Shadow of Twilight

by GreenS21


One Trick(y) Pony

Luna quickly came in for a landing near the entrance to the Canterlot castle garden, the sound of loud party music coming from the garden. She panted heavily as she finally stopped flapping her wings; she could not remember the last time she had pushed them so hard. “No. Now is not the time to be tired. I must tell Celestia and Twilight’s friends what is going on,” she thought to herself. Standing up straight, she ran straight into the garden.

Almost as soon as she stepped under the arch at the entrance, a certain pink pony popped up out of nowhere in front of her, exclaiming, “Hi, Lunie! You’re back! Where’s Twilight? You wanna dance?”

Luna stuttered, “N-no, Pinkie Pie. This really isn’t…” She didn’t get to say anymore due to Pinkie Pie snatching up her hooves and leading her into the garden, pushing her towards the center, where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were doing a dance-off, and joined her. As soon as Pinkie trotted past her, Luna looked around for her sister and saw her standing near the refreshment table with Spike, Rarity, and Fluttershy and hurried over to them.

Celestia spotted her younger sister as she ran over and called, over the music, “Luna! What’s going on? Where is Twilight?”

Luna stopped in front of Celestia and spoke, trying to be heard over the music, “I found her, but there’s something going on!”

Celestia couldn’t quite hear her sister’s regular voice over the music and asked, “What did you say, Luna?!”

Luna spoke in a louder tone, “Twilight is in serious trouble!”

Celestia still couldn’t make out what Luna was saying and asked, “What, Luna?!”

Luna started, “I said…” Finally, she couldn’t stand the blaring music any longer and turned, unleashing the Royal Canterlot Voice, “WOULD YOU PLEASE CEASE THAT INFERNAL MUSIC?! WE HAVE A SITUATION HERE!” Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie immediately stopped dancing at the sound of her magically-enhanced shout, the pink earth pony immediately zipping over to the record player and pulling the record off of it.

Celestia nodded, “That’s better. Now what exactly is this situation you’re talking about, Luna?”

Luna answered, “TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS-” Luna stopped herself midsentence and said, “…Sorry. As I was saying, Twilight Sparkle is in danger!”

Everypony gasped and moved closer to Luna, Rainbow asking, “What do you mean?! How is she in danger?!”

Luna explained, “She’s being forced by another pony to deliver somepony or risk being erased from existence!” A moment later, Pinkie Pie started to giggle. “What exactly is so funny?!” Luna demanded.

Pinkie Pie laughed, “That’s silly, Lunie! Twilight would never give into somepony’s demands, especially if they were saying something silly like erase her! I mean, how many erasers would it take to accomplish that?”

Luna sternly said, “I don’t mean like that, Pinkie Pie. And based on what I heard, it’s not unlikely if the pony making the demands has her ancestor held hostage.”

Applejack tilted her head, “Ah beg yer pardon, yer highness? How could somepony have Twilight’s ancestor? They ain’t even supposed to be alive!”

Luna admitted, “I don’t know, Applejack. But unless Twilight Sparkle delivers this ‘Homunculus’, her ancestor is…”

Celestia cut her off, getting right up in her younger sister’s face and asking, “Luna, did you say Homunculus?”

Luna looked back at her sister, surprised by her tone, as was everypony else. “Y-yes I did, sister. That’s what I heard, anyway.”

Fluttershy meekly asked, “Um, do you know what Luna is referring to, your highness?”

Celestia replied, “I had a student about 400 years ago named Dr. Lenore Wagner. During her time at my school, she showed genuine interest in such things as the Philosopher’s Stone and the Homunculus and eventually left to pursue alchemy. I’ve heard rumors that she reason she disappeared was because she attempted to create a Homunculus with the Philosopher’s Stone.”

Luna said, “There may be some truth to that, sister. The pony holding Twilight Sparkle’s ancestor hostage, a unicorn named Hugo, claims that Twilight gave his mother the Philosopher’s Stone to create the Homunculus.”

Celestia asked, “Hugo? I remember the elder of Lenore’s two children was a colt named Hugo. His appearance escapes me, but I seem to remember him having a cube for a cutie mark.”

Luna replied, “This Hugo has a cube for a cutie mark too. He could be the same pony.”

Celestia murmured, “I don’t like where this is going…” Leaning towards her sister, she asked, “What exactly did you hear, Luna? And where was this?”

The lunar princess answered, “It was in the Canterlot square. This Hugo pony accused Twilight Sparkle of tricking his mother into creating the Homunculus, although Twilight denied doing so. I also gathered that both he and Twilight are capable of traveling through time somehow.”

Spike asked, “What?! Twilight can’t travel through time! Okay, maybe there was that one thing that happened, but that was completely different!”

Luna said, “Well apparently, she can. Because Hugo said he’s been trying all day to kill her.”

Those words were like thunder in the ears of those gathered around the lunar princess. Celestia asked, her voice having a rather noticeable edge to it, “He has been trying to WHAT?!”

Luna repeated, “For whatever reason, he has been trying to kill Twilight Sparkle. Since his efforts have seemingly failed up to this point, he’s now threatening to leave her ancestor in this time and erase her from existence.”

Rarity wailed, “He’s been trying to get rid of our Twilight?! Of all the terrible things that could befall poor Twilight!”

Luna carefully asked, “Art thou saying that… nopony was aware of this?”

Applejack exclaimed, “No! She didn’t say anything about bein’ killed! And Ah think a certain earth pony contributed to her keepin’ silent.” She shot a look at Pinkie Pie at that.

Rainbow demanded, “Where is he?! Where did you say this jerk was?!”

Luna replied, “The Canterlot square. But…” She got no further; both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie took off, a cyan blur and a pink blur shooting out of the garden.

“Rainbow, Pinkie! We’re comin’ too!” Applejack called as she galloped after them, Rarity following behind her. That left only Spike, Fluttershy, and the princesses.

Fluttershy looked up at the two princesses and asked, “Um, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? Should we go after them too?”

Celestia replied, her voice lacking much of its usual air of elegance, “Yes. We must go. Whether this is a misunderstanding or not, I will not allow another pony to harm another, especially not my personal student.” Spike climbed onto Fluttershy’s back after Celestia was finished, the shy pegasus flying after the rest of their friends. After a moment, both Celestia and Luna followed them out of the garden.

________________________________________

Hugo stood in front of the kiln in his mother’s laboratory, her notes surrounded by his green aura and floating next to him. In his right hoof was the lock from his grandmother’s mane, which he clutched protectively. After taking a look around, he glanced down at the research notes and read through them quickly. “…Okay. If I’m reading this right, then this should be all I have to do,” he thought after finishing.

Looking down at the pot on the kiln, he raised his right hoof over it and released the lock of hair, dropping it into the boiling water. After a moment, the pot began to shake and Hugo took a step back, dropping his mother’s notes on the floor. Suddenly, a column of white smoke shot out of the pot, screaming (although Hugo couldn’t hear it) and causing several glass containers to fall to the floor and shatter. “Grandma?!” he exclaimed.

A ghostly voice that Hugo was unable to hear spoke, “Hugo… what are you… please stop this… Hugo… send me back… Help me…” Hugo, unable to hear the voice, fell on his rump as he stared at the smoke coming out of the pot, unable to do more than gape. The smoke disappeared after a few seconds and he managed to climb to his hooves, still staring at the kiln.

Suddenly, Dr. Wagner came down the stairs, having heard the shattering of the containers, and fixed a hard stare on Hugo, saying, “Hugo! What are you doing here?!”

The dark blue unicorn turned around and stuttered, “Mother… I… I…”

Dr. Wagner walked over to him and placed her right hoof on his left shoulder, giving him a hard push as she said, “Never mind, just get out!”

Hugo turned to look back at her and said, “Mother! B-but, Mother…”

Dr. Wagner sternly said, “You are not to enter this room again!” Hugo turned his head away from her and looked down at the floor. He had read through the notes carefully. He hadn’t messed with anything; what had gone wrong?

________________________________________

Twilight stood outside of the fortuneteller’s house, contemplating what to do. If she went back to the square, she would have to confront Hugo and deliver Helena’s message. When she came back from ten years ago, she had been planning to confront him after stopping to visit the fortuneteller. But now that she knew who the fortuneteller really was, she wasn’t sure anymore. What was she supposed to say to him?

Suddenly, she heard the sound of hoofsteps behind her and whirled around, exclaiming, “Who’s there?!”

She relaxed slightly when she saw it was Homunculus coming around the corner of the fortuneteller’s house, the black pony saying, “No need to be surprised. You really are a nervous pony, aren’t you Twilight?” Gesturing to the fortuneteller’s house, he asked, “What did you want with this ruin?” He turned his head towards Twilight and moved his eyes to look at the building as he said, “Four hundred years ago, it was a laboratory… now it’s just a mess.”

Twilight gave him an odd look as she asked, “You didn’t see anything? You know, in there…?”

Homunculus regarded her for a moment before seemingly realizing what she was referring to. “Oh, you saw the spirit? So, you can see it, can’t you? I can see the living, and I can see the souls of the dead.” Looking at the house again, he took a step back as he said, “But I can’t see the thing that lives here. Gives me the creeps, really. I can sense something, but that’s it.”

Twilight suddenly had an idea of how to confront Hugo. Looking at Homunculus, she asked, “Hey, can you call up spirits?”

Homunculus raised an eyebrow, “Excuse me?”

Twilight explained, “Well, I was just thinking… if Dr. Wagner could have a talk with Hugo right now, and Hugo understands what his mother was really trying to do, maybe Hugo would change his mind about all of this… What do you think?”

Homunculus replied, “Well, well. I hadn’t thought of that. Dr. Wagner, of course… It couldn’t be simpler.”

Twilight asked, “Really?”

Homunculus nodded, “Really. Wait a moment, and I’ll fetch Dr. Wagner.” Twilight watched him walk back around the corner. After a second, he poked his head around the corner and said, “Come over here. I think you’ll want to see this.” Confused, yet intrigued, Twilight did as he said and followed him around the corner. He raised a hoof, signaling for her to stop, and said, “That’s close enough.” Twilight immediately obeyed.

Homunculus looked at her for a second and then raised his right hoof to his mouth and started chanting in a language Twilight had never heard of. As he continued chanting, a yellow orb formed around the tip of his hoof and Twilight took a tentative step back at the sight of it. Homunculus then opened his eyes and pointed his hoof down towards the ground, a circle of light forming where he pointed. He looked back up at Twilight and said, “You’d better keep your distance, Twilight. She’s almost ready.” Twilight took several steps back at that.

Soon, something began to poke out of the middle of the circle of light, and suddenly a column of smoke rose out of it. As Twilight watched, Dr. Wagner materialized in front of her, exactly the same as the last time she had seen her. Once again, Homunculus raised his hoof to his mouth, still with the yellow orb around it, and started chanting again. After a second, he held his hoof up between him and Dr. Wagner. He then lowered it to the ground, the orb vanishing, and said, “Now, she’s ready. Hello, Professor. How do you feel?” The old unicorn did not reply, her eyes moving from side to side.

Twilight walked up along the older mare’s right side and looked up at her, asking, “Dr. Wagner?”

After a moment, Dr. Wagner’s eyes shifted in Twilight’s direction and she started, “Aren’t you…” She then turned her head to face Twilight and asked, “Wasn’t it you who brought me the Philosopher’s Stone?”

Twilight nodded, “Yes. I’m Twilight Sparkle. Doctor, I have a favor I need to ask you.” Homunculus, seeing that Twilight was distracted, disappeared as she explained, “I don’t know how to say this, but… Your son, Hugo, is trying to kill me. He thinks that what happened to you, and his whole family, was Homunculus’s fault, and that none of it would have ever happened if I hadn’t helped you. He told me this himself. He also said that he was going to use the Philosopher’s Stone to bring his grandmother back to life…”

Dr. Wagner moaned, “Oh no… Where is Hugo right now?”

Twilight replied, “He isn’t far from here. But Dr. Wagner, I have to tell you something. It’s more than 400 years from your time.”

Dr. Wagner looked down and shook her head, “Ah… I must see him. I must speak with Hugo.” Looking back up at Twilight, she said, “He needs to know the truth. I see now that this is why you’ve brought me here.”

Twilight asked, “So will you speak to Hugo?”

Dr. Wagner replied, “Yes, it is my duty as his mother and a scientist. Will you take me to him?”

Twilight nodded, “Yes, of course I will.”

Soon, in the Canterlot square…

Hugo was looking down at Lucian, who was sitting on one of the benches in the square, when they both heard something and looked up. They saw a magenta glow approaching the square and they immediately knew it was Twilight. “Did you bring him?!” Hugo called.

He heard somepony call, “Hugo!”

Hugo, due to how dark it was, couldn’t see the pony that called to him and asked, “Who’s there?”

Twilight followed close behind Dr. Wagner while using her horn to provide some light, stopping when the older mare did. Dr. Wagner turned to her and said, “Twilight, please stay here. I will handle this.”

Twilight nodded unsurely, “Uh, okay.” Dr. Wagner looked at her for a moment, saying nothing.

Hugo called, “Did you bring the Homunculus?”

Dr. Wagner said, “Goodbye, Twilight.” Before the lavender unicorn could respond, she turned and walked towards the square, calling, “Hugo!”

Hugo had to narrow his eyes to see the pony that had called to him, but when he did, his eyes widened. “M-mother?!” he exclaimed.

Lucian stood up off the bench as Dr. Wagner approached and asked, “Mother?”

Hugo ran up to his mother while asking, “Mother, you’re alive? H-how did you get here?”

Dr. Wagner looked at her eldest son disapprovingly and asked, “Hugo, what do you think you are doing? Did your father and I give you life so that may take another’s?”

Hugo stuttered while trying to hide his knife, “N-no, that’s not it; there’s a reason…”

Dr. Wagner said, “Then stop your attempts on Twilight’s life. Do you understand? If you do that, I will tell you all about my research.”

Hugo dropped the knife into his right hoof and murmured, “Okay… I understand.”

Dr. Wagner said, “That’s my boy. Come with me.”

Hugo nodded, “Okay.”

He then walked up to his mother, who reared up on her hind legs and wrapped her forelegs around his neck, saying, “Let us go, then.” As soon as her legs were around Hugo’s neck, smoke started to rise out of the ground around them, both Twilight and Lucian looking on in shock.

Soon, the smoke went from rising out of the ground to erupting into a geyser. Both Twilight and Lucian ran over to Dr. Wagner and Hugo, Lucian exclaiming, “Mother?! W-where are you going?”

Twilight called, “Dr. Wagner, what’s happening?!”

Dr. Wagner looked up at Lucian and gave him a twisted smile. The light brown unicorn gasped, “That isn’t… my mother?!”

Twilight’s eyes widened, “What?!” After a second, both Hugo and Dr. Wagner disappeared, leaving Twilight and Lucian alone in the square.

As they both looked around in confusion, Lucian asked, “What… What was that? And where did they go?!”

Both of them stopped and looked when they heard Homunculus sigh. “How’s that? Good?” he asked as he stood outside of the square.

Lucian asked, “What the hay is going on?”

Twilight turned to him and demanded, “Where did you take them?!”

Homunculus nonchalantly shrugged, “I wouldn’t know.”

Twilight asked, “What are you talking about? Dr. Wagner…”

Homunculus spoke, cutting her off, “Oh yes, I forgot to mention… That wasn’t Dr. Wagner, Twilight.”

Twilight’s looked at him in confusion. “What?” she asked blankly.

Homunculus explained, “Wagner isn’t dead yet; at least she wasn’t the last time I checked. I can’t call up her spirit if she isn’t dead, can I? That was a fake, get it? A puppet that does exactly what I tell it to. Not bad, eh? Hugo certainly fell for it.”

Lucian looked away while Twilight lowered herself to the ground, covering her head with her hooves and muttering, “Oh no… That can’t… What have I…?”

Homunculus spoke, “Well, that just about takes care of those murder attempts.” Twilight looked up at the black pony from where she was on the ground, a look of fear on her face. Homunculus leaned towards Twilight and asked, “Wouldn’t you say?”