White Sun

by The Psychopath

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Twilight spent several days staying in her home. Most of the dried food she had was still intact, but she had to throw out the rotted, previously 'fresh' food. Everything was so silent for her now. She had the impression she couldn't feel anything and that her whole mind had been overtaxed. Every so often her body would shake uncontrollably and she'd find herself curling up into a ball on the ground. The mare didn't want to relive that horrible event again. She grit her teeth. The build-up of magic in her body left her feeling sore all over, and her horn burned as the excess was dispersed into the air a little bit every day. She went back to work studying her hypotheses and planning how to resurrect Celestia, hoping that she would finally come up with a solution.

The mare sat in her bed, groaning and burying her face in her pillow. It wasn't as soft as the one in her brother's spire, but it was better than having nothing. Memories of living in the wild slowly started returning to her after she had been taken in by Shining Armor and Empress Cadance, reminding her of where she came from and facilitating the loss of creature comforts, but she still regretted it. If only she could have at least taken a pillow. Twilight looked up at Spike and smiled. As long as he was there she felt safe. She was never going to go anywhere without him ever again. The ponies couldn't be trusted at all. Only Celestia could be trusted.

Burying her face back into her pillow, Twilight wondered what to do next. Now the Elements were aware of who she was and they'd likely start looking for her. Sure, she had her home and the labyrinthine maze that separated the entrance from her 'house', but that didn't mean it would work forever.

Then a thought occurred: Even though she didn't want to interact with them, the orange mare mentioned something about a table directing them to her. How precise was it? It didn't tell them why they were in the Empire. It didn't guide them directly to her either. They were just looking for Shining and Cadance. Twilight started shaking again and Spike put its hands onto her back as she had asked it to whenever her 'moments' got worse.

She was going to have to leave her home and ask Silvery if he could help send her overseas, just the time for everything to die down and allow her to relax and focus on her research again. She took in several deep breaths and hesitantly put her hoof outside of the 'door', only to retract it and stay inside. The mare had to muster up the courage to go outside again, and just in-case, she clutched the medallion around her neck and sighed in relief that it was still there. In the end, it took Twilight two more days and the threat of starvation to finally leave her home, and she made to rush through Flarovina with Spike in tow. Every pony made her blood turn cold and her terror shaking to resume. Even the barkeep was shocked by her rush through the secret doors.

The undead dragon pushed through anyone blocking their way, shoving them aside aggressively and inciting the ire of many. One minotaur shoved back and found himself keeled over on the ground after a strong punch to the gut. Twilight, however, wasn't registering anything going on around her. She was hiding under her hood and doing her best to reach the barrow and get to the room in the back. The regular patrons of the library paid her no heed, but the mare burst open into a conversation Silvery was having with a griffin sporting two fake eyes made from aqua-green jewels.

"Do yee meend?!" Silvery shouted furious. "Ey'm heeving a-Twilight?!" The stallion smiled at his client and pushed the mare out. "Stay here. Read some books. E'll geet to yeh soon."

Twilight did as instructed and waited, but she did not move from her spot. She was almost as motionless as Spike, letting her mind wander as she waited. A short while later, the griffin walked out, papers gripped in his claws. He spotted Twilight staring into the void and growled, approaching her. Spike stomped angrily, causing the whole library to tremble and making several books fall from the shelves. The griffin hurried away without removing his scowl.

Silvery pulled a handkerchief from his robe and rubbed his forehead with it. "Come, Twilight." The mare buried herself in a pile of pillows and looked up at Silvery with large, sunken eyes. "Uh huh..." the stallion said warily. "You haven't made a face like that since you first came here."

"Th-they tried to k-kill me," Twilight stammered.

The stallion pushed against his head with a hoof and groaned internally. He didn't want to deal with her psychological troubles. "Yes. In the Crystal Empire. We know you were caught."

Twilight seemed furious. "Why didn't you save me, then?!" she bellowed furiously.

Silvery raised a brow. "Eend why would we do theet? Hm? Yee geet caught, ein't our problem." He leaned forward, an aura of irritation and danger coming from his being. "We are not freends, Twilight Sparkle. You are a customer. A valuable customer, but a customer nonetheless."

The mare creased with every word the stallion spoke but didn't talk back. He was right. She had no friends or family here. Once more she felt the weight of loneliness crush her under its weight and sharp talons. Twilight just wanted to curl up in her bed and sleep for the rest of time.

"Now, Ey'm shocked to see you here. Honestly E thought you were deed," Silvery said as he leaned back. "Couldn't geet anythin' about you after you were caught."

"I, uh..." Twilight cleared her throat. "I don't want to talk about it."

Silvery shrugged. "If ya see so." His face lighted up with excitement when he remembered a valuable detail. "Say, your latest bunch of reseerch peepers got us swimmin' in dough!" he cheered. "E would've prefeered that you not come back ta geet your due, but hey, yeer here and E can get more money that weey."

Twilight grumbled. "Can you get me out of Equestria?"

Gleam's sparkling face dimmed like a fire had just been extinguished. "Do what now?"

"Get me out of here," Twilight repeated. "The Elements of Harmony know of me now and now I'm being chased by Equestria and the Crystal Empire!"

Silvery rubbed his chin and silently raised his hoof. He walked back to the wall hiding the golden room and called Jam out. The wall slid to the side after a few minutes and the battered pegasus stepped out. She seemed more than a little enthusiastic that Twilight was there.

"You're still alive!" she cheered. "That's great!"

"She wants ta leave Equestria," Silvery explained.

"Does she now?" A large smile started to form on Jam's face. "I've got good news for you, Twilight."

"Is it something bad for me again?"

Jam shook her head. "No. We might have found where Celestia is," she declared.

Twilight felt all the stress and worry she had accumulated over the days almost instantly vanish from her body. A lighthouse in the dark sea she found herself floating on. "What?" she said softly in disbelief. "Y-you do?!"

The pegasus tilted her head from side-to-side. "We have an approximate idea," she corrected herself. "It's gone from 'anywhere' to around twelve locations." She sported a toothy smile. "I have it on good authority that somepony in Saddle Arabia might know the precise details." Before Twilight could ask about the source's validity, Jam put a hoof on her mouth. "I don't know if they're valid or not. I just know they're in Saddle Arabia." Her smile didn't let up when she pulled her hood back. "And I heard you want to leave Equestria for a bit." She pulled some papers from her robe and started fiddling through them while mumbling to herself. "The best option for you is to go to Griffonia and take one of their airships there. The next ship you can get to in time would be one slated to leave in ten days." She rolled the paper up and rolled it back into her robe. "If you hurry now you should be able to get there on time."

"Teek this," Silvery said. He gave Twilight a letter made from brown, grainy paper. "Give this to the captain of any ship and they'll know of their payment."

Twilight looked at the tiny letter with skepticism. "How would that even work?"

"There's instructions inside," Jam added. "You just need to pass it to whomever's ship you plan to take and get going."

"And yee ceen get that thing there too. Griffins aren't too peeky about what goes on-board," Silvery explained.

"Just try not to start anything. They might be lenient on who gets aboard their airships, but the griffins won't hesitate to gut you or throw you overboard if you cause a stir."

"Considering the time it'll take to climb the mountains, I suggest you leave now," the stallion suggested. "There's not going to be a seecond cheence at this." He grew dour as he continued speaking. "We won't be so geenerous if you continue like this."

Twilight gulped. "I'll need some supplies," she said.

"Already taken care of," the stallion said. "You can teek the boxes at the eentrance of the barrow."

"Have fun," Jam mused. "Oh! Oh!" She interjected. "Your contact will be in the palace," the pegasus added. "That's all I know. It's up to you to figure out how to find them."

As Twilight passed the curtain, her body still shaking, the two ponies frowned.

"Why deedn't yee tell her?" Silvery asked.

"Tell her what?" Jam asked.

"Don't feign ignorance in your 'cutesey' weey." Silvery Gleam snorted in anger. "You treein' to geet her lost ageen? We just got our money minter back."

"Because she needs the time away from here." Jam hopped onto several pillows and nuzzled herself in them. "So good," she sighed contentedly. "If she goes crazy like every other necromancer then 'bye bye bits'." She paused, thinking. "Besides, I like having her around. She's fun to talk to and see her reaction to things."

Silvery rapidly and impatiently tapped the forelegrest of his chair. "I don't see why you couldn't just teell her whoeever this 'contact' of yours is," he grumbled. "Yeh didn't even tell me!"

Jam shrugged and widened her almost permanent smile. "What can I say? This one is way too valuable to give even to you."

The stallion glared at the pony that ignored him as she went back to the golden room and pulled the wall shut, leaving Silvery to fester in his curiosity. Who could it be that Jam didn't want him to know about? Was it the ruler of Saddle Arabia himself? Was there a spy of some kind that used to be in Equestria? Maybe it was a magical artifact in the hands of somepony that helped them find what it was they were searching for?

Gleam chuckled to himself. That was going into the fantastical and the stupid. Jam wouldn't hide something so trivial, meaning that it was a creature that would be giving Twilight what she needed. He wanted to leave it be, but his curiosity was devouring him from the inside. He just had to know! Unfortunately, he would also have to wait until Twilight came back. If she came back

Meanwhile, he was going to have to wait to get information about what happened in the Crystal Empire to have left what was a once mostly stable necromancer into this trembling wreck. It also didn't bode well that her undead dragon, who was always so passive, had started to show signs of extreme aggression. The stallion would have to look over the ritual he had given the mare and wondered if the undead wasn't just reacting to Twilight's emotional state. Regardless, he would have to get somepony to keep a close eye on her when she reached the desert sands and report back to him regularly about her endeavors. Silvery was still worried about her, but only as far as pony empathy could force him to be.

Comments

[DarkSnowGaming]

Ah, so I was correct in assuming that they aren't friends, thought so.

Although I still thought they would try to rescue her, she is probably the only one who is sane and willing enough and have the power to bring back Celestia, Twilight is litterly a 1 in a mallenia.

Well this chapter wasn't as exciting I was hoping it would be, Twilight is probably gonna return back with 1 of Celestia's leg or something. I was right that Twilight would be resting a few days but I really wanted to see what happened after Twilight left the Crystal Empire.

Anyways not much to go off of, obviously she is still shaking up after what happened, not sure how good that is for her mental health. The fact that she is even avoiding the smallest groups of ponies now, that's probably bad if she is that scared.

[Dormi_san]

Eeyup.....what happened in Canterlot was too dark if Twilight is so nervous even several days after she escaped. It seems that we are returning to focus only on her and will leave aside the elements of harmony, I cannot deny that I am curious about how everything ended in the Crystal empire but I am almost sure that we will find out in the future.

The mare creased with every word the stallion spoke but didn't talk back. He was right. She had no friends or family here. Once more she felt the weight of loneliness crush her under its weight and sharp talons. Twilight just wanted to curl up in her bed and sleep for the rest of time.

Very interesting, it seems that in some way the experience in the Crystal Empire did affect Twilight "positively", she in some way misses social interaction (not friendship, just social interaction) and loneliness is taking its toll on her.

Then a thought occurred: Even though she didn't want to interact with them, the orange mare mentioned something about a table directing them to her. How precise was it? It didn't tell them why they were in the Empire. It didn't guide them directly to her either. They were just looking for Shining and Cadance. Twilight started shaking again and Spike put its hands onto her back as she had asked it to whenever her 'moments' got worse.

"Get me out of here," Twilight repeated. "The Elements of Harmony know of me now and now I'm being chased by Equestria and the Crystal Empire!"

FINALLY A PROTAGONIST WITH COMMON SENSE, I explain the reason for my emotion, I have to admit that this is the FIRST story in everything I have on this site that has a protagonist who recognizes the true potential and danger of that map if you are on the side recipient of this, it is one thing to use the map to get to the problems of friendship and another VERY different thing is to be the target of that same map, if that map has you in its sights and considers you a danger to Equestria...there is no safe place within Equestria, and Twilight knows that she is in danger (maybe not an entire army is coming for her but you get the idea) because no matter where she is, that map will guide the Mane 6 to her and she doesn't want to jeopardize the location of her house and all of her discoveries.

"Considering the time it'll take to climb the mountains, I suggest you leave now," the stallion suggested. "There's not going to be a seecond cheence at this." He grew dour as he continued speaking. "We won't be so geenerous if you continue like this."

Damn....it's a race against time so Twilight can escape from Esquestria and learn more about Celestia's whereabouts, that damn map has a very high rank, I hope she doesn't go through Griffonstone since that place is still inside of the map's range, if the map sends the elements of harmony to the same place as Twilight... it is very likely that they will reach the place before her because they can use the trains and the transportation system, and I have the very bad I have a feeling that a certain blue pegasus could be there, Rainbow Dash is possibly the worst at interacting with Twilight (it remains to be seen who the element of magic is)

Jam shrugged and widened her almost permanent smile. "What can I say? This one is way too valuable to give even to you."

So far this OC is the character that has caught my attention the most of all the background characters, she knows too much but we know nothing about her.

[DarkSnowGaming]

11848866
Oh.

Damn....it's a race against time so Twilight can escape from Esquestria and learn more about Celestia's whereabouts, that damn map has a very high rank, I hope she doesn't go through Griffonstone since that place is still inside of the map's range, if the map sends the elements of harmony to the same place as Twilight... it is very likely that they will reach the place before her because they can use the trains and the transportation system, and I have the very bad I have a feeling that a certain blue pegasus could be there, Rainbow Dash is possibly the worst at interacting with Twilight (it remains to be seen who the element of magic is)

Oh..... Right... If the map does send the bearer's to Twilight again, I really hope it's 1 of the ones Twilight has already met instead of a new one she doesn't even know.

I more prefer AppleJack, or Fluttershy, even both would be good.

I don't think the map sees Twilight has a danger to Equestria, she is more to a danger to herself than others, although that could change eventually, maybe the map wants to prevent that?

If anything I think the map might be trying to help Twilight, I'm not sure in what way though, as in how or why.

And if it is trying to help Twilight, what is its goal? Ever since I read that the rainboom hasn't happened in this universe and that Twilight is probably not the element of magic at all, she will most likely not turn into an Allicorn, that's most likely out the window, the map could be trying to get Twilight to change her life a bit, avoid from her research and stop being a necromancer, or atleast maybe use her magic for other far more useful things than focusing on Celestia.

[The Psychopath]

11848866

So far this OC is the character that has caught my attention the most of all the background characters, she knows too much but we know nothing about her.

Just how the head of intelligence likes it.

[Cozy Cottage]

Twilight had PTSD and its weird to me that nobody from the Crystal Empire recognized that? Even before humans knew what PTSD was, we still had a name for it. This world seems darker than the normal Equestria so you'd think they'd know but I guess not.