"Spike! Have you found that book yet?" Twilight Sparkle inquired, getting impatient.
"No Twi, I haven't!" The small purple dragon replied, "Where should I start, if you never told me the title of the book?" Spike stood in the main room of the library, observing the bookshelves that lined the walls, as if waiting for the right book to just go "Here I am!"
"'Revelations in dream magic'. It should be in the box of new books (despite it being over 500 years old)." Twilight trotted into the room, carrying an enormous bag, completely empty, except for a couple rolls of parchment. "It should be a large tome. Celestia said that it is a book currently being studied at Canterlot. I want to take a look at what kind of spells are within." With the ease of her magic, she brought the box to her, carried by Spike, who was dragged along for the ride.
Tearing open the box, Twilight rummaged through the contents and quickly threw most of it's contents around the library. It was about time the Ponyville Library got some new material. She had read over every book in the building at least once. About half of the entire box was consumed by Daring Do books, which She was sure Rainbow Dash would approve of.
"Aha!" Twilight exclaimed triumphantly. She held in front of her a large tome. The front cover had the picture of clouds and stars. The title read, as Twilight had said, "Revelations in Dream Magics" by Duke of Slumber. "There is one spell in particular that I want to see. It is supposed to have the ability to remove nightmares from a pony."
"Why would you need that spell, Twi? Have you been having nightmares?" Spike asked, worriedly. Twilight didn't answer.
As Twilight fumbled throughout the pages, she stopped periodically to read something. After a little while, she found the spell she had been searching for.
"I've found it!" She exclaimed happily. Reading the page, her face scrunched up. "It says here that to preform the spell, I'll need some special ingredients."
"What are these ingredients?" Spike inquired. He walked around Twilight to get a look at the page. "It can't be too hard to find them."
"That's where you're wrong, Spike." Twilight responded, closing the book. "The ingredients listed here are some that I've never heard of."
"Like?"
"Hm... 'Fallen Starlight, Solar Flares, Dreamweave...' All of these items have some weird name to them." Twilight placed the large tome within the saddlebags around her sides, being careful not to crumple the parchment. "Well, no time like the present. Let's go Spike." She lifted the dragon onto her back and left the library.
"Where are we going, Twi?" Spike asked as he saw her heading towards the Everfree Forest.
"If anypony knows what these items are, it'll be Zecora." Twilight made her way around the forest, being careful not to stumble into any poison joke. Within minutes, they approached the zebra's hut.
"Zecora, are you home?" Twilight asked into the hut, opening the door. "Ah, there you are." Zecora was there, brewing up some weird zebra potion, as usual. "I need you to help me with these ingredients to a spell."
"Ah, My dear friend." Zecora greeted, "Allow me to comprehend." Zecora took the book from Twilight, and flipped to the bookmarked page. "Hm, a spell to solve a nightmare, for a magical mare? To obtain these items of of which you seek, you will need to find one with tastes of antique."
"So, I should go talk to the princesses?" Twilight asked, looking Zecora in the eyes.
"Yes, but I must warn you of the quest you are about to embark. You are dealing with something very dark." Zecora was looking grave and worried.
As Twilight Sparkle trotted up to the Ponyville train station, she turned to Spike.
"Spike," She said, "I need you to stay here and watch over the library. Can you do that for me?"
"Yeah, sure." Spike responded. He looked saddened. "Be sure to bring me back a snow globe this time, alright?" He left her there, at the door to her train. Little did he know about the danger approaching.