//------------------------------//
// An Unexpected Discovery 
// Story: A New Friend 
// by Shadowflame 
//------------------------------//

	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.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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"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.