"Something wrong, Twilight?"
"Leave me alone," she whispered. "Please, just leave me alone."
"Oh, Twilight, you're shaking," the thing purred. It leaned closer to her. Absolute terror shot through her. She scrambled to get away from it, from the pain that it was sure to inflict, from the scent of blood that followed it everywhere.
"Stay away from me!" she shrieked. "I mean it! Or I'll-I will-"
"What will you do, little Twilight?" It was coming after her. The steady clop of hooves on the red-slick floor. It knew that there was nowhere for her to go. "I know you can't kill me. I am stronger than you, older than you. And you couldn't even kill a pony that was tied down."
She closed her eyes and shook as her tormentor drew ever closer. Down here, far beneath the earth, beneath the sun and the moon and everything remotely holy, there was no light. No darkness, either, because of the lack of contrast. And most importantly, no god. It felt to her as if Celestia had been slain here in the uninterrupted blackness. Dying beside her student, crumbling in her eyes as she failed to protect her from horror after horror, ever since the very beginning when she...
Wait.
How had she gotten here?
"Twilight!" the monster snapped urgently. But she was rolling over, on the bloody stone floor that felt strangely like the bottom of a carriage, and when she blinked, the sun almost blinded her.
"Twilight?"
"H-huh?" The unicorn sat bolt upright, shaking. She saw the walls of the carriage that had brought her to Canterlot, a late-afternoon sky, Spike backing away with a worried look on his face, and the two white pegasus stallions peering at her, concerned.
"Ma'am?" the one who had rushed into the library to help her with Pinkie asked. "Are you alright?"
"I'm...just..." Twilight remembered the hideous dream and shuddered. Blood and shadows and something evil beyond measure.
"You were screaming," the other stallion said. "Like something was tearing you apart."
"Musta been a really bad dream, huh?" Spike asked sympathetically. She just nodded, trying to focus on the warm sun and not the blood in her thoughts. "Well, it wasn't real. Come on, let's head into the palace."
"I-I think I'll stay out here for awhile," she replied. In the center of sparkling Canterlot, with the walls of a golden carriage protecting her on either side and Celestia's bright sun overhead, the dream was fading fast. She could barely remember it, but still, she didn't think that she could handle being inside the palace, with its bright stone and pale shadows right now.
"Ma'am, we have specific orders to deliver you to the palace-" one of the stallions began.
"I'll be fine, don't worry."
"Are you-"
"Yes, I'm sure!" Twilight snapped. Immediately, she regretted it. They were just trying to do their jobs, after all. "I'm sorry, I'm not really myself right now."
"It's alright, ma'am." Nodding at her, the two (who had already freed themselves from their harnesses) turned and began to walk away. But suddenly, they dropped into deep bows.
"We brought her, Princess, just as you requested," one murmured. He was ignored.
"Really, Twilight, you couldn't even come into see your teacher?" an amused, lyrical voice asked. Twilight's heart leaped.
"Princess Celestia!" she cried, jumping out of the carriage and galloping over to the goddess horse. "Oh, I've missed you so much..."
"I missed you, too," Celestia said gently, placing one hoof on her student's back and lowering her head to nuzzle her mane. "It's one thing to read about the adventures that you and the Elements have in Ponyville, but it doesn't compare to talking to you."
"I know," Twilight said, gazing up at the regal alicorn. "I'd come visit you more often, but-well, you know."
"Of course, of course, I understand. Come, into the palace. We have so much to do."
"That reminds me." Walking beside Celestia, who was nearly three times her size, Twilight could barely even remember what she had been so afraid of. "Why did you want me to come here? Just to see me?"
"No," the princess responded. "I think that you're ready to begin a new phase in your training."
She blinked. "What? But..."
"Hey, wait up!" Spike puffed, running as fast as he could. "I've got short legs, you know."
"Sorry, Spike." Twilight came to a stop, and allowed him to clamber onto her back. "I forget sometimes."
"Yeah, I noticed," he replied a little bitterly, still out of breath. Turning his green eyes hopefully upon Celestia, he asked, "Do the palace kitchens still make those cookies, Princess? I missed those so mu-"
"Spike, you told Pinkie that her cookies were better," Twilight hissed. He refused to look at her.
"Yes, they do," Celestia said, looking troubled, "but actually, Spike, I would prefer it if you didn't accompany us into the castle."
"What? Why?" Twilight and Spike exclaimed in unison. The princess looked away regretfully.
"I'm very sorry. But the lessons that I have in mind for Twilight are far too rigorous for her to have any distractions at all."
"But where will he go?" the unicorn asked, feeling panicky at the prospect of Spike being left out in the cold.
"He can stay at the library that the two of you used to live in," Celestia explained gently. "It's alright. You can see him when you're done."
Spike hopped off of Twilight's back, and embraced her foreleg. She lowered her head to nuzzle him. Feeling the eyes of the princess on her, she spoke quickly.
"It's alright, I won't be gone long. Celestia's a good teacher. I'll be done in no time."
As she raised her head, Spike nodded. His brilliant green eyes were shiny, but his face was expressionless.
Twilight left her companion since childhood to follow her teacher. The princess moved with a grace that befitted her station, her hooves barely making a sound on the stone. Her glittering mane and tail lit up the rare dark corners of the palace as they walked through its spacious halls, which were strangely deserted.
"Where is everyone?" she asked, looking around.
"I declared a day of rest for almost all of the servants and most of the citizens of Canterlot," Celestia replied.
"Why?"
"Why, for you, of course." The princess smiled at her.
Twilight smiled back, uneasy. This was strange. Celestia had always told her that she shouldn't get special treatment just because she was her apprentice. If anything, she should work harder, to prove to the other ponies that she was just like them. It wasn't like her teacher to do something so monumental just for her.
"You didn't have to do that."
"Perhaps not, but I wanted to. And Luna agreed that it was a good idea, since you haven't been home in so long."
"Speaking of Luna, where is she?"
"I sent her to talk to the southern sea tribes," Celestia said dismissively. "They've been getting a bit...uppity lately."
Neither of them spoke until they came to a small, discreet door tucked away at the end of a hall that Twilight had never been down before. The princess stopped, and inserted her horn into the mechanism. With a soft click, the door swung open.
Twilight scrambled back with a gasp when she saw what was on the other side. Darkness. Nothing but a pitch black void. There were beasts down there, she knew it, things from the beginning of time, before the sun, before the moon, before light of any kind-
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing." She breathed deeply, shakily. "I just-a bad dream, I fell asleep on the way here."
The dark the blood the monster.
"It was just a dream," the princess reminded her. "Whatever it was, it wasn't real. Besides, I'm here." Her horn lit up with a dazzling light, as if she had stolen a small piece from the sun that she commanded. "Are you ready?"
Twilight took a deep breath, tried to conquer her fear. She imagined that Pinkie Pie was here, with her. Laughing in her ear and jumping up and down and just generally being irritating. Giggle at the ghostly...
"Yes," she said firmly, igniting her own horn and sending violet rays slashing into the darkness.
A/N: Foreshadowing! Finally. We're getting into the good stuff. And this is the point of no return, so those of you with weak constitutions may want to turn back now.
As for the rest, review? Please?