//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Forbidden Magics 
// by Antiivvan 
//------------------------------//

"Twilight, can we go now?" Spike pleaded impatiently as he paced back and forth.

"Just one minute, Spike." Twilight said as she levitated the last few books into place. Iron was, of course, sitting out of the way, observing everything silently. "I have only one thing left to do."

"Well, hurry up, we're going to be late!"

"I will hurry." Twilight said as she used her magic to put the last few cleaning supplies away. She had spent all night cleaning up the library. Some pony had a very intriguing question that Twilight did not have the answer to. So, she spent all night looking for the answer, and created quite a mess in the process. Pinkie was throwing a party at Sugar Cube Corner. She said everypony was upset about the recent changes, and they needed to cheer up.

It has been a month since they had heard the news. It hit pretty hard in some places in Equestria. Ponyville was built by earth ponies, so they weren't hit too hard. The unicorns were not the same, but everything else went back to normal. Thankfully, no pony has been punished, or at least caught, for magic.

Life continued on in a pretty normal fashion for Twilight. She was busier than usual, as of late. For some reason, some pony would come in and ask for a particularly strange book almost every day. It was never the same pony, nor the same book. But, they were checking things out like, "Forbidden Magic Spells Throughout the Ages", "Magical Energies - A Power Source from just Magic", and "Ancient Magic Spells, History and Evolution of Magic." At first, it seemed just like a pony wanted to learn more about history. But, when it became more frequent, she started to get worried. The strangest thing was that it was never unicorns looking for the books. It was mostly earth ponies.

Twilight had asked Iron what he thought about this and he usually just looked at her thoughtfully. He isn't a pony of many words, but he is good company. He isn't very aggressive or rude, he just likes to be alone with his thoughts. This never keeps him from doing his duty, though. Twilight learned a little bit about him over the time they were together. He seems like he is worried about those books and what could be happening.

But, now wasn't the time to worry. Now is a time to enjoy friends, catch up on everything, and just have a good time. Twilight finished everything up and they got ready to go. They left the library, locked the door behind them, and headed to Sugar Cube Corner. More ponies were out lately. Things had almost gone back to normal. They were all busy going somewhere or doing something. The stalls were all open and a lot of ponies were busy doing some shopping.

The two ponies and the dragon walked through town towards the party. When they got there, all of their friends were already there. Pinkie Pie had, once again, thrown a great party. It looked like every pony was having a great time. Twilight spotted Rarity in a corner talking with a few other ponies. Twilight walked over to her with Iron Storm in tow, and Spike going to check out the sweets. Rarity looked like she was really tired. She had rings around her eyes, and her eyes had a glazed-over look to them. "Hey Rarity."

"Oh, hello Twilight." 

"How are you doing?"

"It certainly is a lot more difficult to keep up with my shop without magic. My hooves are simply killing me! But, I still have to keep up the shop. I can't afford to lose time and business."

"All right, Rarity. Just don't overwork yourself, okay? We don't want something like that incident with the dresses to happen again." Twilight remembered when Rarity offered to make everypony a dress for the Gala. She worked day and night, just to please all of us. She was publicly humiliated and was distraught after what had happened. If that was to happen again, her friends might not be able to bring her back.

"Oh, don't you worry about me. I'm doing fine."

"All right Rarity. Take it easy. Don't overwork yourself." Twilight saw many of her other friends there, too. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie (of course). She had talked with all of them. Their lives haven't changed a whole lot, since they don't rely on magic. There were other ponies that were having trouble, but it was usually minor things. 

Everypony had a good time at the party. They had played several games, did karaoke, talked a lot, and ate a lot of cake. But, once everything had settled down, everypony was getting back to their normal lives. You can't party all the time, and you can't always have a good time, so you had better enjoy the time you do get. Because once that is done, it's over, you can't make it last forever.

Once everypony had left, Twilight was helping Pinkie clean up Sugar Cube Corner. They were almost done. All of the cake had been cleaned up, all the balloons and streamers had been put in their appropriate areas. Iron Storm had had some cake, and played a game or two, but he never lost Twilight. He sure is good at his job. At this time, he was standing out of the way, watching Twilight and Pinkie Pie clean up. He did talk to a few ponies, mostly just unicorns, though.

"Did you enjoy the party?" Pinkie asked, still bursting with energy.

"Yeah. It was fun. You really helped everypony out today."

"I know, right. It was so fun! We should do it again sometime. I am just glad to see their smiles back!" She said with a beam.

"All right. See you later, Pinkie." Twilight had started to walk out the door when something had caught her eye. It was under one of the tables, whatever it is. It had a crimson color on it. As she got closer, she noticed it was an envelope. It was a royal red color. It looked like it was from a king. 

Twilight picked it up. "Whose do you think this is?" Twilight asked Pinkie Pie. There was no return address or sending address. The front of it was completely blank.

"I have no idea." Pinkie said as she bounced over. "We should read it and find out!"

"But, that would be wrong. We should take it to the post office and see if anypony there recognizes it. It could be that one mail-mare with the yellow hair. I think I saw here today."

"Maybe. You should go find out!"

Twilight walked out and started walking towards the post office. It wasn't too far. It was relatively close to the center of town. When she got there, she walked right up to the attendant behind a desk at the far side of the room. "Um, excuse me. Do you recognize this envelope?" Twilight asked as she levitated the crimson envelope in front of her.

"No, sorry. I can ask the mail carriers." She went into a back room and brought out several mail ponies. Twilight asked all of them, but none of them recognized it. As she was about to walk out, another mail pony came in through the front door. She had a yellow mane and had a bag on. "Excuse me," Twilight said, "do you recognize this letter?"

"No, I don't. Sorry."

Twilight sighed. "That's okay." She walked out and headed for the library. Iron Storm was following behind her. He was right when he said she wouldn't even know he was there. For a second, she forgot he was still there. They walked silently back to the library, Twilight levitating the envelope trying to think of whose it could be.

When they got back, Spike was upstairs asleep in his bed. He left the party a lot earlier than Twilight and Iron Storm, he must have been tired. Twilight walked over to a desk she had in the front room and set the letter down. "What do you think?" She asked Iron.

He doesn't talk a lot, but for some reason, he talked now. "The only way to find out is to open it."

Twilight looked at him and saw the seriousness in his eyes. "I guess you're right." She said as she lifted up a small knife and began to open the envelope. As she was opening it, she saw a neatly-folded letter inside. She levitated it, opened it up, and read it to herself.

"Dear Twilight Sparkle,
You have been selected to enter the group know as M.A.G.E. (Magical Arbitrary Groups of Equestria.) We have been watching you, and have decided to accept you as an honorary member of M.A.G.E. Should you choose to accept it, meet at the old, twisted oak tree 269 yards into the Everfree Forest, right next to a fork in the road exactly 3 days from reading this letter.. Come alone. Should you choose to accept, send the enclosed gem in an envelope and give it to the post office attendant with the following numbers for a sending address: 00448112. The attendant will know who to give it to. In the forest, you will meet a pony that hides in the the clear of day, and will not be seen. Tell them this: "M.A.G.E. Has sent for me. Altmuri Depensdi." You will then join us. For your safety and ours, this letter has been written in special ink to allow only you to read it. But, we do not take risks, so as soon as you read this, burn it. If we find that we have been compromised or you betray us, we will find you.
Signed,
M.A.G.E."

"It's blank." Iron Storm said.

"Yeah..." Twilight said, still distracted by the letter. She looked in the envelope to see a small diamond shard. She took it out and looked at it.  She lit a candle and held up the letter to it.

"What are you doing?" Iron asked.

"Well, we don't know what it is or if it can be dangerous, so I thought we should just dispose of it." Twilight lied. She didn't really like lying, especially to a pony that is only trying to protect her. She felt guilty and didn't want to do this, but she had to find out what this group was.

"What about that gem?"

"Well, if someone claims it, we can give it to them." Twilight explained.

"Okay." That's all he said.

Twilight put the letter in the flame and watched as it was consumed by the fire. The paper burned a bright blue. It didn't take long for it to be turned into ash. Once the letter had been consumed completely, and nothing but ashes were left, Twilight blew out the candle and swept up the ashes.

Twilight noticed that the sun was going down. "We should probably get some sleep." She said after a few seconds. Iron Storm just nodded in agreement. Twilight hid the gem so that Spike couldn't eat it and headed up the stairs. It was sure going to be a long 3 days. Twilight just couldn't get that letter out of her head...