Chapters Twilight Sparkle. A bright young mare who lives in the library at the south end of The Eye. We join her now as she climbs the steps of the Castle of The Eye, and following her, a blue mare, her head down and eyes ahead, a chain collar wrapped painfully around her neck and white tag connected to it with black lettering that read "Trixie-28938-Twilght Sparkle". At the top of the steps, she waited. The black queen, Nightmare Moon and behind her stood the "slaved king", Sombra with a silver jeweled chain around his neck. "Twilight Sparkle, my apprentice, I expected you to be here sooner."I... I have to kill ponies... Finally. Twilight looked up at Nightmare Moon with a smile across her face, "I will succeed or die, your highness."
The moon stood at the center of the dark sky surrounded by thousands of stars of varying color. This is the only thing left in the world that brought a smile to Trixie's face, all those stars. She and Twilight now sit quietly in a carriage drawn by two pegasus guards. Trixie glanced over at Twilight who strared deeply into the distance obviously excited to reach City-04 beyond the mountains below so that she may start her test. Twilight felt those eyes upon her and turned toward Trixie only for her to quickly look down at the flooring of the carriage. Twilight used her hoof to lift Trixie's head back up so she could make eye contact once more. "When we reach our new home City-04, I want you to rest that hoof of yours for the rest of the day. I'm going to explore the town". Trixie smiled, "Thank you, mistress Twilight". With a nod and a light smile to her slave, twilight turned to the head of the carriage to see the lights of City-04 growing in the distance. Bright blue lights everywhere. They touched done in the center of town with a rough slam as the carriage struck the cobblestone road beneath them. Twilight fell onto her side upon the floor boards and Trixie slipped out of the carriage completely although she wasn't injured. Twilight climb back onto her hooves and jumped out of the carriage, furiously stomping around to the front to confront the pegasi. "You damned idiots! You could've killed me!", she screamed aloud, her voice echoing throughout the district. "Our apologies, ma'am, we misinterpreted our landing speed". Twilight's eyes and horn began to blacken as she stared down the two pegasi. "That's your excuse?...", she asked in a deathly cold tone. The two pegasi began to wobble slight before one of the passed out completely. "Pl- please-- stop...", the conscious one pleaded before passing out too. Twilight looked down at the two ponies lying nearly lifeless at her hooves. "The false death curse", she muttered, "only a taste of what's to come". She turned over to Trixie who stared gravely at the to unconscious ponies. "Let's go Trixie, now, I'm irritated". Trixie nodded and quickly rushed to the side of her owner.
Twilight casually trotted through town, alone this time, studying the residents of the dank backwater settlement. She avoided eye contact with every pony that passed by; she didn't want to draw any attention to herself. Her natural paranoia forced her to look back every few seconds just to be sure that nopony was following her. This has always been a habit for her, ever since the day her brother snapped."Spaces" , as he called them. Her parents would simply ignore his problem up until the point that he became violent, claiming that the spaces want their souls in exchange for his life. Mr. And Mrs. Sparkle passed it off as a handicap, eventually sending him to the new concentration center. Not long after, he was released back into their home. He was always silent at that point, never speaking, never listening, just existing. A few nights after his return, Mr. Sparkle disappeared mysteriously. No body knew where he went, and if he was dead, no body was found. Soon after that, Twilight discovered her mother mangled on the floor in the master bedroom, her neck broken, a deep gash under her left eye, and the expression of shock forever frozen on her cold lifeless face. Shining was nowhere to be found, and Twilight's only option was to report her mother's death to the royal guard. It was that same day that Nightmare Moon took her in as her apprentice, tailoring her perfectly crafted hatred into the darkest of magic.
She was assaulted. Her paranoia at an all time high. No one can be trusted. They are all blasphemers. No , she thought, I just need to be more careful. Twilight sat upon a pillow in the middle of the floor of the library, studying the City-04 residential address book. She was constantly looking behind and over her flank making sure that nopony stood there, like she did. She... The locals found her corpse in the streets today, a third of her blood spilled across the ground. Apparently her heart was still beating for about an hour after the knife impaled her brain. She was still alive... , Twilight thought to herself. "Dammit, Twi", she continued aloud, "if I'm going to kill someone I need to do it right!" Trixie listened to her mistress's half insane rambling as she sorted and dusted various books. Twilight was always like this when she was scared of something... or somepony, and Trixie didn't like to see her in a state of distress like this, but she was only a slave, she had no say over her mistress. Trixie continued to sort through the various books until her eyes set sight upon one specific book entitled 'The History of the Darkening Hour'. Her eyes widened, for the darkening hour is tonight. Everypony is required... wait... that event is only held within the The Eye... Trixie felt that she must be getting just as paranoid as her mistress. She slipped the book into the shelf, making sure that it fell into alphabetical order along with the rest of them.
Twilight yawned a bit before closing her book and getting up off of her pillow. She stretch her body, feeling a lot calmer than she was earlier. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Twilight was extremely hesitant to answer it, due to the events of last night, but even with the permission of the queen to carry out these 'death sentences', she didn't want anypony to get suspicious. From a distance, she used her magic to open the door, but nopony was there. She crept toward the blackness of night, an offensive spell at the ready, only to find... what was this? On the door step lay a small object. A thin green tube with little barbs and a large red bulb at the top. *clop*. Twilight turned quickly to see a figure run off into the blackness of the Darkening Hour, the night in which no light shines above. Twilight didn't think twice, she galloped after the strange figure.
Trixie watched her mistress sprint off into the black abyss that was the night outside. She sighed. "By the moon, please don't let death befall her tonight. She closed the door and continued to sort the books
"Stop!", Twilight called out as she continued to pursue the figure. They turned a corner leading out of town toward the forest. They both ran in, Twilight following close until the figure made a turn losing the purple unicorn. Twilight tried not to panic she looked around in every direction carefully for a way out since she could no longer chase... whatever that was. She kept making slow, but fearful one eighty turns until she set sight upon a light source far of in the distance. "Light?", she asked aloud, "is there a house out here?" She thought only once and that was to go for it. She galloped toward the light, moving closer an closer until she realized just how bright it was that it was able to blind her as she entered. She opened her eyes up only to behold the sight of hundreds of these... colored bulbs, illuminated by golden glowing fungi. "Hi.." Twilight turned to the left to find a yellow mare with a pink mane. Her coat and mane were messy as could be and littered with twigs. "What is this?", Twilight asked. "who are you?" The yellow mare sat silent for a bit before finally responding, "This is my garden... and I have forgotten my name." Obviously she was some kind of crazy recluse. "What is this?", Twilight asked as she held up the object she had found earlier. "That's a rose", she said with a smile. Her smile grew and she stood up in an almost proud fashion. "The angel took them away along time ago", Twilight froze up. What did she just say? The yellow mare continued, "but then she came to me gave me the light and told me to grow as many roses and and other flowers as I could, and spread then to others!" Twilight was completely stunned. She must be one of them, but she was so innocent... oh, well. Twilight's horn heated up as a stream of black shot from it, hitting the mare in the side of the head, obliterating that side completely. Twilight then used the same spell to destroy the flowers and light around her. *thump*. Twilight's ears perked up. *thump*thump*thump*thump*. It's raining again.
The Eye. The center of the city that watches. The castle where the black queen resides. Sobbed watches and wait for the command of his mistress, always ready at ever second, every day, eternal. She does not move from her throne often, she always watches from it, watches everything, but when she does move, something is wrong. Tonight... Something is very wrong. None know of what the queen fears, but Sombra does, and it is that of which of equal power and can steal her throne. The other queen, the changeling Crysalis. Rumors circulate quickly, and The Eye may watch, but it also listens. The insect is here, hiding amongst them, stalking her prize. Sombra, the slaved king, watches his queen pace the throne room of the castle, ignoring her guards, ignoring whatever work must be done as queen of Equestria. She screams in psychotic fits when a maid or guard tries to calm or reassure her that all is well. They imprisoned for a month. Sombra knows not to talk, especially when Nightmare is like this. He can only wait for her to command him. He sits, looking down at the collar the restricts his once powerful, mind torturing magic. He does miss it, but that power has been gone for a thousand years. Thousand... It is because of her that he is ageless. He was defeated, down at her hooves, and offer, die or live forever as her personal servant. Sombra was no dark-martyr, he chose life. His only regret, is the loss of so much power. He still waits. Her command is imminent. "Sombra!", she shouts. The unicorn rushed to his queen's side, kneeling before her, awaiting her command. She spoke in frantic whispers, "I don't trust the guards, investigate the castle, kill antpony who exhibits unusual behavior!" Sombra nodded once and turned quickly trotting off into the darkness of the castles, using what ever unrestricted magic he had to light his way. He turned a corner, off into the dark halls, slowly now, observing his suroundings. The hall her none but brick and blackness, no decoration, the queen hated decoration, she much preferred the intimidating feeling of cold, brick corridors. Sombra respected that. A maid walked by him casually using her own horn to cast an orange glow around her self so that she could see throughout the castle halls. She did not move unusually, she did not speak, she did not look at him, she was not changeling. He continued this.. 'chore', of his untill he was sure that he had inspected everypony in the castle. All was fine. He returned to the throne room to find the queen much calmer than before. She seemed delighted to see him. "Sombra...", she said almost seductively, "come here". Sombra obeyed his queen, but not before taking note of the absence of the guards, where were they?
The news of the changeling queen circulated quickly. Though Twilight need not worry, for the bug had been defeated, she held to her paranoia, always watching her back, always ready. The rain was light upon the roof of her library, and both mares of the resident, Twilight and Trixie, grew far more aware of the sky's tears, gradually getting stronger and stronger. Twilight spent the hour studying the names of local ponies and their businesses through an address book she had discovered the night before the incident at the castle. There was Cake's Deli owned by the widow, Cup Cake, the Sweet Apple Packaging Plant owned by the Apple family, the City-04 Jeweler--
As Twilight's eyes scanned over the pages of the rather small address book, a loud thump sounded off in front of her and she glanced forward, peering at the wooded door that, once more, echoed the previous sound of hooves upon wood. Twilight stood up with defensive magic at the ready and she commanded Trixie to open the door. The blue slave mare trotted slowly over to the door and, using her left hoof, opened it gently, revealing a sight that was common within The Eye. A white unicorn quickly rushed in from the light rain, the light on her horn fading as she no longer needed it within the already lit library. She was followed by two more mares who were earth ponies... slaves. The first slave had a beautiful light cerulean coat and a well kept pale rose mane. Her chain collar was adorned in various fine gems and had a tag that read, Lotus-90012-Rarity Belle. The second slave was just as gorgeous and she seemed to be an exact copy of her apparent twin, although the color of her coat and mane were reverses. Her collar was, as well, adorned in many bright beaming jewels and her tag read
"Okay then 'Rarity'", twilight said coarsely, still having her magic readied, "how do I know your not one of them?". Rarity frowned, "I'm am one of the queen's informants", she said, "I'm not supposed to work directly with you, but recently after the queen was attacked by the changeling bitch, she requested that I assist you in your, 'test'". Twilight calmed down, disabling her magic and apologizing to her. "My apologies, Rarity. What can you tell me?" Rarity looked up at her, grinning devilishly. "The lyre player and the confectioner", she said. Twilight smiled just as she did and asked another question, "Where can I find them?"