Dark Magic

Twilight Sparkle trotted on the rugged, abandoned trail that lead to the Castle of Two Sisters. The strange sounds of creatures echoed through the woods, making Twilight trot faster. Then the shade of the trees broke into brilliant light as she reached the bridge. She remembered when Rainbow had fixed the bridge, proving her loyalty to her friends. Smiling at the thought, she cautiously stepped onto the bridge. The bridge swayed, making Twilight step back off. 'C'mon, Twi! Remember theres a whole library on the other side. A  library of untouched books. She thought to herself, reminding herself of her purpose. Once again, she stepped onto the rickety bridge. The wood creaked at every hoofstep, moaning under the purple unicorns hooves. After what seemed like an eternity, Twilight reached the other side. Climbing up chipped stone steps, she was in.

Twilight trotted up more stairs, her hoofsteps echoing off the cold stone walls. She trotted down the hall excitedly, hoping to see a library. Creaking open a massive wooden door, Twilight peered into the inky darkness of what she thought was the castle library. Strangely, there were no windows in the room. Lighting up her horn, she stepped inside. The floor of the room had books scattered across it. There were windows, but they were blocked by bookshelves. A picture of Luna and Celestia hung on the wall, though for some reason Celestia was partially scribbled out. 'Weird, Twilight thought to herself. Then she saw a bright light in the corner of the room. Slowly walking over to it, Twilight levitated the object. It was a book, and the image on the cover was glowing. It was a picture of dark crystals, identical to the ones King Sombra used. The title read 'the Art of Dark Magic by Star Swirl the Bearded Twilight smiled. A Star Swirl book? And she hadn't read it?! Just as she started leaving the room it hit her. She couldn't read it. Her mentor, Princess Celestia, forbade it, and for good reason. It was the type of magic King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis used. But it was a Star Swirl book. "Well, I better take it back to the library, so nopony else uses it." She decided aloud, and slipped it into her saddlebags.

Somehow, Twilight felt a little guilty as she trotted home, but she was also giddy from finding such a treasure. Letting out a happy sigh, she opened the door to her home, where she was instantly greeted by Spike. "Twilight! you're home! Did you find anything good?" He asked. "No, nothing that I haven't already seen." Twilight lied. Spike knew she wasn't allowed dark magic, and she knew he would tell the princess if she did. Spike sighed. "Well, that's too bad. Oh yeah! I made dinner! You hungry?" Twilight smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'll be there in a minuet." She trotted upstairs to her room and tucked the book under the bed.

That night, after a delicious dinner of grass pasta,  Twilight snuck down into her basement, book levitating at her side. She quietly tip-hoofed down the stairs and into her lab, where she had cleared an open spot for some spell casting. Taking a deep breath, Twilight opened up to the first spell. 'Conjuring Dark Crystals' Twilight let out a relieved sigh. "See? This cant cause any harm unless I want it to." After quickly reading through the description on the spell, she summoned up a magical aura around her horn. Concentrating hard, she pictured black crystals growing from the ground. That image was the last she saw before she released the spell.  A beam of magic, slightly darker than usual, hit the ground. After the spell was finished, Twilight opened her eyes. A small, sharp crystal had sprouted from the stone floor of her basement. "Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes!" she cheered. As small as the crystal was, the spell had worked. The most harm it could cause was a sore hoof. Yawning, Twilight glanced at the clock. "11:46?!" Twilight gasped. She was hardly ever up this late. Being the uptight pony she was, she didn't want to wake up any later than 8:00. Most ponies wouldn't make a big deal out of this, but Twilight, as you could expect, did. Hurrying off to bed, Twilight quickly fell asleep.

Twilight was in a small dark room. Alone. The eerie silence put the unicorn on edge. Suddenly, there as a banging sound. Whirling around, she saw a huge wooden door, barricaded shut. The banging  got louder and louder, something trying to get in. She heard the zap of magic, and one of the boards broke. A triumphant laugh sounded from the other side. I almost sounded like Twilight herself...