It was night time in the Everfree, some zebras were gathering at an old tree, along with ponies in cloaks. They were here for something special, of course,

"Are we ready yet?" one of the ponies asked,

"Not yet, of course, for we are still missing a horse" One of the zebras explained,

The pony let out a sigh, "Well, if they don't hurry up, it'll be day by the time we begin, and then we'll have to hold it off till the night again!" The pony said aggravated.

Just then, through the bushes emerged the pony in question, with a light blue coat, a white mane, and a cutie mark showing a quill encased in a magical glow.

"I heard someone was waiting for me," he said, donning his cloak, "They'll be glad to know that i arrived here faster than i anticipated."

All of those present stepped into place, forming an odd pattern,

"Is everything set up?" another figure asked,

"Yes, we are indeed, now we can finally use the tree"

That was all the rest of them needed to here to begin, under the glow of Luna's precious night, one of the ponies and another of the zebras stepped up to the tree. They nodded at each other as they began peeling the bark off the tree, then extracting the thinner layer underneath.

"And now, we shall use our magic" the blue coated pony said,

"And our rituals" added the zebra, the unicorn began readying a spell as the zebra began to use different herbs and dusts he had in jars in order to make a symbol around the paper, which was now on the ground. As the zebra stomped his hoof, the unicorn unleashed his spell onto the paper.

The circle beneath it began to glow a light, eerie blue as the paper floated into the air and began enveloping itself in some sort of strange gold and blue magic. The wind shifted as the spell sped up, the trees began to groan and bushes began to shake and rustle. The moon's shadows and craters seemed to align just right to make the symbol of a magic seal, only those positioned in the right area could witness this, however, so no suspicions were aroused.

Finally, the whole process stopped as the scroll fell to the ground, it curled up by itself into a neat tube. The zebra went to pick it up, as he opened it, his eyes widened,

"It worked!" He exclaimed,

Everyone huddled together to see if the zebra spoke true, And soon enough, they were all gasping and staring in awe at the paper, All of them reading different bit. One pony read towards the bottom, his eyes grew wide, and he opened his mouth to say something, only to be struck down by a bolt of baby blue magic.

Everyone turned there heads to where it came from, seeing the unicorn in the blue coat standing there,

"Magic quill! What are you doing" one of the ponies exclaimed as his eyes wandered to the pony currently on the ground, writhing in pain.

"I'm taking that scroll!" He said, a lust in his eyes, "And if any one of you try to stop me, you'll suffer the same fate as him!" He finished, pointing to the floored pony.

"What do you mean? We all worked to gather the materials for that scroll!" Another pony spoke up, without even a word or a smile, Magic Quill turned to the pony and blasted her in straight in the chest with another bolt of magic.

"ARGH!" Were the only words that managed to escape her lips before her muscles seized up and she fell to the floor in agony. All the other ponies backed off slowly.

Some eventually broke into a sprint, some just couldn't get their legs to move fast enough to do the same. The zebra who helped lead them all dropped the scroll and fled.

"Finally!" Magic Quill exclaimed with a kind of relief, "This scroll! And all it's secrets is only a couple feet away, only a couple feet between me and the power i sought after for so many years!" He walked over happily and picked up the scroll with his magic, he opened it, and soon his face filled with rage, "The scroll is empty!" He yelled "How!?" It suddenly donned on him. "That ZEBRA dropped a fake scroll, and left with the real one!" He let out an angered roar and charged into the forest to find the zebra, unbeknownst to Magic Quill,those were the final words anyone would here from him seeing as he entered the Everfree alone, with no destination as to where he was going.

The zebra leader closed the door to his hut, panting from exhaustion. "I should have known he was not to be trusted, but in the end, i have the scroll, and he was busted!" the zebra explained to no one in particular. As he put up the cloak, and the scroll along with it, he vowed to himself, he would protect the scroll until death, only using it's power in order to prepare himself for any intruders. He climbed into his bed and blew out the candles, eventually letting the mistress of night drag him away to slumber.

It was around three decades later, a certain zebra had passed away, leaving behind his possessions to one of his closest confides, this zebra took his cloak and used it, seeing as how it was in stable condition, but what she didn't use was the scroll found along side it, she still remember his very words,
"If anyone is to open that scroll, they must be prepared to pay the toll..." She's heard of things about it since she was a little kid zebra, and she still dare not touch it. For she witnessed what holding such a thing could do to a person's sanity. Her older friend had held up well, but she could still see the tiredness in his eyes, knowing the fate that plagued others. Yet more often then not being unable to change it. Sure he had saved a hoof-ful of other ponies and zebras alike from their ill-fated destinies, but he lost too many more. Eventually, when the time came for his own passing, he regarded it with such a peaceful happiness, knowing no longer he would have to live knowing he could've done something, but not even being able to find the solution. A knock on the door interrupted the zebra from her reminiscing about when she first got all these things, as well as thinking about her friend, she walked over and opened the door to reveal the face of a purple alicorn she knew quite well.
"Hi Zecora!" She said with a smile, "I came over for that tea you suggested we have, remember?" Zecora smiled, dismissing the thoughts of her old friend.
"Yes, Yes I do, but I'm so glad that you did too" she said with a small smile, She then turned around, motioning the perky princess inside. After closing the door, Zecora went to go fetch the tea and begin the conversation...

Author's Note

Hey guys! Flame45 here! I decided to give a bit of backstory as to the creation of the scroll, let me know what you think! If i screwed up anywhere, please let me know This is my first time writing a story, on Fimfiction
Don't know if I should hone my skills using one-shots first
Also, don't expect me to update on a regular schedule, I'll wright, edit, and upload as I see fit, so If I don't upload fast enough for you, bear with me, please

Should I add a drama tag?