A New Friend

by Shadowflame

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, Human, Main 6, Princess Luna, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 54285

Rowan was an ordinary guy... that is, until he was sent to Equestria as a unicorn. Now armed with extraordinary magical powers, he must stop a massive force from entering Equestria. Book 1 of the Shadow Magic Series.

A normal My Little Pony watcher suddenly drops out of the human world and crash lands in the mountains near Canterlot. He knows that he needs to get home, but that might be a bit difficult seeing as he's achieved a couple new skills. Hopefully he can get help from the ponies of Equestria and return home.

However, as he goes along, he finds out there is a massive threat against Equestria. And the cause is an enemy from Princess Luna's past, long since thought to be dead. This is a tale of the rebirth of a magic of both dark and light.

Book One of the Shadow Magic Series. Book Two can be found here: Naractia's Nightmare-(Night)

Published 2012-10-21 18:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-05-02 19:23:18 UTC

A Teacher (Re-Mastered)

Rowan moaned as he slipped out of unconsciousness, head pounding yet again. Opening his eyes, he instinctively tried to move his fore legs, which he found difficult due to their stiffness. It felt like he hadn't moved them for hours.

With some difficulty, Rowan was able to get up on all fours, though he felt like a slightest nudge could topple him over. He groaned as he struggled to balance himself, a slight bit of nausea tugged at his stomach, "Ugh, I feel like I'm gonna puke. I hope this is just a side effect from Shining Armor's immobilization spell."

His vision was still blurred, but after a few minutes his sight began to clear and make out his surroundings.

He was standing in a dimly lit, cramped, dungeon cell. Stone walls covered the inside of the cell, tightly packed together to keep anything from slipping out of the smallest crack. The ceiling curved down low, like a dome that threatened to cave in on top of him. A rusty, barred door blocked the only exit, and a iron lock held the barrier within its frame.

"A prison cell?" Rowan muttered, "Never thought I'd see myself land in one of these... Although, I suppose that only applied back in the human world."

He looked towards the iron door of his cell, grimacing slightly, "Either way, I need to get out of here."

Placing his front hooves on the iron bars, Rowan tried to push the door open. Although it started to creak under his weight, the lock held fast against its rusted frame.

Rowan sighed, "Great, it's locked tight. Figures, I crash land in an entirely different world, and then get locked in a jail cell within an hour. What was I thinking?"

He peered through the bars and into the rest of the dungeon outside. His cell was embedded into the wall of a dark, stone corridor, lined with numerous tunnels from what he could see.

"Okay, nobody's around. So, nobody will see me try to escape. Pushing on the door didn't work, so I'll just need another way out of this cell..."

Rowan's eyes fell to the lock of the door. It looked like it needed a small key to unlock it from the outside.

"Hm..." Rowan thought to himself, "I wonder if I can pick the lock?"

He looked around in the inside of his cell, trying to find some sort of rock or small item to pick the lock with. But, he only found disappointment. There was literally nothing in his cell, let alone anything that he could use to pick the lock.

"There's nothing that I can use here," Rowan announced bitterly, "Unless I want to use my horn, but I'd never be able to get it through the bars with my head..." He stopped suddenly, just as an idea came to mind.

"Maybe I can use my horn on the lock." He remembered how he had used magic to break through the blockade, back on the streets before he'd been caught. "Maybe not to pick it open," he glanced down at the lock, "But maybe I can blast it open."

But he was presented with yet another problem; He had no idea how to use magic. Back on the streets, Rowan had no idea how he had blasted through that blockade.

Groaning to himself, Rowan tapped the point of his horn with a hoof, "How do I make this thing work? I've done it before, so I know I can do it again... But if I can't, then it may take a really long time for me to get out of here."

"So how did I do it before?..." Rowan let his mind wander, remembering back to the guards' chase after him. The fear that had gripped his chest, the flash of the guards' spears, and then...

The burning sensation on his forehead, the heat of the fire, the flaming crescent, it all came flooding back to him in an instant, like he was living that exact moment again. The whole sensation surprised Rowan greatly. He had not been expecting that, nor had he been prepared for it. Looking back on it, that moment where he used magic seemed... Mechanical, like the feeling you get when you move part of your own body.

Suddenly, an idea came to Rowan, "I did that. It might've been on accident, but I still used my own magic. So,... Maybe if I can recreate that feeling of using it, then I'll be able to control it..."

He wasn't quite sure how to do it, but he knew he needed to at least try. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, "Alright, here it goes."

Rowan lowered his head and pointed his horn towards the lock. With his target in mind, he concentrated on the feeling from before, his burning horn, the hot fire, and then, the flaming crescent. Squinting his eyes in concentration, Rowan silently willed for the magic to happen, for his horn to create another flaming crescent to break down the door.

He must have done something right, because after a moment or two of concentration, Rowan felt a familiar burning coming from his forehead. He peeked one eye open to look up at his horn, which was now glowing with black energy.

A small twinge tugged at the corner of his mouth, "Okay, almost got it. Now I just need to make it fire." But a few droplets of sweat began dripping down his face. Using magic was harder than he thought. "Well, easier said than done."

Suddenly, a large slam echoed down the end of the corridor, jolting Rowan out of his concentration. His loss of focus caused him to end his spell before he could cast it. Before he could curse to himself about losing his hold on his magic, hoof steps started to echo through the gloomy corridor as some ponies entered the dungeon.

Curiously, Rowan pressed his face against the bars to his cell, trying to catch a glimpse of who was coming. As they grew closer to Rowan's cell, he could make out light reflecting off of the armor they were wearing, golden and polished.

Soldiers! Squinting hard, Rowan tried to see how many had come into the corridor. From what he could see, there were only four; two were unicorns, and the other two were pegasi armed with spears.

Great, Rowan groaned, I can't blow the lock with them around. I'll just have to wait until they're gone before I try again. He watched as they walked in formation down the corridor, but he didn't expect them to stop suddenly and turn towards his cell.

"It's time to go." Said one of the unicorns sternly, as he inserted a key into the lock on Rowan's cell.

"Where are you taking me?" Rowan questioned. I just hope it's better than this place.

The soldier stood expressionless, "The princess has ordered that you appear before her for trial." He unlocked the cell and opened it, all the while keeping an eye on the prisoner.

Rowan felt his heart skip a beat. The princess? Princess Celestia? If they take me to the princess, then I'll be able to speak with her. And if I tell her what happened to me, then she can help me get back to my world! I still might have a chance to get home!

Like a good, reasonable prisoner, Rowan nodded his head and obediently walked out of the cell.

Immediately after exiting the cell, the soldiers took the formation of a square, completely surrounding him. The unicorn soldiers lead in front while the pegasus soldiers brought up the rear. Pushing Rowan along, they headed down the corridor, passing cell after cell, all identical to the one Rowan had been kept in. After a few minutes of walking, they reached the end of the corridor. A heavy steel door blocked the exit, completely solid and heavier than the barred prison doors.

The unicorns pulled open the door and the soldiers escorted Rowan through the door, bringing him into the bright light of day.

Morning already? I guess I was unconscious for the night. He mused, trying to shield his eyes with his hoof.

But the soldiers continued to push him along. The door opened out to an alley way, much like one of the ones Rowan had seen when he had been running in Canterlot. They walked to the end of the alley, which emptied out onto a wide street. Soon they turned the corner and walked out onto the streets of Canterlot.

Rowan gazed in surprise at what he saw. The streets were busy as ponies of every kind trotted up and down the roads, going about their everyday routines. Rowan hadn't seen Canterlot in the daytime like this before, and it was definitely different than walking around the city at night.

As the soldiers escorted him through the city, several ponies began to notice Rowan. They began to form small crowds, whispering to each other as they watched him pass by, with looks of uncertainty drawn on their faces. Just by looking at the large groups of ponies gathering and staring at him, Rowan started to feel a bit uncomfortable.

Word must travel around here fast. Rowan thought. He continued to look at the faces of the onlookers. Their expressions ranged from curiosity to disgust, but in general, most of them held a look of fear. Looking at them, Rowan couldn't help but feel... A pang of guilt, as if he were the cause of their unrest... Which, in all reality, was true.

They must be afraid of what I did last night with that magic. Rowan cringed as he remembered the spectacle of the flaming crescent in the night. The spell itself wasn't terrible, but when remembering how the guards were blown away by it, anyone would've been scared by it.

They saw how destructive that was, with the fire and all. Why wouldn't they be afraid of me? He glumly hung his head a bit as the eyes of the onlookers continued to bear down on him. Their stares felt like drills digging into his skin and, if not that, like weights on his shoulders.

After what seemed an eternity being stared down by the citizens of Canterlot, they reached the doors of the castle. Rowan gratefully walked inside when the guards opened the giant doors to let them in. At least now he was hidden from the view of the crowd outside.

The massive doors of the castle slammed shut, sending a startled shock up Rowan's spine. A small moment of realization crossed through his mind as he glanced around at the interior of the castle, where he found that dozens of soldiers stood guard at every corner. Just seeing the guards all around him, the same ones he had run from the night before, it kind of put his fur on end.

He shook his head, Okay, I just need to stay calm. If I can get Celestia to listen to me, then everything will be alright. But even as he tried to calm himself down, his feeling of uneasiness stayed with him as the soldiers lead him through the castle. After passing through the massive halls and corridors of the castle, he and the soldiers reached a door of which Rowan recognized.

"The throne room." He whispered to himself. It's funny., chuckling weakly to himself, I went through all of this trouble, and yet these soldiers brought me where I wanted to be in the first place. Rowan's throat suddenly went dry as the soldiers opened the doors to the throne room.

Well, here goes nothing. Rowan started through the open doors, I hope.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

In the throne room, numerous ponies and royal officers stood at the sides of the room, waiting for the trial to begin. Shining Armor stood next to Princess Celestia by her throne, waiting for his soldiers to bring the accused colt to the trial.

Much to his own dissatisfaction, the captain was still puzzled by how that colt had been able to use a spell that powerful without any pause. He was sure that this pony meant trouble and that any pony around him should be cautious.

The captain could still remember when the alarm sounded last night. He had almost reached his home, but his duty as captain begrudgingly turned him back to the streets. He had met with Javelin, who had told him about this rogue unicorn. Javelin explained that the unicorn had gotten angry that he hadn't been allowed inside the city and that he had wanted to speak with the princesses. But Shining wondered why any pony would go through all of that trouble just meet with them? That is, unless they needed something desperately from their highnesses.

Lost in his thoughts, Shining Armor didn't notice as somepony walked up next to him and tapped his hoof gently with theirs. Surprised by the sudden touch, the captain turned to see Cadence standing next to him, smiling at him with her adoring eyes. Yet, through her smile, Shining Armor could feel her uneasiness about this trial. It was much like his own.

He smiled at her, "I know. I feel just as uneasy about this colt, but Celestia has ordered the trial. After all, no one knows better than her." Although that seemed to give Cadence reassurance, she looked nervously towards the doors where the rogue unicorn was going to enter.

She looked back at him, "But why would a pony like him come to Canterlot? In the dead of night, no less."

Shining Armor opened his mouth to answer, but he was cut short as the doors of the throne room opened. The slam of the doors was enough to silence the chatting of the ponies who stood at the sides of the room.

The four officers Shining Armor had sent to fetch the prisoner walked into the room. And among them, they led a young colt along towards Princess Celestia's throne.

Shining Armor glanced suspiciously at the prisoner, finding that seeing him in the light of day yielded a different view of him than at night. He was only a teenage unicorn, far too young to have cast the spell he had supposedly used last night. How could somepony so young use magic like that? Most unicorns his age could only barely grasp the majority of their magical powers, though not use it all at once. Was it maybe just a fluke? Did he just get lucky and a random magical surge came exactly when he needed it?

The guards led him to the center of the throne room, only a small distance in front of Celestia's throne. The two Pegasi guards then took to the air and left the throne room, leaving the two unicorn guards to keep the prisoner from trying anything during the trial.

Off on the sides of the room, several hushed whispers chorused through the Canterlot onlookers. But many of the ponies present paid them no mind. Mainly two ponies kept their eyes on each other: Princess Celestia and the young prisoner.

The princess kept an unwavering gaze on the colt, one that only an immortal goddess could perfect. Her stare almost seemed to pierce through him, and the unicorn looked as if he were going to crack under the pressure. He actually cringed from the awesome presence of the solar diarch.

Shining Armor stepped forward and broke the silence, announcing, "The trial will now begin." The room fell silent, save for the quiet scribbling of the scribes who were documenting the trial. He stepped back next to Cadence as Celestia looked down on the grey unicorn.

"What is your name?" she asked, almost emotionless, though a hint of curiosity resided in her voice.

The colt seemed hesitant to answer, "My name is Rowan."

Pushing the fact that his name was uncommon into the back of her mind, Celestia continued, "Rowan, you were witnessed last night by several soldiers and citizens of Canterlot for several charges against Equestrian law. You have been accused of attacking a royal guard, avoiding capture, violent actions towards several soldiers of Canterlot, and using magic that could not only have only harmed any citizens in the vicinity, but could have destroyed their property as well. Do you deny having done these actions?"

Shining Armor could see sweat start to drip down Rowan's face. The accused unicorn looked as if he were guilty, as if each accusation the princess listed twisted a knife in his chest. The captain was intrigued, since this wasn't what he had expected of the young colt. Maybe this Rowan hadn't wanted to cause trouble.

"No, I don't deny it." He said, cringing, "But I had to do it because I needed to speak with you."

The Princess raised an eyebrow, now even more curious, "Explain yourself, please."

Rowan sighed, "I needed to speak with you because I thought you could help get me home."

Celestia looked a bit confused, "So, you forced your way into the city, avoided the pursuit of the guards, attacked them with magic when they cornered you, only for you to fall into their custody, and all of this was caused by a desire to return home? Why come to me and ask for help, and why not somepony else? Surely you know how difficult it would have been to reach me and ask for my help."

_______________________________________________________________________

Rowan's mind raced, Whoa, I never realized Celestia was so... Intimidating. I guess it's different seeing her in person rather than through a television screen. I'm glad that I'm at least talking to her now, but... He felt a few droplets of sweat roll down the back of his neck as the dozens of ponies along the sides of the room looked down at him, ...I just wish there weren't so many ponies here. I hate being the center of a crowd.

He shook himself back out of his thoughts, and back to Celestia on her throne. The solar diarch asked another question,

"Why couldn't you just have waited for the guards to let you inside the city after checking you at the gate? If you needed to return home, why couldn't you have bought a ticket for a train ride to get you there?"

Rowan gulped to himself, Well, like I said before, here goes nothing. He cleared his throat and spoke, "I couldn't do any of that stuff because nobody could've help me get home except you."

He looked at Celestia's unwavering expression, "I need your help to get home because I'm from a different world, and I don't know how to get back." As he said it, Rowan mentally noted how both weird and cliche that sounded... I've seriously got to stop reading so many fan fics.

Suddenly, a large uproar broke out through the assembly of ponies at the trial. Rowan jumped in shock as he looked around at the audience there. He hadn't expected any Canterlot nobles to shout so loudly. Celestia stomped her hoof on her throne like a gavel, trying to quiet those who were present. It took some doing, but every pony eventually grew silent.

Celestia turned her attention back to Rowan, appearing as if his answer hadn't fazed her at all, "If you are in fact from another world, then tell us what has happened since you arrived in Equestria."

Taking a deep breath, Rowan proceeded to tell the princess, and unfortunately the rest of the crowd, about his journey to Canterlot. He told them everything; How he had tried to speak to Shining Armor, but he hadn't been able to, and the entire account of his chase through the streets. He explained that the magic he used had been purely by accident, since he hadn't been able to use magic in his home world. He didn't mention what had happened that morning, since he thought it didn't really matter now. When he finished his story, the entire room had fallen silent.

Rowan almost laughed as he saw the expressions of multiple faces, including Shining Armor and Cadence, ranging from wonder, to curiosity, to complete confusion. Rowan would have called all of their expressions priceless, except he was still held at spear point by two guards. Out of everypony present, only Celestia seemed to be mildly surprised, while everyone else seemed on the more extreme side.

But then, their minds managed to connect to their mouths and several voices broke out from the crowd,

A stallion shouted out from the side, "He's lying! He's just making all of this up so he can avoid the punishment he deserves!"

A mare somewhere else called out, "What if he's really a changeling and he's trying to get rid of the princess?" The majority of the ponies called out in outrage as they began to shout at Rowan, and even began to argue with each other.

"No!" Rowan tried to call out. Crap, this isn't what I'd been expecting. "I'm not lying. You've got to believe me!"

But the crowd still argued against each other, completely ignoring Rowan. Celestia tried to quiet every pony like before, stomping a hoof hard against the ground, but no one heard her over the schism. The room seemed to scream with a thousand voices, piercing the inside of Rowan's ears like needles. He tried to cover his ears with his hooves, but he found out that hooves weren't like hands in the fact that they couldn't block out the sound very well.

Out of nowhere, the doors of the throne room burst open and a booming voice canceled out the sounds of the arguing ponies.

"Silence! This childish bickering must cease!"

Startled, every pony looked towards a figure in the doorway. She was a mare that resembled Princess Celestia, yet her appearance was more like that of the night sky. It was...

Rowan gasped, "Princess Luna..."

The Lunar Princess looked at the crowd of ponies inside the throne room, a scowl on her face, "What is the matter with you ponies? Is it not our law that thou shouldst remain silent during royal trials?" A hint of medieval speaking leaked out through her frustration.

Nopony along the sides made any comment, either ashamed for speaking out of turn, or just grumbling under their breaths for being chastised like a little child.

Luna's expression softened from her scowl into a more calm demeanor, "I testify that this colt, Rowan, speaks the truth. As it is my duty to watch the night, I was present when the events of last night unfolded. I can confirm that what Rowan says is true, and I say that he is innocent and should be relieved of all charges."

In shock, all of the ponies began to talk among themselves, still surprised by Luna's sudden appearance, and now even more surprised by her defending Rowan. Of course, they all wanted to argue, but then they realized they couldn't prove anything against the princess' point. Eventually, the whole of the crowd quieted in defeat.

Celestia looked over the crowd, seeing their acceptance to Luna's claim, and nodded, "Very well, Luna. I find that Rowan is innocent, and he is therefore released from any accusations against him. Until such a time as I have permitted, no pony is to speak about Rowan or this trial to anyone else. Trial dismissed!" She stomped her hoof against the ground, signaling for the audience to leave, which they all gladly did.

The only ones who didn't exit the room were the princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, along with Shining Armor, and Rowan. Of course, the two guards still stood on either side of him, but they were dismissed with a wave of Celestia's hoof. As everyone filed out of the room, Luna walked up to Rowan.

Rowan smiled at her, though he had to suppress some fanboyish desire to squee. Luna had always been his favorite, and that opinion just increased tenfold since she had saved him from the angry mob of a court room.

"Princess Luna, I don't know how I can thank you enough." Rowan internally chuckled. He'd never thought he'd say that to her in real life.

She smiled back, "You're welcome, young Rowan. Are you alright?"

Rowan nodded, a huge grin plastered on his face, "Yes, I'm alright."

Luna chuckled a bit at his happy expression, "I'm glad to hear that." But, Her expression suddenly saddened, "I'm guessing that now you are wondering if my sister and I can send you back to your world. Am I correct?" Rowan nodded.

Celestia walked to stand by her sister, "I apologize, Rowan. We do believe you came from another world, though we may not explain how we know. If Luna and I could send you back to your own world, we would. But... I'm afraid I have unfortunate news."

Rowan's smile vanished, replaced by a look of confusion, "What is it?"

Celestia sighed, "The amount of magical energy needed to return you to your home is astronomical, far beyond the power Luna and I could conjure together. I'm sorry, my little pony, but no magic that we posses could send you back home."

Rowan felt his heart skip a beat, "But... But... no!" He stomped his hoof against the ground in frustration. Is this what it felt like to get the rug swept from underneath your feet? He'd already gone through all of this trouble, but it was all for nothing? He just couldn't believe it. "No! No! No! There must be some way for me to get back home!" What's the point of being in Equestria if I can't get home again? I don't want to stay here forever!

Just as Rowan began thinking all hope was lost for getting home again, Luna cleared her throat, bringing Rowan's mind back to the present, "There may be one way in which you can return home. No other unicorn or alicorn can do it, but you may be able to."

That caught Rowan's attention. Wait... What?

Everyone present turned to Luna, confused looks on their faces. Cadence spoke, "What do you mean, Aunt Luna?"

Luna smiled slightly, "It's... not a sure way to return Rowan home, but I feel it's more of a lead in the right direction."

Rowan found himself interested. Whether it was just a lead or not didn't matter to him, "What is it? If there's a chance to get home, I want to try it."

Luna nodded, "Very well, Rowan." She turned to face everyone else who was present, "Late last night, during my time to watch the night, I watched as Rowan forced his way into the city. I watched the chase begin, thinking that the guards could apprehend him easily. But I was proven wrong when Rowan used his magic, and I then learned that there is more to this colt than meets the eye.

"You see, the form of magic I saw Rowan use was one that I have not seen for many centuries, though I could not remember where I had seen it. It took me all night until only a few minutes ago to remember, and then I flew here as soon as I could to put a stop to this trial."

Luna turned to Rowan, "Where exactly did you learn how to use that magic?"

"I don't know. I've never used magic before, except for last night." He replied, "It was an accident."

"Interesting... It can't be a mere coincidence..." Luna tapped a hoof to her chin in thought... For quite a while, silently.

After a few moments of silence, Celestia tapped her sister with a hoof, "Luna... You were saying?"

Luna's eyes widened as she realized what she had been doing, only to blush slightly, "Oh, my apologies." Shaking her head, "As I said, it took all of my night for me to remember where I'd seen that magic, but I eventually did. The magic I saw Rowan use was a very rare form of black magic, though less evil. It's called, 'Shadow Magic', and up until this time, I believed it to be extinct."

Celestia frowned, "I haven't heard of shadow magic before. How is it that you know of it, Luna?"

"I found it over a thousand years ago, before my imprisonment in the moon, a few years after our reign over Equestria began." The Lunar diarch replied, "It was then that I came across an ancient tome, a spell book of shadow magic. It supposedly contains every single spell of shadow magic known to pony kind."

"And how exactly is this book supposed to help Rowan?" Shining Armor asked, finally adding to the conversation.

Luna glanced back towards Rowan, "The book I found is a magical item which will only allow those who can use shadow magic to read it. Since I can't read it myself, I don't know exactly what spells are in there. But if Rowan were to use it, then he might be able to find a spell and use his magic to return to his home world."

"But that's the problem." Rowan said, troubled, "I already told you, I don't know how I used that magic. It just happened without me trying. Plus, I doubt that I could even read a book that old. It's probably written in some old script or rotted and brittle by now since you've had it for over a thousand years."

Luna smirked as if he had given her a challenge too tempting to pass up, "It hasn't aged or decayed a single minute in time. It is in the same condition as when I first received it, because I have magically sealed it within myself, out of reach from the influence of time and space."

Suddenly, light as bright as a full moon shone from the princess's horn. A spark floated out slowly and stopped in the middle of all of them. Levitating in front of the five ponies present, the spark flashed twice and burst in a blinding light, causing Rowan to shield his eyes from the brightness. But when he looked back, the spark was gone and a black leather-bound book was floating in its place.

Looking at the book, Rowan noticed he couldn't see any wear or tear on it. It looked like any other regular old book, like the kind you could buy from a book shop.

"It's known as the Liber Tenebrarum or The Book of Shadows. It's the only one of its kind left in existence. I had sealed it within me, for I feared that an evil fiend of some sort would use it and lead the world towards the brink of disaster." Luna then turned the cover of the book open to the first page. Showing it to Rowan, "Try to use this spell here."

Rowan squinted at the strange text that covered the page. As he began to read it, Shining Armor interrupted him, "How is Rowan supposed to read it? It's written in a language that I've never even seen before."

"As I have said before, Shining Armor, the book will only allow some one with shadow magic to read it. The way it does this is by appearing different for each pony that tries to read it. Therefore, Rowan is the only one that can use the book out of all of us." Luna looked back at Rowan, "Continue."

Rowan nodded and started to read the page. The words seemed readable, since they were surprisingly written in the English alphabet, but they were written in words that seemed to be gibberish.

Although he thought that it was nonsense, as he read the first page, a strange feeling began to come over him. Though strange, it felt familiar, as if he knew what it was. It almost felt like his horn was burning, yet he knew it wasn't.

When he finished reading, he nodded to Luna, "Okay, what do I do now?"

"Now focus on what you received from the text and use the spell."

Rowan hesitated, having expected a bit more instruction, but then he turned away from every one else. Trusting Luna, he muttered, "Here it goes."

Concentrating on the feeling he got while reading the book, Rowan aimed his horn towards the far wall. He felt his horn grow warm as it glowed with black mist, just like the time he used magic before. Come on... please work, he inwardly pleaded.

The glowing surged as the spell cast. Out of shock, Rowan almost fell backwards as another flaming crescent leaped from his horn, just like the one he had made the night before. The crescent flew from his horn and arched across the inside of the throne room, blazing brightly in a sort of fiery glory.

Before the flaming projectile burst against the far wall of the throne room, as it had done before in the street, Shining Armor quickly shielded the wall with his own magic, keeping it from lighting up in flames.

Rowan just stared at the magic he created as it evaporated into nothing as it impacted Shining Armor's shield. He knew he had used that same spell before, but last time it had never occurred to him how awesome it was. He had just used magic, and it had felt great!

Luna smiled down at Rowan, "Well done."

I can't believe I really used magic. No, I used Shadow magic. Wow, that was... AWESOME!.... But....How did Luna even know that first spell was the one I used before...?

Rowan turned and asked the same question to the Lunar Princess, where she replied,

"I didn't know that the first spell in the book had been the one you used last night. But, this is how I knew that you could use the book." She levitated the Liber Tenebrarum in front of Rowan. "Take a look at the cover."

Rowan looked closer at the cover than he had before, and he was surprised to see there was a symbol engraved on it: A crescent wrapped in fire.

Realization dawned on Rowan as Luna continued, "Yes. You were able to use that spell for a reason. It's because the Book of Shadows is rightfully yours. Please accept it." She lowered the book down on the ground in front of his front hooves.

Rowan's mind raced as he stared at the book by his hooves, She's just giving me the book? I mean, I'm not complaining... It would be awesome to learn magic while I'm here, but what if there is something in this book that I can't figure out on my own? It's over a thousand years old, so there's bound to be some things in here that I won't understand. Luna is the only one that knows where this book comes from. What if I need her help?

He looked up at the princess, "I'll accept it on one condition."

"And what would that be?"

"That you teach me everything that you know about shadow magic and this book. If I'm going to use this to get back home, then I'll need to learn as much magic from it as I can."

Luna looked curiously at him, "Very well, I give you the book as well as my services as a mentor in shadow magic."

At that moment, a light suddenly flashed from Rowan's flank. He looked to see that his cutie mark had appeared; It was in the shape of a flaming crescent, the mark of shadow magic.

Hm, what do you know about that?... Maybe that explains why I didn't have a cutie mark when I first arrived in Equestria. I didn't know what my special talent was yet.

He looked back at everyone present, "Thanks for your help."

Everyone smiled in reply, which was enough for Rowan.

Luna cleared her throat, "There are many ponies that appeared at your trial that won't quite agree with our decision to release you. For now, I would like to keep you out of sight by sending you to study shadow magic in the town of Ponyville."

Rowan was about to object, but he decided against it. After all, Luna was his mentor now, and he wasn't one to talk back at a teacher, "Yes, Princess."

Celestia turned towards Shining Armor, "In that case, I would like you to accompany Rowan to Ponyville and help him get settled there."

Shining Armor saluted, "Yes, Princess."

Celestia looked at both of them, "We will have provisions prepared for you. When you are ready, you will leave for Ponyville on the next train out of Canterlot. Rowan, follow Shining Armor to get supplies and make yourself ready. When you arrive in Ponyville, I will have my student, Twilight Sparkle, help you through town. And I also want you to send me a message the moment you arrive there, so I may know that you've arrived safely."

Shining Armor bowed to the two princesses, Rowan did likewise, and they both walked out of the throne room, Rowan holding the Liber Tenebrarum in his teeth. He smiled to himself, What a crazy morning.

But then, another though came to mind, Oh My Gosh! I'm gonna meet Twilight Sparkle! My favorite of the mane six from the tv show! *squee*

Author's Note

Hey, everybody!
Here's the next remastered chapter! So for anyone reading, just know that any chapters you read in this story that are not remastered, they're most likely gonna suck. So keep that in mind, but do try to enjoy the story.

Thanks for reading,
-Shadowflame

Out of the City (Re-Mastered)

Outside in the Canterlot castle courtyard, Rowan sat at a small table. In front of him, on a platter, laid a sandwich, which the castle servants had brought to him, under Luna's orders, of course. Being famished as he was, Rowan greedily took a bite out of the sandwich.

Right now, a couple of princess Luna's attendants were making a saddle-bag for him for when he made the trip to Ponyville with Shining Armor. And along with that, they were supposedly gathering things that the princess thought were necessary for Rowan to take with him.

A while ago, after being led outside, Shining Armor had told Rowan to wait there while he returned home and prepared his things for the trip. Rowan was happy to get a moment alone since the trial, without having any pony giving him weird looks. In the meantime, Rowan filled his empty stomach with anything edible.

He looked down at the sandwich as he chewed it, "Yum. So that's what hay tastes like." But he stopped to consider it, "Well, I guess that's either because I'm starving or my taste buds were changed with the rest of my body." He shrugged. Either way, it still tasted good and that's all that he cared about. Heck, the hay almost tasted like meat, which Rowan could not help but wonder why. Magic, maybe?

As he continued to eat, Rowan eyed the Liber Tenebrarum sitting on the table. Just looking at the big, black tome, he started to wonder what other spells were in it. There could've been hundreds of different magic tricks in that thick book, so how was he supposed to know which one could get him back home? Princess Luna probably didn't know, since she was sending him to Ponyville to study shadow magic in the first place.

Rowan just sighed inwardly, I'll get to that when it comes up. Hopefully it'll be easier to find it than I think it is.

As Rowan gobbled down the rest of his hay sandwich, he heard hoof steps trotting up to him from behind. He turned to see Princess Luna there, accompanied with one of her attendants.

Luna wore a smile, despite it being later into the day than she usually stayed awake for. Coming to Rowan's trial had thrown off her sleep schedule, but seeing a happy colt free and about, rather than behind bars, made up for sleep deprivation. "Rowan, have you finished eating?"

"Yes, Princess Luna." He replied.

She nodded, "Good. Your train will be leaving soon and we've packed some items for your learning in Shadow Magic, as well as a couple of things for when you arrive in Ponyville." She looked over at her attendant, "If you will."

The attendant made her way up to him with a brown saddle bag in her mouth. Rowan stood up from his stool and the attendant placed the bag on his back. It wasn't too heavy, but its weight indicated that it was filled with several things. He looked at the bags and smiled as he saw they were decorated with a silver crescent on each pouch flap, made specially for him.

He looked back at Luna, grinning, "Wow. Thanks for everything."

Luna smiled, "Your welcome, Rowan. Unfortunately, I won't have time to tell you what is in your saddle bags. The train will be leaving very soon, and I don't want you to be late. I have already sent a message to the mayor of Ponyville, requesting that she find a place for you to stay, so she should be waiting at the station when you arrive."

As if on que, Shining Armor trotted over to them, carrying his own saddle bag. He glanced at Rowan and the colt's own bags, "Are you ready?"

"Oh, just a second." Rowan quickly grabbed the Liber Tenebrarum off of the table with his mouth and stuck it in his saddle bag. Once he did, he replied, "Okay. Now I'm ready."

"Good. We need to leave for the station now if we're going to catch the train. Let's go." Shining turned and trotted away from the castle, Rowan following close behind him. But as he left the castle grounds, Rowan looked back over his shoulder to see Luna and her attendant waving goodbye. He stopped and waved back with a smile, and quickly ran to catch up with Shining Armor.

As they made their way to the station, many ponies walking down the street saw them pass by. Seeing the captain of the royal guard walking the streets wasn't much to be surprised by for Canterlot nobility. But when they spotted the colt that had been led through the streets by armed guards for a trial with the Princess just hours before, walking around without a care, several ponies took notice. Many looked at him with uncertainty, others scowled at him, and there were the occasional few that completely ignored them.

Rowan sighed as a noble he passed quickly turned his head away in a humph, I guess it's not as bad as them calling me a liar.

They reached the station, where the train waited for its passengers to board. Although, surprisingly for Shining, waiting in front of the train was Princess Cadence.

"Cadence, what are you doing here?" Shining Armor asked.

She simply smiled, "I came to see you both off. What's wrong with that?"

The captain smiled warmly as he made his way up to her, "Nothing at all."

The married couple both embraced each other as they said their goodbyes. Meanwhile, Rowan made his way onto the train. Suddenly, the train whistle blew, signaling for the passengers to board. Cadence and Shining Armor broke away from each other, as it was time to go.

"I'll be back soon." And with that the captain and Rowan boarded the train.

the two of them walked into one of the train cars. Luckily, it was empty, so Rowan wouldn't have to worry about anypony giving him any less than savory looks during the trip.

Rowan took a seat on one of the benches, shrugging off his saddle bag onto the seat. Shining Armor sat on one of the other benches by a window, where he waved goodbye to his wife outside. The train whistle blew three times and started to chug out of the station.

Rowan looked out his window to see Canterlot slowly crawl past. Onward to Ponyville, I guess. He thought sheepishly. The train chugged through the gate to Canterlot and out into the open land of Equestria.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Celestia looked down from the balcony of her tower, the tallest of the castle. She watched the train Rowan and Shining Armor had boarded as it left Canterlot. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Luna suddenly fly up onto the balcony, lighting down next to her.

Celestia turned towards her sister, "Luna?"

"Yes, sister?"

"Can you answer me something? Why did you send Rowan to Ponyville when he could have stayed here at the castle. If you had wanted him to be isolated from everypony else, our guards could have protected him just fine. I suspect you had an alternate reason for sending him away."

"Oh, 'Tia. I don't believe shadow magic alone will get him home. So I sent him to Ponyville so that he could combine his magic to the most powerful kind of magic," She looked out on the horizon, watching the train disappear in the distance, "The Magic of Friendship."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rowan sat on his bench as he leafed through his saddle bags. He already knew that he had the Liber Tenebrarum, but the Princess had packed other things for him. There were things like quills and parchment, but there was also a pretty large bag of gold coins inside as well. But what surprised him the most was another book she had packed for him, titled, Beginning spells for Gifted Unicorns.

He turned to the front page of the book to find a piece of parchment wedged into the binding. Opening it up, Rowan found it was a note from the princess.

Rowan read it to himself, "This book will help you to identify the spells within the book of shadows. The spells for shadow magic may be different compared to regular magic, but only slightly. Remember, you can't use the spells from this book, but no other unicorn can use the spells from the Liber Tenebrarum.

Use it well,

Princess Luna"

Rowan looked at the first spell in the book. It was labeled Levitation spell. Rowan looked down at his hooves, his former hands, and sighed, "I guess now would be just as good of a time as any to learn how to levitate things. It's already hard enough to pick things up without fingers."

He read the spell, finding he felt something very similar to the feeling he got from reading the Liber Tenebrarum while he read it, and then he picked up the Liber Tenebrarum. He began to quickly skim through it for a spell that was similar to the levitation spell.

As he flipped to page 10, he found it. Reading through it, he found that it was almost exactly like the spell from the other book. He finished reading the simple spell, before nodding in readiness, "Okay. Time to test it out."

He focused on the Liber Tenebrarum as he used the spell. As he did, there was the familiar glow coming from his horn as it shone with black mist. The same mist started to envelope the book, completely covering it.

As easily as Rowan could have picked up a piece of paper, the book levitated up off of the seat, suspending itself a foot above the seat. Immensely satisfied with himself, Rowan focused his magic a tiny bit more and the book moved through the air with ease. Back home, Rowan had always been a fan of unicorn magic back on earth, but he had never realized how amazing it was just to use simple telekinesis. He was lifting a book through the air with his mind! How awesome was that?

His eye wandered down to the many things in his saddle bags. "Time to try it with more than one thing."

Just as he did with the book, Rowan levitated all of the quills, parchment, and the book of beginning spells out of his saddle bags, suspending them up into the air. Needless to say, Rowan found It was more difficult with multiple targets, because he had to keep track of all of the items that he was holding. But eventually he was able to get them all to fly in different directions at once, all while keeping focused on each of them.

Even though he was occupied with the organized chaos of the flying objects, Rowan noticed that Shining Armor was giving him a curious look.

"What?" Rowan questioned his traveling companion.

The captain smirked, "You seem to be enjoying yourself quite a bit. From that look on your face, I'd say you've never used magic like this before."

Rowan began to grow tired from controlling so many things at once, so he started putting everything back into his saddle bags, "Well, I've actually never used magic at all. Back in my world, magic is only part of fiction and fantasies."

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow, "Really?" He thought to himself, "So your world doesn't have magic... I've never thought of a life without magic. It seems a bit difficult. But Earth and Pegasi ponies handle just fine without magic, so it can't be all that bad."

Rowan smiled, "Well, it actually isn't that difficult. I got along in life without magic just fine, but that was when I had still had hands."

Shining raised an eyebrow, "Um... Hands?"

"Well, um... Yeah." Rowan rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Truth be told, I wasn't even a pony before I came to Equestria. I'm actually a human, from the human world.

The captain was taken aback, mouth dropped open, "Basically, you're telling me you turned into a pony when you came to Equestria? What the hay is a human anyways?"

"Oh, um..." Rowan scratched his head in thought. He wasn't sure how to explain what a human was to Shining, who he doubted had seen anything like one, "It's sort of like a sentient, hairless monkey, though without a tail."

"Really?..." Shining gave him a skeptical look, "Hm, tell me more about your world."

And so throughout the majority of the train ride, Rowan told Shining Armor about his life back in his world. He talked about his family, his hobbies, and the technology that existed there (Though he did stay away from the My Little Pony show. He wasn't sure how the captain would react when he found out hundreds of thousands of people were watching him on TV). With every topic Rowan explained, Shining's expression turned from one of skepticism to one of pure disbelief, much to Rowan's amusement.

After explaining quite a few things from his life, Rowan was halted from proceeding by the captain as he stuck a hoof out to cut him off, "Automobiles, computers, internet? And all this weird stuff without a single but of magic... No offense, but I'd rather stay in Equestria. Your world just sounds too wild."

Says the guy who lives in the same world as a god of chaos, dragons, hydras, etc. Rowan grinned, "Well, I'm going to read the Liber Tenebrarum some more. Tell me when we get there." With that Rowan levitated the book out of his saddle bag and started skimming through it for anything of interest.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Shining Armor stared at Rowan as the grey unicorn became lost within the pages of the Liber Tenebrarum. He puzzled at the strange life that this colt supposedly had. It was almost too unbelievable to... well, believe. But Shining had noted that Rowan had never skipped a beat through his explanation, which meant he was either a skilled liar, or he was telling the truth. And with the captain's knowledge about this colt, he assumed it was the latter of the two that applied.

Although, as Shining snuck a glance at Rowan, he noticed the colt was surprisingly calm. If he was telling the truth about everything, then he was taking everything in Equestria fairly well. Being randomly brought into Equestria from his world must have been hard for the young colt to adjust to, yet he seemed to deal with it just fine. Maybe too fine...

The captain began to wonder why Rowan was even transported to Equestria anyways. Why would somebody this young be taken from their home like that? Was he here for a greater purpose than anyone could comprehend?... Not likely.

Man, Shining, you've been reading too many of Spike's old comic books. Shaking his head, Shining Armor looked out the window at the passing scenery of the countryside.

He looked up at the sun. It was low and beginning to set, meaning that they would be arriving in Ponyville within an hour or two. The captain smiled to himself at the thought of seeing his little sister, Twilie, again. He hadn't seen her since his wedding with Cadence, but even then, it hadn't been an entirely happy reception, what with the changeling disaster.

Shining's smile died away as he recalled the changelings' invasion of Canterlot. He shuddered at the memory of their appearance during his wedding. Their magic was evil, black magic... like Rowan's magic. Shining Armor grimaced, No. I shouldn't be comparing Rowan to the changelings. He's nothing like them, at least from what I've seen. I can't go judging a pony because of their magic... but I can't help but see the similarities between the changelings' magic and Rowan's... What if- No, I can't judge him yet. I don't know him fully, so I don't have anything to base judgement off of. But if I see anything that connects Rowan to the changelings, then...

... Then what? Deal away with him and tell Princess Luna I got rid of her first and only student? Hopefully not, but hopefully Rowan has nothing to do with the changelings, for our sakes.

Shining Armor juggled with his thoughts throughout the rest of the trip, still confused as to how he was supposed to think of his travelling companion. But after an hour or so, Ponyville came into sight.

Welcome to Ponyville

Twilight Sparkle gazed up at the sky, the sun setting behind the hills, as she trotted to the train station. Her assistant, Spike, followed closely behind her. She and Spike were supposed to meet with Mayor Mare at the station when the next train arrived. As they walked down the road, she saw her friend, Pinkie Pie, bouncing towards her in her Pinkie Pie way.

"Hey ya, Twilight! Hey, Spike" She said with a wide grin on her face, "Whatcha' doin'?" Even though she had known Pinkie for a very long time, Twilight still couldn't get how the pink mare could stay happy all of the time. But Twilight had learned after enough time not to question it.

"Hey, Pinkie. We're heading down to the train station right now. Princess Celestia sent me a message that said that Shining Armor was on his way to Ponyville with some new pony. She asked me to help him settle in here."

Pinkie Pie gasped, "There's a new pony coming to Ponyville today? Somepony that I don't know?!"

Spike shrugged, "Yeah, I think so."

In a flash, Pinkie raced back down the street she'd come from, rambling something about a welcome party. Twilight gave Spike a wary look.

"Wasn't this how she acted when we first came to Ponyville for the summer sun celebration?"

"Yeah, I think so..." Spike's eyes went wide when he realized what she meant, "Oh. I think we might want to warn the new pony coming to town about Pinkie Pie." They went back to their original task and continued to walk to the train station.

Spike looked at Twilight, "Who's this new pony that's coming anyway?"

The violet unicorn looked down at her assistant, "Princess Celestia said that his name was Rowan and that he's a unicorn who was talented with magic, just like me. She also said that he was the student of Princess Luna, which is surprising." She looked up as she searched through her thoughts, "Princess Luna has never had a student. Even before she became nightmare moon. I wonder what different kinds of magic he's learned from her." She suddenly perked up, "He could know a million things that I don't. I wonder if he could show me some spells."

Spike shook Twilight out of her thoughts and pointed a claw in front of them, "Hey! There's the train station. And there's the Mayor." Mayor Mare waved a hoof to them from the station platform. They both waved back as they hurried to the station platform to join her. In the distance, they heard the long whistle of the train.

Twilight smiled, "And it looks like the train is arriving on time. Let's go." Eager to meet the passengers, they walked up the steps to the station as the train came into view.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rowan focused on keeping both of his books, the Liber Tenebrarum and his copy of Beginning Spells for Gifted Unicorns, levitating in front of him as he compared two similar spells together. The spell that he was looking at was a shield spell, used to keep anything from hitting the unicorn who was using it. As he finished committing the spell to memory, he smiled, "I doubt that I will have to use this." But he was suddenly shook out from reading the books by Shining Armor as the train whistle blew loudly.

The white stallion pointed a hoof out the window, "Look, There's Ponyville. We finally made it." Rowan used magic to put away his book into his bag, and then glanced out the window. Even in the fading light of sunset, he could see the many houses of Ponyville as the train approached the town.

Shining tapped his shoulder with a hoof, "You might want to get your stuff. We'll be at the station in a little while."

Rowan nodded and started to gather up his saddle bags. He could feel the train begin to slow down as he levitated his bags onto his back. He looked at his travelling companion to see him already by the door of the car, packed up and ready to leave. Rowan walked over to join him by the door.

Standing by the door, they watched the town go by slowly as the train entered into the station. As the train stopped, Rowan started to open the door, but he was stopped as Shining Armor stuck out a hoof in front of him. Rowan looked at the captain to see the uneasy look on his face.

"What? What is it?" Rowan asked curiously.

Shining Armor shook his head, "Rowan, I think it'd be best if we didn't mention to anybody that you're from a different world."

Rowan cocked an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Well, I figure that the fewer ponies that know, the less trouble that we'll have. I'm sure that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will have already told those that they would want to know. We shouldn't mention it unless somebody specifically asks about it. You think you could do that?"

Rowan thought it over, finding that there was logic in what Shining said, he nodded, "Yeah, I can manage that."

Shining nodded, "Great." he looked back to the door and opened it, "Let's go."

They both exited from the train and stepped onto the station platform. Surprisingly, there was hardly anybody at the station. Everybody is probably heading home since it's about to get dark.

"Shiny!" somebody shouted out from the end of the station. They turned to see Twilight, Mayor Mare, and Spike heading towards them.

"Twily!" Shining Armor galloped over to meet them, Rowan following behind them. The captain and Twilight crashed against each other as they embraced.

"It's great to see you." Twilight said as she and her brother stepped away from each other.

"It's great to see you, too. And how are you, Spike?" he gaze dropped down to the purple dragon.

Spike grinned, "I'm doing great. Although, no matter how much I try to help, Twilight still manages to keep getting into trouble."

Rowan started to snicker a bit as everyone began to laugh.

Shining Armor grinned widely, "Some things never change."

Twilight looked unhappily at her assistant. But then she turned and noticed Rowan.

"Ah, you're Rowan, right? I'm Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia and also Shining Armor's sister. She sent me a message saying to help you settle in while you stayed here in Ponyville." She proceeded to introduce him to everybody there, pointing a hoof at each of them. "This is my assistant Spike. He's been with me ever since Princess Celestia took me on as her student. And this is Ms. Mare, Mayor of Ponyville."

Rowan smiled as he waved to all of them, "Hi. I'm glad to be here." Though in his mind he thought, The introductions are really unnecessary seeing as I know everybody here. But it's better that I just go along with it.

Mayor Mare stepped forward, "Since it is about to get dark, we should show you where you'll be staying while you are here."

Shining Armor nodded, "Right, we should get..." He was abruptly cut off as a confetti cannon fired at them. Rowan looked to see where it had come from, but to his vision was obscured as the familiar face of a pink mare popped up in front of him. Music began to play as Pinkie Pie started to sing her welcome song.

Rowan sighed, Pinkie Pie. I should have expected her to be here. She always wants to make new friends. Might as well, if I'm staying here. A smile grew on his face as he watched the pink earth pony dance around as she sung, enjoying every second of it. But then a thought occurred to him, Where's the music coming from?

He looked past Pinkie to see her welcome wagon, playing the music which was about to end. As her song ended, Pinkie Pie rushed over to stand by the wagon. With her usual smile, Pinkie opened up the door to the wagon's oven, and out shot a wave of confetti.

The colorful strips of paper rushed past Rowan, Wait, if the confetti was in the oven, then that means... He looked at the confetti cannons to see them fire out cake batter. Rowan let out a yelp as the gooey treat arced through the air and start to fly down towards him.

Quickly focusing on the shield spell, he thought to himself, I guess that I really will have to use it. I hope this works. His horn flared and a transparent wall of magic appeared right above him. The cake batter landed with a splat against the magical barrier, sending drops of it on everyone else. Rowan stepped out from under his shield and dispelled it, letting the batter drop to the station platform.

He looked back at everyone else to see them giving him unhappy looks as they tried to wipe off the cake batter. Only Pinkie Pie seemed to be enjoying herself as she licked the sweet goo off of her. "Oopsies! I guess I accidentally put the confetti in the oven and the cake batter in the confetti cannon! I wonder how many times that's happened!"

Rowan smiled sheepishly at everyone, "Sorry. That was the first time I've used that spell. I didn't know exactly what would happen."

"No, don't worry about it." Twilight reassured him as she managed to get the last of the gooey mess off of her, "But that spell was amazing! I've never seen anything like it before. Did Princess Luna teach you how to use it? If she did, then that would explain why I've never seen it before."

Shining Armor answered before Rowan could say anything, "Twilight, you've never seen that spell before because Rowan's magic is a rare form of black magic."

Twilight perked up in interest. She looked towards Rowan, "Really?"

Rowan smiled proudly as he nodded, "Yep. It's called shadow magic. It was supposedly lost in time, but Princess Luna saved a piece of it before she became Nightmare Moon." Rowan's smile faded to a more serious look, "It's great, but it does have it's downsides. For instance, I can't use any of the magic that normal unicorns can use, but the same goes for everyone else and my magic."

Mayor Mare jumped into the conversation, "Well, it's almost fully night. So, Rowan, let's show you where you'll be staying."

Rowan nodded, "Yeah, let's go. It's been a long day and I'm exhausted." But to himself he added, Partly because I woke up this morning in a prison cell.

And with that, they left the station platform and trotted onto the roads of Ponyville. The Mayor spoke as they walked, "I have to admit, I was surprised when the Princess sent the message requesting for a place where you could stay." They walked past several homes, including Twilight's library.

As they passed the library, Rowan noticed Twilight looking at him strangely. "What?" he inquired.

"Oh, I was just thinking. If shadow magic is supposed to be dead, then how are you learning it?"

Rowan smiled and levitated the Liber Tenebrarum out of his saddle bag. "This is the Liber Tenebrarum, or the Book of Shadows. Princess Luna sealed it away inside herself to protect it for one thousand years, which makes it a really old book."

Twilight took the Liber Tenebrarum and began to leaf through its pages. As she looked, a confused look began to grow on her face, "How do you read this? None of this makes sense."

Rowan smiled as he took back the book, tucking it away in his saddle bag. "Well, that book has a few magical properties. One of which makes it so that only a bearer of shadow magic can read it. Although, the problem is that none of the spells in it are labeled or identified, so I have no idea which spell is which."

Rowan began to explain his process of how he identified the spells from the Liber Tenebrarum, but as he was in the middle of explaining, the Mayor called out, "Here we are."

Rowan looked at the place where he was going to be staying. It looked like any other house in Ponyville, but it looked a little unkempt. The paint of the wood was fading, and there were a couple weeds that were growing in the front.

Ms. Mare cleared her throat, "This was the only place that I could find for you on such short notice. But once it's fixed up a bit, it'll be fine. It already has all of the furniture that you might need."

Rowan started to trot to the door, "As long as it has a bed, I'm happy. I'm exhausted." As he opened the door, the gray colt looked back at Shining Armor.

"Don't worry. I'll be staying at Twilight's library if you need me. I'm going to turn in for the night as well." He, Twilight, and Spike waved goodbye, and began to head back to the library.

"That reminds me. I need to meet back at town hall for a meeting." Mayor Mare smiled widely at Rowan, "I hope that you find your stay in Ponyville enjoyable." And with that, she headed down the road.

"I'll see you in the morning, Rowan!" Pinkie Pie said in her cheery way, and likewise headed for her home at Sugarcube Corner, leaving Rowan alone.

Rowan walked into the house. He closed the door behind him, also noticing a light switch by it. He flicked it on and the room lit up in the dark night. The main room consisted of a couch, a short coffee table, and a fireplace. Everything was covered with dust, but Rowan decided that he'd deal with it later.

He looked around the house to find a small kitchen in the next room. It had a fridge, a few counter tops, and a table with chairs. Noticing that there were a few cupboards around the room, he opened all of them with his magic to find them empty. He sighed, "Note to self: Buy some food later."

He walked back into the main room and found a staircase leading upstairs. Doubting that he'd come back downstairs, the tired unicorn flicked the lights off. He walked up the steps, carrying along his saddle-bags. There were only three other rooms upstairs, all connected by a short hallway. He opened all of the doors and one by one looked inside.

The first room was a bathroom, which was also pretty dusty, so Rowan knew he'd have to clean it later as well. The next room was a study, which only contained a desk and an empty book case. Moving on to the third door, he looked inside to find the bedroom. There was only a bed inside with coverings and a small table next to it.

Entering into the room, Rowan slammed the door behind him. Tiredly, he shrugged off his saddle bags and leaped onto the bed, not caring how much dust covered it. He *had* slept on a dirt floor of a prison cell last night, so Rowan was grateful for anything to sleep on that was soft. As he laid back his head on the pillow he noticed a window that stood just above his head. Laying down he could see Luna's moon slowly rise in the night sky.

He chuckled to himself, Man, all of my friends back home would want to see this place for themselves. I'll have to tell them everything when I get back. I wonder if they would even believe me. He continued to chuckle at the thought, but his smile faded to a grimace, That is, if there's even a spell that can get me home. He looked back to his saddle bags on the floor. What if I can't find a spell to get back to my world? What do I do then?

Thoughts of doubt began to rack his mind, making him worry. He quickly shook his head, I'll find a spell. I'll make it home safely. And if I don't, I'll just have to find another way. He looked back at the shining moon in the distance, But right now, I just need to sleep. I can study the Liber Tenebrarum tomorrow, but I should try to enjoy myself here, too. He smiled as he pulled the covers over him and closed his eyes. Within a few minutes, sleep overtook him and he dreamed of life back home.

In Town

Sunlight poured through the window, waking Rowan with its bright rays. Groggily, he pushed himself up on his bed and looked out the window at Ponyville. Ponies were up and going about their morning business, considerably more cheerful than the ponies in Canterlot had been. Rowan shrugged, I guess that's what happens when you live in a large city instead of a small town.

Behind him, the door suddenly slammed open, "GOOD MORNING, SLEEPY HEAD!" Startled at the sudden outburst, Rowan hurriedly tried to leap out of bed. Unfortunately, his rear hoof got caught in the covers, making him smash face first onto the hard-wood floor next to the bed.

Rowan groaned, rubbing his aching face, "Ow." He turned towards the door to see Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down with a huge grin plastered onto her face. Behind her, standing in the doorway, were Twilight and Applejack.

Twilight walked to Rowan and helped him up off of the floor, "Sorry about that, Rowan. We just wanted to wake you up for breakfast."

"Yeah," Pinkie had stopped bouncing, but the wide grin stayed on her face, "Applejack made breakfast for all of us. I can't wait to try it, because everything that she makes is good. There's nothing better than an apple treat from Applejack. Well, maybe a cupcake, or a huge cake," She gasped, "or even a party!"

Applejack walked towards Rowan, and grabbed his hoof in a vigorous, one-sided shake, "Howdy-do, Rowan. Ah'm Applejack. It was Twilight's idea to make breakfast for ya, so I made ya sweets using the finest apples from Sweet Apple Acres."

Rowan didn't know how to respond, trying to take his hoof out of Applejack's grip, "Um... thanks, I guess. I do feel pretty hungry."

"Great. Pinkie, Twilight, an' Ah have already brought the grub here. Let's eat!" The three mares filed out of the room in a hurry. Rowan smiled widely as he grabbed the Liber Tenebrarum and hurried after them. He stopped on the middle of the staircase to see everyone gathering around the table in the kitchen. As he moved across the main room to join them, there was a knock at the door.

Rowan looked at the door curiously, "Who could that be?" He trotted over to the door and opened it, revealing a smiling cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane.

"Hi, I'm Rainbowdash. You must be Rowan. Applejack invited me to breakfast, but I had some weather things to take care of so I finished early this morning."

Rowan was about to respond, but then Twilight called out from the kitchen, "Rainbow? Is that you? Great! Come on, we're about eat. You, too, Rowan."

Rainbow dashed past Rowan, who just smiled and followed her to the kitchen. As he entered, he looked at the spread, which consisted of several types of apple concoctions. Everyone else had begun to eat, conversing to each other about different things. Thankfully, the table in his kitchen was just large enough to fit the five of them.

As Rowan sat down he eyed the food, I never really liked apples all that much, but then again I found hay to be pretty good. He shrugged and began to eat. He could taste the apple in everything, but it was the best thing that he'd ever eaten. Grinning at the taste, he opened the Liber Tenebrarum and read through it as he ate.

Twilight looked at Rowan as he ate, "So, Rowan. Where did you live before you became Luna's student? Princess Celestia didn't say in her message."

Rowan flinched a bit, but held his gaze on his book. His mind raced, Oh no. Think fast. I can't say where I'm really from. Just say any town or city. "Uh... yeah. I lived in Manehattan before Princess Luna brought me to Canterlot, after she saw my talent with shadow magic." he lied quickly.

AJ perked up, "Oh, do ya happen ta know ma aunt an' uncle Orange? They live in th' big city, too."

Rowan shook his head, "No, sorry. I've never met them. I didn't really like the fancy, up-tight ponies there." he continued to read his book as he took another bite of an apple strudel.

Apple jack looked curiously at Rowan, "Whatcha' readin' there, Rowan?"

Twilight answered, "That's Rowan's spell book, called the book of shadows. Princess Luna gave it to him."

Rainbowdash's head popped up, "Wait, does that mean that we've got another unicorn in town that can do fancy magic, like Twilight?"

Rowan lowered his book down a bit to look at the rainbow pegasus, "Well, actually, I can't do any magic that Twilight can, but no other unicorn can use my kind of magic. It's shadow magic and it's pretty powerful."

Rainbow looked unimpressed, "Well, what can you do with shadow magic?"

Rowan thought to himself, Hm... I only know three spells. None of them are that impressive, except for the flaming crescent spell, but I'd rather not set the house on fire. He looked at the dust covered front room, and an idea sprung into his mind. "Twilight, do you know any spells that can conjure a small gust of wind?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Could you write it out for me?"

Confused, Twilight nodded, "Yes, I guess so." She conjured up a piece of parchment and a quill, and began to scribble down the spell. She gave the spell to Rowan, which he read to himself. He opened up the book of shadows, and started to look for a spell that was similar, quickly leafing through the book's pages.

Rainbow gave him a questioning look, "What are you doing?"

Without looking up, Rowan replied, "I can't use the spell that Twilight gave me, so the idea is that I find a spell that is similar to it instead. Got it!" He had found the spell and read through it. It was a bit more complex than anything that he'd done before, but he could manage it. Once he'd committed it to memory, he stood up and faced the main room.

He breathed in, beginning to concentrate, "Time to clean up this place." His horn shimmered with black mist as the spell took effect. A subtle breeze blew past Rowan and into the dusty room. It quickly increased in speed, sending all of the dust in the room up in the air. With the breeze filled with dust, Rowan opened a window and directed the wind through it. Once all of the dust left the house, he ended the spell and closed the window. He looked back at the main room, which was now completely clean of dust.

Applejack clapped her hooves together, "That was a nifty trick, Rowan."

Twilight nodded slowly, "Wow, I can see the similarities between my spell and yours, but it's still a completely different spell. It's fascinating."

Rainbow held a grin on her face, "I admit, that was cool."

Rowan smiled, "Thanks. But now that I've got the house cleaned, let's finish eating."

Everyone agreed and they all sat down to finish breakfast.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Shining Armor stood in Twilight's well-kept library. There was nothing out of place, which was typical for his O.C.D sister. He was holding a quill and a piece of parchment, writing a message to Cadence. So far he had written,

Dear Cadence,

Everything's great here in Ponyville. Rowan and I were able to arrive safely, without any trouble. Rowan is becoming more relaxed now that Twilight and her friends helped him to settle in. Even though Rowan's from a very foreign place, he is becoming more adapted to life here than I thought he would.

Although, I don't know if it's bothered you, I did some thinking on the train on the way here. I realized that Rowan's magic was similar to changeling magic when we last saw them. I don't think that Rowan has any direct association to them, but I just wanted you to know what I'm thinking now.

Anyways, I'll be staying here in Ponyville for the next three days. After that I'll be coming back to Canterlot. See you soon.

Love, Shining Armor

He paused as he looked at the finished letter. Satisfied with his work, the captain rolled it up into a scroll. He called out, "Spike!"

The purple dragon poked his head out from the kitchen, "Yeah, Shining?"

"I have a letter that I want you to send to Cadence." He passed the scroll through the air towards Spike, "Do you think you could manage that?"

"Yeah, I can do it." The dragon picked up the letter with a claw and held it up, breathing green fire on it. The fire consumed the letter until it was just a silver mist, which snaked out of the room to its destination.

"Thanks, Spike. If Twilight asks, tell her that I'm going to be in town for a bit."

"Okay, sure." The dragon then went back to doing his regular morning chores.

Shining Armor smiled and headed out the door and onto the street.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Oh, I'm stuffed." Rowan mumbled as he realized that he'd eaten one apple treat too many.

Rainbowdash expressed her satisfaction with a large belch, "Man, anything AJ makes is good. But now I need to move around a bit to get the food through my system." Everyone else basically had the same idea.

Twilight stood up, "We should clean this up. Then we can show you around town, Rowan."

"Alright, let's go." He stood up as Applejack and Twilight quickly cleared the table, putting what was left in Rowan's fridge. Afterwards, they all filed out of the house and onto the busy road.

Twilight led the group through the town, explaining to Rowan where everything was. They passed by places like Sugarcube Corner, Town Hall, and the market place. Along the way, Rowan passed by a couple of ponies that he recognized, like Dr. Whooves and Octavia. But as they passed down a street, Rowan looked to his left to see Fluttershy's cottage in the distance.

Wanting to meet Fluttershy, he pointed a hoof towards her house, "What's that over there?"

Twilight followed his hoof to where he pointed, "Ah, that's Fluttershy's house. I invited her to have breakfast with us, but she's kind of shy around everybody, even ponies that have been here as long as she has. But she's great with animals, and I'm sure that she'd want to meet you. Let's go see her."

They all followed her down the path leading to the pegasus' house. When they reached their destination, Twilight quietly knocked on the door.

"Fluttershy, it's Twilight. Could you come out for a minute?"

The door slowly swung open, revealing the smiling, yellow pegasus with a flowing pink mane. She looked around at the group, and said in a quiet voice, "Oh, hi everypony. Good morning."

Twilight pointed a hoof towards Rowan, "Fluttershy, this Rowan. He's the new pony in town that I told you about."

Fluttershy looked at Rowan, but then she drew back slightly, "Oh... um, hi."

Rowan gave a small wave in reply, "Nice to meet you, too."

Silence followed as Fluttershy seemed to shrink away from him. Nobody spoke as Rowan smiled at Fluttershy uncomfortably, Okay... This isn't what I thought it would be. Oh, well. But in the corner of his eye he spotted the thick forest next to Fluttershy's cottage. Twilight noticed his gaze and explained,

"That's the Everfree Forest. I'd advise that you stay away from there."

"Why?" Rowan asked, playing dumb. He already knew what was in the forest, but he might as well have Twilight explain.

"The forest doesn't work like Equestria does. Inside there, animals care for themselves, clouds move on their own, and plants grow by themselves. Plus a lot of dangerous creatures live inside. If you go in there, you don't know what you might find."

Rowan nodded, and looked back towards Fluttershy, "Well, it's been nice to meet you, but I think that we should get going. I still need to see the rest of town. I hope we meet again."

Applejack jumped in, "Right, we should should show ya Sweet Apple Acres next."

Pinkie Pie agreed, "Yeah! Let's show you where the yummiest apples in Ponyville are grown."

They all left Fluttershy at her house and headed for Sweet Apple Acres, all the while Pinkie blabbered on about apples and something about cupcakes. The walk to Applejack's farm was short since, like Fluttershy's house, was just outside the Everfree forest.

As they walked back into town, there were three little fillies waiting for them. Rowan grinned to himself as, walking towards him, were Applebloom, Sweetiebelle, and Scootaloo. The group stopped, Applejack smiled as she greeted them.

"Howdy, ya'll. What're you fillies doin'? "

Applebloom replied in the same tone, "We wanted to meet the new pony that everyone's talking about."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Everyone? He's only met a few ponies in town."

Sweetiebelle explained, "Well, we were in town when we saw your brother, Shining Armor. We asked him why he was in town, and then he told us that there was a new unicorn that came with him."

Rowan stepped towards them, "Hi, my name is Rowan." Each of them replied in turn,

"My name's Applebloom. Ah'm Applejack's little sis."

"I'm Sweetiebelle. My sister is Rarity, but you probably haven't met her, yet."

"And I'm Scootaloo."

All three of them joined in together, "We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

Rowan smiled, "Nice to meet you guys."

Twilight gasped, "Oh, that reminds me, we should stop by Rarity's before we go to Applejack's farm. Let's go." With that, the group continued down the road, the Cutie Mark Crusaders following closely behind as they started to pester Rowan with questions.
They asked questions like, "Where ya from?" or "Are you really Princess Luna's student?", which Rowan tried to answer the best that he could.

But then Scootaloo asked, "What cool magic can you do?"

Rowan sighed as he rolled his eyes, Guess it wouldn't hurt to give a little demonstration. How about the flaming crescent spell, since there isn't anything that could catch on fire nearby. "Okay, give me a little space and I'll show you."

Everypony stepped away from Rowan as he prepared to do the spell. Concentrating on the spell, his horn glowed like it usually did, with black mist. Once the spell was ready, Rowan aimed his horn to the sky and let loose the flaming projectile. Everybody watching stared in awe as the silver crescent flew through the air. As the projectile started to arch back down towards the town, Rowan ended the spell, making the crescent dissolve high in the air above the buildings below.

Rainbowdash looked warily at Rowan, "Wow, why didn't you show me that spell before when I asked?"

He grinned back at her, "Well, I didn't want to set my house on fire. Plus, that was my first spell that I ever learned."

Satisfied with the spectacle, the Cutie Mark Crusaders said their goodbyes and trotted back down the road as Rowan and the group neared Rarity's house, Carousel Boutique. They reached the door of the large building, Twilight knocked on it loudly.

"Rarity! It's us."

The group of friends heard a crash as many things toppled over inside the house, "Oh dear. Just a minute, Twilight!" After a few moments, the door swung open, revealing a tired looking, white unicorn. "I'm sorry darling that I couldn't make it to breakfast this morning. I was too caught up in this design, which isn't looking at all like I expected it would."

"Oh, it's no problem Rarity. We just came here so you could meet Rowan." The purple unicorn pointed a hoof towards Rowan. Smiling, he gave a little wave as he thought, Man, I don't really want to be around her for a while. Whatever's driving her crazy can't be all that fun. Besides, I probably couldn't help anyway.

Rarity looked at the unfamiliar colt, but then her eyes seemed to light up as she saw him, "Oh my. That's it!"

Rowan raised an eyebrow, unsure if he wanted to know what she meant, "What?"

Her eyelids fluttered as she looked at him, "You just gave me a fabulous idea that might perfect my design! Come inside, please."

Rowan shrugged, I guess I spoke too soon. He walked into the boutique with everybody else.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

A stranger watched from afar as the new unicorn in town entered into the Boutique with Twilight Sparkle and her friends. The stranger didn't have a name. Since he was considered insignificant among his race, nobody had bothered to give him a name. Although, under his cover in Ponyville, everybody referred to him as the Mail Colt. The form that he was in was just a normal earth pony, and his "job" was to deliver the mail to all the ponies in town.

He hated every minute of his work, but it was necessary if he was to gather information for the queen. The job of delivering the mail let him keep his eye on the residents of Ponyville, but his real job was to keep track of the activity of the ponies here, mainly Twilight Sparkle and her friends.

They had chased them out of Canterlot when his race attempted to take over Equestria. Enraged, queen Chrysalis sent out spies among the towns, looking for a way to get revenge. It had only been a month or two since their defeat, but his race was already reorganized, ready to strike back at any time.

Any other new pony in town wouldn't have caught his interest, but when he saw the flaming object in the sky, he knew that this was an important colt. As he looked at the gray unicorn, the spy noticed that there was an odd awareness around him, making the unicorn stand out among the others that were in the room with him.

Careful to keep out of sight, the Mail Colt crept up to the window of the building. He peered through it to see the gray unicorn being pestered by the white mare, Rarity, as she put outlines of clothes on him. He glared as he wondered why these ponies even bothered with clothes anyway. He just found them uncomfortable and unnecessary, even though he wore clothes as part of his disguise.

He observed every detail in the room through the window, making a mental note of anything important. But then his eye spotted the book that the gray colt had been carrying before. He saw the design on the cover and noticed that it was identical to the flaming object that had appeared before. He squinted as he read the title, which appeared to be titled as the Liber Tenebrarum.

Careful not to be seen, the spy stepped away from the window and walked down the road to his next mail delivery. The queen would want to know of this, he decided. He planned to depart for the hive at the dead of night, as to not arouse suspicion. This information would please the queen. He grinned wickedly at the thought of revenge against those bloody ponies and their princess.

The Shadows of Wolves

Rowan felt his stomach growl as Rarity continued to use him as a model for her clothing designs. It was just about lunchtime now, but for Rowan, it felt like he had eaten breakfast yesterday. During the time that he and the rest of the group had been inside Carousel Boutique, Rainbowdash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie had all left for their own different reasons.

Pinkie Pie left because she had promised to babysit the cake twins while Mr. and Mrs. Cake worked. Rainbowdash had left because she'd gotten bored from watching Rarity design clothes and she needed to move around a bit. Applejack had left because she there was some work that needed to be done at the farm, but the earth pony said that she hoped to see them there once they were done.

That left Rowan, Rarity, and Twilight in the boutique together. Rowan stood on a platform, wearing some kind of a suit, while Rarity worked furiously with the clothing. Rowan glanced over at where Twilight sat and snickered loudly. Apparently she had gotten bored, so she had decided to take a look at the Liber Tenebrarum. Now the purple unicorn sat with a puzzled expression as she tried to read the text.

Twilight heard Rowan's snickering, turning towards him, "What's so funny?"

Rowan merely smiled, "Ah, nothing. It's just that the book is magical, and it makes itself unreadable to those who can't use shadow magic." His stomach suddenly growled, reminding him of how hungry he was. Looking towards Rarity, who was sewing a thread through the fabric on him at the moment, he asked, "How much longer until you're done?"

"Oh, don't worry, Rowan. I just need to tie off this thread and then you can get out of the suit." She gave a small giggle to herself, "This is turning out more wondrous than I had imagined!" She put down all of her tools as she finished the sewing, "All right, darling. Take a look at yourself. I want to know what you think of it."

Rowan looked in the full length mirror next to him, and was immensely surprised. He was wearing a full outfit that seemed pretty casual, but it of patterns of red, black, and white. Rowan didn't really care about fashion back home, but he had to admit that he looked pretty good in this suit.

Rarity cleared her throat, "When I first started this design, I was trying to make a simple fashion for a stallion, but it wasn't going well. Once I saw you, I realized what it needed, so I made this design for your size, and colored it to compliment your mane and fur."

Rowan smiled as he was about to thank the mare, but once again, his stomach growled at him ravenously for food.

He looked towards Rarity, "Thanks, it looks great." he quickly started to take the clothes off, "But I think that we should get going. I'm starving and I was hoping that I could get something to eat at Sweet Apple Acres."

Twilight nodded, "That's right. We promised that we'd meet Applejack at the farm. Why don't you come with us, Rarity?"

Rarity began to help Rowan take off the clothes, "Oh, I'm sorry, Twilight. But I have other things that I need to attend to, but thanks for thinking about me.

Finally, Rowan managed to get out of the clothes. He stood up, picked up the Liber Tenebrarum, and walked out of the boutique with Twilight. They both waved goodbye to Rarity as they walked out onto the road.

As they walked, Rowan started to read the book of shadows. As he read, he realized that he must have gone through at least 50 pages by now, but when he looked, he'd only read through about twenty.

The book is magical. He reminded himself, That means that the information inside it could be limitless, and maybe it condenses all of the information into a small amount of pages But then, he began to worry, How long would it take me to find the spell to get me home? It could take weeks, or even months.

He pushed the thoughts out of his mind as he continued to read. He turned the page, and he cocked an eyebrow as he found that the next page was blank, all except for one small passage. That's strange. I've passed this page at least three times by now, but I've never seen this before. Curiously, he read the single passage.

Every bearer of magic have their spells intensified whilst in an environment suiting the nature of their magic. This has always been true with any form of magic, including shadow magic. The wielders of shadow magic find the darkest places as their sanctuary in the land. It is in a land of darkness, where the light of happiness has never settled upon, and where the most inexperienced being of darkness can control their shadows to a greater degree.

Rowan looked up from the passage, completely confused. What's that supposed to mean? Why is this passage alone on the page? He shook his head, I keep forgetting. This book is full of magic. Maybe the book itself is trying tell me something. He reread the passage carefully, trying to work out the meaning of it.

Okay, it says that magic can become more powerful if it's in the right environment. But how is this supposed to help me. He continued to puzzle over it, but then it hit him, Oh, if I find the spell that will send me back home, it's bound to be difficult and complex. The book must be telling me that once I find the spell, then I could easily use the spell to get back home it I do it in the right environment.

He sighed, Thanks, but I'd rather have the book show me the spell. And where is a place that is covered in darkness? I don't think that there is any place like that in Equestria.

"Hey, we're here." Rowan was jolted out of his thoughts as Twilight pointed a hoof towards the farm.

Apparently, the entire time that Rowan had been thinking, they had left town and now stood by the gate to Sweet Apple Acres. Rowan shook his head, saying in a hesitant way, "Oh... Great. Let's go."

Twilight cocked her head a bit, "What's wrong, Rowan?"

"Oh, it's..." Rowan faltered, I bet she'd know a place that the book described. But should I ask her? he sighed, Any help would be good. "Um, Twilight, is there a place around here that is full of darkness? I don't mean darkness like a dark room, but darkness that is more... I don't know, evil?"

Twilight gave him a curious look, "Well, I don't know. There's only one place that I know of that comes close to that, and that's the Everfree Forest. Why are you asking?"

Rowan felt like facehooving himself, The forest. Why didn't I think of that? he sighed, "Let's go. I'll explain as we walk."

Both of the unicorns walked into the farm, passing by the several apple trees in the orchard as Rowan told Twilight about the passage in the book. Twilight's eyes widened as he finished, "Wow, I never would have guessed that being in a certain place would affect your magic. But then again, I've never been outside of Equestria, so my magic has never been affected by this sort of thing before."

Rowan smiled, "Well, I asked you about the forest because I want to see if it's true. I want to see if my magic can really become more powerful. And since my magic is based around shadows and darkness, I'm going to test this at night."

At this Twilight's enthusiasm vanished, "But, Rowan, the forest is dangerous, even during the day. You don't know what you're going to find in there. There are dangerous creatures like timberwolves and cockatrices."

"Don't worry. I'll go into the forest, but not too deep into it. Just far enough so I can get out fast if something bad happens."

Twilight shook her head, "I still don't like it." she frowned a bit, but then she perked up at a thought, "How about I come with you? That way, if something happens, then at least I can help."

Rowan was about to object, but then a familiar voice called over to them from the trees, "Hey, Twilight, Rowan! Glad ya'll could make it!"

They both turned to see Applejack galloping towards them, carrying saddle baskets full of apples. As Rowan looked at the delicious apples, his stomach growled loudly enough that Twilight could hear it. Twilight looked at Rowan in surprise, but then her look turned into one that said, 'We'll talk about this later.'

Applejack smiled happily to see the two friends, "So, Rowan. How ya likin' the farm?"

"Oh, it's great. I was hoping that you could show me around."

The mare smiled proudly, "Why sure. Follow me and Ah'll show ya the entire Apple family farm. But first Ah just need ta stow these here apples in the cellar." She started to trot towards the barn, Rowan and Twilight following close behind her.

Rowan eyed the Applejack's baskets full of fruit, "Um, hey Applejack?"

"Yeah?" she answered, turning her head towards him.

"Um, sorry but is it too much trouble to ask for one of those apples. I never got anything to eat for lunch, and I'm starving."

Applejack smiled, "Why sure, help yourself." Rowan levitated one of the apples and gratefully began to bite into it. Applejack looked towards Twilight, "Any for you, sugarcube?"

"Sure, why not." Likewise, she took an apple and began to eat it.

As the three of them reached the barn, Applejack went to the side of the building and opened the door to the cellar. Looking at the two unicorns, "Hang tight here, you two. After I store these apples, I'll show you the rest of the farm." Rowan and Twilight nodded, and the earth pony descended down into the cellar.

Rowan shoved the rest of his apple into his mouth, smiling at the taste. But then he noticed Twilight glancing at the Liber Tenebrarum, which Rowan was levitating next to him.

"Aren't you getting tired of carrying that book? Why not just stow it someplace with magic?"

"Oh, um..." As Rowan thought about it, he noticed that he was getting tired of keeping the book up in the air. "Yeah, I'm getting a little tired, but I don't know any spells like that."

Twilight gave him a look of confusion, "Really? How many spells can you do in all?"

Rowan thought to himself, naming off all of the spells, "Well, there's the flaming crescent spell, the levitation spell, the gust spell, and the shield spell. Other than that, I don't really know anything else."

Twilight frowned, rolling her eyes sarcastically, "And you wanted to go into the forest alone." She conjured a piece of parchment and a quill, "Here, before we go into the forest, you should try to find spells like these in your book." She began to quickly scribble down several things on the paper.

Rowan shook his head, "But..." The purple unicorn continued to jot down several spells. Rowan sighed, Okay, I guess that I could really use any help that I can get.

As Twilight finished writing, she magicked away the quill and handed the paper to Rowan. "These are a couple of spells that will be pretty useful if we end up running into anything in the forest."

Rowan looked at a couple of the spells on the paper. Twilight had written down numerous spells, like a illumination spell, a storage spell, and even a small spell for navigation. "All right, when I get the chance, I'll look up these spells." He took the paper and stuck it inside of the Liber Tenebrarum.

As he did, Applejack came out of the cellar. "All right, everypony. Let's check out the farm." She smiled cheerfully as she led the two unicorns around the barn and into the orchard.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Glad that ya came to see the farm, Rowan." Applejack thanked him as they finished their tour of the farm. The mare shook his hoof vigorously as he and Twilight stood outside the gate of Sweet Apple Acres.

Rowan smiled, "Anytime, Applejack." But then he looked up in the sky to see that the sun was starting to sink in the sky. "Well, we have to go. I've got to do some other things."

Twilight agreed, "Thanks AJ. Sorry if we took up most of your time."

"Don't bother. Ah've already done most of my daily chores, so ya'll didn't take any of my time. Anyways, see ya both later." With that she turned and galloped back to the barn. Meanwhile, Rowan and Twilight headed back to town.

Rowan turned to Twilight, "Ok. If you're going into the forest with me, then we'll be leaving before sunset. Until then, I'll get ready and look up those spells you gave me. When you're ready, meet me outside the part of the forest closest to town."

Twilight smiled, "All right. See you then, Rowan. Right now I've got other things to do at the library." She waved goodbye as she galloped into town, leaving Rowan to walk home by himself.

After walking for a few minutes, he reached town, where everypony was going about in the afternoon daylight. Many of them took interest in him as he walked through town, but Rowan pretended not to notice them as he focused on reaching his house. Once he reached the door to his house, Rowan opened the door and walked inside, shutting the door behind him. He then went upstairs to his bedroom.

Instantly, he sat down on the bed and opened up the Liber Tenebrarum, as he began to search for the spells that Twilight gave him.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight stood just outside of the forest as she watched the sun begin to set, waiting for Rowan to meet up with her. She turned to Spike, who sat on her back, glancing nervously at the forest.

"Oh, don't worry, Spike. We're not going that far into the forest."

Spike still held his worrying gaze, "I know, but do we have to go into the Everfree Forest?"

"Yes, Spike. Rowan wanted to test something that he read out of the book that Princess Luna gave him. However, he doesn't have that much experience in the forest, so we're going to help him, just in case something happens."

Spike grumbled something about her being too nice as he slumped down on the unicorns back. Twilight rolled her eyes and looked back towards town to see Rowan galloping towards them.

He called out to them, "Hey, Twilight." But as he got closer, he noticed the dragon on the unicorn's back, "Oh, I didn't know that you were coming, Spike."

"Yeah, me neither." the purple dragon grumbled.

Twilight looked again at the setting sun, "We should get going. It'll be dark soon." With that, the three of them walked into the forest.

Once they were under the canopy of the trees, Twilight asked, "So, Rowan. Were you able to find those spells that I gave you?"

"Yeah, I was. I was able to find an equivalent shadow magic spell for all of them. In fact, right now I'm using that storage spell to carry my books as well as a couple of snacks from breakfast."

Twilight smiled, "Great! I'm actually surprised that you could learn all of those spells so quickly."

Rowan shrugged, "Well, I guess that shadow magic just comes easily to me."

Looking around the forest, Rowan said, "We need to find a place that's more open to test my spells. So, be looking for a grove or something like that."

Spike stood up on Twilight's back to get a better view, meanwhile the sun was almost out of sight behind the mountains.

Looking between the tightly spaced trees, Spike pointed a claw, "Oh, how about there?"

The two unicorns followed the dragon's pointing claw to see a large grove on the other side of the trees.

Rowan grinned, "Nice job, Spike. That'll be perfect." The purple dragon smiled proudly as he sat back down on Twilight's back.

The three of them walked through the thick underbrush of the forest until they reached the grove. By then, the sun was completely out of sight, and the sky began to turn dark. Twilight lit up her horn, spreading light over a small portion of the grove.

Rowan did likewise, and used the illumination spell that he'd learned from the Liber Tenebrarum. Any normal illumination spell would have shone light to pierce the darkness. However, shadow magic can't emit any form of light, so a illumination spell with shadow magic pushes back the shadows themselves. As the spell took effect, Rowan grinned in satisfaction as the darkness retreated back to the line of trees surrounding the grove.

Twilight smiled as she looked around at Rowan's work, "Wow. Since we're in the forest, and it's night, then that spell should have been easier for you, right?"

Rowan nodded, "Yeah, it should have. Although, I've never used that spell in an open place like this before, so I don't know if being here made any difference."

Twilight thought to herself, "What if you used a spell that you've used before?"

Rowan nodded, "Sounds good." He reared down on his front legs as he pointed his horn towards the night sky, "Let's see if this works." His horn lit with black mist as he shot a flaming crescent into the air. Rowan was slightly startled as he used the spell, finding it surprisingly easy to cast it.

Spike, Twilight, and Rowan all watched in awe as the crescent burned brighter than any other that Rowan had done before. The projectile soared through the air at an incredible speed, flying higher than any before.

Rowan smiled as he watched the crescent arch in the air. His horn stopped glowing as he dispelled the crescent, making it vanish out of the sky. "Well, I'd say that worked." Once again, he pointed his horn in the air and fired off three crescents in quick succession. Just like the last, the three projectiles soared through the air.

As Rowan watched the three crescents, he thought to himself, Okay, at least I know that the darkness makes it easier to use spells, but how about a complex spell? What would happen if I used a difficult spell that I've never done before. Immediately, he pulled the Liber Tenebrarum out of his storage enchantment, and began to flip through it, looking for a long, complex spell.

Twilight and Spike both gave him confused glances. "Um, Rowan... What are you doing?"

"I want to try something." But then he turned onto a page with a spell that covered the length of the it. "Oh, this'll work." As he read the spell, he found that it was very complex, but it was still possible for Rowan to use.

Twilight and Spike watched Rowan curiously as he attempted to use the unknown spell. Rowan began the spell, and at the same time, he felt his body become weightless as it took effect. Rowan glanced down at his hooves to see that he wasn't touching the ground anymore, and they were starting to turn into smoke.

The other two watched in horror and awe as Rowan rose in the air, his body turning into a cloud of black smoke. Twilight gasped as she recognized the spell, "Spike, isn't that the spell that Nightmare Moon used when she first appeared in Town Hall?"

Spike scratched his head, "Oh, wait. You're right."

Rowan looked wide-eyed at his body, which was now a floating cloud of smoke. Although, he soon realized that as he looked at himself, that he couldn't feel the rest of him. Wow, I wonder if I can use this spell to fly somewhere different. Concentrating on his unfamiliar form, he tried to move around the grove.

Rowan grinned to himself as he easily glided around the outside of the grove.

"Hey, Rowan. Are you okay?" Twilight yelled up to him.

Rowan tried to answer, but anything he said didn't come out, seeing as he no longer had a mouth. Rowan sighed an imaginary sigh, Okay, that's one downside. I can't talk to anyone in this form. And if I return back to myself, then I might have drained myself too much that I can't use this spell again. I'm definitely going to need to practice this spell. he looked outside of the grove and into the dark forest. He grinned to himself as an idea began to form in his head.

I wonder how fast this thing can go. With that, he surged himself forward through the forest. His smokey form zoomed in between the trees and branches. Behind him, he heard the voices of Twilight and Spike in the distance slowly shrink away, but Rowan didn't stop.

He was going faster than he ever would have thought he could have. He laughed to himself as he weaved up and down between the trees. Nothing could stop him, not even the trees or the low-hanging branches. Since his body was made of intangible smoke, when something was in his way, he simply split himself in half, and slid around the obstacle.

Laughing to himself, he flew up into the air above the trees. In the sky, he was meet with the glowing light of Luna's moon. Oh my gosh! This is amazing! As he continued to glide through the air, he was quickly stopped as he heard a high-pitch howl suddenly emit from the forest below him.

What was that? Looking down on the forest with non-existent eyes, Rowan began to look for the source of the howl. Right below him, he heard numerous other sounds come all at once from the forest, just as loud as the howl before. Out of the noise, Rowan could make out the sounds of growls, barks, and whines, springing up around the forest floor. Curious and cautious, Rowan descended through the canopy of the trees to see what was happening.

If he had eyes in his form, Rowan was sure that they would be as large as dinner plates as he saw the scene that was taking place before him. The glowing eyes of timberwolves pierced through the darkness around them. An entire pack of them were spread throughout the area of the forest. But it wasn't them alone. There was another pack of creatures that were fighting against the timberwolves.

Rowan landed himself on top of the tallest tree he could find in the area, and came out of his cloud spell, returning him to his unicorn body. But since he had hooves instead of hands and feet, he was thrown off balance as he made contact with the branches. He quickly grabbed onto a branch to stabilize himself, before he fell out of the tree, and righted himself up. He sighed, having had a close call, Right, ponies aren't really meant to be in trees. Now to see things more clearly.

He used his illumination spell to push back the shadows and looked on the entire scene below him. It was a pack of timberwolves and an entirely different pack of wolves, locked in a territory war. The other wolves were black as night, and they were only as large as regular wolves, half as large as the timberwolves. Plus, these other wolves were fast. They were so fast that Rowan doubted that he could outrun them, even if he was a cloud of smoke.

Rowan watched the battle unfold below him between the two wolf packs, but as he watched, he noticed that the smaller black wolves seemed to disappear once and a while. What the..? What's going on? He squinted his eyes to see what was happening, and to his surprise, the wolves were actually melting into their shadows.

Oh my gosh. They're actually melding with their shadows. That's keeping them from getting hit by the timberwolves' attacks. Rowan thought to himself, Hm, I wonder if I can do that. He shook his head and concentrated on the fight below, Oh, well. I'll figure that out later.

Rowan watched like a spectator for a sports team, as he silently rooted for the shadow wolves, growing excited as the fight wore on. Unfortunately, his excitement was short lived, since the timberwolves were greater in size, strength, and number, they were driving the shadow wolves back.

The shadow wolves, despite their cunning in the fight and their incredible speed, were reduced down to defending what ground they had. But as their enemies bore down on them, the entire pack retreated into the nighttime woods. Rowan sighed, Oh, well. I guess the timberwolves won this one. But then something caught his eye as the shadow wolves retreated. There was one wolf that limped weakly away on three legs as it held up an injured paw. Rowan looked closely at it to see that it was covered in several wounds and splinters, all seeping crimson blood.

Back home, Rowan had a deep interest for wolves, making him want to learn all that he could about them. There was one thing that he always remembered, and that was natural law among wolves, which said if one wolf can't keep up, it gets left behind. Rowan wasn't sure if this applied with wolves in Equestria, but he was reminded of it as he watched the pack abandon the lone shadow wolf.

But as he watched the wolf try to get away, he heard a growl come from the timberwolves. He looked down to see that one of the tree-like animals had spotted the lone wolf, and it started to rush towards it with teeth and claws ready. The shadow wolf turned towards its attacker and let out a whine, as it seemed to realize that it was going to die.

"No!" Rowan didn't think as he lowered his horn and shot two flaming crescents towards the ground in between the injured shadow wolf and the pursuing timberwolf. The timberwolf yelped as the projectiles burst in front of it, making a wall of fire between it and its prey.

Fire was one of the few things that could scare timberwolves, and if you have a lot of it, then they'll run away in fright. Rowan focused on the flames as he intensified his spell, making the flames roar up skyward through the canopy of leaves above. Below him, he could hear several whines and yelps come from the timberwolves as they saw Rowan's wall of flame. Keeping a firm hold on the spell, as to not spread the fire into the forest, Rowan grinned as he watched the timberwolves dash away from the fire as fast as they could.

Rowan waited for the tree-like wolves to run out of sight until he lowered the wall of fire. Rowan took in a deep breath as the familiar wave of weariness overtook him, the usual aftermath of the usage of powerful spells. But as he did, he felt the branch that he was on suddenly snap below him. Rowan looked wide eyed at the branch, and then to the ground below, "Uh, oh."

The gray unicorn let out a yelp as the branch broke out from under him, dropping him hard onto the ground below. Rowan grunted from pain as he landed, making his head spin for a bit. Once he stopped seeing stars, he looked up over to where the shadow wolf had been, to find that the black animal had fallen to the ground. Rowan quickly got back onto his hooves and rushed over to the injured creature.

Rowan sighed a breath of relief as he found that the wolf was still breathing, but only just, as it laid unconscious wolf on the dirt covered ground. Oh, man. I need to get you to Fluttershy straightaway. Careful not to hurt the wolf, Rowan levitated the animal onto his back, half carrying it, half levitating it.

Once the animal was safely on his back, Rowan concentrated as he used the navigation spell that Twilight had shown him. "Better find Twilight and Spike first." he muttered as the spell showed him which direction they both were. He began to trudge through the forest towards them, making sure to not move too much as to keep from hurting the wolf on his back.

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The changeling spy, still in his earth pony disguise, watched as the gray unicorn known as Rowan carried away the injured creature. He frowned as he recalled the entire scene that had happened before him. He had just departed for the hive, home base for the changelings, but he had become distracted when he saw the colt venture into the forest with Twilight Sparkle.

Thinking that it would be better to gather more intelligence for the queen, the spy had followed them. He watched them from a safe distance, observing everything that they did. It was apparent that they were in the forest to practice their magic without anyone interfering.

But as he had watched them, he was almost discovered when Rowan had become a small black cloud and had flown right over him into the forest. Before he lost the unicorn, he tailed the cloud, until he found Rowan in the trees above the fight between the wolves that were native to the forest.

But the spy was thrown completely off guard when the colt used magic to protect a single injured wolf. He knew that Twilight Sparkle was gifted with magic, but he never had comprehended the destructive power that Rowan bore.

Frowning to himself, the spy wondered why the unicorn had protected the animal. With all of its wounds, the creature was doomed to die anyhow. If anyone of his kind was in the wolf's predicament, then the ones around him wouldn't have hesitated to end their life, as it was the nature of the changelings.

Still watching Rowan walk away, the spy felt his body change as green flames erupted around him, changing into his native state. He frowned as he looked at himself, what anypony would call deformed or ugly. In truth, the spy was starting to see why the ponies hated his race so much, but that still didn't keep him from serving his duty to the queen.

Stretching out his transparent, bug-like wings, the spy took to the sky. High above the treetops, he oriented himself with his surroundings, and then took off in the direction of the hive, on his way to deliver the information that he'd collected.

Healing Shade

Twilight and Spike trudged through the thick undergrowth of the forest, only led by the light from Twilight's horn.

Spike grumbled unhappily as he looked warily at the forest around them, "I still can't see why Rowan would just take off like that. I mean, he is powerful with magic, but the forest is dangerous, if not scary."

Twilight couldn't help but feel the same way, "I know that Rowan shouldn't have flown off, but he was just testing out that cloud spell." She shook her head, "But it was still stupid. I mean, he even left the Liber Tenebrarum behind." Twilight held up the black tome with magic, "Good thing I brought it with us before we left the grove." She then quickly put the book into her magical storage.

Suddenly they heard an explosion in the distance, making both of them jump in shock.

Spike climbed up onto Twilight's back, trying to get a better view, "Holy Guacamole! What was that?"

"I don't know. But whatever it was, it was big." The unicorn looked up at her assistant, "Can you see where it came from?"

"Uh, no. Partly because it's night, and I can't see past all these trees."

Twilight rolled her eyes and grabbed Spike with magic, raising him high over the trees. The small dragon yelped as he unexpectedly was lifted high into the air.

Twilight looked up at him, "Can you see anything up there?"

Spike, still unnerved by the fact that he was floating twelve feet in the air, looked around over the treetops to see a large column of fire rising up from where the explosion came from. He pointed a claw towards it, "Whoa, Twilight! There's a huge fire coming up from over there."

Twilight used her magic to scan out in the direction that he pointed, and caught a thin trail of magic coming from the fire. She gasped, "That must be Rowan! C'mon Spike." she cut off her levitation spell, dropping the dragon out of the sky. Spike yelped as he found himself suddenly falling, landing hard onto Twilight's back. With Spike on board, Twilight started to gallop through the forest towards the fire.

Spike held onto Twilight as tight as he could, "Uh, Twilight? What if that fire isn't Rowan? What if it's something else like a fire-breathing dragon?"

The purple unicorn breathed hard as she ran through the deep vegetation of the forest, "Don't worry, Spike. When you showed me where the fire was, I was able to detect powerful magic emitting from it. It has to be Rowan."

But as she ran, following a thin signal of magic, the trail suddenly cut off. The unicorn stopped and began to search around for the signal, panicking, "What? No!"

"What is it?"

"I lost the trail." Twilight lit up her horn brighter, making more of the forest visible.

Spike stood up on Twilight's back and cupped his claws around his mouth, yelling, "Rowan!"

Twilight quickly silenced Spike with her hoof in his mouth. "What are you doing?! You don't know what you might attract in this place."

Spike's eyes went wide, "Oh, yeah. Right." He sat down, frowning, "So what do we do now?"

Looking around the dark forest, Twilight shook her head, "I don't know." She scratched her head with a hoof, "Maybe if we head back to town, we'll see him later. If he uses that cloud spell again, then he'd be able to get out of here easily."

Spike held a look of wide-eyed worry, "But what if he can't? What if he's hurt from that explosion?!"

Twilight grimaced at the thought, but then a twig snapped behind her, making both the unicorn and the dragon jump in fright. Spike jumped behind Twilight for protection while, instinctively, the unicorn lowered her horn towards the source of the sound, making it shimmer in a purple aura as she prepared to use magic. But when she glanced in between the trees, she found...

"Whoa! Hey, it's just me! No need to start blasting me." Rowan stuck a hoof up for protection, smiling sheepishly.

Twilight gasped, "Rowan." She rushed over to meet him, "Oh, thank Celestia that you're all right."

Spike stepped in next to Rowan, "Man, we were worried when that huge fire appeared. We thought that something must have happened to you."

Rowan smiled and shook his head, exhaustion showing clearly on his face, "Don't worry. I told you that I can take care of myself. I am in my element here in the forest."

Twilight perked up as she remembered, "Oh, Rowan. You left the Liber Tenebrarum behind when you took off." In a flash, the book appeared in front of her.

Rowan quickly gave himself a facehoof, "Dang it. I can't believe that I left the book behind! That was stupid of me." He took the book back and placed it inside his storage spell, "Thanks, Twilight. I guess that I won't be doing that again."

Spike noticed something moving on top of Rowan's back. looking at it, he let out a startled yelp as he saw a black wolf, covered in several wounds and splinters across the animal's fur coat. "Rowan? What's that?!"

Rowan glanced back at the creature that he carried, "It's a shadow wolf."

Twilight cocked her head slightly, "A what?"

"A shadow wolf. That's what I call them, since they have the ability to meld with their shadows." Rowan explained, "When I was using the cloud spell, I came across a pack of these guys in a territory war against a pack of timberwolves. I saved this one when the rest of the shadow wolves ran off, but it's badly injured. We need to get it to Fluttershy's as soon as possible."

Twilight tried to follow what he was saying, understanding only slightly, "Okay, let's get it to Fluttershy. I'm sure that she can heal it. But along the way, you're going to have to tell us what happened, more in depth this time."

Rowan nodded and the three started to make their way through the forest, on their way to Fluttershy's cottage.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Fluttershy hummed to herself as she finished bidding her little animals goodnight. In her cottage, several little creatures were already falling asleep. Of course, she always saved tucking in Angel for last.

The pegasus smiled as she hummed a small lullaby as she tucked the little white rabbit into his basket bed. Angel yawned widely, giving no resistment against being put to bed. Fluttershy smiled warmly and gave the little animal a small kiss on the head before she turned out the lights.

"My, it's been a long day." Fluttershy whispered to herself, careful not to wake any of the sleeping animals in the house, "I'd better turn in for the night." But as she started upstairs, there was a loud knock on the door.

"Oh, my." Fluttershy quickly ran to the door, "I wonder who that could be. And it's so late."

She opened the door to see Twilight and Spike. The new unicorn, Rowan, was with them. "Oh, what are you all doing here?"

Rowan stepped past Twilight and Spike, "Fluttershy, I need your help." Turning slightly, he showed her the black wolf that was on his back.

Fluttershy gasped as she looked at the poor creature, "Oh, my. Yes, quickly come inside."

All of them filed into the cottage and Fluttershy shut the door softly behind them. She pointed a hoof towards a table, "Put him on the table."

Rowan and Twilight lifted up the wolf onto the table as Fluttershy ran to get her veterinarian kit. She returned quickly, and began to examine the wolf's wounds, "Oh, my. The poor thing's lost so much blood, not to mention that he's covered in splinters." She carefully touched the creature with her hoof in several places.

Fluttershy sighed with relief, "It looks like he doesn't have anything broken or fractured. I just need to remove the splinters and bandage the wounds. After that, he'll just need a long rest, and then the poor little guy will be back to normal."

She took out a pair of tweezers, sanitized them, and then proceeded to remove the splinters, "But, how could something this bad happen?"

Rowan sighed, and then told the pegasus about the fight between the two packs of wolves, the shadow wolves against the timberwolves. But as he came to the end where they reached Fluttershy's cottage, the pegasus began to look warily at the wolf. Noticing it, Rowan asked, "What's the mattter?"

Fluttershy stammered, "Well, if this wolf is from the Everfree forest, then it's most likely to be aggressive towards everypony, not to mention all of my animals. Once I bandage him, I can't keep him here to get better. He might hurt some of my creatures."

The thought hadn't occurred to Rowan, "Oh, um...then..." He scratched the back of his head with a hoof, lost in thought. But then an idea came to him, "Oh, then what if I took him home with me. I could keep him at my house. He won't be able to hurt anybody there."

Fluttershy pulled out the last of the slivers and placed it in a dish along with the others, "Oh, I don't know, Rowan. I mean, it could be dangerous to keep him in town. Even if you tie him down, he could get loose and hurt somepony."

Rowan smiled, "Don't worry. I might be new in town, but I'm just as powerful as Twilight when it comes to magic. If he even tries to get out, then I'll just use magic to stop him." He gave Twilight a side-long look, which was met by a questionable glance.

Twilight shrugged it off, "Right, Fluttershy. I'll help Rowan to keep this wolf tied up. Don't worry. We've got everything covered."

Fluttershy smiled as she wrapped bandages around the wolf's midsection, "Oh, okay. I've seen your magic, Twilight. I'm sure you can keep this little guy from hurting anypony. I'll be finished with bandaging him, and then you can take him. It doesn't seem that he'll wake up until morning."

Rowan beamed, "Great. At least I'll be able to sleep without worrying about him."

Spike suddenly yawned loudly. Everypony turned to look at him to see the little dragon had curled up and had fallen asleep on Fluttershy's couch. Twilight smiled, "Speaking of which, Spike's been up all night. We need to get going."

Fluttershy nodded as she set the last bandage on the wolf, "Okay, it's done." She turned towards Rowan, "He's all yours."

Rowan smiled, "Thank you." He levitated the wolf onto his back, carefully draping the animal across his sides.

Fluttershy glanced down at the wolf, "What are you going to call him? I mean, you can't go around just calling him 'the wolf'. That would just get annoying."

Rowan looked down at the sleeping animal, "Oh, I guess that's true. Hm..." He scanned the wolf up and down, thinking for a suitable name, "How about 'Shade'?"

Twilight smiled as she trotted over towards the sleeping Spike, "That sounds pretty good, Rowan. It seems to fit well with his nature." She levitated Spike off of the couch and placed him softly on her back, curled in a scaly ball.

Rowan grinned as the name seemed to appeal to him, "Then that's what I'm going to call him: Shade." He carefully placed a hoof on the sleeping wolf, and began to pet his head like a dog's.

Twilight began to walk towards the door, "Come on, Rowan. We should get going."

Rowan nodded, "Right." Turning back to Fluttershy, "Thank you."

"Your welcome."

Both of the unicorns then said their goodbyes to Fluttershy and stepped out into midnight. Fluttershy waved them goodbye and closed the door.

Yawning to herself, she headed upstairs for her nice, comfortable bed, ready for a rest from the day.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight and Rowan made their way into town and stopped at Twilight's library.

They stopped just outside the door, and Rowan smiled towards Twilight, "Thanks for helping me today."

Twilight replied with a grin, "Hey, what are friends for?"

But then the door to the library suddenly swung open, behind it stood Shining Armor. He looked down at both of the unicorns, "Oh, thank Celestia that you both are all right. It's been hours since you left. I was getting worried."

Twilight smiled, "Oh, come on, Shiny. You've seen us both before when it comes to magic. We can take care of ourselves just fine."

The Canterlot guard smiled and gave his little sister a hug, "I knew that. But now that you're back, I want to hear what happened."

Rowan let out a yawn, "You guys can go ahead. I need to get home and tie up Shade, just in case if he wakes up."

Shining Armor gave Twilight a questioning look, which she returned with a small laugh, "I'll explain later."

Rowan waved both of them goodbye as he turned around and began to walk home. As Rowan walked through the quiet town in the dead of night, he felt a certain calmness exceed from the gloom. After he walked down the dark road for a while, Rowan reached his house.

The colt sighed in relief as he walked in. Shutting the door behind him, he flicked the lights on. He looked at Shade, who lay slumped across Rowan's back, and then back at the room.

He frowned to himself, "Hm... Now where to tie you up, Shade." He continued to scan the room for a suitable spot. Hm... He thought to himself, It can't be anywhere visible for anybody to see, otherwise they'd just get spooked. And it can't be near any furniture, otherwise Shade will just tear through it. He sighed, I guess upstairs is the best option.

He walked to the stairs and climbed up the steps, carrying Shade on his back. Once he got upstairs, he looked at the three rooms that he could use. Okay, I can't use the bathroom for obvious reasons. There's my room, but if Shade got loose, then he'd tear up everything I have. Rowan sighed. That left the study as the only possibility.

Rowan opened up the study and walked in, turning on the light inside. The only objects in the room were an empty book case and a desk, both standing in the far corner of the small room. Not wanting anything to be accidentally destroyed, Rowan levitated Shade off of his back and placed him in the opposite corner.

Before he had gone into the forest, Rowan had been studying other spells along with the list that Twilight gave him, just in case he needed them. It seemed that she had been right. One of the spells was a shadow bind, which restricted the victim's movement with their own shadow. He drew out his magic and put a shadow bind on Shade, making it loose so the wolf could move in place, but still tight enough to keep him from getting at anything in the room.

Once the bind was set, Rowan looked at his work, checking it for any loopholes in the spell. Satisfied that he couldn't see any holes too big, he walked out of the room and shut the door behind him, locking it with magic.

Rowan yawned as he walked into his room, and slumped down onto his bed. Exhausted from the days events, Rowan drifted into sleep almost immediately, as the moon shone high in the sky.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rowan was suddenly woken by a large bang from the wall. Startled, he fell out of bed and onto the floor. Groaning, Rowan sighed, "Just for one day, can I wake up without ending up on the floor?"

He got himself up off of the floor, but then the same bang resounded from the wall. Rowan noticed that it was coming from the study. He sighed, "I guess Shade's finally awake."

Groggily, Rowan walked out of his room and to the door of the study. Without any real thought, Rowan undid the spell on the lock, opening the door. He walked inside and looked over to where he put Shade the night before.

Rowan was surprised to see that the wolf was wide awake, and it was desperately looking around for what was holding him in this unfamiliar place. But then Shade stopped as he noticed the unicorn at the door. The wolf reared back as far from the door as its bonds would allow, and growled at the unknown pony.

Rowan smirked, "Good morning to you, too, Shade." He looked at the bandage covered wolf and a thought occurred to him, I wonder if he's hungry. Rowan shrugged, I was planning on buying some more food for myself, so maybe I can find something for him. But first, I should change the binding spell a little, so that he doesn't put a hole in my wall.

Focusing on the wolf's bond, Rowan retracted the bond limit away from the wall and lengthened it out more towards the center of the room.

Shade, cautious of the strange light coming from Rowan's horn, crept towards the unicorn. And then he sprung out in a deathly leap, aiming for the unicorn's throat. But then, something tugged against him, snapping him away from his target. As he landed, Shade let out a low whine as he landed on top of his hurt back.

He smiled sincerely at the wolf's efforts, "Well, Shade. I'll see you later with some food." He stepped back through the doorway, "Try not to hurt yourself too much." He shut the door as Shade gave Rowan one last growl. Once again, Rowan locked the door and went into his room.

In his room, Rowan went to his saddle-bags, which sat against the wall, and began to look through them for the money bag that Princess Luna had given him. Once he had taken it out of his bag, he stuck it in his storage spell, emptied his saddle bags, placing them on his back, and headed downstairs to eat something for breakfast.

Downstairs in the kitchen, Rowan looked in the fridge to find the leftovers from yesterday's breakfast. Rowan sighed. He had only eaten apples for his meals all of the yesterday, and the taste was getting old. When he went into town, he was going to have to get other things to eat. Rowan shrugged, as it was the only thing to eat at the moment, and took a hoof full of the apple treats.

Rowan quickly ate his light breakfast, and headed out the door and onto the road outside. The town bustled in the usual morning way, with everypony out doing their daily business. Rowan turned and headed for the town market. The walk was short from his house to the market, which was good for Rowan, because he wanted to get the food he needed quickly, as well as something for Shade.

Even in the morning, vendors were out at their stands calling out advertisements to everypony there. Rowan walked along each stand that sold food, buying a bit of everything. Seeing as his taste buds were different now, he thought that he'd try everything, just to find out what was good.

At each stand, he bought whatever food looked good, including fruit like strawberries and bananas, or just plain food like bread and cheese. All of the vendors gave him a friendly thank-you as he bought their products, paying with what bits he had.

Although, every time that he got out his money bag, he realized that at the rate that he was spending, he would run out of bits by the end of the week. If I'm even still in this world by then, I'm going to have to find a way to make some money. He pushed the matter out of his mind.

Suddenly, a voice called out from across the road, "Rowan!" He looked to see Twilight and Shining Armor walking towards him.

"Oh, hey guys. What's up?"

Twilight smiled, "Spike is still asleep at the library, so Shining offered to help me run errands this morning. But anyways, how's Shade?"

Rowan smirked, "Well, I can say that he's a little tightly wound from waking up in an unfamiliar place, and that he tried to take a bite out of me. But other than that, he's fine."

Twilight shook her head, "Well, I guess that's not all bad. I mean, he's separated from everything that he knew before and stuck in a totally different place. It's only natural that he'd be a bit freaked out."

As she said this, Rowan tensed up and glanced at Shining Armor. The captain slightly shook his head, as if to say, 'No, she doesn't know.' Rowan let out a small sigh of relief. He looked back at Twilight, "Well, I want to make Shade comfortable while he heals, but I can't help if he keeps trying to break out. What do you think I should do?"

"Well, in the library, I read a book about animal behaviors a while back." Twilight replied, "It said if any animal is angry, aggressive, or uncomfortable, then you should try to spend as much time as you can with it, while still keeping some distance. The idea is to let the animal grow accustomed to you."

Rowan thought about the idea, "Hm... It seems like a good idea." He nodded as he decided, "Okay, I'll try it. Thanks."

Shining Armor's eyes caught the colt's saddle-bags. Pointing a hoof at the bags, he asked, "So, Rowan. What are you doing right now?"

"Oh, I was kind of getting sick of eating apples, so I'm getting some more food while I stay here." But then Rowan suddenly remembered, "Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. I don't know how long it's been since Shade ate something, so I was going to try and find him something for him to eat. Do either of you guys know where I can find something that a wolf can eat?"

Shining Armor shrugged helplessly while Twilight thought hard. But then her head perked up, "Oh, there's a vendor stand around here that sells imitation sausages. I bet if you ask him, he can sell you some to feed Shade until he gets better."

Rowan smiled, "Great! Show me the way."

Twilight pointed a hoof down the line of vendors, "It should be past all of these stands, almost at the end of the market.:

Rowan waved a hoof at them, "All right. Thanks, you guys. I'll see you later." He turned and headed through the market, on his way to the stand.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rowan groaned as he walked back into his house, slamming the door angrily behind him. He walked into the kitchen and lifted his saddle-bags off of his back and slumped them down on the kitchen floor.

Using the levitation spell to save time, Rowan started to take the food out of his bags and put them away in the cupboards and fridge. While the unicorn occupied himself with the job, he muttered to himself, "Geez, can a vendor be any more irritating?"

His trip to the stand to get sausages for Shade hadn't been very good. When he got there, asking for about a pound of sausage, the merchant didn't pay him any attention while he read a magazine behind the counter. But when Rowan managed to get the his attention, the merchant told him that it would cost fifty bits just to get half a pound, way more than twice the original price.

Rowan grumbled to himself as he put the last of the food away, remembering that cheat of a salesman. Making that large of a price, just because he was new in town, put Rowan's teeth on edge. After arguing for a good twenty minutes over a price, they both had settled on a smaller price of twenty bits for a pound of sausages.

Rowan sighed to himself as he grabbed a few pieces of meat for Shade, "I hope I don't have to buy from him again. Otherwise, if he tries to stiff me again, he's going to get a flaming crescent to the face."

But even in his grumbling, Rowan managed to calm himself down as he walked upstairs with Shade's sausages. He reached the door to the study and unlocked it, opening the door wide open. Rowan flicked on the light to see Shade lying on the ground, too tired from all of its escape attempts.

The wolf's head rose off of the floor as the unicorn walked in again. He began to growl at the pony, until his nose smelled a delicious scent. Shade stopped his growling and looked at the pieces of meat that Rowan held up in the air.

A smile crept onto Rowan's face, "Hey, Shade. I got you breakfast." He lightly tossed the sausages in front of the wolf, between his outstretched paws. Rowan watched as Shade eyed the meat curiously, but then received a sense of satisfaction as the wolf began to greedily chew on them.

Rowan beamed, "Glad you like it. You don't know what I had to go through to get that. True, it's not meat, but it still tastes like the real thing." The colt stepped farther into the room and shut the door behind him, leaving Rowan and Shade in the study together. Rowan sat down in front of the shut door, "Guess that I'll keep you company for now."

Shade eyed Rowan cautiously while it chewed on its breakfast, watching for any signs of movement from the pony across the room from him.

Rowan just smiled as he pulled the Liber Tenebrarum and out of his storage spell. He flipped open the book and began to read it, resuming his task of finding a spell to get home.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The changeling spy lighted down in front of the mouth of the cave as the sun rose high in the sky, resting his transparent wings from his long journey. He was far out of the border of Equestria, so he didn't worry about being in his native form in broad daylight where anyone could see him.

The entire land around him was nothing like Equestria, which was rich with life and flourished with vegetation. Instead, outside the border of Equestria, there was nothing except barren, open desert, with only a couple of dead weeds dotting the region. The cave in front of him was the only entrance into the changeling hive, where no one would find it, and also where the queen was waiting for him.

He entered into the dark, narrow tunnel, which spiraled down into the earth and into the center of the changeling hive. In the dark, gloomy light, there were several members of his race, who were called drones, on account that none of them could think for themselves without the command from the queen. None of the other changelings paid the Ponyville spy any attention, as he made his way into the heart of the hive, the queen's private chambers.

He entered into the large open space under the earth, where the changeling queen, Chrysalis, stood on her stone throne.

She noticed the spy, regarding him with a look of interest, "Who goes there?"

He bowed before her, "My queen. I have come to report my findings while I hid under cover in Ponyville."

She nodded, "Yes, of course. Tell me, has anything happened that is of any importance to me in that miserable, little town?"

"Nothing very large has happened, except for one peculiar thing."

"Oh, and what would that be?"

The spy proceeded to tell of the colt unicorn, known as Rowan, who arrived in town as an order from princess Luna. He also described in depth the magic which the unicorn possessed, which had extraordinary power. And then he concluded by telling the queen about the black book, the Liber Tenebrarum, which was in Rowan's possession.

After the spy had concluded his report, the queen found that an evil smile had grown on her face, "Yes, that will do." She pointed her foreleg towards the small changeling, "Gather all of the drones. Tell them that at sundown, we depart for Ponyville. The time has come for revenge."

The changeling bowed and raced out of the chamber, on his way to fulfill the queen's assignment.

Once he was out of earshot, Chrysalis chuckled to herself, "So, that's where the book has been hidden, after all this time. I should have known it was you, Luna, who stole my mother's book. You sealed it away after you saw it's power. For a thousand years it's been missing, and no one ever suspected anybody like you to have it. That is, no one had seen your land of Equestria before at the time, until I came here."

She laughed maniacally, "But, now you've given it to one of your weak little ponies. You are a fool, Princess Luna. Once my changelings reach Ponyville, I'll easily dispose of this Rowan, and the power of the Liber Tenebrarum will be mine, as it was meant to be. And then no one will be able to stop me from taking over all of Equestria."

Her evil laughter carried through the expanse of the hive, where the changelings were grinning wickedly to themselves as they prepared to raid the small, vulnerable town. All of them chuckled to themselves at the thought of terrorizing those helpless ponies.

That is, all of them except for one, young, changeling filly, who had heard every word that the queen had spoken. Her eyes widened as realization dawned on her, "Oh, no. I have to get that book first." But then a thought stopped her, "But I can't leave now, or else I'll be caught for sure."

She frowned as she tried to find a solution to the problem, "I need to at least keep the book away from the queen. So if I want to do that," A look of determination glittered in her pupil-less eyes, "Then I need to get to the book first, during the raid, before any other changeling does." With that, she raced down the tunnels within the hive, going to prepare for the long flight to Ponyville.

An Unexpected Discovery

Rowan sat against the wall of his study, reading the Liber Tenebrarum. He craned his neck to the side, popping it out of the stiffness it acquired after reading the book for what seemed to be at least three hours now. After that amount of time, Rowan decided it would be a good idea to take a break. Putting away the book in his storage spell, Rowan stood up and stretched out his stiff muscles.

He turned to look at Shade, who now lay asleep on the study floor. Rowan smiled as he figured that shadow wolves were nocturnal. And since Shade had been awake for most of the morning, it had thrown off the wolf's natural sleep schedule. Rowan let the wolf sleep as he quietly stepped out of the study, locking the door behind him with magic.

Feeling hungry, due to the fact that he had missed lunch two hours ago, Rowan walked downstairs to eat something. He made his way into the kitchen and levitated a banana out of one of the cupboards. The fruit floated in the air towards him as Rowan sat down at the table. He peeled off the skin of the banana easily with magic and began to eat the fruit inside.

As he ate his small lunch, thoughts about the Liber Tenebrarum came into his mind.

Rowan sighed, I'm supposed to find a spell to get back home, but the book doesn't have any labels for any of the spells. So, even if I found the spell, I wouldn't know it would be able to help me. Rowan took another bite of the banana, Hm... If I find the right spell, it should be very complex, since it deals with traveling between worlds. But there could be hundreds of spells in the book just as complex as the one I'm looking for.

He sighed loudly, But it could take me forever to find the spell! The book is magical, and every time that I read it, the pages seem to go on forever. I'd have to be lucky to be able to find it within a week.

As he popped the last of the banana into his mouth, suddenly there was a knock on the door.

Rowan raised an eyebrow as he swallowed the last of his banana, "I wonder who that could be." He trotted over to the door and opened it to find Fluttershy on his doorstep.

"Oh, hey, Fluttershy. What are you doing here?"

The shy pegasus smiled, "Oh, I just came to check on Shade. How is he doing?"

"He's actually doing pretty well, I'd say. Right now I have him locked in the upstairs study. Do you want to see him?"

"Oh, yes. I would love to. I want to see how his wounds are healing."

"Okay, come on in." Rowan stepped back into the house to let Fluttershy in. He shut the door behind her and led her to the upstairs study.

He stopped in front of the door as he began to unlock it, "So far, I've spent the entire day in here with Shade. When I left him in here a few minutes ago, he had fallen asleep. Which could make it easier for you to check the bandages."

Rowan unlocked the door and opened it, revealing the study. Shade sat in the same position as it had before, except now he had one eye opened, looking at the open door. As Rowan entered the room, the wolf paid him no heed, ready to fall back asleep. But when another unfamiliar pony stepped inside, his fur instantly stood up on end as he jumped up onto all fours, growling at the stranger.

But as soon as he had jumped up onto his paws, pain began to ache all of the wolf's wounds from the night before, causing him to let out a loud whine.

Fluttershy raised a hoof to her mouth as she gasped, "Oh, my." She quickly rushed over to help the creature, which made Rowan cringe since Shade had tried to take a bite out of him earlier that morning.

Fluttershy calmly began to stroke a hoof on Shade's head as she held the wolf in a gentle hug, "Oh, you poor thing. You shouldn't move too quickly like that."

Rowan expected Shade to begin snapping at the pegasus pony, but as Fluttershy held the wolf, Shade looked up curiously at her, not sure how to react. The wolf just stood there as the pony gave him a long hug, but after a while, he started to calm down and sat down on his haunches.

Fluttershy let go of the animal, "There, there. That's a good wolf." She reached a hoof over onto one of Shade's bandages, "Now just sit still while I look at these bandages, okay?"

Shade gave no sign that he'd heard her, but then barred his teeth in a frightening growl as Fluttershy pulled back the edge of a bandage. But otherwise, the wolf showed no resistance as the pegasus inspected his wounds.

Rowan let out a sigh of relief, "Wow, Fluttershy. You really are good with animals. I've been in the room with Shade all day, and I don't think that he'd let me get that close to him, yet."

Fluttershy gave him a small smile, "Thanks. But really, any animal, whether they came from the Everfree Forest or not, if you treat them right, then they'll be just as sweet as a cute, little bunny."

Shade gave a small grunt of disapproval, there being the fact that he didn't like being compared to a rodent.

Fluttershy gave him a small pat on the head, saying in a voice of sincere apology, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. You're still very scary, and not to mention smarter than most animals that I've met."

Shade gave a huff through his snout as he rested his head between his paws, wanting to catch up on the sleep that he'd missed.

Fluttershy inspected the wounds on Shade closely, "Oh, my." She turned her head towards Rowan, "Shade is healing faster than I had anticipated. I guess it's just part of his nature to heal faster than others."

This struck Rowan's interest, "Really? Then how long will it be until he's fully healed."

Fluttershy began to replace the bandages, "At this rate, Shade should be fully recovered by the morning after tomorrow."

Rowan beamed at the pegasus, but then a thought struck him, "Wait, where will he go after he heals? I mean, he was abandoned by his pack, and I doubt that they'd accept him into the pack again. It's their law, isn't it?"

Fluttershy gasped, "Oh, my. I didn't think about that." She thought to herself, but then she grinned as she got an idea, "Well, if we can't return Shade to his pack, then what if he stays with you? He seems to like you enough, but he just doesn't want to show it. He seems to have a deep sense of pride about him."

Rowan was startled, "Wait, what? Keep Shade as a pet or something?"

Shade let out a growl at the word "pet", apparently having understood the entire conversation.

Fluttershy gave him a small pat, "Oh, Rowan. I don't think he likes being called a pet. Think of it like him being a partner with you."

Rowan thought to himself, Well, I don't know how long it will take me to find the spell to get home, so I guess I don't mind having some company while I'm here. No reason to study alone in the dark for hours on end. He nodded to Fluttershy, "Okay, I'll take Shade in as my pe-" Shade let out a warning growl. Rowan quickly corrected himself, "I mean, partner, since he has no where else to go."

Fluttershy beamed, "Oh, that's great, Rowan. Just wait, and you'll see that you both will become great friends."

Rowan chuckled weakly, "Yeah, sure. I guess so."

Fluttershy gave a small smile, "I'd better get going. I promised that I'd spend the afternoon with Angel bunny. I can't keep him waiting for me." She gave a Shade one last pet on the head before she trotted out of the room.

Rowan waved a hoof goodbye, "All right. See ya later."

Fluttershy waved back and hurried downstairs and out the door, leaving Rowan alone with Shade again. The wolf was already fast asleep, so Rowan sat down, pulled out the Liber Tenebrarum, and began to study where he had left off in the book.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rowan yawned as he read in the darkening light of the study. He had been so focused on the Liber Tenebrarum, that he hadn't noticed that it was now becoming dark. He looked out the window of the study to see the sun was beginning to set behind the mountains.

Rowan shook his head, "Oh, man. Is this what Twilight feels like after she goes through a studying spree?" His stomach suddenly growled, which made Rowan chuckle, "Heh, I guess that means I missed dinner."

A gruff bark sounded from Shade, who had woken up since it was almost night. Rowan turned and smiled at the wolf, "All right, Shade. I'll bring you something to eat, too."

With that, he walked out of the study, not bothering to lock the door. Little did he realize that he had left the Liber Tenebrarum on the floor of the study, just within reach of Shade.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Back outside of the equestrian border, hundreds of changelings waited just outside the mouth of the cave leading to the hive. Among them was the changeling filly, hidden among the crowd of changelings as they waited for their queen to make an announcement.

Suddenly, the changelings fell into a silent hush as the queen stepped forward towards them.

With a smirk, Chrysalis raised her voice to all of her subjects, "Inside Ponyville, there is a new unicorn named Rowan. He is in the possession of something that I need: a book. But it's not just any book. It holds the secrets to magic that has been since lost to us because of the filthy pony princess, Luna."

"You all remember the princesses, and how their ponies drove us out of Canterlot. Of course, Luna wasn't there to witness our attempt to take over. She does not know of our power, so she has foolishly given the book to a weak, little pony. Once we acquire the Liber Tenebrarum, the time for revenge will be at hand!"

There rose a buzz of resentment among all of the changelings as they raised their wings, eager to be on their way.

Chrysalis laughed evilly, "Find the book. Find the Liber Tenebrarum and bring it to me. Whoever brings it to me will be rewarded exceedingly." Just as the sun set out of view, the changeling queen raised a hoof towards Equestria, "Now go! Destroy whoever stands in your path."

With that, hundreds of changelings rose into the sky, along with the changeling filly hiding among them, making sure to stay out of sight from the queen. The raiding party flew fast over the open, barren sky, on their way to Ponyville. And all of them knew that they'd arrive in town at sunrise.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rowan trotted upstairs to the study, having finished dinner, carrying a few sausages for Shade. Once upstairs, Rowan walked into the study, and almost dropped the sausages at what he saw.

Shade sat on his haunches, still in the shadow bind, but he had his paw on an open page of the Liber Tenebrarum.

"Oh, no." Rowan ran quickly to the book and snatched it up from the wolf. Shade didn't growl or jump at Rowan's intrusion. But instead, he just sat there, looking at Rowan with discerning interest. Rowan gave Shade a small glare, holding the book away from the wolf, "You'd better not have ripped this apart."

Rowan looked at the open page of the book, expecting it to be ripped to pieces. But he found just the exact opposite of that. The page that was open was had only one spell, which covered the entire two pages that were open. Rowan felt his jaw seem to hit the ground as he read the spell. It was far more complicated and complex than anything that he'd ever read from the book.

The unicorn inhaled sharply as he realized what it was, "Is this..." he finished with a shaky breath, "Is this the spell that I'm looking for? Is this the one that will get me home?!"

A sharp bark resounded from Shade who sat looking up at the sausages that floated in the air. Noticing this, Rowan tossed the morsels to the hungry wolf. Now able to reach the meat, Shade hurriedly gobbled down the sausages.

As Shade ate his dinner, Rowan stared uneasily at Shade, How did he find the spell? How could he find it in a few minutes when I couldn't after a few days?

Rowan continued to puzzle over it, but then a thought hit him, "Wait... There could be dozens of spells like this inside the book. How do I know that this is the right one?"

Rowan mulled it over, pacing around in the middle of the study. He could use a different spell book to see if it could compare to different type of magic. However, he didn't have any spell books with anything nearly as complicated as the spell.

Rowan frowned to himself, "Where would I find spell books with complicated spells?" But then he beamed as he found the answer, "Twilight's Library!"

Carrying the Liber Tenebrarum, Rowan galloped out of the study. As he trotted down the stairs, he shouted back to Shade, "Thanks, Shade."

The shadow wolf gave a short huff before resuming his dinner of sausages. He would never understand ponies.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Got any fours?"

"Nope, go graze."

Twilight gave Spike a questioning look, "Are you sure?"

The dragon glared at her, "I'm not cheating if that's what you're wondering."

Twilight waved away the comment with a hoof, and turned towards her brother, "How about you, Shiny? Got any fours?"

Shining Armor sighed as he begrudgingly gave Twilight his three fours.

Twilight smiled wide, "Yes. That gives me a total of seven grazing groups."

Shining Armor did a face-hoof. Those had been his last cards, and there wasn't any more cards in the Graze pile. He turned towards his sister, "How do you keep doing this? You've gotten every single card I have for the past three games."

Twilight smiled innocently, "I guess that I'm just lucky."

The three of them were in the library playing "Go Graze", just like they had before back home in Canterlot. Although with Twilight having won twenty games in a row, the game was starting to get boring.

Shining Armor watched as Twilight asked Spike for any threes. Spike threw up his arms as losing the game had become inevitable, and gave Twilight the rest of his cards. Twilight laid down the last of the cards, marking her 21st win in a row. The purple unicorn clapped her hooves together in glee.

Spike groaned as he looked at Shining, whispering over to the colt, "Why do we always play "Go Graze"? Twilight wins anyways."

The colt shrugged and whispered back, "Hey, it beats taking turns reading Unicorns from Obscure Equestrian History."

They both shared a laugh before they were interrupted by a knock coming from the door.

Twilight got up and walked to the door, "Oh, I wonder it could be at this hour."

She opened the door to find Rowan, who was panting hard as if he had ran full-speed in a marathon.

Twilight gasped, "Rowan! What are you doing here? Is something wrong with Shade?" She stepped back to let the colt in.

Rowan shook his head as he gasped for air, "No... Shade's fine."

Shining Armor got up and walked to Rowan, "If it's not Shade, then what's wrong?"

Rowan looked the captain full in the eyes, "I think I've found it."

The captain inhaled sharply as understanding flickered across his eyes, "Really? Are you sure?"

Rowan shook his head, "Yeah, it's the largest, most complex spell that I've ever seen. But I couldn't be sure, so I ran over here to see if it's comparable to any other spells. If it isn't , then that means it's the right one."

Spike and Twilight stood to the side with blank expressions as they tried to follow the conversation. Twilight was the first to speak up, "What are you two talking about?"

Rowan and Shining exchanged quick glances with each other, but then Rowan nodded, "Don't worry. You might as well explain to them." The captain nodded and Rowan turned back to Twilight and Spike, "He'll tell you everything, but you need to swear that you won't tell anypony else unless I say so."

Twilight and Spike gave him confused looks, but they both nodded their heads, saying in unison, "We promise."

Rowan smiled in satisfaction, "Okay, while Shining explains to you, where do you keep spell books filled with high-level spells?"

Twilight pointed a hoof towards the shelf in the far corner, "They're over there, but why..." Rowan didn't hear the rest of what she said as he raced over to the shelf. Immediately, he took out the open page of the Liber Tenebrarum and began to search through each of the books for an identical spell.

Rowan flipped through the first book in record time, not wasting a single second in searching. The first book didn't have anything like the spell, so Rowan chucked it behind him and moved onto the next book in line on the shelf.

In the background, Rowan could hear Shining explain to Twilight and Spike what had happened at Canterlot, along with Rowan's trial and how he needed to get back to his own world. Although, once or twice while explaining, Rowan shouted out an input when Shining Armor forgot something, without even looking up from the books that he was searching.

After Shining had finished explaining, Rowan had finished looking through seven books, none of them containing a spell like the one in the Liber Tenebrarum. Rowan felt his spirits begin to rise as the possibility of the spell being the one he needed increased.

Once during his search, he glanced over at Twilight and Spike to find them staring at him. He returned quickly back to searching as Twilight asked, "Is that really true?"

Rowan shrugged, "Yeah, it is. Even the part when I had a trial in front of Princess Celestia. But don't worry, it's fine now."

Seeing as standing around wasn't helping, Spike began to gather up all of the books that Rowan had strewn across the library.

Twilight cleared her throat, "So, what happens if this really is the spell that will get you home?"

Rowan faltered in his search, surprised by the question. He felt his mind go blank as he tried to think, "Uh, I don't know." He smiled sheepishly, "I never really thought about it. But I guess, if this is the right spell, then I guess that I'll go home and leave this world behind." He pushed it out of his mind as he levitated the entire top shelf out of the book case, quickly searching through all of them.

Twilight was about to question his answer, when Spike suddenly let out a yelp. Everyone looked to see that the dragon was carrying too many books for him to handle, due to his small size. Trying to balance the tall tower of books that he was carrying, Spike stumbled across the library, heading towards the shelf by Rowan.

But then the dragon accidentally found a book that was left on the floor as he tripped on it, sending the tower of books he was carrying onto Rowan. Rowan grunted as one book smacked him in the side of the head, knocking him back into the bookcase. He lost his focus on the levitation spell that was keeping the books in the air, making all of them drop down on top of him.

Twilight sighed, "Oh, no." She frowned at Spike, "Spike! I told you not to carry more books than you could handle."

The dragon ignored her and began to clean the mess of books that scattered the floor, "Sorry, Rowan. Are you all right?"

Rowan got up, his head still spinning, "Uh, yeah. I guess so." He looked around at the pile of books that now lay by his hooves. "But where's the Liber Tenebrarum?"

He began to levitate all of the books out of the way, where Twilight then placed them back on the shelf. After cleaning up the vast majority of the mess, Rowan spotted the Liber Tenebrarum near the bottom of the pile. He reached down and pulled out the book, but another book came with it, laying squarely in the middle of the open page.

Rowan thought nothing of it as he looked at the additional book. But then his eyes widened as he realized that he'd seen the extra book before, and it was one that Twilight used a lot of the time. The book was titled, The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.

Rowan carefully set the book aside and looked at the open page of the Liber Tenebrarum. His eyes widened as he inhaled sharply at what he saw. The spell that he'd spent the time comparing had completely vanished from the page, and in its place there was a single passage.

On the verge of panicking, Rowan flipped through the book, forwards and back, thinking that he'd just lost his place. But as he searched the adjacent pages, still the spell was nowhere to be found.

"What? What happened?" he asked to himself out loud.

Twilight and the others had finished cleaning up the mess, and they heard Rowan's question. Shining Armor raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

Rowan glanced over to them, his breath shaking, "I mean, the spell is gone."

Twilight rushed up to him and looked at the page of the Liber Tenebrarum, "What do you mean by that?" She tried to read what was in the book, but then quickly stopped as she remembered that she couldn't read it.

Rowan shook his head, "I don't know. The spell was right here, but when the books fell on top of it, the spell disappeared. I checked the other pages to see if it just flipped to a different page, but it's not there. All that's left is this passage."

Shining Armor and Spike walked up closer to Rowan. Shining gave him a confused look, "Well, what does the passage say? It could be something important."

Rowan looked down at the passage and began to read out loud for everyone to hear,

The Elements of Harmony are the most powerful sources of magic in the universe. They are pure embodiments of a specific attribute that helps bring peace and harmony wherever they are. The elements can only be wielded by those who fully represent the attribute of each element. But for the elements to use their power, they need to be used together, and to do this, the element of magic needs to be present to unite them all.

There are certain requirements that need to be met by the elements that are present. These requirements are that the element of magic is present in the activation of the elements, and that there are at least five other elements to join together.

The five elements that are more commonly known are Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty. These five were all created together in the beginning, and have never been separated from each other throughout time. But there are other elements that lie elsewhere, far apart from each other. They have remained dormant ever since they were created, but they may be used when a being that represents their specific element awakens them.

When all of the elements that lay scattered across the world are brought together and united by magic, their power shall reach their highest, and anything will be possible through them.

Rowan put down the book, eyes wide and mouth dropped open. He glanced at everyone else, who also wore the same expression. For a minute, nobody said anything as they began to comprehend the passage.

Twilight was the first to come out of the trance, "But, that means that there are other elements, all over Equestria."

Rowan shook his head, "No, not just Equestria. Remember how it said they were scattered across the world? That means that they could be outside of Equestria as well."

Twilight glanced over at the Liber Tenebrarum, "But why did the book replace the spell with that passage?"

Rowan thought to himself, but then his eyes wandered over to the Elements of Harmony reference guide. He picked up the book and showed it to the others, "Well when I found the Liber Tenebrarum in the mess of books, this was on top of it. Seeing as the Liber Tenebrarum is magical, do you think that it could have been influenced by the guide?"

Shining quickly thought about it, but then nodded, "It seems possible. Although, what about the other elements that it mentioned?"

Twilight paced uneasily through the library, shaking her head, "This means that the elements are incomplete. Even with the six that we have now, the power of the elements isn't at its fullest. There are more that we don't even know about, and they could be anywhere. The princess needs to hear about this at once."

Rowan grabbed Twilight's shoulder to stop her from pacing, "Not just Celestia. We need to tell Princess Luna, too, since she is my teacher and she gave me the Liber Tenebrarum in the first place."

The purple unicorn nodded back, "Good idea." She looked over at Spike, "Spike, start a letter to both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."

Spike quickly whipped out a piece of paper and a quill, ready to write the letter.

Twilight cleared her throat, "Dear Princesses Celestia and Luna. Together, me and Rowan have made a discovery that could alter the course of history..."

As Spike and Twilight continued to write the letter, Rowan turned to Shining Armor, saying glumly, "I think I'm gonna go. It's getting late."

The captain could tell the young colt was still disappointed at losing the spell in the Liber Tenebrarum. He put a hoof on Rowan's shoulder, reassuring him, "Don't worry, Rowan. You'll find the spell again."

Rowan shrugged Shining's hoof off of his shoulder and shook his head, "I doubt it. It wasn't even me that found it. Shade found the spell."

Shining inhaled sharply, "What do you mean?"

Rowan sighed, "I left the book in my study with Shade for a few minutes, but when I came back, I found Shade's paw on top of the page with the spell. I don't know if it was an accident or not, but I doubt that he could find it again if I let him."

Shining Armor dropped his head slightly, "Oh, okay." He gave a comforting smile, "Well, I'm sure that you'll find it again. Don't give up now."

Rowan nodded, and waved everyone goodbye before stepping out of the library with the Liber Tenebrarum.

Shining watched as Rowan walked gloomily down the dark road. "Poor guy." He muttered to himself. His thoughts still pestered at him, as if something wasn't right. He looked down the street to see the silhouette of Rowan disappear in the night, "Something doesn't seem right. Everything that's happened can't just be a coincidence."

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Rowan walked into his house, glumly kicking the door behind him. He walked upstairs, head hanging close to the floor.
Upstairs, he glanced into the study to see Shade walking in the short length of the shadow bind. Rowan paid the wolf no mind as he walked into his bedroom.

Once inside, he slumped down face-first onto his bed. He was lost in sorrow as he searched his thoughts, I had that one chance to get home, and I let it slip away from me. He grit his teeth together as he clenched his hooves as if they were still hands. If I didn't wait to make sure that it was right, then I could be home by now.

He felt a single tear fall down his face onto the bed, as he felt rage towards himself. His breath shook as he muttered, "How could I be so stupid?" More tears began to fill his eyes, making everything in his vision blurry, "I can't afford to wait anymore. I'm taking the next chance I get. Otherwise, I'll never get home again."

His silent crying began to echo through his room, as his pillow became wet with his tears of frustration. For once, ever since he first came to Equestria, he felt truly alone. Sniffling as his nose began to become clogged, Rowan silently made a vow to himself, "When a chance comes to go home, I'm not going to wait. Not again...."

In his silent cry, sleep overtook him after a few minutes while his face became stained with tear streaks. In his sorrow, he drifted through a dreamless sleep.

Author's Note

Sorry if this chapter didn't make sense to you readers. By now, I suppose that you guys have figured out what is happening so far. But in case you guys aren't following me, I review what we know,

-The Liber Tenebrarum contains almost limitless information, and can change what it says instantly.

-Now Twilight and Spike, along with Shining Armor, are the only ones that know about Rowan being from another world.

-A changeling raid is coming to Ponyville in the morning, which nobody knows about.

-Shade is a shadow wolf, and the Liber Tenebrarum contains shadow magic. Coincidence?

-There are more than 6 elements of harmony, but there needs to be a total of 6 together, including the element of magic, to use them.

If you have notice anything in my writing that I should fix, please mention it in the comment box, before I make the same mistake in later chapters.

-Thanks, Shadowflame

The Pursuit

The changeling filly raced through the sky clutching the black book tightly against her. The plan that she had made was simple. Let the other changelings know that she had the Liber Tenebrarum, and then the swarm would leave the town and return to the hive. But then when they left Equestria, she would slip away unnoticed. Although, after that she didn't know what she was going to do.

She pushed it out of her mind. At the moment, she still needed to stop the changelings from attacking the town. The filly flew to the center of the protection spell that had appeared, and using her vocals that only a changeling had, let out a high-pitched note to the entire town.

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Shining Armor raced through Ponyville, which had now become its own battlefield. The ponies that fought to protect their homes were locked in a clash against the changelings, and it seemed that the changelings were becoming quickly overpowered. As victory seemed to near, the changelings were being driven back towards the edge of the protection spell.

But then, in the middle of fighting, the changelings all stopped and raised their heads, as if they heard something. Curious to what was happening, the captain was shocked to see all of the changelings turn at once and fly back through the protection spell. Shining looked up at the changelings who had been outside the protective dome to see that they too were flying back from where they came from: Beyond the Everfree Forest.

Seeing the changelings flee, everypony began to cheer and celebrate the victory. That is, everypony except for the cautious captain. He scratched his chin with a hoof, "Why would they give up so easily?" But then his mind turned to why they had come in the first place.

His eyes widened as he realized what had happened, "Oh, no"

He started to run to Rowan's house, but he was stopped when his sister caught up to him. Twilight had a worried expression, "Shiny! What's wrong. The changelings just got up and left all of the sudden."

The captain continued to run past her, "Follow me."

Twilight quickly ran to catch up with Shining. The captain looked over his shoulder at the purple unicorn, "Are you all right?"

Twilight shook her head, "I'm fine, but a changeling knocked Spike unconscious. He's with Fluttershy now."

They both reached the door to Rowan's house, which was wide open. Twilight gasped as she looked at the trashed room inside.

"Come on." Shining Armor ran inside and began to climb upstairs. Twilight followed closely behind.

Both of the unicorns walked into Rowan's room to see Rowan curled up on the floor. The gray unicorn was sobbing into his hooves. Shade was by his side, trying to comfort the colt.

Shining Armor ran up to help Rowan, "Rowan, what's wrong? What happened?"

The gray unicorn had tears blurring his eyes as he answered in a choked voice, "They took it. They took the Liber Tenebrarum."

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An hour had passed and with the changelings having left, the townsponies at Sweet Apple Acres began to head back into town and help repair what had been damaged in the battle. Rowan stood outside with Twilight and Shining Armor as they tried to assess the situation. He was still glum that the changelings had taken the Liber Tenebrarum, but he wasn't going to let his sorrow keep him from helping others in town.

Shining Armor looked out at the town in front of Rowan's house, "We need to send a message to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They need to know what's happened, and they should know why the changelings took the Liber Tenebrarum. But we can't send a message quickly with Spike unconscious, and we can't send a message to Canterlot because the Princess is already on her way here with reinforcements."

Twilight was lost in thought, "But then what are we supposed to do?"

Shining Armor sighed, "The only thing we can do is wait for the princess to arrive. Until then we need to help the town repair itself."

The two unicorns nodded and started back to town, but then Twilight stopped as she realized that Rowan wasn't following them.

"Hey, Rowan! Are you coming? We could really use your help."

Rowan shook his head, "I... I'll help in just a second. I just need to do something first." But in his mind, he added with deep determination, I need to get the book back.

Twilight smiled, "Okay, don't take too long." With that she trotted off into town.

Once the purple unicorn was out of sight, Rowan ran back into his house, Shade following closely behind him. Making his way through his trashed main room, he entered into the kitchen. Using levitation, Rowan grabbed several pieces of food, as well as some sausages for Shade, and stowed them away in his storage spell as provisions for the trip he'd be making to the changeling hive.

With enough food gathered, Rowan galloped out of his house with Shade. They ran through the streets of Ponyville, passing by several ponies who were repairing their homes that had been damaged in the attack. As Rowan watched them struggle to make repairs, he cringed as he thought to himself, This is all my fault. Shaking his head, he quickly quickened his pace towards the forest's edge, But I'm going to set it right.

Rowan reached the end of town, with the Everfree forest standing before him. Rowan reared back as he readied his horn, "Okay, time to see where you changelings came from." He launched his navigation spell, which quickly picked up the fresh trail that the swarm had left behind. He smiled, "Time to go, Shade."

Shade barked in response and they both ran into the forest, or rather, they would have if not for the sudden pull of magic that drew them away from the forest. Rowan whipped his head around to see that it was Twilight who was holding them back. The purple unicorn frowned at him, "Rowan! What are you doing."

Rowan phased into his cloud form, escaping Twilight's holding spell, and reformed by the tree line of the forest, "I'm going after them. I'm getting the book back."

Twilight gasped, "But you can't just leave town! It's stupid to try to face the changelings alone. You'd get yourself killed."

Rowan narrowed his eyes at her, "They came here because they wanted the book. It's my fault that they attacked the town. I put everypony in danger by bringing the Liber Tenebrarum here." He turned his eyes away from her and looked down at the ground in guilt, "But it's not just that. When Princess Luna gave me the book, she expected me to protect it with my life. I failed her when the changelings took it."

Twilight shook her head, "But, I'm sure that she'll forgive you. It's only a book after all."

Rowan glared at the other unicorn, "Just a book? The Liber Tenebrarum is the only record of shadow magic in history, and there is only one in existence. I failed my teacher by losing it. How would you feel if you failed Princess Celestia?"

Rowan found that he had hit one of Twilight's soft spots as she stood with her mouth agape in shock. Sighing, Rowan turned back towards the forest, "Look, Twilight. By the time Celestia arrives with reinforcements, the changeling's trail will have disappeared. I'm going to get back the book and I'm going to fix all of this, and I'm going to do it alone. It's my fault and mine alone for why this happened. So, don't follow me." With that, he used his cloud spell and flew high into the air, following the diminishing trail of the swarm, and left behind a silenced Twilight by the forest's edge.

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The changeling filly flew fast at the head of the swarm, still clutching the Liber Tenebrarum against her chest. They had left Ponyville long before, and now she prepared to slip away from the swarm, unnoticed. She slowed down slightly, and let the rest of the changelings fly past her.

Once she was at the back of the swarm, she looked around for a sufficient hiding place on the ground below. Since they were out of Equestria, the terrain below was rugged and dry, but there were several large boulders that could serve as a good hiding place. She spotted a large boulder with an overhang, which would hide her from anyone flying above.

She prepared to drop down to it, but then she was tackled from the side, almost knocking the book away from her grip. The filly clutched the book tightly as she spun out across the sky, but she quickly righted herself.

She turned to look at her attacker, which she was surprised to see that it was another changeling. Her eyes narrowed as she realized that he wasn't a drone, so he had attacked her for his own purposes.

"What are you doing?" She questioned the other changeling.

He let out a growl, "Give me the book, now."

She quickly held it away from him, "And why should I?"

"Because if you don't, I'll kill you." He glared in rage, "I should be the one to return the book to the queen. I've spent all of my time spying on those pathetic ponies in Ponyville, and I've never recieved a reward for my efforts. I deserve the reward from the queen."

The spy turned his head and sneered at her, "You, however, will only return the book to regain favor with the queen."

The changeling filly growled at him, but the spy continued, "Back before the attack on Canterlot, the queen wanted you to dispose of the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, after she became suspicious of the queen's identity. But out of weakness, you refused to obey your queen and mother. Isn't that right, Princess Naractia."

Naractia flinched at the sound of her own name, which she had given up ever since Chrysalis forced her out of Canterlot, after disobeying the queen.

She remembered the night when her mother asked her to dispose of Twilight Sparkle and for her to take her place in the wedding. She had refused to do it, so Chrysalis had forced her out of Canterlot, calling her a useless failure.

The spy saw that he'd hit a soft spot in the changeling princess, "Now give me the book, you failure." The spy suddenly charged Naractia and tackled her again. The princess spiraled through the air, but then regained control of her flight pattern. She quickly turned and flew away, trying to evade the spy's attack.

The spy screamed in rage, "Get back here! That book belongs to me!" And began to fly after her. Naractia flew as fast as she could, trying to find a place where she could lose her pursuer. But then her eye caught a large canyon just below her. She dipped down and flew into the maze of stone.

The spy was already on her tail, "Give it up! You can't lose me and I'm a faster flyer than you. Save yourself the pain and forfeit the book to me."

Naractia cringed as she weaved through the stone canyon, "Darn it, he's right. I won't be able to keep up this chase for long. But I can't afford to lose the book to him."

But then, from the sky above, the spy came crashing down on top of her, knocking the changeling princess against the canyon wall. Naractia fumbled with the book as it almost fell out of her grip, but she managed to catch it again. She whipped her head around to see the spy circle about in the small canyon, coming for another attack.

She silently cursed to herself, "I can't take another hit like that. But while I'm holding the book, I can't fend off his attacks." But then a desperate idea came into her mind. She opened up the first page of the Liber Tenebrarum and grabbed the top of the page with her mouth.

It was then that the spy crashed into Naractia again. The impact threw the Liber Tenebrarum into the air, and the page that she held in her mouth ripped out cleanly from the binding. The spy hadn't noticed the page that had been torn off, but he saw the book fly through the air and flew fast after it, snatching it out of midair.

Naractia clutched the single page of the Liber Tenebrarum against herself, as she heard the evil laughter of the spy as he flew away to rejoin the swarm with the book. The pain stung her, not just from the several scrapes and bruises that she had received, but also the reality of her failure.

She had tried to keep the book away from her mother, Chrysalis, in an effort to keep the queen from hurting anypony. But now, she had lost the book and it was on its way to the changeling queen.

Naractia slowly fell to the canyon floor as her wings began to fail her with exhaustion. She curled up in anguish while she rested her wings. She looked at the single page of the book, "At least I was able to keep this part away from the queen." She sighed, "But she still has the rest of the book, and who knows what she could do with it."

But her a little voice in her head reminded her that she could use the book's magic, too. She scanned the length of the page she held, which was written with very ancient text. She'd never been taught to read, but the words seemed to explain themselves to the changeling princess as if it were natural to her. She soon realized that it was a spell that was written on the page.

She began to commit the spell to memory, "If I'm going to get the book back, then I'll need to have magic on my side as well."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rowan flew through the air in his cloud form, following the trail left by the changelings. He looked down below him to see Shade running as a shadow on the ground. He smiled at the wolf's devotion to help.

Rowan looked ahead to see the edge of the bad-lands, the border of Equestria. Beyond the border, there was nothing green and alive. Rowan sighed at the irony that the changelings would be hiding in this barren place. This meant that it'd be harder conditions for him if he somehow got stranded out there.

He looked up to see that Celestia's sun was high in the air, signaling that it was about noon. Rowan's suddenly felt hungry as he realized that he hadn't eaten that morning. Deciding that eating would be the best thing to do before leaving Equestria, Rowan dipped down and descended to the ground.

Rowan landed onto the grassy field below that outlined the border of Equestria, and resumed his unicorn form. Shade quickly ran up next to him, melding out from his shadow. Rowan smiled, "All right, Shade. Time to eat something." He glanced warily at the land outside the border, "Who knows when we'll eat next out there."

Shade barked happily as Rowan pulled out a couple sausages from his storage spell. Rowan tossed them to the wolf, who snatched them at of midair, and then pulled out a piece of bread and a banana for himself.

Rowan sat down while he ate his lunch. He looked around at the field where they were, which was rich with green grass and dotted by the occasional flower patch. With the sun over-head and a slight wind blowing, the place seemed pleasant.

Rowan took a bite of bread, enjoying the scenery around him, "Wow. This is place is peaceful. Makes it seem like I'm not going to dive head first into a changeling hive." But then he remembered what Twilight had said before he'd left, "Maybe she was right. It was stupid to go after them alone. I could die out there." He felt something like a rock growing in his stomach at the possibility of dying.

He shook it out of his mind, "Whatever. I'm going after the Liber Tenebrarum. It's my only chance to get home." Rowan sighed and fell backwards onto a patch of grass, "But until then, I have to give my *all* here, or else I'll never get home."

Pushing the thoughts out of his mind, he finished eating his lunch while enjoying the gentle breeze that blew through the grassy plain. He looked down at Shade, who was resting on the grass after his long run on the ground. Rowan got up onto his hooves, "All right, Shade. Time to go."

Shade stood up with a bark, while Rowan prepared his cloud spell. As Rowan changed into his cloud form, he watched Shade meld into his shadow. The unicorn chuckled at the weirdness of the scene, "How did my life get like this?"

Rowan flew up into the air and continued down the trail that the changelings had left behind, with Shade following below on the ground. Rowan looked behind him at the grass plain as the trail led them across the border. As soon as they passed over the invisible threshold of the border, the gentle breeze that had been blowing completely vanished. And Celestia's sun, which had spread love and light throughout Equestria, scorched the earth outside the border with a vicious heat wave.

Nonetheless, Rowan continued to fly through the desert air at high speed as a cloud of smoke, completely unaffected by the intense heat of the blazing sun.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Naractia focused on the canyon wall where she'd been practicing the spell that she'd learned from the ripped-out page of the Liber Tenebrarum. She'd never learned how to use any magic before, but that was mainly because of her mother, Chrysalis.

Naractia pointed her horn towards the stone wall and began to run through the spell that she'd memorized. She began to feel the spell take effect as her horn glowed with a dark red aura. Suddenly, a beam of magic shot out from her horn and blasted a boulder-sized, chunk of stone out of the wall, which land with a crash onto the canyon floor in front of her.

The changeling inspected her work, taking great satisfaction towards her success, "This spell will be useful." But then she cringed at the thought of using it on somebody else. She'd never wanted to hurt anybody, not even the changelings. Of course, being changelings, it was in their nature to fight against each other. So in the past, Naractia had to fight back when the situation called for it.

Naractia wouldn't even hurt her own mother, no matter how badly she felt that the queen deserved it. But she still regarded Chrysalis as an enemy, and rebelled whenever she could.

Naractia shook her head and looked up at the small patch of sky that was visible in the canyon. The sky was starting to turn orange as the sun began to set. By now, the Ponyville spy would have already given the queen the Liber Tenebrarum.

She sighed, "I don't know how I'm going to get the book back now." But then she silenced herself as, in the sky, she spotted something that resembled a black cloud, moving rapidly across the sky. Naractia was about to fly up closer to see what this strange cloud was, but then another black figure suddenly leaped over the crevice of the canyon.

Her pupil-less eyes widened as she recognized the second figure. It was a wolf, or rather a shadow of a wolf. And the only wolf that Naractia had ever seen that was Shade, the wolf that had accompanied Rowan back in Ponyville. Then something in her mind clicked, "If that was Shade, then that black cloud must have been Rowan!"

Grabbing the page of the Liber Tenebrarum, she flew to the top of the canyon. Careful to keep out of sight, she peered over the canyon wall at Rowan and Shade. She was surprised to see that they were heading towards the changeling hive. She wasn't sure how Rowan was tracking the swarm, but she was sure that they would reach the hive within an hour or so.

Suddenly, an idea popped into her mind. She beamed, "Maybe I don't have to go after the book alone." Being as discreet as possible, she began to follow the two as they made their way to the changeling hive.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rowan followed the trail left by the changelings as the sun was setting behind the horizon. He looked ahead and was surprised to see that he and Shade were nearing the end of the trail. He grinned, "That must be the hive."

Before the hive came into view, Rowan lighted down onto the barren ground below, behind the protection of a large boulder. Shade quickly ran up to him, melding out of his shadow form. Rowan smiled at his loyal companion, "You ready, Shade?" The wolf raised his head and gave a small growl, ready for a fight. Rowan nodded at him and peered around the boulder for a better look.

The entrance to the hive was a single cave, and inside the entrance there was only one changeling standing guard. Rowan grinned, "I just need take him out with a fire crescent, then getting in will be no problem." Taking in a deep breath, Rowan prepared himself to use magic.

Once he was ready, he stepped out from behind the boulder and began to walk towards the entrance to the hive. The changeling guard saw him and turned around to alert the rest of the hive, but he never got a chance as Rowan shot a flaming crescent at the guard, taking the changeling guard out.

Rowan began to run to the entrance, with Shade on his heels. But before he reached the cave, the sun vanished behind the horizon, and with no moon up to light the night yet, the barren land grew dark. Rowan stopped in the darkness and used his magic to repel the shadows.

But when the darkness drew away from Rowan and Shade, Rowan's eyes widened as his jaw dropped and Shade bent down into a defensive position, growling loudly. They found themselves completely surrounded by a swarm of changelings who had been hiding in the darkness outside the hive.

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Naractia was in shock as the entire hive appeared around Rowan and Shade. In her mind, she feared that Chrysalis must already be harnessing the power of the Liber Tenebrarum and the changeling force was waiting outside the hive for anyone who might try to stop her. She thought silently to herself, I need to help them, or else Chrysalis will kill them both. She shook her head, But I don't know what to do.

Author's Note

A/N: Bet none of you guys saw that coming. Sorry if some of this didn't make any sense.

The next chapter is going to be epic.

Thanks for reading,

-Shadowflame

Duel of Shadows

Rowan and Shade stood in the middle of the dark night, finding themselves completely surrounded by changelings. Rowan turned towards the entrance of the hive while Shade growled at the changelings behind him. Rowan reared back, ready to blast his way through the swarm, "Here goes nothing."

His horn flared, as his magic was amplified by the surrounding darkness, and he fired a barrage of flaming crescents at the surrounding changelings. Flames burst and lit the night as the projectiles drove away the changelings. Rowan looked behind him to see that Shade was now biting and snapping the changelings that tried to get the him from behind.

But even as Rowan and Shade fought off the changelings, the swarm never seemed to end. Every time that one flew away, badly injured or scared away, another took its place in the fight.

Rowan kept up his spells, both attacking and defending with shadow magic. But then, Rowan suddenly felt a pain exert from his side. Grunting from the pain, he dropped onto a knee to see that a changeling had somehow managed to get a lucky hit, and now the changelings were surging towards him.

The hurt unicorn turned his head to look at Shade. The shadow wolf was being quickly overpowered by the vast number of attackers, and several of his bandages had been torn off from fighting. Whatever bandages that were left were being soaked red with Shade's blood.

The changelings now gathered around Rowan, and began to repeatedly beat him with their legs. Rowan collapsed onto the ground as they pounded away, holding no restraint.

Rowan winced in pain, "No," another hit, "I..." and another hit, "I can't go on much longer." He looked up at the changelings that surrounded him, who looked like they were ready to finish him off. Rowan closed his eyes and lowered his head as he lost all hope of survival. He gritted his teeth as he prepared to die.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Naractia began to worry for Rowan as she watched him struggle against the swarm. It was clear that he wasn't going to last long. Not unless she did something. If she was going to do something to help Rowan, then she would need to do it fast.

Leaving her hiding place, she ran into the swarm of changelings, pushing past the drones as she tried to reach Rowan and Shade. The number of changelings thickened around Rowan and Shade, making it almost impossible to get through to them.

Frustrated as all of her efforts to get through were rejected by swarm around her, Naractia spread out her wings as she prepared to fly over the swarm. But as she began to take off, she was stopped as something cracked through the air.

Her and many of the changelings looked to find the source of the noise, which they found were two sparks that raced through the air. The sparks were made of magic, as far as Naractia could tell, but then she watched as the two projectiles zoomed through the air and landed in the middle of the swarm.

There was a slight delay time, but then the two sparks burst, pure energy lashed out at the changelings surrounding Rowan and Shade. All of the swarm stopped attacking the two intruders and looked towards the source of the sparks.

Naractia felt her jaw drop as, on top of a nearby ledge, stood a group of ponies that every changeling knew of. There were only six of them, two earth ponies, two pegasi, and two unicorns. They had been one of the reasons that the changeling force had failed to take over Canterlot, and now they were here to help Rowan and Shade.

The entire swarm buzzed in anger at the sight of Twilight Sparkle and her friends, and several of the changelings charged through the air towards them.

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Twilight and her friends stood on the ledge, looking down at the sea of changelings below. The changelings had noticed them and now began to charge at them through the air.

Back in town, before Princess Celestia had arrived with reinforcements, Twilight had begun to worry for Rowan. At the last second, she gathered her friends together and told Shining Armor that Rowan was going after the Liber Tenebrarum. Her brother had agreed with her that Rowan shouldn't had gone alone, so he decided to stay in town and wait for the princess while Twilight and her friends catch up to Rowan and help him retrieve the book.

But when they arrived to find Rowan in the middle of a changeling army, Twilight had thought that they were too late.

She looked at her friends standing beside her, "We all knew that we were diving head-long into a fight when we came. Ready, girls?"

They all nodded. Twilight smiled at her friends, "Try to find Rowan and we'll pull through this together." In unspoken unison, they turned and faced the horde of changelings before them. In an instant, the six friends leaped into the fight.

Rainbowdash was the first to leap into the action, as she dashed through the air at blinding speed, taking out the oncoming changelings, clearing the way for the others.

Twilight fired several bursts of magic, clearing the ground below. Applejack jumped into the middle of the swarm and began to buck everything that moved with her powerful hind legs. The others jumped off of the ledge and followed behind her, fighting off the changelings that came close. The five of them blazed a trail into the heart of the swarm.

They reached the middle of the swarm, and found Rowan and Shade lying on the ground, both of them badly bruised and bleeding. Applejack, Rainbowdash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy took up positions around the two. They began to fight off the oncoming wave of changelings while Twilight checked to see if Rowan was all right.

She bent down and gently shook Rowan, "Rowan! Get up!"

Fluttershy called out from her place in a frightened voice, "Um... girls? They're getting closer!"

Twilight glanced up to see the changelings start to move in on their group. She turned back to Rowan and shook him harder, "Rowan! Please be okay."

Rowan's eyes slowly opened and he said in a weak voice, "W-What?" His eyes turned over to the purple unicorn standing above him. He moaned, "Twilight? You came?"

Twilight smiled, "We all did."

Rowan glanced around at the group surrounding him and Shade, keeping the changelings at bay, "Thank you, guys. I thought I was doomed."

Applejack bucked a changeling away from the group, "Yeah, we're glad to see ya, too, Rowan. But we ain't out 'f the woods yet."

Twilight ran to join her friends in protecting Rowan, "Right. We need to get inside the hive and retrieve the book." She looked around at the swarm before them, "But first we need to get through these changelings."

Rowan struggled as he wearily stood up, "Don't count me out just yet." Slowly, he walked up next to Twilight and his horn began to glow, "I'm ready for another fight." Rowan's head jerked as he was prodded from the side. He turned to see that Shade had gotten up, and now stood by him, ready to fight as well.

Rowan smiled and looked back at the swarm. In that instant, the entire swarm leaped at the group of friends.

With that, the full-on battle began. Everyone in Rowan's group stood together, trying to keep what ground they had. Rowan attacked with his arsenal of spells, sending the changelings around him flying back into their comrades. Rowan was surprised, despite the fact that he was bleeding in numerous places and exhausted from being nearly beaten to death, he was fighting better and harder than he had fought before.

He grinned as he realized that it was because he was fighting beside his friends, "I guess friendship really is magic."

As he fended off the changelings in front of him, he stepped backwards by Twilight. Keeping an eye on the fight he shouted to her, "The changeling queen must have the Liber Tenebrarum inside the hive. We need to get into the hive before the queen can use any of the magic in the book."

Twilight nodded, "When I give the signal, we blast a path through the swarm. Then everypony run inside."

She and Rowan turned towards the changelings in front of the entrance of the hive. Twilight shouted out, "Rowan, on three!"

Rowan nodded as the purple unicorn began to count down, "One... Two... Thr-"

She was suddenly cut off by a booming voice, "I command you all to be silent."

The changelings instantly stopped their assault at once. The changelings that stood in front of the entrance to the hive parted to the sides, revealing the changeling queen.

Rowan and the others glared fiercely at the queen as she walked towards them. They all still had the memory of the changeling attack at Canterlot fresh in their minds.

Chrysalis smirked at the ponies, "Well, this is a surprise. You seven have come peacefully into my domain."

Twilight glared at her as her horn lit with magic, "Give us back the Liber Tenebrarum, now. Princess Celestia and the Canterlot soldiers are on their way here right now."

Chrysalis laughed at them, "Oh, do you mean this lovely tome?" She brought out the black book from behind her back, levitating it in the air next to her.

Rowan snorted in anger, "Give it back, unless you want me to smack that grin off your face."

The queen only laughed harder, "I'm sorry, my dear Rowan. You won't be doing anything for the moment."

Her black horn glowed with a green aura as shadows began to gather around her. Everypony reared back from the queen, ready to fight her.

But as Rowan watched Chrysalis perform the spell his eyes widened as he recognized it. He turned to warn the others, but was unable to as the queen's spell took effect. Rowan was frozen in mid-pose, trapped in a severe shadow bind.

He looked at the others, who were too frozen in their positions. Everyone held a look of worry in their eyes as they found that they couldn't move or speak.

Chrysalis cackled wickedly, "In case you were wondering, I learned a couple of spells from the Liber Tenebrarum. This one is called a shadow bind, as it uses the victim's own shadow to hold them in place." She sneered towards Rowan, "I'm sure that you're familiar with it. Aren't you Rowan?"

Rowan glared at the queen, unable to say several curse words to her in his frozen state.

Chrysalis laughed as she walked forward and began to stroke a leg under Rowan's chin, "Oh, yes. That's right. You couldn't answer me even if you wanted to. I guess I'll be doing all of the talking now." She laughed hysterically as she turned around and began to walk back into the hive.

The queen turned to the changelings, "Bring them along. I wouldn't want them to miss their own demise."

Rowan struggled under the bind as two changelings picked him up like a statue and began to carry him into the hive. Behind him, he heard the sounds of his friends being carried into the hive as well.

They entered the cave that served as the entrance to the hive. Inside was a tunnel that ran down into the dark depths below. As they ventured far into the cavern, Rowan saw that the hive was a complex network of tunnels that connected several chambers like a spider's web. The entire hive was lit by a dim green glow that exerted from the walls of the hive.

The changelings carried Rowan and his friends down to the deepest, and certainly the largest, chamber of the hive. Rowan and the others were placed down on the ground in front of something that resembled a throne. Queen Chrysalis was seated on top of it. The chamber became filled as all of the changelings covered the edges of the chamber.

Chrysalis smirked at the ponies in front of her, "Now, before I dispose of you, you all must be wondering how I knew about the Liber Tenebrarum."

Rowan gave no hint of response, but the queen continued anyway, "You see, this book actually belonged to my mother, thousands of years ago, before that filthy Princess Luna stole it. When she stole it, no one ever saw Luna, so they regarded the Liber tenebrarum to have been lost forever. After a few hundred years, without the magic provided by the book, we began to forget the ancient magic, growing weaker with every year that flew by. No one even remembers the old magic now."

She grinned at them, "However, I have spies all across Equestria, and they will report to me of strange findings. The one that I had situated in Ponyville told me of Rowan and about the presence of the Liber Tenebrarum. It was then that I realized that the book was my mother's tome that had been stolen all of those years ago. I realized that I could harness the magic within it and use it to take over all of Equestria."

Chrysalis sighed, "But as the language of the book is ancient and has been lost of hundreds of years, it was almost impossible for me to decipher the spells it contained. But luckily, I had some help."

The queen pointed towards an elderly changeling that stood by the throne. Rowan looked at and was surprised to see that it had a strong resemblance of Chrysalis. It looked like the queen, except for the changeling seemed older and gray.

The queen chuckled, "So, my little ponies. I'd like you to meet the queen before me, my mother: Queen Thorax"

Rowan's eyes widened as he realized how Chrysalis had learned the spells so quickly in a short amount of time. She had received help from someone that had actually read the Liber Tenebrarum before.

Chrysalis smiled with an ugly grin, "Yes, that's right. She gave me the ability to fully read the tome." She placed a leg on the book's cover, "Of course, since she was the last bearer of the Liber Tenebrarum, she knows all of its secrets." The queen lowered down to her mother, "Do it!"

A light suddenly exerted from the Liber Tenebrarum, and the book began to draw in the darkness around it. Rowan's eyes widened as he saw that the shadows flowing into the book. He squinted his eyes to see that the shadows were being formed into more words that added themselves into the pages of the book.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Naractia stood behind all of the changelings, watching the scene that was happening in the throne chamber. Chrysalis had just barely ordered her mother, Naractia's grand-mother, to unveil the secrets of the Liber Tenebrarum. She watched from her position as the book began to glow and draw in the shadows around it, which formed more words on its pages.

But then the princess felt the single page she carried begin to shake violently. She looked down at it, grasping the page tightly. She watched as words began to appear on the page, just as it had with the book. She realized that even thought she had torn page out of the book, it was still connected to it through magic.

Naractia read the words that had appeared on the page. There were new words on top of each spell. The changeling's eyes widened as she saw that the words were actually labels and titles for the passages and spells, identifying them for the reader.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rowan struggled to get free from the bind that was on him, but to no avail as Chrysalis held out the changed Liber Tenebrarum.

The queen laughed, "You see, I have complete control over the book and its magic." She walked away from them and seated herself on her throne, "So, Twilight Sparkle, I say let the Princess come. With shadow magic, I can easily destroy her. No one can help you or the rest of Equestria."

Rowan glared at Chrysalis, Come on! There has to be away to stop her. But then something caught his eye. It was Chrysalis's throne, or rather what was on top of it. On top of the throne was a single rounded stone, with the engraving of a crescent on it. The round head piece of the throne seemed familiar, yet Rowan couldn't seem to remember what it reminded him of.

Rowan thought to himself, Where have I seen that sort of thing before?... I mean, I don't think I've ever seen that exact stone before, but I know I've seen something like it... Maybe it was something from the show?... Let's see, um,... the only round stone that I distinctly remember from the show were the Element of Harmony in their dormant forms, but I don't see how they could relate to...

Rowan's eyes widened as he remembered the passage that he had discovered last night in the Liber Tenebrarum. It had mentioned that there were more than six elements of harmony, more that could add their power to the other elements. And now Rowan was looking at it: The seventh element.

Courage

Rowan's mouth would have been hanging open if he could move it. Right now, he was looking at the seventh Element of Harmony, which was the head piece of Chrysalis's throne.

He continued to stare at it while Chrysalis sat on her throne, searching through the Liber Tenebrarum. Rowan looked back down at the changeling queen, The seventh element has been here this whole time, yet it doesn't seem that Chrysalis has discovered it, yet. If I can get the book back, as well as this new element, then the changelings wouldn't stand a chance.

Rowan turned his eyes towards his friends, wondering if they'd seen it yet. None of the others had noticed Rowan's discovery as they all were trying to get free from the shadow bind.

Rowan looked at Twilight until she noticed his eye contact. He could see worry in her eyes, but he disregarded it as he pointed his eyes towards the seventh element. Twilight followed Rowan's gaze until her eyes rested on the stone head of the throne. She glanced back to Rowan, confusion in her eyes.

Rowan rolled his eyes and pointed his eyes promptly at the element, trying to get Twilight to look closer at it. The purple unicorn looked back at the headpiece of the throne, squinting as she inspected it. After a minute or so, her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as realization dawned on her.

She glanced back at Rowan, restricted from speaking due to the shadow bind. Rowan's eyes narrowed, We have to get out of this bind. He looked closely at Chrysalis, A bind this powerful requires complete focus from the user. If she falters in her focus, then I might be able to use *my* shadow magic to cancel out the rest of the bind. He glanced at the rest of his friends, Although, there's one problem. How are we going to distract Chrysalis?

As Rowan thought hard, he saw something in the corner of his eye. He turned his eyes as far as he could to see Shade, who was positioned just behind him. The wolf was actually twitching with movement. Rowan's eyes went wide, Shade got out of my bind in Ponyville, though I don't know how. But maybe he can get out of this one.

Rowan watched as the shadow wolf began to slowly bend down as the bind slowly lost it's hold.

"What's this?" Rowan cursed as Chrysalis looked up to see Shade trying to escape, "Oh, it seems that your pet wolf has found a way to break through my shadow bind." She chuckled, "No matter. I'll simply place another bind on you, my little wolf." Her horn glowed with green light as she prepared the shadow bind spell.

When the spell was ready it shot from the queen's horn and zoned in on Shade.

Time seemed to slow down at what happened. Rowan saw the spell fly through the air towards Shade, but as it neared the wolf, Shade began to exert a shadowy aura. The shadow wolf then sunk into the floor, melding with his shadow. In the blink of an eye, the spell hit the spot where Shade had been before.

Having avoided the spell, Shade ran as a shadow with blinding speed, heading straight for Chrysalis. The wolf neared the changeling queen, melding out of his shadow, and leaped at her, teeth and claws bared. The chamber echoed with a scream as Shade dug his teeth and claws into Chrysalis' body.

As Shade attacked the queen, Rowan felt the bind around him falter. With no time to lose, he quickly sent out a pulse of shadow magic. The bind on all of the ponies vanished, letting them move again. With the bind gone, Rowan quickly charged at the throne, his horn glowing with magic.

Chrysalis screamed in rage as she knocked Shade away onto the ground. The wolf landed with a painful whine, making Chrysalis grin. But then she turned to see Rowan charging towards her. She glared at him, "You fool. You will never get the book back!" She spread her insect-like wings and took to the air with the Liber Tenebrarum in her grasp. She flew over the center of the chamber and lighted down on the other side among her changelings.

The changeling queen turned and was surprised to see that the gray unicorn was still running towards the throne. She sneered at him, "Oh, have you lost all interest of getting your precious book back?" But then Rowan jumped onto the throne, grabbing the head piece of it. Chrysalis's eyes narrowed, "No? Then I suppose you won't mind if I end your life now."

Rowan gasped as he tried to pry the seventh element loose from the throne. Behind him he heard Chrysalis beginning to charge her horn with a powerful spell, which he assumed was meant for him. Come on, element. Just come off already! He grabbed onto the element with his magic and began to pull with his horn and his hooves.

As Rowan struggled to free the element from its base, he heard Chrysalis cackle as she finished charging her spell. She laughed horribly, "Goodbye, you little pest." Rowan pulled even harder as he heard the spell fire at him.

Suddenly, the element broke away from the throne, making Rowan fall backwards from the throne with the stone in his hooves. The spell that Chrysalis had cast burst against the place where Rowan had been before, destroying the throne.

Twilight ran up to Rowan and helped him up, "Are you all right?"

He nodded as he held up the seventh element, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Chrysalis laughed at him from her position, her horn still aglow with magic, "You fool. You'd get yourself killed for a little stone. I must say that I'm impressed by your courage to oppose me, but I am curious. Why would you waste your efforts for a piece of my throne?

Rowan narrowed his eyes at the changeling queen. In his hooves he felt a small pulse emit from the element, warming his entire body. His mouth slowly turned into a grin, "Tell me, queen Chrysalis. What do you know of the Elements of Harmony?"

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Back in Canterlot, two royal guards stood in the hall of the elements. Their names were Waymaker and Martial. They stood in front of the vault that contained the fabled Elements of Harmony. Although, since the castle was already heavily guarded, and because of the fact that anyone who stole the elements would receive the full extent of Celestia's wrath, the job of guarding the elements was always a bit uneventful. This lead to the guards to become very bored.

Waymaker stifled a yawn as he muttered to himself, "Can't wait for Javelin to relieve me of my post. I'm exhausted."

Martial's eyes narrowed at his fellow guard, "Oh, suck it up. It's an honor to be guarding something as sacred and powerful as the elements. Their safety is just as high of a priority as protecting the princesses. You should be grateful to get this job assigned to you."

Waymaker smiled a bit, "Yeah, I suppose so. At least while guarding here, I don't have to stay erect all of the time."

Martial smiled too, "That's the spirit." Suddenly a thought occurred to him, "Say, why don't we grab a bite to eat after we're relieved from our post? With the rest of the royal guard gone on their way to help Ponyville, there'll hardly be anyone in the soldier's barracks."

Waymaker shrugged, "Sure, why no-"

Suddenly the doors to the vault burst open, sending the two guards flying across the room. They both got up to see light pouring out of the vault.

Martial scratched his head, "What in the hay..?"

The two guards watched as the light died down until they could see into the vault. There floating in the doorway of the vault, were the elements of harmony, glowing in their power.

Waymaker gasped, "The... The Elements!"

Martial shook his head, "What's going on?"

Suddenly, the elements lit brightly, becoming like six different colored stars, and shot out of the hall with blinding speed. The two guards stared in awe as the objects vanished from sight. They both glanced at each other, jaws dropped open.

"Uh,... Did you see that?" Waymaker asked out of the corner of his mouth.

"Um,... No. Did you?"

"No."

A brief moment of silence, but then Martial asked,

"So who's going to tell the princess?"

Waymaker shrugged, his mouth still agape, "I don't know."

Little did the two soldiers know that the elements were flying rapidly out of Equestria, answering the call of a new element that was soon to be awakened.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rowan stood in the middle of the swarm of changelings, holding the seventh element, glaring at the changeling queen, Chrysalis. The unicorn's friends stood around him, ready should another fight break out.

Rowan asked the queen again, "What do you know about the Elements of Harmony?"

The queen rolled her eyes, "Bah, the elements of Harmony are one of the most powerful items in Equestria. Everyone knows that, even outside of its borders. Although, they are irrelevant at the moment, seeing as you all are going to die now."

Rowan shook his head, "I'm sorry, Chrysalis. But you're wrong." He gave her a slight smile, "You see, you aren't the only one who studied the Liber Tenebrarum.

Rowan cleared his throat, "While I was in Ponyville, I came across a passage in the book by accident. It contained information concerning the elements. I read it and found that the elements were incomplete, and that their power could become even greater."

Chrysalis glared at the unicorn colt, "What are you talking about, you pest?

"I'm saying that the elements aren't at their full power, yet. There are more elements hidden throughout the world."

Everyone let out a collective gasp.

Applejack glanced towards Twilight, "Twi? Is that true?"

Pinkie Pie gave a huge smile, "Wow! More elements! That means I'm going to have even more friends! This is going to be so fun!"

Rainbowdash poked up her head, "Um, that's great and all, Rowan. But why are you bringing this up now?" She gestured a hoof towards the changeling swarm that surrounded them.

Rowan grinned as he held up the seventh element, "Then Chrysalis, why do you think I was so intent on getting this?"

Chrysalis's eyes went wide, "No, that can't be..."

Rowan nodded, "Yes, it is. The seventh Element of Harmony."

Suddenly the chamber was lit in blinding light as six multicolored stars appeared in the air above the ponies. The stars slowly fell until they were just above the ponies surrounded by changelings. Each star floated above a specific pony and then flew down into their user. When the light receded, the six besides Rowan were wearing the Elements of Harmony, which still glowed brilliantly.

Then the seventh element floated out of Rowan's grip as he grew brighter until it was a pure white star. Suddenly, the seventh element dropped down onto Rowan and began to form itself around the unicorn. The white light dimmed a bit and Rowan looked down to see himself wearing a full suit of golden armor. The seventh element was embedded into the chest plate, which was now a pure-white color, crescent-shaped gemstone.

Rowan smiled as he looked at the changelings, who were beginning to draw back in fear. Rowan looked back towards the other elements, "Let's do this."

Twilight nodded and closed her eyes as she activated the element of magic. Her eyes lit up in a bright, white glow. The others began to activate their elements as well, adding their power to the element of magic. Finally, Rowan closed his eyes as he activated his own element. The crescent on his chest plate shined with a white aura as, for the first time, it added its power to the Element of Magic.

As the power of the elements joined, Rowan and the other elements were lifted off of the floor of the chamber. By now several of the changelings had turned and fled out of the chamber, trying to get out of the hive as fast as possible.

Chrysalis firmly stood her ground, as she screamed at her changelings, "Come back, you cowards!" The queen raised her horn towards the floating group of ponies and fired multiple spells. However, the spells were deflected away from the power of the elements. Chrysalis's eyes widened as a massive amount of energy surged around the elements and their bearers.

The energy surged, building up in its center, until it finally exploded in a wave of colors. Instantly, the wave spread throughout the chamber, knocking Chrysalis against the far wall. The changeling queen tried to shield herself from the powerful magic of the elements, but she was quickly overpowered as the wave of energy spread throughout the rest of the hive.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Naractia flew as fast as her wings would allow, following the swarm of changelings that fled from the power of the elements. She still held the page of the Liber Tenebrarum in her mouth. She and the changelings weaved through the tunnels of the hive, flying towards the only exit.

The changeling princess thought to herself as she flew, The elements would destroy anything in their range that is evil and impure. But with Rowan having found the seventh element, who knows how powerful their magic could become.

But as the swarm flew up through the tunnels of the hive, Naractia was relieved to see the exit up ahead. However, her relief was short-lived as an explosion echoed through the tunnels of the hive. She looked back to see a bright light, made up of all colors of the rainbow, coming from the tunnels behind her.

Naractia gasped, The magic of the elements! I have to get out of here! She put every last bit of strength into her wings, propelling her through the flying swarm of changelings. Not wasting anytime, Naractia weaved through all of the changelings in front of her, quickly flying to the front of the swarm.

She past the changelings at the head of the swarm right as they all flew out of the hive and into the open air. Just then, the power of the elements shot out of the hive, brightly lighting the night sky. Naractia quickly dove down to the ground and landed, avoiding the oncoming wave of magic.

Resting her wings, Naractia watched as the wave hit the swarm. The changelings who had been near the front of the escaping swarm were propelled through the sky and flew helplessly away into the distance. The few changelings who were at the rear of the swarm, however, were vaporized on the spot, with not even a bit of ash of them left.

But, just as quickly as it had come, the magic of the elements vanished as it was dispersed in the night sky. The changeling princess sighed a breath of relief as she stood alone on the desert floor, thankful to have survived the power of the elements. Now she was truly alone.

The Ending?

The light of the elements began to fade inside the chamber of the hive. Rowan felt a warm glow fill the inside of the once cold chamber as he and the others dropped slowly back down to the ground. Once he was back on the ground, he was immediately tackled to the floor by Shade, who began to furiously lick his face.

He laughed as he tried to shake the wolf off, "Shade, come on! get off!"

Shade hopped off of Rowan, wagging his tail happily like a dog. Rowan got up onto his hooves, grinning widely at the wolf, but then he noticed something. All of Shade's wounds and cuts were gone, as well as the remaining bandages that had been on him.

Rowan quickly looked down at himself. He grinned as he saw that anyplace where he had been bleeding or bruised from fighting had completely healed.

"Rowan! That was fantastic!" The unicorn quickly turned to be tackled in a bear-hug by Pinkie Pie.

He grunted as he tried to get out of Pinkie's hug, which he found was difficult, since he was wearing a suit of armor now, "Yeah. Thanks, Pinkie."

The rest of his friends ran up to meet him. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbowdash followed Pinkie's lead and jumped into the hug as well.

Twilight grinned as she watched Rowan struggle in the massive group hug, "Hey, Rowan. That was incredible, what you did. I am wondering though, how did you know the other elements would come when the seventh element was awakened?"

Rowan shrugged as he was released from the group hug, "I don't know. It was just a feeling that I had."

There was a moment of silence as everyone grinned at their friends.

Rarity broke the silence as she looked at Rowan wearing his element, "Although I must say, Rowan. You look rather dashing in that suit of armor."

Rowan smiled sheepishly, "Um,... Thanks, Rarity."

"But, Rowan." Twilight interjected, "What is the seventh element exactly? I mean, the other elements represent honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty, and magic, but what does your element represent?"

Rowan scratched his head with a hoof, "Um, I don't actually know." He thought hard examining the crescent shaped jewel on his chest plate, Hm... Each element bearer has to represent their element fully. What attribute do I have that the element could represent? He thought hard as he recalled everything that he'd been through ever since he came here to Equestria.

There was the time when he had to evade the soldiers in Canterlot to reach the castle. Then there was also when he'd fought off the timberwolves to save Shade. And then he recalled the fight against the changelings, both in Ponyville and outside of the hive. But as he began to recall those events, he started to see an attribute that he had shown in all of those moments.

Rowan grinned as he figured out the identity of the seventh element. He looked back towards his friends, beaming as he uttered a single word, "Courage."

Twilight smiled back as she saw the reasoning behind it, "I think you might be right."

Rowan glanced back down at the armor he wore, and at the Element of Courage, which shined proudly on the chest plate.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie spoke up as she pointed a hoof towards the exit of the chamber, "Oh! Hey, Rowan! Isn't that the book you wanted to get back from that evil queeny bug Chrysalis?"

Rowan would've laughed at the name Pinkie had called Chrysalis, but he was suddenly more interested about the location of the Liber Tenebrarum. He followed Pinkie's hoof until he spotted the black book lying on the floor of the chamber. But then his eyes widened as he saw what was lying next to it.

On the ground next to the tome, was the changeling queen Chrysalis, knocked unconscious. Rowan cautiously walked towards the Liber Tenebrarum, while carefully watching Chrysalis for any signs of movement. Soon, he stood only a few feet away from the defeated queen and the book, yet Chrysalis was still showing no sign of waking.

Sighing in relief, Rowan quickly picked up the book with magic. He smiled as he held it up, but then he opened it and began to look through its pages. The unicorn's smile broke into a wide grin as he found that now the hundreds of spells that the book contained were labeled, due to the unlocking magic of Chrysalis's mother. Yes! Now I'll be able to find a spell that will get me home within an hour or two! I'll be able to go home again.

Rowan closed the book and gripped it against his chest, brimming with excitement. He looked back towards his friends, "Thanks, you guys. Now that I have the Liber Tenebrarum back, the changelings can't do any harm and I'll be able to go home to my own world."

Everyone suddenly began to look at Rowan with confused expressions. Rowan's eyes widened and he immediately face-hoofed himself, as he realized that the others, besides Twilight, didn't know that he was from another world, yet.

His friends gave him curious looks, but Twilight quickly began to explain, "You see girls, Rowan isn't actually from Manehatten. He's from an entirely different world from ours. He was dropped here in Equestria, and he's been looking for a way to get home."

Rowan beamed at Twilight, and then explained further, "When I went to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for help, they told me that they wouldn't be able to get me back to my world. But then Luna showed me how to use shadow magic and then gave me the Liber Tenebrarum. She told me that since the book was the only one of its kind, there might be a possibility that it contained a spell that can get me home."

Twilight walked up next to Rowan and faced her friends, "That's why Rowan was so desperate to get the book back. It's probably the only way he can get home."

Realization dawned on the others as Rowan's story became clear, and they began to relax a little.

Applejack laughed, "Oh, so that's why ya just dove head first into that horde of changelings."

Rarity smiled at Rowan, "Why, Rowan. You could have just told us about your problem before you came here alone."

Rainbowdash nodded in agreement, "Yeah! We'd do anything to help a friend in trouble. You didn't need to get yourself hurt without *any* help."

Rowan grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head with a hoof, "Yeah, I guess it was kind of stupid to come alone." Shade barked up from his side, trying to add into the conversation. Rowan chuckled as he petted the wolf, "Okay, not completely alone."

Rowan looked back at his friends to see them all staring at him. "What?" He asked, confused by their wide-eyed looks. Twilight pointed a hoof down at the Liber Tenebrarum, "Rowan! Look!"

Rowan looked down at the book clutched in his arm to see it emit tiny green sparks. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped open as the sparks began to increase in size and number. Suddenly, a spark shocked the colt, making him drop the book. He rubbed the part of his arm that had been shocked, What the heck?!

"Rowan?.. What's happening?" Fluttershy whispered frightfully.

Rowan shook his head, "I don't know." He watched as the sparks consumed the book on the ground, until it was no longer visible in the cover of green electricity. But as soon as the book was completely covered, the sparks suddenly vanished. But then Rowan watched in horror at what happened next.

On the ground, the Liber Tenebrarum suddenly disintegrated, becoming nothing but a small pile of ash. Rowan gasped as he looked helplessly at the remains of the book, which he had worked so hard to get back from the changelings. With mouth open in shock, he breathed out, "What happened?! NO! This can't be happening!!"

Suddenly, Rowan heard a small chuckle from behind him. He turned to see Chrysalis, who was lying on her side, softly laughing to herself. The chuckle began to escalate into a maniacal laugh as Chrysalis raised her head up to look at the ponies. She sneered at them, "You fools. Did you think that I would just let you take the power of the Liber Tenebrarum?"

Rowan felt his eyes burn in rage as he glared at Chrysalis. "What did you do?!" He demanded.

She only laughed at him, "When my changelings fought you outside our hive, I placed an effective fail-safe on the book. It's what you would call a self-destruct spell. It activates when someone besides the user of the spell touches the object that it has been cast on." The queen cackled to herself, "Although, it's a shame that you won't be able to use it to return to your world, Rowan."

Rowan felt his rage increase to the point of bursting. Chrysalis laughed even harder, "Yes, I heard your little story, while I faked my unconsciousness. You wanted the Liber Tenebrarum to find a spell to get back to your home. But since it has been destroyed, you have no way to find the spell."

Rowan ground his teeth together, as he felt his head burn in fury, "You... You-"

Chrysalis cut him off, "I'm sure that when you leave here, you'll try to find another way to get back to your world, but that's just it, isn't it? There is no other way." The changeling queen laughed maniacally, "Don't you realize that you've completely lost everything back in your world. Your possessions, your loved ones, and your life. You'll never have them again, my dear Rowan. So why bother trying to find a way home? Why don't you give up like the coward that you really are?"

The gray unicorn flared his nostrils as he stomped a hoof on the ground, "You don't know anything about me or my world."

She smirked at the furious colt, "My guess is that you have a family back in your world. Did you love them? It's too bad that you won't be able to see them again."

Rowan felt the hatred towards the fallen queen raise to an even greater level. "Stop it!"

Chrysalis ignored Rowan, as she found that she had hit a soft spot in the colt, "I bet that they're searching everywhere for you."

Rowan repeated himself, lighting his horn with magic, "Stop it! Or! Else!"

"Maybe they have completely forgotten about you, and don't care one bit about finding you."

Rowan clenched his teeth, as he tried to restrain himself from attacking the changeling. He felt a single tear begin to slide down his cheek, "Shut Up!"

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes, "Or perhaps, they think that you've abandoned them, and they wouldn't want you, even if you did return to them."

Rowan felt the something snap inside of him. Whether it was physically or emotionally, he didn't care as he lost control of himself. He surged forward at the queen in burning rage, and drove a single hoof into her face in a wild, full-force punch.

Chrysalis's head fell to the ground from the force of the blow, a crack appeared in her changeling exoskeleton in the place where Rowan had struck. Her eyes then rolled back into her head as unconsciousness overtook the queen.

Even though he had gotten a clean blow on Chrysalis, it wasn't enough for Rowan. He wanted revenge and he wanted it now. He was about to leap onto the queen and use her as a punching bag, but he was stopped in mid-air by magic. Rowan looked to see Twilight holding him back.

Rowan struggled to get out of Twilight's hold, "Let go of me! I'm gonna kill her!"

The purple unicorn placed a hoof on Rowan's side, "You need to calm down, Rowan. Now, I haven't known you for more than a few days, but I know that you're not a killer. And so does everyone else."

Rowan looked back at the others to see their looks of horror and concern. His rage towards Chrysalis soon died down and was replaced with the sorrow of losing the book. He sat down on the ground, letting tears stream out of his eyes.

"I'm sorry...." He muttered in a quiet voice, wiping away his tears, "I don't know what got into me."

Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder, "It's okay. She shouldn't have said those things. Sorry about the book, Rowan."

Rowan stared glumly at the ashes of the Liber Tenebrarum, sighing as he replied, "It's okay." He slowly stood back up and turned towards the exit of the chamber, "Come on, guys. We should get back to Ponyville." Without another word spoken, he began to gallop quickly through the long, empty tunnels of the changeling hive, as a torrent of tears cascaded down his face. He didn't care if his friends were following behind him or not. He just needed to get out of this nightmare of a cavern.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Naractia sat in front of the entrance to the hive, puzzling through her thoughts as she tried to figure out what to do next. The changelings had been scattered across the bad-lands, and Chrysalis, along with the queen's mother, must have been vaporized as well by the magic of the elements. That left Naractia with the problem of what to do now.

She thought about the idea of returning to Equestria, but decided against it, seeing as she could be accidentally revealed as a changeling, and then things would get ugly. But then she thought about staying out in the bad-lands, but the idea lagged in enthusiasm with the prospect of being alone.

She sighed as she glanced down at the single page she held, only able to see it in her hooves due to the bright moonlight from above. The moon had been in the sky long enough and it would soon be dawn. Naractia shook her head, "What do I do now?"

But then, she was startled out of her thoughts as she heard hoof steps echoing out from the entrance of the hive. She gasped as she realized that it must be Rowan and his friends. She quickly looked around for a hiding place, and spotted a boulder that wasn't too far away. She ran and ducked behind the gigantic stone, clutching the page of the Liber Tenebrarum to her chest.

Naractia peered around the edge of the boulder to see Rowan exit the hive, still wearing the armor that bore the Element of Courage. But as she looked at the unicorn, she could tell that something was off. She expected to see Rowan at least a bit happy to have defeated Chrysalis and get the book back. But instead, his face was red and tears were streaming down his cheeks. Rowan sat down in front of the entrance to the hive and gazed up to the moon as it was nearing the distant horizon.

The changeling frowned to herself as she muttered, "What would make him this sad? He wouldn't be acting like this unless..." She trailed off in her thoughts. But as she looked at the colt in his misery, she felt a pang of sympathy for him. A voice inside her head seemed to scream at her to help Rowan. Naractia couldn't see any reason for her to help the unicorn, but her good conscious gave way as she stepped out from behind the boulder.

Naractia couldn't believe herself, considering the fact that she was about to try to talk to someone who considered her an enemy. But her conscious replied, "I don't consider him an enemy."

She slowly walked forward until she stood only a few feet away from Rowan. The unicorn colt saw her out of the corner of his eye and instinctively leaped onto all fours, horn glowing with black aura as he glared at her, "What do you want?" Rowan demanded.

She shook her head, "I'm not here to fight. I just want to ask you something."

Rowan stood with his horn fixed on the changeling, "How do I know that I can trust you?"

Naractia reached out her arm and set the single page of the Liber Tenebrarum in front of Rowan, "What if I gave you this?"

Rowan glanced curiously at the paper before him, "What's this?"

"It's a page from the Liber Tenebrarum that I tried to keep from Chrysalis." Rowan let out a gasp, but Naractia continued, "Since the book is no longer in her possession, I figure that you should have the complete book to yourself."

Rowan let out a sigh, "Sorry to disappoint you, but the book's gone. Chrysalis destroyed it."

Realization dawned on Naractia, "Does that mean Chrysalis is alive?"

Shrugging half-heartedly, "I guess so, unless I accidentally killed her when I gave her mouthful of my hoof. What's it to you? I thought that you tried to keep the page away from Chrysalis."

"What about Chrysalis's mother?"

"I don't know. She was gone after we used the elements. But you're avoiding my question. Why do you care for Chrysalis?"

Naractia sighed, "Because I'm Princess Naractia, Chrysalis's daughter."

Rowan inhaled sharply as he re-lit his horn, but Naractia quickly reassured him, "I'm not as bad as Chrysalis is. I never wanted anypony to get hurt, so I've been rebelling against my mother since out hive came to Equestria."

Suddenly, other hoof steps began to emit from the hive behind Rowan. Naractia gasped, "I'd better go. I don't want your friends to get any wrong ideas. Keep the page as a gift." Without any time for Rowan to reply, she powered her wings and took to the air, flying as fast as she could to get away.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rowan stared in shock as Naractia flew away, leaving the last page of the Liber Tenebrarum behind. It was hard for him to think that someone like Chrysalis's daughter would help him. Shaking his head, Rowan looked back down at the page of the book.

He recognized the page as the very first page in the Liber Tenebrarum, except now all of the spells were labeled due to the magic of Chrysalis's mother. Rowan's sorrow quickly came back as he realized that this was the last remaining piece of the book in the world. Even if this page survived, it couldn't show Rowan any other spells. Not even the one that he needed.

Rowan sighed as he dropped onto his back, watching the moon as it began to sink behind the horizon. He glumly levitated the page up so he could see it fully.

"Now what?" Rowan muttered to himself, "How am I supposed to get home now?" Past the floating page, Rowan could see the moon as it fully disappeared behind the horizon. In the same moment, light began to pour out from the opposite direction as the sun began to rise. The shadows of the night began to recede as light descended on the land.

Rowan sighed, "I can't believe that I was here the entire night. Just so I could get the book back." He paused as doubt filled his mind, "Was it really worth it?"

"Rowan, wait up!" Twilight shouted to him as she and the others galloped out of the hive. Rowan paid them no mind as he continued to examine the page.

Twilight noticed the page, and curiously pointed a hoof at it, "What's that?"

Rowan shrugged carelessly, "It's the last remaining page of the Liber Tenebrarum."

Everyone made a short gasp.

"Where'd you find that page?" Twilight asked.

Rowan sighed, "Does it really matter? You guys would probably over-react if I told you who I got it from."

The unicorn watched as the light of day slowly crept towards his spot on the ground. But then, something extraordinary happened.

As the morning light of day fell upon the final page of the Liber Tenebrarum, the words on it began to softly glow. Rowan's eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he watched the words on the page slowly shift from their places, sliding in all different directions. The unicorn gasped as he realized that they were forming entirely different words, different from the spells that had been there before.

Fluttershy let out a frightened squeal, "Um, Rowan?... What's happening?"

Rowan didn't answer as he stared at the changing words, completely mesmerized by their fluid movements across the page. After a few seconds, the words slowed their movement and stopped in their place. The glowing light of the words subsided, leaving the page looking like any other that you'd find in any book.

Twilight peered over at the page, "Rowan? What happened?"

Rowan quickly looked over the page. He inhaled sharply as he recognized the spells that the new words had formed. It was the very next page of the book.

Rowan glanced over at his friends, quickly standing back up in the process, "The page... It changed!"

Applejack gave Rowan a confused look, "Ah beg your pardon, Rowan. But what the hay does that mean?"

Rowan smiled as he explained, "The page when I got it was the very first page in the book, but as soon as sun-light hit it, the words changed to what was on the very next page of the book."

Rarity looked at him questionably, "So when the page meets a morning sunrise, it will become the next page of the book?"

Twilight gasped as she understood, "That means that the book will still survive, as long as you have that page, Rowan. If it continues in this pattern, then you could read the entire book, one page each day."

Rowan looked back to the page, doubt filled his expression, "But that leaves a problem. Whenever the page changes to the next one in the book, then whatever was on the page before will be lost." He stopped as a thought occurred to him, "Well, at least until the page cycles all of the way through the book. And who knows how long that could take?"

Twilight scratched her chin with a hoof, but then beamed as she got an idea, "What if you made another copy of the Liber Tenebrarum?"

Rowan gave her a confused look, "What do you mean?"

The purple unicorn explained, "What if everyday, every time the page changes, you copy what it says into a seperate book? If you do that, the Liber Tenebrarum could be fully recovered."

Rowan beamed, "Yeah! Then sooner or later, I'm sure to come across the spell that can get me home!"

Everyone smiled as they turned to look at the rising sun. A gentle silence swept around them, easing the group of friends.

Rowan was the most at peace as he held the last page of the Liber Tenebrarum. He grinned as he looked up at the sky, Maybe this *was* all worth it. He looked down at the page he held and quietly whispered, "Naractia, I hope we get to meet again. I need to thank you for giving me a hope to return home."

Twilight turned at the sound of Rowan, "What did you say?"

Rowan shook his head, "Aw, nothing. We should start heading back to Ponyville. Everypony is probably worried about us."

Twilight grinned, "Yes, let's return home."

Rowan felt a calm peace around the word, "Home... It's the only home I have right now."

With that, everyone began to gallop, or lope in Shade's case, away from the changeling hive, making their way through the barren land until they reached Ponyville.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Naractia watched from her hiding place as the group of ponies ran back to Equestria. But even then, the news of her mother's survival still shocked her. Although she was sad to hear that her grandmother had died, the changeling princess still worried for her mother.

Naractia frowned as she tried to piece her thoughts together, "Chrysalis could die alone, but should I really help her? She hasn't done anything but treat me like dirt, but she's still my mother." Suddenly an idea filled her mind, "Maybe if I can regain her trust, I can get her to see that attacking Equestria is wrong. Maybe I can get her to stop trying to hurt the ponies in Equestria."

She quickly powered her wings and flew back down into the hive. As she flew through the empty tunnels of the hive, she was disturbed by the unnatural silence that filled it. Within a couple of minutes, she reached the throne chamber. She stifled a gasp as she saw her mother lay on the ground, broken and bruised, a single crack in her exoskeleton running down her face.

Naractia lighted down beside Chrysalis and whispered to her, "Don't worry, mother. I'm here now." She sat herself down a foot away from the queen, "I'll stay with you until you recover."

The changeling princess let out a sigh as she looked at her mother, who was breathing heavily in her unconscious state, "Maybe, you'll treat me like an actual daughter." She shook her head, "Whether you do or not, I'll still love you as my mother."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Within a few hours, Rowan and his friends all made it back to Ponyville. Although, Rowan had known that reinforcements would be coming from Canterlot, but he wasn't prepared for what he saw. There was at least a couple hundred royal soldiers in town, and they were all helping the ponies in town repair from the changeling attack.

Rowan sighed with relief as he and the others walked back into town, "Man, I'm glad to be back here."

Suddenly, "Rowan! Twily! You're back!"

Rowan turned to see Shining Armor gallop up to the group. On his back was Spike, who was holding an ice pack to his head. Beaming, Rowan waved at the captian, "Hey, Shiny."

Shining beamed at them, "Glad that you all came back, safe and sound."

But then another voice joined the conversation, "He's not the only one who's glad that you're safe."

Rowan turned and gasped as his face broke out into a wide grin, "Princess Luna!"

The princess wore a warm smile on her face as she walked up to her student and her friends, "You all must have gone through a lot to be able to return from a changeling battle. Of course, what else would I expect of my pupil, and his friends."

Twilight grinned, "Princess Luna, did Princess Celestia come here to Ponyville, too?"

Luna shook her head, "No, Twilight Sparkle. When I heard that the changelings had taken the Liber Tenebrarum, I hurried to catch up with the arriving force of soldiers. I pleaded with my sister to let me go in her place. Seeing as this problem was one that I should take responsibility for, she agreed and left back for Canterlot." She turned back towards Rowan, and noticed the suit of armor that he wore now, "I'm curious to know how you came across that suit of armor, but I must ask, were you able to recover the book?"

Rowan grimaced as he thought about the last page of the book, "Um, is there someplace where we can all talk. I'm exhausted from last night."

The princess nodded, "Yes, let's find a suitable place to talk. Shining Armor and Spike should come as well, so you can tell us everything that happened outside the borders of Equestria."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Everyone sat in Rowan's main room, which Shining Armor had thankfully cleaned up after the changelings had ransacked the place for the Liber Tenebrarum. The past twenty minutes had been filled with Rowan and his friends recounting the entire journey outside of Equestria. Rowan told most of the story, but Twilight would occasionally add a detail or two that he had missed.

But as Rowan told the story, Shining Armor and Spike stared at him with their jaws dropped. Princess Luna, on the other hand (or, on the other hoof), had kept her composure as she listened to her pupil speak.

"So after I knocked Chrysalis unconscious, we left the hive and headed back to town." Rowan finished the story. During the time, he had taken off the Element of Courage, which now rested on the ground in front of him.

Spike burst out laughing, "Wow! I wish I was there to see that! The look on Chrysalis's face must have been hilarious!"

Twilight nudged the dragon with a hoof, "Um, Spike. Now's not the time for that."

Spike stopped laughing, but still kept a wide grin on his face as he chuckled to himself.

Princess Luna cleared her throat, "Well, Rowan. That was an incredible tale, but I'm sorry that the Liber Tenebrarum was destroyed."

"Hey, on the bright side," Shining Armor interjected, "You were able to find and retrieve the seventh Element of Harmony. No one else could have done that besides you."

Rowan smiled as he shook his head, "No, It's all right, Princess. The book hasn't been completely destroyed."

Luna raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean, Rowan?"

The unicorn's horn glowed as he pulled last page of the Liber Tenebrarum out of his storage spell, "Before we came back to Equestria,..." Rowan paused as Naractia came to mind, "Uh, someone gave me this. It's the last remaining page of the book. When I got it, I discovered that it still has a link to the Liber Tenebrarum, even though it was destroyed."

Luna looked curiously at the page, "And what would that be?"

"Well, every morning, when the light from the sun hits the page, it will become the next page in the book. This will allow me to be able to read the Liber Tenebrarum, one page per day. And every time the page changes, I plan to record what it says and recreate the Liber Tenebrarum."

Luna beamed with pride, "That is a remarkable discovery, Rowan." But then her smile dropped into grimace, "But alas, I have some explaining of my own to do."

Rowan and the others looked at the princess intently as they listened. Luna cleared her throat, "It was over a thousand years ago when I found the Liber Tenebrarum. It was a night long ago, and I was setting my moon beyond the horizon to let the my sister's day come. That night, I was still fairly young and I was curious as to where my moon went during the day, so I followed it far outside the borders of Equestria.

"The land outside of the borders have very little life, and the night I knew back home was not so cold as the darkness out in that waste-land. But as I flew with my moon, I stumbled across a race of creatures that were unfamiliar to me. I did not know at the time that I had found the swarm of changelings that would threaten Equestria a thousand years later."

Luna sighed as the memory came back, "They were monstrous and knew not an ounce of love amongst themselves. But being the filly that I was, I dropped down to view them closer. But the sight I saw should never be seen by any pony, for it contained more horror than I could have comprehended at the time.

"I saw the queen of the changelings, whom I believe was Chrysalis's mother, and she was using the magic of the Liber Tenebrarum to drain the life out of the land to feed the hive. I watched the land die, and I feared for Equestria, should my home meet the same fate. So when the queen had looked away, I took the book and flew back to Equestria, unseen by all of the changelings.

"I told this tale to no one, not even my sister. I hid the book away, and eventually forgot about it. And it appears that since I first stole the book, the changelings had forgotten about it as well, and the magic they had learned from the Liber Tenebrarum had died away as the years had passed.

"When I heard that the Liber Tenebrarum had been stolen, I feared for your lives. If Chrysalis had been able to harness the full strength of shadow magic, then she would have drained all love and life out of you. If she had done this, all of life would seem meaningless to you and you would have become a creature of darkness. Had she succeeded, you would have become one of her changeling drones."

Rowan and the others gasped, as they began to understand what the princess had said.

Luna continued, "We can be grateful that she was not able to learn the spell to do this, and now she has very little chance of learning it at all, since she has destroyed the book."

The princess sighed, "But I am afraid that it is my fault that the changelings attacked Ponyville. It was unwise of me to send you here, Rowan."

Rowan shook his head, reassuring Luna, "No, it's not your fault, Princess. I couldn't have learned nearly as much about shadow magic if I'd stayed back in Canterlot. I think it was good idea to keep me away from everypony in the city, seeing as they haven't forgiven me about what happened in the trial and before that."

Luna smiled warmly, "Thank you, Rowan. But I didn't send you to Ponyville for that reason alone."

Rowan gave the princess a questioning glance, "What do you mean?"

"Back in Canterlot, I did not think that shadow magic alone would be able to take you to your world. But then, I had the idea of combining the power that you would gain from the Liber Tenebrarum, to the most powerful kind of magic; The magic of friendship."

Rowan looked at his mentor, awestruck, "So, you sent me to Ponyville to study shadow magic, *and* to make friends that could add their power to mine?"

"Yes, that is correct. I was hoping that you would learn the magic of friendship from Twilight Sparkle and her friends, so you could gain an understanding of how to combine their magic to shadow magic."

She cleared her throat and pointed a hoof towards her student, "But now, Rowan, you must recreate the Liber Tenebrarum, and guard its magic with your life. If what you say is true, Chrysalis may have survived, and she will want revenge on you and your friends. It will be best that you are prepared if that day comes. Until you are able to return back to your home world, you must become a master of shadow magic."

Rowan felt as if a ton of bricks had fallen on top of him, Master shadow magic? But with the book destroyed, it would take me forever to actually master it.

Suddenly, he felt a hoof touch his shoulder. He turned his head to see Twilight, who was smiling reassuringly to him.

"Don't worry, Rowan," She gestured over at the rest of the group, "We're all here to help."

Rowan looked at everyone who was present to see them all smiling at him, lifting his spirits. He turned back to Luna, "I'll do what I can. No matter what happens, I'll have my friends with me."

Luna smiled proudly at her student, "It seems that you have learned a lot about the magic of friendship. But now, since you are my student, I'm giving you an assignment."

"Yes, princess?"

"At the end of each week, I want you to send me a letter reporting what you have learned in your studies." She glanced at Twilight and the others, "And if you think that you can manage it, I'm sure that my sister would be pleased if you wrote to her as well about the magic of friendship."

Rowan grinned, "I think that I can manage that."

Author's Note

Well, there you have it. How did you guys like it? Sorry that this last chapter took so long to write. Other things in life have come up, and I've been reviewing my past chapters and editing them as needed. Since you all have read up to this point, then don't worry about the edits that I've made.

I am finished with this story, but I'm not finished with the series. I plan to make this story-line into a four-part series. The sequel is out right now, and I have it posted here on the site. It's called, "Naractia's Nightmare-(Night)", so you should read it if you want to know what happens later.

So far, I have seen quite a bit of improvement in my writing. The next story is going to be more well-written than this one, I can promise that. But still, I have a goal to get one of my fan fics, whether it be part of this series or another story that I write, up onto the "featured stories" box at the top of the website.

If you liked the story line so far, then hit the thumbs-up button below. I'd like to get at least 55 likes for this story.

Thanks for reading,

And also thanks to those who are reviewing my story, (Mainly the reviewers at Editor's Dreamland)

-Shadowflame

Lost (Re-Mastered)

A/N: Hello, readers. I just wanted to preface this story by saying that this chapter, as well as many others to follow, are "re-mastered" versions. I only say this because before I re-mastered it, this story kind of sucked.

So if you have already read A New Friend, you know the storyline, and that's the only thing you care about, then you don't need to re read all this (Though you are free to read it again if you would like).

But if you are a new reader, enjoy the better version of this! :D

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rowan didn't know how it happened, but it did, without even a warning or signal. One moment he was at home, enjoying a peaceful silence that only the suburbs he called home could provide. But the next, the scene of his house disappeared in a flash, and he found himself plummeting down through the sky, about 100 feet in the air. As you can guess, for any teenage guy, he probably would've pissed his pants had he not relieved his waters a few minutes prior.

Rowan didn't have time to scream as he fell, due to his increasing speed that drove him towards the ground. And when the distance between him and the ground diminished to nothing, he landed. Hard. The last thing he remembered was the sight of dirt and dust pluming up into the air out of the crater his body formed in the ground, before he then blacked out from the impact.

In a few moments, he woke to find the sky completely dark and the moon shining in the sky. Its pale moonlight illuminated down on him in the crater he laid in. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the dirt rims of the crater, as well as a few blades of grass that had not been tossed aside from the impact of his crash.

After his sight came, the next sensation he felt was pain. A huge throbbing pounded the inside of his skull, right around his forehead.

"Ugh, my head." Rowan groaned, "What happened?" He reached up to rub the aching spot, expecting his fingers to feel his messy hair covering it. He rubbed his forehead beneath his bangs... But, he received a different feeling from his hand.

He couldn't feel his fingers.

Shocked, Rowan quickly raised his arms into sight, hoping that his hands hadn't been somehow decapitated from his crash landing. Half of his mind, the more dramatic part, expected his hands to be nothing but bloody stumps. While the other half, his logical side, expected to find his fingers completely intact, only asleep from the cut off of blood circulation to them. But when his arms came into his line of sight, both sides of his mind were thrown for a loop.

At the ends of his arms, he found that his hands had been replaced by stumps, with the topmost part of them in the hardened shape of a horse shoe. Rowan's eyes widened as he realized that he was staring at a pair of hooves. HIS hooves.

Baffled by the sight, Rowan experimentally tapped the tips of his new hooves together. The feeling was quite odd, with the feeling of bones clopping together under a thin layer of fur.

Light gray, very short fur covered his hooves and, as Rowan looked down at the rest of himself, he found his arms were covered in it too.

"What the-" Rowan quickly sat up, glancing down at the rest of himself.

His arms had been shifted, though only slightly, and his forearms seemed larger than before. His shoulders and torso seemed to have shrunk in comparison with the rest of his body. His back legs curled back somewhat, showing that the joints that had been his knees before had bent backwards to create a pair of haunches. Like his hands, his feet were replaced by hooves. And protruding like an extra part of his spine, a dark crimson tail drooped to the ground.

Reaching his hooves up to his head, Rowan inspected the rest of his transformation. His neck had grown longer, and brushing slightly behind it, a long mane hung down, blood red like his tail. His ears had disappeared from the sides of his head, only to be found as the ears of an animal on top of his head. A snout had grown out of his face into a muzzle, and his eyes had shifted closer to the sides of his head.

"I've become a pony!" Rowan exclaimed as he examined himself with his hooves. However, his hoof revealed something else as it touched his forehead, the former spot where he had been aching a few minutes ago. On his head he felt a horn protruding from said spot.

"Okay, scratch that. I've become a unicorn."

Puzzled, Rowan wondered aloud, "How the heck did this happen?" He continued to feel the rest of his body, just to make sure he wasn't dreaming or hallucinating. But the more he felt, the more the situation seemed real. As he continued to think about his predicament, he caught sight of his surroundings out of the corner of his eye.

With some difficulty, Rowan moved his hooves beneath himself to a somewhat stable position and stood up on all fours. From the better view of a standing position, he looked around and took in the area around himself.

He was standing on top of a mountain, rich with green grass that swayed back and forth in a gentle breeze. The mountain he stood on wasn't alone, though. With a glance towards either side of himself, a whole mountain range towered over both sides, like a giant wall. But where the mountains were not, the land dropped down into low valleys, full with forests of trees and open plains. The whole sight looked like vast wilderness, peaceful and undisturbed by anyone.

"Where am I?" Rowan asked no one.

But his question was answered not a second later as he looked down the line of mountains he stood atop. In the distance, glowing with brilliant light, stood a massive city, almost appearing to be embedded in the mountain face itself. The tallest part of the city, a giant, white castle, reached towards the night sky with its tall pillars.

"Canterlot." Rowan felt his breathing thin, "But, if that's Canterlot, then that means... I'm in Equestria."

He only stared at the giant structure that lit up the night around it. Even with the long distance between him and the city, Rowan could still see the full majesty of it. Seeing it here in person was way different than seeing it through a television screen, heck, better even.

Suddenly, a cold draft picked up in the wind, chilling Rowan and breaking his trance on the city. Having been brought back to reality, if his situation could even be called that, he shook his head as he started asking himself a thousand questions at once. The most prominent question being:

"How did I get here?" He thought for a moment, and then instinctively began doing what he always did while thinking: Pacing.

In the human world, one of Rowan's more prominent habits was pacing while he thought. Whether he was at home, at school, or even out on the street, whenever he needed to think deeply about something, he paced. Much to the amusement of anyone present, he would sometimes begin pacing without even realizing it.

As it was a habit, he tended to do it a lot, which meant he thought deeply just as often. As it were, this fact about himself did allow him relate to Twilight Sparkle from the TV show, thus making her his favorite character in the series.

Granted he had never walked with hooves before, Rowan still began pacing as he thought. After a moment or two of stumbling over his unfamiliar limbs, he managed to get the hang of walking, somewhat.

But Rowan wasn't quite concerned about walking. Right now, he needed to figure out what the heck was going on,

"Why am I here?! Heck, how am I here? This place isn't even supposed to exist... This doesn't make any sense. All I know is that I fell out of the sky, got knocked unconscious, and now I wake up as a pony in Equestria. I mean, how does that happen? Why am I even here, and not someone else?"

He sighed somewhat, "I'm not complaining... I mean, it would be cool to check this world out, but why was I brought here and not someone else? I had a lot of stuff going on back home, and now I'll probably miss a few things if I don't return soon enough." He paused, "... Come to think of it, how do I get home?"

Rowan gasped, "What if there is no way home?!"

Before he could say anything else, his uncoordinated walking caused his front hooves to trip over his hind legs. With a yelp of surprise, Rowan face planted into the grassy hillside.

Rowan stomped a hoof on the ground in frustration like a fist, poking his muzzle out of the dirt, "I don't belong here. Anybody can see that. I belong back in the human world."

Glum, he sat back on his haunches and looked towards the night sky, as If he were looking for a magic portal there to take him home.

Rowan sighed in defeat, "Anybody brought to Equestria would want to have fun here... But what's the point if I can't go back home to my old life?"

He looked back down towards Canterlot, with its fluorescent lighting and beautiful structure. It shone like a star in the night, reaching towards the sky with its towers like beacons. The towers stood up from the castle, far from the city streets. It was the place where the sister princesses Celestia and Luna lived and ruled over Equestria, after all. It sort of took a whole different meaning for the phrase, 'people in high places'.

Suddenly, an idea sprung into Rowan's mind.

He immediately felt like giving himself a facehoof. Why hadn't he thought about it when he first saw Canterlot, "The princesses! Of course! They're basically immortal goddesses who control the sun and moon. If anypony can get me home, it's them. They'll have enough magic power to get me back to the human world."

However, his subconscious gave him a tiny wake up slap as he remembered one crucial detail, "Oh, right... That'll be a problem. They don't let just anybody see the princesses. What if I can't see them? What if I get kicked out before I talk to them?"

Still, the castle lights seemed to beckon him, telling him to come to them. The way they shined through the night made it seem like a small flicker of hope, like there might be a way to see the royal diarchs inside.

Rowan shook his head, "I must be crazy, but I'm going."

With that, he galloped as fast as he could towards the palace of Canterlot, with only the light of the moon and the distant city lights to guide him.

But as he neared the city, another thought came into his mind that made him grin, "I'm a brony in Equestria, on my way to see the royal princesses of Canterlot. It's actually kind of ironic."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Shining Armor trotted towards the gates of Canterlot with two of his officers, on his way to inspect the guard outpost. It was a duller part of his job, but it was still his duty as Captain of the Royal Guard. The guards posted at the gate tonight were two stallions named Phalanx and Javelin, two of the royal guard's more mediocre soldiers.

The Captain quietly mumbled to himself, "First, I need to finish this inspection, and then I can return home for the night." He smiled at the thought of returning home to his wife, Princess Cadence. Her warm smile had always brought up his spirits, even when the day had been hard. Being with her as husband and wife had been one of the greatest things in his life. He couldn't wait to return home to her. Not to tell her about how boring his day was, but just to be in her company made a smile come to his face.

The thoughts of his wife left his mind as he approached the two guards. They were both armed with spears and golden armor, the standard issue gear of the guard. Upon seeing their captain approach, they gave a sharp salute with a hoof. Likewise, the captain saluted back.

"At ease soldiers." he commanded, "You are due for inspection, as well as tonight's report." The two guards nodded.

"Yes, sir. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened since we took up our post." Phalanx replied, "We have nothing to report."

Shining Armor nodded, "Good." He glanced towards the guards who accompanied him there, "Now, continue with the inspection."

With that, his soldiers started to look over each of the guards' equipment and post in a meticulous manner.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

It took a while for Rowan to get the feel of running on hooves, which was difficult considering he was running down a mountainside. But after a few moments of stumbling and tripping over himself, Rowan was able to gallop with ease. He'd never been able to run nearly as fast as he was now.

He grinned, "I guess there's an advantage to being a pony. I never had this much athletic endurance as a human."

He galloped down the mountains and soon reached the massive walls of Canterlot. He slowed down his gallop to a walk as he neared the outside wall, looking for an entrance.

From what he remembered from the TV show, the only two entrances into the city was the train rails or the front gate. Rowan shrugged at the thought, knowing that he probably couldn't find the railway entrance, so that left the front gate. Now he just he needed to find it.

Rowan began to walk around the outside of the wall, looking for the gate. But as he walked around the massive structure between himself and the city, he played with the idea of climbing over the wall, but he tossed the thought aside. Now that he was a pony, he couldn't have climbed like he had been able to as a human.

After circling the wall with only the dim light of the moon and the residue light of the city guiding him, he heard something... No, he heard someBODY, talking. The sound of speech was coming just around the next corner of the wall.

Careful not to make any noise with his hooves against the grass, Rowan crept closer and peered around the corner. Beyond it, he saw the gateway into Canterlot, guarded by two royal soldiers. But the soldiers seemed busy talking to somebody. Rowan curiously crept as close as he could to get a better look. As he made his way closer, the pony talking to the soldiers came into view.

It was Shining Armor, captain of the royal guard, husband to Princess Cadence. And he was with two other soldiers besides the two Rowan had seen before. Suddenly, an idea started to form in his mind.

Rowan thought to himself, If I can talk to Shining Armor, and if he listens to me, then maybe he can allow me to speak with the princesses.

Although there was one small problem with the idea: Shining Armor was leaving!

Rowan was jolted out of his thoughts as he realized that Shining Armor was trotting back into the city.

Rowan gasped, If I don't talk to him, then I'll never be able to talk to the princesses.

Without hesitation, Rowan bolted for the gate, calling after the captain. But he was stopped outside of the gate, when the guards blocked his path with their spears. Rowan gave a yelp as two sharp medal points of spears suddenly appeared in his face.

"Who goes there?" The first guard, Phalanx, questioned.

Come on! I don't have time for this! Rowan thought bitterly. Peering past the spears keeping him out of the city, he watched as Shining Armor turned a corner and disappeared from view.

Rowan turned to Phalanx, "I need to get into the city. Please, let me in!"

"What authorization do you have to enter the city after dark?" Phalanx asked, scowling at the young unicorn.

"I don't have any authorization, but why do I need any to enter?"

Phalanx narrowed his eyes skeptically at him, "All ponies entering into Canterlot after sunset require authorization, otherwise they will not be allowed. Don't you remember the changeling attack during the captain's wedding?"

Realization came to Rowan, "Oh, come on! You don't think that I'm actually a changeling, do you? I need to get into the city now so I can talk to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."

Immediately, both of the guards pointed the tips of their spears towards him, causing Rowan to reflexively stumble back, Crap, I shouldn't have said that.

"Nobody can speak with the princesses unless summoned by an official. What business do you have with their majesties?"

Rowan groaned under his breath, I can't tell these guys the truth, or else they'll think I'm crazy, and then they'll never let me in. Or if even if they do, they'll take me to an insane asylum.

Phalanx grunted silently and turned to Javelin, "Fetch the Lieutenant. He'll want to see this stranger."

Javelin nodded and galloped into the city while Phalanx positioned himself in the middle of the gate, keeping an attentive eye and a leveled spear on Rowan.

Rowan cringed as yet another idea came to mind, though he didn't like this one.

This might be my only chance. Rowan tensed up his muscles as he prepared to put his spontaneous plan into action. He knew it was dangerous, but it was the only way to get through Phalanx. Looking at the lone guard holding the spear, Rowan thought, Yep, I'm crazy for sure.

"Sorry about this." Rowan quickly turned around on his front hooves, hind legs curled, and nailed Phalanx as hard as he could with a buck kick.

Phalanx 's eyes widened as Rowan's hooves collided against his chest piece with a metallic clang. The force of Rowan's kick wasn't enough to penetrate the armor, but it was enough to knock Phalanx backwards. Surprise written on his face, the guard flew backwards a couple feet, landing onto his rump. With the guard momentarily distracted, Rowan wasted no time and quickly galloped into the streets of Canterlot.

Making his way to the street that Shining Armor disappeared down, Rowan turned down the road and much to his displeasure, Shining Armor was nowhere in sight. Suddenly, the sound of alarm bells began ringing throughout the city. They rang loud and clear, sure enough to wake up almost everyone in the city.

Rowan groaned, Oh, man! That guard must have raised an alarm. Now there'll be others pouring into the streets in a few minutes, and all of them will be after me...

Rowan stopped running as he came to a four way intersection, which led down three different streets besides the one he came from..

Looking down the three new streets, Rowan realized he didn't know where to go. "Great," he muttered, "Where's a map when you need one?"

Rowan peered down one street to see a group of three soldiers at the end of it, with a glowing lantern leading their way, galloping towards the intersection where he stood.

Well, can't go down that way. Rowan quickly looked down the opposite street to see somebody else coming towards him from that direction: Shining Armor accompanied by the guard from the gate, Javelin.

Crap, not that way either. I think I've officially blown my chances at talking to Shining Armor. Rowan knew he was on the verge of panicking, though that could be from the fact that he had never been chased by law enforcement before.

With guards running towards him on either side, there was nowhere he could run without being heard or seen. He desperately looked for a place to hide, but then he spied a small vendor stand off on the side of the road. Grateful for any hiding place, Rowan galloped to the stand and ducked down behind it.

As Rowan crouched behind the stand, the two groups of guards met in the middle of the intersection.

"Captain, why was the alarm sounded?" asked the first of the new soldiers.

Shining Armor gave the report, "We've had a breach. The guard at the southern gate was attacked by a unicorn that wanted to enter. The attacker had no authorization to enter the city after dark. After being denied entry, this stranger attacked the guard to force his way into the city. The guard gave a description of the attacker as a light-gray unicorn with a dark red mane and tail. Also, the attacker had no identifiable cutie mark on his flank." Rowan perked up at that, and quickly looked at his flank. Sure enough, it was blank.

Rowan shook his head. He had more important things to worry about. He turned his attention back to the soldiers.

"He was last reported heading north towards the castle." Javelin said to the others.

The captain nodded, "You three head down to the city square and set a guard on every crossroad between the south gate and the castle. Javelin and I will make our way to the castle and set up a perimeter. We cannot let this attacker reach the castle."

"Yes, sir." They all saluted one another and set off for their destinations, leaving Rowan alone behind the stand.

They're trying to keep me from talking to the princesses. Crap! This plan is really backfiring on me. I need to reach the castle without being caught.

Rowan dashed out from behind the stand and galloped as fast as he could down the same street where Shining Armor and Javelin had gone, since they were traveling towards the castle. It wasn't a map like Rowan had asked for before, but at least it would show him the right general direction.

Breathing hard, Rowan raced down the street at breakneck speed. And within a few moments, the towers of the castle came into view. Rowan sighed in relief, "Maybe I will make it. Although it's weird how I haven't seen a guard yet. I thought I would've seen at least one by now."

But he realized that he had spoken too soon, just as a soldier trotted around the street corner.

Rowan shouted in frustration, "Oh, come on!"

The Soldier spun around and his eyes widened as he saw Rowan rush an inch past him. The guard stumbled back slightly, allowing Rowan to run past. Recovering from his slight moment of daze, the soldier cried out to the other guards, "He's here! The intruder is here!"

Rowan continued to run to the castle, just as soldiers started to appear from nearby streets. Rowan didn't care as he simply rushed past them. He was only focused on reaching his destination. A surge of energy and adrenaline raced through him as the doors to the castle came into sight. "Almost there." he panted.

But from either side of the street, a line of soldiers filed out into the middle of the street, all armed with spears. They lined up across the road and leveled their spears towards him, creating a deadly blockade.

Rowan didn't stop nor did he falter from his high speed gallop. He knew that if he stopped in front of this, the guards following behind him would apprehend him. But if he kept going, he would most likely be stabbed by the end of the spears.

I should be stopping right now, he thought, panicking to himself, I must be crazy! Trying to not get caught isn't worth getting impaled, right?

He continued to charge the oncoming line of soldiers, his mind racing. With what little time he had before he reached the blockade, Rowan tried to figure out a way to get past it. But nothing came to mind. For the third time that day, Rowan mentally shouted, CRAP!

But as he neared the blockade, something happened.

Rowan felt a burning sensation coming from his forehead. Without slowing his pace, he glanced up to see his horn, glowing with a black mist.

Am I... using magic? Rowan looked back towards the blockade, If I am, it better get me past this. Rowan cringed as only a few feet remained between him and the line of spears. Suddenly, his horn flared in magical power and the spell activated.

In a flash, a hot tongue of fire shot from the tip of his horn. Time seemed to slow as Rowan watched the fire coming from his horn. The flames seemed to convulse slightly as it warped its shape, and at its center, a silver crescent formed inside it, entirely engulfed in fire. And once this 'flaming crescent' was formed, it leaped from Rowan's horn.

Both Rowan and the Soldiers looked in shock as the flaming crescent flew towards the blockade like a giant bullet. When it hit the line of now-astonished soldiers, it burst in a huge explosion of flames, throwing the soldiers back against the sides of the road. And with the blockade gone, the path to the castle stood wide open for Rowan.

Rowan grinned in amazement at what he just did, How did I do that? That was awesome! Look at me, taking out the royal guards with magic! Haha, the guys back home won't believe this.

Rowan slowed his pace a bit as he reached the steps of the castle, preparing to climb the steps, "Yes! I'm going to make it!"

But as he climbed the stairs, as quickly and carefully as his hooves would let him, the doors to the castle suddenly swung open. Glancing up, Rowan looked at who opened the door, expecting more guards. But there stood only one pony in the doorway, the captain, Shining Armor.

He glared down at Rowan, "You're not getting any further."

Quicker than Rowan could react, the captain's horn glowed as he cast a spell. Rowan literally stopped in his tracks, unable to move as Shining Armor's spell took effect.

Having been frozen in an unstable position, Rowan fell down hard against the stairs, unable to get up. He struggled to move but he couldn't control any part of his body. He was like a statue now, and he felt like it, too.

Rowan cursed to himself, An immobilization spell? Crap, he's good. But soon, a wave of sweat began to wash over his face as he saw some other soldiers in the corner of his eye, approaching him from the streets. They did not look happy.

Shining Armor pointed a hoof towards two of the soldiers, "You two, lock him in the dungeon."

The two soldiers saluted him and proceeded to drag Rowan's stiff body down the stairs and away from the castle.

Rowan tried to cry out, but unfortunately, his mouth had been immobilized as well, preventing him from speaking, No! No! No! I was so close!

The only thing he could do was lay there, frozen and helpless, as the two soldiers dragged him to the dungeon, wherever that was.

Rowan's mind raced as he tried to think of a way out of his predicament, but his mind was becoming drowsy as the effects of adrenaline subsided. He instantly felt the weariness from his breach into Canterlot finally catch up to him and his head started to spin. Not too long afterwards, his vision turned black.

Author's Note

So, this was the first of the Re-mastered chapters. I'm working on the next one, so it'll be out for anyone who wants to read it.

And to paraphrase, This is a RE-MASTERED version, not just another editing. If you take a look at the original chapter, the sentence structures are COMPLETELY different. Not to mention the original version was only 2,000+ words, and this one now has over 4,000 words!

And these Re-mastered chapters will not affect my usual work on my current stories.

Anyways, thanks for reading,
-Shadowflame

Raid of the Changelings

The early rays of the dawn began to crest over the mountains by Ponyville, gently lighting the inside of Rowan's bedroom. Of course, since it was still early in the morning, the young colt was still asleep.

But suddenly, something butted against Rowan's side, stirring him from sleep. Groggily, he opened his eyes due to the unexpected touch. Still half-asleep, he turned over on his bed to see what had woken him up.

Rowan's eyes suddenly went wide as he found himself looking face-to-face with Shade, who sat just beside his bed, prodding Rowan with a paw. Now suddenly feeling very awake, Rowan jumped back away from the wolf in surprise. But Rowan found that jumping backwards off of a bed wasn't the best idea in the world, as he fell backwards onto the ground, yet again.

Quickly getting back onto his hooves, Rowan stared at Shade, who sat on the floor like an obedient dog waiting for it's master.

"How the heck did you get out of the bind?", Rowan questioned the wolf. Shade gave no sign that he understood. Rowan sighed, "I guess the bind must've worn off." Rowan looked questionably at the wolf, "Although, it doesn't seem like I need to put another one on you."

Rowan looked out the window and was surprised that the sun hadn't even risen yet. There was only a little light coming up from behind the mountains. Rowan smiled at Shade, "I just wish that you didn't wake me up so early." Shrugging his shoulders, "I guess that it wouldn't hurt to sleep for a little bit more."

Before Rowan could get back in bed, Shade suddenly stood up and let out a short growl. Rowan stepped back, startled. Shade then turned around and ran out of the room, barking the entire way. Rowan quickly ran after the wolf, "I hope that wolf doesn't get into trouble." But then, another thought came into his head, "Shoot! I wonder if I locked the front door last night."

Following Shade's barks downstairs, Rowan raced into the main room to see the wolf barking his head off as he pushed against the door leading outside.

"Quiet, Shade. You're gonna wake up the neighbors." Rowan was about to pull Shade away from the door, but then the wolf ceased its barking and stepped quickly away from it. Rowan let out a sigh of relief, but his relief was short-lived as Shade charged at the door. Rowan expected the wolf to smash against the door, but at the last second, Shade melded into his shadow and slipped under the door.

Rowan gasped, "Uh, oh." He quickly ran out of the house after the wolf, who had begun to bark loudly as he ran down the road. As Rowan pursued Shade, he heard several ponies wake up from the wolf's barking, and they now were peering out their doors and windows to see what was going on.

Rowan ran after Shade, until the wolf suddenly stopped in front of Twilight's library. Shade was now jumping up and down, barking as loud as it could. Rowan reached the wolf and in an effort to quiet Shade, he grabbed the wolf with both hooves.

Shade and Rowan began to wrestle against each other, Shade trying desperately to get out of Rowan's grip. In the commotion, Shade managed to nip Rowan's hoof, not too painfully, but still enough to make the unicorn let go. Rowan sat on the ground, rubbing the spot that Shade had bitten, watching the wolf bark at the top of his lungs.

The door to the library opened and Twilight walked out, along with Shining Armor behind her. Twilight ran over to help Rowan up, "Rowan, what's going on? What's Shade barking about?"

Rowan shook his head as Twilight helped him up, "I don't know. Shade woke me up early this morning, and then he ran out the door, barking his head off."

But then, Shade suddenly stopped barking as his ears stood up. In a flash, the wolf turned around to face towards the Everfree Forest, beginning to growl loudly.

By now, almost all of Ponyville had woken up, and were gathering to see what the commotion was. The crowd of ponies gathered around Rowan, Twilight, and Shade, who seemed oblivious to everything that was happening.

Rowan ran up next to Shade, "What is it, boy? What do you hear out there?"

He looked towards the mountains behind the forest, where the sun was beginning to rise over the tall peaks. But as the bright, yellow sun rose into the air, suddenly hundreds of black figures flew up over the mountains, obscuring the sun with their vast numbers.

Everyone in the crowd gasped at the sight, but Rowan and Twilight just stared slack-jawed with wide eyes. Shade continued to growl at the cloud of figures in the sky, but then Rowan understood why Shade had been on edge that morning. The wolf had sensed that they were coming to Ponyville, and had been trying to warn everypony.

Rowan watched in horror as the swarm flew closer to town and as the ponies in town began to run away. They were about to experience first-hand, the full force of a changeling attack.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Shining Armor watched from the road as the horde of changelings raced towards Ponyville. The sight reminded him of the attack that the changelings had made back in Canterlot. He looked around at the crowd of ponies that had gathered together as everypony began to turn and run screaming back to their homes.

Instantly, his training as captain of the royal guard kicked in and he took control of the situation. Using his magic to amplify his voice to everypony, he called out to them, "Attention villagers of Ponyville! We are about to be met by a changeling attack! All able ponies that are willing to fight, meet me by the Everfree forest. Everypony else is to retreat back to Sweet Apple Acres with the foals, for their safety. We need to keep the changelings from entering into the town."

He turned towards Twilight, "Twi, I need you to get Spike and send a letter to the princess. Tell her that we'll need reinforcements if we want to survive this attack." Twilight nodded and raced back into the library.

The captain turned back to Rowan, "I'm going to use my protection spell to hold them off, but I'm unfamiliar with Ponyville, so it will take me a while to get the spell going. Until then, I need you and Shade to keep the changelings out of the town."

Rowan nodded and with Shade by his side ran towards the oncoming wave of changelings. Shining raised his horn to the sky and began to map out the town, placing down an outline for the protection spell.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rowan shook his head as he raced to the forest, "I must be crazy." He turned his head towards Shade who ran right alongside him, "What do you think?"

The wolf barked sharply once, and growled as he raised his canine head to the oncoming force. Rowan chuckled as he looked up at the changelings, "Yeah, I'm definitely crazy."

Within a few seconds, the two had reached the edge of the forest. Rowan stopped just outside the line of the forest and raised his horn towards the oncoming wave. He inhaled deeply, "Here goes nothing."

In a flash, Rowan's horn began to glow in a fiery blaze as he shot out numerous flaming crescents at the swarm. One after another Rowan shot out flaming projectiles, and each one hit its mark in the gigantic cloud, exploding in the crowd of changelings.

Rowan kept up his defensive attack for a while, but it became apparent that he couldn't hold off all of them by himself for too long. He began to breath hard as sweat started to trickle down his face. He had never done this much magic at once before. "Come on, Shining." Rowan silently pleaded, "That protection spell would be useful right about now."

Rowan cringed as he saw that the changelings were coming in fast, despite his efforts to hold them back, "Come on. Where's some help when you need it?"

His question was answered as he heard a voice above him shout out, "Take this, you over-sized bugs!" Rowan looked up to see a streak of rainbow shoot through the sky and crash through the wave of changelings.

Rowan gasped as he stopped his firing, finally able to catch his breath. He watched as the cyan pegasus zoomed out of the cloud of changelings and lighted down next to him and Shade.

Still catching his breath, he gasped, "Rainbow?"

Rainbowdash smirked, "Hey, Rowan. You didn't think that you could fight this one without me, did you?"

Suddenly three sparks flew over their heads and impacted against the changelings that were getting very close. Rowan and Rainbow looked to see Twilight and Spike running up to them. Behind them were Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.

Rowan smiled at Twilight as she caught up, "Glad that you could make it. I didn't think that I could hold all of them on my own."

Twilight returned a smile, "No problem." She cleared her throat, "This is the situation so far: Shiny has gathered most of the stallions, and he's positioned them across town, just in case he can't get the protection spell up in time."

Applejack stepped in, "Shinin' Armor sent everypony that ain't gonna fight over ta Sweet Apple Acres, so they're being looked after by Big Macintosh and a couple oth'r stallions. They'll be safe as long as this here fight don't reach them."

Rainbowdash interrupted them, "Hey, we still got a whole bunch of changelings heading this way," She smacked her hooves together, "And I don't know about you guys, but I say that it's time to make them pay for what they did back in Canterlot." And with that, the pegasus dashed back towards the changelings in a rainbow streak.

Twilight looked at everyone else, "Rainbow's right. We need to focus all of our efforts on keeping the changelings back until Shining can use his protection spell."

Everyone nodded and rushed over to help hold back the changelings, except for Fluttershy. The shy pegasus looked at Shade, who stood by Rowan's side, "Um.. Rowan? I don't know if Shade should fight. I mean, he is still recovering from his injuries."

Rowan glanced down at Shade, who gave him a bold look of determination. The unicorn sighed, "Sorry, Flutters. But Shade was the one who warned everyone about the attack. I think that it's only fair to let him fight if he wants to." He turned back towards the action, "I'm going to help protect this town with Shade by my side. If you want to help, then you're more than welcome to." With that, Rowan leaped back into the fight with his wolf companion.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The changeling filly flew behind the front line of changeling drones. She was still confused as to how the ponies in Ponyville had been ready for the swarm when they arrived. She expected no one to notice the raid until it was too late to stop them.

Before the swarm had flown halfway between the mountains and the town, they were bombarded by a flurry of flaming projectiles. Their source had been a gray unicorn colt with a red mane. She couldn't be sure, but she suspected that the colt was Rowan. If she was right, then she would have to follow him to get the Liber Tenebrarum before anyone else did.

While the changelings were being fired at, she slipped down below the forest canopy below them, trying to reach the town without having to deal with any enemy fire. Flying low, zipping in between the trees, she made her way to the edge of the forest, where six other ponies and a dragon had joined the presumed "Rowan".

She ducked behind a tree and listened to their conversation.

The cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane, "Hey, we still got a bunch of changelings heading this way, and I don't know about you guys, but I say that it's time to make them pay for what they did back in Canterlot."

The changeling filly winced as what the pegasus had hurt her to the core. It was because of queen Chrysalis that they attacked Canterlot. Plus, she wasn't even there at the attack, yet here was a pony who blamed her and the entire swarm for the orders of the queen which they had to follow.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she realized that the rest of the ponies by "Rowan" were leaving to fight against the oncoming swarm. All of them, except for a yellow pegasus with a pink mane. The pegasus looked at the gray unicorn and said something while the changeling eavesdropped on them.

"Um.. Rowan? I don't know if Shade should fight. I mean, he is still recovering from his injuries."

Wait. Shade? The changeling filly peered around the tree to see a wolf, black as night, covered in bandages, standing by, the now confirmed, Rowan. Quickly, the changeling filly tuned back into the conversation.

Rowan shook his head, "Sorry, Flutters. But Shade was the one who warned everyone about the attack. I think that it's only fair to let him fight if he wants to."

The changeling filly suddenly realized how they had been ready when the swarm had arrived. She reminded herself to not get close to Shade, since this wolf seemed to have very acute senses. It had to have that acute of senses to even detect the changelings before they arrived.

Rowan turned back towards the swarm, "I'm going to help protect this town with Shade by my side. If you want to help, then you're more than welcome to." Rowan then joined the fight against the changeling swarm again.

The changeling filly sighed. Now would be just as good of a time to approach Rowan. Quietly, she made her way over to the trees closest to Rowan. She peered around a tree to see that Rowan was occupied with holding the swarm back. Taking in a deep breath, she prepared to reveal herself.

In a flash of wings, she flew out from behind the tree and tackled Rowan headlong. The both fell into a heap on the ground, as Rowan's eyes widened in shock. The changeling filly grinned in amusement at his confusion, but then she felt herself get knocked off Rowan by Shade.

She was sent sprawling, but she quickly regained her footing. She looked back to see Rowan and Shade, ready to fight her.

Rowan glared at her, "Agh, I don't have time for this. Just get out of the way if you don't want to get hurt."

She only let out a small laugh, "I don't want anyone to get hurt. Do you know why we came here?"

Rowan held a confused gaze while Shade bent down and growled at her, "You're here because of what happened at Canterlot. You're just here for revenge."

She shook her head as she sighed, "Man, you ponies really are clueless. That is far from the reason why we're here."

Rowan's eyes narrowed, "Then why did you come to Ponyville?"

She gave him a fixed, serious gaze, "We came because of you. We came to retrieve the book that has been hidden for all of these years."

Rowan's eyes widened as he gasped, turning his head down the road towards the hiding place of the book. This was what she had been waiting for. Following Rowan's gaze, she flew down the road as fast as possible.

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How did they know about the Liber Tenebrarum? Rowan turned his head towards his house, which stood several houses blocks away. But then the changeling suddenly flew in the direction of his gaze. Rowan silently cursed to himself, "Oh, no. I just revealed where the book is!"

Rowan and Shade quickly raced down the street after the lone changeling. But as they ran, Rowan looked up to see a beam of purple magic soar into the sky. About fifty feet above the town, the magic stopped as if it hit a wall and began to drop down into a dome, surrounding the town.

Rowan let out a sigh of relief as he realized that it was Shining Armor's protection spell. Okay, no more changelings should be able to get into town until the princess arrives with reinforcments. He turned back to his chase, But now, I need to get the Liber Tenebrarum first.

Rowan ran down the street until he reached the library, where Shining Armor was waiting with several other stallions.

The captain stopped Rowan with a hoof, "Rowan. We just saw a changeling race past here. What happened?"

Rowan breathed hard, "The changelings are after the Liber Tenebrarum."

The captain jerked his head back in shock, "What?!.."

"Shining!" A voice called out behind Rowan.

He turned to see rainbowdash flying fast towards them. The pegasus lighted down by the two unicorns, "We've got a problem! When you cast the shield, about a fourth of the changelings made it under the dome."

They both gasped as they turned their heads back to the forest. They watched as about a hundred changelings rose into the air below the protection spell.

Shining Armor raised his voice to the entire town, "Attention, everypony! The changelings have managed to get into town before the protection spell was fully cast. Prepare to fight, and be ready to drive the changelings back out of town!"

Shining Armor looked back at Rowan, "You need to get to the Liber Tenebrarum before they do. We'll hold them off, but your main task is to get the book and guard it until Princess Celestia arrives with reinforcements."

Rowan nodded and set off down the road towards his house.

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The changeling filly reached the house, which was easily distinguishable, since it reeked with the stench of a wolf. She raced inside and began to ransack the place for the book.

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Rowan raced down the road, Shade keeping up next to him. Soon, his house came into sight, and its door was left wide open. Rowan gasped, "Oh, no. Please don't let me be too late." Rowan started towards the door, but then he stopped when he heard three young screams behind him.

He turned around quickly to see Applebloom, Sweetiebelle, and Scootaloo, riding on scootaloo's scooter. Behind them were two changelings, flying in the air closely to the three fillies.

In a flash, Rowan wasted no time and used his cloud spell. He felt the familiar sensation of his body being turned into gas, and in a second he was a cloud of black smoke. He flew fast until he was right over the two changelings who were pursuing the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Aiming carefully, Rowan let go of his cloud spell, turning back into a colt in midair. The two changelings looked up with a startled expression, as Rowan seemed to come out of nowhere. Rowan fell on top of them, flipped around in a barrel roll, and bucked them with his back hooves, sending the changelings sprawling back to the ground.

The two changelings crashed into the dirt road while Rowan landed on his hooves. He quickly whipped around to face them, his horn aglow with black mist.

The two changelings regained their composure and fled away from Rowan, back into town. Watching the two of them fly away, Rowan turned towards the CMC, "Are you three okay?"

They all nodded, "Thanks fer the help, Rowan." Said Applebloom.

Rowan sighed, "You three aren't supposed to be here. You all need to get back to Sweet Apple Acres with the others."

Scootaloo pouted, "But we want to help. Is there anything that we can do?"

Rowan glanced uneasily back at his house, I don't have time for this. I need to get the book before that changeling does. He sighed, "Fine, you three can help."

The three fillies beamed.

Rowan gave them a stern look, "There might be some other ponies that are still in town. I want you to go door to door and find all of them. Then I want you to accompany them back to Sweet Apple Acres. Got it?"

They all nodded and took off on the scooter. Rowan turned back to his house and ran through the door, where Shade was waiting.

They both went inside to find the main room completely trashed. The couches were upside down, and the coffee table was on its side. "Dang it." Rowan muttered. He worked his way through the room and up the stairs. Rowan galloped into his room to find it ransacked as well.

There was no sign of the changeling that caused the damage. Rowan desperately looked through the mess of paper, quills, and bed covers. His voice began to shake as he frantically looked through everything in the room for the Liber Tenebrarum, "No. No. No... It can't be gone."

Rowan fell to his knees and pounded on the ground with his hooves in frustration. Tears began to stream out of his eyes as he realized that it was gone. The Liber Tenebrarum, the only book of its kind, the only chance for him to return home, had been taken.

Author's Note

A/N: Well that was one heck of a chapter, wasn't it? I was glad to put a lot of action in this part.

I'm just wondering, but why do you think the changeling girl is so rebellious towards queen Chrysalis? I want to hear what you're thinking.

Plus, I hope to finish this story by Saturday, November 24th. So this story is almost at it's end.

Thanks for reading,

-Shadowflame