The Darkness In Her Shadowby texaspookyChaptersChapter 1: Danger RisingChapter 2: The BookChapter 3: If You Dare to TellChapter 1: Danger Rising/Whenever the character's POV is thinking, it will be in slashes. I find it much more noticeable and easier to read./ ••• Wind howled as the wild blizzard swept through the terrain, sending snow and small chunks of ice flying out across the land. The sky was an unsettling dark grey; the clouds hung low above the ground, blocking the sun from view. It seemed as if this snowstorm could kill a pony within a matter of seconds. The already freezing air rushed across the hills, making the temperature drop even more. However, none of the storm could be heard or felt by the unicorn stallion. He was hiding deep underground with a small fire in front of him. The cave still had a uncomfortable chill, but it was better than nothing. The fallen king was deep in thought. /The Ice of the Arctic North is unbearable. I'm lucky I could find enough power to turn back into my former self./ The entirety of Equestria thought he was dead. When the Crystal Heart had been returned to the empire, the magical border reformed and sent him flying, back into the snowy terrain. He had used his magic, and in a convincing display, he broke apart into pieces and appeared to die. However, all he had done was turned into a shadow and split up. He had been hiding away in the caverns below the arctic for nearly half a year, regaining his magical power. And he had- his magic was at the exact same level as it was a thousand years ago, when he first overthrew the empire. /I am powerful./ Sombra told himself. /I will get back my slaves, one way or another./ His blood red horn lit up, and the fire grew in size, illuminating more of the cave. /I shall be the ruler of Equestria./ He smiled evilly. His fangs glinted in the light. /I will be a true king!/ There was something that Sombra wanted as badly as he wanted his slaves back. He wanted wings. He wanted to be an alicorn. It was true that the supreme species of Equestria was in fact the alicorn. They were magical creations themselves, with unimaginable power. They were powerful, immortal ponies that had always ruled over the country. And he wanted to be one. Though Sombra had been living undercover, he had heard from visitors going to the Crystal Empire many things. One thing that he overhead a long time ago had surprised him greatly. Apparently the mare that had tried to stop his plans last time was now a princess. Twilight Sparkle was her name, and though Sombra didn't know much about her, he did know one thing. She had transformed from unicorn to alicorn. /If I can find Twilight Sparkle, then I can figure out how to become an alicorn myself./ Yes, Cadence had also changed into an alicorn, but Sombra knew it would be better to find Twilight. Cadence was protected by the Crystal Empire, and rarely ever left it. Plus, she had gone from pegasus to alicorn, so Twilight's situation was more like his. Sombra had his ways of overhearing every little thing that visitors gossiped about. A centaur known as Tirek nearly took over Equestria, but Princess Twilight and her friends, though being stripped of the Elements of Harmony- which would make it much easier to get to Twilight, Sombra noted- they had managed to summon some other strong form of magic to defeat him. It had also given Twilight a castle somehow. King Sombra was quite confused by all this, but it was important to keep in mind all the same. /I only have one chance. If I fail, then Equestria will realize that I'm alive./ he reminded himself. With that, his horn glowed bright and he turned into a cloud of dark grey smoke. And slowly but surely, he rose out of the cave, up to the surface of Equestria. ••• Twilight Sparkle sat up in her bed and stretched, yawning loudly. /Ugh. I really need to stop staying up so late./ She grumbled under her breath. One of her bad habits was to stay awake far into the night, reading a book in the darkness with nothing lighting the room other than her own horn. It always would play out the same way- she'd go into the library and pick up several novels at around 9 'o clock. Then she would sit down by the table and read through them until it was about 11. She'd look at the clock and decide to read one more chapter. And after that, she'd choose to read just one more. And one more. And one more. The cycle repeated itself until she literally fell asleep on the floor. Usually by then a guard would've came by and woke her up, scolded her for staying up so late, and then make sure she actually made it back to her bedroom without passing out. It wasn't a good thing for her to be doing- every morning took nearly half an hour for her to even consider crawling out of bed. The young princess lay back down on top of the sheets, trying to fall asleep. But the fact that sun was shining through the windows and that her mouth felt as dry as sandpaper made her finally decide to go and eat breakfast. She trotted down the stairs and entered the kitchen. Surprisingly enough, Spike wasn't awake yet. He normally would've been in the kitchen cooking by now. Twilight didn't consider that. She levitated a box of cereal out of the cabinet and set it on the table. She was about to grab the carton of juice out of the fridge when she heard a voice shout at her. "Twilight!" Spike raced towards the kitchen. "What are you doing?!" The purple mare gave him a confused glance. "Getting a glass of orange juice..?" "You haven't touched the toaster oven, right?" Spike asked nervously. "No. I haven't." Spike sighed in relief. "Good. There shouldn't be any chance of you starting a fire then." "Spike." Twilight frowned. "My castle is made of crystals. They aren't flammable." "You'd find a way." Spike laughed. "Are you saying I'm a bad cook?" "You almost burned down the old library. Twice." "So? I never got around to buying a new stove. That thing was always rickety." Twilight tried to defend. "You were making toast, Twilight." "Oh. Right." Twilight chuckled. "Okay, fine. You win." Spike used a stool to reach into a jar full of gemstones on the counter. "You look like you need a coffee." Twilight yawned. "I stayed up too late last night." Spike quickly pulled his hand out of the jar. "I saw that. Put the other one back." Spike sighed in defeat and put the second gem that he had swiped back in the jar. "Why can I only take one of these a day?" He grouched. "Do you have ANY idea how much those things are worth?" Twilight said while putting the orange juice back in the fridge and accepting Spike's suggestion to get a coffee. She grabbed a mug and set it on the brewer. "Twilight. You're a princess. I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter how many jewels you have." Spike reminded her. "I-I know. Spike." Twilight looked away. "Sorry. I'm just having trouble getting used to the fact that money isn't a problem for us anymore." "What do you mean?" Spike tilted his head. "Well, being a librarian doesn't pay very much. I'll say that." Twilight shrugged. "I didn't have any reliable source of funds. That's why every time you asked for something expensive, like a heater or a new full bed, I said no. We couldn't afford it." "And when were you planning on telling me this?" Spike asked, clearly frustrated. "I thought you knew." Twilight mused. "Did you just think that I had an infinite amount of bits or something?" Spike bit his lip. "I don't really know." Twilight levitated her coffee over to her. "Not even you know what you assumed." She laughed. "I guess so." Spike shrugged. "Oh, by the way, I'm gonna go help Rarity today. She's reorganizing the bottom floor of the boutique." Twilight suddenly spit out the coffee that she was drinking. Spike looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Does that surprise you or something?" He questioned. "No, no." Twilight shook her head. "I just forgot to put sugar in my coffee." Spike shook his head. "Oh, Twilight..." "What can I say? I forgot how bitter this stuff is without sugar." Spike waved to her. "I'm gonna head out. See you later." Just before he left the kitchen, Twilight called out to him. "One more question." He looked through the door. "How come you slept in today?" Spike face-palmed and grumbled under his breath. "I didn't wake up late. You woke up an hour earlier than usual." "I-I did?" "Yeah. Normally I walk past your room and you're sitting on your bed, staring at the ceiling." Spike chuckled. "Oh." Twilight waved goodbye. "Sorry to bother." "It's fine." Spike dismissed her apology with a shake of his head before exiting. /I guess I've got nothing better to do, so I might as well stay in the library today./ Twilight decided. /Maybe I could even write to Sunset Shimmer./ She smiled at the thought. Her other friend lived in a completely different dimension, but she still was able to write to her using a magical spell book. Twilight entered the library with her now sweetened coffee and sat down by the table. A stack of books left over from the night before was in front of her. /Back to work, I suppose./ She told herself before levitating the book from the top of the pile and setting it in front of her. She cracked open the book and began to read. Author's Note I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! If you want to stay more up to date, consider checking my page out on WattPad. If you don't mind. I update first there, due to the interface being more friendly to mobile users. Ocparty_Press Also, does any pony know what the size requirements and file type the cover art needs to be? I don't understand what I'm doing wrong, but I already have a fully made cover. Could anypony help me out? I'd really appreciate it! Chapter 2: The Book/Whenever the character's POV is thinking, it will be in slashes. I find it much more noticeable and easier to read./ ••• The entire day flew by as Twilight read through her stack of books. It was, in fact, something she enjoyed greatly, and she would often enough to refuse to get up once she had sat down. Sometimes she was so caught up in a story that she would become oblivious to her surroundings altogether. Spike had eventually returned home from helping Rarity and waved hello to her, but she payed no mind and continued to fly through each book in a matter of minutes. Spike sighed heavily. "What am I going to do with her?" He muttered and walked away. The room was quiet for several minutes when a book suddenly fell out of the case and landed on the floor with a loud thump. However, Twilight didn't even blink. Then another book fell down, hurtling at the ground faster than the first. No response. Then another. And another. And another. Twilight did not move at all. The room was still for a few seconds when a final book was flung across the library, as if it had been thrown, and hit Twilight in the back of the head. She yowled and jumped to her feet, whirling around to where the book had come from. /Um... that was weird.../ Twilight blinked, stepping towards where all of the books had fell. "What in Equestria?" She muttered under her breath. /Spike and I are the only ones in this castle, and I'm the one here with magic. Who threw that at me?/ "Hoo." Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs for half a second and whipped around to face the thing that had nearly given her a heart attack. "Hoo." "Oh, for bucks sake..." She grouched, glaring at her pet owl, Owlowicious. "That's not funny! You scared me!" "Hoo?" "Are you okay, Twilight?" Spike yelled from the doorway, staring into the library. "What was that all about." "Owlowicious came out of nowhere." Twilight chuckled, hiding her annoyance. "Oh." Spike laughed. "He's like a ninja owl or something." "Hoo!" "Carry on with your egghead business, then." Spike left. Twilight growled under her breath. "What in the world happened here?" /I'm pretty sure books don't just hurl themselves across the room at ponies. That was rather strange./ She walked back over to where her stack of books was and quickly surveyed the library. /Nopony's in here besides me and Owlowicious. Who could have done that?/ She turned back to the table, swiveling her ears to listen to her surroundings. Nothing. Absolutely no sound. /Well, this doesn't make any sense at all./ She huffed. /Owlowicious, if that was you somehow... ugh./ Twilight looked back to her books, but was surprised to see the one she had been reading was gone. In fact, the whole stack of them were gone. There was just one book sitting on the table. It had a blackish blue cover and was tattered and torn. A grey skull was printed on the front. This was a book that held dark magic. Well, it held the power to TEACH somepony dark magic, but it wasn't much different. Twilight blinked. /I... I remember this book./ She bit her lip. /I was pretty young. Second year after Celestia chose me as her student. I managed to snatch that out of the restricted section of the library. She wasn't too happy when she found out I took that./ Twilight chuckled. /But what can I say? I'm as curious as a cat./ /But why the heck is it here now?/ She wondered in confusion. /I-I think I should leave it alone./ She turned her back to the book, looking towards the doors. /Dark magic is a bad thing./ The book suddenly flipped open, scaring the daylights out of Twilight. Her fur was bristling, but she ignored it and stared at the page with a look of sheer horror on her face. The pages were blank; they didn't have any spells or words whatsoever. But, writing began to fade onto the first page as she focused on it. 'Hello, your highness.' It read. /What in Equestria..?/ Twilight's mouth hung open in shock. /Who is writing that?/ 'We've met before, princess.' /Sweet Celestia.../ Twilight's eyes narrowed in confusion. /Are you reading my mind somehow?/ 'Magic can allow you to do anything, my dear.' /My dear?/ Twilight's face fell and she sighed. /I don't like where this is going./ 'Of course you don't. Nopony is perfect enough for the great princess.' If it was a pony talking to her, rather than- well, a book- they'd probably have a very sarcastic tone. /Oh, shut up./ 'I apologize, your highness.' /Who are you, exactly?/ Twilight thought again. 'You will know once you must.' /Ooh, ominous./ Twilight rolled her eyes. /Look, unless you're some dead pony from the past that's speaking to me through A FREAKING BOOK, I'm going to leave now./ 'You can't get away from me.' /Oh really?/ Twilight smirked. She slammed the book shut. /I just did, didn't I?/ CRASH! Twilight's very fancy porcelain coffee mug shattered into about a million pieces. She shrieked and ducked under the table to try and avoid the flying shards. When she finally dared to come out of hiding, she looked at the tabletop. The shards were arranged to spell out letters. 'I am watching you, princess. I am your worst nightmare.' That was enough for Twilight. She raced towards one of the massive open windows and took a huge leap, spread her wings wide and flew away from her castle. The tips of her wings caught the rocky edge of her castle on the downstroke, but she didn't care. She just had to get away from that book. From the library. From the castle. /I need to talk to somepony about this./ She fretted, nervous sweat running down her forehead. She landed on the outskirts of Ponyville and blinked slowly, trying to calm herself down. /It was probably just a prank./ she told herself desperately. /Or something like that. Yeah./ But those words had given her a horrible sense of doubt that was growing bigger every second. Chapter 3: If You Dare to Tell/Whenever the character's POV is thinking, it will be in slashes. I find it much more noticeable and easier to read./ ••• "Sweet Celestia." "I know, right? It scared me to death!" Rarity blinked slowly, still trying to register what Twilight had told her. "So, you're saying that you were in your library, and somepony was talking to you through a book?" "Yeah." Twilight nodded. /That sounds really stupid out loud./ She realized. /But I know what I saw!/ The two mares were sitting in Rarity's kitchen at the dining table. The unicorn had offered Twilight a cup of tea, which she accepted with a small nod. "And then your coffee mug just, exploded?" "Not an explosion. It shattered." "Oh." Rarity tipped her head sideways. "That's a rather interesting set of events." "Do you have any idea what it could mean?" Twilight asked desperately. /Hopefully Rarity has some input on this! I mean, I think I know what it was, but... I hope it's not./ "Er... not really, no." Rarity bit her lip in thought. "Do you think it was part of a prophecy? From the dead or something?" Twilight shook her head quickly. "I... I think it's a... stalker, of some sort." "Goodness gracious." Rarity covered mer mouth with a hoof. "You may want to notify Princess Celestia about this." "I don't know." Twilight buried her face in her hooves. "What if I'm just slowly losing my mind or something?" "I highly doubt that." Rarity reassured. "You're the newest princess, so it's likely that there are ponies trying to pick on you." She lifted her own cup of tea off the table and took a small sip. "I don't care who it was." Twilight glanced out towards the window. "I just don't want to have to go through that again." /I still don't understand./ Twilight thought to herself in confusion. /How did they get ahold of the book I read as a filly? It doesn't make any sense!/ Twilight's lip quivered. /Unless I've met them before, and just don't remember them at all./ "If you'd like, you could spend the night over here." Rarity offered with a smile. "I have a guest bedroom, after all." Twilight dismissed the offering with a shake of her head. "Thank you, but I think I'll be fine." She replied, almost sounding as if she was trying to reassure herself. "It kind of seemed like it was more of a stupid prank or something, anyways." She shrugged. "Whatever you feel comfortable with." Rarity dipped her head. "Does anypony else know about this?" "Other than you? No." Twilight answered after taking a drink of tea. "Rainbow's still out of town, and I didn't think Pinkie would take it too seriously. Meanwhile, Fluttershy would make it too BIG of a deal, and I didn't feel like taking the time to go to Applejack's farm. I had to talk to somepony." "What about Spike?" "I wanted to get away from the castle." Twilight reminded her. "Ah, yes." "Plus, he's still technically a baby dragon." Rarity nodded. "Well, I wish you the best of luck on getting to the bottom of this. But, considering you have exquisite detective abilities, I'm sure you'll find out in no time at all." "I hope so." Twilight chuckled. The light shining through the window began to fade, darkening the room. Rarity used her magic to rattle the wall lanterns, awakening the fireflies inside them, so they began to glow. Twilight bit her lip as she glanced out the window, where the sun was setting on the horizon. "Man, time likes to fly fast." "It would seem so." Rarity shrugged. "But, if I had to guess, you were reading and did not notice how much time had passed?" Twilight turned to look at her with a slightly stunned expression. "Your guess is as good as mine..?" Twilight chuckled quietly. Rarity rolled her eyes. "Ah, don't worry. I do the same thing quite often. I love being a fashion designer, after all, so I focus on my work a great deal of the time." Twilight smiled meekly. "I honestly don't know how long I was reading. But I could probably ask Spike if I needed to." Sighing heavily, she rose to her hooves and stepped away from the table. "I should probably get going." Rarity acknowledged this with a small nod. "Thank you for coming to talk with me about this. I can keep it between us if you want." "Preferably... yes." Twilight waved goodbye before walking towards the door. "Stay safe." Rarity smiled. "Hopefully so." ••• Twilight peered into Spike's room and saw that he was already fast asleep in his bed. /Well, he is a baby dragon./ Twilight told herself while smiling slightly. She blinked and bit her lip in thought. /And I don't really want to think of how big he's going to end up being. That's a bit of a scary thought./ She made her way down the large hallways to her own bedroom. Her blue canopy bed was in the center of the room and against the wall, with a small crystal bedside table next to it. There was a tall bookshelf that housed many of Twilight's favorite stories, and as well as an armoire made of crystal. Even more so, a large table sat in the corner of the room with a chair, both carved from crystal to match the room. Twilight honestly never used it, but it had been there since the castle formed, so she just left it sitting there. A glass chandelier hung from the ceiling with many candles adorning it. Twilight yawned quietly. Normally, she would want to stay up all night and read books, but after everything that had happened that day, she decided she'd rather hop into bed and get some sleep. And that's what she did. She pulled the purple covers over her and closed her eyes. But something felt unsettling to her. She lay there for a while with her eyes shut, trying to ignore the pang of doubt she was feeling. When this proved unsuccessful, she partially opened one eye. And she felt her blood turn to ice as she saw a shadowy figure looming over her and staring into her eyes. "Hello, princess." It rasped in a hollow voice. "Don't you remember me?"
Chapter 1: Danger Rising/Whenever the character's POV is thinking, it will be in slashes. I find it much more noticeable and easier to read./ ••• Wind howled as the wild blizzard swept through the terrain, sending snow and small chunks of ice flying out across the land. The sky was an unsettling dark grey; the clouds hung low above the ground, blocking the sun from view. It seemed as if this snowstorm could kill a pony within a matter of seconds. The already freezing air rushed across the hills, making the temperature drop even more. However, none of the storm could be heard or felt by the unicorn stallion. He was hiding deep underground with a small fire in front of him. The cave still had a uncomfortable chill, but it was better than nothing. The fallen king was deep in thought. /The Ice of the Arctic North is unbearable. I'm lucky I could find enough power to turn back into my former self./ The entirety of Equestria thought he was dead. When the Crystal Heart had been returned to the empire, the magical border reformed and sent him flying, back into the snowy terrain. He had used his magic, and in a convincing display, he broke apart into pieces and appeared to die. However, all he had done was turned into a shadow and split up. He had been hiding away in the caverns below the arctic for nearly half a year, regaining his magical power. And he had- his magic was at the exact same level as it was a thousand years ago, when he first overthrew the empire. /I am powerful./ Sombra told himself. /I will get back my slaves, one way or another./ His blood red horn lit up, and the fire grew in size, illuminating more of the cave. /I shall be the ruler of Equestria./ He smiled evilly. His fangs glinted in the light. /I will be a true king!/ There was something that Sombra wanted as badly as he wanted his slaves back. He wanted wings. He wanted to be an alicorn. It was true that the supreme species of Equestria was in fact the alicorn. They were magical creations themselves, with unimaginable power. They were powerful, immortal ponies that had always ruled over the country. And he wanted to be one. Though Sombra had been living undercover, he had heard from visitors going to the Crystal Empire many things. One thing that he overhead a long time ago had surprised him greatly. Apparently the mare that had tried to stop his plans last time was now a princess. Twilight Sparkle was her name, and though Sombra didn't know much about her, he did know one thing. She had transformed from unicorn to alicorn. /If I can find Twilight Sparkle, then I can figure out how to become an alicorn myself./ Yes, Cadence had also changed into an alicorn, but Sombra knew it would be better to find Twilight. Cadence was protected by the Crystal Empire, and rarely ever left it. Plus, she had gone from pegasus to alicorn, so Twilight's situation was more like his. Sombra had his ways of overhearing every little thing that visitors gossiped about. A centaur known as Tirek nearly took over Equestria, but Princess Twilight and her friends, though being stripped of the Elements of Harmony- which would make it much easier to get to Twilight, Sombra noted- they had managed to summon some other strong form of magic to defeat him. It had also given Twilight a castle somehow. King Sombra was quite confused by all this, but it was important to keep in mind all the same. /I only have one chance. If I fail, then Equestria will realize that I'm alive./ he reminded himself. With that, his horn glowed bright and he turned into a cloud of dark grey smoke. And slowly but surely, he rose out of the cave, up to the surface of Equestria. ••• Twilight Sparkle sat up in her bed and stretched, yawning loudly. /Ugh. I really need to stop staying up so late./ She grumbled under her breath. One of her bad habits was to stay awake far into the night, reading a book in the darkness with nothing lighting the room other than her own horn. It always would play out the same way- she'd go into the library and pick up several novels at around 9 'o clock. Then she would sit down by the table and read through them until it was about 11. She'd look at the clock and decide to read one more chapter. And after that, she'd choose to read just one more. And one more. And one more. The cycle repeated itself until she literally fell asleep on the floor. Usually by then a guard would've came by and woke her up, scolded her for staying up so late, and then make sure she actually made it back to her bedroom without passing out. It wasn't a good thing for her to be doing- every morning took nearly half an hour for her to even consider crawling out of bed. The young princess lay back down on top of the sheets, trying to fall asleep. But the fact that sun was shining through the windows and that her mouth felt as dry as sandpaper made her finally decide to go and eat breakfast. She trotted down the stairs and entered the kitchen. Surprisingly enough, Spike wasn't awake yet. He normally would've been in the kitchen cooking by now. Twilight didn't consider that. She levitated a box of cereal out of the cabinet and set it on the table. She was about to grab the carton of juice out of the fridge when she heard a voice shout at her. "Twilight!" Spike raced towards the kitchen. "What are you doing?!" The purple mare gave him a confused glance. "Getting a glass of orange juice..?" "You haven't touched the toaster oven, right?" Spike asked nervously. "No. I haven't." Spike sighed in relief. "Good. There shouldn't be any chance of you starting a fire then." "Spike." Twilight frowned. "My castle is made of crystals. They aren't flammable." "You'd find a way." Spike laughed. "Are you saying I'm a bad cook?" "You almost burned down the old library. Twice." "So? I never got around to buying a new stove. That thing was always rickety." Twilight tried to defend. "You were making toast, Twilight." "Oh. Right." Twilight chuckled. "Okay, fine. You win." Spike used a stool to reach into a jar full of gemstones on the counter. "You look like you need a coffee." Twilight yawned. "I stayed up too late last night." Spike quickly pulled his hand out of the jar. "I saw that. Put the other one back." Spike sighed in defeat and put the second gem that he had swiped back in the jar. "Why can I only take one of these a day?" He grouched. "Do you have ANY idea how much those things are worth?" Twilight said while putting the orange juice back in the fridge and accepting Spike's suggestion to get a coffee. She grabbed a mug and set it on the brewer. "Twilight. You're a princess. I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter how many jewels you have." Spike reminded her. "I-I know. Spike." Twilight looked away. "Sorry. I'm just having trouble getting used to the fact that money isn't a problem for us anymore." "What do you mean?" Spike tilted his head. "Well, being a librarian doesn't pay very much. I'll say that." Twilight shrugged. "I didn't have any reliable source of funds. That's why every time you asked for something expensive, like a heater or a new full bed, I said no. We couldn't afford it." "And when were you planning on telling me this?" Spike asked, clearly frustrated. "I thought you knew." Twilight mused. "Did you just think that I had an infinite amount of bits or something?" Spike bit his lip. "I don't really know." Twilight levitated her coffee over to her. "Not even you know what you assumed." She laughed. "I guess so." Spike shrugged. "Oh, by the way, I'm gonna go help Rarity today. She's reorganizing the bottom floor of the boutique." Twilight suddenly spit out the coffee that she was drinking. Spike looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Does that surprise you or something?" He questioned. "No, no." Twilight shook her head. "I just forgot to put sugar in my coffee." Spike shook his head. "Oh, Twilight..." "What can I say? I forgot how bitter this stuff is without sugar." Spike waved to her. "I'm gonna head out. See you later." Just before he left the kitchen, Twilight called out to him. "One more question." He looked through the door. "How come you slept in today?" Spike face-palmed and grumbled under his breath. "I didn't wake up late. You woke up an hour earlier than usual." "I-I did?" "Yeah. Normally I walk past your room and you're sitting on your bed, staring at the ceiling." Spike chuckled. "Oh." Twilight waved goodbye. "Sorry to bother." "It's fine." Spike dismissed her apology with a shake of his head before exiting. /I guess I've got nothing better to do, so I might as well stay in the library today./ Twilight decided. /Maybe I could even write to Sunset Shimmer./ She smiled at the thought. Her other friend lived in a completely different dimension, but she still was able to write to her using a magical spell book. Twilight entered the library with her now sweetened coffee and sat down by the table. A stack of books left over from the night before was in front of her. /Back to work, I suppose./ She told herself before levitating the book from the top of the pile and setting it in front of her. She cracked open the book and began to read. Author's Note I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! If you want to stay more up to date, consider checking my page out on WattPad. If you don't mind. I update first there, due to the interface being more friendly to mobile users. Ocparty_Press Also, does any pony know what the size requirements and file type the cover art needs to be? I don't understand what I'm doing wrong, but I already have a fully made cover. Could anypony help me out? I'd really appreciate it!
Chapter 2: The Book/Whenever the character's POV is thinking, it will be in slashes. I find it much more noticeable and easier to read./ ••• The entire day flew by as Twilight read through her stack of books. It was, in fact, something she enjoyed greatly, and she would often enough to refuse to get up once she had sat down. Sometimes she was so caught up in a story that she would become oblivious to her surroundings altogether. Spike had eventually returned home from helping Rarity and waved hello to her, but she payed no mind and continued to fly through each book in a matter of minutes. Spike sighed heavily. "What am I going to do with her?" He muttered and walked away. The room was quiet for several minutes when a book suddenly fell out of the case and landed on the floor with a loud thump. However, Twilight didn't even blink. Then another book fell down, hurtling at the ground faster than the first. No response. Then another. And another. And another. Twilight did not move at all. The room was still for a few seconds when a final book was flung across the library, as if it had been thrown, and hit Twilight in the back of the head. She yowled and jumped to her feet, whirling around to where the book had come from. /Um... that was weird.../ Twilight blinked, stepping towards where all of the books had fell. "What in Equestria?" She muttered under her breath. /Spike and I are the only ones in this castle, and I'm the one here with magic. Who threw that at me?/ "Hoo." Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs for half a second and whipped around to face the thing that had nearly given her a heart attack. "Hoo." "Oh, for bucks sake..." She grouched, glaring at her pet owl, Owlowicious. "That's not funny! You scared me!" "Hoo?" "Are you okay, Twilight?" Spike yelled from the doorway, staring into the library. "What was that all about." "Owlowicious came out of nowhere." Twilight chuckled, hiding her annoyance. "Oh." Spike laughed. "He's like a ninja owl or something." "Hoo!" "Carry on with your egghead business, then." Spike left. Twilight growled under her breath. "What in the world happened here?" /I'm pretty sure books don't just hurl themselves across the room at ponies. That was rather strange./ She walked back over to where her stack of books was and quickly surveyed the library. /Nopony's in here besides me and Owlowicious. Who could have done that?/ She turned back to the table, swiveling her ears to listen to her surroundings. Nothing. Absolutely no sound. /Well, this doesn't make any sense at all./ She huffed. /Owlowicious, if that was you somehow... ugh./ Twilight looked back to her books, but was surprised to see the one she had been reading was gone. In fact, the whole stack of them were gone. There was just one book sitting on the table. It had a blackish blue cover and was tattered and torn. A grey skull was printed on the front. This was a book that held dark magic. Well, it held the power to TEACH somepony dark magic, but it wasn't much different. Twilight blinked. /I... I remember this book./ She bit her lip. /I was pretty young. Second year after Celestia chose me as her student. I managed to snatch that out of the restricted section of the library. She wasn't too happy when she found out I took that./ Twilight chuckled. /But what can I say? I'm as curious as a cat./ /But why the heck is it here now?/ She wondered in confusion. /I-I think I should leave it alone./ She turned her back to the book, looking towards the doors. /Dark magic is a bad thing./ The book suddenly flipped open, scaring the daylights out of Twilight. Her fur was bristling, but she ignored it and stared at the page with a look of sheer horror on her face. The pages were blank; they didn't have any spells or words whatsoever. But, writing began to fade onto the first page as she focused on it. 'Hello, your highness.' It read. /What in Equestria..?/ Twilight's mouth hung open in shock. /Who is writing that?/ 'We've met before, princess.' /Sweet Celestia.../ Twilight's eyes narrowed in confusion. /Are you reading my mind somehow?/ 'Magic can allow you to do anything, my dear.' /My dear?/ Twilight's face fell and she sighed. /I don't like where this is going./ 'Of course you don't. Nopony is perfect enough for the great princess.' If it was a pony talking to her, rather than- well, a book- they'd probably have a very sarcastic tone. /Oh, shut up./ 'I apologize, your highness.' /Who are you, exactly?/ Twilight thought again. 'You will know once you must.' /Ooh, ominous./ Twilight rolled her eyes. /Look, unless you're some dead pony from the past that's speaking to me through A FREAKING BOOK, I'm going to leave now./ 'You can't get away from me.' /Oh really?/ Twilight smirked. She slammed the book shut. /I just did, didn't I?/ CRASH! Twilight's very fancy porcelain coffee mug shattered into about a million pieces. She shrieked and ducked under the table to try and avoid the flying shards. When she finally dared to come out of hiding, she looked at the tabletop. The shards were arranged to spell out letters. 'I am watching you, princess. I am your worst nightmare.' That was enough for Twilight. She raced towards one of the massive open windows and took a huge leap, spread her wings wide and flew away from her castle. The tips of her wings caught the rocky edge of her castle on the downstroke, but she didn't care. She just had to get away from that book. From the library. From the castle. /I need to talk to somepony about this./ She fretted, nervous sweat running down her forehead. She landed on the outskirts of Ponyville and blinked slowly, trying to calm herself down. /It was probably just a prank./ she told herself desperately. /Or something like that. Yeah./ But those words had given her a horrible sense of doubt that was growing bigger every second.
Chapter 3: If You Dare to Tell/Whenever the character's POV is thinking, it will be in slashes. I find it much more noticeable and easier to read./ ••• "Sweet Celestia." "I know, right? It scared me to death!" Rarity blinked slowly, still trying to register what Twilight had told her. "So, you're saying that you were in your library, and somepony was talking to you through a book?" "Yeah." Twilight nodded. /That sounds really stupid out loud./ She realized. /But I know what I saw!/ The two mares were sitting in Rarity's kitchen at the dining table. The unicorn had offered Twilight a cup of tea, which she accepted with a small nod. "And then your coffee mug just, exploded?" "Not an explosion. It shattered." "Oh." Rarity tipped her head sideways. "That's a rather interesting set of events." "Do you have any idea what it could mean?" Twilight asked desperately. /Hopefully Rarity has some input on this! I mean, I think I know what it was, but... I hope it's not./ "Er... not really, no." Rarity bit her lip in thought. "Do you think it was part of a prophecy? From the dead or something?" Twilight shook her head quickly. "I... I think it's a... stalker, of some sort." "Goodness gracious." Rarity covered mer mouth with a hoof. "You may want to notify Princess Celestia about this." "I don't know." Twilight buried her face in her hooves. "What if I'm just slowly losing my mind or something?" "I highly doubt that." Rarity reassured. "You're the newest princess, so it's likely that there are ponies trying to pick on you." She lifted her own cup of tea off the table and took a small sip. "I don't care who it was." Twilight glanced out towards the window. "I just don't want to have to go through that again." /I still don't understand./ Twilight thought to herself in confusion. /How did they get ahold of the book I read as a filly? It doesn't make any sense!/ Twilight's lip quivered. /Unless I've met them before, and just don't remember them at all./ "If you'd like, you could spend the night over here." Rarity offered with a smile. "I have a guest bedroom, after all." Twilight dismissed the offering with a shake of her head. "Thank you, but I think I'll be fine." She replied, almost sounding as if she was trying to reassure herself. "It kind of seemed like it was more of a stupid prank or something, anyways." She shrugged. "Whatever you feel comfortable with." Rarity dipped her head. "Does anypony else know about this?" "Other than you? No." Twilight answered after taking a drink of tea. "Rainbow's still out of town, and I didn't think Pinkie would take it too seriously. Meanwhile, Fluttershy would make it too BIG of a deal, and I didn't feel like taking the time to go to Applejack's farm. I had to talk to somepony." "What about Spike?" "I wanted to get away from the castle." Twilight reminded her. "Ah, yes." "Plus, he's still technically a baby dragon." Rarity nodded. "Well, I wish you the best of luck on getting to the bottom of this. But, considering you have exquisite detective abilities, I'm sure you'll find out in no time at all." "I hope so." Twilight chuckled. The light shining through the window began to fade, darkening the room. Rarity used her magic to rattle the wall lanterns, awakening the fireflies inside them, so they began to glow. Twilight bit her lip as she glanced out the window, where the sun was setting on the horizon. "Man, time likes to fly fast." "It would seem so." Rarity shrugged. "But, if I had to guess, you were reading and did not notice how much time had passed?" Twilight turned to look at her with a slightly stunned expression. "Your guess is as good as mine..?" Twilight chuckled quietly. Rarity rolled her eyes. "Ah, don't worry. I do the same thing quite often. I love being a fashion designer, after all, so I focus on my work a great deal of the time." Twilight smiled meekly. "I honestly don't know how long I was reading. But I could probably ask Spike if I needed to." Sighing heavily, she rose to her hooves and stepped away from the table. "I should probably get going." Rarity acknowledged this with a small nod. "Thank you for coming to talk with me about this. I can keep it between us if you want." "Preferably... yes." Twilight waved goodbye before walking towards the door. "Stay safe." Rarity smiled. "Hopefully so." ••• Twilight peered into Spike's room and saw that he was already fast asleep in his bed. /Well, he is a baby dragon./ Twilight told herself while smiling slightly. She blinked and bit her lip in thought. /And I don't really want to think of how big he's going to end up being. That's a bit of a scary thought./ She made her way down the large hallways to her own bedroom. Her blue canopy bed was in the center of the room and against the wall, with a small crystal bedside table next to it. There was a tall bookshelf that housed many of Twilight's favorite stories, and as well as an armoire made of crystal. Even more so, a large table sat in the corner of the room with a chair, both carved from crystal to match the room. Twilight honestly never used it, but it had been there since the castle formed, so she just left it sitting there. A glass chandelier hung from the ceiling with many candles adorning it. Twilight yawned quietly. Normally, she would want to stay up all night and read books, but after everything that had happened that day, she decided she'd rather hop into bed and get some sleep. And that's what she did. She pulled the purple covers over her and closed her eyes. But something felt unsettling to her. She lay there for a while with her eyes shut, trying to ignore the pang of doubt she was feeling. When this proved unsuccessful, she partially opened one eye. And she felt her blood turn to ice as she saw a shadowy figure looming over her and staring into her eyes. "Hello, princess." It rasped in a hollow voice. "Don't you remember me?"
