//------------------------------// // Dim Dawn // Story: Dethroning the Prince // by Ri Jun //------------------------------// "Twilight? Where are you?" Spike asked yet again for what felt like the hundredth time. Where could she have vanished to? He didn't understand, but there really wasn't much to understand about this place… Wherever it was. Oh wait, yeah. Nowhere. Maybe she… left? But why would she go without him? Maybe she didn't need him, maybe she thought it was too dangerous for a ‘baby dragon’. Same as always, huh? Every time she goes on some awesome quest, I’m left back home; alone. Except this time he wasn't home, and he wasn't alone at least not entirely, there were a lot of… animals? He thought as he looked warily about him. Whatever the creatures in the chaos-filled room were. “Heheheh, nope, not freaked out. They ain’t nothin’… Really.” He said out loud to himself. “Wait, what am I supposed to do now?” The young dragon cast his eye towards a door on the far side of the room. The only door in the room. “Well… There’s that, I guess.” ~~~ Twilight awoke with a start, looking wildly about her as she tried to recall how she came to be on top of a rock in the middle of a grassland golden from the rising sun. “Oh right: Discord.” “Horseapples, I don’t have Spike, or my saddlebags. Oh no, Spike! Is he okay? Oh no, what if the Guard have him?! What if Discord did something to him? No wait, he wouldn’t do that, would he? No, he’s reformed and it would upset Fluttershy if he did, he wouldn’t risk that…” As Twilight thought more about it the more she felt almost certain that Spike wasn’t in any danger. The coil of worry receded from her heart. As she looked about again she realized that there wasn’t much she could do about it anyway. It was almost guaranteed that she was too far away to teleport back to Discord’s place, even if she could, considering the magic-cancelling properties of the area. “Guess I’d better get going… no wait I don’t know where… NO! The feather!” She felt a wave of horror come over her, if she didn’t have the feather, this disaster would have been for nothing. She leaped up and started scouring the area for her saddlebags or the feather, anything! She had to have it somehow! “Come on, Discord! You wouldn’t send me out here without it, would you?!” Suddenly, the sound of an alarm sounded over from behind a cluster of rocks and a big red arrow formed in the air above it. The unicorn leaped up and headed over to the glowing, flashing arrow. When she looked behind the rocks, the alarm and the arrow ceased it's racket and she was blessed with the sight of her saddlebags, seeming to bulge more than they did before and a cloak was folded next to them. “Oh thank, Celestia! Now where’s Luna’s feather?” She opened her bags and saw that they were full of food and basic first aid equipment and wait... a... knife? Discord thought she'd need a knife? She pushed that out of her mind for the moment. After some more rummaging, she found the precious feather and almost cried with relief. “Okay, now to perform the spell, ah horseapples, I've got to go and find somewhere away from the influence." As Twilight walked, she looked at the blood on the feather with sadness, it seemed wrong somehow that this was all that was left of them. It seemed wrong that the princesses should bleed! They had seemed so strong, so… Indestructible. Finally feeling her magic once more the outlawed unicorn looked about her but there was nopony in sight. She settled down and brought the spell to the front of her mind, recalling the runes needed and started to burn the lines into the grass with her magic, she then placed the feather in the middle of the circle and started to perform the spell, using her utmost concentration. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead, as she started pouring more power into her spell. She could feel it straining her but she pushed harder, she was getting close to her limit, she gritted her teeth and made herself believe she couldn’t give up. No matter what, she wouldn't. It went on for what seemed like forever, Twilight was running on pure willpower now, the spell being much too advanced, it was something that required multiple ponies. Eventually, everything came into a perfect balance; Twilight’s mind was linked with the spell, the magic, the runes, the feather. She gently guided the magic to find the owner of the feather and before long she found a faint flicker, but it was… odd. Did I do something wrong? Why isn’t it… solid? But reliable or no, it was a lead, something she could follow, use. She felt a wave of satisfaction and determination flow over her right before she collapsed. ~~~ “Your Majesty, I have brought some unfortunate news.” The king eyes widened in surprise; there was never unfortunate news. “What? What is it?” “Last night there was a theft in the Museum, it has been confirmed that the thief was Twilight Sparkle. There was one injured guard. It is also highly possible that her dragon, Spike was involved too. There was nobody at their house and a search of it has brought up nothing and there were no trace of them having left, magical or physical, your Highness. There is no magical signature anywhere at the moment,” the guard reported while watching the anger brew on her ruler’s face. She wanted to be anywhere but here at the moment. Blueblood could not believe what he was hearing, that damned Sparkle dare commit this, this outrageous act?! Just goes to show yet again that you can’t trust the bloody Sparkle House, pack of lying vermin, the lot of them. But something this low! And by Celestia’s most prized student too! It was scandalous! But what did she steal? “Tell me what she stole, you blithering idiot! Were you not trained to give a full report?!" The guard flinched but obeyed immediately. “T-the late Princess Luna’s feather, your Majesty.” “SHE WHAT?!” The prince roared out, freezing everypony within hearing distance. “Find her immediately!” He was not going to let that cunt get away with stealing something so precious. “But your-“ “I SAID NOW!” “Yes. Of course, Your Majesty.” The guard then proceeded to back out of the hall as fast as possible with her snout still touching the floor. Knowing all the while that though his orders were impossible to carry out if she so much as looked at him she'd be fired. ~~~ “There, there, Fluttershy, she’ll be alright.” “B-but, Discord, I s-should have stopped her! I never thought she'd get c-caught!” The pegasus wailed sobbing into the chest of her dear friend, Discord. He looked extremely uncomfortable and unsure of how to handle this situation. “What, what about Spike? Is he alright?” “Yes, the Guard won’t find him. He’s perfectly safe.” “C-couldn’t he stay here? He m-must be d-distraught.” “It’s better for all of us if he stays there, Fluttershy.” And thus they sat like that for a while, Fluttershy sobbing and Discord stroking her back awkwardly. Up until the Royal Guard came and knocked on the door. “Fluttershy, don’t be afraid. You won’t remember a thing while you’re with them alright?” At her nod he snapped his talons and erased her memory of the events concerning this catastrophe. With that done Discord swept up to the door of the cottage and opened it to the startled faces of the Guard who were clearly not expecting him. “Why, hello! What do you want?” The last part of the question came out flatly in a clear ‘get lost’ way. “Is Miss Fluttershy home? We have a matter of great importance and we must ask her a few questions.” “Oh? What kind of questions? Can it wait? You see, she is a bit out of sorts at the moment, her turtle has just died. So if you would kindly go away?” “I’m afraid we can’t do that, Sir.” “Why? She loved her turtle, you know.” “Because we have a matter of grea-” “Yes, yes, yaddy, yaddy, yadda! Now, come back at a reasonable hour! I mean the Sun hasn’t even risen yet. I thought you ponies were all about decency and that nonsense but it would seem to not be the case!” “But the Bearer of Magic has committed a crime!” Discord paused in the middle of yawning, a shocked look crossing his face. “What? Miss Goody-Four- Shoes? Crime? Preposterous! Ha!” “Shut up, Spear! You know we aren’t supposed to reveal the cause of our investigation like this!” One guard hissed to the other. “Well you try reasoning with him!” He hissed back.