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?