Shadow of Twilight

by GreenS21

Day Trip

“Oh, it certainly is a quaint little museum, darling! Not quite as popular as the art galleries that I’ve seen here in Canterlot, but certainly a lot less crowded and noisy,” Rarity said to Twilight as they stepped out onto the front step of the art museum, Spike riding on Twilight’s back and the rest of their friends, both princesses, and Twilight’s parents behind them.

“I’m glad you think so, Rarity. I liked to come here a lot with my parents when I was a little filly. I always liked seeing the paintings and Mr. Brum,” was the purple unicorn’s response.

“I must agree, Twilight Sparkle. The paintings are quite vibrant even after so many years and Eckart Brum is truly as nice as my sister has said,” Princess Luna said.

Princess Celestia looked over at her younger sister and said, “I told you everything would be fine, Luna. I’ve known Eckart’s family for a very long time. One of his ancestors was a member of the royal court, serving as a squire and living in this building, which used to be a manor house. I believe that was about 400 years ago.”

Luna looked up at Celestia and asked, “So how did it go from being a squire’s manor to being an art museum?”

Celestia replied, “Things changed, Luna. Not all of his descendents wanted to be involved in what was going on in Equestria and I respected their wishes. I believe it was Eckart’s great grandfather who came up with the idea of turning it into an art museum. Said it was an idea from some mare he met or something to that effect.” Luna nodded, thinking.

Twilight’s parents soon ushered everypony out of the museum, her father saying, “We should probably get out before Eckart closes up. I hope you all enjoyed this little visit.”

Fluttershy smiled, “Oh yes, it was wonderful. The pictures were so pretty and vibrant. I really enjoyed looking at them.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, “Yeah, I had fun too. Not exactly something I would do on a regular basis, but it was pretty cool.”

Applejack grinned, “Heh, Ah hope that this doesn’t become a new hobby for ya like that time you were laid up in the hospital.”

Rainbow quickly responded, “That was a little different, Applejack.”

The orange earth pony continued to grin, “Sure Rainbow, whatever ya say.”

Twilight’s mother spoke, “Well, I guess we should be on our way then.”

Princess Celestia nodded, “I agree. Luna and I have to get back to the castle soon. The royal guards won’t be very happy if we’re even a minute late getting back.” With that, everypony walked down the steps and began to walk along the stone pavement.

Pinkie Pie suddenly came to a stop, her Pinkie Sense going off again. “Twitchy tail! Again!” she exclaimed.

Everypony came to a stop at that, Spike jumping off of Twilight’s back and asking, “That means something’s going to fall, right?” His eyes immediately began to scan the blue sky above, watching for anything that could come crashing down.

Suddenly, they all heard a thump from inside the museum, coming from one of the rooms near the front doors. Although it wasn’t a loud noise, Fluttershy still hid behind her mane and squeaked, “W-what was that?”

Twilight’s father turned towards the still open doors to the museum and said, “It sounded like one of the paintings fell down. Must’ve come loose and fallen off the wall.”

His wife said, “I’m sure Eckart would appreciate it if we put it back up for him.” The blue unicorn nodded and they both went back inside, disappearing into the room where they had heard the sound from.

Applejack glanced over at Pinkie Pie and said, “Guess that was what your Pinkie Sense was warning us about this time, huh?”

The pink pony shook her head and said, “No, that can’t be it. My Pinkie Sense wouldn’t go off for something like that.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged, “Well, what else could fall down, huh?” As if on cue, there was the sound of a loud crash behind her. She rolled her eyes, “Oh yeah, that’s real funny, Twilight.” She started to turn around as she said, “You know, you need to…” She trailed off as she turned around completely, everypony else also turning to look.

Twilight was standing stock still, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open slightly. Scattered on the ground around her were the shards of a broken vase. “Uh, Twilight…?” Spike asked, worried. A second later, Twilight’s eyes rolled back in her head and she fell over onto her side without a sound. “TWILIGHT!” Spike exclaimed as everypony rushed over to her, gathering around her.

________________________________________

Twilight blinked. Everything had happened so fast that it was just now starting to register in her head. She pushed herself off of her side, lying on the ground with her hind legs tucked under her and her forelegs stretched out. She then raised her left hoof to her head and rubbed it, groaning, “Ow… That really hurt. What hit me?”

Her mysterious helper spoke up, in a patronizing tone, “Excuse me… just what do you think you’re doing?”

Twilight raised an eye and pushed herself up slightly, asking, “What do you mean?”

The voice spoke as if she hadn’t said anything at all, “Do you want this to keep happening? Is that why you were enjoying yourself earlier rather than doing something more important? That’s not going to get you any closer to solving the problem.”

Twilight sat back on her haunches and looked up, asking, “What do you think I should be doing? You want me to tell everypony I know I’m being killed and they don’t remember anything because I’m changing the things that lead to my death?”

The voice replied, “No. Try doing something useful. You know, like gathering information… I’d deeply appreciate it if you wouldn’t disappoint me.” Twilight looked down at the floorboards at that, all the fight in her draining out at that moment. Once again, the voice had presented a very good point. Aside from changing things to prevent her death, she hadn’t really bothered to do any research. But that presented another question: what sort of information should she be looking for right now?

________________________________________

Twilight was sitting at a table in a humble restaurant with her friends and family, enjoying a nice daisy sandwich for lunch. At least, she was trying to. Almost immediately after they had arrived at the restaurant, her friends felt the need to inquire about what happened with Dante. Back when they left the square, Rainbow Dash, of course, tried to tease her friend about her going to comfort the red unicorn, but Twilight, who was upset with herself for dragging Dante into her problems and not being able to get him back out, hardly responded to it and mentioned that she didn’t know where he went. They’d let it go at the time, but now they were starting to pry.

“Ah just don’t get it, Twilight! That pony clearly wasn’t as snooty as some o’ the upper class here, why would he just up and disappear on ya like that?” Applejack asked, keeping Twilight from taking another bite out of her sandwich.

Sighing, Twilight set it back down and said, “I don’t know, Applejack. Maybe he had more… interesting ponies to talk to.”

Rainbow Dash grinned, “Yeah, probably! I know now that books aren’t as dull as I used to think they were, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re an egghead, Twilight! He was probably upset that I didn’t come over to talk to him!” She was immediately answered with several ponies at the table shooting glares in her direction, though Twilight wasn’t one of them. She merely levitated her sandwich up and took a bite out of it, hoping to at least temporarily escape some of the guilt she was feeling.

Fluttershy noticed the look on Twilight’s face and quickly said, “Oh, please don’t be sad about what Rainbow Dash said, Twilight. It wasn’t very nice, but she was just having fun.”

Twilight sighed a little irritably and said, “I know, Fluttershy. But really, would it be much of a surprise if she turned out to be right?”

Rarity spoke, “Oh, I should think so, darling! I mean, really! What pony in Canterlot could possibly be more important than our dear Twilight?”

Applejack ‘mumbled’ loudly, “Ah’m sure ya could name quite a few off the top o’ yer head.”

Rarity turned and glared at the orange earth pony, saying, “The ponies I know are all considered very important ponies, I’ll have you know. Ponies a waiter like that red unicorn has only heard about! I thought that was quite clear by the way he talked to Fancypants earlier!”

Fluttershy meekly said, “Um, Rarity? Ponies are starting to stare.”

But the white unicorn went on, leaning across the table towards Twilight and saying, “Mark my words, Twilight, if I ever see that red unicorn again and it turns out he left without a good reason, I’D GIVE HIM A REASON TO FEAR THE NAME RARITY!” Everypony at the table leaned back slightly at the force in the white unicorn’s words and all the chatter in the restaurant came to a complete halt. It was at that point that Rarity realized what she had been doing and sat back down, her cheeks noticeably red.

Once the ponies in the background started to pick up their conversations again, Twilight said, “Uh, that’s… very nice of you, Rarity. But there was a good reason for his disappearance, I’m sure.”

Spike asked, “Would that be Rainbow Dash’s reason or some other reason?” Twilight simply raised an eyebrow at him, projecting the words ‘drop it’ to him quite clearly. The baby dragon, for his part, rolled his eyes and returned to his hay fries. Conversation for the rest of the meal was kept light.

After a short while, everypony finished their meal and left the restaurant after the payment was picked up, Pinkie Pie being the first to step outside. She turned and called back to the others, “Come on, sillies! We’re supposed to go to the art museum!”

Rainbow Dash trotted out and said, “All right, Pinkie Pie, we’re coming! Sheesh, why are you so excited about going to the museum anyway? Museums are usually like hospitals, you know; they hate it when you make a lot of noise.”

The pink pony started bouncing up and down, saying, “I know that, Dashie! But I’ve never been to a museum before! I want to see what it’s like!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Right… Just don’t expect it to be too exciting, okay?”

Pinkie Pie grinned, “Okie dokie lokie!”

Everypony else soon came out, Twilight’s father saying, “Come on, we should get going. Eckart sometimes closes up early when nopony stops by the museum and he might do the same today even though we told him we’d be coming.” Everypony nodded and began walking down the street, Spike riding on Twilight’s back as they made their way to the art museum.

As they walked, Twilight noticed the fact that the path they were taking was a lot like the path she had taken to reach the squire’s manor house. “That would make sense, though. The art museum was the squire’s manor house back then. I remember reading that once,” she realized.

Not long afterwards, they turned a corner and there it was: the art museum sitting at the top of a hill. Before they could walk up the hill, Pinkie Pie noticed a dark yellow earth pony wearing glasses looking at something on the wall of a building. He had a sepia mane and tail and a movie camera on a tripod for a cutie mark. She wandered over to him and said, “Hi! How are you doing?”

Her words attracted the attention of the others and they came over, noticing that the earth pony was looking over at Pinkie Pie strangely. Twilight’s mother asked, “Is anything wrong, sir?”

After a moment of looking at the group, the earth pony asked, “What do you all think of this?” At the questioning looks he received, he gestured towards the wall and said, “This… What do you think of this?” He looked back at the wall and continued, “The movie this poster’s for… It’s pretty popular, isn’t it…?”

Applejack looked over at the posters that were stuck to the wall, not really seeing which one the pony was talking about, and said, “Uh, yeah, Ah guess so…”

The earth pony looked back at the group and asked, “What is the secret to making a hit film, anyway?” Everypony looked at each other before shrugging. The pony looked back at the poster and said, “Maybe it’s the method thing. The filmmaker’s – or the director’s – life experience.” He looked down and sighed, “I should have tried more things when I was young.”

Rainbow Dash spoke up, “Yeah, uh, that’s great and all, but we kind of have to get going. Nice meeting you, though!” She then turned and flew off in the direction of the museum. One by one, the others began to follow her, none of them quite sure how to respond to the pony or his reminder to live each day as though it was their first and last.

Rainbow Dash was waiting for everypony about halfway up the hill. Once they were all there, they all went up the rest of the way. When they reached the top, everypony’s eyes widened in surprise at what they saw. There, standing in front of the front doors, were the royal pony sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They were talking to Eckart Brum, a dark brown unicorn stallion that had a black-gray mane and tail and a framed painting for a cutie mark. Celestia soon noticed the group of ponies and smiled, “Hello, my little ponies!”

Everypony immediately dropped into a bow as the princesses approached; standing back up, Rainbow Dash asked, “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, what are you doing here?”

Celestia explained, “I heard from Twilight Sparkle what you were doing today and told Luna. She has been expressing a desire to see you all again and hasn’t met Mr. Brum before. I thought perhaps this would be a perfect opportunity to do both.”

Twilight’s father spoke, “Sorry we’re so late, your highness. It hasn’t been an overly interesting day, but we’ve certainly arrived much later than we intended to.”

Twilight thought to herself, “Oh, it’s been an interesting day, all right. At least for me it has.”

Eckart spoke, “That’s okay. The princesses only got here a short while ago. They haven’t exactly been kept waiting.”

Luna nodded, “Indeed we haven’t. Until we met with Sir Brum, my sister and I thought we might have missed you.”

Eckart said, “But now that you’re here, come in, please.” He then ushered them all towards the front doors of the museum, reminding everypony as they entered that the old anti-magic ward on the museum was still present. The only ones it didn’t have any effect on were the princesses. Twilight noticed that it wasn’t nearly as omnipresent as it had been in the past. It wasn’t until she stepped through the doors that she felt her magic being suppressed.

As everypony started to look around the museum, Princess Celestia stole Twilight away to have a little chat with her, having not seen her personal student in quite a while. So they walked up to the second floor of the museum with Eckart and Luna, the two sisters and Eckart listening to Twilight talk about some of the specifics of some of the friendship reports that her mentor had received.

Eventually, Luna spoke up, “Your friendship studies are quite impressive, Twilight Sparkle. Tell me, aside from friendship, are you doing any other research?”

The lavender unicorn thought about the lunar princess’ question for a moment. It brought her back to what her mystery helper had told her after her most recent death about gathering information. Thinking about her brief visit to 400 years ago, she realized she didn’t know much about alchemy. She knew her basic sciences, of course. She’d studied those extensively in school and occasionally did experiments, like the time when Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash pulled a prank on her with disappearing ink. But as far as alchemy was concerned, she couldn’t draw up any particular readings from memory on the subject.

She responded to the princess’ question, “Well, I’ve been thinking about learning more about alchemy.”

Princess Luna looked intrigued, “Alchemy? Pray tell, what purpose dost thou wish to study alchemy for?”

Twilight replied a little uncertainly, “Well, you know me. I seem to study things no other pony has the time for. I like learning things.”

Princess Celestia nodded, “Indeed you do, my faithful student.”

Eckart asked, “Correct me if I’m wrong, your highness, but wasn’t there a notable unicorn that lived in this city? A mare named Dr. Wagner?”

Princess Celestia replied, “That is correct. Her name was Dr. Lenore Wagner. She was a student at my school when she was a little filly. My, did she have potential, almost as much potential as you, Twilight.” She looked over at her faithful student as she spoke, the lavender unicorn giving a light blush at her teacher’s praise. The sun princess soon sighed, “Alas, magic was not her interest. But she did discover her true calling for alchemy while she was at my school. I only wish I knew what happened to her…”

Twilight looked down and said, “I’m sorry, princess…”

The princess of the sun shook her head, “No, it’s quite all right, Twilight. Actually, it feels kind of nice to talk about it with somepony. I mean that.”

Luna smiled, “I know the feeling, sister.” She looked over at Twilight and said, “I know I certainly felt quite a bit better after coming to Ponyville for Nightmare Night.”

Twilight smiled back at the lunar princess and then mused, “I suppose if I get a chance to in the next few days, I could see if I can find some literature on the subject.”

Eckart spoke, “You may not have to, Twilight. Come with me; I think I have something that might help you.” He led the three mares to his office and walked over to a bookcase, looking at the spines of the books on its shelves. He soon pulled a small black book off of one of the shelves, murmuring, “Was this the one?” He blew the dust off of it and brought it over to Twilight, saying, “Here, I’ll lend this to you.”

Twilight took the book in her hoof and examined it. Both the front and the back cover had a pentagram design in the center, the book’s title printed above the design on the front cover. “‘The Magician of Our City,’” she mused.

Eckart nodded, “It’s a fairly old book. It might be the oldest one here. I think it includes things like stories about real alchemists that worked in this city, recipes for the elixir of youth, even copies of documents from the era.” At Twilight’s wide eyes, he smiled and added, “Of course, you need to take it with a pinch of salt or more. If there really was such an elixir, I’d want it myself.” He then bent down and nuzzled a baby kitten on the floor while saying, “I’ll send you a scroll when I need it back.”

Twilight nodded, “Thank you, Mr. Brum.”

The brown stallion stood up and said, “Of course, Twilight. By the way, do you like cats? Mine had a litter the other day, as you can see…”

Twilight smiled, “Thanks, but no thanks. I wouldn’t want Owlowiscious and Spike to get jealous. Not to mention it might be hard to get Opalescence to warm up to another cat.”

Eckart replied, “Okay. But if you have a friend or anypony else who wants a kitten, let me know.” Twilight nodded and slid the book into her left saddlebag.

Princess Celestia smiled down at her student, “Run along and join your friends, Twilight. I want to talk with Eckart some more, but don’t let me hold you up from spending time with your friends. This is your trip, after all.”

Twilight smiled back, “I will, Princess. See you both soon?”

Princess Luna nodded, “You will, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight nodded back and left the office, leaving the princesses alone to talk with Eckart.

As she left the room, Twilight noticed Fluttershy coming up the stairs and walked over to her. “Hey Fluttershy.” she said.

The shy pegasus replied, “Oh, hello Twilight. I was just looking at the painting downstairs of Canterlot and I got a bit absorbed in it. Pinkie Pie had to give me a shake to snap me out of it.” She gave a light giggle after saying that.

Twilight giggled too and said, “Well, seeing as it’s been a while since I’ve last seen it, I’ll go take a look and then come back up to join you and the other girls in a minute, okay?”

Fluttershy smiled, “Okay Twilight.” She then turned to her right and trotted in that direction, heading for one of the rooms that the paintings were hanging in. Twilight smiled and walked down the stairs. This museum really did hold a lot of childhood memories for her. She was glad her friends had agreed to come visit it during their trip to Canterlot.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs and started walking towards the room housing the painting Fluttershy had mentioned, she heard a familiar voice ask, “How are things?”

The lavender unicorn came to a stop and, upon seeing nopony around, asked, “Hello?”

As she continued to look around, a figure began to materialize out of thin air behind a pillar in the room, appearing from a red light. Soon, the figure had materialized completely and Twilight could tell what it was. It was a black earth pony stallion with a brown mane and tail, both of which were short-medium length and slightly spiky. He had a cutie mark depicting a red dragon/serpent swallowing its own tail.

The pony opened his red eyes and shifted them back in Twilight’s direction, smiling and giving a dark, mysterious chuckle.

Comments

love that game. got all the endings including the depressing one where the main character does something stupid for someone of his intelligence. fortunately, for Twilight, there doesn't seem to be any motor vehicles in the city...

[Traveler7]

And now, two years later, I continue. And, to the anonymous commenter, aye that's... I want to say, the first ending? I would have to go check a bit.