The Castle of Equinox

by KatherineCourageux

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Dark, Sad
Length: 2977

Twilight Sparkle didn't believe in spirits. She didn't believe the royal sisters held secrets from her. She didn't didn't believe doing simple research would lead her to freeing spirits from their suffering.

Editing done by: Wolfram and Hart

Twilight Sparkle is a pony who seeks the truth. She believes only what can be seen, and observed. After reading a book she had taken from the Castle of the Two Sisters that was written by an anonymous pony who was searching for the entrance to a dimension for the dead, Twilight passes it off as someone trying to spread lies about Princess Luna, but after having it nag at the back of her mind, she goes to Princess Celestia for an explanation.

However, little did Twilight know what a simple question could get her, and her friends into. She didn't believe in spirits, she didn't believe in curses, but most of all, she didn't believe this task would hurt her so much.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-10-11 08:20:06 UTC

What provoked her...

Nagging. It was nagging her.

At the very back of Twilight Sparkle's mind, the lingering curiosity of the book refused to let her rest. She tried laying one way, then the next, tossing and turning, but to no avail. It was there, and it wouldn't leave. It hadn't since she laid herself down for the night.

With a huff and a depressed whimper, Twilight flopped onto her back, kicking her left hind leg out of the messy, tangled blankets and stared at the ceiling. She wanted nothing more than to sleep, but this was too much. She couldn't stop thinking about the book she obtained a few hours prior. Twilight sighed, glancing over to the book lying on a near by desk. It was written by a pony trying to access a dimension for lost souls. The more she thought about it- or rather, the more it was forced into her mind, the more she realized she was always curious about what happened after death, but she only believed what could be proven, and thus far, no real records of ghost encounters existed. Every claim that had been made was proven as fake, even the ones that lasted years.

But the book still made her question what she knew and believed, and she wanted answers.

She didn't even know how the writer of the book even came up with such a silly idea. She knew he must have been trying to get fame for framing Princess Luna for such cruel acts of banishing spirits to an eternal hell, or whatever you would call it. Plus, the book was so old, she doubted anyone spoke of it anymore. Twilight felt a soft smile creep on her face as she knew what she could do to ease her tortured mind. She closed her eyes, and rolled over, her horn glowing the soft magenta it always did as she fixed the blankets over herself, and tucked herself in tightly.

Tomorrow, she would ask Princess Celestia if she knew the pony who wrote the book- since he never mentioned his name, then she could get down to buisness and clear her mind of this mess. Now that she had a plan for tomorrow morning, Twilight's mind cleared, and she drifted off to sleep...

I still don't know. It's nagging me, but I will keep working on my mission. They will be found out, we will find a way to make sure our families are safe. I am doing this for our safety, I am doing this for Equestria. So they want to play with magic? We should at least know what we're falling for. I'll come for them like a dark horse...

"You want to do what?!" Rainbow exclaimed, one eyebrow raised in confusion at what she just heard.

Twilight gave a heavy sigh, as she explained this a thousand times by now. "Rainbow, I'm going to take this book-" She levitated the battered old tome in front of Rainbow Dash. "-to Princess Celestia in order to find out who wrote it! How is that difficult to understand?!"

Rainbow Dash blinked and shook her head, Twilight’s words we're not getting through to the pegasus in a manner that made sense. "So what, Twi? It's just some old book! Why does it matter so much?"

"Because, if Princess Celestia knows something about the pony who wrote this, maybe I can see if they've written anything else about them and be sure he's a fraud!" Twilight said, stamping her front hoof.

"Why do you care?! It was written when Luna was banished to the moon!"

"I don't 'care', I need to know!"

"But you-"

"GIRLS! PLEASE!" Rainbow Dash and Twilight jerked their head to the sudden sound, their ears laid flat. They saw Rarity, carrying a bag of odds and ends in a bag on her back. Rarity stared at them quizzically, and rolled her eyes. "What ever are you arguing about this time?" She was used to them arguing over nonsense, but it wasn't something she would condone.

Twilight and Rainbow shared a brief glance and a nervous chuckle. "Well, Rarity, I've recently picked up this old book from the Castle of the Two Sisters, and it's contents intrigued me so much that I figured I might take this to Celestia to get some answers!" Twilight said with a smile as she held the book up in front of Rarity.

Rarity's eyes widened a bit at the tan, dirty, ripped hunk of paper. "Oh, oh my." she cleared her throat and gave Twilight a fake grin. "Twilight, darling, what ever could be written in such a... dirty old book?" for a moment, Rarity had to think of a nicer word than 'dirty', but she wasn't one to sugar coat things very much if it would hurt some ponies feelings.

Twilight breathed a sigh. "Well, long story short-"

"Heeere we go." Rainbow said and crossed her arms. Twilight scowled at Rainbow and gritted her teeth before turning back to Rarity.

"Long story short, this book was written by a spy who wanted to locate a dimension where the souls of dead ponies were sent. It's basically a less twisted version of hell in a sense!"

Rarity stared at Twilight for a long moment and stammered out a few letters before taking several steps back. "That sounds, ah... lovely, darling, I um, I need to check on Sweetie Belle!" She said and suddenly started to turn and trot away before a 'wait!' from Twilight stopped her in her tracks.

“Yes, darling?” Rarity said, somewhat nervously.

"I thought we could all go!" Twilight gave a hopeful smile.

Rarity blinked and turned to look at her friend. "Well, I could look at the new fabric shop that just opened up in the city." Rarity put a hoof to her chin and looked skywards.

"Oh, of course! I just didn't want to sit through a long boring train ride without company." Twilight said and sheepishly grinned. "After we're there you can go do whatever you want."

Rarity beamed after a moment, and gasped a bit. "Oh, I'll see if Fluttershy would like to come with us!"

"Oh, great idea! I'll meet you at the train station. The train leaves in about Thirty minutes, so you have some time!~" Twilight said, bouncing in place like Pinkie Pie normally would. Rarity squealed and turned to trot away. Twilight turned away as well, and followed suit.

Rainbow Dash sighed and flew behind Twilight as she bounced off toward the train station.

"Might as well come, too..." She said and smiled a bit, earning a big smile from Twilight.

Twilight rocked back and forth on her hooves impatiently, her eyes looking at nothing in particular as she waited for Rarity, and possibly Fluttershy to arrive. Rainbow Dash was above her, doing mid-air stretches and flying in small circles. She didn't know why, it's not like Rainbow would be flying beside the train with them. But, then again, Rainbow Dash could act a lot like Pinkie Pie, and couldn't sit still for a minute without getting bored or antsy.

"Where is Rarity?!" Rainbow said as she dropped down beside Twilight, looking around. "The train is leaving in five minutes!"

Twilight gave Rainbow a friendly nudge. "Oh, calm down, you. I'm sure she just got caught up in a crowd. It is busy today after all!" she said reassuringly.

Rainbow sighed and nodded a bit. "Yeah, sometimes I forget not everyone can just fly. Maybe that's a good thing, though. Just imagine ponies in town on a busy day like today bumping into each other and causing crashes." She said and gave a bit of chuckle. Twilight did as well.

As their laughter died down, Twilight then saw Rarity step out onto the waiting area with Fluttershy by her side. She grinned and trotted over. "Hi, girls! I was getting worried!"

"It's about time you got here!" Rainbow exclaimed, walking up beside Twilight.

"Ever so sorry, darling. I ended up walking into Fluttershy's house during cage cleaning day. Eugh.." Rarity gave an unpleased shudder. "After that chaos, she needed a bath, so we ended up being a little late." Rarity gave a sincere smile, and Fluttershy nodded, stepping forward slightly.

"It's my fault. I'm sorry." Fluttershy said and smiled a bit, pulling a ticket out of her saddle bag.

"Oh, it's fine! We're all here now, we can still make the train~" Twilight said happily and trotted over to the train doors, waiting for them to open.

Relieved that everyone had caught up, each of the ponies lined up and waited for the doors to open... any minute... any second...

...

"HEY! WHATCHA DOIN'?!" Came a loud, shrieking voice. Each pony jumped, Fluttershy hid under Rarity and whined, covering her head.

Twilight turned around to see Pinkie Pie, standing there, leaning in close, bouncing slightly with a huge grin on her face.

"Pinkie Pie! Why did you have to scare us like that?!" Twilight snapped, glaring at the pink bouncing pony.

Pinkie Pie gasped in a huge breath of air for what she was about to say, and everyone braced themselves.

"WELLL, I happened to be walking by and saw you standing here with everyone else so I thought to myself 'hey those are your friends you should go see what they're doing!' but then I remembered you were going on a train and then I was like 'awh' and I thought you might be leaving without or running away from me so I wanted to see even if you WERE running away from me if I can come with you because I'm so super sure where you’re going is  going to be fun-a-fun-FUUUUUUN!"

All four of the ponies stared wide eyed at Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash fell on to her rump and cocked her head. "Uhm.. did any of you guys get any of that?!" she said.

Rarity and Fluttershy both shook their heads,, Fluttershy still seeming a bit scared, and Twilight just stared at Pinkie Pie with a neutral expression. "Pinkie Pie..." She started.

"Yesss?~" Pinkie Pie leaned in closer to Twilight, her eyes nearly bugging out of her skull.

"I don't understand you..." Twilight said and sighed, hanging her head. "But, yes. You may come with us. We're just going to Canterlot because I wanted to take this book to Princess Celse-"

"DON'T START THAT STORY AGAIN!" Rainbow Dash cut her off, putting her hooves over her ears.

Twilight just glared at the pegasus, but then smiled and laughed, each of them joining in on the laughter. Even Fluttershy, who didn’t really know what Rainbow was talking about. Twilight then nodded a bit. She didn't feel like explaining herself again anyway.

After another minute, once everyone had calmed down, the doors to the train opened and each pony was allowed on board. They showed their tickets and gave them to the pony by the entrance to the train. Somehow, Pinkie Pie already had hers. Once everyone was on the train, they went to the back to find an empty train car to have like they usually did. Each pony took a seat, and started talking about new things they could check out in Canterlot. Twilight, however, sat by herself looking out of the window, her cheek resting on her hoof. She watched Ponyville fade away into the distance as the train moved, and picked up speed. She didn’t really feel like joining a conversation at the moment, but she was happy that her friends could tag along with her so she wouldn’t feel so bored.

The streets of Canterlot were of course, clean, and even shiny. The ponies there still having their heads held up high with their noses pointed skywards as they walked about with perfect posture. Twilight was born here, yes, but she still cringed to see ponies who were so stuck up. Rarity even seemed to dislike a majority of them. It stunned Twilight how Rarity could be so Generous in a place like this. It might have been regal and high-class, but it was no way welcoming. Especially to Twilight.

As they exited the train station, their eyes were greeted with a few new buildings. Ponies were opening up shops left and right lately, and Rarity and Fluttershy were clearly excited. Rarity directed Fluttershy over to a shop window, and they both looked inside with happy faces. Rarity turned to Twilight with a huge grin and batted her eyes a few times. Twilight gave them a chuckle and nod. Rarity and Fluttershy then squealed in delight and ran right inside. Twilight shook her head and smiled, trotting forward to make her way to the castle.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had already got off somewhere, most likely their favorite sweets shop. Twilight was now alone in these miserable streets, though ponies flooded them, she felt alone here, and out of place. But, she didn't mind. In her saddlebags, she carried a book. That thought alone perked her mood. She just hoped Celestia wasn't busy. She would hate to be interrupting her with this silly question.

Twilight's pace slowed to a brisk walk, she blinked and frowned, glancing behind her at the light blue bags adorning her back. Was this silly? Was she wasting her time? Of course not, the book, after all did contain more than a few things Twilight was curious about. She had to know who this pony was, after all.

...Or did she? Was if the pony she wanted to know about? Or was it what the pony wrote that caught Twilight's attention? She shook her head.

She knew the answer to that question. But she didn't want to admit to herself that she actually wanted to know if what the pony wrote was true or not. Of course it wasn't, what a silly thought. Though, Celestia must not have known about this since there was no record of anything like this happened in her private journals- which Twilight may have stolen once or twice and put back- or any history books. So, maybe she would be letting Celestia know about this? Is that good? Did Celestia even care of some pony spread lies about her a thousand years ago? But it wasn’t her, it was Luna. Did Luna know? It was so long ago, did it even matter now? Of course it did! It's a piece of history, and all history matters! Every. Single. Detail matters. Twilight nodded to herself and narrowed her eyes, picking up her pace to an even gallop. She was getting this book to Celestia, no matter how silly this may seem to her!

In no time, Twilight arrived to the front gates of the Canterlot castle. Two guards stood at the castle entrance. The door was opened, meaning Celestia was taking visitors, something she usually did in an attempt to make the city better. However she was normally met with money hungry sales ponies or ones with ridiculous requests to throw out a citizen who made them angry by saying their ‘hat gamma’ was not proper for todays weather conditions. Such nonsense.

The guards knew Twilight, and merely glanced at her as she trotted right past them. She gave a polite 'hello' to them as she passed, and made it into the front room. The floors were sleek and shiny, and it seemed as though a few new paintings had been hung up, as well as color changed here and there, it seemed to have a more green theme now. It seemed nice and new, not all change was bad. Especially this. It was quite nice to the eye and gave a subtle, relaxing setting to the room. But she had no time for sightseeing.

Twilight trotted up the large staircase, and made made her way up many more stairs, and through shiny, beautiful corridors and hallways. The castle was gorgeous and well taken care of, then again she would expect that since not one, but two Princesses live here.  Finally, she got to Celestia's main throne room. It wasn't far, and luckily no guards held her for questioning. Even though she was Celestia's person protege, some guards were new and halted her to ask why she was going into the Princesses throne room and what she was carrying, why she was in a hurry. a few guards even did a cavity search on her at one point! Best to say those guards were instantly fired.

Finally approaching the large double doors that separated her from Celestia, she felt excited to see her mentor, even if it hadn’t been long. The guards kindly used their magic on the doors  to open them for Twilight. This time she didn't utter a word to them as she passed, instead her eyes focused on the regal, white form in front of her. She was signing papers at the moments, but her attention quickly turned to the lavender unicorn with a welcoming, soft smile. "Ah, Twilight. I had a feeling I was going to see you soon." She commented., sounding both pleased and surprised. Twilight grinned and trotted up to her throne, taking a bow. Celestia rolled her eyes and smiled more. She didn't care for formalities when it came to Twilight, but it was still nice to see the unicorn cared for proper etiquette. "You're intuition is spot on as always, Princess!" Twilight said and then stood up, falling onto her haunches as she looked up at Celestia with puppy dog eyes.

Celestia chuckled and sat her paperwork down. "So, what may I help you with?" She asked, her soft violet eyes falling back down to Twilight.

"Princess." Twilight's magic opened her saddlebag and levitated the old book up, she wore a genuine smile, her eyes filled with hope and curiosity.

"I have a question."