Chapters Chapter 1: Happy Birthday... to Him...
It was a bright, clear night, the moon was full and shining down almost like the sun among the stars. In the capital of Equestria, in a small (by noble standers) house, a baby was being born. He was being born at home and not delivered at a hospital because of his parents worry's, not that they were poor or even unusually shy and didn't want others to intrude on this most intimate of moments, no. You see, the baby's mother was herself a doctor and throughout her pregnancy she had been keeping a close eye on her unborn child, making sure that he was healthy and safe and looking for any defects. She found one, though not a physical deformity. By some's standards it would have been preferable if it was.
You see, all magical creatures had a type of 'magical circulatory system' called their 'Mana lines', not to be confused with Lay lines which were postulated to be the Mana lines of the world itself. It was through these Mana lines that all beings, from Princess Celestia to Discord and everything in between, used magic. However, depending on how they were laid out in your body, the type of magic you could use was altered. That's not to say that anyone was restricted to one kind of magic, for instance more than a few unicorns Mana lines were geared to chaos magic, however they could use arcane as well. Yet a pony would always find it easier to use the magic their Mana lines were meant to use.
Had the boy's Mana lines been in the arcane format it wouldn't have been a problem, he could have easily costed through life without a care.
Had his Mana lines been nature magic aligned it would have been fine, even during the industrial revolution they were having agriculture was a very well looked on field of expertise, not to mention the medical applications! Why he could have been the most famous doctor or herbologist of his age!
Had his Mana lines been chaos magic aligned it would have been somewhat troublesome, but there was medication to ensure that he wouldn't become the next Discord and besides, they say that Starswerl the Bearded was chaos aligned as well and many great inventors were chaos aligned.
But no, this baby, this innocent little child who had done nothing wrong, had an alignment nopony had ever seen before. His Mana lines were formatted to use dark magic.
Dark magic was (thought to be by most) a corruptive force and as such was illegal across the known world at Princess Celestia's command. It wasn't like any nation could stop her and even if they could, all agreed that it was for the best that it was banned. While very few nations actually enforced Celestia's punishment for the use of dark magic, death by petrification, they would imprison any who were suspected of using it.
That was why his parents were delivering him at home instead of at the local hospital, it was common practice to check every aspect of the new born foal to ensure health, but if they found out that he was geared to use dark magic he could be taken away. While his parents worried about his Mana lines they were absolutely adamant about keeping him, not even the Princess would get in between them and their child! This was going to be a happy day, no matter what!
After much huffing and pushing and pain, the baby was born into a world that if it could, would break him. He was cleaned and then wrapped in a soft blanket to keep warm by his father, who then handed him to his mother. Her expression was one of love, but twinged with sadness, as she knew that his life, if gone wrong at the worst time, would be a hard one, and as the magic of the world gave her child a name she whispered "Pitch Black. My little Colt, Pitch Black."
Her baby looked up at her without tears, breathing quietly, with a small smile on his face. His coat was a light yellowish-gray almost the color of old bone, his mane was an oily black, such that when the light hit it just right it became a rainbow of colors before turning back to black and his eyes were the richest green that you were likely to see.
His family hugged him, his father leaning down to kiss the top of his head while his mother nuzzled him gently, bringing him close as if afraid that he would disappear. He giggled and rubbed back at his mother, making several other baby noises and huffing at his father.
"I think everything will be fine, we'll teach him how to use arcane magic before sending him to school, maybe use a mana lock if he really needs it, but everything will be fine." His father said to his mother, filled with pride and fear and several other emotions he had never had before.
"You're right. As long as we make sure and plan for as much as we can, we'll be fine. I just hope everything turns out okay... It feels like our little guy has a big destiny ahead of him, I just hope he'll be ready for it." His mother said while trying not to cry as she held him close.
"I'm sure he'll be fine and when he grows up he'll find a nice mare, settle down, and get to experience all the stress I just did! I will say though, I didn't expect him to be so big! I thought baby's were supposed to be small?" His father said with a chuckle.
"Well what do you expect when your whole family is gigantic! We're lucky he came out that way at all, if he had been any bigger I would have needed a c section!" his mother joked back at his father as everypony in the room quickly lost their adrenalin rush and, after positioning themselves so that everypony would be comfortable, fell asleep, cuddling their bundle of joy between themselves. As long as they worked to keep him safe, everything would be fine.
It's too bad that thing's rarely go as well as that.
This was how the birthday of the greatest necromancer to ever exist in Equestria ended.
Chapter 2: The art of growing up
From the day of his birth onward, Pitch Black, who later preferred just being called Pitch, had a hard life. This was for many reasons, few of witch were directly his fault, though it would effect both himself and his family and it would rarely be for the better.
To begin, his family was a noble one, low ranked but that didn't stop them from having both a small mansion as well as several serving ponies. Practically overnight two thirds of the staff were let go, (after being pointed towards a new job with a strong referral from the family) only retaining those that could be trusted with the knowledge of the young colts... 'defect'. There were some concerns at first, namely the loss of life and limb when the young master grew up. In the end, and after several good natured arguments regarding a pay raise, those that remained agreed to keep quiet and aid in the rearing of the new family member.
Things went quite well for a time after that, he had a fairly normal foal-hood complete with drool, stinky diapers and the embarrassingly cute photos of the first discovery of his own hoof, among other violently adorable things. Unfortunately the cuteness ended quite abruptly with the coming of the 'pops', the point in every unicorn's life when their magic starts to... shall we say, act up?
Now, normally with a unicorn's 'pops' it would be anything from actual pops, small amounts of magic bubbling on the surface of the horn with no real effect. There were some rare cases of more (and more different) varieties of 'pops', but those tended to be from chaos magic oriented ponies and could range from floating into/through walls, to random transmogrification, to the rare but always panic inducing sudden and instant teleportation.
There also seemed to be a connection between a ponies magical "limit" and how severe their pops were, though it was inconclusive due to several "exemptions of the rule".
Regardless, once his 'pops' began it changed the atmosphere of the home quite a bit, and not in a good way. Most parents would be worried about one or two things breaking as their bundle of joy erratically shot a bolt of high energy magical plasma, Pitch's parents on the other hand were more worried about several large pieces of furniture simply turning to dust while sitting on them.
Most parents would worry about their child squeezing the family pet too hard while trying to pick them up. Pitch's parents had to endure many sleepless nights with their colt between them after finding their three year old crying over the skeleton of the family cat.
Most parents had to tolerate their child struggling to get away from a dentist while strapped to the chair. Pitch's parents had to cry themselves to sleep for essentially torturing their four year old with a spell used on criminals in order to suppress his natural magic enough for him to go outside without drawing the guards attention.
Most parents would worry about their child's first day of school, if they would be bullied or how many friends they would make. Pitch's parents would have nightmares about their child having a surge of his own natural magic in public, promptly drawing the city guard and being executed.
After the "pops" passed and Pitch was old enough to safely interact with others outside of the family, so not everything was doom and gloom in the Black home, for which Pitch's parents were eternally grateful.
As was common in Canterlot, the maids, butlers and other servants lived either in or around the nobles manner. Similarly, it was common for them to make family's of their own, and for the children of said family's to spend a large amount of time together, drawing the families closer together.
Such it was that Pitch grew up with a golden coated Pegasus colt named Silver Lining. His father was the head butler of the family, his mom was a maid who regularly aided Pitch's mom so needless to say, the two families were close. Silver was one year older then Pitch and he never let that fact go, constantly getting the both of them in trouble because Pitch would go along with his "Obviously much better, well thought out plan that couldn't possibly go wrong! You'd understand if you were older." which would usually be accompanied by a self-confident grin.
Not to say that Silver would leave Pitch to take all the blame when something inevitably went wrong, quite the opposite. It was actually more common for neither of them to really be in trouble because they would essentially fight over who would take the blame for whatever had happened. Both of their parents couldn't help but find it both adorable and heartwarming that they would get into arguments over who would get in trouble for what they had both done.
Due to Silver being born at the end of the year he and Pitch ended up in the same grade. Neither of the colts were bothered much by this, other then that they weren't in the same class as well, limiting the amount of time they had together at school. Secretly the staff were relieved, they knew that the two were friends and while it was more that things just seemed to happen around Pitch, it was clear that Silver was a troublemaker. At least they weren't like the other noble children who would throw tantrums and threaten to "tell their Mommy/Daddy if they didn't" blankity blankity blank, which made the teachers much happier to help them.
Other then the odd plan gone awry by Silver, school life was quiet for Pitch. He took his tests, did his homework, ignored the class bully. He did have a few quirks that his classmates picked up on, like his distaste for cats (more like mortal fear, as when one of the fillies brought theirs for show and tell he almost had a panic attack and had to be taken out to the hallway, but they all agreed to not talk about that) or how he preferred to write with his mouth instead of his magic. (Or how he seemed to do most things without his magic, which was very weird for a unicorn)
But aside from those few things, life was fairly good to Pitch. Unfortunately all of those happy days full of boring school work wouldn't make a great story, nor would they have any more of an impact of Pitch then what has been told. This was how Pitch spent the first six years of his life.
It would not, could not last forever.
Author's Note
Merry X-Mas!
Soon we will go from setting the scene to actually telling the story.
"Pitch! Breakfast!" called Pitch's mom, from the base of the stairs.
"Coming mom!" Pitch yelled down to his mother as he hurried to finish his homework.
Normally Pitch would have already done it, but unfortunately he was distracted last night by the new book that he had checked out of the library. It was a fantasy about a knight in a world without magic, fighting against an evil shadowy group that was trying to control the king of the land. Pitch loved it because the knight was fighting for what was right, even though the bad guys were dragging his name through the mud, making the very people he was trying to help turn on him.
He admired that kind of spirit.
As Pitch went down to eat his breakfast he went over what he wanted to do in his head as he did every day.
"Okay, one, get to school fine. Two, don't have any surges, it would be very bad if it got out of control again. Three... try to find a way to ask Pond to get a milkshake or something. Four, have a good day and get home alright. "
"Alright Pitch, eat up!" his mom said as she placed his breakfast at his spot on the table.
"Thank you, mom! It looks just as tasty as always!" he said, being polite as he always was. Not that his mom was a bad cook, he just liked to let her know that he appreciated that she took the time to make his food. He had seen more than a few other kids whose parents made them get the food at school, and that stuff was... less than appetizing, to put it nicely.
While enjoying the pancakes his mom made for him, Pitch listened to his father and mother as they talked to each other. It was nothing that would really affect him so he didn't really hear them, he just enjoyed listening to his parents voices. It made him feel safe and considering how different he was... well, his family loved him, so none of that mattered, it was all okay. Listening to his mother talk about her hospital work was always interesting and it filled him with pride to know that his mother saved lives every day, his father was a little harder to understand as his job was something to do with the law, but it was still nice to hear him talk even if Pitch didn't understand.
"Pitch? Are you listening?" His father asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"Huh? Oh, sorry, um, could you repeat that please?" Pitch said sheepishly as he came back from space gazing.
"I asked if you were feeling any pressure? If you needed the spell cast again?" His dad asked with a worried look.
"No! No, I'm fine. Really! I'm just thinking about school..." Pitch said hurriedly, with a strained smile as he tried to assure his father. He was lying but it still felt safe, and he really, really didn't want the spell again so soon, or before school. It always made doing P.E. so hard.
"It seems like we're needing to re-apply that spell more and more often lately... I'm sorry sweetie, but you know it's for your own good right? We aren't doing this to punish you, or to hurt you..." His mom asked him, giving him a comforting rub on the shoulder.
"Yes... I just don't like it... But I wasn't lying, everything feels fine I promise." Pitch lied to his parents with a sad smile.
"Okay son, just make sure you tell us when you need it. I know it hurts, but it's the only way to protect you from them." said his dad as he went back to reading his paper.
The infamous 'Them'... it was the term used to denote ponies who wouldn't understand Pitch's nature and would try to hurt him. It had been explained to him a long time ago, but Pitch still remembered all the reasons why he needed to keep his magic as hidden as possible.
"So... ~are you going to ask out that filly that you like today? ~" asked his mom with a teasing smile, trying and succeeding at changing the mood at the table.
"Mooooom! " Pitch yelled out while he tried to hide his blushing face in his hooves.
When he got to school Pitch talked with Silver and a few mutual friends for a bit before heading to class without talking to anyone else, as usual.
And also as usual, his bully waited until that moment to strike.
"Hey! Blank Flank! Gimme your lunch! I don't want to eat the nasty stuff they serve in this poor excuse for daycare!" said Brute Force, the class bully.
An earth pony from a noble family that was trying to teach him some humility, he had gotten his cutie mark first out of anypony in class, a hoof smashing a boulder shaped suspiciously like a pony, and used that as grounds to pick on anypony without a cutie mark. It was clear that his parents plan wasn't working. His favorite victim was Pitch, as he never fought back or even said anything, he would either ignore him or just do as Brute said without a word.
Nopony said or did anything as he did this, in fact most ponies just ignored it as one of the daily occurrences, like the bell or math class. Even Pitch's class friend Golden Nectar just gave him a sad face and shook his head, doing nothing to help or even shift the attention of the bully.
Pitch, as he had off and on since Brute had gotten his cutie mark, wordlessly handed over his lunch. The bully had an almost board look on his face as he took the lunch that Pitch's mother had lovingly made for her son. He walked away just before the teacher entered the room, sitting down just before she could look at any of her students as she was getting ready for her class.
"Alright, alright, everypony settle down! Class is now going on, get to your seats!" she yelled at the students who were all talking at once, getting them to do as she asked. "Today we're going to be doing something a bit different, instead of just learning about biology from a book as we have been for the past week. Instead, in an effort to force the information into everypony's head, we are going to be taking a more... hooves on approach. Today, we're going to be dissecting a frog, now don't worry! They all died of old age and passed peacefully in their sleep, so there is no reason to feel sad for them."
She levitated a platter with a dead frog to each student, all of the frogs were spread eagle on the platter, arms and legs locked to the surface with small clamps that kept them from moving when they weren't supposed to. She also gave each pony a scalpel, with a stern warning and glare to not even pretend to swing it at another pony, and that if they did they would be suspended for two weeks and have detention for the next four months.
One of the first things Brute did when the teacher wasn't looking was to wave his scalpel at Pitch, as he sat next to him. Pitch just leaned away with a sigh and a deadpan forward stare.
His teacher was talking at the front of the class, but Pitch wasn't listening. Instead, as his thoughts had wandered to the frog in front of him, his magic, the pain in his head, especially the pain building behind his eyes... his eyes which were wandering. He came back to his reality when he realized that Pond Lily, one of the few fillys in his class who didn't avoid him due to his quirks, had lifted up her frog and was using it to wave at him.
He blushed as he realized that he had been staring at her as he had zoned out and quickly looked at his frog to unclasp it, so he could wave back. He fumbled with the clasps for a moment, but he was able to get it undone and lift his frog up enough to stand it on its hind legs and have it wave back at Pond Lily.
Three things happened at once.
Pitch felt a slight sting on his flank and could see a slight glow from the corner of his eye, which caused Brute to scream like a filly once he saw what was casting the light. Then the world exploded, a blast of dark magic shooting out in all directions from Pitch, not hurting anypony, just temporarily blinding everypony in class. Finally, all the frogs in class jerked to life and started jumping everywhere, causing no small amount of panic and sending everything into chaos.
"I should've let dad cast the spell this morning. " was Pitch's last thought before the black around his eyes claimed him and he fainted.
Author's Note
Set up is almost done, the real story will begin next chapter or so...
