It was dark.

The kind of darkness you can feel against your skin as it surrounds you, wrapping you in a blanket that sends chills down your spine. The kind of darkness that makes you beg deep down for just the slightest glimpse of light.

The kind of darkness that nightmares are truly made of.

She could feel her hooves colliding with something hard as she took one step after another towards an unforeseen destination, and she could sense up from down, but otherwise….she was lost in a sea of nothingness. The only question on her mind was, why? Why was it so dark? How long had she been walking? Where in the world was she?

Then a light, so faint that she almost missed it. It was a seemingly impossible distance away, but that didn't stop her as her speed increased, propelling her towards the safety of the faint glimmer on the horizon. With every step the light grew closer, and so did the source of it. Despite the initial friendliness of the light, she stopped as soon as she was close enough to get a good look at what seemed like….some sort of structure. It was surrounded by intense flames of a crimson red color. Even from a safe distance, she could feel it's intensity, and she could only stare wide eyed at the horrifying sight. The flames seemed to rise with every passing second, weaving back and forth in a spellbinding sway. They reached out to her like large claws trying to catch her, and bring her closer.

Her mind begged her to turn and run, but she found that she couldn't move. She simply stared with a mix of awe and fear until the feeling of something crawling on her skin stopped her. Gazing down at her hooves, she started to panic as small tendrils of a strange dark matter began to rise around her legs, keeping her pinned to the ground. Despite her struggles, she was powerless to fight of the strange material as it encased her legs in a powerful grip, and began to drag her towards the structure engulfed in flames. She tried to move, but lacked any strength. She tried to scream, but no sound could be managed. In the end, she just closed her eyes and accepted her fate as the heat from the flames reached out to sting her skin.

Along with the fear and pain, came a cold and booming voice. A voice that she knew all too well.

-----------------

The bright sun had appeared over the horizon only a few hours ago, and almost everypony was still asleep or indoors as Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville's most successful magician made her way silently down Ponyville's main road towards the library she called home. Her trip through the Everfree Forest that morning had been surprisingly pleasant, and she stopped to admire the beautiful sunrise with a peaceful sigh before stepping through the main door of the large tree structure.

Luckily, the library looked exactly the way she had left it. Come to think of it, it actually seemed a little bit cleaner than she remembered. She didn't have much time to admire the cleanliness and organization though, as her attention turned to the baby dragon who shared her home. He was sitting on a table by the window, staring down at a half empty glass and looking rather sleepy.

Smiling, she made her way across the room to hang up her saddle bag.

"Morning Spike. I'm back."

Immediately, the little dragon snapped his head up with a small yelp and nearly knocked the glass onto the floor.

"-I wasn't drinking the juice you wanted to save till' tomorrow!"

After a moment to calm down, Spike turned a little red, but continued to hop off the table and rush over to give Twilight a hug. Any amount of time away from Twilight was usually enough to make him a little nervous, but going a whole night without her had been admittedly scary. After a few seconds, he hopped off and stood sheepishly as Twilight eyed the glass of juice on the counter. The scolding he expected never came however, as Twilight directed her attention back to the rest of the building.

"Spike, you didn't clean the whole Library by yourself did you? Everything looks so, perfect."

Rubbing his shoulder, spike sighed a breath of relief and nodded his head.

"Well, I wanted everything to look nice when you got back so I…stayed up a little longer to clean up. Owlicious helped too."

Twilight shot a glance at the owl who was perched directly above them. The chubby creature had already drifted off to sleep now that sun was in the sky. While she could tell that Spike was probably going to need a nap to recover, Twilight couldn't help but be impressed…and touched that Spike would go to all the trouble of perfecting what she had already considered clean right before she left.

"Oh Spike," she sighed, giving him a gentle nudge. "As much as I'd like to tell you that you should have gone to bed when I told you, I have to admit that was very thoughtful of you. You'd better take a nap later to make up for it but for now, how about some breakfast?"

Spikes smile told her everything she needed to know, and it wasn't long before Twilight was preparing something simple while Spike set the table. In no time at all, they were both seated and enjoying individual bowls of oatmeal. As usual, spikes helping had crushed gemstones mixed in. It was the only way Twilight could ever get him to eat the stuff. After a few minutes of chewing in silence Spike spoke up, stopping to swallow a mouthful first.

"So, how did things go with Zecora? Did you learn that locating spell like you wanted?"

Twilight had spent the whole previous night with her friend Zecora the zebra; a fellow practicioner of Magic and Mystical Arts. After reading about a spell that could be used to reveal the location of lost objects, Twilight had gone to ask Zecora for help learning it after several failed attempts on her own.

It had taken some time, but Zecora had eventually managed to whip up a simple brew that had the same effect, estimating that Twilight would be able to drink it and learn it's effects. As far as Twilight knew, the experiment had been a failure in the end. After drinking several batches, she still hadn't been able to learn the spell, even after Zecora had examined the cauldron's contents herself in an attempt to make it work. Luckily, there hadn't been any side effects, and Twilight had still learned a great deal in the end.

"No," she sighed after thinking back for a moment. "We tried a few different experiments but I just wasn't able to quite get the hang of it. After a little more research I'm sure I'll get it though."

They both resumed finishing up their breakfast, but another thought came to Twilight just before the last spoonful of oatmeal was in her mouth.

"I am a little worried about Zecora though."

"Why's that? Did any of her brews do something bad?"

"No…at least, I don't think so. She tried to use the spell herself to make sure she'd brewed it correctly, but nothing seemed to happen. She seemed really confused and worried about something afterwards though. I think she may have seen something when she was staring into the cauldron."

Spike stopped eating and sat up with a curious look on his face.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, she was really still for a few moments. She didn't really talk, or even blink for at least a minute or so. I asked her afterward if she was alright and she told me everything was fine, but she seemed pretty hurried to get to bed. So, I just went to sleep and left first thing this morning."

"Hmm," Spike sighed, swallowing the last of his breakfast. "Maybe she was just tired from spending all night working. It seems like she's always busy whenever she comes to Ponyville."

Nodding in agreement, Twilight took her last bite of oatmeal and rubbed her face with a napkin before magicking the dishes towards the sink nearby.

"Yah, you're probably right. I'll just check on her a bit later to make sure she's okay."

Nodding his agreement, Spike hopped off the seat and started to head towards the front door.

"Well, Rarity is probably awake by now. I better get going…"

Just as he was reaching for the door handle, the little dragon's smile turned to a grimace as a magical aura surrounded him, lifting him up off the floor and pulling him back towards the table as Twilight sat up.

"Not so fast Romeo," Twilight sighed. "You lost several hours of sleep, and you need to take a nap before you do anything."

"But I promised Rarity I'd be her personal assistant for the day," Spike whined, trying to put on the best cute and adorable face he could manage. "She still has a lot of dresses to make before she can send everything to Canterlot."

Trying to avoid looking at Spikes wide and shimmering eyes, Twilight set him down at the foot of the stairs that would lead up to the bedroom.

"I'm sure there will still be plenty of work to do for you to do in a few hours," she said, walking over to retrieve her saddle bags once again. "I'll drop by Rarity's shop on my way to Sweet Apple Acres to tell her you'll be by a little bit later. I know Rarity could use the help, but I want you back before dark okay?"

Crossing his arms and staring down at his feet, Spike just sighed and tapped his foot.

"Alright, fine."

"…Good. I'll see you later tonight. Now, go get some rest okay?"

    -----------------

"I sure do appreciate the help Twilight. Pressing apples aint tough, but I'm sure gonna need a lot of liquid."

As promised, Twilight had arrived at Sweet Apple Acres later that afternoon to help her friend Applejack press apple cider needed for a large order that needed to be completed by the end of the week. After earning approval and praise from Princess Celestia herself, the apple family's business had tripled in success.

"My pleasure," Twilight smiled.

Even when it came to something liking making apple cider, Twilight was always jumping at the chance to learn something new. Granted, her personal progress was rather slow, but a little help was certainly better than no help at all.

"No, I really mean it," Applejack confirmed, taking a moment to remove her hat and wipe some sweat off her face. "I reckon all that work at Zecora's last night must have done a number on ya, so I'm glad ya still decided to come."

"Oh, you heard about that?" Twilight asked, not because she had intended to hide that fact, but because she couldn't remember ever mentioning it to any of her friends.

"Yup. Spike told me when I stopped by to drop off your weekly apple batch just after dark last night. Did that findin' things spell o' yers ever work out?"

"No, not really. We tried a few different ideas but it turned out be a lot trickier than I thought it would be. Considering how often books get misplaced, I thought it would be useful. I'm sure I'll pick it up eventually with practice."

"No doubt about it sugarcube. I can't remember any ol' magic trick every getting the best of ya."

With just a humble smile, Twilight put her focus back into her work, but she had only managed to fill a few large bottles before a familiar voice could be heard over the horizon. At first she barely heard it, but the second time around it was unmistakable.

"Twilight?! TWILIGHT!"

"Spike?"

Both Twilight and Applejack stopped what they were doing and looked down the road to see their friend Rarity approaching with Spike riding on her back. It was hard to tell at first, but Twilight eventually recognized a scroll that Spike was clutching in his paw. Both she and Applejack left the barn in a simple trot towards their approaching visitors. Both Rarity and Spike had looks of concern on their faces, and that made Twilight begin to worry.

"Spike, what happened? Is something wrong?"

"I'm sorry Darling," Rarity huffed when they had reached each other by the gate on the edge of the Apple family property. "I knew you and Applejack would be quite busy with your work, but Spike insisted we come and see you immediately."

Twilight nodded her thanks and turned her attention to Spike who hopped down and rushed towards her. The seal holding the scrolls ribbon closed was unmistakable.

"Twilight, you have a letter from the Princess."

Sighing a breath of relief, Twilight magicked the scroll from Spikes paw and smiled. While his frantic expression concerned her, she figured it more likely that he was simply expressing his loyalty like he always did.

"Okay Spike, I know these letters are important but you didn't have to rush over here so frantically. What made you feel the need to get over here so fast?"

Twilight proceeded to open the scroll as Spike explained through short breaths.

"I think somethings wrong. The Princess said that Zecora showed up in Canterlot a few hours ago. She's been telling everyone at the palace about some sort of approaching danger. The Princess wants you in Canterlot right away. There should be a chariot coming soon to pick you up."

"Zecora?" Rarity asked with a quizzical look. "Why on earth would she travel all the way to Canterlot?"

"Approachin' danger?" Applejack asked immediately afterword. "What in the hay is that supposed to mean?"

Twilight quickly ran her eyes over the letter and a look of deep concern appeared on her face. Most of her messages from Celestia were always longer, wise, drawn out, but what she was reading was short, straight to the point… almost frantic. It was enough to make worry swell up in Twilight's gut.

"This doesn't sound good," she said eventually, folding up the scroll. "I'm sorry Applejack, but I need to get to Canterlot right away."

Applejack quickly smiled and waved her off with a hoof.

"By all means sugarcube. Can't leave the Princess a'waitin."

"I'll keep an eye on Spike while your gone," Rarity added, magicking the little dragon onto her back. "Just, do be careful Darling."

Twilight didn't give much of an answer other than a smile and nod of her head. All she could think of was the events of the previous night. Zecora was a very wise and powerful Zebra, and Twilight had nothing but the utmost respect for her. If something had Zecora worried or scared, then it had to be a very serious matter indeed…Worse yet, what if it was her fault?

Did she make a mistake the night before? Other than seeming tired, Zecora certainly didn't seem worried enough to truly cause any serious concern. There was only one way to find out what was going on.

Thanking her friends, Twilight hurried as quickly as possible back to the library to pack a few things in preparation for the trip.

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