//-------------------------------------------------------// The Darkness Awakens -by TheBronyChef- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 It was a dark night in Manehattan, a large thunderstorm raged in the distance as it moved closer. Ponies were running down the many streets of the city trying to make it home before the storm hit, but two ponies dressed in black security shirts with large gold badges were walking around a large construction site that will be the next location for the newest Bank of Manehattan. The two ponies eventually finished the walk around and met each other outside a small white shed like structure before they both entered into it and took their seats in front of tables covered in old apple cores, monitors, and empty bottles of the famous apple family cider. After a few minutes of silence one of the ponies with a mane as black as the sky and a coat as white as snow that had a cutie mark of a silver star stretched his arms and wings before he let out a loud moan. “You know, I really hate guard duty” The pony said “Yes, I know you do, this is the hundredth time you have said it Silver.” The other pony said without turning around, he was an earth pony that had a mane that was bright blue with streaks of gray going through it, a coat a darker shade of blue than his mane and had a cutie mark of an ax that was split in two. “You know how much I hate is Broken?” Silver said looking away from the monitors and at his partner. Broken Ax closed his eyes and sighed, “Almost as much as you hate your ex wife.” He said at the same time as Silver Star. “Correct, you have been listening to me, for a second I thought you had started to ignore me.” “As if I could, your voice is so obnoxious it’s nearly impossible to.” “Ouch, I may need some ice for that burn” Silver said as he smiled and turned back to his monitors. “Now what are we out here for again, I wasn’t really listening to the chief when he told us.” Broken Ax looked down at the ground as his forehead scrunched up and he moved his hoof to rub his head. “We are out here because there have been reports of vandalism and theft of tools and other materials here, we are here to find out who it is and or arrest them.” “Oh yea, that’s right I was too busy thinking about my next girlfriend as he told us” Silver said as he looked at a picture that he took at the best youngest flyers competition of a cyan mare with a rainbow mane. “Give it up Silver; she’s way out of your league. Try some that are more local, maybe that nice mare that works as a waitress at the new diner they opened up?” Broken said as he spun his chair around to look at Silver, a questioning look on his face. “Sorry, after seeing her in action, she the only one I want. The mare of my dreams, if she were my mare friend we would…” Silver said as he turned around holding his hoofs out in front of him as if hugging some pony that wasn’t there. “I’m gonna stop you right there, I’d rather not hear any of that.” Broken said raising his hoof. “Oh, sorry, got a little carried away for a second there.” “Alright, just don’t let it happen again.” Broken said turning back to his monitors. “Yeah yeah…” Silver said turning back to his, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a black form moving out of view. “Did you see that?” “I didn’t see anything, same as usual.” “But I saw…” Suddenly Silver raised his head as he heard something that sounded like a whisper come from outside of their shed. “Ok, you had to have heard that.” “You drink too much cider? There wasn’t any noise.” “Yea there was, like a whisper, it sounded close.” “I’m telling you, it’s all in your head.” “Whatever, I’m still gonna go check it out.” Silver said getting up from his seat and opening the door and stepping outside. “You do that, and if you do find something just yell out.” Broken said as Silver closed the door to the shed. “He’s gonna come back with nothing, and I’m finally gonna be able to say I told ya so.” “Crazy old pony, his hearing must be going, I know I heard something.” Silver said to himself as he reached his head to his side and pulled out a small flashlight that was in the pocket on the side of his shirt. He held the end of the flashlight in his mouth as he started to walk around the sight, to where the monitor showed the dark object. He had been walking around the sight for several minutes and after finding nothing and no longer hearing the voice he started to head back. He had just turned the corner when he saw it, a black swirling mass of what looked like pure darkness was heading straight for him at an incredible pace, all Silver could do was drop the flashlight and scream as the mass hit his chest and he blacked out. Back at the shed Broken was drinking out of another bottle of cider when he heard Silvers scream, surprised from the scream Broken spit the cider that was in his mouth all over the desk in front of him. “Oh no, Silver.” Was all broken said before pulling out his flashlight, running out the door and into the direction he thought the scream came from. After running for a few minutes he started to hear something that sounded like laughter, he followed the sound to a part of the sight that was completely covered in shadow, the lights from the street being blocked by walls that had partially been covered. Broken fumbled with his flashlight and pointed it into the darkness to see Silver. Silver was sitting on his haunches with his head hung low so it was not visible and his wings open and tattered with some feathers being torn and bent at different angles. “Silver, are you ok?” Broken said after he laid the light on the ground, keeping Silver illuminated. The laughing suddenly stopped as Silvers head shot up faster than should have been possible. “Silver?” Broken ax said as he took a step towards Silver, casting a shadow across the wall in front of him as his hoof partially blocked the beam of light. Suddenly Silver’s head started to turn as a low, guttural growl became audible to Broken’s ears, what he saw scared Broken like nothing ever has before. What he saw was Silvers face; his eyes were now pitch black, as dark as the sky above them. His mouth was stretched into an eerie smile that had torn his cheeks so his smile traveled up further, but was scared him most of all was his forehead, located where a horn would go on a unicorn was a hole that showed the pale white of his skull with a small trail of blood going from the base of the hole, halfway down his snout to turn and drip off the side. Broken was paralyzed as he saw his partner of 8 months sitting in front of him, slightly transformed. Suddenly, Silver jumped up onto his hoofs in a stance that showed he may charge at any second and let loose and loud, roar that nothing in all of equestrian could match as Silver flapped his wings and leaped into the air towards Broken.The roar was all that was needed to break Broken from his stupor as he swiftly turned to run, narrowly missing being tackled by the savage Pegasus as he soared past his flank, brushing against his tail. Broken remembered the radio he had in the shed that connected directly to the main dispatcher at head quarters. “If I can just barricade myself in there and hold up until somepony comes to help.” Broken thought as he continued running, the sound of his hoofs hitting the ground echoed around him. He quickly turned a corner to see the shed and took a quick peek behind him, Silver was nowhere to be seen, he was home free. He turned to look back at the shed when Silver suddenly came down from above and crashed into the shed, causing the roof the cave in crushing everything within it. The dust from the shed settled to show Silver standing there with one of his legs twisted at a sickening angle and another with a bone sticking out of it. Broken could only look on as the leg that was bent suddenly bent itself back into place with a sickening crack. The Pegasus once again leaped at Broken for him to swiftly spin around and buck the Pegasus in the snout, sending it back into the splintered wood of the shed. Seeing this as an opportunity to hide Broken took off into the construction site, he looked for a few seconds before deciding on what looked like a room that had some wooden planks set up as a wall with a small space in-between each plank. He climbed up the planks and flung himself over the unfinished top and huddled into the corner that was the darkest out of them all. He sat there for who knows how long, hoping that Silver wouldn’t find him when suddenly a large lightning bolt arched across the sky illuminating the area, casting a silhouette of Silver onto the wooden planks. Broken quickly covered his mouth to keep him from screaming as he heard Silver walk around the walls, sniffing like a dog, he was tracking him. Suddenly the sniffing stopped and a low growl took its place, suddenly the air got noticeably colder, the shadows became darker as a screeching sound filled the air. Suddenly a shockwave of black magic erupted from Silver destroying the site for several yards, splintering wood and bending metal. Broken was thrown backward through the planks of the makeshift wall and slammed into the ground as a sharp pain coursed through his shoulder, he looked over to see a long metal pole sticking through his shoulder and into the ground, pinning him. He rolled over slightly to use his other arm to try and pull it free, but it wouldn’t move. A low rumble, almost like somepony laughing, reached his ears as he looked up to see Silver standing over him. Drops and strings of saliva mixed with blood came from his muzzle that was stretched out in a wicked smile and landed on Broken’s face and the ground surrounding his head as the Pegasus continued to laugh. “Silver please, it’s me, Broken.” Was all he said before Silver lunged forward, burying his teeth into the earth pony’s throat and tearing a large bloody chunk out. Broken’s eyes widened at the felling and sight of the pony tearing out his throat, he couldn’t scream or even speak, only move his mouth as blood flowed from his torn throat and flowed into his esophagus, drowning him in his own blood. Silver quickly devoured the hunk of flesh and quickly went back to feasting on the rest of the pony, tearing large chunks and long strips of skin off the pony. After a few minutes of feasting, the earth pony being dead now, the Pegasus raised his head as if her heard something, muzzle dripping with warm blood with bits of flesh dangling out of its mouth, and turned to look at a shadow in the distance. The Pegasus let out a low chuckle and spoke. “Having fun?” Silver said in a low guttural voice that didn’t belong to him before smiling. Suddenly, many miles away a purple unicorn awoke from her nightmare covered in sweat, her heart racing and eyes wide in terror. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 Twilight Sparkle Was sitting up in bed, the memory of the nightmare she just had flashing through her mind. She raised her hoofs and laid her head on them, shaking her head, trying to ward off the dream. She slowly ran her hoof through her hair feeling just how soaked it was with her sweat; she looked down at the rest of herself and saw her coat was also soaked. She then looked at the window to see Celestia’s brilliant sun starting to rise in the distance; she looked back at herself as thoughts started to race through her head. “What sort of nightmare was that” She thought to herself. “It seemed so real.” She quickly got out of bed and used her magic to take the sheets and pillows off the mattress and put them into the corner of the room to be washed later as she went into the bathroom to take a shower, and get rid of the odor of sweat she was giving off. After about half an hour later she came out of the bathroom looking like she usually does, clean and sweat free. She walked over to her desk and using her magic pulled to her a piece of parchment, an ink bottle and a quill as she sat down and wrote a letter to Princess Celestia about the dream. It seemed so real and the fact that the voice spoke to her as if she were watching the event as it was happening. She quickly finished the letter with a simple “Your ever faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.” She tied the letter shut with a ribbon and levitated it beside her as she walked out of the room. “Spike, I need you to send a letter to the princess!” She yelled as she walked down the stairs to the main room of her house that was also the town library. There was no reply so she yelled his name again, but louder. Again, no response, she looked around the library trying to find the purple dragon but to no avail. She then remembered that he had spent the night with the CMC in their club house last night, she was so caught up in her nightmare that she had totally forgotten. She decided that this one could wait and she would send it through the mail normally like every other pony. She quickly fixed herself a small breakfast of toast and strawberry jam and went out the door to the smell of the morning and the sound of the world waking up, the sounds of birds chirping and crickets starting to quiet their chirps. She cast out the thought of the nightmare as she stared at the world, she usually didn’t get up this early but she was glad she did. She looked around and started to walk down one of the many paths through the town towards the post office. It seemed that she wasn’t the only one to get up early on this day, she spotted man ponies leaving their homes and heading on their way to work and greeted them as she passed by them, she even saw several pegasi flying through the sky preparing it for what was scheduled that day and heard the faint sound of thudding coming from Sweet Apple Acres. She was so caught up in the sights and sounds of the morning that she didn’t even notice that she had walked past the post office, after lowering her head from looking at the sky and spinning around confused for several seconds she saws the post office and continued towards it. She reached the door and saw the closed sign had been turned to open, which actually surprised her. “Even Ditzy gets up this early?” Twilight thought to herself. “She may not be the best at her job but you can’t say she doesn’t do her best and try her hardest.” Twilight pushed the door open with her hoof and casually walked in to the empty office, she walked to the long counter that was set up, sat the letter down, and rang the bell that was sitting on top of it. There was no sound of hoof steps coming from the back or from upstairs where Ditzy lived, she rang the bell again to be greeted by yet more silence. “Ditzy!” Twilight yelled, seeing if the mare had just not heard the bell. “Ditzy?!” After no confirmation that anypony was there she turned to leave and just come back later when she finally heard something that brought back the memory of the nightmare. She turned her head, her pupils nothing more than dots on her wide open eyes, to try and see the source of the sound. The sounds started to get louder and louder as she completely turned around and walked towards the counter. “D-Ditzy?” Twilight said, her voice cracking slightly. “Is that you?” Twilight leaned her head over the counter and looked down towards the floor, she saw nothing but the sounds still sounded like they were close. She raised her head to see a flash of blond hair come into view through the open doorway that lead to the back of the office and then disappear from view, against her better judgment she walked over to the edge of the counter and raised the small divider that made a pathway to get behind the counter and continued on. She slowly walked to the door as the sounds became more audible, the sounds of tearing and smacking were echoing through the office now. She looked around the back room and saw Ditzy’s blond tail swaying in the air from behind a counter that was built into the floor. “D-D-Ditzy?” Twilight said, barely audible. The sounds continued as Ditzy’s tail continued to sway back and forth, and once again ignoring the small voice in her head saying to run, walked towards the counter and peaked over it. The sight she saw caused her already small pupils to dilate more as her eyes widened as well, threatening to pop out of her head. She saw Ditzy with her muzzle buried into the exposed organs of her daughter Dinky; she was moving them aside as if ignoring them and then biting into the flesh that covered her chest. Dinky’s head turned slightly as her eyes widened to see Twilight looking at her in fear, Dinky’s eyes started to flow freely with tears and she slowly raised a hoof towards her and spoke two simple words that were barely above a whisper. “Help…..me….” Dinky said before Ditzy’s head stopped moving, Ditzy raised her head so fast, tearing off a piece of bloody flesh as well, that Twilight barely missed being hit by it as she quickly back into the wall behind her with a loud thud. Ditzy turned her head towards the noise and the look on her face confirmed Twilight's fears, Ditzy looked exactly like the Pegasus from her dream. Ditsy quickly swing her head up and snapped her jaws as the piece of flesh disappeared down her throat and smiled at Twilight. “Oh, it’s you, the pony that viewed my meal last night.” Ditzy spoke in the same voice that came from her nightmare. “I never expected to see you, especially enjoying another meal, but just my luck that you’re here…this filly would never fill me up, and I finally have a main course!” Ditzy suddenly leaped over the counter towards Twilight that suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs, as if she were being murdered, and ran back out the door to the front room. She ignored the divider as she leaped over it and bolted to the door for it to suddenly become coated in a black magical aura. Twilight struggled to open the door but it wouldn’t budge as a low chuckled echoed from the back room. “Did you really think it would be that easy?” She heard Ditzy say as she suddenly burst through the wall separating the two rooms and flew towards Twilight, knocking her to the ground and standing above her. Twilight quickly rolled over onto her back to see the grey Pegasus standing over her with blood dripping from her mouth, as the Pegasus lunged towards her throat to finish her and claim her meal. Twilight quickly shot a beam of magic from her horn and hit Ditzy in her chest, sending her flying into the wall behind her before sliding down to the floor. Twilight shakily stood up and backed up until she had her back in the corner where the wall and counter met, tears of fear flowing from her wide eyes as she realized that she was trapped. “Very good and very powerful indeed, but still not enough to stop me from getting what I want.” Ditzy said as she stood up and slowly walked towards the shaking unicorn. “But it’s time for this little game of cat and mouse to come to an end, and I am very hungry.” Ditsy stood in front of Twilight with a triumphant look on her face but Twilight had other plans. Twilight closed her eyes in concentration to use another blast of magic but felt something blocking her from doing so; she then hears a low chuckle come from Ditzy as she opened her eyes to see the edge of the same black magic covering the door covering her horn. “Did you really think I forgot about that little horn of yours?” Ditsy said as she raised a hoof into the air, poised to strike. Suddenly a loud squelch and crack was heard as a sharp and long bone spike jutted out from the base of Ditzy’s hoof. Twilight let loose one last scream as Ditzy thrust her hoof forward, aiming for the unicorns heart. A large pink orb suddenly surrounded twilight as Ditzy’s bone spike glanced of it and lodged itself into the wooden floor. She looked around to find the source when the door to the post office suddenly was blasted off its hinges by two different colored blasts of magic and two royals guards stormed in and took fighting stances in the middle of the room. The window that was directly across from Ditzy shattered as a large white unicorn came flying through. The unicorn landed and shot a beam of magic at the Ditzy, but instead of throwing her backwards like twilight had done, the magic connected and coated Ditzy in the magic as she was lifted from the ground snapping the bone spike in half. The unicorn swung its head to the side throwing Ditzy into the hole in the wall that she had created and hitting her head as she went through, than fell to the ground hitting face first and laid there unmoving. “Get the hell away from my sister.” The white unicorn said as it stood up tall, a look of anger on his face.