Magic vs. the Darkness
Chapter One: The Assassin
The morning dew moistened the grass on the forest floor as the wet leaves on the trees shined in the early sunlight. The woods were full of the sounds of chirping robins of spring and the tree frogs perched upon the burgeoning oaks of late April. This was the beauty of the Everfree Forest in the Heart of Equestria during the golden days of Spring. As the forest was mainly in tranquility, however, there was something in the woods this day that interrupted the peace.
The single sound of trotting came through the forest as an armored stallion came walking through the woods not on a simple stroll, but on a mission. He knew he was in the place where he was assigned to go, and he was searching for the target his master had assigned him to look for. For he was assigned with one, simple mission: Search and destroy.
A nice stone path led up to a small mushroom house in the heart of the Everfree Forest. The sound of tiny hooves filled the air as a group of young fillies came trotting down the path and into the mushroom house. The filles sat down at desks, while a young mare with a quill and ink for a cutie mark stood behind the desk at the front of the room, a chalkboard behind her and a book on her desk. All the fillies said at once, “Good morning, Miss Zacherle!”
“And a good morning to you, all my wonderful fillies!” She said back. Then, using the magic from her horn, she levitated the book, opened it up, and started reading. “Today’s lesson.” Zacherle cleared her throat. “We will be learning about ‘Dark Magic’.”
“Cool!” said a colt in the back row.
“Oh, no no no no no!” said Miss Zacherle, shaking her head in disapproval. “Dark magic is not something to joke about! It is a serious matter! Dark Magic is evil!” She noticed one of the fillies raising her hooves. “Yes?”
“Miss Zacherle, why is Dark Magic so evil?” the filly asked.
“Well, Snuzzle, Dark Magic is evil because it possesses the six powers of the-”
KABLOOOOOOM!
The mushroom schoolhouse was destroyed, every pony, every young filly, killed instantly, their bones scattered about the ash-filled crater. “Check.” said the armored, black, blue-eyed Stallion, his mission accomplished. Without any sympathy for those who were destroyed, he began heading back to report back to his master. Indeed, Zearou was King Sombra’s most trusted assassin. His main goal was to destroy the spread of Elemental Magic, using Dark Magic, the Magic he had been trained to harness the power of, the Magic of King Sombra. For as soon as he reported to his master that he was successful, he knew that he would be assigned a new mission to destroy Elemental Magic and the Elements of Harmony.
It was soon that Zearou heard the sound of larger hooves stomping through the forest, so he snuck behind a large tree. There he saw a wide road walked down by two lone unicorn stallions in silver armor. They were army scouts, out looking for the assassin of the Elements to arrest him and bring him in front of Princess Celestia, his older sister who he had turned on many centuries ago.
“Hey, I think I heard something dart behind that tree” said one scout to the other. Zearou tried to stay quiet was he could, so they wouldn’t see him hiding, waiting to ambush.
“Was it something big?” asked the second scout.
“Well, I can’t tell” replied the other.
“Then it must be an animal, like a fox or something small.”
Zearou kept quiet and was sure he didn’t move any muscle. After all, he needed to take care of these two, but he didn’t wish to kill them, but he planned to do something worse.
“Are you sure it’s not the assassin?” asked one of the scouts. “After all, that’s who we’re here to find. I’m pretty sure he’s somewhere in these woods.”
“And why do you think that?” said the other. “Are you assuming that that’s where that boom came from?”
“Maybe. I was just wondering if he was very close to us. For some reason I feel a presence. I guess it’s just me. Oh well, I guess we need to keep looking.” The guard kept walking down the wide forest road. “Let’s find the source of that boom.”
As the two scouts decided it was nothing serious and continued to search, Zearou jumped out from the bushes in front of them, his eyes glowing green. This entranced the two scouts, whose eyes also began to glow green as well. For this was another one of the assassin’s missions, to assimilate anypony on the side of the Elements to a pony on the side of Dark Magic who will help Sombra engulf Equestria into darkness.
***
The King of Darkness took a sip of blue milk and a bite of fried chicken as he relaxed on a black crystal chair in his Master bedroom. For King Sombra had been enjoying his rule as king, with his technique of enslaving the Crystal Ponies and making them obey everything he said. Of course, he had led them to believe that Elemental Magic was evil, and that he was trying to help them with the power of Dark Magic. Of course, he knew he was telling a fib, and that this was just another way to get the ponies to obey him, even though they knew he was lying as well, and wished that they could be free. They hoped that someday, the Crystal Heart would return, and Sombra’s days would be over.
Just then, Sombra heard somepony walking down the hallway, followed by something slipping across the carpet under his door. “Hmm, what may this be?” he asked himself as he walked over to the door to find that it was a letter. He read it.
My Lord,
The mission was successful. I found and destroyed Bonnie Zacherle’s Magic Schoolhouse in the Everfree Forest. In addition to this, I also discovered that there were two scouts sent by your sister to try and hunt me down. However, I faced them and assimilated them into your rule. I am proud that I have accomplished this, and I hope I may be your most trusted henchman.
Zearou
“Good for you” Sombra said with a grin. For now he was ready to assign Zearou with the next target. However, this time, it was for the one whom he despised most of all, and he knew that he would be bringing his henchman to the ultimate task. Sombra took a seat down and began writing down on an empty sheet of paper.
Zearou,
I am delighted to hear that you have terminated practicers of Elemental Magic. However, now I shall assign you with your next task, which may be an extremely difficult one. Now that you have my full trust, you will use my trust to find my Elemental Brother, Prince Starswirl, capture him, and bring him unto me so I can take care of him and bring him to my side. You must do this as soon as you are finished reading this letter, so I will end it right now.
King Sombra
Sombra handed the letter to a guard. “Be off” he said, and the guard ran out of the palace to take the letter to the Imperial Post Office, which was just down the street. Now the king of Dark Magic would have to wait in anticipation, knowing Zearou was loyal enough to be able to bring back Starswirl in order to be taught in the ways of Sombra and Dark Magic, and Sombra would finally have his dream fulfilled of brotherly rule over the Eternal Crystal Empire.
And, of course, to show his excitement, Sombra took out his maracas and started shaking them enthusiastically, and then he let out an evil laugh, in hopes of accomplishing something good.
Chapter 2: Trapped in a Nightmare
The Grand Palace of Canterlot was quite impressive. It was built up on the side of a mountain and was coated in marble and gold, with over 500 rooms, 20 bedrooms, and 50 bathrooms. Behind the palace were the gardens, containing over 3,000 different types of plants, including trees and flowers. In the center of the gardens was a magnificent fountain with a statue of Master Lauren in the Center, while several other statues decorated the place. One of the statues was of a Draconequus in an informal and inappropriate pose, while another one was of the long lost Crystal Heart.
Relaxing on one of the benches in the Royal Gardens was the white Equine Goddess herself, Princess Celestia of Equestria, daughter of Master Lauren. For she had just gone through a tiring day a the “Senate”, a system that Celestia introduced in which a group of ponies were forced to agree with her on new laws, and if they didn’t, they would either be fired or sent to the moon, which Celestia was looking up at now. She saw the Mare in the Moon, the image of her sister Luna who had been banished to the moon following an attempt to overthrow Celestia. However, Celestia missed her dearly.
“It’s been far too long” she said in the still of the night. “699 years and you still haven’t come back, not ready to return. Though sometime I know you will, my sister.” a tear came from her eye. She was tired of having to rule Equestria without her, tired of having to raise both the sun AND the moon, which her sister was assigned to raise and ultimately was imprisoned on. Now the only sibling she had to accompany her was Starswirl, keeper of Elemental Magic. For both their siblings had turned against them and became evil.
Starswirl, brother of King Sombra, walked into the garden, noticing Celestia laying down on a marble bench so depressingly. He came up to her and stroked her flowing mane. “Why art thou so depressed, thy sister?” he asked her in wonder.
“I just can’t cope with being so lonely.” she told him in tears.
“Come on Celestia, you’ve been doing this almost every night for the past 700 years!” Starswirl used his magic to lift his sister off the bench and onto the stone path. “Now stand up and come to bed, it’s getting very late.”
Celestia, now laid on the ground, still looked worried. “I don’t want to go to bed now!”
“Why?”
“Because I keep having bad dreams.”
Starswirl was curious. “What do you mean, bad dreams?”
Celestia stood up. “You know about your dark brother Sombra?”
“Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I? I keep thinking about him every day, worried on what he’ll do next. What does my brother have to do with your dreams?”
“Well, I keep dreaming that I’m in love with Sombra.”
“What? How could you?” Starswirl was worried that his sister was turning evil too, and that he might have to rule Equestria on his own.
“It’s just a dream” she said, “but in this dream Sombra is handsome, looking like he did before he turned on us. I dreamed we were in love, and that there was more than one side of everything.”
“More than one side? What does that mean?” he asked.
“Well, there was a good version of Chrysalis and a good version of Discord as well. But the strangest thing about it was that there were evil versions of me and Luna.”
Starswirl tried to figure out what this dream meant. “Celestia, my sister” he told her, “I believe that this dream is a warning of a potential turning to Dark Magic.”
“Dark Magic?” Celestia’s eyes widened. “I don’t practice Dark Magic! I am on the side of the Elements! Why would you assume that?”
“Because I think that in that dream, Sombra is seducing you to become the evil side of you in the dream. It is a process of conversion, one that you appear to be fighting, but on the inside you are slowly giving into him. I believe your dreams are a warning.”
“A warning?” Celestia’s tone was becoming very worried. “So these dreams are telling me that I will eventually turn to darkness?”
“Well, you can stop it.” Starswirl tried to make her relieved by giving reason. “Celestia, it’s your dream. But sometimes our fears become so great that we think we are trapped in a nightmare. Your fear is of joining Sombra, and your fear has invaded your dreams. However, dreams don’t always come true, but your fear is so great you will think that it will come true.”
“How can I make it stop?” Celestia asked. Starswirl could tell she was beginning to tear up. “How will it stop?” she sniffled a little.
“You want me to make you feel comfortable?” he asked her.
“Of course, my brother.” Celestia felt a little safer, so she asked Starswirl to do a favor for her. “Starswirl?”
“Yes?”
“Will you sleep with me tonight?”
Starswirl’s eyes got really big. He was shocked for a second before he realized that his poor sister really did need the help, so he nervously and unsurely answered “Yes. Follow me.” he walked inside the palace, and Celestia followed, knowing he was there to protect her were she to have a nightmare.
As they walked back through the gardens, Celestia kept looking at the Mare in the Moon.
“Luna” she said in loneliness, “If only you were to come back... Then I could get a better explanation. It’s been too long now. Goodnight, my dear sister.” Celestia would always look up at the moon and tell her goodnight, every night.
Luna had spent nearly 700 years trapped in the moon, and it was clear that not only her sister, but all of her sister’s kingdom wanted her to be freed, turned back, and restore order. However, this would not happen for another 300 years, Meaning no mortal pony living now would see her return, even though they knew it could happen at any time.
Equestria was in for three more centuries of darkness, and as it was told that one pony would be able to bring everypony out of the darkness at revive the Elements of Harmony, no such pony had existed yet. But Celestia knew that someday there would be. That there would eventually be a single pony that would save all of Equestria. Like a chosen one, or a savior. She wondered if she could predict this in her dreams, rather than have another nightmare about "Good Sombra".
That night, while sleeping with Starswirl's arms around her body, she suddenly woke up with a loud gasp. This woke Starswirl up as well. "Don't worry" he said, "It's alright, it's alright. It's just a dream, it's not really gonna happen."
Celestia was sweating. "But, but in this dream, there were six ponies that caught my eye." she said, shaking in fright.
"Anypony you know?"
"No. But they just caught my eye. Must have been extras of my dream. They probably have nothing to do with what's going on."
Starswirl gave Celestia a hug. "I'm right here for you. Try and fall back asleep." and with that, he lay down and closed his eyes. However, Celestia did not sleep in fear she would have another nightmare. She quickly forgot about the six ponies, and they would not ring a bell for her when the time came and her dream became a reality.
