The Shadows of Friendship

“Long ago, before Equestria was founded, Equigyptian Kings played a game of great and terrible power. These ‘Shadow Games’ erupted into a war that threatened to destroy the world, until a brave and powerful Princess locked the dark magic away, imprisoning it for all eternity in the mystical Millennium Items... should you be playing with that Twilight?” A small, bipedal purple dragon with green spines asked the purple unicorn, whose mane and tail had three different shades of purple in and who was attempting to assemble one of the items in question.

“Princess Celestia knows I have it, Spike,” The unicorn replied, carefully and slowly putting another piece in using her magic, “She wouldn’t let me keep it if she thought it was dangerous.”

“But what about the dark magic?” Spike wondered, edging over to the table carefully, watching his friend and kind of mother working on a puzzle she had owned since long before he had been born and still hadn’t managed to complete.

“There’s no such thing as evil magic,” Twilight replied, focused on the next piece, “It’s all to do with intent, remember? I taught you that years ago.” She nudged the piece she was putting in a little too far and the whole thing fell apart, causing her to let out a frustrated snort and stamp her back feet, “Not again!”

“I found that book you wanted.” Spike offered in compensation as Twilight collected up the golden pieces and put them back in the box they had come in. He passed her the book he had been reading from and she skipped far past the part about the Equigyptian treasures and onto more recent history. “Why are you looking up the Mare in the Moon anyway? It’s just an old mare’s tale.”

Twilight carefully put her Damsire’s gift back on the shelf before taking the book from her assistant, “Because the Summer Sun celebration is the day after tomorrow and I’m sure it’s important.”

“But school’s closed for the holiday.” Spike complained, “We’re supposed to be on break. And,” He added, glancing at the carefully wrapped present on the table nearest the door, “We’re missing Moondancer’s party.”

“I know, I know.” Twilight apologised, glancing at him sheepishly before scanning the page quickly with her eyes, “I just want to... aha!” The book floated in front of her as she paced the room. “Here it is, Mare in the Moon, see ‘Nightmare Moon.’”