(Author's Note: LR and CR are, respectively, measures of time I've made up for all of my fics. LR, or Luna's Reign, is from 6 PM to 5:59 AM, and CR, or Celestia's Reign, is from 6 AM to 5:59 PM.)
Twilight blinked, but the scenery didn't change. One moment she'd been looking for some phantom danger she felt in the early afternoon in Ponyville, and the next she'd was looking at a lamp-post in the middle of the night. It's glow actually seemed to radiate warmth, which was welcome as it was slightly chilly. The lavender pony was suddenly hit with a wave of vertigo, the ground seeming to grow further away, even though her hooves still touched. Bringing a hoof to her moth, Twilight's eyes went wide as nausea set in far too powerfully to resist, and the unicorn doubled over, vomiting. "Wh - What was that? What time is it?" She turned her gaze upward weakly, noticing the full moon at the apex of it's climb into the sky. Midnight? But what... She suddenly came to full clarity as a thought struck her, adrenaline rushing through her body.
Nyx! Where's Nyx?! Is she okay?! Looking around frantically, she saw the stall Nyx had begged for a slushie from was gone as well. Twilight's mind was far from sensical, and it began to form all manner of horrible ideas, ranging from Nyx being kidnapped and the unicorn somehow drugged, to - No, Twilight, calm down! Calm down, you're useless to her like this. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to focus on logic. The stall wasn't here because of how late it was. It made sense, it WAS night-time, after all, the owner had probably taken his cart home, and was asleep right now. And she had carefully discussed with Nyx what to do if they ever got separated. Go home, and wait. She turned in the direction of her library, and galloped off.
---
This was certainly not cool.
It was also not awesome, boss, or sweet. Staring at the ground in the general direction she'd lost her lunch, Rainbow Dash tried to come up with more ways to describe the situation of staring at a small splatter on the ground from a cloud, but honestly there wasn't much there. Her mind wasn't quite in gear right now. One moment, she'd been flying over the skies of Ponyville, trying to find a good cloud to nap on, and then she'd been hit with a wicked case of the barf and had to touch down. Now, it was dark and she had no clue what the hay WHY.
She mentally ran over the event calender she memorized, but there was nothing about a full solar eclipse, and even if there were, this clearly wasn't one. She snatched up some of the cloud, stuffing it into her mouth to let the vapor wash away the taste of bile, and considered her options. One: she could just get back to her nap. This was option number one because it was clearly the least effort, and she was tired. Two: She could go back home and make sure she didn't miss something. This was way too much effort, as she always threw away any notifications of upcoming events once she received them, and going through trash was NOT something she wanted to do right now. Not to mention, if she had missed something, she likely wouldn't notice it now. Three: Find Twilight and ask her what the hay was going on. Dash peeked over the edge of her cloud, down at Ponyville. That was also effort, but this really wasn't nearly as much, and she could always go back to her nap right after.
Option three it was. Dash spread her wings out, flexing them, then she glided a few hundred hooves before dropping into a dive.
---
Twilight beheld her treehouse with a blank look. It's not that the house itself was really any different, though it seemed to have a few extra branches. In fact, it was MORE immaculate than she remembered. And there was the fact that there were never two lamp-posts in front of her house, set in perfect symmetry on either side of the door. The resulting warmth was very comforting, but it revealed the state of the home that had worried her before. Not even a speck of dust, not a single smudge, the paint on the door perfect, not even showing a single sign of several crash-landings and slams it had held up against over the years.
But the biggest difference was the statue of herself standing there near the door. It had a few benches around it, and seemed as though it was specifically placed to make it impossible to get into the home without the use of magic. The position of the Statue was of her standing with a fore hoof raised, her head turned a bit to the side as her eyes looked down the lane, a gentle smile on her face. It was as if a very large stone version of herself had just walked out of her home to face the day. Her eyes turned to the plaque at the statue's base, and her eyes went wide, the unicorn freezing up.
She heard someone behind her, but she didn't react, even when it called out her name. "Twilight! So, uh ... Night. What's up with that? ... Twilight? Whoa, is that a statue of YOU?" Rainbow Dash looked it over, then gave a shrug with her wings. "Eeeeh. I'd like it better if it was doing something cool. But when did you get a statue of yourself? Didn't take you for ... The ... " Dash slowly let the sentence drift away as she raised a brow at Twilight's horrified expression, which hadn't changed since the pegasus first sighted her. She followed her friend's gaze, looking down to the plaque. It was her turn to freeze, though she wasn't quite as much in shock.
Twilight Sparkle
923-946
Never again will there be more magnificent
A friend
A scholar
A mother
"Twilight ... " Dash finally broke the silence with a surprisingly subdued voice. " ... What in the name of Celestia is this ... ?" Finally, the unicorn snapped out of it, slowly looking up to her friend, her eyes misted with worry and fear.
"I - I don't know. I just don't know."
---
Applejack was confined to her quarters, which were basically her office. She'd said sorry to the zebra, of course, but Trixie had sentenced her to a day of house arrest. After all, she couldn't be allowed to get away with misbehavior any more than her subordinates. Bad for morale. The former farm-pony really didn't mind that part. She didn't often leave this room anyway, and lying down on her cot had done her emotional and mental state some good. What she DIDN'T like was that the impending doom of their entire resistance and easily over 200 innocent ponies was a surety now. The fact that Trixie was sitting at HER desk, doing HER work, and only pausing now and then to glare at the orange filly over her shoulder didn't help. After the fifth such dirty look, she couldn't take anymore. "Look, Trixie, Ah'm SORRY. Is that whatcha want from me? Ah'm sorry it came ta this, Ah'm sorry Ah had ta make this 'bout Twilight. Okay? Stop GLARIN' at me like that!"
Trixie turned in the chair to deliver a stinging retort, but she choked it down, taking a moment to calm herself. Her gaze softened at Applejack's glum expression, and she turned in the chair again, getting back to work. "Oh, Applejack. It's not about that. Really. Oh sure, you may have taken my greatest opportunity of glory from me. You may have voided YEARS of training, and a once in a lifetime EPIPHANY ... " Applejack rolled her eyes at that drama. " ... But it is not why Trixie is upset."
"Ya got a reeeeal talent fer cheerin' up ponies, ya know that sugarcube?" She had to smile, though, Trixie's lapse into her old speech patterns was cheering at the least. "So why ARE ya mad at me now?" Trixie closed her eyes, and turned the chair itself. The paperwork wasn't that important right now. It was useless anyhow, in the face of this new development.
"Honestly, Applejack, it's me. You've put so much effort into this one plan, and I will admit, if it is not already painfully obvious, I am still very sore about not being the focus point of it anymore." She bit her lip, looking down to the floor. Her silver hair fell forward, though it had been cut short to not get in the way while she trained. Over the years, she grew to realize such vanities would never be as important as her drive for more power. And it was that drive, she knew, that brought her to this state. "I've been working so hard, so long. I've made so much progress. And yet, once again, I find myself playing second fiddle to that - That ... " She shuddered, Applejack sat up on the bed on her haunches, and beckoned the magician to her. Trixie -- always one for theatrics despite her growth as a pony -- rushed to the farm-filly's embrace. Her lover nuzzled her head, the soft hair a comfort to Applejack as well.
"Sugarcube, yer still more important ta me. Ya always will be, ya hear?" Applejack gave her a squeeze with her forelegs, and Trixie just nodded a little. "Ah just - Ya know what's at stake here. And yer still not ready." The earth pony looked down and to the side. "And Ah dunno if Ah could possibly risk ya like that anyhow."
Trixie winced at the second statement. That was something she didn't want to hear. "I'm not ready because we haven't gathered the others. The Elements of Harmony will only work if we have a strong bond, and I can't accomplish that with just one of them." She looked up to the element of honesty. "No matter how strong that one bond is." She wiggled out of the orange pony's grasp, went back to the desk, Applejack staring at the floor.
"Ah wish Ah could get 'em all together 'gin. But!" Her eyes brightened, a wide grin forming on her face as a thought came to her. A wonderful thought, and she wanted to kick herself for not thinking of it sooner. "Maybe this is a blessin' in disguise. " Trixie blinked at that, though she didn't turn around.
"What do you mean? You said it yourself, this is an unmitigated disaster."
"Nah, hear me out. Wit' Twilight in Ponyville, whatcha think's gonna be the first place sh' goes?" Trixie looked up to the ceiling, pondering for a moment. She didn't really know the least thing about the other unicorn, but she knew what most ponies would do.
" ... She'll go home, looking for Nyx."
"And Rainbow Dash. Les' say she's flyin' around, and all of a sudden it's night. What's the first thing sh's gonna do?" It dawned on the blue unicorn, and she smiled brightly.
"She'll go see Twilight, realize she doesn't know either, and they'll go to find their friends!"
Applejack grinned. "That's right, sugarcube. We just gotta worry 'bout gittin' to 'em before Nightmare Moon does." She frowned, that grin not having lasted past her second thought. "Or Twilight decides ta go try ta talk her down. Horseapples! Ah didn't even think 'bout that!" Trixie suddenly stood, fetching a leather jacket that'd once belonged to this world's Rainbow Dash, and slipping it on. " ... Where ya think yer goin', Trixie? Ya can't be thinkin' ... "
The light blue unicorn turned to look at her lover, with an arrogant smirk that hadn't graced her features for almost a decade. "Ah'm going to go after Twilight before she gets herself put in a dungeon again." Her horn glowed, Applejack's eyes widening as she tried to leap off the bed, her hoof catching in a sheet. Tumbling up to her hooves, she dived for the Unicorn to stop her, only for both ponies to be caught in a teleportation spell, and disappear into the night.
---
Dash had gone in through a window while Twilight teleported herself inside the house. The furniture was all there, and while covered with sheets, not a speck of dust showed. The place had been very well cared for in her ... Absence. The books were gone from the shelves, however, which ruined her ideas of how to figure out what was going on. The first thing she'd done was to rush upstairs to see if Nyx was there, anyway, not to study. She knew the foal wouldn't be present, but even so, her heart fell when she saw the empty beds. Not even Spike was here. Her head hung, and she felt the tears coming on, unable to stop herself from sobbing.
The pegasus watched awkwardly, not knowing what to do. She was no good at cheering anyone up, and Dash thought Twilight might need some time to herself anyway, so she checked out the basement. It was totally bare, though also perfectly clean. The floor had even been treated to prevent erosion. "Sheesh, who went through all this trouble? I know I wouldn't ... " She felt a slight pang of guilt at that, but shrugged it off. She'd remember Twilight. That'd be enough, right? Whoever was doing this kind of restoration must be practically obsessed. Satisfied with her sparse inspection, Dash rushed back upstairs to check on the unicorn, who was wiping a tear from her eye.
"D - Dash?"
"Don't worry, Twilight. We'll find her. We just gotta figure out what's going on here. I'll check my house." Twilight nodded, thinking for a moment. For her, nothing was more important than this.
"I'll ...Talk to Rarity."
"Why Rarity?" Twilight chuckled as she headed out the door.
"Because she's probably awake working on a dress, right now. I saw a light on in her house when I ran here."
"Gotcha. I'll meet you back here if something happens."
"Got it." Twilight carefully floated herself down from the open window. Teleporting outside again would be too much effort. Dash took off, speeding up into the sky...
---
The two wayward ponies popped into existence inside the Sweet Apple Acres orchard. Applejack finally fully connected with Trixie, sending them both tumbling into the dirt. They wound up against a tree, though thankfully they'd lost enough momentum to hurt themselves on it. Trixie stood up, using her magic to dust the jacket off, then glared incredulously at the earth pony, whose eyes were literally spinning. "What ... I put you under confinement!" As Applejack collected herself, she had to laugh. Of all the reasons that her being here was a horrible idea, even if unintended, that was probably the least urgent. Trixie harrumphed, and helped the farm-filly up. "No use complaining about it now." She looked around, curiously. "But my ... Has this place changed."
Applejack sighed as she glanced about. The trees gave off a soft glow as they absorbed the moonlight. Wild Heart's specialty. These plants not only lived under moonlight, they thrived. Sweet Apple Acres had met on a hard year the first harvest under Nightmare Moon's rule, but a massive effort by the Apple clan and, in fact, all of Ponyville, made it ready for the next year. The harvest was late that year even so, but it seemed as though it were perfectly fine now. "Yea. Brings back memories Ah don't really wanna think 'bout, though."
Trixie gave her a soft nuzzle. "We'd better get going. It's 4 LR, but there's most likely still someone awake." Like Nightmare Moon's guards. Applejack nodded and collected her hat, giving it a few shakes to remove the dust, and tossed it onto her head, the hat doing a neat flip before landing. Trixie smirked and shook her head. "I see I'm not the only one here with a taste for flair." The farm-filly sheepishly grinned, before the two of them set off towards Ponyville itself. "Perhaps you really should stay here, Applejack. It's secluded and the last thing we need is for you to get captured."
Applejack gave a shrug. "Be just as bad if you got caught, sugarcube. 'Sides, like ya said, it's late, and if we both git caught, we got a better chance o' fightin' our way back together." The blue unicorn chuckled at her friend's bravado, shaking her head.
"Believe me, the Great and Powerful Trixie is more than a match for a handful of guards by herself."
"Even so, Ah'd feel much better comin' withcha." Trixie sighed, but understood this wasn't something the earth pony would budge on, and simply nodded her assent. Reaching the edge of the orchard, they steeled themselves, and took the path in.
---
Rarity hummed to herself, a familiar tune that brought back memories both happy and sad. It would be the happy memories she would dwell on, however, and she could never be sad while working on a dress! Her blue eyes sparkled as she put the finishing touches on a seam, then lifted the fabric with a studious frown, checking it over for any imperfection at all. Satisfied with her work, she beamed again, giving off an excited giggle, and laid it to the side. “Now for the next portion of the skirt ... ” She genuinely had forgotten the flow of time, having no idea that it was so late. The clock on her wall hadn't even received a cursory glance since dinner, and she had only meant to adjust a few stitches. But Rarity being Rarity, she had gotten lost in her work, and was already half finished with a dress that, when she had started, had been merely two connected sheets of fabric.
A knock on the door shattered her concentration just as she was positioning the cloth, and she jumped, startled. Her eyes finally flew up to the clock, the irises widening as she realized the time. “4:28LR?!” She huffed, then gasped as she noticed her hooves were being pulled forward slowly, into the sewing machine. “Ack! Nononononono!” But it was too late, the fabric having already been stitched of the device's own volition, and thus completely unfitting to her standards. The white unicorn fumed as her horn glowed, magic switching off the machine. She stood from the chair, and trotted to the door, prepared to give the one who would possibly dare come to her door this late a proper, well-deserved tongue lashing. But when she unlocked and threw open the door, she was quite surprised to find, standing there, a ghost. Or perhaps a zombie. Either way, she screamed and fainted to the ground.
Twilight blinked rapidly, surprised at the abruptness of that 'greeting', and showed herself in to make sure Rarity was alright. A cursory glance revealed no bumps, bruises, or cuts, so she sighed in relief, lifting the other unicorn with her magic and pushing the door closed with a hindhoof. “I should have expected this. I have no idea where or when I am, but I'm supposed to be dead, apparently.” Laying Rarity onto her bed, she yawned herself, feeling a bit tired from the day's events, and cycle of panic and depression.
She wouldn't sleep yet, though. Rarity wouldn't be unconscious for long, and she needed answers.
Little did she know that even as Applejack and Trixie were converging on her position, so was a stallion, stalking the night streets for reasons of his own. Twilight and Dash's entrance into the monument hadn't gone unnoticed.