The hatred of the shadow

It was noon in Ponyville and Rising was looking through the latest reports about activities of dark magic that Celestia had sent him. Most of the time these reports turned out to be just a bunch of fools that tried to use dark magic and they all got sent to prison for their crimes.

There was never even a hint about Malonex location or the pony that freed him and after he looked through the last report he became frustrated. He wanted to meditate to calm his mind but as he closed his eyes he heard a knock on the door.

He walked to the door and opened it. In front of him was a guard. "What is it?"

The guard quickly bowed and then answered. "A group of magic hunters just arrived in Ponyville and they said that they want to speak with archmage Rising Light and princess Twilight Sparkle!"

Rising needed a moment to realize what the guard just said. After he was sure that he understood him right he began to walk away. He quickly walked through the hallways of the castle and left it through the entrance.

As he left the castle he saw nine hunters, three of each kind, waiting there and only a second later he heard Twilight coming out of the castle. He turned around and saw her looking confused at him. After she stood next to him the hunter approached them and bowed down.

Rising became a bit annoyed of all that bowing. "You can stand up."

Without a word they all stood up and looked at Rising through their masks. Rising nodded. "Now tell us what the reason is for nine hunters to show up without any kind of announcement."

One of them immediately answered. "Three hours ago a scout witnessed a great event of dark magic in a forest near Ponyville and we assume that the creator of this event is Malonex. The princesses sent us here investigate this event and to capture the pony who caused it."

Twilight nodded and Rising asked another question. "Then why are you here? You have to follow that clue as fast as you can!"

The hunter nodded. "Yes will go on our way immediately but the princesses told us to inform you about all this and they also ordered that you two should follow us with twenty-four hours delay. So you can take him after we manage to capture him. This runes stone will allow you to find us as long as we have the other one." He gave Rising a stone with a complex rune engraved in it.

Twilight and Rising nodded. "Thank you for telling us. We will be ready to take him with us after you captured him."

The hunter bowed again and made their way to three carriages. The pegasi went each to another carriage while the rest split up so that on each carriage was one unicorn and one earthpony.

The flew away and Rising looked at Twilight who was a bit overwhelmed with these sudden events. Rising didn't wait for her and went to a few guards. "Prepare my carriage. Tomorrow I will go."

Twilight now finally got her thoughts together and walked to Rising. "These are wonderful news. I am going to tell my friends that I will be gone tomorrow."

Rising nodded. "I am going to tell Bright about that." Twilight nodded and walked away while Rising made his way to the castle.

He walked towards the library and there he found Bright reading books. She looked up as she heard him enter the room. "What is it? I heard carriages landing outside."

Rising walked to her. "Magic hunters arrived a few seconds ago. They said that they may have found Fallens location and are now going after him. Tomorrow Twilight and I will go and hopefully take Fallen with us."

Bright expression lightened up immediately. "Really? Can I come with you?"

Rising thought about it for a moment but then shook his head. "No, it might be dangerous..." As he saw her disappointment he came up with an idea. "How about you go to the general and make preparation for his prison so something like this can't happen again?"

Bright looked at him and her mood seemed to had lighten up a bit but she was still not smiling. "Yes I can do that."

Rising nodded and smiled at her. Then he decided to prepare everything for tomorrow and went to his room.

He took his bag and began to pack a few blank scrolls, a quill and an inkpot. He thought if there was something else he needed and began to look around his room. Then he looked over the weapon rack with his hammer and shield. First he didn't want to think about having to use them but then decided to take them with him too.

The hunters arrived at the place where the ritual took place after one day and landed at the big gray area. While the earthponies began to look around with their masks active, the unicorns began to analyze what happened here, they analyzed the piles of bones and the dead body of the barkeeper. The pegasi were flying in the sky to see if there were other places like this. As the unicorns couldn't recreate what kind of spell caused this, they began to help the earthponies to find a track.

Soon their found a trail of dark magic that lead them to the west. The pegasi came down and they got on the carriages again. After a short time they reached the tavern and began to look through it. After they decided that there was nothing important to find inside of the tavern they made their way back outside. There they discussed what to do next. "We only have one trail we can follow. The best would be to immediately follow it."

The other nodded. "The trial leads to the north and after analyzing it I think that they are at least three day ahead from us. Since they are traveling by hoof we can catch up on them in at least one day."

The other nodded and they went back to their carriages. Only a moment later they were back in the sky and began to follow the trail of Malonex.

At the same time in Ponyville Rising carried his bag to the carriage. He was wearing his white cloak, blue lines that formed a complex pattern have been added on it after he was made the new archmage.

Twilight walked next to him. It was time for them to follow the hunters and they wanted to start as soon as they could. A few guards were standing ready to pull the carriage for them. After they placed their bags on the carriage Rising stopped Twilight for a short moment. "I think it would be better if you get your shield and sword. Only for the case that we have to help the hunters."

For a moment Twilight had to think but then she nodded and went away to get her weapons. Rising was looking in the sky and bagged internally that they wouldn't need their weapons. As he looked at the sky he saw a quick shadow flying above him.

He first thought that he hallucinated but then suddenly Rainbow Dash landed in front of him. "Hey Rising!"

Rising greeted her with a nod. "Good day Rainbow. If there is something you want make it quick, Twilight and I are leaving soon."

Rainbow nodded. "That is why I am here. I am coming with you!"

Rising sighed and wondered why he didn't already expected this. "If I say no you would just follow us, so I am saying yes but you will come with us on the carriage. No flying ahead!"

Rainbow smiled and cheered. "Yes!"

Rising stopped her form cheering more. "Do you have your spear? It could be possible that you will need it."

Rainbow stopped and face-hoofed herself. "Why didn't I thought about that. I will go and get it!"

Rising heard that Twilight was already coming back with her weapons and stopped Rainbow. "That would only be a waste of time and we are already late..." He pointed at one of the guards that was guarding the castle. "You there! Give her your spear."

The guards fist looked around the make sure that he was the one he meant and then quickly walked over to Rainbow Dash and gave her the spear.

As she took it she nodded to him. "You will get it back to you when we come back."

The guard just nodded without a word and walked back to his post. One of the other guards gave him an old spear that looked like it needed to be sharpen.

Now Twilight reached the carriage and looked surprised as she saw Rainbow Dash standing there. "Oh hi Rainbow. What are you doing here?"

Rising answered before Rainbow could even open her mouth. "She is coming with us and now please hurry. I don't want to let the hunters wait."

Twilight didn't disagreed with him and just walked on the carriage with her weapons on her back. Fortunately the carriage was big enough for at least five ponies, so they could all fit without any problems.

As everypony was ready to go Rising gave the guards the signal to fly. On the way Rising took the stone in his hoof and closed his eyes for a moment. As he opened them again he could see the exact path the hunters had taken and he told the guards where to go.

While Rising was busy with giving the route to the guards Twilight began to look at her weapons. She had a old iron sword that already had a few rusty parts and a wooden shield.

As she saw Risings golden shield and silver hammer she became ashamed of herself that she still didn't got real weapons. She decided that she would go to a blacksmith after they were back home.

After she was lost in thoughts for another few minutes Rainbow noticed that Twilight was staring at Risings weapons. "Hey, what are you thinking?"

She was pulled out of her thought by Rainbow and looked up surprised. "What? Oh you mean me? I was just thinking about getting my own weapons. I used this old equipment already way to long."

Rainbow nodded and looked at the spear. "I thought about that too. Do you know a blacksmith that could forge us some good weapons?"

Twilight shook her head and then they heard Rising. "I know a blacksmith that could forge you some weapons."

Both mares were surprised as they heard him and Twilight looked surprised at the guards that were pulling them. "Don't you have to concentrate on the trial of the hunters?"

Rising now turned around to looked at them and shook his head. "I have checked the route and we will probably just fly straight to the west for the next hours so I can take a break. Now back to the weapons."

"So you know somepony that could forge us weapons? What is his name?" Asked Rainbow him quickly.

Rising had to think for a moment before he answered. "To be honest, I don't know him personally. I only know of him because he was the apprentice of the blacksmith that forged my hammer and shield. Sadly he died a year ago but I heard that his apprentice took over the shop. The old blacksmith told me once that he was the best apprentice he ever had. I bet he could forge you good weapons, maybe even some armor."

"That sounds cool. Can you tell us where we can find him?" Asked Rainbow immediately after Rising stopped talking.

Rising smiled at her enthusiasm. "Sure, the shop is in Canterlot. I can go with you there. I am curious if he really is that good as the old blacksmith told me."

After they all stopped talking Rising turned back around and watched the trail again. There was still no sight of a slightly change of the course to he decided to meditate a bit. While he closed his eyes he heard Rainbow and Twilight talking about the idea of getting an armor too.

It took them the whole day to reach the place where the ritual took place and Rising saw that the hunters had stopped there. It was already night so it was hard to see what exactly was down on the ground. Rising was only sure that there was a gray area. "Land down there on the gray spot. I want to see what happened there."

Soon the guards pulled the carriage to the area and the ponies got off. Twilight and Rising began to search around to find out what the reason for this destruction was while Rainbow decided the fly into the air and if she could see something similar somewhere. It only took Rising a few moments to notice the piles of bones that were lying in a circle.

He walked to the middle of the circle and found the shattered shards of the light crystal. He looked at the shards for a short time before he recognized them. He walked back to Twilight who was suspired as she saw Rising running towards her. "We have to hurry!"

"What happened?" She was first confused as Rising showed her the shards of the crystal but then she realized what he meant. They both ran back to the carriage and Twilight shot a signal in the air to call Rainbow back.

As got on the carriage they only had to wait for a few seconds till Rainbow reached them. She landed on the carriage and looked confused at Rising who was immediately giving commands to the guards. "What is going on? Why are you two looking like you just saw a ghost?"

Rising turned to her after the guards began to pull the carriage. He showed her the shards and began to explain. "These are the shards of the crystal Fallen was bound to. He used some sort of spell to destroy it and now his magic is free!"

Rainbow still didn't get why they panicked so much. "What is the big deal? I am sure the hunters can handle him. I mean they have extra equipment and other stuff like that to capture him."

Rising shock his head. "Even if they would manage to defeat him under normal conditions, they aren't prepared for a fight. They think that his magic is still limited and they also have no clue about the kind of magic they are fighting against."

This even surprised Twilight. "But I thought they are trained to fight mages, especially dark mages!"

Rising sighed. "Dark mages may be their main target but the fact is that no pony has any real information about dark magic besides the fact that it is very dangerous. Till now the hunters only have fought against ponies that had no clue of what they were doing with their magic. This is the first time that they fight an actual master of dark magic."

Meanwhile Malonex and his group decided that it was time to rest of for this day. They all sat down and Lock began to look through his bag to see what they would eat.

As Lock was searching Malonex began to meditate while Tacit tired to find her daggers in her bag. "Where are those stupid daggers. I know that I put them somewhere here."

Malonex tired to concentrate but over time Tacit began to get more and more upset till Malonex lost his patience. "Tacit, be quiet! I want to concentrate!"

She stopped for a moment but then turned to Malonex. "It is not my fault that my daggers are gone. I put them at the same place as I always do but they aren't there. I looked everywhere and..."

Malonex opened his and looked at Tacit. "And what?"

Tacit looked at the ground ashamed of herself. "And I only take them out when I use them...", she sighed and went on "and I used them last night to cut a few branches because I was bored. I forgot to put them back in my bag."

Malonex growled at her. "You are as disciplined as a foal." Malonex began to cast his magic and created four crystal daggers in front of him. He gave them to Tacit. "Use these till you can get new ones. I made you two extra because they can break much faster than normal daggers. Don't try to block an enemy attack with these."

Tacit took the dagger and put two of them in her bag. Then she smiled at Malonex. "Thank you!"

Malonex growled and closed his eyes again. For some time it was quiet till Malonex could sense something coming towards them.

Tacit wanted to put her daggers in her bag as Malonex stopped her. "Don't put them away! Lock, stop looking through your bag. Something is coming towards us really quick."

They followed his commends and they also both took out a few of their throwing knifes. Then they all stayed quiet for some time. Malonex concentrated on the aura that was coming closer till it suddenly vanished. He turned his hoof into a blade and stood slowly up. His companions stood up too.

They all listened into the silence of the forest till they heard a strange tone. They jumped away from each other and watched as a dozen of thin spikes rammed into the ground where they stood a second ago. Malonex shot a energy bolt in the direction where the spikes came from.

The red light of the bolt reviled three pegasi hunters. A second later Lock created a big light source above them. The hunters had spread on the trees around them.

The hunters gave up their hiding spots and jumped down from the trees. A second later Malonex group was surrounded by nine hunters. The group jumped back together and each one of them faced three hunters. Malonexs eyes began to glow with dark magic, a smile appeared on his face and he chuckled. "Nine hunters? These are more than I expected. Good that I am not alone."

The pegasi immediately flew towards them and began to throw more spikes. Malonex turned into a smoke cloud and flew towards the unicorns. While Tacit and Lock dogged the spikes. They both began to throw their knifes at the Hunters who dogged them without much effort. Lock wanted to fight together with Tacit against the pegasi but the hunters noticed this technique and the earthponies began to attack Lock, forcing him to change his target.

Now each of them had to face three hunters on their own. While Malonex began to bombard his enemies with different spells the others had a much harder time.

Lock began to shot with energy bolts at the hunters hoping that they couldn't doge them. To his surprise they didn't even tired to doge them, instead they used their metal shoes to just smash the bolts.

Lock soon realized that his magic was useless and ran at them to face them in close combat. They drew their swords and waited for his attack. While he ran towards them he threw away his cloak and reviled his crystal parts. The hunters where a bit surprised but soon they attacked Lock. As the first one swung his sword at him he used his crystal leg to block the attack and sliced through the throat of the hunter with his dagger.

The other two weren't so easy. They began to attack Lock and their fight turned into a back and forth.

Tacit struggled to fight enemies that where as fast as she was. They began to push her back more and more. Suddenly one of the hunters got a dark crystal spike from Malonex rammed in one of his legs. As the hunter screamed in pain and surprise Tacit jumped at him and slammed her dagger in his chest.

As the hunter was dead she turned back to her enemies to see that one of them was gone. She quickly spotted him sneaking up behind Malonex. She wanted to help him but as she took a step towards him, the second pegasi attacked her to keep her away from his companion.

Meanwhile Malonex smiled as the first of his enemies burned down to ash in dark fire. He also heard that his help for Tacit had reached its target but what he didn't heard was the hunter slowly walking toward him with a sword.

While Lock was fighting his enemies he saw the hunter behind Malonex. Unlike Tacit he managed to get a free path towards the hunter. He quickly threw a knife at the hunter, the knife his him in the back of his head. As the hunter sunk to the ground Malonex finally notice him. His hate began to multiplied as he realized how close one of them got to killing him.

He sent a shockwave of dark magic against the two left unicorns which knocked the unicorns against the next trees. Malonex created crystals that tied them at the tree and turned into a shadow.

First he crawled beneath Locks enemies as a shadow and began to stretch. Lock noticed the black area and concentrated on keeping them inside of it. Soon the shadow began to leave the ground and two shadow claws grabbed the hunters at their throats. The hunters were lifted from the ground and the claws made it impossible to breath.

While the earthponies were strangled, Lock noticed that the unicorns managed to free themselves and started to shot energy bolts and at him and Malonex. Lock created a barrier for him and Malonex and they both looked out for Tacit.

As they found her they saw how she decapitate her last enemy. After the two eathponies finally stopped moving the shadow vanished and the two hunters fell dead to the ground.

The two unicorns where the only ones left now. Malonex expression changed to an evil grin and he began to concentrated his spells one of them while Tacit and Lock began to attack the other.

Lock managed to hit the hunter with his crystal hoof with full force. The hunter slammed against a tree and heard several of his bones breaking. Before the hunter even lifted his head Tacit had stabbed him in the chest with one of her daggers.

Meanwhile Malonexs enemy struggled to hold up his barrier. Soon the barrier shattered and the hunter fell on the ground by the impact. Before he could get up again he was impaled through his stomach by a big crystal. The hunter tried to say something but only blood left his mouth and soon he was dead.

Malonex closed his eyes and looked out for more enemies with his magic. After he was sure that they killed all of them, Malonex walked to the one that was impaled and took the cloak. Under the cloak the hunter wore many belts with thin spikes in them. "Take their spikes and look if you can find anything useful. Also you takes a pair of metal shoes Lock."

The other nodded and soon they searched through the dead bodies of the hunters. Tacit took one of the belts and looked closer at the spikes that were attached to it. "Malonex, what is so important about these spikes?"

Malonex turned around and showed her one of the spikes. "These spikes are only used by magic hunters. Do you see these runes?" He pointed at the harmless end of the spike. Now Lock walked to them too and looked at the spike. He quickly saw a small rune at the end.

Malonex grinned a bit as the saw their confusion. "If a pony gets hit by these spikes the runes will activate and block all their magical abilities. They are extremely difficulty to make and even one false line makes them useless."

Tacit nodded understanding and Lock turned back to collecting the belts.