The Darkest of Stars

Radley Kane and Kassandra Tharsus walked in silence for a while. Radley had spent a lot of time thinking about what Kassandra had said concerning the necessity of killing Blackstar and in turn, Trixie Lulamoon. There just had to be another way. Never before had they killed anyone, not in all of the years that they've been fighting Blackstar. But maybe Kassandra was right: perhaps that was why they were still doing this. He did not have long before he had to make the decision whether or not to follow through.

Kassandra glanced over at Radley, but quickly looked away. She hated that she had to do this Radley, but a decision needed to be made. She genuinely felt sorry for Trixie. She was just an innocent bystander in this entire conflict. It was no her fault that she was the body of an ancient, evil princess from three thousand years ago. But there had to be someone that would have to pay for Blackstar's crimes...

A sudden rush of air jolted Kassandra out of her thoughts. It was followed by a scream and a crashing noise from a falling tree. “What in Celestia's name...!?” Kassandr exclaimed.

Radley was just as confused. “Was that...was that a person?” he asked, looking behind him.

“I'm not through with you, foul necromancer!” Another rush of air flew past them, blowing out their manes. Not even a second passed before a large boom was heard in the distance.

“That sounded like Allis!” Kassandra realized.

“That must've been Cyril that went by the first time,” Radley said, nodding. “I always forget how fast he can fly.”

“Or how fast he can make other people fly,” Kassandra added. There was another crash, followed by the sound of a tree falling.

“Let's go,” Radley said, trotting towards the source of the noise. Kassandra followed.

It did not take long for them to reach the two ponies. The sight was a bit difficult to look at. Allis was standing on top of Cyril, pinning her to the ground. His eyes blank, soulless eyes were focused completely on her. Cyril did not look like she was trying to struggle. The only movements that could be detected from her were twitches and spasms. There was a trail of blood streaming from her temple.

“Allis!” Kassandra called out. She ran towards him.

Only then did Allis look away from Cyril to his sister. He held up a hoof in an attempt to get her to stop. “Stand back!” he cried, but it was too late.

Kassandra fell to the ground, gripping her head in pain. Her head was filled with a high-pitched whining noise. She couldn't hear anything else except for the noise. She felt like her head was about to split open.

Radley ran towards Allis, keeping his head down. “Calm down!” he yelled.

“I...can't!” Allis cried. “It's...too much...!”

Radley grabbed Allis by the face, forcing the pegasus to look away from his sister. Radley stared directly into his eyes. They were pitch black and empty. It almost looked like he was crying dark, smoky tears. The maroon Earth pony was completely unabashed. There was a look of calm determination in his eyes. “Listen to me, Allis Yahn. Calm down. It's going to be alright.”

“But...” Allis stammered.

“Allis, listen to your friend. He is correct.”

Allis recognized that voice. It was one that he had not heard in centuries. “May Treearch?” he said. He turned his head left and right, searching for the source of the voice.

Then, his eyes were opened.

He found himself in a large, white area. It was bright and glowing and devoid of anything except light. And yet, it felt like Allis had been here forever. He didn't have to shut out the light or anything. It felt strange, yet familiar at the same time.

“Allis Yahn...what has happened to you?”

Allis turned to find May Treearch, the gentle, kind-hearted Earth pony from his time as a little foal. But she looked very different. She was as tall as a fully grown alicorn, but she was still an Earth pony. Her coat was a shimmering, light yellow. Her mane and tail were still pink with beautiful flowers woven into it.

“May...is that you?” Allis could barely get his words out. “What...how...?”

“It is in dreams where our true selves are revealed,” May said. Her voice was angelic and soothing. “See for yourself.” She pointed down towards the ground.

Allis did, noticing a small pool of water. His eyes grew wide at his reflection. His eyes were a gorgeous shade of shining green, just as they were when he as a child. His wings were both feathery and normal, neither one having the form of a bat. His coat was still purple and his mane was the same silver it had always been. “Wow...but how did I get here?” he asked, looking back up at May.

“There is more to Radley than any of us thought,” May explained. “Starswirl never took to adopting lost foals before him.”

“It looks like you're saying Starswirl took to Radley for a specific reason,” Allis realized.

“It was not an ideal situation,” May continued, looking away. “Even after he took him in, the danger still existed.”

“What danger?”

It did not even look like May was listening to him. “That is why he insisted that you and your sister stay with him. Wind and I volunteered, but Starswirl said that it was necessary.”

Allis stamped his hooves on the ground. He was clearly frustrated. “Why? Please May, I don't understand!”

May looked down at Allis, as if noticing him for the first time. “It's time for you to go, Allis Yahn. Your friends need you.” She began to fade away into the light.

Allis stepped forward, shaking his head. “No! I need answers, May! Why did Starswirl take us in? What more is there to Radley?”

Her body was gone, but her spirit still lingered. Allis could hear her voice still, but just barely. “Blackstar....is only a pawn...”

Then, everything went dark.

“Allis? Allis, are you all right?”

Allis recognized Radley's voice standing over him, yet he felt lost. He had only experienced it for a few moments but he already missed his sight. “Yes...I'm fine,” he answered, standing up tentatively.

Allis heard the sound of cloth hitting the ground beside him. “I couldn't find your blindfold,” Radley admitted. “But this is something that I got from Fluttershy while I was staying with her. It should do nicely.”

Allis picked up the piece of cloth. It felt similar to his old blindfold. It was softer though, probably due to the fact that it had not experienced three thousand years of weathering. “It isn't pink, is it?” he asked, tying it around his head.

“The most beautiful shade of it.”

“Kassandra!” Allis exclaimed, recognizing his sister's voice. “I'm sorry about what happened. I just lost control.”

Kassandra smacked him in the side, causing him to stagger a bit. “Don't worry about it. I'm more bummed that Cyril got away.”

“She isn't your average necromancer,” Radley observed. “She slipped out right from under us in the confusion.”

“What did she want anyway?” Kassandra asked. “What is her place in this mess?”

“She's working with someone else,” Allis answered. “As it turns out, there is someone else involved.”

“My father, Alexander Kane,” Radley finished.

“Your father?” Kassandra repeated with wide-opened eyes. “He's still alive? Why didn't you tell us?”

“I only found out a few days ago when I was staying with Fluttershy,” Radley explained. “He came to me all of a sudden. It was...strange.”

“How so?” Allis asked.

“You mean besides seeing his father that he thought was dead for three thousand years?” Kassandra remarked.

“In our line of work, seeing dead ponies is not that unusual,” Allis commented with a smirk.

“Anyway,” Radley continued, rolling his eyes. “He wanted me to join him. He said we share the same destiny.”

“How could he possibly know that?” Kassandra asked.

Allis stepped forward, getting right into Radley's face. “The two of you share the same cutie mark, don't you?”

Radley stepped back a little. “Yes...how did you know?”

Allis turned his head away. A few moments passed before he nodded and straightened his new blindfold. “Come on. We have to get to Trixie Lulamoon and speak with her. She's the body of Blackstar, so she will be going after her next.” He started to take off into the air.

“Wait, Allis!” Radley exclaimed, stepping in front of him. “How did you know my father has the same mark as I?”

A few moments went by before Allis finally answered. “I think I understand what our purpose is here with you now, why Starswirl decided to take care of all three of us on his own.”

“Well?” Kassandra said impatiently.

“We have more important things to worry about,” Allis claimed, taking to the air.

“Allis!” Radley called out into the sky. “We're not leaving until you tell us what's going on!”

“Then I'll see you in Canterlot,” Allis called down. He took off.

Radley sighed heavily. “Allis has changed. He's keeping more and more secrets.”

Kassandra was still staring off into the sky where her brother had taken off. “What are you thinking?” Radley asked.

“I was just wondering...out of the three of us, my brother is the only one of us who isn't truly blind.” She sighed. “We'd better get to Canterlot as well. Let's go.” She took off with Radley on her tail.

~

The Badlands, home of the Blackest Heart.

The sun was rising just above the horizon. The heat was already beginning to rise on the sandy, deserted landscape. The nutrient-deprived dirt was almost as hot as a stove that was just beginning to get heated. It would be nearly unbearable for any living creature to walk crawl across it.

Any living creature.

Zecora was still in excruciating pain as she made her way to the cave that contained the Blackest Heart. She had managed to get off of the cross herself, but it had not been easy. She had very nearly destroyed her ethereal form. Cyril had not left many ways for her to break the spell that bound her to the mysterious fetish. It had taken several days, but it finally worked. After all, every spell that can be done must also be able to be undone.

It had taken nearly all of her strength, but she managed to travel to the Badlands. Unfortunately, she had to stop short since the Heart drains all magic and mysticism. She was beginning to feel the effects of the mysterious phenomenon. It felt like small parts of her body were slowly being torn away. She could see firsthand that the Blackest Heart was hungry for the arcane.

An hour passed before she finally reached the cave containing the dark vortex. She felt extremely weak, but she knew she had to keep going.

Zecora looked down into the swirling mass of the Blackest Heart. Part of her could not believe what she was about to do. She reassured herself by considering that her spiritual form was already breaking down. She did not have long for this plane of existence.

“And just what do you think you're doing, you crazy jackass?”

Zecora turned around to find a tall, regal-looking pegasus. He looked like an alicorn, but he only had wings. They were large with brilliant plumage though. His mane was long with multiple colors: blue, red and bright yellow. His coat was light blue with a light shade of teal. He was quite an impressive sight. “Unless my fever is starting to spike,” Zecora began, sounding out of breath. “You are the one called Wind Stryke.”

“Still committing to the whole rhyming thing,” Wind said, rolling his eyes. “Seriously, that mess is as annoying as a swarm of parasprites and in your ear.”

“What are you doing here,” Zecora asked. “In this place that so many fear?”

“You're the last person that should be asking that,” Wind commented. “But if you must know, I'm trying to stop whatever stupid plan you've got going on in your head.”

“It is what must be done,” Zecora said, looking back down into the abyss. “To save the princess of the sun.”

Wind scoffed. “You know as well as I do that Princess Celestia cannot be saved. Unfortunately, she's dead in the water.”

Zecora smiled. “I see why it is me that you doubt. You still think that it's Celestia I am talking about.”

Wind raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Zecora dropped into the Blackest Heart. Her ghostly body was torn to pieces almost immediately. Before long, nothing could be seen of her.

Wind shook his head. “What's the use of being a hallucination if no one listens to you?” He vanished into thin air.

~

Later That Night...

Twilight Sparkle and Trixie Lulamoon were looking over the tome she had taken from Zecora's house. It was dark in Trixie's room, all except for the lit candle on the desk and the moonlight streaming through the window. They were sitting side-by-side, both equally fascinated by the old, dusty book.

“This is amazing,” Twilight whispered. “It's like this was meant to be a...supplement to the book Celestia gave me.”

“Was it anything like this?” Trixie asked.

Twilight shook her head. “Not exactly. That book had mostly spells in it and references that would lead to nowhere. This one is mostly about Blackstar and the Order.”

Trixie turned a few pages and pointed to a stylized picture of three ponies fighting an imposing, tall and slender pony with wings and a horn. Twilight noticed that it looked like one of the stained-glass windows that led up to the chamber where the Elements of Harmony were kept. She was wearing a crown and firing a bright yellow laser down at the three smaller ponies. The three ponies looked like they were holding their own against her. One of the ponies was a pegasus with a blindfold, the other a unicorn with a crooked black horn and the last was an Earth pony with shaggy black and white hair. “That's who these ponies must be then,” Trixie pointed out. “The Order of the Darkest Star.”

Twilight nodded. “I know these ponies. And that must be Blackstar...” She trailed off a bit as she stared at the picture. She started giggling.

“What's so funny?”

“It's nothing,” Twilight responded. “I just thought that she looks like you, almost.”

Trixie took another look and flipped her hair. “I do look like a princess, don't I?”

Twilight rolled her eyes and turned the page, revealing three symbols in a triangular pattern. In the lower left corner was the symbol for femininity with an arrow going through the stem to the left and two curved horns on top of the circle. In the lower right corner was a circle with a dot in the center and crescent moon on its left with the convex side in contact with the circle. At the top of the triangle was a sideways curved “V”, with the point facing the left and a dash inside of it. Underneath each symbol were abbreviations of some sort. They said, respectively “K. Tharsus, A. Yahn, R. Kane.”

Trixie scratched the back of her head. “These must be their cutie marks...”

Twilight nodded. “Those are their initials.” She frowned.

Trixie glanced at her. “You noticed it too, didn't you?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Yeah...”

Trixie took the book into her hooves for a better view. “These are all symbols for something outside of their meanings as cutie marks. I noticed something was wrong myself, but couldn't quite put a hoof on it.” She pointed to the strange femininity symbol. “This is the symbol for 'Purity'.”

Twilight pointed to the circle with the crescent. “And that's the one for 'Sight'.” She looked at the sideways 'V'. “And that's the one for...”

Both of the unicorns spoke at the same time. “Love.” They looked at each other for a split second, but then looked away.

“This doesn't make any sense,” Twilight said after a moment of silence. “Cutie marks are almost never this distinctive. To have marks that already mean something...”

“But they don't have to mean what they think we mean,” Trixie pointed out.

“But they must have some correlation,” Twilight added. She was starting to look very frustrated. “It's just...I've met them all. And...”

“It doesn't describe them?” Trixie guessed.

Twilight nodded. “Cutie marks are meant to be your expression to the world. Is this how the Order of the Darkest Star wants the world to see them?”

“Or maybe...it's how the world wants them to be seen?”

With the way Twilight had looked at Trixie, one would think that the magician had grown a second head. “What are you talking about?”

“Think about it, Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie began. “How did you obtain your cutie mark?”

Seeing as how that was the most important moment in her life, Twilight answered the question without thinking. “By passing my evaluation and hatching Spike out of his egg.”

“And how was it that you were able to do that?”

“Well...because of Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom, although I didn't know it at the time.”

“Have you ever thought of what would have happened if Rainbow Dash had never performed the Sonic Rainboom?”

“I...guess I haven't,” Twilight admitted. “I just always accepted it as something that was meant to happen. But I guess...I wouldn't have gotten into Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns.”

“And then you would never have became Celestia's apprentice or moved to Ponyville or have known your current friends,” Trixie finished.

“Where are you going with this?” The current scenario was more than a little upsetting to Twilight.

“I'm asking you what really determines a pony's cutie mark?” Trixie asked. “Think about it: would you have just given up on learning magic if you had failed your examination?”

Twilight scoffed. “No, definitely not.”

“Then you would have eventually became more adept in magic,” Trixie continued. “At some point, you would have caught Celestia's eye still and became her apprentice. And on the day of the Summer Sun Celebration, you would have moved to Ponyville and met your current friends.”

“So then you're saying...that cutie marks are determined by something other than us?” Twilight said, sounding more than a little skeptical.

Trixie nodded. “Do you think that it's just a coincidence that the Elements of Harmony look exactly like all of your cutie marks?”

Twilight had not thought of that before. “I see your point...but what does this have to do with the Order?”

Trixie looked Twilight directly in the eye. “These three ponies, the ones we know as the Order of the Darkest Star, were not meant to fight Blackstar. They were destined for something awesome and great, but Blackstar was never to have anything to do with it.”