Chapter 2
~ The dragon of the dark ~
The music was back again, this time it stayed by her purple ears longer than before. The bell-like note glittered over her and the sweet sound of the rippling harp ran over her body like golden silk. The lavender unicorn blinked as she stood up from her napping spot, the music fading a tad. She shook her mane around, the purple and pink flatting against her head like normal. She glanced down at the two heart charms around her neck one of plastic, the other of Iron.
She couldn't believe she had slept for one entire year. She wondered if her friends were alright. The music then completely faded as she looked outside to the windows.
The crackle of the fire snapped a little and blew out, the cold wind now swirling around her. Twilight shivered and wondered where Safire and the mysteries mare were. The hair on the back of her neck stood up as she trotted outside. Her hooves broke the thin layer of fresh white snow on the ground.
"Snow…" She whispered and looked up at the white, cloudy sky. The snowflakes were fat and large and were falling slowly to join the others. "Safire?" Twilight called out after turning around and going back inside the barn where she had stayed.
Then, her ears shot up straight in the air as the soft crackle of pony hooves hitting the snow traveled to her ears. Her light purple eyes glanced outside. An elderly earth pony with a deep green coat and tangled white mane and tail walked down the snow covered road, a brown torn cape around his body and over his head.
Her necklace began buzzing lightly against her chest. Cold fear sunk in her chest. Why should she be scared of an elderly pony? Besides, he didn't seem like the Raider she had encountered before at all. Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat a bit and walked out of the barn and looked at him softly. "Excuse me sir?" Twilight said to him, half whispering. The pony looked at her and then down at her necklace.
The elderly pony suddenly screamed and drew back away from her. "Y-You!" He had said his hood now on his back. Fear filled his eyes and his body shook violently. Twilight didn't understand why he would be afraid of her.
"Shhh, I don't mean any harm!" Twilight Sparkle said to him, a hoof reaching out towards the scared earth pony. He drew back away from her, his back pressed against the building behind him. "I-I don't trust beings of the light!" He shouted at her and galloped off as fast as his old hooves could take him.
Twilight blinked rapidly as she watched him run from her. Beings of the light? Why was he so afraid of the light? Her necklace stopped buzzing and dangled there on her neck like how any other necklace would.
Something told her that she didn't have time to waste on running after him.
The unicorn trotted back inside the barn and looked around. Silence. "Safire?" She called out, wanting the large unicorn to come into view or the mare with golden eyes and the grey coat.
She asked herself, "Where are they?" Of course, there was no answer to her question.
Twilight then glanced at the fireplace where Safire had made her necklace at. It was out and only ash and a few burnt logs lay there. She frowned, disliking the cold and then turned away from it.
Finally, her eyes caught sight of an old wooden door in the back of the room. Two white wings were painted on the door and they were as large as Princess Celestia's. Curiosity tickled her body as she moved toward it slowly, her hooves clapping on the ground as she did. She lifted a hoof to push open the door when the necklace buzzed again, harder and louder against her chest this time.
She froze in place and dropped the hoof back down. Fear showered over her. It was the Rider and he was coming. Twilight scrambled out of the room and out of the barn, looking around. The snow fell faster now and it was growing bigger and bigger.
It was now a hard snow storm. Twilight then looked up to the clouds and gasped. The black dragon the Rider was riding flew there, staring at her with its huge golden eyes. They glared daggers at her.
"D-Dragon!" She yelled and then galloped away from it, the snow scattering all around. The dragon roared an all mighty roar. It shook the ground and buildings like an earthquake. Twilight Sparkle looked behind her as she galloped. The dragon then flapped it large black wings and took off after her, howling and roaring loudly.
Twilight took deep breaths, her hooves starting to ache. That didn't stop her though and she continued to run away from the terrible beast behind her. It was so close; she could smell its horrible breath and the smoke from its nostrils. The unicorn coughed and gagged.
"You cannot run from the dark." The Riders words sent shivers down her spine. Twilight continued running and then broke into the forest, twigs and leaves breaking around her. The trees acted like bars, the path that Twilight came in was the only way out. She now knew that she was in Evergreen forest.
The dragon snarled and roared at her, clawing that the large oak trees that blocked his entrée. The monster was also too large to fit into where she had and the Rider was nowhere in sight. Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, her chest heaving up and down and her hooves aching and begging her to lie down and stop. She watched it with her eyes, scanning every movement the dragon made.
"You cannot run from the dark, dear Twilight Sparkle," The Rider was nowhere to be seen, but his words were clear as day. Twilight shivered and looked around for any sign of the dark dweller. "For the dark is rising and even you cannot stop us."
"Just watch me!" Twilight Sparkle said, a bead of sweat rolling down her cheek. Her breathing then returned to normal. The dragon stopped it clawing and snarling and then sat down on the ground, his golden perusing eyes still on her. She glared back at them, feeling her bravery travel back into her heart.
"Yes we shall see if the light shall shine over Equestria again, or the dark that will cover every last bit of sunshine and destroy it." And the Rider's voice faded and the dragon flew off into the cloudy sky.
The snow began to fall normally again, the fat flakes slowly drifting down to the ground. Twilight looked up to the sky and sighed, her hooves now back into good shape. She lifted a hoof and pressed it down onto both charms on her necklace. They gave off mysterious warmth she had never felt before; one warmer then the fireplace at the barn.
Bronze come along.
She needed to find the bronze sign. But she didn't know where to look or how to find it. The feeling in her gut told her to go back out of the forest and back into the abandoned town. Twilight slowly started trotting back out of the thick forest.
~ The Dark awaits ~
Nothing came out to lash at Twilight when she had come out of the forest. The world around her was cold, and yet she had found warmth in the sign she had found. Every so once in a while the air grew cold, she touched her necklace and the two charms and everything was warm again.
The barn still had no pony inside of it, only the fireplace and the large hammer were in place. Twilight Sparkle sighed to herself as she looked at it one last time before walking off. Sugar cube corner was the next to be ignored and passed by the Sign Seeker, and then the Carousel Boutique was the next in her view.
The unicorn slowly walked up to it and pressed on the doors with her hoof. The door wasn't boarded up much to Twilight's surprise but the windows were, blocking off grey sunlight to light up inside.
It was much like Sugar Cube corner. Empty, bare and painted with dust. Twilight sighed and looked around. Only a few mannequins were left covered with dust and a few ripped and torn rolls of fabric and needles stood in the work room.
Twilight Sparkle didn't know what else to expect. All her friends were gone and missing, the two ponies that gave her advice and guided her were also missing and the Princesses were turned into stone. She sighed but then noticed a large, worn book on the ground.
It was a pretty fat book with slightly torn pages that were yellow with age and crinkled like they had been though a large flood. The cover was slightly wet and had a bit of white mold growing on the corners of it.
Twilight trotted over to it, not wanting to risk tearing it with her magic and opened it up carefully with a hoof. A damp smell lingered to her nose, but she ignored it and began to read.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
If you are reading this, then that means you are our only hope of defeating the dark. I'm sorry we will not be there when you awake, but we have to leave Ponyville and go to a safe place the Princess had assigned us to take every pony to .We all wanted to stay here and wait for you, believe me, we really did. But it was the Princesses orders and it's our job to listen to them. Here darling, I leave you with a spell book I had saved from your library before we had left. Enjoy dear and please follow your heart and believe in yourself.
We are all counting on you.
-Rarity
Twilight felt a tear run down her cheek to join with the other stains on the letter her unicorn friend had wrote. On the letter were lots of crinkles where tears had dropped and dried. Twilight then sighed and then turned the page to look at all the spells that were in the book.
Her eyes then caught sight of a particular spell. It was a healing spell where one unicorn could use to heal a pony in need. She ripped it out and set it aside, flipping the pages rapidly. Her hoof then stopped the pages from turning and then looked down at what had caught her eye once more.
This one was a magic vessel spell where a unicorn could pick up an object and sent it to a magic vessel were it would be kept safe. She tore that out also and closed the old damp book.
"Alright," Said the determined unicorn, "Let's see…" She quickly read the pages and then set them back down on the ground. Her eyes closed for a moment she her horn began to glow. She picked up the healing spell paper and concentrated.
'Come on Twilight,' she thought and her horn glowed brighter and hotter. 'You…shall…disappear!' and the paper vanished into her magic.
"Yes!" She laughed in triumph and smiled, her necklace turning this way and that. Twilight let the proud feeling sink in before making the other spell paper vanish into her magic also. But the feeling didn't last long enough when her necklace and the signs began buzzing against her chest.
The mare turned around and was face to face with the completely black dragon. It glared at her with its golden cat like eyes. Smoke steamed out of its nose and its teeth were glittering in front of her. The necklace beat against her chest loudly, the sign of Iron humming loudly.
"Wh-What do you want with me?" Twilight asked it in fear. The answer was obvious. It wanted the signs. The dark monster narrowed its eyes at her and began sucking deep breaths of air in. Twilight Sparkle wasn't a fool. She turned around and crashed through the window on the second floor, a large blaze of blue and black fire following her.
The unicorn fell down to the earth below, crashing into the snow below. The heat from the dragon's fire floated around her, making the mare sweat. She gasped for a bit of air and rolled around in the cold snow. The heat was intense and even burned her skin as she moved around. The smell of burning wood and paper filled her nose and black smoke filled the air.
As soon as she was cooled down, Twilight scrambled up to her hooves and galloped away from the boutique and back into town. Her purple eyes twitched as the sound of wings flapping was following her.
They continued the chase until Twilight suddenly felt fire trail right for her. In a haze of blue and black, her rear end and tail could feel the heat creeping up on her hastily. If she didn't gallop faster than this, Twilight Sparkle would be burned into a crisp. She gasped for air, her chest heaving and her hooves hitting the ground with full force.
Twilight knew this would not end well.
The blue and black fire caught houses and buildings on fire, surrounding her with heat and black smoke. She coughed and gagged for fresh air. Finally, the fire caught onto her tail and set her a blaze. And before her eyes, her life flashed.
"We'll name her Twilight!" The voice of a happy mother.
"Twilight, you're so good at magic!" The phrase of a happy father.
"Twilight, we've enrolled you in Princess Celestia's school for gifted unicorns!" The happy, joyful voices of proud parents.
"You're learning so fast! Here, let's try a harder spell." The phrase of a surprised and overjoyed tutor.
"Twilight, get you're muzzle out of that book and go make some friends." The order of the Princess.
"The night will last forever!" The threat of a villain.
"You've restored harmony to all of Equestria, and to that I thank you." The thanks of the Princess.
"You are one of the sign seekers." The hard truth of a mysterious mare with golden eyes.
Twilight Sparkle felt the flame dance across her chest, the heat less hot. Her eyes began to glow a deep white and her horn heated to a boiling temperature. Instantly a magical force field formed around her, blocking off the evil flame from the dragon. The light shined all around where she galloped, the fire dying.
The dragon howled with pain, the power of the light was too much for it to handle. It growled and retreated into the sky away from Twilight and wasn't going to come back soon. The unicorn's magic died down and she groaned her head spinning.
And she knew instantly that the power was the sign of Iron.
With a shiver, the sign seeker stood up and trotted away from where the magic and the dragon had used to be.
Twilight Sparkle found herself walking to Fluttershy's cottage near the forest. The unicorn sighed, a puff of white air coming and going before her. The cottage was not boarded up with wood but was still empty and covered with dust.
"Fluttershy?" She called out, half expecting her to answer. Of course there was no answer from the yellow pegasus. Twilight gently pushed the door open carefully and sneezed from all the dust that had tickled her nose.
"Ah yes, the sign seeker." A nice, soothing voice said. Twilight blinked and looked all around the empty cottage but found no trace of where the voice had come from.
"I've been expecting you." The voice was heavenly and angelic. The lavender unicorn stepped farther into the cottage and looked around some more. "Show yourself."
There was a swift blow of the wind and in front of her was a mare with a silky blond mane and heavenly blue eyes. She was a pegasus with white wings. "I am the angel of evergreen forest; I have come to send you a message from one of your friends."
Twilight Sparkle felt a pang of joy. Which one of her five friends was it? The angel of the forest turned her head around to reach into one of her saddle bags and took out a smooth white paper wrapped in green ribbon. She handed it to Twilight and then trotted out of the door.
"I bid you goodbye, sign seeker." She said and flew away. Twilight Sparkle felt a shiver as the cold wind from outside coated her coat. She pushed the door closed and then looked at letter that floated in the air from her magic.
The green ribbon was soft and smooth and in front, it had a golden lock to lock up the letter. On it was three pink and blue butterflies in the exact same order as Fluttershy's cutie mark. "Fluttershy!" Twilight cried out, surprised. At that moment, the lock flashed and vanished. The letter opened up and the green ribbon flew down to the floor. Twilight began to read.
Dear Twilight,
I'm so sorry I had to leave early before you woke up. I'm sure you've found at least the first sign, and if I'm not mistaken, it is the sign of Iron. We're all safe up here and working together to help each other out. Even though we are all far away from you, we all miss you the best of luck finding the signs. I bid you goodbye, my friend.
Love,
Fluttershy.
Twilight felt more tears flooding her eyes. She wiped them away and took a deep breath. She watched the letter fade away. But she couldn't stop her salty hot tears from pouring down her cheeks. Twilight reached for the sign on her necklace. Comfort and warmth filled her body and calmed her.
The unicorn missed her friends dearly with all her heart and endlessly wished this was just a long, bad dream. But she knew this was not and she had to face it and defeat the darkness from rising.
It wasn't before she spotted a small pillow in the corner that she realized she ached and needed rest. The unicorn trotted up to it, and laid on it, ignoring the dust. She then felt herself drifting off to more slumber.