//------------------------------//
// The Ending? 
// Story: A New Friend 
// by Shadowflame 
//------------------------------//

	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.


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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.


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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."