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// Prologue 
// Story: Twilight's Fear 
// by Lux 
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Twilight’s Fear 


Prologue

Princess Twilight Sparkle awoke from what would be an otherwise restful night sleep as the moon streamed through the window of her private bedchambers. Normally the Princess, when she did get to sleep after a late night study session, would fall quickly asleep and stay asleep until the dawn. True she had trouble adjusting to her new castle, just as she had trouble adjusting to sleeping with wings after becoming an Alicorn, but after both these times she was able to adapt and settle back into a routing of pleasant undisturbed sleep. 
There was something though about why she woke up this night, like her intuition informed her that something needed her attention. It wasn’t that she forgot an important matter as the Princess was usually prompt with finishing things in time while knowing which projects she could delay. This was an unconscious reaction, one honed after years of study under Princess Celestia tutelage and in her life. This reaction was telling her loud and clear that something was very wrong. 

She hadn’t been awake long to notice that there was something emanating from outside her room, not the soft welcoming glow of the moon or a flash of a comet streaking through the sky. It was a flickering light, like the dance of a candle’s flame that brightened and dulled intermittently. But this light didn’t come from the inside of her room but outside. There was something else that mixed with the light, a thick blackness that danced with the hypnotizing light outside. Occasionally a few pinholes of orange light joined in the dance before disappearing among the dark. 

As hypnotizing and beautiful the scene was outside her window, Twilight soon realized what she was seeing as a wave of horror washed over her: something was on fire. This wasn’t a pleasant bonfire on a cool summer night where friends would gather but something far bigger, a house or maybe several houses. The Princess quickly dashed out of her room, something she only could quickly notice was not quite right. The room looked darker, more sinister than how she normally perceived it, and the menacing dance of shadows and light outside her window only added to the effect. She galloped down the seemingly endless hallway that stretched out before her like a spooky tunnel.  Throwing open the glass doors with her magic and ventured out to a small private balcony that overlooked the town of Ponyville below, the Princess of Friendship stared in disbelief at the horror she saw. 

Ponyville was in flames. 

Not a single thing was touched in town from a simple barrel or wagon to a lofty home was left unprotected from the blaze.  Every building that she ever walked by or visited were mere silhouettes of their formed selves among the inferno, some of them still holding their proud forms while others succumbing to the blaze and crumbling. Anything else were reduced to a pile of smoldering ash, some with small forks of flames to burn away any last trace of what once was.

Strangely, the only thing left undisturbed by the fire was the castle, something she could only rationalize as the fact that the castle was stone. Still she wondered in that brief moment of confusion, horror, and tiredness why everypony else had to suffer and she remained unaffected. If her home burned with the others then she would be upset but share in the collective loss rather than have everything and others having none.

As she spread her wings and flew from her lofty perch, the Alicorn tried to push past the disbelief and sleepiness to take stock of what happened. Even though there were houses close together the entire town couldn’t just burn like this at once. It was a windless night and thus the fires would be contained to one area where something could fuel it. This lead to only one conclusion: somepony or something started and spread the fire. The very thought of such an atrocious act being caused against the town  she sworn to give her life to protect and the ponies she became acquainted with made her sick. If there was some plot to get her attention by attacking those close to her then she was listening loud and clear.

“Hello?” Twilight shouted as she began galloping down the street, her anger at the injustice she saw giving way to worry, “Is everypony ok?”
There was no reply, only the sickening sound of raging hissing flames and crackling wood that was once part of a house or some furniture. The searing heat and bling suffocating smoke made navigating the streets she once knew virtually impossible much less looking for ponies that needed rescue. She was also in constant fear of colliding with some burning object in the road. A sudden cracking sound like a falling tree made Twilight quickly dart away as the front of a burning building came down on the street, narrowly missing her. She got up and brushed the glowing embers from her coat and continued to make her way. 

Her heart and stomach recoiled like a frightened turtle retreating into its shell as she passed by the first of her friends’ houses. This one was the Carousel Boutique, home to Rarity. It was once one of the fanciest places, its circular design displaying the grandeur that a pony would expect upon stepping through the doors. Inside though they would not only see beauty and sophistication but a pony devoted to her talent and who generously gave to others with her time, energy and even possessions. Now the once opulent dress shop and home was a fiery ruin, the top floors already collapsed in on each other.

“Rarity, can you hear me?” Twilight shouted towards the doors of the boutique only to receive no answer. The Princess could only pray that Rarity and her younger sister Sweetie Belle escaped unscathed. Buildings could be rebuilt and businesses begun anew, but life was the most guarded of treasures. Wiping a tear from her eye at the loss, a flood of memories returned of awkward dress fittings and decorations designed for gatherings, threatening to break the Alicorn’s spirit. She could not rest and mourn now, not until she knew for certain the fate of her friends. 

As she rounded the corner, Twilight sent a blast of her magic forth like a mighty wind, blowing away the majority of the smoke and flames. As the terrain became clearer to her, the Princess gasped in horror. There a mere fifty feet from where she stood lay something that did not look like the strewn wreckage of burnt pieces of buildings or objects. This was the motionless silhouette of a pony. 

“Hey, I’m here,” Twilight said hoping that the pony could hear her, “I’m coming to help.”

She ran to it, desperate to know who it was of if this pony was still alive. But just as she got started a surge of flames engulfed her, and the world turned black.