Project Rift

Hidden in Darkness

Twilight was left off reading the book "Celestial Events Over Equestria", desperately awaiting the letter from Princess Celestia. Twilight was about to reach the end of the chapter 'Comets', when the sudden voice of Spike interrupted her reading.

    "Twilight?"

Twilight turned her head towards Spike with a gesture of weariness and disturbance, but trying to look completely fine at the same time.

"What is it Spike?"

Spike made a concerned face, knowing that something was bothering Twilight.

    "Uhh, Twilight are you alright?"

Twilight let out a sigh of defeat; acknowledging that Spike was fully aware that she was troubled.

"Spike, its just that I haven't got the letter from Princess Celestia in hours, and I'm growing a little concern over it".

Spike gave a warm smile at Twilight trying to get her in a better mood. "I bet she's handling royal business right now. Celestia is the ruler of Equestria, besides her sister of course".

Twilight formed a small smile, believing on what Spike just said.

"I guess you're right, she is the prin-..."

Twilight was cutoff there when the letter from Princess Celestia appeared in a flash of light. The letter gently levitated downwards onto the page where Twilight was reading. Twilights face instantly went into pure joy as the letter she desperately awaited for finally arrived.

"Its finally here!"

Twilight used her magic to quickly unwrap the bow, and she began to read the letter.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I am very sorry if I didn't right back to you immediately. I was in a very important meeting with my royal guard, but I  do fully understand the idea you sent to me the other night. Twilight I must show you something right away. I do believe we're on limited time here. I ask of you to come to Canterlot quickly before anything might happen. Please hurry!

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

Twilight read those few words at the end of letter in a chillingly tone. "We're on limited time, and before anything else might happen."

Twilight knew that this coudn't be good at all. Twilight began to roll up the letter, wondering what could be so important that the princess must show her.

"Spike, I'm going to go to Canterlot to meet the Princess Celestia for something very urgent", Twilight said in a very serious tone. "I need you to watch the house, got it?"

Spike saluted Twilight in full compliance of her demand. Twilight made sure everything was in proper order before heading out for the long trip. Everything checked out fine, Twilight made her way towards the front door, opening it to start her trip then shutting it behind her.

    "Well now that she's gone, I wonder what should I do now?" said Spike putting a claw to his chin.

The front door opened again, this time half-way. Twilight just poked her head in to say one more thing.

"Oh, and by the way Spike, if anyone asks where I went...tell them I went to go do a few errands, okay thanks, bye!". Twilight said with a smile, quickly closing the door in front of her. Spike stood there watching the door just in case Twilight came back again.

A few minutes passed and there was no sign of Twilight returning. Spike let out a small sigh of relief that Twilight was now completely gone. Spike was heading towards the stairs when he felt his stomach rumble.

    "I guess a few gems would be quite good for right now".

Spike went into the kitchen, and prepared a few diamonds and rubys for lunch. Spike was about to stuff the first round of gems in his mouth when he heard a small knock at the door. KNOCK...KNOCK. Spike quickly went towards the door to open it. Spike opened it, only to reveal Fluttershy at the door.

"Oh, Hi Fluttershy! What are you doing here?"

Fluttershy answered in her soft, small, yet shy tone, "I just came by to visit Twilight, while I was in Ponyville buying some food for Angel. Is she here?

    "I'm sorry Fluttershy, Twilight is out right now, she's heading towards Can-...uuugghh...I mean doing a few errands, hehe." sheepishly said Spike letting out a small nervous laugh, as he was so close to blowing Twilights cover.

"Oh that's okay, I guess I'll come back some other time. Well goodbye Spike," Fluttershy said, as she turned around to head along the way.

    "Well, bye!"

Spike gave himself a few small knocks to his head for almost saying what he's not suppost to say.

...........................................................................

Twilight was at the train station waiting for the train that is on route towards Canterlot. The train came to screeching stop along the metal tracks, letting out a small cloud of smoke from the engine.

  "ALL ABOARD! NEXT STOP, THE ROYAL CITY OF CANTERLOT!" the train conductor pony yelled.

Twilight walked towards the passenger car of the train, along with the small crowd of ponies at her sides. Twilight handed the ticket she had in her right hoof towards the train conductor.

  "Thank you, Miss," the train conductor complimented. "Enjoy the trip!".

Twilight entered the train car, finding a seat by the window through the vast of row of seats, left and right. Twilight selected a pair of seats to the right unoccupied by any pony. Twilight waited there for the train to come to life, and be off towards Canterlot.

  "LAST CALL FOR CANTERLOT!"

The last notice was made for a few more seconds. The conductor entered the passenger car and closed the door behind him. The train started with a small jolt, then proceding onwards towards its destination. Twilight gazed through the window, enjoying the beautiful countryside. The sun was still high up, few clouds in the sky, the endless waves of the nice green land. Twilight felt a wave of sleepiness go through. Twilight started lowering her eyelids slowly, she tried to stay awake, but was defeated, letting herself drift into a small sleep...

..................

Twilight awoke to the sudden stop of the train at the Canterlot train station. Twilight got herself out of the seat and proceded towards the exit. Twilight headed towards the front gates of Canterlot, she saw the royal guards constantly looking at all directions for any suspicious behavior. There were waves of ponies moving in and out of the station rapidly.

I hope I'll get a chance to see Shining Armour around here...

Twilight entered the castle grounds admiring its fabulous scenery. The elegant sculptures and statues along the main path, the beautiful red roses, and the large well-trimmed hedges to accompany it.  Twilight saw a guard pony by a statue, as if he was waiting for someone. The guard quickly turned his head to see who it was.

"Hello, Miss Sparkle," greeted kindly the royal guard pony. "You must hurry, the princess is expecting you".

With that notice, Twilight galloped quickly towards the castles frontal entrance. Twilight saw Princess Celestia and Shining Armour having a conversation by the large stairs that were the first thing insight if you entered.

"Princess Celestia, BBBFF!" Twilight exclaimed, as she saw two of the most ponies she cared about.

  "Twily!", Shining Armour said in joy pulling his little sister into a hug.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight greeting her after hugging Shining Armour.

    "Twilight Sparkle, I'm very glad you have arrived here on time, but we're on limited time. Shining Armour will you please explain."

"Of course, your highness. Twilight there is something you must see that's very vital for you to know, please follow me"

Shining Armour led the way, with Celestia and Twilight following behind him. They entered a hallway with multiple doors on each side. The three of them passed a few royal guards along the way, guarding the area. A little bit more down the hall, clear of all guards and any other doors, there was a large silver looking double door at the end of it. This one looked more enforced than any other door Twilight had seen in the hallway. It had a golden metal bars across of it, and iron bars coming from top to bottom.

  "I'll handle this", said Princess Celestia, taking some steps forward ahead of Shining Armour and Twilight.

Celestia's horn glowed, releasing a beam of light towards a large red ruby gem on top of the door. The iron and golden metal bars retracted from place exposing the double door to anyone. The two doors slowly opened, but revealing a pitch-black chamber. Twilight stared into the chamber seeing if anything would happen, but nothing happened.

"The room its....empty," Twilight said, confused at the dark room.

Celestia glanced over at Twilight, giving her a smile.

  "Captain, if you would please".

Shining Armour concentrated his magic on the red ruby on top of the door. The red ruby glowed, turning from a red ruby to a green one. The darkened room was suddenly brightened with green crystals along the columns of the chamber. Twilight's eyes went wide as this room was brought to life by these beautiful crystals among the columns.

  "Let us proceed, quickly!" Celestia said, heading towards the chamber.

Shining Armour and Twilight trailed behind Celestia. The chamber was filled with glass dome shaped-containers on pedestals, securely locked to make sure no intruder can open it. There were large portraits of royal ponies of Canterlot along the walls. There too was also rows of bookshelves to the sides of the large chamber, giving it a mysterious design. Twilight entered the room, and was amazed on how wonderful the chamber was, yet mysterious. .

"How long was this here for?" Twilight asked with curiosity.

"Its been here for quite a while, Twilight," answered Shining Armour.

Twilight looked at the glass dome containers, observing the contents they preserved. They contained items that Twilight has never seen before. One had a dark green, small ball looking object, with a small ring at the top of it. The other container was bigger in size. It had a large dome-shaped metal object, with what appered to be a ball attached under it. The object had a unknown emblem of a star surrounded by a circle, then featuring rectangles that were striped connecting to the circle on both sides. There was another container that had a had a brownish box like object; it had strange writings on it. The 'box' had small metal tubular objects that that had some 'sharp-looking' points, coming out from the top then going down on one side.

"Where did you get these objects from?"

Princess Celestia and Shining Armour looked at each other with concern. Shining Armour sighed, and looked at Twilight...

"That is something we do not know. They've been appearing over Equestria for years now and we do not know who is responsible for it".

Twilight put a hoof to her chin thinking who made these objects. Twilight came out her thinking having an idea on who could've made these objects.

"Could it have been the Griffons who made all of this?"

  "We know how Griffons are, but this looks far beyond their own creations," stated Celestia,  immediately erasing the idea that Griffons may have made these objects.

Twilight thought again for a few seconds then giving out another idea, "Is there any pony that's very sophisticated in magic, and may have possibly created all of this?"

"Twily, I like how you're trying your best to solve who mudt of created these objects and I appreciate that, but there is one theory that has been developing since these objects started appearing....Aliens".

Twilight was taken by surprise on what Shining just said.

"A-A-Aliens!?"

"I know it seems a little upsurd, but it's leaning towards that answer everyday, the more we don't know on what these things are, the likely it is to be true".

Twilight stood there frozen in a incredulous state, as the objects were presumed to be 'alien'.

  "Twilight, I know it may be beyond us on who created all of this, but all we know is the latest one appeared by the Wonderbolts Academy by a bush about a week ago," Celestia said trying to get Twilight back to normal.

Twilight brought herself back to reality after what Celestia just spoke about. Twilight looked at the objects again, wondering which one ended up at the Wonderbolts Academy.

"Which object appeared at the academy?"

Shining Armour walked towards a glass container, pointing a hoof at it. "This one..."

Twilight quickly put herself by the container; staring at it with complete interest. The object the container had a skull of a creature that she has never seen before. It looked similar to a monkeys skull, but the the skull was more smaller, and it looked smoother on the design it had. The upper and lower jaw were in the same place under the nasal area, yet slightly a little extended outward, rather than the monkey having both jaw pieces extending outwards ahead of the nasal piece.

The teeth were obviously carnivorous in the front, but had molars in the back of the jaw meaning it was also a herbivore. This led to Twilight thinking it was an omnivore, and how rare this creature must've been. The eye sockets were smaller than a monkeys large round, eye socket. Twilight inspected it more closer, the teeth made a small intimidating smile, and a deathly stare from the eye sockets...making Twilight take a few steps back from it.

Shining Armour let out a small laugh at Twilights reaction. "Don't worry, It's locked up, it won't get you"

Twilight gave a scolding look at Shining for his taunting actions against her.

"Just joking," Shining Armour said, nervously.

Celestia too laughed at the small sibling rivalry that was happening, but quickly got right back to business.

  "My concerns are; that if a race far beyond our own or any may arrive at this planet to retrive 'their' items at anytime. The danger is that they may be hostile, but if we're lucky then...friendly. The other concern is that it can be anyone that may be threatening us to war."

Twilight looked at Celestia then at the unknown skull inside the glass container.

"What about the skull, do you think it's alien?"

"It possibly can be or it can be a species of monkeys that we may have never encountered before, maybe extinct," Shining Armour answered trying to give out a possible answer.

Celestia made a small nod at Shining Armours statement. She looked around the chamber for one more time, then decided it was now time to leave the chamber and its hidden secrets.

  "I believe it is time to go. I'm sure we must all go back to any business we must attend to."

With that decision made, all three of them exited the chamber. Celestia shot again the beam of light from her horn; making the golden metal and iron bars come out to secure the chambers entry way.

  "Now I must be off, I must attend a very important meeting. I am very glad that you arrived here soon, Twilight".

"Well, you know that I am your most faithful student, Princess," Twilight said, making herself look like a complete teachers pet.

"Oh great," Shining Armour said, rolling his eyes.

Celestia quickly departed from the two family members; leaving them walking towards the castles front entrance.

"Hey thanks for coming Twilight, but I'm afraid I must go too. Being the captain of the Royal Guard means I must get back to station, guarding Canterlot from any danger".

Twilight let out a small frown, as she really wanted to spend time with her BBBFF.

"Well that's okay I understand, I guess I should go too. I left Spike home alone watching the house, and you don't want to know how that ends up."

Shining Armour and Twilight gave each other a long hug before going there separate ways. Twilight proceded out through the path that cut straight through the garden, towards the front gates of the castle. Twilight trotted towards the train station to catch the train back to Ponyville. The train was ready to depart back home. Twilight entered the passenger car, taking a seat by the window again. The wheels of the train began to slowly rotate its wheels, and increased its speed down the metal tracks.The time of the day was now going into the afternoon. Twilight looked out the window not enjoying the countryside this time, but thinking on what she just saw in that chamber. The skull, the objects, the possible theory that it might be aliens. All of it was completely surrounding her.

Are there more of those objects out there? Are the species of that creature still alive? Is it really that aliens are visiting us and are the aliens related to the species of that skull?...

The answers to Twilights questions will all have to be revealed in time...