The Visitors have brought a Guest with them...
By Sam Cole
<<<>>>
For months now, outside the peaceful little village of Ponyville, a strange occurrence was happening. Every Tuesday, a little portal would open up and drop off a strange visitor from another world. Sometimes, there would be more than one.
Some of these visitors were friendly, and came to enjoy their time in Equestria fondly before returning home. Some were not so friendly, driven by greed or wrath or lust. They did not get to stay in Equestria for long. But Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends would never turn them away for being alien, nor the chance to learn together. It was what made their homeland special after all, was that spirit of acceptance.
Today though, something would change all of that.
<<<>>>
“Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed with her usual amount of glee. “It’s Tuesday, girls! It’s Tuesday!” The pink pony raced through town as locals laughed along with her. They had met several of the visitors, and came to call them friends as well. Everypony in Ponyville looked forward to this strange occurrence. “Rainbow Dash! Come on! It’s Tuesday!”
Groggily, the azure pegasus sat up on her cloud, leaning forward just enough to see her friend down below. “Pinkie, it’s like eleven am. Why are you waking me up this early?”
“Rainbow!” Pinkie gasped in shock. “How could you? It’s Tuesday! That mean new visitors!”
“Pinks, you know I start every day roughly at the crack of noon.” Rainbow hissed as she flopped back down. Her eyes just started to close as she felt the rope snag tight around her leg. Before the line could go tanght, Rainbow burst through the cloud to find Applejack standing there with Pinkie, a large smile across her face despite the rope in her mouth.
“Howdy?” Applejack smiled as she slacked the lasso, freeing her friend.
“I thought you promised to never pull me off a cloud again?” Rainbow growled to her friend.
“And Ah didn’t. You jumped off willingly.” The orange mare smiled back.
“... Still not fair.”
“Come on, silly fillies! Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity are waiting on us!” Pinkie urged, dancing around as her friends took too long to get ready. In a flash, the pink pony left only a blur as she sped ahead to the castle of Ponyville. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were close behind, arriving just as Twilight was casting the locator spell.
“Hmm, okay, interesting…” Twilight would mutter as she probed around for the event. “Well, it’s getting stronger. It should open up within the next fifteen minutes.”
A round of cheers from the group erupted at the good news. “Where is it, Twilight?”
“Hmm, let me see…” Twilight smiled as she pressed further into her mental picture of the event. But she was quick to wish she hadn’t. “No! The Everfree Forest!” Twilight shrieked, stumbling backwards as she saw the dark forest clearly in her mind’s eye.
“Good heavens, the Everfree Forest? Those visitors might be in serious danger!” Rarity gasped.
“Come on, girls!” Applejack bellowed as she turned to the door, leading the charge.
<<<>>>
The path was hard through the forest. Several times, the girls would stop to check their direction, delighting to find it was closer to a landmark than they initially guessed. But it was still part of the old forest, thick with vegetation, and swarming with danger. No pony would say it, but there was the ever present fear that when they got there, it might be too late.
“There’s five of them!” Twilight panted, breathing hard as she raced on with her friends. “No!”
“What? What happened?” Rainbow cried from next to the alicorn princess.
“I- I just lost two of them. I can’t see or feel them anywhere!” Twilight muttered as they rounded the last corner, the visitors in sight. Relief flowed through them as they all recognised the aliens as humans. But unlike the others humans in their lands had been, they were far more scared than Twilight had even seen a human to be. Clutching tight to a large bag was three human males, adults if Twilight had to guess. They locked eyes on the ponies, and for the first time ever, ran to them.
“Help us! Please, for the love of God, help!” One of them cried, throwing himself at their hooves as the girls came to a hault.
“Whoa there pardner, yer alright now!” Applejack comforted as the girls made a small circle around the men.
“Are you hurt? What happened to the others?” Fluttershy asked as she examined a nasty bruise on one of the men’s heads.
“Others? What do you… Where’s Freddy? We just lost Freddy!” One of the tormented visitors sobbed, holding the bag like one would a child.
“I sensed two more lifeforms out here. Five total.” Twilight said as she looked to the humans more closely. They all had cuts and welts, torn cloths, and definitely some psychological trauma.
“You sensed five of us?” One asked, looking her over carefully for the first time. “What are you?”
“Allow me to explain. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and you’ve been magically transported to the land of Equestria.”
“Ya know what, it’s still not the weirdest thing to happen to us today.” The human shuddered. “And there wasn’t five of us, there was four. Four, and that damned monster hunting us…”
“It’s after that!” One of the men yelled, pointing at the bag. “It came after us after we got it! It’s connected, I know it is!”
“Shut it Ty! That- That thing only gets stronger the more we fear it!” The first human ordered.
“Come on, let’s get some place safe. Then, you can fill us all in.” Twilight said with an air of authority. She has the right, she is a princess after all. So quickly the group moved, back to the last landmark they had passed, the Castle of the Two Sisters.
Inside, the men were allowed to calm down, gathering their courage before they spoke again. “So let’s begin. I’m Alan, and these two are Tyler and Pete.” The one calling himself Alan informed as the largest male the girls had ever seen and the small, wiry man with a missing tooth waved. “We’re… well, we’re archeologists, Miss Twilight.”
“Hmm, now it’s making sense.” Twilight nodded as she stepped around the visitors, looking them over as Fluttershy treated their wounds. “So I’m guessing in the bag is an artifact the locals said was cursed?”
“Uh-huh.” The three men nodded.
“But you didn’t care because this was your big break, right?”
“Uh-huh.” They all nodded again.
“Because none of you is actually an archeologist yet!” Twilight declared, pointing at the humans with a glint in her eyes. “You’re all grad students, aren’t you!?”
“... Um, you got us…” Ty sighed at long last, giving up the metaphorical goat. “But how did you know?”
“Because the way you’re hanging onto that case is no way to properly care for an artifact!” Twilight scolded, taking the artifact from them as setting it down gently. “So, tell me about what happened next.”
“We were pulling into port, when- when it hit us…” Pete muttered, looking to his feet.
“We never saw it coming. It was still dark out, and then, we heard our buddy Boston scream.”
“Boston?” Rarity inquired.
“It was his nickname.” Alan sighed heavily. “But yeah, we turned around, and Boston was gone. We all ran for it, but it was waiting. It began playing with us!”
“Playing how?” Applejack asked kindly.
“It would grab us from the shadows. Moving silently, it picked us off one by one till just the four of us were left. We saw this portal open up at the end of the hall, and we bolted for it. Where ever it lead was better than dying with that thing.” Ty said, tears rimming his eyes.
“What happened next?” Twilight pressed.
“When we came through, it followed us. But as soon as it came through, something was different. Before we knew it, it had grabbed Freddy and tore off into the forest, back to the shadows.” Pete nodded. “Then you all showed up, and we thought it was you that had scared it off. But now I know it was the daylight…”
“Twilight, this creature sounds familiar, no?” Rarity whispered, not wanting to scare the poor victims further.
“It feeds on fear, and lives in the shadows. It only attacked once they had this artifact, and delights in the hunt.” Twilight muttered under her breath. “Well, it’s not a perfect match, but maybe they have different rules on Earth for this sort of thing. I would say almost certainly what we’re dealing with here is a vampire of some kind.”
“Oh god, what are we gonna do…?” Ty moaned, sinking to the floor.
“If you had told me yesterday that a vampire was hunting me, I would have called you crazy!” Alan muttered, slamming his fist against the wall. “How long till night fall?”
“In the Everfree Forest?” Pinkie asked with a snort. “Silly, the night decides when it wants to hit here, and it always picks early!”
“Oh god.” Alan cried again. “Twilight, you’re smart, how can we protect ourselves?”
“Well in our world, to stop a vampire, you show it it’s own reflection. The Pony can’t take the sight of themselves like that and we can cast a counter spell.” Twilight surmised as Fluttershy shuddered.
“I’m glad I can’t remember that.” Fluttershy muttered.
“Well, it our world it’s silver and crosses.” Ty said defiantly. “This is a castle, right? There has to be something here we can use!”
“Well, there are lots of old silver pieces around here, darling.” Rarity nodded.
“And Ah’m sure some of the old weapons are still useable!” Applejack added brightly.
“Yeah, let’s put the hurt on this coffin creeper!” Rainbow cried as she bumped hooves with Applejack.
But a sudden crack in the rafters stopped all cries of confidence and joy. No pony or man drew breath as they felt it. Maybe it was just their imaginations, but all would later swear they felt a cold wave pass slowly over them from above. They were not alone anymore.
“Twilight, I’m done playing here today. Let’s go back home…” Pinkie whispered quietly, as the Princess pushed past her friend, her eyes fixed on the ceiling.
“We need to find whatever silver we can. Fluttershy and Pinkie, you’re with Pete. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, you all go with Alan. AJ, Tyler and I will head to the castle library to see if we can find any helpful spells.”
“Um, sugarcube… Yer plan’s not that good.” Applejack said for the group at large.
“Ug, listen. Pinkie and Fluttershy are with Pete because he has the most severe wounds and needs the care, while Pinkie can be hyper picking up lots of silver. Rarity, your sharp eyes and calm demeanour will help reign in Dash as she tries to fly off and fight the first shadow she sees, while Alan can help you gather more silver or weapons. Tyler and AJ will provide look out for me as I search for the right spells.” Twilight huffed. The group collectively marveled at the plans, nodding in agreement as they all set out.
“Twilight darling, do be careful.” Rarity added before their parties separated at the fork in the hallway.
“You too, Rarity. Listen up everypony, we’re taking a big risk here. So let’s keep sharp and work fast!” Twilight said as she magically spoke to everypony and everyone. “Let’s go stop a monster.”
<<<>>>
“Splitting up? That was her plan?” Alan huffed as they all walked down the corridor. “Doesn’t she watch monster movies, splitting up leads to death.”
“We don’t really have monster movies here.” Rainbow informed. “We kinda have enough monsters that we just call them documentaries.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Hydras, Manticores, Giant Crabs.” Rainbow listed off.
“Shut up about the crabs, it was a one time thing.” Rarity huffed in response.
“Vampire bats, Cragadiles, Dragons, Chaos Gods, Win-”
“Did you say Chaos Gods?” Alan asked as he came to a stop, his jaw hanging slack.
“You get used to it.” Rainbow scoffed as she and Rarity continued forward. But before the man could move, he felt the chill of eyes upon him.
In a flurry of sound, the man known as Alan was gone, escorted up into the rafters, seen out by his scream, wrapped head to toe in what looked like the darkest of shadows.
“Alan!” The mares cried as they rushed to where the shadows had dropped on him from.
“Hang on Buddy, I’m coming!” Rainbow cried as she bolted up. But as she entered the shadows, she knew she had made a grave mistake. She couldn’t see her own snout, but she could feel the creatures hungry eyes on her. Judging her, deciding if it wanted to try pony tonight or not. Rainbow would bolster anyday she was the fastest pony in Equestria, but she had never raced against the darkness before. In a flash, the mare knew only pain as something hard hit her on the head, forcing her down to Rarity once more. All she knew now was for not.
<<<>>>
Four ponies and two men came running to the sounds of Rarity’s screams. Outside the sun was setting already, and the light inside was starting to fade as the friends all took count.
“Rainbow!” The four friends cried as they gathered around their fallen ally.
“Alan? Alan, where are you!?” Ty cried out as he spun in a circle, looking for his friend.
“It grabbed him. It came down from the rafters, and it grabbed him!” Rarity cried as she hugged her friend. “I should have stopped her, but I was too scared. All I saw was shadows, wrapping Alan up like a spiders web!”
“It uses shadows?” Twilight asked, perplexed. “Vampires can’t control shadows.”
“Then what does?” Ty barked as he and Pete huddled against the wall.
“The only thing I can think of would be a demon of some kind.” Twilight admitted. “But it’s not taunting us, and I haven’t felt any evil magic either…”
“Why would a demon care about some ol’ artifact?” Applejack asked.
“Hmm, it might be bound to it, forced to protect it. That could explain why it’s not hunting us, and why it merely hit Rainbow Dash instead of capturing her too…” Twilight guessed. “I’m guessing you gentlemen are the targets because you took the item.”
“Holy hell.” Pete groaned.
“What in Celestia’s name did you find?” Rarity asked, looking to the men as she let Fluttershy tend to Rainbow Dash.
“Um… An Egyptian statue of Ra?” Ty offered unconvincingly. Twilight narrowed her gaze on the man, letting his now shifty body language tell all.
“You took something black magic, didn’t you?”
“Hey, does that really matter now what we have or where we got it from? I just wanna go home!” Pete cried out as he pushed away from Tyler. “Screw you man, this is all your fault! I’ve heard about this thing before, but I thought it was a myth! If I had known it was real, I’d have told ya to go-”
“Pete!” Twilight interrupted, her royal stare finding a new target. “Tell me right now, what are we dealing with?”
With a shifty glare all around, the man began to sweat as he put himself on the center stage for attention. “No, I ain’t sayin it! You hear that you big ugly freak, I ain’t gonna say it!”
“Pete, calm down! It feeds on our fear man. It’s making us fear it, empowering it.” Tyler urged form the wall, still trying to hide. Pete turned and bolted into the dark hallway, screaming like a madman as he went. The ponies and remaining man watched in awe as he disappeared from view. “Pete…”
“Well whaddya know, I’m still here!” Pete laughed, walking back with a smile. “See Ty, I told ya, this guy’s a chump!”
“Pete, what has gotten into you?!” Rarity huffed as she let her breathing return to normal. “You had me scared half to death!”
“Pfft! Like I said, This-” Pete began, but was soon interrupted. Something snagged itself around the poor idiot’s feet, taking him to the ground. The ponies watched in horror as the man was dragged back into the darkness, clawing at the ground and screaming for mercy.
Screams filled the air around them now, both of war, and of fear.
“Pete!” Ty cried, pushing away from the wall as he pulled out a small metal object Twilight recognised all too quickly. Though she was happy it was not a normal one and simply of the flare variety as Tyler pointed the gun down the hall, pulling the trigger as a loud crack ensued, and a ball of fire bounced down the hallway. “Eat flare, blood sucker!”
But now it was all too clear. Standing down the hall was a slightly hunched figure, it’s lower half shrouded in shadows as the flare burned past the creature. Twilight could see the sharp spines on it’s arms, and those long, pointed ears. All too soon, she recognised the creature.
“A Shadow demon…” Twilight gasped. She charged her horn as she let loose a blast down the hall, watching as the demon simply moved his darkness to deflect the beam of magic. Twilight had no time to feel fear though as she took note of her friends Applejack and Pinkie Pie, throwing apples and cupcakes respectively.
“Buck off, ya nasty varmin!” Applejack bellowed, firing more produce down the hall with her powerful kicks. But the creature was unfazed, letting loose a flurry of it’s own darkness, cutting up all of the projectiles expertly.
A loud crack of wood behind her broke Fluttershy from her scared state as she turned to look at the impaled piece of evil. And initially, she found it odd in all truth. It bore a certain shape, though the fearful filly couldn’t place it right now. All she knew now was the fear she knew to be feeding the creature. She finally tore her eyes away from the sin in the pillar, as she looked back to her friends as they threw pastries, produce, and high energy magic at the demon, to no avail.
“Ain’t no use girls! Run!” Applejack bellowed as Tyler took off down the opposite hallway. “Shy, get Rainbow outta here!”
“Oh, on it!” Fluttershy gasped, swooping in to help Rarity get the unconscious mare up and down the hall, quickly followed by their friends.
Twists and turns were all they knew now as they raced on, hoping to lose the creature in the old building. Finally, the group took note of familiar halls, and was soon at the door they had entered through, racing for the exit. All but one, that is.
Tyler ran straight for the discarded bag of earlier, but stopped a foot from it, shaking as he fell to his knees. “No. No, no, no, no!”
“Tyler, quit foolin around and let’s get outta here!” Applejack yelled as she rammed the door. “It won’t budge girls!”
“Then kick the damned thing!” Rarity screamed as she pushed past the mare and bucked the door hard. Applejack was proud of the form, but the results were not matching the effort. “It locked us in!”
“Tyler, what was in the bag?” Twilight asked sternly as she took note of the human, kneeling by the now empty bag.
“Oh, nothing special. It’s not like I’d ever get to spend the cash I’d get for that damned stuff.” Tyler chuckled dryly.
“You- You stole the artifact?” Twilight nearly screamed. “You’re no scholar, you’re a filthy thief!”
“Oh shut up, you stupid little horse!” Tyler cried, turning to the mare as he got to his feet. He pulled out another gun, but this time Twilight doubted that it would only fire a flare. “You have no idea what I went through to finally get my hands on that! You have no fu-”
“Ooh, what’s this!” Pinkie interrupted, reaching into the bag. She had managed to get into the bag unnoticed by either pony or man, but that was Pinkie Pie for you. “What is this stuff, rock candy?”
“Wait, I recognise that, another visitor had that stuff. He called it Blue Sky! You were carrying around methamphetamine!?” Twilight screamed. “What the tartarus where you going to do with that?”
But instead of an answer, the man only chuckled as he clicked the safety off on his weapon. Twilight was now quite sure of all visitors to her lands, these were by far the worst breed yet: Drug Lords.
Twilight let out her pent breath as she slumped to the floor. “I hope that demon does its job.” Twilight muttered to the vile man.
“Hmm, I don’t think he will.” Tyler let slip as he took aim. He squeezed the trigger lightly, and the whole room exploded.
Or more accurately, it imploded. The windows lining the reception hall imploded as darkness poured in. But soon, the sound of wings and shrieks within the darkness told a different tale. The girls weren’t shrouded in darkness, but in Applejack’s own Vampire Fruit Bats, as the darkness itself came down on the petrified form of Tyler. His screams were drowned out by the flurry of wings, only leaving behind his weapon.
As soon as they had appeared, the bats were gone, though the figure of darkness had returned to the mares now. It towered over the ponies, and though they now knew it to be on their side, it did little to quell their fears. It was wrapped head to toe in the darkness, and none dared to look into its eyes.
“So, you’re the demon?” Twilight at last said, though there was no answer. “Thank you. You’ve saved my life, and quite possibly my kingdom from their horrors and drugs today. Please spirit, what is your name?”
Again, the darkness was quite. But they could now feel its eyes narrowing upon them. It withdrew a solitary hand from it’s depths, pointing it right at Pinkie Pie as they all trembled in fear. Finally, it spoke. “Never throw pastries at me again. Understand?”
“Uh-huh!” Pinkie nodded, her head moving fast enough to cause most ponies traumatic brain injuries. “I’m sorry…”
The dark figure only withdrew its hand, before letting loose a cloud of smoke. The creature was gone, as all were left to comprehend what they had just seen. None would ever forget the day their world was visited by the creature from the darkness- No, that’s not quite right.
The darkness is where the monsters hide. Where they grow. This was a creature of the darkness that gave fear freely to those that preyed on fear, evil, and blood. It was a defender from the shadows. It was, and shall ever be known to the ponies of Equestria as The Dark Knight.
