//------------------------------//
// Scratching the Surface 
// Story: Kiss of the Dark 
// by Soothing Stone 
//------------------------------//

When a dragon has problems carrying a simple book, that's when one knows it's unreasonably heavy. Even a baby dragon like Spike was as strong as many ponies were in their entire lifetimes, so when the new Starswirl book felt like a load on his fingers, it was a miracle the study desk could support it at all without collapsing.

And yet there it was, still in place by the early morning hours. The desk didn't buckle at all, and it was able to carry the weight relatively well.

Over in Canterlot, Celestia went to work on raising the sun, bringing it over the little town of Ponyville.

Spike normally reacted to sunlight by pulling the blanket over his eyes, and mumbling some variation of "five more minutes" before sleeping again.

But this morning, he suddenly woke up when he heard Twilight racing around him to get to the book. In her wake, the basket tipped over and he fell face first into the ground. He flailed his arms around, going from having a dream with Rarity to having his nose in pain.

"Wha!" he said while he crashed. "What is going on? Don't tell me Fancy Pants proposed to Rarity!"

"No, it's tomorrow now!" Twilight squealed. "That means I can finally put this book to good use!"

She levitated the book off the desk and came a few inches from hugging the book again. Her magic flipped to the opening pages, and she soaked in the words once more.

"Hey, Spike, do you think we could make some kind of target range today? We could use a few stacks of hay and a few plates. I saw something about offensive magic and that's what I want to try out first."

"Wait just a second. I thought you had some duties to perform today?" Spike brought up. "Let me see...I know you wrote something down before you went to see Forest Mist..."

He came to the drawer that they always used to store the planner inside. The planner was full of notes and needed replacing soon for one that featured five years of planning, given what Twilight would be doing in the future.

The dragon flipped to the current week, and put a finger on today's date. It had a few scribbled notes here and there.

"There we are. You have a meeting in an hour with Mayor Mare to talk about what you want to do with Ponyville, since you're going to be living here as royalty now. Then you have three hours open until you have to attend a 'Welcome Princess Twilight' party. Pinkie Pie said she just had to throw one for you."

Twilight blushed in embarrassment. "I guess I got carried away with this book. We could use those three hours for target practice, but first things first. Let's get ready to see the Mayor."

She spent the next thirty minutes making herself presentable for the meeting. It bothered her that she allowed herself to get distracted like that, when she had much more things she had to be responsible for.

Maybe Celestia was the same way when she gained the title of princess. Twilight never saw her study magic in her downtime, but she must have learned on the job in the early years. Either way, she couldn't wait for the meeting to be over, the opportunity to study dark magic was just too juicy.

She tipped the crown carefully on her head and slipped her hooves into the golden sandals. Spike watched her get dressed, or wear enough that she would be immediately be recognized as a princess.

"How do I look, Spike?"

"You look pretty good. Do you want me to come with you, or do you want that practice range set up already?"

"The latter, if you don't mind. I'll meet you over there when the meeting's over."

--------

Since it was springtime in the rest of Equestria, the conditions at Sombra's castle improved little by little. Whiteout storms gave way to regular snow showers, and the temperature transitioned from staying below zero to coming closer to the freezing mark.

Sombra could still make out steam coming out of his breath when he went for his walks, which were becoming a regular part of his day. He didn't have much to do until the time came to get started on the next part of his plans.

To kill some time, he sat down on the snow and stopped to dwell on his circumstances. His anger towards Celestia would only act as a barrier for the next few days and weeks, and he chose to release it in any way he could.

So he thought on what he would have done to the princess of the sun if he won. What he wanted to do when he finally wins. Perhaps she could be imprisoned in a crystal, where she could never escape from its imprisonment, helpless to watch Sombra turn her precious Equestria into his own crystal kingdom...

It helped, by the stars it helped. He relaxed his limbs and laughed at his plans for that moment. It would come to fruition if he stayed patient.

And now, with everything in place, he wanted to ensure that things were ready. He glowed his horn with dark magic of his own, and something formed in front of his eyes.

He would know where the book was; it was drenched with his influence. And this spell created a screen, showing him the exact location of the book.

To his surprise, Twilight wasn't there, but Spike the dragon was. His claws clung around the covers of his book. Sombra did not understand what he was seeing with this dragon. A red stallion was with him, one he never saw before. There was a yoke attached to his back, carrying a cart full of haystacks.

Then, he started to pick up on what they were doing. Apparently, they were in a valley overlooking Ponyville, and Spike said something to the one named Big Mac about "target practice" and "a meeting with the Mayor of Ponyville".

Ah. So Twilight was preoccupied with her duties and would be arriving at that valley shortly. He was right on time, and only had to wait a little more.

Still, he could sense the book had been tampered with. Like it was opened many times before. It would make sense, he knew Twilight loved the book on first sight. And the next phase of the plan was simple enough...

All he needed to do was make it appear he was not involved with the next events, therefore making it feel natural and not suspicious at all.

Easy. Far too easy. But then again, what was there to complain about? Doesn't every bad guy secretly wish their plans would go this smoothly?

--------

"That's all you want to do for the first year? Expand your house by a few rooms? I thought you would have asked for a statue of yourself, a bigger fountain in the main square, and more guards," the Mayor Mare said.

"No, not for a while at least," Twilight responded."I don't want Ponyville to become the second Canterlot. I like things the way they are, but I just need a little more space at my house. Two Royal Guards is enough for now. I thought about putting in some barracks, but after thinking about it today, that might need to wait. Why did you think I was going to ask for things like that?"

"Well, we've never had a princess live here before, even if it's a pony that's been living with us for a few years. This is unprecedented, so I'm sure you can understand why I was expecting a lot of monumental changes."

"I understand, but I want it to stay as the little peaceful town near Canterlot. It's nice and we've been able to handle any threats against Ponyville. After all, the other five Elements of Harmony live here too."

For this meeting, the Mayor had a couple of cups brought in, full of tea. They were neatly placed with a few napkins and a plate full of flowers. It gave the room an atmosphere of formality and neatness. The same went with the two Guards waiting in the hallway near the door.

In that room, it struck Twilight that this was her first real taste of the new authority given to her. The Mayor was bending over backwards to accommodate her, because she was below the princess in power now. That took more than a few minutes to adjust to.

"Do you want more tea? I have a pitcher in the other room." the Mayor said.

"No thanks, I'm not finished with my first cup. Now, I understand your term is almost over."

"I was planning to step down to give you that position."

"Mayor Mare, while I know you're being considerate of me, go ahead and run for re-election. I'm not taking over the government in that manner for a while. But should we discuss how we're going to build the expansion to my house?"

Neither one spoke up after she asked the question. Twilight didn't have any experience with construction, and the Mayor wasn't sure how far to go with it.

The princess messed around with the straw in her cup, swishing it around. The Mayor took a few bites out of her stash of flowers to hold off her stomach for lunchtime.

They heard the Guards say something to a visitor on the outside. Something about royal business, and they should come back in an hour.

Then, out of thin air, Twilight got an idea.

"We could arrange a meeting with Princess Celestia to discuss it."

"You can do that now? Of course you can," she corrected herself. "At her castle in Canterlot?"

Twilight nodded. "That is, if you're open."

"It might have to wait for a while, let me check my schedule." She brought out her own planner out of the desk and came to the current month of the year. "I'm open three weeks from Tuesday, so we'll have the meeting then. Are you open the same date?"

"I think so. Is there anything else you want to go over?"

"If you don't have any other plans to build anything, I think this meeting is over."

Twilight's eyes lit up. That meant she was free to go to the target range to finally practice what she read about.

She shook hooves with the Mayor, and ran out of the room as fast as she could. She pushed the door wide open, and it almost slammed into Vanguard's face. He jumped to the side right before the moment of impact, and he posed like there was some kind of invasion.

"What is the meaning of this? Did something go wrong?" he asked.

"No, not at all. I've just been looking forward to this moment all day! Keep an eye on the house while I'm gone, you're doing a good job so far!"

The purple alicorn didn't look back when she rushed out of the Town Hall and arrived outside to the main square of Ponyville.

By then, the townsponies were out in the street, minding their daily routines and chatting with each other. They occasionally stopped when they caught Twilight's crown, gawking at her while she raced through the streets.

The valley she picked for the range was a little ways off from the main hub of Ponyville, but she got through the town in no time. She was so excited to get started that she didn't want to waste any time.

After some time, she found the dirt path leading up to the valley. It was upscale in slope, but she could make out Spike sitting on one of the haystacks. He snacked on a few gems while he read through the Starswirl book himself.

"Hi Spike!" she shouted out to him. "Is everything ready?"

Spike perked up his ears and caught Twilight arriving to the valley. "Yep. Everything's set. This book is kinda weird though. This isn't like any book I've read, and you had me read an entire book in ancient pony language. Are you sure this is a Starswirl book?"

"I know it is. It has his writing style and everything."

When she arrived at the improvised target range, it was set up beautifully. A dozen haystacks were placed in a half circle design, and each one had a plate propped up into place. The plates obviously came from Pinkie Pie. Who else would give out plates that were as pink as her mane, with confetti designs outlining them?

"Can you hand me the book, Spike?" Twilight asked.

He pushed the book off the haystack, and she picked it up with her magical grab. She brought it to her face and opened up the book to the table of contents, past the author's notes and introduction.

Oh, Celestia. This was turning out to be a longer read than she thought. The table of contents alone went for three pages, and there wasn't a section shorter than ten pages. Some went for fifty or more. It had to be the longest book ever written by Starswirl the Bearded.*

There was one section she already decided to focus on for the day. It was roughly in the middle of the contents, and it covered the topic of projectile attacks. That was the purpose of the target range, so she would have some target to aim her magic on. Better than accidentally setting something on fire inside the treehouse.

She moved hundreds and hundreds of pages aside to get to the projectile section, and read the wise and ancient words of Starswirl the Bearded.

This act can be used against your foes, though I have found other uses for it, such as dimming candles and creating hiding spots for stealthy maneuvers. But if you are new to this, I would recommend using it only for offense attacks until you have a better bearing on this technique.

First, find something to attack.

Already taken care of. She looked to the plate on the far left.

Second, brace yourself for the powers of dark magic. To the inexperienced it will seem as if dark magic has a will of its own. That is right and wrong. You ultimately have control of it, but it will require a master. It has to be tamed, one could say.

Third, face your foe and concentrate on the spell you intend to cast.

Twilight put the book down and aimed her horn for the plate. Her other thoughts were pushed aside in favor of thinking about all the properties of dark magic. How Sombra used it. How she turned it to her advantage.

She closed her eyes to concentrate. The air around her sparked with electricity, humming with the strength of something unnatural.

Spike ran to her aid, thinking she was in trouble. The air kept crackling around the princess, almost hitting his feet. He jumped back in surprise.

"Twilight, are you OK?"

When Twilight opened her eyes, their whites were replaced with a nasty green color. Her voice had a slight echo effect when she breathed. He backed away, already jumping to thinking he should send a certain letter to a certain other princess.

"Don't worry, Spike," she assured him. "This is just part of the process. My eyes will go back to normal when I'm finished."

"I don't know, this is scary. The last pony that did that was Sombra, and you know how it went over with me...."

"It's OK. I'm not going to hurt you or anypony else."

She picked up the book again, looking at the last part of the instructions.

Finally, think about a small spark of raw dark magic. It should form on your horn, and you must release it when it forms. There are no consequences for waiting too long, other than the spell will fade out before you cast it

The spark turned into a thought inside her, and she allowed it to fill her mind. At that moment, the spell formed on her horn in the image of a small black ball. While she had the spell ready, two trails of purple mist emitted from her eyes. Knowing the time was right, she released the spell to the plate on the haystack.

When she did, a enormous black spark emerged out of her horn, like a black bolt of lightning. It hit the target almost immediately after release. The plate exploded into a million pieces, and those shards flew in a million directions. The haystack crashed down with it, sending strands of hay into the springtime breeze.

Spike hid behind another haystack for cover. There was no way this was supposed to happen, right? His palms quivered by his side, and he was prepared to do anything to "snap" Twilight out of it.

But everything just stopped. The lightning bolt spell was spent, and it ceased its destruction. Twilight's eyes were still green, but the trails of smoke vanished.

One thing they could agree on: The spell took tons of energy to cast. Her limbs wobbled, sweat drenched her face, and she had to take frequent breaths to catch up.

"Wow...that took a lot out of me," she admitted. "Casting your first spell is difficult enough, but this is different."

Spike came out of hiding and ran to her aid. She sat down on her flank and leaned on the dragon for support, though she was not that exhausted.

"I still don't know about this, Twilight," Spike worried. "That was the weirdest spell you've ever done. I'm telling you, something is not right about this."

"I told you it's fine. I have it under control. And nothing's wrong, it's a Starswirl book after all."

To prove she was fine, she got back on all four hooves and regained her composure. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and felt a lot better about herself.

She couldn't see it, feel it, or hear it, but there was somepony else with her. And he was pleased to see the green eyes she featured. It was the sign of opportunity, shining bright for him to see.

Yes, the time has come for the next part of my plan! Come, Twilight Sparkle. You have only scratched the surface of the true power of dark magic. Now you will have a bigger taste of what it can really do!

Out of left field, Twilight's horn glowed again with dark magic. The trails of smoke came out stronger than ever, and she levitated off the ground. Her eyes were pure green, free from any pupils. Her fur turned into a darker shade of purple.

This was not supposed to be happening. She knew full well that much was true when she felt her hooves lift off on their own, and she heard Spike run again for shelter.

Her horn was one big hub of dark magic, and she had no control over what she was doing anymore. She watched in terror when all eleven plates and haystacks turned to dust, all from her own magic.

Just as soon as she lost control of her horn, she had it again. She fell to the floor and collided with the hard soil, groaning from the pain. Stars whirled around her face, and she could barely shake them away. There was only one way she could sit up, and that was on her flank again.

"What happened? Spike? Are you still there?"

The dragon had fled for some distance, but the moment he heard somepony call his name, he ran back to see her state.

"I'm so sorry! I was going to send a letter to Celestia, but I didn't bring any paper with me! So I ran to the house to get some, but it looked like you were going to destroy Ponyville!"

"It's OK, Spike. I'm back to normal."

"But what was that?" he hyperventilated.

"I'm not sure. There was something in the book about how you needed to master dark magic, and how it would look like it had a mind of its own."

"A mind of its own? Are you crazy? There's no way you can keep practicing THAT! What if somepony gets hurt, or if it kills you?"

Twilight opened up her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She needed to think about this, and paced back and forth while she did so.

"You're right. That was extremely potent, nothing like I've seen before. And this was just the first time."

Spike sighed in relief. So the nightmare was over--

"But then again, it was similar to the time I got my cutie mark."

"WHAT? Don't tell me you're going to keep studying this."

"Look, when I got my cutie mark, I had no control over myself. It was not that different from today, where I levitated myself. And I turned my parents into cacti, and you turned into a dragon almost as big as the time you let your greed get the better of you."

Spike blushed until his cheeks were bright red. It wasn't a memory he cherished. The only good thing that came out of it was getting close to Rarity through it.

"But that was different!" he eventually pointed out. "You got better with time, and it was supposed to happen, with your cutie mark and everything!"

"I guess you have a point. I still want to see if I can get some control on things with time, but if things get any more wild, I'm finished. Does that sound good to you?"

"Maybe...I'm not looking forward to the next time we do this. Do you think we can do something lighter?"

"Deal. Maybe something like casting a few shadows for fun."

That was what Spike wanted to hear. He exhaled a few times, before they both turned to the eleven piles of dust.

"Um...should we clean up this mess?" he asked.

"It's just dust out in a meadow. We can leave this one alone. But I'm going home to rest up a bit before the party. I know Pinkie topped herself, I just know it."

They went on home, all while not realizing the force of nature kept his eye on them.

How much ahead of schedule could one be? My control of Twilight is stronger than I predicted after three weeks of practice! Her mental defenses must have been down after she met Forest Mist.

Given that in mind, perhaps I could use this to my advantage again...

The eye left them in peace, and went to work on another task....

After walking through Ponyville and dealing with another token of respect from the thousandth pony, this one a half eaten muffin from a certain mail pony, Twilight and Spike came back home. The two Guards were already guarding her house by the front door.

"So how many cakes you think she's making?" asked Spike. "I heard she closed down the Sugar Cube Corner just to work on the party. It's why I haven't had a good cupcake in two weeks."

"I'm guessing...forty. Just give me one second, and we'll talk about it inside." She approached First Strike and noticed a letter was over his shoulder. "Who sent that letter?"

"He calls himself Forest Mist," First Strike answered. "He says he's a good friend of yours, and asked me to deliver to this to you the first moment I see you. Is it true that he's a good friend of yours?"

"I don't know about being a good friend, but he's a friend. Can you hand over the letter?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." He gave Twilight the piece of paper.

She found it had the same seal as the first letter, and broke it open with her own magic.

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

Sorry I can't attend the party the pony Pinkie Pie is throwing for you. She's turning this town into her own little carnival, and I would assume you'll have a good time this afternoon.

I couldn't talk to you myself, since I have some business to attend to. I was in Ponyville this morning to purchase some seeds, and summer is approaching. Those seeds must be planted on time, not a day later. My apologies, but I'm sure you understand.

Since you must be occupied with the party and your new studies, I ask if I can see you again tomorrow night at the Quiet Meadow Cafe in Ponyville that I've heard about, same time as our last meeting. We could discuss how your studies are coming along, among other things.

Once again, I apologize this was the best I could do on such short notice. But I'll try to be more accommodating to your new schedule in the future.

With much respect,
Forest Mist