Rain. Rain was the only thing Twilight Sparkle saw when she looked out her window in the dead of night. The droplets were so thick, one couldn't see two feet in front of them. Thunder boomed though the air as lightning cracked through the sky, seemingly summoning even more droplets. But the lavender woman never minded the rain. She thought the sound of the droplets tapping on her walls and roof was very calming and relaxing.

Currently she was in her bed wearing her favourite purple sleeping gown, reading a book about summoning larger and more powerful monsters. She twirled her deep purple hair as her lavender eyes followed every word of the book. The horn atop her forehead glowed a fuchsia hue and cast itself over a page, turning it over for her.

Suddenly, she stopped. She grabbed her reading glasses to get a closer look at what she thought she read.

"Bahamut..." she whispered "An ancient beast worshiped for its great power. It is possible to raise a child Bahamut until it is seven years of age, in which it must be set free less one wishes to perish."

It was then when a quadrupedal purple dragon with a green belly and green spikes along its head and spine hopped onto Twilight's bed and began snuggling with her, soon closing its green eyes and falling right asleep.

"Oh Spike..." Twilight giggled softly as she slowly massaged her dragon's head with her thumb "You're still only three-years-old, but you wouldn't hurt me when you grow up, right?"

A quick puff of smoke came out of the baby Bahamut's nose as an answer to his owner's question. Twilight smiled before returning to her book. She flipped the page with her magic once again, reading just a bit more before her eyelids began to feel heavy. She finally decided it was time to head to bed. Looking over at the desk next to her bed, she saw that the music she put on the turntable to relax herself was still playing. She reached over and slowly lifted the arm off the disk and turned off the lovely tune. She always enjoyed doing that herself without the aid of magic.

(Music Stop)

"She's such a lovely singer, that Posey woman" Twilight yawned "I wonder whatever happened to her. Well, no time to think about it; I'm WAY too tired anyway."

And with those words, she flicked out her light with her magic, pulled her covers over her body and quickly dozed off to sleep, cuddling her pet Bahamut.

Unfortunately, about an hour into her slumber, she began feeling very uncomfortable. She soon woke back up only to see that the rain had passed over. However, that wasn't what was bothering her, she was sure of it. Without waking Spike, she stepped out of her bed and went downstairs into the main hall; the town library.

It was large and circular, with a wooden floor, stairs going up to Twilight's room, and not to mention the multitudes of books to read on every subject imaginable. In the center was a wooden table with a large carving of a horse head in the middle. A few books had been left open that escaped the lavender woman's sight, unfortunately; most likely left by the younger children. While she would've loved to put them away, she knew she had to find out what-

"Oh hell, I can't go until I put them away!" Twilight groaned before approaching the books and filing them back into the bookshelves in alphabetical order by author's last name.

"There. Now, I can- Wait, what's this?" she looked closer only to discover a dagger was buried in the books "Okay, what the actual heck? Why was this in here? With a book a kid was reading, no less!"

After some brief complaining and self-convincing to never speak of this again, she took the sharp iron tool and approached the library's front door, hoping to find whatever prevented her from sleeping. Though, a part her didn't hope at all.

Taking a deep breath, she swung open the door and aimed her dagger at whatever might be on the other side. However, nothing was there. She looked around the entire area, breathing in the thick, humid air that the rain created not long ago. Raising an eyebrow and giving a quick nod, she finally gave up and turned to go back inside. But when she did...

"T-T-Twilight..." a shadowy figure about her height with perfectly normal arms and legs and a feminine body twitched in her doorway, stuttering in trying to say her name. As soon as the lavender woman saw the figure, she gave a quick gasp, but held her dagger firmly. The two looked at each other for a while, and during that time Twilight grew out of her fear and began getting curious.

"Amazing!" she looked at the figure's body in fascination, beginning to circle around the creature and taking a good look at it "A being made entirely out of shadows. And its capable of speech! Albeit very little, but my name is still a word, so it counts!"

"T-T-T-T-Twilight..." the shadow spoke once again.

"The shape of it is so humanoid" Twilight analyzed before touching the creature, to thankfully no reaction from it "The body is so smooth, and the hair is so thin. In fact, its shape looks exactly like..." she finally came to a conclusion she wish she hadn't "...mine."

Suddenly, the creature jumped out of the doorway and out into the street, facing Twilight. The lavender woman looked back and saw it was attempting to attack her with a pair of shadowy claws that recently appeared on its hands. A large frown with closed teeth soon emerged from the mouth area of the shadowy creature before charging right at Twilight.

"Whoa!" the woman gasped, quickly bringing up her dagger and attempting to block the attack. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case as Twilight was flung into her library, knocking over the horse head carving in the process. A pile of books collapsed upon her, leaving her in a dazed state for a brief moment. Fortunately, she managed to recollect herself and stand to face the shadow again.

"Okay, clearly you don't like me that much, that's a given" Twilight said to the shadow of presumably herself, not knowing if it understood her or not "But I have a little friend who doesn't like you even more!"

She pulled out the book she was reading earlier from her gown and used the magic from her horn to quickly flip to a certain page. Once she saw it, she gave a quick smirk before reciting the words written on the paper.

"Summon! Bahamut Lv.1!" she shouted. Suddenly, a light purple summoning circle appeared the floor beneath her, blowing her hair around and leaving a light shining on her face. It was then when Spike popped out and climbed onto Twilight's left arm. It looked at the shadowy figure which was preparing another attack and scowled. He then opened his mouth and spewed a stream of fire at the figure, blasting a hole right through it.

(Music Stop)

The creature looked down at its wound and got rid of its frown and claws. It didn't seem to convey any sort of pain; it just stood there. Finally, it looked back up at Twilight and Spike, no emotion coming off of it whatsoever. It spoke one solitary word to her. It was simple, but a bookworm like her, even anyone really, would know that word and hold it with fear.

"Sombra..."

"W-What?" Twilight's eyes widened in realization. Before she could get more answers out of the creature, it turned away and fled faster than a Chocobo could run. She reached out her arm in desperation, but by then it was already gone. The lavender woman let out a long sigh and relaxed her arm.

"Kaw!" Spike nuzzled his owner's face lovingly. That was enough to bring a smile to Twilight's face once again. But she couldn't forget what that shadow said to her. Everyone and their mother knew who Sombra, the King of Darkness was. She didn't want to believe it. No, the crystals had kept darkness out of their world for generations with no signs of slowing down. Sombra couldn't possibly be back.

"Spike, remind me to take an airship to Canterlot Castle in the morning" she told her baby Bahamut. It cawed once again before walking down its owner's body and standing guard on the table where the wood carving once was. Which reminded Twilight...

"Crap! The books!" she turned around and nearly shrieked at the mess she saw. She sighed and slowly brought a hand to her face. She really wanted to clean all that up, but she was simply too tired to do so.

Besides, she needed some rest in order to get up early and tell the princesses of Canterlot and Equestria for that matter. This was a rare occasion when she could ignore her pet peeve and get on with what she needed to do. She tried her best not to look at the books and headed back upstairs to get some shuteye. She hopped back into bed, covered herself up again with her sheets, and quickly fell back to sleep.

Twilight was rudely awoken by Spike letting out a loud cawing sound. Her eyes shot wide open and her body practically sprung out of her bed onto the floor. Slowly, she got back up and looked at her baby Bahamut with slight anger in her eyes. She quickly calmed down realizing Spikes intent and remembering her order last night.

"Sorry, Spike" she petted him on the head "Thanks for getting me up. Now, if you'll please excuse me, I need to get changed."

The young dragon immediately understood this and went back downstairs to give his owner some privacy.

Half an hour had passed since then. The young Bahamut was beginning to wonder how long it usually took Twilight to change. He rolled on the ground a bit, groaning in impatience. Finally, the lavender woman emerged from her room, causing Spike to quickly look up at the staircase.

She wore her usual librarian/summoner garments, consisting of a steel chest plate, two steel shoulder pads, a velvet robe underneath the armor that went down to her knees, brown leather gloves with small armor plating on the tops of them, black pants brown leather boots, and a belt around her shoulder and chest that held up the pouch her summoning book was in. She looked very pretty, but now wasn't the time for gawking.

"C'mon, Spike, hop up to my shoulder" she told her Bahamut, it doing so without question "Great! Now, to catch that airship. Do you have a list of airship times?"

Spike crawled back down his owner's body to retrieve something from the mess of books Twilight made last night. Unfortunately, this reminded her of her OCD. She looked at the pile and twitched a bit.

"Oh, the books!" she looked at the mess with disgust "Dammit... I want too... can't... resist... Ugh. Give me a moment, Spike. Get the list and I'll clean this junk up" the pile then was given a fuchsia hue from the magic of Twilight's horn. She began placing the books back in the order she usually put them whilst Spike was off reading the airship schedule. Finally, once the lavender woman was done, she looked over to where her pet was and read the list with him.

"Let's see..." she pulled out her reading glasses from her pouch and begun reading "Airship Bravo left two hours ago to the badlands, and Airship Theta went to the Crystal Empire, which means our only flight to Canterlot would be..." her eyes widened in shock before she face-palmed and sighed in disappointment "Airship Beta, which left an hour ago and won't be back for another two hours..."

Suddenly, a couple of knocks was heard on the library's door. Twilight was confused by this, as she hadn't opened up the library yet, nor intended to do so today. Curiously, she unlocked the door and opened it up to reveal a woman a bit older than the librarian.

Her skin was deep blue and her hair was short, ruffled and light blue. Her cyan eyes glistened in the light of the morning sun, and the large wings on her back the same color as her skin slowly blew through the light breeze. Her attire was customary for normal blacksmiths: white pants and shirt, as well as black leather boots and a black leather apron on the front of her body. Her face was covered with soot and dirt from working in her smith's shop.

"Ah, hello Princess Luna" Twilight greeted the woman "What brings you here today?"

"Twilight, good to see you up" Luna nodded "I have sadly come to tell you of some pressing and important issues at hand. Will you accompany me to my workshop?"

"Oh, well, sure" Twilight nodded, still slightly confused. Nonetheless, she called Spike over to ride on her shoulder once again, and followed the blacksmith princess to the forgery where she crafted all her weapons.

"Tell me, fair Twilight," Luna began to explain the situation "surely you've heard of a being known as Sombra, correct?"

"Well of course! Who ha-" the lavender woman finally realized where she was going with this "Oh... Are you saying what I really hope you aren't saying?"

"Yes, unfortunately" Luna sighed "But more on that later. My sister is waiting for us in my workshop."

"You mean Princess Celestia?" Twilight's mood brightened up "Good! Now I can tell her about that thing I saw last night!"

"What thing do you speak of, fair Twilight Sparkle?" Luna questioned.

"I'll tell you when we get to your workshop so I can tell you and your sister at the same time" the librarian assured "But maybe we should stop walking and start getting there faster."

"A wise idea" the blacksmith smiled before she and Twilight began running straight towards the smith's shop.

(Music Stop)

Finally, the two arrived at Luna's workshop. It was a simple place with walls of stone and no wood built into the building whatsoever, as to avoid burning. The inside was small, but had enough space for a couple of people to work, and different tools of many shapes, sizes and materials were donned on shelves and racks.

Inside the shop was a woman with snow white skin and long pink hair that went down to her waist. She wore a simple yellow sundress that went down to her knees, and a pair of yellow gloves to protect her delicate hands. On her feet were a pair of pearl high heels. She turned around to reveal her soft, magenta eyes that brought a calming sensation to any who gazed upon them. As soon as she noticed the two walk into the shop, she gave a small smile.

"Hello, sister. Hello, Twilight" she calmly greeted the two.

"Good morning Princess Celestia" Twilight bowed.

"Now that we've greeted each other, it's about time we get down to business" Celestia's smile soon faded into a serious look "Twilight, I assume Luna has already told you why I've summoned you here?"

"Yeah" the librarian nodded "Something about King Sombra? Please don't tell me that..."

"We have many reports of 'Shadow People' from across the land" the princess confirmed "I too have seen one that looked near identical to myself. Perhaps this is merely a new species of solidified shadow that we've never heard of before, but either way, they are aggressive and we must do something about them, related to Sombra or not."

"Shadow People?" Twilight repeated "Celestia, I think I may have seen one as well. One that looked just like me."

"You have?" Celestia was taken aback slightly, but regained her stature not a few moments later "Hmm... That is very troubling. I have no idea what these creatures are planning, nor do I know the limit of their power."

"So what do you want me to do, Princess?" Twilight questioned.

"Twilight, there are very few people I trust in this world" Celestia placed a hand on the librarian's shoulder "I would like you to go and check on the wind crystal to see if anything horrid has happened to it."

"P-Princess!" Twilight gasped "You can't honestly expect me to go into the Everfree Forest by myself! Please tell me Luna is at least going to accompany me?"

"No. I'm sorry, Twilight, but this is a simple mission you must do alone" the pink haired princess sighed "Besides, I fear questions will rise when people discover their blacksmith has gone missing during open hours. Luna is already trying her best to stay away from royalty as is, and I don't need a conspiracy surrounding her right now."

"So then what am I supposed to do?" the librarian wondered "I need some sort of protection, don't I?"

"Well, dear Twilight, I think you already have the power to protect yourself, do you not?" Celestia nodded at the lavender woman's pouch, knowing exactly what was inside "Besides, I'm not so cruel as you allow you to leave without some form of a weapon. Luna, would you be a dear?"

"Of course, sister" Luna nodded before going over to a shelf and bringing out a long dagger with an etching of the royal symbol on the base of the blade: a sun with a crescent moon in the middle, as well as its leather sheath. The blacksmith princess gently put the dagger into Twilight's open hands, allowing her to put the sheath on her waist and put away her new dagger.

"Princess..." Twilight let out a deep breath "...I won't let you down."

"Thank you, Twilight" Celestia smiled "Now, if you're truly unsure if you'll make the voyage all by yourself, I hear there is a mage just on the edge of the Everfree Forest. Perhaps you can convince her to join you?"

"Depends on what kind of mage she is" the librarian's eyebrow rose.

"Oh, well, um..." the princess stuttered "I'm very certain she's a Black Mage. Yes, for sure!"

"Nah, I'm just pulling on your leg, your highness" Twilight chuckled a bit before hugging her friend "White Mage or Black Mage, I'm pretty sure she'll come in handy."

"O-Oh, right, of course..." Celestia awkwardly smiled as the lavender woman stepped out of the blacksmith's shop and began her quest. Behind her, Celestia let out a sigh she had held within her body for quite some time.

"Do not get so worked up, sister" Luna laughed "Do you not pull the same pranks every once in a while?"

"Y-Yes, of course" the white princess nodded before a genuine smile came onto her face "Hahaha! How silly of me!"

"Now, we must unfortunately concern ourselves with more pressing matters" the blacksmith's smile soon faded "If Sombra has returned, I do not know what to do."

"Relax, dear sister" Celestia hugged her younger sister "If that thought were to become a reality, I have every faith we will be able to deal with it. The crystal's light will shine through."

"Of course, sister" Luna hugged back.

Author's Notes:

And so TRULY begins our adventure! What faces will Twilight meet on her journey? What dangerous trials await her in the vast world? What friends and foes will she make? Find all this out with more chapters to come!

It only recently dawned on me that this is my first anthro story. Gotta say, it feels a little strange to be working with half pony, half human beings, but altogether it's not a horrible feeling whatsoever. In fact, it actually feels pretty refreshing to be trying something outside of my normal story stuff.

In case you're wondering, there will be tons of references to many Final Fantasy games, even the non-16 bit ones like Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy X. And also in case you're wondering, I created this story after playing through Final Fantasy V on the GBA again. It was a nice feeling, so, y'know.

Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, dream on everyone!