Sunset Over Equestria

by Vict0r1994

Chapter II: The Canterlot Letter

Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Spike all sat in a circle with looks of disbelief, horror, sadness, shock and even fear on their faces. Nobody dared to break the silence at first, as the only words spoken since they entered the building were Twilight's "Come in!" greetings, and then they all waited for her to bring the letter and an explanation.

Twilight brought the letter with her magic from a higher shelf in her library, but before she could speak a word, an orange pony let out a big sigh and broke the silence "Ah just can't believe it! I mean, who the hay would wanna' kill 'Lestia?"

"And who COULD do it? I'm still going to kick its sorry ass and throw this… monster in the jail where it belongs, but it mustn't be a normal pony to beat the princess! In fact, I don't even think it was a pony!" yelled Rainbow Dash with anger.

"Nonsense, darling! How would a monster penetrate the defenses of Canterlot? As a matter of fact, I believe it must've been some sort of accident! I refuse to believe that such…" Rarity let out a sigh of disappointment, and then continued angrily "lowly evil creatures actually exist in Equestria!".

Even Pinkie Pie was deprived of her usual cheery and bouncy attitude, and asked them with fear in her voice, "Does this mean it will be night FOREVER? Like, forever ever ever ever ever ever ever? How will we have happy cheerful parties if we can't keep track of the days for long, and if there will be no warm sunrays?" She then bursted into tears, and Applejack asked, while conforting her "And how the hay am Ah 'pposed to buck apples if trees'll 'ave no light for growin'?".

Fluttershy was already scared stiff, but she winced when hearing Applejack's enquiry, and asked in a very shy and pained voice with tears in her eyes "Does this mean the plants will die, and the cute little animals in Equestria will all starve, just like everypony else?"

Twilight was simply overwhelmed by the huge amount of questions being directed towards her, and in an attempt to calm everypony, she told her friends briefly "Please stop! All of you! As much as this pains and concerns us, we have to try to be reasonable about this, so please just… just listen to me." She sighed, and then continued with the so-desired answers "First of all, they suspect she could've been murdered because she was found dead in her personal bedroom with an empty broken glass near her hoof and basically no physical injuries, which eliminates the option of an accident! Second, the castle was very well defended, so only somepony from the inside could have done it", she then let out a sorrowful sigh "or at least that's what the letter says." She got her previous analytic tone again, and then she proceeded to saying "And third, there will be no eternal night, as princess Luna knows as well how to bring about the night and the day."

Twilight stopped talking a little bit after answering the questions of her friends, and then opened the scroll of the letter, saying "Now, there are some strange facts about this letter, and I'm going to be sure to ask Shining Armor and Luna about them as soon as we arrive in Canterlot, but until then you should listen closely." After ending the sentence, the magenta mare unfolded the scroll and started reading:

"Esteemed Mrs. Twilight Sparkle,

It is with great pain in my heart that I have to announce you that my beloved cousin and your tutor, Princess Celestia herself, has passed away. She has been found deceased in the imperial bedroom of the Canterlot palace this morning, with an empty broken glass near one of her fore hoofs and no injuries whatsoever. This would indicate the even more painful possibility of her being poisoned by somepony inside the palace, and the authorities will know whether this is true or false immediately after the few drops of wine on the floor will be analyzed in a chemical laboratory. Meanwhile, your brother is doing a huge investigation by interrogating everypony who was in the palace last night, and princess Luna is busy bringing forward the night and the day and practically devastated by the death of her sister, so the burden of informing you and your friends about this tragic event has fallen on my shoulders, her less known cousin, Duke Goldengem of Eqvancashire.

Let me end by saying that you, the wielders of the elements of harmony, are all invited to the funeral of our beloved princess tomorrow, and are welcome to stay at the palace until the crowning ceremony of the new ruler at the end of this week.

With great respect, Duke Goldengem of Eqvancashire."

As soon as Twilight ended, the other mares all asked in a chorus who is this duke they never heard about, and she didn't even have enough time to answer until Applejack asked her one more thing "And why did 'e 'nvite us to the crownin' of a new ruler, and not a new princess? Doesm't 'e 'xpect Luna to be crown' the new leader?"

Twilight pondered the question a little bit, and realized she didn't think about this earlier, but was interrupted from answering by a suspicious Pinkie Pie, "Yeah. I have a bad feeling about this Goldengem, and Pinkie sense NEVER lies!".

Twilight was still thinking, but, looking to all of her friends, she added "Girls, let's not jump to conclusions like that! We can't assume out of the blue that this so-called Goldengem is a bad person, but there are a few strange things about this letter. First of all, it is strange that a pony we never met has taken the time to tell us the bad news instead of Luna or Shining Armor. Second, how comes he is Celestia's cousin, and none of us ever heard about him? This letter has been sent directly from Canterlot, but what if this Goldengem doesn't actually exist and it is all a lie and some kind of ambush for us. After all, think about it! The writer, whether his real name is Goldengem or not, knew that we are the wielders of the elements and might want to get us out of the way, so we will have to check some books about the Canterlot royal family. Third,"

Before she could talk about the last peculiar aspect of the letter, Rarity interrupted her. "Actually, Twilight, Duke Goldengem is a real pony. I once designed a dress for his wife, but good gracious, I had never known of their royal origins! I remember that their family holds a big estate in Eqvancashire, a small province to the Northwest of Canterlot."

"Hmm. Well, that's going to help us, but we still don't know if the writer isn't an impostor, so we'll have to contact Shining Armor and see if the rumors are true. Spike,"

The baby dragon brought a parchment immediately and replied to her shortly "I'm on it, Twi. What should I write to Shining Armor?"

While Twilight was dictating Spike the content of the letter, Fluttershy sighed sorrowfully and told Rainbowdash quietly "I just hope this writer is an impostor and it is all a lie… I can't believe something like that could have happened to our dear princess, and I'm scared for all her little innocent animals as well, like that Phoenix bird she brought in Ponyville!".

Rainbow Dash tried her best for comforting her, but it wasn't really the job she was cut out for, as she told Fluttershy "Don't worry! If this is real, we will find the killer and give him the hell he deserves! We won't let him harm anypony from now on!"

As soon as Spike sent the letter, Twilight continued her speech "And third, well, the third aspect is Applejack's observation. Why crowning a new ruler and not a new princess? Maybe he has hopes for the throne as well."

"Well, Ah don't 'now 'bout that, Twi. If your brother tells 'ya that all's tru', we should go to the funeral and talk to 'im tomorrow. We'll see what 'appens in Canterlot and we'll make'n impression 'bout this 'pposed murder and this Goldengem there!" said Applejack.

"Well, we can't possibly know what he meant by that, and we might've been just been a little paranoid with this tragedy and all."

Spike agreed immediately "You tell me. This was waaay too much for all of us during one single night!"

The dragon seemed sleepy, but his eyes shut open when he heard Rainbow Dash saying "Twilight, are you and Spike… going to… live again in Canterlot now that Celestia isn't here? That really wouldn't be cool!" She didn't show her emotions, but the other five mares could see how the element of loyalty was the most affected by the possible breakup of their group.

Twilight replied in a somehow flabbergasted manner "I hope that will never happen… All my friends are here."

Hope? HOPE? That was certainly not enough, especially for a very scared little dragon who made friends for the first time in Ponyville and, at least the way he sees it, found the love of his life! Twilight would miss this place, but Spike's heart was buried deep into this town, in a heart-shaped fire Ruby carried by his loved one. He starred dreamingly at Rarity, beginning to think that he could never get the chance to see her again or to really confess his feelings. He was ready to fight every duke or princess in the world to stay here, even risk becoming a rampaging dragon for it! He was not going to be some joke of the Canterlot snobs again! This was all a nightmare! His world couldn't be ruined so quickly! Celestia's death, and now his departure from Ponyville? This couldn't be real!

"Spike?" Did he just hear Rarity's voice calling? Maybe this was all just a bad dream after all and he could wake up! He slapped himself trying to check as he heard the blurry voice again "Spike darling, what are you doing? Are you okay? Twilight tried to talk to you but you didn't answer!" He came back to his senses to see his concerned friends around him. It wasn't a dream. He was hoping for this outcome and he was lost in his thoughts, but it wasn't.

Twilight giggled for a second at the sight of the sleepy confuse dragon, and told everypony "Let's just call it a day and get some rest! Spike won't resist any longer, and tomorrow is going to be a very hard and busy day if this is true!" With this last sentence, all of them went to sleep, waiting for the last beam of light which could save them from drowning in an ocean of darkness – Shining Armor's answer.