Final Twilight

by Zeg

Chapter III

Final Twilight

by Zeg

Chapter III

Twilight tossed from one side to another under her dark blue star-speckled bead sheets, letting go a low moan as she did. Her bed squeaked in the dark loft as she shifted her weight. Her face contorted in her sleep as she pulled her legs up against herself. Rolling over once more, Twilight shifted again under the covers but this time she ran out of mattress.

A loud thump resonated from the loft, followed by a quick yelp. Twilight fought with the sheets that had entangled her as she struggled to right herself, but the dark blue star-speckled beast didn't seem to want to let go its prisoner. However, after a moment of struggle, Twilight managed to free herself from the entanglement and sat up on her haunches on the floor next to her bed. She rubbed at the back of her head with one hoof, drawing in a hiss of air. “Ouch,” she complained quietly.

Nearby a quick snort caught the lavender unicorns attention. It was still dark in the room, but even so she recognized the unmistakeable sound of Spike's light snoring. It seemed the baby dragon was still sound asleep despite the racket she had just caused.

Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Twilight stood and began to quietly walk toward the loft stairs. When her back hooves caught in the tangled mess of bed sheets on the floor, she glanced back at them with a glare before kicking them aside. She then tip-hooved down the steps over to the bedroom door, and as quietly as she could manage she exited through the door pulling it closed behind herself.

The library seemed so foreign in the middle of the night. Long shadows covered most of the room, and the low light levels of the moonlight showing through the windows bathed everything in a midnight blue hew. Twilight found herself pausing at the top of the stairs taking in the scene for a moment, a slight wave of fear washing over her.

Breathing in quickly and letting a huff of air out, Twilight made her way down the steps into the main room of the library. She walked over to a writing desk near the far wall, and once there, took hold of the small chain danging from under a lamp with her magic. Giving the chain a quick tug, the corner of the room suddenly became flooded with light. And it burned. Twilight felt like her eyes had just been blasted as she scrunched them closed against the sudden flash of light. Guarding her eyes with one hoof raised, she blinked as she tried to let them adjust to the new light level. Once she felt her eyes could stand the brightness, she lowered her hoof and glanced down at the writing table.

There upon the table laid a stack of papers that she had written on before she had turned in for the night earlier. Taking the papers up with her magic, she tapped the bottom edge of the stack against the desk before holding them up in front of herself to read over them. The first page was a schedule that she had written up for Spike, even if he had insisted that he didn't need one. Flipping through a couple pages, Twilight came to another page that looked like various notes. She quickly identified it as her packing list of things she planned to bring with her on her vacation.

Everything is already packed. You should be getting some rest.

Twilight 'hmmed' at the thought as she stared at the list of items. It was true, she had already checked this list three times over, there really wasn't a reason to be going over it again. But the relentless nightmares that had been plaguing her nights recently made the thought of sleep unappealing. She had thought that sharing her troubled nightmares with her friends might have helped resolve them, but there had been no such luck. The nightmares were just as vivid as the first night they started.

Twilight realized that it had been nearly a week now that the strange dreams had been interrupting her sleep. But she was hopeful that this would be the last night that they would trouble her. In a strange twist of fate, her mention of the nightmares to her friends had actually lead them to organize an actual group vacation to Canterlot. Of course she had felt obligated to attend, since her friends were doing it for her. And so the eve before the first day of the vacation has finally arrived.

Are you going to stare at that all night?

Twilight blinked and looked at the pages that were hovering in front of her. What exactly was she doing here? There wasn't any reason to be going over these notes again. Levitating the stack back to the desk, Twilight lifted a hoof and rested it on the stack, giving the list one last thoughtful glance. She then glanced up to the window just above the desk. It was still well into the night, and the dark landscape made for a haunting background. Twilight's vision refocused on her own glowing reflection in one of the many small panes of glass in the window. It stared back at her with an exhausted look, her mane a disheveled mess and her eyes drooping.

And then her reflection shot a grin back at her.

Twilight's eyes shot wide open, and her heart pounded in her chest. By reflex she pushed away from the table, causing it to slam against the wall. Some of the papers fell to the floor, along with a quill and an open bottle of ink. Twilight backed away from the window until her tail brushed against the central reading table, where she sat back on her haunches. Her gaze stayed locked on the window as she listened to the drumming of her heart beat in her ears.

What was that.. what was that what was that what was that!?

A click and a sudden burst of light caused Twilight to let go a startled sequel as she defensively raised her front hooves to her chest. The sudden increase in light had forced her to squint, but she still maintained her gaze on the window, which had remained closed.

“What's going on?” A small tired voice called from the top of the stairway. Twilight managed to pull her attention away from the window to the voice. There at the top of the stairway she saw Spike blinking sleepily next to the light switch.

Closing her eyes and letting go a shaky breath, Twilight allowed herself to relax slightly. It was just Spike, nothing scary. She tried to convince herself that the moment of terror had passed, though she could still feel her heart racing in her chest from the scare.

“I thought I heard something in here,” Spike said as he started to hop down the stairway. “Sounded like something.. oh.” Spike stopped as he caught a glimpse of ink splattered on the floor, with some papers laying in the puddle. “I'll get a mop.”

“No,” Twilight interjected, her voice sounding a bit shaky. “It's my mess, I can clean it up.”

“Nah don't worry about it,” Spike said as he continued on his path to the bottom of the stairs, and then over to the kitchen door way. He disappeared around the corner leaving only quiet noises as Twilight listened to the sounds of Spike's clawed steps on the tiled floor. She could then make out sounds of a closet door opening, and shuffling noises. As she listened, she continued to sit there in the middle of the room, her eyes glancing back up to the window. She stared at it, expecting to see something there, but at the same time hoping she wouldn't. She maintained her intense gaze on the closed window while her ears listened in on the sounds of running water in the kitchen.

Spike came back through the kitchen doorway holding a sloshing bucket over his head that had a mop handle sticking out of it. When he made it to the ink and paper mess, he sat the bucket down with a loud clunk, and then walked over to pick up the ink drenched pages that had fallen from the desk. “Aw man, looks like your checklist bit the dust,” Spike commented as he held up the dripping page.

“It's fine, I already checked it,” Twilight sighed tiredly. “Sorry about the mess.”

Spike discarded the ink soaked pages in a trashcan next to the writing desk, then turned his attention back to the ink splotch. “No worries. But you really shouldn't be trying to write in the dark. It wastes ink,” Spike said as he hoisted the mop out of the bucket, slinging the handle that was twice as long as he was tall over his shoulder. Using a free claw, he picked up the spilled ink bottle and set it aside, then attacked the ink puddle with the head of the mop, causing a resounding splat as he did.

“Actually I just.. bumped the desk by accident,” Twilight confessed as she watched Spike attack the black mess.

... liar...

Twilight frowned at her inner voice.

I'm not lying.

You're not telling the whole truth either.

Twilight fidgeted as she considered the thought. “Actually,” Twilight started again a bit quieter, “I thought I saw something out the window.”

At this confession, Spike stopped mopping long enough to glance over at Twilight. He took notice of her unease and then glanced up at the window above the desk himself. Resting the handle of the mop against the desk, Spike propelled himself up with a hop, grasping onto the edge of the desk with his claws. A couple small swing of his tail later, he had managed to land a foot on the desk too and hoisted himself the rest of the way up.

What's he doing? He's going to get hurt!

Twilight found her chest tightening up as fear began to well up inside her again. But no matter how badly she wanted rescue Spike from the impending doom hiding on the other side of the window, she couldn't will her body to move. She couldn't even find the nerve to say anything, for fear that she would also meet the same fate as her assistant. All she could do was sit there and stare as her body refused to act.

“I don't see anything,” Spike casually commented as he peered out the window. After a few seconds he shrugged his shoulders and turned to walk back to the edge of the desk, making a quick hop down to the floor. “It's too dark to see anything right now.”

If Twilight's nerves weren't already shot, that short little event had just finished them off. She had been sure that Spike was done for, that what ever the specter was that had caused her to see the creepy vision was waiting on the other side to pounce. But nothing had happened.

Spike finished up his impromptu cleaning chore, dropping the mop head back into the bucket and hoisting it all above his head again as he took off toward the kitchen. Twilight was once again left to herself in the room with only the noises of Spike's actions echoing in from the kitchen doorway. Taking a few steps, Twilight stood for the first time since her assistant had joined her and approached the window cautiously. She got close enough that she could barely make out her reflection again. Frowning at it, she furrowed her brow and stared almost as if daring it to try and frighten her again.

“Not good enough?” Spike spoke from the kitchen door.

“Huh?” Twilight asked as she glanced over at her assistant.

Spike pointed a claw at the floor in front of the desk. “Did I miss a spot?”

“Oh! No, it looks great,” Twilight said with a nervous laugh.

Spike shrugged and then stretched his clawed hands high above his head as he let go a yawn. “I'm going back to bed,” he said in a sleepy tone as he scratched at his scaly side.

“Me too,” Twilight said as she gave one last uneasy glance to the window. She didn't want to stay in this room by herself. Reaching out with her magic, she managed to pull the chain on the lamp without forcing herself to get any closer.

Spike hopped his way up the stairway first, quickly making his way to the top and disappearing through the open bedroom doorway. Twilight wasn't very far behind him. She only paused at the top of the steps for a moment to glance back down into the room before she tapped the light switch with her hoof, plunging it back into the darkness with a quiet click.

... What was that..

---

Clack clack..
Clack clack..

Clack clack..

The rhythmic sound of the train's wheels against the rails was mesmerizing. Twilight found herself just staring out the window of the train car she was riding in, leaning against it while sitting there on the bench seat. Next to her on the same bench, her rainbow maned friend was having a good time of it talk up a storm with the other mares around her. Just in the bench seat in front of her, both Applejack and Pinkie Pie were turned around to face them, their fore-hooves hanging over the edge of their seats. And behind them, both Rarity and Fluttershy hung over the back of Twilight's bench.

Twilight had lost interest in the conversation a while ago and had mostly toned it out. Her head felt a bit light today making it hard to focus. It was probably from being sleep deprived, she thought to herself. She had found it difficult to shake off the scare from the middle of the night and hadn't been able to get much sleep for the remainder of the night. She tried to convince herself that her sleepy mind had just been playing tricks on her, and that she just imagined the entire mess. Well, not the ink mess, that part was real enough.

Twilight heaved her sides as she drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. At least now she was on her way to the vacation. Even if she felt a little run down, hopefully a few days away from everything resembling obligations would help her recharge. And besides, this view was beautiful. The train was winding its way up the tracks that hugged the side of the mountain leading up to Canterlot. They had already climbed high enough that she could see out across the valley between Canterlot and Ponyville, and the sight was breathtaking, as always. Then Twilight noticed something else in the window she was leaning against.

Her reflection was staring right back at her.

Pushing back from the window, Twilight's shoulder bumped against the blue and rainbow colored pegasus beside her. “Hey,” Rainbow Dash complained with a frown as she rubbed her shoulder. “If you didn't like the story you could have just said so.”

“Did you guys..” Twilight trailed off as she eyed her own reflection in the window. It mirrored her perfectly, like a reflection should. Then she rolled her eyes as she realized her mistake. Of course it would have been staring back at her; it was her reflection. “Nevermind.”

“What's wrong Twilight?” Rarity spoke concerned as she gently touched her friend's back with her hoof.

“Oh nothing, just startled myself with my own reflection,” Twilight complained as she pointed a hoof at the window.

“Oh, I hate it when that happens,” the quiet butter colored pegasus spoke up. She then stood from her bench and reached up into the luggage rack above, grabbing a pink butterfly shaped pillow with her teeth. Sitting back down and taking the pillow in her fore-hooves, she offered it to her lavender unicorn friend with a gentle smile. “When I get startled by something, I find that this pillow helps me calm down. Why don't you try it?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the pillow, but decided to take the offer on the account her friend seemed so convinced it would work. “Thanks,” Twilight said with a smile as she took the butterfly shaped pillow. She looked it over, noticing that it was a likeness of one of the butterflies that comprised her shy friend's cutie mark.

Taking another glace at the window, Twilight saw her reflection still there glancing back. Blinking at it a few times, she decided to shove the pillow between herself and the window before laying her head against it, blocking out her view of the reflection.

---

I feel so tired...

Twilight felt like she needed to invent a new spell to keep her eyes magically pried open. It was as if heavy weights were hanging from her eyelashes. Obviously the lack of sleep over the past week was all crashing down on her right now, at the worst possible moment.

Just to her left, her mentor and ruler Princess Celestia sat at the end of a long table. At the opposite end of the long table sat her sister, Princess Luna. And the six mares that represented the Elements of Harmony rounded out the table, with Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack sitting along one side, and Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity sitting across on the other side.

The room was an elegant dining room, lined with tall walls that crested at buttresses at the ceiling. The wall behind Twilight had many stained glass windows that depicted murals of past events in Equestria, and the wall opposite of Twilight had alternating banners fashioned to match the cutie marks of the regal sisters. Along the wall under the banners were numerous suits of full knight's plate armors, and a single grandfather clock that kept the time. It was now into the evening. The sun had set and the moon was rising off the horizon.

Tonight the group of Ponyville mares were guests in the Canterlot Castle. Princess Celestia had received a message from Twilight's dragon assistant about the vacation plans, and had insisted that she be able to host her young student and her student's five friends at the castle. Twilight couldn't rightly say no to this, even though she hadn't really planned on visiting her mentor on this vacation. And so here she was, sitting in a lavish dinning room waiting on the meals to be served while attempting to avoid face-planting into the table.

Set upon the table were empty plates before each of the guests and princesses that shined like silver mirrors, and multiple sets of silverware laid out to the sides of each. The table itself was covered with a specially crafted table cloth. The half of the table that the sun princess was sitting at was covered by a pure white cloth, and had a large depiction of her cutie mark embroidered on it. The other half that the moon princess was sitting at had a midnight blue color with a image of her white crescent moon cutie mark.

Among the low rumble of chattering conversations that were going on between the gathered mares, one voice suddenly raised in volume above the rest. “Hey guys! Look at this!” Pinkie exclaimed as she waved her hooves to gather everypony's attention. She then shifted on her haunches so she was leaning over toward the side of the table that had the darker colored tablecloth. As she did, she covered her face with her hooves as she quickly said, “Night time...” then she quickly shifted over so she was leaning toward the white tablecloth. Throwing her hooves into the air she exclaimed, “Day time!” She repeated the display a couple more times while the group watched, garnering a few snickers from around the table.

Celestia found herself bringing her hoof up to her mouth as she bit her bottom lip, doing a poor job of hiding her amusement at the display. She eyed her younger sister at the other end of the table, who was staring back at the pink pony with pursed lips and a raised eyebrow. Celestia then caught a glimpse of her student sitting next to her, and lowered her head to quietly whisper to her.

“Are you OK?” Celestia whispered with a hint of concern showing through her voice.

Twilight's groggy expression immediately switched to alert when she realized the princess was speaking to her. She sat up straight and put a smile on. “Of course, I'm having a great time,” Twilight whispered back trying to sound as sincere as she could. However, she could tell her ruse hadn't flown with her mentor when Celestia raised a questioning eyebrow at her. “Er.. well maybe.. just a little tired,” Twilight added with a nervous laugh.

Celestia's expression brightened with a soft smile as she nodded. “Train rides make me sleepy too. Don't worry, I won't tell anypony if you nod off,” she said giving a reassuring wink before she sat back up.

The statement did little to help Twilight's predicament. She felt horrible about being so tired that she was practically falling asleep while sitting up right in front of everypony. Her friends had done all the hoofwork to put this together for her and here she was fighting just to keep her eyes opened, too tired to even join in on the conversations going on around the table.

What a waste...

Twilight agreed with her thoughts. This was a waste, a waste of everypony's time. They shouldn't have bothered themselves with putting this together for her. Why did they go so far out of their ways for such an ungrateful friend? Even the princesses had put aside some of their precious time, and for what?

Nothing, that's what...

Twilight frowned heavily, her head bobbing a bit as her eyes blinked. She couldn't stand it any more. The exhaustion was just too much. Even if she was in the presence of the royal pony sisters, she just couldn't fight it any more.

She blinked her eyes slowly once...

...twice...

...three times...

And then they closed, but only for a few seconds. Twilight's eyes slowly opened back up, and she glanced to her left at her mentor, who was currently listening intently to the mares conversing at the other end of the table. Twilight pushed herself up with a hoof leaning toward Celestia, drawing the princess's attention. Celestia leaned down to offer an ear to hear what her student had to say.

“I need to excuse myself to visit the little filly's room,” Twilight quietly whispered into Celestia's ear.

Celestia beamed a motherly smile in response, and turned closer to whisper back. “Out the door behind me, down the hall to the left. If you get lost just find somepony to show you the way.”

Twilight nodded with a quick smile, and quietly slipped away from the table. Her friends didn't seem to take much notice to her departure as she approached the doorway, where a servant wearing a black vest and white collar bowed her head as she held the door open for Twilight to pass.

Twilight began walking down the left hallway a few steps, until she heard the door click closed. She then stopped and turned her neck to look around the hall. Seeing no other ponies nearby, her horn lit with a magical glow, and her form slowly faded out of sight.

Only the sounds of light hoof steps could be heard in the otherwise empty hallway afterward.

---

Twilight scrunched her nose up at the feel of something hard against her face. With a moan she pushed herself up and looked down at the bright shining silver plate she had just been using as a pillow. She blinked back at her reflection slowly, trying to figure out why she would be using such a thing to sleep on. She then gasp when she realized this wasn't a bedroom.

“Oh great,” She said as she leaped up from her sitting spot at the table. The room was now dark, and devoid of any life other than herself. The table had been cleared, other than the silver plate she had been resting on.

I can't believe I feel asleep! I have to go apologize.

Twilight quickly trotted over to the nearby doorway to her left, and nosed it open. However when she did she stopped and stared into the next room for a moment. It was another dining room, laid out just like the one she was standing in. She glanced back and forth between the two rooms a couple times before she cautiously walked into the new room. She glanced around the room, taking in all the features and noticing that it appeared to be an exact replica.

How many of these do the princesses have?

Twilight slowly made her way past the table, the clicking of her hooves against the floor echoing through the dark, empty chamber. She then caught a flash of something sitting on the table. There set out on the table near the end covered in white was a single silver plate. It sat in the same exact location that Twilight had been sitting at in the other room.

Twilight narrowed her eyes harshly at the plate as she silently stared at it. The gears in her mind were turning, trying to figure out what this meant.

Is this a joke?

Twilight's eyes glanced over to the door that was behind the sun princess's designated sitting place at the table, and she started walking towards it. Once she reach it, she nosed the door open, and peered through with a stern glance. On the other side was yet another identical dinning room.

Twilight stepped back from the door way, letting it swing shut. She then walked back over to the silver plate sitting on the table, and eyed it suspiciously as she tried to figure out what was happening. A strange thought crossed her mind, and she found herself reaching out to the plate. Using her hoof, she tapped the edge of the plate and flipped it over so it was now laying face down on the table. She then walked over to the door to her left and after glancing back at the plate once more, nosed the door open and walked through.

Once on the other side of the door, Twilight trotted slowly through the dimly lit room. She passed by the stained glass windows that the moonlight filtered through, her eyes locked on a bright object sitting on the table at the opposite end. As she approached it, her eyes started to widen. There sitting at the table in the same exact location was an upside down silver plate.

This was the same room.

Twilight fought back a tightness in her chest as fear started to take over her senses. She took a step back, and looked around the room hoping to see somepony standing there waiting to tell her it was all just a silly prank, but all she found was the emptiness of the room.

“OK,” Twilight started quietly. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep.” Her voice echoed through the empty chamber, showing signs of distress. There was no answer to her plea, only the quiet darkness remained in the room with her.

OK.. just focus..

Twilight closed her eyes and tried to imagine another place she had seen earlier in the day. Her mind began to picture the places she had seen, the train station, parts of down town Canterlot, the gates of the castle, but none of these locations would work. She needed something closer. Then it came to her; the castle gardens. The group had spent some time there earlier, and she had managed to get a good look of the place, particularly of a fountain in the center. Focusing her mind on the location, her horn began to light as she reached out her magic to cast a teleportation spell.

However, her magic simply faded back out without anything happening. Twilight blinked and looked at her horn in confusion.

You are getting annoying.

The voice sounded like her own, but felt like it was all around her. Twilight glanced around the dark room, trying to find its location, but still saw nothing. “Hello?” She called out cautiously.

You should have just stayed asleep.

Twilight trotted to one end of the room, quickly nosing the door open and looking through, only to see another empty replica of the dinning room. “Who are you? Where are you?” Twilight questioned as she stepped back from the doorway, frantically looking around.

I don't have time to entertain you right now. So be.. QUIET!

At the sudden outburst, the room that Twilight had been standing in shattered into countless fragments to the deafening sound of glass breaking. With the form of the room vanishing, Twilight found herself falling into an endless darkness below her hooves. She flailed her legs attempting to find something to hold on to, but there was nothing. Even the dim moonlight seemed to had shattered along with the room. Letting loose a cry of terror, Twilight plummeted into the endless darkness below.

Comments

[DezzarTac]

Insanity mode activated.

[Sun Dial]

Well done cliffhanger, and I'm enjoying the mind games a lot, looking forward to the next chaoter were I'll give you a review not on my phone.