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// Prologue  
// Story: Battling Darkness 
// by TwiDash44 
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	It was a peaceful day in Ponyville, the sun was shining and the people of the small town were enjoying their day. But every so often there would be grunts of frustration coming from the library. It was a normal occurrence so the townsfolk paid no mind to them. 
Inside said library, Twilight Sparkle tried the spell she was working on once more and like the many times before this attempt was also a failure. A sound of complete frustration escaped her mouth as she slammed the book into her face. She has been working on this spell for days and is beginning to believe she is never going to successfully complete it. Sighing she decided to take a short break and grab something to drink. She set the book down on her desk and headed for the kitchen. 
“Why can’t I get a hold of this spell!?” Twilight wonders out loud to herself. It’s just a simple teleportation spell. Well maybe it’s not so simple; it’s supposed to make her be able to teleport at greater distances. Celestia sent this book to her so she could learn new spells and she can’t let her down. It’s the last thing in the world she wants to do. How could you let down your mentor, let alone the ruler of Equestria. 
After grabbing a cup and filling it with water she walked back over to her desk. Taking a drink of the water, she picks the book back up and looks back over the spell again. She reads it a couple of times. “I’m sure I’m doing it correctly,” she thinks to herself. Making a decision, she will do the spell one last time before she has to meet her friends for their weekly picnic. Taking one last look at the spell and then places the book back down. She steps away from her desk. Taking a deep breath, she starts to chant the words of the spell while channeling her magic. As she is doing the spell, she starts to think about all the failed attempts at the spell. Since she starts focusing her thoughts on the failed attempts, she doesn't realize that she is pouring her frustrations and more power into the spell.
Then, slowly a rumbling began. The library started to tremble. She quickly realized that she was losing control of the spell. Twilight tries to stop it but it’s too late for her to do anything. The rumbling got worse to the point that it was deafening. The trembling turned into what felt like an earthquake. Books started to fall off the shelves and she could hear the sound of glass shattering. A light suddenly started to build to the point that all she could see was white. She thought she herd her name being called but the rumbling sound was so loud that she wasn't sure if she actually heard anything else. There was a sound like an explosion and she could feel something wrap around her waist. After that she could feel herself lift of the ground, being flung from the force of the explosion and then everything went black.
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Rainbow Dash was flying over Ponyville heading to the Library to meet up with Twilight so that they could walk together to the meet up with the girls for their picnic. Rainbow smiles to herself, the thought of seeing her nerdy friend always had that effect. She knew the reason why the adorkable girl had this effect on her. It took her weeks for her to accept the fact that she fell hard for her friend. Since then she has been batting whether or not to tell Twilight about her feelings. Rainbow would never admit this to anyone but she was afraid of what Twilight’s reaction would be. She didn't want to risk losing Twilight as a friend. Just being friends with her was enough for now because not having Twilight in her life would be worse.  As she was getting closer to the library, she started to hear a faint rumbling sound. Then all of a sudden a beam of light shot up onto the air. Rainbow knew exactly where it was coming from and dread started to spread through her body.
“TWILIGHT!” she shouted as she picked up the speed toward the library. When she reached the library, what she saw nearly stopped her heart. There was a blinding light coming from the library. Everything around it was shaking; she saw everyone around trying to find cover as the ground shook. Without a second thought, Rainbow dashed in after Twilight. She crashed through the window. She frantically started scanning the room for Twilight. As she scanned the room she noticed it was a complete mess. Books were scattered across the floor and she could see glass glistening on the floor.  After a few second she spotted her near her desk. Rainbow shouted for her but Twilight couldn't hear her. She was the source of the blinding light. Rainbow knew instantly that something was wrong with Twilight's magic. She has never seen Twilight lose control of it like this before.
She then noticed the the light was getting brighter and the rumbling was getting louder and louder. Rainbow could somehow sense that something horrible was going to happen and every nerve in her body was telling her to reach Twilight now. She ran toward Twilight as fast as she could, lunging for her. She had just reached Twilight and wrapped her arms and wings around her, forming a protective cocoon around her, when the explosion hit, the force of it sending her and Twilight flying toward the wall. She braced herself for the impact but it never came instead she heard a whirling sound and still felt like she was flying through the air. Slowly darkness started to creep at the edge of her vision. Before Rainbow completely lost consciousness, she the saw the ground hurtling toward her face and then everything went black.