Chapters %i% Fieldtrip Into Darkness
1 Fieldtrip Into Darkness
Once upon a time, in the land of Equestria… harmony, and friendship filled the land. It’s been a thousand years since there’s been any real threat to anypony. In fact, everypony lived in peace. There were still a few dark-hearted ponies who roamed the land; For getting rid of all darkness would be impossible. Our story starts with three young ponies, who have one of the greatest adventures of their time in their wake. Let’s start at the very beginning… It’s a very good place to start.
Welcome to the Cloudsdale Flying Academy! Where the halls are bustling with young pegasi minds ready to learn. Among these ponies was a young mare, named WildRoze who looked very nervous. She was so focused on her thoughts, she didn't see the young pegasus in front of her, which resulted in a head-on collision.
Oof!!
"I'm so sorry! I'm so clumsy--"
"Don't even worry about it!" The young pegasus said, he is very short, and has yellow streaks in his mane and tail. On his legs were blue bands. By his side stood a tall mare pegasus with a very mysterious aura.
"It's my first day here, so I'm just getting used to the whole atmosphere."
"It's the first day of school for everypony," said the taller pegasus bluntly.
"Black Cristal, don't be so rude! My name is Poetic Cake, but you can call me Poe."
"Nice to meet you, I'm WildRoze... Hey, do you happen to know where Geology 911 is?"
"That's actually our next class! We can find it together," Poe said with an energetic, sing-song voice.
And so they did, but when they got to classroom, it seemed to be the wrong one because the door was locked, and no pony was in sight. Nothing but a note was left on the window of the door, which read:
'Went on annual first day field trip to Ponyville!'
Poetic Cake, WildRoze, and Black Cristal all stood there in suspended confusion. WildRoze had been looking forward to this trip for a very long time, it's the only trip of the year that the first years are allowed to go to Earth. She sunk to the ground with a frown, and an overwhelming feeling of disappointment. Poetic Cake jolted upward with great energy, scaring both WildRoze and Black Cristal.
"Ding-ding-ding!!!! I just got an ideaaaa!!!" he said with the same sing-song tone as earlier. "Why don't we just follow them? They can't of gone too far!"
"That doesn't sound like a good idea," said Black Cristal anxiously.
"B, don't tell me you actually want to miss the only fieldtrip to Ponyville for the whole year?" Poetic Cake said with a puppy dog face. He knew Black Cristal couldn't resist the face .
"Fine. But, how are we going to get down there?"
"Leave it to me, " said Poetic Cake, and with a flash, he was gone. And with another flash, he was back to say, "This way! Allons-y!!"
When they got to the entrance of the courtyard, it was very windy. The new weather students were having a field day, practicing their newly learned skills. Black Cristal looked jealous, almost as if she wished she were there, having fun with weather, instead of stuck with catching up with the field trip to study Geology. As it was very windy, it want not very good for flying for such ponies who haven’t been trained for such conditions. WildRoze stopped in her tracks.
"What's the matter?! We have no time to lose!" Poetic Cake quietly, but briskly said.
WildRoze remembered that in the student handbook for the Flying Academy, there was a strict rule that first years were not allowed to go down to Earth at all. If her father ever found out that had she broken the rules, he’d be so disappointed! But, she figured that he wouldn’t have to know. Besides. She knew there was a way down to Ponyville on the other side of the courtyard.
"We need to sneak, or we'll be seen!" she replied.
"Leaf it to me." Black Cristal snickered, and Poetic Cake snickered along with her.
WildRoze was confused, but it seemed like some sort of an inside joke. Black Cristal disappeared quickly into the bushes that decorated the courtyard. A few seconds later, a four toned whistle came from the bush, and Poetic Cake jumped in swiftly. Noticing that WildRoze hadn't followed, he jumped back out, and shoved her into the bush. Once inside the bush, WildRoze realized what Black Cristal had meant by 'Leaf it to me'. She literally made little bushes that they could disguise themselves with so they could sneak across the courtyard.
"Brilliant!" exclaimed WildRoze quietly.
The three ponies trekked across the windy, cloud courtyard. And finally made it to the hole that leads down to Ponyville.
"How do we get down, exactly?" Black Cristal asked.
Although, she didn't even need to ask. They all knew they'd have to jump, and then glide all the way down to Ponyville. But with the wind the way that it was, they knew it'd be difficult to be able to land safely. Missing the field trip with the rest of the class, meant that they didn't learn how to navigate this weather from their teacher like they were supposed to.
"This isn't a good idea!!" Black Cristal yelled, as the wind was picking up, it was hard to hear anypony.
"Maybe we should wait in the classroom!" WildRoze said timidly.
"Come on! Don't be such scaredy mares!"
"You first!" Black Cristal yelled jokingly.
As Poetic Cake backed away, to get a running start for his leap, a strong gust of wind blew all three ponies off the edge, and hurtling towards the Everfree Forest screaming for their lives.
2 Rise of Darkness
Poetic Cake awoke to the painful feeling of a bush underneath him. He got up, and looked around at the plethora of trees that surrounded him. A lot of trees, yes. But nopony was in sight. This worried him.
"Hello?! Hello!!!" Poetic Cake exclaimed, but realizing that nopony could hear him, his voice grew brittle, and he could barely finish. "...Oh no... hello?"
He began to walk for a little bit, but he ended up going in circles. He began to sing a little tune that he liked to sing whenever he was scared, and it helped him feel a little bit better. Now he could focus on finding his friends.
* * *
Elsewhere in the Everfree Forest, WildRoze brushing off the dirt from the crash landing, and gathering her saddlebag. It was obvious that she was the only pony there. She tried doing the four toned whistle that Black Cristal had done earlier, but it ended up sounding like she was just blowing air. With no response, she began to go along the apparent pathway that lead deeper into the forest. As she passed some of the trees, they began to sway. The atmopshere around her began to feel hot, and she felt like she was going to pass out. Just then, a ray of light shone through the trees, and brought her attention to an interesting looking tree with a door and two windows.
A home? WildRoze thought to herself.
As she approached the hut, she heard rustling in the bushes. Now completely scared, she snuck through the door, and shut it quietly behind her.
* * *
"Poe?! Poe!!!!" Black Cristal yelled at the top of her lungs.
She hadn't seen Poetic Cake or that new mare, WildRoze, since the fall. She'd been walking around for ages, until she decided to try yelling out. But, it was no use. She felt a sudden chill move through her vains and knew that she was not alone. She figured that it was nothing more than a little bunny. Yes. That's it. A little baby bunny with a cutest little nose, and fluffy fur.
CRACK
Something was behind her. The only options she had now were, turning around, or running. If her curiosity outweighed her pessimism. With her heart rapidly pounding, she would turned very slowly, and face this... thing.
BLACFINTHPTHHFISMEE
That noise did NOT come from a cute little baby bunny, and Black Cristal knew it. Her fear overtook the curiosity, and without looking to see what this creature was, she ran. Flying with this many branches could be dangerous, so she just ran as fast as she could.
* * *
Poetic Cake had been wandering around for quite a while now, trying to find his friends. But no such luck! Suddenly, from a distance, he heard a familiar voice shout out,
"Poe?! Poe!!!!"
He knew that voice to belong to Black Cristal. This gave him enough energy to go fourth, towards the sound! As he was sure we was where the sound came from, he tripped over his stupid, stubby legs, and fell down a hill, breaking a huge branch on his way down.
CRACK
His tongue stung, and he realized that he'd bitten it while he was falling. A chilled breeze swept over him, reminding him of the first night of winter. He saw Black Cristal ahead of him, standing very still. Like she was scared, or something.
" Blacky it's me!!" He attempted to say, but it came out not sounding like his own voice, with his tongue bitten, he guessed it must have sounded something like, 'BLACFINTHPTHHFISMEE'.
This seemed to have scared Black Cristal, as she ran away, faster, and faster. Confused, he ran after her, hoping she'd stop and see that it's just him.
* * *
WildRoze was grateful when the rustling in the bushes had stopped, as whatever was making the rustling had moved on to another victim in the far distance. This was just the story she told herself, so she could focus on finding Poetic Cake and Black Cristal, and not on the monster she pictured was making those sounds. She was feeling very hot again, only this time, the heat was more intense, as if she were standing inside the sun.
THUMP
A book dropped in front of her, frightening her a bit. The book had some inscriptions written on the cover. She recognized these as the ancient language of earth ponies who studied magic. About a month ago she found an old box in the attic with lots of dusty old books just like this one. She had been reading them day and night. They told her how to do "Witchcraft" magic that unicorn couldn't do and was primarily performed by Earthponies. In the back of her mind she secretly hoped she could be one of those witchponies one day. This book was odd though, these writings on the cover were with a dark subtext. She opened to the first page. Nothing. She flipped through the pages, but there was nothing on any of them. But, then she felt it. A very cold breeze. She could see her breath. She felt something inside her tick, and a dark cloud filled the room. The cloud knocked her back against a wall, and burst out of the hut. WildRoze passed out.
Almost out of breath, Black Cristal stumbled upon a tree with a door, the perfect place to hide from whatever was following her! She knocked on the door, and then quickly went inside, putting miscellaneous furniture against the door. As she seized a needed breather, she took the time to look around this random hut in the middle of the forest. An old pewter cauldron sat in the middle of the room, the musty stench of old, unmaintained books and herbs filled the air. There was a pounding at the door, and she could tell that it was the beast by the sounds it was making were the exact same. Just to be safe, Black Cristal searched the room for another piece of furniture to help barricade the door. But, she couldn’t help but notice that there was a faint snoring sound coming from seemingly inside the cauldron.
The knocking at the door, and the creature’s groans became louder, and quicker… then stopped.
“Huh?” A groggy voice said from behind the cauldron, scaring Black Cristal.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to break into your home, it’s just, I was lost in the woods, and something was behind me, and chased me all the way here--” Black Cristal said in one breath, before she saw who this pony was.
“Roze?”
“Black Cristal?”
“Oh my goodness! Thank my pony ancestors-- You scared the living daylights out of me!”
The pounding started again, this time with a whimpering noise.
“What is that?!” Wildroze exclaimed with fear.
“That’s the monster that’s been chasing me!”
“Monster? What does it look like?”
“Well, I kind of ran before I could get a look.” Black Cristal replied dryly, wasn’t it obvious that when you’re scared you don’t look straight at the thing you’re scared of?
“I’ve read about many kinds of monsters, if I knew what this one looked like, I could tell you if we’re in any real danger.”
“It chased me all the way here, and is now threateningly pounding away at the door. Do you really think it just wants to have happy pony tea time?”
“Some ‘monsters’ are only ferocious on the outside, and they won’t leave you alone until they know you know that you bothered them.”
“”Oh,” Black Cristal said sarcastically, “I’m so sorry Mr. Whatever-You-Are! I know you’re mad, so please go away and don’t eat us. Okay, thanks alot!! Hugs and kisses; Yours truly, B.”
The knocking stopped immediately.
“See? What did I tell you, B?”
Suddenly, it got really dark, and so cold, there was frost on the windows. Outside, there was a flash of lightning, and a familiar scream came from the other side of the door.
“Poe?!” Black Cristal said, throwing the furniture away from the door. When she opened the door, Poetic Cake was lying on the ground in fetal position, with tears filling his eyes. “Poe! What happened?”
“W-w-wildroze, with the… and the dark… and the woooosshh… and the zckck-ckaboom! And the lightning, and the woosh, and the french toast with the shhhhhh!!!”
“...I what?” Wildroze said confused.
As soon as he saw Wildroze behind Black Cristal, he bolted up-straight, with eye twitching and hissing, “EVIIIIIIIIILLLLLL!”
“What are you talking about?!” Black Cristal said wanting this nonsense to stop.
“How could you say that I’m evil?” Wildroze said, holding back tears.
“Oh give up the act! You know what I’m talking about, you… you… evil enchantress! Tell Blacky what you told me… no? Alright, I will! She said, ‘Through darkness you will fall, through darkness at the ball, through darkness you will fall, through darkness one and all-- Muhahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!', and then zckck-ckaboom!! You were gone with the lighting and the thunder!!“
“That’s an old poem, I’ve read it before in a book about magic--”
“See?! EVIL ENCHANTRESS!!!”
“No, Poetic Cake, you don’t understand. That poem was written by a famous earth pony named Zecora from long, long ago. It was among the last things that were published by her before she disappeared forever, along with a picture drawn by her of a two pegasus sisters facing each other, one a green color, like me. And the other was a very very dark purple, the color of dark magic. I always used to pretend I was that pegasus, but couldn’t have been because I don’t have a sister.”
“Wait, you mean to tell me… that if that pony in the picture was you, then that thing was...” Poetic Cake gulped.
“Pure darkness.” Black Cristal confirmed Poetic Cake's fears.
Wildroze ran inside the hut, remembering the empty book of magic that she looked through before passing out. Starting from where she thought she'd dropped it initiall, and ending with the whole interior of the hut turned inside out and upsidedown.
"It's gone!" She strained.
"What's gone?" Black Cristal asked incredulously.
"There was a book here that fell in front of me. I looked through it, but there was nothing in it--"
"So, why do you need it so much?" Poetic Cake said impatiently, wanting to go home.
"Well, before I passed out, I felt something inside of me burst... and everything was cold... I think... I think that book may be the answer to all of our questions."
In a cave, somewhere beneath the Everfree Forest, where nothing but the dim glow of the moon, and the silence only broken by the sound of stalagmites and stalactites forming, sat half of a manifestation of an old ponytail, Darkroze. Finally free from the prison that is the wretched, naïve Wildroze. Unlike Wildroze, Darkroze can see into the future-- a fate to her that is completely despicable, infact, disgusting. So horrid, that she will stop at nothing to cease her hopefully superficial end… She’d been stuck with a plethora of ideas of how she could stop this fate, but now she could see clearly. It was so obvious! Eons ago, there were 6 ponies who represented the elements of harmony. But, as time evolved they were no longer needed. Virtually all darkness had vanished. In the end, harmony outweighed chaos. But, this is the beginning of a new evil, one that only few had dreamt of, and many merely had nightmares of.
* 4 YEARS LATER *
“Roze! Get up, it’s the last day of school!” Poetic Cake said, jumping excitedly on Wildroze’s bed. Although WildRoze didn’t know how he’d even gotten into her house, she didn’t question it because that’s how he was. He’s very energetic, and won’t stop for anything if he wants something. He didn’t have his cutie mark yet, which confused her, because he seemed so confident, though not exactly really good at everything he did. Not cutie-mark-good, this much was true.
“Last day of school?!” Wildroze exclaimed, the past few years at the Flying Academy went by so quickly, it seemed like only yesterday was her very first day. When she’d met her best friends, Poetic Cake, and Black Cristal.
She got up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and stretching her wings, for today was the day every pegasus in Cloudsdale got sorted into the jobs that they’d work for for a few days based upon what they were good at. After the trial period, they’re allowed to stay with that job, or find a new one. The best part about being sorted into the jobs was that it was assurance of getting a job. Finding a new job would be much more difficult.
“Roze, we have about two hours before we actually have to be at the ceremony. I was thinking you’d want to come with me down to Ponyville and get some breakfast at the Café? Blacky is waiting down there for us right now.”
“Why not? I could use some grub.”
Outside at the café, Black Cristal greeted the two ponies, while a waiter gave the three their menus.
“Isn’t this great?! Our final day at the Flying Academy, and we can do whatever we want!” said Poetic Cake, he kicked over a vacant table that was next to them to prove his point. But, feeling bad, he went over and put the table back in it’s place.
“Yeah, I’m super nervous.” said Black Cristal.
“Don’t be crazy, B. You’re going to get that Landscape Architecture job in Canterlot. Your cutie mark is so obvious!” replied Wildroze.
“And with that logic, Rozie, you’re going to get a job as a rose salespony.” Black Cristal retorted snidely. Without trying, Black Cristal came off as a.. b. Everyone knew this, but Poetic Cake, and Wildroze didn’t mind, as they had become immune to her remarks.
A commotion began around one of the outside walls of the café, everypony kept shoving each other, trying to look at something. From where the three were sitting, it looked to be a poster. Not wanting to deal with such a large, rowdy crowd like that, both Black Cristal and Wildroze stayed behind as Poetic Cake’s curiosity got the best of him, as it usually did. As he approached the crowd, they all seemed to trickle off quickly. Maybe from loss of interest? No. The poster was a full sign up sheet.
‘SIGN UP NOW! AUDITIONS IN CANTERLOT FOR A NEW MUSICAL, ‘WHINNEY: A STORY OF FINDING A FAMILY’. LOOKING FOR BRAND NEW VOICES! LATER TODAY IN THE THEATER DISTRICT OF CANTERLOT. Director - Mr. Valentine’
There was no room for Poetic Cake to sign up, as he really wanted to. Something just felt right about this opportunity. As he daydreamed about himself having that role, and everypony had left until he noticed he was the last one still looking at the sheet. Well, not completely.
* * *
“Well well…” Darkroze mused at her magical vanity mirror, “Fame is what you want? Interesting.”
Over the years, Darkroze was able to spruce up her dark, and damp cave into a luxurious lair with magical paraphernalia, all the necessities for her plan to change the horrid fate that she constantly sees when she peers into the future. She’s been waiting for the perfect moment to begin her plan, and right now seemed like the perfect one. She walked over to her cauldron, and excreted the frozen image of Poetic Cake from the mirror. She lead the image into the cauldron, and with a puff of smoke, a pony formed. She whispered something into its ear, and it took the shape of Poetic Cake, but slightly different.
* * *
“Are you going to audition as well?” said an earth pony, that looked very similar to Poetic Cake.
“I don’t know.” said Poetic Cake, and he walked back to his friends, after this stranger walked away with an automatonic stride.
When he got back to the table, the food had already arrived, and his friends were already enjoying their breakfast.
“Poe, what was all the fuss about?” Wildroze asked, with a mouth full of fried hay.
“There’s an audition today, and I really want to go.”
“You should! I think you’d be a great actor. You sure entertain everypony you meet.” said Black Cristal, jokingly.
“It’s in Canterlot. I’d have to leave now to even think about making it. I’d miss the Job Ceremony.”
“I think you should, when are you going to get another chance like this?” Wildroze said, excited for her friend.
The three finished their breakfast in silence, as Poetic Cake made his decision to go. Black Cristal was resistant in actually letting him go, but decided it’d be a really good experience for her best friend. This made Poetic Cake sure that he really did want to go. He went home, and changed his armbands. These armbands were to help with the circulation, and help him grow, as he was a dwarf pegasus, and that made his self esteem go down. It was prescribed by his doctor, and he was very proud to say that he’d grown a whole centimeter within the past few years!
“Mr. Valentine, here I come!” Poetic Cake said, as he hopped onto the train to Canterlot. His friends were there in spirit, as they did have to be at the Job Ceremony.
Poetic Cake was among the last ponies to get a ticket to Canterlot, so he ended up having to share a car with the weird pony from earlier that he’d met.
“Hello,” the pony said.
“Hi! I’m Poetic Cake. Very pleased to meet you, I very much enjoy meeting new people.”
“My name’s Dull Slab.”
“Isn’t a slab another word for cake?”
“Yes..”
“And isn’t Dull kind of the opposite of Poetic?”
“I suppose that is correct.”
“Weird!! What a co-winky-dink!!” Poetic Cake said, laughing.
“Yes… indeed it is.” Dull Slab said, relieved. “Excuse me, I must prepare for this audition. I’m going to get that role.”
Poetic Cake almost responded, but the way Dull Slab addressed him was completely rude, and gave off the impression he didn’t want to be friends. And with that, Poetic Cake looked longingly out the window at the outline of Canterlot getting bigger.