Lost in Darkness

by Insanecrusader


Chapter 1: Here We Go Again...

Twilight darted back and forth between shelves, looking for any tomes that stuck out to her as unfamiliar or new. She and her friends had already collected much of the ancient castle’s library a few months ago, but after Rarity and Spike's little mishap with the inspiration manifestation spell, Twilight thought it wouldn’t hurt to do a whole ‘nother sweep again. “You can never be too sure what you might miss,” is how the saying goes. However… This time she decided to only bring along Spike, as everyone else was working.

“Spike!” yelled Twilight from across the corridor. “I think I found something!” Her voice echoed throughout the castle.
In no time after she called, Spike was there at her side.

”You actually managed to find something?” he mused. Spike was always willing to help Twilight with anything, but that didn’t mean he always had to enjoy running around like a mad chicken in the dark. “What did’ja find?"

Twilight grinned at her assistant. “I have no idea, let's see.” she said. She blew off the dust on the book and opened it. Twilight studied it closely for a minute or two.

After three minutes without any word from her, Spike piped up in annoyance. “Well, come on, what did we find?”

Twilight looked up and opened her mouth. Spike leaned in, eager to know. “It's… Just another magic recipe for creating confectioneries…” Both of them sighed in disappointment. “Well, at the very least, maybe Pinkie will enjoy this.”

Spike, frowned and promptly walked away, looking for somewhere to sit and bang his head against the wall. They had been at this since daybreak… and it was nearly dusk! He didn’t know when they would call it a day, But Spike was so exhausted, he didn’t care. Twilight, on the other hoof, could go three days non-stop before crashing. It was crazy to him, but normal to her.

Suddenly, right as Spike had found a decent spot and laid down, the panel under him sunk into the floor, triggering a chain of rumblings all around them. A hidden door revealed itself from behind a wall, the door sealed with the symbol of magic. Twilight's cutie mark resonated with the seal on the door, opening it. “How did you guys completely miss this the first time?” Spike grumbled in confusion.

But Twilight never answered, as she was more focused on the contents of the small room they had just opened. Inside was a pedestal adorning a single royal blue tome. Twilight picked it up. It had the personal seal of Her Majesty's royal guardian, Starswirl The Bearded. Removing it and opening the paper revealed its contents to her.

At that moment she turned around, giving Spike the biggest smile he’s ever seen from the alicorn, she said, “I’ve got one…”

Fortunately for the baby dragon, all that meant to him was “Time to go home.”


Two days of intense research later...

As the sun reached the peak in the sky, five ponies and a dragon were gathered around in front of Twilight's castle. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash had all been told by Spike to meet with her at noon for an important event of some sort. Most of them wondered what kind of occasion called for a formal summoning rather than their normal get-togethers. Twilight has never been one to use her rank like that before.

“So what’dya think Twilight's got for us that's so darn important?” Applejack mused.

“I couldn’t begin to fathom her reasons, the dear isn’t ever this cordial… Maybe the princesses have need of our services?” Rarity spoke up to reply.

“Maybe she’s going on a solo mission and she needs us to keep a lock on the town! That would be so awesome if I— I mean, if we got to be in charge.” Rainbow Dash chirped excitedly.

“Oh… maybe she just has a cold and didn’t want to feel useless…” Fluttershy quietly mumbled.

“What if she’s throwing us a royal surprise party?!” Pinkie Pie squealed at the top of her lungs.

Spike calmed them all down even though he didn’t even know what Twilight had in store for them. All he knew is that it had to do with that strange book she found two days ago. He hadn't been getting any sleep since then due to Twilight's constant buzzing around, doing more research.

"I'm sure that whatever's planned, she'll tell us when she gets out here." Spike told everyone

No sooner did everyone grow silent when Twilight burst through the double doors of the castle, book and tome in hoof.

“Girls… What I have here is something only a team of friends like us could ever accomplish.” She boasted. “For the last two days, I have been furiously researching an unusual book in the Castle of the Royal Sisters. A very special tome, containing a spell written by Starswirl the Bearded, used only by himself, his pupil, Clover the Clever and her five closest friends. ”

Everyone looked at her, very confused.

“You mean he never taught it to the princesses? Kinda seems hogwash when you make a spell, but keep it from the strongest magical beings.” Applejack said inquisitively.

Twilight only smiled as she got to talk about her idol. “From what i've gathered from the journal the tome was in, Starswirl thought that it was too risky for Celestia to use it alone.”

She opened the journal to read aloud to them. "She was indeed powerful enough to cast it, but i fear of her safety as well as this fledgling kingdom if something should go awry." Twilight quoted. She looked up to meet her friends eyes. "The spell itself is to much for one pony, it required the magical power of each race, unicorn, pegasi and earth ponies." She explained. "so naturally, Clover made the decision to teach it to her comrades." Twilight concluded.

At this point, Rainbow Dash had had enough. “Dangerous” was her surname after all. “ All right, Twilight, you have me. Just cut the fluff and tell us what we’re doing already!” she exclaimed, pumping her forelegs while in the air.

Twilight was impressed that Rainbow would be interested in spell casting. After all, she wasn’t an egghead.

“This spell, when done correctly, will open a gate to other worlds.” Twilight announced.

Rarity interrupted. “Like the mirror in the Crystal Empire?”

Twilight shook her head, like she knew the exact outcome. “Not exactly,” she explained, “The mirror uses magic directly from its source. Since this is just a spell, it takes magic from the surrounding environment. This will take all of us to cast, and if all goes to plan, I'll have you guys with me to get us back to Equestria!”

Spike looked at his best friend worriedly. “Are you sure that’s safe? What if it fails and only you get transported? What if there's no magic in the world you end up in? What i-”

Twilight put her hoof over his mouth. “Everything will be fine, Spike… I promise.” She hugged him tightly before handing everypony a copy of instructions.

As they got ready to start, they all looked at each other nervously. One by one they began to tap into their magic and they centered them all onto Twilight, creating a bright sphere of light, enveloping her as she began the incantation.

“From North, South, East and West, to the vast stars and universes above there will always be comradery, friendship and-”

Before she could finish, the sphere exploded into swirl of mist and stars. Strands of light shot out amongst the group, while the orb that had swallowed her faded into a cloud of red and purple. It slowly dissipated and, to their shock, Twilight had disappeared…


“And now for something completely different…”

It was 11:55 pm, Thursday, December 31st, 2015. Five minutes until the end of the year. John had been trying to get some sleep but his fruitloop neighbors had other plans. Noisy, obnoxious plans. It had been like this for the three years he had lived in the neighborhood. He didn't enjoy fireworks as much as most do, ever since he was a kid, any loud noise or even the possibility of a loud noise would be too much for his sensitive hearing, but while he eventually eased up on his childhood annoyances, there was always one thing he never liked: ignorance.

The twenty-four year old had already asked them to keep the festivities quiet. He even got a seemingly honest response from the “chill” Mr. Rice. “Pfft… honest. Yeah right, if he’s any example, then boy scouts truly are the only honest people left in this world.” he mumbled to himself. He should’ve known better than to trust a high school flunkie would keep his word on anything.

To John, the five minutes of non-stop banging and yelling felt more like hours, as he buried his head in his pillow in an attempt to drown the cacophony out. He wanted nothing more right now than for the clock to skip right over the midnight hour to spare him of the torture of his troublesome neighbors.

He thought to himself, This whole thing sounds awfully familiar... His subconscious came alive.

Another voice spoke up, in the most sassy tone as well, “Well, you do deal with it every year…”

“Oh, be quiet, you!” John said aloud.

Luckily, he lived by himself.

“And you wonder why people think you’re weird,” the voice quipped.

He laid back down and pushed his feeling to ponder to the back of his head. Slowly drifting off, he heard one last bang as he closed his eyes, though he could've sworn that bang sounded more like a swoosh. Without any more thoughts, he fell asleep.


The next morning started off like any day, just with the added bonus of being painfully slow. Like any new year should be for John. He got up and got dressed in his favorite outfit: blue jeans and a shirt with a police box and the words “The Doctor will see you now.” Topped off with his old blue and black high school letterman. You would think, being twenty-four, he would've been able to buy some new jackets, but John stuck with that one. It was also the only jacket he owned that would keep him warm in January. He draped it over his desk chair while he went to brush his teeth.

As he made his way across the hallway to his bathroom, he managed to trip over something. A door. More specifically, the door to his extra bedroom. Nevermind that he almost fell on his face, more important was the fact that something completely ripped the door out of its place and onto the floor.

He had to do a double-take on what he was seeing.

“Okay, what happened here? John said with a tinge of disbelief.

His house was not even five years old and he knew the contractor: he did not cut corners. Suddenly, he picked up the sound of footsteps… hushed footsteps… as if someone didn't want to be noticed. They were coming from inside the extra bedroom.

As soon as he looked up, he heard the closet shut from inside. John quickly grabbed his set of handcuffs given to him by his granddad off of the nightstand, quietly making his way to the closet. He listened for his intruder, for any sign of whether they were a man or a woman. Being in such a clustered space, John knew whoever was in there was gonna be breathing real heavy.

“Higher pitch, shorter breaths, deduction: female.” he listed to himself. He could tell by her rapid exhales that she was more scared than anything. This was no burglary. But then, what was she doing here? How did she get here? Questions for later. John spoke up to the woman behind the door.

“I’m gonna need you to step out now, this is my home you’re trespassing on, ya’ know…” John said, trying to make his voice sound deeper, but he just sounded like an idiot.

The woman replied in a rather condescending tone. “Want to hold out for maybe a second more? Unless you want to see me with no clothes on, please hold.”

Now John was completely confused. “You’re telling me… that you don’t have any clothes on? At all?!” he shouted in astonishment.

“Sadly, you are correct. Now would you step out so I can get some air?” She chirped.

He thought about it for a moment. How in the devil does a woman show up at my house and knock down a door while naked? More questions began to pop up. There’s no way she could've snuck in. The alarms would’ve gone off and the wiring was sealed in the walls, the only unprotected possible entry would be the window in the bathroom, but it's too small, so that's not it.

He walked away from the closet for a moment, giving the mysterious stranger the opportunity to come out.

She interrupted John’s train of thought when she cleared her throat. “Finally. I thought you were gonna be a whole lot more angry, but it seems you’re just as bewildered as I am.” She adjusted the red Broncos t-shirt she was wearing, along with a pair of jeans. Needless to say, when John turned around he instantly confirmed to himself that he had no women's clothes. At least they weren't sliding off her, just really baggy.

“Alright Miss-appear, what is a girl like you doing in my home?” He asked. Sadly, she could only shake her head, making her purple, magenta highlighted hair swish around. Odd choice for hair color, he might add.

“I’m as clueless as you.” She scratched her noggin. “One second, I'm standing in the front of my home, next, I'm laying on the floor of somepo- someone’s bedroom.”

“Well, where’s your home?” John at this point thought this girl got drunk and-

“No… there’s no possible way even if she was drunk. What the hell?” He corrected himself.

She again re-adjusted her shirt. “I don’t think you could get to it. It's a long story, anyway…” She waved the question off.

John lifted his brow. “Oh? I have all day miss...Miss…” He didn’t know why he hadn’t asked this first. “What’s your name again? Let's start with just that.” he looked at her, waiting for her reply eagerly.

“Twilight Sparkle….. Twilight Anne Marie Sparkle….”