A/N: Well, chapter 1 of part 2 of the Hour of Twilight. Part 2 is called the Crimson Dawn. A Little background: this chapter takes place 4 months after The End, the last chapter of part 1 (He likes doing that, doesn't he?). This means it's been 9 months since Twilight became pregnant with Celestia's newest incarnation, so I bet you can guess how part 2 starts (How is that, everypony? A shift from starting with murder to it's opposite. Oh, and if you don't remember me, look back at the chapter 7 author's note.). Also, Twilight did finally get word from Cloudsdale. The city is still under Equestrian control, and is floating above Everfree Castle now, though you can't tell from the ground. There was a setback with the construction of the Cloud Carrier, due to Griffons, so it won't be in the story for a while yet.

Now to answer review(s)

Raindrop Splash: Since I meet a lot of my friends over the internet, I've gotten pretty good at figuring out things like age and gender. I'm what you call an anti-socialite (In that he doesn't like going outside. And yet he boxes. Go figure). And I understand the lots of homework deal. I've got the same problem, otherwise I would have posted this already. And I noticed that I have a problem with remembering to turn off any effects to my text. Maybe I'll forget to turn off underline next. Who knows. And thanks for the compliments on those last 2 chapters.

And so part 2 begins.

NOTE: I do not own MLP or most of the characters used herein (He still believes that he owns Adam & Eve, contrary to the fact that he lost a bet with me, and now I have complete creative authority when it comes to them). MLP is the property of Lauren Faust and Hasbro (But H.R. has something big planned. You'll know it when you see it).

Hobey ho, let's go.

THE CRIMSON DAWN

The cries of a newborn foal shattered the early morning silence hanging over the Everfree Forest. But nopony would have ever guessed that the incredibly loud noise was coming from the tiny red Alicorn in Twilight's hooves.

"She's beautiful," Luna said, nuzzling her (now) baby sister, "What will her name be?"

"Crimson Dawn," Twilight responded, drawing inspiration from the red sun that was rising before her.

"This is a very touching moment," H.R. stated, "But need I remind you that there are Griffons looking for us right now? I recommend that we head back into the Hive with all due haste."

The four ponies (Including Crimson Dawn) and the huge diamond dog turned to reenter the castle behind them when the Crystal Hound's ear twitched.

"Hold. I hear somepony coming."

Now that they were listening, everypony else could hear it as well: a very deep booming, almost as if a statue were running towards them. But the Crystal Hound's more sensitive hearing picked up on something else, a pony talking to herself in third person, which was starting to irritate him.

"Twilight, can you conceal us with your magic?. We do not want this person to see us. They might be a gryphon spy."

Twilight's horn glowed and the group faded from sight. They watched as an azure unicorn, draped in a purple cloak splattered with stars and a hat to match, rode up on a giant stone pony, (also a unicorn) to whom she was constantly chattering about how amazing and powerful she was, all while talking in third person. This didn't seem to bother the stone unicorn, though nopony could tell his feelings since his face was literally made of stone. He just walked right up to where Twilight was standing and stopped, nearly throwing the azure unicorn from his back.

"What is the idea, attempting to throw the Great and Powerful Trixie from your back like she was some common pony?"

The stone unicorn just raised his front right hoof and pointed right at Twilight.

"She's here then?"

The stone unicorn nodded.

"It's about time we found her," Trixie said as she walked up to where Twilight was standing, even though she couldn't see her, "Hello, Twilight. The Great and Powerful Trixie hopes you have been well for these last few years."

Twilight, stunned, let her invisibility drop, revealing the entire group to the azure unicorn. "How did you find me? Nopony outside the Hive knows where I am."

"That's because of this impressive bit of magic right here," Trixie said, patting her hoof against the stone Unicorn, "The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't know how, but he always seemed to know exactly where you were, and he never stopped moving."

Twilight looked closer at the stone Unicorn and finally recognized the golem, "Midnight Rumble, what are you doing outside of my quarters at Canterlot Castle? I left you there to guard them."

The golem shook his head, indicating that he disagreed.

"Your orders were to guard my room. That means you disobeyed my orders."

Again, the golem shook his head. Twilight, tired of the one-sided argument, magically inscribed runes of animation on Midnight Rumble's jaw, allowing him to speak.

Midnight Rumble's voice sounded like 2 boulders crashing together when he spoke, "Your orders to me were to protect your rooms. This is the orders I must carry out. However, we see your rooms as 2 different things. You see it as those rooms in Canterlot. I see it as whatever room you are in at the moment. This is why I am here."

"This shouldn't be possible. You shouldn't be able to think for yourself. What did I do wrong to cause this?" Twilight was pacing across the open courtyard, trying to figure out how Rumble was sentient.

Rumble used his magic (He is a unicorn, even if he's made of stone) to lift Twilight up and set her down in front of him, "You did nothing wrong when you cast the spell. It's simply that your magic is the first in thousands of years to be an exact match of the writer of the Necronomicon's magic, and so, when you cast a spell from that book, even a simple one like the one you used to animate me, an infinitesimal portion of your soul is infused in the magic. This fraction of your soul inside me allows me to experience true sentience as a result."

Twilight looked up at Rumble, "How can you know all of this? Where did you learn this?"

"The writer of the Necronomicon was a very powerful necromancer, among other things, and he wrote the book in his own blood. And you, having the exact same magical wavelength as him, activated the special properties inherent in the spell when you cast it. This transferred all of his memories to me. In essence, I am him, but more importantly, by knowing his entire life, I know his soul wavelength as well.

"You have his soul, Twilight Sparkle. You are Starswirl the Bearded reborn. This is why magic comes easy to you."

Twilight was shocked speechless. Was this why she was able to change Starswirl's spell, allowing her to be turned into the Alicorn she was today? And what about everything else? Had Celestia known she was Starswirl reborn, and was that the reason she took her on as her own personal student?

At this moment the Crystal Hound spoke up again, "There is someone else approaching. A gryphon, I believe."

The entire group tensed up, and Rumble moved to shield Twilight from the approaching griffon by standing over her. A few seconds later a chip of stone fell off of Rumble's back as a quarrel (fired from a Gryphonian Crossbow) dug into his back. The Crystal Hound was the first to track the shot back to it's point of origin, and was already halfway up the wall by the time anypony else knew where the shot had come from. In a few seconds, he was back in the courtyard with everypony else, a struggling gryphon held in his right claw.

This gryphon wasn't much to look at. He was solid black, from beak to tail, and his wings were covered in early morning dew, giving them a frozen look. His left eye was missing, though the empty socket was partially hidden by a bandana. Held in his talons was a crossbow, which he was attempting to reload, hence the struggling. A quick shake of the Crystal Hound's claw caused the gryphon assassin to drop his crossbow, where it broke against the solid ground.

Twilight walked out from under Rumble, but left Crimson Dawn with the golem, having ordered him to protect her. As she walked, she encased the gryphon assassin in a telekinetic grip, "You can let go of him, Hound."

The Crystal Hound did as he was told, releasing the gryphon and allowing him to float in Twilight's magic.

She strode up to the gryphon, stopping several feet away, and began to talk, "Who are you?"

"I will never tell you who I am," the gryphon responded, no emotion evident in his voice.

"How did you find me?" Twilight continued.

"You will get nothing out of me," the gryphon spat on the ground in front of Twilight.

"Very well," Twilight said with a sigh, "You leave me no choice."

Twilight magically called the Necronomicon to her, and started flipping through the pages, muttering to herself, "Embalming, Infertility. Ah. Here we are. Interrogating the dead. Shall we begin?"

As her horn began to glow, the assassin began to feel a pain in his chest, almost as if his heart were expanding (Which it was). "WAIT! I'll tell you everything."

"It's too late now," Twilight said in a flat tone, "You'll say anything to save your own hide. Everyone here knows it. Besides, it's much easier to get honest answers from the dead."

"Very well then," the assassin said, somber once again, "If I have no chance at living, you shall get nothing from me when I'm dead." Upon finishing that sentence, the assassin triggered a hidden mechanism in the armor he was wearing, which caused his body to start burning with white hot flames. Within seconds, there was nothing left of the assassin but ash.

"Idiot," Twilight said, "Hound, please fetch me a container. His ashes still hold his essence, which I can use to track down his soul. One way or another, he will tell me what I want to know, whether he tells me willingly or I rip it from his mind by force. And I might even give him a new body if he behaves."

The Crystal Hound ran off to find a container and returned with an urn.

Twilight laughed at that, "How ironic. Giving an urn full of ashes to a Necromancer. Any other stereotypes we can perpetuate here?"

Trixie spoke up again, "Can anypony here tell the Great and Powerful Trixie what happened to the Twilight she used to know, and who this pony is that looks like Twilight?"

"Come with me, Trixie, and I will tell you what happened to me," Twilight said as they all walked back into the Hive, the urn of ashes floating along behind them.