//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - Midnight // Story: Fading Light // by Cabral095 //------------------------------// Chapter 1 - Midnight ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luna’s moon cast down its light to the slumbering ponies of Equestria. The wind gently wandered throughout the valley, its chill greeting the few ponies still awake this evening. Including that of the princess of magic herself, Twilight Sparkle. She quietly meandered her way through the sleepy town of Ponyville, and soon she had reached the Everfree Forest’s edge. The mare held a small lantern before her eyes, and looked on into the forest. Hoisted upon her back was a saddle bag, and a robe for warmth. A small tug caught her attention, looking to her side was a small purple and green dragon. “Spike?” Twilight gasped, “What are you doing out here this late? You should be in bed.” “I was wondering the same thing about you.” He replied. “Look, I just.” She stated looking back to the forest. “It’s just that something has been on my mind lately.” “Well, what is it?” “I don’t exactly know. I’ve been having these odd dreams.” “Like odd how? Ice cream odd, or like mysterious odd?” Twilight smiled a little at her assistant’s joke, “A little more mysterious than ice cream, Spike. I get this odd feeling that something is… calling me.” “Calling you?” The dragon queried. “Yes, but I don’t know what.” “Is it a pony? Are they in trouble?” “I don’t know.” The two remained quiet for a moment before Twilight picked Spike up with her magic. Placing him upon her back, she set her course towards home. “For now though, I think someone needs his sleep.” Twilight remarked with a yawn. “I suppose I could use some as well.” The purple mare had soon arrived to her home. The door creaked open, revealing the darkness concealed within. Using her lantern the mare trotted up the stairs and to her bedside. Careful not to wake her passenger, she gently lifted him with her magic and set him upon his bed. Her assistant snored loudly as a blanket was placed on him. Next, she set down the lantern and her bag and hung her robe upon her bed post. Perhaps I’ll continue this in the morning... She thought. Looking to her clock, the hands read 9:53PM. She sighed and sat herself upon her bed. Perhaps... it won’t happen tonight. Gently lying down, the mare closed her eyes and drifted off. She was falling. The sea of black had once again surrounded her. Her wings tried to get her high above the darkness, but the shadows only followed. The purple mare rose higher and higher, but the darkness grabbed her. Tiny hands pulled her down. Her friends and family were just above her, hooves reaching out, begging her to fight. But she couldn’t. She could only fall further and further until she was consumed by the darkness. That’s when the voice came. It boomed and echoed throughout the black, speaking as if in trouble. In pain. “I can see you. I can smell your magic. The power you wield. Only you can set me free. Only you know how.” She looked around for somepony or anything. “Who are you?” She would ask. “Only you, Twilight Sparkle. You are the one.” It would reply. “How do you know my name?” “Set me free.” The darkness demanded. “You know how.” “But what if I don’t want to?” Twilight sat with her horn illuminated, trying to discern anything that wasn’t darkness. Her eyes searched and searched. Beneath her was grass and the soft sensation of the blades graced her coat. A stone rose from the darkness beneath, pillars grew all around her, and the grass faded to an old castle. She knew this castle. She recognized it as the abandoned castle in the Everfree Forest. Her eyes continued to watch the area transform like scenes from a play. Years filled the halls and ponies walked by, passing without a care. Then she appeared. Princess Celestia. Before her was the same stone. She looked to it and then to Twilight. With a rumble and a shake, the scene shattered, the castle vanished, and the darkness fled with them. She was sitting on her bed, sweat dripping from her snout and mane and yet her body was cold. She looked to the clock. midnight. Sighing, she looked out her window. The moon remained high in the sky, watching her below. Hopping out of bed, the alicorn trotted to her desk nearby. A quill and some ink had remained from the previous night, along with a small journal. She lit a nearby candle, and set to work. Flipping through the pages, she found the next blank page. Ink seeped from the quill as she hastily jotted down her dream. ‘The same happened again. This night however, I was in the old castle, the castle where Nightmare Moon had been defeated. A great stone rose from the darkness, along with the castle.’ She continued her scrawlings in the journal, writing with as much detail as she could recollect. ‘It’s at the point now where I must tell Princess Celestia, I know she can help me. But still, I need to know what this is. Or better yet, who.’ Looking to her number one assistant, Twilight sighed. No need to get him up for this letter. I’ll just wait to send it in the morning. Closing her book, Twilight set her quill down and lifted the candle from the table. Creeping down the stairs, she guided herself to the many books lining the inner walls of the tree. A particular section had grabbed her attention; history. A violet aura selected various books from their shelves and brought them to the purple mare, each piling one on top of the other next to her. There must be something here. She quickly set to multitasking between reading and organizing the books by relevance. She went long into the morning stacking book after book, only to find the same end result. Nothing. Her stockpile of books had grown smaller, and with it, her patience. The last book, however, wasn’t about history, but Equestrian myths and fables. It was the book Spike had found during Pinkie’s shenanigans with the mirror pool. She set the book down and groaned, thinking it best to just inquire of the princess. “Twilight?” She jumped at the sound of her name. Looking up, however, revealed Spike. He stood there with bags under his eyes. “How long have you been up?” “Oh, is it morning? I hadn’t noticed.” She answered with a yawn. “You’ve been staying up late all week, are you ok?” “...To tell you the truth, I’m not sure.” The princess pondered a moment, “Spike, can you take a letter?” “Sure thing Twilight!” The purple dragon sluggishly climbed up the stairs to fetch a quill and some paper. Spike returned shortly thereafter, and began to scribe words onto the parchment. “Dear Princess Celestia, I am in urgent need of your guidance. For the past week, I have been receiving odd dreams, dreams of darkness. I keep on trying to fight my way out, but I’m always dragged down to the bottom. Afterwards a large stone and a castle, the one from the Everfree Forest, rise out of the darkness. I’m in the castle, watching as ponies from the past walk all around. Then you appear, and with you is the stone. I’m afraid it ends there however, and I wake up at midnight, every night. Please respond hastily, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.” “You know Twilight, I don’t think you have to keep calling yourself her student, seeing as you’re a princess and all.” “Just send the letter please.” ~~~~~ “What do you mean?” inquired Fluttershy. Celestia approached the five mares, She lowered her head level to them. “What I’m about to tell you.” She began, “Is something I want you to take to heart. It’s something that had to be done. I did not do this to make an example out of Twilight. I did not do this just to punish Twilight, and I certainly didn’t do this because I could. If I hadn’t banished Twilight she would be dead, but not just her my little ponies. All of the magic in Equestria as well.”