//------------------------------// // Research // Story: The New Beginning // by Another Average Brony //------------------------------// Research Twilight awoke with a start, shivering even though she was warm. She took a deep breath and exhaled, then pulled herself out of bed and walked to her door. she opened it with her magic and walked out and down the stairs to her tiny kitchen. Pulling a glass from the shelf and opening her refrigerator she pulled out some fresh milk and poured it into the glass. She went over to her table and sat down sighing. Nightmares had been common the last few nights, most of them involving Applejack. Not that her other friends hadn't felt the brunt of her departure but Twilight missed her friend dearly. Twilight knew Applejack could take care of herself but she wanted her back home, among friends living a normal life. Bucking apples was her life, heck! it was in her name and it was her cutie mark. Picking cherries was NOT how Applejack operated. Twilight took another deep breath and let it out quietly. She drank her milk quickly. "Uh-oh" she said as a brain freeze tore at her. she held a hoof to her forehead as she repeatedly said "ow". Then a green puff appeared in front of her startling her so much she fell backwards out of her chair and onto the floor. Her eyesight spinning Twilight looked at what had just appeared in front of her. A letter scroll stamped with.."Princess Luna's mark?" twilight said aloud as she picked up with her magic, unrolled it, and began to read the hastily scribbled letter. Dear Twilight Sparkle I know it is late and I am sorry for the inconvenience but something important is happening and we need a little help with the matter. Could you please teleport to the throne room so we can speak? Sincerely Princess Luna of Equestria "Woah" Twilight looked at the time "1:36AM? what could be happening at this hour?" she got up off the floor and walked upstairs to Spike's bed. Snoring peacefully the baby dragon was to cute for Twilight to wake up. I'll just leave a note I should be back soon anyway. pulling a quill and paper to her eyesight twilight wrote outSpike I've got some important business at the palace but ill be back soon. she quickly rolled it up kissed it and laid it down next to him on the bed. Walking back downstairs Twilight grabbed her saddle-pack and loaded it with a few necessities: notebook paper, quill, inkwell, and some apples from the fridge. "ready" she said as she checked her supplies for the 10th time. and with that she closed her eyes, concentrated and teleported in a flash of purple light. Teleporting into the throne room at night felt weird to Twilight. Almost like breaking and entering, a feeling she never thought she would experience. Luckily the room was lit near the two thrones. one silver, one gold, one filled, one empty. luna sat quietly in her seat, twiddling her hooves. The pure strangeness of this was enough to make Twilight stutter a little. "p-Princess Luna? Luna looked up startled then when she saw it was Twilight, she instantly relaxed. "ahh Twilight Sparkle it is good to see you" she said hopping down from her throne. "really i had nowhere else to turn and you delivered, our top researchers could not make sense of it but i think that-" "umm princess, i have no idea what your talking about im afraid but i'll do my best. Luna looked Twilight up and down before responding. " Oh right well er, walk and talk with me Twilight". she turned and walked towards the hallway leading towards the grand balcony that over looked the forest. "well?" "Oh right sorry" Twilight straightened and followed Luna walking side by side down the hallway. "Let me fill you in Twilight, three days ago I detected a disturbance near the desert where you recently... lost a friend". Twilight looked down then brought her head back up "please continue princess" Luna nodded and continued " yes well it was a strange powerful magic unlike anything I have ever encountered before. and it was so powerful that I could see it at night from the balcony". "strange" twilight said. "yes it is Twilight, the researchers saw it as well and couldn';t cme up with anything to explain it". Luna stopped before the door to the balcony " But now that your here mabye you can shed some light on the situation". Luna opened the great doors and walked onto the balcony. Twilight followed. The stars were twinkling in the sky, enough that Twilight could make out her favorite constellations. She smiled a little, she had always enjoyed the stars they twinkled like diamonds yet they were never within her reach. Sure she had diagrams, but they could never compare to a real star. Luna was looking at Twilight. "they are very pretty aren't they?" Twilight looked at Luna and blushed a little "yes". Luna smiled and turned towards the horizon. "I wish there were people like you back before my imprisonment twilight. I would have made some less foolhardy decisions if so". Twilight smiled at the compliment "thank you princess". Giggling a little Luna regained her composure and pointed at the skyline. "do you see it Twilight ? the flashes of light in the distance"? twilight looked long and hard at the darkness. After a moment she saw it, like lightning but with no clouds from a long distance she saw a quick flash of small light in the distance. "Wow what is that? that has to be some insanely large magic power to be seen from that far away". "that's what I thought". Luna turned to Twilight " Now you see why I am so anxious Twilight. a tremendous source of power is burning up right in front of our eyes". Luna look down at the ground slightly embarrassed. "Twilight I hate to ask this of you but can you please investigate this? I am not able to leave the castle despite my continued objections to my sisters rules". Twilight was stunned by this act of humbleness from a princess but she quickly replied. "Don't worry princess I can handle this". Luna looked up an expression of disbelief on her face. "Y-you will?" "sure thats what friends do right? help each other". Luna full on hugged Twilight saying "Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou"! She then remembered what she was doing, let Twilight down and coughed uncomfortably. "ehm sorry about that". Twilight just responded "Oh no problem, but what about Celestia, does she know about this"? Luna looking reluctant for a change to this subject said "Well no but I figured she's under enough stress during the day running a kingdom and all that. Besides these flashes only happen at night and i think she needs her beauty sleep". Luna bashfully pawed the ground with her leg " Y-You won't tell her will you"? "No of course not! you have perfectly good reasons for doing that princess. But after I get back maybe you could tell her"? Luna gave Twilight a thankful smile "yes of course I'll do that". Twilight then grew a puzzled face "your majesty I've never been to this place how am I supposed to get there"? "I know where it is Twilight I can teleport you there". "Well no time like the present your majesty. I'm all ready to go"! Luna nodded and stepped forward towards Twilight. She tapped her horn against her forehead and in seconds magical black sparkling smoke had enveloped Twilight completely then disappeared. "good luck Twilight" Luna said softly. She turned and went back to the throne room. Twilight emerged from behind a veil of shadows, coming off a little dizzy she fell to the ground. A plume of dust goes up as she scrambles back up and takes a view her of surroundings. She was standing on the top floor of a half ruined cottage. She also appeared to be in a dark forest. Half of the house had been apparently burned away from some tremendous impact on the first floor. She looked around for some stair and eventually found some buried under rubble. Levitating the bits of wood and shrapnel away, Twilight traveled down the stairs and looked at the first floor. the wreckage was more pronounced here. What walls remained were blackened and charred. and the floor had thousands of cracks running from the source of the impact. Twilight went over and studied the crater. The wood surrounding it had been completely incinerated, and the destruction ran so deep she saw the dirt of the surrounding forest at the bottom. when Twilight turned she saw a small bed. The mattress had a massive rip in the side, the springs appeared to have been taken out. But what Twilight found more important was the sight of dried blood around the side of the bed. Grooves in the wood seem to com from around the blood, as if thousands of tiny heavy objects had been thrown towards that point from somewhere near the stairs. When Twilight walked to a wall under the stairs she saw the grooves coming from that point. How could that..? aaaahhh a secret room she thought to herself. she pushed at the wall and it gave way to a set of stairs that ran down to a wooden floor. As she stepped down Twilight noticed that the paint that covered the walls had been ripped and peeled by sheer force, as if a violent wind had shot up the stairway. When she got to the bottom she saw a podium in the middle with a dark object on it. Walking towards it Twilight saw a small gold bit on the floor next to a groove. It matched the size perfectly. Must have been some kind of vault. focusing on the coin she knocked into the podium and the object on top fell off and hit her hoof. Twilight looked down and gasped. A jet black unicorn horn was laying on the ground next to her. The only thing about it was that it was 3 ft longer than hers and as sharp as a javelin. "Sweet Celestia!" she whispered "that's an Alicorn horn!" "Indeed it is" came a voice from behind her. Twilight turned and saw a tall stallion with a jet black body, blue eyes, black wings, and a broken horn. He was covered in scrapes, cuts, and bruises. his right eye was swollen with three cut marks leading from his brow to his nose. His white hair was singed black, and he limped towards her slowly coming to a halt in front of her. Twilight simply stood there eyes wide, and mouth open. "You miss Sparkle" he said "should not have come here".