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!