"Destiny is not a matter of chance; its a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved." - William Jennings Bryan

In the beginning there was The Book, it held the answers to a mystery that gave only to a dead end. A disappearance that left the citizens of Ponyville baffled. And the answers that awaited the five ponies that dared to solve the disappearance of their dear Twilight. This is how it began....

Twilight Sparkle

The Book was unlike any other book I've ever held. It was heavy like a brick and I'm surprised the mailmare: Derpy was able to deliver it in great condition with no damage to the book. Covered in a brown package was a book more than a thousand pages long.

A good story will always take its time to develop the character, no matter how long it takes. I secretly loved long stories. It is why I found my love for books.

I waved Derpy goodbye and thanked her for the package as she left the castles premises. I whisked myself into the castle library, which was next to the throne room.

Then, I plopped myself down into a comfy chair and tore opened the book and saw how beautiful the cover was. It had the name Maplestory embolden in a gold color. The author knew it was a book to be proud of. Covered in red and gold it looked like one of Celestia's old history books from her personal library. It looked like one too, but only with a few minor differences.

I've been waiting years for this to finally come out, ever since it was spread around Ponyville that there was going to be this huge fantasy adventure story announced to come out, I patiently waited as the book was delayed, time and time again, but I didn't give up hope. Now I have it right here in my hooves. Patience finally paid off big time.

My hooves immediately flipped to the first page of the book and I read through it.

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Chapter 1: Luminous

The battle that raged on for years will finally end tonight. Luminous knew that in her heart. She was awaiting the moment to go inside the temple. Two of her partners, Mercedes and Freud, were already inside fending off against their greatest villain in all of Mapleworld: the Black Mage.

Clothed in Black, he has never shown his face, not even in battle. He is the best wielder of dark magic. This was going to be a hard battle, even with the five of them, Luminous didn't think it would be enough to defeat him. It would purely be luck if they were to survive this long battle.

Luminous raced inside and slashed all the enemies in her path, they were nothing compared to the Black Mage. One slash and they were done for. She ran pasted a girl with a huge ax fighting off another enemy, she was holding him off for now. Luminous was prepared, he brought along his mighty staff.

He ran on, going past the destroyed paintings and all the destroyed structures keeping the place up.

The doors burst open for him as he made his way to engage in the final battle. The Black Mage was waiting for him as he hovered above his two friends, Freud and Mercedes.

They've taken quite a beating. Mercedes was knocked out and lay beside Freud, he couldn't even stand, it was too hard for him to move.

"I'll try to use my time stopping spell, " he whispered to him. Freud mustered up his will power to cast one last spell. Time stood still, nothing moved. Everything was silent. Don't worry, Freud, I'll put everything back to normal, but it will be hard, luminous was going to have to seal the Mage inside his own circular prison for centuries to come. This is what it has come down to.

Luminous set the trap into action by placing the seal all around the dark cloaked one, he would never see it coming.

You've got to hurry I can't keep this spell up for long. He turned to Freud, his lips weren't moving. I'm talking to you telepathically. Freud was smart, he knew ways to communicate even when a spell was active.

The world finally moved again.

Luminous growled in anger, "Time to finish you once and for all." He started running towards the enemy and jumped in the air. The Black Mage sent black chains to block his path mid-air, he moved swiftly around them. He deflected the chains all around him, warping one place to another, avoiding whatever he could.

Using a lot of his magic strength, Luminous sent a blaze of light at the Black Mage, which activated the seal. The barrier started o connect in a circle enclosing him. It struck him surprised, he screamed in pain as the seal tried to close on him.

He reached out for Luminous, he was trying to break the seal. He ran and with the last bit of his power he tried to strike the Black Mage with the last energy he had just for combat.

They collided and A blazing blue light clashed with the darkness inside of the Cloaked Mage. The darkness spread up Luminous's arm. Darkness and light will become one. "The Darkness you took from me will consume you," were the last words Luminous heard before the world was engulfed in brightness.

- End of Chapter 1 -

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I took a moment to breathe, the battle was filled with excitement, horror, it intrigued me, but I would have a long ways to go before I would even finish the book. Looking at the book again, the chapter was only a few pages out of a thousand. This was going to be a long and interesting story indeed.

I turned the page to the next chapter hoping to continue the journey, but was graced by a chapter with only a few sentences. One page full.  The text was colored in a light blue. I decided to read the text aloud, since no one was home. "The only way to move forward is to choose your destiny. A road filled with light and dark is your fate alone. Choose wisely." It puzzled me confused.

Suddenly the text started to glow and they came out of the pages heading straight towards the mirror portal. I quickly moved away from the location sensing something was wrong, but I wasn't quick enough. The mirror portal turned on and started pulling me towards it. It was as if the portal was trying to suck me into another universe. I tried teleporting out of the portals way, but my magic wouldn't work at all, something was prohibiting me from using my magic.

I tried running as fast as I could, Eventually I tumbled into the portal and everything went silent.