Beep. Beep. Beep. The malefic noise resounds through the room rousing me from my slumber. I groan loudly, flailing my arm around in an attempt to silence the nefarious device, that continues its banshee-like cry regardless of my discomfort. The palm of my hand slams against the surface of the night stand a few times before landing on the alarm, turning it off. My hand rests on the alarm as I search for the energy to get up. I lethargically crawl out of bed, the effects of sleep inertia weighing heavily on me. I drag myself across the room over to the dresser opposite the king size bed I had just begrudgingly risen from.

Grabbing a fresh black t-shirt, cargo pants and a pair of boxers I head for the restroom, tossing the assortment of clothes haphazardly onto the counter before stripping and stepping into the shower. I turn it on letting the unforgivingly cold water run over my body, effectively washing away any of my remaining grogginess. I cleanse my body quickly as nervousness and uncertainty begin to get the better of me now that I'm fully awake. Thoughts of failure, of three years, and my deceased families substantial fortune wasted in what I had already been told was a fool's errand. No! I would succeed! I had to...

I turn off the water and head over to my clothes, grabbing a towel from the rack to dry off my short black hair with. I smile into the mirror, a young, lithe, six foot tall man with baby blue eyes, and bright white teeth stares back at me, the spitting image of my father. My mind wanders to what his thoughts on this experiment would be if he was still among the living. Doubt he'd appreciate it, seeing as it cost me the company he'd built from the ground up to prepare it. I slip into my clothes, brush my teeth and shave before heading back into the bedroom. Glancing at the clock I see that it's already five fifty, leaving me with just an hour and ten minutes to finish preparations. More than enough time.

I pocket my HTC one M8, charger, and keys that were lying next to a large black duffel bag on the ground. I sling the heavy bag over my shoulder and exit the apartment, the door swinging shut behind me. I walk down the hall and press the elevator button, leaning up against the wall as I wait for the machine to reach my floor. I hear a door close down the hall and glance behind me to see a balding middle-aged man jogging down the hall towards me in grey sweats. He stops next to me and proceeds to jog in place, a huge smile lighting up his face as he greets me.

"Hello, Dylan!" he says, his gaze resting on the large duffel bag strapped to my back. "What has you up this early?"

"Just doing a favor for a friend Mike. You usually get up this early to jog?" I reply turning around to make eye contact.

"Ha, not usually." Mike cheerfully responds, "I heard there's going to be a lunar eclipse this morning, part of a tetrad or something, so I decided to get up a little earlier to see it,"

A loud chime catches our attention and the elevator doors slide open. We both enter and I press the button for the base floor as Mike continues jogging in place in the corner. I give Mike a quizzical look.

"Why not just take the stairs?" I inquire.

"And miss out on good company?" he responds following with a hearty laugh.

As we descend Mike "regales" me with a tale from his youth, in which he had somehow gotten his tie stuck in the elevator doors and barely avoided strangulation by slicing the tie with his trusty pocket knife. I feel the drowsiness I had washed away in this morning's shower return in full force as Mike drones on. His sermon on the merits of always keeping a pocket knife handy is fortunately cut short by the mechanical doors sliding open. Mike pats my shoulder before jogging towards the exit, waving as he leaves. I head towards the staircase, removing my keys and unlocking the basement door. This ten story apartment building is the only property left of the empire my father had built.

I head down the stairs leading into a large cavernous room with a magic circle filling up most of the space. An ornate pedestal lies in the center of the circle, the entire thing speckled with precious gems and millions of assorted symbols. A world transfer circle, the final legacy of my late master. I walk to the back of the room where a man is sleeping, his head resting on the desk before him. Around him an assortment of tools, tomes, and my spear lay on the desk. I grab his shoulder and shake him, causing him to moan and jolt up. Long blonde hair covering most of his face as he stands there motionless, his chair knocked over by the violent movement.

"Mff ha what the," the disgruntled man mumbles incoherently.

"Mornin', Aaron," I reply cheerily. "I sure hope you finished the final touches on that spear before you decided to take a nap..."

"Of course I did." Aaron spits, irritation evident in his voice.

"Good... Very good... You going to stick around for the show?" I ask hopefully. Having a back-up in case my mana is insuffecient would be best.

Aaron breaks out into a laugh, holding his side. "Ha, no way in hell. There's no knowing what kind of after effects this thing'll have."

"You're way too paranoid, Aaron." I say waving off his concern.

"Well, I'd say this finishes up my end of the bargain. Good luck to ya," he says as he gathers up his tools and starts his ascent.

I watch as the mana weaver heads up the stairs and I hear the door close behind him, locking in the process. One of the very few people left in the world that knew how to create sigils and form enchantments. Magic. Most people, don't believe that a thing like magic could exist in our world. Little do they know that magic is very real and in the distant past was an integral part of our world. Why aren't people running around shooting fireballs out of their hands and soaring through the skies then, you ask? Very simply because, magic in our world has been sealed. Some say God came down and sealed it away to punish man, others that pollutants in the air caused it. We'll probably never know. On the bright side, the mana drying up forced mages to adapt and create techniques to account for the lack of mana.

This made the remaining mages an elite group that now exist in the shadows, forgotten by most. Fortunately for me I was born into a rich family, and one of these elites was my father's closest friend. After my family died he was given custody of me according to my father's will, due to the motives of our distant relatives. One day he saw magical potential in me and brought me under his tutelage. He raised me, protected my father's company, and taught me the ways of magic. His death three years ago filled me with grief, and led me to continue his studies in magic at any cost. I remove my phone and look at the screen, discovering that it's ten until seven.

I set down my duffel bag and unzip it. Inside is a few sets of clothes, five MRE's. two 32 ounce canteens, water filter, voltaic solar generator, Dell XPS 13, two one-hundred and twenty-eight GB flash drives, ammo box, M1911, two clips and a small wooden box. I pull out the box, M1911, and a clip then re-zip my bag, slinging it over my shoulder once again. I slam the clip into the pistol and open the bottom drawer of my desk, revealing a gun belt. I put it on and holster the gun, grab the spear, and head over to the pedestal, wooden box still in hand. I empty the box's contents into my hand and toss the container towards the desk. A bottle of ichor, the very blood of the Gods, now rested in the palm of my hand. Well... at least I think that's what's sitting in the palm of my hand, I'd soon find out if it's the real deal. I empty the bottle onto the pedestal, the golden liquid resting perfectly in the bowl shape.

Checking my phone again I see that it's now seven o' clock on the dot. Right about now the third blood moon of the tetrad is in the sky amplifying magic in our world a hundred fold. With more mana in the air than man has seen in 333 years, this will be the only chance I ever get. I pocket my phone and stretch my hand towards the pedestal, grasping tightly onto my spear. I focus my mind, concentrating on the process of absorbing and converting the mana in the air. A warm tingling sensation builds in my stomach as the energy flows into my core to be converted into usable mana. I will the energy from my core into the outstretched appendage.

"Dispel," I utter in a gruff tone.

Tendrils of translucent silver stretch out from my fingers and flow into the pedestal. I feel the energy being sucked out of me, the symbols on the pedestal begin to glow. My energy is pulled from me forcefully into the pedestal, the golden liquid evaporating. Suddenly the flow of energy stops, my mana expended. I watch as the symbols around the pedestal begin lighting up until all of the symbols inside the circle are glowing the same silver as my mana. Concern shows plainly on my face as the glow gets dimmer after the initial activation. Did I not give enough energy to sustain it? There isn't enough time to gather enough mana to try again, the blood moon is already waning. Damnit, Aaron!! If only you had stuck around.

My worries are proven misplaced as the energy comes back full force, erupting from the circle violently upwards. Mana flows over my body in quantities I'd only ever dreamed of, a smile graces my lips. Which is abruptly replaced with a frown as my eyes widen. The immense amount of energy's warm and comforting aura is replaced with an excruciatingly painful burning sensation. I try to scream to no avail, my vision is completely filled with silver energy as the feeling of burning overwhelms me. Unable to move I stand in the mana dense area with my mouth open as I silently suffer for what feels like an eternity.

I feel the pain discontinue abruptly, the ability to move my body restored I fall to my hands and knees. My hands meet with the soft familiar texture of grass, I stare down in an attempt to see the grass but all I see is silver. My vision begins to clear, the silver giving way to vibrant green. I did it! Thanks to my masters notes and millions spent on experts in circ
le weaving I'd done it. The mana here is overwhelming, I could feel the pure energy flowing into me. I feel invincible, after living in a world with almost no mana this place was any mage's heaven. I hop to my feet barely able to contain my excitement as this world exceeds my expectations. My eyes widen in horror at the sight before me, I let out an ear wrenching scream before falling back to my knees.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle," I say as I nervously look into the mirror. "Princess of friendship."

My sapphire blue mane with a streak of violet and rose is unkempt, my light mulberry coat is dirty and my wings are a complete mess. I let out a heavy sigh at my disheveled appearance that is less than princess like. How did princess Celestia do it?! She seems to always look her best, and no matter the pressure, keeps a calm demeanor... I had been named the princess of friendship less than a month ago, yet I was already overwhelmed with the duties and responsibility. Oh, of course I can handle it with the help of my friends but, it definitely cuts into my reading time and leaves me flustered at times. I continue to look into the mirror as I contemplate going to visit my friends at Canterlot high while I had some free time.

As I'm about to enter the mirror I hear a loud crack that causes my ears to splay back. My eyes widen as I watch the crack that has just appeared in the center of the mirror spread out rapidly. My jaw dropped as I saw that the cracks didn't spread to the edge of the mirror, instead creating a perfect circle in it's center. I squinted trying to get a better view of what looked like little symbols that filled the huge circular section of cracked mirror. My concentration is broken as the mirror flashes brightly, then shatters sending shards of glass all across my castles floor. I stand there in complete awe, unable to comprehend what just happened right in front of me. What should I do?! Oh no, oh no, oh no.... Princess Celestia!! I'll send her a letter, she'll know what's happening and what I should to about it. I walk towards the exit careful to avoid the glass littering my floor. When I reach the door I find Pinkie Pie standing in the doorway shaking expeditiously as she tries to speak to me.

"T-t-t-t-w-w-w-iii-l-l-l-l-i-g-h-t-t-t-t-t, i-i-i-i-t-t-s-s-s a-a-n-o-t-h-h-e-r d-o-o-o-o-oo-z-y!!" Pinkie exclaims.

"Oh no..." I reply solemly.

Author's Note

Hello, everypony!! Please, if you have the time comment and let me know if I'm messing up so I can try and better myself. Thanks for taking the time to read this fic!