At The End

Twilight’s eyes cracked open as dawn came. She would normally have been up at this time a few years ago. Trying to get every waking hour to have time to study her friendship lessons, often just rereading some of the letters she would send to her mentor. Celestia had always known that Twilight would become an alicorn someday. The idea had often frightened her, she could not always think about the implications of such a life. An immortals life.

As she awoke, her forelegs moved about, trying to grab something that was maybe just out of reach. Suddenly, her eyes shot open. The speed that she stood up was almost as fast as lightning. She looked around.

Lou was gone.

She would have gone into full panic mode had she not noticed Mark and Jack still sleeping on their side of the encampment. Lou’s items were still beside where they had both slept together. So she could discount the idea of them just being a figment of her imagination. Despite this, she had no idea where he was, or what had happened to him.

Her heavy breathing as she tried to calm down had an affect on the others. Well at least Mark and Jack who both awoke, groggily looking around, seemingly confused before finding Twilight there, searching around the camp for clues.

“What’s going on?” Mark asked quietly not wanting to wake the girls unless they needed to go. Twilight turned to him with a fearful look. She explained that Lou was missing, that he had disappeared while they were all asleep.

“Lou wouldn’t bother going off by himself if there was something wrong.” Jack offered to comfort Twilight’s thoughts. In fairness, he too was a bit anxious about this, though he didn’t show it.

“Any sign of tracks? Or signs of a struggle?”

The ground had dried since yesterday, despite the thick foliage. That didn’t stop Mark from finding some tracks however. Twilight was relieved to not see any large prints on the ground. Fears of a manticore abduction were pushed away without much thought. But that still didn’t explain why he had just wandered down the path without alerting them.

“Twilight, take it easy.” Mark said, placing a reassuring wing over her. Giving her a smile that only he could do without faulting. That smile he had given her when they had met all those years ago. The reassuring smile of a friend who was worried, but not worried enough to actually show it.

“He wouldn’t have just left without telling us unless it was something he believed insignificant caught his attention. Significant enough not to tell us that is.”

“He often just gets up and leaves like this?” She raised a brow. Giving him a look of deadpan seriousness. He shrugged before moving to follow the tracks.

“You two should get the others up. I’ll hang around here and see if he comes back.” Whenever Lou went missing or just had to go and get new orders from their commanders, Mark was always on standby to take over. He may not have been a natural born leader, then again, Lou hadn’t seemed like one either. That didn’t stop him from doing his best however.

Still half asleep, the others prepared their clothing, clearing the camp and heading out to join Mark in their search for their ninth comrade. Spike had seemed the most upset when he was told that Lou had disappeared. Not that he was crying but he seemed sadder. Twilight had noticed since they met up with Lou and his friends, Spike’s whole attitude had changed. Unlike before, he was declining to eat, instead opting to being with her and Lou.

If Lou was going to end up staying with her, Spike would soon have another ‘big brother’ of sorts. Should he decide to stay with her that is.

The trail of paw prints were very hard to follow, after a few steps, the trail had completely vanished. Mark wasn’t even sure if these tracks were not the ones they had left from the day before. It wasn’t until they approached the old rickety rope bridge did excitement begin to flow through Twilight’s heart.

There on the edge of the path, slightly dug into the forest, was the TARDIS. The doctor’s mode of transport when she had gone with him on a few of his adventures. He mostly travelled with Ditzy now, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t go on adventures with him from time to time.

She had long awaited to find the Doctor’s TARDIS waiting outside her door. Standing there with a massive ‘know it all’ grin and a full laid out plan that would soon turn to improvisation. It never happened, until now.

She rushed to the doors, hammering her hooves as she cried out his name. If the Doctor was here, maybe Discord was too.

The doors remained shut.

They all turned when voices began to emerge from the brush. From the ruins of one of the buildings, three figures appeared. Twilight almost rammed into them from the speed she was going. Her friends also ran over. Fluttershy going to join Discord in a loving embrace. He always had a soft side for the young mare.

Lou, on the other hoof, ducked to the side as Twilight rammed into the doctor and embraced him a ‘welcoming’ embrace. Lou would have gotten away had Twilight not used some of her magic to grab him by the collar of his cloak and embrace him too.

“Don’t you ever go wandering off alone ever again, do you hear me!” He gulped as she glared daggers at him. Twilight was one enemy that he could not defeat. Even if he wanted to.

“Its good to see you to Twilight!” The Doctor had chuckled, waving off her affection.

“Where have you two been?” Both he and Discord shared a look before turning to Lou who joined his friends to talk amongst themselves. They had secrets it seemed.

“You should more thankful Twilight!” Discord declared while snuggling Fluttershy in his arms.

“And he should be lucky I was there to help him land his ‘sexy’!” He then pointed an accusatory talon at the Doctor who then reached out protectively at the TARDIS. His TARDIS!

“While I’m sure that you were instrumental in helping us land. Why don’t we take this conversation somewhere a little more useful.” He retorted before pointing to the castle of the two sisters, barely visible through the trees.

“I’m sure that we have a lot to catch up on.” The others all nodded in agreement. Twilight just sighed, before making her way with the others to the ruins. She had questions, but they would have to wait. Her armour hurt already.

Lou had noticed the sores on her body. He stood in front of her, his back facing her before he got onto the ground.

“Come Twi, get on.” Her face went completely red. The mouth clamped shut, until she could release enough of the tension to make a sentence.

“I-I’m fine! I d-don’t nee-d-d your heealllp!” She squealed as Louis used his magic to pull her onto his back. His magic grasping the armour from the sides as she was placed onto him. With some effort, he stood and shrugged off the odd looks from the others. He then motioned for spike to get on too.

The little drake had never seemed so excited. Clambering up, soaking up the feeling of joy that they all shared.

As they walked along, Lou carrying the weight of both Twilight and Spike on his back, made his way with some difficulty, but never voiced it. Despite her armour that was digging into his sides. But at least it gave her the rest she needed as they made their way to the Castle of the two Sisters for a long discussion.

XXX

Twilight had never been so wrong in her entire life when it came to guessing why the Doctor and Discord had not shown up since her failed attempt to find the elements. They had decided to find answers, but found that the TARDIS struggled to make the journeys they needed. In fact, they had struggled to land back in the right time. So they what had been 3 years for Twilight had been mere moments for the mad pony in a box and the Lord of Chaos. They now found themselves sat in what once used to be the old throne room. An old counsel table stood to the side and they now found all twelve of them sat there, discussing the Doctor and Discord’s little escapade.

The Doctor had explained that the eye of harmony, the power source of the wondrous time machine, was fluctuating uncontrollably. Making their landing a little harder than they expected. They weren’t terribly surprised that the landing was a bit off by a few years. The doctor had believed it could have been as far as a decade.

The girls had listened intently while they spoke of their adventure in time and space to find their answers of where the Shadow had come from. Lou and the others seemed far more confused than anything else. They listened politely but often butted in when there were things they did not understand. Which was quite often.

“Its like talking to the Brigadier.” The doctor had muttered, explaining to the ‘out of place humans’ nonetheless. They were here, so they needed to know.

The information wasn’t very enlightening. The records of the earliest sighting of the Shadow appear to come from a time just before Celestia and Luna’s coming to power. The surface level details were scarce, if existing at all.

However they had brought back something that made Twilight’s jaw drop. Discord deposited from a bag he magicked up, a load of books from the old library of this very castle. From the week of its reconstruction after it was burnt down during an inferno that had claimed many of the buildings of the ruined city outside. What was strange was the fact that she had ever even heard of this great fire.

Yet Twilight knew that this was important. She remembered the window from the throne room. An entire city ablaze, ponies had carried something in a box. What, she had no idea.

“That’s all we have to go on. Hopefully theses books can give us some insight.” The Doctor gestured to the books before taking one in his hooves.

“A library is filled with the most powerful weapon of all! Knowledge!” He declared.

“Hopefully we find what we’re looking for then.” Twilight said as she grabbed another one of the books. ‘Myths and legends’ the title read. Had there not been a world ending, liberty destroying event outside, she would have probably grabbed a couple to read in her own corner in glee.

Even with all of this, the others picked out books of their own. Even Rainbow Dash didn’t object to reading to help her friends and her country.

Lou and the others on the other hoof, decided to pay the old archive a visit instead. Louis had told them he just wanted to check it out. Maybe they could find something there that could help.

She watched him go, deciding not to go with them despite her better judgement. Lou wanted to talk with the others in private. He hadn’t seemed with it since they found each other earlier. She worried that maybe she had said something wrong. Or that she had done something wrong.

Maybe he didn’t want to stay with her after all. Despite being so helpful.

The rest of the day was spent going through the books that had been saved from the past. Many of them were very interesting, though Spike thought they were far too boring.

‘How could these be boring!’ Twilight had thought. Spike had grown to enjoy some of the old books in the library despite his preference for comic books. Though over the past couple of years, the production of that type of media had come to a halt, forcing him to read the older books in the astronomy tower. He actually grew quite fond of them.

This time, Spike had seemed like a completely different dragon. A thought entered her mind as she watched him go off and explore the castle. ‘Is that really Spike?’ The intrusive thought was quickly banished, brushed off as her being to jumpy. She was so excited to have her friends from Earth here, anything else would seem a little odd.

By days end, the group had gone through most of the books. They had found very few mentions of the Shadow, almost as if the creature that was here had not existed. It had to have been in at least one of these books. Despite all of their efforts, the pile was growing smaller and smaller and still nothing.

There had been some information however. Pinkie had found a memoir, written by one of the old professors of the school that had once stood within the old castle. Squire, the pony in question, had written a lot during his lifetime. Or at least, a lot had happened.

The town, Eversegur, had suffered a large fire that consumed many houses of the north side of the town. The fire was identified as an accident, and no culprit was ever found. However a week into the inferno, the castle had caught fire unexpectedly. But only one part of the castle.

The residential area, where the royal family lived. The fire claimed the lives of both King Cosmos and Queen Vesper. Celestia and Luna’s parents. This was some of the best information that they had ever had about the rulers of old. So long had the princesses ruled that there were very few who actually remembered their parents. A third death had been recorded, though it didn’t mention who. It referenced only the great goddess. There were myths and legends about gods and goddesses, but nothing that actually proved their full existence other than statues and relics of worship.

The book then went on to detail the coronation of Celestia and Luna. The burial of their parents and so on. The window must have been depicting the deaths of King Cosmos and Queen Vesper. She understood now why there was so little information on it now. Celestia wasn’t very open with her own personal information. Neither was Luna.

Lou and the others hadn’t returned yet, she had been feeling a growing pit in her stomach as she read through book after book. The thoughts of Lou’s attitude shift was making her uneasy. She must have done something wrong. And she knew that she had to apologise.

Excusing herself, she left the throne room and made her way past their encampment, heading to the archive. She was biting her lip as she tried to figure out what to say to him. Opening the conversation with the information that she and the others had found maybe?

She entered the castle’s library archive and found Jack going through a pile of books at one of the tables. He wore a frustrated frown as he pushed the book to one side and made his way through the next one.

He was alone however. The others were nowhere to be seen.

“Jack?” He raised his head to look at her. A smile appeared on his lips as he watched her approach.

“Yep?”

“Do you know where--” She cut herself off as Mark emerged from one of the side rooms. He was holding a few books in his magic and placed them down.

“Do I know where?” Jack asked. Awaiting the rest of her question. She shook her head and glanced around the corner into the room that Mark had emerged from. Lou wasn’t there.

“I… Do you know where Lou is?”

“He went to the lower levels of the archive a few minutes ago. Do you want me to go get him?” She shook her head in reply. She began to make her way towards the stairs before coming to a stop. She looked back and saw Mark and Jack talking. Mark was flicking his tail in frustration. He did look rather cute when doing so.

She thought for a moment while looking at them as they worked. Maybe she could ask them first. Lou was very close to them, maybe they knew why Lou seemed a little strange. She turned and made her way towards them.

They watched her as she approached, giving each other curious glances. They could tell that something was wrong with her from her posture. Learning pony posture wasn’t as hard as they had feared at first.

“What is it Twilight?” Mark asked, a sympathising smile crossing his face.

“Um…” She hesitated, for a moment, but their caring smiles were just to good. They had always been such great ponies. Always there for her when things didn’t look to good for either of them.

“Have I done something wrong? Something to upset Lou?” They shared a look, a knowing one. They knew something that she didn’t know.

“Lou spoke to us today.” Jack started, Mark sighing as he moved to give her a comforting hug with a wing.

“He had a bit of a strange dream last night. I’m not sure I or Mark could actually tell you what he went through but…” He trailed off, giving Mark an opportunity to speak.

“It’s probably got something more to do with what happened with his brother.” He said. His head lowered as he exhaled.

“He told you about his brother, right?” She shook her head. They both winced, obviously not sure about the matter they were treading on.

“Lou’s brother, Romain, was killed a couple of months ago.” Her breath caught in her throat, she had not expected to hear such news. She didn’t remember Louis talking about his brother while on Guadalcanal.

“Lou thinks it was his fault.” He sighed, moving back towards Jack and the pile of books that rested on the table.

The silence would have continued then, an all consuming void that made the atmosphere of the room grow much darker. If only it had lasted more than a second.

“He would still be here had I not gone to war.” They all turned to look at the stallion standing atop the stairwell. His face almost completely expressionless. Twilight had gasped and tucked her tail between her legs. Feeling like a filly who had been caught doing something she shouldn’t have been.

“So it is my fault, like with so many others.”

“Lou I-I…” Twilight began, but all coherent thoughts were lost as she tried to comprehend what she was hearing. She had never lost anyone in her family that was as close to her as a brother before. She could not even imagine the pain that was coursing through him right there, right then.

“Could you come with me Twilight, I need your help with finding some more books.” He gestured with a leg before turning and making his way down the stairs. The others gave her no more support than some sad glances before returning to their own search. Moving slowly, she swallowed hard and made her way towards the stairs.

With a heavy heart, she descended into the lower archive. Dreading the awkward conversation that was sure to come next with every step down.