A Time of Twilight

Prologue

The blue stallion was sweating as he gazed out at all the ponies running around, trying
everything they could to prevent the impending disaster. A red strand of his mane fell
across his vision but he ignored it as his attention focused on a lavender unicorn mare
with a flowing deep purple mane, frantically trying to cancel out the barrier keeping him
trapped in the experimental chamber. He knew it should of easily been dispersed, but
whatever had gone wrong had obviously effected it, locking it in place.

He could see in his peripherals the magic stones as they increased in brightness every
second, soon to reach a peak they wouldn't be able to handle. Knowing his time was
short he lowered his head and placed the tip of his horn on the barrier where the mare's
was glowing on the other side, she caught sight of the movement and looked up into his
eyes."It'll be ok" he whispered to her, then watched her eyes grow wide as he felt searing
heat all around him.

Chapter One

The room was dark and quiet, except for a pulsing glow that would briefly illuminate the pillars
and emptiness around it. The light came from a royal blue box with hinges and bracings of gold,
gems decorated it around its sides and it sat on a pedestal in the middle of the room. The glow
seemed to emanate from inside it and every time it pulsed the light would change color. Inside
were the Elements of Harmony, waiting for when they would be needed again to protect all of
Equestria.

Suddenly a dark blue glow could be seen in the deep shadows of a pillar, it was in the outline
of a horn. Out of the pillars shade stepped a completely black unicorn, he took only a moment
to give the room a quick once over, then focused his attention on the box. As he drew near to it
he lowered his head and touched his, once again glowing, horn to it. Soon a faint click was heard,
but he didn't seem to notice.

His horn lost it's shine and his ears swiveled back as he thought he heard a noise on the other side
of the door. It seemed to be the sound of hoof steps, he stayed frozen to the spot till he sprang into
action as the room and door were suddenly illuminated in lavender, he ran and hid behind a pillar as
the doors began to open. He watched from his concealment as a lavender unicorn mare entered and
headed straight for the box, behind her the doors closed and the lavender glow faded. The mare's horn
flared as she cast a light spell.
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Twilight was so excited she had to keep a tight reign on her emotions or she knew she'd break
into a frolic the rest of the way down the corridor. She wasn't sure what had changed the
princess's mind about letting her study the elements of harmony like she had asked so many
times before. but whatever caused the change, Twilight definitely wasn't going to question it.
When she had received the letter, she had been so excited that she immediately grabbed a
few essentials threw on her saddlebags and caught the next train to Canterlot.

Not bothering with going to the Princess first, after all the letter hadn't mentioned wanting Twi to
come see her, she headed straight for her goal. She passed through the palace quickly, only
paying slight attention to a pony if her eyes caught the glint of armor, then she'd look over on
the slight chance of it being her brother, but they were all just guards on their patrols. She was
secretly relieved to not see him, not wanting any diversions from her goal at the moment.

Finally she was there, two pegasi guards stood at attention on either side of the door and gave her a
quick look before returning to their duty. Having been with the guard for long enough to know the
Princess's apprentice and element of magic on sight, they did not impede her as she opened the
door and slipped into the corridor beyond, shutting the door behind her.

As she made her way to the door at the far end she couldn't help but gaze up at the stained glass
windows depicting important events in Equestria's history. Near the end she stopped to look up
in wonder at a new one depicting her brother Shining Armor and new sister Cadence, their necks
intertwined, horn tips touching and the magic of there love sending the changeling queen and her
children flying. 'They must have extended this place since I was here last in order to fit in this new
window', she thought to herself as she dragged her eyes away and back onto her goal.

The minor distraction now at the back of her mind, she turned back to the door and went that last
few feet, till she was looking up at the lock. Halving to get up on her hind legs to reach it, Twilight's
horn lit up with the spell she'd seen the Princess perform last time and she inserted it into the
hole in the door. Lavender light filled in all the cracks, then lit up the top two circles followed by the
two below, till finally the bottom two lit up and the door opened spilling lavender light into the
corridor. 'I don't think that will ever not amaze me', Twilight thought to herself as she watched the
flashy display.

Shaking herself out of her awe, the lavender unicorn entered the room and the light
inside dimmed down to a moderate brightness, but she didn't notice, nor did she notice the doors
close behind her. Out of reflex more than actual thought she cast a light as the room grew
dark again, she didn't have time to think of anything else, all her attention was on the blue box on
the pedestal.

"Your not supposed to be here." Twilight jumped, her concentration broken at the sound of the gruff
voice to her right.

"What?" was all she was able to get out as she watched in surprise as a completely black unicorn
stepped out from behind a pillar.

"You've just made everything so much harder", he muttered, more to himself than her.
"Wait! who are you? you can't be here!" Twilight said accusingly as she got over her shock and took
on a defensive stance, her horn starting to glow.

He just smirked at her, then faster than she thought possible, he was running at her. She tried to
react but before she even moved he was past her and his back left leg shot up and she felt a tap
behind her ear, then the world went black.
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The stallion looked down at the heap of lavender that was Twilight, then shook his head and went over
to the blue box, telekineticaly the lid was opened and he was looking at five necklaces and a tiara.
One by one he levitated them into his saddlebags, which had gone unnoticed by Twilight as their black
color matched perfectly with the rest of him, sealing the bags shut he turned back to the unconscious
mare.

With a sigh of exasperation he went over and levitated her onto his back, draping her there
between the saddlebags and his shoulder, then turning, his horn started to glow again and he ran into the
shadow of the pillar.
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"How can you say that!"Rainbow Dash shouted at Applejack, Dash's agitation was apparent as instead
of standing on the floor of the library where the rest of her friends had gathered, she was hovering about
three pony lengths above the floor and looking down at them as she constantly moved unable to stay
still.

"I'm not sayin nuthen, I was just repeating what I heard." AJ said defensively.

"Well we all know that it's complete bs." stated Dash as she looked down at her friends faces to be sure
they all agreed with her.

"Now Dash you know none of us wants to believe it but the facts do point to it and we just don't know
enough yet to completely discount it." Rarity said trying to reason with the agitated pegasus.

"Speak for yourself, I agree with Dash there's no way it's true, but", AJ said before the pegasus could
respond,"we can't just run off half cocked, we need to wait for the Princess like the letter said. She
promised she'd come to fill us in before the day was over. we just don't know enough to begin a search
yet." AJ finished'

"Don't know enough! we know she's missing and we know she probably needs help what more could
we possibly need to know?!" Dash was once again shouting.

"Well for starters where to begin the search, let's look at what we know and have heard. We know that
Twilight left for Canterlot without telling any of us, we know from the Princess's letter that she was last
seen by the guards entering the part of the palace where the elements are kept and that no pony else
was seen near them since we last returned them to the Princess.Finally we know that no pony saw her
or anypony else come back out of there and that the elements and Twilight are gone. It's no secret that
Twilight has gotten quite good at teleportation magic and ponies that don't know her can't be blamed for
jumping to the conclusion that all points to."

"With this reasoning it can be safely assumed she is no longer in Canterlot as the guards and citizens
are turning that place upside down looking for her. Equestria is a big place we need more clues that
may be the Princess has to narrow down a search." Rarity explained and sighed as she saw from Dash's
face she hadn't gotten through to her.

"I don't care about clues or that nonsense, Twilight's in trouble now! do you really all think we should just
sit here doing nothing and waiting for the Princess, while our friend could be out there somewhere hurt and
in need of help!?" Dash growled as she glared down at each of her friends one by one.

Fluttershy seemed to shrink down even more into her self from her huddled position, she'd been in this whole
time as Dash's gaze fell on her.

Pinkie just sat with a blank expression on her face not even noticing what was going on, her friends were
afraid her mane would deflate any moment.

Rarity looked away when Dash's eyes came to her.

"Be reasonable Dash, we don't even know where to begin looking anyways. Just be patient, I know this will
all turn out ok and we'll laugh about it later." AJ tried to placate her friend as the angry gaze fell on her.

"Some friends you turned out to be! well I'm going since it seems I'm the only one who actually cares!"
with that last shout and before the others could respond, Rainbow Dash took off out Twilight's bedroom
window.

"Does anypony besides me feel like this isn't going to end well?' Fluttershy squeaked.

The others were all silent too lost in their own thoughts and worries to answer.
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Also I'd like to thank thewaffler for his proof reading and advice on this first chapter.