Restricted
by Alex Casanas A.K.A. nota999
Twilight was in Canterlot for the week visiting Princess Celestia. While she greatly enjoyed the time she got to spend with the Princess, it tended to be few and far between since Celestia had many royal duties to attend to. In the meantime Twilight liked to visit the Canterlot Archives. The musty smell of the old tomes and scrolls was like heaven, and fascinating tales forgotten generations back could be found everywhere.
As she was exploring another wing of the extensive building that housed the archives, Twilight came across a locked door that seemed like it hadn’t been opened for a long, long time. Normally Twilight wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but for some reason she felt compelled to go in. She used her magic to unlock the door. As she opened it, the door let out a loud creak. Twilight cringed and quickly checked behind her to see if anyone had heard. No one seemed to notice and Twilight snuck into the room.
It was pitch black in the room. Twilight used her horn to conjure a small light, illuminating the room somewhat. Cobwebs covered almost everything in the room along with a thick layer of dust. A strange pressure seemed to fill the room, making it harder for Twilight to breathe. She walked up the aisle in front of her. On the shelves were many books written in strange and forgotten tongues, the covers illustrated with strange pictures that Twilight didn’t understand. At the end of the aisle was a book that seemed to be isolated from all the others. Its blank cover was made of black leather that seemed strangely untouched by time, save for the layer of dust on it.
The pressure in the room was strongest around the book. Twilight knew better than to take something from the archives, yet for some reason she felt compelled to take the book in front of her. She lifted up the book, sending up a cloud of dust. She sneezed and slid the book into her satchel. No one would question its presence if they found it in there since Twilight always carried around old books with her. She quickly turned around and left the archives and went back to her room in the castle.
Though she still had a couple days left in Canterlot, Twilight decided that she needed to go home and study this new book immediately. She quickly scrawled a note apologizing to Princess Celestia for having to leave early, and that she had very important business to attend to back in Ponyville. The ink was still drying as she made her way to the train station for the next train to Ponyville.
When Twilight returned home early, Spike was surprised to say the least. “I thought you weren’t supposed to be back until Saturday?” Spike said.
“Oh, um... something came up and Princess Celestia said I needed to return home earlier than we planned.” Twilight said, trying her best to a convincing lie. Spike seemed suspicious, but left it at that. The purple dragon went back to his bed to continue an interrupted nap.
The moment Spike had left the room, Twilight started reading the book immediately. Much to her surprise, it was filled with strange and dark magic that she had never seen before. Princess Celestia had warned her about dark magic, but Twilight decided that she was mature and powerful enough that she could handle it. Besides, how much harm could just dabbling do? It might even help her understand other kinds of magic better! She began to practice some of the more benign seeming spells in the front of the book.
“Um, Twi? Are you...feeling alright?” Fluttershy asked quietly. Fluttershy was having breakfast with Twilight and Pinkie at Sugarcube Corner a few days after the lavender unicorn had returned home early. Twilight looked like she hadn’t slept since she came back, dark bags hung under her eyes that she was struggling to keep open.
“Huh? Oh. Never better!” Twilight mumbled, head snapping up as she started to nod off. “I’ve just been enthralled by this new book I found in Canterlot. I just can’t put it down!”
“Really? What’s it about?” Pinkie asked cheerily.
“None of your business!” Twilight snapped. She covered her mouth as soon as the words left her mouth, trying to catch them before her friends heard them. “I’m sorry Pinkie, I just haven’t been sleeping well since I came back. Anyway, I should probably be getting home.”
Twilight excused herself from the table, leaving half of the danish she’d been having untouched. Fluttershy looked at Pinkie, who now shared her look of concern.
“Have any of y’all seen Twilight recently?” Applejack asked her friends. Twilight was supposed to meet them at Sweet Apple Acres to hang out. As her friends started to pass concerned looks to one another, Fluttershy grew incredibly worried. She hadn’t seen the lavender unicorn since their breakfast at Sugarcube Corner three days ago.
“Twilight had breakfast with Pinkie and I a few days ago, but I haven’t seen her anywhere since. I’m starting to get scared.” Fluttershy told her friends. “She didn’t look like she’d been sleeping, and she barely ate anything. She didn’t seem sick.”
“We should go down and check on her.” Applejack said. Her friends agreed and the group began to make their way to Twilight’s library. They asked people as they passed if they’d seen Twilight recently, but the responses they got only served to confirm their fears, no one had seen the lavender unicorn for days, Derpy even told them that she hadn’t been picking up her mail.
The windows of the library that Twilight called home were covered up and the door was held shut by magic. Applejack knocked at the door. “GO AWAY!” Twilight screamed from the inside so loud that her friends jumped.
“Twilight, sugarcube, it’s us, your friends!” Applejack yelled back uneasily.
“GET AWAY FROM HERE!” Twilight shouted back.
“That’s it, we’re coming in!” Applejack said. She bucked the door in before Twilight could react. The girls were shocked at the sight they saw inside. It was as dark as midnight inside the library. Books were strewn across the floor haphazardly. Strange symbols were drawn on every available surface, some glowing faintly. In the middle of this mess sat Twilight and her book. The lavender unicorn didn’t look like she’d been eating or sleeping recently. Her cheeks were gaunt and her ribs were visible underneath her skin. The dark bags under her eyes from a few days ago had become black. Her mane was a tangled mess on her head, and cuts was healing on her hooves. She stared with intense fury at the intruders at her door, she didn’t seem to recognize her friends.
“Twilight we--” Applejack started.
“You’re here to take me from my book.” Twilight stated, now eerily calm. She looked to her book, then back to the ponies at her door. “Well you can’t have it.”
“Twi--” The orange pony tried to continue. Before she could finish however, she was flung against the wall of the library by Twilight. She writhed helplessly in pain as what felt like the weight of 1000 tons held her in place.
“Put her down!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she charged as fast as she could at Twilight. Just as her blow was about to land, however, the purple pony turned into smoke. She reformed right as Rainbow Dash passed through her, plowing into the ground. Twilight crushed Rainbow Dash against the floor like she had done to Applejack as well.
Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were completely stunned, and in that moment of weakness Twilight froze them in place, completely conscious but unable to move or speak. Twilight looked around the room, making sure that everyone had been disposed of. Just as she was certain of her victory, she felt a bolt of magic hit her from behind. She whirled around to see Rarity, her horn ablaze and ready to fire another shot.
“Stop this Twilight, stop hurting your friends!” Rarity shouted, firing off another blast of magic that Twilight deflected easily.
“That was cute.” Twilight said. She fired her own bolt of dark magic at Rarity, sending her flying across the room. She collapsed on the floor in a heap, injured but alive. “I don’t need friends. I have more power than anyone could ever wish for!”
Suddenly a blinding light filled the room. An authoritative voice filled the room “Twilight Sparkle!”
Twilight spun to look at the new intruder. Princess Celestia now stood at the other end of the room, shining with the light of the sun. “You’re trying to take my book from me too! IT’S MINE!” Twilight screamed as she fired off bolts of dark magic erratically. The princess managed to weaken the bolts that hit her, but she couldn’t deflect them completely. Twilight had grown much more powerful from the forbidden magic she’d learned. The princess used her magic to force Twilight to the ground, but much to her surprise and chagrin her protegé started to stand up and resist the magic. Celestia’s spell broke, and Twilight took that opportunity to charge Princess Celestia, her horn turned into a blade by the magic. Celestia teleported to the other side of the room just as Twilight was about to stab her.
In her haste, Twilight had left the book unguarded. Celestia knew this would be her one chance, she had to destroy the book before Twilight could get back to it. She quickly forced Twilight to the ground one more time. While the lavender pony struggled back to her feet for a second time, she saw Celestia fire a blast of magic at the book. She screamed, but couldn’t save the book in time. As the book went up in flames everything faded to black.
Twilight woke up in the hospital, her head throbbing. She couldn’t see out of her left eye, the dark magic had taken that as payment when it left her body. The last week was a dark haze, and she could barely remember anything since she left the archives with the book.
The book! Twilight thought. Where is it? Celestia would kill me if she found out I lost a book from the archives!
The door to her room opened with a click. Princess Celestia walked in with Twilight’s friends, each recovering in some way from the battle. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had casts over their limbs, broken from the pressure. They had been wheeled in in their hospital beds. Rarity had a bad burn where the bolt had hit her. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were both having some trouble moving as they recovered from being frozen.
“What happened to you guys?” Twilight asked worriedly.
“You don’t remember?” Rainbow Dash replied. She passed a glance to Applejack, who told her the whole story of the last week. By the end of the story, Twilight was speechless, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It wasn’t true, it couldn’t be true. She’d never do those things to her friends.
“I...I don’t remember anything from the last week! You have to believe me! I wasn’t in control! I--” She exclaimed, but Princess Celestia interrupted her.
“I have no doubts that you weren’t in control of yourself Twilight.” Celestia explained. “However, you should have known better than to meddle with dark magic and to take something out of the restricted section of the archives!”
“B-but I thought that I was strong enough to--”
“That’s exactly why I didn’t want you messing with dark magic!” Celestia chastised. “The more powerful the pony, the more easily it corrupts them.” Celestia sighed “My own sister had to learn that the hard way, just like you.”
Twilight couldn’t say anything. No words could express what she felt right now. With tears beginning to fall from her eyes, she looked at her friends “I couldn’t blame you guys if you didn’t want to be my friend anymore. Not after the horrible things I did to you all.”
Pinkie walked over stiffly and extended a hug to Twilight. “We know you weren’t in control of your actions. We don’t want to be friends with that Twilight, but we could never stop being friends with the real Twilight.”
Twilight cried harder, even after everything she’d done, after hurting every one of them, they still forgave her. I don’t deserve friends like these she thought as she hugged Pinkie back.