The door was strangely imposing, dark wood as tall as a small building. It was extremely old, a magical ward spread over it; weak, probably not strong enough to keep it closed from a small shove. Twilight decided to test this, pushing up against the door. As she suspected, it creaked open slowly. The small beam of light from the torches behind her shone onto a bookcase, just like one that was in the Golden Oaks library, but hewn from crystal, many books were on the shelves, papers scattered over the floor. She examined one of the books on the shelf, reading the title - 'The First Steps in the magical school of Scuro'. "Scuro?" she questioned aloud, driving her to find a table in the room, obviously a library at this point, using her magic to summon a light source so she could study the book. She read the introduction, describing the contents as an ancient school of magic, using unwanted emotions to fuel the magicks. Many ponies throughout history had studied the teachings within, and have accomplished great feats. This fueled her interest even more, as she delved into the passages within.
The spells seemed to be involved with manipulation and trickery, not the most noble of magic schools, but it accomplished its own ends. After a while, she came across some more darker spells; spells which involved control over others. She slammed the book shut before trying to return the book to her shelf. Then, a thought crossed her mind, she could use this book to figure out how to counter the spells within and to stop somepony else from stumbling across it. She placed the book into her saddlebags, but heard the door shut by itself. She tried to rend it open, but upon further inspection, the magical ward had been set back up. It was a strange ward as well, an unknown warding spell was used to block it. She thought about the book and scanned through her mind and strangely enough she remembered a spell which could break open wards. She cast it, and realised she felt her fear rising. The door burst open, with the sound of a metal chain snapping. She ran out of the room and found her way back to the crystal throne room.
"Twilight, are you alright?" Cadance asked, walking towards her, seeing her frightened expression.
"Yes, thank you Cadance, I just thought I saw something, maybe some leftover of Sombra's magic." Twilight said, "I sorted it out."
"If you say so." Cadance said "I think I will look into it."
Twilight nodded. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I suppose I should be going now."
"See you Twilight." Cadance said, nodding towards her as she went down to the lower levels.
Twilight arrived at her castle and went to the dining room, where Spike had just finished dinner. "Thank you Spike, it looks delicious!" Twilight commented before she began to eat. Spike and herself had some small talk, not much of anything being talked about, before Twilight headed to her room.
"Alright, let's see what this book is all about." Twilight muttered to herself, going to when she closed the book. She had completely forgotten she had closed with near-disgust earlier. The spells had a pattern to them, control over something mainly; Ponies, Shadows, Nature, et cetera. After she had read through most of the spells once, she placed the book in her private bookshelf by her bed. She looked out the window and saw the sun was getting rather low in the sky, and to be honest, she was getting rather tired, and she soon drifted off to sleep, her dreams full of the magic she had just read.
Luna looked out over Canterlot, deciding to have a moment outside before she started her duty of looking after ponies in their dreams. She began, scanning those in Canterlot, and not finding anything too troubling, one or two things which were solved quickly but not too much. She then began widening her scan to Ponyville, as she usually covered after Canterlot. Once she was scanning over there, she noticed something strange coming from Twilight's castle. This concerned Luna as she was struggling before she was finally able to see what was going on, and what she saw frightened her, dark magic, and lots of it. The dream seemed to take place in a castle, walls hewn of stone and barely any windows to speak of. She walked around the halls for a while, trying to find Twilight.
"Halt, knave! Who goes there?" A stallion's voice boomed from further down the corridor. Luna slid up against the wall. Hoofsteps sounded, moving towards her. "Reveal yourself!" the voice boomed once more, a silver-coated stallion in dark armour, the probable owner of the voice, walked straight past her, stopping a few feet away from Luna, before turning around and thrusting a sear at her. "Speak for yourself!"
"Please, my good stallion, I am just here to find a miss Twilight Sparkle!" Luna replied, trying to cast a spell, but it merely flickered.
"And why do you wish to speak to her?" The stallion asked.
Luna thought of the best response, "I have come to aid her, I believe something powerful may be ailing her."
"If this was true, she would have come out of the vault. I shall give you one chance, leave!" Thestallion commanded before he found his spear aimed at him. The guard had a look of pure shock on his face, "How did you do that?" .
"You learn a lot over a few millenia." Luna smirked before running off.
It took a while before Luna found herself by a large door, made of dark wood. A sound came from within as the door creaked open slowly and a cloaked figure stepped out, a book held out before her. The figure lowered their hood, revealing the face of Twilight Sparkle.
"Twilight Sparkle!" Luna called out, leaving the shadows and heading towards the mare.
"Princess Luna!" Twilight exclaimed in surprise, "What are you doing here?"
Luna moved towards Twilight at a slower pace. "Pray tell, Twilight Sparkle, what art thou dreaming of?"
"I don't know." Twilight admitted, the world starting to fade around her. "I haven't been taking in anything."
"This is most troubling." Luna responded, looking around, seeing the world fade around them. "I suppose this is now over. Keep an eye out for anything out of place Twilight." Luna said before she vanished, leaving Twilight in a void of black.
