The Twilight Adventuresby typervaderChaptersThe New world (Rewritten 5/17/16)The Outlaws (Rewritten 5/21/16)Questions and Anwers (Rewritten 521/16)Resupply The BaseFresh StartNew FriendsNew Change The Discovery (Rewritten again on 5/26/16)The New world (Rewritten 5/17/16)"So, let me get this straight: Twilight stole a forbidden book, you helped her, and it went south. And now she needs us to get her back without Celestia knowing?" Starlight asked. "Well then, she is my friend and teacher. What do we do?" "I was thinking, let's talk to Discord first. He might be able to help us buy some time so we can look around Equestria to find what we need, and he can help us bring Twilight back as well. But we cannot let anyone other than Discord know," Spike explained. "Is this Discord who I think he is? Why would a Chaos god help us?" she questioned. "Because, he’s like you. Twilight is probably his only other friend, other than Fluttershy, and he would like to have fun with the princesses. So, let's get going," Spike said as they left the castle. First they were going to talk to Discord to see if he knew anything. "Discord! Can we talk to you!" Spike yelled, hoping to get his attention. Discord appeared from a rainbow portal that had floating islands following him. He was wearing what appeared to be a colorful hat and a suit. The portal was a mismatch of colors and patterns. He was riding on a unicycle with a rainbow trail following him. "Ah, my favorite dragon, and the student of the new princess. Pleasure to meet you Starlight. How can I help you?" Discord said with glee. Spike and Starlight told Discord the story. "So, she broke rules huh? This is unexpected. However, I can't help you. That book has powers beyond my own, but I could help keep an eye on her and buy you time. Besides, even if I could help, why would I? I want to see if this blows up in her face! And yours as well. But, since she is my friend, I will do what I can to you help you three out. I will buy you time, and check up on her as soon as I am able to find her," Discord explained. "In the meantime, go around and find ponies that could help you bring the little miss princess back." Then he left them to go do his thing. "Well, he's something else," Starlight said before they left. The first plan they had in mind was to talk to Zecora and afterwards Sunburst, as they both might know what to do. Twilight awoke inside a cage made of light. As she looked around her cage she didn’t see much. There seemed to be, what she thought was food, in a bowl and some water in another. Other then that, her cage was very small, and empty. She saw a few of those creatures outside her cage, and she made sure the book was placed away where she put it. Twilight then tried to listen in on the conversation they were having. "I have never seen a creature like this before. It looks like a horse, but has wings and a horn. The wings can make it fly, but the horn isn't like other horns. It doesn't seem to use it for combat. And you mentioned those weird things that happened. I think this creature has some sort of mind powers. Only thing that makes sense," one of them explained. "Should we experiment on this creature to learn more about it?" he asked. This scared Twilight. They seemed to just want to learn, Twilight understood, but she knew she shouldn't stay here. She had to escape, and quickly. This prison she was in didn't seem to be able to stop her magic, so all she had to do was teleport out. She begun to cast her spell, but she was unable to focus. She didn't know the area and didn't have anywhere to teleport to. "Sir, it's awake!" one stated. "Well, well, well. You are quite a mystery, whatever you are. Say, do you understand me?" The boss asked her. He seemed to be in charge of things, since he was handing out orders, and he looked intimidating. He had a look in his eyes that screamed, “I will kill you.” She wasn't sure if she should speak. "Ye-, yes. I can understand you." Twilight tried to speak, hoping it would work. "Wait, you can SPEAK? This is quite unexpected. What is your name, creature, and what are you?" it asked her. Twilight stood her ground, trying to act tough against her captors. However, she was scared to death and it began to show. "Please don't hurt me. IdontknowwhereIamorhowIgotherebutIjustwanttogohome!" Twilight said, not sure why that came out of her mouth over what she wanted to say. She wanted to stand her ground and be firm, make them take her seriously. However, she knew it was the stress of being stuck in a new world different from her own, and she knew she had to pull herself together. "I mean, my name is Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. I am an Alicorn and very powerful. I demand you release me!" That sounded more like what Twilight wanted to say. "So, you're royalty huh? Well then, this should make this even better. They might even reward us with a ton of money once we bring it it back to the Empire! And don't try to act tough, we know you are scared, we heard what you said earlier. So just relax, we won't hurt you... yet," he said with a smirk on his face. "And so you know, we are humans, you are on a space station, and my name is General Michael. You will be our prisoner until our leader decides what to do with you. Don't bother using you weird mystic voodoo powers, we have guards watching you. Now rest up my dear, the leader will arrive soon," Michael said. And with that, he left Twilight alone with her thoughts. "What have I gotten myself into. Ok, Twilight, think. They don't know how my magic works, which means I have the upper hand. They have weird magic here, kinds I have never seen. I seem to be with a faction of not so good humans, and should try to leave. So, I think it would be best to wait for this leader to show up. They might let their guard down and I can escape. In the meantime, I will see what other spells this book has for me," Twilight thought as she brought the book back. The guards looked at her, but thought nothing of her reading a book. Meanwhile, a soldier reported to his commander on reacon they found on a strange base. "Sir, our spies have found out that the leader is going to be on the Aureole Station tonight. Should we go and attack the base?" "Yes, get a squad, and try to bring him down. This war will end tonight!" Twilight found a few spells that she thought would help her get out. "A time stopping spell, an invisibility spell, and a mobile shield spell. These should be helpful. Now all I need to do, is wait," Twilight thought to herself as she moved the book away. "The Leader is here sir, what are the next orders," a guard asked. "Bring him here, to Miss Twilight," Michael responded. Just then, an explosion went off somewhere nearby. "We are under attack! It’s the outlaws! They know the leader is here! Prepare the defenses!" "You, Twilight, better stay here, or I will use other means to keep you locked up!" he said, before running off. "The outlaws are attacking these guys? They might be the good guys. I better wait and see," Twilight thought to herself. Just then, a group of laserbeams came through the door, as a squad of the outlaws came in. "What is that thing? Should we free it?" one asked as he pointed towards Twilight. "We don't have time for this, find him!" another said before turning to leave. "Wait! Please don't leave me here, they are going to hurt me! I can be useful to you. Just let me out of here!" Twilight pleaded, not sure why she sounded so weak. "Wait, it talked? Hmm, bring her with us. We will talk to her later." he said. They shut off the barrier surrounding Twilight's cell. "Come with us my little pony, we will talk later! Now is a bad time!" one told her. She followed the group back to some sort of smaller, weird looking building. "Go inside and wait! We will be back." Twilight did as she was told. She kept her plan in mind in case they turned out not to be as friendly as she thought. "The leader is gone! We can't find him!." "Should we retreat?" "Did we gain anything from this." A bunch of soldiers asked. "We have found one thing –” said the commander, “– but we will retreat for now. Back to the ship!" he told them before they took off. "What did they take, Michael?" the leader asked, looking around towards the flames. The base had seen better days, and there was people running around all over the place, repairing all the damage. "They stole what we wanted to show you, the creature that could speak sir." "Hmm, well, get back to work and repair the base," he explained before leaving. Back on the ship where they picked up Twilight, they were all staring at Twilight. "So, you better start explaining a few things," The commander said, firmly. Twilight thought it best she told him the truth. "My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. I am not from around here. I came from Equestria. The ones you just fought were the ones who captured me, and I thank you for freeing me. However, I have spells to study so I can return home. "Equestria, I have never heard of this place. And I have never seen your kind before," he questioned. "I would hope not. We are not from anywhere near here, but I might be able to learn more if I can find some books to study or a map of where we are. And my kind has never gone to space like we are now, it fascinates me. And then..." Twilight said before drifting off. She couldn't help but let the student part of her show, looking around at all the new things she had never seen before. "So sir, what do you make of this?" one asked. "Well, she is royalty, which means wherever she’s from she’s important. She was also an enemy of the Empire, so I say let her stay with us for now, we will see if she can be useful or not. If not, then we will toss her away," the leader explained. "So, Miss Sparkle." The leader started "Twilight is fine," she interrupted. "I am known as Black Snake. I want you to explain to me how you could prove useful during a time of war. I wouldn't need you to stay if you were useless," Black stated. "Well, I can use all kinds of magic, though I never have used them in a war before. However, since this isn't my universe, I guess I could learn how," Twilight said, a bit shocked after hearing the word “war”. "Magic? What do you think I am, girly, 12? What can you do!" he asked, furious at her comment. "I can really use magic! Let me prove it to you!" Twilight said, trying to save herself. She then brought the book out of nowhere through a teleportation spell, and looked up a spell she could use. She found a spell that transforms objects from one into another. She aimed the spell at one of the weapons they use and changed it into a chair. "And that's only the tip of what I can do with my magic and this book," Twilight said proudly. They all started at her, in shock. They had never seen anything like this. She saw looks of shock, curiosity, and fear. They weren’t sure what to think quite yet. The leader, who seems to keep his cool, spoke up. "So, you really can use ‘magic’. I guess that could prove useful. Alright, you will stay with us until we reach our base, where you will talk to our leader. Don't try any funny stuff now, or I will shoot you, Twilight," Black stated like it was an order before leaving her. "What I have gotten myself into. This is going to be a long journey before I get home. I really hope Spike and Starlight are having some luck." Twilight said, before she fell asleep. She will need the energy to maintain herself. Discord was walking towards Celestia’s room, as she had requested his assistance. After talking to Starlight and Spike, he knew what this was about, but was going to keep his word. "Hello, Tia! How may I help you today!" Discord said in his cheery mood. "The De Magia has been stolen. Do you know anything about that? I also haven't seen Twilight or her assistant and student. Do you know what is going on?" she asked him. "Wait, that book of spells beyond our power? No, I don't know. And the princess went with her student and the dragon to go and help her learn more about friendship while looking for clues about the book. I will see what I can do however, Tia." Discord said. "Very well Discord, I trust you. Come find me if you find anything," Celestia said, upset that he didn't know anything. Discord then left the grand halls. "Ok Sparkle, let’s find out where you were sent too," Discord said to himself beginning his search to find her. Starlight and Spike went to talk to Zecora in her hut in the Everfree. She knew a lot about ancient magic so she might know a bit about the De Magia. "Zecora, what do you know about a book called De Magia?" Starlight asked the zebra. "A book very powerful indeed. Beyond my understanding it is. The only way to stop the book, is to let its spells go in full. I wish I could help you more, but not even I can understand that book. The one thing that might work, is using an artifact just as old. One that could mimic its power, and cast the spell that was used before. That may not do the trick however, and not even time travel would reverse what was done. Come back to me with more, and I will see what I can brew," Zecora explained. And with that, they left her hut, keeping what she said in mind. "So, we need old artifacts huh? Let’s see if we can find any info on older artifacts. Let’s look around and see if any pony would know about any old artifacts." Spike said as they left. Author's Note Sorry this chapter was shorter and a bit all over the place, it is setting 3 stages at once. Anyhow, let me know what you think so far! Any ideas would be loved. Until next time! The Outlaws (Rewritten 5/21/16)"Miss Twilight Sparkle, time to get up. We are arriving at the base now," a person informed her. She had rested through most of this trip in order to gain her strength back. Her magic was still not nearly as powerful, but she was well enough to perform almost any trick she would need, as she had a feeling she would need it. As she got up from her spot, she went to go talk to Black Snake again. "Ok, you listen here missy. We make the rules, and what we say goes. You try anything funny, I will shoot you. We will see what the leader thinks of you. Don't speak unless you're spoken too, and if you try to run we will hunt you down," he explained to her in an unwelcoming tone. "I thought these were the good guys, maybe I was wrong. Maybe all humans are like this. But I will play by there rules for now," Twilight thought to herself. They flew Twilight to what looked like a planet this time. "So, they do have planets here. Good to know," Twilight thought, as she looked outside. She saw a small forest outside of a large desert, and she thought it was almost artificial. Twilight felt weird going down towards the planet, as she never felt something like this before. They landed in the forest. They led her to an underground building, which she assumed was for hiding themselves. "Wait here, let me go talk to them. Don't try anything," Snake said before he went to the front gate. "I am here to bring the leader something we found from the space station. We do not know a lot about her, but I'm sure she will want to meet her," he explained, then the front gate opened. "Black Snake and the thing you brought, go and meet her right away. The rest of you know your posts," a guard at the gate said. Snake led Twilight through a series of tunnels before coming up on a big doorway. It reminded Twilight of Celestia's throne room. "Wait here, I will be back," he said before entering the doors. "Ah, Black Snake, how did the mission go?" the leader said, happily. "We were unable to find the leader there, but we did come back with something different. She is a weird creature that looks like a purple horse with wings and a horn and carries a book with her. She calls herself Princess Twilight Sparkle and is from a place called Equestria. She also seems to have some weird psychic powers and can speak our language. She was being held captive by the Empire, so we brought her here to talk to you. Should I call her in?" he explained to her. She motioned him to call her in, but then leave them alone for a bit. Twilight walked in as Snake left, making sure she knew he was watching her. "So, he wasn't kidding, you are a creature I have never seen. So tell me, your highness, how did you find yourself in the Empire’s custody?" she asked her. Twilight then told her the tale of how she got there, making sure to leave out parts that made her sound like she did something wrong. "So, you got transported by this "magic" to our world right inside the space station. My name is Erin, your highness. I am sorry for any trouble Black Snake gave you, he is just that way. You will be allowed to stay here until I can learn more, think of it as being our guest and not our prisoner," Erin told her. "If you please, Twilight is fine. And I don't want to cause any trouble, just give me some books or whatever you use to record information so I can learn what I can about where I am. It might help me get home," Twilight asked, hopefully. "Books we don't use, but I can have someone show you how to use our recordings. Feel free to study them until I call for you later. The rest of our group needs to know about you, and we will go from there," Erin said, having Black Snake show her where they have the closest thing to a library and showing her how they worked. "I will call for you later, you BETTER not break anything," he said before leaving. "So, they don't have books, but this device can hold even more books in a smaller space! I will need to learn how to record all this for when I get back! In the meantime, let's see what I can learn about where I am," Twilight thought, before diving off into what she could learn about where she is. Twilight was called to come meet up in the meeting hall. She had learned that she was in a different dimension from Equestria, which meant this would be harder for her to get home. She also learned that this world is at war, all the time. People always fight each other, and there are different groups always fighting for control. She now knew she would have to learn to fight if she wanted to survive in this war-ridden world. "I have brought her as you asked," the person who got her explained. "Hello, everyone of the New Order! I have called you to tell you about Twilight Sparkle. She might not be human, but we should still help her get along with everyone. Treat her like you would a friend. For now, we will keep her in the base and keep her safe as we learn from her and she learns from us. That will be all for now!” she stated, hoping people will accept the alicorn. Everyone got dismissed, and she talked to Twilight. “Twilight, for now, you will be our guest. I will lead you to your room, then you can do what you want from there,” Erin explained to her. “Yeah sure, food sounds great. I haven’t eaten for quite awhile,” she said. Twilight was still a bit suspicious of these newcomers. They begun to walk towards a room. “Even though they are in a war, they seem really friendly. I also was unable to find out anything about these Outlaws in the books. I wonder what they are trying to hide. Maybe I will look for a spell in the De Magia later to see if it has anything to help me, but I will play by their rules for now,” she thought to herself. He then led her around the base, and Twilight thought it looked very dark and dull. The people they passed seemed to keep to themselves. It seems like a very boring place, and not much went on. They then stopped at a doorway in an underground room. “Here's the room you will be staying in Twilight, I will go find you a guide,” Erin said as she left. “I guess I will play along and see what happens for now. I have my magic if anything goes wrong.” Twilight said out loud. She waited in the room, it seemed a lot more like a prison then a guest room, waiting for Erin to return. She used the time to look through more of the De Magia. Erin returned later with what appeared to be an armed guard. “Twilight, this is Firecracker. He will be your bodyguard, your guide, and will answer any questions while you stay with us,” Erin explained. She then left leaving Twilight and Fire alone. “So, I guess I should show you around Princess. Well then, let's get going,” Fire said, before leading on. Twilight took note of the different places around the base, such as where the entrance was,where she could get food, and a few not worthy places, like where the guards were at. Fire was then called on the radio, needing to speak with Erin. “Listen, Erin needs me, but stay in the food court and get some food. I will be back later,” he said before leaving. Twilight went to order some food and she noticed that they do eat meat. She then came upon a stranger, who was wearing a cloak. “Listen, don’t say anything, and listen to me. The Outlaws are not who they say they are. They might seem like good guys, but in this world, nobody is a good person. We will be attacking later, and we really don’t want to shoot you. They are going to experiment on you if you stay, so we will be back before nightfall. Come with us or stay with them, but they will use you for war. If you don’t believe me, use your ‘magic’ to find out for sure. That's what Fire is talking to Erin about right now. The choice is yours, Twilight Sparkle,” she spoke to her, before she left. “Well, that was strange. I feel like I could trust her but at the same time, I know she's lying. Maybe it's because she acted weird. I wonder how she knew about me and where I was. I will play it safe for now,” Twilight thought to herself. “Well Twilight, let's get going. We have something to show you,” Fire explained, with a bit of a darker look on his face. Twilight was prepared to fight back if anything went wrong, but she hoped she could trust the stranger in the cloak. She was brought to a lab, then all the doors locked. She knew what was going to happen next. “We are keeping you safe in our locked lab, we expect an attack soon. Stay here and be safe, Twilight. I will come back and get you,” he explained before walking out. The dark look in his eyes was gone, which meant he might not have taken his orders the way he should have. A few hours passed, and Twilight got very bored.She decided to go over her thoughts just sitting there. “So, I am trapped in this world that seems to be at war. These creatures, called humans, don’t seem like trustworthy creatures. My magic feels the same, and Celestia probably doesn’t know anything yet. Maybe Starlight and Spike know how to get me back already. Maybe…” her mind trailed off, losing focus. She wasn’t able to see what was going on in the room because she was too distracted. Just then, she saw the stranger once again, through an air duct in the wall. “Looks like I might have been wrong about Fire, seeing as you are still here. However, we don’t have much time to spare, as we speak they are thinking of a plan to use you..” she explained to her. Twilight had a look of doubt in her face, so the stranger took out a monitor, showing Fire and Erin talking. “So, Twilight is safe inside the locked room, with no idea what we will do to her?” “Yes ma’am. But, we will have to be quick, her abilities will prove a problem.” “I have a plan for that, we will need to knock her out. Then, we can find out how she ticks.” “And what if she wakes up?” “Simple, say she passed out and we were trying to help her.” “Alright, I will go poison her food.” That was the last thing before it was cut. “Do you believe me now. The Outlaws work on lies, while the Empire works on power. We are very small compared to them, we all trust each other. Come with me Twilight, we will help you survive and get home,” she explained. Twilight was shocked that these nice people lied to her, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. She quickly reacted, crawling into the air duct with the stranger, right before Fire came in. Just then, an alarm went off. “My name is Anne. My group doesn’t really have a name. Talk later, escape now!” Ann explained, before they left the area. Twilight did feel a bit bad leaving, but after seeing that video, she knew it had to be done. “I hope you have a spell that could let us sneak out of here. Some of my people are waiting, but getting out of here won’t be easy with how much you stick out,” Anne explained, and Twilight knew she was right. Ponies stick out quite a bit in this world. She called out the De Magia and began looking through it. “How do you know all of this?” Twilight asked her. “We have spy networks in all the factions, and they told us about you. We don’t care about what powers you have or where you come from, but we care about helping you, since you seem so human. You also seem young. You also seem like you could help us, but we won’t force that on you like they did,” Anne explained with contempt. “Found something! This spell makes us appear and look like something else. We could use this spell to sneak out, however it only lasts for a limited time. We will need to hurry,” Twilight explained, before she began casting the spell. She changed herself to appear as a human child, with a cloak just like Annes. She still felt the same, though she looked different to the others. “Alright, let’s go. And while I look like this, don’t call me Twilight, in order to blend in more,” Twilight explained. They then left the air ducts and began to walk towards the exit. As they walked they saw armed guards running around looking for Twilight. “Hey, you two! Come here for a moment!” a guard shouted to them. They kept calm and went over to the guard. “So, you taking your daughter somewhere ma’am?” he asked, looking at Twilight. “Yes, me and Judy here were just going out for a picnic, it's been awhile since we have done that, isn’t it dear?” Anne said, while giving a nudging look towards Twilight. “Can we hurry mom, please. The food will go bad!” ‘Judy’ exclaimed, hoping to hurry this up. “Very well, don’t want to keep kids waiting. Enjoy!” he said before leaving. “Great acting, that was close, we should be there soon, how much longer will the spell last?” Anne asked. “We don’t have too long, let’s run for it,” Twilight said, and they began running towards the exit. They managed to get out right as Twilight’s spell faded, and they went to where the rest of her team was. “Anne, come in! We are sorry, but we can not pick you up here. They will discover us. Go to the main city and we will meet you in the Starport! Watcher out!” a voice said over a radio. “Well then Twilight, change of plans, looks like you will get to see more of this world after all. Let’s head towards Star City then, shall we,” Anne said, as she began to walk. “This is going to be a long day,” Twilight thought to herself as they began walking away from the Outlaw base. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. “Are all humans like that? Can I trust Anne to not do the same? And how could people act like this?” However, Twilight tried to push these thoughts aside for now, as they would just get in the way. Her long journey was only beginning. Before they went any farther, Twilight wanted to ask a few questions to Anne. “How is your group different from the Empire and the Outlaws? I must know if I can trust you,” Twilight asked Anne. She stopped in place, and began to explain a long story. “It began long ago. We used to be stuck on a planet called Earth, but we expanded past the stars. However, people began to have different ideas of how to run things, so a war was brought about. Now, know that this wasn’t even close to the first war humans have fought, it's in our nature. Many groups formed, but the two most powerful are the Empire and the Outlaws. The Outlaws believe in no rules and just let chaos reign, while the Empire has too much power for its own good.” She paused for a minute, having a deep look of thought in her eyes. “The leader of our group, which you will meet later, lost both his parents and his sister and became traumatized during the war, and he now fights to stop the war. He wants to have people rule, with a set of guidelines he has set up. We are not very powerful or large, but that is what we believe in, Twilight Sparkle, as I am sure you do. Now, I can’t say for sure if you can trust us, because that is your choice to make, but I believe in our leader. Anyway, we can’t stay here anymore, we should head out,” Anne explained, but with a look of sadness in her eyes. Twilight knew there was a lot more to it, but she knew this was a bad time. She would press her for more later. However, one thought was stuck in her mind: it is human nature to be at war. That thought scared Twilight. These creatures seemed a lot like ponies, but were way more aggressive and not nearly as friendly as ponies. She was going to write this all down for Celestia after this was over, to maybe help reduce her punishment that she was most likely going to receive. Then, they just walked, not knowing what was going to happen next. Author's Note Here it is. 3rd chapter. This is where the juciy stuff begins to kick in! Questions and Anwers (Rewritten 521/16)Twilight and Anne had been walking for what seemed like hours. Even though Twilight was an alicorn, she was about ready to collapse because she had not had any food or any time to rest. Once Twilight and Anne got a chance to sit, she fell right asleep. “Hello Twilight. Pleasure to finally talk to you,” a calm voice said in the distance. “Wait, who’s there?” Twilight asked, in shock. “Why, it's me, De Magia. Not surprised you didn’t know. I guess Shadowflame never told you,” De Magia told her, still in a calm voice. “Wait a minute, you can talk? This, this doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight began to hyperventilate, not sure how to take it in. “Calm down and listen, I will begin to explain things to you, I think you earned it. I have been watching you use me, and I really like you Twilight. You took risks to get a hold of me, you are powerful, and, as much as you try to hide it, you want more power. I can sense it in you,” De Magia began to explain. “Why did you bring me here?” Twilight asked, bluntly. “That, well... that was a mistake. Shadowflame intervened as you were testing out the teleport spell, and made it way more powerful. I can get you home, but you will need to do as I say,” he explained, still in his calm and cool voice. “But, I killed Shadowflame!” Twilight exclaimed, confused. This is where his tone changed to a more humorous one. “Kill Shadowflame.” Shadowflame laughed loudly after saying that. “Oh, my dear Twilight, you have no idea what you got yourself mixed up in. There was a reason Celestia locked me away. We are far more powerful then you can imagine, but we need a powerful spell caster to use it. I picked you, Twilight. That is why I called to you. The inner spark within you can unleash a new age for Equestria, and any world we please! All I need you to do, is to accept it!” De Magia said, with a hint of madness in his voice. “What if I decline, and what is Shadowflame?” Twilight asked him. “I will tell you this, Twilight: if you decline my help, you will be trapped in this world forever. However, you misunderstand my intentions, Twilight, I only want to help your kind. Shadowflame is a creature made out of pure darkness. You can’t kill him as he doesn’t have a body, much like me.” De Magia explained, with anger in his voice. “How do I know I can trust you, how do I know what you tell me is the truth, De Magia.” Twilight answered, with concern and doubt in her voice. “I guess you really can’t. However, you do have a choice to make. Be stuck in this world forever, considering you are immortal, or help me defeat Shadowflame and I can get you home at some point. Also, I will give you power beyond belief!” De Magia explained happily. “My friends are already working on getting me home. Besides that fact, if what you say is true, Celestia should already be aware of this and take steps to stop it. I am also the one in control here!” Twilight explained, taking a stand while she did. “I think of you as a friend. I just want to help you, and friends help each other, isn’t that right?” De Magia explained with sadness in his voice. “Oh, I never realized you thought of me that way, however, I still know nothing about you. I won’t be able to just say yes or no until I learn more,” Twilight explained, with uncertainty in her voice. “Looks like your human friend is calling you, we will be in touch,” De Magia said before everything faded away. “Twilight. Twilight. Twilight!” Anne yelled at her, trying to wake her up. “Oh, morning Anne,” Twilight said as she woke up. “Are you ok? You were tossing and speaking in your sleep,” Anne said with a look of concern on her face. “Oh no, just a nightmare. I am missing home is all,” Twilight lied. She thought it best not to mention talking to her magic spellbook to anyone for now. “That is a smart choice. They might think you are crazy. You wouldn't want to be crazy,” a voice said in her head. “We have a long way to go before we reach our base. Let’s eat up before we head out,” Anne explained before grabbing some food from her bag. Twilight and Anne then began eating. “Now is the best time to get some of my own questions answered, as I am positive she will ask me some as well,” Twilight thought to herself. “I want to learn more about you, to see if you can be trusted. So, I will ask a question, you answer, and then, since I am sure you have a bunch too, you ask a question that I answer,” she explained. Twilight just nodded, with a shocked look at how fast Anne was. “Was she thinking the same thing I was?” Twilight thought to herself. “What did you do back home?” Anne asked. “Well, I run a library and I am the Princess of Friendship. I also used to wield the element of magic before it became part of the tree of Harmony, and I saved Equestria more times than I can count. Now, what does your group do?” Twilight answered “We used to be a small group of teens and kids who banded together after we lost our parents in the wars. We don’t have the numbers or technology of the others, but we stick together to the end. We hate this war and just want it to end. How did you end up here?” “A magic spell went wrong. I had just discovered the De Magia and wanted to try a new spell, but it went wrong. Next thing I knew, I ended up here. How did you learn about me?” “We have spies that watched and learned about you, and saw you needed help. They sent me to rescue you. What is this ‘magic’ you speak about?” “Everypony can use magic. It's a powerful force that fuels everything in us. Each of the different pony types can use a different kind of magic, for different tasks. Pegasi can control the weather, Earth ponies can use magic to grow plants, unicorns have a more raw magic, and alicorns are the most powerful.” Twilight said. She was about to continue when she got interrupted by a loud wailing and a war cry. They had staves on them and the leader had a gun, all pointed at them. “Sorry to ruin this little chat y’all are havin’, but you would make a great slave to sell. And this weird animal would go for quite a bit on the black market. So just come on over here.” They said, pointing their guns at the duo. “Oh, now why would we want to do a thing like that? That takes all the fun out of it. If you want to truly have fun, why don’t you come over here and get us big boy,” Anne said, with a seductive playful tone. “Hmmm, that does seem like quite a lil’ bit of fun. Very well, we will come on over, but no funny tricks or we will be forced to shoot. And I would rather not need to shoot you if I don’t need to,” the bandit said as he walked towards the girls. “Listen Twilight, once they get close, attack them. Now, I don’t know if you know how to fight, but you should quickly find a spell to use in order to get us out of here,” Anne explained, ready for a fight. “This is a time stopping spell. This will freeze them in time for you to escape, Twilight. Think of this as me helping you since you are my friend,” De Magia cut in. Twilight then suddenly knew how to use the spell. Once they got close, she used it. They froze in place and weren’t able to move. “Quickly! Let’s hurry up and get out of here!” Twilight yelled as she ran. Anne followed her. “Thank you De Magia. I do trust you a bit more, but I need more time to think about this still,” Twilight told it. As they ran, Twilight felt the spell wear off. “Man, this ‘magic’ sure is useful, Twilight. I don’t know what or how you did it, but I thank you. Now, let’s get going before they catch up to us,” Anne said, as they began to walk back into the desert. Twilight was thinking about De Magia, and whether he could be trusted or not. “Twilight, there is a town up ahead! I need you to use your disguise spell so we don’t stick out,” Anne said, as she pointed out the town in front of them. Twilight then changed herself back into ‘Judy’. They then walked towards the town. The town was in ruins. The buildings were torn and dusty. They were missing planks, and other areas. They were dusty and tattered. The people themselves seemed to be wearing rags. It looked like a ghost town. It was in a poor condition and didn’t seem like a good place to stay. However, it was medium sized and had a lot of people in it. “Let’s find an inn Judy, so we can spend the night. Hopefully the bad men will not find us,” Anne said, as they went to look for an inn. “Hello? Do you have a room me and my sister can stay the night in? We are travelers and need a bit of a break for a few days,” Anne explained. “This isn’t the best town to spend the night in, but yes, we have a room open for cheap. It is a simple bedroom with one bed, a locked storage unit, and a restroom alongside it. That will be 50 creds,” the innkeeper said. She paid him and they went up to their room. It wasn’t a good looking room, but it served the purpose. “Let's get some rest tonight, Twilight, tomorrow we will go around town to restock supplies. You can take the spell off for now. I will get things sorted,” Anne explained. Twilight went to bed, but before she went to sleep, De Magia talked to her again. “So Twilight, do you want to help me?” De Magia asked her one last time. “Yes, but on one condition. If you think about betraying me, lying to me, or try to use me, I will go ahead and rip you to pieces. But, I will trust you for now,” Twilight said. “I promise, I will not….” De Magia started, but he got cut off. “Ah, I finally found you Princess. I didn’t think you would get sent so far for breaking Tia’s rules,” Discord said as he stepped out of a magic portal. “Ah, Discord. My favorite Chaos god. I see you have become friends with Twilight here as well,” De Magia stated. “Your friends sent me to find you and bring you back. However, I don’t want to do that as I want to see this blow up in your face! I will come and check on you every once in awhile though, to see how you do,” Discord said. He then used his magic to create a bubble around them. “And don't trust what he tells you. I will go see your friends,” Discord said, before he left. “So, you are friends with Discord, which means you reformed him. That could prove useful later. Anyway Twilight, in order to get you home, I need energy. I will be able to gain this energy over time, so stick around here for awhile until I can get you home, then we can put our plan into action,” De Magia explained. Twilight then went to sleep as everything faded away. Discord went to go meet with Starlight and Spike about what he found. “Hello Starlight, hello Spike. You will never guess who I found!” Discord said, in a cheery mood. “Wait, you found her? Please tell me you brought her back and that she's ok!” Spike said with joy. “I wasn’t able to bring her back, but she is fine for now. Anyway, how are things going here?” Discord said. Starlight and Spike wanted to question Discord and try to push him for information, but they knew they wouldn't be able to get anything out of him. “Well, we have learned that, outside of Equestria, there are people we can talk to who might be able to help us, so we are going to head out soon. We want you to keep on eye on everything for us, or do whatever you want Discord,” Starlight said. “That sounds like fun! You go find what you need to find,” Discord said as he teleported away. “Well Spike, you know where to go. Let’s head out,” Starlight said to him as they headed towards the train. Discord entered Celestia's throne room with a wide grin on his face. He knew he was winning on all fronts, and was having a blast too. “Hello Tia, how is the search for De Magia going?” Discord asked Celestia as he walked in. “It isn’t going well Discord, I’m worried they will return as this point. And if that were to happen, that would end up ruining everything,” Celestia said with doubt in her voice. “Don’t worry Tia, we should be able to stop them, after all we are five gods,” Discord stated, trying to reassure the princess. “I don’t know Discord, we need to find that book before they do. I will need your help, along with many people, in case they attack without the book. If they get the book, we are doomed. Has Twilight made any progress?” Celestia asked. “No, she and Starlight and Spike are still working on finding Shadowflame again, but they have had no luck. They think he retreated outside of Equestria for now, so they are leaving to go find him. I will keep an eye on all of them.” Discord said. Celestia then dismissed him. “I am, so far, just a simple watcher with the events to come. None of you have any idea what you will be getting into. This will be quite the show,” Discord said to himself as he left the throne room, waiting for events to unfold. Meanwhile, in a dark room in the middle of nowhere. “So, Twilight and Magia went to another dimension to hide? And Discord has taken the side of Celestia. There is also Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor and their baby, and even Twilight’s assistant and student. Let’s wait this out for now, and see how things go. They have too much powerful magic for us to deal with for now, so we will wait it out…” Author's Note Here is, chapter 4! Things are heating up now. Let me know what you all think! Resupply Resupply Twilight and Anne woke up the next day, and Twilight used the disguise spell on herself again. They were planning on going around town to gather supplies for the long trip to come. “Ok Twilight, listen up. You are my little sister, and if people ask, we are going home after a long trip. What we will need is food, water, ammunition for my gun and transportation to carry our supplies, since I don’t think you can use your magic for that,” Anne stated. “We all know you can use your magic for this Miss Sparkle, but we need you to survive without magic. The strongest people don’t need just magic, but a lot more. It will also draw more attention than we need,” De Magia whispered in her head. Anne continued, “We will also need to get more creds and a cloak for you, since the other one won’t work as it's part of your spell. That way, people will just think you are a pony and not an alicorn as you called it,” Anne explained to Twilight, getting ready to leave. She made sure to grab a large green and blue bag to carry all the stuff in, while she gave Twilight a black backpack to carry. “Listen carefully Twilight,” Anne said, looking at her, “stay close to me. This town isn’t the best place to be in and people will do some very ‘bad’ things to you,” she said, putting a strong notion on the word bad. Twilight nodded, thinking she understood what Anne told her. They then headed towards town and Twilight took note of the things she saw. The town looked more like Ponyville than anything else she had seen in this world so far. It was very old and rustic, compared to the metallic and outright dull colors of the space station and hidden base. It had a more wooden look and more colors than the other places. She took a look at the humans walking around. They appeared to be friendly enough, talking to each other and helping others. However, what Anne said stayed in the back of her mind, and she wasn’t sure to believe what she saw anymore. “That is smart thing to keep in mind, Twilight. These creatures lie in order to get their way,” a voice said in her head. She knew who it was. She wondered how De Magia knew this. She would ask him later. “Anne seems to be trustworthy, she showed me their lies,” Twilight told him, not wanting to fall for his tricks. “Ah, but you still trust me more, right? I will protect you and help you get home, my good friend,” De Magia said in a sweet voice, trying to convince her. “Well, I know, and I do, but Anne is my friend for now too,” Twilight said, with a hint of doubt and anguish in her thoughts. “Just keep in mind, Miss Sparkle, that humans are creatures of hate and violence. Don’t trust them,” De Magia said, trying his best to manipulate her. Twilight slowed down her pace while talking to De Magia in her mind, and Anne noticed this. “Is everything ok, Twilight? You have been acting weird for a while,” Anne asked her, worried. Twilight didn’t want to say she was talking to voices in her head. “Yes, everything is fine. Just... adjusting, is all,” she explained, trying to calm Anne down. Twilight didn’t want Anne to worry about her, as Twilight wasn’t sure what to do. “Ok, here is the first stop: a weapon smith. We will find you a weapon as well as some ammo for my rifle,” Anne pointed out as they entered the shop. What Twilight saw were things she had never seen before. Long pointed sticks of metal, glowing cylinders and many other kinds of metal and wooden weapons. Twilight wasn’t sure how these weapons worked. “They fire plasma, using the power cells. Think of it like a weaker version of your magic,” De Magia explained to her. Twilight wasn’t sure how he knew this, but she didn’t question him. “Hello, good sir! Me and my sister need some weapons and ammo for our trip. Have anything in stock?” Anne asked the shopkeeper, trying to sound tough but not threatening. “Hmm, for someone of her age, I have something she might be able to use. And you said you needed ammo? Let me see what we have in the back,” he said gravelly before walking off. “I will show you how a gun works later, Twilight, as you will need to know how to use one. For now, just hold on to it. I am sure with your magic, it should be super easy to hold and keep hidden,” Anne said as she turned to Twilight. The shopkeeper returned carrying red power cells, a rifle and a sword. “First, for the young lady here”—he held up the sword and the rifle—“I have a unique rifle that came in yesterday. It’s different because, unlike most guns, it doesn’t use power cells or ammo of any kind. However it has a limited amount of shots before needing to recharge, which takes time. Although it is a semi-automatic, it will overheat if you use it too much, and takes quite a bit to cool down,” he explained as he handed Twilight the rifle. He then picked up the sword and handed it to Twilight. “This sword can change its size to fit into pockets of any kind. It isn’t a laser sword, but its metal can’t be cut by lasers. It is made from a rare metal that not even lasers can cut, which doesn’t have a name yet. Makes for a great hidden weapon,” he said, handing her the sword as well. Twilight knew a melee weapon would work great for her due to her telekinesis, It would make for a fine backup in case the gun overheated or when she didn’t have the time to use her advanced spells. “Now, these red power cells are new. Unlike other power cells, they have a higher piercing power and burn ability. They are also replenished in an easy way. Unlike regular power cells, red power cells can be replenished with this device,” he began, showing a squarish device with a switch on it. “You can use this to refill red power cells by taking sunlight, metal or almost anything based on what mode the device is in and transfer it to an empty red power cell.” He handed Anne the power cells and the device. Anne knew this was perfect for their upcoming travels. “How much will this cost?” Anne asked the shopkeeper. “That will be 250 creds,” he said, but before he could continue, Anne spoke up. “Up we go,” she stated. He then had a look in his eyes, but continued. “Down I leave,” he said, walking away. “Let’s go Twilight, we don’t have a lot of time,” Anne said, putting the red power cells into her rife and putting the device in a hidden pouch in her backpack. She led Twilight out of the shop, heading towards the black market. Twilight was really confused on what just happened. “Hey Anne. What just happened back there?” Twilight asked her as they walked away. “He's a friend and part of our group. We have a hidden code,” Anne stated, she then pulled out the rifle, “OK, so in order to use a gun, you just aim and pull the trigger here,” Anne explained, holding the rifle and pointing towards the trigger. “We will practice with it later, but keep in mind that it does have a small kick to it.” She then handed it to her, and Twilight used her magic to teleport it to where she kept De Magia. They entered the market, which was bustling with people walking all over the place. They were carrying bags and baskets all over, but there were also machines, hoverboards and even a few metal golems carrying things as well. Twilight noted that while it wasn’t as advanced technological wise compared to what she had seen they still had machines helping. She thought this town was poorer than the other places she had seen. “I’m guessing you don’t eat meat, right, Twilight?” Anne asked, inquisitively. Twilight, before she could answer, got interrupted by De Magia. “I know you don’t want to eat meat Twilight, but it won’t change who you are Twilight. You will need to eat meat to survive. Plants don’t grow on this planet, since it's mostly desert. On other planets you should be fine,” De Magia said in her head, trying to convince her. It worked. “You’re right De Magia. Eating meat won’t hurt me that much, however, I am only doing this in order to survive. I will not like this,” Twilight agreed. Even though he didn’t have a face, De Magia smiled. He knew he was slowly gaining control of her. “I won’t mind eating any meat Anne, go ahead and get what you want,” Twilight answered. She noted a surprised look on Anne’s face, but then shrugged and went up to a stand. “Hello! Me and my sister are going on a long trip and need some food and water for the trip. We also need a way to carry all our supplies,” she said in a calm demeanor. “Well, for carrying supplies and setting up a camp, we have the new floating platform. It's easy to control and it is safe for all your supplies! And, since it's new, it comes packed with many things. Food, water and a few other things you will need!” the lady said with glee. “That sounds perfect. How much?” Anne asked, hopefully. “For you, it will be 700 creds! It's on discount today!” the lady said happily. Anne wasn’t happy with the price, but it was perfect for what they needed. “How does it work?” Anne asked, handing her the creds. “Well, that's easy! You just enter in details about what you need, such as what you need it to carry, how you want it to look, and even if you want it to stay, it can also follow you around. If you want it to carry you like a mount, you can set it up like that! It also comes with some bonus features on the remote, such as—” the lady was about to explain, when she was interrupted by twenty soldiers entering the town. They were armed with large rifles, and were wearing some sort of green armor. They had grim faces, and were stiff. The people in the town didn’t seem to care, as if it had happened before. “Attention citizens! There are a couple of raiders hiding in your town! But do not panic, we will flush them out!” they began to yell, looking around. Twilight and Anne knew they were out of time and took the platform full of supplies and began moving back towards the inn. They had to gather up what they could and leave. They parked the platform outside, using the remote to lock it and keep it safe. They entered the inn in a hurry, knowing they were running out of time. After they entered the room, Twilight disabled the spell around herself, as she got tired from using it for so long, and so she could use her other magic easier. “Grab what you can! And put this on before we leave!” Anne said in a quick manner, tossing Twilight a cloak. It was a simple brown cloak with a few holes in it, but had a hood to cover up Twilight's horn and wings. It also had a pocket in which she could keep her newly acquired sword. They ran around the room, grabbing what they could carry. Twilight used her magic to teleport what they had onto the platform outside,when suddenly, there was a knock on the door “Excuse us, we would like to ask you a few questions!” guards yelled from outside the room, trying to break down the door. “Twilight. Go outside and get the platform set up to leave. We might have to make a run for it. You can figure it out!” Anne said, handing Twilight the remote. Twilight teleported out of the room and looked at the remote. There were many different buttons on the remote, but there was one that caught Twilight's eye: ‘Vehicle mode’. Twilight thought this was going to be the best method of escape, and pressed the button. The square platform began to enclose itself, forming a large cube. Then, it began to grow a rectangle in the front with windows on it. It also formed two doors from out of nowhere. Twilight climbed into the vehicle and waited for Anne. Just then, Twilight heard weapons firing and turned around to see Anne running from the guards. She knew it was time, and opened the door for her. “Wow, I didn’t know it could do this. Hang on, Twilight!” Anne shouted as she slammed on the gas, taking off. Twilight remembered there was a gun on top, but she didn’t know how to make it work. As they drove off, they took a few shots from the guard’s guns, but it didn’t phase them. They managed to push through the blockade set up around town, but then they were being followed by guards in tanks. There were guards trying to block their path, but they managed to drive past them. They looked around at the other people, but they just moved out of the way, not even phased by this. The soldiers they passed began to run after them, but to no avail. They saw the exit to the town blocked off, and had to find another way. They found a broken down stand that they used as a ramp to jump over the other vehicles. As they headed towards the desert, they had the three tanks following them. “Twilight, use the screen over here to control the remote gun turret on top!” Anne said, pointing towards a console on her side. “How?! I have hooves!” Twilight pointed out frantically. Anne then handed her a small pen without a tip. “Use this! Hurry!” Anne shouted, annoyed at her. Twilight levitated the pen and used it on the console. She saw the image on the screen turn and aimed it towards the other vehicles shooting at them. She fired, and saw an explosion from the side of a vehicle with a long barrel on it. It lit up in flames, and fell to the ground. Twilight fired a few more times, taking it down. She had the biggest rush of adrenaline she had ever felt, and she LOVED it. She used a spell to copy the pen in order to control the turret easier. She aimed at the other two tanks and fired towards them, knocking them down and causing them to explode. Twilight never felt so rushed and excited in her life, and she was loving it. They managed to escape out into the desert, leaving the three tanks to burn in flames. “That. Was. Awesome!” Twilight yelled in between short breaths. “Welcome to our world, Twilight Sparkle!” Anne said with a big smile on her face. Twilight felt tired and began to fall asleep. Before she did, Twilight thought she heard something; “Grow more powerful, my pet. Be ready for war to rage.” However, she couldn't make it out clearly as she passed out from the adrenaline rush. But she knew that wasn’t going to be the last time, and she couldn't wait for it. The Base“Starlight. I think we need to tell Celestia,” Spike said as they were walking through the forest, heading back home. They had just found out that there was nothing that had the power to bring Twilight back, which Celestia hadn’t locked away. “Let’s wait, Spike. Twilight does have the book with her, so let’s give her time. We will give her two weeks before we go to the princess. We also have Discord helping us out. Let’s wait until we know more, let’s just buy her time for now,” Starlight told the dragon. They continued their journey back to the castle. “We could also steal one of the artifacts to get Twilight home,” Starlight added in. “What? Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, if we get caught, it’s all over,” Spike pointed out. “Do you have any other ideas?” Starlight said to him. “Why, you don’t need to worry! She will be fine!” Discord said, appearing near them. “I already found her. The book will bring her home in due time.” “And you know this how?” Spike asked him. “Let’s say there is more to what is going on then you need to know about. Just back out before you get involved,” Discord warned them before he disappeared. “What did he mean by that?” Spike asked Starlight; she just shrugged. For now, they made a plan to wait for something from Celestia, Discord or Twilight to happen. Twilight awoke from the long nap she took. That adrenaline rush had taken a lot more out of her then she had thought at first. As she looked around, she was still in the same truck, so she looked out the window. They were now in the plains as Twilight saw only a few trees around. “Morning,” Anne told her. “Ugh, my head. Where are we?” Twilight asked her. Her head was pounding, and her magic felt weak. “We are coming up on a small slave town, which we need to pass through. However, this town isn’t safe. We need to stay inside the truck as much as we can,” Anne explained. Twilight knew about slaves from books, but never thought any creature could do that to their own kind. “Oh, I better hide!” Twilight said, as they came upon a few guards. Twilight managed to cast a quick glance towards the town. All Twilight saw were giant metal walls with a large metal gate. The guards didn’t look like anything different from what Twilight had seen, wearing armor of some kind with rifles in their hands. “We are just passing through,” Anne told the guard. “Hmm. Alright, go on in,” they told her. The gates to the town opened, and she drove in. “Alright Twilight, you can get up now,” she told the alicorn. Twilight took a look around, and saw slums, everywhere. The town looked like the castle of the two sisters in its current age but even older and less taken care of. Most of the buildings were missing roofs, and the people were covered in rags. “Why did we need to come in here?” Twilight asked Anne. “We need to meet a contact. He is going to help us,” Anne explained. She sighed for a second and the look in her eyes changed to a more confident look. “The truth is, my brother is being held here. I was planning on trading you for him. However, I can’t now, I don’t want to,” Anne told her. She knew lying wasn’t going to help them. Twilight felt her heart skip a beat after hearing that. She couldn’t imagine any pony doing things like this. However, Twilight was slowly piecing together how humans worked. There was a hint of stress as she spoke. “Hmm. Alright, I will use my magic to help get your brother back. I appreciate you telling me the truth,” Twilight said. In truth, she didn’t trust Anne after hearing that, but she knew she was better off with her than alone. “Thank you, Twilight. I understand if you don’t trust me anymore. The real reason my brother is being held there, is that we both were slaves. The owner would let me leave if I found something rare for him. In order to make sure I listened, he took my brother. I just want to save him,” Anne told her. “Anyway, here we are.” They stopped in front of a large building, which, compared to the rest of the town, looked like a castle. It was well maintained compared to the slums from before. “Ok, here is the plan. I am going to pretend to have you in cuffs. Once they bring my brother out, the cuffs come off. We will need to fight our way out, once we get a hold of him. Sounds good?” Anne explained to Twilight. She was not pleased with being in cuffs and was planning on using her magic to escape if she needed to. “Alright,” was the only thing Twilight told her. She got placed in the fake cuffs and went up to the large stone door. “We are here to see the King. I brought him a gift,” Anne told the guards, who let her pass. She led Twilight to a large, open room with one chair, that was led up to by a red carpet. It looked like a castle you would see in fairy tales. “Ah, Anne! Glad to see you can kept your end of the deal!” the King said. Twilight looked onto the chair and saw a large, bulky man with a giant white beard sitting in the chair. He held a red wooden scepter and a silver crown on his head. He had a grin that was condescending , and wore robes that were too long for him. “Of course, where is my brother?” Anne asked, but before anything else could happen, armed guards with spears and wearing metal armor appeared. Two were standing at the gates, a few walking around, and a group pulling a cart with a cage on it. They looked like knights with the armor and the helmets which covered their faces from being seen. They also wore capes made from a fabric of some kind. They were very similar to knights Twilight had read about in books, just much taller. “There has been a slight change of plans. You and that thing will become my personal slaves!” the King said, laughing. “Where is my brother!” Anne yelled at him. The King motioned guards to bring out something. Twilight and Anne took a look, and saw her brother’s dead, lifeless corpse. “YOU SON OF A BITCH! HE WAS ONLY 10! YOU KILLED HIM!” Anne screamed at him in pain while tears crawled down her face. “Yea, yea, yea. Blame him. Bastard wouldn’t listen to me,” the King said, with a real smug look on his face. “Twilight, teleport us out of here!” Anne said, taking the cuffs off of her. Twilight’s horn began to glow. “Stop them!” the King yelled. The guards began running towards them, but Twilight’s magic was faster and teleported them both out of the castle. They looked around for the truck, but they saw it was surrounded by guards. “This way!” Anne yelled, grabbing Twilight by the hoof and dragging her. They quickly ran the other way as the other guards left the castle. Just then, they heard a voice on the speakers. “We have a couple of rebels! A girl and a wild animal! They tried to kill your king! You must stop them at all cost!” the King yelled through a loudspeaker. “I know an exit to get out of the city, follow me!” Anne yelled. Twilight followed her to what appeared to be an old bar. Twilight and Anne went inside and she went to the bartender. “The eye welcomes all,” she stated to him, rushed faster than normal. “The watcher let’s you enter,” he told her back. Just then, a wall on the side opened. Anne led Twilight inside before it closed behind them. “This is a tunnel we use to get around. We should be safe in here,” Anne said. Twilight could hear the depression in her voice. “Anne. Is everything ok?” Twilight asked her as they walked. “He killed my younger brother and to top it off, I lost all the supplies and the last of the creds we had. I am just great!” Anne said sarcastically. “It could be a lot worse Anne. You will get your revenge on him,” Twilight told her. She was quite surprised she said that last part. “You are starting to learn the truth, Miss Sparkle. This is what Celestia hides from all of you,” De Magia said in her head. “Thank you, Twilight. Let’s just focus on getting back to the base,” Anne said. They stayed walking in silence until they left the tunnel. When they left the underground tunnel, they had ended up back in the desert. “The base is just a few miles from here. If we keep walking, we should be able to make it back before nightfall,” Anne said, starting to walk before Twilight went up to her with her horn glowing. “I can conjure up some food and water. It won’t taste very good, but it will help us survive,” Twilight told her, her horn beginning to glow. Before Anne could respond, a few oranges and two water bottles appeared out of nowhere. “It’s limited with what I can do, but for now, this is what we have.” “Huh, neat. Thank you,” Anne said, grabbing an orange and some water. They began the long journey towards the hidden base. After walking for what felt like days, when it was only nine hours, Twilight and Anne finally saw the base. It looked like a simple sand mountain. Twilight’s magic was weakening due to conjuring up some rags for them, but they finally made it “We made it Twilight! There it is!” Anne yelled, excited. “Yes! Thank Celestia!” Twilight added in. They began to run toward the mountain. She walked up to where the door was and clicked on a button located on it. “Can I help you?” it asked. “It’s me, Anne. I brought our guest,” Anne told it. “Oh. The Watcher would like to meet with you both, go on and see him,” it said, before doors began to open behind the sand. Twilight just stood and stared in amazement at what she saw. They entered the base as the doors closed behind them. Then, an elevator came up, which took them to the real underground base. “Let me do all the talking,” Anne told Twilight, giving her a very serious look. Twilight understood and just nodded. Anne led Twilight through a series of hallways and corridors until they came upon a set of double doors, with a label on it that said ‘The Watcher’. Anne knocked on the door in a pattern of five times in order to let the Watcher know it was her. The doors then opened and revealed a small room with curtains at the end of the room. They were bright red and seemed larger than the room itself. There was also two guards on the sides. “Hello Anne. I see you found our special guest,” The Watcher said. “Yes, all mighty Watcher,” Anne simply said. “Let me talk to her,” The Watcher asked. Anne nudged Twilight to move up. “Nice to meet you Watcher, thank you for helping me,” Twilight said. She had no idea how to talk to something that seemed to be a god to these people. “I should be saying that to you, goddess of magic and friendship. Student to goddess of the sun. Protecter of other worlds,” The Watcher said. “Goddess? No, no, you got us all wrong. We are just simple princesses,” Twilight corrected, blushing a bit. “Princess, Goddess. Sun, Moon. I have heard the tales of the book you travel with. You do not belong in this world dear Twilight Sparkle. However, I am not allowed to mess with your affairs,” The Watcher said. From what Twilight could gather, there were gods in this world, but she wasn’t sure she was talking to one at all. “Well, thank you Watcher. I will just stay around here for now,” Twilight said, “Indeed. My people will protect you, until the time is right. Now, begone,” The Watcher finished. They then left the room and went back out to the base. “Well, that was... something else,” Twilight pointed out, not sure what to think. “The Watcher is a simple god. He knows all, and sees all. He knows everything that we don’t. At least, the stories say so,” Anne explained. “We are low on rooms, so you can come and stay with me for now. Follow me.” Anne led Twilight through the base, pointing out different areas, mainly the mess hall and the bathrooms. They then came upon a small room, where she led Twilight inside. “Feel free to make yourself comfortable. I need to go find a few friends and explain you and my brother, to them,” Anne said as she left. The room itself was very small, with only one bed. There was a small desk in the corner and a small closet with cloaks in it. On the other side, there were also a few books. Twilight got excited after seeing the books and paper. She figured that the room was mostly meant for sleeping, and that they didn’t spend a ton of time in the small, cramped room. “Well Twilight, time to get organized. What do I know? One: This world is very unfriendly, and that they have weird magic. Two: I am the only pony in this world for who knows how long. Three: De Magia is alive and wants to help me. Four: Discord knows where I am, but knowing him, he won’t help out. Alright, mental checklist, check. I think I should be fine,” Twilight said, talking to herself out loud. There was a knock on the door. “Anne! I heard you were back. Can we talk?” The voice sounded male, and Twilight thought it was one of her friends. He had both a worried and excited tone. “Anne isn’t here right now. Can I help you?” Twilight told him. “Oh, who are you? I am Baxter,” he said, his tone of voice changing to try to be more friendly. “I am Twilight. How can I help you?” Twilight told him back, sharing his tone. “Can I come in?” He asked her. This caught Twilight off guard. She didn’t want to be rude, but at the same time, how would she explain? “Alright, but don’t freak out and let me explain,” Twilight finally decided to say. “Freak out about what? Do you have robot limbs or a missing hand or something, as that would be cool!” Baxter said. He reminded Twilight of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Twilight looked around for a way to open the door until she found the button and flew up to hit it. The door slid open and Baxter came in. Once he saw Twilight, he stopped moving. He suddenly began slapping himself. “You are not crazy. You are not crazy. You are not crazy,” he told himself. “I told you not to freak out,” Twilight told him. “I THOUGHT YOU WERE HALF MACHINE OR SOMETHING, NOT A TALKING PURPLE WINGED UNICORN!” he shouted. “Calm down, let me explain please,” Twilight said, trying to calm him down. However, before he could, he grabbed a taser from his back pocket. “Stay still, this will hurt, A LOT!” he said, running towards Twilight. Twilight raised up a shield spell with her magic, absorbing the attack. She then used her magic to lift the taser out of his hand. “Let me explain!” Twilight yelled again. However, Baxter just charged at her, “Where is Anne!” he yelled, banging on the shield. “Baxter! Stop!” Anne yelled running back with her other friends. “She is a friend, that’s enough,” Baxter just stopped and looked at her. “But, what, but….” Baxter was at a loss for words. “Well, guess you two already met each other,” Anne said, pulling Baxter away. “Guess you should introduce yourself to everyone else, Twilight.” “Right. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, pleased to meet you,” Twilight said, taking her front forehoof to bow. “That, is, the coolest thing I have ever seen. A talking horse!” a girl with glasses said, from outside the room. “I am known as Hamya, please answer all my questions!” she started to jump around. “So, that is where you disappeared to?” a tall, bulky man said. “You were sent to capture and study an alien?” This freaked out Twilight. “I was sent to save her, and she is a friend. Twilight, forgive Tank. He is very blunt,” Anne said. “Anne, babe, why are you talking to an animal?” Baxter asked her, pointing to Twilight. “And you met Baxter, my idiot of a boyfriend,” Anne finished. She then turned to her friends. “We need to help Twilight feel welcome. We will show her around and help her out tomorrow. For now, I think we both need rest,” she led the three friends outside. “Well, quite a varied group of friends you have,” Twilight said, still a bit shocked. “Yea, and that isn’t even all of them. You will meet others tomorrow. For now, I think it's time to rest, I am sure this is a lot for you to take in,” Anne said. She went over to her and brought out a small basket, like the one Spike sleeps in “You’re kidding right?” Twilight said raising a brow at her. “This is only for tonight Twilight, I will get you a proper bed tomorrow. I know this is very low,” Anne said, hoping to not make Twilight more upset. “Fine, for one night,” Twilight moaned. Anne laid out a few blankets on the basket, and Twilight laid down. She was surprisingly comfortable. Anne went over to her own bed. “Good night, Twilight,” Anne said. “Good night, Anne,” Twilight replied as she went to sleep. “Hello Twilight. How is the world treating you?” De Magia asked her. Twilight was back in the dark room with a single pillar of light beaming down on her. De Magia’s voice came from nowhere and everywhere. “What do you think? I know you are seeing all of it,” Twilight stated simply. “It could be worse. I am here to tell you that Celestia already knows you took me, and is ready to exile you, or banish you, or even execute you,” De Magia told her. He knew it was a lie, but he needed his pet to hate her. “What? But how! What about Spike and Starlight?” Twilight asked, worried. “She locked them in the dungeon, demanding to know where you are. They are getting beaten until they do, which they can’t,” he told her. “No, you are lying. I, I can’t believe it,” Twilight said, a look of shock on her face. “You best believe it. You are alone now, Twilight, and I am the only one who will stay with you. Now sleep,” De Magia told her, as Twilight faded out and went back to sleep. His plan was coming along nicely, the only big issue were these humans. But, they should help in his plans. Twilight kept what De Magia told her in her mind. “Celestia doesn’t care about her anymore.” Twilight had a feeling De Magia wasn’t truthful about everything, but she didn’t know what to believe anymore. Twilight went to sleep in order to think it over. She would meet with Anne’s friends, which might help clear her mind. She also thought about her friends back home, which had no idea what had happened to her. She thought about Discord, Spike and Starlight, who might explain to her friends, or at least make sure they wouldn’t worry about her. Her thoughts went back to the KIng, who killed a ten year old child in order to make a point. She knew the world she was in now. A world of bad and worse. A world of evil, but there were still people like Anne, but even now she didn’t know if she could trust her either. Fresh Start“Morning Twilight. How did you sleep?” Anne asked as she poked her, trying to wake her up. “I don’t think I’ve slept so well in my whole life!” Twilight said, yawning. “Well, we have both been through alot, so it makes sense,” Anne added, going into the closet and grabbing some fresh clothes to wear. “First up on the agenda is the wash room. We both need a shower,” Anne said as she grabbed a towel for her and Twilight. “A shower sounds great right now! I could really use one,” Twilight exclaimed, glad she could feel some water on her coat again soon. Her mane and coat were tattered and more brown than lavender, and her mane wasn’t even straight anymore. “Well then, let’s get going!” Anne said cheerfully. She led Twilight towards the wash room. Now that it was daytime, Twilight was able to get a closer look at the base. It seemed larger than it did the last day. She saw many people around, of all ages, and they were all staring at her. Twilight knew why they were staring, but she didn’t enjoy it. “Hey, Twilight, after this, let’s get breakfast and then see if we can get you your own room,” Anne explained to her. “My own room?” Twilight was taken aback by this. She had not been expecting to get her own room. “Well, maybe more like, get us a new room to share. I am tired of that small room and I don’t want you to be alone quite yet,” Anne said, correcting herself. That made more sense to Twilight, so she agreed. They arrived at the wash room. “So, do you know how showers work?” Anne asked. “Well, I’m sure your showers work differently than what I’m used to. But I can learn easily,” Twilight explained to her. Anne led her into the wash room and Twilight became confused immediately. She had never seen a wash room like this. There were no knobs on anything, and everything was so plain. She had no idea how any of it worked. Anne noticed her look and began to speak, but she stopped herself. “Well…” she started. “Um.” “What?” Twilight asked. “We could shower together in order for me to help you,” Anne said, not sure if that was awkward. “No, um, just show me how it works and I should be fine. No need to make this weird,” Twilight replied, a bit embarrassed. They stood silently for what felt like five minutes before Anne continued. “Right, OK. Come take a look,” Anne said, showing Twilight how the showers worked. There were buttons to control how cold or hot the water was, a button to dispense soap and shampoo, and a button to give you a brush. She led Twilight to a shower, and then went to a shower cabin next to her. This was different from the showers back home, but Twilight didn’t care. She was glad to finally be able to clean herself off. After washing her mane and tail, along with the rest of her coat, she levitated the towel to dry herself off. She then walked out and waited for Anne. “Well Twilight, how do you feel?” Anne asked her, coming out from behind the curtains that encased each shower. “Great! I really needed that! So, now we get something to eat?” Twilight replied, after hearing her stomach growl from the lack of food. “Yea! Here, hand me your towel,” Anne said, holding her hands out. Twilight handed her the towel she had used and Anne put it down a small chute. They left the wash room, just as a big group entered. “Looks like we got here at the right time,” Twilight joked. A few minutes later, they came upon the mess hall. There were already tons of people sitting and eating at the tables and there was a decent line to the serving table as well. Twilight and Anne took their place at the back of the line. “What kind of food do you guys have here?” Twilight asked, hoping they had something she could eat. “Mostly meat,” Anne started. She noticed the disgusted look on Twilight’s face. “But we do also have some vegetables and fruits, along with grains.” “Whew. Good, we don’t really eat meat back home,” Twilight explained to her. When they finally got into line, Twilight took a look at the menu. She had no idea what any of these foods were: bacon, omelet, sausage. There were a bunch more. “Anne, I have no idea what any of this stuff is,” Twilight told her. Anne nodded and ordered for her. “I will take a bacon omelet surprise. My friend will take an uncooked oatmeal please,” Anne told the cashier. He gave her a weird look, but nodded, confirming her order. “I got you oats for now, I will teach you about the other food as time goes,” Anne explained. “Sounds good,” Twilight confirmed. Anne grabbed her tray while Twilight used her magic to carry hers and they headed over to a free table. Twilight immediately began to eat. “So, Twilight, we need to discuss what kind of room we want to get,” Anne began, looking towards Twilight. “Mhmm,” was all she managed, too distracted by her food to listen to her. “Well, it needs to be big enough for a person and a pony. I think having a closet for myself is a good idea. We’ll also want access to a computer and a TV to keep us updated. Finally we need two beds,” Anne said. Twilight finally said something. “What is a computer?” “I’ll show you when we get one. Anyway, finish eating, looks like you need it,” Anne said, taking a bite of her own food. “This food is different from the food back home.” Twilight said, looking up towards Anne. “Huh?” Anne asked her, looking somewhat confused. “The food just seems a little different is all. Can’t say if it’s good or bad yet,” Twilight explained, hoping that it made sense. “Hmm, we might make our food differently from yours,” Anne said, trying to make sense from it. Before they could continue, someone came and sat at the table with them, looking at Twilight. He was was an average person, in terms of size and looks. “Hey Anne. Who’s this— unique—friend of yours?” the man asked. “It’s a long story. Let’s say things happened and she doesn’t belong, but I am helping her for now. There was the empire and the outlaws, and now she's here,” Anne explained, telling him the short version of their adventures “So, how much would this room cost?” Anne asked the man helping them. They were standing in a shop where they could rent out a new room and sell their old one. It was the only one in the base. “Well, that will be one thousand creds miss. More if you have a pet,” he said, looking towards Twilight. “For the last time—I am not a pet!” Twilight yelled in a fit of anger. She had gotten so tired of hearing that. “We will come back later. Hold the room for us,” Anne said looking at the cashier, before walking out of the small room. “I need to get some more money from my account. Wait here,” she told Twilight, having Twilight sit on a small bench before walking away. After Twilight had been sitting on the small bench for several minutes, two people came up to her. They were very bulky and both were wearing sunglasses. “So, the rumors were true!” one of them said. “Why would Anne be friends with that thing?” the other said. “Maybe as a pet for a weird fetish?” the other suggested. “I am not a thing!” Twilight yelled. “It talks! Well, let’s see how much creds you are worth!” the first one said, jumping on top of her, holding her down. Before she could use her magic she was crushed under his weight, but she began to fight back. “It’s a feisty thing!” the other one said, grabbing a small pistol. Twilight’s eyes widened. She mustered up all her strength and bucked the one on top of her in the face, using her hind legs, causing him to stumble. “Why you little!” he said, but before they could do anything else, Anne came back. “Walter! George! Stop!” she yelled. “Shit, it’s Anne! Run!” they said in unision, taking off running. “Twilight, are you ok?” she asked, running up to her. “Well, I think my ribs are bruised, but otherwise, I’m fine,” she said through heavy breaths. “Those two are assholes, forget about them. I got the money, let’s head back in,” Anne said, helping Twilight walk. “Forget about it?! They bucking attacked me for no real reason! How can I forget about that?” Twilight yelled. Anne sighed. “Those two just love to be jerks. They had no real reason to attack you, Twilight,” Anne tried to explain. “So random people come up and just attack others, for no real reason?” Twilight questioned, not believing it. “Humans tend to make poor choices Twilight. That is just what we do. Humans are just that way,” Anne said, not sure how to explain it. “So they are just that way then? Guess it can’t be helped. We have creatures like that back home, but they don’t do it to their own kind,” Twilight said, trying to make more sense from it. “Let’s get back inside,” Anne said, bowing her arms and pointing towards the door. “After you.” “So, did you two decide?” the man asked. “Yes, we’ll take the room, here’s the money,” she said, giving him the creds she had gotten. “Great, here is the keycard! Hope you two have a great day!” he said as they left. “So, now we have a bigger room?” Twilight asked. “Yea, let’s go check it out,” Anne said, leading the way towards their new room. It didn’t look much different on the outside and had an empty sign on it. Anne entered the keycard into a small lock on the door and a voice came out of the box. “Welcome! Please say the name of the owner,” it said in a robotic voice. “Anne, Twilight. Two owners,” she replied. “Two owners, Anne and Twilight confirmed. Welcome Anne,” it said and as it did, the sign showed their names. “That is so cool!” Twilight squeaked. The door opened and they went inside. “There isn’t anything in here,” Twilight pointed out. There wasn’t any furniture, only several different empty rooms. “Well, we have to go sort that out,” Anne said, walking over to a console on the wall in the living room. “Welcome, Anne, what would you like in each room?” the same voice asked again. “Start with bedroom,” she said and it showed the bedroom. She began to mess around with the console. “Two beds, a closet and a shelf. Confirm,” she said out loud. “Confirmed,” it replied. She did this for each room. The bathroom would have a shower, a sink and a cabinet, along with a toilet. The kitchen a table, a storage room and a refrigerator. And the living room a desk with a computer, a couch and a TV on it. “Please leave the room for two hours while I get things sorted out,” said the voice from the console. “You heard it, let’s go give you a tour of the ‘mini city’, as we call it,” she said. “How does that even work?” Twilight asked, her mouth ajar.Twilight has never a spell pull off those things. That many items appear from nowhere, the screen that talk to you. Anne put the keycard in her pocket and they left towards the different districts in the city. Twilight saw many shops, a few restaurants and even a few guards running around. It reminded her of Canterlot, only much smaller. She wasn’t sure how all of this even worked. “Technology can do things not even magic can do. That is one reason you were brought here. You are going to learn these things,” De Magia voice sounded in her head. “So, you did mean to bring me here?” she asked. “Yes and no. Just learn from it while you can. You do know they have a way to study things. Learn as much as you can, my pe—, I mean my friend,” De Magia told her. “Is there a way I can learn more about this universe and its technology?” Twilight asked. “Of course. I already thought about that. I will show you when we get back,” Anne told her. “Oh yea! We were supposed to meet with my friends today! We better hurry!” Anne began to run towards an arcade and Twilight trotted after her. Meanwhile in a dark place in the middle of nowhere. “So, Discord knows about us now. I don’t think he is going to interfere. What about De Magia?” a voice asked. “He seems to be manipulating Princess Twilight Sparkle. We are not sure what his plan is,” something else replied back. “If the Element of Magic joins him, things will get tricky. I think I know what his plan is. Prepare the troops, we are going to talk to the dragon and unicorn who work with the princess,” he told him, sending him off. “You will not win this war, De Magia—I will make sure of it.” New Friends“Slow down Anne!” Twilight yelled, trying to catch up to Anne. “We need to hurry Twilight. They are waiting for us!” Anne yelled back. “We’re heading to what we call our ‘secret base’.” Twilight was wondering what she meant by that, but focused on keeping up with her. Anne led Twilight around the rest of the base and Twilight noticed something strange. The part they were in now looked much more run down and old. There also seemed to be fewer people around and seemed to have uninhabitable homes, unlike the part they came from. There were also tons of guards around, so it seemed like there was something else going on. She didn’t get time to question it further. “Alright, we’re here Twilight.” Anne told her as they slowed down. They came upon a small stairway that went down under the floor. It wasn’t very wide, and the door it led to was just a plain black wooden door. Anne led Twilight down to the door and knocked on the door a series of times; it reminded Twilight of a code, like the one she and her brother had often used when they were young Tap, tap tap, tap, tap tap tap, tap. “Oh! It must be Anne and Twilight. Come in!” a voice said. “Anne has someone to show us!” “Ok Twilight, take it easy. Let me handle things first. My friends can be, well, erhmm...” Anne started. “Strange?” Twilight said, finishing her sentence. “Thanks for understanding,” Anne just said, slowly opening the door. When the door opened fully, Twilight was greeted by a new, calm sight, that was very much in contrast to what she had seen in the base so far. The walls were made out of logs and had a table with a couch in the middle. There were two chairs by a table, and had there was a small kitchen in another part. There was a small drawer to the right, and a few cupboards. She saw Baxter, Hamya, and Tank, but also several other people she hasn’t seen before. Some were sitting at a table, there were two in the kitchen, and one was standing in the corner. “Well, I’m back!” Anne said, smiling. “This here is my friend, Twilight. Let’s just say she isn’t very familiar with our world and we should make her feel as welcome as possible!” Anne told them all. “Well, what in the world is that... thing?” a black man said, pointing at Twilight. Twilight took a better look at this man: he was a very tall, black-skinned male who was wearing very plain clothing with same colored shirt and jeans. His hair was black and very short. His question made her nervous and annoyed her at the same time. Twilight was about to respond, but a chubby girl spoke first. “Well, it’s just an animal. Why are you treating it like a human Anne?” she asked. Twilight noticed she was wearing a purple shirt and blue pants. She had a wide, chubby face as well. She was a medium height and had blonde hair. Anne and Twilight both guessed that the others had not told them about Twilight, due to their strange reactions to her. A pale boy decided to speak up. He looked very plain and nothing seemed too special about him. He had brown hair, glasses and his clothes were simple, wearing just a white shirt. “Well, if it’s a friend of Anne’s I will treat it as a friend—human or not,” he said. This helped Twilight calm down a bit, but she was still annoyed. There was one other person who had not spoken up yet. She was wearing a hood, but from what Twilight could tell, she was a very pale-skinned, short girl. It was hard to make out any features about her. “I guess you don’t like being called a thing or an it, do you my dear? You should show them how one should act in the presence of a princess,” De Magia suggested in her head. “But I just can’t simply do that, after all, this isn’t Equestria,” Twilight replied back. Deep in her mind, however, she knew he was right. “I am not a thing, I am not an it. I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. I come from Equestria, and you need to show me respect!” Twilight yelled towards the group. This caught herself, Anne, and the others off guard. The hooded girl didn’t seem to care. “Good job, Twilight,” Anne murmured under her breathe. “Little miss princess thinks she’s so tough, does she? She’s nothing but a stupid horse. I don’t care who you are, I run things around here!” the black man said. “He’s the boss of our crew, Twilight, also called The Boss. And Boss, please calm down. She is just tired of being called things she isn’t,” Anne explained defensively. “So, we have a talking unicorn princess? Jeez Anne, what have you got for us. Name’s Barb by the way,” the chubby girl said once more. “Well, I don’t have much else to say, Anne. I’m Mike,” the pale kid said. This made Twilight freak out, remembering the name of her first captor, but then remembered she wasn’t there anymore. “I’m Kris,” the hooded girl said, not adding anything else. The group then went back to talking for a bit. “See Twilight, that wasn’t too bad. They just take some getting used to, is all,” Anne said, looking at her friend. Twilight took a quick look around once more, and sat down. “Well, it is nice to have some friends. Something doesn’t seem quite right though. Why are they hidden underground like this? Anne is still the only one I can trust, or at least I think. There is something she isn’t telling me. For now, I will play along and see what happens. I might just be overthinking it.” “Hey Anne, come over here,” the Boss called out. This arose Twilight’s suspicions even more. “I’ll be right back, Twilight,” Anne said, heading over to talk to the Boss. Twilight used a spell to hear what they were saying. “Are you sure she will be willing to help the cause, Anne?” the Boss asked her. “To be honest, I don’t know. Twilight has been betrayed, captured, lied to, and has seen things I doubt she was used to seeing. I don’t know how she feels,” Anne explained. “Well, she better, Anne. Or else we will be forced to throw her out,” the Boss said. “We will not throw her out. She knows nothing about our world. Let’s just give it some time, ok?” Anne explained. Twilight was glad that Anne wanted to help her, but she was curious as to what they meant by helping them. “Should I go and ask her?” Anne asked. “Yes, but be careful about it,” the Boss said. Anne then returned to Twilight with a look that Twilight wasn’t able to recognize . “Soooooo, Twilight,” she started, talking slowly, “I have a question to ask you.” “Well, what is it, Anne?” Twilight asked. “Remember how I told you that we were a rebel group? Well, we want to ask for your help,” Anne told her. Twilight knew this was coming, but she had no idea how to answer her question. Twilight herself was a princess and being a rebel means going against the ruling family. She would also have to fight others, which she wasn’t sure she would be able to do. “Give me some time to think about it, Anne,” was all Twilight could tell her and Anne nodded. “Anyway, let’s go hang out with the others,” she said, pointing towards the group. Twilight agreed and followed Anne. “They want you to join this war of theirs, Twilight. You and me alone could easily beat these weak humans and their magic. But, I say join them. I will help you later,” De Magia said to her. Twilight simply ignored him and walked over to the others. When they got there, the others grew silent, until Mike decided to speak up. “Well Twilight, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself?” he asked her. Twilight’s ears perked up and she took him up on his offer. “Well, I used t o live in a library and I am Princess Celestia's protege. Others have told me I have OCD, though, I call it well organized, and care about my friends. I love to study and read,” Twilight started, but was interrupted by Barb. “Wait, magic? Magic isn’t real hun,” she said. Twilight’s horn glowed once again and she used a levitation spell on a glass sitting on a table nearby. They all just stood there staring at her in amazement. “So, you can use magic, so what,” the Boss said, still not pleased with her. “Guess he’s just that way,” Twilight thought. “What about you guys?” Twilight decided to ask them. “Well, there isn’t much to me, I am just a very simple person of simple tastes,” Mike said. “I love food!” Barb said. “Whatever,” Kris said. “I love science and learning!” Hamya said. “Sports for me,” Baxter said. “I love to work out!” Tank said. “Why should I tell you,” the Boss told her, annoyed. “Well then, now that we got to know each other, come sit down for awhile,” Anne said, walking over to a cupboard on the wall, grabbing a small box out of it. “Alright, so we need to find Starlight Glimmer and Spike. Keep your disguise on at all times!” something that looked like a pony said. There was a group of three all wearing sunglasses and a trench coat. They had entered Ponyville from a small black portal in the Everfree forest. “We will use them to help us find Twilight Sparkle and De Magia. Avoid Discord at all costs. Go!” the leader of the group said. They split up and began to look for Starlight and Spike. Starlight and Spike were both in the castle, thinking about everything that was happening. “What did Discord mean when he told us that? What is going on?” Spike asked. “I really don’t know, Spike, but I feel like Twilight is in trouble,” Starlight told him. “Excuse me, are you Miss Glimmer and Spike the dragon?” a shadow pony asked them. He seemed to not belong and something felt off about this pony. He had black fur and a black mane. “Why yes we are. Can we help you?” Starlight asked. “Tell us where to find Princess Twilight. We have something important to tell her.”He asked. “Twilight is out on royal duties for now. Could we help you instead?” Starlight asked, “Well, maybe you can be useful.” He said, smiling. Before they could react, they were knocked out. “While I still find your friends hard to get along with, that was a great time for me to relax. Thanks Anne” Twilight said cheerfully. “I thought that would help. So, will you help us?” Anne asked. “Wait until tomorrow for me to know, please,” Twilight told her. “Of course,” Anne said, walking up to the door. “Welcome back, Anne and Twilight,” the robotic voice said. When they walked in, the room looked like it did on the screen Twilight had seen earlier. The once empty apartement was now full of furniture and other things. Twilight was amazed at how this worked. “Anyway, we should probably get some sleep now. I will make breakfast in the morning,” Anne said, yawning. “Good idea, good night, Anne,” Twilight said, walking towards her own bed. For the first time since she got here, she felt like she belonged. She felt like people cared about her, and forgot about getting home, if only for tonight. Author's Note I'm sorry for the long wait and the short chapter. I have been busy. I will try to update more, but in the mean time, enjoy this chapter! New Change New Change “You should help them fight, Twilight,” De Magia told her. They were standing in the black room once more, where Twilight talked to it in her sleep. “Why?” Twilight asked it, looking around the dark room. “Because it would be good for you to learn, Twilight. Besides, they plan to kick you out if you don’t help, so you don’t have much choice,” De Magia told her. “What? Anne would never!” Twilight yelled at De Magia. “She did try to side with you, but I doubt she has enough power to protect you from all of them. Think of it as a way to learn more about this world and the humans,” De Magia explained, trying to provide her with an incentive using something she liked “Well, I do like learning new things. Still, I would have to fight other living beings,” Twilight said, a hint of sadness crawling on her face “You will need to learn this, Twilight. You will grow stronger. Trust me, help out these humans for now. I will be with you,” De Magia told her before the room began fading out. Twilight awoke the next day and kept in mind what De Magia said to her. She got up and stretched out her wings before looking around. “Morning, Twilight. How did you sleep?” Anne was making breakfast for them in the kitchen, a smell of oats in the air. “I slept good, how about you?” Twilight asked her back, trying to appear friendly. “Great. Anyway, I made some food, let’s eat up before leaving,” Anne said, carrying a plate over to Twilight. “What’s the plan for today?” Twilight looked at her while eating the oatmeal Anne had prepared for her." Anne’s face changed Her smile vanished, replaced by a rather distant expression. “I was hoping to help you learn more about humans and such in the library we have. Unless you want to help us in our fight?” she both explained and asked at the same time. Twilight became silent, waiting on De Magia to talk to her. “Do it. I will be with you,” he told her. “Yes, Anne. I will help you,” Twilight quickly told her. “Really? Well then, I want you to know you aren’t forced to. But still, thanks, Twilight,” Anne said, a happy look on her face. Twilight still wasn’t sure about this, but she knew she needed to learn more first. The rest of the meal was quiet while they ate and soon they were making their way out of the room. Twilight continued to follow Anne quietly and Anne took notice of that. They went back to the small hidden room where she had met Anne’s friends. “Ok, wait here,” Anne said and Twilight did as she was told. Anne did her knock, and she went inside. Twilight stood outside waiting for Anne, and soon De Magia struck up a conversation with her. “Well, Twilight. You ready to join in on the war?” he asked her. “Not really, no. I wish there was another way,” Twilight told him. “Well, what if there was another way?” De Magia answered. “What do you mean?” Twilight asked. “We can leave, or use your magic to control these humans anyway we want,” De Magia told her once more. “What, no! I won’t do such a thing,” Twilight replied. Before they could continue, Anne came back outside. “Alright, Twilight, I hope you’re ready. You still have a chance to back down,” Anne told her. “You have helped me, Anne. It’s the least I can do to return the favor,” Twilight explained and she wasn’t lying. She felt like she needed to help out in order to pay them back. She sighed, before walking over to Anne. Twilight knew this would be the end of some of her ideals and she would join in a war. Anne led Twilight into the same room as yesterday, but now it was empty. “What’s going on Anne?” Twilight asked, very confused. The lights in the room went out, leaving the room dark. “Sorry for this, Twilight,” Anne said before Twilight got knocked out. Twilight’s mind began to race with what De Magia told her and she now feared for her life as she fell to the cold floor. When Twilight awoke, she was in a pure white room with no windows or doors, only a single bed. She took a quick look around, but couldn’t see anything other than pure white. She rubbed her hoof over the back of her head where she had been hit. Suddenly, a voice came out of nowhere. “We're sorry for the rough welcome, Twilight, but you must understand, we can’t let anyone know where this is.” Twilight jumped, startled by the sudden noise. “Wha-whats going on?” Twilight asked, not sure what to think of the situation. “Calm down Twilight,” another voice said, and this time Twilight was sure it was Anne’s. Twilight turned towards the sound of the voice and saw Anne standing next to a now open hole in the wall. “What in the name of Celestia is going on Anne!?” Twilight yelled at her. “I had to, Twilight. We have to protect the location of this place, and we had to be careful. But you are here now. Please come with me,” Anne said in her usual nice tone, and Twilight hesitantly followed her. What Twilight saw made her panic, get excited, and almost pass out all at the same time. Machines that Twilight had never seen, people walking around, and weapons everywhere. It looked like the palace during the wedding, only even more busy. Twilight thought she now understood what she had gotten herself into. They were preparing for a new attack. “Commander, sir!” Anne called out towards a tall man in a uniform. “Anne, glad to see you made it! And what is this?” the commander said looking at Twilight. “She is the asset I was talking about, and my friend,” Anne said, sneaking that last part in. The commander walked over to Twilight and began looking her over. “So, a purple winged unicorn is our asset? Well, I guess she can work. Sadly, we don’t have time to train her,” the commander said looking back over to Anne. “An attack is incoming soon. Take her and go meet up with your squad. Good luck to you.” Anne then grabbed Twilight and ran over to her squad. Twilight knew it was too late to back out, and just accepted her new fate. “It has begun,” De Magia said in the back of her mind. “What have I got us into De Magia? I mean, I was just foalnapped by Anne of all people, and now this place I am in seems strange, even with what we have seen. The commander didn’t even question me which seemed a bit off, or reacted to me in any way. Tartarus, I don’t even think I can trust Anne anymore! I mean, she knocked me out without any good reason!” Twilight began to think to De Magia. He never gave her an answer, leaving Twilight with her thoughts while running with Anne. She looked at Anne, but she didn’t see the same friendly face as before, only a face of mystery, and a face that had secrets to hide. She took a look around the building, and it had the same pure white walls she saw in her room, but they didn’t look like normal walls— they almost looked fake and it seemed like they were built just for her. All the people running around showed no signs of reaction to her, which bothered Twilight quite a bit. She wasn’t sure who she could trust anymore, but decided Anne was still on her side. Twilight saw a group equipping gear she had never seen before and she knew that they must have been part of the military that she was now forced to join. Author's Note Sorry for the long wait! But I had a few surprises to make up for it :) The Discovery (Rewritten again on 5/26/16)Twilight was searching around in the Canterlot archives after spending two weeks in the castle of the two sisters, looking for books on dark magic.- She wanted to learn to better combat dark magic for the future and thought the best way was to learn how the magic worked itself, even if dark magic was banne. She was doing it for the good of ponykind; at least, that’s what she told herself. After seeing what dark magic could do, after she had to use it to open Sombra’s door, she had started studying dark magic. She also thought that chaos magic and demon magic could be useful, after Discord and Tirek attacked Equestria. Since Tirek, Twilight was studying dark magic, hidden away from her friends. "No, no, no! Ugh, none of these books helps me with what I need! Why are there no spellbooks here! There is nothing! I can’t even find a theory of relative magic!" Twilight yelled in a fit of anger. She had been searching in the archives for what felt like days. She was a mess, and the library was no better. Her mane was in shambles, and there were bags under her eyes. There were books thrown all over the place. The air grew musty as she walked further into the archive. She had already looked through most of the rooms in the archives trying to find what she needed. As she walked around, Twilight could feel the archives grow darker and darker; the air becoming cold. Bookshelves became scarce, and the books themselves were very old, and seemed unreadable to her. The lights dimmed, and there was an odd sense, Twilight knew she should leave, but something was calling to her, she had a feeling that she needed to keep looking. She came upon a large door that was locked with chains, and a sign that read: This area is off limits. No pony is allowed to enter, no matter the level of access they have. Any pony who trespasses will be dealt with harshly. Twilight could sense a magical seal protecting the door as well. "I have never seen this area before. I wonder what Celestia has back here. This magic seal is more powerful than anything I have ever seen! Maybe I should ask her what is behind here," Twilight thought to herself. Thus she went to go talk to Celestia and ask her about this forbidden room. She headed to the throne room, pacing herself to give her time to think. “I need a way to bring this up without making Celestia uncomfortable.” “Excuse me, I need to speak to the Princess.” Twilight told the guard, who went inside. He then walked out. “You may go see the Princess now,” he told her. Twilight entered the throne room, but a feeling of uneasiness overcame her. She knew, in her gut, that she was making a mistake at that point, but she wasn’t able to back out. She felt everything grow dark, and Celestia herself became a towering figure over her. She also felt a cold chill down her spine. Celestia had the usual motherly look in her eyes, which did calm Twilight down a bit. "Ah, Twilight. Is everything ok? You look distraught," Celestia asked. "Well Princess, I am doing good, though I am a little tired from searching in the archives. How are you today?” Twilight asked. She was going to try to settle her nerves a bit. “Oh, not much, same as ever. How is Starlight doing in her lessons?” Celestia asked, continuing the small talk. “Oh, she's doing great. We are both helping each other. That’s actually why I was in the archives Princess. I was looking for some old books that I had when I was your student, to help out Starlight,” Twilight said. Celestia seemed to be pondering what Twilight said. “Oh, and what did you find?” Celestia asked in a grave tone, and the motherly look in her eyes was gone. “Well, I found a part of the library that is alot darker than the rest; a part I haven’t seen before. I was…” “You didn’t happen to find a room over there, did you?” Celestia interrupted, a hint of sorrow in her voice. “Yes, actually. I wanted to ask you about that room,” Twilight continued. However, the room grew cold and dark. Celestia became unnerved, and Twilight felt uneasy. The look in Celestia’s eyes told Twilight she had made a mistake, Twilight was scared of her. "That room contains very unstable and dangerous magic. Forget you ever saw that room Twilight, for your own sake." Celestia said in her normal tone before dismissing Twilight. Twilight felt heavy as she left. Twilight walked out of the throne room, feeling eyes watching her. There was a sense of darkness and dread as she left the throne room. "Well, that was a reaction I have never seen from her," Twilight said, walking away from the throne room. She headed back towards the archives and went down a hallway, when she saw a figure in the distance, hidden in a dark corner of the hallway. "You asked her about the room, didn't you, Miss Sparkle?" a strange pony said from the shadows. Twilight couldn’t get a good look at him, because he was wearing a cloak, but from what she could tell he had black fur, a red and purple mane, and he seemed to be an Earth pony. "And what do you know of it, and who are you?" Twilight asked the stranger. "All you need to know, Miss Sparkle, is that I want its secrets uncovered, for the good of all ponykind," he replied. “Why did he dodge my question? He also seems to not want to leave the dark spot he's hiding in, which means he might have something to hide. I am not convinced he's telling me the truth yet, I should push him a bit more first.” "I need to know if I can trust you. Give me a good reason to!" Twilight demanded. "Because I know you seek knowledge. And the knowledge that room contains will be able to fulfill your needs, along with granting you magic to stop the enemies of Equestria, and even help all ponies alike! Just imagine: you could show Celestia that not all magic is bad! Think of what you could do with it!" the dark figure explained, raising his voice at her. "But, I don't want to betray Celestia! Plus, she would know if I tried to enter the room!" Twilight replied. “Well now, my dear, betray Celestia? She has locked up her past in that room, something that eats at her everyday. Unlocking what's in that room will help her get over her past. And you want to help her, so betray isn’t the right word. You will be helping your Princess! " the pony replied. "How do you know all of this? And besides, there is still the issue of unlocking the door with the magic ward on it. How do you suggest I unlock it without her knowing?” Twilight asked, hoping to catch him off guard. “Well, that is the easy part, my young alicorn, for to unlock the door you just need a simple spell that I can teach you. It isn’t a guarantee however, and you will need to be quick,” he explained, avoiding another question. “Well, before we continue, can I at least have your name?” Twilight asked. She knew he was lying and couldn't be trusted, but something told her to listen, just to get inside that room. "It’s Shadowflame. All I want to do is help. So, if you want to get a hold of the book inside the room, here is what you must do..." He began, still hiding in the corner. Twilight returned to her laboratory in her castle. Her lab was located behind a wall in her castle that only she could open with her magic. She uses it to practice dark magic and other forms of forbidden spells she wasn’t supposed to use. The room itself was crystal like the rest of her castle, but had viles, a few scrolls, and a table in the middle. There were also a few monitors and consoles. Normally Twilight went alone, however, she had Spike follow her this time around. She needed the extra help for what she was about to do. Twilight felt very uneasy, knowing that what she was going to do could be treason, but she knew she was unable to back down from this now. "I don't even know who, or what, he is. He could be lying to me; he could be a villain. But at the same time, he could also want to help Celestia. Besides, all the knowledge and power... Wait, no, what I am thinking? I am NOT power-hungry. Though, I just want to see what that book has to offer... Maybe I will take a peek," Twilight thought to herself. "Twilight, Twilight, TWILIGHT!" Spike yelled at her. "Oh, sorry Spike, I have a lot on my mind," she told him. "Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked. She wasn't sure it was a good idea to tell him, but he was loyal to her. She thought it the best if he knew. "No, but I may have found something better!" she then explained the story with Shadowflame. Afterwards, Spike had a worried look on his face. “Twilight, this is a very bad idea. Breaking rules to get ahold of a book, something Celestia doesn’t want ponies to see. I think you should just forget about it, Twilight,” Spike said, hoping she would back down. “I wish I could, Spike, I really wish I could. However, there is something just telling me to get it, but I don’t know what it is. I have thought about this, but everytime it just goes back to wanting it,” Twilight explained to her assistant. She had to convince him to help her, otherwise this would be much more difficult. “Please, Spike, I am doing this for her sake. When I talked to her, I noticed a sour look in her eyes, meaning it was a bad part of her past. The best thing we can do is to find out what it is in order to help her,” Twilight explained to him. “Well, if it will help the Princess, then I will stick with you, Twilight, because you seem dead set on it. However, I still don’t agree this is the right course of action,” he told her. “Well, thanks Spike for supporting me. And for the record, I do know how wrong this is, but I can’t back out. The first thing he told me is that we need to be able to dispel that magic seal without Celestia knowing, she will still find out, but until that we should have enough time to switch out the books and leave. We will need to make sure we get a book of the right size," Twilight explained "But Twilight, isn't there still an alarm on the door itself? What do we do about that?" Spike pointed out. "Oh, yes. I think our best bet is to teleport into the room while the seal is down, otherwise, Celestia will know it was me. We will only have a few seconds and we have to leave RIGHT away in order to not get caught. I will need you, Spike, to keep ponies far enough away so we don't get caught by anyone. Say that there is a new room being built. Celestia will find out the book is missing at some point, so we need a plan for when that happens." "Ok, Twilight, so what do we do about that plan? And what about Shadowflame?" "I am doing this for myself, not for Shadowflame. If he shows up, I will deal with him myself. Now, in order to not get caught, we need a book that looks similar and we need to change the book, we are about to retrieve, to look like something else. She might come to us first, either for help or to accuse us, however we need to make sure we leave no evidence behind. Now, Spike, this is your last chance to back out, we might not be able to return from this path." "I won’t let you do this on your own; let's do this, Twilight!" Spike said with one final attempt to look tough. And with that, they put their plan into action. The next day, they walked back towards the archives while discussing the plan. "Ok, Twilight, how do you expect us to know what this book even looks like?" Spike asked. "I'm going to use a spell that should let me look inside the place. If it does, we might get a good idea what we’re working with. If it doesn't work, then we will just have to wing it and hope for the best," she replied. As they approached the archives once again,Twilight went to the guards. “Don’t let anyone else enter for awhile, I need to do some studying .I don’t want to be disturbed.” She explained to them.She then entered the archives and went up to the door and began her spell. However, she soon found out that any magic used on the room would give it away and and the seal goes back up, so she had to go with plan B. “Ok, since we can’t use the spell, let’s head back for plan B,” Twilight told him. They headed back for the second part of the plan. They forged a book that could replace the one that Shadowflame had told her about, using what she knew to make a spell book. She practiced the spell for the next two days in order to let things die down and to make sure she wouldn't mess up the spell. Then, on the third night, they put their plan into action. They went back to the archives at night to make sure they wouldn't get caught, and Twilight went to the door. She used the anti-ward magic and quickly teleported into the room. A familiar, yet strange sensation overcame her when she entered the room. She felt as though her body was taken apart by the atom and then put back together. There, she saw the spellbook. From a quick look, it looked like a dark book that was very, very old. She didn’t know what to make of it other than that it had to be ancient. She hastily replaced the book with the one they had forged and teleported out. "Ok Spike, I got it, let's head back now!" she said as they ran. Before they could make it out of the archives, Shadowflame appeared. "Oh thank you, Miss Sparkle, I will take the book now. You did your part," he said, menacingly. Twilight looked to see a different Shadowflame. He had red glowing eyes and had a demonic tone to his voice. He looked even more like a living shadow, than Twilight remembered. His mane was replaced with flames. That was where he got his name from — the true Shadowflame. "I already thought of this, Shadowflame, and the book is mine. Now either leave, or I will DEAL with you myself," Twilight threatened him as he started to back away. "No Princess, I cannot let you do that. That book is far more powerful than you can imagine. Now GIVE IT TO ME!" he said, annoyed by her backlash. "Fine, Shadowflame, since you won't listen, I will be forced to use the a dark magic spell on you!" Twilight said as her horn glowed black. "Wait, Dark magic? You wouldn't dare!" he retorted. "Oh, but I am! Last chance to back off!" she warned. He never did. "Fine, I will cast you into the abyss!" Twilight said as she fired her spell. Even though Shadowflame was no pony, he felt agonizing pain as his body melted away. He slowly turned to liquid before disappearing. Twilight looked at the puddle that was once Shadowflame, with a feeling she didn’t know how to describe: not glad at what she did, but she didn’t feel bad either. "Let’s go, Spike, quickly, the anti-ward spell will wear off soon!" Twilight said as they returned home to see what this book held. Spike was shaken after what he he had seen. Shadowflame, the kind of creature he was, some sort of demon, but that wasn’t what scared him. Twilight had scared him. What she did to him, even if he was evil, just seemed, wrong. He knew this book was doing something to her, but didn’t know what to do. He kept it in mind and would bring it up later. "The seal, it's broken!" Celestia yelled as she awoke from her bed. She had been tossing and turning all night after what Twilight had asked her. She had sensed the ward weaken while she was asleep, but she didn't think anything of it until it disappeared and then reappeared. Celestia knew that if the book in the room were to get into the wrong hooves again, she would have to deal with the war from two thousand years ago. She did not want to return to those dark times. When she went to check on it, she found a fake book in its place, confirming her worst fears. She tried to keep herself together as she thought of a plan. "This is very bad. I can't let anyone know about this, but I must find it! I hate to do this, but I must make sure it wasn't Twilight, she was the one who asked about it." And with that, Celestia went to go find Twilight Sparkle. Twilight and Spike flew back to the Castle of Friendship from Canterlot, in order to have time to prepare what they would need. "Spike, quickly, help me hide the book. Celestia should be coming any moment now!" Twilight said, knowing she had less time than expected. She hadn’t been able to break or do anything about the magic-seal because it was more powerful than Twilight thought, but she was able to delay it and make sure it didn't show it was her. They had managed to disguise the book as a simple book on Daring Do and put it next to her bed. She also used a magic spell to hide it from Celestia to be safe. Just as she was done, someone pounded the door to the castle. "Ok, Spike, don't panic. I will take care of it. Go do your chores," Twilight told him. She then went to answer the door to the castle. She found a panicked, upset, but serious Celestia. "Twilight, did you enter that room?" she asked, right to the point. "What room, Princess?" Twilight was trying to act innocent. "That forbidden room you asked me about, Twilight!" Celestia said impatiently. "Oh, that room. I forgot about it like you asked, however, there was a pony who called himself Shadowflame that wanted to get into the room. I told him I wasn't going to help. Then he left." Twilight knew it would work: since she had taken care of him, it would buy her time. "Did you see where he went?" Celestia asked, surprised someone knew about the room. She also knew Twilight was hiding something, but she had more important things to worry about. "Sorry, Princess, I did not. But if I see him again, I will stop him and get you right away!" Twilight said, hoping it would work. "Well, thank you, Twilight. I will be in touch," Celestia said as she left. "Well, now that that is over with, let's see what this book has to offer us," Twilight said as she headed to her room. She then used her magic to show what the book really looked like. On the front of the book was a cover that was a dark red, purple and black, with the words “De Magia” on the front. The design of the book was bumpy and old, with stains and scratches all over it. The back of the book was the same as the front, just without the wording. "So, it’s called De Magia, and appears quite old. Well, Spike, do you want to look with me?" Twilight offered. They opened to the first page, and saw the book was not well organized. The words fell all over the place, changing from large to small. They even went as far as overlapping themselves. It did say this: “To change what pages shown, be sure to select the types of spells you want through the spell organizer page on page 1.” As they looked through that, they saw the words change and reorganize themselves, which meant the book appeared to hold more than seemed possible. They also saw the way to organize the book, as it had an index showing the different types of spells it held. There was a demonic section in red and, when the words changed, they changed to a deep dark red. There was a dark magic section that was black as night. It appeared to be color coded based on the type of magic. They had found the book of all magic ever known to ponies! "This is even cooler than I thought, Twilight!" Spike said. "We must keep this to ourselves for now, Spike. We will learn more about how this book works tomrrow" she stated. With that, she used the same spells to hide the book and went to sleep. She would have a lot of studying to do tomorrow. They were in the lab once again, with the book open in the middle of the room. Twilight and Spike were both sitting in the middle, with Twilight holding the book. "Spike, if ANYTHING were to happen, I want you to find Starlight after she returns. Celestia can't know, and Starlight should know what to do," Twilight explained before opening the book. “I am not sure what is going to happen, or even if I would get caught. Not sure if these spells will corrupt me, backfire, or maybe nothing will happen. I am planning on testing some of the spells in order to see what they do, but I plan to have them on low magic power in order to keep it hidden,” she explained. "Are you sure you want your student to know? I mean, what would she think?" Spike asked. "I think she would understand and help; after all, we are her friends. I have faith in her. Now, let’s see what this book has to offer," Twilight said as she opened the book, looking inside. She saw so many different spells she wanted to try; she felt like she did when she was just a filly, learning and seeing new things for the first time. She ran into a simple spell, a teleportation spell. She thought it best to start simple. "Ok, Spike, I will be testing a teleportation spell, with a much longer range than anything we could do. This spell should help traveling around much faster. So, in order to cast this spell, we need to first think of the location we want to go. Then, we need to focus a new form of teleportation magic to get there. Seems simple. Spike, I am going to try to teleport to the Castle of the Two Sisters, then back. Wait for me. If I am not back in 10 minutes, head to the castle to check on me. You ready?" "Ready to go, Twilight!" Spike said eagerly. Twilight began to cast the spell as the book said, but something else happened. Instead of feeling a tingling around her body, nothing happened. Her horn glowed and she still felt the magic, but she didn’t move. Just then, a giant portal appeared in front of her and began sucking her and the De Magia into it. Twilight tried to fight back, but her magic wasn't working. She looked at the book again, and realized she was looking under unstable spells, which she knew she never opened it to. The book had changed it on its own. “Twilight! What’s going on!” The purple dragon yelled in a panic. "Spike, get Starlight! Tell her about this spell; I wrote it down here!" Twilight yelled as she hurled him a scroll. "It should help you get me back home. And make sure Celestia doesn't get involved. I will try to get back myself! Now, I will be carefullllllll...." Twilight said before being sucked into the portal. "I will find her and we will do what we can, Twilight!" was the last thing Twilight heard before she blacked out. There was a flash of light that caught the attention of the guard, which surprised him because he was alone in the dark space station. He went to go investigate it. When he arrived at the source of the light, he was surprised at what he discovered. There, he saw a pony lying down, and appeared to be hurt. "Sir, you will not believe what I am looking at right now!" He called into his boss. "Well, what is it?" "It's a purple horse with wings and a horn, sir." "Is this some kind of joke, soldier?" "I am not kidding you, sir, there is also a weird book with it. I wish I was kidding," "Fine, bring it in for us to look at, soldier,". "Well sir, I think it's waking up. Should I try to capture it?" When Twilight awoke, she saw a bipedal creature with no hair talking to itself while just staring at her. He seemed to be tall, wearing some sort of armor and carrying a staff like weapon. It also seemed to be talking to itself. It had a blonde mane, black skin, and claws on the end of its arms. She could understand what it was saying, and she found it was talking about her. She knew she shouldn't stay here, so she took off running, making sure to carry the book with her. "Sir, it’s running. And the book is floating in mid air! Should I pursue?" he asked, startled. "Yes, bring it to me. I want to know what this thing is!" he ordered. The soldier then took off after her, trying to keep pace with the fleeing alicorn. "It's still after me. Maybe he isn't hostile, maybe he is? I shouldn't stick around to find out," Twilight thought to herself. Her magic was weak after the messed-up spell, so she used her wings to fly. However, the creature somehow managed to follow her, flying with some sort of device which shot flames out of his back. So, Twilight used her last resort: she fired magic blasts at it, but due to her state of mind, she didn’t hit any of them. "Sir, it’s firing some kind of attack at me, should I shoot back?" He got the order to fire, so he did. Twilight tried to dodge and used a few shield spells to block some hits, but that spell from the book had taken a toll on her. Twilight then used a spell to put the book in a hammer space that only she can get to before she got hit with a shot from the staff he was holding, knocking her out cold. Author's Note Here it is everypony, the first chapter. Let me know what you all thought about this chapter and make sure to leave feedback for me! Final rewrite, what do you all think now?
The New world (Rewritten 5/17/16)"So, let me get this straight: Twilight stole a forbidden book, you helped her, and it went south. And now she needs us to get her back without Celestia knowing?" Starlight asked. "Well then, she is my friend and teacher. What do we do?" "I was thinking, let's talk to Discord first. He might be able to help us buy some time so we can look around Equestria to find what we need, and he can help us bring Twilight back as well. But we cannot let anyone other than Discord know," Spike explained. "Is this Discord who I think he is? Why would a Chaos god help us?" she questioned. "Because, he’s like you. Twilight is probably his only other friend, other than Fluttershy, and he would like to have fun with the princesses. So, let's get going," Spike said as they left the castle. First they were going to talk to Discord to see if he knew anything. "Discord! Can we talk to you!" Spike yelled, hoping to get his attention. Discord appeared from a rainbow portal that had floating islands following him. He was wearing what appeared to be a colorful hat and a suit. The portal was a mismatch of colors and patterns. He was riding on a unicycle with a rainbow trail following him. "Ah, my favorite dragon, and the student of the new princess. Pleasure to meet you Starlight. How can I help you?" Discord said with glee. Spike and Starlight told Discord the story. "So, she broke rules huh? This is unexpected. However, I can't help you. That book has powers beyond my own, but I could help keep an eye on her and buy you time. Besides, even if I could help, why would I? I want to see if this blows up in her face! And yours as well. But, since she is my friend, I will do what I can to you help you three out. I will buy you time, and check up on her as soon as I am able to find her," Discord explained. "In the meantime, go around and find ponies that could help you bring the little miss princess back." Then he left them to go do his thing. "Well, he's something else," Starlight said before they left. The first plan they had in mind was to talk to Zecora and afterwards Sunburst, as they both might know what to do. Twilight awoke inside a cage made of light. As she looked around her cage she didn’t see much. There seemed to be, what she thought was food, in a bowl and some water in another. Other then that, her cage was very small, and empty. She saw a few of those creatures outside her cage, and she made sure the book was placed away where she put it. Twilight then tried to listen in on the conversation they were having. "I have never seen a creature like this before. It looks like a horse, but has wings and a horn. The wings can make it fly, but the horn isn't like other horns. It doesn't seem to use it for combat. And you mentioned those weird things that happened. I think this creature has some sort of mind powers. Only thing that makes sense," one of them explained. "Should we experiment on this creature to learn more about it?" he asked. This scared Twilight. They seemed to just want to learn, Twilight understood, but she knew she shouldn't stay here. She had to escape, and quickly. This prison she was in didn't seem to be able to stop her magic, so all she had to do was teleport out. She begun to cast her spell, but she was unable to focus. She didn't know the area and didn't have anywhere to teleport to. "Sir, it's awake!" one stated. "Well, well, well. You are quite a mystery, whatever you are. Say, do you understand me?" The boss asked her. He seemed to be in charge of things, since he was handing out orders, and he looked intimidating. He had a look in his eyes that screamed, “I will kill you.” She wasn't sure if she should speak. "Ye-, yes. I can understand you." Twilight tried to speak, hoping it would work. "Wait, you can SPEAK? This is quite unexpected. What is your name, creature, and what are you?" it asked her. Twilight stood her ground, trying to act tough against her captors. However, she was scared to death and it began to show. "Please don't hurt me. IdontknowwhereIamorhowIgotherebutIjustwanttogohome!" Twilight said, not sure why that came out of her mouth over what she wanted to say. She wanted to stand her ground and be firm, make them take her seriously. However, she knew it was the stress of being stuck in a new world different from her own, and she knew she had to pull herself together. "I mean, my name is Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. I am an Alicorn and very powerful. I demand you release me!" That sounded more like what Twilight wanted to say. "So, you're royalty huh? Well then, this should make this even better. They might even reward us with a ton of money once we bring it it back to the Empire! And don't try to act tough, we know you are scared, we heard what you said earlier. So just relax, we won't hurt you... yet," he said with a smirk on his face. "And so you know, we are humans, you are on a space station, and my name is General Michael. You will be our prisoner until our leader decides what to do with you. Don't bother using you weird mystic voodoo powers, we have guards watching you. Now rest up my dear, the leader will arrive soon," Michael said. And with that, he left Twilight alone with her thoughts. "What have I gotten myself into. Ok, Twilight, think. They don't know how my magic works, which means I have the upper hand. They have weird magic here, kinds I have never seen. I seem to be with a faction of not so good humans, and should try to leave. So, I think it would be best to wait for this leader to show up. They might let their guard down and I can escape. In the meantime, I will see what other spells this book has for me," Twilight thought as she brought the book back. The guards looked at her, but thought nothing of her reading a book. Meanwhile, a soldier reported to his commander on reacon they found on a strange base. "Sir, our spies have found out that the leader is going to be on the Aureole Station tonight. Should we go and attack the base?" "Yes, get a squad, and try to bring him down. This war will end tonight!" Twilight found a few spells that she thought would help her get out. "A time stopping spell, an invisibility spell, and a mobile shield spell. These should be helpful. Now all I need to do, is wait," Twilight thought to herself as she moved the book away. "The Leader is here sir, what are the next orders," a guard asked. "Bring him here, to Miss Twilight," Michael responded. Just then, an explosion went off somewhere nearby. "We are under attack! It’s the outlaws! They know the leader is here! Prepare the defenses!" "You, Twilight, better stay here, or I will use other means to keep you locked up!" he said, before running off. "The outlaws are attacking these guys? They might be the good guys. I better wait and see," Twilight thought to herself. Just then, a group of laserbeams came through the door, as a squad of the outlaws came in. "What is that thing? Should we free it?" one asked as he pointed towards Twilight. "We don't have time for this, find him!" another said before turning to leave. "Wait! Please don't leave me here, they are going to hurt me! I can be useful to you. Just let me out of here!" Twilight pleaded, not sure why she sounded so weak. "Wait, it talked? Hmm, bring her with us. We will talk to her later." he said. They shut off the barrier surrounding Twilight's cell. "Come with us my little pony, we will talk later! Now is a bad time!" one told her. She followed the group back to some sort of smaller, weird looking building. "Go inside and wait! We will be back." Twilight did as she was told. She kept her plan in mind in case they turned out not to be as friendly as she thought. "The leader is gone! We can't find him!." "Should we retreat?" "Did we gain anything from this." A bunch of soldiers asked. "We have found one thing –” said the commander, “– but we will retreat for now. Back to the ship!" he told them before they took off. "What did they take, Michael?" the leader asked, looking around towards the flames. The base had seen better days, and there was people running around all over the place, repairing all the damage. "They stole what we wanted to show you, the creature that could speak sir." "Hmm, well, get back to work and repair the base," he explained before leaving. Back on the ship where they picked up Twilight, they were all staring at Twilight. "So, you better start explaining a few things," The commander said, firmly. Twilight thought it best she told him the truth. "My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. I am not from around here. I came from Equestria. The ones you just fought were the ones who captured me, and I thank you for freeing me. However, I have spells to study so I can return home. "Equestria, I have never heard of this place. And I have never seen your kind before," he questioned. "I would hope not. We are not from anywhere near here, but I might be able to learn more if I can find some books to study or a map of where we are. And my kind has never gone to space like we are now, it fascinates me. And then..." Twilight said before drifting off. She couldn't help but let the student part of her show, looking around at all the new things she had never seen before. "So sir, what do you make of this?" one asked. "Well, she is royalty, which means wherever she’s from she’s important. She was also an enemy of the Empire, so I say let her stay with us for now, we will see if she can be useful or not. If not, then we will toss her away," the leader explained. "So, Miss Sparkle." The leader started "Twilight is fine," she interrupted. "I am known as Black Snake. I want you to explain to me how you could prove useful during a time of war. I wouldn't need you to stay if you were useless," Black stated. "Well, I can use all kinds of magic, though I never have used them in a war before. However, since this isn't my universe, I guess I could learn how," Twilight said, a bit shocked after hearing the word “war”. "Magic? What do you think I am, girly, 12? What can you do!" he asked, furious at her comment. "I can really use magic! Let me prove it to you!" Twilight said, trying to save herself. She then brought the book out of nowhere through a teleportation spell, and looked up a spell she could use. She found a spell that transforms objects from one into another. She aimed the spell at one of the weapons they use and changed it into a chair. "And that's only the tip of what I can do with my magic and this book," Twilight said proudly. They all started at her, in shock. They had never seen anything like this. She saw looks of shock, curiosity, and fear. They weren’t sure what to think quite yet. The leader, who seems to keep his cool, spoke up. "So, you really can use ‘magic’. I guess that could prove useful. Alright, you will stay with us until we reach our base, where you will talk to our leader. Don't try any funny stuff now, or I will shoot you, Twilight," Black stated like it was an order before leaving her. "What I have gotten myself into. This is going to be a long journey before I get home. I really hope Spike and Starlight are having some luck." Twilight said, before she fell asleep. She will need the energy to maintain herself. Discord was walking towards Celestia’s room, as she had requested his assistance. After talking to Starlight and Spike, he knew what this was about, but was going to keep his word. "Hello, Tia! How may I help you today!" Discord said in his cheery mood. "The De Magia has been stolen. Do you know anything about that? I also haven't seen Twilight or her assistant and student. Do you know what is going on?" she asked him. "Wait, that book of spells beyond our power? No, I don't know. And the princess went with her student and the dragon to go and help her learn more about friendship while looking for clues about the book. I will see what I can do however, Tia." Discord said. "Very well Discord, I trust you. Come find me if you find anything," Celestia said, upset that he didn't know anything. Discord then left the grand halls. "Ok Sparkle, let’s find out where you were sent too," Discord said to himself beginning his search to find her. Starlight and Spike went to talk to Zecora in her hut in the Everfree. She knew a lot about ancient magic so she might know a bit about the De Magia. "Zecora, what do you know about a book called De Magia?" Starlight asked the zebra. "A book very powerful indeed. Beyond my understanding it is. The only way to stop the book, is to let its spells go in full. I wish I could help you more, but not even I can understand that book. The one thing that might work, is using an artifact just as old. One that could mimic its power, and cast the spell that was used before. That may not do the trick however, and not even time travel would reverse what was done. Come back to me with more, and I will see what I can brew," Zecora explained. And with that, they left her hut, keeping what she said in mind. "So, we need old artifacts huh? Let’s see if we can find any info on older artifacts. Let’s look around and see if any pony would know about any old artifacts." Spike said as they left. Author's Note Sorry this chapter was shorter and a bit all over the place, it is setting 3 stages at once. Anyhow, let me know what you think so far! Any ideas would be loved. Until next time!
The Outlaws (Rewritten 5/21/16)"Miss Twilight Sparkle, time to get up. We are arriving at the base now," a person informed her. She had rested through most of this trip in order to gain her strength back. Her magic was still not nearly as powerful, but she was well enough to perform almost any trick she would need, as she had a feeling she would need it. As she got up from her spot, she went to go talk to Black Snake again. "Ok, you listen here missy. We make the rules, and what we say goes. You try anything funny, I will shoot you. We will see what the leader thinks of you. Don't speak unless you're spoken too, and if you try to run we will hunt you down," he explained to her in an unwelcoming tone. "I thought these were the good guys, maybe I was wrong. Maybe all humans are like this. But I will play by there rules for now," Twilight thought to herself. They flew Twilight to what looked like a planet this time. "So, they do have planets here. Good to know," Twilight thought, as she looked outside. She saw a small forest outside of a large desert, and she thought it was almost artificial. Twilight felt weird going down towards the planet, as she never felt something like this before. They landed in the forest. They led her to an underground building, which she assumed was for hiding themselves. "Wait here, let me go talk to them. Don't try anything," Snake said before he went to the front gate. "I am here to bring the leader something we found from the space station. We do not know a lot about her, but I'm sure she will want to meet her," he explained, then the front gate opened. "Black Snake and the thing you brought, go and meet her right away. The rest of you know your posts," a guard at the gate said. Snake led Twilight through a series of tunnels before coming up on a big doorway. It reminded Twilight of Celestia's throne room. "Wait here, I will be back," he said before entering the doors. "Ah, Black Snake, how did the mission go?" the leader said, happily. "We were unable to find the leader there, but we did come back with something different. She is a weird creature that looks like a purple horse with wings and a horn and carries a book with her. She calls herself Princess Twilight Sparkle and is from a place called Equestria. She also seems to have some weird psychic powers and can speak our language. She was being held captive by the Empire, so we brought her here to talk to you. Should I call her in?" he explained to her. She motioned him to call her in, but then leave them alone for a bit. Twilight walked in as Snake left, making sure she knew he was watching her. "So, he wasn't kidding, you are a creature I have never seen. So tell me, your highness, how did you find yourself in the Empire’s custody?" she asked her. Twilight then told her the tale of how she got there, making sure to leave out parts that made her sound like she did something wrong. "So, you got transported by this "magic" to our world right inside the space station. My name is Erin, your highness. I am sorry for any trouble Black Snake gave you, he is just that way. You will be allowed to stay here until I can learn more, think of it as being our guest and not our prisoner," Erin told her. "If you please, Twilight is fine. And I don't want to cause any trouble, just give me some books or whatever you use to record information so I can learn what I can about where I am. It might help me get home," Twilight asked, hopefully. "Books we don't use, but I can have someone show you how to use our recordings. Feel free to study them until I call for you later. The rest of our group needs to know about you, and we will go from there," Erin said, having Black Snake show her where they have the closest thing to a library and showing her how they worked. "I will call for you later, you BETTER not break anything," he said before leaving. "So, they don't have books, but this device can hold even more books in a smaller space! I will need to learn how to record all this for when I get back! In the meantime, let's see what I can learn about where I am," Twilight thought, before diving off into what she could learn about where she is. Twilight was called to come meet up in the meeting hall. She had learned that she was in a different dimension from Equestria, which meant this would be harder for her to get home. She also learned that this world is at war, all the time. People always fight each other, and there are different groups always fighting for control. She now knew she would have to learn to fight if she wanted to survive in this war-ridden world. "I have brought her as you asked," the person who got her explained. "Hello, everyone of the New Order! I have called you to tell you about Twilight Sparkle. She might not be human, but we should still help her get along with everyone. Treat her like you would a friend. For now, we will keep her in the base and keep her safe as we learn from her and she learns from us. That will be all for now!” she stated, hoping people will accept the alicorn. Everyone got dismissed, and she talked to Twilight. “Twilight, for now, you will be our guest. I will lead you to your room, then you can do what you want from there,” Erin explained to her. “Yeah sure, food sounds great. I haven’t eaten for quite awhile,” she said. Twilight was still a bit suspicious of these newcomers. They begun to walk towards a room. “Even though they are in a war, they seem really friendly. I also was unable to find out anything about these Outlaws in the books. I wonder what they are trying to hide. Maybe I will look for a spell in the De Magia later to see if it has anything to help me, but I will play by their rules for now,” she thought to herself. He then led her around the base, and Twilight thought it looked very dark and dull. The people they passed seemed to keep to themselves. It seems like a very boring place, and not much went on. They then stopped at a doorway in an underground room. “Here's the room you will be staying in Twilight, I will go find you a guide,” Erin said as she left. “I guess I will play along and see what happens for now. I have my magic if anything goes wrong.” Twilight said out loud. She waited in the room, it seemed a lot more like a prison then a guest room, waiting for Erin to return. She used the time to look through more of the De Magia. Erin returned later with what appeared to be an armed guard. “Twilight, this is Firecracker. He will be your bodyguard, your guide, and will answer any questions while you stay with us,” Erin explained. She then left leaving Twilight and Fire alone. “So, I guess I should show you around Princess. Well then, let's get going,” Fire said, before leading on. Twilight took note of the different places around the base, such as where the entrance was,where she could get food, and a few not worthy places, like where the guards were at. Fire was then called on the radio, needing to speak with Erin. “Listen, Erin needs me, but stay in the food court and get some food. I will be back later,” he said before leaving. Twilight went to order some food and she noticed that they do eat meat. She then came upon a stranger, who was wearing a cloak. “Listen, don’t say anything, and listen to me. The Outlaws are not who they say they are. They might seem like good guys, but in this world, nobody is a good person. We will be attacking later, and we really don’t want to shoot you. They are going to experiment on you if you stay, so we will be back before nightfall. Come with us or stay with them, but they will use you for war. If you don’t believe me, use your ‘magic’ to find out for sure. That's what Fire is talking to Erin about right now. The choice is yours, Twilight Sparkle,” she spoke to her, before she left. “Well, that was strange. I feel like I could trust her but at the same time, I know she's lying. Maybe it's because she acted weird. I wonder how she knew about me and where I was. I will play it safe for now,” Twilight thought to herself. “Well Twilight, let's get going. We have something to show you,” Fire explained, with a bit of a darker look on his face. Twilight was prepared to fight back if anything went wrong, but she hoped she could trust the stranger in the cloak. She was brought to a lab, then all the doors locked. She knew what was going to happen next. “We are keeping you safe in our locked lab, we expect an attack soon. Stay here and be safe, Twilight. I will come back and get you,” he explained before walking out. The dark look in his eyes was gone, which meant he might not have taken his orders the way he should have. A few hours passed, and Twilight got very bored.She decided to go over her thoughts just sitting there. “So, I am trapped in this world that seems to be at war. These creatures, called humans, don’t seem like trustworthy creatures. My magic feels the same, and Celestia probably doesn’t know anything yet. Maybe Starlight and Spike know how to get me back already. Maybe…” her mind trailed off, losing focus. She wasn’t able to see what was going on in the room because she was too distracted. Just then, she saw the stranger once again, through an air duct in the wall. “Looks like I might have been wrong about Fire, seeing as you are still here. However, we don’t have much time to spare, as we speak they are thinking of a plan to use you..” she explained to her. Twilight had a look of doubt in her face, so the stranger took out a monitor, showing Fire and Erin talking. “So, Twilight is safe inside the locked room, with no idea what we will do to her?” “Yes ma’am. But, we will have to be quick, her abilities will prove a problem.” “I have a plan for that, we will need to knock her out. Then, we can find out how she ticks.” “And what if she wakes up?” “Simple, say she passed out and we were trying to help her.” “Alright, I will go poison her food.” That was the last thing before it was cut. “Do you believe me now. The Outlaws work on lies, while the Empire works on power. We are very small compared to them, we all trust each other. Come with me Twilight, we will help you survive and get home,” she explained. Twilight was shocked that these nice people lied to her, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. She quickly reacted, crawling into the air duct with the stranger, right before Fire came in. Just then, an alarm went off. “My name is Anne. My group doesn’t really have a name. Talk later, escape now!” Ann explained, before they left the area. Twilight did feel a bit bad leaving, but after seeing that video, she knew it had to be done. “I hope you have a spell that could let us sneak out of here. Some of my people are waiting, but getting out of here won’t be easy with how much you stick out,” Anne explained, and Twilight knew she was right. Ponies stick out quite a bit in this world. She called out the De Magia and began looking through it. “How do you know all of this?” Twilight asked her. “We have spy networks in all the factions, and they told us about you. We don’t care about what powers you have or where you come from, but we care about helping you, since you seem so human. You also seem young. You also seem like you could help us, but we won’t force that on you like they did,” Anne explained with contempt. “Found something! This spell makes us appear and look like something else. We could use this spell to sneak out, however it only lasts for a limited time. We will need to hurry,” Twilight explained, before she began casting the spell. She changed herself to appear as a human child, with a cloak just like Annes. She still felt the same, though she looked different to the others. “Alright, let’s go. And while I look like this, don’t call me Twilight, in order to blend in more,” Twilight explained. They then left the air ducts and began to walk towards the exit. As they walked they saw armed guards running around looking for Twilight. “Hey, you two! Come here for a moment!” a guard shouted to them. They kept calm and went over to the guard. “So, you taking your daughter somewhere ma’am?” he asked, looking at Twilight. “Yes, me and Judy here were just going out for a picnic, it's been awhile since we have done that, isn’t it dear?” Anne said, while giving a nudging look towards Twilight. “Can we hurry mom, please. The food will go bad!” ‘Judy’ exclaimed, hoping to hurry this up. “Very well, don’t want to keep kids waiting. Enjoy!” he said before leaving. “Great acting, that was close, we should be there soon, how much longer will the spell last?” Anne asked. “We don’t have too long, let’s run for it,” Twilight said, and they began running towards the exit. They managed to get out right as Twilight’s spell faded, and they went to where the rest of her team was. “Anne, come in! We are sorry, but we can not pick you up here. They will discover us. Go to the main city and we will meet you in the Starport! Watcher out!” a voice said over a radio. “Well then Twilight, change of plans, looks like you will get to see more of this world after all. Let’s head towards Star City then, shall we,” Anne said, as she began to walk. “This is going to be a long day,” Twilight thought to herself as they began walking away from the Outlaw base. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. “Are all humans like that? Can I trust Anne to not do the same? And how could people act like this?” However, Twilight tried to push these thoughts aside for now, as they would just get in the way. Her long journey was only beginning. Before they went any farther, Twilight wanted to ask a few questions to Anne. “How is your group different from the Empire and the Outlaws? I must know if I can trust you,” Twilight asked Anne. She stopped in place, and began to explain a long story. “It began long ago. We used to be stuck on a planet called Earth, but we expanded past the stars. However, people began to have different ideas of how to run things, so a war was brought about. Now, know that this wasn’t even close to the first war humans have fought, it's in our nature. Many groups formed, but the two most powerful are the Empire and the Outlaws. The Outlaws believe in no rules and just let chaos reign, while the Empire has too much power for its own good.” She paused for a minute, having a deep look of thought in her eyes. “The leader of our group, which you will meet later, lost both his parents and his sister and became traumatized during the war, and he now fights to stop the war. He wants to have people rule, with a set of guidelines he has set up. We are not very powerful or large, but that is what we believe in, Twilight Sparkle, as I am sure you do. Now, I can’t say for sure if you can trust us, because that is your choice to make, but I believe in our leader. Anyway, we can’t stay here anymore, we should head out,” Anne explained, but with a look of sadness in her eyes. Twilight knew there was a lot more to it, but she knew this was a bad time. She would press her for more later. However, one thought was stuck in her mind: it is human nature to be at war. That thought scared Twilight. These creatures seemed a lot like ponies, but were way more aggressive and not nearly as friendly as ponies. She was going to write this all down for Celestia after this was over, to maybe help reduce her punishment that she was most likely going to receive. Then, they just walked, not knowing what was going to happen next. Author's Note Here it is. 3rd chapter. This is where the juciy stuff begins to kick in!
Questions and Anwers (Rewritten 521/16)Twilight and Anne had been walking for what seemed like hours. Even though Twilight was an alicorn, she was about ready to collapse because she had not had any food or any time to rest. Once Twilight and Anne got a chance to sit, she fell right asleep. “Hello Twilight. Pleasure to finally talk to you,” a calm voice said in the distance. “Wait, who’s there?” Twilight asked, in shock. “Why, it's me, De Magia. Not surprised you didn’t know. I guess Shadowflame never told you,” De Magia told her, still in a calm voice. “Wait a minute, you can talk? This, this doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight began to hyperventilate, not sure how to take it in. “Calm down and listen, I will begin to explain things to you, I think you earned it. I have been watching you use me, and I really like you Twilight. You took risks to get a hold of me, you are powerful, and, as much as you try to hide it, you want more power. I can sense it in you,” De Magia began to explain. “Why did you bring me here?” Twilight asked, bluntly. “That, well... that was a mistake. Shadowflame intervened as you were testing out the teleport spell, and made it way more powerful. I can get you home, but you will need to do as I say,” he explained, still in his calm and cool voice. “But, I killed Shadowflame!” Twilight exclaimed, confused. This is where his tone changed to a more humorous one. “Kill Shadowflame.” Shadowflame laughed loudly after saying that. “Oh, my dear Twilight, you have no idea what you got yourself mixed up in. There was a reason Celestia locked me away. We are far more powerful then you can imagine, but we need a powerful spell caster to use it. I picked you, Twilight. That is why I called to you. The inner spark within you can unleash a new age for Equestria, and any world we please! All I need you to do, is to accept it!” De Magia said, with a hint of madness in his voice. “What if I decline, and what is Shadowflame?” Twilight asked him. “I will tell you this, Twilight: if you decline my help, you will be trapped in this world forever. However, you misunderstand my intentions, Twilight, I only want to help your kind. Shadowflame is a creature made out of pure darkness. You can’t kill him as he doesn’t have a body, much like me.” De Magia explained, with anger in his voice. “How do I know I can trust you, how do I know what you tell me is the truth, De Magia.” Twilight answered, with concern and doubt in her voice. “I guess you really can’t. However, you do have a choice to make. Be stuck in this world forever, considering you are immortal, or help me defeat Shadowflame and I can get you home at some point. Also, I will give you power beyond belief!” De Magia explained happily. “My friends are already working on getting me home. Besides that fact, if what you say is true, Celestia should already be aware of this and take steps to stop it. I am also the one in control here!” Twilight explained, taking a stand while she did. “I think of you as a friend. I just want to help you, and friends help each other, isn’t that right?” De Magia explained with sadness in his voice. “Oh, I never realized you thought of me that way, however, I still know nothing about you. I won’t be able to just say yes or no until I learn more,” Twilight explained, with uncertainty in her voice. “Looks like your human friend is calling you, we will be in touch,” De Magia said before everything faded away. “Twilight. Twilight. Twilight!” Anne yelled at her, trying to wake her up. “Oh, morning Anne,” Twilight said as she woke up. “Are you ok? You were tossing and speaking in your sleep,” Anne said with a look of concern on her face. “Oh no, just a nightmare. I am missing home is all,” Twilight lied. She thought it best not to mention talking to her magic spellbook to anyone for now. “That is a smart choice. They might think you are crazy. You wouldn't want to be crazy,” a voice said in her head. “We have a long way to go before we reach our base. Let’s eat up before we head out,” Anne explained before grabbing some food from her bag. Twilight and Anne then began eating. “Now is the best time to get some of my own questions answered, as I am positive she will ask me some as well,” Twilight thought to herself. “I want to learn more about you, to see if you can be trusted. So, I will ask a question, you answer, and then, since I am sure you have a bunch too, you ask a question that I answer,” she explained. Twilight just nodded, with a shocked look at how fast Anne was. “Was she thinking the same thing I was?” Twilight thought to herself. “What did you do back home?” Anne asked. “Well, I run a library and I am the Princess of Friendship. I also used to wield the element of magic before it became part of the tree of Harmony, and I saved Equestria more times than I can count. Now, what does your group do?” Twilight answered “We used to be a small group of teens and kids who banded together after we lost our parents in the wars. We don’t have the numbers or technology of the others, but we stick together to the end. We hate this war and just want it to end. How did you end up here?” “A magic spell went wrong. I had just discovered the De Magia and wanted to try a new spell, but it went wrong. Next thing I knew, I ended up here. How did you learn about me?” “We have spies that watched and learned about you, and saw you needed help. They sent me to rescue you. What is this ‘magic’ you speak about?” “Everypony can use magic. It's a powerful force that fuels everything in us. Each of the different pony types can use a different kind of magic, for different tasks. Pegasi can control the weather, Earth ponies can use magic to grow plants, unicorns have a more raw magic, and alicorns are the most powerful.” Twilight said. She was about to continue when she got interrupted by a loud wailing and a war cry. They had staves on them and the leader had a gun, all pointed at them. “Sorry to ruin this little chat y’all are havin’, but you would make a great slave to sell. And this weird animal would go for quite a bit on the black market. So just come on over here.” They said, pointing their guns at the duo. “Oh, now why would we want to do a thing like that? That takes all the fun out of it. If you want to truly have fun, why don’t you come over here and get us big boy,” Anne said, with a seductive playful tone. “Hmmm, that does seem like quite a lil’ bit of fun. Very well, we will come on over, but no funny tricks or we will be forced to shoot. And I would rather not need to shoot you if I don’t need to,” the bandit said as he walked towards the girls. “Listen Twilight, once they get close, attack them. Now, I don’t know if you know how to fight, but you should quickly find a spell to use in order to get us out of here,” Anne explained, ready for a fight. “This is a time stopping spell. This will freeze them in time for you to escape, Twilight. Think of this as me helping you since you are my friend,” De Magia cut in. Twilight then suddenly knew how to use the spell. Once they got close, she used it. They froze in place and weren’t able to move. “Quickly! Let’s hurry up and get out of here!” Twilight yelled as she ran. Anne followed her. “Thank you De Magia. I do trust you a bit more, but I need more time to think about this still,” Twilight told it. As they ran, Twilight felt the spell wear off. “Man, this ‘magic’ sure is useful, Twilight. I don’t know what or how you did it, but I thank you. Now, let’s get going before they catch up to us,” Anne said, as they began to walk back into the desert. Twilight was thinking about De Magia, and whether he could be trusted or not. “Twilight, there is a town up ahead! I need you to use your disguise spell so we don’t stick out,” Anne said, as she pointed out the town in front of them. Twilight then changed herself back into ‘Judy’. They then walked towards the town. The town was in ruins. The buildings were torn and dusty. They were missing planks, and other areas. They were dusty and tattered. The people themselves seemed to be wearing rags. It looked like a ghost town. It was in a poor condition and didn’t seem like a good place to stay. However, it was medium sized and had a lot of people in it. “Let’s find an inn Judy, so we can spend the night. Hopefully the bad men will not find us,” Anne said, as they went to look for an inn. “Hello? Do you have a room me and my sister can stay the night in? We are travelers and need a bit of a break for a few days,” Anne explained. “This isn’t the best town to spend the night in, but yes, we have a room open for cheap. It is a simple bedroom with one bed, a locked storage unit, and a restroom alongside it. That will be 50 creds,” the innkeeper said. She paid him and they went up to their room. It wasn’t a good looking room, but it served the purpose. “Let's get some rest tonight, Twilight, tomorrow we will go around town to restock supplies. You can take the spell off for now. I will get things sorted,” Anne explained. Twilight went to bed, but before she went to sleep, De Magia talked to her again. “So Twilight, do you want to help me?” De Magia asked her one last time. “Yes, but on one condition. If you think about betraying me, lying to me, or try to use me, I will go ahead and rip you to pieces. But, I will trust you for now,” Twilight said. “I promise, I will not….” De Magia started, but he got cut off. “Ah, I finally found you Princess. I didn’t think you would get sent so far for breaking Tia’s rules,” Discord said as he stepped out of a magic portal. “Ah, Discord. My favorite Chaos god. I see you have become friends with Twilight here as well,” De Magia stated. “Your friends sent me to find you and bring you back. However, I don’t want to do that as I want to see this blow up in your face! I will come and check on you every once in awhile though, to see how you do,” Discord said. He then used his magic to create a bubble around them. “And don't trust what he tells you. I will go see your friends,” Discord said, before he left. “So, you are friends with Discord, which means you reformed him. That could prove useful later. Anyway Twilight, in order to get you home, I need energy. I will be able to gain this energy over time, so stick around here for awhile until I can get you home, then we can put our plan into action,” De Magia explained. Twilight then went to sleep as everything faded away. Discord went to go meet with Starlight and Spike about what he found. “Hello Starlight, hello Spike. You will never guess who I found!” Discord said, in a cheery mood. “Wait, you found her? Please tell me you brought her back and that she's ok!” Spike said with joy. “I wasn’t able to bring her back, but she is fine for now. Anyway, how are things going here?” Discord said. Starlight and Spike wanted to question Discord and try to push him for information, but they knew they wouldn't be able to get anything out of him. “Well, we have learned that, outside of Equestria, there are people we can talk to who might be able to help us, so we are going to head out soon. We want you to keep on eye on everything for us, or do whatever you want Discord,” Starlight said. “That sounds like fun! You go find what you need to find,” Discord said as he teleported away. “Well Spike, you know where to go. Let’s head out,” Starlight said to him as they headed towards the train. Discord entered Celestia's throne room with a wide grin on his face. He knew he was winning on all fronts, and was having a blast too. “Hello Tia, how is the search for De Magia going?” Discord asked Celestia as he walked in. “It isn’t going well Discord, I’m worried they will return as this point. And if that were to happen, that would end up ruining everything,” Celestia said with doubt in her voice. “Don’t worry Tia, we should be able to stop them, after all we are five gods,” Discord stated, trying to reassure the princess. “I don’t know Discord, we need to find that book before they do. I will need your help, along with many people, in case they attack without the book. If they get the book, we are doomed. Has Twilight made any progress?” Celestia asked. “No, she and Starlight and Spike are still working on finding Shadowflame again, but they have had no luck. They think he retreated outside of Equestria for now, so they are leaving to go find him. I will keep an eye on all of them.” Discord said. Celestia then dismissed him. “I am, so far, just a simple watcher with the events to come. None of you have any idea what you will be getting into. This will be quite the show,” Discord said to himself as he left the throne room, waiting for events to unfold. Meanwhile, in a dark room in the middle of nowhere. “So, Twilight and Magia went to another dimension to hide? And Discord has taken the side of Celestia. There is also Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor and their baby, and even Twilight’s assistant and student. Let’s wait this out for now, and see how things go. They have too much powerful magic for us to deal with for now, so we will wait it out…” Author's Note Here is, chapter 4! Things are heating up now. Let me know what you all think!
Resupply Resupply Twilight and Anne woke up the next day, and Twilight used the disguise spell on herself again. They were planning on going around town to gather supplies for the long trip to come. “Ok Twilight, listen up. You are my little sister, and if people ask, we are going home after a long trip. What we will need is food, water, ammunition for my gun and transportation to carry our supplies, since I don’t think you can use your magic for that,” Anne stated. “We all know you can use your magic for this Miss Sparkle, but we need you to survive without magic. The strongest people don’t need just magic, but a lot more. It will also draw more attention than we need,” De Magia whispered in her head. Anne continued, “We will also need to get more creds and a cloak for you, since the other one won’t work as it's part of your spell. That way, people will just think you are a pony and not an alicorn as you called it,” Anne explained to Twilight, getting ready to leave. She made sure to grab a large green and blue bag to carry all the stuff in, while she gave Twilight a black backpack to carry. “Listen carefully Twilight,” Anne said, looking at her, “stay close to me. This town isn’t the best place to be in and people will do some very ‘bad’ things to you,” she said, putting a strong notion on the word bad. Twilight nodded, thinking she understood what Anne told her. They then headed towards town and Twilight took note of the things she saw. The town looked more like Ponyville than anything else she had seen in this world so far. It was very old and rustic, compared to the metallic and outright dull colors of the space station and hidden base. It had a more wooden look and more colors than the other places. She took a look at the humans walking around. They appeared to be friendly enough, talking to each other and helping others. However, what Anne said stayed in the back of her mind, and she wasn’t sure to believe what she saw anymore. “That is smart thing to keep in mind, Twilight. These creatures lie in order to get their way,” a voice said in her head. She knew who it was. She wondered how De Magia knew this. She would ask him later. “Anne seems to be trustworthy, she showed me their lies,” Twilight told him, not wanting to fall for his tricks. “Ah, but you still trust me more, right? I will protect you and help you get home, my good friend,” De Magia said in a sweet voice, trying to convince her. “Well, I know, and I do, but Anne is my friend for now too,” Twilight said, with a hint of doubt and anguish in her thoughts. “Just keep in mind, Miss Sparkle, that humans are creatures of hate and violence. Don’t trust them,” De Magia said, trying his best to manipulate her. Twilight slowed down her pace while talking to De Magia in her mind, and Anne noticed this. “Is everything ok, Twilight? You have been acting weird for a while,” Anne asked her, worried. Twilight didn’t want to say she was talking to voices in her head. “Yes, everything is fine. Just... adjusting, is all,” she explained, trying to calm Anne down. Twilight didn’t want Anne to worry about her, as Twilight wasn’t sure what to do. “Ok, here is the first stop: a weapon smith. We will find you a weapon as well as some ammo for my rifle,” Anne pointed out as they entered the shop. What Twilight saw were things she had never seen before. Long pointed sticks of metal, glowing cylinders and many other kinds of metal and wooden weapons. Twilight wasn’t sure how these weapons worked. “They fire plasma, using the power cells. Think of it like a weaker version of your magic,” De Magia explained to her. Twilight wasn’t sure how he knew this, but she didn’t question him. “Hello, good sir! Me and my sister need some weapons and ammo for our trip. Have anything in stock?” Anne asked the shopkeeper, trying to sound tough but not threatening. “Hmm, for someone of her age, I have something she might be able to use. And you said you needed ammo? Let me see what we have in the back,” he said gravelly before walking off. “I will show you how a gun works later, Twilight, as you will need to know how to use one. For now, just hold on to it. I am sure with your magic, it should be super easy to hold and keep hidden,” Anne said as she turned to Twilight. The shopkeeper returned carrying red power cells, a rifle and a sword. “First, for the young lady here”—he held up the sword and the rifle—“I have a unique rifle that came in yesterday. It’s different because, unlike most guns, it doesn’t use power cells or ammo of any kind. However it has a limited amount of shots before needing to recharge, which takes time. Although it is a semi-automatic, it will overheat if you use it too much, and takes quite a bit to cool down,” he explained as he handed Twilight the rifle. He then picked up the sword and handed it to Twilight. “This sword can change its size to fit into pockets of any kind. It isn’t a laser sword, but its metal can’t be cut by lasers. It is made from a rare metal that not even lasers can cut, which doesn’t have a name yet. Makes for a great hidden weapon,” he said, handing her the sword as well. Twilight knew a melee weapon would work great for her due to her telekinesis, It would make for a fine backup in case the gun overheated or when she didn’t have the time to use her advanced spells. “Now, these red power cells are new. Unlike other power cells, they have a higher piercing power and burn ability. They are also replenished in an easy way. Unlike regular power cells, red power cells can be replenished with this device,” he began, showing a squarish device with a switch on it. “You can use this to refill red power cells by taking sunlight, metal or almost anything based on what mode the device is in and transfer it to an empty red power cell.” He handed Anne the power cells and the device. Anne knew this was perfect for their upcoming travels. “How much will this cost?” Anne asked the shopkeeper. “That will be 250 creds,” he said, but before he could continue, Anne spoke up. “Up we go,” she stated. He then had a look in his eyes, but continued. “Down I leave,” he said, walking away. “Let’s go Twilight, we don’t have a lot of time,” Anne said, putting the red power cells into her rife and putting the device in a hidden pouch in her backpack. She led Twilight out of the shop, heading towards the black market. Twilight was really confused on what just happened. “Hey Anne. What just happened back there?” Twilight asked her as they walked away. “He's a friend and part of our group. We have a hidden code,” Anne stated, she then pulled out the rifle, “OK, so in order to use a gun, you just aim and pull the trigger here,” Anne explained, holding the rifle and pointing towards the trigger. “We will practice with it later, but keep in mind that it does have a small kick to it.” She then handed it to her, and Twilight used her magic to teleport it to where she kept De Magia. They entered the market, which was bustling with people walking all over the place. They were carrying bags and baskets all over, but there were also machines, hoverboards and even a few metal golems carrying things as well. Twilight noted that while it wasn’t as advanced technological wise compared to what she had seen they still had machines helping. She thought this town was poorer than the other places she had seen. “I’m guessing you don’t eat meat, right, Twilight?” Anne asked, inquisitively. Twilight, before she could answer, got interrupted by De Magia. “I know you don’t want to eat meat Twilight, but it won’t change who you are Twilight. You will need to eat meat to survive. Plants don’t grow on this planet, since it's mostly desert. On other planets you should be fine,” De Magia said in her head, trying to convince her. It worked. “You’re right De Magia. Eating meat won’t hurt me that much, however, I am only doing this in order to survive. I will not like this,” Twilight agreed. Even though he didn’t have a face, De Magia smiled. He knew he was slowly gaining control of her. “I won’t mind eating any meat Anne, go ahead and get what you want,” Twilight answered. She noted a surprised look on Anne’s face, but then shrugged and went up to a stand. “Hello! Me and my sister are going on a long trip and need some food and water for the trip. We also need a way to carry all our supplies,” she said in a calm demeanor. “Well, for carrying supplies and setting up a camp, we have the new floating platform. It's easy to control and it is safe for all your supplies! And, since it's new, it comes packed with many things. Food, water and a few other things you will need!” the lady said with glee. “That sounds perfect. How much?” Anne asked, hopefully. “For you, it will be 700 creds! It's on discount today!” the lady said happily. Anne wasn’t happy with the price, but it was perfect for what they needed. “How does it work?” Anne asked, handing her the creds. “Well, that's easy! You just enter in details about what you need, such as what you need it to carry, how you want it to look, and even if you want it to stay, it can also follow you around. If you want it to carry you like a mount, you can set it up like that! It also comes with some bonus features on the remote, such as—” the lady was about to explain, when she was interrupted by twenty soldiers entering the town. They were armed with large rifles, and were wearing some sort of green armor. They had grim faces, and were stiff. The people in the town didn’t seem to care, as if it had happened before. “Attention citizens! There are a couple of raiders hiding in your town! But do not panic, we will flush them out!” they began to yell, looking around. Twilight and Anne knew they were out of time and took the platform full of supplies and began moving back towards the inn. They had to gather up what they could and leave. They parked the platform outside, using the remote to lock it and keep it safe. They entered the inn in a hurry, knowing they were running out of time. After they entered the room, Twilight disabled the spell around herself, as she got tired from using it for so long, and so she could use her other magic easier. “Grab what you can! And put this on before we leave!” Anne said in a quick manner, tossing Twilight a cloak. It was a simple brown cloak with a few holes in it, but had a hood to cover up Twilight's horn and wings. It also had a pocket in which she could keep her newly acquired sword. They ran around the room, grabbing what they could carry. Twilight used her magic to teleport what they had onto the platform outside,when suddenly, there was a knock on the door “Excuse us, we would like to ask you a few questions!” guards yelled from outside the room, trying to break down the door. “Twilight. Go outside and get the platform set up to leave. We might have to make a run for it. You can figure it out!” Anne said, handing Twilight the remote. Twilight teleported out of the room and looked at the remote. There were many different buttons on the remote, but there was one that caught Twilight's eye: ‘Vehicle mode’. Twilight thought this was going to be the best method of escape, and pressed the button. The square platform began to enclose itself, forming a large cube. Then, it began to grow a rectangle in the front with windows on it. It also formed two doors from out of nowhere. Twilight climbed into the vehicle and waited for Anne. Just then, Twilight heard weapons firing and turned around to see Anne running from the guards. She knew it was time, and opened the door for her. “Wow, I didn’t know it could do this. Hang on, Twilight!” Anne shouted as she slammed on the gas, taking off. Twilight remembered there was a gun on top, but she didn’t know how to make it work. As they drove off, they took a few shots from the guard’s guns, but it didn’t phase them. They managed to push through the blockade set up around town, but then they were being followed by guards in tanks. There were guards trying to block their path, but they managed to drive past them. They looked around at the other people, but they just moved out of the way, not even phased by this. The soldiers they passed began to run after them, but to no avail. They saw the exit to the town blocked off, and had to find another way. They found a broken down stand that they used as a ramp to jump over the other vehicles. As they headed towards the desert, they had the three tanks following them. “Twilight, use the screen over here to control the remote gun turret on top!” Anne said, pointing towards a console on her side. “How?! I have hooves!” Twilight pointed out frantically. Anne then handed her a small pen without a tip. “Use this! Hurry!” Anne shouted, annoyed at her. Twilight levitated the pen and used it on the console. She saw the image on the screen turn and aimed it towards the other vehicles shooting at them. She fired, and saw an explosion from the side of a vehicle with a long barrel on it. It lit up in flames, and fell to the ground. Twilight fired a few more times, taking it down. She had the biggest rush of adrenaline she had ever felt, and she LOVED it. She used a spell to copy the pen in order to control the turret easier. She aimed at the other two tanks and fired towards them, knocking them down and causing them to explode. Twilight never felt so rushed and excited in her life, and she was loving it. They managed to escape out into the desert, leaving the three tanks to burn in flames. “That. Was. Awesome!” Twilight yelled in between short breaths. “Welcome to our world, Twilight Sparkle!” Anne said with a big smile on her face. Twilight felt tired and began to fall asleep. Before she did, Twilight thought she heard something; “Grow more powerful, my pet. Be ready for war to rage.” However, she couldn't make it out clearly as she passed out from the adrenaline rush. But she knew that wasn’t going to be the last time, and she couldn't wait for it.
The Base“Starlight. I think we need to tell Celestia,” Spike said as they were walking through the forest, heading back home. They had just found out that there was nothing that had the power to bring Twilight back, which Celestia hadn’t locked away. “Let’s wait, Spike. Twilight does have the book with her, so let’s give her time. We will give her two weeks before we go to the princess. We also have Discord helping us out. Let’s wait until we know more, let’s just buy her time for now,” Starlight told the dragon. They continued their journey back to the castle. “We could also steal one of the artifacts to get Twilight home,” Starlight added in. “What? Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, if we get caught, it’s all over,” Spike pointed out. “Do you have any other ideas?” Starlight said to him. “Why, you don’t need to worry! She will be fine!” Discord said, appearing near them. “I already found her. The book will bring her home in due time.” “And you know this how?” Spike asked him. “Let’s say there is more to what is going on then you need to know about. Just back out before you get involved,” Discord warned them before he disappeared. “What did he mean by that?” Spike asked Starlight; she just shrugged. For now, they made a plan to wait for something from Celestia, Discord or Twilight to happen. Twilight awoke from the long nap she took. That adrenaline rush had taken a lot more out of her then she had thought at first. As she looked around, she was still in the same truck, so she looked out the window. They were now in the plains as Twilight saw only a few trees around. “Morning,” Anne told her. “Ugh, my head. Where are we?” Twilight asked her. Her head was pounding, and her magic felt weak. “We are coming up on a small slave town, which we need to pass through. However, this town isn’t safe. We need to stay inside the truck as much as we can,” Anne explained. Twilight knew about slaves from books, but never thought any creature could do that to their own kind. “Oh, I better hide!” Twilight said, as they came upon a few guards. Twilight managed to cast a quick glance towards the town. All Twilight saw were giant metal walls with a large metal gate. The guards didn’t look like anything different from what Twilight had seen, wearing armor of some kind with rifles in their hands. “We are just passing through,” Anne told the guard. “Hmm. Alright, go on in,” they told her. The gates to the town opened, and she drove in. “Alright Twilight, you can get up now,” she told the alicorn. Twilight took a look around, and saw slums, everywhere. The town looked like the castle of the two sisters in its current age but even older and less taken care of. Most of the buildings were missing roofs, and the people were covered in rags. “Why did we need to come in here?” Twilight asked Anne. “We need to meet a contact. He is going to help us,” Anne explained. She sighed for a second and the look in her eyes changed to a more confident look. “The truth is, my brother is being held here. I was planning on trading you for him. However, I can’t now, I don’t want to,” Anne told her. She knew lying wasn’t going to help them. Twilight felt her heart skip a beat after hearing that. She couldn’t imagine any pony doing things like this. However, Twilight was slowly piecing together how humans worked. There was a hint of stress as she spoke. “Hmm. Alright, I will use my magic to help get your brother back. I appreciate you telling me the truth,” Twilight said. In truth, she didn’t trust Anne after hearing that, but she knew she was better off with her than alone. “Thank you, Twilight. I understand if you don’t trust me anymore. The real reason my brother is being held there, is that we both were slaves. The owner would let me leave if I found something rare for him. In order to make sure I listened, he took my brother. I just want to save him,” Anne told her. “Anyway, here we are.” They stopped in front of a large building, which, compared to the rest of the town, looked like a castle. It was well maintained compared to the slums from before. “Ok, here is the plan. I am going to pretend to have you in cuffs. Once they bring my brother out, the cuffs come off. We will need to fight our way out, once we get a hold of him. Sounds good?” Anne explained to Twilight. She was not pleased with being in cuffs and was planning on using her magic to escape if she needed to. “Alright,” was the only thing Twilight told her. She got placed in the fake cuffs and went up to the large stone door. “We are here to see the King. I brought him a gift,” Anne told the guards, who let her pass. She led Twilight to a large, open room with one chair, that was led up to by a red carpet. It looked like a castle you would see in fairy tales. “Ah, Anne! Glad to see you can kept your end of the deal!” the King said. Twilight looked onto the chair and saw a large, bulky man with a giant white beard sitting in the chair. He held a red wooden scepter and a silver crown on his head. He had a grin that was condescending , and wore robes that were too long for him. “Of course, where is my brother?” Anne asked, but before anything else could happen, armed guards with spears and wearing metal armor appeared. Two were standing at the gates, a few walking around, and a group pulling a cart with a cage on it. They looked like knights with the armor and the helmets which covered their faces from being seen. They also wore capes made from a fabric of some kind. They were very similar to knights Twilight had read about in books, just much taller. “There has been a slight change of plans. You and that thing will become my personal slaves!” the King said, laughing. “Where is my brother!” Anne yelled at him. The King motioned guards to bring out something. Twilight and Anne took a look, and saw her brother’s dead, lifeless corpse. “YOU SON OF A BITCH! HE WAS ONLY 10! YOU KILLED HIM!” Anne screamed at him in pain while tears crawled down her face. “Yea, yea, yea. Blame him. Bastard wouldn’t listen to me,” the King said, with a real smug look on his face. “Twilight, teleport us out of here!” Anne said, taking the cuffs off of her. Twilight’s horn began to glow. “Stop them!” the King yelled. The guards began running towards them, but Twilight’s magic was faster and teleported them both out of the castle. They looked around for the truck, but they saw it was surrounded by guards. “This way!” Anne yelled, grabbing Twilight by the hoof and dragging her. They quickly ran the other way as the other guards left the castle. Just then, they heard a voice on the speakers. “We have a couple of rebels! A girl and a wild animal! They tried to kill your king! You must stop them at all cost!” the King yelled through a loudspeaker. “I know an exit to get out of the city, follow me!” Anne yelled. Twilight followed her to what appeared to be an old bar. Twilight and Anne went inside and she went to the bartender. “The eye welcomes all,” she stated to him, rushed faster than normal. “The watcher let’s you enter,” he told her back. Just then, a wall on the side opened. Anne led Twilight inside before it closed behind them. “This is a tunnel we use to get around. We should be safe in here,” Anne said. Twilight could hear the depression in her voice. “Anne. Is everything ok?” Twilight asked her as they walked. “He killed my younger brother and to top it off, I lost all the supplies and the last of the creds we had. I am just great!” Anne said sarcastically. “It could be a lot worse Anne. You will get your revenge on him,” Twilight told her. She was quite surprised she said that last part. “You are starting to learn the truth, Miss Sparkle. This is what Celestia hides from all of you,” De Magia said in her head. “Thank you, Twilight. Let’s just focus on getting back to the base,” Anne said. They stayed walking in silence until they left the tunnel. When they left the underground tunnel, they had ended up back in the desert. “The base is just a few miles from here. If we keep walking, we should be able to make it back before nightfall,” Anne said, starting to walk before Twilight went up to her with her horn glowing. “I can conjure up some food and water. It won’t taste very good, but it will help us survive,” Twilight told her, her horn beginning to glow. Before Anne could respond, a few oranges and two water bottles appeared out of nowhere. “It’s limited with what I can do, but for now, this is what we have.” “Huh, neat. Thank you,” Anne said, grabbing an orange and some water. They began the long journey towards the hidden base. After walking for what felt like days, when it was only nine hours, Twilight and Anne finally saw the base. It looked like a simple sand mountain. Twilight’s magic was weakening due to conjuring up some rags for them, but they finally made it “We made it Twilight! There it is!” Anne yelled, excited. “Yes! Thank Celestia!” Twilight added in. They began to run toward the mountain. She walked up to where the door was and clicked on a button located on it. “Can I help you?” it asked. “It’s me, Anne. I brought our guest,” Anne told it. “Oh. The Watcher would like to meet with you both, go on and see him,” it said, before doors began to open behind the sand. Twilight just stood and stared in amazement at what she saw. They entered the base as the doors closed behind them. Then, an elevator came up, which took them to the real underground base. “Let me do all the talking,” Anne told Twilight, giving her a very serious look. Twilight understood and just nodded. Anne led Twilight through a series of hallways and corridors until they came upon a set of double doors, with a label on it that said ‘The Watcher’. Anne knocked on the door in a pattern of five times in order to let the Watcher know it was her. The doors then opened and revealed a small room with curtains at the end of the room. They were bright red and seemed larger than the room itself. There was also two guards on the sides. “Hello Anne. I see you found our special guest,” The Watcher said. “Yes, all mighty Watcher,” Anne simply said. “Let me talk to her,” The Watcher asked. Anne nudged Twilight to move up. “Nice to meet you Watcher, thank you for helping me,” Twilight said. She had no idea how to talk to something that seemed to be a god to these people. “I should be saying that to you, goddess of magic and friendship. Student to goddess of the sun. Protecter of other worlds,” The Watcher said. “Goddess? No, no, you got us all wrong. We are just simple princesses,” Twilight corrected, blushing a bit. “Princess, Goddess. Sun, Moon. I have heard the tales of the book you travel with. You do not belong in this world dear Twilight Sparkle. However, I am not allowed to mess with your affairs,” The Watcher said. From what Twilight could gather, there were gods in this world, but she wasn’t sure she was talking to one at all. “Well, thank you Watcher. I will just stay around here for now,” Twilight said, “Indeed. My people will protect you, until the time is right. Now, begone,” The Watcher finished. They then left the room and went back out to the base. “Well, that was... something else,” Twilight pointed out, not sure what to think. “The Watcher is a simple god. He knows all, and sees all. He knows everything that we don’t. At least, the stories say so,” Anne explained. “We are low on rooms, so you can come and stay with me for now. Follow me.” Anne led Twilight through the base, pointing out different areas, mainly the mess hall and the bathrooms. They then came upon a small room, where she led Twilight inside. “Feel free to make yourself comfortable. I need to go find a few friends and explain you and my brother, to them,” Anne said as she left. The room itself was very small, with only one bed. There was a small desk in the corner and a small closet with cloaks in it. On the other side, there were also a few books. Twilight got excited after seeing the books and paper. She figured that the room was mostly meant for sleeping, and that they didn’t spend a ton of time in the small, cramped room. “Well Twilight, time to get organized. What do I know? One: This world is very unfriendly, and that they have weird magic. Two: I am the only pony in this world for who knows how long. Three: De Magia is alive and wants to help me. Four: Discord knows where I am, but knowing him, he won’t help out. Alright, mental checklist, check. I think I should be fine,” Twilight said, talking to herself out loud. There was a knock on the door. “Anne! I heard you were back. Can we talk?” The voice sounded male, and Twilight thought it was one of her friends. He had both a worried and excited tone. “Anne isn’t here right now. Can I help you?” Twilight told him. “Oh, who are you? I am Baxter,” he said, his tone of voice changing to try to be more friendly. “I am Twilight. How can I help you?” Twilight told him back, sharing his tone. “Can I come in?” He asked her. This caught Twilight off guard. She didn’t want to be rude, but at the same time, how would she explain? “Alright, but don’t freak out and let me explain,” Twilight finally decided to say. “Freak out about what? Do you have robot limbs or a missing hand or something, as that would be cool!” Baxter said. He reminded Twilight of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Twilight looked around for a way to open the door until she found the button and flew up to hit it. The door slid open and Baxter came in. Once he saw Twilight, he stopped moving. He suddenly began slapping himself. “You are not crazy. You are not crazy. You are not crazy,” he told himself. “I told you not to freak out,” Twilight told him. “I THOUGHT YOU WERE HALF MACHINE OR SOMETHING, NOT A TALKING PURPLE WINGED UNICORN!” he shouted. “Calm down, let me explain please,” Twilight said, trying to calm him down. However, before he could, he grabbed a taser from his back pocket. “Stay still, this will hurt, A LOT!” he said, running towards Twilight. Twilight raised up a shield spell with her magic, absorbing the attack. She then used her magic to lift the taser out of his hand. “Let me explain!” Twilight yelled again. However, Baxter just charged at her, “Where is Anne!” he yelled, banging on the shield. “Baxter! Stop!” Anne yelled running back with her other friends. “She is a friend, that’s enough,” Baxter just stopped and looked at her. “But, what, but….” Baxter was at a loss for words. “Well, guess you two already met each other,” Anne said, pulling Baxter away. “Guess you should introduce yourself to everyone else, Twilight.” “Right. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, pleased to meet you,” Twilight said, taking her front forehoof to bow. “That, is, the coolest thing I have ever seen. A talking horse!” a girl with glasses said, from outside the room. “I am known as Hamya, please answer all my questions!” she started to jump around. “So, that is where you disappeared to?” a tall, bulky man said. “You were sent to capture and study an alien?” This freaked out Twilight. “I was sent to save her, and she is a friend. Twilight, forgive Tank. He is very blunt,” Anne said. “Anne, babe, why are you talking to an animal?” Baxter asked her, pointing to Twilight. “And you met Baxter, my idiot of a boyfriend,” Anne finished. She then turned to her friends. “We need to help Twilight feel welcome. We will show her around and help her out tomorrow. For now, I think we both need rest,” she led the three friends outside. “Well, quite a varied group of friends you have,” Twilight said, still a bit shocked. “Yea, and that isn’t even all of them. You will meet others tomorrow. For now, I think it's time to rest, I am sure this is a lot for you to take in,” Anne said. She went over to her and brought out a small basket, like the one Spike sleeps in “You’re kidding right?” Twilight said raising a brow at her. “This is only for tonight Twilight, I will get you a proper bed tomorrow. I know this is very low,” Anne said, hoping to not make Twilight more upset. “Fine, for one night,” Twilight moaned. Anne laid out a few blankets on the basket, and Twilight laid down. She was surprisingly comfortable. Anne went over to her own bed. “Good night, Twilight,” Anne said. “Good night, Anne,” Twilight replied as she went to sleep. “Hello Twilight. How is the world treating you?” De Magia asked her. Twilight was back in the dark room with a single pillar of light beaming down on her. De Magia’s voice came from nowhere and everywhere. “What do you think? I know you are seeing all of it,” Twilight stated simply. “It could be worse. I am here to tell you that Celestia already knows you took me, and is ready to exile you, or banish you, or even execute you,” De Magia told her. He knew it was a lie, but he needed his pet to hate her. “What? But how! What about Spike and Starlight?” Twilight asked, worried. “She locked them in the dungeon, demanding to know where you are. They are getting beaten until they do, which they can’t,” he told her. “No, you are lying. I, I can’t believe it,” Twilight said, a look of shock on her face. “You best believe it. You are alone now, Twilight, and I am the only one who will stay with you. Now sleep,” De Magia told her, as Twilight faded out and went back to sleep. His plan was coming along nicely, the only big issue were these humans. But, they should help in his plans. Twilight kept what De Magia told her in her mind. “Celestia doesn’t care about her anymore.” Twilight had a feeling De Magia wasn’t truthful about everything, but she didn’t know what to believe anymore. Twilight went to sleep in order to think it over. She would meet with Anne’s friends, which might help clear her mind. She also thought about her friends back home, which had no idea what had happened to her. She thought about Discord, Spike and Starlight, who might explain to her friends, or at least make sure they wouldn’t worry about her. Her thoughts went back to the KIng, who killed a ten year old child in order to make a point. She knew the world she was in now. A world of bad and worse. A world of evil, but there were still people like Anne, but even now she didn’t know if she could trust her either.
Fresh Start“Morning Twilight. How did you sleep?” Anne asked as she poked her, trying to wake her up. “I don’t think I’ve slept so well in my whole life!” Twilight said, yawning. “Well, we have both been through alot, so it makes sense,” Anne added, going into the closet and grabbing some fresh clothes to wear. “First up on the agenda is the wash room. We both need a shower,” Anne said as she grabbed a towel for her and Twilight. “A shower sounds great right now! I could really use one,” Twilight exclaimed, glad she could feel some water on her coat again soon. Her mane and coat were tattered and more brown than lavender, and her mane wasn’t even straight anymore. “Well then, let’s get going!” Anne said cheerfully. She led Twilight towards the wash room. Now that it was daytime, Twilight was able to get a closer look at the base. It seemed larger than it did the last day. She saw many people around, of all ages, and they were all staring at her. Twilight knew why they were staring, but she didn’t enjoy it. “Hey, Twilight, after this, let’s get breakfast and then see if we can get you your own room,” Anne explained to her. “My own room?” Twilight was taken aback by this. She had not been expecting to get her own room. “Well, maybe more like, get us a new room to share. I am tired of that small room and I don’t want you to be alone quite yet,” Anne said, correcting herself. That made more sense to Twilight, so she agreed. They arrived at the wash room. “So, do you know how showers work?” Anne asked. “Well, I’m sure your showers work differently than what I’m used to. But I can learn easily,” Twilight explained to her. Anne led her into the wash room and Twilight became confused immediately. She had never seen a wash room like this. There were no knobs on anything, and everything was so plain. She had no idea how any of it worked. Anne noticed her look and began to speak, but she stopped herself. “Well…” she started. “Um.” “What?” Twilight asked. “We could shower together in order for me to help you,” Anne said, not sure if that was awkward. “No, um, just show me how it works and I should be fine. No need to make this weird,” Twilight replied, a bit embarrassed. They stood silently for what felt like five minutes before Anne continued. “Right, OK. Come take a look,” Anne said, showing Twilight how the showers worked. There were buttons to control how cold or hot the water was, a button to dispense soap and shampoo, and a button to give you a brush. She led Twilight to a shower, and then went to a shower cabin next to her. This was different from the showers back home, but Twilight didn’t care. She was glad to finally be able to clean herself off. After washing her mane and tail, along with the rest of her coat, she levitated the towel to dry herself off. She then walked out and waited for Anne. “Well Twilight, how do you feel?” Anne asked her, coming out from behind the curtains that encased each shower. “Great! I really needed that! So, now we get something to eat?” Twilight replied, after hearing her stomach growl from the lack of food. “Yea! Here, hand me your towel,” Anne said, holding her hands out. Twilight handed her the towel she had used and Anne put it down a small chute. They left the wash room, just as a big group entered. “Looks like we got here at the right time,” Twilight joked. A few minutes later, they came upon the mess hall. There were already tons of people sitting and eating at the tables and there was a decent line to the serving table as well. Twilight and Anne took their place at the back of the line. “What kind of food do you guys have here?” Twilight asked, hoping they had something she could eat. “Mostly meat,” Anne started. She noticed the disgusted look on Twilight’s face. “But we do also have some vegetables and fruits, along with grains.” “Whew. Good, we don’t really eat meat back home,” Twilight explained to her. When they finally got into line, Twilight took a look at the menu. She had no idea what any of these foods were: bacon, omelet, sausage. There were a bunch more. “Anne, I have no idea what any of this stuff is,” Twilight told her. Anne nodded and ordered for her. “I will take a bacon omelet surprise. My friend will take an uncooked oatmeal please,” Anne told the cashier. He gave her a weird look, but nodded, confirming her order. “I got you oats for now, I will teach you about the other food as time goes,” Anne explained. “Sounds good,” Twilight confirmed. Anne grabbed her tray while Twilight used her magic to carry hers and they headed over to a free table. Twilight immediately began to eat. “So, Twilight, we need to discuss what kind of room we want to get,” Anne began, looking towards Twilight. “Mhmm,” was all she managed, too distracted by her food to listen to her. “Well, it needs to be big enough for a person and a pony. I think having a closet for myself is a good idea. We’ll also want access to a computer and a TV to keep us updated. Finally we need two beds,” Anne said. Twilight finally said something. “What is a computer?” “I’ll show you when we get one. Anyway, finish eating, looks like you need it,” Anne said, taking a bite of her own food. “This food is different from the food back home.” Twilight said, looking up towards Anne. “Huh?” Anne asked her, looking somewhat confused. “The food just seems a little different is all. Can’t say if it’s good or bad yet,” Twilight explained, hoping that it made sense. “Hmm, we might make our food differently from yours,” Anne said, trying to make sense from it. Before they could continue, someone came and sat at the table with them, looking at Twilight. He was was an average person, in terms of size and looks. “Hey Anne. Who’s this— unique—friend of yours?” the man asked. “It’s a long story. Let’s say things happened and she doesn’t belong, but I am helping her for now. There was the empire and the outlaws, and now she's here,” Anne explained, telling him the short version of their adventures “So, how much would this room cost?” Anne asked the man helping them. They were standing in a shop where they could rent out a new room and sell their old one. It was the only one in the base. “Well, that will be one thousand creds miss. More if you have a pet,” he said, looking towards Twilight. “For the last time—I am not a pet!” Twilight yelled in a fit of anger. She had gotten so tired of hearing that. “We will come back later. Hold the room for us,” Anne said looking at the cashier, before walking out of the small room. “I need to get some more money from my account. Wait here,” she told Twilight, having Twilight sit on a small bench before walking away. After Twilight had been sitting on the small bench for several minutes, two people came up to her. They were very bulky and both were wearing sunglasses. “So, the rumors were true!” one of them said. “Why would Anne be friends with that thing?” the other said. “Maybe as a pet for a weird fetish?” the other suggested. “I am not a thing!” Twilight yelled. “It talks! Well, let’s see how much creds you are worth!” the first one said, jumping on top of her, holding her down. Before she could use her magic she was crushed under his weight, but she began to fight back. “It’s a feisty thing!” the other one said, grabbing a small pistol. Twilight’s eyes widened. She mustered up all her strength and bucked the one on top of her in the face, using her hind legs, causing him to stumble. “Why you little!” he said, but before they could do anything else, Anne came back. “Walter! George! Stop!” she yelled. “Shit, it’s Anne! Run!” they said in unision, taking off running. “Twilight, are you ok?” she asked, running up to her. “Well, I think my ribs are bruised, but otherwise, I’m fine,” she said through heavy breaths. “Those two are assholes, forget about them. I got the money, let’s head back in,” Anne said, helping Twilight walk. “Forget about it?! They bucking attacked me for no real reason! How can I forget about that?” Twilight yelled. Anne sighed. “Those two just love to be jerks. They had no real reason to attack you, Twilight,” Anne tried to explain. “So random people come up and just attack others, for no real reason?” Twilight questioned, not believing it. “Humans tend to make poor choices Twilight. That is just what we do. Humans are just that way,” Anne said, not sure how to explain it. “So they are just that way then? Guess it can’t be helped. We have creatures like that back home, but they don’t do it to their own kind,” Twilight said, trying to make more sense from it. “Let’s get back inside,” Anne said, bowing her arms and pointing towards the door. “After you.” “So, did you two decide?” the man asked. “Yes, we’ll take the room, here’s the money,” she said, giving him the creds she had gotten. “Great, here is the keycard! Hope you two have a great day!” he said as they left. “So, now we have a bigger room?” Twilight asked. “Yea, let’s go check it out,” Anne said, leading the way towards their new room. It didn’t look much different on the outside and had an empty sign on it. Anne entered the keycard into a small lock on the door and a voice came out of the box. “Welcome! Please say the name of the owner,” it said in a robotic voice. “Anne, Twilight. Two owners,” she replied. “Two owners, Anne and Twilight confirmed. Welcome Anne,” it said and as it did, the sign showed their names. “That is so cool!” Twilight squeaked. The door opened and they went inside. “There isn’t anything in here,” Twilight pointed out. There wasn’t any furniture, only several different empty rooms. “Well, we have to go sort that out,” Anne said, walking over to a console on the wall in the living room. “Welcome, Anne, what would you like in each room?” the same voice asked again. “Start with bedroom,” she said and it showed the bedroom. She began to mess around with the console. “Two beds, a closet and a shelf. Confirm,” she said out loud. “Confirmed,” it replied. She did this for each room. The bathroom would have a shower, a sink and a cabinet, along with a toilet. The kitchen a table, a storage room and a refrigerator. And the living room a desk with a computer, a couch and a TV on it. “Please leave the room for two hours while I get things sorted out,” said the voice from the console. “You heard it, let’s go give you a tour of the ‘mini city’, as we call it,” she said. “How does that even work?” Twilight asked, her mouth ajar.Twilight has never a spell pull off those things. That many items appear from nowhere, the screen that talk to you. Anne put the keycard in her pocket and they left towards the different districts in the city. Twilight saw many shops, a few restaurants and even a few guards running around. It reminded her of Canterlot, only much smaller. She wasn’t sure how all of this even worked. “Technology can do things not even magic can do. That is one reason you were brought here. You are going to learn these things,” De Magia voice sounded in her head. “So, you did mean to bring me here?” she asked. “Yes and no. Just learn from it while you can. You do know they have a way to study things. Learn as much as you can, my pe—, I mean my friend,” De Magia told her. “Is there a way I can learn more about this universe and its technology?” Twilight asked. “Of course. I already thought about that. I will show you when we get back,” Anne told her. “Oh yea! We were supposed to meet with my friends today! We better hurry!” Anne began to run towards an arcade and Twilight trotted after her. Meanwhile in a dark place in the middle of nowhere. “So, Discord knows about us now. I don’t think he is going to interfere. What about De Magia?” a voice asked. “He seems to be manipulating Princess Twilight Sparkle. We are not sure what his plan is,” something else replied back. “If the Element of Magic joins him, things will get tricky. I think I know what his plan is. Prepare the troops, we are going to talk to the dragon and unicorn who work with the princess,” he told him, sending him off. “You will not win this war, De Magia—I will make sure of it.”
New Friends“Slow down Anne!” Twilight yelled, trying to catch up to Anne. “We need to hurry Twilight. They are waiting for us!” Anne yelled back. “We’re heading to what we call our ‘secret base’.” Twilight was wondering what she meant by that, but focused on keeping up with her. Anne led Twilight around the rest of the base and Twilight noticed something strange. The part they were in now looked much more run down and old. There also seemed to be fewer people around and seemed to have uninhabitable homes, unlike the part they came from. There were also tons of guards around, so it seemed like there was something else going on. She didn’t get time to question it further. “Alright, we’re here Twilight.” Anne told her as they slowed down. They came upon a small stairway that went down under the floor. It wasn’t very wide, and the door it led to was just a plain black wooden door. Anne led Twilight down to the door and knocked on the door a series of times; it reminded Twilight of a code, like the one she and her brother had often used when they were young Tap, tap tap, tap, tap tap tap, tap. “Oh! It must be Anne and Twilight. Come in!” a voice said. “Anne has someone to show us!” “Ok Twilight, take it easy. Let me handle things first. My friends can be, well, erhmm...” Anne started. “Strange?” Twilight said, finishing her sentence. “Thanks for understanding,” Anne just said, slowly opening the door. When the door opened fully, Twilight was greeted by a new, calm sight, that was very much in contrast to what she had seen in the base so far. The walls were made out of logs and had a table with a couch in the middle. There were two chairs by a table, and had there was a small kitchen in another part. There was a small drawer to the right, and a few cupboards. She saw Baxter, Hamya, and Tank, but also several other people she hasn’t seen before. Some were sitting at a table, there were two in the kitchen, and one was standing in the corner. “Well, I’m back!” Anne said, smiling. “This here is my friend, Twilight. Let’s just say she isn’t very familiar with our world and we should make her feel as welcome as possible!” Anne told them all. “Well, what in the world is that... thing?” a black man said, pointing at Twilight. Twilight took a better look at this man: he was a very tall, black-skinned male who was wearing very plain clothing with same colored shirt and jeans. His hair was black and very short. His question made her nervous and annoyed her at the same time. Twilight was about to respond, but a chubby girl spoke first. “Well, it’s just an animal. Why are you treating it like a human Anne?” she asked. Twilight noticed she was wearing a purple shirt and blue pants. She had a wide, chubby face as well. She was a medium height and had blonde hair. Anne and Twilight both guessed that the others had not told them about Twilight, due to their strange reactions to her. A pale boy decided to speak up. He looked very plain and nothing seemed too special about him. He had brown hair, glasses and his clothes were simple, wearing just a white shirt. “Well, if it’s a friend of Anne’s I will treat it as a friend—human or not,” he said. This helped Twilight calm down a bit, but she was still annoyed. There was one other person who had not spoken up yet. She was wearing a hood, but from what Twilight could tell, she was a very pale-skinned, short girl. It was hard to make out any features about her. “I guess you don’t like being called a thing or an it, do you my dear? You should show them how one should act in the presence of a princess,” De Magia suggested in her head. “But I just can’t simply do that, after all, this isn’t Equestria,” Twilight replied back. Deep in her mind, however, she knew he was right. “I am not a thing, I am not an it. I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. I come from Equestria, and you need to show me respect!” Twilight yelled towards the group. This caught herself, Anne, and the others off guard. The hooded girl didn’t seem to care. “Good job, Twilight,” Anne murmured under her breathe. “Little miss princess thinks she’s so tough, does she? She’s nothing but a stupid horse. I don’t care who you are, I run things around here!” the black man said. “He’s the boss of our crew, Twilight, also called The Boss. And Boss, please calm down. She is just tired of being called things she isn’t,” Anne explained defensively. “So, we have a talking unicorn princess? Jeez Anne, what have you got for us. Name’s Barb by the way,” the chubby girl said once more. “Well, I don’t have much else to say, Anne. I’m Mike,” the pale kid said. This made Twilight freak out, remembering the name of her first captor, but then remembered she wasn’t there anymore. “I’m Kris,” the hooded girl said, not adding anything else. The group then went back to talking for a bit. “See Twilight, that wasn’t too bad. They just take some getting used to, is all,” Anne said, looking at her friend. Twilight took a quick look around once more, and sat down. “Well, it is nice to have some friends. Something doesn’t seem quite right though. Why are they hidden underground like this? Anne is still the only one I can trust, or at least I think. There is something she isn’t telling me. For now, I will play along and see what happens. I might just be overthinking it.” “Hey Anne, come over here,” the Boss called out. This arose Twilight’s suspicions even more. “I’ll be right back, Twilight,” Anne said, heading over to talk to the Boss. Twilight used a spell to hear what they were saying. “Are you sure she will be willing to help the cause, Anne?” the Boss asked her. “To be honest, I don’t know. Twilight has been betrayed, captured, lied to, and has seen things I doubt she was used to seeing. I don’t know how she feels,” Anne explained. “Well, she better, Anne. Or else we will be forced to throw her out,” the Boss said. “We will not throw her out. She knows nothing about our world. Let’s just give it some time, ok?” Anne explained. Twilight was glad that Anne wanted to help her, but she was curious as to what they meant by helping them. “Should I go and ask her?” Anne asked. “Yes, but be careful about it,” the Boss said. Anne then returned to Twilight with a look that Twilight wasn’t able to recognize . “Soooooo, Twilight,” she started, talking slowly, “I have a question to ask you.” “Well, what is it, Anne?” Twilight asked. “Remember how I told you that we were a rebel group? Well, we want to ask for your help,” Anne told her. Twilight knew this was coming, but she had no idea how to answer her question. Twilight herself was a princess and being a rebel means going against the ruling family. She would also have to fight others, which she wasn’t sure she would be able to do. “Give me some time to think about it, Anne,” was all Twilight could tell her and Anne nodded. “Anyway, let’s go hang out with the others,” she said, pointing towards the group. Twilight agreed and followed Anne. “They want you to join this war of theirs, Twilight. You and me alone could easily beat these weak humans and their magic. But, I say join them. I will help you later,” De Magia said to her. Twilight simply ignored him and walked over to the others. When they got there, the others grew silent, until Mike decided to speak up. “Well Twilight, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself?” he asked her. Twilight’s ears perked up and she took him up on his offer. “Well, I used t o live in a library and I am Princess Celestia's protege. Others have told me I have OCD, though, I call it well organized, and care about my friends. I love to study and read,” Twilight started, but was interrupted by Barb. “Wait, magic? Magic isn’t real hun,” she said. Twilight’s horn glowed once again and she used a levitation spell on a glass sitting on a table nearby. They all just stood there staring at her in amazement. “So, you can use magic, so what,” the Boss said, still not pleased with her. “Guess he’s just that way,” Twilight thought. “What about you guys?” Twilight decided to ask them. “Well, there isn’t much to me, I am just a very simple person of simple tastes,” Mike said. “I love food!” Barb said. “Whatever,” Kris said. “I love science and learning!” Hamya said. “Sports for me,” Baxter said. “I love to work out!” Tank said. “Why should I tell you,” the Boss told her, annoyed. “Well then, now that we got to know each other, come sit down for awhile,” Anne said, walking over to a cupboard on the wall, grabbing a small box out of it. “Alright, so we need to find Starlight Glimmer and Spike. Keep your disguise on at all times!” something that looked like a pony said. There was a group of three all wearing sunglasses and a trench coat. They had entered Ponyville from a small black portal in the Everfree forest. “We will use them to help us find Twilight Sparkle and De Magia. Avoid Discord at all costs. Go!” the leader of the group said. They split up and began to look for Starlight and Spike. Starlight and Spike were both in the castle, thinking about everything that was happening. “What did Discord mean when he told us that? What is going on?” Spike asked. “I really don’t know, Spike, but I feel like Twilight is in trouble,” Starlight told him. “Excuse me, are you Miss Glimmer and Spike the dragon?” a shadow pony asked them. He seemed to not belong and something felt off about this pony. He had black fur and a black mane. “Why yes we are. Can we help you?” Starlight asked. “Tell us where to find Princess Twilight. We have something important to tell her.”He asked. “Twilight is out on royal duties for now. Could we help you instead?” Starlight asked, “Well, maybe you can be useful.” He said, smiling. Before they could react, they were knocked out. “While I still find your friends hard to get along with, that was a great time for me to relax. Thanks Anne” Twilight said cheerfully. “I thought that would help. So, will you help us?” Anne asked. “Wait until tomorrow for me to know, please,” Twilight told her. “Of course,” Anne said, walking up to the door. “Welcome back, Anne and Twilight,” the robotic voice said. When they walked in, the room looked like it did on the screen Twilight had seen earlier. The once empty apartement was now full of furniture and other things. Twilight was amazed at how this worked. “Anyway, we should probably get some sleep now. I will make breakfast in the morning,” Anne said, yawning. “Good idea, good night, Anne,” Twilight said, walking towards her own bed. For the first time since she got here, she felt like she belonged. She felt like people cared about her, and forgot about getting home, if only for tonight. Author's Note I'm sorry for the long wait and the short chapter. I have been busy. I will try to update more, but in the mean time, enjoy this chapter!
New Change New Change “You should help them fight, Twilight,” De Magia told her. They were standing in the black room once more, where Twilight talked to it in her sleep. “Why?” Twilight asked it, looking around the dark room. “Because it would be good for you to learn, Twilight. Besides, they plan to kick you out if you don’t help, so you don’t have much choice,” De Magia told her. “What? Anne would never!” Twilight yelled at De Magia. “She did try to side with you, but I doubt she has enough power to protect you from all of them. Think of it as a way to learn more about this world and the humans,” De Magia explained, trying to provide her with an incentive using something she liked “Well, I do like learning new things. Still, I would have to fight other living beings,” Twilight said, a hint of sadness crawling on her face “You will need to learn this, Twilight. You will grow stronger. Trust me, help out these humans for now. I will be with you,” De Magia told her before the room began fading out. Twilight awoke the next day and kept in mind what De Magia said to her. She got up and stretched out her wings before looking around. “Morning, Twilight. How did you sleep?” Anne was making breakfast for them in the kitchen, a smell of oats in the air. “I slept good, how about you?” Twilight asked her back, trying to appear friendly. “Great. Anyway, I made some food, let’s eat up before leaving,” Anne said, carrying a plate over to Twilight. “What’s the plan for today?” Twilight looked at her while eating the oatmeal Anne had prepared for her." Anne’s face changed Her smile vanished, replaced by a rather distant expression. “I was hoping to help you learn more about humans and such in the library we have. Unless you want to help us in our fight?” she both explained and asked at the same time. Twilight became silent, waiting on De Magia to talk to her. “Do it. I will be with you,” he told her. “Yes, Anne. I will help you,” Twilight quickly told her. “Really? Well then, I want you to know you aren’t forced to. But still, thanks, Twilight,” Anne said, a happy look on her face. Twilight still wasn’t sure about this, but she knew she needed to learn more first. The rest of the meal was quiet while they ate and soon they were making their way out of the room. Twilight continued to follow Anne quietly and Anne took notice of that. They went back to the small hidden room where she had met Anne’s friends. “Ok, wait here,” Anne said and Twilight did as she was told. Anne did her knock, and she went inside. Twilight stood outside waiting for Anne, and soon De Magia struck up a conversation with her. “Well, Twilight. You ready to join in on the war?” he asked her. “Not really, no. I wish there was another way,” Twilight told him. “Well, what if there was another way?” De Magia answered. “What do you mean?” Twilight asked. “We can leave, or use your magic to control these humans anyway we want,” De Magia told her once more. “What, no! I won’t do such a thing,” Twilight replied. Before they could continue, Anne came back outside. “Alright, Twilight, I hope you’re ready. You still have a chance to back down,” Anne told her. “You have helped me, Anne. It’s the least I can do to return the favor,” Twilight explained and she wasn’t lying. She felt like she needed to help out in order to pay them back. She sighed, before walking over to Anne. Twilight knew this would be the end of some of her ideals and she would join in a war. Anne led Twilight into the same room as yesterday, but now it was empty. “What’s going on Anne?” Twilight asked, very confused. The lights in the room went out, leaving the room dark. “Sorry for this, Twilight,” Anne said before Twilight got knocked out. Twilight’s mind began to race with what De Magia told her and she now feared for her life as she fell to the cold floor. When Twilight awoke, she was in a pure white room with no windows or doors, only a single bed. She took a quick look around, but couldn’t see anything other than pure white. She rubbed her hoof over the back of her head where she had been hit. Suddenly, a voice came out of nowhere. “We're sorry for the rough welcome, Twilight, but you must understand, we can’t let anyone know where this is.” Twilight jumped, startled by the sudden noise. “Wha-whats going on?” Twilight asked, not sure what to think of the situation. “Calm down Twilight,” another voice said, and this time Twilight was sure it was Anne’s. Twilight turned towards the sound of the voice and saw Anne standing next to a now open hole in the wall. “What in the name of Celestia is going on Anne!?” Twilight yelled at her. “I had to, Twilight. We have to protect the location of this place, and we had to be careful. But you are here now. Please come with me,” Anne said in her usual nice tone, and Twilight hesitantly followed her. What Twilight saw made her panic, get excited, and almost pass out all at the same time. Machines that Twilight had never seen, people walking around, and weapons everywhere. It looked like the palace during the wedding, only even more busy. Twilight thought she now understood what she had gotten herself into. They were preparing for a new attack. “Commander, sir!” Anne called out towards a tall man in a uniform. “Anne, glad to see you made it! And what is this?” the commander said looking at Twilight. “She is the asset I was talking about, and my friend,” Anne said, sneaking that last part in. The commander walked over to Twilight and began looking her over. “So, a purple winged unicorn is our asset? Well, I guess she can work. Sadly, we don’t have time to train her,” the commander said looking back over to Anne. “An attack is incoming soon. Take her and go meet up with your squad. Good luck to you.” Anne then grabbed Twilight and ran over to her squad. Twilight knew it was too late to back out, and just accepted her new fate. “It has begun,” De Magia said in the back of her mind. “What have I got us into De Magia? I mean, I was just foalnapped by Anne of all people, and now this place I am in seems strange, even with what we have seen. The commander didn’t even question me which seemed a bit off, or reacted to me in any way. Tartarus, I don’t even think I can trust Anne anymore! I mean, she knocked me out without any good reason!” Twilight began to think to De Magia. He never gave her an answer, leaving Twilight with her thoughts while running with Anne. She looked at Anne, but she didn’t see the same friendly face as before, only a face of mystery, and a face that had secrets to hide. She took a look around the building, and it had the same pure white walls she saw in her room, but they didn’t look like normal walls— they almost looked fake and it seemed like they were built just for her. All the people running around showed no signs of reaction to her, which bothered Twilight quite a bit. She wasn’t sure who she could trust anymore, but decided Anne was still on her side. Twilight saw a group equipping gear she had never seen before and she knew that they must have been part of the military that she was now forced to join. Author's Note Sorry for the long wait! But I had a few surprises to make up for it :)
The Discovery (Rewritten again on 5/26/16)Twilight was searching around in the Canterlot archives after spending two weeks in the castle of the two sisters, looking for books on dark magic.- She wanted to learn to better combat dark magic for the future and thought the best way was to learn how the magic worked itself, even if dark magic was banne. She was doing it for the good of ponykind; at least, that’s what she told herself. After seeing what dark magic could do, after she had to use it to open Sombra’s door, she had started studying dark magic. She also thought that chaos magic and demon magic could be useful, after Discord and Tirek attacked Equestria. Since Tirek, Twilight was studying dark magic, hidden away from her friends. "No, no, no! Ugh, none of these books helps me with what I need! Why are there no spellbooks here! There is nothing! I can’t even find a theory of relative magic!" Twilight yelled in a fit of anger. She had been searching in the archives for what felt like days. She was a mess, and the library was no better. Her mane was in shambles, and there were bags under her eyes. There were books thrown all over the place. The air grew musty as she walked further into the archive. She had already looked through most of the rooms in the archives trying to find what she needed. As she walked around, Twilight could feel the archives grow darker and darker; the air becoming cold. Bookshelves became scarce, and the books themselves were very old, and seemed unreadable to her. The lights dimmed, and there was an odd sense, Twilight knew she should leave, but something was calling to her, she had a feeling that she needed to keep looking. She came upon a large door that was locked with chains, and a sign that read: This area is off limits. No pony is allowed to enter, no matter the level of access they have. Any pony who trespasses will be dealt with harshly. Twilight could sense a magical seal protecting the door as well. "I have never seen this area before. I wonder what Celestia has back here. This magic seal is more powerful than anything I have ever seen! Maybe I should ask her what is behind here," Twilight thought to herself. Thus she went to go talk to Celestia and ask her about this forbidden room. She headed to the throne room, pacing herself to give her time to think. “I need a way to bring this up without making Celestia uncomfortable.” “Excuse me, I need to speak to the Princess.” Twilight told the guard, who went inside. He then walked out. “You may go see the Princess now,” he told her. Twilight entered the throne room, but a feeling of uneasiness overcame her. She knew, in her gut, that she was making a mistake at that point, but she wasn’t able to back out. She felt everything grow dark, and Celestia herself became a towering figure over her. She also felt a cold chill down her spine. Celestia had the usual motherly look in her eyes, which did calm Twilight down a bit. "Ah, Twilight. Is everything ok? You look distraught," Celestia asked. "Well Princess, I am doing good, though I am a little tired from searching in the archives. How are you today?” Twilight asked. She was going to try to settle her nerves a bit. “Oh, not much, same as ever. How is Starlight doing in her lessons?” Celestia asked, continuing the small talk. “Oh, she's doing great. We are both helping each other. That’s actually why I was in the archives Princess. I was looking for some old books that I had when I was your student, to help out Starlight,” Twilight said. Celestia seemed to be pondering what Twilight said. “Oh, and what did you find?” Celestia asked in a grave tone, and the motherly look in her eyes was gone. “Well, I found a part of the library that is alot darker than the rest; a part I haven’t seen before. I was…” “You didn’t happen to find a room over there, did you?” Celestia interrupted, a hint of sorrow in her voice. “Yes, actually. I wanted to ask you about that room,” Twilight continued. However, the room grew cold and dark. Celestia became unnerved, and Twilight felt uneasy. The look in Celestia’s eyes told Twilight she had made a mistake, Twilight was scared of her. "That room contains very unstable and dangerous magic. Forget you ever saw that room Twilight, for your own sake." Celestia said in her normal tone before dismissing Twilight. Twilight felt heavy as she left. Twilight walked out of the throne room, feeling eyes watching her. There was a sense of darkness and dread as she left the throne room. "Well, that was a reaction I have never seen from her," Twilight said, walking away from the throne room. She headed back towards the archives and went down a hallway, when she saw a figure in the distance, hidden in a dark corner of the hallway. "You asked her about the room, didn't you, Miss Sparkle?" a strange pony said from the shadows. Twilight couldn’t get a good look at him, because he was wearing a cloak, but from what she could tell he had black fur, a red and purple mane, and he seemed to be an Earth pony. "And what do you know of it, and who are you?" Twilight asked the stranger. "All you need to know, Miss Sparkle, is that I want its secrets uncovered, for the good of all ponykind," he replied. “Why did he dodge my question? He also seems to not want to leave the dark spot he's hiding in, which means he might have something to hide. I am not convinced he's telling me the truth yet, I should push him a bit more first.” "I need to know if I can trust you. Give me a good reason to!" Twilight demanded. "Because I know you seek knowledge. And the knowledge that room contains will be able to fulfill your needs, along with granting you magic to stop the enemies of Equestria, and even help all ponies alike! Just imagine: you could show Celestia that not all magic is bad! Think of what you could do with it!" the dark figure explained, raising his voice at her. "But, I don't want to betray Celestia! Plus, she would know if I tried to enter the room!" Twilight replied. “Well now, my dear, betray Celestia? She has locked up her past in that room, something that eats at her everyday. Unlocking what's in that room will help her get over her past. And you want to help her, so betray isn’t the right word. You will be helping your Princess! " the pony replied. "How do you know all of this? And besides, there is still the issue of unlocking the door with the magic ward on it. How do you suggest I unlock it without her knowing?” Twilight asked, hoping to catch him off guard. “Well, that is the easy part, my young alicorn, for to unlock the door you just need a simple spell that I can teach you. It isn’t a guarantee however, and you will need to be quick,” he explained, avoiding another question. “Well, before we continue, can I at least have your name?” Twilight asked. She knew he was lying and couldn't be trusted, but something told her to listen, just to get inside that room. "It’s Shadowflame. All I want to do is help. So, if you want to get a hold of the book inside the room, here is what you must do..." He began, still hiding in the corner. Twilight returned to her laboratory in her castle. Her lab was located behind a wall in her castle that only she could open with her magic. She uses it to practice dark magic and other forms of forbidden spells she wasn’t supposed to use. The room itself was crystal like the rest of her castle, but had viles, a few scrolls, and a table in the middle. There were also a few monitors and consoles. Normally Twilight went alone, however, she had Spike follow her this time around. She needed the extra help for what she was about to do. Twilight felt very uneasy, knowing that what she was going to do could be treason, but she knew she was unable to back down from this now. "I don't even know who, or what, he is. He could be lying to me; he could be a villain. But at the same time, he could also want to help Celestia. Besides, all the knowledge and power... Wait, no, what I am thinking? I am NOT power-hungry. Though, I just want to see what that book has to offer... Maybe I will take a peek," Twilight thought to herself. "Twilight, Twilight, TWILIGHT!" Spike yelled at her. "Oh, sorry Spike, I have a lot on my mind," she told him. "Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked. She wasn't sure it was a good idea to tell him, but he was loyal to her. She thought it the best if he knew. "No, but I may have found something better!" she then explained the story with Shadowflame. Afterwards, Spike had a worried look on his face. “Twilight, this is a very bad idea. Breaking rules to get ahold of a book, something Celestia doesn’t want ponies to see. I think you should just forget about it, Twilight,” Spike said, hoping she would back down. “I wish I could, Spike, I really wish I could. However, there is something just telling me to get it, but I don’t know what it is. I have thought about this, but everytime it just goes back to wanting it,” Twilight explained to her assistant. She had to convince him to help her, otherwise this would be much more difficult. “Please, Spike, I am doing this for her sake. When I talked to her, I noticed a sour look in her eyes, meaning it was a bad part of her past. The best thing we can do is to find out what it is in order to help her,” Twilight explained to him. “Well, if it will help the Princess, then I will stick with you, Twilight, because you seem dead set on it. However, I still don’t agree this is the right course of action,” he told her. “Well, thanks Spike for supporting me. And for the record, I do know how wrong this is, but I can’t back out. The first thing he told me is that we need to be able to dispel that magic seal without Celestia knowing, she will still find out, but until that we should have enough time to switch out the books and leave. We will need to make sure we get a book of the right size," Twilight explained "But Twilight, isn't there still an alarm on the door itself? What do we do about that?" Spike pointed out. "Oh, yes. I think our best bet is to teleport into the room while the seal is down, otherwise, Celestia will know it was me. We will only have a few seconds and we have to leave RIGHT away in order to not get caught. I will need you, Spike, to keep ponies far enough away so we don't get caught by anyone. Say that there is a new room being built. Celestia will find out the book is missing at some point, so we need a plan for when that happens." "Ok, Twilight, so what do we do about that plan? And what about Shadowflame?" "I am doing this for myself, not for Shadowflame. If he shows up, I will deal with him myself. Now, in order to not get caught, we need a book that looks similar and we need to change the book, we are about to retrieve, to look like something else. She might come to us first, either for help or to accuse us, however we need to make sure we leave no evidence behind. Now, Spike, this is your last chance to back out, we might not be able to return from this path." "I won’t let you do this on your own; let's do this, Twilight!" Spike said with one final attempt to look tough. And with that, they put their plan into action. The next day, they walked back towards the archives while discussing the plan. "Ok, Twilight, how do you expect us to know what this book even looks like?" Spike asked. "I'm going to use a spell that should let me look inside the place. If it does, we might get a good idea what we’re working with. If it doesn't work, then we will just have to wing it and hope for the best," she replied. As they approached the archives once again,Twilight went to the guards. “Don’t let anyone else enter for awhile, I need to do some studying .I don’t want to be disturbed.” She explained to them.She then entered the archives and went up to the door and began her spell. However, she soon found out that any magic used on the room would give it away and and the seal goes back up, so she had to go with plan B. “Ok, since we can’t use the spell, let’s head back for plan B,” Twilight told him. They headed back for the second part of the plan. They forged a book that could replace the one that Shadowflame had told her about, using what she knew to make a spell book. She practiced the spell for the next two days in order to let things die down and to make sure she wouldn't mess up the spell. Then, on the third night, they put their plan into action. They went back to the archives at night to make sure they wouldn't get caught, and Twilight went to the door. She used the anti-ward magic and quickly teleported into the room. A familiar, yet strange sensation overcame her when she entered the room. She felt as though her body was taken apart by the atom and then put back together. There, she saw the spellbook. From a quick look, it looked like a dark book that was very, very old. She didn’t know what to make of it other than that it had to be ancient. She hastily replaced the book with the one they had forged and teleported out. "Ok Spike, I got it, let's head back now!" she said as they ran. Before they could make it out of the archives, Shadowflame appeared. "Oh thank you, Miss Sparkle, I will take the book now. You did your part," he said, menacingly. Twilight looked to see a different Shadowflame. He had red glowing eyes and had a demonic tone to his voice. He looked even more like a living shadow, than Twilight remembered. His mane was replaced with flames. That was where he got his name from — the true Shadowflame. "I already thought of this, Shadowflame, and the book is mine. Now either leave, or I will DEAL with you myself," Twilight threatened him as he started to back away. "No Princess, I cannot let you do that. That book is far more powerful than you can imagine. Now GIVE IT TO ME!" he said, annoyed by her backlash. "Fine, Shadowflame, since you won't listen, I will be forced to use the a dark magic spell on you!" Twilight said as her horn glowed black. "Wait, Dark magic? You wouldn't dare!" he retorted. "Oh, but I am! Last chance to back off!" she warned. He never did. "Fine, I will cast you into the abyss!" Twilight said as she fired her spell. Even though Shadowflame was no pony, he felt agonizing pain as his body melted away. He slowly turned to liquid before disappearing. Twilight looked at the puddle that was once Shadowflame, with a feeling she didn’t know how to describe: not glad at what she did, but she didn’t feel bad either. "Let’s go, Spike, quickly, the anti-ward spell will wear off soon!" Twilight said as they returned home to see what this book held. Spike was shaken after what he he had seen. Shadowflame, the kind of creature he was, some sort of demon, but that wasn’t what scared him. Twilight had scared him. What she did to him, even if he was evil, just seemed, wrong. He knew this book was doing something to her, but didn’t know what to do. He kept it in mind and would bring it up later. "The seal, it's broken!" Celestia yelled as she awoke from her bed. She had been tossing and turning all night after what Twilight had asked her. She had sensed the ward weaken while she was asleep, but she didn't think anything of it until it disappeared and then reappeared. Celestia knew that if the book in the room were to get into the wrong hooves again, she would have to deal with the war from two thousand years ago. She did not want to return to those dark times. When she went to check on it, she found a fake book in its place, confirming her worst fears. She tried to keep herself together as she thought of a plan. "This is very bad. I can't let anyone know about this, but I must find it! I hate to do this, but I must make sure it wasn't Twilight, she was the one who asked about it." And with that, Celestia went to go find Twilight Sparkle. Twilight and Spike flew back to the Castle of Friendship from Canterlot, in order to have time to prepare what they would need. "Spike, quickly, help me hide the book. Celestia should be coming any moment now!" Twilight said, knowing she had less time than expected. She hadn’t been able to break or do anything about the magic-seal because it was more powerful than Twilight thought, but she was able to delay it and make sure it didn't show it was her. They had managed to disguise the book as a simple book on Daring Do and put it next to her bed. She also used a magic spell to hide it from Celestia to be safe. Just as she was done, someone pounded the door to the castle. "Ok, Spike, don't panic. I will take care of it. Go do your chores," Twilight told him. She then went to answer the door to the castle. She found a panicked, upset, but serious Celestia. "Twilight, did you enter that room?" she asked, right to the point. "What room, Princess?" Twilight was trying to act innocent. "That forbidden room you asked me about, Twilight!" Celestia said impatiently. "Oh, that room. I forgot about it like you asked, however, there was a pony who called himself Shadowflame that wanted to get into the room. I told him I wasn't going to help. Then he left." Twilight knew it would work: since she had taken care of him, it would buy her time. "Did you see where he went?" Celestia asked, surprised someone knew about the room. She also knew Twilight was hiding something, but she had more important things to worry about. "Sorry, Princess, I did not. But if I see him again, I will stop him and get you right away!" Twilight said, hoping it would work. "Well, thank you, Twilight. I will be in touch," Celestia said as she left. "Well, now that that is over with, let's see what this book has to offer us," Twilight said as she headed to her room. She then used her magic to show what the book really looked like. On the front of the book was a cover that was a dark red, purple and black, with the words “De Magia” on the front. The design of the book was bumpy and old, with stains and scratches all over it. The back of the book was the same as the front, just without the wording. "So, it’s called De Magia, and appears quite old. Well, Spike, do you want to look with me?" Twilight offered. They opened to the first page, and saw the book was not well organized. The words fell all over the place, changing from large to small. They even went as far as overlapping themselves. It did say this: “To change what pages shown, be sure to select the types of spells you want through the spell organizer page on page 1.” As they looked through that, they saw the words change and reorganize themselves, which meant the book appeared to hold more than seemed possible. They also saw the way to organize the book, as it had an index showing the different types of spells it held. There was a demonic section in red and, when the words changed, they changed to a deep dark red. There was a dark magic section that was black as night. It appeared to be color coded based on the type of magic. They had found the book of all magic ever known to ponies! "This is even cooler than I thought, Twilight!" Spike said. "We must keep this to ourselves for now, Spike. We will learn more about how this book works tomrrow" she stated. With that, she used the same spells to hide the book and went to sleep. She would have a lot of studying to do tomorrow. They were in the lab once again, with the book open in the middle of the room. Twilight and Spike were both sitting in the middle, with Twilight holding the book. "Spike, if ANYTHING were to happen, I want you to find Starlight after she returns. Celestia can't know, and Starlight should know what to do," Twilight explained before opening the book. “I am not sure what is going to happen, or even if I would get caught. Not sure if these spells will corrupt me, backfire, or maybe nothing will happen. I am planning on testing some of the spells in order to see what they do, but I plan to have them on low magic power in order to keep it hidden,” she explained. "Are you sure you want your student to know? I mean, what would she think?" Spike asked. "I think she would understand and help; after all, we are her friends. I have faith in her. Now, let’s see what this book has to offer," Twilight said as she opened the book, looking inside. She saw so many different spells she wanted to try; she felt like she did when she was just a filly, learning and seeing new things for the first time. She ran into a simple spell, a teleportation spell. She thought it best to start simple. "Ok, Spike, I will be testing a teleportation spell, with a much longer range than anything we could do. This spell should help traveling around much faster. So, in order to cast this spell, we need to first think of the location we want to go. Then, we need to focus a new form of teleportation magic to get there. Seems simple. Spike, I am going to try to teleport to the Castle of the Two Sisters, then back. Wait for me. If I am not back in 10 minutes, head to the castle to check on me. You ready?" "Ready to go, Twilight!" Spike said eagerly. Twilight began to cast the spell as the book said, but something else happened. Instead of feeling a tingling around her body, nothing happened. Her horn glowed and she still felt the magic, but she didn’t move. Just then, a giant portal appeared in front of her and began sucking her and the De Magia into it. Twilight tried to fight back, but her magic wasn't working. She looked at the book again, and realized she was looking under unstable spells, which she knew she never opened it to. The book had changed it on its own. “Twilight! What’s going on!” The purple dragon yelled in a panic. "Spike, get Starlight! Tell her about this spell; I wrote it down here!" Twilight yelled as she hurled him a scroll. "It should help you get me back home. And make sure Celestia doesn't get involved. I will try to get back myself! Now, I will be carefullllllll...." Twilight said before being sucked into the portal. "I will find her and we will do what we can, Twilight!" was the last thing Twilight heard before she blacked out. There was a flash of light that caught the attention of the guard, which surprised him because he was alone in the dark space station. He went to go investigate it. When he arrived at the source of the light, he was surprised at what he discovered. There, he saw a pony lying down, and appeared to be hurt. "Sir, you will not believe what I am looking at right now!" He called into his boss. "Well, what is it?" "It's a purple horse with wings and a horn, sir." "Is this some kind of joke, soldier?" "I am not kidding you, sir, there is also a weird book with it. I wish I was kidding," "Fine, bring it in for us to look at, soldier,". "Well sir, I think it's waking up. Should I try to capture it?" When Twilight awoke, she saw a bipedal creature with no hair talking to itself while just staring at her. He seemed to be tall, wearing some sort of armor and carrying a staff like weapon. It also seemed to be talking to itself. It had a blonde mane, black skin, and claws on the end of its arms. She could understand what it was saying, and she found it was talking about her. She knew she shouldn't stay here, so she took off running, making sure to carry the book with her. "Sir, it’s running. And the book is floating in mid air! Should I pursue?" he asked, startled. "Yes, bring it to me. I want to know what this thing is!" he ordered. The soldier then took off after her, trying to keep pace with the fleeing alicorn. "It's still after me. Maybe he isn't hostile, maybe he is? I shouldn't stick around to find out," Twilight thought to herself. Her magic was weak after the messed-up spell, so she used her wings to fly. However, the creature somehow managed to follow her, flying with some sort of device which shot flames out of his back. So, Twilight used her last resort: she fired magic blasts at it, but due to her state of mind, she didn’t hit any of them. "Sir, it’s firing some kind of attack at me, should I shoot back?" He got the order to fire, so he did. Twilight tried to dodge and used a few shield spells to block some hits, but that spell from the book had taken a toll on her. Twilight then used a spell to put the book in a hammer space that only she can get to before she got hit with a shot from the staff he was holding, knocking her out cold. Author's Note Here it is everypony, the first chapter. Let me know what you all thought about this chapter and make sure to leave feedback for me! Final rewrite, what do you all think now?