//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Dusk Rises 
// by The-rogue-shadow 
//------------------------------//

 Twilight awoke long before the others, and decided to take a walk in the morning air. Tightening the straps that held her cloak in place, so as to keep herself warm in the winter air. She was having trouble adjusting to the climate of New Grifburg, where the snow only begun to fall halfway through the season. But even then, it was still just as cold. Sticking to the rooftops so as not to be noticed, Twilight headed toward the docks and watched the ships come into the harbour. She lowered her hood and sat on the edge of a building, allowing her mind to wander back to Equestria, and to her friends. A smile spread over her lips as she thought of Ponyville and all of the good times that seemed so far away to her now. Her cheeks turned red as she remembered what had happened just before Princess Celestia teleported her to New Grifburg. Her friend, Pinkie Pie, had kissed her, and much to Twilight's utter surprise, she had enjoyed it. Twilight had never thought of romance before, and up until recently, it had seemed unnecessary. But as the war had gone on, she had found herself wanting companionship, and for reasons she was still unsure of, she was always more comfortable around mares than she was around stallions. The magical wards that Twilight had placed around herself suddenly activated, informing her that somepony was approaching. 
"No need to get up on my account." Said the pony, and Twilight recognised it as belonging to Archangel. Her horn glowed briefly, raising her hood up and over her head and down low over her eyes.
"Why do you do that? I've seen your face." He asked, and Twilight shook her head, still staring out over the harbour.
"I like my privacy. And the only reason you saw my face is because you broke into my headquarters and stared at me while I slept." Said Twilight defensively. Archangel let out a sigh and sat down on the edge of the building next to Twilight.
"So, Miss Privacy, you thought that you would come to this city, fresh from the war, probably a deserter, and murder the regent of the entire Griffin Empire. You… are… Bold." He told her, smirking. Twilight gritted her teeth during his exposition.
"What is it you want Archangel?" She snapped, causing Archangel to recoil slightly. He paused for a moment, stretching his wings and brushing Twilight's back.
"Dusk, I know who you are. I know that your real name is Twilight Sparkle and that you are the student of Princess Celestia and the Element of Magic." He told her, and before he could continue, Twilight grabbed him by the throat and pushed him down, pressing the leather of her hidden blade against his windpipe. Archangel smiled playfully, not resisting. 

"How did you find that out?" Asked Twilight angrily, as Archangel just laughed.
"Don't worry; I'm not going to tell anyone. In this city, I'm not just a common thief. In the slums, I'm also a kind of information broker. Almost all of the information in this city comes through me at some time or another. Occasionally, however, some really important from outside of the city reaches my ears. You and your mission is one such example. I had just found out when you found me in the slums yesterday. I was going to confront you then, but the Griffins stayed too close for the rest of the day." Said Archangel, as Twilight reluctantly allowed him to get up, but extended her hidden blade and recharged the magical wards. Archangel took a few steps back from Twilight, but halted once he noticed a purple glow coming from under Twilight's hood, illuminating her disfigured eye.
"Now Dusk, just relax. I don't want anything; I have no intention of telling anyone of your identity. I… I just wanted you to know that you have a friend here. One you can tell anything to. I believe in your cause, wholeheartedly. I just wanted you to know that." Archangel continued, and Twilight retracted her blade, but kept her horn charged with magic. What Archangel didn't know, however, was that the spell that Twilight was casting wasn't dangerous, it was, in fact, a spell designed by Twilight herself to determine the true intentions in a ponies' speech, and the spell told her that Archangel was telling the truth. 
"I believe you. But I really don't want to be my old self right now. I need to be… New. That's why I took the name Dusk. To become somepony different, unrelated to Twilight. Mostly because I realised that the things that I'm going to have to do here are going to be… horrible. So, I need to forget about my other life until my mission is complete. I need to become separate, both in mind and body to Twilight." Twilight told him, and Archangel nodded, and Twilight knew that he understood what she meant. Archangel opened his wings and lifted off the ground, hovering above Twilight's head. 

"There's one more thing Dusk. I wasn't sure I should tell you, but… Maybe it's for the best. A few days ago, on the front lines, Princess Celestia was killed by a dragon. Her funeral is in two days. I can get you there if you like." He told her, as Twilight started to cry out of sheer shock. She shook her head and collapsed on the ground, the light around her horn dissipating. She felt Archangel embrace her, but she pushed him away, firing off a quick spell that latched onto her hooves and made them glow. She stood and galloped toward the edge of the building, diving off. The spell that she had cast made her hooves grip the brick wall. She started to gallop normally, tears still streaming down her face. She approached the street below and jumped again, this time causing her to land on the footpath as if nothing had happened. She kept going, heading toward one of the ships that were docked in the harbour. She only hoped that it was on its way to Equestria. Hiding in the cargo hold, Twilight fashioned herself a small cocoon of straw and fabric, both of which were part of the ship's cargo. Once she was certain that nopony was going to discover her, Twilight curled up in her cocoon and just lay there, crying silently. A few hours later, the ship began to move, and Twilight emerged from her hiding space in search of food. Finding some bread in the ship's galley, she spent the next few hours in the shadows, searching for some indication of the ship's next stop. She thought about teleporting, but decided against it on the grounds that she was too emotionally unstable at the time to control her magic properly. Luckily, she overheard the captain mention that their next port of call was going to be Maneflow Springs, a town only three hours of walking away from the battlefield. Going back to her cocoon, Twilight tried in vain to get some rest, only to discover that horrible visions of a broken and dying Celestia were at the forefront of her thoughts. She felt an immense tightness in her chest and the only explanation she could come up with was that she felt guilty. She wished that she could have been there for her mentor's final moments, to hear Celestia's last words and to tell her that she considered Celestia to be her second mother. But now, she could do none of those things. She would never get the chance to hear her voice again, to feel the warmth of her breath in the morning, as she awoke Twilight for her private lessons. She started to cry once more, letting all of the emotion that she had built up over the past few days to be pushed out in one go.
Two hours of rough seas and cold tears later, Twilight snuck off the ship and made her way through the town, stopping only to purchase an apple from the market. Just as she was about to leave through the back gate, Twilight was stopped by two earth ponies, one grey and the other red.

"Sorry missy, but this here gate has a toll attached to it. Ten bits." Said the grey one, while the red one just smiled and nodded. Twilight groaned, rubbing her tired eyes with her hoof. 
"I really don't have time for this." She said, flipping her hood down and charging her horn with magic. The two ponies took a step back, but didn't otherwise react. Raising an eyebrow, Twilight cast the spell and encased to two ponies in spherical bubbles of energy. They started to struggle against them, but to no avail. Walking past them, Twilight kicked the bubble containing the grey pony. It rolled down the street, heading for the dock at the other end. Ignoring the looks from the frightened ponies that had gathered to watch the commotion, she replaced her hood and continued the walk out of town. As she walked, she thought about the best way to reveal her presence to her friends, or even is she should reveal herself at all. Thinking back to what she had said to Archangel about wanting to separate her Twilight and Dusk persona's, she eventually decided to remain hidden for the duration of her stay, knowing that she still had to get back to New Grifburg to finish what she started.

Not long after, Twilight spotted the beginning of the graveyard that had formed behind the pony camp, and stretched for far too long into the distance. A little bit later, the camp started to come into view, and it was then that Twilight strayed off the path and into the small remnants of a forest that hadn't been cut down to make way for a battlefield. A few hundred meters into the forest, Twilight found a large cave in the side of one of the mountains that bordered the battlefield on either side. After evicting all of the insects and scorpions that inhabited the cave, she started to set up a camp for herself, making use of the forest around her to conceal the cave, and to create a fire. Twilight lay down next to the flames and closed her eyes, exhausted by the day's events.

Twilight woke up shivering, only to discover herself no longer in the cave, but on a vast, snow covered plane. A blizzard raged around her, the intense cold biting at her face. She called out, but the sound became lost in the wind. She kept shouting, hoping that somepony, anypony could hear her. A light suddenly appeared in the distance, and continued to grow brighter as it made its way toward Twilight. The blizzard slowed as it got closer, and the snow began to melt. Twilight had to turn away when it got too close, as the light burnt her eyes. 
"Twilight Sparkle." Said the light, and Twilight looked back to find that the light had changed to become Princess Celestia.
"Princess! I'm so glad you're okay. I had heard you were dead" Exclaimed Twilight happily, bounding over to Celestia and hugging her. But something was wrong; she was cold to the touch.
"Where were you Twilight? I needed you and you weren't there." Said Celestia, causing Twilight to pull away, only to scream as she saw her mentor, her face covered in blood, her horn missing and her wings hanging uselessly at her sides, next to long cuts in her belly. Twilight tried to crawl away, only to be dragged closer by Celestia, her eyes black as the night sky.
"Why Twilight." Shouted Celestia, as Twilight begged forgiveness.
"WHY!"
Twilight awoke screaming, the fire had gone out, leaving the cave in darkness. Panicking, Twilight used her magic to create a hovering ball of purple fire, which provided enough light to illuminate then entirety of the cave, as well as warm her up. She soon realised that she was covered in sweat, and her cheeks were wet with tears. She lay back down, letting the heat from the magical flame return her to some degree of comfort. The rest of the right was sleepless however, the image of Celestia too vivid to forget. 

Morning came about all too slowly for Twilight, as she emerged from her cave and proceeded to make her way toward the pony camp as stealthily as she could. It was still going to be another day before the funeral service, but, with luck, Twilight hoped to see how her friends were coping. She checked on Rarity first, as it was the closest tent, and found her curled up in bed with her coltfriend, Black Diamond. Next, it was Fluttershy, who Twilight found in the main tent, also curled up with her coltfriend, this time it being Twilight's friend Big Macintosh. Pinkie was also in the main tent, and Twilight wished that she could approach her, tell her that she was okay. But thought better of it. A pony that she was surprised to see was Celestia's sister, Princess Luna. But she soon realised that it made sense for her to be there for the funeral, as well as too take command of the troops.

Finally, she went and visited the ponies that had become the new elements of loyalty and honesty respectively, The Doctor and a heavily pregnant Derpy Hooves. Twilight smiled as Derpy snored quietly, having apparently kicked The Doctor onto the floor during the night. The morning bugle call started to sound, indicating that it was time to prepare for the first attack of the day. Twilight hurried through the camp, not wanting to be seen by anyone, especially her friends or Princess Luna. She made her way into the graveyard, using the large tombstones to cover her escape. Twilight made her way back to her cave and waited, retrieving a small book from one of her hidden pockets in order to occupy herself. But even then, the day went by slowly. That night, Twilight discovered that she was unable to have a sound sleep once again, much to her dismay. Instead, she conjured up an image of Celestia and spent the night watching it.

Once again, the next morning came all too slowly, but as Twilight approached the camp, she found it a hive of activity, as ponies of all kinds prepared for the funeral. At the morning bugle call, the soldiers made a slow march to the training grounds, where the service was to be held. The elements of harmony stood at the front of the soldiers, as Luna carried Celestia out of the morgue with her magic. Luna, The Doctor, and Black Diamond all gave eulogies to the fallen Princess. After the speeches had been given, Luna, Rarity and a few other unicorns all gathered around Celestia. With their magic working in unison, they lifted her into the air and chanted an ancient song. As they sung, a casket of pure diamond formed around Celestia, preserving her for all time. Twilight allowed herself to cry freely as she watched the casket being loaded into a wagon that was covered in flowers. She was being returned to Canterlot for a state funeral and so that she could be placed beside her parents in the castle's catacombs. Twilight teleported away and followed the cart toward Maneflow Springs, where she was going to hop a ship back to New Grifburg. Meanwhile, she stared at the casket in the wagon, not moving, cold.

"I suppose I should give you my final report, your majesty." Said Twilight, moving closer to the wagon.
"Dear Princess Celestia, sometimes life takes you to unexpected places, and you aren't sure if you can cope with the changes. But then you realise that change is part of life, and that if you don't learn to grow and adapt, you can never reach your full potential. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. P.S. I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. I will make it up to you somehow, I promise."