//------------------------------// // Twilight/... - Chapter 3 // Story: Dawn of Crystal Empire // by TopWanted //------------------------------// Twilight didn’t hear her brother knock on the door. She didn’t hear him enter. She didn’t even hear him say her name twelve times. She did however hear him scream in her ear. “Ow!” Twilight yelped. “Who? What? Why?” She finally noticed Shining Armor standing next to her, a somewhat nervous expression on his face. “Oh, Shiny!” Twilight carried on not seeming to notice her brother’s apprehension. “You’ve just got to read this! It’s absolutely fascinating!” “Twily!” Shining Armor spouted in a rather harsher tone than necessary. Twilight immediately zipped her lip. “I’m not here for that I have a question. Unfortunately, you being here alone kind of answers it already.” “What?” “Have you seen Cadance? The ending ceremony for the festival begins in twenty minutes and she’s nowhere. I’ve had the castle staff combing the halls and the guards searching the crowds outside but so far nothing.” Twilight took a look at the clock on her wall. She had begun reading the journal this morning at eight, it was now close to five in the afternoon. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten engrossed enough in a book to lose that much time. Still this is weird. Where could she be? Twilight looked at the journal on her desk. No, she couldn’t have. Shiny said they checked everywhere, they would have seen the hole. Still… “She wasn’t in the library examining the hole I discovered? Cause that’s the only place I can think of.” “Actually that’s another thing, Twily.” Shining Armor furrowed his brow. “There is no hole in the library.” --- Twilight stared at the pillar in front of her. The same pillar from the night before only one detail missing, the indentation of a horn. “It was right here!” she shouted to everyone in the room. “The keyhole was right here!” Shining Armor had assembled a squad of castle guards and the castle librarian to accompany him and Twilight to the pillar. Now, after five minutes of Twilight jumping around and squatting down searching for any sign of the secrets that pillar the previous night held, the old bespectacled librarian began to lose his patience. “Princess Twilight,” said the crystal librarian. “I assure you there’s no hole. I’ve worked here since even before King Sombra came to power and I know every inch of this library like the back of my hand. All its traps, pressure pads, and even switches.” He proceeded to pull a candelabra that was jutting out of the wall. - Elsewhere in the castle there stood a staff pony brushing dust from his hooves. Having just spent the last few hours climbing himself out of a hole. He was scuffed beyond repair and his neat white collar was now frayed and riddled with dirt. He sighed and began to walk towards the castle infirmary only to hear another *click.* He looked down discover he was walking on air. He let out a cry of frustration as he fell once more, deep, deep into a dark abyss. - “Hmmm,” the old librarian pulled the candelabra down a few more times yet nothing happened. “Odd, that was supposed to make the wall spin. I suppose it’s this other-“ He began to walk toward the candelabra on the other side of the room but heard a *click* from crystal panel where his hoof had landed. The library shelf behind him immediately spun and scooped him up with a shocked gasp and into the room beyond, the shelves now replaced with a bare wall. “Look if Twily says there’s a door here then I believe her,” Shining now seemed to proclaim to no one but himself. “Do you think maybe Cadance went down there?” “I don’t know!” Twilight could feel herself getting riled up. It had been there, she knew it had. How else would she have gotten the book? The Book! Twilight blinked out of the room in a bright flash and immediately reappeared carrying the dragon bound tome around in her hooves. She put it on the ground and paged to the back. “If I found the journal inside the secret passage then there’s probably some mention of it. At least at the very end.” Finally she found what she was looking for. At the eighth to last page a single phrase caught her well trained eye: Secret Room. Twilight read the passage aloud. “I write this memoir during my own self-imposed imprisonment in my secret room. It is only here, resting in the stone carved from the mountain that I grew up with, that I can feel peace and tranquility. I have locked myself beneath the library, one of my favorite places, and barred the entrance with a Black Dragon Sigil. Others may come to visit me by the light of the moon, but the sigil will always keep me a prisoner and I prefer it that way.” The academic in Twilight wanted to continue reading but something else told her she had all she needed. “By the light of the moon, huh?” she scratched her chin thoughtfully. “Of course! The keyhole must only appear at night! We just have to wait till sunset.” “Uh, Twily,” Shining loosened his collar. “That doesn’t exactly change the situation we’re in right now! If we want the closing ceremonies to work and spread joy throughout Equestria then we need Cadance out now.” “Oh, right,” Twilight answered sheepishly. “Don’t worry I know how to deal with that. I can just send a letter to Princess Luna through Celestia. Spike take a letter.” It was only when no reply came that Twilight came to a realization. Spike hadn’t been with her all day. He was at the festival. Was he still there? “Oh no,” Twilight’s face became pale. “Spike’s still at the festival!” “What?” Shining shot a look at the grandfather clock in the library wing. 5:05 pm. “The closing ceremony’s already started! We need to find him!” --- Within minutes every guard was combing the crowd. Twilight teleported to the festival grounds and begun to ask anypony if they had seen the purple dragon. Plenty said yes, but only from a few hours ago. It was like Spike had disappeared off the face of Equestria. Minutes rolled by and the gathering crowd around the crystal heart began to murmur with anticipation, then nervousness, then dread. It was 5:49 and their princess was still nowhere to be seen. Twilight looked up at the lowering sun. The sunset was scheduled for six. That was the moment when the solar body would cross the horizon and extinguish the light of day for the light of night. Twilight blinked to the castle square and checked the crystal heart. The light of the sun could clearly be seen receding from the reflective surface. They were running out of time. Twilight blinked back to the library and leaned against the pillar exhausted. Shining reappeared a moment later running briskly into the room. “Anything?” he asked. “No,” Twilight could feel tears build up in her throat. “I can’t find Spike anywhere!” “If that’s so, then…” Shining Armor shot a glance at the pillar Twilight stood before. Twilight reeled around and sank to her knees. “Spike!” she shouted with all she could. “Twilight?” came quiet but distant reply. “Cadance?” Twilight could hear galloping beneath her and then the voice was louder, “Twilight! Thank Celestia you’re here!” Shining Armor sank to his knees as well and leaned towards the base of the pillar. “Cadance! Are you alright?” “I’m okay… but Spike…” Twilight felt her entire body shiver. She sprang to her feet and began to pound her hooves against the pillar. “Open up!” Tears began welling in her eyes. “Please open up!” “What happened?” asked Shining. “I don’t know,” Cadance replied. “I think it’s this place. His breathing is getting slower.” Suddenly the ambient light in the room was gone. In its place the candelabras along the wall began to magically alight. Twilight turned to the window. The sun had set. Twilight ran her hoof along the pillar’s edge and found the hole she had searched for before. She pushed her horn in and heard the loud tumble from above. She stepped back as the pillar rose into the ceiling. She got a brief glimpse at the sigil the book had mentioned. It was ashen black with a long line don the center and six smaller radical lines on either side. An oval and curved line intersected the top while the bottom displayed an unconnected semicircle. A Black Dragon Sigil, was what the book called it. Cadance shot out of the hole and placed Spike on the ground. Twilight rushed over to the baby dragon and placed a hoof on his face. “Spike?” Twilight asked through tearful sobs. “I think it’s some kind reaction to the stone in there,” Cadance turned to her husband. “Either way we need to get him to the infirmary.” Shining Armor nodded and put Spike on his back before running out of the room. Twilight followed them out. Cadance began to follow but caught sight of the window and uttered a gasp. “How late is it?” she exclaimed. Twilight turned to her for a brief moment, “Too late,” she replied dejectedly. Suddenly the bare wall behind them spun around to reveal a library shelf and a confused looking librarian. “Oh, I’m back,” he said. “Thank you, kind sir. You were quite helpful in showing me the way.” He turned to his right as a ghostly blue flame passed through the wall there. It looked like the shadow of a pony held the blue flame in a lantern. “You!” Cadance shot the ghostly body a nasty stare and directed a blast of magic from her horn at it. The blast passed through harmlessly but the hovering flame still burst outwards covering the room. Twilight could swear she saw a face in the flame. Then just like that it was gone. The librarian took off his glasses to rub his strained eyes in disbelief. “What was that?” Twilight asked, stepping back into the room. “It’s what Spike and I followed into the tunnel,” Cadance replied. “I think it’s also what shut the pillar on us.” “What happened down there?” “We’ll talk about it later. We should go see to Spike.” Twilight nodded in approval. “I’ll send a letter to the others. I have a feeling were going to need all the help we can get.” The two princesses began to walk out of the library again. A member of the staff nearly ran into them as he slid to a halt in front of the doorway. “Princesses,” the out of breath pony cried. “Terrible news!” --- Moments later the sisters were in the castle square. Crystal ponies were crying and panicking all around them as a trio of guards made way for the two. “Look it’s the princess!” came a voice from the crowd. “She’ll fix it!” “She’ll fix everything!” “What’s going to happen to us?” The last question hanging in the air as Cadance and Twilight stopped in front of the Crystal Heart. The crystal’s luster was now gone replaced by a dull shine. What’s worse was the bottom seemed to be petrified, as if turned to stone. The two looked closely and could see the petrification moving slowly up the length of the crystal. “I don’t know,” was all Twilight could think to say. ---------- Attacked. Not hurt. Still not nice. Pink pony stinks. How pink pony out? Passage sealed. If pony out, dragon out. Dragons dangerous. Why? Why dangerous? Something told once. Can’t remember. Memory fuzzy. Fuzzy. Hazy. Haze. Haze. Haze would know. Haze smart. Crystal everywhere make it hard to think. Feels good. No. Mission. Got mission. Need to stick to mission… What mission again? Mission. Mission. Window. Nice window. Can see mountains from here. Home. Miss home. So much crystal. Can barely feel stone. Wait. Something below. Deep. Deep. Deep. That’s right! Mission. Protect ponies from deep deep. Haze so smart. Smartest pony there is. Deep deep curse can’t touch ponies as long as… Oh no! Passage opened! Sigil out of place! Curse! Curse! Curse this memory. Need Haze. But Haze left… Need. Need. Need ally. Somepony who will listen. Pink pony no help there. Purple one likes dragon. No want help from there… Won’t somepony help? Can feel deep deep stir. Not good. Not good. No good. Without Haze…