The Dark Hour

Twilight had no idea how long it had been since everything faded to black.
Her earlier hypothesis, as joking as its mere suggestion was, seemed to be correct- time seemed to have stopped, so she had no real way of knowing. All she knew was that it had been a long while.

How else would anypony explain it? The signs were all there. It's a ridiculous notion, but, as a character from a book she once read had said, when one eliminates the impossible, then whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

There was also the matter of the weirdly-shaped coffins, which, for a reason that Twilight could not even begin to comprehend, seemed to adorn the hallways of the station in no particular pattern... and glowed red, at that. The random positioning of these coffins, however would indicate that- wait, no, that's ridiculous...

No. Just because this whole thing is ridiculous, doesn't mean I can go and ignore that line of reasoning, Twilight thought. No matter how much she wished to, she couldn't so easily dismiss the theory that, by some horrific spell's power, coffins had suddenly formed around everyone in the station. She couldn't simply shrug this thought off, especially considering that she was, after all, right about the time.

The unicorn was, to put it bluntly, afraid.
This trip to the beautiful eastern country that had felt like a dream until recently... had quickly turned into a nightmare she couldn't help but want to wake up from.

"...huh?"
In the midst of the darkness, she could feel some form of energy pulsate from within her bookbag. She set it down, and pulled open the flaps, and sure enough, a faint blue glow shone within.

"Isn't this the book I was reading earlier...?"

"...Rarity! Rarity, can you hear me there, sugarcube? Pick up, consarn it! See, Ah told ya that electronic devices don't work at this time a' night!"

What was unmistakably Applejack's voice came out with an electric crackle from a small, tin box mounted on the lobby's counter. Rarity nodded, and pushed a small red switch positioned on one of the box's sides.

"Applejack, you're coming in loud and clear."

"Whu- Oh, good. Yer there. That's good. Say, how'd ya manage to get this... 'walkie'... whatever you called it, to work? Ah thought power didn't... well, power, during the Dark Hour."

"Never mind that! Where are you? What's the situation? Did you find our missing pony?"

"Ah... Ah'm outside the station. Ah just got here."

While not immediately obvious, Rarity could tell that Applejack was tired. It wasn't particularly far from the station from the dormitory building, but she was sprinting out in full gallop. Normally, Applejack would be able to make such a run without even breaking a sweat, but then again, this was the Dark Hour. Things never were as they seemed, and Rarity knew that more than anyone.

"Didja... didja bar the d-doors?"

"Pinkie's been going around doing just that. I've been watching the main entrance, seeing as how it's the only way into the building from street level."

"That's... that's good."

"Applejack. Don't push yourself more than necessary. You need to be able to summon Atlas at any given time, and you know that it's taxing, so please-"

This was true. Should one of those creatures emerge from out of the darkness, let alone the 'doozy' that Pinkie had talked about earlier that evening, Applejack would need to be able to call upon her Ponysona.

"Don't you worry about me, sugarcube. I've done this before. Just gotta do this fast."

"According to Pinkie, the pony you're looking for is a purple unicorn. She isn't sure what her cutie mark is, but I don't think there would be more than one purple unicorn wandering the streets during the Dark Hour, let alone the train station. Don't hesitate to report back if anything happens."

"Purple unicorn pony, unknown cutie mark. Got it. Ah'll be back in two shakes of a rabbit's tail."

?

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes to find herself in the middle of a... peculiarly-shaped room, to put it mildly. It was... vaguely round, that is, circular, with sphere-shaped indentations embedded in the walls.

Some sort of large control panel sat in the middle of this room. It wasn't functioning at all, much like the rest of the machinery she had seen earlier. Other than that, the entire room seemed very alien to her- not only the interior design, but even the architecture itself seemed very unusual.

"Where... am I?"

"You're in the TA... the, ah, Velvet Room, right, that's what we're calling it. The Velvet Room, yes."

Twilight was taken aback by the fact that her question was answered. Given the accent, whoever it was was from... Trottingham? She didn't know or care- she was elated to hear another pony's voice. She turned to face whoever it was, and sure enough, there was a brown earth pony wearing a suit and tie. She leaned her head forward to get a better look at him, but all she could notice was that his cutie mark was obscured by his clothing.

"...now if you don't mind my asking, just how did you get in here? I thought for sure that my assistant would have locked the doors..."

"I... don't know! I just opened a book that was glowing blue, and... before I knew it, I was here, all of a sudden!"

"A... book. Hmm. An extradimensional tome, was it? Or... perhaps we are somewhere in your mind... or something. I've no idea, to be honest, just where we are..."

Twilight gave him an odd glance. This pony was musing to himself, as if completely unaware that he was just talking to her.

"Now, if you don't mind my asking... who are you? And... 'the Velvet Room'?"

"I'm... well, I'm a Doctor. You can call me Igor, if you absolutely must call me something. And the Velvet Room is just a name for this place right here... speaking of names, yours must be..."

Twilight looked at Igor's outstretched hoof warily.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle."

"You're... Oh, well, of course you are! How could I possibly think otherwise. Twilight Sparkle. Well, it's my pleasure to meet you again, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight extended her hoof in kind, and shook Igor's.
But one thing about what he said... was off.

"Wait, again...? What do you mean, 'again'...? You mean, we've met before...?"

Before Igor could respond, his hoof began to glow a faint golden light. This light began to seep out of his hoof, and began to enter Twilight's hoof- it was as if their handshake was a wire, and the light was the electric current that flowed between the two ponies. She felt as if her body was being filled with a certain... warmth that she couldn't really explain. She hadn't ever felt it before, but... it felt... good.

"Aha. I thought as much."

"Wait. What was that just now?"

"Well, never you mind. Off you go, Ms. Sparkle!"

Igor quickly retracted his hoof upon noticing the glow. A hint of a wry grin appeared on his face, not that Twilight was able to notice.

"But I don't-"

"If my guess is correct, you should be able to return by, well. Try leaving through that door."

Igor nudged his head in the direction of, sure enough, a white door. Compared to the rest of the Velvet Room, however, this door seemed very ordinary, which only added to the sheer oddness of the room.

Twilight approached the door nervously, with so many things in her mind- this 'Igor' seemed like the type of pony to be able to answer everything, so she didn't exactly want to leave just yet.

"But I have so many questions-!"

"And the answers to those questions will be revealed in due time. Or, you know, maybe they won't. Now, go forth, Element of Magic... a friend of yours is waiting for you."

And with that, Twilight pushed the doors open... and stepped out into the void that lay beyond.

The Dark Hour

"Rarity? You there?"

Despite it being called 'the Dark Hour', Rarity felt that it had been far more than an hour after Applejack had previously reported in. For all she knew, it probably had been longer, but perceptions were wont to change during this time of night, so she couldn't really say for certain.

"Rarity? Rarity!"

"Applejack? What is it?"

"Ah... Ah think Ah've found her."