All chapters are pre-read by Ice
***

Twilight found herself with a blue stallion in a large ascending elevator. His white-streaked black mane fluttered about in the cooling breeze that drifted through the walls of caged elevator. He spoke, his voice smooth and calming, “Welcome. My name is Glimmer Hope, you have been called to the velvet realm and I am here to act as your guide. Mrs...? ”

The stallion was staring at her, his expression unreadable. Twilight shifted uncomfortably under his gaze before realising that he was still waiting for her to introduce herself. “Twilight, Twilight Sparkle.”

He flinched visibly, but before she could question his reaction, the elevator came to a halt and the doors flung open, leading the way to a village that was bathed in a light blue glow. Twilight looked up into the sky and saw neither the sun nor the moon but rather, a constellation of 21 stars circling a particularly bright one in the middle.

The stallion nudged her, compelling her to continue to the town. Seeing her curiosity, Glimmer Hope elaborated on the constellation above them, “It’s known as the Orbis Amicitia, the circle of friends, the new power you hold was gained by tapping into its magic. Although...you should know that the power you have awakened to is but a mere fraction of that of a single star. Would you like to know more?”

All thoughts about the strangeness of the situation left Twilight’s mind at the prospect of new insight into a new kind of magic. The stallion smiled and led Twilight down the road to the town.

***

“Interesting... so both of them have gained personas... ” Eli stood in the hospital room that held Twilight and Dusk. Neither had moved since being carted into said room in during the early hours of the morning. She had already sent Neon back to class under strict instructions not to divulge any word on Dusk’s status to Soarin’. Eli needed to be the first pony to talk to them after their ordeal. Before the previous day, neither of them had any potential. Such would normally mean that they were unable to awaken their personas but here they stood (“lay” Eli corrected herself) with their personas in defiance to the rules that had been confirmed by a series of experiments years ago. She settled down to wait...
***

The first thing that came to Dusk’s mind when he awoke was how sore he was. It was near identical to how he had felt a decade ago on the first day of his father’s training camp. This was not how he wanted to wake up especially after that nightmare. He snuggled closer into his bed, finding it oddly comfortable today. Now if only these bed sheets would stop ensnaring him.

Letting out a muffled groan, he cracked open his eyes, only to snap them shut after experiencing the agony of having his retinas seared. Dusk lay in bed, cursing Soarin’s pranks once again. The stupid colt knew that he was extremely light sensitive when he woke up. Dusk tried to roll over but found himself restrained by the stupid bed sheets. As he lay there suffering as the light threatened to shine through his closed eyelids, he slowly began to piece together the events of last night. Dear Celestia... what happened last night? He remembered as far as going to that bar for drinks and then... he shook his head to rid it of any lingering memories, “That couldn’t possibly be real, ignore that. Did I get drunk and pass out?”

A mechanical beeping from his right caused him some confusion. Nothing in his room beeped and certainly not in such a dull manner. In fact, this beeping was reminiscent of a heart monitor. Dusk’s eyes shot open and sure enough, he was in a pure white room entangled in ‘bed sheets’ that had turned out to be bandages. “No need to panic, I just got caught in a bar fight.”

“I’m glad to see that you’re awake.” Eli spoke her voice emotionless and controlled as ever. “I do however have some questions for you.” She moved over to his bedside and started to fiddle with the bandages that had Dusk wrapped up.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what I did when I was drunk but please forgive me,I’ll never do it again, just please don’t do anything to me!” Dusk whimpered in fear as he felt the bandages constricting around his prone form. His whimpering increased tenfold when he saw Eli’s rapier resting against a hospital chair not five feet away.

Suddenly, the pressure lifted and the bandages were removed from Dusk’s body. Eli ran her hoof across his smooth chest where just earlier that morning a gaping wound lay. “Amazing... is this earth pony magic at work or is it due to your new power? Regardless, what do you mean drunk? I already check the toxicology report, it is impossible for you to be drunk if you have not consumed alcohol for over a week.”

“Then...that wasn’t a dream?” Dusk gulped, memories of monstrous shadows came unbidden into his mind once again. His eyes rolled into his sockets and he collapsed back into the bed with a sound thump.

***
The archery range of the Manehattan Institution was a place for ponies from the archery club to practice for oncoming tournaments. As such, a dull, slow repetitive thudding sound was often heard by anypony in the vicinity. However, the thudding sounds that resounded from the range today were continuous, pausing ever minute for the archer to gather his arrows.

Soarin’ was having a rotten day. His idiot brother had not returned to the dorm at all the previous night and had been missing for almost a day, even worse was that Twilight was supposedly with him and she was missing too. All signs pointed that something had happened to them, something bad. Something drastic, something like the ‘reverse’ killings. Another flurry of arrows thudded against the target boards that now resembled little more than Swiss cheese as Soarin’s thoughts strayed yet again. He was no fool. Dusk had been going out at night with the hopes of finding the ‘reverse’ killer and enacting revenge for their mother. Starlight was no slouch in terms of magic but even she had been defeated. Dusk was just an earth and stood no chance to win by himself if he ever went up against the killer. As a pegasus, Soarin’ would be able to fly away if things got hairy, a benefit that Dusk did not have. It would be too dangerous for him.

As Soarin’ prepared another volley, a single image filled his mind. He released,turned around and walked off, leaving the ten targets to fall apart as his arrows tore through them.