It had been about three hours since they had taken off from Aegis. Charter had come back with a bag full of stuff for drawing up a map and an old-looking compass that he said had belonged to his father. Twilight introduced him to her friends and made a quick apology to Flash and Spike for leaving them the way she had, which they forgave her for, then they apologized for offending her in some way. Soon enough, all was forgiven and left behind them. When asked how she had met Charter, she simply said that she had just gone into a shop that Charter's family ran. She didn't want anypony to worry about her, and the others seemed to buy it.
The purple unicorn was now at the head of the ship, leaning on the railing and watching as the mountains trailed by, the sky gradually turning orange as the sun descended from the sky. The towering mounds of earth seemed much smaller from the altitude that the airship was at, and there were so many of them. Some of them were old and craggy, others were covered in dense forests, and still others were rocky, but in a way that made them seem elegant in a rough sort of way. Hellas was truly a land of gruff beauty.
"Amazing," a male voice spoke up, startling Twilight. Charter walked over to join her and looked over the edge of the ship. "I've never seen Hellas from this high up before. It's incredible."
"Yeah," Twilight replied, looking back at the land. "It really is something."
There was a brief moment of silence. "You know, Twilight, the people of Hellas have a saying; 'a creature of beauty is often the deadliest.'" Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. "It's true when you think about it. Dragons, for example, are said to be the most amazing sights anypony could ever hope to see. But they're also one of the most dangerous creatures you'll ever meet. Hellas is a land of both beauty and danger." He chuckled a little. "And most wouldn't have it any other way."
"Why not?" the mare inquired.
"It's their home," Charter answered simply. "And it's mine, too, as much as lot of pegasi and minotaurs might complain. I mean, would you want to change Equestria in any way?"
"I guess you have a point," Twilight admitted with a light laugh. She faced the mountains once again. "Equestria doesn't have nearly this many mountains. We have a fair amount, but not one of them is anywhere close to the sheer size of most of what's here."
"There's a legend behind that," Charter explained. "According to old tales, eons ago, there weren't any mountains here. It was a flat plain. And it was wide open to invaders from all sides. To protect the races that lived here, the gods erected the first mountain ranges to slow attacking forces, giving the minotaurs and centaurs time to ready themselves against their enemies."
"What about the pegasi?"
"This was before their time," he replied. "Heck, it was even before the time of the unicorns, back when ponies lacked wings and horns, when our kind didn't have the special powers that we have now. Speaking of which…" His horn glowed, and a large piece of paper hovered to his side, along with a quill and an inkwell. The rolled up paper unfurled, revealing two large shapes, one labeled "Equestria" and the other "Saddle Arabia." There was one unfinished shape marked as "Hellas." Charter used his magic to dip his quill into the inkwell and began to carefully draw up a small portion of the shape.
Twilight eyed the sheet of paper. "Is that… your parents' map?"
"Yeah, it is." After a few seconds of drawing up small triangles that probably represented certain mountains, he rolled the map back up and cast a spell to teleport it and his writing utensils back to their original place. "Map-making is difficult, but the reward can be well worth the effort."
"I'm sure," the mare said. "Getting the whole thing just right would probably take a lot of time and practice."
"Yeah." The two unicorns were silent for a several moments after that. As they watched the scenery go past, Charter began to eye Twilight somewhat. "By the way, I've been talking to your friends." The mare looked back at him with a questioning look. "They all say that you're really good with magic. So… I have to ask: why didn't you defend yourself back in that alley?"
Twilight hesitated. She looked away from the other unicorn, laying her head down on the railing. "It's… complicated. Let's just say that I was scared and leave it at that."
Charter raised an eyebrow at her reluctance. "Twilight, you'll need to talk to someone about it. I realize that it wouldn't be appropriate if you told me, but you should at least try to talk to your friends. From what I can tell, I doubt they'd think any differently of you."
The purple mare sighed depressingly. "Maybe…" After a moment of contemplating silence, she turned away and walked towards the cabins. "It looks like it's getting pretty late. I'm going to bed."
"All right. Goodnight," Charter said as he gave a small wave to the mare. Twilight looked back once, but said nothing. She went back to the cabins and headed straight for the cot that she had been sleeping in since this journey started. She thought about what Charter had said. Maybe she should tell her friends the truth. But in the morning. She needed some sleep.
-o-
Morning shone in through a nearby window, striking Twilight's face with its warm glow. She slowly opened her eyes and sat up in her cot, stretching and yawning a bit loudly. She noticed that none of her friends were in the cabin. They must've already gone to get breakfast. She climbed out of bed and left the cabin to head for the room that the crew called the mess hall. Oddly, she didn't see anypony as she walked through the ship. Not a soul was to be seen.
"Where is everypony?" she asked herself quietly. She continued through the ship until she arrived at the mess hall. There was no one there. No food had been prepared. The ship was completely empty. "What's going on?" She made her way to the upper deck, hoping to find somepony. Once again, Twilight was the only living thing on the Sun's Blessing.
There was an eerie silence, and a dense fog that made it hard to see. Not even the wind was blowing. The ship didn't move at all. Something wasn't right.
"Hello?" she called out. She received no answer, save for that unnatural silence. "Okay, this isn't funny! Somepony please answer me!" She looked everywhere she could, and eventually noticed someone standing at the head of the ship. She couldn't make out who it was, though. The mist was too thick. Desperate to know what was going on, she trotted over to the figure cautiously. "Um… hello?"
No response. She was close enough to see that this stranger was… dark. Very dark. That was all she make out regarding their appearance. "Who are you?" Twilight asked, taking a careful step forward. "Do you know where everyone else is?" The figure gave no reply. The mare took a nervous step back. Something was very wrong right now.
After several seconds of tense quiet, the shadowy figure began to chuckle darkly. They had a feminine voice, one that Twilight felt that she knew. She couldn't quite place it, though. "This power is incredible," the stranger said in a tone filled with dark ecstasy. "I'm amazed that you don't just give into it." The shadows on the stranger's body began peel off as she turned to face Twilight, whose eyes gradually went wide at the pony that she saw.
"No!" she shouted as she turned to run. "I won't!"
"You will!" Several spikes of dark crystal shot up from the floor in front of Twilight as she fled. She tried to go around, but more just cropped up before her, completely blocking her escape. She turned with a panicked look to the other mare, who was taking her sweet time walking down to her. All the while, she had a sadistic grin on her face, like she was enjoying the sight of Twilight's fear.
"It can be so intoxicating," the dark-coated mare began, a vile look in her corrupted eyes. "To be feared. To be strong. You could learn so much. But you push against all you can. It's almost adorable." Twilight gave no response but to shrink away as far as she could, which wasn't far, and turning away from the dark unicorn. The other mare laughed. "Oh, that's so cute how think you can just turn your back on me and believe that that will make everything better. But I won't go away." She leaned in close to Twilight's ear and whispered. "I will never go away."
Twilight shot up from her cot in a cold sweat, panting heavily as he heart raced violently. Another nightmare. She put a hoof over her chest to try and calm herself, but this nightmare was by far the most unnerving. There was nothing truly dramatic about this one. No great flames consuming all she held dear, no Accursed One trying to force her to give into darkness. No, this was the most simplistic so far. But the mare in her dream… it was herself.
She could only imagine that the other mare's appearance was what she had looked like when she had been using dark magic. It was far more terrifying than looking at herself in a mirror while like that. Was that what she was like? Dark, malevolent, and cruel? She had fooled herself into thinking that Sombra could be trusted, so why wouldn't she be able to fool herself into thinking that she was justified?
"Twilight!" she heard Spike call. He entered the cabin with a worried look. "Are you all right? I heard you shout in here."
"Y-yeah, I'm…" She hesitated, then heaved a sigh. "Actually, no, Spike, I'm not all right." The baby dragon gave her a concerned look. "I had another nightmare, and this one was… worse." She then explained the details of her nightmare to the little dragon, who had taken a seat next to her cot. She went through every detail that she could remember. When she finished, Spike could only shake his head in disbelief.
"That's just creepy," he stated. "I mean, talking to an evil version of yourself? That's wild."
"I know," Twilight replied with another sigh. There was a moment of silence afterward. "Spike, I need to tell you something, but it absolutely cannot leave this room. Understand?" Spike gave a nod. "You remember how I told you how I met Charter?" The dragon nodded. "Well… I lied. I was in an alley, and these four guys, a pegasus and three minotaurs, were about to attack me, but then Charter came in and scared them off with some magic. He saved me."
Spike raised an eyebrow at that. "Okay, I'm gonna guess that you lied about that so that no one would worry about you, but why didn't you just use your own magic to fight off those thugs?"
"Because… I was scared, Spike."
"Of those crooks? Come on, Twilight! You've beaten way scarier guys than some common criminals!"
"I wasn't scared of them, Spike. I was scared of… myself." Spike gave her a questioning look. "I… ever since I defeated Sombra, I've been… scared. I've been terrified of using my own magic for anything greater than just levitation, the most basic of all spells that a unicorn can cast."
Spike eyed the mare in confusion for a few seconds before he actually got it. "You're afraid that anything more complicated will make you use dark magic again, aren't you?" Twilight nodded solemnly. "But that's ridiculous! You could only use dark magic if you actually decide to use it!"
"I know, Spike, but… you don't understand." She looked away from him, and out a nearby window. "You have no idea what it feels like. Dark magic has a way of… sticking with you. You don't know how powerful it can make you feel. It crawls into your mind, tells you that you can do anything, achieve any goal, conquer any foe. It's not just magic. It's… alive. Addictive." She was silent for a moment. "I… I feel the temptation to use it again every day. I try to ignore the urge, but I… I'm afraid I might slip up someday and…" She trailed off.
Spike was speechless to that. The way she described dark magic… it must've really been terrifying for her. He looked away from her slightly. After a moment of thought, he faced her again, placing claw on her shoulder. "Twilight, listen to me." She didn't bother to look back to him. "Listen, Twilight. You're strong. You have more magical power than any other unicorn in Equestria. Do you remember how you beat Sombra? I don't think that was dark magic that finished him off."
"You still don't get it, Spike."
"Really?" he asked. "Remember my last birthday? I got greedy and stole things because I was getting selfish. I hurt a lot of friends that day. It was only because of my friends, and Rarity especially, that I was able to go back to who I really was, who I really am! And I'm always tempted to get greedy again. But I fight it every day. So don't you say that I don't understand where you're coming from with this, Twilight, because I'm probably the only one who does." Slowly, Twilight faced him, looking at with one eye. "You're stronger than dark magic. I know you are."
Twilight looked away from him again. She climbed out of her cot and made her way to the door. Just before she left, she turned to Spike again and said, "Thank you, Spike." The baby dragon gave her a hopeful smile and sure nod, to which she gave a small, grateful smile in return. She left the cabin.
Spike was alone in the cabin now. Maybe he could have some manly time to himself now. Then he got to thinking. "I probably should've told her that she missed breakfast." He shrugged at that. Too late now, he assumed.
-o-
All right, the reason why Twilight didn't fight back in the last chapter has been explained. Please stop complaining now.
