The Witching Hour
Stirring in the Night
The day before this awful and devastating day, the sun shined bright and the aura of happiness radiated from Canterlot. Everything was perfect. Nothing would ever go wrong, but as every story must, it did.
"Princess Celestia?" asked Twilight as she opened the door to the throne room. "Do you have a minute?"
Celestia was doing her usual answering letters and sending them. "Mhm..."
Twilight stepped in and approached, "It's not that big of a deal. I was just wondering if you could talk?"
"Of course," she sent her last letter in a whoosh of magic. "What is it?"
"Well..." she began. "Now that I'm a princess, does this mean that I wont be able to study magic anymore? I know you said I'd keep learning, but I just haven't. I feel like I've left my studies behind, along with my old life!"
Celestia looked down, her hooves crossed. "My dear, Twilight. You must know that I value your service as a princess just as much as you value your studies. Would it make you feel better if I gave you homework?"
Twilight turned. "I don't know. I don't know what I want. I guess I've just never gotten used to this whole 'Princess' thing."
Celestia nodded. "I know it's hard, but it might be that I need your magical help after all."
Twilight tilted her head. "Need my help? Why?"
"For the past couple of days my horn has been aching. My magic has been weaker, and I feel tired. Would you mind giving me a helping hoof?"
Twilight smiled, this was what she had been waiting for, a test. "Yes!"
For the next two days, Twilight never left Celestia's side. She sent Celestia's letters, and fulfilled any Royal Duties she needed help with. But even as Twilight helped, she noticed Celestia getting weaker and weaker.
"I don't know what's wrong." said Twilight to her friends one afternoon. "It's like she's running out of power!"
Pinkie-Pie jumped up, "Maybe she's just old! She is like a billion years old after all!"
"I don't know, Pinkie. I think Twilight's right. Maybe the princess could use some help," said Applejack.
Twilight stretched her wings. "Well... We can talk about it tomorrow cant we? I'm beat."
The ponies parted, and went off to bed.
That night, a guard opened Twilight's door. "Princess?" he looked in the dark room. The curtains shut, and the light dim from the moon outside. "This is urgent!"
Twilight awoke with a start. "W-What is it?"
Spike looked up from his basket. "Erm... What?"
The guard looked anxious, he was sweating, and he shifted from hoof to hoof. "Please hurry, Your Highness. It's Princess Celestia."
"What!? What about Princess Celestia?" asked Twilight, jumping from her bed. She was prepared for the worse. That she was missing, or even dead.
"She's sick!" said the guard.
"Sick...?" asked Twilight. "That's it?"
The guard bit his lip. "Gravely sick..."
Princess Luna was already there, kneeling beside her sister. Twilight's other five friends were already there too, watching as Celestia shook and coughed.
"Princess Celestia!" called Twilight, galloping to her side. "What is it?"
Luna stood up. "She can't speak, Twilight. She is completely drained of energy. Somepony put a spell on her."
Everypony gasped.
"How can you be so sure?" asked Rarity.
"I've never seen an illness like this before. It has to be the work of dark magic." she said, looking at her sister. "She needs help."
"What can we do?" asked Twilight. "There has to be something!"
Luna nodded. "There is." she walked to her sister's side. "If you and another unicorn can help me, we can give Princess Celestia some energy of our own."
"Energy of our own?" she asked.
Luna looked up and closed her eyes, lit her horn, and a magical aura surrounded her and Celestia. It was as if Luna was giving her sister part of her life force. The energy was being sucked from Luna's horn into Celestia's. After a few seconds, it worked fine, until the aura disappeared and left Luna on the ground, almost as weak as her sister. "I need help."
"What do we do?" asked Twilight. "Me and Rarity can help." she turned to her friends. "What do we do?"
Luna regained her energy. "It is an old spell and quite difficult. But it can be learned."
Rarity stepped next to Twilight. "Anything for the princess!"
Luna lit her horn again, and began to explain the spell.
After an hour of practicing, Twilight and Rarity were able to cast the spell and keep Celestia conscious.
"What now?" asked Rainbow Dash. "You guys can't just do that forever!"
"Indeed we can't," said Luna, concentrating hard. "Which is why we need you,"
Fluttershy stepped back. "B-But we're not unicorns? How can we help?"
Luna stopped the spell and walked to the four ponies. "You four, we need you." she looked over to Rarity and Twilight, still giving up their energy to Celestia. "She needs you."
Applejack shook her head. "No disrespect, Princess Luna. But how in the hay are we supposed to help? We can't do magic."
Luna shook her head. "No, Applejack. You can. You just need to find it."
Pinkie-Pie giggled. "Find it? How?"
Luna looked out the window. "I need you four to go find the one who put the spell on Princess Celestia."