A Search in the Darkness

Prologue

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Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. -Buddha

"Another cup of Emerald powder," Twilight ordered. She frowned in concentration as she tried to get the runes drawn just right. Emerald was hard to come by especially in a backwater town like Ponyville. Most of Equestria’s mineral deposits are imported from Griffin mines. Few would brave the Diamond Dog mining tunnels. The only others with a sizable mineral supply were the zebras, but Twilight couldn’t imagine how people who live in huts could provide anything for Equestria. Not even if the false rumors of new technological advancements happening in Zebrica were true. Zecora simply nodded to Twilight’s command and put in the appropriate amount as Twilight's other friends stood off to the side in Zecora's hut. Pinkie jumped up and down steadily as Twilight began the finishing touches, Rarity tried to use her meager knowledge on unicorn magic to decipher the ruins, but soon gave up, Applejack quietly whispered to Fluttershy about the spell, and Rainbow tried to occupy herself with something to overcome the boredom.

"How much longer," Rainbow complained as she lazily floated past the shamans various potions and trinkets. Zecora’s hut was crowded with items only she knew about since she had been the only zebra or pony to take up permanent residence in Equestria’s most dangerous forest. When asked why she didn’t make the hut larger, she said to prevent damage from coming to the forest.

"For the hundredth time Rainbow, I have to get this exactly right or the long distance teleportation spell will blow up in all of our faces," Twilight stated. She was as close to the runes as she could get without touching them. She used her magic to get the runes in their positions as precisely as possible. Just as Rainbow was about to lose it the lavender unicorn then finished the last rune and got up with a smile set on her face. "Besides, I'm almost done. We just need to sprinkle some of the brew on the runes."

Twilight then used her magic to carefully pour the brew where it needed to be. Pinkie began jumping up and down as the rest leaned forward in anticipation. The purple unicorn began the spell and the runes began to glow in her magic. The magical aura soon turned the shade of lilac her magic glows when Twilight used more powerful magic.

"Whoa," Rainbow Dash said. She began backing away from the activating spell, but accidentally bumped into a cabinet. Unfortunately this shook a shelf enough to knock down a single bottle with a strange substance. This bottle bounced off Rainbow's head and cracked open near the center of the room. Twilight, deep in concentration didn't notice the liquid slowly advancing to the glowing runes.

After Rainbow recovered from her daze she got up and looked at the broken bottle. It read 'Highly Concentrated Liquid Magic.' Exactly then the liquid came in contact with the runes. Faster than anypony's eyes could follow, the entire super heavy magical element was sucked into the spell.

Twilight felt a giant surge of power explode in the spell. It was similar to the ironically chaotic river that was the magic of the elements of harmony, but this time it felt as if she was fighting against it. She tried to push the energy down with her own magic, but lost her concentration as a bolt of purple lightning fired out of the runes inches in front of her. Leaping back in fear she accidentally stepped on some runes. Looking down she realized, to her horror, that she'd smudged the coordinates. It would no longer teleport her to the Canterlot Castle where the princesses waited.

Meanwhile, her friends could see something had gone wrong. White tendrils latched themselves to Twilight and held her down. Rainbow and Applejack, seeing the danger Twilight was in jumped towards the rune circle to free their friend.

Twilight looked to her side to see her friends rushing towards her. Realizing what they were trying to do she yelled, "No wait, stay ba-." She was interrupted by a bright light that swallowed up the three mares that were standing within the magic circle. It expanded to a bubble pressing, the borders of the runes. The 3 ponies in the center were consumed. The formerly dim room was awash with light and the ponies and 1 zebra backed away from the out of control spell. All of a sudden the light retracted and extended back in an explosion. The force flung the group of equines who had all conveniently backed up to the open doorway. They fortunately fell in the pond right outside Zecora's hut as another even larger explosion consumed Zecora's hut in a giant fireball. Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity with Zecora in tow rushed back to the fiery scene. The runes were scarred into the ground, but there was not a trace of their friends.

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Back in the Golden Oaks Library the display holding the elements began to glow. The elements quickly expanded and lost their glow even faster. 5 large circular stones burst through the glass, almost crushing Spike who was cataloging books nearby.