Twilight the Grey

by TrueKingPwny

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Sad, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Moondancer, Adventure, Violence, Princess Celestia
Length: 1560

After finding a page from Starswirl's journal, a young Twilight finds herself questioning everything she knew

For as long as she could remember, she was taught that Dark magic was naturally evil and Light magic was naturally good. However, a recent discovery made by the young unicorn will change how she, and eventually everyone else, see magic.

Published 2018-03-31 00:10:06 UTC
Last updated 2019-02-01 20:42:01 UTC

Chapter 1

For as long as she could remember, she was taught that Dark magic was naturally evil and Light magic was naturally good. However, a recent discovery made by the young unicorn will change how she, and eventually everyone else, see magic.

Twilight could hardly believe what she has found. When she found the paper in the library, she thought it was just a page that fell out of a book. She planned on trying to fix the book after she figured out which one the page fell out of, and then she started reading.

For the first time in my life, I found myself questioning my ideals. We arrested two unicorns today. Nothing unusual there. There are still ponies that didn't want to work with the other tribes. However, this moment stuck with me because the two unicorns were as different as night is from day. One was a murderer who kill pegasi and earth ponies with his magic, while the other used his magic to help his family. The only reason he was arrested was because he used Dark magic to help them. The punishment for usage of Dark magic is death. A father is going to be killed because he used Dark magic to help his family. I will have trouble sleeping for a while. His eyes were full of fear, not for himself, but for his family. I am starting to wonder if magic can classified into such broad categories, like Light and Dark. Maybe we should just call it magic and then only call Light or Dark depending on how a pony use it.
Starswirl The Bearded

Twilight didn't know what to think. Her whole life she, like every other pony, was taught Dark magic is evil and if you use Dark magic, then you must be evil. But here was her idol questioning that statement. Now that she thinks about it, why is Dark magic considered evil? a knife is still called a knife no matter what you use it for. Should magic be treated the same way?

Twilight was getting frustrated. Every time she tries to ask Princess Celestia her questions, she would have business to attend to. Twilight understood that, as the sole ruler of Equestria, she had a lot of duties, but that didn't stop the ten year old from feeling some anger. Deciding that she wouldn't get answers through asking, she did the next best thing. She went to the restricted section of the royal library. There she read several books on both Light and Dark magic. In her research, she could find a major difference. Dark magic came with a price. the price could be as insignificant as losing one thread of hair from your mane to something as extreme as selling your soul. Twilight could see why some Dark magic is labelled as evil, but some of the spells could be use to help. For example, one can be use to create black stones. ponies could use that to rebuild homes. the price was relatively small too. it will cause insanity, but the side effect can be counteracted. Twilight decided at that moment, she would learn both Dark and Light magic.

It has been four years since Twilight started learning both sides of magic and the repeated use of Dark magic began affecting her. While most of the dark magic has different prices, they all affect the unicorn's body the same way. After prolong exposure to Dark magic, a unicorn's horn will start to curve and turn red. Celestia noticed this and started getting worried about Twilight. At first, she tried to deny the fact that Twilight was learning and using Dark magic. Eventually, she had to face facts and do something to try and stop Twilight. "Twilight, may I speak with you?"

"Of course, Princess Celestia," said Twilight as she looked up from her book. "Do you need me for something?"

"No, I just need to ask you a question"

"I'll answer any question you have the best i can," Twilight already had an idea what she was going to ask, but figured she should play dumb. Usage of Dark magic, no matter the reason, is still consider illegal and the only reason Twilight was learning it is because of Starswirl's words and her own personal reasons.

"What have you recently learned?" asked Celestia, not wanting to directly ask the real question.

"I have been studying how magic affect the body of the caster"

"do you mean how LIGHT magic affect the body?", Asked Celestia, putting emphasis on the word light.

"No, I mean magic, both Light and Dark"

"Twilight, please stop," pleaded Celestia. "I don't why you're using Dark magic, but it's not worth it"

"I appreciate your concern for my well being," Twilight took a pause here to prepare herself, "but I will not stop"

"Twilight," was all Celestia said, a disappointed look forming on her face.

"I know that it is illegal, but if I can..." started Twilight, hoping to explain to her teacher her reasons.

"Twilight Sparkle, you are banned from using any form of Dark magic," declared Celestia in her rarely used Canterlot voice, "If you are discovered using Dark magic, you will face the consequences."

"But if you will just..." once again, she was interrupted.

"I have spoken," said Celestia.

"No," this simple word surprised Celestia. "I will not stop learning Dark magic and if you wiil just listen, you will know why"

"I see," said Celestia quietly. "Twilight Sparkle, you have been found guilty for usage of Dark magic. How do you plead?"

"Guilty, but..." said Twilight, her patience starting to wear thin.

"Twilight, you are sentenced to death. You have a week to say your goodbyes" Celestia said as tears fell from her eyes.

"But..." Twilight couldn't say anything else before her door was shut and locked.

Tomorrow was the day Twilight was scheduled to die. Every member of her family came and tried to talk to her. Emphasis on the word talk because whenever she tried to explain her side of the story, they didn't listen. Seeing her brother's disappointed face hurt the most, but she made a decision long ago and she will follow through. She pulled a rope that Princess Celestia installed for her. She heard a bell ring down the hall and, soon after, her door was opened. "This is my last day. May I spend it in the library?"

"I'll asked the Princess," was all the guardpony said before he left. Several minutes passed before he returned. "She have given you permission to do so"

"Thank you," Twilight said as she stood up. "Before we go, I need to do one thing". Twilight quickly headbutted the guard, causing her to get a headache and the guard to become daze. She followed up her initial attack with a buck to the face. This was enough to knock the guard unconscious. Twilight grabbed the key he had and removed the magic inhibitor on her horn before teleporting to the library. She knew she didn't have long before the whole castle knew of her escape, so she had to be quick.

"The captive have escaped!" well, that happened faster than she thought it would. She quickly grabbed two books at random and started running. She couldn't risk teleporting because it would leave a magic trail that Celestia could track. She kept running, constantly changing her path to avoid the guards. Eventually, she came to a dead end hallway.

"Twilly, please just go back to your room, don't make this any worse," a familiar voice pleaded. Sure enough, when Twilight turned around, she saw her older brother, Shining Armor, standing there in his uniform. Twilight didn't say anything, just started walking toward her brother with head looking at the ground. Then she did something that her brother didn't expect. She spit in his eye before wrapping him up with a curtain from a nearby window.

"See you later, BBBFF," Twilight said before she leapt out the window.

Now 18 years old, Twilight have been a wanted criminal for four years. In those four years, she have used both Light and Dark magic to help ponies she met. She looked at a sign that read, Welcome to Ponyville. Next to it was a smaller sign that read, Location for the Summer Sun Celebration. "it look like that reunion will happen soon, doesn't it?" she said to seemly to nopony.

"Are you ready?" asked a smoothing motherly voice that seemed to come from nowhere.

"I can't delay this forever," she answered the voice.

"Don't worry," stated another voice, this one deep and gravelly. "If anyone tries to do anything, I'll make sure they regret it"

"Thanks," was all Twilight said as she walked into Ponyville.

Author's Note

I need to give credit to multiple sources. first, the idea for this story came from Them's Fighting Herds's character, Oleander. second, some of the characters have been inspired by the character Dizzy from the game series, Guilty Gear. and finally to my 3DS because i wrote most of this story on it. I hope you enjoyed it and if you didn't, let me know what I can do to improve later chapters
have a good day/week/month/year/life (choose whatever fits you) :derpytongue2:

Chapter 2

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