The Magic and the Night

The Magic and the Night

Chapter 2: Twilight of Dishonor

Her magic suppressed, Twilight could do nothing but meekly go along with the guards, a heavy manacle closed over her neck, chained to her captors. Her head bent low from the weight, but worse was the buzzing drone in her head. The anti-magic ring on her horn was disrupting her thoughts and it was hard to focus. All that was left was a sickening void where her magic once was.

No! I'll get through this just fine! Twilight thought. Earth Ponies and Pegasi make it through life without any magic, so if they can I can go without any for a few hours. What's a day anyway? A few days at the most! The investigation will prove I'm innocent! I just gotta wait it out!

“What is the meaning of this!?” a grand voice boomed out, stopping the entire procession in its tracks. Her wings spread to their full length, Princess Celestia blocked the corridor, her eyes blazing with fury.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight squeaked. “I—”

“Your Highness,” the lead guard interrupted, “your student was caught stealing the diary of Starswirl the Bearded.”

The princess' rage vanished, replaced by shock. “No...” she whispered.

“No I didn't!” Twilight pleaded. “Please Princess! You have to believe me!”

Princess Celestia squeezed her eyes shut and fell silent, clearly deliberating over the situation. For a few agonizing seconds there was no sound at all, the the princess opened her eyes again, a steely, resolute gleam in them.

“I want an investigation immediately,” the great white mare stated with terrifying clarity. “Twilight will record her testimony along with everypony else involved. Then we will hold a trial, and the truth shall be revealed.”

Tears filled Twilight's eyes. “Princess...”

Princess Celestia approached Twilight and placed her hoof on Twilight's withers, bowing her head slightly so they were looking into each others eyes. The princess' eyes were full of sadness, the firmness from before gone entirely. “I trust you, Twilight. You'll give me the truth.”

Twilight could only nod, overwhelmed by her teacher's concern for her. “I will, Princess,” she answered back.

Responding with a brief nod, Princess Celestia trotted slowly away, head raised regally, but it was clear to Twilight that the princess was trying not to show her grief. Twilight had to be strong too.

Twilight was lead to a small room where a dapper green Unicorn stallion with a quill pen cutie mark waited at a desk, a ream of paper and ink bottle placed neatly on the surface. “Please dictate everything that happened leading up to your arrest,” he ordered in a deep but soothing voice.

Twilight related her arrival at Canterlot with her friends, the meeting in the library, her brief look at her suite, and the chase with the phantom thief. The stallion wordlessly recorded it, allowing her to read over the testimony once he finished. Everything was exactly as she said, so the stallion stamped the document and had it delivered elsewhere for the trial. As soon as that was done, Twilight found herself in a dungeon cell. It was a clean, shiny one with marble walls and floors, a comfortable pink bed, a bookshelf with several classic novels, and a window offering a lovely view of Canterlot, but none of that disguised its purpose.

This must be where important ponies go if discovered as criminals, she thought.

A knocking came from the other side of the thick, ornately carved door. “Miss Twilight Sparkle,” the guard said through a slit in the door, “you have visitors.”

Twilight brightened at once. Her friends had come! They surely believed in her. “Please let them in!”

The door swung open to reveal Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Spike riding on Rarity's back. Twilight could see the sadness and worry in their eyes.

“Twilight!” Spike called out.

She made a weak smile. “Hey guys,” she said, forcing enthusiasm.

“Hey Sugar Cube,” Applejack greeted, forcing a similar smile. “You all right?”

“Of course I am!” Twilight responded, far too quickly and cheerfully. “My trial's coming up and everypony'll see that I'm innocent! Then we can get on with Hearth's Warming Eve and share a good laugh over this mistake!”

Looks of alarm passed over the faces of her friends. Twilight took a deep breath, trying to calm down. “Sorry; I'm not making my case well, am I?”

“Now now, Dear,” Rarity said, patting Twilight's head, “you're just stressed from this awful ordeal.”

“It's just awful!” Fluttershy said, her eyes teary. “I can't believe they think you're the thief.”

Pinkie drooped like a deflated party balloon. “If you're not having a good Hearth's Warming Eve,” she said, “none of us can either.”

Rainbow quivered in a corner, head bowed. With a sudden flap of her wings, she sprang up into the air, eyes blazing with rage. “Those idiots!” she growled. “We all know you're not a thief! We're gonna hunt down the real thief, beat him senseless, and drag him back here by his tail! He'll be begging to confess when I'm done with him!”

“Whoa, whoa, no!” Twilight insisted, waving her forelegs in the air. “Don't go all vigilante, Rainbow! I'm sure the evidence will point to somepony else and we can be done with this.”

Rainbow crossed her forelegs and looked away bitterly. “Sorry,” she muttered. “I'm just, you know...just so mad about this.”

Twilight smiled at her. “I understand. Just be patient and we'll get through this!”

“Twily!”

To Twilight's surprise, a powerful white Unicorn stallion cam barreling in, nearly knocking the guard over and forcing her friends to scramble out of the way. Sobbing, he threw his forelegs around her and buried his face in her mane.

“Sh-Shining Armor?” Twilight stammered.

“We came as soon as we heard!” he told her. Twilight remembered that her older brother and his wife were supposed to meet up with them in Canterlot as part of the Hearth's Warming Eve celebration.

He cradled her face with his hooves and looked her in the eye. “Please, tell me you didn't steal that book, Twily!”

“Of course not, Shining Armor,” she answered.

Behind him, Princess Cadance entered the cell, looking small in her grief. “Oh Twilight...” she whispered.

Joyful tears ran down Twilight's cheeks as she looked at her friends and loved ones. Even through the nasty haze of the anti-magic ring, she felt resolve return to her. “Thank you all for showing up,” she said. “No matter how dark it looks, I know you'll be there to lend your strength!”

“You would do the same for any of us,” Cadance said.

“Yeah Twilight!” Spike said, standing up on Rarity. “We'd never let you down!”

Everypony started chiming in their encouragement, gathering around Twilight. Twilight smiled brightly, thankful to have such wonderful friends.

“It'll be all right,” she insisted. “You'll see.”

The gavel banged sharply against the sounding block three times. The dark grey Unicorn stallion judge had a barrister-style mane and a stern expression. “Twilight Sparkle,” he addressed in a booming voice, “you stand accused of attempted theft of the diary of Starswirl the Bearded, a book containing spells of power forbidden to use for they contradict nature to an unlawful degree and potentially can cause great harm. How do you plead?”

Twilight sat tall at the defendant desk. “Not guilty, Your Lordship,” she spoke calmly. She glanced back to the gallery. Her friends sat anxiously in the front. Up above from an ornate box watched Princess Celestia and Luna.

The prosecutor, a Unicorn stallion with a brown coat, a dark red waistcoat, a thick wavy white mane, and a magnifying glass cutie mark, paced slowly around the courtroom, his puffy white tail swaying back and forth. His muzzle was kept high in the hair as if he were trying to sniff out evidence for Twilight's guilt.

“I, Sherlock Hooves, find that exceedingly doubtful in light of this investigation,” he said.

Twilight's solicitor, a green Earth Pony stallion named Atticloft, stepped up to address the jury. “Fillies and gentlecolts of the jury, does it make any sense at all for a student of Princess Celestia herself to need to steal an archaic spell book? Surely Miss Twilight Sparkle doesn't have any reason for that with our fair princess there to teach her whatever she needs.”

Twilight sighed with relief. While it might have helped to mention the times she and her friends had saved Equestria she really didn't want any extra attention for that. She was glad Atticloft had honored her request.
There was murmuring from the jury.

Please, just bring up the evidence, Twilight thought.

“Be that as it may,” Hooves said, “there is more than enough evidence to implicate Miss Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight blinked. What could they possibly have to pin on her?”

“I call Miss Aurora Mist as my witness!” Hooves barked.

The librarian mare trotted up to the stand. As she passed Twilight, Aurora glanced at her, glaring with withering hatred. Stunned, Twilight was taken aback.

“Who was it that ripped your key away?” Hooves asked Aurora.

“It was a mare in a cloak,” Aurora answered in a clipped tone. “She teleported in front of me, and while I stood there in shock she tore my key away and teleported to the case to unlock it, stealing Starswirl the Bearded's diary. However, as she ran away from me the back flipped up, giving me a clear look at her flank. It was only a second, but the coat and tail were purple, just like Twilight Sparkle's.”

Hooves offered a picture of Twilight's cutie mark. “And was this the cutie mark you saw?”

Aurora nodded. “Yes, unquestionably.”

Twilight's heart skipped a beat. “No, there's just no way...” she whispered. “She couldn't have...”

“Objection,” Atticloft said. “You yourself are skilled in illusions, am I right, Miss Aurora Mist?”

Aurora looked mortified. “Are you accusing me?”

“Perhaps I am,” Atticloft said airily, trotting around to face the gallery. “Perhaps I'm merely accusing another pony skilled in the art of illusions. What if somepony made an illusion of Twilight Sparkle to cover up the real thief?”

“With all due respect, Mr. Atticloft, you must not have any experience with illusions,” Hooves remarked pompously. “They're just that—illusions, a state of limited hypnosis. An illusion couldn't rip a key away from a pony nor could it carry the diary. Certainly you can tailor an illusion to look like it just did those actions, but Miss Twilight Sparkle was discovered with the real objects. In her own admission, Miss Twilight Sparkle was shoved aside by the alleged phantom thief, so she certainly doesn't think it was an illusion. But that's far from the most damning evidence...”

A Unicorn mare used magic to light up a paper that displayed a hoof print while a Pegasus stallion placed the empty saddlebag, the abandoned cloak, and the ruby key on a table. “You see here Miss Twilight Sparkle's hoof print,” Hooves said. “A print found on all three objects despite her claiming to have only lifted the saddlebag and diary with her magic!”
“No!” Twilight screamed, leaping to her hooves. “I didn't touch any of those with my hooves!”

The gavel banged deafeningly. “Miss Twilight Sparkle, sit back down immediately!” the judge ordered.

Twilight sunk back down, trying not to cry. How was it possible for her prints to be on everything? It made no sense! There had to be a mistake!

Atticloft, to his credit, gave it his all. He argued that hoof print detection was an imperfect science, that Twilight might have been confused and disoriented while handling the diary. Hooves had a counter argument for everything though. Twilight sank into a black despair. There was no hope in sight. Finally the judge clamored for attention.

“After we, the jury, reviewed the evidence,” famous fashion designer Photo Finish began, stepping forward, “that pony over there is—”

“—Innocent!” a grey wall-eyed Pegasus mare blurted out, waving her forelegs wildly.

Twilight let out a sigh of relief. Could it be...?

“Oopsie,” the Pegasus giggled bashfully, “I meant the other thing. You know, the one where you...did do it?”

“We went over this a thousand times!” Photo groaned. “It's 'guilty'! I thought we agreed that I would announce it!”

“Sorry Photo,” the Pegasus said, sinking down with a sad expression, the rest of the jury glaring at her.

Thunk! Twilight banged her face into the table. “I'm so sorry, Miss Twilight Sparkle,” Atticloft muttered.

The judge nodded. “Twilight Sparkle,” he said, “for this crime I am sentencing you to life in the dungeon. As you are a student of Princess Celestia though you will live the rest of your life out in relative comfort.

Twilight sobbed silently. Painfully, she turned to the gallery. Spike, Rarity, and Applejack stared in shock. Fluttershy and Pinkie were weeping openly. Rainbow was shouting and cursing. Cadance had her face buried in Shining Armor's mane as he comforted her. Twilight took her eyes upward to Princess Celestia, and found her teacher looking away, trying to hide her grief. Luna was hugging her.

Dejected, Twilight offered no resistance as the guards dragged her away, back to her gilded dungeon cell.

Everything was silent save for the ticking clock. Celestia sagged where she sat, looking small and defeated. Luna's heart was breaking to see her in such a state. Had Celestia been like that after banishing Nightmare Moon?

“I was going to let her read the diary,” Celestia whispered. “That was going to be my present to Twilight. Now she won't ever get to read it...”

“But it doesn't have to be that way, my sister!” Luna insisted. “You are Princess Celestia! Just announce that Twilight is innocent and no pony will argue!”

“No!” Celestia whirled on Luna, her eyes steely. “I won't pervert my own justice system! It will be a mockery of justice to be the sole judge of who is innocent. What fairness is there in arbitrarily pardoning a pony without evidence simply because I'm fond of the pony in question?”

Luna did budge. “So you won't do anything?” she asked.

“What I will do, sister, is keep the investigation going until I can prove Twilight's innocence,” Celestia answered.
“Yes,” Luna responded quietly, “a reasonable course of action. Well, if you need me, I'll be wandering the castle.”

Celestia didn't answer.

Everything felt duller, darker, like the life and color had been drained out. Was it just Luna's imagination, or was Celestia's dark mood actually effecting the castle? Either way, she had to cheer Celestia up somehow, and the only thing Luna knew would do the trick would be the evidence that Twilight was innocent.

Is she really innocent? Luna wondered. She supposed it was possible that Twilight was a convincing liar, but it didn't seem right to her. Twilight was not only courageous enough to play a key role in saving Equestria three times but she was brilliant; if she really committed a crime then wouldn't she have been more cautious?

Shadows subtly grew, and a slight stabbing pain in her head interrupted her thoughts. Luna frowned and rubbed her head. A low sound, like inaudible whispers, tickled her ears. Luna froze in place, a sickening sense of déjà vu coming over her.

“What is this?” she groaned. “Leave me alone!”

Shaking her head free of the evil whispers, Luna charged off. Some terrible was about to happen, and she had a feeling that Twilight Sparkle was somehow involved.

The buildings stretched impossibly high and leaned at bizarre angles. The sky was a churning black soup with a moon like a milky dead eye staring down. Dark unseen things scurried furtively in the shadows.

“Hello?” Twilight called out desperately. “Please, anypony there?”

She heard voices up ahead. A low building, a restaurant perhaps, was lit up by a harsh yellow light. Shapes moved by the windows. Twilight ran up to an open window, wanting to talk to whoever was inside, but something told her to wait.

“Such a pity that I have to defend scum like her,” a male voice said. Twilight squeezed her little face through the open window to see a party with her friends, plus Atticloft, Sherlock Hooves, and Aurora Mist. Pale balloons floated listlessly to the ceiling and cobweb-covered snacks rotted on old tables.

“I'm so glad they put her away,” Aurora sneered. “I've always hated that stupid mare.”

“A complete disgrace,” Hooves agreed.

“She betrayed my trust,” Princess Celestia added in disgust. “I can't even stand to look at her any more.”

“Why did she leave me all alone?” Spike sobbed. “Didn't she care about me?”

“Ponyville's better off without a lying sack a manure like her now,” spat Applejack.

“How many times did she use us?” Fluttershy asked.

“She never cared about any of us anyway!” Rarity huffed.

“Always looking down on us for being less intelligent than her!” Rainbow raged.

“Yeah!” Pinkie chimed in. “She was such a condescending snob!”

“It's settled then!” said Princess Celestia. “Twilight Sparkle's a criminal and we were wrong to trust her!”

Twilight stumbled back numbly. “No...No I'm not a criminal...Guys?”

The light extinguished, plunging the restaurant into dark silence.

Twilight began to sob, pressing at the window with her hooves. “Please come back! Don't leave me...!”

Rolling into a ball, Twilight gripped her tail as though she needed to hold onto herself, crying miserably. “Don't leave me...”

“Twilight Sparkle...”

Twilight slowly turned her head, the soothing female voice compelling her. She blinked away her tears. Towering above her was a vast black Winged Unicorn, gazing coolly at her from high above. The Winged Unicorn was so unbelievably gigantic that she blocked out the sky.

“Let me be your friend from now on, Twilight Sparkle,” the Winged Unicorn said. “I promise to love and cherish you unconditionally!”

Twilight could only stare at the titanic phantasm, a coldness creeping over her very being. Something made her want to believe the words she was hearing, yet she equally knew something was very wrong.

“You must awaken now, Twilight!” a new voice boomed out. Luna suddenly landed before Twilight, standing protectively between her and the giant Winged Unicorn.

“Wake up!” Luna ordered. “Please, you must awaken now!”

Twilight's eyes sprang open to find a cold blue void. Something was pressing her down to her bed. Coughing and flailing, Twilight struggled to free herself. She tried to scream for the guard but her tongue was so numb that if might as well have been a giant slug in her mouth.

A bright flash exploded outside, filling the cell with light. If Twilight could scream she would have. In the second the light was there she clearly saw Nightmare Moon floating outside the window, glaring at her. Then the light blinded her, leaving Twilight to roll off the bed, reaching for something, anything, to get a get a grip on. Some part of her brain was coldly aware that whatever had forced her down was gone, but for how long?

Blinking rapidly to get her vision back, Twilight was just in time to see the entire wall crumble away. Floating outside majestically was not Nightmare Moon but Princess Luna.

“Hurry!” Luna urged, turning her side to Twilight. “Mount me! You haven't much time!”

Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight noticed the blue mist reforming and slithering toward her. It wasn't a hard choice.

Taking a little running leap, she hurled herself toward Luna, landing on her sleek back.

Spreading her wings, Luna took off from the ruined cell, taking them both into the icy winter night.