The Presence

by Lunar Specter

Horribly Wrong

Luna’s night had long since taken over the skies above the small, rural town of Ponyville. It brought the kind of serene beauty that only the night could bring: Andromareda and Hercoltes graced the sky; Luna’s moon full and bright, casting shadows throughout the land.

Sadly, most ponies were asleep at this hour and missed out on such beauty.

Most.

A lone building in the darkness emitted light from its many windows. The building’s occupant, a purple unicorn by the name Twilight Sparkle, enthusiastically examining various texts; her topic of research: a complicated spell she had recently discovered.

She had happened upon the spell while reading through a rather ancient text on forbidden spells. Now this was no text she was unfamiliar with, she had read it multiple times and knew the spells well. But this particular spell was discovered in a particularly odd spot: hoof-carved into the back cover, originally obscured by a faux covering. An incident with Spike, her little dragon assistant, had revealed it.

As you can probably guess, the odd placement of this spell piqued Twilight’s curiosity. That, and the fact that all that was described was how to perform the spell…no name, no purpose…just directions on casting.

None of her other texts had any mention of a similar spell in them, and Twilight was sure she had gone through every one in her collection. She was starting to get agitated.

Well, if research yields nothing, then that only leaves one thing: experimentation.

Now why would Princess Celestia’s star pupil risk casting a potentially forbidden (and most likely dangerous) spell? The answer is simple.

Curiosity.

Anyone who knew Twilight knew that her curiosity knew no bounds. She had to know the answers to whatever questions were thrown her way, and the explanations to what she observed.

Reading over the transcription one last time, Twilight stepped into the center of the library’s lobby. Not sure what to aim at, she focused on one of the books that lay near her.

Closing her eyes, she focused on drawing her magic from the source within her. She felt the energy surge around her horn and reach out towards the book, she opened her eyes to observe.

Something went wrong.

The spell hit the book…and bounced right off. Arching like lightening around the room, it eventually found its way back to her.

It struck her before she even had time to react.

She felt the spell reach deep within her and attack her magic. It hurt, like no pain she had ever felt. She thought it was attacking her very soul. She couldn’t scream…she didn’t have time to.

For a second, it all stopped. The pain just…stopped.

Then her magic surged out of control.

Her eyes turned white and began to glow with power, and energy surged around her. She began to levitate off the ground under the power of the magic surging around her.

She had never felt so much magic before…the surge when she got her cutie mark, nothing compared to this.

Before she could even attempt to regain control, another surge, much larger than the last, erupted from within her. Something came with this surge, she could feel it.

Something…dark.

She tried to fight it, but it was futile, there was too much of her own magic behind the essence. She lost consciousness as the surge left her body with so much force it caused a loud explosion that rocked the tiny library.

**********

Spike the dragon was awoken from his sleep by a loud explosion. He stumbled out of bed, and seeing the dust and remnants of books flying in the air, could only guess what happened. Another failed spell.

Spike rushed down the steps, almost tripping on the way down. He searched through the dusty haze that filled the air in the library’s lobby for his guardian.

He saw a movement through the haze near the center of the room and rushed to it.

It was Twilight. She was just starting to drag herself to a stand, her eyes still shut.

“Twilight! Are you alright?!” Spike asked as he aided her in standing.

Twilight’s eyes shot open and she starred at him. Something seemed…off about her appearance. Spike finally realized what it was...her eyes were darker than their normal purple hue, they seemed almost black.

After a few moments of her staring at him, she gave him an uncharacteristically evil grin and spoke in a dark tone, “Oh yes, Spike! Never better.”

Comments

[xDan]

That was unexpectedly short.