Darkness Incarnate

"Whew, THAT was way too close, Volke." Dash said. I looked over to Dash.

"I'll say. Those things almost got me. Thanks for that, by the way," I said.

"Well I couldn't just leave you hanging! What would that tell you about the bravest and fastest pegasus in all of Equestria?" she said. I just laughed, and we carried on, with Ponyville just in sight. We reached the town, but something was wrong. It wasn't burned down, but it seemed...... Quiet. Not a single thing moved, there was just an empty silence that replaced the usual happy and fast-moving spirit of the town.

"Oh wait, you're hurt!" Dash said, looking at my arm. There was a deep gash with a plentiful flow of blood on my upper arm.

"Ah, just a scratch........" I said calmly. I decided to leave it as it was, since I had nothing to mend it with. We walked through the town, and not a single thing moved, save for the wind.

"Well, here we are, Dash. Where is everypony?" I asked, slightly disgruntled at the silence.

"I dunno.... But they have gotta be around here somewhere! Let's go!" Dash said, taking off into the night.

"Dash! Over here! Hurry!" I knew that voice well. It could only be one pony.

"Twilight? Where are you?" Dash asked, stopping dead in midair.

"Over here!" She replied. The voice came from Sugarcube Corner, and Dash and I rushed over.

"Hurry, get in here!" Twilight said, holding the door wide. We rushed into the dark bakery. The lights flickered on, and my eyes adjusted quickly.

"Dash! Look out behind you! It's a monster!" Pinkie Pie yelled, throwing a cake at me. I sidestepped the flying cake, letting it smash into the wall.

"Wait, wait! I'm not a monster! I'm here to help!" I said. Pinkie Pie stopped in mid throw and set the next cake onto the shelf next to her.

"OH! You must be a human then! I told they existed, guys!" she said energetically.

"Yeah, that's me. So.... Why am I here?" I asked.

"It's a long story...." Twilight said as she and Applejack dragged Fluttershy out of the other room.

"Twilight, please don't make me go out there.... please.... don't..." Fluttershy squee'd.

"Fluttershy, he isn't a monster that wants to eat you," Twilight said with a bored tone.

"Well, introductions are in order....... I am Volke." I said to the ponies.

"I'm Applejack, pleased ta meet ya!" Said AJ.

"Twlight Sparkle, happy to make your acquaintance!" Twilight said.

"Oh, my names is... um.. Fluttershy...." Fluttershy whispered softly.

"Heehee! I'm Pinkie Pie!!" Pinkie said, grasping my arm and shaking it wildly.

"Pleased to meet you all!" I replied with a grin. I was getting acquainted with the ponies when I noticed that something wasn't quite right. I looked around and knew almost instantaneously that there was somepony missing from the group. "Wait...... Where is Rarity?" I asked slowly.

"That's just it...... A few days ago, while Rainbow Dash and I were in the forest looking for a new species of plant, she suddenly disappeared. I thought she had come back to Ponyville without telling me... But when I got back, Spike had grown into a full sized dragon. He made his way to the Everfree Forest, and.... Well, he burned it down. I thought I saw something wrapped up in Spike's tail.... It looked like Rarity." Twilight said darkly.

"Where could they have gone....?" I thought out loud. I remembered my dream, and remembered fighting Spike in the Everfree forest. "Come on, everypony! We need to hurry!" I ran for the door, but Twilight stopped me.

"Wait, we can't leave yet! We can't fight the monsters lurking out there! And I highly doubt you can take them all woth just your fists and nothing to protect you...." She said, standing in front of me.

"You're right...... Where is the nearest blacksmith?" I asked the purple unicorn. A small crease crossed her brow as she thought.

"On the other side of town." She said darkly.

"Damn! How are we supposed to get over there?" I asked aloud.

"Well ah think Rainbow could go over there and fetch ya a thing er two!" Applejack pitched in.

"Yeah, no problem! Whatcha need, Volke?" Dash asked me.

"I'm not letting you go alone. Pinkie, Fluttershy, Twilight, AJ. You stay here and make sure nothing gets in. Dash and I will go get what we need to fight from the blacksmith." I said to them.

"Okay!" Pinkie said, bouncing around the room.

"Be careful, okay? We don't need to lose you like we did Rarity..." Twilight said, obviously very concerned.

"Well Volke, let's get this show on the road!" Dash said, opening the door. I followed her out as the ponies wished us luck with getting to the blacksmith. The door closed, and we were shut into darkness. We followed the road, with the moon our only source of light. It was quite bright, and we could clearly see where the path led. We walked for a good while, before I broke the silence.

"We haven't been attacked yet. Maybe those things that attacked us before are bound to the forest?" Dash asked. We were quite far into town now, and we rounded the corner to the next street.

"Maybe. But it's too soon to tell. We just need to keep our wits about us, and we shoul- DASH! WATCH OUT!" I screamed the last part of my sentence, as an overwhelmingly large shadow burst from an alleyway, straight towards Dash. It was gigantic, and obviously very muscular. It wasn't like the others, which were simple smooth shadow. No, this monster had a textured body to it, and large blood red fangs hanging from its jaw. It had a bearlike structure, and its yellow eyes stared at Dash, and it looked like it wanted to kill her. Badly.

"CRUSH! KILL! DESTROY!" It shouted in a highly demonic voice. It tried bringing it's huge fist onto Dash, but she was much too quick for him. Instead of smashing his target, he got a face full of Dash's hooves. He screeched angrily and swung his arm wildly through the air, smashing a nearby house as Dash once again avoided the beast's huge fist.

"Ha! Is that all you got, ya big oaf?" Dash leered happily.

"CRUSH!!! CRUSH RAINBOW PONY!" It screeched.

"Catch me if you can, slowpoke!" She laughed, flying just out of its reach. I sized the monster up. It was about two and a half times my height. I figured that if I got a good jump off, I could get onto his back and maybe subdue him. I was lost in thought though, and didn't realize its angry hand coming towards me until it was too late. I was thrown into a nearby house, splintering through the wooden walls.

"Volke! Are you okay?!" Dash yelled, which I barely heard over the ringing in my ears.

"Yeah.... I'm fine..." I spluttered, pulling a rather large shard of wood out of my arm, giving way to a waterfall of blood. I cringed as the wood scraped against the deep gash but I fought against it and got up.

"CRUSH HUMAN!" The bearlike monster lunged into the hole in the building. I rolled sideways and dodged its outstretched and razor-sharp claws. I looked and saw that it was stuck in the hole, and I seized my chance for a strike.

"Dash, try to attack him somehow! Use your lightning!" I yelled at Dash, who was laughing at the monster.

"Right, I'm on it!" She said, snapping out of her laughing fit and flying away to obtain a cloud.

'It's just you and me now, monster.' I thought to myself. I lunged at it with a shard of wood and sliced its arm open at the shoulder.

"GRAAAH!" It let out a wild yelp of pain, and it struggled to free itself. It got one arm free and tried to swing it at me. I jumped and did a midair flip over its arm. It kept going and smashed into the opposite wall.

"MUST KILL HUMAN!" It screeched. I then realized that it said human. It knew what I was, but how was that possible....? I was snapped out of my thinking fit with a loud clap. Dash had come back with the storm cloud, and fired a lightning bolt right into the monster's hind quarters.

"RAINBOW PONY DIE FOR THAT!" It roared, ripping itself out of the hole and swinging its monstrous leg airborne, right towards Dash.

"Haha! Not today!" She said with a smile, dodging the huge leg. It lost its balance and fell backwards onto its back, roaring angrily.

"Now! Dash, drop me onto his head!" I said loudly. RD picked me up and dropped me right onto his face. I drove the wooden shard right into the monster's gullet, and it began gargling and roaring with blood rushing out of its huge mouth. He calmed down a bit starting to twitch and breathe slower. It gave one last twitch, then died, evaporating into a cloud of pure darkness.

"Oh my gosh Volke, look at your arm! You're losing so much blood......" Dash said, landing on the ground next to me and looking at my arm. I hadn't realized it at first, but the monster's fangs had torn into my arm along with the shard of wood from the wall of the house. Just then did I realize that my arm was beginning to feel numb. I had three wounds- One from the giant shadow, one from the wooden shard, and one from the smaller shadow.

"It's..... nothing," I said with a sly grin. "We need to get to that blacksmith.... fast."

"Right! It's just past this house!" She said eagerly. I caught up to her and ran inside the blacksmith. There was an old pony sitting in a chair near the fire. He was obviously quite old, and he looked up as we entered the house. His mane and tail were a dark bronze, his coat a rich, deep brown. He looked at us with deep purple eyes. "Metalhead, I need your help." Dash said to the old pony.

"Really now, what can I do fer ya?" He said in a rough accent, picking his smithing hammer up.

"I need some custom armor made. For this guy right here," she said, patting my shoulder.

"Ah, you must be one a dem human folk that that old legend talks 'bout, right?" He asked gruffly.

"Yeah, that's me. I need some armor and good weapon. A sword would be nice, if it isn't too much trouble." I said to him.

"Naw, I been workin' metal long enough to make quick work o' this. But don't think yer gettin' a quality cut on this! Now get over here so I can take yer dimensions." He said, dragging me by the collar of my shirt. "I'll get ye somethin' for that there arm, too." He grabbed a bandage and helped me wrap my arm. Then, he walked over to his forge. It looked extremely old, and was surrounded by stone so his hut wouldn't catch fire. Metalhead picked up a piece of strange metal and began to clang away. It was about an hour before he was finished, in which Dash and I talked about several things.

"Well here ya go, son. Try it on, see how it fits yer!" he said. I walked over to the workbenchand looked at my new armor. I quickly armored up. It fit like a glove- Perfect. It was of beautiful craft as well- The gauntlets, boots, and chest piece were all pure white and inscribed with the Elements of Harmony insignia. The chestplate had small spikes on the shoulders, with deep blue streaks forming an intricate pattern on all the pieces. A long, dark blue cape fell from the back of it, reaching to the tops of my calves. The gauntlets were simple wristguards, yet beautifully crafted.

"Thanks, Metalhead! It's perfect!" I said happily.

"Been a long time since I made armor fer a human like yerself. Almost forgot how to do it!" He replied with a chuckle.

"Now, I also made yer a sword. Special craft, shouldn't never break!" Metalhead continued. I took the sword from him. It was a hand-and-a-half sword. It's pure silver blade sparkled in the low light of the forge. The intricate hilt held a sizable White Ruby- One of the rarest gems known to man. I opened my mouth to thank him, but Rainbow Dash cut me off.

"Uh, Metalhead.... You said it has been a long time since you've crafted human armor.... But there hasn't been any humans for at least ten thousand years!" Dash said, answering my question. I was about to ask him about the 'Old Legend', but I was cut off by Metalhead's rugged voice.

"Haha.....  I'm older than ye might think, Rainbow Dash." He chuckled. Turning to me, he said, "Now you take care o' that armor, Volke. It's made of adamantine, a very rare and holy metal. It should guard ye against almost all offensive magic, save for those cast by extremely powerful spell casters. It'll also mend itself if it gets damaged..." With that, he vanished slowly, fading out of existence.

My jaw dropped. Enchanted armor? A special sword? It was almost like a scene from my favorite RPG.

"Wha...." Dash said, awestruck. "Offensive magic? I've never heard of offensive magic.... I bet Twilight knows! Come on, lets hurry!" She reeled, dragging me out the door of Metalhead's forge.