Blazing Spark - The end of days

Chapter 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.