway. “Hello? Excuse me, sir? Are you alright?” she called out to him as her light spread across the alley.

The figure flinched away from her light, his breath hitching for a moment. He turned away, hiding his face under his hood. “I’m fine,” he said, his voice older than any Twilight had heard before, like sandpaper on gravel. “Leave me be.”

Twilight came to a stop, eyeing the pony in front of her. At least, she assumed it was a pony. She put on a small smile and a hoof to her heart. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. May I ask yours?”

There was a pause. The pony shrugged. “I’d rather keep that to myself,” he answered, seemingly giving in to Twilight’s presence.

Twilight nodded slowly, a little off-put. Something was starting to feel wrong. A tingle in the back of her neck, the same feeling she got when something was watching her. She shook her head, banishing the thought. It was probably just Midnight trying to discourage her.

But then Midnight stepped up to stand beside her. Her eyes were focused on the hacking pony, and her face was set into a grim frown. “No. I feel it, too,” she said simply.

Twilight blinked, giving Midnight a shocked look. Since when did Midnight agree with her about something that felt wrong? She wanted to question her, but another series of ragged coughs drew her eyes back to the pony in the alley. She swallowed a lump in her throat and took a tentative step forward. “A-are you sure you don’t need any help?” she offered, unable to hide the slight tremble in her voice. “There’s a big storm rolling in. You shouldn’t be outside when it hits. I could help you get indoors if you’d like, or maybe give some directions?”

The figure sighed warily and slowly turned to face Twilight. His face was obscured entirety by the shadow cast by his hood, but she thought she could make out cracked lips and a grey beard poking out from the darkness. He opened his mouth to say something, then paused, and Twilight suddenly felt even more uncomfortable.

“Wait… you…” the figure mumbled, giving Twilight a slow look. “You’re an alicorn?”

Midnight visibly bristled, her pupils dilating. She took a step back, her posture shifting defensively. “Twilight. Leave it,” she ordered, turning back to her with an almost frightened look in her eyes. “I mean it. Leave him and go. This is wrong.”

The figure took a step forward, cutting Twilight off before she could answer. “I was not aware there were more of you…” he rasped, his voice impossible to read. There was an audible tremble, but whether it was born from nerves or delight, Twilight could not tell. “When did this…?”

Twilight frowned, setting her jaw. “I’d rather keep that to myself,” she said firmly, taking a defensive step back herself.

The figure froze in place, and a tense silence fell over them. Next to Twilight, Midnight was becoming visibly distressed. Her wings unfurled slightly, her hoof pawing anxiously at the dirt. She turned to Twilight again, and when she spoke again, she sounded desperate.

The figure in front of Twilight cut Midnight off with a low chuckle. Twilight’s eyes widened when she saw a pair of crimson-skinned hands rising out of his cloak. She inhaled sharply, taking another step back. “Centaur,” she whispered, her brain trying to claw up whatever information she could on the reclusive species.

A scythe-like grin showed from under the hood. “You’re right, alicorn. I don’t need to know why, how, or when,” he said in a quivering, predatory rasp.

“RUN!” Midnight screamed at Twilight. The fear and panic in her voice were all the convincing that Twilight needed. She turned to flee as long and as fast as her hooves and wings could carry her.

Right before Twilight could light up her horn or lift her defenses, a fiery orange glow encased her, holding her in place. She opened her mouth to cry out a question, to demand he let her go. All that came out was an agonized scream that was lost to the roaring wind. An agony like fire erupted inside of her body, rolling in blistering waves up her legs, through her barrel, up her neck and skull, and gathering at the tip of her horn.

Her eyes widened in horror when she saw a stream of bright lavender light leaving her horn. It flowed out of her and vanished into the centaur’s wide, gaping mouth. She could hear him breathing in, inhaling her magic through his open jaws. She tried to thrash and fight, but his infernal magic had her held firm. All she could do was scream. Scream as the strength left her muscles. Scream as the wind went dead and distant between her feathers. Scream as the spark that had always been there, ever since the day she was born, burning brilliantly in her heart and soul, winked away like a snuffed candle.

Twilight crumpled to the ground, gasping for breath, her hooves curling up protectively around her barrel. She was shaking uncontrollably, the chill in the air slicing through her fur and into her muscles as if all of her layers of insulation and warmth had been stripped away. She felt naked, empty, hollowed out, and violated. Struggling even to breathe, she lifted her eyes to look with terror upon the face of her assailant.

They were growing. Their body was enveloped in firelight, growing taller and broader as her stolen essence was integrated into them. She could hear the monster’s triumphant growls, their cloak falling away as they grew too large for it. Twilight could see his arms, once twig-like and spindly, swelling with bulging muscle and newfound strength. Short, stubby horns on the sides of the centaur's head, black as coal, rose up, curving in and then out, reminding her of a demon. His eyes, pitch black save for his amber pupils, flew wide with ecstasy. His torso, covered in fur as dark as tar, swelled with yet more muscle mass until he towered over double Twilight’s height.

And then he stopped growing. The glow of his magic faded away, and his new form came to a rest. He held his posture for a moment, then looked down at his hands. He frowned in disappointment. When he spoke, his voice had deepened and smoothed with newly restored youth into the rumbling bass of a rock slide. “Bah. Head and shoulders above the rest of your worthless kind, but barely more than a child compared to the sisters…”

Twilight, hyperventilating, struggled to speak. “Wh-wh-what… wh-what did y-you do to m-me?” she finally managed to stagger out. “Wh-wh-who are you?”

The figure’s lips peeled into an enormous grin, and he knelt down to peer into Twilight’s face. “I took what belongs to me,” he said with the cold conviction of a demon.

“Th-thief,” Twilight choked out, trying to clamber back to her hooves. However, she barely even had the strength to twitch, much less rise. “G-give it back.”

The figure’s smirk fell away. Twilight let out a strangled squawk as his thick crimson fingers curled her around the throat. The centaur lifted her effortlessly off the ground, her hind legs swinging uselessly beneath her as if she were hanging from a noose.

“I am no thief,” the centaur rumbled. “I am a prince. I am a king. I am Lord Tirek! And you will address me as such!”

Twilight might have said something, but she couldn’t breathe. She struck a hoof feebly against Tirek’s hand, but to no avail. Whatever strength she might have had even back when she was a unicorn was gone. She wouldn’t even be able to topple a toddler in her condition.

Tirek pulled her in close, his eyes flaring with menacing light. “Thank you for the meal… But I am afraid you are no longer of any use to me.”

Twilight’s heart leaped into her throat. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but she didn’t have the chance. Tirek pitched back and threw her against the ground, hard, and the air was driven from her lungs. Something crunched in her barrel, stars exploding across her vision. Dazed, and confused, she barely had the awareness to realize Tirek had raised his iron-clad hoof above her head.

Little Keys

by Skijarama

Storm On The Horizon