//------------------------------//
// Chapter One 
// Story: A Friend In Need 
// by Vietmane Veteran 
//------------------------------//

Chapter One

Twilight carefully read over the scroll once again. She licked her lips, making sure to commit every detail to memory. A single mistake could end up ruining the entire experiment, or worse, perform a different spell that what was originally intended. Her eyes pored over the page once again.

She took a deep breath, raising a hoof to her chest and moving it away. She gently set the scroll in the midst of the Elements, next to the hoof-held mirror. The Elements of Harmony themselves were arranged in a circle around the two objects.

Twilight steadied the magic in her horn. She cleared her mind, save for the ideas of another world. She focused her magic, and began the spell. This spell was based off of Starswirl the Bearded's spell to open portals to other dimensions, but with a major difference. Instead of being bound to a random shapeless portal, it would seek out the largest source of magic, and open a portal there. The Elements would help the portal appear in an appropriate setting, instead of being, say, in the ground. They would also stop the worlds from 'Twinning,' as had happened before.

A noise reached her ears. It was the Sun Summer Celebration, and a parade was going on. She tuned out the music; she had to focus at the task at hoof. Yes. The spell was reaching. If all went well, then the portal would connect to a world of-

BLAST! A deep bass blast reached down below. Electronic music followed. Twilight faltered. The magic broke free of her control, but started taking energy from her! Twilight gasped as she lost her strength. Her magic was being pulled from her body, reshaped and about to be reused!

The Elements glowed, giving strength to Twilight. She took back control of the magic, and tried to refocus her mind. She failed. The magic from the Elements had enhanced her senses, and now the music above was so loud; it took up too much of her thoughts. She released the spell in her confusion, and it darted towards the mirror. It came into contact, releasing a violent purple light. It struck the scroll, destroying it in the process.

Twilight rushed over to break the mirror, when it released a blast of fading-denim blue and angry pink. She was thrown onto her back, sliding across the ground. The door threw open, and the pink energy left, pulling the blue behind it. Celestia attempted to catch them in her magic, but they were too quick.

Twilight rolled left, getting to her hooves. She and Celestia quickly ran up the stairs, going to the top of the tower. They came to a hard stop, and watched the two energies flying away, too fast for even Rainbow Dash to follow.

Twilight gulped. "Consarn it," she swore.

Celestia gave a sigh. "Well, as least we have the scroll. We can find those pieces of magic using that."

Twilight slowly looked up at Celestia, before slowly looking forward again. "Oh, Celestia, curse it," she swore.