The Warlock

by JediWyrm

And the Guardians of Darkness

"Yes, I did base my nocturne off of the long extinct Thestral race." Luna said, enjoying a quick snack break alongside Hearts Shadow.

"The resemblance is close. Were you able to study one for you transformation spell?" he asked, sipping on some hot chocolate.

"Sadly no. By the time I started working on the spell their race had fully passed on and I was unable to find a skeleton to study. I had to work off of my memory of the very few times me and Celestia had met a representative of their Grand Colony." She stated just before biting into a grilled cheese sandwich.

"Ah. You did excellent work then if you were able to get so close with so little information. Though all this gives me a desire to swing by their city to see how it's all held up; it would also give me a chance to copy a few books from their library." Shadow said, popping a couple cheese curds into his mouth.

"You know where the Grand Colony is located at?" Luna asked, staring at her dining partner in surprise.

"I've been there a couple of times to help them with some of their defensive enchantments. Still have a few things to set up for my lab so it'll be couple weeks before I can head over there." He finished.

They spent the rest of the light meal chatting about their day before heading off to tend to the rest of their schedules.

---

A little over two weeks later saw Twilight trotting down the hallways of the castle towards the room that had been given to the warlock as a laboratory. Knocking on the door once she arrived brought out a voice inviting her in.

Entering she could see just how much he had changed the room. Minding the tape line on the floor marking out the edge for the safety spells, Twilight moved over to Hearts Shadow.

"I heard you had plans on going to see the lost library of the ancient Thestrals. Do you need another pair of hoofs to help out?" She rather excitedly asked.

Hearts Shadow turned to look at the young alicorn prancing in place. Finishing placing the last of the equipment he had brought in he said, "I just have to place some more safety wards and then grab my saddlebags. Should be less than an hour."

A short time later found the two at the train station. Boarding the train set them off on their journey.

---

An overnight train trip later brought them to a canyon. Twilight and Shadow then proceeded to follow the canyon off for some time before having to cut across a river and through a forest. They walked for a half day, filling the journey with general talk largely focusing on various magical theories and past experiments, before sitting down for lunch.

"So how much further is the Grand Colony?" Twilight asked, enjoying the daisy sandwich Spike had packed for her.

Hearts Shadow gestured to the other side of the canyon, where a small mountain lay. "We're here, just need to cross."

Twilight paused as she processed that information. "Wait, the hidden capitol of the Threstals has been a half days walk from a tourist destination the whole time?"

"Well not the whole time. A thousand years ago we would've need to traverse a deadly swamp, pass through a cave filled with horrors, and a couple other trying places. Nowadays modern transportation has made grand adventures a little less grand." He said chewing on some celery.

Twilight moved to the edge of the canyon before getting buffeted by the wind. Moving back to where Hearts Shadow was sitting.

"Odd the wind shouldn't be that strong given time of day, atmospheric conditions and the formation of the canyon." She said.

"The have a couple wendigos enspelled to protect the canyon. I believe the reminder goes

On the night of the hidden mood,
When time between the sun is equal,
Winds shall be calm and entry granted.

Or something like that, been a long time since I heard it." Shadow explained.

"So we would have to wait until the new moon to be able to cross the canyon? Could we just teleport across instead?" Twilight asked.

"Magical wards prevent teleportation. I plan on just walking across with telekinesis, though I would advise a strong wind shield." He answered.

Finishing up lunch they moved to the edge of the canyon. Both of them put up a shield before Hearts Shadow stepped over the edge, placing a telekinetic platform beneath his hoof and Twilight took to the air to fly across. As the reached a quarter of the way Twilight's wing stated getting frosted over.

As her flight began to deteriorate Shadow grabbed her with his telekinesis and brought her into his shield.

"I mentioned the wendigos. I know I did. You forgot to account for the chill of their wind." He scolded.

Twilight mumbled as she fixed her shield and followed his example in using telekinesis to walk across the canyon.

The wind grew stronger as they walked, requiring them to strengthen their shields a few times however they managed to finish crossing without further incident.

Twilight followed Shadow on the other side as he walked to a crevasse in the mountain and proceeded to a large and decorated door. She studied the door as Shadow moved to one side to a mural along the wall. He touched a few spots, triggering a small magical surge opening the door.

Entering a passageway with several large and impressive statues, Twilight hurried about, studying and examining everything as Shadow just calmly walked down it. The passage ended on a shelf overlooking a large city, the magnificent architecture clear despite the ravages of time.

---

"You know for a forgotten city I was kinda expecting more traps to protect against treasure seekers." Twilight mentioned.

"You've been reading too many fictional stories. They lived here, why bother trapping it. The city's location has been secret until now and the wendigos prevent anyone from just stumbling into finding the location. The real security lies in the library and vaults beyond." Shadow explained, leading the way towards an area that seemed to be filled with monuments.

"If I saw the city correctly it doesn't seem like we are headed to the library currently." She stated.

"I have a small errand first. A friend to whom I need to pay respects." He said solemnly.

Twilight nodded her head understandingly.

They arrived at a place filled with statues of warriors and scholars with tombs and graves surrounds them. Hearts Shadow moved down the hallway, going past some of the more relatively recent tombs. He stopped at a statue and stared at it for a short time reading the name and inscription on it as well as the mural showing the deeds of the entombed.

Shadow used his magic to open a small portal next to him before floating out a skull unlike any other pony skull Twilight had seen during her studies. He placed the skull at the feet of the statue and said words in a language not spoken since the last of the Thestrals perished. He then hung his head in mourning for a brief moment.

---

Shadow gently opened the doors to the library, being mindful of the security spells on it. He and Twilight entered into the foyer where a couple desks were sitting.

"Now before we enter the library proper there are 2 things I should mention. The Thestrals were the guardians against darkness. They protected the world and the other races against evil spirits. They are imprisoned here, usually in the form of books. Not every spirit is content to stay in the vaults where they are supposed to. Some slip out into the normal books shelves. If you feel yourself being drawn to look at a book shrouded in darkness, look away. There are some spirits here that would make Nightmare Moon seem like an uneven stone beneath your hoof." Shadow stated, looking Twilight in the eye. He then floated Beaky over to her head, removing the tape from around his beak.

"Finally, so annoying not to be allowed to talk. Don't worry Shady, I'll keep Star-flanks here from getting absorbed by the dark spirits." Beaky said.

"You might also stumble into an area where light literally will avoid. Do not enter the darkness it is avoiding. The stronger the spirit, the more shrouded it is in darkness. The vaults are kept behind a hidden door, but it would likely be notable by the area of darkness the spirits within generate.

The other thing is there are books here that date back to before unicorns even learned to use their magic. Be very careful when handling any book. Books next to spirit books are specially made to help contain them so be mindful about that." Shadow finished explaining.

"Don't look at the dark books, be careful with the at minimum thousand year old books. Gotcha." Twilight said.

They entered the library proper, Twilight gasped. The sheer volume of knowledge contained therein awed her, especially when she thought about how much of it is from over a millennium ago.

Shadow trotted off down the aisles as she came to terms with what she was seeing, and could decide just where to start.

---

Beaky nipped Twilight's ear yet again. "Hey, I've told you, let me look at what books might be near the dark spirit ones."

Twilight grumbled having been started being drawn in by the third dark spirit book so far. She picked up a book covering the rise and fall of the Gryphon Sovereignty.

Shadow came by later to ensure they eat dinner. Both of them were ensorcelled by books on various subjects.

The next day Twilight was moving past a shelf along the wall when her light spell warped at the edge. Taking a couple more steps she watched as the light seemed to do it's best to not shine upon a length of the shelf roughly equal to her own length. Remembering the warning about such an area she carefully walked backwards away from it and continued to peruse the books.

Shadow walked up to her later that day carrying several freshly made copies of books. "So Twilight, I assume you have found a couple books you would like to make a copy of to take home."

Twilight looked at him, "I was just planning on taking the books with me, why do we need to take the copy?" She asked.

Floating one of the copies next to the book she was holding. "Look at the spine." He said drawing her attention to the runes intricately carved on the normal book but are absent on the copy. She then looked at the bookshelf nearby seeing the runes on every book it held.

"I hadn't really noticed those before. Just kinda thought they were aesthetic." She said.

"Now look at the floor."

Twilight glanced at the floor, seeing countless lines forming numerous patterns. Looking up the same lines were on the ceiling and the walls.

"Everything about this library is designed to contain the dark spirits. Taking a book from here would risk releasing them. It might be a bit of exaggeration but the threat disrupting the runes is very real." Shadow stated sternly.

"I do have one other task to perform, so make any copies of books you want to take home." He said before trotting off towards an area Twilight had passed by earlier. Following him she saw him stop at the edge of the darkness zone.

Hearts Shadow closed his eyes and focused on spellcasting for a moment. His normal magic combined with his dark magic swirled around his horn before sweeping across his body leaving runes over it. When the spell reached his hooves a surge passed from the room to him chaning the colour of the runes on his body.

Opening his eyes he casually strolled into the darkness. Twilight heard the sound of a door being opened and then closed, letting her know that he had entered into the vaults. She sat down to make the copies of the hoofful of books she wanted to take home, expecting to be able to make return trips to get copies of the rest.

Some time went by before she heard the door open once more. She didn't hear it close after what she figured would be enough time to get through the door. Shadow's trip out of the darkness seemed to be taking longer than his trip in. She saw his hoof first, several lengths of darkness seemed to be grabbing it. His head appeared nest, something looking like a hand seemed to be trying to pull him back in by his horn.

A second later he pushed against the spirits pulling at him letting the front half of his body leave the darkness, many of the smaller limbs trying to pull at him let go and snapped back away from the light. Small scratches appeared on him as they did, the runes glowing as brightly as the could trying to repel the ones still holding onto him.

The hand pulling at his horn was forced to let go as he managed to pull his hindquarters out of the darkness, the runes of the library pulsed causing the darkness to shrink marginally before the door was closed.

Taking a good look at Hearts Shadow allowed Twilight to see the book on his back, as well as notice the magic residual of a copy spell on it marking it as freshly made.

Shadow let the runes on his body fade. Twilight started to power up a low level healing spell before noticing the small wounds over his body just sealed over immediately.

"Well that was worth the risk." Shadow said with a hint of humour as he floated the book into his saddlebags on the floor.

"Exactly what did you rick that for Soot-horn?" Beaky asked.

"Something old. Now Twilight lets make our way out." Shadow said as he proceeded towards the entrance.

---

Having ensured that the library was properly closed as well as the door leading into the Grand Colony itself the duo carefully walked across the canyon.

Making their way back to the train station and then to Canterlot they discussed the books they read while in the library and which ones they ended up bringing back with the exception of what the book from the vault was.

On their return Celestia and Luna met with both to discuss the trip.

A quick recap of their trip followed over tea, including exactly where the Grand Colony was located at. Hearts Shadow made sure to let them know that if they should go there to take some sort of guards with them for the sole purpose of keeping them from safe from the dark spirit books.

"I also brought back something of a gift." Shadow said, bringing out the vault book. Making another copy of it, he set the new copy down on the table for the three princesses to examine. The lack of a title caused Celestia to lift it up and open it, gasping in shock as she realized what it was.

The book was quickly passed to Luna and then to Twilight, who remakred "It's a spell book. Though the spells in it are extremely simple, I mean the very first spell isn't really, just the manner in which a unicorn channels power into their horn." Looking up at her mentor she continued "Not exactly some dangerous hot to on evil so why was it locked away?"

"Twilight, that book is the first book written by a unicorn on magic. It was locked away due to it's inherit value. That is just a copy and it'd be worth a medium sized fortune. The real thing... a pony could buy out the equestrian throne theoretically." Celestia answered. "It's simple because when it was written, they were still working out how to cast the more complex spells that we learn in foalhood today."

Twilight looked at the book with renewed awe. Shadow grinned as he put his copy back into his saddlebags to be later added to his personal bookshelves.

Author's Note:

I procrastinated for a couple weeks on this. Reading the Winningverse kinda let me keep going with that longer than I really should've let myself procrastinate.