For Octavio

Twilight stepped out of her warm, wooden home into the cool morning breeze, she didn't usually wake this early, the sky was still a dark blue and the air was crisp.

She couldn't help but smile in appreciation.

She had awoken today with a burst energy, something that compelled her to get up, sneaking past her snoring assistant and out the front door.

She didn't know what force had driven her out of bed so early, but she made a mental note of the moons position in the sky, as this was a truly beautiful time to be up, the chilled air going through her lungs, the beautiful dark blue hue of the sky...

She started to walk, although she hadn't really noticed, she was far too busy taking in the magnificent scenery, the immediate area surrounding the town of Ponyville itself was nothing grand, but the dull glimmer of the last remaining stars in the sky as the moon made for a final break down the horizon, illuminating the distant city of Canterlot in a blue glow, was truly amazing, she pondered for a bit, and realized she had Luna to thank for this.  

She found herself in Ponyville proper, outside of Sugarcube Corner, she chanced a look through one of the windows, to see that nopony was up, it was getting later now, around ten past six Twilight thought to herself.

She made her way to the park, and lay down on one of the benches, if she squinted, she could barely make out what looked to be a greenish blob in the distance, snuggling up against another color that she could only assume was cream.

She let out a sigh, "Lyra and Bon-Bon..." she wispered to herself, "I never pictured them as morning ponies..."

The idea of these two ponies, coming out so early to simply enjoy time together in the mornings chilly weather made Twilight smile, these were two ponies that knew true love.

After a few minutes of enjoying the mornings crisp air, the morning breeze blowing through her mane, she decided to get up and continue her walk.

She made her way to the Carousel Boutique, seeing a few pegasi on their way to work, she thought she might have even caught a glimpse of Rainbow Dash, but quickly dismissed that idea, "Heck, Rainbow Dash's idea of early is getting up before noon!" she said to herself.

She got to the Boutique, upon peeking through one of the windows, spotted Rarity inside, eating her breakfast which consisted of neatly arranged rose petals and celery soup.

Twilight was about to step inside to greet her friend, but as soon as she lifted a hoof to knock, the force she had felt waking up returned.

Twilight suddenly found herself with an urge to walk again, not stopping to say hello to the few ponies about the town who where now setting up their food stalls for the busy day ahead, she put herself on a path that would lead her to Sweet Apple Acres, a relatively short walk in the grand scheme of things, but maintained to be quite out of the way of the rest of the town, rather similar to Fluttershy's cottage.

She approached the sign which read 'Sweet Apple Acres' within a few minutes of walking, the feeling which had rooted itself in the back of her head which drove her to continue walking had since been diminished, but her walking persisted still.

She could make out the orange color of her friend in the distance, as well as a sound carried by the wind which could have been her distant grunts, or maybe loud chatter.

Twilight didn't care.

She continued her walk through the apple orchards, her walk developing into a slow canter.

She could see that the orange figure in the distance was closing in as she sped up her pace, it was clear to her now that it had been Applejack, and that she was indeed working hard bucking apples, Twilight chanced a glimpse around her, licking her lips at the prospect of breakfast, which she had forgotten to have.

She didn't even notice when Applejack greeted her, she just trotted on past, taking in the scenery.

"Ah wonder whats gotten into that pony..." Applejack said under her breath, watching Twilight as her light trot came to a stop.

"Hey, Twi!"

"Wh..What?, oh! sorry Applejack, I didn't see you there!" Twilight HAD seen her friend, she just chose to ignore the fact, not wanting to be stopped from her expedition to Celestia knows where.

"Girl, what's gotten into y'all? you seem mighty distant, you okay?"

"Oh yes Applejack, I'm fine, just felt like going for a walk."

"Oh, really now?"

"Yes."

"Well....okay then, listen Twi, I know somethins up, just don't go to far without help, ya here?"

"Sure thing, Applejack." Twilight didn't know what her friend was talking about, but promised to stay out of things too big for her to handle on her own, "Strange.", Twilight thought to herself as she continued to trot through the apple trees.

She heard her stomach growl, she knew she was getting hungry, the pain just hadn't hit her yet.

She decided to nab a few apples from the tree closest to her, nice, big, plump apples.

Twilight smiled to herself, realising how fortunate she was to be born with such magical talent, she simply levitated a few apples down to the ground in front of her, quickly eating two of them.

She also saw this as ample time to test out a new conjuration spell she had been working on.

With a bit of strain, a grunt, and one bright flash of brilliant white light later, she had found herself with a new cotton and leather saddle bag, which she used to store the remaining apples for later.

After around another six or seven minutes of walking, she had exited Sweet Apple Acres apple orchard, had hopped the fence, and was now following a long forgotten cobblestone path behind an unmarked mound of shrubbery which wasn't visible to anypony not specifically looking for it.

She followed the barely visible cobblestone path which had been long taken over by nature for a good hour; the path twisted and bended, and ended up in a secluded foggy glade.

Twilight sat down by one of the ponds, closed her eyes, and waited.

The fog began to close in, it was so dense that Twilight wouldn't have been able to see more than three feet ahead of her, that is, if her eyes were open. She was lost in deep thought, this glade had high amounts of docile magic, possibly a burial ground of unicorns.

Twilight opened her eyes and looked behind her, upon seeing at least a dozen raised mounds of earth, each adorned with a single flower on top of them. The fog behind her had somehow cleared to make these graves visible, and upon her realization that she was in fact in a graveyard, the fog suddenly cleared into the unoccupied space, leaving Twilight surrounded by it once more.

Twilight closed her eyes, upon hearing leaves floating about in a celestial wind, her eyes began to glow white, although they were still shut.

She was using a power that only unicorns could; she was seeing through her minds eye.

Her hair began to flow and lift slightly, it soon began to spread apart and flow, as if she was underwater.

Her eyes were glowing with a golden white intensity, they were closed, but she could see more than she ever could before.

A thin wave of black magic, similar in looks to that of Nightmare Moon's mane began to cover Twilight; that's when she started to hear the voices.