Twilight sat in front of multiple books and scrolls she had salvaged from the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters.
The throne room was silent, save for the scratching of Twilight's quill on blank parchments as she took notes about her findings.
Ever since Trixie had used the Alicorn Amulet in order to, foolishly, try and defeat Twilight, she had been curious about magical items and artefacts of old, whether good or bad. Thus far, Twilight had learned of no less than thirteen such items with power levels similar to that of the Alicorn Amulet, and of no less than twenty with far lower power levels.
However, the more she researched those items, both powerful and not, the more items on her lists she could classify as either 'destroyed' or 'contained'.
Twilight let out a groan of irritation as she let her head meet with the map/table.
"Why is it that Trixie managed to track a powerful, ancient magical artefact without proper research when I can't even find ONE, despite having more than enough research material?" Twilight said out loud.
"Because, dear Twilight," Discord said as he wrapped around Twilight's neck like a scarf, "you dismiss the best sources of information as 'inaccurate'."
Twilight growled, showing she didn't want to put up with Discord's antics. "Rumours cannot be taken seriously, and legends can only take you so far," Twilight retorted.
Discord chuckled as he reclined on Fluttershy's throne. "You sound like you have experience," he stated.
"As a matter of fact, I do," Twilight replied angrily, raising her head to glare at Discord. "And turn Fluttershy's throne back to normal."
With a sigh, Discord complied. "Alright, alright... Party pooper..." he said as he snapped his talon, turning the porcelain throne back into its crystalline self, which Discord found was horribly tacky.
"I wouldn't say 'horribly' tacky," Discord said as he looked at the writer and the readers through time and space.
Ignoring Discord's utter disregard for the fourth wall and the surrounding ponies' sanity, Twilight said, "Now, GET OUT! I have important things to do!"
Discord's spirit fell. After taking it back from the ground, he said, "Oh well... I guess I'll just have to tell poor Fluttershy that her dear friend Twilight is too caught up in whatever she's doing to see her friends." With that, he walked out of the room.
Twilight let out a sigh of relief. As she turned back to her research, a small smile wormed its way onto her face. "I hate to admit it, but he's right," Twilight whispered to herself. "But if I don't do this, my friends will be in danger..."
Slowly, softly, Twilight began to cry as she thought abour her recent dreams, and what happened to her friends in those dreams.
Fluttershy sat at the café with all her friends, bar Twilight and Discord. She felt small on her seat, unable to look any of the ponies sitting with her in the eyes, instead letting her mane fall in front of her own.
Suddenly, she Heard Rainbow Dash shout "Finally!"
Looking up, she saw her childhood friend hover in front of a saddened Discord, looking him straight in the eyes.
"So?" Rainbow asked. "What happened?"
Discord cleared his throat dramatically as a shower of light fell on him, the world around Fluttershy and her friends darkening in a way reminiscent of a play.
As Discord opened his mouth, Pinkie spoke up instead, shattereing the carefully crafted illusion with a sound of breaking glass. "Twilight's too busy reasearching ancient arcane artefacts to spend time with us, right?"
To Fluttershy's ears, it sounded like Pinkie's voice had lost most of its usual bounciness, and it saddened her immensely, even if she wasn't all that fond of Pinkie's voice.
Discord deflated. As he slowly reinflated himself by pumping his lion arm with the other, he said, "Yes, Pinkie, she is. And she doesn't seem to want to do anything about it."
Rarity spoke as Pinkie's mane went limp. "She has been cooped up in her castle for a mouth," she said. "Somepony has to get her to come out, even if for only an hour."
"I've already tried everything I could to get her out of the castle," Spike said, disgruntled. "I even placed quesadillas all around the map room, and she just ignored them!"
All present lowered their heads.
Fluttershy felt out of her league. True, she once had been staying cooped up in her cottage for long periods of time, but she always ended up with most of the smallest of her animal friends coaxing her into going outside with them, and she doubted Twilight would like having small animals running around whatever she was doing.
Well, there was one time...
Coming out of her introspection, Fluttershy caught the tail end of something Pinkie was saying.
"...she's going to miss Fluttershy's birthday party!"
Ignoring the comment, she spoke. "I might have an idea on how to get her to leave the castle." All eyes were on her instantly. Steeling herself, she continued. "When I was younger, I used to not get out much. When I would not leave my room for long periods of time, my parents took me somewhere I liked to cheer me up. I thought we could do that... if that's okay..."
Everyone was silent for a time. Eventually, Starlight spoke up. "That's a great idea Fluttershy. We nust need to plan things out so she has no choice but to come!" Starlight's eyes had taken on a manic glint. She then cleared her throat when she saw Fluttershy's nonplussed expression.
"I mean... so she sees we want her to enjoy herself?" Starlight amended, chuckling nervously.
Author's Note
Hey there.
Sooooo, I was supposed to publish this chapter two weeks ago, but I was too lazy to even copy the text to the site (I had already finished writing the chapter). So, have an update. In the future, I'll try to publish a new chapter for this story every Wednesday until it's completed.
Enjoy.
Dreams of Fear
Twilight came to on a hard surface similar to stone. All around her, a thick fog gently rolled, obscuring her view of her surroundings.
Grunting, Twilight got to her hooves.
"Where am I?" she asked the fog, her voice echoing.
Giggling was the only answer she received. Turning around, she started walking, hoping she was heading towards the giggling.
She walked. She kept walking for what felt like an eternity, yet like no time passed at all, without finding anything other than the fog.
Eventually, the giggling grew louder, and she came across a familiar pink pony.
"Pinkie!" Twilight called out.
As the word left Twilight's mouth, the giggling stopped. Pinkie turned around and looked at Twilight, her eyes hard.
"You abandoned us," Pinkie stated, her voice flat. "You could have saved us, yet you did nothing."
"Bu-but... I'm trying!I'm so close to finding it!" Twilight cried.
"And yet, you did nothing," Pinkie replied.
"I-I... I swear I'll save everyone!" Twilight pleaded. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"
"It's no use, Twilight. You'll fail," Pinkie said.
Twilight fell to her haunches, feeling defeated.
Slowly, shadows crept up to Twilight, swallowing the fog and Pinkie within their inky darkness.
Screams of agony echoed all around Twilight, making her try to block them out while uttering "I'm sorry," over and over, to no avail. The screams kept coming, assaulting her ears, and refusing to give her rest..
The scene shifted.
Twilight sat in her usual spot, waiting for Princess Celestia to come for the lesson.
The window was unnaturally black, not even a single ray of light coming to dispel the darkness.
Growing impatient, Twilight got up and left the room to wander in the dark, foggy corridors of the palace in the hope she could find her mentor.
Trotting as fast as her legs allowed her, she wandered. She wandered around for an eternity and not, finding no signs of Celestia or Guards, only the neverending, dark corridors filled with fog, the same all-absorbing darkness outside every window.
Eventually, she found her mentor standing in front of a window, her back to Twilight.
"Princess!" Twilight called happily as she got close.
"Tell me, Twilight," Celestia said. "What do you see?"
"W-what are you talking about, Princess?" Twilight asked, confused.
"Answer me, Twilight."
Twilight swallowed nervously. "D-darkness."
"Exactly," Celestia said, voice flat. "You had a way to prevent this, yet you did nothing."
Before Twilight could reply, shadows lept towards Celestia, swallowing her whole. Screams of agony echoed in the empty void in which Twilight stood with tears running down her cheeks.
The scene shifted.
Twilight stood under an apple tree, thick fog rolling gently at the roots of the tree and around the hooves of the two ponies present.
Applejack spun around to face Twilight. "Ya could'a' done somethin' ta stop tha darkness," she said, voice flat. "An' yet, ya done nothin'."
Applejack's words mixed with screams of agony as shadows engulfed the farm mare.
Twilight dropped to the ground, whimpering and covering her eyes with her forelegs..
The scene changed.
"You are just as bad as her." The speaker's voice was flat.
Twilight looked up, teary eyed, at the pony who had spoken.
Standing a few paces from Twilight and facing away from her was Princess Luna.
Around them, a thick, black, tar-like fog roiled and swallowed the possible scenery.
"I'm trying as hard as I can!" Twilight cried.
"That is not what it looks like," Luna countered. "You knew It was coming, yet you did nothing, Twilight Sparkle."
The dam broke. Tears flowed freely down Twilight's cheeks as she wept and sobbed uncontrollably.
A wing was draped across Twilight's withers. She opened her eyes, unaware that she had closed them, to see the smiling face of Luna.
"Are you feeling better, Twilight?" Luna asked calmly.
Twilight nodded, only then realising it was only a dream.
"Can you tell me what it's all about?" Luna inquired.
Twilight explained everything she knew, about each of the dreams, about her research for an artefact to save her friends, and about what little she knew of 'The Darkness'.
Luna hummed thoughtfully while Twilight explained.
"I may have a lead for your research, Twilight," Luna said once Twilight was done.
"Really?"
"Yes," Luna confirmed. "It is a story about a stallion who, in order to save his beloved, crafted a powerful protection charm to safeguard her from darkness. Unfortunately for him, the darkness took him instead, and it left his beloved completely heartbroken.
"Stricken with grief and guilt, she tried to take her life several time, only for the charm, whicb she still wore as a memento, powered by the fallen stallion's love, to save her from death."
Twilight looked at Luna with a dumbfounded look. "I already know that story."
"You do?"
"Yes. Cadance used to tell it to me to put me to sleep as a filly," Twilight explained. "But I don't see how that story can help my research."
Luna giggled. "Maybe you should give it another read. Who knows what you will discover," Luna said cryptically.
