Darkness Rising

by SkyHighFlyer

Chapter 20, Aftershock

Sugarcube Corner was a public establishment, which would, in theory, reduce it's value as a meeting place, especially for meetings of a sensitive nature. Sugarcube Corner was unusual in that regard however. So long as it wasn't crowded there were a few tables in the corner, ones that ponies only used if there was nowhere else to sit as no sunlight reached them. For Twilight and Fluttershy however, these were perfect to sit down and speak in hushed whispers, relying on their abilities to hear each other.

Today though, the lack of nearby windows wasn't a problem. Without Rainbow there to help for the next few weeks, the weather team couldn't postpone the storm until they had her back, so they went ahead with the schedule anyway. Because Rainbow made up a large portion of the weather team's results on her own, they were struggling to keep things running without her, especially since they simply didn't have enough ponies to make up for the amount of work Rainbow put in effortlessly.

The storm may not have been very good, but the cloud cover was the easiest part. Nopony could come up for an excuse for messing that one up.

Even with the lights on, Sugarcube Corner wasn't very well lit, and the bright, inviting allure was replaced with only moderate amounts of light and an unobstructed view of the rainy outdoors.

Twilight and Fluttershy were having one of their normal secret meetings today though, the weather making no change. Twilight had always found weather like this to have it's own, unique beauty, and as they grew closer, Fluttershy couldn't help but see it herself.

They had already covered the most important events, namely the changes to their means of communication which involved all mail between Twilight and other vampire's across Equestria being written in their own ancient language. It would eliminate the possibility of any incidents like the one with Rainbow happening again.

They were about to get into the more casual part of the meeting, mostly just recent news and relevant information, something that would be communicated verbally for the foreseeable future, at least until Fluttershy mastered enough of the language to read the messages herself.

Twilight also planned to ask Fluttershy if they could take their relationship a step further, beyond simply acknowledging their feelings.

Today’s meeting was interrupted however. They were sitting at their preferred table when Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack came over. Standing over them and receiving annoyed and awkward looks from both of them, most intensely from Twilight, Rarity was the first to speak. “We need to talk.”

“By all means, join us,” Twilight said, intentionally emphasizing her irritation at the interruption. Applejack cringed slightly, but the other two took a seat next to Fluttershy on the other side of the table. After a short moments hesitation, she sat down next to Twilight.

“Something's come up that we need to talk to you about,” Rarity said, “None of us have seen Rainbow in over a week, and she missed our last meeting. To put it bluntly, we suspect you to have had something to do with it.”

Twilight wasn't surprised by their accusation, in fact she had been expecting it a bit sooner. Rainbow was hidden in her cloud house, which would be inaccessible without Twilight's aid unless Rarity could find a book to teach her a cloud walking spell, and even then they would still have the problem of reaching the clouds in the first place. With no way to search for her at home, they would have no way of disproving the false evidence they left at the weather office.

Before Rarity had a chance to continue, Applejack said, “Just to be clear, Ah still think this is none of my business. Ah only came along because somepony” – She gave Rarity a harsh glare – “wouldn't leave me along until Ah agreed to come.”

Rarity gave her a harsh look, but Twilight smiled. “Thank you Applejack, for actually being considerate enough not to bother ponies about things that don't concern you. As for you two, what makes you think we had any involvement. What evidence do you have to support your claims?”

“It isn't so much the evidence we have, it's more of what evidence we don't have,” Rarity said. “Somepony is missing, and what we don't have is evidence that says you weren't involved.”

Twilight took a deep breath. “You know she's missing, do you know anything else, anything that implicates us in any way?”

“We asked around, and apparently she requested a month's worth of time off of her job, and hasn't been seen since,” Pinkie said, a rare level of discomfort showing clearly. Her and Rainbow Dash were close, and this was obviously affecting her on a greater level than the others.

“If she asked for the time off, then how could we have been involved in her disappearance in the first place?” asked Twilight. The whole reason for leaving a cover story behind was so that they couldn't be implicated so easily, and Twilight and Fluttershy rehearsed this conversation before. They knew how to answer these questions before they were even asked. It was all prepared for, and that was one of the things Fluttershy admired about Twilight's plan for dealing with the situation.

“Yes, that's true, but the ponies that actually saw her request time off said she looked nervous, like she was apprehensive of something, almost like she was trying to get away from something,” said Rarity.

Twilight shot a glance in Fluttershy's direction, one that carried the message that this wasn't going to plan. Really Twilight couldn't blame Fluttershy for any of this, she was the only one that could take Rainbow's appearance to do what they needed to. A vampire's ability to change appearance was limited to things such as coat and eye color, and wasn't inclusive of physical alterations, such as mane length or taking on the appearance of a unicorn or pegasus, although it could be used to hide wings if one so desired, as Twilight did frequently. Illusions were great for small changes, like mane and tail length, but the more complex the illusion the more difficult it is to maintain, and wings were a very detailed thing to create, and the spell could very easily break, even with Twilight's level of magical prowess.

Rarity noticed the glance, but she didn't mention it, seeing as it could have simply been nothing, and even if it wasn't it would only be played off as such, making it pointless to ask about.

“Well... even if she was afraid of something, you don't have any proof that it was us,” Fluttershy said confidently, though her argument was shallow at best. Still, she felt as if it were her job to fix this seeing as it was her fault this line of questioning came up in the first place. She tried her hardest to act as Rainbow Dash would, but she was aware even then that her performance was riddled with signs of anxiety.

“Ah don't think we need to play this game,” Applejack said, much to the surprise of everypony else present, “As much as Ah don't want to say that Rarity's right, Ah can't see what else it could be. You can deny it all you want but all of us know that the only thing Rainbow Dash is afraid of is you, and whatever little secret you have.”

Applejack's addition shocked everypony else, especially Twilight, who had thought Applejack would be remaining neutral. Seeing that the situation was getting away from her Twilight desperately said, “Even then, you don't have absolute proof.”

“We would never hurt our friends unless we absolutely had to, there's no reason for anypony to be afraid,” said Fluttershy, still trying to make up for her previous errors, despite still making little difference.

“I'm sure you wouldn't, but we don't know where the limits of absolutely needing to are set anymore,” Rarity replied, adding more stress to Twilight's existing problems.

As if that wasn't enough, what Rarity said next was both unexpected and troubling. Adopting a darker tone she said, “We know you've been studying dark magic, Twilight, and I know the kinds of things that kind of magic does to a ponies mind just as well as you do. I don't know how far you've taken this, but if you are practicing dark magic, in any form, then we both know the consequences, and we both know that you would have been affected already, possibly irreversibly.”

What Rarity was saying was shocking and completely new to them. They hadn’t heard anything from Rarity other than that dark magic was highly forbidden and illegal. Hearing that it could effect a pony's mind like that, and that it could possibly be irreversible put them all on edge, even Applejack.

Twilight however, countered it quickly. “What? No Rarity, no, no I would never, why would you think I would be using dark magic? I know how stupid that is, and for that matter, how do you?”

“I have my sources,” Rarity replied, keeping it vague intentionally, “I'm more interested to know what you would want with dark magic.”

Twilight sighed in defeat, not genuinely, but a well enough deception that she would be believed. “Alright I'll admit it. Yes, I have been researching dark magic. I'm not actually allowed to be studying this, so Princess Celestia has no idea. I'm not planning on using it, I'm just studying the theory, considering the possibilities, maybe even inventing entirely new spells based on what I learn. It's not even related to everything else that you've been accusing me of.”

Rarity didn't entirely believe her, but seeing as it was a rational explanation she couldn't just turn it down without something more, assuming there actually was more.

“Don't worry, we promise we'll keep your secret,” Pinkie promised, receiving no disagreement from either Applejack or Rarity, but all of them sharing unspoken concerns.

“As much as I know you don't want to hear it, why won't you simply include us in whatever it is that you're keeping a secret?” Rarity asked under an almost painful glare from Twilight. “What is it that's so important you won't even trust your friends in it?”

“It isn't that simple,” said Fluttershy before Twilight could.

“As much as we would like to include you in everything and tell you everything you want to know, Fluttershy's right, it isn't that simple,” said Twilight apologetically. “Before we can tell you the truth, you need to have a certain level of understanding and acceptance, but you can't understand unless you know the truth already.”

“You see where the problem is now?” Fluttershy asked.

“In that case, how did you get involved in the first place?” Pinkie asked Fluttershy, earning a brief but awkward silence as both mares tried to think of a response.

Coming up with an idea, and seeing that Fluttershy hadn't, Twilight said, “Well, about that... Fluttershy and I are... in a relationship right now.”

Rarity caught on to what she meant first, and then went starry eyed and said, “That's wonderful, I'm so proud of you two!”

Pinkie and Applejack took a few more seconds, but both smiled proudly when they figured out what Twilight meant.

“We just sort of came together, and then the rest kind of just got caught up in the middle, and she was just in the know all of a sudden, and neither of us minded that much,” Twilight explained. “Actually, before you showed up I was planning on asking her if she was ready to take our relationship a little further.”

When she heard that she beamed. “Of course I'm willing!”

“When Rarity finally came down from the wonder of hearing about Fluttershy's relationship with Twilight, she said, “Not to ruin the moment, but I would like to point out that we were talking about Rainbow.”

“Listen Rarity, I'm sure she's fine. She'll probably show up after a while and explain everything herself,” Twilight said, “You can only blame us for so much, not everything's our fault.”

“I hope so,” Applejack replied, “Rainbow's my friend too, and Ah don't want to see her get hurt. As long as she's fine, it's none of my business what you get up to.”

“Thank you again Applejack, for being respectful of our privacy,” Twilight said.

Turning her head to look at Fluttershy, Twilight said, “Why don't we get together at the library in say... two hours?”

“That sounds great,” Fluttershy replied excitedly.

Everypony stood up, and before she left Twilight said, “It was good to talk to all of you, even if it wasn't just a friendly conversation.”

She put on her cloak before stepping out into the pouring rain and making her way home. After saying her own goodbyes, Fluttershy left as well.

Once the three of them were alone, Applejack spoke up, “I do not like to say this, but they weren't being entirely truthful, about a lot of things. Ah still don't want to get involved, but you should keep your guard up, just in case.”

Despite knowing that fact, it made them no more certain about their friend's motives, and no more comfortable with the situation.