Darkness' Lightby litanadracoChaptersThe New VoiceBrewing TroubleRevealed DarknessDepartureThe NightmareReleasing Your DemonsAdaptingFearing the DarkSettling In ChallengeFirst MissionEncounter Part 1Encounter Part 2Discussions and VisionsThe Date Part 2"Diamond Sky, We're Coming!"Calm (Sorta) Before the StormFrozen Bird FreedNot so Happy ReunionThe Past will Always Come Back to YouRebuilding BondsA Little Family BondingPrologue Destiny DiscoveredThe Date Part 1Darkness Truly is a MysteryThe New VoiceAs the spell was coming to an end, DarkHeart finally saw his weapon, the katanas seem to be emanating a lot of power and DarkHeart was eager to take them out for a test run, but. . . . . . . ."Why the hell are there chains connected to the bottoms, and what exactly are those things connected to them," DarkHeart asked curious to what purpose these attachments served. There seemed to be a chain attached to the bottom of handle with, what appeared to be, steel gauntlets at the end of the chains, and the chain seem to have some kind of visible energy stream running through it, which would suggest that the chains also have a magical power running through it as well. DarkHeart reached out to the gauntlets to examine them closer but as his hands were an or two away from them, they had opened up and clasp themselves around his wrists and the chain seem to retract into a compartment of the gauntlets drawing the blades into his hands. "Well these swords of mine are really quite interesting, and haven't even fought with them yet, I wonder what kind of power they hold within them." DarkHeart had said with a look of looming curiosity twinkling in his eyes. Believing DarkHeart to be too distracted with looking over his new swords, the changeling golem decides to have Star Dust and Lucky Streak attack him, although it may not know how much experience DarkHeart actually had fighting with his blades it wasn't going to take any chances, it was using his parents as the test dummies to find out how he fights with those blades of his. They did as they were told, albeit a little hesitant, and went after DarkHeart, but they were in for nasty surprise, for DarkHeart's senses had been enhanced as well and so he felt the vibrations going through the earth as his parents closed in on him but had kept up the charade that he was still too fascinated with his weapons to notice them. The moment they right on him, he turned around channeling his dark magic through his katanas and swung, aiming straight in the center of their bodies, and the two who had been foolish enough to think that he wouldn't know they were going to attack had clenched their eyes' shut as they awaited their ends but instead of feeling deaths hands' call to them, they instead a head-splitting pain grow through them, as they felt themselves hit the ground hard. They were now in so much pain that it became unbearable for them, they were laying on the ground writhing in agony as the pain continue to spread throughout their bodies, but they had felt another feeling as well as the pain continued t spread. They felt as though some foreign presence was leaving them and the voice in their head that had been filling their minds with the ideas that DarkHeart was evil was escaping them and their love and worry for him immediately came back to them. As his parents were still lying on the ground in intense pain, DarkHeart had turned his attention back towards his original enemy readying himself so that he may terminate this bothersome creature. He wasn't worried much about his parents because he knew that that spell he had just used would do just the trick for neutralizing the mind control spell that had been placed on his parents. He wasn't exactly sure how he knew to use such a spell but the new voice in his head told him how to do it through his blades without actually wounding them in the process. Now DarkHeart lets end this miserable creature once and for all. It's nothing compared to the power that courses through your veins. The voice had said trying to keep DarkHeart focused. "Right I have job to finish and it involves taking out that damn thing right here, RIGHT NOW!" DarkHeart couldn't explain it but the moment after he'd had the gauntlets attach themselves to him, the darkness within his heart has begun to slowly start to disappear and this new voice he's been hearing has started to speak him, calming him down and keeping him from doing anything he would later on in his life. It's these things that makes DarkHeart so sure that whatever this voice is, isn't Shadow trying to help him. DarkHeart deciding he could no longer wait he ready his katanas, charged towards to now bewildered and now afraid golem, wanting to end this as soon as possible. His dark magic once again activated, channeling itself through his swords and fully intent on killing the golem, and the golem could do was stand there, petrified by fear. It had no tricks it could use, this dark magic that this pony possessed was incredibly powerful, and it's obvious that he's quite skilled with those blades, being able to take out the mind control spell that it had placed on his parents and on top of that, the blades themselves seem to contain an incredible magic on their own which is only amplified even more whenever he adds his own power into it, so there was absolutely no chance of defeating him. It had pushed DarkHeart around numerous times during the whole ordeal, but every time, no matter how hard he was pushed down, he got back up, and each time he got up he came back swinging with even more power than the last time. The golem was ready to accept its fate, but it wasn't going down without a fight, and so mustering up enough courage to actually move again, the golem got to make a move to attack DarkHeart who was now right in front of it. DarkHeart leapt up, his katanas now overflowing with dark energy, bringing his swords down to strike down the creature while the golem was making an attempt to use its hoofs to strike him down while he's in the air. Just as their attacks were about to connect, a bright flash appeared from nowhere and along with it a strong force that threw both the golem and DarkHeart off balance and sent them spiraling back a few dozen yards, right past his parents who had recovered from their pain trip and were watching the two when they were about to strike each other down, and were made into a nice big crater and DarkHeart, who was actually becoming quite irritated of being used to make craters, was making an attempt to get back up to find out what had just happened. As the energy subsided DarkHeart finally managed to lift himself up and out of the crater and what he saw shocked him. . . . . . a lot. In front of his eyes, his parents and the golem were bowing to a mare that appeared to be made out of pure light. In all his days he didn't think he would ever see his parents bowing down to anypony, they didn't even do it when Princess Celestia had came to town. He picked himself out of the crater and started walking towards the mysterious light mare, wanting to find out who it was exactly that both his parents and the golem, that didn't seem to hold any kind of respect for anything, was bowing down in the presence of this mare. As he was walking past his parents, he felt something tug at his leg, "DarkHeart, show some respect and bow your head," DarkHeart looked down at his mother with a raised eyebrow wondering why he should even attempt to do such a thing when he didn't know who this mare was anyway. "And why exactly would I do that my dear mother? Especially when I don't even know who she is." DarkHeart said to see if his mother would catch on to what he wanted her to do. "I am the spirit of the Heart of Light, I am also the one who has made the rule and procedures of "The Initiation" as it is now called by your family, but I think you may know me as the strange voice in your head. It's rather interesting actually that a pony such as you was able to hear my voice, no pony has been able to hear my voice within the confines of their own minds in or out of the amulet, but yet you were, mind telling me why that is." StarDust opened her mouth to explain to DarkHeart why he should, when she was interrupted by the mare in question. Now she just looked to her son, wanting to hear what his response would be, or to be more precise to make sure he doesn't say anything stupid to this all powerful being. DarkHeart had retreated back to his thoughts trying to see if there was anything he may have done to accomplish such a thing when he figured out the perfect answer the spirits question,"Why the hell does it matter that I can hear your voice? I mean you don't seem all that special to me, so what is you're the spirit of the amulet, I've dealt with spirits before but this one was something of a nuisance," replied DarkHeart. Star Dust's jaw had dropped the way her son had answered to the spirit that had been in their care for these years and Lucky Streak, who had decided to stay silent after he had woken up to the sight of a golem flying in front of his face, was snickering happy that at least somepony had the balls to talk this mare like a normal pony instead of kissing her ass like she was god. "Hmmmm," was the answer he had gotten back in response. "You are most certainly a strange colt aren't you, but then again if you weren't I wouldn't have allowed you to continue on with the trial, even after your parents had intervered, in the first place." That sentence had made the family all snap their heads towards the light spirit, all now knowing why the golem hadn't evaporated into thin air after the two older ponies had stepped in to save their son's life. "Wait you mean that. . . you. . . and the. . . ," DarkHeart was having a hard time comprehending what she had just said and was trying to put the pieces together to see if maybe. . . just maybe, I passed, I defeated that damn golem without having the trial rendered null and void, which means I've must've passed right?But even though she said that she found me interesting it could also mean that she probably expected more from me so there's also the chance I didn't pass, no. . no there's no way I couldn't have I mean I finally summoned my own weapon, or weapons I should say, gained control of the dark power and better yet not once did I ever give up even when it came to breaking that spell on my parents, so that means that I've must've passed and am now the new Guardian of Light. As DarkHeart stood there internally arguing with himself Star Dust finally decided to stand up and walk over to the spirit mare. "I must say Star Dust your son is incredibly rude. Not listening to his own mother when you tell him to do something and questioning your decisions as well as just spacing out in front of a lady, now that my friend is just plain rude." Star Dust probably was just mistaken, but she could've sworn she saw the mare smile when she said that last part. "Please you must forgive him, it's just that he's had a bad day and with all of this has seem to made him forget the stallion he really is." Star Dust replied to the spirit. "Don't worry about it Starry, I mean if I got mad for every time a pony wasn't kissing my ass, the two of us wouldn't have become such good friends." The spirit said reassuring Star Dust. "Well if that's true then why did you get angry whenever I wasn't." said Lucky Streak wanting to make sure he's not forgotten. "Yes, well that's because you weren't ever polite to me. You would always be shooting off those smart-ass remarks of yours or talking crap about me when you thought I wasn't listening, now you my foe truly are rude." the mare with a look of minor disgust. "Alright that's enough out of the two of you, Nova what do you think about letting DarkHeart take on the responsibility of taking care of the amulet?" Star Dusk asked curious about the decision the spirit has made about her son. Hearing his name spoken DarkHeart came out of his thoughts to listen in the conversation between Nova and Star Dust. "Well is there really any answer other than yes." Nova said with a bright smile plastered across her face, her eyes shining a little brighter. The three older ponies looked to DarkHeart to see his reaction (well that is if he came out of his sea of thoughts) and what they saw was something they had all expected to see. DarkHeart was standing there, shaking like a leaf, with a huge smile that took up most of his face now. He was so excited that he felt like exploding, but not being able to keep it in any longer that's exactly what he did. "YEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" DarkHeart shouted at the top of his lungs, feeling pumped now that not only did he accomplish one of his dreams but he manage to get his second one that he was hoping to have come true too. The other three ponies on the ground looked up to the overjoyed young stallion and laughing at his antics. After a few moments of cheerful celebration in the skies, DarkHeart finally came down finally feeling as though he had released of the pent up energy from his excitement but he was still a bit jittery. Man I can't believe it. My dreams have turned into a reality albeit I wasn't planning on having them happen the way they did, but hey at least they happened I that's all I could ask for." DarkHeart said a little calmer than the others could've expected from him in his current state, which had actually made them suspect that there was something that he wasn't telling them. Lucky Streak was the first to speak up,"What's wrong Dark, isn't this your dream come true moment?" DarkHeart sighed as his expression slowly turned to one of happiness to one of guilt. "Well when I think back to everything that happened just a few moments ago I can't help but feel like all of this is my fault and it's kinda eating at me." DarkHeart had gotten raised brows and confused looks from the ponies in front of him. "What is your fault, and do you feel like whatever you're talking about is your doing? You didn't do anything wrong so what exactly is eating at you?" Star Dust asked hoping that it wasn't anything big. "Well for one everything I said to you guys when you came in to save me as well as the fact that you two were being controlled by the golem." DarkHeart said with downcast gaze. "Oh DarkHeart, you don't have to worry about that. We understand why you said everything you said, and for the mind control well I believe that's our fault letting our guard down when we knew full well that it was still around, even if it was unconscious." Lucky Streak said with a genuine smile to show his son that he sincere. "Actually before you try to make your counter-argument DarkHeart, I would like to know why your voice still sounds like that, I thought it was only a part of your transformation." asked Nova, curious as to why his most of him was back to normal except for that one little thing. "You know what? I was wondering the same thing but I wasn't sure if was because of the transformation or your anger." Star Dust looked to her son to see if he had an answer. The three of them were now expecting for him to have an answer when, in all reality, he didn't. He was just as confused as they were. "You know I couldn't really tell you I'm just as confused by it as all of you." If none of you have an answer, then maybe you would like to hear mine. A voice seemingly coming from nowhere said, but of course DarkHeart knew who it was, but he was surprised that the others could hear him, and what had surprised him even more was the fact that Shadow was speaking at all after he retreated back into his mind after he had accepted the dark power and threatened him. "What in the world are you mysterious voice?" Lucky answered back. "The 'voice's' name is Shadow dad, and he's not just some random voice, he's a dark spirit that's suppose to be the manifestation of the darkness that dwells within my heart. He's also the same spirit I was talking about six years ago after I had gotten into that 'fight' at school." DarkHeart explained to his father, as well as the other two mares that were there also curious about this 'dark spirit'. "Yeah, precisely, come on DarkHeart I really think you should hear me out on this." Shadow pleaded. "I think you should just let him tell us his theory. It wouldn't anypony, and right now none of us has a clue to this little mystery and here's a creature who does. Who knows he may actually have the answer already as well as a solution." Star Dust wanted to why her son's body hadn't all changed back to it's normal one, to others it may seem like a minor detail and probably would have came up with the solution of a sore throat or maybe the side-effect of spell, but after everything she and Nova have been through she knew better than not to worry about this. "Well I believe that your voice change may be linked to your dark power and that it's still like this because you want it to be. So I think that if you were to concentrate hard enough you can change it back to your usual voice." "Hmm, you know that idea wasn't as ridiculous as I thought it would be. DarkHeart had been skeptical about hearing what Shadow had to say, but he guessed he was wrong. "That does sound like a possibility after all, as far as I know, you're the only unicorn in our family to use dark magic, plus the fact that not that much is known about dark magic in the world of magic anyway so what if what he says is right." Star Dust said. "Well I guess it's worth a shot then," DarkHeart closed his eyes and started to direct his dark magic to his throat, searching for his voice box. He wrapped his magic around it as he had located it and concentrating on trying to manipulate it to create the voice he's had before his anger had flared. He felt a tingling in his throat as he worked the magical energy until finally the energy dispersed signifying that it had finished its job. He went to go speak so that he could check if the spell had really worked or had Shadow's theory proven wrong. "So did it work or do I have to find a way to go back into my mental plain and kick Shadow's ass." DarkHeart said seeing, or hearing as it were, that it had worked, as well as thinking of all the possibilities that could come from this spell. "Well for being a dark spirit I gotta say you really aren't all that violent are you?" Nova said with a smirk knowing full well that Shadow demeanor is a result of DarkHeart's control over him and his power. And now that I mention, considering the fact that both you and DarkHeart are within the amulet, you should be able to manifest yourself within this plain with no problems." After hearing that Shadow went to work freeing himself from his prison and in mere moments found himself staring face to face with DarkHeart, but only this time the two of them were in DarkHeart's mind. "I must say it feels good to be out there," Shadow said stretching out to get the point across that it was uncomfortable being trapped within the mind of another pony. "Yeah well don't get used to it because you're going back in when we leave, you got that Shadow?" DarkHeart temporarily switched back to his previous so as to get a point across to the spirit. "That is why I'm not all that volatile, Nova, cause I'm not sure if you noticed, but getting on DarkHeart's bad side, especially when he's blown a fuse." Shadow said trying to back talk his polar opposite. The two spirits just stared at each other waiting for the other to make the first move when DarkHeart decided to step in before their bout even had a chance to start. "That's enough from the two of you, we've all been through a lot in the last few hours and I think that the four of us need to get out of here and get some rest." DarkHeart was indeed starting to feel the force of gravity increase as his legs were struggling to keep up his body that was starting to feel heavier, though he didn't show any signs of it. Considering all of the training that he's done over the past few years playing off the macho act wasn't really all that hard for him. Hearing DarkHeart be the first to say that he was tired was a shock to his parents considering the fact that their son never admits when he's tired, which meant that he must've been exhausted. SO agreeing with their son's decision they all say their goodbyes to Nova and Shadow as the portal that would lead them back to their living room where Star Dust had placed the amulet before they left. They were about to go through the portal but not before DarkHeart had turned around to make Shadow was with them. "Come on Shadow, I already told you that you weren't staying here, you're coming back with us even if I have to drag you in with us," DarkHeart threatened. "Oh alright fine, but I expect some kind of reward for complying without being forced." "Your reward is that I still allow you to speak without any sort of punishment and that I'm willing to allow you to be free within my mind." DarkHeart was in no mood for arguing with the persistent spirit seeing as he was already exhausted enough as it is, and he if has to stay away from the warm embrace of his bed any longer he might end up losing it again. "Okay Okay calm down there DarkHeart, I was just kidding around I'm coming, I'm coming." Shadow couldn't believe that this was the same kid he tried to take over six years ago as he reverted back to his spiritual form and retreated back into the recesses of DarkHeart's mind. "Well with that out of the way what do you say we get heading back home and go to bed." Lucky Streak said as a powerful yawn came over him. "Well I guess I might see all of you around then." Nova watched them as they were about to head through the portal. Nova watched as Star Dust went through the portal first, then Lucky Streak, and finally it was DarkHeart's turn, but right before he was going to go through it she called out to him. "DarkHeart I want to say something to you real quick before you leave. Could you please come over here?" That earned her a groan from DarkHeart as her answer, but none the less he turned around and walked towards Nova to see what it was she wanted to tell him."What is it Nova? I really want to go home and go to sleep." "I just wanted to tell you that I'm glad you managed to beat that golem and have become the new Guardian of Light. I'm not sure what it is but I do think that you're really a special pony, and that's not because of your dark magic, but because of your personality. I have a feeling that the two of us are going to become close friends and you might even be the one to finally find out how to look unlock the true power of the amulet. I also beli-," Nova was silenced by DarkHeart as he placed his index finger over her lips. "Alright Nova I get it, you really find me fascinating and would like to become my friend, but seriously though I don't any sort of praise. After all if I only preformed well just for praise I would no better that some egotistical asshole, snotting rich filly who gets whatever the fuck she wants." "Right, sorry, but I am really glad that you succeed in going all out to make your dreams come true and I can't wait to spend more time with you, but you should probably get going now so you could rest from today." Nova said with a slight blush that was hidden thanks to the natural glow she gave off. "Yeah I am too but you're right I really need a break from today maybe I'll actually take an off day for the next week or so, well, be seeing ya." DarkHeart moved towards the portal and before he went through he turned around and waved bye to Nova, then went through the portal and went back home. He came out the other side to see that he was in the living room along with his parent swho had been patiently waiting for him to get back before Star Dust closed the portal and an orb of energy shot to the front of DarkHeart. It released a blinding light before it had calmed down after a few moments and left in its wake was the Heart of Light hanging around his neck. "Well I must admit that thing suits you well DarkHeart," Lucky Streak complimented his son. "It most certainly does look like you were meant to where it." "Thanks but to be honest I really don't care how it looks on me after all I'm supposed to protect it, not care about whether or not it looks good on me, but I gotta say it does make look like an ultimate badass." DarkHeart said looking down at the amulet that now hung around his neck and his parents just rolled their eyes at his comment. "Alright calm down mister badass I think it's time for all of us to hit the hay what do you say." Star Dust said bringing him back to reality. She was right although he was now the new guardian, it doesn't mean that he wasn't able to fall victim to sleep deprivation and considering the kind of day he's had, he would gladly accept the call from dreamland with joy. "Yeah, slipping off into dreamland sounds good right about now I think I'm just going to turn in for tonight." With that DarkHeart went up the stairs heading towards their bedrooms, heading off to his own but not before he had said good night to his parents. "A lot of things are going to happen now aren't they?" Lucky Streak said, concern lacing his voice. Yes, Yes they are, but as long as he keeps a leveled-head he'll be able to solve any problem." Star Dust wasn't going to worry about DarkHeart. She already knew that he wasn't going to give up on problem that comes his way and now that he's come to terms with the darkness within she was sure that he could accomplish anything. Back in his room DarkHeart was laying on his bed thinking about the events of today and how it ended. "Man I can't believe I've finally done it. I somehow managed to get my cuitemark, the heart, and my blades, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day, but unfortunately I know it'll probably be the day I'll be able to get that's like this *sigh* well whatever it doesn't matter now that I've found my purpose in life, to my darkness to help those in need." DarkHeart like the sound of that idea, helping ponies who couldn't help themselves against the forces of evil. (He would say the forces of darkness but considering he now controls his own darkness and is most likely going to use it a whole lot more than his regular magic, that IF he uses his regular magic again, that would kinda mean he would have to hunt himself down). "Even still though how would I even go about that I mean ponies don't like me as it is and it would become a pain in the ass if they got in my way or didn't comply with something I told them to do so that they get hurt and all because they don't like me." DarkHeart was in the middle of this thought when Shadow voiced up his opinion. "I honestly see any problem here, after all you've helped out other ponies before that didn't like you and yet you still manage to get done whatever it is you were doing." Shadow stated in a matter-of-fact tone. DarkHeart contemplated on what Shadow had told him and figured that the dark spirit right but there were still a few things that he wanted to say to the spirit but decided against it, seeing as though he was now really tired and thought he might pass out and slip into a slumber any moment now, *Yawn* Yeah I guess you're right . . . . . . I guess I can give . . . . . . . a try but for the rest of the summer I'm gonna re-" DarkHeart had passed out and was now in the realm of dreams where unfortunately for DarkHeart was a place of intense nightmares. Every night since he was about four he's had nightmares instead of dreams, it took a special sleep spell from princess Luna in order to get him to actually sleep. The spell had caused his dreams to disappear for as long as the spell was in place. Eventually the spell had worn off when he was fifteen, and his nightmares had returned at full force, but because at the time the spell had stopped he had been training his mind so as to control his temper, but when the nightmares returned it worked just as well to allow him to force those nightmares into 'dreams'. But for some reason tonight seemed to be different. Instead of popping into one of his many nightmares when he slipped into unconsciousness, he came up into a peaceful world and for once in a long time he felt at peace in his slumber. Shadow, having lived in DarkHeart's mind for his entire existence saw this and grew curious of the matter and went digging through his mind to find out if some outside force was doing this when he spotted a stream of light enveloping DarkHeart's mind, 'Nova', Shadow thought wondering why the light mare cared what was in DarkHeart's subconscious. "Why are you interfering with his dreams Nova?" Shadow asked knowing that she could hear him. "I think the better question is, why wouldn't I interfere? DarkHeart has suffered through so much already and after a day like today I think it is right to say that he deserves to have a peaceful nights sleep that isn't constantly plagued with the risk of it turning into a nightmare. There's also the mental strain that his put on him having to constantly control the events of his 'dreams', but you would that better than any of us wouldn't you Shadow?" "Yes I would but do you really think he needs my help with that sort of stuff. I mean come on because the way his mind works he's become the stallion he is today. If it wasn't for these nightmares he wouldn't have grown to be as fearless as he is, or thrive to want to help others, and he could go through anything life throws at him without having to worry about it screwing him up any further than he already is." Shadow stated. "I would have to agree with you there, but now that I'm here, I'm going to make sure I do whatever it takes to take as pressure as I can off of his shoulders. But I think we should discuss this another time for now I think we should rest as well cause come tomorrow things are going to be changing for all three of is I know it." "Agreed, well then I guess I'll be seeing you in the morning, goodnight." Shadow said as he went into his kind of sleep. "Yeah, goodnight Shadow, and a goodnight to you, DarkHeart," With that said Nova, too, fell asleep until the sun shines into a new day. Author's Note Princess Luna had yet to turn into Nightmare Moon when she had placed that spell and still won't for about another year or two in the story. Brewing TroubleTo basically sum up the last month and a half after the events of DarkHeart's birthday, everyday from there on out he and his parents decided that it would be best for him to go off and find some kind of secret place where he can go and train with his new dark powers and katanas to get a better feel for them and to learn how to better control them so that there weren't any surprises when he went out of the house and have ponied freak over him having dark magic. Although he was unable to call upon the form he took during the final moments of the initiation, he was getting a hang of all his other abilities as well especially that voice changing spell, he's pulled quite a few pranks on ponies every so often to amuse himself even though his parents disapprove of his antics and telling him not to abuse his powers. There was also the two new additions to his entourage, Nova and Shadow. They would talk to him without restraint, DarkHeart didn't care if ponies thought he talked to himself and thought he was crazy after all if he had to be perfectly honest with himself he was a little on the crazy side, but that didn't mean he cared about all of the looks he would receive on a day to day basis. Other than those few things that were now a part of his daily routine the rest of the summer was uneventful and actually seemed to pass a little to quick for DarkHeart's taste for today is was the twentieth of August which meant it was the first day of his senior year of high school. "Man am I glad that I skipped a grade in middle school otherwise I think I would go crazy at the fact that I would be here one more year." DarkHeart said, grimacing at the thought of staying in high school for one more year. "I honestly don't see what the big deal is. I was there with your mother when she was sixteen, grant it she didn't skip a grade which meant was a junior, but she seemed to enjoy those last two years of school despite all of the homework she had gotten." Nova said. "Well my mother also wasn't hated by practically the entire school. Everypony always love to push me around and I let them because I was afraid of having the jackass coming back and taking over my body." DarkHeart shivered remembering what had happened six years ago. "HEY, it's not my fault that you got anger issues, you should've learned to control your temper a littlle better." Shadow said defensively. "You know you're lucky I can't go in there and kick your ass you know that right?" DarkHeart was walking inside his school as he threatened him. "You know if you want I could open up a portal to the arena after school so you can kick his ass. That is if you want to." Nova's comment earned her a chuckle from DarkHeart and a growl from Shadow. "Thanks for the offer Nova, but I think I'll pass for now. Unless he decides to act up any more then I'll gladly take you up on it." He heard somepony gulp and he knew that Shadow was going to be a good spirit of darkness for the rest of today. DarkHeart walked down the halls to get his class schedule, having to wait in a rather long line that seemed to be in disarray thanks to everypony being clumped together sharing what they had done over the summer with their friends. "Don't you have any friends to go talk to and act like idiots with?" Nova asked a, in his opinion, a stupid question. "No, didn't you hear me earlier? Everypony in this school hates me why do you think I spent all my time either with my parents or out training the entire summer." DarkHeart wasn't all that bad a guy, but thanks to the events of six years ago he has been having a hard making any friends, especially after they had found out that he wasn't able to do it again. I'm pretty sure you can imagine how much crap he had gotten after they found out that he wasn't able to kick their asses in the blink of an eye if you got him angry. "I've been alone for as long I could remember with the only my parents there to support me, even the rest of my own family despises me. They only pretend to act nice to me whenever my parents are around but once they're gone they act like dickheads." DarkHeart really didn't like the rest of his family. They had always purposely left him behind whenever they would go out on the holidays, he was just lucky enough that his parents loved him so much that they would always notice whenever he was missing to come back for him. "Eventually my parents found out how they were really treating me and they were pissed. In fact they were so pissed that they told all of them on Hearth's Warming four years ago to go fuck themselves and that they didn't want to see any of them until they had apologized for treating me so badly." "Have any of them came to you to say they were sorry since then." Nova sounded a little sadden by what DarkHeart had told her. She had been handed down through the hands of many of the unicorns on his mother's side of the family and grown very close to them, they all thought of her as another member of the family instead just a spirit locked in an amulet. So you could imagine her feelings towards the fact that he and his parents had detached themselves away from the rest of the family. DarkHeart let a sigh before he answered her. "No, none of them have yet to step up I say they were sorry, sorry Nova I know that that information must be hard for you to take seeing as you most likely know them better than I ever will and most likely have become just another member of the family to them." DarkHeart had picked on the sadness in her voice from earlier when she had asked him that. "Well yeah, I will grow to miss them greatly, but you're my guardian now so I can't really do anything about it and besides you're still more than good enough to be around anyway so I won't mind as much as long as I don't think about it." Nova seemed perk up as she began to think of the fun things she had already done with him. "But there's something I still find weird now that think about it. DarkHeart said rubbing his chin. "What'sthat?" the two spirits asked in unison. Well I kinda expected Nova to say that you remembered, I mean that was only four years ago, and I know you don't have any kind of memory loss considering you still remember shit from 75 years ago like it was yesterday." DarkHeart explained, As DarkHeart was discussing the subject of why didn't Nova remember that one day that changed his family, a charcoal grey pegasus spotted the black unicorn still standing in line. He went over to the DarkHeart with an evil smirk on his face that said that he wanted to cause some trouble. The pegasus pulled out a small, clear plastic bag filled with a strange white powder, opening it up and getting ready to dump it the unsuspecting victim. "SURPRISE!!" the pegasus yelled causing DarkHeart to turn around to see what going on when he saw the white powder flying towards him. The powder left a cloud of white dust everywhere as it made contact, the stallion laughing as he pulled off another prank on the unicorn he loved to push around and use as his punching bag,hahahahahaha, oh this is just too easy.Hey there DarkHeart, how's my favorite punching bag doing today, hope you are itching to see all of the new bullying techniques I've come up with this year. Oh ho ho ho man I think . . . . . . . year . . . . . . . is . . . . . . going to . . . . . . be . . . . . fun." The pegasus stared at what was suppose to be his victim completely fine and of the itching powder that was thrown at DarkHeart caked the surface of red, translucent barrier and saw the glare that was being thrown towards, but the glare isn't what scared him, well it kinda was the glare, no it was DarkHeart's right eye which had changed to his emerald green, draconic one. DarkHeart glared at his long time bully and enemy, "I don't think so Stone Digger, if you think I'm going to let you soil my family's most protected and precious heirloom YOU'RE DEAD WRONG!!!" He didn't even try his voice from the crowd of teenagers watching them, "And another thing if you think I'm just going to just sit around this year and let you bully me around you'd be wrong on that assumption too." DarkHeart said in the voice that he was granted by the darkness within him and a sinister smile spreading across his face. Everypony in the crowd looked on as they saw Stone Digger back away from the unicorn thinking that he was going to be killed when a mare that appeared to be in her mid-thirties came through the crowd and telling them to disperse, "Alright everypony go get your schedules and head to your homerooms, the bell is about to ring." She spoke in a voice that would be able to calm even to most violent of beasts. "Except for you two, the two of you are to follow me down to the principal's office." The two teenagers complied with the teacher's demand as they trailed behind her. "So either of mind telling me what happened before we get down there or would rather just wait for Principle Scholaris deals with you two." the mare asked. She turned around to the two seeing as she hadn't gotten a response from either them and saw DarkHeart had a smile plastered on his face with hands behind his head and Stone Digger seemed to be glancing over at him afraid of what he might do to him. "So then I take it you would rather take this up with him huh *sigh* I would expect this from Stone Digger, DarkHeart but not from you of all the ponies in this school you would be the last one I would expect to be in a fight." The teacher said disappointedly. DarkHeart arched an eyebrow at her statement, "Really I would be the last YOU would expect to be in a fight Ms. Tender Heart?" he asked in disbelief. "Well of course you are one of the top students in the entire school, and also the most reserved, I've hardly ever heard you talking to the other students, a few times to the other teachers, and I'm really the only one you share your problems with here at the school." Ms. Tender Heart said shocked that he had even asked her that. She thought that the two of them had became quite good friends over all of the years they had known each other, especially since she and Star Dust were and are the bestest of friends. "Oh wait of you do, you weren't there on my birthday, man now that was the most awesomest day of my life getting my cutiemark and the Heart of Light on the same day, but I can tell you this it sure in the hell was a pain to get it I tell you what." DarkHeart said with a strange amount of enthusiasm in his voice. "Wait a minute you got the amulet, is it okay if I see it?" Tender was always fascinated with his family's most prized and protected possession, but never really got a chance to look at it up close because Star Dust had always hid it away somewhere whenever she was out or her family had guest over. "Maybe I"ll show to you during lunch but uh weren't taking us to the principle's office?" He said getting his teacher back on track. "Oh yes, you're right, you may be the son of my best friend but I still got a job to do and I'm pretty sure your mother wouldn't appreciate it if I just let you go with just a warning." She quickly turned on her teacher mode after DarkHeart had reminded her of her job and continued towards the principal's office. DarkHeart just shrugged at that before he said something. "For the record, if you really want to know what happened, there wasn't any kind of fight back there this one over here just got scared that I decided to stand up to him and glare him down, and fell on his own sorry rump." "WHAT!? You call that just some random glare. You had the eye of a dragon you damn freak of nature, don't you even dare to say that is was nothing. Ms. Tender Heart there has to be some kind of rule that would prohibit him from coming to school right." Stone Digger looked like he was about to piss himself as he clung the mare in fear that what he had just said would anger DarkHeart and that he attack the shivering pegasus. "I don't know about any rule about whether or not the school allows admittance to ponies with dragon eyes, but I do know there is most surely a rule about unicorns who use their magic to harm other students." scolded Tender Heart, throwing a glare over her shoulder to DarkHeart. "Believe me miss, I didn't use any sort of magic to put an illusion spell or change the shape or color of my eyes, but what he saw most certainly real and I would be more than willing to explain that to later you on as well." he stated in a matter-of-fact sort of way. The three had finally reached Principal Scholaris' office and Ms. Tender Heart had told to two of them to sit and wait for until the principal was ready to see them before she went back to her classroom. "I'm going to expose for the freak you are and get you kicked out of here you fucking freak!" Stone Digger was so furious at the unicorn for he had made him look like a fool in front of the entire school on the first day back and he was now determined to get vengence. DarkHeart just shrugged and leaned back in his chair not caring in the slightest about the fuming, yet terrified pegasus sitting next to him. "You do realize that your parents are going to be furious with you right?" Nova said trying to coax some kind of reaction out of her new guardian about the situation he was in. "And you do realize I don't give a fuck right?" DarkHeart said out loud. This was making the pegasus even madder as he watched DarkHeart closely and seeing that aside from his eye, his little punching bag's confidence seemed to be growing through the roofs, or at least that was what Stone Digger saw through his posture and body language. "But you're suppose to use your power responsibly, what do you think your mom is going to say when she finds out about this, or do you just not care." Nova was now full on scolding him. "I would say you hit the nail right on the head there Nova. If you think about it I didn't do anything wrong, and if you're still going to try and argue with just look at what had taken place. All I did was protect the amulet like I was suppose to by putting up a barrier instead of beating the crap out of Stone Digger, which I may remind was what I really want to do considering all of the shit he's put me through my whole life, and then I just glared him down. The fact that my dragon eye decided to make an appearance was completely out of my control." DarkHeart explained but got a 'hmph' instead of counter argument from the light spirit. "Alright, who the hell are you talking to, and who the hell is Nova?" Stone Digger was now getting confused as he listened to DarkHeart talk this Nova, when the door to the principal's office opened up. "Alright you two can come in now." the two heard a deep voice say to them from behind the partially cracked door. They both went into Scholaris' office and took up their seats in front of his desk as the Principal sat in his chair with his back turned towards them both. "So, according to what Tender Heart told me before she left, you two were having a bit of a . . . . . . disagreement earlier this morning." Scholaris said in a calm manner. "I don't know if disagreement would be the right word for what had happened, but then again neither would fight be the correct either." DarkHeart stated in the same calm manner as Scholaris. "Oh really, then what exactly would you call it DarkHeart?" he turned to face the two as he asked. "Well I'm not sure what to it sir but I know that it wasn't a disagreement or a fight, though I think I would just probably call it expressing our opinions towards each other." DarkHeart said. Scholaris arched an eyebrow at his answer, Nova face palmed from within the amulet, Shadow, who has just been enjoying the show groan and shook his head, and Stone Digger just stared at him like he was an idiot. "Expressing your opinions of each other huh, that's really the answer you're going with." He asked somewhat amused by DarkHeart's attitude towards the whole situation he was in. "Yep, but it that doesn't sit well with you I'm not really sure what else to tell you. Though I guess actually hearing the story from the two of us might help shed some light on the entire ordeal so that you could form your own answer for what to call it, wouldn't you agree." DarkHeart asked. "I would have to agree with there, but I was planning on asking the two of whether or not what Ms. TenderHeart said was true or not and so before I ask for either of your stories Stone Digger what is your take on what had happened this morning." Scholaris and DarkHeart had turned to him looking for an answer. "Principle Scholaris my take on this whole is that . . . . ," Stone paused for a moment think of what he would say to get the principle on his side."My take is that DarkHeart is a menace and needs to be kicked out of this school!" He shouted. "Oh not this routine again." DarkHeart groaned at the bully's persistence on the matter. "Is there something I've missed here, Stone Digger why do you believe he needs to be thrown out of this school?" Scholaris asked puzzled by the reactions by the two. It was then Stone Digger started to explain his side of what had happened in the commons area during the time in which the other students were trying to obtain there schedules. Scholaris only listened intently as he did so, not asking a single question or making a comment, just listening to the semi-hysteric pegasus carry on about how DarkHeart was a dragon-eyed freak of nature and how he had assaulted him and try to kill him and that he shouldn't even allowed to live among normal pony folk. "That's why I said that this abomination should be kicked out and perhaps even experimented on." Stone Digger finished. Scholaris finished allowing Stone's story to sink into his mind before he turned his towards the unicorn, who was staring at the ceiling and looked as though he didn't have a care in the world, "So mister DarkHeart, do you mind telling me what REALLY happened this morning?" he asked him. "Yeah I guess so, but before I do I must say that that story you told was actually pretty damn good, have you ever considered writing a script for a play?" DarkHeart complimented to now enraged pegasus. "Please refrain from using profanity in front of me mister Heart." said Scholaris in a stern voice. "Well could you please refrain from calling Mr. Heart, it makes it sound like I'm married to Ms. Tender Heart it's why I asked all the teachers and staff in the school to call me by my name or at the very least Mr. Dark so as to prevent that." DarkHeart shot back. "Yes I suppose you're right, my apologies to you. Now would you mind telling me your side of things Mr. Dark." he said apologetically. "Thank you, and yes I'll tell my side of this story." DarkHeart went on to tell Principal Scholaris the truth of the events that transpired between him and his long time enemy. His story couldn't have been simpler that what he had already told the principal. He told him about walking into the school and going to stand in line to wait to get class schedule for the new year, as well as telling him how Stone Digger had snuck up on him and got him to turn around by yelling "SURPRISE" right next to him and how he saw the itching being thrown right at his face and blocked it at the last moment by using his magic to put up a barrier. DarkHeart also went to explain why Stone Digger was freaking out so badly and why he wanted him out the school telling Scholaris about his eye's transformation, but also went to explain that he wasn't going to kill the pegasus or even harm him for that matter and after he had finished he looked to the older stallion to see what he had to say about what he had just been told, Scholairs was in thought as he was deciding what was to do now after hearing DarkHeart's side of things, which definitely sounded more believable than Stone's, but he still one more question that he wanted to ask him. "Well Mr. Dark I do find your story to be a great deal more believable than Mr. Stone's, but I must ask were you serious when you said that he had been telling the truth about your draconic eye, or were you just humoring him for your own amusement. he asked curious about what he might get as the answer. "If you're looking for the truth I've already told you, what this whimping little filly said about my right eyes is true it does transform into a more dragon like one, but I am able to control when it can and can't be seen by others, but I guess this was one of those times when I wasn't in control and it's not from any sort of spell in my internal library of spells and if you don't believe me you are more than welcomed to contact either one of my parents to find out for yourself." He said with the most serious expression he could muster at the moment, still finding it quite humorous that this pegasus that had been torturing him for the last eleven years was sitting next, in the principal's office, and shaking like a leaf, it was too much for him but he knew had to keep up the act to get him to see that he was serious. The stallion glanced up to DarkHeart seeing the truth that gleamed within his eyes but didn't want to ask him about seeing that it was meant to be a secret between him and his own family. (Known to only a few, Scholaris' eyes are able to peer into a pony's mind and see the truth of an event that had happened, this talent of his is why he thought he would make a great principal, he loved influencing the minds of the next generation, and he also believed that if he could use his talent to make sure he was able to rightfully punish the one who had done wrong and reward those who fought to help justice prevail. There were who knew of this talent and they firmly believed that he could put it to better use as lawyer or a judge but he thought the opposite, thinking that it might be a waste of his time to try and get a criminal to fess up and admit their mistakes.) "Alright then, I think I've made my decision on how to handle the situation," he stated. "DarkHeart you are free to head to your homeroom, here's your schedule," DarkHeart took his class schedule from his hands. "Miss Tender Heart had picked it up for you before she brought the two of you done here, and as for you Mr. Digger you have lunch detention for the rest of the week and are to clean up the itching powder you had tried to throw on DarkHeart do I make myself clear." Mr. Scholaris' voice turned serious as he delivered his verdict. "Y-y-y-yes sir." Stone Digger respawned nervously. And with that the two teenagers exited his office and headed towards their homerooms, but not before Stone Digger was stopped by a mare wearing a janitor's uniform and handed him a scrubber and a bucket of water, "The boss told me that you were the one to clean this mess up, so I would suggest you get to it before you make it worse for yourself." The mare said as he took the cleaning supplies and started to clean the mess he had made from his failed prank. DarkHeart just looked at the pegasus, who was now scrubbing the floor, before continuing towards his class. "You do know what classroom you're going to, right?" Shadow asked after he had been wondering the halls for a few more minutes that it should've taken to get to his homeroom. "Of course I know where it is I'm just doing a little exploring is all, it's been a while since I've just taken the time to really what this school has to offer." came his response. "So then I take that as a no then?" Nova asked him. "Yeah I'm lost," the two just sighed and shook their heads at him before Shadow decided to speak up. "How in Tartarus do you forget how to get to a classroom that you've somehow been stuck in every year since you first started attending high school." Shadow asked actually sounding a little irritated from some reason. "Why are so pissy all of sudden Shadow it's not like you're the one who's going to get into trouble." Nova asked picking up on the dark spirit's irritation. "Because with the way things have started out already, as well as all of you guys knowing about now, I guarantee that whatever other trouble he gets into his parents are going to blame me and probably going to want to do something about it and I'm pretty sure I know what they're going to want to do." Nova and DarkHeart noticed that he actually sounded like he was scared of his parents. "Woah, come down there Shadow, listen if you're that worried about I'll just take a look down at my schedule so I know that i'm going to right way alright? he said as he pulled out the folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket. "Now lets see where it is I'm exactly suppose to be heading . . . . . . ." DarkHeart was looking at the paper and back up to make sure he wasn't heading in the wrong direction and watching for the number to the room he was suppose to be heading to, "oh we're here actually, hmm I guess I as heading in the right direction after all." he said as he looked at the number on the right side of the door that read: 110. DarkHeart went into the class to find everypony staring at him, or glaring at him is more like it. "Well it's nice of you to finally show DarkHeart. I take it that Principal Scholaris has given out his punishment." Ms. Tender Heart asked as he walked over to take a desk in the back of the classroom. "Yeah he did, he gave Stone Digger lunch detention for the rest of the week, made him clean up the itching powder out in the commons, and let me just come back to class without so much as even a warning." he said as he sat back in his chair and kicked his feet up. "What, but how, what did you tell him happened out there." she asked shocked that he didn't get into trouble. "I told him the truth, just like I had told you, and he believed me even though I can't say it wasn't really all that hard to side with me considering the story Stone Digger had told him." DarkHeart in a cool, relaxed tone that told her that he thinks he got out this scot free. "Well if the principle isn't going to punish you I'm pretty sure your parents will after I talk to your mother later on after school." she threatened him. "Wrong again Ms. TenderHeart, my parents will understand why I did what I did and you'll understand too when I tell why that is after school, I would tell you sooner, but I don't trust the other students or teachers at this school and you're the only one in the town who isn't related by blood that knows of my family's past and the secret of this amulet." DarkHeart had a stern expression as he continue to shoot down any kind of threat she could make towards him. "DarkHeart you do realize that your some of your classmates are in here too, right?" she looked across the room and noticed all of the other students glaring his way. "Yeah, and, last I check no pony in this school really liked me all that much anyway and go out of their ways to ignore me. So I figured I had the right to say what I want like they weren't even here. I mean it's not like they could really do anything to hurt me, especially after the kind of summer I've had" As he finished he took a quick glance around the room and saw exactly what he had expected to see, a bunch of pissed off teenagers on the cusp of adulthood glaring a storm of knives at him. He only smirked at their reactions before closing his eyes again to let his mind wander off into his own little world, when suddenly *rrriiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg* the school bell went off signifying that is was time to head off to first hour. DarkHeart listened to all of the other ponies gathering and whispering amongst themselves as he passed by heading off to his fourth hour, this had been going all throughout the day but yet he was intrigued at what their opinions were, hearing them talk about what had happened this morning and some even having heard Stone Digger's rant about him being an abomination, telling everypony about his right eye shifting into his draconic one. He heard some say how crazy Stone was for coming with such a story, while others either believed him and agreeing what he said about kicking him out of the school, or they were trying to study him very closely to see it for themselves, but no matter what they thought there was one thing that was for certain, no pony would be crazy enough to confront him, at least not on their own. As he took his seat in his next class DarkHeart felt a presence standing right in front of him. He looked up to see none other than the humiliated pegasus just inches from his face, still looking as pissed as ever, "You think you could back up a little there buddy you're kind of making me uncomfortable because it looks like you trying to steal a kiss from me, and I don't know about you but I not a colt cuddler." DarkHeart shooting off a joke at the pegasus' expense. "First off, I'm not your buddy--" "No really, you don't say." DarkHeart said in a manner that made sure the pegasus knew that he was making fun of him. "--and secondly I want revenge for earlier so me and you are going to duke it out after school, unless you're chicken." stated Stone Digger challengingly. "And why pray tell would I fight you, you wouldn't even be a work for me if I were to hold back, it'd be nothing but a waste of my time and besides I have Ms. Tender Heart heading over to my home to talk to my parents and I was planning on letting her in on our new family secret, so I definitely can't make it tonight, but come to me again when you've gotten stronger, a lot stronger, and when I'm not so busy then we'll talk." DarkHeart got up from his seat, walked around it, gave the pegasus a couple of light slaps on his left cheek, and sat back down. Onlookers of the event just stood there with their jaws dropped down, some of them were practically touching the ground as they witnessed what had just happened right in front of their eyes. Stone Digger was one of the scariest bullies in the school and DarkHeart was his most favorite punching, but yet here were with their roles almost switched switched around as DarkHeart just sat there and taunted Stone Digger, which left them all to wonder what had happened to him during the summer, none of them saw him due to the fact they all had either gone out town or just didn't pay attention to him if he had actually been out and about so seeing him like this baffled them. The pegasus looked as though he was going to blow a fuse as he clenched his fist and was cocking back his arm to deliver a blow to the unicorn when the bell had rung and the teacher walked in, "Good afternoon class, could you please take your seats?" asked the stallion. With that Stone Digger just put his hands to his sides and walked back to his desk muttering curses under his breath. DarkHeart just smirked as he had heard what he was saying and was quite proud of himself for his little transformation. I guess everything this summer has really helped me out a lot with the confidence boost hasn't it. he thought trying to get a response from the spirits that were bond to him. "It would appear so, but don't let that go to your head DarkHeart. I don't want you getting into anymore unnecessary trouble." Nova scolded. "Yeah good luck with that, even without the confidence boost he'd still do some pretty damn stupid stuff. Isn't that right DarkHeart?" joked Shadow. Hey, just that whole incident with the firestarter spell didn't go over doesn't mean I'm trying to purposely do something stupid. he argued back. "Wait! What!? What happened when you tried to use the fire starter spell?" Nova asked shocked, yet curious on what could've gone wrong with such a simple spell. "Let's just say that they won't let DarkHeart anywhere near the bunsen burners in the chem. lab." Shadow replied trying to stifle a laugh. "Wow, I didn't think you would manage to screw up something like that, I'm just surprised that's all that happened and nothing else." she snickered at the thought of DarkHeart screwing something like that so badly. It wasn't my fault, Stone decided it was a good idea to throw something at my head when I was trying to help Mr. Bunsen with a demonstration and he couldn't get the burner going. he 'said' defensively. Shadow and Nova burst out into laughter as DarkHeart tried to defend his point, which earned a groan from him as he listen to the spirits enjoying themselves at his expense. DarkHeart ignored the two as they continued their bout of laughter and turned his attention back towards his teacher as he was finished introducing himself and was passing out some kind of personality test."Uuuuhhhhggg, why do they make us do these things every year, I mean it's not like they ever actually look at these things otherwise a lot of the teachers would've called my parents to have a talk with them as well as myself." he said to himself in a hushed voice. "Well Mister Heart I do look at these so I would suggest that you fill this out as truthfully as possible and get it back to me by the end of class." DarkHeart heard the teacher say from behind him. "Really, really you had to call me Mr. Heart, I'm guessing you didn't get the memo from the principal, it's either that or you're trying to make me mad." the teacher just had a puzzled look on his face as DarkHeart said that. "I wasn't aware that there was a memo that had gone out or maybe I had missed it, did he give it out recently?" now DarkHeart was confused. "Are you new here because I don't ever remember seeing you in the school since I've been here." he asked thinking that maybe that was the reason that he didn't know about the whole 'Mr. Heart' ordeal. "Yes I am, weren't you listening while I was introducing myself, and what does that have to do with the memo you were talking about." the teacher was trying to get a grasp on the situation as DarkHeart, in his opinion, kept asking questions that diverted from the topic at hand. "Well I guess that would explain why you don't know. Well I'll tell you now so that you don't make the same mistake again, there really isn't a memo from the principal, I was just saying that because originally when I first came here, during my freshman year, a lot of the other teachers students and staff thought I related to one of the teachers-Ms. Tender Heart-because they heard Principal Scholaris refer to me as Mr. Heart. So I had asked the principal to make it point that I was in no way related to her and I asked the teachers personally to call me either Mr. Dark or just DarkHeart." DarkHeart explained to the new teacher. "Ah I see, well my apologies DarkHeart, thank you for letting me know and also for not chewing of my head." the stallion said, extending his hand to him. "No problem Mr. uh, "Eye, Perceptive eye, your new history teacher." responded Mr. Eye. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Eye, maybe you'll get to know the good side of me before the bad." DarkHeart greeted him. With that situation passed they went to their seats and sat down concentrating on the individual tasks given to them. DarkHeart filled out the personality profiler was given while reminiscing on the day he's ha so far recalling the bit of trouble he got in this morning, to right now, Only have the day has gone by and it's turned out to an interesting one. I think this year is going to go by quickly but it's going to be a hell of a lot of fun till the end. The rest of the day went about as it would for him on a normal school day after he had fourth hour, he went to lunch and ate alone like per usual, went to his fifth hour, finished all the work he was given within the first five minutes it was handed out. He waited for fifth hour to be over so that he could go to his sixth hour and do the same as in fifth but instead used his extra time to do a little drawing in his notebook that he's had since he was five, then once his sixth hour was over he went to seventh which had a little more exciting considering it was gym, but even so it wouldn't matter what game they were playing he found himself the last one picked and found the other team to barely be a challenge as yet again him and his team shut out the other, like always, I guess it's the reason why I'm always the last one picked, I'm too good to be playing on a team, one of these days I should try to convince the coach to let play by myself maybe then I'll get my challenge. he thought after classed had finished up. He was now headed home hoping to get a little training in before he went to bed, when he heard rapidly clopping of hoofs from behind him. "Somepony is running towards me but why?" he wondered to himself. "Wait don't tell me it's that idiot Digger trying to jump on me from behind, *sigh* doesn't that idiot know when to give up." he said as he heard the clopping get louder as whoever was behind him was getting closer whom he thought was Stone Digger. He was about to turn around and getting ready to knock whoever it was on their ass when he heard a familiar voice call out to him. "DarkHeart wait I still need to speak with you." he heard the voice say as he recognized to come from Ms. Tender Heart. He turned around to see that she had finally caught up with him. "Hey Mr. Tender Heart, did you have nice run." he joked. She didn't respond right away as she was trying to catch her breath from the exhausting run,"You know . . . . . . you walk . . . . . really, . . . . . really fast." she said still exhausted. "What can I say, all of that training really does come in handy for even the simplest of things, like my walking." he said almost as he had said that phrase thousands of times before. "So miss, what was it that you needed to talk to me so badly about?" he said remembering that she said that she wanted to talk to him. "Don't you remember, I was going to go to your home to talk to you and your parents about this whole eye issue and tell them about what you did this morning. I'm still wanting to hear your explanation for everything mister and don't think you're going to be able to talk me out of it." she said after finally catching her breath a few moments ago. "That's fine with me, after all I did promise to give you an explanation for everything anyway." he stated in his usual calm tone before he turned and started back on his trip home. The two of them were walking back to DarkHeart's home in silence as he was taking the time to enjoy his walk. I swear, no how many times I've walked this path over the years, it still seems to relax me whenever I'm troubled he thought to himself. "Why are you troubled? I thought you said that there wasn't anything to worry about." Nova asked thinking he was talking to them. "I'm not troubled I was just saying that. Besides that was just me talking to myself not to you, which actually reminds me, we need to find some way for you to tell when I'm talking to one of you and when I'm thinking to myself." DarkHeart said aloud forgetting that his teacher was still walking next to him as she honed in on the conversation that he was having with Nova. "Well you could just call us by our names whenever you want to speak to one or both of us, or at least that's what I've been going by." Shadow gave them his answer. "Yeah I guess that could work, but what about times when I'm trying to convey messages to one of you and don't want the other to hear, especially in cases in where one of you is being controlled by somepony else that isn't me and is being forced to spy on us or something of the sort?" asked DarkHeart voicing his own concerns for their possible communication problems. "I think I got the answer for that one. What if we just make up some kind of code on the spot, so that way if that ever does happen, which ever one of us is being controlled doesn't know what we're saying because if we make up the code right then and there they aren't aware of our code and can't give away our plans." Nova answered. "Yeah that could work, I have to say it's amazing how quickly the three of us can solve any the problems we may have in the future when we're in midst of battle." DarkHeart was still unaware of the fact that he was still saying all of this out loud and Ms. Tender Heart listening the entire time. Getting rather curious about what was happening right in front of her Tender Heart decided to speak up to see if she had been forgotten by her best friend's son. "What do you mean problems you'll have in battles in the future, I thought you said you didn't fight Stone Digger. Does that mean you lied to me and the principal?" she asked, which had caused him to jump and giving Tender Heart her answer to whether or not she had been forgotten. "Ms. Tender Heart, I totally forgot that you were here, sorry about that." he apologized. "I accept your apology but that still doesn't answer my question. Did you or did you not lie to me and Principal Scholaris?" she turning a glare towards him trying to scare the answer out of him. "No I didn't lie to you two, why are you asking me this now?" he asked, confused as to why she was bringing up a problem that was suppose to be resolved. "Then what was all that talk about resolving issues for future battles and the such, and who exactly were you talking to, I heard say the three of us but I only see the two of us here and I had no part in the conversation." she intensified her glare hoping that it would coax out some answers from him. DarkHeart raised an eyebrow as he saw her expression get more serious, "Really Ms. Tender Heart ,'the glare', you know that has never worked on me, but if you really want answers that badly you're going to have to wait until I ask my mother if I could disclose this information to you, and by the looks of it you won't have to wait all that long." She turned around to see that they had reached his home and was immediately greeted by the sight of her best friend walking out the door when she spotted her son and friend. As the two mares laid eyes upon each, they gasped, ran and jumped into each other arms, and holding each other tightly squealing like little fillies. DarkHeart would've been smiling and shaking his head at them if it wasn't for the fact that their combined squealing reached bearable levels and caused his dog sensitive ears pain, he thought that they were going to blow his eardrums out if they got any louder. He tried to cover his ears but that didn't seem to help his situation one little bit until they stopped their hug and moved away from each other. "You think you could squeal a little louder I don't think Princess Celestia and Princess Luna heard all the way back at Canterlot." he said sourly at them till trying to get ringing in his ears to stop. "Sometimes you're just as boring as your father son. I haven't seen Tender Heart all summer, course we're going to be a little excited to see each other." Star Dust replied to her son's attitude towards the two mares' reunion. "Well when you got ears that are sensitive to very high pitches and you are standing right next to the source, it's kinda hard for me to be happy for you two." he shot back. Star Dust just rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her friend. "So what have you been up to Tendy, has my son gotten into trouble already at school." she shot a glare at DarkHeart as he was heading up the stairs of their front porch and going inside so he didn't see it. "Well that's what I'm here the find out. You see this morning he and another student had something of a squabble this morning and the other student had reported seeing DarkHeart's right eye shift into a draconic one." Tender Heart explained to her. After hearing this Star Dust began to get a little nervous as she started to look around to see if there was anypony else around to hear what she had just said. "Tender Heart I think I you should probably come inside. there are a few things I need to explain to you and maybe even ask for your help on something." her tone on a more worried and serious sound to it. Tender Heart started to get a little worried herself hearing her friend's tone change drastically from the playful one she had just seconds ago. "Star Dust what is it, has something gone wrong?" she asked worriedly. "I'll explain everything when we're inside, but you have to make sure that you keep everything you hear inside, a secret nopony else can know about it besides you and my family, okay?" she told her. "Okay Star Dust but I really need to know what has you so up in a panic." Tender Heart was beginning to worry that whatever they were trying to hide was seriously bad and that she may be in over her head. Star and Tender went inside the house and found DarkHeart laying on the couch and having a conversation with, by the sounds of it, Shadow. "I have no idea what exactly you think she's going to do after all is said and done, but I'm pretty sure we can handle it if it comes down to the worse case scenario." DarkHeart said to Shadow. "You do realize that a worse case scenario is Princess Celestia herself interfering and we're all banished or thrown into some kind magical, ancient prison, left to rot for the rest of YOUR life, right?" Shadow argued. "So I take it death isn't the worse case scenario then." DarkHeart said laughing at his own ill-conceived joke when his mother decided to butt into their conversation. "It is the worse case scenario if you were to die before finding somepony else to take on the responsibility of the Guardian of Light, son, and there's also the fact of how me and your father would feel if you were to just die. So sorry, but I'm going to have to take Shadow's side on this one DarkHeart, you really aren't taking this as seriously as I thought you would, I mean revealing your eye to another pony who isn't blood or knows about the secret of the amulet, what were thinking?" Star scolded her son. "Do you honestly think I don't know that mom? You know I still don't have full control over small stuff like that otherwise he wouldn't seen it." went argued back trying to get at least some of the blame off his shoulders. "Hold on before either say anything else I want what the heck you two are talking about." Tender Heart was thoroughly confused, Secret of the amulet, exposing his eye, not controlling the small stuff like that, what is the 'small stuff' they're talking about. "She's right, I think before we continue to play the blame game we should probably tell her everything that's been going on lately. She is the only one that would be able to keep an eye on me everyday while at school, and she can actually do something should anything go wrong." DarkHeart said thinking that it would be good to not only make sure Tender Heart knows the whole story and find out why his mother his freaking out so badly, but also to tell her so that her head doesn't explode trying to piece together the information from their argument. "Yes we should, Tendy I think you should probably take a seat, what I'm about to tell you is a lot of information to process and I don't want you to hurt yourself should you fall over." she said, getting an extremely confused expression from the teacher before she complied on took a seat on one of the chairs in the living room. After they had all gotten themselves comfortable Star Dust started to relay all of the information to her friend, starting with the how her ancestor had first gotten the Heart of Light and how it's been passed down through the ages to DarkHeart's birthday and everything that had happened on that day, and after that he took over from there telling her about the training he had been doing from that day forth up until today. By the time they had finished, Tender Heart sat there trying to process everything she had been just been told and hadn't made a single moment for the longest time. In fact she had sat in that single spot for so long Lucky Streak had came home to see her still just sitting there and Star Dust was already half through dinner. "You think maybe she's broken mom?" DarkHeart asked a little worried for his teacher. "Just be patient sweetie, she's just trying her best to piece together everything in her head and get a grip of the situation at hand." she told her son. "You know, sometimes I wished you didn't still use those little baby names parents give their foals instead of using our real names, even when we're adults." DarkHeart grimaced at his mother using sweetie, instead of his name to answer him back. "But to me you still are my adorable little foal though, and no matter how big or old you get you always will be." she responded back before giving him a kiss on his forehead. "Well I just hope she snaps out of it soon, we still need to ask her if she'd be willing to help us keep an eye on you while you're at school. After all we need somepony there to run interference should you lose control of the dark magic." Lucky commented from his spot in the kitchen. "Ru . . . . ru . . . . run in . . . . . inter. . . . . interference." They family turned around as they had barely heard a sound come from her and saw her eyes shrink to the size of pin pricks. "Hey Ms. Tender Heart, have you finally snapped out of it?" DarkHeart asked. Tender Heart looked as though she was going to faint and run away all at the same time. Star Dust saw her reaction and quickly stepped in to calm down her friend. "It's alright Tendy, if you're really that scared of the idea you don't have t-" she was stopped mid-sentence when she felt a hand rest upon her shoulder. She turned to see whose hand it was and saw that Tender Heart had wrapped her hand around her back and put it upon her shoulder. Star Dust looked back towards her to see Tender Heart staring up at her, she had a completely different expression on her face, she looked like she had just gotten a major confidence boost. They just stared at each other for a while until Tender Heart finally decided to break the silence. "Do you really need somepony to look after him that badly?" she asked in a surprisingly cheerful tone. "Y. . y. . yes but if you don't want to you don't have to." Star Dust said rather surprised from her sudden mood change. "Nonsense Starry I'd be more than happy to lend a helping hand to my bestest friend in the all of Equestria." she said still keeping her cheery tone. "Are you sure, I mean I wouldn't want yo put on a situation that you'd be uncomfortable in and trying to keep track of DarkHeart is a tiresome job all on it's own." Star Dust warned. "Yeah, take it from us, he's been trouble even when he was just a foal." Lucky Streak quipped. "HEY, you do realize that I'm sitting right here don't you!" DarkHeart shouted. "We know, why else do you think we're saying all of this out loud." his father shot back. This went on back and forth between DarkHeart and his parents as they were making jokes about the various antics he'd gotten himself into as an infant for a good while now only to stop when they DarkHeart noticed a peculiar smell coming from the kitchen as he raised up his nose to see if he could figure out what the smell was, which of course caught the attention of the rest of the grown-ups in the room. "What is DarkHeart do you smell a mare in heat?" Lucky Streak joked, but immediately stopped as the two mares glared him down. "No it's not that I would've noticed that scent a lot sooner, I've smelled after mom came out of the bathroom after about an hour when I was little and have grown to detect it in snap, no what I'm smelling is something else like *sniff* something *sniff* is burning!?" There was smoke coming from the kitchen as their dinner was starting to burn. "Oh no, the hay bacon is burning!" Star Dust said as she rushed to turn off the stove with Lucky trailing behind with the extinguisher in hand leaving Tender Heart and DarkHeart in the living room. "So DarkHeart, how does it feel?" she asked gaining his attention. "How does what feel?" he said, wanting her to be more specific. "The dark magic, how does it feel when you use it?" she said putting more detail into her question. "Oh, well I'm not sure how to explain it, but I guess I could try to explain it. He started, "Whenever I use my dark magic it almost feels like I'm not only drawing power from within me, but also drawing it from all of the hatred, anger, and sadness, basically from all of the negative emotions from all the creatures in Equestria, I could feel it all, every single emotion from every single creature; it all actually feels great and in hind sight makes sense that it's what help me unlock the secret to my special talent. I've always been able to feel the anger of colts whenever they lost a game, even were able the 'It doesn't matter that I lost because that was one hell of game' thing i can still feel it. I know when ponies want to cry when something horrible in there life has been brought and they treat as a joke. I've always been able to feel these things in various ponies, but it was finally on that day did I realize why I could and use that to defeat the golem and earn my cutiemark, by using the darkness in the hearts of others I can gain extraordinary power. That to me it has it feels whenever I use my dark magic." He answered her, with the wisdom of a scholar. She sat there pondering what he'd said for a moment or so, before was interrupted by Lucky Streak. "Thanks to your keen nose son, you manage to save the hay bacon before all of it was burnt to crisp." he praised. "But of course, my senses are sharper than the average pony, and thanks to that I've saved our food before it becomes inedible." DarkHeart gloated, Lucky Streak just rolled his eyes before waving his hand towards to kitchen. "Alright mister stop gloating and get in there and get your food we're having breakfast for dinner . . . . . and you're more than welcome to join us if you want Tender." he said to her. "I think I will, thank you ever so much for your hospitality." she stated before walking into the kitchen. "You know you're always welcomed to drop by and eat with us whenever like Tendey, no need to thank us." Star Dust told her with a bright smile. "Yeah Ms. Tender Heart it's always a pleasure to have you around, it keeps them from getting all mushy with each other." he said under his breath. And with that the four of them all sat at the table telling stories of their experiences during the summer, but of course all having known DarkHeart's he remained quietly listening as he ate his breakfast/dinner when a single thought entered his head. Things just keep more interesting and at this rate who knows? The whole town may find out about my capabilities with dark magic very soon. I just hope that when that time comes the response will be a positive one. He told himself, grimacing the possibilities what what could happen when other ponies started to find out about the strange, new power in his possession, when something else came to the forefronts of his mind. Yet again the vision of the strange stallion came into view and he was still standing at the edge of the cave entrance, shoulders slumped and all the strength he held looked as though it had taken him, still sadden by whatever it was that was bothering him. I feel bad for whoever he is, he must been very lonely because he most certainly looks as though he's lost everything, including the ones who cared for him the most. I just hope I never end up like that. he thought, while off in the distance, outside the limits of Nieghburg, a pair of glowing green eyes appeared to be watching him from afar. "Soon, spirit of the heart, you will be mine, very soon." the creature said a wicked smile showing off its sharp, dagger-like teeth. Revealed DarknessFour months have gone by since school started and yet another pony has been lucky enough to learn about DarkHeart's dark magic and the two spirits, the spirit that dwells with the Heart of Light, Nova and the manifestation of the darkness within his own heart, Shadow; as well as earning himself a little recognition in school, though that is only because of the rumors that his longtime enemy, Stone Digger, had spread around saying that he was a crime against nature being part pony and part dragon, but of course there were many who had been skeptical of the bullies claim and thought that he was just spreading such a rumor around because DarkHeart kicked his ass without laying a finger on him. But I think that's enough of a recap if shit we already know, now on to what's been happening after the first day of school. DarkHeart simply goes through school with ease as he manages to keep up with his school work with ease while brushing off any assaults from Stone Digger who for the last four months, has been trying to get him to reveal his draconic eyes again to prove to everypony that he wasn't crazy. He also had Ms. Tender Heart watching over him, helping him to cover up any incidents that he has with his dark powers every now and again, keeping Stone Digger at bay and preventing him from accomplishing his new goal to make DarkHeart's life miserable, and teaching him how to better control his new abilities. Ever since she had asked DarkHeart how it had felt to control such magic, she understood what it was that made his incidents occur at all, after running everything she had heard around the inside of head for a few weeks, and found a way to help him control it and was really doing wonders for him as the incidents had been getting less and less frequent and the level of power released from them decreased as well. Now it's the last Friday of the semester as their winter break and, in a week or so, Hearth's Warming and so the entire school was filled with excitement as the final two hours of school came around and the entire school was called into the gym for an assembly. "I can't believe that Hearth's warming is almost here already." Nova said excitedly. "I can't believe DarkHeart is actually in a good mood, usually there's too much cheer in the air for either of us to stand." Shadow joked. "I can't believe you two aren't shutting up I'm trying to actually enjoy today and hearing you two sounding excited isn't helping, your shrill voices are beating against my ear drums." He smirked on that last comment knowing that it would provide him some joy in getting the two to try and get him back for comment, especially Shadow. "HEY, I don't have a shrill voice!" he heard him shout with a voice that was a few octaves lower. Which got both Nova and DarkHeart immediately reacted to as they were trying to hold in their laughter. "You. . . . Shadow, . . . . it . . . . doesn't help, pfft ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!" DarkHeart no longer being able to hold back starting laughing his ass off it lead way for Nova to join in, all to the displeasure of the dark spirit who would've been shooting glares at the two of them if he was in his physical form. "Not cool guys, how would feel if I made fun of something that was suppose to be a sign of masculinity, or femininity as the case would be with Nova." he asked disgruntled. "I'd probably just blow it off considering I don't give a shit on what anyone says." DarkHeart quickly replied. "And I doubt you'd be able to find anything on me I am, in all sense of the phrase, a perfect mare so I thi-" she was interrupted by another bout of laughter coming from the guys. "What's so funny?" she asked getting a little miffed with the two males. "I'm sorry Nova, but you. . . . the perfect woman, please. If you were the perfect mare you wouldn't be walking around inside the amulet practically naked, you'd put some clothes on to be little miss prim and proper." DarkHeart replied. "Why would I do that, the interior of the heart is my home after all, and I should be allowed to do what want in my home." she argued. "Even with the golem there and being able to hide anywhere and watching you during your 'private' time." he said raising one of his brows up and getting a blush from her, but lucky for her he couldn't see it. "I. . . .I. . . . oh just shut up I'm done with you two." she stuttered embarrassedly. "Oh come on Nova I was just joking with ya, you know I don't care if you're the perfect mare or not right?" he asked apologetically. Nova just sighed before giving him her answer. "Yeah I know, but you know it's not really real fair teaming up on somepony like that." came her reply. "Oh so now you care about being fair, you didn't seem to care about being fair making fun of my voice, but now that we're talking about your little love affair with the golem you want us to back off, I don't think so." he said angrily. "Both of you shut up before I go in there and kick both your asses, especially you Shadow, Nova isn't used to be treated this way, despite how long she's joined us, so shut up your I'm making sure you can't even take a piss on your own." DarkHeart ordered as his mood quickly shifted from happy to angry in the blink of an eye. "But. . . but . . .but," Shadow stuttered. "Didn't I just tell you to shut it!" DarkHeart's voice had changed as he was trying to get his point across. The only response he got from the spirit was silence. Satisfied with his compliance, DarkHeart was going to start walking back to the gym, when he felt a tap o his left shoulder. He quickly took a look over it to see Ms. Tender Heart standing behind him with an inquisitive look on her face. "What was the voice changing thing about DarkHeart." she asked. "Nothing, just trying to keep the two of them in line, and driving me further off the deep end." he responded, his voice reverting back to normal. "Is that the first time that's happened." She said, hoping that maybe this wouldn't be something they would have too work on if it was recurring thing. "Yeah, my voice has changed before, but I can control that so you don't have to worry about it." he answered her trying to alleviate her fears. "Are you sure? I mean if you need help putting that under control too, I would be than happy to help." she told him cheerfully. "That's okay Ms. Tender Heart, I'm okay really, my voices changes were the first thing I learned how to control, seeing how it was the easiest to do and probably to most dead giveaway of my changes." he stated. "Alright then if you're sure, but should you need any help at all, just let me know and I'll be more than happy to lend you a helping hand." she said with a smile. "Thanks for the offer Ms. Tender Heart, I'll be sure to remember that whenever I feel like I can't control something on my own, but I think for now we should be heading over the assembly." he said remembering the assembly. "Right, well then lets get goi- *CRASH*, she was interrupted as they both heard a loud crashing came from the gym and saw dust spewing from the double doors as they flew open. What the hell was that!" DarkHeart shouted. As to answer his question crowd of students came running out of the gym yelling "RUN! There's some monster tearing apart the gym!" "A MONSTER!?" They both yelled at once. "What could a monster possibly want from a high school?" Ms. Tender Heart asked. "A building full of ponies to eat, cause thousands in property damage, miss it's a monster it doesn't need a reason to terrorize a town they just do it." DarkHeart as if it was a joke. "DarkHeart this is no time for your jokes we need to make everypony got out of the gym ok." Nova told him giving him a task to focus on. "Right, I'll be safe thanks to my training and dark magic, but whoever is in there, if there's anypony still in there, they won't be able to defend themselves against whatever beast decided to make the school their target." He said getting serious about the situation. "WHAT!? ARE YOU MAD!!? There's a dangerous creature in there a you're going back!?" Ms. Tender Heart shout semi-hysterical. "Well... Yeah, I have been training myself to fight off brutish creatures no matter what their size, and besides who would I be if I didn't go in and try to do what I can to help, huh?" he responded sounding as confident as he felt, and right now he felt pretty confident with himself right now. With that said said and done, DarkHeart headed towards the gym to see what damage the beast has done and retrieve anypony that may still be trapped inside. Stopping inside the doorway, he surveyed the area, what he saw astounded him. The bleachers had been pulverized to small planks of wood, a hole in the ceiling gave the gym a new, big skylight, every single window was either shattered or had an extended area that went from the ground to the middle of the wall, a humongous crater lie within the center of the floor, and a hole, the size of the crater, was in the left wall that had giant foot prints in the soil outside that looked to be headed towards the front of the school. "Oh shit this isn't good, whatever it is, it seems to be looking for somepony." DarkHeart said wondering what it is this creature wants. "Well at least it looks like everypony got out okay so at least we don't have to worry about that." Shadow chimed in. "Maybe not, but now we got to worry about either destroying this creature ourselves, or stalling it long enough for help to arrive." Nova added. "Woah woah woah, what is all this we crap, last I checked I was the one who was doing all of the fighting, you two just sit around in your own domains and distract me from my mission." DarkHeart argued with the two. "What we, well I, don't distract you, I try to help you with coming up with tactical strategies." Nova said, insulted that he would call her a distraction. "Oh yeah sure you come up with battle plans..... that are utterly stupid and so I have to step in to give advice about the-" Shadow was saying before DarkHeart interrupted him. "This is what I mean, you two are always arguing with each other that it starts to irritate the living hell out of me and then I can't fucking think of a way to accomplish my mission. So this time I want the two of you to shut up and let me handle it, and if I want your help I'll ask for it and even then I'll one of you specifically to help me alright?" DarkHeart wanted to concentrate all his efforts in fending off whatever it was that had attacked the gym, but knew he couldn't if he didn't stop the two spirits from bickering with each other. "Okay." they said in unison, agreeing to DarkHeart's terms. With their agreeing to his own plan DarkHeart headed out, following the gigantic footprints that were heading towards to main entrance of the school, where he was already hearing the screaming and yelling of his classmates and teachers which made him pick up his speed. Finally rounding the corner that was blocking his view to the front of the high school DarkHeart at last saw what it was he was going to be fighting. It was a dragon, but it didn't seem like any ordinary dragon, this one seemed to walk on two of its instead of on all fours that took it maximum height to about 70-90 feet, and appeared to be holding some kind of weapon in his left claw, its tail and wings were shrouded in violet fire, and its eyes seemed to be glowing a sickly green color. "Damn, if it wasn't for the fact that that thing is ripping up the school I sit here admiring the dragon, it looks fucking awesome, now I wish I had fire engulfing my tail, well you know without burning it of course." DarkHeart spoke up. "For some reason I don't think you're suppose to be standing here gawking at it DarkHeart, you got a job to do, sooooooo.......GET TO IT!" Nova ordered. "He...he...right, alright lets get going then, I can't allow it to do whatever the hell it wants." DarkHeart said to himself, and was off in an instant, running towards to creature and getting the weaponization spell ready. He got in front of the creature in a couple of minutes and was catching its attention. "What in tartarus do you think you're doing here, dragon, why are you here tearing apart this school? I know it's not for treasure because I doubt that there's anything, especially from teenagers, that we ponies would have that you want." DarkHeart interrogated. A few moments passed before the dragon spoke, "That's where you're wrong little pony, there is one thing that your kind has that I want, and heard it was in this town and that it was a teenaged colt that has it and I'm not going anywhere until I- Wait a minute what is that you're wearing around your neck...... is that........THE HEART OF LIGHT!?" The dragon said immediately turning his attention towards DarkHeart and his family's most guarded treasure. "So then you were looking for something. Well guess what buddy, you're not getting your claws on this amulet, not as long as I'm around. As the Guardian of the Heart of Light I will do everything in my power to make sure that it doesn't fall into the wrong-" DarkHeart was interrupted by a shouting that was coming from the partially destroyed entrance of his school. "Seriously just give him the necklace for Celestia's sake, then he'll go away and we can go on with our lives." he heard a mare say from the crowd that was immediately followed by a "YYEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!" "Well it would seem as though they've made the decision for you, little colt, I guess they don't care about it as much as you do." the dragon said with a short chuckle. "So what are you going to do then little pony, are you going to hand it over willingly, or would you rather I take it by force and endanger your fellow classmates?" he asked wait to see what his response is. DarkHeart didn't even have to think about what his answer was, "Hey dragon what's your name?" he asked calmly. Slightly taken back a bit from his question, the dragon answered him. " I am know as Spirit, the soul stealer, why do you wish to know colt?" he asked curious as to why DarkHeart would ask something so trivial at the moment. "Because......I need to know what to carve into your gravestone after I kill you." DarkHeart's voice had shifted to his deeper, scarier sounding one and a shroud of dark energy enveloping him. Surprised by the shroud of darkness, Spirit took a step back before realizing what he was doing and then returned to his fearsome composure. "So you want to handle this the hard way huh? Well fine then, their deaths will be on your hands then little po-" He was interrupted as a small blast of dark magic skimmed his right cheek. "The name is DarkHeart, not 'little pony' you insolent pest." DarkHeart said growing irritated being referred to 'Little pony'. "Well then, DarkHeart, what do you say we get this done and over with." Spirit was posing to strike DarkHeart already. "You took the words right out of my mouth, Spirit." DarkHeart said while starting the spell. Everypony in the school went to go find cover for what was surely to be a gruesome, but brief fight. They didn't really believe DarkHeart could really even stand a chance with the dragon and so were more interested in finding a hiding spot for when he came after them, well almost all of them, Ms. Tender Heart was only trying to look for a safe place to watch the battle. She would have gone to inform his parents of what was happening, but seeing as though the two were standing right in front of the exit she thought it best to hide for now and then make a break for the exit when the coast was clear. The two stood in place, glaring at each other. DarkHeart preparing himself for the fight as he was forming the summoning ring for his blades, while Spirit was taking in large breaths of air, raising the temperature of his internal flame. They were like this for awhile, waiting for one another to make the first move. DarkHeart's glare intensified until the point to where his right eye shifting to his draconic eye, his gaze piercing into Spirit's very soul. Meeting his glare head on Spirit caught the full force of the deadly stare before turning away, and DarkHeart, not having taken his eyes off his target, saw this and took it as an opportunity to strike. Immediately after seeing Spirit turn his gaze away from him,DarkHeart charged forward and quickly finishing off the weaponization spell, calling forth his blades, which he decided to call Cursed and Blessing. With both his blades in his hands he leapt into the air poised to strike Spirit's wings, but unfortunately for him the dragon had turned back around in time to see DarkHeart lunging towards him and taking the preemptive strike he swung his morning star to try and knock the unicorn away from him. "Nice try DarkHeart , but you'll have to do better than that to get the drop on me." Spirit said in an ever-so-confident tone. With those words spoken Spirit swung with all his might at DarkHeart, who was still falling through the air towards the deadly weapon coming towards him. He didn't make any attempt to move out of its way, but instead put his arms to his sides trying to increase the speed at which he was falling, this of course confused the dragon and had shocked Ms. Tender Heart who was still watching. "I guess you got a death wish don't ya pal?" Spirit said arrogantly. "No death wish here. Just want to get closer look at that weapon of yours." DarkHeart responded as he further increased his descending speed. *~THWUUUUNNG~*DarkHeart had collided with his morning star at an incredibly high speed and Spirit's face turned into another one of his wicked smiles accompanied by a dark chuckle. "I was really hoping for of splat, but I'll go for what I can get.... ha ha ha ha ha ha." He continued to laugh. As he stopped laughing he turned over his weapon in his palms to see what damaged he had done to the pony. He was coming to the spot where DarkHeart should've been.....*THUNK*...Spirit had dropped his mighty weapon as he saw something that he didn't think was possible for any pony to survive such a forceful strike. DarkHeart just stood atop one the many spikes that had adorned the weapon, "What, did you actually think that such a simple attack like that would be enough to kill me?" He said with his signature smirk. "Bu...but how, I have the strength of an earthquake at my disposal, how in the world could you stand that kind of force!?" Spirit, now, wasn't holding back his fear of the young unicorn. "HA... ha ha...... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha," DarkHeart laughed a dark laugh that echoed throughout the entire school and got the attention of everypony, as they came out of their hiding spots and made their ways to where the two were having their 'fight' they finally saw the shroud of darkness that had enveloped him. The look of awe or fear adorned the crowd of ponies as they saw Spirit cower in front of DarkHeart , as he just stood there finishing his bout of laughter that had just mysteriously appeared out of nowhere before the dragon spoke up. "Wha...what the hell is so funny about what I had asked, you....you thing!?" he stammered out of fear and confusion. "What's so funny is that I thought that you would've known what's allowed me to survive your 'attack', it was through the oh so amazing power of my dark magic. I thought that surely a creature such as yourself would've known that, after all you must possess some after all since you came after the Heart of Light otherwise you wouldn't be able to touch it," DarkHeart began to explain. "Da...dar....dark ma...ma..magic, but how do you possess such a thing you're suppose to be the Guardian of Light, so how are allowed to bear that amulet?" Spirit was getting more confused by the situation as it went on. "You really are clueless, aren't you?" DarkHeart asked before going on to explain himself. "There's nothing in my family's code about the Guardian not being able to use dark magic, that and the fact that my name is 'Dark...Heart', what makes you think that a pony with a name like that wouldn't possess it. If you look at my life very closely, you would see that it actually fits quite well with me, the only way for me to solve any of my problems and get through life has revolved around letting the darkness in my heart out and doing the work it needed to, to resolve it for me and the whole situation with Stone Digger has been a key reminder to that fact." He tried to explain to the creature cowering before him. "But as I said, I know how well you understand that, don't you, you've used it every time you've tried to steal the heart haven't you?" "Bu...bu....but how did you know I've tried to steal the amulet before? It's been tw-" DarkHeart cut him off. "Two centuries ago, the last time you had tried and failed, the rest of my family thought that they had taken you out for good during that fiasco, but I knew better than to think that you would've been overpower, especially not when you're angry." Spirit went wide-eyed at that last statement. "How did you know about my power being liked to my anger?" He asked curious on how DarkHeart had figured out something like that on their first encounter and he hadn't even gotten angry yet. "Because I do too, but the difference between our power is that your's increases your maximum power, while mine on the other hand just releases the locks I put on mine and allows me to use it without having, or should I say wanting, to hold back." DarkHeart went on. "And I have to be honest with you, the only reason you're not already dead is because I want to see the kind of power your anger can give you. I want to be able to fight an opponent that has the same kind of advantage I have so that I can further understand my own, but instead all I get is sniffling coward who can fight off a mob of unicorns wielding regular, old magic, but can't seem to even look a single unicorn who wields dark magic in the eyes." DarkHeart insulted the dragon's pride to try and spark off the real foe he wants to face against. "Oh, and another thing. Why is it that want to-" "THAT' ENOUGH DARKHEART!!" DarkHeart's insulting was interrupted by the sound of his mother's angry voice as it echoed through the air. He looked up to the sky to see not only his parents, but also the royal guard and, "Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, what the hell are they doing here?" He asked with a cocked eyebrow. "We, my little pony, were called here by your parents for help to eliminate this creature." Princess Celestia said, pointing at the dragon was now hanging his head down. "But it would seem as though you have taken the situation too far, endangering the lives of your fellow ponies' for your own selfish desires, such a waste of power that could've been used for so much good, and now has it has to be taken away before any harm can be done." Princess Luna added in, shaking her head in disappointment. DarkHeart was shocked that the princesses had said that they were going to take away the thing that made him special. He looked to his parents to see if they were going to talk them out of it, but when he did all he saw was a look of disappointment across their muzzles as well. DarkHeart turned back to the princesses and they looked as though they were looking for his response but looked away and took in the area surrounding them to see that the every guard that had came was now surrounding him making sure that he couldn't escape. DarkHeart looked the guard barrier to see everypony in the school had came out and were looking upon the scene, also appearing like they were expecting the same thin as the princesses, and as he kept looking around he now saw that ponies were coming out their homes to see what was happening. He kept looking in circles for somepony who had a friendly expression on their face towards him, that is until he heard his parents starting to say something and immediately turned his attention towards them. "DarkHeart you know what the right thing to do is, so I suggest you do it." Lucky Streak not hiding his disappointment towards his son's actions. "What, but...but..you....I" DarkHeart's voice shifted back to normal as he tried to form coherent sentences but the situation he found himself in was boggling his mind. "No buts DarkHeart, do as the princesses said and let them take your dark magic, it's become obvious that you can't use them responsibly, even after all of the training you have been through to not let such evil desires form in your heart, and here we are, promise broken and problem that should have been dealt with from the beginning is about to be solved and forgotten forever." Star Dust added in, having the same look as her husband. DarkHeart realized that he was all alone in this matter, well almost alone, "What do you two think I should do....Nova....Shadow?" he asked the two spirits that reside within him, his voice low enough so that they were the only ones who were able to hear him. There was a few moments before a response finally came, "I think you shouldn't do it, but not because that means I get to stay, but because the dark magic is a part of you, if its taken away from you then who are you? Whatever you're meant to do in this life has something to do with the dark magic that courses through your veins, are you really going to let them take the thing that's makes you special away from you?" Came Shadow's response. "Hmm... what about you nova, what do you believe I should do in the situation I'm in?" DarkHeart asked Nova, wanting her opinion before he made his decision. "Welllll.....I would say that I agree with Shadow on this. The dark magic is a part of who you are, and no pony should ever be asked to give up a part of their being, so I say you fight back and not let them take this away from you, you did get your cutiemark because of it, and I could only imagine what should become of you should you be a blank flank for the rest of your life because you'd allowed them to do this." Nova said with a steady voice. "Well then, I guess I have my answer then." He said loud enough so that the princesses, guard, and his parents could hear him. "So then, what will it be DarkHeart the unicorn, are you going to willing give up your dark power or will we have to use force." Princess Celestia asked sternly. "How about this option instead, I keep my dark magic, flee from you and the guards, and live alone for the rest of my life, huh? Because I'm not planning on being a blank flank again because I let takeaway the thing that makes me special, because I let you have the thing that I'm good at, I DON'T THINK SO!" DarkHeart stated as the dark shroud from earlier returned with more force than it had last time. "YOU HAVE MADE A GRAVE MISTAKE YOU LITTLE FOOL." boomed Luna with the Royal Canterlot Voice. "You have indeed DarkHeart. GUARDS APPREHEND HIM AT ONCE!!!!" Celestia gave the order to the guards, as they began the close in on their target. "It's not I who's made a mistake, but instead all of you. Now that you have so foolishly decided to gang up on me and can now display the full extent of my dark magic." He said while an evil grin adorned his features. "But I thought you said you didn't know how to invoke the transformation again." Shadow stated. "I didn't know how, at least not until now. I've figured out what makes it tick and I believe I can control it without allowing my rage to consume me, despite how much of it I'm feeling right from being betrayed by own parents, but I guess I can just take it out on these guards here." With those words, DarkHeart's body was enveloped by the shroud of darkness and being transformed into what he called his 'Darkness' form. "Hurry up and stop him before he can do whatever it is he's trying to do." Luna commanded the guards. Suddenly DarkHeart's parents felt something in their guts, a feeling that they had felt once before but weren't completely aware at the time. They looked at each other with worried looks on their faces before Lucky Streak turned towards Princess Celestia. "Your highness, you must call off your guards now or they will meet their end today!" he warned her. "What!? Why? What is your son planning on doing?" she asked impatiently. "DarkHeart is shifting that he calls his 'Darkness' form, and believe me when I say this princess, the power that he emits when the transformation is complete will be nothing short of lethal to those guards when it's released." Star Dust explained. At this, Celestia went wide-eyed, "ALL GUARDS FALL BACK NOW, AND GET AWAY FROM HIM QUICK." she hurriedly order he guards. Usually fighting off a powerful unicorn wouldn't concern her all that much if they wielded normal magic, but dark magic on the other was far too unpredictable and dangerous so she wasn't about to risk the lives of her royal guards when it wasn't necessary. But unfortunately for both her and the guards, she didn't give the order soon enough the dark ball suddenly erupted into beam of light and a wave of darkness, which had obliterated every single guard within a 10-feet radius of the blast's center, while everypony else got sent flying back. DepartureA cloud of debris had covered the area as the only ones who had been able to withstand the blast, Lucky Streak, Star Dust, who had put up a barrier seconds before the blast went off, and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who were behind the barrier that was now beginning to dissipate. "That is incredible power, how did he obtain such magic at such a young age." Luna asked as she was scouting out the damage the blast had done. "We aren't completely sure on that, but we believe that he had gotten a hold of it when he was six years old. We weren't there to see what had happened, but according to everything we had heard from his teachers and from him, he had-" Star Dust was interrupted as a stream of black came whizzing through the air in between her and Celestia. "I really don't have the time to be listening to these old stories they're a part of the old DarkHeart and that isn't the me you need to worry about right now. No, right now you need to worry about the new DarkHeart who is on a warpath that , in all reality, doesn't even need to be in effect right now but none of you could just accept me for who I am now and decided to take away something that is now a part of my very soul and I can't just let you take it." DarkHeart after he had interrupted his mother from bringing up something that he had been wanting to forget ever since it occurred. "But all we want to do is help you. Why do you persist on keeping something that would do nothing but bring about pain and suffering, do you not realize that you could lose everything if you were allow the dark magic to remain with you?" Luna asked, if somewhat a little irritated that the young unicorn's resolve to stop them from taking away the black magic that was, in her opinion, corrupting his mind and heart. "I'LL LOSE EVERYTHING IF IT'S TAKEN AWAY FROM ME!!!!" He yelled, letting off an animalistic growl afterwards and causing more black energy streams to begin surrounding him again. That outburst made them all take a step back, but had also made them curious as to why he thought that he needed his dark magic so badly. "Why do think you would lose everything if you were to lose your dark magic?" the sun goddess asked calmly. DarkHeart simmered down a bit, but the black streams remained, before he answered her, "Because.... as I said before.... the dark power of mine is now a part of who I am, I did get my cutiemark because of it after all, and if I were to lose it I would losing the thing that made me special. That's the reason why I'm willing to fight against every single one of you to make sure I keep it, and besides...... even you were to succeed I would have ended running away to live alone anyway." His parents were shocked to hear that their only son, whom they had loved so dearly and who had returned that love back without hesitation, would just get up and leave just because they were trying to help him. "What!? Why would you leave, we're only trying to help you DarkHeart, so why would you leave because of that? Are you really obsessed with gaining power, that when somepony takes from you, you just get up and leave." Star Dust asked angrily. "I wouldn't leave because of the fact that you took that power away from me. I would leave because of the fact I know that you don't accept me for what I have become.... You think that by taking away this power that I'll return to the way I was before I had gotten it, right?" The bitterness in his tone was slowly turning over into a dark one instead as he glared at the four ponies in front of him. "But of course, I still remember the sweet little colt I had came to help when you were having those endless nightmares, and each and every night I had, and still do, come to check on your dreams to make sure they plague your mind no longer. I have seen what you're really like and this most certainly is not it. So it stands to reason that the dark magic is what's making you act this way." Luna stated matter-of-factually. The other three ponies next to her were nodding their like what she had said was indeed true, but stopped once they heard DarkHeart's dark laughter fill the air. They all turned their attentions back towards him staring at him like he was a mad pony, but for anypony else knew he very well could be. After a good five minutes of laughing DarkHeart had finally managed to calm his laughter down so that he was able to finally speak. "You honestly think that it's my dark magic corrupting me that's making act like this. I couldn't tell you just how wrong you are. he said, still a few of his leftover laughter from earlier trying to make it's way out. "But....but it has to be the reason why, you've always been a sweet boy and would never act this way, but I guess this our fault as well. We should've contacted the princesses when you had your little episode on the first day of school." Lucky Streak said unconvincingly. "Yes, your father is right no matter would happen you would have taken any action action that colt, at least no actions that didn't involve a teacher or somepony who would've had the authority the properly assess the situation." Star Dust backed up her husband. "Man you guys are dense. Since I'm obviously not getting the message across to any of you by being nice and talking calmly, I guess I'm going to have to up the volume." DarkHeart said getting a little irritable himself at the ones who were trying to 'help' him. "I'M NOT GIVING UP MY DARK MAGIC AND IF YOU DON'T APPROVE OF THAT THEN YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE BY FORCE, AND IF YOU'RE GOING TO DO NOTHING THEN I'M JUST GOING TO LEAVE AND LIVE IN THE WILD AND WILL NEVER BE HEARD FROM AGAIN!!!!" He shouted in a voice that was on par with the Royal Canterlot Voice as the four covered their ears to prevent any damage from befalling them. DarkHeart stood where he was waiting for one of them to say something, but they still had their hands cupped over their ears. Once they were sure that he was done, they slowly took their hands off being cautious to make absolutely sure that he was indeed finished. After they had their were sure that the close was clear Princess Celestia quickly looked over to him angrily for she had grown tired of pointlessly arguing with the colt. "I've had enough of this, it's become obvious that he's not willing to let go of the darkness of his accord and now that he's revealed that he released that spell knowing the damage it could do and killing those guards I have no other choice but to bring him down, dead or alive!" Princess Celestia stated. Lucky Streak, Star Dust, and Princess Luna all looked towards Celestia to see if maybe they could change her mind, only to see the seriousness in her eyes which made them all nod their heads in agreements as they turned their own glares towards the dual-wielding unicorn. "I guess you have answer DarkHeart." Nova finally said since the he changed to his Darkness form. "It seems that I do, but there is one question that I need answered before I do any thing else." DarkHeart said in a softer tone. "And what would that be DarkHeart?" Shadow asked, curious as to what else he needed to escape his parents and the princesses. "Nova.... do want to stay by me or would you rather I leave you and be taken care of by somepony else, and before you make your decision I just want to let you know that.... I love and care about you and no matter the decision you make I'll always consider you my friend." He said with a smile, a tear threatening to escape from his slitted eye. "I'm with him on this, you've been a part of his 'family' for generations now and have watched it grow from his ancestor that had found you. I would be okay with either decision you made glow butt, even if we do have our little disagreements, but I consider a friend just as much as I do DarkHeart. Even though our entourage wouldn't really be the same without you, but hey, maybe we'll meet up in the future, after all of this has blown over. But again, it's your decision and your opinion is the only one that matters at the moment." Shadow added in after DarkHeart had finished. There was nothing but silence both outside and inside DarkHeart's mind as he waited for Nova's response, and the only reason he wasn't be attacked right now is because he had asked his question loud enough for his parents to hear and they in turn had stopped the princesses from advancing on him so as to see what she would decide as well. This unnatural silence continued on for sometime now as the five ponies were waiting patiently for the light spirit's decision when DarkHeart had finally heard incoherent words from her. "What was that Nova?" He asked. "I said I want to stay with you and Shadow. You two are my close friends as well and I don't want to lose the two of you knuckleheads either, and besides who am to break up our trio of misfits." she replied earning a smirk and a little laughter from the other two. "We have that of the way but there is one more issue that should probably be addressed before we begin." Shadow said. "What do you think is still so important that we further postpone the inevitable Shadow?" DarkHeart asked annoyed that once again he was stopped from making his escape already. "I'm not really sure if it's really that important but I have to ask anyway, what the hell happened to Spirit after the blast." Shadow had reminded them of Spirit, the dragon who had originally came here to steal the Heart of Light from DarkHeart. "Oh yeah, what did happen to that snivelling coward of a dragon?" he asked having completely forgotten about the supposed 'soul stealer'. He turned towards the place where he had left the dragon, only to find that both he and his morning star were gone. "Guess he left while you were talking to those four." Shadow stating the obvious. "DARKHEART, enough stalling!! Did Nova decide to stay with you or come back to us?" Star Dust growled. He turned back around towards his foes his happiness immediately turning to scorn as he cast his gaze upon them. "She said that she's staying with us, because she didn't want to lose her two closest friends and is now a part of our band of misfits." he said coldly. His mother sighed upon hearing that but figured it was for the best. She thought that maybe after her son was drained of all of his dark magic, and would most likely be feeling a little sore from the ass kicking he will be getting, that she would be able to get him to see that they did to him was for the best. "Well if that's what she chooses, then I won't try to convince her otherwise, but do know this son, you won't be allowed to escape and once this is all over you will be grounded for a long time." Star Dust scolded him. They had all expected him to make some kind of smartass comment about the fact that, even at a time like this, his mother was still threatening him with a grounding, but he was done messing around with ponies that didn't understand what he was going through and had charged towards them hoping to get past them and disappear into the wild where he felt was the only place for creature such as himself to live, a place for a monster to live out the rest of his days in peace. Thanks to the dark energy running through his veins Dark Heart was already running at unbelievable speeds for a unicorn but he knew that in order to get past his parents and the princesses he would need to go faster and thought of one thing that could possibly get him to speed up even further, the only problem was that his plan also had the possibility of backfiring on him and lead to his capture if he wasn't careful. What Dark Heart was planning was to try to fuse both types of his magic within himself to give him the boost he was looking for, but the problem with that was that every time he had tried to fuse them before, instead of calling upon them separately, the conflicting powers of his dark and light powers would often try to fight each other for control and make them become unstable and thanks to that instability it would create an internal implosion that sucks away all the magical energy within him and he wouldn't be able to use either types of magic for a few days. He had discovered all of this during the summer while trying to find ways to boost his powers even further, even if for short periods of time. He feared that fusing his light and dark powers together would the same way it always had when had try to use it before but as he continued to look at the four ponies that were determined to stop him Dark Heart saw that he had no other choice but to do so. "Well you two this may be the last time we see each other, is there anything anypony wants to say before I go through with this." Dark Heart asked. "I said everything that I needed to when we were asking Nova who she wanted to stay with." said Shadow. "Same here, what about you Dark Heart?" Nova replied. "Nope.... well actually there is one thing. I just want to say that if this doesn't work I'm glad that the three of us met, it's been one hell of ride even despite how short it was." Dark Heart to which the two spirits agreed to. Without further to do, Dark Heart began the strenuous process of fusing the light and darkness within his body. He could already feel the opposites trying to defy to will of their bearer and started to pull apart from each other, causing the energy flow to become unbalanced and unstable which also caused excruciating pain to shoot through his body. "Nnngh....... NO, I can't fail not again. The future of all three of us rest on me successively performing this spell. . . . I MUST, complete this fusion otherwise I lose everything I have left! Dark Heart growled through clenched teeth as he tried even harder to make both of the energies inside him combine. "I must complete this fusion to save to lives of the two ponies that actually care, it doesn't matter that they're spirits!" The pain seemed to be fading but Dark Heart was too busy trying to make sure that the fusion was a success. The two energies seem to calm their storm within him as they finally seem to accept what Dark Heart wanted them to do as they seem to be successfully combining into one and creating energy pulses throughout his body, giving him greater reserves of magic to call upon, but the process still had a ways to go as some of the magic was still trying to reject their polar opposites. "I MUST PROTECT...... MY FRIENDS!!!!" Dark Heart's eyes snapped open as the last bits of the conflicting forces bent to his will and created an immense surge of power to course through him and getting the power he needed in order to escape the clutches of the ones who were trying takeaway everything left that he held dear and once again surged forward, straight towards to group, and to be more precise, straight towards the sun goddess herself. "Sister, Star Dust, put up the barriers! Lucky Streak make sure you're ready to apprehend him after he passes through our barrier, which should slow him down enough for you to make that possible." Celestia ordered as her's, Luna's and Star Dust's horns started glowing with their magical auras. Lucky Streak had moved into position a few yards behind the three mares with a hook and chains in his hands. "I hope this works." "I hope this works." the couple thought, still a little worried that the princesses' plan wasn't going to work. But they didn't have much time to really let it dwell in their heads for very long as Dark Heart was fast approaching them, and if they weren't mistaken, they thought that he looked like he had gotten faster in the last few minutes. "GET READY EVERYPONY!" Luna shouted as Dark Heart was now only one- hundred meters away.....ninety meters away.....eighty meters away...... seventy meters....... sixty meters, by this point DarkHeart sped up again and moving at blinding speeds now he was but thirty meters from them and closing in fast........ fifteen meters and he increased his speed once more and the four adults were already ready to make their move at the right moment.......he was now at ten meters and he became all the more faster and his speed seemed to increase with every second as he neared them......now at nine meters......eights meters.......seven......six......five....four....three.......two......one....... "W-W-W-W-WHAT HAPPENED!!?" shouted Lucky Streak not seeing Dark Heart pass through the barrier, in fact nopony had seen him period for... "He....he vanished...our son has just vanished." said Star Dust wide-eyed. The princesses were looking around to see if he had somehow managed to just careen off course and was in a pile of rubble that didn't hear or see fall on top of him as they were looking through each pile they could find, all while using a locator spell to keep an eye underground. Lucky Streak and Star Dust, after getting over her shock, took to the roofs and sky to get an aerial overview of the decimated remains of ponies' homes to see if he had gone a different way to avoid being captured. The four of them looked and looked but couldn't find a single of the black unicorn and they all knew that he had successfully escaped from their grasp. "He's gone.....he's really gone. My son is gone forever and he believes that we hate him......that we've betrayed him." Star Dust said on the brink of tears. "My little Darky is gone and there's nothing we can do to bring him back." At this point she broke down and started crying for the lost of her only son. "Shush, my dear it'll be okay," Lucky Streak tried to comfort his wife. "We don't know that he'll never come back, we just have to be patient and wait for him to come back on his own once he's calmed himself down and comes to his senses." As he was holding her in his embrace, stroking her back to get to stop crying, Princess Celestia stepped up behind the couple, "I'm sorry that we weren't able to stop him today Star Dust, but I promise I'll have my guards keep looking for him and return your son to you." she said helping to calm Star Dust and Lucky Streak. "Sorry princess but I don't think neither you, your sister, nor the royal guard should look for Dark Heart." Lucky stated still consoling his wife. This, of course shocked the two princesses, "But why not, don't you want your son to be back with you as soon as possible?" asked Luna. "We do, but it's obvious that he doesn't want any of us around right now and the fact that we just tried to capture and imprison him, it would be best to leave him be and hope that someday he'll forgive us and come back." The Princess wanted to protest but looking at all of the damage that has been the little town she let a sigh. "Okay then, we will respect your wishes, but we will let you know of any information we get on his whereabouts and well being." She informed them. Fifty miles from Nieghburg Dark Heart was still running through the vast forest, not looking back in case he was still being pursued by his parents, the princesses, or the guard. "Dark Heart, dude, you can stop now there's nothing following you, you're in the clear!" Shadow called out to him knowing that Dark Heart won't stop unless he was told that he wasn't being pursued. DarkHeart took a quick glance back to make sure that Shadow was right before he started slowing down. "Well I guess you're right, but still I don't want to be out ot long, we need to find a place where I could hide just in case they do come looking for me." he said looking back to the direction he had just came from before proceeding forward. "You know you can shift back to your normal form again. It's not like any wild animal would be able to get the jump on you, you are a well-trained fighter whose eyes could pierce through even the darkest of caves." Nova reminded him. "Oh, yeah, I guess I should change back now shouldn't ?" Dark Heart called upon his dark magic to drive back his Darkness form till it was needed to called upon again. The dark energy began to swirl around his form ready to draw back the darkness that had taken refuge within him but suddenly they vanished before the process was even done. "What in Tartarus is going on with my powers?" He asked as tried to change back into his normal form again only to get the same results. "What's wrong Dark Heart, why aren't you changing back?" Nova asked starting to get a little concerned. "I....*crackle*....don't....*crackle*.....know!" He grunted as he kept trying to change back. "Shadow you think you could go snooping through my mind, or body, or wherever part of me this form affects when I change and find out what's going on?" "I'm was already one step ahead of you there buddy and have an answer as to why you can't change back." Shadow responded with a mildly excited tone that had DarkHeart a little creeped out. "Well then spill it you ass. What's preventing him from turning back... and the hell do you sound so happy about it?" Nova said after Shadow hadn't said anything for a few moments. "Well Dark Heart old pal, it would seem that your Darkness form has bonded with you body and soul." Shadow said, the joy in his voice too noticable now. "And what the in tartarus is that suppose to mean?" Dark Heart asked now getting as concerned as Nova. "Well, it means that your Darkness form IS your normal form, though I'm not sure if that means whether or not you can back to previous form, but whenever you're knocked unconscious or anything like that while in another form this will be the one you now fall back to." Shadow explained. "Oh, and Nova, the reason why I sound so damn happy is because with his Darkness form now taking control, it helps further prove my theory on why the darkness is soooo much better that the light, so, HA in your face." he gloated. With that, the two spirits started to begin arguing with each other in which side of the spectrum was truly better while Dark Heart secluded himself within his thoughts. This form has completely bonded wit me now but how, was it really the way I was acting? Was I really acting like some kind of madpony with a lust for power? Was I being evil? Wait, no- no I couldn't have been otherwise the amulet would have activated, or shown some kind signal, or something. Maybe it was the fusion, maybe when I finally got it to work, it didn't just fuse my dark and light powers, but it also fused my normal and Darkness forms as well since technically m normal form would be like my light form.... I think. Whatever, I'll worry about it at a later date but right now I need to find a place to call my new home, since the princesses are sure to be looking for me I can't really travel to any other town, but where would there be a good place to call home." Dark Heart, taking off the fact that he can't change back to his normal self off his mind, started thinking about what he would need to successively live off the land. He started to stroll through the woods he was currently in and remembering all of the survival training he did with his parents when he was about nine of ten years olds while also drowning out the incessant bickering off Shadow and Nova who were still at it. " I wish I could see what the weather's like but the damn tree canopy is too damn thick. He said to nopony in particular. "Actually, now that's on my mind, I should be able to spot a cave or a den that should provide great cover from the rain if I were to climb to the top of the canopy. He did just that, except for climbing up part. Dark Heart decided it would be easier to just simply leap up since he's able to clear easily with a single jump. He surveyed the area around him using his Precision Sight, which was a spell to magically enhance his vision so as to allow him to see further than with his normal vision, and quickly spotted quite a few suitable areas to live in pretty quickly. "Some of these places look promising, very promising indeed," He said while still examining the area to see if there were any better ones than the ones he and already spotted. "Shouldn't you have picked out our new home by now Dark Heart?" Shadow asked after his and Nova's argument had finally ended. "Shut up, I'm still looking. Besides why do you care I'm the one whose actually going to be living in it." Dark Heart answered back. "Because I don't to hear you bitching later on in the year when it actually starts to get colder around here." Shadow replied back. Dark Heart just rolled his eyes while he continued to look around when he spotted a cave that had formed high up into the face of a cliff, behind a waterfall. "Hey guys, what'd you say we live in a cliff?" he asked. "A cliff, really? Wouldn't that be kind of idiotic considering that we, well you, will need a way to escape should either of the princesses or the royal guard manage to find you." Nova asked, skeptical of the idea. "Not really. I mean come on, it's hidden by a waterfall and I don't know about you but I've never heard of cliff cave that didn't have another, SAFE, way into it. Especially when the cliff sloping up so I think it would be good." He explained. "I say we go for it after all he'd have a source of clean water nearby at the time, and if he could find some trees nearby that could provide him with fruit. Or do you rather he find another place that doesn't have such convenience supplies nearby which would make him have to travel away from his shelter and be exposed out in the open, and later on have the royal guard try to ambush him in his sleep after tracking down his new home?" Shadow stated, hearing grumbling from Nova and a smirk from Dark Heart. "That's what I thought. Dark Heart let's get going before it gets dark out." Shadow commanded in which DarkHeart saluted before heading off to the cave, his smirk still plastered on his face. Heading towards the cave on the cliff, Dark Heart's mind began to bring back the events that had just occurred forty-nine minutes ago. But of course, I still remember the sweet little colt I had came to help when you were having those endless nightmares, and each and every night I had, and still do, come to check on your dreams to make sure they plague your mind no longer. I have seen what you're really like and this most certainly is not it. So it stands to reason that the dark magic is what's making you act this way. Luna's words played through his mind as he remembered the tender, motherly look on her face when she had spoken those words. "If you had really watched over me and my dreams all these years, then you should have seen when your spell had worn off and saw the nightmares that I had had since then. You're nothing more than a liar that was trying to gain my trust through dishonest methods and from this day forth I won't anypony ever again." DarkHeart sadly mumbled to himself as he was going through that sentence multiple times within his head. "So does that include us then, we may be spirits, but we still have dreams, ambitions, ......and desires, which means we're just like everypony else, so tell me ......do you not trust either then?" Nova asked in a serious tone. "Nova you know what I meant, and both of you already know that I would trust the two of you with my life but as for everypony else, they would have to work day and night for a millenium before I would even consider putting any trust with them." DarkHeart stated coldly. "Well then I guess it's a good thing the princesses are immortal huh." Shadow joked, but when he got nothing but silence from the two he decided to just remain silent for the rest of the trip. The cave on the Cliff The rest of their trip to the cave had been spent in an eerie silence, but that had quickly changed when they had arrived. "HOOOLYCRAP!" The three said as they gawked at what was in front of them. DarkHeart just stood there with Nova and Shadow looking at the interior of the cave with his mouth hanging open before he came out of his stupor to say something. "Well I guess Lady Luck must have the hots for me because there is no way I could just stumble upon something like this, I mean seriously though what are the odds that a cave that was I thinking of using as merely a form of shelter, is filled with huge crystals all over the place. I'm so fucking set for live now." Dark Heart joked, walking towards one of the cave walls, while the spirits were still in awe by the scene. They both finally regained themselves when they heard a loud *TING* reverberate through the cave, and turned their attention to what Dark Heart was doing to find him striking one of the crystals with his steel claws. "Yep, they're real alright." He stated still hitting the crystals. "What?" Shadow asked confused. "I said that these things are real. I could tell from the fact that it isn't cracking when I hit it." Dark Heart repeated. "Well of course they're real just look at how they shine in the light." Nova said practically drooling over them within the amulet, actually DarkHeart could've sworn he felt a wet spot accumulating on his shirt, but didn't bother with it. After hitting the crystal a few more times DarkHeart stood up and started his exploration of his new home and quickly finding that it split into many other passages when he left the room he was in. Though that didn't slow him down any as he started the walls of the cave with special navigation spires made of dark magic, something to help him navigate the caves while also making sure that if anything ever tried to hunt him down in there they would become confused and be thrown off course. He traversed the caves for a couple of hours and getting the layout of the interior while also marking the chambers he was going to use for different rooms, like a training room and storage room as well as many other rooms for different purposes. After that he headed back to the cave's entrance to find that Luna's moon was already high in the night sky, seeing that the moonlight giving the roaring waters of falls a magnificent glow, before he sat down on the cave's crystal floor and summoning up a hay burger that he had stored a mini-pocket dimension built within the chest plate. "This thing may not hold much but it definitely comes in handy for running away don't it?" He asked. "It most certainly does, but let me ask you something DarkHeart, how long do you think you'll last out here?" Shadow asked, his question throwing him off. "What do you mean Shadow, are you trying say that I don't know how to survive on my own out here?" DarkHeart was getting a little irritated, believing that that's exactly what the dark spirit was trying to say. "No, what I mean is....well.....lets face it, your parents is the only reason why you hadn't caved into the darkness yet and carried out your more, darker, desires and I wanted to know how long you think you'll be able to hold back that darkness before it becomes too strong for you to handle." Shadow clarified. "Oh well, if that's all you wanted to know, I think the answer is fairly simple." Dark Heart calmly. "And what is your answer then?" Shadow asked. "There isn't one, things have changed dramatically after my birthday, with you and Nova coming into my life as well as getting both my cutiemark and dark power, well who knows what the future has in store for us but for the time being, what do you say we put it out of our minds and enjoy everyday we got, eh Shadow." Dark Heart said leaning against the cave's wall before drowsing off into his nightmare/dream realm. "Yeah, I guess we should I just hope this doesn't come back to blow up in our faces in the future." Shadow drowsily, before he too slipped into unconsciousness. The NightmareThree Years Later Dark Heart's POV I was yet again awoken from my sea of endless nightmares by the light of Celestia's sun as it shined through the entrance of the cave I've called my home for the last three years. "Three years..... I can't believe it's already been three whole years since I ran away from home and I'm still doing fine out here." I said under my breath. "Well is it really that surprising, you did receive some intense survival training when you were younger. Just throw in the addition of your dark magic and BAM, you got the ultimate means to surviving on your own." Nova said cheerfully as always. "And the fact that I have two strong, magical spirits living within my very soul has nothing to do with it whatsoever." I sarcastically replied. I waited for a moment or so for her response, but after waiting for five minutes my stomach gave me a reason to get up. *Gggrrrrrrrr* Yeah yeah, just shut up already so I could go put some food in you." I complained to my growling belly. "Talking to your Dark Heart, it sounds like you may be going crazy." Shadow joked as he finally awoke. I picked myself up off the cave floor and did a few stretches so that I could get the kinks out of my back. I'm just glad I've gotten so used to sleeping on that ground every night after my first year of living here, otherwise I'd be so stiff one could see me waddle around like a bloody penguin for the better part of the morning. I walk towards the tunnel that has one of my Dark spires embedded into the cave walls, it displayed the word "KITCHEN" as I passed it. I'm so thankful for these spires, if it wasn't them I would have gotten lost within the cave systems a long time ago. "So what are we doing today Dark Heart; something exciting I hope." Shadow asked excitedly. I just rolled my eyes at his giddiness for action this early in the morning, "Sorry buddy, but I need to wash my suit today as well as myself because I'm seriously starting to smell now." I told him. "Well, what do you expect to happen when you're swallowed whole by a hydra, those things aren't exactly known for their oral hygiene." Nova reminded him of the events of yesterday. "I wasn't really expecting to be fucking eaten by a hydra to begin with, though I guess I'm kinda glad it did because then it allowed me to gut the bastard without having the trouble of having to pierce through its scales on its underbelly." I answered back, thinking back to the image of a mangled hydra corpse that had its innards scattered everywhere. "Needless to say that after your little escapade yesterday, those hydras probably want nothing to do with you from on. That is if they don't decide to band together to hunt you down, but that seems highly unlikely in my books." Shadow added in, with a hint of fear in his voice. I let a smile creep across my face at hearing the fear in his tone, I have no idea why why but it was refreshing to me whenever I knew something was afraid of me. I guess I would leave that for another time, but right now I needed to eat and my stomach made sure to remind of that as I got closer to the 'kitchen', which nothing more but a few rocks and crystals formed into a counter, cupboards, and table, along with an oversized chest, which I bought from a nearby settlement with some the gems I've found in here, that I had used to store my food supply in. I went over to the chest to see what I wanted to eat, but as I looked inside I saw that it was nearly empty, with only half a bushel of apples, one bunch of bananas, and two bags filled with various kinds of berries, along with a few carrots, potatoes, and daisies scattered about. "Looks like I'm going to have to go looking for some more food before I run out when I go out." I said to myself, making a mental note of today's to-do list. "I don't get why you don't just go buy some food at that settlement, you got the chest from there." Shadow suggested. "Because I run the risk of being discovered by the ponies there every time I go, I need this place to remain a secret 'cause goddess forbid that a pony live in a cave on the face of a cliff without being up to something." I said exasperatedly. He just kept silent after that knowing that I was right. I grabbed a couple of apples, a banana, and a fourth of one of bags of berries into a sack I kept tied around my waist before making my way back to the cave's entrance to get everything I needed to do, done. I picked up Cursed and Blessing from their resting place, strapping Cursed onto my back and Blessing around my waist, and jumped out into the world I was adamant on hiding from. As I landed onto the ground from the ~150 ft. drop I started heading towards the forest that was nearby to go bathe in the lake to get the stench of hydra saliva out of my fur and watch my suit/armor off as well. It hadn't taken long to find the lake, seeing as I've traversed these woods countless times on supply runs and the occasional casual strolls on a beautiful day, but by the looks of the sky it definitely doesn't look like it's going to be one of those days, the sky was covered in shroud of dark grey clouds covering it up. "Looks like you'll have to trudge through the mud today if you haven't finished your to-do list before it starts downpouring. Am I glad I have to stay within the essence of your soul and not walking around out there like you, it's going to really suck to be you later." Shadow rubbed in my face. "Meh, I don't mind really, I actually like being out here when it rains, it feels good, but I'm still going to have take a bath in the lake before it starts though." I told him before quickly stripping off my clothes and jumping into the water. I stayed submerged in the water for awhile, just swimming into the deeper depths of the lake to explore the bottom a little, before I resurfaced to get some air back into my lungs. When I resurfaced I swam back over to the lakeshore to grab my suit and dunked it into the water, and using my dark magic, I created a small whirlpool that I was constantly changing the direction of to cause the water the clash into the garments. After doing this for some time I got out of the lake feeling refreshed, and as I took a whiff of my arm, I could no longer had that awful smell lingering on me. I spent a few hours by the lake as I waited for my suit to dry off before deeming that it was dry enough to wear and went to scouring the forest for food, though as I walked through it noticed that it was quiet in the serene environment. A little too quiet, I thought before my ears perked up as I noticed a strange noise coming from the same direction I was heading. Taking up the defensive, I quickly jumped behind a tree, .....drawing my blades I waited there as I listened whatever it was, getting closer. "Dark Heart, you have any idea on what it is that's heading this way?" Nova asked me, obviously concerned by the strange sound that was getting closer. "No, but whoever or whatever it is, I won't let them get the jump on me. I'll make sure that I land the first blow and pin it down before they can even blink." I said with a serious tone. I stood and waited for the source of the noise to get closer, but as it got closer I was starting to make out what it was, it sounded like.... "Armor!? Oh crap, Dark Heart it's the royal guard. What the hell are you going to do?" Shadow asked, panicking at the thought of being discovered. I thought about some of the ways this could possibly go, and what I could do. I could just keep out of sight and wait until they pass, or I could take a preemptive strike and take them out now..... or I could follow them and see if whoever it is has any kind of valuable info I could use to help conceal myself better. As I remained in my spot behind the tree, thinking about my options and their possible pros and cons, when I heard something that shocked me. "Dark Heart, come out from wherever you are, I hear to speak to you..... I know you're nearby I can feel the dark energy emanating from you." It was a mare, and she was calling for me, ......wanting to speak to me. "Wait a minute, how the hell does she know who I am 'cause I sure in tartarus don't recognize her voice from any of the mares back in Nieghburg." I asked, hoping that the two that reside within me could provide an answer. "I don't who it is, I've never heard any mare with that voice." Nova stated. "Neither have I, and but considering she knows about your dark powers odds are she was there when you unleashed them back in Nieghburg. It's either that of she's heard of you from somepony that was there, either way you should still be cautious of this mare, we still have no idea whether or not she's with the princesses." As Shadow finished I turned my attention back to listening to the clanking of the mare's armor as she got closer to where I was hiding. *CLANK* I decided to stay where I was and remain hidden from my possible assailant.... *CLINK*...*CLANK* ... I pressed myself into the tree trying to make myself look smaller as the sound grew all the more closer....*CLINK*.....*CLANK*.... moving around the area around my hiding spot when I was sure that she was just around the corner from where I was just moments ago....*ClINK*........ The noise had stopped, I stood frozen in place gripping onto the handles of my swords ready to strike if I needed to defend myself. "Hello, Dark Heart," I swung around as quickly as my body would allow me, swinging Blessing to my left and aiming right for the mare's head. I missed as Blessing sliced right through the trunk of the tree, causing it to come crashing down on the forest floor and reveal the mare that had been calling for me. As I watched her to make sure she didn't make any sudden moves I took note of her features, just in case she was working for the princesses and she managed to escape when they fight, and considering that she was sporting a set of wings along with a horn, I think it was safe to say that that was the case. She looked to be about 6'1" in height and looked to be in her late twenties, early thirties, thought considering she was an alicorn she was most likely much older than that; her indigo mane and tail seemed to be sparkle like a starry night and being moved by non-existent breeze; her armor, which was the same color as her mane, that covering her black coat was adorned with crescent moon covered in darkness and which I assumed to be her cutiemark; her body looked to hold a great bit of strength in them as it appeared to be well-toned, while giving off that feminine wile with her curved figure. I quickly brought my eyes back to her own, both of her turquoise, slitted eyes looking straight back at me with an innocent looking smile adorning her muzzle. "Why are here, and how do you know who I am?" I asked in my demonic tone. She just laughs as a response, which confused the hell out of me. "What the hell is so funny, did I do something that you warrant as humorous because I don't recall doing anything that would be." I said, getting irritated as she continued to laugh. I narrowed my eyes, as I watched her more intently as her laughter began to die down and she regained her composure before she had finally decided give an actual response. "My-my Dark Heart you definitely have quite the temper don't you, though I suppose that's the reason me and my 'sister' thought that your dark magic had taken a hold of your mind, I've only now figured out that we were wrong." She spoke as if we had met before, but that isn't what had confused me. No what had confused me was the way her tone changed when she said "sister", but either way I still had to ask who she was yet again because the only ponies I knew that had thought that I had succembed to the darkness within that were sisters was....... "PRINCESS LUNA, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE? I THOUGHT I HAD MADE IT CLEAR THAT I WASN'T GIVING UP MY DARK MAGIC!" I yelled while had Cursed and Blessing at the ready, I wanted to make sure that I was ready for whatever plan she had setup for me. But, again, her reaction to the situation at hand weren't what I had expected them to be. "Don't call us that you peasant, we will be addressed as Nightmare Moon or as Queen Nightmare and we have come to speak with you about a proposition that may interest you." She said commandingly, her expression turning from happy to glaring at me to an evil grin. It's safe to say that I wasn't expecting this; first she's laughing her ass off for no apparent reason, then she gets all pissy when I address her by her real name, now she supposedly has some sort of proposition to offer me; this was getting stranger and stranger as time goes on. "What's happen in the last three years, I mean what happened to Luna's fur, and what's up with those eyes." Nova asked, getting more intrigued with the scene before us. "Really you're going to ask a question like that, when we all very well know what the answer is, Nova?" Shadow asked her sounding as though he was hoping that she wasn't serious. "Well you might be able to say that for the two of you, but, no, I don't know the answer." Nova huffed, Shadow just groaned before filling her in. "I swear sometimes Nova, you could act like such a dumbass sometimes. I'm not really sure how you you don't sense that but she's obviously been consumed by her own darkness that laid within her heart, but her's feels different from Dark Heart's,so you can't say that you can't feel it." Shadow lectured. "Well sorry, but last I checked I wasn't exactly gifted in the art of detecting the different ponies' darkness waves or whatever it is you use to tell the difference between that stuff." Nova snapped back. "Well if you're looking for me to cut you some slack, I wouldn't count on it sister. In fact there are fe-" Shadow tried to continued but was interrupted by Nightmare Moon as the princess liked to be called now. "Would you two stop your pointless arguing, the adults are trying to discuss business plans here and you two are getting in the way of that." Nightmare scolded them like two foals having a pointless argument over something petty. I stared at her for a second before I asked, "How are able to hear them now, even though you weren't able to three years ago." I asked what was surely on all three of our minds. "We don't believe that to of importance right now and that we should be focusing on the previous topic we had brought up earlier." She said in an even tone. "If you mean your so called 'proposition', sorry but I doubt I'd be interested in what you have to propose to me, so goodbye, I'm heading back home before it starts raining I just got done washing my clothes and I'm not planning on getting muddy." And with that I turned my back towards her and started heading in the direction of the cave when suddenly it started to rain, and it gradually picked with every passing second. "Goddess dammit all, the pegasi sure do have the worst timing don't they." I swore to the sky, cursing the pegasi as my ,now soaking wet, mane fell in front of my face and partially obscuring my vision. Since I had gotten caught out here by the rain I figured I would just close my eyes and stand there a minute or so and enjoy the cool water wash over my body, at least that's what I had planned on doing before I felt it calm to a halt and heard what sounded like pitter patter from above. I opened eyes to see that Nightmare Moon had walked up beside me and was shielding the two of us from the torrential downpour with her magic. "You know it's not wise to stay out in a storm like this, perhaps we should find shelter." She said, that innocent, yet sickening, smile had returned. I looked around for a suitable place to take cover but couldn't find one, the only place that would have been big enough to shield us was the he tree *sigh* that I cut down. Dammit, looks like I fucked up again. I scolded myself. As I did another sweep of the immediate area I realized I had no other choice but to have the two of us head back to my cave seeing as it was the only place that was close by to shelter us from the storm. So I hesitantly turned towards Nightmare before I asking, "Would you mind coming with me, I know of a cave nearby that could keep us from the fury of this storm." I offered her, back to using my regular voice for the time being. She looked to me with that smile again before responding, "Well we would appreciate it greatly, thank you Dark Heart." "Then lets get going, I'm not sure how bad this storm i supposed to get and I don't want to be out here to find out." stated before I began walking forward and down the path that lead straight towards the waterfall that hid the entrance to my home. We were only a few minutes away from the cave entrance as I walked down the path with Nightmare following close behind Our walk was spent mostly in silence, obviously except for the rain that was hitting her shield. You would think that I would have thought of just leaving her out in the pouring all alone while I ran to the cave, but despite everything that had because of her and her sister's closed-mindedness towards my dark magic, I wasn't about to just leave her there with no shelter in sight, it was below me, and it went against my principles. When we had finally arrived at the waterfall I had told Nightmare that she would need to fly behind to falls to find the cave and she did just that and and had found it with ease. Once I was sure she had found it I had pressed the buttons on the handles of Cursed and Blessing, to release the magic that held the chains that were attached to the hilt. With one end of the chains falling down on the ground, with the other end still attached to my gauntlets, I swung them around like a lasso and threw them towards the inside of the cave and find something to attach themselves to. After I had gave them a couple of test tugs to make sure they were secured, I channeled some of my magic through them and within a few moments I was being pulled into the cave, but before I could cancel out the magic, the chains had sent me right into wall. "Fuck, I really need to work on the timing for the release so I don't keep smacking myself into whatever I latch onto." I said as I was pulling myself out of the indent that had created in the wall. As I was struggling to dislodge myself out of the cave wall, I heard the same laughter from before and had angled myself just enough to see Nightmare Moon having some fun at my expense. "Hahaha, it would appear that the cave doesn't want to let you go..*hrk.... you must be really attached to this place, hahaha." She began laughing harder at the 'joke' and continued to watch as I was still trying to dislodge my form out of the wall. I just ignored her for the most part as I pulled my limbs free one by one. She had managed to calm down as I finally pulled my left leg free from the new crater in the cave, which was actually quite roomy. Maybe I could use this space to make a home defense mechanism for whenever I'm away and something tries to come in here to steal my stuff. I thought about the possible uses this simple looking space could be useful for when I was taken away from my brainstorming after hearing somepony clear their throat. I turned around to find Nightmare staring at me with a quizzical look. "What has you so entranced about that hole you demolished into the wall." She asked me, looking at me like I was crazy. "There's nothing about it that interesting, I was just thinking of putting something inside it to keep out unwanted houseguest." I said settling my gaze back at the demolished wall. "So we take it that this is where you have been for the last three years then, hiding from the rest of the pony population to keep from being discovered from Celestia and her royal guard?" She asked trying to entice me into telling her the story of what had happened after I had made my escape three years ago. "And you, you seem to be forgetting that you were there to, helping her and my parents take me down." I reminded her. "We remember, well we should say that Luna remembers but, because we are one in the same her memories is our's as well and we remember why you had to go into hiding in the first place and your possible hatred towards us." I have no idea whether or not she was usually like this, but I could have sworn that I could hear sympathy as she spoke. "I think hatred might be a bit strong, but I that doesn't mean that I trust you though.......even if you some alter ego of Princess Luna." Sure I couldn't say that I bared nothing but hate towards the night goddess herself, and I sure in tartarus could say that all of the trust I once held with her was gone but I wasn't about to just attack her out of the blue; she hasn't made any attempt to strike me and so I would do the same, although I still kept a watchful eye on her just to be sure she couldn't take me by surprise. As I kept a cautious eye out for her, made my way over to the crystal I called bed and laid down deciding to just relax while we waited for the storm to pass. "Dark Heart?" I lifted up my head when I heard her call out as I was laying down and trying to relax. "What is it Nightmare?" I asked as I laid my head back down once I had looked to see if anything was wrong. "I thought I ordered you to call us Nightmare Moon, you can't just use a part of our name, you say the entire thing." She said, yet again bitching at me for not calling her by the name she wanted me to address her by. "Yeah yeah, whatever, was there something you needed or did you just want to bitch at me some more." I said as I waved my dismissively. "I could very well have your head for saying that your is 'bitching' at you, but fortunately for you I need you, or to be more specific I need the power you possess but seeing as though you are unwilling to part with it I'm going to need you alive for my plans to come fruition." She explained. "Oh really, and what plans would that be, Nightmare Bitch?" I asked, insulting her yet again. "Well my impudent little pony, we plan on overthrowing Princess Celestia and shrouding the land into eternal darkness, but in order to do so we're going to need you and your incredibly strong dark magic to to overthrow her for us. So what do you say Dark Heart, would you be willing to help show Equestria the true beauty of the night and blot out the sun forever more?" she offered me. "Why should I help you, what would be in it for me, or better yet I should ask what would keep you from turning on me the moment I've defeated her, I have no idea whether or not you'er some alter ego Princess Luna, but it wouldn't matter because either way she is a part of you and she had tried to take my dark power away from me already and what's there to make me think any differently of you?" I interrogated her. "We guess we can't really blame you for being skeptical of our intentions-" "Damn right." "But we came to you with this proposition because you have as much to gain from this as much as we do." I had no idea what the hell she was talking about. Last I checked ,helping to overthrow one of the princesses of Equestria would just push me back further, I want to show everypony that dark magic isn't just used for evil but for good as well and taking over an empire would make them fear me even more. "I think you're mad, what could I possibly have to gain from helping you, other than everypony becoming even more afraid of me and looked upon as a traitor." I asked her, wanting to hear what she could expect from her conquest. "Well my dear stallion, you definitely be feared by our subjects after it's all over, but if we succeed, and there's no doubt in our mind that we will if you to aid us, but after some time they would begin to respect you and if that isn't enough for you then maybe the fact that we would make you our king will do the trick." she tried to persuade, but seriously though, our subjects respecting me instead of fearing me, I highly doubt that, and what about this whole nonsense about making me her.....wait a minute, she wants to make me her...her. "YOU WANT TO MAKE ME/HIM YOUR KING!?" the three of shouted in disbelief. "Why of course Dark Heart, a queen isn't a queen without a king to rule my her side, and you're to only stallion is deserving of that honor after all you are the only one who know what it feels like to have your talents go unnoticed and are underappreciated so we could think of no better suitor." She said with that smile of hers returning. Holy crap, I have no idea whether I should be flattered or concerned about the fact that this alter ego of Luna's wants me to be her mate and rule Equestria along side her, but it doesn't matter because unbeknownst to her, I was asking her all of that so that I could figure out why she needed me and she's planning on doing; and by the sounds of it she knows that I would be able take her out if she tried to turn on me, which means I should make my move know. I must stop her before she even tries anything and turn her in to Celestia..... even if she did try to take my powers away, buy maybe if I turned in her now power crazed sister, she may finally see the same potential in my abilities as I do. "As tempting as that all that sounds Nightmare Moon," I paused for a moment, closing my eyes. "I'm afraid I'm going to have not only refuse, but I'm gonna have to stop you as well before you can carry out any of your plans." I said, having reverted back to my demonic dialogue and opening my eyes to reveal the darkness that had taken the place of the white corneas of my eyes. "You poor misguided fool, we were really hoping that you agree for not only our benefit, but for yours as well. As we said before, all we really need is you dark power, but if you're not willing to lend that power over to us then I guess we're going to have kill you and take them for ourselves. Such a waste to, you're truly ravishing, but we can't allow you to get in the way of our future as the rightful ruler of Equestria." She monologues. I just simply rolled my eyes as I drew forth Cursed and Blessing and took to my signature fighting pose, ready to begin the fun, after all it has been a while since I've had a good fight instead of slaughtering stupid predators that think I'm an easy meal. I heard her laugh as I there with my blades drawn, almost as if she was taunting me, which had caused me to let a smirk of mine own to come across my muzzle. "You know you have no chance of beating me Nightmare so I really don't see what you find so humorous about the situation that's befallen you, though I suppose I'm not really one to talk considering I'd probably be doing the same exact thing if our roles were switched." I mused. "We actually believe that our mind is the set and that our laughter is indeed well placed in this situation we find ourselves in at the present, because of the fact that you believe that you can stop us. Yes, it is true that you are much stronger than us, but you have one fatal weakness that we don't possess." Now that intrigued me, she actually thinks that she's found my weakness, I mean I know I have one but I wanted to know if she actually knew what it was. "Is that so.... well then with all do respect, enlighten me on what YOU THINK is my weakness then." I made a slight bowing gesture as a way of asking her to continue. "Well young Dark Heart, although you possess to ability to control the darkness like king sombra, you don't possess the heart to use it properly. You lack the truly dark heart needed to wield it properly and when it comes to the heat of battle you are unable to deliver the finishing blow to your enemy and allow them live, hoping that they will have learned their lesson and conform into becoming a good pony again." Damn, I really think that she couldn't have been......anymore wrong about that little hypothesis of hers right now. "So you think I lack the heart of killer do you. Well let me tell you this Nightmare-" using my magic to amplify my speed, I was upon her and ready to deliver a killing blow. -you're right, I do lack the heart of killer, but that is because I possess the heart of warrior." I said as I swung down my magical blades towards her. But before they could make contract with her flesh, she had sent a magical blast straight into my gut. I had taken too long in savoring the moment, that I had fucked up my chances of ending this as quickly as possible and now I had to contend with this psychotic mare inside my cave home. I just hope that not too much damage is done to this place, it was pain just trying to make it the it is now and I didn't have to start from scratch. I thought as I was getting back up. Another blast had barely missed my head as I stood up. I looked in the direction the direction of the stray blast to see it had blown an entire section of the tunnels away and opened it up into a bigger cavern. Well there goes that plan... well I guess I should've expected that *sigh* whatever I might as well as just go out out since she doesn't seem to want to hold back. I thought as I turned around to face my assailant but soon myself being tackled into the ground by the same mare I was talking to moments ago. "Well it would seem that you have been mesmerized by our eternal beauty though we can't really blame you, as we said before, anypony would die just for a chance to lay their hands upon us, and just imagine what they would do to be in your position right now and be so close to us." She boasted and flaunting herself around like some arrogant noble pony that had their hands and some priceless vase and they were showing it off tho their rich friends. "I don't think so Nightmare, but if you do want to know what I was thinking about, I was thinking about what I was going to do about the reconstruction of my home. That is to say after...I got done with KICKING. YOUR. ASS!" I roared as black magic surged into my clenched fist and delivered and powerful blow into her and sent her flying back into the newly formed cavern. I stood up, again, I picked up my two blades before making my way towards the night queen I couldn't help my let an evil smile spread from cheek to cheek, and judging by her reaction, it must have looked fucking creepy as hell to see a grin that big slapped on my face. "We won't let you win that easily Dark Heart, we have been wanting this ever since we were a foal and had just now come to realize that this is our true desire after we listened to the darkness within our own heart just as you had and it too has given us the power to make that dream possible." She growled as she picked herself off of the cave floor, but I had already stopped in my tracks upon hearing her speech when the realization hit me. She listened to the darkness in her heart just like I had and just like mine it had given her power and changed her into the mare before me. This is definitely an alter ego, but it's just now come into existence and taken control of Luna's mind and body, which means the game has changed. I must defeat her but I can't kill her so that I could take her back to Celestia and find a way to suppress this dark side of her's.......or better yet I could do it myself, Nova. After all this time I had almost forgotten that I possessed the very artifact that was meant for this kind of stuff. "I'm ready when you are Dark Heart, all you gotta do is give the word but make sure to immobilize her first so she can't interfere before the amulet itself its ready to transfer its purifying powers into her." Nova had warned me as we had planned to use the heart to get rid of this insidious alter ego of Luna's. "Alright Nova, but make sure that once I do that you get the amulet working quickly I don't want to risk possibly losing this chance." I said in a voice just barely above a whisper so that she could hear me. Without hesitating another moment, I quickly sprung into action and made to now subdue the princess of the night and cure her of her darkness before it completely took over, and thanks to my special talent being that I can draw power from the darkness that forms in one's heart and right now, that darkness was brimming inside Luna's which was both a good and a bad thing. It's good 'because it increases my own strength, as I had said before, but bad because with so much darkness lingering in her heart it would take longer to cure it, as well as a whole lot of power, which meant that we, I,can't screw this up otherwise the three of us are royally screwed. "You little fool, what makes you think that you have any chance of defeating us. We have the strength drawn forth from the nightmares of our subjects and that alone can trump whatever powerful you may have." Nightmare Moon boasted. "Yeah, so, it doesn't matter how much you may possess it takes a hell of a lot more than that to subdue me Nightmare. I thought you and Luna would've learned that when I made my escape three years ago." She sent magical tendrils from her mane as she tried to use her magic to gain a threshold within my mind to get access to my own nightmares. If she got a hold of those she definitely would have the power to overpower me as easily as a newborn foal. I would have taken a swing at them with Cursed and Blessing but I couldn't risk them getting sucked into the void within her mane. As I continued to dodge her attacks I decided to make my move to inhibit her movements for a short while by moving a few inches closer to her every time I went to get out of the way of the tendrils. I had to be light on my feet and ever so cautious as I was just five feet away from her and her strikes started coming at me at an increasing pace and by using a quick bolt of light magic I was able make sure all close calls were just that, close calls. I had to move every fifteen minutes or so in order to get any closer by this point and I could only move two-three inches to make any progress, but then she made the mistakes her recalling all of her tendrils by her side which gave me to right opening I needed to ensnare her within my trap. Calling forth both my light and dark magic, I was able to create my own tendrils and sent them forward to coil around Nightmare Moon, and enveloping her mane completely to make sure she couldn't get me with some sneak attack from the damn thing. Once I was sure she was fully secured I move myself into position, having the heart pointed directly at the area where her heart lied, before I checked in with Nova. "Is it charged up, because I doubt that these snares will hold for very long." "Almost, just keep her still for a couple more minutes and it'll be ready." I groaned upon hearing that, I was really hoping that I would be able to just get this done and over with, but nooo, the damn amulet has to take its sweet ass time getting warmed up. "Nova next time you say that the Heart of Light is ready to go, you better mean that the Heart of Light is ready to go." "HEY! Don't yell at me, I said I was ready to go and that the amulet would time to charge, so fuck you." Nova yelled. I was about to make a counter argument but I felt the bindings loosening around Nightmare and I immediately diverted my attention back towards keeping her from escaping. "You will pay for your insolence once we are freed from our confinement Dark Heart!" Nightmare growled as she continued to struggle against her restraints, but I made sure to hold them strong against it. All I needed to do was wait a few more moments and I could revert Luna back to her old self. I wonder if she'll even remember any of this, and I'm not really sure if I would want her to, it could spill disaster for me after all. Then again if she does remember and is grateful for what I've done for her then maybe she could go to Celestia and- Nova interrupted me from my thoughts. "Dark Heart, the amulet is all charged up and ready for purification." Yes, that's just what I wanted to hear right about now, and not a moment too soon either Nightmare Moon is starting to break free from my grasp. "Well then what are you waiting for, fire the damn thing before she breaks free!" I commanded her. Nova released to immense light energy that had built up straight towards Nightmare and I could already see my victory along with this dark magic issue settled once as I started to imagine what it would be like once I got Luna back to the castle as her old princessy self. I also imagined her telling them all, especially my parents and Princess Celestia, that I saved her using my dark magic, which should hopefully clear their minds on the matter of whether or not dark magic's only use is to hurt and is incapable being used to help. Oh I can just see it now, all of them just begging for my forgiveness and telling me that they wo- "Dumbass, get of fantasyland and focus on the task at hand, the bitch is somehow resisting the power of the heart!" I heard Shadow shout within my head, and telling me that...... "Wait! WHAT!? How the hell is she resisting its power, that shouldn't be possible." I looked back to Nightmare to see that he was telling the truth. I must have allowed my mind to wander off too soon 'cause she had managed to free herself the tendrils sooner that I thought and was now using her magic to go toe to toe with the amulet's. "I gotta give her this, that nightmare magic is strong, especially if she's able stand up to it like this." Shadow complimented. I had to agree with him on that, the power of the Heart of Light is said to even transcend pass both of the princesses combined at it's fullest power and I know Nova didn't waste any energy to take care of this; or at least I hope she didn't because then Nightmare Moon maybe able to overpower it and I'm left completely vulnerable as long as the Heart is activated, but is that really any surprise that something so powerful has a weakness like that guess it keeps the Guardian from trying to manipulate the Heart's magic for their own selfish ambitions. "NNNgh.....Fuck...... I don't know how much longer I can keep it going Nova!" I was struggling to keep the amulet's magic going, and with Nightmare Moon's getting stronger and stronger by the second, I was beginning to worry that my power wasn't going to be enough as I felt myself being pushed back while I continue to fight against Nightmare Moon's nightmare magic. "So then I take it you're giving up then Dark Heart. That seriously blows, we didn't even get a chance to prove ourselves to those close-minded bastards, I guess the two of us were never meant to amount to anything much this whole time." Shadow stated depressingly. I was going to speak up but Nightmare had beat me to the punch, though what she said wasn't exactly what I was going for. "So you're already giving huh? Well we can't say that we blame you, our power is unstoppable when we're fueled by the nightmares of our subjects. But worry not my foolish pony for we shall make your demise a quick one." This bitch over here already thinking we've lost. I mean shit, I know I'm not going to keep up my resistance for very much longer but did anypony say that I was already giving up just because she's stronger than me, does nopony remember me saying that it takes a lot more than just power to beat me and I'm going to hold that philosophy true to myself. "Shadow, you better tell me that you're not serious, because if you are, I'm going to beat the living shit out of you when this over until you learn that I always have a backup plan in the works to make sure we live." I threatened him with my signature smirk. "Nova are you ready to go, and I mean really ready to go, should Nightmare Moon manages to best me?" I asked Nova, letting her know that I was ready to put the plan I had made a few minutes ago into action. "Yeah I'm ready, but do you think it will actually work? If she manages to best the purifying powers of the Heart, what's there to keep her from destroying or keeping it for herself once she thinks you've been defeated?" Nova asked with fear clear in her tone. "Don't worry Nova, she may've been able to overpower the Heart, but she won't be able to best the power of my black magic. I'll make sure she can't get her hands on it, even if it's the last thing I do, I'll do my duty as the Guardian of the Heart and make sure it remains safe." I try to comfort her, but to be quite honest with myself, I fear that I will even fail at that. I make it a point to know when I should give up and this seems like the time to do so but this won't be the last time that Equestria will hear of Dark Heart the Unicorn. I'll retreat into the confines of Nova's dimension until the Heart of Light regains its power and I've at least doubled my own strength so as to make sure this doesn't happen again; but before I can do that I need to make sure the amulet stays out of the wrong hands and keep it safe within these caves until I'm ready to fight again, and staying within the Heart would be best because I don't worry about falling under the effects of time, hunger, thirst, or illness while I'm there which will allow me to have all of the time in the world to train. "I know you have this plan that I know nothing about, and that it should let us live to fight another day, but do you think you can still pay attention to what's going on right now, in front of you!" I heard Shadow said as I snap my attention back to trying to drive off Nightmare Moon which seemed to be doing nothing more than stalling at this point seeing as though her own magical energy blast was making it's way towards me. "Give up now Dark Heart! Your defeat is inevitable, so why stall it any longer and yourself false hope?" I heard Nightmare Moon say, her tone sounding as though my struggle was amusing as I continued to fight. "Because it's not false hope you bitch, there never a thing such as false hope. If a pony truly believes in themselves they can find a way to overcome any obstacle that stands in their way, no matter how impossible the odds maybe against them, and I have definitely found a way to do just that; but unfortunately it's not gonna happen in this time." I said as I closed my eyes and felt the power of the Heart start to weaken and taper off and the nightmare magic speed towards me and I stood there waiting for just the right moment to put my plan into action. "NOVA NOW!" I shouted as my eyes snapped open and I felt it right on top of me, and after I had a blinding light engulf me and the landscape around me started to shift and change into one that I hadn't seen since my sixteenth birthday. "Dark Heart hurry up and put up your barrier before she lands that attack!" Nova commanded as soon as I appeared in the arena. Doing as I was told, I quickly performed my dark barrier spell and within moments felt the blast hit it,trying to gain access to its target which was now the Heart of Light itself. The Hearts power may have failed to win us this fight, but I won't her to best my own as I poured myself into keeping the barrier up until she gave up which, fortunately for me, was only about a minute or so after contact. "So that is what you meant by you weren't able to get past me and the this time. You were planning on retreating within the void that the one called Nova resides and use it as a training ground to make yourself stronger and come after us when you had weren't you?" Nightmare Moon stated in an unamused tone. "Damn, how the hell was she was able to figure that out but you weren't Shadow, and you had access to my mind no less.... she's gooood." I said in my old voice. "Well she can hear the two of us speaking to you, so I'm guessing that she was able to read your mind, That and you seem to be forgetting that I went into a four minute long depression thinking that we were going to die." Shadow reminded me of how saddened he had sounded as well as reminding me that I still need to beat the sense of bravado back into the dark spirit. "Well then Dark Heart if you so wish to stay within your family's heirloom and still protect it, how about we show you that we harbor no hard feelings for turning down our offer to become our husband and king, as well as attacking us by making protecting the amulet easier." The way she said that just sent a shiver down my spine. There was way too much kindness in those words and you would have to be insane to think that she wasn't up to something. But I could say anything though I saw Nightmare Moon move towards the amulet, through a magical one-sided window that Nova had conjured up to see what she would do, with a black aura emitting from her horn, whatever she's doing it isn't good. I thought as she standing directly in front of the amulet and an uneasy feeling washed over me and used my own magic to re-establish the barrier around the amulet to make sure she couldn't cause any harm to it, but it would seem that she found my actions to be humorous because as soon as it was up she let a slight giggle. Suddenly I felt a trembling from the ground below the amulet as I continued to watch Nightmare but quickly found that the windows view was quickly becoming obscured by the very crystals that make up the caves that I've made my home and quickly realized that she was trying to permanently trap me in the Heart. I tried to get out but found that I was unable to open up a portal out of here; I looked over to Nova to see her trying to do the same but was getting the same results I did, nothing, the crystals were blocking out our magic and continued to encase the Heart of Light, or my new prison. "There you go that should prevent any mishaps from bringing any harm from your amulet. I'll see you in a couple of millennium or so, well that is if I remember that you're down here by then." She laughed as she walked away from the crystal and to the cave's entrance/exit and flew away. "NIGHTMARE MOON, YOU SON OF A BITCH, WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU SUFFER BEFORE I HEAD YOUR WHORE LIFE!!!!" I roared as loud as I could to make sure that she heard my death threat. "Well.....didn't see that one coming, but hey at least you can train in peace now." I heard Shadow say from behind trying lighten up the situation a little. "And look at the bright side, if you can become strong enough you may be able to break the crystal from within here and free us from this prison and then get your revenge." I let out a sigh as Shadow continued on, and despite everything, he's right. I won't have worry about protecting the amulet as long as the crystal remains intact, and even if it should be destroyed that would enable me to get out and go after that bitch since I'm pretty sure that it'll be awhile before we're found. "Yeah you're right, but if we're going to have any chance of getting out of here as soon as possible, we better begin my training immediately." I said sternly, turning towards the two to see who was going to start first. "Wow you are impatient dude, but I suppose you're right. Nova, I think we should both train him at the same time if we hope to make any sort of progress, what do you say?" Shadow asked Nova who appeared to be contemplating it. "Well I suppose you're right, but I was really hoping to spend some time hanging out with the two of you before we started anything, but I guess it will be a long time before anypony discovers the crystal and amulet, so I guess I'm in too." Nova answered. After hearing them say that they would help me I got into position, as did they, and had one thought in my mind before we started. I'm sorry I've failed you....mom, dad, I hope you're doing okay and will be here when I get out so I could tell you that I'm sorry for causing any of this and that I'll make it up to you. And with that that, I surged towards them to begin my training. Releasing Your DemonsCelestia's sun is rising on the horizon of what was to be a beautiful morning in the little town of Ponyville as rays of lights were shining through the window of the Golden Oaks Library and disturbing the slumber of the lavender unicorn mare who called the tree house her home. "Ugh..... a few more minutes princess." the unicorn groaned as she used her blanket to block out the offensive thing that disturbed her from her peaceful realm of dreams. She was on her way to said realm when she heard a knocking coming from downstairs. She try to just ignore it but found that the incessant pounding continued to prevent her from falling back into a blissful sleep. She sat up in her bed and checked her alarm clock on the nightstand and it showed that it was 4:55 a.m. She headed downstairs to find the unfortunate soul that would feel her wrath for depriving her of sleep. "I'm coming, I'm coming just hold your horses." the unicorn said, rather annoyed by whoever it was that kept knocking on her door. She was soon down the stairs and in front of the door, she opened it to find a member of the royal guard standing on doorstep. "Miss Twilight Sparkle, the princess has requested an audience with you and your friends for three this afternoon. She says it's of utmost importance that all of you be there." The guard informed her. "Did she tell you why we are needed, is there another threat against Equestria that can only be solved with the Elements of Harmony?" Twilight asked, curious as to why Princess Celestia had sent a guard to her home so early in the morning. "She did not say, but the Elements won't be needed, and as far as I can tell both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna seemed to be very worried when I was summoned so I believe that it is most definitely important." The guard explained. "Well thank you for delivering this news to me. I'll be sure to gather up the others and inform them on what's going on." The guard saluted after she had thanked him and flew off back to Canterlot. "What's happened to make the princesses so worried that they had sent a guard here so early, yes the train ride to Canterlot is long, but not that long. . . . hmmm, whatever it is I still need to gather up the girls so that we can all be ready to meet them." About four hours later, after she had woken up her dragon assistance, Spike, and he made them a quick breakfast, Twilight went to go gather the rest of their friends and tell them what the guard had told her and to also to be prepared for anything. "Wait, so you're saying that whatever the princesses want to tell us involves something that is so dangerous, that even they're freaking out about it?" Twilight's rainbow-maned friend, Rainbow Dash, asked. "Yes, and that's why we need to make sure that we're already for anything when we go to meet the princesses." Twilight explained. "But ya feel that something feels a might off about this whole situation? You said it yourself that the princess a guard to deliver that message so early the mornin' was unusual, even for them." The country mare known as Applejack added in. "But that doesn't change the fact that we need to get ready, in fact it just helps prove the fact that whatever we're going to end up dealing with is something that is important, for all we know the Queen Chrysalis and the changelings could be coming here for another attack after somehow finding out that my brother, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence are now ruling the Crystal Empire." As Twilight mentioned the Queen of the Changelings name she and her six friends all felt a shiver go down their spines as they all recalled the events that had happened a few months ago. "I don't think it would something like that, but I agree with Twilight. Whatever it is the Princess Celestia and Princess Luna want to tell us must be of vital importance and given that we've received so little information must mean that they must be so worried about whatever it is they're worried about isn't exactly safe." the white unicorn, Rarity, gave her opinion on the matter at hand. "Um, girls if we want to know what it is that's going on then we should probably start heading towards the train station. The next train is about to arrive and we don't want of miss it if we're going to make the Canterlot in time." Spike pointed out and as soon as he did they all looked towards the clock tower to see that he was right, and headed off to catch the next train headed for Canterlot. In the Canterlot Castle Throne Room "Sister, please, would stop pacing back and forth you're making me nervous." Princess Luna asked her sister who was pacing about the room with a worried look on her features. "I can't help it Lulu, I don't know what we're going to do. After all this time I thought that we had seen the last of 'him' after he had escaped from our grasp all those years ago." Princess Celestia said worriedly. "Yes, I know Tia, but I guess that is somewhat my fault. If I hadn't allowed my jealousy to take a hold of me and turn me into Nightmare Moon, then I wouldn't have sough him out to aid me in my endeavor, and maybe then he wouldn't have been forced to retreat into the amulet and become imprisoned in it." Luna sighed as she remembered her encounter with a certain stallion during her time as Nightmare Moon. "But what done is done and we have to make up for our sins against him, he's an understanding pony, I'm sure he'll listen to what we have to say once he's released from his confinement." "Even so it's still a long shot, especially if he plans on living up to his threat he had made to Nightmare Moon after he was sealed away." Celestia said, frantic about the situation they found themselves in. Luna had moved from her position beside the throne and moved over to her sister. She placed a hand onto Celestia's shoulder to calm her down. "But isn't that why so sent for Twilight and her friends, so that he could have somepony to speak to that hasn't met him yet and try to convince him to abandon that way of thinking. Plus I don't believe you're giving Dark Heart enough credit, even after that had happened with us trying to capture him, he still wanted to help me banish Nightmare Moon from my heart and save Equestria." Luna explained. "Are you sure that that isn't what he wanted you to think Luna, I know he wanted to help protect others which, according to his parents, was the reason he wanted the duty of protecting the Heart of Light and also why he tried to convince us that his black magic wasn't dangerous. But we have no idea how much that could've changed before Nightmare Moon found him and I can't really see anything that would prove that to me." Celestia argued. "Well I can think of one thing. As you know, Nightmare Moon had went to him the ask for his help and had said that he would be repaid for his efforts, correct?" Luna asked. "Yes, so what?" Celestia questioned, curious as to what her sister was getting at. "Well she had hoped to repay him, by promising that he would be finally be respected, even if it was through fear, and that he wouldn't have to hide in the shadows because of his dark power, aaaand....." "Aaaaand, what? What else could she have had that he might have been persuaded to go against his principles and aid her?" Celestia asked impatiently. "And she had offered him the chance to be his special somepony and allow to rule by her side as the King of Equestria." Luna had finally finished. The reaction she got from her sister was a little unexpected as Celestia's jaw seemed to touch the floor after hearing the news. Luna just gave her a quizzical look as she watched the sun goddess stand in that position for thirteen minutes before she decided to knock her out of her stupor. "Equestria to Celestia, you are needed for the release of a one-thousand, nineteen year old unicorn stallion that can wield black magic." She joked as she waved her hands in front of the 'stone goddess'. Celestia blinked a few times before shaking her head and regaining her composure. "I'm sorry Lulu but I certainly wasn't expecting Nightmare Moon to have chosen him as a special somepony, I guess it's rather unexpected considering everything." Celestia explained. Luna was about to respond when the throne room doors opened up to reveal that Twilight, Spike, and the rest of their friends had finally arrived. They all quickly made their way into the room, all with the expression that the day princess held just moments ago. Everypony in the room stood in a deathly silence, the seven friends that had just came into the room were waiting for their rulers and friends to inform them of why they were here, but they were having a hard time trying to piece together what they wanted to tell them what was going on. "So I take it we're here to hunt down Nightmare Moon's special somepony before he tries to get revenge for her?" Rainbow Dash asked breaking the silence. "Yes... well that's not necessarily why you've all been summoned here today." Luna stated awkwardly. "But we heard you mention something about Nightmare Moon having a special somepony that might be try to attack you after being imprisoned, or something like that." the bubbly pink mare, Pinkie Pie, stated. The other six turned their attention towards her as the sisters glanced to one another, giving each other a wondering look at how the party pony had manage to hear that far back into the conversation for just having walked in not to long ago. They both turned back towards the group before Princess Celestia continued on. "Well that isn't the case as Luna has already pointed out but we do require your assistant with a stallion that does indeed have a grudge against us and may try to act upon it." Celestia told the group of friends. They stole quick glances towards each other, knowing that they had thought their meeting with the princesses may lead to something like this, but they were hoping that it wasn't against some powerful creature after they just finished dealing with King Sombra just a few days ago and were hoping to be able to relax for awhile. "Why does he have a grudge against you two, and when does he plan on showing up, or do even know when he's suppose to arrive?" Twilight asked. "That is a long story, but the short version of it is that we had falsely accused him of being too dangerous to be allowed to follow the path that was made apparent to him by his special talent, and he's already here but he's imprison in a powerful artifact, whose abilities rival that of the Elements of Harmony, and that is encased in a shell of crystal from within the crystal caves that you and Cadence had been sent to Twilight." The solar princess answered her most faithful student, and watched as the unicorn shivered from the memory. "Wait a minute, if he's already imprisoned then why do we need to worry about him attacking?" Applejack asked, confused as to why their princesses were more afraid of a simple stallion more than they were of Discord. "Because dear Applejack, we plan on releasing him ourselves, so that he may roam free once again." Luna stated. "WHAT!!?" the group shouted. "Excuse me for saying this princess, but are you loco in the coco? Why would you release somepony that clearly has it out for you?" Pinkie Pie asked as shocked as the rest of her friends. "It's just as we said before we wronged him and now we hope to make it up to Dark Heart now that we've found him after a thousand years." Celestia said calmly. "But even so don't you think it's more than a little dangerous to let him out if he wants to harm you, what's there to stop him from just killing both of you as soon as he's out, and why we were called here if this Dark Heart is so evil?" Spike asked frantically. "Dark Heart isn't evil and the fact that you think so now without even meeting him means that you're making the same mistake that we made the last time we had seen him. He's just misunderstood and his ways are a little strange, but we assure you that he had a good heart, he did try to fight off Nightmare Moon all by himself, even after we tried to hunt him down. As for the reason you were all called here is because, he's been trapped in a crystal for a thousand years and is going to need help adjusting to modern pony society, as well as if he should attack either of us we are going to need ponies that he doesn't know to convince him that our apology holds truth in it." Luna said, defending their reasoning as well as Dark Heart's image. "Still there are all of the-" Rarity tried to argue further before she was interrupted by Princess Celestia. "That's enough, we're going to free Dark Heart no matter the reasons there maybe not to. He's suffered torment by being snuck in his prison and deserves to be set free and whether or not you all decide to help is completely up to to you, but if you really wish for the worse to not happen, then I would advise you agree to our plan and assist us." Celestia said sternly. In that moment the group silenced their protest and had decided to stay and help them calm down Dark Heart the moment he turned hostile towards them. "We'll help way we can Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, but do you honestly believe that we can stop him from doing anything drastic?" Twilight asked cautiously. "I do my student, trust me when the time comes you'll know what needs to be done to revert him back to the unicorn he was, and hopefully still is. Guards bring in the artifact!" Celestia ordered. As soon as she gave the order, doors behind the group made up of ponies and a dragon and several pegasus and unicorn guards came in carry a gigantic crystal, that had somehow been formed into the shape of a heart, and was placed in the center of the room on top of a pedestal that been placed there beforehand. The mares and dragon all examined the crystal closely for anything out of the ordinary when they spotted a necklace in the center of it and even though there was a thick layer of the crystal had formed around it they could feel a strong energy flowing from it. "So how do you plan on getting him out Princess Celestia?" the shy pink maned pegasus, Fluttershy, asked. The answer she got she got was Princess Celestia giving Luna a quick nod and signaling her to begin. Luna walked up to the crystal and shut her eyes for a few seconds before reopening them to reveal the slitted pupils that had belonged to Nightmare Moon and the midnight blue aura of her magic turned black. She started the dark energy into the crystal to allow it to flow into the amulet that was embedded in it, in hopes that it would give Dark Heart the power he needed to break free of his crystalline prison. The response she got seemed to be immediate as the amulet had start pulsing with a black glow signaling it's acceptance to the black magic that continued to flow inside it, and it only got stronger as more power was poured into it. The glow started to become brighter as cracks appeared within the crystal and allowed some of the excess energy pour out through said cracks and help aid the one they were trying to help to continue breaking from his imprisonment. As the cracks turned to gashes and they turned into splits within the crystal , everypony began to become antsy and impatient waiting for Dark Heart to finally break free and Princess Luna was beginning to feel the strain of pouring some much of her magical energy into the Heart of Light and was on the verge of collapsing, but couldn't felling as though she owed him this, that she had to put everything she had into destroying the prison that her evil alter ego had made a thousand years ago and that she couldn't stop until it was done. As to answer her efforts the dark magic began to engulf what was left of the crystal and cut off Luna's stream with it now running on a new source, a stronger source, as the dark energy had sent off an intense wave of the same energy and releasing a blinding light to everypony in the room. When the light had finally dissipated, and their eyes were cleared of the spots that had been left there by it, the group of ponies that were in the room looked to where the crystal had been to see that a cloaked stallion in its place, hunched over and breathing heavily. They had all stared at him for a few moments before the sisters spoke up. "Dark Heart.... is that you, are you okay?" Princess Celestia asked, worried for the unicorn. He didn't seem to have had registered her voice as he still hunched over over on the floor. "Please say something so that we know that you're still you. Please just give us a sign that you're the Dark Heart that we remember from Neighburg." Luna spoke to him and this time he seemed to have picked up on it as his ears perked up. It was a few moments before everypony finally heard him speak, but not in the tone that they were hoping to hear it in. "So the two of have the gall to release me from my long imprisonment and expect me to act like the same unicorn that you saw back at that damn town that dared call me a monster? Do you think I'm fucking stupid to believe that I can trust you after everything both of you put me through, especially you Luna and that damn alter ego yours, Nightmare Bitch." Everypony took a step back from him as he stood up and was speaking in his demonic tone conveying all of the anger and hatred he was feeling towards the royal sisters. "Dark Heart please hear us out, we don't want to bring you any harm any more than we already have and in fact want to remedy the pain we caused to you." Luna pleaded. "And how exactly do you plan on doing that? I know that a time travel spell has been discovered to send me back home, crap I don't even know if my parents are still alive, though I suppose it would help to know exactly how long I've imprisoned in that accursed amulet." Dark Heart growled at the princess of the night. "We're begging you Dark Heart, please listen the reason. We know of the power that you possess and that it's been increased from the last time we had seen you, even if we wanted to take your away your dark power we would be unable to." Celestia begged him. "Give me a reason why I should actually listen to either of you instead of making the two of you suffer the same way I have this whole time." Dark Heart demanded. "If you want a reason, I can give you one. How would take to the fact that the princesses were scared out of their wits when we came here to help them. Or how about the fact that when they told us about you and how you hold a grudge against them and we bad mouthed about you that they were there to defend your image and made you out to be a kind pony that puts the needs of others before his own, what do you think about that?" Rainbow chimed in, figuring that now was a good time to calm down the maniac, but quickly shrunk back when he turned his fiery glare to the daredevil. "Is that so, well how about you share with me what exactly they've told you about me then." Dark Heart said with malice dripping from his words. "W- w- w- well they've told us that you had tried to save Equestria from Nightmare Moon a- a- and turn Pri- Prin- Princess Luna back to her former self k- k- k- knowing that you were strong enough to kill her and that you had turned down her offer to let you rule Equestria by her side and be respected the rest of history." Rainbow Dash stuttered as Dark Heart continued staring her down and sapping away all of her confidence. "Y- y-y- y- yeah and that they did you a horrible injustice by claiming that you were too dangerous to live among other ponies and tried to take you away from the live had and felt guilty that they had caused you to run away from your life and your family." Rarity worked up the courage to speak as well, but was met with the hateful stare as her rainbow maned friend. "They told you that they felt guilty for claiming that I was too dangerous to live among other ponies, hmmm? Well let me tell you something my dear; they lied to you, they lied to all of you. They didn't come to my home town to hunt me down because I was too dangerous to live among other ponies, no they came to my home because they were afraid of my dark magic and thought that it had corrupted my mind and my heart while I was in the middle of fighting a dragon that had came to kill me, take my family's most protected heirloom, and was terrorizing my classmates, the same ponies that had taunted me since I was but a foal, and all while I was only but a sixteen year colt that had barely obtained a cutie mark just months prior to the events." Dark Heart told the rest of the occupants in the room. They were trying to process all of the information that he had given them as well as trying to come to a decision on whether or not if what he was saying was true, but a quick glance over to the princesses seemed to be all the answer they needed. "Why would you attack a teenager just because he has black magic? Yes I know it's dangerous, but still did he really do anything that bad to permit such a punishment?" Twilight asked her mentor. "No, no he didn't, and we both have deeply regretted it everyday since then and as we said to you all before we have been hoping to find him again one day and make amends. I don't know what had lead me to believe that he would still be alive after all these years, but there isn't a day that has gone by when I'm not thinking about everything we've done to you, DarkHeart." Came Celestia's answer. By this point it seemed that Dark Heart had calmed down enough to where he was now willing to listen to the princesses, of course that wasn't until after he saw how quickly the group of friends turned on their rulers once he had told them the truth and accepting the fact that he possesses dark magic. "Wait a minute, none of you mind the fact that I can wield dark magic?" Dark Heart asked, shocked at how they all seem to accept it without any coaxing or having to prove it to them. "But of course, although we've had dealings with a unicorn named King Sombra that had used his to torment of enslave the ponies of the crystal empire, it doesn't mean that every unicorn who uses it is bad and Twilight here is a prime example of that." Rarity said gesturing to the lavender unicorn. "I don't think I could used as an example since I've only used it for small things and I wouldn't have even known how to use it if Princess Celestia hadn't shown me." Twilight explained. Dark Heart went wide-eyed fro moment at hearing that the solar goddess that was scared of the dark power had thought another to use it as well. Though he was shocked to hear this, he was also a bit angry with the princess because he believes that she may not understand it as well as she thinks she does. "Princess Celestia I seriously hope you didn't teach to her without some kind of mental and emotional evaluation to make sure that she wasn't corruptible, because even if she never uses it again the power of the darkness can still creep up into your heart and turn you into a pony like Sombra. Though maybe you already know that after seeing Luna turn into Nightmare Moon..... and don't bother telling me she became like that because of her jealousy. Yes it was definitely a contributing factor, it was the fact that Luna blindly allowed that darkness in her heart takeover is the main thing that did it seeing as it's what is needed to unleash such power." Dark Heart lectured her. "I didn't do one at the time, but seeing as though she is my personal student and have taught her everything she knows as well as the fact that her special talent is in magic I knew that she would okay when it came to actually utilizing it." Celestia stated confidently. Dark Heart looked at her with bemusement as she praised the young unicorn, well she was probably older than him in terms of age because all the time spent in that amulet meant that he didn't age since being imprisoned and. . . . he remembered that was one thing he as yet to ask since he was released. He needed to know just how long he was trapped inside of there so that he could figure out the fate of his parents. "Princess Celestia, before we continue on any further there's something that I need to know." he asked seriously. "What is it?" Celestia, curious as to what his curiosity has brought to his attention. "I need to know how long I've been trapped inside that crystal as well as what has happened to my parents?" Dark Heart asked, hoping that he hasn't actually been trapped for too long. Everypony, and dragon, in the room started shifting around on their feet as he looked to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for an answer but was quickly becoming worried as they stalled to answer his question as they too were shifting around nervously and looking worriedly at each other. "Well Dark Heart, you see you've stuck in there for about. . . a thousand years." Celestia answered but the her answer was barely audible. "What was that?" "I said you've stuck in there for a thousand years." She said, this time bringing her voice to whisper that was still wasn't quite loud enough for him to hear. Dark Heart was already to grow impatient as the princess kept saying her answer in a tone that he could barely hear. "Stop stalling and just give it to me straight! How. Long. Have. I. Been. Trapped. In. There!?" He growled at her. "You've been sealed in there for just over a thousand years Dark Heart, and your parents have long been gone from the realm of the living." Princess Luna finally told him seeing that her sister couldn't. Dark Heart, upon hearing this, collapsed to the floor onto his hands and knees in shock, I've been stuck in there for a thousand years? That means that everything I knew is long gone. He thought as he tried recompose himself but failing to do so as the thought that he wouldn't be able to keep the promise, he had made to both himself and his parents, to find them and apologize for causing them so much pain and grieve before he had ran away when he was sealed within the amulet. Twilight, upon seeing his distress decided to walk up and knelt down next to him to put a comforting hand over his shoulder. "It's alright Dark Heart, I know that must have wanted to see your parents more than anything once you got out, and I know that learning that you've been gone for a thousand years, but I'm sure that no matter how things ended between the three of you that they loved you till the end. Would I be right Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked her mentor and trying to comfort the depressed unicorn. "Yes, she is right Dark Heart. Even after you had left they still loved you and they told us to not look for you, confident that their son would one day return to them. Plus they did leave something behind for you before they died." She told with a smile causing Dark Heart to look up at her with bloodshot, and teary eyes. "And what would that be?" Dark Heart asked having reverted back to his old voice and softer tone. "Weeeell..... your mother had informed us about five months after you had left......that she was pregnant." Celestia said finding it difficult to contain her excitement. "What!? You're telling that I had a sibling?" Dark Heart asked, not expecting that sort of news. "Actually you would've had two if you had returned, but I'm not telling you this to further depress you. In fact quite the opposite, because you see, not only did they tell them of your life, but they eventually had children of their who also had heard of your escapades. Even now you have great nieces and nephews who have heard of the wonderful things you've done and I'm pretty sure would love to meet their great uncle." Celestia tried to lift up his spirits. And yet again Dark Heart was stunned into silence over the news he had heard but this time it didn't last nearly as long as the first time. "I'm glad to hear that your family lineage hasn't ended with me but maybe it would be best if they didn't know that I'm alive. I don't want them to know of the burden of carry the Heart and there's also considering the fact that I don't think it would be a good idea to go walking out in the open without being accustomed to the ways of this time." Dark Heart stated as he picked himself up off the ground and looked to the princesses with a serious expression, but the glimmer in his eyes betrayed the fact that inside he was as happy as can be about having nieces and nephews that had been told stories of his life and was probably looked up to like a hero to them, but alas with his as the Guardian of the Heart he felt as though he would put them in danger if he was around them. That would be especially true if that damn coward of dragon, Spirit was still around and had found out that he was still alive. He would be quick ay trying to get his revenge and I wouldn't forgive myself should any of them get hurt because of me. He thought as ideas of what his future may look like in this new time might be like. "Well Dark Heart if you're up to it, that is also the other reason why I've brought my student and her friends here. You see they represent the Elements of Harmony; which are six powerful artifacts that have been used to protect Equestria from threats such as Nightmare Moon and Discord, twice; and the things the concepts of what it takes to be true friends. They were the ponies, excluding Spike, that turned Luna back to her old self and have also been helping her become accustomed to how our modern culture now works and now, if you want, they can help you as well. Though I believe that you may fare a bit better than my sister has for the past couple of years." Princess Celestia whispered that last part, earning her a chuckle from him and a glare from Luna. "Yeah I guess I would be up for that I don't want to do anything to make ponies afraid of me because I did something that's not culturally or socially acceptable." Dark Heart said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Oooooh I can throw a super special 'Released from a Thousand Year Imprisonment and Welcome to Ponyville' party." Pinkie Pie squealed excitedly. "You sure you can fit that all on one banner Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow Dash asked her bubbly friend. "Of course I can, I can do anything that I put my mind to when it comes to planning parties." Pinkie answered. "Well darling, you should probably do it after I he gets some new clothes. I could only imagine how filthy his current outfit must be. Better yet, Dark Heart, darling, would you mind coming by my boutique after we get back to Ponyville so I can get your measurements?" Rarity asked, getting Dark Heart's attention. "Measurements, for what?" He asked with a raised brow. "So that I can get make clothes that fit you properly." she explained "Thanks, but no thanks, I'm perfectly fine with what I'm wearing and if I want new clothes then I'll make them myself." he responded. "Why not just let her make you a new outfit or two, contrary to what you may believe Rarity can make more than just dresses, she'd be more than capable of making something that you may like." Twilight chimed in. "That's not why I don't want her to make them for me. The reason I would rather make them is because the clothes I have on have an enchantment on them that must be put into the fabric before it's sewn together and I'm the only one who knows how to cast it plus I need a specially made fabric which is, again, one that only I can make to project the enchantment on." Dark Heart explained. Everypony in the room just raised an eyebrow incredulously at him in disbelief of his statement. Dark Heart saw this and gave a roll of the eyes and a few headshakes as his response, not really caring that they didn't believe him. Before making his way to the group and out the throne room. When the others saw that he wasn't stopping they went to catch up with him and leaving the princesses alone. "Do you believe that he can help sister?" Luna asked still looking down the corridor in which the group had left. "I think the real question is will he choose to help us when the time comes?" Celestia asked with worried filled eyes. AdaptingDark Heart's POV I'm glad I'm finally out of that infernal prison, but I didn't expect to be released one thousand years into the future *sigh* oh well I guess I'm just going to have to do as Princess Celestia says and listen to her student and her friends, although I do gotta say that I'm glad that Princess Luna is back to normal. I actually find it kinda silly that I thought about holding a grudge against her of all ponies, especially since she's the only one that knows the hardships of wielding black magic. "Equestria to Dark Heart, you're needed back here with the rest of us ponies." I heard the pink one say, bringing me out of my thoughts and frantically waving her hands in front of my face. I grabbed both of her hands when they were right in front of me, effectively stopping their motions. "Could you not do that?"I said in an even tone. I really didn't really feel like really doing anything else today other than getting a bite to eat and going to sleep, maybe then I'll be in a better mood than I am now. "Well it seems somepony is little moody doesn't it?" the rainbow maned pegasus ask. "Would you be in a good mood if had been been imprisoned for a thousand and find out that everything that you ever knew is gone?" I asked somewhat irritable. They all seemed to have been silenced for now, whether if it was because they were actually thinking of answer or because they felt bad for me I don't care, but I'm happy that I've managed to buy myself a few more moments peace before I have to start having to dealing with their countless questions and explanations of other things and all the rest of the crap that comes with all of this time travel jargon. "So. . . . why did Nightmare think that she could bribe ya into helping her?" The mare with the southern accent and stetson hat asked. "She had the great idea that she'd be able to buy me off with the promise of respect and ruling by her side as her husband and king, could you actually believe that?" I asked exasperatedly, but all I got in response was silence. I looked to my side to see that they had all stopped dead in their tracks a little ways behind me. "What?" They stood their in silence with wide-eyed, open-mouthed looks on their faces. I waved my hands in front of them to try and elicit some kind of response but in return I got nothing. "I think you might have broke them Dark Heart." I heard Nova say. "Yah I figured that but I want to know how." I went over to the pink one and gently poked her in the eye to see if can snap them out of it with pain but when I did she didn't seem to do anything. "So you seriously don't know what could have caused this huh," Shadow asked sounding skeptical, as a answer I just shook my head "You dumbass, they froze up like that because you just told them that Nightmare Moon, the same mare they thought of as a heartless demon, had tried to court you." He explained. My only response was an "Ooooooooh" before I went to remedy the situation. "I know it's shocking to hear, but it's true and if you don't believe me you can go ask Luna right now and have her tell you herself because I'm pretty sure that she remembers that." I told them so that they could come back from their shock induced trances. I watched as Celestia's student shook her head trying to regain her composure before she looked back to me and looked as though she was going to ask me something when my ears suddenly perked up and I heard a high pitched whistling sound coming from somewhere but I couldn't pinpoint the exact direction it was coming from. I heard the lavender mare saying something but I didn't hear exactly what was as I zeroed in on where the noise was coming and what it might be and it got louder I started to realize what it was and quickly turned around and went into a shielding position as I spread out my arms and legs to cover as wide an area that I could with my body, I knew what was coming but with the dragon and the rest of the mares, that weren't the lavender unicorn, still frozen in shock I had no choice but take the actions I already have. Suddenly the window in front of us broken and a spear came directly towards us, or to be more precise towards me as I was standing the way of it and its true trajectory which would have been the shy, buttercream pegasus that was in the middle of the group. Being in the path of the fast moving projectile, it came as no surprise when it managed to impale itself into my right shoulder and it stayed there. "AAAAAHHHH!!" was the only response that I could come up with as I gripped my shoulder that now had a new addition to it. I grimaced from the pain that now coursed itself through my that part of my, that is until I heard an all too familiar voice come from the shattered window, and the gasp from everypony present only helped to confirm my suspicions. "Long time no see, eh Dark Heart?" I heard Spirit say. Everypony looked to me, they were suspecting that he wasn't a friendly judging by the looks on their faces, and I looked towards to dragon and look family rival with an uninterested look. "Well well well, if it isn't 'Spirit the Cowardly Dragon', how have you been? Run away from fight pissing yourself recently?" I insulted him hoping the get him going so as to give me a reason to put his head on silver platter right now and fucking eat it. Speaking of which I've just began to notice that I'm hungry, maybe I could eat him afterwards; strange for a pony to want to eat meat, I know, but my the dragon part of my Darkness form has given me some cravings for a lot of non-pony like dietary needs, such as a hankering for meat. I was in the middle of thinking about my new and strange eating habits when a violet fireball crashed on the ground a few inches in front of me. Undeterred by the close proximity of the blast I looked up at the scowling dragon that was staring at me. "What the hell do you want you pest?" I asked angrily. He harden his gaze before he spoke, "You didn't hear a fucking thing I said, did you you son of bitch." he responded just as angrily as he looked. "Nope." I said with a simple shrug. He looked like to be fuming by this point, as smoke started pouring out of his nostrils as he opened his mouth to repeat himself. "I said that I'm not here to engage you in a fight, at least not right now, I just wanted to let you know that we have unfinished business that needs to be settled and believe me when I say I plan on ending this really soon." he said irritably. One of my brows hiked up in an amused manner as I watched him fume up just from the fact that I wasn't responding to his weak attempt at a threat and trying to stifle back a laugh as I found his temper tantrum hilarious but judging from the look on his face I wasn't doing a very good job at it. Finally having successfully fighting back my laughter that was trying to escape my throat I finally offered up what I thought was an appropriate response to what he had told me, "Dude I can't take you seriously when you throw a temper tantrum like a little filly." Totally the appropriate response. Judging by the way he was clenching his fist I would say that I was right in my assumption. "You know what? I might as well as not even bother telling anything to you seeing as how you wouldn't care in the slightest, even if I was a god I'm know that you wouldn't take any of this seriously. That still doesn't mean that I'm not going to leave without giving you a parting gift." Spirit said with an evil smile replacing his frown. "Aaaaahhhh, you didn't have to do that for me, but since you went out of your way to get me something I might as well as accept it." I falsely swooned at the mention of a parting gift. His grin turned even more sinister before he raised his left claw, which was clenched, and opened it up to reveal a chain made of light. I followed the length of the chain from his claw until my eyes landed on the back end of the spear that was still lodged in my shoulder and it was then that I realized what his 'gift' to me was before turning my gaze back towards him. "Oh no worries Dark Heart, it really wasn't any trouble at all to find something to give to you," He said before he closed his claws to firmly grasped the chain before extending his arm towards in my direction. "I hope you enjoy it." Right after he said that, he threw his arm back with all of his strength and the spear, that was in my arm, was soaring through the air and back towards him. "Aaarrrggg! Fuck that actually hurt you dick!" I growled as he flew off into the distance, laughing like a bloody maniac. A few minutes after he'd left the guards showed up. "They're a little aren't do you think?" Yeah no fucking kidding, where the hell were they when he showed up. I was planning on getting up and laying into them but I was stopped by a firm but gentle hand being pressed against my uninjured shoulder. "You shouldn't move around that wound is pretty serious and moving around could cause you to lose more blood." The shy pegasus said as she tried to get me down to a sitting position and began to examine my gaping hole left behind from the spear. "I'm fine I've gotten plenty of injures worst than this without much treatment and I'm still perfectly fine. I do have the dark magic on my side after all." I said calmly and as if on cue dark magical energy started materializing and wrap around the injury and a feeling of relief spread over me as it soothed away the pain. I remained sitting on the ground as my dark magic did its thing and continued replacing and repairing all of the damaged muscle and nerves in my shoulder. The girls had stayed by my side after the purple one sent the dragon to go get the medical staff despite my protest. "You know that was really brave of ya to use yourself to shield us like that." I heard the country mare say, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had washed over us like darkness of the night. "Meh, it was nothing really, as I said before I've gone through worse." I said dismissively. This seemed to elicit shocked faces from them before the rainbow one spoke up. What do you mean it was nothing, nopony else would have done that without being hesitating on deciding to do something like that, but you just did it without a second thought." She said with an unusual enthusiasm though I was quick to dismiss that as well. "Well of course any other pony would have hesitated, but then again they also don't have the privilege of wielding black magic without it corrupting them; and they also don't have the kind of intense training that I put myself through daily and therefore wouldn't be used to the pain that came with taking that spear like that." I explained as if though this should have common knowledge to everypony. They stole glances at each other before they focused their gazes back on me. "You know there's no need for you to be so modest darling, after all you did manage to hold your own against the princesses and Nightmare Moon all on your own, and that dragon, Spirit if I recall correctly, seemed to be genuinely afraid of you." The white unicorn persisted, I only groaned in response. What is up with these mares, can't they see that I don't do this crap for the recognition, seriously though I would have figured they be able to get that message right away but apparently being upfront about it wasn't getting through to their heads, I sighed inwardly at this whole thing Whatever I guess I'll just deal with it. The dragon came back with some medic ponies as I finished my thoughts. They went to check up on my shoulder but couldn't get a clear view of it as the black aura was still there. They asked me If I could remove it so that they see what the damage that had been done, and of course of I refused seeing as though it would be a waste of time since my magic was already doing their job for them, yet they insisted on it. I was going to continue to protest but then I felt the familiar sensation of closing wounds and relinquished the argument to them. "Alright fine, I'll remove my dark magic." I said with false irritation. I removed the dark cloak around my shoulder only get gasp from everypony. "See what did tell you I am perfectly fine, so now will you stop pestering me?" My question went unanswered for a couple of minutes before one of the medical staff finally spoke up. "B- b- b- but how if what the drake told us was true then there should be a three-inch hole in shoulder." She stuttered out. I shrugged before giving her a response. "It's just one of the benefits of being able use dark magic unabided." I gave out as simple response, but apparently they still weren't satisfied with that seeing how they asked me to allow them to do a quick check up of my shoulder to make sure everything was in working order and that I was healthy. Not wanting to have to argue with them again I decided to just let them but was surprised when it only took about ten minutes instead of an hour like I was suspecting. After they had finished they said that I was an excellent health, like I was worried, and departed down one of corridors. As soon as they left the group came back and shot out the question I was suspecting to ask, seeing as nearly everyone does. "How did you heal yourself so quickly, surely black magic isn't that powerful." Celestia's pupil ask me. "Listen unicorn, as much as I would love to go into the all of intricate workings of my both of my magics, I'm really tired and really hungry and my cravings sure as hell aren't making things any better for me. So can we please just get to wherever it is we're going so that I could get some rest, and perhaps get rid of these strange craving in the process." snapped at her. I was really getting sick and tired of having to stop every minutes for stupid crap. "Yeah I guess we can get going to Ponyville. We're going to have to take train so you should be able to rest once we're abroad." The mare responded fearfully. I'd admit I felt a little guilt wash over me after hearing the fear in her voice. "Okay thanks. . . . um sorry for snapping like that. . .it's just today hasn't exactly been pleasant and I'm a little irritable right now-" "A little? the rainbow one interrupted. "Fine, I'm pretty irritable, so could you just work with me, at least until I can get some rest and food in me?" I asked with as soft a voice as I could manage. "It's alright, I understand that you're going through a lot right now and you want to relax, so there's no need to worry. I'm Twilight by the way, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight introduced herself before extending a hand in greeting. "Well it's nice to meet you Twilight and. . thanks for being so understanding, you have no idea what it means to me." I said as I shook the hand she offered. After we pulled away hands to rest at our sides we headed off towards the castle entrance, which didn't take too long to find, and headed off towards this train station place that she was talking about. When we got there I saw this huge metal carriage that seem to have multiple compartments that dozens of ponies were filing out and in them. I stared at this thing in awe and was examining it's features when I heard a country accent and knocking me out of my awe-induced trance. "I take it they didn't have trains during your time?" the country mare asked. "No they did not." I responded while keeping my eyes glued on the front this mechanical behemoth. I felt tugging at my left arm to find the pink one tugging at it. "Well then come on silly and you can take a look inside." She said while trying to drag me along with her. As amusing as I found her fruitless efforts I decided to start walking in the direction of the rest of the group that were standing in front of a ticket booth. "So you need tickets to board this thing huh, well I guess there has someway to make sure somepony isn't able to just sneak on the train without paying." I commented before we headed towards one of the train compartments. We made our way inside and took a seat wherever, they decided to sit together while I sat a few seats more towards the back. I took a look at the inside of the train car noting how comfortable it was in here, especially the seats, as I was beginning to become drowsing. I found myself slipping from consciousness and into the realm of dreams, or the realm of nightmares in my case. Third Person POV "It would look as though he's already fallen asleep," Rarity commented as she looked back to Dark Heart. "The poor dear, it must be hard for him to learn that his parents are gone." "I think I might, he seems to love his family as much as I do and I would be devastated I were to learn that I've sealed away for thousand years to learn that my all of my friends and family were no longer around." Twilight said, sadness creeping into her tone at just the mere thought of it. "And that's not to mention that he just got impaled by that dragon back at the castle too. I wonder how knew that it was coming in the first place." Rainbow Dash added in. "What I find to be more shocking than any of that is the thing he said about Nightmare Moon had gave him the offer of being his somepony." Rarity commented with more than a little shock emanate in her tone. This got a nod from the rest of the girls and Spike. "I wonder if he would've taken her up on the offer if Equestria's fate laid in the mix. Like maybe if she had been good and just went out to find him and she told him she love him and wanted to make him happy, or some other nonsense like that." This made the girls turn their gaze towards him before looking back to Dark Heart and then look to Spike again and looking as if he had solve to most difficult math equation in history. "Ah reckon that could very well be a possibility, in fact ah did notice that he was staring at Luna mighty funny like when he finally calmed down." The others all made murmurs of agreement before Fluttershy spoke up. "I don't think we should make assumptions about Dark Heart's love life while he's asleep it seems rude. Plus we all just met him and still have no idea what he's like or the kind of mares he's into." Fluttershy said wanting to end the gossiping before it grew out of hand. Before any of them could say anything else they started hearing somepony mumbling about something but with them being the only ones in the train car and Dark Heart asleep they didn't know where it was coming from. They decided to look around the compartment but found nothing but as Pinkie Pie took a closer look at Dark Heart she noticed that he was squirming around on the seat and the look of discomfort on his face. She made a gesture with her hands to beckon the rest of the group over to them. "No no. . . get away from her. . . . mom run don't worry about me. . . . mom? Mom!?. . . MOM!. . . NO, GET AWAY FROM MY MOTHER!!!! . . . . NOOOO!!!" Dark Heart's eyes suddenly sprung open and he quickly sat up, nearly head butting Pinkie, and was breathing heavily. Dark Heart's POV "Oh good, it was just one of my nightmares. I swear they get worse everyday." Dark Heart sighed before looking up and seeing the concerned looks on everyponies face. There was a moment of silence before any of them said anything to him. "Are you alright Dark Heart, you looked like you were having a pretty bad nightmare." the shy one asked. "Yeah, I'm alright it was just another one of the countless nightmares that plague my dreamscape, it's nothing none of you can do anything about." I told them, but of course, as I've come to expect from them, they pressed the matter on further. "Come on, there must be something we can do for you, maybe you'd like us to send a letter to Princess Luna to see if she can get rid of them if you've had others in the past?" Twilight asked me. "No, it wouldn't work even she can't get rid of these nightmares." "What? Why not?" the rainbow-maned one asked. "Because she's already tried and it was only a short-term solution so there's no point in asking her, and besides I've lived with these nightmares for most of my life, so there's no harm that they could cause me, at least not anymore. Anyway now that I'm nice and rested I would like to know the names of the mares, and dragon, that I'm going to be learning from." I wanted to change the subject quickly, because I really didn't want to explain the 'Endless Nightmares' thing right now, especially since I didn't even know any of their names, well none except Twilight of course. "Well Ah'm Applejack and me, along with my big brother, little sister, and Granny Smith, run Sweet Apple Acres, the biggest apple farms in all of Equestria as well as the Element of Honesty." Applejack greeted first, along with a handshake, a strong and firm handshake by the feel of the grip I felt on my hand. "Hiya, my name's Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter, and I love to throw parties and making ponies happy, I also love to eat sweets, and fun, and balloons, and- I cut her off by placing a finger on her lips before she had the chance to continue on any further. "Alright Pinkie, I get it you like a lot of thing and am extremely energetic, and it's nice to you." I said as way of greeting. "With that aside I am Rarity an up and coming fashion designer, the Element of Generosity, and it's nice to meet you Dark Heart." She introduced. "Well it's nice to meet you too Rarity, though I got the fashion designer thing from the fact that you had offered to make me a new outfit earlier." I told her before I took one of her hands and kissed the back of it. "So you can be a gentlecolt after all." She quipped. I just rolled my eyes in response before turning my attention towards to shy pegasus that seem to be using her mane to hide from me. "And may I ask what your name is oh reclusive one." I know that's probably not the best way to make a pony fell comfortable around you, but hey I've never been very good at offering anypony comfort in their times of need. "I'm. . . uh . . Fluttershy." She squeaked, I guess for any pony they would have had a hard time hearing her, but luckily I got trained ears so I did manage to hear her name, but just barely. I decided to not try to get her to repeat herself, seeing as she seems terrified, and decide to just offer my hand for her to shake; should she decide to that is. "You don't have to be scared of me Fluttershy, I only hunt down bad ponies and even then I don't automatically turn to violence, but I understand if that doesn't calm you down any." I said in the friendliest voice I could possibly muster which, judging by how much of her face was now uncovered, must have actually been pretty damn friendly. I stared at her while she unveiled more than half of her face before she shakily extended out a hand. "H- h- hi Dark Heart, I am the Element of Kindness. . . . I hope that we can b- be- become good friends." She stuttered out, still sounding terrified about being around me. I didn't respond, hoping not to scare her any more than she already was, and just went to shake her hand with my own but before I could make contact she flinched away. I just kept my hand where it was to see if she would take it and after a couple of minutes she eventually did, and with one firm shake I let go. I stepped away from Fluttershy and was going to look around to see if I had missed anyone when I felt another grip take hold of my shoulder and spin me around so that I was looking directly at the reckless rainbow-maned pegasus. "Of course you saved the best for last, hey I'm Rainbow Dash, I represent the Element of Loyalty. I am the fastest pegasus ever and future Wonderbolt." Rainbow Dash proclaimed brashly, to which I tsk'ed and shook my head. "What!? What did I say to get that kind of response?" "Oh nothing it's just that's a rather bold thing to claim without any proof, and if it true I may know the fastest pony in all of Equestria is." I stated. She glared at me like I just stole her puppy or something like that, which tells me that she doesn't like it when ponies step on her pride, hmm this should prove fun for me in the long run I do always love to knock ponies off their pedestals and put them in their place, though I may not be that much of a dick about with Rainbow Dash, especially if she can show me just how fast she actually is. "I don't know if you realize this or not but everypony you knew is dead and has been for a long time now." She stated coldly. "Oh ho. . . ho. . . we got a fighter here. I think you're right, we can have some fun with messing with her mind in later days, eh Dark Heart?" Oooh he has no idea. "Behave you two these ladies are our guide, so be nice or else." Nova threatened. "Or else what Nova, you're going to drag the both of us into the Heart's pocket dimension and kick our asses." I stated plainly. "Yes." came her simple response. I merely rolled my eyes at her antics before turning my concentration back to the pony in front of me, who was now looking at me like I gone insane. I took a look around to see that they were all giving me the exact same look as Rainbow Dash. "What?" I finally asked. "Who are you talking to Dark Heart, because I don't any other in here and none of us are named Nova. Not unless somepony suddenly got a name change." Twilight asked looking concerned about my well being. "Oh. . . well . . . you see thanks to my circumstances, my black magic and the Heart of Light have left me with additional luggage and the names to those luggages are Shadow and Nova. Shadow is the spirit of the darkness that lies within me, he came into being when I was ten years old and been a rather bothersome creature, but he's almost like brother to me now so I wouldn't get rid of him even if I could. Nova, like Shadow, is also a spirit. She resides within the Heart and has been since my ancestors first obtained it. She's helped me to learn how to better control my dark power as well as taking control of the energy flow of the amulet for whenever I'm in combat and need the Heart to purify somepony but must first immobilize them. She helped me during my battle with Nightmare Moon by building up the energy needed to purify her heart but I didn't take into account her nightmare magic until it was too late." I explained to the group who still appeared to be unable to comprehend the information. I decided to take a seat next to the dragon, considering he's the only one left who has yet to introduce himself, and nudged his side to get his attention. "Hey, Equestria to the purple and green dragon you are needed for introductions." I said as I waved my hands in front of his face which didn't seem to be working. I eventually gave up as he didn't appear to be escaping out of his trance. "You're saying that you share your body with two spirits?" I finally heard Rainbow Dash ask which seem to knock the others out of it as well as they seem to want to pay attention to what my answer is. I sigh before I said anything. "Not really, Nova's home resides within the Heart of Light, as I said before, and Shadow. . . well technically I do share my body with him, but he's unable actually take control of it unless I let him and we both know that that's not going to happen unless there's an emergency and even then he wouldn't have full control of my power." It seemed that they understood that more than my last explanation. "Do the princesses know about Nova and Shadow?" Twilight asked. "Kinda, I had told them of Shadow's existence and my mother told them about Nova's, but I don't think they know exactly how the situation with that works out." They still perplexed but at not as much as they were a moment ago. "So. . . . does anypony mind telling the name this guy or are you just going to keep me wondering?" I said pointing at the dragon. "Hmm. . oh sorry, my name is Spike, I'm Twilight's number one assistant, and her very first friend, next to Shining Armor and Princess Cadence of course." Spike stated having finally coming out of his stupor, too bad I wasn't pay all that much attention to him. My mind was once again turning my focus back to yet again craving meat. "Aaaargh, these damn cravings are gonna drive up the damn wall!" I shouted out loud my frustration. "Um. . . what's wrong? What exactly are ya craving that is making ya so angry?" Applejack asked me, obviously concerned. "I really don't think any of you really want to know what these particular cravings are for, but I will tell you that it's a part of a dragon's diet." I told her hoping that none of them are push on any further. "Well I would think you were talking about eating gems but I highly doubt that that's what you're talking about, so come on just tell us what it is maybe we can help you find whatever it is you're craving, and we won't take no for an answer." Rainbow Dash, which is no surprise, decided to yet again curse the fact that these mares just don't know how to give up. "Alright, but don't try calling me a monster and blaming me if you're somehow scarred from my next words, but since you're so persistent. . . the thing I've been craving to eat for the last. . . I would five-hundred thirteen years is. . . . meat." There now that's secret out but lets see how they handle it. . . . hmm they seem to be taking it quite well all I see are looks of discomfort and regret and here I was suspecting that they would run away from me, meh oh well I guess it will be easier to explain this to them. Before I could explain the situation to them Fluttershy, which is a shock to me, was first to speak up. "Y-y-you're kidding right? This is just some kind of sick joke you're playing on us. . . right?" She asked fearfully and I shook my head she seemed lose her coloring. "Believe me Fluttershy I wish it was but alas thanks to the dragon half of my Darkness Form I've grown an acquired taste for the flesh of other creatures. I've been able to keep it under control all this time, but after Spirit showed up I've been thinking about ripping him apart with my claws and devouring his heart, heh it's actually kinda funny if you consider the fact of how calm I acted back there." I let a half-hearted laugh, thinking of how damn cruel genetics and instincts can be sometimes. When I looked back up I saw that they were all sporting eyes as wide as dinner plates that showed how much fear laid in them. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I mean accepting a black magic wielding unicorn, easy, but accepting a carnivorous one, wwweeelllll.... that maybe a bit harder to grasp on to. Though I didn't count on them jumping back when I took a step forward to go take back my seat at the back of the car, but it happened and I guess I was just going to have to deal with it as I decided to just continue on towards the back and sat down so that I could relax for as long as I could before we got to our stop. Which, unfortunately for me, was only about ten minutes and I saw that the girls and Spike had all already bailed out before I could stand up and I saw clouds of smoke from where they once were. "Well there goes the 'trying make friends' plan. Whatever I could just find out about this place on my own, it's not like I'm not already used to doing shit on my own." I say to nopony in particular as I stepped of the trian. I took a look around taking in the sites of Ponyville before exiting the train station and began wandering around the town, which was hell of a lot smaller than Neighburg, but it was also a nice looking town too I wonder if this was around back then because I so would have tried to convince my parents to move here instead of living in piece of crap that was my hometown. I didn't even bother looking for the gang seeing how they would probably just run from me again after hearing that I eat meat, which reminds me I seriously need to find a griffon or another dragon that actually knows how to hunt and see if they have anything for me to eat. But after taking a glance at the sky, I saw that the sun was lowering which meant that is was getting late and I wouldn't be able to find anybody before they closed up shop, even I were to try and magically enhance my body to make myself even faster, I'm too unfamiliar with this place to just go exploring, especially with that Everfree forest nearby, until I learn enough about how it and the town works, it would best if I played it safe. . . for a couple of weeks. I started to look for a suitable place to sleep before it got too dark out here and while exploring I manage to spot a decent size hill with a tree at the top of it that was a just outside of town. "Perfect." I stated as I made my while over to said hill. When I got there I examined the area under the tree and found it to be satisfactory and laid down on the ground, looking up at Luna's night sky and admiring its beauty. "I guess I could understand why Luna would feel unappreciated by nopony gazing upon the masterpiece that she puts together every night, it's just simply magnificent." I say before allowing myself to fall into sleep's embrace for the second and final time for today. Fearing the DarkI awoke with a start as I heard somepony scream from somewhere nearby. I looked around to find the source but couldn't immediately find it. I made my way into town but I heard the scream again and found out that is was coming from the direction of the forest and headed in that direction myself, but when I passed by a clock tower I saw that it was already one in the afternoon. "Damn I must have been more tired than I thought yesterday I usually never sleep in until six, and usually by then it's my nightmares that jolt me out of my sleep. . . . .weird, but I can't focus on that right now, I need to head to the forest and see what's up." I say to myself as my horn lights up in its red aura and starts channeling magic through my body and felt the area under my feet glide seamlessly under me as I broke the sound barrier. Using that speed I quickly found to source of the screams, which appeared to be emanating from Fluttershy as she was being encircled by. . .by. . "TIMBERWOLVES!!!?" All three of us shouted. I quickly sprung into action seeing the one behind her about to pounce on its prey. "GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BASTARDS!!" I growled as I unsheathed Blessing and flung it at the beast as soon as the chain from the gauntlet on my right arm attached itself to the hilt. The timberwolf managed to dodge my attack, but just barely, and the rest had turned towards me when I landed in the area behind the one I had thrown my blade at. I quickly recalled Blessing back to me as another one of them tried to make a go at me only to find itself skewered through and through. I wasn't allowed to admire my handiwork or make some smartass remark as I had two more lunged at me from the sides and trying to catch off guard, also probably thinking that I couldn't use Blessing with their buddy still impaled on it, but I wasn't about to let them get a chunk out of me as I whipped out Cursed with black magic already coursing through it and slammed ii into the earth, sending out a small energy wave to knock them back. I booted off the timberwolf I had skewered from Blessing so as use it properly and took up my fighting stance while the rest of the pack stalked away from Fluttershy and surrounding me, snarling and growling like the stupid vicious creatures they are. Releasing my own growls before swinging both my swords towards a group of four of them and releasing a dark and light slices of energy from their respective conductors and manage to get all but one of them as they were clean cut went through them before falling to the ground. The last one remaining was whimpering and backing away from me before it turned around and tried to make its way back into the Everfree, but was stopped by Cursed as it pierced through its left hind leg and implanted into the ground, effectively trapping it in place. I uncuppled the gauntlet on my left arm and slammed that too into the ground in front of me to make sure it couldn't run should the timberwolf manage to get Cursed out of the ground, which I doubt. With Blessing still in my grips I went for the one behind me so as to catch it by surprise speared it in the head which left three of them left, the one that was secured by Cursed, and two more that still didn't seem to get the message that they weren't going to kill me, especially since they were the only ones left. "You finally realize how outmatched you pathetic creatures are, or are trying to actually think of a plan to overpower because let me tell you there's no way thats ha-" I was cut off as one of the remaining timberwolves howled in the sky and I noticed a faint green glow coming from behind me afterwards. I took a glance back to see that scattered remains of the their fallen brothers were glowing an eerie green and began floating in the air. "Ahhhh crap." I had completely forgotten about how they can piece themselves back together if you don't sufficient damage to their bodies but, by the looks of things, they weren't interested in piecing back into their individual forms as they forming into a gigantic timberwolf. So here I stand with now four timberwolves in front of me, the one that was still trapped, two normal-sized and free timberwolves, and one gigantic timberwolf whose mouth was big enough to chomp down me down whole in one bite. "Hey Dark Heart, I think wolfy here wants to play." Shadow joked. "Well I don't care if these three want to play, but if the other one that's pinned does I'll be more than happy to accept, so I'm just going to get of these guys." I use the magic fusion to send both light and dark energy through Blessing, even though my dark magic won't be as strong flowing through Blessing, and allowed the energy to build up within it. While doing so I called upon the darkness of my heart and started shifting into my Darkness Form so that I could give these mutts a special surprise should they annoy me at all. As I was getting ready to release the energy I had stored up I heard a voice in the distance, several voices actually, and they had sounded familiar which meant it could only be them. It's about time they got here, it wasn't like Fluttershy's scream was as quiet as her normal speaking voice." Shadow said, sounding annoyed. "Yeah, but look at where we are. The closest house to the Everfree forest is that cottage over there, which I'm sure that she lives in, and it much take awhile to get here, though I do find it strange nopony else came sooner. They sure are lucky that you were here otherwise who knows what could have happened to her." I heard a groan that obviously came from Shadow and I understand why he did. "Nova, why are you defending them? I believe it's pretty damn clear what would have happened to her if wasn't here, but I do agree with you on the fact that nopony got here sooner to check up on Fluttershy to see if she was alright, though none of that matters now. As soon as they know that she's okay, they're going to run away again to take her to safety because they're probably still scared of me and act like the assholes I had to deal with while I still lived in Neighburg." I said begrudgingly. I snapped out of the conversation when I heard what sounded like something was hitting a magical force field and noticed that the three wolves that were in front of me were gone. I looked to my left, where to pounding was coming from, to see that they were striking a translucent, purple barrier and I when I took a closer look inside I saw that Twilight's horn was glowing with the same color aura as the barrier. "Alright that's just messed up," I said annoyed at the the timberwolves actions. "I mean come on, they just decide to ignore me and go after them, when I'm the one who's been hurting them. That's just not cool man, now I'm not playing nice anymore." After that was said I sheathed Blessing in exchange for full usage of my claws. I stalked up to one of the normal-sized timberwolves and snatched it by one of its hind legs and hung upside down in front of me. "This is what happens when you ignore me." I thrust my claws into its lower jaw and started slicing up to its torso and ending just short of its groin area. I withdrew my claws only to thrust my arm through it midsection of impaling it on my arm though it was to be there for a minute or so as I started building up the fire inside me until I felt it at the back of my throat and spewed out a gout of black flames directly over it, my flames were hot enough to incinerate instantly. "Dark Heart you be careful about using your fire breath, it's extremely dangerous to any other creature in close proximity to it." Nova cautioned me. "Yeah yeah, I know why do you think I just used it?" I swear it's like she doesn't even know me sometimes. "I was talking about the girls, remember your flames have enough magical energy in them to easily bust through Twilight's shield spell without any difficulty." Oh yeah that's right, thanks to the dark magic that enables my shift, the flame breath I've been granted is imbued with a large portion of my own magic but doesn't really hinder me in any way. I was going to offer up my argument when I felt a sharp pain emanating from my right leg. I looked to it to see that the other timberwolf had latched onto it and leaving the giant one to its own devices. I let a smile on my face when I came up with an idea to help me enjoy this a little more as I reared back the leg with a timberwolf attachment and launched it towards the gut of the other one, sending them both flying in the air. I look to the bite marks on my leg to see that the wounds had already been patched up; I move towards the last two victims of today as I called upon my flames yet again, spewing them out once I felt that they had reached optimal temperatures, and instantly incinerating them like the first. "Well that was fun but I think I should probably go out and hunt me down some lunch." I turned towards the forest and was going to head in, but I saw the trapped timberwolf that had given up struggling and looked like it was accepting its fate. I walked over to it, kneeling down when I was right beside it, and looked it up and down. "What are you going to do to it DarkHeart?" I heard Fluttershy ask, her face barely within my sights. She looked concerned for the creature that I secured here. "I'm not sure, I kinda feel like killing it would just be cruel at this point and I know it wouldn't dare attack if I let it go, but I feel like that I maybe I would be dooming to a slow and painful death with the injury to its leg, especially if that was its entire pack then it definitely wouldn't stand a chance." I sighed as I scratched my head looking for answers. "Why don't you keep it?" Nova asked. "What, are you crazy, I couldn't keep it. Odds are I wouldn't be able to, it would probably bailout as soon I take Cursed out of its leg , despite whatever pain it may feel.Plus with no home, or even an basic understanding for its diet how would I keep it fed without going and slaughtering every animal I see, I just think this is a-" Before I could continue Pinkie Pie interrupted me as she just burst out of the ground wearing a miner's helmet, and the light shining directly in my face. "Damnit Pinkie. . . . turn off that damn light, you're gonna make me go blind!" I yelled out trying to keep the offense light out of my eyes. "Oopsie, sorry about that Dark Heart." She said as she turned off the head lamp. "Thank you, now mind telling me why you're bursting out of the ground and attempting to blind me in the first place?" I asked blinking away the spots that were left in my vision. Oh. . I just wanted to say that I think it would be a great idea if you kept a timberwolf as a pet." She said as bubbly as ever. I raised an eyebrow "Really?" I asked skeptically to which she simply nodded her head. I let out a chuckle at her answer, but not because I thought she was being ridiculous for saying that I should this timberwolf, but because I was actually going to agree with her. Though judging by the confused look on her face she didn't get at the same conclusion I had. "So you really think I would should keep a timberwolf as a pet, even knowing how dangerous they are?" I had to ask again to see if she would still say yes after my seemingly unsettling chuckling. "W-well yeah. . . . they might be dangerous but it seems like that they are scared of you just as much as we were yesterday after we found out you were carnivorous. I think you would be able to train it to not be so mean, even if it does need to eat meat to be healthy." Wow. . . just wow I seriously can't believe she manage to say all of that without hesitation, I guess she's being genuine, and she's making me believe that I should keep this timberwolf but first. "So tell me girls. . . do still want to be friends with a creature such as myself, or would you rather you to not have anything to do with me and want to leave because if you do I could and will leave if that is the case and we'll probably never see each other again." I asked with my back turned to the rest of them. I got up and turned to face them, to show them that I wouldn't have any hard feelings towards them should they decide they want me to go. I was waiting for longer than I thought would be enough time to came to a decision so I decided to give my attention back to the lone timberwolf that was still here, or more specifically its leg that my katana was still lodged into. I gingerly tugged on Cursed and was met with pained howls from the helpless creature. I had to admit I was feeling a little guilty for doing this to it. "I'm going to remove my sword from your leg, okay, so don't move around too much." I said while I petted its head to try and calm it down. I kept petting for a couple of minutes before I felt it start to relax, I looked into it's eyes and saw that it was scared but that it also trusted me and I made sure that it didn't doubt me with a warm smile. I reached out to Cursed but as soon as I wrapped my hand around its handle I heard the timberwolf whimpering. "Don't worry I'll try to be quick and gentle so that it will hurt less, but unfortunately it is still going to hurt, just try and strong and it'll be over before you know it." I said soothingly, just before put a strong grip on Cursed on yanked it with all of my might so as keep my promise and make sure that it didn't hurt too badly though that didn't stop it from yelping. I have to say that saying that what happened next shocked me but that would be an understatement. The moment right after it yelped, the timberwolf lurched towards me and stuck its head right into my lap and pawing at my stomach, almost like it wanted me to comfort it and eb the pain away. Its reaction may have shocked me but doesn't mean that I wasn't going to fix what I had done and so I wrapped my arms around its torso and pulled it up closer to chest, cradling the injured creature almost as if it were a small child. "I'm so sorry that I did this to you, and if you stick around, I'll make it up to you." I said as I stroked its back. "You know this timberwolf is girl right?" I heard Pinkie say. I looked up at her with a raised eyebrow as she almost seemed to not care what kind of scenario we're in right now. "No. . . no I did not Pinkie, thanks, but shouldn't you be over there with your friends trying to decide on whether you girls want to have me around or not?" As soon as I finished I heard her start giggling and again I was seriously questioning the intelligence, and the sanity, of this mare. "Why you think something like that." I was about to say something but she continued on."I would have thought me being here would be all the answer you needed to know that I want you to stay here." "But aren't you scared of me?" I immediately asked without even thinking. "Well maybe a little but I can over that. I can see that you're a really nice pony and that you don't like hurting others as much as you let on, but you still do it anyway that we're scared of you so that nopony will try to hurt the ones you care about." For a hyperactive ball of joy she sure can be sagey sometimes and I could only imagine how her friends must be whenever she does this kind of stuff. "You know you sure are a strange one Pinkie Pie, but I would imagine that just about everything you said is true. I do whatever it takes to protect anypony that I care about, both my family and, if I had any, my friends. The best way that I've found to do that is by the thing that others should be of in the dark, the monster under their bed as of sorts, but it gets the job done." I told her, not really caring what she may say to that. "Ah think it may get the job done a little too well, that's the problem that ya need to understand." Applejack said she came around in front of me with the rest of the girls. "Believe me, I perfectly understand that but tell me would you have me act any other way considering all the danger that I've faced. You do remember yesterday right, with Spirit, it's because of crap like that is why I must remain like this otherwise I risk those very creatures going after the ones I love and care about. I would rather appear to be a major asshole to everypony and have them despise me than have them get captured by any enemies I make in the future and that reigns true even now for all I know Spirit could be watching us, or he has a laky doing for him." I explain this all to them because I couldn't, in good consciousness, let them believe that it was okay to be around. I needed them to know of the dangers of being around me. "It sounds like you think that we can't take care of ourselves in dangerous situations, like we're just helpless mares who can't fight." Rainbow Dash said accusingly. "Compared to me, you are, to everypony else probably not so much." I replied jokingly, though they didn't seem as amused at it as I was. "What?" The only response I got was a scowl from four of the six mares that were in front of me. I didn't say anything to apologize and instead looked to the timberwolf that was laying on my lap. "So girl, you think you feel strong enough to walk on your own?" I watched as she tried to stand up, only to see her collapse back onto my leg. "So I take that as a no then *sigh* alright then I guess I'm going to have to carry you then." But as I went to pick up the timberwolf, a pair of orange hands nabbed her before I could. "I think ah'm gonna carry her over to Flutter's. That is unless Mr. Stallion here thinks that I'm to weak and girly to do that." Applejack jeered. "Wow I think you might have pissed her off there Dark Heart, and by the looks of it, she's not the only one." Shadow mocked. "Don't you think I know that you fucking moron, I do have eyes after all." I retorted back. "Yeah you do, but not much of a brain." I could hear him holding back his laughter as he spoke. "What are you talking about, and what the hell is so funny?" I asked him, somewhat irritably. "Uh Dark Heart, you do realize that you're saying all of this out loud, right?" Nova pointed out to me, and as she did I looked to the girls and saw that they were all looking at me with bewilderment, even the timberwolf was staring at me like I had just grown a second head. Actually would I be able to regrow my limbs with my dark magic, I mean I know I can regenerate certain parts of my body like I did yesterday after I had intercepted that spear from that prick Spirit, but would I actually be able to regrow my an entire like my arms or legs. Guess I'll find out should that situation ever arise." I thought to myself while the others were already on their way towards Fluttershy's house, in fact they were well out of my sights by the time I came back from my thoughts and saw that nopony was nearby. "Where the hell did everypony go?" I asked to pony in particular. "They left while you were off in lala land there bud." Shadow insulted. "I wasn't 'off in lala land' jackass, I was thinking about a legitimate problem that could arise in the future." I snapped back. "It doesn't matter what you were doing you just need to go catch up with them." Nova cut into our conversation before the two of us could start an argument, that will most likely turn into several arguments about other things and last the rest of the day. (Because lets face it the three of us got nothing better to do outside of fighting, or training, besides argue with each other like a dysfunctional married couple, except there's three of us in it instead of just two.) "Alright, but which way did they go cause I got no fucking idea." I asked, and could have sworn I heard one of them facepalm right afterwards. "You fucking moron, if you had been paying attention you would have seen that they went down the path to your left, along the borders of this stupid fucking forest!" Wow, just wow, Shadow sounded piss, well more pissed than usual I wonder why. "What the fuck went up your skirt and died. . . . is it your time of the month again?" I asked while I started down the path he was referring to. Though I didn't get the response I was trying to get out of him. "I don't what it is but something those mares rubs me the wrong way." Hm, now that is rather curious, especially considering that we just met them yesterday and had been fine with them up until now. "Well they haven't really done anything but be nice, and terrified, of us, or Dark Heart at least, even when he keeps digging a bigger hole for them to jump into and beat him, so what could they have possibly done to get you so angry at them all of sudden?" Nova asked him. "I already said I don't know. I would say that it's because they're being too nice but then I would have felt this way back at the castle or on the train and considering I was still in good mood just a few moments ago before they left I doubt that that's the case." Just a few moments before they left, . . . wait a minute. "You're right, it's not the fact that they're too nice, but I think what is making you angry," I said, Shadow sounded like he was going to say something but I continued on before he could say anything. "You said that you were in a good mood before they left right?" I asked. "Yeah, but what are y-" He started to say before I cut him off. "And you watched them as they did?" I asked him another question already knowing the answer. "Well yeah, we both did. I wanted to make sure you know which way to go so that we could watch over that timberwolf. I mean I do like the idea of keeping her by our side as pet and it would make you, us, look even more of a badass in the eyes' of other ponies, but what does that have to do with why I'm so angry all of sudden?" I rolled my eyes at the part about 'us' looking like a badass if I keep the timberwolf but I quickly put a serious face after he asked his question. "Well what I'm thinking is that you felt so angry because something you want is being taken from you and you can't do anything about, with you being stuck in my body and having no control and all that mess, which must have brought up the anger you felt when you were sealed back into my mind after you tried to takeover and that's why you're so fucking pissy now." I stated as though as was an expert on this kind of crap, which I might be all things considering. "Well . . . that actually sounds like a legitimate theory to my sudden mood swing. That's rather impressive, especially considering that it's coming from you." Well it sounds as though we got him out of his little funk temporarily. I decided to let him have his moment and not give any rebuttal, mostly because he's kinda right, I'm not exactly the type of pony that can really understand what causes the emotions others feel just that I'm able to pick up on them, but that doesn't matter at the moment, what does matter though is that I make on over to Flutter's and check up on the timberwolf. "You know you should probably come up with a name for her if you're going to keep her so that you aren't calling 'timberwolf' all the time." Nova pointed out to me. "Yeah I know but I'm not sure what I should call her. I want to call her by something that would do her some justice, plus I'm not that good with picking out names for animals anyway." Which is the nice way of putting it, but in all reality I'm just straight up terrible when coming up with names. So bad in fact, that I have had to use a memory eraser spell to forgot them and even then they still linger, and it's not because I fucked up the spell, which I didn't. "Why don't you tell her the names you have picked out and see what she likes instead of turning it into one of your observational research bullshit that you use to figure a ponies emotional status." Shadow offered up his suggestion. "You know that actually sound likes a good idea, and definitely sounds easier than picking out a name that'll have her bite me every time I call her by it. Oh, and by the way, don't fucking ridicule the way I go about getting into a pony's head. My observational research has saved me a lot of hassle from trying to find ways to have the right ponies misplace their trust in me and gotten to the bottom of things. So you sir can go suck a fat one." I argued which is really no surprise to any of us by now. I walked down the path in silence, none of us were saying a thing not even those two morons bickering at each like usual, and just enjoyed the scenery before me. Man is Fluttershy lucky to live somewhere with this kind of view. I thought to myself as I saw a small cottage come into view just ways away with rainbow-colored hair in front of a window and blocking the view inside. Looks like a found her home and none of them have left. I wonder if they're still mad at me for my unintentional jab at their pride in being a mare. I wondered as I was just a few feet away from the door but stopped when I heard Rainbow Dash say . . something . . . . something that that I thought I would never hear from any pony ever again. "I know that this is fucked up but I kinda wish that Dark Heart wasn't born." Settling In Settling In "I know that this is fucked up but I kinda wish that Dark Heart wasn't born." That was the one thing I thought that I wouldn't have to hear ever again, but there it was. A pony that I thought could potentially become friends with just wished I wasn't born, but what had made that statement even worse was that no of them said anything after that. The fact none of the other mares in that room said nothing is just as bad as them just out right saying that they agree with her. "Dark Heart. . .are you alright?" I heard Nova say but was too much in shock to actually respond. I just continued to stand there with my hands right over the door knob to Fluttershy's cottage. "Come on buddy just ignore what Rainbow said after all if it wasn't for you Fluttershy wouldn't even be alive right, they're all just ungrateful cunts." I managed to acknowledge what Shadow said, and you know what he's right. If it wasn't for me Fluttershy would have been nothing more than a bloody pile of organs and a nice hearty meal for those timberwolves if it hadn't been for me. "You know what, you're right I don't even know why I even fucking care. It's not like I'm not use to this sort of rejection before. So what you do you guys say we go look for a new place to live; I would try going back to the cave but but considering that Celestia said that we were found because ponies are mining down there it won't do us much good." I don't know why but for some reason I keep wanting to just live caves for some weird reason, even in the amulet I had asked Nova to make me a nice cave just for me to sleep in. Maybe living in those crystal caves have something to do with that. "Sounds like a plan to me, you planning on finding another cave then?" Fucker was reading my mind wasn't he. "Yeah actually. It just feels natural now you know?" I could feel Shadow nodding his head inside of my head, and I know that sounds weird but considering the kind of pony I am that shouldn't be much of a surprise. "Well that's fine with as well, I kinda miss living in the crystal caves too, it was nice having that kind of view everyday and it never got old." Nova added in. "Well then it's settled we're going to find a new cave to live in; and this time I'm going to make sure that nopony just drops in on us unexpectedly this time." I say with a little too much determination. "Well technically Nightmare Moon didn't drop in on us unexpectedly at the cave, you willing invited her in." Of course one of them would remind that I was the reason we dealt with that mess in the first place. "Actually before we go searching for our new home, was is to become of Ember, are we just going to leave her here?" Shadow reminded me. "Yeah, we're going to leave her here for now but as soon as her leg is all better I'm bringing her along with us. At least that way nopony has to worry about feeding for all that long considering that the two of us could hunting for food in the forest." Not that I actually care about that, but I don't need to be causing a mass hysteria in the town either 'cause that would cause more problems that could easily be avoided. As I was walking down the path back to town, I heard somepony calling out to me, "Dark Heart where ya going!?" It sounded like Applejack and she didn't sound all that far from me, judging by how loud her shouting was, and so I turned around to find her running towards me and immediately taking up a scowl upon my features though she didn't spot it until she was almost right in front of me. It seemed whatever determination she had before she saw the scowl had vanished and she was fidgeting her legs from side to side very nervously and I actually took joy in making this strong mare act like a scolded filly without evening making a single movement or making a sound but it's obvious that she had come to find me for a reason and I had things that I needed to do so I decided to get things moving along. "So what do you want Applejack? I got things I need to do and you're holding me up." I tried to hide the maliciousness in my voice but considering how she took a couple steps away from me means that I failed. "A a a ah just wanted ta ask ya if yer gonna go and check up on the timberwolf?" She stuttered nervously. Man I must be look more intimidating than I thought. "No, if Fluttershy is as good at taking care of animals as you all say she is then I'm confident that I don't to worry about Ember all that much; and besides I have to go find to the two of us a new if I'm going to be living here and start taking care of myself in this time." I really didn't want to be near her, or any of the other five mares right now, and I'm hoping that she gets that message and relays it to her friends should I end up blowing up in their face. Especially since I've been having a little trouble controlling my temper as of late and I really don't want another incident like back when I was ten, but made worse considering that now I have black magic and am substantially stronger now than I was back then. "Uh. . . . who is Ember?" Applejack asked the incredibly stupid question. "Really? Is she really asking that? I thought that she would've been able to figure that out right away, but I guess I gave this country bumpkin a too much credit." Shadow insulted Applejack, and knowing where this was going to lead I'm shutting down my connection to both him and Nova before they start up. "The timberwolf Applejack, I decided to call her Ember since I decided to her I'm going to be keeping her after all and I figured that she needed a name instead of always referring to her as my timberwolf, or just 'her', to show her that I do plan on caring for her from now on. Now if you'll excuse me, as I said before I have a ton of things that I need to get done and I would like to find myself somewhere to stay at so that I'm not sleeping outside all the time, I would like to find it before nightfall." I wasn't going to even bother hiding the fact that just her presence here was aggravating me. I'm not sure if she suspected that I would've heard her and the others in the cottage, though the likely case was that they did see me as I was walking away and so Applejack probably does suspect that I did hear them. Even if that is the case though she sure isn't showing it. "Are you sure that you don't want any help looking for-" Applejack was saying before I cut in. "I already said that I wanted to go looking alone, or at least you shouldn't have gotten those hints. So if don't leave me to my devices right now I may not be as pressed to hide the severity of my discontent that I feel for you and the girls, you got that?" I know that my voice shift is a dead giveaway of said discontent, but I really wasn't in any sort of mood to deal with it right now and since Applejack had already nodded her head yes and zoomed back down the path to Fluttershy's. "Did you really have to go about that situation so cruelly? I mean I know that you must feeling enraged over what we heard back at the cottage, but does that really warrant you to act so harshly towards any of them; especially since all she was doing was offering to help you." Nova asked, obviously trying to get through to my kinder, more sensible side and, of course, Shadow decided to step in. "Are you kidding me Nova; I think that she got what she deserved. No pony in all their good consciousness would have said such a thing, or allow for such a phrase to be uttered without sort of retort, but yet Applejack and the rest of her friends said nothing to Rainbow Dash after she did. In fact if anything I think Dark Heart should have screwed with her mind and made her feel extremely guilty for it and even then it wouldn't have been enough to be considered as repayment for how badly they've hurt him." Shadow went off after hearing Nova's input on my actions. I stepped into what I thought to be the center of town and saw ponies walking all over the place, going about their normal business, and none of them paying me any mind. Sure there were a few that peered in my direction, but none of the ponies that did looked as though they were afraid of me and instead were curious. I decided to walk up to the closest pony near me, an earth pony mare with a mulberry coat, two-toned pink mane, and green eyes, and she was wearing a white button-up blouse and black skirt that went down to her knees, and asked her where I could find the Mayor's office. "The Mayor's office is just in that building," She pointed towards the tall building in the middle of the square with the spire on top. "Her office is just three floors up and the furthest door on the right." She instructed me on how to find the office. "Okay, thank you, I really appreciate the help." I thanked her. "You are very welcomed mister, but if I may ask, who are you because I don't think I've ever seen you in Ponyville before." The mulberry mare commented. "Well that is because I just arrived in town yesterday and currently in search of a place to live which is why I need to talk to the mayor." I responded to her, though I know I've probably piqued her curiosity now. "You're a new pony in town and Pinkie Pie hasn't thrown you a party yet; that's rather odd of her, I wonder if she's feeling alright. Well anyway, welcome to Ponyville, I hope you have a good time living here. Say, where are you planning on staying?" the mare asked. I don't know why I feel so compelled to tell her all of his, especially considering I was planning on going back to the kind of lifestyle of was living in a millenia ago, and yet I can't seem to want to tell this mare to just mind her own business. "Well miss, um. . . ." I had yet to find out who this mare was and figured I'd asked in the most polite way I could manage. "Oh my, please excuse my manners, my name is Cherilee and I'm the teacher at the Ponyville Schoolhouse." Cherilee introduced herself. "Well hello Cherilee, I'm Dark Heart and at the current moment I have no job, but I'll most likely be getting one here soon." I said in ways of introduction. "Yo, Dark Heart, we got things to do, remember?" Shadow said, interrupting my concentration on whatever Cherilee was saying. "Shut it you ass, I don't want to hear you right now." I said; and judging by the way Cherilee was looking at me, I had said it out loud. "Sorry Cherilee, I wasn't talking to you. I have this annoying voice in my head that likes to be rude and talk whenever somepony is speaking to me and that comment was meant for him, sorry if you thought it was." I apologized, but I wasn't expecting to get off so easily though seeing as though that story isn't very believable amongst normal ponies. "Oh. . well okay then. . . as long as you are telling the truth I'll accept your apology and out of curiousity, what was this voice of yours saying?" Cherilee accepted that apology a little too quickly and I don't know whether I should be worried or not, but I answered her either way. "Oh nothing important, just reminding me that we had something that we were doing, and stuff like that. It isn't important though, Shadow is just being an ass, like usual." Not sure if I should have mentioned Shadow like that but what's the worst that could happen from simply uttering somepony's name. "Shadow? Is that the name of this voice?" Cherilee asked perplexedly. "Yeah, though he isn't just a voice, he's actually so much more than that but I wouldn't want to bore you with the details of the mess between the two of us." As much as I like being able to just talk to somepony for once I did to get going. "Well I actually wouldn't mind hearing about the story of you and Shadow, but unfortunately I have things to do and must be going. Maybe you can tell me some other time, would that be okay with you?" Cherilee asked. Actually this was perfect because for a minute there I thought that I would have to come up with some kind of excuse and look like a dick later. "Yeah sure that's okay with me. In fact I wouldn't mind having somepony to talk to that is actually going listen instead of make an idiotic gay joke about me. I mean seriously though you would think that two spirits that lives within your very soul would know your sexual orientation and-" I was about to go on a rant when I noticed Cheerilee's expression. "Heh, sorry I go on my rants sometimes without realizing it. It's just I've been kinda lonely for quite sometime now and it's just a relief to me to find somepony who's as interested in me as I am to them." Oh that's quite alright Dark Heart I understand and thank you, I've never had anypony actually tell me that they were interested in me and as much as so greatly enjoy having you as company I'm sad to say that I must get going and I hope that we can spend some more time together." She said before heading off to wherever it was she had to go. I yelled out a farewell before I turned around to head into the Town Hall. I walked in and saw that the first floor was a large open room. I spotted a balcony and a stage, but for some reason I couldn't spot any stairs anywhere, or even a door for that matter. I searched the room but still couldn't find anything; well I searched everywhere except the backstage area but I wasn't sure if that area was open access to the public, so I did the only thing I could think of to get to the next floor and jumped up onto the balcony. I went through the curtains into the next room and spotted two flights of stairs, one going down and that, upon closer inspection, led to the back of the stage, Well that figures, and the other led upstairs which was where I needed to go. I went up the stairs, headed down to the end of the corridor, and went into the room on my right. I was greeted by the receptionist as I walked in. "Hello there sir, what can I do for you today?" "I would like to see the mayor so I could get a map of the area surrounding Ponyville. I hope to find somewhere to live that's nearby like maybe somewhere in the Everfree, most preferably a cave of some sorts." I told her not wanting to waste anymore time than I already had. It was going to get dark soon and the Everfree forest gets incredibly more dangerous at night but that is more of an inconvenience for me if I have to traverse it during the night hours. "Why in Equestria would you want to live in a cave in the Everfree forest when there are plenty of fully functioning homes in town?" I heard another mare say. I turned in the direction I heard the voice come from and spotted an older mare with beige colored fur with a gray mane and tail, she was wearing a coat that was the same color as her fur with a white shirt underneath it, along with a black skirt that went down to her knees. She was staring at me with her baby blue eyes through her glasses that were perched on her muzzle. "I take it that you're the Mayor of Ponyville then?" I asked just in case this mare was just here to see the mayor as well. "Why yes I am, my name is Mayor Mare but before we go on with introductions I would like to know why you want to find somewhere to live in the Everfree forest when there are so many dangers that live within its borders." Well at least she knows hows to get a point across. "That danger is the exact reason I want to live in the forest, it would almost guarantee me the privacy I'd be looking for in any place that I call my home. You see I'm not exactly an ordinary pony and am very much able to survive within its confines without having to worry about too many issues besides making sure that none of its inhabitants ransack the place whenever I leave." I explained to her but judging by her expression she didn't seem to buy my story and looked suspicious of what I truly intend to do with any of the information she gives me. "And what makes you sure that you are able to handle to hostile environment of such a place. Most ponies shake in fear just at the mention of it and yet you're telling me that you wouldn't have any troubles with those creatures trying to kill you?" The Mayor asked incredulously. "But of course, otherwise I wouldn't be here asking you for a map and be out in town looking for a normal home, would I?" I retorted back. "Well I am sorry sir but unfortunately we don't have any information on the landscape of the forest that would be of any assistance to you. If you have an idea of the kind of home you'd want I would suggest you go ask Twilight Sparkle, go and find Zecora, a zebra who does live out there but I'm not going to tell where exactly, or go out there to find it yourself. Those are the only options I can give you at the moment." Wow, you want to talk about being a bitch. She says all of that like I had done her some kind of wrong then just turns around and starts walking towards her desk. "Wait, hold up, what the hell is up with the attitude. I just came here to see if you could offer some HEEEELP-" *RIP* *CRASH* Not sure what I tripped over, but I do know that it had caused my face to say hello to the floor of the Mayor's office. I picked myself off of the ground and had noticed that there was something soft clenched within my grasp but before I could even move my hands out of my face to see what it was I heard Shadow saying something to me, and he sounded scared. "Dark Heart, bro, I suggest you drop what's in your hand and start running like right now." I heard Shadow say with a very clear tone of being scared shitless. "What in tartarus are you talking ab-" I looked to see that I was holding a torn piece of the Mayor's top in my hands and immediately knew what Shadow was talking about now. "Oh no...... please don't tell me this is what I think it is." I couldn't believe it and so turned my gaze towards the Mayor that everything that the front of her top was covering was now laid bare in front of me, including her now exposed bust. Though that wasn't the only thing I noticed though; what I also noticed was that the Mayor now had the look of death on her face and was directing it towards me."Uh. . . l l l listen. . I didn't mean to- I started to say but was cut off as her desk went flying up and over my head. "Dark Heart now would be a good time to GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!!!" Shadow shouted which knocked me out of my trance and I proceeded to bail as fast as I can out of there with the Mayor hot on my tail. "GET BACK HERE YOU DAMN PERVERT! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU YOU'RE GOING TO WISH THAT YOU WERE DEAD!!" Not sure if mares always get this angry when something happens, but I do find it to be a bit extreme considering it was an accident. Right now though I didn't think about it much since I was trying to make sure that I live to see another day, and keep the ability to have kids one day, maybe. . . . .probably. . . . . . . oh shut up it could happen, well anyway where was I. . . oh right I was running for my life from a psychotic mare that's trying tear me to shreds, or ripped of my dick either one is not something I want happening to me. I decided that running on two legs like a normal pony wasn't going to do considering that Mayor Mare had already came close to snagging me by the tail and so decided that it would be a better idea to go feral and run on my hands and feet, not hands and knees, feet. Finally I started to put distance between us since this chase started and I quickly made my ways to exit town hall, only to find my path quickly obscured by three fillies walking in. Oh fuck me. I thought as I manage to redirect my path before I ended crashing into them, though it's not like it mattered since as soon as they saw me running they quickly went back outside. Misfortune didn't end for me there, because after they had left I think that they had told everypony that was near the Town Hall the ruckus that was being caused inside as more ponies started barring up the door as a crowd of the residents of Ponyville came filing in to watch. Some, especially the mares, quickly took note that to front of the Mayor's top had been torn off and they tried to help her capture me. I could have escaped already but I don't think blowing a hole through the wall and causing some much damage will get me any popularity points amongst the ponies Ponyville. "I really don't see why you're worrying about that considering that this has without a doubt given you a bad rep. anyway." Shadow pointed out, and you know what I believe he is right. I'm already off to bad start so why not as least allow myself to have a little fun while I'm in this mess eh? "Alright then Shadow, I"ll get of this your way then." I said as I summoned my dark magic, along with Cursed and Blessing, and got myself ready to become a one stallion demolition crew. I made sure to keep the mares off my ass as I charged my magic through my blades to take out the wall with one shot though I didn't have to wait all that long as I was drawing power from the negative emotions that the ponies around me were projecting directly at me. "Nova could you tell me where's the smallest grouping of ponies is so that I know where I should blast a hole into the wall without harming that many bystanders." I asked Nova but she didn't answer. "Nova, please don't tell me you've turned on me too. You know damn well that what happened in there was an accident and nothing more." Still didn't get a response. "I'd say to just forget it and pick a spot to demolish otherwise you can considered yourself royally screwed." Shadow said and as much as I don't like it I have to agree with him. *Sigh*"Alright fine I guess I really have no other choice." I said defeatedly as I latched my blades to the chains that were magically attached to the gauntlets on my arms. I looked around the area to see which segment of the interior of the Town Hall was the most crowded with mares seeing as though that is probably the least occupied, hence the likely place for me to escape. As soon as I did I used my link with the gauntlets to extend the chains without having to toss out my weapons first and when they reached a good two and a half yards I grabbed ahold of Cursed and Blessing and tossed them towards the wall above the mares with them spinning around like a saw blade and dark magic flowing through them. I was about to be caught when I felt the chain finally tighten up and that I could tug on them without any sort of give; I used the link again to retract the chain and caused myself to be propelled up and out Town Hall just before anypony could latch on to me. "That was a close, really really close, and I am making sure that I never go through that again." I said panting heavily from having to dodge all of the ponies that were there, which appeared to be almost the entire goddess damn town. "Um, bro, I don't think you're out of the woods yet." I heard say Shadow say. "What the hell are, OH SHIT!" I'm definitely not out of the woods yets, wait a minute woods, that's it that's how I could stop this."Hey Shadow what do you say we go and finally find us a home?" I said with a growing smirk. "I would say that sounds like a good idea." He said immediately catching on to what I was planning. Though I knew I had to do something that probably will lead the residents of Ponyville to fear me, but it had to be done if I wanted to get out of here and so with my mind made up I started gathering up more of my dark magic and it started to surround me as I changed into my Darkness Form. There we go, that should help navigate through town without taking the risk of corning myself somewhere like a dumbass. I thought while I was heading to the Everfree Forest. I was just about to enter it but then suddenly I found that I was levitating a few feet off the ground and noticed that my entire body was surrounded in a magenta aura. "Damnit Twilight, put me down!" I shouted out knowing exactly who had caught me and I was growing concerned as the pack of mares was closing in. Though when nothing changed I resided myself to my faith as they were now on top of me. "Come on Dark Heart, do something. I know you have a way out of a situation like this so just put into[action already."/color] Shadow tried to persuade me, knowing full well that I could easily just cancel out Twilight's magic, but I wasn't because I knew that it would hurt her, and although I would very much like considering what happened over at Fluttershy's I'm not the type to just go after revenge for stupid reasons, and besides I know they'll end doing something that makes me blow up in their faces and so I choose to play the waiting game on that ordeal. Though now is not the time to worry about that, no now is the time to worry about being able to live till tomorrow and with the way things were that may not be possible anymore. "Well I guess I had good run even if it was short one." I said as my eyes closed and the last thing I would see would be to angry faces of the residents of Ponyville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."Okay, what the fuck? Aren't I suppose to be dead right about now, or at least in excruciating pain." I said as I opened my eyes to find myself staring directing into the blue eyes of the Mayor who looked to be as confused as I was, but that was until I noticed that she and others were also surrounded in the same magenta aura that had ensnared me. "Well it would appear that Twilight has saved your ass. . . . you pervert." Nova finally says disapprovingly. "Nova you know damn well that I'm no pervert and that what happened was a complete accident, shit you can read my mind so I know that something is up with you. Besides you can call me a pervert considering that you don't even wear clothes and that 'heavenly light' doesn't excuse you from that and neither does the fact that you live in the Heart of Light where only me, you, and Shadow can enter." I scolded her as I knew that she knew that I had ripped off the Mayor's shirt by accident. "So you mind telling us why every mare in Ponyville is chasing. . . and why is the front of the Mayor's shirt missing?" Twilight asked from below me. "It's not really any of your business, but since I know that I can't get out of this without hurting anypony I guess I'll tell you but you're going to have to put me down first." I bargained seeing as though I wasn't trying to be a complete asshole. "And how do we know that you're not going to run as soon as you're no longer in my magic?" I her ask. "You don't but if want to hear anything you're going to have to trust me now won't you?" I said undeterred by her glare. "That's where you're wrong Dark Heart. I could just let the Mayor go and she could tell us what happened." She argued back. "Yeah I guess you could but then that would lead you to judge me on unfair pretenses considering that you would only have one side of the story and not the other and that wouldn't be very fair now would it?" I said smugly knowing that whatever she choose to do my next actions would be then considered justified. "I guess I have no choice do I?" Twilight asked rather than stated. "Not if you actually want to do the right thing." Was all I had as my response and with that she put me down back on the ground and I dusted myself off. "Okay, well a deal is a deal, I'll tell what's going on. After my encounter with Applejack I headed into town to find Town Hall and get a map of the topography of the Everfree Forest so that I could a new cave to live in and-" I was about to get to the part when I ripped off the Mayor's shirt but Rarity interrupted me. "What!? Why in heavens name would you want to live in some filthy cave,and in the Everfree none the less?" Rarity asked concerned about my choice of living quarters. "Hey don't knock it till you try it. Yes I thought the same way you did but then after having to live in one after I ran away from, I've come to appreciate that lies within them and so I'm adamant making another one my new home." I stated proudly. "But that was when you thought the princesses were after you and had to hide. Not that is not the case anymore and can live in a normal house here in town." Rainbow Dash interjected. "Look my reasons for wanting to live in a cave are. . . . . complicated, I wouldn't expect any of you to understand; after all none of you have gone through I've had to go through and I'm still only 19-years old." That finally shut up their any protest they would have against this decision, but I decided that since I was interrupted when I was about to explain why the entire was after me that I would add in a little more for my amusement later on. "Besides I need a place to hide since these mares want to rip me apart for tearing off the Mayor's top by accident and don't seem to want to listen to reason when I try to tell them that is was nothing than an accident." I would have stayed to laugh to their reaction to that, but I also had to go should the shock from that cause Twilight's magic to become unstable and release the mares in the grasp of her magic, but I really wanted to stay. . . . it was really a difficult decision but in the end I had to give it up to to want to live and so I ran into the forest in search of my new home. Only a few feet into its boundaries I had heard the sound of the group of mares groaning in pain as I figured Twilight had finally set them free. I was already deep in the forest, looking for Celestia's and Luna's old castle for I knew of a cave nearby that would be suitable for me and Ember to live in and not have to worry all that much about the creatures of the Everfree just wondering in when we weren't around. I passed through a wall of vegetation and wounded up in a small clearing with a bridge over a canyon, and beyond that ridge was their castle. There it is, now I just gotta head east of it and I should be there. I thought as I was already heading towards the direction I desired to go. It didn't take long before I found the cave I had remembered being here; only a few miles from the castle which means that it'll be easy to find my way back home whenever I leave, especially for extended periods of time. I got to work making up anything I knew I would need to make this place feel homely to me. I started with making the beds for me, which was a nice little hammock, and a bed for Ember, which I made from leaves from the trees along with anything else that was soft and I knew wasn't going to cause any sorts of reaction from either of us. After that I made a place to store the food, two separate areas: one to hold to hold fruits and vegetables and another one to hold in the flesh from any of the animals that we hunted, I had enchanted it so that the area within the meat storage was always cold so as to keep the meat from rotting. There were other things that needed to be made but while building the meat storage I was reminded that I needed to sate my craving before it started to have any adverse effects on me. I was now out hunting when I spotted a deer, "Well that should do nicely for sating your bloodlust for now, shouldn't it?" Shadow asked. "Yeah but I wish I didn't have to have these cravings." I said still wondering why to draconic part of my Darkness Form was effecting the way it was. "We know Dark Heart but you know that with power that you have in your possession that there's going to be a few drawbacks to it." Nova said sympathizing with me. "I know but I just wish that this craving was directed more towards the need to eat gems instead of other creatures, though I guess it make sense that I crave meat considering that in order for my body to be able to go the hardships of my training and combat, I'm going to need the protein from the flesh of others in order for that to happen without any serious consequences later on." I might not have wanted to do this but I understood perfectly why it had to be done. I guess I just I needed to say it out loud to make sure that I really was justified in doing this; it turns out that I was, but it doesn't mean that I have to enjoy it. Though there was no telling how my opinion of that would change once I sunk my fangs into the flesh of another for the first ever. With the internal debating over I made move and went after the deer, it saw me coming and bailed in the opposite direction though it didn't get very far thanks to my abnormal speed. I was glad I was already in my Darkness Form which meant I had no trouble tearing out its throat when I caught it and was surprised to see that I enjoyed the taste of its blood more than I thought I would. "Holy crap, this taste way better than I thought it would." I yelled out as I took another bite out of my lunch. "Well it seems like you're definitely your meal there but is it doing its job of sating your craving for flesh?" Shadow asked me as I still chowing down but I stopped for a second to give a proper answer. "Yeah it is actually and I'm glad it is but I think I may turn into a carnivore if this is what they taste whenever they feast on another living creature." I know that sounds like I'm being corrupted by this but in actuality this is doing quite the opposite. I don't know why but this making feel better than I have been for the last millennia, I almost feel the same warmth inside me that I use to feel whenever my parents would comfort me after a hard day at school when I was little. "I'm fine with that as long as you don't turn into a savage cannibal. Last thing any of us need is for the princesses to freak out and think that you have been corrupted by your dark power and try to get it out of you, or worse." Nova said not sounding the least bit worried about that last part. With my stomach full and my craving gone I headed back to the cave seeing as it was starting to get dark and I wanted to rest on the hammock that recided in my home, and all the while I was still in my Darkness Form; for some reason I felt like I needed to remain in it. I didn't pay the feeling any mind though seeing as it wasn't the feeling I got whenever something was going to happen. I made it back and found that everything had been untouched. "Good I least I know that I can leave without coming home to something sleeping in here." I said to myself as I laid down in the hammock and let sleeps embrace overtake me. -Dark Heart's Mind- I looked around the spatial plane that I seem to have been dumped in looking for anything of significance but could find nothing. "Well this is definitely a welcoming chase of scenery compared to what's been going through your mind for the last one-thousand and six years." I turned around in the direction I thought I heard Nova's voice come from and low and behold there she was along with Shadow. "Well I see that you two are here as well, but why am I not in the midst of a nightmare like I have been for most of my life?" I didn't have to wait long for an answer to be heard but it didn't come from any one of us. "Well Dark Heart, that would be my doing though it's not permanent and will last as long as I am here." Luna said as I turned around to meet her gaze just a ways away from us. "Hello Luna, it's nice to see you again so soon." I greeted her. "I could say the same. . . . Tell me how are you faring so far in todays world?" Luna asked. Oh how she is going to love to hear this. I thought as I recalled the last 36 hours. "Well Luna I'm doing fine despite the complications that I've already ran into." I told her knowing that I'd be able to peak her interest even further. "We figured there would be we are still learning how to adapt to certain aspects of the lives our subjects have now." She stated. "My complications isn't that at all." That earned me a confused look from Luna, so i continued on to clarify. "You see I haven't had the chance to even learn about the daily lives of these ponies. No my complications are the same as they were back all those years ago. . . . . in a way." I wonder what she had to say about today's events once I tell her. "What do you mean in a way, I thought that Twilight and her friends were helping you make friends and show ponies that you are not a threat to them, even with your dark magic." Sounds as though was worried about how things already were but I was still going to tell her about my day. "And that is part of the problem, they aren't in fact they don't seem to want anything to with me. Shortly after leaving your and Celestia's castle and boarding a train, I told the girls a little about myself but it seem that they didn't like the fact that I'm now carnivorous." I was going to continue but, as I expected, Luna interrupted me. "Wait a minute, you're a carnivore now, how did you gain such a sudden change in your dietary needs." Luna asked which was swiftly intercepted by Nova. "We aren't sure how it happened exactly, but what we all think is that the dragon half of Dark Heart's Darkness form has fused into his genetic code and that in turn has given him some of the attributes of a dragon, such as their carnivorous diet and the ability to breath fire. So now he needs to eat meat or else his cravings could get out of control and would cause him to go from carnivore to cannibal pretty quickly." Nova explained to Princess Luna. "That's quite the inconvenience, I hope that it doesn't come to that. Have you managed to satisfy that craving already?" She asked worriedly. "Yeah, but that's at the bottom of things that have already gone wrong for me. After we got to Ponyville I left them behind and found a place to turn in for the night under a tree, and nice job with your night by the way Luna." I complimented and for a moment I could have sworn I spotted a blush on her cheeks. "T-Thank you Dark Heart. Tell me what happened with today that has gotten you believing that you are being treated as you were back in the past?" Luna accepted my compliment shyly but then turned her expression into a curious one as she had gotten over it. "For one I woke a little later than I usually would and I woke up to the sound of Fluttershy screaming. I went to see what had happened to see that she had been captured by a pack of timberwolves, one of whom I kept and is currently being taken care of by her as we speak. After defeating the pack and the girls had finally shown up to help Fluttershy and I made the decision to take the timberwolf I decided to keep as a pet over to her cottage but I didn't go right away because I was conversing with these two." I pointed my thumbs behind me towards Shadow and Nova. "And when that was finished I went over to check up on Ember but when I did I over a conversation that they were having in Fluttershy's cottage." I stopped to calm myself down a bit as I realised that I was baring my fangs and tightly clenching my fist. "What did they say that has you so upset Dark Heart?" I saw that she was anxious to hear what I had heard and I also a little anger flicker in her eyes as though she already had an idea of what they said. "I heard Rainbow dash say that she wished that I had never been born." Judging by the shocked expression on her face, she was not expecting anything like that, but I wasn't quite finished yet. "And the thing that made that all the more worse was that none of them say anything in the form of protest, not even Pinkie Pie and she was the only one that said that she wanted to befriend me, despite what her friends thought of me. Then just shortly after that I went to the town hall to see if they had any maps of the Everfree Forest so that I can find a nice little cave to call my new home; and before you say anything, I was planning on living in a cave no matter what had happened today." I said before she could say that that wasn't a necessary action to do because of them. "I met up with the mayor to get any maps the may have had and though she told me they didn't have anything regarding the Everfree that ponies didn't already know, she still eyed me suspiciously as though I had some dastardly plan I was cooking and wouldn't direct me to anypony who knew the Everfree forest well enough to give the info I was looking for." I said barely able to hold back from laughing as I thought to this afternoon. "I'm sorry to hear that, but I'd hope you found a place to call your home, but judging by the grin and the fact that you're trying holding back from laughing I suspect that there is more to this story that you're waiting to tell me, aren't you?" Yep, I knew that I wasn't hiding it very well, but it would Shadow is as I saw that he was perfectly calm though I could feel that he wanted to just burst right then and there on the inside. "You see it was a complete accident, but the Mayor didn't seem to see that way or want to listen to me, or even let me apologize for doing so." I was going to lead her on for a bit and try to get her imagination running. "What did you Dark Heart?" Luna said narrowing her eyes at me and getting a mischievous look upon her features. "Well you see I was trying to walk up to the Mayor so that I could try and convince her that I wasn't up to anything, but I tripped over something and. . . . . well." Luna's eyes went as wide as dinner plates, but she kept that mischievous look on her face, and she stood like that for a few seconds before she said anything. "Oh. . . . no, Dark Heart tell me you didn't." Luna said already knowing the answer but wanting me to say otherwise, though her tone would also suggest that she finds it as funny as me. "Unfortunately for me I did and now every mare in Ponyville sees me as some sleaze bag pervert who goes around ripping off mares' shirts, but I still find the whole ordeal hilarious and-" I was yet again by Luna but this time it was her laughing fit that I couldn't help but join in on. We were both on the ground laughing our flanks off for what felt like an hour before either one of us were able to calm down long enough to stand back up and took a little longer for us to compose ourselves. All the while Shadow and Nova were just staring at us with bemused expressions plastered on their faces. "You know Dark Heart, if you ever decide to actually give dating a shot, I think you and Luna would make an excellent couple. The two of you have a lot more in common than you know and it seems that your personalities would compliment each other perfectly." With Nova's statement I turned to her with a deadpan look, but Luna on the hand seemed to have given Nova the look that she was looking for. I sighed as I rubbed the bridge between my eyes before looking at her and saying, "Nova you know that I will eventually get the point in my life where I'll worry finding love and the rest of that jazz, but when I do Luna will not be an option." I quickly regretted just blurting that out and turned to see Luna's downcast expression and quickly added to my statement, "Don't think that I don't think that I don't you to be beautiful Luna it's just that you are a very, and I do mean very, close friend that if we were to start dating that it would end up feeling awkward for the both of us, you know what I mean?" I asked her hoping that she took what I said to heart. She said nothing for a while and twiddle with her fingers nervously until finally speaking up "Yes I guess you would be right on that Dark Heart and I appreciate you calling me beautiful, but I think it's about time I leave. There are other ponies that may need my help. I'm sorry that I can't get rid of nightmares permanently Dark Heart, it pains me to see my greatest friend and ally in pain in a place that is meant to help alleviate the stress of their day to day lives." She said sympathetically. "It's alright Luna, at least you tried your hardest to help, plus I've had a thousand years to get use to them especially since you weren't here for just about all of it. I do appreciate that you stopped by to check up on me though." I thanked her as she started to vanish and the spacial plain started to become darker. "You are welcome Dark Heart, and before I go my sister wanted me to inform you that we will be in Ponyville in two weeks." And with that she was gone but yet the nightmares hadn't returned. "If you're wondering why your nightmares haven't started up it's because the two of us are still here and we figured that we would do some training seeing as things have gotten rather frantic in just the past 36 hours since you were released." Shadow spoke in a voice that was unusually serious for him. "What exactly are you talking about?" I asked confused as to the sudden serious that overtook the atmosphere around us. "Dark Heart, with how things have turned, you're severely lagging in unlocking not only the power that lies within me and the Heart of Light but also the power that lies within you and shadow. There is so much more that you can do and compared to that you haven't even scratched the surface of what you're truly capable of, but that isn't really your fault seeing as most of that hidden power can only be discovered out there, during whatever adventures you're liable to have in this world of ours." Nova explained and cleared up most of my confusion. "Well if I can only discover in there, then what are we going to be doing in here?" They glanced at one another before turning to face me again. "These new abilities of yours will most likely become a hassle when you first obtain them, so me and Nova decided that it would most likely be a good idea if we used your dreams to help you train to be able to use some of the things that you may get and make sure that you're not stumbling all over yourself to get their basic functions working." Huh, I can actually deal with that, plus it would give me an idea of what sort of powers and abilities that these two believe that I may have. "Well alright then, how about we get started then. Never know when I might get these new powers of mine." I said earning a face splitting grin from the two of them which in turn caused a grin to form as well as I could imagine what these two have in store for me for our new training regimen. Author's Note Sorry for those expecting some kind of outburst from Dark Heart at the cottage, but it just didn't seem like the right time for something like that right now. I rather have it blow up in their faces later than sooner; building up that tension you know. And in the part where Dark Heart is running for his life, imagine him running like Sabertooth in X-men Origins: Wolverine. ChallengeAuthor's Note Seeing as I'm not all that good at being able to create a constant rhyme scheme that make any sense, even in riddles, Zecora isn't going to be talking like her usual, mysterious self. Challenge DarkHeart's POV It's been about six months since I've been released from the confines of the Heart of Light and things have been interesting, even more so when I became adapted to the modern lifestyle. I still live in my cave mind you but I don't really stay in it long during the day as I am always training as well as doing many other miscellaneous things, like helping Ponyville with its many problems that seem to arise. One in particular involved Pinkie Pie cloning herself, I know this because I woke up to a swarm of them in my cave. As much as I enjoy her company handling a herd of twenty of the energetic mare is just a little too much for me to handle. Though I have to question how well her friends actually know her considering that had to put her and her clones through a test that could have risked them their friend. I found her sulking about and she told me of how scared she was of failing the test and losing her friends, but after I reassured her that I would make sure that she wasn't sent to the mirror pool. I'm not sure how they couldn't figure it when they've been her friends for longer than I have, but I knew that the really Pinkie Pie would become depressed at how her actions had hurt the citizens of Ponyville, especially her best friends. That leads me to something else as well that I've forgotten to mention. After that whole incident with Mayor Mare, all of the Ponyville's residents thought of me as some molester and despised me for it. There were only two mares in the entire town that even bothered listening to me and suffice enough to say that they actually believed me when I told them it was an accident; they also said that they would try to get everypony else to see the truth as well but that hasn't been working too well, but I can live with it as long as none of them start harassing me. Of course these two mares were none other than Cheerilee and Pinkie Pie. I'm glad they decided to listen as they were the ones that helped me get adapted to modern times and helped understand anything new that started up over the past one-thousand years, like Nightmare Night which I would suspect Luna would be happy with if it wasn't associated with Nightmare Bitch. There also a holiday known as Hearts and Hooves day that is supposed to be about spending time with your special somepony, which was started by some lovesick prince and princess from another kingdom, idiots. Though than that, as well as obvious changes to government, education, and all of the other stuff that naturally change with time, not much has changed which helps me become more adapted to things around here. My days so far have been a set routine for me, get up, hunt, and eat in the mornings, train, hunt, and eat in the afternoons, then spend time with Ember, who healed up in just a couple of days, eat, and then sleep. Though when I'm asleep, instead of having my usual nightmares, I train with Shadow and Nova to help unlock more of my dark powers. There are also the odd days when either Cheerilee, Pinkie, or one of the princesses will send me a letter asking if I would like to hang out with them, which I usually reply yes to. At the moment though, instead of training like usually, I'm spending time with a zebra mare by the name of Zecora, who I met while hunting this morning. I was surprised to learn that she lived in a little hut inside the Everfree Forest but after I asked why it made sense, plus she said that she could handle it as the creatures didn't bother her all too much and she has potions that she could conjure up to get rid of them if they do. But I'm getting off topic, right now Zecora and I are having on dark magic as she has become very interested in it after learning that it was my special talent. "So you've learning more about dark magic from these spirits that, you've not only heard speak, but also seen as well?" The potion brewer asked. "Yeah, Shadow and Nova have been incredibly helpful in helping me grow stronger and understand it better." I answered her. "But I do hope the day comes when I can find a crippling weakness to stop it as well." That statement seemed to have shocked the striped mare. "But why do that? Why would you want to find a way stop using dark magic completely when you can help change the world with it, especially if others take in the fact that you haven't let it consume you like many of those before you." She asked confusedly about the subject. "Well Zecora, learning of something like that would benefit the world in a long run, and by that I mean after I'm dead seeing as I would be the one who would deal with these kinds of problems," I stated, earning the zebra's interest. "What kinds of problems would arise that would so dangerous as only you could handle the problem?" Zecora asked in an even more confused, and strangely anxious, manner. "Well anything that has to do with dark magic of course. Remember Zecora dark magic affects every other creature that lives here negatively. Depending on the user, they go insane and end their own lives or be turned into a slave and be forced to do unspeakable things. There are barely anypony that can withstand its effects without doing something extreme to themselves, and as far as anypony knows, I'm the only one who can counter it without risk of corruption. So finding a way for everypony, or at least every magic user, to stop dark magic in its tracks has become one of my main goals; especially considering that I fear that there may be one day that I lose control of myself and need to be stopped. I want there to be a way to put me down if it comes to that so that nopony gets hurt." I explained to Zecora as I developed a saddened expression and turned my gaze towards the ground. While I cast my gaze to the floor, I allowed everything I said to the zebra to sink into my brain to make sure I fully grasped what I implied. Although I'm the one that came with the plan during my nightly training session with Shadow and Nova, I still feel. . . . scared about the whole thing. If I do find a way for somepony to stop me without having to resort to using dark magic themselves, what's going assure them that I won't be able to counter it. I solemnly thought, putting myself more into a depressive state. Before I could think on the subject any further I felt a hand place itself upon my shoulder and I looked up to its owner, to see Zecora offering a sad smile and I believe I could see tears welling up as well though I don't understand why. I know what I said was maybe a little depressing, but it was true and it really . . . .only . . . . affects. . . .me; goddess dammit, of course she would be sad, we haven't known each other for long, but she already considers me to be a really close friend and the same could be said of me. "I know that you see yourself as a monster at times, but I don't think that any would have to worry about you turning into that. Plus I don't believe that I would be able to hurt you as I see as a dear friend and would not wish to see harm brought upon you, though I am honored that you would trust me with something like that." Zecora said with a small smile before she embraced me. Being the sap I am sometimes I melted into the hug and returned the gesture of affection. "I know how hard it would be to have to hurt your friends Zecora, but it's because I see you as my friend that I would want you, or anypony else that I see as friends, to be the ones to stop me, but I do agree with you. I won't believe myself to be a monster, but I will still have to acknowledge that it is still there; you understand that don't you?" I asked as I looked down at the mare who had her face buried into my chest. "Awwww, that was so sweet of you Dark Heart. I never knew that you could feel actual for anypony else that wasn't your parents or Tender Heart." Nova joked, which had gotten her a growl as response. We stayed within each others arms for awhile before Zecora finally pulled herself back from me with a bigger smile adorning her features. I was about to say something but then Ember pounced on me out of nowhere and started licking my face. "Ember. .hahaha. . .w-wha-what are you doing girl? I asked as I tried to get the timberwolf to stop licking me, not that I actually mind considering that she does this nearly every time she sees me after I come back from doing whatever it was that I was doing. She eventually decided to stop, after about ten minutes, and left my fur damp with her tree sap like saliva. I picked myself up and dusted off my clothes before looking down at the little rascal. You know, despite looking like she is all grown up. Ember likes to act just as a pup would with how much energy she seems to have and how much she always to play around. I gotta say it's nice having her around; I had a feeling that we would connect well, but I didn't think it would be this well though. I kneeled down to pet her and scratch behind her right ear before standing back up and look for where Zecora had gotten off to, to find her in the center of the room, standing on her head, on a staff, and in with perfect balance. "You want me and Ember to go since you're mediating?" I asked her. "No you and Ember are more than welcomed to stay. I just ask that you not do anything that would break my concentration." Zecora said while keeping her eyes closed and maintaining her stance. I stayed as I have thrown out of my routine and I liked spending time with the potion maker considering that she has been able to understand me very well; almost like she was there a thousand years ago and was observing me from afar, but I know that isn't possible, and that sounds a little creepy. I sat on the floor and resting against the wall while petting Ember, who was currently laying on my lap, and enjoyed the calm silence that filled the room. At least I would have if my ears didn't pick the sound of movement from outside the hut. It sounded like somepony was running towards but considering how well Zecora's potions work in curing various ailments I would suspect that whoever it was that running here had something that needed fixing. I was going to get up and warn Zecora so that she didn't end up falling over when the pony barged in, but it seem that I underestimated their speed as I was halfway to Zecora before Twilight came bursting in through the door and startled her which inevidently led to Zecora losing her balance and almost toppling over. I say almost as I was quick to react and the mare before she collided with the ground. "Thank you Dark Heart for saving me from a nasty fall." Zecora thanked me before she turned to the out of breath Twilight. "Now I must ask why you have come bursting into my home like a madmare Twilight Sparkle?" "I. . . need your. . . .help. Trixie. . . . is back. . . causing. . . trouble in. . . .Ponyville." She said between breaths. Me and Zecora waited until she fully caught her breath again so that she could explain further. I would have practically flew over to Ponyville to help out, but I need details. I needed to know who exactly is causing said trouble and why before making a move so that I don't cause any issues later on for going overboard. Twilight appeared to have finally regained herself and looked like she was going to say something before she spotted me and gained a scowl on her face. I just rolled my eyes at how her expression changed after seeing me instead of the worried one she had when she came in. "What are you doing here you perv. Shouldn't you be out harassing some more mares, or perhaps find some poor defenseless creature to snack on?" Twilight snapped at me. "Well shouldn't you be at home and bossing around Spike like the fucking slave driver you are. You are so damn insecure with yourself that you have to be right about everything, and when you're not you just start using all of these big words to make it seem like you actually know what're talking about and when that doesn't work you have rely on Celestia to get you out of it thanks to your own fucking incompetence!" I snapped right back at her as I was tried of dealing with her shit as well as the rest of Ponyville. Unfortunately though I can't just go off on a rampage as I'm trying to prove that those who wield dark magic aren't evil, and I care too much about the foals in town to do so especially since I'm afraid I may get too much into to differentiate between ponies. At this moment though, I wasn't going to let this opportunity just pass on by and judging by Twilight's mortified expression, I was right to do so. "Now if you're done being a bitch, can you tell us what the fuck is going in Ponyville so that I can go take care of it. I may not be all that fond of the residents now but I don't want to children to have to suffer because of their mistakes." Of course I got no response so I sat and waited till she got that stupid look off of her face and gain back enough thought to form an intelligent answer. "As much as I've been wanting you to do something like that for a while now; I have to say that was a little harsh even for me. Perhaps you should apologize for just a small part of that. I think that should be enough to save yourself from looking like a complete asshole." I couldn't believe what I was hearing from Shadow, Shadow of all of the creatures I know, to be the one to tell me that I should say I was sorry to somepony I insulted. Even so, I won't say a damn thing; he isn't the one who has to deal with all of the scrutiny from them. I was going to tell him that but it would seem that a certain somepony has finally come around. "There is a unicorn named Trixie Lulamoon who is terrorizing Ponyville." Twilight finally said. "And what reason does she have for that?" I asked seriously though inside I was patting myself on the back for getting her to shut up. "Awhile back she had shown up in town to put on a show but during it she was boasting and nopony was responding well to that. She would even call herself 'The Great and Powerful Trixie' while on stage. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity tried to get her to see that she wasn't all that great and powerful, but she managed to humiliate all of them in front of the crowd that had gathered; even tried challenging me, but I refused when I saw how my friends had responded to her showing off her magic, I didn't want them to turn on me like they had to her. Her boasting led two colts to head into leading an ursa minor into town, though they were originally trying to attract an ursa major, because of a story that Trixie had told to everypony. I manage to put the ursa minor to sleep, as it was only rampaging through town because those colts had woken it up from its nap, and sent it back to the cave that it came from. Trixie had ran from town feeling humiliated and her caravan destroyed from the incident which leads to why she has come back. She wanted to get back at me for humiliating her and challenged me to a magical duel. She won and kicked me out of Ponyville, which is now sealed off. I would have asked the princesses for help but they're in Saddle Arabia and are currently heading back to Equestria with a couple of dignitaries, and she also had put me in charge of organizing some entertainment for them when they get here." Twilight explained and she seemed to be uneasy about something else, as though there's something she hasn't told us yet. "Alright then, but what aren't you telling us Twilight?' I asked calmly, though I was ready to bolt to the door and head towards Ponyville after hearing that this mare had taken it over because of a petty grudge. "Well, you see, I have seen what Trixie could do with her magic before, and I could say that there is something up with both Trixie and her magic." She stopped for a moment and appeared to be pondering on what she was going to say next, probably making she has of facts straight. "And?" She was pondering too long for my taste, plus with every minute that passes is a minute that Trixie is spending making the town in her own image. I know that for a fact considering she kicked Twilight out of Ponyville and sealed it up so that nopony else could leave or enter. "And it seems like that some of the spells that she used were way too advanced for her to have learned in so short amount of time. She managed to use aging spells as if it was simply picking up a feather. She also seems to be. . .nastier than before." I gave her an inquisitive look as a sign that she needed to explain that last part further. "What I mean by that, is that before Trixie was just boastful and pulled little pranks when the others confronted her the first time she was here but now it seems that she wants to rule over everypony with an iron fist." That caught my attention a little, especially when a thought popped up into my head and Nova and Shadow seem to be arguing over something. Are you two thinking what I'm thinking? I asked them as they ceased their conversation. "If you're thinking that this Trixie is being influenced by dark magic then yeah we are?" Nice to know that we're on the same page. "Though to be more specific we think that there's an artifact that maybe giving her the powerful to perform spells that powerful and also changing her behavior as well. It all connects well enough though we might want to ask Twilight if she saw anything that Trixie didn't have before." Shadow advised, but before I couldn't have sworn I caught a glimpse of his thoughts and saw a glimpse of an amulet. "Twilight, did Trixie have anything on her person that she didn't have the last time you'd seen her?" I asked Twilight, hoping that she had an answer that I could go on. "I think so, why?" The librarian asked, tilting her head in confusion. "Well Shadow, Nova, and I think that there may be something that Trixie has on her that is boosting her magical powers through the means of dark magic and that it is an artifact that she must be wearing." I explained to her and could see both her and Zecora getting worried. "I noticed that Trixie had a strange necklace that she was wearing." Twilight told me, and I heard Shadow ask me to have her describe which had gotten me to believe that he knew something. "Can you tell what exactly it looks like?" "The necklace was it shape of a unicorn head with wings that secured it around her neck, which means that it was an alicorn, and it had a strange red gem in the middle it with another smaller one acting as the eye of the alicorn and was dark grey and black in color." I could feel that both of the spirits starting to freak out and I was growing concerned. "Dark Heart we need to go stop that unicorn, NOW!!" Shit, this is not good. "What the hell is it you two? What exactly am going against here?" I asked and both of them explained what exactly had them so freaked out. As they did, I started to become very worried for the ponies in Ponyville. "What is it Dark Heart, What's did they tell you?" The fear was ever so present in Twilight's voice. "The residents of Ponyville are in trouble. Shadow and Nova believe that the necklace Trixie is wearing is the Alicorn Amulet. It is said to grant whoever wears it incredible power but it corrupts its user whenever they perform a spell. Eventually it can cause the wearer's heart to become so corrupt that they'll change into a merciless killer that takes pleasure in the pain of misery of others and to make matters worse it will also grant them the ability to use dark magic, but more importantly, it's the very same amulet that granted that bastard King Sombra the power he needed to take over the Crystal Empire and be on par with the princesses." I couldn't help but let out loud growl when I got to the part about Sombra when I thought that he was the one that made dark magic users have a bad name when he might not have been borned with them like I had originally thought. "So all we have to do is get the Alicorn amulet off of Trixie and then everything will be okay, right?" Twilight asked hopefully. "Well, yes and no, yes because if we can get the amulet off of her she will turn back to normal and any spells that she has cast will dissipate, but the only way for the amulet to be taken off is to get Trixie to do it herself which won't be easy considering that the corruption won't allow it, but I think I have an idea of how to get her to do it of her free will and prematurely reverse the effects of the corruption." I said as Twilight perked up when I told her I had a plan to fix this. "Okay so what is your plan then Dark Heart?" Zecora asked, obviously wanting to be a part of this. "Well I figured you two would have figured it out when I mentioned reversing the corruption." The two mares just looked at each other hoping that one of them had the answer, but alas they were both oblivious to it. *sigh* Girls, did you two already forget about the Heart of Light? The very amulet whose job is to cure the evil and darkness within any creature's heart? And with that they both seem to finally figure out I wanted to do, but I would probably need to go into finer detail of the plan. ~two hours later~ "So do you three have the plan memorized?" I asked the three mares. The third one being Fluttershy as it would seem that the rest of Twilight's friends also figured out that Trixie had the Alicorn Amulet and had sent her to relay the message to Twilight so that she could figure out a plan to stop this. I had to change the plan a bit with the additional member but the plan was still essentially the same. Twilight and Zecora would go to the edge of the barrier around the town and challenge Trixie to a rematch with a fake amulet that was supposed to 'display the power of the Everfree Forest' and distract her while Fluttershy and I went to gather up the rest Twilight's friends so that they could help her with some of the other spells that she wouldn't be able to perform on her own. During all of that I would be charging up the Heart of Light so that I could launch it at Trixie to purify her heart long enough to reason with her and get her to take off the Alicorn Amulet. The plan should be simple enough and I really don't see anything going wrong to be honest. As long as I get the shot off there was no way for things to go wrong. I was thinking that as we were making our way to the Golden Oaks Library to meet up with everypony. We walked in and I was immediately met with death glares from all but one of the ponies that were in the treehouse. Pinkie though, just silently jumped at me for a hug, of course I found it odd that she was so quiet. I caught her when she collided with me and looked down to her smiling face, at least it would have been smiling if her mouth wasn't gone. "So that's why I didn't her squealing in joy when she jumped at you.I think this might be to one good thing that Trixie did." I ignored him and asked Pinkie worriedly, "Pinkie Pie what happened to your mouth?" "Trixie used her fancy shmancy new magic ta take it. Now if you'll excuse us we have better things to worry about at the moment. Yup, was so expecting that from AJ. "Well I don't give a shit about you girls, but when it comes anypony messin with Pinks, then its time to throw down the gloves. Now hold still for a sec Pinkie." She did as I said and stood still while I backed up a couple of steps and started charging a spell. When the spell was charged, a scarlet beam shot from my horn and into Pinkie's face. When the cloud of magic residue subsided, we all saw that she had her mouth back. She realized this and shot off like a rocket back to me though when she made contact it drove me back a few yards before I slammed into the wall. "Thank you thank you thank you Dark Heart for letting me talk and eat again! It was so horrible not being able to talk. Actually it was horrible not having a mouth at all, I mean nopony couldn't understand me or anything, and I had to mmrrph mmph mmmrrrrhhhh." Pinkie thanked before going off into her incomprehensible slur of words that are spoken so fast that I couldn't make out anything she was saying. "Alright alright Pinkie, I get it, not having a mouth is terrible but right now we have more important matters to attend to, like telling you the plan that I've come up with to stop Trixie and get her to take off the damned Alicorn Amulet around her neck." I said to get her to calm down. As soon as I mentioned that I had a plan, I got sneers from the other four in the room. "Why should we even bother listening to any plan of yours, especially since that we don't know if you're just doing trying to help to get the amulet for yourself." Rainbow Dash said, eyeing me suspiciously. "Because of three reasons, One: to get your friend back and end this madness, Two: I'm here to protect my own friends, and Three: that amulet was created by King Sombra and I want to destroy that thing so that it could never be used again and further downsize the reputation of dark magic users that may actually have good in their hearts. I'm doing more so for the third reason of anything else considering I know that my friends will be fine and that I found somethings out about the Sombra that may be linked to the amulet that have driven me to hate the bastard more." They didn't look like they believed me, but I seriously don't care anymore. I have both Pinkie and Fluttershy to back me up plus this plan is my peaceful way of ending this. If I have to I'll go to my default plan instead and fight her,which shouldn't be a problem even if she does have the aid of the Alicorn Amulet. "That feud of yours with King Sombra makes no sense since we helped defeat him and witnessed his destruction ourselves. So what is the real story behind all of this?" Rarity inquired. "There is no 'real story' behind it, but if you really want to know why I still insist on it it's because I don't believe that you actually defeated him. He had dark magic on his side and that in itself is explanation enough to why I say that." I really shouldn't be getting into this right now but I need them to understand this. Even if they don't believe me, which will probably be the case, they will have it on their mind and start to think about it. "So what if he had dark magic? Not even that could stand up to us and the Elements of Harmony." Rainbow Dash said boastingly. "Because there are many things that remain a mystery about the inner workings of dark magic, even to me, but there is one thing that I have learned about it and that is that it doesn't like to be contained. That applies to whether or not its bearer is alive or dead, do you see where I'm going with this?" I asked as looks of fear and understanding came my way. "So ya sayin that the dark magic that Sombra had could bring him back from the dead?" Applejack asked. "Either that or the magic protected him and that right now he could be recovering until he feels he's strong enough to get revenge. It's hard to tell considering that, for one I've never been intoned to his magical signature which means that I can't track him, and two is that he has had his dark power for longer that I have so even if I had been intoned he would be hidden until he slips up; in which case I'll be on him faster than he could think the uh-oh. I highly doubt Sombra knows of my existence, so if he is alive and hiding, he won't be suspecting me when decides to show his face but we're getting off topic. Are you girls going to bother listening to what I have planned to get of this Trixie mare or not?" I asked after I decided that I've gone off on a tangent long enough. "Guess we don't have a choice if we're going to fix this mess." Rainbow said in a defeated tone. "Good, now here's the plan. . . ." I went about explaining to them everything that needed to be done to make this work and told them to hurry as I wasted quite a bit time with that brief lecture on dark magic and King Sombra's involvement in all of this. The girls spent the rest of the time getting ready until the indicated time while I found a spot to watch everything until it was my time to step in. The next couple of hours went by quickly, but not quickly enough as I watched her order two colts around like pack mules and making them carry her everywhere in a luxurious, and heavy, cart with no wheels. I couldn't help them out yet as I needed to make sure that she wouldn't be able to stop me when I released the magic of the Heart on her though I did give them a bit more energy with my magic to help them out some. The time had finally came and the girls, along with their families, were getting into position as Trixie, Twilight, and Zecora were arriving in the center of town to begin their duel. They started off with aging spells and Applejack, Rarity, and their sisters were playing it off quite nicely, in fact everything was going the way I wanted it to perfectly. The little performance was drawing to a close and all that was left was Pinkie's part. I had left her with her mouth but we put pink tape over it so she wouldn't be able to speak and Trixie would find out that somepony else was here messing up her plans. Twilight launched her spell at Pinkie, but I sensed a slight influx in magic and it felt like it was coming from Twilight. I knew something was going to go wrong but before I could anything about it Twilight's spell made contact with Pinkie. It didn't do any damage to her besides knock on her butt, but that made the others worried for their friend and everypony that was hiding behind the statue came out of hiding to check on the hyperactive mare, whose mouth was now uncovered by the adhesive strip. "What is this!? You have been cheating this whole time!?" The showmare shouted. Shit, it looks like the plan has gone to bust. I thought as I watched the events before me transpire as I decided to wait until the right moment. "Well of course we did. You cheated by coming here and challenging Twilight to a duel wearing the Alicorn Amulet and we had to find a way to get it off of you so you can stop being such a meanie to everypony." . . . . . . I'm going to kill that mare. Did Pinkie really have to reveal our plan to her *sigh* at least she didn't say anything about me which tells me that she isn't a complete dunce. What Trixie did next immediately made me jump onto my hooves. She had gotten ahold of the pink mare with her magic and focused it around her neck and was choking her, asking her how she knew about the Alicorn Amulet. Her friends tried to help but were quickly driven back by the now enraged mare. I decided I have had enough of watching on the side lines and fired off my own spell at the mare. She was sent flying when it made contact and her hold on Pinkie was broken. I went down to check on my friend as Trixie was pulling herself up and had spotted me. "Who do you think you are?To assault the Great and Powerful Trixie must mean you have some type of death wish there pal. . . well, do you?" The fuming mare asked with a look that would put dragons down. Unfortunately for her I have been through worse and can match her glare with a cocky grin and sadistic laugh. "What, what are you laughing at? Are you deranged or something?" It would appear that she's losing her cool. "I'm laughing because you think you have any right to be making death threats to anypony at the moment, especially in my presence." I saw the shivers that ran through her as she heard me speak in my demonic tone. "A- a- a- and what makes you say that?" She asked as she was trying to regain her composure and appear threatening. "Oooohhhh nothing, just the fact that I possess dark magic but I mean it's not really that big of a deal." I spoke casually as I watched horror dawn on her face. "N- n-n- n- n-no way. You Bluffing!" That amulet may corrupts its wearer but it would seem that it can't get rid of fear. "Am I? Well I guess you won't mind going against me then now would you?" I swear that any minute now she's going to piss herself with how calmly I'm speaking right now. "Dark Heart! That's enough! The magic needed for the Novus Purificare spell." Nova jumped in before I could make Trixie lose her sanity. It was a good thing too as I looked around after snapping out of my crazed faze to see that everypony, even Pinkie Pie, Zecora, and Cheerilee who must've shown up some time during that display of insanity, was looking towards me with fear prominent within their very souls and made me realise that I've taken this too far. "Alright Nova, lets do this." I spoke in my normal voice again before I called upon my dark magic to create chains of pure energy and sent them to restrain Trixie so she could not interfere with the process. I'm meant to be the one who purifies the hearts of others and it's just now do I realize the irony in this as I'm probably the one who needs it the most. Maybe that's the real reason why I failed all those years ago. "Wait, Dark Heart, what are doing? I thought you said that you were going to purify her, not kill her!" Twilight shouted fearfully but I just ignored her before I putting focus on the spell. As it gained power, the Heart started to emit a bright, almost holy glow that seemed to be pushing itself into a small orb that would easily be able to fit in the palm of my hand. When I felt that it was ready I released the spell by saying its name in ominous whisper and with that a beam of purifying magic went towards Trixie. She screamed when it made contact with her as she thought that she was going to die, but they soon died down as she a couple of minutes passed and she saw that she was still alive. She looked to me as the light died down with the anger, malice, and even fear, gone from her eyes. "What did you do to me?" The purified mare asked. "I purified your heart so that we could calmly ask you to take off the Alicorn Amulet." I answered in a friendly tone and I heard a few sighs of relief come from some of the ponies gathered around us. "But why didn't you just ask me before doing all of this?" She must have been oblivious of her corruption. "Because the Alicorn Amulet made you become corrupt with its power. So even if we had asked you odds are that you would've said no done something terrible to us, and we didn't try to take it off ourselves because it has an enchantment on it that allows only the wearer to take it off." Twilight said as she came up from behind me. "Corruption!? Did I hurt anypony because of it?" Well it's nice to see that she does care, though ponies could probably attribute that to the Novus Purificare spell I casted on her, they wouldn't know its name though so I guess it would better to just say they would thank the spell I casted on her, but whatever. "I would say that you didn't that cause any physical harm, at least none that I know of, but you have caused quite a bit of trouble here just the same....scratch that, you did try to choke Pinkie after mentioning the Alicorn Amulet but that is when I stepped in and blasted you which I must apologize for." I spoke sincerely when I said that last part as I know that it'll probably cause some kind of repercussions later. "Oh no, I remember buying this so I can revenge on Twilight, as well as her friends, for humiliating me when I was last here, but I didn't want to cause anypony any harm." Trixie said as she hung her head down in shame. I walked up to her and lifted her head gently to get her to look into my eyes. "Trixie this isn't your fault. I know how it feels to want revenge against those who have done you wrong and you forget what is right and what is wrong until that desire is met. You're blinded by it so much that you seek the means to do so no matter the consequence. Trixie you were dealing with forces of dark magic and very few can break its grasp, and even fewer who don't possess it for themselves. I believe that as long as you truly didn't intend for this to happen, then you shouldn't have to be punished though I would advise that you help clean up the damage that you've caused as a means to show the town that you're truly sorry. Enough about though, Trixie you need to take off that amulet; I may have cured you of its corruption, it'll come back when you use your magic again and then this whole mess gets started all over again." I said as I dispersed the chains that held her in place. Trixie looked a little hesitant to take off the Alicorn Amulet but eventually she reached her hand back to undo the clasp that was holding it there and it fell to the ground with *clank*. I picked it up and walked over to Zecora. "Zecora I need you to hide this where nopony will ever find it, even me." I gave her the amulet and she nodded her head telling me that she understood what I wanted her to do . I know that she knew why I wanted her to make sure that not even I could find it so I wasn't surprised she didn't ask why. I looked over to the girls to them talking to Trixie, along with some of the townsfolk, and saw that everything was okay so I started to trek back to the forest. It would seem, though, that my departing didn't go unnoticed as I heard Trixie calling out to me. I turned around to see the showmare running up to me. She stopped a couple of feet from me and she looked like wanted to ask me something but seemed to be nervous about it. Finally it seemed that she worked enough nerve to ask me whatever it is she wanted to ask. "Were you telling to truth when you said that you're able to use dark magic?" "Yes, yes it is. It's my special talent to be able to learn about whatever I can about dark magic as well as being able to control it without actually succumbing to its corrupting effects." I answered her with an amused smile, knowing what she was going to ask. "Well I wanted to ask if maybe you could teach me some. I heard that the illusions created by it can actually be brought to life and do so much more than standard spells." She asked me with hopefully. "Sorry Trixie, but I can't." And there's the pouting, seriously what is it with mares and looking so damn cute when they pout like this. "But why not? Do you think that I wouldn't be able to handle it? That I'm not magically capable of understanding it?" She shot the questions at me in quick succession. "Because Trixie, nopony can just learn to control it without allowing the power it grants to turn them evil. The only reason I'm able to do it is because of how broken my mind is. Anypony can learn dark magic easily and build up the power just as fast, but without to mental strength to handle corruption then we're going to have another Sombra on our hands and considering the grudge I hold for him it might not be a good idea to go that route." I told her but she still seemed determined to get me to teach her dark illusions. "Pllllease Dark Heart, I promise that I'll listen to everything you say so you can prepare me." Really, really, she went for the fucking puppy dog eyes. It's not that I can't handle looking at them, in fact it's quite the opposite. No what gets me is that whenever somepony tries these things on me I can't help but find it pathetic. "Trixie stop doing that, it makes you look pathetic, but it's not you could have known that those damn eyes don't work on me. Even if they did they wouldn't convince me to teach any dark illusion spells. Those kinds of spells are way too damn dangerous, even for me, to allow anypony to go around showing them off for a show. I'm sorry, I really am but as the guardian against the darkness, cannot help you in the way that you want." I spoke sternly which had the desired effect of getting her to finally back now, but not without grumbling annoyedly about me being stubborn that made me chuckle lightly before I resumed my way to the Everfree Forest though I saw that Ember was heading towards me already which made Trixie scared and start channeling her make to her horn. I grabbed her horn and told her to calm down and that she wasn't going to be hurt. She didn't believe me at first as she hid behind me when Ember walked up to me and started nuzzling my leg. I knelt down beside her to pet her and beckoned over Trixie and she walked over tentatively. She reached a hand out towards that Ember gave a quick sniff before licking it and let out an 'eep'. "That means that Ember likes you just in case you were wondering." "Ember, Is that this timberwolf's name?" She asked as she started scratching Ember's head. "Yeah and she is my pet and friend. I met her, OW, Ember bit me and I knew why. "Oh right, I mean my best friend and we met when her and her pack members attacked Fluttershy the second day I had been here while she was near the borders of the Everfree. I killed of the rest of her and managed to trap her by running one of my blades through one her hind legs. I looked into her eyes to see that she was scared and that she didn't want to be a part of the attack in the first place. I decided to keep and after her leg was healed up we have been with each other since. The ponies here in Ponyville have gotten used her and treat her as if she was their own, even though they still treat me like garbage." I told her the story of how me and Ember came to be together without, surprisingly, any malice at the last part. "Why do you they treat you like garbage?" Trixie asked quickly upon hearing that part. "It's a long story, I'll tell it to you sometime if you decide to stick around." I cast my eyes around to area before I stood up. "Listen Trixie, it's been nice talking to you but I gotta head out. If you ever want to talk again just ask tell Pinkie Pie and she get the message to me." I said as I yet again headed to the Everfree with Ember. I waited around the cave for a couple of hours before a scroll popped up in front me that had the royal insignia on it which means that Celestia and Luna must need me for something. Dear Dark Heart, My sister and I have received a letter from Twilight about what had happened today and we wanted to say thank you. I am well aware of what has happened between you and the residents of Ponyville on your second day there and agree that the way they've been treating you and not listening to your side of the story is wrong on all accounts. I am also aware that you may now hold a grudge against them and with this knowledge in my possession I must say that I am very proud of you for putting that aside to help in this matter and thank you for protecting my little ponies. Twilight has also told us of your wish that Trixie Lulamoon not be punished for what the Alicorn Amulet has caused her to do and I will respect your wishes. With that in mind I feel inclined to state that as of now you are officially a part of the Equestrian Royal Guard in the form of a special forces occupancy. If you wish to not have such a title, you can bring us the badge that came along with this letter and we'll be understanding of your choices. Your friend, Celestia P.S. Luna also wanted me to ask if you would like to join us and the ambassadors from Saddle Arabia in Ponyville, it would seem that Luna let it slip that you controlled dark magic along with a few other details, they are interested in seeing what you're capable of. "Well Ember, I guess I get to show off without being called out on it. . . .sayyyy, would like to come with me and meet the princesses girl?" I asked my wooden companion who in turn gave me an eager bark telling me that she indeed wanted to go. "Heh, heh, alright then. We better get going so we don't miss the show." We ran out of the cave and decided to have a little race their. I'm not sure how, but it seem that I have the ability to understand what Ember was trying to tell me without even trying. It's not on par with Fluttershy's talent but it's definitely more than what anypony else can do and it takes is for us to stare into each others eyes to get a message across to one or the other. "So I take it that you're now a part of Celestia and Luna's guard then?" Shadow asked with a serious tone. "Well duh, I'm going to a part of a special forces though I have a feeling that I'm the only in it." I replied not really feeling either way about the subject. ""I can't I'm surprised, after all you would be able to work with you besides us?" Well it would seem that Shadow's mood seems to change rather quickly nowadays. I can't really blame him though; I may be used to what this time holds it doesn't mean that there won't be unforeseen surprises up ahead for us. Who knows what creatures and enemies have came up during our time in the amulet. "Well honestly what did you two suspect? Those two were bound to want our help sooner or later and they probably waited so long to see if you were so willing to help after hearing what's been going on here." Nova stated with little room for argument from either of us. It didn't take long for me and Ember to arrive at the stage where Celestia and Luna would be and spot them sitting with who would assume were the ambassadors from Saddle Arabia. I walked up behind Luna and gave her a tap on her shoulder so as not to startle her. She turned to see me and the smile on her face grew exponentially. "DarkHeart, it's so good to see you again after all these months." She said as she got up and hugged me. Of course Luna's speaking out didn't go unnoticed by the other three. "Dark Heart you're here already?" Celestia asked with genuine surprise. "Well duh, what did you expect from me? I've been training vigorously everyday since I found a new cave to live in and playing with ember certainly helps as well as she's just seems to be a ball of endless energy." I answered her as if she was a normal pony. She and Luna go through enough of that on a daily basis with the whole having to look and sound the part of royalty in the eyes of everypony else, so they like it when I act this way when I'm with them. It lets them know that they can act like themselves around me instead of what they act like around Twilight and her friends. "So this is the famous DarkHeart that we've heard so much about." Spoke a tall brown stallion a robe of yellow and blue with an orange trim. "You know when you spoke of him I thought that he would look much older." "What does it matter how I look I could still beat the rest of the royal guard singled-handedly as well as stand up to any threat that comes to Equestria." I boasted, probably not the best idea but I wasn't going to be belittled from this guy. "Oh no, that's not what my husband ment at all. It's just that when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna spoke of you they had told us that you were a thousand and nineteen years old but they didn't tell us that you looked so young." Said the tall pink mare wearing a pink robe with a dark blue trim and white upside down, elongated horseshoes with a twirl at the bottom parts. I looked at the princesses to see them give me a sheepish smile. *sigh* "The princesses didn't tell a few things about me that you probably should have been informed of that they didn't bother to mention." I stated in bemusement of this. "Well we will be here for awhile. Would you mind telling us about yourself and fill us in on what the princesses didn't before me and my wife start asking you questions that you'll probably be able to answer any way." The stallion asked. "Yeah sure, it would do well for the bond between our nations anyway considering to only member of the newly formed Equestrian Special Forces is so willing to share information about themselves." And so I started telling about myself, starting from when I first gained my dark powers. They listened tentatively and only asked to occasional question though when I was finished they really let me have it with them. It went on like this till it was time for the delegates and princesses to leave but before the princesses left they had asked to talk in private. "So what is it you two?" I asked with a mischievous smile but that quickly died as I saw their fearful expressions. "DarkHeart we have started to get reports of strange occurrences in both the Everfree forest and Equestria. From what little information that has been gathered we have confirmation that it is a dragon who is causing them though we aren't sure if it's the same one that attacked you at the castle and that your family has been fighting for centuries, but we do know that whoever it is, is up to no good." Celestia informed me and also seemed o pick up on my thoughts that it was Spirit. "Wait, hold up, what have these occurrences been? You still haven't told me what this dragon has been doing. I need to make I'm not charging in gungho and costing somepony their live." By their fidgeting I could tell that they weren't fond of having to describe such events from their own mouths. "Well....... we aren't sure but............. it seems that this dragon is skinning ponies alive and seem to have no remorse for who they do it to. We have found newborn foals as though amongst the list of victims and some where not even a day old and........... DarkHeart?" I couldn't hear Luna anymore, after hearing what this dragon has done I'm now more than simply angry. What I was feeling right now was similar to what had happened to me after I got blasted by my mother when she was being controlled by the golem. "I know what you want to do DarkHeart and I agree, whoever this dragon is doesn't deserve to live. We're going to find them and kill them. My purpose may be to heal the hearts of those whom have been corrupted by darkness, but this is beyond such help now and there is only one way with creatures like this." I heard Nova say and thanks to her now dark tone I know just how badly she wants to head out. "Where was it last spotted?" I'll make this dragon pay for what it's done. First Mission"I still think that you should've brought more supplies Dark Heart." Nova said for what seemed like the millionth time as I made my way to the small village that served as the destination for my first mission given to me by the princesses. "What for? This mission won't take long considering it's a simple extermination mission. Besides the more time spent packing, the more ponies will be slaughter by this mysterious dragon." I countered. "He has a point though wasn't it you who insisted on heading out as soon as possible after we were given the specs?" Shadow backed me up. Nova let out an annoyed huff. "You know that's so unfair." "What is?" "That I'm the mare in the group. Whenever we get into an argument you two gang up on me." "Since when, last I checked it was always you two ganging up on me and I would still win so don't even go there missy." I shot back earning an annoyed growl before all fell silent in my mind. It was two days ago that Celestia and Luna gave me my first mission as their special units guard and since then I've been traveling to get to a town that was being terrorized, according to witness reports, a dragon who would go around killing ponies in horrific ways. I was the only strong enough to take of the problem both in terms of strength and psychi. There was a sizable amount of the guards sent with me to evacuate what citizens remain but they were a ways behind me. "According to this map we should be close to the town let's just hope that we aren't here too late." I heard the spirits give soft murmurs of agreement. I came around a bend in the mountain path that was the only way in on hoof and spotted the town just a ways down. "Looks like I should be there if I were use my magic to extend the distance of my jump." I said to myself. "You aren't really planning on making that kind of jump are you?" Nova asked pleadingly as a mischievous grin spread across my muzzle. Nova sighed in annoyance as I backed up a few meters before sprinting towards the edge. I diverted some of my magic into my legs as I reached the edge and was launched towards the town. I was hollering with joy as a flew threw the air as the town came closer and closer until I landed with a bit of a bounce just outside its limits. I couldn't make out much from the ledge I has been standing on on the mountain but now that I was closer I could see just how much damage had been done to this town. The small town of Everglade, that had a population of approximately eight-thousand six-hundred ponies with a majority being earth ponies and pegasi, has, from what I've been told, had well over fifty percent of it population killed by a dragon. It has been going on for quite some time before the princesses had been told thanks to the dragon stopping every attempt to get a message to anypony. After a recent the townsponies had succeeded in getting one of their neighbors out the mountain pass though not without a get deal more being killed in the process. The town had sustained massive damage as I walked through town and noticed that there were a number of homes and businesses had been burned down or smashed apart. The citizens moved mournfully as they went about repairing their town, making temporary shelters, or burying their dead. There were ponies trying to comfort some of the filly and colts as they watched somepony they cared about be lowered into the ground, well the ones that weren't horribly maimed. "Dark Heart, there's a filly and colt to your left that need somepony to lend a shoulder to cry on. They're siblings and it seems that they've lost their parents and nopony else here is related to them or seemed to have taken notice." Nova informed me. I changed the course of my walking to head in the direction Nova said the foals were and walked down a row of houses. As I looked around for the foals I noticed that nopony seemed to be in the area and began to wonder why that was. I didn't get to muse for long as I heard sobbing nearby. I followed the sound around a few houses before finding two foals crying over the corpses of a unicorn mare and earth stallion. Thankfully they weren't like some of the others I've seen already as it seemed that they were simply stabbed through the heart but still it was a heart wrenching sight. I knelt down behind them and placed a comforting hand upon their shoulders. They turned to look to me when they felt something touch them before fling themselves into my arms. The colt was an earth pony who had eyes that were as red as my eyes and his mane and tail were a few shades darker with a black tint along the edge and a single violet streak on the left side. The filly was a unicorn with a tan coat and a glimmering blue mane and tail with eyes to match. From what the Heart is telling me they are both nine years old with only three months between them. They stayed for the next hour before they were finally able to calm down enough to speak. "Who are you mister? We've never seen anypony like you in Everglade before." The filly asked. "That's because I'm not from around here. I was sent here to help you guys deal with the dragon that has been attacking your town." I told her. "So you're the unicorn that Princess Celestia informed us about. We weren't expecting you until at least tomorrow along with the other guards that are supposed to help with evac." A voice said from behind us. "Sunny!" The two shouted as they ran past me. I turned around to find a member of the town's guard hugging the foals. She was a thestral mare that had a sunset orange coat with a burnt orange mane and tail that had a black and dark grey streak found on the right side of her hair. Her striking, slitted blue eyes and violet-blue bat wings complimented her coat, mane and tail nicely though they were barely visible from under her armor. She had a modest bust of double Cs and a generously sized flank for a guard. I had no idea why but there was something about this mare I couldn't quite place as I examined her form though I couldn't figure it out. It felt like I should know her for some reason as a certain permeated around her. My eyes landed on a patch of golden fur just above her chest that was in the shape of the Heart if Light and it was then I realized who she was. "My eyes are up here pal" I heard the mare growl as I hadn't noticed that she had since gotten up from her embrace with foals. "Sorry, it's just that I couldn't help but notice the patch of gold on your coat. If you don't mind me asking what is your name?" I asked after I apologized. "Why do you need to know?" She asked as she looked at me incredulously. "Because if you are who I think you are then I believe that I've met your ancestors." The mare raised her eyebrow in a questioning manner. "My name is Sun Spear and this spot," She gestured to the gold patch. "Is a birthmark that everypony in my family has had for generations. There are five of my ancestors that are famous throughout history that are buried in the Garden of Heroes so I think you've definitely heard of them. I know for a fact that everypony knows of StarDust and Lucky Streak along with their daughters, Star Trail and Midnight Dancer. It was also said that they had an older son but he had disappeared when he was sixteen never to be seen again. Our family had a powerful family heirloom that the princesses had told me about one they learned that they were my ancestors." Sun Spear ranted on. "Do they tell you what the name of their son was or what this heirloom looked like, or was called?" I asked. "Yeah actually, they did. They said his name was Dark Heart and the the heirloom as known as the Heart of Light. Apparently he used dark magic and that he was the only pony that they would have allowed to use it if he was still alive. But they all lived over a thousand years ago so I doubt you could have meant them unless you know a time travel spell." She said with a shrug. "I know I told them that I wouldn't go searching for my great nieces and nephews but I never said anything about if they had found me." I said to myself. "What are you getting on about?" The mare asked impatiently. "Well to answer my statement from earlier I had indeed met two of your ancestors. You see StarDust and Lucky Streak were my mother and father and Star Trial and Midnight Dance were my little sisters though they weren't born by the time I was ran out by the princesses." I told her as she gave me a look that suggested that she didn't believe a thing I said. "Do you think I'm an idiot. There is no way that's true or even related to me considering I don't see the birthmark in it's usual spot." "Of course it's not. I'm not sure if you've been told this but the guardian of the heart has the mark moved up to their neck, but if you don't believe me you can ask the princesses after I deal with the dragon but right now I feel as though we've wasted enough time on this conversation." I stated as walked up to the two kids. "Do you two have any other family that lives outside of Everglade?" The colt nodded. "We have an aunt that lives in Ponyville." "Well I guess that'll make things easier on making sure you two get there safe and sound. Who is your aunt?" "Her name is Cheerilee and she's a teacher." The filly said excitedly, at least it was nice to see these two cheering up a little. "Cheerilee? Does that mean that you two are Brick Builder and Dazzling Gem?" They nodded happily at the mention of their names. "By the goddess this is one hell of a coincidence, I know your aunt and I can take you two to her after I'm done here if you want. I think that she'll be happy to see you two again, especially since she was planning on coming here for a visit." Their smiles at hearing and they looked at me with fearful yet pleading expressions. "She's coming here, with that dragon here. Mister Dark Heart you have to stop her, we don't want her getting hurt too." They begged me. "Hey, hey don't worry. The guards aren't letting anypony near here so she won't get caught in this but don't worry. I'm going to go after that dragon and make it pay for doing this and they won't hurt anypony ever again, I can promise you that. Sun Spear I suggest that you take these two and go gather everypony else. Get them somewhere safe while I go after the dragon. Things will go much easier if I don't to worry about protecting other ponies." I ordered her. Surprisingly she just saluted and corralled Brick Builder and Dazzling Gem out towards the open and to the center of town with the rest of the citizens. I went to the forest to see if I could use the amulet to track down the dragon that was responsible for all of the death and destruction that had been caused here. I felt the rhythmic pulses that ran through the ground as a the waves of magic coming from the Heart, sensing out every creature that lived in the area. This trick was something that Nova taught me while we were trapped in the amulet and comes in handy whenever I can't use any of my other senses. It's similar to the echolocation bats and changelings use to maneuver in the dark. You know if it wasn't for your limiters Nova I'd be overpowered you know that right? "I know why do you think I placed them on you in the first place. You had an advantage that only the immortals have thanks to Nightmare Moon. I wouldn't be surprised if at one point you do become an alicorn." "..................urk, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha."/ " ..................urk, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha." Shadow and I busted up after a moment of silence as we knew that she was serious about that statement. "What neither of you thinks that's true?" Nova asked irritably. "Fuck no we don't. Nova can you seriously that fate would allow this fucking mental case to become an immortal. Seriously it's bad enough that he's still alive but obviously he's needed here for a reason that he wouldn't have been able to serve back in his time. I don't mean any offense bud but I don't think the world would be able to handle you for the rest of eternity." "None taken Shadow because I agree with you. This world was not designed to handle beings like me Nova and you damn well know it. As much as I like living I am meant to serve a purpose, one that was needed here for. If I were to live forever then the world would surely fall into madness, and if not then there's still the risk of not being able to control the monster and lashing out." Me and Shadow presented our cases against her. "But what if that is fate's intent then Dark Heart?" "What do you mean?" "What if you were sealed away and wounded up here because you're meant to be an immortal like Celestia and Luna. There is meant to be balance in everything in this world and what if you are here to help retain that balance with your dark magic. Celestia and Luna keep day and night balanced for the benefits of their subjects. The order and peace they brought balanced out Discord's chaos, so it would make sense if you are here to help keep the balance between light and dark instead of good and evil." Every dark magic user has been put out of commission because of how they used it but you are different and me and Shadow are proof of that." Nova argued back but before I could retaliate I picked up a surge of darkness hit me from one the further waves. "I found her." I snarled. "Her? How can you tell it's a her?" "It's what the Heart is telling me as well as a few other things that I don't quite understand." I said as my anger turned into confusion. "Nova are you getting this as well?" "Yeah but I'm not sure if I believe it. Looks like you'll have to gather some information before we can decide what to do." I nodded in agreement as I headed in the direction I felt the wave bounce back from. "What's you guys, what the hell is the Heart saying?" He asked as I sped through the forest. "It's saying that not only is the dragoness sorry for what she's done but that she didn't do it of her own free will. We're not sure whether or not to actually be this as it could be trap so like Nova said, we're off to gather information. If what the Heart is telling us checks out then I guess we'll have a change of targets once we find out who the real culprit is." As I came upon the other side of the mountain range that surrounds Everglade. I started to climb since the pings were getting stronger but made sure to be silent about it so as not to raise alarm. It will do me no good if the dragoness turns hostile and the Heart is right. I wished I had wings right now. I complained in my head much to the enjoyment of the spirits. It wasn't that the climb itself was tiring, just long and boring, plus I don't like having to waste the time for this crap when other's lives are at stake but alas I'm stuck with my hands and hooves to help me traverse this terrain. Bright side is that all of my complaining and internal dialogue had taken my mind off it and when I came out of my thoughts to focus on climbing I noticed that I was only twenty meters away of the ledge. I could feel that the source were just over it as the I could feel the darkness without the Heart now. It was stronger than the Heart had lead me to believe but I wasn't concerned considering that it just gave me strength. I looked over the ledge to check if the coast was clear, once I saw that it was I climbed up on it and searched for a cave or anywhere the dragoness could be hiding. Using the darkness that she was emanating to play hot cold I found a rather spacious and homey cave a ways into the mountains. Using the shadows as cover I traversed the caves for signs of my target. After about forty minutes I heard a, no two voices coming from one of the tunnels. I peeked around the corner and spotted the my target and sure enough it was a she. Her scales were a dark violet and her belly down to the underside of her tail was a cream color. The spines running down her back and tail looked like they were made of jade and she wore armor that looked like it was thrown together in a few minutes. She wasn't alone as there was another figure there and I immediately knew from his appearance that he was trouble. Whoever he was he was nothing more than a cloud of black smoke. I amplified my hearing to listen in on their conversation as the dragoness seemed to be trying argue her way out of something and was failing. "Please stop making me do this. Those ponies have never anything but show me kindness and now over half the town is dead because of your possession over me." The dragoness pleaded. "Hyperion you should be honored that I've decided to use you as my vessel. You are weak and much too kind for your own good but don't you worry my dear. When I'm done with you you'll be on par with another dragon that I took control of millenias ago. I would ask him for help instead of bothering you but he's off looking for an artifact known as the Heart of Light that was last seen and the son of that damnable StarDust, Dark Heart I believe his name was." The cloud said as my eyes grew wide at what I just heard. "So that's why we've been unable to cure him of the evil in his heart. He was possessed by one of the demon lords of Tartarus." Nova said as realization struck her. "What does that matter? Your and the Heart's power are on par with the Elements of Harmony and since they can take down the god of chaos then shouldn't you be able to heal whatever corruption they could dish out?" "Yes but it takes insane amount of energy to do so and keeping the target restrained long enough for the blast to hit is extremely difficult, not to mention that I'll be out of commission for awhile. Trying to cure a direct possession is even harder as not only does it need to banish the demon themselves but it also needs to create a portal back to Tartarus to make sure they can't do it again for another few centuries." "What if you just banished the demon from somepony's body?" I asked as I continued to listen to the conversation between the demon lord and dragoness. "I would still need about a month to recover but I guess it's better than waiting almost a year though you can't seriously be thinking of taking this guy on." "Alone no, but with the help of the dragoness I could at least keep him on the run long enough for Celestia and Luna to get my message." I said as I waited for the opportune moment to strike. "What message?" "I already sent her a message using the magical channels about what I've found out and what it is we need to do to send this asshole back to Tartarus." I stated neutrally. Just then the demon lords cloud form yelled as he was getting angry with Hyperion for continuing to refuse to allow him to take full control of her body and turn her into like Spirit. It was then I made my presence known as Cursed sliced through the lower half of its form. The demon lord howled in pain before turning to me with a furious stare. He appraised my form and his ominously glowing icy blue eyes widen in realization. "You're Dark Heart, the son of StarDust." "Yeah, I am." "But how are you still alive and why are you here?" "The Heart and I'm here because I had been sent to kill her," I pointed towards Hyperion who lowered her head in shame. "For terrorizing Everglade and killing its citizens. After listening to the two of you though I realized that it was you that I'm after." This earned me a laughing cloud of smoke as the demon lord found it humorous that I was going to attempt to stop him, at least he would have if I hadn't sent Blessing his way to slice off another piece from the bottom of his smoke form that was bigger than the last. "Hyperion if you want to make amends for your sins that this bastard forced you to commit then I suggest that you help me take him down." I informed her as I took up a battle stance. "Are you crazy, there is no way we can take him on! " She yelled desperately as I stood beside her after a quick teleportation. "We don't have to we have just have to draw his attention and head for Canterlot. You will have to fly both of us there is we are to have any chance of survival. What do you say?" I asked as I blasted the demon lord again to keep him pinned to the wall. Hyperion kept looking back between me and the tunnel entrance as she contemplated whether she should run away or fight. After awhile it looked like she was going to just up and run as a look of terror appeared on her face and she began walking towards the exit. She stopped when she was about half way there and turned to her right as she grabbed something from behind her wardrobe. When she retracted her arm I saw that she was holding a mace before she ran at the demon lord. I smiled as I infused a bit of my magic into the weapon so that it could actually damage him. The sweet, sweet sound of his pained howls was music to my ears as I got a message back from Celestia saying that she had everything ready. "Hyperion let's go before he gets up!" I shouted as I ran towards to exit. She caught up in no time as I didn't have that big of a lead on her with the black cloud right behind us. We both put in the effort to keep him a distance away from us before we exited her cave and I jumped on her back as she jumped off the ledge. Using the chain that held Blessing to the gauntlet on my arm I anchored myself to Hyperion as I stood up on her back and deflected any projectiles that was sent our way. "Hey be careful where you dig your boots pony." Hyperion said over the wind as I noticed that I had somehow been shifted from my position by the area where her wings was connected to her back and was practically standing on her ass. It was then that I noticed that something was off about to chain as it appeared to be lengthening itself and the gauntlet was becoming detached. I felt a rush of an unnatural power run through me as I noticed a glow light coming from the gauntlet. Not trusting this power I clamped the gauntlet shut, readjusted my position on her back, and resecured the chain tightly around her waist. "Sorry about that. I hadn't realized the chain was coming loose so thanks for the heads up." "Just don't let it happen again." She said as she dived down to escape one of the demon lord's attacks. We had past the mountains awhile ago and I could see Canterlot in the distance. We still had a ways to go but we seemed to be doing good so far so I don't think we had anything to worry about along as we didn't get cocky, well in my case I guess it's cockier. "Hyperion I see Canterlot up ahead, do you think you try going faster?" "I can but then you won't be able to hold him off." "Don't worry about me I'll be fine just get going so we can be done with this damn chase." She nodded and told me to hold on as she started to fly faster. The change in speed was rapidly increasing as her wings flapped faster and harder and the size of Canterlot grew rapidly as we neared it all the faster. When he saw where we were heading he sought to catch us quicker as his speed increased as well though it seemed that he had to strain to do so. Whenever he reached out a nice slash to the face or the limb that was reaching out usually got him to back off a few seconds before trying again. The demon lord's smoke form was getting smaller and smaller as I hacked at him but he seemed persistent on getting to us, though it looked more like me specifically, guess he's after the Heart, though he was stopped dead in his tracks as a wall of light surrounded him from all sides as soon as we got into Canterlot. I directed told Hyperion to land at the steps to the castle when I spotted the princesses. "Thanks you two, I don't think even I could have beaten him if I had decided to stay and fight." I thanked them as I jumped off Hyperion's back. "It was no problem at all Dark Heart. We're just glad that the true criminal responsible for Everglade's recent issues." Luna said as she and Celestia looked at the diminished form of the demon lord. "Though I have say that you did a nice job of wearing him down. This will make even easier to banish him back to Tartarus and keep him locked up for quite some time." Just then Hyperion landed behind us and saw that my plan had indeed worked. "Wow pony I guess you did know what you were talking about after all." She complimented. "Meh, it was nothing." I shrugged it off. "But thanks for helping though, I couldn't have done it without you." Her cheeks turned a little as she fidgeted a little in place. "What are you talking about all I did was fly us here." She responded bashfully. "And that was the most important part into leading this to be successful. If I had tried to run here I would have gotten caught or he would have hurt more ponies and caught to the plan sooner. So in actuality you and the others did most of the work while I just swung my sword around like a maniac." "Not to mention trying to cop a feel of my ass." She said with a playful smirk. "Hey the chain was unraveling itself and I didn't notice because I was too busy watching out for that asshole." I said as I gestured over to the demon lord who was now being pulled into Tartarus. "Mmhm sure you were." "Oh whatever I don't need to explain myself to you though could I ask you for a ride back to Everglade?" "Why are going back to Everglade, your mission is done." Celestia asked before Hyperion could answer. "There are a couple of foals there that have been orphaned from the attacks and I promised to bring them to Ponyville. The only family they have left is Cheerilee who happens to be their aunt so I figured that I could take them. So I guess my mission isn't over quite yet." Informed her of Brick Breaker and Dazzling Gem's current situation. "Well isn't that noble of you? Before you go though I have to ask. Was this mission exciting enough for you Dark Heart?" Luna asked smugly. "Oh shut it Luna, and by the way I met Sun Spear and she may come ask you if I'm really her great uncle when she and the rest of the guards get back from Everglade." "How did you know she was family?" I showed Luna the gold patch on my neck and she merely nodded in understanding. "Ready to go?" Hyperion asked as I walked up to her. I gave her a nod then she motioned for me to climb onto her back. It made me feel like a colt again from when I had my dad give me piggyback rides. As I thought of this I couldn't help but feel sadden by the fact that I missed doing so much with not only my parents but my sisters who I never even got to meet. "Hey what's up with you?" She asked when she looked back and noticed my downtrodden expression. "It's nothing just remembering a time that ended much sooner than it should have." "I don't follow you." "*sigh* Hyperion, do you know who Spirit the Dragon is?" I asked her and her face turned into one of disgust. "Every dragon knows of that lowlife by now. It's because of his damn raids looking for some amulet that demon wanted that have given us a bad names among ponies, save for a chosen few. Things wouldn't be so rocky between our races if he would stop these raids or the pony who has what he's looking for would just give it to him. I know that demon has terrible plans for it but with you on our side I don't think there's much he could do before being put down. Still I wonder who the pony he's looking for is to cause such a fuss for those two." She said before I let out a small chuckle. "What are you laughing about?" "You know you're carrying the pony who has what he's looking, right?" Hyperion stopped and stared at me in shock. "Why haven't you done anything to stop him then!?" Hyperion asked furiously as she extracted me from her back and dropped my from two-hundred miles in the sky. I stared at impassively as I fell not saying anything to get her to stop my fall. "I tried to kill him over a thousand years ago but was stopped by the princesses before I could. Since then I have been trapped inside my amulet and have unable to do anything to put an end to his madness. He knows I'm back now and should stop his random raids seeing how he knows where I live. Believe me when I say I'm going to make him for everything he's done in my absence next time we meet. He may be stronger now but he's still no match for the likes of me." I finally said after falling for a good dozen miles or so. "Why not just give him the amulet huh? Why don't you save all us all the trouble I set up an ambush for a fake exchange and be done with it?" She asked as she grew even angrier. "Because not only is it a family heirloom but it's also the only way to remember the only ponies to ever love a monster like me." I said as I gripped the Heart tightly to my chest and allow my tears to flow. "What do you mean?" Hyperion asked in a much softer, kinder voice. "The reason I asked if you know who Spirit was, was because he's the reason I lost my family when I didn't have to. He invaded my school and terrorized my classmates when I was sixteen. We fought and I almost won but was stopped by the princesses and my parents as they thought that my dark magic and driven me insane and evil. I had to leave home and live in a cave until I was sealed in the amulet for a thousand years. I had nopony back then except my parents and I didn't even get to meet my little sisters. I was released into a world that I didn't know and worse yet, with ponies I didn't know. The only ones left are the princesses and although I've forgiven them for what happened I still haven't quite gotten over losing everypony that cared for me." I had stopped falling and was wrapped in Hyperion's arms as she hugged me to her chest. I didn't bother to stop what little crying I had started as she held me in the sky. "Sorry Dark Heart, I guess with going through all that I wouldn't want to give up something like that either. I don't know what's like to lose everypony you care about but if you're up for it we could be friends." I nodded into her chest as she stroked my back, comforting me although I had stopped shedding any tears, and I returned the embrace. "Thanks Hyperion, I appreciate that more than you know right now." I said after awhile of idly floating in the sky. "No problem, now what do you say we go get those kids?" And with that we were headed to our destination with a renewed smile on my muzzle at the feeling of making a new friend that understood my plight. Hopefully things continue on like this because I'm going to need all the help I can get. Author's Note Finally getting back into the groove for writing Darkness' Light. Hope I can keep this going for some time once I have all three stories up and running. Speaking of which my third story should be out by sometime next week with quite a bit to read already so I guess something to keep you all distracted between updates the next few updates for all three. Encounter Part 1A month has passed since my run in with the demon lord and Hyperion and things have been quiet. Well as quiet as they could get for me considering the way things seem to be playing out. As I had promised I brought Brick Builder and Dazzling Gem to Cheerilee's and I told her the news of her sister and brother-in-law. She took it hard but stayed strong for her niece and nephew though she would often ask me to stay with her some nights when I went over to play with the kids so that she didn't have to deal with the loss alone. I had gotten my payment from the mission as well despite my protest to the princesses saying that they had to pay me back somehow for everything I had done. As for Hyperion she decided to move into another in the mountains that laid within the Everfree Forest so that meant that we were practically neighbors. I could not tell you the look on her face when she found out that I not only live in a cave but that I had Ember with me as well as the fact I eat meat as she walked in during lunch. At the current moment I'm laying on a cloud just relaxing and staying out of sight of the Pontvillians. They still hate me but I don't care and don't let it affect my time with Brick and Dazzling. "Hey Dark Heart, you awake?" Correction, I was relaxing. "Yeah Pinks, why, what do you need?" I asked as I looked over the cloud. "Oh nothing I was just wondering if you could hang out today?" Pinkie shouted. "Sure I got nothing better to do." I shrug before jumping off the cloud that was a good thirty feet in the air. I landed with a big thump and dusted myself off a little. "So what did you have planned?" "Well me and the girls were planning on having a picnic and I wanted to invite you." I was about to protest but she stopped me with a hand over my mouth. "I know the rest of the girls still don't like you but I was thinking that maybe you could give them another chance. I don't like seeing my friends fight and picking sides when it happens is really hard because I could lose a friend. So would you please come with me to the picnic, for me?" Pinkie asked with pleading eyes as she held my hands in hers. I looked towards the sky as I took a minute to contemplate whether or not I should. As I came to a stand still I looked back at Pinkie as she stared at me with hopeful eyes. "*sigh* Alright Pinks I'll go..." Pinkie jumped into the air as she cheered, "YAAAAY!" "But..." "But? But what?" "If they start being hostile I'm either telling them off and be done with them, or I'm just gonna leave and just never speak to them. Either way I won't go near your friends if they start being bitches. I love being your friend Pinks but since I've been released they've been nothing but douches and the only reason haven't done anything about it is because I don't want to lose you." I paused for a moment to let what I just told her sink in. "So with that said I want to know your view on the situation if that were to happen." "Well if the girls do start being mean for no reason I'll try to get them to stop but if they don't I guess you have the right to do whatever you feel like you need to do but can I ask that you please not try to hurt them?" Pinkie asked as she adopted a serious expression. "Of course Pinkie." "Well other than that I'll still be your friend even if the girls aren't so you don't have to worry about that." Pinkie said as her smile returned which was contagious as I couldn't keep from smiling myself. "So when is the picnic anyway?" I asked as I searched for a clock. "Everypony was getting together at 2:30, why?" "Because we're late." I stated as I pointed towards the clock inside Quills and Sofas that read 3:18. "Huh, oh no we gotta go!" She exclaimed as she took off and left a pony shaped cloud of pink smoke in front of me. I only sigh as imagined how this would turn out before following after her. On the way there I sent a message to Ember telling her to meet me at the park as it seemed that was where we were going. Useful thing telepathy, thanks to Nova I've learned to establish connections with others mentally. Although there are still a few things I have to work out of the spell that allows me to do so I was able to tell what Ember's responses were whenever we talked like this. She had sent me an okay as me and Pinks reached the park and sure enough the others were there waiting for Pinkie Pie as the food remained untouched. "Hiya everypony! Sorry I'm late I was just inviting somepony to join us." Pinkie said as we got closer to them though I stayed behind her a little. "It's okay darling but do try and be on time next time would you?" Rarity said as she was the first one to notice Pinkie Pie. "Who did ya invite? Was it that- oh it's you." Applejack said once she noticed me coming up behind Pinkie. The rest noticed her tone and looked over in my direction as well, their smiles turning into glares the moment they laid eyes on me. Ignoring them I sat next to Pinkie as we made a spot for ourselves on the checkered blanket. The the girls glared at me before softening their gazes as they turned to Pinkie. "What is he doing here Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash asked with a touch of venom as she pointed towards me. "Well I figured it would be a nice change of pace for him after going on that dangerous mission of his. Sure he finished it a month ago but he's working so hard to get the ponies of Everglade some help and taking care of those foals he brought back with him." They stared at Pinkie with shock as they took in what she said while Twilight looked at me curiously. "What mission is she talking about Dark Heart, I thought you only went after those with evil hearts and I haven't about anything that would involve that or received a letter from the princess." Twilight had finally asked. "Well this was a mission Celestia and Luna gave me and they did it after your performance for the Saddle Arabian delegates. They had stopped me when I was going to leave Ponyville and had asked if I would be interested in becoming the first member of a special forces guard. After accepting they told me about my first assignment which was in Everglade." The others looked skeptical but it seemed Twilight was willing to listen to me. "And what exactly was it, and why did you bring back that colt and filly here and drop them off at Cheerilee's?" "My mission was to put a stop to a dragon's rampage who had lived in the mountains that surrounded the town. Though things changed when I got there as I learned that a demon lord had taken possession of said dragon, well dragoness, and aimed for him instead." Twilight's jaw dropped at the mention of the demon lord. "But how did you win? Surely you couldn't have defeated him on your own and with how far Everglade is it would be almost impossible for help to get there in time." "Did you so happen to see a bright light coming from Canterlot?" I asked seeing how that the light prison shone like the sun. "Yeah?" "Well that's why it was there. I got Hyperion to let me climb onto her back and fly to Canterlot so that Celestia and Luna could help. The Heart had enough power to banish him but I do kinda need Nova so I wasn't going to bother using it unless the plan hadn't worked." I informed her. "Wait, Hyperion? You mean that purple dragon chick that started stopping by Ponyville a few weeks ago?" Rainbow Dash asked to which I only nodded. Before we could go on any further with the conversation we heard Fluttershy start laughing as Ember had finally showed up and pounced on her. We watched as the two of them rolled around in the grass as they played before Fluttershy picked herself up into a sitting position and hugged Ember to her body. "Oh Ember it's so nice to see you again how have you been? Has Dark Heart been taking good care of you?" Ember barked in response and caused Fluttershy to giggle which told me she's talking crap again, and the look she gave me while the animal caretaker was laughing was all the confirmation I needed. I shook a fist towards her and she stuck out her tongue childishly and we continued from there. "So what about the filly an' colt?" Applejack asked after sometime. "They obviously lived in Everglade but had been orphaned from a recent attack. Their parents died though they were one of luckier ones." I stated sadly as I remembered the state the two foals were in. "How is them dying lucky?" Rainbow asked as she gave this incredulous look. "If you saw what I did you would say the same. A lot of the ponies that had been killed had been gored and maimed in the most horrific ways possible and if it wasn't for the fact that my nightmares are all that consume my dreams I would probably be scarred by it." Images of the ponies I saw throughout the streets of Everglade, or what was left of them, came to mind as well as the rage I felt upon seeing them. It wasn't until Pinkie laid a hand on my leg did I take notice that I had my claws out and clenched into a fist and my fangs bared. I took deep, slow breaths until I calmed down and looked to Pinkie who gave me a short hug before sitting back down. "Brick Builder and Dazzling Gem were alone in a back alley as they cried over their deceased parents and I went to comfort them. After they had calmed I had asked if they had any other family who lived there. They said they only had one family member left in all of Equestria and that she lived here in Ponyville and was a school teacher. As you can guess it didn't take long to figure out who it was and before I went on my hunt I made them a promise that I would bring them here myself." I looked out in the direction of the schoolhouse after I finished. I'm not completely sure how they view me since I got back but they always seem so happy just from seeing me that I can't but feel my heart melt everytime they run into my arms. Guess it must be how I acted around my parents whenever I would come home from school crying because the other kids would pick on me. They were always there for me and, as I made a point to tell Hyperion when we went back to help with relocating everypony, I can't help but feel lonely without them here. "Hey you alright there Dark Heart?" Twilight's question snapped my out of my reverie as I shook my thoughts away. I looked over to Twilight's concerned face and I realized that there were tears running down my face. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just letting my thoughts wander is all." I say as I wiped away the remaining tears. It was obvious that she didn't buy it but she said nothing as she looked towards the food that has yet to be touched. It looked as though she wasn't to only one that was worried as everypony, including Ember, was giving me a look of sympathy. I ignored it because I didn't want their sympathy and grabbed a couple of sandwiches and apples and started munching down. I felt their stares linger for a bit before following my example and filling up there own plates. Conversations picked up after sitting in awkward silence for a while and the mood picked up. Though I was purposely ignored I didn't care much as I enjoyed at least hanging out with Pinkie as I hadn't done so for a while. As I listen to all of them talk about the Running of the Leaves that was coming up I started feel the ground tremble a bit beneath me. Before I could ask the others if they were feeling it too a pair of big, smooth hands covered my eyes. "Guess who?" A familiar voice sang out near my ears. "Hmm who can it be?" I asked, tapping my index finger against my chin in mock thought. "Is it Cheerilee, wait no you sound more like Pinkie, oh oh, it's Dazzling Gem isn't it come on I know I'm right." My vision returned soon after and I was met with the sight of a hurt Hyperion. "And I thought that we were friends." She said before she started to walk away before I grabbed her tail and kept her in place. "Hey let go you jerk. I don't to be friends with somepony that can't recognize my voice." She huffed as she tried to pull her tail out of my grasp. After being majorly unsuccessful she 'angrily sat down as I pulled her over to sit next to me. The site was hilarious considering the size difference between us but nopony dare say anything considering the pony who is dragging her butt across the grass. After she was sitting next to me I turned her around so that she was facing to group and gave her a hug. "Like I could forget what you sound like Hyperion, especially with your amazing singing voice." I complimented and earning a blush from the dragoness. "Thanks Dark Heart but it's not that good." She returned my embrace and held it for a little bit before she let go but I remained clinged to her. "You could let go now." "No, you're nice and warm and cuddly." I responded childishly. She tried to pry me off, hoping to have better luck than getting me of her tail but I did not relent on my grip so it too was a failed attempt. "It's so unfair that you have that freakish strength of yours, you know that?" Hyperion said with a bit of humor in her voice. "Yeah, I know, but don't act like you don't like this." I tell her as I look at her face from under her breasts. "Are you sure you're not just a pervert that uses cuddling as an excuse to rub your head on my tits?" Hyperion asked accusingly as she wrapped her arms around me to hold me tightly. "No, but I have admit that they do feel nice and soft, maybe I could use them as pillows whenever I need one. What do you say?" Before she could answer I jumped away from her arms and pulled out Cursed as I picked up a strange sound coming from, well, somewhere. I couldn't tell what it was or where it was coming from but it was unsettling to say the least. I had jumped into a nearby tree and climbed to the top as I hoped to get a better read on whatever it was I hearing but it was no good as it still sounded distant, at least it did before a ghostly voice whisper in my ear. 'Join us Dark Heart." The voice that breathily. I growled and let out a pulse of dark magic to push whatever presence was near me, away. "Get away from whatever the fuck you are!" I shout as dark magic ran through Cursed. "You belong with us, your talents are wasted protecting them." It spoke again as my ears swiveled in the direction in came from. I turned in the same direction and released a thin, but sharp, blade of dark energy towards it only for the blade the slice through the air a distance before the magic dissipated. I was glad I was still in the tree otherwise that would have hit one of the girls. I searched all around me to see if I could catch movement of whatever was whispering into my ear but came up with nothing. I felt a hand place itself upon my shoulder and swung without looking at who it belonged to. I was stopped dead in my tracks as Hyperion grabbed onto my hand and looked at me with concern. "Dark Heart are you alright? Who were you talking to? What were you trying to attack?" She asked in rapid succession after she released my hand. "I take it that none of you heard that voice then?" I sighed as all I received were nos. "Dammit, whatever the hell that was I need to find out. I know it couldn't have just been another voice in my head or Shadow....and .....Nova. Did you two hear anything?" I asked my spirits; if anypony could have heard that voice it would have been them. "Nope, nothing here." Shadow responded. "Same here Dark Heart but I could tell you that whatever you heard it wasn't in your head otherwise we would've known." Well at least question has been put to rest before hand. "Are you sure you heard something speak to you and not something you just imagined?" Hyperion asked. "No otherwise Nova and Shadow would have said something." I told her as I thought about the two sentences it spoke to me before seemingly disappearing. "What did it tell you?" Twilight asked. "The two things it said were, 'Join us Dark Heart', and, 'Your talents are wasted protecting them'. You don't need to be a genius to know what it's intentions were. Question is who, or what, was it and why are they after me, in fact how do they know me?" I thought out loud as I pondered this. "It could be the king of the windigos. They've been trying to find you as much as Spirit has though it's more for your dark magic than the Heart." A mare said from behind me. I turned around and was shocked to find that Sun Spear was standing there and out of her armor. "What are you doing here Sun Spear?" I asked curiously. "Well I wanted to see how Builder and Gem were doing and formally say hi to my great, great, great, great,great, great, great, great, great uncle to welcome him back to Equestria." She said sheepishly as I imagined our first interaction ran through her head. "Well thanks, though technically I never left Equestria, but thanks anyway. Those two are doing fine though they're at school if you were wanting to visit them. So I take you're off duty or did the princesses give you some vacation time?" I asked as I walked up to her. I stuck out my hand for her to shake but was pulled into a surprise hug instead. It took a sec to understand what was going on before hugging her back. When we pulled apart I saw that she had a big, genuine smile on her muzzle. "The princesses gave the remaining guards of Everglade a small vacation to let us cope with everything that happened in Everglade though they gave me an extra week so that me and you could talk after I asked them about you. I also want to say sorry for the way I acted when we first met." She said as her smile quickly dropped. "Don't worry about Sun Spear, it's understandable that you had that reaction considering that no one knew what happened to me after I left Neighburg. For all anypony knew I could have very well turned into a demon or something equally impossible as living a thousand years longer than most ponies." "Thanks Great Uncle Dark Heart. So are you going to introduce me to your friends?" She said as she gestured towards the girls. "Well I wouldn't call half of them my friends but I could still introduce you to the ones that are." I put my arm around her and directed towards the pink bundle of energy. "This is Pinkie Pie, Sun Spear, and Pinks this is my great niece Sun Spear." I introduced them to each other. When they went to shake each other hands Pinkie wrapped both of her hands around Sun's one and shook it so hard that it caused her to come off of her hoofs and shake in the air. I grabbed onto Sun Spear to keep her from falling over as she tried to regain her balance. Once she could walk on her own again I motioned towards Hyperion. "Hyperion! It's so good to see you again." She yelled out excitedly as the two ran into each other arms and started squealing like little school fillies that had their crush talk to them, hurt the shit out of my ears but the sight made me happy nonetheless. The two were chatting adamantly with each other when I cleared my throat to get their attention. "And finally meet Ember, my pet timberwolf, though I don't really see her as a pet." I said as I petted Ember. Sun Spear bowled over me moments later as she grabbed Ember into a death hug that left the poor thing to try and get oxygen back into her body. Since Ember's face doesn't change color from lack of air I just teleported her out of Sun Spear's grasp with the snap of a finger and she appeared next to me as she tried to catch her breath. Sun Spear glared at me but it was replaced with an apologetic look as I gestured over to Ember who was still trying to catch her breath. Once she does she glares at Sun Spear. "Sorry Ember but I couldn't help myself, you're just so cute." She says sheepishly. Ember continues to glare at her before shaking her head and laying down next to me. "Do have a couple other friends who aren't here at the moment but you'll see Cheerilee when we go see Builder and Gem as for Zecora well we could probably stop by her hut in the forest since it'll be some time before she and the kids get out of school." I tell her as I go back to petting Ember. "What about visiting your place?" She asks as she sits on the other side of Ember and scratching behind her ears. Her smile grew as Ember's leg started to involuntarily shake from the feeling. "Well we could but the question is are you alright with going deeper into the Everfree than Zecora's hut. Unlike her there isn't much of a path to follow and the only reason I get visits from any of my friends is because they all have something to fend off the creatures that live there, well all except for Cheerilee but she usually ask me to take her there or anypony that knows, so basically the anypony who's a friend." "So this Zecora lives in a hut in the forest, huh? So what do you live in?" "A cave." I respond like it's the most normal thing in the world. "A cave?" "Yup." "And you don't worry about other timberwolves or manticores attacking you in your sleep?"She asked skeptically. "No, why, should I?" "Yes, any of thing living in that dreadful forest could come after you and you wouldn't be able to defend yourself." "That's what you're worried about, pfft, I have multiple defensive spells around and in that cave to keep them out, plus the presence of my dark magic keeps them at bay anyway considering that it scares even the strongest of ponies." I stated with closed eyes and a dismissive wave of my hand. I had the feeling that if I had kept them open I would have seen one of her eyes twitching. "So anyway, you up for a trek through through the woods?" "But what about Builder and Gem?" "Don't worry about it. I know when they get out and if we keep up a decent pace I should have enough time to show you around before I teleport us to the school." I stated as yet again my eyes closed as I took in the smell of the nature all around me. It took a moment but I finally realized that everything was quiet including the breeze that been there a moment ago. I opened my eyes to find that I was surrounded by darkness. I walked around for a bit as I tried to see that if I had somehow passed out and was dreaming, I tried to call upon things that would have been impossible for to get by currents means. After a while something finally showed up but it wasn't something from my mind or nightmares. It was distant when I first spotted it and I couldn't tell what it was but as it grew closer it's form started slowly become recognizable. "What do you want!?" I growled as the figure standing before me was a windigo, but not just any windigo, it was the king of the windigos, King Fratamantus. "You have no right to be here even in this plane." I pull out both Cursed and Blessing and ready my fire breath. "What do you hope to do boy. We feed of the same emotions that give you power what makes you think you can accomplish anything by fighting me?" Fratamantus stated, amused by my efforts to intimidate him. "How about the fact that we use our for completely different reasons? Or how about the fact that I have the spirit of the Heart of Light on my side? The same spirit, that I must remind you, can steal away your power source and weaken you. Then there is also the fact that even if she were to do that I could pull power from the emotions ponies keep bottled up." I say smirking as each he gets angrier and angrier with each statement. "Damn you you arrogant son of a- ahem, I mean that although those are all good points maybe I could change your mind?" The king stated after regaining his composure from the outburst. "If you plan on promising anything like Nightmare Bitch then you're wasting your breath." I rolled my eyes at the malicious spirit. A moment of silence fell upon us as we stared at each other. I with an intense glare and him with an inquisitive look. That moment ended after I saw a smug grin come over him. "While I can see why you refused Nightmare Moons offer I think my can be more alluring to your... needs." "And what needs would those be?" My demonic voice stated. "Your need to be loved of course. I've known of your entrapment from day one but was unable to break the seal that held you. A thousand years trapped in your amulet and losing all those you cared about because of it. Now here you, stuck in a time that you weren't supposed to be in and with ponies that hate you now more than ever. So I offer you this Dark Star Heart, the master of darkness, my daughter's hand in marriage if you help me take over Equestria. After that you and her can go live your lives however you please and I will never bother you again if that becomes your wish." I was going to tell him the go fuck himself but he stopped by pressing his ghostly hand against my lips. "Before you make your decision I would advise you to see what you are missing." He gestured behind him. I rolled my eyes as I decided to humor him and look towards where he designated. When I did I popped an instant as I saw the most beautiful mare I've ever seen. Standing behind Fratamantus was, of course, a windigo mare who had a silvery violet coat unlike the bluish snow white they usually have. She had a beautiful silver white mane that sparkled and extended halfway down her back and striking orange eyes. The dress she wore was a darker shade than her coat that stopped at her ankles and had slits running up both sides to the middle of her thighs. I saw that she was also wearing matching pair shoes as well as gloves that went up to her elbows. Her figure was something to be appreciated as well as her breast were F-cups. Her body was slender and fit as her figure curved into her slender waist and out again to her perfect hips. Her posture suggested that she was a shy thing as well and I could tell that it wasn't an act to make look even more appealing, though I will admit that it did wonders for her. Through my...ahem....gawking, there was something that her eyes and body were definitely telling me that made me want to find this mare after I got out of here. Sadness and hurting, that's what stuck out to me the most about her. She was beautiful, a mare that was definitely out of my league by indescribable lengths but I was going to help her. "Well Fratamantus I will can't deny that your daughter is the most perfect mare that I've laid my eyes on," Fratamatus's grin grew and his daughter fidgeted around further proving my analysis. "I'm glad you think so. Diamond Sky works so hard to keep her body in tiptop shape, isn't that sweetheart?" Fratamantus turned to his daughter and asked. "Y-yes father." She said in an angelic voice. "Yes, you truly would a lucky stallion Dark Heart. My daughter has been taught that a stallion's word is final. She will attend to your every need no matter how uncomfortable it makes. You could make her prance around naked in public with a vibrator in her cunt and she wouldn't say a word in protest." With every word he spoke I grew angrier and angrier as Diamond Sky was just about in tears as the scenario that her father described ran through her mind. I never forgave any stallion who treated mares like a piece of meat, a slave, or anything else that would demean them as such. I don't care how I sound about saying this but I believe that once a stallion found that mare that would bring them happiness that you should worship her. Make her feel special, like she is the most important thing in your life until you have kids then that love goes onto to both her and those that she brought brought life to. Your special somepony is a pony you cherish above all others and is not to be brought down even when you disagree. I want to help Diamond Sky as she doesn't seem to be like the rest of her kind and even if she was the fact that her own father is basically whoring her out as part of a trade agreement makes me sick beyond all compare. "Would you mind if I talk to her in private King Fratamantus?" I stated calmly. "Could I ask why?" "I just want to get to know my potential bride a little more before I agree to your terms." "I see nothing wrong with that though I would suggest that you be gentle with her. She is a precious jewel after all." The damn smugness in his voice is grating on my nerves but I have to stay calm for now, at least until I speak to her. I walk over to Diamond Sky who is trying her hardest to not fidget in place. When I reach her I place a hand on her shoulder which caused her body to start trembling even as I flash a comforting smile at her. I sigh as my hands lit up with the crimson aura of my magic and I summoned a table and a couple chairs with refreshments and gesture for her to take a seat. She does so obediently while I take the seat across from her. "Diamond I'm just going to cut the chase since this riding on my nerves for long enough. Is your father forcing you to do this and please be honest with me." I asked just quiet enough to make sure her father isn't listening in. "Y-y-yes he is." She responds meekly. I nod slowly before continuing. "Do you already have somepony you love or-" "No, no I don't though I wish I did. That's why I agreed to do this for my father at all. I-I don't want to be lonely anymore but when he started going on about, well, all of that I started to regret my decision." She says as she interrupted my question. "I can understand that more than anypony but this isn't the way to do it, you know that right?" She looks at me with sad eyes as she nodded. "Thank you for your honesty but I have one more thing to ask......Do you want me to take you away from the other windigos and bring you to Equestria? I can do it, defeat your father and come after you, take you away from your current and start anew where you would be allowed make your own choices. Would that be something you would be interested in?" I asked seriously as I stared into her eyes, into her soul, for the answers. "I-I don't know. I wouldn't want you to go through that trouble just for me." She said as she rubbed her hands together nervously and looked down at the table. I lift her head by the chin so that I could look into her eyes again. "Diamond, it is my goal in life to make the live of others better no matter the cost. If you really want to stay then just say so but I can't know if you need help unless you tell me." She stared at, looking for anything that would have told her of my true intentions. She started tearing up after a minute and soon started crying into my shoulder. "P-please, h-help me. I don't want to live a life like this anymore." She sobbed out as I rubbed her back. "That's all I needed to hear, but you will have to endure for a little while longer. I need you to find someway to get my the location of your home. After that I'll come get you as soon as I can and I'll make sure that your father never bothers you again." I stated with the utmost confidence. She looked up at me with a teary smile and I couldn't help but lose myself in her eyes. I felt our faces growing closer to each other and I felt compelled to close my eyes as our muzzles nearly bridged the gap between us. It was then that it happened, I had finally had my first kiss as I felt my lips press against hers. I felt as though I was in heaven when I used my tongue to ask for entrance into her mouth and she granted it. Our tongues interlock in a lovely dance as we stayed that way for what felt like forever and I knew that even if my memories was erased tomorrow that I would never forget this kiss. After for an indefinite amount of time we pulled apart with a single string of saliva connecting us. We locked eyes once again with small blushes on our faces before I pulled her into a hug. It was then that I started transforming into my Darkness Form as I leaned closer to her ear. "Please stay safe until I get there." She only nodded against my shoulder. "I love you." She said before pulling away and allowing me to stand up. I gave her one last smile before teleporting in front of Fratamantus. "So what do you say Dark Heart. Do we have a deal?" He asked unaware of my intentions. "No, but I have a new deal for you and you might want to take it up if you know what's good for you and your kind. You will stop this plan at once and allow Diamond Sky to make her decisions or die by my hands." "Or how about I just kill you?" He growled before a spear of ice pierced through my chest. "Then I have my answer." Encounter Part 2Author's Note Moon Drop, these words will make sense in a little bit. Encounter Part 2 "How about I kill you!?" Fratamantus growled as I felt the air behind me get dramatically colder and then saw a piece of ice directly in front of me that was coated with blood. "Then I guess I have my answer." I spoke with as much as venom as I could muster in my demonically intoned voice before grabbing a hold of the ice shard and breaking it off before removing myself from it. My dark magic sealed up the wound quickly as it had time to get used to it after taking that hit from Spirit back at the castle. Summoning Cursed and Blessing I charged at him as he stood still with an overconfident smirk. Pillars of ice appeared from the ground and created a wall between me and the windigo king as he attempt to halt my advances but a quick blast of dark magic quickly took care of it. Once the wall had been dispersed I was meant with the smiling form of Fratamantus who was wielding a gnarly war scythe. I barely had time to move out of the way as he brought the weapon down where I had been a moment ago. He dislodged it quickly and swung it right at me as I was trying to get in close for a strike. I brought up Cursed to block the attack before attaching the chain from the gauntlet on my right arm to Blessing and threw it at the king. He tried to use ice to block it but the speed at which Blessing was spinning allowed it to cut through his defenses like butter. He was forced to jump back, taking his scythe with him, to prevent Blessing from slicing his face in two. At the last second, as Fratamantus was pulling away, I redirected Blessing's trajectory and had it wrap around the hilt of scythe, just under the blade, and yanked on it hard. It didn't come free from his grip like I wanted but it kept him in one spot and left me free to swing Cursed at him. He managed to dodge my strikes for a good five minutes but I was getting use to how he moved to avoid being sliced in half and now had his pattern down. As I went in for what I believed would be the final strike when I was tackled down to the ground by more windigos. They had me pinned as Fratamantus moved closer to me with a malicious grin and his now freed scythe. Unknown to them I could use my magic to control the chains in the gauntlets and started to direct my dark magic into the gauntlet meant for Cursed and waited. "You're nothing more than a foolish colt hoping to prove himself a stallion. What made you think that you would be able to stand against the king of the windigo?" He asked in a mocking tone that cause me to roll me eyes. "If you're trying to intimidate me I wouldn't waste my breath if I were you, it will keep you from looking like the royal jester though with a face like yours I would have made that mistake anyway." I insulted him and watched to anger in his eyes grow. "You're not i much of a position to be mocking me little colt. I've been watching you for a while now and seen what you truly long for. I'm not sure about you but seeing a great warrior such as yourself cry over losing their family is quite humorous when combined with the front you put up." He said as him and the rest of his lackeys laughed at my plight though seeing Diamond Sky's sympathetic look gave me comfort before looking back at her father with a defiant look. "I don't try to put up any kind of front Fratamantus, and I most don't care if you know that I've cried over the loss of my family. At me crying over it is a sign that the darkness in my heart won't turn me and will give me the power I need to beat you when I find out where you're hiding." "And what makes you think that you can pull that off?" "The darkness in your hearts' are clear indicators that I now know exist." Fratamantus eyes widen in shock and fear as he realized the mistake he's made but it soon turns back into that damn smirk of his. "Well that is a problem that can be solved easily." He said as he raised his scythe high above his head. "Any last words whelp?" I was going to make another snarky remark but then I noticed that the same blackness all around us that made up what supposed to be the sky had started to change into a night sky. What really caught my eye though was the moon that suddenly appeared and seemed to be growing. "Yeah I do, have you ever wondered what it's like to be a pancake?" I ask before I felt a pulling sensation and felt the area around me shift before I felt solid ground under my hooves again. I looked around and just barely manage to see the moon crash into Fratamantus and his goons before hearing a voice come from behind me. "I hope I'm not too late to the party?" I heard Luna say. "Actually you're right on time, but the moon, really? I know you've been wanting to do that," I say as I gesture towards the moon. "For a while now but seriously couldn't you have done it when they had a bigger army to squash?" "What, and I miss the chance to see a flat windigo king, no way." I shake my head at Luna's antics before turning to see Diamond Sky walk from behind the celestial rock. "It would appear I missed one but don't worry I got it." Luna says as she charges up her horn. "No Luna, not her. Diamond Sky is Fratamantus' daughter but she wants to live in Equestria and away from the abuse she's been forced to suffer by his hands. I promised to help her be free and track down their hideout to take care of them once and for all." I explain to her as she looks at me suspiciously. "And why, pray tell is she here in the first place?" Luna asked with narrowed eyes. "The asshole was planning on using her as a bargaining chip to recruit my help, kinda like what Nightmare Bitch did except, you know, not offering himself." I shudder at the thought of having another ever doing that to me considering how weird that would be. "Though you have denied his offer you like her, don't you?" Luna asked sadly. "Yes, yes I do but right now that's not important. We need to make sure Fratamantus is gone before returning back to the physical world so that he doesn't gain access to either of our minds. It's bad enough he as access to the Void." I say as I walk over to the mock moon Luna had created and destroyed it with a simple burst of both dark and light magic. There was crater from where the celestial body once stood and saw nothing but flat windigos. He noticed that Fratamantus wasn't among them and figured he must've escaped. "So what happens now Dark Heart?" I heard Diamond Sky ask. "Go back home for now as I now have a way to track you and the others down. I'll be there as soon as I can but you must know that there are other things I must do first in order to prepare for that trip but don't worry because I will come for you." I tell her as I turn to face her and bring her into my embrace. "Okay Dark Heart, I will. Just please don't forget about me. I know we've only known each other for a short while but I don't want to lose you." She says before bringing me into a kiss. After we separate she disappears as she waves at me before vanishing completely. I turn around to face Luna and see tears streaming down her face and I knew that I just messed up. Dammit, I knew I should have told about feelings before doing something like with another mare right in front of her. Damn I'm an insensitive prick sometimes. I thought as Luna flashes out of existence. As quickly as I could I performed the spell to disband the Void and shot up into a sitting position. I looked around to see everypony huddled around me and were asking all kinds of questions but I didn't hear any of them as I spotted Luna flying away back to Canterlot. I got up and pushed my magic into my legs as I ran after her. When I caught up I called out to her but she just flew faster and I felt droplets hitting my face. I got cut off from my pursuit as I ran face first into the side of Canterlot Mountain and lodged myself into a hole several yards deep. I grumbled about the mountain being in my way before forcing myself out and begin my ascent up to Canterlot. After making the final jump up to the streets I headed towards the castle. "Halt, Princess Luna has requested to keep you out of the castle until further notice." The guards at the gates said when I tried to pass through. "Yeeaaaahhhh, not a chance there bud. Luna needs me right now whether she wants me there or not." I say before taking a few steps back and jumping over the gate. I took off again as soon as my hooves touched the ground and ran towards Luna's room. I skidded to a stop as I came upon Luna's room and saw Celestia stepping out of it. She turned my way when she heard my shoes screeching across the floor before I stopped right in front of her. We stood there staring at each other in silence as we regarded the look the other was giving us. Celestia had the look any caring sibling would have whenever they were hurt in some way and I'm sure Celestia could see my expression of regret as I knew it was clearly planted on my muzzle. "What happened in Ponyville Dark Heart? I knew that my sister has feelings for you but what happen to make her think that you were already seeing somepony else?" Celestia asked in a sympathetic tone. "*Sigh* I was brought to the Void by King Fratamantus where he tried to recruit my help in taking over Equestria and offered his daughter as tribute. I wasn't going to accept, obviously, but I had to talk the her after I noticed the way she was acting. As soon as I laid my eyes on her I knew I wanted to be with her and after talking to her for a while I initiated a fight between me and the king. Luna came to my aid while he had his goons pin me and she dropped a mock moon on top of them. Afterwards I checked to see if he was dead, only to discover that his lackies had been squashed but he escaped, unfortunately." snarled that last part and Celestia nodded her head in understanding. "Then I take it that what happened afterward is the cause of Luna's current state?" Celestia asked. "Yeah; since I made the plan to go rescue her, Diamond Sky had came to ask me what to do before she left the Void as well though not before giving me a goodbye kiss. I had forgotten that Luna was there, seeing how my rage was blinding me." "Your rage?" Celestia asked with an elevated brow. "Yes, my rage. Really how do you expect me to feel after seeing Fratamantus treated his daughter? It was down right disgusting how he treated her like she was his property and not seeing him get pulverized into dust by Luna only served to make me angrier. I just hope he doesn't find out about my interest in her so she isn't used against me. The last thing I need is a war on my growing list of 'The Problems I Caused' to be out on there as well." "So then my sister saw you kissing another mare and that is why she's in her room right now crying her eyes out?" Celestia recapped and I merely nodded. "Why didn't you just tell me that?" "Because I didn't feel like getting vaporized before making it up to Luna, plus I felt that you needed to know the situation at hand anyway." I answered simply. "Very well then but I think we've spoken enough on both subjects. Why don't you go in there and explain to her what happened? She probably won't forgive you at first but all I can tell you is to give her some time to calm down and put her thoughts together if that becomes the case." Celestia informed me before embracing me. "Thanks Tia, I appreciate the help." I tell her as I return the hug. "It's no problem at all Dark Heart. Luna and I are just trying are best to make for everything you lost because of us." She said as she broke our contact. "Celestia, I already told you two that you don't have to do such a thing. Yes I lost a lot but I've gotten so much more. I will always miss my parents and sisters but at least now I have friends to help dull the pain and hopefully I'll have my own herd if I can get Luna to forgive me and have her and Diamond Sky talk, after I save her of course." I told her as I unsheathed Blessing and pointed it towards the sky in a heroic pose. "Well it's nice to see that your optimism is back." Celestia joked as she held a hand over her mouth to try, and failing horribly, stifle her laughter. I looked down at her when I heard a small giggle escape before it erupted into full blown laughter. With her out of commission until she calms down I make my way to Luna's room and sneak inside. I cast a soundproofing spell around the room so that Celestia's laughter wasn't heard throughout our conversation. Luna's head shot up from the pillow it was buried in when Celestia's laughter was cut off so suddenly. I saw her eyes were red and bloodshot from crying when she turned to the door. I waved at her sheepishly as her expression turned from that of worry to anger. I barely had enough time to react before she threw one of the many weapons she has hanging on her walls at me. "Why are thou here Dark Heart!?" She shouted as she threw a morning star at my crotch, and thankfully missed. "Luna, please, I want to talk about what you saw in the Void." I tell her before getting hit with a sizable war hammer and knocked into the wall. "No, we will not listen to whatever lie thou hast come up with in order to deceive us!" She yelled as she loomed over me with a spear in hand. "We know what we saw so you cannot fool us with any false stories and hence have no business being in our chambers." She said as she slipped further into her archaic dialogue and the spear pointed towards my groin. "I never planned to deceive you Luna but to explain the situation at hand before things between us become unrepairable." I told her with fiery determination and defiance to get the message across that I'm not leaving until she hears me out. "Very well then, we will listen to thee but after you're finished you will leave our chambers and never step a hoof in here unless I say so." I nod in agreement, albeit reluctantly, before she moves towards a couple of chairs that sit in front of a fireplace. I follow after checking over my newly acquired wounds and take the seat next to her. "Now then, what exactly was it that you wanted to explain to me?" She spats out with malice. "Well as you already saw I did kiss the daughter of King Fratamantus, Diamond Sky, and we do love each other." I started off as I looked to the empty fireplace but saw her grit her teeth from the corner of my eyes. "Yeah, I saw that." She growled in anger. "But what you didn't see, or hear, was what led to it and why." "What do you mean?" Luna asked with curiosity laced in with her anger. "I already told you that Fratamantus planned on using her as a bargaining chip right?" "Yes." "Well that wasn't all he did. He tried to....sweeten the deal by telling me the extent to which she would.........obey me." I say with a shiver from just thinking about mare that obedient to any other, well actually that goes for just about anypony really. It's different if it's part of a deal for a dare or something between friends and siblings but other than that it doesn't sit well with me. That was another reason for my hatred of King Sombra was the fact that he enslaved an entire empire. "What kinds of things?" "The furthest he went was saying that if I wanted to punish her I could do it in any way, shape, or form and she wouldn't say a word against me or tell anypony what I did to her and he made that clear by telling me that if I wanted her to walk around in public naked, she would do it without protest. I thought she was beautiful when I laid my eyes on her and wanted to be with her but I wanted her to be released from her father's grasp more than anything. As he told me everything she would be willing to do I kept seeing her wince or heard her whimper but otherwise said nothing and I thought that maybe she had already had somepony to call a lover but I wanted to help her anyway. After talking her I had asked if she wanted me to help her escape the life she has now. She was reluctant at first but she eventually caved in and accepted my help which is how the fight started. Just before I left her side to confront Fratamantus we got lost in each other eyes and, well, kissed, so I guess you witnessed the second kiss between us when I was looking over the crater." I explained to Luna, not once looking at her in fear of what her reaction might be to hearing all this. After getting nothing for awhile I took that as my cue to leave. I passed by Luna, not bothering to look at her, and headed towards the door. I tensed up when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me but relaxed when I realized it was Luna. "Okay, I get it. She was being abused and all you wanted to do was help and she saw you as her knight in shining armor though that wasn't what I was mad about." Luna said in a calmer, but sad, tone. "You were mad because you thought I had feelings for you but didn't recuperate them, or were you mad because you thought that I knew about your feelings for me but I said nothing about not having any interest and believed that I was leading you on?" I asked as I turned around while still in her grip. "It was the second one but now I know that I was wrong. .......I'm sorry Dark Heart." She apologized and I could feel my shirt getting wet. "Well not completely." I stated to her confusion. "W-what do you mean?" She asked with a teary eyes. "Well I did know about your feelings for me, have for some time now, but I didn't know how to confront the situation. I wanted to tell you sooner but I wanted it to be special." When I saw her expression I knew that I worded that sentence wrong but she beat me to the punch as I opened my mouth to restate it. "Why would anypony in Equestria want to make rejecting somepony...special. Do you really find the suffering of others so enjoyable?" She asked before trying to pull away but I was having none of it. I held her tight against me as she struggled in my grasp, the emotional turmoil that I've put her through earlier having taken its toll on her body as well as her mind. "Sorry Luna I worded that poorly. I didn't mean that I wanted to make your rejection special but rather tell you in a special way that I'd be more than happy to accept your feeling and would be glad to recuperate them. Luna, I love you just as much as I do Diamond Sky and I hope that the next time you two meet that you'll both be willing to form a herd." Luna looked up at me with shock as she took in what I said and I grew worried as her face stayed like that for quite a while. I blew air in her face to see if that would get anything out of her but she continued to remain still. I tried several times to dislodge myself from her and go get Celestia, but her grip was strong and unrelenting as it kept us locked together. I had finally gotten a sign that she was still alive when I saw that her eyes were getting watery and her mouth was quivering like she was trying to say something but couldn't come up with the words for what she wanted to say. She finally decided what she wanted to do as she caught me by surprise with a kiss. The shock kept me from responding immediately but as soon as it wore off I made sure to return her feelings through the connection. Once the need for air became a rather unwanted distraction Luna broke the kiss with a small blush on her cheeks and the same beautiful smile that I have come to love seeing. She nuzzled the bottom of my chin, being mindful of her horn before I scooped her up and walked over to the bed to lay her down. "What are you doing?" Luna asked with confusion. "Putting you to bed. You've had an exhausting day between helping me deal with Fratamantus and all the trouble I caused you for not revealing my feelings sooner and I figured that it all must be taking its toll on you." As to confirm my point she let out an adorable yawn. She looked back at me with an even bigger blush as she saw me looking at her with a smirk. "Well maybe I'm a little tired, but I want to spend some more time with you." She whined as she tried to squirm out of bed. I held her in place until she stopped struggling. Once she was still I tucked her in while she had her arms crossed and pouting like a child who refused to take a nap. "Now Luna don't be like that. I promise that we can spend some time together after you wake up but right now I need to go back to Ponyville. Cheerilee and the kids must be worried about why I wasn't there when school ended and Sun Spear did want to get some time with me as well and get to know her great uncle." "I know but can you at least stay with me until I fall asleep?" She asked with big, hope filled eyes. I just roll my eyes at her expression before getting up and laying on the other side of her bed. Scooting next to her, I pull her towards me as we both laid on our sides as we spooned. Luna hummed in contentment as she laid in my arms. I rubbed my hand over her belly as I felt the silk of her dress disappear and all I was feeling was her soft coat. I open my eyes to see that she had magically changed out of her dress and into her PJs which consisted of a black tank top, that reached to just below her breast, and nothing but black panties down below. I averted my gaze as soon as my sight landed on them and felt a bit of heat form on my face. "There's no need to be embarrassed Dark Heart. If we are to be lovers I would imagine that it would be okay to allow each other glimpses of the other, right?" Luna said as she looked at me over her shoulder. "Yeah but you have to remember Luna. I am still a virgin and I haven't much interactions with a mare's body. The only other time I've seen anything really explicit was when I first arrived at Ponyville and accidently ripped off the Mayor Mare's shirt and exposed her breast to most of the town when they tried to bring about justice." I told as my cheeks grew hotter and I averted my gaze to everything else in her room but not towards her. "If it was an accident then why would feel the need to bring about justice?" Luna asked much to my surprise as I figured that Twilight had written about the incident after it happened. "Well the mayor didn't see it that way and wouldn't listen to me when I tried to tell her otherwise so I was stuck with the decision to fight off the horde or run. I think it's obvious which I choose." "Well don't worry Dark Heart. I will do everything I can to make them see you're innocent." Luna said with determination that caused me to chuckle. "That won't be necessary Luna but thanks anyway. In fact I forbid you from doing so. This has made a great test to see who is willing to trust me and which aren't. It's helped me discover my best friends seeing how these are ponies that believed that I was innocent from the get go and others are beginning to see that I'm not actually that bad but they still wouldn't speak to me in public unless to insult me." "Very well then, Darky, I will do as you ask but promise me that you won't judge our little ponies too harshly?" I groaned at Luna's use of that bloody pet name knowing that she's going to use it whenever it will annoy the hell out of me. "I promise, now go to sleep missy." I say before bringing a pillow down on her and holding it over her face with just enough pressure to keep her from taking it off but not enough to suffocate her. She flailed around for bit and hitting me until she just went limp. I removed the pillow slowly waiting for a surprise attack from Luna but was met with her looking blankly into space. "Have you truly forgiven me for what happened a thousand years ago?" She suddenly asked. "You mean Nightmare Moon sealing me in the amulet, yeah. I get what dark magic can do a pony, even an alicorn, so I wouldn't suggest beating yourself up over it." I answer quickly and honestly. "But we took your family away. Aren't you a little mad?" Luna asked as if she was trying to make me reconsider. "You didn't take my family away Luna. Yes I can never see my parents, my sisters, or Tender Heart, but I still have their descendents don't I. Right now Sun Spear is in Ponyville waiting for me to return and although we're generations apart she's willing to believe that I'm in fact a blood relative that she can connect with. I will never be mad at you Luna and you shouldn't be either considering that it's because of you that many lives have been saved and a demon lord sealed." "What do you mean?" "Think about it Luna. If I wasn't here then who would have been sent to Everglade's aid and figured out the greater scheme at work? Who would have saved all those ponies? Despite what you may think, Nightmare Moon did something actually good, unintentional as it may have been, and many more great things are sure to come in the future. Who knows, maybe this new mission to stop Fratamantus and save Diamond Sky may result in peace between them and Equestria. It's a long shot but it's possible so stop beating yourself up over it and think of the positives that came with negative and learn from the mistakes of the past so that they don't happen again, alright?" I tell her as she tries looks away from me but I refuse to let her. "Okay Dark Heart, I'll try.Thank you for making me feel better." I could only offer her a smile as I held her closer. "Anything for you my lovely moon." Discussions and VisionsSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.The Date Part 2Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter."Diamond Sky, We're Coming!"Author's Note Sorry this took a while but I've been trying to get the latest chapter of Lightning Master completed as well. For those of you looking forward to it the next chapter will hopefully be out soon, week after the next at the latest. "Diamond Sky, We're Coming!" "Rise and Shine you two." I heard Celestia's voice say before a rush of light met my eyes, which caused me to pull the sheets over mine and Luna's heads. I got a sigh of contentment from my lover as she snuggled closer to me. That is before our cover was yanked from my grip and we groaned in annoyance at not being able to enjoy being in bed together. "Come on you two. We may have the day off but I'm not going to allow you to waste it in Lulu's bed." "Fine, Luna let's go over to the cave and spend the day in my bed." I told who murmured in agreement as I cradled her in my arms, ready to teleport to the Everfree. As soon as my horn lights up Celestia flicks it as cancel outs the spell and causing me a headache. Thanks to that I'm now fully awake and proceed to blast Celestia out of the room...... ,through the window. After taking care of the nuisance I lightly shake Luna in my arms to get her to wake up. "Come on Luna, it's time to get up." I say sweetly before giving her a kiss on the nose. "But I want to sleep some more." Luna whined as she buried her face into my chest. "Luna, sweets, I would suggest you get up now or I'm going to have to make you , and believe me when I say that you're going to hate me if it comes to that." I told her in a sickly sweet voice. "Mmm, I doubt that Dark Heart. *yawn* Now if you'll excuse I have some sleep to catch up on." Luna said as she snuggled into my chest. I Tsked at her stubbornness and used my magic to opened up the door to her bathroom. I walked in and set Luna down gently onto the floor of the bathtub, though not before casting a warming spell so as not to arouse too much suspicion. "Last chance Luna." I warned but she still refused to move. "*sigh* Don't say I didn't warn you." I tell her before turning on the cold shower and watch as she flew through her ceiling. I looked through the Luna shaped hole but instead of being met by the sight of my soaking wet marefriend I was instead greeted with the sight of of a blue beam of magic that hammered me down to the floor of the bath tub. "What the heck Dark Heart, you just throw your marefriend into an ice cold shower and act like it's nothing!?" Luna yelled at me as she flew back down the hole. I couldn't answer as she was sitting on top of the back of my head and keeping my face planted to the ground. "What do you have to say for yourself mister?" Luna asked as she scooted down my back just enough for me to turn my head and speak. "I did try to warn you that I was going to get you to wake you up plus it's your own fault for not getting up when I asked. I know you're a little tired but considering it's almost noon. I figured you would want to spend what time we have left today before you're back to being busy with your royal duties tomorrow." I told her calmly like she didn't hold my faith in her hands, or under her ass as the case may be. "Why are you so worried about us spending all the time we have together anyway?" "Cause of the mess I've gotten myself into." I said sadly. "What mess?" "This whole with Diamond Sky and Fratamantus. I'm not saying that I'm having second thoughts about rescuing her but I'm worried. My shadows can travel at incredible speeds at aren't slowed by the same boundaries we are so there's no telling how far I'll have to travel. Then there's me having to potentially fight the entire Windigo race, Fratamantus, and getting Diamond out of there." I paused for a moment to let the information sink in. "Then there's also the fact that besides all of that I'm worried that there may actually be a chance that I may not even make it back at all. All of this has been plaguing my mind since that day and so I've wanted to spend as much time with everypony I care about as much as I can before the shadows locate the Windigo fortress and I'm forced to leave to go after Diamond." I admitted to her with clenched fists. "Why would you be worried about something like that?" Shocked by her question I stood up and knocked down to the floor. "What was that for?" She whined as I helped her up. "What do you mean why am I worrying about that stuff like that. One I'm going against Windigos, the same creatures who draw power from the same place I do and they outnumber me one to possible ten, maybe even hundreds, of thousands. There is also the fact that I'll be at a major disadvantage raiding their home and all while making sure I don't put Diamond Sky in danger, so how can you ask me how I can be worried about stuff like this?" "Well you're talking about it like you're actually thinking of going alone." My jaw dropped upon hearing this and I looked at her like she had grown a second head. "Wait a minute, you mean you really thought that me and Tia would just let you go off on your own to fight Fratamantus and save Diamond Sky?" I nodded dumbly in response. "Dark Heart, I'm appalled that you would think such a thing." "Luna, no, I can't ask you two to help me, even if me, you, and Diamond are in a herd now." "Oh I don't mean us I'm talking about Hyperion." Luna stated calmly. "And when the hell was this established?" "The day you sent out the shadows. We were all coming by to talk about plans on finding the fortress and decided to head into the Everfree Forest when we had no meetings for the rest of the day and ran into Hyperion, who was hoping to meet up with you as well. When we saw the spell you were working on to improve your shadows' tracking capabilities we hung back and watched to make sure nothing went wrong. While doing so we got into a conversation about what our ideas were but Hyperion had pointed out one crucial thing that wouldn't have allowed any of our plans to work." "And what would that be?" "That you're doing this alone." Luna stated with a seriousness I've haven't seen since our encounter at Neighburg. "It was this fact alone that made us realize why none of our ideas were of satisfactory, it was because we were forming them around the idea that you would have help. Once that thought crossed our minds I had to ask her if she would be willing to accompany you to storm the Windigo stronghold and considering how well you two seem to work together when it came to facing the demon lord I would feel much better having her go with you. Hopefully once you've reached Diamond she'll be willing to fight back alongside you two as well which should make things all the better." "Hyperion, I guess fighting that demon lord really got her going if she's going to come with me to go fight the Windigos knowing that there might not be a chance we will make it back. I'm not saying I'm already anticipating our defeat but it will be a bitch fighting those asshole, definitely won't be coming back in one piece but I'll live." I said with a shit eating grin as the thought of ripping Fratamantus apart. "And the condition of those two are of little concern, how unthoughtful of you." Luna lightly scolded. "Those two are going to be the reason I'm going to get so fucked up in the first place, you know how my protective instincts like to kick in whenever those I care about are in danger, besides who do you think is going to be carrying me home?" "Well hopefully the fortress will be somewhere relatively close to the Crystal Empire so you won't have to come all the way back to Equestria from the frozen north." "Well odds are that if it's anywhere it's the-" I stopped when I heard a familiar voice speaking to me. "Dark Heart please come for me soon." I heard Diamond's plea before an image of the a fortress made of ice and obsidian appeared within my mind as well as its exact location, along with numerous windigos roaming in and around the structure. That image faded into another, a palace in the center of the walls that were surrounded by it's own walls those these seem more heavily guarded and tougher to get through. The image faded again and it seemed as though I was walking down the halls of the palace and had just walked into the throne room where King Fratamantus was sitting. It didn't stop there and moved to another hall to the right of the throne and moved to a door at the end of the hall. Going inside the room I saw that sitting there at a desk was Diamond Sky and she was looking miserable as she seemed to be looking through paperwork. Yet again the scene vanished and I became once again aware of my surroundings as I was met by the sight of a worried Luna. "What happened Dark Heart?" She asked when she saw me blink rapidly. "I saw the Windigo fortress and the city that lies inside it. I also managed to see Fratamantus sitting his fat ass upon his throne in his palace along with a miserable looking Diamond Sky." I told her as I stood up and walked over to the balcony. "What does it mean, do you know where to find them?" "It means that one of my shadows have found them and that I could finally go rescue her." I said as my eyes were already flashing with the images of the Windigos falling at my feet. "I take it that you'll want to leave right away then?" Luan asked sadly. "No, I'm sure Hyperion will have to gather supplies before we head out but just in case she's already one step ahead of me then yeah, I'm going to want to leave as soon as possible. The longer I linger the longer Sky has to suffer her father's oppression, sorry Lulu." I pull her into a hug and nuzzled into her cheek. "It's okay Dark Heart, I want her here with us as well so I don't mind. The only thing I'm really sad about is that we didn't get my time together but I guess I could just have you make it up to me when you get back." Although I couldn't see it I knew she had a devious smirk on her muzzle. We stayed like this for about twenty more minutes as we sat on Luna's bed before she pulled away. "Now go on and go inform Hyperion of the news and if it turns out that she indeed has to prepare then you better come right back here, alright?" She asked before giving me a kiss and leaving without waiting for my response. I smile fondly at the door where my lover just exited before getting up and ran off the balcony. Halfway down to the ground I saw it fit to draw one of my blades before kicking off the wall and throwing into the wall. In proved effective in providing the necessary propulsion to launch clear across Canterlot and land in the streets, with the added bonus of kicking up dirt and dust and having it cover the nobles wandering the streets upon my "landing". "How dare you get filth on me you scoundrel. I shall make you pay dearily for this atrocity!" I heard the all too annoyingly familiar voice say from behind me. The only thing I did was groan and began to walk away seeing as I have more pressing matters to deal with. That is until I was picked up by a blue aura. "Figures it would be you who would have performed such a heinous act." The insufferable "Prince" Blueblood said as he stared at me with narrowed eyes. "Blueblood, I have no time for your fucking whining today so put me down and I'll consider not breaking off your horn and shoving it thoroughly up your ass you pompous prick." I stated as calmly as possible. The resounding gasps of shock from the ponies around us was tempting me to mess with Blueblood but time is of the essence. "I doubt there's anything you do that's considered important." He sneered. "Then go tell that to your dear aunties but right now I'm not dealing with your shit." With that statement said I tapped into the magic channels and got into contact with a nearby shadow. With its orders received it came into view rather quickly and snaked up Blueblood's leg and up to his horn. As soon as my shadow made contact Blueblood's magic was cancelled out and I blasted Blueblood towards the castle. Once he was out of sight I teleported back to my cave and made my way over to Hyperion's home which isn't that far from mine. As I came up upon the entrance of her cave I could hear a humming resonating from deep within. I followed the sound until I reached a door where it seemed to be coming from. Pressing an ear to the door I could water running on the other side and decided to wait for her in the living room. While I waited I revisited the scene shown to me earlier by one of my shadows and examined the details of the fortress and find the best way to traverse through the city undetected. By the time I found a path halfway through the city and to the palace, Hyperion had finished her shower and walked out into the living room with nothing but a towel on. "Aaaahhh, Dark Heart what are you doing here!?" She screamed when she took notice of me. "Hey Hyperion, sorry for just coming in unannounced but I had some news that I thought you would like to hear." I told, never taking my eyes of the map I was making. "And this news couldn't wait until later?" I think I caught someone in a pissy mood now haven't I. "My shadows found the Windigo fortress and I came here to tell you that we're moving out as soon as you're ready. In the meantime I'm making the two of us a plan of entry so that we can attract little to no attention from the civilians but we'll have time on the way to improve it as my shadow feeds more info." I told as I got up and started to leave, though not without leaving behind a pendant that I made for this type of situation. "Use that to contact me when you have everything in order, I don't want to leave Sky there longer than I have to." And with that I walked out and teleported back to my cave to grab a couple of things and then proceeded to teleport back to the castle's dining room. When I got there I looked up from the map again to find Luna and Celestia speaking to an injured Blueblood and I couldn't help but notice that Luna was trying to hide her smirk from her nephew. "And then he had the gall to use his disgusting black magic to cancel out my magic and blasted me towards the castle." Blueblood finished up. "Well it sounds to me dear nephew that you are most definitely wrong in this matter. Dark Heart indeed has a very important mission that could very well change Equestria for the better and you were getting in the way of that. We've told you once already but apparently you must reminded that he his part of a special branch of Equestria's royal guard. A branch that only follows our orders on, or off duty, plus it sounds as though he didn't even know that you were there and throwing a temper tantrum like a little filly most definitely isn't helping your case." Celestia stated with her calm demeanor as she and Luna were drinking there tea. "Oh Celestia that's just insulting." I stated making my presence known to the three. "At least he sees some of my-" "Even the most spoiled of fillies don't throw a tantrum half as bad as Blueblood here, and here I thought you cared for the children." At this point Luna was having difficulty holding back her laughter, but Celestia didn't, as much at least, as she let out a brief giggle. Old Blueblood looked like he was about to pop. "Yes, I suppose you're right, that is very insulting to fillies everywhere but I simply have no other comparison to the way he acts when he doesn't get his way." Celestia stated as she rubbed her chin in thought. "What is there to compare it to other than his previous tantrums. Your nephew is in a league all his own so I don't really see the point." I picked up Luna off the chair and took her place as she placed upon my lap and I wrapped my arms around her waist. "Now Blueblood, if you would kindly leave as the adults need to talk about urgent matters that are too complex for your feeble mind to comprehend." He gawked at me like I had grown a second head before glaring at me. "You dare to continue insulting you insolent pest, the only reason you haven't ended up in a dungeon is because Auntie Luna seems to fancy you for some reason. Note that the moment when you least expect it I'l-" "And that's enough out of you for the day." I said as I sealed his mouth shut and teleported him back to his chambers, tied up to his bed, so that we could proceed with our meeting. "So I take it Hyperion has to prepare?" Celestia stated as soon as Blueblood was gone. "Yeah, and she really needs to invest into a door that has a lock. She was in the shower when I got there but I just opened the door and walked right on in. If this doesn't clue her in then somepony worse may stumble upon her humble abode and who knows what could happen then." Celestia nodded in understanding and was about to say something but the doors to the dining room opened up and another voice cut her off. "Auntie Celestia, I've been looking everywhere for you and Auntie Luna, though I should have known you two would be in here." Came the sweet voice of Cadance. I've met Cadance and Twilight's older brother, Shining Armor, twice since I've been released and both time were for some little errands that the sisters have sent me on. Shining Armor was straight up hostile upon our first meeting since he had seen me using my dark magic to recreate some of Sombra's dark crystal's for examination. He didn't last very long in that fight as I took him down very easily, and he used to be captain of the royal guard. Ever since then he's been wary of me but Cadance on the other has been pleasant to be around and accepted my dark powers without hesitation. I've been meaning to make it a point to spend a little more time with her since we did have fun when we're around each other, even more so when Cadance convinces Shining Armor to join on our antics. "You know they're always stuffing their faces with cake right? I mean I know that with plots like this one's," I grabbed a handful of Luna's ass and squeezed the fleshy orbs till the excess was overfilling them, which got a good, loud moan from her. "but I've seen their workouts and I can honestly say that they aren't slacking in the slightest to keep themselves in shape." I finished as Cadance was smiling deviously at me once she spotted me from under Luna. Said alicorn was staring daggers at me as her whole face had turned red, needless to say that I was going to be in the dog house when I got back. "Now what do you think you're doing over there mister?" Cadance asked playfully as she giggled. "Nothing much, just enjoying my marefriend's company as we discuss a plan for infiltrating the Windigo Fortress and rescue Princess Diamond Sky." Gesturing towards to map, I ushered her to take a look at it. "Wow, you actually found it, and it seems to be pretty close to the Crystal Empire." Cadance said as she looked over the map. "Actually it's still a fair distance away, the map isn't really up to scale; I mainly made for planning my path through the city. There's still a lot I don't know yet that I'm having my shadows look into so that I could come up with a better plan before me and Hyperion get there in a week." I told her as she set the map down in front of us. "A week, really, I thought I would have been much further away than that." Luna said with amusement. "Of course you would think so but you seem to be forgetting one little, itsy bitsy thing my dear Luna." "What is that Dark Heart?" "A day's walk from the empire leads into the Desolate Fields." The three gasp upon hearing this as that name caused even me to shudder. It was the very place Sombra used to perform horrific experiments and the crystal ponies as he tried to turn them into the perfect army. After Celestia and Luna had defeated Sombra many of the test subjects had escaped from their containment in the underground facility and have claimed the area for themselves. The experiments were a success in terms that the subjects were extremely hostile and held no remorse whatsoever. Many have made attempts to get in contact with their inner self but all have died in the proces. After many failed attempts the area was sealed off and from what Celestia has told me it has remained since then. "You're tellin me that we have to walk through that horror show to get to the Windigos' fortress!?" Hyperion shouted as she walked into the room. Before I could say anything I heard barking coming from behind her and soon me and Luna were knocked out of the chair and I felt something licking my face. "Why is there a timberwolf licking Dark Heart's face, and more importantly, why are we just letting this happen?" Cadance asked as she watched Ember cover my face in her sappy drool. "Actually forget those questions, who is this?" "This, Cadance, is Ember and she is my pet and one of my best friends. I've had her since my second day back and, as you could probably tell, she's really affectionate when you get to know her." I tell her as I pull Ember off of my face and hug her to my chest and nuzzling the top of her head. "Ah, she looks so cute, does she have any siblings because I would love to have such an adorable pet to keep me company during my royal duties." She said as she scratched under her chin, Ember just eating up the attention. "What are you doing here girl?" I asked Ember which caused her to turn around to look at me with a serious expression along with a bark. "What did I do?" She bit me as an answer and I believe I knew what she was trying to say. "You heard about me leaving to go rescue Diamond and want to come along, don't you?" She smiled up at me as well as wagging her tail back and forth very quickly to show her excitement. "Are you sure Ember, we're going to be heading to the frozen and I'm not sure how well you can handle that kind of cold for a week." She bit my leg in response as she growled at me. "Alright, alright girl, I'll take you with us. Are you ready to go now." She nods to and I look over to Hyperion. "Yeah I'm ready." I saw that she was carrying a pack behind her so I wasn't going to bother her about it any further. "Alright then, let's get going." I turn to Luna who was shyly kicking her hoof on the ground. I walked up and gave a hug. "I'll see in you again soon Luna, and I'll be sure to bring Diamond back with me." She looked at me and gave me a quick hug. I saw her smiling when she pulled back. "Make sure you do Dark Heart, and make sure you're both in peace." With that said she let me and the three of us made our way out. It wasn't long before we were on the train to the Crystal Empire. I waved to Luna and Celestia as we were pulling away from the station. "So are sure you're up for this now?" A shorter Hyperion asked. "If you weren't ready to leave you should have said because I want all three of us to be well and ready for the journey ahead of us." I told her as I stared out the window. "That's not why I'm asking, something seems to be bothering you and I was wondering if it was going to affect us in any way while we're out there." "Don't worry about it Hyperion, it won't. If anything it'll only aid us should things go haywire." I said as an evil grin came upon me. "So then it's about Diamond then, well I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure once she knows that we're here she'll help us fight. Who knows maybe she even has a few of her people to help her out." Hyperion offered up her own opinion and I couldn't help but have at the image of Diamond coming to our aid with a miniature army of her own as well as the expression on Fratamantus's face once he sees that his own daughter has betrayed him. "I'll admit that's a little too optimistic for me but who knows, from what I could pick from what time I have spent with Diamond is that she can be an evil genius when she wants to be." "Yeah I know but I thought I put something out there to help lift your spirits." She pulled me closer to her into a strong hug that threatened to crush my spine but I didn't say anything as I enjoyed being around Hyperion as much as Luna and Sky. We stayed like that for quite a while though we shifted our position so that Hyperion was laying her head on my shoulders so that she could get some sleep and Ember had the same idea as she was laying on Cadance's lap, the princess of Love having dozed off quite some time ago. I stayed awake and watched the scenery pass by the window. Don't worry Diamond Sky, we're on our way. I thought as the grassy plains turned into endless fields of snow and ice. Calm (Sorta) Before the StormSo that is the famous Crystal Empire, seems like it'd be an interesting place to live but what's there that would make Sombra want to take it over? I asked myself as I watched it get closer and closer as the train sped along the tracks. "If I had to wager I think it was because of the crystal heart that's powered by the positive emotions of the kingdom's citizens. It's said that the happiness radiated from it also radiates through not only Equestria but the other countries that surround the Empire as well. All expect for the Windigoe Capital which possesses very high concentration of negative emotions that would keep your own dark magic reserves supplied for millienias." explained Nova in her teacher voice. "So basically the anti-DarkHeart, I can definitely see why he'd want that. If he was able to corrupt it King Sombra could have became invincible as long as it was active. Though I wonder how he was able to remove it in the first place, the barrier it created should have kept him out, and now that I think about it won't it do the same to you as well." Shadow did make a good point, how did Sombra get close enough to the heart to remove and hide the damn thing. If the stories I heard from Pinkie Pie and the others are true then he shouldn't have been able to touch the heart, let alone remove it from its place under the castle. It would seem there's more to this story then I originally thought. I won't have an issue thanks to Nova and the H.O.L. plus not being in my darkness form should help as well considering that unlike Sombra my body doesn't really give hints of the effects of dark magic since it isn't corrupting me in any way. Like it would stop me anyway. Our mission is to find the Windigoe Capital and rescue Diamond Sky from that asshole that calls himself her father we aren't here for sightseeing. If Hyperion and Ember need anything before we take off I'm than alright with that but I want to get there as soon as I can. "You know it won't do any of you any good if you're already this tense, and we haven't even gotten off the train yet." Cadence said jokingly as she came up beside me. "A bit for your thoughts, it may help you calm down." "I am calm it's just that something occurred to me that may provide more details concerning Sombra's takeover of the Crystal Empire. I know there's a lot of mystery concerning that very subject but my main idea is in regards to the Crystal Heart." I voiced my thoughts to her hoping that maybe there are a few gaps she could fill since she's the ruler of ponies that are a couple of decades older than I am but they've been affected by time as much as I have. "If you're talking about how he got in here the answer to that is very simple," I look at her when she pauses for a few seconds then gesture for her to go on. "He was actually a citizen of the empire before he usurped the throne. He knew of its defenses as well as its weaknesses." "But what about the heart? Even if he was a citizen it should have recognized that he was a threat since he had dark magic at his disposal, or at least that's what I'm assuming anyway, after all there should be guards around such an important artifact of the empire right?" I asked with a curious expression that turned stern when she gave me a sheepish chuckle and rubs the back of her head. "Please tell me you're joking." I got nothing but a turned head from Cadance which got my eyebrows twitching madly. "The citizens were happy and prosperous so the previous rulers thought better of it since it would show distrust towards their citizens of the empire and cause them to become unhappy that their loyalties were in question, especially since there were so few outsiders that actually came to visit the Crystal Empire with how things were back then. Of course me and husband aren't going to make the same mistake with all of my aunts' old enemies making appearances." She finally says after staring at her for an answer for a minute or so. "Well at least she sounds confident that they've done the right thing but I would like to see how the guards actually hold up." "You and me both" You and me both. Nova said/ I thought simultaneously. "Oh come on Dark Heart, let the mare be. After all your family wears the artifact you've been protecting for centuries and make yourselves living targets for perhaps one of the most dangerous dragons in the world. I don't think you have much room to talk when it comes to effectively protecting important magical items." I hear Hyperion say as she and Ember walk up to us. I just shrug my shoulders and go back to looking out the window to see how close we are to the station. Sure enough it seems our conversation has killed the rest of the time as I see us pulling in now. Being as impatient as I am at the moment, I head towards the exit before the train comes to a complete stop and jump onto the platform. I take a look around and see ponies giving me weird looks but I don't really care what they could be thinking about me at the moment as I have more important matters to attend to. "I didn't think my company was that bad." Said Cadance as the girls all get off the train as well, after it stopped of course. "Sorry Cadance but I want to get this done as soon as possible." I tell her as I look towards the frozen tundra the three of us are going to have trek through to get to Diamond. "I know you're worried and all but do you really need to? You did say that she had her own supporters that would help her should things get that bad, not to mention the countless shadows you got watching over her at this very moment." Hyperion points out as she places around me. "I know you haven't heard anything from them so for now calm now and lets worry about getting our butts there first" "Yeah, yeah alright, I'll chill for now but we are leaving as soon as you two are ready." They give me affirmative nods and we look towards Cadance. "So where do we go to get some decent winter supplies because I don't know about you but those two-" I points towards Hyperion and Ember. "Don't exactly have the biology suited for this journey but I already know that anything I say to get them to stay behind won't really work." After I say that the two give their triumphant poses which causes me to face palm and Cadance to giggle a bit. "Well you won't have to worry about that. We have actually have guards stationed outside the influence of the Crystal Heart that are more than well-equipped to survive an intense blizzard if the need ever arises so I'll be able to get you the three of you set and ready to go on your trip to the Windigoe Capital." I hear ponies all around us gasp and I can't help but look around and just notice that we've walking to the castle this whole time. I also notice how the crystal ponies are now whispering to each other while they look over our little group. I look back to the princess as I go ahead and ignore them to speak to her, Thanks, but I won't need it. My own suit will be more than enough to keep out to cold." She looks at me skeptically for a second before shrugging and returned to guiding us to the castle. One hour later "Would you stop tugging at your collar!" I shout at Hyperion an she's been doing this since she put on the magically enchanted, but ordinary looking, fleece coat Cadance got her, as well as a modified one for Ember. "You where this damn thing and tell me how comfortable you feel in it!" She yells right back and she persist with trying to shred the apparently uncomfortable garment off of herself. "Why can't you be more like Ember, at least she ain't whining about it" I tell her as I look over at Ember who seems to be just about prancing in her own fleece as we head towards the most northern part of the city and make our way out to our destination. "She doesn't count, her entire body is made up of wood, leaves, and sap, I bet she doesn't even feel it." Hyperion humphed as she finally gives up as we're approaching the city limits. "And you have an incredibly tough, scalely hide that is damn hard to get through so I don't want to hear it missy." She just sticks her tongue out at me and turns her head away from me. I sigh as I shake my head and turn back to where we were going only to stop as I see we're finally here. Looking across the frozen landscape before us and I can't but wonder what dangers await us on the way there. From the information I've gotten from my shadows, it shouldn't take more than two days to get there, if I made this trip alone and ran full speed all the way there. Now that I have two tag along that are not only as fast but not as prepared for this as I am but I don't really have the heart to send them back and make them wait back at home, or here at least, when all they want to do is help. "You two ready for this?" I feel both of them slip a hand grab a hold of my right hand as I feel Ember nudge my side which causes me to squeeze Hyperion's hand and place my left hand onto Ember's back. "Then lets go find and beat down some Windigoes." And with that we run into the frozen unknown, ready and raring to demolish anything that gets in our way. A little while later "You know for a dragon that managed to wreak havoc and an entire for four days straight you sure do lack endurance." There was a patch of burnt ground where I stood a moment ago after saying that. "Fu *huff* uck you. *huff huff*" "As much as I wouldn't mind we kinda have some where to be." I say with a grin as I bend forward so my face is close to her ear. "But I'll tell you what, after this is over the two of us will have go on a date to wherever you want as a thank you for coming with me." And with that her violet scales turned red as big blush came over her face. "R-r-really?" She asked in a soft but hopeful voice as she stares up at me from her position with her claws still planted on her knees. I merely nod with my grin still planted on my face and I soon find myself on the snowy ground with rather warm pair of lips pressed against my own. I don't hesitate to return the kiss as I cup her cheeks and hold her close to me. "I would love to Dark Heart but until then we have a mission to complete." She says after pulling away and looking at me with those loving eyes. We hear whining and scratching to our left and we look over to Ember who is there with that sad little puppy dog look directed at us and I can't help but smile as I use my hand to beckon her over to us. She instantly gets excited as she hops up on all fours and bounds over to us and forces herself to be in between Hyperion and I. We laugh at her antics as I give her a scratch behind the ears. I'm glad these two came along. It ma take longer to get there but at least like this I won't be such a stiff hard ass when I see Diamond. I think as I enjoy the moment. "I know it's hard to remember with everything that's been going on but you must remember Dark Heart, that your ancestors have been given the strength they need to protect not only me but those they care about by the ones they love the most. I know it kinda goes against your nature seeing dark magic draws its power from negative emotions but if you ever hope to bridge the gap between light and darkness that is a lesson that you need to take to heart." Though her voice is stern I could easily hear the compassion behind it as well, and I have to admit she does make a valid point. Darkness will only take me so far. If I hope to bring dark magic any kind good reputation I'm gonna have to find a way to show the masses that both it and normal magic can indeed work hand in hand. For now that's neither here nor there, and as much as I hate to end this little moment we must keep going. "Hey you two, we gotta get going so I hope you're rested." I tell as I sit up with both of them in my arms. They linger there for a bit before Hyperion goes to stand up, then Ember, and finally myself. After dusting to snow off ourselves, well shaking it off in Ember's chase, we begin walking on towards our destination. Though it isn't a few minutes later that Hyperion asks me a question. "Hey Dark Heart?" "Hmm?" "Well I was just wondering how you weren't cold laying there in the snow cause even with this fleece on I still feel a bit chilly." "Oh well that's rather simple actually. My suit here helps keeps my body at normal body temperature, though even without this thing I wouldn't really be bothered by the cold since one of the things I did was intense weather training while I was trapped in the amulet. Comes in handy for situations like this as well as any time I find myself without my suit." I explain to her as I remember some of things I did while I was imprisoned by Nightmare. I also remember the anger, the rage, and the pure unadulterated murderous intent I felt after discovering what she had done. Now though, after everything that's been going on, I'm not so bent out of shape about it. In fact as may even go as far as to say that I'd be willing to try helping her should she rear her head again, but I can't say that for sure until I ever confront her again. Something I'm suspecting to happen rather soon actually since there's no telling what the Elements of Harmony actually did to her. "And you didn't make anything for us!?" Hyperion's shout knocked me from my train of thought. "It took quite a while just to make mine and I'd rather get this over with as soon as possible, so yeah I did't make another to fit you two, though if you recall correctly I did say that I wanted to do this solo in the first place." She puffs out a bit of smoke and, obviously, is making it very clear that she's agitated. I do nothing more than sigh and look out ahead of me. Am I glad that Ember isn't this temperamental otherwise I'd think that they would do me in when we stop for the night. "I thought you were going to travel the entire way there to make it there sooner. I am but neither of them need to know that, they're going to need they're strength if they actually plan on helping me but at the same time I'm in a rush. "So you've mentioned for the thousandth time since the shadows found her." I could feel his eyes rolling. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you were thinking of doing WHAT!?" Nova screeched in. Problem, Nova? "Yes there's a problem! You actually thinking of not only traveling at night but of also doing it while carrying those two!?" That was pretty much the plan yeah "Are you nuts!" Listen Nova, I understand where your concern is coming from but I've already decided that this is the best course of action and there's nothing you can say or do that will get me to change my mind. There's nothing but silence after that and I can't help but feel a bit worried. Nova? "I think it may be best to leave her be for now Dark." Shadow says in a tone that causes my ears to lay flat against my head. What am I to do now, Hyperion is mad at me for once again reinstating that I'd rather do this alone, Ember hasn't really tried to voice her opinion, and now Nova and Shadow seem to disapprove of my decision of how to handle all of this, or at least Nova is and Shadow just seems to be trying to make sure things don't get worse. This really is going to be a long trip after all. I think to myself as I feel my fluctuate even even more from the emotions swirling around us. Author's Note So cutting off the chapter here as I don't really have anything exciting planned for the trip itself so the next chapter will begin with them just arriving and maybe a little bit about how things went. With all that said I gotta say it's good to be back and Outcasted Hero is next for an update, and after that...... well I'm still deciding on what to do for Lighting Master. Frozen Bird FreedOne Week Later We're almost there, the capital city is just out there, out of this mountain pass. Now I can understand why nopony has ever found the place. The weather alone would kill most ponies, and if that doesn't do it then the creatures that actually live out here will do the job just fine. I thought to myself, though I was hoping for some kind of feedback from either one of them. Nova hadn't talked to me since after I told of my plan and Shadow has been keeping her company no doubt. The same could be said for Ember and Hyperion after finding out that I still kept going after the third day of carrying them on my back in my darkness form and other than coordinating attacks on the various creatures that we have ran into, or pointing out anything peculiar, we haven't had much contact with Ember sticking by Hyperion the whole time here. I didn't like it but I dealt with it as I always have and kept going as each step brought me closer and closer to saving Diamond. "Just a bit further you two, once we get clear of the the mountains we should see the city just a couple miles north of us. Once we do from here on out we need to be extremely cautious." I told them in a serious tone as I hid my magical signature. I feel as though I should mention where we were at. We made it will away from the Crystal Empire, a few dozen miles at best, and had came upon this gigantic mountain whose top had disappeared into the clouds that surrounded it. After using my shadows to confirm that we were going the right way we started our climb up, well we did, Ember hitched a ride with Hyperion who wasn't opposed to carrying her up. After an hour or so of climbing a storm began to kick up and the wind was blowing around like mad. We had to find shelter and soon but it was hard to do with snow in your face as you're pressed up against the side of a mountain so I had to send a shadow out as I wanted to stick close to the girls just in case something happened. It soon came back and reported that there was a cave in the side of the mountain not too far from our left. I told them and we started inching our way over to it and made it there about ten minutes later. We rested as Ember let herself be a bit curious and have a look deeper inside. After a good thirty minutes we were well and rested and were about to go looking for her when she came back to us, running around and hopping about excitedly as she was signaling us to follow her. We did and found out why she was so excited, she had managed to find a path through the heart of the mountains and I saw through my shadows that it did in fact lead to the Windigoe Capital. We've been following for the better part of two days now but we didn't care, it was much better than climbing the entire up, and it just meant that we'd be seeing Diamond sooner than we expected. "Hey Dark Heart," I turned to look at her before she went on. "I wanted to talk to you for a bit before we go any further," She pauses and takes a deep breath in and out, as though she was nervous about what she was going to say. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about the way I've been acting since that night. I know why you did it but I was just so angry that once again you were trying to pull this off on your own, again. We- I care about you too much to let you hurt yourself doing something so stupid but trying to stop you would have been pointless with our current mission. We may not have known each other long but I already that you're willing to sacrifice so much for those you care about and Diamond Sky has earned that to you." She seems like she wants to say more but before she can I decide to cut in before she can. "Look Hyperion, I really don't care that you or Ember are mad at me, in fact I thought you would be after you found out, but I'm not gonna sit and say that it didn't hurt though I do understand. I get why you were mad and I just want to let you know right now that I'm sorry for worrying you. I know I'm irresponsible when it comes to helping those I consider my friends, family, and lovers, and despite everything I said about wanting to do this alone I'm glad you two came with me." She's had this worried look since I opened my mouth and it's been making me a b nervous so I was glad to see her when I said that. I grab a hold of her hands and we intertwined our fingers together as we closed the distance between us. "I'm falling in love with you, more and more, everyday Hyperion. You mean the world to me, just like my parents did, just like my sisters would have, like Tender Heart, Pinkie Pie, Zecora and the many others that I've met that have had a positive influence in my life. All of you are one of the many reasons why my dark magic is so different from anypony else that has used it before me." I pause for bit to let what I've said so far sink in. "So I don't want you to think that you being at me for doing something is wrong, nor do I want you to be afraid to tell me that. And know no matter what happens today we will all make it though this together." I smiled at her to let her know that I was sincere, though I took one hand away from hers to get Ember in on the moment as well since I noticed her ears were splayed back against her head. Hyperion returned the gesture as Ember was all too eager to jump on top of me and once again cover my face in sap saliva. I shoo her off before looking at both of them and see that they're in higher spirits and raring to go. After getting up I lead them towards a platform that lies a few meters fro the entrance to the city that has long been frozen over since the windigoes just fly in and out of the city. It takes us no time at all to reach it and we decide to stop and make up a plan for getting in and out with Diamond. After about an hours debate we decided that the sooner the better since everything I've learned about the city from my shadows has shown that the citizens aren't all that active during the day for reasons I have yet to actually figure, maybe Diamond Sky can shed a little light on the subject once we get her out the city. Before we go in though I put a couple of sound suppression spells on the girls and activate my own so that we don't make too much noise across the icy roads that decorate the city as well. Once ready we head towards to frozen doorway and with a nod, Hyperion went ahead and defrosted it with a small but hot flame that hopefully wouldn't set any alarms, though Ember, being forever the mischievous little timber wolf she is, made it a show of just how much she enjoyed the warmth of the dragoness's fire breath. It took a few minutes to complete the process but once it was I took a peek in to make the coast was clear though it seemed it wasn't need as it seemed that wherever this way lead, it had long been abandoned, at least if the state of some of the structures was anything to go by. "So where do we go from here?" "Towards that," I pointed out towards the big menacing looking castle that seemed to made of black ice and enough spires to make a see urchin jealous. The girls looked at me like I was stupid after I said that as they gave me looks that said 'really'. "Look if you want exact directions, it ain't happening until we're in the castle. From here we're just going to heard in the direction of the castle as we avoid detection." Yeah probably not the wisest, or safest thing to do but the design of this place was too chaotic to really make sense out of that we might as well wing it, not even my shadows are of any help. "Uuuggghhh, fine but if things go to shit I'm blaming you!" She yelled before I clamped of hands over her mouth and told her to shush. "You trying to get us caught?" She glared at me for that because despite my serious expression she knew that I was being smug. "You're an ass you know that?" She harshly whispered after she pried my hands off her face. I just shrug as we begin to move into the city proper. Despite the fact that it houses the Windigoes what parts weren't destroyed, decrepit or dedicated to Fratamantus, were quite stunning almost as though the ice shaped itself into the buildings that surround us. After about three hours of getting lost and resisting the urge to just start blowing through the ice we managed to get as close as we can to the castle. Now we had a gigantic with multiple outcroppings that held at least two guards on all of them surrounded the damn thing with no possible way of getting through or around it, and I very much doubt we could go under without setting off some type of alarm. "Remind me why we can't use your shadows to help get through this fucking place." Hyperion asked as she came beside me as I tried looking for any opening that we could exploit. "Because Fratamantus has been growing suspicious as of late, having seen some of my shadows moving about but he isn't quite sure as of yet. Of course that leads to him being a bit paranoid and hence the huge number of guards and no doubts wards, that lay around and in the castle." I explained as only one thought, one idea seemed to run in my head over and over again, something I was hoping to avoid though at the same time I wanted it to happen as well. "Well that's just fucking great! So what do we do from here Dark Heart?" I mulled over my thoughts once more before coming to a conclusion of what needed to be done. "Well you three aren't going to like this but I got on idea." I said to her while still looking towards the wall and the castle it protected, though my sight laid upon the place I knew Diamond to be staying in. "What, what are y- Dark Heart NO, that's crazy!!" "Well I was never exactly known for being sane." I told her with a completely straight face. "Though you shoul dbe lucky I erected a sound barrier otherwise we'd have been caught with your yelling." "Damn it Heart, stop trying to take on this kind of stuff by yourself! You have me and Ember right here with you not to mention Shadow, Nova, and I'm sure Diamond Sky has some sort of idea if you'd just get a hold of her somehow." She was gripping onto my right arm with both hand as tight as she could though by the sound of her voice she knew she couldn't hold me back. "I've already thought about Hyperion. Fratamantus probably thinks I'll have came alone and that me charging straight the city wouldn't be too far from my repertoire. Using that would solve a number of issues from finding a way inside to how to get rid of the guards. You and Ember can sneak in right under their noses, grab Diamond and get to safety. I'm not sure if I can beat him alone but I know that I can pull him away from his daughter to make her rescue possible." I feel my dark magic running through me as I prepare to transform, though I won't do it before I teleport to the city gates so I can make this even more believable. "Please be careful out there Heart." She choked out as Ember whimpered. I smile to both of them before bringing them into a hug. It didn't last long as I knew that the more time we wasted the better the odds are they'll be seen. "Don't worry girls, I'll be alright." I give them both a kiss, Ember on her forehead and Hyperion the lips, before teleporting myself to back to where we had entered and quickly changed into my darkness form to cover up the magical surge that was most likely felt by Fratamantus himself. "Hope you know what're getting yourself into." "No idea, but it's never has stopped me before." "Well know that you can count on us no matter what." I smiled at hearing Nova's voice again but it didn't last long as I set things further into motion as I blasted a gaping hole into the entire front wall. This got the desired effect as warning systems went off round the city. I could already see of the windigoes forces converging on my location as I stood there looking at them with a bored expression. Waiting until they were just feet away from me, I let out a wave of dark energy similar to that of when I had first changed in the past and as predicted it vaporized all who were within the blast. Once it had dissipated I ran into the city with Cursed and Blessing now drawn as I used them to travel above ground level and get to the castle gates sooner. Any guards I ran into were either cut down or smacked back as I allowed none to interfere with my mission. Shadow is it almost ready? "Yeah, just give it another minute or so and you can get Ember ad Hyperion inside without issue." Good, with any luck it should draw out the bastard and all but a handful of his cronies outside and leave very few for those to two to have to deal with. This is one of the reasons I was hoping to be able to resort this, I get to destroy a city without worry, it so does make a great stress reliever though I do hope to change that soon. OW, What was that for? I yell into my head as a sudden pain could be felt in my mind, not my head, my mind. "No naughty thoughts mister especially when you're in a fight to save somepony!" Nova scolded as I heard Shadow chuckling. My bad I told her before turning serious once more and prepared to unleash a little present I had. I gathered the immense amounts of dark magic, that Shadow has been gathering from the now dead windigoes, into my arms. I could feel the same chilling feeling that the ponies of old must have felt when they succumbed to the power of the beasts. I have yet to feel this the type of darkness in ones heart that would attracted windigoes to them and for that I'm glad. I take glance over to where I had left the girls and made eye contact with Hyperion. I saw the worry and fear she felt but I also saw that she believed in me and was no doubt cheering me on, as well as a determination to do her role in rescuing Diamond Sky and getting out safe and sound. Flashing her a smile I turn back to my task as the energy reached peaked mass. "ARCTIC DARKNESS!!" I shouted as I shot the energy into the castle's wall and watched as the most of the front of the wall was engulfed in a veil of darkness before it dissipated, leaving nothing behind. "You know your magic scares me a lot sometimes." Nova stated though I didn't as I was focused on a certain individual that floats in front of me. "So we finally meet face to face Dark Heart, though I wish it was as allies." Fratamantus spoke as though he was disappointed though something was telling me he didn't really care. "Though I must say that I certainly don't appreciate the fact that you've decided that destroying my kingdom was the best way to get my attention!" "Ooooooo, I think somepony is maaaaad." Shadow mocked the king. "I don't give a damn bastard! You know why I'm here so give her to me and I won't leave the rest of kingdom in shambles!" I demanded as I keep up the act that I'm here rescuing Diamond alone. "And why, pray tell, do you want that little whore for?" Fratamantus snorted out as my anger flared even more. "DON'T YOU DARE CALL HER THAT!!" I growled as I grabbed my blades and prepared to strike him down. "Oh, what's this, you mean to tell me that you actually got a heart?" He mocked but I just swept it off. Make fun of me all you want but those I care about, you better pray to the goddess I don't find out. Though that didn't stop me from throwing Cursed into the air and bring it down on him. He managed to move out of the way but some of the guards weren't so lucky as a those in its path were cleaved in half. Wasting no time I use Blessing to intercept his path as I called in Cursed. The cowardly bastard used some of his own guards to take the hits as he once again slipped out of the way. Blessing was reeled back in as well so that they both stood by my side before I lunged at him from my perch and started to spin rapidly, releasing more of the chains length and making a vortex of spinning metal. I wasn't done though as I poured magic into a rune that lied n the gauntlets, which glowed with an eerie purple, almost black, light before I saw the first set of spikes pop out of chain that was attached to the gauntlet and watched more come out before disappearing into the frenzy of chains that spun with me. Despite the chain wall that blocked my sight I knew Fratamantus had been trying to grew through to me with his own magic as I saw the bright blue flashes every so often. I paid it no mind though as I kept the attack going as the much more prominent crimson red blood stained my chains further as the fools tried to muscle their way through the imposing walls of my blade vortex. Unfortunately I soon had to release the attack I couldn't keep it up for long without leaving myself disoriented and vulnerable. I slowly wound down and retracted the chains bit by bit until there was a suitable amount left to preform long distance attacks without it getting in the way. I was looking around at the devastation my attack had done before a slow clapping was heard from my left. "Bravo Dark Heart, you managed to wipe out a good chunk of my soldiers but it seems you've missed me." He said with a sadistic smirk as I growled at him. "I didn't miss Fratamantus, I want to see your face as I RIP TO PIECES!!" I roared as I lunged at him once more, this time with him coming to meet me head on with his sword. 'I hope you three are alright in there.' Was the thought that ran through my head just before we locked blades. POV Hyperion We had ran in after Dark Heart destroyed the wall with his spell, Arctic Darkness if I heard him right, and all the soldiers that were coming out had ceased. Seemed his idea of using himself as a distraction worked damn good once I saw windigoe that was bigger and more imposing than the others fly out towards Dark Heart. 'Please be careful Dark Heart.' Was what ran through my head as I took one last look at him before Ember and I disappeared into the castle. We ran through the halls until we were a good ways away from the action and took refuge in an empty room after making sure it was clear. I leaned my back against the wall as I caught my breath before we headed out to look for Diamond Sky. We've just started this insane mission and already my blood in fucking pumping, I mean we just broke into the capital of the same creatures that can literally freeze your heart from the inside out with us being outnumbered hundreds, if not thousands, to one with there only being four of us to really do anything. Before I could continue thinking about I heard a whimper and I looked over to the source which was Ember as she stared out the window that seemed to have a view of what was happening outside. I knew what she was feeling as I saw Dark Heart and Fratamantus exchange blows as blood and gore already littered the ground. "Don't worry Ember, he'll be fine," I told her as I scratched her behind the ears. "We just got to hurry and find Diamond and we can go home before anything bad happens." She jumped off the window sill and jumped on me with her fronts paws on my shoulders as she liked my face. I laughed and tried to get her off of me as the sticky sap from her tongue was getting under my scales. I finally after or so but not without a thorough coating of the stuff for my troubles, as well as a proud looking timber wolf. "I hope you know I'm getting you back for this." All that got was a raspberry from a highly amused timber wolf that was soon to be victim to a Pinkie Pie prank. I may not know the mare all too well but what I do know is that there's no point trying to get away from the mare, because once she sets her eyes on you there's no getting away. I spent a bit of time getting what I can of the sap off before simply giving up and went about our main goal as we exited the room and started looking through doors to find our way to one the spires that held Diamond. Just as Dark Heart had predicted, there were still some soldiers inside acting as guards as they patrolled the halls of the massive fortress. We had a couple of close calls but we were able to avoid them none the less though they did deter our search quite a bit from some of the places I would suspect a windigoe princess to be kept during an attack. 'Damn it, I wish we had something of hers so Ember could track her down instead of us searching aimlessly, I wonder how Dark Heart had planned to do this by himself?' No sooner had I thought that did a plan popped into my head. I looked down at Ember as she looked right back at me with those curious eyes. Even after all this I find the fact that a timberwolve can be so expressive fascinating, and a tad bit weird. "Ember, if we can something that belongs to Diamond could you track the scent?" I asked her as she seemed to get excited at the idea as she was wagging her tail and looked like she wanted to start barking but held back. I smiled to her and we went looking for some of this place many servants and see if any of them had attended to Diamond Sky recently. 10 Minutes Later We finally found someone who had been around Diamond lately and brought down her laundry full of dirty gowns and dresses, which of course was a gold mine to get a scent from. As soon as it was left unattended for even a minute I quickly ran to it and just grabbed something from the basket without looking before running back over to where I had left Ember. I made sure that I wasn't noticed has we hid in a vacant room that had already been checked so we didn't have to worry about anybody coming in. When I figured that I hadn't been spotted I looked at what I had grabbed and grew red as in my hands were a pair of panties. I turned towards Ember because I had heard a strange sound and saw that she was sitting down with one of her front paws on top of her muzzle as it seemed she was holding back her laughter, at least if the way her shoulders seemed to shaking was any indication. "Shut up!" I said in a harsh whisper before throwing the undergarments at her. She yelped as they landed on her face and she tried shaking them off but they remained stubbornly glued to her muzzle and she started running around the room trying to get them to come off. I was holding back my own laughter at the scene before I recomposed myself and grabbed a hold of her and lifted her up so her commotion wouldn't attract any unwanted attention. Taking Dia's panties off of her I held it up to near her muzzle as she just glared at me. "Come on Ember, just get her scent and let's get going, the sooner we get this done the sooner you can try to maim me later." It was at this time the entire building shook violently and things were brought to another perspective , "And the sooner we can get out of here before Dark Heart gets hurt." She complied and took into the scent that was left behind on the single piece of cloth before I put her down and we ran out the room. I brought them with me just in case Ember lost it at all but it seemed she new actually where she was going as we ran through the halls with our only stops being to hide from any passing patrols. It took us about four more minutes to come up on a door that seemed to lead to one of the spires if the view from one of the windows we passed by were anything to go by. There stood two guards at the doors and, me worrying about Dark Heart, took the more direct route of getting rid of them and ran up to them before they could react and punched them as hard as I can which got the effect of knocking them out. I was about to move them somewhere else so we weren't found out but then another tremble ran through the castle again which caused some of the chandeliers to fall. A couple fell from right above and so we jumped out of the way as they landed on the two knocked out, now dead, guards. We left them there since we thought it would be suspicious to try to clean up the mess than just leaving them there. We walked through the door and saw that there was a long stair case leading up to what was hopefully Diamond's room. "Hold on Ember." I told her as I picked her up and stretched out my wings. I wasn't too sure I was able to fit through but it doesn't hurt to check and as long as I don't just go full speed ahead I have nothing to worry about. I flapped my wings and started to ascend slowly through the middle of the spiral staircase, being mindful of how far I could extend my wings. When we reached the top I let Ember down first as I descended on the closes step in I could without the risk of damaging my wings or falling. Ember sniffed around and nodded towards me, indicating that the source of the scent we've been tracking is just beyond the door. Now before I just walts in I take a look at the door as something seemed strange to me. Now I was expecting some ornately designed master piece made out of some kind of rare magical ice or something but no, it seemed to be a steel door with a small, barred opening, like that you see in a prison cell and it was then that I realized why Dark Heart wanted to rescue her so badly, besides the fact that they seemed to have fallen for each other in their first meeting, and that was because she was as much as prisoner to her father as much as she was a princess to the common folk. That must be why he hated Fratamantus even more whenever his shadows came back from surveying the city on our way here and here I was doubting that things seemed to be this bad for her. Being treated as a princess and a prisoner at the same time by your won father, it must be a hell of way to live. "Hey, hey are you Princess Diamond Sky?" I asked as I peeked in to find a lone figure inside, sitting in front of a window, obviously watching the battle raging on outside. It had to have been a windigoe mare seeing how she was wearing a rather elegant dress, that I won't bother trying to describe, as well as the all around curves that any female possessed, or fem colts but I'd rather not think of that Shivers. She jolts up and looks towards me and we make eye contact before I jump back as her face suddenly appears in front of the opening. "Yes, I am Princess Diamond Sky, who are you? Are with Dark Heart? Are all of you to rescue me?" She quickly shoots off each question as she seems eager and happy just to see us standing before her. "To answer your questions in order, My name is Hyperion, yes I'm with the big lug outside, and of course we're here to rescue you, we sure as Tartarus wouldn't be out here with only us if we were planning to come fight some windigoes. Now how about we get you out of there." She nods, beaming at me before backing away from the door, seeing what I had planned with my hand already wrapped around the door handle. The thing was locked, I had already checked, and I didn't feel like wasting time trying to find some keys so I was going to rip it right off of it's hinges. Making sure I had a strong grip I pulled back as hard as I could and the door came off with ease as I let go of it to have it lodge itself into the wall behind us. We walked in as Diamond just stared at me, correction she seemed to be staring at the doorway behind me as a smile grew on her muzzle until it rivaled Pinkie Pie's. "So are you ready to go Diamond?" I asked her to snap her out of it. "Yeah, I don't really have anything here that I want to take with me besides present my mother gave me when I was filly but I always wear it so I don't have to worry about looking for it though let me go get changed into something that's a bit more durable." She ran into her closet picked out some clothes and ran into the bathroom. She came back out a moment later wearing a tank top that matched her dress in color, with a pair of black combat pants with a pair of matching boots. She was also wearing some kind of metallic armor over her right arm that went from her shoulder to her fingers, and a white bracelet with a pair of wings that were made of silver and amethyst. It seemed she also managed to put her mane up into a ponytail and acquire herself a bow and quiver, though something seemed strange about the bow though I couldn't quite put a finger on it. "Alright, all I gotta do is grab my coat and we can leave." She did just that she ran back to her closet and removed a hidden floor panel that kept said coat that seemed to be designed to go with the outfit as a sleeve was missing and fit over the armor no problem. It wasn't really anything special though as it was grayish blue and went down to her waist and had a couple of pockets located at the bottom, so yeah not anything too special. We soon find ourselves running down the stairs and out in the hall we entered from with the two dead guards at either side. She barely offered them a glance as we made our way by them and seemed strictly focused on getting out. I'm not sure what happened to the other windigoes though as we hadn't ran into any guards or even servants on our way back to our exit point. Fierce tremors still shook the structure as the fight raging between those two was still going and Diamond made it clear that it didn't well with her as she flinched every time we felt or heard it. I'm not sure how long it actually took us to find our way out but we did none the less and Diamond let out a sigh of relief when we landed on the ground outside. That soon changed when we all looked up in time to see Dark Heart being thrown off the mountain, all but his head, besides his horn, frozen and Cursing and Blessing lodged in the ground not to far from us, their chains severed from his gauntlets. We could do nothing but stare in horror as he disappeared over the cliff, without a way to break himself out. "I would say that I'm surprised to see you with a couple of his friends in your combat gear but that would be a lie, dear daughter of mine" Not so Happy ReunionAuthor's Note Okay so I'm not too sure you guys will like the rest of the chapter after the timeskip so I will tell you this. You can throw ideas my way through the comments or pm, or you can rewrite the chapter from that point on yourself and if it turns out to be a good replacement for what I got I'll swap out my version for yours and make sure to give you the credit because I ain't going to be one of those asshole's that steals someone elses ideas and work and NOT give them credit. Otherwise I hope you enjoy and keep on reading and liking my stories. Not so Happy Reunion "Ember, Hyperion, wake up, we're here, we're at the Crystal Empire!" Diamond yelled out excitedly as she tried to get the two up. From what I can feel, Ember was stirring awake but it seemed Hyperion was being a bit more stubborn as I hear her grumbling something incoherent. "Come on Hyperion! Get up!" I chuckled at her antics before darkness overtook my vision. It lasted for a second before my sight returned to me and I noticed that the ground was getting closer and closer rather rapidly and I could hear a loud noise coming from somewhere around me. "D.. Dar.... Pull..... Uh..." I heard through the haze that seemed to have taken over my mind. I looked around trying to figure out what was going on. I looked towards the girls and saw that they were clinging onto my back and seemed to be saying something to me. Seeing to expression of their face told me something was wrong and it was only then that I noticed that I can feel my dark magic concentrated around my head and my senses feeling much less foggy. "Dark Heart Pull Up!!!" I finally heard Hyperion yell out as my mind finally realizes that I'm falling. Remembering the situation I found myself in beforehand with my fight with my Fratamantus I got into a diving position and held it till the last possible moment before spreading out my wings, slingshotting myself back up towards the sky, making sure to use my magic to keep the others securely on my back. I level out soon after since I didn't need to be up all that high and the remaining kinetic energy being used to boost my forward momentum as I sped towards the border of the Crystal Empire. "Dark Heart what just happened?" I heard Diamond asked but I didn't respond as it seemed darkness was threatening to eclipse my sight once again but I wasn't about to risk the girls safety so I flew low to the ground to minimize the impact should I fall unconscious before we make it. "Dark Heart! Land and take a break, you've pushed yourself too far!" Diamond tried to reason with me but yet I still didn't listen. "She's right Dark Heart, the Crystal Empire is right there, just stop and rest, I'm sure the border guards have seen us by now! You don't need to keep this up any more!" Hyperion jumped in with Ember's whimpering being heard as well but it was already too late as we crossed the barrier that protects the Crystal Empire and I no longer had the strength to sustain flight and crashed into the ground with darkness overtaking most of my vision now. I shakily lift up my head to see where the others were at and spotted them just a few feet away from me looking fine besides a few bruises, scratches, and I'm sure I could add a couple of bumps in there as well. I very much doubt I'm as well off as they are though since my dragon form deactivated the moment I passed through the barrier. YOU DUMBASS, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING PUSHING YOURSELF THAT HARD! I winced as my head was throbbing and her yelling at me didn't make it any better. I got to agree with her on this one buddy, it's never smart to push yourself like this considering the type of enemies you got and are going to make. What would you do if Spirit showed up now? I sighed at that knowing that they were right but let my excitement of almost being home get the best of me and not realize that my body was giving out on me, even so I still digress since as the old saying goes, no pain no gain. Yeah yeah, I know but if you really think that I'm gonna be like this for long then you're dead wrong. I told them as I tried to stand up with minor success as I could only get up to my knees before my body seemed to refuse putting in anymore effort to actually standing up. You were saying? Like I said, I won't be like this for long. I decided to just sitting up on the ground and letting my energy come back to me, after all can't rely on my magic for everything. I sat there staring down at the ground before my view was blocked by Ember as she appeared before me and started nuzzling and licking me as I laugh and try to get her to back off a bit. Took a few minutes to accomplish but when I did my smile quickly faded because I saw amber streak going down the side of her face, and they were fresh. "Oh Ember, come here." I said as I opened up my arms for her which she accepted without hesitation, burying her head into the crook of my neck. I hold her with arm while the other rubs her back as I whisper apologies into her ear and letting her know that I was fine. I had momentarily forgotten that Hyperion and Diamond were here until I felt two sets of arm wrap around me and her and looked up to find them looking at me, looking down in Hyperion's case since it seemed she decided to change back to her original size. Diamond was looking at me with worry and relieve in her eyes, while Hyperion's expression showed annoyance but the same worry and relieve was there as well, something made more apparent when she lightly hit me on top of the head. "You idiot what did I tell you about doing shit like that." She scolded me in a soft tone as she rested her head atop of mine. "I just got you Dark Heart, I don't want to lose you so soon." Diamond sobbed out as she pressed her forehead against the side of my head. "I know girls and I'm sorry. I guess I let my excitement get to me there." I said jokingly, which earned me small chuckles from them as Diamond bobbed me on the head this time. "Well I hope that excitement of yours doesn't cause us any other issues." Diamond's hand brushed over my groin when she said excitement which caused me to squirm a little. "You tease." I groaned out as she gave me a wink with Hyperion shaking her head at our antics along with laughter from somepony else. We quickly turned towards the source of the sound when we realized we weren't alone anymore. "While I am the princess of love and wouldn't mind the show I don't think my subjects all feel the same." Cadance stated with an amused expression as several of her guards were with her along with Shining Armor. Some, including Shining himself, had blushes showing while others seemed eager for us to continue. I also spotted a couple that seemed disgusted by the scene and from what I was feeling it seems these ponies are racist and detest interspecies couplings, they quickly turned the other way when I shot them a subtle but still intimidating glare. The four of us got up, the girls helping me stand up as I was still to weak to do so myself, and Cadance's expression quickly went from amused to concerned. "Are you going to be okay Dark Heart?" "Yeah I'll be fine, I just need to rest a bit and I'll be back to full strength in no time." I said, waving off the medics that were trying to check up on me. "But if you don't mind I would like to get a train back to Canterlot as soon as possible, I'm sure is anxious to meet Diamond and have us all back home safe and sound." Cadance agreed to get us transportation within the hour and suggested that we stop by somewhere to warm up and grab a bite to eat while we wait, which we agreed to. We all ate some nice warm meals, and had the pleasure of introducing Diamond to the dessert menu that the Crystal Empire had to offer as well as some meals with meat in them as well, and we soon found ourselves in the royal cabin on the. . .Friendship Express *bleh* about twenty minutes away from the empire after having said bye to Cadance and Shining Armor as well as thanking them for their help. I was just laying in one of the seats found in the cabin relaxing as I felt my body healing itself as my energy came back to me when I heard one of the girls call out to me. "What was that Hyperion?" I asked as I sat up to look at them. "I asked you how did you get your wings?" "Truthfully, I'm not sure. As you can see I only have them while in my 'Darkness Form' so the only guess I can make at the moment is that my dark magic had something to do with it. I haven't really looked into it and don't plan on it, at least not yet." "And why is that?" "I'm fucking exhausted." This caused all three them of them to stare at me with deadpanned expressions as I smirked at them but I wasn't lying, I'm too damn tired from this little adventure and now I can allow myself to rest, kind of thinking of sleeping in tomorrow too and I never want to sleep in. "Are you serious, you just grew wings, with the knowledge of how to fly already implanted in your head, and you're not going to bother looking into it because you're tired?" Diamond asked as she stared at me with her hands on her hips. "Eeyup, no point in looking into it if my head is not in the game." I stated nonchalantly as I laid back down on the seat and closing my eyes as I try to enter my own little world. That was something that didn't last as my eyes shot open as something pounced on me and caused me to let a 'oof' before Ember once again took up my view. *Arf* was all I got from her as I looked at her with a questioning look while she laid on top of me with her tail wagging and her leafy tongue hanging out her mouth like an excited puppy. "What do you want girl?" I asked her which got me another *Arf* before she laid her head down and shifted herself around a bit to get into a comfortable position. I rolled my eyes as it was easy to figure out that she wanted to cuddle. I swear I should have just named you Cuddles, or the Cuddle Monster or something else along those lines. I thought to myself as I caught the other the glaring at the TImberwolve. I sighed as I wrapped my arms around Ember who let out a small 'coo' as I stroked her back, not minding the feeling of the hardwood that makes up her body structure or worrying about getting splinters. I saw the gazes of the girls soften at the sight and went off to do their own things as they seemed to have decided to let us be. I looked at Ember's calm face and smiled softly as I looked at the first friend I made when I was finally freed. Our meeting may not have been ideal but I'm glad it happened either way, and I'm sure so is she. Foe to friend in almost an instant and we're already so close, inseparable even, I just wish I could understand her better sometimes. Hmmmmm, maybe, just maybe. I thought to myself as an idea popped into my head before I closed my eyes and let Ember's warmth lull me to sleep. ~5 Hours Later~ "Dark Heart, Sweety, wake up." A familiar voice said in a singsong tone as I was aroused from my slumber. Everything was bleary at first when I opened my eyes and saw a midnight blue blob in front of me. Didn't take too long to figure out who it was even with my vision so unfocused and I smiled up at her. "Hey there Luna, guess we finally made it back to Canterlot." I said as I reached up trying to bring her into a hug as my sight was still trying to bring itself into focus. I managed to land my hand on her cheek before I felt a stinging pain on my face which caused my eyes to widen and instantly bring itself into focus as I was now looking up at a teary eyed, angry Luna who was now standing up with her arms crossed under her breasts. I sat up and looked around to find a sheepish looking Diamond Sky and Hyperion, Ember sitting right next to me on the ground with her ears pinned to the of her head, and Celestia standing behind her sister, shaking her in what seems like annoyance. I stand up from my seat, finally taking a glance out the window to find that it was late afternoon, early evening, before looking back at my angry marefriend. I sigh once again since it's pretty obvious why she's mad at me, "Look Luna, I know why you're mad but please let me explain my reasons for-" I was cut off as she slapped me again, this time on the other cheek. "Okay I deserved that." "Damn right you did, do you have any idea how worried I was for you!? How worried my sister, Sun Spear, Cheerilee, and Pinkie Pie were!? What about Brick Builder and Dazzling Gem, you're their hero Dark Heart, how do you think they would have felt if something had happened to you?" Luna shouted as all I could do was stand there and look towards the floor with shame written all over my face. I honestly hadn't thought of how anypony would react to being what had happened on our mission to save Diamond. I was more worried about the three that were with me and even then I tried to do everything on my own as I tried to help them get through this without too much hassle for them without them knowing. Should have known better since if Hyperion and Ember reacted the way they did when they were there to witness it happen, then the other's reactions weren't really going to be any better from hearing about it, even if we all returned safe and sound. I mean nevermind the fact that I took one of Spirit's javelins to the gut for Fluttershy when I was released, that was when they didn't know about the capabilities of my dark magic and what kind of damage I could take. Now they do and hearing how I almost died a couple of times and how far I pushed myself to pull of everything I did during that trip, I'm in for it when everypony else hears about this. Yeah, you are, especially since they're all outside waiting for Luna to finish chewing you out and drag your butt to the castle where they'll continue thoroughly chewing you out the rest of the way. I was filled with dread upon hearing what Nova said, even more so a Luna grabbed my wrist and started dragging me outside with others following suit. "Come on everypony" Luna said as she dragged me past them, though I was still able to see the looks of hurt and disappointment that were clear as day. Nopony said a word during the brief trip up to the castle and into the throneroom, where Celestia told everypony there, including the guards, to leave. Once they were gone was when the shitstorm hit as they started yelling at me about how stupid I was, asked if I was suicidal, and how hurt or disappointed they were. This went on for quite a bit with me staring down at the ground the whole time, ashamed that I've put through this. "Dark Heart," I looked up at Celestia when I heard call out my name as everybody went silent. " What was going through your head when you decided to take on the burden of carrying Hyperion and Ember just save yourself a few days worth of travel? Why ignore them when they told you to stop and rest? What was going through your head when you decided to sacrifice yourself to act as a distraction for Fratamantus and his army? And what were you thinking of pulling all the stunts you did that drove such fears into the hearts of the three that were counting on you to keep them safe as much as you were on counting of them to keep yourself save?" Celestia asked as everybody looked at me expectedly and I could only sigh as I knew the answer and it wasn't a very good one, in fact I wouldn't doubt if I lost the love and respect of everypony here once I uttered it but I won't bring myself to lie to them either. "Because I wanted to." Came my response. I stood there waiting to see if everyone would say anything but when they didn't I continued to elaborate. "Everything I've done on the trip was something I wanted to do. I took Hyperion's and Ember's opinions into account whenever I asked for it but in the end it was all what I wanted to do. My plan to break out Diamond was something I wanted to do without second thoughts and I told Hyperion and Ember as though it was a part of something I may have came up with but it was never really thought out." I pause for a moment to catch my breath before continuing on "It was never a plan seeing as though plans could be changed and discussed but that wasn't the case here although it had sounded like it but it was nothing more than me simply letting them know what I wanted to do and I didn't care what they had to say about it. I wanted to fight every single one of those bastards, I wanted to kill them and that's what I had done as they came at me with everything they had. I didn't care that they were in the castle as I drove some of the windigoes into its walls and turned them into paste or that a few stray shots of magic at destroyed sections of the place. The prove of all this lies with now as I describe one of the various ways I ripped them apart in front of Brick and Dazzling here and I can't really say anything else but I'm sorry that I couldn't control my impulses all that well." I finished as they all stared at me with looks of shock, hurt, or anger while Brick and Dazzling looked terrified as Cheerilee held onto them while she glared at me, not that I blame her. Luna finally disengaged herself from the crowd and walked up to me looking furious. I opened my mouth to say something to her but before I could utter a sound she sent as magically enhanced punch to my face and sent me flying across the room until my back hit the wall by the throne room doors. I still wasn't at full strength yet so it took me a bit longer than it should have to get back onto my feet. When I did I looked at Luna and saw her on the ground, panting rather heavily, my guess is from not only to exhaustion from the punch, but also to emotional turmoil she must be going through, something that was cemented by the small droplets I saw fall from her face. Ears pinned to the top of my head I got up and tried walking over to her but was stopped by a golden barrier that blocked off the area around the door from the rest of the room. "There is still much to be discussed but I think it'd be in everypony's best interest if you left." Celestia said maliciously as she called for the guards that were standing right outside the door. "Take Dark Heart to one of the guest and have a guards posted outside his room where he will stay until we call for him." She had ordered as one roughly grabbed me by the arm and started dragging me out the room. We made the trip there in tense silence as I followed my escorts to the room that Celestia had assigned for me. When we got there I was shocked to find that is actually one of the guest rooms in the castle instead of some kind of special prison cell so I guess I felt a tiny bit better about how things might turn out but not by very much. I moved into the room without prompting from the guards and sat on the bed with my head in my hands as my elbows rested on my knees. I have no doubt that Nova and Shadow are trying to say something to me but I'm in no mood to listen to anything they got to say to say to me at the moment. I sat there, feeling like the biggest bastard in the world, for awhile before drowsiness comes over me and I climb into bed to get some more sleep and hopefully give me the strength to deal with what is to come. ~Several Hours Later~ I was woken up by somepony shaking me and sat up when it seems they weren't going to stop until they knew I was awake. I looked out the window to see that the night had fallen over Equestria and it was most likely late into the night. I then looked towards the pony that had woke me but noticed nopony there, that is until I looked lower and spotted Brick and Dazzling looking up at me. "Hey you two, what's up?" I asked them with in a low tone as I smiled sadly down at them. "C-can we sleep with you Uncle Dark Heart?" Dazzling asked as I became confused. "Why would you want to sleep with me?" "We had a nightmare and are too scared to go back to sleep by ourselves." Brick answered though it isn't what I had meant but I'm not going to blame two foals to understand what I meant. "They wanted to sleep with you because the nightmare they had was about losing you and so they want to be as close to you as possible to make sure they don't lose you like they lost their parents." I heard Cheerilee say from the open door. By the look she was giving me, she's still mad at me but at the same time she wasn't about to deny the foals their source of comfort in this whole situation I started. I nod at her before looking at the foals. "Alright, you two can sleep in bed with me if you want." They smile up at me before wordlessly climbing up on the bed and laying down on either side of me with Dazzling on my left and Brick my right. I lie down so that I can pull the blanket over them and rubs their backs to help them relax. It doesn't take long before they're all snuggled up against me and asleep while Cheerilee was watching from the door the whole time. Knowing that she wants to talk I place a silencing barrier around the foals ears before gesturing for her to come over. "You know we're all very pissed at you for what you said back there right?" I sighed before nodding at her, not to shocked that she actually sweared considering. "Seriously though, what were you thinking? Did you really not care about anything while you off on your mission?" Cheerilee fumed as I just iie back staring at the ceiling. "Yeah, I really didn't care about much of anything while I was off trying to save Diamond. Yes I did tell Hyperion and Ember that I did care about them, which I do, and wanted Hyperion to be a part of my herd but other than moments like that and some more I really didn't care and the worse part is I don't why." I answered in a very tired tone that to me made me sound exactly like my true age. "What do you mean you don't know why?" She asked as she sat down on the bed and grabbed ahold of my hand, running her thumb over it with concern having replaced her anger, not completely but it was the dominating emotion. *Sigh* "I just don't know Cheerilee. All I do know is that the moment the three of us walked outside and into the Desolate Fields I just stopped caring about anything and felt that way until we got back to the Crystal Empire." She gave me an appraising look at that. "I would say it has something to do with the fields themselves but then why didn't you care about saying some of the things you said earlier around these two?" She asked as she gestured towards the two foals cuddling into me. "I couldn't really tell you that either but I do know that thinking about killing all those Windigoes didn't make me feel anything, no remorse, no satisfaction, no anything." That seemed to make her think a bit more and seemed like she was gluing pieces to the puzzle together in her mind. Ponies can give credit to geniuses like Twilight and many others famous scholars and such known throughout Equestria today and write off Cheerilee because she's 'just a school teacher' but somethings you don't need to be a genius to figure out things others can't and she was demonstrating right now as it seemed she figured out something as she got wide-eyed and snapped her head towards me. "Do you know any legends, stories, or anything else about the Desolate Fields and why their called that, maybe even creatures that may reside there besides the Windigoes?" "No, why?" "Then I'll have to go speak with the princesses and Diamond Sky to see if they know anything." She said out loud to herself before speaking to me. "Dark Heart, I think there may be something in the Desolate Fields that may explain why you're feeling this way because the Dark Heart me and everypony else has come to know just doesn't stop simply caring just like that. I'm going to look into it and tell the others my theory and if I find anything I'll be sure to tell you, but if not, well you may want to look into your dark magic some more to see if it's doing anything to you." I thought about that for a moment before looking up at her and nodding my head in agreement, telling her I would look into, most likely having Nova and Shadow help, to see if anything was wrong with my dark magic while she looked into the history of the Desolate Fields. Not much was known about it in the first place besides it being home to the Windigoes and snow storms cold enough to freeze those unfortunate enough to be caught out in it in an instant. As I was thinking more about the fields and about my trip there to find anything that may have gone unnoticed beforehand, I hadn't noticed Cheerilee moving until I felt something warm and soft against my cheek. I was stunned at first that it was Cheerilee who was doing it, but then that changed soon as I felt the warm in both my cheeks intensify. She withdrew her lips from my face and, thanks to her warm breath hitting the side of face, felt her move up towards my ear. "That's more of the Dark Heart I've come to know." She said in a seductive as she came around to stare me in the face as I looked at her in shock. She giggle at my expression as she gave a warm smile. I grew out of my shock quickly when she started to get up and grabbed her arm before she could get up. "Cheerilee, how long have you-" I was cut off as she placed a finger over my mouth. "I hadn't realized it until a little while after you had left when Princess Luna had told us where you three had ran off to. I had already liked you as my friend and grew to care about you a great deal, especially after you went out of way to help my niece and nephew and gave my sister and brother-in-law a proper burial, but I never actually thought I had fallen in love with you as well until I thought about all of the things that could happen to you while you were out there and felt my heartache as I thought about you dying. I'm not quite ready to act on those feelings just yet but I still wanted you to at least know about them so things don't become too weird around us." I had to chuckle when I heard that last part and she did too knowing why I was laughing. "That's alright Cheerilee, I understand completely and if you want we could go on a few casual outings with Brick and Dazzling, get more comfortable with the idea of us potentially being together as more than just friends without going on a date exactly." "That's sounds great Dark Heart and I'm sure those two will be ecstatic about us taking them to the park and going swimming as they get to spend more time with you, we could even invite Luna, Hyperion, and Diamond too since you're planning to be in a herd and I can get to know them better too." She said, excited at the idea. Hehe, well then after we get through with trying to figure out why I seem to suddenly lack emotions towards some things we can set up a day to do all this on." I suggested to which she nodded to before she leaned over to give me another kiss on the cheek and I still couldn't help but blush. "Good night Dark Heart and have sweet dreams." She said before giving Dazzling and Brick a kiss on the forehead as she rubbed them of the head. "And take care of these two, they've had it pretty rough since that day and you being there for them have really helped lessen the impact of it all." She said as she looked down sadly at the little filly and colt who refused to let go of me. "Don't worry about them Cheerilee, I'll guard them with my life if I have to." "I know you will, good night." She said, smiling warmly at me before getting up and walking towards the door. "Good night Cheerilee." I called out to her before she shut the door and I released the silencing spell from the two's ears. I settle down as I wrap my arms around them and hug them close to me, keeping them close to me so that no danger will ever befall them ever again. I'll protect you and everypony else I care about with my life, of that I swear. I thought before falling asleep again. The Past will Always Come Back to You~The Next Day~ I once again find myself waking up to somepony shaking me from my slumber, and judging by the feel of them it's Brick and Dazzling so I groggily sit up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes before I look down at the two smiling foals who are staring up at me. "Hey you two, what's up?" I ask them, just noticing that it was in fact morning. "It's time for breakfast Uncle Dark and we're huuuuungry" Dazzling whined with Brick nodding his head in agreement as they both hop out of the bed before the two of them grabbed my hands, trying their hardest to drag me out of bed. I give a chuckle at their attempt before getting up myself. "Alright you two, let me use the bathroom first then we'll head out to get some food." I tell them as I', already walking towards the door. Once I get inside I do my business before washing my hands, stopping when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, more specifically the red mark on my cheek, the same that Luna punched yesterday. I let out a sigh at having remembered the situation I was currently in as well as remembering Celestia's order. I walk back into the room with a more somber mood as I look towards the little foals eagerly waiting for me which makes me sigh again. I walk over to them and kneel down to their level, "Sorry you two but you're going to have to go on without me, Princess Celestia doesn't want me leaving my room until she says so." I tell them which instantly makes both of their moods drop as they hang their heads down and look down towards the floor. I sigh for the third time this morning as I bring them into a gentle embrace. "Sorry guys, as much as I want to go with you I have to stay here but everypony else will be there so why don't go on and fill those little bellies, you have to grow into a big, strong stallion, and beautiful mare." I say to them with a smile as a poke their stomachs getting both to giggle a little as they nod to me. Getting up from my kneeling position to move towards and knock on the door before cracking it open. "Hey, can one of you takes these two to the dining room or go find their aunt Cheerilee?" It takes a few seconds before I was a response from one of them, "Step away form the door!" I hear one of them shout, which I do before the door opens fully and one of the guards step through. He looks at me before looking over the rest of the room until his eyes finally went down towards the floor and spotting the two, scaring them as his intense glare is directed at them, making them hide behind me which makes me produce one of my blades and having placed at the guard's throat before he had time to even blink. "You want to keep your job and your live I suggest you drop the attitude and do as I asked and help these two get something to eat." I threatened him as the other guard came into the room as saw his comrade shaking like a leaf. He opens his mouth to say something but a quick glare from me makes him shut it real quick. "O-ok-kay little ones, f-f-foll-l-low me, we're gonna g-go find y-y-y-your aunt." Stuttered the guard that first came in as he tried to usher the two foals towards him though they didn't want to leave from their spot behind me. I turn around and put a hand on both of their heads as I kneel down to their level with a smile back on my muzzle. "Go ahead you two, you'll be alright and if he tries anything just shout and I'll be there faster than you can blink." I said, trying to reassure them. They look at each other before looking back at me, smiling sad smiles before they lunge at me, wrapping their little arms around my neck as they both hug me. I blink in surprise before returning the hug, nuzzling them both before we separated and they ran off with the guard following close behind, though not before shutting and locking the door, which got an eye roll from me as they seem to think that that will actually keep me from getting out. Moving back over to the bed, I plant my flank down on the soft material, thinking about what am going to do next with everypony now royally pissed out me besides Diamond and Cheerilee, though she's really only to a lesser extent as I could still feel it even as we were talking making plans for a date in the future. Fuck even Hyperion's anger returned after we got back though I have a feeling that was mainly because of everything else everypony else was saying, things, it seemed, that she hadn't even thought at the time. Sitting there thinking for a bit I just sigh, again, and turn to look out the window, trying to figure out what would my parents have to say at the moment, I could imagine that their reactions wouldn't be much different from the rest but maybe this wouldn't have happened if they were still around, if I was able to grow up with them like only normal foal until I became a full grown stallion, if I had grown up with the sisters that I never got the chance to meet, if Tender Heart was around to give me another one of her lectures. It was then that I noticed something wet sliding down my cheeks and realize that I was crying before putting my head in my hands again, letting the tears flow as once again thought about everything that I had lost, namely the family that I had lost. Damn it, why did things have to happen like this, I don't regret being here to safe Brick, Dazzling, and Diamond but why couldn't I have had my family there with me, why did I have to lose them because of other's fears? I know my parents were just as afraid but I know they never stopped loving me, and the same could be said for Celestia and Luna, even I did originally blame them, no, the my main problem was that slut Nightmare, of she had never showed up then I would have had the chance to see them again before they passed, maybe even helped them to live longer lives too if I had gained the power back then. I know I wouldn't be feeling this way if I didn't- I was taken away from my thoughts when I heard the door to my room open was again, quickly wiping away my tears and any other sign that I was crying, don't want, or need anypony feeling sorry for me after all. "So what is this I hear about you threatening the guards that were standing outside of your room?" Came Luna's angry voice as I had went back to looking out of the window. "One of them was scaring Brick and Dazzling so I put a stop to it, nothing more, nothing less" I told her as I turned to look at her, now seeing her angry visage directed at me. It hurt greatly to see her still so angry with me but I can't exactly blame her or the other's for how they feel about me right now. "I see, well either way I'm here to fetch you for breakfast so get up and follow me if you're ready." Luna said, sounding only slightly annoyed as I nodded, got up, and started following her out the door and into the halls. It doesn't take long to get there though it was very tense as neither said anything to the other, me not wanting to get my head chewed off and Luna for obvious reasons. As we got closer I could hear the happy chatter of everypony else, telling me that they all stayed. The doors were opened for us and Luna walked in, happily being greeted by everypony while I got their silent glares when I stepped into their sights. I watch as Luna takes her spot next to her sister before making my way to the other end of the table where nopony was sitting as I'm sure none of them really want to be anywhere near me right now. Silent pertains throughout the room for a few more minutes after I sit down and then they start talking happily to each other, most likely acting as though I'm not there. I find interest in the silverware and cloth napkins in front of me, tracing indistinguishable patterns in the napkins with a fork. I'm not sure how long I was doing this but stopped once one of the castle cooks put down a bowl of cereal in front of me. I blink a couple times before looking towards the others and notice their own meals consisting of haycakes, eggs, juice, and toast with jelly. I'm not all that surprised by this, I'm actually more surprised that they have any sort of assortment of cereal more than anything. I thought to myself as I started eating, which was done soon after considering they didn't give me a big serving which now that I thought about it, I'm starving. Holy shit am I hungry, must have spent a lot more energy from that flight than I thought. I thought about asking for some more but I very much doubt that I would granted that request so I just sat there in silence as everypony else ate their own meals, or at least that was the plan before my stomach released a loud growl. Ignoring it, I continued to sit there and wait for them to be done though it seems my stomach decided to be just as much of an asshole as I am and growl even louder, this time I'm sure they all heard but still play it off as if it's nothing but it doesn't really seem to work as I hear the tell tale sign of a chair being pushed back and feels my ears instinctively press themselves against the top of my head. Playing off the best I could I just sat there as hoovesteps grew louder as whoever got out of their seat was making their way towards me. "We my be angry with you but that doesn't mean we would let you starve Dark Heart, though I guess it is somewhat our fault for giving you such a meager meal. We all almost forgot about the fact that you must have used up a lot of energy with the stunt you pulled." Luna said as she pulled up the seat beside me and sat down with her own plate as she waved to the maids that were on standby. I looked at her as she started eating, opening my mouth a few times to try and say something but nothing came out as I didn't know what to say to her and so decided to sit there in silence as I waited for my real meal, which didn't take long as it came out not a few minute afterwards, in a much bigger portion than their's. I sat there wide-eyed at the portion given to me, though that didn't last long as my stomach had again made it's emptiness known which had made Luna giggle a bit, "You may want to eat before your stomach decides to pop out of you and do it for you." I gave a sheepish nod before grabbing my utensils and dig in though soon stop as I notice that something had grabbed my tail. I look towards my tail and see that Luna's ethereal one had intertwined with mine and makes me look at Luna again but she is in the midst of once again eating herself. I go back to eating as well but with a small smile this time around. ~One hour later in the Throne Room~ We all gathered in the Throne room with me once again standing in front of everypony I know, most of them still looking rather pissed but it's definitely not as intense as it was before so I guess that's an improvement in this situation already. "Now that we're all rested and fed we can continue with the issue at hand." Celestia announced as she and Luna sat on their thrones with a seat pulled up for everypony, except for me though one look at Luna told me the real reason why as I shake my head before conjuring up my own seat. "So Dark Heart, we realized that interrogating you so soon after dealing with everything that you did in the past few days as well as our reactions hadn't helped you in the slightest and instead provoked the reaction that it did so I wanted to start this all off with hearing what you have to say before anything else." She says though I'm not so sure if it's true with the way I'm being looked at but then again I don't feel the anger, disappointment, or anything else in that regards to that, but I can't say the same for the other emotions such as sadness, fear, and minute amounts of regret. I sit there for a minute or two looking at everypony and run a hand through my mane before looking at them again. "I guess I should first start off with saying sorry everypony. I'm not gonna take back anything I said but I definitely didn't mean to sound as harsh as I did. I care for every single one of you and I will do whatever I can to protect you all and most of time that tends to supersede my own well-being and as I'm sure you already know, or at least you should, I know that none of you are angry with me, not anymore at least but either way I'm not gonna say it wasn't unwarranted," I grasp the H.O.L. in my right hand as my mind goes back to what I was thinking about this morning before Luna came and got me. "I know I've been living here for a few months now and am trying to adapt as much as I can having grown up with only Nova and Shadow as company to help guide me. Of course it also doesn't help that I was never much of an outgoing pony in the first place." I laugh at the last part, earning some from the others as well. We let the humor wash over us to let the mood lighten a bit though not much as when they stopped they were offering me sad smiles and eyes full of sadness and I guess why but choose not to comment on it as I continued on. "I know thing would have been much different if I had my parents with me and we wouldn't be here now because they would have set me straight, and I don't think I need to make mention of Tender Heart do I Celestia and Luna?" I asked with smirk which they replied with rapid shakes of their head which got another chuckle from me. "And I'm not sure what my sisters would have done but I can only imagine that they wouldn't have been too happy with me either. There are also a lot of other things that has happened that I didn't think would have, like me having any friends or even finding love and yet here I am, sitting in front of all of you, some of I can call my friends, others family, and the rest lovers and I don't want to lose that so I'm sorry for making the lot of you worry because of my own stupidity." With that marked the end of my long-winded apology, and monologue? "I've got the say Dark Heart, that was actually nicely done and I accept your apology" Came Nova's response and I had the resist the urge to roll my eyes as it seemed that she was giving me the silent treatment the whole time. "Fucking finally, this damn goody two-shoes would let me say shit until you offered some kind of apology!" And there's Shadow, I think enough has already been said. I was brought back to the rest of the world when I felt a hand lay over my own and saw the blue hand of my first love when I refocused in on everything before following the arm of said love till I came muzzle to muzzle with her smiling visage which caused a small one of my own to appear. "I'm still a bit mad at you," She starts of before leaning forward and giving me a kiss on the cheek as her hand tighten it's grip on my own. "But I know that you meant every word of what you said and I believe you've just lost yourself a bit with everything that's been happening since you've gotten back which is the real reason we want you to take a break for a bit and I mean an actual break, meaning no training, researching, scouting, or anything else of the sort. Just some rest and relaxation as well as actually spending time with your marefriends that have been feeling a bit neglected lately." She ordered, though the last part was said with a pout. I wrap my arms around her and pull her into my lap as I nuzzle her with all the love I have to give her. "Sorry I made you feel that way Luna. It was never my intention and I promise to make it up to you as well Hyperion, Diamond, and Cheerilee." That last one got a surprised look from her as she and everypony else turn towards the now blushing mare. Oops "When did you confess?" Twilight asked the flustered mare. "I um, I confessed last night after Brick and Dazzling had another nightmare and said they wanted to go sleep with Dark Heart. I told him how I felt after they fell asleep and we're planning to try to get used to being in a relationship with a few outing between the four of us since Brick and Dazzling have started calling us their mommy and daddy." Cheerilee explained as she hugged the two foals who hugged her back as we all looked on with smiles at the scene. At least I was before Luna got up and got me out of my chair before gently shoving me towards them. I take a brief glance at back over to her before walking over and joining them as I wrapped my arms around them, which was soon followed by my new wings. This got gasps from everypony besides Hyperion and Diamond who had already seen them. I poke my head up and looked at their awed and shocked expressions before landing my eyes on Luna, "I have no clue how I grow them all I know is that once again my dark magic saved my flank when I needed it the most." "So fascinating, would you be willing to let me do some test?" I heard Twilight asked before feeling her run her hands on my new appendages which caused shivers to run through my body. This seemed to be the queue everypony else to do the same as more hands were felt running all over my wings and was powerless to do anything as it seemed my mind couldn't concentrate on anything but the new sensation running through me, one that was starting to turn pleasurable. Once I felt a certain of my anatomy start responding to their touch, I snap out of the trance that I had been in and quickly transformed back to my normal form and made my wings to disappear. "Hey, why'd you do that?" Pinkie whined. I stood there panting a bit with everypony now looking at me with concern since I hadn't answered right away. Cheerilee, still being in front of me, looked me over with worry before her eyes landed on the bulge showing in the front of my pants which caused her to blush as she covered Brick and Dazzling's eyes and guided them behind me and out of view. "I think it's safe to say that touching his wings is ill advised in the presence of foals." Cheerilee stated as Luna took her place. She looked down below and smirked at spotting what was causing me issues. "Hmmm, ill advised indeed in any situation but the most private of settings." Luna said in a sultry tone which caused more blushes to bloom amongst them as they all quickly caught the meaning. A round of apologies were muttered but I waved them off as I got myself under control before bopping Luna on the head as her hand is slowly making it's way toward my crotch. She pouts as she rubs her head while grumbling something inaudible as I turn around towards the others. "Ahem, well now that that is out of the way I have to ask, what are we gonna do now?" The blushes go away as I turn the conversation back to what we were previously discussing which causes Celestia to sigh. "For now, nothing but keep an eye out and see if what Cheerilee suspects is true as well as keep looking for anything relating to the Desolate Fields though I wouldn't get your hopes up, any information related to that region is scarce to us seeing as the windigoes destroyed it all shorty after the pony tribes united, unless you happen to know anything Diamond Sky." She shook her head at that which caused me to was to be expected considering how she was raised and treated. We all stood there in an awkward and tense silence before Rarity perked up and addressed Celestia and Luna, "Oh, your majesty, wasn't there something else you needed to discuss with Dark Heart before we found out about his recklessness?" This seemed to make them all perk up as I stared at them with confusion, looking towards Hyperion and Diamond who shrugged their shoulders. "You know it's rather rude to keep a lady waiting Dark Heart but considering the circumstances I can forgive you." I hear a very familiar voice chided me playfully as I turn towards one of the stained glass windows that depicted the girls defeating Discord and spotted the source who was waving towards me. The source was a mare, a changeling mare and a familiar one at that, from before I was sealed to be more precise. Said mare fluttered down until she landed a few feet away from me and letting us see her in all her glory. She was as tall as Luna and just as curvy, she was wearing a dark blue longed-sleeved top that stopped just below her midsection and show off the band that all changelings are known for, her's being colored a golden yellow. She had a black, steel chest plate over it which helped show off her breasts. Tight, form fitting pants the same color as her top covered her legs and showed off her plump butt, with more of the black, steel armor covering the lower part of her legs from her knees to the upper part of her shoes and a front-open long skirt that went down to just above her ankles completed the entire outfit. All in all she looked like a warrior princess, a beautiful yet fierce one at that. "Um, excuse us, but who are you?" Hyperion asked with her claws already poised to strike, at least they were until I grabbed it which made her look towards me with a questioning look. I nodded at her with a smile which made her relax and stand down before she gave my hand a light squeeze and letting go. Once our hands were separated I look back towards the unexpected, though very familiar arrival. "Queen Flare, nice to see you again after a millennium of imprisonment, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" I asked, really laying in the formal tones in my voice with a smirk on the entire time as I take a bow. I wasn't in the position for very long though as I bashed over the head by an annoyed changeling queen. "Don't think I won't beat you into the ground you jerk, I may have missed you a ton during to entire time you were trapped but I was hoping for something a bit more serious when you saw me." She said with huff before turning her back to me. I let out a small chuckle as I picked myself up of the floor and dusted myself off before moving in closer and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, I just thought I try and keep things a bit on the lighter side Flare, hope you can forgive me." I apologized sincerely as she turned back around and threw her arms around me and I did the same. "It's alright Dark Heart, I know you didn't mean anything mean by it, just next give a mare a hug or something before spewing your terrible attempts at a joke out of that muzzle of yours." She said as she buried herself in my embrace with her eyes closed as I smiled softly at her. "Haha, duly noted, so how did you find out I was finally out anyway?" I asked her. "The same way Spirit knew of course though it was a pain trying to track you down since you like bouncing all over the place, and you wondered why I asked you to come visit me instead of me going to you," She said as she pulled back away from me enough to poke her fingers into my chest. "And I have a feeling that's it's going to be worst now that you have wings." "Ahem" Interrupted my response and made my look towards the source, which was an irritated Luna with an amused Celestia next to her. "Do you mind introducing us Dark Heart?" She phased it as a question but we all knew it was a demand. "Oh yeah sure, sorry about that Luna," I said completely unphased by her tone as I let go of Flare and moved over to Luna, slinging my arms around her as I held her close to my side. "This is Changeling Queen Flare, she rules over a hive that is a few miles south of that little settler town known as Appleloosa. She's a friend of mine from way back before I was sealed away." "And how did that happen?" Celestia asked curiously. "He saved us from that disciple dragon when he tried to torch my entire hive, would have succeed too if it wasn't for Dark Heart. He's been an honorary member of my hive since then as well as a very dear friend." Flare answered in my stead. "Though what I want to know is why you didn't to bother to come visit me after you got settled in?" "Sorry about that Flare, I've been meaning to check up on you for a while now but I've been a bit busy." "Busy with what exactly mister?" "Making plans to rescue Diamond here from her abusive father and carrying out said plan and I just got back yesterday." It was a weak excuse I know and I'm fully expecting to get hit or blasted for it. "So in other words you forgot." She said with a deadpan expression before sighing as she rubbed the area between her eyes. "Like I said already, I will forgive you this time because of the circumstances of everything that has happened but next time I won't be so lenient, is that clear mister?" She asked with a heated glare which made me gulp and nod which made her perk up with one of her beautiful smile replacing the deep frown that had been there not even a second before earlier. "Good, now what do you say to introducing me to everyone?" She asked rather excitedly. "Oh yeah, sure," I let go of Luna and go stand beside Flare and facing everyone as I start off with Luna and Celestia who are standing on the far left. "Well I'm sure you know Princess Luna and Princess Celestia-" I start off before being cut off. "I do, we were getting acquainted while you were on your rescue mission." She said as the three of them started giggling which made me raise an eyebrow at them. "Anyway, the two next to them are Hyperion and Diamond, a dragoness and windigoe princess." Gesturing towards my other two herdmates. "Nice to know that our Dark Heart loves variety." Hyperion said which made my eyes start twitching and making the others snicker. "Hello there Queen Flare, it's an honor to meet you." Diamond said while still giggling herself. "It's a pleasure to meet you both, and I do agree with you beautiful, it's glad to see that Dark Heart loves variety, I wonder if it's the same in the bedroom?" Flare said sultry as she and Hyperion glanced over at me while my other herdmates, or potential herdmates, to blush while my eye twitch increased in strength. Deciding on being an ass was in my best interest, I extend my wings before swatting the both of them over the head and shutting them up as they pout at me. "Now that you two have control over yourselves I can get on with introductions." I said before directing Flare's gaze towards the others. She seemed to get along well with everyone as I showed her each and every one of my current friends and family that was here. They all told her about themselves and shared a few stories as we all chatted about and having a good time, at least they were. Me on the other hand was still on the fence about how they were acting towards me. I know we had made peace of the situation but I can't help but have a nagging feeling in the back of my head that they don't exactly trust me, at least not as much as they used to. Rebuilding Bonds ~Later in the evening~ "And that was how I defeated two manticores single-handedly with my trusty Black Thorn here." Flare said as she finished her story while patting at the sheath that held her personal blade and I can tell you first hand that that damn thing packs a punch despite it's size. This is how it's been after introductions, everypony seemed to be getting along great with Flare, especially Brick and Dazzling after hearing about some of her own exploits, that mare never did know how to sit still for very long. Since then, they've also seemed fit to ignore me, and I mean completely as in even when I do try to add something into the conversation they act as though they didn't hear a damn thing I said. My guess is that all may not be as forgiven as they let on since I've been sitting up on one of the support arcs up by the roof just listening to all of them chat about, not a single one of them even bothering to ask where I went off to or taking a glance around to see that I'm gone. "You know you kinda deserve it right, after the stunts you've pulled and what you've said in the last 48 hours. Can you really blame them for just ignoring you like this?" Nova said as I looked down at everypony. "Lay off Nova, they said they forgave him but he didn't have their trust, that doesn't amount to flat out ignoring him like this." Shadow threw back at her before speaking to me. "Hey Drake, let's just go back to been a long time since I've seen Flare and I would love to get some time to chat with her myself after so long. They want to ignore me then so be it, I'll take it like I have in the past and move on with my day until they want to contact me for whatever. "I know you may not think so but I can assure you Shadow, that I do believe they are rather justified in how they're handling all this. I also believe-" Nova was about to go on her rant when I decided to speak up. 'Nova,' "Yes?" 'Shut up.' I growled at her using my darker, more demonic voice which I could feel the both of them giving me a wide-eyed look of shock through our link but I didn't really care seeing as how I already know I've fucked up but I don't need to be reminded, repeatedly, of it as well when I'm already trying to fix things. 'I know of your opinion on the matter, I don't need it repeatedly thrown into my face by somepony who should be helping me fix it instead of constantly reminding me of my mistakes, it's something I'd expect more from Shadow, not you, Nova.' I finally told her after hours of dealing with it constantly along with being ignored by my friends and family. Seemed to work rather well too seeing as though she has gone silent. 'Think it's about time I got home and check on some of those projects I left going.' I thought to myself before taking a glance at the group below to see that they were still engrossed in the conversations with Flare. My horn lit up with dark magic as I opened a portal in front of the window I was sitting in front of. I take one more look towards them before leaning back and falling through the portal and land on my feet in front of the entrance to my little, cozy cave I call my home. "Well, nothing seems to have off my perimeter wards so I guess they're finally working like they're supposed to." I told myself as I make my way inside. Making my way to the very back of the cave I channel my dark magic into the wall in front of me as another portal opens up on the floor. Jumping into the portal and into what is my private study/lab, making sure to close the portal once I'm through, and look around at the couple of projects I've been working on here and there whenever I have the time. It was only two at the moment but both were important even if they didn't seem like it. Towards the wall to my left sat three orbs of magic, one was a white orb that was my regular magic, another was a black orb that was my dark magic, and the last was a charcoal color with little wisps coming off of it like the remnants of a freshly put out fire, that orb was the remnants of Sombra's dark magic that I had managed to gather from outside the borders of the Crystal Empire when me, Hyperion, and Ember had arrived there The two orbs of my two different magics were hovering around the orb that was Sombra's magic with tendrils connecting the two to it. This particular project was to see what kind of effects my magics had the dark magic that most know of and what better test subject than the dark king of the Crystal Empire, or rather his remnants. Seeing that everything was stable on that end, I look towards my desk on the other side of the room was something that would more than likely get me into tons of trouble if the others knew, even though it was for a good purpose. On the desk were various containers that had the body parts of the various species that we know exist, and that does also include pony, changeling, and dragon limbs. How I had gotten them wasn't anything really illegal as I had my shadows gather anything they could find out in the world from those caught in natural disasters or freak accidents, to those that were attacked my wild animals and the like. As for the reason I have them all, well I've decided to study up on necromancy. Honestly I'm rather confused as to why I've decided to study such a field as it's one of the practices of dark magic that I despise the most but for some odd reason I have a feeling I'm going to need it. Correction on that, I know exactly why I may need it, necromancy is used to bring the dead back to life, but does that only have to apply towards bringing back somepony from death's grasps or could I work it so that it could revive what are essentially dead limbs. Help those who have lost the use of their limbs, whether it be an arm, leg, eyesight, hearing, and what ever else that normal medicine and regular magical healing can't fix. When I said I was going to show the world that dark magic wasn't as bad as they all believe it to be. That with the right heart and proper training and supervision, it could change the world, and for the better if all goes well. Anyway, getting back to what I was doing, I went and checked the containers holding the specimens I've managed to collect and making sure they were still in good condition and once I was satisfied with that I checked on the notes I've written down so far. After all it was still possible for somepony to find this place as it was actually a part of the cave that I've made my home that is naturally sealed off. Spirit could easily gathering quite the following and send them out to do some recruiting so it's not too far fetched to say that there's always the possibility that a rather skilled diamond dog could find this place and stolen my notes, and all without leaving a trace of their presence ever having been here. Looking through everything, it seemed it was all fine and I was about to make my way out when I got a signal from one of my shadows. Heeding its call, I channel some magic into my eyes and established a connection with the shadow calling out to me and found out it was in Canterlot Castle and started to have the feeling that I knew what this was about. Once I fully establish the connection, I look around through it's eyes before I notice Flare staring straight at me, tapping her hoof on the ground with her arms crossed in front of her generous bust and narrowed eyes. We stare at each other for a bit before she finally speaks, "Well...... ?" I sigh from nodding to her and disconnected from the shadow before teleporting the where it had been. "Yes?" I asked and she growled at me. "I come to visit you after a millennia and you decide to just leave without saying a word?" "You were talking the everypony else, who clearly didn't want to have me be a part of any bit of any of your conversations and had been sitting up on that window sill for a couple hours before I finally decided I wanted to do something while all of you were getting to know each other. I'm actually kind of surprised that any of you noticed I had left so soon, I suspected it would've taken another 30 minutes at least." I stated truthfully, not caring about the offended looks I got from the others, or the emotions that came with them that I felt through my dark magic. "This isn't a joke Dark Heart! You just up and leave without saying a word after having been in the hospital not too long ago and yet you don't really seem to care about what could happen to you!" Flare shouted at me to which I raise my brow at her. "And makes you think I don't care?" I asked but put up my hand to keep her answering. "I told them I was going to try stopping my reckless behavior and I meant it. I just went home real quick to check on a couple projects, maybe get a little work done on them, and be right back before you used my shadows to call me back." I told her which seemed to make her simmer down a bit but she still looked a bit miffed with me. "Besides, what would you have done if were you left out the group and couldn't be a part of it no matter how you tried, not because you don't too, but because nopony else does? What would any of you had done being left out for a good couple of hours?" I asked them all now as I wasn't going to sit here and be the object of their scrutiny. I've had enough of it throughout my life and while I know I'll never be able to escape it I don't need it from the ponies that are supposed to be my friends, my family. 'Goddess, I really wish my parent and Tender Heart were here, I think I could really use a familiar face, besides Flare, right about now.'I thought sadly to myself, not realizing a single tear was shed, or that everyone else saw it until I felt hands grab my face as the thumb from whoever had grabbed my face had wiped it away. My vision refocused in on my surroundings and I saw Flare with a worried look on her face. Looking away from the look she was giving me, I saw that everypony else had similar expressions. "Dark Heart, what wrong?" Flare's question drew my attention back to her and I give her a smile in response. "It's nothing Flare, just thinking about somethings, nothing to worry about." I told her with a convincing smile. "You were thinking about how much you missed your parents and Tender Heart, and were wishing they were here, weren't you?" Did I forget to mention that this mare seems to be able to read my mind whenever it comes to stuff like this. Ever since we've met, whenever I seemed to get any kinds of emotional she seems to be able to tell what thoughts had lead to that state and it's not through magical means, I, or the two that share my mind, would have felt such an invasive probe that is that type of magic. *Sigh* "Yeah, I was thinking about how much I missed them, I know it sounds to include my sisters into that but we've never met so I guess those feelings are a bit muted for them as compared to my parents and Tender Heart but I do miss them all the same." I said as I returned the hug that Flare had enveloped me in when I had sighed. I held onto her tightly as it seemed a bit of the dam of emotional baggage I had put up had released a bit of said baggage as I silently cried into her shoulder with her holding me in her arms and whispering comforting words. While this was happening, I still had my emotion sensing abilities active and I could feel their anger and irritation waning as they looked at me, including Nova, and it seemed to remind them all that despite everything I could do, despite all the foes I face without fear of my own safety, despite the fact I can give the finger to any, and all of the gods and goddesses without fear of retaliation, I'm still stallion with feelings. I can still feel pain, anger, sadness, and sorrow. Seemed that was the moment they all realized that no matter what I said, what I did, that there was still a part of me that is stuck in the past, before Nightmare Moon imprisoned me in the amulet, before I ran, shit even before I discovered my special talent and got my cutiemark. That teenager that was happy going about life the way he was, everything nice, calm, and peaceful with a loving mother and supportive father with a family friend that was basically aunt with two cute little sisters to show up a few months soon after. Part of me wished for that life back so badly if for nothing more than to be able to spend the rest of my days with the family I knew and loved when I had my place in the world and was actually happy about it. Those selfish thoughts run through my head a lot, and I do mean a lot, but then I remember everything I've done so far since my release. I remember saving Fluttershy from both Spirit here at the castle and then at Ponyville from that the pack of Timberwolves where I got to meet Ember, I remember finding Brick, Gleaming, and Sun over in Glade and saving Hyperion from the control of the Demon Lord, I remember meeting Diamond and think back to the rescue operation I put together to rescue her. Then there's getting together with Luna, becoming friends with Pinkie, Cheerilee, and Zecora. Going to much more recently with what just happened a bit ago, finding out Cheerilee loves me mores than a friend, same with Zecora and Pinkie, with Hyperion, Diamond, and lastly Luna already having said and shown me their own love already it all starts making me think, What have I done to deserve any of this? Which is then followed by the thought, You have been yourself, From a voice deep inside my mind says, and I know it isn't either Shadow or Nova. 'Damn it, why does this keep happening, I thought I more control over my emotions than this but here I am, breaking down once again in front of all of them. They shouldn't be seeing this, they should be able to look at me as their pillar of strength, not like I'm an ordinary stallion that needs to be coddled, that needs to be comforted like a child!' I shouted inside my head, not really looking for an answer from either of my roommates. That didn't stop one of them answering anyway. "Because Dark Heart, at the end of the day, that's what you are. Even with your all your magical power, even with all the responsibilities laid upon your shoulders, even with all the things you have endured that no ordinary pony would on a daily basis, you are a still a normal pony once you're back home, safe and sound within the arms of those that you love and who love you. You are indeed destined for greatness with an unknown path that could take you anywhere and you could become anything but remember this, in the eyes of everyone in that room right now, they do see you as you want them too but they also see you as one of them, a stallion with the same needs as any other, especially emotionally." Nova said in the same gentle and loving voice that had me endeared to her once I had ran away. The same voice that I needed to hear when I felt I was alone and full of fear. The voice of a mother trying to soothe their scared child when the world starts becoming too much too handle. Nova was my mother when I was alone for all those years, both before and after I had been sealed in the amulet. Back then I felt trapped and scared beyond belief because of what had happened and the consequences of said action, I had a break down for the first couples hours and it to- "Dark..... Heart" My eyes shot open and I pushed myself away from Flare's grasp when I heard somepony call out my name though it was incredibly faint. I looked around, trying to listen for the voice again, putting my hand up when one of the girls tried to say something. After a few minutes, and not hearing anything else, I put my hand down back to my side and sighed as I scratched my head. "I must be hearing things." I finally said as everyone let out a sigh of relief. Think they were afraid that this would start yet another little adventure for me or something like that, not that I can blame them. Every time I seem to hear voices nopony else does I get thrown into some mess or another. "Well that aside, are you feeling better Dark Heart?" Flare asked me as she put her hand on my chest, rigth above my heart. I gave her a grateful smile, "Yeah, I am feeling a lot better Flare, thank you." I said as I grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it which seemed to get a cute little blush to appear on cheeks. "I'm glad.... you know we don't mean to be so harsh on you but-" She started but I stopped her with a finger over her lips. "It's alright Flare, I get it, I really do. I've been invested in my own image for so long that it's been blinding me to everything I have been taking for granted lately and that little break down was just what I needed to let my guard down enough to let some words of wisdom to really reach my ears and through this thick skull of mine." I told her as I sent a 'thank you' to Nova. "Glad to hear that you have finally come back to your senses Dark, you were starting to worry me there." Luna said as she grabbed my other hand with both of hers, looking away as I saw the beginning of tears appear in her eyes. "We were beginning to fear that your dark magic was corrupting you after all." I brought my hand up, after Flare had let go of it, and brought it up to cup Luna's muzzle and gently guided it so she was looking straight into my eyes. "That won't ever happen Luna, I would much rather give up on my dark magic then put the rest of you through seeing me like that." I declared with a strong conviction which made them all gasps, including the two inside me. "I thought you were against doing such a thing Dark Heart, isn't that what started that whole fiasco a millennium ago?" Celestia asked, thoroughly confused at my declaration. "No, what started it was you two trying to forcefully take it from me and expecting me to live with it for the rest of my days." Was my response, no malice or hate in my voice, just an indifference that still made the two of them flinch, especially Luna who I had tightened my grip on to let her know I still love her all the same. "Had that not have happened then things wouldn't be as they are but whether that's a good or bad thing I don't know but I can tell you that there are definitely pros and cons to both." This got looks of understanding from everyone as they all seemed to know just how much of a mess that is to figure out as anything could happened between then and now. After that we all had moved over to the dining hall for dinner, which Celestia had asked to kitchen staff to bring a feast since we had all missed lunch. This time I was sitting to the right Luna at the head of the table with Flare to my right. We were all holding hands as I could feel the love radiating from the both of them, more from Flare than Luna though I know that was more from the fact that Flare was eating up that love from Luna. She would try to eat from me but I'm covered in a veil of darkness at all times so getting to my happier emotions is next to impossible for changelings, unless they wanted to poison themselves that is. The others were watching with rapt attention at a changeling's way of eating up close and personal, and I could see Twilight taking notes as well, and they seemed to be fascinated by it. Got to admit that it was a little creepy, so I was glad when Zecora finally said something. "Excuse me Queen Flare, She started, getting the mares attention, "I thought a changeling feeding left those they fed on quite tired and feeling down but Princess Luna doesn't seem to be suffering any ill effects, why is that?" "That's quite simple my dear Zecora. When love is extracted forcefully, and yes, that does include means such as mind control, it drain the emotional and physical energy of the victim. Given willing on the other hand, it provides so much more of the energy and nutrients we changelings actually need to grow healthy." Flare explained which got intrigued looks from everypony that hadn't already known. "And despite recent events, I can happy say that I've helped found a small, hidden away, little village where ponies and changelings are living together in harmony even after Chrysalis' stunt at Princess Cadance, and Captain Shining Armor's wedding." She added in happily and with no small amount of pride. "Is that so well then I would very much like to see this village one day and see if I can't try doing to same for the rest of Equestria." Celestia said, obviously happy about the news. "That's fine by me Princess, I know the citizen would be happy to hear that you not only accept them but would like to use them as an example of the rest of Equestria and I'll be glad to help however I can. Dark Heart knows where it is so whenever you would like to come, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to show you the way should I be unable to do so personally." She stated, getting the others to stare at me. "Yes, I know where it is and we set it up before my imprisonment after finding them being chased by an angry mob. Flare offered them a place where they could live when peace without having to worry about such a thing again when she learned why they being chased and the ridicule they had suffered before finally being chased out." I told them before they could actually ask. "Just how much are you involved in stuff like this DarkHeart, you hadn't been gone that long after the day you ran away before you were imprisoned?" Luna asked with a questioning look. "Not enough I can tell you that." Was my simple response which made Luna sighed while she shook her head but I could her smiling as well. "DarkHeart," "Yeah hun?" "Never stop being the kind stallion I know you really are." Luna said while smiling warmly at me, a smile I've been missing these last few days. "I'll try, but you know I can't guarantee anything." I joked, which got me a light slap on my arms from both sides and made me laugh a bit. "Love you Luna, love all you girls and I gotta say I'm really thankful to have you all as my friends, family, and lovers." I said as my eyes scanned over everyone at the table as my eyes landed on the two foals here. "Same goes for you two, Dazzling and Brick, and if you really want me to be your new dad then it would be, to my greatest joy, to be one of your new parents." I announce with a big, rare kind of smile that I've ever made in my life, one that seemed rather infectious as everyone else had their own slowly make their way to each cheek. Almost everyone I should say as Dazzling and Brick had their own teary eyed smiles as they both jumped from their seat and bolted straight for me. I got out of my chair and was kneeling down on my knees with my arms wide open as the two bolted right into me and I wrapped them in my protective embrace. I held onto them tightly as they buried their muzzles into my chest as they tried to wrap their little arms around me as much as they could, also trying to hold me just as tightly. Smiling down at the two foals with all the love I had to give them, kissing the top their heads. I could feel the eye of everyone else on use and could feel the happiness emanating from all of them at the scene. Feeling my own happiness rising by the second, feeling the joy wash over me, feeling all of the negative emotions that are normally within just vanish, it was then that I felt.... something, a foreign feeling well up deep inside me, deep inside my soul but it had soon vanished when I tried to focus on it. 'What wasthat?' Was the only thing that was said between me and my tenants. A Little Family Bonding One Week Later One week, that's how long it's been since the day Flare came to visit Canterlot and catch up with me. She spent a total of three days here, catching up on everything that's happened since we last met as well as reminiscing on some of our past adventures with the others listening in. She also got to know everypony as well as hashed out some more details on having Luna and Celestia go and see the town Flare had founded. During that time I also spent some time with my herdmates, friends, and Flare before most of them, Hyperion, Ember, and obviously Diamond staying here with me, to get back to their jobs back home and get Dazzling and Brick back into school. Luckily the two of them didn't really miss much thanks to Cheerilee having grabbed their homework before the three of them left. Also managed to get all the paperwork done for us adopting them and Celestia and Luna fast tracked it so it was official, Cheerilee and I are now legally their mother and father. Of course there were a few request from Cheerilee, like moving in with her and stuff like that. I agreed of course but I wasn't gonna really be moving into her current house as we were going to be moving into another, bigger house in Ponyville so as to accommodate more ponies, or dragon in the case of Hyperion since it's seems my herd was possibly going to growing rather quickly if everything with the rest of the girls goes well. The rest of the week seemed to crawl on by as I was left with little to nothing to do. I wanted to try investigate the strange feeling I had gotten the other day but the girls had me pretty much placed me under house arrest after Flare had left. I'm not too happy about it but I do kinda get why they did it. Of course I could just leave whenever since I highly doubt any of the guards could really be considered a challenge in any way, and they know that I could break any barrier they could put up, but I choose to stay anyway to show them that I'm willing to listen to them. Today though, I'm gonna break that as all the time alone as left me time to think on things, and one of those things was the fact that I hadn't gone to visit my family's grave since I've been back. Celestia and Luna have already told me where it is, and I've had plenty of time before all this to do so, but I can admit that I've been. . . reluctant, to go visit them. The fact that they're gone, even now, still hasn't fully set in and admittedly a part of me is still in denial. May have to do with something Celestia told me when I asked about how they died. Till this day I still receive only a vague answer from her but I don't try to push her because she seems just as uncertain about it as I do, though one fact does remain, they're bodies aren't in their graves, something most don't know. That knowledge is known only to a few, Celestia, Luna, me, and Sun Spear seeing as she's perhaps the strongest of the current generation and the one one would bear carry on the duty of protecting the H.O.L. if they ever found it. There was more but they're obviously dead and gone now but the fact that Celestia is trying to keep it under wraps does peak my curiosity and is just one of the many things I have to look into. Right now I was looking out into the distance while sitting on the window sill, back against the wall and one leg hanging out. I hear the door open but don't look to see who it is, thinking it's one of the guards, at least until I feel an arm drape across my shoulder and a kiss on the cheek. "Hey there Great Uncle Dark, sounds like you've been causing trouble for the last couple weeks." Came Sun's mirth filled greeting. I turn so I can give her a proper hug before replying back, "Yeah, you can definitely say that Sun, and I take you're here to berate me as well since you weren't here with the others." "Nah, I think you've gotten enough from everypony else. . . .just please don't do anything like that again Dark. Hyperion told me the state you were in after everything and I don't want to have to bury you so soon after meeting you." I hugged her tighter, not needing to see her to know that she was tearing up. "Don't worry Sunny, I'm not going anywhere, not as long as I have anything to say about it." She leans into me, sniffling a bit. I nuzzle her, letting her know it's alright. "Thanks Uncle, I needed that." She says as she returns the nuzzle before letting go of me and standing straight up. "Been awhile since I've spent time with anything resembling family since I've joined the guard, and then you show you up and I don't feel so alone anymore so I definitely don't want you to go dying on me after everything we've been through mister." I laugh a bit at that, "Trust me Sunny, I definitely don't plan on it, and even if I did I'm sure the lot of you would find some way to bring me back anyway." "Most likely through your own research and spells, because I'm sure you've got some research into necromancy, or are gonna start it soon." "I'm neither going to deny nor agree with that but before you ask, even I was doing it I'm not going to use it to bring them back. Even if I wanted to it wouldn't be very fair to all those that mostly like wish that they could do the same, and it would definitely throw off the natural balance of things, something even I don't want to mess with, too much." She gives me a sad smile, thankfully not having heard that last part, as I'm sure she has an idea of just how much I want to do just that. "Well that the mood has been lightened a bit, what were you planning on doing today, besides being stuck in here?" "I was actually thinking that it's a bout time I go visit everyone." "What do you mean 'go visit everyone'?" She asked with visible confusion. "You already said you had no real interest in finding anypony else from our family unless you happen upon them like you did me, and everypony else that we know is either here or in Ponyville and they know that you're going to be staying here until the princesses say otherwise." "I think you're missing someponies there Sunny." "Hmm, who else am I mis-sing. . .oh so you're thinking of finally going?" "Yeah, but I don't want to go alone, I was thinking of gathering everpony here at the castle before I do. I-I could really use you all there if I'm being honest here." I tell her as I stare off into space, some of my memories of the good times replaying before my eyes as if I was there again, if only for a moment before I refocus on my Great Niece. "I don't know the state I'll be in when we get there but I know it'll make me feel much better having you all there, to let them all know that I'm doing well and that I've found others that I can call my family, my friends, and my lovers," I smile as my mother's, father's, and Tender Heart's smiling visage appears in my mind. "And of course to let them know that I'm on my way to becoming truly happy." "Oh god, please stop!" Came Shadow's unwanted input, I was abut to say something but then came what sounded like a frying pan hitting something. "Don't worry about him Dark Heart, just go and do your thing, I'm sure your mother would love to hear from you again, no matter where she may be." Nova chimed in happily. I could only mentally roll my eyes as I jump up from the window sill "Alright, so how about we go gather everypony and make our way over there?" "You sure that's a good idea, you're aren't supposed to leave the room unless they allow it, even then I'm sure they're both busy right now." "Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine, I'm sure they'll forgive me for both disobeying them and pulling them from their work, they might actually be grateful since right about now I'm sure court is in session and I'm sure those snotty noble are making ridiculous demands again, like always." I state back casually, knowing that's exactly what's happening right now. "Hmmm, you may have a point. I've never known Princess Celestia to be too happy about holding court when I used to have guard duty here at the castle, same for Princess Luna from what I heard from the night guards." She said, hand holding her chin as she went into a thinking pose. "Well then I guess it's settled, let's go find us-" I was interrupted by a knock at the door, which was soon opened with a familiar white horn following before the rest of my surprise guest appeared from behind the door. "Oh, looks like we won't have to go looking for her after all." This, of course, served to confuse Celestia, then after a second she was looking at me suspiciously. "Why would you be looking for me, what are you planning Dark Heart, especially since you know you're aren't supposed to leave this room without permission until me and Luna say otherwise." She warned me, though with no real malice or anything else of the sort behind it. "I know, I know, but I'm sure you'd make an exception to go see some old friends Celly, you and Luna both." Her look of suspicion disappeared and was replaced with a look of concern before that was replaced with a sad smile and a look of understanding shortly after. "So you're finally going?" "Yeah, but I don't want to go alone. I'm sure you already guessed that Sun Spear is going and before you showed up we were going to gather you, Diamond, Ember, Hyperion, and Luna to come with me. I'm sure those two are bored, and you and Luna would like to get away from the paper and snobs for a bit." I tell her as I walk up to her, put a hand over her shoulder and am already walking down the hall before she knows what's going on. All she does is give me an amuse smile as she realizes what I just did and continues to walk with us, my arm still around her shoulder. We walk that way for a good bit, going over to Luna's room first since we didn't actually know where Ember and Hyperion were at the moment and Diamond was currently with Luna who was in her room. Wasn't long into the walk before the comfortable silence around us wasn't so comfortable anymore with no pony else to blame but me so it wasn't long before I stopped, which of course made them stop, especially Celestia, my arm still being around her shoulder and all. "Hey Celestia?" "Yes Dark Heart, what is it?" She answered, still not moving away but looking right at me, though I wasn't looking at her. "I just wanted to say thank you, for everything. We haven't had the best start to our relationship but you've done what you can to make it up to me and have been patient with me, just as most of the others have," I move around to stand directly in front of her, my hand on both of her shoulders. "I do hope I can be better than I have been since my release so I don't make you lot worry so much. I know none of you want to lose me, whether it be through death or corruption, and are willing to do whatever needs to be done to prevent that. Thanks to the time I've had being in my room alone I've come to realize something important with the relationship with me, you, and Luna." "Important you say, and what would that be?" She asked, thoroughly confused yet intrigued. I give her a little smile before pulling her into a hug, "I've realized that I've been a shitty brother to you and I want to change that." Don't to she her face to know that she's smiling, especially when she returns the embrace. "Apology accepted Dark Heart, and while you're right about a bit of a crummy little brother, I won't really hold it against you, after all, all little siblings are like that to their older siblings right." She says with a bit of mirth in her voice. "I'm just glad that you've forgiven me and Luna for our own transgressions against and have not only found a relationship with Luna, but with me as well. I can't tell you how much it warms my heart to hear that you consider me your sister, even though you and Luna haven't officially married yet." "Hehe, even if me and Luna were to break up I would call you my big sister, though of course I definitely don't want to lose her. just as much as I don't want to lose anypony else I've become close with. I've found ponies I want to protect, something I didn't think I would find when I was freed." I rest my head upon her shoulder, feeling very relaxed in her embrace thanks to the natural warmth she gives off. "Dark Heart, you have your rough patches, but I know you're willing to work through them to become a better pony, to prove all those that doubted you wrong. I know if your parents were here, they would have properly laid into you just as the rest of us had when you came back, same with your sisters and Tender Heart, and then told you just how proud they are that you went through such lengths to save somepony you hardly knew." She holds me tighter, squeezing me till it's almost painful, but I don't really mind cause I like being in her embrace just as much as I loved being in my mother's. "We were all scared that you wouldn't come back us, we had no doubt that the three of them would have came back because they had you there, because we knew that if worse had came to be, that you would sacrifice yourself to get them home. Imagine our surprise, and more importantly our dismay, when we heard that you had almost done just that when you had reached the safety of the Crystal Empire. I know we haven't shown it all that well thanks to everything but we all love you deeply Dark Heart, in one way or another, especially now that you've allowed us to see more of the pony you've kept hidden away from most everypony all this time. I know I may sound a bit like a broken record when I say this, but you can let go Dark Heart, you don't have to hide from us, you don't have to bare your burdens alone, and more importantly you can count on us to help the best we can. Let us protect you just like you're willing to protect us cause that's what friends do, what family does, and you Dark Heart are my family, from now and forever more." By this point Celestia's tears are running down onto my shirt and making a bit of a wet spot on my shoulder and her grip had actually become a bit painful, but I endured it because I could feel her pain, her sorrow, almost reminds me of the way my mother would hug me whenever I ran off by myself when I was little. I would be out for most of the day and not show up until a little after dinner would have started. She freaked out a lot back then even though I had done it for almost a year straight. Of course I stopped after a while, mainly cause I didn't like seeing my mother like that, seeing her so afraid when normally she's so fearless, not taking shit from anypony. I definitely understand why she was like that now that I have Brick and Dazzling to look after. "Sorry. . .Big sis, I'll try to not make you worry so much in the future." Was what I whispered in her ear after it seemed like she had nothing more to say. She giggles a bit before responding, "Please see that you don't, I don't want to lose my new little brother so soon." She lets go of me as she pulls back enough to look me in the eyes. "Now how about we go find the others, I'm sure your parents have been eager to hear from you again." A happy nod is her only response as we pull apart a bit more to look directly into each other eyes, or at least that was the case until Sun Spear wormed her way between us. "You two haven't forgotten about me have you?" She asks as she wraps her arms around us. Celestia and I shared a look before wrapping our arms around her as well, giving her a tight squeeze. "Ack, okay, okay, I feel the love, you can let go now." We laugh at that, including Sun Spear after we let her go. "Well ladies, shall we?" I gestured down the hall, and after they walk past me I start following behind them as we head towards Luna's room once more. Prologue Prologue It's a warm summer day in the town of NieghBurg and everypony is out and about going on with their day. The mailpony going from house to house delivering the mail, the fillies and colts playing outside with their friends without a care in the world while their parents sat on their front lawns chatting with each other about the plans they had made for the weekend, and all the while, one particular teen-aged unicorn colt was walking around with a big smile slapped on his face. The reason he was in such a good mood today was because it was his birthday, but it wasn't just any birthday, it was his 16th birthday which meant that today not only was he going to start to be treated like a young stallion, instead of a child, by his family, but he also was finally the age where his parents would allow him to inherit the family amulet, the Heart of Light; an artifact that is said to allow the wearer to convert those possessed by evil back to good, which ,in his eyes, was somewhat ironic considering his name was DarkHeart. Though to him it didn't matter whether or not it was ironic, because all he cared about is that he thought is that maybe the heart may finally show him what his special talent was, cause as you may not know DarkHeart has yet to get his cutiemark; but he has yet to let that, or the constant teasing from his schoolmates, bring him down especially on a day like today. " I have feeling today is just going to be all kinds awesome between it being my birthday, finally being able to inherit the H.O.L., and potentially finding out what my special talent is; and I do know that last one is extremely skeptical but a guy can dream can't he, nothing could put a damper on my mood today." DarkHeart had said wanting to express his joy to the world. DarkHeart had been in this kind of mood ever since he had awoken this morning. He actually was so excited about today that he felt that he couldn't stay in his house long enough to eat breakfast, which his stomach sought to remind him about now."Oops, guess I forgot I didn't eat breakfast this morning and it is time I did leave the house without telling my parents where I was going so I should probably head home." With that said he started his trek back home to get some food in his belly and to check in with his mother and father. As he walked down the path that lead to his home, DarkHeart suddenly felt a sharp pain shoot across the back of his head as images started to force their way to the front of his mind. The images had depicted a strange figure whom he had never seen before now, it had appeared to be a pony but he was unable to see any distinguishing facial features on it, besides the tip of its muzzle, for its face as well as the rest of the creatures form had been covered in a cloak of darkness, a strange looking weapon perched on its back, claws that looked sharp enough to cut through steel like paper and eyes that glowed with a soul piercing blood gaze that looked to be fixated down at the ground below it. As DarkHeart looked upon this figure with an intense curiosity, a bright flash appeared before him, as his vision was recovery from the sudden burst of light, DarkHeart simply stood there wondering what actually the figure was and why had his mind suddenly showed him a vision of them. After he had finally regained his sight from the flash, DarkHeart had decided to just continue on home but not without the vision that had appeared before him coming back to the forefronts of his mind; DarkHeart had the feeling that he knew who this creature was but yet he was sure that he had never seen it in his life. Being so preoccupied by his thoughts, Dark Heart hadn't noticed that he was back home "DarkHeart!" , his mother, Star Dust; a unicorn mare who was approximately 5'9", wearing a navy blue shirt and jeans that showed off her hourglass figure, with a dark violet coat, palatinate colored mane, that ran freely down her back, and tail with black and dark grey streaks running through them, looking at him with her magenta eyes that were filled with kindness, called to him noticing that he appeared to be lost in his own little world. "DARKHEART!!" She called to him once again, this time shouting out his name so as to try to snap him out of his self-induced trance. He started with a jump as he finally heard his mother call to him from the front patio of their home and taking him out away from his thoughts. " How has your day been DarkHeart, cause by to look on your face it hasn't been all that great," Star Dust asked her son. "Well if had to be honest with myself not really, but it's not like I got all that many friends to hang out with like, ever" DarkHeart responded still distracted by the vision he had earlier. "Well it would probably help if you actually showed ponies the good side of you that me and your father see everyday," his mother said in her usual motherly tone. " Yeah right, why should be nice to them when they all treat me like crap," retorted DarkHeart ; his mother just let out an exasperate sigh at her son's comment. "Don't you think it would be better if you the bigger pony?" his mother asked." Nope," was all he said. Yet again his mother just let out a sigh at her son's refusal to even try to make any friends at all. " You know your mother is right son, if you actually made an effort to be kinder to ponies and let them see the side of you, other than drive them away you would have more friends." Star Dust turned around as she heard her husband, Lucky Streak; a pegasus stallion that stood at 6'3", was wearing a blue, collared shirt and denim jeans, that was able to show the muscles he had gotten from him working on the construction sites, he also had a clover green coat, mane, and tail with a gold streaks running through his mane and tail , and blue eyes that felt as though they could peer into your mind, had come up behind her from inside the house. " Sorry dad, but I just don't see it happening, especially as long as I don't have a cutiemark I'm definitely not making any kind of friends any time soon." His parents looked at each other after DarkHeart's response. "But if you never go out and try to make friends, then how do to expect to get a marefriend," Lucky Streak asked his son. " Marefriend!? How the heck do you do expect to get a marefriend when just about every mare I've come into contact with either don't talk to me because they think I'm a freak because of the way I look, or they just flat out ignore me cause I'm not with the 'In crowd', jeez you want to talk about stuck up." Both Star Dust and Lucky Streak look at each other once again for a moment thinking that their son was just merely exaggerating a bit to make a point, but as they looked back at him they saw that they were wrong in this aspect after seeing the pained look in sitting there in DarkHeart's eyes. " We didn't mean now son, we just meant that, well don't you ever wnat to find your special somepony one day to hold and love each other for the rest of your lives," Star Dust asked. "No, I think I'm better off being alone for the rest of my life. Well besides visiting you two when I'm off on my own, but other than that, for the most part I would want to be alone." His parents saw that they weren't going to be able to convince their son of the point they were trying to make and decided to leave stop this conversation until a later date, like maybe in a few years when he would be finally heading off to life his own life. " You know it's almost time to cut into the cake? What do you say we all go inside, forget this whole conversation, and finally hand off the family amulet over to you; sound good?" Star Dust looked at her boys as they both gave their own eager responses to her suggestions, her husband eager to at last being able to get into to cake his wife had guarded like a hawk, and DarkHeart excited at the fact he was finally be able to obtain the Heart of Light and possibly finding out want his destiny is. The family all made their way inside the house the get on with the small celebration and forget the conversation they had just had. DarkHeart had walked into the living room while his mother went to go receive the cake and his father the amulet. He was just sitting on the couch when suddenly he felt the same pain from earlier come back and the sight of his family's living room once again change to the sight of black cloaked figure from before. Although it appeared to be the same figure from before it's form appeared to be lacking that intimidating aura that had surrounded it before. When DarkHeart had seen the pony earlier it was radiating with pride and power, but now the pony almost looked depressed as the pony's shoulders appeared to slumped and his gaze had soften significantly. The sight of this pony looking like this made him wonder who exactly was this pony and what do they have to do with him. As he continued to look at this pony he had the pony saying something that was just over a whisper finally figuring out that this pony was a stallion. DarkHeart could just barely make out what this the stallion was trying to say, but if what DarkHeart did hear was correct, then it almost sounded like he was saying 'I'm sorry mom and dad.' But before DarkHeart could continue listening to what this strange stallion was saying, he was thrust back into reality with his mother shaking him by the shoulders worrying that something was wrong with him. "Darky, What wrong with you!? Please answer me! DARKY!!" Star Dust was on a full panicking spree as she just stood there shaking her son, trying to get a response out of him. "Mo...uh...huh..ooom, couuuld youuuuu p..p..p..please stooopp sh..sh..shaking me?" DarkHeart tried to ask his mother to stop her incessant shaking so that he could get up off the couch without the fear of being thrown over it considering how hard his mother was shaking him. "Honey calm down, or else you going to end up shaking his brains out of his head if you don't." Lucky Streak said as he tried to pry her hands off their son before she did end up knocking his brains loose. Finally after a minute or so Lucky managed to pry his wife off of DarkHeart, who's movements were wobbly thanks to being so shaken up by his mother, after a moment or so, Star Dust had finally calmed down and was able to speak without sounding like a screeching banshee, she had looked over at her son and calmly asked him, "What happened to you? Why were your eyes glowing like that?And has this ever happen to you before?" "Well to answer your questions in order; what had happened to me, was that I was shown a vision of some strange stallion who I had never seen before, I'm not really sure why my eyes were glowing but it's not like I can't exactly see myself when I have a vision, and yes this has happened only once before and that was earlier just before I got home, but other than that I've never really had them." DarkHeart had finished answering his mother's questions and remained silent, waiting for his parents response. After sitting in absolute silence for about ten minutes finally Lucky Streak had finally spoken up." What did this mysterious stallion look like DarkHeart," he had said in a serious tone. " I couldn't say he was some kind of cloak that covered his body and face, in fact the only reason I know he's a stallion was because in that vision I heard him say something but he had said it in a voice barely over a whisper so I couldn't really hear him, though he d," "What did you hear what he said." his mother had asked, intrigued by the explanation her son was giving them. " Well I think I did but as said before he said it in a rather low voice so it was hard to make out; but if I recall correctly it sounded like he was apologizing to his parents, almost as if he had done something he will regret the rest of his life." This got him some raised eyebrows and confused looks from his parents,"Sorry? What was he sorry about exactly and what happened to his parents?" "I don't know, the vision ended before anything else could happen, but by how depressed he looked I think it would be safe to assume it couldn't have been good," DarkHeart had while remembering the position the mysterious stallion was in before he left. Both of his parents Hmm'ed at that and once again looked at each other, but only this time it wasn't worry that filled their faces but instead curiosity; for their son had had a vision of some mysterious figure which none of them know the identity of, on his birthday, just a couple of hours away from obtaining the most sacred possession that their family has protected since all the way back to the pre-celestia era. It all seemed somewhat suspicious to the both of them, it seemed as though their son's visions are of something dire to come in the future and this mysterious pony will have something to do with it. " Well as interesting as that sounds I think we shouldn't focus on it too much, at least until your visions show you anymore than they already have," Star Dust said while looking at DarkHeart with her soul-warming smile. " Yeah today is your day, and why spoil it with something so trivial anyway, I mean we have only a few details on the matter anyway," his father said, agreeing with what his wife had said. " Okay I'm fine with that, besides I have a feeling that the answers will become clear to us soon enough anyway," DarkHeart had said with a joy in his voice, but he wasn't going to give up that easily on this. He feels like he's suppose to know you this stallion was, and that he was a part of the puzzle to finding his own destiny, so if found out more about this stallion, he would that much closer to figuring out what he's meant for in life and finally getting his cutiemark. " So, DarkHeart, are you ready to take the family pledge and takeover the duty of protecting our family heirloom, the Heart of Light," his mother had asked him in a deathly serious tone. DarkHeart gulped when he heard his mother speak like that; seeing as whenever his mother spoke like this, it usually meant that something very, very bad was about to happen, which made wonder what exactly was the pledge that everypony that had protected the amulet before him had to take. He knows that taking over the responsibility of protecting the artifact was important and all, but the way his mother was speaking seemed as if though it was something that could ultimately affect the fate of the entire world instead of just Equestria. But even so he'd prepared himself for anything and everything that could to make sure he would able to protect the amulet, which was the reason why he wasn't afraid of the pledge itself. "Yes mom, I'm ready take the pledge," DarkHeart had responded with some confidence in his voice. " Are you sure you're ready son, because once you take it you can't ever steer away from your duties to protect the amulet." Star Dust responded in the same tone from before. "I'm not just sure, I'm one-percent, without a shadow of doubt confident that I want to take the family pledge and inherit the responsibility of protecting the Heart of Light from any and all who would have evil intentions with its power," as DarkHeart was saying his voice sounded as though it was filled to the brim with confidence, his eyes had the look of unwavering determination within them, and in his parents' eyes he almost appeared to be glowing with a divine light surrounding him.His mother had a smile on her face, seeing her that her son wasn't going to be deterred from the future that laid before him. But, alas her smile soon faded a moment later remembering that now it was the time to officially begin with the pledge and THE INITIATION ; which he was completely unaware of, but it's no surprise considering that no one knows until they take the pledge and have accepted their new duties. Taking the pledge shows that a pony is willing to take on the great responsibility, but completely THE INITIATION proves that they're worthy and that they're capable of protecting the Heart of Light. " Alright then DarkHeart lets begin the ceremony." his mother said as Lucky Streak brought over a silver ornate box with arcane symbols that glowed with a golden light, and the family crest, a heart with majestic wings made of sapphires, embedded into the top of the box. Lucky had opened the top to show that it held the amulet within it and Star Dust is going to start the pledge of the Guardian of the Heart, first she had one more thing to say before they start, "Now DarkHeart in order to take you must clear our mind of all thoughts, good and bad, from your head, close your eyes until the pledge is complete, and repeat what I say word for word; you must follow these instructions or else there will be dire consequences to pay do you understand." " Yes I understand mother," DarkHeart was so excited to finally begin, he was having difficulty containing it, but he managed to keep a serious expression as he answered his mother. " Good now we can began," Star Dust closed her eyes and her horn started to glow with a red-violet aura, which sent a tendril of red-violet energy that surrounded both the Heart of Light and DarkHeart and once the energy had completely enveloped both, she opened her eyes which were now glowing white with pure energy. " The Light is my guide and the heart is my chariot," Star Dust began, her voice sounding as though there were two different ponies talking at the same time. " The Light is my guide and the heart is my chariot," DarkHeart repeated in a serious tone, feeling a strange sensation spreading through out his body. " I will allow the heart to take me across the great path that the light has chosen for me to take," Star Dust's horn was beginning to glow brighter as she poured more magic into it. " I will allow the heart to take me across the great path that the light has chosen for me to take," the sensation within DarkHeart's body was growing stronger within him as he repeated his mother's words. " I shall not stray from the path that has been chosen for me, nor shall I chose not to continue the path once it has been presented," Star Dust's voice was got louder as the next part of the pledge was spoken. " I shall not stray from the path that has been chosen for me, nor shall I chose not to continue the path once it has been presented," DarkHeart was starting to feel as though his body was feeling weightless as it started to slowly fading away. "And no matter what happens to those around me, MY MAIN PRIORITY IS TO PROTECT THE AMULET THAT LINKS ME TO THE HEART AND THE LIGHT," Star Dust's voice had risen to a voice that could compete with the royal canterlot voice, the glowing of her horn growing immensely as the power of amulet started to channel through it and into DarkHeart, feeling her connection with it fade away as more and more energy flowed out of her. "And no matter what happens to those around me, nnngh .....," the power that was flowing into him was starting to sent jolts throughout his body, the rest of his body was fading away at a more rapid pace now; he knew that this was it, all he had to do was repeat the last several words his mother had spoken and he would be the new Guardian of the Heart. But the energy that surged through him was bringing him so much pain, and sapping away his strength which was making it hard for him to speak the pain was becoming unbearable for DarkHeart, but despite all that, he mustered up all the strength that he still had left, allowed the phrase his mother had spoken, "MY MAIN PRIORITY IS TO PROTECT THE AMULET THAT LINKS ME TO THE HEART AND THE LIGHT !!!!" DarkHeart had released all the strength he had gathered into his voice as he spoke the final words of the pledge and after the sudden burst of energy that had crashed within him, he had fallen to the ground exhausted after the exertion of all that energy. Destiny Discovered............"Wake up son," DarkHeart's eyes flung open as he heard his mother's voice speaking to him," there's still one more thing you have to do to be officially be called the new guardian." DarkHeart was back on his feet by this point, looking around trying to decipher where he was. " Mom, dad where are you guys; and what is this place." DarkHeart asked while he was looking around and taking note of his surroundings noting that where ever he was, it looked as though it was some kind of arena. " We are still in the house where we held the ceremony, but that's not important right now what's important is that you know that right now you are within the the Heart of Light at this very moment," Star Dust explained, DarkHeart tried to locate where his mother from where ever her voice was coming from, but found it impossible because it sounded as though her voice was coming from everywhere. " What do you mean I'm in the Heart of Light, and why exactly am I here for anyway?" He was trying to make sense of his situation, but couldn't considering the fact that he had blacked out momentarily after the pledge was completed. " I mean you are in a reality that the amulet has crafted so as to test you and your ability to actually protect it." This just help to confuse DarkHeart even further about what was going on. He thought that once he took the that was that, he doesn't remember hearing his mom saying anything about a test. " Test me, but I thought all had to do was take the pledge of the guardian and I would be the new protector, you never mentioned that I would have to take a test!" " It's the initiation DarkHeart and of course I didn't mention it that's against the ceremony, this is the initiation and as a part of the ceremony it's suppose to remain a secret to those who hope to become the new Guardian of the Heart until after the pledge has been spoken," Star Dust said trying to help DarkHeart understand what exactly it is he will be doing. " The initiation was given to everyone in our family that has wanted to be guardian so as to prove that they are capable enough to protect the amulet. But I wouldn't worry if I were you, DarkHeart everyone that has taken it has passed which means you should get through with no problems what so ever considering you're the only one in our family that has actually dedicated all their time in the hopes of being the able to inherit the responsibility of protect the heart." Star Dust definitely sounded confident in what she had just said. "Well, okay then mom if you really think I'll be able to power through this then I'm ready to start this thing." Just as DarkHeart had finished saying that the earth started to tremble beneath his feet and, what sounded like tremendous foot steps, going towards him. In a matter of moments he saw what it was that was causing the ground to quake as a giant stone changeling golem came stomping into the arena, immediately taking notice to DarkHeart, peering down at him with its glowing gold eyes and appeared to be sizing up its opponent, and judging by what was probably a smirk across its face, it wasn't all that impressed with DarkHeart's form. Star Dust and Lucky Streak had been watching from a magical window that resonated over the amulet; they were both watching intently as their son was getting into a fighting stance, preparing to begin his battle with the very kind of creature that would benefit the most from the power of the heart and so therefore the most likely foe he would have to learn how to fight more than any other creature that he is liking to run into. The two of them had confidence that their son would pass his test and succeed in making one of his dreams a reality, but even so they don't want to miss the action that was about to ensue right in front of their eyes. Though thoughts from earlier were starting to surface to the forefront of their minds, they both felt that they should know who the mysterious stallion should be, but it would have seemed as though his identity has slipped from their minds and the fact that neither of knew who he was but they had the feeling that they did was going to drive them crazy if they didn't figure it out soon. But even so, right now they had more important matters at hand, and that was watching their son finally get something that he's wished for for so long now and maybe even possibly finding out what his true destiny was. DarkHeart was standing there in his signature fighting stance ready to take on the behemoth in front of him, waiting for it to make the first strike, hoping that this creature can put up fight more than those bullies that were picking on him for not having a cutiemark. As the memories of that day had played through his head the golem was suddenly enveloped in a green flame that soon dissipated and left behind an ursa major that looked like it wanted something to squish something, something that soft, fleshy, and would splat the moment it make contact with a hard surface. As DarkHeart stood there, staring at the creature that had just appeared before him, the Ursa lunged at him with its claws ready to tear into him. Brought out of his stupor from seeing the massive beast launching itself into the air and towards him, DarkHeart quickly went to move out of its path, just centimeters from getting a gigantic claw getting embedded into his chest. After he was safely out of the way DarkHeart called upon his magic, enveloping his horn and arms with a crimson aura, channeling it for a massively powerful uppercut into the Ursa's jaw, sending in spiraling onto its back. DarkHeart quickly start to plant a barrage of attacks upon the creature, attacking its arms, firing magical bolts of lighting at the legs as a way to keep it from jumping into the air again, and finally using magically fueled punches and kicks into the creature head and abdomen to further injure the creature. Dodging any counterattacks from the Ursa, DarkHeart kept at his attacks for the next ten minutes until he felt as though the poor creature had deserved enough of a beating from him, he stopped his assaults on it and looked at the damage he had done, seeing the cuts and bruises that laid upon the surface of the creatures translucent, starry night skin, smirking to himself at a job well done and then started to walk away from the battered creature. Watching the events that were taking in place in front of them, Star Dust and Lucky Streak watched as their son turned his back towards his opponent and begin to walk away seeing the look of victory upon his face, but then they looked back to the changeling golem that was still in its Ursa Major form seeing the injuries that had been caused by their son and knew that this battle was far from over. "Man that was way too easy guess mom was right when she said that I would pass the initiation with no problems whatsoever, and I must add, and I do understand that that was a golem, but mom really over exaggerated the power that a changeling has compared to this damn thing well unless I'm really that stroo RRRRRRROOOOOOAAAAARRRRRRR ...ooong." DarkHeart stopped and whipped around, after hearing a powerful roar, to see the shapeshifter get up, its injuries all fully healed, standing tall without a single sign of limp, and its eyes glowing a deep blood red making it clear to all those who looked upon it that it was indeed pissed off and wanted blood, but just the blood of any, but that it wanted DarkHeart's blood. DarkHeart was starting to call upon his magic again to prepare a barrier spell for the imminent attack from the raging giant, but it was too late for the Ursa was already behind him and swiped its claws towards him; swatting DarkHeart like an insect and sending him flying through the stands of the arena, crashing into the ground just outside the arena. DarkHeart was trying to pick himself up and get out of the crater that he was used to create, but as he was just able to stand, a chunk of the wall of the upper walls and columns came crashing down upon him: jagged pieces having found themselves into his right calf, leaving several deep cuts down his back, across his chest, and on his arms, and a rather large piece broke his left leg. Crushed under the rubble of the walls of the arena, DarkHeart was removing the debris from off the top of himself so that he could try and find a place to hide momentarily and use his magic to heal some of use wounds. "How could I have been so stupid and underestimate by opponent like and just turn my back towards him," DarkHeart said as he was finishing removing the rest of the debris off of him and, yet again, began the painful process of getting himself off the ground and getting somewhere safe. His parents were watching in horror as they saw their son get sent through the arena's wall and get crushed by the debris from the weaken structure. Lucky Streak was clenching his fists, not being able to stand seeing his son getting hurt like this, he wanted to help him but he knew that he let his son figure out a way out of this himself and that his wife would have to be the one to allow him to do so if they saw that DarkHeart was in real danger. But Star Dust on the other hand wasn't even trying to act calm, as she was kept saying, "Come on DarkHeart admit defeat, you're far too injured to continue on any further, you'll die if don't give up." She was desperately hoping that her son would say that he's has enough and ask for help, because thanks to another one of the other parts of the initiation is that no pony is allowed to interfere in anyway, not even to save the life of the initiate, or else they will never be able allowed to become the Guardian of the Heart, that is unless the initiate has decided that they are unable to defeat their opponent and give up so as to try to complete The Initiation another day. But considering her son's life is at stake, Star Dust is having a hard time deciding whether to interfere and possibly crush her son's dreams, or just stand by and watch on the sidelines hoping that he is either able come up with a plan or gives up. RRRRRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Changeling golem, now changed back to it original form, was now trying to track down DarkHeart seeing as how he managed to escape from the arena's area and find a place to hide, but unknown to the changeling, he was closer that it suspected at the moment; because DarkHeart had decided to take shelter in a nearby den that had been created from the interlocking roots of a group of trees that had been near where he had create the crater with his own body. DarkHeart was hard at work trying to heal the injuries he had, first concentrating on the wounds on his legs for he figured that he had to least be able to move quickly should he be discovered by the creature before he was unable to heal himself completely, " AHHH, damn it that fucking hurts, but I guess it's my own damn fault considering I didn't check to see if that changeling was defeated and deliver the finishing blow if it hadn't; I swear I'm an idiot sometimes, but I have to hold back as long as I know mom and dad are watching, I can't let them know about that yet at least not until I can control it a little better." DarkHeart was determined to finish this and finally get the amulet; but it would've seem that fate had other plans for him, the changeling had finally located where he was hiding and DarkHeart's injuries on his legs were still too severe for him to move fast enough to get away from it. The golem had transformed just had it had when they first started their fight, but this time when the flames vanished, a dragon was left in a crouching position. The dragon used its nimble claws to reach into to little den and pull him out, but DarkHeart had an advantage considering there wasn't any place for it to look through so it could see where it had to grab in order to reach him, and so he was able to move around it and avoid capture. The dragon/changeling was growing impatiently aggregated from not having caught his prey and perhaps a nice little snack, but definitely not before dishing out a little back out on this unicorn stallion, so after doing this for the last fifty-two minutes the dragon decided to spew a bout of flames onto the trees that made up den and try to force out the pest before it. The winged reptile decided to sit in front of the entrance and wait for DarkHeart to make a break for it. DarkHeart, trapped and injured, was trying to figure a way out of the mess he was in when he felt something cool under his hand, it was a patch of mud, there was a little puddle of it that was quickly drying up from the flames around it. An ember landed on his hand making him realize that he still needed to get out when he looked back outside to see the dragon sitting in front it watching, waiting for him to run right into his claws with " its.... eyes..... looking down......into the......hole," DarkHeart's muzzle was slowly forming into smile as an idea popped into his head. He turned back towards the mud puddle and scooped up a glob of it into his hands and hid behind himself so as not to arouse suspicion from the carnivorous creature watching him. He then turned back to the entrance of his flaming prison, ready to charge straight into the face of his possible demise." All right on the count of three I go for it and hope for the best," DarkHeart was preparing his body for the plan he had came up with. He was getting rather nervous about what he was about to attempt, Okay here I go, One......, he saw the sixteen years he had been alive, flash right in front of his eyes, finding something to give him the motivation, the strength he needed to keep on going and finish this, Two......., an image of him and his parents, at the park, in the spring, when he was five; they had all looked so happy, especially himself, remembering how happy he was when it was just him and his parents and he didn't have to deal with all the constant taunting, name calling, and bullying from all those ignorant fools who barely even know what kind of pony he really is, he remembered the joy and happiness he felt back then, back then all those feelings that made any pony feel good were genuine and pure. And with that thought coming to the forefronts of his mind and it filled him with the determination that he needed to charge forth, "THREE!!!!", DarkHeart charged forth, towards the dragon pulling out the mud he had from behind his back and flung it right into the creature's eyes and blinding him for a few moments. With the dragon's temporary blindness giving him the chance he's needed this whole time in order to escape; DarkHeart ran out of the flaming deathtrap, glad that he was able to escape the dragon's grasp, when suddenly he felt scaly claws wrap themselves around his torso and lift him a several feet of the ground. " Oh shit, this definitely isn't going to end well for me." DarkHeart was trying to break free from the grips of his capture as he was brought to be directly into of its face. The anger in the beast's eyes was more than enough for DarkHeart to understand that this creature was going to make the next moments of his life excruciatingly painful. " Well it would as though i'm trapped within your grasp, so what are you gonna do now," DarkHeart asked, as a way to kind of mock the creature even though he knows that it probably wasn't one of the best options to go with at that moments, cause right after he finished his sentence , a wicked grin appeared on its it started to repeatedly slammed him a few yards into the ground and creating an imprint of DarkHeart into the earth below. This went on for a few minutes before the dragon had stopped and decided to switch, to throwing DarkHeart at the coliseum and back into arena and then flying back to the arena to pick him up again and throw right out the coliseum walls again and into the forest, repeating this process until the coliseum itself was turned to ruble. DarkHeart's parents watched in horror as their son was just thrown around like a rag-doll and being beaten by this creature who had been fuming with rage the entire time, but at the time having the time of its life with its new punching bag for the time being. Their internal struggle they had with deciding whether or not they should help out their son was quickly subsided as they both came to an agreement; they care more about their son than some family legacy, Star Dust quickly opened up a portal to the reality within the Heart of Light and both her and Lucky Streak went through it to go save their son's life. "You know, we should have told him that we would've helped out if he needed any help, or at the very least told him about the whole giving up thing so that way he would be able to have another chance at completing the initiation again." Lucky said to his wife, his voice giving off the hint that he felt bad for interfering in the initiation and destroying DarkHeart's dreams of being the guardian. "Yeah I know, but you know just as well as I do that even if I had told him before, we would still be in the same situation we're in now. After all our little Darky doesn't exactly like to admit when he's beaten and is going to need help, and for some reason he likes to think as himself as the lone wolf type, seeing as though he does spend a lot of time alone nowadays." Thinking about recent years, Lucky Streak couldn't really argue with her on that point. Thanks to all the bullying, teasing, and name-calling from his classmates, DarkHeart has become rather isolated from everypony that wasn't his parents, but even around them he still seem a little distant at home whenever they spend time together as a family. Though despite all of that, they both know that their will always love them and will always love spending time with them and that he doesn't mean to seem so distant when all of them are together. As Star Dust and Lucky Streak were traveling through the portal that led inside the amulet, DarkHeart was still somewhat holding his own as he was still taking on the relentless beating from the changeling golem, that still laid within its dragon form, that showed no sign of stopping soon. "AAARRRGGG you bastard you are so going get it AAAAAAHHH." the dragon punched DarkHeart with enough force to send him through the mountain that was nearby. DarkHeart skyrocketed out of the mountain side through a group of trees and plowing into the ground, again creating a crater using his own body. He laid there for a moment, or so, groaning in pain as he allowed himself a second to catch his breath before getting back up despite the extreme pain he was in. Just as he got up the dragon had landed right in front of him, shaking the ground and knocking DarkHeart back onto his ass.It took all the strength he had left just to stand himself up once but now that he's been knocked back onto the ground with no more energy left he laid there. The dragon loomed over him, readying its claws for strike that looked like it was going use its claws as a sword and pierce it straight through his body. No longer willing to drag this out any further, the beast went to strike him down, thrusting down its claw sword down towards its target with a smug grin on its face, while DarkHeart tried yet again to get up and dodge the attack towards him. DarkHeart saw that he no chance of possibly dodging it and so decided his best chance of surviving was to summon what magic he had left in an attempt to dodge, but he would have to do quick seeing as the object of his death was only a few feet away and closing in quick. Trying to use what magic he could muster, that is if he has anything left to use, DarkHeart was trying to put up a shielding spell as an attempt to protect himself, but it would seem as though he's got nothing left to use and so resided to just taking the hit head on and see if he could come out of it alive, or at least within a few inches from death. The claws were just mere inches away from DarkHeart, as he opened his mouth to say his last words, "Mom, dad, I'm sorry I let you down it would seem as though I wasn't ready to take on such a great responsibility after all. Goodbye and I love the both you with all my heart." As DarkHeart finished he saw how close his imminent demise was, and close his eyes ready for what to come as he felt the heat that was emanating off the hands of the beast from the anger and thirst for revenge surged through the creature's form, when suddenly a strong gust of wind blew around him and the heat just vanished like it was never there. DarkHeart opened his eyes to figure why the golem that had wanted to kill him had stopped its attack when he saw something he wasn't really sure he actually saw. Both of his parents were there, right in front of him and the golem was on its backs, and looking like he just got all the air knocked out its lungs. His father with a medieval looking battleaxe in his grasps, clenching onto it tightly, wearing some kind of weird looking armor on. While his mother was adorning the ancient battle suit, that has been passed down from guardian to guardian, and clasping her twin sabers, ready to strike should the creature be foolish enough to get back up and attack them. Unbeknownst to many, the unicorns of DarkHeart's family are truly gifted in combat related magic. Their spells, just like everything else, has been passed down the generations keeping their craft alive. No other creature that is able to harness magic knows their techniques, but the spell that has given them the upper hand in many of the battles they've fought over the years has been their Weaponization Spell. The weaponization spell is how they create their own unique weapons that compliment their individual fighting styles, almost like the weapon itself is a part of the soul of whoever uses it, but only DarkHeart, his mother-Star Dust, and any other unicorn in his family that is alive today. Well actually scratch that because DarkHeart is still unable to call upon the spell to summon his own unique weapon, but again just one of the things he'd hope would solve itself once he had became a guardian. But back the point at hand, though there were others who knew the spell, Star Dust was the only one who knew how to make the spell more effective in battle. She developed a method in which she is able to use the spell to call and recall her anytime she wants. Everypony else only uses the spell once to summon their weapon and then store it somewhere themselves, which is rather inconvenient whenever you're ambushed and there's no way for you to get it to defend yourself. But, of course, Lucky wasn't able to use the spell; he just figured since he knew that she protected an amulet filled with immense power, and he wasn't exactly fond with the idea of being on the sidelines during any of the times his wife was protecting it, and so he decided to get himself an axe, find out how to use it, as well as actually how to fight. Both of his parents were great fighters and DarkHeart was on equal terms with them in terms of fighting abilities as well as strength, but it seems as though the fact that he could only rely on his barefist and magic to his aid and so was outmatched in that aspect and so was, in all technicality weaker than them, but its not like it stopped him from becoming the best he could be and even then try to become even better than that. DarkHeart got back up to his feet and looked upon the creature that was about to end his life just a few moments ago, which was back to its original form, and then back to his parents, I can't believe they had to bail me out, this is unacceptable hopefully I can take the initation again and redeem myself, though I guess I wouldn't have to take it again if I wasn't so fucking weak, DarkHeart had thought allowing himself to become entranced by his thoughts not noticing that his parents were running up to him. "Oooohhh, Darky we were so worried about you, we thought we were going to lose you," Star Dust said tears running down her face, relieved that her was safe and sound within her arms. "You really had us worried there son, you do know that right. I mean how reckless can you be, allowing yourself to take that kind of beating and not call for help, especially when you were moments away from death!!!" Lucky Streak was expressing his own worries to his son about this ordeal he had found himself in, tears threatening to break free from his eyes.DarkHeart could plainly hear the pain in his father's voice and could tell that he was more hurt that what his tone would've led on. Hearing this, DarkHeart tried to answer, only to open and close his mouth several times, not able to find a response that would be able to explain his actions without sounding like was he ungrateful to them for saving his life. Not finding such a response, DarkHeart just put his head down in shame, while his mother started her own ranting. "Your father is right Darky, what exactly were you thinking. I know you wanted to get the amulet today but for Celestia's sake you could've called for help the moment you saw that you weren't going to be able to defeat the golem, and another thing Darky I," "Please stop calling Darky mom, I'm not eight years old anymore!" DarkHeart blurted out, interrupting his mother, starting to feel enraged about how his initiation had gone and the fact that his parents had to be the ones to get him out of the mess he had gotten himself into knowing full well that it all could have been prevented if he hadn't been so cocking. "You want to why I did what did, well fine! I didn't want your help okay, I wanted to be able to something on my own without having the two of you bail me out again." His parents stood there like statues staring at their enraged son. "But why allow yourself to be killed by that creature when you saw you had no chance of winning." his father had asked him. "Because all my life, I've never been able to solve my own problems its always been you two that have done it for me and because of that I felt that if I couldn't solve this problem alone I'd rather die than be bailed out again." That last part had really struck DarkHeart's parents. He would've rather died instead of let them help him, after he had said that, the two of them were now very reluctant on telling him about the fact that he wouldn't be able to redo the initiation and get a second chance at becoming a guardian. " Look I know that sounds rather harsh, but it's how i really feel, but it doesn't mean I love you any less for coming to my rescue and I'm extremely grateful for, even if I don't sound like it right now, it's just I rather have found a way out of this myself. Though I do suppose I'll still have that chance now considering that I'll know what to expect when I go to retake this initiation again and be ready for another battle with that golem." Star and Lucky's expression's changed to ones of worry as they glanced between themselves and their son. "What is it, is there something that you haven't told me yet," DarkHeart asked, seeing the expressions on his parents' faces that made him think that there was another hidden clause in the ritual. " Well DarkHeart you won't," Star Dust was going to start explaining what their actions have done for his chances of becoming a guardian. "What? I won't what mom?" DarkHeart was starting to fear that his worst case scenario was going to come true. "You won't be able to redo the initiation again." Star Dust was having a hard time finishing her sentence for fear of seeing her son's face when she told him, so Lucky Streak decided to finish her sentence for her. "Wh, wh, what do you mean I won't be able to redo the initiation?" DarkHeart's fears were indeed coming true, he just hopes that what he thinks prevents him from obtaining his isn't what he thinks it is. "Well because of your father and I coming in here to save your life. Your initiation ended and you lost the privilege to complete it again at any time you wanted." His mother explained to him all the while watching as her son's expression slowly started to go from a worried to sadden to heartbroken as he had just heard that his dream was now gone. "This is the reason we were getting onto you about not calling us for help. As long as you had asked for it we would've done what we had just done to the golem, you would've been saved, and could retake the initiation's test, but because you didn't we had to come here without your permission and ruin all that." Lucky Streak told DarkHeart as a way to help him understand why they were riding on him so hard about the subject. "So instead speaking up and telling me all that when I was starting to have a hard time beating the golem, you decided to stay quiet and let me get a beating and then come to save my life and destroy my dream." DarkHeart's voice was filled with venom as he said that. Finding out that both of his knew this information and kept it to themselves angered DarkHeart to the point that it appeared that there was steam coming off of his body. My chance of finding out what my destiny could have been and they destroyed it, now what am I suppose to do I got nothing else that help me. I've tried everything I could to find out what my special talent is and get my cutiemark and so now I got nothing to go on. DarkHeart's mind yet again pulls him into own world as his thoughts started to swirl within his head, all of them with messages of anger, of uncrushed dreams, and...... of darkness. They were speaking to him in voices that definitely were not his own, but did sound familiar, telling him that this was his parent's fault, that they to blame for the pain that now surged through his heart and the darkness, which was growing at a steady rate, that was nestling in his very soul. While DarkHeart was still within the confines of his mind, Star and Lucky were talking to one another trying to figure out a way to bypass the clause that prevents their from accomplishing his own goals. "Star, sweetie, I don't think we're going to be the same family we once ever again," Lucky said getting his wife's attention. "What are you talking about Lucky dear we gonna be fine. We'll find a loophole in the rules of the initiation, tell Darky about it, he'll pass whatever tasks he needs to do, become the new Guardian of the Heart, and he'll find out what makes him special." StarDust was in denial about the fact that they more than likely lost they knew and he would drive them away, but it didn't escape from Lucky as he put a hand on his wife's shoulder as she continued looking through the ancient scrolls that withheld everything about the process of becoming a guardian. "Honey you got face facts, our DarkHeart is gone from us. I mean look at him, he's never gone into this state around us before. I've only seen him get like this is whenever he comes home from a day of endless teasing from the other fillies and colts at school, and usually he's really angry when he is." Star Dust stopped looking through the scrolls as Lucky Streak finished. "I know, but I don't want to lose our son to the darkness of the world just because he's meant for great things, but it seems that no matter what we do he is still rejected and shunned, not knowing what it feels like to have ponies, besides your family, stand by you and support you through your problems." Star Dust's gazed was down casted as she remembered the childhood she had, all of her friends, and all the adventures they had had together, wishing that her son could have had the same thing instead of the some of the things that fate was so unkind as to dish out to him. As the two of them continued their conversation, a forgotten threat was starting to get awaken from his unconscious state and it was extremely angry and thirsty for blood. The changeling golem got up from his position on the ground, and looked around to be greeted by the sight of the very two ponies who it had wanted to go after and by the looks of it they were distracted which meant now would be the perfect chance to ambush them. It quietly started towards them still in its original form, not wanting to get caught before it was in position because of the flames, it crept up behind them taking note that DarkHeart was staring right at it but yet not making a move to warn the others that just came to save him. The golem was right on top of the two ponies who were still in the midst of their conversation, and not noticing the creature that loomed before them and its previous target still standing ten feet away from them, still not moving a muscle. With it being in prime striking position the golem was engulfed in green flames, yet again in its draconian form. The two ponies jumped the very moment they saw the green glow of the flames and appeared to try to go after their weapons, but were too late as the golem already had them within its grasp. Star Dust didn't understand what was going on as she and her husband were captured by the golem. The golem should have vanished after they attacked it, whether it be from them interfering or from the force of their combined attack, and the initiation over and done with, so why was this thing still here? But that question could be saved for after they were freed from the two of them were out of its grip and had defeated it. The golem watched as the two ponies in its claws were squirming and struggling to obtain their freedom and then it looked back to the third pony, the one who was its initial target, still standing in the spot like a statue when an idea suddenly form in the beast's head. Using its changeling magic, the creature's eyes started glowing a sickly green as an aura the same color formed around DarkHeart's parents. Star Dust and Lucky Streak started to feel strange as the magic started to warp their minds, they were starting to believe that the dragon-changeling golem-in front them was not their enemy but instead their friend and that they needed to protect it from its enemies and unfortunately for DarkHeart he was in that classification. So now under the golem's control, DarkHeart's parents set their sights upon him and were moving in for the attack. Meanwhile the voices within his head were still filling it with dark thoughts and making him even angrier than he already was. They ruined your one chance at finding out your destiny, their not on your side, they want you to fail, they want you to feel like a useless piece of trash that can accomplish nothing, do you want that? The voices were getting louder and louder as they continued to try and turn DarkHeart against his parents. Just because he was angry at them for not telling him about the clause that would prevent him from retaking the initiation, it doesn't mean he was going to drive himself away from them and be alone but the voices still persisted in spite of this. Let the darkness go, it will feel better to allow your anger to guide you down the right path and make your dreams come true. Darkness is the only friend you can rely on, so why not just let it help and help you accomplish your goals. "No I won't allow you to be free, you've already caused me enough problems, I won't let you screw up my life anymore than you already have." DarkHeart now knew who the voice belonged to. It was the voice of the dark side if himself that had first spoken to him a little over six years ago, it had made its presence known to him one day while he was being picked on by his classmates at school. DarkHeart, at the time, was a sensitive colt and whenever he was made fun of for not having his cutiemark he would curl up into a ball and start to cry until a teacher or somepony older than any of them would make them disperse, but on this particular day he didn't curl up his body into a ball, he instead curled up his hands into fist. The other kids that had been making fun of him saw this and took as a challenge,but for DarkHeart the fact that he couldn't control his body was a terrifying one. Never would he fight unless he felt that his life was in danger and right now he definitely didn't feel any danger whatsoever from the colts and fillies in front of him. But he did feel like something bad was about to happen, he felt as though he was watching through his own eyes almost like they're cameras. A voice seemingly from nowhere started to speak to him, "Don't worry DarkHeart when I'm done you will never have to with these kinds of ponies ever again I'll make them remember why they fear the darkness," The mysterious voice had told him in a tone that was filled with joy. "Who are you? What are you? And why have you taken over my body?" DarkHeart was confused as to what this creature was and why was it doing this to him. "You have no need to worry DarkHeart. I'm your friend and am here to help and as for my name, well you can just call me Shadow. I am a spirit who is here to he....he , teach ponies why they shouldn't mock you," 'Shadow', sounded too happy when he said that last part, and that little chuckle didn't sound like a normal pony would use for this situation, and DarkHeart had a guess as to why that was. Suddenly he felt his body start to move, he may not have had control over what he was doing but he could still feel everything, he saw that he was heading towards to group in front of him with a few of the bigger colts making their way to the front of the group. When he was right in the face of one of them, his body stopped, just standing there staring the bully in the eyes when he suddenly felt himself jump backwards and seeing the colt's fist swing in front of his face seeing now that the spirit controlling his body was going to allow his body to be harmed. Shortly after Shadow had moved out of the way of another punch aimed towards him from a different colt from his right, the spirit went on the offensive, beginning with a clean uppercut to the jaw of the first colt that swung at him, then a gut shot towards a colt to the left while at the same time grabbing a hold of the left leg of the colt on his right. DarkHeart was amazed and scared at the fighting skills of the spirit, seeing as it managed to land a few powerful blows to their opponents, keeping the colts from landing a blow, and making them fight against each other to help humiliate them even further. The colts didn't stand a chance against the spirit but Shadows tactics were just cruel, though DarkHeart did want to cause these guys the same pain they've caused him, he wasn't the type of pony who like to watch others suffer especially, when he was able to stop, and now would be no different. "Shadow stop this now, can't you see they're giving up," DarkHeart wanted to stop this crazy spirit from doing any more harm to these colts no matter the cost. But why would I stop, they still haven't learned to properly fear the darkness that is right in front of them, and besides you know you like seeing them suffer just as much as I do." Shadow was enjoying himself immensely and he didn't want to give that up, not yet at least, he was having too much fun after all he might chose to stop when the fun dies down. DarkHeart wasn't going to let this thing control him any longer, and there is the fact that Shadow was using 'his' body, he would be the one to blame for this and he's pretty sure no pony will believe him when he tells them that he was being controlled by some dark spirit." I said this, NOW!!" "Oh ho ho it looks like somepony has grown a pair of balls now doesn't it," Shadow had a big cocking smirk plastered on his face as he watched DarkHeart's temper start to rise. " And it would also have seemed that you're letting the darkness start to consume you as well." DarkHeart had taken note of the black energy flow around his form, enveloping his form in darkness and he could feel that he was regaining control of his body. "It would seem so, but I think should be more worried about the fact that I'm getting back control of my body" DarkHeart was, just as Shadow said, gaining some courage; he wasn't afraid if the spirit anymore and he was determined to show him that. "When then what see what you're capable of then, shall we." DarkHeart felt a strange sensation overtake him as Shadow transported the two of them to a new domain. "Like what you see, this is my world, it's a place where I'm king and all who enter here are subject to my control. It also means I'm able to control everything you do, but the only difference between controlling you here and controlling you in your world is that in here you can't escape my control, at least not without the aid of dark magic which next to no unicorns know, except for the one that was known as King Sombra, but his existence as been extinguished long ago." To emphasize his point to DarkHeart, Shadow created a huge castle with an overly sized throne and made DarkHeart start doing some ridiculous dance against his will. "You see you are now my puppet and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it." DarkHeart was starting to get frustrated from the ridiculous action that the spirit was making him preform. In fact he was getting even angrier than he was just a few moments ago and the same dark energy field started to envelope him again. As the spirit kept on making do ridiculous tasks, DarkHeart's anger was growing and along with it the dark energy around him. He had just about had enough of being controlled when he decided to take matters into his hands. "EEE-NOUGH!!!! With that the dark energy around him sent out a powerful that knocked Shadow right onto his ass and seized whatever control he had on DarkHeart. "I'm sick of ponies making a fool out of me, and not about to let some spirit come out of nowhere and take over my life. I may not be that good of a fighter but when the going gets tough I can always deliver." Shadow was shocked at what just happened; another unicorn who control dark magic how can that be, especially since this one still had good within his heart, so how can he can he use at all. "You think you can beat me and get out of this place kid, well then go ahead and try, but I must warn you it won't be easy whatsoever." He didn't know what this young colt was capable of but by the looks of it neither does he, so he may not know how to use it properly. "I will, but I don't need to beat you, the way I see it, if I could escape this little world of yours, I'll be free from your grasp and you would be stuck here seeing as though you were able escape because of the fact I've been in constant fear whenever I go to school. I mean after all, you are my dark spirit aren't you Shadow." This earned DarkHeart a shocked look from the spirit, seeing he didn't even know how this young one could have figured that out especially without any hints from him to the kid standing in front of him. "I gotta to give it to you DarkHeart, you are definitely one smart kid. Shit if we were to combine your brains with my power and skill we could become unstoppable." "Sorry but I think I'll pass no becoming the accomplice to a homicidal spirit of darkness." DarkHeart just wanted to get out of this place and get away from this freak and hopefully go back to being himself. "Very well then suit yourself then," Suddenly a bright light appeared behind DarkHeart. He looked behind himself to see what looked like a doorway, wondering what Shadow was planning but saw that the spirit was just lounging about on a newly created hammock. "What are you doing I thought you were going to try and kill me and take over my body to do whatever it is you were planning on doing," DarkHeart asked, confused as to why Shadow was suddenly acting like he didn't care. It's just as you said earlier, I'm 'YOUR' dark spirit if you don't exist then neither do I, and I can't take over your body after you broke through my control twice already so would be no point in doing so. Not to mention that there's no way for me to trap you here, after all this is nothing more than your subconscious, I just kinda moved in here and called it mine since there was nothing here in the first place, so yeah I can't really do anything so might as well as just let you go." DarkHeart tried to see if there was any deception in his words but couldn't detect any so he decided to just head towards the door that would lead him back to the conscious world again, but not before he looked back to Shadow to ask him one last thing before the he left the spirit alone. " Aren't you worried that you'll be stuck here forever?" "No, but then again I won't be stuck here forever, another day will come when you'll lose yourself again and call upon the darkness in your heart to get whatever it is you'll want when the time comes, but until then yeah I'll be stuck here, see you then DarkHeart." "I told you you would call upon the darkness and I would be free yet again." Shadow smiling within his own world, happy that he had another chance to turn DarkHeart. "What the hell are you laughing about you jackass? Last I was still in control of what I do, and besides I learned how to control the dark power a while ago." DarkHeart definitely non in the mood to deal with this bastard of spirit right now. Because in a few seconds here you'll be given the final push you need to allow the darkness to consume your being, both physically and metaphorically." "What the hell are you talking aboooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!" DarkHeart felt a hard impact hit him and send him spiraling through the forest yet again. "Anypony get the number of the cart that hit me," DarkHeart was disoriented from both the blow he took and the impact of the landing. "Hey DarkHeart buddy you might want to look straight up ahead if you want to find the 'cart' that hit you." The dark spirit enjoying himself as he watched DarkHeart stumble around a bit trying to regain his bearings. DarkHeart had finally gotten his senses alignment back to normal as he looked straight ahead of him to find out what it was that had hit him thinking that it may have been the golem having gotten back up and snuck up on him, but what he saw instead made his eyes widen to the size of saucers. What, or rather who,stood where he had been standing and talking with Shadow, was his parents, and for reason the looked pissed. "Mom, Dad what are you doing, and why did you attack me?" DarkHeart asked, examining his parents to see if he could figure out what was wrong with them but couldn't find anything that might have led to the cause of their attack. Star Dust and Lucky Streak didn't answer their son's question but started to rush towards him instead, the golem was hanging back so as to allow the three of them to duke out amongst themselves to tire each other out before it moves in for the final blow, or maybe it'll get lucky and they'll take each other and save it the trouble o doing it itself. "So what are you going to do DarkHeart? First, your parents took away your chances of finally finding out your destiny, and now they've turned against you, how much more disappointment are you gonna take before you accept the fact that the only way for you to get what you want is to let the darkness consume you and set me free." "NO, I not gonna let the darkness take control again, and I'm most certainly not fighting my parents. I already know that they aren't doing this of their own accord, that bloody golem must have brain-washed them or something but I don't know for sure." DarkHeart did feel uncertain that they're being controlled by the golem but believing that his own parents, that have loved him with all their heart, would be preposterous. Plus that thing has proven itself to be a sneaky, brutal little shit throughout the time all of them have been here. With that thought in mind DarkHeart was set upon finding the golem, defeating it, and releasing its control of his parents. Before he could set out though he needed to find a way to outrun and out-maneuver his parents without harming them. But judging on their current speed right now he probably could, but there is also the fact that his parents have a tendency to hold back, so there's the possibility that they might not be going using 100 percent of their full strength at the moment. Okay DarkHeart you can do this, if all goes well, you can get your parents to knock out the golem again and disable its mind controlling spell, if it's using a spell. DarkHeart was waiting for his parents to get closer so that he had a chance to get a good head start from them and find the golem. As his parents were in prime strike position, DarkHeart ran in between them, causing them to miss their target and their weapons to get wedged into the ground. As those two were trying to pull their weapons free from their earthy prison, DarkHeart was making back to where he had been before he was sent spiraling into the air, in hopes of finding a trace of the creature, or better yet, find the damn creature standing nearby, now that would be great. Getting revenge and saving his parents all in the same hour that would make up for this entire mess for a while. Running as fast as he could, DarkHeart quickly was back to his original spot and looking around for any signs of his target, when he spotted what appeared to be a pair of gold glowing eyes. He went into action as the glowing orbs darted away, So the beast is running away maybe it knows what my plan is, hmph no matter I'll still proceed as planned, hostile and cautious, I won't allow it to get the jump on me or allow it to get away from me either. He gave chase to the beast as it ran from him hidden within the covering of trees. DarkHeart was only chasing the creature for a few minutes before he had finally caught up with it. "Where do you think you're going you son of bitch," He pinned the creature down with a few magical lighting bolts aimed at some of the trees around it sparking up a blaze in the forest. "I go you now, and now the two of us will end this with one of us buried six-feet under." Takes to the little break he had gotten earlier during his rant with the dark spirit he was back to full strength, and equipped with the knowledge of the golem's fighting style, he was ready to have another go at it. Wasting no time, the creature transformed into, would you've guess it, a dragon. It didn't wait for the flames to dissipate as it lashed out its claws towards DarkHeart in hopes of throwing off the angry colt. It was in vain as DarkHeart had managed to move around the attack with ease and going to deliver a counterattack heading for the creature's face, delivering a magically enhanced uppercut that sent the beast flying into the inferno that was once the forest. Though the fire was unable to burn the golem with it being in its dragon form but it did offer little to no visibility for the beast so it was unable to see where it was going or see where its attacker may be. It knew that ponies weren't fireproof but with the rage and darkness shining DarkHeart's eyes it knew better than to believe that it wouldn't be pursued by the angry pony. DarkHeart had proven the creature right as he came crashing through some of the burning trees that were still standing, rushing to the golem's position and going in to land another blow into its chest but was cut off as his parents came in before he could land the punch and he was knocked away. At this point DarkHeart was gritting his teeth. He felt so helpless, so weak, so. . . so . . . . . . . " Useless." Star Dust charged a her son, her sabers poised to deal a lethal blow to him, and Lucky Streak was going above him to keep him from avoiding either one of their attacks. DarkHeart was left with only a few choices: (One, he could just move into the flames, but without a path through them he would most surely be burned. (Two he could try to block the attacks and take them head on, but again he wouldn't be able to come out of that unsciathed. (Three, he could charge at one of them knock them off their feet and have straight shot back to the golem, but he wasn't even going to consider that option so he disregarded it, so he guessed it was option one or two then. With not much time to think DarkHeart decided to turn around and head into the forest, channeling his magic to his feet to make move faster than his legs would normally allow them to carry him to get out of the forest as fast as he could. DarkHeart managed to get out of the forest, but not without some bad burns all over his form, but at least he was safe for now and he just had to wait for them to find him. Unfortunately though for DarkHeart, he didn't get long to rest as his parents and the golem came through the veil of flames that now was the forest. "I seriously regret setting the forest on fire now. It definitely not one of the better of ideas I've came up with in the past." DarkHeart deeply regretted setting the forest ablaze, all it did for him was entrap him within in its walls of flame, and give him some serious burns. DarkHeart suddenly felt a great pain over take his body as he was watching the golem, his father, and, his mother!? He noticed that what appeared to be his mother was nothing more than an illusion as a burning branch fell right through it. He tried to look around for her but whenever he moved the pain got worse, he looked down to find out where the source of his displeasure, but what he found shocked him. Coming out of his stomach and chest were his mom's sabers, DarkHeart turned his head back to see Star Dust behind him holding her swords in place. A surge of magic could be felt going through the blades that had pierced his body, and DarkHeart started to worry knowing exactly what was happening. The surge kept growing in power before a moment later he felt that same magic begin to put incredible force into his back as his mother activated her attack the "HOLY MISSILE!!!!!!" DarkHeart was engulfed in an all-consuming light as his body was propelled forward from the power pushing its way into him. When the light had finally vanished, with a trail of destruction left in its wake, and at the end of that trail was DarkHeart; he was on the tipping point between life and death, he felt so weak that breathing was an immense struggle for him. He watched as the three figures approached him and looked now upon his beaten form. The golem was looking down on him with the look of victory written all over its face, and as DarkHeart's vision started to slowly fade into blackness, it was the last face he had seen asa he slipped into death's hands. I guess I wasn't meant for anything in this world. I really am just a worthless waste of space, I guess the biggest joke ever played on me was the one I played on myself, actually believing I was somepony worth while. DarkHeart was slipping agonizingly slow into the dark abyss of death and was forced to remember all of the failures of his life until he stopped at the fact that he had failed his parents, the most important ponies in his life. My biggest failure ever is the one that I die on. I've failed the two of you, mom and dad, I just hope you can forgive me. I just wished that I could have freed you two from the golem before I died. The memories from earlier, when his parents had rescued him, started to play right in front of his eyes, and as he watched he started to remember everything they had told him about what they had done when they interfered. He started to remember how it was his parents that had crushed his dreams, that it was his parent's fault as to why he was in this situation at all, and now thanks to their neglectance on telling him the rules of the initiation, he laid on his deathbed with the image of the fucking creature that had been the one to further cement the fact the fact that he had lost everything in only a matter of hours. NO! This is their fault, they should've told me everything I needed to know about this damn initiation the moment it started. I'm not going to pay for their mistake, I'm done paying for the mistakes of others. DarkHeart 's anger was rising to extreme levels, and he felt a familiar presence starting to make an appearance after so many years of containment. The dark energy that had helped him fend off Shadow all those years ago was now coming back only this time it was visible to the ones that had tried to end him. It was healing his wounds at an incredible pace, making it look like DarkHeart hadn't suffered even a scratch on him. "You see what happens when you listen to me DarkHeart. The dark power will make sure you prevail over your foes and embed the image of you as the harbinger of death when you're finished. Well, that is, if they're still alive to even remember." "SHUT YOUR MOTHERFUCKING MOUTH SHADOW, YOU WILL SPEAK WHEN I ALLOW YOU TO SPEAK, GOT IT!!" Dark had yelled at the dark spirit, as he started to regain his strength, stood back up with the dark energy flowing around him and his scarlett eyes fading to pure black, showing nothing but the darkness that laid within him. "But I thought we were in this together now. I told ya. . . . ." "YOU EITHER SHUT IT NOW OR I'LL MAKE SURE YOU REGRET EVER BEING BROUGHT INTO EXISTENCE. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR, WELL!!!" The darkness around him started to completely engulf him and changing his body. "Ye. . . . .ye. . . . . .yes si. . . sir". Shadow stuttered out in a tiny voice. An evil smirk appeared on DarkHeart's face within the shroud of darkness. "Good, now it's time I take care of this pest once and for all and teach my parents not to interfere where they're not wanted." His voice sounded as if two different ponies were talking at same time. The darkness that had enveloped DarkHeart's body was changing his appearance, even his clothing. The three that had been trying to kill him couldn't see what it was doing to him but they had the feeling that whatever it was doing to him wasn't good. But they would soon get their answer as the darkness energy swirling around him was starting to dissipate. What they had all seen wasn't what they had expected to see, his appearance definitely changed bu they had been expecting a little more out of it. DarkHeart's black, messy looking mane and tail had turned white with streaks of scarlett red, midnight blue, and jet black; his right eye stayed it's usual scarlett color, but his right eye was now an emerald green draconic one, his fingers and teeth had turned into claws and fangs, and scales appeared to be forming around his neck and arms, and that was only what you could see from who knows what other changes had happened under his new wardrobe. His usual attire of jeans, black shirt, gray hoodie, was replaced by black pants that gave off a shine, which the others figured was suppose to be armor; a black, long-sleeved shirt that looked to be made of the same material, a cloak similar to the one DarkHeart had seen that mysterious stallion from his vision was wearing was now in his possession. His shoes managed to turn into steel-plated boots, gauntlets covered his hands and the lower arms, steel shoulder guards were equipped onto him, and strange device rested itself upon the right side of his chest secured by four straps, two going over his shoulders and two wrapping themselves around his waist, and upon it was a symbol on it, it was of a black heart that looked to be metallic in appearance with wings adorned on the top of it and a hole right in the center of it. DarkHeart was examining his new form with nothing but utter fascination, this new form just radiated with power and he liked it-A LOT. But, even though he was fascinated with his new look, DarkHeart cut the self-admiration short as the golem decided to make sure he still remembered that it was still there by sending out a 'small' magical blast at him. Although DarkHeart saw the blast but didn't even bother trying to block it, he just stood there as it connected with him, an explosive followed after impact and a cloud of dust and smoke rose into the sky. As the cloud started to clear away the three beings watching saw that DarkHeart was completely unharmed with not a scratch on him and he stood there, looking at them with a glare so intense that, if looks could kill, they would've been wiped from existence. "Alrighty then I think I given you enough time to write your wills, now it's time for all of you to feel my wrath." DarkHeart started to channel his new dark magic into the palms of his hands as he watched them get ready for his next strike. He the magic in his hands redirected itself towards the tips of his claws. Once he felt that he had what he wanted he sprinted towards them, and although they had all been watching him intently, he was upon them in mere seconds. It would seem that in this new form of his DarkHeart's strength and speed have increased rather dramatically which means things should go along rather smoothly for him then. DarkHeart, being in a prime striking position, swung his dark magic lined claws down which caused a cluster of dark energy waves to go towards his parents. They made an attempt to dodge the attack but their son was far too fast for them to keep now and so took the full brunt of the attack. After that, DarkHeart felt as if he had done enough damage to them and had turned away from them and realigned his sights on the golem. "D-D-D-D-DarkHeart?" Before he could advance on the golem, DarkHeart had heard his mother's voice behind him, calling out to him and sounding terrified to even be uttering his name after she had seen what her was now. "DarkHeart what has happened to you." Star Dust looked upon her son's new form and was felt scared at the visage he had taken on, but the one thing that had caught her eye more than anything about his new appearance was his eyes , or rather what they had displayed, they had the look of anger, rage, hatred, and something else, something she's only seen on the faces of the truly wicked,she saw the void of darkness embedded within her son's eyes and knew that something had been broken within her son, something of grave importance to his being. "Well mother if you must know, I've finally accepted the darkness within myself and have allowed it the honor of being the tool to help me obtain my revenge on both of you and this pathetic creature over there." DarkHeart responded with a dark-toned glee. Star Dust now knew that her prediction was right , the thing that broke was his heart the only thing that is able to drive the darkness away, she had always feared that a day like this would arrive and so her and Lucky Streak had been preparing a way to drive the darkness out and put the shattered pieces of his heart together, but they had never prepared for a situation like this, so she had no idea on what she needed to do. 'Well if that's all you wanted, I got a golem to smash out of existence." The malice in his voice could almost be seen by his mother as he spoke. DarkHeart went after the golem with nothing more than the full intent to kill it off once and for all, wanting nothing more to do with this creature. He wanted to make this thing suffer just as much as it had made him, even though he had an even stronger urge to just get it over with now and just kill it, so he didn't bother charging up his magic and just started pounding on the golem with his bare fist and open claws. DarkHeart was relentless with his attacks, applying deep gashes into the golem's forelegs, breaking the bones of its hind legs, causing severe internal bleeding, and just tearing this thing to shreds. All the while Star Dust just sat there watching in horrified fascination at what her son had become, but her eyes were pulled away from the scene before her as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Honey what happened, where's DarkHeart, and who is that fighting the golem?" Lucky Streak asked his wife looking upon the two clashing figures. "Well in to answer your questions in order, I believe the golem had brainwashed us into fighting our own son and as for where he is, he's right over there fighting the golem." Star Dust responded looking back to the battle taking place in front of their eyes. "Where is he cause all I see is that strange pony over there fighting the golem, but I don't see our. . . . . .SON!?" Lucky Streak said, shocked at what his son now looked like. "Yeah that's our son, he has succumbbed to the darkness within his heart and it in return has changed him." Star Dust's voice choked and eyes began the water as she watch their son fight, thinking that the son she had loved her so much and that loved her right back was gone and replaced with this blood thirsty animal. DarkHeart was his best to down the creature by this point , feeling as though he had allowed this creature to live long enough, but it refused to just die and fighting with all the might he had left. "Damn it why don't you just die?" DarkHeart asked, getting aggravated with the struggle this beast was still putting up. His response was giant hoof coming down to stomp him into the ground though in vain thanks to his new found speed. The golem summoned upon its magic to aid him in his endeavor and creating an army of miniature (they were still about half the height of the original) versions of itself. This only helped to get DarkHeart even more riled up and wanting to beat the crap out of the golem. As he went through defeating the clones by various methods of: using his magic to crush in their skulls, ripping them in two with his claws, or just tearing out multiple chunks out of their bodies, he started to noticed no matter how many he's defeated, that there actually seemed to be more than when he had first started and he himself was actually getting more of beating than they were. He knew his speed was useless in a fight against a group such as this but now he was being overwhelmed by these things and was starting to be pushed to the losing side pretty damn quick. Damn it, I'm getting pretty tired of this real fucking quick It's about time I ended this, but how, whenever I take out one of these things more just pop-up to take its place. I don't have a spell that could take them all out at once, and they'll stop me from getting anywhere close to the main bastard, unless . . . . . . . . . . . . no, no it won't work even with dark magic, but then again I won't know unless I try. DarkHeart had a chance to end this, but only if it works, he was going to use the weaponization spell again and see if the weapon it gave him would be able help find a way to stopping these clones and ending this fight. But he was still skeptical on it actually working seeing as the spell worked along with his special talent, and without knowing what his special talent was that, even with dark magic, the spell would fail but better safe than sorry . . . . . right? "Well here goes nothing," DarkHeart called upon his dark magic, channeling it into a sphere in front him. " Okay so far so good." As more magic was channeled into the sphere it started to pulsate, emanating a strange energy, things seem to be going on smoothly but DarkHeart knew better than to assume he was going to be successful, things last on well for him last time as well at least until it came to the final part of the spell which had it connect to his mind, his magic, and his special talent to create to perfect weapon just for him, that is where it had failed last time. The final part was under way first the spell strung through his mind, successively forming a bond with it, next it went after his horn and seeped into his magic flowing through it with ease as it too had accepted the intruder, now all that was left was for it to find out his special talent was and form the perfect weapon. DarkHeart felt the spell's ancient magic make it's way to his heart, searching through it for the final piece needed to finish, but as it kept searching and finding nothing the connection began to weaken and the spell was starting to rip itself apart, and the sphere in front of him was beginning to rupture. No, not again! Why am I the only one who can't get what I want. I've worked so hard to get where I am now and what to have to show for it, nothing, absolutely nothing. Well no more I'm done trying to be good, all it's ever gotten me is pain and heartache, I am DarkHeart, the harbinger of darkness and death is my art. As DarkHeart came to finally accept his darkness the sphere began to repair itself and the spell's connection with his heart started to strengthen. I am not like any other pony. I am the embodiment of fear and terror. I am don't make friends, I don't like to be around others, and I most certainly not meant to be alive now, but yet I am because of the bond I have to the darkness and so therefore I embrace the darkness now, allow to consume and become a part of my being so that I may live and defy the plans that fate has for me. Finally at last the spell connected with his heart as a bright flash came out of nowhere around his flank that shined through the dark cloak that he wore and DarkHeart finally gained his cutiemark and special talent. The ruptures in the sphere of magic started to repair themselves and take the shape of DarkHeart's new weapon; it appeared to be taking on the form of a katana, but something was off about it. The blade had an almost J-shaped curve to it, the guard expanded out into four segments that formed into petals, something looked to be coming out of the bottom of the handle, but the most incredible thing was that the energy seem to be splitting into two which meant only one thing, I have two blades instead of one, well this should definitely be interesting considering I've never fought with two weapons before but who am I to question the spell that has choose everypony's weapons so perfectly. The Date Part 1Author's Note I don't do the whole romantic dinner thing considering my table manners are atrocious and I couldn't stand wearing a tuxedo or anything so forgive me if this part doesn't quite meet expectations for this type of situation. The Date Part 1 "If you want more answers you will need to find them on your own, it will be then that things will become your past, present, and especially your future will become all the more clearer." The words of voice said from earlier this week still ran around in my head as I tried to figure out what he meant. The only thing I could think of regarding anything of my past is how I came to possess my dark power, other than that it must have been talking about my ancestors which is probably the most probable but like it said. I have to find out about these other ponies that took control of darkness and light to find out. I'll have to ask Luna and Celestia if they know anything and if all else fails I'll ask Discord when he's released. "Dark Heart," Though I'm not sure if I should wait till after he's considered reformed or as soon as he's released. "Dark Heart!" Probably as soon as he's released, that could get a conversation going between us towards other things and help him see why being friends with ponies and not using his chaos so liberally all the time is a good thing. "DARK HEART!" I heard Luna shout in my ear and making me jump a little in the carriage that we're in currently. I look over at Luna who was wearing a worried look. "Are you alright Dark Heart?" "Yeah I was just thinking about something." "Can I ask what about?" "I'll tell you tomorrow, I don't it ruining our date so I suggest we forget about it and just enjoy the evening." I say as I pull Luna into a kiss. "Okay Dark Heart but don't hesitate to tell me if something is wrong. I want you to enjoy the night just as much as me." Luna says upon breaking the kiss. "So where are having us go tonight?" "That's for me to know and you to find out though I wouldn't expect the trip to be too much longer." I tell her as I look out the window and see the the her night sky as we traverse up Canterlot Mountain. "Can't I have a wittle hint?" Luna asked in a child like tone and big, wet eyes. I put my hand over her face to block that look before I felt I could say anything. "N-n-no Luna, I'm not ruining the surprise because of your anxiety. You're just going to have to wait till we get there." I tell her sternly as possible as it seemed that her gaze just passed through my hands and I felt that I had no choice to look away but before I do I no longer feel it's presence and feel Luna push my hand away to reveal a pouting Luna who stuck her nose in the air and turned away with a huff. "Aw, now doesn't my Lulu look adorable when she's acting like a filly?" She turned her head so that I could one of her eyes and gave me a glare before turning away again. Not one to just let her push me away I scoot closer and pull her closer to me as she struggles in my grasp. I wrap my arms tightly around her as she's still trying to get away from me but I refuse to let her go. "Let me go you jerk." Luna states as she squirms back and forth in my grasp and I comply with her request as I see that this approach isn't working. I decide to try another tactic that she'll probably hate me for but it'll ruin the whole evening if she insist on keeping up the charade. "Okay then, if you think I'm a jerk then I guess the date is off and I'll go back home." I state seriously though with a smirk hidden away as I turn away from her and open the carriage door on my side. I catch Luna looking at me in worry out of the corner of my eye but she isn't making any move to stop me as I proceed to step out the door and climbed on top of it. I bent my legs in preparations to jump down the mountain. "Darky wait!" Luna shouted as she grabbed me from behind. "I don't really think you're a jerk and I want to go no this date with you, please don't leave." She says as if on the verge of tears which makes me decide to not go through with my original plans and just play along. "Alright Luna I won't go." I tell her as I turn around while still in her grip and embrace her. "But you do know I wasn't really going to leave right?" "I thought so but you sounded so serious and I didn't want to take the chance. Despite having kept an eye on you since that day your parents brought you in and getting to know you since you got released you are still too unpredictable for me not to be cautious of everything I say and do." "Sorry about that Luna. I really try not to be an inconvenience for you like that but there something I can tell you that might make it easier for you to figure it out on your own." "And what's that?" She asked as she looks up at me curiously. "Listen to my voice, there are always hidden elements in it that can tell you how I might react to something, even when I say nothing." I tell her sincerely. "Though I will admit that I was originally going to leave and come back when the carriage stopped at it's location so you could feel guilty and sad about it so I could some sick joy in the misery and then reveal myself afterwards." "Really?" She asked with tearful eyes. "No, well at least not the taking a sick joy out of it, and I actually would've been there waiting for you to arrive after leaving." I tell her with a smile and she slaps me though I more than deserve so I have no right to complain. "You really are a jerk sometimes Dark Heart." Luna says as I wipe away to last remnants of her tears. "I know but I promise you that I'll cut back on it when it comes to you, but almost everypony else will feel the full sting of my jerkiness!" I shout into the sky and shake my right hand in the air like I'm making an important declaration and cause Luna to start laughing her ass off as she falls down on the top of the carriage and starts rolling around. I catch her when she almost fell off and cast a spell to make the top intangible so we could drop through it. I place the still giggling Luna on the seat as I watch her in amusement. After a good ten minutes she finally calms down as she wipes away some stray tears from her giggle fest. "Feeling better sweets?" I ask as I nuzzle her which she happily returns. "Mmhm, thank you Dark Heart. Sorry my if my impatience was beginning to become irksome though." Luna apologized. "It's alright Lulu considering it wasn't your impatience that was getting to me in the first place. Seriously for a thousands year old mare you can act like such a spoiled filly sometimes." I told honestly. "I blame you." "Mind explaining how you came to that conclusion?" I ask her as I bring over to sit on my lap. "Because you're an enabler." "How is this, last I checked I haven't been spoiling you that much for you to turn out like that." "But you spoil me none the less so therefore you're an enabler. Need I go on Dark Heart or do you need more information?" Luna asked smugly as she shifts her rear in my lap to get more comfortable. "So you're saying that I shouldn't get you anymore while we're in this relationship?" "NO! Luna says quickly as she spins around in place to be face to face. "Then stop being a brat otherwise that is exactly what's going to happen, got it?" She lowers her head like a filly who was just scolded by her parents and nods. "Good, now what do you say we enjoy the rest of the ride in silence while in each other's arms?" She perks up and wrapps her arms around and I do the same as I maneuver around so that I was laying corner with a view of the night. "So how much longer is it going to take to get where we're going tonight?" "About ten more minutes, it's a ways up the mountain but I assure you that the trip will be worth it that I can promise you." "I hope so, it would be a shame to have put all that extra work into not only my appearance but tonight's sky to have it locked away in a dusty old carriage." "This thing is far from being dusty and old but I know what you mean. You need the feeling of all eyes on you as ponies admire your beauty because you're a bloody attention hound." I mocked her as I lick her snout. "I am not an attention hound Dark Heart, you're the only one,besides my sister, whose opinion I care about, though I was hoping to be able to show my new coltfriend a little." Luna confesses with a faint blush that makes her look adorable. "Of course you do. You won't have to worry about that as I'm sure you'll get the chance soon." "What do mean?" Just as Luna finished asking the carriage jerks to a stop and the sound of the door opening causes Luna to jolt up. I stood up and walk out first before helping Luna out. When she steps out Luna is in absolute awe as she gazes upon the building in front of us. Embedded into the mountain was a restaurant that had had the front shaped and painted to blend into to the face of the rock and jutted out into a canopy and pillars as though you were looking at the entrance of cave that was lit up by magical light crystals that lined the walls and ceilings. The sign itself was also made of the same light crystals and spelled out "Seclusion". "Seclusion?" Luna looked at me in hope of getting an answer that I could not provide. "I have no idea why the owner decided to call it that but I had heard about this place from Spitfire when you two sent me over for those meeting with her and I let it slip that I was taking you out this weekend. It apparently opened up a couple of months ago but they still have reservations going on into next year." "Next year? Then now did you get a reservation for us?" I only look at her with a raised eyebrow. "You made mention of me and they made arrangements to have us come instead of whoever was supposed to have the reservation didn't you?" "No I wasn't going to exploit our relationship like that. Actually when I was trying to make reservations I was on the point of begging when they told me they didn't have any other tables available. They finally relented when I made the shadows start chanting and I was told that the only table to had was reserved for the princesses themselves and that nopony was allowed in that area just in case you or your sister decided to show up so I had to no choice but to mention that this was for me and you. Of course the idiot didn't believe me so I had to go get that letter from you." "So that's what you needed it for. You know I thought you were using it to get some new gear or something but were too lazy to earn the bits to pay for it." Luna confessed with an apologetic look and I shook my head in amusement. "Ignoring that, but anyway after I had returned the hostess called the owner and he too was skeptical but accepted it anyway. He'll be waiting for us when we walk in to see if I was lying about our date." "And why would he do that when I sent him a letter that you delivered personally instead of a guard?" "That's probably the reason why. He could believe that I was friends with somepony that could forge or handwriting, that or he's doing it for the publicity so it's 50/50 chance." "You know you're making this more complicated than it should?" Luna asked with a sly grin. "Well you're the one who asked." I countered as we began walking to the entrance. "Have I told you how beautiful you look in that dress?" I asked her as she leaned on me. "Yes, several times in fact." She stated with her eyes closed and a smile of her face. "Sorry but every time I look at you I just seem to forget about everything else." Luna blushed at my statement as she faced me with her shimmering blue eyes. "Thank you Dark Heart, and I would just like to note that you do rather handsome in that suit of yours. I take it you asked miss Rarity to create it for you?" Luna asked me and to her surprise I shook my head no. "But then who made you such a piece?" "I did. I didn't ask Rarity for help considering how she despises me and you seem to forget that I lived alone for three years with seldom contact with anypony, let alone going into town. Although my suit for my darkness form remained intact my normal clothes didn't so I had to learn to create my own ensembles." I explained to her as we walk into the doors of Seclusion and were immediately greeted by the owner himself who was a dragon with ocean blue scale and green frills and spines. "Ah, Mister Dark Heart, it's nice of you and the princess to have finally made it. Did you two run into any trouble flying up here?" "No we took a carriage up here and enjoy a trip up the mountain. Thanks for the concern though Chef Sapphire." He nodded in understanding before looking towards Luna. "Well I am glad that you could make it tonight Princess Luna I do hope you enjoy your evening." He stated as he bowed before her and she rolled her eyes at him. "I shall have one of the waitresses escort you to your table." Gesturing to a unicorn mare just standing by the podium with the reservation book she grabbed a couple of menus and moved over to us and Chef Sapphire left back into the kitchen. The waitress motioned for us to follow and we did so but not without more than a few stares and whispers as they spotted me and the Luna though I could tell that most of them were about me if the dirty looks I was getting were anything to go by. "You alright Dark Heart?" Luna whispered into my ears as she noticed me tense up. "Yeah, just all the whispering and dirty looks reminding of when I was back in Nieghburg. Don't worry about though, this is our night and I'm not going to let anypony ruin it. Besides they're all just jealous that I have you and they don't." I whisper back as I tickle her with my muzzle and get her to giggle cutely. I noticed the our waitress looking back at us with smile before noticing that I was staring at her and she quickly turned to face forward. Finally we arrived at the designated area which was a tunnel that was cut off from the rest of the area with a velvet rope and a big, hulky earth stallion standing in front of it. He moved aside to let us through as we approached and we immediately noticed the change in lighting as the light crystals in here glowed dimmer and a more bluish hue than the ones in the rest of restraurant. We were awestruck by what we saw when we exited the tunnel and entered into a cavern that was decorated with a glimmering foliage that lined the walls in intricate patterns. There was also somehow a waterfall that far enough from the table to where the noise of the crashing water was loud enough to hear but not so much that it wouldn't keep us from conversating normally. Last but not least was the skylight over our table that used the natural light of the moon act as our light source and I knew Luna was glad that she made it shine brighter than normal for tonight. I pulled a seat out for Luna after we got over our amazement and went over to the table. I took to my own seat across from her after she sat down and the waitress laid out our menus. "Good evening you two, I'm Green Shore and I'll be your waitress for tonight. Can I start you off with a drink, we have a fantastic collection of wine that I could recommend." "Oh no thank you, my Dark Heart doesn't drink." Luna stated with that shit eating grin of hers. "I don't, but I know that that isn't the real reason you don't want any, isn't it Luna?" I asked casually as I look through my menu with a smirk on my muzzle. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" "Nope, but that shouldn't stop you from getting some wine though. I know how much you love drinking the stuff and if you need further reassurance I promise that I won't make fun of you if anything does happen tonight." That seemed to be enough for her as she ordered some old, fancy Prench wine whose name I couldn't pronounce while I went with water and Green Shore left as we looked over there dinner choices. Aside from the normal vegan stuff for everypony there was also a selection of gem and meat dishes for their more exotic customers and I was planning to take advantage of that. I'm glad that Luna is comfortable with my eating habits thanks to having visited both the Griffon and Dragon Kingdoms. "Darky, you're drooling." I heard Luna state amusingly as there was indeed drool running out of my mouth as I looked upon a gem encrusted steak that looked absolutely delectable and- "And you're drooling again." I heard Shadow say with laughter in his voice as I snap out it and shake my head to bring myself back into reality. "Ah, I see you have an excellent eye though I do not see why you would be looking in this section seeing as only dragons would be able to enjoy this dish." I heard Chef Sapphire say from behind me. "If I was a normal pony I would agree with you but," I say as I transform into my darkness form, "I am not a normal pony and I would very much like to order this fine looking meal." I tell the shocked cook. He snaps out of it as Luna laughs at his reaction to my transformation and recomposes himself. "Ahem, well then it shall be done, and for you princess?" "I think I'll try some of your spaghetti with your tomato and basil garlic bread." Sapphire nodded as he took our menus and left. I was looking around the room to take it in a little more while Luna was idly sipping at her glass of wine. "You sure you don't want to try any it really is define." "Nah, I'm alright sweets." "Are you ever going to let yourself let go and enjoy a night out?" Luna asked much to my confusion. "What do you mean?" "I mean you're always tense and on guard, even when we're trying to enjoy each other company and that would include now." Luna said as she put down her glass. "*sigh* I know but I just can't help it. Ever since Spirit almost killed Fluttershy I haven't really been able to let my guard down. Plus with what happened with that unicorn Trixie and the alicorn amulet, that demon lord, and Fratamantus I can't help but be tense. I know you're trying your best to help, and I appreciate that more than you know, but now I've recently had this weird vision that I can't seem to stop thinking about and I want answers that hopefully you or Tia could provide but I don't want to ask because then I'll start thinking about that then the whole night will be ruined because-" I started going off on a rant until Luna hit me in the head with a rock that was near the waterfall and I was sent to the floor. "Feel better?" Luna asked as she knelt down in front of me. I shook my head yes as I smile appreciatively at her for knocking some sense into me. "Good, now Dark Heart I'm going to need to listen to me. I know that now you have more responsibilities than you ever had in your short life and I understand that that can be overwhelming at times. But you need to remember that you're no longer alone like you used to be all those years ago when it was just you and your parents seemingly against the world. You have friends and two marefriends that are here for you, well one is the other you still need to rescue." I look at her with a deadpan expression for that last part. "Hehe, sorry, my point still stands though. You have ponies here to help you now but you need to trust them enough to let us actually help you because if you try to take on all of this by yourself then it will eventually destroy you and none of us want that. You're an amazing stallion Dark Heart and it's obvious that you were meant for great things but you need to remember to enjoy the little things about life, okay?" Luna asked as she cupped both sides of my face and kept ours eyes in contact the entire time. "Okay Lulu, I'll try," I tell her as she smiles and brings me into a kiss that melted away my worries. "And thanks for talking to me though next time...I could go without a rock being thrown at my head." I tell her as I pick up the rock that she threw at me and lightly knocked it upside her head to get my point across. She looks away shamefully before I turn her back around and pull her into another kiss that she returns. "D'aaaaaawwwwwwwwwwww, that's so sweet." We hear Green Shore say before she yelps in surprise as Sapphire nudges her. "Hehe, it's alright Chef Sapphire, we don't mind." Luna says as we sit back down at the table, though not before dusting ourselves off. "Ahem, yes well your orders are done and we were hoping to you would taste them to see if everything is to your liking before we leave you to enjoy your meals." We did just that and affirmed him that everything was fine before he and Green left. From there we enjoyed our dinners and continued to chat about others things and I couldn't help but think of how the night has been going so far. Luna's right, as long as I have her, Diamond, and the others I'll never be alone again. Darkness Truly is a Mystery ~POV Hyperion~ Fratamantus stood before us after we witnessed Dark Heart get tossed over a cliff without any means of saving himself. He looked down at us with contempt as he looked to me and Ember before falling upon Diamond. I was getting antsy standing here, knowing that Dark Heart is in grave danger. It he had been frozen in ice by anything else I wouldn't be so worried, but this Windigoe Ice. It freezes not only your body but soul as well and isn't something many can actually escape from. We all wanted to help him, that I know without either one of them having to say anything but with Fratamantus before us there isn't any chance of that. Our only hope right now is to find a way to incapacitate him long enough for us to escape and chase after Dark Heart as well as hope he can make it out of this alive. "I am quite surprised that you two managed to get through the castle with such ease and free my daughter from her room though at the same time I'm not seeing as you three not only managed to avoid detection but had successfully traversed the frozen tundra to reach our home." Fratamantus commented rather smugly as he eyed me up. "It helps when your soldiers suck at doing their job, though judging from the two that got flatten by a chandelier, as well as the dead or injured men out here, it's rather obvious why that is." I commented angrily seeing as I don't being looked at like a piece of ass. "You're not far from the truth Hyperion. Father keeps even his strongest as weak as possible so there's no chance of being over thrown by any. Doesn't encourage those with potential, doesn't want the strong helping the weak, and has even gone as far as to rape some the unfortunate mares who had rather well endowed mates, from what I've heard, to keep everypony under his thumb and boost his own ego." Diamond told us as I grew angrier at the mention of him raping mares for such a petty thing though I didn't allow it to show as I instead replaced the angry snarl that wanted to be let loose, with a viscous smirk. King Fratamantus looked rather pissed at hearing his daughter expose some of his secrets and I'm guessing my next comment won't be well received by the miffed king. "Aw, isn't that just adorable? The big, bad Windigoe King has to use his power as ruler to put down other stallions in front of their mares because he can't get any on his own." I said in a tone that made sound as though as I was talking to a child or puppy which had Diamond grow a matching smirk to mine while Ember seemed to be trying not to laugh and as expected Fratamantus seemed none to happy about being mocked. "YOU DARE MOCK THE GREAT KING FRATAMANTUS YOU FILTHY WENCH!!!" He yelled in a voice that could give Luna's R.C.V. a run for her money. I just grinned toothily before gaining a serious look as the three of us jumped out of the way of a magical blast that he had sent our way and it was obvious that the fun and games were over. I was quick to land on my feet and grew back to my original size before drawing my spear and went to engage Fratamantus head on, hoping to to give an opening for either one of the other girls to strike in. He swung his weapon of choice at me, which seemed to be a sword (sword on the right) that gave off the same soul crushing feeling that you'd feel from the windigoes' magic. I didn't let that distract me though as I met him head on with the shaft of my spear. It was then the difference in our strength became abundantly clear as I was forced to my knees almost the instant the blow landed. "What happened dragon, are you starting to realize that you're no match for me?" He gloated, seemingly not noticing, or caring, that Ember was rushing in from behind. I didn't say a word or make any suspicious movement to give her away as I just tried my best to push back his attack. It seemed my efforts were fruitless though as I felt the cold steel come closer to my face as he grinned victoriously down at me as he slowly pushed his blade closer to me and forcing me down further onto the ground. I closed my eyes as I feared that I wouldn't get help in time when I hear a whizzing go through the air and soon after a grunt of pain as the weight that was bearing down on me was lifted. I got up to see an arrow in Fratamanus' shoulder which made look to where I heard the sound had came from and saw Diamond with her bow in hand and already preparing another arrow with a fierce look directed towards the stallion that sired her. My gaze was directed back towards Fratamantus as he shouted in pain and see Ember has bitten down on his right leg. Not wasting the chance granted to to me by them I spun my spear around and pointed the blade right at Fratamantus' stomach as I thrusts forward. "Impudent fools." I heard Fratamantus snarl before Ember and I were blown back by an icy wind that suddenly tore through the courtyard. "You didn't honestly think that you three stood a chance when that pathetic bottom feeder couldn't? None of you are nearly as powerful as he was which is why it's such a shame he didn't wish to join me in my conquest of Equestria and it's allies." Fratamantus shook his head disappointingly. With that same look of disappointment still adored on his face, his gaze turned towards Diamond Sky. "And you my daughter, I expected more out of you." He said before lifting his hand towards her, palm facing her, before a strange energy came out of it and wrapped around her. I was worried when it had but then it shocked her and caused her to scream out in pain as the bindings tightened around her for a few minutes before it had stopped. Fratamantus must have been moving closer to me during this seeing as when I turned to yell at him to stop what he was doing to Diamond Sky, he was right there in front of me with a lecherous grin. I glared at him as I could tell what was going on in his head. "As for you my lovely dragoness, I think we should get to know each other a bit more, intimately, maybe I can persuade you to see my side of things." "Not in your life, nor afterlife, there pal. If I'm going to give myself to anypony it's going to be Dark Heart. Perhaps I'll let him take me after he gets back up and kicks your ass." The fire in my belly grew rapidly before expelling it from my mouth, trying to cook the bastard where he stood. A hand broke through the inferno and grasped my neck before I was slammed into the ground. "Who said you had a choice in the matter." He ripped off the front of my shirt, unable to resist as he had froze my hands and feet to the ground, my dragon fire had no effect on him, Both Diamond and Ember were trapped as well, Ember having got her paws frozen into the ground as well. I felt scared and helpless just like when that bastard of a demon lord had used me to raid Everglade. I struggled to get free as I felt his one of his hands trail up from my stomach to my bra and it was then I did the only thing I could think to do at the moment. "DARK HEART, PLEASE HELP US!!!" I screamed into the heavens as tears streamed down my face. "Hahahahaha, don't bother trying girl. Dark Heart is dead and there's no one here to he-" A pillar of energy appeared from the direction that Dark Heart had been tossed and I couldn't help but smile as it became clear that he heard my call for help, living up to his promise that he would be there whenever I called. The ice holding me and Ember down, as well as Diamond's bindings were all broken as we got up and gathered by the front entrance of the castle. Once there I felt that I could relax knowing that Dark Heart wasn't dead and so promptly passed out as the stress of living through that as well as reliving those horrid memories put a lot of stress on both my mind and emotions. POV Dark Heart After Being Thrown off the Cliff "Aaarrrrggh, damn it, how could I have so careless!" I yelled as I struggled to get myself free from the magical ice that could only be generated from the infamous windigoe king. "There's nothing you can do about it now other than getting free and back into the fight!" Shadow shouted though it was completely unnecessary since he is in my head. "You think I don't know that already Shadow. I'm fucking trying to get out but this damn ice is too strong to break with brute force alone and without magic my options are limited!" "And it seems to be blocking the Heart's magic as well, windigoe magic truly is terrifying when at it's full strength." I heard Nova say with a bit of fear in her voice. "Don't think like that Nova, I will get free and then I'll kick that bastard's ass once I do. All we got to do now though is figure out how to to out of this first." I say as I try charging magic into my horn, though to no avail. "Right!" "Right!" They said with conviction. I took note of my surroundings, which wasn't much considering I was free falling from the top of a mountain tall enough to pierce the heavens, which is a good thing I guess since it'll be awhile before I hit the bottom. Even so with not much around there really isn't anything that could help me out of my prison. Damn it, first magic crystals, now magical ice. Seems many of my opponents can't seem to really fight me one on one and resort to such measures when it becomes clear just how strong I am. All I need though is a single crack in either the ice surrounding my body or my horn and I can break free, just like when Luna freed me from the crystal prison Nightmare Moon encased the Heart in. I look over to the mountain side that occupied my right side and noticed how quickly I seemed to be falling and get a crazy idea. "Dark Heart, don't even think it. One wrong move and you could end up as nothing more than a big red splatter stain on the side of the mountain." Nova scolded me, though I wasn't going to listen to her since this was my only other choice. "It's the only chance I got and you know it Nova. All I need is a crack and I can flood my magic into this stupid ice and break free. Beside the longer this takes the further we get from the top and the longer it'll take to help the girls who are no doubt fighting Fratamantus." I started moving in anyway I could to get me closer to the jagged edges of this treacherous mountain. "Crap, that's right, I had forgotten they were up there too. Dark Heart do whatever you need to just hurry up and do it. Those three won't stand much of a chance against that maniac!" Huh, didn't think Shadow was actually that concerned for them. Yes he wasn't trying to take over my body anymore and seemed to be getting along with Nova more but still. That doesn't really though, no what matters is getting free as soon as possible. I wiggle and squirm about through the air in the direction of the mountain hoping that it actually works. At first it seems I'm not making any real progress until I finally notice that to fog that was partially covering it from my view is gone and the mountain plain as day. I keep going, though angling myself in a way that when I do get close enough to strike to mountainside I wouldn't risk bashing my own skull in. It only took another minute before I felt a jarring bump and bounced away from the rock face a bit. I got a few more good strikes on both my body and horn prison but there still wasn't enough to break them. I was coming in for another hit when something horrifying happened, I got stuck. "What, are you fucking serious!?" I shouted out into the heavens as I got caught in between a crack that was in the giant rock that was my salvation. I tried shaking myself loose but wasn't moving an inch. "No, no, no, no, NO! This can' be happening!" I roared before slumping down, feeling utterly useless. "Ember, Hyperion, Diamond, I hope you three are alright and decided to sneak out of the city." I mutter helplessly as tears prickled at the edge of my eyes. I was stuck here with no way out as long as Fratamantus lived but I'd be okay with as long as those three got out safe and sound. Please be alright. I thought as I closed my eyes, resigned to once again being a prisoner. "DARK HEART, PLEASE HELP US!!!" My eyes shot open and looked up to where I had heard Hyperion's voice come from. She was afraid, I could fee it, along with Diamond's and Ember's fear. They're up there fighting Fratamantus right now, most likely on death's and here I am ready to just. . . give up! "Don'tworry Hyperion, Diamond, Ember, I'm coming to help you!" I could feel dark magic flowing through as I shifted between my Darkness form and default form. I wasn't my dark magic though, it wasn't even the residual darkness that I absorbed everyday from everypony. No this felt truly soul crushing, like "windigoe magic." I whispered as I realized what I was doing. "Dark Heart, you're absorbing the magic imbued in the ice, you're weakening it!" Nova sounded shocked yet happy, not that I could blame her, though it felt like something else was happening than normal from when absorbing dark magic. I felt something trying to come out of my back, pushing desperately from underneath my skin, trying to get out. This all only seemed take mere seconds to do before the magic I was absorbing finally burst out and a pillar of dark magic shot into the sky as my new appendages burst forth, breaking the my icy prison and giving me back my magic, both my magics. "I'm coming girls." I said lowly as I ascended up into the clouds and back to the Windigoe Capital. "Holy crap, Dark Heart you grew wings!!" I heard Shadow yell out but I simply ignored, not wishing to be distracted from he task at hand. "Shadow, shut up, I'm sure he knows that but we don't got time to question how or why he has them. The point is that he does and that means that it'll be that much easier to get back up there." Nova scolded him as she basically took the words right of my mouth. I tuned them out after that though as I flapped my wings as hard as I could as I easily broke through the sound barrier, flying at super sonic speeds that had gotten me their in no time flat. What I saw caused my anger and dark power to surge tremendously. I spotted Ember with her paws frozen to the ground, Diamond wrapped up in some weird bindings that was obviously causing her pain, but the sight that really made me angry was the sight of Fratamantus standing over a trapped Hyperion, whose shirt had the front ripped off with only her bra covering her breasts, with Fratamantus having the scraps still in his grasp with a sickening smile plastered on that smug mug of his. Without a sound I zoomed forward, calling Cursed and Blessing back to me as the chains mended themselves, and swung them in a 'X' formation, releasing my light and dark magic into crescents of raw energy that struck the bastard before he knew what had hit him. The attack had sent him flying towards what was left of the eastern wall and I used that time to set Diamond and Ember free and make my over to Hyperion. I absorbed the magic in the ice and they fell apart once it was drained. Hyperion clung to me once she able to move, my shoulder getting wet as she cried out the sorrow she felt from what going through that, making my anger at Fratamantus rise even further as one of the strongest beings I know is reduced into a crying mess. "You came, you kept your promise and came to my aid when I called, thank the goddesses." I heard her mutter as her claws dug into my back as I knew she didn't want to let me go. "Shh, shh, it's okay Hyperion, I'm here now and I'll make that he won't able to lay a finger on you again." I told her soothingly as held her close to me, letting her know that I was there for her. Ember came up beside and made her way in between us as she nuzzled into Hyperion's stomach, trying to comfort the dragoness as well. I looked down at her with a smile as I pet the top of her head as I heard another set of hoofsteps come closer to us. "Dark Heart, I knew my father wouldn't have been able to get rid of you that easily." Diamond said with a teary smile as our eyes met when I turned to look at her. I smiled at her as I lifted my left arm to welcome her into the embrace, which she happily took and knelt down beside me and wrapped her arms around me and Hyperion. "I'm just glad that, for the most part, you girls are fine Dia, but I do believe that it's time to finish this." I said as I stood up and away from them and turned to look at Fratamantus, who was pulling himself out of the rubble, and changed back into my Darkness Form. "Now go on you three, I'll stall him long enough for your girls to make decent leeway." I held Cursed and Blessing to my sides, at the ready as the runes that decorated both blades glowed with an ominous violet light. "But what about you Dark Heart?" "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Your father good the jump on me not too long ago but I'm ready this time around." I smiled back at her, letting her know that everything will be fine and it was going to be. I've taken out most, if not all, of Fratamantus' troops and I know that Fratamantus doesn't know anything about the path that came up the side of the mountain from my shadow's observation of him, though he probably thought that we would just fly out here the moment he saw my new wings. He wouldn't be too far from the truth but not until we're down the mountain, which will be much quicker than coming up. "How are still alive, and when did you get those wings!" Fratamantus growled as he held onto his right arm as something, I'm guessing windigoe blood, ran down it from an injury that he had gotten from that last attack. "I got them during my trip down the mountain thanks to you, or should I thanks? Actually I think I'll just settle on fuck you and call it good there since you tried to rape Hyperion!" I roared out as I shot at him, using my new wings to propel even faster towards the bastard. He called forth a wall of ice spikes to which I merely flew over them and came down with an overhead strike and tried to split apart the Windigoe king himself. He dodged it and swung that damn thing he called a blade at me as he aimed for my head, aiming to decapitate. I intercepted the strike with both of my blades to drive him off but it left me vulnerable as he sent more of those spikes towards me from the left and on instinct I used my right wing as a shield. I was fully expecting to be impaled second after I felt them impact it but I didn't anything other than the impact itself. In fact that was the only thing I had felt; no pain, no cold, nothing other than the pressure of it pushing against and even then it felt blunt as if the tip of the spikes were hammered down. Once again I couldn't be bothered to really analyze anything going on with my Darkness form and shoved Fratamantus away from me. I continue on with that strike and aim my fist at his face, something that would prove rather painful considering the petal like spikes coming from the hand guards of both blades. Fratamantus roared in pain as my punch and the spikes connected, having one of them slash through his left eye in the process. Not giving a chance to recover though, I commanded my shadows to restrain the Windigoe king. The process was easy enough but when was coherent enough to realize what was going on he started o struggle intensely and I knew that my shadows couldn't hold forever. "You need to go now Dark Heart, the others are well and gone from the city and even with Diamond sky with them Hyperion and Ember last too long in the intense cold." Nova commanded as I was about to go for the final blow. "WHAT, have you lost your mind Nova, this is his best chance to kill the bastard once and for all!" Shadow protested before I could utter a sound. "And do what, wait until he possesses somepony else and seek revenge on Dark Heart through somepony he cares about. No, it's better to leave him in this state, seeing as his empire is destroyed and he weakened. So what are you going to do Dark Heart?" Nova asked me, though I already had my answer. Without saying a word, I sheathed Cursed and Blessing and flew towards the old city gates. From there I landed on the ground and ran down the path to catch up to the girls. I had no idea how long I had been fighting Fratamantus, so I had no idea how long it would be before I found those three. Though it seemed they got all that far as only five minutes of running and I found them resting inside an shallow tunnel where they seemed to be waiting for me. Ember was the first to spot me as she seemed to catch the crunching of the snow beneath my hooves before the other two, though her jumping up and running towards me definitely got their attention and I was being dog piled soon after. "Hahaha, alright girls, I'm sorry to break this up so soon but we need to get going. I've got Fratamantus restrained for now but it won't hold for long. We need to get now the mountain before he does escape and tracks us down." I told them as I they got up off of me, with Diamond helping me up. "And how do you suppose we do that?" And she instantly regretted asking that as a wickedly mischievous grin grew on my face which caused her to take a few steps back away from me. "Dark Heart don't you even think IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!" She, and Diamond, screamed as I grabbed all three of them and jumped, that's right jumped, of the side of the mountain from the side we need to head after we got to the bottom. "I'm gonna kill you if we survive this Dark Heart!" I chuckled as I heard Hyperion shout at me over the winds that were blowing past us as we free fall through the clouds that surrounded the mountain top. Diamond was just holding to me with her head buried in my shoulder as Ember seemed to be enjoying herself which I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow at that before simply shaking my head. I let us fall a bit further before I decided we were low enough, after having fallen a few dozen miles after we broke through the clouds, and changed into my quadruped dragon form and right myself so I was belly down and made sure the girls were safely secured on my back. "Okay you three, hang on tight!" I shouted towards them as I shifted in a way that would allow me to spread my wings without a risk of damaging them. Ironically that seemed to be by diving down towards the ground with my wings partially extended enough to catch the air, but not so much so to jerk me back. We were fast approaching the ground, being only a hundred meters away from going splat, but still kept going, trying to time it just right so that we not only don't crash but also allow me to use to momentum to slingshot me forward at incredible speeds. I waited, ignoring the pleas to pull up from Hyperion, Diamond, and Nova, as Ember just dug her claws as deep into me as she could, and Shadow was laughing like a maniac. The moment of truth came as we approximately three meters and I quickly extended my wings and faced forward, doing just as I had hoped and I was zooming through the skies at supersonic speeds. I could hear the girls berating me, Ember kicking and biting as best she could from her position but once again I ignore them all and concentrated on where I was going. I know it may seem very jerky to do so but it could be disastrous for us all should I hit something big and solid at the speeds were moving at, even if I'm slowing down a little bit. ~3 Hours Later~ It actually took a bit of time to slow down to cruising speeds though I got from all girls when I we were at there and I realized just how terrified that stunt had made them and I felt like a huge jackass. I uttered an apology very quietly when I turned to look at them to look them all in the eyes, except Nova for obvious though I did make Shadow do it on my behalf, then turned back to face forward as I flew back towards the Crystal Empire in silence. The girls were Diamond and Hyperion were talking to each other after they took about ten minutes to calm themselves down, while Ember just laid in between them, and Nova and Shadow were off doing something inside the amulet. I didn't bother asking them what they were doing or try to talk to the girls since then and that was about two hours ago. It was getting dark now as the sunset orange sky was being replaced by the starry night sky seeing as we made it out the severe blizzard that blanketed the far north of the Icy Plains. The girls had quieted it down not too long ago and I was assuming they were just enjoying the view up here. I find it kinda weird that my wings don't feel sore and I'm not tried from my extended flight with passengers but I wasn't going to complain about it, the sooner we got back the better. ~Another 3 Hours Later~ The girls have settled down on my back an hour ago and snoozing away, hopefully with pleasant dreams, as I kept my senses focused on making sure their was nothing around us that would try picking a fight as I started to feel just a bit tired but nothing to really worry about since I hadn't even broken a sweat yet. As I was looking ahead though, I spotted a beautiful sight before as an Aurora Borealis suddenly appeared and lit up the sky with it's plethora of colors. The light must of woken them as well as I could as couple of gasp ring out behind me and felt them sit up to get a better view. I watched it for a bit longer before looking straight ahead of me again as my task was to get home more than anything right now. "Hey Dark Heart, you okay?" Hyperion asked after scooting up towards my head a bit more so she wasn't competing against the wind so much. "Yeah, I'm alright." Was my response, not bothering to look at her. "You sure, we could always land and make a camp of the ground so you could rest and get your energy back. It can't be that easily flying for almost six hours straight with us on your back the entire time." She said as she soothingly stroked the spines on my head. "Yeah I'm sure Hyperion, don't worry me I'm not all that tired to be honest, though I'll be sure to let you know when I do decide to make a rest stop." I told her as this time I looked towards her with a smile. *Sigh* "Alright Dark Heart, just make sure you don't push yourself too much okay?" She said, laying down on my neck, her head resting in between my horns and the back of my skull, wrapping her arms around my neck lovingly. "I won't Hyperion, after all I wouldn't want to crash down to the ground and hurt you girls." And with that there was silence as her breathing turned calm and deep. Seems the others had already settled back down as well. "Mind some more company?" I heard Diamond say from my left. I look over to see her flying beside me, the lower half of her body resembling the ghostly trail that the Windigoes are seen with in images in books about how the first Hearth's Warming came to be. "No, not at all Dia but what are you doing up so late?" I asked her as I look back to make sure that it's really her, and sure enough it is as only Ember is in her spot while Hyperion is wrapped around my neck. "I could ask you the same. That and why do you still sound like that, I thought your voice changed when you get angry." "It does but it mainly does it when in my Darkness Form and since I haven't changed back I am going to sound like this." Diamond nodded to this and flew next to me in silence. I felt both Hyperion and Ember nuzzle into my body, seeking warmth to drive away the chilling cold. I allowed the inner flame that resided deep within me to warm up my body to help drive it off. Diamond turned towards me, no doubt noticing the sudden spike in temperature, and asked. "So why are you still flying so late into the night Dark Heart, I could imagine how tired you must be from having to fight my father and flying so fast right afterwards with three passengers on your back, one of them being a dragon, albeit not at her full size but still don't you think you should take a break and rest a bit?" Diamond asked worriedly as she flew up to my face and gave me a kiss on the forehead. "I don't really feel all that tired Diamond, in fact I have't even broken a sweat. Beside I promise Hyperion that if I did feel that tired that I would make sure to land. I mean I'm all for pushing myself but that wouldn't be smart considering I got you three with me and I'd rather not make you girls carrying me back to the Crystal Empire, no matter how far away we are from it." I told her as I sped up a bit to show prove my point. She was surprised and had lagged behind a bit further before snapping out of it and trying to catch up to me. I was going to play with her a bit and speed up when she got closer but then I noticed something towards the horizon. I used my magic to enhance my vision into a telescopic view and saw that it was a bright light but it was much too early for it to be the sun and shortly realized what it must have been. As I was looking towards our destination and the end of our little adventure I was snapped back to reality when Diamond bopped me on the head when she finally caught up. "You asshole, you know I don't got your stamina to be trying to speed through the sky to catch you!" She yelled before hanging back and plopping onto my back. "Oh, yeah, sorry about that Diamond. I was only going to play around with you but then I got distracted." I said as I sheepishly rub the back of my head. "Oh, and what, pray tell, could have gotten your attention more than the mare you just risked your life trying to save?" I didn't have to look at her to know that she was crossing her arms while she lightly glared at me. "How about our destination?" I pointed out towards the light that was getting bigger and bigger as I flew straight towards it. "Oh wow, is that really the Crystal Empire, is this nightmare finally over?" She asked as she sounded as though she was getting choked up about officially starting a new that was just about another thirty minutes away. "Yeah Diamond, the nightmare is an end. You can finally have the chance to actually be happy." I said quietly with a big grin as I sped up even more to get out of this frozen wasteland. Author's Note And this is where this chapter ends, hope you guys like it.
The New VoiceAs the spell was coming to an end, DarkHeart finally saw his weapon, the katanas seem to be emanating a lot of power and DarkHeart was eager to take them out for a test run, but. . . . . . . ."Why the hell are there chains connected to the bottoms, and what exactly are those things connected to them," DarkHeart asked curious to what purpose these attachments served. There seemed to be a chain attached to the bottom of handle with, what appeared to be, steel gauntlets at the end of the chains, and the chain seem to have some kind of visible energy stream running through it, which would suggest that the chains also have a magical power running through it as well. DarkHeart reached out to the gauntlets to examine them closer but as his hands were an or two away from them, they had opened up and clasp themselves around his wrists and the chain seem to retract into a compartment of the gauntlets drawing the blades into his hands. "Well these swords of mine are really quite interesting, and haven't even fought with them yet, I wonder what kind of power they hold within them." DarkHeart had said with a look of looming curiosity twinkling in his eyes. Believing DarkHeart to be too distracted with looking over his new swords, the changeling golem decides to have Star Dust and Lucky Streak attack him, although it may not know how much experience DarkHeart actually had fighting with his blades it wasn't going to take any chances, it was using his parents as the test dummies to find out how he fights with those blades of his. They did as they were told, albeit a little hesitant, and went after DarkHeart, but they were in for nasty surprise, for DarkHeart's senses had been enhanced as well and so he felt the vibrations going through the earth as his parents closed in on him but had kept up the charade that he was still too fascinated with his weapons to notice them. The moment they right on him, he turned around channeling his dark magic through his katanas and swung, aiming straight in the center of their bodies, and the two who had been foolish enough to think that he wouldn't know they were going to attack had clenched their eyes' shut as they awaited their ends but instead of feeling deaths hands' call to them, they instead a head-splitting pain grow through them, as they felt themselves hit the ground hard. They were now in so much pain that it became unbearable for them, they were laying on the ground writhing in agony as the pain continue to spread throughout their bodies, but they had felt another feeling as well as the pain continued t spread. They felt as though some foreign presence was leaving them and the voice in their head that had been filling their minds with the ideas that DarkHeart was evil was escaping them and their love and worry for him immediately came back to them. As his parents were still lying on the ground in intense pain, DarkHeart had turned his attention back towards his original enemy readying himself so that he may terminate this bothersome creature. He wasn't worried much about his parents because he knew that that spell he had just used would do just the trick for neutralizing the mind control spell that had been placed on his parents. He wasn't exactly sure how he knew to use such a spell but the new voice in his head told him how to do it through his blades without actually wounding them in the process. Now DarkHeart lets end this miserable creature once and for all. It's nothing compared to the power that courses through your veins. The voice had said trying to keep DarkHeart focused. "Right I have job to finish and it involves taking out that damn thing right here, RIGHT NOW!" DarkHeart couldn't explain it but the moment after he'd had the gauntlets attach themselves to him, the darkness within his heart has begun to slowly start to disappear and this new voice he's been hearing has started to speak him, calming him down and keeping him from doing anything he would later on in his life. It's these things that makes DarkHeart so sure that whatever this voice is, isn't Shadow trying to help him. DarkHeart deciding he could no longer wait he ready his katanas, charged towards to now bewildered and now afraid golem, wanting to end this as soon as possible. His dark magic once again activated, channeling itself through his swords and fully intent on killing the golem, and the golem could do was stand there, petrified by fear. It had no tricks it could use, this dark magic that this pony possessed was incredibly powerful, and it's obvious that he's quite skilled with those blades, being able to take out the mind control spell that it had placed on his parents and on top of that, the blades themselves seem to contain an incredible magic on their own which is only amplified even more whenever he adds his own power into it, so there was absolutely no chance of defeating him. It had pushed DarkHeart around numerous times during the whole ordeal, but every time, no matter how hard he was pushed down, he got back up, and each time he got up he came back swinging with even more power than the last time. The golem was ready to accept its fate, but it wasn't going down without a fight, and so mustering up enough courage to actually move again, the golem got to make a move to attack DarkHeart who was now right in front of it. DarkHeart leapt up, his katanas now overflowing with dark energy, bringing his swords down to strike down the creature while the golem was making an attempt to use its hoofs to strike him down while he's in the air. Just as their attacks were about to connect, a bright flash appeared from nowhere and along with it a strong force that threw both the golem and DarkHeart off balance and sent them spiraling back a few dozen yards, right past his parents who had recovered from their pain trip and were watching the two when they were about to strike each other down, and were made into a nice big crater and DarkHeart, who was actually becoming quite irritated of being used to make craters, was making an attempt to get back up to find out what had just happened. As the energy subsided DarkHeart finally managed to lift himself up and out of the crater and what he saw shocked him. . . . . . a lot. In front of his eyes, his parents and the golem were bowing to a mare that appeared to be made out of pure light. In all his days he didn't think he would ever see his parents bowing down to anypony, they didn't even do it when Princess Celestia had came to town. He picked himself out of the crater and started walking towards the mysterious light mare, wanting to find out who it was exactly that both his parents and the golem, that didn't seem to hold any kind of respect for anything, was bowing down in the presence of this mare. As he was walking past his parents, he felt something tug at his leg, "DarkHeart, show some respect and bow your head," DarkHeart looked down at his mother with a raised eyebrow wondering why he should even attempt to do such a thing when he didn't know who this mare was anyway. "And why exactly would I do that my dear mother? Especially when I don't even know who she is." DarkHeart said to see if his mother would catch on to what he wanted her to do. "I am the spirit of the Heart of Light, I am also the one who has made the rule and procedures of "The Initiation" as it is now called by your family, but I think you may know me as the strange voice in your head. It's rather interesting actually that a pony such as you was able to hear my voice, no pony has been able to hear my voice within the confines of their own minds in or out of the amulet, but yet you were, mind telling me why that is." StarDust opened her mouth to explain to DarkHeart why he should, when she was interrupted by the mare in question. Now she just looked to her son, wanting to hear what his response would be, or to be more precise to make sure he doesn't say anything stupid to this all powerful being. DarkHeart had retreated back to his thoughts trying to see if there was anything he may have done to accomplish such a thing when he figured out the perfect answer the spirits question,"Why the hell does it matter that I can hear your voice? I mean you don't seem all that special to me, so what is you're the spirit of the amulet, I've dealt with spirits before but this one was something of a nuisance," replied DarkHeart. Star Dust's jaw had dropped the way her son had answered to the spirit that had been in their care for these years and Lucky Streak, who had decided to stay silent after he had woken up to the sight of a golem flying in front of his face, was snickering happy that at least somepony had the balls to talk this mare like a normal pony instead of kissing her ass like she was god. "Hmmmm," was the answer he had gotten back in response. "You are most certainly a strange colt aren't you, but then again if you weren't I wouldn't have allowed you to continue on with the trial, even after your parents had intervered, in the first place." That sentence had made the family all snap their heads towards the light spirit, all now knowing why the golem hadn't evaporated into thin air after the two older ponies had stepped in to save their son's life. "Wait you mean that. . . you. . . and the. . . ," DarkHeart was having a hard time comprehending what she had just said and was trying to put the pieces together to see if maybe. . . just maybe, I passed, I defeated that damn golem without having the trial rendered null and void, which means I've must've passed right?But even though she said that she found me interesting it could also mean that she probably expected more from me so there's also the chance I didn't pass, no. . no there's no way I couldn't have I mean I finally summoned my own weapon, or weapons I should say, gained control of the dark power and better yet not once did I ever give up even when it came to breaking that spell on my parents, so that means that I've must've passed and am now the new Guardian of Light. As DarkHeart stood there internally arguing with himself Star Dust finally decided to stand up and walk over to the spirit mare. "I must say Star Dust your son is incredibly rude. Not listening to his own mother when you tell him to do something and questioning your decisions as well as just spacing out in front of a lady, now that my friend is just plain rude." Star Dust probably was just mistaken, but she could've sworn she saw the mare smile when she said that last part. "Please you must forgive him, it's just that he's had a bad day and with all of this has seem to made him forget the stallion he really is." Star Dust replied to the spirit. "Don't worry about it Starry, I mean if I got mad for every time a pony wasn't kissing my ass, the two of us wouldn't have become such good friends." The spirit said reassuring Star Dust. "Well if that's true then why did you get angry whenever I wasn't." said Lucky Streak wanting to make sure he's not forgotten. "Yes, well that's because you weren't ever polite to me. You would always be shooting off those smart-ass remarks of yours or talking crap about me when you thought I wasn't listening, now you my foe truly are rude." the mare with a look of minor disgust. "Alright that's enough out of the two of you, Nova what do you think about letting DarkHeart take on the responsibility of taking care of the amulet?" Star Dusk asked curious about the decision the spirit has made about her son. Hearing his name spoken DarkHeart came out of his thoughts to listen in the conversation between Nova and Star Dust. "Well is there really any answer other than yes." Nova said with a bright smile plastered across her face, her eyes shining a little brighter. The three older ponies looked to DarkHeart to see his reaction (well that is if he came out of his sea of thoughts) and what they saw was something they had all expected to see. DarkHeart was standing there, shaking like a leaf, with a huge smile that took up most of his face now. He was so excited that he felt like exploding, but not being able to keep it in any longer that's exactly what he did. "YEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" DarkHeart shouted at the top of his lungs, feeling pumped now that not only did he accomplish one of his dreams but he manage to get his second one that he was hoping to have come true too. The other three ponies on the ground looked up to the overjoyed young stallion and laughing at his antics. After a few moments of cheerful celebration in the skies, DarkHeart finally came down finally feeling as though he had released of the pent up energy from his excitement but he was still a bit jittery. Man I can't believe it. My dreams have turned into a reality albeit I wasn't planning on having them happen the way they did, but hey at least they happened I that's all I could ask for." DarkHeart said a little calmer than the others could've expected from him in his current state, which had actually made them suspect that there was something that he wasn't telling them. Lucky Streak was the first to speak up,"What's wrong Dark, isn't this your dream come true moment?" DarkHeart sighed as his expression slowly turned to one of happiness to one of guilt. "Well when I think back to everything that happened just a few moments ago I can't help but feel like all of this is my fault and it's kinda eating at me." DarkHeart had gotten raised brows and confused looks from the ponies in front of him. "What is your fault, and do you feel like whatever you're talking about is your doing? You didn't do anything wrong so what exactly is eating at you?" Star Dust asked hoping that it wasn't anything big. "Well for one everything I said to you guys when you came in to save me as well as the fact that you two were being controlled by the golem." DarkHeart said with downcast gaze. "Oh DarkHeart, you don't have to worry about that. We understand why you said everything you said, and for the mind control well I believe that's our fault letting our guard down when we knew full well that it was still around, even if it was unconscious." Lucky Streak said with a genuine smile to show his son that he sincere. "Actually before you try to make your counter-argument DarkHeart, I would like to know why your voice still sounds like that, I thought it was only a part of your transformation." asked Nova, curious as to why his most of him was back to normal except for that one little thing. "You know what? I was wondering the same thing but I wasn't sure if was because of the transformation or your anger." Star Dust looked to her son to see if he had an answer. The three of them were now expecting for him to have an answer when, in all reality, he didn't. He was just as confused as they were. "You know I couldn't really tell you I'm just as confused by it as all of you." If none of you have an answer, then maybe you would like to hear mine. A voice seemingly coming from nowhere said, but of course DarkHeart knew who it was, but he was surprised that the others could hear him, and what had surprised him even more was the fact that Shadow was speaking at all after he retreated back into his mind after he had accepted the dark power and threatened him. "What in the world are you mysterious voice?" Lucky answered back. "The 'voice's' name is Shadow dad, and he's not just some random voice, he's a dark spirit that's suppose to be the manifestation of the darkness that dwells within my heart. He's also the same spirit I was talking about six years ago after I had gotten into that 'fight' at school." DarkHeart explained to his father, as well as the other two mares that were there also curious about this 'dark spirit'. "Yeah, precisely, come on DarkHeart I really think you should hear me out on this." Shadow pleaded. "I think you should just let him tell us his theory. It wouldn't anypony, and right now none of us has a clue to this little mystery and here's a creature who does. Who knows he may actually have the answer already as well as a solution." Star Dust wanted to why her son's body hadn't all changed back to it's normal one, to others it may seem like a minor detail and probably would have came up with the solution of a sore throat or maybe the side-effect of spell, but after everything she and Nova have been through she knew better than not to worry about this. "Well I believe that your voice change may be linked to your dark power and that it's still like this because you want it to be. So I think that if you were to concentrate hard enough you can change it back to your usual voice." "Hmm, you know that idea wasn't as ridiculous as I thought it would be. DarkHeart had been skeptical about hearing what Shadow had to say, but he guessed he was wrong. "That does sound like a possibility after all, as far as I know, you're the only unicorn in our family to use dark magic, plus the fact that not that much is known about dark magic in the world of magic anyway so what if what he says is right." Star Dust said. "Well I guess it's worth a shot then," DarkHeart closed his eyes and started to direct his dark magic to his throat, searching for his voice box. He wrapped his magic around it as he had located it and concentrating on trying to manipulate it to create the voice he's had before his anger had flared. He felt a tingling in his throat as he worked the magical energy until finally the energy dispersed signifying that it had finished its job. He went to go speak so that he could check if the spell had really worked or had Shadow's theory proven wrong. "So did it work or do I have to find a way to go back into my mental plain and kick Shadow's ass." DarkHeart said seeing, or hearing as it were, that it had worked, as well as thinking of all the possibilities that could come from this spell. "Well for being a dark spirit I gotta say you really aren't all that violent are you?" Nova said with a smirk knowing full well that Shadow demeanor is a result of DarkHeart's control over him and his power. And now that I mention, considering the fact that both you and DarkHeart are within the amulet, you should be able to manifest yourself within this plain with no problems." After hearing that Shadow went to work freeing himself from his prison and in mere moments found himself staring face to face with DarkHeart, but only this time the two of them were in DarkHeart's mind. "I must say it feels good to be out there," Shadow said stretching out to get the point across that it was uncomfortable being trapped within the mind of another pony. "Yeah well don't get used to it because you're going back in when we leave, you got that Shadow?" DarkHeart temporarily switched back to his previous so as to get a point across to the spirit. "That is why I'm not all that volatile, Nova, cause I'm not sure if you noticed, but getting on DarkHeart's bad side, especially when he's blown a fuse." Shadow said trying to back talk his polar opposite. The two spirits just stared at each other waiting for the other to make the first move when DarkHeart decided to step in before their bout even had a chance to start. "That's enough from the two of you, we've all been through a lot in the last few hours and I think that the four of us need to get out of here and get some rest." DarkHeart was indeed starting to feel the force of gravity increase as his legs were struggling to keep up his body that was starting to feel heavier, though he didn't show any signs of it. Considering all of the training that he's done over the past few years playing off the macho act wasn't really all that hard for him. Hearing DarkHeart be the first to say that he was tired was a shock to his parents considering the fact that their son never admits when he's tired, which meant that he must've been exhausted. SO agreeing with their son's decision they all say their goodbyes to Nova and Shadow as the portal that would lead them back to their living room where Star Dust had placed the amulet before they left. They were about to go through the portal but not before DarkHeart had turned around to make Shadow was with them. "Come on Shadow, I already told you that you weren't staying here, you're coming back with us even if I have to drag you in with us," DarkHeart threatened. "Oh alright fine, but I expect some kind of reward for complying without being forced." "Your reward is that I still allow you to speak without any sort of punishment and that I'm willing to allow you to be free within my mind." DarkHeart was in no mood for arguing with the persistent spirit seeing as he was already exhausted enough as it is, and he if has to stay away from the warm embrace of his bed any longer he might end up losing it again. "Okay Okay calm down there DarkHeart, I was just kidding around I'm coming, I'm coming." Shadow couldn't believe that this was the same kid he tried to take over six years ago as he reverted back to his spiritual form and retreated back into the recesses of DarkHeart's mind. "Well with that out of the way what do you say we get heading back home and go to bed." Lucky Streak said as a powerful yawn came over him. "Well I guess I might see all of you around then." Nova watched them as they were about to head through the portal. Nova watched as Star Dust went through the portal first, then Lucky Streak, and finally it was DarkHeart's turn, but right before he was going to go through it she called out to him. "DarkHeart I want to say something to you real quick before you leave. Could you please come over here?" That earned her a groan from DarkHeart as her answer, but none the less he turned around and walked towards Nova to see what it was she wanted to tell him."What is it Nova? I really want to go home and go to sleep." "I just wanted to tell you that I'm glad you managed to beat that golem and have become the new Guardian of Light. I'm not sure what it is but I do think that you're really a special pony, and that's not because of your dark magic, but because of your personality. I have a feeling that the two of us are going to become close friends and you might even be the one to finally find out how to look unlock the true power of the amulet. I also beli-," Nova was silenced by DarkHeart as he placed his index finger over her lips. "Alright Nova I get it, you really find me fascinating and would like to become my friend, but seriously though I don't any sort of praise. After all if I only preformed well just for praise I would no better that some egotistical asshole, snotting rich filly who gets whatever the fuck she wants." "Right, sorry, but I am really glad that you succeed in going all out to make your dreams come true and I can't wait to spend more time with you, but you should probably get going now so you could rest from today." Nova said with a slight blush that was hidden thanks to the natural glow she gave off. "Yeah I am too but you're right I really need a break from today maybe I'll actually take an off day for the next week or so, well, be seeing ya." DarkHeart moved towards the portal and before he went through he turned around and waved bye to Nova, then went through the portal and went back home. He came out the other side to see that he was in the living room along with his parent swho had been patiently waiting for him to get back before Star Dust closed the portal and an orb of energy shot to the front of DarkHeart. It released a blinding light before it had calmed down after a few moments and left in its wake was the Heart of Light hanging around his neck. "Well I must admit that thing suits you well DarkHeart," Lucky Streak complimented his son. "It most certainly does look like you were meant to where it." "Thanks but to be honest I really don't care how it looks on me after all I'm supposed to protect it, not care about whether or not it looks good on me, but I gotta say it does make look like an ultimate badass." DarkHeart said looking down at the amulet that now hung around his neck and his parents just rolled their eyes at his comment. "Alright calm down mister badass I think it's time for all of us to hit the hay what do you say." Star Dust said bringing him back to reality. She was right although he was now the new guardian, it doesn't mean that he wasn't able to fall victim to sleep deprivation and considering the kind of day he's had, he would gladly accept the call from dreamland with joy. "Yeah, slipping off into dreamland sounds good right about now I think I'm just going to turn in for tonight." With that DarkHeart went up the stairs heading towards their bedrooms, heading off to his own but not before he had said good night to his parents. "A lot of things are going to happen now aren't they?" Lucky Streak said, concern lacing his voice. Yes, Yes they are, but as long as he keeps a leveled-head he'll be able to solve any problem." Star Dust wasn't going to worry about DarkHeart. She already knew that he wasn't going to give up on problem that comes his way and now that he's come to terms with the darkness within she was sure that he could accomplish anything. Back in his room DarkHeart was laying on his bed thinking about the events of today and how it ended. "Man I can't believe I've finally done it. I somehow managed to get my cuitemark, the heart, and my blades, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day, but unfortunately I know it'll probably be the day I'll be able to get that's like this *sigh* well whatever it doesn't matter now that I've found my purpose in life, to my darkness to help those in need." DarkHeart like the sound of that idea, helping ponies who couldn't help themselves against the forces of evil. (He would say the forces of darkness but considering he now controls his own darkness and is most likely going to use it a whole lot more than his regular magic, that IF he uses his regular magic again, that would kinda mean he would have to hunt himself down). "Even still though how would I even go about that I mean ponies don't like me as it is and it would become a pain in the ass if they got in my way or didn't comply with something I told them to do so that they get hurt and all because they don't like me." DarkHeart was in the middle of this thought when Shadow voiced up his opinion. "I honestly see any problem here, after all you've helped out other ponies before that didn't like you and yet you still manage to get done whatever it is you were doing." Shadow stated in a matter-of-fact tone. DarkHeart contemplated on what Shadow had told him and figured that the dark spirit right but there were still a few things that he wanted to say to the spirit but decided against it, seeing as though he was now really tired and thought he might pass out and slip into a slumber any moment now, *Yawn* Yeah I guess you're right . . . . . . I guess I can give . . . . . . . a try but for the rest of the summer I'm gonna re-" DarkHeart had passed out and was now in the realm of dreams where unfortunately for DarkHeart was a place of intense nightmares. Every night since he was about four he's had nightmares instead of dreams, it took a special sleep spell from princess Luna in order to get him to actually sleep. The spell had caused his dreams to disappear for as long as the spell was in place. Eventually the spell had worn off when he was fifteen, and his nightmares had returned at full force, but because at the time the spell had stopped he had been training his mind so as to control his temper, but when the nightmares returned it worked just as well to allow him to force those nightmares into 'dreams'. But for some reason tonight seemed to be different. Instead of popping into one of his many nightmares when he slipped into unconsciousness, he came up into a peaceful world and for once in a long time he felt at peace in his slumber. Shadow, having lived in DarkHeart's mind for his entire existence saw this and grew curious of the matter and went digging through his mind to find out if some outside force was doing this when he spotted a stream of light enveloping DarkHeart's mind, 'Nova', Shadow thought wondering why the light mare cared what was in DarkHeart's subconscious. "Why are you interfering with his dreams Nova?" Shadow asked knowing that she could hear him. "I think the better question is, why wouldn't I interfere? DarkHeart has suffered through so much already and after a day like today I think it is right to say that he deserves to have a peaceful nights sleep that isn't constantly plagued with the risk of it turning into a nightmare. There's also the mental strain that his put on him having to constantly control the events of his 'dreams', but you would that better than any of us wouldn't you Shadow?" "Yes I would but do you really think he needs my help with that sort of stuff. I mean come on because the way his mind works he's become the stallion he is today. If it wasn't for these nightmares he wouldn't have grown to be as fearless as he is, or thrive to want to help others, and he could go through anything life throws at him without having to worry about it screwing him up any further than he already is." Shadow stated. "I would have to agree with you there, but now that I'm here, I'm going to make sure I do whatever it takes to take as pressure as I can off of his shoulders. But I think we should discuss this another time for now I think we should rest as well cause come tomorrow things are going to be changing for all three of is I know it." "Agreed, well then I guess I'll be seeing you in the morning, goodnight." Shadow said as he went into his kind of sleep. "Yeah, goodnight Shadow, and a goodnight to you, DarkHeart," With that said Nova, too, fell asleep until the sun shines into a new day. Author's Note Princess Luna had yet to turn into Nightmare Moon when she had placed that spell and still won't for about another year or two in the story.
Brewing TroubleTo basically sum up the last month and a half after the events of DarkHeart's birthday, everyday from there on out he and his parents decided that it would be best for him to go off and find some kind of secret place where he can go and train with his new dark powers and katanas to get a better feel for them and to learn how to better control them so that there weren't any surprises when he went out of the house and have ponied freak over him having dark magic. Although he was unable to call upon the form he took during the final moments of the initiation, he was getting a hang of all his other abilities as well especially that voice changing spell, he's pulled quite a few pranks on ponies every so often to amuse himself even though his parents disapprove of his antics and telling him not to abuse his powers. There was also the two new additions to his entourage, Nova and Shadow. They would talk to him without restraint, DarkHeart didn't care if ponies thought he talked to himself and thought he was crazy after all if he had to be perfectly honest with himself he was a little on the crazy side, but that didn't mean he cared about all of the looks he would receive on a day to day basis. Other than those few things that were now a part of his daily routine the rest of the summer was uneventful and actually seemed to pass a little to quick for DarkHeart's taste for today is was the twentieth of August which meant it was the first day of his senior year of high school. "Man am I glad that I skipped a grade in middle school otherwise I think I would go crazy at the fact that I would be here one more year." DarkHeart said, grimacing at the thought of staying in high school for one more year. "I honestly don't see what the big deal is. I was there with your mother when she was sixteen, grant it she didn't skip a grade which meant was a junior, but she seemed to enjoy those last two years of school despite all of the homework she had gotten." Nova said. "Well my mother also wasn't hated by practically the entire school. Everypony always love to push me around and I let them because I was afraid of having the jackass coming back and taking over my body." DarkHeart shivered remembering what had happened six years ago. "HEY, it's not my fault that you got anger issues, you should've learned to control your temper a littlle better." Shadow said defensively. "You know you're lucky I can't go in there and kick your ass you know that right?" DarkHeart was walking inside his school as he threatened him. "You know if you want I could open up a portal to the arena after school so you can kick his ass. That is if you want to." Nova's comment earned her a chuckle from DarkHeart and a growl from Shadow. "Thanks for the offer Nova, but I think I'll pass for now. Unless he decides to act up any more then I'll gladly take you up on it." He heard somepony gulp and he knew that Shadow was going to be a good spirit of darkness for the rest of today. DarkHeart walked down the halls to get his class schedule, having to wait in a rather long line that seemed to be in disarray thanks to everypony being clumped together sharing what they had done over the summer with their friends. "Don't you have any friends to go talk to and act like idiots with?" Nova asked a, in his opinion, a stupid question. "No, didn't you hear me earlier? Everypony in this school hates me why do you think I spent all my time either with my parents or out training the entire summer." DarkHeart wasn't all that bad a guy, but thanks to the events of six years ago he has been having a hard making any friends, especially after they had found out that he wasn't able to do it again. I'm pretty sure you can imagine how much crap he had gotten after they found out that he wasn't able to kick their asses in the blink of an eye if you got him angry. "I've been alone for as long I could remember with the only my parents there to support me, even the rest of my own family despises me. They only pretend to act nice to me whenever my parents are around but once they're gone they act like dickheads." DarkHeart really didn't like the rest of his family. They had always purposely left him behind whenever they would go out on the holidays, he was just lucky enough that his parents loved him so much that they would always notice whenever he was missing to come back for him. "Eventually my parents found out how they were really treating me and they were pissed. In fact they were so pissed that they told all of them on Hearth's Warming four years ago to go fuck themselves and that they didn't want to see any of them until they had apologized for treating me so badly." "Have any of them came to you to say they were sorry since then." Nova sounded a little sadden by what DarkHeart had told her. She had been handed down through the hands of many of the unicorns on his mother's side of the family and grown very close to them, they all thought of her as another member of the family instead just a spirit locked in an amulet. So you could imagine her feelings towards the fact that he and his parents had detached themselves away from the rest of the family. DarkHeart let a sigh before he answered her. "No, none of them have yet to step up I say they were sorry, sorry Nova I know that that information must be hard for you to take seeing as you most likely know them better than I ever will and most likely have become just another member of the family to them." DarkHeart had picked on the sadness in her voice from earlier when she had asked him that. "Well yeah, I will grow to miss them greatly, but you're my guardian now so I can't really do anything about it and besides you're still more than good enough to be around anyway so I won't mind as much as long as I don't think about it." Nova seemed perk up as she began to think of the fun things she had already done with him. "But there's something I still find weird now that think about it. DarkHeart said rubbing his chin. "What'sthat?" the two spirits asked in unison. Well I kinda expected Nova to say that you remembered, I mean that was only four years ago, and I know you don't have any kind of memory loss considering you still remember shit from 75 years ago like it was yesterday." DarkHeart explained, As DarkHeart was discussing the subject of why didn't Nova remember that one day that changed his family, a charcoal grey pegasus spotted the black unicorn still standing in line. He went over to the DarkHeart with an evil smirk on his face that said that he wanted to cause some trouble. The pegasus pulled out a small, clear plastic bag filled with a strange white powder, opening it up and getting ready to dump it the unsuspecting victim. "SURPRISE!!" the pegasus yelled causing DarkHeart to turn around to see what going on when he saw the white powder flying towards him. The powder left a cloud of white dust everywhere as it made contact, the stallion laughing as he pulled off another prank on the unicorn he loved to push around and use as his punching bag,hahahahahaha, oh this is just too easy.Hey there DarkHeart, how's my favorite punching bag doing today, hope you are itching to see all of the new bullying techniques I've come up with this year. Oh ho ho ho man I think . . . . . . . year . . . . . . . is . . . . . . going to . . . . . . be . . . . . fun." The pegasus stared at what was suppose to be his victim completely fine and of the itching powder that was thrown at DarkHeart caked the surface of red, translucent barrier and saw the glare that was being thrown towards, but the glare isn't what scared him, well it kinda was the glare, no it was DarkHeart's right eye which had changed to his emerald green, draconic one. DarkHeart glared at his long time bully and enemy, "I don't think so Stone Digger, if you think I'm going to let you soil my family's most protected and precious heirloom YOU'RE DEAD WRONG!!!" He didn't even try his voice from the crowd of teenagers watching them, "And another thing if you think I'm just going to just sit around this year and let you bully me around you'd be wrong on that assumption too." DarkHeart said in the voice that he was granted by the darkness within him and a sinister smile spreading across his face. Everypony in the crowd looked on as they saw Stone Digger back away from the unicorn thinking that he was going to be killed when a mare that appeared to be in her mid-thirties came through the crowd and telling them to disperse, "Alright everypony go get your schedules and head to your homerooms, the bell is about to ring." She spoke in a voice that would be able to calm even to most violent of beasts. "Except for you two, the two of you are to follow me down to the principal's office." The two teenagers complied with the teacher's demand as they trailed behind her. "So either of mind telling me what happened before we get down there or would rather just wait for Principle Scholaris deals with you two." the mare asked. She turned around to the two seeing as she hadn't gotten a response from either them and saw DarkHeart had a smile plastered on his face with hands behind his head and Stone Digger seemed to be glancing over at him afraid of what he might do to him. "So then I take it you would rather take this up with him huh *sigh* I would expect this from Stone Digger, DarkHeart but not from you of all the ponies in this school you would be the last one I would expect to be in a fight." The teacher said disappointedly. DarkHeart arched an eyebrow at her statement, "Really I would be the last YOU would expect to be in a fight Ms. Tender Heart?" he asked in disbelief. "Well of course you are one of the top students in the entire school, and also the most reserved, I've hardly ever heard you talking to the other students, a few times to the other teachers, and I'm really the only one you share your problems with here at the school." Ms. Tender Heart said shocked that he had even asked her that. She thought that the two of them had became quite good friends over all of the years they had known each other, especially since she and Star Dust were and are the bestest of friends. "Oh wait of you do, you weren't there on my birthday, man now that was the most awesomest day of my life getting my cutiemark and the Heart of Light on the same day, but I can tell you this it sure in the hell was a pain to get it I tell you what." DarkHeart said with a strange amount of enthusiasm in his voice. "Wait a minute you got the amulet, is it okay if I see it?" Tender was always fascinated with his family's most prized and protected possession, but never really got a chance to look at it up close because Star Dust had always hid it away somewhere whenever she was out or her family had guest over. "Maybe I"ll show to you during lunch but uh weren't taking us to the principle's office?" He said getting his teacher back on track. "Oh yes, you're right, you may be the son of my best friend but I still got a job to do and I'm pretty sure your mother wouldn't appreciate it if I just let you go with just a warning." She quickly turned on her teacher mode after DarkHeart had reminded her of her job and continued towards the principal's office. DarkHeart just shrugged at that before he said something. "For the record, if you really want to know what happened, there wasn't any kind of fight back there this one over here just got scared that I decided to stand up to him and glare him down, and fell on his own sorry rump." "WHAT!? You call that just some random glare. You had the eye of a dragon you damn freak of nature, don't you even dare to say that is was nothing. Ms. Tender Heart there has to be some kind of rule that would prohibit him from coming to school right." Stone Digger looked like he was about to piss himself as he clung the mare in fear that what he had just said would anger DarkHeart and that he attack the shivering pegasus. "I don't know about any rule about whether or not the school allows admittance to ponies with dragon eyes, but I do know there is most surely a rule about unicorns who use their magic to harm other students." scolded Tender Heart, throwing a glare over her shoulder to DarkHeart. "Believe me miss, I didn't use any sort of magic to put an illusion spell or change the shape or color of my eyes, but what he saw most certainly real and I would be more than willing to explain that to later you on as well." he stated in a matter-of-fact sort of way. The three had finally reached Principal Scholaris' office and Ms. Tender Heart had told to two of them to sit and wait for until the principal was ready to see them before she went back to her classroom. "I'm going to expose for the freak you are and get you kicked out of here you fucking freak!" Stone Digger was so furious at the unicorn for he had made him look like a fool in front of the entire school on the first day back and he was now determined to get vengence. DarkHeart just shrugged and leaned back in his chair not caring in the slightest about the fuming, yet terrified pegasus sitting next to him. "You do realize that your parents are going to be furious with you right?" Nova said trying to coax some kind of reaction out of her new guardian about the situation he was in. "And you do realize I don't give a fuck right?" DarkHeart said out loud. This was making the pegasus even madder as he watched DarkHeart closely and seeing that aside from his eye, his little punching bag's confidence seemed to be growing through the roofs, or at least that was what Stone Digger saw through his posture and body language. "But you're suppose to use your power responsibly, what do you think your mom is going to say when she finds out about this, or do you just not care." Nova was now full on scolding him. "I would say you hit the nail right on the head there Nova. If you think about it I didn't do anything wrong, and if you're still going to try and argue with just look at what had taken place. All I did was protect the amulet like I was suppose to by putting up a barrier instead of beating the crap out of Stone Digger, which I may remind was what I really want to do considering all of the shit he's put me through my whole life, and then I just glared him down. The fact that my dragon eye decided to make an appearance was completely out of my control." DarkHeart explained but got a 'hmph' instead of counter argument from the light spirit. "Alright, who the hell are you talking to, and who the hell is Nova?" Stone Digger was now getting confused as he listened to DarkHeart talk this Nova, when the door to the principal's office opened up. "Alright you two can come in now." the two heard a deep voice say to them from behind the partially cracked door. They both went into Scholaris' office and took up their seats in front of his desk as the Principal sat in his chair with his back turned towards them both. "So, according to what Tender Heart told me before she left, you two were having a bit of a . . . . . . disagreement earlier this morning." Scholaris said in a calm manner. "I don't know if disagreement would be the right word for what had happened, but then again neither would fight be the correct either." DarkHeart stated in the same calm manner as Scholaris. "Oh really, then what exactly would you call it DarkHeart?" he turned to face the two as he asked. "Well I'm not sure what to it sir but I know that it wasn't a disagreement or a fight, though I think I would just probably call it expressing our opinions towards each other." DarkHeart said. Scholaris arched an eyebrow at his answer, Nova face palmed from within the amulet, Shadow, who has just been enjoying the show groan and shook his head, and Stone Digger just stared at him like he was an idiot. "Expressing your opinions of each other huh, that's really the answer you're going with." He asked somewhat amused by DarkHeart's attitude towards the whole situation he was in. "Yep, but it that doesn't sit well with you I'm not really sure what else to tell you. Though I guess actually hearing the story from the two of us might help shed some light on the entire ordeal so that you could form your own answer for what to call it, wouldn't you agree." DarkHeart asked. "I would have to agree with there, but I was planning on asking the two of whether or not what Ms. TenderHeart said was true or not and so before I ask for either of your stories Stone Digger what is your take on what had happened this morning." Scholaris and DarkHeart had turned to him looking for an answer. "Principle Scholaris my take on this whole is that . . . . ," Stone paused for a moment think of what he would say to get the principle on his side."My take is that DarkHeart is a menace and needs to be kicked out of this school!" He shouted. "Oh not this routine again." DarkHeart groaned at the bully's persistence on the matter. "Is there something I've missed here, Stone Digger why do you believe he needs to be thrown out of this school?" Scholaris asked puzzled by the reactions by the two. It was then Stone Digger started to explain his side of what had happened in the commons area during the time in which the other students were trying to obtain there schedules. Scholaris only listened intently as he did so, not asking a single question or making a comment, just listening to the semi-hysteric pegasus carry on about how DarkHeart was a dragon-eyed freak of nature and how he had assaulted him and try to kill him and that he shouldn't even allowed to live among normal pony folk. "That's why I said that this abomination should be kicked out and perhaps even experimented on." Stone Digger finished. Scholaris finished allowing Stone's story to sink into his mind before he turned his towards the unicorn, who was staring at the ceiling and looked as though he didn't have a care in the world, "So mister DarkHeart, do you mind telling me what REALLY happened this morning?" he asked him. "Yeah I guess so, but before I do I must say that that story you told was actually pretty damn good, have you ever considered writing a script for a play?" DarkHeart complimented to now enraged pegasus. "Please refrain from using profanity in front of me mister Heart." said Scholaris in a stern voice. "Well could you please refrain from calling Mr. Heart, it makes it sound like I'm married to Ms. Tender Heart it's why I asked all the teachers and staff in the school to call me by my name or at the very least Mr. Dark so as to prevent that." DarkHeart shot back. "Yes I suppose you're right, my apologies to you. Now would you mind telling me your side of things Mr. Dark." he said apologetically. "Thank you, and yes I'll tell my side of this story." DarkHeart went on to tell Principal Scholaris the truth of the events that transpired between him and his long time enemy. His story couldn't have been simpler that what he had already told the principal. He told him about walking into the school and going to stand in line to wait to get class schedule for the new year, as well as telling him how Stone Digger had snuck up on him and got him to turn around by yelling "SURPRISE" right next to him and how he saw the itching being thrown right at his face and blocked it at the last moment by using his magic to put up a barrier. DarkHeart also went to explain why Stone Digger was freaking out so badly and why he wanted him out the school telling Scholaris about his eye's transformation, but also went to explain that he wasn't going to kill the pegasus or even harm him for that matter and after he had finished he looked to the older stallion to see what he had to say about what he had just been told, Scholairs was in thought as he was deciding what was to do now after hearing DarkHeart's side of things, which definitely sounded more believable than Stone's, but he still one more question that he wanted to ask him. "Well Mr. Dark I do find your story to be a great deal more believable than Mr. Stone's, but I must ask were you serious when you said that he had been telling the truth about your draconic eye, or were you just humoring him for your own amusement. he asked curious about what he might get as the answer. "If you're looking for the truth I've already told you, what this whimping little filly said about my right eyes is true it does transform into a more dragon like one, but I am able to control when it can and can't be seen by others, but I guess this was one of those times when I wasn't in control and it's not from any sort of spell in my internal library of spells and if you don't believe me you are more than welcomed to contact either one of my parents to find out for yourself." He said with the most serious expression he could muster at the moment, still finding it quite humorous that this pegasus that had been torturing him for the last eleven years was sitting next, in the principal's office, and shaking like a leaf, it was too much for him but he knew had to keep up the act to get him to see that he was serious. The stallion glanced up to DarkHeart seeing the truth that gleamed within his eyes but didn't want to ask him about seeing that it was meant to be a secret between him and his own family. (Known to only a few, Scholaris' eyes are able to peer into a pony's mind and see the truth of an event that had happened, this talent of his is why he thought he would make a great principal, he loved influencing the minds of the next generation, and he also believed that if he could use his talent to make sure he was able to rightfully punish the one who had done wrong and reward those who fought to help justice prevail. There were who knew of this talent and they firmly believed that he could put it to better use as lawyer or a judge but he thought the opposite, thinking that it might be a waste of his time to try and get a criminal to fess up and admit their mistakes.) "Alright then, I think I've made my decision on how to handle the situation," he stated. "DarkHeart you are free to head to your homeroom, here's your schedule," DarkHeart took his class schedule from his hands. "Miss Tender Heart had picked it up for you before she brought the two of you done here, and as for you Mr. Digger you have lunch detention for the rest of the week and are to clean up the itching powder you had tried to throw on DarkHeart do I make myself clear." Mr. Scholaris' voice turned serious as he delivered his verdict. "Y-y-y-yes sir." Stone Digger respawned nervously. And with that the two teenagers exited his office and headed towards their homerooms, but not before Stone Digger was stopped by a mare wearing a janitor's uniform and handed him a scrubber and a bucket of water, "The boss told me that you were the one to clean this mess up, so I would suggest you get to it before you make it worse for yourself." The mare said as he took the cleaning supplies and started to clean the mess he had made from his failed prank. DarkHeart just looked at the pegasus, who was now scrubbing the floor, before continuing towards his class. "You do know what classroom you're going to, right?" Shadow asked after he had been wondering the halls for a few more minutes that it should've taken to get to his homeroom. "Of course I know where it is I'm just doing a little exploring is all, it's been a while since I've just taken the time to really what this school has to offer." came his response. "So then I take that as a no then?" Nova asked him. "Yeah I'm lost," the two just sighed and shook their heads at him before Shadow decided to speak up. "How in Tartarus do you forget how to get to a classroom that you've somehow been stuck in every year since you first started attending high school." Shadow asked actually sounding a little irritated from some reason. "Why are so pissy all of sudden Shadow it's not like you're the one who's going to get into trouble." Nova asked picking up on the dark spirit's irritation. "Because with the way things have started out already, as well as all of you guys knowing about now, I guarantee that whatever other trouble he gets into his parents are going to blame me and probably going to want to do something about it and I'm pretty sure I know what they're going to want to do." Nova and DarkHeart noticed that he actually sounded like he was scared of his parents. "Woah, come down there Shadow, listen if you're that worried about I'll just take a look down at my schedule so I know that i'm going to right way alright? he said as he pulled out the folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket. "Now lets see where it is I'm exactly suppose to be heading . . . . . . ." DarkHeart was looking at the paper and back up to make sure he wasn't heading in the wrong direction and watching for the number to the room he was suppose to be heading to, "oh we're here actually, hmm I guess I as heading in the right direction after all." he said as he looked at the number on the right side of the door that read: 110. DarkHeart went into the class to find everypony staring at him, or glaring at him is more like it. "Well it's nice of you to finally show DarkHeart. I take it that Principal Scholaris has given out his punishment." Ms. Tender Heart asked as he walked over to take a desk in the back of the classroom. "Yeah he did, he gave Stone Digger lunch detention for the rest of the week, made him clean up the itching powder out in the commons, and let me just come back to class without so much as even a warning." he said as he sat back in his chair and kicked his feet up. "What, but how, what did you tell him happened out there." she asked shocked that he didn't get into trouble. "I told him the truth, just like I had told you, and he believed me even though I can't say it wasn't really all that hard to side with me considering the story Stone Digger had told him." DarkHeart in a cool, relaxed tone that told her that he thinks he got out this scot free. "Well if the principle isn't going to punish you I'm pretty sure your parents will after I talk to your mother later on after school." she threatened him. "Wrong again Ms. TenderHeart, my parents will understand why I did what I did and you'll understand too when I tell why that is after school, I would tell you sooner, but I don't trust the other students or teachers at this school and you're the only one in the town who isn't related by blood that knows of my family's past and the secret of this amulet." DarkHeart had a stern expression as he continue to shoot down any kind of threat she could make towards him. "DarkHeart you do realize that your some of your classmates are in here too, right?" she looked across the room and noticed all of the other students glaring his way. "Yeah, and, last I check no pony in this school really liked me all that much anyway and go out of their ways to ignore me. So I figured I had the right to say what I want like they weren't even here. I mean it's not like they could really do anything to hurt me, especially after the kind of summer I've had" As he finished he took a quick glance around the room and saw exactly what he had expected to see, a bunch of pissed off teenagers on the cusp of adulthood glaring a storm of knives at him. He only smirked at their reactions before closing his eyes again to let his mind wander off into his own little world, when suddenly *rrriiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg* the school bell went off signifying that is was time to head off to first hour. DarkHeart listened to all of the other ponies gathering and whispering amongst themselves as he passed by heading off to his fourth hour, this had been going all throughout the day but yet he was intrigued at what their opinions were, hearing them talk about what had happened this morning and some even having heard Stone Digger's rant about him being an abomination, telling everypony about his right eye shifting into his draconic one. He heard some say how crazy Stone was for coming with such a story, while others either believed him and agreeing what he said about kicking him out of the school, or they were trying to study him very closely to see it for themselves, but no matter what they thought there was one thing that was for certain, no pony would be crazy enough to confront him, at least not on their own. As he took his seat in his next class DarkHeart felt a presence standing right in front of him. He looked up to see none other than the humiliated pegasus just inches from his face, still looking as pissed as ever, "You think you could back up a little there buddy you're kind of making me uncomfortable because it looks like you trying to steal a kiss from me, and I don't know about you but I not a colt cuddler." DarkHeart shooting off a joke at the pegasus' expense. "First off, I'm not your buddy--" "No really, you don't say." DarkHeart said in a manner that made sure the pegasus knew that he was making fun of him. "--and secondly I want revenge for earlier so me and you are going to duke it out after school, unless you're chicken." stated Stone Digger challengingly. "And why pray tell would I fight you, you wouldn't even be a work for me if I were to hold back, it'd be nothing but a waste of my time and besides I have Ms. Tender Heart heading over to my home to talk to my parents and I was planning on letting her in on our new family secret, so I definitely can't make it tonight, but come to me again when you've gotten stronger, a lot stronger, and when I'm not so busy then we'll talk." DarkHeart got up from his seat, walked around it, gave the pegasus a couple of light slaps on his left cheek, and sat back down. Onlookers of the event just stood there with their jaws dropped down, some of them were practically touching the ground as they witnessed what had just happened right in front of their eyes. Stone Digger was one of the scariest bullies in the school and DarkHeart was his most favorite punching, but yet here were with their roles almost switched switched around as DarkHeart just sat there and taunted Stone Digger, which left them all to wonder what had happened to him during the summer, none of them saw him due to the fact they all had either gone out town or just didn't pay attention to him if he had actually been out and about so seeing him like this baffled them. The pegasus looked as though he was going to blow a fuse as he clenched his fist and was cocking back his arm to deliver a blow to the unicorn when the bell had rung and the teacher walked in, "Good afternoon class, could you please take your seats?" asked the stallion. With that Stone Digger just put his hands to his sides and walked back to his desk muttering curses under his breath. DarkHeart just smirked as he had heard what he was saying and was quite proud of himself for his little transformation. I guess everything this summer has really helped me out a lot with the confidence boost hasn't it. he thought trying to get a response from the spirits that were bond to him. "It would appear so, but don't let that go to your head DarkHeart. I don't want you getting into anymore unnecessary trouble." Nova scolded. "Yeah good luck with that, even without the confidence boost he'd still do some pretty damn stupid stuff. Isn't that right DarkHeart?" joked Shadow. Hey, just that whole incident with the firestarter spell didn't go over doesn't mean I'm trying to purposely do something stupid. he argued back. "Wait! What!? What happened when you tried to use the fire starter spell?" Nova asked shocked, yet curious on what could've gone wrong with such a simple spell. "Let's just say that they won't let DarkHeart anywhere near the bunsen burners in the chem. lab." Shadow replied trying to stifle a laugh. "Wow, I didn't think you would manage to screw up something like that, I'm just surprised that's all that happened and nothing else." she snickered at the thought of DarkHeart screwing something like that so badly. It wasn't my fault, Stone decided it was a good idea to throw something at my head when I was trying to help Mr. Bunsen with a demonstration and he couldn't get the burner going. he 'said' defensively. Shadow and Nova burst out into laughter as DarkHeart tried to defend his point, which earned a groan from him as he listen to the spirits enjoying themselves at his expense. DarkHeart ignored the two as they continued their bout of laughter and turned his attention back towards his teacher as he was finished introducing himself and was passing out some kind of personality test."Uuuuhhhhggg, why do they make us do these things every year, I mean it's not like they ever actually look at these things otherwise a lot of the teachers would've called my parents to have a talk with them as well as myself." he said to himself in a hushed voice. "Well Mister Heart I do look at these so I would suggest that you fill this out as truthfully as possible and get it back to me by the end of class." DarkHeart heard the teacher say from behind him. "Really, really you had to call me Mr. Heart, I'm guessing you didn't get the memo from the principal, it's either that or you're trying to make me mad." the teacher just had a puzzled look on his face as DarkHeart said that. "I wasn't aware that there was a memo that had gone out or maybe I had missed it, did he give it out recently?" now DarkHeart was confused. "Are you new here because I don't ever remember seeing you in the school since I've been here." he asked thinking that maybe that was the reason that he didn't know about the whole 'Mr. Heart' ordeal. "Yes I am, weren't you listening while I was introducing myself, and what does that have to do with the memo you were talking about." the teacher was trying to get a grasp on the situation as DarkHeart, in his opinion, kept asking questions that diverted from the topic at hand. "Well I guess that would explain why you don't know. Well I'll tell you now so that you don't make the same mistake again, there really isn't a memo from the principal, I was just saying that because originally when I first came here, during my freshman year, a lot of the other teachers students and staff thought I related to one of the teachers-Ms. Tender Heart-because they heard Principal Scholaris refer to me as Mr. Heart. So I had asked the principal to make it point that I was in no way related to her and I asked the teachers personally to call me either Mr. Dark or just DarkHeart." DarkHeart explained to the new teacher. "Ah I see, well my apologies DarkHeart, thank you for letting me know and also for not chewing of my head." the stallion said, extending his hand to him. "No problem Mr. uh, "Eye, Perceptive eye, your new history teacher." responded Mr. Eye. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Eye, maybe you'll get to know the good side of me before the bad." DarkHeart greeted him. With that situation passed they went to their seats and sat down concentrating on the individual tasks given to them. DarkHeart filled out the personality profiler was given while reminiscing on the day he's ha so far recalling the bit of trouble he got in this morning, to right now, Only have the day has gone by and it's turned out to an interesting one. I think this year is going to go by quickly but it's going to be a hell of a lot of fun till the end. The rest of the day went about as it would for him on a normal school day after he had fourth hour, he went to lunch and ate alone like per usual, went to his fifth hour, finished all the work he was given within the first five minutes it was handed out. He waited for fifth hour to be over so that he could go to his sixth hour and do the same as in fifth but instead used his extra time to do a little drawing in his notebook that he's had since he was five, then once his sixth hour was over he went to seventh which had a little more exciting considering it was gym, but even so it wouldn't matter what game they were playing he found himself the last one picked and found the other team to barely be a challenge as yet again him and his team shut out the other, like always, I guess it's the reason why I'm always the last one picked, I'm too good to be playing on a team, one of these days I should try to convince the coach to let play by myself maybe then I'll get my challenge. he thought after classed had finished up. He was now headed home hoping to get a little training in before he went to bed, when he heard rapidly clopping of hoofs from behind him. "Somepony is running towards me but why?" he wondered to himself. "Wait don't tell me it's that idiot Digger trying to jump on me from behind, *sigh* doesn't that idiot know when to give up." he said as he heard the clopping get louder as whoever was behind him was getting closer whom he thought was Stone Digger. He was about to turn around and getting ready to knock whoever it was on their ass when he heard a familiar voice call out to him. "DarkHeart wait I still need to speak with you." he heard the voice say as he recognized to come from Ms. Tender Heart. He turned around to see that she had finally caught up with him. "Hey Mr. Tender Heart, did you have nice run." he joked. She didn't respond right away as she was trying to catch her breath from the exhausting run,"You know . . . . . . you walk . . . . . really, . . . . . really fast." she said still exhausted. "What can I say, all of that training really does come in handy for even the simplest of things, like my walking." he said almost as he had said that phrase thousands of times before. "So miss, what was it that you needed to talk to me so badly about?" he said remembering that she said that she wanted to talk to him. "Don't you remember, I was going to go to your home to talk to you and your parents about this whole eye issue and tell them about what you did this morning. I'm still wanting to hear your explanation for everything mister and don't think you're going to be able to talk me out of it." she said after finally catching her breath a few moments ago. "That's fine with me, after all I did promise to give you an explanation for everything anyway." he stated in his usual calm tone before he turned and started back on his trip home. The two of them were walking back to DarkHeart's home in silence as he was taking the time to enjoy his walk. I swear, no how many times I've walked this path over the years, it still seems to relax me whenever I'm troubled he thought to himself. "Why are you troubled? I thought you said that there wasn't anything to worry about." Nova asked thinking he was talking to them. "I'm not troubled I was just saying that. Besides that was just me talking to myself not to you, which actually reminds me, we need to find some way for you to tell when I'm talking to one of you and when I'm thinking to myself." DarkHeart said aloud forgetting that his teacher was still walking next to him as she honed in on the conversation that he was having with Nova. "Well you could just call us by our names whenever you want to speak to one or both of us, or at least that's what I've been going by." Shadow gave them his answer. "Yeah I guess that could work, but what about times when I'm trying to convey messages to one of you and don't want the other to hear, especially in cases in where one of you is being controlled by somepony else that isn't me and is being forced to spy on us or something of the sort?" asked DarkHeart voicing his own concerns for their possible communication problems. "I think I got the answer for that one. What if we just make up some kind of code on the spot, so that way if that ever does happen, which ever one of us is being controlled doesn't know what we're saying because if we make up the code right then and there they aren't aware of our code and can't give away our plans." Nova answered. "Yeah that could work, I have to say it's amazing how quickly the three of us can solve any the problems we may have in the future when we're in midst of battle." DarkHeart was still unaware of the fact that he was still saying all of this out loud and Ms. Tender Heart listening the entire time. Getting rather curious about what was happening right in front of her Tender Heart decided to speak up to see if she had been forgotten by her best friend's son. "What do you mean problems you'll have in battles in the future, I thought you said you didn't fight Stone Digger. Does that mean you lied to me and the principal?" she asked, which had caused him to jump and giving Tender Heart her answer to whether or not she had been forgotten. "Ms. Tender Heart, I totally forgot that you were here, sorry about that." he apologized. "I accept your apology but that still doesn't answer my question. Did you or did you not lie to me and Principal Scholaris?" she turning a glare towards him trying to scare the answer out of him. "No I didn't lie to you two, why are you asking me this now?" he asked, confused as to why she was bringing up a problem that was suppose to be resolved. "Then what was all that talk about resolving issues for future battles and the such, and who exactly were you talking to, I heard say the three of us but I only see the two of us here and I had no part in the conversation." she intensified her glare hoping that it would coax out some answers from him. DarkHeart raised an eyebrow as he saw her expression get more serious, "Really Ms. Tender Heart ,'the glare', you know that has never worked on me, but if you really want answers that badly you're going to have to wait until I ask my mother if I could disclose this information to you, and by the looks of it you won't have to wait all that long." She turned around to see that they had reached his home and was immediately greeted by the sight of her best friend walking out the door when she spotted her son and friend. As the two mares laid eyes upon each, they gasped, ran and jumped into each other arms, and holding each other tightly squealing like little fillies. DarkHeart would've been smiling and shaking his head at them if it wasn't for the fact that their combined squealing reached bearable levels and caused his dog sensitive ears pain, he thought that they were going to blow his eardrums out if they got any louder. He tried to cover his ears but that didn't seem to help his situation one little bit until they stopped their hug and moved away from each other. "You think you could squeal a little louder I don't think Princess Celestia and Princess Luna heard all the way back at Canterlot." he said sourly at them till trying to get ringing in his ears to stop. "Sometimes you're just as boring as your father son. I haven't seen Tender Heart all summer, course we're going to be a little excited to see each other." Star Dust replied to her son's attitude towards the two mares' reunion. "Well when you got ears that are sensitive to very high pitches and you are standing right next to the source, it's kinda hard for me to be happy for you two." he shot back. Star Dust just rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her friend. "So what have you been up to Tendy, has my son gotten into trouble already at school." she shot a glare at DarkHeart as he was heading up the stairs of their front porch and going inside so he didn't see it. "Well that's what I'm here the find out. You see this morning he and another student had something of a squabble this morning and the other student had reported seeing DarkHeart's right eye shift into a draconic one." Tender Heart explained to her. After hearing this Star Dust began to get a little nervous as she started to look around to see if there was anypony else around to hear what she had just said. "Tender Heart I think I you should probably come inside. there are a few things I need to explain to you and maybe even ask for your help on something." her tone on a more worried and serious sound to it. Tender Heart started to get a little worried herself hearing her friend's tone change drastically from the playful one she had just seconds ago. "Star Dust what is it, has something gone wrong?" she asked worriedly. "I'll explain everything when we're inside, but you have to make sure that you keep everything you hear inside, a secret nopony else can know about it besides you and my family, okay?" she told her. "Okay Star Dust but I really need to know what has you so up in a panic." Tender Heart was beginning to worry that whatever they were trying to hide was seriously bad and that she may be in over her head. Star and Tender went inside the house and found DarkHeart laying on the couch and having a conversation with, by the sounds of it, Shadow. "I have no idea what exactly you think she's going to do after all is said and done, but I'm pretty sure we can handle it if it comes down to the worse case scenario." DarkHeart said to Shadow. "You do realize that a worse case scenario is Princess Celestia herself interfering and we're all banished or thrown into some kind magical, ancient prison, left to rot for the rest of YOUR life, right?" Shadow argued. "So I take it death isn't the worse case scenario then." DarkHeart said laughing at his own ill-conceived joke when his mother decided to butt into their conversation. "It is the worse case scenario if you were to die before finding somepony else to take on the responsibility of the Guardian of Light, son, and there's also the fact of how me and your father would feel if you were to just die. So sorry, but I'm going to have to take Shadow's side on this one DarkHeart, you really aren't taking this as seriously as I thought you would, I mean revealing your eye to another pony who isn't blood or knows about the secret of the amulet, what were thinking?" Star scolded her son. "Do you honestly think I don't know that mom? You know I still don't have full control over small stuff like that otherwise he wouldn't seen it." went argued back trying to get at least some of the blame off his shoulders. "Hold on before either say anything else I want what the heck you two are talking about." Tender Heart was thoroughly confused, Secret of the amulet, exposing his eye, not controlling the small stuff like that, what is the 'small stuff' they're talking about. "She's right, I think before we continue to play the blame game we should probably tell her everything that's been going on lately. She is the only one that would be able to keep an eye on me everyday while at school, and she can actually do something should anything go wrong." DarkHeart said thinking that it would be good to not only make sure Tender Heart knows the whole story and find out why his mother his freaking out so badly, but also to tell her so that her head doesn't explode trying to piece together the information from their argument. "Yes we should, Tendy I think you should probably take a seat, what I'm about to tell you is a lot of information to process and I don't want you to hurt yourself should you fall over." she said, getting an extremely confused expression from the teacher before she complied on took a seat on one of the chairs in the living room. After they had all gotten themselves comfortable Star Dust started to relay all of the information to her friend, starting with the how her ancestor had first gotten the Heart of Light and how it's been passed down through the ages to DarkHeart's birthday and everything that had happened on that day, and after that he took over from there telling her about the training he had been doing from that day forth up until today. By the time they had finished, Tender Heart sat there trying to process everything she had been just been told and hadn't made a single moment for the longest time. In fact she had sat in that single spot for so long Lucky Streak had came home to see her still just sitting there and Star Dust was already half through dinner. "You think maybe she's broken mom?" DarkHeart asked a little worried for his teacher. "Just be patient sweetie, she's just trying her best to piece together everything in her head and get a grip of the situation at hand." she told her son. "You know, sometimes I wished you didn't still use those little baby names parents give their foals instead of using our real names, even when we're adults." DarkHeart grimaced at his mother using sweetie, instead of his name to answer him back. "But to me you still are my adorable little foal though, and no matter how big or old you get you always will be." she responded back before giving him a kiss on his forehead. "Well I just hope she snaps out of it soon, we still need to ask her if she'd be willing to help us keep an eye on you while you're at school. After all we need somepony there to run interference should you lose control of the dark magic." Lucky commented from his spot in the kitchen. "Ru . . . . ru . . . . run in . . . . . inter. . . . . interference." They family turned around as they had barely heard a sound come from her and saw her eyes shrink to the size of pin pricks. "Hey Ms. Tender Heart, have you finally snapped out of it?" DarkHeart asked. Tender Heart looked as though she was going to faint and run away all at the same time. Star Dust saw her reaction and quickly stepped in to calm down her friend. "It's alright Tendy, if you're really that scared of the idea you don't have t-" she was stopped mid-sentence when she felt a hand rest upon her shoulder. She turned to see whose hand it was and saw that Tender Heart had wrapped her hand around her back and put it upon her shoulder. Star Dust looked back towards her to see Tender Heart staring up at her, she had a completely different expression on her face, she looked like she had just gotten a major confidence boost. They just stared at each other for a while until Tender Heart finally decided to break the silence. "Do you really need somepony to look after him that badly?" she asked in a surprisingly cheerful tone. "Y. . y. . yes but if you don't want to you don't have to." Star Dust said rather surprised from her sudden mood change. "Nonsense Starry I'd be more than happy to lend a helping hand to my bestest friend in the all of Equestria." she said still keeping her cheery tone. "Are you sure, I mean I wouldn't want yo put on a situation that you'd be uncomfortable in and trying to keep track of DarkHeart is a tiresome job all on it's own." Star Dust warned. "Yeah, take it from us, he's been trouble even when he was just a foal." Lucky Streak quipped. "HEY, you do realize that I'm sitting right here don't you!" DarkHeart shouted. "We know, why else do you think we're saying all of this out loud." his father shot back. This went on back and forth between DarkHeart and his parents as they were making jokes about the various antics he'd gotten himself into as an infant for a good while now only to stop when they DarkHeart noticed a peculiar smell coming from the kitchen as he raised up his nose to see if he could figure out what the smell was, which of course caught the attention of the rest of the grown-ups in the room. "What is DarkHeart do you smell a mare in heat?" Lucky Streak joked, but immediately stopped as the two mares glared him down. "No it's not that I would've noticed that scent a lot sooner, I've smelled after mom came out of the bathroom after about an hour when I was little and have grown to detect it in snap, no what I'm smelling is something else like *sniff* something *sniff* is burning!?" There was smoke coming from the kitchen as their dinner was starting to burn. "Oh no, the hay bacon is burning!" Star Dust said as she rushed to turn off the stove with Lucky trailing behind with the extinguisher in hand leaving Tender Heart and DarkHeart in the living room. "So DarkHeart, how does it feel?" she asked gaining his attention. "How does what feel?" he said, wanting her to be more specific. "The dark magic, how does it feel when you use it?" she said putting more detail into her question. "Oh, well I'm not sure how to explain it, but I guess I could try to explain it. He started, "Whenever I use my dark magic it almost feels like I'm not only drawing power from within me, but also drawing it from all of the hatred, anger, and sadness, basically from all of the negative emotions from all the creatures in Equestria, I could feel it all, every single emotion from every single creature; it all actually feels great and in hind sight makes sense that it's what help me unlock the secret to my special talent. I've always been able to feel the anger of colts whenever they lost a game, even were able the 'It doesn't matter that I lost because that was one hell of game' thing i can still feel it. I know when ponies want to cry when something horrible in there life has been brought and they treat as a joke. I've always been able to feel these things in various ponies, but it was finally on that day did I realize why I could and use that to defeat the golem and earn my cutiemark, by using the darkness in the hearts of others I can gain extraordinary power. That to me it has it feels whenever I use my dark magic." He answered her, with the wisdom of a scholar. She sat there pondering what he'd said for a moment or so, before was interrupted by Lucky Streak. "Thanks to your keen nose son, you manage to save the hay bacon before all of it was burnt to crisp." he praised. "But of course, my senses are sharper than the average pony, and thanks to that I've saved our food before it becomes inedible." DarkHeart gloated, Lucky Streak just rolled his eyes before waving his hand towards to kitchen. "Alright mister stop gloating and get in there and get your food we're having breakfast for dinner . . . . . and you're more than welcome to join us if you want Tender." he said to her. "I think I will, thank you ever so much for your hospitality." she stated before walking into the kitchen. "You know you're always welcomed to drop by and eat with us whenever like Tendey, no need to thank us." Star Dust told her with a bright smile. "Yeah Ms. Tender Heart it's always a pleasure to have you around, it keeps them from getting all mushy with each other." he said under his breath. And with that the four of them all sat at the table telling stories of their experiences during the summer, but of course all having known DarkHeart's he remained quietly listening as he ate his breakfast/dinner when a single thought entered his head. Things just keep more interesting and at this rate who knows? The whole town may find out about my capabilities with dark magic very soon. I just hope that when that time comes the response will be a positive one. He told himself, grimacing the possibilities what what could happen when other ponies started to find out about the strange, new power in his possession, when something else came to the forefronts of his mind. Yet again the vision of the strange stallion came into view and he was still standing at the edge of the cave entrance, shoulders slumped and all the strength he held looked as though it had taken him, still sadden by whatever it was that was bothering him. I feel bad for whoever he is, he must been very lonely because he most certainly looks as though he's lost everything, including the ones who cared for him the most. I just hope I never end up like that. he thought, while off in the distance, outside the limits of Nieghburg, a pair of glowing green eyes appeared to be watching him from afar. "Soon, spirit of the heart, you will be mine, very soon." the creature said a wicked smile showing off its sharp, dagger-like teeth.
Revealed DarknessFour months have gone by since school started and yet another pony has been lucky enough to learn about DarkHeart's dark magic and the two spirits, the spirit that dwells with the Heart of Light, Nova and the manifestation of the darkness within his own heart, Shadow; as well as earning himself a little recognition in school, though that is only because of the rumors that his longtime enemy, Stone Digger, had spread around saying that he was a crime against nature being part pony and part dragon, but of course there were many who had been skeptical of the bullies claim and thought that he was just spreading such a rumor around because DarkHeart kicked his ass without laying a finger on him. But I think that's enough of a recap if shit we already know, now on to what's been happening after the first day of school. DarkHeart simply goes through school with ease as he manages to keep up with his school work with ease while brushing off any assaults from Stone Digger who for the last four months, has been trying to get him to reveal his draconic eyes again to prove to everypony that he wasn't crazy. He also had Ms. Tender Heart watching over him, helping him to cover up any incidents that he has with his dark powers every now and again, keeping Stone Digger at bay and preventing him from accomplishing his new goal to make DarkHeart's life miserable, and teaching him how to better control his new abilities. Ever since she had asked DarkHeart how it had felt to control such magic, she understood what it was that made his incidents occur at all, after running everything she had heard around the inside of head for a few weeks, and found a way to help him control it and was really doing wonders for him as the incidents had been getting less and less frequent and the level of power released from them decreased as well. Now it's the last Friday of the semester as their winter break and, in a week or so, Hearth's Warming and so the entire school was filled with excitement as the final two hours of school came around and the entire school was called into the gym for an assembly. "I can't believe that Hearth's warming is almost here already." Nova said excitedly. "I can't believe DarkHeart is actually in a good mood, usually there's too much cheer in the air for either of us to stand." Shadow joked. "I can't believe you two aren't shutting up I'm trying to actually enjoy today and hearing you two sounding excited isn't helping, your shrill voices are beating against my ear drums." He smirked on that last comment knowing that it would provide him some joy in getting the two to try and get him back for comment, especially Shadow. "HEY, I don't have a shrill voice!" he heard him shout with a voice that was a few octaves lower. Which got both Nova and DarkHeart immediately reacted to as they were trying to hold in their laughter. "You. . . . Shadow, . . . . it . . . . doesn't help, pfft ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!" DarkHeart no longer being able to hold back starting laughing his ass off it lead way for Nova to join in, all to the displeasure of the dark spirit who would've been shooting glares at the two of them if he was in his physical form. "Not cool guys, how would feel if I made fun of something that was suppose to be a sign of masculinity, or femininity as the case would be with Nova." he asked disgruntled. "I'd probably just blow it off considering I don't give a shit on what anyone says." DarkHeart quickly replied. "And I doubt you'd be able to find anything on me I am, in all sense of the phrase, a perfect mare so I thi-" she was interrupted by another bout of laughter coming from the guys. "What's so funny?" she asked getting a little miffed with the two males. "I'm sorry Nova, but you. . . . the perfect woman, please. If you were the perfect mare you wouldn't be walking around inside the amulet practically naked, you'd put some clothes on to be little miss prim and proper." DarkHeart replied. "Why would I do that, the interior of the heart is my home after all, and I should be allowed to do what want in my home." she argued. "Even with the golem there and being able to hide anywhere and watching you during your 'private' time." he said raising one of his brows up and getting a blush from her, but lucky for her he couldn't see it. "I. . . .I. . . . oh just shut up I'm done with you two." she stuttered embarrassedly. "Oh come on Nova I was just joking with ya, you know I don't care if you're the perfect mare or not right?" he asked apologetically. Nova just sighed before giving him her answer. "Yeah I know, but you know it's not really real fair teaming up on somepony like that." came her reply. "Oh so now you care about being fair, you didn't seem to care about being fair making fun of my voice, but now that we're talking about your little love affair with the golem you want us to back off, I don't think so." he said angrily. "Both of you shut up before I go in there and kick both your asses, especially you Shadow, Nova isn't used to be treated this way, despite how long she's joined us, so shut up your I'm making sure you can't even take a piss on your own." DarkHeart ordered as his mood quickly shifted from happy to angry in the blink of an eye. "But. . . but . . .but," Shadow stuttered. "Didn't I just tell you to shut it!" DarkHeart's voice had changed as he was trying to get his point across. The only response he got from the spirit was silence. Satisfied with his compliance, DarkHeart was going to start walking back to the gym, when he felt a tap o his left shoulder. He quickly took a look over it to see Ms. Tender Heart standing behind him with an inquisitive look on her face. "What was the voice changing thing about DarkHeart." she asked. "Nothing, just trying to keep the two of them in line, and driving me further off the deep end." he responded, his voice reverting back to normal. "Is that the first time that's happened." She said, hoping that maybe this wouldn't be something they would have too work on if it was recurring thing. "Yeah, my voice has changed before, but I can control that so you don't have to worry about it." he answered her trying to alleviate her fears. "Are you sure? I mean if you need help putting that under control too, I would be than happy to help." she told him cheerfully. "That's okay Ms. Tender Heart, I'm okay really, my voices changes were the first thing I learned how to control, seeing how it was the easiest to do and probably to most dead giveaway of my changes." he stated. "Alright then if you're sure, but should you need any help at all, just let me know and I'll be more than happy to lend you a helping hand." she said with a smile. "Thanks for the offer Ms. Tender Heart, I'll be sure to remember that whenever I feel like I can't control something on my own, but I think for now we should be heading over the assembly." he said remembering the assembly. "Right, well then lets get goi- *CRASH*, she was interrupted as they both heard a loud crashing came from the gym and saw dust spewing from the double doors as they flew open. What the hell was that!" DarkHeart shouted. As to answer his question crowd of students came running out of the gym yelling "RUN! There's some monster tearing apart the gym!" "A MONSTER!?" They both yelled at once. "What could a monster possibly want from a high school?" Ms. Tender Heart asked. "A building full of ponies to eat, cause thousands in property damage, miss it's a monster it doesn't need a reason to terrorize a town they just do it." DarkHeart as if it was a joke. "DarkHeart this is no time for your jokes we need to make everypony got out of the gym ok." Nova told him giving him a task to focus on. "Right, I'll be safe thanks to my training and dark magic, but whoever is in there, if there's anypony still in there, they won't be able to defend themselves against whatever beast decided to make the school their target." He said getting serious about the situation. "WHAT!? ARE YOU MAD!!? There's a dangerous creature in there a you're going back!?" Ms. Tender Heart shout semi-hysterical. "Well... Yeah, I have been training myself to fight off brutish creatures no matter what their size, and besides who would I be if I didn't go in and try to do what I can to help, huh?" he responded sounding as confident as he felt, and right now he felt pretty confident with himself right now. With that said said and done, DarkHeart headed towards the gym to see what damage the beast has done and retrieve anypony that may still be trapped inside. Stopping inside the doorway, he surveyed the area, what he saw astounded him. The bleachers had been pulverized to small planks of wood, a hole in the ceiling gave the gym a new, big skylight, every single window was either shattered or had an extended area that went from the ground to the middle of the wall, a humongous crater lie within the center of the floor, and a hole, the size of the crater, was in the left wall that had giant foot prints in the soil outside that looked to be headed towards the front of the school. "Oh shit this isn't good, whatever it is, it seems to be looking for somepony." DarkHeart said wondering what it is this creature wants. "Well at least it looks like everypony got out okay so at least we don't have to worry about that." Shadow chimed in. "Maybe not, but now we got to worry about either destroying this creature ourselves, or stalling it long enough for help to arrive." Nova added. "Woah woah woah, what is all this we crap, last I checked I was the one who was doing all of the fighting, you two just sit around in your own domains and distract me from my mission." DarkHeart argued with the two. "What we, well I, don't distract you, I try to help you with coming up with tactical strategies." Nova said, insulted that he would call her a distraction. "Oh yeah sure you come up with battle plans..... that are utterly stupid and so I have to step in to give advice about the-" Shadow was saying before DarkHeart interrupted him. "This is what I mean, you two are always arguing with each other that it starts to irritate the living hell out of me and then I can't fucking think of a way to accomplish my mission. So this time I want the two of you to shut up and let me handle it, and if I want your help I'll ask for it and even then I'll one of you specifically to help me alright?" DarkHeart wanted to concentrate all his efforts in fending off whatever it was that had attacked the gym, but knew he couldn't if he didn't stop the two spirits from bickering with each other. "Okay." they said in unison, agreeing to DarkHeart's terms. With their agreeing to his own plan DarkHeart headed out, following the gigantic footprints that were heading towards to main entrance of the school, where he was already hearing the screaming and yelling of his classmates and teachers which made him pick up his speed. Finally rounding the corner that was blocking his view to the front of the high school DarkHeart at last saw what it was he was going to be fighting. It was a dragon, but it didn't seem like any ordinary dragon, this one seemed to walk on two of its instead of on all fours that took it maximum height to about 70-90 feet, and appeared to be holding some kind of weapon in his left claw, its tail and wings were shrouded in violet fire, and its eyes seemed to be glowing a sickly green color. "Damn, if it wasn't for the fact that that thing is ripping up the school I sit here admiring the dragon, it looks fucking awesome, now I wish I had fire engulfing my tail, well you know without burning it of course." DarkHeart spoke up. "For some reason I don't think you're suppose to be standing here gawking at it DarkHeart, you got a job to do, sooooooo.......GET TO IT!" Nova ordered. "He...he...right, alright lets get going then, I can't allow it to do whatever the hell it wants." DarkHeart said to himself, and was off in an instant, running towards to creature and getting the weaponization spell ready. He got in front of the creature in a couple of minutes and was catching its attention. "What in tartarus do you think you're doing here, dragon, why are you here tearing apart this school? I know it's not for treasure because I doubt that there's anything, especially from teenagers, that we ponies would have that you want." DarkHeart interrogated. A few moments passed before the dragon spoke, "That's where you're wrong little pony, there is one thing that your kind has that I want, and heard it was in this town and that it was a teenaged colt that has it and I'm not going anywhere until I- Wait a minute what is that you're wearing around your neck...... is that........THE HEART OF LIGHT!?" The dragon said immediately turning his attention towards DarkHeart and his family's most guarded treasure. "So then you were looking for something. Well guess what buddy, you're not getting your claws on this amulet, not as long as I'm around. As the Guardian of the Heart of Light I will do everything in my power to make sure that it doesn't fall into the wrong-" DarkHeart was interrupted by a shouting that was coming from the partially destroyed entrance of his school. "Seriously just give him the necklace for Celestia's sake, then he'll go away and we can go on with our lives." he heard a mare say from the crowd that was immediately followed by a "YYEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!" "Well it would seem as though they've made the decision for you, little colt, I guess they don't care about it as much as you do." the dragon said with a short chuckle. "So what are you going to do then little pony, are you going to hand it over willingly, or would you rather I take it by force and endanger your fellow classmates?" he asked wait to see what his response is. DarkHeart didn't even have to think about what his answer was, "Hey dragon what's your name?" he asked calmly. Slightly taken back a bit from his question, the dragon answered him. " I am know as Spirit, the soul stealer, why do you wish to know colt?" he asked curious as to why DarkHeart would ask something so trivial at the moment. "Because......I need to know what to carve into your gravestone after I kill you." DarkHeart's voice had shifted to his deeper, scarier sounding one and a shroud of dark energy enveloping him. Surprised by the shroud of darkness, Spirit took a step back before realizing what he was doing and then returned to his fearsome composure. "So you want to handle this the hard way huh? Well fine then, their deaths will be on your hands then little po-" He was interrupted as a small blast of dark magic skimmed his right cheek. "The name is DarkHeart, not 'little pony' you insolent pest." DarkHeart said growing irritated being referred to 'Little pony'. "Well then, DarkHeart, what do you say we get this done and over with." Spirit was posing to strike DarkHeart already. "You took the words right out of my mouth, Spirit." DarkHeart said while starting the spell. Everypony in the school went to go find cover for what was surely to be a gruesome, but brief fight. They didn't really believe DarkHeart could really even stand a chance with the dragon and so were more interested in finding a hiding spot for when he came after them, well almost all of them, Ms. Tender Heart was only trying to look for a safe place to watch the battle. She would have gone to inform his parents of what was happening, but seeing as though the two were standing right in front of the exit she thought it best to hide for now and then make a break for the exit when the coast was clear. The two stood in place, glaring at each other. DarkHeart preparing himself for the fight as he was forming the summoning ring for his blades, while Spirit was taking in large breaths of air, raising the temperature of his internal flame. They were like this for awhile, waiting for one another to make the first move. DarkHeart's glare intensified until the point to where his right eye shifting to his draconic eye, his gaze piercing into Spirit's very soul. Meeting his glare head on Spirit caught the full force of the deadly stare before turning away, and DarkHeart, not having taken his eyes off his target, saw this and took it as an opportunity to strike. Immediately after seeing Spirit turn his gaze away from him,DarkHeart charged forward and quickly finishing off the weaponization spell, calling forth his blades, which he decided to call Cursed and Blessing. With both his blades in his hands he leapt into the air poised to strike Spirit's wings, but unfortunately for him the dragon had turned back around in time to see DarkHeart lunging towards him and taking the preemptive strike he swung his morning star to try and knock the unicorn away from him. "Nice try DarkHeart , but you'll have to do better than that to get the drop on me." Spirit said in an ever-so-confident tone. With those words spoken Spirit swung with all his might at DarkHeart, who was still falling through the air towards the deadly weapon coming towards him. He didn't make any attempt to move out of its way, but instead put his arms to his sides trying to increase the speed at which he was falling, this of course confused the dragon and had shocked Ms. Tender Heart who was still watching. "I guess you got a death wish don't ya pal?" Spirit said arrogantly. "No death wish here. Just want to get closer look at that weapon of yours." DarkHeart responded as he further increased his descending speed. *~THWUUUUNNG~*DarkHeart had collided with his morning star at an incredibly high speed and Spirit's face turned into another one of his wicked smiles accompanied by a dark chuckle. "I was really hoping for of splat, but I'll go for what I can get.... ha ha ha ha ha ha." He continued to laugh. As he stopped laughing he turned over his weapon in his palms to see what damaged he had done to the pony. He was coming to the spot where DarkHeart should've been.....*THUNK*...Spirit had dropped his mighty weapon as he saw something that he didn't think was possible for any pony to survive such a forceful strike. DarkHeart just stood atop one the many spikes that had adorned the weapon, "What, did you actually think that such a simple attack like that would be enough to kill me?" He said with his signature smirk. "Bu...but how, I have the strength of an earthquake at my disposal, how in the world could you stand that kind of force!?" Spirit, now, wasn't holding back his fear of the young unicorn. "HA... ha ha...... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha," DarkHeart laughed a dark laugh that echoed throughout the entire school and got the attention of everypony, as they came out of their hiding spots and made their ways to where the two were having their 'fight' they finally saw the shroud of darkness that had enveloped him. The look of awe or fear adorned the crowd of ponies as they saw Spirit cower in front of DarkHeart , as he just stood there finishing his bout of laughter that had just mysteriously appeared out of nowhere before the dragon spoke up. "Wha...what the hell is so funny about what I had asked, you....you thing!?" he stammered out of fear and confusion. "What's so funny is that I thought that you would've known what's allowed me to survive your 'attack', it was through the oh so amazing power of my dark magic. I thought that surely a creature such as yourself would've known that, after all you must possess some after all since you came after the Heart of Light otherwise you wouldn't be able to touch it," DarkHeart began to explain. "Da...dar....dark ma...ma..magic, but how do you possess such a thing you're suppose to be the Guardian of Light, so how are allowed to bear that amulet?" Spirit was getting more confused by the situation as it went on. "You really are clueless, aren't you?" DarkHeart asked before going on to explain himself. "There's nothing in my family's code about the Guardian not being able to use dark magic, that and the fact that my name is 'Dark...Heart', what makes you think that a pony with a name like that wouldn't possess it. If you look at my life very closely, you would see that it actually fits quite well with me, the only way for me to solve any of my problems and get through life has revolved around letting the darkness in my heart out and doing the work it needed to, to resolve it for me and the whole situation with Stone Digger has been a key reminder to that fact." He tried to explain to the creature cowering before him. "But as I said, I know how well you understand that, don't you, you've used it every time you've tried to steal the heart haven't you?" "Bu...bu....but how did you know I've tried to steal the amulet before? It's been tw-" DarkHeart cut him off. "Two centuries ago, the last time you had tried and failed, the rest of my family thought that they had taken you out for good during that fiasco, but I knew better than to think that you would've been overpower, especially not when you're angry." Spirit went wide-eyed at that last statement. "How did you know about my power being liked to my anger?" He asked curious on how DarkHeart had figured out something like that on their first encounter and he hadn't even gotten angry yet. "Because I do too, but the difference between our power is that your's increases your maximum power, while mine on the other hand just releases the locks I put on mine and allows me to use it without having, or should I say wanting, to hold back." DarkHeart went on. "And I have to be honest with you, the only reason you're not already dead is because I want to see the kind of power your anger can give you. I want to be able to fight an opponent that has the same kind of advantage I have so that I can further understand my own, but instead all I get is sniffling coward who can fight off a mob of unicorns wielding regular, old magic, but can't seem to even look a single unicorn who wields dark magic in the eyes." DarkHeart insulted the dragon's pride to try and spark off the real foe he wants to face against. "Oh, and another thing. Why is it that want to-" "THAT' ENOUGH DARKHEART!!" DarkHeart's insulting was interrupted by the sound of his mother's angry voice as it echoed through the air. He looked up to the sky to see not only his parents, but also the royal guard and, "Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, what the hell are they doing here?" He asked with a cocked eyebrow. "We, my little pony, were called here by your parents for help to eliminate this creature." Princess Celestia said, pointing at the dragon was now hanging his head down. "But it would seem as though you have taken the situation too far, endangering the lives of your fellow ponies' for your own selfish desires, such a waste of power that could've been used for so much good, and now has it has to be taken away before any harm can be done." Princess Luna added in, shaking her head in disappointment. DarkHeart was shocked that the princesses had said that they were going to take away the thing that made him special. He looked to his parents to see if they were going to talk them out of it, but when he did all he saw was a look of disappointment across their muzzles as well. DarkHeart turned back to the princesses and they looked as though they were looking for his response but looked away and took in the area surrounding them to see that the every guard that had came was now surrounding him making sure that he couldn't escape. DarkHeart looked the guard barrier to see everypony in the school had came out and were looking upon the scene, also appearing like they were expecting the same thin as the princesses, and as he kept looking around he now saw that ponies were coming out their homes to see what was happening. He kept looking in circles for somepony who had a friendly expression on their face towards him, that is until he heard his parents starting to say something and immediately turned his attention towards them. "DarkHeart you know what the right thing to do is, so I suggest you do it." Lucky Streak not hiding his disappointment towards his son's actions. "What, but...but..you....I" DarkHeart's voice shifted back to normal as he tried to form coherent sentences but the situation he found himself in was boggling his mind. "No buts DarkHeart, do as the princesses said and let them take your dark magic, it's become obvious that you can't use them responsibly, even after all of the training you have been through to not let such evil desires form in your heart, and here we are, promise broken and problem that should have been dealt with from the beginning is about to be solved and forgotten forever." Star Dust added in, having the same look as her husband. DarkHeart realized that he was all alone in this matter, well almost alone, "What do you two think I should do....Nova....Shadow?" he asked the two spirits that reside within him, his voice low enough so that they were the only ones who were able to hear him. There was a few moments before a response finally came, "I think you shouldn't do it, but not because that means I get to stay, but because the dark magic is a part of you, if its taken away from you then who are you? Whatever you're meant to do in this life has something to do with the dark magic that courses through your veins, are you really going to let them take the thing that's makes you special away from you?" Came Shadow's response. "Hmm... what about you nova, what do you believe I should do in the situation I'm in?" DarkHeart asked Nova, wanting her opinion before he made his decision. "Welllll.....I would say that I agree with Shadow on this. The dark magic is a part of who you are, and no pony should ever be asked to give up a part of their being, so I say you fight back and not let them take this away from you, you did get your cutiemark because of it, and I could only imagine what should become of you should you be a blank flank for the rest of your life because you'd allowed them to do this." Nova said with a steady voice. "Well then, I guess I have my answer then." He said loud enough so that the princesses, guard, and his parents could hear him. "So then, what will it be DarkHeart the unicorn, are you going to willing give up your dark power or will we have to use force." Princess Celestia asked sternly. "How about this option instead, I keep my dark magic, flee from you and the guards, and live alone for the rest of my life, huh? Because I'm not planning on being a blank flank again because I let takeaway the thing that makes me special, because I let you have the thing that I'm good at, I DON'T THINK SO!" DarkHeart stated as the dark shroud from earlier returned with more force than it had last time. "YOU HAVE MADE A GRAVE MISTAKE YOU LITTLE FOOL." boomed Luna with the Royal Canterlot Voice. "You have indeed DarkHeart. GUARDS APPREHEND HIM AT ONCE!!!!" Celestia gave the order to the guards, as they began the close in on their target. "It's not I who's made a mistake, but instead all of you. Now that you have so foolishly decided to gang up on me and can now display the full extent of my dark magic." He said while an evil grin adorned his features. "But I thought you said you didn't know how to invoke the transformation again." Shadow stated. "I didn't know how, at least not until now. I've figured out what makes it tick and I believe I can control it without allowing my rage to consume me, despite how much of it I'm feeling right from being betrayed by own parents, but I guess I can just take it out on these guards here." With those words, DarkHeart's body was enveloped by the shroud of darkness and being transformed into what he called his 'Darkness' form. "Hurry up and stop him before he can do whatever it is he's trying to do." Luna commanded the guards. Suddenly DarkHeart's parents felt something in their guts, a feeling that they had felt once before but weren't completely aware at the time. They looked at each other with worried looks on their faces before Lucky Streak turned towards Princess Celestia. "Your highness, you must call off your guards now or they will meet their end today!" he warned her. "What!? Why? What is your son planning on doing?" she asked impatiently. "DarkHeart is shifting that he calls his 'Darkness' form, and believe me when I say this princess, the power that he emits when the transformation is complete will be nothing short of lethal to those guards when it's released." Star Dust explained. At this, Celestia went wide-eyed, "ALL GUARDS FALL BACK NOW, AND GET AWAY FROM HIM QUICK." she hurriedly order he guards. Usually fighting off a powerful unicorn wouldn't concern her all that much if they wielded normal magic, but dark magic on the other was far too unpredictable and dangerous so she wasn't about to risk the lives of her royal guards when it wasn't necessary. But unfortunately for both her and the guards, she didn't give the order soon enough the dark ball suddenly erupted into beam of light and a wave of darkness, which had obliterated every single guard within a 10-feet radius of the blast's center, while everypony else got sent flying back.
DepartureA cloud of debris had covered the area as the only ones who had been able to withstand the blast, Lucky Streak, Star Dust, who had put up a barrier seconds before the blast went off, and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who were behind the barrier that was now beginning to dissipate. "That is incredible power, how did he obtain such magic at such a young age." Luna asked as she was scouting out the damage the blast had done. "We aren't completely sure on that, but we believe that he had gotten a hold of it when he was six years old. We weren't there to see what had happened, but according to everything we had heard from his teachers and from him, he had-" Star Dust was interrupted as a stream of black came whizzing through the air in between her and Celestia. "I really don't have the time to be listening to these old stories they're a part of the old DarkHeart and that isn't the me you need to worry about right now. No, right now you need to worry about the new DarkHeart who is on a warpath that , in all reality, doesn't even need to be in effect right now but none of you could just accept me for who I am now and decided to take away something that is now a part of my very soul and I can't just let you take it." DarkHeart after he had interrupted his mother from bringing up something that he had been wanting to forget ever since it occurred. "But all we want to do is help you. Why do you persist on keeping something that would do nothing but bring about pain and suffering, do you not realize that you could lose everything if you were allow the dark magic to remain with you?" Luna asked, if somewhat a little irritated that the young unicorn's resolve to stop them from taking away the black magic that was, in her opinion, corrupting his mind and heart. "I'LL LOSE EVERYTHING IF IT'S TAKEN AWAY FROM ME!!!!" He yelled, letting off an animalistic growl afterwards and causing more black energy streams to begin surrounding him again. That outburst made them all take a step back, but had also made them curious as to why he thought that he needed his dark magic so badly. "Why do think you would lose everything if you were to lose your dark magic?" the sun goddess asked calmly. DarkHeart simmered down a bit, but the black streams remained, before he answered her, "Because.... as I said before.... the dark power of mine is now a part of who I am, I did get my cutiemark because of it after all, and if I were to lose it I would losing the thing that made me special. That's the reason why I'm willing to fight against every single one of you to make sure I keep it, and besides...... even you were to succeed I would have ended running away to live alone anyway." His parents were shocked to hear that their only son, whom they had loved so dearly and who had returned that love back without hesitation, would just get up and leave just because they were trying to help him. "What!? Why would you leave, we're only trying to help you DarkHeart, so why would you leave because of that? Are you really obsessed with gaining power, that when somepony takes from you, you just get up and leave." Star Dust asked angrily. "I wouldn't leave because of the fact that you took that power away from me. I would leave because of the fact I know that you don't accept me for what I have become.... You think that by taking away this power that I'll return to the way I was before I had gotten it, right?" The bitterness in his tone was slowly turning over into a dark one instead as he glared at the four ponies in front of him. "But of course, I still remember the sweet little colt I had came to help when you were having those endless nightmares, and each and every night I had, and still do, come to check on your dreams to make sure they plague your mind no longer. I have seen what you're really like and this most certainly is not it. So it stands to reason that the dark magic is what's making you act this way." Luna stated matter-of-factually. The other three ponies next to her were nodding their like what she had said was indeed true, but stopped once they heard DarkHeart's dark laughter fill the air. They all turned their attentions back towards him staring at him like he was a mad pony, but for anypony else knew he very well could be. After a good five minutes of laughing DarkHeart had finally managed to calm his laughter down so that he was able to finally speak. "You honestly think that it's my dark magic corrupting me that's making act like this. I couldn't tell you just how wrong you are. he said, still a few of his leftover laughter from earlier trying to make it's way out. "But....but it has to be the reason why, you've always been a sweet boy and would never act this way, but I guess this our fault as well. We should've contacted the princesses when you had your little episode on the first day of school." Lucky Streak said unconvincingly. "Yes, your father is right no matter would happen you would have taken any action action that colt, at least no actions that didn't involve a teacher or somepony who would've had the authority the properly assess the situation." Star Dust backed up her husband. "Man you guys are dense. Since I'm obviously not getting the message across to any of you by being nice and talking calmly, I guess I'm going to have to up the volume." DarkHeart said getting a little irritable himself at the ones who were trying to 'help' him. "I'M NOT GIVING UP MY DARK MAGIC AND IF YOU DON'T APPROVE OF THAT THEN YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE BY FORCE, AND IF YOU'RE GOING TO DO NOTHING THEN I'M JUST GOING TO LEAVE AND LIVE IN THE WILD AND WILL NEVER BE HEARD FROM AGAIN!!!!" He shouted in a voice that was on par with the Royal Canterlot Voice as the four covered their ears to prevent any damage from befalling them. DarkHeart stood where he was waiting for one of them to say something, but they still had their hands cupped over their ears. Once they were sure that he was done, they slowly took their hands off being cautious to make absolutely sure that he was indeed finished. After they had their were sure that the close was clear Princess Celestia quickly looked over to him angrily for she had grown tired of pointlessly arguing with the colt. "I've had enough of this, it's become obvious that he's not willing to let go of the darkness of his accord and now that he's revealed that he released that spell knowing the damage it could do and killing those guards I have no other choice but to bring him down, dead or alive!" Princess Celestia stated. Lucky Streak, Star Dust, and Princess Luna all looked towards Celestia to see if maybe they could change her mind, only to see the seriousness in her eyes which made them all nod their heads in agreements as they turned their own glares towards the dual-wielding unicorn. "I guess you have answer DarkHeart." Nova finally said since the he changed to his Darkness form. "It seems that I do, but there is one question that I need answered before I do any thing else." DarkHeart said in a softer tone. "And what would that be DarkHeart?" Shadow asked, curious as to what else he needed to escape his parents and the princesses. "Nova.... do want to stay by me or would you rather I leave you and be taken care of by somepony else, and before you make your decision I just want to let you know that.... I love and care about you and no matter the decision you make I'll always consider you my friend." He said with a smile, a tear threatening to escape from his slitted eye. "I'm with him on this, you've been a part of his 'family' for generations now and have watched it grow from his ancestor that had found you. I would be okay with either decision you made glow butt, even if we do have our little disagreements, but I consider a friend just as much as I do DarkHeart. Even though our entourage wouldn't really be the same without you, but hey, maybe we'll meet up in the future, after all of this has blown over. But again, it's your decision and your opinion is the only one that matters at the moment." Shadow added in after DarkHeart had finished. There was nothing but silence both outside and inside DarkHeart's mind as he waited for Nova's response, and the only reason he wasn't be attacked right now is because he had asked his question loud enough for his parents to hear and they in turn had stopped the princesses from advancing on him so as to see what she would decide as well. This unnatural silence continued on for sometime now as the five ponies were waiting patiently for the light spirit's decision when DarkHeart had finally heard incoherent words from her. "What was that Nova?" He asked. "I said I want to stay with you and Shadow. You two are my close friends as well and I don't want to lose the two of you knuckleheads either, and besides who am to break up our trio of misfits." she replied earning a smirk and a little laughter from the other two. "We have that of the way but there is one more issue that should probably be addressed before we begin." Shadow said. "What do you think is still so important that we further postpone the inevitable Shadow?" DarkHeart asked annoyed that once again he was stopped from making his escape already. "I'm not really sure if it's really that important but I have to ask anyway, what the hell happened to Spirit after the blast." Shadow had reminded them of Spirit, the dragon who had originally came here to steal the Heart of Light from DarkHeart. "Oh yeah, what did happen to that snivelling coward of a dragon?" he asked having completely forgotten about the supposed 'soul stealer'. He turned towards the place where he had left the dragon, only to find that both he and his morning star were gone. "Guess he left while you were talking to those four." Shadow stating the obvious. "DARKHEART, enough stalling!! Did Nova decide to stay with you or come back to us?" Star Dust growled. He turned back around towards his foes his happiness immediately turning to scorn as he cast his gaze upon them. "She said that she's staying with us, because she didn't want to lose her two closest friends and is now a part of our band of misfits." he said coldly. His mother sighed upon hearing that but figured it was for the best. She thought that maybe after her son was drained of all of his dark magic, and would most likely be feeling a little sore from the ass kicking he will be getting, that she would be able to get him to see that they did to him was for the best. "Well if that's what she chooses, then I won't try to convince her otherwise, but do know this son, you won't be allowed to escape and once this is all over you will be grounded for a long time." Star Dust scolded him. They had all expected him to make some kind of smartass comment about the fact that, even at a time like this, his mother was still threatening him with a grounding, but he was done messing around with ponies that didn't understand what he was going through and had charged towards them hoping to get past them and disappear into the wild where he felt was the only place for creature such as himself to live, a place for a monster to live out the rest of his days in peace. Thanks to the dark energy running through his veins Dark Heart was already running at unbelievable speeds for a unicorn but he knew that in order to get past his parents and the princesses he would need to go faster and thought of one thing that could possibly get him to speed up even further, the only problem was that his plan also had the possibility of backfiring on him and lead to his capture if he wasn't careful. What Dark Heart was planning was to try to fuse both types of his magic within himself to give him the boost he was looking for, but the problem with that was that every time he had tried to fuse them before, instead of calling upon them separately, the conflicting powers of his dark and light powers would often try to fight each other for control and make them become unstable and thanks to that instability it would create an internal implosion that sucks away all the magical energy within him and he wouldn't be able to use either types of magic for a few days. He had discovered all of this during the summer while trying to find ways to boost his powers even further, even if for short periods of time. He feared that fusing his light and dark powers together would the same way it always had when had try to use it before but as he continued to look at the four ponies that were determined to stop him Dark Heart saw that he had no other choice but to do so. "Well you two this may be the last time we see each other, is there anything anypony wants to say before I go through with this." Dark Heart asked. "I said everything that I needed to when we were asking Nova who she wanted to stay with." said Shadow. "Same here, what about you Dark Heart?" Nova replied. "Nope.... well actually there is one thing. I just want to say that if this doesn't work I'm glad that the three of us met, it's been one hell of ride even despite how short it was." Dark Heart to which the two spirits agreed to. Without further to do, Dark Heart began the strenuous process of fusing the light and darkness within his body. He could already feel the opposites trying to defy to will of their bearer and started to pull apart from each other, causing the energy flow to become unbalanced and unstable which also caused excruciating pain to shoot through his body. "Nnngh....... NO, I can't fail not again. The future of all three of us rest on me successively performing this spell. . . . I MUST, complete this fusion otherwise I lose everything I have left! Dark Heart growled through clenched teeth as he tried even harder to make both of the energies inside him combine. "I must complete this fusion to save to lives of the two ponies that actually care, it doesn't matter that they're spirits!" The pain seemed to be fading but Dark Heart was too busy trying to make sure that the fusion was a success. The two energies seem to calm their storm within him as they finally seem to accept what Dark Heart wanted them to do as they seem to be successfully combining into one and creating energy pulses throughout his body, giving him greater reserves of magic to call upon, but the process still had a ways to go as some of the magic was still trying to reject their polar opposites. "I MUST PROTECT...... MY FRIENDS!!!!" Dark Heart's eyes snapped open as the last bits of the conflicting forces bent to his will and created an immense surge of power to course through him and getting the power he needed in order to escape the clutches of the ones who were trying takeaway everything left that he held dear and once again surged forward, straight towards to group, and to be more precise, straight towards the sun goddess herself. "Sister, Star Dust, put up the barriers! Lucky Streak make sure you're ready to apprehend him after he passes through our barrier, which should slow him down enough for you to make that possible." Celestia ordered as her's, Luna's and Star Dust's horns started glowing with their magical auras. Lucky Streak had moved into position a few yards behind the three mares with a hook and chains in his hands. "I hope this works." "I hope this works." the couple thought, still a little worried that the princesses' plan wasn't going to work. But they didn't have much time to really let it dwell in their heads for very long as Dark Heart was fast approaching them, and if they weren't mistaken, they thought that he looked like he had gotten faster in the last few minutes. "GET READY EVERYPONY!" Luna shouted as Dark Heart was now only one- hundred meters away.....ninety meters away.....eighty meters away...... seventy meters....... sixty meters, by this point DarkHeart sped up again and moving at blinding speeds now he was but thirty meters from them and closing in fast........ fifteen meters and he increased his speed once more and the four adults were already ready to make their move at the right moment.......he was now at ten meters and he became all the more faster and his speed seemed to increase with every second as he neared them......now at nine meters......eights meters.......seven......six......five....four....three.......two......one....... "W-W-W-W-WHAT HAPPENED!!?" shouted Lucky Streak not seeing Dark Heart pass through the barrier, in fact nopony had seen him period for... "He....he vanished...our son has just vanished." said Star Dust wide-eyed. The princesses were looking around to see if he had somehow managed to just careen off course and was in a pile of rubble that didn't hear or see fall on top of him as they were looking through each pile they could find, all while using a locator spell to keep an eye underground. Lucky Streak and Star Dust, after getting over her shock, took to the roofs and sky to get an aerial overview of the decimated remains of ponies' homes to see if he had gone a different way to avoid being captured. The four of them looked and looked but couldn't find a single of the black unicorn and they all knew that he had successfully escaped from their grasp. "He's gone.....he's really gone. My son is gone forever and he believes that we hate him......that we've betrayed him." Star Dust said on the brink of tears. "My little Darky is gone and there's nothing we can do to bring him back." At this point she broke down and started crying for the lost of her only son. "Shush, my dear it'll be okay," Lucky Streak tried to comfort his wife. "We don't know that he'll never come back, we just have to be patient and wait for him to come back on his own once he's calmed himself down and comes to his senses." As he was holding her in his embrace, stroking her back to get to stop crying, Princess Celestia stepped up behind the couple, "I'm sorry that we weren't able to stop him today Star Dust, but I promise I'll have my guards keep looking for him and return your son to you." she said helping to calm Star Dust and Lucky Streak. "Sorry princess but I don't think neither you, your sister, nor the royal guard should look for Dark Heart." Lucky stated still consoling his wife. This, of course shocked the two princesses, "But why not, don't you want your son to be back with you as soon as possible?" asked Luna. "We do, but it's obvious that he doesn't want any of us around right now and the fact that we just tried to capture and imprison him, it would be best to leave him be and hope that someday he'll forgive us and come back." The Princess wanted to protest but looking at all of the damage that has been the little town she let a sigh. "Okay then, we will respect your wishes, but we will let you know of any information we get on his whereabouts and well being." She informed them. Fifty miles from Nieghburg Dark Heart was still running through the vast forest, not looking back in case he was still being pursued by his parents, the princesses, or the guard. "Dark Heart, dude, you can stop now there's nothing following you, you're in the clear!" Shadow called out to him knowing that Dark Heart won't stop unless he was told that he wasn't being pursued. DarkHeart took a quick glance back to make sure that Shadow was right before he started slowing down. "Well I guess you're right, but still I don't want to be out ot long, we need to find a place where I could hide just in case they do come looking for me." he said looking back to the direction he had just came from before proceeding forward. "You know you can shift back to your normal form again. It's not like any wild animal would be able to get the jump on you, you are a well-trained fighter whose eyes could pierce through even the darkest of caves." Nova reminded him. "Oh, yeah, I guess I should change back now shouldn't ?" Dark Heart called upon his dark magic to drive back his Darkness form till it was needed to called upon again. The dark energy began to swirl around his form ready to draw back the darkness that had taken refuge within him but suddenly they vanished before the process was even done. "What in Tartarus is going on with my powers?" He asked as tried to change back into his normal form again only to get the same results. "What's wrong Dark Heart, why aren't you changing back?" Nova asked starting to get a little concerned. "I....*crackle*....don't....*crackle*.....know!" He grunted as he kept trying to change back. "Shadow you think you could go snooping through my mind, or body, or wherever part of me this form affects when I change and find out what's going on?" "I'm was already one step ahead of you there buddy and have an answer as to why you can't change back." Shadow responded with a mildly excited tone that had DarkHeart a little creeped out. "Well then spill it you ass. What's preventing him from turning back... and the hell do you sound so happy about it?" Nova said after Shadow hadn't said anything for a few moments. "Well Dark Heart old pal, it would seem that your Darkness form has bonded with you body and soul." Shadow said, the joy in his voice too noticable now. "And what the in tartarus is that suppose to mean?" Dark Heart asked now getting as concerned as Nova. "Well, it means that your Darkness form IS your normal form, though I'm not sure if that means whether or not you can back to previous form, but whenever you're knocked unconscious or anything like that while in another form this will be the one you now fall back to." Shadow explained. "Oh, and Nova, the reason why I sound so damn happy is because with his Darkness form now taking control, it helps further prove my theory on why the darkness is soooo much better that the light, so, HA in your face." he gloated. With that, the two spirits started to begin arguing with each other in which side of the spectrum was truly better while Dark Heart secluded himself within his thoughts. This form has completely bonded wit me now but how, was it really the way I was acting? Was I really acting like some kind of madpony with a lust for power? Was I being evil? Wait, no- no I couldn't have been otherwise the amulet would have activated, or shown some kind signal, or something. Maybe it was the fusion, maybe when I finally got it to work, it didn't just fuse my dark and light powers, but it also fused my normal and Darkness forms as well since technically m normal form would be like my light form.... I think. Whatever, I'll worry about it at a later date but right now I need to find a place to call my new home, since the princesses are sure to be looking for me I can't really travel to any other town, but where would there be a good place to call home." Dark Heart, taking off the fact that he can't change back to his normal self off his mind, started thinking about what he would need to successively live off the land. He started to stroll through the woods he was currently in and remembering all of the survival training he did with his parents when he was about nine of ten years olds while also drowning out the incessant bickering off Shadow and Nova who were still at it. " I wish I could see what the weather's like but the damn tree canopy is too damn thick. He said to nopony in particular. "Actually, now that's on my mind, I should be able to spot a cave or a den that should provide great cover from the rain if I were to climb to the top of the canopy. He did just that, except for climbing up part. Dark Heart decided it would be easier to just simply leap up since he's able to clear easily with a single jump. He surveyed the area around him using his Precision Sight, which was a spell to magically enhance his vision so as to allow him to see further than with his normal vision, and quickly spotted quite a few suitable areas to live in pretty quickly. "Some of these places look promising, very promising indeed," He said while still examining the area to see if there were any better ones than the ones he and already spotted. "Shouldn't you have picked out our new home by now Dark Heart?" Shadow asked after his and Nova's argument had finally ended. "Shut up, I'm still looking. Besides why do you care I'm the one whose actually going to be living in it." Dark Heart answered back. "Because I don't to hear you bitching later on in the year when it actually starts to get colder around here." Shadow replied back. Dark Heart just rolled his eyes while he continued to look around when he spotted a cave that had formed high up into the face of a cliff, behind a waterfall. "Hey guys, what'd you say we live in a cliff?" he asked. "A cliff, really? Wouldn't that be kind of idiotic considering that we, well you, will need a way to escape should either of the princesses or the royal guard manage to find you." Nova asked, skeptical of the idea. "Not really. I mean come on, it's hidden by a waterfall and I don't know about you but I've never heard of cliff cave that didn't have another, SAFE, way into it. Especially when the cliff sloping up so I think it would be good." He explained. "I say we go for it after all he'd have a source of clean water nearby at the time, and if he could find some trees nearby that could provide him with fruit. Or do you rather he find another place that doesn't have such convenience supplies nearby which would make him have to travel away from his shelter and be exposed out in the open, and later on have the royal guard try to ambush him in his sleep after tracking down his new home?" Shadow stated, hearing grumbling from Nova and a smirk from Dark Heart. "That's what I thought. Dark Heart let's get going before it gets dark out." Shadow commanded in which DarkHeart saluted before heading off to the cave, his smirk still plastered on his face. Heading towards the cave on the cliff, Dark Heart's mind began to bring back the events that had just occurred forty-nine minutes ago. But of course, I still remember the sweet little colt I had came to help when you were having those endless nightmares, and each and every night I had, and still do, come to check on your dreams to make sure they plague your mind no longer. I have seen what you're really like and this most certainly is not it. So it stands to reason that the dark magic is what's making you act this way. Luna's words played through his mind as he remembered the tender, motherly look on her face when she had spoken those words. "If you had really watched over me and my dreams all these years, then you should have seen when your spell had worn off and saw the nightmares that I had had since then. You're nothing more than a liar that was trying to gain my trust through dishonest methods and from this day forth I won't anypony ever again." DarkHeart sadly mumbled to himself as he was going through that sentence multiple times within his head. "So does that include us then, we may be spirits, but we still have dreams, ambitions, ......and desires, which means we're just like everypony else, so tell me ......do you not trust either then?" Nova asked in a serious tone. "Nova you know what I meant, and both of you already know that I would trust the two of you with my life but as for everypony else, they would have to work day and night for a millenium before I would even consider putting any trust with them." DarkHeart stated coldly. "Well then I guess it's a good thing the princesses are immortal huh." Shadow joked, but when he got nothing but silence from the two he decided to just remain silent for the rest of the trip. The cave on the Cliff The rest of their trip to the cave had been spent in an eerie silence, but that had quickly changed when they had arrived. "HOOOLYCRAP!" The three said as they gawked at what was in front of them. DarkHeart just stood there with Nova and Shadow looking at the interior of the cave with his mouth hanging open before he came out of his stupor to say something. "Well I guess Lady Luck must have the hots for me because there is no way I could just stumble upon something like this, I mean seriously though what are the odds that a cave that was I thinking of using as merely a form of shelter, is filled with huge crystals all over the place. I'm so fucking set for live now." Dark Heart joked, walking towards one of the cave walls, while the spirits were still in awe by the scene. They both finally regained themselves when they heard a loud *TING* reverberate through the cave, and turned their attention to what Dark Heart was doing to find him striking one of the crystals with his steel claws. "Yep, they're real alright." He stated still hitting the crystals. "What?" Shadow asked confused. "I said that these things are real. I could tell from the fact that it isn't cracking when I hit it." Dark Heart repeated. "Well of course they're real just look at how they shine in the light." Nova said practically drooling over them within the amulet, actually DarkHeart could've sworn he felt a wet spot accumulating on his shirt, but didn't bother with it. After hitting the crystal a few more times DarkHeart stood up and started his exploration of his new home and quickly finding that it split into many other passages when he left the room he was in. Though that didn't slow him down any as he started the walls of the cave with special navigation spires made of dark magic, something to help him navigate the caves while also making sure that if anything ever tried to hunt him down in there they would become confused and be thrown off course. He traversed the caves for a couple of hours and getting the layout of the interior while also marking the chambers he was going to use for different rooms, like a training room and storage room as well as many other rooms for different purposes. After that he headed back to the cave's entrance to find that Luna's moon was already high in the night sky, seeing that the moonlight giving the roaring waters of falls a magnificent glow, before he sat down on the cave's crystal floor and summoning up a hay burger that he had stored a mini-pocket dimension built within the chest plate. "This thing may not hold much but it definitely comes in handy for running away don't it?" He asked. "It most certainly does, but let me ask you something DarkHeart, how long do you think you'll last out here?" Shadow asked, his question throwing him off. "What do you mean Shadow, are you trying say that I don't know how to survive on my own out here?" DarkHeart was getting a little irritated, believing that that's exactly what the dark spirit was trying to say. "No, what I mean is....well.....lets face it, your parents is the only reason why you hadn't caved into the darkness yet and carried out your more, darker, desires and I wanted to know how long you think you'll be able to hold back that darkness before it becomes too strong for you to handle." Shadow clarified. "Oh well, if that's all you wanted to know, I think the answer is fairly simple." Dark Heart calmly. "And what is your answer then?" Shadow asked. "There isn't one, things have changed dramatically after my birthday, with you and Nova coming into my life as well as getting both my cutiemark and dark power, well who knows what the future has in store for us but for the time being, what do you say we put it out of our minds and enjoy everyday we got, eh Shadow." Dark Heart said leaning against the cave's wall before drowsing off into his nightmare/dream realm. "Yeah, I guess we should I just hope this doesn't come back to blow up in our faces in the future." Shadow drowsily, before he too slipped into unconsciousness.
The NightmareThree Years Later Dark Heart's POV I was yet again awoken from my sea of endless nightmares by the light of Celestia's sun as it shined through the entrance of the cave I've called my home for the last three years. "Three years..... I can't believe it's already been three whole years since I ran away from home and I'm still doing fine out here." I said under my breath. "Well is it really that surprising, you did receive some intense survival training when you were younger. Just throw in the addition of your dark magic and BAM, you got the ultimate means to surviving on your own." Nova said cheerfully as always. "And the fact that I have two strong, magical spirits living within my very soul has nothing to do with it whatsoever." I sarcastically replied. I waited for a moment or so for her response, but after waiting for five minutes my stomach gave me a reason to get up. *Gggrrrrrrrr* Yeah yeah, just shut up already so I could go put some food in you." I complained to my growling belly. "Talking to your Dark Heart, it sounds like you may be going crazy." Shadow joked as he finally awoke. I picked myself up off the cave floor and did a few stretches so that I could get the kinks out of my back. I'm just glad I've gotten so used to sleeping on that ground every night after my first year of living here, otherwise I'd be so stiff one could see me waddle around like a bloody penguin for the better part of the morning. I walk towards the tunnel that has one of my Dark spires embedded into the cave walls, it displayed the word "KITCHEN" as I passed it. I'm so thankful for these spires, if it wasn't them I would have gotten lost within the cave systems a long time ago. "So what are we doing today Dark Heart; something exciting I hope." Shadow asked excitedly. I just rolled my eyes at his giddiness for action this early in the morning, "Sorry buddy, but I need to wash my suit today as well as myself because I'm seriously starting to smell now." I told him. "Well, what do you expect to happen when you're swallowed whole by a hydra, those things aren't exactly known for their oral hygiene." Nova reminded him of the events of yesterday. "I wasn't really expecting to be fucking eaten by a hydra to begin with, though I guess I'm kinda glad it did because then it allowed me to gut the bastard without having the trouble of having to pierce through its scales on its underbelly." I answered back, thinking back to the image of a mangled hydra corpse that had its innards scattered everywhere. "Needless to say that after your little escapade yesterday, those hydras probably want nothing to do with you from on. That is if they don't decide to band together to hunt you down, but that seems highly unlikely in my books." Shadow added in, with a hint of fear in his voice. I let a smile creep across my face at hearing the fear in his tone, I have no idea why why but it was refreshing to me whenever I knew something was afraid of me. I guess I would leave that for another time, but right now I needed to eat and my stomach made sure to remind of that as I got closer to the 'kitchen', which nothing more but a few rocks and crystals formed into a counter, cupboards, and table, along with an oversized chest, which I bought from a nearby settlement with some the gems I've found in here, that I had used to store my food supply in. I went over to the chest to see what I wanted to eat, but as I looked inside I saw that it was nearly empty, with only half a bushel of apples, one bunch of bananas, and two bags filled with various kinds of berries, along with a few carrots, potatoes, and daisies scattered about. "Looks like I'm going to have to go looking for some more food before I run out when I go out." I said to myself, making a mental note of today's to-do list. "I don't get why you don't just go buy some food at that settlement, you got the chest from there." Shadow suggested. "Because I run the risk of being discovered by the ponies there every time I go, I need this place to remain a secret 'cause goddess forbid that a pony live in a cave on the face of a cliff without being up to something." I said exasperatedly. He just kept silent after that knowing that I was right. I grabbed a couple of apples, a banana, and a fourth of one of bags of berries into a sack I kept tied around my waist before making my way back to the cave's entrance to get everything I needed to do, done. I picked up Cursed and Blessing from their resting place, strapping Cursed onto my back and Blessing around my waist, and jumped out into the world I was adamant on hiding from. As I landed onto the ground from the ~150 ft. drop I started heading towards the forest that was nearby to go bathe in the lake to get the stench of hydra saliva out of my fur and watch my suit/armor off as well. It hadn't taken long to find the lake, seeing as I've traversed these woods countless times on supply runs and the occasional casual strolls on a beautiful day, but by the looks of the sky it definitely doesn't look like it's going to be one of those days, the sky was covered in shroud of dark grey clouds covering it up. "Looks like you'll have to trudge through the mud today if you haven't finished your to-do list before it starts downpouring. Am I glad I have to stay within the essence of your soul and not walking around out there like you, it's going to really suck to be you later." Shadow rubbed in my face. "Meh, I don't mind really, I actually like being out here when it rains, it feels good, but I'm still going to have take a bath in the lake before it starts though." I told him before quickly stripping off my clothes and jumping into the water. I stayed submerged in the water for awhile, just swimming into the deeper depths of the lake to explore the bottom a little, before I resurfaced to get some air back into my lungs. When I resurfaced I swam back over to the lakeshore to grab my suit and dunked it into the water, and using my dark magic, I created a small whirlpool that I was constantly changing the direction of to cause the water the clash into the garments. After doing this for some time I got out of the lake feeling refreshed, and as I took a whiff of my arm, I could no longer had that awful smell lingering on me. I spent a few hours by the lake as I waited for my suit to dry off before deeming that it was dry enough to wear and went to scouring the forest for food, though as I walked through it noticed that it was quiet in the serene environment. A little too quiet, I thought before my ears perked up as I noticed a strange noise coming from the same direction I was heading. Taking up the defensive, I quickly jumped behind a tree, .....drawing my blades I waited there as I listened whatever it was, getting closer. "Dark Heart, you have any idea on what it is that's heading this way?" Nova asked me, obviously concerned by the strange sound that was getting closer. "No, but whoever or whatever it is, I won't let them get the jump on me. I'll make sure that I land the first blow and pin it down before they can even blink." I said with a serious tone. I stood and waited for the source of the noise to get closer, but as it got closer I was starting to make out what it was, it sounded like.... "Armor!? Oh crap, Dark Heart it's the royal guard. What the hell are you going to do?" Shadow asked, panicking at the thought of being discovered. I thought about some of the ways this could possibly go, and what I could do. I could just keep out of sight and wait until they pass, or I could take a preemptive strike and take them out now..... or I could follow them and see if whoever it is has any kind of valuable info I could use to help conceal myself better. As I remained in my spot behind the tree, thinking about my options and their possible pros and cons, when I heard something that shocked me. "Dark Heart, come out from wherever you are, I hear to speak to you..... I know you're nearby I can feel the dark energy emanating from you." It was a mare, and she was calling for me, ......wanting to speak to me. "Wait a minute, how the hell does she know who I am 'cause I sure in tartarus don't recognize her voice from any of the mares back in Nieghburg." I asked, hoping that the two that reside within me could provide an answer. "I don't who it is, I've never heard any mare with that voice." Nova stated. "Neither have I, and but considering she knows about your dark powers odds are she was there when you unleashed them back in Nieghburg. It's either that of she's heard of you from somepony that was there, either way you should still be cautious of this mare, we still have no idea whether or not she's with the princesses." As Shadow finished I turned my attention back to listening to the clanking of the mare's armor as she got closer to where I was hiding. *CLANK* I decided to stay where I was and remain hidden from my possible assailant.... *CLINK*...*CLANK* ... I pressed myself into the tree trying to make myself look smaller as the sound grew all the more closer....*CLINK*.....*CLANK*.... moving around the area around my hiding spot when I was sure that she was just around the corner from where I was just moments ago....*ClINK*........ The noise had stopped, I stood frozen in place gripping onto the handles of my swords ready to strike if I needed to defend myself. "Hello, Dark Heart," I swung around as quickly as my body would allow me, swinging Blessing to my left and aiming right for the mare's head. I missed as Blessing sliced right through the trunk of the tree, causing it to come crashing down on the forest floor and reveal the mare that had been calling for me. As I watched her to make sure she didn't make any sudden moves I took note of her features, just in case she was working for the princesses and she managed to escape when they fight, and considering that she was sporting a set of wings along with a horn, I think it was safe to say that that was the case. She looked to be about 6'1" in height and looked to be in her late twenties, early thirties, thought considering she was an alicorn she was most likely much older than that; her indigo mane and tail seemed to be sparkle like a starry night and being moved by non-existent breeze; her armor, which was the same color as her mane, that covering her black coat was adorned with crescent moon covered in darkness and which I assumed to be her cutiemark; her body looked to hold a great bit of strength in them as it appeared to be well-toned, while giving off that feminine wile with her curved figure. I quickly brought my eyes back to her own, both of her turquoise, slitted eyes looking straight back at me with an innocent looking smile adorning her muzzle. "Why are here, and how do you know who I am?" I asked in my demonic tone. She just laughs as a response, which confused the hell out of me. "What the hell is so funny, did I do something that you warrant as humorous because I don't recall doing anything that would be." I said, getting irritated as she continued to laugh. I narrowed my eyes, as I watched her more intently as her laughter began to die down and she regained her composure before she had finally decided give an actual response. "My-my Dark Heart you definitely have quite the temper don't you, though I suppose that's the reason me and my 'sister' thought that your dark magic had taken a hold of your mind, I've only now figured out that we were wrong." She spoke as if we had met before, but that isn't what had confused me. No what had confused me was the way her tone changed when she said "sister", but either way I still had to ask who she was yet again because the only ponies I knew that had thought that I had succembed to the darkness within that were sisters was....... "PRINCESS LUNA, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE? I THOUGHT I HAD MADE IT CLEAR THAT I WASN'T GIVING UP MY DARK MAGIC!" I yelled while had Cursed and Blessing at the ready, I wanted to make sure that I was ready for whatever plan she had setup for me. But, again, her reaction to the situation at hand weren't what I had expected them to be. "Don't call us that you peasant, we will be addressed as Nightmare Moon or as Queen Nightmare and we have come to speak with you about a proposition that may interest you." She said commandingly, her expression turning from happy to glaring at me to an evil grin. It's safe to say that I wasn't expecting this; first she's laughing her ass off for no apparent reason, then she gets all pissy when I address her by her real name, now she supposedly has some sort of proposition to offer me; this was getting stranger and stranger as time goes on. "What's happen in the last three years, I mean what happened to Luna's fur, and what's up with those eyes." Nova asked, getting more intrigued with the scene before us. "Really you're going to ask a question like that, when we all very well know what the answer is, Nova?" Shadow asked her sounding as though he was hoping that she wasn't serious. "Well you might be able to say that for the two of you, but, no, I don't know the answer." Nova huffed, Shadow just groaned before filling her in. "I swear sometimes Nova, you could act like such a dumbass sometimes. I'm not really sure how you you don't sense that but she's obviously been consumed by her own darkness that laid within her heart, but her's feels different from Dark Heart's,so you can't say that you can't feel it." Shadow lectured. "Well sorry, but last I checked I wasn't exactly gifted in the art of detecting the different ponies' darkness waves or whatever it is you use to tell the difference between that stuff." Nova snapped back. "Well if you're looking for me to cut you some slack, I wouldn't count on it sister. In fact there are fe-" Shadow tried to continued but was interrupted by Nightmare Moon as the princess liked to be called now. "Would you two stop your pointless arguing, the adults are trying to discuss business plans here and you two are getting in the way of that." Nightmare scolded them like two foals having a pointless argument over something petty. I stared at her for a second before I asked, "How are able to hear them now, even though you weren't able to three years ago." I asked what was surely on all three of our minds. "We don't believe that to of importance right now and that we should be focusing on the previous topic we had brought up earlier." She said in an even tone. "If you mean your so called 'proposition', sorry but I doubt I'd be interested in what you have to propose to me, so goodbye, I'm heading back home before it starts raining I just got done washing my clothes and I'm not planning on getting muddy." And with that I turned my back towards her and started heading in the direction of the cave when suddenly it started to rain, and it gradually picked with every passing second. "Goddess dammit all, the pegasi sure do have the worst timing don't they." I swore to the sky, cursing the pegasi as my ,now soaking wet, mane fell in front of my face and partially obscuring my vision. Since I had gotten caught out here by the rain I figured I would just close my eyes and stand there a minute or so and enjoy the cool water wash over my body, at least that's what I had planned on doing before I felt it calm to a halt and heard what sounded like pitter patter from above. I opened eyes to see that Nightmare Moon had walked up beside me and was shielding the two of us from the torrential downpour with her magic. "You know it's not wise to stay out in a storm like this, perhaps we should find shelter." She said, that innocent, yet sickening, smile had returned. I looked around for a suitable place to take cover but couldn't find one, the only place that would have been big enough to shield us was the he tree *sigh* that I cut down. Dammit, looks like I fucked up again. I scolded myself. As I did another sweep of the immediate area I realized I had no other choice but to have the two of us head back to my cave seeing as it was the only place that was close by to shelter us from the storm. So I hesitantly turned towards Nightmare before I asking, "Would you mind coming with me, I know of a cave nearby that could keep us from the fury of this storm." I offered her, back to using my regular voice for the time being. She looked to me with that smile again before responding, "Well we would appreciate it greatly, thank you Dark Heart." "Then lets get going, I'm not sure how bad this storm i supposed to get and I don't want to be out here to find out." stated before I began walking forward and down the path that lead straight towards the waterfall that hid the entrance to my home. We were only a few minutes away from the cave entrance as I walked down the path with Nightmare following close behind Our walk was spent mostly in silence, obviously except for the rain that was hitting her shield. You would think that I would have thought of just leaving her out in the pouring all alone while I ran to the cave, but despite everything that had because of her and her sister's closed-mindedness towards my dark magic, I wasn't about to just leave her there with no shelter in sight, it was below me, and it went against my principles. When we had finally arrived at the waterfall I had told Nightmare that she would need to fly behind to falls to find the cave and she did just that and and had found it with ease. Once I was sure she had found it I had pressed the buttons on the handles of Cursed and Blessing, to release the magic that held the chains that were attached to the hilt. With one end of the chains falling down on the ground, with the other end still attached to my gauntlets, I swung them around like a lasso and threw them towards the inside of the cave and find something to attach themselves to. After I had gave them a couple of test tugs to make sure they were secured, I channeled some of my magic through them and within a few moments I was being pulled into the cave, but before I could cancel out the magic, the chains had sent me right into wall. "Fuck, I really need to work on the timing for the release so I don't keep smacking myself into whatever I latch onto." I said as I was pulling myself out of the indent that had created in the wall. As I was struggling to dislodge myself out of the cave wall, I heard the same laughter from before and had angled myself just enough to see Nightmare Moon having some fun at my expense. "Hahaha, it would appear that the cave doesn't want to let you go..*hrk.... you must be really attached to this place, hahaha." She began laughing harder at the 'joke' and continued to watch as I was still trying to dislodge my form out of the wall. I just ignored her for the most part as I pulled my limbs free one by one. She had managed to calm down as I finally pulled my left leg free from the new crater in the cave, which was actually quite roomy. Maybe I could use this space to make a home defense mechanism for whenever I'm away and something tries to come in here to steal my stuff. I thought about the possible uses this simple looking space could be useful for when I was taken away from my brainstorming after hearing somepony clear their throat. I turned around to find Nightmare staring at me with a quizzical look. "What has you so entranced about that hole you demolished into the wall." She asked me, looking at me like I was crazy. "There's nothing about it that interesting, I was just thinking of putting something inside it to keep out unwanted houseguest." I said settling my gaze back at the demolished wall. "So we take it that this is where you have been for the last three years then, hiding from the rest of the pony population to keep from being discovered from Celestia and her royal guard?" She asked trying to entice me into telling her the story of what had happened after I had made my escape three years ago. "And you, you seem to be forgetting that you were there to, helping her and my parents take me down." I reminded her. "We remember, well we should say that Luna remembers but, because we are one in the same her memories is our's as well and we remember why you had to go into hiding in the first place and your possible hatred towards us." I have no idea whether or not she was usually like this, but I could have sworn that I could hear sympathy as she spoke. "I think hatred might be a bit strong, but I that doesn't mean that I trust you though.......even if you some alter ego of Princess Luna." Sure I couldn't say that I bared nothing but hate towards the night goddess herself, and I sure in tartarus could say that all of the trust I once held with her was gone but I wasn't about to just attack her out of the blue; she hasn't made any attempt to strike me and so I would do the same, although I still kept a watchful eye on her just to be sure she couldn't take me by surprise. As I kept a cautious eye out for her, made my way over to the crystal I called bed and laid down deciding to just relax while we waited for the storm to pass. "Dark Heart?" I lifted up my head when I heard her call out as I was laying down and trying to relax. "What is it Nightmare?" I asked as I laid my head back down once I had looked to see if anything was wrong. "I thought I ordered you to call us Nightmare Moon, you can't just use a part of our name, you say the entire thing." She said, yet again bitching at me for not calling her by the name she wanted me to address her by. "Yeah yeah, whatever, was there something you needed or did you just want to bitch at me some more." I said as I waved my dismissively. "I could very well have your head for saying that your is 'bitching' at you, but fortunately for you I need you, or to be more specific I need the power you possess but seeing as though you are unwilling to part with it I'm going to need you alive for my plans to come fruition." She explained. "Oh really, and what plans would that be, Nightmare Bitch?" I asked, insulting her yet again. "Well my impudent little pony, we plan on overthrowing Princess Celestia and shrouding the land into eternal darkness, but in order to do so we're going to need you and your incredibly strong dark magic to to overthrow her for us. So what do you say Dark Heart, would you be willing to help show Equestria the true beauty of the night and blot out the sun forever more?" she offered me. "Why should I help you, what would be in it for me, or better yet I should ask what would keep you from turning on me the moment I've defeated her, I have no idea whether or not you'er some alter ego Princess Luna, but it wouldn't matter because either way she is a part of you and she had tried to take my dark power away from me already and what's there to make me think any differently of you?" I interrogated her. "We guess we can't really blame you for being skeptical of our intentions-" "Damn right." "But we came to you with this proposition because you have as much to gain from this as much as we do." I had no idea what the hell she was talking about. Last I checked ,helping to overthrow one of the princesses of Equestria would just push me back further, I want to show everypony that dark magic isn't just used for evil but for good as well and taking over an empire would make them fear me even more. "I think you're mad, what could I possibly have to gain from helping you, other than everypony becoming even more afraid of me and looked upon as a traitor." I asked her, wanting to hear what she could expect from her conquest. "Well my dear stallion, you definitely be feared by our subjects after it's all over, but if we succeed, and there's no doubt in our mind that we will if you to aid us, but after some time they would begin to respect you and if that isn't enough for you then maybe the fact that we would make you our king will do the trick." she tried to persuade, but seriously though, our subjects respecting me instead of fearing me, I highly doubt that, and what about this whole nonsense about making me her.....wait a minute, she wants to make me her...her. "YOU WANT TO MAKE ME/HIM YOUR KING!?" the three of shouted in disbelief. "Why of course Dark Heart, a queen isn't a queen without a king to rule my her side, and you're to only stallion is deserving of that honor after all you are the only one who know what it feels like to have your talents go unnoticed and are underappreciated so we could think of no better suitor." She said with that smile of hers returning. Holy crap, I have no idea whether I should be flattered or concerned about the fact that this alter ego of Luna's wants me to be her mate and rule Equestria along side her, but it doesn't matter because unbeknownst to her, I was asking her all of that so that I could figure out why she needed me and she's planning on doing; and by the sounds of it she knows that I would be able take her out if she tried to turn on me, which means I should make my move know. I must stop her before she even tries anything and turn her in to Celestia..... even if she did try to take my powers away, buy maybe if I turned in her now power crazed sister, she may finally see the same potential in my abilities as I do. "As tempting as that all that sounds Nightmare Moon," I paused for a moment, closing my eyes. "I'm afraid I'm going to have not only refuse, but I'm gonna have to stop you as well before you can carry out any of your plans." I said, having reverted back to my demonic dialogue and opening my eyes to reveal the darkness that had taken the place of the white corneas of my eyes. "You poor misguided fool, we were really hoping that you agree for not only our benefit, but for yours as well. As we said before, all we really need is you dark power, but if you're not willing to lend that power over to us then I guess we're going to have kill you and take them for ourselves. Such a waste to, you're truly ravishing, but we can't allow you to get in the way of our future as the rightful ruler of Equestria." She monologues. I just simply rolled my eyes as I drew forth Cursed and Blessing and took to my signature fighting pose, ready to begin the fun, after all it has been a while since I've had a good fight instead of slaughtering stupid predators that think I'm an easy meal. I heard her laugh as I there with my blades drawn, almost as if she was taunting me, which had caused me to let a smirk of mine own to come across my muzzle. "You know you have no chance of beating me Nightmare so I really don't see what you find so humorous about the situation that's befallen you, though I suppose I'm not really one to talk considering I'd probably be doing the same exact thing if our roles were switched." I mused. "We actually believe that our mind is the set and that our laughter is indeed well placed in this situation we find ourselves in at the present, because of the fact that you believe that you can stop us. Yes, it is true that you are much stronger than us, but you have one fatal weakness that we don't possess." Now that intrigued me, she actually thinks that she's found my weakness, I mean I know I have one but I wanted to know if she actually knew what it was. "Is that so.... well then with all do respect, enlighten me on what YOU THINK is my weakness then." I made a slight bowing gesture as a way of asking her to continue. "Well young Dark Heart, although you possess to ability to control the darkness like king sombra, you don't possess the heart to use it properly. You lack the truly dark heart needed to wield it properly and when it comes to the heat of battle you are unable to deliver the finishing blow to your enemy and allow them live, hoping that they will have learned their lesson and conform into becoming a good pony again." Damn, I really think that she couldn't have been......anymore wrong about that little hypothesis of hers right now. "So you think I lack the heart of killer do you. Well let me tell you this Nightmare-" using my magic to amplify my speed, I was upon her and ready to deliver a killing blow. -you're right, I do lack the heart of killer, but that is because I possess the heart of warrior." I said as I swung down my magical blades towards her. But before they could make contract with her flesh, she had sent a magical blast straight into my gut. I had taken too long in savoring the moment, that I had fucked up my chances of ending this as quickly as possible and now I had to contend with this psychotic mare inside my cave home. I just hope that not too much damage is done to this place, it was pain just trying to make it the it is now and I didn't have to start from scratch. I thought as I was getting back up. Another blast had barely missed my head as I stood up. I looked in the direction the direction of the stray blast to see it had blown an entire section of the tunnels away and opened it up into a bigger cavern. Well there goes that plan... well I guess I should've expected that *sigh* whatever I might as well as just go out out since she doesn't seem to want to hold back. I thought as I turned around to face my assailant but soon myself being tackled into the ground by the same mare I was talking to moments ago. "Well it would seem that you have been mesmerized by our eternal beauty though we can't really blame you, as we said before, anypony would die just for a chance to lay their hands upon us, and just imagine what they would do to be in your position right now and be so close to us." She boasted and flaunting herself around like some arrogant noble pony that had their hands and some priceless vase and they were showing it off tho their rich friends. "I don't think so Nightmare, but if you do want to know what I was thinking about, I was thinking about what I was going to do about the reconstruction of my home. That is to say after...I got done with KICKING. YOUR. ASS!" I roared as black magic surged into my clenched fist and delivered and powerful blow into her and sent her flying back into the newly formed cavern. I stood up, again, I picked up my two blades before making my way towards the night queen I couldn't help my let an evil smile spread from cheek to cheek, and judging by her reaction, it must have looked fucking creepy as hell to see a grin that big slapped on my face. "We won't let you win that easily Dark Heart, we have been wanting this ever since we were a foal and had just now come to realize that this is our true desire after we listened to the darkness within our own heart just as you had and it too has given us the power to make that dream possible." She growled as she picked herself off of the cave floor, but I had already stopped in my tracks upon hearing her speech when the realization hit me. She listened to the darkness in her heart just like I had and just like mine it had given her power and changed her into the mare before me. This is definitely an alter ego, but it's just now come into existence and taken control of Luna's mind and body, which means the game has changed. I must defeat her but I can't kill her so that I could take her back to Celestia and find a way to suppress this dark side of her's.......or better yet I could do it myself, Nova. After all this time I had almost forgotten that I possessed the very artifact that was meant for this kind of stuff. "I'm ready when you are Dark Heart, all you gotta do is give the word but make sure to immobilize her first so she can't interfere before the amulet itself its ready to transfer its purifying powers into her." Nova had warned me as we had planned to use the heart to get rid of this insidious alter ego of Luna's. "Alright Nova, but make sure that once I do that you get the amulet working quickly I don't want to risk possibly losing this chance." I said in a voice just barely above a whisper so that she could hear me. Without hesitating another moment, I quickly sprung into action and made to now subdue the princess of the night and cure her of her darkness before it completely took over, and thanks to my special talent being that I can draw power from the darkness that forms in one's heart and right now, that darkness was brimming inside Luna's which was both a good and a bad thing. It's good 'because it increases my own strength, as I had said before, but bad because with so much darkness lingering in her heart it would take longer to cure it, as well as a whole lot of power, which meant that we, I,can't screw this up otherwise the three of us are royally screwed. "You little fool, what makes you think that you have any chance of defeating us. We have the strength drawn forth from the nightmares of our subjects and that alone can trump whatever powerful you may have." Nightmare Moon boasted. "Yeah, so, it doesn't matter how much you may possess it takes a hell of a lot more than that to subdue me Nightmare. I thought you and Luna would've learned that when I made my escape three years ago." She sent magical tendrils from her mane as she tried to use her magic to gain a threshold within my mind to get access to my own nightmares. If she got a hold of those she definitely would have the power to overpower me as easily as a newborn foal. I would have taken a swing at them with Cursed and Blessing but I couldn't risk them getting sucked into the void within her mane. As I continued to dodge her attacks I decided to make my move to inhibit her movements for a short while by moving a few inches closer to her every time I went to get out of the way of the tendrils. I had to be light on my feet and ever so cautious as I was just five feet away from her and her strikes started coming at me at an increasing pace and by using a quick bolt of light magic I was able make sure all close calls were just that, close calls. I had to move every fifteen minutes or so in order to get any closer by this point and I could only move two-three inches to make any progress, but then she made the mistakes her recalling all of her tendrils by her side which gave me to right opening I needed to ensnare her within my trap. Calling forth both my light and dark magic, I was able to create my own tendrils and sent them forward to coil around Nightmare Moon, and enveloping her mane completely to make sure she couldn't get me with some sneak attack from the damn thing. Once I was sure she was fully secured I move myself into position, having the heart pointed directly at the area where her heart lied, before I checked in with Nova. "Is it charged up, because I doubt that these snares will hold for very long." "Almost, just keep her still for a couple more minutes and it'll be ready." I groaned upon hearing that, I was really hoping that I would be able to just get this done and over with, but nooo, the damn amulet has to take its sweet ass time getting warmed up. "Nova next time you say that the Heart of Light is ready to go, you better mean that the Heart of Light is ready to go." "HEY! Don't yell at me, I said I was ready to go and that the amulet would time to charge, so fuck you." Nova yelled. I was about to make a counter argument but I felt the bindings loosening around Nightmare and I immediately diverted my attention back towards keeping her from escaping. "You will pay for your insolence once we are freed from our confinement Dark Heart!" Nightmare growled as she continued to struggle against her restraints, but I made sure to hold them strong against it. All I needed to do was wait a few more moments and I could revert Luna back to her old self. I wonder if she'll even remember any of this, and I'm not really sure if I would want her to, it could spill disaster for me after all. Then again if she does remember and is grateful for what I've done for her then maybe she could go to Celestia and- Nova interrupted me from my thoughts. "Dark Heart, the amulet is all charged up and ready for purification." Yes, that's just what I wanted to hear right about now, and not a moment too soon either Nightmare Moon is starting to break free from my grasp. "Well then what are you waiting for, fire the damn thing before she breaks free!" I commanded her. Nova released to immense light energy that had built up straight towards Nightmare and I could already see my victory along with this dark magic issue settled once as I started to imagine what it would be like once I got Luna back to the castle as her old princessy self. I also imagined her telling them all, especially my parents and Princess Celestia, that I saved her using my dark magic, which should hopefully clear their minds on the matter of whether or not dark magic's only use is to hurt and is incapable being used to help. Oh I can just see it now, all of them just begging for my forgiveness and telling me that they wo- "Dumbass, get of fantasyland and focus on the task at hand, the bitch is somehow resisting the power of the heart!" I heard Shadow shout within my head, and telling me that...... "Wait! WHAT!? How the hell is she resisting its power, that shouldn't be possible." I looked back to Nightmare to see that he was telling the truth. I must have allowed my mind to wander off too soon 'cause she had managed to free herself the tendrils sooner that I thought and was now using her magic to go toe to toe with the amulet's. "I gotta give her this, that nightmare magic is strong, especially if she's able stand up to it like this." Shadow complimented. I had to agree with him on that, the power of the Heart of Light is said to even transcend pass both of the princesses combined at it's fullest power and I know Nova didn't waste any energy to take care of this; or at least I hope she didn't because then Nightmare Moon maybe able to overpower it and I'm left completely vulnerable as long as the Heart is activated, but is that really any surprise that something so powerful has a weakness like that guess it keeps the Guardian from trying to manipulate the Heart's magic for their own selfish ambitions. "NNNgh.....Fuck...... I don't know how much longer I can keep it going Nova!" I was struggling to keep the amulet's magic going, and with Nightmare Moon's getting stronger and stronger by the second, I was beginning to worry that my power wasn't going to be enough as I felt myself being pushed back while I continue to fight against Nightmare Moon's nightmare magic. "So then I take it you're giving up then Dark Heart. That seriously blows, we didn't even get a chance to prove ourselves to those close-minded bastards, I guess the two of us were never meant to amount to anything much this whole time." Shadow stated depressingly. I was going to speak up but Nightmare had beat me to the punch, though what she said wasn't exactly what I was going for. "So you're already giving huh? Well we can't say that we blame you, our power is unstoppable when we're fueled by the nightmares of our subjects. But worry not my foolish pony for we shall make your demise a quick one." This bitch over here already thinking we've lost. I mean shit, I know I'm not going to keep up my resistance for very much longer but did anypony say that I was already giving up just because she's stronger than me, does nopony remember me saying that it takes a lot more than just power to beat me and I'm going to hold that philosophy true to myself. "Shadow, you better tell me that you're not serious, because if you are, I'm going to beat the living shit out of you when this over until you learn that I always have a backup plan in the works to make sure we live." I threatened him with my signature smirk. "Nova are you ready to go, and I mean really ready to go, should Nightmare Moon manages to best me?" I asked Nova, letting her know that I was ready to put the plan I had made a few minutes ago into action. "Yeah I'm ready, but do you think it will actually work? If she manages to best the purifying powers of the Heart, what's there to keep her from destroying or keeping it for herself once she thinks you've been defeated?" Nova asked with fear clear in her tone. "Don't worry Nova, she may've been able to overpower the Heart, but she won't be able to best the power of my black magic. I'll make sure she can't get her hands on it, even if it's the last thing I do, I'll do my duty as the Guardian of the Heart and make sure it remains safe." I try to comfort her, but to be quite honest with myself, I fear that I will even fail at that. I make it a point to know when I should give up and this seems like the time to do so but this won't be the last time that Equestria will hear of Dark Heart the Unicorn. I'll retreat into the confines of Nova's dimension until the Heart of Light regains its power and I've at least doubled my own strength so as to make sure this doesn't happen again; but before I can do that I need to make sure the amulet stays out of the wrong hands and keep it safe within these caves until I'm ready to fight again, and staying within the Heart would be best because I don't worry about falling under the effects of time, hunger, thirst, or illness while I'm there which will allow me to have all of the time in the world to train. "I know you have this plan that I know nothing about, and that it should let us live to fight another day, but do you think you can still pay attention to what's going on right now, in front of you!" I heard Shadow said as I snap my attention back to trying to drive off Nightmare Moon which seemed to be doing nothing more than stalling at this point seeing as though her own magical energy blast was making it's way towards me. "Give up now Dark Heart! Your defeat is inevitable, so why stall it any longer and yourself false hope?" I heard Nightmare Moon say, her tone sounding as though my struggle was amusing as I continued to fight. "Because it's not false hope you bitch, there never a thing such as false hope. If a pony truly believes in themselves they can find a way to overcome any obstacle that stands in their way, no matter how impossible the odds maybe against them, and I have definitely found a way to do just that; but unfortunately it's not gonna happen in this time." I said as I closed my eyes and felt the power of the Heart start to weaken and taper off and the nightmare magic speed towards me and I stood there waiting for just the right moment to put my plan into action. "NOVA NOW!" I shouted as my eyes snapped open and I felt it right on top of me, and after I had a blinding light engulf me and the landscape around me started to shift and change into one that I hadn't seen since my sixteenth birthday. "Dark Heart hurry up and put up your barrier before she lands that attack!" Nova commanded as soon as I appeared in the arena. Doing as I was told, I quickly performed my dark barrier spell and within moments felt the blast hit it,trying to gain access to its target which was now the Heart of Light itself. The Hearts power may have failed to win us this fight, but I won't her to best my own as I poured myself into keeping the barrier up until she gave up which, fortunately for me, was only about a minute or so after contact. "So that is what you meant by you weren't able to get past me and the this time. You were planning on retreating within the void that the one called Nova resides and use it as a training ground to make yourself stronger and come after us when you had weren't you?" Nightmare Moon stated in an unamused tone. "Damn, how the hell was she was able to figure that out but you weren't Shadow, and you had access to my mind no less.... she's gooood." I said in my old voice. "Well she can hear the two of us speaking to you, so I'm guessing that she was able to read your mind, That and you seem to be forgetting that I went into a four minute long depression thinking that we were going to die." Shadow reminded me of how saddened he had sounded as well as reminding me that I still need to beat the sense of bravado back into the dark spirit. "Well then Dark Heart if you so wish to stay within your family's heirloom and still protect it, how about we show you that we harbor no hard feelings for turning down our offer to become our husband and king, as well as attacking us by making protecting the amulet easier." The way she said that just sent a shiver down my spine. There was way too much kindness in those words and you would have to be insane to think that she wasn't up to something. But I could say anything though I saw Nightmare Moon move towards the amulet, through a magical one-sided window that Nova had conjured up to see what she would do, with a black aura emitting from her horn, whatever she's doing it isn't good. I thought as she standing directly in front of the amulet and an uneasy feeling washed over me and used my own magic to re-establish the barrier around the amulet to make sure she couldn't cause any harm to it, but it would seem that she found my actions to be humorous because as soon as it was up she let a slight giggle. Suddenly I felt a trembling from the ground below the amulet as I continued to watch Nightmare but quickly found that the windows view was quickly becoming obscured by the very crystals that make up the caves that I've made my home and quickly realized that she was trying to permanently trap me in the Heart. I tried to get out but found that I was unable to open up a portal out of here; I looked over to Nova to see her trying to do the same but was getting the same results I did, nothing, the crystals were blocking out our magic and continued to encase the Heart of Light, or my new prison. "There you go that should prevent any mishaps from bringing any harm from your amulet. I'll see you in a couple of millennium or so, well that is if I remember that you're down here by then." She laughed as she walked away from the crystal and to the cave's entrance/exit and flew away. "NIGHTMARE MOON, YOU SON OF A BITCH, WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU SUFFER BEFORE I HEAD YOUR WHORE LIFE!!!!" I roared as loud as I could to make sure that she heard my death threat. "Well.....didn't see that one coming, but hey at least you can train in peace now." I heard Shadow say from behind trying lighten up the situation a little. "And look at the bright side, if you can become strong enough you may be able to break the crystal from within here and free us from this prison and then get your revenge." I let out a sigh as Shadow continued on, and despite everything, he's right. I won't have worry about protecting the amulet as long as the crystal remains intact, and even if it should be destroyed that would enable me to get out and go after that bitch since I'm pretty sure that it'll be awhile before we're found. "Yeah you're right, but if we're going to have any chance of getting out of here as soon as possible, we better begin my training immediately." I said sternly, turning towards the two to see who was going to start first. "Wow you are impatient dude, but I suppose you're right. Nova, I think we should both train him at the same time if we hope to make any sort of progress, what do you say?" Shadow asked Nova who appeared to be contemplating it. "Well I suppose you're right, but I was really hoping to spend some time hanging out with the two of you before we started anything, but I guess it will be a long time before anypony discovers the crystal and amulet, so I guess I'm in too." Nova answered. After hearing them say that they would help me I got into position, as did they, and had one thought in my mind before we started. I'm sorry I've failed you....mom, dad, I hope you're doing okay and will be here when I get out so I could tell you that I'm sorry for causing any of this and that I'll make it up to you. And with that that, I surged towards them to begin my training.
Releasing Your DemonsCelestia's sun is rising on the horizon of what was to be a beautiful morning in the little town of Ponyville as rays of lights were shining through the window of the Golden Oaks Library and disturbing the slumber of the lavender unicorn mare who called the tree house her home. "Ugh..... a few more minutes princess." the unicorn groaned as she used her blanket to block out the offensive thing that disturbed her from her peaceful realm of dreams. She was on her way to said realm when she heard a knocking coming from downstairs. She try to just ignore it but found that the incessant pounding continued to prevent her from falling back into a blissful sleep. She sat up in her bed and checked her alarm clock on the nightstand and it showed that it was 4:55 a.m. She headed downstairs to find the unfortunate soul that would feel her wrath for depriving her of sleep. "I'm coming, I'm coming just hold your horses." the unicorn said, rather annoyed by whoever it was that kept knocking on her door. She was soon down the stairs and in front of the door, she opened it to find a member of the royal guard standing on doorstep. "Miss Twilight Sparkle, the princess has requested an audience with you and your friends for three this afternoon. She says it's of utmost importance that all of you be there." The guard informed her. "Did she tell you why we are needed, is there another threat against Equestria that can only be solved with the Elements of Harmony?" Twilight asked, curious as to why Princess Celestia had sent a guard to her home so early in the morning. "She did not say, but the Elements won't be needed, and as far as I can tell both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna seemed to be very worried when I was summoned so I believe that it is most definitely important." The guard explained. "Well thank you for delivering this news to me. I'll be sure to gather up the others and inform them on what's going on." The guard saluted after she had thanked him and flew off back to Canterlot. "What's happened to make the princesses so worried that they had sent a guard here so early, yes the train ride to Canterlot is long, but not that long. . . . hmmm, whatever it is I still need to gather up the girls so that we can all be ready to meet them." About four hours later, after she had woken up her dragon assistance, Spike, and he made them a quick breakfast, Twilight went to go gather the rest of their friends and tell them what the guard had told her and to also to be prepared for anything. "Wait, so you're saying that whatever the princesses want to tell us involves something that is so dangerous, that even they're freaking out about it?" Twilight's rainbow-maned friend, Rainbow Dash, asked. "Yes, and that's why we need to make sure that we're already for anything when we go to meet the princesses." Twilight explained. "But ya feel that something feels a might off about this whole situation? You said it yourself that the princess a guard to deliver that message so early the mornin' was unusual, even for them." The country mare known as Applejack added in. "But that doesn't change the fact that we need to get ready, in fact it just helps prove the fact that whatever we're going to end up dealing with is something that is important, for all we know the Queen Chrysalis and the changelings could be coming here for another attack after somehow finding out that my brother, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence are now ruling the Crystal Empire." As Twilight mentioned the Queen of the Changelings name she and her six friends all felt a shiver go down their spines as they all recalled the events that had happened a few months ago. "I don't think it would something like that, but I agree with Twilight. Whatever it is the Princess Celestia and Princess Luna want to tell us must be of vital importance and given that we've received so little information must mean that they must be so worried about whatever it is they're worried about isn't exactly safe." the white unicorn, Rarity, gave her opinion on the matter at hand. "Um, girls if we want to know what it is that's going on then we should probably start heading towards the train station. The next train is about to arrive and we don't want of miss it if we're going to make the Canterlot in time." Spike pointed out and as soon as he did they all looked towards the clock tower to see that he was right, and headed off to catch the next train headed for Canterlot. In the Canterlot Castle Throne Room "Sister, please, would stop pacing back and forth you're making me nervous." Princess Luna asked her sister who was pacing about the room with a worried look on her features. "I can't help it Lulu, I don't know what we're going to do. After all this time I thought that we had seen the last of 'him' after he had escaped from our grasp all those years ago." Princess Celestia said worriedly. "Yes, I know Tia, but I guess that is somewhat my fault. If I hadn't allowed my jealousy to take a hold of me and turn me into Nightmare Moon, then I wouldn't have sough him out to aid me in my endeavor, and maybe then he wouldn't have been forced to retreat into the amulet and become imprisoned in it." Luna sighed as she remembered her encounter with a certain stallion during her time as Nightmare Moon. "But what done is done and we have to make up for our sins against him, he's an understanding pony, I'm sure he'll listen to what we have to say once he's released from his confinement." "Even so it's still a long shot, especially if he plans on living up to his threat he had made to Nightmare Moon after he was sealed away." Celestia said, frantic about the situation they found themselves in. Luna had moved from her position beside the throne and moved over to her sister. She placed a hand onto Celestia's shoulder to calm her down. "But isn't that why so sent for Twilight and her friends, so that he could have somepony to speak to that hasn't met him yet and try to convince him to abandon that way of thinking. Plus I don't believe you're giving Dark Heart enough credit, even after that had happened with us trying to capture him, he still wanted to help me banish Nightmare Moon from my heart and save Equestria." Luna explained. "Are you sure that that isn't what he wanted you to think Luna, I know he wanted to help protect others which, according to his parents, was the reason he wanted the duty of protecting the Heart of Light and also why he tried to convince us that his black magic wasn't dangerous. But we have no idea how much that could've changed before Nightmare Moon found him and I can't really see anything that would prove that to me." Celestia argued. "Well I can think of one thing. As you know, Nightmare Moon had went to him the ask for his help and had said that he would be repaid for his efforts, correct?" Luna asked. "Yes, so what?" Celestia questioned, curious as to what her sister was getting at. "Well she had hoped to repay him, by promising that he would be finally be respected, even if it was through fear, and that he wouldn't have to hide in the shadows because of his dark power, aaaand....." "Aaaaand, what? What else could she have had that he might have been persuaded to go against his principles and aid her?" Celestia asked impatiently. "And she had offered him the chance to be his special somepony and allow to rule by her side as the King of Equestria." Luna had finally finished. The reaction she got from her sister was a little unexpected as Celestia's jaw seemed to touch the floor after hearing the news. Luna just gave her a quizzical look as she watched the sun goddess stand in that position for thirteen minutes before she decided to knock her out of her stupor. "Equestria to Celestia, you are needed for the release of a one-thousand, nineteen year old unicorn stallion that can wield black magic." She joked as she waved her hands in front of the 'stone goddess'. Celestia blinked a few times before shaking her head and regaining her composure. "I'm sorry Lulu but I certainly wasn't expecting Nightmare Moon to have chosen him as a special somepony, I guess it's rather unexpected considering everything." Celestia explained. Luna was about to respond when the throne room doors opened up to reveal that Twilight, Spike, and the rest of their friends had finally arrived. They all quickly made their way into the room, all with the expression that the day princess held just moments ago. Everypony in the room stood in a deathly silence, the seven friends that had just came into the room were waiting for their rulers and friends to inform them of why they were here, but they were having a hard time trying to piece together what they wanted to tell them what was going on. "So I take it we're here to hunt down Nightmare Moon's special somepony before he tries to get revenge for her?" Rainbow Dash asked breaking the silence. "Yes... well that's not necessarily why you've all been summoned here today." Luna stated awkwardly. "But we heard you mention something about Nightmare Moon having a special somepony that might be try to attack you after being imprisoned, or something like that." the bubbly pink mare, Pinkie Pie, stated. The other six turned their attention towards her as the sisters glanced to one another, giving each other a wondering look at how the party pony had manage to hear that far back into the conversation for just having walked in not to long ago. They both turned back towards the group before Princess Celestia continued on. "Well that isn't the case as Luna has already pointed out but we do require your assistant with a stallion that does indeed have a grudge against us and may try to act upon it." Celestia told the group of friends. They stole quick glances towards each other, knowing that they had thought their meeting with the princesses may lead to something like this, but they were hoping that it wasn't against some powerful creature after they just finished dealing with King Sombra just a few days ago and were hoping to be able to relax for awhile. "Why does he have a grudge against you two, and when does he plan on showing up, or do even know when he's suppose to arrive?" Twilight asked. "That is a long story, but the short version of it is that we had falsely accused him of being too dangerous to be allowed to follow the path that was made apparent to him by his special talent, and he's already here but he's imprison in a powerful artifact, whose abilities rival that of the Elements of Harmony, and that is encased in a shell of crystal from within the crystal caves that you and Cadence had been sent to Twilight." The solar princess answered her most faithful student, and watched as the unicorn shivered from the memory. "Wait a minute, if he's already imprisoned then why do we need to worry about him attacking?" Applejack asked, confused as to why their princesses were more afraid of a simple stallion more than they were of Discord. "Because dear Applejack, we plan on releasing him ourselves, so that he may roam free once again." Luna stated. "WHAT!!?" the group shouted. "Excuse me for saying this princess, but are you loco in the coco? Why would you release somepony that clearly has it out for you?" Pinkie Pie asked as shocked as the rest of her friends. "It's just as we said before we wronged him and now we hope to make it up to Dark Heart now that we've found him after a thousand years." Celestia said calmly. "But even so don't you think it's more than a little dangerous to let him out if he wants to harm you, what's there to stop him from just killing both of you as soon as he's out, and why we were called here if this Dark Heart is so evil?" Spike asked frantically. "Dark Heart isn't evil and the fact that you think so now without even meeting him means that you're making the same mistake that we made the last time we had seen him. He's just misunderstood and his ways are a little strange, but we assure you that he had a good heart, he did try to fight off Nightmare Moon all by himself, even after we tried to hunt him down. As for the reason you were all called here is because, he's been trapped in a crystal for a thousand years and is going to need help adjusting to modern pony society, as well as if he should attack either of us we are going to need ponies that he doesn't know to convince him that our apology holds truth in it." Luna said, defending their reasoning as well as Dark Heart's image. "Still there are all of the-" Rarity tried to argue further before she was interrupted by Princess Celestia. "That's enough, we're going to free Dark Heart no matter the reasons there maybe not to. He's suffered torment by being snuck in his prison and deserves to be set free and whether or not you all decide to help is completely up to to you, but if you really wish for the worse to not happen, then I would advise you agree to our plan and assist us." Celestia said sternly. In that moment the group silenced their protest and had decided to stay and help them calm down Dark Heart the moment he turned hostile towards them. "We'll help way we can Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, but do you honestly believe that we can stop him from doing anything drastic?" Twilight asked cautiously. "I do my student, trust me when the time comes you'll know what needs to be done to revert him back to the unicorn he was, and hopefully still is. Guards bring in the artifact!" Celestia ordered. As soon as she gave the order, doors behind the group made up of ponies and a dragon and several pegasus and unicorn guards came in carry a gigantic crystal, that had somehow been formed into the shape of a heart, and was placed in the center of the room on top of a pedestal that been placed there beforehand. The mares and dragon all examined the crystal closely for anything out of the ordinary when they spotted a necklace in the center of it and even though there was a thick layer of the crystal had formed around it they could feel a strong energy flowing from it. "So how do you plan on getting him out Princess Celestia?" the shy pink maned pegasus, Fluttershy, asked. The answer she got she got was Princess Celestia giving Luna a quick nod and signaling her to begin. Luna walked up to the crystal and shut her eyes for a few seconds before reopening them to reveal the slitted pupils that had belonged to Nightmare Moon and the midnight blue aura of her magic turned black. She started the dark energy into the crystal to allow it to flow into the amulet that was embedded in it, in hopes that it would give Dark Heart the power he needed to break free of his crystalline prison. The response she got seemed to be immediate as the amulet had start pulsing with a black glow signaling it's acceptance to the black magic that continued to flow inside it, and it only got stronger as more power was poured into it. The glow started to become brighter as cracks appeared within the crystal and allowed some of the excess energy pour out through said cracks and help aid the one they were trying to help to continue breaking from his imprisonment. As the cracks turned to gashes and they turned into splits within the crystal , everypony began to become antsy and impatient waiting for Dark Heart to finally break free and Princess Luna was beginning to feel the strain of pouring some much of her magical energy into the Heart of Light and was on the verge of collapsing, but couldn't felling as though she owed him this, that she had to put everything she had into destroying the prison that her evil alter ego had made a thousand years ago and that she couldn't stop until it was done. As to answer her efforts the dark magic began to engulf what was left of the crystal and cut off Luna's stream with it now running on a new source, a stronger source, as the dark energy had sent off an intense wave of the same energy and releasing a blinding light to everypony in the room. When the light had finally dissipated, and their eyes were cleared of the spots that had been left there by it, the group of ponies that were in the room looked to where the crystal had been to see that a cloaked stallion in its place, hunched over and breathing heavily. They had all stared at him for a few moments before the sisters spoke up. "Dark Heart.... is that you, are you okay?" Princess Celestia asked, worried for the unicorn. He didn't seem to have had registered her voice as he still hunched over over on the floor. "Please say something so that we know that you're still you. Please just give us a sign that you're the Dark Heart that we remember from Neighburg." Luna spoke to him and this time he seemed to have picked up on it as his ears perked up. It was a few moments before everypony finally heard him speak, but not in the tone that they were hoping to hear it in. "So the two of have the gall to release me from my long imprisonment and expect me to act like the same unicorn that you saw back at that damn town that dared call me a monster? Do you think I'm fucking stupid to believe that I can trust you after everything both of you put me through, especially you Luna and that damn alter ego yours, Nightmare Bitch." Everypony took a step back from him as he stood up and was speaking in his demonic tone conveying all of the anger and hatred he was feeling towards the royal sisters. "Dark Heart please hear us out, we don't want to bring you any harm any more than we already have and in fact want to remedy the pain we caused to you." Luna pleaded. "And how exactly do you plan on doing that? I know that a time travel spell has been discovered to send me back home, crap I don't even know if my parents are still alive, though I suppose it would help to know exactly how long I've imprisoned in that accursed amulet." Dark Heart growled at the princess of the night. "We're begging you Dark Heart, please listen the reason. We know of the power that you possess and that it's been increased from the last time we had seen you, even if we wanted to take your away your dark power we would be unable to." Celestia begged him. "Give me a reason why I should actually listen to either of you instead of making the two of you suffer the same way I have this whole time." Dark Heart demanded. "If you want a reason, I can give you one. How would take to the fact that the princesses were scared out of their wits when we came here to help them. Or how about the fact that when they told us about you and how you hold a grudge against them and we bad mouthed about you that they were there to defend your image and made you out to be a kind pony that puts the needs of others before his own, what do you think about that?" Rainbow chimed in, figuring that now was a good time to calm down the maniac, but quickly shrunk back when he turned his fiery glare to the daredevil. "Is that so, well how about you share with me what exactly they've told you about me then." Dark Heart said with malice dripping from his words. "W- w- w- well they've told us that you had tried to save Equestria from Nightmare Moon a- a- and turn Pri- Prin- Princess Luna back to her former self k- k- k- knowing that you were strong enough to kill her and that you had turned down her offer to let you rule Equestria by her side and be respected the rest of history." Rainbow Dash stuttered as Dark Heart continued staring her down and sapping away all of her confidence. "Y- y-y- y- yeah and that they did you a horrible injustice by claiming that you were too dangerous to live among other ponies and tried to take you away from the live had and felt guilty that they had caused you to run away from your life and your family." Rarity worked up the courage to speak as well, but was met with the hateful stare as her rainbow maned friend. "They told you that they felt guilty for claiming that I was too dangerous to live among other ponies, hmmm? Well let me tell you something my dear; they lied to you, they lied to all of you. They didn't come to my home town to hunt me down because I was too dangerous to live among other ponies, no they came to my home because they were afraid of my dark magic and thought that it had corrupted my mind and my heart while I was in the middle of fighting a dragon that had came to kill me, take my family's most protected heirloom, and was terrorizing my classmates, the same ponies that had taunted me since I was but a foal, and all while I was only but a sixteen year colt that had barely obtained a cutie mark just months prior to the events." Dark Heart told the rest of the occupants in the room. They were trying to process all of the information that he had given them as well as trying to come to a decision on whether or not if what he was saying was true, but a quick glance over to the princesses seemed to be all the answer they needed. "Why would you attack a teenager just because he has black magic? Yes I know it's dangerous, but still did he really do anything that bad to permit such a punishment?" Twilight asked her mentor. "No, no he didn't, and we both have deeply regretted it everyday since then and as we said to you all before we have been hoping to find him again one day and make amends. I don't know what had lead me to believe that he would still be alive after all these years, but there isn't a day that has gone by when I'm not thinking about everything we've done to you, DarkHeart." Came Celestia's answer. By this point it seemed that Dark Heart had calmed down enough to where he was now willing to listen to the princesses, of course that wasn't until after he saw how quickly the group of friends turned on their rulers once he had told them the truth and accepting the fact that he possesses dark magic. "Wait a minute, none of you mind the fact that I can wield dark magic?" Dark Heart asked, shocked at how they all seem to accept it without any coaxing or having to prove it to them. "But of course, although we've had dealings with a unicorn named King Sombra that had used his to torment of enslave the ponies of the crystal empire, it doesn't mean that every unicorn who uses it is bad and Twilight here is a prime example of that." Rarity said gesturing to the lavender unicorn. "I don't think I could used as an example since I've only used it for small things and I wouldn't have even known how to use it if Princess Celestia hadn't shown me." Twilight explained. Dark Heart went wide-eyed fro moment at hearing that the solar goddess that was scared of the dark power had thought another to use it as well. Though he was shocked to hear this, he was also a bit angry with the princess because he believes that she may not understand it as well as she thinks she does. "Princess Celestia I seriously hope you didn't teach to her without some kind of mental and emotional evaluation to make sure that she wasn't corruptible, because even if she never uses it again the power of the darkness can still creep up into your heart and turn you into a pony like Sombra. Though maybe you already know that after seeing Luna turn into Nightmare Moon..... and don't bother telling me she became like that because of her jealousy. Yes it was definitely a contributing factor, it was the fact that Luna blindly allowed that darkness in her heart takeover is the main thing that did it seeing as it's what is needed to unleash such power." Dark Heart lectured her. "I didn't do one at the time, but seeing as though she is my personal student and have taught her everything she knows as well as the fact that her special talent is in magic I knew that she would okay when it came to actually utilizing it." Celestia stated confidently. Dark Heart looked at her with bemusement as she praised the young unicorn, well she was probably older than him in terms of age because all the time spent in that amulet meant that he didn't age since being imprisoned and. . . . he remembered that was one thing he as yet to ask since he was released. He needed to know just how long he was trapped inside of there so that he could figure out the fate of his parents. "Princess Celestia, before we continue on any further there's something that I need to know." he asked seriously. "What is it?" Celestia, curious as to what his curiosity has brought to his attention. "I need to know how long I've been trapped inside that crystal as well as what has happened to my parents?" Dark Heart asked, hoping that he hasn't actually been trapped for too long. Everypony, and dragon, in the room started shifting around on their feet as he looked to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for an answer but was quickly becoming worried as they stalled to answer his question as they too were shifting around nervously and looking worriedly at each other. "Well Dark Heart, you see you've stuck in there for about. . . a thousand years." Celestia answered but the her answer was barely audible. "What was that?" "I said you've stuck in there for a thousand years." She said, this time bringing her voice to whisper that was still wasn't quite loud enough for him to hear. Dark Heart was already to grow impatient as the princess kept saying her answer in a tone that he could barely hear. "Stop stalling and just give it to me straight! How. Long. Have. I. Been. Trapped. In. There!?" He growled at her. "You've been sealed in there for just over a thousand years Dark Heart, and your parents have long been gone from the realm of the living." Princess Luna finally told him seeing that her sister couldn't. Dark Heart, upon hearing this, collapsed to the floor onto his hands and knees in shock, I've been stuck in there for a thousand years? That means that everything I knew is long gone. He thought as he tried recompose himself but failing to do so as the thought that he wouldn't be able to keep the promise, he had made to both himself and his parents, to find them and apologize for causing them so much pain and grieve before he had ran away when he was sealed within the amulet. Twilight, upon seeing his distress decided to walk up and knelt down next to him to put a comforting hand over his shoulder. "It's alright Dark Heart, I know that must have wanted to see your parents more than anything once you got out, and I know that learning that you've been gone for a thousand years, but I'm sure that no matter how things ended between the three of you that they loved you till the end. Would I be right Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked her mentor and trying to comfort the depressed unicorn. "Yes, she is right Dark Heart. Even after you had left they still loved you and they told us to not look for you, confident that their son would one day return to them. Plus they did leave something behind for you before they died." She told with a smile causing Dark Heart to look up at her with bloodshot, and teary eyes. "And what would that be?" Dark Heart asked having reverted back to his old voice and softer tone. "Weeeell..... your mother had informed us about five months after you had left......that she was pregnant." Celestia said finding it difficult to contain her excitement. "What!? You're telling that I had a sibling?" Dark Heart asked, not expecting that sort of news. "Actually you would've had two if you had returned, but I'm not telling you this to further depress you. In fact quite the opposite, because you see, not only did they tell them of your life, but they eventually had children of their who also had heard of your escapades. Even now you have great nieces and nephews who have heard of the wonderful things you've done and I'm pretty sure would love to meet their great uncle." Celestia tried to lift up his spirits. And yet again Dark Heart was stunned into silence over the news he had heard but this time it didn't last nearly as long as the first time. "I'm glad to hear that your family lineage hasn't ended with me but maybe it would be best if they didn't know that I'm alive. I don't want them to know of the burden of carry the Heart and there's also considering the fact that I don't think it would be a good idea to go walking out in the open without being accustomed to the ways of this time." Dark Heart stated as he picked himself up off the ground and looked to the princesses with a serious expression, but the glimmer in his eyes betrayed the fact that inside he was as happy as can be about having nieces and nephews that had been told stories of his life and was probably looked up to like a hero to them, but alas with his as the Guardian of the Heart he felt as though he would put them in danger if he was around them. That would be especially true if that damn coward of dragon, Spirit was still around and had found out that he was still alive. He would be quick ay trying to get his revenge and I wouldn't forgive myself should any of them get hurt because of me. He thought as ideas of what his future may look like in this new time might be like. "Well Dark Heart if you're up to it, that is also the other reason why I've brought my student and her friends here. You see they represent the Elements of Harmony; which are six powerful artifacts that have been used to protect Equestria from threats such as Nightmare Moon and Discord, twice; and the things the concepts of what it takes to be true friends. They were the ponies, excluding Spike, that turned Luna back to her old self and have also been helping her become accustomed to how our modern culture now works and now, if you want, they can help you as well. Though I believe that you may fare a bit better than my sister has for the past couple of years." Princess Celestia whispered that last part, earning her a chuckle from him and a glare from Luna. "Yeah I guess I would be up for that I don't want to do anything to make ponies afraid of me because I did something that's not culturally or socially acceptable." Dark Heart said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Oooooh I can throw a super special 'Released from a Thousand Year Imprisonment and Welcome to Ponyville' party." Pinkie Pie squealed excitedly. "You sure you can fit that all on one banner Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow Dash asked her bubbly friend. "Of course I can, I can do anything that I put my mind to when it comes to planning parties." Pinkie answered. "Well darling, you should probably do it after I he gets some new clothes. I could only imagine how filthy his current outfit must be. Better yet, Dark Heart, darling, would you mind coming by my boutique after we get back to Ponyville so I can get your measurements?" Rarity asked, getting Dark Heart's attention. "Measurements, for what?" He asked with a raised brow. "So that I can get make clothes that fit you properly." she explained "Thanks, but no thanks, I'm perfectly fine with what I'm wearing and if I want new clothes then I'll make them myself." he responded. "Why not just let her make you a new outfit or two, contrary to what you may believe Rarity can make more than just dresses, she'd be more than capable of making something that you may like." Twilight chimed in. "That's not why I don't want her to make them for me. The reason I would rather make them is because the clothes I have on have an enchantment on them that must be put into the fabric before it's sewn together and I'm the only one who knows how to cast it plus I need a specially made fabric which is, again, one that only I can make to project the enchantment on." Dark Heart explained. Everypony in the room just raised an eyebrow incredulously at him in disbelief of his statement. Dark Heart saw this and gave a roll of the eyes and a few headshakes as his response, not really caring that they didn't believe him. Before making his way to the group and out the throne room. When the others saw that he wasn't stopping they went to catch up with him and leaving the princesses alone. "Do you believe that he can help sister?" Luna asked still looking down the corridor in which the group had left. "I think the real question is will he choose to help us when the time comes?" Celestia asked with worried filled eyes.
AdaptingDark Heart's POV I'm glad I'm finally out of that infernal prison, but I didn't expect to be released one thousand years into the future *sigh* oh well I guess I'm just going to have to do as Princess Celestia says and listen to her student and her friends, although I do gotta say that I'm glad that Princess Luna is back to normal. I actually find it kinda silly that I thought about holding a grudge against her of all ponies, especially since she's the only one that knows the hardships of wielding black magic. "Equestria to Dark Heart, you're needed back here with the rest of us ponies." I heard the pink one say, bringing me out of my thoughts and frantically waving her hands in front of my face. I grabbed both of her hands when they were right in front of me, effectively stopping their motions. "Could you not do that?"I said in an even tone. I really didn't really feel like really doing anything else today other than getting a bite to eat and going to sleep, maybe then I'll be in a better mood than I am now. "Well it seems somepony is little moody doesn't it?" the rainbow maned pegasus ask. "Would you be in a good mood if had been been imprisoned for a thousand and find out that everything that you ever knew is gone?" I asked somewhat irritable. They all seemed to have been silenced for now, whether if it was because they were actually thinking of answer or because they felt bad for me I don't care, but I'm happy that I've managed to buy myself a few more moments peace before I have to start having to dealing with their countless questions and explanations of other things and all the rest of the crap that comes with all of this time travel jargon. "So. . . . why did Nightmare think that she could bribe ya into helping her?" The mare with the southern accent and stetson hat asked. "She had the great idea that she'd be able to buy me off with the promise of respect and ruling by her side as her husband and king, could you actually believe that?" I asked exasperatedly, but all I got in response was silence. I looked to my side to see that they had all stopped dead in their tracks a little ways behind me. "What?" They stood their in silence with wide-eyed, open-mouthed looks on their faces. I waved my hands in front of them to try and elicit some kind of response but in return I got nothing. "I think you might have broke them Dark Heart." I heard Nova say. "Yah I figured that but I want to know how." I went over to the pink one and gently poked her in the eye to see if can snap them out of it with pain but when I did she didn't seem to do anything. "So you seriously don't know what could have caused this huh," Shadow asked sounding skeptical, as a answer I just shook my head "You dumbass, they froze up like that because you just told them that Nightmare Moon, the same mare they thought of as a heartless demon, had tried to court you." He explained. My only response was an "Ooooooooh" before I went to remedy the situation. "I know it's shocking to hear, but it's true and if you don't believe me you can go ask Luna right now and have her tell you herself because I'm pretty sure that she remembers that." I told them so that they could come back from their shock induced trances. I watched as Celestia's student shook her head trying to regain her composure before she looked back to me and looked as though she was going to ask me something when my ears suddenly perked up and I heard a high pitched whistling sound coming from somewhere but I couldn't pinpoint the exact direction it was coming from. I heard the lavender mare saying something but I didn't hear exactly what was as I zeroed in on where the noise was coming and what it might be and it got louder I started to realize what it was and quickly turned around and went into a shielding position as I spread out my arms and legs to cover as wide an area that I could with my body, I knew what was coming but with the dragon and the rest of the mares, that weren't the lavender unicorn, still frozen in shock I had no choice but take the actions I already have. Suddenly the window in front of us broken and a spear came directly towards us, or to be more precise towards me as I was standing the way of it and its true trajectory which would have been the shy, buttercream pegasus that was in the middle of the group. Being in the path of the fast moving projectile, it came as no surprise when it managed to impale itself into my right shoulder and it stayed there. "AAAAAHHHH!!" was the only response that I could come up with as I gripped my shoulder that now had a new addition to it. I grimaced from the pain that now coursed itself through my that part of my, that is until I heard an all too familiar voice come from the shattered window, and the gasp from everypony present only helped to confirm my suspicions. "Long time no see, eh Dark Heart?" I heard Spirit say. Everypony looked to me, they were suspecting that he wasn't a friendly judging by the looks on their faces, and I looked towards to dragon and look family rival with an uninterested look. "Well well well, if it isn't 'Spirit the Cowardly Dragon', how have you been? Run away from fight pissing yourself recently?" I insulted him hoping the get him going so as to give me a reason to put his head on silver platter right now and fucking eat it. Speaking of which I've just began to notice that I'm hungry, maybe I could eat him afterwards; strange for a pony to want to eat meat, I know, but my the dragon part of my Darkness form has given me some cravings for a lot of non-pony like dietary needs, such as a hankering for meat. I was in the middle of thinking about my new and strange eating habits when a violet fireball crashed on the ground a few inches in front of me. Undeterred by the close proximity of the blast I looked up at the scowling dragon that was staring at me. "What the hell do you want you pest?" I asked angrily. He harden his gaze before he spoke, "You didn't hear a fucking thing I said, did you you son of bitch." he responded just as angrily as he looked. "Nope." I said with a simple shrug. He looked like to be fuming by this point, as smoke started pouring out of his nostrils as he opened his mouth to repeat himself. "I said that I'm not here to engage you in a fight, at least not right now, I just wanted to let you know that we have unfinished business that needs to be settled and believe me when I say I plan on ending this really soon." he said irritably. One of my brows hiked up in an amused manner as I watched him fume up just from the fact that I wasn't responding to his weak attempt at a threat and trying to stifle back a laugh as I found his temper tantrum hilarious but judging from the look on his face I wasn't doing a very good job at it. Finally having successfully fighting back my laughter that was trying to escape my throat I finally offered up what I thought was an appropriate response to what he had told me, "Dude I can't take you seriously when you throw a temper tantrum like a little filly." Totally the appropriate response. Judging by the way he was clenching his fist I would say that I was right in my assumption. "You know what? I might as well as not even bother telling anything to you seeing as how you wouldn't care in the slightest, even if I was a god I'm know that you wouldn't take any of this seriously. That still doesn't mean that I'm not going to leave without giving you a parting gift." Spirit said with an evil smile replacing his frown. "Aaaaahhhh, you didn't have to do that for me, but since you went out of your way to get me something I might as well as accept it." I falsely swooned at the mention of a parting gift. His grin turned even more sinister before he raised his left claw, which was clenched, and opened it up to reveal a chain made of light. I followed the length of the chain from his claw until my eyes landed on the back end of the spear that was still lodged in my shoulder and it was then that I realized what his 'gift' to me was before turning my gaze back towards him. "Oh no worries Dark Heart, it really wasn't any trouble at all to find something to give to you," He said before he closed his claws to firmly grasped the chain before extending his arm towards in my direction. "I hope you enjoy it." Right after he said that, he threw his arm back with all of his strength and the spear, that was in my arm, was soaring through the air and back towards him. "Aaarrrggg! Fuck that actually hurt you dick!" I growled as he flew off into the distance, laughing like a bloody maniac. A few minutes after he'd left the guards showed up. "They're a little aren't do you think?" Yeah no fucking kidding, where the hell were they when he showed up. I was planning on getting up and laying into them but I was stopped by a firm but gentle hand being pressed against my uninjured shoulder. "You shouldn't move around that wound is pretty serious and moving around could cause you to lose more blood." The shy pegasus said as she tried to get me down to a sitting position and began to examine my gaping hole left behind from the spear. "I'm fine I've gotten plenty of injures worst than this without much treatment and I'm still perfectly fine. I do have the dark magic on my side after all." I said calmly and as if on cue dark magical energy started materializing and wrap around the injury and a feeling of relief spread over me as it soothed away the pain. I remained sitting on the ground as my dark magic did its thing and continued replacing and repairing all of the damaged muscle and nerves in my shoulder. The girls had stayed by my side after the purple one sent the dragon to go get the medical staff despite my protest. "You know that was really brave of ya to use yourself to shield us like that." I heard the country mare say, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had washed over us like darkness of the night. "Meh, it was nothing really, as I said before I've gone through worse." I said dismissively. This seemed to elicit shocked faces from them before the rainbow one spoke up. What do you mean it was nothing, nopony else would have done that without being hesitating on deciding to do something like that, but you just did it without a second thought." She said with an unusual enthusiasm though I was quick to dismiss that as well. "Well of course any other pony would have hesitated, but then again they also don't have the privilege of wielding black magic without it corrupting them; and they also don't have the kind of intense training that I put myself through daily and therefore wouldn't be used to the pain that came with taking that spear like that." I explained as if though this should have common knowledge to everypony. They stole glances at each other before they focused their gazes back on me. "You know there's no need for you to be so modest darling, after all you did manage to hold your own against the princesses and Nightmare Moon all on your own, and that dragon, Spirit if I recall correctly, seemed to be genuinely afraid of you." The white unicorn persisted, I only groaned in response. What is up with these mares, can't they see that I don't do this crap for the recognition, seriously though I would have figured they be able to get that message right away but apparently being upfront about it wasn't getting through to their heads, I sighed inwardly at this whole thing Whatever I guess I'll just deal with it. The dragon came back with some medic ponies as I finished my thoughts. They went to check up on my shoulder but couldn't get a clear view of it as the black aura was still there. They asked me If I could remove it so that they see what the damage that had been done, and of course of I refused seeing as though it would be a waste of time since my magic was already doing their job for them, yet they insisted on it. I was going to continue to protest but then I felt the familiar sensation of closing wounds and relinquished the argument to them. "Alright fine, I'll remove my dark magic." I said with false irritation. I removed the dark cloak around my shoulder only get gasp from everypony. "See what did tell you I am perfectly fine, so now will you stop pestering me?" My question went unanswered for a couple of minutes before one of the medical staff finally spoke up. "B- b- b- but how if what the drake told us was true then there should be a three-inch hole in shoulder." She stuttered out. I shrugged before giving her a response. "It's just one of the benefits of being able use dark magic unabided." I gave out as simple response, but apparently they still weren't satisfied with that seeing how they asked me to allow them to do a quick check up of my shoulder to make sure everything was in working order and that I was healthy. Not wanting to have to argue with them again I decided to just let them but was surprised when it only took about ten minutes instead of an hour like I was suspecting. After they had finished they said that I was an excellent health, like I was worried, and departed down one of corridors. As soon as they left the group came back and shot out the question I was suspecting to ask, seeing as nearly everyone does. "How did you heal yourself so quickly, surely black magic isn't that powerful." Celestia's pupil ask me. "Listen unicorn, as much as I would love to go into the all of intricate workings of my both of my magics, I'm really tired and really hungry and my cravings sure as hell aren't making things any better for me. So can we please just get to wherever it is we're going so that I could get some rest, and perhaps get rid of these strange craving in the process." snapped at her. I was really getting sick and tired of having to stop every minutes for stupid crap. "Yeah I guess we can get going to Ponyville. We're going to have to take train so you should be able to rest once we're abroad." The mare responded fearfully. I'd admit I felt a little guilt wash over me after hearing the fear in her voice. "Okay thanks. . . . um sorry for snapping like that. . .it's just today hasn't exactly been pleasant and I'm a little irritable right now-" "A little? the rainbow one interrupted. "Fine, I'm pretty irritable, so could you just work with me, at least until I can get some rest and food in me?" I asked with as soft a voice as I could manage. "It's alright, I understand that you're going through a lot right now and you want to relax, so there's no need to worry. I'm Twilight by the way, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight introduced herself before extending a hand in greeting. "Well it's nice to meet you Twilight and. . thanks for being so understanding, you have no idea what it means to me." I said as I shook the hand she offered. After we pulled away hands to rest at our sides we headed off towards the castle entrance, which didn't take too long to find, and headed off towards this train station place that she was talking about. When we got there I saw this huge metal carriage that seem to have multiple compartments that dozens of ponies were filing out and in them. I stared at this thing in awe and was examining it's features when I heard a country accent and knocking me out of my awe-induced trance. "I take it they didn't have trains during your time?" the country mare asked. "No they did not." I responded while keeping my eyes glued on the front this mechanical behemoth. I felt tugging at my left arm to find the pink one tugging at it. "Well then come on silly and you can take a look inside." She said while trying to drag me along with her. As amusing as I found her fruitless efforts I decided to start walking in the direction of the rest of the group that were standing in front of a ticket booth. "So you need tickets to board this thing huh, well I guess there has someway to make sure somepony isn't able to just sneak on the train without paying." I commented before we headed towards one of the train compartments. We made our way inside and took a seat wherever, they decided to sit together while I sat a few seats more towards the back. I took a look at the inside of the train car noting how comfortable it was in here, especially the seats, as I was beginning to become drowsing. I found myself slipping from consciousness and into the realm of dreams, or the realm of nightmares in my case. Third Person POV "It would look as though he's already fallen asleep," Rarity commented as she looked back to Dark Heart. "The poor dear, it must be hard for him to learn that his parents are gone." "I think I might, he seems to love his family as much as I do and I would be devastated I were to learn that I've sealed away for thousand years to learn that my all of my friends and family were no longer around." Twilight said, sadness creeping into her tone at just the mere thought of it. "And that's not to mention that he just got impaled by that dragon back at the castle too. I wonder how knew that it was coming in the first place." Rainbow Dash added in. "What I find to be more shocking than any of that is the thing he said about Nightmare Moon had gave him the offer of being his somepony." Rarity commented with more than a little shock emanate in her tone. This got a nod from the rest of the girls and Spike. "I wonder if he would've taken her up on the offer if Equestria's fate laid in the mix. Like maybe if she had been good and just went out to find him and she told him she love him and wanted to make him happy, or some other nonsense like that." This made the girls turn their gaze towards him before looking back to Dark Heart and then look to Spike again and looking as if he had solve to most difficult math equation in history. "Ah reckon that could very well be a possibility, in fact ah did notice that he was staring at Luna mighty funny like when he finally calmed down." The others all made murmurs of agreement before Fluttershy spoke up. "I don't think we should make assumptions about Dark Heart's love life while he's asleep it seems rude. Plus we all just met him and still have no idea what he's like or the kind of mares he's into." Fluttershy said wanting to end the gossiping before it grew out of hand. Before any of them could say anything else they started hearing somepony mumbling about something but with them being the only ones in the train car and Dark Heart asleep they didn't know where it was coming from. They decided to look around the compartment but found nothing but as Pinkie Pie took a closer look at Dark Heart she noticed that he was squirming around on the seat and the look of discomfort on his face. She made a gesture with her hands to beckon the rest of the group over to them. "No no. . . get away from her. . . . mom run don't worry about me. . . . mom? Mom!?. . . MOM!. . . NO, GET AWAY FROM MY MOTHER!!!! . . . . NOOOO!!!" Dark Heart's eyes suddenly sprung open and he quickly sat up, nearly head butting Pinkie, and was breathing heavily. Dark Heart's POV "Oh good, it was just one of my nightmares. I swear they get worse everyday." Dark Heart sighed before looking up and seeing the concerned looks on everyponies face. There was a moment of silence before any of them said anything to him. "Are you alright Dark Heart, you looked like you were having a pretty bad nightmare." the shy one asked. "Yeah, I'm alright it was just another one of the countless nightmares that plague my dreamscape, it's nothing none of you can do anything about." I told them, but of course, as I've come to expect from them, they pressed the matter on further. "Come on, there must be something we can do for you, maybe you'd like us to send a letter to Princess Luna to see if she can get rid of them if you've had others in the past?" Twilight asked me. "No, it wouldn't work even she can't get rid of these nightmares." "What? Why not?" the rainbow-maned one asked. "Because she's already tried and it was only a short-term solution so there's no point in asking her, and besides I've lived with these nightmares for most of my life, so there's no harm that they could cause me, at least not anymore. Anyway now that I'm nice and rested I would like to know the names of the mares, and dragon, that I'm going to be learning from." I wanted to change the subject quickly, because I really didn't want to explain the 'Endless Nightmares' thing right now, especially since I didn't even know any of their names, well none except Twilight of course. "Well Ah'm Applejack and me, along with my big brother, little sister, and Granny Smith, run Sweet Apple Acres, the biggest apple farms in all of Equestria as well as the Element of Honesty." Applejack greeted first, along with a handshake, a strong and firm handshake by the feel of the grip I felt on my hand. "Hiya, my name's Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter, and I love to throw parties and making ponies happy, I also love to eat sweets, and fun, and balloons, and- I cut her off by placing a finger on her lips before she had the chance to continue on any further. "Alright Pinkie, I get it you like a lot of thing and am extremely energetic, and it's nice to you." I said as way of greeting. "With that aside I am Rarity an up and coming fashion designer, the Element of Generosity, and it's nice to meet you Dark Heart." She introduced. "Well it's nice to meet you too Rarity, though I got the fashion designer thing from the fact that you had offered to make me a new outfit earlier." I told her before I took one of her hands and kissed the back of it. "So you can be a gentlecolt after all." She quipped. I just rolled my eyes in response before turning my attention towards to shy pegasus that seem to be using her mane to hide from me. "And may I ask what your name is oh reclusive one." I know that's probably not the best way to make a pony fell comfortable around you, but hey I've never been very good at offering anypony comfort in their times of need. "I'm. . . uh . . Fluttershy." She squeaked, I guess for any pony they would have had a hard time hearing her, but luckily I got trained ears so I did manage to hear her name, but just barely. I decided to not try to get her to repeat herself, seeing as she seems terrified, and decide to just offer my hand for her to shake; should she decide to that is. "You don't have to be scared of me Fluttershy, I only hunt down bad ponies and even then I don't automatically turn to violence, but I understand if that doesn't calm you down any." I said in the friendliest voice I could possibly muster which, judging by how much of her face was now uncovered, must have actually been pretty damn friendly. I stared at her while she unveiled more than half of her face before she shakily extended out a hand. "H- h- hi Dark Heart, I am the Element of Kindness. . . . I hope that we can b- be- become good friends." She stuttered out, still sounding terrified about being around me. I didn't respond, hoping not to scare her any more than she already was, and just went to shake her hand with my own but before I could make contact she flinched away. I just kept my hand where it was to see if she would take it and after a couple of minutes she eventually did, and with one firm shake I let go. I stepped away from Fluttershy and was going to look around to see if I had missed anyone when I felt another grip take hold of my shoulder and spin me around so that I was looking directly at the reckless rainbow-maned pegasus. "Of course you saved the best for last, hey I'm Rainbow Dash, I represent the Element of Loyalty. I am the fastest pegasus ever and future Wonderbolt." Rainbow Dash proclaimed brashly, to which I tsk'ed and shook my head. "What!? What did I say to get that kind of response?" "Oh nothing it's just that's a rather bold thing to claim without any proof, and if it true I may know the fastest pony in all of Equestria is." I stated. She glared at me like I just stole her puppy or something like that, which tells me that she doesn't like it when ponies step on her pride, hmm this should prove fun for me in the long run I do always love to knock ponies off their pedestals and put them in their place, though I may not be that much of a dick about with Rainbow Dash, especially if she can show me just how fast she actually is. "I don't know if you realize this or not but everypony you knew is dead and has been for a long time now." She stated coldly. "Oh ho. . . ho. . . we got a fighter here. I think you're right, we can have some fun with messing with her mind in later days, eh Dark Heart?" Oooh he has no idea. "Behave you two these ladies are our guide, so be nice or else." Nova threatened. "Or else what Nova, you're going to drag the both of us into the Heart's pocket dimension and kick our asses." I stated plainly. "Yes." came her simple response. I merely rolled my eyes at her antics before turning my concentration back to the pony in front of me, who was now looking at me like I gone insane. I took a look around to see that they were all giving me the exact same look as Rainbow Dash. "What?" I finally asked. "Who are you talking to Dark Heart, because I don't any other in here and none of us are named Nova. Not unless somepony suddenly got a name change." Twilight asked looking concerned about my well being. "Oh. . . well . . . you see thanks to my circumstances, my black magic and the Heart of Light have left me with additional luggage and the names to those luggages are Shadow and Nova. Shadow is the spirit of the darkness that lies within me, he came into being when I was ten years old and been a rather bothersome creature, but he's almost like brother to me now so I wouldn't get rid of him even if I could. Nova, like Shadow, is also a spirit. She resides within the Heart and has been since my ancestors first obtained it. She's helped me to learn how to better control my dark power as well as taking control of the energy flow of the amulet for whenever I'm in combat and need the Heart to purify somepony but must first immobilize them. She helped me during my battle with Nightmare Moon by building up the energy needed to purify her heart but I didn't take into account her nightmare magic until it was too late." I explained to the group who still appeared to be unable to comprehend the information. I decided to take a seat next to the dragon, considering he's the only one left who has yet to introduce himself, and nudged his side to get his attention. "Hey, Equestria to the purple and green dragon you are needed for introductions." I said as I waved my hands in front of his face which didn't seem to be working. I eventually gave up as he didn't appear to be escaping out of his trance. "You're saying that you share your body with two spirits?" I finally heard Rainbow Dash ask which seem to knock the others out of it as well as they seem to want to pay attention to what my answer is. I sigh before I said anything. "Not really, Nova's home resides within the Heart of Light, as I said before, and Shadow. . . well technically I do share my body with him, but he's unable actually take control of it unless I let him and we both know that that's not going to happen unless there's an emergency and even then he wouldn't have full control of my power." It seemed that they understood that more than my last explanation. "Do the princesses know about Nova and Shadow?" Twilight asked. "Kinda, I had told them of Shadow's existence and my mother told them about Nova's, but I don't think they know exactly how the situation with that works out." They still perplexed but at not as much as they were a moment ago. "So. . . . does anypony mind telling the name this guy or are you just going to keep me wondering?" I said pointing at the dragon. "Hmm. . oh sorry, my name is Spike, I'm Twilight's number one assistant, and her very first friend, next to Shining Armor and Princess Cadence of course." Spike stated having finally coming out of his stupor, too bad I wasn't pay all that much attention to him. My mind was once again turning my focus back to yet again craving meat. "Aaaargh, these damn cravings are gonna drive up the damn wall!" I shouted out loud my frustration. "Um. . . what's wrong? What exactly are ya craving that is making ya so angry?" Applejack asked me, obviously concerned. "I really don't think any of you really want to know what these particular cravings are for, but I will tell you that it's a part of a dragon's diet." I told her hoping that none of them are push on any further. "Well I would think you were talking about eating gems but I highly doubt that that's what you're talking about, so come on just tell us what it is maybe we can help you find whatever it is you're craving, and we won't take no for an answer." Rainbow Dash, which is no surprise, decided to yet again curse the fact that these mares just don't know how to give up. "Alright, but don't try calling me a monster and blaming me if you're somehow scarred from my next words, but since you're so persistent. . . the thing I've been craving to eat for the last. . . I would five-hundred thirteen years is. . . . meat." There now that's secret out but lets see how they handle it. . . . hmm they seem to be taking it quite well all I see are looks of discomfort and regret and here I was suspecting that they would run away from me, meh oh well I guess it will be easier to explain this to them. Before I could explain the situation to them Fluttershy, which is a shock to me, was first to speak up. "Y-y-you're kidding right? This is just some kind of sick joke you're playing on us. . . right?" She asked fearfully and I shook my head she seemed lose her coloring. "Believe me Fluttershy I wish it was but alas thanks to the dragon half of my Darkness Form I've grown an acquired taste for the flesh of other creatures. I've been able to keep it under control all this time, but after Spirit showed up I've been thinking about ripping him apart with my claws and devouring his heart, heh it's actually kinda funny if you consider the fact of how calm I acted back there." I let a half-hearted laugh, thinking of how damn cruel genetics and instincts can be sometimes. When I looked back up I saw that they were all sporting eyes as wide as dinner plates that showed how much fear laid in them. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I mean accepting a black magic wielding unicorn, easy, but accepting a carnivorous one, wwweeelllll.... that maybe a bit harder to grasp on to. Though I didn't count on them jumping back when I took a step forward to go take back my seat at the back of the car, but it happened and I guess I was just going to have to deal with it as I decided to just continue on towards the back and sat down so that I could relax for as long as I could before we got to our stop. Which, unfortunately for me, was only about ten minutes and I saw that the girls and Spike had all already bailed out before I could stand up and I saw clouds of smoke from where they once were. "Well there goes the 'trying make friends' plan. Whatever I could just find out about this place on my own, it's not like I'm not already used to doing shit on my own." I say to nopony in particular as I stepped of the trian. I took a look around taking in the sites of Ponyville before exiting the train station and began wandering around the town, which was hell of a lot smaller than Neighburg, but it was also a nice looking town too I wonder if this was around back then because I so would have tried to convince my parents to move here instead of living in piece of crap that was my hometown. I didn't even bother looking for the gang seeing how they would probably just run from me again after hearing that I eat meat, which reminds me I seriously need to find a griffon or another dragon that actually knows how to hunt and see if they have anything for me to eat. But after taking a glance at the sky, I saw that the sun was lowering which meant that is was getting late and I wouldn't be able to find anybody before they closed up shop, even I were to try and magically enhance my body to make myself even faster, I'm too unfamiliar with this place to just go exploring, especially with that Everfree forest nearby, until I learn enough about how it and the town works, it would best if I played it safe. . . for a couple of weeks. I started to look for a suitable place to sleep before it got too dark out here and while exploring I manage to spot a decent size hill with a tree at the top of it that was a just outside of town. "Perfect." I stated as I made my while over to said hill. When I got there I examined the area under the tree and found it to be satisfactory and laid down on the ground, looking up at Luna's night sky and admiring its beauty. "I guess I could understand why Luna would feel unappreciated by nopony gazing upon the masterpiece that she puts together every night, it's just simply magnificent." I say before allowing myself to fall into sleep's embrace for the second and final time for today.
Fearing the DarkI awoke with a start as I heard somepony scream from somewhere nearby. I looked around to find the source but couldn't immediately find it. I made my way into town but I heard the scream again and found out that is was coming from the direction of the forest and headed in that direction myself, but when I passed by a clock tower I saw that it was already one in the afternoon. "Damn I must have been more tired than I thought yesterday I usually never sleep in until six, and usually by then it's my nightmares that jolt me out of my sleep. . . . .weird, but I can't focus on that right now, I need to head to the forest and see what's up." I say to myself as my horn lights up in its red aura and starts channeling magic through my body and felt the area under my feet glide seamlessly under me as I broke the sound barrier. Using that speed I quickly found to source of the screams, which appeared to be emanating from Fluttershy as she was being encircled by. . .by. . "TIMBERWOLVES!!!?" All three of us shouted. I quickly sprung into action seeing the one behind her about to pounce on its prey. "GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BASTARDS!!" I growled as I unsheathed Blessing and flung it at the beast as soon as the chain from the gauntlet on my right arm attached itself to the hilt. The timberwolf managed to dodge my attack, but just barely, and the rest had turned towards me when I landed in the area behind the one I had thrown my blade at. I quickly recalled Blessing back to me as another one of them tried to make a go at me only to find itself skewered through and through. I wasn't allowed to admire my handiwork or make some smartass remark as I had two more lunged at me from the sides and trying to catch off guard, also probably thinking that I couldn't use Blessing with their buddy still impaled on it, but I wasn't about to let them get a chunk out of me as I whipped out Cursed with black magic already coursing through it and slammed ii into the earth, sending out a small energy wave to knock them back. I booted off the timberwolf I had skewered from Blessing so as use it properly and took up my fighting stance while the rest of the pack stalked away from Fluttershy and surrounding me, snarling and growling like the stupid vicious creatures they are. Releasing my own growls before swinging both my swords towards a group of four of them and releasing a dark and light slices of energy from their respective conductors and manage to get all but one of them as they were clean cut went through them before falling to the ground. The last one remaining was whimpering and backing away from me before it turned around and tried to make its way back into the Everfree, but was stopped by Cursed as it pierced through its left hind leg and implanted into the ground, effectively trapping it in place. I uncuppled the gauntlet on my left arm and slammed that too into the ground in front of me to make sure it couldn't run should the timberwolf manage to get Cursed out of the ground, which I doubt. With Blessing still in my grips I went for the one behind me so as to catch it by surprise speared it in the head which left three of them left, the one that was secured by Cursed, and two more that still didn't seem to get the message that they weren't going to kill me, especially since they were the only ones left. "You finally realize how outmatched you pathetic creatures are, or are trying to actually think of a plan to overpower because let me tell you there's no way thats ha-" I was cut off as one of the remaining timberwolves howled in the sky and I noticed a faint green glow coming from behind me afterwards. I took a glance back to see that scattered remains of the their fallen brothers were glowing an eerie green and began floating in the air. "Ahhhh crap." I had completely forgotten about how they can piece themselves back together if you don't sufficient damage to their bodies but, by the looks of things, they weren't interested in piecing back into their individual forms as they forming into a gigantic timberwolf. So here I stand with now four timberwolves in front of me, the one that was still trapped, two normal-sized and free timberwolves, and one gigantic timberwolf whose mouth was big enough to chomp down me down whole in one bite. "Hey Dark Heart, I think wolfy here wants to play." Shadow joked. "Well I don't care if these three want to play, but if the other one that's pinned does I'll be more than happy to accept, so I'm just going to get of these guys." I use the magic fusion to send both light and dark energy through Blessing, even though my dark magic won't be as strong flowing through Blessing, and allowed the energy to build up within it. While doing so I called upon the darkness of my heart and started shifting into my Darkness Form so that I could give these mutts a special surprise should they annoy me at all. As I was getting ready to release the energy I had stored up I heard a voice in the distance, several voices actually, and they had sounded familiar which meant it could only be them. It's about time they got here, it wasn't like Fluttershy's scream was as quiet as her normal speaking voice." Shadow said, sounding annoyed. "Yeah, but look at where we are. The closest house to the Everfree forest is that cottage over there, which I'm sure that she lives in, and it much take awhile to get here, though I do find it strange nopony else came sooner. They sure are lucky that you were here otherwise who knows what could have happened to her." I heard a groan that obviously came from Shadow and I understand why he did. "Nova, why are you defending them? I believe it's pretty damn clear what would have happened to her if wasn't here, but I do agree with you on the fact that nopony got here sooner to check up on Fluttershy to see if she was alright, though none of that matters now. As soon as they know that she's okay, they're going to run away again to take her to safety because they're probably still scared of me and act like the assholes I had to deal with while I still lived in Neighburg." I said begrudgingly. I snapped out of the conversation when I heard what sounded like something was hitting a magical force field and noticed that the three wolves that were in front of me were gone. I looked to my left, where to pounding was coming from, to see that they were striking a translucent, purple barrier and I when I took a closer look inside I saw that Twilight's horn was glowing with the same color aura as the barrier. "Alright that's just messed up," I said annoyed at the the timberwolves actions. "I mean come on, they just decide to ignore me and go after them, when I'm the one who's been hurting them. That's just not cool man, now I'm not playing nice anymore." After that was said I sheathed Blessing in exchange for full usage of my claws. I stalked up to one of the normal-sized timberwolves and snatched it by one of its hind legs and hung upside down in front of me. "This is what happens when you ignore me." I thrust my claws into its lower jaw and started slicing up to its torso and ending just short of its groin area. I withdrew my claws only to thrust my arm through it midsection of impaling it on my arm though it was to be there for a minute or so as I started building up the fire inside me until I felt it at the back of my throat and spewed out a gout of black flames directly over it, my flames were hot enough to incinerate instantly. "Dark Heart you be careful about using your fire breath, it's extremely dangerous to any other creature in close proximity to it." Nova cautioned me. "Yeah yeah, I know why do you think I just used it?" I swear it's like she doesn't even know me sometimes. "I was talking about the girls, remember your flames have enough magical energy in them to easily bust through Twilight's shield spell without any difficulty." Oh yeah that's right, thanks to the dark magic that enables my shift, the flame breath I've been granted is imbued with a large portion of my own magic but doesn't really hinder me in any way. I was going to offer up my argument when I felt a sharp pain emanating from my right leg. I looked to it to see that the other timberwolf had latched onto it and leaving the giant one to its own devices. I let a smile on my face when I came up with an idea to help me enjoy this a little more as I reared back the leg with a timberwolf attachment and launched it towards the gut of the other one, sending them both flying in the air. I look to the bite marks on my leg to see that the wounds had already been patched up; I move towards the last two victims of today as I called upon my flames yet again, spewing them out once I felt that they had reached optimal temperatures, and instantly incinerating them like the first. "Well that was fun but I think I should probably go out and hunt me down some lunch." I turned towards the forest and was going to head in, but I saw the trapped timberwolf that had given up struggling and looked like it was accepting its fate. I walked over to it, kneeling down when I was right beside it, and looked it up and down. "What are you going to do to it DarkHeart?" I heard Fluttershy ask, her face barely within my sights. She looked concerned for the creature that I secured here. "I'm not sure, I kinda feel like killing it would just be cruel at this point and I know it wouldn't dare attack if I let it go, but I feel like that I maybe I would be dooming to a slow and painful death with the injury to its leg, especially if that was its entire pack then it definitely wouldn't stand a chance." I sighed as I scratched my head looking for answers. "Why don't you keep it?" Nova asked. "What, are you crazy, I couldn't keep it. Odds are I wouldn't be able to, it would probably bailout as soon I take Cursed out of its leg , despite whatever pain it may feel.Plus with no home, or even an basic understanding for its diet how would I keep it fed without going and slaughtering every animal I see, I just think this is a-" Before I could continue Pinkie Pie interrupted me as she just burst out of the ground wearing a miner's helmet, and the light shining directly in my face. "Damnit Pinkie. . . . turn off that damn light, you're gonna make me go blind!" I yelled out trying to keep the offense light out of my eyes. "Oopsie, sorry about that Dark Heart." She said as she turned off the head lamp. "Thank you, now mind telling me why you're bursting out of the ground and attempting to blind me in the first place?" I asked blinking away the spots that were left in my vision. Oh. . I just wanted to say that I think it would be a great idea if you kept a timberwolf as a pet." She said as bubbly as ever. I raised an eyebrow "Really?" I asked skeptically to which she simply nodded her head. I let out a chuckle at her answer, but not because I thought she was being ridiculous for saying that I should this timberwolf, but because I was actually going to agree with her. Though judging by the confused look on her face she didn't get at the same conclusion I had. "So you really think I would should keep a timberwolf as a pet, even knowing how dangerous they are?" I had to ask again to see if she would still say yes after my seemingly unsettling chuckling. "W-well yeah. . . . they might be dangerous but it seems like that they are scared of you just as much as we were yesterday after we found out you were carnivorous. I think you would be able to train it to not be so mean, even if it does need to eat meat to be healthy." Wow. . . just wow I seriously can't believe she manage to say all of that without hesitation, I guess she's being genuine, and she's making me believe that I should keep this timberwolf but first. "So tell me girls. . . do still want to be friends with a creature such as myself, or would you rather you to not have anything to do with me and want to leave because if you do I could and will leave if that is the case and we'll probably never see each other again." I asked with my back turned to the rest of them. I got up and turned to face them, to show them that I wouldn't have any hard feelings towards them should they decide they want me to go. I was waiting for longer than I thought would be enough time to came to a decision so I decided to give my attention back to the lone timberwolf that was still here, or more specifically its leg that my katana was still lodged into. I gingerly tugged on Cursed and was met with pained howls from the helpless creature. I had to admit I was feeling a little guilty for doing this to it. "I'm going to remove my sword from your leg, okay, so don't move around too much." I said while I petted its head to try and calm it down. I kept petting for a couple of minutes before I felt it start to relax, I looked into it's eyes and saw that it was scared but that it also trusted me and I made sure that it didn't doubt me with a warm smile. I reached out to Cursed but as soon as I wrapped my hand around its handle I heard the timberwolf whimpering. "Don't worry I'll try to be quick and gentle so that it will hurt less, but unfortunately it is still going to hurt, just try and strong and it'll be over before you know it." I said soothingly, just before put a strong grip on Cursed on yanked it with all of my might so as keep my promise and make sure that it didn't hurt too badly though that didn't stop it from yelping. I have to say that saying that what happened next shocked me but that would be an understatement. The moment right after it yelped, the timberwolf lurched towards me and stuck its head right into my lap and pawing at my stomach, almost like it wanted me to comfort it and eb the pain away. Its reaction may have shocked me but doesn't mean that I wasn't going to fix what I had done and so I wrapped my arms around its torso and pulled it up closer to chest, cradling the injured creature almost as if it were a small child. "I'm so sorry that I did this to you, and if you stick around, I'll make it up to you." I said as I stroked its back. "You know this timberwolf is girl right?" I heard Pinkie say. I looked up at her with a raised eyebrow as she almost seemed to not care what kind of scenario we're in right now. "No. . . no I did not Pinkie, thanks, but shouldn't you be over there with your friends trying to decide on whether you girls want to have me around or not?" As soon as I finished I heard her start giggling and again I was seriously questioning the intelligence, and the sanity, of this mare. "Why you think something like that." I was about to say something but she continued on."I would have thought me being here would be all the answer you needed to know that I want you to stay here." "But aren't you scared of me?" I immediately asked without even thinking. "Well maybe a little but I can over that. I can see that you're a really nice pony and that you don't like hurting others as much as you let on, but you still do it anyway that we're scared of you so that nopony will try to hurt the ones you care about." For a hyperactive ball of joy she sure can be sagey sometimes and I could only imagine how her friends must be whenever she does this kind of stuff. "You know you sure are a strange one Pinkie Pie, but I would imagine that just about everything you said is true. I do whatever it takes to protect anypony that I care about, both my family and, if I had any, my friends. The best way that I've found to do that is by the thing that others should be of in the dark, the monster under their bed as of sorts, but it gets the job done." I told her, not really caring what she may say to that. "Ah think it may get the job done a little too well, that's the problem that ya need to understand." Applejack said she came around in front of me with the rest of the girls. "Believe me, I perfectly understand that but tell me would you have me act any other way considering all the danger that I've faced. You do remember yesterday right, with Spirit, it's because of crap like that is why I must remain like this otherwise I risk those very creatures going after the ones I love and care about. I would rather appear to be a major asshole to everypony and have them despise me than have them get captured by any enemies I make in the future and that reigns true even now for all I know Spirit could be watching us, or he has a laky doing for him." I explain this all to them because I couldn't, in good consciousness, let them believe that it was okay to be around. I needed them to know of the dangers of being around me. "It sounds like you think that we can't take care of ourselves in dangerous situations, like we're just helpless mares who can't fight." Rainbow Dash said accusingly. "Compared to me, you are, to everypony else probably not so much." I replied jokingly, though they didn't seem as amused at it as I was. "What?" The only response I got was a scowl from four of the six mares that were in front of me. I didn't say anything to apologize and instead looked to the timberwolf that was laying on my lap. "So girl, you think you feel strong enough to walk on your own?" I watched as she tried to stand up, only to see her collapse back onto my leg. "So I take that as a no then *sigh* alright then I guess I'm going to have to carry you then." But as I went to pick up the timberwolf, a pair of orange hands nabbed her before I could. "I think ah'm gonna carry her over to Flutter's. That is unless Mr. Stallion here thinks that I'm to weak and girly to do that." Applejack jeered. "Wow I think you might have pissed her off there Dark Heart, and by the looks of it, she's not the only one." Shadow mocked. "Don't you think I know that you fucking moron, I do have eyes after all." I retorted back. "Yeah you do, but not much of a brain." I could hear him holding back his laughter as he spoke. "What are you talking about, and what the hell is so funny?" I asked him, somewhat irritably. "Uh Dark Heart, you do realize that you're saying all of this out loud, right?" Nova pointed out to me, and as she did I looked to the girls and saw that they were all looking at me with bewilderment, even the timberwolf was staring at me like I had just grown a second head. Actually would I be able to regrow my limbs with my dark magic, I mean I know I can regenerate certain parts of my body like I did yesterday after I had intercepted that spear from that prick Spirit, but would I actually be able to regrow my an entire like my arms or legs. Guess I'll find out should that situation ever arise." I thought to myself while the others were already on their way towards Fluttershy's house, in fact they were well out of my sights by the time I came back from my thoughts and saw that nopony was nearby. "Where the hell did everypony go?" I asked to pony in particular. "They left while you were off in lala land there bud." Shadow insulted. "I wasn't 'off in lala land' jackass, I was thinking about a legitimate problem that could arise in the future." I snapped back. "It doesn't matter what you were doing you just need to go catch up with them." Nova cut into our conversation before the two of us could start an argument, that will most likely turn into several arguments about other things and last the rest of the day. (Because lets face it the three of us got nothing better to do outside of fighting, or training, besides argue with each other like a dysfunctional married couple, except there's three of us in it instead of just two.) "Alright, but which way did they go cause I got no fucking idea." I asked, and could have sworn I heard one of them facepalm right afterwards. "You fucking moron, if you had been paying attention you would have seen that they went down the path to your left, along the borders of this stupid fucking forest!" Wow, just wow, Shadow sounded piss, well more pissed than usual I wonder why. "What the fuck went up your skirt and died. . . . is it your time of the month again?" I asked while I started down the path he was referring to. Though I didn't get the response I was trying to get out of him. "I don't what it is but something those mares rubs me the wrong way." Hm, now that is rather curious, especially considering that we just met them yesterday and had been fine with them up until now. "Well they haven't really done anything but be nice, and terrified, of us, or Dark Heart at least, even when he keeps digging a bigger hole for them to jump into and beat him, so what could they have possibly done to get you so angry at them all of sudden?" Nova asked him. "I already said I don't know. I would say that it's because they're being too nice but then I would have felt this way back at the castle or on the train and considering I was still in good mood just a few moments ago before they left I doubt that that's the case." Just a few moments before they left, . . . wait a minute. "You're right, it's not the fact that they're too nice, but I think what is making you angry," I said, Shadow sounded like he was going to say something but I continued on before he could say anything. "You said that you were in a good mood before they left right?" I asked. "Yeah, but what are y-" He started to say before I cut him off. "And you watched them as they did?" I asked him another question already knowing the answer. "Well yeah, we both did. I wanted to make sure you know which way to go so that we could watch over that timberwolf. I mean I do like the idea of keeping her by our side as pet and it would make you, us, look even more of a badass in the eyes' of other ponies, but what does that have to do with why I'm so angry all of sudden?" I rolled my eyes at the part about 'us' looking like a badass if I keep the timberwolf but I quickly put a serious face after he asked his question. "Well what I'm thinking is that you felt so angry because something you want is being taken from you and you can't do anything about, with you being stuck in my body and having no control and all that mess, which must have brought up the anger you felt when you were sealed back into my mind after you tried to takeover and that's why you're so fucking pissy now." I stated as though as was an expert on this kind of crap, which I might be all things considering. "Well . . . that actually sounds like a legitimate theory to my sudden mood swing. That's rather impressive, especially considering that it's coming from you." Well it sounds as though we got him out of his little funk temporarily. I decided to let him have his moment and not give any rebuttal, mostly because he's kinda right, I'm not exactly the type of pony that can really understand what causes the emotions others feel just that I'm able to pick up on them, but that doesn't matter at the moment, what does matter though is that I make on over to Flutter's and check up on the timberwolf. "You know you should probably come up with a name for her if you're going to keep her so that you aren't calling 'timberwolf' all the time." Nova pointed out to me. "Yeah I know but I'm not sure what I should call her. I want to call her by something that would do her some justice, plus I'm not that good with picking out names for animals anyway." Which is the nice way of putting it, but in all reality I'm just straight up terrible when coming up with names. So bad in fact, that I have had to use a memory eraser spell to forgot them and even then they still linger, and it's not because I fucked up the spell, which I didn't. "Why don't you tell her the names you have picked out and see what she likes instead of turning it into one of your observational research bullshit that you use to figure a ponies emotional status." Shadow offered up his suggestion. "You know that actually sound likes a good idea, and definitely sounds easier than picking out a name that'll have her bite me every time I call her by it. Oh, and by the way, don't fucking ridicule the way I go about getting into a pony's head. My observational research has saved me a lot of hassle from trying to find ways to have the right ponies misplace their trust in me and gotten to the bottom of things. So you sir can go suck a fat one." I argued which is really no surprise to any of us by now. I walked down the path in silence, none of us were saying a thing not even those two morons bickering at each like usual, and just enjoyed the scenery before me. Man is Fluttershy lucky to live somewhere with this kind of view. I thought to myself as I saw a small cottage come into view just ways away with rainbow-colored hair in front of a window and blocking the view inside. Looks like a found her home and none of them have left. I wonder if they're still mad at me for my unintentional jab at their pride in being a mare. I wondered as I was just a few feet away from the door but stopped when I heard Rainbow Dash say . . something . . . . something that that I thought I would never hear from any pony ever again. "I know that this is fucked up but I kinda wish that Dark Heart wasn't born."
Settling In Settling In "I know that this is fucked up but I kinda wish that Dark Heart wasn't born." That was the one thing I thought that I wouldn't have to hear ever again, but there it was. A pony that I thought could potentially become friends with just wished I wasn't born, but what had made that statement even worse was that no of them said anything after that. The fact none of the other mares in that room said nothing is just as bad as them just out right saying that they agree with her. "Dark Heart. . .are you alright?" I heard Nova say but was too much in shock to actually respond. I just continued to stand there with my hands right over the door knob to Fluttershy's cottage. "Come on buddy just ignore what Rainbow said after all if it wasn't for you Fluttershy wouldn't even be alive right, they're all just ungrateful cunts." I managed to acknowledge what Shadow said, and you know what he's right. If it wasn't for me Fluttershy would have been nothing more than a bloody pile of organs and a nice hearty meal for those timberwolves if it hadn't been for me. "You know what, you're right I don't even know why I even fucking care. It's not like I'm not use to this sort of rejection before. So what you do you guys say we go look for a new place to live; I would try going back to the cave but but considering that Celestia said that we were found because ponies are mining down there it won't do us much good." I don't know why but for some reason I keep wanting to just live caves for some weird reason, even in the amulet I had asked Nova to make me a nice cave just for me to sleep in. Maybe living in those crystal caves have something to do with that. "Sounds like a plan to me, you planning on finding another cave then?" Fucker was reading my mind wasn't he. "Yeah actually. It just feels natural now you know?" I could feel Shadow nodding his head inside of my head, and I know that sounds weird but considering the kind of pony I am that shouldn't be much of a surprise. "Well that's fine with as well, I kinda miss living in the crystal caves too, it was nice having that kind of view everyday and it never got old." Nova added in. "Well then it's settled we're going to find a new cave to live in; and this time I'm going to make sure that nopony just drops in on us unexpectedly this time." I say with a little too much determination. "Well technically Nightmare Moon didn't drop in on us unexpectedly at the cave, you willing invited her in." Of course one of them would remind that I was the reason we dealt with that mess in the first place. "Actually before we go searching for our new home, was is to become of Ember, are we just going to leave her here?" Shadow reminded me. "Yeah, we're going to leave her here for now but as soon as her leg is all better I'm bringing her along with us. At least that way nopony has to worry about feeding for all that long considering that the two of us could hunting for food in the forest." Not that I actually care about that, but I don't need to be causing a mass hysteria in the town either 'cause that would cause more problems that could easily be avoided. As I was walking down the path back to town, I heard somepony calling out to me, "Dark Heart where ya going!?" It sounded like Applejack and she didn't sound all that far from me, judging by how loud her shouting was, and so I turned around to find her running towards me and immediately taking up a scowl upon my features though she didn't spot it until she was almost right in front of me. It seemed whatever determination she had before she saw the scowl had vanished and she was fidgeting her legs from side to side very nervously and I actually took joy in making this strong mare act like a scolded filly without evening making a single movement or making a sound but it's obvious that she had come to find me for a reason and I had things that I needed to do so I decided to get things moving along. "So what do you want Applejack? I got things I need to do and you're holding me up." I tried to hide the maliciousness in my voice but considering how she took a couple steps away from me means that I failed. "A a a ah just wanted ta ask ya if yer gonna go and check up on the timberwolf?" She stuttered nervously. Man I must be look more intimidating than I thought. "No, if Fluttershy is as good at taking care of animals as you all say she is then I'm confident that I don't to worry about Ember all that much; and besides I have to go find to the two of us a new if I'm going to be living here and start taking care of myself in this time." I really didn't want to be near her, or any of the other five mares right now, and I'm hoping that she gets that message and relays it to her friends should I end up blowing up in their face. Especially since I've been having a little trouble controlling my temper as of late and I really don't want another incident like back when I was ten, but made worse considering that now I have black magic and am substantially stronger now than I was back then. "Uh. . . . who is Ember?" Applejack asked the incredibly stupid question. "Really? Is she really asking that? I thought that she would've been able to figure that out right away, but I guess I gave this country bumpkin a too much credit." Shadow insulted Applejack, and knowing where this was going to lead I'm shutting down my connection to both him and Nova before they start up. "The timberwolf Applejack, I decided to call her Ember since I decided to her I'm going to be keeping her after all and I figured that she needed a name instead of always referring to her as my timberwolf, or just 'her', to show her that I do plan on caring for her from now on. Now if you'll excuse me, as I said before I have a ton of things that I need to get done and I would like to find myself somewhere to stay at so that I'm not sleeping outside all the time, I would like to find it before nightfall." I wasn't going to even bother hiding the fact that just her presence here was aggravating me. I'm not sure if she suspected that I would've heard her and the others in the cottage, though the likely case was that they did see me as I was walking away and so Applejack probably does suspect that I did hear them. Even if that is the case though she sure isn't showing it. "Are you sure that you don't want any help looking for-" Applejack was saying before I cut in. "I already said that I wanted to go looking alone, or at least you shouldn't have gotten those hints. So if don't leave me to my devices right now I may not be as pressed to hide the severity of my discontent that I feel for you and the girls, you got that?" I know that my voice shift is a dead giveaway of said discontent, but I really wasn't in any sort of mood to deal with it right now and since Applejack had already nodded her head yes and zoomed back down the path to Fluttershy's. "Did you really have to go about that situation so cruelly? I mean I know that you must feeling enraged over what we heard back at the cottage, but does that really warrant you to act so harshly towards any of them; especially since all she was doing was offering to help you." Nova asked, obviously trying to get through to my kinder, more sensible side and, of course, Shadow decided to step in. "Are you kidding me Nova; I think that she got what she deserved. No pony in all their good consciousness would have said such a thing, or allow for such a phrase to be uttered without sort of retort, but yet Applejack and the rest of her friends said nothing to Rainbow Dash after she did. In fact if anything I think Dark Heart should have screwed with her mind and made her feel extremely guilty for it and even then it wouldn't have been enough to be considered as repayment for how badly they've hurt him." Shadow went off after hearing Nova's input on my actions. I stepped into what I thought to be the center of town and saw ponies walking all over the place, going about their normal business, and none of them paying me any mind. Sure there were a few that peered in my direction, but none of the ponies that did looked as though they were afraid of me and instead were curious. I decided to walk up to the closest pony near me, an earth pony mare with a mulberry coat, two-toned pink mane, and green eyes, and she was wearing a white button-up blouse and black skirt that went down to her knees, and asked her where I could find the Mayor's office. "The Mayor's office is just in that building," She pointed towards the tall building in the middle of the square with the spire on top. "Her office is just three floors up and the furthest door on the right." She instructed me on how to find the office. "Okay, thank you, I really appreciate the help." I thanked her. "You are very welcomed mister, but if I may ask, who are you because I don't think I've ever seen you in Ponyville before." The mulberry mare commented. "Well that is because I just arrived in town yesterday and currently in search of a place to live which is why I need to talk to the mayor." I responded to her, though I know I've probably piqued her curiosity now. "You're a new pony in town and Pinkie Pie hasn't thrown you a party yet; that's rather odd of her, I wonder if she's feeling alright. Well anyway, welcome to Ponyville, I hope you have a good time living here. Say, where are you planning on staying?" the mare asked. I don't know why I feel so compelled to tell her all of his, especially considering I was planning on going back to the kind of lifestyle of was living in a millenia ago, and yet I can't seem to want to tell this mare to just mind her own business. "Well miss, um. . . ." I had yet to find out who this mare was and figured I'd asked in the most polite way I could manage. "Oh my, please excuse my manners, my name is Cherilee and I'm the teacher at the Ponyville Schoolhouse." Cherilee introduced herself. "Well hello Cherilee, I'm Dark Heart and at the current moment I have no job, but I'll most likely be getting one here soon." I said in ways of introduction. "Yo, Dark Heart, we got things to do, remember?" Shadow said, interrupting my concentration on whatever Cherilee was saying. "Shut it you ass, I don't want to hear you right now." I said; and judging by the way Cherilee was looking at me, I had said it out loud. "Sorry Cherilee, I wasn't talking to you. I have this annoying voice in my head that likes to be rude and talk whenever somepony is speaking to me and that comment was meant for him, sorry if you thought it was." I apologized, but I wasn't expecting to get off so easily though seeing as though that story isn't very believable amongst normal ponies. "Oh. . well okay then. . . as long as you are telling the truth I'll accept your apology and out of curiousity, what was this voice of yours saying?" Cherilee accepted that apology a little too quickly and I don't know whether I should be worried or not, but I answered her either way. "Oh nothing important, just reminding me that we had something that we were doing, and stuff like that. It isn't important though, Shadow is just being an ass, like usual." Not sure if I should have mentioned Shadow like that but what's the worst that could happen from simply uttering somepony's name. "Shadow? Is that the name of this voice?" Cherilee asked perplexedly. "Yeah, though he isn't just a voice, he's actually so much more than that but I wouldn't want to bore you with the details of the mess between the two of us." As much as I like being able to just talk to somepony for once I did to get going. "Well I actually wouldn't mind hearing about the story of you and Shadow, but unfortunately I have things to do and must be going. Maybe you can tell me some other time, would that be okay with you?" Cherilee asked. Actually this was perfect because for a minute there I thought that I would have to come up with some kind of excuse and look like a dick later. "Yeah sure that's okay with me. In fact I wouldn't mind having somepony to talk to that is actually going listen instead of make an idiotic gay joke about me. I mean seriously though you would think that two spirits that lives within your very soul would know your sexual orientation and-" I was about to go on a rant when I noticed Cheerilee's expression. "Heh, sorry I go on my rants sometimes without realizing it. It's just I've been kinda lonely for quite sometime now and it's just a relief to me to find somepony who's as interested in me as I am to them." Oh that's quite alright Dark Heart I understand and thank you, I've never had anypony actually tell me that they were interested in me and as much as so greatly enjoy having you as company I'm sad to say that I must get going and I hope that we can spend some more time together." She said before heading off to wherever it was she had to go. I yelled out a farewell before I turned around to head into the Town Hall. I walked in and saw that the first floor was a large open room. I spotted a balcony and a stage, but for some reason I couldn't spot any stairs anywhere, or even a door for that matter. I searched the room but still couldn't find anything; well I searched everywhere except the backstage area but I wasn't sure if that area was open access to the public, so I did the only thing I could think of to get to the next floor and jumped up onto the balcony. I went through the curtains into the next room and spotted two flights of stairs, one going down and that, upon closer inspection, led to the back of the stage, Well that figures, and the other led upstairs which was where I needed to go. I went up the stairs, headed down to the end of the corridor, and went into the room on my right. I was greeted by the receptionist as I walked in. "Hello there sir, what can I do for you today?" "I would like to see the mayor so I could get a map of the area surrounding Ponyville. I hope to find somewhere to live that's nearby like maybe somewhere in the Everfree, most preferably a cave of some sorts." I told her not wanting to waste anymore time than I already had. It was going to get dark soon and the Everfree forest gets incredibly more dangerous at night but that is more of an inconvenience for me if I have to traverse it during the night hours. "Why in Equestria would you want to live in a cave in the Everfree forest when there are plenty of fully functioning homes in town?" I heard another mare say. I turned in the direction I heard the voice come from and spotted an older mare with beige colored fur with a gray mane and tail, she was wearing a coat that was the same color as her fur with a white shirt underneath it, along with a black skirt that went down to her knees. She was staring at me with her baby blue eyes through her glasses that were perched on her muzzle. "I take it that you're the Mayor of Ponyville then?" I asked just in case this mare was just here to see the mayor as well. "Why yes I am, my name is Mayor Mare but before we go on with introductions I would like to know why you want to find somewhere to live in the Everfree forest when there are so many dangers that live within its borders." Well at least she knows hows to get a point across. "That danger is the exact reason I want to live in the forest, it would almost guarantee me the privacy I'd be looking for in any place that I call my home. You see I'm not exactly an ordinary pony and am very much able to survive within its confines without having to worry about too many issues besides making sure that none of its inhabitants ransack the place whenever I leave." I explained to her but judging by her expression she didn't seem to buy my story and looked suspicious of what I truly intend to do with any of the information she gives me. "And what makes you sure that you are able to handle to hostile environment of such a place. Most ponies shake in fear just at the mention of it and yet you're telling me that you wouldn't have any troubles with those creatures trying to kill you?" The Mayor asked incredulously. "But of course, otherwise I wouldn't be here asking you for a map and be out in town looking for a normal home, would I?" I retorted back. "Well I am sorry sir but unfortunately we don't have any information on the landscape of the forest that would be of any assistance to you. If you have an idea of the kind of home you'd want I would suggest you go ask Twilight Sparkle, go and find Zecora, a zebra who does live out there but I'm not going to tell where exactly, or go out there to find it yourself. Those are the only options I can give you at the moment." Wow, you want to talk about being a bitch. She says all of that like I had done her some kind of wrong then just turns around and starts walking towards her desk. "Wait, hold up, what the hell is up with the attitude. I just came here to see if you could offer some HEEEELP-" *RIP* *CRASH* Not sure what I tripped over, but I do know that it had caused my face to say hello to the floor of the Mayor's office. I picked myself off of the ground and had noticed that there was something soft clenched within my grasp but before I could even move my hands out of my face to see what it was I heard Shadow saying something to me, and he sounded scared. "Dark Heart, bro, I suggest you drop what's in your hand and start running like right now." I heard Shadow say with a very clear tone of being scared shitless. "What in tartarus are you talking ab-" I looked to see that I was holding a torn piece of the Mayor's top in my hands and immediately knew what Shadow was talking about now. "Oh no...... please don't tell me this is what I think it is." I couldn't believe it and so turned my gaze towards the Mayor that everything that the front of her top was covering was now laid bare in front of me, including her now exposed bust. Though that wasn't the only thing I noticed though; what I also noticed was that the Mayor now had the look of death on her face and was directing it towards me."Uh. . . l l l listen. . I didn't mean to- I started to say but was cut off as her desk went flying up and over my head. "Dark Heart now would be a good time to GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!!!" Shadow shouted which knocked me out of my trance and I proceeded to bail as fast as I can out of there with the Mayor hot on my tail. "GET BACK HERE YOU DAMN PERVERT! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU YOU'RE GOING TO WISH THAT YOU WERE DEAD!!" Not sure if mares always get this angry when something happens, but I do find it to be a bit extreme considering it was an accident. Right now though I didn't think about it much since I was trying to make sure that I live to see another day, and keep the ability to have kids one day, maybe. . . . .probably. . . . . . . oh shut up it could happen, well anyway where was I. . . oh right I was running for my life from a psychotic mare that's trying tear me to shreds, or ripped of my dick either one is not something I want happening to me. I decided that running on two legs like a normal pony wasn't going to do considering that Mayor Mare had already came close to snagging me by the tail and so decided that it would be a better idea to go feral and run on my hands and feet, not hands and knees, feet. Finally I started to put distance between us since this chase started and I quickly made my ways to exit town hall, only to find my path quickly obscured by three fillies walking in. Oh fuck me. I thought as I manage to redirect my path before I ended crashing into them, though it's not like it mattered since as soon as they saw me running they quickly went back outside. Misfortune didn't end for me there, because after they had left I think that they had told everypony that was near the Town Hall the ruckus that was being caused inside as more ponies started barring up the door as a crowd of the residents of Ponyville came filing in to watch. Some, especially the mares, quickly took note that to front of the Mayor's top had been torn off and they tried to help her capture me. I could have escaped already but I don't think blowing a hole through the wall and causing some much damage will get me any popularity points amongst the ponies Ponyville. "I really don't see why you're worrying about that considering that this has without a doubt given you a bad rep. anyway." Shadow pointed out, and you know what I believe he is right. I'm already off to bad start so why not as least allow myself to have a little fun while I'm in this mess eh? "Alright then Shadow, I"ll get of this your way then." I said as I summoned my dark magic, along with Cursed and Blessing, and got myself ready to become a one stallion demolition crew. I made sure to keep the mares off my ass as I charged my magic through my blades to take out the wall with one shot though I didn't have to wait all that long as I was drawing power from the negative emotions that the ponies around me were projecting directly at me. "Nova could you tell me where's the smallest grouping of ponies is so that I know where I should blast a hole into the wall without harming that many bystanders." I asked Nova but she didn't answer. "Nova, please don't tell me you've turned on me too. You know damn well that what happened in there was an accident and nothing more." Still didn't get a response. "I'd say to just forget it and pick a spot to demolish otherwise you can considered yourself royally screwed." Shadow said and as much as I don't like it I have to agree with him. *Sigh*"Alright fine I guess I really have no other choice." I said defeatedly as I latched my blades to the chains that were magically attached to the gauntlets on my arms. I looked around the area to see which segment of the interior of the Town Hall was the most crowded with mares seeing as though that is probably the least occupied, hence the likely place for me to escape. As soon as I did I used my link with the gauntlets to extend the chains without having to toss out my weapons first and when they reached a good two and a half yards I grabbed ahold of Cursed and Blessing and tossed them towards the wall above the mares with them spinning around like a saw blade and dark magic flowing through them. I was about to be caught when I felt the chain finally tighten up and that I could tug on them without any sort of give; I used the link again to retract the chain and caused myself to be propelled up and out Town Hall just before anypony could latch on to me. "That was a close, really really close, and I am making sure that I never go through that again." I said panting heavily from having to dodge all of the ponies that were there, which appeared to be almost the entire goddess damn town. "Um, bro, I don't think you're out of the woods yet." I heard say Shadow say. "What the hell are, OH SHIT!" I'm definitely not out of the woods yets, wait a minute woods, that's it that's how I could stop this."Hey Shadow what do you say we go and finally find us a home?" I said with a growing smirk. "I would say that sounds like a good idea." He said immediately catching on to what I was planning. Though I knew I had to do something that probably will lead the residents of Ponyville to fear me, but it had to be done if I wanted to get out of here and so with my mind made up I started gathering up more of my dark magic and it started to surround me as I changed into my Darkness Form. There we go, that should help navigate through town without taking the risk of corning myself somewhere like a dumbass. I thought while I was heading to the Everfree Forest. I was just about to enter it but then suddenly I found that I was levitating a few feet off the ground and noticed that my entire body was surrounded in a magenta aura. "Damnit Twilight, put me down!" I shouted out knowing exactly who had caught me and I was growing concerned as the pack of mares was closing in. Though when nothing changed I resided myself to my faith as they were now on top of me. "Come on Dark Heart, do something. I know you have a way out of a situation like this so just put into[action already."/color] Shadow tried to persuade me, knowing full well that I could easily just cancel out Twilight's magic, but I wasn't because I knew that it would hurt her, and although I would very much like considering what happened over at Fluttershy's I'm not the type to just go after revenge for stupid reasons, and besides I know they'll end doing something that makes me blow up in their faces and so I choose to play the waiting game on that ordeal. Though now is not the time to worry about that, no now is the time to worry about being able to live till tomorrow and with the way things were that may not be possible anymore. "Well I guess I had good run even if it was short one." I said as my eyes closed and the last thing I would see would be to angry faces of the residents of Ponyville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."Okay, what the fuck? Aren't I suppose to be dead right about now, or at least in excruciating pain." I said as I opened my eyes to find myself staring directing into the blue eyes of the Mayor who looked to be as confused as I was, but that was until I noticed that she and others were also surrounded in the same magenta aura that had ensnared me. "Well it would appear that Twilight has saved your ass. . . . you pervert." Nova finally says disapprovingly. "Nova you know damn well that I'm no pervert and that what happened was a complete accident, shit you can read my mind so I know that something is up with you. Besides you can call me a pervert considering that you don't even wear clothes and that 'heavenly light' doesn't excuse you from that and neither does the fact that you live in the Heart of Light where only me, you, and Shadow can enter." I scolded her as I knew that she knew that I had ripped off the Mayor's shirt by accident. "So you mind telling us why every mare in Ponyville is chasing. . . and why is the front of the Mayor's shirt missing?" Twilight asked from below me. "It's not really any of your business, but since I know that I can't get out of this without hurting anypony I guess I'll tell you but you're going to have to put me down first." I bargained seeing as though I wasn't trying to be a complete asshole. "And how do we know that you're not going to run as soon as you're no longer in my magic?" I her ask. "You don't but if want to hear anything you're going to have to trust me now won't you?" I said undeterred by her glare. "That's where you're wrong Dark Heart. I could just let the Mayor go and she could tell us what happened." She argued back. "Yeah I guess you could but then that would lead you to judge me on unfair pretenses considering that you would only have one side of the story and not the other and that wouldn't be very fair now would it?" I said smugly knowing that whatever she choose to do my next actions would be then considered justified. "I guess I have no choice do I?" Twilight asked rather than stated. "Not if you actually want to do the right thing." Was all I had as my response and with that she put me down back on the ground and I dusted myself off. "Okay, well a deal is a deal, I'll tell what's going on. After my encounter with Applejack I headed into town to find Town Hall and get a map of the topography of the Everfree Forest so that I could a new cave to live in and-" I was about to get to the part when I ripped off the Mayor's shirt but Rarity interrupted me. "What!? Why in heavens name would you want to live in some filthy cave,and in the Everfree none the less?" Rarity asked concerned about my choice of living quarters. "Hey don't knock it till you try it. Yes I thought the same way you did but then after having to live in one after I ran away from, I've come to appreciate that lies within them and so I'm adamant making another one my new home." I stated proudly. "But that was when you thought the princesses were after you and had to hide. Not that is not the case anymore and can live in a normal house here in town." Rainbow Dash interjected. "Look my reasons for wanting to live in a cave are. . . . . complicated, I wouldn't expect any of you to understand; after all none of you have gone through I've had to go through and I'm still only 19-years old." That finally shut up their any protest they would have against this decision, but I decided that since I was interrupted when I was about to explain why the entire was after me that I would add in a little more for my amusement later on. "Besides I need a place to hide since these mares want to rip me apart for tearing off the Mayor's top by accident and don't seem to want to listen to reason when I try to tell them that is was nothing than an accident." I would have stayed to laugh to their reaction to that, but I also had to go should the shock from that cause Twilight's magic to become unstable and release the mares in the grasp of her magic, but I really wanted to stay. . . . it was really a difficult decision but in the end I had to give it up to to want to live and so I ran into the forest in search of my new home. Only a few feet into its boundaries I had heard the sound of the group of mares groaning in pain as I figured Twilight had finally set them free. I was already deep in the forest, looking for Celestia's and Luna's old castle for I knew of a cave nearby that would be suitable for me and Ember to live in and not have to worry all that much about the creatures of the Everfree just wondering in when we weren't around. I passed through a wall of vegetation and wounded up in a small clearing with a bridge over a canyon, and beyond that ridge was their castle. There it is, now I just gotta head east of it and I should be there. I thought as I was already heading towards the direction I desired to go. It didn't take long before I found the cave I had remembered being here; only a few miles from the castle which means that it'll be easy to find my way back home whenever I leave, especially for extended periods of time. I got to work making up anything I knew I would need to make this place feel homely to me. I started with making the beds for me, which was a nice little hammock, and a bed for Ember, which I made from leaves from the trees along with anything else that was soft and I knew wasn't going to cause any sorts of reaction from either of us. After that I made a place to store the food, two separate areas: one to hold to hold fruits and vegetables and another one to hold in the flesh from any of the animals that we hunted, I had enchanted it so that the area within the meat storage was always cold so as to keep the meat from rotting. There were other things that needed to be made but while building the meat storage I was reminded that I needed to sate my craving before it started to have any adverse effects on me. I was now out hunting when I spotted a deer, "Well that should do nicely for sating your bloodlust for now, shouldn't it?" Shadow asked. "Yeah but I wish I didn't have to have these cravings." I said still wondering why to draconic part of my Darkness Form was effecting the way it was. "We know Dark Heart but you know that with power that you have in your possession that there's going to be a few drawbacks to it." Nova said sympathizing with me. "I know but I just wish that this craving was directed more towards the need to eat gems instead of other creatures, though I guess it make sense that I crave meat considering that in order for my body to be able to go the hardships of my training and combat, I'm going to need the protein from the flesh of others in order for that to happen without any serious consequences later on." I might not have wanted to do this but I understood perfectly why it had to be done. I guess I just I needed to say it out loud to make sure that I really was justified in doing this; it turns out that I was, but it doesn't mean that I have to enjoy it. Though there was no telling how my opinion of that would change once I sunk my fangs into the flesh of another for the first ever. With the internal debating over I made move and went after the deer, it saw me coming and bailed in the opposite direction though it didn't get very far thanks to my abnormal speed. I was glad I was already in my Darkness Form which meant I had no trouble tearing out its throat when I caught it and was surprised to see that I enjoyed the taste of its blood more than I thought I would. "Holy crap, this taste way better than I thought it would." I yelled out as I took another bite out of my lunch. "Well it seems like you're definitely your meal there but is it doing its job of sating your craving for flesh?" Shadow asked me as I still chowing down but I stopped for a second to give a proper answer. "Yeah it is actually and I'm glad it is but I think I may turn into a carnivore if this is what they taste whenever they feast on another living creature." I know that sounds like I'm being corrupted by this but in actuality this is doing quite the opposite. I don't know why but this making feel better than I have been for the last millennia, I almost feel the same warmth inside me that I use to feel whenever my parents would comfort me after a hard day at school when I was little. "I'm fine with that as long as you don't turn into a savage cannibal. Last thing any of us need is for the princesses to freak out and think that you have been corrupted by your dark power and try to get it out of you, or worse." Nova said not sounding the least bit worried about that last part. With my stomach full and my craving gone I headed back to the cave seeing as it was starting to get dark and I wanted to rest on the hammock that recided in my home, and all the while I was still in my Darkness Form; for some reason I felt like I needed to remain in it. I didn't pay the feeling any mind though seeing as it wasn't the feeling I got whenever something was going to happen. I made it back and found that everything had been untouched. "Good I least I know that I can leave without coming home to something sleeping in here." I said to myself as I laid down in the hammock and let sleeps embrace overtake me. -Dark Heart's Mind- I looked around the spatial plane that I seem to have been dumped in looking for anything of significance but could find nothing. "Well this is definitely a welcoming chase of scenery compared to what's been going through your mind for the last one-thousand and six years." I turned around in the direction I thought I heard Nova's voice come from and low and behold there she was along with Shadow. "Well I see that you two are here as well, but why am I not in the midst of a nightmare like I have been for most of my life?" I didn't have to wait long for an answer to be heard but it didn't come from any one of us. "Well Dark Heart, that would be my doing though it's not permanent and will last as long as I am here." Luna said as I turned around to meet her gaze just a ways away from us. "Hello Luna, it's nice to see you again so soon." I greeted her. "I could say the same. . . . Tell me how are you faring so far in todays world?" Luna asked. Oh how she is going to love to hear this. I thought as I recalled the last 36 hours. "Well Luna I'm doing fine despite the complications that I've already ran into." I told her knowing that I'd be able to peak her interest even further. "We figured there would be we are still learning how to adapt to certain aspects of the lives our subjects have now." She stated. "My complications isn't that at all." That earned me a confused look from Luna, so i continued on to clarify. "You see I haven't had the chance to even learn about the daily lives of these ponies. No my complications are the same as they were back all those years ago. . . . . in a way." I wonder what she had to say about today's events once I tell her. "What do you mean in a way, I thought that Twilight and her friends were helping you make friends and show ponies that you are not a threat to them, even with your dark magic." Sounds as though was worried about how things already were but I was still going to tell her about my day. "And that is part of the problem, they aren't in fact they don't seem to want anything to with me. Shortly after leaving your and Celestia's castle and boarding a train, I told the girls a little about myself but it seem that they didn't like the fact that I'm now carnivorous." I was going to continue but, as I expected, Luna interrupted me. "Wait a minute, you're a carnivore now, how did you gain such a sudden change in your dietary needs." Luna asked which was swiftly intercepted by Nova. "We aren't sure how it happened exactly, but what we all think is that the dragon half of Dark Heart's Darkness form has fused into his genetic code and that in turn has given him some of the attributes of a dragon, such as their carnivorous diet and the ability to breath fire. So now he needs to eat meat or else his cravings could get out of control and would cause him to go from carnivore to cannibal pretty quickly." Nova explained to Princess Luna. "That's quite the inconvenience, I hope that it doesn't come to that. Have you managed to satisfy that craving already?" She asked worriedly. "Yeah, but that's at the bottom of things that have already gone wrong for me. After we got to Ponyville I left them behind and found a place to turn in for the night under a tree, and nice job with your night by the way Luna." I complimented and for a moment I could have sworn I spotted a blush on her cheeks. "T-Thank you Dark Heart. Tell me what happened with today that has gotten you believing that you are being treated as you were back in the past?" Luna accepted my compliment shyly but then turned her expression into a curious one as she had gotten over it. "For one I woke a little later than I usually would and I woke up to the sound of Fluttershy screaming. I went to see what had happened to see that she had been captured by a pack of timberwolves, one of whom I kept and is currently being taken care of by her as we speak. After defeating the pack and the girls had finally shown up to help Fluttershy and I made the decision to take the timberwolf I decided to keep as a pet over to her cottage but I didn't go right away because I was conversing with these two." I pointed my thumbs behind me towards Shadow and Nova. "And when that was finished I went over to check up on Ember but when I did I over a conversation that they were having in Fluttershy's cottage." I stopped to calm myself down a bit as I realised that I was baring my fangs and tightly clenching my fist. "What did they say that has you so upset Dark Heart?" I saw that she was anxious to hear what I had heard and I also a little anger flicker in her eyes as though she already had an idea of what they said. "I heard Rainbow dash say that she wished that I had never been born." Judging by the shocked expression on her face, she was not expecting anything like that, but I wasn't quite finished yet. "And the thing that made that all the more worse was that none of them say anything in the form of protest, not even Pinkie Pie and she was the only one that said that she wanted to befriend me, despite what her friends thought of me. Then just shortly after that I went to the town hall to see if they had any maps of the Everfree Forest so that I can find a nice little cave to call my new home; and before you say anything, I was planning on living in a cave no matter what had happened today." I said before she could say that that wasn't a necessary action to do because of them. "I met up with the mayor to get any maps the may have had and though she told me they didn't have anything regarding the Everfree that ponies didn't already know, she still eyed me suspiciously as though I had some dastardly plan I was cooking and wouldn't direct me to anypony who knew the Everfree forest well enough to give the info I was looking for." I said barely able to hold back from laughing as I thought to this afternoon. "I'm sorry to hear that, but I'd hope you found a place to call your home, but judging by the grin and the fact that you're trying holding back from laughing I suspect that there is more to this story that you're waiting to tell me, aren't you?" Yep, I knew that I wasn't hiding it very well, but it would Shadow is as I saw that he was perfectly calm though I could feel that he wanted to just burst right then and there on the inside. "You see it was a complete accident, but the Mayor didn't seem to see that way or want to listen to me, or even let me apologize for doing so." I was going to lead her on for a bit and try to get her imagination running. "What did you Dark Heart?" Luna said narrowing her eyes at me and getting a mischievous look upon her features. "Well you see I was trying to walk up to the Mayor so that I could try and convince her that I wasn't up to anything, but I tripped over something and. . . . . well." Luna's eyes went as wide as dinner plates, but she kept that mischievous look on her face, and she stood like that for a few seconds before she said anything. "Oh. . . . no, Dark Heart tell me you didn't." Luna said already knowing the answer but wanting me to say otherwise, though her tone would also suggest that she finds it as funny as me. "Unfortunately for me I did and now every mare in Ponyville sees me as some sleaze bag pervert who goes around ripping off mares' shirts, but I still find the whole ordeal hilarious and-" I was yet again by Luna but this time it was her laughing fit that I couldn't help but join in on. We were both on the ground laughing our flanks off for what felt like an hour before either one of us were able to calm down long enough to stand back up and took a little longer for us to compose ourselves. All the while Shadow and Nova were just staring at us with bemused expressions plastered on their faces. "You know Dark Heart, if you ever decide to actually give dating a shot, I think you and Luna would make an excellent couple. The two of you have a lot more in common than you know and it seems that your personalities would compliment each other perfectly." With Nova's statement I turned to her with a deadpan look, but Luna on the hand seemed to have given Nova the look that she was looking for. I sighed as I rubbed the bridge between my eyes before looking at her and saying, "Nova you know that I will eventually get the point in my life where I'll worry finding love and the rest of that jazz, but when I do Luna will not be an option." I quickly regretted just blurting that out and turned to see Luna's downcast expression and quickly added to my statement, "Don't think that I don't think that I don't you to be beautiful Luna it's just that you are a very, and I do mean very, close friend that if we were to start dating that it would end up feeling awkward for the both of us, you know what I mean?" I asked her hoping that she took what I said to heart. She said nothing for a while and twiddle with her fingers nervously until finally speaking up "Yes I guess you would be right on that Dark Heart and I appreciate you calling me beautiful, but I think it's about time I leave. There are other ponies that may need my help. I'm sorry that I can't get rid of nightmares permanently Dark Heart, it pains me to see my greatest friend and ally in pain in a place that is meant to help alleviate the stress of their day to day lives." She said sympathetically. "It's alright Luna, at least you tried your hardest to help, plus I've had a thousand years to get use to them especially since you weren't here for just about all of it. I do appreciate that you stopped by to check up on me though." I thanked her as she started to vanish and the spacial plain started to become darker. "You are welcome Dark Heart, and before I go my sister wanted me to inform you that we will be in Ponyville in two weeks." And with that she was gone but yet the nightmares hadn't returned. "If you're wondering why your nightmares haven't started up it's because the two of us are still here and we figured that we would do some training seeing as things have gotten rather frantic in just the past 36 hours since you were released." Shadow spoke in a voice that was unusually serious for him. "What exactly are you talking about?" I asked confused as to the sudden serious that overtook the atmosphere around us. "Dark Heart, with how things have turned, you're severely lagging in unlocking not only the power that lies within me and the Heart of Light but also the power that lies within you and shadow. There is so much more that you can do and compared to that you haven't even scratched the surface of what you're truly capable of, but that isn't really your fault seeing as most of that hidden power can only be discovered out there, during whatever adventures you're liable to have in this world of ours." Nova explained and cleared up most of my confusion. "Well if I can only discover in there, then what are we going to be doing in here?" They glanced at one another before turning to face me again. "These new abilities of yours will most likely become a hassle when you first obtain them, so me and Nova decided that it would most likely be a good idea if we used your dreams to help you train to be able to use some of the things that you may get and make sure that you're not stumbling all over yourself to get their basic functions working." Huh, I can actually deal with that, plus it would give me an idea of what sort of powers and abilities that these two believe that I may have. "Well alright then, how about we get started then. Never know when I might get these new powers of mine." I said earning a face splitting grin from the two of them which in turn caused a grin to form as well as I could imagine what these two have in store for me for our new training regimen. Author's Note Sorry for those expecting some kind of outburst from Dark Heart at the cottage, but it just didn't seem like the right time for something like that right now. I rather have it blow up in their faces later than sooner; building up that tension you know. And in the part where Dark Heart is running for his life, imagine him running like Sabertooth in X-men Origins: Wolverine.
ChallengeAuthor's Note Seeing as I'm not all that good at being able to create a constant rhyme scheme that make any sense, even in riddles, Zecora isn't going to be talking like her usual, mysterious self. Challenge DarkHeart's POV It's been about six months since I've been released from the confines of the Heart of Light and things have been interesting, even more so when I became adapted to the modern lifestyle. I still live in my cave mind you but I don't really stay in it long during the day as I am always training as well as doing many other miscellaneous things, like helping Ponyville with its many problems that seem to arise. One in particular involved Pinkie Pie cloning herself, I know this because I woke up to a swarm of them in my cave. As much as I enjoy her company handling a herd of twenty of the energetic mare is just a little too much for me to handle. Though I have to question how well her friends actually know her considering that had to put her and her clones through a test that could have risked them their friend. I found her sulking about and she told me of how scared she was of failing the test and losing her friends, but after I reassured her that I would make sure that she wasn't sent to the mirror pool. I'm not sure how they couldn't figure it when they've been her friends for longer than I have, but I knew that the really Pinkie Pie would become depressed at how her actions had hurt the citizens of Ponyville, especially her best friends. That leads me to something else as well that I've forgotten to mention. After that whole incident with Mayor Mare, all of the Ponyville's residents thought of me as some molester and despised me for it. There were only two mares in the entire town that even bothered listening to me and suffice enough to say that they actually believed me when I told them it was an accident; they also said that they would try to get everypony else to see the truth as well but that hasn't been working too well, but I can live with it as long as none of them start harassing me. Of course these two mares were none other than Cheerilee and Pinkie Pie. I'm glad they decided to listen as they were the ones that helped me get adapted to modern times and helped understand anything new that started up over the past one-thousand years, like Nightmare Night which I would suspect Luna would be happy with if it wasn't associated with Nightmare Bitch. There also a holiday known as Hearts and Hooves day that is supposed to be about spending time with your special somepony, which was started by some lovesick prince and princess from another kingdom, idiots. Though than that, as well as obvious changes to government, education, and all of the other stuff that naturally change with time, not much has changed which helps me become more adapted to things around here. My days so far have been a set routine for me, get up, hunt, and eat in the mornings, train, hunt, and eat in the afternoons, then spend time with Ember, who healed up in just a couple of days, eat, and then sleep. Though when I'm asleep, instead of having my usual nightmares, I train with Shadow and Nova to help unlock more of my dark powers. There are also the odd days when either Cheerilee, Pinkie, or one of the princesses will send me a letter asking if I would like to hang out with them, which I usually reply yes to. At the moment though, instead of training like usually, I'm spending time with a zebra mare by the name of Zecora, who I met while hunting this morning. I was surprised to learn that she lived in a little hut inside the Everfree Forest but after I asked why it made sense, plus she said that she could handle it as the creatures didn't bother her all too much and she has potions that she could conjure up to get rid of them if they do. But I'm getting off topic, right now Zecora and I are having on dark magic as she has become very interested in it after learning that it was my special talent. "So you've learning more about dark magic from these spirits that, you've not only heard speak, but also seen as well?" The potion brewer asked. "Yeah, Shadow and Nova have been incredibly helpful in helping me grow stronger and understand it better." I answered her. "But I do hope the day comes when I can find a crippling weakness to stop it as well." That statement seemed to have shocked the striped mare. "But why do that? Why would you want to find a way stop using dark magic completely when you can help change the world with it, especially if others take in the fact that you haven't let it consume you like many of those before you." She asked confusedly about the subject. "Well Zecora, learning of something like that would benefit the world in a long run, and by that I mean after I'm dead seeing as I would be the one who would deal with these kinds of problems," I stated, earning the zebra's interest. "What kinds of problems would arise that would so dangerous as only you could handle the problem?" Zecora asked in an even more confused, and strangely anxious, manner. "Well anything that has to do with dark magic of course. Remember Zecora dark magic affects every other creature that lives here negatively. Depending on the user, they go insane and end their own lives or be turned into a slave and be forced to do unspeakable things. There are barely anypony that can withstand its effects without doing something extreme to themselves, and as far as anypony knows, I'm the only one who can counter it without risk of corruption. So finding a way for everypony, or at least every magic user, to stop dark magic in its tracks has become one of my main goals; especially considering that I fear that there may be one day that I lose control of myself and need to be stopped. I want there to be a way to put me down if it comes to that so that nopony gets hurt." I explained to Zecora as I developed a saddened expression and turned my gaze towards the ground. While I cast my gaze to the floor, I allowed everything I said to the zebra to sink into my brain to make sure I fully grasped what I implied. Although I'm the one that came with the plan during my nightly training session with Shadow and Nova, I still feel. . . . scared about the whole thing. If I do find a way for somepony to stop me without having to resort to using dark magic themselves, what's going assure them that I won't be able to counter it. I solemnly thought, putting myself more into a depressive state. Before I could think on the subject any further I felt a hand place itself upon my shoulder and I looked up to its owner, to see Zecora offering a sad smile and I believe I could see tears welling up as well though I don't understand why. I know what I said was maybe a little depressing, but it was true and it really . . . .only . . . . affects. . . .me; goddess dammit, of course she would be sad, we haven't known each other for long, but she already considers me to be a really close friend and the same could be said of me. "I know that you see yourself as a monster at times, but I don't think that any would have to worry about you turning into that. Plus I don't believe that I would be able to hurt you as I see as a dear friend and would not wish to see harm brought upon you, though I am honored that you would trust me with something like that." Zecora said with a small smile before she embraced me. Being the sap I am sometimes I melted into the hug and returned the gesture of affection. "I know how hard it would be to have to hurt your friends Zecora, but it's because I see you as my friend that I would want you, or anypony else that I see as friends, to be the ones to stop me, but I do agree with you. I won't believe myself to be a monster, but I will still have to acknowledge that it is still there; you understand that don't you?" I asked as I looked down at the mare who had her face buried into my chest. "Awwww, that was so sweet of you Dark Heart. I never knew that you could feel actual for anypony else that wasn't your parents or Tender Heart." Nova joked, which had gotten her a growl as response. We stayed within each others arms for awhile before Zecora finally pulled herself back from me with a bigger smile adorning her features. I was about to say something but then Ember pounced on me out of nowhere and started licking my face. "Ember. .hahaha. . .w-wha-what are you doing girl? I asked as I tried to get the timberwolf to stop licking me, not that I actually mind considering that she does this nearly every time she sees me after I come back from doing whatever it was that I was doing. She eventually decided to stop, after about ten minutes, and left my fur damp with her tree sap like saliva. I picked myself up and dusted off my clothes before looking down at the little rascal. You know, despite looking like she is all grown up. Ember likes to act just as a pup would with how much energy she seems to have and how much she always to play around. I gotta say it's nice having her around; I had a feeling that we would connect well, but I didn't think it would be this well though. I kneeled down to pet her and scratch behind her right ear before standing back up and look for where Zecora had gotten off to, to find her in the center of the room, standing on her head, on a staff, and in with perfect balance. "You want me and Ember to go since you're mediating?" I asked her. "No you and Ember are more than welcomed to stay. I just ask that you not do anything that would break my concentration." Zecora said while keeping her eyes closed and maintaining her stance. I stayed as I have thrown out of my routine and I liked spending time with the potion maker considering that she has been able to understand me very well; almost like she was there a thousand years ago and was observing me from afar, but I know that isn't possible, and that sounds a little creepy. I sat on the floor and resting against the wall while petting Ember, who was currently laying on my lap, and enjoyed the calm silence that filled the room. At least I would have if my ears didn't pick the sound of movement from outside the hut. It sounded like somepony was running towards but considering how well Zecora's potions work in curing various ailments I would suspect that whoever it was that running here had something that needed fixing. I was going to get up and warn Zecora so that she didn't end up falling over when the pony barged in, but it seem that I underestimated their speed as I was halfway to Zecora before Twilight came bursting in through the door and startled her which inevidently led to Zecora losing her balance and almost toppling over. I say almost as I was quick to react and the mare before she collided with the ground. "Thank you Dark Heart for saving me from a nasty fall." Zecora thanked me before she turned to the out of breath Twilight. "Now I must ask why you have come bursting into my home like a madmare Twilight Sparkle?" "I. . . need your. . . .help. Trixie. . . . is back. . . causing. . . trouble in. . . .Ponyville." She said between breaths. Me and Zecora waited until she fully caught her breath again so that she could explain further. I would have practically flew over to Ponyville to help out, but I need details. I needed to know who exactly is causing said trouble and why before making a move so that I don't cause any issues later on for going overboard. Twilight appeared to have finally regained herself and looked like she was going to say something before she spotted me and gained a scowl on her face. I just rolled my eyes at how her expression changed after seeing me instead of the worried one she had when she came in. "What are you doing here you perv. Shouldn't you be out harassing some more mares, or perhaps find some poor defenseless creature to snack on?" Twilight snapped at me. "Well shouldn't you be at home and bossing around Spike like the fucking slave driver you are. You are so damn insecure with yourself that you have to be right about everything, and when you're not you just start using all of these big words to make it seem like you actually know what're talking about and when that doesn't work you have rely on Celestia to get you out of it thanks to your own fucking incompetence!" I snapped right back at her as I was tried of dealing with her shit as well as the rest of Ponyville. Unfortunately though I can't just go off on a rampage as I'm trying to prove that those who wield dark magic aren't evil, and I care too much about the foals in town to do so especially since I'm afraid I may get too much into to differentiate between ponies. At this moment though, I wasn't going to let this opportunity just pass on by and judging by Twilight's mortified expression, I was right to do so. "Now if you're done being a bitch, can you tell us what the fuck is going in Ponyville so that I can go take care of it. I may not be all that fond of the residents now but I don't want to children to have to suffer because of their mistakes." Of course I got no response so I sat and waited till she got that stupid look off of her face and gain back enough thought to form an intelligent answer. "As much as I've been wanting you to do something like that for a while now; I have to say that was a little harsh even for me. Perhaps you should apologize for just a small part of that. I think that should be enough to save yourself from looking like a complete asshole." I couldn't believe what I was hearing from Shadow, Shadow of all of the creatures I know, to be the one to tell me that I should say I was sorry to somepony I insulted. Even so, I won't say a damn thing; he isn't the one who has to deal with all of the scrutiny from them. I was going to tell him that but it would seem that a certain somepony has finally come around. "There is a unicorn named Trixie Lulamoon who is terrorizing Ponyville." Twilight finally said. "And what reason does she have for that?" I asked seriously though inside I was patting myself on the back for getting her to shut up. "Awhile back she had shown up in town to put on a show but during it she was boasting and nopony was responding well to that. She would even call herself 'The Great and Powerful Trixie' while on stage. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity tried to get her to see that she wasn't all that great and powerful, but she managed to humiliate all of them in front of the crowd that had gathered; even tried challenging me, but I refused when I saw how my friends had responded to her showing off her magic, I didn't want them to turn on me like they had to her. Her boasting led two colts to head into leading an ursa minor into town, though they were originally trying to attract an ursa major, because of a story that Trixie had told to everypony. I manage to put the ursa minor to sleep, as it was only rampaging through town because those colts had woken it up from its nap, and sent it back to the cave that it came from. Trixie had ran from town feeling humiliated and her caravan destroyed from the incident which leads to why she has come back. She wanted to get back at me for humiliating her and challenged me to a magical duel. She won and kicked me out of Ponyville, which is now sealed off. I would have asked the princesses for help but they're in Saddle Arabia and are currently heading back to Equestria with a couple of dignitaries, and she also had put me in charge of organizing some entertainment for them when they get here." Twilight explained and she seemed to be uneasy about something else, as though there's something she hasn't told us yet. "Alright then, but what aren't you telling us Twilight?' I asked calmly, though I was ready to bolt to the door and head towards Ponyville after hearing that this mare had taken it over because of a petty grudge. "Well, you see, I have seen what Trixie could do with her magic before, and I could say that there is something up with both Trixie and her magic." She stopped for a moment and appeared to be pondering on what she was going to say next, probably making she has of facts straight. "And?" She was pondering too long for my taste, plus with every minute that passes is a minute that Trixie is spending making the town in her own image. I know that for a fact considering she kicked Twilight out of Ponyville and sealed it up so that nopony else could leave or enter. "And it seems like that some of the spells that she used were way too advanced for her to have learned in so short amount of time. She managed to use aging spells as if it was simply picking up a feather. She also seems to be. . .nastier than before." I gave her an inquisitive look as a sign that she needed to explain that last part further. "What I mean by that, is that before Trixie was just boastful and pulled little pranks when the others confronted her the first time she was here but now it seems that she wants to rule over everypony with an iron fist." That caught my attention a little, especially when a thought popped up into my head and Nova and Shadow seem to be arguing over something. Are you two thinking what I'm thinking? I asked them as they ceased their conversation. "If you're thinking that this Trixie is being influenced by dark magic then yeah we are?" Nice to know that we're on the same page. "Though to be more specific we think that there's an artifact that maybe giving her the powerful to perform spells that powerful and also changing her behavior as well. It all connects well enough though we might want to ask Twilight if she saw anything that Trixie didn't have before." Shadow advised, but before I couldn't have sworn I caught a glimpse of his thoughts and saw a glimpse of an amulet. "Twilight, did Trixie have anything on her person that she didn't have the last time you'd seen her?" I asked Twilight, hoping that she had an answer that I could go on. "I think so, why?" The librarian asked, tilting her head in confusion. "Well Shadow, Nova, and I think that there may be something that Trixie has on her that is boosting her magical powers through the means of dark magic and that it is an artifact that she must be wearing." I explained to her and could see both her and Zecora getting worried. "I noticed that Trixie had a strange necklace that she was wearing." Twilight told me, and I heard Shadow ask me to have her describe which had gotten me to believe that he knew something. "Can you tell what exactly it looks like?" "The necklace was it shape of a unicorn head with wings that secured it around her neck, which means that it was an alicorn, and it had a strange red gem in the middle it with another smaller one acting as the eye of the alicorn and was dark grey and black in color." I could feel that both of the spirits starting to freak out and I was growing concerned. "Dark Heart we need to go stop that unicorn, NOW!!" Shit, this is not good. "What the hell is it you two? What exactly am going against here?" I asked and both of them explained what exactly had them so freaked out. As they did, I started to become very worried for the ponies in Ponyville. "What is it Dark Heart, What's did they tell you?" The fear was ever so present in Twilight's voice. "The residents of Ponyville are in trouble. Shadow and Nova believe that the necklace Trixie is wearing is the Alicorn Amulet. It is said to grant whoever wears it incredible power but it corrupts its user whenever they perform a spell. Eventually it can cause the wearer's heart to become so corrupt that they'll change into a merciless killer that takes pleasure in the pain of misery of others and to make matters worse it will also grant them the ability to use dark magic, but more importantly, it's the very same amulet that granted that bastard King Sombra the power he needed to take over the Crystal Empire and be on par with the princesses." I couldn't help but let out loud growl when I got to the part about Sombra when I thought that he was the one that made dark magic users have a bad name when he might not have been borned with them like I had originally thought. "So all we have to do is get the Alicorn amulet off of Trixie and then everything will be okay, right?" Twilight asked hopefully. "Well, yes and no, yes because if we can get the amulet off of her she will turn back to normal and any spells that she has cast will dissipate, but the only way for the amulet to be taken off is to get Trixie to do it herself which won't be easy considering that the corruption won't allow it, but I think I have an idea of how to get her to do it of her free will and prematurely reverse the effects of the corruption." I said as Twilight perked up when I told her I had a plan to fix this. "Okay so what is your plan then Dark Heart?" Zecora asked, obviously wanting to be a part of this. "Well I figured you two would have figured it out when I mentioned reversing the corruption." The two mares just looked at each other hoping that one of them had the answer, but alas they were both oblivious to it. *sigh* Girls, did you two already forget about the Heart of Light? The very amulet whose job is to cure the evil and darkness within any creature's heart? And with that they both seem to finally figure out I wanted to do, but I would probably need to go into finer detail of the plan. ~two hours later~ "So do you three have the plan memorized?" I asked the three mares. The third one being Fluttershy as it would seem that the rest of Twilight's friends also figured out that Trixie had the Alicorn Amulet and had sent her to relay the message to Twilight so that she could figure out a plan to stop this. I had to change the plan a bit with the additional member but the plan was still essentially the same. Twilight and Zecora would go to the edge of the barrier around the town and challenge Trixie to a rematch with a fake amulet that was supposed to 'display the power of the Everfree Forest' and distract her while Fluttershy and I went to gather up the rest Twilight's friends so that they could help her with some of the other spells that she wouldn't be able to perform on her own. During all of that I would be charging up the Heart of Light so that I could launch it at Trixie to purify her heart long enough to reason with her and get her to take off the Alicorn Amulet. The plan should be simple enough and I really don't see anything going wrong to be honest. As long as I get the shot off there was no way for things to go wrong. I was thinking that as we were making our way to the Golden Oaks Library to meet up with everypony. We walked in and I was immediately met with death glares from all but one of the ponies that were in the treehouse. Pinkie though, just silently jumped at me for a hug, of course I found it odd that she was so quiet. I caught her when she collided with me and looked down to her smiling face, at least it would have been smiling if her mouth wasn't gone. "So that's why I didn't her squealing in joy when she jumped at you.I think this might be to one good thing that Trixie did." I ignored him and asked Pinkie worriedly, "Pinkie Pie what happened to your mouth?" "Trixie used her fancy shmancy new magic ta take it. Now if you'll excuse us we have better things to worry about at the moment. Yup, was so expecting that from AJ. "Well I don't give a shit about you girls, but when it comes anypony messin with Pinks, then its time to throw down the gloves. Now hold still for a sec Pinkie." She did as I said and stood still while I backed up a couple of steps and started charging a spell. When the spell was charged, a scarlet beam shot from my horn and into Pinkie's face. When the cloud of magic residue subsided, we all saw that she had her mouth back. She realized this and shot off like a rocket back to me though when she made contact it drove me back a few yards before I slammed into the wall. "Thank you thank you thank you Dark Heart for letting me talk and eat again! It was so horrible not being able to talk. Actually it was horrible not having a mouth at all, I mean nopony couldn't understand me or anything, and I had to mmrrph mmph mmmrrrrhhhh." Pinkie thanked before going off into her incomprehensible slur of words that are spoken so fast that I couldn't make out anything she was saying. "Alright alright Pinkie, I get it, not having a mouth is terrible but right now we have more important matters to attend to, like telling you the plan that I've come up with to stop Trixie and get her to take off the damned Alicorn Amulet around her neck." I said to get her to calm down. As soon as I mentioned that I had a plan, I got sneers from the other four in the room. "Why should we even bother listening to any plan of yours, especially since that we don't know if you're just doing trying to help to get the amulet for yourself." Rainbow Dash said, eyeing me suspiciously. "Because of three reasons, One: to get your friend back and end this madness, Two: I'm here to protect my own friends, and Three: that amulet was created by King Sombra and I want to destroy that thing so that it could never be used again and further downsize the reputation of dark magic users that may actually have good in their hearts. I'm doing more so for the third reason of anything else considering I know that my friends will be fine and that I found somethings out about the Sombra that may be linked to the amulet that have driven me to hate the bastard more." They didn't look like they believed me, but I seriously don't care anymore. I have both Pinkie and Fluttershy to back me up plus this plan is my peaceful way of ending this. If I have to I'll go to my default plan instead and fight her,which shouldn't be a problem even if she does have the aid of the Alicorn Amulet. "That feud of yours with King Sombra makes no sense since we helped defeat him and witnessed his destruction ourselves. So what is the real story behind all of this?" Rarity inquired. "There is no 'real story' behind it, but if you really want to know why I still insist on it it's because I don't believe that you actually defeated him. He had dark magic on his side and that in itself is explanation enough to why I say that." I really shouldn't be getting into this right now but I need them to understand this. Even if they don't believe me, which will probably be the case, they will have it on their mind and start to think about it. "So what if he had dark magic? Not even that could stand up to us and the Elements of Harmony." Rainbow Dash said boastingly. "Because there are many things that remain a mystery about the inner workings of dark magic, even to me, but there is one thing that I have learned about it and that is that it doesn't like to be contained. That applies to whether or not its bearer is alive or dead, do you see where I'm going with this?" I asked as looks of fear and understanding came my way. "So ya sayin that the dark magic that Sombra had could bring him back from the dead?" Applejack asked. "Either that or the magic protected him and that right now he could be recovering until he feels he's strong enough to get revenge. It's hard to tell considering that, for one I've never been intoned to his magical signature which means that I can't track him, and two is that he has had his dark power for longer that I have so even if I had been intoned he would be hidden until he slips up; in which case I'll be on him faster than he could think the uh-oh. I highly doubt Sombra knows of my existence, so if he is alive and hiding, he won't be suspecting me when decides to show his face but we're getting off topic. Are you girls going to bother listening to what I have planned to get of this Trixie mare or not?" I asked after I decided that I've gone off on a tangent long enough. "Guess we don't have a choice if we're going to fix this mess." Rainbow said in a defeated tone. "Good, now here's the plan. . . ." I went about explaining to them everything that needed to be done to make this work and told them to hurry as I wasted quite a bit time with that brief lecture on dark magic and King Sombra's involvement in all of this. The girls spent the rest of the time getting ready until the indicated time while I found a spot to watch everything until it was my time to step in. The next couple of hours went by quickly, but not quickly enough as I watched her order two colts around like pack mules and making them carry her everywhere in a luxurious, and heavy, cart with no wheels. I couldn't help them out yet as I needed to make sure that she wouldn't be able to stop me when I released the magic of the Heart on her though I did give them a bit more energy with my magic to help them out some. The time had finally came and the girls, along with their families, were getting into position as Trixie, Twilight, and Zecora were arriving in the center of town to begin their duel. They started off with aging spells and Applejack, Rarity, and their sisters were playing it off quite nicely, in fact everything was going the way I wanted it to perfectly. The little performance was drawing to a close and all that was left was Pinkie's part. I had left her with her mouth but we put pink tape over it so she wouldn't be able to speak and Trixie would find out that somepony else was here messing up her plans. Twilight launched her spell at Pinkie, but I sensed a slight influx in magic and it felt like it was coming from Twilight. I knew something was going to go wrong but before I could anything about it Twilight's spell made contact with Pinkie. It didn't do any damage to her besides knock on her butt, but that made the others worried for their friend and everypony that was hiding behind the statue came out of hiding to check on the hyperactive mare, whose mouth was now uncovered by the adhesive strip. "What is this!? You have been cheating this whole time!?" The showmare shouted. Shit, it looks like the plan has gone to bust. I thought as I watched the events before me transpire as I decided to wait until the right moment. "Well of course we did. You cheated by coming here and challenging Twilight to a duel wearing the Alicorn Amulet and we had to find a way to get it off of you so you can stop being such a meanie to everypony." . . . . . . I'm going to kill that mare. Did Pinkie really have to reveal our plan to her *sigh* at least she didn't say anything about me which tells me that she isn't a complete dunce. What Trixie did next immediately made me jump onto my hooves. She had gotten ahold of the pink mare with her magic and focused it around her neck and was choking her, asking her how she knew about the Alicorn Amulet. Her friends tried to help but were quickly driven back by the now enraged mare. I decided I have had enough of watching on the side lines and fired off my own spell at the mare. She was sent flying when it made contact and her hold on Pinkie was broken. I went down to check on my friend as Trixie was pulling herself up and had spotted me. "Who do you think you are?To assault the Great and Powerful Trixie must mean you have some type of death wish there pal. . . well, do you?" The fuming mare asked with a look that would put dragons down. Unfortunately for her I have been through worse and can match her glare with a cocky grin and sadistic laugh. "What, what are you laughing at? Are you deranged or something?" It would appear that she's losing her cool. "I'm laughing because you think you have any right to be making death threats to anypony at the moment, especially in my presence." I saw the shivers that ran through her as she heard me speak in my demonic tone. "A- a- a- and what makes you say that?" She asked as she was trying to regain her composure and appear threatening. "Oooohhhh nothing, just the fact that I possess dark magic but I mean it's not really that big of a deal." I spoke casually as I watched horror dawn on her face. "N- n-n- n- n-no way. You Bluffing!" That amulet may corrupts its wearer but it would seem that it can't get rid of fear. "Am I? Well I guess you won't mind going against me then now would you?" I swear that any minute now she's going to piss herself with how calmly I'm speaking right now. "Dark Heart! That's enough! The magic needed for the Novus Purificare spell." Nova jumped in before I could make Trixie lose her sanity. It was a good thing too as I looked around after snapping out of my crazed faze to see that everypony, even Pinkie Pie, Zecora, and Cheerilee who must've shown up some time during that display of insanity, was looking towards me with fear prominent within their very souls and made me realise that I've taken this too far. "Alright Nova, lets do this." I spoke in my normal voice again before I called upon my dark magic to create chains of pure energy and sent them to restrain Trixie so she could not interfere with the process. I'm meant to be the one who purifies the hearts of others and it's just now do I realize the irony in this as I'm probably the one who needs it the most. Maybe that's the real reason why I failed all those years ago. "Wait, Dark Heart, what are doing? I thought you said that you were going to purify her, not kill her!" Twilight shouted fearfully but I just ignored her before I putting focus on the spell. As it gained power, the Heart started to emit a bright, almost holy glow that seemed to be pushing itself into a small orb that would easily be able to fit in the palm of my hand. When I felt that it was ready I released the spell by saying its name in ominous whisper and with that a beam of purifying magic went towards Trixie. She screamed when it made contact with her as she thought that she was going to die, but they soon died down as she a couple of minutes passed and she saw that she was still alive. She looked to me as the light died down with the anger, malice, and even fear, gone from her eyes. "What did you do to me?" The purified mare asked. "I purified your heart so that we could calmly ask you to take off the Alicorn Amulet." I answered in a friendly tone and I heard a few sighs of relief come from some of the ponies gathered around us. "But why didn't you just ask me before doing all of this?" She must have been oblivious of her corruption. "Because the Alicorn Amulet made you become corrupt with its power. So even if we had asked you odds are that you would've said no done something terrible to us, and we didn't try to take it off ourselves because it has an enchantment on it that allows only the wearer to take it off." Twilight said as she came up from behind me. "Corruption!? Did I hurt anypony because of it?" Well it's nice to see that she does care, though ponies could probably attribute that to the Novus Purificare spell I casted on her, they wouldn't know its name though so I guess it would better to just say they would thank the spell I casted on her, but whatever. "I would say that you didn't that cause any physical harm, at least none that I know of, but you have caused quite a bit of trouble here just the same....scratch that, you did try to choke Pinkie after mentioning the Alicorn Amulet but that is when I stepped in and blasted you which I must apologize for." I spoke sincerely when I said that last part as I know that it'll probably cause some kind of repercussions later. "Oh no, I remember buying this so I can revenge on Twilight, as well as her friends, for humiliating me when I was last here, but I didn't want to cause anypony any harm." Trixie said as she hung her head down in shame. I walked up to her and lifted her head gently to get her to look into my eyes. "Trixie this isn't your fault. I know how it feels to want revenge against those who have done you wrong and you forget what is right and what is wrong until that desire is met. You're blinded by it so much that you seek the means to do so no matter the consequence. Trixie you were dealing with forces of dark magic and very few can break its grasp, and even fewer who don't possess it for themselves. I believe that as long as you truly didn't intend for this to happen, then you shouldn't have to be punished though I would advise that you help clean up the damage that you've caused as a means to show the town that you're truly sorry. Enough about though, Trixie you need to take off that amulet; I may have cured you of its corruption, it'll come back when you use your magic again and then this whole mess gets started all over again." I said as I dispersed the chains that held her in place. Trixie looked a little hesitant to take off the Alicorn Amulet but eventually she reached her hand back to undo the clasp that was holding it there and it fell to the ground with *clank*. I picked it up and walked over to Zecora. "Zecora I need you to hide this where nopony will ever find it, even me." I gave her the amulet and she nodded her head telling me that she understood what I wanted her to do . I know that she knew why I wanted her to make sure that not even I could find it so I wasn't surprised she didn't ask why. I looked over to the girls to them talking to Trixie, along with some of the townsfolk, and saw that everything was okay so I started to trek back to the forest. It would seem, though, that my departing didn't go unnoticed as I heard Trixie calling out to me. I turned around to see the showmare running up to me. She stopped a couple of feet from me and she looked like wanted to ask me something but seemed to be nervous about it. Finally it seemed that she worked enough nerve to ask me whatever it is she wanted to ask. "Were you telling to truth when you said that you're able to use dark magic?" "Yes, yes it is. It's my special talent to be able to learn about whatever I can about dark magic as well as being able to control it without actually succumbing to its corrupting effects." I answered her with an amused smile, knowing what she was going to ask. "Well I wanted to ask if maybe you could teach me some. I heard that the illusions created by it can actually be brought to life and do so much more than standard spells." She asked me with hopefully. "Sorry Trixie, but I can't." And there's the pouting, seriously what is it with mares and looking so damn cute when they pout like this. "But why not? Do you think that I wouldn't be able to handle it? That I'm not magically capable of understanding it?" She shot the questions at me in quick succession. "Because Trixie, nopony can just learn to control it without allowing the power it grants to turn them evil. The only reason I'm able to do it is because of how broken my mind is. Anypony can learn dark magic easily and build up the power just as fast, but without to mental strength to handle corruption then we're going to have another Sombra on our hands and considering the grudge I hold for him it might not be a good idea to go that route." I told her but she still seemed determined to get me to teach her dark illusions. "Pllllease Dark Heart, I promise that I'll listen to everything you say so you can prepare me." Really, really, she went for the fucking puppy dog eyes. It's not that I can't handle looking at them, in fact it's quite the opposite. No what gets me is that whenever somepony tries these things on me I can't help but find it pathetic. "Trixie stop doing that, it makes you look pathetic, but it's not you could have known that those damn eyes don't work on me. Even if they did they wouldn't convince me to teach any dark illusion spells. Those kinds of spells are way too damn dangerous, even for me, to allow anypony to go around showing them off for a show. I'm sorry, I really am but as the guardian against the darkness, cannot help you in the way that you want." I spoke sternly which had the desired effect of getting her to finally back now, but not without grumbling annoyedly about me being stubborn that made me chuckle lightly before I resumed my way to the Everfree Forest though I saw that Ember was heading towards me already which made Trixie scared and start channeling her make to her horn. I grabbed her horn and told her to calm down and that she wasn't going to be hurt. She didn't believe me at first as she hid behind me when Ember walked up to me and started nuzzling my leg. I knelt down beside her to pet her and beckoned over Trixie and she walked over tentatively. She reached a hand out towards that Ember gave a quick sniff before licking it and let out an 'eep'. "That means that Ember likes you just in case you were wondering." "Ember, Is that this timberwolf's name?" She asked as she started scratching Ember's head. "Yeah and she is my pet and friend. I met her, OW, Ember bit me and I knew why. "Oh right, I mean my best friend and we met when her and her pack members attacked Fluttershy the second day I had been here while she was near the borders of the Everfree. I killed of the rest of her and managed to trap her by running one of my blades through one her hind legs. I looked into her eyes to see that she was scared and that she didn't want to be a part of the attack in the first place. I decided to keep and after her leg was healed up we have been with each other since. The ponies here in Ponyville have gotten used her and treat her as if she was their own, even though they still treat me like garbage." I told her the story of how me and Ember came to be together without, surprisingly, any malice at the last part. "Why do you they treat you like garbage?" Trixie asked quickly upon hearing that part. "It's a long story, I'll tell it to you sometime if you decide to stick around." I cast my eyes around to area before I stood up. "Listen Trixie, it's been nice talking to you but I gotta head out. If you ever want to talk again just ask tell Pinkie Pie and she get the message to me." I said as I yet again headed to the Everfree with Ember. I waited around the cave for a couple of hours before a scroll popped up in front me that had the royal insignia on it which means that Celestia and Luna must need me for something. Dear Dark Heart, My sister and I have received a letter from Twilight about what had happened today and we wanted to say thank you. I am well aware of what has happened between you and the residents of Ponyville on your second day there and agree that the way they've been treating you and not listening to your side of the story is wrong on all accounts. I am also aware that you may now hold a grudge against them and with this knowledge in my possession I must say that I am very proud of you for putting that aside to help in this matter and thank you for protecting my little ponies. Twilight has also told us of your wish that Trixie Lulamoon not be punished for what the Alicorn Amulet has caused her to do and I will respect your wishes. With that in mind I feel inclined to state that as of now you are officially a part of the Equestrian Royal Guard in the form of a special forces occupancy. If you wish to not have such a title, you can bring us the badge that came along with this letter and we'll be understanding of your choices. Your friend, Celestia P.S. Luna also wanted me to ask if you would like to join us and the ambassadors from Saddle Arabia in Ponyville, it would seem that Luna let it slip that you controlled dark magic along with a few other details, they are interested in seeing what you're capable of. "Well Ember, I guess I get to show off without being called out on it. . . .sayyyy, would like to come with me and meet the princesses girl?" I asked my wooden companion who in turn gave me an eager bark telling me that she indeed wanted to go. "Heh, heh, alright then. We better get going so we don't miss the show." We ran out of the cave and decided to have a little race their. I'm not sure how, but it seem that I have the ability to understand what Ember was trying to tell me without even trying. It's not on par with Fluttershy's talent but it's definitely more than what anypony else can do and it takes is for us to stare into each others eyes to get a message across to one or the other. "So I take it that you're now a part of Celestia and Luna's guard then?" Shadow asked with a serious tone. "Well duh, I'm going to a part of a special forces though I have a feeling that I'm the only in it." I replied not really feeling either way about the subject. ""I can't I'm surprised, after all you would be able to work with you besides us?" Well it would seem that Shadow's mood seems to change rather quickly nowadays. I can't really blame him though; I may be used to what this time holds it doesn't mean that there won't be unforeseen surprises up ahead for us. Who knows what creatures and enemies have came up during our time in the amulet. "Well honestly what did you two suspect? Those two were bound to want our help sooner or later and they probably waited so long to see if you were so willing to help after hearing what's been going on here." Nova stated with little room for argument from either of us. It didn't take long for me and Ember to arrive at the stage where Celestia and Luna would be and spot them sitting with who would assume were the ambassadors from Saddle Arabia. I walked up behind Luna and gave her a tap on her shoulder so as not to startle her. She turned to see me and the smile on her face grew exponentially. "DarkHeart, it's so good to see you again after all these months." She said as she got up and hugged me. Of course Luna's speaking out didn't go unnoticed by the other three. "Dark Heart you're here already?" Celestia asked with genuine surprise. "Well duh, what did you expect from me? I've been training vigorously everyday since I found a new cave to live in and playing with ember certainly helps as well as she's just seems to be a ball of endless energy." I answered her as if she was a normal pony. She and Luna go through enough of that on a daily basis with the whole having to look and sound the part of royalty in the eyes of everypony else, so they like it when I act this way when I'm with them. It lets them know that they can act like themselves around me instead of what they act like around Twilight and her friends. "So this is the famous DarkHeart that we've heard so much about." Spoke a tall brown stallion a robe of yellow and blue with an orange trim. "You know when you spoke of him I thought that he would look much older." "What does it matter how I look I could still beat the rest of the royal guard singled-handedly as well as stand up to any threat that comes to Equestria." I boasted, probably not the best idea but I wasn't going to be belittled from this guy. "Oh no, that's not what my husband ment at all. It's just that when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna spoke of you they had told us that you were a thousand and nineteen years old but they didn't tell us that you looked so young." Said the tall pink mare wearing a pink robe with a dark blue trim and white upside down, elongated horseshoes with a twirl at the bottom parts. I looked at the princesses to see them give me a sheepish smile. *sigh* "The princesses didn't tell a few things about me that you probably should have been informed of that they didn't bother to mention." I stated in bemusement of this. "Well we will be here for awhile. Would you mind telling us about yourself and fill us in on what the princesses didn't before me and my wife start asking you questions that you'll probably be able to answer any way." The stallion asked. "Yeah sure, it would do well for the bond between our nations anyway considering to only member of the newly formed Equestrian Special Forces is so willing to share information about themselves." And so I started telling about myself, starting from when I first gained my dark powers. They listened tentatively and only asked to occasional question though when I was finished they really let me have it with them. It went on like this till it was time for the delegates and princesses to leave but before the princesses left they had asked to talk in private. "So what is it you two?" I asked with a mischievous smile but that quickly died as I saw their fearful expressions. "DarkHeart we have started to get reports of strange occurrences in both the Everfree forest and Equestria. From what little information that has been gathered we have confirmation that it is a dragon who is causing them though we aren't sure if it's the same one that attacked you at the castle and that your family has been fighting for centuries, but we do know that whoever it is, is up to no good." Celestia informed me and also seemed o pick up on my thoughts that it was Spirit. "Wait, hold up, what have these occurrences been? You still haven't told me what this dragon has been doing. I need to make I'm not charging in gungho and costing somepony their live." By their fidgeting I could tell that they weren't fond of having to describe such events from their own mouths. "Well....... we aren't sure but............. it seems that this dragon is skinning ponies alive and seem to have no remorse for who they do it to. We have found newborn foals as though amongst the list of victims and some where not even a day old and........... DarkHeart?" I couldn't hear Luna anymore, after hearing what this dragon has done I'm now more than simply angry. What I was feeling right now was similar to what had happened to me after I got blasted by my mother when she was being controlled by the golem. "I know what you want to do DarkHeart and I agree, whoever this dragon is doesn't deserve to live. We're going to find them and kill them. My purpose may be to heal the hearts of those whom have been corrupted by darkness, but this is beyond such help now and there is only one way with creatures like this." I heard Nova say and thanks to her now dark tone I know just how badly she wants to head out. "Where was it last spotted?" I'll make this dragon pay for what it's done.
First Mission"I still think that you should've brought more supplies Dark Heart." Nova said for what seemed like the millionth time as I made my way to the small village that served as the destination for my first mission given to me by the princesses. "What for? This mission won't take long considering it's a simple extermination mission. Besides the more time spent packing, the more ponies will be slaughter by this mysterious dragon." I countered. "He has a point though wasn't it you who insisted on heading out as soon as possible after we were given the specs?" Shadow backed me up. Nova let out an annoyed huff. "You know that's so unfair." "What is?" "That I'm the mare in the group. Whenever we get into an argument you two gang up on me." "Since when, last I checked it was always you two ganging up on me and I would still win so don't even go there missy." I shot back earning an annoyed growl before all fell silent in my mind. It was two days ago that Celestia and Luna gave me my first mission as their special units guard and since then I've been traveling to get to a town that was being terrorized, according to witness reports, a dragon who would go around killing ponies in horrific ways. I was the only strong enough to take of the problem both in terms of strength and psychi. There was a sizable amount of the guards sent with me to evacuate what citizens remain but they were a ways behind me. "According to this map we should be close to the town let's just hope that we aren't here too late." I heard the spirits give soft murmurs of agreement. I came around a bend in the mountain path that was the only way in on hoof and spotted the town just a ways down. "Looks like I should be there if I were use my magic to extend the distance of my jump." I said to myself. "You aren't really planning on making that kind of jump are you?" Nova asked pleadingly as a mischievous grin spread across my muzzle. Nova sighed in annoyance as I backed up a few meters before sprinting towards the edge. I diverted some of my magic into my legs as I reached the edge and was launched towards the town. I was hollering with joy as a flew threw the air as the town came closer and closer until I landed with a bit of a bounce just outside its limits. I couldn't make out much from the ledge I has been standing on on the mountain but now that I was closer I could see just how much damage had been done to this town. The small town of Everglade, that had a population of approximately eight-thousand six-hundred ponies with a majority being earth ponies and pegasi, has, from what I've been told, had well over fifty percent of it population killed by a dragon. It has been going on for quite some time before the princesses had been told thanks to the dragon stopping every attempt to get a message to anypony. After a recent the townsponies had succeeded in getting one of their neighbors out the mountain pass though not without a get deal more being killed in the process. The town had sustained massive damage as I walked through town and noticed that there were a number of homes and businesses had been burned down or smashed apart. The citizens moved mournfully as they went about repairing their town, making temporary shelters, or burying their dead. There were ponies trying to comfort some of the filly and colts as they watched somepony they cared about be lowered into the ground, well the ones that weren't horribly maimed. "Dark Heart, there's a filly and colt to your left that need somepony to lend a shoulder to cry on. They're siblings and it seems that they've lost their parents and nopony else here is related to them or seemed to have taken notice." Nova informed me. I changed the course of my walking to head in the direction Nova said the foals were and walked down a row of houses. As I looked around for the foals I noticed that nopony seemed to be in the area and began to wonder why that was. I didn't get to muse for long as I heard sobbing nearby. I followed the sound around a few houses before finding two foals crying over the corpses of a unicorn mare and earth stallion. Thankfully they weren't like some of the others I've seen already as it seemed that they were simply stabbed through the heart but still it was a heart wrenching sight. I knelt down behind them and placed a comforting hand upon their shoulders. They turned to look to me when they felt something touch them before fling themselves into my arms. The colt was an earth pony who had eyes that were as red as my eyes and his mane and tail were a few shades darker with a black tint along the edge and a single violet streak on the left side. The filly was a unicorn with a tan coat and a glimmering blue mane and tail with eyes to match. From what the Heart is telling me they are both nine years old with only three months between them. They stayed for the next hour before they were finally able to calm down enough to speak. "Who are you mister? We've never seen anypony like you in Everglade before." The filly asked. "That's because I'm not from around here. I was sent here to help you guys deal with the dragon that has been attacking your town." I told her. "So you're the unicorn that Princess Celestia informed us about. We weren't expecting you until at least tomorrow along with the other guards that are supposed to help with evac." A voice said from behind us. "Sunny!" The two shouted as they ran past me. I turned around to find a member of the town's guard hugging the foals. She was a thestral mare that had a sunset orange coat with a burnt orange mane and tail that had a black and dark grey streak found on the right side of her hair. Her striking, slitted blue eyes and violet-blue bat wings complimented her coat, mane and tail nicely though they were barely visible from under her armor. She had a modest bust of double Cs and a generously sized flank for a guard. I had no idea why but there was something about this mare I couldn't quite place as I examined her form though I couldn't figure it out. It felt like I should know her for some reason as a certain permeated around her. My eyes landed on a patch of golden fur just above her chest that was in the shape of the Heart if Light and it was then I realized who she was. "My eyes are up here pal" I heard the mare growl as I hadn't noticed that she had since gotten up from her embrace with foals. "Sorry, it's just that I couldn't help but notice the patch of gold on your coat. If you don't mind me asking what is your name?" I asked after I apologized. "Why do you need to know?" She asked as she looked at me incredulously. "Because if you are who I think you are then I believe that I've met your ancestors." The mare raised her eyebrow in a questioning manner. "My name is Sun Spear and this spot," She gestured to the gold patch. "Is a birthmark that everypony in my family has had for generations. There are five of my ancestors that are famous throughout history that are buried in the Garden of Heroes so I think you've definitely heard of them. I know for a fact that everypony knows of StarDust and Lucky Streak along with their daughters, Star Trail and Midnight Dancer. It was also said that they had an older son but he had disappeared when he was sixteen never to be seen again. Our family had a powerful family heirloom that the princesses had told me about one they learned that they were my ancestors." Sun Spear ranted on. "Do they tell you what the name of their son was or what this heirloom looked like, or was called?" I asked. "Yeah actually, they did. They said his name was Dark Heart and the the heirloom as known as the Heart of Light. Apparently he used dark magic and that he was the only pony that they would have allowed to use it if he was still alive. But they all lived over a thousand years ago so I doubt you could have meant them unless you know a time travel spell." She said with a shrug. "I know I told them that I wouldn't go searching for my great nieces and nephews but I never said anything about if they had found me." I said to myself. "What are you getting on about?" The mare asked impatiently. "Well to answer my statement from earlier I had indeed met two of your ancestors. You see StarDust and Lucky Streak were my mother and father and Star Trial and Midnight Dance were my little sisters though they weren't born by the time I was ran out by the princesses." I told her as she gave me a look that suggested that she didn't believe a thing I said. "Do you think I'm an idiot. There is no way that's true or even related to me considering I don't see the birthmark in it's usual spot." "Of course it's not. I'm not sure if you've been told this but the guardian of the heart has the mark moved up to their neck, but if you don't believe me you can ask the princesses after I deal with the dragon but right now I feel as though we've wasted enough time on this conversation." I stated as walked up to the two kids. "Do you two have any other family that lives outside of Everglade?" The colt nodded. "We have an aunt that lives in Ponyville." "Well I guess that'll make things easier on making sure you two get there safe and sound. Who is your aunt?" "Her name is Cheerilee and she's a teacher." The filly said excitedly, at least it was nice to see these two cheering up a little. "Cheerilee? Does that mean that you two are Brick Builder and Dazzling Gem?" They nodded happily at the mention of their names. "By the goddess this is one hell of a coincidence, I know your aunt and I can take you two to her after I'm done here if you want. I think that she'll be happy to see you two again, especially since she was planning on coming here for a visit." Their smiles at hearing and they looked at me with fearful yet pleading expressions. "She's coming here, with that dragon here. Mister Dark Heart you have to stop her, we don't want her getting hurt too." They begged me. "Hey, hey don't worry. The guards aren't letting anypony near here so she won't get caught in this but don't worry. I'm going to go after that dragon and make it pay for doing this and they won't hurt anypony ever again, I can promise you that. Sun Spear I suggest that you take these two and go gather everypony else. Get them somewhere safe while I go after the dragon. Things will go much easier if I don't to worry about protecting other ponies." I ordered her. Surprisingly she just saluted and corralled Brick Builder and Dazzling Gem out towards the open and to the center of town with the rest of the citizens. I went to the forest to see if I could use the amulet to track down the dragon that was responsible for all of the death and destruction that had been caused here. I felt the rhythmic pulses that ran through the ground as a the waves of magic coming from the Heart, sensing out every creature that lived in the area. This trick was something that Nova taught me while we were trapped in the amulet and comes in handy whenever I can't use any of my other senses. It's similar to the echolocation bats and changelings use to maneuver in the dark. You know if it wasn't for your limiters Nova I'd be overpowered you know that right? "I know why do you think I placed them on you in the first place. You had an advantage that only the immortals have thanks to Nightmare Moon. I wouldn't be surprised if at one point you do become an alicorn." "..................urk, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha."/ " ..................urk, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha." Shadow and I busted up after a moment of silence as we knew that she was serious about that statement. "What neither of you thinks that's true?" Nova asked irritably. "Fuck no we don't. Nova can you seriously that fate would allow this fucking mental case to become an immortal. Seriously it's bad enough that he's still alive but obviously he's needed here for a reason that he wouldn't have been able to serve back in his time. I don't mean any offense bud but I don't think the world would be able to handle you for the rest of eternity." "None taken Shadow because I agree with you. This world was not designed to handle beings like me Nova and you damn well know it. As much as I like living I am meant to serve a purpose, one that was needed here for. If I were to live forever then the world would surely fall into madness, and if not then there's still the risk of not being able to control the monster and lashing out." Me and Shadow presented our cases against her. "But what if that is fate's intent then Dark Heart?" "What do you mean?" "What if you were sealed away and wounded up here because you're meant to be an immortal like Celestia and Luna. There is meant to be balance in everything in this world and what if you are here to help retain that balance with your dark magic. Celestia and Luna keep day and night balanced for the benefits of their subjects. The order and peace they brought balanced out Discord's chaos, so it would make sense if you are here to help keep the balance between light and dark instead of good and evil." Every dark magic user has been put out of commission because of how they used it but you are different and me and Shadow are proof of that." Nova argued back but before I could retaliate I picked up a surge of darkness hit me from one the further waves. "I found her." I snarled. "Her? How can you tell it's a her?" "It's what the Heart is telling me as well as a few other things that I don't quite understand." I said as my anger turned into confusion. "Nova are you getting this as well?" "Yeah but I'm not sure if I believe it. Looks like you'll have to gather some information before we can decide what to do." I nodded in agreement as I headed in the direction I felt the wave bounce back from. "What's you guys, what the hell is the Heart saying?" He asked as I sped through the forest. "It's saying that not only is the dragoness sorry for what she's done but that she didn't do it of her own free will. We're not sure whether or not to actually be this as it could be trap so like Nova said, we're off to gather information. If what the Heart is telling us checks out then I guess we'll have a change of targets once we find out who the real culprit is." As I came upon the other side of the mountain range that surrounds Everglade. I started to climb since the pings were getting stronger but made sure to be silent about it so as not to raise alarm. It will do me no good if the dragoness turns hostile and the Heart is right. I wished I had wings right now. I complained in my head much to the enjoyment of the spirits. It wasn't that the climb itself was tiring, just long and boring, plus I don't like having to waste the time for this crap when other's lives are at stake but alas I'm stuck with my hands and hooves to help me traverse this terrain. Bright side is that all of my complaining and internal dialogue had taken my mind off it and when I came out of my thoughts to focus on climbing I noticed that I was only twenty meters away of the ledge. I could feel that the source were just over it as the I could feel the darkness without the Heart now. It was stronger than the Heart had lead me to believe but I wasn't concerned considering that it just gave me strength. I looked over the ledge to check if the coast was clear, once I saw that it was I climbed up on it and searched for a cave or anywhere the dragoness could be hiding. Using the darkness that she was emanating to play hot cold I found a rather spacious and homey cave a ways into the mountains. Using the shadows as cover I traversed the caves for signs of my target. After about forty minutes I heard a, no two voices coming from one of the tunnels. I peeked around the corner and spotted the my target and sure enough it was a she. Her scales were a dark violet and her belly down to the underside of her tail was a cream color. The spines running down her back and tail looked like they were made of jade and she wore armor that looked like it was thrown together in a few minutes. She wasn't alone as there was another figure there and I immediately knew from his appearance that he was trouble. Whoever he was he was nothing more than a cloud of black smoke. I amplified my hearing to listen in on their conversation as the dragoness seemed to be trying argue her way out of something and was failing. "Please stop making me do this. Those ponies have never anything but show me kindness and now over half the town is dead because of your possession over me." The dragoness pleaded. "Hyperion you should be honored that I've decided to use you as my vessel. You are weak and much too kind for your own good but don't you worry my dear. When I'm done with you you'll be on par with another dragon that I took control of millenias ago. I would ask him for help instead of bothering you but he's off looking for an artifact known as the Heart of Light that was last seen and the son of that damnable StarDust, Dark Heart I believe his name was." The cloud said as my eyes grew wide at what I just heard. "So that's why we've been unable to cure him of the evil in his heart. He was possessed by one of the demon lords of Tartarus." Nova said as realization struck her. "What does that matter? Your and the Heart's power are on par with the Elements of Harmony and since they can take down the god of chaos then shouldn't you be able to heal whatever corruption they could dish out?" "Yes but it takes insane amount of energy to do so and keeping the target restrained long enough for the blast to hit is extremely difficult, not to mention that I'll be out of commission for awhile. Trying to cure a direct possession is even harder as not only does it need to banish the demon themselves but it also needs to create a portal back to Tartarus to make sure they can't do it again for another few centuries." "What if you just banished the demon from somepony's body?" I asked as I continued to listen to the conversation between the demon lord and dragoness. "I would still need about a month to recover but I guess it's better than waiting almost a year though you can't seriously be thinking of taking this guy on." "Alone no, but with the help of the dragoness I could at least keep him on the run long enough for Celestia and Luna to get my message." I said as I waited for the opportune moment to strike. "What message?" "I already sent her a message using the magical channels about what I've found out and what it is we need to do to send this asshole back to Tartarus." I stated neutrally. Just then the demon lords cloud form yelled as he was getting angry with Hyperion for continuing to refuse to allow him to take full control of her body and turn her into like Spirit. It was then I made my presence known as Cursed sliced through the lower half of its form. The demon lord howled in pain before turning to me with a furious stare. He appraised my form and his ominously glowing icy blue eyes widen in realization. "You're Dark Heart, the son of StarDust." "Yeah, I am." "But how are you still alive and why are you here?" "The Heart and I'm here because I had been sent to kill her," I pointed towards Hyperion who lowered her head in shame. "For terrorizing Everglade and killing its citizens. After listening to the two of you though I realized that it was you that I'm after." This earned me a laughing cloud of smoke as the demon lord found it humorous that I was going to attempt to stop him, at least he would have if I hadn't sent Blessing his way to slice off another piece from the bottom of his smoke form that was bigger than the last. "Hyperion if you want to make amends for your sins that this bastard forced you to commit then I suggest that you help me take him down." I informed her as I took up a battle stance. "Are you crazy, there is no way we can take him on! " She yelled desperately as I stood beside her after a quick teleportation. "We don't have to we have just have to draw his attention and head for Canterlot. You will have to fly both of us there is we are to have any chance of survival. What do you say?" I asked as I blasted the demon lord again to keep him pinned to the wall. Hyperion kept looking back between me and the tunnel entrance as she contemplated whether she should run away or fight. After awhile it looked like she was going to just up and run as a look of terror appeared on her face and she began walking towards the exit. She stopped when she was about half way there and turned to her right as she grabbed something from behind her wardrobe. When she retracted her arm I saw that she was holding a mace before she ran at the demon lord. I smiled as I infused a bit of my magic into the weapon so that it could actually damage him. The sweet, sweet sound of his pained howls was music to my ears as I got a message back from Celestia saying that she had everything ready. "Hyperion let's go before he gets up!" I shouted as I ran towards to exit. She caught up in no time as I didn't have that big of a lead on her with the black cloud right behind us. We both put in the effort to keep him a distance away from us before we exited her cave and I jumped on her back as she jumped off the ledge. Using the chain that held Blessing to the gauntlet on my arm I anchored myself to Hyperion as I stood up on her back and deflected any projectiles that was sent our way. "Hey be careful where you dig your boots pony." Hyperion said over the wind as I noticed that I had somehow been shifted from my position by the area where her wings was connected to her back and was practically standing on her ass. It was then that I noticed that something was off about to chain as it appeared to be lengthening itself and the gauntlet was becoming detached. I felt a rush of an unnatural power run through me as I noticed a glow light coming from the gauntlet. Not trusting this power I clamped the gauntlet shut, readjusted my position on her back, and resecured the chain tightly around her waist. "Sorry about that. I hadn't realized the chain was coming loose so thanks for the heads up." "Just don't let it happen again." She said as she dived down to escape one of the demon lord's attacks. We had past the mountains awhile ago and I could see Canterlot in the distance. We still had a ways to go but we seemed to be doing good so far so I don't think we had anything to worry about along as we didn't get cocky, well in my case I guess it's cockier. "Hyperion I see Canterlot up ahead, do you think you try going faster?" "I can but then you won't be able to hold him off." "Don't worry about me I'll be fine just get going so we can be done with this damn chase." She nodded and told me to hold on as she started to fly faster. The change in speed was rapidly increasing as her wings flapped faster and harder and the size of Canterlot grew rapidly as we neared it all the faster. When he saw where we were heading he sought to catch us quicker as his speed increased as well though it seemed that he had to strain to do so. Whenever he reached out a nice slash to the face or the limb that was reaching out usually got him to back off a few seconds before trying again. The demon lord's smoke form was getting smaller and smaller as I hacked at him but he seemed persistent on getting to us, though it looked more like me specifically, guess he's after the Heart, though he was stopped dead in his tracks as a wall of light surrounded him from all sides as soon as we got into Canterlot. I directed told Hyperion to land at the steps to the castle when I spotted the princesses. "Thanks you two, I don't think even I could have beaten him if I had decided to stay and fight." I thanked them as I jumped off Hyperion's back. "It was no problem at all Dark Heart. We're just glad that the true criminal responsible for Everglade's recent issues." Luna said as she and Celestia looked at the diminished form of the demon lord. "Though I have say that you did a nice job of wearing him down. This will make even easier to banish him back to Tartarus and keep him locked up for quite some time." Just then Hyperion landed behind us and saw that my plan had indeed worked. "Wow pony I guess you did know what you were talking about after all." She complimented. "Meh, it was nothing." I shrugged it off. "But thanks for helping though, I couldn't have done it without you." Her cheeks turned a little as she fidgeted a little in place. "What are you talking about all I did was fly us here." She responded bashfully. "And that was the most important part into leading this to be successful. If I had tried to run here I would have gotten caught or he would have hurt more ponies and caught to the plan sooner. So in actuality you and the others did most of the work while I just swung my sword around like a maniac." "Not to mention trying to cop a feel of my ass." She said with a playful smirk. "Hey the chain was unraveling itself and I didn't notice because I was too busy watching out for that asshole." I said as I gestured over to the demon lord who was now being pulled into Tartarus. "Mmhm sure you were." "Oh whatever I don't need to explain myself to you though could I ask you for a ride back to Everglade?" "Why are going back to Everglade, your mission is done." Celestia asked before Hyperion could answer. "There are a couple of foals there that have been orphaned from the attacks and I promised to bring them to Ponyville. The only family they have left is Cheerilee who happens to be their aunt so I figured that I could take them. So I guess my mission isn't over quite yet." Informed her of Brick Breaker and Dazzling Gem's current situation. "Well isn't that noble of you? Before you go though I have to ask. Was this mission exciting enough for you Dark Heart?" Luna asked smugly. "Oh shut it Luna, and by the way I met Sun Spear and she may come ask you if I'm really her great uncle when she and the rest of the guards get back from Everglade." "How did you know she was family?" I showed Luna the gold patch on my neck and she merely nodded in understanding. "Ready to go?" Hyperion asked as I walked up to her. I gave her a nod then she motioned for me to climb onto her back. It made me feel like a colt again from when I had my dad give me piggyback rides. As I thought of this I couldn't help but feel sadden by the fact that I missed doing so much with not only my parents but my sisters who I never even got to meet. "Hey what's up with you?" She asked when she looked back and noticed my downtrodden expression. "It's nothing just remembering a time that ended much sooner than it should have." "I don't follow you." "*sigh* Hyperion, do you know who Spirit the Dragon is?" I asked her and her face turned into one of disgust. "Every dragon knows of that lowlife by now. It's because of his damn raids looking for some amulet that demon wanted that have given us a bad names among ponies, save for a chosen few. Things wouldn't be so rocky between our races if he would stop these raids or the pony who has what he's looking for would just give it to him. I know that demon has terrible plans for it but with you on our side I don't think there's much he could do before being put down. Still I wonder who the pony he's looking for is to cause such a fuss for those two." She said before I let out a small chuckle. "What are you laughing about?" "You know you're carrying the pony who has what he's looking, right?" Hyperion stopped and stared at me in shock. "Why haven't you done anything to stop him then!?" Hyperion asked furiously as she extracted me from her back and dropped my from two-hundred miles in the sky. I stared at impassively as I fell not saying anything to get her to stop my fall. "I tried to kill him over a thousand years ago but was stopped by the princesses before I could. Since then I have been trapped inside my amulet and have unable to do anything to put an end to his madness. He knows I'm back now and should stop his random raids seeing how he knows where I live. Believe me when I say I'm going to make him for everything he's done in my absence next time we meet. He may be stronger now but he's still no match for the likes of me." I finally said after falling for a good dozen miles or so. "Why not just give him the amulet huh? Why don't you save all us all the trouble I set up an ambush for a fake exchange and be done with it?" She asked as she grew even angrier. "Because not only is it a family heirloom but it's also the only way to remember the only ponies to ever love a monster like me." I said as I gripped the Heart tightly to my chest and allow my tears to flow. "What do you mean?" Hyperion asked in a much softer, kinder voice. "The reason I asked if you know who Spirit was, was because he's the reason I lost my family when I didn't have to. He invaded my school and terrorized my classmates when I was sixteen. We fought and I almost won but was stopped by the princesses and my parents as they thought that my dark magic and driven me insane and evil. I had to leave home and live in a cave until I was sealed in the amulet for a thousand years. I had nopony back then except my parents and I didn't even get to meet my little sisters. I was released into a world that I didn't know and worse yet, with ponies I didn't know. The only ones left are the princesses and although I've forgiven them for what happened I still haven't quite gotten over losing everypony that cared for me." I had stopped falling and was wrapped in Hyperion's arms as she hugged me to her chest. I didn't bother to stop what little crying I had started as she held me in the sky. "Sorry Dark Heart, I guess with going through all that I wouldn't want to give up something like that either. I don't know what's like to lose everypony you care about but if you're up for it we could be friends." I nodded into her chest as she stroked my back, comforting me although I had stopped shedding any tears, and I returned the embrace. "Thanks Hyperion, I appreciate that more than you know right now." I said after awhile of idly floating in the sky. "No problem, now what do you say we go get those kids?" And with that we were headed to our destination with a renewed smile on my muzzle at the feeling of making a new friend that understood my plight. Hopefully things continue on like this because I'm going to need all the help I can get. Author's Note Finally getting back into the groove for writing Darkness' Light. Hope I can keep this going for some time once I have all three stories up and running. Speaking of which my third story should be out by sometime next week with quite a bit to read already so I guess something to keep you all distracted between updates the next few updates for all three.
Encounter Part 1A month has passed since my run in with the demon lord and Hyperion and things have been quiet. Well as quiet as they could get for me considering the way things seem to be playing out. As I had promised I brought Brick Builder and Dazzling Gem to Cheerilee's and I told her the news of her sister and brother-in-law. She took it hard but stayed strong for her niece and nephew though she would often ask me to stay with her some nights when I went over to play with the kids so that she didn't have to deal with the loss alone. I had gotten my payment from the mission as well despite my protest to the princesses saying that they had to pay me back somehow for everything I had done. As for Hyperion she decided to move into another in the mountains that laid within the Everfree Forest so that meant that we were practically neighbors. I could not tell you the look on her face when she found out that I not only live in a cave but that I had Ember with me as well as the fact I eat meat as she walked in during lunch. At the current moment I'm laying on a cloud just relaxing and staying out of sight of the Pontvillians. They still hate me but I don't care and don't let it affect my time with Brick and Dazzling. "Hey Dark Heart, you awake?" Correction, I was relaxing. "Yeah Pinks, why, what do you need?" I asked as I looked over the cloud. "Oh nothing I was just wondering if you could hang out today?" Pinkie shouted. "Sure I got nothing better to do." I shrug before jumping off the cloud that was a good thirty feet in the air. I landed with a big thump and dusted myself off a little. "So what did you have planned?" "Well me and the girls were planning on having a picnic and I wanted to invite you." I was about to protest but she stopped me with a hand over my mouth. "I know the rest of the girls still don't like you but I was thinking that maybe you could give them another chance. I don't like seeing my friends fight and picking sides when it happens is really hard because I could lose a friend. So would you please come with me to the picnic, for me?" Pinkie asked with pleading eyes as she held my hands in hers. I looked towards the sky as I took a minute to contemplate whether or not I should. As I came to a stand still I looked back at Pinkie as she stared at me with hopeful eyes. "*sigh* Alright Pinks I'll go..." Pinkie jumped into the air as she cheered, "YAAAAY!" "But..." "But? But what?" "If they start being hostile I'm either telling them off and be done with them, or I'm just gonna leave and just never speak to them. Either way I won't go near your friends if they start being bitches. I love being your friend Pinks but since I've been released they've been nothing but douches and the only reason haven't done anything about it is because I don't want to lose you." I paused for a moment to let what I just told her sink in. "So with that said I want to know your view on the situation if that were to happen." "Well if the girls do start being mean for no reason I'll try to get them to stop but if they don't I guess you have the right to do whatever you feel like you need to do but can I ask that you please not try to hurt them?" Pinkie asked as she adopted a serious expression. "Of course Pinkie." "Well other than that I'll still be your friend even if the girls aren't so you don't have to worry about that." Pinkie said as her smile returned which was contagious as I couldn't keep from smiling myself. "So when is the picnic anyway?" I asked as I searched for a clock. "Everypony was getting together at 2:30, why?" "Because we're late." I stated as I pointed towards the clock inside Quills and Sofas that read 3:18. "Huh, oh no we gotta go!" She exclaimed as she took off and left a pony shaped cloud of pink smoke in front of me. I only sigh as imagined how this would turn out before following after her. On the way there I sent a message to Ember telling her to meet me at the park as it seemed that was where we were going. Useful thing telepathy, thanks to Nova I've learned to establish connections with others mentally. Although there are still a few things I have to work out of the spell that allows me to do so I was able to tell what Ember's responses were whenever we talked like this. She had sent me an okay as me and Pinks reached the park and sure enough the others were there waiting for Pinkie Pie as the food remained untouched. "Hiya everypony! Sorry I'm late I was just inviting somepony to join us." Pinkie said as we got closer to them though I stayed behind her a little. "It's okay darling but do try and be on time next time would you?" Rarity said as she was the first one to notice Pinkie Pie. "Who did ya invite? Was it that- oh it's you." Applejack said once she noticed me coming up behind Pinkie. The rest noticed her tone and looked over in my direction as well, their smiles turning into glares the moment they laid eyes on me. Ignoring them I sat next to Pinkie as we made a spot for ourselves on the checkered blanket. The the girls glared at me before softening their gazes as they turned to Pinkie. "What is he doing here Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash asked with a touch of venom as she pointed towards me. "Well I figured it would be a nice change of pace for him after going on that dangerous mission of his. Sure he finished it a month ago but he's working so hard to get the ponies of Everglade some help and taking care of those foals he brought back with him." They stared at Pinkie with shock as they took in what she said while Twilight looked at me curiously. "What mission is she talking about Dark Heart, I thought you only went after those with evil hearts and I haven't about anything that would involve that or received a letter from the princess." Twilight had finally asked. "Well this was a mission Celestia and Luna gave me and they did it after your performance for the Saddle Arabian delegates. They had stopped me when I was going to leave Ponyville and had asked if I would be interested in becoming the first member of a special forces guard. After accepting they told me about my first assignment which was in Everglade." The others looked skeptical but it seemed Twilight was willing to listen to me. "And what exactly was it, and why did you bring back that colt and filly here and drop them off at Cheerilee's?" "My mission was to put a stop to a dragon's rampage who had lived in the mountains that surrounded the town. Though things changed when I got there as I learned that a demon lord had taken possession of said dragon, well dragoness, and aimed for him instead." Twilight's jaw dropped at the mention of the demon lord. "But how did you win? Surely you couldn't have defeated him on your own and with how far Everglade is it would be almost impossible for help to get there in time." "Did you so happen to see a bright light coming from Canterlot?" I asked seeing how that the light prison shone like the sun. "Yeah?" "Well that's why it was there. I got Hyperion to let me climb onto her back and fly to Canterlot so that Celestia and Luna could help. The Heart had enough power to banish him but I do kinda need Nova so I wasn't going to bother using it unless the plan hadn't worked." I informed her. "Wait, Hyperion? You mean that purple dragon chick that started stopping by Ponyville a few weeks ago?" Rainbow Dash asked to which I only nodded. Before we could go on any further with the conversation we heard Fluttershy start laughing as Ember had finally showed up and pounced on her. We watched as the two of them rolled around in the grass as they played before Fluttershy picked herself up into a sitting position and hugged Ember to her body. "Oh Ember it's so nice to see you again how have you been? Has Dark Heart been taking good care of you?" Ember barked in response and caused Fluttershy to giggle which told me she's talking crap again, and the look she gave me while the animal caretaker was laughing was all the confirmation I needed. I shook a fist towards her and she stuck out her tongue childishly and we continued from there. "So what about the filly an' colt?" Applejack asked after sometime. "They obviously lived in Everglade but had been orphaned from a recent attack. Their parents died though they were one of luckier ones." I stated sadly as I remembered the state the two foals were in. "How is them dying lucky?" Rainbow asked as she gave this incredulous look. "If you saw what I did you would say the same. A lot of the ponies that had been killed had been gored and maimed in the most horrific ways possible and if it wasn't for the fact that my nightmares are all that consume my dreams I would probably be scarred by it." Images of the ponies I saw throughout the streets of Everglade, or what was left of them, came to mind as well as the rage I felt upon seeing them. It wasn't until Pinkie laid a hand on my leg did I take notice that I had my claws out and clenched into a fist and my fangs bared. I took deep, slow breaths until I calmed down and looked to Pinkie who gave me a short hug before sitting back down. "Brick Builder and Dazzling Gem were alone in a back alley as they cried over their deceased parents and I went to comfort them. After they had calmed I had asked if they had any other family who lived there. They said they only had one family member left in all of Equestria and that she lived here in Ponyville and was a school teacher. As you can guess it didn't take long to figure out who it was and before I went on my hunt I made them a promise that I would bring them here myself." I looked out in the direction of the schoolhouse after I finished. I'm not completely sure how they view me since I got back but they always seem so happy just from seeing me that I can't but feel my heart melt everytime they run into my arms. Guess it must be how I acted around my parents whenever I would come home from school crying because the other kids would pick on me. They were always there for me and, as I made a point to tell Hyperion when we went back to help with relocating everypony, I can't help but feel lonely without them here. "Hey you alright there Dark Heart?" Twilight's question snapped my out of my reverie as I shook my thoughts away. I looked over to Twilight's concerned face and I realized that there were tears running down my face. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just letting my thoughts wander is all." I say as I wiped away the remaining tears. It was obvious that she didn't buy it but she said nothing as she looked towards the food that has yet to be touched. It looked as though she wasn't to only one that was worried as everypony, including Ember, was giving me a look of sympathy. I ignored it because I didn't want their sympathy and grabbed a couple of sandwiches and apples and started munching down. I felt their stares linger for a bit before following my example and filling up there own plates. Conversations picked up after sitting in awkward silence for a while and the mood picked up. Though I was purposely ignored I didn't care much as I enjoyed at least hanging out with Pinkie as I hadn't done so for a while. As I listen to all of them talk about the Running of the Leaves that was coming up I started feel the ground tremble a bit beneath me. Before I could ask the others if they were feeling it too a pair of big, smooth hands covered my eyes. "Guess who?" A familiar voice sang out near my ears. "Hmm who can it be?" I asked, tapping my index finger against my chin in mock thought. "Is it Cheerilee, wait no you sound more like Pinkie, oh oh, it's Dazzling Gem isn't it come on I know I'm right." My vision returned soon after and I was met with the sight of a hurt Hyperion. "And I thought that we were friends." She said before she started to walk away before I grabbed her tail and kept her in place. "Hey let go you jerk. I don't to be friends with somepony that can't recognize my voice." She huffed as she tried to pull her tail out of my grasp. After being majorly unsuccessful she 'angrily sat down as I pulled her over to sit next to me. The site was hilarious considering the size difference between us but nopony dare say anything considering the pony who is dragging her butt across the grass. After she was sitting next to me I turned her around so that she was facing to group and gave her a hug. "Like I could forget what you sound like Hyperion, especially with your amazing singing voice." I complimented and earning a blush from the dragoness. "Thanks Dark Heart but it's not that good." She returned my embrace and held it for a little bit before she let go but I remained clinged to her. "You could let go now." "No, you're nice and warm and cuddly." I responded childishly. She tried to pry me off, hoping to have better luck than getting me of her tail but I did not relent on my grip so it too was a failed attempt. "It's so unfair that you have that freakish strength of yours, you know that?" Hyperion said with a bit of humor in her voice. "Yeah, I know, but don't act like you don't like this." I tell her as I look at her face from under her breasts. "Are you sure you're not just a pervert that uses cuddling as an excuse to rub your head on my tits?" Hyperion asked accusingly as she wrapped her arms around me to hold me tightly. "No, but I have admit that they do feel nice and soft, maybe I could use them as pillows whenever I need one. What do you say?" Before she could answer I jumped away from her arms and pulled out Cursed as I picked up a strange sound coming from, well, somewhere. I couldn't tell what it was or where it was coming from but it was unsettling to say the least. I had jumped into a nearby tree and climbed to the top as I hoped to get a better read on whatever it was I hearing but it was no good as it still sounded distant, at least it did before a ghostly voice whisper in my ear. 'Join us Dark Heart." The voice that breathily. I growled and let out a pulse of dark magic to push whatever presence was near me, away. "Get away from whatever the fuck you are!" I shout as dark magic ran through Cursed. "You belong with us, your talents are wasted protecting them." It spoke again as my ears swiveled in the direction in came from. I turned in the same direction and released a thin, but sharp, blade of dark energy towards it only for the blade the slice through the air a distance before the magic dissipated. I was glad I was still in the tree otherwise that would have hit one of the girls. I searched all around me to see if I could catch movement of whatever was whispering into my ear but came up with nothing. I felt a hand place itself upon my shoulder and swung without looking at who it belonged to. I was stopped dead in my tracks as Hyperion grabbed onto my hand and looked at me with concern. "Dark Heart are you alright? Who were you talking to? What were you trying to attack?" She asked in rapid succession after she released my hand. "I take it that none of you heard that voice then?" I sighed as all I received were nos. "Dammit, whatever the hell that was I need to find out. I know it couldn't have just been another voice in my head or Shadow....and .....Nova. Did you two hear anything?" I asked my spirits; if anypony could have heard that voice it would have been them. "Nope, nothing here." Shadow responded. "Same here Dark Heart but I could tell you that whatever you heard it wasn't in your head otherwise we would've known." Well at least question has been put to rest before hand. "Are you sure you heard something speak to you and not something you just imagined?" Hyperion asked. "No otherwise Nova and Shadow would have said something." I told her as I thought about the two sentences it spoke to me before seemingly disappearing. "What did it tell you?" Twilight asked. "The two things it said were, 'Join us Dark Heart', and, 'Your talents are wasted protecting them'. You don't need to be a genius to know what it's intentions were. Question is who, or what, was it and why are they after me, in fact how do they know me?" I thought out loud as I pondered this. "It could be the king of the windigos. They've been trying to find you as much as Spirit has though it's more for your dark magic than the Heart." A mare said from behind me. I turned around and was shocked to find that Sun Spear was standing there and out of her armor. "What are you doing here Sun Spear?" I asked curiously. "Well I wanted to see how Builder and Gem were doing and formally say hi to my great, great, great, great,great, great, great, great, great uncle to welcome him back to Equestria." She said sheepishly as I imagined our first interaction ran through her head. "Well thanks, though technically I never left Equestria, but thanks anyway. Those two are doing fine though they're at school if you were wanting to visit them. So I take you're off duty or did the princesses give you some vacation time?" I asked as I walked up to her. I stuck out my hand for her to shake but was pulled into a surprise hug instead. It took a sec to understand what was going on before hugging her back. When we pulled apart I saw that she had a big, genuine smile on her muzzle. "The princesses gave the remaining guards of Everglade a small vacation to let us cope with everything that happened in Everglade though they gave me an extra week so that me and you could talk after I asked them about you. I also want to say sorry for the way I acted when we first met." She said as her smile quickly dropped. "Don't worry about Sun Spear, it's understandable that you had that reaction considering that no one knew what happened to me after I left Neighburg. For all anypony knew I could have very well turned into a demon or something equally impossible as living a thousand years longer than most ponies." "Thanks Great Uncle Dark Heart. So are you going to introduce me to your friends?" She said as she gestured towards the girls. "Well I wouldn't call half of them my friends but I could still introduce you to the ones that are." I put my arm around her and directed towards the pink bundle of energy. "This is Pinkie Pie, Sun Spear, and Pinks this is my great niece Sun Spear." I introduced them to each other. When they went to shake each other hands Pinkie wrapped both of her hands around Sun's one and shook it so hard that it caused her to come off of her hoofs and shake in the air. I grabbed onto Sun Spear to keep her from falling over as she tried to regain her balance. Once she could walk on her own again I motioned towards Hyperion. "Hyperion! It's so good to see you again." She yelled out excitedly as the two ran into each other arms and started squealing like little school fillies that had their crush talk to them, hurt the shit out of my ears but the sight made me happy nonetheless. The two were chatting adamantly with each other when I cleared my throat to get their attention. "And finally meet Ember, my pet timberwolf, though I don't really see her as a pet." I said as I petted Ember. Sun Spear bowled over me moments later as she grabbed Ember into a death hug that left the poor thing to try and get oxygen back into her body. Since Ember's face doesn't change color from lack of air I just teleported her out of Sun Spear's grasp with the snap of a finger and she appeared next to me as she tried to catch her breath. Sun Spear glared at me but it was replaced with an apologetic look as I gestured over to Ember who was still trying to catch her breath. Once she does she glares at Sun Spear. "Sorry Ember but I couldn't help myself, you're just so cute." She says sheepishly. Ember continues to glare at her before shaking her head and laying down next to me. "Do have a couple other friends who aren't here at the moment but you'll see Cheerilee when we go see Builder and Gem as for Zecora well we could probably stop by her hut in the forest since it'll be some time before she and the kids get out of school." I tell her as I go back to petting Ember. "What about visiting your place?" She asks as she sits on the other side of Ember and scratching behind her ears. Her smile grew as Ember's leg started to involuntarily shake from the feeling. "Well we could but the question is are you alright with going deeper into the Everfree than Zecora's hut. Unlike her there isn't much of a path to follow and the only reason I get visits from any of my friends is because they all have something to fend off the creatures that live there, well all except for Cheerilee but she usually ask me to take her there or anypony that knows, so basically the anypony who's a friend." "So this Zecora lives in a hut in the forest, huh? So what do you live in?" "A cave." I respond like it's the most normal thing in the world. "A cave?" "Yup." "And you don't worry about other timberwolves or manticores attacking you in your sleep?"She asked skeptically. "No, why, should I?" "Yes, any of thing living in that dreadful forest could come after you and you wouldn't be able to defend yourself." "That's what you're worried about, pfft, I have multiple defensive spells around and in that cave to keep them out, plus the presence of my dark magic keeps them at bay anyway considering that it scares even the strongest of ponies." I stated with closed eyes and a dismissive wave of my hand. I had the feeling that if I had kept them open I would have seen one of her eyes twitching. "So anyway, you up for a trek through through the woods?" "But what about Builder and Gem?" "Don't worry about it. I know when they get out and if we keep up a decent pace I should have enough time to show you around before I teleport us to the school." I stated as yet again my eyes closed as I took in the smell of the nature all around me. It took a moment but I finally realized that everything was quiet including the breeze that been there a moment ago. I opened my eyes to find that I was surrounded by darkness. I walked around for a bit as I tried to see that if I had somehow passed out and was dreaming, I tried to call upon things that would have been impossible for to get by currents means. After a while something finally showed up but it wasn't something from my mind or nightmares. It was distant when I first spotted it and I couldn't tell what it was but as it grew closer it's form started slowly become recognizable. "What do you want!?" I growled as the figure standing before me was a windigo, but not just any windigo, it was the king of the windigos, King Fratamantus. "You have no right to be here even in this plane." I pull out both Cursed and Blessing and ready my fire breath. "What do you hope to do boy. We feed of the same emotions that give you power what makes you think you can accomplish anything by fighting me?" Fratamantus stated, amused by my efforts to intimidate him. "How about the fact that we use our for completely different reasons? Or how about the fact that I have the spirit of the Heart of Light on my side? The same spirit, that I must remind you, can steal away your power source and weaken you. Then there is also the fact that even if she were to do that I could pull power from the emotions ponies keep bottled up." I say smirking as each he gets angrier and angrier with each statement. "Damn you you arrogant son of a- ahem, I mean that although those are all good points maybe I could change your mind?" The king stated after regaining his composure from the outburst. "If you plan on promising anything like Nightmare Bitch then you're wasting your breath." I rolled my eyes at the malicious spirit. A moment of silence fell upon us as we stared at each other. I with an intense glare and him with an inquisitive look. That moment ended after I saw a smug grin come over him. "While I can see why you refused Nightmare Moons offer I think my can be more alluring to your... needs." "And what needs would those be?" My demonic voice stated. "Your need to be loved of course. I've known of your entrapment from day one but was unable to break the seal that held you. A thousand years trapped in your amulet and losing all those you cared about because of it. Now here you, stuck in a time that you weren't supposed to be in and with ponies that hate you now more than ever. So I offer you this Dark Star Heart, the master of darkness, my daughter's hand in marriage if you help me take over Equestria. After that you and her can go live your lives however you please and I will never bother you again if that becomes your wish." I was going to tell him the go fuck himself but he stopped by pressing his ghostly hand against my lips. "Before you make your decision I would advise you to see what you are missing." He gestured behind him. I rolled my eyes as I decided to humor him and look towards where he designated. When I did I popped an instant as I saw the most beautiful mare I've ever seen. Standing behind Fratamantus was, of course, a windigo mare who had a silvery violet coat unlike the bluish snow white they usually have. She had a beautiful silver white mane that sparkled and extended halfway down her back and striking orange eyes. The dress she wore was a darker shade than her coat that stopped at her ankles and had slits running up both sides to the middle of her thighs. I saw that she was also wearing matching pair shoes as well as gloves that went up to her elbows. Her figure was something to be appreciated as well as her breast were F-cups. Her body was slender and fit as her figure curved into her slender waist and out again to her perfect hips. Her posture suggested that she was a shy thing as well and I could tell that it wasn't an act to make look even more appealing, though I will admit that it did wonders for her. Through my...ahem....gawking, there was something that her eyes and body were definitely telling me that made me want to find this mare after I got out of here. Sadness and hurting, that's what stuck out to me the most about her. She was beautiful, a mare that was definitely out of my league by indescribable lengths but I was going to help her. "Well Fratamantus I will can't deny that your daughter is the most perfect mare that I've laid my eyes on," Fratamatus's grin grew and his daughter fidgeted around further proving my analysis. "I'm glad you think so. Diamond Sky works so hard to keep her body in tiptop shape, isn't that sweetheart?" Fratamantus turned to his daughter and asked. "Y-yes father." She said in an angelic voice. "Yes, you truly would a lucky stallion Dark Heart. My daughter has been taught that a stallion's word is final. She will attend to your every need no matter how uncomfortable it makes. You could make her prance around naked in public with a vibrator in her cunt and she wouldn't say a word in protest." With every word he spoke I grew angrier and angrier as Diamond Sky was just about in tears as the scenario that her father described ran through her mind. I never forgave any stallion who treated mares like a piece of meat, a slave, or anything else that would demean them as such. I don't care how I sound about saying this but I believe that once a stallion found that mare that would bring them happiness that you should worship her. Make her feel special, like she is the most important thing in your life until you have kids then that love goes onto to both her and those that she brought brought life to. Your special somepony is a pony you cherish above all others and is not to be brought down even when you disagree. I want to help Diamond Sky as she doesn't seem to be like the rest of her kind and even if she was the fact that her own father is basically whoring her out as part of a trade agreement makes me sick beyond all compare. "Would you mind if I talk to her in private King Fratamantus?" I stated calmly. "Could I ask why?" "I just want to get to know my potential bride a little more before I agree to your terms." "I see nothing wrong with that though I would suggest that you be gentle with her. She is a precious jewel after all." The damn smugness in his voice is grating on my nerves but I have to stay calm for now, at least until I speak to her. I walk over to Diamond Sky who is trying her hardest to not fidget in place. When I reach her I place a hand on her shoulder which caused her body to start trembling even as I flash a comforting smile at her. I sigh as my hands lit up with the crimson aura of my magic and I summoned a table and a couple chairs with refreshments and gesture for her to take a seat. She does so obediently while I take the seat across from her. "Diamond I'm just going to cut the chase since this riding on my nerves for long enough. Is your father forcing you to do this and please be honest with me." I asked just quiet enough to make sure her father isn't listening in. "Y-y-yes he is." She responds meekly. I nod slowly before continuing. "Do you already have somepony you love or-" "No, no I don't though I wish I did. That's why I agreed to do this for my father at all. I-I don't want to be lonely anymore but when he started going on about, well, all of that I started to regret my decision." She says as she interrupted my question. "I can understand that more than anypony but this isn't the way to do it, you know that right?" She looks at me with sad eyes as she nodded. "Thank you for your honesty but I have one more thing to ask......Do you want me to take you away from the other windigos and bring you to Equestria? I can do it, defeat your father and come after you, take you away from your current and start anew where you would be allowed make your own choices. Would that be something you would be interested in?" I asked seriously as I stared into her eyes, into her soul, for the answers. "I-I don't know. I wouldn't want you to go through that trouble just for me." She said as she rubbed her hands together nervously and looked down at the table. I lift her head by the chin so that I could look into her eyes again. "Diamond, it is my goal in life to make the live of others better no matter the cost. If you really want to stay then just say so but I can't know if you need help unless you tell me." She stared at, looking for anything that would have told her of my true intentions. She started tearing up after a minute and soon started crying into my shoulder. "P-please, h-help me. I don't want to live a life like this anymore." She sobbed out as I rubbed her back. "That's all I needed to hear, but you will have to endure for a little while longer. I need you to find someway to get my the location of your home. After that I'll come get you as soon as I can and I'll make sure that your father never bothers you again." I stated with the utmost confidence. She looked up at me with a teary smile and I couldn't help but lose myself in her eyes. I felt our faces growing closer to each other and I felt compelled to close my eyes as our muzzles nearly bridged the gap between us. It was then that it happened, I had finally had my first kiss as I felt my lips press against hers. I felt as though I was in heaven when I used my tongue to ask for entrance into her mouth and she granted it. Our tongues interlock in a lovely dance as we stayed that way for what felt like forever and I knew that even if my memories was erased tomorrow that I would never forget this kiss. After for an indefinite amount of time we pulled apart with a single string of saliva connecting us. We locked eyes once again with small blushes on our faces before I pulled her into a hug. It was then that I started transforming into my Darkness Form as I leaned closer to her ear. "Please stay safe until I get there." She only nodded against my shoulder. "I love you." She said before pulling away and allowing me to stand up. I gave her one last smile before teleporting in front of Fratamantus. "So what do you say Dark Heart. Do we have a deal?" He asked unaware of my intentions. "No, but I have a new deal for you and you might want to take it up if you know what's good for you and your kind. You will stop this plan at once and allow Diamond Sky to make her decisions or die by my hands." "Or how about I just kill you?" He growled before a spear of ice pierced through my chest. "Then I have my answer."
Encounter Part 2Author's Note Moon Drop, these words will make sense in a little bit. Encounter Part 2 "How about I kill you!?" Fratamantus growled as I felt the air behind me get dramatically colder and then saw a piece of ice directly in front of me that was coated with blood. "Then I guess I have my answer." I spoke with as much as venom as I could muster in my demonically intoned voice before grabbing a hold of the ice shard and breaking it off before removing myself from it. My dark magic sealed up the wound quickly as it had time to get used to it after taking that hit from Spirit back at the castle. Summoning Cursed and Blessing I charged at him as he stood still with an overconfident smirk. Pillars of ice appeared from the ground and created a wall between me and the windigo king as he attempt to halt my advances but a quick blast of dark magic quickly took care of it. Once the wall had been dispersed I was meant with the smiling form of Fratamantus who was wielding a gnarly war scythe. I barely had time to move out of the way as he brought the weapon down where I had been a moment ago. He dislodged it quickly and swung it right at me as I was trying to get in close for a strike. I brought up Cursed to block the attack before attaching the chain from the gauntlet on my right arm to Blessing and threw it at the king. He tried to use ice to block it but the speed at which Blessing was spinning allowed it to cut through his defenses like butter. He was forced to jump back, taking his scythe with him, to prevent Blessing from slicing his face in two. At the last second, as Fratamantus was pulling away, I redirected Blessing's trajectory and had it wrap around the hilt of scythe, just under the blade, and yanked on it hard. It didn't come free from his grip like I wanted but it kept him in one spot and left me free to swing Cursed at him. He managed to dodge my strikes for a good five minutes but I was getting use to how he moved to avoid being sliced in half and now had his pattern down. As I went in for what I believed would be the final strike when I was tackled down to the ground by more windigos. They had me pinned as Fratamantus moved closer to me with a malicious grin and his now freed scythe. Unknown to them I could use my magic to control the chains in the gauntlets and started to direct my dark magic into the gauntlet meant for Cursed and waited. "You're nothing more than a foolish colt hoping to prove himself a stallion. What made you think that you would be able to stand against the king of the windigo?" He asked in a mocking tone that cause me to roll me eyes. "If you're trying to intimidate me I wouldn't waste my breath if I were you, it will keep you from looking like the royal jester though with a face like yours I would have made that mistake anyway." I insulted him and watched to anger in his eyes grow. "You're not i much of a position to be mocking me little colt. I've been watching you for a while now and seen what you truly long for. I'm not sure about you but seeing a great warrior such as yourself cry over losing their family is quite humorous when combined with the front you put up." He said as him and the rest of his lackeys laughed at my plight though seeing Diamond Sky's sympathetic look gave me comfort before looking back at her father with a defiant look. "I don't try to put up any kind of front Fratamantus, and I most don't care if you know that I've cried over the loss of my family. At me crying over it is a sign that the darkness in my heart won't turn me and will give me the power I need to beat you when I find out where you're hiding." "And what makes you think that you can pull that off?" "The darkness in your hearts' are clear indicators that I now know exist." Fratamantus eyes widen in shock and fear as he realized the mistake he's made but it soon turns back into that damn smirk of his. "Well that is a problem that can be solved easily." He said as he raised his scythe high above his head. "Any last words whelp?" I was going to make another snarky remark but then I noticed that the same blackness all around us that made up what supposed to be the sky had started to change into a night sky. What really caught my eye though was the moon that suddenly appeared and seemed to be growing. "Yeah I do, have you ever wondered what it's like to be a pancake?" I ask before I felt a pulling sensation and felt the area around me shift before I felt solid ground under my hooves again. I looked around and just barely manage to see the moon crash into Fratamantus and his goons before hearing a voice come from behind me. "I hope I'm not too late to the party?" I heard Luna say. "Actually you're right on time, but the moon, really? I know you've been wanting to do that," I say as I gesture towards the moon. "For a while now but seriously couldn't you have done it when they had a bigger army to squash?" "What, and I miss the chance to see a flat windigo king, no way." I shake my head at Luna's antics before turning to see Diamond Sky walk from behind the celestial rock. "It would appear I missed one but don't worry I got it." Luna says as she charges up her horn. "No Luna, not her. Diamond Sky is Fratamantus' daughter but she wants to live in Equestria and away from the abuse she's been forced to suffer by his hands. I promised to help her be free and track down their hideout to take care of them once and for all." I explain to her as she looks at me suspiciously. "And why, pray tell is she here in the first place?" Luna asked with narrowed eyes. "The asshole was planning on using her as a bargaining chip to recruit my help, kinda like what Nightmare Bitch did except, you know, not offering himself." I shudder at the thought of having another ever doing that to me considering how weird that would be. "Though you have denied his offer you like her, don't you?" Luna asked sadly. "Yes, yes I do but right now that's not important. We need to make sure Fratamantus is gone before returning back to the physical world so that he doesn't gain access to either of our minds. It's bad enough he as access to the Void." I say as I walk over to the mock moon Luna had created and destroyed it with a simple burst of both dark and light magic. There was crater from where the celestial body once stood and saw nothing but flat windigos. He noticed that Fratamantus wasn't among them and figured he must've escaped. "So what happens now Dark Heart?" I heard Diamond Sky ask. "Go back home for now as I now have a way to track you and the others down. I'll be there as soon as I can but you must know that there are other things I must do first in order to prepare for that trip but don't worry because I will come for you." I tell her as I turn to face her and bring her into my embrace. "Okay Dark Heart, I will. Just please don't forget about me. I know we've only known each other for a short while but I don't want to lose you." She says before bringing me into a kiss. After we separate she disappears as she waves at me before vanishing completely. I turn around to face Luna and see tears streaming down her face and I knew that I just messed up. Dammit, I knew I should have told about feelings before doing something like with another mare right in front of her. Damn I'm an insensitive prick sometimes. I thought as Luna flashes out of existence. As quickly as I could I performed the spell to disband the Void and shot up into a sitting position. I looked around to see everypony huddled around me and were asking all kinds of questions but I didn't hear any of them as I spotted Luna flying away back to Canterlot. I got up and pushed my magic into my legs as I ran after her. When I caught up I called out to her but she just flew faster and I felt droplets hitting my face. I got cut off from my pursuit as I ran face first into the side of Canterlot Mountain and lodged myself into a hole several yards deep. I grumbled about the mountain being in my way before forcing myself out and begin my ascent up to Canterlot. After making the final jump up to the streets I headed towards the castle. "Halt, Princess Luna has requested to keep you out of the castle until further notice." The guards at the gates said when I tried to pass through. "Yeeaaaahhhh, not a chance there bud. Luna needs me right now whether she wants me there or not." I say before taking a few steps back and jumping over the gate. I took off again as soon as my hooves touched the ground and ran towards Luna's room. I skidded to a stop as I came upon Luna's room and saw Celestia stepping out of it. She turned my way when she heard my shoes screeching across the floor before I stopped right in front of her. We stood there staring at each other in silence as we regarded the look the other was giving us. Celestia had the look any caring sibling would have whenever they were hurt in some way and I'm sure Celestia could see my expression of regret as I knew it was clearly planted on my muzzle. "What happened in Ponyville Dark Heart? I knew that my sister has feelings for you but what happen to make her think that you were already seeing somepony else?" Celestia asked in a sympathetic tone. "*Sigh* I was brought to the Void by King Fratamantus where he tried to recruit my help in taking over Equestria and offered his daughter as tribute. I wasn't going to accept, obviously, but I had to talk the her after I noticed the way she was acting. As soon as I laid my eyes on her I knew I wanted to be with her and after talking to her for a while I initiated a fight between me and the king. Luna came to my aid while he had his goons pin me and she dropped a mock moon on top of them. Afterwards I checked to see if he was dead, only to discover that his lackies had been squashed but he escaped, unfortunately." snarled that last part and Celestia nodded her head in understanding. "Then I take it that what happened afterward is the cause of Luna's current state?" Celestia asked. "Yeah; since I made the plan to go rescue her, Diamond Sky had came to ask me what to do before she left the Void as well though not before giving me a goodbye kiss. I had forgotten that Luna was there, seeing how my rage was blinding me." "Your rage?" Celestia asked with an elevated brow. "Yes, my rage. Really how do you expect me to feel after seeing Fratamantus treated his daughter? It was down right disgusting how he treated her like she was his property and not seeing him get pulverized into dust by Luna only served to make me angrier. I just hope he doesn't find out about my interest in her so she isn't used against me. The last thing I need is a war on my growing list of 'The Problems I Caused' to be out on there as well." "So then my sister saw you kissing another mare and that is why she's in her room right now crying her eyes out?" Celestia recapped and I merely nodded. "Why didn't you just tell me that?" "Because I didn't feel like getting vaporized before making it up to Luna, plus I felt that you needed to know the situation at hand anyway." I answered simply. "Very well then but I think we've spoken enough on both subjects. Why don't you go in there and explain to her what happened? She probably won't forgive you at first but all I can tell you is to give her some time to calm down and put her thoughts together if that becomes the case." Celestia informed me before embracing me. "Thanks Tia, I appreciate the help." I tell her as I return the hug. "It's no problem at all Dark Heart. Luna and I are just trying are best to make for everything you lost because of us." She said as she broke our contact. "Celestia, I already told you two that you don't have to do such a thing. Yes I lost a lot but I've gotten so much more. I will always miss my parents and sisters but at least now I have friends to help dull the pain and hopefully I'll have my own herd if I can get Luna to forgive me and have her and Diamond Sky talk, after I save her of course." I told her as I unsheathed Blessing and pointed it towards the sky in a heroic pose. "Well it's nice to see that your optimism is back." Celestia joked as she held a hand over her mouth to try, and failing horribly, stifle her laughter. I looked down at her when I heard a small giggle escape before it erupted into full blown laughter. With her out of commission until she calms down I make my way to Luna's room and sneak inside. I cast a soundproofing spell around the room so that Celestia's laughter wasn't heard throughout our conversation. Luna's head shot up from the pillow it was buried in when Celestia's laughter was cut off so suddenly. I saw her eyes were red and bloodshot from crying when she turned to the door. I waved at her sheepishly as her expression turned from that of worry to anger. I barely had enough time to react before she threw one of the many weapons she has hanging on her walls at me. "Why are thou here Dark Heart!?" She shouted as she threw a morning star at my crotch, and thankfully missed. "Luna, please, I want to talk about what you saw in the Void." I tell her before getting hit with a sizable war hammer and knocked into the wall. "No, we will not listen to whatever lie thou hast come up with in order to deceive us!" She yelled as she loomed over me with a spear in hand. "We know what we saw so you cannot fool us with any false stories and hence have no business being in our chambers." She said as she slipped further into her archaic dialogue and the spear pointed towards my groin. "I never planned to deceive you Luna but to explain the situation at hand before things between us become unrepairable." I told her with fiery determination and defiance to get the message across that I'm not leaving until she hears me out. "Very well then, we will listen to thee but after you're finished you will leave our chambers and never step a hoof in here unless I say so." I nod in agreement, albeit reluctantly, before she moves towards a couple of chairs that sit in front of a fireplace. I follow after checking over my newly acquired wounds and take the seat next to her. "Now then, what exactly was it that you wanted to explain to me?" She spats out with malice. "Well as you already saw I did kiss the daughter of King Fratamantus, Diamond Sky, and we do love each other." I started off as I looked to the empty fireplace but saw her grit her teeth from the corner of my eyes. "Yeah, I saw that." She growled in anger. "But what you didn't see, or hear, was what led to it and why." "What do you mean?" Luna asked with curiosity laced in with her anger. "I already told you that Fratamantus planned on using her as a bargaining chip right?" "Yes." "Well that wasn't all he did. He tried to....sweeten the deal by telling me the extent to which she would.........obey me." I say with a shiver from just thinking about mare that obedient to any other, well actually that goes for just about anypony really. It's different if it's part of a deal for a dare or something between friends and siblings but other than that it doesn't sit well with me. That was another reason for my hatred of King Sombra was the fact that he enslaved an entire empire. "What kinds of things?" "The furthest he went was saying that if I wanted to punish her I could do it in any way, shape, or form and she wouldn't say a word against me or tell anypony what I did to her and he made that clear by telling me that if I wanted her to walk around in public naked, she would do it without protest. I thought she was beautiful when I laid my eyes on her and wanted to be with her but I wanted her to be released from her father's grasp more than anything. As he told me everything she would be willing to do I kept seeing her wince or heard her whimper but otherwise said nothing and I thought that maybe she had already had somepony to call a lover but I wanted to help her anyway. After talking her I had asked if she wanted me to help her escape the life she has now. She was reluctant at first but she eventually caved in and accepted my help which is how the fight started. Just before I left her side to confront Fratamantus we got lost in each other eyes and, well, kissed, so I guess you witnessed the second kiss between us when I was looking over the crater." I explained to Luna, not once looking at her in fear of what her reaction might be to hearing all this. After getting nothing for awhile I took that as my cue to leave. I passed by Luna, not bothering to look at her, and headed towards the door. I tensed up when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me but relaxed when I realized it was Luna. "Okay, I get it. She was being abused and all you wanted to do was help and she saw you as her knight in shining armor though that wasn't what I was mad about." Luna said in a calmer, but sad, tone. "You were mad because you thought I had feelings for you but didn't recuperate them, or were you mad because you thought that I knew about your feelings for me but I said nothing about not having any interest and believed that I was leading you on?" I asked as I turned around while still in her grip. "It was the second one but now I know that I was wrong. .......I'm sorry Dark Heart." She apologized and I could feel my shirt getting wet. "Well not completely." I stated to her confusion. "W-what do you mean?" She asked with a teary eyes. "Well I did know about your feelings for me, have for some time now, but I didn't know how to confront the situation. I wanted to tell you sooner but I wanted it to be special." When I saw her expression I knew that I worded that sentence wrong but she beat me to the punch as I opened my mouth to restate it. "Why would anypony in Equestria want to make rejecting somepony...special. Do you really find the suffering of others so enjoyable?" She asked before trying to pull away but I was having none of it. I held her tight against me as she struggled in my grasp, the emotional turmoil that I've put her through earlier having taken its toll on her body as well as her mind. "Sorry Luna I worded that poorly. I didn't mean that I wanted to make your rejection special but rather tell you in a special way that I'd be more than happy to accept your feeling and would be glad to recuperate them. Luna, I love you just as much as I do Diamond Sky and I hope that the next time you two meet that you'll both be willing to form a herd." Luna looked up at me with shock as she took in what I said and I grew worried as her face stayed like that for quite a while. I blew air in her face to see if that would get anything out of her but she continued to remain still. I tried several times to dislodge myself from her and go get Celestia, but her grip was strong and unrelenting as it kept us locked together. I had finally gotten a sign that she was still alive when I saw that her eyes were getting watery and her mouth was quivering like she was trying to say something but couldn't come up with the words for what she wanted to say. She finally decided what she wanted to do as she caught me by surprise with a kiss. The shock kept me from responding immediately but as soon as it wore off I made sure to return her feelings through the connection. Once the need for air became a rather unwanted distraction Luna broke the kiss with a small blush on her cheeks and the same beautiful smile that I have come to love seeing. She nuzzled the bottom of my chin, being mindful of her horn before I scooped her up and walked over to the bed to lay her down. "What are you doing?" Luna asked with confusion. "Putting you to bed. You've had an exhausting day between helping me deal with Fratamantus and all the trouble I caused you for not revealing my feelings sooner and I figured that it all must be taking its toll on you." As to confirm my point she let out an adorable yawn. She looked back at me with an even bigger blush as she saw me looking at her with a smirk. "Well maybe I'm a little tired, but I want to spend some more time with you." She whined as she tried to squirm out of bed. I held her in place until she stopped struggling. Once she was still I tucked her in while she had her arms crossed and pouting like a child who refused to take a nap. "Now Luna don't be like that. I promise that we can spend some time together after you wake up but right now I need to go back to Ponyville. Cheerilee and the kids must be worried about why I wasn't there when school ended and Sun Spear did want to get some time with me as well and get to know her great uncle." "I know but can you at least stay with me until I fall asleep?" She asked with big, hope filled eyes. I just roll my eyes at her expression before getting up and laying on the other side of her bed. Scooting next to her, I pull her towards me as we both laid on our sides as we spooned. Luna hummed in contentment as she laid in my arms. I rubbed my hand over her belly as I felt the silk of her dress disappear and all I was feeling was her soft coat. I open my eyes to see that she had magically changed out of her dress and into her PJs which consisted of a black tank top, that reached to just below her breast, and nothing but black panties down below. I averted my gaze as soon as my sight landed on them and felt a bit of heat form on my face. "There's no need to be embarrassed Dark Heart. If we are to be lovers I would imagine that it would be okay to allow each other glimpses of the other, right?" Luna said as she looked at me over her shoulder. "Yeah but you have to remember Luna. I am still a virgin and I haven't much interactions with a mare's body. The only other time I've seen anything really explicit was when I first arrived at Ponyville and accidently ripped off the Mayor Mare's shirt and exposed her breast to most of the town when they tried to bring about justice." I told as my cheeks grew hotter and I averted my gaze to everything else in her room but not towards her. "If it was an accident then why would feel the need to bring about justice?" Luna asked much to my surprise as I figured that Twilight had written about the incident after it happened. "Well the mayor didn't see it that way and wouldn't listen to me when I tried to tell her otherwise so I was stuck with the decision to fight off the horde or run. I think it's obvious which I choose." "Well don't worry Dark Heart. I will do everything I can to make them see you're innocent." Luna said with determination that caused me to chuckle. "That won't be necessary Luna but thanks anyway. In fact I forbid you from doing so. This has made a great test to see who is willing to trust me and which aren't. It's helped me discover my best friends seeing how these are ponies that believed that I was innocent from the get go and others are beginning to see that I'm not actually that bad but they still wouldn't speak to me in public unless to insult me." "Very well then, Darky, I will do as you ask but promise me that you won't judge our little ponies too harshly?" I groaned at Luna's use of that bloody pet name knowing that she's going to use it whenever it will annoy the hell out of me. "I promise, now go to sleep missy." I say before bringing a pillow down on her and holding it over her face with just enough pressure to keep her from taking it off but not enough to suffocate her. She flailed around for bit and hitting me until she just went limp. I removed the pillow slowly waiting for a surprise attack from Luna but was met with her looking blankly into space. "Have you truly forgiven me for what happened a thousand years ago?" She suddenly asked. "You mean Nightmare Moon sealing me in the amulet, yeah. I get what dark magic can do a pony, even an alicorn, so I wouldn't suggest beating yourself up over it." I answer quickly and honestly. "But we took your family away. Aren't you a little mad?" Luna asked as if she was trying to make me reconsider. "You didn't take my family away Luna. Yes I can never see my parents, my sisters, or Tender Heart, but I still have their descendents don't I. Right now Sun Spear is in Ponyville waiting for me to return and although we're generations apart she's willing to believe that I'm in fact a blood relative that she can connect with. I will never be mad at you Luna and you shouldn't be either considering that it's because of you that many lives have been saved and a demon lord sealed." "What do you mean?" "Think about it Luna. If I wasn't here then who would have been sent to Everglade's aid and figured out the greater scheme at work? Who would have saved all those ponies? Despite what you may think, Nightmare Moon did something actually good, unintentional as it may have been, and many more great things are sure to come in the future. Who knows, maybe this new mission to stop Fratamantus and save Diamond Sky may result in peace between them and Equestria. It's a long shot but it's possible so stop beating yourself up over it and think of the positives that came with negative and learn from the mistakes of the past so that they don't happen again, alright?" I tell her as she tries looks away from me but I refuse to let her. "Okay Dark Heart, I'll try.Thank you for making me feel better." I could only offer her a smile as I held her closer. "Anything for you my lovely moon."
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"Diamond Sky, We're Coming!"Author's Note Sorry this took a while but I've been trying to get the latest chapter of Lightning Master completed as well. For those of you looking forward to it the next chapter will hopefully be out soon, week after the next at the latest. "Diamond Sky, We're Coming!" "Rise and Shine you two." I heard Celestia's voice say before a rush of light met my eyes, which caused me to pull the sheets over mine and Luna's heads. I got a sigh of contentment from my lover as she snuggled closer to me. That is before our cover was yanked from my grip and we groaned in annoyance at not being able to enjoy being in bed together. "Come on you two. We may have the day off but I'm not going to allow you to waste it in Lulu's bed." "Fine, Luna let's go over to the cave and spend the day in my bed." I told who murmured in agreement as I cradled her in my arms, ready to teleport to the Everfree. As soon as my horn lights up Celestia flicks it as cancel outs the spell and causing me a headache. Thanks to that I'm now fully awake and proceed to blast Celestia out of the room...... ,through the window. After taking care of the nuisance I lightly shake Luna in my arms to get her to wake up. "Come on Luna, it's time to get up." I say sweetly before giving her a kiss on the nose. "But I want to sleep some more." Luna whined as she buried her face into my chest. "Luna, sweets, I would suggest you get up now or I'm going to have to make you , and believe me when I say that you're going to hate me if it comes to that." I told her in a sickly sweet voice. "Mmm, I doubt that Dark Heart. *yawn* Now if you'll excuse I have some sleep to catch up on." Luna said as she snuggled into my chest. I Tsked at her stubbornness and used my magic to opened up the door to her bathroom. I walked in and set Luna down gently onto the floor of the bathtub, though not before casting a warming spell so as not to arouse too much suspicion. "Last chance Luna." I warned but she still refused to move. "*sigh* Don't say I didn't warn you." I tell her before turning on the cold shower and watch as she flew through her ceiling. I looked through the Luna shaped hole but instead of being met by the sight of my soaking wet marefriend I was instead greeted with the sight of of a blue beam of magic that hammered me down to the floor of the bath tub. "What the heck Dark Heart, you just throw your marefriend into an ice cold shower and act like it's nothing!?" Luna yelled at me as she flew back down the hole. I couldn't answer as she was sitting on top of the back of my head and keeping my face planted to the ground. "What do you have to say for yourself mister?" Luna asked as she scooted down my back just enough for me to turn my head and speak. "I did try to warn you that I was going to get you to wake you up plus it's your own fault for not getting up when I asked. I know you're a little tired but considering it's almost noon. I figured you would want to spend what time we have left today before you're back to being busy with your royal duties tomorrow." I told her calmly like she didn't hold my faith in her hands, or under her ass as the case may be. "Why are you so worried about us spending all the time we have together anyway?" "Cause of the mess I've gotten myself into." I said sadly. "What mess?" "This whole with Diamond Sky and Fratamantus. I'm not saying that I'm having second thoughts about rescuing her but I'm worried. My shadows can travel at incredible speeds at aren't slowed by the same boundaries we are so there's no telling how far I'll have to travel. Then there's me having to potentially fight the entire Windigo race, Fratamantus, and getting Diamond out of there." I paused for a moment to let the information sink in. "Then there's also the fact that besides all of that I'm worried that there may actually be a chance that I may not even make it back at all. All of this has been plaguing my mind since that day and so I've wanted to spend as much time with everypony I care about as much as I can before the shadows locate the Windigo fortress and I'm forced to leave to go after Diamond." I admitted to her with clenched fists. "Why would you be worried about something like that?" Shocked by her question I stood up and knocked down to the floor. "What was that for?" She whined as I helped her up. "What do you mean why am I worrying about that stuff like that. One I'm going against Windigos, the same creatures who draw power from the same place I do and they outnumber me one to possible ten, maybe even hundreds, of thousands. There is also the fact that I'll be at a major disadvantage raiding their home and all while making sure I don't put Diamond Sky in danger, so how can you ask me how I can be worried about stuff like this?" "Well you're talking about it like you're actually thinking of going alone." My jaw dropped upon hearing this and I looked at her like she had grown a second head. "Wait a minute, you mean you really thought that me and Tia would just let you go off on your own to fight Fratamantus and save Diamond Sky?" I nodded dumbly in response. "Dark Heart, I'm appalled that you would think such a thing." "Luna, no, I can't ask you two to help me, even if me, you, and Diamond are in a herd now." "Oh I don't mean us I'm talking about Hyperion." Luna stated calmly. "And when the hell was this established?" "The day you sent out the shadows. We were all coming by to talk about plans on finding the fortress and decided to head into the Everfree Forest when we had no meetings for the rest of the day and ran into Hyperion, who was hoping to meet up with you as well. When we saw the spell you were working on to improve your shadows' tracking capabilities we hung back and watched to make sure nothing went wrong. While doing so we got into a conversation about what our ideas were but Hyperion had pointed out one crucial thing that wouldn't have allowed any of our plans to work." "And what would that be?" "That you're doing this alone." Luna stated with a seriousness I've haven't seen since our encounter at Neighburg. "It was this fact alone that made us realize why none of our ideas were of satisfactory, it was because we were forming them around the idea that you would have help. Once that thought crossed our minds I had to ask her if she would be willing to accompany you to storm the Windigo stronghold and considering how well you two seem to work together when it came to facing the demon lord I would feel much better having her go with you. Hopefully once you've reached Diamond she'll be willing to fight back alongside you two as well which should make things all the better." "Hyperion, I guess fighting that demon lord really got her going if she's going to come with me to go fight the Windigos knowing that there might not be a chance we will make it back. I'm not saying I'm already anticipating our defeat but it will be a bitch fighting those asshole, definitely won't be coming back in one piece but I'll live." I said with a shit eating grin as the thought of ripping Fratamantus apart. "And the condition of those two are of little concern, how unthoughtful of you." Luna lightly scolded. "Those two are going to be the reason I'm going to get so fucked up in the first place, you know how my protective instincts like to kick in whenever those I care about are in danger, besides who do you think is going to be carrying me home?" "Well hopefully the fortress will be somewhere relatively close to the Crystal Empire so you won't have to come all the way back to Equestria from the frozen north." "Well odds are that if it's anywhere it's the-" I stopped when I heard a familiar voice speaking to me. "Dark Heart please come for me soon." I heard Diamond's plea before an image of the a fortress made of ice and obsidian appeared within my mind as well as its exact location, along with numerous windigos roaming in and around the structure. That image faded into another, a palace in the center of the walls that were surrounded by it's own walls those these seem more heavily guarded and tougher to get through. The image faded again and it seemed as though I was walking down the halls of the palace and had just walked into the throne room where King Fratamantus was sitting. It didn't stop there and moved to another hall to the right of the throne and moved to a door at the end of the hall. Going inside the room I saw that sitting there at a desk was Diamond Sky and she was looking miserable as she seemed to be looking through paperwork. Yet again the scene vanished and I became once again aware of my surroundings as I was met by the sight of a worried Luna. "What happened Dark Heart?" She asked when she saw me blink rapidly. "I saw the Windigo fortress and the city that lies inside it. I also managed to see Fratamantus sitting his fat ass upon his throne in his palace along with a miserable looking Diamond Sky." I told her as I stood up and walked over to the balcony. "What does it mean, do you know where to find them?" "It means that one of my shadows have found them and that I could finally go rescue her." I said as my eyes were already flashing with the images of the Windigos falling at my feet. "I take it that you'll want to leave right away then?" Luan asked sadly. "No, I'm sure Hyperion will have to gather supplies before we head out but just in case she's already one step ahead of me then yeah, I'm going to want to leave as soon as possible. The longer I linger the longer Sky has to suffer her father's oppression, sorry Lulu." I pull her into a hug and nuzzled into her cheek. "It's okay Dark Heart, I want her here with us as well so I don't mind. The only thing I'm really sad about is that we didn't get my time together but I guess I could just have you make it up to me when you get back." Although I couldn't see it I knew she had a devious smirk on her muzzle. We stayed like this for about twenty more minutes as we sat on Luna's bed before she pulled away. "Now go on and go inform Hyperion of the news and if it turns out that she indeed has to prepare then you better come right back here, alright?" She asked before giving me a kiss and leaving without waiting for my response. I smile fondly at the door where my lover just exited before getting up and ran off the balcony. Halfway down to the ground I saw it fit to draw one of my blades before kicking off the wall and throwing into the wall. In proved effective in providing the necessary propulsion to launch clear across Canterlot and land in the streets, with the added bonus of kicking up dirt and dust and having it cover the nobles wandering the streets upon my "landing". "How dare you get filth on me you scoundrel. I shall make you pay dearily for this atrocity!" I heard the all too annoyingly familiar voice say from behind me. The only thing I did was groan and began to walk away seeing as I have more pressing matters to deal with. That is until I was picked up by a blue aura. "Figures it would be you who would have performed such a heinous act." The insufferable "Prince" Blueblood said as he stared at me with narrowed eyes. "Blueblood, I have no time for your fucking whining today so put me down and I'll consider not breaking off your horn and shoving it thoroughly up your ass you pompous prick." I stated as calmly as possible. The resounding gasps of shock from the ponies around us was tempting me to mess with Blueblood but time is of the essence. "I doubt there's anything you do that's considered important." He sneered. "Then go tell that to your dear aunties but right now I'm not dealing with your shit." With that statement said I tapped into the magic channels and got into contact with a nearby shadow. With its orders received it came into view rather quickly and snaked up Blueblood's leg and up to his horn. As soon as my shadow made contact Blueblood's magic was cancelled out and I blasted Blueblood towards the castle. Once he was out of sight I teleported back to my cave and made my way over to Hyperion's home which isn't that far from mine. As I came up upon the entrance of her cave I could hear a humming resonating from deep within. I followed the sound until I reached a door where it seemed to be coming from. Pressing an ear to the door I could water running on the other side and decided to wait for her in the living room. While I waited I revisited the scene shown to me earlier by one of my shadows and examined the details of the fortress and find the best way to traverse through the city undetected. By the time I found a path halfway through the city and to the palace, Hyperion had finished her shower and walked out into the living room with nothing but a towel on. "Aaaahhh, Dark Heart what are you doing here!?" She screamed when she took notice of me. "Hey Hyperion, sorry for just coming in unannounced but I had some news that I thought you would like to hear." I told, never taking my eyes of the map I was making. "And this news couldn't wait until later?" I think I caught someone in a pissy mood now haven't I. "My shadows found the Windigo fortress and I came here to tell you that we're moving out as soon as you're ready. In the meantime I'm making the two of us a plan of entry so that we can attract little to no attention from the civilians but we'll have time on the way to improve it as my shadow feeds more info." I told as I got up and started to leave, though not without leaving behind a pendant that I made for this type of situation. "Use that to contact me when you have everything in order, I don't want to leave Sky there longer than I have to." And with that I walked out and teleported back to my cave to grab a couple of things and then proceeded to teleport back to the castle's dining room. When I got there I looked up from the map again to find Luna and Celestia speaking to an injured Blueblood and I couldn't help but notice that Luna was trying to hide her smirk from her nephew. "And then he had the gall to use his disgusting black magic to cancel out my magic and blasted me towards the castle." Blueblood finished up. "Well it sounds to me dear nephew that you are most definitely wrong in this matter. Dark Heart indeed has a very important mission that could very well change Equestria for the better and you were getting in the way of that. We've told you once already but apparently you must reminded that he his part of a special branch of Equestria's royal guard. A branch that only follows our orders on, or off duty, plus it sounds as though he didn't even know that you were there and throwing a temper tantrum like a little filly most definitely isn't helping your case." Celestia stated with her calm demeanor as she and Luna were drinking there tea. "Oh Celestia that's just insulting." I stated making my presence known to the three. "At least he sees some of my-" "Even the most spoiled of fillies don't throw a tantrum half as bad as Blueblood here, and here I thought you cared for the children." At this point Luna was having difficulty holding back her laughter, but Celestia didn't, as much at least, as she let out a brief giggle. Old Blueblood looked like he was about to pop. "Yes, I suppose you're right, that is very insulting to fillies everywhere but I simply have no other comparison to the way he acts when he doesn't get his way." Celestia stated as she rubbed her chin in thought. "What is there to compare it to other than his previous tantrums. Your nephew is in a league all his own so I don't really see the point." I picked up Luna off the chair and took her place as she placed upon my lap and I wrapped my arms around her waist. "Now Blueblood, if you would kindly leave as the adults need to talk about urgent matters that are too complex for your feeble mind to comprehend." He gawked at me like I had grown a second head before glaring at me. "You dare to continue insulting you insolent pest, the only reason you haven't ended up in a dungeon is because Auntie Luna seems to fancy you for some reason. Note that the moment when you least expect it I'l-" "And that's enough out of you for the day." I said as I sealed his mouth shut and teleported him back to his chambers, tied up to his bed, so that we could proceed with our meeting. "So I take it Hyperion has to prepare?" Celestia stated as soon as Blueblood was gone. "Yeah, and she really needs to invest into a door that has a lock. She was in the shower when I got there but I just opened the door and walked right on in. If this doesn't clue her in then somepony worse may stumble upon her humble abode and who knows what could happen then." Celestia nodded in understanding and was about to say something but the doors to the dining room opened up and another voice cut her off. "Auntie Celestia, I've been looking everywhere for you and Auntie Luna, though I should have known you two would be in here." Came the sweet voice of Cadance. I've met Cadance and Twilight's older brother, Shining Armor, twice since I've been released and both time were for some little errands that the sisters have sent me on. Shining Armor was straight up hostile upon our first meeting since he had seen me using my dark magic to recreate some of Sombra's dark crystal's for examination. He didn't last very long in that fight as I took him down very easily, and he used to be captain of the royal guard. Ever since then he's been wary of me but Cadance on the other has been pleasant to be around and accepted my dark powers without hesitation. I've been meaning to make it a point to spend a little more time with her since we did have fun when we're around each other, even more so when Cadance convinces Shining Armor to join on our antics. "You know they're always stuffing their faces with cake right? I mean I know that with plots like this one's," I grabbed a handful of Luna's ass and squeezed the fleshy orbs till the excess was overfilling them, which got a good, loud moan from her. "but I've seen their workouts and I can honestly say that they aren't slacking in the slightest to keep themselves in shape." I finished as Cadance was smiling deviously at me once she spotted me from under Luna. Said alicorn was staring daggers at me as her whole face had turned red, needless to say that I was going to be in the dog house when I got back. "Now what do you think you're doing over there mister?" Cadance asked playfully as she giggled. "Nothing much, just enjoying my marefriend's company as we discuss a plan for infiltrating the Windigo Fortress and rescue Princess Diamond Sky." Gesturing towards to map, I ushered her to take a look at it. "Wow, you actually found it, and it seems to be pretty close to the Crystal Empire." Cadance said as she looked over the map. "Actually it's still a fair distance away, the map isn't really up to scale; I mainly made for planning my path through the city. There's still a lot I don't know yet that I'm having my shadows look into so that I could come up with a better plan before me and Hyperion get there in a week." I told her as she set the map down in front of us. "A week, really, I thought I would have been much further away than that." Luna said with amusement. "Of course you would think so but you seem to be forgetting one little, itsy bitsy thing my dear Luna." "What is that Dark Heart?" "A day's walk from the empire leads into the Desolate Fields." The three gasp upon hearing this as that name caused even me to shudder. It was the very place Sombra used to perform horrific experiments and the crystal ponies as he tried to turn them into the perfect army. After Celestia and Luna had defeated Sombra many of the test subjects had escaped from their containment in the underground facility and have claimed the area for themselves. The experiments were a success in terms that the subjects were extremely hostile and held no remorse whatsoever. Many have made attempts to get in contact with their inner self but all have died in the proces. After many failed attempts the area was sealed off and from what Celestia has told me it has remained since then. "You're tellin me that we have to walk through that horror show to get to the Windigos' fortress!?" Hyperion shouted as she walked into the room. Before I could say anything I heard barking coming from behind her and soon me and Luna were knocked out of the chair and I felt something licking my face. "Why is there a timberwolf licking Dark Heart's face, and more importantly, why are we just letting this happen?" Cadance asked as she watched Ember cover my face in her sappy drool. "Actually forget those questions, who is this?" "This, Cadance, is Ember and she is my pet and one of my best friends. I've had her since my second day back and, as you could probably tell, she's really affectionate when you get to know her." I tell her as I pull Ember off of my face and hug her to my chest and nuzzling the top of her head. "Ah, she looks so cute, does she have any siblings because I would love to have such an adorable pet to keep me company during my royal duties." She said as she scratched under her chin, Ember just eating up the attention. "What are you doing here girl?" I asked Ember which caused her to turn around to look at me with a serious expression along with a bark. "What did I do?" She bit me as an answer and I believe I knew what she was trying to say. "You heard about me leaving to go rescue Diamond and want to come along, don't you?" She smiled up at me as well as wagging her tail back and forth very quickly to show her excitement. "Are you sure Ember, we're going to be heading to the frozen and I'm not sure how well you can handle that kind of cold for a week." She bit my leg in response as she growled at me. "Alright, alright girl, I'll take you with us. Are you ready to go now." She nods to and I look over to Hyperion. "Yeah I'm ready." I saw that she was carrying a pack behind her so I wasn't going to bother her about it any further. "Alright then, let's get going." I turn to Luna who was shyly kicking her hoof on the ground. I walked up and gave a hug. "I'll see in you again soon Luna, and I'll be sure to bring Diamond back with me." She looked at me and gave me a quick hug. I saw her smiling when she pulled back. "Make sure you do Dark Heart, and make sure you're both in peace." With that said she let me and the three of us made our way out. It wasn't long before we were on the train to the Crystal Empire. I waved to Luna and Celestia as we were pulling away from the station. "So are sure you're up for this now?" A shorter Hyperion asked. "If you weren't ready to leave you should have said because I want all three of us to be well and ready for the journey ahead of us." I told her as I stared out the window. "That's not why I'm asking, something seems to be bothering you and I was wondering if it was going to affect us in any way while we're out there." "Don't worry about it Hyperion, it won't. If anything it'll only aid us should things go haywire." I said as an evil grin came upon me. "So then it's about Diamond then, well I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure once she knows that we're here she'll help us fight. Who knows maybe she even has a few of her people to help her out." Hyperion offered up her own opinion and I couldn't help but have at the image of Diamond coming to our aid with a miniature army of her own as well as the expression on Fratamantus's face once he sees that his own daughter has betrayed him. "I'll admit that's a little too optimistic for me but who knows, from what I could pick from what time I have spent with Diamond is that she can be an evil genius when she wants to be." "Yeah I know but I thought I put something out there to help lift your spirits." She pulled me closer to her into a strong hug that threatened to crush my spine but I didn't say anything as I enjoyed being around Hyperion as much as Luna and Sky. We stayed like that for quite a while though we shifted our position so that Hyperion was laying her head on my shoulders so that she could get some sleep and Ember had the same idea as she was laying on Cadance's lap, the princess of Love having dozed off quite some time ago. I stayed awake and watched the scenery pass by the window. Don't worry Diamond Sky, we're on our way. I thought as the grassy plains turned into endless fields of snow and ice.
Calm (Sorta) Before the StormSo that is the famous Crystal Empire, seems like it'd be an interesting place to live but what's there that would make Sombra want to take it over? I asked myself as I watched it get closer and closer as the train sped along the tracks. "If I had to wager I think it was because of the crystal heart that's powered by the positive emotions of the kingdom's citizens. It's said that the happiness radiated from it also radiates through not only Equestria but the other countries that surround the Empire as well. All expect for the Windigoe Capital which possesses very high concentration of negative emotions that would keep your own dark magic reserves supplied for millienias." explained Nova in her teacher voice. "So basically the anti-DarkHeart, I can definitely see why he'd want that. If he was able to corrupt it King Sombra could have became invincible as long as it was active. Though I wonder how he was able to remove it in the first place, the barrier it created should have kept him out, and now that I think about it won't it do the same to you as well." Shadow did make a good point, how did Sombra get close enough to the heart to remove and hide the damn thing. If the stories I heard from Pinkie Pie and the others are true then he shouldn't have been able to touch the heart, let alone remove it from its place under the castle. It would seem there's more to this story then I originally thought. I won't have an issue thanks to Nova and the H.O.L. plus not being in my darkness form should help as well considering that unlike Sombra my body doesn't really give hints of the effects of dark magic since it isn't corrupting me in any way. Like it would stop me anyway. Our mission is to find the Windigoe Capital and rescue Diamond Sky from that asshole that calls himself her father we aren't here for sightseeing. If Hyperion and Ember need anything before we take off I'm than alright with that but I want to get there as soon as I can. "You know it won't do any of you any good if you're already this tense, and we haven't even gotten off the train yet." Cadence said jokingly as she came up beside me. "A bit for your thoughts, it may help you calm down." "I am calm it's just that something occurred to me that may provide more details concerning Sombra's takeover of the Crystal Empire. I know there's a lot of mystery concerning that very subject but my main idea is in regards to the Crystal Heart." I voiced my thoughts to her hoping that maybe there are a few gaps she could fill since she's the ruler of ponies that are a couple of decades older than I am but they've been affected by time as much as I have. "If you're talking about how he got in here the answer to that is very simple," I look at her when she pauses for a few seconds then gesture for her to go on. "He was actually a citizen of the empire before he usurped the throne. He knew of its defenses as well as its weaknesses." "But what about the heart? Even if he was a citizen it should have recognized that he was a threat since he had dark magic at his disposal, or at least that's what I'm assuming anyway, after all there should be guards around such an important artifact of the empire right?" I asked with a curious expression that turned stern when she gave me a sheepish chuckle and rubs the back of her head. "Please tell me you're joking." I got nothing but a turned head from Cadance which got my eyebrows twitching madly. "The citizens were happy and prosperous so the previous rulers thought better of it since it would show distrust towards their citizens of the empire and cause them to become unhappy that their loyalties were in question, especially since there were so few outsiders that actually came to visit the Crystal Empire with how things were back then. Of course me and husband aren't going to make the same mistake with all of my aunts' old enemies making appearances." She finally says after staring at her for an answer for a minute or so. "Well at least she sounds confident that they've done the right thing but I would like to see how the guards actually hold up." "You and me both" You and me both. Nova said/ I thought simultaneously. "Oh come on Dark Heart, let the mare be. After all your family wears the artifact you've been protecting for centuries and make yourselves living targets for perhaps one of the most dangerous dragons in the world. I don't think you have much room to talk when it comes to effectively protecting important magical items." I hear Hyperion say as she and Ember walk up to us. I just shrug my shoulders and go back to looking out the window to see how close we are to the station. Sure enough it seems our conversation has killed the rest of the time as I see us pulling in now. Being as impatient as I am at the moment, I head towards the exit before the train comes to a complete stop and jump onto the platform. I take a look around and see ponies giving me weird looks but I don't really care what they could be thinking about me at the moment as I have more important matters to attend to. "I didn't think my company was that bad." Said Cadance as the girls all get off the train as well, after it stopped of course. "Sorry Cadance but I want to get this done as soon as possible." I tell her as I look towards the frozen tundra the three of us are going to have trek through to get to Diamond. "I know you're worried and all but do you really need to? You did say that she had her own supporters that would help her should things get that bad, not to mention the countless shadows you got watching over her at this very moment." Hyperion points out as she places around me. "I know you haven't heard anything from them so for now calm now and lets worry about getting our butts there first" "Yeah, yeah alright, I'll chill for now but we are leaving as soon as you two are ready." They give me affirmative nods and we look towards Cadance. "So where do we go to get some decent winter supplies because I don't know about you but those two-" I points towards Hyperion and Ember. "Don't exactly have the biology suited for this journey but I already know that anything I say to get them to stay behind won't really work." After I say that the two give their triumphant poses which causes me to face palm and Cadance to giggle a bit. "Well you won't have to worry about that. We have actually have guards stationed outside the influence of the Crystal Heart that are more than well-equipped to survive an intense blizzard if the need ever arises so I'll be able to get you the three of you set and ready to go on your trip to the Windigoe Capital." I hear ponies all around us gasp and I can't help but look around and just notice that we've walking to the castle this whole time. I also notice how the crystal ponies are now whispering to each other while they look over our little group. I look back to the princess as I go ahead and ignore them to speak to her, Thanks, but I won't need it. My own suit will be more than enough to keep out to cold." She looks at me skeptically for a second before shrugging and returned to guiding us to the castle. One hour later "Would you stop tugging at your collar!" I shout at Hyperion an she's been doing this since she put on the magically enchanted, but ordinary looking, fleece coat Cadance got her, as well as a modified one for Ember. "You where this damn thing and tell me how comfortable you feel in it!" She yells right back and she persist with trying to shred the apparently uncomfortable garment off of herself. "Why can't you be more like Ember, at least she ain't whining about it" I tell her as I look over at Ember who seems to be just about prancing in her own fleece as we head towards the most northern part of the city and make our way out to our destination. "She doesn't count, her entire body is made up of wood, leaves, and sap, I bet she doesn't even feel it." Hyperion humphed as she finally gives up as we're approaching the city limits. "And you have an incredibly tough, scalely hide that is damn hard to get through so I don't want to hear it missy." She just sticks her tongue out at me and turns her head away from me. I sigh as I shake my head and turn back to where we were going only to stop as I see we're finally here. Looking across the frozen landscape before us and I can't but wonder what dangers await us on the way there. From the information I've gotten from my shadows, it shouldn't take more than two days to get there, if I made this trip alone and ran full speed all the way there. Now that I have two tag along that are not only as fast but not as prepared for this as I am but I don't really have the heart to send them back and make them wait back at home, or here at least, when all they want to do is help. "You two ready for this?" I feel both of them slip a hand grab a hold of my right hand as I feel Ember nudge my side which causes me to squeeze Hyperion's hand and place my left hand onto Ember's back. "Then lets go find and beat down some Windigoes." And with that we run into the frozen unknown, ready and raring to demolish anything that gets in our way. A little while later "You know for a dragon that managed to wreak havoc and an entire for four days straight you sure do lack endurance." There was a patch of burnt ground where I stood a moment ago after saying that. "Fu *huff* uck you. *huff huff*" "As much as I wouldn't mind we kinda have some where to be." I say with a grin as I bend forward so my face is close to her ear. "But I'll tell you what, after this is over the two of us will have go on a date to wherever you want as a thank you for coming with me." And with that her violet scales turned red as big blush came over her face. "R-r-really?" She asked in a soft but hopeful voice as she stares up at me from her position with her claws still planted on her knees. I merely nod with my grin still planted on my face and I soon find myself on the snowy ground with rather warm pair of lips pressed against my own. I don't hesitate to return the kiss as I cup her cheeks and hold her close to me. "I would love to Dark Heart but until then we have a mission to complete." She says after pulling away and looking at me with those loving eyes. We hear whining and scratching to our left and we look over to Ember who is there with that sad little puppy dog look directed at us and I can't help but smile as I use my hand to beckon her over to us. She instantly gets excited as she hops up on all fours and bounds over to us and forces herself to be in between Hyperion and I. We laugh at her antics as I give her a scratch behind the ears. I'm glad these two came along. It ma take longer to get there but at least like this I won't be such a stiff hard ass when I see Diamond. I think as I enjoy the moment. "I know it's hard to remember with everything that's been going on but you must remember Dark Heart, that your ancestors have been given the strength they need to protect not only me but those they care about by the ones they love the most. I know it kinda goes against your nature seeing dark magic draws its power from negative emotions but if you ever hope to bridge the gap between light and darkness that is a lesson that you need to take to heart." Though her voice is stern I could easily hear the compassion behind it as well, and I have to admit she does make a valid point. Darkness will only take me so far. If I hope to bring dark magic any kind good reputation I'm gonna have to find a way to show the masses that both it and normal magic can indeed work hand in hand. For now that's neither here nor there, and as much as I hate to end this little moment we must keep going. "Hey you two, we gotta get going so I hope you're rested." I tell as I sit up with both of them in my arms. They linger there for a bit before Hyperion goes to stand up, then Ember, and finally myself. After dusting to snow off ourselves, well shaking it off in Ember's chase, we begin walking on towards our destination. Though it isn't a few minutes later that Hyperion asks me a question. "Hey Dark Heart?" "Hmm?" "Well I was just wondering how you weren't cold laying there in the snow cause even with this fleece on I still feel a bit chilly." "Oh well that's rather simple actually. My suit here helps keeps my body at normal body temperature, though even without this thing I wouldn't really be bothered by the cold since one of the things I did was intense weather training while I was trapped in the amulet. Comes in handy for situations like this as well as any time I find myself without my suit." I explain to her as I remember some of things I did while I was imprisoned by Nightmare. I also remember the anger, the rage, and the pure unadulterated murderous intent I felt after discovering what she had done. Now though, after everything that's been going on, I'm not so bent out of shape about it. In fact as may even go as far as to say that I'd be willing to try helping her should she rear her head again, but I can't say that for sure until I ever confront her again. Something I'm suspecting to happen rather soon actually since there's no telling what the Elements of Harmony actually did to her. "And you didn't make anything for us!?" Hyperion's shout knocked me from my train of thought. "It took quite a while just to make mine and I'd rather get this over with as soon as possible, so yeah I did't make another to fit you two, though if you recall correctly I did say that I wanted to do this solo in the first place." She puffs out a bit of smoke and, obviously, is making it very clear that she's agitated. I do nothing more than sigh and look out ahead of me. Am I glad that Ember isn't this temperamental otherwise I'd think that they would do me in when we stop for the night. "I thought you were going to travel the entire way there to make it there sooner. I am but neither of them need to know that, they're going to need they're strength if they actually plan on helping me but at the same time I'm in a rush. "So you've mentioned for the thousandth time since the shadows found her." I could feel his eyes rolling. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you were thinking of doing WHAT!?" Nova screeched in. Problem, Nova? "Yes there's a problem! You actually thinking of not only traveling at night but of also doing it while carrying those two!?" That was pretty much the plan yeah "Are you nuts!" Listen Nova, I understand where your concern is coming from but I've already decided that this is the best course of action and there's nothing you can say or do that will get me to change my mind. There's nothing but silence after that and I can't help but feel a bit worried. Nova? "I think it may be best to leave her be for now Dark." Shadow says in a tone that causes my ears to lay flat against my head. What am I to do now, Hyperion is mad at me for once again reinstating that I'd rather do this alone, Ember hasn't really tried to voice her opinion, and now Nova and Shadow seem to disapprove of my decision of how to handle all of this, or at least Nova is and Shadow just seems to be trying to make sure things don't get worse. This really is going to be a long trip after all. I think to myself as I feel my fluctuate even even more from the emotions swirling around us. Author's Note So cutting off the chapter here as I don't really have anything exciting planned for the trip itself so the next chapter will begin with them just arriving and maybe a little bit about how things went. With all that said I gotta say it's good to be back and Outcasted Hero is next for an update, and after that...... well I'm still deciding on what to do for Lighting Master.
Frozen Bird FreedOne Week Later We're almost there, the capital city is just out there, out of this mountain pass. Now I can understand why nopony has ever found the place. The weather alone would kill most ponies, and if that doesn't do it then the creatures that actually live out here will do the job just fine. I thought to myself, though I was hoping for some kind of feedback from either one of them. Nova hadn't talked to me since after I told of my plan and Shadow has been keeping her company no doubt. The same could be said for Ember and Hyperion after finding out that I still kept going after the third day of carrying them on my back in my darkness form and other than coordinating attacks on the various creatures that we have ran into, or pointing out anything peculiar, we haven't had much contact with Ember sticking by Hyperion the whole time here. I didn't like it but I dealt with it as I always have and kept going as each step brought me closer and closer to saving Diamond. "Just a bit further you two, once we get clear of the the mountains we should see the city just a couple miles north of us. Once we do from here on out we need to be extremely cautious." I told them in a serious tone as I hid my magical signature. I feel as though I should mention where we were at. We made it will away from the Crystal Empire, a few dozen miles at best, and had came upon this gigantic mountain whose top had disappeared into the clouds that surrounded it. After using my shadows to confirm that we were going the right way we started our climb up, well we did, Ember hitched a ride with Hyperion who wasn't opposed to carrying her up. After an hour or so of climbing a storm began to kick up and the wind was blowing around like mad. We had to find shelter and soon but it was hard to do with snow in your face as you're pressed up against the side of a mountain so I had to send a shadow out as I wanted to stick close to the girls just in case something happened. It soon came back and reported that there was a cave in the side of the mountain not too far from our left. I told them and we started inching our way over to it and made it there about ten minutes later. We rested as Ember let herself be a bit curious and have a look deeper inside. After a good thirty minutes we were well and rested and were about to go looking for her when she came back to us, running around and hopping about excitedly as she was signaling us to follow her. We did and found out why she was so excited, she had managed to find a path through the heart of the mountains and I saw through my shadows that it did in fact lead to the Windigoe Capital. We've been following for the better part of two days now but we didn't care, it was much better than climbing the entire up, and it just meant that we'd be seeing Diamond sooner than we expected. "Hey Dark Heart," I turned to look at her before she went on. "I wanted to talk to you for a bit before we go any further," She pauses and takes a deep breath in and out, as though she was nervous about what she was going to say. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about the way I've been acting since that night. I know why you did it but I was just so angry that once again you were trying to pull this off on your own, again. We- I care about you too much to let you hurt yourself doing something so stupid but trying to stop you would have been pointless with our current mission. We may not have known each other long but I already that you're willing to sacrifice so much for those you care about and Diamond Sky has earned that to you." She seems like she wants to say more but before she can I decide to cut in before she can. "Look Hyperion, I really don't care that you or Ember are mad at me, in fact I thought you would be after you found out, but I'm not gonna sit and say that it didn't hurt though I do understand. I get why you were mad and I just want to let you know right now that I'm sorry for worrying you. I know I'm irresponsible when it comes to helping those I consider my friends, family, and lovers, and despite everything I said about wanting to do this alone I'm glad you two came with me." She's had this worried look since I opened my mouth and it's been making me a b nervous so I was glad to see her when I said that. I grab a hold of her hands and we intertwined our fingers together as we closed the distance between us. "I'm falling in love with you, more and more, everyday Hyperion. You mean the world to me, just like my parents did, just like my sisters would have, like Tender Heart, Pinkie Pie, Zecora and the many others that I've met that have had a positive influence in my life. All of you are one of the many reasons why my dark magic is so different from anypony else that has used it before me." I pause for bit to let what I've said so far sink in. "So I don't want you to think that you being at me for doing something is wrong, nor do I want you to be afraid to tell me that. And know no matter what happens today we will all make it though this together." I smiled at her to let her know that I was sincere, though I took one hand away from hers to get Ember in on the moment as well since I noticed her ears were splayed back against her head. Hyperion returned the gesture as Ember was all too eager to jump on top of me and once again cover my face in sap saliva. I shoo her off before looking at both of them and see that they're in higher spirits and raring to go. After getting up I lead them towards a platform that lies a few meters fro the entrance to the city that has long been frozen over since the windigoes just fly in and out of the city. It takes us no time at all to reach it and we decide to stop and make up a plan for getting in and out with Diamond. After about an hours debate we decided that the sooner the better since everything I've learned about the city from my shadows has shown that the citizens aren't all that active during the day for reasons I have yet to actually figure, maybe Diamond Sky can shed a little light on the subject once we get her out the city. Before we go in though I put a couple of sound suppression spells on the girls and activate my own so that we don't make too much noise across the icy roads that decorate the city as well. Once ready we head towards to frozen doorway and with a nod, Hyperion went ahead and defrosted it with a small but hot flame that hopefully wouldn't set any alarms, though Ember, being forever the mischievous little timber wolf she is, made it a show of just how much she enjoyed the warmth of the dragoness's fire breath. It took a few minutes to complete the process but once it was I took a peek in to make the coast was clear though it seemed it wasn't need as it seemed that wherever this way lead, it had long been abandoned, at least if the state of some of the structures was anything to go by. "So where do we go from here?" "Towards that," I pointed out towards the big menacing looking castle that seemed to made of black ice and enough spires to make a see urchin jealous. The girls looked at me like I was stupid after I said that as they gave me looks that said 'really'. "Look if you want exact directions, it ain't happening until we're in the castle. From here we're just going to heard in the direction of the castle as we avoid detection." Yeah probably not the wisest, or safest thing to do but the design of this place was too chaotic to really make sense out of that we might as well wing it, not even my shadows are of any help. "Uuuggghhh, fine but if things go to shit I'm blaming you!" She yelled before I clamped of hands over her mouth and told her to shush. "You trying to get us caught?" She glared at me for that because despite my serious expression she knew that I was being smug. "You're an ass you know that?" She harshly whispered after she pried my hands off her face. I just shrug as we begin to move into the city proper. Despite the fact that it houses the Windigoes what parts weren't destroyed, decrepit or dedicated to Fratamantus, were quite stunning almost as though the ice shaped itself into the buildings that surround us. After about three hours of getting lost and resisting the urge to just start blowing through the ice we managed to get as close as we can to the castle. Now we had a gigantic with multiple outcroppings that held at least two guards on all of them surrounded the damn thing with no possible way of getting through or around it, and I very much doubt we could go under without setting off some type of alarm. "Remind me why we can't use your shadows to help get through this fucking place." Hyperion asked as she came beside me as I tried looking for any opening that we could exploit. "Because Fratamantus has been growing suspicious as of late, having seen some of my shadows moving about but he isn't quite sure as of yet. Of course that leads to him being a bit paranoid and hence the huge number of guards and no doubts wards, that lay around and in the castle." I explained as only one thought, one idea seemed to run in my head over and over again, something I was hoping to avoid though at the same time I wanted it to happen as well. "Well that's just fucking great! So what do we do from here Dark Heart?" I mulled over my thoughts once more before coming to a conclusion of what needed to be done. "Well you three aren't going to like this but I got on idea." I said to her while still looking towards the wall and the castle it protected, though my sight laid upon the place I knew Diamond to be staying in. "What, what are y- Dark Heart NO, that's crazy!!" "Well I was never exactly known for being sane." I told her with a completely straight face. "Though you shoul dbe lucky I erected a sound barrier otherwise we'd have been caught with your yelling." "Damn it Heart, stop trying to take on this kind of stuff by yourself! You have me and Ember right here with you not to mention Shadow, Nova, and I'm sure Diamond Sky has some sort of idea if you'd just get a hold of her somehow." She was gripping onto my right arm with both hand as tight as she could though by the sound of her voice she knew she couldn't hold me back. "I've already thought about Hyperion. Fratamantus probably thinks I'll have came alone and that me charging straight the city wouldn't be too far from my repertoire. Using that would solve a number of issues from finding a way inside to how to get rid of the guards. You and Ember can sneak in right under their noses, grab Diamond and get to safety. I'm not sure if I can beat him alone but I know that I can pull him away from his daughter to make her rescue possible." I feel my dark magic running through me as I prepare to transform, though I won't do it before I teleport to the city gates so I can make this even more believable. "Please be careful out there Heart." She choked out as Ember whimpered. I smile to both of them before bringing them into a hug. It didn't last long as I knew that the more time we wasted the better the odds are they'll be seen. "Don't worry girls, I'll be alright." I give them both a kiss, Ember on her forehead and Hyperion the lips, before teleporting myself to back to where we had entered and quickly changed into my darkness form to cover up the magical surge that was most likely felt by Fratamantus himself. "Hope you know what're getting yourself into." "No idea, but it's never has stopped me before." "Well know that you can count on us no matter what." I smiled at hearing Nova's voice again but it didn't last long as I set things further into motion as I blasted a gaping hole into the entire front wall. This got the desired effect as warning systems went off round the city. I could already see of the windigoes forces converging on my location as I stood there looking at them with a bored expression. Waiting until they were just feet away from me, I let out a wave of dark energy similar to that of when I had first changed in the past and as predicted it vaporized all who were within the blast. Once it had dissipated I ran into the city with Cursed and Blessing now drawn as I used them to travel above ground level and get to the castle gates sooner. Any guards I ran into were either cut down or smacked back as I allowed none to interfere with my mission. Shadow is it almost ready? "Yeah, just give it another minute or so and you can get Ember ad Hyperion inside without issue." Good, with any luck it should draw out the bastard and all but a handful of his cronies outside and leave very few for those to two to have to deal with. This is one of the reasons I was hoping to be able to resort this, I get to destroy a city without worry, it so does make a great stress reliever though I do hope to change that soon. OW, What was that for? I yell into my head as a sudden pain could be felt in my mind, not my head, my mind. "No naughty thoughts mister especially when you're in a fight to save somepony!" Nova scolded as I heard Shadow chuckling. My bad I told her before turning serious once more and prepared to unleash a little present I had. I gathered the immense amounts of dark magic, that Shadow has been gathering from the now dead windigoes, into my arms. I could feel the same chilling feeling that the ponies of old must have felt when they succumbed to the power of the beasts. I have yet to feel this the type of darkness in ones heart that would attracted windigoes to them and for that I'm glad. I take glance over to where I had left the girls and made eye contact with Hyperion. I saw the worry and fear she felt but I also saw that she believed in me and was no doubt cheering me on, as well as a determination to do her role in rescuing Diamond Sky and getting out safe and sound. Flashing her a smile I turn back to my task as the energy reached peaked mass. "ARCTIC DARKNESS!!" I shouted as I shot the energy into the castle's wall and watched as the most of the front of the wall was engulfed in a veil of darkness before it dissipated, leaving nothing behind. "You know your magic scares me a lot sometimes." Nova stated though I didn't as I was focused on a certain individual that floats in front of me. "So we finally meet face to face Dark Heart, though I wish it was as allies." Fratamantus spoke as though he was disappointed though something was telling me he didn't really care. "Though I must say that I certainly don't appreciate the fact that you've decided that destroying my kingdom was the best way to get my attention!" "Ooooooo, I think somepony is maaaaad." Shadow mocked the king. "I don't give a damn bastard! You know why I'm here so give her to me and I won't leave the rest of kingdom in shambles!" I demanded as I keep up the act that I'm here rescuing Diamond alone. "And why, pray tell, do you want that little whore for?" Fratamantus snorted out as my anger flared even more. "DON'T YOU DARE CALL HER THAT!!" I growled as I grabbed my blades and prepared to strike him down. "Oh, what's this, you mean to tell me that you actually got a heart?" He mocked but I just swept it off. Make fun of me all you want but those I care about, you better pray to the goddess I don't find out. Though that didn't stop me from throwing Cursed into the air and bring it down on him. He managed to move out of the way but some of the guards weren't so lucky as a those in its path were cleaved in half. Wasting no time I use Blessing to intercept his path as I called in Cursed. The cowardly bastard used some of his own guards to take the hits as he once again slipped out of the way. Blessing was reeled back in as well so that they both stood by my side before I lunged at him from my perch and started to spin rapidly, releasing more of the chains length and making a vortex of spinning metal. I wasn't done though as I poured magic into a rune that lied n the gauntlets, which glowed with an eerie purple, almost black, light before I saw the first set of spikes pop out of chain that was attached to the gauntlet and watched more come out before disappearing into the frenzy of chains that spun with me. Despite the chain wall that blocked my sight I knew Fratamantus had been trying to grew through to me with his own magic as I saw the bright blue flashes every so often. I paid it no mind though as I kept the attack going as the much more prominent crimson red blood stained my chains further as the fools tried to muscle their way through the imposing walls of my blade vortex. Unfortunately I soon had to release the attack I couldn't keep it up for long without leaving myself disoriented and vulnerable. I slowly wound down and retracted the chains bit by bit until there was a suitable amount left to preform long distance attacks without it getting in the way. I was looking around at the devastation my attack had done before a slow clapping was heard from my left. "Bravo Dark Heart, you managed to wipe out a good chunk of my soldiers but it seems you've missed me." He said with a sadistic smirk as I growled at him. "I didn't miss Fratamantus, I want to see your face as I RIP TO PIECES!!" I roared as I lunged at him once more, this time with him coming to meet me head on with his sword. 'I hope you three are alright in there.' Was the thought that ran through my head just before we locked blades. POV Hyperion We had ran in after Dark Heart destroyed the wall with his spell, Arctic Darkness if I heard him right, and all the soldiers that were coming out had ceased. Seemed his idea of using himself as a distraction worked damn good once I saw windigoe that was bigger and more imposing than the others fly out towards Dark Heart. 'Please be careful Dark Heart.' Was what ran through my head as I took one last look at him before Ember and I disappeared into the castle. We ran through the halls until we were a good ways away from the action and took refuge in an empty room after making sure it was clear. I leaned my back against the wall as I caught my breath before we headed out to look for Diamond Sky. We've just started this insane mission and already my blood in fucking pumping, I mean we just broke into the capital of the same creatures that can literally freeze your heart from the inside out with us being outnumbered hundreds, if not thousands, to one with there only being four of us to really do anything. Before I could continue thinking about I heard a whimper and I looked over to the source which was Ember as she stared out the window that seemed to have a view of what was happening outside. I knew what she was feeling as I saw Dark Heart and Fratamantus exchange blows as blood and gore already littered the ground. "Don't worry Ember, he'll be fine," I told her as I scratched her behind the ears. "We just got to hurry and find Diamond and we can go home before anything bad happens." She jumped off the window sill and jumped on me with her fronts paws on my shoulders as she liked my face. I laughed and tried to get her off of me as the sticky sap from her tongue was getting under my scales. I finally after or so but not without a thorough coating of the stuff for my troubles, as well as a proud looking timber wolf. "I hope you know I'm getting you back for this." All that got was a raspberry from a highly amused timber wolf that was soon to be victim to a Pinkie Pie prank. I may not know the mare all too well but what I do know is that there's no point trying to get away from the mare, because once she sets her eyes on you there's no getting away. I spent a bit of time getting what I can of the sap off before simply giving up and went about our main goal as we exited the room and started looking through doors to find our way to one the spires that held Diamond. Just as Dark Heart had predicted, there were still some soldiers inside acting as guards as they patrolled the halls of the massive fortress. We had a couple of close calls but we were able to avoid them none the less though they did deter our search quite a bit from some of the places I would suspect a windigoe princess to be kept during an attack. 'Damn it, I wish we had something of hers so Ember could track her down instead of us searching aimlessly, I wonder how Dark Heart had planned to do this by himself?' No sooner had I thought that did a plan popped into my head. I looked down at Ember as she looked right back at me with those curious eyes. Even after all this I find the fact that a timberwolve can be so expressive fascinating, and a tad bit weird. "Ember, if we can something that belongs to Diamond could you track the scent?" I asked her as she seemed to get excited at the idea as she was wagging her tail and looked like she wanted to start barking but held back. I smiled to her and we went looking for some of this place many servants and see if any of them had attended to Diamond Sky recently. 10 Minutes Later We finally found someone who had been around Diamond lately and brought down her laundry full of dirty gowns and dresses, which of course was a gold mine to get a scent from. As soon as it was left unattended for even a minute I quickly ran to it and just grabbed something from the basket without looking before running back over to where I had left Ember. I made sure that I wasn't noticed has we hid in a vacant room that had already been checked so we didn't have to worry about anybody coming in. When I figured that I hadn't been spotted I looked at what I had grabbed and grew red as in my hands were a pair of panties. I turned towards Ember because I had heard a strange sound and saw that she was sitting down with one of her front paws on top of her muzzle as it seemed she was holding back her laughter, at least if the way her shoulders seemed to shaking was any indication. "Shut up!" I said in a harsh whisper before throwing the undergarments at her. She yelped as they landed on her face and she tried shaking them off but they remained stubbornly glued to her muzzle and she started running around the room trying to get them to come off. I was holding back my own laughter at the scene before I recomposed myself and grabbed a hold of her and lifted her up so her commotion wouldn't attract any unwanted attention. Taking Dia's panties off of her I held it up to near her muzzle as she just glared at me. "Come on Ember, just get her scent and let's get going, the sooner we get this done the sooner you can try to maim me later." It was at this time the entire building shook violently and things were brought to another perspective , "And the sooner we can get out of here before Dark Heart gets hurt." She complied and took into the scent that was left behind on the single piece of cloth before I put her down and we ran out the room. I brought them with me just in case Ember lost it at all but it seemed she new actually where she was going as we ran through the halls with our only stops being to hide from any passing patrols. It took us about four more minutes to come up on a door that seemed to lead to one of the spires if the view from one of the windows we passed by were anything to go by. There stood two guards at the doors and, me worrying about Dark Heart, took the more direct route of getting rid of them and ran up to them before they could react and punched them as hard as I can which got the effect of knocking them out. I was about to move them somewhere else so we weren't found out but then another tremble ran through the castle again which caused some of the chandeliers to fall. A couple fell from right above and so we jumped out of the way as they landed on the two knocked out, now dead, guards. We left them there since we thought it would be suspicious to try to clean up the mess than just leaving them there. We walked through the door and saw that there was a long stair case leading up to what was hopefully Diamond's room. "Hold on Ember." I told her as I picked her up and stretched out my wings. I wasn't too sure I was able to fit through but it doesn't hurt to check and as long as I don't just go full speed ahead I have nothing to worry about. I flapped my wings and started to ascend slowly through the middle of the spiral staircase, being mindful of how far I could extend my wings. When we reached the top I let Ember down first as I descended on the closes step in I could without the risk of damaging my wings or falling. Ember sniffed around and nodded towards me, indicating that the source of the scent we've been tracking is just beyond the door. Now before I just walts in I take a look at the door as something seemed strange to me. Now I was expecting some ornately designed master piece made out of some kind of rare magical ice or something but no, it seemed to be a steel door with a small, barred opening, like that you see in a prison cell and it was then that I realized why Dark Heart wanted to rescue her so badly, besides the fact that they seemed to have fallen for each other in their first meeting, and that was because she was as much as prisoner to her father as much as she was a princess to the common folk. That must be why he hated Fratamantus even more whenever his shadows came back from surveying the city on our way here and here I was doubting that things seemed to be this bad for her. Being treated as a princess and a prisoner at the same time by your won father, it must be a hell of way to live. "Hey, hey are you Princess Diamond Sky?" I asked as I peeked in to find a lone figure inside, sitting in front of a window, obviously watching the battle raging on outside. It had to have been a windigoe mare seeing how she was wearing a rather elegant dress, that I won't bother trying to describe, as well as the all around curves that any female possessed, or fem colts but I'd rather not think of that Shivers. She jolts up and looks towards me and we make eye contact before I jump back as her face suddenly appears in front of the opening. "Yes, I am Princess Diamond Sky, who are you? Are with Dark Heart? Are all of you to rescue me?" She quickly shoots off each question as she seems eager and happy just to see us standing before her. "To answer your questions in order, My name is Hyperion, yes I'm with the big lug outside, and of course we're here to rescue you, we sure as Tartarus wouldn't be out here with only us if we were planning to come fight some windigoes. Now how about we get you out of there." She nods, beaming at me before backing away from the door, seeing what I had planned with my hand already wrapped around the door handle. The thing was locked, I had already checked, and I didn't feel like wasting time trying to find some keys so I was going to rip it right off of it's hinges. Making sure I had a strong grip I pulled back as hard as I could and the door came off with ease as I let go of it to have it lodge itself into the wall behind us. We walked in as Diamond just stared at me, correction she seemed to be staring at the doorway behind me as a smile grew on her muzzle until it rivaled Pinkie Pie's. "So are you ready to go Diamond?" I asked her to snap her out of it. "Yeah, I don't really have anything here that I want to take with me besides present my mother gave me when I was filly but I always wear it so I don't have to worry about looking for it though let me go get changed into something that's a bit more durable." She ran into her closet picked out some clothes and ran into the bathroom. She came back out a moment later wearing a tank top that matched her dress in color, with a pair of black combat pants with a pair of matching boots. She was also wearing some kind of metallic armor over her right arm that went from her shoulder to her fingers, and a white bracelet with a pair of wings that were made of silver and amethyst. It seemed she also managed to put her mane up into a ponytail and acquire herself a bow and quiver, though something seemed strange about the bow though I couldn't quite put a finger on it. "Alright, all I gotta do is grab my coat and we can leave." She did just that she ran back to her closet and removed a hidden floor panel that kept said coat that seemed to be designed to go with the outfit as a sleeve was missing and fit over the armor no problem. It wasn't really anything special though as it was grayish blue and went down to her waist and had a couple of pockets located at the bottom, so yeah not anything too special. We soon find ourselves running down the stairs and out in the hall we entered from with the two dead guards at either side. She barely offered them a glance as we made our way by them and seemed strictly focused on getting out. I'm not sure what happened to the other windigoes though as we hadn't ran into any guards or even servants on our way back to our exit point. Fierce tremors still shook the structure as the fight raging between those two was still going and Diamond made it clear that it didn't well with her as she flinched every time we felt or heard it. I'm not sure how long it actually took us to find our way out but we did none the less and Diamond let out a sigh of relief when we landed on the ground outside. That soon changed when we all looked up in time to see Dark Heart being thrown off the mountain, all but his head, besides his horn, frozen and Cursing and Blessing lodged in the ground not to far from us, their chains severed from his gauntlets. We could do nothing but stare in horror as he disappeared over the cliff, without a way to break himself out. "I would say that I'm surprised to see you with a couple of his friends in your combat gear but that would be a lie, dear daughter of mine"
Not so Happy ReunionAuthor's Note Okay so I'm not too sure you guys will like the rest of the chapter after the timeskip so I will tell you this. You can throw ideas my way through the comments or pm, or you can rewrite the chapter from that point on yourself and if it turns out to be a good replacement for what I got I'll swap out my version for yours and make sure to give you the credit because I ain't going to be one of those asshole's that steals someone elses ideas and work and NOT give them credit. Otherwise I hope you enjoy and keep on reading and liking my stories. Not so Happy Reunion "Ember, Hyperion, wake up, we're here, we're at the Crystal Empire!" Diamond yelled out excitedly as she tried to get the two up. From what I can feel, Ember was stirring awake but it seemed Hyperion was being a bit more stubborn as I hear her grumbling something incoherent. "Come on Hyperion! Get up!" I chuckled at her antics before darkness overtook my vision. It lasted for a second before my sight returned to me and I noticed that the ground was getting closer and closer rather rapidly and I could hear a loud noise coming from somewhere around me. "D.. Dar.... Pull..... Uh..." I heard through the haze that seemed to have taken over my mind. I looked around trying to figure out what was going on. I looked towards the girls and saw that they were clinging onto my back and seemed to be saying something to me. Seeing to expression of their face told me something was wrong and it was only then that I noticed that I can feel my dark magic concentrated around my head and my senses feeling much less foggy. "Dark Heart Pull Up!!!" I finally heard Hyperion yell out as my mind finally realizes that I'm falling. Remembering the situation I found myself in beforehand with my fight with my Fratamantus I got into a diving position and held it till the last possible moment before spreading out my wings, slingshotting myself back up towards the sky, making sure to use my magic to keep the others securely on my back. I level out soon after since I didn't need to be up all that high and the remaining kinetic energy being used to boost my forward momentum as I sped towards the border of the Crystal Empire. "Dark Heart what just happened?" I heard Diamond asked but I didn't respond as it seemed darkness was threatening to eclipse my sight once again but I wasn't about to risk the girls safety so I flew low to the ground to minimize the impact should I fall unconscious before we make it. "Dark Heart! Land and take a break, you've pushed yourself too far!" Diamond tried to reason with me but yet I still didn't listen. "She's right Dark Heart, the Crystal Empire is right there, just stop and rest, I'm sure the border guards have seen us by now! You don't need to keep this up any more!" Hyperion jumped in with Ember's whimpering being heard as well but it was already too late as we crossed the barrier that protects the Crystal Empire and I no longer had the strength to sustain flight and crashed into the ground with darkness overtaking most of my vision now. I shakily lift up my head to see where the others were at and spotted them just a few feet away from me looking fine besides a few bruises, scratches, and I'm sure I could add a couple of bumps in there as well. I very much doubt I'm as well off as they are though since my dragon form deactivated the moment I passed through the barrier. YOU DUMBASS, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING PUSHING YOURSELF THAT HARD! I winced as my head was throbbing and her yelling at me didn't make it any better. I got to agree with her on this one buddy, it's never smart to push yourself like this considering the type of enemies you got and are going to make. What would you do if Spirit showed up now? I sighed at that knowing that they were right but let my excitement of almost being home get the best of me and not realize that my body was giving out on me, even so I still digress since as the old saying goes, no pain no gain. Yeah yeah, I know but if you really think that I'm gonna be like this for long then you're dead wrong. I told them as I tried to stand up with minor success as I could only get up to my knees before my body seemed to refuse putting in anymore effort to actually standing up. You were saying? Like I said, I won't be like this for long. I decided to just sitting up on the ground and letting my energy come back to me, after all can't rely on my magic for everything. I sat there staring down at the ground before my view was blocked by Ember as she appeared before me and started nuzzling and licking me as I laugh and try to get her to back off a bit. Took a few minutes to accomplish but when I did my smile quickly faded because I saw amber streak going down the side of her face, and they were fresh. "Oh Ember, come here." I said as I opened up my arms for her which she accepted without hesitation, burying her head into the crook of my neck. I hold her with arm while the other rubs her back as I whisper apologies into her ear and letting her know that I was fine. I had momentarily forgotten that Hyperion and Diamond were here until I felt two sets of arm wrap around me and her and looked up to find them looking at me, looking down in Hyperion's case since it seemed she decided to change back to her original size. Diamond was looking at me with worry and relieve in her eyes, while Hyperion's expression showed annoyance but the same worry and relieve was there as well, something made more apparent when she lightly hit me on top of the head. "You idiot what did I tell you about doing shit like that." She scolded me in a soft tone as she rested her head atop of mine. "I just got you Dark Heart, I don't want to lose you so soon." Diamond sobbed out as she pressed her forehead against the side of my head. "I know girls and I'm sorry. I guess I let my excitement get to me there." I said jokingly, which earned me small chuckles from them as Diamond bobbed me on the head this time. "Well I hope that excitement of yours doesn't cause us any other issues." Diamond's hand brushed over my groin when she said excitement which caused me to squirm a little. "You tease." I groaned out as she gave me a wink with Hyperion shaking her head at our antics along with laughter from somepony else. We quickly turned towards the source of the sound when we realized we weren't alone anymore. "While I am the princess of love and wouldn't mind the show I don't think my subjects all feel the same." Cadance stated with an amused expression as several of her guards were with her along with Shining Armor. Some, including Shining himself, had blushes showing while others seemed eager for us to continue. I also spotted a couple that seemed disgusted by the scene and from what I was feeling it seems these ponies are racist and detest interspecies couplings, they quickly turned the other way when I shot them a subtle but still intimidating glare. The four of us got up, the girls helping me stand up as I was still to weak to do so myself, and Cadance's expression quickly went from amused to concerned. "Are you going to be okay Dark Heart?" "Yeah I'll be fine, I just need to rest a bit and I'll be back to full strength in no time." I said, waving off the medics that were trying to check up on me. "But if you don't mind I would like to get a train back to Canterlot as soon as possible, I'm sure is anxious to meet Diamond and have us all back home safe and sound." Cadance agreed to get us transportation within the hour and suggested that we stop by somewhere to warm up and grab a bite to eat while we wait, which we agreed to. We all ate some nice warm meals, and had the pleasure of introducing Diamond to the dessert menu that the Crystal Empire had to offer as well as some meals with meat in them as well, and we soon found ourselves in the royal cabin on the. . .Friendship Express *bleh* about twenty minutes away from the empire after having said bye to Cadance and Shining Armor as well as thanking them for their help. I was just laying in one of the seats found in the cabin relaxing as I felt my body healing itself as my energy came back to me when I heard one of the girls call out to me. "What was that Hyperion?" I asked as I sat up to look at them. "I asked you how did you get your wings?" "Truthfully, I'm not sure. As you can see I only have them while in my 'Darkness Form' so the only guess I can make at the moment is that my dark magic had something to do with it. I haven't really looked into it and don't plan on it, at least not yet." "And why is that?" "I'm fucking exhausted." This caused all three them of them to stare at me with deadpanned expressions as I smirked at them but I wasn't lying, I'm too damn tired from this little adventure and now I can allow myself to rest, kind of thinking of sleeping in tomorrow too and I never want to sleep in. "Are you serious, you just grew wings, with the knowledge of how to fly already implanted in your head, and you're not going to bother looking into it because you're tired?" Diamond asked as she stared at me with her hands on her hips. "Eeyup, no point in looking into it if my head is not in the game." I stated nonchalantly as I laid back down on the seat and closing my eyes as I try to enter my own little world. That was something that didn't last as my eyes shot open as something pounced on me and caused me to let a 'oof' before Ember once again took up my view. *Arf* was all I got from her as I looked at her with a questioning look while she laid on top of me with her tail wagging and her leafy tongue hanging out her mouth like an excited puppy. "What do you want girl?" I asked her which got me another *Arf* before she laid her head down and shifted herself around a bit to get into a comfortable position. I rolled my eyes as it was easy to figure out that she wanted to cuddle. I swear I should have just named you Cuddles, or the Cuddle Monster or something else along those lines. I thought to myself as I caught the other the glaring at the TImberwolve. I sighed as I wrapped my arms around Ember who let out a small 'coo' as I stroked her back, not minding the feeling of the hardwood that makes up her body structure or worrying about getting splinters. I saw the gazes of the girls soften at the sight and went off to do their own things as they seemed to have decided to let us be. I looked at Ember's calm face and smiled softly as I looked at the first friend I made when I was finally freed. Our meeting may not have been ideal but I'm glad it happened either way, and I'm sure so is she. Foe to friend in almost an instant and we're already so close, inseparable even, I just wish I could understand her better sometimes. Hmmmmm, maybe, just maybe. I thought to myself as an idea popped into my head before I closed my eyes and let Ember's warmth lull me to sleep. ~5 Hours Later~ "Dark Heart, Sweety, wake up." A familiar voice said in a singsong tone as I was aroused from my slumber. Everything was bleary at first when I opened my eyes and saw a midnight blue blob in front of me. Didn't take too long to figure out who it was even with my vision so unfocused and I smiled up at her. "Hey there Luna, guess we finally made it back to Canterlot." I said as I reached up trying to bring her into a hug as my sight was still trying to bring itself into focus. I managed to land my hand on her cheek before I felt a stinging pain on my face which caused my eyes to widen and instantly bring itself into focus as I was now looking up at a teary eyed, angry Luna who was now standing up with her arms crossed under her breasts. I sat up and looked around to find a sheepish looking Diamond Sky and Hyperion, Ember sitting right next to me on the ground with her ears pinned to the of her head, and Celestia standing behind her sister, shaking her in what seems like annoyance. I stand up from my seat, finally taking a glance out the window to find that it was late afternoon, early evening, before looking back at my angry marefriend. I sigh once again since it's pretty obvious why she's mad at me, "Look Luna, I know why you're mad but please let me explain my reasons for-" I was cut off as she slapped me again, this time on the other cheek. "Okay I deserved that." "Damn right you did, do you have any idea how worried I was for you!? How worried my sister, Sun Spear, Cheerilee, and Pinkie Pie were!? What about Brick Builder and Dazzling Gem, you're their hero Dark Heart, how do you think they would have felt if something had happened to you?" Luna shouted as all I could do was stand there and look towards the floor with shame written all over my face. I honestly hadn't thought of how anypony would react to being what had happened on our mission to save Diamond. I was more worried about the three that were with me and even then I tried to do everything on my own as I tried to help them get through this without too much hassle for them without them knowing. Should have known better since if Hyperion and Ember reacted the way they did when they were there to witness it happen, then the other's reactions weren't really going to be any better from hearing about it, even if we all returned safe and sound. I mean nevermind the fact that I took one of Spirit's javelins to the gut for Fluttershy when I was released, that was when they didn't know about the capabilities of my dark magic and what kind of damage I could take. Now they do and hearing how I almost died a couple of times and how far I pushed myself to pull of everything I did during that trip, I'm in for it when everypony else hears about this. Yeah, you are, especially since they're all outside waiting for Luna to finish chewing you out and drag your butt to the castle where they'll continue thoroughly chewing you out the rest of the way. I was filled with dread upon hearing what Nova said, even more so a Luna grabbed my wrist and started dragging me outside with others following suit. "Come on everypony" Luna said as she dragged me past them, though I was still able to see the looks of hurt and disappointment that were clear as day. Nopony said a word during the brief trip up to the castle and into the throneroom, where Celestia told everypony there, including the guards, to leave. Once they were gone was when the shitstorm hit as they started yelling at me about how stupid I was, asked if I was suicidal, and how hurt or disappointed they were. This went on for quite a bit with me staring down at the ground the whole time, ashamed that I've put through this. "Dark Heart," I looked up at Celestia when I heard call out my name as everybody went silent. " What was going through your head when you decided to take on the burden of carrying Hyperion and Ember just save yourself a few days worth of travel? Why ignore them when they told you to stop and rest? What was going through your head when you decided to sacrifice yourself to act as a distraction for Fratamantus and his army? And what were you thinking of pulling all the stunts you did that drove such fears into the hearts of the three that were counting on you to keep them safe as much as you were on counting of them to keep yourself save?" Celestia asked as everybody looked at me expectedly and I could only sigh as I knew the answer and it wasn't a very good one, in fact I wouldn't doubt if I lost the love and respect of everypony here once I uttered it but I won't bring myself to lie to them either. "Because I wanted to." Came my response. I stood there waiting to see if everyone would say anything but when they didn't I continued to elaborate. "Everything I've done on the trip was something I wanted to do. I took Hyperion's and Ember's opinions into account whenever I asked for it but in the end it was all what I wanted to do. My plan to break out Diamond was something I wanted to do without second thoughts and I told Hyperion and Ember as though it was a part of something I may have came up with but it was never really thought out." I pause for a moment to catch my breath before continuing on "It was never a plan seeing as though plans could be changed and discussed but that wasn't the case here although it had sounded like it but it was nothing more than me simply letting them know what I wanted to do and I didn't care what they had to say about it. I wanted to fight every single one of those bastards, I wanted to kill them and that's what I had done as they came at me with everything they had. I didn't care that they were in the castle as I drove some of the windigoes into its walls and turned them into paste or that a few stray shots of magic at destroyed sections of the place. The prove of all this lies with now as I describe one of the various ways I ripped them apart in front of Brick and Dazzling here and I can't really say anything else but I'm sorry that I couldn't control my impulses all that well." I finished as they all stared at me with looks of shock, hurt, or anger while Brick and Dazzling looked terrified as Cheerilee held onto them while she glared at me, not that I blame her. Luna finally disengaged herself from the crowd and walked up to me looking furious. I opened my mouth to say something to her but before I could utter a sound she sent as magically enhanced punch to my face and sent me flying across the room until my back hit the wall by the throne room doors. I still wasn't at full strength yet so it took me a bit longer than it should have to get back onto my feet. When I did I looked at Luna and saw her on the ground, panting rather heavily, my guess is from not only to exhaustion from the punch, but also to emotional turmoil she must be going through, something that was cemented by the small droplets I saw fall from her face. Ears pinned to the top of my head I got up and tried walking over to her but was stopped by a golden barrier that blocked off the area around the door from the rest of the room. "There is still much to be discussed but I think it'd be in everypony's best interest if you left." Celestia said maliciously as she called for the guards that were standing right outside the door. "Take Dark Heart to one of the guest and have a guards posted outside his room where he will stay until we call for him." She had ordered as one roughly grabbed me by the arm and started dragging me out the room. We made the trip there in tense silence as I followed my escorts to the room that Celestia had assigned for me. When we got there I was shocked to find that is actually one of the guest rooms in the castle instead of some kind of special prison cell so I guess I felt a tiny bit better about how things might turn out but not by very much. I moved into the room without prompting from the guards and sat on the bed with my head in my hands as my elbows rested on my knees. I have no doubt that Nova and Shadow are trying to say something to me but I'm in no mood to listen to anything they got to say to say to me at the moment. I sat there, feeling like the biggest bastard in the world, for awhile before drowsiness comes over me and I climb into bed to get some more sleep and hopefully give me the strength to deal with what is to come. ~Several Hours Later~ I was woken up by somepony shaking me and sat up when it seems they weren't going to stop until they knew I was awake. I looked out the window to see that the night had fallen over Equestria and it was most likely late into the night. I then looked towards the pony that had woke me but noticed nopony there, that is until I looked lower and spotted Brick and Dazzling looking up at me. "Hey you two, what's up?" I asked them with in a low tone as I smiled sadly down at them. "C-can we sleep with you Uncle Dark Heart?" Dazzling asked as I became confused. "Why would you want to sleep with me?" "We had a nightmare and are too scared to go back to sleep by ourselves." Brick answered though it isn't what I had meant but I'm not going to blame two foals to understand what I meant. "They wanted to sleep with you because the nightmare they had was about losing you and so they want to be as close to you as possible to make sure they don't lose you like they lost their parents." I heard Cheerilee say from the open door. By the look she was giving me, she's still mad at me but at the same time she wasn't about to deny the foals their source of comfort in this whole situation I started. I nod at her before looking at the foals. "Alright, you two can sleep in bed with me if you want." They smile up at me before wordlessly climbing up on the bed and laying down on either side of me with Dazzling on my left and Brick my right. I lie down so that I can pull the blanket over them and rubs their backs to help them relax. It doesn't take long before they're all snuggled up against me and asleep while Cheerilee was watching from the door the whole time. Knowing that she wants to talk I place a silencing barrier around the foals ears before gesturing for her to come over. "You know we're all very pissed at you for what you said back there right?" I sighed before nodding at her, not to shocked that she actually sweared considering. "Seriously though, what were you thinking? Did you really not care about anything while you off on your mission?" Cheerilee fumed as I just iie back staring at the ceiling. "Yeah, I really didn't care about much of anything while I was off trying to save Diamond. Yes I did tell Hyperion and Ember that I did care about them, which I do, and wanted Hyperion to be a part of my herd but other than moments like that and some more I really didn't care and the worse part is I don't why." I answered in a very tired tone that to me made me sound exactly like my true age. "What do you mean you don't know why?" She asked as she sat down on the bed and grabbed ahold of my hand, running her thumb over it with concern having replaced her anger, not completely but it was the dominating emotion. *Sigh* "I just don't know Cheerilee. All I do know is that the moment the three of us walked outside and into the Desolate Fields I just stopped caring about anything and felt that way until we got back to the Crystal Empire." She gave me an appraising look at that. "I would say it has something to do with the fields themselves but then why didn't you care about saying some of the things you said earlier around these two?" She asked as she gestured towards the two foals cuddling into me. "I couldn't really tell you that either but I do know that thinking about killing all those Windigoes didn't make me feel anything, no remorse, no satisfaction, no anything." That seemed to make her think a bit more and seemed like she was gluing pieces to the puzzle together in her mind. Ponies can give credit to geniuses like Twilight and many others famous scholars and such known throughout Equestria today and write off Cheerilee because she's 'just a school teacher' but somethings you don't need to be a genius to figure out things others can't and she was demonstrating right now as it seemed she figured out something as she got wide-eyed and snapped her head towards me. "Do you know any legends, stories, or anything else about the Desolate Fields and why their called that, maybe even creatures that may reside there besides the Windigoes?" "No, why?" "Then I'll have to go speak with the princesses and Diamond Sky to see if they know anything." She said out loud to herself before speaking to me. "Dark Heart, I think there may be something in the Desolate Fields that may explain why you're feeling this way because the Dark Heart me and everypony else has come to know just doesn't stop simply caring just like that. I'm going to look into it and tell the others my theory and if I find anything I'll be sure to tell you, but if not, well you may want to look into your dark magic some more to see if it's doing anything to you." I thought about that for a moment before looking up at her and nodding my head in agreement, telling her I would look into, most likely having Nova and Shadow help, to see if anything was wrong with my dark magic while she looked into the history of the Desolate Fields. Not much was known about it in the first place besides it being home to the Windigoes and snow storms cold enough to freeze those unfortunate enough to be caught out in it in an instant. As I was thinking more about the fields and about my trip there to find anything that may have gone unnoticed beforehand, I hadn't noticed Cheerilee moving until I felt something warm and soft against my cheek. I was stunned at first that it was Cheerilee who was doing it, but then that changed soon as I felt the warm in both my cheeks intensify. She withdrew her lips from my face and, thanks to her warm breath hitting the side of face, felt her move up towards my ear. "That's more of the Dark Heart I've come to know." She said in a seductive as she came around to stare me in the face as I looked at her in shock. She giggle at my expression as she gave a warm smile. I grew out of my shock quickly when she started to get up and grabbed her arm before she could get up. "Cheerilee, how long have you-" I was cut off as she placed a finger over my mouth. "I hadn't realized it until a little while after you had left when Princess Luna had told us where you three had ran off to. I had already liked you as my friend and grew to care about you a great deal, especially after you went out of way to help my niece and nephew and gave my sister and brother-in-law a proper burial, but I never actually thought I had fallen in love with you as well until I thought about all of the things that could happen to you while you were out there and felt my heartache as I thought about you dying. I'm not quite ready to act on those feelings just yet but I still wanted you to at least know about them so things don't become too weird around us." I had to chuckle when I heard that last part and she did too knowing why I was laughing. "That's alright Cheerilee, I understand completely and if you want we could go on a few casual outings with Brick and Dazzling, get more comfortable with the idea of us potentially being together as more than just friends without going on a date exactly." "That's sounds great Dark Heart and I'm sure those two will be ecstatic about us taking them to the park and going swimming as they get to spend more time with you, we could even invite Luna, Hyperion, and Diamond too since you're planning to be in a herd and I can get to know them better too." She said, excited at the idea. Hehe, well then after we get through with trying to figure out why I seem to suddenly lack emotions towards some things we can set up a day to do all this on." I suggested to which she nodded to before she leaned over to give me another kiss on the cheek and I still couldn't help but blush. "Good night Dark Heart and have sweet dreams." She said before giving Dazzling and Brick a kiss on the forehead as she rubbed them of the head. "And take care of these two, they've had it pretty rough since that day and you being there for them have really helped lessen the impact of it all." She said as she looked down sadly at the little filly and colt who refused to let go of me. "Don't worry about them Cheerilee, I'll guard them with my life if I have to." "I know you will, good night." She said, smiling warmly at me before getting up and walking towards the door. "Good night Cheerilee." I called out to her before she shut the door and I released the silencing spell from the two's ears. I settle down as I wrap my arms around them and hug them close to me, keeping them close to me so that no danger will ever befall them ever again. I'll protect you and everypony else I care about with my life, of that I swear. I thought before falling asleep again.
The Past will Always Come Back to You~The Next Day~ I once again find myself waking up to somepony shaking me from my slumber, and judging by the feel of them it's Brick and Dazzling so I groggily sit up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes before I look down at the two smiling foals who are staring up at me. "Hey you two, what's up?" I ask them, just noticing that it was in fact morning. "It's time for breakfast Uncle Dark and we're huuuuungry" Dazzling whined with Brick nodding his head in agreement as they both hop out of the bed before the two of them grabbed my hands, trying their hardest to drag me out of bed. I give a chuckle at their attempt before getting up myself. "Alright you two, let me use the bathroom first then we'll head out to get some food." I tell them as I', already walking towards the door. Once I get inside I do my business before washing my hands, stopping when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, more specifically the red mark on my cheek, the same that Luna punched yesterday. I let out a sigh at having remembered the situation I was currently in as well as remembering Celestia's order. I walk back into the room with a more somber mood as I look towards the little foals eagerly waiting for me which makes me sigh again. I walk over to them and kneel down to their level, "Sorry you two but you're going to have to go on without me, Princess Celestia doesn't want me leaving my room until she says so." I tell them which instantly makes both of their moods drop as they hang their heads down and look down towards the floor. I sigh for the third time this morning as I bring them into a gentle embrace. "Sorry guys, as much as I want to go with you I have to stay here but everypony else will be there so why don't go on and fill those little bellies, you have to grow into a big, strong stallion, and beautiful mare." I say to them with a smile as a poke their stomachs getting both to giggle a little as they nod to me. Getting up from my kneeling position to move towards and knock on the door before cracking it open. "Hey, can one of you takes these two to the dining room or go find their aunt Cheerilee?" It takes a few seconds before I was a response from one of them, "Step away form the door!" I hear one of them shout, which I do before the door opens fully and one of the guards step through. He looks at me before looking over the rest of the room until his eyes finally went down towards the floor and spotting the two, scaring them as his intense glare is directed at them, making them hide behind me which makes me produce one of my blades and having placed at the guard's throat before he had time to even blink. "You want to keep your job and your live I suggest you drop the attitude and do as I asked and help these two get something to eat." I threatened him as the other guard came into the room as saw his comrade shaking like a leaf. He opens his mouth to say something but a quick glare from me makes him shut it real quick. "O-ok-kay little ones, f-f-foll-l-low me, we're gonna g-go find y-y-y-your aunt." Stuttered the guard that first came in as he tried to usher the two foals towards him though they didn't want to leave from their spot behind me. I turn around and put a hand on both of their heads as I kneel down to their level with a smile back on my muzzle. "Go ahead you two, you'll be alright and if he tries anything just shout and I'll be there faster than you can blink." I said, trying to reassure them. They look at each other before looking back at me, smiling sad smiles before they lunge at me, wrapping their little arms around my neck as they both hug me. I blink in surprise before returning the hug, nuzzling them both before we separated and they ran off with the guard following close behind, though not before shutting and locking the door, which got an eye roll from me as they seem to think that that will actually keep me from getting out. Moving back over to the bed, I plant my flank down on the soft material, thinking about what am going to do next with everypony now royally pissed out me besides Diamond and Cheerilee, though she's really only to a lesser extent as I could still feel it even as we were talking making plans for a date in the future. Fuck even Hyperion's anger returned after we got back though I have a feeling that was mainly because of everything else everypony else was saying, things, it seemed, that she hadn't even thought at the time. Sitting there thinking for a bit I just sigh, again, and turn to look out the window, trying to figure out what would my parents have to say at the moment, I could imagine that their reactions wouldn't be much different from the rest but maybe this wouldn't have happened if they were still around, if I was able to grow up with them like only normal foal until I became a full grown stallion, if I had grown up with the sisters that I never got the chance to meet, if Tender Heart was around to give me another one of her lectures. It was then that I noticed something wet sliding down my cheeks and realize that I was crying before putting my head in my hands again, letting the tears flow as once again thought about everything that I had lost, namely the family that I had lost. Damn it, why did things have to happen like this, I don't regret being here to safe Brick, Dazzling, and Diamond but why couldn't I have had my family there with me, why did I have to lose them because of other's fears? I know my parents were just as afraid but I know they never stopped loving me, and the same could be said for Celestia and Luna, even I did originally blame them, no, the my main problem was that slut Nightmare, of she had never showed up then I would have had the chance to see them again before they passed, maybe even helped them to live longer lives too if I had gained the power back then. I know I wouldn't be feeling this way if I didn't- I was taken away from my thoughts when I heard the door to my room open was again, quickly wiping away my tears and any other sign that I was crying, don't want, or need anypony feeling sorry for me after all. "So what is this I hear about you threatening the guards that were standing outside of your room?" Came Luna's angry voice as I had went back to looking out of the window. "One of them was scaring Brick and Dazzling so I put a stop to it, nothing more, nothing less" I told her as I turned to look at her, now seeing her angry visage directed at me. It hurt greatly to see her still so angry with me but I can't exactly blame her or the other's for how they feel about me right now. "I see, well either way I'm here to fetch you for breakfast so get up and follow me if you're ready." Luna said, sounding only slightly annoyed as I nodded, got up, and started following her out the door and into the halls. It doesn't take long to get there though it was very tense as neither said anything to the other, me not wanting to get my head chewed off and Luna for obvious reasons. As we got closer I could hear the happy chatter of everypony else, telling me that they all stayed. The doors were opened for us and Luna walked in, happily being greeted by everypony while I got their silent glares when I stepped into their sights. I watch as Luna takes her spot next to her sister before making my way to the other end of the table where nopony was sitting as I'm sure none of them really want to be anywhere near me right now. Silent pertains throughout the room for a few more minutes after I sit down and then they start talking happily to each other, most likely acting as though I'm not there. I find interest in the silverware and cloth napkins in front of me, tracing indistinguishable patterns in the napkins with a fork. I'm not sure how long I was doing this but stopped once one of the castle cooks put down a bowl of cereal in front of me. I blink a couple times before looking towards the others and notice their own meals consisting of haycakes, eggs, juice, and toast with jelly. I'm not all that surprised by this, I'm actually more surprised that they have any sort of assortment of cereal more than anything. I thought to myself as I started eating, which was done soon after considering they didn't give me a big serving which now that I thought about it, I'm starving. Holy shit am I hungry, must have spent a lot more energy from that flight than I thought. I thought about asking for some more but I very much doubt that I would granted that request so I just sat there in silence as everypony else ate their own meals, or at least that was the plan before my stomach released a loud growl. Ignoring it, I continued to sit there and wait for them to be done though it seems my stomach decided to be just as much of an asshole as I am and growl even louder, this time I'm sure they all heard but still play it off as if it's nothing but it doesn't really seem to work as I hear the tell tale sign of a chair being pushed back and feels my ears instinctively press themselves against the top of my head. Playing off the best I could I just sat there as hoovesteps grew louder as whoever got out of their seat was making their way towards me. "We my be angry with you but that doesn't mean we would let you starve Dark Heart, though I guess it is somewhat our fault for giving you such a meager meal. We all almost forgot about the fact that you must have used up a lot of energy with the stunt you pulled." Luna said as she pulled up the seat beside me and sat down with her own plate as she waved to the maids that were on standby. I looked at her as she started eating, opening my mouth a few times to try and say something but nothing came out as I didn't know what to say to her and so decided to sit there in silence as I waited for my real meal, which didn't take long as it came out not a few minute afterwards, in a much bigger portion than their's. I sat there wide-eyed at the portion given to me, though that didn't last long as my stomach had again made it's emptiness known which had made Luna giggle a bit, "You may want to eat before your stomach decides to pop out of you and do it for you." I gave a sheepish nod before grabbing my utensils and dig in though soon stop as I notice that something had grabbed my tail. I look towards my tail and see that Luna's ethereal one had intertwined with mine and makes me look at Luna again but she is in the midst of once again eating herself. I go back to eating as well but with a small smile this time around. ~One hour later in the Throne Room~ We all gathered in the Throne room with me once again standing in front of everypony I know, most of them still looking rather pissed but it's definitely not as intense as it was before so I guess that's an improvement in this situation already. "Now that we're all rested and fed we can continue with the issue at hand." Celestia announced as she and Luna sat on their thrones with a seat pulled up for everypony, except for me though one look at Luna told me the real reason why as I shake my head before conjuring up my own seat. "So Dark Heart, we realized that interrogating you so soon after dealing with everything that you did in the past few days as well as our reactions hadn't helped you in the slightest and instead provoked the reaction that it did so I wanted to start this all off with hearing what you have to say before anything else." She says though I'm not so sure if it's true with the way I'm being looked at but then again I don't feel the anger, disappointment, or anything else in that regards to that, but I can't say the same for the other emotions such as sadness, fear, and minute amounts of regret. I sit there for a minute or two looking at everypony and run a hand through my mane before looking at them again. "I guess I should first start off with saying sorry everypony. I'm not gonna take back anything I said but I definitely didn't mean to sound as harsh as I did. I care for every single one of you and I will do whatever I can to protect you all and most of time that tends to supersede my own well-being and as I'm sure you already know, or at least you should, I know that none of you are angry with me, not anymore at least but either way I'm not gonna say it wasn't unwarranted," I grasp the H.O.L. in my right hand as my mind goes back to what I was thinking about this morning before Luna came and got me. "I know I've been living here for a few months now and am trying to adapt as much as I can having grown up with only Nova and Shadow as company to help guide me. Of course it also doesn't help that I was never much of an outgoing pony in the first place." I laugh at the last part, earning some from the others as well. We let the humor wash over us to let the mood lighten a bit though not much as when they stopped they were offering me sad smiles and eyes full of sadness and I guess why but choose not to comment on it as I continued on. "I know thing would have been much different if I had my parents with me and we wouldn't be here now because they would have set me straight, and I don't think I need to make mention of Tender Heart do I Celestia and Luna?" I asked with smirk which they replied with rapid shakes of their head which got another chuckle from me. "And I'm not sure what my sisters would have done but I can only imagine that they wouldn't have been too happy with me either. There are also a lot of other things that has happened that I didn't think would have, like me having any friends or even finding love and yet here I am, sitting in front of all of you, some of I can call my friends, others family, and the rest lovers and I don't want to lose that so I'm sorry for making the lot of you worry because of my own stupidity." With that marked the end of my long-winded apology, and monologue? "I've got the say Dark Heart, that was actually nicely done and I accept your apology" Came Nova's response and I had the resist the urge to roll my eyes as it seemed that she was giving me the silent treatment the whole time. "Fucking finally, this damn goody two-shoes would let me say shit until you offered some kind of apology!" And there's Shadow, I think enough has already been said. I was brought back to the rest of the world when I felt a hand lay over my own and saw the blue hand of my first love when I refocused in on everything before following the arm of said love till I came muzzle to muzzle with her smiling visage which caused a small one of my own to appear. "I'm still a bit mad at you," She starts of before leaning forward and giving me a kiss on the cheek as her hand tighten it's grip on my own. "But I know that you meant every word of what you said and I believe you've just lost yourself a bit with everything that's been happening since you've gotten back which is the real reason we want you to take a break for a bit and I mean an actual break, meaning no training, researching, scouting, or anything else of the sort. Just some rest and relaxation as well as actually spending time with your marefriends that have been feeling a bit neglected lately." She ordered, though the last part was said with a pout. I wrap my arms around her and pull her into my lap as I nuzzle her with all the love I have to give her. "Sorry I made you feel that way Luna. It was never my intention and I promise to make it up to you as well Hyperion, Diamond, and Cheerilee." That last one got a surprised look from her as she and everypony else turn towards the now blushing mare. Oops "When did you confess?" Twilight asked the flustered mare. "I um, I confessed last night after Brick and Dazzling had another nightmare and said they wanted to go sleep with Dark Heart. I told him how I felt after they fell asleep and we're planning to try to get used to being in a relationship with a few outing between the four of us since Brick and Dazzling have started calling us their mommy and daddy." Cheerilee explained as she hugged the two foals who hugged her back as we all looked on with smiles at the scene. At least I was before Luna got up and got me out of my chair before gently shoving me towards them. I take a brief glance at back over to her before walking over and joining them as I wrapped my arms around them, which was soon followed by my new wings. This got gasps from everypony besides Hyperion and Diamond who had already seen them. I poke my head up and looked at their awed and shocked expressions before landing my eyes on Luna, "I have no clue how I grow them all I know is that once again my dark magic saved my flank when I needed it the most." "So fascinating, would you be willing to let me do some test?" I heard Twilight asked before feeling her run her hands on my new appendages which caused shivers to run through my body. This seemed to be the queue everypony else to do the same as more hands were felt running all over my wings and was powerless to do anything as it seemed my mind couldn't concentrate on anything but the new sensation running through me, one that was starting to turn pleasurable. Once I felt a certain of my anatomy start responding to their touch, I snap out of the trance that I had been in and quickly transformed back to my normal form and made my wings to disappear. "Hey, why'd you do that?" Pinkie whined. I stood there panting a bit with everypony now looking at me with concern since I hadn't answered right away. Cheerilee, still being in front of me, looked me over with worry before her eyes landed on the bulge showing in the front of my pants which caused her to blush as she covered Brick and Dazzling's eyes and guided them behind me and out of view. "I think it's safe to say that touching his wings is ill advised in the presence of foals." Cheerilee stated as Luna took her place. She looked down below and smirked at spotting what was causing me issues. "Hmmm, ill advised indeed in any situation but the most private of settings." Luna said in a sultry tone which caused more blushes to bloom amongst them as they all quickly caught the meaning. A round of apologies were muttered but I waved them off as I got myself under control before bopping Luna on the head as her hand is slowly making it's way toward my crotch. She pouts as she rubs her head while grumbling something inaudible as I turn around towards the others. "Ahem, well now that that is out of the way I have to ask, what are we gonna do now?" The blushes go away as I turn the conversation back to what we were previously discussing which causes Celestia to sigh. "For now, nothing but keep an eye out and see if what Cheerilee suspects is true as well as keep looking for anything relating to the Desolate Fields though I wouldn't get your hopes up, any information related to that region is scarce to us seeing as the windigoes destroyed it all shorty after the pony tribes united, unless you happen to know anything Diamond Sky." She shook her head at that which caused me to was to be expected considering how she was raised and treated. We all stood there in an awkward and tense silence before Rarity perked up and addressed Celestia and Luna, "Oh, your majesty, wasn't there something else you needed to discuss with Dark Heart before we found out about his recklessness?" This seemed to make them all perk up as I stared at them with confusion, looking towards Hyperion and Diamond who shrugged their shoulders. "You know it's rather rude to keep a lady waiting Dark Heart but considering the circumstances I can forgive you." I hear a very familiar voice chided me playfully as I turn towards one of the stained glass windows that depicted the girls defeating Discord and spotted the source who was waving towards me. The source was a mare, a changeling mare and a familiar one at that, from before I was sealed to be more precise. Said mare fluttered down until she landed a few feet away from me and letting us see her in all her glory. She was as tall as Luna and just as curvy, she was wearing a dark blue longed-sleeved top that stopped just below her midsection and show off the band that all changelings are known for, her's being colored a golden yellow. She had a black, steel chest plate over it which helped show off her breasts. Tight, form fitting pants the same color as her top covered her legs and showed off her plump butt, with more of the black, steel armor covering the lower part of her legs from her knees to the upper part of her shoes and a front-open long skirt that went down to just above her ankles completed the entire outfit. All in all she looked like a warrior princess, a beautiful yet fierce one at that. "Um, excuse us, but who are you?" Hyperion asked with her claws already poised to strike, at least they were until I grabbed it which made her look towards me with a questioning look. I nodded at her with a smile which made her relax and stand down before she gave my hand a light squeeze and letting go. Once our hands were separated I look back towards the unexpected, though very familiar arrival. "Queen Flare, nice to see you again after a millennium of imprisonment, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" I asked, really laying in the formal tones in my voice with a smirk on the entire time as I take a bow. I wasn't in the position for very long though as I bashed over the head by an annoyed changeling queen. "Don't think I won't beat you into the ground you jerk, I may have missed you a ton during to entire time you were trapped but I was hoping for something a bit more serious when you saw me." She said with huff before turning her back to me. I let out a small chuckle as I picked myself up of the floor and dusted myself off before moving in closer and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, I just thought I try and keep things a bit on the lighter side Flare, hope you can forgive me." I apologized sincerely as she turned back around and threw her arms around me and I did the same. "It's alright Dark Heart, I know you didn't mean anything mean by it, just next give a mare a hug or something before spewing your terrible attempts at a joke out of that muzzle of yours." She said as she buried herself in my embrace with her eyes closed as I smiled softly at her. "Haha, duly noted, so how did you find out I was finally out anyway?" I asked her. "The same way Spirit knew of course though it was a pain trying to track you down since you like bouncing all over the place, and you wondered why I asked you to come visit me instead of me going to you," She said as she pulled back away from me enough to poke her fingers into my chest. "And I have a feeling that's it's going to be worst now that you have wings." "Ahem" Interrupted my response and made my look towards the source, which was an irritated Luna with an amused Celestia next to her. "Do you mind introducing us Dark Heart?" She phased it as a question but we all knew it was a demand. "Oh yeah sure, sorry about that Luna," I said completely unphased by her tone as I let go of Flare and moved over to Luna, slinging my arms around her as I held her close to my side. "This is Changeling Queen Flare, she rules over a hive that is a few miles south of that little settler town known as Appleloosa. She's a friend of mine from way back before I was sealed away." "And how did that happen?" Celestia asked curiously. "He saved us from that disciple dragon when he tried to torch my entire hive, would have succeed too if it wasn't for Dark Heart. He's been an honorary member of my hive since then as well as a very dear friend." Flare answered in my stead. "Though what I want to know is why you didn't to bother to come visit me after you got settled in?" "Sorry about that Flare, I've been meaning to check up on you for a while now but I've been a bit busy." "Busy with what exactly mister?" "Making plans to rescue Diamond here from her abusive father and carrying out said plan and I just got back yesterday." It was a weak excuse I know and I'm fully expecting to get hit or blasted for it. "So in other words you forgot." She said with a deadpan expression before sighing as she rubbed the area between her eyes. "Like I said already, I will forgive you this time because of the circumstances of everything that has happened but next time I won't be so lenient, is that clear mister?" She asked with a heated glare which made me gulp and nod which made her perk up with one of her beautiful smile replacing the deep frown that had been there not even a second before earlier. "Good, now what do you say to introducing me to everyone?" She asked rather excitedly. "Oh yeah, sure," I let go of Luna and go stand beside Flare and facing everyone as I start off with Luna and Celestia who are standing on the far left. "Well I'm sure you know Princess Luna and Princess Celestia-" I start off before being cut off. "I do, we were getting acquainted while you were on your rescue mission." She said as the three of them started giggling which made me raise an eyebrow at them. "Anyway, the two next to them are Hyperion and Diamond, a dragoness and windigoe princess." Gesturing towards my other two herdmates. "Nice to know that our Dark Heart loves variety." Hyperion said which made my eyes start twitching and making the others snicker. "Hello there Queen Flare, it's an honor to meet you." Diamond said while still giggling herself. "It's a pleasure to meet you both, and I do agree with you beautiful, it's glad to see that Dark Heart loves variety, I wonder if it's the same in the bedroom?" Flare said sultry as she and Hyperion glanced over at me while my other herdmates, or potential herdmates, to blush while my eye twitch increased in strength. Deciding on being an ass was in my best interest, I extend my wings before swatting the both of them over the head and shutting them up as they pout at me. "Now that you two have control over yourselves I can get on with introductions." I said before directing Flare's gaze towards the others. She seemed to get along well with everyone as I showed her each and every one of my current friends and family that was here. They all told her about themselves and shared a few stories as we all chatted about and having a good time, at least they were. Me on the other hand was still on the fence about how they were acting towards me. I know we had made peace of the situation but I can't help but have a nagging feeling in the back of my head that they don't exactly trust me, at least not as much as they used to.
Rebuilding Bonds ~Later in the evening~ "And that was how I defeated two manticores single-handedly with my trusty Black Thorn here." Flare said as she finished her story while patting at the sheath that held her personal blade and I can tell you first hand that that damn thing packs a punch despite it's size. This is how it's been after introductions, everypony seemed to be getting along great with Flare, especially Brick and Dazzling after hearing about some of her own exploits, that mare never did know how to sit still for very long. Since then, they've also seemed fit to ignore me, and I mean completely as in even when I do try to add something into the conversation they act as though they didn't hear a damn thing I said. My guess is that all may not be as forgiven as they let on since I've been sitting up on one of the support arcs up by the roof just listening to all of them chat about, not a single one of them even bothering to ask where I went off to or taking a glance around to see that I'm gone. "You know you kinda deserve it right, after the stunts you've pulled and what you've said in the last 48 hours. Can you really blame them for just ignoring you like this?" Nova said as I looked down at everypony. "Lay off Nova, they said they forgave him but he didn't have their trust, that doesn't amount to flat out ignoring him like this." Shadow threw back at her before speaking to me. "Hey Drake, let's just go back to been a long time since I've seen Flare and I would love to get some time to chat with her myself after so long. They want to ignore me then so be it, I'll take it like I have in the past and move on with my day until they want to contact me for whatever. "I know you may not think so but I can assure you Shadow, that I do believe they are rather justified in how they're handling all this. I also believe-" Nova was about to go on her rant when I decided to speak up. 'Nova,' "Yes?" 'Shut up.' I growled at her using my darker, more demonic voice which I could feel the both of them giving me a wide-eyed look of shock through our link but I didn't really care seeing as how I already know I've fucked up but I don't need to be reminded, repeatedly, of it as well when I'm already trying to fix things. 'I know of your opinion on the matter, I don't need it repeatedly thrown into my face by somepony who should be helping me fix it instead of constantly reminding me of my mistakes, it's something I'd expect more from Shadow, not you, Nova.' I finally told her after hours of dealing with it constantly along with being ignored by my friends and family. Seemed to work rather well too seeing as though she has gone silent. 'Think it's about time I got home and check on some of those projects I left going.' I thought to myself before taking a glance at the group below to see that they were still engrossed in the conversations with Flare. My horn lit up with dark magic as I opened a portal in front of the window I was sitting in front of. I take one more look towards them before leaning back and falling through the portal and land on my feet in front of the entrance to my little, cozy cave I call my home. "Well, nothing seems to have off my perimeter wards so I guess they're finally working like they're supposed to." I told myself as I make my way inside. Making my way to the very back of the cave I channel my dark magic into the wall in front of me as another portal opens up on the floor. Jumping into the portal and into what is my private study/lab, making sure to close the portal once I'm through, and look around at the couple of projects I've been working on here and there whenever I have the time. It was only two at the moment but both were important even if they didn't seem like it. Towards the wall to my left sat three orbs of magic, one was a white orb that was my regular magic, another was a black orb that was my dark magic, and the last was a charcoal color with little wisps coming off of it like the remnants of a freshly put out fire, that orb was the remnants of Sombra's dark magic that I had managed to gather from outside the borders of the Crystal Empire when me, Hyperion, and Ember had arrived there The two orbs of my two different magics were hovering around the orb that was Sombra's magic with tendrils connecting the two to it. This particular project was to see what kind of effects my magics had the dark magic that most know of and what better test subject than the dark king of the Crystal Empire, or rather his remnants. Seeing that everything was stable on that end, I look towards my desk on the other side of the room was something that would more than likely get me into tons of trouble if the others knew, even though it was for a good purpose. On the desk were various containers that had the body parts of the various species that we know exist, and that does also include pony, changeling, and dragon limbs. How I had gotten them wasn't anything really illegal as I had my shadows gather anything they could find out in the world from those caught in natural disasters or freak accidents, to those that were attacked my wild animals and the like. As for the reason I have them all, well I've decided to study up on necromancy. Honestly I'm rather confused as to why I've decided to study such a field as it's one of the practices of dark magic that I despise the most but for some odd reason I have a feeling I'm going to need it. Correction on that, I know exactly why I may need it, necromancy is used to bring the dead back to life, but does that only have to apply towards bringing back somepony from death's grasps or could I work it so that it could revive what are essentially dead limbs. Help those who have lost the use of their limbs, whether it be an arm, leg, eyesight, hearing, and what ever else that normal medicine and regular magical healing can't fix. When I said I was going to show the world that dark magic wasn't as bad as they all believe it to be. That with the right heart and proper training and supervision, it could change the world, and for the better if all goes well. Anyway, getting back to what I was doing, I went and checked the containers holding the specimens I've managed to collect and making sure they were still in good condition and once I was satisfied with that I checked on the notes I've written down so far. After all it was still possible for somepony to find this place as it was actually a part of the cave that I've made my home that is naturally sealed off. Spirit could easily gathering quite the following and send them out to do some recruiting so it's not too far fetched to say that there's always the possibility that a rather skilled diamond dog could find this place and stolen my notes, and all without leaving a trace of their presence ever having been here. Looking through everything, it seemed it was all fine and I was about to make my way out when I got a signal from one of my shadows. Heeding its call, I channel some magic into my eyes and established a connection with the shadow calling out to me and found out it was in Canterlot Castle and started to have the feeling that I knew what this was about. Once I fully establish the connection, I look around through it's eyes before I notice Flare staring straight at me, tapping her hoof on the ground with her arms crossed in front of her generous bust and narrowed eyes. We stare at each other for a bit before she finally speaks, "Well...... ?" I sigh from nodding to her and disconnected from the shadow before teleporting the where it had been. "Yes?" I asked and she growled at me. "I come to visit you after a millennia and you decide to just leave without saying a word?" "You were talking the everypony else, who clearly didn't want to have me be a part of any bit of any of your conversations and had been sitting up on that window sill for a couple hours before I finally decided I wanted to do something while all of you were getting to know each other. I'm actually kind of surprised that any of you noticed I had left so soon, I suspected it would've taken another 30 minutes at least." I stated truthfully, not caring about the offended looks I got from the others, or the emotions that came with them that I felt through my dark magic. "This isn't a joke Dark Heart! You just up and leave without saying a word after having been in the hospital not too long ago and yet you don't really seem to care about what could happen to you!" Flare shouted at me to which I raise my brow at her. "And makes you think I don't care?" I asked but put up my hand to keep her answering. "I told them I was going to try stopping my reckless behavior and I meant it. I just went home real quick to check on a couple projects, maybe get a little work done on them, and be right back before you used my shadows to call me back." I told her which seemed to make her simmer down a bit but she still looked a bit miffed with me. "Besides, what would you have done if were you left out the group and couldn't be a part of it no matter how you tried, not because you don't too, but because nopony else does? What would any of you had done being left out for a good couple of hours?" I asked them all now as I wasn't going to sit here and be the object of their scrutiny. I've had enough of it throughout my life and while I know I'll never be able to escape it I don't need it from the ponies that are supposed to be my friends, my family. 'Goddess, I really wish my parent and Tender Heart were here, I think I could really use a familiar face, besides Flare, right about now.'I thought sadly to myself, not realizing a single tear was shed, or that everyone else saw it until I felt hands grab my face as the thumb from whoever had grabbed my face had wiped it away. My vision refocused in on my surroundings and I saw Flare with a worried look on her face. Looking away from the look she was giving me, I saw that everypony else had similar expressions. "Dark Heart, what wrong?" Flare's question drew my attention back to her and I give her a smile in response. "It's nothing Flare, just thinking about somethings, nothing to worry about." I told her with a convincing smile. "You were thinking about how much you missed your parents and Tender Heart, and were wishing they were here, weren't you?" Did I forget to mention that this mare seems to be able to read my mind whenever it comes to stuff like this. Ever since we've met, whenever I seemed to get any kinds of emotional she seems to be able to tell what thoughts had lead to that state and it's not through magical means, I, or the two that share my mind, would have felt such an invasive probe that is that type of magic. *Sigh* "Yeah, I was thinking about how much I missed them, I know it sounds to include my sisters into that but we've never met so I guess those feelings are a bit muted for them as compared to my parents and Tender Heart but I do miss them all the same." I said as I returned the hug that Flare had enveloped me in when I had sighed. I held onto her tightly as it seemed a bit of the dam of emotional baggage I had put up had released a bit of said baggage as I silently cried into her shoulder with her holding me in her arms and whispering comforting words. While this was happening, I still had my emotion sensing abilities active and I could feel their anger and irritation waning as they looked at me, including Nova, and it seemed to remind them all that despite everything I could do, despite all the foes I face without fear of my own safety, despite the fact I can give the finger to any, and all of the gods and goddesses without fear of retaliation, I'm still stallion with feelings. I can still feel pain, anger, sadness, and sorrow. Seemed that was the moment they all realized that no matter what I said, what I did, that there was still a part of me that is stuck in the past, before Nightmare Moon imprisoned me in the amulet, before I ran, shit even before I discovered my special talent and got my cutiemark. That teenager that was happy going about life the way he was, everything nice, calm, and peaceful with a loving mother and supportive father with a family friend that was basically aunt with two cute little sisters to show up a few months soon after. Part of me wished for that life back so badly if for nothing more than to be able to spend the rest of my days with the family I knew and loved when I had my place in the world and was actually happy about it. Those selfish thoughts run through my head a lot, and I do mean a lot, but then I remember everything I've done so far since my release. I remember saving Fluttershy from both Spirit here at the castle and then at Ponyville from that the pack of Timberwolves where I got to meet Ember, I remember finding Brick, Gleaming, and Sun over in Glade and saving Hyperion from the control of the Demon Lord, I remember meeting Diamond and think back to the rescue operation I put together to rescue her. Then there's getting together with Luna, becoming friends with Pinkie, Cheerilee, and Zecora. Going to much more recently with what just happened a bit ago, finding out Cheerilee loves me mores than a friend, same with Zecora and Pinkie, with Hyperion, Diamond, and lastly Luna already having said and shown me their own love already it all starts making me think, What have I done to deserve any of this? Which is then followed by the thought, You have been yourself, From a voice deep inside my mind says, and I know it isn't either Shadow or Nova. 'Damn it, why does this keep happening, I thought I more control over my emotions than this but here I am, breaking down once again in front of all of them. They shouldn't be seeing this, they should be able to look at me as their pillar of strength, not like I'm an ordinary stallion that needs to be coddled, that needs to be comforted like a child!' I shouted inside my head, not really looking for an answer from either of my roommates. That didn't stop one of them answering anyway. "Because Dark Heart, at the end of the day, that's what you are. Even with your all your magical power, even with all the responsibilities laid upon your shoulders, even with all the things you have endured that no ordinary pony would on a daily basis, you are a still a normal pony once you're back home, safe and sound within the arms of those that you love and who love you. You are indeed destined for greatness with an unknown path that could take you anywhere and you could become anything but remember this, in the eyes of everyone in that room right now, they do see you as you want them too but they also see you as one of them, a stallion with the same needs as any other, especially emotionally." Nova said in the same gentle and loving voice that had me endeared to her once I had ran away. The same voice that I needed to hear when I felt I was alone and full of fear. The voice of a mother trying to soothe their scared child when the world starts becoming too much too handle. Nova was my mother when I was alone for all those years, both before and after I had been sealed in the amulet. Back then I felt trapped and scared beyond belief because of what had happened and the consequences of said action, I had a break down for the first couples hours and it to- "Dark..... Heart" My eyes shot open and I pushed myself away from Flare's grasp when I heard somepony call out my name though it was incredibly faint. I looked around, trying to listen for the voice again, putting my hand up when one of the girls tried to say something. After a few minutes, and not hearing anything else, I put my hand down back to my side and sighed as I scratched my head. "I must be hearing things." I finally said as everyone let out a sigh of relief. Think they were afraid that this would start yet another little adventure for me or something like that, not that I can blame them. Every time I seem to hear voices nopony else does I get thrown into some mess or another. "Well that aside, are you feeling better Dark Heart?" Flare asked me as she put her hand on my chest, rigth above my heart. I gave her a grateful smile, "Yeah, I am feeling a lot better Flare, thank you." I said as I grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it which seemed to get a cute little blush to appear on cheeks. "I'm glad.... you know we don't mean to be so harsh on you but-" She started but I stopped her with a finger over her lips. "It's alright Flare, I get it, I really do. I've been invested in my own image for so long that it's been blinding me to everything I have been taking for granted lately and that little break down was just what I needed to let my guard down enough to let some words of wisdom to really reach my ears and through this thick skull of mine." I told her as I sent a 'thank you' to Nova. "Glad to hear that you have finally come back to your senses Dark, you were starting to worry me there." Luna said as she grabbed my other hand with both of hers, looking away as I saw the beginning of tears appear in her eyes. "We were beginning to fear that your dark magic was corrupting you after all." I brought my hand up, after Flare had let go of it, and brought it up to cup Luna's muzzle and gently guided it so she was looking straight into my eyes. "That won't ever happen Luna, I would much rather give up on my dark magic then put the rest of you through seeing me like that." I declared with a strong conviction which made them all gasps, including the two inside me. "I thought you were against doing such a thing Dark Heart, isn't that what started that whole fiasco a millennium ago?" Celestia asked, thoroughly confused at my declaration. "No, what started it was you two trying to forcefully take it from me and expecting me to live with it for the rest of my days." Was my response, no malice or hate in my voice, just an indifference that still made the two of them flinch, especially Luna who I had tightened my grip on to let her know I still love her all the same. "Had that not have happened then things wouldn't be as they are but whether that's a good or bad thing I don't know but I can tell you that there are definitely pros and cons to both." This got looks of understanding from everyone as they all seemed to know just how much of a mess that is to figure out as anything could happened between then and now. After that we all had moved over to the dining hall for dinner, which Celestia had asked to kitchen staff to bring a feast since we had all missed lunch. This time I was sitting to the right Luna at the head of the table with Flare to my right. We were all holding hands as I could feel the love radiating from the both of them, more from Flare than Luna though I know that was more from the fact that Flare was eating up that love from Luna. She would try to eat from me but I'm covered in a veil of darkness at all times so getting to my happier emotions is next to impossible for changelings, unless they wanted to poison themselves that is. The others were watching with rapt attention at a changeling's way of eating up close and personal, and I could see Twilight taking notes as well, and they seemed to be fascinated by it. Got to admit that it was a little creepy, so I was glad when Zecora finally said something. "Excuse me Queen Flare, She started, getting the mares attention, "I thought a changeling feeding left those they fed on quite tired and feeling down but Princess Luna doesn't seem to be suffering any ill effects, why is that?" "That's quite simple my dear Zecora. When love is extracted forcefully, and yes, that does include means such as mind control, it drain the emotional and physical energy of the victim. Given willing on the other hand, it provides so much more of the energy and nutrients we changelings actually need to grow healthy." Flare explained which got intrigued looks from everypony that hadn't already known. "And despite recent events, I can happy say that I've helped found a small, hidden away, little village where ponies and changelings are living together in harmony even after Chrysalis' stunt at Princess Cadance, and Captain Shining Armor's wedding." She added in happily and with no small amount of pride. "Is that so well then I would very much like to see this village one day and see if I can't try doing to same for the rest of Equestria." Celestia said, obviously happy about the news. "That's fine by me Princess, I know the citizen would be happy to hear that you not only accept them but would like to use them as an example of the rest of Equestria and I'll be glad to help however I can. Dark Heart knows where it is so whenever you would like to come, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to show you the way should I be unable to do so personally." She stated, getting the others to stare at me. "Yes, I know where it is and we set it up before my imprisonment after finding them being chased by an angry mob. Flare offered them a place where they could live when peace without having to worry about such a thing again when she learned why they being chased and the ridicule they had suffered before finally being chased out." I told them before they could actually ask. "Just how much are you involved in stuff like this DarkHeart, you hadn't been gone that long after the day you ran away before you were imprisoned?" Luna asked with a questioning look. "Not enough I can tell you that." Was my simple response which made Luna sighed while she shook her head but I could her smiling as well. "DarkHeart," "Yeah hun?" "Never stop being the kind stallion I know you really are." Luna said while smiling warmly at me, a smile I've been missing these last few days. "I'll try, but you know I can't guarantee anything." I joked, which got me a light slap on my arms from both sides and made me laugh a bit. "Love you Luna, love all you girls and I gotta say I'm really thankful to have you all as my friends, family, and lovers." I said as my eyes scanned over everyone at the table as my eyes landed on the two foals here. "Same goes for you two, Dazzling and Brick, and if you really want me to be your new dad then it would be, to my greatest joy, to be one of your new parents." I announce with a big, rare kind of smile that I've ever made in my life, one that seemed rather infectious as everyone else had their own slowly make their way to each cheek. Almost everyone I should say as Dazzling and Brick had their own teary eyed smiles as they both jumped from their seat and bolted straight for me. I got out of my chair and was kneeling down on my knees with my arms wide open as the two bolted right into me and I wrapped them in my protective embrace. I held onto them tightly as they buried their muzzles into my chest as they tried to wrap their little arms around me as much as they could, also trying to hold me just as tightly. Smiling down at the two foals with all the love I had to give them, kissing the top their heads. I could feel the eye of everyone else on use and could feel the happiness emanating from all of them at the scene. Feeling my own happiness rising by the second, feeling the joy wash over me, feeling all of the negative emotions that are normally within just vanish, it was then that I felt.... something, a foreign feeling well up deep inside me, deep inside my soul but it had soon vanished when I tried to focus on it. 'What wasthat?' Was the only thing that was said between me and my tenants.
A Little Family Bonding One Week Later One week, that's how long it's been since the day Flare came to visit Canterlot and catch up with me. She spent a total of three days here, catching up on everything that's happened since we last met as well as reminiscing on some of our past adventures with the others listening in. She also got to know everypony as well as hashed out some more details on having Luna and Celestia go and see the town Flare had founded. During that time I also spent some time with my herdmates, friends, and Flare before most of them, Hyperion, Ember, and obviously Diamond staying here with me, to get back to their jobs back home and get Dazzling and Brick back into school. Luckily the two of them didn't really miss much thanks to Cheerilee having grabbed their homework before the three of them left. Also managed to get all the paperwork done for us adopting them and Celestia and Luna fast tracked it so it was official, Cheerilee and I are now legally their mother and father. Of course there were a few request from Cheerilee, like moving in with her and stuff like that. I agreed of course but I wasn't gonna really be moving into her current house as we were going to be moving into another, bigger house in Ponyville so as to accommodate more ponies, or dragon in the case of Hyperion since it's seems my herd was possibly going to growing rather quickly if everything with the rest of the girls goes well. The rest of the week seemed to crawl on by as I was left with little to nothing to do. I wanted to try investigate the strange feeling I had gotten the other day but the girls had me pretty much placed me under house arrest after Flare had left. I'm not too happy about it but I do kinda get why they did it. Of course I could just leave whenever since I highly doubt any of the guards could really be considered a challenge in any way, and they know that I could break any barrier they could put up, but I choose to stay anyway to show them that I'm willing to listen to them. Today though, I'm gonna break that as all the time alone as left me time to think on things, and one of those things was the fact that I hadn't gone to visit my family's grave since I've been back. Celestia and Luna have already told me where it is, and I've had plenty of time before all this to do so, but I can admit that I've been. . . reluctant, to go visit them. The fact that they're gone, even now, still hasn't fully set in and admittedly a part of me is still in denial. May have to do with something Celestia told me when I asked about how they died. Till this day I still receive only a vague answer from her but I don't try to push her because she seems just as uncertain about it as I do, though one fact does remain, they're bodies aren't in their graves, something most don't know. That knowledge is known only to a few, Celestia, Luna, me, and Sun Spear seeing as she's perhaps the strongest of the current generation and the one one would bear carry on the duty of protecting the H.O.L. if they ever found it. There was more but they're obviously dead and gone now but the fact that Celestia is trying to keep it under wraps does peak my curiosity and is just one of the many things I have to look into. Right now I was looking out into the distance while sitting on the window sill, back against the wall and one leg hanging out. I hear the door open but don't look to see who it is, thinking it's one of the guards, at least until I feel an arm drape across my shoulder and a kiss on the cheek. "Hey there Great Uncle Dark, sounds like you've been causing trouble for the last couple weeks." Came Sun's mirth filled greeting. I turn so I can give her a proper hug before replying back, "Yeah, you can definitely say that Sun, and I take you're here to berate me as well since you weren't here with the others." "Nah, I think you've gotten enough from everypony else. . . .just please don't do anything like that again Dark. Hyperion told me the state you were in after everything and I don't want to have to bury you so soon after meeting you." I hugged her tighter, not needing to see her to know that she was tearing up. "Don't worry Sunny, I'm not going anywhere, not as long as I have anything to say about it." She leans into me, sniffling a bit. I nuzzle her, letting her know it's alright. "Thanks Uncle, I needed that." She says as she returns the nuzzle before letting go of me and standing straight up. "Been awhile since I've spent time with anything resembling family since I've joined the guard, and then you show you up and I don't feel so alone anymore so I definitely don't want you to go dying on me after everything we've been through mister." I laugh a bit at that, "Trust me Sunny, I definitely don't plan on it, and even if I did I'm sure the lot of you would find some way to bring me back anyway." "Most likely through your own research and spells, because I'm sure you've got some research into necromancy, or are gonna start it soon." "I'm neither going to deny nor agree with that but before you ask, even I was doing it I'm not going to use it to bring them back. Even if I wanted to it wouldn't be very fair to all those that mostly like wish that they could do the same, and it would definitely throw off the natural balance of things, something even I don't want to mess with, too much." She gives me a sad smile, thankfully not having heard that last part, as I'm sure she has an idea of just how much I want to do just that. "Well that the mood has been lightened a bit, what were you planning on doing today, besides being stuck in here?" "I was actually thinking that it's a bout time I go visit everyone." "What do you mean 'go visit everyone'?" She asked with visible confusion. "You already said you had no real interest in finding anypony else from our family unless you happen upon them like you did me, and everypony else that we know is either here or in Ponyville and they know that you're going to be staying here until the princesses say otherwise." "I think you're missing someponies there Sunny." "Hmm, who else am I mis-sing. . .oh so you're thinking of finally going?" "Yeah, but I don't want to go alone, I was thinking of gathering everpony here at the castle before I do. I-I could really use you all there if I'm being honest here." I tell her as I stare off into space, some of my memories of the good times replaying before my eyes as if I was there again, if only for a moment before I refocus on my Great Niece. "I don't know the state I'll be in when we get there but I know it'll make me feel much better having you all there, to let them all know that I'm doing well and that I've found others that I can call my family, my friends, and my lovers," I smile as my mother's, father's, and Tender Heart's smiling visage appears in my mind. "And of course to let them know that I'm on my way to becoming truly happy." "Oh god, please stop!" Came Shadow's unwanted input, I was abut to say something but then came what sounded like a frying pan hitting something. "Don't worry about him Dark Heart, just go and do your thing, I'm sure your mother would love to hear from you again, no matter where she may be." Nova chimed in happily. I could only mentally roll my eyes as I jump up from the window sill "Alright, so how about we go gather everypony and make our way over there?" "You sure that's a good idea, you're aren't supposed to leave the room unless they allow it, even then I'm sure they're both busy right now." "Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine, I'm sure they'll forgive me for both disobeying them and pulling them from their work, they might actually be grateful since right about now I'm sure court is in session and I'm sure those snotty noble are making ridiculous demands again, like always." I state back casually, knowing that's exactly what's happening right now. "Hmmm, you may have a point. I've never known Princess Celestia to be too happy about holding court when I used to have guard duty here at the castle, same for Princess Luna from what I heard from the night guards." She said, hand holding her chin as she went into a thinking pose. "Well then I guess it's settled, let's go find us-" I was interrupted by a knock at the door, which was soon opened with a familiar white horn following before the rest of my surprise guest appeared from behind the door. "Oh, looks like we won't have to go looking for her after all." This, of course, served to confuse Celestia, then after a second she was looking at me suspiciously. "Why would you be looking for me, what are you planning Dark Heart, especially since you know you're aren't supposed to leave this room without permission until me and Luna say otherwise." She warned me, though with no real malice or anything else of the sort behind it. "I know, I know, but I'm sure you'd make an exception to go see some old friends Celly, you and Luna both." Her look of suspicion disappeared and was replaced with a look of concern before that was replaced with a sad smile and a look of understanding shortly after. "So you're finally going?" "Yeah, but I don't want to go alone. I'm sure you already guessed that Sun Spear is going and before you showed up we were going to gather you, Diamond, Ember, Hyperion, and Luna to come with me. I'm sure those two are bored, and you and Luna would like to get away from the paper and snobs for a bit." I tell her as I walk up to her, put a hand over her shoulder and am already walking down the hall before she knows what's going on. All she does is give me an amuse smile as she realizes what I just did and continues to walk with us, my arm still around her shoulder. We walk that way for a good bit, going over to Luna's room first since we didn't actually know where Ember and Hyperion were at the moment and Diamond was currently with Luna who was in her room. Wasn't long into the walk before the comfortable silence around us wasn't so comfortable anymore with no pony else to blame but me so it wasn't long before I stopped, which of course made them stop, especially Celestia, my arm still being around her shoulder and all. "Hey Celestia?" "Yes Dark Heart, what is it?" She answered, still not moving away but looking right at me, though I wasn't looking at her. "I just wanted to say thank you, for everything. We haven't had the best start to our relationship but you've done what you can to make it up to me and have been patient with me, just as most of the others have," I move around to stand directly in front of her, my hand on both of her shoulders. "I do hope I can be better than I have been since my release so I don't make you lot worry so much. I know none of you want to lose me, whether it be through death or corruption, and are willing to do whatever needs to be done to prevent that. Thanks to the time I've had being in my room alone I've come to realize something important with the relationship with me, you, and Luna." "Important you say, and what would that be?" She asked, thoroughly confused yet intrigued. I give her a little smile before pulling her into a hug, "I've realized that I've been a shitty brother to you and I want to change that." Don't to she her face to know that she's smiling, especially when she returns the embrace. "Apology accepted Dark Heart, and while you're right about a bit of a crummy little brother, I won't really hold it against you, after all, all little siblings are like that to their older siblings right." She says with a bit of mirth in her voice. "I'm just glad that you've forgiven me and Luna for our own transgressions against and have not only found a relationship with Luna, but with me as well. I can't tell you how much it warms my heart to hear that you consider me your sister, even though you and Luna haven't officially married yet." "Hehe, even if me and Luna were to break up I would call you my big sister, though of course I definitely don't want to lose her. just as much as I don't want to lose anypony else I've become close with. I've found ponies I want to protect, something I didn't think I would find when I was freed." I rest my head upon her shoulder, feeling very relaxed in her embrace thanks to the natural warmth she gives off. "Dark Heart, you have your rough patches, but I know you're willing to work through them to become a better pony, to prove all those that doubted you wrong. I know if your parents were here, they would have properly laid into you just as the rest of us had when you came back, same with your sisters and Tender Heart, and then told you just how proud they are that you went through such lengths to save somepony you hardly knew." She holds me tighter, squeezing me till it's almost painful, but I don't really mind cause I like being in her embrace just as much as I loved being in my mother's. "We were all scared that you wouldn't come back us, we had no doubt that the three of them would have came back because they had you there, because we knew that if worse had came to be, that you would sacrifice yourself to get them home. Imagine our surprise, and more importantly our dismay, when we heard that you had almost done just that when you had reached the safety of the Crystal Empire. I know we haven't shown it all that well thanks to everything but we all love you deeply Dark Heart, in one way or another, especially now that you've allowed us to see more of the pony you've kept hidden away from most everypony all this time. I know I may sound a bit like a broken record when I say this, but you can let go Dark Heart, you don't have to hide from us, you don't have to bare your burdens alone, and more importantly you can count on us to help the best we can. Let us protect you just like you're willing to protect us cause that's what friends do, what family does, and you Dark Heart are my family, from now and forever more." By this point Celestia's tears are running down onto my shirt and making a bit of a wet spot on my shoulder and her grip had actually become a bit painful, but I endured it because I could feel her pain, her sorrow, almost reminds me of the way my mother would hug me whenever I ran off by myself when I was little. I would be out for most of the day and not show up until a little after dinner would have started. She freaked out a lot back then even though I had done it for almost a year straight. Of course I stopped after a while, mainly cause I didn't like seeing my mother like that, seeing her so afraid when normally she's so fearless, not taking shit from anypony. I definitely understand why she was like that now that I have Brick and Dazzling to look after. "Sorry. . .Big sis, I'll try to not make you worry so much in the future." Was what I whispered in her ear after it seemed like she had nothing more to say. She giggles a bit before responding, "Please see that you don't, I don't want to lose my new little brother so soon." She lets go of me as she pulls back enough to look me in the eyes. "Now how about we go find the others, I'm sure your parents have been eager to hear from you again." A happy nod is her only response as we pull apart a bit more to look directly into each other eyes, or at least that was the case until Sun Spear wormed her way between us. "You two haven't forgotten about me have you?" She asks as she wraps her arms around us. Celestia and I shared a look before wrapping our arms around her as well, giving her a tight squeeze. "Ack, okay, okay, I feel the love, you can let go now." We laugh at that, including Sun Spear after we let her go. "Well ladies, shall we?" I gestured down the hall, and after they walk past me I start following behind them as we head towards Luna's room once more.
Prologue Prologue It's a warm summer day in the town of NieghBurg and everypony is out and about going on with their day. The mailpony going from house to house delivering the mail, the fillies and colts playing outside with their friends without a care in the world while their parents sat on their front lawns chatting with each other about the plans they had made for the weekend, and all the while, one particular teen-aged unicorn colt was walking around with a big smile slapped on his face. The reason he was in such a good mood today was because it was his birthday, but it wasn't just any birthday, it was his 16th birthday which meant that today not only was he going to start to be treated like a young stallion, instead of a child, by his family, but he also was finally the age where his parents would allow him to inherit the family amulet, the Heart of Light; an artifact that is said to allow the wearer to convert those possessed by evil back to good, which ,in his eyes, was somewhat ironic considering his name was DarkHeart. Though to him it didn't matter whether or not it was ironic, because all he cared about is that he thought is that maybe the heart may finally show him what his special talent was, cause as you may not know DarkHeart has yet to get his cutiemark; but he has yet to let that, or the constant teasing from his schoolmates, bring him down especially on a day like today. " I have feeling today is just going to be all kinds awesome between it being my birthday, finally being able to inherit the H.O.L., and potentially finding out what my special talent is; and I do know that last one is extremely skeptical but a guy can dream can't he, nothing could put a damper on my mood today." DarkHeart had said wanting to express his joy to the world. DarkHeart had been in this kind of mood ever since he had awoken this morning. He actually was so excited about today that he felt that he couldn't stay in his house long enough to eat breakfast, which his stomach sought to remind him about now."Oops, guess I forgot I didn't eat breakfast this morning and it is time I did leave the house without telling my parents where I was going so I should probably head home." With that said he started his trek back home to get some food in his belly and to check in with his mother and father. As he walked down the path that lead to his home, DarkHeart suddenly felt a sharp pain shoot across the back of his head as images started to force their way to the front of his mind. The images had depicted a strange figure whom he had never seen before now, it had appeared to be a pony but he was unable to see any distinguishing facial features on it, besides the tip of its muzzle, for its face as well as the rest of the creatures form had been covered in a cloak of darkness, a strange looking weapon perched on its back, claws that looked sharp enough to cut through steel like paper and eyes that glowed with a soul piercing blood gaze that looked to be fixated down at the ground below it. As DarkHeart looked upon this figure with an intense curiosity, a bright flash appeared before him, as his vision was recovery from the sudden burst of light, DarkHeart simply stood there wondering what actually the figure was and why had his mind suddenly showed him a vision of them. After he had finally regained his sight from the flash, DarkHeart had decided to just continue on home but not without the vision that had appeared before him coming back to the forefronts of his mind; DarkHeart had the feeling that he knew who this creature was but yet he was sure that he had never seen it in his life. Being so preoccupied by his thoughts, Dark Heart hadn't noticed that he was back home "DarkHeart!" , his mother, Star Dust; a unicorn mare who was approximately 5'9", wearing a navy blue shirt and jeans that showed off her hourglass figure, with a dark violet coat, palatinate colored mane, that ran freely down her back, and tail with black and dark grey streaks running through them, looking at him with her magenta eyes that were filled with kindness, called to him noticing that he appeared to be lost in his own little world. "DARKHEART!!" She called to him once again, this time shouting out his name so as to try to snap him out of his self-induced trance. He started with a jump as he finally heard his mother call to him from the front patio of their home and taking him out away from his thoughts. " How has your day been DarkHeart, cause by to look on your face it hasn't been all that great," Star Dust asked her son. "Well if had to be honest with myself not really, but it's not like I got all that many friends to hang out with like, ever" DarkHeart responded still distracted by the vision he had earlier. "Well it would probably help if you actually showed ponies the good side of you that me and your father see everyday," his mother said in her usual motherly tone. " Yeah right, why should be nice to them when they all treat me like crap," retorted DarkHeart ; his mother just let out an exasperate sigh at her son's comment. "Don't you think it would be better if you the bigger pony?" his mother asked." Nope," was all he said. Yet again his mother just let out a sigh at her son's refusal to even try to make any friends at all. " You know your mother is right son, if you actually made an effort to be kinder to ponies and let them see the side of you, other than drive them away you would have more friends." Star Dust turned around as she heard her husband, Lucky Streak; a pegasus stallion that stood at 6'3", was wearing a blue, collared shirt and denim jeans, that was able to show the muscles he had gotten from him working on the construction sites, he also had a clover green coat, mane, and tail with a gold streaks running through his mane and tail , and blue eyes that felt as though they could peer into your mind, had come up behind her from inside the house. " Sorry dad, but I just don't see it happening, especially as long as I don't have a cutiemark I'm definitely not making any kind of friends any time soon." His parents looked at each other after DarkHeart's response. "But if you never go out and try to make friends, then how do to expect to get a marefriend," Lucky Streak asked his son. " Marefriend!? How the heck do you do expect to get a marefriend when just about every mare I've come into contact with either don't talk to me because they think I'm a freak because of the way I look, or they just flat out ignore me cause I'm not with the 'In crowd', jeez you want to talk about stuck up." Both Star Dust and Lucky Streak look at each other once again for a moment thinking that their son was just merely exaggerating a bit to make a point, but as they looked back at him they saw that they were wrong in this aspect after seeing the pained look in sitting there in DarkHeart's eyes. " We didn't mean now son, we just meant that, well don't you ever wnat to find your special somepony one day to hold and love each other for the rest of your lives," Star Dust asked. "No, I think I'm better off being alone for the rest of my life. Well besides visiting you two when I'm off on my own, but other than that, for the most part I would want to be alone." His parents saw that they weren't going to be able to convince their son of the point they were trying to make and decided to leave stop this conversation until a later date, like maybe in a few years when he would be finally heading off to life his own life. " You know it's almost time to cut into the cake? What do you say we all go inside, forget this whole conversation, and finally hand off the family amulet over to you; sound good?" Star Dust looked at her boys as they both gave their own eager responses to her suggestions, her husband eager to at last being able to get into to cake his wife had guarded like a hawk, and DarkHeart excited at the fact he was finally be able to obtain the Heart of Light and possibly finding out want his destiny is. The family all made their way inside the house the get on with the small celebration and forget the conversation they had just had. DarkHeart had walked into the living room while his mother went to go receive the cake and his father the amulet. He was just sitting on the couch when suddenly he felt the same pain from earlier come back and the sight of his family's living room once again change to the sight of black cloaked figure from before. Although it appeared to be the same figure from before it's form appeared to be lacking that intimidating aura that had surrounded it before. When DarkHeart had seen the pony earlier it was radiating with pride and power, but now the pony almost looked depressed as the pony's shoulders appeared to slumped and his gaze had soften significantly. The sight of this pony looking like this made him wonder who exactly was this pony and what do they have to do with him. As he continued to look at this pony he had the pony saying something that was just over a whisper finally figuring out that this pony was a stallion. DarkHeart could just barely make out what this the stallion was trying to say, but if what DarkHeart did hear was correct, then it almost sounded like he was saying 'I'm sorry mom and dad.' But before DarkHeart could continue listening to what this strange stallion was saying, he was thrust back into reality with his mother shaking him by the shoulders worrying that something was wrong with him. "Darky, What wrong with you!? Please answer me! DARKY!!" Star Dust was on a full panicking spree as she just stood there shaking her son, trying to get a response out of him. "Mo...uh...huh..ooom, couuuld youuuuu p..p..p..please stooopp sh..sh..shaking me?" DarkHeart tried to ask his mother to stop her incessant shaking so that he could get up off the couch without the fear of being thrown over it considering how hard his mother was shaking him. "Honey calm down, or else you going to end up shaking his brains out of his head if you don't." Lucky Streak said as he tried to pry her hands off their son before she did end up knocking his brains loose. Finally after a minute or so Lucky managed to pry his wife off of DarkHeart, who's movements were wobbly thanks to being so shaken up by his mother, after a moment or so, Star Dust had finally calmed down and was able to speak without sounding like a screeching banshee, she had looked over at her son and calmly asked him, "What happened to you? Why were your eyes glowing like that?And has this ever happen to you before?" "Well to answer your questions in order; what had happened to me, was that I was shown a vision of some strange stallion who I had never seen before, I'm not really sure why my eyes were glowing but it's not like I can't exactly see myself when I have a vision, and yes this has happened only once before and that was earlier just before I got home, but other than that I've never really had them." DarkHeart had finished answering his mother's questions and remained silent, waiting for his parents response. After sitting in absolute silence for about ten minutes finally Lucky Streak had finally spoken up." What did this mysterious stallion look like DarkHeart," he had said in a serious tone. " I couldn't say he was some kind of cloak that covered his body and face, in fact the only reason I know he's a stallion was because in that vision I heard him say something but he had said it in a voice barely over a whisper so I couldn't really hear him, though he d," "What did you hear what he said." his mother had asked, intrigued by the explanation her son was giving them. " Well I think I did but as said before he said it in a rather low voice so it was hard to make out; but if I recall correctly it sounded like he was apologizing to his parents, almost as if he had done something he will regret the rest of his life." This got him some raised eyebrows and confused looks from his parents,"Sorry? What was he sorry about exactly and what happened to his parents?" "I don't know, the vision ended before anything else could happen, but by how depressed he looked I think it would be safe to assume it couldn't have been good," DarkHeart had while remembering the position the mysterious stallion was in before he left. Both of his parents Hmm'ed at that and once again looked at each other, but only this time it wasn't worry that filled their faces but instead curiosity; for their son had had a vision of some mysterious figure which none of them know the identity of, on his birthday, just a couple of hours away from obtaining the most sacred possession that their family has protected since all the way back to the pre-celestia era. It all seemed somewhat suspicious to the both of them, it seemed as though their son's visions are of something dire to come in the future and this mysterious pony will have something to do with it. " Well as interesting as that sounds I think we shouldn't focus on it too much, at least until your visions show you anymore than they already have," Star Dust said while looking at DarkHeart with her soul-warming smile. " Yeah today is your day, and why spoil it with something so trivial anyway, I mean we have only a few details on the matter anyway," his father said, agreeing with what his wife had said. " Okay I'm fine with that, besides I have a feeling that the answers will become clear to us soon enough anyway," DarkHeart had said with a joy in his voice, but he wasn't going to give up that easily on this. He feels like he's suppose to know you this stallion was, and that he was a part of the puzzle to finding his own destiny, so if found out more about this stallion, he would that much closer to figuring out what he's meant for in life and finally getting his cutiemark. " So, DarkHeart, are you ready to take the family pledge and takeover the duty of protecting our family heirloom, the Heart of Light," his mother had asked him in a deathly serious tone. DarkHeart gulped when he heard his mother speak like that; seeing as whenever his mother spoke like this, it usually meant that something very, very bad was about to happen, which made wonder what exactly was the pledge that everypony that had protected the amulet before him had to take. He knows that taking over the responsibility of protecting the artifact was important and all, but the way his mother was speaking seemed as if though it was something that could ultimately affect the fate of the entire world instead of just Equestria. But even so he'd prepared himself for anything and everything that could to make sure he would able to protect the amulet, which was the reason why he wasn't afraid of the pledge itself. "Yes mom, I'm ready take the pledge," DarkHeart had responded with some confidence in his voice. " Are you sure you're ready son, because once you take it you can't ever steer away from your duties to protect the amulet." Star Dust responded in the same tone from before. "I'm not just sure, I'm one-percent, without a shadow of doubt confident that I want to take the family pledge and inherit the responsibility of protecting the Heart of Light from any and all who would have evil intentions with its power," as DarkHeart was saying his voice sounded as though it was filled to the brim with confidence, his eyes had the look of unwavering determination within them, and in his parents' eyes he almost appeared to be glowing with a divine light surrounding him.His mother had a smile on her face, seeing her that her son wasn't going to be deterred from the future that laid before him. But, alas her smile soon faded a moment later remembering that now it was the time to officially begin with the pledge and THE INITIATION ; which he was completely unaware of, but it's no surprise considering that no one knows until they take the pledge and have accepted their new duties. Taking the pledge shows that a pony is willing to take on the great responsibility, but completely THE INITIATION proves that they're worthy and that they're capable of protecting the Heart of Light. " Alright then DarkHeart lets begin the ceremony." his mother said as Lucky Streak brought over a silver ornate box with arcane symbols that glowed with a golden light, and the family crest, a heart with majestic wings made of sapphires, embedded into the top of the box. Lucky had opened the top to show that it held the amulet within it and Star Dust is going to start the pledge of the Guardian of the Heart, first she had one more thing to say before they start, "Now DarkHeart in order to take you must clear our mind of all thoughts, good and bad, from your head, close your eyes until the pledge is complete, and repeat what I say word for word; you must follow these instructions or else there will be dire consequences to pay do you understand." " Yes I understand mother," DarkHeart was so excited to finally begin, he was having difficulty containing it, but he managed to keep a serious expression as he answered his mother. " Good now we can began," Star Dust closed her eyes and her horn started to glow with a red-violet aura, which sent a tendril of red-violet energy that surrounded both the Heart of Light and DarkHeart and once the energy had completely enveloped both, she opened her eyes which were now glowing white with pure energy. " The Light is my guide and the heart is my chariot," Star Dust began, her voice sounding as though there were two different ponies talking at the same time. " The Light is my guide and the heart is my chariot," DarkHeart repeated in a serious tone, feeling a strange sensation spreading through out his body. " I will allow the heart to take me across the great path that the light has chosen for me to take," Star Dust's horn was beginning to glow brighter as she poured more magic into it. " I will allow the heart to take me across the great path that the light has chosen for me to take," the sensation within DarkHeart's body was growing stronger within him as he repeated his mother's words. " I shall not stray from the path that has been chosen for me, nor shall I chose not to continue the path once it has been presented," Star Dust's voice was got louder as the next part of the pledge was spoken. " I shall not stray from the path that has been chosen for me, nor shall I chose not to continue the path once it has been presented," DarkHeart was starting to feel as though his body was feeling weightless as it started to slowly fading away. "And no matter what happens to those around me, MY MAIN PRIORITY IS TO PROTECT THE AMULET THAT LINKS ME TO THE HEART AND THE LIGHT," Star Dust's voice had risen to a voice that could compete with the royal canterlot voice, the glowing of her horn growing immensely as the power of amulet started to channel through it and into DarkHeart, feeling her connection with it fade away as more and more energy flowed out of her. "And no matter what happens to those around me, nnngh .....," the power that was flowing into him was starting to sent jolts throughout his body, the rest of his body was fading away at a more rapid pace now; he knew that this was it, all he had to do was repeat the last several words his mother had spoken and he would be the new Guardian of the Heart. But the energy that surged through him was bringing him so much pain, and sapping away his strength which was making it hard for him to speak the pain was becoming unbearable for DarkHeart, but despite all that, he mustered up all the strength that he still had left, allowed the phrase his mother had spoken, "MY MAIN PRIORITY IS TO PROTECT THE AMULET THAT LINKS ME TO THE HEART AND THE LIGHT !!!!" DarkHeart had released all the strength he had gathered into his voice as he spoke the final words of the pledge and after the sudden burst of energy that had crashed within him, he had fallen to the ground exhausted after the exertion of all that energy.
Destiny Discovered............"Wake up son," DarkHeart's eyes flung open as he heard his mother's voice speaking to him," there's still one more thing you have to do to be officially be called the new guardian." DarkHeart was back on his feet by this point, looking around trying to decipher where he was. " Mom, dad where are you guys; and what is this place." DarkHeart asked while he was looking around and taking note of his surroundings noting that where ever he was, it looked as though it was some kind of arena. " We are still in the house where we held the ceremony, but that's not important right now what's important is that you know that right now you are within the the Heart of Light at this very moment," Star Dust explained, DarkHeart tried to locate where his mother from where ever her voice was coming from, but found it impossible because it sounded as though her voice was coming from everywhere. " What do you mean I'm in the Heart of Light, and why exactly am I here for anyway?" He was trying to make sense of his situation, but couldn't considering the fact that he had blacked out momentarily after the pledge was completed. " I mean you are in a reality that the amulet has crafted so as to test you and your ability to actually protect it." This just help to confuse DarkHeart even further about what was going on. He thought that once he took the that was that, he doesn't remember hearing his mom saying anything about a test. " Test me, but I thought all had to do was take the pledge of the guardian and I would be the new protector, you never mentioned that I would have to take a test!" " It's the initiation DarkHeart and of course I didn't mention it that's against the ceremony, this is the initiation and as a part of the ceremony it's suppose to remain a secret to those who hope to become the new Guardian of the Heart until after the pledge has been spoken," Star Dust said trying to help DarkHeart understand what exactly it is he will be doing. " The initiation was given to everyone in our family that has wanted to be guardian so as to prove that they are capable enough to protect the amulet. But I wouldn't worry if I were you, DarkHeart everyone that has taken it has passed which means you should get through with no problems what so ever considering you're the only one in our family that has actually dedicated all their time in the hopes of being the able to inherit the responsibility of protect the heart." Star Dust definitely sounded confident in what she had just said. "Well, okay then mom if you really think I'll be able to power through this then I'm ready to start this thing." Just as DarkHeart had finished saying that the earth started to tremble beneath his feet and, what sounded like tremendous foot steps, going towards him. In a matter of moments he saw what it was that was causing the ground to quake as a giant stone changeling golem came stomping into the arena, immediately taking notice to DarkHeart, peering down at him with its glowing gold eyes and appeared to be sizing up its opponent, and judging by what was probably a smirk across its face, it wasn't all that impressed with DarkHeart's form. Star Dust and Lucky Streak had been watching from a magical window that resonated over the amulet; they were both watching intently as their son was getting into a fighting stance, preparing to begin his battle with the very kind of creature that would benefit the most from the power of the heart and so therefore the most likely foe he would have to learn how to fight more than any other creature that he is liking to run into. The two of them had confidence that their son would pass his test and succeed in making one of his dreams a reality, but even so they don't want to miss the action that was about to ensue right in front of their eyes. Though thoughts from earlier were starting to surface to the forefront of their minds, they both felt that they should know who the mysterious stallion should be, but it would have seemed as though his identity has slipped from their minds and the fact that neither of knew who he was but they had the feeling that they did was going to drive them crazy if they didn't figure it out soon. But even so, right now they had more important matters at hand, and that was watching their son finally get something that he's wished for for so long now and maybe even possibly finding out what his true destiny was. DarkHeart was standing there in his signature fighting stance ready to take on the behemoth in front of him, waiting for it to make the first strike, hoping that this creature can put up fight more than those bullies that were picking on him for not having a cutiemark. As the memories of that day had played through his head the golem was suddenly enveloped in a green flame that soon dissipated and left behind an ursa major that looked like it wanted something to squish something, something that soft, fleshy, and would splat the moment it make contact with a hard surface. As DarkHeart stood there, staring at the creature that had just appeared before him, the Ursa lunged at him with its claws ready to tear into him. Brought out of his stupor from seeing the massive beast launching itself into the air and towards him, DarkHeart quickly went to move out of its path, just centimeters from getting a gigantic claw getting embedded into his chest. After he was safely out of the way DarkHeart called upon his magic, enveloping his horn and arms with a crimson aura, channeling it for a massively powerful uppercut into the Ursa's jaw, sending in spiraling onto its back. DarkHeart quickly start to plant a barrage of attacks upon the creature, attacking its arms, firing magical bolts of lighting at the legs as a way to keep it from jumping into the air again, and finally using magically fueled punches and kicks into the creature head and abdomen to further injure the creature. Dodging any counterattacks from the Ursa, DarkHeart kept at his attacks for the next ten minutes until he felt as though the poor creature had deserved enough of a beating from him, he stopped his assaults on it and looked at the damage he had done, seeing the cuts and bruises that laid upon the surface of the creatures translucent, starry night skin, smirking to himself at a job well done and then started to walk away from the battered creature. Watching the events that were taking in place in front of them, Star Dust and Lucky Streak watched as their son turned his back towards his opponent and begin to walk away seeing the look of victory upon his face, but then they looked back to the changeling golem that was still in its Ursa Major form seeing the injuries that had been caused by their son and knew that this battle was far from over. "Man that was way too easy guess mom was right when she said that I would pass the initiation with no problems whatsoever, and I must add, and I do understand that that was a golem, but mom really over exaggerated the power that a changeling has compared to this damn thing well unless I'm really that stroo RRRRRRROOOOOOAAAAARRRRRRR ...ooong." DarkHeart stopped and whipped around, after hearing a powerful roar, to see the shapeshifter get up, its injuries all fully healed, standing tall without a single sign of limp, and its eyes glowing a deep blood red making it clear to all those who looked upon it that it was indeed pissed off and wanted blood, but just the blood of any, but that it wanted DarkHeart's blood. DarkHeart was starting to call upon his magic again to prepare a barrier spell for the imminent attack from the raging giant, but it was too late for the Ursa was already behind him and swiped its claws towards him; swatting DarkHeart like an insect and sending him flying through the stands of the arena, crashing into the ground just outside the arena. DarkHeart was trying to pick himself up and get out of the crater that he was used to create, but as he was just able to stand, a chunk of the wall of the upper walls and columns came crashing down upon him: jagged pieces having found themselves into his right calf, leaving several deep cuts down his back, across his chest, and on his arms, and a rather large piece broke his left leg. Crushed under the rubble of the walls of the arena, DarkHeart was removing the debris from off the top of himself so that he could try and find a place to hide momentarily and use his magic to heal some of use wounds. "How could I have been so stupid and underestimate by opponent like and just turn my back towards him," DarkHeart said as he was finishing removing the rest of the debris off of him and, yet again, began the painful process of getting himself off the ground and getting somewhere safe. His parents were watching in horror as they saw their son get sent through the arena's wall and get crushed by the debris from the weaken structure. Lucky Streak was clenching his fists, not being able to stand seeing his son getting hurt like this, he wanted to help him but he knew that he let his son figure out a way out of this himself and that his wife would have to be the one to allow him to do so if they saw that DarkHeart was in real danger. But Star Dust on the other hand wasn't even trying to act calm, as she was kept saying, "Come on DarkHeart admit defeat, you're far too injured to continue on any further, you'll die if don't give up." She was desperately hoping that her son would say that he's has enough and ask for help, because thanks to another one of the other parts of the initiation is that no pony is allowed to interfere in anyway, not even to save the life of the initiate, or else they will never be able allowed to become the Guardian of the Heart, that is unless the initiate has decided that they are unable to defeat their opponent and give up so as to try to complete The Initiation another day. But considering her son's life is at stake, Star Dust is having a hard time deciding whether to interfere and possibly crush her son's dreams, or just stand by and watch on the sidelines hoping that he is either able come up with a plan or gives up. RRRRRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Changeling golem, now changed back to it original form, was now trying to track down DarkHeart seeing as how he managed to escape from the arena's area and find a place to hide, but unknown to the changeling, he was closer that it suspected at the moment; because DarkHeart had decided to take shelter in a nearby den that had been created from the interlocking roots of a group of trees that had been near where he had create the crater with his own body. DarkHeart was hard at work trying to heal the injuries he had, first concentrating on the wounds on his legs for he figured that he had to least be able to move quickly should he be discovered by the creature before he was unable to heal himself completely, " AHHH, damn it that fucking hurts, but I guess it's my own damn fault considering I didn't check to see if that changeling was defeated and deliver the finishing blow if it hadn't; I swear I'm an idiot sometimes, but I have to hold back as long as I know mom and dad are watching, I can't let them know about that yet at least not until I can control it a little better." DarkHeart was determined to finish this and finally get the amulet; but it would've seem that fate had other plans for him, the changeling had finally located where he was hiding and DarkHeart's injuries on his legs were still too severe for him to move fast enough to get away from it. The golem had transformed just had it had when they first started their fight, but this time when the flames vanished, a dragon was left in a crouching position. The dragon used its nimble claws to reach into to little den and pull him out, but DarkHeart had an advantage considering there wasn't any place for it to look through so it could see where it had to grab in order to reach him, and so he was able to move around it and avoid capture. The dragon/changeling was growing impatiently aggregated from not having caught his prey and perhaps a nice little snack, but definitely not before dishing out a little back out on this unicorn stallion, so after doing this for the last fifty-two minutes the dragon decided to spew a bout of flames onto the trees that made up den and try to force out the pest before it. The winged reptile decided to sit in front of the entrance and wait for DarkHeart to make a break for it. DarkHeart, trapped and injured, was trying to figure a way out of the mess he was in when he felt something cool under his hand, it was a patch of mud, there was a little puddle of it that was quickly drying up from the flames around it. An ember landed on his hand making him realize that he still needed to get out when he looked back outside to see the dragon sitting in front it watching, waiting for him to run right into his claws with " its.... eyes..... looking down......into the......hole," DarkHeart's muzzle was slowly forming into smile as an idea popped into his head. He turned back towards the mud puddle and scooped up a glob of it into his hands and hid behind himself so as not to arouse suspicion from the carnivorous creature watching him. He then turned back to the entrance of his flaming prison, ready to charge straight into the face of his possible demise." All right on the count of three I go for it and hope for the best," DarkHeart was preparing his body for the plan he had came up with. He was getting rather nervous about what he was about to attempt, Okay here I go, One......, he saw the sixteen years he had been alive, flash right in front of his eyes, finding something to give him the motivation, the strength he needed to keep on going and finish this, Two......., an image of him and his parents, at the park, in the spring, when he was five; they had all looked so happy, especially himself, remembering how happy he was when it was just him and his parents and he didn't have to deal with all the constant taunting, name calling, and bullying from all those ignorant fools who barely even know what kind of pony he really is, he remembered the joy and happiness he felt back then, back then all those feelings that made any pony feel good were genuine and pure. And with that thought coming to the forefronts of his mind and it filled him with the determination that he needed to charge forth, "THREE!!!!", DarkHeart charged forth, towards the dragon pulling out the mud he had from behind his back and flung it right into the creature's eyes and blinding him for a few moments. With the dragon's temporary blindness giving him the chance he's needed this whole time in order to escape; DarkHeart ran out of the flaming deathtrap, glad that he was able to escape the dragon's grasp, when suddenly he felt scaly claws wrap themselves around his torso and lift him a several feet of the ground. " Oh shit, this definitely isn't going to end well for me." DarkHeart was trying to break free from the grips of his capture as he was brought to be directly into of its face. The anger in the beast's eyes was more than enough for DarkHeart to understand that this creature was going to make the next moments of his life excruciatingly painful. " Well it would as though i'm trapped within your grasp, so what are you gonna do now," DarkHeart asked, as a way to kind of mock the creature even though he knows that it probably wasn't one of the best options to go with at that moments, cause right after he finished his sentence , a wicked grin appeared on its it started to repeatedly slammed him a few yards into the ground and creating an imprint of DarkHeart into the earth below. This went on for a few minutes before the dragon had stopped and decided to switch, to throwing DarkHeart at the coliseum and back into arena and then flying back to the arena to pick him up again and throw right out the coliseum walls again and into the forest, repeating this process until the coliseum itself was turned to ruble. DarkHeart's parents watched in horror as their son was just thrown around like a rag-doll and being beaten by this creature who had been fuming with rage the entire time, but at the time having the time of its life with its new punching bag for the time being. Their internal struggle they had with deciding whether or not they should help out their son was quickly subsided as they both came to an agreement; they care more about their son than some family legacy, Star Dust quickly opened up a portal to the reality within the Heart of Light and both her and Lucky Streak went through it to go save their son's life. "You know, we should have told him that we would've helped out if he needed any help, or at the very least told him about the whole giving up thing so that way he would be able to have another chance at completing the initiation again." Lucky said to his wife, his voice giving off the hint that he felt bad for interfering in the initiation and destroying DarkHeart's dreams of being the guardian. "Yeah I know, but you know just as well as I do that even if I had told him before, we would still be in the same situation we're in now. After all our little Darky doesn't exactly like to admit when he's beaten and is going to need help, and for some reason he likes to think as himself as the lone wolf type, seeing as though he does spend a lot of time alone nowadays." Thinking about recent years, Lucky Streak couldn't really argue with her on that point. Thanks to all the bullying, teasing, and name-calling from his classmates, DarkHeart has become rather isolated from everypony that wasn't his parents, but even around them he still seem a little distant at home whenever they spend time together as a family. Though despite all of that, they both know that their will always love them and will always love spending time with them and that he doesn't mean to seem so distant when all of them are together. As Star Dust and Lucky Streak were traveling through the portal that led inside the amulet, DarkHeart was still somewhat holding his own as he was still taking on the relentless beating from the changeling golem, that still laid within its dragon form, that showed no sign of stopping soon. "AAARRRGGG you bastard you are so going get it AAAAAAHHH." the dragon punched DarkHeart with enough force to send him through the mountain that was nearby. DarkHeart skyrocketed out of the mountain side through a group of trees and plowing into the ground, again creating a crater using his own body. He laid there for a moment, or so, groaning in pain as he allowed himself a second to catch his breath before getting back up despite the extreme pain he was in. Just as he got up the dragon had landed right in front of him, shaking the ground and knocking DarkHeart back onto his ass.It took all the strength he had left just to stand himself up once but now that he's been knocked back onto the ground with no more energy left he laid there. The dragon loomed over him, readying its claws for strike that looked like it was going use its claws as a sword and pierce it straight through his body. No longer willing to drag this out any further, the beast went to strike him down, thrusting down its claw sword down towards its target with a smug grin on its face, while DarkHeart tried yet again to get up and dodge the attack towards him. DarkHeart saw that he no chance of possibly dodging it and so decided his best chance of surviving was to summon what magic he had left in an attempt to dodge, but he would have to do quick seeing as the object of his death was only a few feet away and closing in quick. Trying to use what magic he could muster, that is if he has anything left to use, DarkHeart was trying to put up a shielding spell as an attempt to protect himself, but it would seem as though he's got nothing left to use and so resided to just taking the hit head on and see if he could come out of it alive, or at least within a few inches from death. The claws were just mere inches away from DarkHeart, as he opened his mouth to say his last words, "Mom, dad, I'm sorry I let you down it would seem as though I wasn't ready to take on such a great responsibility after all. Goodbye and I love the both you with all my heart." As DarkHeart finished he saw how close his imminent demise was, and close his eyes ready for what to come as he felt the heat that was emanating off the hands of the beast from the anger and thirst for revenge surged through the creature's form, when suddenly a strong gust of wind blew around him and the heat just vanished like it was never there. DarkHeart opened his eyes to figure why the golem that had wanted to kill him had stopped its attack when he saw something he wasn't really sure he actually saw. Both of his parents were there, right in front of him and the golem was on its backs, and looking like he just got all the air knocked out its lungs. His father with a medieval looking battleaxe in his grasps, clenching onto it tightly, wearing some kind of weird looking armor on. While his mother was adorning the ancient battle suit, that has been passed down from guardian to guardian, and clasping her twin sabers, ready to strike should the creature be foolish enough to get back up and attack them. Unbeknownst to many, the unicorns of DarkHeart's family are truly gifted in combat related magic. Their spells, just like everything else, has been passed down the generations keeping their craft alive. No other creature that is able to harness magic knows their techniques, but the spell that has given them the upper hand in many of the battles they've fought over the years has been their Weaponization Spell. The weaponization spell is how they create their own unique weapons that compliment their individual fighting styles, almost like the weapon itself is a part of the soul of whoever uses it, but only DarkHeart, his mother-Star Dust, and any other unicorn in his family that is alive today. Well actually scratch that because DarkHeart is still unable to call upon the spell to summon his own unique weapon, but again just one of the things he'd hope would solve itself once he had became a guardian. But back the point at hand, though there were others who knew the spell, Star Dust was the only one who knew how to make the spell more effective in battle. She developed a method in which she is able to use the spell to call and recall her anytime she wants. Everypony else only uses the spell once to summon their weapon and then store it somewhere themselves, which is rather inconvenient whenever you're ambushed and there's no way for you to get it to defend yourself. But, of course, Lucky wasn't able to use the spell; he just figured since he knew that she protected an amulet filled with immense power, and he wasn't exactly fond with the idea of being on the sidelines during any of the times his wife was protecting it, and so he decided to get himself an axe, find out how to use it, as well as actually how to fight. Both of his parents were great fighters and DarkHeart was on equal terms with them in terms of fighting abilities as well as strength, but it seems as though the fact that he could only rely on his barefist and magic to his aid and so was outmatched in that aspect and so was, in all technicality weaker than them, but its not like it stopped him from becoming the best he could be and even then try to become even better than that. DarkHeart got back up to his feet and looked upon the creature that was about to end his life just a few moments ago, which was back to its original form, and then back to his parents, I can't believe they had to bail me out, this is unacceptable hopefully I can take the initation again and redeem myself, though I guess I wouldn't have to take it again if I wasn't so fucking weak, DarkHeart had thought allowing himself to become entranced by his thoughts not noticing that his parents were running up to him. "Oooohhh, Darky we were so worried about you, we thought we were going to lose you," Star Dust said tears running down her face, relieved that her was safe and sound within her arms. "You really had us worried there son, you do know that right. I mean how reckless can you be, allowing yourself to take that kind of beating and not call for help, especially when you were moments away from death!!!" Lucky Streak was expressing his own worries to his son about this ordeal he had found himself in, tears threatening to break free from his eyes.DarkHeart could plainly hear the pain in his father's voice and could tell that he was more hurt that what his tone would've led on. Hearing this, DarkHeart tried to answer, only to open and close his mouth several times, not able to find a response that would be able to explain his actions without sounding like was he ungrateful to them for saving his life. Not finding such a response, DarkHeart just put his head down in shame, while his mother started her own ranting. "Your father is right Darky, what exactly were you thinking. I know you wanted to get the amulet today but for Celestia's sake you could've called for help the moment you saw that you weren't going to be able to defeat the golem, and another thing Darky I," "Please stop calling Darky mom, I'm not eight years old anymore!" DarkHeart blurted out, interrupting his mother, starting to feel enraged about how his initiation had gone and the fact that his parents had to be the ones to get him out of the mess he had gotten himself into knowing full well that it all could have been prevented if he hadn't been so cocking. "You want to why I did what did, well fine! I didn't want your help okay, I wanted to be able to something on my own without having the two of you bail me out again." His parents stood there like statues staring at their enraged son. "But why allow yourself to be killed by that creature when you saw you had no chance of winning." his father had asked him. "Because all my life, I've never been able to solve my own problems its always been you two that have done it for me and because of that I felt that if I couldn't solve this problem alone I'd rather die than be bailed out again." That last part had really struck DarkHeart's parents. He would've rather died instead of let them help him, after he had said that, the two of them were now very reluctant on telling him about the fact that he wouldn't be able to redo the initiation and get a second chance at becoming a guardian. " Look I know that sounds rather harsh, but it's how i really feel, but it doesn't mean I love you any less for coming to my rescue and I'm extremely grateful for, even if I don't sound like it right now, it's just I rather have found a way out of this myself. Though I do suppose I'll still have that chance now considering that I'll know what to expect when I go to retake this initiation again and be ready for another battle with that golem." Star and Lucky's expression's changed to ones of worry as they glanced between themselves and their son. "What is it, is there something that you haven't told me yet," DarkHeart asked, seeing the expressions on his parents' faces that made him think that there was another hidden clause in the ritual. " Well DarkHeart you won't," Star Dust was going to start explaining what their actions have done for his chances of becoming a guardian. "What? I won't what mom?" DarkHeart was starting to fear that his worst case scenario was going to come true. "You won't be able to redo the initiation again." Star Dust was having a hard time finishing her sentence for fear of seeing her son's face when she told him, so Lucky Streak decided to finish her sentence for her. "Wh, wh, what do you mean I won't be able to redo the initiation?" DarkHeart's fears were indeed coming true, he just hopes that what he thinks prevents him from obtaining his isn't what he thinks it is. "Well because of your father and I coming in here to save your life. Your initiation ended and you lost the privilege to complete it again at any time you wanted." His mother explained to him all the while watching as her son's expression slowly started to go from a worried to sadden to heartbroken as he had just heard that his dream was now gone. "This is the reason we were getting onto you about not calling us for help. As long as you had asked for it we would've done what we had just done to the golem, you would've been saved, and could retake the initiation's test, but because you didn't we had to come here without your permission and ruin all that." Lucky Streak told DarkHeart as a way to help him understand why they were riding on him so hard about the subject. "So instead speaking up and telling me all that when I was starting to have a hard time beating the golem, you decided to stay quiet and let me get a beating and then come to save my life and destroy my dream." DarkHeart's voice was filled with venom as he said that. Finding out that both of his knew this information and kept it to themselves angered DarkHeart to the point that it appeared that there was steam coming off of his body. My chance of finding out what my destiny could have been and they destroyed it, now what am I suppose to do I got nothing else that help me. I've tried everything I could to find out what my special talent is and get my cutiemark and so now I got nothing to go on. DarkHeart's mind yet again pulls him into own world as his thoughts started to swirl within his head, all of them with messages of anger, of uncrushed dreams, and...... of darkness. They were speaking to him in voices that definitely were not his own, but did sound familiar, telling him that this was his parent's fault, that they to blame for the pain that now surged through his heart and the darkness, which was growing at a steady rate, that was nestling in his very soul. While DarkHeart was still within the confines of his mind, Star and Lucky were talking to one another trying to figure out a way to bypass the clause that prevents their from accomplishing his own goals. "Star, sweetie, I don't think we're going to be the same family we once ever again," Lucky said getting his wife's attention. "What are you talking about Lucky dear we gonna be fine. We'll find a loophole in the rules of the initiation, tell Darky about it, he'll pass whatever tasks he needs to do, become the new Guardian of the Heart, and he'll find out what makes him special." StarDust was in denial about the fact that they more than likely lost they knew and he would drive them away, but it didn't escape from Lucky as he put a hand on his wife's shoulder as she continued looking through the ancient scrolls that withheld everything about the process of becoming a guardian. "Honey you got face facts, our DarkHeart is gone from us. I mean look at him, he's never gone into this state around us before. I've only seen him get like this is whenever he comes home from a day of endless teasing from the other fillies and colts at school, and usually he's really angry when he is." Star Dust stopped looking through the scrolls as Lucky Streak finished. "I know, but I don't want to lose our son to the darkness of the world just because he's meant for great things, but it seems that no matter what we do he is still rejected and shunned, not knowing what it feels like to have ponies, besides your family, stand by you and support you through your problems." Star Dust's gazed was down casted as she remembered the childhood she had, all of her friends, and all the adventures they had had together, wishing that her son could have had the same thing instead of the some of the things that fate was so unkind as to dish out to him. As the two of them continued their conversation, a forgotten threat was starting to get awaken from his unconscious state and it was extremely angry and thirsty for blood. The changeling golem got up from his position on the ground, and looked around to be greeted by the sight of the very two ponies who it had wanted to go after and by the looks of it they were distracted which meant now would be the perfect chance to ambush them. It quietly started towards them still in its original form, not wanting to get caught before it was in position because of the flames, it crept up behind them taking note that DarkHeart was staring right at it but yet not making a move to warn the others that just came to save him. The golem was right on top of the two ponies who were still in the midst of their conversation, and not noticing the creature that loomed before them and its previous target still standing ten feet away from them, still not moving a muscle. With it being in prime striking position the golem was engulfed in green flames, yet again in its draconian form. The two ponies jumped the very moment they saw the green glow of the flames and appeared to try to go after their weapons, but were too late as the golem already had them within its grasp. Star Dust didn't understand what was going on as she and her husband were captured by the golem. The golem should have vanished after they attacked it, whether it be from them interfering or from the force of their combined attack, and the initiation over and done with, so why was this thing still here? But that question could be saved for after they were freed from the two of them were out of its grip and had defeated it. The golem watched as the two ponies in its claws were squirming and struggling to obtain their freedom and then it looked back to the third pony, the one who was its initial target, still standing in the spot like a statue when an idea suddenly form in the beast's head. Using its changeling magic, the creature's eyes started glowing a sickly green as an aura the same color formed around DarkHeart's parents. Star Dust and Lucky Streak started to feel strange as the magic started to warp their minds, they were starting to believe that the dragon-changeling golem-in front them was not their enemy but instead their friend and that they needed to protect it from its enemies and unfortunately for DarkHeart he was in that classification. So now under the golem's control, DarkHeart's parents set their sights upon him and were moving in for the attack. Meanwhile the voices within his head were still filling it with dark thoughts and making him even angrier than he already was. They ruined your one chance at finding out your destiny, their not on your side, they want you to fail, they want you to feel like a useless piece of trash that can accomplish nothing, do you want that? The voices were getting louder and louder as they continued to try and turn DarkHeart against his parents. Just because he was angry at them for not telling him about the clause that would prevent him from retaking the initiation, it doesn't mean he was going to drive himself away from them and be alone but the voices still persisted in spite of this. Let the darkness go, it will feel better to allow your anger to guide you down the right path and make your dreams come true. Darkness is the only friend you can rely on, so why not just let it help and help you accomplish your goals. "No I won't allow you to be free, you've already caused me enough problems, I won't let you screw up my life anymore than you already have." DarkHeart now knew who the voice belonged to. It was the voice of the dark side if himself that had first spoken to him a little over six years ago, it had made its presence known to him one day while he was being picked on by his classmates at school. DarkHeart, at the time, was a sensitive colt and whenever he was made fun of for not having his cutiemark he would curl up into a ball and start to cry until a teacher or somepony older than any of them would make them disperse, but on this particular day he didn't curl up his body into a ball, he instead curled up his hands into fist. The other kids that had been making fun of him saw this and took as a challenge,but for DarkHeart the fact that he couldn't control his body was a terrifying one. Never would he fight unless he felt that his life was in danger and right now he definitely didn't feel any danger whatsoever from the colts and fillies in front of him. But he did feel like something bad was about to happen, he felt as though he was watching through his own eyes almost like they're cameras. A voice seemingly from nowhere started to speak to him, "Don't worry DarkHeart when I'm done you will never have to with these kinds of ponies ever again I'll make them remember why they fear the darkness," The mysterious voice had told him in a tone that was filled with joy. "Who are you? What are you? And why have you taken over my body?" DarkHeart was confused as to what this creature was and why was it doing this to him. "You have no need to worry DarkHeart. I'm your friend and am here to help and as for my name, well you can just call me Shadow. I am a spirit who is here to he....he , teach ponies why they shouldn't mock you," 'Shadow', sounded too happy when he said that last part, and that little chuckle didn't sound like a normal pony would use for this situation, and DarkHeart had a guess as to why that was. Suddenly he felt his body start to move, he may not have had control over what he was doing but he could still feel everything, he saw that he was heading towards to group in front of him with a few of the bigger colts making their way to the front of the group. When he was right in the face of one of them, his body stopped, just standing there staring the bully in the eyes when he suddenly felt himself jump backwards and seeing the colt's fist swing in front of his face seeing now that the spirit controlling his body was going to allow his body to be harmed. Shortly after Shadow had moved out of the way of another punch aimed towards him from a different colt from his right, the spirit went on the offensive, beginning with a clean uppercut to the jaw of the first colt that swung at him, then a gut shot towards a colt to the left while at the same time grabbing a hold of the left leg of the colt on his right. DarkHeart was amazed and scared at the fighting skills of the spirit, seeing as it managed to land a few powerful blows to their opponents, keeping the colts from landing a blow, and making them fight against each other to help humiliate them even further. The colts didn't stand a chance against the spirit but Shadows tactics were just cruel, though DarkHeart did want to cause these guys the same pain they've caused him, he wasn't the type of pony who like to watch others suffer especially, when he was able to stop, and now would be no different. "Shadow stop this now, can't you see they're giving up," DarkHeart wanted to stop this crazy spirit from doing any more harm to these colts no matter the cost. But why would I stop, they still haven't learned to properly fear the darkness that is right in front of them, and besides you know you like seeing them suffer just as much as I do." Shadow was enjoying himself immensely and he didn't want to give that up, not yet at least, he was having too much fun after all he might chose to stop when the fun dies down. DarkHeart wasn't going to let this thing control him any longer, and there is the fact that Shadow was using 'his' body, he would be the one to blame for this and he's pretty sure no pony will believe him when he tells them that he was being controlled by some dark spirit." I said this, NOW!!" "Oh ho ho it looks like somepony has grown a pair of balls now doesn't it," Shadow had a big cocking smirk plastered on his face as he watched DarkHeart's temper start to rise. " And it would also have seemed that you're letting the darkness start to consume you as well." DarkHeart had taken note of the black energy flow around his form, enveloping his form in darkness and he could feel that he was regaining control of his body. "It would seem so, but I think should be more worried about the fact that I'm getting back control of my body" DarkHeart was, just as Shadow said, gaining some courage; he wasn't afraid if the spirit anymore and he was determined to show him that. "When then what see what you're capable of then, shall we." DarkHeart felt a strange sensation overtake him as Shadow transported the two of them to a new domain. "Like what you see, this is my world, it's a place where I'm king and all who enter here are subject to my control. It also means I'm able to control everything you do, but the only difference between controlling you here and controlling you in your world is that in here you can't escape my control, at least not without the aid of dark magic which next to no unicorns know, except for the one that was known as King Sombra, but his existence as been extinguished long ago." To emphasize his point to DarkHeart, Shadow created a huge castle with an overly sized throne and made DarkHeart start doing some ridiculous dance against his will. "You see you are now my puppet and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it." DarkHeart was starting to get frustrated from the ridiculous action that the spirit was making him preform. In fact he was getting even angrier than he was just a few moments ago and the same dark energy field started to envelope him again. As the spirit kept on making do ridiculous tasks, DarkHeart's anger was growing and along with it the dark energy around him. He had just about had enough of being controlled when he decided to take matters into his hands. "EEE-NOUGH!!!! With that the dark energy around him sent out a powerful that knocked Shadow right onto his ass and seized whatever control he had on DarkHeart. "I'm sick of ponies making a fool out of me, and not about to let some spirit come out of nowhere and take over my life. I may not be that good of a fighter but when the going gets tough I can always deliver." Shadow was shocked at what just happened; another unicorn who control dark magic how can that be, especially since this one still had good within his heart, so how can he can he use at all. "You think you can beat me and get out of this place kid, well then go ahead and try, but I must warn you it won't be easy whatsoever." He didn't know what this young colt was capable of but by the looks of it neither does he, so he may not know how to use it properly. "I will, but I don't need to beat you, the way I see it, if I could escape this little world of yours, I'll be free from your grasp and you would be stuck here seeing as though you were able escape because of the fact I've been in constant fear whenever I go to school. I mean after all, you are my dark spirit aren't you Shadow." This earned DarkHeart a shocked look from the spirit, seeing he didn't even know how this young one could have figured that out especially without any hints from him to the kid standing in front of him. "I gotta to give it to you DarkHeart, you are definitely one smart kid. Shit if we were to combine your brains with my power and skill we could become unstoppable." "Sorry but I think I'll pass no becoming the accomplice to a homicidal spirit of darkness." DarkHeart just wanted to get out of this place and get away from this freak and hopefully go back to being himself. "Very well then suit yourself then," Suddenly a bright light appeared behind DarkHeart. He looked behind himself to see what looked like a doorway, wondering what Shadow was planning but saw that the spirit was just lounging about on a newly created hammock. "What are you doing I thought you were going to try and kill me and take over my body to do whatever it is you were planning on doing," DarkHeart asked, confused as to why Shadow was suddenly acting like he didn't care. It's just as you said earlier, I'm 'YOUR' dark spirit if you don't exist then neither do I, and I can't take over your body after you broke through my control twice already so would be no point in doing so. Not to mention that there's no way for me to trap you here, after all this is nothing more than your subconscious, I just kinda moved in here and called it mine since there was nothing here in the first place, so yeah I can't really do anything so might as well as just let you go." DarkHeart tried to see if there was any deception in his words but couldn't detect any so he decided to just head towards the door that would lead him back to the conscious world again, but not before he looked back to Shadow to ask him one last thing before the he left the spirit alone. " Aren't you worried that you'll be stuck here forever?" "No, but then again I won't be stuck here forever, another day will come when you'll lose yourself again and call upon the darkness in your heart to get whatever it is you'll want when the time comes, but until then yeah I'll be stuck here, see you then DarkHeart." "I told you you would call upon the darkness and I would be free yet again." Shadow smiling within his own world, happy that he had another chance to turn DarkHeart. "What the hell are you laughing about you jackass? Last I was still in control of what I do, and besides I learned how to control the dark power a while ago." DarkHeart definitely non in the mood to deal with this bastard of spirit right now. Because in a few seconds here you'll be given the final push you need to allow the darkness to consume your being, both physically and metaphorically." "What the hell are you talking aboooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!" DarkHeart felt a hard impact hit him and send him spiraling through the forest yet again. "Anypony get the number of the cart that hit me," DarkHeart was disoriented from both the blow he took and the impact of the landing. "Hey DarkHeart buddy you might want to look straight up ahead if you want to find the 'cart' that hit you." The dark spirit enjoying himself as he watched DarkHeart stumble around a bit trying to regain his bearings. DarkHeart had finally gotten his senses alignment back to normal as he looked straight ahead of him to find out what it was that had hit him thinking that it may have been the golem having gotten back up and snuck up on him, but what he saw instead made his eyes widen to the size of saucers. What, or rather who,stood where he had been standing and talking with Shadow, was his parents, and for reason the looked pissed. "Mom, Dad what are you doing, and why did you attack me?" DarkHeart asked, examining his parents to see if he could figure out what was wrong with them but couldn't find anything that might have led to the cause of their attack. Star Dust and Lucky Streak didn't answer their son's question but started to rush towards him instead, the golem was hanging back so as to allow the three of them to duke out amongst themselves to tire each other out before it moves in for the final blow, or maybe it'll get lucky and they'll take each other and save it the trouble o doing it itself. "So what are you going to do DarkHeart? First, your parents took away your chances of finally finding out your destiny, and now they've turned against you, how much more disappointment are you gonna take before you accept the fact that the only way for you to get what you want is to let the darkness consume you and set me free." "NO, I not gonna let the darkness take control again, and I'm most certainly not fighting my parents. I already know that they aren't doing this of their own accord, that bloody golem must have brain-washed them or something but I don't know for sure." DarkHeart did feel uncertain that they're being controlled by the golem but believing that his own parents, that have loved him with all their heart, would be preposterous. Plus that thing has proven itself to be a sneaky, brutal little shit throughout the time all of them have been here. With that thought in mind DarkHeart was set upon finding the golem, defeating it, and releasing its control of his parents. Before he could set out though he needed to find a way to outrun and out-maneuver his parents without harming them. But judging on their current speed right now he probably could, but there is also the fact that his parents have a tendency to hold back, so there's the possibility that they might not be going using 100 percent of their full strength at the moment. Okay DarkHeart you can do this, if all goes well, you can get your parents to knock out the golem again and disable its mind controlling spell, if it's using a spell. DarkHeart was waiting for his parents to get closer so that he had a chance to get a good head start from them and find the golem. As his parents were in prime strike position, DarkHeart ran in between them, causing them to miss their target and their weapons to get wedged into the ground. As those two were trying to pull their weapons free from their earthy prison, DarkHeart was making back to where he had been before he was sent spiraling into the air, in hopes of finding a trace of the creature, or better yet, find the damn creature standing nearby, now that would be great. Getting revenge and saving his parents all in the same hour that would make up for this entire mess for a while. Running as fast as he could, DarkHeart quickly was back to his original spot and looking around for any signs of his target, when he spotted what appeared to be a pair of gold glowing eyes. He went into action as the glowing orbs darted away, So the beast is running away maybe it knows what my plan is, hmph no matter I'll still proceed as planned, hostile and cautious, I won't allow it to get the jump on me or allow it to get away from me either. He gave chase to the beast as it ran from him hidden within the covering of trees. DarkHeart was only chasing the creature for a few minutes before he had finally caught up with it. "Where do you think you're going you son of bitch," He pinned the creature down with a few magical lighting bolts aimed at some of the trees around it sparking up a blaze in the forest. "I go you now, and now the two of us will end this with one of us buried six-feet under." Takes to the little break he had gotten earlier during his rant with the dark spirit he was back to full strength, and equipped with the knowledge of the golem's fighting style, he was ready to have another go at it. Wasting no time, the creature transformed into, would you've guess it, a dragon. It didn't wait for the flames to dissipate as it lashed out its claws towards DarkHeart in hopes of throwing off the angry colt. It was in vain as DarkHeart had managed to move around the attack with ease and going to deliver a counterattack heading for the creature's face, delivering a magically enhanced uppercut that sent the beast flying into the inferno that was once the forest. Though the fire was unable to burn the golem with it being in its dragon form but it did offer little to no visibility for the beast so it was unable to see where it was going or see where its attacker may be. It knew that ponies weren't fireproof but with the rage and darkness shining DarkHeart's eyes it knew better than to believe that it wouldn't be pursued by the angry pony. DarkHeart had proven the creature right as he came crashing through some of the burning trees that were still standing, rushing to the golem's position and going in to land another blow into its chest but was cut off as his parents came in before he could land the punch and he was knocked away. At this point DarkHeart was gritting his teeth. He felt so helpless, so weak, so. . . so . . . . . . . " Useless." Star Dust charged a her son, her sabers poised to deal a lethal blow to him, and Lucky Streak was going above him to keep him from avoiding either one of their attacks. DarkHeart was left with only a few choices: (One, he could just move into the flames, but without a path through them he would most surely be burned. (Two he could try to block the attacks and take them head on, but again he wouldn't be able to come out of that unsciathed. (Three, he could charge at one of them knock them off their feet and have straight shot back to the golem, but he wasn't even going to consider that option so he disregarded it, so he guessed it was option one or two then. With not much time to think DarkHeart decided to turn around and head into the forest, channeling his magic to his feet to make move faster than his legs would normally allow them to carry him to get out of the forest as fast as he could. DarkHeart managed to get out of the forest, but not without some bad burns all over his form, but at least he was safe for now and he just had to wait for them to find him. Unfortunately though for DarkHeart, he didn't get long to rest as his parents and the golem came through the veil of flames that now was the forest. "I seriously regret setting the forest on fire now. It definitely not one of the better of ideas I've came up with in the past." DarkHeart deeply regretted setting the forest ablaze, all it did for him was entrap him within in its walls of flame, and give him some serious burns. DarkHeart suddenly felt a great pain over take his body as he was watching the golem, his father, and, his mother!? He noticed that what appeared to be his mother was nothing more than an illusion as a burning branch fell right through it. He tried to look around for her but whenever he moved the pain got worse, he looked down to find out where the source of his displeasure, but what he found shocked him. Coming out of his stomach and chest were his mom's sabers, DarkHeart turned his head back to see Star Dust behind him holding her swords in place. A surge of magic could be felt going through the blades that had pierced his body, and DarkHeart started to worry knowing exactly what was happening. The surge kept growing in power before a moment later he felt that same magic begin to put incredible force into his back as his mother activated her attack the "HOLY MISSILE!!!!!!" DarkHeart was engulfed in an all-consuming light as his body was propelled forward from the power pushing its way into him. When the light had finally vanished, with a trail of destruction left in its wake, and at the end of that trail was DarkHeart; he was on the tipping point between life and death, he felt so weak that breathing was an immense struggle for him. He watched as the three figures approached him and looked now upon his beaten form. The golem was looking down on him with the look of victory written all over its face, and as DarkHeart's vision started to slowly fade into blackness, it was the last face he had seen asa he slipped into death's hands. I guess I wasn't meant for anything in this world. I really am just a worthless waste of space, I guess the biggest joke ever played on me was the one I played on myself, actually believing I was somepony worth while. DarkHeart was slipping agonizingly slow into the dark abyss of death and was forced to remember all of the failures of his life until he stopped at the fact that he had failed his parents, the most important ponies in his life. My biggest failure ever is the one that I die on. I've failed the two of you, mom and dad, I just hope you can forgive me. I just wished that I could have freed you two from the golem before I died. The memories from earlier, when his parents had rescued him, started to play right in front of his eyes, and as he watched he started to remember everything they had told him about what they had done when they interfered. He started to remember how it was his parents that had crushed his dreams, that it was his parent's fault as to why he was in this situation at all, and now thanks to their neglectance on telling him the rules of the initiation, he laid on his deathbed with the image of the fucking creature that had been the one to further cement the fact the fact that he had lost everything in only a matter of hours. NO! This is their fault, they should've told me everything I needed to know about this damn initiation the moment it started. I'm not going to pay for their mistake, I'm done paying for the mistakes of others. DarkHeart 's anger was rising to extreme levels, and he felt a familiar presence starting to make an appearance after so many years of containment. The dark energy that had helped him fend off Shadow all those years ago was now coming back only this time it was visible to the ones that had tried to end him. It was healing his wounds at an incredible pace, making it look like DarkHeart hadn't suffered even a scratch on him. "You see what happens when you listen to me DarkHeart. The dark power will make sure you prevail over your foes and embed the image of you as the harbinger of death when you're finished. Well, that is, if they're still alive to even remember." "SHUT YOUR MOTHERFUCKING MOUTH SHADOW, YOU WILL SPEAK WHEN I ALLOW YOU TO SPEAK, GOT IT!!" Dark had yelled at the dark spirit, as he started to regain his strength, stood back up with the dark energy flowing around him and his scarlett eyes fading to pure black, showing nothing but the darkness that laid within him. "But I thought we were in this together now. I told ya. . . . ." "YOU EITHER SHUT IT NOW OR I'LL MAKE SURE YOU REGRET EVER BEING BROUGHT INTO EXISTENCE. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR, WELL!!!" The darkness around him started to completely engulf him and changing his body. "Ye. . . . .ye. . . . . .yes si. . . sir". Shadow stuttered out in a tiny voice. An evil smirk appeared on DarkHeart's face within the shroud of darkness. "Good, now it's time I take care of this pest once and for all and teach my parents not to interfere where they're not wanted." His voice sounded as if two different ponies were talking at same time. The darkness that had enveloped DarkHeart's body was changing his appearance, even his clothing. The three that had been trying to kill him couldn't see what it was doing to him but they had the feeling that whatever it was doing to him wasn't good. But they would soon get their answer as the darkness energy swirling around him was starting to dissipate. What they had all seen wasn't what they had expected to see, his appearance definitely changed bu they had been expecting a little more out of it. DarkHeart's black, messy looking mane and tail had turned white with streaks of scarlett red, midnight blue, and jet black; his right eye stayed it's usual scarlett color, but his right eye was now an emerald green draconic one, his fingers and teeth had turned into claws and fangs, and scales appeared to be forming around his neck and arms, and that was only what you could see from who knows what other changes had happened under his new wardrobe. His usual attire of jeans, black shirt, gray hoodie, was replaced by black pants that gave off a shine, which the others figured was suppose to be armor; a black, long-sleeved shirt that looked to be made of the same material, a cloak similar to the one DarkHeart had seen that mysterious stallion from his vision was wearing was now in his possession. His shoes managed to turn into steel-plated boots, gauntlets covered his hands and the lower arms, steel shoulder guards were equipped onto him, and strange device rested itself upon the right side of his chest secured by four straps, two going over his shoulders and two wrapping themselves around his waist, and upon it was a symbol on it, it was of a black heart that looked to be metallic in appearance with wings adorned on the top of it and a hole right in the center of it. DarkHeart was examining his new form with nothing but utter fascination, this new form just radiated with power and he liked it-A LOT. But, even though he was fascinated with his new look, DarkHeart cut the self-admiration short as the golem decided to make sure he still remembered that it was still there by sending out a 'small' magical blast at him. Although DarkHeart saw the blast but didn't even bother trying to block it, he just stood there as it connected with him, an explosive followed after impact and a cloud of dust and smoke rose into the sky. As the cloud started to clear away the three beings watching saw that DarkHeart was completely unharmed with not a scratch on him and he stood there, looking at them with a glare so intense that, if looks could kill, they would've been wiped from existence. "Alrighty then I think I given you enough time to write your wills, now it's time for all of you to feel my wrath." DarkHeart started to channel his new dark magic into the palms of his hands as he watched them get ready for his next strike. He the magic in his hands redirected itself towards the tips of his claws. Once he felt that he had what he wanted he sprinted towards them, and although they had all been watching him intently, he was upon them in mere seconds. It would seem that in this new form of his DarkHeart's strength and speed have increased rather dramatically which means things should go along rather smoothly for him then. DarkHeart, being in a prime striking position, swung his dark magic lined claws down which caused a cluster of dark energy waves to go towards his parents. They made an attempt to dodge the attack but their son was far too fast for them to keep now and so took the full brunt of the attack. After that, DarkHeart felt as if he had done enough damage to them and had turned away from them and realigned his sights on the golem. "D-D-D-D-DarkHeart?" Before he could advance on the golem, DarkHeart had heard his mother's voice behind him, calling out to him and sounding terrified to even be uttering his name after she had seen what her was now. "DarkHeart what has happened to you." Star Dust looked upon her son's new form and was felt scared at the visage he had taken on, but the one thing that had caught her eye more than anything about his new appearance was his eyes , or rather what they had displayed, they had the look of anger, rage, hatred, and something else, something she's only seen on the faces of the truly wicked,she saw the void of darkness embedded within her son's eyes and knew that something had been broken within her son, something of grave importance to his being. "Well mother if you must know, I've finally accepted the darkness within myself and have allowed it the honor of being the tool to help me obtain my revenge on both of you and this pathetic creature over there." DarkHeart responded with a dark-toned glee. Star Dust now knew that her prediction was right , the thing that broke was his heart the only thing that is able to drive the darkness away, she had always feared that a day like this would arrive and so her and Lucky Streak had been preparing a way to drive the darkness out and put the shattered pieces of his heart together, but they had never prepared for a situation like this, so she had no idea on what she needed to do. 'Well if that's all you wanted, I got a golem to smash out of existence." The malice in his voice could almost be seen by his mother as he spoke. DarkHeart went after the golem with nothing more than the full intent to kill it off once and for all, wanting nothing more to do with this creature. He wanted to make this thing suffer just as much as it had made him, even though he had an even stronger urge to just get it over with now and just kill it, so he didn't bother charging up his magic and just started pounding on the golem with his bare fist and open claws. DarkHeart was relentless with his attacks, applying deep gashes into the golem's forelegs, breaking the bones of its hind legs, causing severe internal bleeding, and just tearing this thing to shreds. All the while Star Dust just sat there watching in horrified fascination at what her son had become, but her eyes were pulled away from the scene before her as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Honey what happened, where's DarkHeart, and who is that fighting the golem?" Lucky Streak asked his wife looking upon the two clashing figures. "Well in to answer your questions in order, I believe the golem had brainwashed us into fighting our own son and as for where he is, he's right over there fighting the golem." Star Dust responded looking back to the battle taking place in front of their eyes. "Where is he cause all I see is that strange pony over there fighting the golem, but I don't see our. . . . . .SON!?" Lucky Streak said, shocked at what his son now looked like. "Yeah that's our son, he has succumbbed to the darkness within his heart and it in return has changed him." Star Dust's voice choked and eyes began the water as she watch their son fight, thinking that the son she had loved her so much and that loved her right back was gone and replaced with this blood thirsty animal. DarkHeart was his best to down the creature by this point , feeling as though he had allowed this creature to live long enough, but it refused to just die and fighting with all the might he had left. "Damn it why don't you just die?" DarkHeart asked, getting aggravated with the struggle this beast was still putting up. His response was giant hoof coming down to stomp him into the ground though in vain thanks to his new found speed. The golem summoned upon its magic to aid him in his endeavor and creating an army of miniature (they were still about half the height of the original) versions of itself. This only helped to get DarkHeart even more riled up and wanting to beat the crap out of the golem. As he went through defeating the clones by various methods of: using his magic to crush in their skulls, ripping them in two with his claws, or just tearing out multiple chunks out of their bodies, he started to noticed no matter how many he's defeated, that there actually seemed to be more than when he had first started and he himself was actually getting more of beating than they were. He knew his speed was useless in a fight against a group such as this but now he was being overwhelmed by these things and was starting to be pushed to the losing side pretty damn quick. Damn it, I'm getting pretty tired of this real fucking quick It's about time I ended this, but how, whenever I take out one of these things more just pop-up to take its place. I don't have a spell that could take them all out at once, and they'll stop me from getting anywhere close to the main bastard, unless . . . . . . . . . . . . no, no it won't work even with dark magic, but then again I won't know unless I try. DarkHeart had a chance to end this, but only if it works, he was going to use the weaponization spell again and see if the weapon it gave him would be able help find a way to stopping these clones and ending this fight. But he was still skeptical on it actually working seeing as the spell worked along with his special talent, and without knowing what his special talent was that, even with dark magic, the spell would fail but better safe than sorry . . . . . right? "Well here goes nothing," DarkHeart called upon his dark magic, channeling it into a sphere in front him. " Okay so far so good." As more magic was channeled into the sphere it started to pulsate, emanating a strange energy, things seem to be going on smoothly but DarkHeart knew better than to assume he was going to be successful, things last on well for him last time as well at least until it came to the final part of the spell which had it connect to his mind, his magic, and his special talent to create to perfect weapon just for him, that is where it had failed last time. The final part was under way first the spell strung through his mind, successively forming a bond with it, next it went after his horn and seeped into his magic flowing through it with ease as it too had accepted the intruder, now all that was left was for it to find out his special talent was and form the perfect weapon. DarkHeart felt the spell's ancient magic make it's way to his heart, searching through it for the final piece needed to finish, but as it kept searching and finding nothing the connection began to weaken and the spell was starting to rip itself apart, and the sphere in front of him was beginning to rupture. No, not again! Why am I the only one who can't get what I want. I've worked so hard to get where I am now and what to have to show for it, nothing, absolutely nothing. Well no more I'm done trying to be good, all it's ever gotten me is pain and heartache, I am DarkHeart, the harbinger of darkness and death is my art. As DarkHeart came to finally accept his darkness the sphere began to repair itself and the spell's connection with his heart started to strengthen. I am not like any other pony. I am the embodiment of fear and terror. I am don't make friends, I don't like to be around others, and I most certainly not meant to be alive now, but yet I am because of the bond I have to the darkness and so therefore I embrace the darkness now, allow to consume and become a part of my being so that I may live and defy the plans that fate has for me. Finally at last the spell connected with his heart as a bright flash came out of nowhere around his flank that shined through the dark cloak that he wore and DarkHeart finally gained his cutiemark and special talent. The ruptures in the sphere of magic started to repair themselves and take the shape of DarkHeart's new weapon; it appeared to be taking on the form of a katana, but something was off about it. The blade had an almost J-shaped curve to it, the guard expanded out into four segments that formed into petals, something looked to be coming out of the bottom of the handle, but the most incredible thing was that the energy seem to be splitting into two which meant only one thing, I have two blades instead of one, well this should definitely be interesting considering I've never fought with two weapons before but who am I to question the spell that has choose everypony's weapons so perfectly.
The Date Part 1Author's Note I don't do the whole romantic dinner thing considering my table manners are atrocious and I couldn't stand wearing a tuxedo or anything so forgive me if this part doesn't quite meet expectations for this type of situation. The Date Part 1 "If you want more answers you will need to find them on your own, it will be then that things will become your past, present, and especially your future will become all the more clearer." The words of voice said from earlier this week still ran around in my head as I tried to figure out what he meant. The only thing I could think of regarding anything of my past is how I came to possess my dark power, other than that it must have been talking about my ancestors which is probably the most probable but like it said. I have to find out about these other ponies that took control of darkness and light to find out. I'll have to ask Luna and Celestia if they know anything and if all else fails I'll ask Discord when he's released. "Dark Heart," Though I'm not sure if I should wait till after he's considered reformed or as soon as he's released. "Dark Heart!" Probably as soon as he's released, that could get a conversation going between us towards other things and help him see why being friends with ponies and not using his chaos so liberally all the time is a good thing. "DARK HEART!" I heard Luna shout in my ear and making me jump a little in the carriage that we're in currently. I look over at Luna who was wearing a worried look. "Are you alright Dark Heart?" "Yeah I was just thinking about something." "Can I ask what about?" "I'll tell you tomorrow, I don't it ruining our date so I suggest we forget about it and just enjoy the evening." I say as I pull Luna into a kiss. "Okay Dark Heart but don't hesitate to tell me if something is wrong. I want you to enjoy the night just as much as me." Luna says upon breaking the kiss. "So where are having us go tonight?" "That's for me to know and you to find out though I wouldn't expect the trip to be too much longer." I tell her as I look out the window and see the the her night sky as we traverse up Canterlot Mountain. "Can't I have a wittle hint?" Luna asked in a child like tone and big, wet eyes. I put my hand over her face to block that look before I felt I could say anything. "N-n-no Luna, I'm not ruining the surprise because of your anxiety. You're just going to have to wait till we get there." I tell her sternly as possible as it seemed that her gaze just passed through my hands and I felt that I had no choice to look away but before I do I no longer feel it's presence and feel Luna push my hand away to reveal a pouting Luna who stuck her nose in the air and turned away with a huff. "Aw, now doesn't my Lulu look adorable when she's acting like a filly?" She turned her head so that I could one of her eyes and gave me a glare before turning away again. Not one to just let her push me away I scoot closer and pull her closer to me as she struggles in my grasp. I wrap my arms tightly around her as she's still trying to get away from me but I refuse to let her go. "Let me go you jerk." Luna states as she squirms back and forth in my grasp and I comply with her request as I see that this approach isn't working. I decide to try another tactic that she'll probably hate me for but it'll ruin the whole evening if she insist on keeping up the charade. "Okay then, if you think I'm a jerk then I guess the date is off and I'll go back home." I state seriously though with a smirk hidden away as I turn away from her and open the carriage door on my side. I catch Luna looking at me in worry out of the corner of my eye but she isn't making any move to stop me as I proceed to step out the door and climbed on top of it. I bent my legs in preparations to jump down the mountain. "Darky wait!" Luna shouted as she grabbed me from behind. "I don't really think you're a jerk and I want to go no this date with you, please don't leave." She says as if on the verge of tears which makes me decide to not go through with my original plans and just play along. "Alright Luna I won't go." I tell her as I turn around while still in her grip and embrace her. "But you do know I wasn't really going to leave right?" "I thought so but you sounded so serious and I didn't want to take the chance. Despite having kept an eye on you since that day your parents brought you in and getting to know you since you got released you are still too unpredictable for me not to be cautious of everything I say and do." "Sorry about that Luna. I really try not to be an inconvenience for you like that but there something I can tell you that might make it easier for you to figure it out on your own." "And what's that?" She asked as she looks up at me curiously. "Listen to my voice, there are always hidden elements in it that can tell you how I might react to something, even when I say nothing." I tell her sincerely. "Though I will admit that I was originally going to leave and come back when the carriage stopped at it's location so you could feel guilty and sad about it so I could some sick joy in the misery and then reveal myself afterwards." "Really?" She asked with tearful eyes. "No, well at least not the taking a sick joy out of it, and I actually would've been there waiting for you to arrive after leaving." I tell her with a smile and she slaps me though I more than deserve so I have no right to complain. "You really are a jerk sometimes Dark Heart." Luna says as I wipe away to last remnants of her tears. "I know but I promise you that I'll cut back on it when it comes to you, but almost everypony else will feel the full sting of my jerkiness!" I shout into the sky and shake my right hand in the air like I'm making an important declaration and cause Luna to start laughing her ass off as she falls down on the top of the carriage and starts rolling around. I catch her when she almost fell off and cast a spell to make the top intangible so we could drop through it. I place the still giggling Luna on the seat as I watch her in amusement. After a good ten minutes she finally calms down as she wipes away some stray tears from her giggle fest. "Feeling better sweets?" I ask as I nuzzle her which she happily returns. "Mmhm, thank you Dark Heart. Sorry my if my impatience was beginning to become irksome though." Luna apologized. "It's alright Lulu considering it wasn't your impatience that was getting to me in the first place. Seriously for a thousands year old mare you can act like such a spoiled filly sometimes." I told honestly. "I blame you." "Mind explaining how you came to that conclusion?" I ask her as I bring over to sit on my lap. "Because you're an enabler." "How is this, last I checked I haven't been spoiling you that much for you to turn out like that." "But you spoil me none the less so therefore you're an enabler. Need I go on Dark Heart or do you need more information?" Luna asked smugly as she shifts her rear in my lap to get more comfortable. "So you're saying that I shouldn't get you anymore while we're in this relationship?" "NO! Luna says quickly as she spins around in place to be face to face. "Then stop being a brat otherwise that is exactly what's going to happen, got it?" She lowers her head like a filly who was just scolded by her parents and nods. "Good, now what do you say we enjoy the rest of the ride in silence while in each other's arms?" She perks up and wrapps her arms around and I do the same as I maneuver around so that I was laying corner with a view of the night. "So how much longer is it going to take to get where we're going tonight?" "About ten more minutes, it's a ways up the mountain but I assure you that the trip will be worth it that I can promise you." "I hope so, it would be a shame to have put all that extra work into not only my appearance but tonight's sky to have it locked away in a dusty old carriage." "This thing is far from being dusty and old but I know what you mean. You need the feeling of all eyes on you as ponies admire your beauty because you're a bloody attention hound." I mocked her as I lick her snout. "I am not an attention hound Dark Heart, you're the only one,besides my sister, whose opinion I care about, though I was hoping to be able to show my new coltfriend a little." Luna confesses with a faint blush that makes her look adorable. "Of course you do. You won't have to worry about that as I'm sure you'll get the chance soon." "What do mean?" Just as Luna finished asking the carriage jerks to a stop and the sound of the door opening causes Luna to jolt up. I stood up and walk out first before helping Luna out. When she steps out Luna is in absolute awe as she gazes upon the building in front of us. Embedded into the mountain was a restaurant that had had the front shaped and painted to blend into to the face of the rock and jutted out into a canopy and pillars as though you were looking at the entrance of cave that was lit up by magical light crystals that lined the walls and ceilings. The sign itself was also made of the same light crystals and spelled out "Seclusion". "Seclusion?" Luna looked at me in hope of getting an answer that I could not provide. "I have no idea why the owner decided to call it that but I had heard about this place from Spitfire when you two sent me over for those meeting with her and I let it slip that I was taking you out this weekend. It apparently opened up a couple of months ago but they still have reservations going on into next year." "Next year? Then now did you get a reservation for us?" I only look at her with a raised eyebrow. "You made mention of me and they made arrangements to have us come instead of whoever was supposed to have the reservation didn't you?" "No I wasn't going to exploit our relationship like that. Actually when I was trying to make reservations I was on the point of begging when they told me they didn't have any other tables available. They finally relented when I made the shadows start chanting and I was told that the only table to had was reserved for the princesses themselves and that nopony was allowed in that area just in case you or your sister decided to show up so I had to no choice but to mention that this was for me and you. Of course the idiot didn't believe me so I had to go get that letter from you." "So that's what you needed it for. You know I thought you were using it to get some new gear or something but were too lazy to earn the bits to pay for it." Luna confessed with an apologetic look and I shook my head in amusement. "Ignoring that, but anyway after I had returned the hostess called the owner and he too was skeptical but accepted it anyway. He'll be waiting for us when we walk in to see if I was lying about our date." "And why would he do that when I sent him a letter that you delivered personally instead of a guard?" "That's probably the reason why. He could believe that I was friends with somepony that could forge or handwriting, that or he's doing it for the publicity so it's 50/50 chance." "You know you're making this more complicated than it should?" Luna asked with a sly grin. "Well you're the one who asked." I countered as we began walking to the entrance. "Have I told you how beautiful you look in that dress?" I asked her as she leaned on me. "Yes, several times in fact." She stated with her eyes closed and a smile of her face. "Sorry but every time I look at you I just seem to forget about everything else." Luna blushed at my statement as she faced me with her shimmering blue eyes. "Thank you Dark Heart, and I would just like to note that you do rather handsome in that suit of yours. I take it you asked miss Rarity to create it for you?" Luna asked me and to her surprise I shook my head no. "But then who made you such a piece?" "I did. I didn't ask Rarity for help considering how she despises me and you seem to forget that I lived alone for three years with seldom contact with anypony, let alone going into town. Although my suit for my darkness form remained intact my normal clothes didn't so I had to learn to create my own ensembles." I explained to her as we walk into the doors of Seclusion and were immediately greeted by the owner himself who was a dragon with ocean blue scale and green frills and spines. "Ah, Mister Dark Heart, it's nice of you and the princess to have finally made it. Did you two run into any trouble flying up here?" "No we took a carriage up here and enjoy a trip up the mountain. Thanks for the concern though Chef Sapphire." He nodded in understanding before looking towards Luna. "Well I am glad that you could make it tonight Princess Luna I do hope you enjoy your evening." He stated as he bowed before her and she rolled her eyes at him. "I shall have one of the waitresses escort you to your table." Gesturing to a unicorn mare just standing by the podium with the reservation book she grabbed a couple of menus and moved over to us and Chef Sapphire left back into the kitchen. The waitress motioned for us to follow and we did so but not without more than a few stares and whispers as they spotted me and the Luna though I could tell that most of them were about me if the dirty looks I was getting were anything to go by. "You alright Dark Heart?" Luna whispered into my ears as she noticed me tense up. "Yeah, just all the whispering and dirty looks reminding of when I was back in Nieghburg. Don't worry about though, this is our night and I'm not going to let anypony ruin it. Besides they're all just jealous that I have you and they don't." I whisper back as I tickle her with my muzzle and get her to giggle cutely. I noticed the our waitress looking back at us with smile before noticing that I was staring at her and she quickly turned to face forward. Finally we arrived at the designated area which was a tunnel that was cut off from the rest of the area with a velvet rope and a big, hulky earth stallion standing in front of it. He moved aside to let us through as we approached and we immediately noticed the change in lighting as the light crystals in here glowed dimmer and a more bluish hue than the ones in the rest of restraurant. We were awestruck by what we saw when we exited the tunnel and entered into a cavern that was decorated with a glimmering foliage that lined the walls in intricate patterns. There was also somehow a waterfall that far enough from the table to where the noise of the crashing water was loud enough to hear but not so much that it wouldn't keep us from conversating normally. Last but not least was the skylight over our table that used the natural light of the moon act as our light source and I knew Luna was glad that she made it shine brighter than normal for tonight. I pulled a seat out for Luna after we got over our amazement and went over to the table. I took to my own seat across from her after she sat down and the waitress laid out our menus. "Good evening you two, I'm Green Shore and I'll be your waitress for tonight. Can I start you off with a drink, we have a fantastic collection of wine that I could recommend." "Oh no thank you, my Dark Heart doesn't drink." Luna stated with that shit eating grin of hers. "I don't, but I know that that isn't the real reason you don't want any, isn't it Luna?" I asked casually as I look through my menu with a smirk on my muzzle. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" "Nope, but that shouldn't stop you from getting some wine though. I know how much you love drinking the stuff and if you need further reassurance I promise that I won't make fun of you if anything does happen tonight." That seemed to be enough for her as she ordered some old, fancy Prench wine whose name I couldn't pronounce while I went with water and Green Shore left as we looked over there dinner choices. Aside from the normal vegan stuff for everypony there was also a selection of gem and meat dishes for their more exotic customers and I was planning to take advantage of that. I'm glad that Luna is comfortable with my eating habits thanks to having visited both the Griffon and Dragon Kingdoms. "Darky, you're drooling." I heard Luna state amusingly as there was indeed drool running out of my mouth as I looked upon a gem encrusted steak that looked absolutely delectable and- "And you're drooling again." I heard Shadow say with laughter in his voice as I snap out it and shake my head to bring myself back into reality. "Ah, I see you have an excellent eye though I do not see why you would be looking in this section seeing as only dragons would be able to enjoy this dish." I heard Chef Sapphire say from behind me. "If I was a normal pony I would agree with you but," I say as I transform into my darkness form, "I am not a normal pony and I would very much like to order this fine looking meal." I tell the shocked cook. He snaps out of it as Luna laughs at his reaction to my transformation and recomposes himself. "Ahem, well then it shall be done, and for you princess?" "I think I'll try some of your spaghetti with your tomato and basil garlic bread." Sapphire nodded as he took our menus and left. I was looking around the room to take it in a little more while Luna was idly sipping at her glass of wine. "You sure you don't want to try any it really is define." "Nah, I'm alright sweets." "Are you ever going to let yourself let go and enjoy a night out?" Luna asked much to my confusion. "What do you mean?" "I mean you're always tense and on guard, even when we're trying to enjoy each other company and that would include now." Luna said as she put down her glass. "*sigh* I know but I just can't help it. Ever since Spirit almost killed Fluttershy I haven't really been able to let my guard down. Plus with what happened with that unicorn Trixie and the alicorn amulet, that demon lord, and Fratamantus I can't help but be tense. I know you're trying your best to help, and I appreciate that more than you know, but now I've recently had this weird vision that I can't seem to stop thinking about and I want answers that hopefully you or Tia could provide but I don't want to ask because then I'll start thinking about that then the whole night will be ruined because-" I started going off on a rant until Luna hit me in the head with a rock that was near the waterfall and I was sent to the floor. "Feel better?" Luna asked as she knelt down in front of me. I shook my head yes as I smile appreciatively at her for knocking some sense into me. "Good, now Dark Heart I'm going to need to listen to me. I know that now you have more responsibilities than you ever had in your short life and I understand that that can be overwhelming at times. But you need to remember that you're no longer alone like you used to be all those years ago when it was just you and your parents seemingly against the world. You have friends and two marefriends that are here for you, well one is the other you still need to rescue." I look at her with a deadpan expression for that last part. "Hehe, sorry, my point still stands though. You have ponies here to help you now but you need to trust them enough to let us actually help you because if you try to take on all of this by yourself then it will eventually destroy you and none of us want that. You're an amazing stallion Dark Heart and it's obvious that you were meant for great things but you need to remember to enjoy the little things about life, okay?" Luna asked as she cupped both sides of my face and kept ours eyes in contact the entire time. "Okay Lulu, I'll try," I tell her as she smiles and brings me into a kiss that melted away my worries. "And thanks for talking to me though next time...I could go without a rock being thrown at my head." I tell her as I pick up the rock that she threw at me and lightly knocked it upside her head to get my point across. She looks away shamefully before I turn her back around and pull her into another kiss that she returns. "D'aaaaaawwwwwwwwwwww, that's so sweet." We hear Green Shore say before she yelps in surprise as Sapphire nudges her. "Hehe, it's alright Chef Sapphire, we don't mind." Luna says as we sit back down at the table, though not before dusting ourselves off. "Ahem, yes well your orders are done and we were hoping to you would taste them to see if everything is to your liking before we leave you to enjoy your meals." We did just that and affirmed him that everything was fine before he and Green left. From there we enjoyed our dinners and continued to chat about others things and I couldn't help but think of how the night has been going so far. Luna's right, as long as I have her, Diamond, and the others I'll never be alone again.
Darkness Truly is a Mystery ~POV Hyperion~ Fratamantus stood before us after we witnessed Dark Heart get tossed over a cliff without any means of saving himself. He looked down at us with contempt as he looked to me and Ember before falling upon Diamond. I was getting antsy standing here, knowing that Dark Heart is in grave danger. It he had been frozen in ice by anything else I wouldn't be so worried, but this Windigoe Ice. It freezes not only your body but soul as well and isn't something many can actually escape from. We all wanted to help him, that I know without either one of them having to say anything but with Fratamantus before us there isn't any chance of that. Our only hope right now is to find a way to incapacitate him long enough for us to escape and chase after Dark Heart as well as hope he can make it out of this alive. "I am quite surprised that you two managed to get through the castle with such ease and free my daughter from her room though at the same time I'm not seeing as you three not only managed to avoid detection but had successfully traversed the frozen tundra to reach our home." Fratamantus commented rather smugly as he eyed me up. "It helps when your soldiers suck at doing their job, though judging from the two that got flatten by a chandelier, as well as the dead or injured men out here, it's rather obvious why that is." I commented angrily seeing as I don't being looked at like a piece of ass. "You're not far from the truth Hyperion. Father keeps even his strongest as weak as possible so there's no chance of being over thrown by any. Doesn't encourage those with potential, doesn't want the strong helping the weak, and has even gone as far as to rape some the unfortunate mares who had rather well endowed mates, from what I've heard, to keep everypony under his thumb and boost his own ego." Diamond told us as I grew angrier at the mention of him raping mares for such a petty thing though I didn't allow it to show as I instead replaced the angry snarl that wanted to be let loose, with a viscous smirk. King Fratamantus looked rather pissed at hearing his daughter expose some of his secrets and I'm guessing my next comment won't be well received by the miffed king. "Aw, isn't that just adorable? The big, bad Windigoe King has to use his power as ruler to put down other stallions in front of their mares because he can't get any on his own." I said in a tone that made sound as though as I was talking to a child or puppy which had Diamond grow a matching smirk to mine while Ember seemed to be trying not to laugh and as expected Fratamantus seemed none to happy about being mocked. "YOU DARE MOCK THE GREAT KING FRATAMANTUS YOU FILTHY WENCH!!!" He yelled in a voice that could give Luna's R.C.V. a run for her money. I just grinned toothily before gaining a serious look as the three of us jumped out of the way of a magical blast that he had sent our way and it was obvious that the fun and games were over. I was quick to land on my feet and grew back to my original size before drawing my spear and went to engage Fratamantus head on, hoping to to give an opening for either one of the other girls to strike in. He swung his weapon of choice at me, which seemed to be a sword (sword on the right) that gave off the same soul crushing feeling that you'd feel from the windigoes' magic. I didn't let that distract me though as I met him head on with the shaft of my spear. It was then the difference in our strength became abundantly clear as I was forced to my knees almost the instant the blow landed. "What happened dragon, are you starting to realize that you're no match for me?" He gloated, seemingly not noticing, or caring, that Ember was rushing in from behind. I didn't say a word or make any suspicious movement to give her away as I just tried my best to push back his attack. It seemed my efforts were fruitless though as I felt the cold steel come closer to my face as he grinned victoriously down at me as he slowly pushed his blade closer to me and forcing me down further onto the ground. I closed my eyes as I feared that I wouldn't get help in time when I hear a whizzing go through the air and soon after a grunt of pain as the weight that was bearing down on me was lifted. I got up to see an arrow in Fratamanus' shoulder which made look to where I heard the sound had came from and saw Diamond with her bow in hand and already preparing another arrow with a fierce look directed towards the stallion that sired her. My gaze was directed back towards Fratamantus as he shouted in pain and see Ember has bitten down on his right leg. Not wasting the chance granted to to me by them I spun my spear around and pointed the blade right at Fratamantus' stomach as I thrusts forward. "Impudent fools." I heard Fratamantus snarl before Ember and I were blown back by an icy wind that suddenly tore through the courtyard. "You didn't honestly think that you three stood a chance when that pathetic bottom feeder couldn't? None of you are nearly as powerful as he was which is why it's such a shame he didn't wish to join me in my conquest of Equestria and it's allies." Fratamantus shook his head disappointingly. With that same look of disappointment still adored on his face, his gaze turned towards Diamond Sky. "And you my daughter, I expected more out of you." He said before lifting his hand towards her, palm facing her, before a strange energy came out of it and wrapped around her. I was worried when it had but then it shocked her and caused her to scream out in pain as the bindings tightened around her for a few minutes before it had stopped. Fratamantus must have been moving closer to me during this seeing as when I turned to yell at him to stop what he was doing to Diamond Sky, he was right there in front of me with a lecherous grin. I glared at him as I could tell what was going on in his head. "As for you my lovely dragoness, I think we should get to know each other a bit more, intimately, maybe I can persuade you to see my side of things." "Not in your life, nor afterlife, there pal. If I'm going to give myself to anypony it's going to be Dark Heart. Perhaps I'll let him take me after he gets back up and kicks your ass." The fire in my belly grew rapidly before expelling it from my mouth, trying to cook the bastard where he stood. A hand broke through the inferno and grasped my neck before I was slammed into the ground. "Who said you had a choice in the matter." He ripped off the front of my shirt, unable to resist as he had froze my hands and feet to the ground, my dragon fire had no effect on him, Both Diamond and Ember were trapped as well, Ember having got her paws frozen into the ground as well. I felt scared and helpless just like when that bastard of a demon lord had used me to raid Everglade. I struggled to get free as I felt his one of his hands trail up from my stomach to my bra and it was then I did the only thing I could think to do at the moment. "DARK HEART, PLEASE HELP US!!!" I screamed into the heavens as tears streamed down my face. "Hahahahaha, don't bother trying girl. Dark Heart is dead and there's no one here to he-" A pillar of energy appeared from the direction that Dark Heart had been tossed and I couldn't help but smile as it became clear that he heard my call for help, living up to his promise that he would be there whenever I called. The ice holding me and Ember down, as well as Diamond's bindings were all broken as we got up and gathered by the front entrance of the castle. Once there I felt that I could relax knowing that Dark Heart wasn't dead and so promptly passed out as the stress of living through that as well as reliving those horrid memories put a lot of stress on both my mind and emotions. POV Dark Heart After Being Thrown off the Cliff "Aaarrrrggh, damn it, how could I have so careless!" I yelled as I struggled to get myself free from the magical ice that could only be generated from the infamous windigoe king. "There's nothing you can do about it now other than getting free and back into the fight!" Shadow shouted though it was completely unnecessary since he is in my head. "You think I don't know that already Shadow. I'm fucking trying to get out but this damn ice is too strong to break with brute force alone and without magic my options are limited!" "And it seems to be blocking the Heart's magic as well, windigoe magic truly is terrifying when at it's full strength." I heard Nova say with a bit of fear in her voice. "Don't think like that Nova, I will get free and then I'll kick that bastard's ass once I do. All we got to do now though is figure out how to to out of this first." I say as I try charging magic into my horn, though to no avail. "Right!" "Right!" They said with conviction. I took note of my surroundings, which wasn't much considering I was free falling from the top of a mountain tall enough to pierce the heavens, which is a good thing I guess since it'll be awhile before I hit the bottom. Even so with not much around there really isn't anything that could help me out of my prison. Damn it, first magic crystals, now magical ice. Seems many of my opponents can't seem to really fight me one on one and resort to such measures when it becomes clear just how strong I am. All I need though is a single crack in either the ice surrounding my body or my horn and I can break free, just like when Luna freed me from the crystal prison Nightmare Moon encased the Heart in. I look over to the mountain side that occupied my right side and noticed how quickly I seemed to be falling and get a crazy idea. "Dark Heart, don't even think it. One wrong move and you could end up as nothing more than a big red splatter stain on the side of the mountain." Nova scolded me, though I wasn't going to listen to her since this was my only other choice. "It's the only chance I got and you know it Nova. All I need is a crack and I can flood my magic into this stupid ice and break free. Beside the longer this takes the further we get from the top and the longer it'll take to help the girls who are no doubt fighting Fratamantus." I started moving in anyway I could to get me closer to the jagged edges of this treacherous mountain. "Crap, that's right, I had forgotten they were up there too. Dark Heart do whatever you need to just hurry up and do it. Those three won't stand much of a chance against that maniac!" Huh, didn't think Shadow was actually that concerned for them. Yes he wasn't trying to take over my body anymore and seemed to be getting along with Nova more but still. That doesn't really though, no what matters is getting free as soon as possible. I wiggle and squirm about through the air in the direction of the mountain hoping that it actually works. At first it seems I'm not making any real progress until I finally notice that to fog that was partially covering it from my view is gone and the mountain plain as day. I keep going, though angling myself in a way that when I do get close enough to strike to mountainside I wouldn't risk bashing my own skull in. It only took another minute before I felt a jarring bump and bounced away from the rock face a bit. I got a few more good strikes on both my body and horn prison but there still wasn't enough to break them. I was coming in for another hit when something horrifying happened, I got stuck. "What, are you fucking serious!?" I shouted out into the heavens as I got caught in between a crack that was in the giant rock that was my salvation. I tried shaking myself loose but wasn't moving an inch. "No, no, no, no, NO! This can' be happening!" I roared before slumping down, feeling utterly useless. "Ember, Hyperion, Diamond, I hope you three are alright and decided to sneak out of the city." I mutter helplessly as tears prickled at the edge of my eyes. I was stuck here with no way out as long as Fratamantus lived but I'd be okay with as long as those three got out safe and sound. Please be alright. I thought as I closed my eyes, resigned to once again being a prisoner. "DARK HEART, PLEASE HELP US!!!" My eyes shot open and looked up to where I had heard Hyperion's voice come from. She was afraid, I could fee it, along with Diamond's and Ember's fear. They're up there fighting Fratamantus right now, most likely on death's and here I am ready to just. . . give up! "Don'tworry Hyperion, Diamond, Ember, I'm coming to help you!" I could feel dark magic flowing through as I shifted between my Darkness form and default form. I wasn't my dark magic though, it wasn't even the residual darkness that I absorbed everyday from everypony. No this felt truly soul crushing, like "windigoe magic." I whispered as I realized what I was doing. "Dark Heart, you're absorbing the magic imbued in the ice, you're weakening it!" Nova sounded shocked yet happy, not that I could blame her, though it felt like something else was happening than normal from when absorbing dark magic. I felt something trying to come out of my back, pushing desperately from underneath my skin, trying to get out. This all only seemed take mere seconds to do before the magic I was absorbing finally burst out and a pillar of dark magic shot into the sky as my new appendages burst forth, breaking the my icy prison and giving me back my magic, both my magics. "I'm coming girls." I said lowly as I ascended up into the clouds and back to the Windigoe Capital. "Holy crap, Dark Heart you grew wings!!" I heard Shadow yell out but I simply ignored, not wishing to be distracted from he task at hand. "Shadow, shut up, I'm sure he knows that but we don't got time to question how or why he has them. The point is that he does and that means that it'll be that much easier to get back up there." Nova scolded him as she basically took the words right of my mouth. I tuned them out after that though as I flapped my wings as hard as I could as I easily broke through the sound barrier, flying at super sonic speeds that had gotten me their in no time flat. What I saw caused my anger and dark power to surge tremendously. I spotted Ember with her paws frozen to the ground, Diamond wrapped up in some weird bindings that was obviously causing her pain, but the sight that really made me angry was the sight of Fratamantus standing over a trapped Hyperion, whose shirt had the front ripped off with only her bra covering her breasts, with Fratamantus having the scraps still in his grasp with a sickening smile plastered on that smug mug of his. Without a sound I zoomed forward, calling Cursed and Blessing back to me as the chains mended themselves, and swung them in a 'X' formation, releasing my light and dark magic into crescents of raw energy that struck the bastard before he knew what had hit him. The attack had sent him flying towards what was left of the eastern wall and I used that time to set Diamond and Ember free and make my over to Hyperion. I absorbed the magic in the ice and they fell apart once it was drained. Hyperion clung to me once she able to move, my shoulder getting wet as she cried out the sorrow she felt from what going through that, making my anger at Fratamantus rise even further as one of the strongest beings I know is reduced into a crying mess. "You came, you kept your promise and came to my aid when I called, thank the goddesses." I heard her mutter as her claws dug into my back as I knew she didn't want to let me go. "Shh, shh, it's okay Hyperion, I'm here now and I'll make that he won't able to lay a finger on you again." I told her soothingly as held her close to me, letting her know that I was there for her. Ember came up beside and made her way in between us as she nuzzled into Hyperion's stomach, trying to comfort the dragoness as well. I looked down at her with a smile as I pet the top of her head as I heard another set of hoofsteps come closer to us. "Dark Heart, I knew my father wouldn't have been able to get rid of you that easily." Diamond said with a teary smile as our eyes met when I turned to look at her. I smiled at her as I lifted my left arm to welcome her into the embrace, which she happily took and knelt down beside me and wrapped her arms around me and Hyperion. "I'm just glad that, for the most part, you girls are fine Dia, but I do believe that it's time to finish this." I said as I stood up and away from them and turned to look at Fratamantus, who was pulling himself out of the rubble, and changed back into my Darkness Form. "Now go on you three, I'll stall him long enough for your girls to make decent leeway." I held Cursed and Blessing to my sides, at the ready as the runes that decorated both blades glowed with an ominous violet light. "But what about you Dark Heart?" "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Your father good the jump on me not too long ago but I'm ready this time around." I smiled back at her, letting her know that everything will be fine and it was going to be. I've taken out most, if not all, of Fratamantus' troops and I know that Fratamantus doesn't know anything about the path that came up the side of the mountain from my shadow's observation of him, though he probably thought that we would just fly out here the moment he saw my new wings. He wouldn't be too far from the truth but not until we're down the mountain, which will be much quicker than coming up. "How are still alive, and when did you get those wings!" Fratamantus growled as he held onto his right arm as something, I'm guessing windigoe blood, ran down it from an injury that he had gotten from that last attack. "I got them during my trip down the mountain thanks to you, or should I thanks? Actually I think I'll just settle on fuck you and call it good there since you tried to rape Hyperion!" I roared out as I shot at him, using my new wings to propel even faster towards the bastard. He called forth a wall of ice spikes to which I merely flew over them and came down with an overhead strike and tried to split apart the Windigoe king himself. He dodged it and swung that damn thing he called a blade at me as he aimed for my head, aiming to decapitate. I intercepted the strike with both of my blades to drive him off but it left me vulnerable as he sent more of those spikes towards me from the left and on instinct I used my right wing as a shield. I was fully expecting to be impaled second after I felt them impact it but I didn't anything other than the impact itself. In fact that was the only thing I had felt; no pain, no cold, nothing other than the pressure of it pushing against and even then it felt blunt as if the tip of the spikes were hammered down. Once again I couldn't be bothered to really analyze anything going on with my Darkness form and shoved Fratamantus away from me. I continue on with that strike and aim my fist at his face, something that would prove rather painful considering the petal like spikes coming from the hand guards of both blades. Fratamantus roared in pain as my punch and the spikes connected, having one of them slash through his left eye in the process. Not giving a chance to recover though, I commanded my shadows to restrain the Windigoe king. The process was easy enough but when was coherent enough to realize what was going on he started o struggle intensely and I knew that my shadows couldn't hold forever. "You need to go now Dark Heart, the others are well and gone from the city and even with Diamond sky with them Hyperion and Ember last too long in the intense cold." Nova commanded as I was about to go for the final blow. "WHAT, have you lost your mind Nova, this is his best chance to kill the bastard once and for all!" Shadow protested before I could utter a sound. "And do what, wait until he possesses somepony else and seek revenge on Dark Heart through somepony he cares about. No, it's better to leave him in this state, seeing as his empire is destroyed and he weakened. So what are you going to do Dark Heart?" Nova asked me, though I already had my answer. Without saying a word, I sheathed Cursed and Blessing and flew towards the old city gates. From there I landed on the ground and ran down the path to catch up to the girls. I had no idea how long I had been fighting Fratamantus, so I had no idea how long it would be before I found those three. Though it seemed they got all that far as only five minutes of running and I found them resting inside an shallow tunnel where they seemed to be waiting for me. Ember was the first to spot me as she seemed to catch the crunching of the snow beneath my hooves before the other two, though her jumping up and running towards me definitely got their attention and I was being dog piled soon after. "Hahaha, alright girls, I'm sorry to break this up so soon but we need to get going. I've got Fratamantus restrained for now but it won't hold for long. We need to get now the mountain before he does escape and tracks us down." I told them as I they got up off of me, with Diamond helping me up. "And how do you suppose we do that?" And she instantly regretted asking that as a wickedly mischievous grin grew on my face which caused her to take a few steps back away from me. "Dark Heart don't you even think IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!" She, and Diamond, screamed as I grabbed all three of them and jumped, that's right jumped, of the side of the mountain from the side we need to head after we got to the bottom. "I'm gonna kill you if we survive this Dark Heart!" I chuckled as I heard Hyperion shout at me over the winds that were blowing past us as we free fall through the clouds that surrounded the mountain top. Diamond was just holding to me with her head buried in my shoulder as Ember seemed to be enjoying herself which I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow at that before simply shaking my head. I let us fall a bit further before I decided we were low enough, after having fallen a few dozen miles after we broke through the clouds, and changed into my quadruped dragon form and right myself so I was belly down and made sure the girls were safely secured on my back. "Okay you three, hang on tight!" I shouted towards them as I shifted in a way that would allow me to spread my wings without a risk of damaging them. Ironically that seemed to be by diving down towards the ground with my wings partially extended enough to catch the air, but not so much so to jerk me back. We were fast approaching the ground, being only a hundred meters away from going splat, but still kept going, trying to time it just right so that we not only don't crash but also allow me to use to momentum to slingshot me forward at incredible speeds. I waited, ignoring the pleas to pull up from Hyperion, Diamond, and Nova, as Ember just dug her claws as deep into me as she could, and Shadow was laughing like a maniac. The moment of truth came as we approximately three meters and I quickly extended my wings and faced forward, doing just as I had hoped and I was zooming through the skies at supersonic speeds. I could hear the girls berating me, Ember kicking and biting as best she could from her position but once again I ignore them all and concentrated on where I was going. I know it may seem very jerky to do so but it could be disastrous for us all should I hit something big and solid at the speeds were moving at, even if I'm slowing down a little bit. ~3 Hours Later~ It actually took a bit of time to slow down to cruising speeds though I got from all girls when I we were at there and I realized just how terrified that stunt had made them and I felt like a huge jackass. I uttered an apology very quietly when I turned to look at them to look them all in the eyes, except Nova for obvious though I did make Shadow do it on my behalf, then turned back to face forward as I flew back towards the Crystal Empire in silence. The girls were Diamond and Hyperion were talking to each other after they took about ten minutes to calm themselves down, while Ember just laid in between them, and Nova and Shadow were off doing something inside the amulet. I didn't bother asking them what they were doing or try to talk to the girls since then and that was about two hours ago. It was getting dark now as the sunset orange sky was being replaced by the starry night sky seeing as we made it out the severe blizzard that blanketed the far north of the Icy Plains. The girls had quieted it down not too long ago and I was assuming they were just enjoying the view up here. I find it kinda weird that my wings don't feel sore and I'm not tried from my extended flight with passengers but I wasn't going to complain about it, the sooner we got back the better. ~Another 3 Hours Later~ The girls have settled down on my back an hour ago and snoozing away, hopefully with pleasant dreams, as I kept my senses focused on making sure their was nothing around us that would try picking a fight as I started to feel just a bit tired but nothing to really worry about since I hadn't even broken a sweat yet. As I was looking ahead though, I spotted a beautiful sight before as an Aurora Borealis suddenly appeared and lit up the sky with it's plethora of colors. The light must of woken them as well as I could as couple of gasp ring out behind me and felt them sit up to get a better view. I watched it for a bit longer before looking straight ahead of me again as my task was to get home more than anything right now. "Hey Dark Heart, you okay?" Hyperion asked after scooting up towards my head a bit more so she wasn't competing against the wind so much. "Yeah, I'm alright." Was my response, not bothering to look at her. "You sure, we could always land and make a camp of the ground so you could rest and get your energy back. It can't be that easily flying for almost six hours straight with us on your back the entire time." She said as she soothingly stroked the spines on my head. "Yeah I'm sure Hyperion, don't worry me I'm not all that tired to be honest, though I'll be sure to let you know when I do decide to make a rest stop." I told her as this time I looked towards her with a smile. *Sigh* "Alright Dark Heart, just make sure you don't push yourself too much okay?" She said, laying down on my neck, her head resting in between my horns and the back of my skull, wrapping her arms around my neck lovingly. "I won't Hyperion, after all I wouldn't want to crash down to the ground and hurt you girls." And with that there was silence as her breathing turned calm and deep. Seems the others had already settled back down as well. "Mind some more company?" I heard Diamond say from my left. I look over to see her flying beside me, the lower half of her body resembling the ghostly trail that the Windigoes are seen with in images in books about how the first Hearth's Warming came to be. "No, not at all Dia but what are you doing up so late?" I asked her as I look back to make sure that it's really her, and sure enough it is as only Ember is in her spot while Hyperion is wrapped around my neck. "I could ask you the same. That and why do you still sound like that, I thought your voice changed when you get angry." "It does but it mainly does it when in my Darkness Form and since I haven't changed back I am going to sound like this." Diamond nodded to this and flew next to me in silence. I felt both Hyperion and Ember nuzzle into my body, seeking warmth to drive away the chilling cold. I allowed the inner flame that resided deep within me to warm up my body to help drive it off. Diamond turned towards me, no doubt noticing the sudden spike in temperature, and asked. "So why are you still flying so late into the night Dark Heart, I could imagine how tired you must be from having to fight my father and flying so fast right afterwards with three passengers on your back, one of them being a dragon, albeit not at her full size but still don't you think you should take a break and rest a bit?" Diamond asked worriedly as she flew up to my face and gave me a kiss on the forehead. "I don't really feel all that tired Diamond, in fact I have't even broken a sweat. Beside I promise Hyperion that if I did feel that tired that I would make sure to land. I mean I'm all for pushing myself but that wouldn't be smart considering I got you three with me and I'd rather not make you girls carrying me back to the Crystal Empire, no matter how far away we are from it." I told her as I sped up a bit to show prove my point. She was surprised and had lagged behind a bit further before snapping out of it and trying to catch up to me. I was going to play with her a bit and speed up when she got closer but then I noticed something towards the horizon. I used my magic to enhance my vision into a telescopic view and saw that it was a bright light but it was much too early for it to be the sun and shortly realized what it must have been. As I was looking towards our destination and the end of our little adventure I was snapped back to reality when Diamond bopped me on the head when she finally caught up. "You asshole, you know I don't got your stamina to be trying to speed through the sky to catch you!" She yelled before hanging back and plopping onto my back. "Oh, yeah, sorry about that Diamond. I was only going to play around with you but then I got distracted." I said as I sheepishly rub the back of my head. "Oh, and what, pray tell, could have gotten your attention more than the mare you just risked your life trying to save?" I didn't have to look at her to know that she was crossing her arms while she lightly glared at me. "How about our destination?" I pointed out towards the light that was getting bigger and bigger as I flew straight towards it. "Oh wow, is that really the Crystal Empire, is this nightmare finally over?" She asked as she sounded as though she was getting choked up about officially starting a new that was just about another thirty minutes away. "Yeah Diamond, the nightmare is an end. You can finally have the chance to actually be happy." I said quietly with a big grin as I sped up even more to get out of this frozen wasteland. Author's Note And this is where this chapter ends, hope you guys like it.
