Blazing Spark - The end of daysby BenevolentPonyChaptersPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3PrologueI laid there, on the hard ground, weak and defeated. Cipher’s dark bodiless form surrounded me, encasing me in a cocoon of thick black empty smoke. “You’ve lost Blazing Spark” the dark entity’s voice lulled at me from all directions. I had stopped struggling long ago, my hooves were torn and bloody and my coat was covered in dirt. I let my mind wonder as the darkness enclosed me further, I wondered of how this all started. It’s funny, how only a few days ago I was a normal magical and supernatural consultant living from the measly pay I got from working with the royal guard of Canterlot, and now, this. The darkness grew closer and I felt myself begin to slip into it, into oblivion; a distant maniacal laugh floated through the air. My mind wondered again, how did this start? Oh yes, with a letter. Chapter 1The day that changed the world of Equestria, was a pretty normal day, to start with. I had woken up late, business had been slow lately, and apart from a few low paying privet jobs I hadn’t had much proper work. I climbed out of bed and cantered over to the mirror. As usual my mane was a mess, I concentrated and used my unicorn magic to pass a brush a few times through my hair. I got on with a few more morning duties, it wasn’t until I was standing at my desk that I noticed the letter, sitting below my chamber door. Weak and wearily I walked over to it and lifted it up to my face, the insignia on the back was from the royal guard. Immediately my mood lightened, this was good, this meant work, which meant bits, which meant I could buy food, oh how I missed a real food. I flipped the note over, it read; Blazing Spark, your presence is required at the gates of Tartarus as soon as possible Singed Shining Armour I flipped over the note again, and again, no that was all of it. “Care to be a little more vague” I said to myself. Sighing I started getting my things ready for a long day. The letter was short, that was not a good sign, that meant the guard didn’t want to have the information written down, which meant something serious had happened. What’s more the letter was written by Shining Armour himself, Whatever had happened must have been bad for the captain himself to call in outside help. With my saddle bag packed I cantered out and went out to work. The gates of Tartarus were an ominous place. Tall walls loomed in a circle in front of an equally tall, majestic door. No life flourished in this area, the ground was nothing but hard dusty dirt, dust clouds hovered around my hooves as I slowly walked into the gloomy arena. I took in information as I walked, to my left a string of ponies tended to a massive three headed dog that was evidently badly injured not so long ago. To my right Stallions dressed in royal guard garb stood around a table, a large sheet of paper which I could only assume was a map was spread over the table top. I walked towards the centre of the arena. That captain of the royal guard, Shining Armour was stood kitted out in his best official uniform, next to him was a purple coated unicorn, her mane was straight and was cut across her fringe, two shades to purple and pink streaked in a line down her mane and tail. Shining Armour spotted me as I moved closer; he nodded to me and beaconed me over. “Ah blazing spark, thank you for coming on such short notice” he said, even though an obvious catastrophe had happened not so long ago Shining Armour still portrayed his calm and knowledgeable personality. “Don’t mention it” I said “I had a free slot in my schedule”. Shining Armour smiled and looked at the pony next to him, “Twilight, this is blazing spark, Blazing Spark this is my sister Twilight Sparkle”. Twilight gave me a studying look, after a second she smiled at me and said “Shining Armour has said a lot about you” “really?” I said glancing at the royal guard captain “I usually don’t deal with him directly but in the times I have he has told me noting about you, I didn’t even know he had a sister.” Twilight shot Shining Armour a quick glare before saying “at much as I would like to stand and chat we have a major issue on our hands”. My ears perked up as she said that “what type of major issue?” I asked, the pony glanced around before saying quietly “the apocalyptic kind,” “let me explain,” Shining Armour said “last night we heard word that the gates of Tartarus were bring attacked. The royal guard were rallied and with the army amassed Princess Celestia and I lead the charge to the gates, only when we got here there was no fight”. I looked around at my surroundings again; there was no sign of a struggle, at least not on the scale that was described. I looked at the massive three headed dog again, “Where is Princess Celestia now?” I asked not looking away from hound. “She went through the gates too check all the prisoners in there” Twilight said giving a nervous glance towards the large looming gates. “hmm” I said “and what happened to the pooch?” “He was unconscious when we arrived, Fluttershy and her team are working on finding out what happened to him”. “Must have been something big to take down a mutt that size” “Cerberus” Twilight interjected “Gesundheit” I said. Twilight glared at me. Before she had a chance to say anything else she was cut off by a thunderous low gowning noise. I swung my head around to see the huge gates slowly open. All the guards’ present bearded arms, the unicorn’s horns glowed as they prepared attacks and the pegasi’s stretched out their wings ready to charge. No monster stepped out from the gates; in fact it was quite the opposite. A beaten and tired looking Princess Celestia staged from the gates. As soon as the doors were closed the Princess sat wearily on her haunches. Immediately several ponies rushed towards her, Twilight and Shining Armour included. I didn’t run, I walked observing everpony else. Those who were not surrounding the collapsed Princess were ether bowing or starring in shocked science, apart from one, a stallion with a black coat and an even blacker mane. I watched him as I walked out of the corner of my eye. The black stallion was watching Celestia like many of the other ponies surrounding him, though instead of the expression of shock and horror he was smirking, grinning even. “Princess Celestia, what happened?” I heard Twilight ask, I glanced over at the crowd of ponies, when I glanced back at the black stallion he had disappeared. Celestia stood up straight, it struck me how much of a presence she exerted, by just being close to her a wave of awe washed over me. “Everypony listen” she said in a loud voice, “I have searched through all of the imprisoned within Tartarus and have found that none of the evil creatures trapped within have escaped, please go back to lives in peace”. With that all the ponies began to depart, the only ponies who stayed were a few royal guards and the team working on the three headed dog. Once all the other ponies were out of earshot the Princess bowed down her head and was about to say something when she looked directly at me, I bowed my head respectfully. “I don’t believe we have been acquainted” she said, “this is Blazing Spark” Shining Armour said “he is a magical and supernatural consultant, he occasionally helps the royal guard in our... stranger cases” “I see” Celestia said “It is a pleasure to meat you Blazing Spark” “likewise” I said my head still bowed. “If you wouldn’t mind, please follow me, there is something I must discuss with you in the privet” Chapter 2Celestia lead us into an empty guardhouse on the edge of the arena, the room was large and racks of various weaponry stood in brackets on the wall. On the far end of the room was a large paining depicting Celestia and luna circling six gems each of a different colour. “I lied” the Princess said without preamble “umm.. I’m sorry?” Twilight asked, “When I said nothing had escaped from Tartarus, I lied” All three of us stared in stunned silence. “I didn’t want everypony else to panic. When I went through the gates I checked the prisons for all of the evil creatures,” the Princess said, “I saw no sign of escape as I fought my way though the precincts of the jail, except for the last one”. “What was being held there?” Shining Armour asked, Celestia looked away, a look of disgust and hatred washed over her face, “the most foul, dark, hateful, evil creature there is, Cipher”. She looked up, here face now shining with anger “he is the dark that the light does not reach. He is the engulfing shadow waiting for the last flicker of the candle before the darkness swallows you and plunges you into nothingness.” I glanced at the two ponies either side of me, both of them had their ears flat and their heads down. “What does this, Cipher want?” I asked “I mean, nopony does something without a goal” “Cipher embodies the dark” Celestia said “he is the personification of nothingness and is oblivion incarnate. He desires nothing more than for everything to be like himself, empty”. I turned away and paced around the room. I heard Twilight say “he was defeated before right? Well then we can do it again, I’ll get the elements of harmony, Shining Armour, you amass the-“ “that wont the defeat him” the Princess interrupted “though the elements of harmony are a formidable weapon against all evil creatures it is not enough to defeat the power that is Cipher” “then what is?” twilight asked “there is a force greater than the elements of harmony, here, let me show you”. The princess walked over to a painting on the wall, she pointed to the elements of harmony insignia, “you see there, in the middle is magic and surrounding it are honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity and loyalty.” Twilight nodded “and behind them is the light that binds them, that light is an element by its self, it is the ruling power over the other elements and is what holds them together”. “Why am I just hearing about this now?” Twilight asked her voice a little irate. Celestia sighed wearily “The truth is the binding force, the light, is old and ancient lore, the last account of its use was the first time Cipher attacked the world and that was before even my time.” “I have a question” Shining Armour said “why has this creature not attacked yet, if this creature is so powerful why not begin his attack now?” “He will wait for night fall, then in the shadows he will gather his strength, slowly at first but given enough time he will build enough power to flood Equestria in darkness.” The princess stood up straight, I stopped my pacing, “Twilight, I want you to gather the elements of harmony, Shining Armour, put all the guards on high alert, get them to look for any strange phenomenon”. Shining Armour saluted, Celestia turned to me and said “and Blazing Spark, what I ask of you is to investigate the gates of Tartarus, look around for clues, see in you can find anything that may indicate to where Cipher may have gone”. I nodded “as for me I shall return to the castle and rally the help of my sister”. We departed, each going to their own duties. Stepping out of the guard house I looked around at the large arena, ponies were still tending to Cerberus, guards still stood guard at all entrance points and some military looking types talked amongst themselves. I trotted over to the ponies who were flittering about the large dog. Chapter 3Chapter 3 “Ahem” I coughed politely, the yellow Pegasus shrieked darted away to hide behind the bulk of the three headed dog. “um, excuse me, I didn’t mean to startle you” I said edging my way closer to the cowering pony , “my name is Blazing Spark, I’m here to investigate the situation here”. The pony slowly moved away from her hiding spot, her face was mostly covered by her pink mane. She looked up at me head bowed and ears flat “um... Cerberus was um.....” she trailed off, I cocked my head and said “okay... ahem, have you discovered the cause of the dog’s injuries?” “Um... no... that is yes, sort of, we found this” She reached around into her saddle bag and produced a clear glass jar, inside the jar was a thick, jet black, tar like substance, just looking at it made me feel ill. “What is it?” I asked the pony put the jar pack into her bag and said “I... I don’t know, sorry” “don’t be sorry” I said, “Is there more or was that it?” She looked back at the dog and the team of ponies who were busying themselves on diagnosing it, “oh no, poor Cerberus is covered in the stuff” “I see” I said looking at the hound, without watching carefully it was difficult to see if it was actually breathing or not. “May I take a sample of it please?” I asked “sure” she replied and reached into her saddle bag once again, she withdrew the vile; I took it off her and put it in my own bag. Looking at the tar substance again I was washed over with a wave of nausea, knowing that it was in my bag next to me made me feel dirty. “thank you for your time....” “Fluttershy” she informed, “thank you Fluttershy, I shall not hold you up any more.” With that I turned and walked away from Fluttershy and Cerberus the three headed dog. As I turned I saw a familiar pony, the black coated, black maned colt. I saw him as he was walking away towards the exit of the arena, I hurried to pursue him. I followed the colt pass through the exit, through guard barracks and into a poorly lit storage hall. The dim light made it hard to see and I strained my eyes to look around the room. I couldn’t see anypony, slowly I advanced into the hall, my hoofsteps echoed eerily around the large lobby. I kept a wide eye open, checking every corner and hiding spot I came across, still no sign of the dark pony. Something rustled behind me, I span around legs spread ready for an attack, but nothing. Again there was a sound behind me, I realised that the sound was coming from inside my saddle bag. I shrugged off the bag and laid it down in front of me. The sound came once again from inside my bag. It was a strange noise, like a knife was being dragged along a glass. Quickly I grabbed the end of my bag and tipped out the content, various items fell to the floor into a pile, among the detritus was the vile. The black tar that once sat inert in the glass now writhed in its prison, it squirmed and struggled around the cork as if it was actually trying to escape. It made the scratching sound again and all too late I realised what it was doing, the black tar had formed part of its mass into razor sharp blades and was cutting away at the glass as if it were chipping through rock. By the time I had realised what it was doing it was too late, the glass shattered with a dull crack and the black tar exploded out. Its form transformed into a fast cloud of dark smoke, as if it were a pressurized gas escaping its container. The smoke writhed in a mass and I felt an unbearable wave of nausea flood over me, I fell to my haunches and just managed to keep my breakfast down. I looked up to see the mass of smoke looming over me, the cloud was barely distinguishable in the gloom of the hall but I could see enough to see that it was creeping closer to me. My mortality suddenly came into sharp focus, I sprang to my hoofs and galloped away, the dark cloud was blocking the entrance I came from so I sprinted further into the hall. Dodging tables and weapon racks I galloped as fast as I could not daring to look back. Blindly I ran and ran until my back hoof caught something and I want flying, I landed heavily onto a rack of pike shafts, wooden poles clattered around me, I covered my head and closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes again I saw the dark cloud had taken no haste in chasing me, it now loomed over me its inky mass inches away from my nose. It closed in around me and darkness encased me, I felt my mind slipping and coherent thought became difficult. At the last second, when I felt the last sliver of my existence begin to slip, just when I thought that I was done for the dark cloud suddenly shrieked and shrivelled away from me. I opened my eyes to see a stunned looking royal guard gawking at me and the black mass hovering around me, in his mouth he was carrying a lit lantern. “Run!” I yelled whilst standing up, the guard did not move, he just stared the monster that was now slowly moving toward him. “Move damn it!” I shouted as I galloped passed him, the guard turned to look at me, he was about the say something but before he could the cloud engulfed him in a quick embrace. “No!” I snapped, turning, I did the only thing I could think of. Somewhere in the back of my mind I had realised that the dark cloud has cowered away from the light the guard had brought. I focused all of my energy on one thought, light. My horn glowed with an incandescent light and the gloom of the hall was filled with a dim glow, but it was not enough to hurt the creature. I focused harder; closing my eyes I put all my effort into the magic. The light grew and grew, I heard a high shrieking sound coming from in front of me, I opened my eyes to see the black cloud once again engulf me. With one final push of effort my magic exploded into a blaze of white light. The room became washed over with the blinding radiance. Screaming its unnatural cry the dark mass evaporated like smoke in a breeze. As quickly as the light had arrived it vanished, I fell down exhausted, my legs no longer able to carry my weight. After a second I summoned the strength to stand up, I looked over to where the I had last seen the guard, he laid, not moving on the ground a few meters away from me. With my whole body aching I staggered over to him. With my magic I lifted him onto my back, using my magic made my head pound furiously and I almost collapsed again, but valiantly I staggered out of the hall and into the main arena of Tartarus. As I stumbled into the arena royal guards galloped towards me, the unconscious guard was lifted off my back and I gratefully fell to the floor. I dimly remember somepony asking me what happened, I mumbled the short version. As I spoke I rested my head on the floor, my eyes fell on the still comatose three headed dog. A voice at the back of my mind yelled something at me, standing I said to the guard “where is that yellow pony... um, Fluttershy?” the guard looked over at the dog, “she headed home, to Ponyville, she said something about some zebra being able to tell her more, I don’t know she mumbled and she didn’t stay long enough for me to ask her what she was talking about”. “Damn it!” I shouted “she is in danger, the black tar that she took off Cerberus, that’s what attacked me and it will attack her when it gets the chance”. The guard stared at me silently for a second. “Follow me” he said flatly after a while, he walked up to a squad of unicorn guards, the troupe stood to attention as he approached. “We can teleport you to Ponyville but that’s it, you are going to have to find your own way to fluttershy” he said looking at me with a stern face, “wait, Ponyville, I don’t know Ponyville, how am I meant to know where she has gone?” I asked “she talked about a zebra, I can only assume she is going to see Zecora, she lives deep within the Everfree forest,”. The unicorns stood in circle around me , their horns began to glow with a warming light. “W-wait” I stammered “I’m going alone? I have no idea where to go! Don’t-” but before anypony could respond my world went white.
PrologueI laid there, on the hard ground, weak and defeated. Cipher’s dark bodiless form surrounded me, encasing me in a cocoon of thick black empty smoke. “You’ve lost Blazing Spark” the dark entity’s voice lulled at me from all directions. I had stopped struggling long ago, my hooves were torn and bloody and my coat was covered in dirt. I let my mind wonder as the darkness enclosed me further, I wondered of how this all started. It’s funny, how only a few days ago I was a normal magical and supernatural consultant living from the measly pay I got from working with the royal guard of Canterlot, and now, this. The darkness grew closer and I felt myself begin to slip into it, into oblivion; a distant maniacal laugh floated through the air. My mind wondered again, how did this start? Oh yes, with a letter.
Chapter 1The day that changed the world of Equestria, was a pretty normal day, to start with. I had woken up late, business had been slow lately, and apart from a few low paying privet jobs I hadn’t had much proper work. I climbed out of bed and cantered over to the mirror. As usual my mane was a mess, I concentrated and used my unicorn magic to pass a brush a few times through my hair. I got on with a few more morning duties, it wasn’t until I was standing at my desk that I noticed the letter, sitting below my chamber door. Weak and wearily I walked over to it and lifted it up to my face, the insignia on the back was from the royal guard. Immediately my mood lightened, this was good, this meant work, which meant bits, which meant I could buy food, oh how I missed a real food. I flipped the note over, it read; Blazing Spark, your presence is required at the gates of Tartarus as soon as possible Singed Shining Armour I flipped over the note again, and again, no that was all of it. “Care to be a little more vague” I said to myself. Sighing I started getting my things ready for a long day. The letter was short, that was not a good sign, that meant the guard didn’t want to have the information written down, which meant something serious had happened. What’s more the letter was written by Shining Armour himself, Whatever had happened must have been bad for the captain himself to call in outside help. With my saddle bag packed I cantered out and went out to work. The gates of Tartarus were an ominous place. Tall walls loomed in a circle in front of an equally tall, majestic door. No life flourished in this area, the ground was nothing but hard dusty dirt, dust clouds hovered around my hooves as I slowly walked into the gloomy arena. I took in information as I walked, to my left a string of ponies tended to a massive three headed dog that was evidently badly injured not so long ago. To my right Stallions dressed in royal guard garb stood around a table, a large sheet of paper which I could only assume was a map was spread over the table top. I walked towards the centre of the arena. That captain of the royal guard, Shining Armour was stood kitted out in his best official uniform, next to him was a purple coated unicorn, her mane was straight and was cut across her fringe, two shades to purple and pink streaked in a line down her mane and tail. Shining Armour spotted me as I moved closer; he nodded to me and beaconed me over. “Ah blazing spark, thank you for coming on such short notice” he said, even though an obvious catastrophe had happened not so long ago Shining Armour still portrayed his calm and knowledgeable personality. “Don’t mention it” I said “I had a free slot in my schedule”. Shining Armour smiled and looked at the pony next to him, “Twilight, this is blazing spark, Blazing Spark this is my sister Twilight Sparkle”. Twilight gave me a studying look, after a second she smiled at me and said “Shining Armour has said a lot about you” “really?” I said glancing at the royal guard captain “I usually don’t deal with him directly but in the times I have he has told me noting about you, I didn’t even know he had a sister.” Twilight shot Shining Armour a quick glare before saying “at much as I would like to stand and chat we have a major issue on our hands”. My ears perked up as she said that “what type of major issue?” I asked, the pony glanced around before saying quietly “the apocalyptic kind,” “let me explain,” Shining Armour said “last night we heard word that the gates of Tartarus were bring attacked. The royal guard were rallied and with the army amassed Princess Celestia and I lead the charge to the gates, only when we got here there was no fight”. I looked around at my surroundings again; there was no sign of a struggle, at least not on the scale that was described. I looked at the massive three headed dog again, “Where is Princess Celestia now?” I asked not looking away from hound. “She went through the gates too check all the prisoners in there” Twilight said giving a nervous glance towards the large looming gates. “hmm” I said “and what happened to the pooch?” “He was unconscious when we arrived, Fluttershy and her team are working on finding out what happened to him”. “Must have been something big to take down a mutt that size” “Cerberus” Twilight interjected “Gesundheit” I said. Twilight glared at me. Before she had a chance to say anything else she was cut off by a thunderous low gowning noise. I swung my head around to see the huge gates slowly open. All the guards’ present bearded arms, the unicorn’s horns glowed as they prepared attacks and the pegasi’s stretched out their wings ready to charge. No monster stepped out from the gates; in fact it was quite the opposite. A beaten and tired looking Princess Celestia staged from the gates. As soon as the doors were closed the Princess sat wearily on her haunches. Immediately several ponies rushed towards her, Twilight and Shining Armour included. I didn’t run, I walked observing everpony else. Those who were not surrounding the collapsed Princess were ether bowing or starring in shocked science, apart from one, a stallion with a black coat and an even blacker mane. I watched him as I walked out of the corner of my eye. The black stallion was watching Celestia like many of the other ponies surrounding him, though instead of the expression of shock and horror he was smirking, grinning even. “Princess Celestia, what happened?” I heard Twilight ask, I glanced over at the crowd of ponies, when I glanced back at the black stallion he had disappeared. Celestia stood up straight, it struck me how much of a presence she exerted, by just being close to her a wave of awe washed over me. “Everypony listen” she said in a loud voice, “I have searched through all of the imprisoned within Tartarus and have found that none of the evil creatures trapped within have escaped, please go back to lives in peace”. With that all the ponies began to depart, the only ponies who stayed were a few royal guards and the team working on the three headed dog. Once all the other ponies were out of earshot the Princess bowed down her head and was about to say something when she looked directly at me, I bowed my head respectfully. “I don’t believe we have been acquainted” she said, “this is Blazing Spark” Shining Armour said “he is a magical and supernatural consultant, he occasionally helps the royal guard in our... stranger cases” “I see” Celestia said “It is a pleasure to meat you Blazing Spark” “likewise” I said my head still bowed. “If you wouldn’t mind, please follow me, there is something I must discuss with you in the privet”
Chapter 2Celestia lead us into an empty guardhouse on the edge of the arena, the room was large and racks of various weaponry stood in brackets on the wall. On the far end of the room was a large paining depicting Celestia and luna circling six gems each of a different colour. “I lied” the Princess said without preamble “umm.. I’m sorry?” Twilight asked, “When I said nothing had escaped from Tartarus, I lied” All three of us stared in stunned silence. “I didn’t want everypony else to panic. When I went through the gates I checked the prisons for all of the evil creatures,” the Princess said, “I saw no sign of escape as I fought my way though the precincts of the jail, except for the last one”. “What was being held there?” Shining Armour asked, Celestia looked away, a look of disgust and hatred washed over her face, “the most foul, dark, hateful, evil creature there is, Cipher”. She looked up, here face now shining with anger “he is the dark that the light does not reach. He is the engulfing shadow waiting for the last flicker of the candle before the darkness swallows you and plunges you into nothingness.” I glanced at the two ponies either side of me, both of them had their ears flat and their heads down. “What does this, Cipher want?” I asked “I mean, nopony does something without a goal” “Cipher embodies the dark” Celestia said “he is the personification of nothingness and is oblivion incarnate. He desires nothing more than for everything to be like himself, empty”. I turned away and paced around the room. I heard Twilight say “he was defeated before right? Well then we can do it again, I’ll get the elements of harmony, Shining Armour, you amass the-“ “that wont the defeat him” the Princess interrupted “though the elements of harmony are a formidable weapon against all evil creatures it is not enough to defeat the power that is Cipher” “then what is?” twilight asked “there is a force greater than the elements of harmony, here, let me show you”. The princess walked over to a painting on the wall, she pointed to the elements of harmony insignia, “you see there, in the middle is magic and surrounding it are honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity and loyalty.” Twilight nodded “and behind them is the light that binds them, that light is an element by its self, it is the ruling power over the other elements and is what holds them together”. “Why am I just hearing about this now?” Twilight asked her voice a little irate. Celestia sighed wearily “The truth is the binding force, the light, is old and ancient lore, the last account of its use was the first time Cipher attacked the world and that was before even my time.” “I have a question” Shining Armour said “why has this creature not attacked yet, if this creature is so powerful why not begin his attack now?” “He will wait for night fall, then in the shadows he will gather his strength, slowly at first but given enough time he will build enough power to flood Equestria in darkness.” The princess stood up straight, I stopped my pacing, “Twilight, I want you to gather the elements of harmony, Shining Armour, put all the guards on high alert, get them to look for any strange phenomenon”. Shining Armour saluted, Celestia turned to me and said “and Blazing Spark, what I ask of you is to investigate the gates of Tartarus, look around for clues, see in you can find anything that may indicate to where Cipher may have gone”. I nodded “as for me I shall return to the castle and rally the help of my sister”. We departed, each going to their own duties. Stepping out of the guard house I looked around at the large arena, ponies were still tending to Cerberus, guards still stood guard at all entrance points and some military looking types talked amongst themselves. I trotted over to the ponies who were flittering about the large dog.
Chapter 3Chapter 3 “Ahem” I coughed politely, the yellow Pegasus shrieked darted away to hide behind the bulk of the three headed dog. “um, excuse me, I didn’t mean to startle you” I said edging my way closer to the cowering pony , “my name is Blazing Spark, I’m here to investigate the situation here”. The pony slowly moved away from her hiding spot, her face was mostly covered by her pink mane. She looked up at me head bowed and ears flat “um... Cerberus was um.....” she trailed off, I cocked my head and said “okay... ahem, have you discovered the cause of the dog’s injuries?” “Um... no... that is yes, sort of, we found this” She reached around into her saddle bag and produced a clear glass jar, inside the jar was a thick, jet black, tar like substance, just looking at it made me feel ill. “What is it?” I asked the pony put the jar pack into her bag and said “I... I don’t know, sorry” “don’t be sorry” I said, “Is there more or was that it?” She looked back at the dog and the team of ponies who were busying themselves on diagnosing it, “oh no, poor Cerberus is covered in the stuff” “I see” I said looking at the hound, without watching carefully it was difficult to see if it was actually breathing or not. “May I take a sample of it please?” I asked “sure” she replied and reached into her saddle bag once again, she withdrew the vile; I took it off her and put it in my own bag. Looking at the tar substance again I was washed over with a wave of nausea, knowing that it was in my bag next to me made me feel dirty. “thank you for your time....” “Fluttershy” she informed, “thank you Fluttershy, I shall not hold you up any more.” With that I turned and walked away from Fluttershy and Cerberus the three headed dog. As I turned I saw a familiar pony, the black coated, black maned colt. I saw him as he was walking away towards the exit of the arena, I hurried to pursue him. I followed the colt pass through the exit, through guard barracks and into a poorly lit storage hall. The dim light made it hard to see and I strained my eyes to look around the room. I couldn’t see anypony, slowly I advanced into the hall, my hoofsteps echoed eerily around the large lobby. I kept a wide eye open, checking every corner and hiding spot I came across, still no sign of the dark pony. Something rustled behind me, I span around legs spread ready for an attack, but nothing. Again there was a sound behind me, I realised that the sound was coming from inside my saddle bag. I shrugged off the bag and laid it down in front of me. The sound came once again from inside my bag. It was a strange noise, like a knife was being dragged along a glass. Quickly I grabbed the end of my bag and tipped out the content, various items fell to the floor into a pile, among the detritus was the vile. The black tar that once sat inert in the glass now writhed in its prison, it squirmed and struggled around the cork as if it was actually trying to escape. It made the scratching sound again and all too late I realised what it was doing, the black tar had formed part of its mass into razor sharp blades and was cutting away at the glass as if it were chipping through rock. By the time I had realised what it was doing it was too late, the glass shattered with a dull crack and the black tar exploded out. Its form transformed into a fast cloud of dark smoke, as if it were a pressurized gas escaping its container. The smoke writhed in a mass and I felt an unbearable wave of nausea flood over me, I fell to my haunches and just managed to keep my breakfast down. I looked up to see the mass of smoke looming over me, the cloud was barely distinguishable in the gloom of the hall but I could see enough to see that it was creeping closer to me. My mortality suddenly came into sharp focus, I sprang to my hoofs and galloped away, the dark cloud was blocking the entrance I came from so I sprinted further into the hall. Dodging tables and weapon racks I galloped as fast as I could not daring to look back. Blindly I ran and ran until my back hoof caught something and I want flying, I landed heavily onto a rack of pike shafts, wooden poles clattered around me, I covered my head and closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes again I saw the dark cloud had taken no haste in chasing me, it now loomed over me its inky mass inches away from my nose. It closed in around me and darkness encased me, I felt my mind slipping and coherent thought became difficult. At the last second, when I felt the last sliver of my existence begin to slip, just when I thought that I was done for the dark cloud suddenly shrieked and shrivelled away from me. I opened my eyes to see a stunned looking royal guard gawking at me and the black mass hovering around me, in his mouth he was carrying a lit lantern. “Run!” I yelled whilst standing up, the guard did not move, he just stared the monster that was now slowly moving toward him. “Move damn it!” I shouted as I galloped passed him, the guard turned to look at me, he was about the say something but before he could the cloud engulfed him in a quick embrace. “No!” I snapped, turning, I did the only thing I could think of. Somewhere in the back of my mind I had realised that the dark cloud has cowered away from the light the guard had brought. I focused all of my energy on one thought, light. My horn glowed with an incandescent light and the gloom of the hall was filled with a dim glow, but it was not enough to hurt the creature. I focused harder; closing my eyes I put all my effort into the magic. The light grew and grew, I heard a high shrieking sound coming from in front of me, I opened my eyes to see the black cloud once again engulf me. With one final push of effort my magic exploded into a blaze of white light. The room became washed over with the blinding radiance. Screaming its unnatural cry the dark mass evaporated like smoke in a breeze. As quickly as the light had arrived it vanished, I fell down exhausted, my legs no longer able to carry my weight. After a second I summoned the strength to stand up, I looked over to where the I had last seen the guard, he laid, not moving on the ground a few meters away from me. With my whole body aching I staggered over to him. With my magic I lifted him onto my back, using my magic made my head pound furiously and I almost collapsed again, but valiantly I staggered out of the hall and into the main arena of Tartarus. As I stumbled into the arena royal guards galloped towards me, the unconscious guard was lifted off my back and I gratefully fell to the floor. I dimly remember somepony asking me what happened, I mumbled the short version. As I spoke I rested my head on the floor, my eyes fell on the still comatose three headed dog. A voice at the back of my mind yelled something at me, standing I said to the guard “where is that yellow pony... um, Fluttershy?” the guard looked over at the dog, “she headed home, to Ponyville, she said something about some zebra being able to tell her more, I don’t know she mumbled and she didn’t stay long enough for me to ask her what she was talking about”. “Damn it!” I shouted “she is in danger, the black tar that she took off Cerberus, that’s what attacked me and it will attack her when it gets the chance”. The guard stared at me silently for a second. “Follow me” he said flatly after a while, he walked up to a squad of unicorn guards, the troupe stood to attention as he approached. “We can teleport you to Ponyville but that’s it, you are going to have to find your own way to fluttershy” he said looking at me with a stern face, “wait, Ponyville, I don’t know Ponyville, how am I meant to know where she has gone?” I asked “she talked about a zebra, I can only assume she is going to see Zecora, she lives deep within the Everfree forest,”. The unicorns stood in circle around me , their horns began to glow with a warming light. “W-wait” I stammered “I’m going alone? I have no idea where to go! Don’t-” but before anypony could respond my world went white.
