A cold wind whipped around Twilight, as if it was trying to strike her. The air itself was freezing, and snow covered every visible object. She wasn’t in the snowy plain, but rather that crystal city from her previous dream.
There was no color, though. Where once, in her previous dream, each building had been a beautiful pink or gorgeous blue, now they were a montous gray. The shadows seemed to curl around the buildings, in a way that only dark magic could.
As she observed her gloomy surroundings, she felt an odd tug. It was light, to the point she almost couldn’t make it out due to the wind. But it was a constant pull on her horn, her hoofs, her heart.
She started moving in the direction of the pull, and she very quickly realized where it was leading her. The towering castle in the center of the city. The crystal castle was as gray as the rest of the city, shadows creeping around it.
Twilight blinked, and she found herself in a crystal throne room. Dreams didn’t need to make sense now, did they? Through some quick reasoning, she determined that this was in the crystal castle. She looked around, noting the dark throne at the back of the room.
It was the massive hole in the center of the room that drew her attention. It was a triangle, with a spiral staircase descended into depths of the castle. As soon as took a single step onto the stairs, she was at the bottom. Dream magic.
There were multiple doors along the walls, but only one was open. Twilight trotted over to the door and carefully pushed it open, revealing a circular room. In the center, on a pedestal was a crystal heart. Twilight frowned-it was the same heart that was in Cadance’s Cutie mark.
The pull was much stronger now, to the point she had a hard time standing still. She approached the heart, raising a hoof to touch it. It was then she heard her name being called.
“Twilight?” It was quiet at first, but it was growing louder. “Twilight?”
“TWILIGHT!”
“TWILIGHT!” Her eyes shot open; she was on her hooves instantly. She was in a dark alley, one of the few in Canterlot. Princess Celestia had said before that she wished she could eliminate all the poverty and petty crime in the city, but that it was impossible. Those dark alleys now provided her refuge from the greater population, who avoided these places like the plague.
Unfortunately for her, this pony had obviously found her. After her flight from the castle, she had made sure that she wasn’t followed. Yet she had been found.
“Twilight? Is that you?” A young voice called into the alley. Upon hearing the voice, she knew who was calling out to her. She peeked around the corner of the crate she was hiding behind and saw him. Spike, her number one assistant.
“Spike? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked, hesitation clear in her voice. Yet despite her question, she saw his face erupt into a grin.
“To find you, of course! Where else would your number one assistant go?” For a brief second, Twilight saw something flicker across his face. Fear.
Twilight fully came out from behind the crate, for Spike to see her in her full form. To see the monster that she had become. She saw his eyes widen slightly, but he wasn’t in complete shock. Had he heard about her condition from somepony else?
“Spike,” Twilight’s voice cracking, “You found me. What now?” Twilight asked. She was unable to keep the fear out of her voice. This was Spike, her Best Friend. By the queen, she had hatched him. If she lost him as well…
“Huh. I hadn’t planned that far. I guess…I just wanted to find you.” He gave her his best smile, causing Twilight to feel 30 pounds lighter. Spike hadn’t abandoned her. He had been the only one to care that she wasn’t there, the only one hadn’t betrayed her. She wasn’t alone.
“Spike, I…” Twilight couldn’t finish her sentence, as she had begun to cry. Spike noticed this, and as kind as ever, ran over and hugged her. Twilight only cried harder, but this wasn’t the tears of losing friends, or the pain of what happened to her. No, these were tears of hope, and of love. She wasn’t alone.
They stayed there for Celestia knows how long. It could have been a couple minutes; it could have been an hour. Eventually, Twilight had to extract herself from Spike’s grip. When she freed herself from his grip, she felt like a part had returned. The scars still remained, but they were fading, ever so slowly.
“Twilight, I am so sorr-'' Spike attempted to apologize, but Twilight cut him off.
“Spike, you have nothing to apologize for. You told Luna that I was missing, you found me when I needed you.” Despite this, Spike still looked uncomfortable. He then repeated an-oh-so familiar action, one Twilight must have witnessed a hundred times.
Spike let out a loud burp, green fire exploding from his mouth. The fire materialized into a rolled-up scroll, which he quickly caught. Spike opened it, and his eyes went wide.
“It-it’s from Princess Celestia.”
“Give me the letter.” Twilight nearly snarled. Spike handed her the letter, and she could feel her blood begin to boil as she read it.
Twilight Sparkle,
I want to preface this with an apology. Not only for the trauma you have endured, but for this letter. Twilight Sparkle, an ancient evil has returned and threatens all of Equestria. King Sombra, King of the Dark, has returned. Along with him, the Crystal Empire. It was his seat of power before we fought him. Before we could strike the Final blow, he banished himself and the city to the eternal shadows.
Already, your brother and Cadance have agreed to go north to stop him. But they will not be enough. The Elements of Harmony must go with them, to defeat Sombra once and for all. I have heard of your falling out with your friends, and I know you probably don’t want to see them right now. But I ask, nay beg, of you to come. Equestria needs you.
P.S. This is Princess Luna. I think I can hazard a guess to what you may be thinking. You are calling yourself a monster, are you not? I too have shadows in my past, nightmares that are hard to let go of. Unlike me, you never acted against Equestria. You are not a monster, despite the way that you appear or how much you think you are. You are Twilight Sparkle, Daughter of Night Light and Twilight Velvet. Brother to Shining Armor. Element of Magic. You are not alone, no matter how much you may think you are. You will always have friends, even if you do not think they are.
Twilight ripped the letter into as many pieces as she could. Then she stomped on it, smashing it into the stoney ground. Of course Princess Celestia would need her to “save Equestria” again. Not that she even lifted a hoof to help.
“Twilight?” Spike’s voice cut through her internal rage. She froze and looked at him, one hoof in the air ready to strike the smashed scraps. “Twilight, I know how you must feel. But Equestria needs us-it needs you.”
Twilight let out a sigh and put her hoof down. She hated this, hated all of it. She really, really hated her old “Mentor” for doing this to her. But her heart had always been pure, and this would be no exception. If Equestria really needed her-and judging by the dreams she had been having, it did-then she would do her part. Even if it meant that she had to talk to them again.
“Come, Spike. We have some “saving the world" to do.”
Twilight could feel every bump of the train’s wheels, which only added to her foul mood. While Spike had helped alleviate her pain, he could only do so much when they were in the car as well. Even worse, he had decided to take a nap and had left her by herself.
She was sitting at the back for a good reason. At the front of the car were her former friends, who quietly muttered to themselves. Once they would have all been engaged, playing and having fun. Now the car was more somber than a funeral-which is what she wanted. Yes, she preferred this to interacting with them-right?
Unfortunately, Twilight heard soft footsteps approach the back of the car. She looked up and caught Fluttershy slowly moving towards her. The rest of the group hadn’t seemed to notice somehow- which made sense to her. If they couldn’t care enough to even think about her when she had been kidnapped, then why would they care about one of their own slinking off now?
“Fluttershy.” She growled softly. The Pegasus froze. “Why. Are. You. Back. Here?” Twilight said slowly, emphasizing each word. Surprisingly, the meek Pegasus had a response for her.
“You looked lonely…” Her words were barely above a whisper, but Twilight was still able to hear them.
“And you thought that I wanted company? You're wrong. Go back to your friends,” Twilight snarled the word, “and give them some company. You didn’t seem to care at the wedding.” After that last sentence, Twilight turned to face the other, trying to ignore the Pegasus.
After a couple minutes, she looked back and found Fluttershy sitting on the chair that was on the other side of the cab. She hadn’t left, and was watching Twilight gently? There was no other way to explain it.
“Go away.” Twilight hissed. Somehow, they still hadn’t attracted the attention of the others. Instead of leaving, Fluttershy decided to say the most obvious thing ever.
“You’re in pain.” Twilight blinked, and a flash of rage surged through her. Of course, she was in pain-did Fluttershy not remember what had happened to her!? As Twilight opened her mouth to tell off the Pegasus, she met Fluttershy’s eyes.
Twilight froze. It was as if she couldn’t move, couldn’t even talk. She knew of “The Stare” but she hadn’t expected it to be so effective on her. Maybe it had something to do with the changes that had occurred in her body. Regardless, she had been rendered helpless. Like…Like she had been with Queen Chrysalis.
Panic surged through her body as she recalled that most awful of nights. The Cab morphed into that horrible, dark and wet cave. Where there once was Pegasus was now a corrupted Alicorn, smiling at her. The smile was wrong in every way-it should not have been on Cadance’s face. Then she heard that horrible, wonderful voice.
“Twilight, my drone.” Twilight wanted to scream. But she couldn’t, and worse, part of her yearned to be next to her queen. “Why have you abandoned me? Why have you left your hive?” Twilight was at war with herself- panting and gasping for air. She wouldn’t kneel to her..her…her quee-
“TWILIGHT!” The yell snapped her horrific memory. She blinked and found every part of her damp with sweat. Staring directly into her eyes was none other than Rainbow Dash, who had been the one to yell. “Twilight. What happened-do you need help?” She said, while backing up and giving Twilight some room.
“Go…go away.” Twilight said weakly. Rainbow Dash blinked, and her brow furrowed in what had to be mock concern. Then, slowly, she backed away.
“Twilight-I’m so, so-”
“Come on, Fluttershy. Give her some room.” Rainbow Dash interrupted. Fluttershy shut her mouth, before leaving with Rainbow Dash. Twilight saw Rainbow Dash give her one last glance, before moving back to the front of the cab.
She all but collapsed into her seat, shaking and trembling horribly. Twilight felt tears begin to well up in her eyes, but with all of her remaining willpower she tried to force them down. She wouldn’t, she couldn’t cry in front of them.
In the front of the cab, the five members of the Elements of Harmony were quiet. No, they were listening to horrible, quiet sobs coming from the back of the train car. The worst part about it was the fact that none of them could do anything about it.