The darkness picked up Spike, black tendruils coming out of Pinkie's mangled body. As more of the black fluid came into spike, Pinkie's body got back to it's normal form. As it stopped, Pinkie's mangled body fell down, unmoving, in a bloody pool.

"Hahahaha!"

The darkness said through Spike's mouth. It stood up, opening its eyes to reveal red eyes with splitted pupils.

"This body can be useful, though it could need some adjustments."

It said as black feathered wings sprung out of Spike's back.

"Ugh! Much..better."

The darkness said with pain in its voice.

Twilight, stunned by the shock, just stood there, staring. Applejack pulled her tail and dragged her with the rest of the mane five. Twilight came to herself, and started running while tears fell down her cheeks.

"What's wrong, Twilight? Need any help?"

The darkness mocked in a demonic version of Spike's voice as it flew after the mane five.

As it flew, Applejack noticed it got bigger. "It's using an age spell!" Applejack yelled in surprise. The farm pony recognized the spell from seeing Trixie use it on the young schoolcolts Snips and Snails.

Spike's body was now of a young adult dragon. It was flying after them, but crashed into the wall as the ponies fled out of the castle.

"It won't stay in there for long. We have to get to Canterlot. Perhaps Celestia and Luna can help us."

Twilight said, while trying to stay calm.

I shouldn't let my feelings get in the way. If this thing gets us, Equestria will be in danger.

"how are we going to get there now? The next train leaves in an hour, and not all of us are able to fly." Rarity asked.

"We're gonna use my hot-air balloon. It's right there." Twilight answered, trotting to the backside of her castle. She stopped to untie the ropes before she jumped into the balloon.

"Rainbow, you're the fastest. Could you pull it?" Twilight asked Rainbow Dash as her other friends hopped in.

"Of course." Rainbow answered, doing a military salute before taking the rope.

As they flew through the night sky, a sound of crushed crystals could be heard from the castle. The darkness had destroyed half of it to get out. A angry roar was heard as the Darkness flew up to the ponies' balloon. "Faster, Rainbow, faster!" Applejack yelled.

But no matter how fast Rainbow flew, The darkness was always close behind them.

"Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness!" Fluttershy whispered as she crawled up in a corner shaking, hoping not to be seen. "We're almost there! Keep it up!" Twilight yelled to Rainbow as they got closer to the Canterlot mountains.

But the Darkness had other plans. It landed on top of the balloon, popping it with it's claws. Regardless, Rainbow tried to keep it airborne, but she could only slow down the fall. The mane five screamed as they landed in the Everfree forest.

The darkness watched them fall. It knew it could have just taken the gondola. It would be an easy victory. But it knew it couldn't take the ponies before the only one able to stop it was dealt with. Those ponies would find her soon.

***

"Ugh." Rarity groaned after the balloon had crashed. It had been a rough fall. "Is everypony okay?" Twilight asked. "Yep." Everypony answered, though Fluttershy hesitated. "We should get to Canterlot ASAP! If we stay here we will most certainly die." Rainbow Dash said, realizing too late what she had just said.

Applejack tried to count to ten before she responded. She didn't want to get a tantrum. "Nopony's gonna die. We will get to Canterlot one way or another." Applejack said, slightly irritated, before she went to comfort Fluttershy, who was about to get a panick attack.

The ponies suddenly heard rustling from behind the bushes. In fear of it being the Darkness, they tried to hide in the gondola. Shaking out of fear, they could hear hoofsteps. Out of curiosity, they peaked from the gondola.

It was Zecora wearing her hood. "Ponies, come with me! You all have to flee!" Zecora said, gesturing them to follow her.

"Zecora, you have no idea how delighted we are to see you." Twilight said relieved.

"I'm sorry Twilight, but we can't talk now. The Darkness is in the forest on a prowl." Zecora stated strictly. She was in no mood to talk.

"Follow me!" Zecora said, suddenly running, not bothering to rhyme for once. The mane five struggled to keep up to Zecora's speed. They had never known that she was so fast. Suddenly, she stopped.

"To you ponies this forest is like a maze, but a member of the Zebra clan knows every single place." She said, touching a tree, which glowed for a little while before revealing an underground staircase under the bark.

The ponies followed Zecora down until they came into what looked like a meeting room, illuminated by firefly lamps. Normally, Fluttershy would feel bad for the fireflies, but she was too frightened to even speak. In the middle of the gigantic room was a hardwood table, on top a pile of meeting reports. Across the room was a bookshelf with history books and books about zebra magic.

"What is this place?" Twilight asked, looking around the room.

"This is the court of the zebra clan. No pony can find it, only a zebra can." Zecora replied, walking towards the bookshelf, taking out a red book. "This book will give the information you need. But hurry, before the Darkness succeeds." Zecora said as she handed the book over to Twilight, who read the title. "King Necro's reign." Twilight read aloud. "I have never heard of him. But if Zecora says it's important, I think we should read it."

"If it's what we need to get rid of the Darkness, I'll read it aloud so you can hear it." Twilight replied.

King Necro's reign volume ııı: the downfall.

In his rage that the zebra clan refused to bow to him, he decided they didn't deserve the adoration and kindness the common ponies gave them. So he got a plan. He absorbed all the magic in the evergreen forest, and gathered it all in a gem, including the spell that was put on the animals that made them obey and depend on ponies, and the spell that made the clouds stand still. The animals could now live without anypony caring for them, and the clouds started moving on their own.

But all the magic in the evergreen forest, now called the everfree forest, wasn't enough. Using his necromantic abilities, he gathered the haunted souls from tartarus, forcing them to use their magic to serve him. The gem was so powerful, he sealed it into a necklace, now known as the alicorn amulet. Whit the amulet and his alicorn magic, his powers became godlike. He was sure the ponies would respect him again.

He tried to burn down the forest the zebra clan lived in, but the zebras were smart. They had used their unique zebra magic to magically protect the forest and themselves from the violent magic of the alicorn king.

While Necro was confused why his godlike powers had failed, the zebras used chains of cold iron, the mages' bane to surpress his magic, then they tried to get his amulet off, but it wouldn't budge. The zebras pleaded Necro to take it off, but he refused.

"I would rather die than take the amulet off!"

With a heavy heart, the chief of the zebra clan, Night Rider beheaded the now corrupt king, causing the amulet to fall off his neck. To destroy the amulet, the zebras tried to break the gem. But as a crack came to the gem, the spirits of tartarus, that had merged when caught in it, was set free, going on a rampage to kill everything it saw, calling itself the Darkness. Desperate to save Equestria, Night Rider used a spell so powerful it killed him. He had sealed the moster back into the gem, which was forged back to the necklace.

But instead of being thanked for saving them, the ponies shunned the zebra clan, believing they were to blame. The zebra clan decided to hide in the forest to come back when the rage of the ponies cooled down. They hid the amulet in the new chieftess, Emerald shine's home. But the next day, the amulet was stolen, never to be seen again.

The forest had started to act weirdly after that. Monsters would appear without explaination. Some ponies say that it's the spirit of king Necro haunting the forest, creating the monsters to kill zebras and ponies alike. Others believe that the zebra clan made the monsters to take revenge on the ponies who had wronged them.

The rest of the book was torn in pieces.

"So when Trixie had the alicorn amulet, she , like, controlled the Darkness?" Rainbow thought out loud.

crash!

Timberwolves ran down the underground staircase, cornering the mane five and zecora.

"Come at me, you oversized toothpicks!" Applejack challenged. "I'm afraid they only listen to us." A familiar voice said. A dragonic figure walked in behind the timberwolves. "We finally found you." The Darkness said.

Author's Note

Writing Zecora is hard!