Hour of Twilight

by Animegx43

Dark Skies.

Hour of Twilight: Chapter 15

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Now obviously, bad things were happening to Twilight Sparkle, but at the time, I had no idea what was happening. I was worried enough that Twilight was at the Arcane Tower with Chronos, but after I heard the news Luna told me, I was doing my best to keep my hooves from shaking.

And on top of that, I began to get worried about my sister as well.

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As Luna reached the barrier surrounding the Arcane Tower, she took a good look at it. Normally, the barrier would completely camouflage the forest inside, but when Luna arrived, she and the Shadowbolts could clearly see it, despite knowing that a barrier was in front of them. That wasn't all. The sky looked odd too, as it had long since turned from blue to grey. A grey sky might've been normal if there were clouds up in the sky, but no. There was not a cloud in sight. It was completely unnatural.

"The barrier is weaker then I feared. We must get inside."

"How will we get inside, my princess?" A Shadowbolt asked.

Without answering, Luna conjured up a blue, magical ball from her horn, then hurled it directly at the barrier. It created a large explosion which shattered a part of the barrier, creating a way inside. Before, there could've been ten Luna's firing an attack at the barrier and it would do nothing, as only the Elements Of Harmony would've had any chance at breaking through. As she was able to break through so easy, she feared more and more on what awaited her.

"Take flight, Shadowbolts! We're making this quick."

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It wasn't just at the Arcane Tower where things were looking dark. Down in a southern farmland, there was a lack of sunlight do the dark skies. Fortunately, the reason for this was intentional, for it was do to cloudy skies caused by the weather pony, Rainbow Dash, who Twilight Sparkle had recommended for the job. Considering she only brought Fluttershy along t help, who wasn't a real weather pony, they did a really good job.

"Hey, you sure you don't want a job as a weather pony, Fluttershy? It pays good!" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No thanks. I still prefer to stay on the ground where my little friends are." Fluttershy answered.

"In that case, why bother come along?"

"Well, my best friend asked for me to come along, so..."

As Rainbow Dash was arranging the last of the clouds in the sky., she realized something that Fluttershy called her.

"You think I'm your best friend?"

"Well, aren't we?' Fluttershy asked. "I mean, we've been friends longer then anypony, I got you Tank, I cheered for you when you did your Sonic Rainboom, and here I am helping you out."

"Wow. Sounds like you're MY best friend. But what have I ever done for you?" Rainbow asked.

Not knowing what to actually say, Fluttershy shrugged and said..."You make me want to be brave?"

"I think you and I need to hang out more." Rainbow said as she finished placing clouds around in the sky. "Okay, we're done. One good kick and it'll be raining here for days. Would you care to have the honors...best friend?"

Liking that Rainbow Dash also called her 'best friend', Fluttershy smiled, spun around, and gave a nearby cloud the hardest kick she had to offer. Hilariously, it wasn't enough, as physical strength wasn't exactly her forte. After a good laugh, Rainbow Dash gave the cloud one good kick with only one leg, and in an instant, rain began to pore over the farms, giving the crops a much needed shower.

"Alright Fluttershy, let's get out of here. I'm like Supermare, since I need sunlight to really shine myself!"

Wanting to get out of the rain as quickly as she could, Rainbow Dash, as her name would imply, Dashed off at a high speed to find some sunlight. Fluttershy, while not as fast as her friend, did her best to follow.

After a few seconds of flying, Rainbow Dash was already a good distance away from the village she was in, as she looked back to see the good job she did, as well as Fluttershy who simply couldn't catch up. As Rainbow turned her head to look up at the sun, she noticed something odd. The sky wasn't blue, like it usually would be. It was still early in the day, so it wasn't night time.

-huff...huff...gasp- "I really wish I didn't have to fly." Fluttershy said as she finally reached Rainbow Dash. "Oh my. Is it getting late already?"

"This is weird. I've never seen the sky like this before. We better go back home and ask the Princess what's happening."

As she wanted to get to the bottom of the strange skies, Rainbow Dash flew off return home as quickly as possible, forgetting that her friend couldn't fly anywhere as near as fast. The poor thing.

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Elsewhere, Luna and her Shadowbolts had finally reached the Arcane Tower. By the time she reached the tower, much more disturbing things had occurred. The sky above the tower was starting to go black, with only blue and purple energy entering the top of the tower, lighting the sky. She was sensing the strange magical energy inside, and while it had been a long time since she had been at the tower, she knew things weren't right.

"Your majesty, this looks too dangerous." A Shadowbolt said.

"Good. I've been missing out on a lot of action lately."

With her wings unfolded, Luna leaped into the air and flew to the top of the tower, where the Shadowbolts followed. As soon as they flew to the top floor, Luna blasted her way inside by shooting magic at a wall, allowing her and her team to enter.

Once inside, Luna became shocked by the sight she saw. My faithful student, draining so much magic from Equestria with the Magic Drain spell, it was something she didn't hope to see. At this point, Twilight was absorbing magic by the bucket full. So much was being taken into her horn at one time, her eyes were glowing a light purple, and small magical discharges were being released out of her body from time to time. The only reason I'm glad I wasn't there was because I would've hated to see such a sight myself.

"Princess Luna! Something's wrong!" Pinkie Pie shouted, who became worried about her friend. "I think she's broken or something!"

"SPARKLE!" Luna shouted. "Turn to your Princess!"

Upon hearing that the Princess of the night had arrived, Twilight turned to acknowledge her, all while she continued to absorb magic.

"Oh! Princess Luna. How deLIGHTful to see you here." Twilight said in a disorted voice.

"Twilight Sparkle, what are you doing? The Magic Drain spell is made only to heal unicorns, not to empower them like you are doing to yourself!" Luna said.

"Forgive me, pRINcess. You see, I've been trying to become as powerful as possible to IMprove all of EQUAStria by Celestia's side. The more powerful I become now, the more I can chANGE the world for the better."

"Look at yourself, Twilight! An ordinary unicorn was never built to hold that much power. Your plans are pure, I'll admt, but now you're risking your good health. If you keep this up, you may not only drain Equestria of its magic, but maybe even destroy yourself in the process. This is sheer stupidity!"

"Hehe haHAHAHAhahaHA." Twilight laughed strangely. "With this magic, combined with the Wish spell, I can essentially do anything. Something not even you can do, Princess Luna."

It was clear to Luna that Twilight wasn't willing to listen to reason, nor was she able to do. With all of the magic that had been taken in, poor Twilight's brain was no longer thinking as clearly as it should of been. It was then that Luna came to to the conclusion that Twilight had to be stopped before she could hurt herself any further.

"Get her." Luna ordered.

The fiercely loyal Shadowbolts immediately charged toward Twilight upon hearing the order. However, with all of the magic that Twilight was merely discharging caused the pegasi to be knocked back. Twilight didn't even need to move a hoof to stop them. Luna realized that with the power Twilight gained, she was the only one who could stop her. She stepped forward, covered her horn with magic, and prepared to launch her own attack.

"You're kidding. You're kidding, right?" Twilight said, mocking Luna using words she once said as Nightmare Moon.

"You'll wish I was."

Luna then charged forward to attack Twilight, much like the first time they met. The only difference was that Luna wisely took the situation more seriously. Ironically, Twilight was the one to not take it seriously, as she continued standing on the Arcane Pedestal with a smug smile. As Luna reached Twilight, hurling her horn onward like a joust, Twilight stood still and swung her own horn at her Princess.

Luna was simply outmatched. The overpowering magic Twilight Sparkle wielded had finally became more powerful then a might alicorn like like Luna, as she was knocked Luna back like she was a soccer ball. One shot was all that was need to take my sister down.

"Princess Luna!" Pinkie screamed.

I still have trouble with the idea of allowing my own sister to enter a battle like this. I still have nightmares of her being on the moon again. As I have mentioned before, I see myself as a terrible ruler. Ever since that battle, for the first time since Luna returned to me, I've felt like a terrible sister for allowing it to happen.

Author's Note:

Whew. The html I had to use on this chapter was a killer. :P