Later in the day, Celestia's sun had lowered beyond the horizon to make way for the coming night brought forth by Luna. At this point, everypony would be heading inside their homes, ready for a good night's sleep.
However, in Ponyville, more specifically Twilight's library, Spike wouldn't have a good night's sleep. Even though he had slept by himself a few times before in his life, this time, things would be different. He knew Twilight was going to be gone for a while. Thinking about how long she was studying under Celestia's tutelage made him worry that she may not come back for days. Possibly weeks, or months, or even years would pass before she came back.
Spike was pacing back and forth on the floor of the main room, deeply thinking about this. Nothing could help him at this moment. He wasn't sure if this was fortunate or not, but Pinkie Pie decided to stay with him for a couple of nights. At least he would be in the comfort of a friend. Of course, this friend was a hyperactive pony who loved having parties for almost anything. Then again, this same pony also had a knack for bringing smiles to everypony's faces.
He wasn't sure whether or not the party mare could help him calm his nerves, but he knew no matter what, she would try anything. The first thing that came to mind: a slumber party.
Perhaps Spike just needed a few treats to settle himself down just a bit, and Pinkie had the answer for that. Somewhere in the corner of the room, a large pile of Pinkie's belongings sat together in a heap. Normally, or at least as normal as it could get for Pinkie Pie, she would use these things for her parties. This was just a slumber party, so she packed light. However, her definition of light was anything but.
To say Pinkie was fully prepared was an understatement. She brought enough things that would last about ten slumber parties. Anything that was too big for the main room, she stuffed down in the basement for other nights. No doubt, Spike was going to be tired of slumber parties after this.
Pinkie walked up to Spike carrying two sticks in her hoof, along with a bag of fluffy white marshmallows. "So Spike, what would you say to some roasted marshmallows? No matter what, I'm going to make sure you're happy, and I think this should be a good start."
Spike stared at the bag, and figured a snack or two wouldn't hurt. "Yeah, sure. Why not? I could go for something to eat right now." Spike held out a claw and grabbed one of the sticks. He walked over to the fireplace with Pinkie following close behind. Once he got close enough, he release a puff of green fire towards it. It gave out a small flare before it sparked a beautiful flame.
Spike and Pinkie both sat next to each other near the fire, holding out the sticks with marshmallows on one end. Spike never understood how ponies could hold things with their hooves, not even Pinkie Pie. He always thought not to question it, because either way, things like that should never be questioned. They held the soft, white candy pillows of fluff over the fire, slowly burning it to the point of deliciousness. While doing so, Pinkie turned to Spike with the most curious of faces.
"So Spike, what do you think Twilight's doing right now? I bet she's learning all sorts of new magic spells even as we speak!"
Spike just stared into the fire and the burning marshmallows. His mind was filled with memories of Twilight and himself.
"Spike?"
His fondest memories appeared in his mind, and those were back when he was a really young baby dragon, and Twilight was just a filly. While Twilight took care of him most of the time, Princess Celestia had to help out sometimes, and even Twilight's parents.
"Spike, are you there?"
Then the memories of the later years came. Twilight looked to be pretty older, though Spike was just starting to learn how to talk. He was always so curious, and Twilight's family even cherished his company, and how cute he was at the time. Twilight was, however, more like a mother to him.
"Equestria to Spike..."
And then there was now. Though Twilight still acted motherly towards him, she was also like his older sister; an older sister that was a pony instead of a dragon, but a sister nonetheless. Now that she was possibly gone, at least that's what Spike thought, he was starting to miss her.
"SPIKE!"
At that moment, Spike snapped out of his thoughts, and turned to Pinkie, who was now holding a few chocolate bars and graham crackers in one of her hooves. "Oh, I'm sorry Pinkie. I was lost in thought there."
"Maybe you'll want to be lost in thought later. Your marshmallow's getting very, very burnt." Pinkie pointed a hoof towards the fire, and when Spike directed his attention at it, he noticed how dark it looked. He quickly retracted it,and looked at it. It was a deep coal black color from how long it had been in the fire.
"Eh, it's still good."
"Well sure, if you like your marshmallows burnt to a crisp. Anyway, do you want some smores? I got chocolate and crackers right here!" Pinkie held out the delicous treats to Spike, who grabbed them with his claws. He placed a piece of the chocolate bar on top of one of the crackers and slid the marshmallow off the stick. He carefully placed it on top of the chocolate, then put the other cracker on top to make a complete smore.
"This sure does look delicious."
"Well, you won't know until you try it out!" Pinkie then went on to make her own smore. Spike bit into the marshmallow-chocolate sandwich with a satisfied smile on his face.
"Mmm, this stuff is good!" He ate the rest of the smore with one big bite.
"Really, even with the burnt marshmallow? Hmm, must be a dragon thing. Burnt things must taste good to you. Oh well." Pinkie shrugged as she took a bite of her own treat with her own satisfied smile. "So what were you thinking about earlier when you were busy burning your marshmallow?"
"Oh, that? Well, uh..." Spike lowered his ears as he loooked down at the floor with a sad expression, which Pinkie immediately saw.
"Spike, what's wrong? Are you still thinking about Twilight?"
The young dragon wasn't sure if she was guessing, or if she could actually read his mind. Either way, she was right. "Yeah... I just miss her. I know it hasn't even been a whole day yet, but it feels like she's going to be gone for a while. Is it bad that I didn't want her to go?"
The usually upbeat mare couldn't stand to see a friend in such a sad state. She scooted closer to him, and put a hoof on his back as if to reassure him. "No Spike, it's not a bad thing. I didn't want Twilight to go either. Things were more fun around here with her around. But we can't be all mopey just because she wanted to leave us for a chance to be better in magic. All we can do is be happy for her that she has this chance. We have to be there for her when she needs us."
Spike lifted his head up to look at Pinkie, who was now giving him a reassuring smile.
"There's a lesson to be learned here: we all have our selfish desires, and in this case, it's Twilight staying here in Ponyville and never wanting to leave. But we can't let that get in the way of her wanting to do what she wants to do. If she's happy with what she's doing, then we should be happy too."
Those words got to Spike, and he started to smile. He felt much better about the situation now that he was calmed down by a friend. "Thanks, Pinkie. I really needed to hear that."
He then turned his attention to the fireplace, looking straight into the burning flame. "I wonder what Twilight's doing now..."
All was black for Twilight. She could feel nothing but softness all around her body. It felt calming, relaxing, and nice. The same feeling was also placed behind her head, yet felt softer. She did not know what they were until her eyes fluttered open in a slow manner.
She came to in a waking daze. When her vision cleared, she found herself looking up at the ceiling, laying on her back. She shifted her eyes downward to see a white blanket covering her body. When she looked to her left, she noticed that her head was resting on a really soft pillow. She liked the feelings, but that was beside the point.
What she wondered, was why she was resting in a bed in the first place. She stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, deep in thought. When no answers entered her mind, she closed her eyes to try to concentrate a bit more. Then she remembered something. The last thing she remembered hearing when she was last conscious.
My sister, Princess Luna, will be your new teacher.
She couldn't tell if Princess Celestia was being serious when she said that. Then again, when Twilight grew up studying magic under her wing, she had figured her teacher to make a few jokes every now and then.
But that would be logically impossible, given why Twilight was in Canterlot in the first place. She asked for Celestia's help. Celestia asked her to go to Canterlot. There'd be no reason for Twilight to go if it was just a joke. Perhaps she wasn't joking after all.
Or maybe this was all just a dream. That had to be the only possibility. She was sleeping in a bed, after all. She may have just woken up from it. There wasn't even a chance that Celestia would ask her younger sister to tutor her in magic.
She moved her hooves under the blanket, and tossed it up and forward. After hearing the sound of the ruffling blanket, a voice called out to her from a few feet away.
“It's about time you woke up, Twilight.”
Twilight automatically knew who that voice belonged to. It was none other than Princess Celestia, who was laying down a few feet away from the foot of Twilight's bed. She rose up to her hooves while Twilight sat up to look at her.
“Princess Celestia? W-What happened? The last thing I remembered was being in the library. You were there, and so was Princess Luna. And, you told me something very unbelievable. But thank goodness it was all just a dream.”
Twilight had a content smile on her face. Celestia, however, did not. It was one full of doubt, knowing that the unicorn didn't know what was in stake for her. Twilight noticed it, and shared the same doubtful look. “Princess... tell me that was just a dream.”
“I'm afraid not, Twilight. What happened in the library was as true as you remember. I did ask Luna if she could come up with a solution, and she did. She was willing to make an offer that would be able to help you, as you wanted. Please, allow me to explain.”
“Wait, Princess.” Twilight held out a hoof to stop Celestia from speaking, and surprisingly, she did. “Before you tell me, how long was I out?”
“Twilight, you simply fainted. You weren't out for any longer than an hour. I brought you here afterward.”
Twilight blinked her eyes at Celestia's words, and then looked around. She was quite surprised at what she saw. It was the same exact room she stayed in when she studied under Celestia's teachings from her fillyhood to her young adulthood.
"My old room? So I am in Canterlot, and this isn't a dream after all. Does that mean it is nighttime?"
"Look out the window, and you can see for yourself."
Twilight climbed out of her bed, and walked over to the window. What she saw was the bright, dull gray moon out in the sky, lighting up the night with its moonlight accompanied by the many stars. The sky was as beautiful as the Night Goddess herself, and a few stars seemed to twinkle as Twilight looked at them.
She looked back Celestia with a curious face. "Then why are you still up?"
Celestia then gave a heartfelt laugh in response. "Twilight, I may be the Princess that resides over the day, but that doesn't mean that I'm not just like everypony else. I don't have to rest as soon as the moon rises, just as my sister doesn't have to rest as soon as I raise the sun. Are you really that optimistic about things?"
Twilight would've responded, but she didn't really have any rebuttal to what the other mare said. She looked down at the floor in embarrassment, as if it got to her a bit to say something like that to the one pony she looked up to the most.
As if to reassure her, Celestia walked over to where Twilight stood, and placed one of her wings on the unicorn's back. "Don't worry about it, Twilight. I suppose it wasn't clear at first. That isn't important right now. What is important now is what you will be going for in the future. It all depends on what you want."
"What I want..."
"What exactly is it you want, Twilight? If you want to succeed, you must set up a goal first. What was the reason you asked for my help in the first place?"
Twilight had to think long and hard about this. She had an answer, but she wasn't sure if it was quite clear what she exactly wanted out of this. It didn't take long for her to come up with the words to explain herself. "I want to learn more about magic as I can. I know you've taught me almost everything I could learn from you. I just don't see how I can go further than where I am now."
"And?"
She sighed before continuing. "And from what I saw, Princess Luna does apparently know something that can help that you don't. Is that why you're passing on your role as my teacher to her?"
The alicorn nodded her head in response. "Yes. We talked about it, and it is certain she knows a lot of things about magic that I don't. Or at least, I do know, but she has more control over it than I do. There are even spells she knows that I don't. I do have an idea as to what kind of magic she might be teaching you."
Much to Celestia's dismay, Twilight grinned in anticipation and curiosity. "Really? What do you think it is?"
She locked eyes with the white alicorn. Celestia's eyes were filled with a bit of doubt, while Twilight's eyes were filled with wonder. Finally, she gave her answer. "Dark magic."
Then the lavender unicorn showed an expression filled with even more curiosity. "I've heard of dark magic before, but wasn't sure what to think about it. I've read a bit about it. Unlike regular magic, dark magic was used on a much different scale. Usually, it would be something ponies of the past used to pull pranks on each other. Then things became more serious when they were used to either accidentally, or intentionally, harm another pony. It wasn't shown to be a reckless force until your sister transformed into Nightmare Moon. That's all I understand on the subject. Is there more to it than that?" She looked back up to Celestia's face, and she returned her gaze with an uncertain expression.
"There is more, but it is nothing I can answer. For that, you will have to go to Luna. In fact, I would advise you go to her now. I don't have any more answers to your questions at the moment. For now, you'll want to get them from her. I believe she is waiting for you in her bedchambers."
"Why does she want me to go there? Couldn't she just come here?"
"I must admit, she can be lazy at times, especially not too long after she wakes up from her sleep, though she's been up for a few hours now." Celestia looked out the window to gaze at her younger sister's moon. "Either way, if you want your questions answered before you go to sleep tonight, you should go to her. I will be heading off to sleep now."
Celestia started to walk away from Twilight to the exit. After a few steps, the smaller mare caught up to her. "Where is her bedchambers, exactly?"
"Oh, right. I shall have a guard escort you there."
As they exited the room, they walked down the hallway together. After about a minute, they approached a guard that was busy patrolling the hallways.
"Twilight Sparkle here needs to be escorted to Luna's bedchambers. Ensure that she gets there."
The guard stood upright, and nodded his head. "Yes, your Highness."
Celestia turned back to Twilight with a smile on her face. "Goodnight, my little pony. I hope you find the answers you seek in my sister." With that, she walked away from sight. Twilight turned back the the guard, who was now escorting her to Luna's room.
While Twilight was making her way to Luna's bedchambers, the Night Princess herself sat at the balcony of her tower, looking off into the distance. It was no secret that the blue alicorn loved her nights. Every night, she would gaze up at her creation, her masterpiece, her inspiration. She would do this for about a few minutes to soak in the fragility, calmness, and serenity of the moonlight upon her beautiful figure. Her mane and tail twinkled more brightly during the night, and that made her happier, as the night was her element.
As that went on, next to her was the book from earlier. It was shown to be ominous with the image it gave off. Clearly written across the cover were the words that spelled the title of the book.
The Dark Arts: Secrets of the Arcane Knowledge of Dark Magic.
Princess Luna knew this book well. It was a book she used a lot, and always kept it around as a reference guide whenever she needed to practice such spells. There was more in depth to dark magic than just the spells, which she would have to explain to Twilight later.
She figured that was enough time spent enjoying the beauty of the night. She stood up from her spot, and used her magic to pick up the book from the balcony floor, and set it on her bed. As soon as she made sure that everything was set for her private meeting with her new student, she made her way to the door, and levitated it open. When she did, she could already see Twilight and the guard approaching her. Luna smiled a bit from the anticipation.
When the guard saw that they made it, he stopped in his tracks, allowing Twilight to step ahead of him. She happily acquiesced, trotting up to the taller mare. "Hello again, Princess Luna. It's so nice to see you again after some time."
Luna only raised an eyebrow at her statement. "By some time, are you referring to about an hour and a half ago, when you fainted before my sister and I in the royal library?"
Now Twilight felt embarrassed again from Luna's remark. She tried her best to hide it, but unfortunately for her, the Princess could sense it all too well. She had to move this on. "Yes, well... let's move on, shall we?"
"Indeed. Come inside, Twilight Sparkle."
And that she did. Luna stepped aside for the unicorn to enter, and she was well surprised by what she saw. "This is your room?"
"It is. Why do you ask?"
"It's just... so amazing! It isn't anything like I imagined at all!"
Luna had her suspicions from Twilight's words. "I assure you, what you had thought is nowhere near close to what it actually appears to be. It is not that dark."
Twilight felt embarrassed yet again. What, are they mind readers, or something?
"Ahem... anyway, what am I here for?"
"Oh yes, the purpose of your arrival." As Luna turned her head towards her bed, her horn glowed a light blue color, and the book glowed in a similar fashion. It floated from it towards Twilight, and it levitated in front of her for her to read.
"Dark Arts: Secrets of the Arcane Knowledge of Dark Magic? Is this what I will be learning from?" She shifted her attention from the book to Luna.
"There is more to it than that. This book is the very same that I have used to learn and practice spells with. They are quite difficult to work with, and its levels go far above normal advanced spells. Only unicorns around your level of magical ability are capable of understanding and controlling this type of magic. You shall not be doing this alone, though. I will guide you as my sister has done in the past."
Twilight took a moment to soak it all in. She was going to learn something she thought was never going to learn, yet here she is. One part of her was excited that she was going to learn about dark magic, but another part was a bit nervous about the whole ordeal. Yet another part was curious as to what learning and performing dark magic would be like.
"Thank you, Princess."
Luna laughed afterward. "Please, call me Luna. Formalities shall not be required between us."
Twilight just smiled, and nodded in respect to her words. "Thank you, Luna."
"I shall first teach you what dark magic is about after I see your current progression of magical ability. That will wait until tomorrow night, just after the moon has risen." With her horn still glowing, the book was placed back where it rested before on Luna's bed. After she did so, she walked back towards the balcony. Twilight started to follow her, only to suddenly be stopped by her voice.
"To your room, you shall return. Dark magic, you will learn. I'll examine you tomorrow night. Farewell, Twilight."
When she finished, her glorious wings spread out and wide, extending about a great length of feet in wingspan. She knelt down, and pushed off the floor of the balcony into the cool air of the night. Twilight watched as her new teacher looked smaller and smaller until she appeared to be almost nonexistent in the far distance.
After that, Twilight obeyed her order, and left the room. The same guard from before waited for her out there until she exited, and guided her back to her room. Twilight did not expect this at all. To learn dark magic from Princess Luna? She didn't know how to feel about it. She figured a good night's rest would do her some good.