Stranded in Horse People Land

The grand library of the Crystal Empire was quiet. The sun had set and most ponies had already gone to bed. The forest of book shelves was lit with a series of candles. Occupants had been reduced to a librarian who was silently begging to close the shop, a small purple dragon carrying scrolls, and an alicorn princess who had completely lost track of time. Princess Twilight was so enthralled with the latest entry in the Daring Do series that she had forgotten that the library was not her house.

“Twilight!”

Spike’s intrusion shocked her out of her trance. “W-what?”

“It’s after dark.” Spike said matter-of-factly.

Twilight looked around and recognized her solitude. “Oh dear. I completely lost track of time.” She said with a panic, not realizing a candle had been blown out.

“I noticed.” Spike said with mild annoyance. “I arranged with the librarian to set up a spare room in the back. I’ll wait for you there.” The dutiful Spike informed, not knowing another two candles had been blown out.

“Right.” Twilight sighed, patting Spike on the head in gratitude. “I couldn’t ask for a better assistant.”

“No you couldn’t.” Spike said with pride, ignorant of the four candles that had just gone out. “My hands are full, so I’ll let you finish the chapter before coming to bed.” Then he walked off down the relatively lit corridor of shelves.

Grateful that all was well, Twilight eagerly dove back into her story. All things considered, this situation almost put her at ease. The quiet, the isolation, and the endless books all had a vague air of nostalgia. It was back in the old days when she’d lock herself in her room for hours on end and lose herself in her studies. She still did that from time to time, but thankfully her friends had shown her that life had so much more to offer.

It was when her personal candle had gone out that Twilight finally noticed something was wrong. Looking around, she saw that over half of all the candles were out. Many of the rows of books were completely dark. Then there was the echo of distant hoof steps. “Hello.” Twilight called out. “Is someone there?”

“Twilight.” A voice answered.

“Spike?” Twilight looked in the direction her dragon had gone. It had darkened considerably. Two more rows had gone black. And the hoof steps were coming from behind her.

Not remotely comfortable with this situation, Twilight relit her candle and proceeded with a steady trot towards Spike with her books. As she moved past the glass shelves, the lights from behind went out. “Spike!” She called out to no avail. Every other step saw the extinguishing of a candle. It was as though the darkness was pursuing her. The hoof steps were definitely closer now. Twilight quickened her pace, but the darkness seemed to be one step ahead. The row directly in front of her went black, forcing Twilight to quickly veer right.

“Spike!” Twilight yelled in desperation while running as quickly as she could. Corridor after corridor was pitch black. Eventually the row directly in front of her also went dark, forcing her to veer left. Something was definitely after her.

Twilight ran and ran, so panicked that she failed to notiece the large shelf directly in front of her. She slid and spread her wings to no avail. But instead of a crash, she passed right through as though it as though it weren’t even there. Twilight found herself in a large intersection. All other routes were dark, including where she had come from. The only light that remained was her personal candle and the hoof steps could not have been more than a few meters away. Whatever had pursued her, was now slowly circling. Twilight tried strengthening the candle with her magic, but it had no effect. And no matter how she moved the candle, the light remained fixed in place. She couldn’t get more than a minor glimpse of whatever it was.

“Who is it?” She asked. Her brow wrinkled as her eyes struggled to follow the shape in the darkness. “My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle and I demand to know who you are!” She stomped her hoof to the ground to emphasize her authority.

“Hmhm.” Whatever it was laughed in a feminine voice. Gradually a new light came into focus. It circled Twilight in the same place as the hoof steps. The green light had little more than a minor white glow. As it came into focus, Twilight realized that it was an eye with a green pupil.

Suddenly the steps stopped. Whatever it was faced Twilight with both eyes, which seemed to be conveying a warm smile. It took a step forward, revealing a crimson hoof. As it drew it’s body nearer, Twilight bore witness to her pursuer. The pony was as large as Princess Celestia. Her mane had the same magical flow as Luna and Celestia, but hers was pure black. Another step revealed her massive wings and impressive horn. Twilight’s pursuer was an alicorn. The only detail missing was a cutie mark.

“Tis an honor to meet you, Princess Twilight.” The alicorn bowed. “I trust your new position has been treating you well.” Her smile was vaguely comforting.

“It’s been fine.” Twilight said hesitantly. She would have taken a step back if she thought it would do any good. “And who exactly are you?”

The crimson alicorn’s smile faded slightly. “My name is unimportant.” She tried to assure. “What is important is the safety of your people.”

“What? What’s going to happen to the Crystal Empire?” Twilight demanded, lowering her head and lighting her horn in preparation for a fight.

“This place is the domain of Princess Cadence.” The crimson alicorn stated. “Who are your people, Princess Twilight?”

It didn’t take long for Twilight to answer. “What are you going to do to Ponyville?”

“I am giving you the means to save it.” The crimson alicorn assured.

Twilight’s horn went out, but her head remained low. “How?”

“Monsters are on the move. Monsters the likes of which your people should never see.” The crimson alicorn bowed her head in sorrow. “I wish I could save you from this. And I wish I could save him too. With sincerest apologies, the design cannot be defied once written. All that is left for us is to work within it and do the best we can.”

“Ok… that doesn’t make any sense. What’s this design? Who wrote it?” Twilight paused. “Who’s he? And what are these monsters?”

The crimson alicorn looked up until she was at eye level with Twilight. A silent stare followed, seemingly to tell Twilight that this was important. “The Elements of Harmony are your greatest means of defense, yes?”

Twilight nodded.

“A most curious name for a weapon.” The crimson alicorn turned to walk away, revealing her cutie mark. From the center, it was a flower comprised of six evenly spaced blue pedals. At the tips of each of the six pedals, was the center of another flower, each with six pedals, many of which seemed to overlap one another. All of this was encompassed within a black circle. Twilight recognized the shape from one of her geometry books. It was the Seed of Life.

As the crimson alicorn nearly moved out of sight, she turned to Twilight one last time. “When things seem their bleakest, shine your light upon he who is the most dreadful monster of them all. Only then will you know salvation.” And she vanished, leaving Twilight alone in the dark to contemplate what she had heard.

“Twilight!”

The sudden disturbance caused Twilight to jump, her head poking out from a pile of books. When the stars stopped spinning, she saw a candle wielding purple dragon with an exasperated expression. “Spike?”

“Who else?”

Twilight immediately glomped the young dragon and held him in a tight embrace. “Oh Spike, I tried calling. But this thing… it made all the lights go out… and.”

Spike cut her off. “That was the lights-out spell. The librarian casts it every night when she closes up.”

“But… I called out for you.” Twilight insisted.

“I know. I found you here passed out. That’s a nasty bump by the way.” Spike pointed at Twilights head.

Twilight rubbed the spot. “But… the crimson alicorn. She was…”

That’s when Spike picked up the books that had fallen from her bag. “Ah hem.” He coughed while pointing at the cover. There standing menacingly over Daring Do was a gray statue of an alicorn. She was the spitting image of the crimson one, except with a black circle for a cutie mark. The title read “Luminous: Guardian of Dark Corridors.”

“Sounds like you just had a bad dream.” Spike suggested. “I told you to stop reading horror stories before bed.”

“Uh… right.” Twilight nodded. “It was probably just a dream.”

“I’m going bed.” Spike said with a yawn.

“I’ll be there in a second.” Twilight called out. As she took a moment to reshelf the books she had knocked down, Twilight still felt unsettled. Celestia had told her to trust her feelings, and right now her feelings told her that Ponyville was in danger. Tomorrow, she was going to be on the first train back