It was dark, very dark. Twilight felt afraid, it was so dark, but that is not why she felt afraid, she could feel evil.
"Twilight Sparkle!" a dark voice rumbled
"Y-Yes?"
"Do you feel the darkness, and the fear?"
"I-I feel evil." she said with a growing sense of dread.
"You are wrong Twilight Sparkle, you feel Power! Raw undeniable power that can, and will be yours!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Dark Magic."
"NO! I wont use dark magic!"
"Do not lie to me! You remember the dark magic of king Sombra, you want his powers."
Twilight woke with a start. She was sweating all over her body. She was shaking from her nightmare, but a lingering thought remained in the back of her mind. Dark Magic. She couldn't help but being intrigued by the thought.
"Twilight, you look terrible" Spike said interrupting her train of thought.
"No Spike, I'm fine."
"Are you sure? You're sweating all over."
"I just want a little privacy is all. Go out and enjoy yourself today, I think I will do some reading today."
"Sure thing Twilight."
As soon a Spike left Twilight sat down on her bed. She remembered just how powerful King Sombra had been. She wondered if she had a book on him or some of his magic.
"A little reading wont hurt, its not like I'm going to become a dark magician." Twilight told herself trying to convince herself that reading dark books was okay.
She searched her library trying to find something on king Sombra. She found a book titled "A Guide to Dark Magic" She paused before opening the cover. Ignoring her reservations she opened the book and began pouring over the pages.
"Howdy Twilight." Applejack greeted her in her usual friendly fashion.
Twilight jumped, startled, and quickly hid the book. "H-Hey Applejack"
"Whatcha readin' there Twi?"
"Oh, nothing, just another book of magic"
"Right" Applejack said a little suspicious. "Weren't you gonna come over and meet everyone for our weekly pet play date?"
"Oh, I'm sorry Applejack, I just got really distracted by my studies."
"I understand, you wanna come hang out with us all tomorrow, we are all going to have a picnic for lunch tomorrow?"
"Sure, I can make it. I wont forget this time."
"Good, see ya then Twilight."
Applejack left her house. Twilight sighed a little breath of relief. She hadn't realized just how interesting this book was. So many spells that she wanted to try out.
"No, I can't use dark magic! I wont read anymore."
She looked at her clock and realized that she had spent the entire day reading the book, and spike had not come home yet, but she was to tired to give it any thought. She crawled back into her bed, and before she knew it she was sound asleep on her bed.
"Do you now recognize the power of Dark Magic?"
"Yes, but it is still wrong."
"You are mistaken, Princess Celestia may be a fair and just ruler, but she is cunning and scheming. She understands that somepony like you could master Dark Magic and become more powerful than her. She has banned it out of fear, not because it is wrong."
"She would never do that."
"You will see this to be true. Dark Magic is not to be feared."
The next day at noon Twilight headed to the park to meet her friends. She still felt uneasy about her dreams from the last two nights, and Spike had still not come home from the previous day, but this didn't bother her since she was still thinking about her dreams and dark magic. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts she did not realize she got to the park so soon.
"Hello Twilight, I missed you yesterday." Said Rarity
"I'm sorry, I was caught up in my studies."
"Its quite alright darling." Rarity said with kindness
"Have in of you seen Spike? I haven't seen him since yesterday morning."
"Well there he is!" Giggled Pinkie Pie
They all turned their heads and saw Spike sprinting towards them.
"DRAGON!" Screamed Spike
They all saw a massive full-grown Dragon rise into the sky. The Dragon swept over Ponyville towards Spike. Without thinking Twilight jumped forward and cast a spell she had read in the dark magic book. Black light shot from all the plants around Twilight into her horn joining together to launch a very powerful beam of black light straight into the dragon's chest. The dragon dropped from the sky lifeless. Twilight had never felt so powerful in her life! It was amazing, how had she not discovered this before?
But as Twilight looked around, instead of seeing awe on the faces of her friends she only saw horror. She was still glowing with a dark light and all the plants around her were withered and dead. Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna floated down to the ground clearly hunting for the dragon. They had looks of horror on their faces just like her friends.
"What is the matter?" Asked Twilight very annoyed at the lack of praise.
"Y-You just used dark magic." Rarity spoke up in with obvious terror in her voice
"So what, its not a big deal." Twilight said with rising anger.
"Luna, restrain her." Said Celestia with a mix of sadness and anger.
Twilight felt her limbs freeze up as light came from Luna's horn.
"WHAT!? I just saved all of you from dragon! You should be thanking me!" Twilight screamed.
"You have used dark magic, you are not yourself Twilight." Luna said calmingly.
"NO! You cant hold me down!"
Twilight focused all her energy on Luna and Luna began to lose color and shake. Finally the spell broke and with a massive burst of energy Twilight teleported miles into the Everfree forest.
Twilight was enraged. She was using her magic to cause destruction, draining the life from all the plants around her.
"How could they do that to me!? I saved them! Celestia was just jealous and afraid of me!"
A jet-black unicorn came out of the forest interrupting twilights Rant.
"That was a very impressive feat of magic." He said calmly
"I suppose you want to arrest me for the use of dark magic?"
'Not at all, I practice dark magic myself."
Twilight took a second look at the strange unicorn. She saw on his flank two white skulls for his cutie-mark.
"So then what is you name?" he asked
"I'm Twilight Sparkle. What is yours?"
"I am Tamerlane the Necromancer. It is a pleasure to meet you Twilight Sparkle"
"A n-necromancer?" she asked suddenly afraid.
"That is correct. Come with me Twilight Sparkle. I can teach you much about dark magic for you have a lot to learn."
Twilight let go of any fear she had of him because of her anger at Celestia. "I guess… I really have nothing to go back to now."
"Wonderful, the first thing to know is that since you are new to dark magic its use will make you angry and aggressive. You will get past this with due practice. Now come with me"
Twilight followed the necromancer to a huge library that he lived in.
"Your library is amazing!"
"I'm glad you like it, feel free to read anything anytime you want, but first let us begin your lessons"
Back at Ponyville everyone was in shock. Nopony ever expected something like that from Twilight. Luna had collapsed on the ground. She was weak from Twilight draining her life force.
"We… we need to go after h-her" said Luna weakly.
"Not yet, you are to weak my sister." Celestia said as she was tending to Luna. "I will go with Twilight's friends to try to track her down, you need to go back to Canterlot and rest."
"Ok, sister, but be careful, the dark arts are nothing to mess with."
Celestia's royal guards carried Luna off to Canterlot.
"No offense Princess, but how can we help?" asked Applejack
"You are her friends, and hopefully you all will be able to put some sense into her. Dark magic is a very terrible thing, and it comes at a high cost to the soul of the user."
"What sort of cost?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"The use of any dark magic requires the use of the life force of something else. Sometimes just using plants or animals works, but after a while a dark magician will get corrupted by his power and started leaching off of other ponies. But right now the most important thing is to set of now and find Twilight."
"You are a very powerful magician Twilight Sparkle."
"Thank you. I have been studying all my life to master magic."
"It shows. Remember, you have to focus and control the sources you are gathering power from."
Twilight focused again on a tree trying to drain its life force. She still felt anger from the events of the day before. She focused harder and black light bridged the span between her and the tree, it began to wither and die but she lost her concentration and the light burst and all the plants around her shriveled up and died.
"Concentrate Twilight Sparkle. You have to be able to control your life drain spell."
"I'm sorry, this is still new for me."
"I understand, but it is vital to master this technique, for it is the cornerstone of all dark magic."
"Dark magic like necromancy?"
"Sort of. Necromancy is often called death magic. Many dark magicians frown on necromancy, but it is the most powerful form of magic in the world."
"What about princess Celestia? She moves can move the sun and the moon."
"Necromancy is the power over life and death. For powerful necromancers the line between life and death is thin and easily blurred. Even Celestia cannot compare to that power."
"Are you going to teach me necromancy?"
"Only if you wish, but not anytime soon. First you have to master the basics of dark magic."
"Wait, if you are a necromancer then why don't I see any dead ponies? Don't necromancers have lots of undead servants?"
"So many questions Twilight Sparkle. I do have undead servants, but I chose not to show you them. Many people find it disturbing. But no, back to your lesson."
Twilight approached another tree and began to focus her energy on the tree. The now familiar black light appeared and the tree began to die. After a few short seconds the tree was a withered and lifeless trunk. Twilight felt good, but the more she drained from plants the less it made her feel powerful. She needed that feeling of power again. She thought back to the voice from her dreams. Dark magic. It felt amazing, but something didn't make sense.
"Um… Tamerlane?"
"Yes Twilight Sparkle?"
"Did you happen to come to me in my dreams and plant the idea dark magic in my head?"
"Of course not. I do not have that power. The subconscious is a very interesting thing, and you never know what is stored down there. I would guess that you had wanted dark magic and that thought manifested itself in your dreams."
"But princess Luna can dreamwa-"
"Silence now! We must continue with your studies."
Despite Tamerlane's answer Twilight still felt very uneasy. It felt as though something had been pushing her to pick up that book three days ago. And try as she might, she couldn't push those thoughts out of her head as the day continued. But that wasn't the only thing worrying her, She was also uneasy as she thought about Princess Celestia and all her. Surely that had to be looking for her. How long until they found her? What would happen if they found her?
Even as Twilight thought about Celestia and her friends they were all thinking about her. The six ponies were walking through the Everfree forest, Celestia in the lead trying to locate Twilight while the other five were trailing behind. They had just set off the morning after Twilight stopped the dragon. They headed deeper into the Everfree forest and began to see traces of dark magic. They saw withered trees and dead animals all around them. Suddenly they heard a snap. They all froze. Suddenly rotting dead ponies came out of the forest surrounding them.
"Halt." said the closest rotting pony. "This is the land of the necromancer. Leave now."
"No! We have important business in this region." Celestia said with force.
"Then we will stop you." Another grumbled out of his decaying lungs which where visible from his chest.
The disfigured ponies closed in on them surrounding them on all side. Before any of them could react all of them charged in on them screaming a terrible yell!