//------------------------------// // Celestia's Darkest Fear // Story: Hour of Twilight // by Animegx43 //------------------------------// Hour of Twilight: Chapter 17 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Poor Pinkie Pie. What else can I say? Poor, poor Pinkie Pie. No pony should be betrayed by their friends like that, and yet Twilight Sparkle, her closest friend, had fired her right out of building like a cannonball. Twilight never would've done that if she was her normal self, nor would she of attacked my sister. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I knew that magic was being drained from Ponyville, and Rarity's sister was proof of it. While I knew other places were probably suffering the same problem, I figured I should've started at where I was. So I created a large, magical barrier around the town hall and had as many of Ponyville's residents as possible to enter it. I'm sure they were all scared by what was happening in the sky, but it was better to keep them in one place and be scared then to have them panic, screaming and running, and be scared. Fortunately, I told them all that as long as they remained inside, they would be fine. I wasn't too sure if that was true, but it kept everypony calm. While Twilight's friends were keeping everything organized, I kept Spike by side until a breathed out a letter I was expecting. I sent a letter to Shining Armor, who was still at my castle, and much to my luck, was keeping it safe. Much like the skies of Ponyville, Canterlot was turning dark. "So what does Shining Armor say?" Spike asked. "He said that he has a barrier protecting all of Canterlot, but it's slowly deteriorating." I answered. "Right now, he's bringing most of the citizens to one spot to create a more solid, concentrated barrier, like I'm doing. It seems that these barriers are affected by this draining of magic...wait! Magic draining...no, it couldn't be." It was then that I considered the possibility of the Magic Drain spell, the spell that Twilight was using to empower herself. I didn't consider THAT as a possibility, but I figured that somepony was using Magic Drain at the tower. Actually, that was a lie right there. I was hoping it wasn't Twilight. All I knew for certain was that Chronos wouldn't of been using it, so I was curious as to who was doing it. Just then, another letter was sent through Spike. This time, it was from Princess Cadance, who had returned to the Crystal Empire. She wrote on how magic was being drained their as well, and her barriers were failing. It was a nation wide problem, yet here I was trying to keep control of one town. "Spike, get the others! We're heading to the Arcane Tower! I fear for Luna and Twilight. We're leaving immediately!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What we did to travel back to the tower was actually pretty clever. It was Rainbow Dash's idea. Using the chariot that was used to bring me and Twilight to Ponyville in the first place, Rainbow Dash would pull me, along with her other friends, which would be much faster then with the train. Unfortunately, she wasn't strong enough to lift all of us, so I helped her out. She looked quite embarrassed having to have royalty to help her. "Princess Celestia!" A voice called out. On our way to the tower, we came across one of Luna's Shadowbolts. Her fastest one to be more precise. He was moving toward us at as fast as he could with a horrified look on his face. Her Shadowbolts are fiercely loyal, and there's rarely a reason form them to be away from her. "What's wrong? Where is Luna?" I asked. "She's still at the tower. There was nothing we could do!" The shadowbolt answered. "What are you talking about? What happened?" "It was Twilight Sparkle, ma'am! She defeated the Princess in only one attack!" Everypony gasped when they heard the Shadowbolt say that, including me. All of us were quite confused by the fact that Twilight had actually fought Luna, or that she would for that matter. Most of us didn't even believed it. "I'm sorry, Princess. I'm only telling you what I saw. She didn't even move from the one spot she was standing on." "One spot?" I asked, considering the worst possible scenario. "She was clearly stronger then normal, so tell me. Was she absorbing magic into her horn?" "Umm...yeah, she was. She was discharging magic too, like she was about to blow up or something." It was worse then I thought. The effects on Equestria made it very clear to me that Magic Drain was being used, and based on the information I had received, Twilight was the one using it, and she had clearly took in a lot of magic. I was to know how she planned to use that magic if she was willing to take it from all of Equestria. In any case, I knew that it was more important then ever for me to get to her. "There's no way Twilight is responsible for all of this." Spike said. "Could she?" "If she is, I'm eating oranges tomorrow morning!" Applejack replied. "Princess, there's no way she's doing all of this!" Rainbow Dash Argued. "And yet, she probably is the only one capable of doing this." I answered. "You, Shadowbolt! Go to Ponyville and make sure everyone remains calm. They should all still be underneath a barrier." "Yes, your majesty." After giving out the order, me and Rainbow Dash continued to hull the chariot full of Twilight's friends to reach the tower again. I became silent and focused on moving forward, but the others became worried about Twilight. "Princess Celestia, is Twilight actually...the enemy?" Rainbow Dash asked. I wasn't too sure how to answer her. I felt that if what the Shadowbolt said was true, then Twilight would've been the one responsible. Of course, you already know that, since the last few pages in this book has been talking about what she had been doing. In any case, I knew that I couldn't just sit down and twiddle my thumbs, even if I had them. My top concern was to actually get to the Arcane Tower and stop whatever was happening there. Although, I won't lie, I wasn't exactly prepared to take down my prize student at the time. I'm sure Twilight's friends all couldn't agree with me more. With Luna missing, and Twilight Sparkle certainly being public enemy number one, it was probably the darkest moment of my life.