Twilight wasn't sure how much time had passed since she'd been asking and listening to the citizens of Tambelon, but she nevertheless felt like her inquiries had ended far too soon.

It was a strange thing, she thought, that the many creatures of the city would look so vacant eyed and mechanical, yet hold so much knowledge and speak so freely. Their words were completely at odds with their looks and actions, and while it was unsettling at first, the filly quickly got used to it.

From a distance, the creatures unnerved her, but over time, she found herself more and more comfortable among the dead. Helping the fact was the vast amount of information she was able to obtain from whomever she chose to ask, and ask she did.

Twilight would jump from one topic to another, spewing out whatever questions came to mind and latching on to whatever subject caught her fancy. She talked to the ponies of old, the troggles, the few grundles she saw, and the miniature gnomes, only slightly bigger than Twilight herself was.

She took in the ancient customs, stories, and history like a sponge, and bemoaned the fact that she hadn't brought some parchment and a quill to record what she'd heard. Still, even in life the filly's memory was impeccable, and it seemed all the better in death somehow.

When she reached for the knowledge she'd gained, Twilight found she had little trouble bringing it up, the memories clear and vivid in her mind's eye. Satisfied, she continued her avid hunt for information for a good while longer, not knowing or particularly caring where Grogar was at the moment.

Twilight most likely would have forgotten all about the ram, had her own soul not been spiritually linked with his. As it stood however, Grogar's presence was always there at the back of her mind, his burning red gaze watching over her even when he wasn't nearby.

It was both terrifying and comforting in a way the filly couldn't describe, and when the demonic ram finally did appear again, she found she wasn't all that surprised to see him, almost expecting him to appear when he did, in fact.

"The time has come, child," Grogar intoned, fading into existence behind the filly, "the Mourning Moon is set to pass, and we must depart the city, lest you be dragged into a long slumber with the rest of my subjects."

"Wait, what!?" Twilight cried, as she whipped around to face Grogar. She'd been prepared to protest and ask for a few more moments, but her unspoken objections died in her throat in favor of this news, "that can happen? Why?"

Grogar opened his mouth to respond, but froze as a cold, biting wind began to blow—the gale blowing not past them, but oddly enough, downward. The wind quickly began to change from a low whistle, to a horrid howl, the pressure pushing down on Twilight's back as if trying to force her into the ground.

A familiar wail could be heard over the gale, and Twilight's eyes widened in terror. She cried out as she was pushed to the ground, feeling as though she was being held down by some kind of intense physical force.

At the same time, she began to hear angry, agonized screams—their maddening cacophony joining the howling winds and wailing moon. Twilight glanced around and saw that each and every citizen had been forced to their knees the same way she was.

Much to the filly's mounting horror however, they'd lost any semblance of clarity or sanity they once had. Unlike herself, the thousands of creatures around her were reduced to shrieking husks, their pristine appearance once more rotted away, revealing fetid, torn flesh hanging from cracked and yellowed bone.

The mana that held the living memory of the city together was fading fast. The greenery blackened and withered and the structures that'd been restored were once again reduced to debris. Twilight could only watch in equal parts terror and fascination as the citizens themselves slowly sunk back into the earth, screaming and thrashing all the while.

She swept her gaze over the spectacle with wide disbelieving eyes, not realizing for a moment that her own hooves were beginning to sink into the ground. She too was about to share the same fate, and it was only the deep growl of Grogar's voice that snapped her out of her stunned state.

"Take hold of your senses, girl!" the ram bellowed, his horns blazing with a bright pink light, "I shall explain, but now it is time for us to make our exit!"

Twilight looked up at Grogar, but her gaze was almost immediately arrested by the sight of the Mourning Moon as it gave one last ear-splitting wail. A few seconds later it blackened until it was the same color as the sky around it, but the filly didn't get to see what happened next, as Grogar had chosen that moment to escape the city.

His horns flashed brighter and the world once again melted away around the filly before snapping back into place a second later. Twilight stumbled a bit, dazed and disoriented from the abrupt and compete change in atmosphere.

She blinked rapidly and shook her head, looking around a moment later to see that she and Grogar were back in his study. She sighed in relief before turning to Grogar, the ram having already taken a seat at his desk.

"That, Twilight Sparkle," Grogar began, as though nothing of note had happened, "is what happens to the dead that walk beneath the gaze of the Mourning Moon. One cry to wake the dead, and another to put them back to rest."

Twilight nodded, swallowing nervously.

"And since I'm dead, the Mourning Moon was gonna... put me to sleep too?" she asked, "just like all the others?"

"Indeed," Grogar replied with a grim nod, "you are not yet a powerful enough undead to resist the call of the Mourning Moon, child, but fear not, for you will be soon enough. You need only continue your studies and wait, your power will grow naturally on its own."

"Oh, alright then," Twilight replied, breathing out another quiet sigh of relief before looking back up at Grogar, "so... the Mourning Moon is gone now?"

"It has vanished for the time being, yes," Grogar replied as he got up from his chair, "it will not appear again for some time, so for now it will be just you and I, unless I decide to call Bray back to my side," he gave a small, malicious grin, "...or another 'guest' perhaps."

"Bray?" Twilight asked, frowning in confusion. Her eyes lit up a moment later in recognition, "oh, that donkey shadow... thing," she shivered slightly as she remembered the dark creature, as well as the other events that transpired then, "who was that anyway? What happened to him?"

"Bray," Grogar replied, dragging out the name as he narrowed his eyes, "he was my bumbling subordinate once—a fool, a failure, useless when it truly counted."

He trotted around the table and lit up his horns, conjuring a plush and lavish maroon armchair in front of the blazing hearth. Twilight blinked in surprise, but let out a silent 'oh' in realization a moment later. The ram must've pulled the chair from another location, she thought.

Grogar himself gave no explanation or even acknowledgement of the chair as he made his way past it and towards the long row of books on the shelf.

"After my second banishment, and in my... immense displeasure," the ram paused a moment, chuckling ruefully and shaking his head before moving on, "in my terrible fury I chose to punish the fool for his failure, cursing him to a pitiful existence as the shade you saw back then."

"A shade?" Twilight asked, "what's a... wait a minute..."

She frowned and looked around the room, suddenly aware that she now had access to her own source of information, limited though it may be at the moment. She stood up from where she'd been sitting and scanned the area, puzzled at where the Black Compendium could've gone.

The filly couldn't remember where she'd put the tome, but with how massive the text was, it couldn't have been that hard to spot in the well maintained study. Her expression became puzzled as she failed to locate the book at a glance.

"Something wrong?" Grogar asked, turning away from the bookshelf to raise an eyebrow at Twilight, "missing something, perhaps?"

"Yeah, where's..." Twilight's frown deepened as she looked back at Grogar, "I can't remember where I put the Black Compendium. I didn't put it back on the bookshelf, so I know it has to be around here somewhere, but I can't see it anywhere."

"Why not simply summon it back to your side?" Grogar suggested with a knowing grin, "surely it shouldn't be so hard? I would've though a filly of your prodigious talent would've figure out the means by which to recall lost objects from wherever they may be by now?"

"I... no, I haven't," Twilight admitted almost ashamedly, "I know it's possible to magically 'imprint' an object so you can call it back to you at any time, and if you know exactly where the thing is, you can just teleport it to you if it's within a certain distance, but both methods were too advanced for me."

"My my, that's rather disappointing," Grogar replied, slowly shaking his head disapprovingly, "I would've expected more out of you, child, but I suppose you are still a filly, and in the end, a filly cannot know everything there is to know, nor can they accomplish what is beyond their current skill level, prodigy or otherwise."

Twilight winced and folded her ears against her head, disappointed in herself for not being able to meet Grogar's expectations. Grogar, for his part, dismissed the matter with a lazy wave of his cloven hoof.

"Worry not, Twilight Sparkle," he said, turning back to the shelves, "while I do have high hopes for you, I am by no means unreasonable in what I expect you to accomplish. My words were merely meant to gauge your current ability, nothing more."

"Oh," Twilight replied, still somewhat upset. Then a thought came to her and she perked up, her expression turning hopeful, "wait, so are you gonna teach me how to imprint and recall items, or teleport other objects?"

"Close, child, but no," Grogar answered, nodding to himself as he pulled a thick brown and aged tome from the shelf. Having found what he was looking for, he trotted back over to the armchair with the tome floating beside him, and planted himself onto it, getting comfortable as he spoke, "what I have to teach you is nothing so complicated as that, well, normally not so complicated at any rate."

Grogar took the tome he'd procured from the bookshelf into his hooves and pulled it open, smirking as the eager filly watched his every move, her discomfort with what happened to Bray almost completely forgotten. He silently flipped a few pages, ignoring Twilight as she began to fidget impatiently, and it was only when he found the page he was looking for that he spoke again.

"I'm quite fond of this chair, you know," Grogar said, his words as casual as they were unexpected, "it was my father's favorite chair, and when he passed on, it was bequeathed to me."

Twilight wondered just where Grogar was going with this, but chose to remain silent, figuring he'd make his point when he was ready. She was beginning to understand that the ram took things at his own pace, and that it was far from her place to rush him.

"The entire kingdom became mine to rule of course, but that was a given," Grogar continued, turning another page in his book, "this chair however..." he chuckled quietly, and his crimson eyes grew distant, "I have... fond memories of my father sitting in this very chair as he read me many fables of old, and taught me what it meant to be a king. So many fond memories..."

He paused and looked up from his book, giving the confused filly a significant look.

"Such is my fondness for this chair, that even in this dreary, abominable existence, I make it a point to make sure this particular piece of furniture is properly maintained and cared for," he furrowed his brow and Twilight unconsciously straightened up, sensing he was about to make his point, "in short, this chair holds a great deal of sentimental value to me. My question for you then, is this..."

Twilight jumped slightly as Grogar suddenly snapped the book shut, his eyes boring into her with all the intensity of a teacher expecting and accepting only the correct answer from their student.

"...when it comes to the casting of Soul Magic, why does this matter?"

Twilight struggled with her answer for a moment, too caught off guard by the question to respond right away. She searched her memory for everything she'd learned about Soul Magic. If Grogar was talking about sentimental value, the answer most likely had something to do with the emotions directed towards the object.

No, not the emotions specifically, but the connection formed by those emotions.

The bond.

The link.

"It matters because you're tying strong emotions to that object," Twilight answered carefully, "and... those emotions can form a link between you and the object, a link you can take advantage of when casting Soul Magic... or Dark Magic, I guess."

"Precisely," Grogar replied with a satisfied nod, "now, you can imprint your magic signature upon an item and use that to call it forth, but that method becomes less effective over time as the signature fades, and the imprint must be reapplied often.

"It is also true that you can teleport an object to you if you know exactly where it is, but that only works within a certain range, and both methods are limited by the size and weight of the object in question. There is however, another method that requires neither a magic signature, nor the exact knowledge of the object's location."

Grogar paused for effect and Twilight leaned in, both ears turned towards the ram and an anticipatory grin on her face.

"Though distance and magical power are still prevalent factors," Grogar finally continued, "I speak of a method of summoning an object that is almost wholly based on emotional bond, and has no such restraints involving size or weight. The stronger your feelings towards the item, the easier it is to call to your side."

"How is that even possible?" Twilight asked, astounded at the prospect, "is this some kind of Summoning Magic? It has to be, no other branch of magic is capable of that!"

"On the contrary," Grogar answered with a single shake of his head, "this spell predates the more modern methods by a good deal, and no, this is not Summoning Magic. I cannot fathom why the use of this spell died out in favor of the more restrictive methods, but it remains a useful spell to know, and it will pave the way for another series of spells I plan to teach you."

"And this spell is what you used to make that chair appear?" Twilight surmised, eyeing the plush armchair with renewed fascination, "is this why the Black Compendium is missing?" she turned back to Grogar with a questioning look, "you want me to summon it back using the spell?"

"Sharp as ever I see," Grogar chuckled, "indeed, child. I hid the Black Compendium somewhere in this castle, and I want you to bring it back using this spell. You've spent quite a bit of time with book and I know it fascinates you, so it should be a sufficient enough focus for now."

"So how do I do it?" Twilight asked, mentally preparing herself for what may very well have been some intense casting, "and does the spell have a name?"

"It does, but I have since forgotten it, and have not bothered to remember," Grogar replied dismissively, "more importantly, all you need is to channel a small amount of Soul Magic, or Dark Magic depending on the emotion, think of what it is you want to obtain, and cast that outward."

Grogar stopped and frowned slightly, his head lowered and his eyes narrowed. He hummed to himself a moment later and spoke again, his tone thoughtful.

"I've only just worked out why this method may have died out," he mused, tapping his chin, "the wondrous thing about this spell is that ambient magic does most of the work, and the Land of Light is woefully lacking such an atmosphere. A pity, that."

Twilight 'oh'd' in understand before giving a small thoughtful frown of her own a moment later. Grogar had been from the Land of Light originally, so that would've meant the spell was nearly useless for him as well.

Then she remembered what one of the ponies of old told her about the days when Equestria was still Ponyland. Apparently at one point, the world did have an abundance of ambient mana. There were far more spells available, and they'd been terribly powerful.

For reasons she hadn't been able to glean, the abundance of ambient mana had begun to dwindle over time, leaving Equestria in the state it was in now. With a twinge of worry, Twilight wondered if all the mana would disappear from Equestria one day. She made a mental note to ask Grogar more about the possible issue it later.

"Focus, child," came Grogar's stern growl, jerking Twilight out of her thoughts. Once he had her attention, Grogar grunted and continued his explanation, "as I was saying, the ambient mana will take hold of the the directionless, emotion saturated spell, and guide it towards the object in question.

"Once it makes contact, you'll feel it, and when that happens, you simply pull the object towards you," he paused, "if it helps, think of it like fishing, with Soul Magic as the line, and your emotional link to the object as the bait."

"That... sounds easy enough," Twilight replied uncertainly, "yeah, I think I can do that."

"Simple though it may sound, it is far from it, my child," Grogar intoned, "for a creature so unused to making ambient magic work for them, it will be quite a task, I assure you," he pulled open the book he'd been reading once more as he continued, "if you wish to know more of the pitiable beings known as shades, you will have to successfully cast the spell and pull the book from where I've hidden it."

Twilight grimaced and fell to her haunches, determined to pull this off. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before bathing her horn in a dark violet glow, the light fizzling out mere seconds later. Her eyes snapped open and she frowned up at her own horn in bemusement.

Grogar, whose chair was mostly facing the fireplace, turned slightly to watch in amusement as the filly tried again and again, already growling in frustration with each failure. The spell may not have served her all that well in the Land of Light, but he fully believe she'd find a way to mitigate the issue given time. With one more quiet chuckle he turned back to his book and flipped another page.

Patience, Grogar... always patience.

Took awhile to get this one out, as I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to do another time skip just yet. In the end I decided to hold off a bit longer.