An eerie silence that had not manifested itself in Equestria in five thousand years now crept its way slowly through Ponyville. It came now at the very apex of the night where even Princess Luna herself had barely any influence. Your average pony would have no idea what happened in that ever so brief climax of the night, when all things were still and all voices were silent.
But Twilight Sparkle knew. She had been tirelessly researching for months after Princess Celestia had told her of its imminent return. She did not think she knew much about it, yet this was still much more than even Celestia knew. Due to her studious ways, she had wisely decided to compile every scrap of information she had obtained about it in one definitive, albeit short, personal volume. She had tried to memorize as much information as she could in the short amount of time she had, but all she could recall at the moment was that a mysterious “dark lord” ruled a large portion of Equestria some five millennia ago with an army of “vamponies” and that his empire and his cult were devastated by some mysterious plague and were never heard from again.
To Twilight, this sounded like an old mare’s tale; a story told to little fillies with a dull but effective moral to keep them in line. But even so, she thought, the Princess took it very seriously and therefore she should do the same.
She was pacing now in the foyer of her library, awoken just before dawn by news from her ever-faithful assistant, Spike. The news she received was far from what she had expected. She figured it would be a letter from Celestia that had something to do with the return of the “dark lord”, but in reality it was much more sinister. The letter read:
“Princess Twilight,
Your presence at Canterlot is requested immediately. Princess Celestia has been attacked and wounded by an unknown assailant. Thankfully she is still alive but she will require some time to heal.
Her attacker left behind no evidence of his identity or his whereabouts, but he did leave behind a small piece of parchment with a black hoofprint stamped into it. We believe that this may have something to do with the imminent return of the “dark lord” we have been fearing.
Please hurry to Canterlot as quickly as you can, as our situation here grows more dire even as you read this. -Princess Luna”
As soon as she finished reading the letter, Twilight began packing and ordered Spike to do the same. Spike could tell that this trip was going to be different because the only reading material that Twilight packed was her notes on the “dark lord” and a tome containing some of the most powerful spells that she had learned. She didn’t even have time to give a formal goodbye to her friends.
Most of the rest of Ponyville was still asleep when they finally began their departure, but they could just barely make out Rainbow Dash practicing some of her new flight moves off in the distance. Twilight should have recognized them, as Rainbow had all but forced her, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack to watch her routine yesterday, but she had been too worried about her research to pay any attention. The two could see that Dash had spotted them and was accelerating toward them, obviously intrigued by their being out this early in the morning. She came to an abrupt stop just before she was about to crash into her studious friend.
“Hey, Twi,” the cyan-colored pegasus asked, “why’re you and Spike out here so early? Is something wrong?”
Twilight let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t think I should tell you, Rainbow. At least not right now. I’ve been summoned to Canterlot and I need to get there as soon a possible. Something very serious has happened,” she explained.
“Aww come on, Twi,” Dash complained, “You know you can trust me. When have I ever let your secrets get loose?”
“Sorry, Rainbow, but this time is different,” Twilight began walking again. The fate of all Equestria hangs in the balance and I don’t want to risk anything, even though you are the most loyal pony I know.”
“But I really wanna help-”
“No, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight hated raising her voice to her friends, but in this instance she felt that it had to be done.
“Fine,” said Dash, obviously startled by Twilight’s exclamation, “but I’ll be here to help you whenever you need me. Remember that.”
“I will, Rainbow. Thank you.” Twilight gave a thankful nod to her pegasus friend then continued on to Canterlot with Spike in tow.
After about half an hour of walking, curiosity got the better of Spike.
“So I guess you’re not going to tell me anything about why we’re going to Canterlot either, huh?” he asked Twilight.
“It’s just like what I told Rainbow, Spike. The situation is just too serious to let any information got out now. If I told you everything I know right now, there’d be a mass panic all throughout Equestria inside of a week. I’m not saying I don’t trust you,” she explained, “I just don’t want to take any kind of risk, small or large, at this point.”
“Ok, Twilight. I understand,” said the purple dragon, “I’ll try not to bother you about it, at least not until everything’s calmed down a little bit.”
“I don’t know if that’ll be necessary Spike,” she responded, “Canterlot’s probably buzzing with rumors and you’re bound to pick up some bits of information here or there, even if it probably isn’t true.”
Spike could tell that whatever Twilight was hiding from him was weighing heavily on her mind. He had noticed that she had been in low spirits for almost two weeks, oddly coinciding with a letter she had gotten from Celestia (which was another letter that she had refused to allow him to read). She’s also been a bit of a recluse, refusing to see any of her friends unless there was a matter of great importance to attend to. But this was nothing that she hadn’t gone through before, and he trusted her judgement even more than he did Celestia’s, so he pushed his doubts to the back of his mind and the two continued on toward Canterlot.
Author's Note
OK so this is the first serious fan fiction that I've ever written for anything. Constructive criticism is welcomed.
