Hour of Twilight

by -Brutus

The Burden of a Filly

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// Story: Hour of Twilight
// Chapter: Chapter 7: The Burden of a Filly
// Author: Darth Femto
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Chapter Seven
The Burden of a Filly

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The Crimson Dawn was slowly trotting towards the edge of the forest, occasionally glancing around her to enjoy the view of the devastated Ponyville. The smoldering ruins that surrounded her caused her to giggle slightly, enjoying herself with the damage her minions have caused. Now the only thing she had to do left to this village was to murder everypony that survived the Eclipse, namely those that ran for the shelters. She was truly happy, because she wasn't the only one who would be suffering. No, she would be the one that would inflict pain and misery unto others, no exception.

Dawn suddenly stopped walking and stared blankly in front of her, starting to shiver uncontrollably. For a few minutes, she felt emotions again. Pain, regret, guilt for what she has done; they all came rushing. Her breathing became erratic and she let out a scream of frustration, wiping off her involuntary tears that streamed from her crimson eyes. She growled menacingly and stomped the ground with her hooves, fuming.

"You damned mare, what do you think you're doing?! I won't let you jeopardize my plans, not again! Now, get outta my head!!" she screamed from the top of her lungs, panting heavily, sweat dripping her forehead. The emotions had subsided, but a bit too late. She collapsed into the middle of the street and cried, covering her head with her front hooves, shoulders heaving. "Why... why didn't they care... I was their friend, why did they left me alone?" she sniffed, choking out more sobs. "Even, even the Princess didn't care. So why should I care anymore?! To hell with them all!"

Dawn wiped her tears and stood up, shaking herself of the dust. Stealing a quick glance towards the Eclipse, she gasped in shock when she realized that the Sun's power was slowly returning, lighting up more of the land. She narrowed her eyes and began running towards the edge of the forest, panic rising.

'No... That's impossible! The... the Sun is recovering. That can only mean-' she thought to herself. Her time was growing short; if she did not kill the other bearers until the next day, her own powers would start to fade, the unnatural Eclipse breaking apart, leaving her vulnerable to an attack. 'Celestia won't best me, not again!'

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Within the void of the Dawn's troubled soul, the imprisoned ponies were trotting cautiously through the endless hollow corridors, looking around for anything or anypony to help in their quest to break down the deranged mare. Scootaloo and Twilight were running around, playing tag and having some fun. Silverghost glanced back at them and smiled, their innocent game relaxing the group. Princess Luna trotted forward, horn glowing, searching for a passage, a door, anything that would lead them somewhere. She sighed and slowed down, finally stopping at a crossroad, to catch their breaths.

Rainbow Dash wasn't far behind, but she kept her distance from the two fillies, eying them cautiously. Behind that mask of happiness, a colossal hatred burned her from within, inviting her to kill the purple unicorn without delay. 'They will understand. I mean, she's the real monster! They are just confused, that's all. Yeah," she thought to herself, shuddering slightly. 'And still, I can't do it... at least, not now.'

The lavender filly suddenly stopped from her game and gaped. "Hey everypony, we're here," she said, approaching a rusty old door, apparently painted in black. Several chains kept that door locked, preventing anypony to enter.

The Princess and the silver unicorn approached the door and stared at it. "What is behind this door, young one?" Luna asked the lavender filly.

"Well... um... Behind that door," she sighed, "are all of Twilight's emotions. Her memories, the most painful ones that she endured, the ones which caused her to break. If there's a way to get out of here, then this is it probably."

"You want to say that if we let her emotions out, her inner prison will be shattered. allowing us to exit?" the silver unicorn asked.

Twilight nodded. "Yes. But only two may enter. I am the only one who knows the memories, so I have to go anyway..."

The group sat and thought for a moment. Then, the cyan pegasus approached the lavender filly and nuzzled her. "I'll go. I'm her friend, and I will do whatever I can to help," she said, glancing around for approval from the ponies. Princess Luna sighed and nodded.

"You may go, Rainbow Dash, but, be warned. Should anything happen to the girl, we might never see the light of day again." Luna sighed and rolled her eyes. 'I can't believe I mentioned Tia's day,' she giggled.

"Ah, one more thing, Princess," the lavender filly added. "Once we open the door, you have to close it behind us and run. She will come."

"Very well, are you ready?" Luna asked the ponies. Rainbow Dash nodded and saluted, and picked the filly on her back. "Alright, here it goes..." she said, her horn glowing brightly, her magic enveloping the door, unlocking it and tearing down the chains. Scrunching her face in concentration, she opened the door...

A black mist came from the other side, spreading along the corridor in which the ponies sat. The lavender filly nudged the cyan pegasus to go. Before leaving, Rainbow turned to Scootaloo and nuzzled her. "Take care Scoots... I'll come back."

Scootaloo smiled. "Come home with Twilight, mommy!" Rainbow cringed internally, and, without any other words, stepped through the door, into the darkness.

The door was slammed shut by Luna's magic. She the picked the orange filly and laid her on her back, motioning to the silver unicorn to follow her. Silverghost nodded and shot after the Princess, running away from the place, as the inner prison started to shake for a few minutes. 'Emotions... They affect her. She truly is still here, with us. Don't worry, Tia', I will bring her back to you, I promise!' Luna said to herself. A ghostly, echoing sound reverberated throughout the corridors, startling the fleeing ponies. It sounded like... crying! Princess Luna listened intently, picking up more sounds.

"Why ... even the Princess ... left me alone ... to hell ..."

There was no doubting it. Twilight was suffering, the small amount of emotions that came out broke her down for a while. There was still hope for the insane unicorn.

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Rainbow Dash trotted through the darkness, heading towards the outline of a door, glowing briefly. Upon reaching it, she glanced at the filly seated on her back. "Shall we?"

Twilight nodded and hopped down, working her magic to undo the lock on the door and opening it. "Rainbow Dash, welcome to my memories," she spoke, opening the door completely and stepping in the light.

Rainbow followed the filly and gaped in astonishment. Large, marble towers casted their shadows over the city of Canterlot, the Royal Palace gleaming in the sunlight, it's golden rooftops sparkling wildly. There were many ponies trotting around them, oblivious to their existence. The cyan pegasus then noticed a familiar looking yellow pegasus with orange mane, in her teens, at a table with a few other ponies. "S-s-Spitfire?! Ohmygosh!" she squealed and flew right to their table. "Hey guys! What's up?" she asked the seated ponies. None replied, or even looked at her.

"Um, Rainbow, they can't hear you, or see you. This is just a memory... I'm sorry," the lavender filly apologized. "Let's go, I'm at the kindergarten right now."

The pegasus sighed sadly and followed the filly down the streets. After a while, a large, golden building came into view. A large sign, shining in the sunlight, spelled out the name of the institution.

"Canterlot's Kindergarten for Disadvantaged Ponies," Rainbow read out loud. She looked puzzled, glancing uneasily at the lavender filly beside her. "Are you sure this is the place?"

Twilight nodded and sighed sadly. "Yes, this is it. Until I got accepted as Princess Celestia's student, my parents and I weren't that wealthy. We lived at the edge of town, in a rather unfriendly neighborhood. Since they could not afford to pay for my schooling, they sent me here. Let's go," she began trotting towards the backyard of the building, with the cyan pegasus close behind, taking in the sight.

As they proceeded inside the yard, they laid their eyes upon many colts and fillies, playing around. A single unicorn mare stood and supervised the activity, slowly pacing around the field. The lavender filly nudged the pegasus gently and motioned to follow. The Sun's warmth soothed the cyan pegasus, bringing her into a state of bliss. She missed that feeling, it was almost... almost like her mother's touch. Rainbow's eyes snapped shut and cringed internally, trying to avoid the bad memories. She sighed and continued following the filly deeper into the backyard, arriving at a large oak tree, its massive corona casting a large shadow over the surrounding area. Its leaves danced lightly in the breeze, tiny birds singing along. The filly went around the trunk and sat on her haunches, staring at something. Rainbow shrugged and approached her, following her gaze.

Behind the massive trunk of the oak, a filly identical to her guide sat on her haunches, reading a book. In her hooves, closed to her chest, the small filly held a ragged doll, a pony with a notebook and its own quill. Rainbow recognized that doll, it was Smarty Pants. The sound of a small group approaching snapped them out of their trance, glancing questioningly at a group of elder colts approaching the great oak. Rainbow grimaced. She knew what was going to happen, but held her breath. And she was right.

The group of colts rounded the trunk and laughed at the solitary unicorn filly, as she closed her book and held it close to her, along with her doll. One of the bullies addressed her.

"Hey, egghead, what'cha doing out 'ere, all by ya'rself? What's that you got there?" the colt said, as he snatched the filly's doll and held it high, so she couldn't reach it. The small unicorn started jumping around after her doll, pleading with the bullies, to no avail. Her tears did not impress them, merely causing them to laugh even harder.

"Please, give it back!" she cried at the colts.

"Alright, missy, here you go..." the grey colt holding her doll leaned over and dropped the doll, then immediately stomped on it several times.

The colts laughed at the filly's expression, a look of pure sadness on her face. Rainbow wished she could do something. This reminded her so much of the time she spent in the Cloudsdale Flight School. As the colts left, the lavender filly started sobbing, grabbing her doll and hugged her, tears dropping on its surface, soaking it. The cyan pegasus looked around for her guide, the small Twilight, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Huh, uhh, Twi'? Where are you?" she asked out loud.

"I'm right here..." the filly in front of her spoke.

"What?! But, wait, you said this was a memory, what's going on?" the cyan pegasus replied, puzzled.

"Yes, it is a memory. My memory-" she was interrupted by a soft voice calling her out.

"Twilight, sweetie, are you here?"

The lavender filly smiled and wiped her tears off, grabbing her doll and the book and turning around to face a white unicorn, bearing a purple white streaked mane, with stars for a cutie mark. Her mother, Madeline Sparkle.

"Mommy!" the small filly cried out, jumping to hug her mother who came to pick her up. The mare nuzzled her daughter and stroke her mane.

"Let's go home, sweetie. Tomorrow is a big day, it's the Summer Sun Celebration! Surely you don't want to miss seeing the Princess, do you?" her mother spoke, a bright smile on her face.

Twilight gasped and yelped. "I almost forgot! Let's go, mommy," the small filly chirped, trotting away with her mother. She glanced back to the cyan pegasus and motioned for her to follow.

Rainbow Dash was stunned. She had never seen this side of Twilight before. Before her lower jaw could hit the ground, she snapped to attention when the two mares left, and the filly motioned for her to follow. A soft voice echoed in her ears, causing her to shudder.

"This is but the beginning of my hell."