"I've got to find the Crystal Heart." Twilight said as she continued to search the castle. Twilight was about to pass up the throne room when she suddenly noticed something. Something was strange about the throne, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on what. Then it suddenly hit her.

"If the Empire is filled with hope, and love those things are reflected across all of Equestria," She remembered the Princess telling her, "If hatred and fear take hold,"

"Of course!" she cried out. The crystal that sat atop the throne was the exact same shape as the one Celestia had showed her.

"What?!" asked Spike, startled, "Did you find it?"

"No," Twilight told him, "Because this isn't King Sombra's castle."

"But... Isn't this where he lived when he was in power?" questioned Spike.

"It is," she said, "But it didn't look like this." Twilight knew she was right, she had to be. The only problem was how to prove that. She tried to think back again on what Celestia said, but couldn't find the answer. Come on Twilight. She told herself. Think. Think! What was it that the Princess said? Look closely.

Twilight gasped as she realized the solution. Hatred and fear! Of course! Princess Celestia used hatred to power her magic instead of kindness. But, how am I supposed to do that? Twilight reached deep down in herself looking for something, anything, even a spark of hatred, but alas she couldn't find any.

Just then she felt something. A twinge so to speak. She reached in again, and felt the same thing, it was a feeling that she was not too familiar with, but just the one she needed right now: Hatred. As she drew upon it's power she felt another twinge, but brushed it off. "Good, take my power." She heard a whisper, but just dismissed it as her imagination.

Once she had gathered enough power the magic around her horn turned an angry shade of black, like a storm cloud right before a harsh rainfall. Finally she released the magic and it flew into the crystal that stood atop of the throne. From there the magic quickly spread out as if by chain reaction, revealing the true nature of the throne room.

In the middle of the room was a large square hole with a large staircase winding down it into darkness. "Woah," said Spike, amazed, "When did you learn to do that?" he questioned.

"That was a little trick Celestia taught me." Twilight told him, "You stay here, I'm going to have a look."

"If you insist," he said. With that out of the way Twilight lit up her horn and began her long descent down into the dark depths of the Crystal Castle. "Can you see down there yet?" he questioned.

"Not yet," she shouted back up at him, "I'm not even sure how far down this goes." Deciding to find out she used her magic to break off a piece of a crystal and drop it into the empty void listening for a good ten seconds before she finally heard it hit the ground, her eyes widening in surprise. "Spike?" she called.

"Yeah?" he called back.

"Can you see outside?" she questioned. A few seconds passed by before he answered.

"It's not good," he said, "Cadence's magic must be fading faster then before."  Upon hearing this Twilight realized they had no time to waste and so started galloping down the stairs nearly falling several times before she reached the bottom. Once she was there she noticed a door and tried to open it. To her surprise though, it disappeared.

Confused, she looked around and found that the door had not disappeared, simply moved. Thinking it was merely a fluke, she tried again, and got the same result. "What in the?" she questioned trying once more to use her magic to pull open the door, yet the result was the same as the last two times.

"Stop moving!" she said, starting to get angry. Reaching once more inside of her she felt the same spark as before and drew upon it's power much more quickly this time. "Yes, embrace the hatred." A sinister voice whispered, to which Twilight paid no attention to as she was busy trying to force open the door.

Firing a beam of dark magic at the gem on top of the door she watched as the door finally opened revealing a bright light. Without thinking she barged ahead through the door, only to come to a surprised halt as she found herself back in the throne room at Canterlot Palace.

"What are you doing here?" came the angry voice of her mentor. Twilight turned around to see Celestia dealing with a large pile of paperwork.

"I-I don't know," Twilight stuttered, "I opened the door and-"

"And now you must go," Celestia interrupted her

"Go where?" questioned Twilight.

"It doesn't matter to me." Celestia told her, "You failed the test Twilight.

"I don't understand!" cried Twilight, "The test-"

"Not only will you not move on to the next level of your studies," Celestia interrupted again, "You won't continue your studies at all."

"But, you didn't say anything about no longer being your student if I failed," Twilight said, on the verge of tears.

"Didn't I?" Celestia said, seeming almost uncaring to Twilight's suffering.

"But what do I do now?" Twilight questioned. Just then she noticed the stained glass next to her. It depicted the rise of the evil King Sombra, and her own fall. Unable to contain herself any longer she broke down into tears right there. Unable to do anything other than sit there and weep she started thinking of how this could have happened.

"How could Sombra do this?" she questioned, "Why would Sombra do this?" The more and more she thought about it the tighter her chest became. Eventually her tears dried up and she was only able to come to one conclusion: This was all Sombra's fault.

She felt herself grow angry. Angry at Sombra. This is all his fault! she thought If he had just left the Crystal Empire alone none of this would have happened. She stared at the stained window as a pit of rage bubbled in her chest, growing hotter with every second.

Finally she could no longer stand it and she took a hold of all her rage and hatred, and poured it into her magic. This time instead of it becoming a deep black it became an angry red Unbeknownst to her a tinge of red shading appeared in her eyes. She focused all of her magic, and hatred on one thing.

"SOMBRA!" she yelled out her voice filled with raw emotions. She released the magic straight into the stained glass, watching as it shattered instantly. Suddenly she found herself back at the bottom of the stairwell in front of the door whose gem was shattered.

The door now revealed something very different, another, brighter room filled with yet another spiralling staircase that wound around a central column. "Twilight!" Spike called as he reached the bottom of the staircase himself, "Twilight, thank goodness, I was so worried about you."

"I'm alright Spike," she told him, not wanting to reveal what had truly happened. "Right, well I better get going," she said, entering the next room before looking back, "Actually maybe you should come with me this time." Upon hearing this Spike smiled, and quickly followed after Twilight.

"What if this is just more of his magic?" Spike panted after several exhausting minutes of climbing up the seemingly endless stairway, "What if this is a staircase that goes on forever?" Twilight thought about it, and tilted her head back trying to find the top of the never-ending stairwell. After a few moments an idea came to her.

"Spike, get on my back." she told him.

"Gladly," he said, hopping onto her, glad that he didn't have to walk any more. Twilight's horn glowed and covered them with magic. They levitated in the air for a moment before flipping upside-down and landing on the smooth bottom of the stairwell which acted as a slide and sent them spiralling down it. "Woah!" Spike screamed,

"I actually studied gravity spells, thinking it would be on my test," Twilight admitted, "Turns out I was prepared for this!" Right as they reached the top of the stairwell Twilight used her magic to once again flip them back upright. They shook their heads to rid themselves of disorientation, and saw that they were atop a tall tower. In the middle of the tower was exactly what they were looking for: The Crystal Heart.

Twilight approached the crystal, but as soon as she stepped on the decorative circle that it sat it, it flashed and let out a sound, as if a warning. Worried, Twilight leapt towards the Crystal Heart just as black crystals appeared, knocking the crystal out, but trapping herself inside of the crystal prison.

"The heart!" she panicked, "Where is the Crystal-"

"Here!" Spike called from the other side of the black walls, "It rolled over to me when you dropped it."

"Don't move." she told him, looking out a small crack to see several smaller black crystals encroaching upon the baby dragon. "You can move," she told him, "Just not towards me." Spike quickly backed away and the dark crystals stopped their advance.

With that out of the way Twilight quickly prepared her magic, and cast a teleportation spell, teleporting herself out of the prison, but something went wrong and just as soon as she got out she was teleported straight back in. "How could I have been so foolish?" Twilight despaired, "I was just so eager to get it. And when I saw what was going on outside."

"You have to get out of there Twilight," Spike said, "You have to be the one to bring the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadance. If you don't you fail Celestia's test."

"Sombra is already attacking the Crystal Empire," Twilight said, "He could reach the crystal ponies at any moment. Princess Cadence, my brother, my friends. There may not be enough time for me to find a way to escape." Twilight then realized what had to be done. "You have to be the one to bring the Crystal Heart to the fair," she told Spike.

"Me?" he questioned, "But Twilight-"

"Go." She told him.

"But-"

"Go!" With that Spike snatched up the Crystal Heart and leapt off of the tower, leaving Twilight all alone. Twilight slumped down and sighed. "What have I gotten myself into?" she wondered. "What indeed?" Came another voice, startling Twilight. "What? Who's there?" she questioned.

The voice let out a malicious chuckle. "That's not important right now" it told her, "What is important though is that you get out of here. This prison is slowly draining your magic. If you stay here for too long you'll end up dead. "W-What?!" she stuttered in shock, "What do you mean?"

"You should know," the voice said, your body uses magic to keep itself running. With all your magic gone your body will stop functioning and you'll die. The only reason you're not dead yet is because of your large quantities of magic, but if you don't get out of here quick you'll be dead.

"W-What do I do?" she questioned, "I can't teleport out of here, and my magic isn't strong enough to break through." The voice let out a sigh. "Very well, just this once I'll lend you my power." Suddenly she felt a rush of energy like nothing she'd ever felt before. A strange red aura surrounded her. It was amazing, this magic was like nothing she'd ever seen before.

--

Spike was perched precariously on the ledge of a dark crystal as he tried to make his way down to the others. Suddenly there was an explosion from above, making him loose his balance, and nearly fall off the edge. Luckily he was able to stabilize himself before he fell and stood back up, looking upwards for the source of the explosion.

Suddenly a figure appeared from the tower, completely covered in a deep red cloak of magic, so he was unable to tell who that was. Then the figure spoke, "SOMBRA!" And he instantly recognized the figure as one Twilight Sparkle.