Twilight finds her mind invaded by strange thoughts that don't seem to be her own.
When Twilight Sparkle finds herself getting increasingly stressed out due to her always busy schedule, she decides to take her friends up on an offer to travel to Canterlot for a group vacation. Her inner voice becomes increasingly vocal, only solidifying the notion that she really could use a break. If only she knew then that the voice had a will of its own, along with an elaborate plan for her and her friends.
The dawn was just breaking over the distant horizon. The chilled foggy mist from the previous night had gathered as small glistening droplets on the blades of grass that swayed in a gentle morning breeze. Just beyond a hill, the thatched roof tops of many homes could be seen. The homes themselves seemed to be in a slumber, with their windows still shuttered and doors still latched closed.
Something stirred nearby. It fluttered over to the hill, locating a small and simple white flower. It glided down, and there the yellow and blue winged butterfly landed on the edge of the pure white flower's bloom. It began to uncurl its tiny straw-like mouth toward the flower to take a sip of nectar, when its morning breakfast was rudely interrupted.
A black whip-like appendage snapped out and wrapped itself around the butterfly's body, and began pulling. The greasy looking tendril stretched down into the shadows below the grass to something unseen. The tendril itself looked almost as if it were nothing but a thin line of sludge, but it held fast to the small insect which was now grasping onto the flower's bloom for dear life. The tendril tugged and pulled, causing the flower's stem to bend ever so slightly more toward the ground with each tug. And then another tiny black whip shot out and wrapped itself around the flower's stem and began pulling as well, accelerating the bending.
Closer.. and closer.. and closer..
A blur of colors shot past the hill with unimaginable speed, causing the dew on the grass to be lifted in a spray and get sucked toward the wind vortex that the blur had caused. The sudden updraft also caused the greasy black appendages to loose their grip, and the flower's stem snapped back up right. The butterfly wasted no time using this chance to launch itself into the wind, being partially carried by the sudden updraft. The black tendrils struck out once more attempting to grasp their prey, but it was far too late. The insect had glided far beyond reach. The tendrils slumped back to the ground seeming disappointed, and then slowly sunk back into the now dry grass disappearing into dark shadows under the swaying blades.
The rainbow blur most likely didn't know that it had just rescued the tiny insect from the strange assault, but if she had she likely would have been proud of herself. She was a pegasus mare with a light blue coat, rainbow colored mane and tail, and a matching cloud with rainbow colored lightning bolt cutie mark. Her name; Rainbow Dash. A pony that most of her home town of Ponyville knew well, or at least she felt they should. On this particular morning she was getting a quick start on her weather related tasks. She was clearing the night dew that had settled on the grass and using it to create puffy white clouds in the sky to provide shade for what was supposed to be a partially cloudy day. She had come up with the idea of using her impressive airborne speed to cause updrafts and lift the dew to create the clouds she needed. This way she could get the chore done quickly, which would let her have the rest of the day off once she was done. She was rather pleased with herself at the moment, and the grin on her face as she buzzed the ground to lift more dew into the air showed it.
Diving back low to the ground she banked to her right and came over another hill, kicking up a misty spray that followed her path as she did. Her next approach was going to be a tricky one since it was going to take her through the park and between some of the buildings of Ponyville. She hoped that as she made the maneuvers somepony would be up to see it. Holding her tongue out, she turned again sharply to her left and zipped between the walls of two homes, rattling the shutters as she did. She passed over the park which to her slight disappointment was empty, but this early in the morning that was going to be the likely case for most of the town. Still, she didn't give up. She knew she could probably locate somepony to impress, so she did a quick course correction and started darting between the walls of homes again with a trail of glistening mist mixed with rainbow colors following closely behind her. She passed through ally ways, through the empty streets, just over roof tops, and even circled around again back toward the park she had started at, but nopony seemed to be around yet.
The grin was fading from the dare-devil's face and being replaced with a disappointed half frown as she glanced back at the path she had taken. Rainbow Dash banked once again to make a path out of town and back into the sky to lead the misty trail into the air. However, she hadn't been paying very close attention to where she had been flying the last few seconds, and when she turned her head back forward she quickly found herself trying to reverse her flight pattern in a frantic attempt of wing flapping.
Just inside the Golden Oaks Library of Ponyville, a lavender unicorn was in the middle of using her magic to cook something for breakfast, magically levitating a pan over a stove top. She had noticed sounds coming from outside this morning that were unusual but had ignored them up to a point. The strange sound had caused her to actually feel vibrations in the floor of the library that she called home multiple times already, and she could feel it starting up again. Curiosity was getting the best of her, and she now felt she needed to know what was going on. Dropping a pan she had been levitating back to the stove burner, she quickly trotted over to a the latched shutters at the kitchen window and flicked the hook with her magic before nosing the shutters open.
No sooner had she stuck her head out the window to see what the commotion was about did she screech and duck, just as a rainbow colored blur came fluttering in through the open window. At the far wall of the kitchen, the blur came to a sudden stop when the wall didn't give way, and Rainbow Dash found her back plastered to the wall, tail over hooves. She seemed to stick to the wall for a second before she slid down, her head bumping the floor.
"Rainbow! What-" The unicorn started as she raised her head up and began to trot over, but she was cut off when the back of her head was hosed down by the trail of mist that had been chasing the pegasus. She gasped and sputtered as she scampered back from the window, trying to guard herself with one of her hooves but getting a face full of morning dew regardless. The spray calmed down after a couple seconds, and the unicorn was left there dripping like she had just been drenched by a fire hose. She growled slightly, then turned to face Rainbow Dash as she stamped a hoof. "What is going on!" she demanded.
"Uh, heh, sorry about that Twilight," Rainbow said as she used her front hooves to push herself upright. "I was just getting my work done early today."
The lavender unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, stared back at the blue pegasus for a moment as water dripped from her. "This is work?" she questioned flatly as one of her eyebrows perked up.
"Weeeell.. not exactly. You see, I was trying this new trick, making clouds out of the morning dew, and I was hoping somepony would be up early enough to see, so I started flying through Ponyville looking for anypony that might be awake already. You should have seen it! I did this zigzag that went right between these houses, then I did a full loop around the town hall and went up and over three roofs in a row all without losing a single drop! It was really awesome!" Rainbow Dash seemed suddenly very enthusiastic as she recounted the details of her stunts, but when she noticed that Twilight hadn't so much as cracked a smile her enthusiasm started to wane. "Eh.. heh heh.. I can dry you off if you want?" She offered.
"No I'm fine," Twilight said as she levitated a nearby kitchen towel over and used it to dry her face, "You know, you should be more careful. Showing off unnecessarily like that could get yourself hurt again."
Rainbow Dash cringed a bit at the mention of her mishap that had lead to a hospital stay. "Heeey.. that was.. a while ago. It's not like I crash all over the place all the time," she complained as she puffed herself up, "I'm the best young flyer in all of Equestria, and someday I'm going to prove it to everypony that has their doubts."
Twilight Sparkle couldn't help but smile a bit at her friend. Rainbow Dash had always been a 'glass is half full' type of pony, optimistic almost to a fault. But it was that optimism and that drive to succeed that she had learned to count on in her friend. "Say," Twilight started as she discarded the now soaked kitchen towel and made her way back to the stove to check on the food she had left there. She smiled when she found it hadn't burnt in her absence. "I'm making breakfast. It's just some scrambled eggs and toast, but if you want to stay for a bit I can make sure there's enough for you."
"Thanks Twi, but I really have to jet. The morning dew doesn't stick around when the sun starts warming things up, so if I'm going to get those clouds done before it all disappears I gotta get back to it. Thanks for the offer though!" And with that Rainbow Dash zipped out of the window she had entered from, causing a small vortex to blow Twilight Sparkle's mane gently for a second.
"Oh Rainbow," Twilight mused as she turned her attention fully back to her scrambled eggs.
Nearby at the open window ledge, a few tiny black whip-like appendages latched onto the ledge, and with a heave they pulled up a small glob like body that they were attached to. This tiny black mass, no bigger than a marble, quivered at the edge of the window for a moment before it rolled and slipped off the ledge into Twilight's home.
---
"Spike! I need that book!" Twilight barked as she scampered back up the stairs of the library to the second floor. Her baby dragon and number one assistant was pushing a rolling ladder over to a book self on the first floor.
"On it! Tips and Tricks for Speeches, right?" Spike called out as he scaled the ladder.
"Right, I think that's the one. Can you bring it over to the book stand when you get it? I need to make sure it's the right one." Twilight said as she came back down the stairs, levitating odds and ends that she quickly stuffed into her saddlebags.
"Roger!" Spike saluted as he turned his attention back to the shelf. "Lets see... Sensational Speech Writing, Proper Speech Giving Etiquette, Historical Beaches of Equestria... wait what's this doing here?" Spike pondered as he picked up the misplaced book and scratched at his chin with a claw.
"Spike," Twilight called out in a singsong tone as she quickly trotted back and forth fetching paper, writing quills, and ink that she gathered up with her magic as she reached each one. "I have a really busy day ahead and don't have time to waste playing around."
"I know, I'm looking. It has to be near here... Aha! Here it is, Tips and Tricks for Speeches by Clear Voice." Spike spoke triumphantly as he grasped the book's spine in his claws. As he lifted the book, a small black glob nestled behind it used its tiny black appendages to grasp onto the opposite edge of the book. It hung on as Spike carried the book over to the near by book stand. Once near the stand, Spike held the book high to wave it above his head, and the black glob took this chance to quickly gauge the distance and make a leap to the top of the stand. "Got it right here chief," Spike said as he waved the book at Twilight.
Twilight finished packing her writing supplies and then quickly trotted over next to Spike and took the book in her magic. "Thanks Spike," she said with a smile as she looked down at him. She hadn't noticed the small black glob that was curling itself up on the book stand, as if it were trying to ready itself to jump. It built up power in its tiny little unformed body, and when it sensed the moment was right it released itself like a spring directly at Twilight.
However, the spine of the book she was levitating got in the way, and then slammed down on the book stand smashing the tiny black creature flat between the book and the top of the stand.
"OK, lets see.." Twilight said as she used her magic to flip through the pages of the book. She was so focused on the contents of the book that she didn't notice the dripping trail of ooze that was seeping off the edge of the book stand. The dripping was pooling together in a tiny puddle at the base of the stand, and seemed to be pulling together into a small lump on the floor near Twilight's hoof. "Ah yes, there it is, this is exactly what I'm going to need. I'll have to make sure I brush up on this right before I give my speech," Twilight chirped as she used her magic to fold the book shut. "Now, I have to get going or I'm going to be late! Cheerilee was counting on me to drop by the school this morning before her classes started and drop off some books she needs," She said as she hurried over to her saddlebags with the book in her levitation magic.
"You still have an hour Twilight. The school isn't that far away," Spike mentioned as he took notice of the clock on the wall.
"Yeah but things can happen between here and the school that could hold me up. I have to account for that. It's on the schedule," Twilight mentioned as she pointed a hoof at a clipboard laying on a nearby table.
At the mention of the schedule, Spike located and picked up the clipboard and flipped through the many pages coming to one and reading it out loud. "Leave one hour early just in case something happens between the library and school.. whoa," Spike said as he looked up with a surprised look on his face. Spike was still sometimes taken aback by just how thorough Twilight's daily schedule planning could be.
While this display was going on, the black puddle of ooze had managed to literally pull itself back together, and noticed that its target was standing near the door way of the library. Almost as if it were suddenly in a panic, it began to flip itself end over end creating an odd looking running maneuver as it closed the distance between itself and Twilight.
"I'm already five minutes late on my one hour head start, I have to get going or I'm going to throw off my entire day," Twilight complained as she levitated her saddlebags onto her back and began trotting over to her door. "If you need anything, you know where to find me today."
"Right, got a copy of your entire schedule right here," Spike said as he tapped the back of his claws against the clipboard.
"I'll see you later then," Twilight smiled as she used her magic to quickly open the door to the library and trot out. The black glob quickened its pace, flipping its body end over end as forcefully as it could as it picked up speed. It didn't want to miss this chance. Catching up to its target, it made a springing leap with its body at the back of Twilight's left hind leg. It sailed through the air, extending its small tendrils ready to latch on.
And then the door slammed shut.
With a silent splat, the black dot became a black grease spot on the bottom edge of the door only a few inches off of the floor. It stuck there unnoticed, and after a few seconds it quietly slipped off the door pulling itself away back into a quivering black lump. If it could have looked disappointed it probably would have. Defeated, it slithered off into a dark corner behind a bookshelf.. for now.
---
Just as Twilight Sparkle was starting her busy day in Ponyville, an indigo hewed alicorn was winding down her's as she stared out from a balcony of one of the many towers of Canterlot Castle. She had felt a strange unease all through the night, and that tension was not gripping her any less now that her duties were done and her sister was taking over for the day. She found herself simply staring off in the distance letting her gaze wander over the impressive view. More than once, her gaze had come to rest on the Everfree Forest, a dark and dangerous place that rest just beyond the town of Ponyville down below. That place always caused her a strange mix of sensations when she dared look upon it. It had been her home once long ago, causing a stir of nostalgia deep inside her. It had also been her place of defeat recently causing her to feel a strange twinge she couldn't quite explain, though that 'defeat' had turned out to be the best part of her life in over a millennium. That defeat had returned her to who she really was by freeing her from the darkness that had plagued her soul.
"Luna?" A quiet voice came from behind calling the thoughtful alicorn. She jumped visibly at the voice but immediately knew who it was. She turned her gaze to see her older sister standing there, a taller and brilliant white alicorn with a pastel rainbow colored flowing mane and tail that seemed to move to the same unseen breeze as her own. "I'm sorry, did I startle you?" her sister smirked as she almost hummed her words. She walked up next to Luna, her steps seeming so light and gentle that she appeared to levitate as she walked.
"No... yes," Luna denied but then admitted with a roll of her eyes. "We were not expecting you to-"
"I, Luna.. I," her older sister gently corrected as she shifted her weight and bumped her younger sister's side with her own.
"Sorry.. I", Luna started again as she emphasized the word. She had been trying for some time now to break her habit of slipping into long forgotten speech patterns that had fallen out of use over the ages that she hadn't been present in Equestria, and had even asked her sister to help correct her on this. "I was not expecting you to sneak up on me. You can be quite the stealthy pony when you want to be Celestia."
"Well it wasn't my intention. And to be honest I think you simply weren't paying attention to your surroundings," Celestia quipped as she made a motion with her nose off in the distance. "You seem very thoughtful of the view this morning."
"It is nothing," Luna replied simply. She quietly looked out over the view for a little while longer but then noticed the intense side stare that her sister was giving her, as if Celestia expected something more. "Honestly," Luna started as she turned her gaze to lock with her older sister's, "it really is nothing to worry about. I was just letting myself get lost in my thoughts is all."
"Very well," Celestia nodded as she blinked and turned her gaze out towards the view. At the same time she lifted a wing and draped it over her sister's back and side, using it to pull her closer. "You know you can talk to me about anything that is bothering you at any time. Even if it is the middle of the night, just come wake me. I really won't mind."
"I know, you have told me as much many times, and I do appreciate your concern sister. But there really is nothing for you to be worrying about," Luna said as she allowed herself to be hugged by her older sister. She leaned into Celestia so that the side of her head was nestled against her older sister's neck. Just feeling her sister's presence gave Luna comfort. After spending a millennium away, it was a feeling that she had nearly forgotten about, and she treasured every moment she could spend like this since she knew what it was like to have the feeling taken away. That, and these moments rarely lasted for very long even now.
"Princess Celestia," a stallion’s voice spoke from behind the two sisters. Both of them turned their head to see a formally dressed unicorn with his head bowed. "The mayor of Manehatten and his wife have arrived."
"And so the day starts," Celestia said with an audible sigh. "Sorry Luna, have to go," she said with an edge of disappointment on her voice as she folded her wing back to her side and turned to approach the unicorn.
"You do not have to apologize about your duties sister. You know I understand," Luna explained as she turned to follow her sister back into the tower. "And I would come with you.."
"You need your sleep Luna. I can't ask you to attend to your night time duties and follow me around during the day just to satisfy my desire to have you near by," Celestia explained as she and Luna came to a hallway that extended both left and right. She stopped and turned to face Luna as the unicorn paused for a moment in the right hand hallway. "Sleep well little sister. I'll see you this evening," Celestia whispered as she leaned her head down and nuzzled her forehead against Luna's.
"Good day big sister," Luna said with a smile as she returned the affection. After a few seconds, Celestia turned to follow the unicorn down the right hallway while Luna herself turned to go down the left toward her bed chambers. As she did, the smile on her face slowly faded. Walking down the long hallway, she passed tall windows every few steps that beams of the radiant morning sunlight poured through. She looked to her side and caught glimpses of the view out of the windows as she walked by each one. That odd feeling was still there, still gripping her, but she hadn't wanted to bother her sister with some silly feeling. Her older sister was overly sensitive about everything since she had returned to Equestria even though it had been over two years since, and Luna feared that Celestia might overreact should she let on that there actually was something bothering her no matter how minor it might be.
She paused for a moment as she stared out of one of the windows, wondering if she was doing the right thing. A quick chill ran down her spine as she recalled a dark time in her past over a thousand years ago. Back then, she hadn't gone to her sister when she should have; she didn't share her concerns. No, back then she had let her feelings of jealousy fester inside of her until they became like an infection that she could no longer fight off, and she had sought comfort in a dark power instead of her sister's embrace. By then, it was far too late for her older sister to help. It was the biggest mistake she had ever committed, and a regret that she would live with for the rest of her immortal life.
But this strange feeling that had gripped her was different.. she tried reassured herself. This wasn't jealousy. It was.. well she wasn't really sure what it was, but it wasn't anything negative like the feelings she had back then. At least it didn't feel that way. It was more like a strange familiar feeling that she couldn't quite explain, like trying to remember something that you know you have forgotten, but you just have no idea what it could possibly be.
It was frustrating.
Maybe that was it. It was all just something she had forgotten, and it was bothering her. Luna resumed her stride toward her bed chambers as she seemed to come across an acceptable explanation for now. If that was all the strange feeling was, just some sort of random forgotten memory having difficulty resurfacing, then she didn't need to bother her sister with that. After all, what would she say? I want to talk to you about something, but I forgot what it is?
Luna smirked at her own thought; she had found it rather funny. She was feeling better now, having successfully put her own anxieties to rest. And she had her older sister's reassuring words echoing in her mind as well. Should she ever find the need to talk to anypony, she knew exactly who she could turn too.
Spike glanced up from his sitting spot on a crimson velvet pillow in the library over the top of a book he had been reading when he heard the door swing open. "Evening Twilight! How did everything go?" the dragon spoke cheerfully as he dropped the book face down on the central reading table near him and sprung up to scurry over to meet her.
"Ugh," Was the only greeting that Twilight could manage as she used a back hoof to kick the library door shut. She had just walked in, her head hanging a bit low.
Spike coiled back slightly at the response. "That good huh?" He asked a bit sarcastically.
"Why can't anypony just follow a schedule!" Twilight grumbled loudly as she used her magic to lift her saddlebags off her back and drop them on the floor. Spike quickly ran over to collect the bags and followed closely behind Twilight.
"So.. what happened?" Spike asked cautiously.
"Two cancellations, one reschedule, and Mr. Cake practically begged me on his hooves and knees to keep an eye on the little Cakes for half an hour while he made a quick delivery that ended up taking him two and a half hours, causing me to be late to the presentation and speech I was supposed to be giving today!" Twilight drew in a breath of air after the long spiel and let out a sigh as she approached and flopped on the pillow that Spike had been using earlier before continuing, "Sometimes I wonder why I bother trying to be organized when everypony else makes it so difficult."
"Aw come on Twilight, everypony knows they can count on you to keep things together when it counts. So you had an off day, it happens. Don't let it get to ya," Spike tried to speak comforting words as he placed Twilight's belongings on a shelf. He then scampered over to another near by shelf full of books and started looking them over. "How about some fiction? Maybe something with some action?"
Twilight shifted her head on the pillow and smiled as she glanced at Spike. "Thanks, but actually I'm feeling pretty tired from getting my schedule wrecked today, so I'm thinking about turning in early for the night after a little something for dinner."
"Oh yeah!" Spike said as he dashed off into the kitchen returning a moment later presenting a plate with a few muffins on it, "These were dropped by earlier by Pinkie. Said she was sorry that you got saddled with foalsitting. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I guess it makes sense now."
Twilight magically lifted one of the muffins from the plate as Spike was setting it on the table. She took a quick nip of the muffin, and commented on the flavor. "Oh, blueberry," she chirped before taking a large bite of the baked good.
With the help of her number one assistant, Twilight was able to unwind a bit to a plate of one of her favorite treats and a cup of cinnamint tea, a sweet tasting but strong tea brewed with cinnamon sticks and mint leaves. She always could count on her little helper to help her relax after a tiring day.
---
The library had darkened for the night many hours earlier when Twilight and Spike had turned in a bit early for the evening. Other than a quiet whistle from the breeze outside, the first floor of the Golden Oaks Library was completely silent. It was among this silence that a tiny shadow crept along the floor having decided to bring itself out from its hiding spot.
The tiny black dot approached the stair way that lead up to the second floor of the library where the baby dragon and unicorn were resting peacefully. Extending its whip like tendrils from its body, it grabbed on to the step above itself and, with some effort, managed to pull itself up.
Again and again, the small black glob used its shiny, oily tendrils to hoist itself up a step. One more closer, and another, and another.
It finally crested the highest step where it found itself before a door that appeared massive to its tiny body. Of course it would have no chance of opening such a thing under its own power, but it wouldn't need too. Flattening its goo-like body, the black glob dribbled itself into the seam between the door and the floor.
Once it had gathered itself on the other side the glob slowly slinked around in the darkness of the bedroom. It located the stairs that lead up to the loft, and once again pulled itself step by step upwards. Once it had reached the peak of its climb, it crawled up to the side of a basket which had light snoring noises coming from a mass of blankets. The tiny black ball seemed to regard the basket for a moment before it continued slithering on past it. It reached a taller object in the room; a bed post at the foot of a bed. Turning itself into something that looked more like a black earthworm, the goo began to curl around the bed post and slithered up it like a snake. It finally came to the top of the bed sheets and gathered itself back into a ball before continuing its silent trek to its target.
Undetected by the sleeper, the goo slowly rolled its way up the sheets, scaling Twilight's side, and then continuing on until it rested just on her right shoulder. Twilight seemed completely unaware of its presence as she laid there cuddled under her covers, quiet breaths escaping her as her sides slowly heaved in and out.
If it'd had eyes, it probably would have been staring with them. For long moments the glob simply sat there perched on Twilight's shoulder, doing nothing other than waiting. And then as if it had suddenly come to a conclusion, it struck.
The black glob extended multiple tendrils outward that grappled Twilight's ear. With a swift pull, it launched its little body forward, landing itself just in the cup of the unicorn's right ear. And with one fluid motion, it slipped and vanished completely into the ear canal. The strike was so swift it happened in a matter of only a few seconds.
Twilight's right ear flicked as she let out a quiet grunt. Her face seemed to scrunch up for just a second before it relaxed again.
---
It was bright. Far too bright. Annoyingly bright. Twilight scrunched her face up as she tried to ignore it and when that failed to bring her peace she managed to pull the edge of her bed sheet over her face. The annoyance having been swiftly dealt with, Twilight relaxed as her mind slipped back to the edge of sleep only for it to be yanked back forcefully.
Twilight jerked under the covers as her back legs kicked at a loud thumping sound. The loud noise had taken her off guard scaring her fully awake in an instant. She remained under the covers for a few seconds letting her racing heart calm a bit before she let out a growl. The sound repeated itself, revealing its location at the bedroom door. Casting her cover aside, Twilight rolled out of bed and stomped down the loft stair way over to the door. The door flung open suddenly when Twilight grasped it with her magic and pulled revealing a wide eyed Spike on the other side, his small clawed fist raised just as he was about to knock on the door again.
"Good... morning," Spike said unsure when he caught his first glimpse of Twilight. Her mane and tail where a knotted mess of bed hair and she didn't seem all that pleased at the moment.
"Why are you making racket so early?" Twilight complained as she ran one of her hooves through her bangs to brush them out of her sight.
"Uh.." Spike said as he glanced back into the main library room. He eyed a clock that was on the far wall reading it as a few minutes past ten o'clock. "I didn't think this was early?" Spike answered as she shrugged his shoulders.
Twilight's eyes widened and she poked her head out of the door to look at the same clock that Spike had. "Ohmygosh! Why didn't you wake me up!?" Twilight squeaked as she darted back into the bedroom and made a gallop for the bathroom door, slamming it shut behind her.
"That's what I'm doing," Spike said mater-of-fact like.
"You should have woken me up earlier! I have to take care of the reschedules today and now I'm already late!" Twilight's voice rang from behind the bathroom door.
"You seemed kinda worn out yesterday so I thought I'd let you sleep in a little bit. I figured you could use it." Spike stood outside the door as he listened to the sounds of a hurricane.. or Twilight getting herself ready for the day, one of the two. He really wasn't sure which.
The door to the bathroom flew open a moment later causing Spike to jump back. Twilight's bed-mane had been hastily brushed out leaving a few stray hairs still sticking up. Twilight dashed out into the center of the bedroom and skidded to a stop right in front of the baby dragon pushing her face right up against his. "But I have work to get done! I can't just sleep the day away! You should have gotten me up!" Twilight rambled between her panicked gasps for air.
"Whoa whoa, It's not that big a deal Twilight," Spike said as he took another step back.
"Maybe for you! I have ponies counting on me. I can't just lay around the library all day," Twilight said as she nosed the dragon out of the way and quickly trotted down the stairway to the main room of the library. Once there she began filtering through the items in her saddlebag that was resting against the wall at the foot of the stairs.
"Don't sweat it, I already got everything packed for you, and-"
"Well at least you did one thing right this morning," Twilight growled through her teeth as she slapped the saddlebag on her back. She then trotted over to the front door and with her magic snatched a clipboard off of a nearby table. Without eying it, she shoved it into her saddlebag as well and opened the front door to leave.
"Wait, Twilight," Spike protested as he scampered down the stairway after her.
However the door slamming shut forcefully enough to rattle pictures on the walls was the only answer Spike would get in response. He wasn't exactly sure what had just happened and stood there stunned for a minute. A frown crept across his face as he tapped his index claws together in front of his chest. Turning to walk back into the main room he approached the table there and picked up a plate with muffins on it and a glass full of orange juice. He huffed a 'whatever' and took them with him as he made his way to the kitchen.
---
"Out of everypony in Equestria I would have expected at least Spike to understand how important it is for me to keep my commitments," Twilight grumbled to herself as she cantered along the streets of Ponyville at a quick pace. Her assistant had successfully made her late and made her miss breakfast, and as a result, had successfully fouled her mood only minutes after she had woken up. Today was not going to be a good day.
"Well what's first," Twilight huffed as she slowed to a stop and used her magic to grab her schedule clip board from her saddlebag. She flipped through the first couple pages which were remnants of the day before and made it to the page for the current day, which was a mess of scribbles. Because of the reschedules from the previous day everything had to be shifted around. There were lines drawn through some tasks, times marked out and changed, arrows drawn here and there showing how things had been reordered. It was chaos on a piece of paper. And most annoyingly, Twilight couldn't find what her morning tasks were supposed to be.
"Ugh, where is it?" She complained as she used her magic to flip to the next page. There were more of the same scribble marks there as well, but nothing about the day's schedule. Flipping back, Twilight took another look over the page more carefully and noticed that nothing had a time scheduled before noon. Then she tilted the clipboard and read an extra note along the bottom corner of the page that wasn't in her horn writing.
"Moved back to twelve," she quietly mumbled as she read it and then followed the arrow that pointed up to a line that read 'Help with Sweet Apple Acres inventory', which had its original time scribbled out. Twilight stared at the words on the page for a few seconds and then her ears drooped as she lowered the clipboard.
"Oh no.."
---
"Yep, the little feller was here earlier. Asked if the inventory could hold off til noon. Didn't he tell you?" An orange coated earth mare with blond mane and tail both tied to pony tails asked Twilight. The farm pony had her iconic Stetson hat on her head and was pulling a wagon that had over half a dozen bushels of apples of various colors loaded on it.
Twilight's fears had been confirmed now. She had gone to seek out her friend Applejack, the hard working earth mare of Sweet Apple Acres, and one of her close friends. She had originally made an appointment with her friend to help do an apple inventory at the ranch this day around nine o'clock, but located her pulling a full wagon from one of the ranch's many apple orchards instead.
"So Spike did ask you to change it," Twilight mumbled as her ears flattened to the sides of her head.
"Was he not s'pose to? I thought he was just helpin ya out Twilight, said you had a doozy of a day yesterday and could use some restin," Applejack eyed her unicorn friend's hair for a second before she added, "looks like ya need it, no offense."
"None taken. And yes, I did have a doozy yesterday. My schedule got wrecked. When I woke up at ten this morning I thought I was already late for the inventory, so I kinda rushed out before Spike could say anything," Twilight continued her dejected glance at the ground as she walked along side Applejack.
"Well, I'm not really ready to start now cuz I thought I had til noon, but yer welcome to stick around the farm til then if ya like," the farm mare offered warmly with a smile, but that smile faded quickly as she watched Twilight closely. She could tell something wasn't quite right and decided to prod for an explanation. "So.. ya sure that you ain't mad at him for movin the time?"
Twilight glanced up and looked at Applejack with a bit of surprise. "Why would I be mad? He was just trying to help me out."
"Sounds like ya ended up in a bit of a panic." Applejack took a right turn as the trail forked off, following along side a white picketed fence that lined the path just outside her ranch.
Twilight continued to walk along side her remaining silent for a few seconds as she exchanged glances with her friend and the ground a few times. "Well, I did kinda panic.. and I may have accidentally snapped at him a bit," Twilight mentioned not seeming all to proud of her behavior this morning. She glanced back and forth between the ground and her friend a few more times still seeing Applejack's gaze on her. With a huff she decided to confess more. "By a bit.. I actually mean I kinda said that he wasn't really doing his job right.. in a not so nice way. And then I slammed the door in his face."
"Dang Twilight," Applejack said with a quick shake of her head.
"I know I know! It wasn't nice and even if I had been late I shouldn't have done that anyway," Twilight hung her head low as she continued, "I didn't mean to take my stress out on him but I think I kinda did and now I feel like a dork."
"Well I'm sure the little feller will forgive ya without a second thought. You and Spike have been like two peas in a pod all his life. And 'sides, I think he's got the right idea for ya." Applejack had crossed under the Sweet Apple Acres archway that marked the front gate of the apple ranch. She continued on toward one of the red barns with her wagon in tow and was starting to turn the wagon in front of it.
Twilight stopped nearby as she watched her friend start to back the wagon up to the side of the barn. "Right idea?" Twilight asked at her friend's comment.
"Sure! You need a.. break!" Applejack grunted the last word as the wagon bumped against the wall of the barn. Lowering her neck and taking a step back, she ducked out from under the wagon harness and then trotted up to her friend. "A vacation would fix you right up."
"I-I don't know. I mean I'm really busy and.. I've taken a vacation recently anyways," Twilight casually drew a circle on the ground with her fore-hoof as she seemed to try to invent an excuse.
"Really? Name one." Applejack commented flatly as she stared at he friend with furrowed eyebrows.
"Uh... well.. lets see. There was... oh! My brother's wedding! Yeah we all took time off for that, remember?" Twilight grinned from ear to ear forcefully hoping her answer would suffice. However, her farm mare friend's expression seemed far less than impressed. With a heavy sigh and a shake of her head Applejack turned to start walking toward her house. Twilight cautiously followed behind her.
"Let's forget for just a moment that the weddin happened somewhere bout a year ago already," Applejack said as she eyed back at Twilight with a displeased look, "even then, it was hardly what I'd be callin a vacation. I mean all that weddin plannin, the cookin, us bein picked for brides maids, you bein picked to be best-mare, then not to mention that yer sister-in-law to be had been foalnapped and replaced by some evil chainglin queen."
Twilight laughed a bit nervously as her friend went on about the event. "Well, yeah I can see that. OK, bad example."
"No it ain't," Applejack said as she stopped short of her home's front door and turned to face Twilight. "It's a perfect example.. of how you are needin yerself a vacation."
"But," Twilight started to protest, "my schedule-"
"Will be there when ya get back," Applejack interrupted as she put a hoof out to touch Twilight's shoulder. "Listen girl, if yer gettin riled up enough to be snippin at Spike just cuz he let you sleep in a bit, you gotta take a break 'fore you up and just explode."
Twilight sighed, feeling defeated. Her friend was right of course. She hadn't had an extended break from things for a very long time now and it was obviously wearing her down. If her actions this morning toward Spike were any indication she really had no excuse left for foregoing some kind of break from her obligations.
Perhaps a trip to Canterlot, your old home?
Twilight blinked at the stray thought that had popped into her mind. Yes, the last time she had been there for anything resembling fun was the wedding, which really had been almost a year past. The time sure had flown by while she had busied herself with tasks in Ponyville and elsewhere, and she hadn't taken a trip to her old home town for any other reason than 'official business' since then. She scratched at her chin with one of her fore-hooves as she pondered the thought for a moment with a low hum.
However, her thoughts were noisily interrupted by a growling noise coming from her stomach. She blinked at the uncontrolled noise as her face brightened with embarrassment and then grinned to her friend, who was staring back at her with a raised eyebrow.
"You hungry or somethin?" Applejack asked.
"Well.. I kinda didn't eat breakfast," Twilight said as she tried to control the reddening of her face under her lavender coat.
Applejack made a 'tsk' sound between her teeth before she turned to nose open the door to her home. "Why don't yall come in and have a bite then, since we got the time. Granny Smith baked some fresh fritters just this mornin. Bet ya can talk her outta one if ya try."
"Sure, if you don't mind," Twilight said as she happily followed her friend inside.
---
The sun was now hanging low in the sky on its final decent to the horizon before the moon would take over for the night. It had taken a little extra effort but Twilight had not only managed to take care of every task on her clipboard for the day, she had also made enough time to get a special order pastry prepared from Sugarcube Corner. She balanced a small white box on her back above her saddlebags that she had just picked up as she made her way home.
I really hope he isn't mad at me.
Well you did throw his kind gesture back in his face.
I didn't know!
And you didn't give him the chance to tell you.
Twilight wrestled with her inner thoughts as she approached her home. She stopped at the front door for a moment trying to fight down the feeling of anxiety. After spending most of the day thinking about it, she really was scared that Spike might not forgive her for her earlier actions.
Drawing in a calming breath, Twilight used her magic to push open the door to the library. “I'm home,” she said with a grin on her face. Glancing around, Twilight attempted to locate her assistant but was unable to find a trace of him on the first floor. “Spike? You here?” Twilight asked as she walked into the center of the room. She then noticed the parchment sitting on the reading table. Using her magic to lift it up, she read the short note.
“Went to visit Rarity. Will be back home soon.” Twilight recognized her assistant's claw writing right away, and let go a sigh as she put the paper back down on the table.
I don't blame him. I wouldn't want to be here when you got home either.
Twilight frowned at the thought and tried to dispel it with a shake of her head. Spike often went to visit Rarity, this wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
Taking the white box off her back, Twilight gently set it down on the table next to the note. She then levitated her saddlebags over to the side of the table and dropped them there. Even though she had gotten a little extra sleep earlier that morning, her efforts to try and stay caught up had still drained her of energy. Finding the nearby velvet pillow, Twilight flopped down with a groan.
You should rest.
Yeah.. I should.
---
A sudden knocking sound caused Twilight to snap back to consciousness. Blinking her eyes, she stood and took a few steps off of the pillow as she glanced around. Obviously she had dozed off after she had gotten home, though she didn't see Spike anywhere near by. Then her eyes darted over to the front door when the knocking sound happened again.
“Just a minute,” Twilight called taking notice of the darkness outside the windows. It was night time now which meant she had been asleep for a while now. Maybe it was Spike finally coming home, she pondered as she crossed the room. But then if it was him, he should have just let himself in.
Taking the door handle in her magic, Twilight gave the door a tug to open it and see who it was.
“Hey there sugarcube,” Applejack said with a nod as she walked in right away. Twilight stepped back and allowed her to pass, then looked out the door behind her friend to see if her assistant was anywhere nearby. When she didn't see him she slowly closed the door and walked back to the main room to speak to her friend.
“Uh.. hey AJ. What brings you here?” Twilight asked as she craned her neck to look through the doorway of the kitchen. Spike didn't seem to be in there either.
Applejack stopped near the middle of the library and then turned to face Twilight with a smile. “Oh just stoppin by to see if you decided yet.”
Twilight turned her full attention to her friend and tilted her head. “Decided what?” Just then another knock came at the door which grabbed Twilight's attention away again. “Hold on just a second,” she said as she trotted quickly over to the door and pulled it open.
“There you are darling, how have you been?” A white unicorn with a perfectly styled purple mane and tail came prancing in.
“Rarity? Oh, is Spike with you?” Twilight asked as she glanced outside the door. When she saw nothing she once again pushed the door too.
“Heavens no! And besides, I came here to see you. You just have to let us go along with you on your vacation to Canterlot. We could make it into a girls' getaway. It would be fantastic!” Rarity seemed to twirl and dance on her hooves as she spoke.
“Wait.. when did you-” Twilight started to ask, but was then interrupted by yet another knock at the door. With a low growl Twilight grabbed the handle of the door yet again with her magic and yanked it open. Just on the other side, a butter colored pegasus mare with long locks of pink for a mane and tail cringed back from the door.
“Oh.. um.. sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I'm interrupting aren't I?” The shy mare spoke softly as she stepped back.
“Fluttershy? Why are you here?” Twilight asked the quiet pegasus.
“Well.. I heard about the vacation, and thought it would be fun if we all went. But if you don't want too.. that's fine too,” Fluttershy mumbled as she kicked her fore-hoof against the ground.
“Uh.. honestly I'm not sure what is going on. Why don't you come in and we can all talk about this,” Twilight offered as she gestured inside her home with a hoof.
“Oh, thank you so much,” Fluttershy said with a joyful smile as she walked inside to join the group. Twilight let go a sigh as she started to close the door with her magic, but just as it was about to latch it suddenly flew back open and slammed against the wall as a rainbow streak plowed Twilight to the floor.
Twilight let go a moan as she tried to push herself up. “What hit me?” said as she looked to her side and noticed a light blue hoof extended to her.
“Sorry Twi, didn't realize you were closing the door and I couldn't slow down in time,” Rainbow Dash said with a grin. “Let me help you up.”
“So you're here too. Let me guess,” Twilight said as she took her friend's hoof and stood up, “it's about the vacation.”
“You bet! I wouldn't miss a chance to go to Canterlot for a get away. The Wonderbolts have been doing their performances there all month! This could be my chance to hang out with them again,” Rainbow Dash was grinning from ear to ear as she spoke, but then noticed all attention was on her. “Oh well uh.. I'd hang out with you guys too.. of course.”
“Of course,” Rarity chipped in to the conversation.
Twilight let go a forced laugh as she started walking to the wide open front door. She took hold with her magic, but paused for a second. Her mind was doing the math and something didn't quite add up, other than the fact that all her friends seemed to be visiting at odd hours asking her about a vacation that she hadn't really told anypony about yet. No, there was something missing. Twilight squinted at the door way, and then closed it and reopened it quickly.
“Pinkie,” Twilight said plainly as she stared at the pink party pony standing on the other side of the open door way.
“Heya Twilight!” Pinkie said as she bounced through the door's threshold and glomped her unicorn friend in a hug. “How did you know I was here?”
“I just had a feeling,” Twilight said with a smirk as she allowed herself to be hugged. This was the only event this evening that actually seemed somewhat normal so far.
“Wow you're good! You need to teach me that trick some time! But first, there's something more important,” Pinkie seemed to take on a more serious expression as she let go of her friend and walked into the center of the library. Twilight eyed the open doorway suspiciously and carefully took hold of it with her magic again. She slowly closed it, and right as it latched she pulled it back open slightly and peaked out through the open gap. When she didn't see anypony there, she shrugged and closed the door all the way. Satisfied that there wouldn’t be any more surprise visitors, she followed Pinkie into the main room to join the rest of the group.
Pinkie had found a place to stand on the reading table in the center of the room, and had nearly knocked the unicorn bust sculpture off in the process. She cleared her throat to draw attention to herself, and everypony gave their full undivided attention. “So! Now that we're all here, we can get started.”
“On what?” Twilight asked, feeling like she was probably the only pony who wasn't in on what was happening.
“The pre-vacation party of course! I mean duh, what else did you think I was here for?” Pinkie said as she pointed a hoof at Twilight, touching her nose with it. “But you still haven't officially made it all official by invited us all yet! Time's a wasting!”
“Uh I really don't know what you're talking about,” Twilight took a step back as she pushed Pinkie's hoof away. She then noticed how the group of mares around her seemed to be looking at her as if she had just said something horrible.
“Well.. here I thought we were all friend,” Applejack huffed.
Twilight was a bit shocked by the comment. “We are! But seriously.. how did you guys all find out about this? I hadn't told anypony that I was thinking about going to Canterlot.” Twilight said as she took another step back.
“So now you're keeping secrets from us?” Rarity questioned with a gasp as she began to approach Twilight.
“That's.. not nice,” Fluttershy added as she too started walking toward Twilight as well.
“Yeah no kidding! And here I got my hopes up thinking I might get to see the Wonderbolts perform,” Rainbow Dash joined in.
Twilight found herself back peddling away from the group as they began to close in on her. Something was off. No, everything was off. Nothing about this seemed right. They shouldn't know. Why did they know? Twilight's thoughts began to race looking for an answer. However she jumped slightly in surprise when she ran out of room and found her back up against a wall.
The entire room seemed to be spinning, and all sound seemed to be drowned out by some strange high-pitched ringing in Twilight's ears. She couldn't make out exactly what her friends were saying, but the looks on their angry faces as they yelled told her none of it was good. She wanted it to stop. She fell to the floor, her hooves over her head as she cowered there praying for this to stop. But even though she was covering her ears through the head-splitting ringing sound, she could still make out the angry voices of her friends yelling her name.
---
“Twilight?” Spike asked as he prodded Twilight's shoulder with one of his claws.
Twilight let go a scream as she suddenly snapped to alertness. The outburst caused Spike to fall back off his feet to his back as he too let go his own scream. At this, Twilight let go another scream of her own as she back peddled off the pillow, hiding herself behind it.
“Why are you screaming!?” Spike shouted as he hid his face behind his claws, peaking out through them.
“Why are you screaming?” Twilight shot back, her voice still sounding alarmed.
“I asked first!” Spike said as he sat up and pointed a single claw at himself.
Twilight looked around the room quickly from her hiding spot from behind the pillow. Her eyes darted back and forth as she tried to find them, but they weren't there any more. Then her frantic mind began to catch up as reality started to work it's way back in. It was still barely light outside and Spike was here. And she had just been laying on her pillow.
Letting go a relieved sigh, Twilight flopped her fore-hooves and chin down on the velvet cushion. “Oh.. it was all a dream.”
“Didn't sound like a good one,” Spike commented as he stood up and walked over to the other edge of the pillow. “You were all moaning and saying stuff like 'no' and 'don't' and stuff. So I thought I'd wake you up from it. Then you screamed in my face twice.” Spike crossed his arms as he finished his recount of what had happened.
“I'm... sorry,” Twilight said as she placed a hoof against her forehead. “I must have dozed off, and then that nightmare happened.”
“Nightmare huh?” Spike asked as one of his eyebrows perked up. “Wanna talk about it?”
“No.. not really,” Twilight immediately said as she shook her head.
“Oh well.. alright,” Spike shrugged and turned to walk off. He was starting to make his way to the kitchen door way.
Twilight watched him walk away for a moment before her gaze moved over to the white box sitting on the table next to her. She then remembered something important. “Oh hey Spike, come here.”
Spike stopped just before the kitchen door and turned his head around. When he saw Twilight sitting back up on the pillow and gesturing with a hoof for him to come back over, he spun around and waddled his way back. “So you do wanna talk about it?” He asked as he approached.
“Not exactly. There's something else I want to talk to you about. But first,” Twilight pushed the white box on the table closer to Spike, “open this.”
“What is it?” Spike asked as he hopped up on the table and walked over to the box, setting his claws on it.
“A box,” Twilight said plainly. Spike looked back at her with a glance that said 'are you serious', which caused the lavender unicorn to let go a giggle. “Open it, silly.”
“Alright,” Spike said as he rubbed his claws together. Popping the lid on the box, Spike slowly opened it up wide and the size of his eyes seemed to grow wider as the opening did. “Whoa! A sapphire cupcake!” Spike reached into the box and hoisted out a large cupcake with sapphire colored frosting and actual sapphire gem chips sprinkled on top.
“Jumbo sized,” Twilight pointed out. The cupcake was nearly as big as Spike's head. “I had Pinkie make it special order today.”
“This is awesome Twilight!”
“Yeah, well, after all the trouble you went through to try and give me half a day off, I figured that you deserved a little something,” Twilight said with a smile. That smile dimmed slightly and her ears laid down against the sides of her head as she added, “that and.. I'm really sorry about how I treated you.”
Spike noticed the change in Twilight's mood, and quickly set the cupcake back down in its box. “Hey it's cool. You've been stressing out like there's no tomorrow. I probably should have told you what I was doing earlier. Then you wouldn't have had a freak out when I woke you up 'late'.”
Twilight giggled at her little assistant and reached a hoof out to him. “Come here you!”
“Ah OK..” Spike said as he feigned annoyance. Taking a few steps to the edge of the table, he leaped off and landed on the pillow with Twilight, who hugged him tightly in her fore-legs.
“No matter what you're always going to be my number one assistant, don't forget that.”
“I won't.”
Twilight embraced the little purple and green dragon for a while, gently running a hoof through his spikes along his back every so often. She was content to just stay like this for the rest of the night, but something in the air drew her attention away. Sniffing at the new smell, she asked a quick question. “What's that?”
Spike glanced up to see what Twilight was looking at, but when he noticed she had her nose pointed into the air he figured out quickly what it was she had noticed. “It's celery stock stew. I just got it started before I came in here to wake you up,” Spike explained as he hopped off of the pillow and began scampering over to the kitchen door way.
“Oh good I'm starving!” Twilight said as she too sprung up from the cushion and began to trot toward the door. She stopped for just a moment to levitate the white box onto her back, and then continued onward into the kitchen.
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.
Twilight stood next to a tall gray pillar in lengthy hallway. The floor had a long red carpet spanning the full length of the hall from its entrance. Nearby at the end of the hallway, a large double-door with an eight point golden sunburst pattern etched across its center stood framed by a gold decorated archway, complete with a white depiction of the sun princess encircled by gold at the top. At either side of the door, two white coated unicorn guards adorned with their ceremonial golden armor vigilantly stood watch.
Twilight seemed to be concentrating as she silently maintained her invisibility shroud. Her expression looked somewhat strained as her eyes fluttered open, and she looked around the pillar to the guards nearby. She had successfully dealt with the annoyance in her head, buying some time, and now needed to deal with her next task swiftly.
The two guards would easily meet her requirements. They were in the right place, and would be easy enough to take down. All she had to do now was use them to cause a panic. Straining herself to exert more magical energy, Twilight concentrated while her shadow stretched unnaturally longer. The top of her shadow then broke away in two pieces, and quickly slid across the floor and up the walls to the ceiling above.
Relaxing herself slightly, Twilight opened her eyes and intently watched the two guards, waiting for the right moment. She noticed her two shadows moving unseen by the guards along the back wall behind them. Then one of the shadows sprung from the wall, zipping through the air toward the back of the left guard's head. It hit him with a powerful force that knocked him forward, causing him to let go a pain filled grunt as he collapsed face first to the ground.
The second guard sprung to full alert readying himself to face the assailant, but when he saw nopony there he glanced around frantically confused. A second later, the other shadow sprung from the wall hitting the remaining guard in the side of the head. Stumbling sideways a few steps, he toppled over to his side in a heap.
Satisfied with her work, Twilight dropped her invisibility spell and began to gallop down the hallway to the exit to start the next step of her plan. As she made her way into the courtyard outside, she called out for help.
---
Celestia had been intently listening to the volley of conversations and stories crisscrossing the table when her hearing picked up on a noise behind her. She turned her neck so she could look behind her chair at the door just in time to see Twilight burst through, causing the servant to jump back from the doorway to avoid getting hit. The lavender unicorn skidded to a stop just inside the doorway, panting hard from over exertion. Just behind her a few castle guards caught up, standing just outside the doorway.
Celestia could immediately tell something was amiss. Standing from her chair, she took on a regal demeanor as she quickly approached her student. “What has happened?” She questioned quickly as she stopped just in front of Twilight.
“In the tower,” Twilight began through the pants, “shadows. I saw them.”
Celestia eyes widened a bit before she glanced up to the guards standing outside the doorway. “Go,” was the only command she gave to them. Immediately the set of guards nodded and set themselves into action, galloping away down the hallway.
Celestia's gaze then softened as she approached Twilight and rested a hoof on her student's back. The rest of the mares in the room had left their seats as well, and were approaching to check on their friend. Even Luna who had been sitting at the far end of the table was now trotting up to stand next to her sister.
“Oh, Twilight. Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked timidly.
“You look like you galloped clear across Equestria,” Applejack added with a concerned look.
“I-I'm fine. Just need.. to catch my breath,” Twilight said between huffs of air. Taking in a deep breath to calm herself, she looked up to Celestia as a worried expression played on her face. “I think the elements are in danger.”
“What?” Celestia pulled her hoof back, shocked by the statement.
“How?” Luna spoke up from beside her older sister, her agitation becoming obvious from the ruffling of her black wings.
“I saw a shadow. I followed it to Canterlot Tower and saw it attack the guards there. We have to do something!” Twilight begged as she grabbed at Celestia's raised hoof.
“Nothing can get through that door,” Luna asserted with a quick stamp of her hoof. “Only my sister can open it.”
“Luna,” Celestia said as she unfolded one of her wings, placing it against her younger sister's chest to silence her. “Hear Twilight out.” Luna frowned, but decided to hold her tongue.
“I know it sounds crazy, but I saw it happen. I think they might have gotten in somehow. We have to go check,” Twilight frantically begged to her mentor.
“OK, calm down,” Celestia said while gently placing a hoof on Twilight's head. “We'll take a look.”
“We're coming too, right guys?” Rainbow Dash spoke up as she gave her wings a flap, unfolding them to ready herself to join in. The rest of Twilight's friends echoed the response with nods and confirmations of their own.
---
Celestia and Luna approached the vault door at the end of the Canterlot Tower hallway followed closely by the six Ponyville mares. The hallway had been brightly lit using magical lighting. Many guards were busying themselves with searching every last inch of the hallway, while some attended to the two fallen guards nearby.
Celestia spotted one gray coated mare guard checking nearby the door and approached her with a question. “Have you found any evidence of a break in?”
“No your highness,” The guard shook her head as she gave her full attention to her ruler.
“I see,” Celestia commented with a frown as she looked up at the tall doorway.
“Maybe they slipped under it,” Twilight commented as she tapped a hoof near the bottom edge of the door.
“Something doesn't just 'slip' under this door,” Luna shot back hotly, “the magical wards on this vault were created by Celestia herself. Only she can open it.”
“Luna,” Celestia said lowly with a disappointed look. Luna simply rolled her eyes and cast her glance aside. Celestia shook her head before glancing back up at the doorway. “The ward has failed on this vault once before. I think it is worth checking inside, to verify that the elements are safe.”
Twilight let a small smile tug at the corner of her mouth, though she attempted to keep it under control as to not let on that her plan was proceeding successfully.
.. stop it ..
Twilight narrowed her eyes at the small voice calling out in her mind, and attempted to shove it away. She wasn't going to let it ruin her efforts now that she had gotten this far.
The group of assembled ponies took a step back to allow the sun princess enough room. Using the tip of her horn like a key, she slipped it into a small hole at the center of the sunburst pattern on the door. At the touch of her horn, the lines along the pattern started to glow brightly, as did the central seam of the door. With a bright blue flash, the vault doors opened with a groan allowing entry into its inner chamber.
The group of ponies walked just inside, finding a purple chest decorated with golden trim and encrusted with a multitude of colored gem stones. Twilight took in the sight, her eyes locked on her first goal. Now she just needed a diversion.
Stop it.
The complaining voice rung out in the unicorn's mind again. Grinding her teeth, she attempted to ignore the annoyance while she tried to think of a way to get everypony's attention away from the chest. Luckily, the distraction would be provided for her.
“Your majesties, one of the guards has awoken,” A white unicorn guard called just from the entrance of the vault. The sound of the guard's voice had turned all attention away from the chest. This was it, the moment that she had been waiting so long for.
Stop it!
Silence!
Twilight bit back at the complaining voice in her mind as she let her magic flair. Quickly, she took up the chest with a levitation spell, and then blinked out of existence in a bright flash. The sudden burst of light caused everypony's attention to snap back to the empty spot that Twilight had just occupied.
“Eh.. What.. just happened?” Applejack commented confused as she pointed a hoof at the spot Twilight had vanished from.
“The elements!” Luna shouted as she pushed her way to the empty spot on the pillar that the chest had just been sitting at. “She took them!”
“Wait.. did you just say that Twilight stole the elements?” Rainbow Dash asked as she looked upon the moon princess with confusion.
“Stole?” Rarity echoed as she bit the back of one of her fore-hooves.
“Hold on,” Celestia spoke up clearly among the confusion, “We don't know what just happened.”
“Celestia,” Luna shouted as she put herself squarely in front of her sister. “That was a teleportation spell. The chest of the elements are missing and so is Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn that was just in here with us may not have even been her, it could have been an imposter!”
Celestia stared back into her younger sister's stern glance. She was right, the unicorn that had rejoined them in the dinning room could possibly be somepony else. She wasn't sure what a thief aiming to steal the Elements of Harmony could possibly hope to gain, but right now wasn't the time to ponder on motives. The elements had just been taken right out from under her nose, and it was her responsibility to retrieve them. She would have to find out why later.
“Guard!” Celestia barked loudly toward the vault door. The white unicorn guard standing at the doorway quickly approached his princess, kneeling down. “Get the word out. Search for Twilight Sparkle, anypony resembling her, or anypony else that might seem suspicious, and keep an eye out for the Elements of Harmony. Search all of Canterlot if you have too, just find them!”
“Yes princess!” The guard spoke quickly before rising to his feet and galloping off.
Celestia didn't waste any time herself and galloped out of the vault shortly after the guard had left. Her sister and the five remaining mares tried to keep up with her longer stride as they too followed the sun princess out of Canterlot Tower into the courtyard just outside.
“Wait!” Luna called out for her sister. Celestia stopped and turned around at her sister's call, waiting for her to catch up. As she did, Luna asked the obvious question. “Where are we going?”
“I'm not sure yet,” Celestia said as she glanced around at the various spires of Canterlot Castle. There were too many places to search, too many places that somepony could hide. Especially a pony armed with magic. And then there was the question of whether the Twilight that had taken the chest was the real one or not, and if not, could Twilight be in danger? Where would she be kept? She stood there for a moment going over the possible locations that somepony might try to hide themselves or somepony else in her mind, trying to think of one that would stand out over all the rest.
“Princess!” a voice called out loudly above. The assembled group of ponies turned their attention to the skies, finding a gray pegasus stallion in golden armor gliding down. His wings buffeted the air as he approached the ground, and then his hooves clacked against the stone walkway as he landed. “Princess, there has been an attack,” the guard reported as he quickly knelt before the sun princess.
“Where?” Celestia quickly questioned as she devoted her full attention to the guard.
“Near your bed chambers. Whatever caused the attack seems to have already fled,” The guard spoke as he stood up to meet his ruler's gaze.
Celestia considered the report. The attack was most likely related to Twilight's sudden disappearance, due to the timing. There were not any other possible leads on Twilight's whereabouts yet, and though the guard had said that the attackers had already come and gone, perhaps there would be something there that could lead her to where they had gone. Giving the guard a quick nod, she came to a decision. “I'll be there right away, please head back and try to gather more information.”
With that command, the guard kicked off the ground and took flight back up to one of the open castle walkways that spanned between towers up above.
Celestia turned to face the group that was with her to explain her next move. “I'm going to head that way, perhaps some information about Twilight will turn up there.”
“I'm going with you,” Luna quickly added.
“I think we all wanna go see what's happenin. Twilight might need our help,” Applejack chipped in as she clacked a hoof against the stone pavement.
“Uh, we don't all have wings,” Pinkie pointed out as she pointed a hoof to her right and left at Rarity and Applejack respectively.
Celestia glanced across the courtyard at the entrance to the spire that lead up to her personal bed chambers, and pointed a hoof at the entrance. “You three should be able to get up to the top through there. My sister and I will fly on ahead,” She then turned her glance to the remaining two pegasi, “Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, you may come with us if you wish.”
“Ah.. I think we should stick with these three, just in case,” Rainbow Dash quickly declined. Fluttershy gave a silent nod to show that she agreed.
“Very well. We'll see you at the top. Be safe my little ponies.” Celestia let her long majestic wings unfold from her sides, readying herself for flight. Using her powerful legs, she took a short gallop before kicking off from the ground to launch herself into the air, beating the wind forcefully with her wings as she propelled herself upwards toward the top of the tower. Her younger sister followed suit close behind her, and the five Ponyville mares quickly galloped to the ground level entrance of the spire.
---
The reverberating sound of wings flapping echoed through the hallways as the two regal sisters sailed quickly through the hall that lead to the older's bed chambers. As they approached the tall white double-doors at the end, they both descended toward the floor and landed to a canter.
“Somepony tell me what happened here,” Celestia called out as she looked around. All around her she saw guards, some downed and unmoving, others rushing to aid the injured, and a group of them standing in front of the double-doors that lead to her bedroom. One nearby pegasus guard kicked off from the ground, gliding over and landing just in front of the princesses as he gave a quick nod of his head.
“We are still trying to assess the situation your highness. When our squad made it here, the others were already as you see,” The guard reported.
“How many injured and how badly?” Celestia asked as she kept up her royal composure.
“None injured critically. They seem to have been knocked out cold by something, but there isn't any signs of fighting. About a half dozen guards in all.”
“Lieutenant!” A voice called out from across the room from a white earth mare guard. She waved a hoof in the air while standing near a gray coated unicorn guard that was sitting up with his side against the wall. The guard that the royal sisters had been speaking too gestured for the princesses to follow him as he turned to gallop over.
“Tell us something,” the Lieutenant commanded as he approached his two comrades. Celestia and Luna stood close by listening in.
“Shadows. Came from everywhere. I got hit hard by one, nearly passed out,” the gray unicorn reported as he tapped a hoof against his helmet.
“Get that helm off. You need to be checked,” the Lieutenant commanded. The unicorn wasted no time complying with the order, quickly undoing the strap under his chin. The white mare guard to his side helped him ease the helm off, and as it left his head its enchantment faded, his gray coat shifting color to a deep green. His short cut dark blue mane fell in place as the helm fully left his head. He instinctively reached up with a hoof toward the spot on his head that was throbbing, but his superior officer quickly pushed the hoof away.
“Hold on there,” the Lieutenant commented as he took a look at the spot himself. Lightly placing his hoof at a spot at the back of the green colt's head, he noticed a reaction when the guard grit his teeth. “Well, you did get hit, nothing too serious though.” The Lieutenant then noticed the guard's helm sitting on the ground next to him. Scooping the helm up with one of his hooves, he turned it over and looked at the back of it. “That's odd. Not even a scratch on your helm. Where you out of uniform at the time of the attack?”
“No sir,” the green stallion quickly replied. “It felt like my helm didn't even stop.. whatever it was.”
The Lieutenant slowly sat the helm back down, seeming a bit confused. “Shadows that can strike through armor,” he huffed, “anything else?”
“Yes, in all of the confusion I saw a unicorn. She went into her royal majesty's bed chamber, carrying something like a box.”
“Twilight went inside?” Celestia interjected as she stepped closer to the group of guards. “Did you see anything else at all? Was she in trouble or being chased?”
“I-I don't recall, princess. I only saw her for a moment, and nothing else,” the green stallion said with a shake of his head.
“I see,” Celestia sighed as she glanced back at the double-doors. The group of guards at the door had grown, and they seemed to be discussing something among themselves. Celestia turned her attention back to the three guards before her as she continued. “Please see yourself to the medical ward. Even if it is minor, I want you to get that injury checked,” she commanded with her gaze upon the green coated stallion. She then turned her gaze to the white earth mare. “Help him there if you would please.”
“Of course princess,” the white mare nodded as she approached the stallion to help him up.
Celestia turned toward her next task, and began walking to the double-doors of her bed chamber. As she did, her sister who had remained silent until now trotted up next to her.
“This doesn't feel right,” Luna commented.
“Of course it doesn't,” Celestia shot back.
“No, I mean all of this, all night so far, this hasn't felt right. I noticed it when the mares arrived in Canterlot and it has gotten worse ever since,” Luna took a few quick steps to put herself in front of her sister, causing Celestia to stop. “Something is happening in that room. We have to get in there now.”
Celestia regarded her younger sister silently for a moment. Something had the younger princess genuinely scared. Celestia hadn't seen this look on Luna for a countless number of centuries. Glancing up past Luna to the white double-doors, she considered the urgency in her sister's words, trying to think of her next course of action. Lighting her horn, she reached out to her magic and began casting a teleportation spell on herself and her sister. However, the spell fizzled, causing a shower of sparks to fall to the floor from Celestia's horn.
“The wards are active,” Celestia said with a quick stamp of one of her hooves. Now she understood why guards were simply standing outside the door. There was no way in with the protective wards of her bed chamber active. Only a unicorn with an understanding of how ward enchantments worked would be able to activate them. Unfortunately, Twilight easily qualified for such a task, making Celestia wonder if her student really had taken the elements for some reason.
“We may need to force our way in,” Luna spoke as she turned her head to look back at the doors.
Celestia's eyes widened at the recommendation. “That would take an eminence amount of magical power. The blast could harm Twilight.”
“If that actually is Twilight inside,” Luna pointed out.
“I would rather not take the chance,” Celestia responded back firmly.
“We have to take that chance!” Luna said as she locked her gaze back on her older sister's eyes. The urgency in her voice was rising. Celestia could tell she knew something, but didn't know for sure what.
It was then that the sounds of a group of hooves galloping toward them drew the sun princess's attention away. She glanced over her shoulder, and saw the five mares they had left down below in the courtyard quickly approaching. She turned to face the group as they made their way to her.
“Wow, what happened here?” Rainbow Dash commented as she glanced around.
“A shadow attack of some sort. We are still not entirely sure how,” Celestia commented as she turned to face the doors again and started walking toward them. “We've been told that Twilight may have been seen going into this room with the elements, and we were trying to find a way in.”
“Is it locked?” the rainbow colored pegasus asked, a bit puzzled as to how a door could stop two of the most powerful beings in existence.
“Yes, and protected with a powerful ward against magic. We are unable to open it or teleport past it from the outside. It is designed to be a safe haven, but now it's just keeping us out.” Celestia stopped behind the group of guards that had gathered in front of the doorway, looking up at it. The rest of the mares that had been following her walked up along side her to take in the sight of the door as well.
“Sister, we are wasting time,” Luna complained from behind the group.
“Luna, I am not going to haphazardly blow a hole into this door,” Celestia growled back, losing some of her royal composure she had held on to up to this point.
Just then a bright flash blinked near the group, causing all eyes to jolt to the source. “Um.. where'd Dash go?” Applejack asked as she looked at the spot right next to her that had been occupied by the pegasus only seconds ago. A few tense seconds ticked by, and then another bright flash occurred, leaving the location that Rarity had been standing at empty. “What the hay!?” Applejack blurted out as she rared back.
Celestia's mind quickly tried to figure out what was happening. Two of the young mares had just vanished for no apparent reason. One of them a pegasus, which meant it couldn't be teleportation magic, unless they were teleported by another unicorn. But she hadn't noticed any unicorn magic being used in the room, which meant it had to come from elsewhere. The only other place close enough would be...
Celestia's eyes widened as her mind came up with the answer. She glanced back at the door with a terrified look on her face and then back to the remaining three mares. The spell ward worked as a one way door. It kept all forms of magic outside from coming in, but magic from inside the room could work outside. Just then, another bright flash signaled the disappearance of the butter colored pegasus. They were being drawn into the room.
“Get them out of here! NOW!” Celestia bellowed to the group of stunned guards. They quickly scrambled to answer their princess's order. Celestia instinctively spread her wings out in a defensive stance as she stood between the doorway and the two remaining earth ponies. She looked back over her shoulder at them, having only one simple word to say to them. “Run!”
“Don't have to tell this pony twice!” Applejack called out as she took off in a gallop. Pinkie also turned to make a break for an exit, but only managed two good hops before she blinked out of existence. Applejack could feel her chest tightening up as she urged her legs to carry her faster. Behind her an entire group of guards were charging down the hall with her, attempting to usher her to some kind of safety. But how could anypony possibly be safe from something you can't even see. Pushing her body as hard as she could, she began to feel a strange tingling feeling through her muscles. Keep goin, she thought to herself as she tried to push past the feeling, but it continued to grow. Then she realized that the feeling wasn't coming from herself.
In a final bright flash, Applejack vanished from the hall. The group of guards that had been pursuing her stopped, glancing about frantically for the pony they had been assigned to protect.
Celestia could only stare in stunned silence, her mouth hanging slightly agape.
“Sister!” Luna called out to her, snatching her attention back.
Celestia focused back on Luna and quickly tried to recompose herself. “I know, we have to get inside now.”
---
The strange static like feeling began to dissipate from Applejack's body. Her hooves felt like they were made of lead, being far to heavy to lift. She blinked her eyes quickly, trying to clear the bright spots that had clouded her vision. She could hear something; something that sounded like voices, one of which spoke to her directly.
“Aw, not you too AJ,” Rainbow Dash's voice rung out inside the room. Applejack blinked her eyes again and focused on where the voice of her friend had come from. The room was dark, with the only light source being a faint glow of moonlight filtering in through the curtains overhanging the room's one window. Just across from her she could make out the rainbow pegasus facing her as her eyes adjusted. Taking a quick glance around, she noticed that the rest of her Ponyville friends were there as well, all of them standing in a perfectly spaced circle of six facing a purple chest that sat in between them.
“Can anypony else move? I'm kinda stuck here,” Applejack complained as she strained her leg muscles to move, finding her hooves firmly secured to the floor of the room.
“Can't budge an inch,” Rainbow Dash replied as she flapped her wings, stretching her legs slightly as she tried to take off. The downdraft caused by the flapping caused Rarity and Fluttershy, each standing next to the rainbow pegasus, to lean away from the gust.
“Rainbow stop! That didn't work before, and it isn't going to work now,” Rarity complained as she tried as hard as she could to duck away from the wind gust.
“Well you have a better idea?” Rainbow agitatedly shot back as she folded her wings back to her sides.
“Alright everypony, just calm down. Maybe Twilight knows whats goin on here,” the farm pony offered, trying to be the voice of reason.
“Twilight hasn't said anything yet,” Pinkie chirped to Applejack's left. “I think she's playing the quiet game. I've never seen anypony play the quiet game so well. Well maybe Fluttershy. There was this time-”
“Pinkie!” Applejack called out, stopping the pink pony, who offered a grin in response. Applejack shook her head and then looked to her right, seeing Twilight laying there staring down at the floor. Her breathing seemed to be labored, and her entire coat glistened with sweat. “You alright sugarcube?” Applejack asked, wishing she could reach out to check on her friend. But her hooves still remained securely glued to the floor.
As if finally answering her friend's call, Twilight shakily pushed herself up to stand. “Hey, you're not stuck?” Rainbow Dash complained as she continued to tug at her hooves to free herself. However she stopped when she noticed the purple chest lift off the ground in the middle of the group. The five confused mares watched the chest lift into the air just above their heads, while Twilight strained herself to maintain a levitation spell on the chest. With a pop of the golden latch, the chest lid flew open, and the six Elements of Harmony magically lifted from inside the box in a halo of purple magic. The chest then whizzed over Fluttershy's head, slamming hard into a mirrored vanity behind her, causing the pegasus to crouch down to the ground and guard herself under her wings as best she could.
“What is this all about. What is going on?” Rarity frantically asked as she leaned away from the center of the circle. She cringed back as one of the elements, bearing a violet diamond shaped jewel floated over to her and placed itself on her neck.
“Yeah what we doin here Twi?” Applejack asked as the necklace bearing her apple shaped red jewel found its way to her neck and fastened.
There was no response from the lavender unicorn, other than the heavy breaths she drew in as she strained to maintain her spell. Each of the elements found their owner, with the tiara that represented the element of magic being the last to find its place upon Twilight's head. As her magic faded out, she nearly collapsed to the floor, barely catching herself with her front hooves as she let go a gasp.
“Stop,” Twilight begged in a whispered under her heavily labored breaths. Hot trails of tears and sweat were drenching her fur coat under her eyes so much that they pooled together as droplets at her chin, falling to the floor.
A loud thud with a sound of wood cracking echoed into the room, causing all gazes but Twilight's to snap to the tall white double-doors as the room's entrance. The door shook from the blow it had received from the other side, and a glowing yellow aura gleamed around it for a second before fading back out. Twilight strained herself to try and look over her shoulder at the doorway, but before she could fully turn her head her horn began to ignite with magical power again.
“No, no no no,” She whined as she strained against the magic once again. Her entire body became rigid as the glowing of her magic became brighter. Raring back, her front hooves came down hard on the floor of the room, causing arcs of magical energy to fly from her horn to the floor in the center of the group. As the arcs traced along the floor, they left behind bright green glowing lines and symbols.
All eyes were now squarely focused back on Twilight. As the spell's magic completed a glowing circle of runes in the center of the floor, Twilight's body began to slowly lift from the floor. Hovering there just barely off of the floor, her shadow stretched unnaturally toward the glowing runed circle in the center.
“This is crazy! What is going on!?” Rainbow Dash yelled as she struggled to free herself once again, frantically flapping her wings.
“Twilight, you must stop this!” Rarity pleaded as she too struggled against the unseen force holding her hooves to the floor.
Just as the shadow stretching across the floor reached the glowing circle, Twilight let go a blood curdling scream. The rest of the mares cringed back at the sudden outburst, all stunned into silence. Twilight seemed to struggle against some unseen monster that was attacking her, trashing her legs in the air as she screamed out. Then she drew in a gasp as her body once again went rigid. Her neck arched backwards as she made a choking sound, her horn glowing a bright white. The tears that poured from her eyes seemed to darken her coat as they rolled down her face. Her mane whipped around in loose strands. Then, with a sickening sound that could only be described as bones and muscles being bent out of place, Twilight let go a loud scream of pain as two featherless bat-like wings shot out from her back.
The five mares that had been watching the terrifying transformation had not noticed the shadow creeping long the floor, spilling out of the center of the runes as it reached out for them. Rarity was the first to take notice of the sensation of something crawling up her leg, and looked down to see the black shadow sprouting up from the floor. She lost what ever sanity she might have had left at that moment, and began to scream out in panic as she tired to pull her fore-hooves back, but she was still unable to budge. Around the room, a similar sense of panic unfolded as each of the mares realized that the shadows were coming out through the floor.
A bright white flash accompanied by a loud blast and the sound of splintering boards echoed through the chamber. The double-doors flew into pieces of finely splintered wood, leaving a gaping hole where they had stood only a second earlier. The splintered remains of the doors hung lazily to the side on their bent hinges.
A line of gray and white unicorn guards stood just in front of the two regal sisters, the magic of their combined spell casting fading from their horns. As the dust and magical energy cleared from the doorway, Celestia began to take in the scene inside the room. Some sort of shadow seemed to be assaulting the six mares, and a glowing circle of green light pulsed brightly from the floor in the middle of them. Twilight was the closest too the doorway, hovering there with her back facing the group.. and wings, where those wings on her back?
Celestia made a decisive choice, igniting her horn with glowing yellow magic to conjure up a length of glowing gold chain that hovered just above her. With a sift motion of her right wing, one end of the chain sailed out in front of her into the room, wrapping itself securely around Twilight's midsection. Folding her wing back, the chain pulled hard, yanking the lavender unicorn from the air and out of the room.
It all seemed to be playing out in slow motion for Twilight, as she felt the force of her body being wretched away from the spell. Before her, she could see the shadow grasping at her, just barely missing her as she sailed backwards. Though her teary eyes, she was still able to make out the forms of her friends intertwined in the darkness. They all cried out in terror, fighting against it in vain, their frantic pleas to be rescued reaching her ears. And then, in a thundering flash of green light, they all vanished. The darkness, her friends, everything.
Twilight's back hit the ground, and she slid across the floor as the golden lengths of chain that had pulled her from the spell clattered. Her body ached everywhere, and she felt like her magic had been stretched to the breaking point and beyond. But still, she managed hold her head up just barely so she could look back at the room. She didn't want to believe what she had just witnessed, what she had been forced to do, but she had no choice but to accept the fact that was right before her. Her friends were just... gone.
Celestia stared forward, not really focusing her gaze on anything. Her body was standing on a open walkway that bridged the gap between two of the Canterlot Castle spires. Her mind, however, might as well had been on the moon. She was still attempting to process what had happened the night before, going over and over what had happened.
"Princess...?"
In a few short moments everything had gotten completely out of hoof. If only she had made different choices, all of it could have possibly been avoided.
"Princess...?"
Her inaction may have very well cost innocent lives. If only she had listened to her sister.
"Princess Celestia?"
Celestia blinked and focused her gaze down at the unicorn that the voice had been coming from. A teal blue coated stallion with a mahogany mane tied back into a pony tail stood there. He wore a simple white vest that had a collar and pockets on the front. The sight of the simple uniform sparked recognition in the princess's mind.
"Doctor.." Celestia mumbled quietly in response.
"Princess Luna sent me here to check on you. She said that you've seemed quite distraught ever since what happened last night," the unicorn explained now that he had Celestia's full attention.
Celestia managed a weary smile only shortly before it faded. She nodded to the unicorn in front of her. "She would be right, but I'm afraid medical attention will not cure what troubles me. How is my student, she should have arrived at the ward last night."
"She did. At first I was concerned that she may have suffered some sort of head trauma, but she eventually came around on her own and started responding somewhat normally. I wasn't able to find anything physically wrong with her.. just odd that she had those featherless wings."
"I see.. would you mind accompanying me to the ward then doctor? I would like to see her," Celestia asked as she began to take a few steps in the direction that would lead her to the palace medial ward.
"Oh, she isn't at the ward princess. She was already moved."
Celestia stopped dead in her tracks, freezing like a statue. Her head craned back around as she stared hard at the doctor. "Moved where?" She asked forcefully.
The doctor couldn't help but back up a step at the sudden change in mood. "I-I'm not sure. The guards took her from the ward on Princess Luna's order. I thought you knew."
Celestia mouthed her sister's name and then let her eyes slowly slide closed. "Where is she?" Celestia asked in a huff, quickly adding, "My sister."
The doctor fidgeted a bit as he grit his teeth. "I'm afraid I don't know that either. I'm truly sorry princess. I wouldn't have mentioned this if-"
"No.." Celestia cut the doctor's apology off short, "I'm glad you did. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to track down my sister and have a word with her."
---
The guards in front of Luna's bed chamber door reported that the moon princess had not been seen anywhere near by this morning. This lead Celestia to continue her search until she came to an office that she often used for reading, be it casual or official. As she approached the door way, she could see a pegasus guard that noticed her and turned his attention toward his ruler.
"Your majesty," the guard greeted with a nod, "Princess Luna awaits inside your office."
"Thank you," Celestia nodded in reply as she used her magic to open the door. Just inside was a room that had a fire place with a crackling fire burning within on the wall to the left, and a large desk that held many stacks of papers and scrolls to the right. Along the walls were many shelves and cubby holes that held books and scrolls. A large window covered by a pure white curtain took up most of the remaining wall opposite of the doorway, with a dark stained oaken table against the wall just under it. And there laying on a large, plush velvet cushion that was next to the table was Luna.
Celestia used her back hoof to slowly close the door letting it latch with a quiet click. She walked into the room approaching her sister but stopped half way, just staring at her. Luna quietly stared back as if she already knew what was coming and was simply waiting for it.
"Where is she?" Celestia asked calmly.
Luna broke her gaze away from her sister and looked at the table. It had a stack of books on it that hadn't been reshelved. Prodding at the book stack with one of her hooves for a few seconds, Luna looked back up to Celestia before simply saying, "She's a threat."
"That is not what I asked," Celestia said back sternly.
Luna sighed. "I told the guards to have her placed in one of the suppression chambers. It is just a precaution."
"Precaution? That room is reserved for the worst kind of unicorns."
"Yes I know," Luna said before standing up and walking toward her sister. She continued to speak as she approached, "And right now five of the six elements are missing, along with their bearers, thanks in no small part to Twilight Sparkle's actions."
Celestia seemed to struggle with her words for a moment. She knew what she wanted to say, that Luna was just wrong, but she needed to think this through rationally. Forming her thoughts, she continued the argument. "There is no proof that Twilight was acting on her own will."
"And just that notion should clear her of any ill intent?"
"No.. I'm not saying that. I'm saying this punishment is far too extreme."
"For your student," Luna added. This caused Celestia's stare to harden quite dramatically. "Oh do not look at me like that. If this was anypony other than Twilight Sparkle you would not be in here arguing with me over my decision."
"I'm hardly playing favorites here if that's what you're suggesting," Celestia said as she grappled with her sister's words.
"It is exactly what I'm suggesting! You let your guard down because it is her, your special student. And now all but one of the elements are gone. I told you something was not right, and yet your only concern was her safety!” Luna entire body was showing signs of her fuse reaching its end as she visibly shook with anger.
"Are you blaming me for this?" Celestia nearly hissed back.
“I blame HER for making you like this!” The room fell into an uneasy silence after Luna made her accusation. She kept her eyes squarely focused on her older sister, waiting for the sun princess to fight back. But that wouldn't happen.
Celestia backed off from the confrontation, turning and walking a few steps away. She closed her eyes and drew in a calming breath before turning to the side to face her sister again. Celestia cast a solemn glance to her sister as she said, “She is not going to replace you.”
Luna's expression shortly changed to shock and disbelief, before it quickly returned to anger. With little hesitation, she cast her gaze down at the floor as she quickly tried to make her way to the office door. However, she had to stop when her older sister moved to block her path. Shuffling her steps quickly to the right, she attempted to get by but was blocked yet again. Her temper was now past its limit. “Get out of my way!” She screamed up into her sister's face.
Celestia quietly stared back into her younger sister's eyes. It was obvious enough that Luna was angry, but she saw something else there too. Her eyes threatened to drop welled up tears. Her voice had been trembling. The younger alicorn was hurting.
Sitting herself there upon the floor, Celestia reached forward with her forelegs and pulled Luna to her. She met some resistance from her younger sister at first, but once she encircled the indigo alicorn with her pure white wings the struggling stopped as Luna yielded to her sister's embrace.
“I lost you for a thousand years. I refuse to ever lose you again,” Celestia said quietly. “I meant exactly what I said. You can never be replaced by somepony else.” Celestia unfolded her wings, and released her embrace as she sat back to look eye to eye with her sister. “I'm sorry if my poor choices last night made you feel like I was putting you two at odds with each other. That was never my intention. I trust you Luna, and always will. Nopony, not even Twilight Sparkle, will ever take your place in my heart.”
Luna sighed as she used the back of her hoof to dry the corner of her eyes. “It honestly felt that you were casting my opinions to the side in favor of her's.”
“I was fooled, Luna, but I do not intend on being fooled again,” Celestia said as she stood and walked around behind her desk taking a seat on the velvet pillow there. She placed her forelegs upon the top of the desk, crossing them and resting her chin atop of them. “What would you recommend we do with her? Would you rather that we just be rid of her?” Celestia seriously asked.
Luna was actually socked into silence by her sister's words. She knew what her sister was hinting at. It was one of the ultimate forms of punishment for threatening Equestria; banishment. She thought back to her own punishment, and a chill ran through her spine. The unbearable solitude of banishment was something that she would not wish upon her worst enemy. "Of course not. We do not have to go that far... but we can not just let her run free like nothing ever happened, can we?"
Celestia tapped one of her hooves against her desk slowly, pondering over the dilemma. In her heart and mind Celestia just knew that Twilight would not have done these things without being forced to do so, and the reaction Twilight had shortly after she was pulled from the spell was enough for Celestia to confirm it for herself. The stunned silence the young unicorn had fallen into, the horrified look in her eyes, the tears that had poured out from them, and the fact she had offered no resistance as she was taken away to the medical ward; all of those emotions and actions were not possible to fake to that degree. Twilight had been truly devastated.
Celestia needed a way to be sure that Twilight was herself, and would stay that way. The only way to even begin would be to speak with the unicorn directly. "I'm going to go see her," Celestia said as she pushed herself up from her siting spot. “The fact is that she is the only one who knows what happened in that room. If there is a chance that she can help us... I believe we need to take it.”
Celestia made her way to the room's door and used her magic to open it. Glancing over her shoulder she took a good long look at her sister, who just sat there staring back. She had expected Luna to protest at least a little, but instead she was only met with the younger sister's silent stare. "Trust me," was the last thing Celestia said before she passed through the threshold of the doorway. The door slowly swung back closed, and let go a light click as it latched, leaving Luna alone with her thoughts in the office once again.
---
Celestia strode quickly to her destination with a singular purpose, ignoring concerned glances she received by the castle staff and guards that gave her room to pass. She approached a part of the castle that she hadn't visited often, a part that she wish was unnecessary.
Celestia quickly approached a pair of guards, one unicorn and the other an earth pony that stood on either side of a poorly lit passage way that lead to a spiral staircase. She paused before them as they stiffened to attention at their ruler's presence. "Show me to her," Celestia commanded as she cast her stoic gaze between the two. Without question, the two guards nodded and turned to follow their princess down the staircase, flanking either side of her.
The stairway turned about nearly three times over as the three ponies traveled downward. The decent down was like a trip into the past. This part of the castle looked nothing like the rest. The walls were not bright and buffed to a shine like the rest, and instead were made of rough gray stone. There were no rainbow colored stain glass windows in this place like there were in the rest of the palace, and in fact the only source of light came from flames that burned within simple metal half sphere containers that hung from the ceiling by three chains each down the center of a long hallway.
The chamber itself was only a hallway full of doors that seemed to stretch off into endless darkness. The hall was barely wide enough for Celestia's two guards to stay on either side of her as they passed by many doors which appeared to have layers of dust clinging to their surface. This was a part of the castle that rarely saw attention.
The guards stopped and turned toward one of the doors on the right of the seemingly endless hallway. They both looked up to their princess expectantly. "Open it," Celestia simply commanded as she stared at the doorway. The unicorn guard nodded and leaned his horn forward, letting it light with magic. A click followed by a loud siding sound that ended with a clack could be heard, and then the door slowly swung open into the room with a complaining creek. The open door revealed a strange blue light that flooded out to bathe the hallway in its hew.
Celestia closed her eyes momentarily, drawing in a deep breath. Letting the calming breath go, she opened her eyes again and looked upon the figure in the middle of the glowing light. She couldn't make out all the details, but she could see enough to know a pony was laying there.
"Close this door behind me, and no matter what you hear you do not open this door again until I say so.. is this understood?" She spoke without breaking her gaze into the room. The two guards looked to each other with unsure looks then both glanced back at their princess. Celestia let her eyes drift away from the room and back and forth between the two guards when they didn't immediately answer her, her expression still betraying no real emotion. She was serious about her command and it would be carried out to the letter. Anything less would be unacceptable.
"Yes your majesty," one of the guards finally answered.
"We will guard the door and await your return," the other added with a nod to confirm he understood her orders.
"Good," Celestia simply said as she looked forward again and strode into the room.
The door slid closed behind her. Its locking mechanism sliding back into place echoed with a similar sound to the one that it had opened to. Once she was sure it was secured and she was locked within the room, she approached the center were the blue hewed circle was. The sight before her was all wrong, something that should only happen within a nightmare.
The floor had a glowing circle with detailed lines and inscriptions that traced around its edge and through its center. It slightly pulsed very slowly, and caused what appeared to be a rim of light to rise from its outer most edge. Along this edge there were six evenly placed pillars, all about the same height as the princess. And from each one of these pillars a glowing blue chain was fastened from the middle of the pillar to the prisoner that laid in the center. Each chain held on to her with a shackle at its end. The chain that stretched from the pillar behind her had a large shackle that rounded her body and held her wings tight to her sides. The opposite chain ran the length of the floor in front of her and was shackled around her neck. The remaining four, two to each side, each shackled to one of her legs. And there Twilight Sparkle laid staring at the floor, her hooves drawn up under her body.
If Twilight had noticed Celestia's presence in her cell she didn't let on that she had. She continued to just stare at the ground. Within leg distance of her in this imprisonment circle was a small table that was no higher than a hoof width, and on this table was a plate and glass. The plate held a simple sandwich and the glass water, but it was apparent that they had not been touched. If it weren't for the gentle heaving of her sides as she drew breath in and her eyes blinking slowly every so often, Twilight would have otherwise looked like she was only a life-like statue.
Celestia regarded her student as she slowly walked around the edge of the circle, coming to stop next to the pillar that connected to the chain that fastened around Twilight's neck. "Twilight..." Celestia quietly said, her voice echoing hollowly off the chamber's walls. There was no response at all. "Look at me," Celestia gently commanded, hoping that she could get her student to break out of her trace. Still, there was no response.
Celestia narrowed her eyes at her student, and then gingerly stepped a hoof into the circle. She could feel the effect of the spell as soon as she cross the barrier as the tingle traveled through her leg. She continued forward, another hoof in, then her face and neck. As she continued to slowly step into the spell the rainbow flowing colors of her mane were stripped away, replaced by a simple mane comprised of pink strands of hair. A few more careful steps and the rest of her body crossed the barrier, her tail following the same fate as her mane. The magic nullifying field suppressed her powers, the same as it did Twilight's. Within the circle she was not the powerful alicorn princess. She was just a pony, same as anypony else would be.
After taking a moment to adjust to the feeling of her magic being locked down, Celestia stepped forward only stopping when her front hooves were barely a leg's length away from Twilight's face. She noticed a flinch from her student, but Twilight did not look up and continued silently staring at whatever her gaze had been locked on. Celestia knew now for sure that she was being ignored. With a not too happy expression, she lowered herself to the floor folding her hooves under her body and bringing her face close to Twilight's. She stared at her student as Twilight's eyes drifted off to the side to avoid the glance.
"Twilight, do not act as if I do not exist," Celestia said with a displeased frown pulling at the edges of her mouth. Twilight still attempted to avoid her mentor's gaze but could no longer keep herself completely in check. The corners of her eyes were starting to spill tears down the sides of her face. "Look at me," Celestia once again calmly said, doing her best to keep tears from falling from her own eyes at the sight of her student. Still, Twilight continued to silently avoid her gaze. "Twilight Sparkle!" Celestia barked her name firmly, causing the room to echo again. The chained unicorn jerked at the sudden noise causing the chains that held her to clatter to the sudden movement. Her frightened eyes snapped to Celestia's, and despite the intense fear that she would meet with the harsh look of contempt and loathing bearing down upon her she only saw Celestia's worried face.
With Twilight's attention fully focused on her now, Celestia gently unfolded one of her hooves and extended it towards her student's face using it to wipe one of the tear trails away. "Please, don't shut me out," Celestia gently spoke as she caressed the side of Twilight's face. Twilight seemed to be unsure of this action at first. She had dreaded the moment her mentor would come see her since being placed within this room. She had thought long and hard on the possibilities, on how Celestia would react to what had happened, on how she would be punished for what she had done. But this wasn't anything like what she had expected. She was confused, and could only think of one thing to say.
"Why?" Twilight quietly whispered.
Celestia stopped her motions only for a second and asked, "What do you mean?"
"I.. I thought..." Twilight began, but lost her words as her face started to twist into one that seemed to be in pain. She slowly lowered her head until her face was burred into her forelegs, and her body began to let go sobs as moans as sadness escaped from her. All Celestia could think to do was comfort her student, quietly stroking Twilight's mane while she let go her emotional pain.
It took some time for Twilight to calm down again. Her sobs eventually became sniffles, and she had eventually stopped hiding her face, instead laying her chin atop her forelegs. All the while, Celestia had quietly waited there stroking her student's mane gently until she could recover from her sadness. Feeling the urge to speak again, Twilight swallowed before she drew in a breath of air to speak. "Why are you here?" She asked with her tired voice.
Celestia let her hoof rest as she looked over at the table next to Twilight. She had noticed the untouched food there when she had walked in. Glancing back at Twilight, she lowered her head so that her own chin was laying on her own forelegs, so she could look straight into her student's eyes. This time, Twilight didn't glance away. "I'm worried about my student. I honestly thought they had kept you in the ward over night." The two stared at each other for a short time before Celestia spoke again, "Have you eaten anything?"
Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head slightly as she let out a long sigh. This caused the frown to tug at Celestia's mouth again.
"Twilight, I will not have you refusing to take care of yourself," Celestia spoke in an authoritative tone, but it was more like one that a mother would use to speak to her child than that of a ruler commanding a subject.
"I don't.." Twilight started, but seemed to once again lose her voice.
However, this time Celestia pressed the matter, trying to keep her student talking. "You don't what?"
Twilight's face once again became pained with sadness as she struggled to continue her statement. She managed to whisper, "I don't deserve.. to live." However before she could once again be consumed by the feeling, she was shocked out of it by Celestia grabbing Twilight's chin with a hoof, and forcing her to stare up into her mentor's hard gaze.
"You will not ever repeat that again," Celestia ordered as she seemed to growl through clamped teeth. Twilight struggled slightly against Celestia's grip, but her teacher would not relent.
"But I.. they're gone.. I.." Twilight choked out as tears cut hot trails down the side of her face as she drew in a gasp of air. "It's my fault.. I killed my friends-"
"NO!" Celestia grasped both of Twilight's shoulders and forcefully shook her, but not enough to harm her, "I refuse to believe that you are capable of such a horrendous act. You are Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. You are no murderer, and I will not have you inflicting cruel punishments upon yourself that you do not deserve!" At this point, Twilight simply seemed to be gasping for air as her quick sobbing breaths shook her entire body.
Celestia shifted forward, and wrapped her forelegs around Twilight, hugging her close to her chest. Twilight instinctively returned the embrace, her chains clinking and grinding as they slid across the floor.
"I'm sorry.. I sorry I couldn't stop it.. I'm sorry," Twilight whaled as she pressed her face into her mentor's fur.
"Sshhh..." Celestia quietly hushed as she let Twilight cling to her. "They're still out there somewhere, and we will find them. You have done no wrong."
A long time passed like this. How long Celestia wasn't quite sure, perhaps nearly half an hour had gone by while she held her student close within the glowing circle, letting her empty her emotions. Through it all, Twilight apologized for things that had been out of her control, and Celestia tried to quietly reassure her student that she wasn't at fault. It finally reached a point where Twilight seemed to be at the bottom of her well of sadness, and the tears simply quit flowing. She had grown quiet while she just laid there with the side of her head against Celestia's chest.
"They've found nothing at all," Celestia spoke breaking the long silence as she let her eyes trace along the magical chains that held her student captive. "I have all of the greatest minds of this palace I know working to try and find any trace at all of the Elements of Harmony and your friends.. and they've found absolutely nothing."
Twilight remained completely silent, just intent on listening to Celestia's voice.
"Actually," Celestia spoke again as she turned her gaze to look down at Twilight, "I suppose that isn't entirely true. There is one great mind who hasn't been able to help me look for them."
Twilight glanced up when she noticed that Celestia had stopped talking. When she did, she saw her mentor smiling down at her.
"You," Celestia spoke simply as her smile widened a bit.
Twilight really had cried herself dry. She wasn't sure what the emotion was that was left behind after she had vented all of her sadness, but for some reason the emptiness kept her from smiling back. Instead, she drew in a heavy breath of air and let it go with a huff, before she spoke in turn. "I can't help."
"Not like this, no." With that Celestia gently stood as she let Twilight slip from her grasp. Turning about and taking a few steps she stepped outside of the nullifying field, her flowing mane slowly coming back to life as she did. Once she felt her magic returning to her, she bent her neck downward and pointed the tip of her horn at a circle located on the side of one of the pillars. The tip of her horn glowed a bright white for only a few seconds and then the blue hew in the room brightened shortly before it began to quickly fade out. As the light faded, the magical chains that held Twilight at the center of the circle began to dematerialize. Starting at the pillars and running along the length of the chains, her bonds vanished link by link until the shackles themselves faded out of existence.
Twilight laid there on the floor for a moment, her only movement being from her glancing around at the floor that had died down to a very dim blue glow. Many of the lines and inscriptions had vanished leaving only a dim blue circle that lit the room. Taking a careful step, Twilight hoisted herself up to her hooves, and then used one of her forelegs to scratch at the other where the magical shackle had been. She glanced up at her mentor with a look that seemed to ask if this was a trick of some sort.
"Am I.. free to go?" Twilight asked, the tone of her voice saying just how much she couldn't believe such a thing could be possible.
Celestia stared back at Twilight for a few seconds before she shook her head. "Not entirely." She could see the tiny spark of hope fade from Twilight's eyes almost immediately at the words. "Even so, I will not have you wasting away in this room for actions that were not entirely your own, and I do believe your help may be the key to finding your friends. You were there."
"But.. how. I mean.. I don't know where to start looking," Twilight sighed as she seemed to droop toward the floor. Even her new wings sagged from her sides until they touched the ground. “We don't even know what happened to them. They could just be... gone.”
"Have faith, my student. I'm sure something will come to mind if you just spend some time reflecting on what happened. You shouldn't give up on the possibility of finding your friends so easily. Now, come here," Celestia calmly commanded as she herself approached a shelf in the room. Twilight couldn't quite see what it was that her mentor was doing at the shelf, but it appeared she was picking something up using her teeth, which seemed odd for the princess that had enough magical power to move the sun. Once Twilight was standing beside her teacher, Celestia turned to face her and in a swift motion placed an object that she had gripped in her teeth over the tip of Twilight's horn. It slid down to the base of her horn with a quick tink, and Twilight pulled back a step at the sudden odd sensation. She strained her eyesight to try and look at it, and could make out a metallic reflection from the blue light coming off of it. She attempted to will it off of her horn with her levitation magic, just trying to get a better look at it, but then noticed that nothing happened.
"It's a null ring," Celestia said simply.
"Oh.." Twilight mouthed quietly. The null ring had an enchantment on it similar to the circle that she had been held in. It was a device that nullified magic which would explain why Celestia hadn't lifted it with her own magic, and when placed on a unicorn's horn the ring would prevent any attempts at casting spells. "I wouldn't trust me right now either," Twilight mumbled as her gaze cast downward toward the floor.
Celestia paused shortly when she heard the comment. The frown returned to her lips with a vengeance, and she pushed her face close to Twilight's before speaking. "I'm not going to tolerate any more of this self hate coming from you."
"Well.. I just.." Twilight stammered as she shrunk away a step.
"Just nothing. The ring is for your protection Twilight. I do not believe that there is any trace of the darkness that was possessing you left. If there had been I'm sure I would have felt it at some point. However, I must take precautions. In the event this darkness tries to take you again," Celestia raised her hoof and gently tapped it against Twilight's horn, "this will give us a chance to stop it before any more harm can come to you or anypony else. The ring's effect will linger for a short time even if it is removed, so should something compel you to remove it against your will.. it will still buy us the time we need."
Twilight took in the words of her mentor and then tried to force a smile on her face. "I understand. I'm really not trying to be like this. It's just that.. after everything that has happened.. I just feel like I could have done.. that I should have done something to stopped it all."
"I know, you have a habit of shouldering all of the responsibility whether it is yours or not." Celestia folded one of her wings over Twilight and pulled her close to her side. "But, you're just as much a victim of this thing as your friends, of not more so. This is your chance to right the wrongs that this darkness forced onto you and triumph over it."
Twilight closed her eyes and let herself lean against her mentor's side. She could feel her warmth, hear her strong but gentle heart beat. At this moment, she wondered why she ever thought that Celestia could have forsaken her. Celestia trusted her completely, even after everything that had happened, and at no point had that trust wavered. For the first time since she had regained control of her own mind, it ignited with a spark of confidence. She put on a sincere smile and glanced up to Celestia.
"OK then. Where do I start?"
Celestia smiled warmly back down at her student. "The archives I would imagine. Hopefully somewhere in the experiences you were put through with that thing you might be able to dredge out something useful from the memories that could help discover just what sort of magic was used. It's odd, there are no tracers of any teleportation magic being used at all even though your friends were taken away along with the elements. Nor is there any evidence of destructive magic, which is why I doubt your friends were harmed by the spell directly. It's as if they all simply vanished at once along with the darkness. All that is left is a faded magic circle on the floor, which nopony has been able to decipher yet."
"That.. does seem weird," Twilight scratched at her chin with one of her fore-hooves. Already the gears in her mind were starting to turn as she tried to process the impossible scenario. If a magical spell had been used, no matter how small, there should have been traces of magic left that could help identify it, and teleporting her five friends away was no small amount of magic. But to leave no identifiable trace at all...
"Yes, rather perplexing," Celestia commented, seeming to echo Twilight's internal thoughts. She had started walking towards the door with her student under her wing. "Open," She commanded firmly at the door.
On that queue, the door clicked and let go a sliding sound that ended with a loud clack, before it swung open into the room. Outside the two guards that had lead Celestia here both stood vigilant, however there was a slight surprised reaction to the sight of Twilight being freed from her bonds.
"She is to be escorted to the archives, and you two are to stay within sight of her until you are otherwise relieved of this duty," Celestia spoke firmly as she arched an eyebrow and looked back and forth between the two guards.
"Yes princess," the two guards spoke in union.
"Good," Celestia nodded before turning her neck toward Twilight, "And you are to stay here in the palace, preferably near the archives. Try not to wander from their sight. Should anything happen they are here to protect you." Celestia cast a side glance at the two guards making sure her words were sinking in for them as well.
Twilight agreed with a nod.
"Princess, may I speak freely?" the unicorn guard spoke up.
"You may."
"Should this change of plans not be reported to the Captain?"
Celestia fully faced the guard, showing her regal smile. "I'm glad you asked. I will personally see to it that Captain Shining is informed of the end of Twilight's imprisonment and that she is officially joining the search effort for the missing mares. I will also inform him that your post has been changed by my order, you needn't worry yourself over it."
The guard nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer. Nudging Twilight along under her wing, Celestia began to walk down the hallway back to the spiral stairway that lead back up to the castle palace.
Twilight found herself lingering on thoughts of her brother after the mention of his name. She hadn't seen him in quiet some time, only once after his wedding to the princess Cadence. But she honestly wasn't sure she wanted to see him now like this. Her body was.. not right. Her mane and tail where now streaked with dark black strands of hair, and her fur seemed dull compared to how it normally should look. The fur under her eyes had dark streaks, almost like she had cried ink from them. But the most unsettling change were the featherless, bat-like wings that had sprouted from her back. She didn't know what they meant or why she had them. She felt tainted, like the wings were a beast that was slumbering on her back just waiting to awaken and take control of her again. But she had actually felt the darkness being ripped away form her when Celestia had pulled her from it the night before. She was hopeful that had been the last time she would ever feel its presence.
"Twilight, we're here," the voice of her mentor rang in her ears causing her to snap back to reality. She hadn't been paying much attention to where she had been walking as she traveled along side Celestia under her protective wing, and had just been allowing herself to be lead along. They had actually walked the entire distance from the suppression chamber to the archives already while she had been lost in her thoughts. She glanced to her side, and noticed the open doorway that lead into the room with towering book shelves and equally long tables.
Twilight nodded before she looked up to Celestia. "I'll do my best," she said as a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. With that, Twilight approached the archives, and possibly one of the most daunting research tasks she would ever have to face.
Celestia viewed the horizon from the balcony of one of Canterlot Castles many spires. The sun was on its final decent, the bright orb seeming to barely touch the edge where the tops of the trees met with the sky off in the distance. Its warm rays of light covered the land with shades of golden red and orange, and even caused the sky to shift from its daily bright blue to bright yellow and orange. The undersides of the clouds that hovered nearby took on the same multicolored warm shades.
Gently closing her eyes, Celestia reached out with her magic. She could feel the warmth wash over her as her power touched the celestial object. Like a caring mother tucking her child into bed, she gently willed the sun to set for the evening, setting it on its final course before day would give way to night.
Her final task for the day completed, the sun princess turned from the fading horizon and walked back into the spire. She found the nearest steps and began to descend to the lower hallways of the castle, intent on visiting the archives again this evening as she had done the past two. There she would find her student diligently working to solve the mystery that nopony had been able too thus far. She had found herself having to force her student to stop long enough to sleep and eat, and feared that if she didn't keep a watchful eye on the young unicorn she would simply push herself to the edge of exhaustion.
Rounding a corner in the expansive hallways of the castle, Celestia spotted the open doorway to her destination. Two guards flanked either side of the door, one a white pegasus mare and the other a gray unicorn stallion. Both guards noticed the princess and gave a courteous nod to her as she walked up to the door. She gave a warm smile back in response as she walked through the open doors, but then stopped suddenly when she looked into the room.
At the far end of the room stood her younger sister, her horn glowing with a dark blue color as she calmly cast her magic to bring her moon and stars into view for the evening. She quietly cast her spell near a window that stretched up the wall nearly to the ceiling high above. She took notice of her sister's presence in the room as she peeked out of one eye.
“Evening, sister,” Luna quietly called across the archive as she maintained her concentration on her spell.
Celestia smiled back as she continued to walk into the archive, her eye catching another form near the center of the long table that spanned most of the width of the room between the door and the window. As she approached the dark purple coated unicorn at the table, she realized that her student had the side of her head laying on an open book. After eying her for a few seconds, it was obvious to the sun princess that Twilight was sound asleep, using the book's pages as a pillow.
“She was like that when I arrived,” Luna said as she completed her first task of the night and walked over quietly to join her sister, attempting to avoid disturbing the sleeping unicorn.
“She's pushing herself too much,” Celestia said as she took a seat at the table across from Twilight. Her eyes took in the sight around her. There were about a half dozen stacks of books, some piled as high as herself on the table and a few more stacks that were set on the floor nearby. There were also many stacks of parchment that held hoof written notes in black ink. Numerous ink bottles, some empty and some still partially full, dotted the table. A writing instrument used to clip a quill to a pony's hoof also rested nearby along with a stack of quills, a few of which had broken tips. And at the center of it all, Twilight Sparkle laid there with the side of her head against an open book, her fore-hooves sprawled out on the table and her dark pink, violet, and black streaked mane flowing down her neck to spill out onto the book and table as well. The silver glint of the null ring at the base of her horn glowed and shifted under the magical lighting in the archives as her sides slowly expanded and contracted with her breathing. Despite the uncomfortable looking surroundings, the unicorn actually seemed to be quiet content as she slept.
“She seems to be sleeping well enough at the moment,” Luna commented as she also took a seat at the table next to her sister.
“She's worked hard Luna,” Celestia said in a low voice barely above a whisper as she side glanced back at the moon princess.
“I was not suggesting otherwise,” Luna cautioned as she raised her hoof. “I simply thought it odd that she is sleeping here and not in a proper bed.”
“She likely has been keeping to her studies even in the room we've provided for her.” Celestia let go a light sigh before she added, “I may have to take her books away from her and send her off to bed.” An old memory resurfaced at that moment of a time when Celestia had been teaching a much younger Twilight Sparkle, and how her parents told stories of how they had to hide books from the unicorn so she would go to sleep instead of read all night. The thought of the happier time made the princess smile.
Celestia turned her attention toward her younger sister as a question pushed to the front of her mind. “Why are you here this evening?” Her sudden appearance here this night seemed odd, considering that only a few nights ago the younger alicorn seemed very untrusting of Twilight.
“I wanted to see how things were progressing. Maybe lend a hoof,” Luna said, noting the questioning glance she received in response. “I am worried about the missing mares as well.”
Celestia nodded. “I wish I could devote time to helping her myself. But things are rather busy during the day as is. It's been difficult just keeping rumors of the missing elements from escaping the castle and causing undue panic.”
“You are defiantly doing your part. I simply felt that maybe.. there was more I could be doing,” Luna confessed as she looked over the towering stacks of books. Luna had a reason for being here, but it wasn't one she liked discussing and she hadn't arrived at the decision to lend her help easily. However, the search for the missing elements and their bearers was coming up with nothing, and she felt it was time to search in areas that she had been avoiding.
“As you know, I have.. knowledge of older spells,” Luna paused uneasy for a moment, before she continued on. “Dark spells. I thought it possible that Twilight may not have considered all possible origins of the spell yet.” The air in the room seemed to hang heavily in the silence. Luna knew that the subject wouldn't be a pleasant one for either of the two regal sisters. “I hope you can understand my reluctance to bring such things to light.”
“Yes, of course I do,” Celestia nodded as she looked back over the table at the stacks of books and notes and the young sleeping unicorn mare. “Still, we should not leave any stone unturned, even the ones we would rather not touch. At this point we really do need to consider all options for every day that we delay is another too many. Though, it does pain me to even think of subjecting her to studying such dark magic after she has experienced it first-hoof against her will.”
“Then let me help,” Luna offered. “I already understand how dark magic works. I have plenty.. past experience. Perhaps I could find something in her notes that has been overlooked, something that she simply doesn't understand but that I would.”
“Very well. I only ask that you try to avoid allowing her to learn too many of the finer details. These powers are not something that anypony else needs to know about.” Though her older sister had worded it as a request, Luna knew better. Celestia would not tolerate Twilight being taught how to use the dark spells.
A strained grunt followed by the motion of Twilight's forelegs stretching caught the attention of both princesses. They looked to the dark purple unicorn as she pushed herself up with a wide-open-mouth yawn that echoed a bit in the archive. Then Twilight caught herself in the middle of the gaping yawn when she realized she wasn't the only one at the table. Snapping her jaw shut quickly, she tried to sit up straight as she stifled the rest of the yawn.
“Good morning,” Celestia beamed with a wide smile to her student.
“Morning?” Twilight asked, a terrified look washing over her tired face. “It's morning!?” she nearly shrieked as she pushed herself to stand up with her fore-hooves planted on the table top, her wings reflexively flaring open at her sides.
“No no, calm down,” Celestia giggled as she tapped at one of Twilight's hooves with her own. “I'm sorry, I was just joking.” Next to the sun princess, Luna found herself cracking a bit of a grin at her older sister's little prank. Twilight seemed to stand there confused for a few seconds, her groggy mind trying to figure out why this was funny. Then her eyes darted over to the window, and saw the night sky. Letting go a deflating breath, Twilight slumped back into her seat.
“I really am sorry, that wasn't nice of me to scare you,” Celestia said with an apologetic smile.
Twilight realized that there was really no harm done, and smiled back. “You did have me going there,” she said and then lost her smile as she glanced over the piles of books and stacks of paper before her. “I'm sorry but.. I still don't have an answer.”
“I assumed as much. I'm sure you'll inform us the very moment you find it,” Celestia said as she turned her neck to look over to her sister, “and actually, we're not here to hear a report on your progress.”
“Oh.. you're not?” Twilight asked as her eyes darted back and forth between the two sisters. The question of why both princesses were here had crossed her mind already, particularly why Princess Luna was here. Twilight hadn't seen the moon princess since the order to be imprisoned within the suppression chamber had been given. The thought of possibly ending up back in that room sent a surge of fear through the unicorn's body, but Twilight reassured herself that with Celestia present the possibility of that happening was unlikely.
“I would like to lend you my aid,” the moon princess spoke up. An uneasy silence lingered a bit after the confession then Luna added, “Would you not appreciate the help?”
“Oh uh, yeah. I mean, of course I would princess,” Twilight quickly replied back, her voice squeaking a bit. She honestly didn't know what the moon princess meant by 'aid'. Could she possibly mean helping her write her notes? Maybe fetch books from the shelves? No, that couldn't be. Any unicorn could do those things. Why would Princess Luna bother herself with something like that?
“You sound less than enthusiastic,” Luna huffed dully.
“Luna.. why don't you just tell her how you can help?” Celestia said as she prodded her younger sister's shoulder with a hoof.
Luna glanced back a disproving look as she brushed the hoof away from her shoulder. “I was getting to that.” Turning her attention back to the dark purple unicorn, Luna cleared her throat and continued her discussion. “I would like to look over your notes. I am actually very knowledgeable of magic and may find something important that has been overlooked.”
“Oh! Right. No problem, let me.. just..” Twilight began to fumble with the pages on the table, pushing them together with her hooves. This is so much easier with magic, she found herself thinking as she tried to make the pile of pages presentable. She then noticed a blue aura taking hold of the pages and pulling them together.
“Allow me,” Luna said as she used her magic to pull up the pages, tapping the bottom edge of the stack against the table with her levitation magic before bringing them closer to her eyes for reading.
“I hope they're actually readable,” Twilight commented as she cringed down in her chair slightly.
“I have read many written notes in my years.. I believe I will be able to manage yours,” Luna reassured as she flipped the first page to the back of the stack.
“Well, I'll let you two get to it then,” Celestia said as she stood from the table. “It has been an exhausting day. I pray that with the two of you working together, we will be able to solve this mystery soon. However,” Celestia placed her fore-hooves on the table and leaned over close to Twilight, “the next time you are feeling tired, I would appreciate it if you used the room we have set aside for you.”
Twilight knew the princess was simply looking out for her, but still tried to produce a suitable excuse. “I just thought a quick nap would do,” she said as she rubbed the back of her neck with one hoof.
“You will not be much use if you are so exhausted that you can barely comprehend what you read,” Luna commented as she glanced over the stack of notes at the unicorn.
Twilight knew that with both princesses after her she had no chance of winning. “OK, I understand. I'll get some sleep tonight after we're done going over the notes.”
Celestia beamed an approving smile back at Twilight. “Wonderful, good night you two.”
“Good night sister,” Luna replied back as she kept her eyes fixed on Twilight's notes.
“Sleep well princess,” Twilight said as she smiled back. She watched as the sun princess gracefully exited the long room, keeping her eyes lingering on the door for a moment after Celestia had disappeared into the hallway. The sound of pages rustling as Luna shifted another read page to the back of the stack of notes drew her attention back. Not wanting to disturb the younger princess, Twilight decided to busy herself with further research.
Glancing at the spines of the books in a stack to her left, Twilight came across one that looked like it had some potential in the middle of the stack. Once again she found herself wishing she had her magic, but as she had for the last few evenings she would just have to make do without. Clamping down on the book's spine with her teeth, she placed a hoof on the books above to hold them back as she began to slip the book out of the middle of the stack. However, once the book had been half way pulled out, the top of the stack shifted and sent about a half dozen books tumbling down to the table, causing a second nearby stack to completely tumble over and slide out across the table as well.
Twilight blinked at the results of the avalanche of reading material and glanced over to the moon princess. She offered a sheepish grin with the book she had claimed still clamped in her teeth when she noticed Luna peering at her over the stack of notes again.
“Sowwy,” Twilight said around the book's spine.
“Do you need some help?” Luna offered as she set the stack of notes down.
Twilight took her chosen book in her forelegs and placed it on the table before her, and then stood to make an attempt to straighten the book mess she had just created. “It's OK princess, I can handle this much. I mean.. pegasi and earth ponies make due without levitation magic every day, the least I can do is learn how to live without it for now.”
Luna nodded back in response before she took up the stack of notes again. The notes were very detailed but also a bit sporadic. It appeared that the young unicorn had been writing down information about many seemingly disconnected forms of magic as well as possible obscure side effects of magical spells. Most of the notes seemed to focus on forms of teleportation magic which made the most logical sense given what had happened. Still, nothing in the notes stood out to the alicorn as she continued to flip from page to page, taking in Twilight's findings.
Nothing... until she flipped to a page that had no notes. Instead this page simply had one image drawn on its center. A circle, and along the circle were patterns and figures that she immediately recognized. The exact detail of the drawing was very shocking. The drawing brought back a disturbing memory from the princess's past. If this was somehow involved in what had happened, then that meant...
Luna needed to confirm her suspicions.
“Did you draw this?” Luna asked as she levitated the single page over and laid it on the table. Twilight stopped her attempts at organizing the mess of books on the table long enough to look at the drawing. She recognized it as the sketch she had done the day after the attack.
“Oh that. I just drew it so I wouldn't forget it. I'm not really sure where I even saw it, but I thought it could mean something.” Twilight glanced up to Luna's face, seeing the concerned look gazing back at her. “Does it mean something?” Twilight asked hopefully.
“Yes. Though I wish it did not,” Luna said as she took the page back up with her magic, rolling it up before tucking it under her wing. “I want you to come with me.” Luna stood from the table and hurriedly strode to the door of the archives calling to the guards at the door.
Twilight fought with a strong feeling of uncertainty welling up inside of her. One of her princesses has just given her a command, but this was the same princess that only a few days prior had seen fit to imprison her. Luna also seemed rather upset at the drawing. “Princess.. I really don't know what the drawing means,” Twilight timidly confessed as she lingered at the side of the table.
“Then we should find out what else you may know related to it, should we not?” Luna asked as she cast a perplexed glance over her shoulder back at the hesitant unicorn. If what she had heard was to be true, Twilight had been spending every waking moment of her time searching for answers but yet when a possible answer had just surface she seemed reluctant. Luna studied the dark purple unicorn, taking notice of her uneasy fidgeting as she bit at her bottom lip. Twilight seemed to be afraid of something.
“What has come over you so suddenly?” Luna asked as she walked back into the room to approach Twilight. “Do you not want to find your friends?”
“Of course I want to find them!” Twilight blurted out. But despite the bold statement, Twilight still seemed uneasy about something. Her eyes darted about, looking at something past the alicorn. Luna took notice of this and glanced over her shoulder, noticing the two guards still standing there at the door way.
Now it made sense.
Luna blew a sigh between her lips as she turned back to face Twilight. “You thought I was taking you back to that room,” she stated. Twilight didn't answer, but she did glance away toward her hooves seeming somewhat ashamed of her behavior. “Twilight,” Luna called, waiting for the unicorn to look up to her. Once the young unicorn had glanced back up Luna continued. “My sister decided to trust you, and I decided to trust in her judgment.”
“I-I know.. it was stupid, thinking that you would do that,” Twilight mumbled as she sat there before her ruler, shuffling her front hooves on the floor.
“Hardly. I was not very kind to you after what happened,” Luna confessed as she reached out a hoof and laid it on the unicorns shoulder. “I apologize for that. I never really gave you a fair chance. I simply judged you by what I felt at the time.” Luna then turned to take a few steps toward the exit and looked back over her shoulder. “Do you trust me enough to follow me?”
Twilight drew in a deep breath and let it go with a hum. She nodded then pulled herself up to her hooves, taking a few steps to walk up beside the moon princess. When she did, Luna took her by surprise by unfolding a wing and draping it over her. The feeling was similar to when Celestia had done so, but still slightly different. When the sun princess had walked with her this way, Twilight felt the warmth of her mentor's caring touch. This felt more like a protective shield guarding Twilight from danger. Twilight knew at that moment that her fears had been unfounded.
“So, where are we going?” Twilight asked as the pair exited through the archive doorway, followed closely by the guards.
“A place nopony should rightfully ever have to visit,” Luna said solemnly.
---
Before Twilight and Luna stood a tall set of doors made of solid onyx stone. The smooth black shine of the doors was only interrupted by the etchings that created a depiction of the nighttime star-scape. Twilight was surprised to see the accuracy of the constellations that had been carved into the doorway, something that would likely had taken a lot of careful effort. Across the center of the door, a white relief carving of a horizontal crescent moon dominated the scene.
“It's beautiful,” Twilight nearly whispered as she traced the intricate carvings with her eyes.
“Yes.. but it houses something very dangerous,” Luna said shortly before her magic began to spring to life. As her horn glowed a dark blue, so too did the carving of the moon, and then the seam of the door. The door let go a sound of stone sliding as the seam split, the two halves of the doorway sliding horizontally to the sides to reveal a chamber on the other side.
Luna turned her attention to the two guards that had accompanied her thus far and said, “Please remain here until we return.”
“Of course princess,” one of the guards quickly confirmed with a nod. The other nodded as well.
Luna strode into the darkness of the room stopping to look back at the reluctant unicorn that she had lead here. “It is safe to enter,” she reassured.
Twilight calmed her nerves with a deep breath that she breathed out as she said, “OK, lets do this then.” Stepping up beside the princess, the two walked into the dark room. As they did, the sound of the vault doors grinding closed sounded behind them as the sliver of light that stretched into the room from the doorway shrunk until it was gone.
Twilight found herself frozen for a short second as the intense darkness shot a shiver down her spine. She jumped slightly when a light source came to life next to her. Looking up, she could see the dim blue glow of her princess's horn. Luna concentrated on her magic spell, and after a few seconds many torches lining the walls of the room sprung to life with bright yellow and orange flames that tapered off to blue tips. After the torches around the room had all it, a fireplace on the left wall came to life with a whooshing sound that echoed in the chamber.
“Sorry about the lighting. I have not visited this chamber since it was created a couple years ago,” Luna admitted as she walked across the room. The room was actually laid out very similarly to her older sister's office with a desk across from the fire place and shelves in the room on the walls. There was the lack of a window and a pedestal that had a glass case holding something at the opposite wall that set it apart.
“What is this place?” Twilight asked as she followed along just behind the princess's steps, taking in the sight of the room. She had expected to see something like the inside of the vault in Canterlot Tower, but this looked more like a regular room.
“It use to be a study. It now acts as a tomb for this,” Luna said as she stopped at the pedestal at the end of the room. Willing the glass case cover to move with her magic, she lifted it and set it aside to the floor. The pedestal actually sloped toward them, holding a single book on it. Twilight stepped up closer to see the book, wondering what it could possibly contain that would be worth devoting an entire vault to protect its contents.
Then she noticed its cover.
Drawing a gasp in, Twilight stepped back away from the book. She recognized it right away. Luna lifted her wing, using her magic to bring out the rolled up page she had claimed from Twilight's notes. She uncurled it and laid it on the pedestal right next to the tome. The drawing on the page matched the black marks on the front of the book perfectly.
“What is it?” Twilight asked as she cautiously looked back and forth between her princess and the tome. The tome itself didn't seem to be anything special at first, but its cover was something that appeared to be like a skin. This book was bound with leather, or something similar, and the circular image on its cover was a burned brand mark.
“Evil,” Luna simply said before continuing. “If you were to use a single word to describe what this tome is, it is evil. The contents bring forth nothing but darkness. It contains a set of spells that nopony should ever know.”
“Then why even keep something like this?” Twilight asked as she seemed to recoil back at the sight of it. At this, Luna thoughtfully glanced between the young unicorn and the tome and then lifted the tome with her magic. Giving her neck a quick flick, the tome went sailing across the room straight into the flames of the fireplace.
Twilight shrieked at the sudden action, and back peddled away from the flames that had shot out when the book hit the burning logs. Luna quietly strode over to the fireplace and just stared at the book that set upon the flames. Twilight wasn't sure what had just happened, but she noticed that the princess was starting to cast her magic again. It was then that the tome slowly floated back out of the fire. The flames that it had been bathed in flickered out from its cover leaving not even a single burn mark.
“Both my sister and I tried to find a way to destroy this thing,” Luna said as she brought it back over to the pedestal with her magic. She laid it back down at its resting place, the last wisps of smoke that had clung to it curling off its edges. “It has enchantments upon it that make it impossible. So the only choice we have is to hide it.”
“Oh.. you could have just told me,” Twilight said with a slight hint of sarcasm I her voice. She grit her teeth slightly, hoping that her comment would be well received.
Luna smiled slightly and nodded. “I suppose I could have.” She then used her magic to pull the cover open. The pages made a crackling sound as they breathed fresh air for the first time in centuries. Luna thought back to her older sister's words earlier, but she needed to know. All she needed was for Twilight to identify a spell to confirm her suspicion. She would have to show the young unicorn the contents of this book, at least briefly.
“I want you to look at these pages,” Luna said, quickly noting the look of apprehension playing on Twilight's face at the request. “Only look, you don't have to read them. If you see anything that appears familiar, tell me.”
Twilight reluctantly nodded and then stepped up to the tome. She had to do this, for her friends. If it were possible that this tome held the answer to saving them she would have to put her fears aside for that chance. Steeling herself for the task ahead, she glanced up to the princess as she said, “I'll do it.”
Luna lit her horn and began to magically flip the pages of the tome. The pages were filled with unintelligible symbols, which Twilight found a bit reassuring. At least she wouldn't be able to comprehend what she was looking at. But then, she wondered if this would keep her from being able to locate anything recognizable. Page after page flipped by, each filled with spell diagrams and ancient scripts. Only the sounds of the ancient parchment crackling as Luna turned the pages with her magic filled the room for some time.
“Wait.. there,” Twilight pointed with a hoof at the current page. “That's it. I remember... I remember my magic drawing it on the floor. That has to be it.”
Luna took a moment to study the page. Upon the page was a diagram of a spell circle, with intricate lines that crisscrossed the circle and had runes that ran the length of each one. Something about the page sparked a memory in the moon princess as well as she glanced at the accompanying script written to the side. She hadn't viewed the ancient script in many long centuries, but she could still make out the spell's name.
“Gateway,” Luna whispered to herself as she closed her eyes. She knew for sure now.
“Huh?” Twilight asked as she glanced up to the princess from her side.
“I know this spell. I know what it does.. I used it,” Luna confessed.
“You.. used it?” Twilight questioned as she stepped back a step from Luna's side.
Luna looked to Twilight, noticing her sudden apprehension. Despite this reaction the moon princess decided it wise to confess her past history with this tome. “The Gateway spell was one of the first I used. I made a connection between Equestria and Tartarus.”
Twilight sat back on her haunches as she covered her muzzle with a hoof. She could only think of one possible thing to say in response to what she had just heard. “Why?” she whispered out weakly.
“I wanted power, and I knew who could give it to me,” Luna eyed the book as she spoke. She remembered back when she had used it to contact him. “Tirek.” Luna grimaced as she spoke the name almost as if it left a horrible taste in her mouth to speak it. “I was a fool. In my bid to gain enough power to face my sister, I made a deal with him. He would grant me a small fraction of his power, enough that I could overpower Celestia. In return, I was to provide him with the Elements of Harmony once my sister had been defeated.”
Twilight sat there in stunned silence as she took in the information. She knew that Luna had a troubled past, but she had no idea that the princess had struck a deal with the centaur demon, the very Lord of Tartarus himself. Even more surprising that she had offered the elements as a prize for the exchange.
“Wait,” Twilight said as her mind realized a connection. The darkness that had attacked her and her friends had also been after the elements. Could that darkness had possibly been him?
Luna could tell that Twilight had figured it out by now. There was no definite proof, but it was the only possibility that made any sense. The strangely familiar feelings she had felt recently, the involvement of the elements, the gateway spell, the shadow, all of it fit together. Tirek had come to claim what he believed was rightfully his.
Twilight kept a silent, downcast look at the floor while her ears drooped to the sides of her head. She knew now exactly who was responsible for what had happened to her and her friends. She knew who had set this into motion over a thousand years ago.
Twilight looked up to the moon princess, a look of determination taking over her face. “We can't let Tirek have them.” Twilight stood and walked up to Luna. “We have to defeat him.”
Luna was a bit surprised by the response. She had expected her confession to turn Twilight away, but it appeared the young unicorn had decided to squarely place the blame for the suffering that her friends had been put through on the demon lord. Twilight looked like she was ready to storm into Tartarus herself if need be.
“While defeating Tirek directly may be near impossible, I believe there is still a chance of finding your friends without having to face him at all,” Luna said as she pointed a hoof to the open tome. “The Gateway spell did not complete. This much I am sure of.”
Twilight seemed a bit confused at the realization that the spell had not actually worked. “What happened then? Why did my friends vanish if the spell didn't work?”
“It is not that the spell did not work, but that it did not work correctly. I believe we will find your friends not in Equestria or Tartarus, but somewhere between,” Luna tried to explain.
Luna used her magic to close the tome, its pages causing a dull thud to echo in the chamber. Using her magic, she reclaimed the hoof-drawn depiction of the book's cover, and then replaced the glass covering over the tome. Turning to walk toward the vault door, Luna called out to Twilight to follow her.
“Come, let us return to the archives. I believe we can find a solution to this, and in the morning we can tell Celestia what we have discovered.”
---
“An incomplete spell,” Celestia echoed, having listened to her younger sister's report. She had found her seat on the velvet pillow behind her desk in her reading office and was taking in the new information that her sister and her student had discovered the night before.
“I am certain of it,” Luna spoke standing on the other side of the desk next to Twilight. “If this spell had completed the result would have been the opening of a gateway between Equestria and some other realm, allowing something or somepony to pass through. But since Twilight's magic was being used to power it, the spell was canceled when you pulled her from it.”
“That doesn't exactly explain the disappearances,” Celestia said as she puzzled over the explanation.
Twilight spoke up to try to explain her understanding of the spell's workings. “When a spell is only partially cast, its outcome becomes chaotic. In the case of a spell that is made to create a bridge between worlds, it's possible the bridge actually exists but there is just no where to go.”
Celestia thought over the words and then came up with a conclusion. “They would be trapped within the spell itself.”
“It is the only possibility that would make sense,” the moon princess confirmed. “They could be lost in the space between our world and the other side.”
“And what is this other side?” Celestia asked. The question caused the moon princess grit her teeth. Luna knew she couldn't hide the answer from her sister.
“Tartarus,” Luna said simply.
The silence that hung in the room was deafening. Celestia knew that if her younger sister claimed that powers from Tartarus where somehow behind this, she had to believe it no matter how much she didn't want too. Still, the sun princess couldn't bring herself to say anything in response. If the shadow that had stolen away the five mares had connections to Tartarus, then the situation was far more grave than she had thought.
“We have to go after them,” Twilight affirmed, shortly catching Celestia's attention.
“Would we even be able too?” Celestia asked a she turned her glance back to Luna.
Luna seemed thoughtful for a moment before she nodded. “I could get us inside the spell and back out. But I would not be able to find them myself. For that, we would need somepony who has a connection with the missing mares.”
Celestia knew who that would be, and she could tell by the look of determination on Twilight's face that the unicorn had already decided that she was going after her friends. The sun princess stood from her desk and walked over to the large window, using her magic to push the white curtain aside. She silently stared out at the courtyard just below as she thought over the possibilities, but no matter what she kept coming back to the same conclusion. There was no way to keep from putting Twilight in harms way.
“I don't like it,” Celestia finally said as she released the curtain, letting it fall back in place. She turned to face her sister and student and then added, “but there is no other way. You have my approval.”
Twilight's tension eased up at the answer. She had been fully prepared to confront her mentor if Celestia had tried to deny her the chance of rescuing her friends. However, now that it had been settled the next task would be preparing for the actual trip. “What do I need to do to get ready for this?” Twilight asked as she glanced back and forth between the two princesses.
“Well,” Celestia started as she walked over to her student. Pointing a hoof at Twilight's horn she said, “you will need to get rid of that ring. I doubt you want to take on this task without your magic.”
Twilight glanced up at the null ring on her horn before she tilted her head down. Letting the ring slide off her horn, Twilight caught it atop her right hoof and then placed the ring on Celestia's desk. “Glad to be rid of that thing.”
Celestia smiled shortly to her student before she turned her attention to Luna. “What else should we do to prepare before we go?”
Luna blinked back at the words as she said, “We?”
“Did you think I would let the two of you go without me?” Celestia questioned with her eyebrows raised.
Luna knew better than to try to argue about this. Celestia could be quite stubborn about her choices, and if the choice involved both herself and Twilight the sun princess would be as unmovable as a mountain.
Luna closed her eyes as she placed a hoof to her bottom lip in thought. “I suppose all we really need then would be the Tiara of Magic. Twilight and her friends share a bond through the elements themselves. I believe it could make finding them much easier.”
“I see your point, though it sounds like a risk. If the darkness is still there we could very well be bringing it the one thing it wants,” Celestia warned.
“I considered that, but it is a risk either way. The longer we are in the spell, the more at risk we are of being discovered,” Luna countered. “Besides, there is a possibility that we may need the power of the elements.”
Celestia regarded her sister for a moment, considering her words. She then put on a warm smile and nodded in agreement. “Very well. I will retrieve the tiara and bring it with me to the spire. You two do what you need to prepare yourselves for this trip until then.”
“Thank you princess,” Twilight said as she beamed a smile. Soon now, she would be reunited with her friends. She could just feel it.
Twilight took up the golden Tiara of Magic, the glow of her magical power shining around it in a vibrant aura. It felt good to be able to once again use her magic for something as simple levitation. Spending just a few days without it had lead her to appreciate her gift just that much more. Levitating the tiara to her head, she placed it atop her mane and then turned her attention to the two princesses standing before her.
“I'm ready,” Twilight said with no hint of hesitation in her voice.
“Very well,” Luna nodded before glancing over to her sister. Celestia also nodded to confirm that she was ready to enter the Gateway spell.
The two regal sisters and the dark purple unicorn had gathered themselves in the sun princess's bed chamber. They stood around the remains of the glowing green magical circle upon the floor. Just outside of the room a squad of guards had been gathered to watch over the spell while Twilight and the princesses ventured inside in search of the missing mares.
Luna closed her eyes and concentrated on calling up a form of magical power she had not touched since she had returned to her true form as the princess of the moon. She dug down deep inside her, lifting the emotes up that she knew would be needed to power the entry into this spell; anger, fear, and hate. Grasping hold of the dark emotions inside her, her eyes opened with a dark green glow that left wisps of green light flickering from the corners. Focusing her power upon the dim remains of the circle before her, she let her horn light with an eerie green light. As her power built, a bright light centered at the spell circle between the mares flared up. It was so blinding that closing one's eyes didn't even block out the light.
Among the brightness, the forms of the two princesses and the dark purple unicorn faded out.
---
Twilight opened her eyes after the brightness from the moon princess's spell died down. Blinking and focusing her sight, she found that she and the regal sisters were still standing in the same bedroom. “Did.. it work?” Twilight asked as she glanced around.
“Yes. Do not let your surroundings deceive you. This is just on the other side of the Gateway spell,” Luna confirmed as she moved to walk out of the room. Just on the other side of the doorway was a long hallway that stretched into endless darkness both left and right. While the interior of the bedroom looked familiar, this hallway defiantly did not.
“Wow,” Twilight commented as she walked out into the hallway as well, her voice echoing into the seeming endless distance. Both to her left and right was a stone walled and floored hallway that tapered off to darkness. The passageway was more than twice as high as Celestia, and wide enough that all three of the ponies could stand side by side across it with a little room to spare. The ceiling of the hallway rounded off in a half-cylindrical shape.
“The spell will be unstable. Try to remember that your mind is both your greatest asset and hindrance in this place. Stray thoughts can cause changes in the spell's structure that could be devastating,” Luna explained as she chose one of the directions and began walking. Twilight and Celestia followed closely behind the indigo alicorn that lead the way. Their hoof steps caused clicks that echoed through the still air as they began their search for the missing five.
After traveling down the endless hallway for a short time, Twilight glanced back over her shoulder. The door they had come from had vanished into the distant darkness behind her. Now all that remained was a hall that looked no different than the one before her. She drew in a deep breath, letting it go with a hum as she tried to calm her nerves.
Celestia noticed her student's uneasiness and leaned her neck down to speak as she walked along side Twilight. “You have nothing to fear while my sister and I are here with you. We will protect you.”
“I know,” Twilight said as she smiled back to her mentor. “We're going to find them, and then this nightmare can be over.” Twilight then turned her head forward leaning it to the side as she looked to the moon princess with a question. “What are we looking for in here exactly?”
Luna kept walking a few more steps and then nodded her head at something ahead of them. “That is what we are looking for,” she said as she cantered over to a closed doorway on the right side of the hallway.
“Is this where they are?” Twilight asked, the hope in her voice climbing as she too quickly approached the door.
The moon princess looked back to Twilight. “This door can serve as a connection. Through it we may find your friends, but you need to lead us to them.”
Twilight stared at the door, furrowing her brow before glancing back at Luna. “What do I need to do?”
“Think of your friends; only of your friends. And then open it,” Luna said before stepping back from the door, giving the young unicorn room.
Twilight faced the door, looking it over. It was a simple wooden door with a circular iron loop for a pull handle on the left side, and it crested at the top in the shape of a half circle. The door itself was barely higher than Celestia. It was almost hard to believe that something so simple and plain could open a pathway to finding her friends.
No, think positive Twilight. You are going to find them. Twilight nodded to her thought and closed her eyes to concentrate. She needed to focus on her friends and nothing else. She thought of the bond that she shared with them, how they had gathered their strength together time and time again to keep Equestria safe. She knew she could count on her friends, and right now they were counting on her. They were waiting for her to save them from the darkness.
A loud thud resounded through the hallway as the door in front of Twilight cracked at the force of something on the other side slamming into it. Twilight's eyes shot open at the sound as she scrambled away from the door. The wall around the door heaved forward from the force of the hit, causing some of the mortar around the stone wall to fall to the floor.
“RUN!” Luna cried out as she took off in a gallop down the hallway. Celestia quickly ran to Twilight's side, nudging her to urge the unicorn to escape in the direction that Luna had taken off in. Twilight scrambled to gain her footing and started galloping down the hallway after the moon princess with the sun princess close to her side.
Another sound of something wrecking the closed doorway echoed through the hall behind them. The door and much of the wall surrounding it collapsed into the hall in a heap revealing and endless void of nothing on the other side. From this pitch black emptiness something sprung into the hall. It appeared to be a mass of black that nearly took up the entire hallway, part of it oozing onto the floor underneath it as wisps of shadow hung in the air just above forming shapes that appeared to be like many clawed arms. Among the darkness and shadows, two slits that glowed with green flame peered out of the black mass near the top narrowing at the sight of the ponies escaping down the passageway. Clawing at the floor and walls around itself, the darkness began to pull itself down the hallway toward its next victims ripping the hall to pieces as it did.
Twilight tried to glance back over her shoulder when she heard the rumbling sound of stone caving in behind her. She caught a very short glimpse of something tearing down the hallway toward her, but her view was quickly obscured by Celestia's pure white feathers.
“Keep going! Don't look back!” Celestia shouted as she urged her student to continue running.
Twilight turned her head forward and urged her body to gallop faster. A burning sensation was already creeping into her legs as she pushed herself, but the fear of being caught by what was behind her kept her going at full speed. Just up ahead, she could see a change in the hallway as it sharply turned to the left. Luna had just disappeared around the corner and now it was coming up very quickly. Sliding her hooves on the floor, Twilight leaned away from the wall as she tried to make the turn. Her side slammed into the wall, doing a good job of knocking her breathless, but she still managed to urge her legs to continue running. However just on the other side of the the turn Twilight tumbled as her hoof missed the first step to a downward stair that she hadn't expected there. Hitting her chin hard on the rock stairway, she tumbled head over hoof down the unforgiving stone steps.
Celestia rounded the corner quickly afterward, using her wings to slow herself and slide to a stop in the corner and then propelling herself with a kick off the wall. Just a second after she had left the corner, a large black mass of claws made of shadow slammed into the wall pulling back a fist full of stone and brick and causing a partial cave in of the hallway. Celestia's wings unfolded partially in the narrow hall as she sailed down the length of stairway to the bottom. There she skidded to a stop when she landed at the bottom finding Twilight sprawled out on the floor struggling to push herself up.
“Keep going!” Celestia yelled trying to urge her student to continue running, but it was obvious that the unicorn was struggling to even stand. Celestia turned to face the stairway when she heard the sound of stone being crushed and saw the shadow clawing its way down, pulverizing the stone steps with each claw that it used to pull itself closer.
Celestia readied herself, placing her body between the shadow and Twilight with her wings defensively spread at her sides. Her horn quickly ignited with golden magic that increased in intensity until her horn was glowing a bright white. Just as the shadow reached the bottom of the stairway and began reaching out for the sun princess, golden chains ripped through the walls of the hall crisscrossing diagonally, vertically, and horizontally in front of the shadow. The touch of the chains seemed to cause the shadow to burn away, but it pressed itself to reach through the chains at Celestia as it roared with pain and anger at her. Urging her magic to give just a little more, Celestia let go a strained yell as she willed the chains to pull tight. The wall around the black monstrosity suddenly collapsed inward as the chains forced the hallway to constrict in an instant, crushing the black mass and causing it to let loose an unholy scream that echoed through the hallway.
“Hurry!” A voice called down at the end of the hallway. Twilight managed to pusher herself up to look toward the voice and could see Luna standing a short distance away. Forcing her body to stand, Twilight took a shaky step toward the moon princess but then stopped when she realized something was wrong. Where was it? She couldn't lose it. Without it she wouldn't be able to find her friends! She frantically shot her glance around herself and then located the Tiara of Magic laying beside the wall. Quickly dashing over to the tiara, she ignored the pain in her body as she grasped the tiara with her teeth and took off down the hallway.
Celestia wasn't too far behind the unicorn. Keeping her gaze turned to watch the shadow behind them, she could see it trashing in the collapsed hallway, destroying the stone walls as it fought to free itself. She slid to a stop next to her sister's side just on the other side of a stone archway.
Luna wasted no time when both Twilight and Celestia had managed to escape the hall. Letting her magic flare, the moon princess began casting a strong telekinesis spell, gripping the very walls of the hallway between her and the darkness that thrashed in the distance. Pulling loose the foundations of the walls, Luna used her magic to cause the length of hallway between her and the shadow to collapse. The cave in caused the floor beneath the group of ponies to shake, and the rumbling sound carried in the hallow hallway they had found refuge in. The distant roars from the shadow creature and panting breaths of the three mares was all that echoed through this new stretch of hallway for a time afterward.
“I said to only think of your friends,” Luna firmly spoke after she caught her breath, her hard gaze locked on the dark purple unicorn.
Twilight didn't look up at her princess. She kept her gaze on the tiara laying on the floor near her hooves. She knew this had been her fault. At the last moment she had let her mind think about the dark shadow. Twilight then noticed a red dot appear on the floor next to the tiara, and then shortly another. Bringing her hoof up to her face, she touched the back of her fore-hoof to her nose, and then looked at the streak of red blood.
“Let me see,” Celestia calmly said as she hooked a hoof over Twilight's shoulder. Twilight glanced up to her mentor who gently took the young unicorn's chin up with her hoof. Twilight cringed slightly at the touch, feeling a burning pain on the bottom of her chin from the wound she had received when she'd tumbled down the stairs. But the pain would soon subside as she felt a warm glow washing over her. She could see Celestia focusing her gaze on her as the sun princess's magic flowed over her. After a few short seconds, the complaining aches in her body began to fade as well.
“I'm sorry,” Twilight quietly said as she closed her eyes and allowed herself to be treated by her mentor's magic.
“We just need to try again,” Celestia reassured as she finished up her spell. Twilight glanced over to the moon princess next to her, her look seeming to ask the question of if that were possible at this point.
“We should keep moving,” Luna said as she stood to continue down one direction of the hallway. “It knows we are here now. We can not waste any time.”
Twilight looked down to the tiara laying at her hooves. Willing it into the air with her magic, she looked it over before placing it atop her head. She knew she had to do better for her friends. No more mistakes. She lifted herself to walk, falling in just behind Luna to continue the search for her friends.
---
Twilight found herself staring at another closed door that the moon princess had located. It looked exactly like the one from before. Just like the one that had..
No! Twilight shook her head. She was not going to let her fears ruin this chance. She had to focus on her friends, and only her friends, just at Luna had told her. Closing her eyes, Twilight sat there just before the doorway reaching out to the connection she had with the five mares. As she did, the facets of the magenta star-shaped jewel in her tiara glinted in the dim light. This has to work.
Twilight reached out with her magic and pulled the door open.
Just on the other side, a group of five mares huddling together in a dark room shrunk back from the doorway. Twilight almost couldn't believe what she saw before her. She had found them. She had actually found them all.
Twilight began to walk into the room, but stopped her steps when she noticed that her friends pulled back in fear, pressing themselves against the back wall. She tried to speak to them, but found it hard to find any words to say. She wondered if they no longer trusted her; if they would ever trust her again after what had happened between them.
“You found them!” Celestia called out just behind Twilight as she peered into the doorway. Both her and the moon princess were now standing shoulder to shoulder just outside of the door's frame.
“... Princess Celestia?” Rarity's weak voice called out from the group of mares.
“Is it really them?” Fluttershy squeaked quietly.
“It is... it is!” Applejack called out as she stood to canter over to the open doorway.
“We're saved! I told you guys! I told you!” Pinkie squealed as she pranced about the room in a circle.
The group of mares all began to gather up near the doorway, stopping just short and looking over their dark purple unicorn friend who stood there. Twilight tried again to find something to say. “I'm sorry it took so long,” she managed to say as her voice strained under her stress.
“Are you... OK now?” Rainbow Dash asked as she eyed Twilight somewhat suspiciously.
“Well.. I'm doing better than I was,” Twilight offered back as she shrugged her shoulders.
“What happened before was outside of Twilight Sparkle's control,” Luna spoke from the doorway. “She was being controlled by a dark power.”
“Oh! You mean that nasty dark shadow thing?” Pinkie asked as she crouched to the floor looking like she was about to pounce at something.
“Yes,” Luna confirmed with a nod. “That darkness is an evil from the realm of Tartarus. A part of Tirek himself.”
“Wow, that's a real doozy of a shadow thing,” Pinkie replied back seeming somewhat surprised.
“Did it hurt any of you?” Twilight asked her friends, the concern in her voice causing it to shake.
“Well, not really,” Applejack mentioned. “It seemed to leave us be after we got here, just left us all and wandered off. But we did notice these.” The farm mare reached her hoof up and lifted the jeweled necklace that was clasped around her neck. The facets of the apple shaped jewel had multiple cracks that crisscrossed the jewel. It had been fractured all the way through.
“Sister,” Luna quietly whispered to Celestia.
“I see them,” Celestia whispered back. She had taken notice of the jewels set in the necklaces that the five mares wore around the necks. Every single one of them had been fractured.
“What does it mean?” Luna asked back quietly.
“For now, lets worry about getting them to safety,” Celestia said nodding her head down the hallway.
---
The clicking sounds of the group's hooves echoed through the length of the hall. Luna took up the lead, guiding the rest forward while Twilight and Celestia kept toward the back of the group.
“Well, I'm going to visit Aloe and Lotus first thing when I get back to Ponyville. My shoulders are aching something fierce!” Rarity complained breaking the silence, already making plans for her return home.
“Oh that does sound so nice,” Fluttershy agreed.
“I'm sure everypony at the farm is worried sick. I ain't gonna hear the end of it for a while I'm sure,” Applejack mused.
“I'm going to need to sleep for a week to recover from this 'vacation',” Rainbow Dash said shortly before letting go a gaping yawn. “I thought these things were suppose to help a pony relax.”
“Or get energized!” Pinkie quickly added. “Vacations are suppose to help a pony recharge. But I'm not sure I'm feeling it.” Pinkie then attempted to hop once, giving a short 'hup' sound as she did. She seemed to contemplate the quick hop for a second before continuing to walk along with the group normally. “Nah, not feeling it.”
Twilight was happy that her friends at least seemed to be well considering they had been trapped inside the Gateway spell for over three days now, but she still couldn't shake the feeling of guilt that was weighing down on her for the part she had played in all of this. “I really am sorry guys, for everything,” She mumbled from behind the group.
“Now we done said it was alright,” Applejack mentioned as she glanced back over her shoulder. “You couldn't help what happened, and you came all the way here to get us out.”
“Yes, and you should worry about yourself, you poor thing,” Rarity said as she stopped long enough to let Twilight walk up beside her. “Black really isn't your color darling. We will have to see what we can do for your mane and coat when we get you back home.”
“Yeah is that permanent?” Rainbow Dash asked as she looked back toward Twilight, garnering a few glares from the other mares around her as she did. “What?” she asked confused at the glances.
“Do ya even think before ya shoot yer mouth off?” Applejack asked as she cast a one eyed side glare at the rainbow pegasus.
“I didn't mean anything by it!” Rainbow Dash complained as she ruffled her wings.
“It's OK,” Twilight said as she tried to put a smile on for her friends. “It might be.. I don't know yet.” The conversation seemed to die down afterward. Each of them had experienced horrible things recently, but it was hard for the mares to imagine what Twilight had been put through having her body twisted by a dark shadow.
“Here,” Luna called out to the group as she cantered up to a tall set of white double-doors. The doors looked very similar to the same doors that use to hang from the doorway of her sister's bed chamber.
“Is this the way out?” Rainbow Dash asked as she quickly dashed up to the doorway and eagerly fluttered her wings at her side.
“It should be, but I need to focus my thoughts first before I attempt to open it,” Luna said as she glanced up the height of the doorway.
“Alright, give the princess some room ta think, then we can all get outta here,” Applejack said as she walked over and nudged the rainbow maned pegasus to turn around.
The group stayed together with Celestia to the side while Luna calmed her thoughts. The moon princess attempted to think back to the room they had entered from; her sister's room. She had visited it many times, and knew it well enough that she should be able to bring its image to her mind. Opening her eyes to look up at the tall doorway again, Luna lit her magic to take hold of the massive double-doors. Giving them a shove with her power, the doors groaned as they opened wide into the room on the other side.
The other side of the doorway lead to a darkened room. It was a large room, much larger than it should be. Filtering in though many stained glass windows, low levels of moonlight brightened the opposite side of the room giving form to a stairway that lead up to a throne at the far center.
“Is this... the throne room?” Celestia asked as she walked up to the open door and gazed inside. The rest of the group had gathered there as well, glancing into room that was covered with heavy shadows.
“It shouldn't be. I'm sure I pictured your bed chambers in my mind,” Luna said confused as she shook her head.
A low growling noise echoed out of the darkness of the room. All attention snapped forward to look at the source of the noise. At first there appeared to be nothing there, just the shadows stretching though the dim moonlight. However, two green lights appeared at the center of the room. The narrow green flames stared back at the group as the rumbling sound of the growls shook the floor that they stood on.
Luna quickly took hold of the doors with her magic to pull them shut, however a strong whoosh of air seemed to push her away along with the rest of the group, all accept one.
Twilight let go a scream as a large black clawed arm closed itself around her body. The claws pulled back into the doorway, plunging the terrified unicorn into the dark chamber. The doors slammed closed behind her, and as she craned her neck around to look back she could see the doorway seeming to fall off into the distance until it was so far away it vanished from sight.
You will never reach them again.
Twilight snapped her attention forward at the green flames that stared back into her soul. “Let me go!” she screamed in panic as she attempted to thrash in the grasp of the dark claws.
And what good would that do? The damage has already been done.
Twilight eased her struggle when she realized she couldn't free herself. She stared back at the glowing eyes, panting heavily.
Look at you, so pathetic. You allowed your friends to be broken; their connection to the elements to be severed.
Twilight listened to the voice echoing through her mind as she leaned away from the dark creature. “I didn't want this. I never wanted any of this,” she pleaded.
You never deserved the power you wielded!
“But.. we never asked for any of this,” Twilight cried as her panic began to change over to sadness.
And in your charge to wield the ancient power of the elements, you and your friends have failed.
“No.. we..,” Twilight weakly tried to defend herself.
You failed!
Twilight couldn't take it any longer. The guilt of what she had done to her friends was too much. She had allowed this darkness to overpower her mind and attack her friends, and now she would never see them again. There was nothing left that she could do. With this final realization that it was all over, the magenta star shaped jewel in Twilight's tiara fractured all the way through the center.
The darkness holding Twilight let a victorious sneer creep across it's dark visage.
At last...
Twilight could feel her vision fading as her entire world seemed to be consumed by a bright white light.
---
“Should this be happening?” A concerned white unicorn guard asked nopony in particular. Before him and the rest of his comrades the bed chambers of the sun princess were now emitting a very bright green glow, and a strong gust of wind appeared to be coming from the source of the light.
“Hold steady!” A gray pegasus guard called out at the front and center of the group of assembled guards. The guards formed up on their superior officer, preparing themselves for what may be coming through the spell. The gust was picking up in intensity causing it to be hard for the group to stay standing.
A blinding flash accompanied with a loud rumble exited the spell. The concussive force of the blast threw the guards back, scattering them across the floor of the hallway as it blew out many of the windows throughout the hall. The gray pegasus tried to quickly push himself to stand using his wing to guard against the bright glow and harsh winds. Looking out over the room, he could see his comrades struggling to stand as well and noticed something else that seemed out of place. Scattered through the group of guards were multiple mares that had seemed to appear from no where. Among them, he recognized the princesses.
“Your majesties!” The pegasus guard called out as he struggled to approach them through the gale.
Celestia found her way to her hooves first, trying to steady herself against the forceful wind. She lent her hoof to her sister to pull her up speaking over the loud noise of the air rushing around them. “What happened?”
“I am not sure, but it seems we have been pushed out of the spell!” Luna called back through the gale's noise. She then noticed the guard approaching them.
“Your majesties, something is happening to the spell!” The guard called out.
Celestia glanced around herself, noticing the other guards scattered about the room as well as the mares they had gone in to rescue. However she didn't see her student. “Twilight! Where is Twilight!?”
Just then another concussive explosion came from the glowing spell, this one blowing the walls and roof of the spire around the room out. The shattered remains of the spire rained down to the ground below as the gale died out leaving nothing but a wide open platform attached to the tattered ends of the hallway that the ponies stood within. At the center of where the spell circle had been the floor was starting to fall out as the stones plummeted into it, however the scene on the other side of this pit was not the lower levels of the spire. Instead an inky darkness filled the depths of the hole that was growing wider. And there above the gaping opening, Twilight hovered high above it all in the sky. Her wings were spread wide to her sides and her horn was glowing a pitch black as her eyes seemed to emit bright green flames.
A roar that had the sound and force of an avalanche echoed out of the black darkness of the gaping opening. The force of the noise seemed to cause the earth around everypony to shake, and as if answering a call the sky began to darken. Glancing upward, Celestia could see a large dark heavenly body fading into existence as it eclipsed the light of the sun. The skies continued to darken to the point that they changed to a blood red.
“Get everypony away from here!” Celestia barked to the guard next to her. “Evacuate this spire! The entire castle! Just go!”
The guard quickly bowed to his princess and then rallied a call to his fellow comrades. “You heard the princess! Evacuation! Lets move!” With that, the pegasi guards among the group took to the winds as the unicorn guards quickly blinked themselves and their fellow earth pony guards out of the area with their magic.
A set of three unicorn guards approached the group of mares that had been recovering from being ejected from the spell. “Hold on, we'll get you all to safety,” a unicorn mare among the guards said as she began to cast her magic.
“Hold up there!” Applejack said as she raised her hoof at the guard. “We ain't goin no where unless Twilight's goin with us!”
The guards stepped back and took a questioning look toward their rulers.
“Just go!” Luna said quickly to the guards, “We'll see to them ourselves.” With a quick nod, the three unicorn guards blinked themselves out of the area, leaving only the regal sisters and the five Ponyville mares looking back to the dark sky that Twilight was hovering in.
“We have to put a stop to this!” Rainbow Dash said as she began to lift herself off the ground.
“You can not go out there!” Luna quickly ordered, stopping the rainbow pegasus shortly before she took off on our own. “The Gateway spell is open. If you fly into that you'll never find your way back here.”
A rumbling sound echoed out of the large black pit. The sight of an enormous red hand with black clawed fingers pushed its way out of the darkness of the rift. It was followed by an arm bearing a solid black leathered wristband. The hand found a partially destroyed wall and grasped it, sending a shock-wave through the spire that nearly toppled the mares over. The muscular arm flexed, and two gigantic black horns came into view from the inky darkness. The rest of the head they were attached too rose from the pit afterward, revealing the red visage of the Lord of Tartarus.
“Tirek,” Celestia said as she let go a whispered gasp. “Everypony behind us!” Celestia rushed to her sister's side, readying herself to attempt protect the five mares along side the moon princess.
“But Twilight's in danger!” Rainbow Dash said as she pointed up at the sky above. Just below Twilight's form hovering high in the sky, the centaur demon lord continued to hoist himself out of the Gateway spell. Pushing the upper half of his torso out of the spell with both of his arms, his enormous pitch black fore-hoof raised out of the edge of the pit and landed just on the edge, shaking the foundation of the spire.
Applejack looked down to the necklace fastened around her neck, touching her hoof to it. “We have ta use these,” she said as she galloped past the protection of the princesses toward the demon lord.
“Will they even work?” Rarity called out as she followed close behind.
“Ain't gonna know if we don't try!” the farm mare called back as she stopped near the edge of the shattered platform. The rest of the Ponyville mares lined up on either side of her, all of them staring up to the towering form of the centaur demon before them. Tirek took notice of the group that had approached him, and seemed to ponder their actions as he squinted down at their tiny forms.
Each of the mares tried to concentrate on their connection with the element they represented. They had to reach out, to try to find it. If they could find the connection they had once had again, they may be able to reach out to their friend and save her.
---
Twilight laid in an endless field of white light, crying into her forelegs. She had failed her friends, and everypony else in Equestria. She couldn't stop him, and now he was going to destroy everything she had ever known. Tirek was right about her; she really had been a failure.
“Please don't cry,” A gentle voice called out. Twilight immediately recognized it as belonging to her shy pegasus friend. Glancing up Twilight saw her five friends standing in this endless void of light looking back at her.
“I... I don't understand, why are you all here?” Twilight asked as she looked between the gathered mares with confusion.
“We all need yer help,” Applejack said simply.
“Yeah, and we are not leaving you behind either,” Rainbow Dash asserted with a stamp of her hoof.
“But.. this is all my fault,” Twilight said as she pushed herself up with her fore-hooves. “I did all of this.”
“No you didn't,” Pinkie said as she shook her head, “it's all that big meanie Tirek.”
“Yes, and if we do not stop him, that ruffian is going to tear Canterlot apart,” Rarity added.
“But.. everything that's happened..” Twilight could barely find her words. She couldn't believe after all the pain she had put her friends through, and through all of her failures, they were still here.
“We want to forgive you Twilight,” Fluttershy spoke as she approached the dark purple unicorn, lightly placing her hoof upon Twilight's shoulder. “But how can we if you won't even forgive yourself?”
“None of this was ever your fault dear,” Rarity added as she walked up shoulder to shoulder with Fluttershy. The rest of her Ponyville friends joined in, standing in a shoulder to shoulder semi circle before her.
Twilight smiled back to her friends. She had been foolish to think that they would ever abandon her, no matter how bad things would get. “You guys really are the best friends ever,” Twilight said as she dried the tears from her eyes.
“Yeah? Well lets show Tirek what the best friends ever can do,” the rainbow maned pegasus said as she punctuated the last word stamp of her hoof.
“You're right,” Twilight said, finding her confidence among the fire mares she trusted the most. Turning herself around to face the sky before the group of six mares, Twilight arched her neck upwards. “You hear that Tirek!” she called out in a yell. “You can never break the bond we have!”
---
A bright flash of light beamed from each of the five mares that faced down the demon lord. At each of the golden necklaces upon their necks, the jewel representing each of their elements pulsed with vibrant light as the cracked facets fused back solid. Each of the five mares concentrated on using their element as their hooves gently left the floor. They all hovered there momentarily until a brightly colored beam of energy shot out from each of them, merging into a five colored rainbow that arched its way high into the sky up to where the dark purple unicorn was.
Twilight gasped when the power of the elements cast from her friends reached her. The bright green flame in her eyes died out, and instead was replaced with a bright glowing white. The black pulsing aura surrounding her horn slowly changed to a deep magenta. And the six pointed star jewel upon her tiara glowed brightly as the cracks sealed, restoring the last of the six elements.
Twilight could feel the radiant energy of the elements washing over her, burning away the corruption from her body. The dark streaks of hair in her mane and tail faded away, and her coat returned to its vibrant lavender color. The wings stretched out to her sides slowly disintegrated into a fine glowing dust until they vanished completely. Twilight's own magical power added to the rainbow and completed it as it cascaded down to the Gateway spell below. Twilight had never actually felt the power of the elements directly like this, but it felt soothing and warm. It made her feel safe, but she was so exhausted. She allowed herself to be enveloped in the magical energy as she closed her eyes, consciousness slipping from her.
Tirek let go an earth shattering roar of anger as the power of the elements collided with him. Where the elements had been like a protective blanket cradling Twilight's body, the same power harshly punished the Lord of Tartarus, forcing him back through the Gateway spell. His massive hoof broke through the edge of the floor and slipped back through the gaping hole. Grabbing at anything he could, Tirek clawed at the stone floor of the shattered spire but the elements would not relent. Further and further they pressed the demon back into his own realm, his grip failing as his claws shredded the stone floor around him.
Sensing that defeat was imminent, Tirek looked to the sky. There he could see the body of the one responsible hovering above him; the one who had denied his return. She was the one who had defied his power and ruined his plans after he had patiently waited for centuries. At the very least, he would take her as his prize. Swiping one of his clawed hands through the air above him, Twilight disappeared into Tirek's grasp. The demon lord grinned as he felt the small body of the unicorn trapped within his hand.
A golden chain wiped into existence, wrapping itself around the arm that held Twilight captive. The coils of golden links caused dark wisps of smoke to rise from where they touched the dark lord's flesh. Tirek stared down the length of chain to see the sun princess scowling back at him.
“Let her GO!” Celestia screamed as she dug her hooves into the stone floor and forcefully pulled back on the chain with her magic. The sudden jerk of the chain caused Tirek's body to lurch forward against the edge of the Gateway spell, but he would not let go his grasp on his prize. Putting his strength into his arm, he pulled back shattering the links of the golden chains. The sun princess lost her footing at the raw force that had ripped the chains from her magic stumbling forward face first into the ground hard. The stinging pain in her jaw as she tried to push herself back up kept her there on the ground, and all she could do was stare back in a dazed horror as she saw Tirek let lose his hold on the stone floor to return to his own realm.
An indigo blur streaked just over Celestia's body causing a rush of air that ruffled her feathers. The sun princess watched as she saw the streak head strait for the dark lord, recognizing her younger sister's form. “Luna,” Celestia quietly whispered.
Luna closed on her target as quickly as her wings would allow. Tirek was quickly vanishing back through the Gateway spell, and the floor around it was sealing back up as stones seemed to magically lift back into place on the floor. Focusing her magic on the hand that gripped the young unicorn, Luna's horn lit with an explosion of dark blue sparks. She strained her magic to pry at the clawed fingers, forcing them back with all of her strength that she could call on.
Luna hit the palm of the demon's hand forcefully, casing an explosion of her magic to radiate out from the hit. A pain filled roar echoed from the Gateway spell as the hand fell back through, disappearing over the edge of the black pit. The last of the stones that had fallen out of place when the spell opened found their way back, and with a white blast of energy the spell was sealed.
Just above where the spell had closed, Luna's form sailed through the sky. Her wings were enclosed around her body as she turned her back to the ground. She landed with a grunt as she slid across the stone floor, coming to a sudden stop when her side hit the remains of a nearby wall. Her body complained to her about the rough landing as she shifted herself to stand up. As she rolled over, she unfolded her wings, and laid the silent body of the lavender unicorn there on the floor.
Luna could make out the sounds of hooves galloping on the floor toward her, but her gaze was focused on the unicorn she had rescued from Tirek's claws. Twilight appeared completely motionless, her eyes closed as she laid there on the floor. Luna tried to stir the unicorn from her sleep with a gentle nudge from her hoof at first, but began to feel uneasy when she noticed that Twilight's body was completely limp. Ducking her head close to the unicorn's muzzle, Luna listened as she rest a hoof upon Twilight's chest.
“She's not breathing,” Luna whispered as she glanced back up at the unicorn's face. “She's not breathing!” Luna repeated frantically as she took Twilight up in her forelegs and glanced back to the mares that had gathered nearby.
“W-What? No..” Rarity said as she shrunk back a step.
“This.. this can't happen,” Rainbow Dash said as she shook her head. “Do something!”
“Come'on girl,” Applejack said as she tried her best to keep heaving of her chest under control. “You've come this far, COME'ON!” She yelled as tears started streaming down the sides of her face.
Fluttershy had already broken down, being unable to take the thought of losing her friend. She quietly moaned into her forelegs as she hid her face, laying there on the ground. Pinkie tried to offer the pegasus some support by cuddling Fluttershy under her neck, but she was having just as much difficulty accepting this as everypony else.
Celestia limped in behind the group, her bruised form quietly staring at the silent body of her student being held in Luna's forelegs. She wanted to tear her eyes away from the sight as if doing so might change it.
A silent sadness overtook the air around the group, interrupted only by the sad sounds of sobs and sniffles. This wasn't what they wanted; they had wanted their friend back. They had all tried so hard to save her, too hard for this to happen.
A loud clang followed by a few metallic clattering sounds drew the attention of the entire group away. Nearby, the Tiara of Magic had fallen to the floor from the sky, resting where the center of the Gateway spell had been. The mares all stared at it until they noticed the sky beginning to brighten. Looking up, the dark sphere that had blocked out the radiant light of the sun began to fade, and as it did the sky recovered to its beautiful blue.
Twilight's body silently laid there in Luna's embrace, the light of the sun glistening off of her lavender coat. Luna looked down at her sadly, knowing that this unicorn had paid the price that she herself should have to rescue Equestria from its end. The final day had been avoided, thanks to her sacrifice. Luna closed her eyes, causing the tears that had built up to roll down her face, and silently thanked the young unicorn for what she had done as she hugged Twilight close to her.
Twilight's eyes shot open as she let go a gasp. She coughed as her forelegs flailed about and her lungs quickly tried to take in air. Luna nearly dropped Twilight in shock at the sudden noise. The unicorn grasped to hold on to the moon princess with her forelegs as she attempted to catch her breath.
“Oh.. that was crazy,” Twilight weakly spoke between breaths as she held on to Luna.
The group of mares shouted out to their friend, calling her name as they crowed around her and the moon princess. Behind the group, Celestia watched with a joyful smile on her face as she tried to dry the tears that were streaming from her eyes.
She had made it.
“OK OK! Let me up,” Twilight complained with a laugh as she tried to push the suffocating group back a step. Luna helped Twilight to her hooves, careful to make sure that the unicorn was stable before letting her go.
Applejack pulled her the brim of her hat down to her face with her hooves, quickly using it to dry at her eyes. “Twilight..” she started as she pushed her hat back atop her head. “Just where do you get off scarin every pony like that!”
“Yeah, not cool,” Rainbow Dash added as she sat back on her haunches crossing her forelegs.
“I'm sorry guys. I've been a real pain lately,” Twilight said as she smiled sheepishly to the group around her.
“Are you kidding!?” Pinkie screeched as she waved her hooves above her head. “You were amazing! I mean sure you were all like grrrr at first but then the rainbow went whoosh and BLAM and Tirek was all like ack!” The pink pony rambled on without even taking a breath as she went through a myriad of facial expressions and hoof-gestures to compliment her sound effects. She finished off her reenactment by rolling to her back and reaching a twitching hoof to the sky to portray the demon lord's final downfall.
Luna chuckled at Pinkie's display. “That was a rather accurate account of what happened.”
Fluttershy dabbed at her eyes with the back of her hoof. “I'm just glad you're OK,” she said as she smiled to her lavender unicorn friend, the other ponies around her nodding in agreement.
Twilight smiled as she looked around herself. Her two princesses had risked themselves just to bring this group of friends back together. Her five Ponyville friends had managed to bring her back from the brink of despair when it had seemed that there was no hope left. And together they had ensured that Equestria would see another day.
As she had declared so boldly before, their bond had proven to be unshakeable.
“I'm telling you Twilight, it has to be some kind of conspiracy!” Spike said as he walked along side his caregiver. The baby dragon hauled a red wagon loaded with two pieces of luggage behind him as he strode though the streets of Ponyville along side Twilight Sparkle. Twilight carried her saddlebags on her back as she made her way to her home from the Ponyville train station, listening to her assistant carry on.
“Oh come on Spike, you think everything is a conspiracy,” Twilight said with a roll of her eyes.
“But the entire sky turned red Twilight. Red!” Spike punctuated the word as he extended his free hand up to the sky.
“I know, I saw it, but it was all just a haywire spell,” Twilight explained.
“But didn't part of the castle explode?” The baby dragon questioned as he pointed a claw at Twilight.
“Just a tower,” Twilight said with a shrug.
“Really? How much did you see? Where you near it when it went off?” Spike rattled off the questions quickly trying to get to the answers he was looking for.
Twilight bit at her bottom lip as she tried to think of how to phrase her next words. “Well... I did kinda see it happen I guess, but they have things at the castle back under control. There really isn't anything to worry about,” she said hoping that would be enough to sate her assistant's curiosity.
“Hmm...” Spike pondered as he scratched at his chin. “I still think it's fishy.”
Twilight sighed and shook her head. She had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last of the questions, but at least the little dragon seemed content enough to ponder his thoughts in his own head quietly for a moment.
The pair had just made it to the front doorway of the Golden Oaks Library. Finally, home, Twilight thought to herself as she willed the door open with her magic. The familiar creek of the wooden door as it swung open to welcome her filled her with a sense of calmness. Walking just inside, Twilight took a glance around the library seeing everything in order as she had left it nearly a week ago now. Dropping her saddlebags to the ground near the doorway, she walked into the central room to locate her velvet sitting pillow and hopped onto it.
“Ooooh, it's so good to be home,” Twilight said as she rolled over to her back on the pillow.
“You guys were gone for what... five days?” Spike asked as he pulled the wagon just inside the doorway near the wall. Leaving the wagon there, the baby dragon quickly closed the doorway behind him and then scampered off into the main room to join Twilight.
“Nearly six,” Twilight corrected as she pointed a hoof into the air shortly and then let it flop back down at her side.
“Yeah, I was surprised when you wrote me saying that you guys were going to stay longer. Must have been an awesome vacation.”
Twilight grit her teeth a bit. Awesome really isn't the word that she would have used to describe what had happened, even if everything had worked out in the end. The entire event had been very trying and exhausting.
“I doubt we do anything like this again for... quite a while,” Twilight said as she rolled over to lay upright on the pillow. Smiling to her assistant, she tapped her hoof on the pillow just in front of her. Spike scampered over and hopped up to join Twilight on the pillow, allowing the unicorn to fold her forelegs around him as she nuzzled the scales atop his head. “I really missed you though,” Twilight said as she smiled down at the little dragon.
“Aw.. I missed you too Twilight. Was kinda worried when all that stuff happened in Canterlot,” Spike said as he tapped his claws together.
“There was nothing to worry about. I'll always come back here. This is our home,” Twilight said as she hugged the little dragon tightly.
Twilight truly believed that. She knew this was where she belonged, here in this town among her friends. If she had ever had any doubts left in her mind before, they had all disappeared thanks to the friends that had refused to abandon her.
