//------------------------------//
// Princess Twilight Sparkle 
// Story: Lost in the Dark 
// by Silver Moon 
//------------------------------//

	“Spike? Spike, I need you to send a letter right now!” Twilight’s voice, usually at least somewhat calm, held clear signs of pure panic as she called to the baby dragon. She glanced down to the two scrolls that lay on the desk in front of her. Both were laden with errors, both in grammar and spelling, and were nearly illegible, the ink smudged in Twilight’s desperation to get the letters written and sent. The first was short, only a few lines, while the second, while longer, still held minimal information so it could get sent sooner. 
Celestia, the first started, lacking the full title in the haste with which the letter had been scribed,
Somthing horrible happening. DO NOT SLEEP, find Lu, hurry!
Ponyvile need help nowplease
Twi
The second letter held less errors and the writing was slightly neater. It contained greater details as to the happenings in Ponyville over the last week, although was still the bare bones of the cataclysm that was sweeping the small town. 
Luna,
Something is wrong. Ponys are falling asleep but not waking, they seem to be traped. Nearly whole town sleeping, don’t know what to do. Spells notworking. Elements sleeping, just me awake, can you see their dreems? Can you wake them?
Once SpIke sends this, Im gathering remaining awake together In castle, try to stay awake. Please hurry, dont know how long we will last.
Twilight
“Spike!” Twilight called again, her voice growing shrill with terror and uncertainty. The baby dragon never took this long to come down, especially not when there was trouble. Realization hit her with enough force to make her stumble back a few steps, her eyes, already wide and bloodshot from lack of sleep, grew. “Oh, no,” she whispered, a hoof covering her mouth. “No, no, nononononoNO!” she repeated, voice growing louder with each denial. Grabbing the letters in her magic, she rushed up the stairs, wings forgotten. When she reached the bedroom she shared with Spike, she let out a shriek, letting the parchment drop from her grasp. 
“No!” she screamed again, lunging towards the small shape in Spike’s basket. Twilight ripped the blanket off with her teeth, disregarding her magic as primal fear took over. Spike moaned and rolled over as Twilight watched tersely, fearing the worst.  
“Twilight?” Spike muttered, his voice tight, eyes still closed.
“Yes, I’m right here, Spike. I need you to send some letters.” Twilight spoke softly, soothingly, telling herself that Spike was awake. “It’s really, really impor-”
“Twilight, where are you going?” Spike continued his mumbling as if the Alicorn had not spoken. “I thought you n-need me?”
“I do, Spike, I do!” Twilight protested as the baby dragon started to thrash desperately, his cries growing more desperate. “I need you to fight this! You have to send this letter, Spike. Please, wake up!”
“Twilight! Don’t leave me!”
Disregarding courtesy, Twilight lunged forward, grabbing the dragon in her magic and shaking him. “Wake up!” she screeched, thrashing him around. Spike’s eyes remained closed and unresponsive to Twilight’s desperation. Tears leapt from the purple mare’s eyes as she realized the futility of her actions. “He’s trapped,” she muttered, placing him back into his basket and absentmindedly placing the blanket over his small body once more. “Trapped, in a dream?” She shook her head, forcing herself to calm down and think. She had to figure it out, for Spike’s sake, for her friends’ sakes, for the town’s sake. “No, that’s not right. Not a dream…” 
A soft chuckle entered at the edge of Twilight’s hearing, scarcely distinguishable over the sleeping dragon’s moans and the sounds of sleeping animals that echoed through the ghost town.
“Not a dream!” Twilight exclaimed, voice loud but still hushed. The pieces all fell into place and Twilight ran to her bedside table, tossing everything she found aside as she tried to find a quill and ink. She found the latter, but couldn’t find a quill. “Owlowiscious!” she cried. “I need a quill! It’s an emergency!” When she got no response, a desperate plan formed in her head. Pulling a wing to her face, she tore out several of her own feathers. Pain lost in the adrenaline, Twilight snatched one of the falling make-shift quills in her magic and dumped it in the ink, almost spilling the pot in the process. 
In the few seconds it took her to do this, the chuckling had turned to a laugh, full and malicious. As Twilight struggled to grab one of the letters, the laughter turned sour. The purple mare heard a cry of rage and saw a blue mist start to creep closer to her. Finding one of the letters - Luna’s, she noticed fleetingly - Twilight threw her feather at it, letters forming in a sprawling, randomly capitalized mess in her haste. Almost immediately after she started writing, the mist surrounded her and she fell to the ground. As her eyes closed and her breathing deepened, Twilight saw in horror that she hadn’t finished the two words she had been trying to write down. As her eyes closed, the unfinished writing floated to the ground in front of her, teasing her with its near completeness and utter uselessness.
nIGhTMa 

 
Princess Twilight Sparkle: Alone
 

The regal Alicorn let out a sigh as she raised her head to stare into the sky. It was nearly time for the sun to set, so she pulled herself to her hooves and walked to the balcony. Charging her horn with its pinkish magic, she cast one last fleeting look at the sun before lowering it below the horizon. Although the light coming from the orb was nearly blinding, the Alicorn had still managed to see the faint outline of a mare on it. 
She let herself rest for a moment. Although she had gotten much better at this task in the many years she had had to practice, it still took a toll on her. Ruffling her feathers, she let out a dry laugh.
“How many years has it been?” she asked herself softly. After waiting another moment, she called to her powers to her again. This time the moon rose at her will, and a dark blotch, similar to the one on the sun, caught her eyes as it did every night. 
The Princess sighed again. She hated that the two corrupt faces of the Ancient Princesses still watched over the lands she now ruled. Solar Flare and Nightmare Moon 

nightmare moon why does that seem important am i missing something

had been banished many years ago, yet it still pained the remaining Princess to think of the two sisters that had once been. Another pang seared through the Alicorn’s heart as she thought of her own sister, the in-law who had vanished almost as many years ago as the first two Princesses. 
“How long can it take,” she asked herself, “to find the Elements-”

elements of harmony think i need to think when did i first use them why

“-of Harmony?” The moon fully raised, the mare turned and walked inside, shutting the doors to the balcony behind her. The view she had turned her back on was exquisite and she had once spent many a day and night sitting outside and watching the city pass. She had had the castle built at the edge of a city that had been young when she started. It stood off to the side and overlooking from above, just as the Castle of the Ancient Princesses had stood over the city that had long since lost its name to time. 
Inside, the Princess stared at the many books that embellished her room and closed her eyes. What had that city’s name been? She had lived there once, many lifetimes ago, hadn’t she? But when the ageless mare tried to call up memories of it, all she could remember was its destruction. None had foreseen the anger the great Draconequus, none had expected him to take the news of his friend’s death so hard. Perhaps the Princess should have seen it. She had known the dragon that had befriended the monster after all the others had passed. The dragon, whose name

spike it is spike i needed him why did i need him it was important

she dared not remember for fear of more pain, had exchanged letters

a letter i needed him to send a letter what was it

with both the Princess and the Draconequus for many years as he lived among his own, too large to fit amongst the ponies. Yet it had only been the Alicorn that had been alerted to his death. How could she have known that the two had been writing each other? She had dropped contact with the monster after the death of their closest mutual friend. He had gone into hiding; she had not even known if he lived!
Not that that had stopped him from blaming her for the death of his only friend. The Draconequus’s rage had leveled the once elegant city, including the castle whose replica the Princess was in as she reminisced. There had been no reasoning with him after that, not that he had ever been a creature of reason. The Princess had been forced to act, or else watch as he destroyed everything. 
Standing in her room, she found herself wondering if it would have been better to let him be. Perhaps she could have joined him. It was a horrible thought, she knew this, but she was so tired of being alone

im not alone im never alone what about my friends they need my help i

that she was unable to stop thoughts like this from invading every once in a while. Thinking of it would make no difference; too much time had passed. What harm was there in pondering? 
She sighed as she walked over to her bed, a deep and lonely sound. She considered talking another apprentice, another student

i was a student before all of this started but what is this what is it that i need to do

but shook the thought away. Few had ever been strong enough to reach ascension and the ones that had…
She shook the half-forgotten memories away. No. She could not allow that to happen. 

not again but that never happened these memories dont make sense

Not again. 
She would be okay, though. She had her books and her kingdom. She had her memories. 

but they never happened somethings wrong this isnt real i need to fix this but whats wrong i dont know

She didn’t need anyone, 

but my friends need me somethings wrong i need to fix this but nothings wrong this is my life isn’t it

pony or other, to keep her company. It would hurt too much in the end.
“I’ll be okay,” she told herself, hoping against hope that she might one day believe it. “I can live by myself.” It wasn’t like she would run out of time 

its too late to fix anything its over isnt it this is my future my present my past cant be changed

to convince herself. 
She had the rest of eternity to be alone. 
And so she would be alone.
Forever.