//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Embracing the Darkness // by BlueAzura //------------------------------// *I own nothing, but the experience and story* *Ponies go to Hasbro* Embracing the Darkness By: BlueAzura Chapter 11 Twilight felt herself running blindly in complete darkness. How and for what reason, she didn’t know. All she did know was that something was near her and she didn’t want anything to do with it. The unicorn drew in short gasp of air in the hopes to evade an invisible foe. For what felt like an eternity, she skidded to a halt when two red eyes suddenly appeared in front of her. “Go away, whoever you are!” The red eyes gave a small chuckle and spoke in an amused tone, “Aww… is the unicorn afraid of little old me?” The eyes floated a bit closer. “I’m flattered, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight felt her body tense up. “Who are you and how do you know my name?” Lights suddenly appeared all around them, forcing the unicorn to cover her face with a hoof. When she felt that her eyes had adjusted, Twilight carefully opened them to see that the red eyes had disappeared. “Hello?” Another chuckle rang out from behind and turning, she found herself face to face with… herself? Leaping away in fright, Twilight yelped, “Gah! Don’t do that!” The second Twilight merely giggled. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” She extended a hoof out and said cheerfully, “It’s nice to finally meet you, Twilight Sparkle!” Eyeing the hoof like it had a poisonous snake on it, the real Twilight asked, “Do I know you?” She started to feel herself sweating a little bit. The second Twilight frowned, letting the hoof fall back to the ground. “You mean you don’t really know?” She tossed her mane back with a smile. “I’m you, silly!” It was the librarian’s turn to frown. “But, that’s impossible because I’m still here and you’re over there.” She gave her hoof a small stomp. “I can’t be in two places at once so that means that you’re just an imposter.” The ‘not’ Twilight faked a gasp. “Why, Twilight, that hurt my feelings!” She pressed a hoof to her head and struck a dramatic pose. “To think that I could be so cruel!” The unicorn started giggling like a madpony. “Maybe that’s why I didn’t have any friends before I came to Ponyville!” Twilight glared at the unicorn. “You mean my friends and how do you know so much about me?” She started to feel impatient. “No more lies this time!” The second Twilight gave a weary smile. “I know everything that is to do with you because I’m really you!” Turning around, the real Twilight began walking away. “I don’t have time playing games with somepony that likes to lie all the time.” She got about ten steps in before she suddenly felt a hoof grabbing her shoulder in a viselike grip. Speaking in a cold voice, the fake Twilight whispered, “Then you and I are not so different from each other.” Twilight winced at the pain and found that she couldn’t move her hooves anymore. Trembling slightly, the unicorn nervously asked, “W-what do you mean? I don’t make a habit of impersonating other ponies.” The fake Twilight gave a dry chuckle. “That is true…” She released her hoof and slowly began walking away. “But, that isn’t the point…” With her back still facing librarian, the fake Twilight stopped and said, “You’re as much as a liar as I am…” Twilight’s eyes widen and said, “What? I never-” She was interrupted when the fake Twilight threw her head back and began laughing. Wiping a tear from her eyes, the unicorn said, “What?! Were you seriously going to say that you ‘never did something of the sort’?” Her cheery attitude was suddenly replaced with a darken expression. “Then what are you doing to your friends exactly?” Twilight was lost for words. “Well… I uhh…” The ‘not’ Twilight grinned, exposing two sharp fangs in the process. “Do you finally understand, my foolish friend?” Her eyes slowly changed from the soft lavender into sharp ruby red. “I’m glad you’re not going to make this too difficult for me.” The surrounding light began fading. “Oh, by the way… you owe me for saving you and your friends back there…” Before disappearing completely into the darkness, the vampony said, “I’ll be coming by to collect my payment soon, Twilight.” The ground beneath the unicorn’s hooves vanished suddenly, causing Twilight to scream out in terror. … Twilight woke with a loud gasp. Lying on what appears to be a bed, the unicorn quickly scanned her surrounding area. ‘I’m in the hospital again…’ The unicorn froze when she felt something move at the foot of her bed. Slowly rising and rubbing her eyes with a hoof, a pink earth pony spoke, “Twilight?” Pinkie Pie suddenly found herself wide awake. “You’re up! Girls, wake up!” Soft groans could be heard all around them, as pony after pony woke from their slumber. “Oh my… please don’t yell too much…” Fluttershy yawned softly. “Twilight still needs her rest.” While the party pony was busy apologizing, the snow white unicorn spoke quietly, “You’ve given us quite the scare there, Twilight.” Rarity gave a small smile. “When we felt the ground shaking from that Ursa’s attack… we feared the worst, dearest…” Twilight gave a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about me, Rarity, I perfectly fine.” Everypony was startled, when the purple unicorn gasped. “Applejack! What happened to her?” She flicked her eyes into each of her friends’ “Is she alright?” “You girls mind keeping it down? I’m trying to get some shuteye over here.” Pulling her bed currents away with a hoof, Applejack turned slightly on her own bed to face the purple unicorn. “Hey Twi, I’m glad you’re alright… I was worried.” With tears forming on her eyes, Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle. “You were more worried about me than with yourself? I wasn’t the one who crashed into a building and survive!” The apple farmer began chuckling herself, but was stopped short with a wince of pain. “Hehe… well… not without getting beat up more then what a raging bull can dish out first mind you.” “And that’s exactly why you need your rest, Miss Applejack.” The same doctor as before entered the room. “It was just short of a miracle that you were able to make it out of that with only a few broken ribs and a leg.” The orange pony simply grinned. “I’ll have to thank that owner for putting up a mattress store there later, doc.” The doctor merely shook his head at the cheery farmer. Turning, he gasped at what he saw. “Miss Sparkle, please! You mustn’t move out of your bed so soon!” Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion, jumping off the bed. “Why, what’s wro-” She heard a loud thump, as if something hard landed onto the floor. Twisting to get a better view, Twilight found herself wearing a large cast on one of her hind legs. “Why is there a cast on my leg?” The doctor, who had his mouth hanging open, sputtered, “D-did you cast some sort of healing spell just now?” Feeling her leg slowly cramping inside the cast, Twilight quickly removed the bandages with a flick of her horn. “No, why?” The pony doctor could only stare in amazement. “Miss Sparkle, when you entered this hospital… that leg was still broken.” He quickly reached over and grabbed her charts. “In fact, you shouldn’t have been able to move that leg for at least a month.” The pony looked up in excitement. “If this is some sort of effect from a medication or anything of the sort, you must tell us! Oh, the amount of ponies we could save from the loss of a limb… it could be around the thousands!” Quickly pulling up a quill and paper, the doctor began scribbling notes down. “So, Miss Sparkle, tell us how you were able to produce something so amazing!” Twilight shifted nervously at the stares from everypony in the room. “Umm… well… it wasn’t because of medical supplements…” The doctor was slightly taken aback. “Oh? Then was it some sort of new spell?” The unicorn could feel sweat forming on her forehead. “No, I already said I didn’t use a spell…” Lowering the piece of paper slightly, the doctor frowned in confusion. “Then… what did you do in order to recover so quickly?” Feeling like she was backed into a corner, Twilight tried to come up with an excuse. “Umm… you see it’s…uhh…” “Training!” Perking her ears up and following everypony’s eyes, Twilight made out the top of a rainbow colored mane. “Huh? Rainbow?” Squeezing her way past the doctor, Rainbow Dash quickly stood next to the purple unicorn. “It was probably something to do with that special training you did with Nightmare Moon at the time, rrrrright?” She quickly jabbed the librarian’s side. “Something only a goddess could teach, Twilight?” Quickly catching on but still confused, Twilight quickly added, “Oh, well… yes! It was a very special technique that Nightmare Moon was able to teach me while I was away training.” The doctor frowned in disappointment. “Oh, horsefeathers… if it’s truly something only the Princess could teach… she’ll never share it with the medical divisions.” He left out a sigh of defeat. “Very well, Miss Sparkle, since you seemed to have completely recovered from your ordeal… I have no choice but to release you early.” The pony walked away with his head hung low. Letting out a sigh of relief, Twilight whispered into the cyan Pegasus’s ear, “Thanks for covering for me, Rainbow.” Rainbow Dash lifted an eyebrow and whispered back, “Don’t think you’re getting off that easily, Twilight. You’re going to tell me what’s really going on between you and Applejack…” Twilight suddenly went pale. “B-but, nothing happening between us…” The cyan Pegasus let out a frustrated grunt, speaking in a harsh whisper. “Stop trying to play dumb, Twilight!” She turned and glared at her friend. “I don’t want to hear anymore lies!” The librarian flinched at the stare, but suddenly remembered the voice. “Then you and I are not so different from each other.” Twilight suddenly felt angry. ‘No… there’s nothing similar between you and me!’ She felt her muscles clenching. ‘I may be a liar… But, I’m going to fix that right now!’ Still feeling blind rage towards those mocking red eyes, Twilight stood up straight. “Fine, Rainbow…” Taking a step back in surprise, Rainbow asked, “Do you really mean that, Twi?” The purple unicorn simply nodded. “Yes, I’m going to tell you everything… In fact… bring the other girls as well. I need to speak to Applejack first, alright?”Leaving the confused Pegasus behind, Twilight sat on the edge of her friend’s bed. “You okay, Applejack?” The orange smiled weakly. “I’m going to be alright, Sugarcube. What’s the deal between you and Rainbow?” Twilight’s bit her lower lip. “I’m going to tell them everything, Applejack.” The farm pony simply grinned. “Good. I was getting tired of covering your sorry behind, Twi!” The librarian chuckled. “I owe you so much…” She was interrupted when her friend waved a hoof in the air. Wincing at the motion, Applejack quickly said, “Ahh! Don’t worry about that, Twi!” Her lips quickly became a smirk. “I was happy to help a friend of mine out, Sugarcube.” Leaning in, Twilight gave the orange pony a soft hug. “Wish me luck, Applejack.” “Break a leg, Twi.” The unicorn snorted. “Apparently, I already did.” The apple famer rolled her eyes in response. “Then you won’t run into any trouble… You should trust your friends more often, Sugarcube.” Twilight smiled, preparing to take her words to heart. “I will.” Leaning back into her pillow, Applejack yawned. “Now, get out of here and let me get some shuteye.” Still with a smile on her face, Twilight turned back to see her other friends watching her. The snow white unicorn stepped forward and asked, “Rainbow Dash said that there was something you wanted to tell us, dear?” Twilight shook her head. “Not here, Rarity. We need to go somewhere a little more private… meet me at the library in ten minutes.” With that, the purple unicorn turned and left the hospital without another word. Twilight got about twenty steps out of the hospital before she smacked herself with a hoof. ‘I can’t believe I just told them to see me at the library! Now, I have no choice but to tell them everything!’ With her head hanging low to the ground, the unicorn slowly began walking in the direction towards her home. ‘I just basically dug my own grave… good job Twilight.’ Not looking at what was ahead of her, Twilight bumped into another pony. “Oh, pardon me!” Looking up with an apologetic look on her face, the unicorn found herself face to face with a pair of hard yellow eyes. The guardpony waved the apology away with a hoof. “It’s alright, ma’am. Just make sure you don’t cross the roped off area.” He gestured the yellow rope behind him. Twilight craned her neck to see what was going on and gasped. It looked as though a war broke out in the middle of Ponyville. Large piles of splintered wood and debris lay scattered in random places. “What happened?” asked Twilight, as she watched large groups of soldiers cleaning up the area. The guard raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t hear or see an Ursa Major attacking this place?” The unicorn blushed when she realized her mistake, but quickly corrected herself. “I mean… how did that happen?” She pointed a hoof off into the distant. Following the pony’s hoof, the guard turned to see the deep imprint of what looked like a colossal bear in the dirt. “Oh yeah…that…” He turned his head to face the unicorn again. “We actually don’t know what really happened here. The only thing we do know is that apparently from eye witness reports, the Ursa was ‘thrown out’ of the town by magic.” The pony shook his head. “I find that extremely hard to believe… because I‘ve never met any unicorn that’s capable of lifting an eighty ton beast into the air.” Twilight felt herself grow colder by the minute. “Oh, well… thank you, sir. But, I think I’ve seen enough and I really think I should be going back home.” The unicorn began slowly backing away from the guard. Watching the unicorn retreating, the pony nodded and called out, “Just be sure not to wonder around too much in the dark, it’s dangerous!” She didn’t answer, but instead she spun on her hind legs and ran away. “What’s up with her?” Shrugging, the pony turned back to survey the area for any possible trouble makers. Twilight was breathing heavily when she burst through the library’s front door. ‘I don’t remember ever stopping that Ursa… I only remember yelling Applejack’s name before blacking out.’ She narrowed her eyes slightly. ‘What exactly happened?’ “You have me to thank for, my little friend.” The unicorn immediately whipped her head back and forth, but found nopony there. Twilight then realized that it was the same voice in her nightmares. ‘Wait a minute… when you told me that I 'owed you’, does that mean that you were the one that stop that Ursa?’ “Correct, you were in the middle of a very dangerous place…” The voice seems to reverberate all around her, growing louder with each passing minute. “and I still need you alive, my dear.” Clutching the sides of her head with her hooves, Twilight grunted, “G-get out… I don’t want you here!” “Twilight, is that you?” The unicorn gasped at the new voice only to see a baby dragon standing at the bottom of the stairs. “Spike-oof!” Twilight had the wind knocked out of her when the assistant ran directly into her chest. Still holding his pony sister in a tight hug, Spike looked up with tears in his eyes. “Where have you been this whole time, Twilight?!” He hiccupped from recently crying. “When I heard the Ursa yelling, I looked and saw that you weren’t in your bed!” The baby dragon tightened his grip. “When you didn't come back I…I thought something terrible happened to you!” Seeing just how much her unexpected departure had affected the dragon, Twilight felt her own tears filling up in her eyes. “I’m so sorry about making you worried, Spike.” Wrapping a hoof around her assistant, she brought the baby dragon in a tighter hug. “It happened so fast… when Trixie-” The purple unicorn gasped. “Trixie! What happened to her?” Spike looked at her confused. “Wait, Trixie? Why… what happened?” ‘She’s possibly the only one close enough to have seen me attacking the Ursa up close!’ Panicking, the unicorn said, “She was the one who brought the Ursa Major into Ponyville in the first place.” ‘If she goes and tells the authorities what I did…’ She suddenly felt herself calming down. ‘Wait… that guardspony said that he didn’t really believe what I did was possible. Then that means that they’ll probably think that she’s making the whole thing up!’ The librarian felt a fresh wave of panic. ‘But what if they do believe her, come by and ask questions!’ The unicorn was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn’t even realize that the baby dragon was shouting at her face. “Twilight!” “Huh?” Twilight looked up in surprise. “What was that, Spike?” The assistant pointed a claw at the top of the stairs. “If she really did bring an Ursa Major to the town… shouldn't we arrest her then?” Twilight’s mouth fell open. “She’s upstairs at this very moment?” Spike simply nodded. “Yup, she came some time ago really banged up, asking if she could rest here until you came back.” He folded his arms over his chest. “She looked like she really wanted to talk to you when she mentioned your name too.” The dragon made an angry grunt. “I can’t believe she’s the cause of so much destruction to our home.” Turning, the purple dragon began making his way to the front door. “Don’t worry, Twi, I’m going to get some guardspo-oof!” Spike suddenly found himself on the ground, with a hoof covering his mouth. Still holding the hoof securely in place, Twilight said in a hard whisper, “No, Spike! We are not going to call anypony to pick her up, do you understand?” Removing the hoof from his lips, he asked, “Why not? Shouldn’t she be turned into the authorities?” The librarian quickly shook her head. “No, I can’t have her leaving this library.” She gazed at her assistant with pleading eyes. “I need you to promise me to keep her existence a secret, Spike.” Pulling himself back to his feet, the purple dragon answered, “Alright, alright! I won’t tell anypony, honest!” Twilight gave a grateful smile. “Thanks Spike.” There was a moment of silence before there was a loud knocking noise from the front door. The baby dragon raised an eyebrow. “Were you expecting somepony?” He turned to see that his pony sister had turned completely white. “Twilight?” He yelped in surprise when the unicorn screeched. “I’ve completely forgotten that they were coming!” Spike scratched the top of his head in confusion. “Wait… who?” “The other girls are here!” Twilight started hyperventilating in pure ‘panic mode’. “Rarity and the others are here?” The assistant’s face lit up. “I’ll let them in then…” Twilight felt the world slow down, as she extended a hoof out to stop the dragon. “Nooooooooooo!” But it was too late, as she could only helplessly watch her assistant opening the door. ‘That’s it… I’m doomed.’