A spark.  A simple, small thing.  Given the right opportunity, a spark could catch, creating a fire.  And catch, this one would.  The pile of leaves began to smoulder, then burn.  Smoke began to drift upwards.  Fire licked through the air, racing towards the treetops.  Another leave caught fire, and it slowly spread through the trees.  The heat intensified, and animals began to flee from their homes.  The forest was on fire, and they could do nothing to stop it.

=================

Twilight left the Daisy, her meal completed, and bill paid.  Walking down the main road, she decided to go to the schoolhouse again,  to look for anymore evidence that someone had cast a spell on Rarity and Sweetie Belle there.  As she adjusted her course, she noticed a black pillar rising in the sky.  A pillar over the Everfree Forest.  One made of thick smoke.  Twilight's eyed widened.  She ran with full force towards the Everfree, hoping she could help in some way.  She blew by the schoolhouse, focusing on reaching the Everfree.  As she approached the main entrance, she spotted some of Celestia's guard ponies.

'Celestia left already,' Twilight mused, 'why in Equestria would her guards stay here?'  She kept running, finally coming up on the entrance.  She stopped just before the entrance to the forest.  The path was roped off, and had a guard on either side.  Two more guards were in the middle.  They looked out of breath, like they had just run through half the forest.  "What's going on?" Twilight shouted.  She wanted information, and she wanted it now.  One of the out of breath guards spoke up.

"Fire."  He said. "Body."  He was far too out of breath to finish his sentences.  It was time for the other guard, out of breath, but not to the extent of first guard, to speak up.

"We were guarding a crime scene.  A purple pony, killed by a sword.  We thought it was an assassin who did it.  As we guarded, the fire came from behind us." He paused, panting. "We ran out as soon as we could."  An alarm bell pierced the air.  The fire ponies had arrived.  They bore buckets of waters, some larger than others, and raced through the rope.  In the chaos, Twilight decided to slip through as well.  She wanted to get to the bottom of this.  She ran past the guards at the rope.

"Hey, get back here!  It's not safe!"  One of the guards shouted.  Twilight ignored the warnings of the guards, running deeper and deeper into the forest with the fire ponies.  She had a chance to help them out.  Her horn glowing, she cast a spell, gathered clouds above the Everfree.  The forest became darker and darker as the clouds did.  The glowing continued, and rain fell upon the forest.  Not just a light sprinkle, but a torrential downpour.  The tongues of fire in the forest started to wane.  Twilight could see the fire now, and the fire ponies had almost reached it.  She continued running through the pouring rain.  Focused on the task ahead, she ran forawrd, ignoring what was on the ground.  She tripped, falling flat on her face.  Picking herself up, she noticed something that disturbed her.  She had tripped on a pony.  Were they dead, or alive?  Twilight didn't care.  She said sorry, just to be safe, before catching up with the fire ponies.

"Aim for the base of the fires, everypony!" The fire chief shouted. "On my mark!"  The ponies readied their buckets.  "One.  Two."  The fire ponies readied the toss, awaiting the command from the chief.  "Three!" The ponies simultaneously threw the water out of the buckets, and into the fire.  The tongues of fire dropped lower and lower, with the combined might of the downpour and the buckets of water at the base of the fire.  Twilight used another spell, filling all the fire ponies buckets again.  They became confused, but nonetheless, prepared for another round. "One. Two. Three!" More buckets dumped onto the fire.  With a final sizzle, it went out.  All the ponies were soaked.  But they had done it.  The extinguished the fire.  Cheers erupted from the team, and Twilight slipped away.  She was concerned with the well being on the other pony she tripped over.

She wasn't prepared for what she saw there.  The path ran brown and red.  The water had mixed mud and blood together.  She looked away in horror, hoping it was all a horrible nightmare.  She turned her head back. The body was still there.  It was no dream.  She looked closer, and noticed the purple coat, and the light pink mane.

"Cherilee?" She asked herself.  She cautiously approached the pony, looking at the flank of the pony.  The ponies cutie mark was seared off.  'Only magic has that kind of sheer power.  Only dark magic for that matter.'  She thought.  Daring to investigate closer, she loooked at the pony's face.  It was Cherilee.  'What happened here? And why Cherilee?'

=================

Trixie hadn't seen Eclipse lately.  She had last heard the door slam upstairs, but after that, nothing.  She went upstairs, and knocked on the door of the grey pony.  No answer.  No movement of hooves, just silence.  She knocked again, louder this time.  Still nothing.  Furious, Trixie charged at Eclipse's bedroom door.  It burst off the frame, sending splinters of wood throughout the room.

"Next time, answer your door!" She shouted.  The room was empty.  She had just shouted to nopony.  'Why in Equestria would the door be locked if she's not in here?' Trixie thought.  She looked to her left, and saw something which looked oddly familiar.  Upon closer inspection, she discovered it was Cherilee's saddlebags.  'Why are these here?' Looking to her right, she noted Eclipse's own saddlebags, bulging from their contents.  She also noticed the bloody hoofprints Eclipse had left.  'What was she doing up here?' Trixie became deeply concerned.  Cherilee's saddlebags, bloody hoofprints, and a locked door.  Why was this all here?  Nothing made sense to Trixie.  She simply stared.  She approached Eclipse's own saddlebags, and opened them.  The contents surprised her. "So, been doing some secret studies, huh?" Trixie muttered to herself, withdrawing Eclipse's copy of Malicious Magics.  She opened the copy to the first page.  A signature seemed to leap off the page.  It wasn't the signature of Eclipse, it was the signature of Twilight Sparkle.  "Twilight?!?  She studied this too?"  So many things for Trixie to process.  How had Eclipse gotten this?  How did she get out of her locked room?  Why were there bloody hoofprints?  It began to hurt her brain. "Maybe I ought to leave this alone, and ask Eclipse when she returned.

=================

Eclipse woke up again in the hospital.  That hit home for her.  It had been a long night.  She was constantly being visited by doctors and nurses.  Those visits tired her, but she knew they were for her own good.  Her life depended on the equipment functioning properly.  It had been so long since Eclipse felt this vulnerable, and frankly, she didn't like it.   Another hour passed, and another doctor came in, making sure she was doing okay.  The IV was changed out, providing fresh blood to the recovering pony.   She was nearing full recovery now though.  When the doctor next came in, Eclipse made a request.

"Any chance I could be released to finish my recovery at home?"

"Give us another few hours." The doctor replied. "That should be enough time to ensure your blood volumes have returned to normal."

"Alright.  That won't be too bad.  Thank you, doctor." He nodded and left the room.  A nurse entered into the room, almost instantly after the doctor left.  She distributed some antibiotics to Eclipse.  "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Give us a shout if you need anything else." The nurse turned and left the room.  Eclipse had forgotten how good it felt to be cared for.  Ever since her parents died, she had lived on her own, taking care of herself.  Palm Branch became a father figure to Eclipse.  He was around when Eclipse needed a shoulder to cry on, or just someone to talk to.  He was close to Eclipse's parents, and attended their funerals with Eclipse, keeping her company. He also brought by food for Eclipse when she had no source of income. She truly loved him like a father, but still gave him a cold shoulder.  But as time went on, and Eclipse became more and more a part of the Shades, she began to see her near dependency on him as a weakness.  She drifted further away, even though they both were in the Shades.  She isolated herself from society in general.  Being cared for this much reminded her, not only of her parents, but of the acts of kindness Palm had shown.  The same ones she never thanked him for.

Eclipse sank her face into her hooves, and shed a tear.  Then another.  She regretted treating Palm so poorly.  Even though she did, Palm kept being friendly.  She cried to herself.  She had done so much wrong to him, and to others.  She had killed her mentor, and her entire world was falling apart.  A nurse rounded the corner to enter the room.  She saw the crying pony, and left without a word.  Eclipse wanted to be strong, to override her emotions.  But those emotions had already taken hold, and there was nothing she could do in this moment to stop them.

==============

It was late at night, one day after the Ponyville incident.  Over the past day, Celestia had been working in the Royal Archives.  She had temporarily given Luna the duty of raising the sun.  Right now, research came first.  Celestia, and a team of her top researchers had been looking into dark magic.  It had been far too long since she had looked into anything, but after hearing reports from the guards that were with her in Ponyville, she feared that it might be making a comeback.  Her other concern was that some practitioners of dark magic had in fact infiltrated Ponyville, or worse, Canterlot.  An ungrounded fear for sure.  Her paranoia often got the best of her, but she needed to remain calm this time.  She couldn't let anyone see her panicking.  While she was going through this mental battle, a researcher approached Celestia from behind.

"Excuse me, Your Highness," he said.  Celestia was startled by the sudden presence.  She quickly turned to see the timidly smiling face of the grey coated researcher.  "Sorry to startle you, ma'am."

"It's not a problem, Footnote. what can I help you with?"

"I found some of the notes, as well as a detailed spell book on dark magic.  The notes have been damaged quite a bit, but are mostly intact."

"I see.  Bring them here please."

"Right away, Your Majesty."  Footnote left in a hurry, going back to the lower sections of the archives to retrieve the notes.  He dashed by stacks and stacks of books, all with researchers poring over every single detail.  Approaching the end of the archives, he made a swift turn to the left.  A third of the way down the aisle were the notes and the book.  Passing by a baby dragon, he retrieved the stack of notes he had found, as well the spell book, placing them gently into his saddlebags.  As he went to return, he stopped, patting the red dragon on the head.  "Go hide now.  I wouldn't want anypony seeing you."  The dragon gave a nod, and looked down at the floor.  Without a second to lose, he removed a small section of floor, revealing a small passage that the dragon had dug himself.  "Good.  I'll meet you back at home!"  Another nod from the dragon.  He placed himself into the hole, and realigned the flooring.  Footnote returned to Princess Celestia, slightly slower than the last time.  He rounded the corner of the aisle, and approached the staircase.  Celestia was looking over the edge of the balcony, and saw Footnote at the bottom of the stairs, looking exhausted.  Her horn began to glow.  She used her magic to pick up the tired Footnote, and bring him up to her level.  She placed him gently on the balcony.  "Thank you, Princess." He said.

"Not a problem.  You looked exhausted, so I figured I would save you some trouble."

"Thank you very much.  Here are the notes, and the spell book.  Like I mentioned, they are very much damaged." Footnote emptyed the contents of his saddlebags onto the floor.  Bits of ashen paper fell out of the bags, and the spell books casing was also burned.

"Damaged?  These things look they caught on fire!"

"They may very well have.  I heard that there was a small fire in the archives a few nights ago.  Those on duty agreed not to tell anypony about it, as they extinguished it quickly.  Only a few books were damaged, but this was one of them, I suppose."  Footnote was an excellent liar.  He knew the truth about these books and notes.  He was the one behind it.  Celestia would have him punished severely if she knew though.  His heart rate increased as Celestia began to talk.

"Who was on duty?"

"I'm afraid I don't remember.  If I did, I would most certainly tell you though." Footnote said.  "At least some of the notes are intact though.  You may be able to see some use for them."

"Thank you very much Footnote.  You are dismissed for now.  Out of everypony here," She leaned in to whisper, "You have done the most so far.  I can't get most of these ponies to bring back any information!"  Footnote had a chuckle.

"Thank you, your majesty."  He turned tail to Celestia, and approached the exit to the archives.  He left, going down a long flight of stairs to the castle courtyard.  He gave a friendly hello to the gatekeeper as he left the castle, and walked the rest of the way home without a word to anypony.  Not that anypony was out this late anyway.  He made his way into his home in Canterlot.  It was close to the castle, in case he needed to get there in a hurry.  It wasn't exactly marvelous though, many of the other houses in Canterlot blew his small, wooden home away.  But he didn't care.  As he entered his home, he was greeted by his pet dragon, Midna, relaxing in a bean bag chair. She had been given to him by Celestia, as a method of contact.  He raised her, and she became his mischievous assistant.  It just seemed to work perfectly.  Something given to him by Celestia to be good, turned out to be perfectly evil.

"Took you long enough!" She said.  Patience wasn't exactly her thing. "So, after I burned the book and notes, what did Celestia say?"

"Nice to see you too, Midna.  I told Celestia there was a small fire in the library that burned a couple of books."

"Is that the best you could come up with?  Sheesh." Midna rolled her eyes in disapproval.  "Oh well, I guess it's believable enough.  One of the guards coulda dropped a candle or something."

"Exactly. You might have to sneak in and burn a couple more in that section though, to make it more believable.  Can't have the princess finding out, now can we?"

"Nope!  That would suck!"

"Indeed.  Can you take a note?"

"What do I look like, a quill and ink?"  Footnote quickly tossed a quill and ink at the dragon.

"No, but you have them, not me."

"Ugh, fine, I'll write your freaking note." She readied the quill and ink, and gave Footnote a quick nod.

"Cherilee," He started to dictate, "Celestia is researching our magic as much as she can.  Me and Midna have begun to sabotage the operation, but we fear we shan't be able to keep it up for very long without the princess finding out.  I request that you hurry with our plans to take over Equestria.  We will need to meet again within a few days, to confirm final details of the plan.  Eagerly awaiting your response, Footnote."

"Send it?"

"Do it now."  With that, Midna fired off the letter to Cherilee.  While it wouldn't ever reach Cherilee, it would find it's way into good hands.

"Sent.  Don't expect a response right away though! Cherilee takes forever to get back to letters!"

"Absolutely.  It's in no rush anyway.  For now though, I think I will retire to my room, and study a little more.   I need to be absolutely ready if this plan is going to go through." Midna rolled her eyes again.

"Alright.  Personally, I think it's a waste of your time to dive back into that book for the billionth time, but whatever."

"Thanks for your support.  Wait a couple more hours, and go back into the library.  Those books need to be taken care of." Footnote said.  He turned, walking into the back of the house, and into his room.  Closing the door behind him, he approached his window desk, and dove into Malicious Magics again.

================

Eclipse had been released from the hospital now, blood levels finally back to normal.  It had taken a little longer then she had expected, but she was out anyway.  The scar on her face had started to hurt again, but nothing she couldn't handle.  After a decent walk, she reached her house, and knocked on the door.  After waiting a few seconds, the door was opened by Trixie.

"Welcome back!  The Great and Powerful..." Trixie caught a glimpse of Eclipse's massive scar. "What happened to that eye of yours?"

"Long story.  For now, I just want to be left alone."

"The Great and Powerful Trixie demands that you tell her now!"  Eclipse got thrown between a rock and a hard place.  She needed a convincing lie, and fast.

"Ummm... A cooking accident. Slipped on a wet floor, fell onto a knife." She said, using the same excuse as she had at the doctor's.

"And what were you doing cooking if you were out delivering a letter to Cherilee?" Trixie had caught her in the lie.  Eclipse's mind began to race, heart began to pound, and she began to sweat.  "Why are Cherilee's bags in your room?" The blue pony inquired further, "Why was there blood on the floor?"

"What were you doing in my room?!?" Eclipse shouted, and ran upstairs.  The saw the fragmented door, the broken lock, and other debris.  "Are you kidding me?!?  You broke into my room?"

"You didn't answer your door."

"Trixie, I ought to kick you out of this house!"

"Just give me the answers.  Start now."  There was no avoiding it now.  Eclipse was forced into telling the truth.  The horrible, shameful, awful truth.  All this, because of a book.

================

"So, let me get this straight?  Cherilee attacked you?"

"Yes.  I attacked back in self defense.  It ended up permanently incapacitating her."

"So, she's...?"

"Yep."

"So, now what do we do?  Who's going to lead us?  The bookworm, Footnote?  Palm Branch?"

"I don't think that would be..."

"Of course not!  The Great and Powerful Trixie should take charge!"

"I think we need to call a meeting, and take a vote."

"Fine.  But my vote counts as 3."

"Alright, but you're not allowed to vote for yourself."  Trixie became enraged.  Eclipse could see this, and quickly decided to walk out of the room.   "Night Trixie!"  Trixie just stood there, fuming with anger.

"Well played, Eclipse.  Well played."

Next Chapter: Chapter 6 - Operation Dragon's Claw Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 5 Minutes