Sciamachy

I look around and I'm not in the hotel anymore. I half expect to be in the desert again, with the fire giant, filly Clementine, and burning town again, but I'm not. I'm in a place that is very different. I appear to be underwater, and I'm swimming for my life. I don't need to breath, but I will. Something's after me. What is it? I can't see. The water is black. Someone is screaming. Something rockets through the blackness and hits me in the head. I stop and reach up to find out what it is, and discover a small, shivering something curled there. I pull it away and find a small filly with a white coat and perfectly groomed purple mane and tail gazing at me. Rarity?

Suddenly, something rockets out of the blackness and strikes me across the face. I stumble and realize I am not underwater, it's just extremely dark and, for some reason, I can't feel the ground beneath my hooves. I fumble about for a moment, getting the filly Rarity into position on my back, and then keep galloping away from whatever hit me. Rarity screams from my back but I can't turn around. Something has wrapped itself around me. It's cold, nothing like the filly on my back. It wraps coil after coil of dark coldness around me, and I see an inconsistency in the darkness. Two spots which reflect an unseen light. They move around as the coldness tightens, and the breath is forced from my lungs as the filly is pressed against me. She manages one final scream before the darkness tightens again, shattering my ribs.

*     *     *

I awoke with a start, casting my sight about the dark room frantically. After a moment, I assured myself that I was fine, just another freaky nightmare.

After we had finished our dinners and explanations the night before, it had been decided I would get a room to myself, which suited me just fine. Somehow, though, I ended up with the central room, with Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash on one side and Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy on the other. I wondered how that could possibly help if I did go all crazy-death-alicorn again, as I could just walk out the front door, and no one would be able to make it outside fast enough to stop me. Then again, maybe they had completely different reasons for sticking me in the center. What those reasons were, I had no idea, but I didn't claim to know what went on in other pony's minds.

My mind drifted back to the nightmare I had just had. Grim. That was a good word to describe it. And why did that filly look so much like Rarity? Did it have some connection to the dream about the fire giant? Is asking pointless questions that no one could possibly answer really going to get me anywhere?

Having decided that the answer to that final question was 'no', I decided to try and get some more sleep. It was then that I realized I heard movement in the room closest to my head. The one Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie were sharing. Huh. What could one of them be doing this early in the morning? The sound approached the door which connected my room to theirs. Apparently large groups came along often enough that there were twelve of these three conjoined rooms scattered about the hotel. While an interesting fact, it had proved completely useless up to this point, and I seriously doubted it would ever come in handy.

The aforementioned door banged open, despite being locked, and a light glowed in the center of my field of vision. I put a hoof to my face and squinted, trying to see who had barged in, and why there was a light. Eventually, I managed to determine that it was Twilight standing in the doorway, and that the dim light came from her horn, likely so that she could see without awaking me. I don't know what made me do it, but I lay back down and pretended to be asleep, listening to the slight creak that the floor gave as Twilight made her way slowly towards my bed. Eventually, I knew she must be standing right over me, because her dim light shone through my eyelids, but just barely. I then felt a strange sensation as something swept through my body, from my tail to my mane, and a dull pain started in my chest and head, seeming to resonate with each other.

Twilight gave a slight gasp and muttered something like, "I knew it." before the strange sensation picked up again, this time starting in my chest. If I hadn't known better, I would have sworn the sensation was gripping at my chest, as if trying to pry something out of my very being. That's when the real pain started.

The dull pain that had started when the sensation first swept through me suddenly exploded into something much more fierce. Imagine, for a moment, having a red-hot sword stabbed into the very core of yourself, then imagine something a hundred times worse. You might have some small idea of the pain I was in.

I screamed, opening my mouth as wide as it would go, and my eyes shot open, my pupils contracting to near nonexistence, and then dilating to fill nearly my entire eye. I thrashed around, and I thought that I was steaming. From somewhere far away, it seemed, I heard Twilight saying, "Come on, come ooooon!" I began to retch and my eyes rolled in their sockets. Finally, with a 'WUMPH' all the pain stopped, and I was left panting on my bed, covered in sweat and still steaming lightly.

After a few moments, I collected myself enough to look around. I spotted Twilight against the far wall, slumped to the ground. For a moment, I was convinced she was dead, or at least unconscious, but she soon shook her head and pulled herself to her hooves.

"Are you alright?" I asked her considerately. She stood stock-still for a moment, surprised, but soon regained herself.

"Yes, I'm fine, but are you alright?" She asked me, genuine concern on her face, something that I wasn't used to seeing there.

"Um... Yeah. Yeah. I think I'm okay." I answered, after taking a moment to check myself over. I did appear to be okay, just a bit sweaty.

"Okay. That's good." Silence descended, and it grew from the brief pause between questions to the long, never ending silence of two ponies who didn't quite know what to say to each other. Finally, I asked the question which had been gnawing at me since the pain stopped.

"Twilight, what were you trying to do?" She started, but then her ears drooped and she stared at the floor.

"I... wanted to find out if you really did have that dark magic I sensed. So I used a spell that I read up on to detect the presence of magic in your body. Most ponies have one type of magic coursing through their system, depending on if they're earth ponies, pegasi, or unicorns. Even alicorns have one special kind of magic that winds its way through them, but it's sort of all-encompassing magic, so they can do things earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns do. I expected it to be the same with you, that I'd be either right or wrong, but..." I had been listening intently, interested in the way magic worked, yet something told me that, for some reason, I was an exception. "I was both wrong and right, something I didn't anticipate. You actually have not one, but three kinds of magic within you, but only one actually travels through your system. The other two are sort of bunched together, actually being restrained by your normal magic. Now, one of these magical bunches was, apparently, some kind of super-powered pegasus magic, which was strange enough, and the other one was the dark magic that I sensed, yet it was in a form that can only be transferred through a horn! I was confused by all this, of course, but I decided to do what I could to draw out the dark magic that you have, but, when I tried, it was so deep-rooted in you that it started to cause you physical pain and, well, I guess you know the rest."

Twilight had gradually started looking more panicked and more stressed as she continued speaking, her mane and tail beginning to take on odd shapes and really rather scaring me. However, when she finished, she flopped to the floor and covered her face with her hooves, like she was trying to keep from crying. I was left feeling confused and frightened. Evidently, there was more wrong with me than simple insanity. I had actual dark magic, which could only be used by a unicorn or alicorn, inside of me. I actually was some kind of... villain. Maybe Twilight was right. Maybe I am a bad pony. I shook this thought away and turned my attention back to the distressed mare in front of me.

"So I'm... some kind of freak magic anomaly, huh? Something never before seen or heard of?" I asked, not bothering to conceal my condescension. But it wasn't directed at Twilight.

"Well... yeah, sort of." she answered.

"Great. Just excellent." I said, voice layered with sarcasm, and I lay back down, a frown adorning my features.

"I-I'm sorry, Dark Time. I didn't mean to hurt you, and I shouldn't have even woken you." and Twilight Sparkle, easily the mare who detested me the most, and who I did not in any way consider 'meek', cried, tears running past her hooves and falling to the floor. I sat back up and looked at her. I hate it when mares cry. It makes me say things I meant to keep to myself.

"Twilight, you didn't wake me up." I said, and the unicorn jumped a little, but still refused to remove her hooves from her eyes. "I had a nightmare, another one, actually, and it woke me up. So don't feel bad for not letting me sleep. I was awake."

The lavender mare sat up, eyes all bloodshot, and looked at me. "What was the nightmare about?" I wondered, for a moment, if she was just trying to change the subject, as I had been, or if she was concerned for me. Ah, well. I described the nightmare in as few words as I could, leaving out the part about shattering ribs. Twilight sat for a moment, looking thoughtful.

"Maybe... could it?.. Is that even possible?..." She muttered to herself, and I began to wonder what she was thinking about. I never found out, because it was at that moment that Applejack burst into the room.

"Twilight! Dark Time! We got big trouble..." She started, but then glanced between myself and Twilight, her eyes narrowing and a small smirk spreading onto her features.

"Just what're you doin' in here, Twi?" the orange earth pony asked slyly. Twilight and I blushed but Twilight managed to recover herself.

"I'll explain later. What trouble?" Applejack grew serious once again.

"I got a letter from cousin Braeburn. You remember him, dontcha?" A brief nod from Twilight. "Well, apparently, some kind of disaster has hit Appleloosa! There's smoke coverin' the whole town, mornin', noon, an night."

"Could it be another dragon sleeping in the mountains?"

"Twilight, you know there's no mountains around Appleloosa. And no dragon in their right mind sleeps at less than 1,000 feet! Anyways, Braeburn wants to know if we could come down and see what's wrong. We'd have to cut our vacation short, though. The sooner we get there, the better."

"All right, Applejack. Let's go wake the others, then we can pack up and leave."

Applejack simply nodded and went back into her room, presumably to wake Rarity and Fluttershy. I sat on the bed, one small detail confusing me.

"Twilight? Did Applejack get that letter in the middle of the night?" I asked. She looked at me quizzically and nodded. "What kind of mailmare delivers mail in the middle of the night?" Twilight nodded once and explained, "If somepony labels their mail *urgent*, then it gets mailed right away, and is delivered no matter what time of day or night it is. And this sounds pretty urgent." I nodded in understanding and noted that she had failed to mention that earlier this evening. What else was I bound to find out?

"Wait, did you say dragon?"

*     *     *

Now, we were barreling down the tracks in the same train that had taken us to Manehattan. On some level, I was sad to leave that amazing city. On another, crowds weren't really my thing, and the whole 'almost killing somepony' thing was hard to forget when you were in the city it occurred in. Of course, by all rights, I couldn't remember the situation anyway.

We were approaching Appleloosa, and I glanced out the window. Wow. This was some serious smoke. I could barely see anything at all. And we were still a good ways from Appleloosa! I wondered briefly what could be causing all of this smoke. I suspected the volcano I had first awoken in might be the cause, but it had been completely destroyed. Of course, some of the remaining smoke might have drifted this far, but I could barely see out the window! It was almost like the town itself was... oh no.

Appleloosa was burning. In the great sea of black smoke I could see lights flickering, but these were not the small, friendly fires of torches, no, these were large, out-of-control infernos that ravaged buildings. And worst of all, it looked exactly like the town in my dream, albeit much closer.

The train came to a stop at what I could only assume was the station, for I could not even see the ground beneath my hooves as I got out. It seemed that we seven were the only ones who had bothered to get off the train. I saw others gaping out their windows at the desolation. I hoped with all my heart that this would not get any more like my dream. It did, of course.

"What the hay?!" I heard Applejack shout, through a fit of coughing. "I thought it was just smoke! This here's a town-wide fire!"

"We need to help anypony we can find. Rainbow, see if you can clear a path through the smoke. We've got to stop this!" Twilight ordered. Rainbow said nothing, simply sprang into a salute and darted off, flapping her wings as fast as they could go, clearing away smoke and putting out small fires as she did. Applejack and Pinkie Pie galloped away, spotting ponies and leading them toward the train. Twilight and Rarity worked to clear away the smoke with their magic, and even Fluttershy did her part trying to help Rainbow make a path. And I? I was left standing by, feeling utterly useless. But only for a minute or two.

A roar ripped it's way through the town, vibrating my entire body by it's sheer volume, and making everpony around me stagger. I saw a great black shape rising on the far side of town. Then, the smoke was cleared, likely by Rainbow Dash, and I saw the thing I had hoped I would not see.

A 200 foot tall giant stood away from us all, it's eyes burning like vast coals and molten lava dripping from it like water after a shower. It seemed made of stone, yet held together by the flaming liquid. It roared again, but I did not even flinch. Here was something I could do.

The last thing I remember was spreading my wings.

*      *     *

The immense creature which had somehow come out of nowhere roared, nearly giving everypony who heard it a heart attack. Twilight was trying to concentrate on pushing back the smoke, which wasn't all that challenging, but the fire giant had a way of grabbing attention. She lost focus for a moment, and it cost her. The smoke swept back in her direction, and she gasped involuntarily. This was a rather large mistake, as a vast quantity of smoke had just reached her muzzle, and she inhaled most of it. Left gasping for air, Twilight could only watch helplessly as the giant took notice of the train. And then her view was obstructed again. She knew what would be coming. She had to do something, HAD to save the ponies on the train! But then something profoundly unexpected happened. The smoke cleared away. For a moment, she assumed that it was Rainbow Dash clearing it away, but Rainbow wasn't white.

The white blur of a pony swirled around her and Rarity in dizzying circles. Once the smoke had all been blown away, the pegasus came to a halt, and Twilight got her first good look at him. He was as white as snow, besides his mane, tail, and eyes, which were all blue. The most lovely blue she had ever seen. She didn't think she had ever seen a stallion that she had actually thought was attractive, but this would be the first. He hovered in the air for a moment, gave her a subtle nod, and then dashed off, straight towards the giant. What was he? Twilight gaped at what she saw transpire over the next several minutes. She was dully aware of the other girls coming and joining her as it went on, but it didn't matter either way. All that mattered was the absurd fight that was happening.

The white stallion flew straight at the giant, just as it's massive claw-like appendage descended towards the train. He then stopped with a precision that would impress the Wonderbolts, and turned in midair, giving a buck that put Applejack to shame. The pegasus' hooves connected solidly with the monster, shattering the appendage into a million smaller fragments and throwing lava every which way. By some miracle, or perhaps just that Applejack and Pinkie Pie had cleared that section of the city already, nopony was hurt, though a few buildings were reduced to so much rubble and ash.

The creature roared in pain and clutched at the stump of stone that remained where the appendage once had been. It then frowned at the pony, swiping at him with the other one, but he simply drifted out of the way, almost lazily. The giant kept swinging and the stallion kept dodging, getting more theatrically bored each time. He even drifted right over the beast's limb on his back, stifling a yawn with one hoof. It was then that a scream rang out.

Everypony looked for the source, and soon found it. A blue earth pony mare, with an orange mane, who had been pulling a cart along the road into town. Twilight recognized her as the second guest of honor at Pinkie Pie's Ponyville Party. Clementine, wasn't it? Yes, that was it. Clementine.

The lava creature had taken notice of her, too, and now was turning in her direction. The stallion, on the other hand, had lost focus. He was shaking his head, as if something were bothering him. He regained himself, however, when a second scream came from the mare.

"CLEMENTINE!" He shouted, and dove towards her. Huh, that's strange, Twilight thought, his voice sounds like Dark Time's, but a bit deeper. And how does he know her name?

Her thoughts were cut short, however, as an all-new dramatic scene played out before her. The pegasus dove just as the giant's intact forelimb swept down, fast despite it's size. But the white pony was faster. He swept underneath the descending appendage, snatched Clementine away, and flew off, but didn't manage to save her cart from being crushed. The giant then looked towards the fleeing couple, and everyone watching could have sworn they saw a smirk split its stony features. It then sank into pure magma, flowing in the direction of the now-grounded ponies. It then circled them, and rose up in a great fiery tidal wave, sealing the duo within. And then, everything was still. All the ponies in the watching circle held their breath, some wanting to go and help, but not knowing what they could do, and others just awestruck.

Finally, steam erupted from the top of the lava cylinder, and it turned to rock before the crowd's very eyes, and the rest of the lava soon followed. Then, the top cracked, and shattered, and the white pegasus flew out, Clementine clinging to his neck for dear life. The stallion let Clementine off not ten paces from the crowd, then flew back to the massive rock structure and gave it a solid buck, bringing the entire thing crumbling to pieces. It was at this moment that he shook his head again, and then his wings seemed to seize up, so he plummeted towards the ground, following the shards of the monster.

*     *     *

Everything hurts. Why does everything hurt? I don't know. I can't remember. Which probably means I went evil-doom-alicorn and killed somepony. Or everypony. OW, my head! These were my first thoughts as I woke up in a pile of what appeared to be rubble. I attempted to stand up, but collapsed. My hind legs wouldn't support me anymore. I then looked around, ignoring the pain in my head as I did so. I then spotted several ponies walking up to the pile of rubble I was on top of through a crack between two rocks that had fallen in front of me. But were the ponies here to get me? Or just to investigate? And if they wanted me, what did they want me for? My mind danced with images of guillotines and deadly spells. But I could do nothing. I couldn't walk, much less run, so all I could do was sit here and await my fate.

I looked on as the ponies approached, and realized that it was just Twilight and her friends, which didn't make me feel all that much better. Among other things, Twilight had told me about the Elements of Harmony, and how her and her friends had defeated such enemies as Discord and Nightmare Moon, which she elaborated on, with these elements. I wondered briefly if they had somehow acquired them while I was out. It was possible, since I had no idea how long it had been.

Twilight gazed over the few rocks that separated me from her line of view, and gasped as I looked up at her with a crooked, weary smile, my blue eyes (I managed to check a mirror back at the hotel. Blue eyes. Interesting.) dancing with a mixture of joy and fear. Twilight just stared at me for a long moment, and I wondered what was wrong. She knew about the transformation, so was it really all that surprising? Twilight then drew her head back, and I heard her say, "Girls, I don't know how, but that pegasus stallion was Dark Time! He's the only one in that pile of rubble." I heard several exclamations of surprise after this, and confusion swirled through my mind. Not an alicorn? A pegasus? And why were they so surprised? It must be because I was a pegasus, not an alicorn this time. That must be it.

Then, all six of the brightly colored ponies peered over the rocks, and I halfheartedly raised a forehoof and waved slightly. Rainbow Dash was the first to speak.

"Dark Time. That. Was. AWESOME!" she exclaimed, and I gaped slightly. Awesome? "I mean, the way you just flew in, you bucked that thing right in the claw! And it just SHATTERED! How did you even...?"

"Erm... Rainbow, it wasn't exactly a claw. It held similarities with a dragon's claw, but it lacked pointed fingernails." Twilight corrected, and I managed a small chuckle. Typical Twilight. Rainbow Dash waved her off and continued to shower me with compliments which I didn't feel like I deserved. It was at this incredibly convenient moment that I actually remembered what I had been doing just before I turned.

"Hey..." I said, then coughed, because my voice was terribly scratchy, "What happened to that huge monster? That giant rock thing?" They all looked at me in confusion. Finally, Pinkie spoke up.

"You're lying on it, silly!" What? Lying on it? This pile of rubble?

"What- what happened?" I asked, and Twilight stepped forward to tell the story. As she did, the others interjected with bits she forgot, or just with opinions of their own. Rarity, for instance, commented on what a lovely color my coat was as a pegasus, and oh, the things she could do with my mane! Things like that. The only one who said nothing was Fluttershy, and I saw an expression  cross her features that made me wonder something. As soon as the story was finished, I asked the question that had arisen in my mind after seeing that expression.

"Fluttershy?" She jumped slightly and looked at me. "You... you did tell them about what happened in Manehattan... didn't you?" The others then abruptly looked at Fluttershy, making her cower and shy away. I wish I hadn't brought it up.

The gazes of the others eventually overwhelmed Fluttershy, and she nearly started crying as she explained, "Dark Time transformed before, in Manehattan. I got separated from you girls and then got pulled into an ally by a strange pony, and... and... he had a knife, he... he... he brought it down towards me, but then... another mysterious pony grabbed his knife. He had a red mane, and black face, but a blue tail, and white body, and red eyes, with a black horn, and two white wings. He... he saved me, but he nearly killed the pony who attacked me. I just... I didn't want to tell you girls. I'm sorry." She finished. And everypony looked at me.

"You guessed it." I said glumly. "That mysterious alicorn was me." No mouths, but mine and Fluttershy's, were closed at this point. All simply stood, gaping at the two of us, so I decided to change the subject.

"Um... you said Clementine was here, right? Could I go say hello?" The others looked at me, and Fluttershy looked grateful. "I, uh, must've strained something bucking that monster. My back legs won't support me." Rainbow Dash simply nodded and swept me up, and before I knew it, I had been deposited in front of a clearly startled Clementine.

"Oh! Dark Time, it's you." She said, clearly sounding cheerful. I nodded slightly from my position mostly on the ground, and then asked her, "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Canterlot?"

"Oh, right. Well, after my stop in Ponyville, I was running a little more short on supply than I thought I would be, so I decided to come back home and restock." I nodded. That made sense. I was about to continue the conversation when I felt myself get swept up again, and heard the voice of Rainbow Dash say from somewhere above me, "Sorry, Clementine, but Dark Time is needed for something really important." Clementine just sighed and said, "It's fine, Rainbow. I'll see you later, Dark!" And she waved, so I waved back before being carried off to see the rest of the Elements once again.

"So, what's so important?" I asked as Rainbow set me down. Twilight then glared at Rainbow and she just shrugged.

"There isn't anything really important, Rainbow just wanted to compliment you some more."

"HEY! I did not! They were just taking themselves way too seriously over there, and I had to do something about it!"

"Alright, Rainbow Dash, if you say so."

I was left to my own thoughts as the girls got into a discussion over why I had been brought back over, and I realized that, in all the aftermath of this new fight, several things had been disclosed, but one thing still remained.

"Um, girls?" I said uncertainly. They all stopped talking immediately and looked at me. I didn't like the attention, so I got it over with quickly.

"I sort of had a dream, about three days ago, that was almost exactly like what just happened. Giant lava monster, Clementine, Appleloosa, everything." The girls gaped at me once again.

I'm beginning to hate being gaped at.

*     *     *

The dark presence fumed over this latest development. Infernus had failed, as its minions often did. He stopped it far too many times to be let off the hook. He would die, one way or another. He couldn't possibly survive for too long. He wasn't even used to his new body, yet! Hmmm... the best would have to wait. It was time to step it up, though, no question. Time to bring in the shadows.

It was time for Nox to have its fun.