In Youth Eternal - A Dark Secret

Chapter 3: Conflict

Twilight did nothing but lay there in her bed, restless and unable to sleep. Spike had already fallen asleep at this point at the end of the bed. The lavender mare let out a sigh as she looked at the clock that was mounted on the wall. It was 1:00 in the morning. She couldn’t stop thinking about the book she found, and Princess Celestia’s suspicious reaction when asked about her former students.

Twilight decided that she had been waiting long enough. From out of her book bag came the mysterious book from the locked room in the library, shrouded by the unicorn’s magic. It hovered onto her bed and opened in front of her. Twilight’s horn remained lit to provide light.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Time to take a closer look.”

She flipped through the pages, her eyes scanning them intently. Sure enough, each one of them was deceased. She had not missed anything there. The most recent student before her apparently disappeared and died 2 short years before she began her own studies with Princess Celestia.

The bottom of the page consisted of a short description. Twilight’s eyes widened in shock at what she read.

“Heart removed; procedure successful.”

Twilight began to sweat with fear at this discovery, drops of the salty liquid drizzling down her forehead. She closed the book slowly as to not wake Spike. In fearful confusion, she glanced around a little, thinking, trying to make sense of what that description must have meant.

“Heart removed? Procedure successful?” she asked herself, rhetorically. Twilight felt too uneasy to even hope to sleep now. Such a description was downright disturbing.

“This couldn’t be Princess Celestia’s work, could it?” pondered Twilight, sweating cold sweat. The mare simply could not put her hoof on it. The Princess of the Sun never seemed like the type to murder ponies for whatever reason. However, a determined look crossed her a face. Twilight decided she would investigate a bit more to find the truth.

The door to Twilight’s bed chamber slowly opened, with the young pony poking her head out into the corridor. Twilight peered back and forth. There was not a single sound except for the light crackling of the torches that lit the halls. The mare quietly made her way down the corridor towards the Library.

*     *     *

After walking around for a couple minutes, making various turns throughout the halls, Twilight heard a couple of voices ahead. The unicorn quietly peeked around the corner to see who it was, keeping to the shadows.

It was merely a couple of royal guards chatting with each other about everyday, mundane things. The pair happened to be guarding the door to the library, as it had closed a few hours ago. But, it was nothing Twilight couldn’t get passed without a little a magic. Twilight receded completely back into the corridor.

A purple flash of light promptly engulfed her form. The guards stopped talking once they noticed a flash of light from behind the corner, in the corridor. They glanced back at each other before rushing over to investigate. They turned the corner into the corridor, only to find nothing out of the ordinary.

The guards were nothing but confused. “What could that light have been?” asked one guard, turning to his companion.

“I don’t know,” replied the other with a shrug. “It might have been magic. But who would be up at this hour?”

The two pondered for a moment, failing to have noticed a flash of light appearing out from the under the crack of library door.

She was in. The library wasn’t nearly as well lit as before since most of the lanterns were put out for the night. She quietly stalked through the library, using her magic horn as a flashlight.

Twilight eventually came upon the now repaired locked door. There would be no need to smash it down and make a lot of noise, since Twilight could just teleport inside.

With that, the unicorn once again vanished in a flash. Twilight reappeared inside the locked room. The light from her horn quickly dispelled the darkness. She proceeded to search through the many scrolls in the room.

Scroll after scroll levitated towards her, unrolling themselves at her whim. Their contents were letters to the princess, explaining a lesson learned in friendship. Many of them were the same lessons Twilight had learned. Although, there weren’t as many for most ponies, compared to Twilight Sparkle.

The mare continued to read through scroll after scroll, her eyes moving back and forth. Her thoughts raced in her head. But then, the door behind her clicked, and suddenly flung open, hitting against the wall.

 “Looking for something, my little pony?” a cold, yet familiar voice called out.

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat as she began to sweat. Her magic faded, causing the scrolls she was currently looking through to fall onto the cobblestone floor, and the room went dark. It was then that another light source appeared behind her, from where the voice came from. It was golden in color.

The voice she heard behind her sounded all too familiar. Twilight slowly turned around, eyes widened in fear of having been caught snooping. Her heart rate picked up. She could feel each heart beat pounding in her chest.

Twilight's fear-ridden eyes locked on to a majestic figure. It was none other than Princess Celestia, in the flesh. The sleek alicorn took a few steps towards Twilight, looking down at her with a stoic facial expression. Twilight can’t hide her snooping from Celestia any longer.

“Princess Celestia!” she muttered frantically, with fear in her voice. “I... I... um...er...” the lavender mare choked. She could not find the right words to use to explain herself to the Princess.

“You shouldn’t go around snooping in places that are off limits, Twilight Sparkle,” said Celestia. The sound of her voice, like her face, was stoic; cold and without emotion. It was uncanny. That, coupled with the gaze Princess Celestia gave her sent chills down her spine.

Twilight couldn't help but wince a little. Princess Celestia usually gives off a very calm and warm demeanor, but this was different. It was unlike her to appear so cold. Twilight’s thoughts raced again, looking for what to say. She didn’t know what Celestia might do at this point.

The unicorn’s thought processes focused on everything that she found out: The book and deceased descriptions, Celestia’s suspicious reaction at the banquet, and now the highly unusual behavior of the Princess. Twilight didn’t want to believe it, but the evidence added up. Princess Celestia was hiding a dark, sinister secret.

‘I have to get out of here!’  thought Twilight. She began pacing backwards when Celestia started towards her. She was highly imposing. Princess Celestia's gaze seemed to pierce Twilight's soul.

The young mare knew she was in for it deep. ‘Think Twilight, think!’ shouted her inner thoughts, frantically.

“I can’t let you leave here, Twilight Sparkle,” decreed Celestia raising her voice. With that, the two library entrance guards walked out from behind Celestia on both sides of her. Twilight’s eyes widened further. Her breathing became heavier with fear. The guards glared at Twilight.

“Arrest her,” demanded Princess Celestia, coldly. The guards dashed in front of Celestia and cornered Twilight.

“You’re coming with us,” said one of the guards.

As they closed in, Twilight’s horn erupted with magic. She would not go quietly. The guards were engulfed in a purple aura, much to their surprise.  Both of them were quickly transmuted into common house plants. As a follow up, Twilight’s body vanished in a radiant burst of purple light. She reappeared outside the room, back in the main library, and made a run for the door.

Princess Celestia turned to see her young student running away from inside the room. The light given off by Celestia’s horn suddenly flashed brighter. Her guards were restored to normal, no longer in the form of house plants. “After her!” ordered the Princess, noticeably angry.

The guards nodded and chased after Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight almost made it to the library doors when a sudden burst light blinded her. “Ahhh!” she yelped, stumbling back. Twilight rubbed er eyes with her hooves momentarily. The mare then looked up to see Princess Celestia standing before her. Her progress was halted.

Before she could react any further, the guards came up from behind Twilight, slamming into her. The purple unicorn fell to the ground with a thud. Her head struck the hard floor, leaving a bruise.

“No!” yelled Twilight, desperately. The mare hopped up onto all four hooves, facing the guards. Her horn lit up strongly, releasing a quick bolt of magic energy that sent one of the guards flying back.

The other one acted quickly, as to not meet the same fate. He dashed forth before Twilight could release another attack, knocking the purple unicorn square in the jaw with one of his front hooves.

Twilight fell back; her backside hitting the ground. She was in pain. The guard that was knocked back previously returned with a vengeance. The vulnerable Twilight found his hoof slamming into her stomach.

“You little brat!” he yelled, before striking her again in the same place even harder.

Twilight’s eyes closed shut as she yelped in pain, coughing up blood in the process.

Princess Celestia remained unmoved throughout the entire ordeal, merely silently watching.

The purple unicorn opened her eyes to see the intimidating princess looming over her; her cold eyes staring down at her. Twilight was losing hope of escaping her predicament.

"Princess Celestia... Why are you doing this?" she choked as her eyes began swelling with tears.

Her question was met with silence. Princess Celestia's cold eyes only continued to watching Twilight writhe on the floor.

“Princess Celestia... Please... You don’t have to do this...” pleaded Twilight; tears flowing down her cheeks.

It was then that a sinister grin crossed her face as she lowered her head to where Twilight was, whispering something into her ear.

“I know.”

With the sound of a thud, all went dark for Twilight Sparkle.