***Ponyville Train Station***
Twilight Sparkle, a young Unicorn was about to leave for The Crystal Empire. Her friends were there with her to wish her a pleasant trip.
"Alright Twilight, you're all set!" Applejack said closing her friends saddlebag "Listen Twi, we want you to come home safe and sound 'Ye hear?"
"No need to worry Applejack" Twilight replied, "I promise I will return home without a scratch on me"
"I do hope so" Pinkie giggled, "I don't want to have to bring out the cupcakes to heal you!"
Twilight smiled, "You won't have to, but I would love to have cupcakes though when I come back"
Pinkie smiled back "Will do Twilight!"
"Oh and if you could" Rarity added "I'm working on a project and would love for you to bring me back crystals if you could please darling"
"No problem Rarity, will make sure I have some before I leave"
"All ABOARD!!!!" The Conductor shouted
"You should get going now sugar" Applejack said hugging her friend.
The rest of her friends hugged her, waved goodbye and departed back towards Ponyville.
****The Crystal Empire train station****
As the train arrived at the empire, Twilight looked out the window to find her brother Prince Shining Armour and his bride, Princess Cadence, with big smiles on their faces.
"Twi'ly!" Shining Armour shouted "It's so good to see you again kiddo! I missed you soooooo much"
The two hugged each other tightly and Twilight began to speak.
"It's okay big brother, the last time I was here was like a few months ago"
Shining Armour let go of Twilight, still with a smile, replied "I know Twilight, It's just you know, I missed you so much!"
Cadence came next to give Twilight a hug embrace.
Every time that the two greet, they do their greeting message.
"Sunshine, Sunshine, Lady bugs awake, Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Cadence and Twilight laughed, looking towards Armour who was shared in the moment. The three began to head out of the icy chills of the surrounding tundra, into the luscious grassy plains of the empire.
"Shining Armour, can I ask you something?" Twilight asked.
"Huh?" Shining Armour was confused "Oh, um, What is it little sis?"
She took a breath and replied without a notion, "It's about Dark Magic"
Shining Armour was caught off guard by her response.
"D-Dark Magic?!" there was a unearthly quiver in his voice, "Wha- Why do you want to learn about such magic?"
"I-"
"Twilight, honey" Cadence said interrupting Twilight, "Listen, Dark magic is full of Dark tricks and lies"
"Cadence, I'm just curious on the kind of power and mysteries that it holds, what found me to get into it, is especially about the effects of it that I have noticed, such as the Green eyes and the purple mist around them" Twilight replied with an explanation.
"The curiosity and disperse structured me to come here and find a book on it and study it"
"Listen Kiddo, Dark Magic is a very dangerous type of intensity, it's way different than just regular magic sweetheart" Shining began "There are consequences to this, and could be serious, such as it can severely harm you"
"Listen, I'm fully capable, and plus, I don't plan on doing any type of spell" Twilight defended.
Shining and Cadence looked at each other with worried glances; Shining Armour nodded as Cadence responded.
"We will allow you to get the book from the crystal library, however, you MUST promise us that you will not do ANY type of spells, okay honey?"
Twilight nodded.
"I promise I will not practice any type of spells"
They arrived at the castle doors, hugged and went inside, all except Twilight who head off to the crystal library.
****Crystal Empire Library****
Twilight entered the library, immediately gazing upon the plethora of knowledge which stood before her. The smell of dusty tomes filled her lungs as she searched for the book she sought. After a long search with no success she admitted defeat over the vast building, and asked the pony clerk for assistance.
"May I help you ma'am?" The pony asked.
"Yes, I'm looking for a specific book" Twilight replied
"Of course, we have many of those" The clerk replied sarcastically, "Any topic this book lies under?"
"Oh, sorry, Dark Magic"
"Yes, of course" The clerk replied, eyeballing the young mare, "They are down on the bottom level, you shouldn't miss it cause there's a sign on the outside"
Twilight started to walk towards the staircase when the clerk spoke from behind.
"Beware down there and only take the book in which you seek"
Standing at over seventy feet, the library's interior towered over the young mare like a Skyscraper to a small house. After a short search around the cluttered confines of the reading area, she found the location of which her specified book was held. Or so she thought. The big black letters engraved upon a red surface:
'Dark Magic: Beware'
Twilight pushed open a metal gating, blocking her path and ventured deep into the forbidden section. Inside lay before her many spectacular sights to behold. Stepping forward she looked over at the overabundance of literature and picked one of them up. Turning the pages she could feel the wind brushing against her mane and then a mighty howling which made her jump in fright. Continuing on through the labyrinth of paper, she saw a peculiar looking lectern in the centre. On closer inspection she noticed the lectern lined in pure gold and encrusted with jewels. It glistened in the darkness, luring her, making her susceptible.
Stepping ever close towards the alluring lectern, the sparkles given off began to grow into her mind. Lying upon the lectern was a book, bound in leather, with a purple stripe down it's spine. In large letters spread across the cover spelled out 'The Journal of Venomioum: Volumes 1-5'.
Twilight flipped through the pages and found this is the book she required. After her sudden revelation she closed the book and took it from the pedestal. She trotted back through the maze and towards the checkout desk.
"Excuse me ma'am?" Twilight began.
"May I check out this book?". The clerk looked at the book, eyes gaped wide. With a worried glare, she nodded.
"Thank you so much, I appreciate it" Twilight said walking out the doors.
****Crystal Castle 5 minutes later****
Twilight returned from the library, entered through the doors and walked towards her brother and cadence.
"So Twi'ly, did they have what you were looking for?" Shining asked.
"Yeah, they did, I'm excited too!" Twilight replied.
"Don't get to excited now, you made a promise to me and cadence that you won't be doing spells of any kind from that book" Shining replied reminding Twilight.
"Yes, I know, but still"
"So, how would you like to spend the rest of the day with us?" Shining asked.
Twilight's ears perked up with a smile and said "That would be great! I have so many things we can do!"
"That's awesome!" Shining replied cheerfully.
For the rest of the day, together, shining armour, cadence and Twilight spend it playing games, talking, helping Twilight with her studies on something else and a whole lot of other things. As it seemed that it wouldn't end until a clock's 6:00 P.M bell went off.
"Oh, that time already?" Twilight asked.
"Yep, time for you to head back to Ponyville little sis" Shining replied, ears perking down.
"Don't be sad Big brother! I'll return soon and spend a lot more time together" Twilight replied cheering her brother up.
"Twilight, it's been a fun evening spending time with you, it was truly a blessing" Cadence said with a smile.
"Let me walk you to the Train station" Shining Armour said wanting to spend a few more minutes with his sister.
"Okay" Twilight replied.
A Few minutes passed and they arrived the train station.
"Gonna miss you kiddo!" Shining said embracing his sister into a hug.
"I'll miss you too, but I'll be back soon okay?" Twilight replied returning the hug.
The two departed and Twilight headed towards the train. All of a sudden, a sharp pain went up her right hoof and said "Ouch! what the?".She then looked down to find something familiar, but couldn't identify the object which really was King Sombra's horn. She rubbed her hoof and boarded the train and sat down next to the window. Twilight wondered as she looked at the object, trying to identify it, but blew it off and instead looking away from the window to see her right hoof being a little swollen, looking back out the window, Twilight could see that the object disappeared, but it was none of Twilight's concern and the train started to move back home.
As the train departed from the station, King Sombra's horn turned to shadow, and followed Twilight back home. As an hour passes, the shadow finally made it's way into the train and hid itself into Twilight's book and a dim glow of purple showed, but Twilight did not notice and was unaware of the king's presence.
****Ponyville Train Station****
The trained pulled up to the station and slowed easily on the railing to the deck of the station. Twilight, looking out the window, saw her 5 friends sitting with smiles. The train stopped and the doors opened, walked out and greeted her friends with much hugging.
"So sugar, did you have fun being at the empire with your brother and cadence?" Applejack asked.
"Sure did! It was a blast!" Twilight exclaimed happily.
"Twilight, I see something sticking out of your saddlebag" Applejack said noticing the bulge comming from her friends saddlebag.
"Oh, it's just Rarity's crystals that she asked for" Twilight replied
"CRYSTALS?! Thank you Twilight! This will sure make my project magnificent!" Rarity said jumping around her friend.
"Not only that Twi, I see something else, what you hiding?" Applejack said questioning her friend.
"It's nothing Applejack" Twilight lied.
"Twilight, just open your saddlebag and show us what you have in there" Applejack replied not wanting to take no for an answer.
Twilight opened her saddlebag, horn lighting up, levitating the book she checked out from the Crystal Empire's Library.
All of her friends were shocked to see the black and purple book with the title of it being exposed in front of her friends eyes.
Fluttershy whimpered "Twilight, why *gulp* do you have a magic book, on dark magic?
"Yea Twi, why do you?" Applejack added
"Tell us Twilight!" Rainbow Added as well.
"Yea do tell darling" Rarity also added.
Twilight sat down on her haunches and explained everything to her friends.
They couldn't believe what they were hearing, but they had no control over her in what she does, so all they could do is support her decision.
"Twilight, as much as i want to object this idea of yours for learning such magic, I can't change that choice, all I can do is support you, and I will" Applejack said concerned for her friend.
"Same here Twilight" Fluttershy added
"Me too" Rainbow Added
"Same here" Rarity also added
"Including me! Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie added also.
"I appreciate the concerns guys, but it's my choice, and I also appreciate the support" Twilight replied with a small smile.
"Just be careful, okay Twi?" Applejack said with a pleasant voice.
Twilight embraced her friend into a hug and spoke "I will, I promise"
Pinkie jumped in front only to scare her and say
"You pinkie promise?"
Twilight performed the Pinkie Pie promise ritual and spoke "I pinkie promise"
"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie replied cheerfully.
"Anyway girls, I have to head back to the home, Spike has been by himself all day, and would be thrilled to see me, plus I have work to catch up on" Twilight said.
"Remember Twi, be careful" Applejack spoke.
"What she said" Rainbow Added
"That too" Rarity also added.
"Yup" Pinkie said adding to the conversation
"See you guys later!"
****Twilight's Library that evening****
Nightfall has just arrived with Twilight finishing the last bit of work she had to do for that afternoon.
"Finally!" Twilight began "I can finally start my studies on the book"
"Huh, what?" Spike asked.
"Oh I forgot to tell you" Twilight pulled out the book from her saddlebag "I checked out this book, it's on dark magic, opinions?"
"Well, if it's what Celestia had in mind for you when she said 'moving on to the next level of your studies, then I say, go for it!" Spike encouraged.
Twilight grabbed her book and walked up stairs to her bed and began reading. After an hour passes, Twilight get's a thought in her head if she should do practice spells, but remembers quickly on what her old foal sitter Cadence said to her 'Twilight, honey, Dark magic is full of dark tricks and lies' and of course, she was right, it is full of dark tricks, but lies? what lies are there to be found or heard? Twilight shook off the words and began to do what she was told to not do.
After a few spells, Twilight began to get dizzy and exhausted. Twilight said to herself "Maybe I should just stop here and get some rest" and let out a exhale.
'Later that Night'
Twilight was sound asleep after a long day after a visit to the empire to see her brother and old foal sister princess cadence, also with practice of dark magic, Twilight had no idea that King Sombra, a unicorn that what she thought was defeated, was present in her book next to her bed.
Sombra looked at Twilight for a second, and slipped out of the book and crept around the library to make sure that nopony would see on what about Sombra was going to do. Revenge. He then made his move and crept into Twilight's horn only giving a sharp pain to the young mare.
"Ow!! Pony Feathers!" Twilight shouted.
Spike rose from his slumber due to the whiny shouting of Twilight's voice.
He then got up from his bed and jumped onto Twilight's bedside and asked
"What's wrong Twilight?"
"I don't know spike, at first I'm sound asleep and then the next thing I knew I woke up screaming, and sorry for waking you by the way" Twilight replied.
"It's okay Twilight, when your hurt, your my first priority than anything else in the world" Spike replied comforting his companion.
Twilight blushed and replied "Thanks spike, that means alot to me"
"Here, i'll keep you safe, I will sleep with you for the rest of the night"
"I would really appreciate that, thanks spike" Twilight replied.
"No problem at all Twilight" Spike replied.
They both said goodnight to each other and fell asleep for a better waking.
'The next morning'
Twilight rose from her slumber, still with eyes closed, she grabbed her brush and walked to her mirror to brush her mane and tail to start the day, but as soon as she opened her eyes, she let out a scream, "OH MY GOD!! This is bad this is bad this is bad" Twilight began to panic.
Spike rose from his slumber and in a quiet voice he asked "What's wrong Twilight?"
"Spike, is this normal?"
Spike got down from Twilight's bed and walked over to the mirror.
"I don't know Twilight, do you mean normal as in every-pony or normal as in you?" Spike said while having a smirk on his face.
"Well obviously it's not spike, it's red for pony sake!" Twilight said hovering her hoof above her horn
"Oh dear, Twilight, it's bright red!" Spike replied with a worried tone.
"I think Zecora may have an answer on this, she knows a lot about mysterious changes" Twilight said
"I would do that, I agree though she does know a lot about mysterious magic or well, changes" Spike replied.
"Let's just hope she does"
****Zecora's Tree hut 15 minutes later****
"The Redding in your horn is nothing that I am not sure what caused it, for it would seem I've never seen before"
"What can I do Zecora? My horn has never been this red before, Not even after doing the Mirror pool return spell multiple times!" Twilight said.
"Whatever seems to be troubling you Twilight Sparkle, I do not know what it is you have been through, When did this occurrence of yours, happen?"
"Overnight" Twilight replied.
"Overnight? Not long I tell, A cure I can try and find, but cannot guarantee"
"Please Zecora, Just do the best you can!"
"Will try Twilight Sparkle"