The Dark Ones

Darkness.

Twilight’s consciousness slowly came to being, as words floated around her mind, seeking to gain meaning, and to become sentences.

What… happened…?

Princess Celestia…

The Elements…

Girls…?

As her mind finally took grip in her body, Twilight slowly stood up, holding a hoof to her head. Her other hoof felt an odd… nothing. She was capable of standing, ergo there was a floor of some form, but she felt just nothing beneath her hoof. Shaking her head, she opened her eyes.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

She slammed her eyes shut, her entire nervous system being overcharged with ambient magic.

Her ears buzzed loudly as she shook herself again, barely hearing herself think as her heart rhythmically beat loud and clear like a drum. She strained to keep hold of her thoughts, as the overly present feelings she had scared her capacity to think again. Until something stopped it all.

Something seemed to snap, and suddenly she felt as though a large part of her was being drained down her body. It felt like thousands of ice-cold tongues licked every nook and cranny of her entire body, leaving behind an empty feeling.

As the maddeningly unwelcome feeling slipped out from her hooves, she shivered, and instinctually squinted her eyes open, slowly, as she recovered.

What in the world…?!

The darkness from before did not assault her, as now she stared into a pair of white eyes.

She reeled back looking at the pony in front of her. Staring at her with a serious glare was a unicorn sporting a pale indigo coat. Her mane was almost entirely black, excepting a single midnight blue stripe. The mare’s horn poked out beside said stripe, glistening with the same shine the blue, six-pointed star on her flank did.

“Who are you?”

Her only response was a burst of indigo-colored magic at her hooves. She jumped back, only to be met with a stronger magic blast mid-air.

Sliding back and groaning, she noticed she was not alone with the dark mare.

Looking around, she saw her five PFFs at her side, and saw five more mares rise from the ground around the offending unicorn.

Applejack held a surprised look for a second, and then glared at the pony directly in front of her, who mirrored her action. The earth pony had the same coat as the unicorn beside her. Her freckles, mane and eyes were an almost blinding white, and she wore an iris Stetson hat. Her cutie mark showed three black apples with iris-colored leaves.

Fluttershy could only tremble in her spot, although a slight sense of wonder crept up in her mind as she looked at the pegasus standing like a statue in front of her. Her coat was snow white, and unlike the other ponies beside her, she held a rather blank expression, although the slight furrowing of her brow showed a tint of… shame? Her lighter-iris mane matched with the butterflies on her flank, which were barely visible. Her stance looked confident at first glance, but looking closely revealed it to be her being too scared to even move.

Rainbow snorted and pawed at the ground, looking at her opposite dead in the eye. The light indigo-colored pegasus sported an exaggerated smirk, as she held her head high in the air and stared back down at the speedster. Her mane held the colors of black, iris, white, dark indigo, dark blue, and indigo, in that order. Her wings flared out, slightly covering the black, white and indigo thunderbolt she had for a cutie mark.

Pinkie looked with a smile at the other party pony in front of her. She found her light iris coat and dark blue, puffy mane to look hilarious! She took out a pink cupcake to present at her new bestest friend, but was super surprised to see her have a blue cupcake in her hoof already! She thought the obvious, and threw the cupcake at her eyeless friend to trade. She caught it with her mouth and ate it with a smile. Pinkie let out her hoof, awaiting her treat. Her smile widened as the earth pony reached back… then ate the other cupcake too! What a meanie! Pinkie’s smile turned into a saddy waddy frown, at which her opposite laughed out loud, pointing at her.

Rarity looked at the last of the dark ponies. Unlike the others, she had very little color. A completely white coat contrasted with a very dark blue mane, the only other tone in her body being the three indigo diamonds on her flank. She held her nose up in a decidedly snobby stance, sneering at the fashion-loving pony. Curiously, she also had her makeshift hoof bandage, except in a glistening iris color.

Standing up, Twilight now glared back in kind at her copy, who immediately charged up her horn. Thinking quick, Twilight cast a barrier around her and her friends. However, the dark copy of Twilight shot the spell at the ground between them.

The area sparked shortly, and they saw as a gray sphere expanded. Going through them, they appeared in the snowy area had been in. As the sphere continued its way, trees and hills started materializing. However, under closer inspection, they saw that everything was in a cold blue tone, the sky being a dark shade of it as well.

“Come on, girls! Spread out and destroy!”

The voice of Twilight’s doppelganger reverberated through the air, as they all started disappearing. The leader teleported in an indigo flash of magic, her glare fast on Twilight still. The dark farmer swung a noose into the air, and she magically disappeared as the noose came down around her. The dark speedster slid her hoof under her neck in a menacing gesture, then merely burst out of the area, leaving her rainbow of darkness behind her. The other pegasus of the group merely closed her eyes, when suddenly a hole appeared below her. As she dropped into it, they saw how a dark-colored mole closed it up. The meanie pony jumped up, poking her tongue out at the group, and dashed away in a similar, but more comical way to the dark rainbow pegasus. Finally, the last pony encased herself in a diamond of magic, sticking her nose even farther into the air, and teleported in a far more showy way to the dark Twilight.

“Come on everypony! We must stop them!”

NEXT CHAPTER!

Applejack finally found her double, near the empty fields. She saw as NegaApplejack bucked Big Macintosh’s side. Meanwhile the stallion was very strong, so were Applejack’s legs, and as such the stallion still toppled over, the plow he dragged following suit. He seemed confused at what exactly could have kicked him over like that.

Strength vs. Strength! Buckdown at Sweet Apple Acres!