Ведьмаby KeyChainChaptersPrologueQuestion 1/3Question 2/3Prologue Ponyville, the small and surprisingly once quiet village was home to a little purple unicorn who sat across one of the many round windows in her tree home, the sound and smell of rain putting her usual racing mind at ease. Though, would have preferred that the storm was a bit calmer however, for the flashes of electricity that shot through the sky at incredible speeds occasionally hurt her eyes from its illumination. Crack Although the raging storm calmed her nerves the thoughts going through her subconscious were not of course stopped even the slightest. In fact, her cerebrum had been caught working overtime since her return from the long-lost Crystal Empire. All she was thinking about was what she had seen upon her arrival, so much knowledge had been hidden there for thousands of years. Knowledge she didn’t know or have. That of course, was unacceptable to the supposed genius. Rumble Her thoughts, though powerful in most cases when it came to not being broken, was no match for an empty stomach. Lifting her head from the desk, the mare mumbled something under her breath before slowly turning her body away from one of the table pegs. Once hopping off the oak, red pillowed chair, she lazily made her way through the center of the room looking at the stairs as she made her way down them to ensure she wouldn’t miss-step, and tumble down the rest of the way. After reaching the bottom, she trotted through the main flat, the library, making sure to go around the large wooden bust of a Saddle Arabian horse sitting in the middle of the room. “Hoo.” A feathered creature spoke from a golden pole that could have possibly been mistaken for a fancy coat hanger. “Hello, Owlowiscious.” Twilight spoke in a more cheery mood than before, happy to see her companion had awoken from his slumber. “How’s my little bird friend doing?” “Hoo.” “That’s great to hear. Although I’m sure you’re eager to start helping me. I won’t be doing any organizing tonight, so feel free to do what you wish with your newly found free time.” She said before planting a big kiss on the owl’s forehead. “Hoo.” Rumble Annoyed by the restless organ, Twilight swiftly made her way into the kitchen opening the white fridge door with a scanty amount of magic. ‘Hm, there isn’t a whole lot here, I should go to the market tomorrow morning.’ She thought with a subtle nod of her head finalizing the decision. She soon grimaced when she realized she would have to have a daisy sandwich for the second day in a row. She would have gone these last few days but the sudden call from Princess Celestia put quite a few holes in her plans. Causing her to scramble a new schedule together. Moments after combining the simple ingredients, Twilight took a rather large bite of her meal. Tap Tap Tap “Huh?” The momentarily confused unicorn turned her head to look at the source of the odd disturbance, only to find her owl tapping his beak amongst one of the windows of the tree library. “You want to go outside now?” She asked, looking outside once more seeing that the storm outside was still raging. “Hoo.” “Umm alright, but be careful I don’t want you getting hurt.” Opening the windowpane with a purple mist, the coffee-colored coot flew out in artistic silence. The equine afterward propped up the window with a nearby stick, one just as brown as the soaked tree home. Finishing her simplistic meal Twilight moved back into the main room of the archives only to trip and tumble banging her head on the wooden bust causing the stack of books to fall and create a chaotic storm of flying papers. ‘Ow, I really hope that doesn’t give me a concussion. Even so, I’m still most definitely going to feel that in the morning.’ Standing up, Twilight uneasily got back to her hooves to see what had caused her misfortune. ‘The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide’. Ignoring the sense of irony that filled her, she, for whatever reason, had a strong urge to read it over. Opening it to a random page, she landed on the ‘element of magic’ section, she read one of the excerpts. The Element Of Magic, quite possibly one of the most mysterious anomalies in the entirety of Equestria, a relic of an untold amount of power flows through this gem. So much in fact, that users that are. Quote, "Unworthy" of its powers feel the effects of magic withdraw to the point of death, a quick but painful one might I add. Users who are deemed "Fit" to use such a token often have said they feel "Rejuvenated" during use. All bearers of this gem are wizards of high power, and hold a vast amount of intellect on magic and other fields. Twilight Sparkle slammed the leather book shut, she was hoping to get away from the thoughts she was having about knowledge and power. She immediately winced at her own stupidity. Reading a book about magic probably wasn't a very smart way to move away from those thoughts. 'And yet here I am, a very "Smart" and "Powerful Wizard".' She didn't feel like either of those things after recent events. 'What were all those spells Sombra was using? I've never even seen let alone heard any of them. Like the one that allowed him to create crystal chains on his victims, sure there is a regular magic spell for that, but they only restrict movement, not magic as well. That could be incredibly useful for me considering the kind of things I have to deal with. Not even myself in fact, my friends are in great danger as well. Doesn't help that the majority of monsters here in Equestria use magic for combat. Or what about that spell that allows him to turn into clouds or something, that could be used to dodge a lot of attacks or save ponies that are under a falling bridge, Tartarus, it could be used for something as simple as speed. What about that cage or door Spike and I saw, it's just another way to restrain or incapacitate enemies. What does Celestia mean by it's "Evil" magic? No magic is evil. All of it could be used to do harm sure but that has to do with the wielder themselves.' Twilight Sparkle held her thoughts after hearing flapping coming in from the wall. She turned her head to see Owlowiscious returning from his trip carrying a rather large dead mouse within his maw, landing on his pole. When the mare had first kept the bird, she was, as expected, disturbed by the sight. But as time passed she had grown accustomed to the disturbing display. Once silence made itself apparent the ornithologist in the room returned to her thoughts. 'Evil magic... Well, okay, yeah, there are, I guess you could say, evil magic that exists like necromancy or blood magic for example. Those are used to kill... but what about in self-defence? Just because you kill, it doesn't make you evil.' Twilight turned her head in order to see an owl that was happily feasting on his meal. 'Owlowiscious isn't evil, it's not out of defense but he does it because he needs to eat, it's just the circle of life.' The mare yawned. Smacking her dry lips, she looked at the time. Her eyes widened. 'Ten thirty, have I really been lost in thought for that long?' Blinking and shaking her head. The lilac mare dragged herself up the stairs, anxious to lay her head and rest for the long day ahead of her. Author's Note Read this before you go posting a comment and making yourself look like an idiot. Yes, I know there are a lot of “Twilight Sparkle trys dark magic “ fanfics but pretty much all of them end up the same way. One being that she turns evil and overthrows Celestia and Luna, Yada, Yada. We’ve all seen it a thousand times, well spoilers she doesn't in this story. The other fics just get abandoned within the 3 or 4 chapter. This story will just be about Twilight going through a learning experience and proving herself physically and mentally. So yes expect her to go through some ‘trials’ to put it lightly. I don’t see a lot of fics where Twilight goes through a lust for knowledge and the ones I do see died a long time ago way back in the 2012, 2013 era. The rest shows Twilight being really OOC and are just badly written in most cases. That’s it so... Love it, like it, hate it, despise it. Anything helps. PS: No idea when the next chapter will come out it. I was hoping to get out of writer's block for my other story. (Didn't happen. ) Question 1/3"Alright, that's it!" A small Drake exclaimed in a relieved tone. Making a 'X' shape on a piece of parchment. "Not quite, Spike," Twilight responded. "Aw, what do you mean? What are we missing?" He asked, unsure about what they were needing. After looking back at his checklist viewing it over one more time he noticed that all the crudely made black boxes he had drawn earlier, did indeed did have red X's with each one of them. "Oh, nothing just some last minute things I wanted to grab, I need to head over to Zecora's real quick." The mare responded. "Oh, umm alright, I imagine we're going to drop off this stuff off at the house before we go?" He said pointing an index claw at several brown paper bags. Paper bags that contained a large sum of food due to their lack of it back at the library. Twilight had a certain look form on her face, an expression that Spike knew all too well... Her 'thinking face' but strangely this time it didn't last nearly as long as usual. That being several hours. She turned her head to Spike once more. "Actually, you can stay at home if you want to Spike. You don't need to come with me." She said a simple smile appearing on her muzzle. "Really?" The Drake said in an uplifting tone. His excitement however wavered seconds later. "Are you sure, the Everfree Forest is dangerous you know?" Concern became evident on his face. "Yes, I'm sure, Spike. Besides, I can take care of myself I've been in their plenty of times." She said, patting his scaled head with a hoof while lifting multiple bags that surrounded them in a purple glow. "Now come on I don't want any of these fridge or freezer foods spoiling, it is kind of hot out today after all." "Right." Said the Drake, making a subtle shake his head and scampering off to follow his mother figure in hoof. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Ahhh, finally.' Thought Twilight once sitting down at the round table she had gotten acquainted with last night upstairs. She placed a ceramic bowl of caesar salad along with a silver spoon, bottle of fine dressing, and even finer red wine. It was a bit extravagant for a late lunch but Twilight was tired of the plain taste of basic foods that she ate too often when she worked. Taking a large bite of her wonderful salad Twilight's mind began to wonder back to what she had seen a just a few short days ago. 'Annnnnd, now I'm angry.' Twilight thought clearly upset by the fact she had no way of returning to the Crystal Empire anytime soon, here duties as the Ponyville local librarian and world saver had to come first. She wrinkled her brow. 'Maybe I won't have to go all the way over there to get data. The Royal library might have something... No, that's open up to a lot of ponies. Doubt they would have that. Celestia and Luna wouldn't leave that kind of information just lying around... The Royal Archives perhaps? I... wouldn't be allowed entry to all the sections there but surely more than any other ponies. Maybe even Zecora has something, she's a shaman and zebra shaman often study dark arts and other mystical powers.' The lavender mare placed another fork full of dressing laced salad into her mouth washing it down with a sip of wine. 'Although I doubt the latter, it wouldn't hurt to try. Not that it would bother me that much if she didn't, I till have to get some new potions from her anyway.' Twilight brought a napkin to her lips after finishing her meal moving downstairs to place her dishes in the sink for later. Moving to the fridge once more for a little glass of fresh, ice cold water. Looking at the time she brought over her saddle bags that held nothing more than a brown rag-bag of bits, a small pack of parchment, three ink pots, and seven new quills. Placing the bag over and on her barrel, she shouted out to Spike before leaving. "Spike I'm trotting over to Zecora's now, watch the place while I'm gone." 'Alright, bye' was the muffled response. Walking down the dirt pathway that lead to the Everfree and eventually Zecora's hut. Twilight heard sompony call her name. "Hiya Twilight, whatcha doing?" A pretty pink party pony asked. Startled, Twilight shifted a few hooves to her right to avoid being trampled by the new bystander. "Ahh, Pinkie, don't walk up to me like that, you frightened me." "How? I'm not walking, I'm bouncing," Pinkie responded, a strange *Boink* noise somehow being generated when she jumped. Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed at the pink ponies antics. "I'm heading over to Zecora's to pick up some stuff is all. Not much... You?" She asked, hoping to create a conversation before walking alone into the Everfree. Although it was unnecessary to try to start up a discussion with the rosy colored peppy pony because chances are you were always pulled into one regardless if you wanted to be a part of it in the first place. "I'm doing great actually, The Cakes and I have another competition over at Canterlot. Hey, remember that Griffin, Gustave? Well, I heard this year he made something so amazing that was going to leave the rest of the competitors in the dust, so the Cakes and I started to redo our cake and it's going great so far. I think it's actually better than our first one. I'm having so much fun," She said cheerfully. The unicorn frowned then opened her mouth. "Then what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be busy making the cake?" "We are busy making the cake, but it's so big only half of it could fit in the oven," Pinkie replied. "You don't have several ovens?" Twilight asked raising an eyebrow. "We do, but the rest are too small, it would take too much time and would make things way more complicated than they need to be if we divide the cake into a bunch of sections. Better to just make two large pieces and bake them separately in the big oven." Twilight didn't say anything, simply nodding her head. After a long silent pause between the two, they neared the edge of the Everfree. Pinkie then spoke up "Are you alright Twilight?" She asked. "I'm fine why do you ask?" "Nothing just, I don't know you've been distant lately. You've also been pretty quiet even for you. Are you mad at somepony?" "What, no. I've just been thinking about a whole lot lately. I might have to go to Canterlot soon... later today or tomorrow maybe." Twilight said calmly. "Is there a big test coming up? Maybe you have a super secret mission that only you and you alone can know about and it's so important that- hhm hmmm mmmm hhhmm." Twilight put a magical zipper over Pinkie Pies pie hole before she had the chance to ramble about something ridiculous again. "No Pinke, it's nothing from Celestia. It's actually something I'm going to be working on myself for the next... pony knows how long." She undid the zipper. "Oh cool what is it?" The Part Pony asked happily. "It's ummm, about." The Purple unicorn looked around hoping to find something that would sound realistic. "Abouuut." She eyed Rarity out in the distance hauling a small wagon full of gems. "About some gems that we saw in the Crystal Empire. You know, some more history on how the Crystal Empire came to be." She smiled awkwardly, hoping Pinkie would buy it. Twilight didn't like lying to her friends but she also didn't like the thought of telling them that she was going to look into dark magic even more. Her friends are not exactly wizards, so they wouldn't understand why she would want to inquire about something like that. No doubt they would believe the myth about how using or studying the effects of dark magic turns the pony into a vampony or some insane monstrosity. They didn't have the best common sense and often over exaggerated dangers sometimes. A good example being when they meet Zecora for the first time. That was an ordeal she wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon. "Okay!" Pinkie said oblivious to Twilight's discomfort. "Right well, I'll see you later Pinks." Twilight said once reaching the main entrance to the forest. "Bye!" The Party Pony waved sporadically as Twilight moved under the shade of the large un-natural trees. 'I picked the worst day to got through the forest, it's a lot hotter in here than outside the forest.' Wiping some sweat off her forehead Twilight trotted deeper in the woods. Careful to avoid getting a cut by the sharp thorns of the green bushes that she squeezed by. Once freeing her saddle bag from a rather rude shrub that knew nothing about personal space. She finally reached her destination, that being a hollowed out tree surrounded by many herbs, flowers, and occasional colored wooden mask. Smiling she walked over beating a hoof on the door various times in a sudden hurry due to the water droplets that had started to fall from the sky "Ah, Twilight you gave me a quite a fright," Zecora said upon opening the door, she sidestepped, allowing Twilight to enter. "Sorry about that Zecora," Twilight responded sheepishly. "Fear not Twilight, I bear no strife this night, for forgiveness is the elixir to happiness in life." Twilight chuckled and gave small smile. "Right, Anyway, I was hoping if you had any luck on the philter I ordered for awhile back." Zecora sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I've made little way, for it requires Nightshade. A flower that wields much power, but sadly does not bloom in this hour." "There really is nothing to substitute it with?" Twilight asked hoping there would be a solution. Zecora shook her head once more. She sighed. "Well, thanks for trying regardless. Anyway, I just came by to pick up my usual. Oh, and also I wanted to know. do you have any books or scrolls of any kind that pertain to what you do? Like spells or history on it?" The zebra raised an eyebrow. "Twilight this is truly a surprise, I did not realize you sought out this knowledge otherwise I would have modernized many of the texts, for this, I must apologize. "Oh, there's no need, I sort of just recently became interested in it." Twilight said as she smiled awkwardly while waving a hoof around. "But if you have time I did bring a few papers with me, so maybe we can do some quick translating? I'm sure I can easily summarize it." "While I would be quite alright with that in hindsight, I don't believe such a thing is legalized where you reside." The zebra noted with a small frown. Twilight frowned in kind, thoughts turning in her head. 'Right Celestia banned those kinds of things. How did that never occur to me till now? How am I ever going to be able to learn anything then?' The unicorn stood there a few moments in silence. The zebra choosing not to interrupt her thoughts. 'Okay, well, I know Celestia is nowhere near as organized as me, so there is a possibility that there is a loophole in it somewhere. That or I could just hide everything, Celestia trusts me I don't think she would one day random search my house on a whim for a few scrolls. Though I don't want to resort to that just yet. I want to leave lying to Celestia or anypony really, as a last resort.' Twilight nodded her head once coming to a solution. "I've got an idea, so Celestia may make a lot of rules and restrictions, but she doesn't do a whole lot in the way of enforcing or organizing any of it. She tends to have a little too much faith in ponies or any species really in my opinion. So first I'm going to do some research and see if I can't find some sort of loophole in her laws. If not... Well, I sort of hope you can do me a favor and keep this a secret until the end of my new studies." Twilight had a hunch that Zecora wouldn't tell anypony about Twilight's little pet project. Mostly because Zecora had been training as a shaman for most of life, and witchcraft is a big part of their culture and traditions almost as much as rhyming. So no doubt they found it strange that such a thing was banned, even if there wasn't a lot of zebras who could master such an art. Zecora once more hadn't said anything, instead, choosing to give a smile and nod of her head. Twilight showed some teeth as well. A hunt for knowledge had begun. "Thanks again Zecora," Twilight called out, closing the hut door in tow and placing one last ingredient in her saddlebags for her other studies. A little while later as she was making her way down the muddy pathway that had formed when she was speaking to Zecora, she noticed some odd prints indented into the ground that was not there previously. Being the naturally curious pony that she was, she arched her neck to get a closer inspection ignoring the large drops of water that matted her purplish coat. The shape had a resemblance of a 'W' it looked like a... paw. The mare's eyes shot wide open and she stuck her neck out scanning the area with deathly glare, making sure to remain completely silent. Not that it would that big of a difference Timberwolves often used smell and sight rather than sound. That wasn't to say their sense of smell was outright terrible. The K-9's still put many creatures to shame when it came to that, but it was unsurprisingly easier to use the formers. It also didn't mean that didn't use it, Twilight knew that sudden noises indicated that the prey was alerted to the wolves presence, meaning they would pounce on her the second she moved. Crunch The best thing to do when you found yourself in a Timberwolf pack was to act natural and look around in hopes to find the location of as many wolves as you could. Most Timberwolf packs were short one wolf, therefore not creating a full circle often giving their pray a small area to flee that was unprotected when they surrounded their hunt. Though many ponies were unsuccessful when it came to looking for these openings. Usually for the same reasons. One being that they took to long to find the said opening, naturally because they couldn't find all the hungry wolves. The other was that they were unlucky and guessed wrong, causing their fate to be brought down upon them in a swift move, that being the equine ran head first into a hidden Timberwolf's jaw. Nopony knew why the wolves never learned to rectify the flaw but nopony was also ever going to complain about it. Crack The mare's ears swiveled sharply, eyes darting to and fro. Before. She lunged. Twilight dashed past several thick bushes hearing a multitude of steps right behind her. As she was running, she saw a branch stick out from the side of an oddly thin tree, taking inspiration from one of Applejack's tricks, she grabbed the limb in her magic pulling it back before letting go and ducking underneath it. The sound of wood cracking on wood was followed by an explosion that sounded like it was buried halfway in the dirt. 1 Moving into a small clearing, the mare ran straight first towards a large boulder before promptly changing direction in one swift move. Twilight was awarded the satisfying sound of cracking and snapping wood. 2 Hearing steps coming closer by the second. Twilight stopped abruptly before lying on her belly. The snap of jaws being heard overhead and the feeling of wind caressing her back. As quickly as it came, it stopped, and Twilight found herself: raising her head, lighting her horn, and launching several spells. One spell hit her target head-on, obliterating it within seconds. Another spell landed on the ground in front of another wolf sending it back to hit a tree. 4 The last wolf, the Alpha, dodged the attack with ease. Heeding danger, Twilight scampered, wanting the wolf to work for his meal. As she ran she, looked everywhere hoping to find another form of dispatching her fast foe. She noticed several large rocks and branches but nothing would fool a Timberwolf twice, let alone against one that was clearly smarter than the rest. Twilight soon neared what appeared to be an edge. Putting faith into her leap, she jumped. Her faith, however, was misplaced. Instead of a small slope like she had hoped, it was in fact, a small cliff that lead into a dried up river bed. A loud crack was heard as she slammed into the ground. The quiet forest was filled with a horrid scream of a mare. She looked down at her hooves all were burning with extreme pain one leg in particular was bent at an odd angle. Looking over at the cliff-side she saw the Timberwolf slowly and carefully make it's way down. She panicked, throwing a purple shield around herself. Sadly this would not hold forever, and she knew that. The Everfree seemed to passively drain magic and also made it much more difficult to cast. And the Timberwolf slamming and clawing at the side didn't make it any easier. This would be an easy problem to fix were she not in the Everfree Forest. She could either waste time looking for a more magic efficient way out the sticky situation. Or use it all up and hope to leave the forest completely defenseless, that was a big risk however, for the forests evil knew no rest. Luckily for her, she didn't have to make such a decision. The sound of a cannon firing rang in her ears; the dirt, stone, and wood surrounding her flew in random directions. Opening her eyes she saw a pony atop the hill with a smoking party cannon sitting next to her. "Twilight!" The pink mare yelled. "Are you alright?" Twilight's eyes widened even further. "Pinkie, Oh thank Celestia you're here." After scanning for a good path down Pinkie Pie rolled her way down to her friend. "How did you find me?" Twilight asked. "Well, remember how we sort of knew that Fluttershy would be in danger a while back, well I kind of had the same feeling again just a few minutes ago. I would have gotten AppleJack or her brother Big Mac but I had a hunch that I didn't have a lot of time." The blush colored mare explained shrugging her shoulders. Twilight nodded her head these things were best left unexplained. "We should get you out of her asap, your hoof doesn't look that good." Pinkie stated. Twilight winced as she got back on to her hooves with the help of her friend. "No arguments here." She breathed before heading down a sandy trail. Ponyville Hospital "Alright Twilight, remember to wrap a plastic bag of some sort before you shower, we don't want that thing to get smelly in the first few days of putting it on." Doctor Stable reminded. "I will, thank you doctor," Twilight said while looking down at her new purple cast, a giant name written on the side in pink bold letters. 'Pinke Pie', it read, with a 'get well soon' message written right underneath. "So how you feeling?" Pinkie Pie asked breaking the silence. "Physically? Fine. Mentally? Drained." Twilight responded. "Thanks for helping me by the way Pinkie, I owe you. Big time." "No need for thanks, silly. You're my friend, one who needed help. Nothing more nothing less." Pinke Beamed. Twilight smiled. "Well thanks anyway." She sighed. "I think I'm gunna head home pinks, I'm pretty tired." "Wow, you must be if you didn't even use proper Equestrian. Want me to walk ya?" "Uuuh, no thanks, I can make it on my own." "Okie dokie lokie." With a final hug, Twilight headed home thoughts forming in her mind. Tomorrow, like all days, was going to long and hard. Author's Note This was written on a phone so it probably did some auto correcting, let me know if you see any of it because I lost some of them and can't seem to find them. Also, I'm so so sorry for the horrid rhyming in this chapter. Like... it's really bad. I cringed several times. In fact, just... Just. You know what? Do yourself a favor and bleach your eyes. I've got chlorine in powder and liquid form so take your pick. Never think about this chapter ever again. Love it, like it, hate it, despise it. Anything helps. Question 2/3"Twilight? Twiiillliiightt?" Spike called out. "It's time to get up, The library opens in an hour." Not receiving a response, the little purple drake waddles up the stairs knocking several times on the door leading into his mother figures bedroom. Still nothing. Huffing, he enters to see the mare huddled underneath a pile of pillows and blankets. "Twilight you've got to get up, the library is opening up soon." The mare withdrew her blankets eyeing Spike as if he was an alien. "What are you talking about, we're leaving for Canterlot today?" "Huh, what do you mean?" He gave her a questioning gaze. Now it was Twilight's turn to do the same "What do you mean, what do I mean? Did I not tell you that yesterday? I thought for sure I did." Twilight rubbed her eyelids. "Well, not that it matters, you know now." "When are we leaving... And why?" Questioned the drake. "Nothing just, I need some books that we don't have here in the tree." Just as the mare was getting out of the bed Spike saw a molded cast around one of her forehooves. His eyes went as wide as saucers. "What happened to your leg are you alright? He shrieked. "I actually completely forgot about that somehow." She looked down at her red cast. "Yes, I'm fine Spike I just fell when coming back from Zecoras. Don't worry I'll get better before you know it." Upon finishing the sentence Twilight trotted over to Spike placing a kiss on his scaly forehead. "Now I'm going to go wash up, you should get ready for the trip. Spike bought the white lie but still gave a concerned look. "Umm alright Twi, just promise you'll be safe next time?" Twilight shook her head. "After everything that's happened recently, Spike I'm not sure I can guarantee that. But what I can promise is that I'll try and be a bit more careful with what I'm doing in the future." Spike sighed slouching his shoulders a bit. "Alright, Twi. Well, I'll be downstairs if you need me." Twilight nodded and trotted into the bathroom, her first instinct was to look in the mirror surrounded by a wooden frame, unsurprising considering she was in fact, living in a tree. Turning on the sink she splashed her face with some cold water before summoning a brush in her magic swiping her mane several of times. "Do I really want to go through with this? If I get caught... No, Twilight you can't think like that, many secrets may lie in the art of dark magic, secrets that ponies can use to better their lives. Who knows maybe I can find a way to cure Scootaloo's flight, actually even better I could find a way to cure all disabilities, the skies the limit right?" 'Look at yourself, you haven't even touched dark magic yet and you're already talking to yourself.' Twilight shook off the thoughts and open the shower curtain. 'A quick shower wouldn't hurt, it will keep my mind off of things.' When she stepped inside she quickly wrapped a bag around her hoof and turned the nobs on the wall. Soon warm droplets of water battered her as they shot out from the shower head. But of course, it didn't take long for her thoughts to run wild again. Specifically, her mind wondered to the day Princess Celestia had sent her to the Crystal Empire. 'Those spells she taught me were quite helpful. I wonder what they were exactly, rather what they were supposed to do. Were they only made to combat other dark magic spells? It seems like it but that can't be all they do right? If so, why are they not taught to every single pony in Equestria? If that happened dark magic would never really make an appearance, it would be almost none existent. It must be a key of some kind... Like a literal failsafe. Do all forms of dark magic have a kill switch of some kind? Wow... That could be really helpful if we could somehow apply it to regular magic. It would allow for much more complicated and efficient spell weaving, why it could even be adapted to runes and other wards. The possibilities are endless, I'm getting excited just thinking about it. Imagine all the reading and cross-referencing!' Her thoughts came to an abrupt end when noticing the strain in her neck from letting the water soak her mane for so long. She lifted her head and jumped out of the shower after a quick layer of soap. When Twilight finished getting ready for the day she made her way down the stairs and was greeted by the sight of number one assistant cooking up a healthy meal. That being toasted hay sandwiches, one of her favorite dishes. "Moring Twi!" The Spike called wiping out some orange juice from the fridge. "Good morning, Spike. Sleep well?" Twilight asked trying to strike up a conversation. "I slept great actually, thanks for asking. You?" "Eh, could have been better, this cast is itchy but nothing else to worry about other than that." "It must have been a high fall if you managed to break a bone like that. Did it hurt?" Twilight glared at him. "Right, stupid question, sorry." He said smiling sheepishly. "So what exactly are you looking for again at Canterlot?" Twilight exhaled. "Nothing worth noting really some, just some books I'm surprised we don't have. I also intend on studying some old material to refresh my memory. Who knows when Princess Celestia will throw another test at me." Spike nodded his head and poured himself a glass. "Anything else we need to do while we're over there?" "I don't think so... Maybe, we'll see." Twilight took a bite of her sandwich. With there meals coming to an end, the two continued down onto their own paths to prepare the trip to Canterlot. Ponyville Train Station "Ooo, Higa Twilight!" A pink pony cheered once seeing Twilight maneuvering amongst the crowd of ponies who were trotting to and fro. "Hello Pinkie, What are you doing here?" "Pfft, I'm here because of the cake competition silly. I told you yesterday." "Oh, I didn't know you remade your cakes on the last day. That doesn't seem very... smart." "No, we started making it a few days ago it's just that our last day was yesterday so that's why we threw them into the oven." "Did they come out alright?" "They came out great we'll win for sure!" Pinkie beamed. "Good to hear it, I'm sure you'll do great." Twilight smiled. "Me three!" The Pink mare giggled. Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Uhh, you mean too?" "No you silly filly, you, me, and Gummy! Isn't that right buddy?" Pinkie pulled a reptilian out of her mane and gave it a big kiss. "Heh heh, yeah of course, how foalish of me." The lilac mare said sarcastically. Before they could continue a shout stopped them. "All aboard!" The train conductor called out. The mares looked at each other momentarily before promptly embarking on one of the many passenger cars. The trip itself was uneventful but as soon as they had arrived at the station, the situation had changed. Ponies were lined up pushing their way through onto the train lacking the respect to allow the customers to depart. This of course, led to ponies rudely squeezing past one another throwing the occasional petty insult at one another. Twilight ignored them and pushed past them herself. She had important business to attend to so she could not be slowed by passer-bys. She looked over her shoulder to confirm her son was seated on her back. Upon reaching a clearing she lit her horn and teleported the drake and herself to the front of the castle gates. Were it any other pony, the guards would have rushed and tackled the possible intruder, but alas they simply opened up the gates allowing the young unicorn walk past without escort. 'That's it? They didn't even stop to see if I was a changeling.' Sparkle groaned, she would inform the Princess about the serious oversight in security later. For what she was planning to do, she would need the lack of wandering eyes, that however, didn't make the painstakingly obvious error any less ridiculous. Once she had entered the castle she went straight to the library but stopped as soon as the doors came in her field of view. 'Am I really willing to go through with this? Come on Twilight don't get cold hooves now, you're only trying to get your hooves on the most forbidden magic know to ponykind. No big deal.' "Are you alright Twilight? Why are you just standing here?" The drakes voice was more than enough to startle the mare. "Ahhh! Huh, what? Oh, yeah sorry, Spike just lost in thought again. You know how I am." Twilight said sheepishly. "Why don't you go to the kitchens, I don't know about you but I'm famished after such a long trip." Twilight then pulled out a small brown bag, rattling it a bit in hopes of convincing the dragon to leave. "I'm going to be here a while so take your time." The spiked drake didn't waste a second in getting the bag of bits in his claws. "Okay!" His enthusiasm however quickly faded. "Umm, Twilight?" She gave him a questioning gaze. "Yes?" "Can I..." He started. "Spike I don't have a lot of time." Twilight snapped, she didn't want to be here any longer then she needed. "Can I get a few gems!" Spike finished quickly. "I... Well, it's been awhile since I've had any gems so I was wondering if maybe..." Twilight rolled her eyes and gave him a smile. "Fine, but promise me you'll only a few alright? I don't want you getting any tummy aches before we leave okay." "I promise!" With the bustling bag of bits in tow, Spike jumped off the mares back and headed off. "That should buy me some time." She said to no one in particular. The library was perhaps one of the most fascinating locations in the entire castle. Its roof raised as high as some of the most expensive buildings in Canterlot and spanned far n' wide. A large, hoof painted mural coated the ceiling. It depicted a plane much like Cloudsdale. Ponies, pegasi mainly, flew around greeting one another while others trotted among the clouds. The was an occasional pony waving to others down below through a window in one of the fluffy buildings. Twilight's gaze lowered and she set her sights on the massive bookshelves. Books of all sizes and colors filled the wooden racks, all of them organized in alphabetical order. As much as the mare wanted to trot down the aisles like a filly in a candy store, she had more important matters to attend to. With each hoof-step she became more anxious. She knew exactly where to go, a rumored set of back panels that lead into the restricted section of the archives. Princess Celestia never let her go anywhere near a particular set of bookshelves and it didn't take a rocket scientist to know why. Twilight came to a stop when she neared the entrance to the area quickly hid behind a bookshelf, she peered over and saw a pair of heavily armed and armored Solar Guards. Two were posted there twenty-four seven, any commoner would have simply thought that they were there to keep the peace. As for how to get through Twilight didn't know. The only time they would leave is when the went on breaks or turned their duties over to Princess Luna's night guard. Sure, she might have been able to sneak in between shifts but they guards never left until the new shift had stood not one hoof from them. Only then would the old set be allowed to leave. Twilight wanted to teleport in but she had never actually seen the inside and didn't want to risk teleporting inside a wall or worse, a pony. On top of all that she was positive that wards covered the area and triggering it could set off a silent alarm. She stopped peeping and picked up a random book off the shelf. She opened it up to a random page as she thought of a plan, it wouldn't hurt to look inconspicuous while she was there. Soon she drew up several plans in her mind but immediately trashed them. One of them was a stupid as casting the Want It, Need It enchantment. That would not only bring a lot of attention but with her history of the spell, it easily would have made her the culprit. Eventually, she settled on a very simplistic idea, a remarkably unorthodox one for her tastes but it would have to do. She would first and foremost, create a distraction on the other side of the library so the librarian wouldn't come around the corner the second she set her plan into motion. She would then cast a powerful, offensive, stun spell on the guards after the shift change. When all was said and done, the mare would cast an illusion spell that would mimic the guards to a T. As she thought, simple, unconventional, but in the end effective. Closing the book, Twilight trotted through the library looking for the caretaker. She spotted him on the other side of the room. Sigh 'Should have just taken my chance.' She thought bitterly. Ignoring her ire, Twilight looked around to find something to distract the librarian with while she was present. It didn't need to be something complicated, a few fallen books would do the trick. With a small smile, Twilight lit her horn and unfastened one of the screws on the shelves causing the 'For Dummies' book series to tumble to the ground eliciting a large crashing noise just loud enough for the old coot to hear. Waiting a few moments for him to start cleaning up the mess Twilight turned around. Only to encounter two guards trotting quickly towards her. She froze, 'This wasn't how it was supposed to go!' She cried. Before the purple mare could speak up the stallions trotted... Right past her. She threw up an eyebrow and turned around. The two soldiers safeguarding the doors to the crypt seemed to have heard the crash and went to investigate. Twilight would have facehoofed at the dull stallions responsibilities but instead was overtaken by joy, through sheer luck she had gained an easy entrance to the vault. Without a second to lose Twilight trotted swiftly to the doors scoping it out one last time to confirm that the guards tending to the incident, were in fact, the ones patrolling the section. She ignited her horn once more and scanned it for any wards or runes that might have acted as a lock. She found nothing on the books or shelves... She scanned again but this time brought her magic a little lower. There! Right on the floor, she had been looking in the wrong spot. She was surprised, though mildly so, with all the incompetence going around she thought for a second that there were no security measures on the door. Whoever placed it was clearly much more clever and wise than anypony else around. Yet, as soon as her magic grazed the ward she backed off. This was no ordinary set of magical lines and shapes. It was one of Princess Celestia's personal spells. As such, it was much more intricate than she anticipated, thus it added complications. Twilight would have to be very, very careful with disarming it. Having experienced her spells before, she knew Celestia added several precautions when making them. A single slip would cause a chain reaction, it looked almost foal proof... Almost, Twilight peered around and immediately spotted a fake potted plant. She bent down and inspected it closely taking in each detail. After some time, she found something, a tiny chip of a crystal just barely poking out from the dirt. Bingo, she had found the power source. In most cases, wards didn't need a gem unless the user intended to keep it powered for centuries. A 'forge and forget' type of spell, something Twilight knew was forbidden in almost all countries of the world. Twilight frowned, she couldn't just yank it out, it would set off the wards. She needed time to think outside the box, and sadly for her, time wasn't something she had a lot of. 'Wait a second, time!' "That's it!" She shouted, before slapping a hoof on her muzzle a bit harder than intended. She winced but recovered. Star Swirl The Bearded's time scroll, she remembered how to cast the spell. She could use that to try and find different methods of unlocking the door with little to no consequences, she would just have to make some modifications. Even then, she had access to Star Swirl The bearded's wing in case she ever need some help. She dashed over to a nearby desk and pulled out a piece of paper, a single quill, and an ink jar from her saddlebags. Jotting down the spell, her mind was racing with ideas on how to implement her own designs onto it. It might have taken a common unicorn months to modify such a complex spell, but Twilight was no ordinary unicorn. She had re-written the page in a matter of minutes. Holding up her draft to go over it one more time Twilight proceeded to nod to herself in acceptance. Implementing some final fail safes she got up from the chair and readied her spell. It would not only would it send the caster back in time, it would instead, copy the user and replace the same pony in the past- a perfect clone. Twilight acknowledged that most ponies might have seen such an act as unscrupulous, but for the sake of science and a better future, the mare was ready, willing, and waiting to push past it all, she knew in her heart that it would be the best for everyone. However, it was clear that Twilight knew little of the saying, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Not willing to risk any more time Twilight got to work on the wards. She started by merely following the line segments. Removing wards was much like mathematics or reverse engineering. Both things Twilight was excellent at. However, just because you know the ending or sum of something, doesn't mean you know or understand how it got that way, also, solving a math problem didn't require hypotheticals, it was simple augmentation. Something she found to be quite satisfying. 'No, no, no, that won't work either.' The mare grumbled in annoyance. She had gotten so used to lowering her standards since moving to Ponyville. The sudden increase in difficulty was something she was not prepared for and that only furthered her anger, no matter, if she messed up she could always just reset time. Speaking of a restart. "Hey, you're not supposed to be here!" The pair of soldiers had returned. One guard rushed to intercept her while the other charged a spell. In a bit of a rash action, Twilight made a quick hop avoiding not only the spell, but the earth pony as well. In the meantime, Twilight prepared a spell of her own and hurled it to the unicorn. He had no time to react and was hit right in exposed part of his neck. The sleep spell made quick work of him, knocking him out cold. Twilight then teleported to his body facing the earth pony. It was in the nick of time as well, the earth pony was seconds away from bucking her. After correcting his stumble he charged again. 'He's not very bright, is he?' Teleporting above him, Twilight charged a second sleep spell and launched towards him. Meeting her mark, the stallion fell to the floor. When she landed she dusted herself off. Twilight finally had peace and quite to cast the reset spell. Twilight shivered, she had no idea what it would feel like, nor what the side effects would entail, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to find out. 'No risk, no reward.' She thought bitterly lighting her horn. She felt like her whole body was dropped in hot magma, then dipped in liquid nitrogen. But as soon as it came, it left, and Twilight opened her eyes. She found herself staring at two familiar guards trotting past her. It had worked, but there was one problem. This was not the time she was aiming for, she intended to find herself at a chair and desk where she first wrote the spell. This could only mean one thing. She had found a critical flaw in her spell. The time period the scroll sent you was completely random. Meaning it could have sent her as far back as the day she was born. In influx of sensations filled Twilight as she collapsed from the emotions that overwhelmed her. If there were such a thing as gods, they were most certainly watching over her today. She would not cast that spell again no matter what, no amount of trouble was worth the risk. After a few minutes of getting her barrings, she meekly trotted to the vault doors once more. The orchid mare had made a decent amount of progress after her first attempt, thus had a pretty good idea on how to shut off the ward without triggering it. She had to think outside of the box for the most part, instead of deconstructing the wards she, alternatively, made another one and powered it. An exact replica of Celestia's. She had created a magic ward to shut down a magic ward. It acted like generators, if you sent two separate streams of power to each other it would cause the two dynamos to shut down. A meltdown via magic overload. Twilight visibly beamed at her accomplishment, that was one for the books. In addition, all her thinking had temporarily distracted her from the conundrum she experienced earlier. Today was a good day to be Twilight Sparkle. She wasted no time in pulling two obviously more detailed and brighter books in unison. Doing so separated the shelves and a pair of loosely hung set of wooden panels were now visible. She pushed open the set of boards before promptly shutting them and the bookshelves behind her. It was the moment of truth, for days she had been wanting to get her hooves on even a sentence of newfound knowledge, and now she finally had it. Turning around she summoned a light from her horn allowing her to see in the pitch black room. She couldn't recognize a thing other than a set of dark oak wood doors and the start of what she believed to be a line of candles. Lighting the wax cylinders as she shook in anticipation Twilight trotted forward spreading apart the entire way. Shelves stacked with books she had never seen or heard of before were hoof fed right into her eyeballs. Were would she start? All this knowledge locked away never to see the light of day again. Twilight pulled a couple books from the shelves that she thought would be a good start. They were named 'Necromancy For Foals', and 'Blood Magic & You'. She also pulled out a book that had no name but had leather stretched over the cover. She scanned through the pages, it appeared to be a tome that contained references to symbols and other rosters. Embedded in the textbook was a chart and a diary of sorts that seemed to contain titles of what Twilight assumed to be other books and a few notes, though most were so old they were barely legible. 'Maybe there was another pony who was studying it? Hmm, wonder what happened to them? It's clear they never got to finish. Shame too, I could have used the data they collected.' Shaking her head Twilight decided to have look around, the room was considerably small but miraculously somehow still held a small second floor on the plus side, she had managed to scavenge a few more candles and an old oil lantern. She lit them and placed them around the stone brick chamber, it provided a little warmth but not enough to halt the fog emitting from her muzzle after every breath she took. Twilight then proceed to draw the room itself noting every little detail, she would no doubt come back here and would rather teleport in than go through all the trouble a second time. No security wards were present when she examined the room for them so Twilight Sparkle created two of her own. One was an elaborate alarm that would, like all other alarms, alert her if anyone came in. The second would set fire to it all. This would be a last resort in case she accidentally left behind some incriminating evidence that would mark her as a suspect. She didn't expect to ever use it, nor did she wish she would have to, but if she was found out about it would lead to her research coming to a complete halt. And that in and of itself was unacceptable. Even then, by the time that happened, she most likely would have cleared out most if not all the information the room contained. In the end, when Twilight felt her magic spells were to her standers she departed in a flash of light. Author's Note I don't know how I feel about this chapter. Most likely going to change it. Love it, like it, hate it, despise it. Anything helps.
Prologue Ponyville, the small and surprisingly once quiet village was home to a little purple unicorn who sat across one of the many round windows in her tree home, the sound and smell of rain putting her usual racing mind at ease. Though, would have preferred that the storm was a bit calmer however, for the flashes of electricity that shot through the sky at incredible speeds occasionally hurt her eyes from its illumination. Crack Although the raging storm calmed her nerves the thoughts going through her subconscious were not of course stopped even the slightest. In fact, her cerebrum had been caught working overtime since her return from the long-lost Crystal Empire. All she was thinking about was what she had seen upon her arrival, so much knowledge had been hidden there for thousands of years. Knowledge she didn’t know or have. That of course, was unacceptable to the supposed genius. Rumble Her thoughts, though powerful in most cases when it came to not being broken, was no match for an empty stomach. Lifting her head from the desk, the mare mumbled something under her breath before slowly turning her body away from one of the table pegs. Once hopping off the oak, red pillowed chair, she lazily made her way through the center of the room looking at the stairs as she made her way down them to ensure she wouldn’t miss-step, and tumble down the rest of the way. After reaching the bottom, she trotted through the main flat, the library, making sure to go around the large wooden bust of a Saddle Arabian horse sitting in the middle of the room. “Hoo.” A feathered creature spoke from a golden pole that could have possibly been mistaken for a fancy coat hanger. “Hello, Owlowiscious.” Twilight spoke in a more cheery mood than before, happy to see her companion had awoken from his slumber. “How’s my little bird friend doing?” “Hoo.” “That’s great to hear. Although I’m sure you’re eager to start helping me. I won’t be doing any organizing tonight, so feel free to do what you wish with your newly found free time.” She said before planting a big kiss on the owl’s forehead. “Hoo.” Rumble Annoyed by the restless organ, Twilight swiftly made her way into the kitchen opening the white fridge door with a scanty amount of magic. ‘Hm, there isn’t a whole lot here, I should go to the market tomorrow morning.’ She thought with a subtle nod of her head finalizing the decision. She soon grimaced when she realized she would have to have a daisy sandwich for the second day in a row. She would have gone these last few days but the sudden call from Princess Celestia put quite a few holes in her plans. Causing her to scramble a new schedule together. Moments after combining the simple ingredients, Twilight took a rather large bite of her meal. Tap Tap Tap “Huh?” The momentarily confused unicorn turned her head to look at the source of the odd disturbance, only to find her owl tapping his beak amongst one of the windows of the tree library. “You want to go outside now?” She asked, looking outside once more seeing that the storm outside was still raging. “Hoo.” “Umm alright, but be careful I don’t want you getting hurt.” Opening the windowpane with a purple mist, the coffee-colored coot flew out in artistic silence. The equine afterward propped up the window with a nearby stick, one just as brown as the soaked tree home. Finishing her simplistic meal Twilight moved back into the main room of the archives only to trip and tumble banging her head on the wooden bust causing the stack of books to fall and create a chaotic storm of flying papers. ‘Ow, I really hope that doesn’t give me a concussion. Even so, I’m still most definitely going to feel that in the morning.’ Standing up, Twilight uneasily got back to her hooves to see what had caused her misfortune. ‘The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide’. Ignoring the sense of irony that filled her, she, for whatever reason, had a strong urge to read it over. Opening it to a random page, she landed on the ‘element of magic’ section, she read one of the excerpts. The Element Of Magic, quite possibly one of the most mysterious anomalies in the entirety of Equestria, a relic of an untold amount of power flows through this gem. So much in fact, that users that are. Quote, "Unworthy" of its powers feel the effects of magic withdraw to the point of death, a quick but painful one might I add. Users who are deemed "Fit" to use such a token often have said they feel "Rejuvenated" during use. All bearers of this gem are wizards of high power, and hold a vast amount of intellect on magic and other fields. Twilight Sparkle slammed the leather book shut, she was hoping to get away from the thoughts she was having about knowledge and power. She immediately winced at her own stupidity. Reading a book about magic probably wasn't a very smart way to move away from those thoughts. 'And yet here I am, a very "Smart" and "Powerful Wizard".' She didn't feel like either of those things after recent events. 'What were all those spells Sombra was using? I've never even seen let alone heard any of them. Like the one that allowed him to create crystal chains on his victims, sure there is a regular magic spell for that, but they only restrict movement, not magic as well. That could be incredibly useful for me considering the kind of things I have to deal with. Not even myself in fact, my friends are in great danger as well. Doesn't help that the majority of monsters here in Equestria use magic for combat. Or what about that spell that allows him to turn into clouds or something, that could be used to dodge a lot of attacks or save ponies that are under a falling bridge, Tartarus, it could be used for something as simple as speed. What about that cage or door Spike and I saw, it's just another way to restrain or incapacitate enemies. What does Celestia mean by it's "Evil" magic? No magic is evil. All of it could be used to do harm sure but that has to do with the wielder themselves.' Twilight Sparkle held her thoughts after hearing flapping coming in from the wall. She turned her head to see Owlowiscious returning from his trip carrying a rather large dead mouse within his maw, landing on his pole. When the mare had first kept the bird, she was, as expected, disturbed by the sight. But as time passed she had grown accustomed to the disturbing display. Once silence made itself apparent the ornithologist in the room returned to her thoughts. 'Evil magic... Well, okay, yeah, there are, I guess you could say, evil magic that exists like necromancy or blood magic for example. Those are used to kill... but what about in self-defence? Just because you kill, it doesn't make you evil.' Twilight turned her head in order to see an owl that was happily feasting on his meal. 'Owlowiscious isn't evil, it's not out of defense but he does it because he needs to eat, it's just the circle of life.' The mare yawned. Smacking her dry lips, she looked at the time. Her eyes widened. 'Ten thirty, have I really been lost in thought for that long?' Blinking and shaking her head. The lilac mare dragged herself up the stairs, anxious to lay her head and rest for the long day ahead of her. Author's Note Read this before you go posting a comment and making yourself look like an idiot. Yes, I know there are a lot of “Twilight Sparkle trys dark magic “ fanfics but pretty much all of them end up the same way. One being that she turns evil and overthrows Celestia and Luna, Yada, Yada. We’ve all seen it a thousand times, well spoilers she doesn't in this story. The other fics just get abandoned within the 3 or 4 chapter. This story will just be about Twilight going through a learning experience and proving herself physically and mentally. So yes expect her to go through some ‘trials’ to put it lightly. I don’t see a lot of fics where Twilight goes through a lust for knowledge and the ones I do see died a long time ago way back in the 2012, 2013 era. The rest shows Twilight being really OOC and are just badly written in most cases. That’s it so... Love it, like it, hate it, despise it. Anything helps. PS: No idea when the next chapter will come out it. I was hoping to get out of writer's block for my other story. (Didn't happen. )
Question 1/3"Alright, that's it!" A small Drake exclaimed in a relieved tone. Making a 'X' shape on a piece of parchment. "Not quite, Spike," Twilight responded. "Aw, what do you mean? What are we missing?" He asked, unsure about what they were needing. After looking back at his checklist viewing it over one more time he noticed that all the crudely made black boxes he had drawn earlier, did indeed did have red X's with each one of them. "Oh, nothing just some last minute things I wanted to grab, I need to head over to Zecora's real quick." The mare responded. "Oh, umm alright, I imagine we're going to drop off this stuff off at the house before we go?" He said pointing an index claw at several brown paper bags. Paper bags that contained a large sum of food due to their lack of it back at the library. Twilight had a certain look form on her face, an expression that Spike knew all too well... Her 'thinking face' but strangely this time it didn't last nearly as long as usual. That being several hours. She turned her head to Spike once more. "Actually, you can stay at home if you want to Spike. You don't need to come with me." She said a simple smile appearing on her muzzle. "Really?" The Drake said in an uplifting tone. His excitement however wavered seconds later. "Are you sure, the Everfree Forest is dangerous you know?" Concern became evident on his face. "Yes, I'm sure, Spike. Besides, I can take care of myself I've been in their plenty of times." She said, patting his scaled head with a hoof while lifting multiple bags that surrounded them in a purple glow. "Now come on I don't want any of these fridge or freezer foods spoiling, it is kind of hot out today after all." "Right." Said the Drake, making a subtle shake his head and scampering off to follow his mother figure in hoof. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Ahhh, finally.' Thought Twilight once sitting down at the round table she had gotten acquainted with last night upstairs. She placed a ceramic bowl of caesar salad along with a silver spoon, bottle of fine dressing, and even finer red wine. It was a bit extravagant for a late lunch but Twilight was tired of the plain taste of basic foods that she ate too often when she worked. Taking a large bite of her wonderful salad Twilight's mind began to wonder back to what she had seen a just a few short days ago. 'Annnnnd, now I'm angry.' Twilight thought clearly upset by the fact she had no way of returning to the Crystal Empire anytime soon, here duties as the Ponyville local librarian and world saver had to come first. She wrinkled her brow. 'Maybe I won't have to go all the way over there to get data. The Royal library might have something... No, that's open up to a lot of ponies. Doubt they would have that. Celestia and Luna wouldn't leave that kind of information just lying around... The Royal Archives perhaps? I... wouldn't be allowed entry to all the sections there but surely more than any other ponies. Maybe even Zecora has something, she's a shaman and zebra shaman often study dark arts and other mystical powers.' The lavender mare placed another fork full of dressing laced salad into her mouth washing it down with a sip of wine. 'Although I doubt the latter, it wouldn't hurt to try. Not that it would bother me that much if she didn't, I till have to get some new potions from her anyway.' Twilight brought a napkin to her lips after finishing her meal moving downstairs to place her dishes in the sink for later. Moving to the fridge once more for a little glass of fresh, ice cold water. Looking at the time she brought over her saddle bags that held nothing more than a brown rag-bag of bits, a small pack of parchment, three ink pots, and seven new quills. Placing the bag over and on her barrel, she shouted out to Spike before leaving. "Spike I'm trotting over to Zecora's now, watch the place while I'm gone." 'Alright, bye' was the muffled response. Walking down the dirt pathway that lead to the Everfree and eventually Zecora's hut. Twilight heard sompony call her name. "Hiya Twilight, whatcha doing?" A pretty pink party pony asked. Startled, Twilight shifted a few hooves to her right to avoid being trampled by the new bystander. "Ahh, Pinkie, don't walk up to me like that, you frightened me." "How? I'm not walking, I'm bouncing," Pinkie responded, a strange *Boink* noise somehow being generated when she jumped. Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed at the pink ponies antics. "I'm heading over to Zecora's to pick up some stuff is all. Not much... You?" She asked, hoping to create a conversation before walking alone into the Everfree. Although it was unnecessary to try to start up a discussion with the rosy colored peppy pony because chances are you were always pulled into one regardless if you wanted to be a part of it in the first place. "I'm doing great actually, The Cakes and I have another competition over at Canterlot. Hey, remember that Griffin, Gustave? Well, I heard this year he made something so amazing that was going to leave the rest of the competitors in the dust, so the Cakes and I started to redo our cake and it's going great so far. I think it's actually better than our first one. I'm having so much fun," She said cheerfully. The unicorn frowned then opened her mouth. "Then what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be busy making the cake?" "We are busy making the cake, but it's so big only half of it could fit in the oven," Pinkie replied. "You don't have several ovens?" Twilight asked raising an eyebrow. "We do, but the rest are too small, it would take too much time and would make things way more complicated than they need to be if we divide the cake into a bunch of sections. Better to just make two large pieces and bake them separately in the big oven." Twilight didn't say anything, simply nodding her head. After a long silent pause between the two, they neared the edge of the Everfree. Pinkie then spoke up "Are you alright Twilight?" She asked. "I'm fine why do you ask?" "Nothing just, I don't know you've been distant lately. You've also been pretty quiet even for you. Are you mad at somepony?" "What, no. I've just been thinking about a whole lot lately. I might have to go to Canterlot soon... later today or tomorrow maybe." Twilight said calmly. "Is there a big test coming up? Maybe you have a super secret mission that only you and you alone can know about and it's so important that- hhm hmmm mmmm hhhmm." Twilight put a magical zipper over Pinkie Pies pie hole before she had the chance to ramble about something ridiculous again. "No Pinke, it's nothing from Celestia. It's actually something I'm going to be working on myself for the next... pony knows how long." She undid the zipper. "Oh cool what is it?" The Part Pony asked happily. "It's ummm, about." The Purple unicorn looked around hoping to find something that would sound realistic. "Abouuut." She eyed Rarity out in the distance hauling a small wagon full of gems. "About some gems that we saw in the Crystal Empire. You know, some more history on how the Crystal Empire came to be." She smiled awkwardly, hoping Pinkie would buy it. Twilight didn't like lying to her friends but she also didn't like the thought of telling them that she was going to look into dark magic even more. Her friends are not exactly wizards, so they wouldn't understand why she would want to inquire about something like that. No doubt they would believe the myth about how using or studying the effects of dark magic turns the pony into a vampony or some insane monstrosity. They didn't have the best common sense and often over exaggerated dangers sometimes. A good example being when they meet Zecora for the first time. That was an ordeal she wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon. "Okay!" Pinkie said oblivious to Twilight's discomfort. "Right well, I'll see you later Pinks." Twilight said once reaching the main entrance to the forest. "Bye!" The Party Pony waved sporadically as Twilight moved under the shade of the large un-natural trees. 'I picked the worst day to got through the forest, it's a lot hotter in here than outside the forest.' Wiping some sweat off her forehead Twilight trotted deeper in the woods. Careful to avoid getting a cut by the sharp thorns of the green bushes that she squeezed by. Once freeing her saddle bag from a rather rude shrub that knew nothing about personal space. She finally reached her destination, that being a hollowed out tree surrounded by many herbs, flowers, and occasional colored wooden mask. Smiling she walked over beating a hoof on the door various times in a sudden hurry due to the water droplets that had started to fall from the sky "Ah, Twilight you gave me a quite a fright," Zecora said upon opening the door, she sidestepped, allowing Twilight to enter. "Sorry about that Zecora," Twilight responded sheepishly. "Fear not Twilight, I bear no strife this night, for forgiveness is the elixir to happiness in life." Twilight chuckled and gave small smile. "Right, Anyway, I was hoping if you had any luck on the philter I ordered for awhile back." Zecora sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I've made little way, for it requires Nightshade. A flower that wields much power, but sadly does not bloom in this hour." "There really is nothing to substitute it with?" Twilight asked hoping there would be a solution. Zecora shook her head once more. She sighed. "Well, thanks for trying regardless. Anyway, I just came by to pick up my usual. Oh, and also I wanted to know. do you have any books or scrolls of any kind that pertain to what you do? Like spells or history on it?" The zebra raised an eyebrow. "Twilight this is truly a surprise, I did not realize you sought out this knowledge otherwise I would have modernized many of the texts, for this, I must apologize. "Oh, there's no need, I sort of just recently became interested in it." Twilight said as she smiled awkwardly while waving a hoof around. "But if you have time I did bring a few papers with me, so maybe we can do some quick translating? I'm sure I can easily summarize it." "While I would be quite alright with that in hindsight, I don't believe such a thing is legalized where you reside." The zebra noted with a small frown. Twilight frowned in kind, thoughts turning in her head. 'Right Celestia banned those kinds of things. How did that never occur to me till now? How am I ever going to be able to learn anything then?' The unicorn stood there a few moments in silence. The zebra choosing not to interrupt her thoughts. 'Okay, well, I know Celestia is nowhere near as organized as me, so there is a possibility that there is a loophole in it somewhere. That or I could just hide everything, Celestia trusts me I don't think she would one day random search my house on a whim for a few scrolls. Though I don't want to resort to that just yet. I want to leave lying to Celestia or anypony really, as a last resort.' Twilight nodded her head once coming to a solution. "I've got an idea, so Celestia may make a lot of rules and restrictions, but she doesn't do a whole lot in the way of enforcing or organizing any of it. She tends to have a little too much faith in ponies or any species really in my opinion. So first I'm going to do some research and see if I can't find some sort of loophole in her laws. If not... Well, I sort of hope you can do me a favor and keep this a secret until the end of my new studies." Twilight had a hunch that Zecora wouldn't tell anypony about Twilight's little pet project. Mostly because Zecora had been training as a shaman for most of life, and witchcraft is a big part of their culture and traditions almost as much as rhyming. So no doubt they found it strange that such a thing was banned, even if there wasn't a lot of zebras who could master such an art. Zecora once more hadn't said anything, instead, choosing to give a smile and nod of her head. Twilight showed some teeth as well. A hunt for knowledge had begun. "Thanks again Zecora," Twilight called out, closing the hut door in tow and placing one last ingredient in her saddlebags for her other studies. A little while later as she was making her way down the muddy pathway that had formed when she was speaking to Zecora, she noticed some odd prints indented into the ground that was not there previously. Being the naturally curious pony that she was, she arched her neck to get a closer inspection ignoring the large drops of water that matted her purplish coat. The shape had a resemblance of a 'W' it looked like a... paw. The mare's eyes shot wide open and she stuck her neck out scanning the area with deathly glare, making sure to remain completely silent. Not that it would that big of a difference Timberwolves often used smell and sight rather than sound. That wasn't to say their sense of smell was outright terrible. The K-9's still put many creatures to shame when it came to that, but it was unsurprisingly easier to use the formers. It also didn't mean that didn't use it, Twilight knew that sudden noises indicated that the prey was alerted to the wolves presence, meaning they would pounce on her the second she moved. Crunch The best thing to do when you found yourself in a Timberwolf pack was to act natural and look around in hopes to find the location of as many wolves as you could. Most Timberwolf packs were short one wolf, therefore not creating a full circle often giving their pray a small area to flee that was unprotected when they surrounded their hunt. Though many ponies were unsuccessful when it came to looking for these openings. Usually for the same reasons. One being that they took to long to find the said opening, naturally because they couldn't find all the hungry wolves. The other was that they were unlucky and guessed wrong, causing their fate to be brought down upon them in a swift move, that being the equine ran head first into a hidden Timberwolf's jaw. Nopony knew why the wolves never learned to rectify the flaw but nopony was also ever going to complain about it. Crack The mare's ears swiveled sharply, eyes darting to and fro. Before. She lunged. Twilight dashed past several thick bushes hearing a multitude of steps right behind her. As she was running, she saw a branch stick out from the side of an oddly thin tree, taking inspiration from one of Applejack's tricks, she grabbed the limb in her magic pulling it back before letting go and ducking underneath it. The sound of wood cracking on wood was followed by an explosion that sounded like it was buried halfway in the dirt. 1 Moving into a small clearing, the mare ran straight first towards a large boulder before promptly changing direction in one swift move. Twilight was awarded the satisfying sound of cracking and snapping wood. 2 Hearing steps coming closer by the second. Twilight stopped abruptly before lying on her belly. The snap of jaws being heard overhead and the feeling of wind caressing her back. As quickly as it came, it stopped, and Twilight found herself: raising her head, lighting her horn, and launching several spells. One spell hit her target head-on, obliterating it within seconds. Another spell landed on the ground in front of another wolf sending it back to hit a tree. 4 The last wolf, the Alpha, dodged the attack with ease. Heeding danger, Twilight scampered, wanting the wolf to work for his meal. As she ran she, looked everywhere hoping to find another form of dispatching her fast foe. She noticed several large rocks and branches but nothing would fool a Timberwolf twice, let alone against one that was clearly smarter than the rest. Twilight soon neared what appeared to be an edge. Putting faith into her leap, she jumped. Her faith, however, was misplaced. Instead of a small slope like she had hoped, it was in fact, a small cliff that lead into a dried up river bed. A loud crack was heard as she slammed into the ground. The quiet forest was filled with a horrid scream of a mare. She looked down at her hooves all were burning with extreme pain one leg in particular was bent at an odd angle. Looking over at the cliff-side she saw the Timberwolf slowly and carefully make it's way down. She panicked, throwing a purple shield around herself. Sadly this would not hold forever, and she knew that. The Everfree seemed to passively drain magic and also made it much more difficult to cast. And the Timberwolf slamming and clawing at the side didn't make it any easier. This would be an easy problem to fix were she not in the Everfree Forest. She could either waste time looking for a more magic efficient way out the sticky situation. Or use it all up and hope to leave the forest completely defenseless, that was a big risk however, for the forests evil knew no rest. Luckily for her, she didn't have to make such a decision. The sound of a cannon firing rang in her ears; the dirt, stone, and wood surrounding her flew in random directions. Opening her eyes she saw a pony atop the hill with a smoking party cannon sitting next to her. "Twilight!" The pink mare yelled. "Are you alright?" Twilight's eyes widened even further. "Pinkie, Oh thank Celestia you're here." After scanning for a good path down Pinkie Pie rolled her way down to her friend. "How did you find me?" Twilight asked. "Well, remember how we sort of knew that Fluttershy would be in danger a while back, well I kind of had the same feeling again just a few minutes ago. I would have gotten AppleJack or her brother Big Mac but I had a hunch that I didn't have a lot of time." The blush colored mare explained shrugging her shoulders. Twilight nodded her head these things were best left unexplained. "We should get you out of her asap, your hoof doesn't look that good." Pinkie stated. Twilight winced as she got back on to her hooves with the help of her friend. "No arguments here." She breathed before heading down a sandy trail. Ponyville Hospital "Alright Twilight, remember to wrap a plastic bag of some sort before you shower, we don't want that thing to get smelly in the first few days of putting it on." Doctor Stable reminded. "I will, thank you doctor," Twilight said while looking down at her new purple cast, a giant name written on the side in pink bold letters. 'Pinke Pie', it read, with a 'get well soon' message written right underneath. "So how you feeling?" Pinkie Pie asked breaking the silence. "Physically? Fine. Mentally? Drained." Twilight responded. "Thanks for helping me by the way Pinkie, I owe you. Big time." "No need for thanks, silly. You're my friend, one who needed help. Nothing more nothing less." Pinke Beamed. Twilight smiled. "Well thanks anyway." She sighed. "I think I'm gunna head home pinks, I'm pretty tired." "Wow, you must be if you didn't even use proper Equestrian. Want me to walk ya?" "Uuuh, no thanks, I can make it on my own." "Okie dokie lokie." With a final hug, Twilight headed home thoughts forming in her mind. Tomorrow, like all days, was going to long and hard. Author's Note This was written on a phone so it probably did some auto correcting, let me know if you see any of it because I lost some of them and can't seem to find them. Also, I'm so so sorry for the horrid rhyming in this chapter. Like... it's really bad. I cringed several times. In fact, just... Just. You know what? Do yourself a favor and bleach your eyes. I've got chlorine in powder and liquid form so take your pick. Never think about this chapter ever again. Love it, like it, hate it, despise it. Anything helps.
Question 2/3"Twilight? Twiiillliiightt?" Spike called out. "It's time to get up, The library opens in an hour." Not receiving a response, the little purple drake waddles up the stairs knocking several times on the door leading into his mother figures bedroom. Still nothing. Huffing, he enters to see the mare huddled underneath a pile of pillows and blankets. "Twilight you've got to get up, the library is opening up soon." The mare withdrew her blankets eyeing Spike as if he was an alien. "What are you talking about, we're leaving for Canterlot today?" "Huh, what do you mean?" He gave her a questioning gaze. Now it was Twilight's turn to do the same "What do you mean, what do I mean? Did I not tell you that yesterday? I thought for sure I did." Twilight rubbed her eyelids. "Well, not that it matters, you know now." "When are we leaving... And why?" Questioned the drake. "Nothing just, I need some books that we don't have here in the tree." Just as the mare was getting out of the bed Spike saw a molded cast around one of her forehooves. His eyes went as wide as saucers. "What happened to your leg are you alright? He shrieked. "I actually completely forgot about that somehow." She looked down at her red cast. "Yes, I'm fine Spike I just fell when coming back from Zecoras. Don't worry I'll get better before you know it." Upon finishing the sentence Twilight trotted over to Spike placing a kiss on his scaly forehead. "Now I'm going to go wash up, you should get ready for the trip. Spike bought the white lie but still gave a concerned look. "Umm alright Twi, just promise you'll be safe next time?" Twilight shook her head. "After everything that's happened recently, Spike I'm not sure I can guarantee that. But what I can promise is that I'll try and be a bit more careful with what I'm doing in the future." Spike sighed slouching his shoulders a bit. "Alright, Twi. Well, I'll be downstairs if you need me." Twilight nodded and trotted into the bathroom, her first instinct was to look in the mirror surrounded by a wooden frame, unsurprising considering she was in fact, living in a tree. Turning on the sink she splashed her face with some cold water before summoning a brush in her magic swiping her mane several of times. "Do I really want to go through with this? If I get caught... No, Twilight you can't think like that, many secrets may lie in the art of dark magic, secrets that ponies can use to better their lives. Who knows maybe I can find a way to cure Scootaloo's flight, actually even better I could find a way to cure all disabilities, the skies the limit right?" 'Look at yourself, you haven't even touched dark magic yet and you're already talking to yourself.' Twilight shook off the thoughts and open the shower curtain. 'A quick shower wouldn't hurt, it will keep my mind off of things.' When she stepped inside she quickly wrapped a bag around her hoof and turned the nobs on the wall. Soon warm droplets of water battered her as they shot out from the shower head. But of course, it didn't take long for her thoughts to run wild again. Specifically, her mind wondered to the day Princess Celestia had sent her to the Crystal Empire. 'Those spells she taught me were quite helpful. I wonder what they were exactly, rather what they were supposed to do. Were they only made to combat other dark magic spells? It seems like it but that can't be all they do right? If so, why are they not taught to every single pony in Equestria? If that happened dark magic would never really make an appearance, it would be almost none existent. It must be a key of some kind... Like a literal failsafe. Do all forms of dark magic have a kill switch of some kind? Wow... That could be really helpful if we could somehow apply it to regular magic. It would allow for much more complicated and efficient spell weaving, why it could even be adapted to runes and other wards. The possibilities are endless, I'm getting excited just thinking about it. Imagine all the reading and cross-referencing!' Her thoughts came to an abrupt end when noticing the strain in her neck from letting the water soak her mane for so long. She lifted her head and jumped out of the shower after a quick layer of soap. When Twilight finished getting ready for the day she made her way down the stairs and was greeted by the sight of number one assistant cooking up a healthy meal. That being toasted hay sandwiches, one of her favorite dishes. "Moring Twi!" The Spike called wiping out some orange juice from the fridge. "Good morning, Spike. Sleep well?" Twilight asked trying to strike up a conversation. "I slept great actually, thanks for asking. You?" "Eh, could have been better, this cast is itchy but nothing else to worry about other than that." "It must have been a high fall if you managed to break a bone like that. Did it hurt?" Twilight glared at him. "Right, stupid question, sorry." He said smiling sheepishly. "So what exactly are you looking for again at Canterlot?" Twilight exhaled. "Nothing worth noting really some, just some books I'm surprised we don't have. I also intend on studying some old material to refresh my memory. Who knows when Princess Celestia will throw another test at me." Spike nodded his head and poured himself a glass. "Anything else we need to do while we're over there?" "I don't think so... Maybe, we'll see." Twilight took a bite of her sandwich. With there meals coming to an end, the two continued down onto their own paths to prepare the trip to Canterlot. Ponyville Train Station "Ooo, Higa Twilight!" A pink pony cheered once seeing Twilight maneuvering amongst the crowd of ponies who were trotting to and fro. "Hello Pinkie, What are you doing here?" "Pfft, I'm here because of the cake competition silly. I told you yesterday." "Oh, I didn't know you remade your cakes on the last day. That doesn't seem very... smart." "No, we started making it a few days ago it's just that our last day was yesterday so that's why we threw them into the oven." "Did they come out alright?" "They came out great we'll win for sure!" Pinkie beamed. "Good to hear it, I'm sure you'll do great." Twilight smiled. "Me three!" The Pink mare giggled. Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Uhh, you mean too?" "No you silly filly, you, me, and Gummy! Isn't that right buddy?" Pinkie pulled a reptilian out of her mane and gave it a big kiss. "Heh heh, yeah of course, how foalish of me." The lilac mare said sarcastically. Before they could continue a shout stopped them. "All aboard!" The train conductor called out. The mares looked at each other momentarily before promptly embarking on one of the many passenger cars. The trip itself was uneventful but as soon as they had arrived at the station, the situation had changed. Ponies were lined up pushing their way through onto the train lacking the respect to allow the customers to depart. This of course, led to ponies rudely squeezing past one another throwing the occasional petty insult at one another. Twilight ignored them and pushed past them herself. She had important business to attend to so she could not be slowed by passer-bys. She looked over her shoulder to confirm her son was seated on her back. Upon reaching a clearing she lit her horn and teleported the drake and herself to the front of the castle gates. Were it any other pony, the guards would have rushed and tackled the possible intruder, but alas they simply opened up the gates allowing the young unicorn walk past without escort. 'That's it? They didn't even stop to see if I was a changeling.' Sparkle groaned, she would inform the Princess about the serious oversight in security later. For what she was planning to do, she would need the lack of wandering eyes, that however, didn't make the painstakingly obvious error any less ridiculous. Once she had entered the castle she went straight to the library but stopped as soon as the doors came in her field of view. 'Am I really willing to go through with this? Come on Twilight don't get cold hooves now, you're only trying to get your hooves on the most forbidden magic know to ponykind. No big deal.' "Are you alright Twilight? Why are you just standing here?" The drakes voice was more than enough to startle the mare. "Ahhh! Huh, what? Oh, yeah sorry, Spike just lost in thought again. You know how I am." Twilight said sheepishly. "Why don't you go to the kitchens, I don't know about you but I'm famished after such a long trip." Twilight then pulled out a small brown bag, rattling it a bit in hopes of convincing the dragon to leave. "I'm going to be here a while so take your time." The spiked drake didn't waste a second in getting the bag of bits in his claws. "Okay!" His enthusiasm however quickly faded. "Umm, Twilight?" She gave him a questioning gaze. "Yes?" "Can I..." He started. "Spike I don't have a lot of time." Twilight snapped, she didn't want to be here any longer then she needed. "Can I get a few gems!" Spike finished quickly. "I... Well, it's been awhile since I've had any gems so I was wondering if maybe..." Twilight rolled her eyes and gave him a smile. "Fine, but promise me you'll only a few alright? I don't want you getting any tummy aches before we leave okay." "I promise!" With the bustling bag of bits in tow, Spike jumped off the mares back and headed off. "That should buy me some time." She said to no one in particular. The library was perhaps one of the most fascinating locations in the entire castle. Its roof raised as high as some of the most expensive buildings in Canterlot and spanned far n' wide. A large, hoof painted mural coated the ceiling. It depicted a plane much like Cloudsdale. Ponies, pegasi mainly, flew around greeting one another while others trotted among the clouds. The was an occasional pony waving to others down below through a window in one of the fluffy buildings. Twilight's gaze lowered and she set her sights on the massive bookshelves. Books of all sizes and colors filled the wooden racks, all of them organized in alphabetical order. As much as the mare wanted to trot down the aisles like a filly in a candy store, she had more important matters to attend to. With each hoof-step she became more anxious. She knew exactly where to go, a rumored set of back panels that lead into the restricted section of the archives. Princess Celestia never let her go anywhere near a particular set of bookshelves and it didn't take a rocket scientist to know why. Twilight came to a stop when she neared the entrance to the area quickly hid behind a bookshelf, she peered over and saw a pair of heavily armed and armored Solar Guards. Two were posted there twenty-four seven, any commoner would have simply thought that they were there to keep the peace. As for how to get through Twilight didn't know. The only time they would leave is when the went on breaks or turned their duties over to Princess Luna's night guard. Sure, she might have been able to sneak in between shifts but they guards never left until the new shift had stood not one hoof from them. Only then would the old set be allowed to leave. Twilight wanted to teleport in but she had never actually seen the inside and didn't want to risk teleporting inside a wall or worse, a pony. On top of all that she was positive that wards covered the area and triggering it could set off a silent alarm. She stopped peeping and picked up a random book off the shelf. She opened it up to a random page as she thought of a plan, it wouldn't hurt to look inconspicuous while she was there. Soon she drew up several plans in her mind but immediately trashed them. One of them was a stupid as casting the Want It, Need It enchantment. That would not only bring a lot of attention but with her history of the spell, it easily would have made her the culprit. Eventually, she settled on a very simplistic idea, a remarkably unorthodox one for her tastes but it would have to do. She would first and foremost, create a distraction on the other side of the library so the librarian wouldn't come around the corner the second she set her plan into motion. She would then cast a powerful, offensive, stun spell on the guards after the shift change. When all was said and done, the mare would cast an illusion spell that would mimic the guards to a T. As she thought, simple, unconventional, but in the end effective. Closing the book, Twilight trotted through the library looking for the caretaker. She spotted him on the other side of the room. Sigh 'Should have just taken my chance.' She thought bitterly. Ignoring her ire, Twilight looked around to find something to distract the librarian with while she was present. It didn't need to be something complicated, a few fallen books would do the trick. With a small smile, Twilight lit her horn and unfastened one of the screws on the shelves causing the 'For Dummies' book series to tumble to the ground eliciting a large crashing noise just loud enough for the old coot to hear. Waiting a few moments for him to start cleaning up the mess Twilight turned around. Only to encounter two guards trotting quickly towards her. She froze, 'This wasn't how it was supposed to go!' She cried. Before the purple mare could speak up the stallions trotted... Right past her. She threw up an eyebrow and turned around. The two soldiers safeguarding the doors to the crypt seemed to have heard the crash and went to investigate. Twilight would have facehoofed at the dull stallions responsibilities but instead was overtaken by joy, through sheer luck she had gained an easy entrance to the vault. Without a second to lose Twilight trotted swiftly to the doors scoping it out one last time to confirm that the guards tending to the incident, were in fact, the ones patrolling the section. She ignited her horn once more and scanned it for any wards or runes that might have acted as a lock. She found nothing on the books or shelves... She scanned again but this time brought her magic a little lower. There! Right on the floor, she had been looking in the wrong spot. She was surprised, though mildly so, with all the incompetence going around she thought for a second that there were no security measures on the door. Whoever placed it was clearly much more clever and wise than anypony else around. Yet, as soon as her magic grazed the ward she backed off. This was no ordinary set of magical lines and shapes. It was one of Princess Celestia's personal spells. As such, it was much more intricate than she anticipated, thus it added complications. Twilight would have to be very, very careful with disarming it. Having experienced her spells before, she knew Celestia added several precautions when making them. A single slip would cause a chain reaction, it looked almost foal proof... Almost, Twilight peered around and immediately spotted a fake potted plant. She bent down and inspected it closely taking in each detail. After some time, she found something, a tiny chip of a crystal just barely poking out from the dirt. Bingo, she had found the power source. In most cases, wards didn't need a gem unless the user intended to keep it powered for centuries. A 'forge and forget' type of spell, something Twilight knew was forbidden in almost all countries of the world. Twilight frowned, she couldn't just yank it out, it would set off the wards. She needed time to think outside the box, and sadly for her, time wasn't something she had a lot of. 'Wait a second, time!' "That's it!" She shouted, before slapping a hoof on her muzzle a bit harder than intended. She winced but recovered. Star Swirl The Bearded's time scroll, she remembered how to cast the spell. She could use that to try and find different methods of unlocking the door with little to no consequences, she would just have to make some modifications. Even then, she had access to Star Swirl The bearded's wing in case she ever need some help. She dashed over to a nearby desk and pulled out a piece of paper, a single quill, and an ink jar from her saddlebags. Jotting down the spell, her mind was racing with ideas on how to implement her own designs onto it. It might have taken a common unicorn months to modify such a complex spell, but Twilight was no ordinary unicorn. She had re-written the page in a matter of minutes. Holding up her draft to go over it one more time Twilight proceeded to nod to herself in acceptance. Implementing some final fail safes she got up from the chair and readied her spell. It would not only would it send the caster back in time, it would instead, copy the user and replace the same pony in the past- a perfect clone. Twilight acknowledged that most ponies might have seen such an act as unscrupulous, but for the sake of science and a better future, the mare was ready, willing, and waiting to push past it all, she knew in her heart that it would be the best for everyone. However, it was clear that Twilight knew little of the saying, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Not willing to risk any more time Twilight got to work on the wards. She started by merely following the line segments. Removing wards was much like mathematics or reverse engineering. Both things Twilight was excellent at. However, just because you know the ending or sum of something, doesn't mean you know or understand how it got that way, also, solving a math problem didn't require hypotheticals, it was simple augmentation. Something she found to be quite satisfying. 'No, no, no, that won't work either.' The mare grumbled in annoyance. She had gotten so used to lowering her standards since moving to Ponyville. The sudden increase in difficulty was something she was not prepared for and that only furthered her anger, no matter, if she messed up she could always just reset time. Speaking of a restart. "Hey, you're not supposed to be here!" The pair of soldiers had returned. One guard rushed to intercept her while the other charged a spell. In a bit of a rash action, Twilight made a quick hop avoiding not only the spell, but the earth pony as well. In the meantime, Twilight prepared a spell of her own and hurled it to the unicorn. He had no time to react and was hit right in exposed part of his neck. The sleep spell made quick work of him, knocking him out cold. Twilight then teleported to his body facing the earth pony. It was in the nick of time as well, the earth pony was seconds away from bucking her. After correcting his stumble he charged again. 'He's not very bright, is he?' Teleporting above him, Twilight charged a second sleep spell and launched towards him. Meeting her mark, the stallion fell to the floor. When she landed she dusted herself off. Twilight finally had peace and quite to cast the reset spell. Twilight shivered, she had no idea what it would feel like, nor what the side effects would entail, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to find out. 'No risk, no reward.' She thought bitterly lighting her horn. She felt like her whole body was dropped in hot magma, then dipped in liquid nitrogen. But as soon as it came, it left, and Twilight opened her eyes. She found herself staring at two familiar guards trotting past her. It had worked, but there was one problem. This was not the time she was aiming for, she intended to find herself at a chair and desk where she first wrote the spell. This could only mean one thing. She had found a critical flaw in her spell. The time period the scroll sent you was completely random. Meaning it could have sent her as far back as the day she was born. In influx of sensations filled Twilight as she collapsed from the emotions that overwhelmed her. If there were such a thing as gods, they were most certainly watching over her today. She would not cast that spell again no matter what, no amount of trouble was worth the risk. After a few minutes of getting her barrings, she meekly trotted to the vault doors once more. The orchid mare had made a decent amount of progress after her first attempt, thus had a pretty good idea on how to shut off the ward without triggering it. She had to think outside of the box for the most part, instead of deconstructing the wards she, alternatively, made another one and powered it. An exact replica of Celestia's. She had created a magic ward to shut down a magic ward. It acted like generators, if you sent two separate streams of power to each other it would cause the two dynamos to shut down. A meltdown via magic overload. Twilight visibly beamed at her accomplishment, that was one for the books. In addition, all her thinking had temporarily distracted her from the conundrum she experienced earlier. Today was a good day to be Twilight Sparkle. She wasted no time in pulling two obviously more detailed and brighter books in unison. Doing so separated the shelves and a pair of loosely hung set of wooden panels were now visible. She pushed open the set of boards before promptly shutting them and the bookshelves behind her. It was the moment of truth, for days she had been wanting to get her hooves on even a sentence of newfound knowledge, and now she finally had it. Turning around she summoned a light from her horn allowing her to see in the pitch black room. She couldn't recognize a thing other than a set of dark oak wood doors and the start of what she believed to be a line of candles. Lighting the wax cylinders as she shook in anticipation Twilight trotted forward spreading apart the entire way. Shelves stacked with books she had never seen or heard of before were hoof fed right into her eyeballs. Were would she start? All this knowledge locked away never to see the light of day again. Twilight pulled a couple books from the shelves that she thought would be a good start. They were named 'Necromancy For Foals', and 'Blood Magic & You'. She also pulled out a book that had no name but had leather stretched over the cover. She scanned through the pages, it appeared to be a tome that contained references to symbols and other rosters. Embedded in the textbook was a chart and a diary of sorts that seemed to contain titles of what Twilight assumed to be other books and a few notes, though most were so old they were barely legible. 'Maybe there was another pony who was studying it? Hmm, wonder what happened to them? It's clear they never got to finish. Shame too, I could have used the data they collected.' Shaking her head Twilight decided to have look around, the room was considerably small but miraculously somehow still held a small second floor on the plus side, she had managed to scavenge a few more candles and an old oil lantern. She lit them and placed them around the stone brick chamber, it provided a little warmth but not enough to halt the fog emitting from her muzzle after every breath she took. Twilight then proceed to draw the room itself noting every little detail, she would no doubt come back here and would rather teleport in than go through all the trouble a second time. No security wards were present when she examined the room for them so Twilight Sparkle created two of her own. One was an elaborate alarm that would, like all other alarms, alert her if anyone came in. The second would set fire to it all. This would be a last resort in case she accidentally left behind some incriminating evidence that would mark her as a suspect. She didn't expect to ever use it, nor did she wish she would have to, but if she was found out about it would lead to her research coming to a complete halt. And that in and of itself was unacceptable. Even then, by the time that happened, she most likely would have cleared out most if not all the information the room contained. In the end, when Twilight felt her magic spells were to her standers she departed in a flash of light. Author's Note I don't know how I feel about this chapter. Most likely going to change it. Love it, like it, hate it, despise it. Anything helps.
